500,000 affirmative votes against 8,374 negatives. But among these
dissentients were many honoured names: among military men Carnot,
Drouot, Mouton, and Bernard opposed the innovation; and Lafayette made
the public statement that he could not vote for such a magistracy
unless political liberty were guaranteed. A _senatus consultum_ of
August 1st forthwith proclaimed Napoleon Bonaparte Consul for Life and
ordered the erection of a Statue of Peace, holding in one hand the
victor's laurel and in the other the senatorial decree.

On the following day Napoleon--for henceforth he generally used his
Christian name like other monarchs--presented to the Council of State
a project of an organic law, which virtually amounted to a new
constitution. The mere fact of its presentation at so early a date
suffices to prove how completely he had prepared for the recent change
and how thoroughly assured he was of success. This important measure
was hurried through the Senate, and, without being submitted to the
Tribunate or _Corps Legislatif_, still less to the people, for whose
sanction he had recently affected so much concern--was declared to be
the fundamental law of the State.

The fifth constitution of revolutionary France may be thus described.
It began by altering the methods of election. In place of Sieyes'
lists of notabilities, Bonaparte proposed a simpler plan. The
adult citizens of each canton were thenceforth to meet, for
electoral purposes, in primary assemblies, to name two candidates
for the office of _juge de paix_ (i.e., magistrate) and town
councillor, and to choose the members of the "electoral colleges"
for the _arrondissement_ and for the Department. In the latter case
only the 600 most wealthy men of the Department were eligible. An
official or aristocratic tinge was to be imparted to these electoral
colleges by the infusion of members selected by the First Consul from
the members of the Legion of Honour. Fixity of opinion was also
assured by members holding office for life; and, as they were elected
in the midst of the enthusiasm aroused by the Peace of Amiens, they
were decidedly Bonapartist.

The electoral colleges had the following powers: they nominated two
candidates for each place vacant in the merely consultative councils
of their respective areas, and had the equally barren honour of
presenting two candidates for the Tribunate--the final act of
_selection_ being decided by the executive, that is, by the