Thus the whole machinery of administration has been changed.

It is the new assemblies which assess the taxes and superintend their collection; which determine upon and direct all public works; and which form the court of final appeal in regard to matters in dispute.
The intendant, the sub-delegate, the elected representative[1109], thus lose three-quarters of their authority.

Conflicts arise, consequently, between rival powers whose frontiers are not clearly defined; command shifts about, and obedience is diminished.

The subject no longer feels on his shoulders the commanding weight of the one hand which, without possibility of interference or resistance, held him in, urged him forward, and made him move on.

Meanwhile, in each assembly of the parish arrondissement, and even of the province, plebeians, "husband-men,"[1110] and often common farmers, sit by the side of lords and prelates.