Under the ancient Regime, "the ladies of honor, every time they travel from one royal country-house to another, gain 80 %.

on the cost of the journey," while the queen's first chambermaid gains, over and above her wages, 38,000 francs a year out of the sales of half-burnt candles.[3208] Under the new Regime, in the distribution of food, "the matadors of the quarter," the patriots of the revolutionary committees, deduct their portions in advance, and a very ample portion, to the prejudice of the hungry who await their turn, one taking seven rations and another twenty.[3209] Thus did the injustice remain; in knocking it over, they had simply made matters worse; and had they wished to build permanently, now was the time to put an end to it; for, in every social edifice it introduced an imbalance.

Whether the plumb-line deflects right or left is of little consequence; sooner or later the building falls in, and thus had the French edifice already fallen twice, the first time in 1789, through imminent bankruptcy and hatred of the ancient Regime, and the second time in 1799, through an actual bankruptcy and hatred of the Revolution.
An architect like the French Consul is on his guard against a financial, social and moral danger of this sort.

He is aware that, in a well-organized society, there must be neither surcharge nor discharge, no favors, no exemptions and no exclusions.

Moreover, "l'Etat c'est lui;"[3210] thus is the public interest confounded with his personal interest, and, in the management of this double interest, his hands are free.