According to his theory, he is himself the sole representative and delegate of the people, invested with full powers, not alone in the State, but again in the department and commune, the prime and the universal motor of the entire machine, not merely at the center, but again at the extremities, dispenser of all public employments, not merely to suggest the candidate for these and make him titular, but again to create directly and at once, both titular and candidate.
VII.

Municipal and general councillors under the Empire.
Quality of municipal and general councilors under the Consulate and the Empire .-- Object of their meetings .-- Limits of their power .-- Their real role .-- Role of the prefect and of the government.
Observe the selections which he imposes on himself beforehand; these selections are those to which he has tied down the electoral bodies.
Being the substitute of these bodies, he takes, as they do, general councilors from those in the department who pay the most taxes, and municipal councilors from those most taxed in the canton.

One the other hand, by virtue of the municipal law, it is from the municipal councilors that he chooses the mayor.

Thus the local auxiliaries and agents he employs are all notables of the place, the leading landowners and largest manufacturers and merchants.

He systematically enrolls the distributors of labor on his side, all who, through their wealth and residence, through their enterprises and expenditure on the spot, exercise local influence and authority.