Mediaeval and modern history . APOLEONIC EMPIRE (1799-1815) I. The Consulate (i 799-1804) 608. The Veiled Military Dictatorship. — After the overthrowof the government of the Directory, a new constitution — thefourth since the year 1789 — was prepared and, having been sub-mitted to the approval of the people, was accepted by a vote ofover three millions to lessthan two thousand. Thisnew instrument vested theexecutive power in threeConsuls, nominated for aterm «f ten years, the firstof whom really exercisedall the authority of theboard, the remaining twomembers being simply hiscounselors. Bonap
Mediaeval and modern history . APOLEONIC EMPIRE (1799-1815) I. The Consulate (i 799-1804) 608. The Veiled Military Dictatorship. — After the overthrowof the government of the Directory, a new constitution — thefourth since the year 1789 — was prepared and, having been sub-mitted to the approval of the people, was accepted by a vote ofover three millions to lessthan two thousand. Thisnew instrument vested theexecutive power in threeConsuls, nominated for aterm «f ten years, the firstof whom really exercisedall the authority of theboard, the remaining twomembers being simply hiscounselors. Bonaparte, ofcourse, became the FirstConsul. The other functions ofthe government were car-ried on by a Council ofState, a Tribunate, a Legis-lature, and a Senate. Butthe members of all these bodies were appointed either directlyor indirectly by the Consuls, so that the entire government wasactually in their hands, or rather in the hands of the First Con-sul. France was still called a republic, but it was such a republic 543. Fig. 93. — Napoleon medallion by Isabeyi) (After 544 THE NAPOLEONIC EMPIRE as Rome was under Julius Csesar or Augustus. The republicannames and forms merely veiled a government as absolute andpersonal as that of Louis XIV, — in a word, a military dicta-torship. Local self-government which had been created by the Revolutionwas suppressed. In all the various subdivisions of France the FirstConsul was represented by officials appointed by himself. Thegovernment became more centralized than it had ever been before,and this character it has retained up to the present time. 609. Causes of Englands Hostility to Bonaparte. — Bonaparteinherited from the Directory war with Austria and England. Toboth he offered peace. Austria, which was asked to give upLombardy, recently reconquered from the Republic, courteouslydeclined his proposals. England, with rasping words, rejected theproffered hand of reconciliation. There were several reasons for Engl
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