HISTORY OF EUROPE. 



[51 



■nection, and partial application, 

 From the centre to the circinufe- 

 rence every intermediate part was 

 isolated. The agent, in his coni- 

 mnne,* and the justice of peace in 

 his canton, had not the necessary 

 correspondence or communication 

 with one another, or witli respect to 

 what related to the district in ge- 

 neral. Neither had the department 

 any communication with tliat com- 

 mon centre which is constituted by 

 government. Thus the transgressors 

 of the law Knew that there was 

 no eye which, contemplating every 

 object, could follow them from one 

 place to another, and arrest them 

 in the midst of their crimes. While 

 the police thus abandoned the citi- 

 zens in general to the excesses of 

 plunderers and robbers, itleft every 

 Frenchman subject to the arbitrary 

 and unnecessary pursuit of its offi- 

 cers. From five to six thousand 

 officei's of police could summon be- 

 fore them every individual against 

 whom tliere was either proof or 

 presumption, and to declare what 

 was a crime worthy of imprison- 

 ment, from the act of tlirowing a 



glass from a window, to poisoning 

 or assassination. And as there were 

 crimes, which, from the nature and 

 extent of their ramifications, re- 

 quired ample and sometimes pro- 

 tracted examination, and whicli 

 could not, by any known rule, be 

 examined into within any determi- 

 ned period, the most trifling afl'air 

 was not unfrequently co;ifounded 

 with the most serious, ard chance 

 or malice might retain in prison, 

 for an equal length of time, him 

 who might not finally be fined three 

 francs, and him who might ulti- 

 mately lose his head on c scaffold. 

 As remedies against these two evils 

 it was enacted, that the police ap- 

 pointed to discover robbers, and 

 preserve citizens from their attacks, 

 should be connected together in all 

 its parts, from the centre of the 

 system to its circumference ; and 

 tliat the right of imprisonment 

 sliould be restrained, not only with 

 regard to the officers who were to 

 autliorize imprisonment. From 

 tliese and othermeasures respecting 

 the interior administration and go- 

 vernment of France, the consular 



'• " Every urrondissement or circle, of vrliich a district or canton is composed, is 

 tliiis denominated. This term, under tlie former liino:ly government, was applied 

 ti) cities and towns in France, vvliich, by special piivilege granted by the crown, 

 were in the enjoyment of civil liberty, and had the right of judges te decide differ- 

 ences arising from the oppression of the nobles who lield these places in vassalage. 

 The term is novv indiscriminatelyapplied to every city and town tliroiiglioiit France, 

 from Paris totlie meanest village, liec.tuse the inhabitants of them are all free, (or, 

 it may be said, rather lay claim to freedom). The communes in France amount to 

 ii[)wards of ei'^hty thousand." — Nkolooical Fuench DicnoNARV. Bi/ William 

 Ihi-jiri-, Ksf/. 



The little work from which we have borrowed this definition or description of 

 commune, is not only a very useful companion to the readers of the French history of 

 tlie present times, butis really a book of much aaui^ement,anil serves to give a more 

 romplete insight into the present political slate, characters, caprices, and humours 

 of the French, than any vohnne that we know of equal si/.e and price. To adopt 

 the new French tcinis, is ceitainly not consistent with the most perfect purity of the 

 Englisli tongue. — Hut it is not always to he avoided without tedious circumlocution ; 

 nor, indeed, can then; be any such thing as perfect purity in any living lanj;u.iii,e, espe- 

 cially in times of voiy extcn^ivean(l close inlercourse anion;; nations. Had Cicero 

 or .Salbist liveil twoor three hundred years longer, in writing of their own times, 

 they must have adopted new words with new facts, things, and ideas. 



[E 2] 



