Though the Press was gagged, though as many as thirty-two Departments were subjected to the scrutiny of special tribunals, which, under the guise of stamping out brigandage, frequently punished opponents of the Government, yet the voice of criticism was not wholly silenced.

The project of the Concordat was sharply opposed in the Tribunate, which also ventured to declare that the first sections of the Civil Codes were not conformable to the principles of 1789 and to the first draft of a code presented to the Convention.

The Government thereupon refused to send to the Tribunate any important measures, but merely flung them a mass of petty details to discuss, as "_bones to gnaw_" until the time for the renewal by lot of a fifth of its members should come round.

During a discussion at the Council of State, the First Consul hinted with much frankness at the methods which ought to be adopted to quell the factious opposition of the Tribunate: "One cannot work with an institution so productive of disorder.

The constitution has created a legislative power composed of three bodies.