French West Africa financially subordinated member colonies to a non-legislative council

Evidence

The expenses of the Government General were to be paid from a special section of the budget of this new territory, to which the other colonies would contribute. The nature of federal expenditures was determined by the Council of the Government General, which convened once a year to ratify the budgets of each territory and to discuss general administration. The lieutenant governors, the heads of the federal services, and the army and navy commanders made up this council, over which Roume presided. The council was deliberative rather than legislative. The governor general organized the different federal services and determined their responsibilities and personnel. He alone had the right to correspond directly with Paris. — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 154

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s broader theme of how republican France extracted colonial revenue while denying representative institutions - a deliberative rather than legislative council mirrors the lack of real self-government.