It was clear that the statesmanship of Napoleon was the controlling influence in Joseph's administration, for in reading the details of his interior policy, we find that the institutions of regenerated France were taken as the models. To invest with honor the profession of a soldier, no one who had been condemned for crime was permitted to enter the army. Degrading punishments were abolished; distinctions and rewards were accorded to eminent merit. Promotion depended no longer upon the accident of birth, but upon services rendered, so that every office of honor or emolument was alike within the reach of all. Joseph, in his tour through the provinces, received very touching proofs of the affections of the people. It was indeed manifest to all that a new era of prosperity had dawned upon Naples. Still no devotion to the interests of the people can save a ruler from enemies. Two assassins attempted the life of the King. They were arrested, tried, condemned, and executed.[M] [Footnote M: "The entrance of Joseph to Cosenza, the capital of hither Calabria, on the 11th of April, was as a national fete. Guards of honor, chosen from among the most distinguished families, all the clergy, all the population were at the gates to receive him. He was accompanied into the city with shouts of joy, the streets being ornamented with triumphal arches. One would have thought that he was a sovereign returning after a long absence to the midst of a people by whom he was idolized."--_Memoires et Correspondence Politique et Militaire, du Roi Joseph_, p. 127.] On the 14th of May, 1807, Joseph set out on a tour through the provinces of the Abruzzes, a mountainous region traversed by the Apennines. He found the government admirably administered under the authority of the French General, Guvion Saint Cyr. The people were everywhere prosperous and happy. The region, abounding in precipitous crags and gloomy defiles, with communications often rendered impracticable by the rains and the melting snows cutting gullies through the soil of sand and clay, had become quite isolated. The inhabitants spontaneously arose to celebrate the arrival of the King by constructing durable roads. Joseph promptly lent the enterprise his royal support. He appointed a committee of able men, selected from each of the capitals of the three provinces, with three road engineers, to secure the judicious expenditure of the money and the labor; and offered rewards to those communes which should push the improvements with the greatest vigor. A system of irrigation and drainage was also adopted which contributed immensely to the prosperity of the region, checking emigration by opening wide fields to agricultural industry.