JACOBINS.

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end of 1789, the church of a suppressed Jacobinmonastery, in the street St. Honore, in the centre ofParis.

This was the origin of the name Jacobins, thoughthey continued for a time to term themselves thefriends of the constitution. Their external symbolwas a red cap: afterwards, a dirty dress was thetoken of their sansculottisin. The revolution pro-ceeded rapidly, and, in all the large and small towns,and, in 1793, even in some villages, similar societieswere formed, which the mother society at Paris ren-dered dependent on herself; and thus it becameenabled to direct the public opinion of all France.In 1792, the leading club, in which sometimes morethan 2500 members assembled, kept up a correspond-ence with more than 400 affiliated societies, and thenumber of Jacobins in all France was estimated atabout 400,000. It is unnecessary to designate theprincipal members of the mother society, as it is wellknown that all men of any note, who played, or wishedto play, a part in the revolution, were Jacobins.

The influence which Paris, more than any otherEuropean capital, exerts over the country, greatlyincreased the' power of the Jacobins there. What-ever they agreed to propose in the national assembly,however daring it might be, they were sure of theassent of the other popular societies, from their con-nexion with the principal members of the other clubs.This naturally induced ambitious individuals, even ofthe higher classes, to join it, and to renounce theprivileges of their order, with a view of obtaininggreater consequence in the new state of things. Theexaltation of the revolutionary spirit was so rapid,and so much dissension was excited among the revo-lutionists by the intrigues of the opposite party,aided by foreign influence, that the boldest charactersformed a smaller club, which, from its place of meet-ing, in the church of the Franciscan friars, wascalled the club of the Cordeliers, and which wasjoined by all the exaltes, as they were denominated.This was the proper field for the daring Danton,and here the monster Marat, from 1789 editor of theFriend of the People, found credence to his wild andcriminal maxim, that the end justifies the means.Here sansculottisin was fully developed in its vio-lence, its hatred of religion, and contempt of moralityand law. The circumstances of this agitated periodrequired the boldest measures, and the most unscru-pulous men were of course the most daring. Theex-Capuchin Chabot., Anacharsis Cloots, Collotd Herbois, and others carried their temerity to thehighest pitch in their public speeches.

As the Jacobins and the combined Orleanists andBrissotists, who laboured to overthrow the crown, theformer for the duke of Orleans, and the latter toestablish a republic, took the right side of the apart-ment of the national assembly) the members of theother popular societies placed themselves on the left.Few, however, attended the assembly for the purpose°‘/M'heration, their purpose being only to vote forwhat had already been agreed upon. The Jacobinsailt * °H> er _ similar clubs therefore adopted the formsot the national assembly. Presidents and secretarieswore chosen, the order of the day determined, reso-lutions passed by a majority of votes, and seats ortribunes assigned to the audience. To such popularsocieties the national assembly gave a legal existencein the constitution which it drew up. From this time,the Jacobin club exercised a perfect tyranny over it.

Whenever the Jacobins were not sure of the majo-rity in the assembly, their followers filled the tribunesof the hall of the deputies, and, by their disorderlyconduct, and frequently by loud threats against indi-vidual members,discouraged all opinions or resolutionswhich did not coincide with those of their party.This was especially the case with respect to theking, against whom the Jacobins and Cordeliers,particularly after 1791, had circulated the grossestcalumnies. The democratic Cordeliers, therefore,joined with the Orleans party, which laboured unwit-tingly for the objects of the republicans, by utteringthe most slanderous charges against the king andqueen, and by having the lowest of the rabble ontheir side, and partly even in their pay. This wasthe reason that a popular insurrection opposed withviolence, April 18, 1791, the departure of the king toSt. Cloud, where he wished to spend the Easterholidays. Even the national guard, in disobedienceto the order of their commander, La Fayette, refusedto escort the king, who was already seated in thecarriage, through the multitude.

The party of the king’s enemies was the morepowerful, as the more moderate members had with-drawn from the Jacobin club, and the Cordeliers hadagain formed a junction with it, June 21. The latter,however, continued their meetings at the Capuchinmonastery, in order, by being prepared and united,to manage the deliberations of the Jacobin club.After the flight of the king, they made use of thepopular hatred against him, and loudly demandedthe deposition of Louis and the erection of a repub-lic. But the more moderate party, who for a longtime wrnre called Feuillants, from the place of theirmeeting, opposed their designs. But, on the otherhand, the retired deputies of the constituent assemblyfailed of dissolving the Jacobin club, before the closeof its own session. When the legislative assembly,the new delegates to which had been chosen almostentirely under the influence of the Jacobins, hadopened its session, the friends of the king, among whomthe Girondists were conspicuous for talents, main-tained for some time the majority against his enemies(the Cordeliers), even in the Jacobin club, so that theleaders of this club, Danton, Marat, and Robespierre,were obliged to disguise their projects. But theirinfluence was augmented by the circumstance thatthe mayor of Paris, Petition, and with him the muni-cipal authorities of Paris, composed of Jacobins,espoused their cause. Even the moderate Jacobins,and among them some of the royal ministers, inclinedto the party of the enemies of the king. Thus, bythe popular insurrection of May 29, 1792, theyobtained a resolution of the national assembly, re-quiring the king to disband the body guard, decreedto him by the first assembly of the nation; but theywere unable, by the insurrection of the suburbs ofSt. Antoine and St. Marcell of June 20, to compelthe king, whom only four Swiss grenadiers protectedagainst the attacks of the furious multitude, to revokethe veto that he had affixed to two resolutions of thenational assembly ; but they gained a majority of theassembly to protect from condign punishment theauthors of this tumult—Potion, Manual, and others.Meanwhile, the Jacobins, offended by a note of theAustrian minister of state, prince Kaunitz, hadeffected, against the will of the Cordeliers, a declara-tion of war against Austria, April 20, 1792; andJacobinism soon displayed its influence in the selection