0th
of August, Suleau, a conservative journalist, is massacred in the
street.--This shows how the party regards the freedom of the press.
Other liberties may be judged of by its encroachments on this domain.
Law, in its eyes, is null when it proves an obstacle, and when it
affords protection to adversaries; consequently there is no excess which
it does not sanction for itself; and no right which it does not refuse
to others.

There is no escape from the tyranny of the clubs. "That of Marseilles
has forced the city officials to resign;[1228] it has summoned the
municipal body to appear before it; it has ignored the authority of the
department, and has insulted the administrators of the law. Members of
the Orleans club have kept the national Supreme Court under supervision,
and taken part in its proceedings. Those of the Caen club have insulted
the magistrates, and seized and burnt the records of the proceedings
commenced against the destroyers of the statue of Louis XIV. At Alby
they have forcibly abstracted from the record-office the papers relating
to an assassin's trial, and burnt them." The club at Coutance gives the
deputies of its district to understand that "no reflections must be
cast on the laws of the people." That of Lyons stops an artillery
train, under the pretext that the ministry in office does not enjoy the
nation's confidence.--Thus does the club everywhere govern, or prepare
to govern. On the one hand, at the elections, it sets aside or supports
candidates; it alone votes, or, at least, controls the voting. In short,
the club is the elective power, and practically, if not legally, enjoys
the privileges of a political aristocracy. On the other hand, it assumes
to be a spontaneous police-board; it prepares and circulates the lists
which designate the ill-disposed, suspected, and lukewarm; it lodges
information against nobles whose sons have emigrated; against unsworn
priests who still reside in their former parishes, and against nuns,
"whose conduct is unconstitutional". It prompts, directs, and rebukes
local authorities; it is itself a supplemental, superior, and usurping
authority.--All at once, sensible men realize its character, and protest
against it.

"A body thus organized," says a petition,[1229] "exists solely for
arming one citizen against another.... Discussions take place there, and
denunciations are made under the seal of inviolable secrecy..... Honest
citizens, surrendered to the most atro