otnote 2243: Moniteur, XII. 664.--Mercure de France, June 23, 1792.]

[Footnote 2244: Hua, 141.--Mathieu Dumas, II. 399: "It is remarkable
that Lafond de Ladebat, one of our trustiest friends, was elected
president on the 23rd of July, 1792. This shows that the majority of the
Assembly was still sound; but it was only brought about by a secret vote
in the choice of candidates. The same men who obeyed their consciences,
through a sentiment of justice and of propriety, could not face the
danger which surrounded them in the threats of the factions when they
were called upon to vote by rising or sitting."]

[Footnote 2245: This description and others of the same period have
undoubtedly been studied carefully by thousands of socialists and
political hopefuls who, in any case, made use of similar tactics to take
over thousands of governing committees, institutions and organizations.
(SR).]

CHAPTER III.

I.--Policy of the Assembly.--State of France at the end of 1791.

Powerlessness of the Law.

If the deputies who, on the 1st of October, 1791, so solemnly and
enthusiastically swore to the Constitution, had been willing to open
their eyes, they would have seen this Constitution constantly violated,
both in its letter and spirit, over the entire territory. As usual, and
through the vanity of authorship, M. Thouret, the last president of
the Constituent Assembly, had, in his final report, hidden disagreeable
truth underneath pompous and delusive phrases; but it was only necessary
to look over the monthly record to see whether, as guaranteed by him,
"the decrees were faithfully executed in all parts of the empire."--"
Where is this faithful execution to be found?" inquires Mallet du
Pan.[2301] "Is it at Toulon, in the midst of the dead and wounded, shot
in the very face of the amazed municipality and Directory? Is it at
Marseilles, where two private individuals are knocked down and massacred
as aristocrats," under the pretext "that they sold to children poisoned
sugar-plums with which to begin a counter-revolution?" Is it at Arles,
"against which 4,000 men from Marseilles, dispatched by the club, are at
this moment marching?" Is it at Bayeux, "where the sieur Fauchet
against whom a warrant for arrest is out, besides being under the ban
of political disability, has just been elected deputy to the Legislative
Assembly?" Is it at Blois, "where the commandant, doomed to death for
having tried to execute these