pretense that "its principles are adverse to the
Constitution."[2464] At Auch, and at Rennes, through the insubordination
which they provoke among the men, they exhort resignations from their
officers. At Perpignan, by means of a riot which they foment, they
seize, beat and drag to prison, the commandant and staff whom
they accuse "of wanting to bombard the town with five pounds of
powder."[2465]--Meanwhile, through the jacquerie, which they let loose
from the Dordogne to Aveyron, from Cantal to the Pyrenees and the
Var, under the pretence of punishing the relatives of emigres and the
abettors of unsworn priests, they create an army of their own made up
of robbers and the destitute who, in anticipation of the exploits of the
coming revolutionary army, freely kill, burn, pillage, hold to ransom
and prey at large on the defenseless flock of proprietors of every class
and degree.[2466]

In this operation each club has its neighbors for allies, offering
to them or receiving from them offers of men and money. That of Caen
tenders its assistance to the Bayeux association for expelling unsworn
priests, and to help the patriots of the place "to rid themselves of the
tyranny of their administrators."[2467] That of Besancon declares the
three administrative bodies of Strasbourg "unworthy of the confidence
with which they have been honored," and openly enters into a league
with all the clubs of the Upper and Lower Rhine, to set free a Jacobin
arrested as a fomenter of insurrections.[2468] Those of the Puy-de-Dome
and neighboring departments depute to and establish at Clermont
a central club of direction and propaganda.[2469] Those of the
Bouches-du-Rhone treat with the commissioners of the departments of
Drome, Gard, and Herault, to watch the Spanish frontier, and send
delegates of their own to see the state of the fortifications of
Figuieres.[2470]--There is no recourse to the criminal tribunals. In
forty departments, these are not yet installed, in the forty-three
others, they are cowed, silent, or lack money and men to enforce their
decisions.[2471]

Such is the foundation of the Jacobin State, a confederation of twelve
hundred oligarchies, which maneuver their proletariat clients in
obedience to the word of command dispatched from Paris. It is a
complete, organized, active State, with its central government, its
active force, its official journal, its regular correspondence, its
declared policy, its established authority, a