Magistrates and officers, the most cultivated and polished people, are generally members; in short, the elite of the place.

Formerly, meetings took place for conversation and debate, and, being long-established, the club naturally passes over from literature to politics .-- The watch-word against all these provincial clubs is given from the Rue St.
Honore.[2120] "They are centers of conspiracy, and must be looked after" forthwith, and be at once trodden out .-- At one time, as at Cahors,[2121] a squad of the National Guard, on its return from an expedition against the neighboring gentry, and to finish its task breaks in on the club, "throws its furniture out of the windows and demolishes the house."-- At another time, as at Perpignan, the excited mob surrounds the club, dancing a fandango, and yell out, to the lantern! The club-house is sacked, while eighty of its members, covered with bruises, are shut up in the citadel for their safety.[2122]--At another time, as at Aix, the Jacobin club insults its adversaries on their own premises and provokes a scuffle, whereupon the municipality causes the doors of the assailed club to be walled up and issues warrants of arrest against its members .-- Always punishment awaits them for whatever violence they have to submit to.

Their mere existence seems an offense.

At Grenoble, they scarcely assemble before they are dispersed.

The fact is, they are suspected of "incivism;" their intentions may not be right; in any event, they cause a division of the place into two camps, and that is enough.