During the month of June, 1792, "three decrees of
arrest and fifteen denunciations, two acts of affixing seals, four
civic invasions of his premises, and the confiscation of whatever
belonged to him in France" is the experience of Mallet du Pan. He
passes four years "without knowing with any certainty on going to bed
whether he should get out of it in the morning alive and free." Later
on, if he escapes the guillotine and the lantern, it is owing to
exile. On the 10th 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;[28] 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.
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