II. — On the Conflict of Parties in the Jacobin Club (November, 

 lySp-Jnly ly, lygi) 



BY CHARLES KUHLMANN 



The Breton Club having ceased its activit)- after the discussion 

 of the veto in August, 1789, the popular party in the assembly 

 found itself without a rallying point. Although differences of 

 opinion had shattered the loosely organized club at Versailles, 

 the memory of its usefulness soon induced the same members to 

 attempt the formation of a new and more regularly organized 

 association in the capital.^ The exact date of the formation of 

 the Jacobin Club it is impossible to determine from the evidence 

 so far discovered, but everything points to the close of November 

 or the first days of December, 1789, as the period during which 

 the first meetings were held. From a letter of Boulle, deputy of 

 Pontivy, dated December 18,- we learn that the society had re- 

 cently been formed but had existed long enough to have received 

 numerous requests for correspondence from provincial societies.'' 



^ For the fate of the Breton Club, see my article in the University Studies 

 for October, 1902, pp. 11-%1 . For the condition of the popular party at the 

 time when the Jacobin Club was formed, see the letter of Boulle cited be- 

 low. This letter also practically disposes of the controversy as to the origin 

 of the newchib. Some of the members lal denied that the Breton depu- 

 ties were the founders, and while BouUe's letter does not prove that his col- 

 leagues from Bretagne were alone concerned, it shows that the Jacobin Club 

 was looked upon at the time of its formation as a continuation of the Breton 

 Club. For the controversy see Aulard, La societe des Jacobins, I, xvii-xxi, 

 cited as "Aulard" in the following pages. 



- K.Qrv\\e:r, Recherches et notices, a.\:t.^on\\6.. The letters of Boulle are 

 now in the archives of Morbihan. 



^That the club had not yet been formed on November 18, we may con- 

 clude as practically certain, for in the Observateur of that date a certain 

 Imbert, who had been asked by the editor, Feydel, to urge the formation of 

 a Society of the Revolution, expresses surprise that no one had as yet 

 thought of such a thing. Imbert sent three louis to Desenne as a subscrip- 

 tion tor the formation of such a society and invited others to do the same. 

 As Imbert seemed well informed and as Desenne's was a place where the 



University Studies, Vol. V, No. 3, July 1905. 



229 



