436 Readings in European History 406. How the Jacobin Club origi- nated in 1789. to involve France in a war with Europe. Lameth makes clear the way in which the society supplemented the National Assembly. After the transfer of the Assembly to Paris [October, 1789], the deputies from provinces which were distant from the capital, and who, for the most part, had never visited Paris (for traveling was not so easy then as it is now), experienced a sort of terror at the idea of being alone and, so to speak, lost in the midst of this huge city. They almost all, consequently, endeavored to lodge as near as possible to the Assembly, which then sat near the Feuillants (at the point where the Rue de Rivoli and the Rue Castiglione now intersect), in order that they might be easily found in case of necessity. But they were desirous that there should also be a place where they might meet to agree upon the direc- tion of public matters. They applied to residents of the capital in whom they had confidence ; a search was made in the neighborhood of the Assembly, and the refectory of the convent of the Jacobins was leased for two hundred francs a year. The necessary furniture, which consisted of chairs and tables for the committee, was procured for a like sum. At the first session about one hundred deputies were present, the next day double that number. The Baron de Menou was elected president, and Target, Barnave, Alex- andre de Lameth, Le Chapelier, and Adrien du Port were elected secretaries, as well as three others whose names have escaped me. A committee was chosen to draw up a list of regulations, of which Barnave was the chairman. The soci- ety decided on the name Friends of the Constitution. It was determined that all members of the Assembly should be ad- mitted, but only such other persons should be received as had published useful works. The first to be thus received were Condorcet, the Marquis de Casotte, a distinguished economist, the Abbe Lecamus, a mathematician, and a small number of other savants or publicists. The aim of the Society of the Friends of the Constitution was to discuss questions which were already, or were about to
