CHAPTER XXII

THE FAMILIES AND KINDRED FRENCH SOCIETIES.
At the beginning of the year 1833 there was formed in Paris a secret society for the purpose of overthrowing Louis Philippe, who had succeeded his cousin Charles X as King of France after the revolution of 1830. This society adopted the name of Droits de V Homme, the Rights of Man,1 and at once began to attract those who were dissatisfied with the results of the late Revolution.
The society had a ladder-like organization whose bottom rung was a group of twenty men. It ascended by various other steps to eleven Directors, who had supreme power and issued all orders. From the moment of its formation the increase in numbers was rapid, and by the beginning of 1834, 3,500 members had been enrolled; but from the first there were internal dissensions, because its adherents were never able to agree among themselves in defining the true Rights of Man. Owing, perhaps, to these internecine disagreements, all its initial attempts to embarrass the Government failed miserably.
In April, 1834, the French Chambers passed a law enacting that no society should be formed for any purpose without the authorization of Government, if consisting of more than twenty members, even if divided into sections of less than twenty persons, whether meeting periodically or not.
1For most of the details about the early history of this society I have fol¬ lowed, Histoire des societe's secretes et du parti republicain de 1830-48, by Lucien de la Hodde, Paris, 1850. De la Hodde, though a witty and entertaining writer and a master of his facts, for he was one of the leaders of the society, often is unreliable and careless in his statements. He belonged to that large class of successful conspirators who do not obtain what is in their opinion an adequate reward for their services, and indemnify themselves by decrying their fellow- plotters and questioning their motives. His judgment of his contemporaries, therefore, should not be accepted unquestioningly.
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THE FAMILIES AND FRENCH SOCIETIES 1 75
This was followed later in the year, as the result of Fieschi’s attempt to assassinate Louis Philippe in July, by the famous September Laws, whereby the Press was forbidden to publish any criticism of the King or to discuss the principles of Government.
The result of all these measures of repression was to drive the opponents of reaction into the ranks of the secret societies.
In the year 1835, according to De la Hodde, though other authorities make the date 1834, the Society of the Rights of Man was dissolved and immediately reconstituted under the name of Societe des Families, The Families. The new society was of a military character, and so constituted that the names of its chiefs should remain unknown to the mem¬ bers generally till the hour for action came.
The first Directorate consisted of Louis Auguste Blanqui, Armand Barbes, and a less celebrated man, Martin Bernard, a printer by trade, and able revolutionary organizer by confirmed habit — indeed the man last named is said by Louis Blanc to have been the moving spirit in the plot.
Admission into the Families was by a very awe-inspiring ceremony.
The candidate was blindfolded, and while in this state questioned about his political views. When he had declared himself ready to take up arms for the sake of his republican doctrines he was called upon to repeat an oath couched in the following terms :
“I swear never to reveal to anyone, not even to my nearest relative, what is said amongst us. I swear to obey the laws of the association; to pursue with hate or vengeance traitors who may insinuate themselves into our ranks; to love and serve my Brethren; to sacrifice my liberty and life.1”
He was then instructed to procure arms and ammunition for himself, given various orders about how to behave if arrested, and told to recruit for the society. Every member assumed a nom de guerre by which he was known.
None of the society’s plans was to be committed to paper.
JDe la Hodde, Op. cit.
176 FAMOUS SECRET SOCIETIES
SLx members- — De la Hodde says twelve — formed the unit of the society known as a Family. Five or six Families united under the same Chief formed a Section ; and two or three Sections a Quarter, the chief of which received his instructions from the unknown members of the Director¬ ate, through one of them who pretended to be merely their agent.
The aim of the society was to secure a democratic form of government by armed revolution.
It did not increase its membership rapidly at first. By 1 836 it had no more than 1,200 sworn adherents, but some of these were soldiers of the regiments garrisoning Paris. Moreover, it had succeeded in establishing a store of arms and a factory for making gunpowder.
Before the year was out, however, the gunpowder- factory was raided by the police. Blanqui and Barbes were arrested, tried for conspiracy, and sent to prison.
Though the society had not become implicated in the discovery of the gunpowder plot, it was known that the police had obtained an inkling of its existence, so it was thought advisable to reconstitute the body under another name. This was done, and the old Les Families became the new society of Les Saisons, The Seasons.
There is quite a Chestertonian flavour about its consti¬ tution. Six members commanded by a Sunday formed a Week ; four Weeks commanded by a July formed a Month', three Months obeyed a Spring or Season — four Seasons were under a Revolutionary Agent.
The system of isolation which had been enforced in the Families was abandoned, and the members encour¬ aged to assemble together as often as possible in taverns and similar places where they might appear to be a mere gathering of acquaintances. But it was still strictly forbidden to write a word about any business of the society.
Martin Bernard was at first the sole director, but Blanqui and Barbes were soon released on an amnesty granted to political prisoners and rejoined their old associate as joint- leaders.
THE FAMILIES AND FRENCH SOCIETIES 1 77
The mode of initiation was more or less the same as that employed by the Families, and the oath ran:
“ In the name of the Republic, I swear eternal hate to all kings, to all aristocrats, to all oppressors of humanity. I swear absolute devotion to the people, fraternity to all men, save aristocrats; I swear to punish traitors; I promise to give my life, and even to mount the scaffold, if necessary, to bring about the reign of the sovereignty of the People and of equality.”1
In 1837 the society began to try to influence public opinion by bringing out a clandestine newspaper entitled the Moniteur Republicain, but it was a failure, and was succeeded by another venture of the same kind, named U Homme Libre. This, too, had no very long life, for the police soon discovered the whereabouts of its printing-press, and the producers were sent to prison.
These events, which happened in the year 1838, succeeded in working the Seasons up to a fine pitch of excitement, so that the members were eager for action. The society had no more than 1,200 members, but they relied upon getting the support of all those discontented elements in a city which are ever ready to join in any revolt, so in 1839 plans were made for an armed rising, and Sunday the 12th May was the date chosen.
It was a complete failure. All the chiefs, Blanqui, Barbes, and Bernard were arrested and tried, and all sentenced to long terms of imprisonment.
The society was then reorganized under new leaders, chief of whom was a worker in ebony named Grand-Louis. Later, Dourille, a book-seller, was made chief.
In 1840 the society began to be recruited from the Com¬ munists who just then were beginning to make their presence felt in Paris. About the same time, too, De la Hodde became one of the leaders, and made himself responsible for printing the “Orders of the Day,” which were issued at regular intervals to all the members.
1 De la Hodde, Op. cit.
178 FAMOUS SECRET SOCIETIES
The decline of the society had, however, set in by this time, partly owing to Dourille’s incapacity as leader, partly because the Communists had begun to introduce open propaganda instead of secret plotting.
At the end of 1842 Dourille retired from the leadership, and the Directorate was carried on by a junta of four, of whom De la Hodde was one; the leading spirit, however, was Caussidiere, later Prefect of Police under the Provisional Government of 1848. He, however, retired from the Direct¬ orate in 1846, and the leadership devolved on Flocon, a journalist, and a workman named Albert, who later also found a place in the Provisional Government of 1848.
At this time a split took place in the society, the seceders forming another group entitled the Dissidents, which, how¬ ever, had identical aims with the mother society, the es¬ tablishing of a democratic form of government by force.
The societies determined to bide their time ; not to initiate an armed revolt themselves, but to wait till parliamentary agitation provoked public disturbances, when they were prepared to act with vigour.
The hour came in February, 1848, when the Govern¬ ment forbade a Liberal demonstration in Paris. Barricades had been thrown up and the capital was in a state of danger¬ ous unrest, but no serious encounter had taken place between the troops on guard and the populace, when on the evening of the 23rd the secret societies, the Seasons and the Dissidents, armed themselves and marched to capture the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It has been estimated that their actual members cannot have been more than a few hundreds, but they swept into their wake everyone with a fighting spirit who had a grudge against the existing political and social order. The upshot was the flight of Louis Philippe, and the formation of a Provisional Government, which (after the mob had expressed its sentiments by the methods best known to mobs) declared itself to be Republican.
Barbas and Blanqui were released with other political prisoners, and were not long before they began to plot against the Provisional Government which their followers had helped to establish. This time, however, the influence of
THE FAMILIES AND FRENCH SOCIETIES 1 79
the secret societies was not strong enough to cause another upheaval. Both these leaders and many of their followers went into prison or exile; and the coup d'etat which made Napoleon III Emperor of the French extinguished at the same time the last sparks of life in the secret societies that had helped to make the revolution of 1848.