[Footnote 2147: Malouet, II, 153.] [Footnote 2148: Decrees of July 23rd and 28th, 1789.--"Archives Nationales." Papers of Committee of Investigation, passim. Among other affairs see that of Madame de Persan (Moniteur, V. 611, sitting of September 9, 1790), and that of Malouet ("Mémoires" II. 12).] [Footnote 2149: Buchez and Roux, IV. 56 (Report of Garan de Coulon); V. 49 (Decision of the Committee of Investigation, December 28, 1789).] [Footnote 2150: The arrests of M. de Riolles, M. de Bussy, etc., of Madame de Jumilhac, of two other ladies, one at Bar-le-Duc and the other of Nancy, etc.] [Footnote 2151: Sitting of July 28, 1789, the speeches of Duport and Rewbell, etc.--Mercure, No. of January 1, 1791 (article by Mallet du Pan).--Buchez and Roux, V. 146l "Behold five or six successive conspiracies--that of the sacks of flour, that of the sacks of money, etc." (Article by Camille Desmoulins.)] [Footnote 2152: "Archives de la Préfecture de Police." Extract from the registers of the deliberations of the Conseil-Général of the district of Saint-Roch, October 10 1789: Arrête: to request all the men in the commune to devote themselves, with all the prudence, activity, and force of which they are capable, to the discovery, exposure, and publication of the horrible plots and infernal treachery which are constantly meditated against the inhabitants of the capital; to denounce to the public the authors, abettors, and adherents of the said plots, whatever their rank may be; to secure their persons and insure their punishment with all the rigor which outrages of this kind call for. The commandant of the battalion and the district captains come daily to consult with the committee. "While the alarm lasts, the first story of each house is to be lighted with lamps during the night: all citizens of the district are requested to be at home by ten o'clock in the evening at the latest, unless they should be on duty... . All citizens are invited to communicate whatever they may learn or discover in relation to the abominable plots which are secretly going on in the capital."] [Footnote 2153: Letter of M. de Guillermy, July 31, 1790 ("Actes des Apôtres," V. 56). "During these two nights (July 13th and 14th, 1789) that we remained in session I heard one deputy try to get it believed that an artillery corps had been ordered to point its guns against our hall; another, that it was undermined, and that it was to be blown up; another went so far as to declare that he smelt powder, upon which M. le Comte de Virieu replied that power had no odor until it was burnt."] [Footnote 2154: Dumont, 351. "Each constitutional law was a party triumph."] [Footnote 2155: Here Taine indicates how subversive parties may proceed to weaken a nation prior to their take-over.(SR.)] CHAPTER II. DESTRUCTION. I.--Two principal vices of the ancient régime.