The  country  was  already  divided  into  parties,  for  and
against,  making  a  common  cause  with  France.  That  in
favor  of  it,  severely  condemned  the  proclamation ;  the
other  approved  of  it  in  the  highest  terms.  The  former
denounced  it  as  a  royal  edict,  and  as  a  daring  assumption
of  power  ;  while  the  other  upheld  it  as  a  new  proof  of  the
wisdom  and  patriotism  which  had  always  distinguished
Washington.  About  this  time,  there  were  introduced  from  ^»
France  imitations  of  what  was  there  called  the  Jacobin
Club.  This  club  (so  called  from  its  place  of  meeting)  was
composed  of  certain  prominent  men  who  met  to  decide  what
the  measures  of  the  government  should  be,  and  they  accom-
plished their  objects  by  intrigue  and  terror.  The  institu-
tions of  the  same  sort  here,  were  formed  for  the  ostensible
purpose  of  preserving  civil  liberty,  but  for  the  real  purpose
of  overawing  the  government.  They  were  here  called
"  Democratic  Societies, "  by  their  members,  and  "  Jacobin
Clubs, "  by  their  adversaries.  They  had  an  affinity  with
each  other,  by  means  of  corresponding  committees.  They
approved  of  all  the  excesses  of  the  French  Revolution.  In
some  of  their  festivals,  especially  in  Philadelphia,  extraor-
dinary ceremonies  are  said  to  have  occurred,  in  the  pres-
ence, too,  of  distinguished  men.  But  the  memory  of  them
has  passed  away  ;  and  it  is  probable,  that  the  agents  in
these  scenes  lived  to  regret  them.  It  can  be  no  otherwise
useful  to  refer  to  them,  than  to  show  the  character  of  the  -v
times  ;  and  the  excessive  enthusiasm  which  the  transactions
of  France  inspired ;  and  how  embarrassing  it  was  to  our
own  government.  Washington  felt  these  combinations,  as
being  destructive  of  all  social  order  ;  and  is  supposed  to  \
have  alluded  to  them  in  his  farewell  address,  in  speaking  of
"  secret  societies."  He  mentioned  them  again  and  again,  '
with  the  most  decided  disapprobation,  in  his  private  letters.
