Mackey – Encyclopedia Of Freemasonry Vol. 1

204 SECRET SOCIETIESvocated the abolition of the universities and the throwingopen of all instruction to the public gratuitously . The` 1 Constitutional Society," directed by a man who bad powerfullysupported the candidature of the Duke of Orleans,Cauchois-Lemaire, insisted on the suppression of monopolies,the more equal levy of taxes, electoral reform, and the abolitionof the dignity of the peerage . The "Friends of thePeople" was another political society, one section of which,called the "Rights of Man," adopted for its text-book the" Declaration of the Rights of Man" by Robespierre, anddrew to itself many minor societies, too numerous, and inmosigeases too unimportant, to be mentioned . Their effortsended in the useless insurrection of Lyons on the 13th and14th April 1834 .598 . The Acting Company.-But a separate corps of theRights of Man, selected from among all the members, wasformed and called the Acting Company, under the commandof Captain Kersausie, a rich nobleman with democratic predilections. On certain days the loungers on the boulevardswould notice a crowd of silent promenaders whom an unknownobject seemed to draw together . No one understoodthe matter except the police ; the chief of the Acting Companywas reviewing his forces . Accompanied by one or twoadjutants he would accost the chief of a group, whom herecognised by a sign, hold a short conversation with him, andpass on to another ; the police agents would follow, see himenter a carriage, which was kept in waiting, drive up to ahouse which had a back way out, whence he would gain oneof his own-for he had several-residences, and keep indoorsfor three or four days .The Rights of Man society arranged the plot, proposedby Fieschi, to assassinate the king, Louis Philippe, on the28th July 1835 . Delahodde, the police spy, in his Memoirs,says that by the imprudence of one of the conspirators,Boireau, the police obtained a hint of what was intended,but that it was so vague, that it could not be acted on .This is evidently said to screen the police, for on the trialof Fieschi and the other conspirators, it was proved that onthe morning of the attempt Boireau had sent a letterdoingwhich was not-a mere imprudence-to the Prefectof Police, giving full information as to the means to beemployed, the individuals engaged in the plot, and the veryhouse in which the infernal machine was placed-all whichwas more than a mere hint-but the letter was thrown asideby the Prefect as not worth reading ! The failure of the