"It is asked how long the deputies of the people have been a national convention? I answer, from the day when, finding the door of their session-house surrounded by soldiers, they went and assembled where they could, and swore to perish rather than betray or abandon the rights of the nation... Whatever powers we may have exercised, our efforts and labours have rendered them legitimate..." Intrigues In late 1790, several small counter-revolutionary uprisings broke out and efforts took place to turn all or part of the army against the revolution. These uniformly failed. The court, in Mignet's words "encouraged every anti-revolutionary enterprise and avowed none", while negotiating with Mirabeau for more favorable treatment under a constitution, if one could not be prevented. By this time, the royal family were living in the Tuileries, under the generally benevolent guardianship of Lafayette and his National Guards. These guards protected them from occasional popular outbursts, but also fended off several efforts by royalists to spirit them out of Paris. Turmoil in the military The army faced considerable internal turmoil: in Nancy, in August 1790, three regiments, those of , Maître-de-camp, and the King's own regiment, rebelled against their chiefs. General Bouillé successfully put down the rebellion, which added to his (accurate) reputation for counter-revolutionary sympathies. Under the new military code promotion depended on seniority and proven competence, rather than on nobility. In one detrimental consequence of this generally sound policy, large portions of the existing officer corps, seeing that they would no longer stand to gain promotion, left the army, and even the country, and attempted to stir up international diplomatic and even military opposition to the new, more democratic order. Others (such as Bouillé) stayed inside the military, but remained insincere in their oaths to the new regime, and became a counter-revolutionary threat from within. Rise of the Clubs This same period saw an increase of the importance of political "clubs" in French politics. Foremost among these was the Jacobin Club. While the Assembly met in Versailles, it was an unnamed group of Breton deputies to propose legislation. With the move to Paris, the group acquired a name and expanded its membership, first to other like-minded members of the Assembly, then to members of the general populace in Paris, and later throughout France. According to the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, by 10 August 1790 there were already one hundred and fifty-two affiliated clubs.