VIII. 1792. declamation, their whole wisdom in abstract discussion. CHAP. They had now become humane in intention, and moderate in counsel, though they were far from having been so in the earlier stages of the Revolution; they were fitted to add to the prosperity of a republic in peace, but totally unequal to the task of guiding it in periods of agitation. They were too honourable to believe in the wickedness of their opponents, too scrupulous to adopt the measures requisite to disarm, too destitute of moral courage to be able to crush them. When warned of the necessity of striking a decisive blow, they replied, with the most deplorable sang-froid, that it was better not to irritate men of a violent temperament. The only weapons they Barbacould be prevailed on to employ were reason and elo- roux, 68, 70. quence, while their adversaries were daily sharpening 57, Th. iii. their poniards. "It was easy to foresee," says Louvet, 132. "what would be the issue of such a contest." 991 1 Louvet, 56, 231. Buzot, 60. Real seat of in the de the evil lay struction of the execu But in truth the evil lay much deeper than Louvet is inclined to admit; and the Girondists, now that they had become the executive, and were striving with a lower and yet more ferocious band of democrats, experienced the necessary effects of, and just retribution for, that destruc- tive. tion of the throne which they themselves had accomplished, and that fatal disbanding of the constitutional guard which they had so pertinaciously forced on the reluctant Louis. It was the want of an armed force at their command, to secure the freedom of their deliberations, and protect them from the insurgent mobs of the capital, which was the real evil. The dreadful massacres of the 10th August and the 2d September had struck such a terror into the Assembly, that whenever there was an appearance of rousing the populace, they were fain to submit. Resistance was impossible on the part of an unarmed body of legislators, in presence of an armed and infuriated rabble, which had drunk deeply of blood, and yet thirsted for more. The Jacobins were perfectly aware of this advantage, and accordingly, while they were daily VIII. CHAP. strengthening and increasing the armed force of the sections at the command of the municipality, they 1792. strenuously resisted the slightest approach towards the establishment of any guard or civic force for the defence of the Convention. Roland had made repeated attempts to get a decree passed for the establishment of such a force; but they were all defeated by the agitation raised in the Jacobin club, and the threat of an insurrection. 1 Hist. Parl. It was the destruction of the executive which induced all xix. 550, the horrors of the Revolution, for it left the legislature at the mercy of the mob of Paris !1 552. 61. Vain attempt to establish guard for municipal tion, and a language of of Paris at the Assem bly. Oct. 23. Having at length become sensible of their weakness from this cause, the Girondists brought forward a proposal for an armed guard for the Convention. The populace was immediately put in motion. The menacing language of the deputhe Conven- ties of the sections of Paris, who attended at the bar of the menacing Convention to remonstrate against the proposed guard, is the sections one of the most instructive proofs that exists of the state of the bar of thraldom to which they were reduced. "Mandatories of the sovereign people," said they, "you see before you the deputies of the sections of Paris. They come to tell you eternal truths to recall you to the principles which nature and reason have engraven in the hearts of all freemen. No more words-we demand deeds. It has been proposed to put you on a level with tyrants, by surrounding you with an armed guard." At these words a violent storm arose in the Assembly; the President covered his face in despair. Waiting patiently till the din had ceased, the orator resumed-"I repeat, they have proposed to put you on a level with tyrants, by surrounding you with a guard composed differently from that which now constitutes the public strength. The sections of Paris, after having maturely weighed the principles on which the sovereignty of the people rests, now declare to you, by us, that it regards that project as odious, its execution dangerous. We will attack that principle in front, as vigorously as our armies on the VIII. 1792. frontiers combat our enemies. We are now defending CHAP. the entire Republic; Paris has made the RevolutionParis has given liberty to France-Paris will maintain it." Overawed and subjugated, the Assembly were glad to 1 Hist. Parl. conceal their weakness by passing to the order of the day, 551. and inviting the deputation to the honour of the sitting.' xix. 550, laws passed emigrants. In the midst of these vehement passions, laws still 62. more stringent and sanguinary were brought forward More severe against the priests and emigrants. So rapidly had the against the Revolution advanced, that they now excited very little Oct. 28. attention, and were passed, as it were, by acclamation. First, it was decreed that every Frenchman taken with arms against France in his hands, should be put to death; and soon after, that "the French emigrants are for ever banished from the territory of France, and those who return shall be punished with death." A third decree directed that all their property, movable and immovable, should be confiscated to the service of the state. These decrees were rigidly executed: and though almost unnoticed amidst the bloody deeds which at the same period stained xix. 370. the Revolution, ultimately produced the most lasting and ix. 236. irremediable effects.2 2 Hist. Parl. Deux Amis, measures of dists against pality. At length the prostration of the Assembly before the 63. armed sections of Paris had become so excessive, that Proposed Buzot and Barbaroux, the most intrepid of the Girondists, the Giron brought forward two measures which, if they could have the Munici been carried, would have emancipated the legislature et 30. from this odious thraldom. Buzot proposed to establish a guard specially for the protection of the Convention, drawn from young men chosen from the different departments. Barbaroux at the same time brought forward four decrees, ably conceived, which, if carried into execution, would have effectually checked the usurpations of the municipality. By the first, the capital was to cease to be the seat of the legislature, when it lost its claim to their presence, by failing to protect them from insult. By the second, the troops of the Fédérés and the national VIII. 1792. 66 CHAP. cavalry were to be charged, along with the armed sections, with the protection of the legislature. By the third, the Convention was to constitute itself into a court of justice, for the trial of all conspirators against its authority. By the fourth, the Convention suspended the municipality of Paris. This would have established an effectual counterpoise to the influence of the populace of Paris, and have been a decisive blow to the Jacobins and municipality of that city. Robespierre combated the proposal with all his power. "Paris is now tranquil," said he.-"The blood of September 2d is yet reeking," replied Vergniaud. "The authority of the Convention is now universally respected:" "You yourself daily call it in question in your seditious assemblies, your sanguinary journals.” "Such a decree would be a libel on the people of Paris:" They groan, as well as ourselves, under the assassins who oppress them." "You wish to create a tyranny:' "On the contrary, we strive to put an end to yours." "You would establish a prætorian band :" "You rule by means of a horde of brigands." "You are treading in the steps of Sylla:" "You have the ambition of Cromwell." These angry recriminations had no effect but to divert the Assembly from the importance of the real object at issue; and, fearful of present danger, they rejected the only means of avoiding it in future, by 1 Hist. Parl. delivering themselves, unprotected, to the mob of the xix. 454, capital. Thus the Girondist ministry experienced the teur, 31st fatal consequences of the base betrayal of their sovereign ii. 12, 13. on occasion of the disbanding of the constitutional guard, Mig. i. 225. Th. iii. 221. and were fast descending the gulf into which that step had precipitated him.1 457. Moni Oct. Lac. 64. spread the report of a The Jacobins skilfully availed themselves of these impoThe Jacobins tent manifestations of distrust, to give additional currency to the report, that the Girondists intended to transport division of the seat of government to the southern provinces. This rumour rapidly gained ground with the populace, and augmented their dislike at the ministry. Their opponents the Repub lic. VIII. 1792. treated the accusation with contempt; a striking proof of CHAP. their ignorance of the trifling foundations on which popular favour or dislike is founded. On every occasion the democrats pressed for a decree in favour of the unity and indivisibility of the Republic; thereby insinuating the belief that a federal union was contemplated by their adversaries a project of all others the most unpopular in the central city of Paris, and the report of which was afterwards productive of the most ruinous consequences to the moderate party. In truth, the suspicions of the Jacobins on this point were not so destitute of foundation as their leaders in public maintained. Madame Roland conceived it was by a union of federal republics that the freedom of France could alone be secured; and this opinion had in secret now come to be shared by all the 1 Courrier leading men of her party, who felt daily the ruinous des Departe effects of the armed force of Paris, which their adversaries 163. Hist. had at their disposal. In the Courrier des Départements, 50. Lac. ii. which was conducted by their party, the project of a 229. federal union was openly advocated.1 ments, xl. p. Parl. xx. 47, 14. Th. iii. 65. tion for the Louis, and violent agi by the Jaco bins on the subject. All these preliminary struggles were essays of strength by the two parties, prior to the grand question which was Preparanow destined to attract the eyes of Europe and the world. trial of This was the TRIAL OF LOUIS XVI. The Jacobins had several motives for urging this measure. By placing the tation raised King's life in peril, they hoped to compel the Girondists openly to espouse his cause, and thereby ruin them without redemption in the eyes of the people; by engaging the popular party in so decisive a step, they knew that they would best preclude any chance of return to a royalist government. They were desirous, moreover, of taking out of the hands of the Girondists, and the moderate part of the Convention, the formation of a republican government; and they were probably of opinion that the memory of the dead was less to be feared than the vengeance of the living, and that a dethroned king was a dangerous neighbour to an infant democracy. To prepare |