Attitude of Foreign Powers.
Coolness of Austria towards the Émigrés.
The Declaration of Pilnitz.
Completion of the Constitution.
Restoration of the King.
Tumult in the Champs de Mars.
Dissolution of the Constituent National Assembly.
"On the 27th of July, Prince Reuss presented a memorial [from
the Court of Austria] to the Court of Berlin, in which the
Emperor explained at length his views of a European Concert.
It was drawn up, throughout, in Leopold's usual cautious and
circumspect manner. ... In case an armed intervention should
appear necessary--they would take into consideration the
future constitution of France; but in doing so they were to
renounce, in honour of the great cause in which they were
engaged, all views of selfish aggrandizement. We see what a
small part the desire for war played in the drawing up of this
far-seeing plan. The document repeatedly urged that no step
ought to be taken without the concurrence of all the Powers,
and especially of England; and as England's decided aversion
to every kind of interference was well known, this stipulation
alone was sufficient to stamp upon the whole scheme, the
character of a harmless demonstration."
{1272}
At the same time Catharine II. of Russia, released from war
with the Turks, and bent upon the destruction of Poland,
desired "to implicate the Emperor as inextricably as possible
in the French quarrel, in order to deprive Poland of its most
powerful protector; she therefore entered with the greatest
zeal into the negociations for the support of Louis XVI. Her
old opponent, the brilliant King Gustavus of Sweden, declared
his readiness--on receipt of a large subsidy from Russia--to
conduct a Swedish army by sea to the coast of Flanders, and
thence, under the guidance of Bouillé, against Paris. ... But,
of course, every word he uttered was only an additional
warning to Leopold to keep the peace. ... Under these
circumstances he [the Emperor] was most disagreeably surprised
on the 20th of August, a few days before his departure for
Pillnitz, by the sudden and entirely unannounced and
unexpected arrival in Vienna of the Count d'Artois. It was not
possible to refuse to see him, but Leopold made no secret to
him of the real position of affairs. ... He asked permission
to accompany the Emperor to Pillnitz, which the latter, with
cool politeness, said that he had no scruple in granting, but
that even there no change of policy would take place. ...
Filled with such sentiments, the Emperor Leopold set out for
the conference with his new ally; and the King of Prussia came
to meet him with entirely accordant views. ... The
representations of d'Artois, therefore, made just as little
impression at Pillnitz, as they had done, a week before, at
Vienna. ... On the 27th, d'Artois received the joint answer of
the two Sovereigns, the tone and purport of which clearly
testified to the sentiments of its authors. ... The Emperor
and King gave their sanction to the peaceable residence of
individual Émigrés in their States, but declared that no armed
preparations would be allowed before the conclusion of an
agreement between the European Powers. To this rejection the
two Monarchs added a proposal of their own--contained in a
joint declaration--in which they spoke of the restoration of
order and monarchy in France as a question of the greatest
importance to the whole of Europe. They signified their
intention of inviting the coöperation of all the European
Powers. ... But as it was well ascertained that England would
take no part, the expressions they chose were really
equivalent to a declaration of non-intervention, and were
evidently made use of by Leopold solely to intimidate the
Parisian democrats. ... Thus ended the conference of Pillnitz,
after the two Monarchs had agreed to protect the constitution
of the Empire, to encourage the Elector of Saxony to accept
the crown of Poland, and to afford each other friendly aid in
every quarter. The statement, therefore, which has been a
thousand times repeated, that the first coalition for an
attack on the French Revolution was formed on this occasion,
has been shown to be utterly without foundation. As soon as
the faintest gleam of a reconciliation between Louis and the
National Assembly appeared, the cause of the Emigrés was
abandoned by the German Courts."
H. Von Sybel,
History of the French Revolution,
book 2, chapter 6. (volume l).
At Paris, meantime, "the commissioners charged to make their
report on the affair of Varennes presented it on the 16th of
July. In the journey, they said, there was nothing culpable;
and even if there were, the King was inviolable. Dethronement
could not result from it, since the King had not staid away
long enough, and had not resisted the summons of the
legislative body. Robespierre, Buzot, and Pétion repeated all
the well known arguments against the inviolability. Duport,
Barnave, and Salles answered them, and it was at length
resolved that the King could not be brought to trial on
account of his flight. ... No sooner was this resolution
passed than Robespierre rose, and protested strongly against
it, in the name of humanity. On the evening preceding this
decision, a great tumult had taken place at the Jacobins. A
petition to the Assembly was there drawn up, praying it to
declare that the King was deposed as a perfidious traitor to
his oaths, and that it would seek to supply his place by all
the constitutional means. It was resolved that this petition
should be carried on the following day to the Champ de Mars,
where everyone might sign it on the altar of the country. Next
day, it was accordingly carried to the place agreed upon, and
the crowd of the seditious was reinforced by that of the
curious, who wished to be spectators of the event. At this
moment the decree was passed, so that it was now too late to
petition. Lafayette arrived, broke down the barricades already
erected, was threatened and even fired at, but ... at length
prevailed on the populace to retire. ... But the tumult was
soon renewed. Two invalids, who happened to be, nobody knows
for what purpose, under the altar of the country, were
murdered, and then the uproar became unbounded. The Assembly
sent for the municipality, and charged it to preserve public
order. Bailly repaired to the Champ de Mars, ordered the red
flag to be unfurled, and, by virtue of martial law, summoned
the seditious to retire. ... Lafayette at first ordered a few
shots to be fired in the air: the crowd quitted the altar of
the country, but soon rallied. Thus driven to extremity, he
gave the word, 'Fire!' The first discharge killed some of the
rioters. Their number has been exaggerated. Some have reduced
it to 30, others have raised it to 400, and others to several
thousand. The last statement was believed at the moment, and
the consternation became general. ... Lafayette and Bailly
were vehemently reproached for the proceedings in the Champ de
Mars; but both of them, considering it their duty to observe
the law, and to risk popularity and life in its execution,
felt neither regret nor fear for what they had done. The
factions were overawed by the energy which they displayed. ...
About this time the Assembly came to a determination which has
since been censured, but the result of which did not prove so
mischievous as it has been supposed. It decreed that none of
its members should be re-elected. Robespierre was the proposer
of this resolution, and it was attributed to the envy which he
felt against his colleagues, among whom he had not shone. ...
The new Assembly was thus deprived of men whose enthusiasm was
somewhat abated, and whose legislative science was matured by
an experience of three years. ... The constitution was ...
completed with some haste, and submitted to the King for his
acceptance. From that moment his freedom was restored to him;
or, if that expression be objected to, the strict watch kept
over the palace ceased. ... After a certain number of days he
declared that he accepted the constitution. ... He repaired to
the Assembly, where he was received as in the most brilliant
times. Lafayette, who never forgot to repair the inevitable
evils of political troubles, proposed a general amnesty for
all acts connected with the Revolution, which was proclaimed
amidst shouts of joy, and the prisons were instantly thrown
open. At length, on the 30th of September [1791], Thouret, the
last president, declared that the Constituent Assembly had
terminated its sittings."
A. Thiers,
History of the French Revolution
(American edition), volume 1, pages 186-193.
ALSO IN:
M'me de Stael,
Considerations on the French Revolution,
part 2, chapters 22-23, and part 3, chapters 1-2.
H. C. Lockwood,
Constitutional History of France,
chapter 1., and appendix 1.
{1273}
FRANCE: A. D. 1791 (August).
Insurrection of slaves in San Domingo.
See HAYTI: A. D. 1632-1803.
FRANCE: A. D. 1791 (September).
Removal of all disabilities from the Jews.
See JEWS: A. D. 1791.
FRANCE: A. D. 1791 (October).
The meeting of the Legislative Assembly.
Its party divisions.
The Girondists and their leaders.
The Mountain.
"The most glorious destiny was predicted for the Constitution,
yet it did not live a twelve month; the Assembly that was to
apply it was but a transition between the Constitutional
Monarchy and the Republic. It was because the Revolution
partook much more of a social than of a political overthrow.
The Constitution had done all it could for the political part,
but the social fabric remained to be reformed; the ancient
privileged classes had been scotched, but not killed. ... The
new Legislative Assembly [which met October 1, its members
having been elected before the dissolution of the Constituent
Assembly] was composed of 745 deputies, mostly chosen from the
middle classes and devoted to the Revolution; those of the
Right and Extreme Right going by the name of Feuillants, those
of the Left and Extreme Left by the name of Jacobins. The
Right was composed of Constitutionalists, who counted on the
support of the National Guard and departmental authorities.
Their ideas of the Revolution were embodied in the
Constitution. ... They kept up some relations with the Court
by means of Barnave and the Lameths, but their pillar outside
the Assembly, their trusty counsellor, seems to have been
Lafayette. ... The Left was composed of men resolved at all
risks to further the Revolution, even at the expense of the
Constitution. They intended to go as far as a Republic, only
they lacked common unity of views, and did not form a compact
body. ... They reckoned among their numbers Vergniaud, Guadet,
and Gensonné, deputies of the Gironde [the Bordeaux region, on
the Garonne], powerful and vehement orators, and from whom
their party afterwards took the name of 'Girondins'; also
Brissot [de Warville] (born 1754), a talented journalist, who
had drawn up the petition for the King's deposition; and
Condorcet (born 1743), an ultra-liberal, but a brilliant
philosopher. Their leader outside the Assembly was Pétion
(born 1753), a cold, calculating, and dissembling Republican,
enjoying great popularity with the masses. The Extreme Left,
occupying in small numbers the raised seats in the Assembly,
from which circumstance they afterwards took the name of 'the
Mountain,' were auxiliaries of the 'Girondins' in their
attempts to further a Revolution which should be entirely in
the interest of the people. Their inspirers outside the
Assembly were Robespierre (born 1759), who controlled the club
of the Jacobins by his dogmatic rigorism and fame for
integrity; and Danton (born 1759), surnamed the Mirabeau of
the 'Breechless' (Sansculottes), a bold and daring spirit, who
swayed the new club of the Cordeliers. The Centre was composed
of nonentities, their moderation was inspired by fear, hence
they nearly always voted with the Left."
H. Van Laun,
The French Revolutionary Epoch,
book 1, chapter 2, section 3 (volume 1).
"The department of the Gironde had given birth to a new
political party in the twelve citizens who formed its
deputies. ... The names (obscure and unknown up to this
period), of Ducos, Guadet, Lafond-Ladebat, Grangeneuve,
Gensonné, Vergniaud, were about to rise into notice and renown
with the storms and disasters of their country; they were the
men who were destined to give that impulse to the Revolution
that had hitherto remained in doubt and indecision, before
which it still trembled with apprehension, and which was to
precipitate it into a republic. Why was this impulse fated to
have birth in the department of the Gironde and not in Paris?
Nought but conjectures can be offered on this subject. ...
Bordeaux was a commercial city, and commerce, which requires
liberty through interest, at last desires it through a love of
freedom. Bordeaux was the great commercial link between
America and France, and their constant intercourse with
America had communicated to the Gironde their love for free
institutions. Moreover Bordeaux ... was the birthplace of
Montaigne and Montesquieu, those two great republicans of the
French school."
A. de Lamartine,
History of the Girondists,
book 4, section 1 (volume 1).
"In the new National Assembly there was only one powerful and
active party--that of the Gironde. ... When we use the term
'parties' in reference to this Assembly, nothing more is meant
by it than small groups of from 12 to 20 persons, who bore the
sway in the rostra and in the Committees, and who alternately
carried with them the aimless crowd of Deputies. It is true,
indeed, that at the commencement of their session, 130
Deputies entered their names among the Jacobins, and about 200
among the Feuillants, but this had no lasting influence on the
divisions, and the majority wavered under the influence of
temporary motives. The party which was regarded as the 'Right'
had no opportunity for action, but saw themselves, from the
very first, obliged to assume an attitude of defence. ...
Outside the Chamber the beau ideal of this party,--General
Lafayette,--declared himself in favour of an American Senate,
but without any of the energy of real conviction. As he had
defended the Monarchy solely from a sense of duty, while all
the feelings of his heart were inclined towards a Republic, so
now, though he acknowledged the necessity of an upper Chamber,
the existing Constitution appeared to him to possess a more
ideal beauty. He never attained, on this point, either to
clear ideas or decided actions; and it was at this period that
he resigned his command of the National guard in Paris, and
retired for a while to his estate in Auvergne. ... The
Girondist Deputies ... were distinguished among the new
members of the Assembly by personal dignity, regular
education, and natural ability; and were, moreover, as ardent
in their radicalism as any Parisian demagogue. They
consequently soon became the darlings of all those zealous
patriots for whom the Cordeliers were too dirty and the
Feuillants too luke warm.
{1274}
External advantages are not without their weight, even in the
most terrible political crises, and the Girondists owe to the
magic of their eloquence, and especially to that of Vergniaud,
an enduring fame, which neither their principles nor their
deeds would have earned for them. ... The representatives of
Bordeaux had never occupied a leading position in the
Girondist party, to which they had given its name. The real
leadership of the Gironde fell singularly enough into the
hands of an obscure writer, a political lady, and a priest who
carried on his operations behind the scenes. It was their
hands that overthrew the throne of the Capets, and spread
revolution over Europe. ... The writer in this trio was
Brissot, who on the 16th of July had wished to proclaim the
Republic, and who now represented the capital in the National
Assembly, as a constitutional member. ... While Brissot shaped
the foreign policy of the Girondist party, its home affairs
were directed by Marie Jeanne Roland, wife of the quondam
Inspector of Factories at Lyons, with whom she had come the
year before to Paris, and immediately thrown herself into the
whirlpool of political life. As early as the year 1789, she
had written to a friend, that the National Assembly must
demand two illustrious heads, or all would be lost. ... She
was ... 36 years old, not beautiful, but interesting,
enthusiastic and indefatigable; with noble aims, but incapable
of discerning the narrow line which separates right from
wrong. ... When warned by a friend of the unruly nature of the
Parisian mob, she replied, that bloodhounds were after all
indispensable for starting the game. ... A less conspicuous,
but not less important, part in this association, was played
by the Abbé Sieyès. He did what neither Brissot nor Mad.
Roland could have done by furnishing his party with a
comprehensive and prospective plan of operations. ... Their
only clearly defined objects were to possess themselves of the
reins of government, to carry on the Revolution, and to
destroy the Monarchy by every weapon within their reach."
H. von Sybel,
History of the French Revolution,
book 3, chapter 1 (volume 1).
ALSO IN:
H. A. Taine,
The French Revolution,
book 4, (volume 2).
See, also, below.
FRANCE: A. D. 1791-1792.
Growth and spread of anarchy and civil war.
Activity of the Emigrés and the ejected priests.
Decrees against them vetoed by the King.
The Girondists in control of the government.
War with the German powers forced on by them.
"It was an ominous proof of the little confidence felt by
serious men in the permanence of the new Constitution, that
the funds fell when the King signed it. All the chief
municipal posts in Paris were passing into the hands of
Republicans, and when Bailly, in November, ceased to be Mayor
of Paris, he was succeeded in that great office by Pétion, a
vehement and intolerant Jacobin. Lafayette had resigned the
command of the National Guard, which was then divided under
six commanders, and it could no longer be counted on to
support the cause of order. Over a great part of France there
was a total insecurity of life and property, such as had
perhaps never before existed in a civilised country, except in
times of foreign invasion or successful rebellion. Almost all
the towns in the south--Marseilles, Toulon, Nîmes, Arles,
Avignon, Montpellier, Carpentras, Aix, Montauban--were centres
of Republicanism, brigandage, or anarchy. The massacres of
Jourdain at Avignon, in October, are conspicuous even among
the horrors of the Revolution. Caen in the following month was
convulsed by a savage and bloody civil war. The civil
constitution of the clergy having been condemned by the Pope,
produced an open schism, and crowds of ejected priests were
exciting the religious fanaticism of the peasantry. In some
districts in the south, the war between Catholic and
Protestant was raging as fiercely as in the 17th century,
while in Brittany, and especially in La Vendée, there were all
the signs of a great popular insurrection against the new
Government. Society seemed almost in dissolution, and there
was scarcely a department in which law was observed and
property secure. The price of corn, at the same time, was
rising fast under the influence of a bad harvest in the south,
aggravated by the want of specie, the depreciation of paper
money, and the enormously increased difficulties of transport.
The peasantry were combining to refuse the paper money. It was
falling rapidly in value. ... In the mean time the stream of
emigrants continued unabated, and it included the great body
of the officers of the army who had been driven from the
regiments by their own soldiers. ... At Brussels, Worms, and
Coblentz, emigrants were forming armed organisations."
W. E. H. Lecky,
History of England in the 18th century,
chapter 21 (volume 5).
"The revolution was threatened by two dangerous enemies, the
emigrants, who were urging on a foreign invasion, and the
non-juring bishops and priests who were doing all in their
power to excite domestic rebellion. The latter were really the
more dangerous. ... The Girondists clamoured for repressive
measures. On the 30th of October it was decreed that the count
of Provence, unless he returned within two months, should
forfeit all rights to the regency. On the 9th of November an
edict threatened the emigrants with confiscation and death
unless they returned to their allegiance before the end of the
year. On the 29th of November came the attack upon the
non-jurors. They were called upon to take the oath within
eight days, when lists were to be drawn up of those who
refused; these were then to forfeit their pensions, and if any
disturbance took place in their district they were to be
removed from it, or if their complicity were proved they were
to be imprisoned for two years. The king accepted the decree
against his brother, but he opposed his veto to the other two.
The Girondists and Jacobins eagerly seized the opportunity for
a new attack upon the monarchy. ... Throughout the winter
attention was devoted almost exclusively to foreign affairs.
It has been seen that the emperor was really eager for peace,
and that as long as he remained in that mood there was little
risk of any other prince taking the initiative. At the same
time it must be acknowledged that Leopold's tone towards the
French government was often too haughty and menacing to be
conciliatory, and also that the open preparations of the
emigrants in neighbouring states constituted an insult if not
a danger to France. The Girondists, the most susceptible of
men, only expressed the national sentiment in dwelling upon
this with bitterness, and in calling for vengeance. At the
same time they had conceived the definite idea that their own
supremacy could best be obtained and secured by forcing on a
foreign war.
{1275}
This was expressly avowed by Brissot, who took the lead of the
party in this matter. Robespierre, on the other hand, partly
through temperament and partly through jealousy of his
brilliant rivals, was inclined to the maintenance of peace.
But on this point the Feuillants were agreed with the Gironde,
and so a vast majority was formed to force the unwilling king
and ministers into war. The first great step was taken when
Duportail, who had charge of military affairs, was replaced by
Narbonne, a Feuillant. Louis XVI. was compelled to issue a
note (14 December, 1791) to the emperor and to the archbishop
of Trier to the effect that if the military force of the
emigrants were not disbanded by the 15th of January
hostilities would be commenced against the elector. The latter
at once ordered the cessation of the military preparations,
but the emigrants not only refused to obey but actually
insulted the French envoy. Leopold expressed his desire for
peace, but at the same time declared that any attack on the
electorate of Trier would be regarded as an act of hostility
to the empire. These answers were unsatisfactory, and Narbonne
collected three armies on the frontiers, under the command of
Rochambeau, Lafayette, and Luckner, and amounting together to
about 150,000 men. On the 25th of January an explicit
declaration was demanded from the emperor, with a threat that
war would be declared unless a satisfactory answer was
received by the 4th of March. Leopold II. saw all his hopes of
maintaining peace in western Europe gradually disappearing,
and was compelled to bestir himself. ... On the 7th of
February he finally concluded a treaty with the king of
Prussia. ... On the 1st of March, while still hoping to avoid
a quarrel, Leopold II. died of a sudden illness, and with him
perished the last possibility of peace. His son and successor,
Francis II., who was now 24, had neither his father's ability
nor his experience, and he was naturally more easily swayed by
the anti-revolutionary spirit. ... The Girondists combined all
their efforts for an attack upon the minister of foreign
affairs, Delessart, whom they accused of truckling to the
enemies of the nation. Delessart was committed to prison, and
his colleagues at once resigned. The Gironde now came into
office. The ministry of home affairs was given to Roland; of
war to Servan; of finance to Clavière. Dumouriez obtained the
foreign department, Duranthon that of justice, and Lacoste the
marine. Its enemies called it 'the ministry of the
Sansculottes.' ... On the 20th of April [1792] Louis XVI.
appeared in the assembly and read with trembling voice a
declaration of war against the king of Hungary and Bohemia."
R. Lodge,
History of Modern Europe,
chapter 22, section 20-21.
The sincere desire of the Emperor Leopold II. to avoid war
with France, and the restraining influence over the King of
Prussia which he exercised up to the time when Catherine II.
of Russia overcame it by the Polish temptation, are set forth
by H. von Sybel in passages quoted elsewhere.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1791-1792.
ALSO IN:
A. de Lamartine,
History of the Girondists,
books 6-14 (volume l).
A. F. Bertrand de Moleville,
Annals of the French Revolution,
part 2. chapters 1-14 (volume 5-6).
F. C. Schlosser,
History of the Eighteenth Century,
5th period, 2d division, chapter 1 (volume 6).
FRANCE: A. D. 1792 (April).
Fête to the Soldiers of Chateauvieux.
See LIBERTY CAP.
FRANCE: A. D. 1792 (April-July).
Opening of the war with Austria and Prussia.
French reverses.
"Hostilities followed close upon the declaration of war. At
this time the forces destined to come into collision were
posted as follows: Austria had 40,000 men in Belgium, and
25,000 on the Rhine. These numbers might easily have been
increased to 80,000, but the Emperor of Austria did no more
than collect 7,000 or 8,000 around Brisgau, and some 20,000
more around Rastadt. The Prussians, now bound into a close
alliance with Austria, had still a great distance to traverse
from their base to the theatre of war, and could not hope to
undertake active operations for a long time to come. France,
on the other hand, had already three strong armies in the
field. The Army of the North, under General Rochambeau, nearly
50,000 strong, held the frontier from Philippeville to
Dunkirk; General Lafayette commanded a second army of about
the same strength in observation from Philippeville to the
Lauter; and a third army of 40,000 men, under Marshal Luckner,
watched the course of the Rhine from Lauterbourg to the
confines of Switzerland. The French forces were strong,
however, on paper only. The French army had been mined, as it
seemed, by the Revolution, and had fallen almost to pieces.
The wholesale emigration of the aristocrats had robbed it of
its commissioned officers, the old experienced leaders whom
the men were accustomed to follow and obey. Again, the passion
for political discussion, and the new notions of universal
equality had fostered a dangerous spirit of license in the
ranks. ... While the regular regiments of the old
establishment were thus demoralised, the new levies were still
but imperfectly organised, and the whole army was unfit to
take the field. It was badly equipped, without transport, and
without those useful administrative services which are
indispensable for mobility and efficiency. Moreover, the
prestige of the French arms was at its lowest ebb. A long and
enervating peace had followed since the last great war, in
which the French armies had endured only failure and
ignominious defeat. It is not strange, then, that the foes
whom France had so confidently challenged, counted upon an
easy triumph over the revolutionary troops. The earliest
operations fully confirmed these anticipations. ... France
after the declaration of war had at once assumed the
initiative, and proceeded to invade Belgium. Here the Duke
Albert of Saxe-Teschen, who commanded the Imperialist forces,
held his forces concentrated in three principal corps: one
covered the line from the sea to Tournay; the second was at
Leuze; the third and weakest at Mons. The total of these
troops rose to barely 40,000, and Mons, the most important
point in the general line of defence, was the least strongly
held. All able strategist gathering together 30,000 men from
each of the French armies of the Centre and North, would have
struck at Mons with all his strength, cut Duke Albert's
communications with the Rhine, turned his inner flank, and
rolled him up into the sea. But no great genius as yet
directed the military energies of France. ... By Dumouriez's
advice, the French armies were ordered to advance against the
Austrians by several lines. Four columns of invasion were to
enter Belgium; one was to follow the sea coast, the second to
march on Tournay, the third to move from Valenciennes on Mons,
and the fourth, under Lafayette, on Givet or Namur.
{1276}
Each, according to the success it might achieve, was to
reinforce the next nearest to it, and all, finally, were to
converge on Brussels. At the very outset, however, the French
encountered the most ludicrous reverses. Their columns fled in
disorder directly they came within sight of the enemy.
Lafayette alone continued his march boldly towards Namur; but
he was soon compelled to retire by the news of the hasty
flight of the columns north of him. The French troops had
proved as worthless as their leaders were incapable; whole
brigades turned tail, crying that they were betrayed, casting
away their weapons as they ran, and displaying the most abject
cowardice and terror. Not strangely, after this pitiful
exhibition, the Austrians--all Europe, indeed--held the
military power of France in the utmost contempt. ... But now
the national danger stirred France to its inmost depths.
French spirit was thoroughly roused. The country rose as one
man, determined to offer a steadfast, stubborn front to its
foes. Stout-hearted leaders, full of boundless energy and
enthusiasm, summoned all the resources of the nation to stem
and roll back the tide of invasion. Immediate steps were taken
to put the defeated and disgraced armies of the frontier upon
a new footing. Lafayette replaced Rochambeau, with charge from
Longwy to the sea, his main body about Sedan; Luckner took the
line from the Moselle to the Swiss mountains, with
head-quarters at Metz. A third general, destined to come
speedily to the front, also joined the army as Lafayette's
lieutenant. This was Dumouriez, who, wearied and baffled by
Parisian politics, sought the freedom of the field."
A. Griffiths,
French Revolutionary Generals,
chapter 1.
FRANCE: A. D. 1792 (June-August).
The King's dismissal of Girondist ministers.
Mob demonstration of June 20.
Lafayette in Paris.
His failure.
The Country declared to be in Danger.
Gathering of volunteers in Paris.
Brunswick's manifesto.
Mob attack on the Tuileries, August 10.
Massacre of the Swiss.
"Servan, the minister of war, proposed the formation of an
armed camp for the protection of Paris. Much opposition was,
however, raised to the project, and the Assembly decreed (June
6) that 20,000 volunteers, recruited in the departments,
should meet at Paris to take part in the celebration of a
federal festival on July 14, the third anniversary of the fall
of the Bastille. The real object of those who supported the
decree was to have a force at Paris with which to maintain
mastery over the city should the Allies penetrate into the
interior. Louis left the decree unsanctioned, as he had the
one directed against nonjurors. The agitators of the sections
sought to get up an armed demonstration against this exercise
of the King's constitutional prerogative. Though armed
demonstrations were illegal, the municipality offered but a
perfunctory and half-hearted resistance. ... Louis, irritated
at the pressure put on him by Roland, Clavière, and Servan, to
sanction the two decrees, dismissed the three ministers from
office (June 13). Dumouriez, who had quarreled with his
colleagues, supported the King in taking this step, but in
face of the hostility of the Assembly himself resigned office
(June 15). Three days later a letter from Lafayette was read
in the Assembly. The general denounced the Jacobins as the
authors of all disorders, called on the Assembly to maintain
the prerogatives of the crown, and intimated that his army
would not submit to see the constitution violated (June 18).
Possibly the dismissal of the ministers and the writing of
this letter were measures concerted between the King and
Lafayette. In any case the King's motive was to excite
division between the constitutionalists and the Girondists, so
as to weaken the national defence. The dismissal of the ministers
was, however, regarded by the Girondists as a proof of the
truth of their worst suspicions, and no measures were taken to
prevent an execution of the project of making an armed, and
therefore illegal, demonstration against the royal policy. On
June 20, thousands of persons, carrying pikes or whatever
weapon came to hand, and accompanied by several battalions of
the national guard, marched from St. Antoine to the hall of
the Assembly. A deputation read an address demanding the
recall of the ministers. Afterwards the whole of the
procession, men, women and children, dancing, singing, and
carrying emblems, defiled through the chamber. Instigated by
their leaders they broke into the Tuileries. The King, who
took his stand on a window seat, was mobbed for four hours. To
please his unwelcome visitors, he put on his head a red cap,
such as was now commonly worn at the Jacobins as an emblem of
liberty, in imitation of that which was once worn by the
emancipated Roman slave. He declared his intention to observe
the constitution, but neither insult nor menace could prevail
on him to promise his sanction to the two decrees. The Queen,
separated from the King, sat behind a table on which she
placed the Dauphin, exposed to the gaze and taunts of the
crowds which slowly traversed the palace apartments. At last,
but not before night, the mob left the Tuileries without doing
further harm, and order was again restored. This insurrection
and the slackness, if not connivance, of the municipal
authorities, excited a widespread feeling of indignation
amongst constitutionalists. Lafayette came to Paris, and at
the bar of the Assembly demanded in person what he had before
demanded by letter (June 28). With him, as with other former
members of the constituent Assembly, it was a point of honour
to shield the persons of the King and Queen from harm. Various
projects for their removal from Paris were formed, but policy
and sentiment alike forbade Marie Antoinette to take advantage
of them. ... The one gleam of light on the horizon of this
unhappy Queen was the advance of the Allies. 'Better die,' she
one day bitterly exclaimed, 'than be saved by Lafayette and
the constitutionalists.' There was, no doubt, a possibility of
the Allies reaching Paris that summer, but this enormously
increased the danger of the internal situation. ... To rouse
the nation to a sense of peril the Assembly [July 11] caused
public proclamation to be made in every municipality that the
country was in danger. The appeal was responded to with
enthusiasm, and within six weeks more than 60,000 volunteers
enlisted. The Duke of Brunswick, the commander-in-chief of the
allied forces, published a manifesto, drawn up by the
emigrants. If the authors of this astounding proclamation had
deliberately intended to serve the purpose of those Frenchmen
who were bent on kindling zeal for the war, they could not
have done anything more likely to serve their purpose.
{1277}
The powers required the country to submit unconditionally to
Louis's mercy. All who offered resistance were to be treated
as rebels to their King, and Paris was to suffer military
execution if any harm befell the royal family. ... Meanwhile,
a second insurrection, which had for its object the King's
deposition, was in preparation. The Assembly, after declaring
the country in danger, had authorised the sections of Paris,
as well as the administrative authorities throughout France,
to meet at any moment. The sections had, in consequence, been
able to render themselves entirely independent of the
municipality. In each of the sectional or primary assemblies
from 700 to 3,000 active citizens had the right to vote, but
few cared to attend, and thus it constantly happened that a
small active minority spoke and acted in the name of an
apathetic constitutional majority. Thousands of volunteers
passed through Paris on their way to the frontier, some of
whom were purposely retained to take part in the insurrection.
The municipality of Marseilles, at the request of Barbaroux, a
young friend of the Rolands, sent up a band of 500 men, who
first sung in Paris the verses celebrated as the
'Marseillaise' [see MARSEILLAISE]. The danger was the greater
since every section had its own cannon and a special body of
cannoneers, who nearly to a man were on the side of the
revolutionists. The terrified and oscillating Assembly made no
attempt to suppress agitation, but acquitted (August 8)
Lafayette, by 406 against 280 votes, of a charge of treason
made against him by the left, on the ground that he had sought
to intimidate the Legislature. This vote was regarded as
tantamount to a refusal to pass sentence of deposition on
Louis. On the following night the insurrection began. Its
centre was in the Faubourg of St. Antoine, and it was
organised by but a small number of men. Mandat, the
commander-in-chief of the national guard, was an energetic
constitutionalist, who had taken well-concerted measures for
the defence of the Tuileries. But the unscrupulousness of the
conspirators was more than a match for his zeal. Soon after
midnight commissioners from 28 sections met together at the
Hotel de Ville, and forced the Council-General of the
Municipality to summon Mandat before it, and to send out
orders to the officers of the guard in contradiction to those
previously given. Mandat, unaware of what was passing, obeyed
the summons, and on his arrival was arrested and murdered.
After this the commissioners dispersed the lawful council and
usurped its place. At the Tuileries were about 950 Swiss and
more than 4,000 national guards. Early in the morning the
first bands of insurgents appeared. On the fidelity of the
national guards it was impossible to rely; and the royal
family, attended by a small escort, left the palace, and
sought refuge with the Assembly [which held its sessions in
the old Riding-School of the Tuileries, not far from the
palace, at one side of the gardens]. Before their departure
orders had been given to the Swiss to repel force by force,
and soon the sound of firing spread alarm through Paris. The
King sent the Swiss instructions to retire, which they
punctually obeyed. One column, passing through the Tuileries
gardens, was shot down almost to a man. The rest reached the
Assembly in safety, but several were afterwards massacred on
their way to prison. For 24 hours the most frightful anarchy
prevailed. Numerous murders were committed in the streets. The
assailants, some hundreds of whom had perished, sacked the
palace, and killed all the men whom they found there."
B. M. Gardiner,
The French Revolution,
chapter 5.
"Terror and fury ruled the hour. The Swiss, pressed on from
without, paralysed from within, have ceased to shoot; but not
to be shot. What shall they do? Desperate is the moment.
Shelter or instant death: yet How, Where? One party flies out
by the Rue de l'Echelle; is destroyed utterly, 'en entier.' A
second, by the other side, throws itself into the Garden;
'hurrying across a keen fusillade'; rushes suppliant into the
National Assembly; finds pity and refuge in the back benches
there. The third, and largest, darts out in column, 300
strong, towards the Champs Elysées: 'Ah, could we but reach
Courbevoye, where other Swiss are!' Wo! see, in such fusillade
the column 'soon breaks itself by diversity of opinion,' into
distracted segments, this way and that;--to escape in holes,
to die fighting from street to street. The firing and
murdering will not cease: not yet for long. The red Porters of
Hotels are shot at, be they 'Suisse' by nature, or Suisse only
in name. The very Firemen, who pump and labour on that smoking
Carrousel [which the mob had fired]; are shot at; why should
the Carrousel not burn? Some Swiss take refuge in private
houses; find that mercy too does still dwell in the heart of
man. The brave Marseillese are merciful, late so wroth; and
labour to save. ... But the most are butchered, and even
mangled. Fifty (some say Fourscore) were marched as prisoners,
by National Guards, to the Hôtel-de-Ville: the ferocious
people bursts through on them, in the Place-de-Greve;
massacres them to the last man. 'O Peuple, envy of the
universe!' Peuple, in mad Gaelic effervescence! Surely few
things in the history of carnage are painfuler. What
ineffaceable red streak, flickering so sad in the memory, is
that, of this poor column of red Swiss, 'breaking itself in
the confusion of opinions'; dispersing, into blackness and
death! Honour to you, brave men; honourable pity, through long
times! Not martyrs were ye; and yet almost more. He was no
King of yours, this Louis; and he forsook you like a King of
shreds and patches: ye were but sold to him for some poor
sixpence a-day; yet would ye work for your wages, keep your
plighted word: The work now was to die; and ye did it. Honour
to you, O Kinsmen; and may the old Deutsch 'Biederkeit' and'
Tapferkeit,' and Valour which is Worth and Truth, be they
Swiss, be they Saxon, fail in no age!"
T. Carlyle,
The French Revolution,
volume 2, book 6, chapter 7.
ALSO IN:
A. Thiers,
History of the French Revolution
(American edition), volume 1, pages 266-330.
Madame Campan,
Memoirs of Marie Antoinette,
volume 2, chapters 9-10.
J. Claretie,
Camille Desmoulins and his Wife,
chapter 3, sections 4-5.
A. F. Bertrand de Moleville,
Annals of the French Revolution,
part 2, chapters 18-28 (volumes 6-7).
Duchess de Tourzel,
Memoirs,
volume 2, chapters 8-10.
Count M. Dumas,
Memoirs,
chapter 4 (volume 1).
{1278}
FRANCE: A. D. 1792 (August).
Power seized by the insurrectionary Commune of Paris.
Dethronement and imprisonment of the King.
Conflict between the Girondins of the Assembly and the
Jacobins of the Commune.
Alarm at the advance of the Prussians.
The searching of the city for suspects.
Arrest of 3,000.
"While the Swiss were being murdered, the Legislative Assembly
were informed that a deputation wished to enter. At the head
of this deputation appeared Huguenin, who announced that a new
municipality for Paris had been formed, and that the old one
had resigned. This was, indeed, the fact. On the departure of
Santerre the commissioners of the sections had given orders to
the legitimate council-general of the municipality to resign,
and the council-general, startled by the events which were
passing, consented. The commissioners then called themselves
the new municipality, and proceeded, as municipal officers, to
send a deputation to the Assembly. The deputation almost
ordered that the Assembly should immediately declare the
king's dethronement, and, in the presence of the unfortunate
monarch himself, Vergniaud mounted the tribune, and proposed,
on behalf of the Committee of Twenty-one, that the French
people should be invited to elect a National Convention to
draw up a new Constitution, and that the chief of the
executive power, as he called the king, should be
provisionally suspended from his functions until the new
Convention had pronounced what measures should be adopted to
establish a new government and the reign of liberty and
equality. The motion was carried, and was countersigned by one
of the king's ministers, De Joly; and thus the old monarchy of
the Bourbons in France came to an end. But the Assembly had
not yet completed its work. The ministry was dismissed, as not
having the confidence of the people, and the Minister of War,
d'Abancourt, was ordered to be tried by the court at Orleans
for treason, in having brought the Swiss Guards to Paris. The
Assembly then prepared to elect new ministers. Roland,
Clavière, and Servan were recalled by acclamation to their
former posts. ... Danton was elected Minister of Justice by
222 votes against 60; Gaspard Monge, the great mathematician,
was elected Minister of Marine, on the nomination of
Condorcet; and Lebrun-Tondu, a friend of Brissot and
Dumouriez, and a former abbé, to the department of Foreign
Affairs. At the bidding of the self-elected municipality of
Paris the king had been suspended, and a new ministry
inaugurated, and this new municipality, which, it must be
remembered, only represented 28 sections of Paris, next
proceeded to send its decrees all over France. It was joined
on this very day by some of the extreme men who hoped through
its means to force a republic on France--notably by Camille
Desmoulins and Dubois-Dubais; and on the 11th it was still
further reinforced by the presence of Robespierre,
Billaud-Varenne, and Marat. The Legislative Assembly had
become a mere instrument in the hands of the Committee of
Twenty-one [a committee specially charged with watchfulness
over the safety of the public, and which foreshadowed the
later famous Committee of Public Safety]. The majority of the
deputies either left Paris, or, if they belonged to the right,
hid themselves, while those of the left had to obey every
order of their leaders, and left the transaction of temporary
business to the Committee of Twenty-one. This committee
practically ruled France for forty days, until the meeting of
the Convention; the Assembly always accepted its propositions
and sent the deputies it nominated on important missions; its
only rival was the insurrectionary commune, and the
internecine warfare between the Jacobins and the Girondins was
foreshadowed in the struggle between this Commune and the
Committee of Twenty-one. For, while the extreme Jacobins
filled the new Commune of Paris, the Committee of Twenty-one
consisted of Girondins and Feuillants, Brissot was its
president, Vergniaud its reporter, and Gensonné, Condorcet,
Lasource, Guadet, Lacépède, Lacuèe, Pastoret, Muraire, Delmas,
and Guyton-Morveau were amongst its members. On the evening of
August 10 the Assembly decreed that the difference between
active and passive citizens should be abolished, and that
every Frenchman of the age of 25 should have a vote for the
Convention. ... The last sight the king might have seen on the
night of August 10 was his palace of the Tuileries in flames,
where, for mischief, fire had been set to the stables. It
spread from building to building, and the Assembly only took
steps to check it when it threatened to spread to the houses
of the Rue Saint Honoré. ... On the day after this terrible
night the king was informed that rooms had been found for him
in the Convent of the Feuillants; and to four monastic cells,
which had not been inhabited since the dissolution of the
monastery two years before, the royal family was led, and
round them was placed a strong guard. Yet they were no more
prisoners in the Convent of the Feuillants than they had been
in the splendid palace of the Tuileries. ... The king's
nominal authority was annihilated; but though the course of
events left him a prisoner, it cannot be said that his
influence was diminished, for he had none left to diminish. It
was to the Girondins, rather than to the king, that the
results of August 10 brought unpleasant surprises. ... The
real power had gone to the Commune of Paris, and this was very
clearly perceived by Robespierre and by Marat. ... Though
Marat was received with the loudest cheers by the
insurrectionary commune, Robespierre was the man who really
became its leader. He had long expected the shock which had
just taken place, and had prepared himself for the crisis. The
first requisition was, of course, for a Convention. This had
been granted on the very first day. The second demand of the
Commune was the safe custody of the king, so that he should
not be able to escape to the army. This was conceded by the
Assembly on August 12, when they ordered that the king and
royal family should be taken to the old tower of the Temple,
and there strictly guarded under the superintendence of the
insurrectionary commune. Lafayette's sudden flight greatly
strengthened the position of the Commune of Paris. ...
Relieved from the fear of Lafayette's turning against them,
both the Girondins in the Legislative Assembly and the
Jacobins in the insurrectionary commune turned to the pursuit
of their own special plans, and naturally soon came into
violent collision. ... The Girondins were, above all things,
men of ideas; the Jacobins, above all things, practical men:
and of the issue of a struggle between them there could be
little doubt, though, at this period the Girondins had the
advantage of the best position. On August 15 the final blow
was struck at the unfortunate Feuillants, or
Constitutionalists. The last ministers of the king, as well
Duport du Tertre, Bertrand de Moleville, and Duportail, were
all ordered to be arrested, with Barnave and Charles de
Lameth. The Assembly followed up this action by establishing
the special tribunal of August 17, which held its first
sitting on the same evening at the Hotel de Ville.
{1279}
Robespierre was elected president, and refused the office. ...
The new tribunal was too slow to satisfy the leaders of the
Commune of Paris, for its first prisoner, Laporte, the old
intendant of the civil list, was not judged until August 21,
and then acquitted. This news made the Commune lose all
patience, and they determined to urge the Assembly to more
energetic measures. Under the pressure of the Commune the
Assembly took vigorous measures indeed. All the leaders of the
émigrés were sequestrated; all ecclesiastics who would not
take the oath were to be transported to French Guiana, and it
was decreed that the National Guard should enlist every man,
whether an active or a passive citizen. Much of this vigour on
the part of the Assembly was due, not only to the pressure of
the Commune, but to the rapid advance of the Prussians. ...
The Assembly ... decreed that an army of 30,000 men should be
raised in Paris, and that every man who had a musket issued to
him should be punished with death if he did not march at once.
... On August 28, on the motion of Danton, now Minister of
Justice, a general search for arms and suspects was ordered.
The gates of the city were closed on August 30; every street
was ordered to be illuminated; bodies of national guards
entered each house and searched it from top to bottom. Barely
1,000 muskets were seized, but more than 8,000 prisoners were
taken and shut up, not only in the prisons, but in all the
largest convents of Paris, which were turned into houses of
detention. Who should be arrested as a suspect depended
entirely on the municipal officer who happened to examine the
house, and these men acted under the orders of a special
committee established by the Commune, at the head of which sat
Marat. ... The residents in Paris at the time of the
Revolution seem to have been more struck by this
house-to-house visitation than by many other events which were
far more horrible."
H. M. Stephens,
History of the French Revolution,
volume 2, chapter 4.
ALSO IN:
Grace D. Elliot,
Journal of My Life during the French Revolution,
chapter 4.
Gouverneur Morris,
Life and Correspondence.,
edited by Sparks, volume 2, pages 203-217.
G. Long,
France and its Revolutions,
chapter 29.
FRANCE: A. D. 1792 (August).
Lafayette's unsuccessful resistance to the Jacobins.
His withdrawal from France.
"The news of the 10th of August was carried to Lafayette by
one of his own officers who happened to be in Paris on
business. He learned that the throne was overturned and the
Assembly in subjection, but he could not believe that the
cause of the constitutional monarchy was abandoned without a
struggle. He announced to the army the events that had taken
place, and conjured the men to remain true to the king and
constitution. The commissioners despatched by the Commune of
Paris to announce to the different armies the change of
government and to exact oaths of fidelity to it soon arrived
at Sedan within Lafayette's command. The general had them
brought before the municipality of Sedan and interrogated
regarding their mission. Convinced, from their own account,
that they were the agents of a faction which had unlawfully
seized upon power, he ordered their arrest and had them
imprisoned. Lafayette's moral influence in the army and the
country was still so great that the Jacobins knew that they
must either destroy him or win him over to their side. The
latter course was preferred. ... The imprisoned commissioners,
therefore, requested a private conference with Lafayette, and
offered him, on the part of their superiors in Paris, whatever
executive power he desired in the new government. It is
needless to say that Lafayette, whose sole aim was to
establish liberty in his country, refused to entertain the
idea of associating himself with the despotism of the mob. He
caused his own soldiers to renew their oath of fidelity to the
king, and communicated with Luckner on the situation. ...
Meanwhile, emissaries from the Commune were sent to Sedan to
influence the soldiers by bribes and threats to renounce their
loyalty to their commander. All the other armies and provinces
to which commissioners had been sent had received them and
taken the new oaths. Lafayette found himself alone in his
resistance. His attitude acquired, every day, more the
appearance of rebellion against authorities recognized by the
rest of France. New commissioners arrived, bringing with them
his dismissal from command. The army was wavering between
attachment to their general and obedience to government. On
the 19th of August, the Jacobins, seeing that they could not
win him over, caused the Assembly to declare him a traitor.
Lafayette had now to take an immediate resolution. France had
declared for the Paris Commune. The constitutional monarchy
was irretrievably destroyed. For the general to dispute with
his appointed successor the command of the army was to provoke
further disorders in a cause that had ceased to be that of the
nation and become only his own. Three possible courses
remained open to him,--to accept the Jacobin overtures and
become a part of their bloody despotism; to continue his
resistance and give his head to the guillotine; to leave the