The very day on which news reached Paris that it was saved and that Brunswick was in retreat, the National Convention met. Amid the wildest enthusiasm, it unanimously decreed "that royalty is abolished in France." Then it was resolved to date from 22 September, 1792, Year 1 of the Republic. A decree of perpetual banishment was enacted against the émigrés and it was soon determined to bring the king to trial before the Convention.
[Sidenote: The National Convention 1792-1795]
The National Convention remained in session for three years (1792- 1795), and its work constituted the second great phase of the Revolution. This work was essentially twofold: (1) It secured a series of great victories in the foreign war, thereby rendering permanent the remarkable social reforms of the first period of the Revolution, that between 1789 and 1791; and (2) it constructed a republican form of government, based on the principle of democracy.
[Sidenote: Problems Confronting the National Convention]
Perhaps no legislative body in history has been called upon to solve such knotty problems as those which confronted the National Convention at the opening of its sessions. At that time it was necessary (1) to decide what should be done with the deposed and imprisoned king; (2) to organize the national defense and turn back foreign invasion; (3) to suppress insurrection within France; (4) to provide a strong government for the country; (5) to complete and consolidate the social reforms of the earlier stage of the Revolution; and (6) to frame a new constitution and to establish permanent republican institutions. With all these questions the Convention coped with infinite industry and much success. And in the few following pages, we shall review them in the order indicated, although it should be borne in mind that most of them were considered by the Convention simultaneously.
[Sidenote: Personnel of the National Convention]
[Sidenote: The Girondists]
[Sidenote: The Mountainists]
[Sidenote: The Plain]
Before taking up the work of the Convention, a word should be said about the personnel of that body. The elections had been in theory by almost universal suffrage, but in practice indifference or intimidation reduced the actual voters to about a tenth of the total electorate. The result was the return of an overwhelming majority of radicals, who, while agreeing on the fundamental republican doctrines, nevertheless differed about details. On the right of the Convention sat nearly two hundred Girondists, including Brissot, Vergniaud, Condorcet, and the interesting Thomas Paine. These men represented largely the well-to-do bourgeoisie who were more radical in thought than in deed, who ardently desired a democratic republic, but who at the same time distrusted Paris and the proletariat. In the raised seats on the opposite side of the Convention sat nearly one hundred members of the Mountain, now exclusively designated as Jacobins—extreme radicals in thought, word, and deed—disciples of Rousseau—counting among their number Danton, Robespierre, Carnot, and St. Just. Between the two factions of Mountainists and Girondists sat the Plain, as it was called, the real majority of the house, which had no policies or convictions of its own, but voted usually according to the dictates of expediency. Our tactful, trimming Abbé Sieyès belonged to the Plain. At the very outset the Plain was likely to go with the Girondists, but as time went on and the Parisian populace clamored more and more loudly against any one who opposed the action of their allies, the Mountainists, it gradually saw fit to transfer its affections to the Left.
[Sidenote: Trial and Execution of King Louis XVI, 1793]
The first serious question which faced the Convention was the disposition of the king. The discovery of an iron chest containing accounts of expenditures for bribing members of the National Constituent Assembly, coupled with the all but confirmed suspicion of Louis' double dealings with France and with foreign foes,[Footnote: After the execution of the king, actual letters were discovered which Louis had dispatched to his fellow monarchs, urging their assistance. A typical extract is given in Robinson and Beard, Readings in Modern European History, Vol. I, pp. 287-288.] sealed the doom of that miserably weak monarch. He was brought to trial before the Convention in December, 1792, and condemned to death by a vote of 387 to 334. With the majority voted the king's own cousin, the duke of Orleans, an enthusiastic radical who had assumed the name of Citizen Philippe Égalité (Equality). On 21 January, 1793, Louis XVI was beheaded near the overthrown statue of his voluptuous predecessor Louis XV in the Place de la Révolution (now called the Place de la Concorde). The unruffled dignity with which he met death was the finest act of his reign.
[Sidenote: Military Successes]