Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 9.djvu/638

 1791. The king s flight. The Re volution triumphs The Feuil- lanta Club. The con stitution com pleted. Close of the As- semblv. 602 and the Assembly, to issue a constitution of his ov/n, embodying the main principles of the Revolution, and ap pealing to the people to support him. In the midst, however, of these schemes, Mirabeau, worn out by his loose living and the excitement of his political life, suddenly fell ill and died, and with him perished all chance of a constitutional monarchy for France. His guiding hand gone, the king thought only how he might escape in safety, and eagerly adopted Bouille s proposal that he should take refuge under the shelter of his army on the eastern frontier. It was ob vious that this step, if successful, would bring him close to the emigres and the German influence ; if it failed, would make men regard him as a traitor. It failed. The court got out of Paris (20th June 1791), and reached Varennes, not far from Verdun ; there they were recognized, stopped, and sent back to Paris. Bouiile entered the place a very short time after they had left; found all the streets barred against him, and, comprehending that the game was lost, turned about and fled to the emigrants. The Assembly, at once and with calmness, assumed full direction of affairs ; no disturbance followed. The king s return was a triumph of the revolutionary spirit, which showed itself all along his route. All firmly believed that his only wish had been to escape to the emigrants and to make open war on France. The clubs and the advanced section of the Assembly gained greatly in strength. Petion and Robespierre now began their career as republican leaders. The excitement of Paris broke out in open fighting over the great petition of the clubs in the Champ de Mars for the deposition of the king; and Lafayette dispersed the republi can crowd with vigorous bloodshed. The Assembly for the moment seemed to win strength by it ; the country showed no wish to be rid of their king. The Jacobins had to draw back for a while ; the division between Paris and the country, between the bourgeoisie and the bulk of the people, grew plainer; the Jacobins Club was almost de serted by the members of the Assembly ; a new club, the Feuillants, was organized out of the more moderate section of the Jacobins, among whom were Lafayette, Bailly, the two Lameths, and others known as the representatives of the party which wished to unite the old monarchy with the new constitution. The old Jacobins became absolutely re publican, and, in contempt, called the Feuillants the &quot; Club Monarchique.&quot; In these two clubs the new and clean-cut division of the country into monarchists and republicans was plainly to be seen. The Assembly was now coming to the end of its labours ; before finishing them, it made the grievous blunder of passing a &quot;self-denying ordinance,&quot; and decreed that no member of its body should be eligible for the new Assembly to be at once elected, nor should accept any office under the crown. Lafayette and Bailly resigned their offices as general and mayor of Paris ; every one of the men who had voted together in the tennis court, who had gained experi ence and insight into the proposed constitution, and might have worked it successfully, was rigorously excluded. The constitution was then laid before the king ; he accepted it at once, and, going to the Assembly (14th September 1791), swore that he would observe it faithfully. Then, after decreeing a general amnesty for all political crimes and offences, the Assembly (30th September 1791) closed its critical labours, and declared itself dissolved. As the members passed out of. the chamber they held their heads high, in the belief that they had laid the firm foundations of a reasonable and constitutional government. The country welcomed the constitution with delight ; a new era was about to begin ; the middle classes were all in its favour, and believed that they had the future in their hands. The elections to the new Assembly, which took place before the Constituent dispersed, were loyally made ; the middle [HISTORY. party seemed to have a great majority; the king accepted the 1791 situation fairly. There were no representatives of the old regime in it to irritate men ; violent republicans were few ; it was thought that all promised well, and that the Legisla tive Assembly would have a long and peaceful life. The The Legislative Assembly met on October 1, 1791 ; at once itgislai shaped itself into parties, all more or less loyal to the new Asse: constitution. The/ Extreme Right and the Right &quot; (to the ^ s y right, that is, of the president s chair) were usually called ties. the Feuillants, were constitutionalists who represented the burgher interests, and feared the people, and who wished to uphold the king as far as they could. The &quot; Left,&quot; the Girondists, was composed of men inclined towards a re- Giro public, also of the burgher class chiefly, also all devoted to ists - the constitution as it stood ; the &quot; Extreme Left,&quot; which sat on the higher benches, and took the nickname of &quot; the Moun- The I tain,&quot; was composed of popular delegates and representa- Mou tives of the advanced clubs, with Robespierre as their out-of- doors leader at the Jacobins, and Danton at the Cordeliers Club. The Centre of the Assembly was timid, and wanting in any principle or clearness ; it usually voted with the Left. Thus, the more extreme partisans, whether of royalty or republicanism, were not in the Assembly, but worked outside for their objects ; it remained to be seen whether the moderate parties would succeed in holding their own. The conventions of Pilnitz (27th August 1791) had The I already shown the excluded royalists whither they might llitz g look for succour ; Leopold of Austria and Frederick William vcn1 4 of Prussia had then agreed, in vague terms, that they would invade France unless Louis XVI. were set free, the Assembly dissolved, the emigrants restored to their posses sions and dignities. It was a challenge to revolutionary France, and a temptation to the unstable king. At every step he and his friends blundered ; a loyal acceptance of the constitution and the new Assembly seemed impossible ; the royalists at home stirred up civil strife, especially through the clergy ; abroad they threatened open war. The Assembly, backed by the new department of Paris, an organization given to the capital early in 1791, fought against the former ; against the latter stood the army, mostly strong republicans, supported by the sympathy of the people generally, whose anger rose at threats of invasion. To meet its pressing dangers, the Assembly, in November Th&amp;lt; s- 1791, ordered the emigrants to return, on pain of confisca- sen tion of their property, and penalty of death. This decree ? the king at once vetoed, at the same time issuing a strong order to the emigrants to return. They refused to listen, and the popular feeling on the other hand was much excited by his interference in what seemed to be a matter of life and death to them. The Assembly next passed to attack those of the clergy who had not taken the oath, declaring that &quot; refractory &quot; priests should lose their pay, should be forbidden to perform divine service, should be put under surveillance. The king again exercised his veto; and those who supported the Revolution felt that in the two all- important matters the threat of foreign war from the emigres, and the threat of domestic war from the &quot;refrac tory&quot; clergy Louis XVI. was against them, and with their enemies. They murmured the word &quot; traitor.&quot; After some hesitation the German princes began to show Th signs of movement ; troops were raised by Austria, Prussia, ^ r Piedmont ; the other monarchs of Europe threatened. in France set on foot three armies, one of the north under Rochambeau, one under Lafayette on the north-east, a third under Luckner on the Rhine as far as to Basel. The Montagnards alone, distrusting the officers and the king, opposed a declaration of war. All France suspected treason, and had only too good reason to think that the king s ministers, excepting Narbonne, minister of war, were in com-