History of the French Revolution from 1789 to 1814. M. Mignet
king of Hungary and Bohemia—Disasters of our armies; decree for a camp of reserve for twenty thousand men at Paris; decree of banishment against the nonjuring priests; veto of the king; fall of the Girondist ministry—Petition of insurgents of the 20th of June to secure the passing of the decrees and the recall of the ministers—Last efforts of the constitutional party—Manifesto of the duke of Brunswick—Events of the 10th of August—Military insurrection of Lafayette against the authors of the events of the 10th of August; it fails—Division of the assembly and the new commune; Danton—Invasion of the Prussians—Massacres of the 2nd of September—Campaign of the Argonne—Causes of the events under the legislative assembly.
THE NATIONAL CONVENTION
CHAPTER VI
FROM THE 20TH OF SEPTEMBER, 1792, TO THE 21ST OF JANUARY, 1793
First measures of the Convention—Its composition—Rivalry of the Gironde and of the Mountain—Strength and views of the two parties—Robespierre: the Girondists accuse him of aspiring to the dictatorship—Marat—Fresh accusation of Robespierre by Louvet; Robespierre's defence; the Convention passes to the order of the day—The Mountain, victorious in this struggle, demand the trial of Louis XVI.—Opinions of parties on this subject—The Convention decides that Louis XVI. shall be tried, and by itself—Louis XVI. at the Temple; his replies before the Convention; his defence; his condemnation; courage and serenity of his last moments—What he was, and what he was not, as a king.
CHAPTER VII
FROM THE 21ST OF JANUARY, 1793, TO THE 2ND OF JUNE
Political and military situation of France—England, Holland, Spain, Naples, and all the circles of the empire fall in with the coalition—Dumouriez, after having conquered Belgium, attempts an expedition into Holland—He wishes to re-establish constitutional monarchy—Reverses of our armies—Struggle between the Gironde and the Mountain—Conspiracy of the 10th of March—Insurrection of La Vendée; its progress—Defection of Dumouriez—The Gironde accused of being his accomplices—New conspiracies against them—Establishment of the Commission of Twelve to frustrate the conspirators—Insurrections of the 27th and 31st of May against the Commission of Twelve; its suppression—Insurrection of the 2nd of June against the two-and-twenty leading Girondists; their arrest—Total defeat of that party.
CHAPTER VIII
FROM THE 2ND OF JUNE, 1793, TO APRIL, 1794
Insurrection of the departments against the 31st of May—Protracted reverses on the frontiers—Progress of the Vendéans—The Montagnards decree the constitution of 1793, and immediately suspend it to maintain and strengthen the revolutionary government—Levée en masse; law against suspected persons—Victories of the Montagnards in the interior, and on the frontiers—Death of the queen, of the twenty-two Girondists, etc.— Committee of public safety; its power; its members—Republican calendar—The conquerors of the 31st of May separate—The ultra-revolutionary faction of the commune, or the Hébertists, abolish the catholic religion, and establish the worship of Reason; its struggle with the committee of public safety; its defeat—The moderate faction of the Montagnards, or the Dantonists, wish to destroy the revolutionary dictatorship, and to establish the legal government; their fall—The committee of public safety remains alone, and triumphant.
CHAPTER IX
FROM THE DEATH OF DANTON, APRIL, 1794, TO THE 9TH THERMIDOR (27TH JULY, 1794)
Increase of terror; its cause—System of the democrats; Saint-Just—Robespierre's power—Festival of the Supreme Being—Couthon presents the law of the 22nd Prairial, which reorganizes the revolutionary tribunal; disturbances; debates; final obedience of the convention—The active members of the committee have a division—Robespierre, Saint-Just, and Couthon on one side; Billaud-Varennes, Collot-d'Herbois, Barrère, and the members of the committee of general safety on the other—Conduct of Robespierre—He absents himself from the committee, and rests on the Jacobins and the commune—On the 8th of Thermidor he demands the renewal of the committees; the motion is rejected—Sitting of the 9th Thermidor; Saint-Just denounces the committees; is interrupted by Tallien; Billaud- Varennes violently attacks Robespierre; general indignation of the convention against the triumvirate; they are arrested—The commune rises and liberates the prisoners—Peril and courage of the convention; it outlaws the insurgents—The sections declare for the convention—Defeat and execution of Robespierre.
CHAPTER X
FROM THE 9TH THERMIDOR TO THE 1ST PRAIRIAL, YEAR III. (20TH MAY, 1795). EPOCH OF THE RISE AND FALL OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY
The convention, after the fall of Robespierre; party of the committees; Thermidorian party; their constitution and object—Decay of the democratic party of the committees—Impeachment of Lebon and Carrier—State of Paris—The Jacobins and the Faubourgs declare for the old committees; the jeunesse dorée, and the sections for the Thermidorians—Impeachment of Billaud-Varennes, Collot-d'Herbois, Barrère, and Vadier—Movement of Germinal—Transportation of the accused, and of a few of the Mountain, their partisans—Insurrection of the 1st Prairial—Defeat of the democratic party; disarming of the Faubourgs—The lower class is excluded from the government, deprived of the constitution of '93, and loses its material power.
CHAPTER XI
FROM THE 1ST PRAIRIAL (20TH OF MAY, 1795) TO THE 4TH BRUMAIRE (26TH OF OCTOBER), YEAR IV., THE CLOSE OF THE CONVENTION
Campaign of 1793 and 1794—Disposition of the armies on hearing the news of the 9th Thermidor—Conquest of Holland; position on the Rhine—Peace of Basel with Prussia—Peace with Spain—Descent upon Quiberon—The reaction ceases to be conventional, and becomes royalist—Massacre of the revolutionists, in the south—Directorial constitution of the year III.— Decrees of Fructidor, which require the re-election of two-thirds of the convention—Irritation of the sectionary royalist party—It becomes insurgent—The 13th of Vendémiaire—Appointment of the councils and of the directory—Close of the convention; its duration and character.
THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTORY
CHAPTER XII
FROM THE INSTALLATION OF THE DIRECTORY, ON THE 27TH OCTOBER, 1795, TO THE COUP-D'ÉTAT OF THE 18TH FRUCTIDOR, YEAR V. (3RD AUGUST, 1797)
Review of the revolution—Its second character of reorganization; transition from public to private life—The five directors; their labours for the interior—Pacification of La Vendée—Conspiracy of Babeuf; final defeat of the democratic party—Plan of campaign against Austria; conquest of Italy by general Bonaparte; treaty of Campo-Formio; the French republic is acknowledged, with its acquisitions, and its connection with the Dutch, Lombard, and Ligurian republics, which prolonged its system in Europe—Royalist elections in the year V.; they alter the position of the republic—New contest between the counter-revolutionary party in the councils, in the club of Clichy, in the salons, and the conventional party, in the directory, the club of Salm, and the army—Coup d'état of the 18th Fructidor; the Vendémiaire party again defeated.
CHAPTER XIII
FROM THE 18TH FRUCTIDOR, IN THE YEAR V. (4TH OF SEPTEMBER, 1797), TO THE 18TH BRUMAIRE, IN THE YEAR VIII. (9TH OF NOVEMBER, 1799)
By the 18th Fructidor the directory returns, with slight mitigation, to the revolutionary government—General peace, except with England—Return of Bonaparte to Paris—Expedition into Egypt—Democratic elections for the year VI.—The directory annuls them on the 22nd Floréal—Second coalition; Russia, Austria, and England attack the republic through Italy, Switzerland, and Holland; general defeats—Democratic elections for the year VII.; on the 30th Prairial the councils get the upper hand, and disorganize the old directory—Two parties in