e in favour of a republic, and
it was he who drew up the memorandum which led the Assembly, on the 4th
of September 1792, to decree the suspension of the king and the
summoning of the National Convention. He had, meanwhile, resigned his
offices and left the Hotel des Monnaies; his declaration in favour of
republicanism had alienated him from his former friends of the
constitutional party, and he did not join the Jacobin Club, which had
not yet declared against the monarchy. Though attached to no powerful
political group, however, his reputation gave him great influence. At
the elections for the Convention he was chosen for five departments, and
took his seat for that of Aisne. He now became the most influential
member of the committee on the constitution, and as "reporter" he
drafted and presented to the Convention (February 15, 1793) a
constitution, which was, however, after stormy debates, rejected in
favour of that presented by Herault de Sechelles. The work of
constitution-making had been interrupted by the trial of Louis XVI.
Condorcet objected to the assumption of judicial functions by the
Convention, objected also on principle to the infliction of the death
penalty; but he voted the king guilty of conspiring against liberty and
worthy of any penalty short of death, and against the appeal to the
people advocated by the Girondists. In the atmosphere of universal
suspicion that inspired the Terror his independent attitude could not,
however, be maintained with impunity. His severe and public criticism of
the constitution adopted by the Convention, his denunciation of the
arrest of the Girondists, and his opposition to the violent conduct of
the Mountain, led to his being accused of conspiring against the
Republic. He was condemned and declared to be _hors la loi_. Friends,
sought for him an asylum in the house of Madame Vernet, widow of the
sculptor and a near connexion of the painters of the same name. Without
even asking his name, this heroic woman, as soon as she was assured that
he was an honest man, said, "Let him come, and lose not a moment, for
while we talk he may be seized." When the execution of the Girondists
showed him that his presence exposed his protectress to a terrible
danger, he resolved to seek a refuge elsewhere. "I am outlawed," he
said, "and if I am discovered you will meet the same sad end as myself.
I must not stay." Madame Vernet's reply deserves to be immortal, and
should be given in her own