ased the popular ferments, and
the clubs demanded his head. He was suspended from his functions, and
a guard placed over his person.

On the 29th of September, 1791, the Constituent Assembly dissolved
itself; having, during the three years of its existence enacted
thirteen hundred and nine laws and decrees relative to the general
administration of the state. It is impossible, even now, to settle the
question whether it did good or ill, on the whole; but it certainly
removed many great and glaring evils, and enacted many wise laws. It
abolished torture, the _lettres de cachet_, the most oppressive
duties, the privileges of the nobility, and feudal burdens. It
established a uniform system of jurisprudence, the National Guards,
and an equal system of finance. "It opened the army to men of merit,
and divided the landed property of the aristocracy among the laboring
classes; which, though a violation of the rights of property, enabled
the nation to bear the burdens which were subsequently imposed, and to
prosper under the evils connected with national bankruptcy,
depreciated assignats, the Reign of Terror, the conscription of
Napoleon, and the subjugation of Europe."

The Legislative Assembly, composed of inexperienced men,--country
attorneys and clerks for the most part, among whom there were not
fifty persons possessed of one hundred pounds a year,--took the place
of the Constituent Assembly, and opened its sittings on the 1st of
October.

In the first assembly there was a large party attached to royal and
aristocratical interests, and many men of great experience and
talents. But in the second nearly all were in favor of revolutionary
principles. They only differed in regard to the extent to which
revolution should be carried.

The members of the right were called the _Feuillants_, from the club
which formed the centre of their power, and were friends of the
constitution, or the limited monarchy which the Constituent Assembly
had established. The national guard, the magistrates, and all the
constituted authorities, were the supporters of this party.

[Sidenote: The Girondists and the Jacobins.]

The _Girondists_, comprehending the more respectable of the
republicans, and wishing to found the state on the model of antiquity,
formed a second party, among whom were numbered the ablest men in the
assembly. Brissot, Vergniaud, Condorcet, Guadet, and Isnard, were
among the leading members.

There was also a third part