legislative body was called after the deposition of
Louis XVI. The house so occupied, was situated on a spot now covered
by the Rue Rivoli, opposite the gardens of the Tuileries. In
connection with it, were several apartments used by committees; and
there, by the leading members of the House, the actual business of the
nation was for a long time conducted. It was by the part he played in
one of these formidable committees, that of 'Public Safety'--more
properly, public insecurity--that he becomes chargeable with his
manifold crimes. For the commission of these atrocities, however, he
held himself to be entirely excused; and how he could possibly
entertain any such notion, remains for us to notice.

The action of the Revolution was in the hands of three parties, into
which the Convention was divided--namely, the Montagnards, the
Girondists, and the Plaine. The last mentioned were a comparatively
harmless set of persons, who acted as a neutral body, and leaned one
way or the other according to their convictions, but whose votes it
was important to obtain. Between the Montagnards and the Girondists
there was no distinct difference of principle--both were keen
republicans and levellers; but in carrying out their views, the
Montagnards were the most violent and unscrupulous. The Girondists
expected that, after a little preliminary harshness, the Republic
would be established in a pacific manner; by the force, it may be
called, of philosophic conviction spreading through society. They were
thus the moderates; yet their moderation was unfortunately ill
manifested. At the outset, they countenanced the disgraceful mobbings
of the royal family; they gloried in the horrors of the 10th of
August, and the humiliation of the king; and only began to express
fears that things were going too far, when massacre became the order
of the day, and the guillotine assumed the character of a national
institution. They were finally borne down, as is well known, by the
superior energy and audacity of their opponents; and all perished one
way or other in the bloody struggle. Few pity them.

We need hardly recall the fact, that the discussions in the Convention
were greatly influenced by tumultuary movements out of doors. At a
short distance, were two political clubs, the Jacobins and the
Cordeliers, and there everything was debated and determined on. Of
these notorious clubs, the most uncompromising was the Jacobins;
consequently, its principal