never
meddled more with the internal government of that Republic than we
ourselves wish to meddle." Finally, if these disputes led to a rupture,
"the war will be only the war of the British Minister against us; and we
will not fail to make a solemn appeal to the English nation." ... "In
short, we will leave it to the English nation to judge between us, and
the issue of this contest may lead to consequences which he [Pitt] did
not expect."

In the sordid annals of party strife this report of Lebrun holds a high
place. In order to furbish up the dulled prestige of the Gironde he
sought to excite national animosity, and to revive the former hatred of
the name of Pitt. What could be more criminal than to sneer at the
smallness of England's naval preparations? What more false than to
charge Pitt and Grenville with secretly begging for interviews with
agents whom outwardly they scorned? It is by acts like these that
nations are set by the ears; and generally they are at one another's
throats before the lie can be exposed. Lebrun's report was received with
loud applause. No one questioned the accuracy of its details; and these
blind followers of a blind guide unanimously voted that it should be
printed and widely circulated. On 20th December Lebrun sent a copy of it
to Chauvelin, along with instructions which lost none of their emphasis
in the note drawn up at Portman Square. He forwarded another copy of the
report to Noel, with this significant explanation: "This document will
keep you in touch with the ideas of this country and will show you that
I scarcely have this affair in my hands any longer."[157]

This admission is illuminating. The trial of Louis XVI had, as the men
of the Mountain foresaw, placed the Girondin Ministry and its followers
in a most embarrassing position. Many of them inclined to mercy or to
compromises which found little favour with the populace. Accordingly,
the procedure at the trial, as also the final verdict, turned largely on
the desperate efforts of the Jacobins to discredit their rivals, who
sought by all means to keep their foothold in the revolutionary torrent.
One of the most obvious devices was to represent the Executive Council
as the champion of ultra-democratic ideas as against envious and
reactionary England. If this notion gained currency, Lebrun and his
colleagues might hope still to ride on the crest of the wave.

Historical students will remember another occasion when a tottering