xX EXPLANATION OF NEW TERMS. 
King and a great majority of the French nation, under the solemnity of 
an oath, the Constituent Assembly, in September 1791, gave way to 
The LecisLtative AssrMBLY; which was also called the Second 
National Assembly. A convention of the nation being called after the 
massacres of August 1792, and the imprisonment of the King, 
The NATIoNAL ConveENTION met in September, 1792. This was 
also called the Third National Assembly. 
The Mountain. The higher or most elevated seats in the hall of 
the Assembly ; occupied by the violent revolutionists, or democrats. * 
The Pratn. The lower seats; and these in the middle of the hall 
of the Assembly,—bearing some resemblance to the pit in a play-house. 
‘This part of the hall was occupied by a more moderate party : among 
whom there were many well-meaning men, distinguished more by pro- 
bity than by talents. It was at one time very commonly called Les 
bas Cotés. It is now commonly called Le Ventre. 3 
Core Droit. The right side, or that on the right hand of the pre- 
sident : corresponding with our speaker in the House of Commons. It 
was here that those members who set their faces against democratical 
violence took their seats from the first sittings of the Constituent As- 
sembly at Versailles. The most distinguished of that party were Mou- 
nier, Bergasse, and Lally Tollendal. These gentlemen quitted the As- 
sembly, after the royal family were constrained to remove, on the 6th 
of October, 1789, to Paris; and were succeeded by Maury, Cassales, 
Malouet, and Montlosier. 
After the election of the second, or Legislative Assembly, among 
the most strenuous supporters of the feeble constitutional powers of the 
King, we find the names of Dumas, Theodore Lameth, Rochegude, 
and Jaucourt. 
Core Gaucue, the left side, or that on the left hand of the presi- 
dent ; where the violent adversaries of monarchy were seated. Of this 
party Robespierre had been a very active and conspicuous leader in 
the Constituent Assembly. In the Legislative Assembly, among the 
most distinguished leaders of the Republican party, was Brissot. The 
chiefs of that party were for the most part destroyed by Robespierre, 
elected a member of the Third Assembly, or National Convention. It 
is worthy of remark, that, amidst all the various changes of power and 
parties, from the commencement of the revolution till the present time, 
a majority was always found on the left side of the house. The famous 
Abbé Sieyes was always to be found on that side, during the Constitu- 
ent Assembly, even when he maintained an obstinate silence. Those 
who had been members of the Constituent, could not be elected mem- 
bers of the Legislative Assembly, which immediately followed it. But 
the violent promoters of revolutions, like the Abbé, preserved their po- 
pularity, 
