8 Charles Kuhlmann 



bility of taking a vote of purification {scrutin epuratoireY and 

 that DesmoLilins defended the moderation of Barriave in the ad- 

 dress he had drawn up for the affihated societies in March, 1791, 

 on the grounds that its enemies were trying to destroy the society 

 by means of its own excesses.^ 



But aside from these causes at work in destroying the modera- 

 tion of the Jacobins, there were others more positive in their 

 character and better estabhshed by evidence than is the assertion 

 of Lameth. In the first place, toward the close of 1790 the at- 

 mosphere became overcharged with rumors of counter revolution 

 which poured into the club from the affiliated societies and were 

 spread in endless profusion by the papers of Desmoulins, Freron, 

 Carra, Prud'homme, and others. What more natural than that 

 the Jacobins also should take fire? In the second place, Barnave 

 has made an extremely important and instructive confession, one 

 fatal to Lameth's statement, so far as its defensive character is 

 concerned. He and his friends having for some time been occu- 

 pied with committee work, Barnave found, upon his return to 

 the general discussions, that the confidence the National Assem- 

 bly had had in him and his popularity at large had been greatly 

 weakened. To regain his lost ground he began his career of de- 

 nunciation, so evident in December, 1790, and January, 1791, 

 and which drew upon him and his friends the most venomous 

 attacks of the pamphleteers and the opposing press.^ 



Until about April, 1791, Barnave and his friends succeeded in 

 maintaining their ascendency over the Jacobins, carrying the 

 mass of the members with them in their fury of denunciation. 

 Whether any members actually abandoned the society because 

 of these excesses, as was claimed at the time, is dif^cult to deter- 

 mine, but it can not be doubted that many of its friends were 

 disappointed and that it was ultimately injurious to the reputa- 

 tion of the society. Before the leaders became convinced of the 

 pernicious influence they exercised, their enemies fell upon them 

 with a fury even greater than their own. While some attacked 



^Journal des amis de la constitution, III, No. 35, note p. 3S0. 

 ^ Rtvolutions de France et de Brabant, VI, No. 68, 166. 

 •See pamphlets published by Aulard in volume two. 



236 



