FRANCE. 373 



the combined armies besieged Paris, it is difficult to conceive what 

 aid tney could have found from two or three thousand aristocrats, and 

 many of these secured in chains. 



A national convention had been called, to determine on the charges 

 brought against the king. They met on the 24th of September : and, 

 on the first day of the meeting, the abolition of royalty in France 

 was decreed by acclamation ; and the following day it was ordered 

 that all public acts should be dated " the first year of the French 

 republic." But hardly was this convention constituted, when a vio- 

 lent faction appeared, headed by Marat,* Robespierre, and others, 

 who repeatedly degraded its transactions by their fanaticism ; and, 

 being supported by the Jacobins and Parisian populace, proved too 

 powerful for the convention to punish them as it wished. Repeat- 

 ed instances have proved that the convention was not free, but must 

 vote as the mob of Paris dictated ; the moderation of the members 

 being often obliged to yield to the indecent applauses and hisses of 

 the galleries. 



So rapid was the progress of the French arms ; and so great were 

 the distresses in the combined armies, arising from a scarcity of pro- 

 visions, from a long rainy season, and from a considerable mortality 

 among the Prussians (by the French accounts, estimated at one half) 

 that the Prussians retreated from the dominions of France : which 

 example the Austrian s soon followed. 



Even at the very time when Paris was in the greatest danger, the 

 invasion of Savoy was ordered. On the 21st of September general 

 Montesquieu entered the Savoyard territories, seized on the frontier 

 posts and castles without resistance, and two days after took Mont- 

 melian. Chamberry and all Savoy soon followed ; but the conquest, 

 not being resisted, was productive of no military glory. The impru- 

 dence of the national convention, in permitting Savoy to incorporate 

 itself with France, has excited wonder. After frequent declarations 

 that the French would enter into no war with any view to conquest, 

 their conduct in this respect was absurd and impolitic. It subjected 

 them to the merited reproach that, under the pretence of liberty, 

 they maintained the destructive maxims of their ancient govern- 

 ment; and that their wishes to increase their territory, perhaps to 

 subjugate Europe, remained the same. Admiral Triguet, command- 

 ing a squadron in the Mediterranean, captured Nice, Villa Franca, 

 and the fortress of Montalban, belonging to the king of Sardinia. 



The conquest of Savoy was regarded as a trifle ; but when Custine 

 began his acquisitions in Germany, every eye was turned to the 

 rapidity and importance of his progress, till diverted by the wonders 

 of Dumouriez. Spires yielded to the French arms on the 30th of 

 September, and Worms soon after followed : ample supplies of pro- 

 visions and ammunition were found in these cities. Custine, pursuing 

 his course along the left bank of the Rhine, next captured Mentz, and 



* Marat fell by the hands of female vengeance. Marie Anne Charlotte Cordey, 

 strongly impressed with the calamities which he had brought upon her country, 

 took a journey to Paris, in July, 1793, on purpose to put a period to his existence. 

 Meeting Marat as he was coming from the bath, and entering into conversation 

 with liim (the more certainly to identify his person) she plunged a dagger into his 

 breast; upon which he fell, and soon expired. Glorying in having exterminated 

 a monster, she delivered herself up to the officers of justice ; and with the utmost 

 firmness submitted to her fete, in having her head severed by the guillotine, in the 

 35th year of her age. 



