FRA 
but he was acquitted by the jury before whom he was 
tried. The Mountain, by tIre alliftance of the Jacobin 
club, had now acquired a complete afcendancy over the 
city of Paris. The Girondifts, or BrifTotines, propofed 
therefore to remove the convention from the capital to 
Verfailles ; but, to prevent this, the Mountain refolved 
to make the fame life of the people of the capital againft 
the Girondift party, that they had formerly done againft 
the monarch on the ioth of Auguft. 
It is unneceftary to ftate in detail all the fanguinary tu¬ 
mults that occurred, either in Paris or in the convention, 
during the remaining part of the month of May. On the 
31ft, at four o’clock in the morning, the tocfin was found¬ 
ed, the generale was beat, and the alarm guns fired. All 
was commotion and terror. The citizens flew to arms, 
and alfembled round the convention. Some deputations 
demanded a decree of accufation. againft thirty-five of its 
members. The day, however, was fpent without deci- 
fion. On the lft of June, an armed force marched up 
to the convention, and made the fame demand. On the 
2d of June this was repeated ; the tocfin again founded, 
and.an hundred pieces of cannon furroiinded the national 
hall. At laft Barrere mounted the tribune. He was 
confidered as a moderate man, arid refpefted by both par¬ 
ties ; but he now artfully deferted the Girondifts. He 
invited tire denounced members voluntarily to refign 
their character of reprefentatives. Some of them com¬ 
plied, and the prefident attempted to diflolve the fitting; 
but the members were now imprifoned in their own hall. 
Henriot, commander of the armed force, compelled them 
to remain; and the obnoxious deputies, amounting to 
upwards of ninety in number, were put under an arreft, 
and a decree of denunciation againft them was imme¬ 
diately figned. It is obvious, that on this occafion every 
idea of liberty in France was trodden under foot. The 
minority of the national reprefentatives, by the alliftance 
of an armed force raifed in the capital, compelled the 
majority to fubmit to their tneafures, and took the lead¬ 
ing members prifoners. Human purfuits are a mafs of 
contradictions : the Mountain party came into power by 
preaching liberty, and held their place by violating its 
fundamental principles. 
The firft refult of their fuperiority in the capital, was 
highly calamitous to the republic at large. Brifl'ot and 
fome other deputies efcaped, and endeavoured to kindle 
the flames of civil war. In general, however, the influ¬ 
ence of the Jacobin club, and of its various branches, 
was fuch, that the north of France adhered to the con/ 
vention as it flood ; but the fouthern departments were 
fpeedily in a ftate of rebellion. The department of 
Lyons declared the Mountain party to be outlawed. 
Marfeilles and Toulon followed the example of Lyons, 
and entered into a confederacy, fince known by the ap¬ 
pellation of Fcederalifm. The departments of Gironde 
and Calvades broke out into open revolt. In fliort, the 
whole of France was in a ftate of warfare and convulfion. 
The political enthufiafm of all orders of perfons was 
fuch, that even the female fex did not efcape its conta¬ 
gion. A young woman, named Charlotte Corde, in the 
beginning of July, came from the department of CaL 
vades to devote her life for what (lie thought the caufe of 
freedom and of her country. She requefted an interview 
with Marat, the mod obnoxious of the Mountain party. 
Having obtained it, and converfed with him calmly for 
fome time, (lie fuddenly plunged a knife into his bread, 
and walked carelefsly out of the houfe ; but (he was im¬ 
mediately feized and condemned. At the place of exe¬ 
cution (he behaved with infinite conftancy, (homing, Five 
La republique. The remains of Marat were interred with 
great fplendor, and the convention attended his funeral. 
His party, perhaps, derived advantage from the manner 
of his death, as it feemed to faften the odious charge of 
afTaflination upon their antagonifts, and gave them the 
appearance of fullering in the caufe of. liberty. The 
truth is, that bare-faced aflaffinatiou was fan&ioned by 
a 
N C E. 79i 
both parties, under pretence of defending the liberties of 
the republic. 
One of the firft afts of the Mountain, after their tri¬ 
umph, was to finifti the republican conftitution. Pre¬ 
vious to their fall, the Girondifts had brought forward 
the plan of a conftitution, chiefly the work of Condorcet; 
but it never was fandtioned by the convention, and was 
too intricate to be practically ufeful. The new confti¬ 
tution now framed, which was afterwards fanCtioned by 
the nation, but never put in pradtice, abolifhed the for¬ 
mer mode of electing the reprefentatives of the people 
through the medium of electoral aflemblies, and appointed 
them to be chofen immediately by the primary aflemblies, 
which were made to confift of from two hundred to fix 
hundred citizens, each man voting by ballot, or open 
vote, at his option. There was one deputy appointed 
for every forty thoufand individuals, and population wast 
the foie bafis of reprefentation. The promulgation of 
this conftitution, however, procured no fmall degree of 
applaufe to the Mountain party. The rapidity with 
which it was formed (being only a fortnight) feemed to 
caft an indelible reproach upon the inactivity of their an¬ 
tagonifts, and it was confidered as a proof of their being 
decidedly ferious in the caufe of republicanifm. No re¬ 
gard, however, had been paid to it by the convention, 
which declared itfelf permanent; nor, indeed, did it feem 
poflible to carry it into execution. 
We have mentioned that Conde was invefted from the 
beginning of April. It did not yield till the ioth of 
July, when the garrifon was fo much reduced by famine 
and difeafe, that out of four thoufand men, of which it 
originally confided, only fifteen hundred were left for 
fervice. The eyes of all Europe were, in the mean time, 
fixed upon tbefiegeof Valenciennes. Colonel Moncrieff 
had contended, that batteries ought immediately to be 
placed under the walls, without approaching it by regu¬ 
lar parallels ; but the imperial engineer, M. Ferraris, 
aflerted, that the work of the great Vauban muft be 
treated with more refpeCt; and his opinion was adopted 
by the council of war. The trenches were opened on the 
14th of June ; and general Ferrand, who commanded the 
garrifon, was fummoned tofurrender. But heanfwered, 
‘‘That rather than capitulate, he would bury himfelf 
under the ruins of the works.” The batteries havingat 
length reduced the principal parts of the town to afhes, 
the inhabitants befought the general to furrender ; but 
he told them in a proclamation, that he would not betray 
the nation ; and threatened, on the lead appearance of 
tumult, to refort to the extremes of military rigour. 
The allies now carried on their operations till half the 
garrifon had periflied, the artillery was difmounted, the 
fortifications deflroyed, and breaches opened in the wall 
fufhcient to admit the paflage even of cavalry. The 
mines were fprung with fuccefs, and the duke of York, 
attacking the horn-work on the 25th of July, made him¬ 
felf mafter of the mines of the befieged, and difcovering 
a fubterraneous paflage, made a l'ecure lodgment in the 
works. It was not till the laft extremity, on the 28th of 
July, that the governor would accede to terms of capi¬ 
tulation ; the garrifon were permitted to return to France, 
on condition of not ferving againft the emperor or his al¬ 
lies till exchanged ; and pofl'eflion was taken of the town 
by the Englifti in the name of the emperor of Germany. 
Mentz in the mean while was attacked with equal fuc- 
cefs; the trenches were opened under the infpection of 
the king of Prullia. The approaches were oppoied not 
only by vigorous fallies from the befieged garrifon, but 
from thofe of Koftheim and Albanus. The operations 
were, however, continued, and the bombardment de- 
ftroyed the church of Notre Dame, and many principal 
buildings ; the fortifications were fet on fire, the redoubt 
of Zahlback furprized, the poft of Koftheim taken, and 
at length, after living two months under an arch of fire, 
the governor, on the 22ft of July, was obliged to capitu¬ 
late. The terms were moderate, the garrifon being al¬ 
lowed 
