FRENCH HEVOLUTIOIT 218 FRENCH REVOLUTION the meeting of the Convention the Parisian leaders had arrested and ex- ecuted hundreds of persons suspected of sympathy with the emigres. The pur- pose of these "September Massacres" was to inspire terror in the hearts of the aristocrats who still remained in France. The problem of how to treat the king who was now rendered useless puzzled the Convention until in January, 1793, the monarch was brought before the Convention and by a small majority was sentenced to death. Louis XVI. mounted the scaffold with the dignity and composure of a martyr. His death aroused his brother monarchs to greater exertions to put down the revolution. The convention now offered the as- sistance of its armies to any nation whose people would throw off the yoke of monarchy and, ten days after the ex- ecution of Louis, they declared war on England. When, in March, Spain joined the enemies of France, a formidable coalition had been formed in Europe against the revolution. The loss of the Netherlands, together with the treason of one of the French generals, con- vinced the Convention that it had no opportunity to take thought on anything but defense. For that purpose they placed all power in the hands of a Com- mittee composed of twelve of its mem- bers, the famous "Committee of Public Safety." From the date of the appoint- ment of this committee in April, 1793, the reign of terror may be said to have begun. Power in the Convention had previously passed from the Girondists to the more radical "Mountain." These men believed that every trace of the ancient regime should be completely eliminated, even those who sympathized with the old regime or who were luke- warm toward the new should be put to death. The people of Paris were easy converts to this view and by their influence on the Convention imposed it on the rest of France. Robespierre and Danton were the leaders of the Moun- tain and, while heartless in the prose- cution of their aims, few will question their ability and the sincerity of their views. Among the first to be arrested <vere the Girondist deputies who on June 2, 1793, were expelled from the Convention. These extreme measures brought about a serious rebellion in some of the^ outlying provinces, notably in La Vendee and in Lyons, which were put down only with terrible slaughter by the troops of the Convention. Mean- while the Committee was displaying great energy in meeting the attacks of its foreign enemies. In August, Carnot, the "Organizer of Victory," was added to the body and before the end of the year he had raised and equipped the armies which expelled the invaders from French soil. The "Reign of Terror" began in ear- nest with the appointment of the Revolu- tionary Tribunal which rapidly passed on the guilt of those brought before it and executed hundreds with hardly a trial at all. In October the former queen, Marie Antoinette, fell a victim to the guillotine, while commissioners were despatched to Nantes and other centers of disaffection who brought about the death of thousands, many of them guiltless of any crime except a doubt of the justice of the more radical of the Convention's acts. The leader of the Paris Commune, Hebert, advocated even greater excesses than these, while Dan- ton, already tired of so much bloodshed, advocated more moderation. By care- ful intriguing, Robespierre brought about the death of both these men and for a space of a few months ruled as the dictator of France. His own turn came on July 27, 1794, when the reaction set in and the Convention, in defiance of the Commune, ordered his arrest and ex- ecution. Soon afterward the Convention abolished the Committee of Public Safety and resumed its task of forming a new Constitution for France. In 1795 it completed its task by establish- ing as the executive branch of the gov- ernment a directory of five members and vesting the legislative power in two houses, a Council of Five Hundred, and a Council of Elders. In October of the same year the Convention ad- journed, having brought France safely, although not without disorder, through unprecedented foreign and domestic dangers. The success of the republican troops had forced Prussia and Spain to con- clude peace with France, leaving in the spring of 1795 only Austria, England and Sardinia at war with the Republic. In 1796 the Directory despatched a ris- ing young republican general. Napoleon Bonaparte, to Italy to force Austria to sue for peace. By a series of brilliant marches he separated Sardinia from her allies and quickly dictated peace to that little state. Turning about, he drove the Austrians from the plains of Lom- bardy and in 1797 pressed his offensive to within a hundred miles of Vienna. The Austrians were glad to sign the peace of Campo-Formio in October of 1797, by the terms of which the Aus- trian Netherlands were ceded to France together with the larger share of the Austrian possessions in Italy.
