Their rebellion and their demands were not in accord with the economic distress, but with their economic ability. Those who were economically weak did not make themselves felt until later; first it was the peasants, then the petty bourgeoisie, the workers, traders and factory helots of Paris. The spark of rebellion was kindled "philosophically" in the conversational salons of the rich patricians. It was "a product of social well-being."
But the bourgeoisie laid the foundation to its rule in the light of the flames of burning feudal castles and to the music of "Ça ira" and "Les aristocrates à la lanterne." In this decade of acute revolution, however, it was possible to accomplish in days what otherwise would have required years, while years performed the work of centuries. In rapid succession, various strata of society seized power by the methods of dictatorship and the rapid success of these methods was often accelerated by use of the death penalty as a means of political struggle.
It is not possible to deny that in this swift stream of events each party, each faction, had its illusion. Nor is it difficult for us to grasp that each event assumed an aspect different from that which its ac-tive protagonists had wished. The Feuillants (the moderate monarchists) enthusiastically advocated a peaceful, moderate monarchy; the Girondistes dreamed of a republic of wages; the Left Jacobins
