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The History of the French Revolution 1789-1800
The History of the French Revolution 17891800 Author:Adolphe Thiers, Frederic Shoberl Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: 52 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. July 1793 fact, of being an active and persuasive leader, he became the apostle of the Revolution; and when there was no longer need... more » of any apostleship, but only of energy and perseverance, the dagger of an indignant woman came most opportunely to make a martyr of him, and to give a saint to the people, who, tired of their old images, felt the necessity of creating new ones for themselves. chapter{Section 4 THE NATIONAL CONVENTION (fontinued) ' DISTRIBUTION OF THE POWERS, AND MARCH OF PUBLIC OPINION SINCE THE 3isT OF MAY—DISCREDIT OF DANTON—POLITICS OF ROBESPIERRE—DEFEATS OF WESTERMANN AND LABAROLIERE IN LA VENDEE—SIEGE AND REDUCTION OF MAYENCE AND VALENCIENNES—EXTREME DANGER—STATE OF THE PUBLIC SUPPLIES- DISCREDIT OF ASSIGNATS—MAXIMUM—STOCKJOBBING. OF the so famed triumvirs. only Robespierre and Danton were now left. In order to form an idea of their influence, we must see how the powers were distributed, and what course public opinion had taken since the suppression of the right side. From the very day of its institution, the Convention was in reality possessed of all the powers. It disliked. however, to keep them ostensibly in its own hands. as it wished to avoid the appearance of despotism. It therefore suffered a phantom of executive power to exist out of its bosom. and retained ministers. Dissatisfied with their administration, the energy of which was not proportionate to circumstances. it established. immediately after the defection of Dumouriez. a committee of public welfare, which entered upon its functions on the 1oth of April. and which exercised a superior influence over the government. It was empowered to suspend the execution of the measures taken by the ministers. to supply deficiencies when it deemed them inadequate, or to r...« less