- The majority of the Convention cannot evade this growing testimony and the Montagnards excite its horror； and all the more， because it bears them a grudge： the 73 who were imprisoned and the sixteen who were proscribed have resumed their seats， the 400 silent who have for so long held their seats under the knife， remember the oppression to which they have been subject. They now recover and turn first against the most tainted scoundrels， and then against the members of the old committees. - Whereupon the "Mountain，" as was its custom， launches its customary supporters， the starved populace， the Jacobin rabble， in the riots of Germinal and Prairial， in year III.， and proclaims anew the reign of Terror； the Convention again sees the knife over its head. Saved by young men， by the National Guard， it becomes courageous through fear， and， in its turn， it terrorizes the terrorists. The Faubourg Saint-Antoine is disarmed， ten thousand Jacobins are arrested，[7] and more than sixty Montagnards are decreed under indictment； Collot， Billaud， Barère and Vadier are to be deported； nine other members of former committees are to be imprisoned. The last of the veritable fanatics， Romme， Goujon， Soubrany， Duquesnoy， Bourbotte and Duroy are condemned to death， Immediately after the sentence five of them stab themselves on the stairs of the tribunal； two of the wounded who survive are borne， along with the sixth， to the scaffold and guillotined. Two Montagnards of the same stamp， Rhul and Maure， kill themselves before their sentence. - Henceforth the purged Convention regards itself as pure； its final rigor has expiated its former baseness， the guilty blood which it spills washing away the stains of the innocent blood it had shed before.
Unfortunately， in condemning the terrorists， it pronounced its own condemnation； for it has authorized and sanctioned all their crimes.
On its benches， in its committees， often in the president's chair， at the head of the ruling coterie， still figure the members of the revolutionary government， many of the avowed terrorists like Bourdon de l'Oise， Bentabolle， Delmas， and Reubell； presidents of the September commune like Marie Chénier； those who carried out "the 31st of May，" like Legendre and Merlin de Douai， author of the decree which created six hundred thousand suspects in France； provincial executioners of the most brutal and most ferocious sort， the greatest and most cynical robbers like André Dumont， Fréron， Tallien and Barras. Under Robespierre， the four hundred mutes "du ventre" were the reporters， the voters， the claqueurs， and the agents of the worst decrees against religion， property and persons. The foundations of Terror were all laid by the seventy-three in confinement before they were imprisoned， and by the sixteen who were proscribed before their proscription. Excepting ten or a dozen who stayed away， the Convention， in a mass， pronounced judgment against the King and declared him guilty； more than one-half of the Convention， the Girondists at the head of them， voted his death. The hall does not contain fifty honorable men in whom character sustains conscience， and who had a right to carry their heads erect.[8] In no law they passed， good or bad， did the other seven hundred have in view the interests of their constituents. In all their laws， good or bad， they solely regarded their own interests. So long as the attacks of the "Mountain" and of the rabble affected the public only， they lauded them， decreed them and had them executed. If they finally rebelled against the "Mountain，" and against the rabble， it was at the last moment， and solely to save their lives. Before， as after the 9th of Thermidor， before， as after the 1st of Prairial， the incentives of the conduct of these pusillanimous oppressors or involuntary liberators were baseness and egoism. Hence， "the contempt and horror universally poured out against them； only Jacobins could be still more odious！"[9]
If further support is given to these faithless mandatories， it is because they are soon to be put out. On the premature report that the Convention is going to break up， people accost each other in the street， exclaiming， "We are rid of these brigands， they are going at last . . . People caper and dance about as if they could not repress their joy； they talk of nothing but the boy， (Louis XVIII.
confined in the Temple)， and the new elections. Everybody agrees on excluding the present deputies . . . . There is less discussion on the crimes which each has committed than on the insignificance of the entire assemblage， while the epithets of vicious， used up and corrupt have almost wholly given way to thieves and scoundrels."[10] Even in Paris， during the closing months of their rule， they hardly dare appear in public： "in the dirtiest and most careless costume which the tricolor scarf and gold fringe makes more apparent， they try to escape notice in the crowd[11] and， in spite of their modesty， do not always avoid insult and still less the maledictions of those who pass them."- In the provinces， at home， it would be worse for them； their lives would be in danger； in any event， they would be dragged through the gutter， and this they know. Save about "twenty of them，" all who are not to succeed in entering the new Corps Legislatif， will intrigue for offices in Paris and become "state messengers， employees in bureaux， and ushers to ministers；" in default of other places they would accept those of "hall-sweeps." Any refuge for them is good against the reprobation of the public， which is already rising and submerging them under its tide.
II. Re-election of the Two-thirds.
Decrees for the re-election of the Two-thirds. - Small number of Voters. - Maneuvers for preventing electors from voting on the decrees. - Frauds in the returns of votes. - Maintenance of the decrees by force. - Recruiting of the Roughs. - The military employed. - The 13th of Vendémaire.