Louis XVI and the Legislative Assembly

In the words of Montague in the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, "It left behind an empty treasury, an undisciplined army and navy, and a people debauched by safe and successful riot.

"[1] In the elections of 1791, despite a limited electoral franchise, the party which desired to carry the Revolution further had a success disproportionate to its numbers, a triumph for the Jacobin Club and by its affiliated societies throughout France.

Among them were some able men, such as Mathieu Dumas, Ramond, Vaublanc, Beugnot and Bigot de Préamenau, but they were guided chiefly by persons outside the House, because incapable of re-election: Barnave, Adrien Duport, and the brothers Alexander and Charles Lameth.

[2] The Girondins could claim the most brilliant orators: Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud, Marguerite-Élie Guadet, Armand Gensonné, and Maximin Isnard (the last being from Provence).

[citation needed] This strong representation of the left in the Assembly was supplemented by the political clubs and the disorderly revolutionary elements in Paris and throughout France.

Montmorin gave up the portfolio of foreign affairs on 31 October 1791 and was succeeded by De Lessart, the previous minister of finance.

[3] Overtly, the king (despite his earlier attempt to escape Paris during the flight to Varennes) had embraced the newly codified constitution.

[citation needed] Marie Antoinette surely wished to shake off the impotence and humiliation of the Crown, and for this end she still clung to the hope of foreign succour and corresponded with Vienna.

Those émigrés who had assembled in arms on the territories of the electors of Mainz and Treves (Trier) and in the Austrian Netherlands had put themselves in the position of public enemies.

The only actual danger posed by the émigrés was symbolic: that they were only a few thousand strong; that they had no competent leader and no money; and that although they had earlier been of some diplomatic significance, they were increasingly unwelcome to the rulers whose hospitality they abused.

Louis did not love his brothers, and he detested their policy, which without rendering him any service made his liberty and even his life precarious; yet, loath to condemn them to death, he vetoed the decree.

[3] He did, however, sign a decree of 30 October, stating that his eldest brother Louis-Stanislaus-Xavier was required to return to France in two months, or at the expiration of that period he would be considered to have forfeited his rights as regent.

However, afraid of Lafayette as a rival to the king, the court actually favored and assisted the Girondist Pétion in the election.

[citation needed] The armed bodies of émigrés on the territory of the Holy Roman Empire afforded matter of complaint to France.

The persistence of the French in offering only money as compensation to the German princes who had claims in Alsace afforded matter of complaint to the Empire.

He had family ties to Louis XVI, and he was obliged, as chief of the Holy Roman Empire, to protect the border princes.

He knew that the Austrian Netherlands, where he had with difficulty restored his authority, were full of friends of the Revolution and that a French army would be welcomed by many Belgians.

Leopold well knew that concerted action of the powers was impossible, as Great Britain had firmly resolved not to meddle with French affairs.

[3] Robespierre also argued against the Girondins' objective of using war as a means of exporting revolution, on the grounds that "nobody likes armed missionaries".

The finances remained in disorder, with inflation rampant: assignats of the face value of 800,000,000 livres were issued by the Legislative Assembly after September 1790.

A soldier by profession, he had been employed in the secret diplomacy of Louis XV and had thus gained a wide knowledge of international politics.

According to Mignet, the court named this ministry "le Ministère Sans-Culotte", and the first time Roland appeared at court—with laces rather than buckles on his shoes—the master of the ceremonies initially refused to admit him.

Prussia declared war against France, and the Duke of Brunswick was chosen to command the allied forces, but various causes delayed action.

Only after long discussion was it agreed that Prussia should be free to act in Poland, while Austria might find compensation in provinces conquered from France.

Meantime the Legislative Assembly passed three decrees: one for the deportation of non-juring priests, another to suppress the king's Constitutional Guard, and a third for the establishment of a camp of fédérés near Paris.

[8] The ruling spirit of this new revolution was Danton, a barrister only thirty-two years old, who had not sat in either Assembly, although he had been the leader of the Cordeliers, an advanced republican club, and had a strong hold on the common people of Paris.

Volunteers and fédérés were constantly arriving in Paris, and, although most went on to join the army, the Jacobins enlisted those who were suitable for their purpose, especially some 500 whom Barbaroux, a Girondin, had summoned from Marseille.

Brunswick's famous declaration of 25 July 1792, announcing that the allies would enter France to restore the royal authority and would visit the Assembly and the city of Paris with military execution if any further outrage were offered to the king, heated the republican spirit to fury.

On 1 September the Commune declared a state of emergency by decreeing that on the following day the tocsin should be rung, all able-bodied citizens convened in the Champ de Mars, and 60,000 volunteers enrolled for the defence of the country.

[9] While this assembly was in progress teams of executioners were sent to the prisons and began a butchery (September Massacres) which lasted four days and consumed 1400 victims.