IX.] THE GREAT REVOLUTION. 171 of unaccustomed freedom, and were full of rage, fury, and terror at the notion of any return of the bonds that had galled them, looking on every being of noble birth as a tyrant, almost as a noxious animal, possessed of some mysterious power that would do mischief unless it was crushed. Persons now began to be brought to trial for alleged conspiracies against the Republic, and some were put to death by the guillotine, though executions did not become common till a later time. In certain towns the people committed some cruel murders ; but the govern- ment still tried to keep order in the usual way, and to check violence. The army of emigrants and Germans was checked at Vahny by Duinouriez in September, 1792, almost at the moment of the meeting of the Convention. The Prussian soldiers suffered so much from sickness, and their commander agreed so ill with the Austnans, that, although no real battle had been fought at Valmy, it was resolved to retreat ; and Brunswick led his army out of France. Dumouriez now invaded Belgium, defeated the Austrians at Jemappes, and gained the whole country up to the borders of Holland. General Custine invaded the Rhenish provinces of the Empire, and captured the great German city and fortress of Mainz. Wherever the French armies advanced, they declared all existing governments, and all the privileges of the nobles and clergy, to be at an end. The Convention proclaimed that it would assist all nations Avhich desired to throw off the yoke of kings and nobles, and to regain what were supposed to be the natural " rights of men." 12. Death of Lewis XVI., 1793. — The Convention, like the Legislative Assembly, contained the two parties of the Gironde and the Mojuitain. The latter were resolved on the death of the kirigr~"Their leaders were three men whose zeal for the rights of men and what they called the cause of humanity led them to sweep away everything most unmercifully, in order that they might rebuild. These were Robejpierxc, and with him Dantgnj a lawyer, and Maraf, a surgeon. Robespierre was for putting the king to death without a trial ; but the trial was voted, and he was brought for trial before the Convention, by the name of Louis Capet. Lewis was found guilty by a vast majority, and was sentenced to die by a much smaller one. Among them was his own kinsman, Philip Egalite, to the horror even of the democrats, who muttered, "the monster," as the vote was given. Lewis XVL died by
