Municipality; and to reorganize the National Guards; whose Commander-General was henceforth to be elected by the united sections. All these measures were advocated by Madame Roland; but, in order to succeed, a threatening obstacle had to be surmounted: the triple revolutionary power—Danton; Marat, Robespierre.
But lack of courage was not the failure of the Girondins. Insufficiently prepared with proofs for so momentous a proceeding, they now impeached the three formidable Montagnards of aspiring to the Dictatorship; and sought to make them responsible for the murderous work in the prisons. The most important of these accusations was that against Robespierre by Louvet. The prophetic spirit of the Gironde instinctively knew its future destroyer, but, in default of conclusive proofs, could not hope to shake his enormous popularity. Robespierre, in a profoundly-considered discourse, wherein he sketched the whole progress of the Revolution, turned his defence into a victory. Outside the Chamber indignant crowds clamoured for their favourites. The failure of the indictment meant the fall of the Girondins.
Their efforts to obtain a provincial guard to protect the Convention was another cause of their growing unpopularity in Paris. After events completely justified the wisdom of this demand. In the absence of a properly-constituted government, with a Commune arrogating to itself all practical functions of one, and a National Guard whose commander was appointed by the most violent party of the moment, the Convention was left entirely at the mercy of the most turbulent faction of the population of Paris. The moment a mob, using its "sacred right of insurrection," chose to
