Girondins, broke the spell of helpless bewilderment that seemed to have fallen on the Assembly. "If modesty were not a duty," he cried, "I should feel hurt at the omission of my name from this list!"
Three-fourths of the Assembly echoing his sentiment, claimed to be included too. The majesty of the common will, as expressed in the representation of the nation, asserted itself on that day for the last time in the Convention.
The petitioners had notified that their demand of proscription of the twenty-two should be sent for ratification to the Departments. Whereupon Fonfrède pointed out that the sovereignty of the people only made itself manifest through the primary Assemblies. This would have been a signal for a dissolution of the Assembly, and the plunging the country into the turmoil of elections at a moment when its very existence and that of the Republic depended upon the most absolute concentration of all its forces.
The moment was one of infinite risk. The Girondins, hated by Paris, which they had attacked with inconsiderate violence, still possessed the majority in the provinces. Their influence, their safety, nay their very existence, lay in having recourse once more to a General Election. But Marseilles and Lyons had become centres of reaction in the south-east, La Vendée had burst into fierce rebellion for Church and King, and in the north and east foreign armies held the fortresses on the frontiers.
The great soul of Vergniaud grasped the situation: saw the strife of parties hurrying France to its ruin: felt that, as they never could unite again, one of them must perish. On this 20th of April the Girondins were still free to choose. Vergniaud chose for them.
