It was then that both Austria and Europe had reason to regret the absurd policy of Joseph II., both in indisposing the inhabitants towards his government, and, in the fine provinces of the Austrian Netherlands, dismantling the iron girdle of fortified towns, with which the wisdom of Europe had invested that frontier. Clairfait, who, though defeated, was too good a disciplinarian to be routed, had to retreat on a country unfriendly to the Austrians, from recollection of their own recent insurrection, and divested of all garrison towns; which must have been severe checks, particularly at this period, to the incursion of a revolutionary army, more fitted to win battles by its impetuosity, than to overcome obstacles which could only be removed by long and patient sieges. As matters stood, the battle of Jemappes was won, and the Austrian Netherlands were fully conquered without further combat by the French general. We shall leave him in his triumph, and return to the fatal scenes acting in Paris. FOOTNOTES: [293] Among others of the same party thus elected were David, the painter, Camille Desmoulins, Collot d'Herbois, and the Duke of Orleans, who had abdicated his titles, and was now called Philip Egalité.--See THIERS, tom. iii., p. 133. [294] "The first measure of the Convention was to abolish Monarchy and proclaim a Republic. The calendar was changed; it was no longer the fourth year of Liberty, but the first of the French Republic."--MIGNET, tom. i., p. 212. [295] Dumouriez, vol. ii., p. 387. [296] Jomini, tom. ii., p. 133. [297] Dumouriez, vol. iii., p. 63; Jomini, tom. ii., p. 138. [298] "All the villages were filled with dead and the dying; without any considerable fighting, the allies had lost, by dysentery and fevers, more than a fourth of their numbers."--TOULONGEON, tom. ii., p. 357. [299] King John, act iii., sc. i. [300] Botta, tom. i., p. 88; Jomini, tom. ii., p. 190. [301] Thiers, tom. iii., p. 182; Jomini, tom. ii., p. 151. [302] Dumouriez, vol. iii., p. 169; Toulongeon, tom. iii., p. 47; Jomini, tom. ii., p. 217. CHAPTER XII. _Jacobins determine upon the Execution of Louis--Progress and Reasons of the King's Unpopularity--Girondists taken by surprise, by a proposal for the Abolition of Royalty made by the Jacobins--Proposal carried--Thoughts on the New System of Government--Compared with that of Rome, Greece, America, and other Republican States--Enthusiasm throughout France at the Change--Follies it gave birth to--And Crimes--Monuments of Art destroyed--Madame Roland interposes to save the Life of the King--Barrère--Girondists move for a Departmental Legion--Carried--Revoked--and Girondists defeated--The Authority of the Community of Paris paramount even over the Convention--Documents of the Iron-Chest--Parallel betwixt Charles I. and Louis XVI.--Motion by Pétion, that the King should be Tried before the Convention._