The moderate party in the Convention—the Girondists—who in theory desired to save the King, and in practice condemned him to death, were by this time in danger. They were in the way of the fiercer party, led by Marat, Danton, and Robespierre, who were to eclipse both; and these Girondists were already in the hands of their opponents, condemned to follow the King to the scaffold. It was in such language as the following that Marat, who gained a poor living as the editor of a very fierce paper, spoke, in his _Friend of the People_: “I pray my readers pardon me to-day if I speak of myself; not because I am vain, or a fool, or because I wish to serve the people, and, therefore, must justify myself in their sight; for I am accused of being a monster, greedy of blood—a tiger, longing for gore! “Born with a sensitive heart, carefully nurtured, at twenty-one, I was pure, and had long since given myself up to knowledge. “My mother gave much in charity, and all she gave passed through my hands. At eight, I could not endure cruelty, and the sight of it enraged me to madness. “As a child I was weak, and never did I know the joys of childhood. I was so loved, that I was never punished but once, when eleven, and then unjustly. I sprang from the window of the room in which I was confined, and found liberty in the streets, where, even now, only liberty is to be found.” He concluded this article:— “Restored to health, I only thought how I could be useful to the cause of freedom. And yet they accuse me of having sold myself,—I, who could amass millions by merely selling my silence,—I, who am in poverty and want!” Strange enough, like Robespierre, Marat firmly believed he was an instrument in the hands of God. “The Revolution,” he would say, “is the Gospel, and I am its apostle.” But all the raving in the world could not hide the fact that France had suddenly become poor. To be rich, was to run the risk of being accused of being an aristocrat. And as all gold and silver was in the hands of the rich, and these were flying from France, the land was actually being drained of specie. Paper money was issued—a currency which the people mistrusted, as the people always mistrust the unusual; and the Girondists were popularly accused of causing the disappearance of the precious metals. The walls of popular hate were closing round that score of devoted men.