It should be clearly understood that, even after the declaration of
war, the friends of the Monarchy, who wished the Revolution to pause,
were in a great majority both in Paris and in France. But they were
disorganised and often lukewarm, divided into numberless different
groups, jealous and distrustful of one another, largely governed by
personal motives, with no clear policy before them, incapable of acting
loyally together, and without the ability to act wisely, even if they
could unite. Barnave and the Lameths distrusted Lafayette. Lafayette
distrusted Dumouriez. The stronger royalists distrusted Barnave. The
King distrusted all alike. On the other side was a smaller but more
active party, full of enthusiasm and audacity, not, it is true, without
enmities and divisions of its own, but still better organised than its
opponents, prepared to embark on a policy of danger, and to hope that
the future would turn to its account. In that situation of affairs
the war broke out, and its effects were soon apparent. It rendered
Louis' dethronement almost certain. It drew a sharp line between those
who were on the side of France and of the Revolution, and those who
were on the side of the Emigrants and invaders, a line which placed
the King upon one side and the vast majority of his subjects on the
other. It rallied all patriots to the party which undertook the
national defence. It made the Jacobins, whom the enemy denounced, the
heroes of the popular resistance. It forced into helpless inaction all
those who wanted order and a king, but who could not lift voice or
hand for Louis, if by doing so they weakened the unity of France. It
rendered possible, though it did not necessitate, the Terror, for it
converted all opponents of the Revolution into traitors. It led at once
to national peril, and through peril to panic and confusion. In the
confusion the elements of disorder, already rife in France and taught
impunity by the experience of the past two years, rose uncontrolled in
insurrection, and patriotism became identified with crime.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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