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THE FRENCH REVOLUTION: THE PROLETARIAN STAGE
THE insurrection of the 10th August, 147 which culminated in the final downfall of the monarchy and the imprisonment of the King and royal family in the Temple, was headed and organised by a new body definitely revolutionary, intended to be the expression of the power of the proletariat, to wit, the Commune of Paris, the moving spirit of which was Marat, who even had a seat of honour assigned to him in its hall. Already, before the King had been sent to the Temple, the Girondin Vergniaud, as president, had moved the suspension of the “hereditary representative” and the summoning of a national Convention. 148 Danton was made minister of justice; and a new Court of Criminal Justice was established for the trial of political offences. The members of the Convention were chosen by double election, but the property qualification of “active and passive citizens" was done away with.
While all this was going on, the movement of the reactionary armies on France was still afoot; and the furious flame of French national enthusiasm, which was afterwards used by the self-seeking conqueror Napoleon, was lighted by the necessity of the moment—not to be extinguished in days long after his. We mention this here because, in order to appreciate what follows, it must be remembered that an armed coalition of the absolutist countries was gathering together, threatening to drown the Revolution in the blood of the French people, and especially of the people of Paris; that one of its armies, commanded by the Duke of Brunswick, a famous general of Frederick the Great, was