Military success would consolidate the French people and confirm the
constitution, and Lafayette aspired to win personal glory as the
omnipotent commander. Finally, the overwhelming majority of radicals
cried for war: to them it seemed as if the liberal monarchy would be
completely discomfited by it and that out of it would emerge a republic
in France and the general triumph of democratic principles in Europe.
Why not stir up all the European peoples against their monarchs? The
cause of France should be the cause of Europe. France should be the
missionary of the new dispensation.
[Sidenote: Political Parties in the Legislative Assembly]
The Legislative Assembly, on which depended in last instance the
solution of all these vital problems, domestic and foreign, represented
several diverse shades of political opinion. Of the seven hundred
members, four hundred admitted no special leadership but voted
independently on every question according to individual preference or
fear, while the others were divided between the camp of
_Feuillants_ and that of _Jacobins_.
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