Our tactful,
trimming Abbe Sieyes belonged to the Plain. At the very outset the
Plain was likely to go with the Girondists, but as time went on and the
Parisian populace clamored more and more loudly against any one who
opposed the action of their allies, the Mountainists, it gradually saw
fit to transfer its affections to the Left.
[Sidenote: Trial and Execution of King Louis XVI, 1793]
The first serious question which faced the Convention was the
disposition of the king. The discovery of an iron chest containing
accounts of expenditures for bribing members of the National
Constituent Assembly, coupled with the all but confirmed suspicion of
Louis' double dealings with France and with foreign foes,[Footnote:
After the execution of the king, actual letters were discovered which
Louis had dispatched to his fellow monarchs, urging their assistance. A
typical extract is given in Robinson and Beard, _Readings in Modern
European History_, Vol. I, pp. 287-288.] sealed the doom of that
miserably weak monarch.
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