"The party of the Mountain possessed more energy and enthusiasm, and was not less popular in the capital and among the clubs of the departments.
"The Girondist party, which, in the Legislative Assembly, had been the most ardent for the Revolution, became, in the Convention, the most moderate; because it had to contend there with a faction much more violent than itself, which had not found its way into the Assembly.
"The Girondists called their adversaries the faction of September, and constantly reproached them with the horrible massacre of which they were guilty. They accused them of being hostile to a national assembly, and of endeavouring to transfer the government of France to the Commune of Paris; but by these means the Girondists only excited against themselves the Jacobins of all the departments.
"On its side, the Commune of Paris (the Mountaineers) stigmatized the Girondists by the name of the federalists, and charged them with the design of establishing a federative system in France similar to that of Switzerland. They also accused them of endeavouring to stir up the provinces against the capital, and thus held them up to the detestation of the people of Paris, which could maintain its splendour only by the union and unity of the whole of the territory. When the Girondists inveighed against the Mountaineers for the massacres of the 2nd of September, the latter reproached the former with having, during the Legislative Assembly, rashly and without cause, declared war against all Europe.
"The Girondists, at first, appeared to have the upper hand in the Convention, and they directed that Marat should be brought to trial, and that proceedings should be instituted against the assassins of September. But Marat, supported by the Jacobins and the Commune of Paris, was acquitted by the revolutionary tribunal, and returned in triumph to the bosom of the assembly.
"The trial of the King had been another apple of discord. The two parties seemed to proceed in unison, and voted, it is true, for his death; but the greater part of the Girondists also voted for an appeal to the people; and here it is difficult to comprehend the reason of their conduct during that crisis. If they wished to save the king, they were at liberty to do so; they had only to vote for deportation, exile, or the adjournment of the question; but to sentence him to death and make his fate depend upon the will of the people, was, in the highest degree, absurd and impolitic. They seemed to be desirous, that after the extinction of the monarchy, France should be torn to pieces by civil war.