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444 General History of Europe The adjustment of their differences gave a wholly new aspect to the war with France. When in March, 1793, Spain and the Holy Roman Empire joined the coalition, France was at war with all her neighbors. The Austrians defeated Dumouriez at Neerwinden and drove the French out of the Netherlands. Dumouriez, disgusted by the failure of the Convention to support him and by their execution of the king, deserted to the enemy with a few hundred soldiers who consented to follow him. IV. THE REIGN OF TERROR 775. The Committee of Public Safety. The loss of the Netherlands and the treason of their best general made a deep impression upon the members of the Convention. If the new French Republic was to defend itself against the " tyrants " with- out and its many enemies within, it could not wait for the Con- vention to draw up an elaborate, permanent constitution. An efficient government must be devised immediately to maintain the loyalty of the people to the Republic and to raise and equip armies and direct their commanders. The Convention accordingly put the government into the hands of a small committee, consist- ing originally of nine, later of twelve, of its members. This famous Committee of Public Safety was given practically unlimited powers. "We must," one of the leaders exclaimed, "establish the despotism of liberty in order to crush the despotism of kings." 776. The Girondists. Within the Convention itself there were two groups of active men who came into bitter conflict over the policy to be pursued. There was, first, the party of the Girondists, so called because their leaders came from the department of Gironde, in which the great city of Bordeaux lay. They were moderate republicans and counted among their numbers some speakers of remarkable eloquence. They were not, however, men of sufficient decision to direct affairs in the terrible difficulties in which France found herself after the execution of the king. They consequently lost their influence, and a new party, called the Mountain from the high seats that they occupied in the Conven- tion, gained the ascendancy.