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The French Revolution 445 777. The Extreme Republican "Mountain." This was com- posed of the most vigorous and uncompromising Jacobins. They believed that the French people had been depraved by the slavery to which their kings had subjected them. Everything, they argued, which suggested the former rule of kings must be wiped out. A new France should be created in which Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity should take the place of the tyranny of princes, the insolence of nobles, and the exactions of the priests. The leaders of the Mountain held that the mass of the people were by nature good and upright, but that there were a number of adherents of the old system who would, if they could, undo the great work of the Revolution and lead the people back to slavery, as formerly under a king. All who were suspected by the Mountain of having the least sympathy with the nobles or persecuted priests were branded as counter-revolutionary. The Mountain was will- ing to resort to any measures, however shocking, to rid the nation of those suspected of counter-revolutionary tendencies, and its leaders relied upon the populace of Paris, which had been disap- pointed that "liberty" had not bettered the hard conditions of life as it had hoped, to aid them in reaching their ends. 778. Civil War in France. In June, 1793, the Convention was surrounded by a Paris mob demanding the expulsion of the Girondists. The leaders of this party of moderation were ar- rested, and the power in the Convention fell into the hands of the extreme Jacobins of the Mountain. This act of violence was re- sented by the great cities of Bordeaux, Marseilles, and Lyons, who favored the Girondists and hated the Mountain and its ally, the Paris mob. These cities therefore ventured to revolt against the Convention. Moreover, the peasants in the old province of Brittany, who still loved the monarchy, rebelled against those who had killed their king and were persecuting the priests. So the Committee of Public Safety had to face a civil war in addition to the attacks of foreign powers. But it succeeded in quelling the rebellions at home and in organizing armies of enthusiastic re- publicans, who drove off the enemy so that by the end of the year all danger from invasion was past.