exclamation: "The Inquisition of State come again, and worse than at Venice." Their remonstrances produced some effect. The tribunal, which was elected by the Convention, came ultimately to consist of a jury, as well as judges and a public accuser. But as the jury had to proclaim their vote openly, exposed to the threats of the galleries and the anger of the mob, they were practically acting under coercion.
With the institution of this tribunal the Revolution enters upon a further stage. Auspicious and beneficent was the beginning of its career; great the blessing it had already bestowed on the nation; but distracted by treachery, driven wild by defeat, its promise turned to a menace, the hope which it had brought the world was veiled in terror. Yes, the Terror came in with the Revolutionary Tribunal, planting the guillotine en permanence on the Place de la Revolution, stalking spectre-like through the realm where it made converts by fear instead of argument; cramming the prisons with promiscuous crowds consisting of persons of every shade of opinion; setting aside individual liberty by breaking into houses at all hours of the night, and bringing death to the Suspects. But likewise filling the foreign invader with dread; concentrating and intensifying the action of the people; giving a new impulse to the energies of France, organizing armies, and stimulating the people to melt down the bells and the bronze saints of their churches to forge arms for the volunteers.
The treason of Dumouriez, who went over to the enemy, after an unsuccessful attempt to march upon Paris, inflicted a dreadful blow on the Girondins. Nothing better occurred to the Montagnards than to make the former responsible for the defection of this general
