Fox of France

Of course, the Brissot faction would not sit still. They first proposed such a plan, that is, to expel all the Bourbon family members from France.

This plan is not so much aimed at Louis XVI, but rather at the Duke of Orleans, who had changed his name to Philippe Equality at this time, and his son, the Duke of Chartres. They were still from Robespierre's side at this time. In the eyes of the Brissot faction, Robespierre will definitely defend them, and then they can label Robespierre and others as "royal party" and "attempting to subvert the republic".

But today is different, the status of the Duke of Orleans in the Jacobin Club has declined greatly. Although the Duke of Orleans changed his name. But all the bigwigs in the club now know that what the Duke of Orleans wanted was never a republic, but the Orleans dynasty. Although they stand together now, they are not fellow travelers. So spending too much political resources to maintain them, Robespierre and the others would not do that.

The Duke of Orleans himself knew that his status had declined now. In order to increase his weight, he asked his son, the Duke of Chartres (the only king of the original "Orleans Dynasty", Louis Philippe I) to lead a team of him. The Volunteer Army, which was armed with money, joined Dumouriez's army. And the Duke of Chartres performed well in the army, and his name can always be seen in the good news sent back by Dimouriez. (Of course, there are also jealous people who say that it is because Dimouriez took his money)

The Duke of Orleans, no, he should be called "Philippe Equality" now. Phillip Equality must not be exiled again now. Because of the last exile, the loss to him was too great. Now, since Robespierre and the others are unwilling to speak for themselves, Phillip Equality must feed himself a bag of salt. He took the lead in proposing that the king, no, there was no king, and now Louis Bourbon was to be tried for treason. Because if this method is used to deal with this matter, then Louis XVI will certainly lose his head, but he will definitely not be expelled.

The Brisso faction knew very well that acquittal was almost impossible as long as the king was on trial because of the overwhelming evidence. And once convicted, there is only one punishment for treason, and that is to go to the guillotine.

The Brisso faction did not pay much attention to whether or not to cut off the head of Louis XVI, but they knew that doing so would lead to more intense struggles in the future: the European kingdoms might unite Siege France; and inside France, there is no room for compromise between the Conservatives and the Republic. And once the struggle becomes fierce, all the so-called "moderates" and "centrists" will be abandoned. Therefore, the people of the Brisso faction believe that sending the king to the guillotine is tantamount to sending the radical mountain faction or the conservative royal party to the throne of power.

Since the Duke of Orleans cannot contain those guys from the Mountain faction, the Brissot faction can only use the whole of Europe to intervene, which may lead to a long-term war to avoid the trial of the king.

But as soon as this reason was raised, it was ridiculed by Robespierre. Wasn't it the Brisso faction who insisted on starting a war at the beginning? Now they love peace? What's more, the previous wars have shown that the armies of the feudal lords in Europe are nothing to be afraid of. If they really dare to interfere in France, then France will export revolution and let them all die! By the way, this is what Brissot himself said back then!

In short, it was Robespierre who slapped Brissot in the face with the words Brissot said back then. Of course, this is not the most fatal thing. Generally speaking, the strongest part of a politician's body is the face. If this part is beaten, it will not have much impact.

But what is terrible is that this incident caused a disturbance in the Paris Commune.

Since Bayi left the City Hall, the Paris Commune fell into the hands of the Republicans. After the uprising on August 10, the Montagne occupied an overwhelming advantage in the Paris Commune. In the September massacre, those people in the commune were more or less involved in the atrocities, and some were even directly the initiators and organizers of these violent incidents.

After the victory at the front line, the constitutional monarchy faction was completely finished, and the Brissot faction was ready to clean up its former allies, the radical mountain faction. One of the breakthroughs they chose was the Paris Commune. Because many people in the commune were able to find out their problems during the September massacre.

However, with the disclosure of the safe incident, the situation has completely reversed. The citizens of Paris already felt that they or others were too radical in the massacre in September, but once these documents were disclosed, their The attitude immediately changed to: "If I hadn't acted decisively, the Republic would be gone!"

Under such sentiments, those of the Brisso faction were immediately regarded as royalists who defended the king and tried to subvert the republic. If the king cannot be tried, the Paris Commune is likely to revolt with the citizens and the National Guard.

Under such circumstances, the National Assembly had to decide that the King should be tried.

On December 11, Louis XVI appeared in court for the first time. He has denied all the allegations made against him by the court.

The defense lawyer of Louis XVI, De Xiechi, questioned the power of the National Assembly: "According to the Constitution, the National Assembly does not have the right to judge the king, because the Constitution stipulates that the king's person is inviolable. If we must punish the king Conducting a trial will lead to a problem. This problem is the legality of the trial. The law is the basis we must respect and rely on. If we can violate the law for this reason today, then we will tomorrow because of that If the reason is to violate the law, then the law will become a dead letter, and then we, including you and me, the legal rights of each of us will not be protected..."

This statement did express the feelings of some people, and they gave him warm applause.

After the applause slowly subsided, a young man came out. He said to the host: "I have something to say, can I talk to you?"

"Citizen, your name?" the host asked.

"Representative of the Aisne department, Louis Antoine Léon Floret de Saint-Just." The young man raised his handsome face and replied.

"Okay!" said the host, "Citizen Saint-Just, please come to the podium..."

Saint-Just stepped onto the podium, looked around the scene, and then said:

"The gentleman just now gave a fine speech on the law. But I think he may have mistaken the nature of the matter. It is true that the king cannot be judged as far as the law is concerned. But what we are about to do now is , was not a legal case, but a political one. Louis Bourbon was not a defendant, but an enemy. Only one law could apply to him, the law of nations, in other words, the law of war. Louis was at war with peoples, he Conquered. He is a barbarian captured by us, he is a foreign prisoner defeated! You have known his unfaithful plans, you have seen his army! He is the Bastille, Nancy, Mass Field , Tourney, Tuileries, etc. What enemy, what foreigner, could do you more harm?

Indeed, in law, the king is inviolable, and the law is so important that it is the guarantee of the rights of each of us, so it cannot be blamed. But, gentlemen, do not forget that in law, there is a more inviolable and more supreme object than the king, and that is the people of France! What was Louie doing when he was in league with foreigners, when he was plotting with our enemies those monstrous schemes of treachery and massacre? He was violating a more supreme and inviolable object—the people of France. From the moment Louis Bourbon committed a crime against the French people, he was no longer a king, but an enemy, the enemy of all France..."

Saint-Just walked off the podium amid the applause of the Montagnards, and sat back in his original position, beside Robespierre.

"Louis, your presentation was excellent," said Robespierre, "and inspired me a lot."

"That's right, that's a great speech!" Danton also praised, "It's unimaginable, this is your first public speech."

"But my speech didn't change their attitude." Saint-Just glanced to the right, and then said.

"They? They can't defend the king, because the people are not on their side." Robespierre said with certainty.

In the next few days, the National Assembly began several rounds of debates on how to deal with the king. Robespierre delivered the famous speech "Louis must die, because the fatherland must live" during the debate. His speeches were immediately printed and widely disseminated by the Paris Commune. More and more people spontaneously came near the National Assembly. Whenever a member of parliament who supported the guillotine passed by, the people cheered towards him; and when a member of parliament who advocated tolerance and pardoned the king passed by, everyone booed him together. Throw all kinds of garbage at him.

Time passed day by day like this, and finally it was the day when everyone was going to vote.

"Joseph, how do you plan to vote?" Brissot faction member, the famous philosopher Condorcet asked the Brissot faction member Joseph Fouche who was sitting in the same carriage with him.

"Of course it supports forgiveness." Fouche replied without hesitation. He turned his eyes, and through the car window, he saw that on the road leading to the National Assembly, a group of citizens had compared a guillotine to one another. The model was erected...