Girondins

GIRONDINS. - The name Girondins is given to the politicians who during the French Revolution, in the Legislative Assembly and the Convention, from Oct. 1791 to 10 Aug. 1792, fought for the nation against the monarchy, and from 10 Aug. 1792 to 2 June 1793 for the liberty and equality of all citizens against the overbearing power, the violence and the tyranny of the Jacobins. The deputies of Bordeaux and of the department of the Gironde in the broad sense (hence the name Girondins) at the beginning of the Legislative Assembly made contact with Brissot, an ardent republican, and spent their time discussing political questions in an apartment on Place Vendôme and concerting the stance to take during parliamentary debates. Little by little a rather substantial nucleus of deputies and politicians came to be formed: from discussions begun among a few, a new political and parliamentary force had arisen.

Supporters of the Republic, the Girondins were nevertheless opposed to a sudden political upheaval, because they feared internal and foreign complications from the decline of the monarchy. Convinced that they could only gradually establish the new order with prospects of lasting success, they were opposed to the extremist policy inaugurated by the most ardent Jacobins with the Parisian insurrection of 10 Aug. 1792. The abuse of power by the Paris Commune, which by its action of force imposed its will on all of France, brought about a lively opposition between the provinces and the capital. The Girondins, champions of the liberty and autonomy of the departments, found themselves in open struggle with the Mountain, the leftmost part of the Convention elected in Sept. 1792. Between them, who sat on the right, and the champions of revolutionary intransigence, a duel to the death began, which ended on 31 May 1793 with the indictment of 31 Girondin deputies. The Mountain had triumphed. The Girondins were arrested by the hundreds, and so was anyone suspected of being one. Among the deputies, Brissot, considered the diplomat of the group and an enthusiastic supporter of equality among men of different races, and Vergniaud, the most brilliant orator of the group, were guillotined; among those who were not deputies, Madame Roland, the "Egeria" of the Gironde, lost her life at the hands of the executioner. After the fall of Robespierre only twenty-four of the nearly two hundred deputies of the Gironde resumed their seats in the Convention.

Silvio Furlani