The days of the National Assembly had drawn to a close. Its members, who had come in with the audacity of lions, went out with the meekness of lambs. The sublime moments of the Jeu de Paume, and of the 4th of August had already receded into the past. Twenty-eight months of legislative labours accomplished at Revolution speed had more completely used up these men than years of ordinary political activity. From being the vanguard of the popular movement they had fallen into its rear. "You reason like the end of a legislature" had become a proverbial expression of contempt. One of the last acts of the old Assembly—the Constituent as distinguished from its successor, the Legislative—was to disqualify itself by passing a resolution that none of its members were eligible for the next Parliament. This motion, proposed by Robespierre, was calculated, as it proved, to effectually handicap the moderate party, and the new elections showed that the nation wish for a more radical policy.

The Convention of Pilnitz took place in August. The Emperor of Austria, the King of Prussia, the minor