However vigorous the electoral pressure may have been， the voting machine has not provided the expected results. At the opening of the session， out of 749 deputies， only about fifty[30] are found to approve of the Commune， nearly all of the elected in places where， as at Rheims and Paris， terror has the elector by the throat， "under the clubs， axes， daggers， and bludgeons of the butchers."[31] But where the physical impressions of murder have not been so tangible and impressive， some sense of decency has prevented too glaring elections.
The inclination to vote for well-known names could not wholly be arrested； seventy-seven former members of the Constituent Assembly， and one hundred and eighty-six of the previous Legislative Assembly enter the Convention， and the practical knowledge which many of these have of government business has given them some insights. In short， the consciences of six hundred and fifty deputies are only in part perverted.
They are all， unquestionably， decided republicans， enemies of tradition， apostles of reason， and trained in deductive politics；only on these conditions could they be elected. Every candidate is supposed to possess the Jacobin faith， or， at least， to recite the revolutionary creed. The Convention， consequently， at its opening session votes unanimously， with cheers and enthusiasm， the abolition of royalty， and three months later it pronounces， by a large majority， Louis XVI.，"guilty of conspiring against the liberty of the nation， and of assaults onthe general welfare of the State."[32]
Nevertheless， social habitudes still subsist under political prejudices. A man who is born in and lives for a long time in an old community， is， through this alone， marked with its imprint； the customs to which he conforms have crystallized in him in the shape of sentiments： if it is well-regulated and civilized， he has involuntarily arrived at respect for property and for human life， and， in most characters， this respect has taken very deep root. A theory， even if adopted， does not wholly succeed in destroying this respect；only in rare instances is it successful， when it encounters coarse and defective natures； to take full hold， it is necessary that it should fall on the scattered inheritors of former destructive appetites， on those hopelessly degenerate souls in which the passions of an anterior date are slumbering； then only does its malevolence fully appear， for it rouses the ferocious or plundering instincts of the barbarian， the raider， the inquisitor， and the pasha. On the contrary， with the greatest number， do what it will， integrity and humanity always remain powerful motives. Nearly all these legislators， who originate in the middle class， are at bottom， irrespective of a momentary delusion， what they always have been up to now， advocates， attorneys， merchants， priests， or physicians of the ancient regime， and what they will become later on， docile administrators or zealous functionaries of Napoleon's empire，[33] that is to say， ordinary civilized persons belonging to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries， sufficiently honest in private life to have a desire to be equally so in public life. -- Hence their horror of anarchy， of Marat，[34] and of the September butchers and robbers. Three days after their assembling together they vote， "almost unanimously，" the preparation of a law "against the instigators of murder and assassination." "Almost unanimously，" they desire to raise a guard， recruited in the 83departments， against the armed bands of Paris and the Commune.
Pétition is elected as their first president by "almost the totality of suffrages." Roland who has just read his report to them， is greeted with the "loudest" applause from nearly the "entire" Assembly. In short they are for the ideal republic against actual brigands. This accounts for their ranging themselves around those upright and sincere deputies， who， in the two preceding Assemblies or alongside of them， were the ablest defenders of both principles and humanity， around Buzot， Lanjuinais， Pétition， and Rabaut-Saint-Etienne； around Brissot， Vergniaud， Guadet， Gensonné， Isnard， and Condorcet； around Roland， Louvet， Barbaroux， and the five hundred deputies of the "Plain，"[35]
marching in one body under the leadership of the 180 Girondists who now form the "Right."[36]