Royalists in the National Convention

Abstract

The article studies an issue that is important for the understanding of the history of the counter-revolutionary movement during the French Revolution of the 18 th century: i.e. whether there were any supporters of the restoration of the monarchy among the deputies of the National Convention (1792–1795), which had begun its work with the proclamation of the republic. The article is based on a vast variety of documents, such as materials from the National Archives of France and the Archive of Foreign Policy of the Russian Empire, reports of royalist and British agents in France, different journals, letters and memoirs of the contemporaries. References to royalists in the Convention repeatedly appear both in the works of its contemporaries and historians, though mostly without any sufficient proof. A real “witch hunt” was unleashed in the Convention during the Thermidor period when the deputies accused each other of being sympathetic of the monarchy, but again no evidence was provided. Nonetheless, a thorough analysis of the documents and comparison of different evidence conducted by the author make it possible to conclude that not only were there royalists in the Convention, but they planned to maintain their influence and restore the monarchy in the summer of 1795. They counted on various pretenders to the throne, such as the Duke of Orleans, Henrich of Prussia or planned to organize a regency for minor Louis XVII. Only the death of the king in the Temple prison in Paris ruined their plans.