ABSTRACT
If the revolution, victorious and possessing territorial securities, had chosen to temporize until Poland was partitioned a second time, in all probability it could have obtained peace from a quarrelling coalition by offering to hand back its spoils on condition that its own independence be respected. This prospect was no doubt what Danton anticipated early in October of 1792. To accomplish it, however, the French would meanwhile have to resist the intoxication of victory that urged them on to a war of propaganda, to further annexation, and hence to a breach with England. They would also have to spare Louis XVI. Any such policy required unity and concord among French republicans. Torn by factional conflicts, the Convention could not offer peace to Europe.
