Glen
Moderator
Hem, I'm afraid you may have a wrong idea of who the Girondins were.
Mutadis mutandis, you could compare the Girondins and the Montagnards to Bukharin and Stalin.
The Girondins were NOT favouring a constitutionnal monarchy. Although some of them didn't vote for the execution of Louis, they were eager to aboilsh the monarchy and, had Louis not been executed, I guess he would have been taken into custody rather that exiled (I suspect he would have flown to Wien in that case). It is also the Girondins, not the Montagnards, who made a case for war against the european powers. And La Fayette became quite unpopular after Varennes.
You are right about the Girondists....I was going too fast and being less than clear. The 'Republican by Reason' comment was more referring to Lafayette...and yes, we've noted the necessity of removing Varennes if we're to include him.