MONTAGNARDS, or simply " the the name given to the extreme democratic politicians in the first French revelution, because they seated them selves on the higher benches of the ball in which the national convention met. Their principal members were Hanlon, Ma•at, Robespierre, St. Just, and Collot d'Herbois, the men who introduced the " reign of terror." The opposite party of the " plain" (pie ai) were the Girondists (q.v.), who sat on the lowest benches on the floor of the house. After the overthrow of the Girondists, this part of the house was styled the " marsh er swamp" (mantis), and included all the subservient members whose votes were under the control of " the Mountain." A few leading men gave all its strength and formidable character to the party o fthe Mountain. After 1848, the extreme party in the national assembly, composed of revolutionary democrats and communists, sometimes flattered itself with the designation of "the Mountain ;" but events proved that it possessed noth ing of the genius, though it showed all the malignity of its terrible predecessor.
FAwnx oF. This noble family are said, by Burke, to derive their name, which in Latin was and is always written Dc 'Monte Acuto, from a place in Normandy; and the first of the Montages who settled in England was a warrior who came over in the train of Robert earl of Moreton at the conquest. Five centuries later, we find his descendant, sir Edward Montagu, lord chief-justice, in succession, of the courts of king's bench and common pleas under Henry VIII., who also appointed him one of the executors of his will and guardians of his son Edward. His grandson, who was a distinguished orator, represented the city of London in Parliament; and having been lord chief-justice of the court of king's bench, and lord treasurer of the kingth,m. as raised to the peerage as earl of Manchester. The second earl gained distinction as a general in the parliamentary army, and more particularly by his victory over' Prince Rupert at Marston Moor; but he scrupled to take part in the Condemnation and execu tion of Charles, and was one of the first members of the horse of peers who .gave in his
adhesion to Charles IL on his restoration. This nobleman's grandson enthusiastically espoused the cause of William III., under whom he fought at the battle of the Boyne, and took part in the siege of Limerick. He was subsequently sent as ambassador to Venice and to the courts of France and Vienna, and eventually was raised to the duke dom of Manchester by George I. The title is still enjoyed by his descendant, the 7th duke. Other branches of the Montagu family were ennobled in the pen.ons of the earl of Sandwich, the earl of Halifax, and the duke of Montagu, last two titles both became extinct before the close of the 18th century.
1770-1851; b. London. He was the son of John Montagu, fourth earl of Sandwich, and of Miss Ray, who was shot in 1779 in the piazza of Covent garden by the rev. James Hackman in a fit of jealous frenzy. He received his early education at the Charter House school in London, and took the degree of M.A. at Cam bridav in 1790, distinguishing himself by his love of literature; entered Grey's Inn, and was admitted to the bar in 1798. While in London he became intimate with Coleridge, and adopting the opinions of Godwin, determined to abandon the taw, but was dissmded by sir James Mackintosh. He was a copious and able writer. The most important of his works is a Digest of the Bankrupt Laws, in 4 vols., for which lie obtained in 1800 the office of commissioner of bankruptcy. This became a standard work and passed -through many editions. Hs was distinguished for his efforts to mitigate the rcweritv of the penal code. He wrote several pamphlets on capital punishment, and with Wilber force, Romilly, and others succeeded in obtaining the abolition of hanging for forgery. He edited Bacon's works in 16 vols. He published 40 vols., and left 100 more in manu script.