Note 115 — THE ORIGIN OF THE REPUBLIC.
Reading edition
Hist. Parl., x, 416-418. It seems to have been the Cordeliers who planned for the public signing of the petition upon the altar of the country, July 17, 1791, on the Champs de Mars. This petition prayed the Assembly to accept the abdication of the king, and to convoke a new constituent power for the trial of the guilty and for the replacing and organization of a new executive power. Hist. Gén., viii, 100; Hist. Parl., xi, 115. Six thousand petitioners had signed this instrument.