Editing Jean Sylvain Bailly (section)

===Fall from favour===
After a [[Flight to Varennes|failed attempt]] by the royal family to flee the country, Bailly tried to contain the growing republican crowds asking for the King to step down. On the morning of 17 July 1791, tensions were rising as suspicion of treason grew. Citizens suspected of criticising the government or National Guard were being interrogated and detained.<ref name = "Andress">{{Cite book|title=Massacre at the Champ de Mars: popular dissent and political culture in the French Revolution|last=Andress|first=David|publisher=Royal Historical Society: Boydell Press|year=2000|location=Rochester}}</ref>{{rp|174–190}} Bailly soon heard of a gathering at the [[Champ de Mars]], where citizens were meeting to sign petitions calling for the overthrow of the King. Imposing martial law, he ordered the National Guard to disperse the large riotous assembly that had gathered. A violent response ensued and many people died, for which Bailly, along with [[Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette|Lafayette]], was considered responsible. What was to become known as the [[Champ de Mars Massacre]] was taken by the revolutionaries as an exemplar for oppression by the government.<ref name = "Andress" />{{rp|174–190, 213}} Having thereby become extremely unpopular, Bailly resigned on 12 November and was replaced four days later by [[Jerôme Pétion]]. Bailly moved to [[Nantes]], where he composed his ''Mémoires d'un Témoin'' (published in 3 volumes by MM. Berville and Barrière, 1821–1822), an incomplete narrative of the extraordinary events of his public life.