Initially, "La Marais", or The Plain, a moderate, amorphous group, controlled the Convention. At the first session, held on 20 September 1792, the elder statesman Philippe Rühl presided over the session. The following day, amidst profound silence, the proposition was put to the assembly, ""That royalty be abolished in France""; it carried, with cheers. On the 22nd came the news of the Republic's victory at the Battle of Valmy. On the same day, the Convention decreed that "in future, the acts of the assembly shall be dated "First Year of the French Republic". Three days later, the Convention added the corollary of "the French republic is one and indivisible"", to guard against federalism.