These reactionary
exiles, or emigres as they were termed, collected in force along the
northern and eastern frontier, especially at Coblenz on the Rhine. They
possessed an influential leader in the king's own brother, the count of
Artois, and they maintained a perpetual agitation, by means of
newspapers, pamphlets, and intrigues, against the new regime. They were
anxious to regain their privileges and property, and to restore
everything, as far as possible, to precisely the same position it had
occupied prior to 1789.
[Sidenote: 2. The Court]
[Sidenote: The Flight to Varennes]
Nor were the reactionaries devoid of support within France. It was
believed that the royal family, now carefully watched in Paris,
sympathized with their efforts. So long as Mirabeau, the ablest leader
in the National Assembly, was alive, he had never ceased urging the
king to accept the reforms of the Revolution and to give no countenance
to agitation beyond the frontiers. In case the king should find his
position in Paris intolerable, he had been advised by Mirabeau to
withdraw into western or southern France and gather the loyal nation
about him.
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