[Sidenote: 3. Conservative and Catholic Peasants.]
Had the reactionaries been restricted entirely to emigres and the royal
family, it is hardly possible that they would have been so troublesome
as they were. They were able, however, to secure considerable popular
support in France. A small group in the Assembly shared their views and
proposed the most extravagant measures in order to embarrass the work
of that body. Conservative clubs existed among the upper and well-to-do
classes in the larger cities. And in certain districts of western
France, especially in Brittany, Poitou (La Vendee), and Anjou, the
peasants developed hostility to the course of the Revolution: their
extraordinary devotion to Catholicism placed them under the influence
of the non-juring clergy, and their class feeling against townspeople
induced them to believe that the Revolution, carried forward by the
bourgeoisie, was essentially in the interests of the bourgeoisie. Riots
occurred in La Vendee throughout 1791 and 1792 with increasing
frequency until at length the district blazed into open rebellion
against the radicals.
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