Although the Greek clergy had supported the installation of the democratic regime and even participated actively in it, the French generally treated the clergy with hostility, as can be seen by their demand that all clerics wear the tricolour revolutionary cockade on pain of execution. The nobles were opposed to the French from the outset, and maintained contacts with Austria, never losing the opportunity to foment popular resentment, but even the new democratic clubs like the "Patriotic Society" and the "Constitutional Club", making full use of the very liberty granted by the French, began criticizing Gentili and questioning the necessity of French presence in the Ionian Islands; the Constitutional Club was eventually closed by the French authorities.
