The cry for liberty which, in the year 1790, resounded from France,
and which made the whole world tremble, brought him back from
England to Corsica, and he took the oath of allegiance to free,
democratic France. But the blood of the king had annulled this oath,
the Convention's reign of terror had filled his soul with horror;
and, after solemnly separating himself from France, he had, in the
year 1793, convoked a Consulta, to decide whether Corsica was to
submit to the despotism of the French republic, or if it was to be a
free and independent state. The Consulta chose the latter position,
and named Paoli for president as well as for general-in-chief of the
Corsicans.
The National Convention at once called the culprit to its bar, and
ordered him to Paris to justify his conduct, or to receive the
punishment due. But General Paoli paid no attention to the imperious
orders of the Convention, which, as the chief appeared not at its
bar, declared him, on the 15th of May, 1793, a traitor to his
country, and sent commissioners to Corsica to arrest the criminal.
This traitor to the state, the General Pascal Paoli, was then at the
head of the Moderate party in Corsica, and he loudly and solemnly
declared that, in case of absolute necessity, it would be preferable
to call England to their assistance than to accept the yoke of the
French republic, which had desecrated her liberty, since she had
soiled it with the blood of so many innocent victims.
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