But in opposition to General Paoli rose up with wild clamor the
other party, the party of young, enthusiastic heads, who were
intoxicated with the democratic ideas which had obtained the sway in
France, and which they imagined, so great was their impassioned
devotedness to them, possessed the power and the ability to conquer
the whole world.
At the head of this second party, which claimed unconditional
adherence to France, to the members of the Convention--at the head
of this fanatical, Corsican, republican, and Jacobin party, stood
the Bonaparte family, and above them all the two brothers Joseph and
Napoleon.
Joseph was now, in the year 1793, chief justice of the tribunal of
Ajaccio; Napoleon, who was captain of artillery in the French army
of Italy, had then obtained leave of absence to visit his family.
Both brothers had been hitherto the most affectionate and intimate
admirers of Paoli, and especially Napoleon, who, from his earliest
childhood, had cherished the most unbounded admiration for the
patriot who preferred exile to a dependent grandeur in Corsica. Even
now, since Paoli's return to Corsica, and Napoleon had had many
opportunities to see him, his admiration.
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