In this Jacobin Club at Ajaccio Napoleon made speeches full of
glowing enthusiasm for the French republic, for the ideas of
freedom; in this club he enjoined on the people of Corsica to adhere
loyally to France, to keep fast and to defend with life and blood
the acquired liberty of republican France, to regard and drive away
as traitors to their country all those who dared guide the Corsican
people on another track.
But the Corsican people were not there to hear the enthusiastic
speeches about liberty and to follow them. Only a few hundred ardent
republicans of the same sentiment applauded the republican Napoleon,
and cried aloud that the republic must be defended with blood and
life. The majority of the Corsican people flocked to Paoli, and the
commissioners sent by the Convention from Paris to Corsica, to
depose and arrest Paoli, found co-operation and assistance only
among the inhabitants of the cities and among the French troops.
Paoli, the president of the Consulta, was located at Corte; the
messengers of the Convention gathered in Bastia the adherents of
France, and excited them to strenuous efforts against the rebellious
Consulta and the insurgent Paoli.
Pages:
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310