in a land just emerging
from barbarism, where old institutions were disappearing and new ones
were still fluid. Paoli himself had come to believe that independence
could more easily be secured from a regenerated France, and with her
help, than by a warfare which might again arouse the ambition of
Genoa.

Buonaparte's natural associates were the younger men--Masseria, son of
a patriot line; Pozzo di Borgo, Peraldi, Cuneo, Ramolini, and others
less influential. The only Corsican with French military training, he
was, in view of uncertainties and probabilities already on the
horizon, a person of considerable consequence. His contribution to the
schemes of the young patriots was significant: it consisted in a
proposal to form a body of local militia for the support of that
central committee which his friends so ardently desired. The plan was
promptly adopted by the associates, the radicals seeing in it a means
to put arms once more into the hands of the people, the others no
doubt having in mind the storming of the Bastille and the possibility
of similar movements in Ajaccio and elsewhere. Buonaparte, the only
trained officer among them, may have dreamed of abandoning the French
service, and of a supreme command in Corsica. Many of the people who
appeared well disposed toward France had from time to time received
permission from the authorities to carry arms, many carried them
secretly and without a license; but proportionately there were so few
in both classes that vigorous or successful armed resistance was in
most places impracticable. The attitude of the department of war at
Paris was regulated by Buttafuoco, and was of course hostile to the
insidious scheme of a local militia. The minister of war would do
nothing but submit the suggestion to the body against whose influence
it was aimed, the hated council of twelve nobles. The stupid sarcasm
of such a step was well-nigh criminal.

Under such instigation the flames of discontent broke out in Corsica.
Paoli's agents were again most active. In many towns the people rose
to attack the citadels or barracks, and to seize the authority. In
Ajaccio Napoleon de Buonaparte promptly asserted himself as the
natural leader. The already existing democratic club was rapidly
organized into the nucleus of a home guard, and recruited in numbers.
But there were none of Paoli's mountaineers to aid the unwarlike
burghers, as there had been in Bastia. Gaffori appeared on the scene,
but