ould have recalled Paoli, and have awaited the event
with power either to reject such propositions as the royalists, if
successful, would have made, or to accept the conclusions of the
French Assembly with proper self-respect, and not on compulsion.
Hitherto he had lost no opportunity to express his hatred of France;
it is possible that he had planned the virtual independence of
Corsica, with himself as the liberator, or at least as Paoli's
Sampiero. The reservations of his Ajaccio document, and the bitterness
of his feelings, are not, however, sufficient proof of such a
presumption. But the incorporation had taken place, Corsica was a
portion of France, and everybody was wild with delight.

CHAPTER X.

First Lessons in Revolution.

French Soldier and Corsican Patriot -- Paoli's Hesitancy --
His Return to Corsica -- Cross-Purposes in France -- A New
Furlough -- Money Transactions of Napoleon and Joseph --
Open Hostilities Against France -- Address to the French
Assembly -- The Bastia Uprising -- Reorganization of
Corsican Administration -- Meeting of Napoleon and Paoli --
Corsican Politics -- Studies in Society.

[Sidenote: 1790.]

What was to be the future of one whose feelings were so hostile to the
nation with the fortunes of which he now seemed irrevocably
identified? There is no evidence that Buonaparte ever asked himself
such disquieting questions. To judge from his conduct, he was not in
the least troubled. Fully aware of the disorganization, both social
and military, which was well-nigh universal in France, with two months
more of his furlough yet unexpired, he awaited developments, not
hastening to meet difficulties before they presented themselves. What
the young democrats could do, they did. The town government was
entirely reorganized, with a friend of the Buonapartes as mayor, and
Joseph--employed at last!--as his secretary. A local guard was also
raised and equipped. Being French, however, and not Corsican, Napoleon
could not accept a command in it, for he was already an officer in the
French army. But he served in the ranks as a common soldier, and was
an ardent agitator in the club, which almost immediately reopened its
doors. In the impossibility of further action there was a relapse into
authorship. The history of Corsica was again revised, though not
softened; the letters into which it was divided were addressed to
Raynal. In collaboration with Fesch,