ed in the public square by a procession
organized to deprecate the policy of the National Assembly with regard
to the ecclesiastical estates. One of the few royalist officials left
in Corsica also took advantage of the general disorder to express his
feelings plainly as to the acts of the same body. He was arrested,
tried in Ajaccio, and acquitted by a sympathetic judge. At once the
liberals took alarm; their club and the officials first protested, and
then on June twenty-fifth assumed the offensive in the name of the
Assembly. It was on this occasion probably that he was seen by the
family friend who narrated his memories to the English diarist already
mentioned. "I remember to have seen Napoleon very active among the
enraged populace against those then called aristocrats, and running
through the streets of Ajaccio so busy in promoting dissatisfaction
that, though he lost his hat, he did not feel nor care for the effects
of the scorching sun to which he was exposed the whole of that
memorable day. The revolution having struck its poisonous root,
Napoleon never ceased stirring up his brothers, Joseph and Lucien,
who, being moved at his instance, were constantly attending clubs and
popular meetings where they often delivered speeches and debated
public matters, while Napoleon sat listening in silence, as he had no
turn for oratory." "One day in December," the narrator continues, "I
was sent for by his uncle already mentioned, in order to assist him in
preparing his testament; and, after having settled his family
concerns, the conversation turned upon politics, when, speaking of the
improbability of Italy being revolutionized, Napoleon, then present,
quickly replied: 'Had I the command, I would take Italy in twenty-four
hours.'"[20]

[Footnote 20: Correspondence of Sir John Sinclair, I,
47.]

At last the opportunity to emulate the French cities seemed assured.
It was determined to organize a local independent government, seize
the citadel with the help of the home guard, and throw the hated
royalists into prison. But the preparations were too open: the
governor and most of his friends fled in season to their stronghold,
and raised the drawbridge; the agitators could lay hands on but four
of their enemies, among whom were the judge, the offender, and an
officer of the garrison. So great was the disappointment of the
radicals that they would have vented their spite on these; it was with
diffic