chment --
Buonaparte and the Fiasco of the Corsican Detachment -- His
Commission Lapses -- Further Developments in France --
Results of French Victory -- England's Policy -- Paoli in
Danger -- Denounced and Summoned to Paris.

[Sidenote: 1792-93.]

The committee to which Buonaparte's request for reinstatement was
referred made a report on June twenty-first, 1792, exonerating him
from blame. The reasons given were avowedly based on the
representations of the suppliant himself: first, that Duteil, the
inspector, had given him permission to sail for Corsica in time to
avoid the equinox, a distorted truth; and, second, that the Corsican
authorities had certified to his civism, his good conduct, and his
constant presence at home during his irregular absence from the army,
a truthful statement, but incomplete, since no mention was made of the
disgraceful Easter riots at Ajaccio and of Buonaparte's share in them.
The attitude of the government is clearly expressed in a despatch of
July eighth from the minister of war, Lajard, to Maillard, commander
of the Ajaccio garrison. The misdeeds of Quenza and Buonaparte were of
a civil and not a military nature, cognizable therefore under the new
legislation only by ordinary courts, not by military tribunals. The
uprisings, however, had been duly described to the commissioners by
Peraldi: they state as their opinion that the deputy was ill-informed
and that his judgment should not stand in the way of justice to M. de
Buonaparte. On July tenth the minister of war adopted the committee's
report, and this fact was announced in a letter addressed by him to
Captain Buonaparte!

The situation is clearly depicted in a letter of August seventh from
Napoleon to Joseph. Current events were so momentous as to overshadow
personal considerations. Besides, there had been no military
misdemeanor at Ajaccio and his reinstatement was sure. As things were,
he would probably establish himself in France, Corsican as his
inclinations were. Joseph must get himself made a deputy for Corsica
to the Assembly, otherwise his role would be unimportant. He had been
studying astronomy, a superb science, and with his knowledge of
mathematics easy of acquisition. His book--the history, no doubt--was
copied and ready, but this was no time for publication; besides, he no
longer had the "petty ambition of an author." His family desired he
should go to his regiment (as likewise did the military a