more. Already an agent was in communication with the
English diplomats in Italy. On July tenth Salicetti arrived in Paris;
on the seventeenth Paoli was declared a traitor and an outlaw, and his
friends were indicted for trial. But the English fleet was already in
the Mediterranean, and although the British protectorate over Corsica
was not established until the following year, in the interval the
French and their few remaining sympathizers on the island were able at
best to hold only the three towns of Bastia, St. Florent, and Calvi.

After the last fiasco before the citadel of Ajaccio, the situation of
the Buonapartes was momentarily desperate. Lucien says in his memoirs
that shortly before his brother had spoken longingly of India, of the
English empire as destined to spread with every year, and of the
career which its expansion opened to good officers of artillery, who
were scarce among the British--scarce enough everywhere, he thought.
"If I ever choose that career," said he, "I hope you will hear of me.
In a few years I shall return thence a rich nabob, and bring fine
dowries for our three sisters." But the scheme was deferred and then
abandoned. Salicetti had arranged for his own return to Paris, where
he would be safe. Napoleon felt that flight was the only resort for
him and his. Accordingly, on June eleventh, three days earlier than
his patron, he and Joseph, accompanied by Fesch, embarked with their
mother and the rest of the family to join Lucien, who had remained at
Toulon, where they arrived on the thirteenth. The Jacobins of that
city had received Lucien, as a sympathetic Corsican, with honor.
Doubtless his family, homeless and destitute for their devotion to the
republic, would find encouragement and help until some favorable turn
in affairs should restore their country to France, and reinstate them
not only in their old possessions, but in such new dignities as would
fitly reward their long and painful devotion. Such, at least, appears
to have been Napoleon's general idea. He was provided with a legal
certificate that his family was one of importance and the richest in
the department. The Convention had promised compensation to those who
had suffered losses.

As had been hoped, on their arrival the Buonapartes were treated with
every mark of distinction, and ample provision was made for their
comfort. By act of the Convention, women and old men in such
circumstances received seventy-five livres a month,