ly his lavish bestowal of
titles and his knightly order "della Liberazione"; they appreciated his
personal bravery; and the fact that the Genoese government denounced him
as an impostor and set a price on his head could only confirm him in
their affection. But it was otherwise when the European help that he had
promised failed to arrive, and, still worse, the governments with which
he had boasted his influence disclaimed him. In November he thought it
expedient to proceed to the continent, ostensibly in search of aid,
leaving Giafferi, Paoli and Luca d'Ornano as regents. In spite of
several attempts, he never succeeded in returning to the island. The
Corsicans, weary of the war, opened negotiations with the Genoese; but
the refusal of the latter to regard the islanders as other than rebels
made a mutual agreement impossible. Finally the republic decided to seek
the aid of France, and in July 1737 a treaty was signed by which the
French king bound himself to reduce the Corsicans to order.

Intervention of France, 1738.

The object of the French in assisting the Genoese was not the
acquisition of the island for themselves so much as to obviate the
danger, of which they had long been aware, of its falling into the hands
of another power, notably Great Britain. The Corsicans, on the other
hand, though ready enough to come to terms with the French king, refused
to acknowledge the sovereignty of Genoa even when backed by the power of
France. A powerful French force, under the comte de Boissieux, arrived
in the spring of 1738, and for some months negotiations proceeded. But
the effect of the French guarantee of Corsican liberties was nullified
by the demand that the islanders should surrender their arms, and the
attempt of Boissieux to enforce the order for disarmament was followed,
in the winter of 1738-39, by his defeat at the hands of the Corsicans
and by the cutting up of several isolated French detachments. In
February 1739 Boissieux died. His successor, the marquis de Maillebois,
arrived in March with strong reinforcements, and by a combination of
severity and conciliation soon reduced the island to order. Its
maintenance, however, depended on the presence of the French troops, and
in October 1740 the death of the emperor Charles VI. and the outbreak of
the War of the Austrian Succession necessitated their withdrawal.
Genoese and Corsicans were once more left face to face, and the
perennial struggle began anew.