e elder Lucien, was beginning to wean them
from the official clique. There were the same factions as before--the
official party and the patriots. Since the death of Charles de
Buonaparte, the former had been represented at Versailles by
Buttafuoco, Choiseul's unworthy instrument in acquiring the island,
and now, as then, an uninfluential and consequential self-seeker. Its
members were all aristocrats and royalist in politics. The higher
priesthood were of similar mind, and had chosen the Abbe Peretti to
represent them; the parish priests, as in France, were with the
people. Both the higher classes were comparatively small; in spite of
twenty years of peace under French rule, they were both excessively
unpopular, and utterly without any hold on the islanders. They had but
one partizan with an influential name, a son of the old-time patriot
Gaffori, the father-in-law of Buttafuoco. The overwhelming majority of
the natives were little changed in their temper. There were the old,
unswerving patriots who wanted absolute independence, and were now
called Paolists; there were the self-styled patriots, the younger men,
who wanted a protectorate that they might enjoy virtual independence
and secure a career by peace. There was in the harbor towns on the
eastern slope the same submissive, peace-loving temper as of old; in
the west the same fiery, warlike spirit. Corte was the center of
Paoli's power, Calvi was the seat of French influence, Bastia was
radical, Ajaccio was about equally divided between the younger and
older parties, with a strong infusion of official influence.

Both the representatives of the people in the national convention were
of the moderate party; one of them, Salicetti, was a man of ability, a
friend of the Buonapartes, and destined later to influence deeply the
course of their affairs. He and his colleague Colonna were urging on
the National Assembly measures for the local administration of the
island. To this faction, as to the other, it had become clear that if
Corsica was to reap the benefits of the new era it must be by union
under Paoli. All, old and young alike, desired a thorough reform of
their barbarous jurisprudence, and, like all other French subjects, a
free press, free trade, the abolition of all privilege, equality in
taxation, eligibility to office without regard to rank, and the
diminution of monastic revenues for the benefit of education. Nowhere
could such changes be more easily made than