ow off the
unendurable yoke. English philanthropists furnished the munitions of
war. The Genoese were beaten in successive battles, even after they
brought into the field eight thousand German mercenaries purchased
from the Emperor Charles VI. The Corsican adventurers in foreign
lands, pleading for their liberties with artless eloquence at every
court, filled Europe with enthusiasm for their cause and streamed back
to fight for their homes. A temporary peace on terms which granted all
they asked was finally arranged through the Emperor's intervention.

But the two elected chiefs, and a third patriot, Raffaelli, having
been taken prisoners by the Genoese, were ungenerously kept in
confinement, and released only at the command of Charles. Under the
same leaders, now further exasperated by their ill usage, began and
continued another agitation, this time for separation and complete
emancipation. Giafferi's chosen adjutant was a youth of good family
and excellent parts, Hyacinth Paoli. In the then existing
complications of European politics the only available helper was the
King of Spain, and to him the Corsicans now applied, but his
undertakings compelled him to refuse. Left without allies or any
earthly support, the pious Corsicans naively threw themselves on the
protection of the Virgin and determined more firmly than ever to
secure their independence.

In this crisis appeared at the head of a considerable following, some
hundreds in number, the notorious and curious German adventurer,
Theodore von Neuhof, who, declaring that he represented the sympathy
of the great powers for Corsica, made ready to proclaim himself as
king. As any shelter is welcome in a storm, the people accepted him,
and he was crowned on April fifteenth, 1736. But although he spoke
truthfully when he claimed to represent the sympathy of the powers, he
did not represent their strength, and was defeated again and again in
encounters with the forces of Genoa. The oligarchy had now secured an
alliance with France, which feared lest the island might fall into
more hostile and stronger hands; and before the close of the year the
short-lived monarchy ended in the disappearance of Theodore I of
Corsica from his kingdom and soon after, in spite of his heroic
exertions, from history.

The truth was that some of the nationalist leaders had not forgotten
the old patriotic leaning towards France which had existed since the
days of Sampiero, and were themselve