d the ambassador's speech in Italian to an
enthralled audience. This event among others showed the younger
brother's mettle; the intimacy thus inaugurated ripened quickly and
endured for long. The ambassador was recalled to the mainland on
February second, 1793, and took his new-found friend with him as
secretary or useful man. Both were firm Jacobins, and the master
having failed in making any impression on Paoli during his Corsican
sojourn, the man, as the facts stand, took a mean revenge by
denouncing the lieutenant-general as a traitor before a political
meeting in Toulon. Lucien's friends have thought the words unstudied
and unpremeditated, uttered in the heat of unripe oratory. This may
be, but he expressed no repentance and the responsibility rests upon
his memory. As a result of the denunciation an address calumniating
the Corsican leader in the most excited terms was sent by the Toulon
Jacobins to the deputy of the department in Paris. Of all this
Napoleon knew nothing: he and Lucien were slightly alienated because
the latter thought his brother but a lukewarm revolutionary. The news
of the defection of Dumouriez had just arrived at the capital, public
opinion was inflamed, and on April second Paoli, who seemed likely to
be a second Dumouriez, was summoned to appear before the Convention.
For a moment he became again the most popular man in Corsica. He had
always retained many warm personal friends even among the radicals;
the royalists were now forever alienated from a government which had
killed their king; the church could no longer expect protection when
impious men were in power. These three elements united immediately
with the Paolists to protest against the arbitrary act of the
Convention. Even in that land of confusion there was a degree of chaos
hitherto unequaled.

CHAPTER XV.

A Jacobin Hegira.

The Waning of Corsican Patriotism -- Rise of French
Radicalism -- Alliance with Salicetti -- Another Scheme for
Leadership -- Failure to Seize the Citadel of Ajaccio --
Second Plan -- Paoli's Attitude Toward the Convention --
Buonaparte Finally Discredited in Corsica -- Paoli Turns to
England -- Plans of the Buonaparte Family -- Their Arrival
in Toulon -- Napoleon's Character -- His Corsican Career --
Lessons of His Failures -- His Ability, Situation, and
Experience.

[Sidenote: 1793.]

Buonoparte was for an instant among the most zealous of Paoli's