f these national heroes was also the last--Pascal
Paoli. Fitted for his task by birth, by capacity, by superior
training, this youth was in 1755 made captain-general of the island, a
virtual dictator in his twenty-ninth year. His success was as
remarkable as his measures were wise. Elections were regulated so that
strong organization was introduced into the loose democratic
institutions which had hitherto prevented sufficient unity of action
in troubled times. An army was created from the straggling bands of
volunteers, and brigandage was suppressed. Wise laws were enacted and
enforced--among them one which made the blood-avenger a murderer,
instead of a hero as he had been. Moreover, the foundations of a
university were laid in the town of Corte, which was the hearthstone
of the liberals because it was the natural capital of the west slope,
connected by difficult and defensible paths with every cape and bay
and intervale of the rocky and broken coast. The Genoese were
gradually driven from the interior, and finally they occupied but
three harbor towns.

Through skilful diplomacy Paoli created a temporary breach between his
oppressors and the Vatican, which, though soon healed, nevertheless
enabled him to recover important domains for the state, and prevented
the Roman hierarchy from using its enormous influence over the
superstitious people utterly to crush the movement for their
emancipation. His extreme and enlightened liberalism is admirably
shown by his invitation to the Jews, with their industry and steady
habits, to settle in Corsica, and to live there in the fullest
enjoyment of civil rights, according to the traditions of their faith
and the precepts of their law. "Liberty," he said, "knows no creed.
Let us leave such distinctions to the Inquisition." Commerce, under
these influences, began to thrive. New harbors were made and
fortified, while the equipment of a few gunboats for their defense
marked the small beginnings of a fleet. The haughty men of Corsica,
changing their very nature for a season, began to labor with their
hands by the side of their wives and hired assistants; to agriculture,
industry, and the arts was given an impulse which promised to be
lasting.

The rule of Paoli was not entirely without disturbance. From time to
time there occurred rebellious outbreaks of petty factions like that
headed by Matra, a disappointed rival. But on the whole they were of
little importance. Down to 1765 the a