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diff --git a/old/44727.txt b/old/44727.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..17d92c1 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/44727.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10617 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Wanderings in Corsica, Vol. 1 of 2, by +Ferdinand Gregorovius + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license + + +Title: Wanderings in Corsica, Vol. 1 of 2 + Its History and Its Heroes + +Author: Ferdinand Gregorovius + +Translator: Alexander Muir + +Release Date: January 22, 2014 [EBook #44727] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WANDERINGS IN CORSICA, VOL. 1 OF 2 *** + + + + +Produced by Melissa McDaniel and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + + + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + + Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original document have + been preserved. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. + + Italic text is denoted by _underscores_. + + On page 3, Cyrnos is a possible typo for Cyrnus. + + + + + CONSTABLE'S MISCELLANY + OF + FOREIGN LITERATURE. + + VOL. V. + + EDINBURGH: THOMAS CONSTABLE AND CO. + HAMILTON, ADAMS, AND CO., LONDON. + JAMES M'GLASHAN, DUBLIN. + MDCCCLV. + + + + + EDINBURGH: T. CONSTABLE, PRINTER TO HER MAJESTY. + + + + + [Illustration: ISLAND of CORSICA + Engraved & Printed in Colours by W. & A. K. Johnston, Edinburgh. + Edinburgh, T. Constable & Co.] + + + + + WANDERINGS IN CORSICA: + ITS HISTORY AND ITS HEROES. + + TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN OF + FERDINAND GREGOROVIUS + BY ALEXANDER MUIR. + + VOL. I. + + EDINBURGH: THOMAS CONSTABLE AND CO. + HAMILTON, ADAMS, AND CO., LONDON. + JAMES M'GLASHAN, DUBLIN. + MDCCCLV. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +It was in the summer of the past year that I went over to the island +of Corsica. Its unknown solitudes, and the strange stories I had +heard of the country and its inhabitants, tempted me to make the +excursion. But I had no intention of entangling myself so deeply +in its impracticable labyrinths as I actually did. I fared like the +heroes of the fairy-tales, who are allured by a wondrous bird into +some mysterious forest, and follow it ever farther and farther into the +beautiful wilderness. At last I had wandered over most of the island. +The fruit of that summer is the present book, which I now send home +to my friends. May it not meet with an unsympathetic reception! It is +hoped that at least the history of the Corsicans, and their popular +poetry, entitles it to something better. + +The history of the Corsicans, all granite like their mountains, and +singularly in harmony with their nature, is in itself an independent +whole; and is therefore capable of being presented, even briefly, with +completeness. It awakens the same interest of which we are sensible in +reading the biography of an unusually organized man, and would possess +valid claims to our attention even though Corsica could not boast +Napoleon as her offspring. But certainly the history of Napoleon's +native country ought to contribute its share of data to an accurate +estimate of his character; and as the great man is to be viewed as a +result of that history, its claims on our careful consideration are the +more authentic. + +It is not the object of my book to communicate information in the +sphere of natural science; this is as much beyond its scope as beyond +the abilities of the author. The work has, however, been written with +an earnest purpose. + +I am under many obligations for literary assistance to the learned +Corsican Benedetto Viale, Professor of Chemistry in the University +of Rome; and it would be difficult for me to say how helpful various +friends were to me in Corsica itself. My especial thanks are, however, +due to the exiled Florentine geographer, Francesco Marmocchi, and to +Camillo Friess, Archivarius in Ajaccio. + + ROME, April 2, 1853. + + +The Translator begs to acknowledge his obligations to L. C. C. (the +translator of Grillparzer's _Sappho_), for the translation of the +Lullaby, pp. 240, 241, in the first volume; the Voceros which begin on +pp. 51, 52, and 54, in the second volume, and the poem which concludes +the work. + + EDINBURGH, February 1855. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + BOOK I.--HISTORY. + PAGE + CHAP. I.--Earliest Accounts, 1 + II.--The Greeks, Etruscans, Carthaginians, and Romans in Corsica, 4 + III.--State of the Island during the Roman Period, 8 + IV.--Commencement of the Mediaeval Period, 11 + V.--Feudalism in Corsica, 14 + VI.--The Pisans in Corsica, 17 + VII.--Pisa or Genoa?--Giudice della Rocca, 20 + VIII.--Commencement of Genoese Supremacy, 22 + IX.--Struggles with Genoa--Arrigo della Rocca, 24 + X.--Vincentello d'Istria, 27 + XI.--The Bank of St. George of Genoa, 30 + XII.--Patriotic Struggles--Giampolo da Leca--Renuccio della + Rocca, 34 + XIII.--State of Corsica under the Bank of St. George, 38 + XIV.--The Patriot Sampiero, 41 + XV.--Sampiero--France and Corsica, 45 + XVI.--Sampiero in Exile--His wife Vannina, 48 + XVII.--Return of Sampiero--Stephen Doria, 52 + XVIII.--The Death of Sampiero, 58 + XIX.--Sampiero's Son, Alfonso--Treaty with Genoa, 62 + + BOOK II.--HISTORY. + + CHAP. I.--State of Corsica in the Sixteenth Century--A Greek Colony + established on the Island, 66 + II.--Insurrection against Genoa, 72 + III.--Successes against Genoa, and German Mercenaries--Peace + concluded, 76 + IV.--Recommencement of Hostilities--Declaration of + Independence--Democratic Constitution of Costa, 81 + V.--Baron Theodore von Neuhoff, 85 + VI.--Theodore I., King of Corsica, 90 + VII.--Genoa in Difficulties--Aided by France--Theodore expelled, 94 + VIII.--The French reduce Corsica--New Insurrection--The Patriot + Gaffori, 98 + IX.--Pasquale Paoli, 105 + X.--Paoli's Legislation, 111 + XI.--Corsica under Paoli--Traffic in Nations--Victories over + the French, 119 + XII.--The Dying Struggle, 124 + + BOOK III.--WANDERINGS IN THE SUMMER OF 1852. + + CHAP. I.--Arrival in Corsica, 130 + II.--The City of Bastia, 137 + III.--Environs of Bastia, 144 + IV.--Francesco Marmocchi of Florence--The Geology of Corsica, 149 + V.--A Second Lesson, the Vegetation of Corsica, 154 + VI.--Learned Men, 160 + VII.--Corsican Statistics--Relation of Corsica to France, 164 + VIII.--Bracciamozzo the Bandit, 172 + IX.--The Vendetta, or Revenge to the Death! 176 + X.--Bandit Life, 185 + + BOOK IV. + + CHAP. I.--Southern Part of Cape Corso, 198 + II.--From Brando to Luri, 203 + III.--Pino, 208 + IV.--The Tower of Seneca, 212 + V.--Seneca Morale, 218 + VI.--Seneca Birbone, 225 + VII.--Seneca Eroe, 234 + VIII.--Thoughts of a Bride, 236 + IX.--Corsican Superstitions, 242 + + BOOK V. + + CHAP. I.--Vescovato and the Corsican Historians, 246 + II.--Rousseau and the Corsicans, 256 + III.--The Moresca--Armed Dance of the Corsicans, 259 + IV.--Joachim Murat, 264 + V.--Venzolasca--Casabianca--The Old Cloisters, 275 + VI.--Hospitality and Family Life in Oreto--The Corsican + Antigone, 277 + VII.--A Ride through the District of Orezza to Morosaglia, 288 + VIII.--Pasquale Paoli, 293 + IX.--Paoli's Birthplace, 305 + X.--Clemens Paoli, 314 + XI.--The Old Hermit, 317 + XII.--The Battle-field of Ponte Nuovo, 321 + + + + +WANDERINGS IN CORSICA. + + + + +BOOK I.--HISTORY. + + +CHAP. I.--EARLIEST ACCOUNTS. + +The oldest notices of Corsica we have, are to be found in the Greek +and Roman historians and geographers. They do not furnish us with any +precise information as to what races originally colonized the island, +whether Phoenicians, Etruscans, or Ligurians. All these ancient races +had been occupants of Corsica before the Carthaginians, the Phocaean +Greeks, and the Romans planted their colonies upon it. + +The position of the islands of Corsica and Sardinia, in the great +western basin of the Mediterranean, made them points of convergence +for the commerce and colonization of the surrounding nations of the +two continents. To the north, at the distance of a day's journey, lies +Gaul; three days' journey westwards, Spain; Etruria is close at hand +upon the east; and Africa is but a few days' voyage to the south. The +continental nations necessarily, therefore, came into contact in these +islands, and one after the other left their stamp upon them. This was +particularly the case in Sardinia, a country entitled to be considered +one of the most remarkable in Europe, from the variety and complexity +of the national characteristics, and from the multifarious traces left +upon it by so many different races, in buildings, sculptures, coins, +language, and customs, which, deposited, so to speak, in successive +strata, have gradually determined the present ethnographic conformation +of the island. Both Corsica and Sardinia lie upon the boundary-line +which separates the western basin of the Mediterranean into a Spanish +and an Italian half; and as soon as the influences of Oriental and +Greek colonization had been eradicated politically, if not physically, +these two nations began to exercise their determining power upon the +islands. In Sardinia, the Spanish element predominated; in Corsica, the +Italian. This is very evident at the present day from the languages. +In later times, a third determining element, but a purely political +one--the French, was added in the case of Corsica. At a period of the +remotest antiquity, both Spanish and Gallo-Celtic or Ligurian tribes +had passed over to Corsica; but the Spanish characteristics which +struck the philosopher Seneca so forcibly in the Corsicans of his time, +disappeared, except in so far as they are still visible in the somewhat +gloomy and taciturn, and withal choleric disposition of the present +islanders. + +The most ancient name of the island is Corsica--a later, Cyrnus. +The former is said to be derived from Corsus, a son of Hercules, and +brother of Sardus, who founded colonies on the islands, to which they +gave their names. Others say that Corsus was a Trojan, who carried off +Sica, a niece of Dido, and that in honour of her the island received +its appellation. Such is the fable of the oldest Corsican chronicler, +Johann della Grossa. + +Cyrnus was a name in use among the Greeks. Pausanias says, in his +geography of Phocis: "The island near Sardinia (Ichnusa) is called by +the native Libyans, Corsica; by the Greeks, Cyrnus." The designation +Libyans, is very generally applied to the Phoenicians, and it is +highly improbable that Pausanias was thinking of an aboriginal race. +He viewed them as immigrated colonists, like those in Sardinia. He +says, in the same book, that the Libyans were the first who came to +Sardinia, which they found already inhabited, and that after them came +the Greeks and Hispanians. The word Cyrnos itself has been derived from +the Phoenician, _Kir_--horn, promontory. In short, these matters are +vague, traditionary, hypothetical. + +So much seems to be certain, from the ancient sources which supplied +Pausanias with his information, that in very early times the +Phoenicians founded colonies on both islands, that they found them +already inhabited, and that afterwards an immigration from Spain took +place. Seneca, who spent eight years of exile in Corsica, in his book +_De Consolatione_, addressed to his mother Helvia, and written from +that island, has the following passage (cap. viii.):--"This island +has frequently changed its inhabitants. Omitting all that is involved +in the darkness of antiquity, I shall only say that the Greeks, +who at present inhabit Massilia (Marseilles), after they had left +Phocaea, settled at first at Corsica. It is uncertain what drove them +away--perhaps the unhealthy climate, the growing power of Italy, or +the scarcity of havens; for, that the savage character of the natives +was not the reason, we learn from their betaking themselves to the then +wild and uncivilized tribes of Gaul. Afterwards, Ligurians crossed over +to the island; and also Hispanians, as may be seen from the similarity +of the modes of life; for the same kinds of covering for the head and +the feet are found here, as among the Cantabrians--and there are many +resemblances in words; but the entire language has lost its original +character, through intercourse with the Greeks and Ligurians." It is +to be lamented that Seneca did not consider it worth the pains to make +more detailed inquiry into the condition of the island. Even for him +its earliest history was involved in obscurity; how much more so must +it be for us? + +Seneca is probably mistaken, however, in not making the Ligurians and +Hispanians arrive on the island till after the Phocaeans. I have no +doubt that the Celtic races were the first and oldest inhabitants of +Corsica. The Corsican physiognomy, even of the present time, appears as +a Celtic-Ligurian. + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE GREEKS, ETRUSCANS, CARTHAGINIANS, AND ROMANS IN CORSICA. + +The first historically accredited event in relation to Corsica, is that +immigration of the fugitive Phocaeans definitely mentioned by Herodotus. +We know that these Asiatic Greeks had resolved rather to quit their +native country, than submit to inevitable slavery under Cyrus, and +that, after a solemn oath to the gods, they carried everything they +possessed on board ship, and put out to sea. They first negotiated +with the Chians for the cession of the Oenusian Islands, but without +success; they then set sail for Corsica, not without a definite enough +aim, as they had already twenty years previously founded on that island +the city of Alalia. They were, accordingly, received by their own +colonists here, and remained with them five years, "building temples," +as Herodotus says; "but because they made plundering incursions on +their neighbours, the Tyrrhenians and Carthaginians brought sixty +ships into the seas. The Phocaeans, on their side, had equipped a fleet +of equal size, and came to an engagement with them off the coast of +Sardinia. They gained a victory, but it cost them dear; for they lost +forty vessels, and the rest had been rendered useless--their beaks +having been bent. They returned to Alalia, and taking their wives and +children, and as much of their property as they could, with them, they +left the island of Cyrnus, and sailed to Rhegium." It is well known +that they afterwards founded Massilia, the present Marseilles. + +We have therefore in Alalia, the present Aleria--a colony of an +origin indubitably Greek, though it afterwards fell into the hands +of the Etruscans. The history of this flourishing commercial people +compels us to assume, that, even before the arrival of the Phocaeans, +they had founded colonies in Corsica. It is impossible that the +powerful Populonia, lying so near Corsica on the coast opposite, with +Elba already in its possession, should never have made any attempt +to establish its influence along the eastern shores of the island. +Diodorus says in his fifth book:--"There are two notable cities in +Corsica--Calaris and Nicaea; Calaris (a corruption of Alalia or Aleria) +was founded by the Phocaeans. These were expelled by the Tyrrhenians, +after they had been some time in the island. The Tyrrhenians founded +Nicaea, when they became masters of the sea." Nicaea is probably the +modern Mariana, which lies on the same level region of the coast. We +may assume that this colony existed contemporaneously with Alalia, +and that the immigration of the entire community of Phocaeans excited +jealousy and alarm in the Tyrrhenians, whence the collision between +them and the Greeks. It is uncertain whether the Carthaginians had +at this period possessions in Corsica; but they had colonies in +the neighbouring Sardinia. Pausanias tells us that they subjugated +the Libyans and Hispanians on this island, and built the two cities +of Caralis (Cagliari) and Sulchos (Palma di Solo). The threatened +danger from the Greeks now induced them to make common cause with the +Tyrrhenians, who also had settlements in Sardinia, against the Phocaean +intruders. Ancient writers further mention an immigration of Corsicans +into Sardinia, where they are said to have founded twelve cities. + +For a considerable period we now hear nothing more about the fortunes +of Corsica, from which the Etruscans continued to draw supplies of +honey, wax, timber for ship-building, and slaves. Their power gradually +sank, and they gave way to the Carthaginians, who seem to have put +themselves in complete possession of both islands--that is, of their +emporiums and havens--for the tribes of the interior had yielded to +no foe. During the Punic Wars, the conquering Romans deprived the +Carthaginians in their turn of both islands. Corsica is at first not +named, either in the Punic treaty of the time of Tarquinius, or in the +conditions of peace at the close of the first Punic War. Sardinia had +been ceded to the Romans; the vicinity of Corsica could not but induce +them to make themselves masters of that island also; both, lying in +the centre of a sea which washed the shores of Spain, Gaul, Italy, and +Africa, afforded the greatest facilities for establishing stations +directed towards the coasts of all the countries which Rome at that +time was preparing to subdue. + +We are informed, that in the year 260 before the birth of Christ, the +Consul Lucius Cornelius Scipio crossed over to Corsica, and destroyed +the city of Aleria, and that he conquered at once the Corsicans, +Sardinians, and the Carthaginian Hanno. The mutilated inscription on +the tomb of Scipio has the words--HEC CEPIT CORSICA ALERIAQUE VRBE. But +the subjugation of the wild Corsicans was no easy matter. They made a +resistance as heroic as that of the Samnites. We even find that the +Romans suffered a number of defeats, and that the Corsicans several +times rebelled. In the year 240, M. Claudius led an army against the +Corsicans. Defeated, and in a situation of imminent danger, he offered +them favourable conditions. They accepted them, but the Senate refused +to confirm the treaty. It ordered the Consul, C. Licinius Varus, to +chastise the Corsicans, delivering Claudius at the same time into their +hands, that they might do with him as they chose. This was frequently +the policy of the Romans, when they wished to quiet their religious +scruples about an oath. The Corsicans did as the Spaniards and Samnites +had done in similar instances. They would not receive the innocent +general, and sent him back unharmed. On his return to Rome, he was +strangled, and thrown upon the Gemonian stairs. + +Though subdued by the Romans, the Corsicans were continually rising +anew, already exhibiting that patriotism and love of freedom which in +much later times drew the eyes of the world on this little isolated +people. They rebelled at the same time with the Sardinians; but when +these had been conquered, the Corsicans also were obliged to submit +to the Consul Caius Papirus, who defeated them in the bloody battle +of the "Myrtle-field." But they regained a footing in the mountain +strongholds, and it appears that they forced the Roman commander to an +advantageous peace. + +They rose again in the year 181. Marcus Pinarius, Praetor of Sardinia, +immediately landed in Corsica with an army, and defeated the islanders +with dreadful carnage in a battle of which Livy gives an account--they +lost two thousand men killed. The Corsicans submitted, gave hostages +and a tribute of one hundred thousand pounds of wax. Seven years later, +a new insurrection and other bloody battles--seven thousand Corsicans +were slain, and two thousand taken prisoners. The tribute was raised to +two hundred thousand pounds of wax. Ten years afterwards, this heroic +people is again in arms, compelling the Romans to send out a consular +army: Juventius Thalea, and after him Scipio Nasica, completed the +subjugation of the island in the year 162. + +The Romans had thus to fight with these islanders for more than a +hundred years, before they reduced them to subjection. Corsica was +governed in common with Sardinia by a Praetor, who resided in Cagliari, +and sent a _legatus_ or lieutenant to Corsica. But it was not till the +time of the first civil war, that the Romans began to entertain serious +thoughts of colonizing the island. The celebrated Marius founded, on +the beautiful level of the east coast, the city of Mariana; and Sulla +afterwards built on the same plain the city of Aleria, restoring the +old Alalia of the Phocaeans. Corsica now began to be Romanized, to +modify its Celtic-Spanish language, and to adopt Roman customs. We +do not hear that the Corsicans again ventured to rebel against their +masters; and the island is only once more mentioned in Roman history, +when Sextus Pompey, defying the triumvirs, establishes a maritime power +in the Mediterranean, and takes possession of Corsica, Sardinia, and +Sicily. His empire was of short duration. + + +CHAPTER III. + +STATE OF THE ISLAND DURING THE ROMAN PERIOD. + +The nature of its interior prevents us from believing that the +condition of the island was by any means so flourishing during the long +periods of its subjection to the Romans, as some writers are disposed +to assume. They contented themselves, as it appears, with the two +colonies mentioned, and the establishment of some ports. The beautiful +coast opposite Italy was the region mainly cultivated. They had only +made a single road in Corsica. According to the Itinerary of Antonine, +this Roman road led from Mariana along the coast southwards to Aleria, +to Praesidium, Portus Favoni, and Palae, on the straits, near the modern +Bonifazio. This was the usual place for crossing to Sardinia, in which +the road was continued from Portus Tibulae (_cartio Aragonese_)--a place +of some importance, to Caralis, the present Cagliari. + +Pliny speaks of thirty-three towns in Corsica, but mentions only the +two colonies by name. Strabo, again, who wrote not long before him, +says of Corsica: "It contains some cities of no great size, as Blesino, +Charax, Eniconae, and Vapanes." These names are to be found in no other +writer. Pliny has probably made every fort a town. Ptolemy, however, +gives the localities of Corsica in detail, with the appellations of +the tribes inhabiting them; many of his names still survive in Corsica +unaltered, or easily recognised. + +The ancient authors have left us some notices of the character of the +country and people during this Roman period. I shall give them here, as +it is interesting to compare what they say with the accounts we have of +Corsica in the Middle Ages and at the present time. + +Strabo says of Corsica: "It is thinly inhabited, for it is a rugged +country, and in most places has no practicable roads. Hence those +who inhabit the mountains live by plunder, and are more untameable +than wild beasts. When the Roman generals have made an expedition +against the island, and taken their strongholds, they bring away with +them a great number of slaves, and then people in Rome may see with +astonishment, what fierce and utterly savage creatures these are. +For they either take away their own lives, or they tire their master +by their obstinate disobedience and stupidity, so that he rues his +bargain, though he have bought them for the veriest trifle." + +Diodorus: "When the Tyrrhenians had the Corsican cities in their +possession, they demanded from the natives tribute of resin, wax, and +honey, which are here produced in abundance. The Corsican slaves are +of great excellence, and seem to be preferable to other slaves for +the common purposes of life. The whole broad island is for the most +part mountainous, rich in shady woods, watered by little rivers. The +inhabitants live on milk, honey, and flesh, all which they have in +plenty. The Corsicans are just towards each other, and live in a more +civilized manner than all other barbarians. For when honey-combs are +found in the woods, they belong without dispute to the first finder. +The sheep, being distinguished by certain marks, remain safe, even +although their master does not guard them. Also in the regulation of +the rest of their life, each one in his place observes the laws of +rectitude with wonderful faithfulness. They have a custom at the birth +of a child which is most strange and new; for no care is taken of a +woman in child-birth; but instead of her, the husband lays himself for +some days as if sick and worn out in bed. Much boxwood grows there, +and that of no mean sort. From this arises the great bitterness of the +honey. The island is inhabited by barbarians, whose speech is strange +and hard to be understood. The number of the inhabitants is more than +thirty thousand." + +Seneca: "For, leaving out of account such places as by the pleasantness +of the region, and their advantageous situation, allure great numbers, +go to remote spots on rude islands--go to Sciathus, and Seriphus, and +Gyarus, and Corsica, and you will find no place of banishment where +some one or other does not reside for his own pleasure. Where shall +we find anything so naked, so steep and rugged on every side, as +this rocky island? Where is there a land in respect of its products +scantier, in respect of its people more inhospitable, in respect of its +situation more desolate, or in respect of its climate more unhealthy? +And yet there live here more foreigners than natives." + +According to the accounts of the oldest writers, we must doubtless +believe that Corsica was in those times to a very great extent +uncultivated, and, except in the matter of wood, poor in natural +productions. That Seneca exaggerates is manifest, and is to be +explained from the situation in which he wrote. Strabo and Diodorus +are of opposite opinions as to the character of the Corsican slaves. +The former has in his favour the history and unvarying character of +the Corsicans, who have ever shown themselves in the highest degree +incapable of slavery, and Strabo could have pronounced on them no +fairer eulogy than in speaking of them as he has done. What Diodorus, +who writes as if more largely informed, says of the Corsican sense of +justice, is entirely true, and is confirmed by the experience of every +age. + +Among the epigrams on Corsica ascribed to Seneca, there is one which +says of the Corsicans: Their first law is to revenge themselves, their +second to live by plunder, their third to lie, and their fourth to deny +the gods. + +This is all the information of importance we have from the Greeks and +Romans on the subject of Corsica. + + +CHAPTER IV. + +COMMENCEMENT OF THE MEDIAEVAL PERIOD. + +Corsica remained in the possession of the Romans, from whom in later +times it received the Christian religion, till the fall of Rome made it +once more a prey to the rovers by land and sea. Here, again, we have +new inundations of various tribes, and a motley mixture of nations, +languages, and customs, as in the earliest period. + +Germans, Byzantine Greeks, Moors, Romanized races appear successively +in Corsica. But the Romanic stamp, impressed by the Romans and +strengthened by bands of fugitive Italians, has already taken its place +as an indelible and leading trait in Corsican character. The Vandals +came to Corsica under Genseric, and maintained themselves in the island +a long time, till they were expelled by Belisarius. After the Goths and +Longobards had in their turn invaded the island and been its masters, +it fell, along with Sardinia, into the hands of the Byzantines, and +remained in their possession nearly two hundred years. It was during +this period that numerous Greek names and roots, still to be met with +throughout the country and in the language, originated. + +The Greek rule was of the Turkish kind. They appeared to look upon +the Corsicans as a horde of savages; they loaded them with impossible +exactions, and compelled them to sell their very children in order to +raise the enormous tribute. A period of incessant fighting now begins +for Corsica, and the history of the nation consists for centuries in +one uninterrupted struggle for existence and freedom. + +The first irruption of the Saracens occurred in 713. Ever since +Spain had become Moorish, the Mahommedans had been scouring the +Mediterranean, robbing and plundering in all the islands, and founding +in many places a dominion of protracted duration. The Greek Emperors, +whose hands were full in the East, totally abandoned the West, which +found new protectors in the Franks. That Charlemagne had to do with +Corsica or with the Moors there, appears from his historian Eginhard, +who states that the Emperor sent out a fleet under Count Burkhard, +to defend Corsica against the Saracens. His son Charles gave them a +defeat at Mariana. These struggles with the Moors are still largely +preserved in the traditions of the Corsican people. The Roman noble, +Hugo Colonna, a rebel against Pope Stephen IV., who sent him to Corsica +with a view to rid himself of him and his two associates, Guido Savelli +and Amondo Nasica, figures prominently in the Moorish wars. Colonna's +first achievement was the taking of Aleria, after a triple combat of +a romantic character, between three chivalrous paladins and as many +Moorish knights. He then defeated the Moorish prince Nugalon, near +Mariana, and forced all the heathenish people in the island to submit +to the rite of baptism. The comrade of this Hugo Colonna was, according +to the Corsican chronicler, a nephew of Ganelon of Mayence, also named +Ganelon, who had come to Corsica to wipe off the disgrace of his house +in Moorish blood. + +The Tuscan margrave, Bonifacius, after a great naval victory over the +Saracens on the coast of Africa, near Utica, is now said to have landed +at the southern extremity of Corsica on his return home, and to have +built a fortress on the chalk cliffs there, which received from its +founder the name of Bonifazio. This took place in the year 833. Louis +the Pious granted him the feudal lordship of Corsica. Etruria thus +acquires supremacy over the neighbouring island a second time, and it +is certain that the Tuscan margraves continued to govern Corsica till +the death of Lambert, the last of their line, in 951. + +Berengarius, and after him Adalbert of Friuli, were the next masters +of the island; then the Emperor Otto II. gave it to his adherent, the +Margrave Hugo of Toscana. No further historical details can be arrived +at with any degree of precision till the period when the city of Pisa +obtained supremacy in Corsica. + +In these times, and up till the beginning of the eleventh century, +a fierce and turbulent nobility had been forming in Corsica, as in +Italy--the various families of which held sway throughout the island. +This aristocracy was only in a very limited degree of native origin. +Italian magnates who had fled from the barbarians, Longobard, Gothic, +Greek or Frankish vassals, soldiers who had earned for themselves land +and feudal title by their exertions in the wars against the Moors, +gradually founded houses and hereditary seigniories. The Corsican +chronicler makes all the seigniors spring from the Roman knight Hugo +Colonna and his companions. He makes him Count of Corsica, and traces +to his son Cinarco the origin of the most celebrated family of the old +Corsican nobility, the Cinarchesi; to another son, Bianco, that of the +Biancolacci; to Pino, a son of Savelli's, the Pinaschi; and in the +same way we have Amondaschi, Rollandini, descendants of Ganelon and +others. In later times various families emerged into distinction from +this confusion of petty tyrants, the Gentili, and Signori da Mare on +Cape Corso; beyond the mountains, the seigniors of Leca, of Istria, and +Rocca, and those of Ornans and of Bozio. + + +CHAPTER V. + +FEUDALISM IN CORSICA--THE LEGISLATOR SAMBUCUCCIO. + +For a long period the history of the Corsicans presents nothing but +a bloody picture of the tyranny of the barons over the lower orders, +and the quarrels of these nobles with each other. The coasts became +desolate, the old cities of Aleria and Mariana were gradually forsaken; +the inhabitants of the maritime districts fled from the Saracens higher +up into the hills, where they built villages, strengthened by nature +and art so as to resist the corsairs and the barons. In few countries +can the feudal nobility have been so fierce and cruel as in Corsica. +In the midst of a half barbarous and quite poor population, Nature +around them savage as themselves, unchecked by any counterpoise of +social morality or activity, unbridled by the Church, cut off from the +world and civilizing intercourse--let the reader imagine these nobles +lording it in their rocky fastnesses, and, giving the rein to their +restless and unsettled natures in sensuality and violence. In other +countries all that was humanizing, submissive to law, positive and +not destructive in tendency, collected itself in the cities, organized +itself into guilds and corporate bodies, and uniting in a civic league, +made head against the aristocracy. But it was extremely difficult to +accomplish anything like this in Corsica, where trade and manufactures +were unknown, where there were neither cities nor a commercial +middle-class. All the more note-worthy is the phenomenon, that a nation +of rude peasants should, in a manner reminding us of patriarchal times, +have succeeded in forming itself into a democracy of a marked and +distinctive character. + +The barons of the country, engaged in continual wars with the oppressed +population of the villages, and fighting with each other for sole +supremacy, had submitted at the beginning of the eleventh century +to one of their own number, the lord of Cinarca, who aimed at making +himself tyrant of the whole island. Scanty as our materials for drawing +a conclusion are, we must infer from what we know, that the Corsicans +of the interior had hitherto maintained a desperate resistance to the +barons. In danger of being crushed by Cinarca, the people assembled to +a general council. It is the first Parliament of the Corsican Commons +of which we hear in their history, and it was held in Morosaglia. +On this occasion they chose a brave and able man to be their leader, +Sambucuccio of Alando, with whom begins the long series of Corsican +patriots, who have earned renown by their love of country and heroic +courage. + +Sambucuccio gained a victory over Cinarca, and compelled him to +retire within his own domains. As a means of securing and extending +the advantage thus gained, he organized a confederacy, as was done in +Switzerland under similar circumstances, though somewhat later. All +the country between Aleria, Calvi, and Brando, formed itself into a +free commonwealth, taking the title of Terra del Commune, which it has +retained till very recently. The constitution of this commonwealth, +simple and entirely democratic in its character, was based upon the +natural divisions of the country. These arise from its mountain-system, +which separates the island into a series of valleys. As a general +rule, the collective hamlets in a valley form a parish, called at the +present day, as in the earliest times, by the Italian name, _pieve_ +(plebs). Each _pieve_, therefore, included a certain number of little +communities (paese); and each of these, in its popular assembly, +elected a presiding magistrate, or _podesta_, with two or more Fathers +of the Community (_padri del commune_), probably, as was customary +in later times, holding office for a single year. The Fathers of +the Community were to be worthy of the name; they were to exercise a +fatherly care over the welfare of their respective districts; they were +to maintain peace, and shield the defenceless. In a special assembly of +their own they chose an official, with the title _caporale_, who seems +to have been invested with the functions of a tribune of the Commons, +and was expressly intended to defend the rights of the people in every +possible way. The podestas, again, in their assembly, had the right +of choosing the _Dodici_ or Council of Twelve--the highest legislative +body in the confederacy. + +However imperfect and confused in point of date our information on +the subject of Sambucuccio and his enactments may be, still we gather +from it the certainty that the Corsicans, even at that early period, +were able by their own unaided energies to construct for themselves a +democratic commonwealth. The seeds thus planted could never afterwards +be eradicated, but continued to develop themselves under all the storms +that assailed them, ennobling the rude vigour of a spirited and warlike +people, encouraging through every period an unexampled patriotism, +and a heroic love of freedom, and making it possible that, at a time +when the great nations in the van of European culture lay prostrate +under despotic forms of government, Corsica should have produced the +democratic constitution of Pasquale Paoli, which originated before +North America freed herself, and when the French Revolution had not +begun. Corsica had no slaves, no serfs; every Corsican was free. He +shared in the political life of his country through the self-government +of his commune, and the popular assemblies--and this, in conjunction +with the sense of justice, and the love of country, is the necessary +condition of political liberty in general. The Corsicans, as Diodorus +mentions to their honour, were not deficient in the sense of justice; +but conflicting interests within their island, and the foreign +tyrannies to which, from their position and small numbers, they were +constantly exposed, prevented them from ever arriving at prosperity as +a State. + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE PISANS IN CORSICA. + +The legislator Sambucuccio fared as many other legislators have +done. His death was a sudden and severe blow to his enactments. The +seigniors immediately issued from their castles, and spread war and +discord over the land. The people, looking round for help, besought +the Tuscan margrave Malaspina to rescue them, and placed themselves +under his protection. Malaspina landed on the island with a body of +troops, defeated the barons, and restored peace. This happened about +the year 1020, and the Malaspinas appear to have remained rulers of +the Terra del Commune till 1070, while the seigniors bore sway in the +rest of the country. At this time, too, the Pope, who pretended to +derive his rights from the Frankish kings, interfered in the affairs +of the island. It would even seem that he assumed the position of its +feudal superior, and that Malaspina was Count of Corsica by the papal +permission. The Corsican bishoprics furnished him with another means of +establishing his influence in the island. The number of these had in +the course of time increased to six, Aleria, Ajaccio, Accia, Mariana, +Nebbio, and Sagona. + +Gregory VII. sent Landulph, Bishop of Pisa, to Corsica, to persuade +the people to put themselves under the power of the Church. This having +been effected, Gregory, and then Urban II., in the year 1098, granted +the perpetual feudal superiority of the island to the bishopric of +Pisa, now raised to an archbishopric. The Pisans, therefore, became +masters of the island, and they maintained a precarious possession of +it, in the face of continual resistance, for nearly a hundred years. + +Their government was wise, just, and benevolent, and is eulogized +by all the Corsican historians. They exerted themselves to bring the +country under cultivation, and to improve the natural products of the +soil. They rebuilt towns, erected bridges, made roads, built towers +along the coast, and introduced even art into the island, at least +in so far as regarded church architecture. The best old churches in +Corsica are of Pisan origin, and may be instantly recognised as such +from the elegance of their style. Every two years the republic of Pisa +sent as their representative to the island, a Giudice, or judge, who +governed and administered justice in the name of the city. The communal +arrangements of Sambucuccio were not altered. + +Meanwhile, Genoa had been watching with jealous eyes the progress +of Pisan ascendency in the adjacent island, and could not persuade +herself to allow her rival undisputed possession of so advantageous a +station in the Mediterranean, immediately before the gates of Genoa. +Even when Urban II. had made Pisa the metropolitan see of the Corsican +bishops, the Genoese had protested, and they several times compelled +the popes to withdraw the Pisan investiture. At length, in the year +1133, Pope Innocent II. yielded to the urgent solicitations of the +Genoese, and divided the investiture, subordinating to Genoa, now also +made an archbishopric, the Corsican bishops of Mariana, Accia, and +Nebbio, while Pisa retained the bishoprics of Aleria, Ajaccio, and +Sagona. But the Genoese were not satisfied with this; they aimed at +secular supremacy over the whole island. Constantly at war with Pisa, +they seized a favourable opportunity of surprising Bonifazio, when the +inhabitants of the town were celebrating a marriage festival. Honorius +III. was obliged to confirm them in the possession of this important +place in the year 1217. They fortified the impregnable cliff, and made +it the fulcrum of their influence in the island; they granted the city +commercial and other privileges, and induced a great number of Genoese +families to settle there. Bonifazio thus became the first Genoese +colony in Corsica. + + +CHAPTER VII. + +PISA OR GENOA?--GIUDICE DELLA ROCCA. + +Corsica was now rent into factions. One section of the inhabitants +inclined to Pisa, another to Genoa, many of the seigniors maintained +an independent position, and the Terra del Commune kept itself apart. +The Pisans, though hard pressed by their powerful foes in Italy, were +still unwilling to give up Corsica. They made an islander of the old +family of Cinarca, their Lieutenant and Giudice, and committed to him +the defence of his country against Genoa. + +This man's name was Sinucello, and he became famous under the +appellation of Giudice della Rocca. His patriotism and heroic courage, +his wisdom and love of justice, have given him a place among those who +in barbarous times have distinguished themselves by their individual +excellencies. The Cinarchesi, it is said, had been driven by one of the +papal margraves to Sardinia. Sinucello was a descendant of the exiled +family. He had gone to Pisa and attained to eminence in the service +of the republic. The hopes of the Pisans were now centred in him. They +made him Count and Judge of the island, gave him some ships, and sent +him to Corsica in the year 1280. He succeeded, with the aid of his +adherents there, in overpowering the Genoese party among the seigniors, +and restoring the Pisan ascendency. The Genoese sent Thomas Spinola +with troops. Spinola suffered a severe defeat at the hands of Giudice. +The war continued many years, Giudice carrying it on with indefatigable +vigour in the name of the Pisan republic; but after the Genoese had +won against the Pisans the great naval engagement at Meloria, in which +the ill-fated Ugolino commanded, the power of the Pisans declined, and +Corsica was no longer to be maintained. + +After the victory the Genoese made themselves masters of the east +coast of Corsica. They intrusted the subjugation of the island, and the +expulsion of the brave Giudice, to their General Luchetto Doria. But +Doria too found himself severely handled by his opponent; and for years +this able man continued to make an effectual resistance, keeping at +bay both the Genoese and the seigniors of the island, which seemed now +to have fallen into a state of complete anarchy. Giudice is one of the +favourite national heroes of the chroniclers: they throw an air of the +marvellous round his noble and truly Corsican figure, and tell romantic +stories of his long-continued struggles. However unimportant these +may be in a historical point of view, still they are characteristic of +the period, the country, and the men. Giudice had six daughters, who +were married to persons of high rank in the island. His bitter enemy, +Giovanninello, had also six daughters, equally well married. The six +sons-in-law of the latter form a conspiracy against Giudice, and in +one night kill seventy fighting men of his retainers. This gives rise +to a separation of the entire island into two parties, and a feud like +that between the Guelphs and Ghibellines, which lasts for two hundred +years. Giovanninello was driven to Genoa: returning, however, soon +after, he built the fortress of Calvi, which immediately threw itself +into the hands of the Genoese, and became the second of their colonies +in the island. The chroniclers have much to say of Giudice's impartial +justice, as well as of his clemency,--as, for example, the following. +He had once taken a great many Genoese prisoners, and he promised +their freedom to all those who had wives, only these wives were to come +over themselves and fetch their husbands. They came; but a nephew of +Giudice's forced a Genoese woman to spend a night with him. His uncle +had him beheaded on the spot, and sent the captives home according +to his promise. We see how such a man should have been by preference +called Giudice--judge; since among a barbarous people, and in barbarous +times, the character of judge must unite in itself all virtue and all +other authority. + +In his extreme old age Giudice grew blind. A disagreement arose +between the blind old man and his natural son Salnese, who, having +treacherously got him into his power, delivered him into the hands of +the Genoese. When Giudice was being conducted on board the ship that +was to convey him to Genoa, he threw himself upon his knees on the +shore, and solemnly imprecated a curse on his son Salnese, and all +his posterity. Giudice della Rocca was thrown into a miserable Genoese +dungeon, and died in Genoa in the tower of Malapaga, in the year 1312. +The Corsican historian Filippini, describes him as one of the most +remarkable men the island has produced; he was brave, skilful in the +use of arms, singularly rapid in the execution of his designs, wise in +council, impartial in administering justice, liberal to his friends, +and firm in adversity--qualities which almost all distinguished +Corsicans have possessed. With Giudice fell the last remains of Pisan +ascendency in Corsica. + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +COMMENCEMENT OF GENOESE SUPREMACY--CORSICAN COMMUNISTS. + +Pisa made a formal surrender of the island to Genoa, and thirty years +after the death of Giudice, the Terra del Commune, and the greater +number of the seigniors submitted to the Genoese supremacy. The Terra +sent four messengers to the Genoese Senate, and tendered its submission +under the condition, that the Corsicans should pay no further tax +than twenty soldi for each hearth. The Senate accepted the condition, +and in 1348 the first Genoese governor landed in the island. It was +Boccaneria, a man who is praised for his vigour and prudence, and who, +during his single year of power, gave the country peace. But he had +scarcely returned from his post, when the factions raised their heads +anew, and plunged the country into the wildest anarchy. From the first +the rights of Genoa had not been undisputed, Boniface VIII. having in +1296, in virtue of the old feudal claims of the papal chair, granted +the superiority of Corsica and Sardinia to King James of Arragon. A new +foreign power, therefore--Spain, connected with Corsica at a period of +hoary antiquity--seemed now likely to seek a footing on the island; and +in the meantime, though no overt attempt at conquest had been made, +those Corsicans who refused allegiance to Genoa, found a point of +support in the House of Arragon. + +The next epoch of Corsican history exhibits a series of the most +sanguinary conflicts between the seigniors and Genoa. Such confusion +had arisen immediately on the death of Giudice, and the people were +reduced to such straits, that the chronicler wonders why, in the +wretched state of the country, the population did not emigrate in a +body. The barons, as soon as they no longer felt the heavy hand of +Giudice, used their power most tyrannously, some as independent lords, +others as tributary to Genoa--all sought to domineer, to extort. The +entire dissolution of social order produced a sect of Communists, +extravagant enthusiasts, who appeared contemporaneously in Italy. +This sect, an extraordinary phenomenon in the wild Corsica, became +notorious and dreaded under the name of the Giovannali. It took its +rise in the little district of Carbini, on the other side the hills. +Its originators were bastard sons of Guglielmuccio, two brothers, +Polo and Arrigo, seigniors of Attala. "Among these people," relates +the chronicler, "the women were as the men; and it was one of their +laws that all things should be in common, the wives and children as +well as other possessions. Perhaps they wished to renew that golden +age of which the poets feign that it ended with the reign of Saturn. +These Giovannali performed certain penances after their fashion, and +assembled at night in the churches, where, in going through their +superstitious rites and false ceremonies, they concealed the lights, +and, in the foulest and the most disgraceful manner, took pleasure +the one with the other, according as they were inclined. It was Polo +who led this devilish crew of sectaries, which began to increase +marvellously, not only on this side the mountains, but also everywhere +beyond them." + +The Pope, at that time residing in France, excommunicated the sect; he +sent a commissary with soldiers to Corsica, who gave the Giovannali, +now joined by many seigniors, a defeat in the Pieve Alesani, where they +had raised a fortress. Wherever a Giovannalist was found, he was killed +on the spot. The phenomenon is certainly remarkable; possibly the +idea originally came from Italy, and it is hardly to be wondered at, +if among the poor distracted Corsicans, who considered human equality +as something natural and inalienable, it found, as the chronicler +tells us, an extended reception. Religious enthusiasm, or fanatic +extravagance, never at any other time took root among the Corsicans; +and the island was never priest-ridden: it was spared at least this +plague. + + +CHAPTER IX. + +STRUGGLES WITH GENOA--ARRIGO DELLA ROCCA. + +The people themselves, driven to desperation after the departure of +Boccaneria, begged the assistance of Genoa. The republic accordingly +sent Tridano della Torre to the island. He mastered the barons, and +ruled seven full years vigorously and in peace. + +The second man of mark from the family of Cinarca or Rocca, now appears +upon the stage, Arrigo della Rocca--young, energetic, impetuous, born +to rule, as stubborn as Giudice, equally inexhaustible in resource +and powerful in fight. His father, Guglielmo, had fought against the +Genoese, and had been slain. The son took up the contest. Unfortunate +at first, he left his native country and went to Spain, offering his +services to the House of Arragon, and inciting its then representatives +to lay claim to those rights which had already been acknowledged by the +Pope. Tridano had been murdered during Arrigo's absence, the seigniors +had rebelled, the island had split into two parties--the Caggionacci +and the Ristiagnacci, and a tumult of the bloodiest kind had broken +out. + +In the year 1392, Arrigo della Rocca appeared in Corsica almost without +followers, and as if on a private adventure, but no sooner had he shown +himself, than the people flocked to his standard. Lionello Lomellino +and Aluigi Tortorino were then governors, two at once in those +unsettled times. They called a diet at Corte, counselled and exhorted. +Meanwhile, Arrigo had marched rapidly on Cinarca, routing the Genoese +troops wherever they came in their way; immediately he was at the gates +of Biguglia, the residence of the governors; he stormed the place, +assembled the people, and had himself proclaimed Count of Corsica. The +governors retired in dismay to Genoa, leaving the whole country in the +hands of the Corsicans, except Calvi, Bonifazio, and San Columbano. + +Arrigo governed the island for four years without +molestation--energetically, impartially, but with cruelty. He caused +great numbers to be beheaded, not sparing even his own relations. +Perhaps some were imbittered by this severity--perhaps it was the +inveterate tendency to faction in the Corsican character, that now +began to manifest itself in a certain degree of disaffection. + +The seigniors of Cape Corso rose first, with the countenance of Genoa; +but they were unsuccessful--with an iron arm Arrigo crushed every +revolt. He carried in his banner a griffin over the arms of Arragon, to +indicate that he had placed the island under the protection of Spain. + +Genoa was embarrassed. She had fought many a year now for Corsica, +and had gained nothing. The critical position of her affairs tied the +hands of the Republic, and she seemed about to abandon Corsica. Five +_Nobili_, however, at this juncture, formed themselves into a sort of +joint-stock company, and prevailed upon the Senate to hand the island +over to them, the supremacy being still reserved for the Republic. +These were the Signori Magnera, Tortorino, Fiscone, Taruffo, and +Lomellino; they named their company "The Mahona," and each of them bore +the title of Governor of Corsica. + +They appeared in the island at the head of a thousand men, and found +the party discontented with Arrigo, awaiting them. They effected +little; were, in fact, reduced to such extremity by their energetic +opponent, that they thought it necessary to come to terms with him. +Arrigo agreed to their proposals, but in a short time again took up +arms, finding himself trifled with; he defeated the Genoese _Nobili_ +in a bloody battle, and cleared the island of the Mahona. A second +expedition which the Republic now sent was more successful. Arrigo was +compelled once more to quit Corsica. + +He went a second time to Spain, and asked support from King John of +Arragon. John readily gave him two galleys and some soldiers, and after +an absence of two months the stubborn Corsican appeared once more on +his native soil. Zoaglia, the Genoese governor, was not a match for +him; Arrigo took him prisoner, and made himself master of the whole +island, with the exception of the fortresses of Calvi and Bonifazio. +This occurred in 1394. The Republic sent new commanders and new troops. +What the sword could not do, poison at last accomplished. Arrigo della +Rocca died suddenly in the year 1401. Just at this time Genoa yielded +to Charles VI. of France. The fortunes of Corsica seemed about to take +a new turn; this aspect of affairs, however, proved, in the meantime, +transitory. The French king named Lionello Lomellino feudal count of +the island. He is the same who was mentioned as a member of the Mahona, +and it is to him Corsica owes the founding of her largest city, Bastia, +to which the residence of the Governors was now removed from the +neighbouring Castle of Biguglia. + + +CHAPTER X. + +VINCENTELLO D'ISTRIA. + +A man of a similar order began now to take the place of Arrigo +della Rocca. Making their appearance constantly at similar political +junctures, these bold Corsicans bear an astonishing resemblance to +each other; they form an unbroken series of undaunted, indefatigable, +even tragic heroes, from Giudice della Rocca, to Pasquale Paoli and +Napoleon, and their history--if we except the last notable name--is +identical in its general character and final issue, as the struggle +of the island against the Genoese rule remains throughout centuries +one and the same. The commencement of the career of these men, who +all emerge from banishment, has each time a tinge of the romantic and +adventurous. + +Vincentello d'Istria was a nephew of Arrigo's, son of one of his +sisters and Ghilfuccio a noble Corsican. Like his uncle, he had in +his youth attached himself to the court of Arragon, had entered into +the Arragonese service, and distinguished himself by splendid deeds +of arms. Later, having procured the command of some Arragonese ships, +he had conducted a successful corsair warfare against the Genoese, +and made his name the terror of the Mediterranean. He resolved to +take advantage of the favourable position of affairs, and attempt a +landing in his native island, where Count Lomellino had drawn odium +on himself by his harsh government, and Francesco della Rocca, natural +son of Arrigo, who ruled the Terra del Commune in the name of Genoa, as +vice-count, was vainly struggling with a formidable opposition. + +Vincentello landed unexpectedly in Sagona, marched rapidly to Cinarca, +exactly as his uncle had done, took Biguglia, assembled the people, +and made himself Count of Corsica. Francesco della Rocca immediately +fell by the hand of an assassin; but his sister, Violanta--a woman of +masculine energy, took up arms, and made a brave resistance, though at +length obliged to yield. Bastia surrendered. Genoa now sent troops with +all speed; after a struggle of two years, Vincentello was compelled to +leave the island--a number of the selfish seigniors having made common +cause with Genoa. + +In a short time, Vincentello returned with Arragonese soldiers, and +again he wrested the entire island from the Genoese, with the exception +of Calvi and Bonifazio. When he had succeeded thus far, Alfonso, the +young king of Arragon, more enterprising than his predecessors, and +having equipped a powerful fleet, prepared in his own person to make +good the presumed Arragonese rights on the island by force of arms. He +sailed from Sardinia in 1420, anchored before Calvi, and forced this +Genoese city to surrender. He then sailed to Bonifazio; and while the +Corsicans of his party laid siege to the impregnable fortress on the +land side, he himself attacked it from the sea. The siege of Bonifazio +is an episode of great interest in these tedious struggles, and was +rendered equally remarkable by the courage of the besiegers, and the +heroism of the besieged. The latter, true to Genoa to the last drop of +blood--themselves to a great extent of Genoese extraction--remained +immoveable as their own rocks; and neither hunger, pestilence, nor +the fire and sword of the Spaniards, broke their spirit during that +long and distressing blockade. Every attempt to storm the town was +unsuccessful; women, children, monks and priests, stood in arms upon +the walls, and fought beside the citizens. For months they continued +the struggle, expecting relief from Genoa, till the Spanish pride of +Alfonso was at length humbled, and he drew off, weary and ashamed, +leaving to Vincentello the prosecution of the siege. Relief came, +however, and delivered the exhausted town on the very eve of its fall. + +Vincentello retreated; and as Calvi had again fallen into the hands +of the Genoese, the Republic had the support of both these strong +towns. King Alfonso made no further attempt to obtain possession of +Corsica. Vincentello, now reduced to his own resources, gradually +lost ground; the intrigues of Genoa effecting more than her arms, and +the dissensions among the seigniors rendering a general insurrection +impossible. + +The Genoese party was specially strong on Cape Corso, where the +Signori da Mare were the most powerful family. With their help, and +that of the Caporali, who had degenerated from popular tribunes to +petty tyrants, and formed now a new order of nobility, Genoa forced +Vincentello to retire to his own seigniory of Cinarca. The brave +Corsican partly wrought his own fall: libertine as he was, he had +carried off a young girl from Biguglia; her friends took up arms, and +delivered the place into the hands of Simon da Mare. The unfortunate +Vincentello now resolved to have recourse once more to the House of +Arragon; but Zacharias Spinola captured the galley which was conveying +him to Sicily, and brought the dreaded enemy of Genoa a prisoner to the +Senate. Vincentello d'Istria was beheaded on the great stairs of the +Palace of Genoa. This was in the year 1434. "He was a glorious man," +remarks the old Corsican chronicler. + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE BANK OF ST. GEORGE OF GENOA. + +After the death of Vincentello, the seigniors contended with each other +for the title of Count of Corsica; Simon da Mare, Giudice d'Istria, +Renuccio da Leca, Paolo della Rocca, were the chief competitors; now +one, now another, assuming the designation. In Genoa, the Fregosi and +Adorni had split the Republic into two factions; and both families were +endeavouring to secure the possession of Corsica. This occasioned new +wars and new miseries. No respite, no year of jubilee, ever came for +this unhappy country. The entire population was constantly in arms, +attacking or defending. The island was revolt, war, conflagration, +blood, from one end to the other. + +In the year 1443, some of the Corsicans offered the supremacy to +Pope Eugene IV., in the hope that the Church might perhaps be able to +restrain faction, and restore peace. The Pope sent his plenipotentiary +with troops; but this only increased the embroilment. The people +assembled themselves to a diet in Morosaglia, and chose a brave and +able man, Mariano da Gaggio, as their Lieutenant-general. Mariano first +directed his efforts successfully against the degenerate Caporali, +expelled them from their castles, destroyed many of these, and declared +their office abolished. The Caporali, on their side, called the Genoese +Adorno into the island. The people now placed themselves anew under +the protection of the Pope; and as the Fregosi had meanwhile gained +the upper hand in Genoa, and Nicholas V., a Genoese Pope, favoured +them, he put the government of Corsica into the hands of Ludovico Campo +Fregoso in the year 1449. In vain the people rose in insurrection under +Mariano. To increase the already boundless confusion, Jacob Imbisora, +an Arragonese viceroy, appeared, demanding subjection in the name of +Arragon. + +The despairing people assembled again to a diet at Lago Benedetto, and +adopted the fatal resolution of placing themselves under the Bank of +St. George of Genoa. This society had been founded in the year 1346 +by a company of capitalists, who lent the Republic money, and farmed +certain portions of the public revenue as guarantee for its repayment. +At the request of the Corsicans, the Genoese Republic ceded the island +to this Bank, and the Fregosi renounced their claims, receiving a sum +of money in compensation. + +The Company of St. George, under the supremacy of the Senate, entered +upon the territory thus acquired in the year 1453, as upon an estate +from which they were to draw the highest returns possible. + +But years elapsed before the Bank succeeded in establishing its +authority in the island. The seigniors beyond the mountains, in league +with Arragon, made a desperate resistance. The governors of the Bank +acted with reckless severity; many heads fell; various nobles went +into exile, and collected around Tomasin Fregoso, a man of a restless +disposition, whose remembrance of his family's claims upon Corsica had +been greatly quickened, since his uncle Lodovico had become Doge. He +came, accompanied by the exiles, routed the forces of the Bank, and +put himself in possession of a large portion of the island, after the +people had proclaimed him Count. + +In 1464, Genoa fell into the hands of Francesco Sforza of Milan, and +a power with which Corsica had never had anything to do, began to +look upon the island as its own. The Corsicans, who preferred all +other masters to the Genoese, gladly took the oath of allegiance to +the Milanese general, Antonio Cotta, at the diet of Biguglia. But on +the same day a slight quarrel again kindled the flames of war over +all Corsica. Some peasants of Nebbio had fallen out with certain +retainers of the seigniors from beyond the mountains, and blood had +been shed. The Milanese commandant forthwith inflicted punishment on +the guilty parties. The haughty nobles, considering their seigniorial +rights infringed on, immediately mounted their horses and rode off to +their homes without saying a word. Preparations for war commenced. To +avert a new outbreak, the inhabitants of the Terra del Commune held a +diet, named Sambucuccio d'Alando--a descendant of the first Corsican +legislator--their vicegerent, and empowered him to use every possible +means to establish peace. Sambucuccio's dictatorship dismayed the +insurgents; they submitted to him and remained quiet. A second diet +despatched him and others as ambassadors to Milan, to lay the state of +matters before the Duke, and request the withdrawal of Cotta. + +Cotta was replaced by the certainly less judicious Amelia, who +occasioned a war that lasted for years. In all these troubles the +democratic Terra del Commune appears as an island in the island, +surrounded by the seigniories; it remains always united, and true +to itself, and represents, it may be said, the Corsican people. For +almost two hundred years we have seen nothing decisive happen without +a popular Diet (_veduta_), and we have several times remarked that the +people themselves have elected their counts or vicegerents. + +The war between the Corsicans and the Milanese was still raging with +great fury when Thomas Campo Fregoso again appeared upon the island, +trying his fortunes there once more. The Milanese sent him to Milan +a prisoner. Singular to relate, he returned from that city in the +year 1480, furnished with documents entitling him to have his claims +acknowledged. His government, and that of his son Janus, were so cruel, +that it was impossible the rule of the Fregoso family could last long, +though they had connected themselves by marriage with one of the most +influential men in the island, Giampolo da Leca. + +The people, meanwhile, chose Renuccio da Leca as their leader, who +immediately addressed himself to the Prince of Piombino, Appian IV., +and offered to place Corsica under his protection, provided he sent +sufficient troops to clear the island of all tyrants. How unhappy +the condition of this poor people must have been, seeking help thus +on every side, beseeching the aid now of one powerful despot, now of +another, adding by foreign tyrants to the number of its own! The Prince +of Piombino thought proper to see what could be done in Corsica, more +especially as part of Elba already belonged to him. He sent his brother +Gherardo di Montagnara with a small army. Gherardo was young, handsome, +of attractive manners, and he lived in a style of theatrical splendour. +He came sumptuously dressed, followed by a magnificent retinue, with +beautiful horses and dogs, with musicians and jugglers. It seemed as +if he were going to conquer the island to music. The Corsicans, who +had scarcely bread to eat, gazed on him in astonishment, as if he were +some supernatural visitant, conducted him to their popular assembly at +the Lago Benedetto, and amid great rejoicings, proclaimed him Count of +Corsica, in the year 1483. The Fregosi lost courage, and, despairing of +their sinking cause, sold their claim to the Genoese Bank for 2000 gold +scudi. The Bank now made vigorous preparations for war with Gherardo +and Renuccio. Renuccio lost a battle. This frightened the young Prince +of Piombino to such a degree, that he quitted the island with all the +haste possible, somewhat less theatrically than he had come to it. +Piombino desisted from all further attempts. + + +CHAPTER XII. + +PATRIOTIC STRUGGLES--GIAMPOLO DA LECA--RENUCCIO DELLA ROCCA. + +Two bold men now again rise in succession to oppose Genoa. Giampolo da +Leca had, as we have seen, become connected with the Fregosi. Although +these nobles had resigned their title in favour of the Bank, they were +exceedingly uneasy under the loss of influence they had sustained. +Janus, accordingly, without leaving Genoa, incited his relative to +revolt against the governor, Matias Fiesco. Giampolo rose. But beaten +and hard pressed by the troops of the Bank, he saw himself compelled, +after a vain attempt to obtain aid from Florence, to lay down his arms, +and to emigrate to Sardinia with wife, child, and friends, in the year +1487. + +A year had scarcely passed, when he again appeared at the call of +his adherents. A second time unfortunate, he made his escape again +to Sardinia. The Genoese now punished the rebels with the greatest +severity--with death, banishment, and the confiscation of their +property. More and more fierce grew the Corsican hatred towards Genoa. +For ten years they nursed its smouldering glow. All this while Giampolo +remained in exile, meditating revenge--his watchful eye never lifted +from his oppressed and prostrate country. At last he came back. He had +neither money nor arms; four Corsicans and six Spaniards were all his +troops, and with these he landed. He was beloved by the people, for he +was noble, brave, and of great personal beauty. The Corsicans crowded +to him from Cinarca, from Vico, from Niolo, and from Morosaglia. He +was soon at the head of a body of seven thousand foot and two hundred +horse--a force which made the Bank of Genoa tremble for its power. It +accordingly despatched to the island Ambrosio Negri, an experienced +general. Negri, by intrigue and fair promises, contrived to detach a +part of Giampolo's followers, and particularly to draw over to himself +Renuccio della Rocca, a nobleman of activity and spirit. Giampolo, with +forces sensibly diminished, came to an engagement with the Genoese +commander at the Foce al Sorbo, and suffered a defeat, in which his +son Orlando was taken prisoner. He concluded a treaty with Negri, the +terms of which allowed him to leave the island unmolested. He returned +to Sardinia in 1501, with fifty Corsicans, there to waste his life in +inconsolable grief. + +Giampolo's fall was mainly owing to Renuccio della Rocca. This man, +the head of the haughty family of Cinarca, saw that the Genoese Bank +had adopted a particular line of policy, and was pursuing it with +perseverance; he saw that it was resolved to crush completely and +for ever the power of the seigniors, more especially of those whose +lands lay beyond the mountains, and that his own turn would come. +Convinced of this, he suddenly rose in arms in the year 1502. The +contest was short, and the issue favourable for Genoa, whose governor +in the island was at that time one of the Doria family. All the +Dorias, as governors, distinguished themselves by their energy and by +their reckless cruelty, and it was to them alone that Genoa owed her +gratitude for the important service of at length crushing the Corsican +nobility. Nicolas Doria forced Renuccio to come to terms; and one of +the conditions imposed on the Corsican noble was that he and his family +were henceforth to reside in Genoa. + +Giampolo was, still living in Sardinia, more than all other Corsican +patriots a source of continual anxiety to the Genoese, who made several +attempts to come to an amicable agreement with him. His son Orlando, +who had newly escaped to Rome from his prison in Genoa, sent pressing +solicitations from that city to his father to rouse himself from his +dumb and prostrate inactivity. But Giampolo continued to maintain his +heartbroken silence, and listened as little to the suggestions of his +son as to those of the Genoese. + +Suddenly Renuccio disappeared from Genoa in the year 1504; he left wife +and child in the hands of his enemies, and went secretly to Sardinia +to seek an interview with the man whom he had plunged into misfortune. +Giampolo refused to see him. He was equally deaf to the entreaties of +the Corsicans, who all eagerly awaited his arrival. His own relations +had in the meantime murdered his son. The viceroy caught the murderers, +and was about to execute them, in order to show a favour to Giampolo. +But the generous man forgave them, and begged their liberation. + +Renuccio had meanwhile gathered eighteen resolute men about him, and, +undeterred by the fate of his children, who had been thrown into a +dungeon immediately after his flight, he landed again in Corsica. +Nicolas Doria, however, lost no time in attacking him before the +insurrection became formidable, and he gained a victory. To daunt +Renuccio, he had his eldest son beheaded, and he threatened the +youngest with a like fate, but allowed himself to be moved by the boy's +entreaties and tears. The unhappy father, defeated at every point, fled +to Sardinia, and then to Arragon. Doria took ample revenge on all who +had shown him countenance, laid whole districts of the island waste, +burned the villages, and dispersed the inhabitants. + +Renuccio della Rocca returned in the year 1507. This unyielding man +was entirely the reverse of the moody and sorrow-laden Giampolo. He +set foot on his native soil with only twenty companions. Another of +the Dorias met him this time, Andreas, afterwards the famous Doge, who +had served under his cousin Nicolo. The Corsican historian Filippini, +a Genoese partisan, admits the cruelties committed by Andreas during +this short campaign. He succeeded in speedily crushing the revolt; and +compelled Renuccio a second time to accept a safe conduct to Genoa. +When the Corsican arrived, the people would have torn him to pieces, +had not the French governor carried him off with all speed to his +castle. + +Three years elapsed. Suddenly Renuccio again showed himself in Corsica. +He had escaped from Genoa, and after in vain imploring the aid of +the European princes, once more bidding defiance to fortune, he had +landed in his native country with eight friends. Some of his former +vassals received him in Freto, weeping, deeply moved by the accumulated +misfortunes of the man, and his unexampled intrepidity of soul. He +spoke to them, and conjured them once more to draw the sword. They were +silent, and went away. He remained some days in Freto, in concealment. +Nicolo Pinello, a captain of Genoese troops in Ajaccio, accidentally +passed by upon his horse. The sight of him proved so intolerable to +Renuccio, that he attacked him at night and killed him, took his horse, +and now showed himself in public. As soon us his presence in the island +became known, the soldiers of Ajaccio were sent out to capture him. +Renuccio fled into the hills, hunted like a bandit or wild beast. The +peasantry, who were put to the torture by his pursuers, as a means of +inducing them to discover his lurking-places, at last resolved to end +their own miseries and his life. In the month of May 1511, Renuccio +della Rocca was found miserably slain in the hills. He was one of the +stoutest hearts of the noble house of Cinarca. "They tell," says the +Corsican chronicler, "that Renuccio was true to himself till the last, +and that he showed no less heroism in his death than in his life; and +this is, of a truth, much to his honour, for a brave man should never +lose his nobleness of soul, even when fate brings him to an ignominious +end." + +Giampolo had meanwhile gone to Rome, to ask the aid of the Pope, but, +unsuccessful in his exertions, he died there in the year 1515. + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +STATE OF CORSICA UNDER THE BANK OF ST. GEORGE. + +With Giampolo and Renuccio ended the resistance of the Corsican +seigniors. The noble families of the island decayed, their strong +keeps fell into ruin, and at present we hardly distinguish here and +there upon the rocks of Corsica the blackened walls of the castles of +Cinarca, Istria, Leca, and Ornano. But Genoa, in crushing one dreaded +foe, had raised against herself another far more formidable--the +Corsican people. + +During this era of the iron rule of the Genoese Bank, many able +men emigrated, and sought for themselves name and fame in foreign +countries. They entered into military service, and became famous as +generals and Condottieri. Some were in the service of the Medici, +others in that of the Spozzi; or they were among the Venetians, in +Rome, with the Gonzagas, or with the French. Filippini names a long +array of them; among the rest, Guglielmo of Casabianca, Baptista of +Leca, Bartelemy of Vivario, with the surname of Telamon, Gasparini, +Ceccaldi, and Sampiero of Bastelica. Fortune was especially kind to a +Corsican of Bastia, named Arsano; turning renegade, he raised himself +to be King of Algiers, under the appellation of Lazzaro. This is +the more singular, that precisely at this time Corsica was suffering +dreadfully from the Moors, and the Bank had surrounded the whole island +with a girdle of beacons and watch-towers, and fortified Porto Vecchio +on the southern coast. + +After the wars with Giampolo and Renuccio, the government of the Bank +was at first mild and paternal, and Corsica enjoyed the blessings of +order and peace. So says the Corsican chronicler. + +The administration of public affairs, on which very slight alteration +was made after the Republic took it out of the hands of the Bank, was +as follows:-- + +The Bank sent a governor to Corsica yearly, who resided in Bastia. He +brought with him a vicario, or vicegerent, and a doctor of laws. The +entire executive was in his hands; he was the highest judicial and +military authority. He had his lieutenants (_luogotenenti_) in Calvi, +Algajola, San Fiorenzo, Ajaccio, Bonifazio, Sartena, Vico, Cervione, +and Corte. An appeal lay from them to the governor. All these officials +were changed once a year, or once in two years. To protect the people +from an oppressive exercise of power on their part, a Syndicate had +been established, before which a complaint against any particular +magistrate could be lodged. If the complaint was found to be well +grounded, the procedure of the magistrate concerned could be reversed, +and he himself punished with removal from his office. The governor +himself was responsible to the Syndics. They were six in number--three +from the people, and three from the aristocracy; and might be either +Corsicans or Genoese. In particular cases, commissaries came over, +charged with the duty of instituting inquiries. + +Besides all this, the people exercised the important right of naming +the Dodici, or Council of Twelve; and they did this each time a change +took place in the highest magistracy. Strictly speaking, twelve were +chosen for the districts this side the mountains, six for those beyond. +The Dodici represented the people's voice in the deliberations of the +governor; and without their consent no law could be enacted, abolished, +or modified. One of their number went to Genoa, with the title of +Oratore, to act as representative of the Corsican people in the Senate +there. + +The democratic basis of the constitution of the communes and _pievi_, +with their Fathers of the Community and their _podestas_, was not +altered, and the popular assembly (_veduta_ or _consulta_) was still +permitted. The governor usually summoned it in Biguglia, when anything +of general importance was to be done with the consent of the people. + +It is clear that these arrangements were of a democratic nature--that +they allowed the people free political movement, and a share in the +government; gave them a hold on the protection of the law, and checked +the arbitrary tendencies of officials. The Corsican people was, +therefore, well entitled to congratulate itself, and consider itself +favoured far beyond the other nations of Europe, if such laws were +really allowed their due force, and did not become an empty show. How +they did become an empty show, and how the Genoese rule passed into +an abominable despotism--Genoa, like Venice, committing the fatal +error of alienating her foreign provinces by a tyrannous, instead of +attaching them to herself by a benevolent treatment--we shall see in +the following chapters. For now Corsica brings forward her bravest +man, and one of the most remarkable characters of the century, against +Genoa. + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE PATRIOT SAMPIERO. + +Sampiero was born in Bastelica, a spot lying above Ajaccio, in one +of the wildest regions of the Corsican mountains, not of an ancient +family, but of unknown parents. Guglielmo, grandson of Vinciguerra, has +been named as his father; others say he was of the family of the Porri. + +Like other Corsican youths, Sampiero had betaken himself to the +Continent, and foreign service, at an early age. We find him in the +service of the Cardinal Hippolyto de Medici, among the Black Bands at +Florence; and he was still young when the world was already talking +of his bold deeds, noble disposition, and great force of character. +He was the sword and shield of the Medici in their struggle with the +Pazzi. Thirsting for action and a wider field, he left his position +of Condottiere with these princes, and entered the army of Francis I. +of France. The king made him colonel of a Corsican regiment which he +had formed. Bayard became his friend, and Charles of Bourbon honoured +his impetuous bravery and military skill. "On a day of battle," said +Bourbon, "the Corsican colonel is worth ten thousand men." Sampiero +distinguished himself on many fields and before many fortresses, and +his reputation was equally great with friend and foe. + +Entirely devoted to the interests of his master, who was now +prosecuting the war with Spain, he had still ear and eye for his +native island, from which voices reached him now and then that moved +him deeply. He came to Corsica in the year 1547, to take a wife from +among his own countrywomen. He chose a daughter of one of the oldest +houses beyond the mountains--the house of Ornano. Though he was himself +without ancestry, Sampiero's fame and well-known manly worth were a +patent of nobility which Francesco Ornano could not despise; and he +gave him the hand of his only daughter, the beautiful Vannina, the +heiress of Ornano. + +No sooner did the governor of the Genoese Bank learn the presence of +Sampiero--in whom he foreboded an implacable foe--within the bounds +of his authority, than, in defiance of all justice, he had him seized +and thrown into prison. Francesco Ornano, fearing for his son-in-law's +life, hastened to Genoa to the French ambassador. The latter instantly +demanded Sampiero's liberation. The demand was complied with; but the +insult done him was now for Sampiero another and a personal spur to +give relief in action to his long-cherished hatred of Genoa, and ardent +wish to free his native country. + +The posture of continental affairs, the war between France and Charles +V., soon gave him opportunity. + +Henry II., husband of Catherine de Medici, deeply involved in Italian +politics, in active war with the Emperor, and in alliance with the +Turks, who were on the point of sending a fleet into the Western +Mediterranean, agreed to the proposal of an enterprise against Corsica. +A double end seemed attainable by this: for first, in threatening +Corsica, Genoa was menaced; and secondly, as the Republic, since +Andreas Doria had freed her from the French yoke, had become the +close ally of Charles V., carrying the war into Corsica was carrying +it on against the Emperor himself. And besides, the island offered an +excellent position in the Mediterranean, and a basis for the operations +of the combined French and Turkish fleets. Marshal Thermes, therefore, +at that time in Italy, and besieging Siena, received orders to prepare +for the conquest of Corsica. + +He held a council of war in Castiglione. Sampiero was overjoyed at the +turn affairs had taken; all his wishes were centred in the liberation +of his country. He represented to Thermes the necessary and important +consequences of the undertaking, and it was forthwith set on foot. +Its success could not be doubted. The French only needed to land, +and the Corsican people would that moment rise in arms. The hatred +of the rule of the Genoese merchants had reached, since the fall of +Renuccio, the utmost pitch of intensity; and it had its ground not +merely in the ineradicable passion of the people for liberty, but in +the actual state of affairs in the island. For, as soon as the Bank +saw its power secured, it began to rule despotically. The Corsicans +had been stripped of all their political rights: they had lost their +Syndicate, the Dodici, their old communal magistracies; justice was +venal, murder permitted--at least the murderer was protected in Genoa, +and furnished with letters-patent for his personal safety. The horrors +of the Vendetta, therefore, of the implacable revenge that insists +on blood for blood, took root firm and fast. All writers on Corsican +history are unanimous, that the demoralization of the courts of justice +was the deepest wound which the Bank of Genoa inflicted on Corsica. + +Sampiero had sent a Corsican, named Altobello de Gentili, into the +island, to ascertain the state of the popular feeling; his letters, and +the hope of his coming kindled the wildest joy; the people trembled +with eagerness for the arrival of the fleet. Thermes, and Admiral +Paulin, whose squadron had effected a junction with the Turkish fleet +at Elba, now sailed for Corsica in August 1553. The brave Pietro +Strozzi and his company was with them, though not long; Sampiero, the +hope of the Corsicans, was with them; Johann Ornano, Rafael Gentili, +Altobello, and other exiles, all burning for revenge, and impatient to +drench their swords in Genoese blood. + +They landed on the Renella near Bastia. Scarcely had Sampiero shown +himself on the city walls, which the invaders ascended by means +of scaling ladders, when the people threw open the gates. Bastia +surrendered. Without delay they proceeded to reduce the other strong +towns, and the interior. Paulin anchored before Calvi, the Turk Dragut +before Bonifazio, Thermes marched on San Fiorenzo, Sampiero on Corte, +the most important of the inland fortresses. Here too he had no sooner +shown himself than the gates were opened. The Genoese fled in every +direction, the cause of liberty was triumphant throughout the island; +only Ajaccio, Bonifazio, and Calvi, trusting to the natural strength +of their situation, still held out. Neither Paulin from the sea, nor +Sampiero from the land, could make any impression on Calvi. The siege +was raised, and Sampiero hastened to Ajaccio. The Genoese under Lamba +Doria prepared for an obstinate defence, but the people opened the +gates to their deliverer. The houses of the Genoese were plundered; +yet, even here, in the case of their country's enemies, the Corsicans +showed how sacred in their eyes were the natural laws of generosity and +hospitality; many Genoese, fleeing to the villages for an asylum, found +shelter with their foes. Francesco Ornano took Lamba Doria into his own +house. + + +CHAPTER XV. + +SAMPIERO--FRANCE AND CORSICA. + +Meanwhile the Turk was besieging Bonifazio with furious vigour, +ravaging at the same time the entire surrounding country. Dragut +was provoked by the heroic resistance of the inhabitants, who showed +themselves worthy descendants of those earlier Bonifazians that so +bravely held the town against Alfonso of Arragon. Night and day, +despite of hunger and weariness, they manned the walls, successfully +repelling all attacks, the women showing equal courage with the +men. Sampiero came to the assistance of the Turks; the assaults of +the besiegers continued without intermission, but the town remained +steadfast. The Bonifazians were in hopes of relief, hourly expecting +Cattaciolo, one of their fellow-citizens, from Genoa. The messenger +came, bearing news of approaching succours; but he fell into the hands +of the French. They made a traitor of him, inducing him to carry forged +letters into the city, which advised the commandant to give up all hope +of being relieved. He accordingly concluded a treaty, and surrendered +the unconquered town under the condition that the garrison should be +allowed to embark for Genoa with military honours. The brave defenders +had scarcely left the protection of their walls, when the barbarous +Turk, trampling under foot at once his oath and common humanity, fell +upon them, and began to cut them in pieces. Sampiero with difficulty +rescued all that it was still possible to rescue. Not content with this +revenge, Dragut demanded to be allowed to plunder the city, and, when +this was refused, a large sum in compensation, which Thermes could not +pay, but promised to pay. Dragut, exasperated, instantly embarked, and +set sail for Asia--he had been corrupted by Genoese gold. + +After the fall of Bonifazio, Genoa had not a foot of land left in +Corsica, except the "ever-faithful" Calvi. No time was to be lost, +therefore, if the island was not to be entirely relinquished. The +Emperor had promised help, and placed some thousands of Germans and +Spaniards at the disposal of the Genoese, and Cosmo de Medici sent an +auxiliary corps. A very considerable force had thus been collected, +and, to put success beyond question, the leadership of the expedition +was intrusted to their most celebrated general, Andreas Doria, while +Agostino Spinola was made second in command. + +Andreas Doria was at that time in his eighty-sixth year; but the aspect +of affairs seemed so critical, that the old man could not but comply +with the call of his fellow-citizens. He received the banner of the +enterprise in the Cathedral of Genoa, from the senators, protectors of +the Bank, the clergy, and the people. + +On the 20th November 1553, Doria landed in the Gulf of San Fiorenzo, +and, in a short time, the star of Genoa was once more in the ascendant. +San Fiorenzo, which had been strongly fortified by Thermes, fell; +Bastia surrendered; the French gave way on every side. Sampiero had +about this time, in consequence of a quarrel with Thermes, been obliged +to proceed to the French court; but after putting his calumniators +there to silence, he returned in higher credit than before, and as +the alone heart and soul of the war, which the incapable Thermes had +proved himself unfit to conduct. He was indefatigable in attack, in +resistance, in guerilla warfare. Spinola met with a sharp repulse on +the field of Golo, but a wound which Sampiero received in the fight +rendering him for some time inactive, the Corsicans suffered a bloody +defeat at Morosaglia. Sampiero now gave his wound no more time to heal; +he again appeared on the field, and defeated the Spaniards and Germans +in the battle of Col di Tenda, in the year 1554. + +The war was carried on with unabated fury for five years. Corsica +seemed to be certain of the perpetual protection of France, and in +general to regard herself as an independently organized section of that +kingdom. Francis II. had named Jourdan Orsini his viceroy, and the +latter, at a general diet, had, in the name of his king, pronounced +Corsica incorporated with France, declaring that it was now for all +time impossible to separate the island from the French crown--that +the one could be abandoned only with the other. The fate of Corsica +seemed, therefore, already linked to the French monarchy, and the +island to be detached from the general body of the Italian states, to +which it naturally belongs. But scarcely had the king made the solemn +announcement above referred to, when the treaty of Cateau Cambresis, +in the year 1559, shattered at a single blow all the hopes of the +Corsicans. + +France concluded a peace with Philip of Spain and his allies, and +engaged to surrender Corsica to the Genoese. The French, accordingly, +immediately put all the places they had garrisoned into the hands +of Genoa, and embarked their troops. A desperate struggle had been +maintained for six years to no purpose, diplomacy now lightly gamed +away the earnings of that long war's bloody toil, and the Corsican saw +himself hurled back into his old misery, and abandoned, defenceless, to +Genoese vengeance, by a rag of paper, a pen-and-ink peace. This breach +of faith was a crushing blow, and extorted from the country a universal +cry of despair, but it was not listened to. + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +SAMPIERO IN EXILE--HIS WIFE VANNINA. + +It was now that Sampiero began to show himself in all his greatness; +for the man must be admitted to be really great whom adversity does not +bend, but who gathers double strength from misfortune. He had quitted +Corsica as an outlaw. The peace had taken the sword out of his hand; +the island, ravaged and desolate from end to end, could not venture a +new struggle on its own resources--a new war needed fresh support from +a foreign power. For four years Sampiero wandered over Europe seeking +help at its most distant courts; he travelled to France to Catherine, +hoping to find her mindful of old services that he had done the house +of Medici; he went to Navarre; to the Duke of Florence; to the Fregosi; +to one Italian court after another; he sailed to Algiers to Barbarossa; +he hastened to Constantinople to the Sultan Soliman. His stern, +imposing demeanour, the emphatic sincerity of his speech, his powerful +intellect, his glowing patriotism, everywhere commanded admiration and +respect, among the barbarians not less than among the Christians; but +they comforted him with vain hopes and empty promises. + +While Sampiero was thus wandering with unwearied perseverance from +court to court, inciting the princes to an enterprise in behalf of +Corsica, Genoa had not lost sight of him; Genoa was alarmed to think +what might one day be the result of his exertions. It was clearly +necessary, by some means or other, to cripple once for all the dreaded +arm of Sampiero. Poison and assassination, it is said, had been tried, +but had failed. It was resolved to crush his spirit, by bringing his +natural affection as a father and a husband into conflict with his +passionate love of country. It was resolved to break his heart. + +Sampiero's wife Vannina lived in her own house at Marseilles, under +the protection of France. She had her youngest son, Francesco, beside +her; the elder, Alfonso, was at the court of Catherine. The Genoese +surrounded her with their agents and spies. It was their aim, and it +was important to them, to allure Sampiero's wife and child to Genoa. +To effect this, they employed a certain Michael Angelo Ombrone, who +had been tutor to the young sons of Sampiero, and enjoyed his entire +confidence; a cunning villain of the name of Agosto Bazzicaluga was +another of their tools. Vannina was of a susceptible and credulous +nature, proud of the ancient name of Ornano. These Genoese traitors +represented to her the fate that necessarily awaited the children of +her proscribed husband. Heirs of their father's outlawry, robbed of the +seigniory of their renowned ancestors, poor--their very lives not safe, +what might they not come to? They pictured to her alarmed imagination +these, her beloved children, in the wretchedness of exile, eating the +bread of dependence, or what was worse, if they trod in the footsteps +of their father, hunted in the mountains, at last captured, and loaded +with the chains of galley-slaves. + +Vannina was deeply moved--her fidelity began to waver; the thought +of going to Genoa grew gradually less foreign to her--less and less +repulsive. There, said Ombrone and Bazzicaluga, they will restore to +your children the seigniory of Ornano, and your own gentle persuasions +will at length succeed in reconciling even Sampiero with the Republic. +The poor mother's heart was not proof against this. Vannina was +thoroughly a woman; her natural feeling at last spoke with imperious +decision, refusing to comprehend or sympathize with the grand, rugged, +terrible character of her husband, who only lived because he loved his +country, and hated its oppressors; and who nourished with his own being +the all-consuming fire of his sole passion--remorselessly flinging in +all his other possessions like faggots to feed the flames. Her blinded +heart extorted from Vannina the resolution to go to Genoa. One day, she +said to herself, we shall all be happy, peaceful, and reconciled. + +Sampiero was in Algiers, where the bold renegade Barbarossa, as Sultan +of the country, had received him with signal marks of respect, when +a ship arrived from Marseilles, and brought the tidings that his wife +was on the point of escaping to Genoa with his boy. When Sampiero began +to comprehend the possibility of this flight, his first thought was to +throw himself instantly into the vessel, and hasten to Marseilles; he +became calmer, and bade his noble friend, Antonio of San Fiorenzo, go +instead, and prevent the escape--if prevention were still possible. He +himself, restraining his sorrow within his innermost heart, remained, +negotiated with Barbarossa about an expedition against Genoa, and +subsequently sailed for Constantinople, to try what could be effected +with the Sultan, not till then proposing to return to Marseilles to +ascertain the position of his private affairs. + +Antonio of San Fiorenzo had made all possible haste upon his mission. +Rushing into Vannina's house, he found it empty and silent. She +was away with her child, and Ombrone, and Bazzicaluga, in a Genoese +ship, secretly, the day before. Hurriedly Antonio collected friends, +Corsicans, armed men, threw himself into a brigantine, and made all +sail in the direction which the fugitives ought to have taken. He +sighted the Genoese vessel off Antibes, and signalled for her to +shorten sail. When Vannina saw that she was pursued, knowing too well +who her pursuers were likely to be, in an agony of terror she begged +to be put ashore, scarcely knowing what she did. But Antonio reached +her as she landed, and took possession of her person in the name of +Sampiero and the King of France. + +He brought her to the house of the Bishop of Antibes, that the lady, +quite prostrate with grief, might enjoy the consolations of religion, +and might have a secure asylum in the dwelling of a priest. Horrible +thoughts, to which he gave no expression, made this advisable. But the +Bishop of Antibes was afraid of the responsibility he might incur, +and refusing to run any risk, he gave Vannina into the hands of the +Parliament of Aix. The Parliament declared its readiness to take her +under its protection, and to permit none, whoever he might be, to do +her violence. But Vannina wished nothing of all this, and declined +the offer. She was, she said, Sampiero's wife, and whatever sentence +her husband might pronounce on her, to that sentence she would submit. +The guilty consciousness of her fatal step lay heavy on her heart, and +while she wept bitterest tears of repentance, she imposed on herself a +noble and silent resignation to the consequences. + +And now Sampiero, leaving the Turkish court, where Soliman had for +a while wonderingly entertained the famous Corsican, returned to +Marseilles, giving himself up to his own personal anxieties. At +Marseilles, he found Antonio, who related to him what had occurred, and +endeavoured to restrain his friend's gathering wrath. One of Sampiero's +relations, Pier Giovanni of Calvi, let fall the imprudent remark that +he had long foreseen Vannina's flight. "And you concealed what you +foresaw?" cried Sampiero, and stabbed him dead with a single thrust of +his dagger. He threw himself on horseback, and rode in furious haste to +Aix, where his trembling wife waited for him in the castle of Zaisi. +Antonio hurried after him, agonized with the fear that all efforts of +his to avert some dreadful catastrophe might be unavailing. + +Sampiero waited beneath the windows of the castle till morning. He +then went to his wife, and took her away with him to Marseilles. No +one could read his silent purposings in his stern face. As he entered +his house with her, and saw it standing desolate and empty, the whole +significance of the affront--the full consciousness of her treason and +its possible results, sank upon his heart; once more the intolerable +thought shot through him that it was his own wife who had basely sold +herself and his child into the detested hands of his country's enemies; +the demon of phrenzy took possession of his soul, and he slew her with +his own hand. + +Sampiero, says the Corsican historian, loved his wife passionately, but +as a Corsican--that is, to the last Vendetta. + +He buried his dead in the Church of St. Francis, and did not spare +funereal pomp. He then went to show himself at the court of Paris. This +occurred in the year 1562. + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +RETURN OF SAMPIERO--STEPHEN DORIA. + +Sampiero was coldly received at the French court; the courtiers +whispered, avoided him, sneered at him from behind their virtuous mask. +Sampiero was not the man to be dismayed by courtiers, nor was the court +of Catherine de Medici a tribunal before which the fearful deed of one +of the most remarkable men of his time could be tried. Catherine and +Henry II. forgot that Sampiero had murdered his wife, but they would +do no more for Corsica than willingly look on while it was freed by the +exertions of others. + +Now that he had done all that was possible as a diplomatist, and saw no +prospect of foreign aid, Sampiero fell back upon himself, and resolved +to trust to his own and his people's energies. He accordingly wrote +to his friends in Corsica that he would come to free his country or +die. "It lies with us now," he said, "to make a last effort to attain +the happiness and glory of complete freedom. We have applied to the +cabinets of France, of Navarre, and of Constantinople; but if we do +not take up arms till the day when the aid of France or Tuscany shall +be with us in the fight, there is a long period of oppression yet in +store for our country. And at any rate, would a national independence +obtained with the assistance of foreigners be a prize worth contending +for? Did the Greeks seek help of their neighbours to rescue their +independence from the yoke of the Persians? The Italian Republics are +recent examples of what the strong will of a people can do, combined +with the love of country. Doria could free his native city from the +oppression of a tyrannous aristocracy; shall we forbear to rise till +the soldiers of the King of Navarre come to fight in our ranks?" + +On the 12th of June 1564, Sampiero landed in the Gulf of Valinco, with +a band of twenty Corsicans, and five-and-twenty Frenchmen. He sank the +galley which had brought him. When he was asked why he had done so, and +where he would find refuge if the Genoese were now suddenly to attack +him, he answered, "In my sword!" He assaulted the castle of Istria +with this handful of men, took it, and marched rapidly upon Corte. The +Genoese drew out to meet him before the walls of the town, with a much +superior force, as Sampiero had still not above a hundred men. But such +was the terror inspired by his mere name, that he no sooner appeared in +sight than they fled without drawing sword. Corte opened its gates, and +Sampiero had thus gained one important position. The Terra del Commune +immediately made common cause with him. + +Sampiero now advanced on Vescovato, the richest district of the +island, on the slopes of the mountains where they sink towards the +beautiful plain of Mariana. The people of Vescovato assembled at +his approach, alarmed for the safety of their harvest, which was +threatened by this new storm of war. They were urgently counselled by +the Archdeacon Filippini, the Corsican historian, to remain neutral, +and take no notice of Sampiero, whatever he might do. When Sampiero +entered Vescovato, he found it ominously quiet, and the people all +within their houses; at last, yielding to curiosity or sympathy, they +came out. Sampiero spoke to them, accusing them, as he justly might, +of a want of patriotism. His words made a deep impression. Offers of +entertainment in some of their houses were made; but Sampiero punished +the inhabitants of Vescovato with his contempt, and passed the night in +the open air. + +The place became nevertheless the scene of a bloody battle. Nicolas +Negri led his Genoese against it, as a position held by Sampiero. It +was a murderous struggle; the more so that as the number engaged on +both sides was comparatively small, it was mainly a series of single +combats. Corsicans, too, were here fighting against Corsicans--for +a company of the islanders had remained in the service of Genoa. +These fell back, however, when Sampiero upbraided them for fighting +against their country. Victory was inclining to the side of Genoa--for +Bruschino, one of the bravest of the Corsican captains, had fallen, +when Sampiero, rallying his men for one last effort, succeeded in +finally repulsing the Genoese, who fled in disorder towards Bastia. + +The victory of Vescovato brought new additions to the forces of +Sampiero, and another at Caccia, in which Nicolas Negri was among the +killed, spread the insurrection through the whole interior. Sampiero +now hoped to be assisted in earnest by Tuscany, and even by the Turks; +for in winning battle after battle over the Spaniards and Genoese, with +such inconsiderable means at his command, he had shown what Corsican +patriotism might do if it were supported. + +On the death of Negri, the Genoese without delay despatched their +best general to the island, in the person of Stephen Doria, whose +bravery, skill, and unscrupulous severity rendered him worthy of +the name. He was at the head of a force of four thousand German and +Italian mercenaries. The war broke out, therefore, with fresh fury. +The Corsicans suffered some reverses; but the Genoese, weakened by +important defeats, were once more thrown back upon Bastia. Doria had +made an attack on Bastelica, Sampiero's birthplace, had laid it in +ashes, and made the patriot's house level with the ground. Houses +and property were little to the man whose own hand had sacrificed +his wife to his country; noticeable, however, is this Genoese policy +of constantly bringing the patriotism of the Corsicans into tragic +conflict with their personal affections. What they tried in vain with +Sampiero, succeeded with Campocasso--a man of unusual heroism, of an +influential family of old Caporali. His mother had been seized and +placed in confinement. Her son did not hesitate a moment--he threw away +his sword, and hastened into the Genoese camp to save his mother from +the torture. He left it again when they proposed to him to become the +murderer of Sampiero, and remained quiet at home. Powerful friends were +becoming fewer and fewer round Sampiero; now that Bruschino had fallen, +Campocasso gone over to the enemy, and the brave Napoleon of Santa +Lucia, the first of his name who distinguished himself as a military +leader, had suffered a severe defeat. + +If the whole hatred of the Corsicans and Genoese could be put into two +words, these two are Sampiero and Doria. Both names, suggestive of the +deadliest personal feud, at the same time completely represent their +respective nationalities. Stephen Doria exceeded all his predecessors +in cruelty. He had sworn to annihilate the Corsican people. His openly +expressed opinions are these:--"When the Athenians became masters of +the principal town in Melos, after it had held out for seven months, +they put all the inhabitants above fourteen years of age to death, and +sent a colony to people the place anew, and keep it in obedience. Why +do we not imitate this example? Is it because the Corsicans deserve +punishment less than those ancient rebels? The Athenians saw in these +terrible chastisements the means of conquering the Peloponnese, the +whole of Greece, Africa, and Sicily. By putting all their enemies to +the sword, they restored the reputation and terror of their arms. It +will be said that this procedure is contrary to the law of nations, +to humanity, to the progress of civilisation. What does it matter, +provided we only make ourselves feared?--that is all I ask. I care +more for what Genoa says than for the judgment of posterity, which has +no terrors for me. This empty word posterity checks none but the weak +and irresolute. Our interest is to extend on every side the circle of +conquered country, and to take from the insurgents everything that +can support a war. Now, I see but two ways of doing this--first, +by destroying the crops, and secondly, by burning the villages, and +pulling down the towers in which they fortify themselves when they dare +not venture into the field." + +The advice of Doria sufficiently shows how fierce the Genoese hatred of +this indomitable people had become, and indicates but too plainly the +unspeakable miseries the Corsicans had to endure. Stephen Doria laid +half the island desolate with fire and sword; and Sampiero was still +unconquered. The Corsican patriot had held an assembly of the people +in Bozio to strengthen the general cause by the adoption of suitable +measures, to regulate anew the council of the Dodici and the other +popular magistracies, and to organize, if possible, an insurrection of +the entire people. Sampiero was not a mere soldier, he was a far-seeing +statesman. He wished to give his country, with its independence, a +free republican constitution, founded on the ancient enactments of +Sambucuccio of Alando. He wished to draw, from the situation of the +island, from its forests and its products in general, such advantages +as might enable it to become a naval power; he wished to make Corsica, +in alliance with France, powerful and formidable, as Rhodes and Tyre +had once been. Sampiero did not aim at the title of Count of Corsica; +he was the first who was called Father of his country. The times of the +seigniors were past. + +He sent messengers to the continental courts, particularly to +France, asking assistance; but the Corsicans were left to their fate. +Antonio Padovano returned from France empty-handed; he only brought +Sampiero's young son Alfonso, ten thousand dollars in money, and +thirteen standards with the inscription--_Pugna pro patria_. This +was, nevertheless, enough to raise the spirits of the Corsicans; and +the standards, which Sampiero divided among the captains, became the +occasion of envy and dangerous heartburnings. + +Here are two letters of Sampiero's. + +To Catherine of France.--"Our affairs have hitherto been prosperous. +I can assure your Majesty, that unless the enemy had received both +secret and open help from the Catholic King of Spain, at first +twenty-two galleys and four ships, with a great number of Spaniards, +we should have reduced them to such extremity, that by this time they +would have been no longer able to maintain a footing in the island. +Nevertheless, and come what will, we will never abandon the resolution +we have taken, to die sooner than acknowledge in any way whatever the +supremacy of the Republic. I pray of your Majesty, therefore, in these +circumstances, not to forget my devotion to your person, and that of my +country to France. If his Catholic Majesty shows himself so friendly to +the Genoese, who are, even without him, so formidable to us--a people +forsaken by all the world--will your Majesty suffer us to be destroyed +by our cruel foes?" + +To the Duke of Parma.--"Although we should become tributary to the +Ottoman Porte, and thus run the risk of offending all the Princes +of Christendom, nevertheless this is our unalterable resolution--A +hundred times rather the Turks than the supremacy of the Republic. +France herself has not respected the treaty, which, as they said, was +to be the guarantee of our rights and the end of our miseries. If I +take the liberty of troubling you with the affairs of the island, it +is that your Highness may, if need be, take our part at the court of +Rome against the attacks of our enemies. I desire that my words may at +least remain a solemn protest against the indifference of the Catholic +Princes, and an appeal to the Divine justice." + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +THE DEATH OF SAMPIERO. + +Once more ambassadors set out for France, five in number; but the +Genoese intercepted them off the coast. Three leapt into the sea to +save themselves by swimming, one of whom was drowned; the two who +were captured were first put to the torture, and then executed. The +war assumed the frightful character of a merciless Vendetta on both +sides. Doria, however, effected nothing. Sampiero defeated him again +and again; and at last, in the passes of Luminanda, almost annihilated +the Genoese forces. It required the utmost exertion of Doria's +great skill and personal bravery to extricate himself on the latter +occasion. He arrived in San Fiorenzo, bleeding, exhausted, and in +despair, and soon after left the island. The Republic replaced him by +Vivaldi, and afterwards by the artful and intriguing Fornari; but the +Genoese had lost all hope of crushing Sampiero by war and open force. +Against this man, who had come to the island as an outlaw with a few +outlawed followers, they had gradually sent their whole force into +the field--their own and a Spanish fleet, their mercenaries, Germans, +fifteen thousand Spaniards, their greatest generals, Doria, Centurione, +and Spinola; yet, the same Genoa that had conquered Pisa and Venice had +proved unable to subdue a poor people, forsaken by the whole world, who +came into the ranks of battle starving, in rags, unshod, badly armed, +and who, when they returned home, found nothing but the ashes of their +villages. + +It was therefore decided that Sampiero must be murdered. + +Dissensions, fomented by the Genoese, had long existed between him +and the descendants of the old seigniors. Some, like Hercules of +Istria, had deserted him from lust of Genoese gold, or because their +pride revolted at the thought of obeying a man who had risen from the +dust. Others had a Vendetta with Sampiero; they had a debt of blood +to exact from him. These were the nobles of the Ornano family, three +brothers--Antonio, Francesco, and Michael Angelo, cousins of Vannina. +Genoa had won them with gold, and the promise of the seigniory of +Ornano, of which Vannina's children were the rightful heirs. The +Ornanos, again, gained the monk Ambrosius of Bastelica, and Sampiero's +own servant Vittolo, a trusted follower, with whose help it was agreed +to take Sampiero in an ambuscade. The governor, Fornari, approved of +the plan, and committed its execution to Rafael Giustiniani. + +Sampiero was in Vico when the monk brought him forged letters, urgently +requesting him to come to Rocca, where a rebellion, it was said, had +broken out against the popular cause. Sampiero instantly despatched +Vittolo with twenty horse to Cavro, and himself followed soon after. +He was accompanied by his son Alfonso, Andrea de' Gentili, Antonio +Pietro of Corte, and Battista da Pietra. Vittolo, in the meantime, +instructed the brothers Ornano, and Giustiniani, that Sampiero would +pass through the defile of Cavro; on receiving which intelligence, they +immediately set out for the spot indicated with a considerable force +of foot and horse, and formed the ambuscade. Sampiero and his little +band were riding unsuspectingly through the pass, when they suddenly +found themselves assailed on every side, and the defile swarming +with armed men. He saw that his hour was come. Yielding now to those +impulses of natural affection which he had once so signally disowned, +he ordered his son Alfonso to leave him, to flee, and save himself +for his country. The son obeyed, and escaped. Most of his friends had +fallen bravely fighting by his side, when Sampiero rushed into the +_melee_, to hew his way through if it were possible. The day was just +dawning. The three Ornanos had kept their eyes constantly upon him, at +first afraid to assail the terrible man; but at length, spurred on by +revenge, they pressed in upon him, some Genoese soldiery at their back. +Sampiero fought desperately. He had thrown himself upon Antonio Ornano, +and wounded him with a pistol-shot in the throat. But his carbine +missed fire; Vittolo, in loading it, had put in the bullet first. +Sampiero's face was streaming with blood; freeing his eyes from it with +his left, his right hand still grasped his sword, and kept all at bay, +when Vittolo, from behind, shot him through the back, and he fell. The +Ornanos now rushed in upon the dying man, and finished their work. They +cut off Sampiero's head, and carried it to the Governor. + +It was on the 17th of January in the year 1567 that Sampiero fell. +He had reached his sixty-ninth year, his vigour unimpaired by age or +military toil. The stern grandeur of his soul, and his pure and heroic +patriotism, have made his name immortal. He was great in the field, +inexhaustible in council; owing all to his own extraordinary nature, +without ancestry, he inherited nothing from fortune, which usually +favours the _parvenu_, but from misfortune everything, and he yielded, +like Viriathus, only to the assassin. He has shown, by his elevating +example, what a noble man can do, when he remains unyieldingly true to +a great passion. + +Sampiero was above the middle height, of proud and martial bearing, +dark and stern, with black curly hair and beard. His eye was piercing, +his words few, firm, and impressive. Though a son of nature, and +without education, he possessed acute perceptions and unerring +judgment. His friends accused him of seeking the sovereignty of his +native island; he sought only its freedom. He lived as simply as a +shepherd, wore the woollen blouse of his country, and slept on the +naked earth. He had lived at the most luxurious courts of his time, at +those of Florence and Versailles, but he had contracted none of their +hollowness of principle, or corrupt morality. The rugged patriot could +murder his wife because she had betrayed herself and her child to her +country's enemies, but he knew nothing of those crimes that pervert +nature, and those principles that would refine the vile abuse into +a philosophy of life. He was simple, rugged, and grand, headlong and +terrible in anger, a whole man, and fashioned in the mightiest mould of +primitive nature. + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +SAMPIERO'S SON, ALFONSO--TREATY WITH GENOA. + +At the news of Sampiero's fall, the bells were rung in Genoa, and the +city was illuminated. The murderers quarrelled disgracefully over their +Judas-hire; that of Vittolo amounted to one hundred and fifty gold +scudi. + +Sorrow and dismay fell upon the Corsican nation; its father was slain. +The people assembled in Orezza; three thousand armed men, many weeping, +all profoundly sad, filled the square before the church. Leonardo of +Casanova, Sampiero's friend and fellow-soldier, broke the silence. He +was about to pronounce the patriot's funeral oration. + +This man was at the time labouring under the severest personal +affliction. Unheard-of misfortunes had overtaken him. He had shortly +before escaped from prison, by the aid of a heroic youth, his own son. +Leonardo had been made prisoner by the Genoese, who had thrown him into +a dungeon in Bastia. His son, Antonio, meditated plans of rescue night +and day. Disguised in the dress of the woman who brought the prisoners +their food, he made his way into his father's cell. He conjured his +father to make his escape and leave him behind; though they should put +him to death, he said, he was but a stripling, and his death would +do him honour, while it preserved his father's arm and wisdom for +his country; their duty as patriots pointed out this course. Long and +terrible was the struggle in the father's mind. At last he saw that he +ought to do as his son had said; he tore himself from his arms, and, +wrapped in the female dress, passed safely out. When the youth was +discovered, he gave himself up without resistance, proud and happy. +They led him to the governor, and, at his command, he was hung from the +window of his father's castle of Fiziani. + +Leonardo, the generous victim's fate written in stern characters on his +face, rose now like a prophet before the assembled people-- + +"Slaves weep," he said, "free men avenge themselves! No weak-spirited +lamenting! Our mountains should re-echo nothing but shouts of war. Let +us show, by the vigour of our measures, that he is not all dead. Has he +not left us the example of his life? The Fornari and the Vittoli cannot +rob us of that. It has escaped their ambuscades and their treacherous +balls. Why did he cry to his son, Save thyself? Doubtless that there +might still remain a hero for our country, a head for our soldiers, a +dreaded foe for the Genoese. Yes, countrymen, Sampiero has left to his +murderers the stain of his death, and to the young Alfonso the duty of +vengeance. Let us aid in accomplishing the noble work. Close the ranks! +The spirit of the father returns to us in the son. I know the youth. +He is worthy of the name he bears, and of the country's confidence. +He has nothing of youth but its glow--the ripeness of the judgment +is sometimes in advance of the time of life, and a ripe judgment is +a gift that Heaven has not denied him. He has long shared the dangers +and toils of his father. All the world knows he is master of the rough +craft of arms. Our soldiers are eager to march under his command, and +you may be sure their instinct is true--it never deceives them. The +masses guess their men. They are seldom mistaken in their choice of +those whom they think fit to lead them. And, moreover, what higher +tribute could you pay to the memory of Sampiero, than to choose his +son? Those who hear me have set their hearts too high to be within the +reach of fear. + +"Are there men among us base enough to prefer the shameful security of +slavery to the storms and dangers of freedom? Let them go, and separate +themselves from the rest of the people. But let them leave us their +names. When we have engraved these names on a pillar of eternal shame, +which we shall erect on the spot where Sampiero was assassinated, we +will send their owners off, covered with disgrace, to keep company +with Vittolo and Angelo at the court of Fornari. But they are fools +not to know that arms and battle, which are the honourable resource of +free and brave men, are also the safest recourse of the weak. If they +still hesitate, let me say to them--On the one side stand renown for +our standard, liberty for ourselves, independence for our country; on +the other, the galleys, infamy, contempt, and all the other miseries of +slavery. Choose!" + +After this speech of Leonardo's, the people elected by acclamation +Alfonso d'Ornano to be Chief and General of the Corsicans. Alfonso was +seventeen years old, but he was Sampiero's son. The Corsicans thus, +far from being broken and cast down by the death of Sampiero, as their +enemies had hoped, set up a stripling against the proud Republic of +Genoa, mocking the veteran Genoese generals, and the name of Doria; +and for two years the youth, victorious in numerous conflicts, held the +Genoese at bay. + +Meanwhile the long war had exhausted both sides. Genoa was desirous of +peace; the island, at that time divided by the factions of the Rossi +and Negri, was critically situated, and, like its enemy, disposed for +a cessation of hostilities. The Republic, which had already, in 1561, +resumed Corsica from the Bank of St. George, now recalled the detested +Fornari, and sent George Doria to the island--the only man of the +name of whom the Corsicans have preserved a grateful memory. The first +measure of this wise and temperate nobleman was to proclaim a general +amnesty. Many districts tendered allegiance; many captains laid down +their arms. The Bishop of Sagona succeeded in persuading even the young +Alfonso to a treaty, which was concluded between him and Genoa on the +following terms:--1. Complete amnesty for Alfonso and his adherents. +2. Liberty for them and their families to embark for the Continent. +3. Liberty to dispose of their property by sale, or by leaving it +in trust. 4. Restoration of the seigniory of Ornano to Alfonso. 5. +Assignment of the Pieve Vico to the partisans of Alfonso till their +embarkation. 6. A space of sixty days for the settlement of their +affairs. 7. Liberty for each man to take a horse and some dogs with +him. 8. Cancelling of the liabilities of those who were debtors to the +public treasury; for all others, five years' grace, in consideration of +the great distress prevailing in the country. 9. Liberation of certain +persons then in confinement. + +Alfonso left his native island with three hundred companions in the +year 1569; he went to France, where he was honourably received by King +Charles IX., who made him colonel of the Corsican regiment he was at +that time forming. Many Corsicans went to Venice, great numbers took +service with the Pope, who organized from them the famous Corsican +Guard of the Eight Hundred. + + + + +BOOK II.--HISTORY. + + +CHAPTER I. + +STATE OF CORSICA IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY--A GREEK COLONY ESTABLISHED +ON THE ISLAND. + +It was not till the close of the war of Sampiero that the wretched +condition of the island became fully apparent. It had become a mere +desert, and the people, decimated by the war, and by voluntary or +compulsory emigration, were plunged in utter destitution and savagery. +To make the cup of their sorrows full, the plague several times visited +the country, and famine compelled the inhabitants to live on acorns +and roots. Besides all this, the corsairs roved along the coasts, +plundered the villages, and carried off men and women into slavery. +It was in this state George Doria found the island, when he came over +as governor; and so long as he was at the head of its affairs, Corsica +had reason to rejoice in his paternal care, his mildness and clemency, +and his conscientious observance of the stipulations of the treaty, +by which the statutes and privileges of the Terra del Commune had been +specially guaranteed. + +Scarcely had George Doria made way for another governor, when Genoa +returned to her old mischievous policy. People in power are usually so +obstinate and blind, that they see neither the past nor the future. +Gradually the Corsicans were again extruded from all offices, civil, +military, and ecclesiastical--the meanest posts filled with Genoese, +the old institutions suppressed, and a one-sided administration +of justice introduced. The island was considered in the light of a +Government domain. Impoverished Genoese _nobili_ had places given them +there to restore their finances. The Corsicans were involved in debt, +and they now fell into the hands of the usurers--mostly priests--to +whom they had recourse, in order to muster money for the heavy imposts. +The governor himself was to be looked on as a satrap. On his arrival +in Bastia, he received a sceptre as a symbol of his power; his salary, +paid by the country, was no trifle; and in addition, his table had +to be furnished by payments in kind--every week a calf, and a certain +quantity of fruits and vegetables. He received twenty-five per cent. of +all fines, confiscations, and prizes of smuggled goods. His lieutenants +and officials were cared for in proportion. For he brought to the +island with him an attorney-general, a master of the ceremonies, a +secretary-general, and a private secretary, a commandant of the ports, +a captain of cavalry, a captain of police, a governor-general of the +prisons. All these officials were vampires; Genoese writers themselves +confess it. The imposts became more and more oppressive; industry was +at a stand-still; commerce in the same condition--for the law provided +that all products of the country, when exported, should be carried to +the port of Genoa. + +All writers who have treated of this period in Corsican history, agree +in saying that of all the countries in the world, she was at that time +the most unhappy. Prostrate under famine, pestilence, and the ravages +of war; unceasingly harassed by the Moors; robbed of her rights and her +liberty by the Genoese; oppressed, plundered; the courts of justice +venal; torn by the factions of the Blacks and Reds; bleeding at a +thousand places from family feuds and the Vendetta; the entire land one +wound--such is the picture of Corsica in those days--an island blessed +by nature with all the requisites for prosperity. Filippini counted +sixty-one fertile districts which now lay desolate and forsaken--house +and church still standing--a sight, as he says, to make one weep. +Destitute of any other pervading principle of social cohesion, the +Corsican people must have utterly broken up, and scattered into mere +hordes, unless it had been penetrated by the sentiment of patriotism, +to an extent so universal and with a force so intense. The virtue of +patriotism shows itself here in a grandeur almost inconceivable, if +we consider what a howling wilderness it was to which the Corsicans +clung with hearts so tender and true; a wilderness, but drenched with +their blood, with the blood of their fathers, of their brothers, and +of their children, and therefore dear. The Corsican historian says, +in the eleventh book of his history, "If patriotism has ever been +known at any time, and in any country of the world, to exercise power +over men, truly we may say that in the island of Corsica it has been +mightier than anywhere else; for I am altogether amazed and astounded +that the love of the inhabitants of this island for their country has +been so great, as at all times to prevent them from coming to a firm +and voluntary determination to emigrate. For if we pursue the course +of their history, from the earliest inhabitants down to the present +time, we see that throughout so many centuries this people has never +had peace and quiet for so much as a hundred years together; and that, +nevertheless, they have never resolved to quit their native island, +and so avoid the unspeakable ruin that has followed so many and so +cruel wars, that were accompanied with dearth, with conflagration, with +feuds, with murders, with inward dissensions, with tyrannous exercise +of power by so many different nations, with plundering of their goods, +with frequent attacks of those cruel barbarians--the corsairs, and +with endless miseries besides, that it would be tedious to reckon up." +Within a period of thirty years, twenty-eight thousand assassinations +were committed in Corsica. + +"A great misfortune for Corsica," says the same historian, "is the +vast number of those accursed machines of arquebuses." The Genoese +Government drew a considerable revenue from the sale of licenses to +carry these. "There are," remarks Filippini, "more than seven thousand +licenses at present issued; and, besides, many carry fire-arms without +any license, and especially in the mountains, where you see nothing +but bands of twenty and thirty men, or more, all armed with arquebuses. +These licenses bring seven thousand lire out of poor, miserable Corsica +every year; for every new governor that comes annuls the licenses of +his predecessor, in order forthwith to confirm them afresh. But the +buying of the fire-arms is the worst. For you will find no Corsican +so poor that he has not his gun--in value at least from five to six +scudi, besides the outlay for powder and ball; and those that have +no money sell their vineyard, their chestnuts, or other possessions, +that they may be able to buy one, as if it were impossible to exist +unless they did so. In truth, it is astonishing, for the greater part +of these people have not a coat upon their back that is worth a half +scudo, and in their houses nothing to eat; and yet they hold themselves +for disgraced, if they appear beside their neighbours without a gun. +And hence it comes that the vineyards and the fields are no longer +under cultivation, and lie useless, and overgrown with brushwood, and +the owners are compelled to betake themselves to highway robbery and +crime; and if they find no convenient opportunity for this, then they +violently make opportunity for themselves, in order to deprive those +who go quietly about their business, and support their poor families, +of their oxen, their kine, and other cattle. From all this arises such +calamity, that the pursuit of agriculture is quite vanished out of +Corsica, though it was the sole means of support the people had--the +only kind of industry still left to these islanders. They who live +in such a mischievous manner, hinder the others from doing so well +as they might be disposed to do: and the evil does not end here; for +we hear every day of murders done now in one village, now in another, +because of the easiness with which life can be taken by means of the +arquebuses. For formerly, when such weapons were not in use, when foes +met upon the streets, if the one was two or three times stronger than +the other, an attack was not ventured. But now-a-days, if a man has +some trifling quarrel with another, although perhaps with a different +sort of weapon he would not dare to look him in the face, he lies down +behind a bush, and without the least scruple murders him, just as you +shoot down a wild beast, and nobody cares anything about it afterwards; +for justice dares not intermeddle. Moreover, the Corsicans have come to +handle their pieces so skilfully, that I pray God may shield us from +war; for their enemies will have to be upon their guard, because from +the children of eight and ten years, who can hardly carry a gun, and +never let the trigger lie still, they are day and night at the target, +and if the mark be but the size of a scudo, they hit it." + +Filippini, the contemporary of Sampiero, saw fire-arms introduced into +Corsica, which were quite unknown on the island, as he informs us, till +the year 1553. Marshal Thermes--the French, therefore--first brought +fire-arms into Corsica. "And," says Filippini, "it was laughable to +see the clumsiness of the Corsicans at first, for they could neither +load nor fire; and when they discharged, they were as frightened as +the savages." What the Corsican historian says as to the fearful +consequences of the introduction of the musket into Corsica is as +true now, after the lapse of three hundred years, as it was then, and +a chronicler of to-day could not alter an iota of what Filippini has +said. + +In the midst of all this Corsican distress, we are surprised by the +sudden appearance of a Greek colony on their desolate shores. The +Genoese had striven long and hard to denationalize the Corsican people +by the introduction of foreign and hostile elements. Policy of this +nature had probably no inconsiderable share in the plan of settling +a Greek colony in the island, which was carried into execution +in the year 1676. Some Mainotes of the Gulf of Kolokythia, weary +of the intolerable yoke of the Turks, like those ancient Phocaeans +who refused to submit to the yoke of the Persians, had resolved to +migrate with wife, child, and goods, and found for themselves a new +home. After long search and much futile negotiation for a locality, +their ambassador, Johannes Stefanopulos, came at length to Genoa, and +expressed to the Senate the wishes of his countrymen. The Republic +listened to them most gladly, and proposed for the acceptance of the +Greeks the district of Paomia, which occupies the western coast of +Corsica from the Gulf of Porto to the Gulf of Sagona. Stefanopulos +convinced himself of the suitable nature of the locality, and the +Mainotes immediately contracted an agreement with the Genoese Senate, +in terms of which the districts of Paomia, Ruvida, and Salogna, were +granted to them in perpetual fief, with a supply of necessaries for +commencing the settlement, and toleration for their national religion +and social institutions; while they on their part swore allegiance +to Genoa, and subordinated themselves to a Genoese official sent to +reside in the colony. In March 1676, these Greeks, seven hundred and +thirty in number, landed in Genoa, where they remained two months, +previously to taking possession of their new abode. Genoa planted +this colony very hopefully; she believed herself to have gained, in +the brave men composing it, a little band of incorruptible fidelity, +who would act as a permanent forepost in the enemy's country. It was, +in fact, impossible that the Greeks could ever make common cause +with the Corsicans. These latter gazed on the strangers when they +arrived--on the new Phocaeans--with astonishment. Possibly they despised +men who seemed not to love their country, since they had forsaken it; +without doubt they found it a highly unpleasant reflection that these +intruders had been thrust in upon their property in such an altogether +unceremonious manner. The poor Greeks were destined to thrive but +indifferently in their new rude home. + + +CHAPTER II. + +INSURRECTION AGAINST GENOA. + +For half a century the island lay in a state of exhaustion--the hatred +of Genoa continuing to be fostered by general and individual distress, +and at length absorbing into itself every other sentiment. The people +lived upon their hatred; their hatred alone prevented their utter ruin. + +Many circumstances had been meanwhile combining to bring the profound +discontent to open revolt. It appeared to the sagacious Dodici--for +this body still existed, at least in form--that a main source of the +miseries of their country was the abuse in the matter of licensing +fire-arms. Within thirty years, as was noticed above, twenty-eight +thousand assassinations had been committed in Corsica. The Twelve +urgently entreated the Senate of the Republic to forbid the granting +of these licenses. The Senate yielded. It interdicted the selling of +muskets, and appointed a number of commissaries to disarm the island. +But as this interdict withdrew a certain amount of yearly revenue from +the exchequer, an impost of twelve scudi was laid upon each hearth, +under the name of the _due seini_, or two sixes. The people paid, but +murmured; and all the while the sale of licenses continued, both openly +and secretly. + +In the year 1724, another measure was adopted which greatly annoyed the +Corsicans. The Government of the country was divided--the lieutenant +of Ajaccio now receiving the title of Governor--and thus a double +burden and twofold despotism henceforth pressed upon the unfortunate +people. In the hands of both governors was lodged irresponsible +power to condemn to the galleys or death, without form or procedure +of any kind; as the phrase went--_ex informata conscientia_ (from +informed conscience). An administration of justice entirely arbitrary, +lawlessness and murder were the results. + +Special provocations--any of which might become the immediate occasion +of an outbreak--were not wanting. A punishment of a disgraceful kind +had been inflicted on a Corsican soldier in a small town of Liguria. +Condemned to ride a wooden horse, he was surrounded by a jeering crowd +who made mirth of his shame. His comrades, feeling their national +honour insulted, attacked the mocking rabble, and killed some. The +authorities beheaded them for this. When news of the occurrence reached +Corsica, the pride of the nation was roused, and, on the day for +lifting the tax of the _due seini_, a spark fired the powder in the +island itself. + +The Lieutenant of Corte had gone with his collector to the Pieve of +Bozio; the people were in the fields. Only an old man of Bustancio, +Cardone by name, was waiting for the officer, and paid him his tax. +Among the coin he tendered was a gold piece deficient in value by the +amount of half a soldo. The Lieutenant refused to take it. The old +man in vain implored him to have pity on his abject poverty; he was +threatened with an execution on his goods, if he did not produce the +additional farthing on the following day; and he went away musing on +this severity, and talking about it to himself, as old men will do. +Others met him, heard him, stopped, and gradually a crowd collected +on the road. The old man continued his complaints; then passing from +himself to the wrongs of the country, he worked his audience into +fury, forcibly picturing to them the distress of the people, and the +tyranny of the Genoese, and ending by crying out--"It is time now to +make an end of our oppressors!" The crowd dispersed, the words of the +old man ran like wild-fire through the country, and awakened everywhere +the old gathering-cry _Evviva la liberta!_--_Evviva il popolo!_ The +conch[A] blew and the bells tolled the alarm from village to village. A +feeble old man had thus preached the insurrection, and half a sou was +the immediate occasion of a war destined to last for forty years. An +irrevocable resolution was adopted--to pay no further taxes of any kind +whatever. This occurred in October of the year 1729. + +On hearing of the commotion among the people of Bozio, the governor, +Felix Pinelli, despatched a hundred men to the Pieve. They passed +the night in Poggio de Tavagna, having been quietly received into +the houses of the place. One of the inhabitants, however, named +Pompiliani, conceived the plan of disarming them during the night. This +was accomplished, and the defenceless soldiers permitted to return to +Bastia. Pompiliani was henceforth the declared head of the insurgents. +The people armed themselves with axes, bills, pruning-knives, threw +themselves on the fort of Aleria, stormed it, cut the garrison in +pieces, took possession of the arms and ammunition, and marched without +delay upon Bastia. More than five thousand men encamped before the +city, in the citadel of which Pinelli had shut himself up. To gain time +he sent the Bishop of Mariana into the camp of the insurgents to open +negotiations with them. They demanded the removal of all the burdens of +the Corsican people. The bishop, however, persuaded them to conclude +a truce of four-and-twenty days, to return into the mountains, and to +wait for the Senate's answer to their demands. Pinelli employed the +time he thus gained in procuring reinforcements, strengthening forts +in his neighbourhood, and fomenting dissensions. When the people saw +themselves merely trifled with and deceived, they came down from the +mountains, this time ten thousand strong, and once more encamped before +Bastia. A general insurrection was now no longer to be prevented; and +Genoa in vain sent her commissaries to negotiate and cajole. + +An assembly of the people was held in Furiani. Pompiliani, chosen +commander under the urgent circumstances of the commencing outbreak, +had shown himself incapable, and was now set aside, making room for +two men of known ability--Andrea Colonna Ceccaldi of Vescovato, and +Don Luis Giafferi of Talasani--who were jointly declared generals of +the people. Bastia was now attacked anew and more fiercely, and the +bishop was again sent among the insurgents to sooth them if possible. +A truce was concluded for four months. Both sides employed it in +making preparations; intrigues of the old sort were set on foot by +the Genoese Commissary Camillo Doria; but an attempt to assassinate +Ceccaldi failed. The latter had meanwhile travelled through the +interior along with Giafferi, adjusting family feuds, and correcting +abuses; subsequently they had opened a legislative assembly in Corte. +Edicts were here issued, measures for a general insurrection taken, +judicial authorities and a militia organized. A solemn oath was sworn, +never more to wear the yoke of Genoa. The insurrection, thus regulated, +became legal and universal. The entire population, this side as well as +on the other side the mountains, now rose under the influence of one +common sentiment. Nor was the voice of religion unheard. The clergy +of the island held a convention in Orezza, and passed a unanimous +resolution--that if the Republic refused the people their rights, the +war was a measure of necessary self-defence, and the people relieved +from their oath of allegiance. + + +CHAPTER III. + +SUCCESSES AGAINST GENOA, AND GERMAN MERCENARIES--PEACE CONCLUDED. + +The canon Orticoni had been sent to the Continent to seek the +protection of the foreign powers, and Giafferi to Tuscany to procure +arms and ammunition, which were much needed; and meanwhile the truce +had expired. Genoa, refusing all concessions, demanded unconditional +submission, and the persons of the two leaders of the revolt; but when +the war was found to break out simultaneously all over the island, and +the Corsicans had taken numbers of strong places, and formed the sieges +of Bastia, of Ajaccio, and of Calvi, the Republic began to see her +danger, and had recourse to the Emperor Charles VI. for aid. + +The Emperor granted them assistance. He agreed to furnish the Republic +with a corps of eight thousand Germans, making a formal bargain and +contract with the Genoese, as one merchant does with another. It was +the time when the German princes commenced the practice of selling +the blood of their children to foreign powers for gold, that it might +be shed in the service of despotism. It was also the time when the +nations began to rouse themselves; the presence of a new spirit--the +spirit of the freedom and power and progress of the masses--began to be +felt throughout the world. The poor people of Corsica have the abiding +honour of opening this new era. + +The Emperor disposed of the eight thousand Germans under highly +favourable conditions. The Republic pledged herself to support them, +to pay thirty thousand gulden monthly for them, and to render a +compensation of one hundred gulden for every deserter and slain man. It +became customary, therefore, with the Corsicans, whenever they killed +a German, to call out, "A hundred gulden, Genoa!" + +The mercenaries arrived in Corsica on the 10th of August 1731; not all +however, but in the first instance, only four thousand men--a number +which the Senate hoped would prove sufficient for its purposes. This +body of Germans was under the command of General Wachtendonk. They had +scarcely landed when they attacked the Corsicans, and compelled them to +raise the siege of Bastia. + +The Corsicans saw the Emperor himself interfering as their oppressor, +with grief and consternation. They were in want of the merest +necessaries. In their utter poverty they had neither weapons, nor +clothing, nor shoes. They ran to battle bareheaded and barefoot. To +what side were _they_ to turn for aid? Beyond the bounds of their own +island they could reckon on none but their banished countrymen. It was +resolved, therefore, at one of the diets, to summon these home, and the +following invitation was directed to them:-- + +"Countrymen! our exertions to obtain the removal of our grievances have +proved fruitless, and we have determined to free ourselves by force +of arms--all hesitation is at an end. Either we shall rise from the +shameful and humiliating prostration into which we have sunk, or we +know how to die and drown our sufferings and our chains in blood. If +no prince is found, who, moved by the narrative of our misfortunes, +will listen to our complaints and protect us from our oppressors, +there is still an Almighty God, and we stand armed in the name and +for the defence of our country. Hasten to us, children of Corsica! +whom exile keeps at a distance from our shores, to fight by the side +of your brethren, to conquer or die! Let nothing hold you back--take +your arms and come. Your country calls you, and offers you a grave and +immortality!" + +They came from Tuscany, from Rome, from Naples, from Marseilles. Not +a day passed but parties of them landed at some port or another, and +those who were not able to bear arms sent what they could in money and +weapons. One of these returning patriots, Filician Leoni of Balagna, +hitherto a captain in the Neapolitan service, landed near San Fiorenzo, +just as his father was passing with a troop to assault the tower of +Nonza. Father and son embraced each other weeping. The old man then +said: "My son, it is well that you have come; go in my stead, and take +the tower from the Genoese." The son instantly put himself at the head +of the troop; the father awaited the issue. Leoni took the tower of +Nonza, but a ball stretched the young soldier on the earth. A messenger +brought the mournful intelligence to his father. The old man saw him +approaching, and asked him how matters stood. "Not well," cried the +messenger; "your son has fallen!" "Nonza is taken?" "It is taken." +"Well, then," cried the old man, "evviva Corsica!" + +Camillo Doria was in the meantime ravaging the country and destroying +the villages; General Wachtendonk had led his men into the interior +to reduce the province of Balagna. The Corsicans, however, after +inflicting severe losses on him, surrounded him in the mountains +near San Pellegrino. The imperial general could neither retreat nor +advance, and was, in fact, lost. Some voices loudly advised that these +foreigners should be cut down to a man. But the wise Giafferi was +unwilling to rouse the wrath of the Emperor against his poor country, +and permitted Wachtendonk and his army to return unharmed to Bastia, +only exacting the condition, that the General should endeavour to gain +Charles VI.'s ear for the Corsican grievances. Wachtendonk gave his +word of honour for this--astonished at the magnanimity of men whom he +had come to crush as a wild horde of rebels. A cessation of hostilities +for two months was agreed on. The grievances of the Corsicans were +formally drawn up and sent to Vienna; but before an answer returned, +the truce had expired, and the war commenced anew. + +The second half of the imperial auxiliaries was now sent to the island; +but the bold Corsicans were again victorious in several engagements; +and on the 2d of February 1732, they defeated and almost annihilated +the Germans under Doria and De Vins, in the bloody battle of Calenzana. +The terrified Republic hereupon begged the Emperor to send four +thousand men more. But the world was beginning to manifest a lively +sympathy for the brave people who, utterly deserted and destitute of +aid, found in their patriotism alone, resources which enabled them so +gloriously to withstand such formidable opposition. + +The new imperial troops were commanded by Ludwig, Prince of Wuertemberg, +a celebrated general. He forthwith proclaimed an amnesty under the +condition that the people should lay down their arms, and submit to +Genoa. But the Corsicans would have nothing to do with conditions of +this kind. Wuertemberg, therefore, the Prince of Culmbach, Generals +Wachtendonk, Schmettau, and Waldstein, advanced into the country +according to a plan of combined operation, while the Corsicans withdrew +into the mountains, to harass the enemy by a guerilla warfare. Suddenly +the reply of the imperial court to the Corsican representation of +grievances arrived, conveying orders to the Prince of Wuertemberg to +proceed as leniently as possible with the people, as the Emperor now +saw that they had been wronged. + +On the 11th of May 1732, a peace was concluded at Corte on the +following terms--1. General amnesty. 2. That Genoa should relinquish +all claims of compensation for the expenses of the war. 3. The +remission of all unpaid taxes. 4. That the Corsicans should have +free access to all offices, civil, military, and ecclesiastical. +5. Permission to found colleges, and unrestricted liberty to teach +therein. 6. Reinstatement of the Council of Twelve, and of the Council +of Six, with the privilege of an Oratore. 7. The right of defence for +accused persons. 8. The appointment of a Board to take cognizance of +the offences of public officials. + +The fulfilment of this--for the Corsicans--advantageous treaty, was to +be personally guaranteed by the Emperor; and accordingly, most of the +German troops left the island, after more than three thousand of their +number had found a grave in Corsica. Only Wachtendonk remained some +time longer to see the terms of the agreement carried into effect. + + +CHAPTER IV. + +RECOMMENCEMENT OF HOSTILITIES--DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE--DEMOCRATIC +CONSTITUTION OF COSTA. + +The imperial ratification was daily expected; but before it arrived, +the Genoese Senate allowed the exasperation of defeat and the desire of +revenge to hurry it into an action which could not fail to provoke the +Corsican people to new revolt. Ceccaldi, Giafferi, the Abbe Aitelli, +and Rafaelli, the leaders of the Corsicans who had signed the treaty +in the name of their nation, were suddenly seized, and dragged off to +Genoa, under the pretext of their entertaining treasonable designs +against the state. A vehement cry of protest arose from the whole +island: the people hastened to Wachtendonk, and urged upon him that +his own honour was compromised in this violent act of the Genoese; +they wrote to the Prince of Wuertemberg, to the Emperor himself, +demanding protection in terms of the treaty. The result was that the +Emperor without delay ratified the conditions of peace, and demanded +the liberation of the prisoners. All four were set at liberty, but +the Senate endeavoured to extract a promise from them never again to +return to their country. Ceccaldi went to Spain, where he entered into +military service; Rafaelli to Rome; Aitelli and Giafferi to Leghorn, +in the vicinity of their native island; where they could observe the +course of affairs, which to all appearance could not remain long in +their present posture. + +On the 15th of June 1733, Wachtendonk and the last of the German +troops left the island, which, with the duly ratified instrument of +treaty in its possession, now found itself face to face with Genoa. +The two deadly foes had hardly exchanged glances, when both were again +in arms. Nothing but war to the knife was any longer possible between +the Corsicans and the Genoese. In the course of centuries, mutual hate +had become a second nature with both. The Genoese citizen came to the +island rancorous, intriguing, cunning; the Corsican was suspicious, +irritable, defiant, exultingly conscious of his individual manliness, +and his nation's tried powers of self-defence. Two or three arrests and +attempts at assassination, and the people instantly rose, and gathered +in Rostino, round Hyacinth Paoli, an active, resolute, and intrepid +burgher of Morosaglia. This was a man of unusual talent, an orator, a +poet, and a statesman; for among the rugged Corsicans, men had ripened +in the school of misfortune and continual struggle, who were destined +to astonish Europe. The people of Rostino named Hyacinth Paoli and +Castineta their generals. They had now leaders, therefore, though they +were to be considered as provisional. + +No sooner had the movement broken out in Rostino, and the struggle +with Genoa been once more commenced, than the brave Giafferi threw +himself into a vessel, and landed in Corsica. The first general diet +was held in Corte, which had been taken by storm. War was unanimously +declared against Genoa, and it was resolved to place the island under +the protection of the King of Spain, whose standard was now unfurled +in Corte. The canon, Orticoni, was sent to the court of Madrid to give +expression to this wish on the part of the Corsican people. + +Don Luis Giafferi was again appointed general, and this talented +commander succeeded, in the course of the year 1734, in depriving the +Genoese of all their possessions in the island, except the fortified +ports. In the year 1735, he called a general assembly of the people in +Corte. On this occasion he demanded Hyacinth Paoli as his colleague, +and this having been agreed to, the advocate, Sebastiano Costa, was +appointed to draw up the scheme of a constitution. This remarkable +assembly affirmed the independence of the Corsican people, and the +perpetual separation of Corsica from Genoa; and announced as leading +features in the new arrangements--the self-government of the people +in its parliament; a junta of six, named by parliament, and renewed +every three months, to accompany the generals as the parliament's +representatives; a civil board of four, intrusted with the oversight of +the courts of justice, of the finances, and of commercial interests. +The people in its assemblies was declared the alone source of law. A +statute-book was to be composed by the highest junta. + +Such were the prominent features of a constitution sketched by the +Corsican Costa, and approved of in the year 1735, when universal +political barbarism still prevailed upon the Continent, by a people +in regard to which the obscure rumour went that it was horribly +wild and uncivilized. It appears, therefore, that nations are not +always educated for freedom and independence by science, wealth, or +brilliant circumstances of political prominence; oftener perhaps by +poverty, misfortune, and love for their country. A little people, +without literature, without trade, had thus in obscurity, and without +assistance, outstripped the most cultivated nations of Europe in +political wisdom and in humanity; its constitution had not sprung from +the hot-bed of philosophical systems--it had ripened upon the soil of +its material necessities. + +Giafferi, Ceccaldi, and Hyacinth Paoli had all three been placed at the +head of affairs. Orticoni had returned from his mission to Spain, with +the answer that his catholic Majesty declined taking Corsica under his +special protection, but declared that he would not support Genoa with +troops. The Corsicans, therefore, as they could reckon on no protection +from any earthly potentate, now did as some of the Italian republics +had done during the Middle Ages, placed themselves by general consent +under the guardian care of the Virgin Mary, whose picture henceforth +figured on the standards of the country; and they chose Jesus Christ +for their _gonfaloniere_, or standard-bearer. + +Genoa--which the German Emperor, involved in the affairs of Poland, +could not now assist--was meanwhile exerting itself to the utmost to +reduce the Corsicans to subjection. The republic first sent Felix +Pinelli, the former cruel governor, and then her bravest general, +Paul Battista Rivarola, with all the troops that could be raised. The +situation of the Corsicans was certainly desperate. They were destitute +of all the necessaries for carrying on the war; the country was +completely exhausted, and the Genoese cruisers prevented importation +from abroad. Their distress was such that they even made proposals for +peace, to which, however, Genoa refused to listen. The whole island was +under blockade; all commercial intercourse was at an end; vessels from +Leghorn had been captured; there was a deficiency of arms, particularly +of fire-arms, and they had no powder. Their embarrassments had become +almost insupportable, when, one day, two strange vessels came to +anchor in the gulf of Isola Rossa, and began to discharge a heavy +cargo of victuals and warlike stores--gifts for the Corsicans from +unknown and mysterious donors. The captains of the vessels scorned all +remuneration, and only asked the favour of some Corsican wine in which +to drink the brave nation's welfare. They then put out to sea again +amidst the blessings of the multitude who had assembled on the shore to +see their foreign benefactors. This little token of foreign sympathy +fairly intoxicated the poor Corsicans. Their joy was indescribable; +they rang the bells in all the villages; they said to one another that +Divine Providence, and the Blessed Virgin, had sent their rescuing +angels to the unhappy island, and their hopes grew lively that some +foreign power would at length bestow its protection on the Corsicans. +The moral impression produced by this event was so powerful, that the +Genoese feared what the Corsicans hoped, and immediately commenced +treating for peace. But it was now the turn of the Corsicans to be +obstinate. + +Generous Englishmen had equipped these two ships, friends of liberty, +and admirers of Corsican heroism. Their magnanimity was soon to +come into conflict with their patriotism, through the revolt of +North America. The English supply of arms and ammunition enabled the +Corsicans to storm Aleria, where they made a prize of four pieces of +cannon. They now laid siege to Calvi and Bastia. But their situation +was becoming every moment more helpless and desperate. All their +resources were again spent, and still no foreign power interfered. In +those days the Corsicans waited in an almost religious suspense; they +were like the Jews under the Maccabees, when they hoped for a Messiah. + + +CHAPTER V. + +BARON THEODORE VON NEUHOFF. + +Early in the morning of the 12th of March 1736, a vessel under British +colours was seen steering towards Aleria. The people who crowded to the +shore greeted it with shouts of joy; they supposed it was laden with +arms and ammunition. The vessel cast anchor; and soon afterwards, some +of the principal men of the island went on board, to wait on a certain +mysterious stranger whom she had brought. This stranger was of kingly +appearance, of stately and commanding demeanour, and theatrically +dressed. He wore a long caftan of scarlet silk, Moorish trowsers, +yellow shoes, and a Spanish hat and feather; in his girdle of yellow +silk were a pair of richly inlaid pistols, a sabre hung by his side, +and in his right hand he held a long truncheon as sceptre. Sixteen +gentlemen of his retinue followed him with respectful deference as +he landed--eleven Italians, two French officers, and three Moors. The +enigmatical stranger stepped upon the Corsican shore with all the air +of a king,--and with the purpose to be one. + +The Corsicans surrounded the mysterious personage with no small +astonishment. The persuasion was general that he was--if not a foreign +prince--at least the ambassador of some monarch now about to take +Corsica under his protection. The ship soon began to discharge her +cargo before the eyes of the crowd; it consisted of ten pieces of +cannon, four thousand muskets, three thousand pairs of shoes, seven +hundred sacks of grain, a large quantity of ammunition, some casks of +zechins, and a considerable sum in gold coins of Barbary. It appeared +that the leading men of the island had expected the arrival of this +stranger. Xaverius Matra was seen to greet him with all the reverence +due to a king; and all were impressed by the dignity of his princely +bearing, and the lofty composure of his manner. He was conducted in +triumph to Cervione. + +This singular person was a German, the Westphalian Baron Theodore von +Neuhoff--the cleverest and most fortunate of all the adventurers of +his time. In his youth he had been a page at the court of the Duchess +of Orleans, had afterwards gone into the Spanish service, and then +returned to France. His brilliant talents had brought him into contact +with all the remarkable personages of the age; among others, with +Alberoni, with Ripperda, and Law, in whose financial speculations he +had been involved. Neuhoff had experienced everything, seen everything, +thought, attempted, enjoyed, and suffered everything. True to the +dictates of a romantic and adventurous nature, he had run through all +possible shapes in which fortune can appear, and had at length taken it +into his head, that for a man of a powerful mind like him, it must be a +desirable thing to be a king. And he had not conceived this idea in the +vein of the crackbrained Knight of La Mancha, who, riding errant into +the world, persuaded himself that he would at least be made emperor of +Trebisonde in reward for his achievements; on the contrary, accident +threw the thought into his quite unclouded intellect, and he resolved +to be a king, to become so in a real and natural way,--and he became a +king. + +In the course of his rovings through Europe, Neuhoff had come to Genoa +just at the time when Giafferi, Ceccaldi, Aitelli, and Rafaelli were +brought to the city as prisoners. It seems that his attention was now +for the first time drawn to the Corsicans, whose obstinate bravery made +a deep impression on him. He formed a connexion with such Corsicans as +he could find in Genoa, particularly with men belonging to the province +of Balagna; and after gaining an insight into the state of affairs in +the island, the idea of playing a part in the history of this romantic +country gradually ripened in his mind. He immediately went to Leghorn, +where Orticoni, into whose hands the foreign relations of the island +had been committed, was at the time residing. He introduced himself +to Orticoni, and succeeded in inspiring him with admiration, and with +confidence in his magnificent promises. For, intimately connected, as +he said he was, with all the courts, he affirmed that, within the space +of a year, he would procure the Corsicans all the necessary means for +driving the Genoese for ever from the island. In return, he demanded +nothing more than that the Corsicans should crown him as their king. +Orticoni, carried away by the extraordinary genius of the man, by his +boundless promises, by the cleverness of his diplomatic, economic, and +political ideas, and perceiving that Neuhoff really might be able to +do his country good service, asked the opinion of the generals of the +island. In their desperate situation, they gave him full power to treat +with Neuhoff. Orticoni, accordingly, came to an agreement with the +baron, that he should be proclaimed king of Corsica as soon as he put +the islanders in a position to free themselves completely from the yoke +of Genoa. + +As soon as Theodore von Neuhoff saw this prospect before him, he began +to exert himself for its realisation with an energy which is sufficient +of itself to convince us of his powerful genius. He put himself +in communication with the English consul at Leghorn, and with such +merchants as traded to Barbary; he procured letters of recommendation +for that country; went to Africa; and after he had moved heaven and +earth there in person, as in Europe by his agents, finding himself in +possession of all necessary equipments, he suddenly landed in Corsica +in the manner we have described. + +He made his appearance when the misery of the island had reached the +last extreme. In handing over his stores to the Corsican leaders, +he informed them that they were only a small portion of what was to +follow. He represented to them that his connexions with the courts of +Europe, already powerful, would be placed on a new footing the moment +that the Genoese had been overcome; and that, wearing the crown, he +should treat as a prince with princes. He therefore desired the crown. +Hyacinth Paoli, Giafferi, and the learned Costa, men of the soundest +common sense, engaged upon an enterprise the most pressingly real in +its necessities that could possibly be committed to human hands--that +of liberating their country, and giving its liberty a form, and +secure basis, nevertheless acceded to this desire. Their engagements +to the man, and his services; the novelty of the event, which had so +remarkably inspirited the people; the prospects of further help; in +a word, their necessitous circumstances, demanded it. Theodore von +Neuhoff, king-designate of the Corsicans, had the house of the Bishop +of Cervione appointed him for his residence; and on the 15th of April, +the people assembled to a general diet in the convent of Alesani, in +order to pass the enactment converting Corsica into a kingdom. The +assembly was composed of two representatives from every commune in the +country, and of deputies from the convents and clergy, and more than +two thousand people surrounded the building. The following constitution +was laid before the Parliament: The crown of the kingdom of Corsica is +given to Baron Theodore von Neuhoff and his heirs; the king is assisted +by a council of twenty-four, nominated by the people, without whose and +the Parliament's consent no measures can be adopted or taxes imposed. +All public offices are open to the Corsicans only; legislative acts can +proceed only from the people and its Parliament. + +These articles were read by Gaffori, a doctor of laws, to the assembled +people, who gave their consent by acclamation; Baron Theodore then +signed them in presence of the representatives of the nation, and +swore, on the holy gospels, before all the people, to remain true to +the constitution. This done, he was conducted into the church, where, +after high mass had been said, the generals placed the crown upon his +head. The Corsicans were too poor to have a crown of gold; they plaited +one of laurel and oak-leaves, and crowned therewith their first and +last king. And thus Baron Theodore von Neuhoff, who already styled +himself Grandee of Spain, Lord of Great Britain, Peer of France, Count +of the Papal Dominions, and Prince of the Empire, became King of the +Corsicans, with the title of Theodore the First. + +Though this singular affair may be explained from the then +circumstances of the island, and from earlier phenomena in Corsican +history, it still remains astonishing. So intense was the patriotism +of this people, that to obtain their liberty and rescue their country, +they made a foreign adventurer their king, because he held out to them +hopes of deliverance; and that their brave and tried leaders, without +hesitation and without jealousy, quietly divested themselves of their +authority. + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THEODORE I., KING OF CORSICA. + +Now in possession of the kingly title, Theodore wished to see himself +surrounded by a kingly court, and was, therefore, not sparing in his +distribution of dignities. He named Don Luis Giafferi and Hyacinth +Paoli his prime ministers, and invested them with the title of Count. +Xaverius Matra became a marquis, and grand-marshal of the palace; +Giacomo Castagnetta, count and commandant of Rostino; Arrighi, count +and inspector-general of the troops. He gave others the titles of +barons, margraves, lieutenants-general, captains of the Royal Guard, +and made them commandants of various districts of the country. The +advocate Costa, now Count Costa, was created grand-chancellor of the +kingdom, and Dr. Gaffori, now Marquis Gaffori, cabinet-secretary to his +Majesty the constitutional king. + +Ridiculous as all these pompous arrangements may appear, King Theodore +set himself in earnest to accomplish his task. In a short time he had +established order in the country, settled family feuds, and organized +a regular army, with which, in April 1736, he took Porto Vecchio and +Sartene from the Genoese. The Senate of Genoa had at first viewed +the enigmatic proceedings that were going on before its eyes with +astonishment and fear, imagining that the intentions of some foreign +power might be concealed behind them. But when obscurities cleared +away, and Baron Theodore stood disclosed, they began to lampoon him in +pamphlets, and brand him as an unprincipled adventurer deep in debt. +King Theodore replied to the Genoese manifestoes with kingly dignity, +German bluntness, and German humour. He then marched in person against +Bastia, fought like a lion before its walls, and when he found he +could not take the city, blockaded it, making, meanwhile, expeditions +into the interior of the island, in the course of which he punished +rebellious districts with unscrupulous severity, and several times +routed the Genoese troops. + +The Genoese were soon confined to their fortified towns on the sea. In +their embarrassment at this period they had recourse to a disgraceful +method of increasing their strength. They formed a regiment, fifteen +hundred strong, of their galley-slaves, bandits, and murderers, and let +loose this refuse upon Corsica. The villanous band made frequent forays +into the country, and perpetrated numberless enormities. They got the +name of Vittoli, from Sampiero's murderer, or of Oriundi. + +King Theodore made great exertions for the general elevation of the +country. He established manufactories of arms, of salt, of cloth; he +endeavoured to introduce animation into trade, to induce foreigners +to settle in the island, by offering them commercial privileges, and, +by encouraging privateering, to keep the Genoese cruisers in check. +The Corsican national flag was green and yellow, and bore the motto: +_In te Domine speravi_. Theodore had also struck his own coins--gold, +silver, and copper. These coins showed on the obverse a shield wreathed +with laurel, and above it a crown with the initials, T. R.; on the +reverse were the words: _Pro bono et libertate_. On the Continent, +King Theodore's money was bought up by the curious for thirty times +its value. But all this was of little avail; the promised help did not +come, the people began to murmur. The king was continually announcing +the immediate appearance of a friendly fleet; the friendly fleet never +appeared, because its promise was a fabrication. The murmurs growing +louder, Theodore assembled a Parliament on the 2d of September, in +Casacconi; here he declared that he would lay down his crown, if the +expected help did not appear by the end of October, or that he would +then go himself to the Continent to hasten its appearance. He was in +the same desperate position in which, as the story goes, Columbus was, +when the land he had announced would not appear. + +On the dissolution of the Parliament, which, at the proposal of the +king, had agreed to a new measure of finance--a tax upon property, +Theodore mounted his horse, and went to view his kingdom on the other +side the mountains. This region had been the principal seat of the +Corsican seigniors, and the old aristocratic feeling was still strong +there. Luca Ornano received the monarch with a deputation of the +principal gentlemen, and conducted him in festal procession to Sartene. +Here Theodore fell upon the princely idea of founding a new order +of knighthood; it was a politic idea, and, in fact, we observe, in +general, that the German baron and Corsican king knows how to conduct +himself in a politic manner, as well as other upstarts of greater +dimensions who have preceded and followed him. The name of the new +order was The Order of the Liberation (_della Liberazione_). The king +was grand-master, and named the cavaliers. It is said that in less +than two months the Order numbered more than four hundred members, +and that upwards of a fourth of these were foreigners, who sought the +honour of membership, either for the mere singularity of the thing, or +to indicate their good wishes for the brave Corsicans. The membership +was dear, for it had been enacted that every cavalier should pay a +thousand scudi as entry-money, from which he was to draw an annuity +of ten per cent. for life. The Order, then, in its best sense, was an +honour awarded in payment for a loan--a financial speculation. During +his residence in Sartene, the king, at the request of the nobles of +the region, conferred with lavish hand the titles of Count, Baron, and +Baronet, and with these the representatives of the houses of Ornano, +Istria, Rocca, and Leca, went home comforted. + +While the king thus acted in kingly fashion, and filled the island +with counts and cavaliers, as if poor Corsica had overnight become +a wealthy empire, the bitterest cares of state were preying upon him +in secret. For he could not but confess to himself that his kingdom +was after all but a painted one, and that he had surrounded himself +with phantoms. The long-announced fleet obstinately refused to +appear, because it too was a painted fleet. This chimera occasioned +the king greater embarrassment than if it had been a veritable fleet +of a hundred well-equipped hostile ships. Theodore began to feel +uncomfortable. Already there was an organized party of malcontents in +the land, calling themselves the Indifferents. Aitelli and Rafaelli had +formed this party, and Hyacinth Paoli himself had joined it. The royal +troops had even come into collision with the Indifferents, and had been +repulsed. It seemed, therefore, as if Theodore's kingdom were about to +burst like a soap-bubble; Giafferi alone still kept down the storm for +a while. + +In these circumstances, the king thought it might be advisable to go +out of the way for a little; to leave the island, not secretly, but +as a prince, hastening to the Continent to fetch in person the tardy +succours. He called a parliament at Sartene, announced that he was +about to take his departure, and the reason why; settled the interim +government, at the head of which he put Giafferi, Hyacinth Paoli, +and Luca Ornano; made twenty-seven Counts and Baronets governors of +provinces; issued a manifesto; and on the 11th of November 1736, +proceeded, accompanied by an immense retinue, to Aleria, where he +embarked in a vessel showing French colours, taking with him Count +Costa, his chancellor, and some officers of his household. He would +have been captured by a Genoese cruiser before he was out of sight of +his kingdom, and sent to Genoa, if he had not been protected by the +French flag. King Theodore landed at Leghorn in the dress of an abbe, +wishing to remain incognito; he then travelled to Florence, to Rome, +and to Naples, where he left his chancellor and his officers, and went +on board a vessel bound for Amsterdam, from which city, he said, his +subjects should speedily hear good news. + + +CHAPTER VII. + +GENOA IN DIFFICULTIES--AIDED BY FRANCE--THEODORE EXPELLED HIS KINGDOM. + +The Corsicans did not believe in the return of their king, nor in the +help he promised to send them. Under the pressure of severe necessity, +the poor people, intoxicated with their passion for liberty, had gone +so far as even to expose themselves to the ridicule which could not +fail to attach to the kingship of an adventurer. In their despair they +had caught at a phantom, at a straw, for rescue; what would they not +have done out of hatred to Genoa, and love of freedom? Now, however, +they saw themselves no nearer the goal they wished to reach. Many +showed symptoms of discontent. In this state of affairs, the Regents +attempted to open negotiations with Rivarola, but without result, as +the Genoese demanded unconditional submission, and surrender of arms. +An assembly of the people was called, and its voice taken. The people +resolved unhesitatingly that they must remain true to the king to whom +they had sworn allegiance, and acknowledge no other sovereign. + +Theodore had meanwhile travelled through part of Europe, formed +new connexions, opened speculations, raised money, named cavaliers, +enlisted Poles and Germans; and although his creditors at Amsterdam +threw him into a debtors' prison, the fertile genius of the wonderful +man succeeded in raising supplies to send to Corsica. From time to +time a ship reached the island with warlike stores, and a proclamation +encouraging the Corsicans to remain steadfast. + +This, and the fear that the unwearying and energetic Theodore might +at length actually win some continental power to his side, made the +Republic of Genoa anxious. The Senate had set a price of two thousand +genuini on the head of the Corsican king, and the agents of Genoa +dogged his footsteps at every court. Herself in pecuniary difficulties, +Genoa had drawn upon the Bank for three millions, and taken three +regiments of Swiss into her pay. The guerilla warfare continued. It was +carried on with the utmost ferocity; no quarter was given now on either +side. The Republic, seeing no end of the exhausting struggle, resolved +to call in the assistance of France. She had hitherto hesitated to have +recourse to a foreign power, as her treasury was exhausted, and former +experiences had not been of the most encouraging kind. + +The French cabinet willingly seized an opportunity, which, if properly +used, would at least prevent any other power from obtaining a footing +on an island whose position near the French boundaries gave it so high +an importance. Cardinal Fleury concluded a treaty with the Genoese +on the 12th of July 1737, in virtue of which France pledged herself +to send an army into Corsica to reduce the "rebels" to subjection. +Manifestoes proclaimed this to the Corsican people. They produced +the greatest sorrow and consternation, all the more so, that a power +now declared her intention of acting against the Corsicans, which, +in earlier times, had stood in a very different relation to them. +The Corsican people replied to these manifestoes, by the declaration +that they would never again return under the yoke of Genoa, and by a +despairing appeal to the compassion of the French king. + +In February of the year 1738, five French regiments landed under the +command of Count Boissieux. The General had strict orders to effect, +if possible, a peaceable settlement; and the Genoese hoped that the +mere sight of the French would be sufficient to disarm the Corsicans. +But the Corsicans remained firm. The whole country had risen as one man +at the approach of the French; beacons on the hills, the conchs in the +villages, the bells in the convents, called the population to arms. All +of an age to carry arms took the field furnished with bread for eight +days. Every village formed its little troop, every pieve its battalion, +every province its camp. The Corsicans stood ready and waiting. +Boissieux now opened negotiations, and these lasted for six months, +till the announcement came from Versailles that the Corsicans must +submit unconditionally to the supremacy of Genoa. The people replied +in a manifesto addressed to Louis XV., that they once more implored +him to cast a look of pity upon them, and to bear in mind the friendly +interest which his illustrious ancestors had taken in Corsica; and they +declared that they would shed their last drop of blood before they +would return under the murderous supremacy of Genoa. In their bitter +need, they meanwhile gave certain hostages required, and expressed +themselves willing to trust the French king, and to await his final +decision. + +In this juncture, Baron Droste, nephew of Theodore, landed one day at +Aleria, bringing a supply of ammunition, and the intelligence that the +king would speedily return to the island. And on the 15th of September +this remarkable man actually did land at Aleria, more splendidly and +regally equipped than when he came the first time. He brought three +ships with him; one of sixty-four guns, another of sixty, and the third +of fifty-five, besides gunboats, and a small flotilla of transports. +They were laden with munitions of war to a very considerable amount--27 +pieces of cannon, 7000 muskets with bayonets, 1000 muskets of a larger +size, 2000 pistols, 24,000 pounds of coarse and 100,000 pounds of fine +powder, 200,000 pounds of lead, 400,000 flints, 50,000 pounds of iron, +2000 lances, 2000 grenades and bombs. All this had been raised by the +same man whom his creditors in Amsterdam threw into a debtors' prison. +He had succeeded by his powers of persuasion in interesting the Dutch +for Corsica, and convincing them that a connexion with this island +in the Mediterranean was desirable. A company of capitalists--the +wealthy houses of Boom, Tronchain, and Neuville--had agreed to lend +the Corsican king vessels, money, and the materials of war. Theodore +thus landed in his kingdom under the Dutch flag. But he found to his +dismay that affairs had taken a turn which prostrated all his hopes; +and that he had to experience a fate tinged with something like irony, +since, when he came as an adventurer he obtained a crown, but now could +not be received as king though he came as a king, with substantial +means for maintaining his dignity. He found the island split into +conflicting parties, and in active negotiation with France. The people, +it is true, led him once more in triumph to Cervione, where he had been +crowned; but the generals, his own counts, gave him to understand that +circumstances compelled them to have nothing more to do with him, but +to treat with France. Immediately on Theodore's arrival, Boissieux had +issued a proclamation, which declared every man a rebel, and guilty of +high treason, who should give countenance to the outlaw, Baron Theodore +von Neuhoff; and the king thus saw himself forsaken by the very men +whom he had, not long before, created counts, margraves, barons, and +cavaliers. The Dutchmen, too, disappointed in their expectations, and +threatened by French and Genoese ships, very soon made up their minds, +and in high dudgeon steered away for Naples. Theodore von Neuhoff, +therefore, also saw himself compelled to leave the island; and vexed to +the heart, he set sail for the Continent. + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE FRENCH REDUCE CORSICA--NEW INSURRECTION--THE PATRIOT GAFFORI. + +In the end of October, the expected decisive document arrived from +Versailles in the form of an edict issued by the Doge and Senate +of Genoa, and signed by the Emperor and the French king. The edict +contained a few concessions, and the express command to lay down +arms and submit to Genoa. Boissieux gave the Corsicans fifteen days +to comply with this. They immediately assembled in the convent of +Orezza to deliberate, and to rouse the nation; and they declared in a +manifesto--"We shall not lose courage; arming ourselves with the manly +resolve to die, we shall prefer ending our lives nobly with our weapons +in our hands, to remaining idle spectators of the sufferings of our +country, living in chains, and bequeathing slavery to our posterity. +We think and say with the Maccabees: _consiglio supremo_)--a body of +nine men, answering to the nine free provinces of Corsica--Nebbio, +Casinca, Balagna, Campoloro, Orezza, Ornano, Rogna, Vico, and Cinarca. +In the Supreme Council was vested the executive power; it summoned the +Consulta, represented it in foreign affairs, regulated public works, +and watched in general over the security of the country. In cases +of unusual importance it was the last appeal, and was privileged to +interpose a veto on the resolutions of the Consulta till the matter in +question had been reconsidered. Its president was the General of the +nation, who could do nothing without the approval of this council. + +Both powers, however--the council as well as the president--were +responsible to the people, or their representatives, and could +be deposed and punished by a decree of the nation. The members of +the Supreme Council held office for one year; they were required +to be above thirty-five years of age, and to have previously been +representatives of the magistracy of a province. + +The Consulta also elected the five syndics, or censors. The duty of the +Syndicate was to travel through the provinces, and hear appeals against +the general or the judicial administration of any particular district; +its sentence was final, and could not be reversed by the General. The +General named persons to fill the public offices, and the collectors of +taxes, all of whom were subject to the censorship of the Syndicate. + +Justice was administered as follows:--Each Podesta could decide in +cases not exceeding the value of ten livres. In conjunction with the +Fathers of the Community, he could determine causes to the value of +thirty livres. Cases involving more than thirty livres were tried +before the tribunal of the province, where the court consisted of a +president and two assessors named by the Consulta, and of a fiscal +named by the Supreme Council. This tribunal was renewed every year. + +An appeal lay from it to the Rota Civile, the highest court of justice, +consisting of three doctors of laws, who held office for life. The +same courts administered criminal justice, assisted always by a jury +consisting of six fathers of families, who decided on the merits of +the case from the evidence furnished by the witnesses, and pronounced +a verdict of guilty or not guilty. + +The members of the supreme council, of the Syndicate, and of the +provincial tribunals, could only be re-elected after a lapse of +two years. The Podestas and Fathers of the Communities were elected +annually by the citizens of their locality above twenty-five years of +age. + +In cases of emergency, when revolt and tumult had broken out in some +part of the island, the General could send a temporary dictatorial +court into the quarter, called the War Giunta (_giunta di osservazione +o di guerra_), consisting of three or more members, with one of +the supreme councillors at their head. Invested with unlimited +authority to adopt whatever measures seemed necessary, and to punish +instantaneously, this swiftly-acting "court of high commission" could +not fail to strike terror into the discontented and evil-disposed; the +people gave it the name of the _Giustizia Paolina_. Having fulfilled +its mission, it rendered an account of its proceedings to the Censors. + +Such is an outline of Paoli's legislation, and of the constitution of +the Corsican Republic. When we consider its leading ideas--self-government +of the people, liberty of the individual citizen protected and +regulated on every side by law, participation in the political life of +the country, publicity and simplicity in the administration, popular +courts of justice--we cannot but confess that the Corsican state was +constructed on principles of a wider and more generous humanity than +any other in the same century. And if we look at the time when it took +its rise, many years before the world had seen the French democratic +legislation, or the establishment of the North American republic under +the great Washington, Pasquale Paoli and his people gain additional +claims to our admiration. + +Paoli disapproved of standing armies. He himself said:--"In a +country which desires to be free, each citizen must be a soldier, and +constantly in readiness to arm himself for the defence of his rights. +Paid troops do more for despotism than for freedom. Rome ceased to be +free on the day when she began to maintain a standing army; and the +unconquerable phalanxes of Sparta were drawn immediately from the ranks +of her citizens. Moreover, as soon as a standing army has been formed, +_esprit de corps_ is originated, the bravery of this regiment and that +company is talked of--a more serious evil than is generally supposed, +and one which it is well to avoid as far as possible. We ought to +speak of the intrepidity of the particular citizen, of the resolute +bravery displayed by this commune, of the self-sacrificing spirit which +characterizes the members of that family; and thus awaken emulation +in a free people. When our social condition shall have become what +it ought to be, our whole people will be disciplined, and our militia +invincible." + +Necessity compelled Paoli to yield so far in this matter, as to +organize a small body of regular troops to garrison the forts. These +consisted of two regiments of four hundred men each, commanded by +Jacopo Baldassari and Titus Buttafuoco. Each company had two captains +and two lieutenants; French, Prussian, and Swiss officers gave them +drill. Every regular soldier was armed with musket and bayonet, a pair +of pistols, and a dagger. The uniform was made from the black woollen +cloth of the country; the only marks of distinction for the officers +were, that they wore a little lace on the coat-collar, and had no +bayonet in their muskets. All wore caps of the skin of the Corsican +wild-boar, and long gaiters of calf-skin reaching to the knee. Both +regiments were said to be highly efficient. + +The militia was thus organized: All Corsicans from sixteen to sixty +were soldiers. Each commune had to furnish one or more companies, +according to its population, and chose its own officers. Each pieve, +again, formed a camp, under a commandant named by the General. The +entire militia was divided into three levies, each of which entered +for fifteen days at a time. It was a generally-observed rule to rank +families together, so that the soldiers of a company were mostly +blood-relations. The troops in garrison received yearly pay, the others +were paid only so long as they kept the field. The villages furnished +bread. + +The state expenses were met from the tax of two livres on each family, +the revenues from salt, the coral-fishery, and other indirect imposts. + +Nothing that can initiate or increase the prosperity of a people was +neglected by Paoli. He bestowed special attention on agriculture; +the Consulta elected two commissaries yearly for each province, +whose business it was to superintend and foster agriculture in their +respective districts. The cultivation of the olive, the chestnut, and +of maize, was encouraged; plans for draining marshes and making roads +were proposed. With one hand, at that period, the Corsican warded off +his foe, as soldier; with the other, as husbandman, he scattered his +seed upon the soil. + +Paoli also endeavoured to give his people mental cultivation--the +highest pledge and the noblest consummation of all freedom and all +prosperity. The iron times had hitherto prevented its spread. The +Corsicans had remained children of nature; they were ignorant, but +rich in mother-wit. Genoa, it is said, had intentionally neglected the +schools; but now, under Paoli's government, their numbers everywhere +increased, and the Corsican clergy, brave and liberal men, zealously +instructed the youth. A national printing-house was established +in Corte, from which only books devoted to the instruction and +enlightenment of the people issued. The children found it written in +these books, that love of his native country was a true man's highest +virtue; and that all those who had fallen in battle for liberty had +died as martyrs, and had received a place in heaven among the saints. + +On the 3d of January 1765, Paoli opened the Corsican university. In +this institution, theology, philosophy, mathematics, jurisprudence, +philology, and the belles-lettres were taught. Medicine and surgery +were in the meantime omitted, till Government was in a position to +supply the necessary instruments. All the professors were Corsicans; +the leading names were Guelfucci of Belgodere, Stefani of Benaco, +Mariani of Corbara, Grimaldi of Campoloro, Ferdinandi of Brando, +Vincenti of Santa Lucia. Poor scholars were supported at the public +expense. At the end of each session, an examination took place before +the members of the Consulta and the Government. Thus the presence of +the most esteemed citizens of the island heightened both praise and +blame. The young men felt that they were regarded by them, and by the +people in general, as the hope of their country's future, and that they +would soon be called upon to join or succeed them in their patriotic +endeavours. Growing up in the midst of the weighty events of their own +nation's stormy history, they had the one high ideal constantly and +vividly before their eyes. The spirit which accordingly animated these +youths may readily be imagined, and will be seen from the following +fragment of one of the orations which it was customary for some student +of the Rhetoric class to deliver in presence of the representatives and +Government of the nation. + +"All nations that have struggled for freedom have endured great +vicissitudes of fortune. Some of them were less powerful and less +brave than our own; nevertheless, by their resolute steadfastness they +at last overcame their difficulties. If liberty could be won by mere +talking, then were the whole world free; but the pursuit of freedom +demands an unyielding constancy that rises superior to all obstacles--a +virtue so rare among men that those who have given proof of it have +always been regarded as demigods. Certainly the privileges of a free +people are too valuable--their condition too fortunate, to be treated +of in adequate terms; but enough is said if we remember that they +excite the admiration of the greatest men. As regards ourselves, may +it please Heaven to allow us to follow the career on which we have +entered! But our nation, whose heart is greater than its fortunes, +though it is poor and goes coarsely clad, is a reproach to all Europe, +which has grown sluggish under the burden of its heavy chains; and it +is now felt to be necessary to rob us of our existence. + +"Brave countrymen! the momentous crisis has come. Already the storm +rages over our heads; dangers threaten on every side; let us see to +it that we maintain ourselves superior to circumstances, and grow +in strength with the number of our foes; our name, our freedom, our +honour, are at stake! In vain shall we have exhibited heroic endurance +up till the present time--in vain shall our forefathers have shed +streams of blood and suffered unheard-of miseries; if _we_ prove weak, +then all is irremediably lost. If we prove weak! Mighty shades of our +fathers! ye who have done so much to bequeath to us liberty as the +richest inheritance, fear not that we shall make you ashamed of your +sacrifices. Never! Your children will faithfully imitate your example; +they are resolved to live free, or to die fighting in defence of their +inalienable and sacred rights. We cannot permit ourselves to believe +that the King of France will side with our enemies, and direct his arms +against our island; surely this can never happen. But if it is written +in the book of fate, that the most powerful monarch of the earth is to +contend against one of the smallest peoples of Europe, then we have new +and just cause to be proud, for we are certain either to live for the +future in honourable freedom, or to make our fall immortal. Those who +feel themselves incapable of such virtue need not tremble; I speak only +to true Corsicans, and their feelings are known. + +"As regards us, brave youths, none--I swear by the manes of our +fathers!--not one will wait a second call; before the face of the +world we must show that we deserve to be called brave. If foreigners +land upon our coasts ready to give battle to uphold the pretensions of +their allies, shall we who fight for our own welfare--for the welfare +of our posterity--for the maintenance of the righteous and magnanimous +resolutions of our fathers--shall we hesitate to defy all dangers, +to risk, to sacrifice our lives? Brave fellow-citizens! liberty +is our aim--and the eyes of all noble souls in Europe are upon us; +they sympathize with us, they breathe prayers for the triumph of our +cause. May our resolute firmness exceed their expectations! and may +our enemies, by whatever name called, learn from experience that the +conquest of Corsica is not so easy as it may seem! We who live in this +land are freemen, and freemen can die!" + + +CHAPTER XI. + +CORSICA UNDER PAOLI--TRAFFIC IN NATIONS--VICTORIES OVER THE FRENCH. + +All the thoughts and wishes of the Corsican people were thus directed +towards a common aim. The spirit of the nation was vigorous and +buoyant; ennobled by the purest love of country, by a bravery that had +become hereditary, by the sound simplicity of the constitution, which +was no artificial product of foreign and borrowed theorizings, but the +fruit of sacred, native tradition. The great citizen, Pasquale Paoli, +was the father of his country. Wherever he showed himself, he was met +by the love and the blessings of his people, and women and gray-haired +men raised their children and children's children in their arms, that +they might see the man who had made his country happy. The seaports, +too, which had hitherto remained in the power of Genoa, became desirous +of sharing the advantages of the Corsican constitution. Disturbances +occurred; Carlo Masseria and his son undertook to deliver the castle of +Ajaccio into the hands of the Nationalists by stratagem. The attempt +failed. The son was killed, and the father, who had already received +his death-wound, died without a complaint, upon the rack. + +The Corsican people had now become so much stronger that, far from +turning anxiously to some foreign power for aid, they found in +themselves, not only the means of resistance, but even of attack and +conquest. Their flag already waved on the waters of the Mediterranean. +De Perez, a knight of Malta, was the admiral of their little fleet, +which was occasioning the Genoese no small alarm. People said in +Corsica that the position of the island might well entitle it to become +a naval power--such as Greek islands in the eastern seas had formerly +been; and a landing of the Corsicans on the coast of Liguria was no +longer held impossible. + +The conquest of the neighbouring island of Capraja gave such ideas +a colour of probability; while it astonished the Genoese, and showed +them that their fears were well grounded. This little island had in +earlier times been part of the seigniory of the Corsican family of Da +Mare, but had passed into the hands of the Genoese. It is not fertile, +but an important and strong position in the Genoese and Tuscan waters. +A Corsican named Centurini conceived the idea of surprising it. Paoli +readily granted his consent, and in February 1765 a little expedition, +consisting of two hundred regular troops and a body of militia, ran +out from Cape Corso. They attacked the town of Capraja, which at first +resisted vigorously, but afterwards made common cause with them. The +Genoese commandant, Bernardo Ottone, held the castle, however, with +great bravery; and Genoa, as soon as it heard of the occurrence, +hastily despatched her fleet under Admiral Pinelli, who thrice suffered +a repulse. In Genoa, such was the shame and indignation at not being +able to rescue Capraja from the handful of Corsicans who had effected +a lodgment in the town, that the whole Senate burst into tears. Once +more they sent their fleet, forty vessels strong, against the island. +The five hundred Corsicans under Achille Murati maintained the town, +and drove the Genoese back into the sea. Bernardo Ottone surrendered in +May 1767, and Capraja, now completely in possession of the Corsicans, +was declared their province. + +The fall of Capraja was a heavy blow to the Senate, and accelerated +the resolution totally to relinquish the now untenable Corsica. But +the enfeebled Republic delayed putting this painful determination into +execution, till a blunder she herself committed forced her to it. It +was about this time that the Jesuits were driven from France and Spain; +the King of Spain had, however, requested the Genoese Senate to allow +the exiles an asylum in Corsica. Genoa, to show him a favour, complied, +and a large number of the Jesuit fathers one day landed in Ajaccio. The +French, however, who had pronounced sentence of perpetual banishment on +the Jesuits, regarded it as an insult on the part of Genoa, that the +Senate should have opened to the fathers the Corsican seaports which +they, the French, garrisoned. Count Marboeuf immediately received +orders to withdraw his troops from Ajaccio, Calvi, and Algajola; and +scarcely had this taken place, when the Corsicans exultingly occupied +the city of Ajaccio, though the citadel was still in possession of a +body of Genoese troops. + +Under these circumstances, and considering the irritated state of +feeling between France and Genoa, the Senate foresaw that it would have +to give way to the Corsicans; it accordingly formed the resolution to +sell its presumed claims upon the island to France. + +The French minister, Choiseul, received the proposal with joy. The +acquisition of so important an island in the Mediterranean seemed no +inconsiderable advantage, and in some degree a compensation for the +loss of Canada. The treaty was concluded at Versailles on the 15th +of May 1768, and signed by Choiseul on behalf of France, and Domenico +Sorba on behalf of Genoa. The Republic thus, contrary to all national +law, delivered a nation, on which it had no other claim than that of +conquest--a claim, such as it was, long since dilapidated--into the +hands of a foreign despotic power, which had till lately treated with +the same nation as with an independent people; and a free and admirably +constituted state was thus bought and sold like some brutish herd. +Genoa had, moreover, made the disgraceful stipulation that she should +re-enter upon her rights, as soon as she was in a position to reimburse +the expenses which France had incurred by her occupation of the island. + +Before the French expedition quitted the harbours of Provence, rumours +of the negotiations, which were at first kept secret, had reached +Corsica. Paoli called a Consulta at Corte; and it was unanimously +resolved to resist France to the last and uttermost, and to raise the +population _en masse_. Carlo Bonaparte, father of Napoleon, delivered +a manly and spirited speech on this occasion. + +Meanwhile, Count Narbonne had landed with troops in Ajaccio; and the +astonished inhabitants saw the Genoese colours lowered, and the white +flag of France unfurled in their stead. The French still denied the +real intention of their coming, and amused the Corsicans with false +explanations, till the Marquis Chauvelin landed with all his troops in +Bastia, as commander-in-chief. + +The four years' treaty of occupation was to expire on the 7th August +of the same year, and on that day it was expected hostilities would +commence. But on the 30th of July, five thousand French, under the +command of Marboeuf, marched from Bastia towards San Fiorenzo, and +after some unsuccessful resistance on the part of the Corsicans, made +themselves masters of various points in Nebbio. It thus became clear +that the doom of the Corsicans had been pronounced. Fortune, always +unkind to them, had constantly interposed foreign despots between them +and Genoa; and regularly each time, as they reached the eve of complete +deliverance, had hurled them back into their old misery. + +Pasquale Paoli hastened to the district of Nebbio with some militia. +His brother Clemens had already taken a position there with four +thousand men. But the united efforts of both were insufficient to +prevent Marboeuf from making himself master of Cape Corso. Chauvelin, +too, now made his appearance with fifteen thousand French, sent to +enslave the freest and bravest people in the world. He marched on the +strongly fortified town of Furiani, accompanied by the traitor, Matias +Buttafuoco of Vescovato--the first who loaded himself with the disgrace +of earning gold and title from the enemy. Furiani was the scene of a +desperate struggle. Only two hundred Corsicans, under Carlo Saliceti +and Ristori, occupied the place; and they did not surrender even when +the cannon of the enemy had reduced the town to a heap of ruins, but, +sword in hand, dashed through the midst of the foe during the night, +and reached the coast. + +Conflicts equally sanguinary took place in Casinca, and on the Bridge +of Golo. The French were repulsed at every point, and Clemens Paoli +covered himself with glory. History mentions him and Pietro Colle as +the heroes of this last struggle of the Corsicans for freedom. + +The remains of the routed French threw themselves into Borgo, an +elevated town in the mountains of Mariana, and reinforced its garrison. +Paoli was resolved to gain the place, cost what it might; and he +commenced his assault on the 1st of October, in the night. It was the +most brilliant of all the achievements of the Corsicans. Chauvelin, +leaving Bastia, moved to the relief of Borgo; he was opposed by +Clemens, while Colle, Grimaldi, Agostini, Serpentini, Pasquale Paoli, +and Achille Murati led the attack upon Borgo. Each side expended all +its energies. Thrice the entire French army made a desperate onset, and +it was thrice repulsed. The Corsicans, numerically so much inferior, +and a militia, broke and scattered here the compact ranks of an army +which, since the age of Louis XIV., had the reputation of being the +best organized in Europe. Corsican women in men's clothes, and carrying +musket and sword, were seen mixing in the thickest of the fight. The +French at length retired upon Bastia. They had suffered heavily in +killed and wounded--among the latter was Marboeuf; and seven hundred +men, under Colonel Ludre, the garrison of Borgo, laid down their arms +and surrendered themselves prisoners. + +The battle of Borgo showed the French what kind of people they had +come to enslave. They had now lost all the country except the strong +seaports. Chauvelin wrote to his court, reported his losses, and +demanded new troops. Ten fresh battalions were sent. + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE DYING STRUGGLE. + +The sympathy for the Corsicans had now become livelier than ever. In +England especially, public opinion spoke loudly for the oppressed +nation, and called upon the Government to interfere against such +shameless and despotic exercise of power on the part of France. It was +said Lord Chatham really entertained the idea of intimating England's +decided disapproval of the French policy. Certainly the eyes of the +Corsicans turned anxiously towards the free and constitutional Great +Britain; they hoped that a great and free nation would not suffer a +free people to be crushed. They were deceived. The British cabinet +forbade, as in the year 1760, all intercourse with the Corsican +"rebels." The voice of the English people became audible only here +and there in meetings, and with these and private donations of money, +the matter rested. The cabinets, however, were by no means sorry that +a perilous germ of democratic freedom should be stifled along with a +heroic nationality. + +Pasquale Paoli saw well how dangerous his position was, notwithstanding +the success that had attended the efforts of his people. He made +proposals for a treaty, the terms of which acknowledged the authority +of the French king, left the Corsicans their constitution, and +allowed the Genoese a compensation. His proposals were rejected; and +preparations continued to be made for a final blow. Chauvelin meanwhile +felt his weakness. It has been affirmed that he allowed the Genoese to +teach him intrigue; Paoli, like Sampiero and Gaffori, was to be removed +by the hand of the assassin. Treachery is never wanting in the history +of brave and free nations; it seems as if human nature could not +dispense with some shadow of baseness where its nobler qualities shine +with the purest light. A traitor was found in the son of Paoli's own +chancellor, Matias Maffesi; letters which he lost divulged his secret +purpose. Placed at the bar of the Supreme Council, he confessed, and +was delivered over to the executioner. Another complot, formed by the +restless Dumouriez, at that time serving in Corsica, to carry off Paoli +during the night from his own house at Isola Rossa, also failed. + +Chauvelin had brought his ten new battalions into the field, but they +had met with a repulse from the Corsicans in Nebbio. Deeply humiliated, +the haughty Marquis sent new messengers to France to represent the +difficulty of subduing Corsica. The French government at length +recalled Chauvelin from his post in December 1768, and Marboeuf was +made interim commander, till Chauvelin's successor, Count de Vaux, +should arrive. + +De Vaux had served in Corsica under Maillebois; he knew the country, +and how a war in it required to be conducted. Furnished with a +large force of forty-five battalions, four regiments of cavalry, and +considerable artillery, he determined to end the conflict at a single +blow. Paoli saw how heavily the storm was gathering, and called an +assembly in Casinca on the 15th of April 1769. It was resolved to fight +to the last drop of blood, and to bring every man in Corsica into the +field. Lord Pembroke, Admiral Smittoy, other Englishmen, Germans, and +Italians, who were present, were astonished by the calm determination +of the militia who flocked into Casinca. Many foreigners joined the +ranks of the Corsicans. A whole company of Prussians, who had been in +the service of Genoa, came over to their side. No one, however, could +conceal from himself the gloominess of the Corsican prospects; French +gold was already doing its work; treachery was rearing its head; even +Capraja had fallen through the treasonable baseness of its commandant, +Astolfi. + +Corsica's fatal hour was at hand. England did not, as had been hoped, +interfere; the French were advancing in full force upon Nebbio. This +mountain province, traversed by a long, narrow valley, had frequently +already been the scene of decisive conflicts. Paoli, leaving Saliceti +and Serpentini in Casinca, had established his head-quarters here; De +Vaux, Marboeuf, and Grand-Maison entered Nebbio to annihilate him +at once. The attack commenced on the 3d of May. After the battle had +lasted three days, Paoli was driven from his camp at Murati. He now +concluded to cross the Golo, and place that river between himself and +the enemy. He fixed his head-quarters in Rostino, and committed to +Gaffori and Grimaldi the defence of Leuto and Canavaggia, two points +much exposed to the French. Grimaldi betrayed his trust; and Gaffori, +for what reason is uncertain, also failed to maintain his post. + +The French, finding the country thus laid open to them, descended from +the heights, and pressed onwards to Ponte Nuovo, the bridge over the +Golo. The main body of the Corsicans was drawn up on the further bank; +above a thousand of them, along with the company of Prussians, covered +the bridge. The French, whose descent was rapid and unexpected, drove +in the militia, and these, thrown into disorder and seized with panic, +crowded towards the bridge and tried to cross. The Prussians, however, +who had received orders to bring the fugitives to a halt, fired in the +confusion on their own friends, while the French fired upon their rear, +and pushed forward with the bayonet. The terrible cry of "Treachery!" +was heard. In vain did Gentili attempt to check the disorder; the rout +became general, no position was any longer tenable, and the militia +scattered themselves in headlong flight among the woods, and over the +adjacent country. The unfortunate battle of Ponte Nuovo was fought +on the 9th of May 1769, and on that day the Corsican nation lost its +independence. + +Paoli still made an attempt to prevent the enemy from entering the +province of Casinca. But it was too late. The whole island, this side +the mountains, fell in a few days into the hands of the French; and +that instinctive feeling of being lost beyond help, which sometimes, +in moments of heavy misfortune, seizes on the minds of a people with +overwhelming force, had taken possession of the Corsicans. They needed +a man like Sampiero. Paoli despaired. He had hastened to Corte, almost +resolved to leave his country. The brave Serpentini still kept the +field in Balagna, with Clemens Paoli at his side, who was determined +to fight while he drew breath; and Abatucci still maintained himself +beyond the mountains with a band of bold patriots. All was not yet +lost; it was at least possible to take to the fastnesses and guerilla +fighting, as Renuccio, Vincentello, and Sampiero had done. But the +stubborn hardihood of those men of the iron centuries, was not and +could not be part of Paoli's character; nor could he, the lawgiver +and Pythagoras of his people, lower himself to range the hills with +guerilla bands. Shuddering at the thought of the blood with which a +protracted struggle would once more deluge his country, he yielded to +destiny. His brother Clemens, Serpentini, Abatucci, and others joined +him. The little company of fugitives hastened to Vivario, then, on the +11th of June, to the Gulf of Porto Vecchio. There they embarked, three +hundred Corsicans, in an English ship, given them by Admiral Smittoy, +and sailed for Tuscany, from which they proceeded to England, which +has continued ever since to be the asylum of the fugitives of ruined +nationalities, and has never extended her hospitality to nobler exiles. + +Not a few, comparing Pasquale Paoli with the old tragic Corsican +heroes, have accused him of weakness. Paoli's own estimate of himself +appears from the following extract from one of his letters:--"If +Sampiero had lived in my day, the deliverance of my country would +have been of less difficult accomplishment. What we attempted to do in +constituting the nationality, he would have completed. Corsica needed +at that time a man of bold and enterprising spirit, who should have +spread the terror of his name to the very _comptoirs_ of Genoa. France +would not have mixed herself in the struggle, or, if she had, she would +have found a more terrible adversary than any I was able to oppose to +her. How often have I lamented this! Assuredly not courage nor heroic +constancy was wanting in the Corsicans; what they wanted was a leader, +who could combine and conduct the operations of the war in the face +of experienced generals. We should have shared the noble work; while I +laboured at a code of laws suitable to the traditions and requirements +of the island, his mighty sword should have had the task of giving +strength and security to the results of our common toil." + +On the 12th of June 1769, the Corsican people submitted to French +supremacy. But while they were yet in all the freshness of their +sorrow, that centuries of unexampled conflict should have proved +insufficient to rescue their darling independence; and while the +warlike din of the French occupation still rang from end to end of +the island, the Corsican nation produced, on the 15th of August, in +unexhausted vigour, one hero more, Napoleon Bonaparte, who crushed +Genoa, who enslaved France, and who avenged his country. So much +satisfaction had the Fates reserved for the Corsicans in their fall; +and such was the atoning close they had decreed to the long tragedy of +their history. + + [A] Thus referred to by Boswell in his _Account of + Corsica_:--"The Corsicans have no drums, trumpets, fifes, or + any instrument of warlike music, except a large Triton shell, + pierced in the end, with which they make a sound loud enough + to be heard at a great distance.... Its sound is not shrill, + but rather flat, like that of a large horn."--_Tr._ + + + + +BOOK III.--WANDERINGS IN THE SUMMER OF 1852. + + "Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita + Mi ritrovai per una selva oscura, + Che la diritta via era smarrita. + Ahi quanto a dir qual era e cosa dura. + Questa selva selvaggia, ed aspra, e forte-- + Ma per trattar del ben, ch 'ivi trovai + Diro dell' altre cose, ch' io v'ho scorte." + DANTE. + + +CHAPTER I.--ARRIVAL IN CORSICA. + + Lasciate ogni speranza voi ch' entrate.--DANTE. + +The voyage across to Corsica from Leghorn is very beautiful, and more +interesting than that from Leghorn to Genoa. We have the picturesque +islands of the Tuscan Channel constantly in view. Behind us lies the +Continent, Leghorn with its forest of masts at the foot of Monte Nero; +before us the lonely ruined tower of Meloria, the little island-cliff, +near which the Pisans under Ugolino suffered that defeat from the +Genoese, which annihilated them as a naval power, and put their +victorious opponents in possession of Corsica; farther off, the rocky +islet of Gorgona; and near it in the west, Capraja. We are reminded of +Dante's verses, in the canto where he sings the fate of Ugolino-- + + "O Pisa! the disgrace of that fair land + Where Si is spoken: since thy neighbours round + Take vengeance on thee with a tardy hand,-- + To dam the mouth of Arno's rolling tide + Let Capraja and Gorgona raise a mound + That all may perish in the waters wide." + +The island of Capraja conceals the western extremity of Corsica; but +behind it rise, in far extended outline, the blue hills of Cape Corso. +Farther west, and off Piombino, Elba heaves its mighty mass of cliff +abruptly from the sea, descending more gently on the side towards +the Continent, which we could faintly descry in the extreme distance. +The sea glittered in the deepest purple, and the sun, sinking behind +Capraja, tinged the sails of passing vessels with a soft rose-red. +A voyage on this basin of the Mediterranean is in reality a voyage +through History itself. In thought, I saw these fair seas populous with +the fleets of the Phoenicians and the Greeks, with the ships of those +Phocaeans, whose roving bands were once busy here;--then Hasdrubal, +and the fleets of the Carthaginians, the Etruscans, the Romans, the +Moors, and the Spaniards, the Pisans, and the Genoese. But still more +impressively are we reminded, by the constant sight of Corsica and +Elba, of the greatest drama the world's history has presented in modern +times--the drama which bears the name of Napoleon. Both islands lie +in peaceful vicinity to each other; as near almost as a man's cradle +and his grave--broad, far-stretching Corsica, which gave Napoleon +birth, and the little Elba, the narrow prison in which they penned +the giant. He burst its rocky bonds as easily as Samson the withes of +the Philistines. Then came his final fall at Waterloo. After Elba, he +was merely an adventurer; like Murat, who, leaving Corsica, went, in +imitation of Napoleon, to conquer Naples with a handful of soldiers, +and met a tragic end. + +The view of Elba throws a Fata Morgana into the excited fancy, the +picture of the island of St. Helena lying far off in the African seas. +Four islands, it seems, strangely influenced Napoleon's fate--Corsica, +England, Elba, and St. Helena. He himself was an island in the ocean +of universal history--_unico nel mondo_, as the stout Corsican sailor +said, beside whom I stood, gazing on Corsica, and talking of Napoleon. +"_Ma Signore_," said he, "I know all that better than you, for I am his +countryman;" and now, with the liveliest gesticulations, he gave me an +abridgment of Napoleon's history, which interested me more in the midst +of this scenery than all the volumes of Thiers. And the nephew?--"I say +the _Napoleone primo_ was also the _unico_." The sailor was excellently +versed in the history of his island, and was as well acquainted with +the life of Sampiero as with those of Pasquale Paoli, Saliceti, and +Pozzo di Borgo. + +Night had fallen meanwhile. The stars shone brilliantly, and the waves +phosphoresced. High over Corsica hung Venus, the _stellone_ or great +star, as the sailors call it, now serving us to steer by. We sailed +between Elba and Capraja, and close past the rocks of the latter. The +historian, Paul Diaconus, once lived here in banishment, as Seneca did, +for eight long years, in Corsica. Capraja is a naked granite rock. A +Genoese tower stands picturesquely on a cliff, and the only town in +the island, of the same name, seems to hide timidly behind the gigantic +crag which the fortress crowns. The white walls and white houses, the +bare, reddish rocks, and the wild and desolate seclusion of the place, +give the impression of some lonely city among the cliffs of Syria. +Capraja, which the bold Corsicans made a conquest of in the time of +Paoli, remained in possession of the Genoese when they sold Corsica to +France; with Genoa it fell to Piedmont. + +Capraja and its lights had vanished, and we were nearing the coast of +Corsica, on which fires could be seen glimmering here and there. At +length we began to steer for the lighthouse of Bastia. Presently we +were in the harbour. The town encircles it; to the left the old Genoese +fort, to the right the Marina, high above it in the bend a background +of dark hills. A boat came alongside for the passengers who wished to +go ashore. + +And now I touched, for the first time, the soil of Corsica--an island +which had attracted me powerfully even in my childhood, when I saw +it on the map. When we first enter a foreign country, particularly if +we enter it during the night, which veils everything in a mysterious +obscurity, a strange expectancy, a burden of vague suspense, fills the +mind, and our first impressions influence us for days. I confess my +mood was very sombre and uneasy, and I could no longer resist a certain +depression. + +In the north of Europe we know little more of Corsica than that +Napoleon was born there, that Pasquale Paoli struggled heroically +there for freedom, and that the Corsicans practise hospitality and the +Vendetta, and are the most daring bandits. The notions I had brought +with me were of the gloomiest cast, and the first incidents thrown in +my way were of a kind thoroughly to justify them. + +Our boat landed us at the quay, on which the scanty light of some +hand-lanterns showed a group of doganieri and sailors standing. The +boatman sprang on shore. I have hardly ever seen a man of a more +repulsive aspect. He wore the Phrygian cap of red wool, and had a white +cloth tied over one eye; he was a veritable Charon, and the boundless +fury with which he screamed to the passengers, swearing at them, and +examining the fares by the light of his lantern, gave me at once a +specimen of the ungovernably passionate temperament of the Corsicans. + +The group on the quay were talking eagerly. I heard them tell how +a quarter of an hour ago a Corsican had murdered his neighbour with +three thrusts of a dagger (_ammazzato, ammazzato_--a word never out +of my ears in Corsica; _ammazzato con tre colpi di pugnale_). "On +what account?" "Merely in the heat of conversation; the sbirri are +after him; he will be in the _macchia_ by this time." The _macchia_ +is the bush. I heard the word _macchia_ in Corsica just as often as +_ammazzato_ or _tumbato_. He has taken to the _macchia_, is as much as +to say, he has turned bandit. + +I was conscious of a slight shudder, and that suspense which the +expectation of strange adventures creates. I was about to go in search +of a locanda--a young man stepped up to me and said, in Tuscan, that he +would take me to an inn. I followed the friendly Italian--a sculptor of +Carrara. No light was shed on the steep and narrow streets of Bastia +but by the stars of heaven. We knocked in vain at four locandas; +none opened. We knocked at the fifth; still no answer. "We shall not +find admittance here," said the Carrarese; "the landlord's daughter +is lying on her bier." We wandered about the solitary streets for an +hour; no one would listen to our appeals. Is this the famous Corsican +hospitality? I thought; I seem to have come to the City of the Dead; +and to-morrow I will write above the gate of Bastia: "All hope abandon, +ye who enter here!" + +However, we resolved to make one more trial. Staggering onwards, we +came upon some other passengers in the same unlucky plight as myself; +they were two Frenchmen, an Italian emigrant, and an English convert. +I joined them, and once more we made the round of the locandas. This +first night's experience was by no means calculated to inspire one with +a high idea of the commercial activity and culture of the island; for +Bastia is the largest town in Corsica, and has about fifteen thousand +inhabitants. If this was the stranger's reception in a city, what was +he to expect in the interior of the country? + +A band of sbirri met us, Corsican gendarmes, dusky-visaged fellows +with black beards, in blue frock-coats, with white shoulder-knots, and +carrying double-barrelled muskets. We made complaint of our unfortunate +case to them. One of them offered to conduct us to an old soldier who +kept a tavern; there, he thought, we should obtain shelter. He led +us to an old, dilapidated house opposite the fort. We kept knocking +till the soldier-landlord awoke, and showed himself at the window. +At the same moment some one ran past--our sbirro after him without +saying a word, and both had vanished in the darkness of the night. +What was it?--what did this hot pursuit mean? After some time the +sbirro returned; he had imagined the runner was the murderer. "But +he," said the gendarme, "is already in the hills, or some fisherman has +set him over to Elba or Capraja. A short while ago we shot Arrighi in +the mountains, Massoni too, and Serafino. That was a tough fight with +Arrighi: he killed five of our people." + +The old soldier came to the door, and led us into a large, very dirty +apartment. We gladly seated ourselves round the table, and made a +hearty supper on excellent Corsican wine, which has somewhat of the +fire of the Spanish, good wheaten bread, and fresh ewe-milk cheese. +A steaming oil-lamp illuminated this Homeric repast of forlorn +travellers; and there was no lack of good humour to it. Many a health +was drained to the heroes of Corsica, and our soldier-host brought +bottle after bottle from the corner. There were four nations of us +together, Corsican, Frenchman, German, and Lombard. I once mentioned +the name of Louis Bonaparte, and put a question--the company was struck +dumb, and the faces of the lively Frenchmen lengthened perceptibly. + +Gradually the day dawned outside. We left the casa of the old Corsican, +and, wandering to the shore, feasted our eyes upon the sea, glittering +in the mild radiance of the early morning. The sun was rising fast, and +lit up the three islands visible from Bastia--Capraja, Elba, and the +small Monte Christo. A fourth island in the same direction is Pianosa, +the ancient Planasia, on which Agrippa Posthumus, the grandson of +Augustus, was strangled by order of Tiberius; as its name indicates, +it is flat, and therefore cannot be distinguished from our position. +The constant view of these three blue islands, along the edge of the +horizon, makes the walks around Bastia doubly beautiful. + +I seated myself on the wall of the old fort and looked out upon the +sea, and on the little haven of the town, in which hardly half a dozen +vessels were lying. The picturesque brown rocks of the shore, the green +heights with their dense olive-groves, little chapels on the strand, +isolated gray towers of the Genoese, the sea, in all the pomp of +southern colouring, the feeling of being lost in a distant island, all +this made, that morning, an indelible impression on my soul. + +As I left the fort to settle myself in a locanda, now by daylight, a +scene presented itself which was strange, wild, and bizarre enough. +A crowd of people had collected before the fort, round two mounted +carabineers; they were leading by a long cord a man who kept springing +about in a very odd manner, imitating all the movements of a horse. +I saw that he was a madman, and flattered himself with the belief +that he was a noble charger. None of the bystanders laughed, though +the caprioles of the unfortunate creature were whimsical enough. All +stood grave and silent; and as I saw these men gazing so mutely on the +wretched spectacle, for the first time I felt at ease in their island, +and said to myself, the Corsicans are not barbarians. The horsemen at +length rode away with the poor fellow, who trotted like a horse at the +end of his line along the whole street, and seemed perfectly happy. +This way of getting him to his destination by taking advantage of his +fixed idea, appeared to me at once sly and _naive_. + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE CITY OF BASTIA. + +The situation of Bastia, though not one of the very finest, takes +one by surprise. The town lies like an amphitheatre round the little +harbour; the sea here does not form a gulf, but only a landing-place--a +_cala_. A huge black rock bars the right side of the harbour, called +by the people Leone, from its resemblance to a lion. Above it stands +the gloomy Genoese fort, called the Donjon. To the left, the quay +runs out in a mole, at the extremity of which is a little lighthouse. +The town ascends in terraces above the harbour; its houses are high, +crowded together, tower-shaped, and have many balconies: away beyond +the town rise the green hills, with some forsaken cloisters, beautiful +olive-groves, and numerous fruit-gardens of oranges, lemons, and +almonds. + +Bastia has its name from the fortifications or bastions, erected there +by the Genoese. The city is not ancient; neither Pliny, Strabo, nor +Ptolemy, mentions any town as occupying its site. Formerly the little +marina of the neighbouring town of Cardo stood here. In the year 1383, +the Genoese Governor, Lionello Lomellino, built the Donjon or Castle, +round which a new quarter of the town arose, which was called the +Terra Nuova, the original lower quarter now receiving the name of Terra +Vecchia. Both quarters still form two separate cantons. The Genoese now +transferred the seat of their Corsican government to Bastia, and here +resided the Fregosos, Spinolas, Dorias--within a space of somewhat more +than four hundred years, eleven Dorias ruled in Corsica--the Fiescos, +Cibbas, the Guistiniani, Negri, Vivaldi, Fornari, and many other nobles +of celebrated Genoese families. When Corsica, under French supremacy, +was divided into two departments in 1797, which were named after the +rivers Golo and Liamone, Bastia remained the principal town of the +department of the Golo. In the year 1811, the two parts were again +united, and the smaller Ajaccio became the capital of the country. +Bastia, however, has not yet forgotten that it was once the capital, +though it has now sunk to a sub-prefecture; and it is, in fact, still, +in point of trade, commerce, and intelligence, the leading city of +Corsica. The mutual jealousy of the Bastinese and the citizens of +Ajaccio is almost comical, and would appear a mere piece of ridiculous +provincialism, did we not know that the division of Corsica into the +country this side and beyond the mountains, is historical, and dates +from a remote antiquity, while the character of the inhabitants of +the two halves is also entirely different. Beyond the mountains which +divide Corsica from north to south, the people are much ruder and +wilder, and all go armed; this side the mountains there is much more +culture, the land is better tilled, and the manners of the population +are gentler. + +The Terra Vecchia of Bastia has nowadays, properly speaking, become the +Terra Nuova, for it contains the best streets. The stateliest of them +is the Via Traversa, a street of six and seven-storied houses, bending +towards the sea; it is only a few years old, and still continues to +receive additions. Its situation reminded me of the finest street I +have ever seen, the Strada Balbi and Nuova in Genoa. But the houses, +though of palatial magnitude, have nothing to boast of in the way of +artistic decoration, or noble material. The very finest kinds of stone +exist in Corsica in an abundance scarcely credible--marble, porphyry, +serpentine, alabaster, and the costliest granite; and yet they are +hardly ever used. Nature is everywhere here abandoned to neglect; she +is a beautiful princess under a spell. + +They are building a Palace of Justice in the Via Traversa at present, +for the porticos of which I saw them cutting pillars in the marble +quarries of Corte. Elsewhere, I looked in vain for marble ornament; +and yet--who would believe it?--the whole town of Bastia is paved with +marble--a reddish sort, quarried in Brando. I do not know whether it +is true that Bastia has the best pavement in the world; I have heard it +said. + +Despite its length and breadth, the Via Traversa is the least lively of +all the streets of Bastia. All the bustle and business are concentrated +in the Place Favalelli, on the quay, and in the Terra Nuova, round +the Fort. In the evening, the fashionable world promenades in the +large Place San Nicolao, by the sea, where are the offices of the +sub-prefecture, and the highest court of justice. + +Not a single building of any architectural pretensions fetters the eye +of the stranger here; he must find his entertainment in the beautiful +walks along the shore, and on the olive-shaded hills. Some of the +churches are large, and richly decorated; but they are clumsy in +exterior, and possess no particular artistic attraction. The Cathedral, +in which a great many Genoese seigniors lie entombed, stands in the +Terra Nuova; in the Terra Vecchia is the large Church of St. John +the Baptist. I mention it merely on account of Marboeuf's tomb. +Marboeuf governed Corsica for sixteen years; he was the friend of +Carlo Bonaparte, once so warm an adherent of Paoli; and it was he who +opened the career of Napoleon, for he procured him his place in the +military school of Brienne. His tomb in the church referred to bears +no inscription; the monument and epitaph, as they originally existed, +were destroyed in the Paolistic revolution against France. The Corsican +patriots at that time wrote on the tomb of Marboeuf: "The monument +which disgraceful falsehood and venal treachery dedicated to the +tyrant of groaning Corsica, the true liberty and liberated truth of +all rejoicing Corsica have now destroyed." After Napoleon had become +Emperor, Madame Letitia wished to procure the widow of Marboeuf +a high position among the ladies of honour in the imperial court; +but Napoleon luckily avoided such gross want of tact, perceiving how +unsuitable it was to offer Mme. Marboeuf a subordinate charge in +the very family which owed so much to the patronage of her husband. +He granted Marboeuf's son a yearly pension of ten thousand francs; +but the young general fell at the head of his regiment in Russia. The +little theatre in Bastia is a memorial of Marboeuf; it was built at +his expense. + +Another Frenchman of note lies buried in the Church of St. John--Count +Boissieux, who died in the year 1738. He was a nephew of the celebrated +Villars; but as a military man, had no success. + +The busy stir in the markets, and the life about the port, were what +interested me by far the most in Bastia. + +There was the fish-market, for example. I never omitted paying a +morning visit to the new arrivals from the sea; and when the fishermen +had caught anything unusual, they showed it me in a friendly way, and +would say--"This, Signore, is a _murena_, and this is the _razza_, and +these are the _pesce spada_, and the _pesce prete_, and the beautiful +red _triglia_, and the _capone_, and the _grongo_." Yonder in the +corner, as below caste, sit the pond-fishers: along the east coast of +Corsica are large ponds, separated from the sea by narrow tongues of +land, but connected with it by inlets. The fishermen take large and +well-flavoured fish in these, with nets of twisted rushes, eels in +abundance--_mugini_, _ragni_, and _soglie_. The prettiest of all these +fish is the murena; it is like a snake, and as if formed of the finest +porphyry. It pursues the lobster (_legusta_), into which it sucks +itself; the legusta devours the scorpena, and the scorpena again the +murena. So here we have another version of the clever old riddle of the +wolf, the lamb, and the cabbage, and how they were to be carried across +a river. I am too little of a diplomatist to settle this intricate +cross-war of the three fishes; they are often caught all three in the +same net. Tunny and anchovies are caught in great quantities in the +gulfs of Corsica, especially about Ajaccio and Bonifazio. The Romans +had no liking for Corsican slaves--they were apt to be refractory; but +the Corsican fish figured on the tables of the great, and even Juvenal +has a word of commendation for them. + +The market in the Place Favalelli presents in the morning a fresh, +lively, motley picture. There sit the peasant women with their +vegetables, and the fruit-girls with their baskets, out of which the +beautiful fruits of the south look laughingly. One only needs to visit +this market to learn what the soil of Corsica can produce in the matter +of fruit; here are pears and apples, peaches and apricots, plums of +every sort; there green almonds, oranges and lemons, pomegranates; near +them potatoes, then bouquets of flowers, yonder green and blue figs, +and the inevitable _pomi d'oro_ (_pommes d'amour_); yonder again the +most delicious melons, at a soldo or penny each; and in August come +the muscatel-grapes of Cape Corso. In the early morning, the women and +girls come down from the villages round Bastia, and bring their fruit +into the town. Many graceful forms are to be seen among them. I was +wandering one evening along the shore towards Pietra Nera, and met a +young girl, who, with her empty fruit-basket on her head, was returning +to her village. "_Buona sera--Evviva, Siore._" We were soon in lively +conversation. This young Corsican girl related to me the history of +her heart with the utmost simplicity;--how her mother was compelling +her to marry a young man she did not like. "Why do you not like him?" +"Because his _ingegno_ does not please me, _ah madonna_!" "Is he +jealous?" "_Come un diavolo, ah madonna!_ I nearly ran off to Ajaccio +already." As we walked along talking, a Corsican came up, who, with a +pitcher in his hand, was going to a neighbouring spring. "If you wish a +draught of water," said he, "wait a little till I come down, and you, +Paolina, come to me by and bye: I have something to say to you about +your marriage." + +"Look you, sir," said the girl, "that is one of our relations; they +are all fond of me, and when they meet me, they do not pass me with +a good evening; and none of them will hear of my marrying Antonio." +By this time we were approaching her house. Paolina suddenly turned +to me, and said with great seriousness--"Siore, you must turn back +now; if I go into my village along with you, the people will talk ill +of me (_faranne mal grido_). But come to-morrow, if you like, and be +my mother's guest, and after that we will send you to our relations, +for we have friends enough all over Cape Corso." I returned towards +the city, and in presence of the unspeakable beauty of the sea, and +the silent calm of the hills, on which the goat-herds had begun to +kindle their fires, my mood became quite Homeric, and I could not help +thinking of the old hospitable Phaeacians and the fair Nausicaa. + +The head-dress of the Corsican women is the mandile, a handkerchief +of any colour, which covers the forehead, and smoothly enwrapping the +head, is wound about the knot of hair behind; so that the hair is thus +concealed. The mandile is in use all over Corsica; it looks Moorish +and Oriental, and is of high antiquity, for there are female figures +on Etrurian vases represented with the mandile. It is very becoming on +young girls, less so on elderly women; it makes the latter look like +the Jewish females. The men wear the pointed brown or red baretto, the +ancient Phrygian cap, which Paris, son of Priam, wore. The marbles +representing this Trojan prince give him the baretto; the Persian +Mithras also wears it, as I have observed in the common symbolic group +where Mithras is seen slaying the bull. Among the Romans, the Phrygian +cap was the usual symbol of the barbarians; the well-known Dacian +captives of the triumphal arch of Trajan which now stand on the arch of +Constantine, wear it; so do other barbarian kings and slaves, Sarmatian +and Asiatic, whom we find represented in triumphal processions. The +Venetian Doge also wore a Phrygian cap as a symbol of his dignity. + +The women in Corsica carry all their burdens on their head, and the +weight they will thus carry is hardly credible; laden in this way, they +often hold the spindle in their hand, and spin as they walk along. It +is a picturesque sight, the women of Bastia carrying their two-handled +brazen water-pitchers on their head; these bear a great resemblance +to the antique consecrated vases of the temples; I never saw them +except in Bastia; beyond the mountains they fetch their water in stone +pitchers, of rude but still slightly Etruscan form. + +"Do you see yonder woman with the water-pitcher on her head?" "Yes, +what is remarkable about her?" "She might perhaps have been this day +a princess of Sweden, and the consort of a king." "_Madre di Dio!_" +"Do you see yonder village on the hillside? that is Cardo. The common +soldier Bernadotte one day fell in love with a peasant girl of Cardo. +The parents would not let the poor fellow court her. The _povero +diavolo_, however, one day became a king, and if he had married that +girl, she would have been a queen; and now her daughter there, with +the water on her head, goes about and torments herself that she is +not Princess of Sweden." It was on the highway from Bastia to San +Fiorenzo that Bernadotte worked as a common soldier on the roads. +At Ponte d'Ucciani he was made corporal, and very proud he was of +his advancement. He now watched as superintendent over the workmen; +afterwards he copied the rolls for Imbrico, clerk of court at Bastia. +There is still a great mass of them in his handwriting among the +archives at Paris. + +It was on the Bridge of Golo, some miles from Bastia, that Massena +was made corporal. Yes, Corsica is a wonderful island. Many a one +has wandered among the lonely hills here, who never dreamed that he +was yet to wear a crown. Pope Formosus made a beginning in the ninth +century--he was a native of the Corsican village of Vivario; then a +Corsican of Bastia followed him in the sixteenth century, Lazaro, the +renegade, and Dey of Algiers; in the time of Napoleon, a Corsican woman +was first Sultaness of Morocco; and Napoleon himself was first Emperor +of Europe. + + +CHAPTER III. + +ENVIRONS OF BASTIA. + +How beautiful the walks are here in the morning, or at moon-rise! A +few steps and you are by the sea, or among the hills, and there or +here, you are rid of the world, and deep in the refreshing solitude of +nature. Dense olive-groves fringe some parts of the shore. I often lay +among these, beside a little retired tomb, with a Moorish cupola, the +burial-vault of some family, and looked out upon the sea, and the three +islands on its farthest verge. It was a spot of delicious calm; the air +was so sunny, so soothingly still, and wherever the eye rested, holiday +repose and hermit loneliness, a waste of brown rocks on the strand, +covered with prickly cactus, solitary watch-towers, not a human being, +not a bird upon the water; and to the right and left, warm and sunny, +the high blue hills. + +I mounted the heights immediately above Bastia. From these there is a +very pleasant view of the town, the sea, and the islands. Vineyards, +olive-gardens, orange-trees, little villas of forms the most bizarre; +here and there a fan-palm, tombs among cypresses, ruins quite choked in +ivy, are scattered on every side. The paths are difficult and toilsome; +you wander over loose stones, over low walls, between bramble-hedges, +among trailing ivy, and a wild and rank profusion of thistles. The view +of the shore to the south of Bastia surprised me. The hills there, like +almost all the Corsican hills, of a fine pyramidal form, retire farther +from the shore, and slope gently down to a smiling plain. In this level +lies the great pond of Biguglia, encircled with reeds, dead and still, +hardly a fishing-skiff cutting its smooth waters. The sun was just +sinking as I enjoyed this sight. The lake gleamed rosy red, the hills +the same, and the sea was full of the evening splendour, with a single +ship gliding across. The repose of a grand natural scene calms the +soul. To the left I saw the cloister of San Antonio, among olive-trees +and cypresses; two priests sat in the porch, and some black-veiled nuns +were coming out of the church. I remembered a picture I had once seen +of evening in Sicily, and found it here reproduced. + +Descending to the highway, I came to a road which leads to Cervione; +herdsmen were driving home their goats, riders on little red horses +flew past me, wild fellows with bronzed faces, all with the Phrygian +cap on their heads, the dark brown Corsican jacket of sheeps'-wool +hanging loosely about them, double-barrels slung upon their backs. +I often saw them riding double on their little animals: frequently a +man with a woman behind him, and if the sun was hot they were always +holding a large umbrella above them. The parasol is here indispensable; +I frequently saw both men and women--the women clothed, the men +naked--sitting at their ease in the shallow water near the shore, +and holding the broad parasol above their heads, evidently enjoying +themselves mightily. The women here ride like the men, and manage +their horses very cleverly. The men have always the zucca or round +gourd-bottle slung behind them; often, too, a pouch of goatskin, zaino, +and round their middle is girt the carchera--a leathern belt which +holds their cartridges. + +Before me walked numbers of men returning from labour in the fields; +I joined them, and learned that they were not Corsicans, but Italians +from the Continent. More than five thousand labourers come every year +from Italy, particularly from Leghorn, and the country about Lucca +and Piombino, to execute the field labour for the lazy Corsicans. +Up to the present day the Corsicans have maintained a well-founded +reputation for indolence, and in this they are thoroughly unlike +other brave mountaineers, as, for example, the Samnites. All these +foreign workmen go under the common appellation of Lucchesi. I have +been able personally to convince myself with what utter contempt these +poor and industrious men are looked on by the Corsicans, because they +have left their home to work in the sweat of their brow, exposed to +a pestilential atmosphere, in order to bring their little earnings +to their families. I frequently heard the word "Lucchese" used as +an opprobrious epithet; and particularly among the mountains of +the interior is all field-work held in detestation as unworthy of a +freeman; the Corsican is a herdsman, as his forefathers have been from +time immemorial; he contents himself with his goats, his repast of +chestnuts, a fresh draught from the spring, and what his gun can bring +down. + +I learned at the same time that there were at present in Corsica great +numbers of Italian democrats, who had fled to the island on the failure +of the revolution. There were during the summer about one hundred +and fifty of them scattered over the island, men of all ranks; most +of them lived in Bastia. I had opportunities of becoming acquainted +with the most respectable of these refugees, and of accompanying them +on their walks. They formed a company as motley as political Italy +herself--Lombards, Venetians, Neapolitans, Romans, and Florentines. I +experienced the fact that in a country where there is little cultivated +society, Italians and Germans immediately exercise a mutual attraction, +and have on neutral ground a brotherly feeling for each other. There +was a universality in the events and results of the year 1848, which +broke down many limitations, and produced certain views of life and +certain theories within which individuals, to whatever nationalities +they may belong, feel themselves related and at home. I found among +these exiles in Corsica men and youths of all classes, such as are to +be met with in similar companies at home--enthusiastic and sanguine +spirits; others again, men of practical experience, sound principle, +and clear intellect. + +The world is at present full of the political fugitives of European +nations; they are especially scattered over the islands, which have +long been, and are in their nature destined to be, used as asylums. +There are many exiles in the Ionian Islands and in the islands of +Greece, many in Sardinia and Corsica, many in the islands of the +English Channel, most of all in Britain. It is a general and European +lot which has fallen to these exiles--only the locality is different; +and banishment itself, as a result of political crime, or political +misfortune, is as old as the history of organized states. I remembered +well how in former times the islands of the Mediterranean--Samos, +Delos, AEgina, Corcyra, Lesbos, Rhodes--sheltered the political refugees +of Greece, as often as revolution drove them from Athens or Thebes, or +Corinth or Sparta. I thought of the many exiles whom Rome sent to the +islands in the time of the Emperors, as Agrippa Posthumus to Planasia, +the philosopher Seneca to Corsica itself. Corsica particularly has been +at all times not only a place of refuge, but a place of banishment; +in the strictest sense of the word, therefore, an island of _bandits_, +and this it still is at the present day. The avengers of blood wander +homeless in the mountains, the political fugitives dwell homeless in +the towns. The ban of outlawry rests upon both, and if the law could +reach them, their fate would be the prison, if not death. + +Corsica, in receiving these poor banished Italians, does more than +simply practise her cherished religion of hospitality, she discharges a +debt of gratitude. For in earlier centuries Corsican refugees found the +most hospitable reception in all parts of Italy; and banished Corsicans +were to be met with in Rome, in Florence, in Venice, and in Naples. +The French government has hitherto treated its guests on the island +with liberality and tolerance. The remote seclusion of their position +compels these exiles to a life of contemplative quiet; and they are, +perhaps precisely on this account, more fortunate than their brethren +in misfortune in Jersey or London. + + +CHAPTER IV. + +FRANCESCO MARMOCCHI OF FLORENCE--THE GEOLOGY OF CORSICA. + + Hic sola haec duo sunt, exul, et exilium.--SENECA _in + Corsica_. + + [Greek: Proskunountes ten heimarmenen sophoi.]--AESCHYL. _Prom._ + +I was told in a bookseller's shop into which I had gone in search +of a Geography of the island, that there was one then in the press, +and that its author was Francesco Marmocchi, a banished Florentine. +I immediately sought this gentleman out, and made in him one of +the most valuable of all my Italian acquaintances. I found a man +of prepossessing exterior, considerably above thirty, in a little +room, buried among books. Possibly the rooms of most political exiles +do not present such a peaceful aspect. On the bookshelves were the +best classical authors; and my eye lighted with no small pleasure on +Humboldt's _Cosmos_; on the walls were copperplate views of Florence, +and an admirable copy of a Perugino; all this told not only of the +seclusion of a scholar, but of that of a highly cultivated Florentine. +There are perhaps few greater contrasts than that between Florence and +Corsica, and my own feelings were at first certainly peculiar, when, +after six weeks' stay in Florence, I suddenly exchanged the Madonnas of +Raphael for the Corsican banditti; but it is always to be remembered +that Corsica is an island of enchanting beauty; and though banishment +to paradise itself would remain banishment, still the student of nature +may at least, as Seneca did, console himself here with the grandeur and +beauty around him, in undisturbed tranquillity. All that Seneca wrote +from his Corsican exile to his mother on the consolation to be found +in contemplating nature, and in science, Francesco Marmocchi may fully +apply to himself. This former Florentine professor seemed to me, in his +dignified retirement and learned leisure, the happiest of all exiles. + +Francesco Marmocchi was minister of Tuscany during the revolution, +along with Guerazzi; he was afterwards secretary to the ministry: +more fortunate than his political friend, he escaped from Florence to +Rome, and then from Rome to Corsica, where he had already lived three +years. His unwearied activity, and the stoical serenity with which he +bears his exile, attest the manly vigour of his character. Francesco +Marmocchi is one of the most esteemed and talented Italian geographers. +Besides his great work, a Universal Geography in six quarto volumes, +a new edition of which is at present publishing, he has written a +special Geography of Italy in two volumes; a Historical Geography +of the Ancient World, of the Middle Ages, and of Modern Times; a +Natural History of Italy, and other works. I found him correcting +the proof-sheets of his little Geography of Corsica, an excellent +hand-book, which he has unfortunately been obliged to write in French. +This book is published in Bastia, by Fabiani; it has afforded me some +valuable information about Corsica. + +One morning before sunrise we went into the hills round Cardo, and +here, amid the fresh bloom of the Corsican landscape, if the reader +will suppose himself in our company, we shall take the geographer +himself for guide and interpreter, and hear what he has to say upon the +island. I give almost the very words of his Geography. + +Corsica owes her existence to successive conglobations of upheaved +masses; during an extended period she has had three great volcanic +processes, to which the bizarre and abrupt contours of her landscape +are to be ascribed. These three upheavals may be readily distinguished. +The first masses of Corsican land that rose were those that occupy +the entire south-western side. This earliest upheaval took place in a +direction from north-west to south-east; its marks are the two great +ribs of mountain which run parallel, from north-east to south-west, +down towards the sea, and form the most important promontories of +the west coast. The axis of Corsica at that time must therefore have +been different from its later one; and the islands in the channel of +Bonifazio, as well as a part of the north-east of Sardinia, then stood +in connexion with Corsica. The material of this first upheaval is +mostly granite; consequently at the period of this primeval revolution +there was no life of any sort on the island. + +The direction of the second upheaval was from south-west to north-east, +and the material here again consists largely of granitoids. But as we +advance to the north-east, we find the granite gradually giving way to +the ophiolitic (_ophiolitisch_) earth system. The second upheaval is, +however, hardly discernible. It is clear that it destroyed most of the +northern ridge of the first; but Corsican geology has preserved very +few traces of it. + +The undoubted effect of the third and last upheaval was the almost +entire destruction of the southern portion of the first; and it +was at this time the island received its present form. It occurred +in a direction from north to south. So long as the masses of this +last eruption have not come in contact with the masses of previous +upheavals, their direction remains regular, as is shown by the +mountain-chain of Cape Corso. But it had to burst its way through the +towering masses of the southern ridge with a fearful shock; it broke +them up, altering its direction, and sustaining interruption at many +points, as is shown by the openings of the valleys, which lead from the +interior to the plain of the east coast, and have become the beds of +the streams that flow into the sea on this side--the Bevinco, the Golo, +the Tavignano, the Fiumorbo, and others. + +The rock strata of this third upheaval are primitive ophiolitic +and primitive calcareous, covered at various places by secondary +formations. + +The primitive masses, which occupy, therefore, the south and west of +the island, consist almost entirely of granite. At their extremities +they include some layers of gneiss and slate. The granite is almost +everywhere covered--a clear proof that it was elevated at a period +antecedent to that during which the covering masses were forming in +the bosom of the ocean, to be deposited in horizontal strata on the +crystalline granite masses. Strata of porphyry and eurite pierce +the granite; a decided porphyritic formation crowns Mounts Cinto, +Vagliorba, and Perturato, the highest summits of Niolo, overlying the +granite. From two to three feet of mighty greenstone penetrate these +porphyritic rocks. + +The intermediary masses occupy the whole of Cape Corso, and the east of +the island. They consist of bluish gray limestone, huge masses of talc, +stalactites, serpentine, euphotides, quartz, felspar, and porphyries. + +The tertiary formations appear only in isolated strips, as at San +Fiorenzo, Volpajola, Aleria, and Bonifazio. They exhibit numerous +fossils of marine animals of subordinate species--sea-urchins, polypi, +and many other petrifactions in the limestone layers. + +In regard to the plains of the east coast of Corsica, as the plains +Biguglia, Mariana, and Aleria, they are diluvial deposits of the period +when the floods destroyed vast numbers of animal species. Among the +diluvial fossils in the neighbourhood of Bastia, the head of a lagomys +has been found--a small hare without tail, existing at the present day +in Siberia. + +There is no volcano in Corsica; but traces of extinct volcanoes may +be seen near Porto Vecchio, Aleria, Balistro, San Manza, and at other +points. + +It seems almost incredible that an island like Corsica, so close to +Sardinia and Tuscany, and, above all, so near the iron island of Elba, +should be so poor in metals as it really is. Numerous indications of +metallic veins are, it is true, to be found everywhere, now of iron or +copper, now of lead, antimony, manganese, quicksilver, cobalt, gold and +silver, but these, as the engineer Gueymard has shown in his work on +the geology and mineralogy of Corsica, are illusory. + +The only metal mines of importance that can be wrought, are, at +present, the iron mines of Olmeta and Farinole in Cape Corso, an iron +mine near Venzolasca, the copper mine of Linguizzetta, the antimony +mine of Ersa in Cape Corso, and the manganese mine near Alesani. + +On the other hand, Corsica is an inexhaustible treasury of the rarest +and most valuable stones, an elysium of the geologist. But they lie +unused; no one digs the treasure. + + * * * * * + +It may not be out of place here to give a detail of these beautiful +stones, arranged in the usual geological order. + +1. _Granites._--Red granite, resembling the Oriental granite, between +Orto and the lake of Ereno; coral-red granite at Olmiccia; rose-red +granite at Cargese; red granite, tending to purple, at Aitone; rosy +granite of Carbuccia; rosy granite of Porto; rose-red granite at +Algajola; granite with garnets (the bigness of a nut) at Vizzavona. + +2. _Porphyries._--Variegated porphyry in Niolo; black porphyry with +rosy spots at Porto Vecchio; pale yellow porphyry, with rosy felspar at +Porto Vecchio; grayish green porphyry, with amethyst, on the Restonica. + +3. _Serpentines._--Green, very hard serpentines; also transparent +serpentines at Corte, Matra, and Bastia. + +4. Eurites, amphibolites, and euphotides; globular eurite at Curso +and Girolata, in Niolo, and elsewhere; globular amphibolite, commonly +termed orbicular granite (the nodules consist of felspar and amphiboles +in concentric layers) in isolated blocks at Sollucaro, on the Taravo, +in the valley of Campolaggio and elsewhere; amphibolite, with crystals +of black hornblende in white felspar at Olmeto, Levie, and Mela; +euphotides, called also Verde of Corsica, and Verde d'Orezza, in the +bed of the Fiumalto, and in the valley of Bevinco. + +5. _Jasper_ and _Agates_.--Jasper (in granites and porphyries) in +Niolo, and the valley of Stagno; agates (also in the granites and +porphyries) in the same localities. + +6. _Marble_ and _Alabaster_.--White statuary marble of dazzling +splendour at Ortiporio, Casacconi, Borgo de Cavignano, and elsewhere; +bluish gray marble at Corte; yellow alabaster in the valley of S. +Lucia, near Bastia; white alabaster, semi-transparent, foliated and +fibrous, in a grotto behind Tuara, in the gulf of Girolata. + + +CHAPTER V. + +A SECOND LESSON, THE VEGETATION OF CORSICA. + +It was an instructive lesson that Francesco Marmocchi, _quondam_ +professor of natural history, _quondam_ minister of Tuscany, now +Fuoruscito, and poor solitary student, gave me, that rosiest of all +morning hours as we stood high up on the green Mount Cardo, the fair +Mediterranean extended at our feet, exactly of such a colour as Dante +has described: _color del Oriental zaffiro_. + +"See," said Marmocchi, "where the blue outline shows itself, yonder is +the beautiful Toscana." + +Ah, I see Toscana well; plainly I see fair Florence, and the halls +where the statues of the great Tuscans stand, Giotto, Orcagna, Nicola +Pisano, Dante, Petrarca, Boccacio, Macchiavelli, Galilei, and the +godlike Michael Angelo; three thousand Croats--I can see them--are +parading there among the statues; the air is so clear, you can see and +hear everything: listen, Francesco, to the verses the marble Michael +Angelo is now addressing to Dante:-- + + "Dear is to me my sleep, and that I am of stone; + While this wo lasts, this ignominy deep, + To see nought, and to hear nought, that alone + Is well; then wake me not, speak low, and weep!" + +But do you see how this dry brown rock has decorated himself over and +over with flowers? On his head he wears a glorious plume of myrtles, +white with blossom, and his breast is wound with a threefold cord +of honour; with ivy, bramble, and the white wild vine--the clematis. +There are no fairer garlands than those wreaths of clematis with their +clusters of white blossom, and delicate leaves; the ancients loved them +well, and willingly in lyric hours wore them round their heads. + +Within the compass of a few paces, what a profusion of different +plants! Here are rosemary and cytisus, there wild asparagus, beside +it a tall bush of lilac-blossomed erica; here again the poisonous +euphorbia, which sheds a milk-white juice when you break it; and here +the sympathetic helianthemum, with its beautiful golden flowers, which +one by one all fall off when you have broken a single twig; yonder, +outlandish and bizarre, stands the prickly cactus, like a Moorish +heathen, near it the wild olive shrub, the cork-oak, the lentiscus, +the wild fig, and at their roots bloom the well-known children of +our northern homes--the scabiosa, the geranium, and the mallow. +How exquisite, pungent, invigorating are the perfumes that all this +blooming vegetation breathes forth; the rue there, the lavender, the +mint, and all those labiatae. Did not Napoleon say on St. Helena, +as his mournful thoughts turned again to his native island: "All was +better there, to the very smell of the soil; with shut eyes I should +know Corsica from its fragrance alone." + +Let us hear something from Marmocchi now, on the botany of Corsica in +general. + +Corsica is the most central region of the great plant-system of the +Mediterranean--a system characterized by a profusion of fragrant +Labiatae and graceful Caryophylleae. These plants cover all parts of the +island, and at all seasons of the year fill the air with their perfume. + +On account of the central position of Corsica, its vegetation connects +itself with that of all the other provinces of the immense botanic +region referred to; through Cape Corso it is connected with the plants +of Liguria, through the east coast with those of Tuscany and Rome, +through the west and south coasts with the botany of Provence, Spain, +Barbary, Sicily, and the East; and finally, through the mountainous +and lofty region of the interior, with that of the Alps and Pyrenees. +What a wondrous opulence, and astonishing variety, therefore, in the +Corsican vegetation!--a variety and opulence that infinitely heightens +the beauty of the various regions of this island, already rendered so +picturesque by their geological configuration. + +Some of the forests, on the slopes of the mountains, are as beautiful +as the finest in Europe--particularly those of Aitone and Vizzavona; +besides, many provinces of Corsica are covered with boundless groves of +chestnuts, the trees in which are as large and fruitful as the finest +on the Apennines or Etna. Plantations of olives, from their extent +entitled to be called forests, clothe the eminences, and line the +valleys that run towards the sea, or lie open to its influences. Even +on the rude sides of the higher mountains, the grape-vine twines itself +round the orchard-fences, and spreads to the view its green leaves and +purple fruit. Fertile plains, golden with rich harvests, stretch along +the coasts of the island, and wheat and rye enliven the hillsides, here +and there, with their fresh green, which contrasts agreeably with the +dark verdure of the copsewoods, and the cold tones of the naked rock. + +The maple and walnut, like the chestnut, thrive in the valleys and on +the heights of Corsica; the cypress and the sea-pine prefer the less +elevated regions; the forests are full of cork oaks and evergreen oaks; +the arbutus and the myrtle grow to the size of trees. Pomaceous trees, +but particularly the wild olive, cover wide tracts on the heights. The +evergreen thorn, and the broom of Spain and Corsica, mingle with heaths +in manifold variety, and all equally beautiful; among these may be +distinguished the _erica arborea_, which frequently reaches an uncommon +height. + +On the tracts which are watered by the overflowing of streams and +brooks, grow the broom of Etna, with its beautiful golden-yellow +blossoms, the cisti, the lentisks, the terebinths, everywhere where the +hand of man has not touched the soil. Further down, towards the plains, +there is no hollow or valley which is not hung with the rhododendron, +whose twigs, towards the sea-coast, entwine with those of the tamarisk. + +The fan-palm grows on the rocks by the shore, and the date-palm, +probably introduced from Africa, on the most sheltered spots of the +coast. The _cactus opuntia_ and the American agave grow everywhere in +places that are warm, rocky, and dry. + +What shall I say of the magnificent cotyledons, of the beautiful +papilionaceous plants, of the large verbasceae, the glorious purple +digitalis, that deck the mountains of the island? And of the mallows, +the orchises, the liliaceae, the solanaceae, the centaurea, and the +thistles--plants which so beautifully adorn the sunny and exposed, or +cool and shady regions where their natural affinities allow them to +grow? + +The fig, the pomegranate, the vine, yield good fruit in Corsica, even +where the husbandman neglects them, and the climate and soil of the +coasts of this beautiful island are so favourable to the lemon and the +orange, and the other trees of the same family, that they literally +form forests. + +The almond, the cherry, the plum, the apple-tree, the pear tree, the +peach, and the apricot, and, in general, all the fruit trees of Europe, +are here common. In the hottest districts of the island, the fruits +of the St. John's bread-tree, the medlar of various kinds, the jujube +tree, reach complete ripeness. + +The hand of man, if man were willing, might introduce in the proper +quarters, and without much trouble, the sugar-cane, the cotton plant, +tobacco, the pine-apple, madder, and even indigo, with success. +In a word, Corsica might become for France a little Indies in the +Mediterranean. + +This singularly magnificent vegetation of the island is favoured by the +climate. The Corsican climate has three distinct zones of temperature, +graduated according to the elevation of the soil. The first climatic +zone rises from the level of the sea to the height of five hundred and +eighty metres (1903 English feet); the second, from the line of the +former, to the height of one thousand nine hundred and fifty metres +(6398 feet); the third, to the summit of the mountains. + +The first zone or region of the coast is warm, like the parallel tracts +of Italy and Spain. Its year has properly only two seasons, spring +and summer; seldom does the thermometer fall 1 deg. or 2 deg. below zero of +Reaumur (27 deg. or 28 deg. Fah.); and when it does so, it is only for a few +hours. All along the coast, the sun is warm even in January, the nights +and the shade cool, and this at all seasons of the year. The sky is +clouded only during short intervals; the heavy sirocco alone, from the +south-east, brings lingering vapours, till the vehement south-west--the +libeccio, again dispels them. The moderate cold of January is rapidly +followed by a dog-day heat of eight months, and the temperature mounts +from 8 deg. to 18 deg. of Reaumur (50 deg. to 72 deg. Fah.), and even to 26 deg. (90 deg. Fah.) +in the shade. It is, then, a misfortune for the vegetation, if no rain +falls in March or April--and this misfortune occurs often; but the +Corsican trees have, in general, hard and tough leaves, which withstand +the drought, as the oleander, the myrtle, the cistus, the lentiscus, +the wild olive. In Corsica, as in all warm climates, the moist and +shady regions are almost pestilential; you cannot walk in these in the +evening without contracting long and severe fever, which, unless an +entire change of air intervene, will end in dropsy and death. + +The second climatic zone resembles the climate of France, more +especially that of Burgundy, Morvan, and Bretagne. Here the snow, +which generally appears in November, lasts sometimes twenty days; but, +singularly enough, up to a height of one thousand one hundred and sixty +metres (3706 feet), it does no harm to the olive; but, on the contrary, +increases its fruitfulness. The chestnut seems to be the tree proper to +this zone, as it ceases at the elevation of one thousand nine hundred +and fifty metres (6398 feet), giving place to the evergreen oaks, firs, +beeches, box-trees, and junipers. In this climate, too, live most of +the Corsicans in scattered villages on mountain slopes and in valleys. + +The third climate is cold and stormy, like that of Norway, during eight +months of the year. The only inhabited parts are the district of Niolo, +and the two forts of Vivario and Vizzavona. Above these inhabited +spots no vegetation meets the eye but the firs that hang on the gray +rocks. There the vulture and the wild-sheep dwell, and there are the +storehouse and cradle of the many streams that pour downwards into the +valleys and plains. + +Corsica may therefore be considered as a pyramid with three horizontal +gradations, the lowermost of which is warm and moist, the uppermost +cold and dry, while the intermediate shares the qualities of both. + + +CHAPTER VI. + +LEARNED MEN. + +If we reflect on the number of great men that Corsica has produced +within the space of scarcely a hundred years, we cannot but be +astonished that an island so small, and so thinly populated, is yet so +rich in extraordinary minds. Its statesmen and generals are of European +note; and if it has not been so fruitful in scientific talent, this is +a consequence of its nature as an island, and of its iron history. + +But even scientific talent of no mean grade has of late years been +active in Corsica, and names like Pompei, Renucci, Savelli, Rafaelli, +Giubeja, Salvatore Viali, Caraffa, Gregori, are an honour to the +island. The men of most powerful intellect among these belong to the +legal profession. They have distinguished themselves particularly in +jurisprudence, and as historians of their own country. + +A man the most remarkable and meritorious of them all, and whose +memory will not soon die in Corsica, was Giovanni Carlo Gregori. He +was born in Bastia in 1797, and belonged to one of the best families +in the island. Devoting himself to the study of law, he first became +auditor in Bastia, afterwards judge in Ajaccio, councillor at the +king's court in Riom, then at the appeal court in Lyons, where he was +also active as president of the Academy of Sciences, and where, on +the 27th of May 1852, he died. He has written important treatises on +Roman jurisprudence; but he had a patriotic passion for the history of +his native country, and with this he was unceasingly occupied. He had +resolved to write a history of Corsica, had made detailed researches, +and collected the necessary materials for it; but death overtook him, +and the loss of his work to Corsica cannot be sufficiently lamented. +Nevertheless, Gregori has done important service to his native country: +he edited the new edition of the national historian Filippini, a +continuation of whose work it had been his purpose to write; he also +edited the Corsican history of Petrus Cyrnaeus; and in the year 1843 +he published a highly important work--the Statutes of Corsica. In his +earlier years he had written a Corsican tragedy, with Sampiero for a +hero, which I have not seen. + +Gregori maintained a most lively literary connexion with Italy and +Germany. His acquirements were unusually extended, and his activity of +the genuine Corsican stubbornness. Among his posthumous manuscripts are +a part of his History of Corsica, and rich materials for a history of +the commerce of the naval powers. The death of Gregori filled not only +Corsica, but the men of science in France and Italy, with deep sorrow. + +He and Renucci also rendered good service to the public library of +Bastia, which contains sixteen thousand volumes, and occupies a large +building formerly belonging to the Jesuits. They may be said, in +fact, to have _made_ this library, which ranks with that of Ajaccio +as second in the island. Science in Corsica is still, on the whole, in +its infancy. As the historian Filippini, the contemporary of Sampiero, +complains,--indolence, the mainly warlike bent given to the nature +of the Corsicans by their perpetual struggles, and the consequent +ignorance, entirely prevented the formation of a literature. But it +is remarkable, that in the year 1650 the Corsicans founded an Academy +of Sciences, the first president of which was Geronimo Biguglia, the +poet, advocate, theologian, and historian. It is well known that people +in those times were fond of giving such academies the most whimsical +names; the Corsicans called theirs the Academy dei Vagabondi (of the +Vagabonds), and a more admirable and fitting appellation they could not +at that period have selected. The Marquis of Cursay, whose memory is +still affectionately cherished by the Corsicans, restored this Academy; +and Rousseau, himself entitled to the name of Vagabond from his +wandering life, wrote a little treatise for this Corsican institution +on the question: "Which is the most necessary virtue for heroes, and +what heroes have been deficient in this virtue?"--a genuinely Corsican +subject. + +The educational establishments--the Academy just referred to has +been dissolved--are, in Bastia, as in Corsica in general, extremely +inadequate. Bastia has a Lyceum, and some lower schools. I was present +at a distribution of prizes in the highest of the girls' schools. It +took place in the court of the old college of the Jesuits, which was +prettily decorated, and in the evening brilliantly illuminated. The +girls, all in white, sat in rows before the principal citizens and +magistrates of the town, and received bay-wreaths--those who had won +them. The head mistress called the name of the happy victress, who +thereupon went up to her desk and received the wreath, which she then +brought to one of the leading men of the town, silently conferring on +him the favour of crowning her, which ceremony was then gone through +in due form. Innumerable such bay-wreaths were distributed; and +many a pretty child bore away perhaps ten or twelve of them for her +immortal works, receiving them all very gracefully. It seemed to me, +however, that wealthy parents, or celebrated old families, were too +much flattered; and they never ceased crowning Miss Colonna d'Istria, +Miss Abatucci, Miss Saliceti--so that these young ladies carried more +bays home with them than would serve to crown the immortal poets of a +century. The graceful little festival--in which there was certainly too +much French flattering of vanity--was closed by a play, very cleverly +acted by the young ladies. + +Bastia has a single newspaper--_L'Ere Nouvelle, Journal de la +Corse_--which appears only on Fridays. Up till this summer, the +advocate Arrighi, a man of talent, was the editor. The new Prefect +of Corsica, described to me as a young official without experience, +exceedingly anxious to bring himself into notice, like the Roman +prefects of old in their provinces, had been constantly finding +fault with the Corsican press, the most innocent in the world; and +threatening, on the most trifling pretexts, to withdraw the Government +permission to publish the paper in question, till at length M. +Arrighi was compelled to retire. The paper, entirely Bonapartist in +its politics, still exists; the only other journal in Corsica is the +Government paper in Ajaccio. + +There are three bookselling establishments in Bastia, among which the +Libreria Fabiani would do honour even to a German city. This house has +published some beautiful works. + + +CHAPTER VII. + +CORSICAN STATISTICS--RELATION OF CORSICA TO FRANCE. + +In the Bastian Journal for July 16, 1852, I found the statistics +of Corsica according to calculations made in 1851, and shall here +communicate them. Inhabitants + + In 1740, 120,380 + 1760, 130,000 + 1790, 150,638 + 1821, 180,348 + 1827, 185,079 + + In 1831, 197,967 + 1836, 207,889 + 1841, 221,463 + 1846, 230,271 + 1851, 236,251 + +The population of the several arrondissements, five in number, was as +follows:--In the arrondissement of Ajaccio, 55,008; Bastia, 20,288; +Calvi, 24,390; Corte, 56,830; Sartene, 29,735.[B] + +Corsica is divided into sixty-one cantons, 355 communes; contains +30,438 houses, and 50,985 households. + + Males. + Unmarried, 75,543 + Married, 36,715 + Widowers, 5,680 + ------- + 117,938 + + Females. + Unmarried, 68,229 + Married, 36,916 + Widows, 13,168 + ------- + 118,313 + +236,187 of the inhabitants are Roman Catholics, fifty-four Reformed +Christians. The French born on the island, _i.e._, the Corsicans +included, are 231,653:--Naturalized French, 353; Germans, 41; English, +12; Dutch, 6; Spaniards, 7; Italians, 3806; Poles, 12; Swiss, 85; other +foreigners, 285. + +Of diseased people, there were in the year 1851, 2554; of these 435 +were blind in both eyes, 568 in one eye; 344 deaf and dumb; 183 insane; +176 club-footed. + +Occupation--32,364 men and women were owners of land; 34,427 were +day-labourers; 6924 domestics; people in trades connected with +building--masons, carpenters, painters, blacksmiths, &c., 3194; +dealers in wrought goods, and tailors, 4517; victual-dealers, 2981; +drivers of vehicles, 1623; dealers in articles of luxury--watchmakers, +goldsmiths, engravers, &c., 55; monied people living on their incomes, +13,160; government officials, 1229; communal magistrates, 803; military +and marinari, 5627; apothecaries and physicians, 311; clergy, 955; +advocates, 200; teachers, 635; artists, 105; _litterateurs_, 51; +prostitutes, 91; vagabonds and beggars, 688; sick in hospital, 85. + +One class, and that the most original class in the island, has no +figure assigned to it in the above list--I mean the herdsmen. The +number of bandits is stated to be 200; and there may be as many +Corsican bandits in Sardinia. + +That the reader may be able to form a clear idea of the general +administration of Corsica, I shall here furnish briefly its more +important details. + +Corsica has been a department since the year 1811. It is governed by +a prefect, who resides in Ajaccio. He also discharges the functions of +sub-prefect for the arrondissement of Ajaccio. He has four sub-prefects +under him in the other four arrondissements. The prefect is assisted +by the Council of the prefecture, consisting of three members, besides +the prefect as president, and deciding on claims of exemption, &c., +in connexion with taxes, the public works, the communal and national +estates. There is an appeal to the Council of State. + +The General Council, the members of which are elected by the voters of +each canton, assembles yearly in Ajaccio to deliberate on the public +affairs of the nation. It is competent to regulate the distribution of +the direct taxes over the arrondissements. The General Council can only +meet by a decree of the supreme head of the state, who determines the +length of the sitting. There is a representative for each canton, in +all, therefore, there are sixty-one. + +In the chief town of each arrondissement meets a provincial council +of as many members as there are cantons in the arrondissement. The +citizens who, according to French law, are entitled to vote, are also +voters for the Legislative Assembly. There are about 50,000 voters in +Corsica. + +Mayors, with adjuncts named by the prefect, conduct the affairs of the +communes; the people have retained so much of their democratic rights, +that they are allowed to elect the municipal council over which the +mayor presides. + +As regards the administration of justice, the high court of the +department is the Appeal Court of Bastia, which consists of one chief +president, two _presidents de chambre_, seventeen councillors, one +auditor, one procurator-general, two advocates-general, one substitute, +five clerks of court. + +The Court of Assize holds its sittings in Bastia, and consists of +three appeal-councillors, the procurator-general, and a clerk of court. +It sits usually once every four months. There is a Tribunal of First +Instance in the principal town of each arrondissement. There is also +in each canton a justice of the peace. Each commune has a tribunal of +simple municipal police, consisting of the mayor and his adjuncts. + +The ecclesiastical administration is subject to the diocese of Ajaccio, +the bishop of which--the only one in Corsica--is a suffragan of the +Archbishop of Aix. + +Corsica forms the seventeenth military division of France. Its +head-quarters are in Bastia, where the general of the division resides. +The gendarmerie, so important for Corsica, forms the seventeenth +legion, and is also stationed in Bastia. It is composed of four +companies, with four _chefs_, sixteen lieutenancies, and one hundred +and two brigades. + +I add a few particulars in regard to agriculture and industrial +affairs. Agriculture, the foundation of all national wealth, is +very low in Corsica. This is very evident from the single fact, +that the cultivated lands of the island amount to a trifle more than +three-tenths of the surface. The exact area of the island is 874,741 +hectars.[C] The progress of agriculture is infinitely retarded by +family feuds, bandit-life, the community of land in the parishes, +the want of roads, the great distance of the tilled grounds from the +dwellings, the unwholesome atmosphere of the plains, and most of all by +the Corsican indolence. + +Native industry is in a very languishing state. It is confined to +the merest necessaries--the articles indispensable to the common +handicrafts, and to sustenance; the women almost everywhere wear the +coarse brown Corsican cloth (_panno Corso_), called also _pelvue_; the +herdsmen prepare cheese, and a sort of cheesecake, called _broccio_; +the only saltworks are in the Gulf of Porto Vecchio. There are anchovy, +tunny, and coral fisheries on many parts of the coast, but they are not +diligently pursued. + +The commerce of Corsica is equally trifling. The principle export is +oil, which the island yields so abundantly, that with more cultivation +it might produce to the value of sixty millions of francs; it also +exports pulse, chestnuts, fish, fresh and salted, wood, dyeing plants, +hides, corals, marble, a considerable amount of manufactured tobacco, +especially cigars, for which the leaf is imported. The main imports +are--grain of various kinds, as rye, wheat, and rice; sugar, coffee, +cattle, cotton, lint, leather, wrought and unwrought iron, brick, +glass, stoneware. + +The export and import are grievously disproportionate. The Customs +impose ruinous restrictions on all manufacture and all commerce; they +hinder foreigners from exchanging their produce for the produce of the +country; hence the Corsicans must pay tenfold for their commodities +in France, while even wine is imported from Provence free of duty, +and thus checks the native cultivation of the vine. For Corsica is, in +point of fact, precluded from exporting wine to France; France herself +being a productive wine country. Even meal and vegetables are sent to +the troops from Provence. The export of tobacco to the Continent is +forbidden.[D] The tyrannical customs-regulations press with uncommon +severity on the poor island; and though she is compelled to purchase +articles from France to the value of three millions yearly, she sends +into France herself only a million and a half. And Corsica yields the +exchequer yearly 1,150,000 francs. + +Bastia, Ajaccio, Isola Rossa, and Bonifazio are the principal trading +towns. + +But however melancholy the condition of Corsica may be in an industrial +and a commercial point of view, its limited population protects it +at least from the scourge of pauperism, which, in the opulent and +cultivated countries of the Continent, can show mysteries of a much +more frightful character than those of bandit-life and the Vendetta. + +For five-and-twenty years now, with unimportant interruptions, have +the French been in possession of the island of Corsica; and they +have neither succeeded in healing the ever open wound of the Corsican +people, nor have they, with all the means that advanced culture places +at their disposal, done anything for the country, beyond introducing a +few very trifling improvements. The island that has twice given France +her Emperor, and twice dictated her laws, has gained nothing by it +but the satisfaction of her revenge. The Corsican will never forget +the disgraceful way in which France appropriated his country; and a +high-spirited people never learns to love its conquerors. When I heard +the Corsicans, even of the present day, bitterly inveighing against +Genoa, I said to them--"Leave the old Republic of Genoa alone; you have +had your full Vendetta on her--Napoleon, a Corsican, annihilated her; +France betrayed you, and bereft you of your nationality; you have had +your full Vendetta on France, for you sent her your Corsican Napoleon, +who enslaved her; and even now this great France is a Corsican +conquest, and your own province." + +Two emperors, two Corsicans, on the throne of France, bowing her down +with despotic violence;--well, if an ideal conception can have the +worth of reality, then we are compelled to say, never was a brave +subjugated people more splendidly avenged on its subduers. The name of +Napoleon, it may be confidently affirmed, is the only tie that binds +the Corsican nation to France; without this its relation to France +would be in no respect different from that of other conquered countries +to their foreign masters. I have read, in many authors, the assertion +that the Corsican nation is at the core of its heart French. I hold +this assertion to be a mistake, or an intentional falsehood. I have +never seen the least ground for it. The difference between Corsican +and Frenchman in nationality, in the most fundamental elements of +character and feeling, puts a deep gulf between the two. The Corsican +is decidedly an Italian; his language is acknowledged to be one of the +purest dialects of Italian, his nature, his soil, his history, still +link the lost son to his old mother-country. The French feel themselves +strange in the island, and both soldiers and officials consider their +period of service there as a "dreary exile in the isle of goats." The +Corsican does not even understand such a temperament as the French--for +he is grave, taciturn, chaste, consistent, thoroughly a man, and +steadfast as the granite of his country. + +Corsican patriotism is not extinct. I saw it now and then burst out. +The old grudge still stirs the bosom of the Corsican, when he remembers +the battle of Ponte Nuovo. Travelling one day, in a public conveyance, +over the battle-field of Ponte Nuovo, a Corsican sitting beside me, a +man from the interior, pulled me vehemently by the arm, as we came in +sight of the famous bridge, and cried, with a passionate gesture--"This +is the spot where the Genoese murdered our freedom--I mean the French." +The reader will understand this, when he remembers that the name +of Genoese means the same as deadly foe; for hatred of Genoa, the +Corsicans themselves say, is with them undying. Another time I asked +a Corsican, a man of education, if he was an Italian. "Yes," said he, +"for I am a Corsican." I understood him well, and reached him my hand. +These are isolated occurrences--accidents, but frequently a living +word, caught from the mouth of the people, throws a vivid light on its +state of feeling, and suddenly reveals the truth that does not stand in +books compiled by officials. + +I have heard it said again and again, and in all parts of the +country--"We Corsicans would gladly be Italian--for we are in reality +Italians, if Italy were only united and strong; as she is at present, +we must be French, for we need the support of a great power; by +ourselves we are too poor." + +The Government does all it can to dislodge the Italian language, and +replace it with the French. All educated Corsicans speak French, and, +it is said, well; fashion, necessity, the prospect of office, force +it upon many. Sorry I was to meet Corsicans (they were always young +men) who spoke French with each other evidently out of mere vanity. +I could not refrain on such occasions from expressing my astonishment +that they so thoughtlessly relinquished their beautiful native tongue +for that of the French. In the cities French is much spoken, but the +common people speak nothing but Italian, even when they have learned +French at school, or by intercourse with Frenchmen. French has not at +all penetrated into the mountainous districts of the interior, where +the ancient, venerated customs of the elder Corsicans--their primitive +innocence, single-heartedness, justice, generosity, and love of +liberty--remain unimpaired. Sad were it for the noble Corsican people +if they should one day exchange the virtues of their rude but great +forefathers for the refined corruption of enervated Parisian society. +The moral rottenness of society in France has robbed the French nation +of its strength. It has stolen like an infection into society in +other countries, deepened their demoralization, and made incapacity +for action general. It has disturbed the hallowed foundation of all +human society--the family relation. But a people is ripe for despotism +that has lost the spirit of family. The whole heroic history of the +Corsicans has its source in the natural law of the inviolability and +sacredness of the family relation, and in that alone; even their free +constitution which they gave themselves in the course of years, and +completed under Paoli, is but a development of the family. All the +virtues of the Corsicans spring from this spirit; even the frightful +night-sides of their present condition, such as the Vendetta, belong to +the same root. + +We look with shuddering on the avenger of blood, who descends from his +mountain haunts, to stab his foe's kindred, man by man; yet this bloody +vampire may, in manly vigour, in generosity, and in patriotism, be a +very hero compared with such bloodless, sneaking villains, as are to +be found contaminating with their insidious presence the great society +of our civilisation, and secretly sucking out the souls of their +fellow-men. + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +BRACCIAMOZZO, THE BANDIT. + + "Che bello onor s'acquista in far Vendetta."--DANTE. + +The second day after my arrival in Bastia, I was awakened during +the night by an appalling noise in my locanda, in the street of the +Jesuits. It was as if the Lapithae and Centaurs had got together by the +ears. I spring to the door, and witness, in the _salle-a-manger_, the +following scene:--Mine host infuriated and vociferating at the pitch +of his voice--his firelock levelled at a man who lies before him on +his knees, other people vociferating, interfering, and trying to calm +him down; the man on his knees implores mercy: they put him out of the +house. It was a young man who had given himself out in the locanda for +a Marseillese, had played the fine gentleman, and, in the end, could +not pay his bill. + +The second day after this, I happened to cross early in the morning +the Place San Nicolao, the public promenade of the Bastinese, on my +way to bathe. The executioners were just erecting a guillotine beside +the town-house, though not in the centre of the Place, still on the +promenade itself. Carabineers and a crowd of people surrounded the +shocking scene, to which the laughing sea and the peaceful olive-groves +formed a contrast painfully impressive. The atmosphere was close and +heavy with the sirocco. Sailors and workmen stood in groups on the +quay, silently smoking their little chalk-pipes, and gazing at the red +scaffold, and not a few of them, in the pointed barretto, brown jacket, +hanging half off, half on; their broad breasts bare, red handkerchiefs +carelessly knotted about their necks, looked as if they had more to do +with the guillotine than merely to stare at it. And, in fact, there +probably was not one among the crowd who was not likely to meet with +the same fate, if accident but willed it, that the hallowed custom of +the Vendetta should stain his band with murder, and murder should force +him to the life of the bandit. + +"Who is it they are going to execute?" + +"Bracciamozzo (Stump-arm). He is only three-and-twenty. The sbirri +caught him in the mountains; but he defended himself like a devil--they +shot him in the arm--the arm was taken off, and it healed." + +"What has he done?" + +"_Dio mio!_--he has killed ten men!" + +"Ten men! and for what?" + +"Out of _capriccio_." + +I hastened into the sea to refresh myself with a bath, and then +back into my locanda, in order to see no more of what passed. I was +horror-struck at what I had heard and seen, and a shuddering came over +me in this wild solitude. I took out my Dante; I felt as if I must read +some of his wild phantasies in the _Inferno_, where the pitch-devils +thrust the doomed souls down with harpoons as often as they rise for a +mouthful of air. My locanda lay in the narrow and gloomy street of the +Jesuits. An hour had elapsed, when a confused hum, and the trample of +horses' feet brought me to the window--they were leading Bracciamozzo +past, accompanied by the monks called the Brothers of Death, in their +hooded capotes, that leave nothing of the face free but the eyes, which +gleam spectrally out through the openings left for them--veritable +demon-shapes, muttering in low hollow tones to themselves, horrible, as +if they had sprung from Dante's Hell into reality. The bandit walked +with a firm step between two priests, one of whom held a crucifix +before him. He was a young man of middle size, with beautiful bronze +features and raven-black curly hair, his face pale, and the pallor +heightened by a fine moustache. His left arm was bound behind his +back, the other was broken off near the shoulder. His eye, fiery no +doubt as a tiger's, when the murderous lust for blood tingled through +his veins, was still and calm. He seemed to be murmuring prayers. His +pace was steady, and his bearing upright. Gendarmes rode at the head +of the procession with drawn swords; behind the bandit, the Brothers +of Death walked in pairs; the black coffin came last of all--a cross +and a death's-head rudely painted on it in white. It was borne by four +Brothers of Mercy. Slowly the procession moved along the street of the +Jesuits, followed by the murmuring crowd; and thus they led the vampire +with the broken wing to the scaffold. My eyes have never lighted on +a scene more horrible, seldom on one whose slightest details have so +daguerreotyped themselves in my memory. + +I was told afterwards that the bandit died without flinching, and that +his last words were: "I pray God and the world for forgiveness, for I +acknowledge that I have done much evil." + +This young man, people said to me, had not become a murderer from +personal reasons of revenge, that is, in order to fulfil a Vendetta; +he had become a bandit from ambition. His story throws a great deal of +light on the frightful state of matters in the island. When Massoni +was at the height of his fame [this man had avenged the blood of +a relation, and then become bandit], Bracciamozzo, as the people +began to call the young Giacomino, after his arm had been mutilated, +carried him the means of sustenance: for these bandits have always an +understanding with friends and with goat-herds, who bring them food in +their lurking-places, and receive payment when the outlaws have money. +Giacomino, intoxicated with the renown of the bold bandit Massoni, +took it into his head to follow his example, and become the admiration +of all Corsica. So he killed a man, took to the bush, and was a +bandit. By and bye he had killed ten men, and the people called him +Vecchio--the old one, probably because, though still quite young, he +had already shed as much blood as an old bandit. One day Vecchio shot +the universally esteemed physician Malaspina, uncle of a hospitable +entertainer of my own, a gentleman of Balagna; he concealed himself +in some brushwood, and fired right into the _diligenza_ as it passed +along the road from Bastia. The mad devil then sprang back into the +mountains, where at length justice overtook him. + +A career of this frightful description, then, is possible for a man +in Corsica. Nobody there despises the bandit; he is neither thief +nor robber, but only fighter, avenger, and free as the eagle on the +hills. Hot-headed youths are fired with the thought of winning fame +by daring deeds of arms, and of living in the ballads of the people. +The inflammable temperament of these men--who have been tamed by no +culture, who shun labour as a disgrace, and, thirsting for action, +know nothing of the world but the wild mountains among which Nature has +cooped them up within their sea-girt island--seems, like a volcano, to +insist on vent. On another, wider field, and under other conditions, +the same men who house for years in caverns, and fight with sbirri in +the bush, would become great soldiers like Sampiero and Gaffori. The +nature of the Corsicans is the combative nature; and I can find no more +fitting epithet for them than that which Plato applies to the race of +men who are born for war, namely, "impassioned."[E] The Corsicans are +impassioned natures; passionate in their jealousy and in their pursuit +of fame; passionately quick in honour, passionately prone to revenge. +Glowing with all this fiery impetuosity, they are the born soldiers +that Plato requires. + +After Bracciamozzo's execution, I was curious to see whether the _beau +monde_ of Bastia would promenade as usual on the Place San Nicolao +in the evening, and I did not omit walking in that direction. And lo! +there they were, moving up and down on the Place Nicolao, where in the +morning bandit blood had flowed--the fair dames of Bastia. Nothing now +betrayed the scene of the morning; it was as if nothing had happened. I +also wandered there; the colouring of the sea was magically beautiful. +The fishing-skiffs floated on it with their twinkling lights, and the +fishermen sang their beautiful song, _O pescator dell' onda_. + +In Corsica they have nerves of granite, and no smelling-bottles. + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE VENDETTA, OR REVENGE TO THE DEATH. + + "Eterna faremo Vendetta."--_Corsican Ballad._ + +The origin of the bandit life is to be sought almost exclusively in +the ancient custom of the Vendetta, that is, of exacting blood for +blood. Almost all writers on this subject, whom I have read, state that +the Vendetta began to be practised in the times when Genoese justice +was venal, or favoured murder. Without doubt, the constant wars, +and defective administration of justice greatly contributed to the +evil, and allowed the barbarous custom to become inveterate, but its +root lies elsewhere. For the law of blood for blood does not prevail +in Corsica only, it exists also in other countries--in Sardinia, in +Calabria, in Sicily, among the Albanians and Montenegrins, among the +Circassians, Druses, Bedouins, &c. + +Like phenomena must arise under like conditions; and these are not +far to seek, for the social condition of all these peoples is similar. +They all lead a warlike and primitive life; nature around them is wild +and impressive; they are all, with the exception of the Bedouins, poor +mountaineers inhabiting regions not easily accessible to culture, and +clinging, with the utmost obstinacy, to their primitive condition and +ancient barbarous customs; further, they are all equally penetrated +with the same intense family sympathies, and these form the sacred +basis of such social life as they possess. In a state of nature, and +in a society rent asunder by prevailing war and insecurity, the family +becomes a state in itself; its members cleave fast to each other; +if one is injured, the entire little state is wronged. The family +exercises justice only through itself, and the form this exercise of +justice takes, is revenge. And thus it appears that the law of blood +for blood, though barbarous, still springs from the injured sense of +justice, and the natural affection of blood-relations, and that its +source is a noble one--the human heart. The Vendetta is barbarian +justice. Now the high sense of justice characterizing the Corsicans is +acknowledged and eulogized even by the authors of antiquity. + +Two noble and great passions have, all along, swayed the the Corsican +mind--the love of family and the love of country. In the case of a +quite poor people, living in a sequestered island--an island, moreover, +mountainous, rugged, and stern--these passions could not but be +intense, for to that nation they were all the world. Love of country +produced that heroic history of Corsica which we know, and which is in +reality nothing but an inveterate Vendetta against Genoa, handed down +for ages from father to son; and love of family has produced the no +less bloody, and no less heroic history of the Vendetta, the tragedy +of which is not yet played to an end. The exhaustless native energy +of this little people is really something inconceivable, since, while +rending itself to pieces in a manner the most sanguinary, it, at the +same time, possessed the strength to maintain so interminable and so +glorious a struggle with its external foes. + +The love of his friends is still to the Corsican what it was in the +old heroic times--a religion; only the love of his country is with +him a higher duty. Many examples from Corsican history show this. As +among the ancient Hellenes, fraternal love ranked as love's highest +and purest form, so it is ranked among the Corsicans. In Corsica, the +fraternal relation is viewed as the holiest of all relations, and the +names of brother and sister indicate the purest happiness the heart can +have--its noblest treasure, or its saddest loss. The eldest brother, as +the stay of the family, is revered simply in his character as such. I +believe nothing expresses so fully the range of feeling, and the moral +nature of a people, as its songs. Now the Corsican song is strictly a +dirge, which is at the same time a song of revenge; and most of these +songs of revenge are dirges of the sister for her brother who has +fallen. I have always found in this poetry that where-ever all love +and all laudation are heaped upon the dead, it is said of him, He was +my brother. Even the wife, when giving the highest expression to her +love, calls her husband, brother. I was astonished to find precisely +the same modes of expression and feeling in the Servian popular poetry; +with the Servian woman, too, the most endearing name for her husband +is brother, and the most sacred oath among the Servians is when a +man swears by his brother. Among unsophisticated nations, the natural +religion of the heart is preserved in their most ordinary sentiments +and relations--for these have their ground in that which alone is +lasting in the circumstances of human life; the feeling of a people +cleaves to what is simple and enduring. Fraternal love and filial love +express the simplest and most enduring relations on earth, for they are +relations without passion. And the history of human wo begins with Cain +the fratricide. + +Wo, therefore, to him who has slain the Corsican's brother or +blood-relation! The deed is done; the murderer flees from a double +dread--of justice, which punishes murder; and of the kindred of the +slain, who avenge murder. For as soon as the deed has become known, +the relations of the fallen man take their weapons, and hasten to +find the murderer. The murderer has escaped to the woods; he climbs +perhaps to the perpetual snow, and lives there with the wild sheep: +all trace of him is lost. But the murderer has relatives--brothers, +cousins, a father; these relatives know that they must answer for the +deed with their lives. They arm themselves, therefore, and are upon +their guard. The life of those who are thus involved in a Vendetta is +most wretched. He who has to fear the Vendetta instantly shuts himself +up in his house, and barricades door and window, in which he leaves +only loop-holes. The windows are lined with straw and with mattresses; +and this is called _inceppar le fenestre_. The Corsican house among +the mountains, in itself high, almost like a tower, narrow, with a +high stone stair, is easily turned into a fortress. Intrenched within +it, the Corsican keeps close, always on his guard lest a ball reach +him through the window. His relatives go armed to their labour in the +field, and station sentinels; their lives are in danger at every step. +I have been told of instances in which Corsicans did not leave their +intrenched dwellings for ten, and even for fifteen years, spending all +this period of their lives besieged, and in deadly fear; for Corsican +revenge never sleeps, and the Corsican never forgets. Not long ago, +in Ajaccio, a man who had lived for ten years in his room, and at last +ventured upon the street, fell dead upon the threshold of his house as +he re-entered: the ball of him who had watched him for ten years had +pierced his heart. + +I see, walking about here in the streets of Bastia, a man whom the +people call Nasone, from his large nose. He is of gigantic size, and +his repulsive features are additionally disfigured by the scar of a +frightful wound in his eye. Some years ago he lived in the neighbouring +village of Pietra Nera. He insulted another inhabitant of the place; +this man swore revenge. Nasone intrenched himself in his house, and +closed up the windows, to protect himself from balls. A considerable +time passed, and one day he ventured abroad; in a moment his foe sprang +upon him, a pruning-knife in his hand. They wrestled fearfully; Nasone +was overpowered; and his adversary, who had already given him a blow +in the neck, was on the point of hewing off his head on the stump of +a tree, when some people came up. Nasone recovered; the other escaped +to the macchia. Again a considerable time passed. Once more Nasone +ventured into the street: a ball struck him in the eye. They raised the +wounded man; and again his giant nature conquered, and healed him. The +furious bandit now ravaged his enemy's vineyard during the night, and +attempted to fire his house. Nasone removed to the city, and goes about +there as a living example of Corsican revenge--an object of horror to +the peaceable stranger who inquires his history. I saw the hideous man +one day on the shore, but not without his double-barrel. His looks made +my flesh creep; he was like the demon of revenge himself. + +Not to take revenge is considered by the genuine Corsicans as +degrading. Thirst for vengeance is with them an entirely natural +sentiment--a passion that has become hallowed. In their songs, revenge +has a _cultus_, and is celebrated as a religion of filial piety. Now, +a sentiment which the poetry of a people has adopted as an essential +characteristic of the nationality is ineradicable; and this in the +highest degree, if woman has ennobled it as _her_ feeling. Girls and +women have composed most of the Corsican songs of revenge, and they +are sung from mountain-top to shore. This creates a very atmosphere of +revenge, in which the people live and the children grow up, sucking in +the wild meaning of the Vendetta with their mother's milk. In one of +these songs, it is said that twelve lives are insufficient to avenge +the fallen man's--boots! That is Corsican. A man like Hamlet, who +struggles to fill himself with the spirit of the Vendetta, and cannot +do it, would be pronounced by the Corsicans the most despicable of all +poltroons. Nowhere in the world, perhaps, does human blood and human +life count for so little as in Corsica. The Corsican is ready to take +life, but he is also ready to die. + +Any one who shrinks from avenging himself--a milder disposition, +perhaps, or a tincture of philosophy, giving him something of +Hamlet's hesitancy--is allowed no rest by his relations, and all his +acquaintances upbraid him with pusillanimity. To reproach a man for +suffering an injury to remain unavenged is called _rimbeccare_. The old +Genoese statute punished the _rimbecco_ as incitation to murder. The +law runs thus, in the nineteenth chapter of these statutes:-- + +"Of those who upbraid, or say _rimbecco_.--If any one upbraids or says +_rimbecco_ to another, because that other has not avenged the death +of his father, or of his brother, or of any other blood-relation, or +because he has not taken vengeance on account of other injuries and +insults done upon himself, the person so upbraiding shall be fined in +from twenty-five to fifty lire for each time, according to the judgment +of the magistrate, and regard being had to the quality of the person, +and to other circumstances; and if he does not pay forthwith, or cannot +pay within eight days, then shall he be banished from the island for +one year, or the corda shall be put upon him once, according to the +judgment of the magistrate." + +In the year 1581, the severity of the law was so far increased, that +the tongue of any one saying _rimbecco_ was publicly pierced. Now, it +is especially the women who incite the men to revenge, in their dirges +over the corpse of the person who has been slain, and by exhibiting +the bloody shirt. The mother fastens a bloody rag of the father's shirt +to the dress of her son, as a perpetual admonition to him that he has +to effect vengeance. The passions of these people have a frightful, a +demoniac glow. + +In former times the Corsicans practised the chivalrous custom of +previously _proclaiming_ the war of the Vendetta, and also to what +degree of consanguinity the vengeance was to extend. The custom has +fallen into disuse. Owing to the close relationship between various +families, the Vendetta, of course, crosses and recrosses from one +to another, and the Vendetta that thus arises is called in Corsica, +_Vendetta transversale_. + +In intimate and perfectly natural connexion with this custom, stand +the Corsican family feuds, still at the present day the scourge of +the unhappy island. The families in a state of Vendetta, immediately +draw into it all their relatives, and even friends; and in Corsica, +as in other countries where the social condition of the population is +similar, the tie of clan is very strong. Thus wars between families +arise within one and the same village, or between village and village, +glen and glen; and the war continues, and blood is shed for years. +Vendetta, or lesser injuries--frequently the merest accidents--afford +occasion, and with temperaments so passionate as those of the +Corsicans, the slightest dispute may easily terminate in blood, as +they all go armed. The feud extends even to the children; instances +have been known in which children belonging to families at feud have +stabbed and shot each other. There are in Corsica certain relations +of clientship--remains of the ancient feudal system of the time of the +seigniors, and this clientship prevails more especially in the country +beyond the mountains, where the descendants of the old seigniors live +on their estates. They have no vassals now, but dependants, friends, +people in various ways bound to them. These readily band together as +the adherents of the house, and are then, according to the Corsican +expression, the _geniali_, their protectors being the _patrocinatori_. +Thus, as in the cities of mediaeval Italy, we have still in Corsica +wars of families, as a last remnant of the feuds of the seigniors. +The granite island has maintained an obstinate grasp on her antiquity; +her warlike history and constant internal dissensions, caused by the +ambition and overbearing arrogance of the seigniors, have stamped the +spirit of party on the country, and till the present day it remains +rampant. + +In Corsica, the frightful word "enemy" has still its full old meaning. +The enemy is there the deadly enemy; he who is at enmity with another, +goes out to take his enemy's life, and in so doing risks his own. We, +too, have brought the old expression "deadly enemy" with us from a +more primitive state, but the meaning we attach to it is more abstract. +_Our_ deadly enemies have no wish to murder us--they do us harm behind +our backs, they calumniate us, they injure us secretly in all possible +ways, and often we do not so much as know who they are. The hatreds of +civilisation have usually something mean in them; and hence, in our +modern society, a man of noble feeling can no longer be an enemy--he +can only despise. But deadly foes in Corsica attack the life; they +have loudly and publicly sworn revenge to the death, and wherever they +find each other, they stab and shoot. There is a frightful manliness +in this; it shows an imposing, though savage and primitive force of +character. Barbarous as such a state of society is, it nevertheless +compels us to admire the natural force which it develops, especially as +the Corsican avenger is frequently a really tragic individual, urged by +fate, because by venerated custom, to murder. For even a noble nature +can here become a Cain, and they who wander as bandits on the hills of +this island, are often bearers of the curse of barbarous custom, and +not of their own vileness, and may be men of virtues that would honour +and signalize them in the peaceable life of a civil community. + +A single passion, sprung from noble source--revenge, and nothing but +revenge! it is wonderful with what irresistible might it seizes on a +man. Revenge is, for the poor Corsicans, the dread goddess of Fate, +who makes their history. And thus through a single passion man becomes +the most frightful demon, and more merciless than the Avenging Angel +himself, for he does not content himself with the first-born. Yet dark +and sinister as the human form here appears, the dreadful passion, +nevertheless, produces its bright contrast. Where foes are foes for +life and death, friends are friends for life and death; where revenge +lacerates the heart with tiger blood-thirstiness, there love is capable +of resolutions the most sublime; there we find heroic forgetfulness of +self, and the Divine clemency of forgiveness; and nowhere else is it +possible to see the Christian precept, Love thine enemy, realized in a +more Christian way than in the land of the Vendetta. + +Often, too, mediators, called _parolanti_, interfere between the +parties at feud, who swear before them an oath of reconciliation. +This oath is religiously sacred; he who breaks it is an outlaw, and +dishonoured before God and man. It is seldom broken, but it is broken, +for the demon has made his lair in human hearts. + + +CHAPTER X. + +BANDIT LIFE. + + "On! on! These are his footsteps plainly; + Trust the dumb lead of the betraying track! + For as the bloodhounds trace the wounded deer, + So we, by his sweat and blood, do scent him out." + + AESCHYL. _Eumen._ + +How the Corsican may be compelled to live as bandit, may be suddenly +hurled from his peaceable home, and the quiet of civic life, into the +mountain fastnesses, to wander henceforth with the ban of outlawry on +him, will be clear from what we have seen of the Vendetta. + +The Corsican bandit is not, like the Italian, a thief and robber, +but strictly what his name implies--a man whom the law has _banned_. +According to the old statute, all those are _banditti_ on whom sentence +of banishment from the island has been passed, because justice has not +been able to lay hands on them. They were declared outlaws, and any one +was free to slay a bandit if he came in his way. The idea of banishment +has quite naturally been extended to all whom the law proscribes. + +The isolation of Corsica, want of means, and love of their native soil, +prevent the outlawed Corsicans from leaving their island. In former +times, Corsican bandits occasionally escaped to Greece, where they +fought bravely; at present, many seek refuge in Italy, and still more +in Sardinia, if they prefer to leave their country. Flight from the law +is nowhere in the world a simpler matter than in Corsica. The blood has +scarcely been shed before the doer of the deed is in the hills, which +are everywhere close at hand, and where he easily conceals himself +in the impenetrable macchia. From the moment that he has entered the +macchia, he is termed bandit. His relatives and friends alone are +acquainted with his traces; as long as it is possible, they furnish +him with necessaries; many a dark night they secretly receive him into +their houses; and however hard pressed, the bandit always finds some +goat-herd who will supply his wants. + +The main haunts of the bandits are between Tor and Mount Santo Appiano, +in the wildernesses of Monte Cinto and Monte Rotondo, and in the +inaccessible regions of Niolo. There the deep shades of natural forests +that have never seen an axe, and densest brushwood of dwarf-oak, +albatro, myrtles, and heath, clothe the declivities of the mountains; +wild torrents roar unseen through gloomy ravines, where every path +is lost; and caves, grottos, and shattered rocks, afford concealment. +There the bandit lives, with the falcon, the fox, and the wild sheep, +a life more romantic and more comfortless than that of the American +savage. Justice takes her course. She has condemned the bandit _in +contumaciam_. The bandit laughs at her; he says in his strange way, +"I have got the _sonetto_!" meaning the sentence _in contumaciam_. +The sbirri are out upon his track--the avengers of blood the same--he +is in constant flight--he is the Wandering Jew of the desolate hills. +Now come the conflicts with the gendarmes, heroic, fearful conflicts; +his hands grow bloodier; but not with the blood of sbirri only, for +the bandit is avenger too; it is not for love to his wretched life--it +is far rather for revenge that he lives. He has sworn death to his +enemy's kindred. One can imagine what a wild and fierce intensity his +vengeful feelings must acquire in the frightful savageness of nature +round him, and in its yet more frightful solitude, under constant +thoughts of death, and dreams of the scaffold. Sometimes the bandit +issues from the mountains to slay his enemy; when he has accomplished +his vengeance, he vanishes again in the hills. Not seldom the Corsican +bandit rises into a Carl Moor[F]--into an avenger upon society of +real or supposed injuries it has done him. The history of the bandit +Capracinta of Prunelli is still well known in Corsica. The authorities +had unjustly condemned his father to the galleys; the son forthwith +took to the macchia with some of his relations, and these avengers +from time to time descended from the mountains, and stabbed and shot +personal enemies, soldiers, and spies; they one day captured the public +executioner, and executed the man himself. + +It frequently happens, as we might naturally expect, that the bandits +allow themselves to become the tools of others who have a Vendetta +to accomplish, and who have recourse to them for the obligation of a +dagger or a bullet. In a country of such limited extent, and where the +families are so intricately and so widely connected, the bandits cannot +but become formidable. They are the sanguinary scourges of the country; +agriculture is neglected, the vineyards lie waste--for who will +venture into the field if he is menaced by Massoni or Serafino? There +are, moreover, among the bandits, men who were previously accustomed +to exercise influence upon others, and to take part in public life. +Banished to the wilderness, their inactivity becomes intolerable to +them; and I was assured that some, in their caverns and hiding-places, +continue even to read newspapers which they contrive to procure. They +frequently exert an influence of terror on the communal elections, and +even on the elections for the General Council. It is no unusual thing +for them to threaten judges and witnesses, and to effect a bloody +revenge for the sentence pronounced. This, and the great mildness +of the verdicts usually brought in by Corsican juries, have been the +ground of a wish, already frequently expressed, for the abolition of +the jury in Corsica. It is not to be denied that a Corsican jury-box +may be influenced by the fear of the vengeance of the bandits; but +if we accuse them indiscriminately of excessive leniency, we shall in +many cases do these jurymen wrong; for the bandit life and its causes +must be viewed under the conditions of Corsican society. I was present +at the sitting of a jury in Bastia, an hour after the execution of +Bracciamozzo, and in the same building in front of which he had been +guillotined; the impression of the public execution seemed to me +perceptible in the appearance of the jury and the spectators, but not +in that of the prisoner at the bar. He was a young man who had shot +some one--he had a stolid hardened face, and his skull looked like a +negro's, as if you might use it for an anvil. Neither what had lately +occurred, nor the solemnity of the proceedings of the assize, made the +slightest impression on the fellow; he showed no trace of embarrassment +or fear, but answered the interrogatories of the examining judge with +the greatest _sang-froid_, expressing himself briefly and concisely as +to the circumstances of his murderous act. I have forgotten to how many +years' confinement he was sentenced. + +Although the Corsican bandit never lowers himself to common robbery, +he holds it not inconsistent with his knightly honour to extort money. +The bandits levy black-mail, they tax individuals, frequently whole +villages, according to their means, and call in their tribute with +great strictness. They impose these taxes as kings of the bush; and +I was told their subjects paid them more promptly and conscientiously +than they do their taxes to the imperial government of France. It often +happens, that the bandit sends a written order into the house of some +wealthy individual, summoning him to deposit so many thousand francs in +a spot specified; and informing him that if he refuses, himself, his +house, and his vineyards, will be destroyed. The usual formula of the +threat is--_Si preparasse_--let him prepare. Others, again, fall into +the hands of the bandits, and have to pay a ransom for their release. +All intercourse becomes thus more and more insecure; agriculture +impossible. With the extorted money, the bandits enrich their relatives +and friends, and procure themselves many a favour; they cannot put the +money to any immediate personal use--for though they had it in heaps, +they must nevertheless continue to live in the caverns of the mountain +wilds, and in constant flight. + +Many bandits have led their outlaw life for fifteen or twenty +years, and, small as is the range allowed them by their hills, have +maintained themselves successfully against the armed power of the +State, victorious in every struggle, till the bandit's fate at length +overtook them. The Corsican banditti do not live in troops, as in this +way the country could not support them; and, moreover, the Corsican +is by nature indisposed to submit to the commands of a leader. They +generally live in twos, contracting a sort of brotherhood. They have +their deadly enmities among themselves too, and their deadly revenge; +this is astonishing, but so powerful is the personal feel of revenge +with the Corsican, that the similarity of their unhappy lot never +reconciles bandit with bandit, if a Vendetta has existed between them. +Many stories are told of one bandit's hunting another among the hills, +till he had slain him, on account of a Vendetta. Massoni and Serafino, +the two latest bandit heroes of Corsica, were at feud, and shot at +each other when opportunity offered. A shot of Massoni's had deprived +Serafino of one of his fingers. + +The history of the Corsican bandits is rich in extraordinary, heroic, +chivalrous, traits of character. Throughout the whole country they sing +the bandit dirges; and naturally enough, for it is their own fate, +their own sorrow, that they thus sing. Numbers of the bandits have +become immortal; but the bold deeds of one especially are still famous. +His name was Teodoro, and he called himself king of the mountains. +Corsica has thus had two kings of the name of Theodore. Teodoro Poli +was enrolled on the list of conscripts, one day in the beginning of +the present century. He had begged to be allowed time to raise money +for a substitute. He was seized, however, and compelled to join the +ranks. Teodoro's high spirit and love of freedom revolted at this. +He threw himself into the mountains, and began to live as bandit. +He astonished all Corsica by his deeds of audacious hardihood, and +became the terror of the island. But no meanness stained his fame; on +the contrary, his generosity was the theme of universal praise, and +he forgave even relatives of his enemies. His personal appearance was +remarkably handsome, and, like his namesake, the king, he was fond of +rich and fantastic dress. His lot was shared by his mistress, who lived +in affluence on the contributions (_taglia_) which Teodoro imposed +upon the villages. Another bandit, called Brusco, to whom he had vowed +inviolable friendship, also lived with him, and his uncle Augellone. +Augellone means _bird of ill omen_--it is customary for the bandits +to give themselves surnames as soon as they begin to play a part in +the macchia. The Bird of Ill Omen became envious of Brusco, because +Teodoro was so fond of him, and one day he put the cold iron a little +too deep into his breast. He thereupon made off into the rocks. When +Teodoro heard of the fall of Brusco, he cried aloud for grief, not +otherwise than Achilles at the fall of Patroclus, and, according to the +old custom of the avengers, began to let his beard grow, swearing never +to cut it till he had bathed in the blood of Augellone. A short time +passed, and Teodoro was once more seen with his beard cut. These are +the little tragedies of which the mountain fastnesses are the scene, +and the bandits the players--for the passions of the human heart are +everywhere the same. Teodoro at length fell ill. A spy gave information +of the hiding-place of the sick lion, and the wild wolf-hounds, the +sbirri, were immediately among the hills--they killed Teodoro in a +goat-herd's shieling. Two of them, however, learned how dangerously he +could still handle his weapons. The popular ballad sings of him, that +he fell with the pistol in his hand and the firelock by his side, _come +un fiero paladino_--like a proud paladin. Such was the respect which +this king of the mountains had inspired, that the people continued to +pay his tribute, even after his fall. For at his death there was still +some due, and those who owed the arrears came and dropped their money +respectfully into the cradle of the little child, the offspring of +Teodoro and his queen. Teodoro met his death in the year 1827. + +Gallocchio is another celebrated outlaw. He had conceived an attachment +for a girl who became faithless to him, and he had forbidden any +other to seek her hand. Cesario Negroni wooed and won her. The young +Gallocchio gave one of his friends a hint to wound the father-in-law. +The wedding guests are dancing merrily, merrily twang the fiddles +and the mandolines--a shot! The ball had missed its way, and pierced +the father-in-law's heart. Gallocchio now becomes bandit. Cesario +intrenches himself. But Gallocchio forces him to leave the building, +hunts him through the mountains, finds him, kills him. Gallocchio now +fled to Greece, and fought there against the Turks. One day the news +reached him that his own brother had fallen in the Vendetta war which +had continued to rage between the families involved in it by the death +of the father-in-law, and that of Cesario. Gallocchio came back, and +killed two brothers of Cesario; then more of his relatives, till at +length he had extirpated his whole family. The red Gambini was his +comrade; with his aid he constantly repulsed the gendarmes; and on one +occasion they bound one of them to a horse's tail, and dragged him so +over the rocks. Gambini fled to Greece, where the Turks cut off his +head; but Gallocchio died in his sleep, for a traitor shot him. + +Santa Lucia Giammarchi is also famous; he held the bush for sixteen +years; Camillo Ornano ranged the mountains for fourteen years; and +Joseph Antommarchi was seventeen years a bandit. + +The celebrated bandit Serafino was shot shortly before my arrival in +Corsica; he had been betrayed, and was slain while asleep. Arrighi, +too, and the terrible Massoni, had met their death a short time +previously--a death as wild and romantic as their lives had been. + +Massoni was a man of the most daring spirit, and unheard of energy; +he belonged to a wealthy family in Balagna. The Vendetta had driven +him into the mountains, where he lived many years, supported by +his relations, and favoured by the herdsmen, killing, in frequent +struggles, a great number of sbirri. His companions were his brother +and the brave Arrighi. One day, a man of the province of Balagna, who +had to avenge the blood of a kinsman on a powerful family, sought him +out, and asked his assistance. The bandit received him hospitably, +and as his provisions happened to be exhausted at the time, went to a +shepherd of Monte Rotondo, and demanded a lamb; the herdsman gave him +one from his flock. Massoni, however, refused it, saying--"You give me +a lean lamb, and yet to-day I wish to do honour to a guest; see, yonder +is a fat one, I must have it;" and instantly he shot the fat lamb down, +and carried it off to his cave. + +The shepherd was provoked by the unscrupulous act. Meditating revenge, +he descended from the hills, and offered to show the sbirri Massoni's +lurking-place. The shepherd was resolved to avenge the blood of his +lamb. The sbirri came up the hills, in force. These Corsican gendarmes, +well acquainted with the nature of their country, and practised in +banditti warfare, are no less brave and daring than the game they +hunt. Their lives are in constant danger when they venture into the +mountains; for the bandits are watchful--they keep a look-out with +their telescopes, with which they are always provided, and when danger +is discovered they are up and away more swiftly than the muffro, the +wild sheep; or they let their pursuers come within ball-range, and they +never miss their mark. + +The sbirri, then, ascended the hills, the shepherd at their head; they +crept up the rocks by paths which he alone knew. The bandits were lying +in a cave. It was almost inaccessible, and concealed by bushes. Arrighi +and the brother of Massoni lay within, Massoni himself sat behind the +bushes on the watch. + +Some of the sbirri had reached a point above the cave, others guarded +its mouth. Those above looked down into the bush to see if they could +make out anything. One sbirro took a stone and pitched it into the +bush, in which he thought he saw some black object; in a moment a man +sprang out, and fired a pistol to awake those in the cavern. But the +same instant were heard the muskets of the sbirri, and Massoni fell +dead on the spot. + +At the report of the fire-arms a man leapt out of the cave, Massoni's +brother. He bounded like a wild-goat in daring leaps from crag to crag, +the balls whizzing about his head. One hit him fatally, and he fell +among the rocks. Arrighi, who saw everything that passed, kept close +within the cave. The gendarmes pressed cautiously forward, but for +a while no one dared to enter the grotto, till at length some of the +hardiest ventured in. There was nobody to be seen; the sbirri, however, +were not to be cheated, and confident that the cavern concealed their +man, camped about its mouth. + +Night came. They lighted torches and fires. It was resolved to starve +Arrighi into surrender; in the morning some of them went to a spring +near the cave to fetch water--the crack of a musket once, twice, +and two sbirri fell. Their companions, infuriated, fired into the +cavern--all was still. + +The next thing to be done was to bring in the two dead or dying men. +After much hesitation a party made the attempt, and again it cost one +of them his life. Another day passed. At last it occurred to one of +them to smoke the bandit out like a badger--a plan already adopted with +success in Algiers. They accordingly heaped dry wood at the entrance +of the cave, and set fire to it; but the smoke found egress through +chinks in the rock. Arrighi heard every word that was said, and kept +up actual dialogues with the gendarmes, who could not see, much less +hit him. He refused to surrender, although pardon was promised him. At +length the procurator, who had been brought from Ajaccio, sent to the +city of Corte for military and an engineer. The engineer was to give +his opinion as to whether the cave might be blown up with gunpowder. +The engineer came, and said it was possible to throw petards into +it. Arrighi heard what was proposed, and found the thought of being +blown to atoms with the rocks of his hiding-place so shocking, that he +resolved on flight. + +He waited till nightfall, then rolling some stones down in a false +direction, he sprang away from rock to rock, to reach another mountain. +The uncertain shots of the sbirri echoed through the darkness. One ball +struck him on the thigh. He lost blood, and his strength was failing; +when the day dawned, his bloody track betrayed him, as its bloody sweat +the stricken deer. The sbirri took up the scent. Arrighi, wearied to +death, had lain down under a block. On this block a sbirro mounted, +his piece ready. Arrighi stretched out his head to look around him--a +report, and the ball was in his brain. + +So died these three outlawed avengers, fortunate that they did not end +on the scaffold. Such was their reputation, however, with the people, +that none of the inhabitants of Monte Rotondo or its neighbourhood +would lend his mule to convey away the bodies of the fallen men. For, +said these people, we will have no part in the blood that you have +shed. When at length mules had been procured, the dead men, bandits and +sbirri, were put upon their backs, and the troop of gendarmes descended +the hills, six corpses hanging across the mule-saddles, six men killed +in the banditti warfare. + +If this island of Corsica could again give forth all the blood which in +the course of centuries has been shed upon it--the blood of those who +have fallen in battle, and the blood of those who have fallen in the +Vendetta--the red deluge would inundate its cities and villages, and +drown its people, and crimson the sea from the Corsican shore to Genoa. +Verily, violent death has here his peculiar realm. + +It is difficult to believe what the historian Filippini tells us, that, +in thirty years of his own time, 28,000 Corsicans had been murdered +out of revenge. According to the calculation of another Corsican +historian, I find that in the thirty-two years previous to 1715, 28,715 +murders had been committed in Corsica. The same historian calculates +that, according to this proportion, the number of the victims of the +Vendetta, from 1359 to 1729, was 333,000. An equal number, he is of +opinion, must be allowed for the wounded. We have, therefore, within +the time specified, 666,000 Corsicans struck by the hand of the +assassin. This people resembles the hydra, whose heads, though cut off, +constantly grow on anew. + +According to the speech of the Corsican Prefect before the +General Council of the Departments, in August 1852, 4300 murders +(_assassinats_) have been committed since 1821; during the four years +ending with 1851, 833; during the last two of these 319, and during the +first seven months of 1852, 99. + +The population of the island is 250,000. + +The Government proposes to eradicate the Vendetta and the bandit life +by a general disarming of the people. How this is to be effected, and +whether it is at all practicable, I cannot tell. It will occasion +mischief enough, for the bandits cannot be disarmed along with the +citizens, and their enemies will be exposed defenceless to their balls. +The bandit life, the family feuds, and the Vendetta, which the law has +been powerless to prevent, have hitherto made it necessary to permit +the carrying of arms. For, since the law cannot protect the individual, +it must leave him at liberty to protect himself; and thus it happens +that Corsican society finds itself, in a sense, without the pale of the +state, in the condition of natural law, and armed self-defence. This +is a strange and startling phenomenon in Europe in our present century. +It is long since the wearing of pistols and daggers was forbidden, but +every one here carries his double-barreled gun, and I have found half +villages in arms, as if in a struggle against invading barbarians--a +wild, fantastic spectacle, these reckless men all about one in some +lonely and dreary region of the hills, in their shaggy pelone, and +Phrygian cap, the leathern cartridge-belt about their waist, and gun +upon their shoulder. + +Nothing is likely to eradicate the Vendetta, murder, and the bandit +life, but advanced culture. Culture, however, advances very slowly +in Corsica. Colonization, the making of roads through the interior, +such an increase of general intercourse and industry as would infuse +life into the ports--this might amount to a complete disarming of +the population. The French Government, utterly powerless against the +defiant Corsican spirit, most justly deserves reproach for allowing +an island which possesses the finest climate; districts of great +fertility; a position commanding the entire Mediterranean between +Spain, France, Italy, and Africa; and the most magnificent gulfs and +harbours; which is rich in forests, in minerals, in healing springs, +and in fruits, and is inhabited by a brave, spirited, highly capable +people--for allowing Corsica to become a Montenegro or Italian Ireland. + + [B] There is a discrepancy which requires explanation between + the sum of these and the population given for 1851. Their + total is 50,000 below the other figure.--_Tr._ + + [C] A hectar equals 2 acres, 1 rood, 35 perches English. + + [D] Of raw tobacco grown in the island, since manufactured + tobacco was mentioned among the exports.--_Tr._ + + [E] German, _Eiferartig_. The word referred to is probably + [Greek: thumoeides] usually translated _high-spirited_, + _hot-tempered_. See Book II. of the _Republic_.--_Tr._ + + [F] The hero of Schiller's tragedy of _The Robbers_.--_Tr._ + + + + +BOOK IV.--WANDERINGS IN CORSICA. + + +CHAPTER I. + +SOUTHERN PART OF CAPE CORSO. + +Cape Corso is the long narrow peninsula which Corsica throws out to the +north. + +It is traversed by a rugged mountain range, called the Serra, the +highest summits of which, Monte Alticcione and Monte Stello, reach an +altitude of more than 5000 feet. Rich and beautiful valleys run down on +both sides to the sea. + +I had heard a great deal of the beauty of the valleys of this region, +of their fertility in wine and oranges, and of the gentle manners +of their inhabitants, so that I began my wanderings in it with true +pleasure. A cheerful and festive impression is produced at the very +first by the olive-groves that line the excellent road along the +shore, through the canton San Martino. Chapels appearing through the +green foliage; the cupolas of family tombs; solitary cottages on the +strand; here and there a forsaken tower, in the rents of which the wild +fig-tree clings, while the cactus grows profusely at its base,--make +the country picturesque. The coast of Corsica is set round and round +with these towers, which the Pisans and Genoese built to ward off the +piratical attacks of the Saracens. They are round or square, built +of brown granite, and stand isolated. Their height is from thirty +to fifty feet. A company of watchers lay within, and alarmed the +surrounding country when the Corsairs approached. All these towers are +now forsaken, and gradually falling to ruin. They impart a strangely +romantic character to the Corsican shores. + +It was pleasant to wander through this region in the radiant morning; +the eye embraced the prospect seawards, with the fine forms of the +islands of Elba, Capraja, and Monte Cisto, and was again relieved by +the mountains and valleys descending close to the shore. The heights +here enclose, like sides of an amphitheatre, little, blooming, shady +dales, watered by noisy brooks. Scattered round, in a rude circle, +stand the black villages, with their tall church-towers and old +cloisters. On the meadows are herdsmen with their herds, and where the +valley opens to the sea, always a tower and a solitary hamlet by the +shore, with a boat or two in its little haven. + +Every morning at sunrise, troops of women and girls may be seen coming +from Cape Corso to Bastia, with produce for the market. They have +a pretty blue or brown dress for the town, and a clean handkerchief +wound as mandile round the hair. These forms moving along the shore +through the bright morning, with their neat baskets, full of laughing, +golden fruit, enliven the way very agreeably; and perhaps it would be +difficult to find anything more graceful than one of those slender, +handsome girls pacing towards you, light-footed and elastic as a Hebe, +with her basket of grapes on her head. They are all in lively talk with +their neighbours as they pass, and all give you the same beautiful, +light-hearted _Evviva_. Nothing better certainly can one mortal wish +another than that he should _live_. + +But now forward, for the sun is in Leo, and in two hours he will be +fierce. And behind the Tower of Miomo, towards the second pieve of +Brando, the road ceases, and we must climb like the goat, for there +are few districts in Cape Corso supplied with anything but footpaths. +From the shore, at the lonely little Marina di Basina, I began to +ascend the hills, on which lie the three communes that form the pieve +of Brando. The way was rough and steep, but cheered by gushing brooks +and luxuriant gardens. The slopes are quite covered with these, and +they are full of grapes, oranges, and olives--fruits in which Brando +specially abounds. The fig-tree bends low its laden branches, and +holds its ripe fruit steadily to the parched mouth, unlike the tree of +Tantalus. + +On a declivity towards the sea, is the beautiful stalactite cavern +of Brando, not long since discovered. It lies in the gardens of a +retired officer. An emigrant of Modena had given me a letter for +this gentleman, and I called on him at his mansion. The grounds are +magnificent. The Colonel has transformed the whole shore into a garden, +which hangs above the sea, dreamy and cool with silent olives, myrtles, +and laurels; there are cypresses and pines, too, isolated or in groups, +flowers everywhere, ivy on the walls, vine-trellises heavy with grapes, +oranges tree on tree, a little summer-house hiding among the greenery, +a cool grotto deep under ground, loneliness, repose, a glimpse of +emerald sky, and the sea with its hermit islands, a glimpse into your +own happy human heart;--it were hard to tell when it might be best to +live here, when you are still young, or when you have grown old. + +An elderly gentleman, who was looking out of the villa, heard me +ask the gardener for the Colonel, and beckoned me to come to him. +His garden had already shown me what kind of a man he was, and the +little room into which I now entered told his character more and more +plainly. The walls were covered with symbolic paintings; the different +professions were fraternizing in a group, in which a husbandman, a +soldier, a priest, and a scholar, were shaking hands; the five races +were doing the same in another picture, where a European, an Asiatic, +a Moor, an Australian, and a Redskin, sat sociably drinking round +a table, encircled by a gay profusion of curling vine-wreaths. I +immediately perceived that I was in the beautiful land of Icaria, and +that I had happened on no other personage than the excellent uncle of +Goethe's Wanderjahre. And so it was. He was the uncle--a bachelor, +a humanistic socialist, who, as country gentleman and land-owner, +diffused widely around him the beneficial influences of his own great +though noiseless activity. + +He came towards me with a cheerful, quiet smile, the _Journal des +Debats_ in his hand, pleased apparently with what he had been reading +in it. + +"I have read in your garden and in your room, signore, the _Contrat +Social_ of Rousseau, and some of the _Republic_ of Plato. You show me +that you are the countryman of the great Pasquale." + +We talked long on a great variety of subjects--on civilisation and on +barbarism, and how impotent theory was proving itself. But these are +old affairs, that every reflecting man has thought of and talked about. + +Much musing on this interview, I went down to the grotto after taking +leave of the singular man, who had realized for me so unexpectedly the +creation of the poet. After all, this is a strange island. Yesterday a +bandit who has murdered ten men out of _capriccio_, and is being led +to the scaffold; to-day a practical philosopher, and philanthropic +advocate of universal brotherhood--both equally genuine Corsicans, +their history and character the result of the history of their nation. +As I passed under the fair trees of the garden, however, I said to +myself that it was not difficult to be a philanthropist in paradise. I +believe that the wonderful power of early Christianity arose from the +circumstance that its teachers were poor, probably unfortunate men. + +There is a Corsican tradition that St. Paul landed on Cape Corso--the +Promontorium Sacrum, as it was called in ancient times--and there +preached the gospel. It is certain that Cape Corso was the district of +the island into which Christianity was first introduced. The little +region, therefore, has long been sacred to the cause of philanthropy +and human progress. + +The daughter of one of the gardeners led me to the grotto. It is +neither very high nor very deep, and consists of a series of chambers, +easily traversed. Lamps hung from the roof. The girl lighted them, +and left me alone. And now a pale twilight illuminated this beautiful +crypt, of such bizarre stalactite formations as only a Gothic +architect could imagine--in pointed arches, pillar-capitals, domed +niches, and rosettes. The grottos of Corsica are her oldest Gothic +churches, for Nature built them in a mood of the most playful fantasy. +As the lamps glimmered, and shone on, and shone through, the clear +yellow stalactite, the cave was completely like the crypt of some +cathedral. Left in this twilight, I had the following little fantasy in +stalactite-- + +A wondrous maiden sat wrapped in a white veil on a throne of +the clearest alabaster. She never moved. She wore on her head a +lotos-flower, and on her breast a carbuncle. The eye could not cease +to gaze on the veiled maiden, for she stirred a longing in the bosom. +Before her kneeled many little gnomes; the poor fellows were all of +dropstone, all stalactites, and they wore little yellow crowns of the +fairest alabaster. They never moved; but they all held their hands +stretched out towards the white maiden, as if they wished to lift her +veil, and bitter drops were falling from their eyes. It seemed to me +as if I knew some of them, and as if I must call them by their names. +"This is the goddess Isis," said the toad sneeringly; she was sitting +on a stone, and, I think, threw a spell on them all with her eyes. +"He who does not know the right word, and cannot raise the veil of the +beautiful maiden, must weep himself to stone like these. Stranger, wilt +thou say the word?" + +I was just falling asleep--for I was very tired, and the grotto was so +dim and cool, and the drops tinkled so slowly and mournfully from the +roof--when the gardener's daughter entered, and said: "It is time!" +"Time! to raise the veil of Isis?--O ye eternal gods!" "Yes, Signore, +to come out to the garden and the bright sun." I thought she said well, +and I immediately followed her. + +"Do you see this firelock, Signore? We found it in the grotto, quite +coated with the dropstone, and beside it were human bones; likely they +were the bones and gun of a bandit; the poor wretch had crept into this +cave, and died in it like a wounded deer." Nothing was now left of +the piece but the rusty barrel. It may have sped the avenging bullet +into more than one heart. Now I hold it in my hand like some fossil +of horrid history, and it opens its mouth and tells me stories of the +Vendetta. + + +CHAPTER II. + +FROM BRANDO TO LURI. + + "Say, whither rov'st thou lonely through the hills, + A stranger in the region?"--_Odyssey._ + +I now descended to Erba Lunga, an animated little coast village, which +sends fishing-boats daily to Bastia. The oppressive heat compelled me +to rest here for some hours. + +This was once the seat of the most powerful seigniors of Cape Corso, +and above Erba Lunga stands the old castle of the Signori dei Gentili. +The Gentili, with the Seigniors da Mare, were masters of the Cape. The +neighbouring island of Capraja also belonged to the latter family. +Oppressively treated by its violent and unscrupulous owners, the +inhabitants rebelled in 1507, and placed themselves under the Bank +of Genoa. Cape Corso was always, from its position, considered as +inclining to Genoa, and its people were held to be unwarlike. Even at +the present day the men of the Corsican highlands look down on the +gentle and industrious people of the peninsula with contempt. The +historian Filippini says of the Cape Corsicans: "The inhabitants of +Cape Corso clothe themselves well, and are, on account of their trade +and their vicinity to the Continent, much more domestic than the other +Corsicans. Great justice, truth, and honour, prevail among them. All +their industry is in wine, which they export to the Continent." Even in +Filippini's time, therefore, the wine of Cape Corso was in reputation. +It is mostly white; the vintage of Luri and Rogliano is said to be the +best; this wine is among the finest that Southern Europe produces, and +resembles the Spanish, the Syracusan, and the Cyprian. But Cape Corso +is also rich in oranges and lemons. + +If you leave the sea and go higher up the hills, you lose all the +beauty of this interesting little wine-country, for it nestles low +in the valleys. The whole of Cape Corso is a system of such valleys +on both its coasts; but the dividing ranges are rugged and destitute +of shade; their low wood gives no shelter from the sun. Limestone, +serpentine, talc, and porphyry, show themselves. After a toilsome +journey, I at length arrived late in the evening in the valley of +Sisco. A paesane had promised me hospitality there, and I descended +into the valley rejoicing in the prospect. But which was the commune of +Sisco? All around at the foot of the hills, and higher up, stood little +black villages, the whole of them comprehended under the name Sisco. +Such is the Corsican custom, to give all the hamlets of a valley the +name of the pieve, although each has its own particular appellation. +I directed my course to the nearest village, whither an old cloister +among pines attracted me, and seemed to say: Pilgrim, come, have +a draught of good wine. But I was deceived, and I had to continue +climbing for an hour, before I discovered my host of Sisco. The little +village lay picturesquely among wild black rocks, a furious stream +foaming through its midst, and Monte Stello towering above it. + +I was kindly received by my friend and his wife, a newly married +couple, and found their house comfortable. A number of Corsicans +came in with their guns from the hills, and a little company of +country-people was thus formed. The women did not mingle with us; they +prepared the meal, served, and disappeared. We conversed agreeably till +bedtime. The people of Sisco are poor, but hospitable and friendly. On +the morrow, my entertainer awoke me with the sun; he took me out before +his house, and then gave me in charge to an old man, who was to guide +me through the labyrinthine hill-paths to the right road for Crosciano. +I had several letters with me for other villages of the Cape, given +me by a Corsican the evening before. Such is the beautiful and +praiseworthy custom in Corsica; the hospitable entertainer gives his +departing guest a letter, commending him to his relations or friends, +who in their turn receive him hospitably, and send him away with +another letter. For days thus you travel as guest, and are everywhere +made much of; as inns in these districts are almost unknown, travelling +would otherwise be an impossibility. + +Sisco has a church sacred to Saint Catherine, which is of great +antiquity, and much resorted to by pilgrims. It lies high up on +the shore. Once a foreign ship had been driven upon these coasts, +and had vowed relics to the church for its rescue; which relics the +mariners really did consecrate to the holy Saint Catherine. They are +highly singular relics, and the folk of Sisco may justly be proud of +possessing such remarkable articles, as, for example, a piece of the +clod of earth from which Adam was modelled, a few almonds from the +garden of Eden, Aaron's rod that blossomed, a piece of manna, a piece +of the hairy garment of John the Baptist, a piece of Christ's cradle, +a piece of the rod on which the sponge dipped in vinegar was raised to +Christ's lips, and the celebrated rod with which Moses smote the Red +Sea. + +Picturesque views abound in the hills of Sisco, and the country becomes +more and more beautiful as we advance northwards. I passed through +a great number of villages--Crosciano, Pietra, Corbara, Cagnano--on +the slopes of Monte Alticcione, but I found some of them utterly +poverty-stricken; even their wine was exhausted. As I had refused +breakfast in the house of my late entertainer, in order not to send the +good people into the kitchen by sunrise, and as it was now mid-day, +I began to feel unpleasantly hungry. There were neither figs nor +walnuts by the wayside, and I determined that, happen what might, I +would satisfy my craving in the next paese. In three houses they had +nothing--not wine, not bread--all their stores were expended. In the +fourth, I heard the sound of a guitar. I entered. Two gray-haired men +in ragged _blouses_ were sitting, the one on the bed, the other on a +stool. He who sat on the bed held his _cetera_, or cithern, in his arm, +and played, while he seemed lost in thought. Perhaps he was dreaming +of his vanished youth. He rose, and opening a wooden chest, brought +out a half-loaf carefully wrapped in a cloth, and handed me the bread +that I might cut some of it for myself. Then he sat down again on the +bed, played his cithern, and sang a _vocero_, or dirge. As he sang, I +ate the bread of the bitterest poverty, and it seemed to me as if I had +found the old harper of _Wilhelm Meister_, and that he sung to me the +song-- + + "Who ne'er his bread with tears did eat, + Who ne'er the weary midnight hours + Weeping upon his bed hath sate, + He knows you not, ye heavenly powers!" + +Heaven knows how Goethe has got to Corsica, but this is the second of +his characters I have fallen in with on this wild cape. + +Having here had my hunger stilled, and something more, I wandered +onwards. As I descended into the vale of Luri, the region around me, +I found, had become a paradise. Luri is the loveliest valley in Cape +Corso, and also the largest, though it is only ten kilometres long, +and five broad.[G] Inland it is terminated by beautiful hills, on the +highest of which stands a black tower. This is the tower of Seneca, +so called because, according to the popular tradition, it was here +that Seneca spent his eight years of Corsican exile. Towards the +sea, the valley slopes gently down to the marina of Luri. A copious +stream waters the whole dale, and is led in canals through the +gardens. Here lie the communes which form the pieve of Luri, rich, +and comfortable-looking, with their tall churches, cloisters, and +towers, in the midst of a vegetation of tropical luxuriance. I have +seen many a beautiful valley in Italy, but I remember none that wore +a look so laughing and winsome as that fair vale of Luri. It is full +of vineyards, covered with oranges and lemons, rich in fruit-trees of +every kind, in melons, and all sorts of garden produce, and the higher +you ascend, the denser become the groves of chestnuts, walnuts, figs, +almonds, and olives. + + +CHAPTER III. + +PINO. + +A good road leads upwards from the marina of Luri. You move in one +continual garden--in an atmosphere of balsamic fragrance. Cottages +approaching the elegant style of Italian villas indicate wealth. How +happy must the people be here, if their own passions deal as gently +with them as the elements. A man who was dressing his vineyard saw +me passing along, and beckoned me to come in, and I needed no second +bidding. Here is the place for swinging the thyrsus-staff; no grape +disease here--everywhere luscious maturity and joyous plenty. The +wine of Luri is beautiful, and the citrons of this valley are said +to be the finest produced in the countries of the Mediterranean. It +is the thick-skinned species of citrons called _cedri_ which is here +cultivated; they are also produced in abundance all along the west +coast, but more especially in Centuri. The tree, which is extremely +tender, demands the utmost attention. It thrives only in the warmest +exposures, and in the valleys which are sheltered from the Libeccio. +Cape Corso is the very Elysium of this precious tree of the Hesperides. + +I now began to cross the Serra towards Pino, which lies at its base +on the western side. My path lay for a long time through woods of +walnut-trees, the fruit of which was already ripe; and I must here +confirm what I had heard, that the nut-trees of Corsica will not +readily find their equals. Fig-trees, olives, chestnuts, afford variety +at intervals. It is pleasant to wander through the deep shades of a +northern forest of beeches, oaks, or firs, but the forests of the south +are no less glorious; walking beneath these trees one feels himself in +noble company. I ascended towards the Tower of Fondali, which lies near +the little village of the same name, quite overshadowed with trees, and +finely relieving their rich deep green. From its battlements you look +down over the beautiful valley to the blue sea, and above you rise the +green hills, summit over summit, with forsaken black cloisters on them; +on the highest rock of the Serra is seen the Tower of Seneca, which, +like a stoic standing wrapt in deep thought, looks darkly down over +land and sea. The many towers that stand here--for I counted numbers +of them--indicate that this valley of Luri was richly cultivated, even +in earlier times; they were doubtless built for its protection. Even +Ptolemy is acquainted with the Vale of Luri, and in his Geography calls +it Lurinon. + +I climbed through a shady wood and blooming wilderness of trailing +plants to the ridge of the Serra, close beneath the foot of the cone +on which the Tower of Seneca stands. From this point both seas are +visible, to the right and to the left. I now descended towards Pino, +where I was expected by some Carrarese statuaries. The view of the +western coast with its red reefs and little rocky zig-zag coves, and +of the richly wooded pieve of Pino, came upon me with a most agreeable +surprise. Pino has some large turreted mansions lying in beautiful +parks; they might well serve for the residence of any Roman Duca:--for +Corsica has its _millionnaires_. On the Cape live about two hundred +families of large means--some of these possessed of quite enormous +wealth, gained either by themselves or by relations, in the Antilles, +Mexico, and Brazil. + +One fortunate Croesus of Pino inherited from an uncle of his in St. +Thomas a fortune of ten millions of francs. Uncles are most excellent +individuals. To have an uncle is to have a constant stake in the +lottery. Uncles can make anything of their nephews--_millionnaires_, +immortal historical personages. The nephew of Pino has rewarded his +meritorious relative with a mausoleum of Corsican marble--a pretty +Moorish family tomb on a hill by the sea. It was on this building my +Carrarese friends were engaged. + +In the evening we paid a visit to the Curato. We found him walking +before his beautifully-situated parsonage, in the common brown +Corsican jacket, and with the Phrygian cap of liberty on his head. +The hospitable gentleman led us into his parlour. He seated himself in +his arm-chair, ordered the Donna to bring wine, and, when the glasses +came in, reached his cithern from the wall. Then he began with all +the heartiness in the world to play and sing the Paoli march. The +Corsican clergy were always patriotic men, and in many battles fought +in the ranks with their parishioners. The parson of Pino now put his +Mithras-cap to rights, and began a serenade to the beautiful Marie. I +shook him heartily by the hand, thanked him for wine and song, and went +away to the paese where I was to lodge for the night. Next morning we +proposed wandering a while longer in Pino, and then to visit Seneca in +his tower. + +On this western coast of Cape Corso, below Pino, lies the fifth and +last pieve of the Cape, called Nonza. Near Nonza stands the tower +which I mentioned in the History of the Corsicans, when recording an +act of heroic patriotism. There is another intrepid deed connected +with it. In the year 1768 it was garrisoned by a handful of militia, +under the command of an old captain, named Casella. The French were +already in possession of the Cape, all the other captains having +capitulated. Casella refused to follow their example. The tower mounted +one cannon; they had plenty of ammunition, and the militia had their +muskets. This was sufficient, said the old captain, to defend the +place against a whole army; and if matters came to the worst, then you +could blow yourself up. The militia knew their man, and that he was +in the habit of doing what he said. They accordingly took themselves +off during the night, leaving their muskets, and the old captain found +himself alone. He concluded, therefore, to defend the tower himself. +The cannon was already loaded; he charged all the pieces, distributed +them over the various shot-holes, and awaited the French. They came, +under the command of General Grand-Maison. As soon as they were within +range, Casella first discharged the cannon at them, and then made a +diabolical din with the muskets. The French sent a flag of truce to +the tower, with the information that the entire Cape had surrendered, +and summoning the commandant to do the same with all his garrison, +and save needless bloodshed. Hereupon Casella replied that he would +hold a council of war, and retired. After some time he reappeared and +announced that the garrison of Nonza would capitulate under condition +that it should be allowed to retire with the honours of war, and with +all its baggage and artillery, for which the French were to furnish +conveyances. The conditions were agreed to. The French had drawn up +before the tower, and were now ready to receive the garrison, when +old Casella issued, with his firelock, his pistols, and his sabre. +The French waited for the garrison, and, surprised that the men did +not make their appearance, the officer in command asked why they were +so long in coming out. "They _have_ come out," answered the Corsican; +"for I am the garrison of the Tower of Nonza." The duped officer became +furious, and rushed upon Casella. The old man drew his sword, and +stood on the defensive. In the meantime, Grand-Maison himself hastened +up, and, having heard the story, was sufficiently astonished. He +instantly put his officer under strict arrest, and not only fulfilled +every stipulation of Casella's to the letter, but sent him with a +guard of honour, and a letter expressive of his admiration, to Paoli's +head-quarters. + +Above Pino extends the canton of Rogliano, with Ersa and Centuri--a +district of remarkable fertility in wine, oil, and lemons, and +rivalling Luri in cultivation. The five pievi of the entire +Cape--Brando, Martino, Luri, Rogliano, and Nonza--contain twenty-one +communes, and about 19,000 inhabitants; almost as many, therefore, +as the island of Elba. Going northwards, from Rogliano over Ersa, you +reach the extreme northern point of Corsica, opposite to which, with a +lighthouse on it, lies the little island of Girolata. + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE TOWER OF SENECA. + + "Melius latebam procul ab invidiae malis + Remotus inter Corsici rupes maris." + _Roman Tragedy of Octavia._ + +The Tower of Seneca can be seen at sea, and from a distance of many +miles. It stands on a gigantic, quite naked mass of granite, which +rises isolated from the mountain-ridge, and bears on its summit +the black weather-beaten pile. The ruin consists of a single round +tower--lonely and melancholy it stands there, hung with hovering mists, +all around bleak heath-covered hills, the sea on both sides deep below. + +If, as imaginative tradition affirms, the banished stoic spent eight +years of exile here, throning among the clouds, in the silent rocky +wilds--then he had found a place not ill adapted for a philosopher +disposed to make wise reflections on the world and fate; and to +contemplate with wonder and reverence the workings of the eternal +elements of nature. The genius of Solitude is the wise man's best +instructor; in still night hours he may have given Seneca insight +into the world's transitoriness, and shown him the vanity of great +Rome, when the exile was inclined to bewail his lot. After Seneca +returned from his banishment to Rome, he sometimes, perhaps, among +the abominations of the court of Nero, longed for the solitary days of +Corsica. There is an old Roman tragedy called _Octavia_, the subject of +which is the tragic fate of Nero's first empress.[H] In this tragedy +Seneca appears as the moralizing figure, and on one occasion delivers +himself as follows:-- + + "O Lady Fortune, with the flattering smile + On thy deceitful face, why hast thou raised + One so contented with his humble lot + To height so giddy? Wheresoe'er I look, + Terrors around me threaten, and at last + The deeper fall is sure. Ah, happier far-- + Safe from the ills of envy once I hid-- + Among the rocks of sea-girt Corsica. + I was my own; my soul was free from care, + In studious leisure lightly sped the hours. + Oh, it was joy,--for in the mighty round + Of Nature's works is nothing more divine,-- + To look upon the heavens, the sacred sun, + With all the motions of the universe, + The seasonable change of morn and eve, + The orb of Phoebe and the attendant stars, + Filling the night with splendour far and wide. + All this, when it grows old, shall rush again + Back to blind chaos; yea, even now the day, + The last dread day is near, and the world's wreck + Shall crush this impious race." + +A rude sheep-track led us up the mountain over shattered rocks. +Half-way up to the tower, completely hidden among crags and bushes, +lies a forsaken Franciscan cloister. The shepherds and the wild +fig-tree now dwell in its halls, and the raven croaks the _de +profundis_. But the morning and the evening still come there to +hold their silent devotions, and kindle incense of myrtle, mint, and +cytisus. What a fragrant breath of herbs is about us! what morning +stillness on the mountains and the sea! + +We stood on the Tower of Seneca. We had clambered on hands and feet +to reach its walls. By holding fast to projecting ledges and hanging +perilously over the abyss, you can gain a window. There is no other +entrance into the tower; its outer works are destroyed, but the remains +show that a castle, either of the seigniors of Cape Corso or of the +Genoese, stood here. The tower is built of astonishingly firm material; +its battlements, however, are rent and dilapidated. It is unlikely that +Seneca lived on this Aornos, this height forsaken by the very birds, +and certainly too lofty a flight for moral philosophers--a race that +love the levels. Seneca probably lived in one of the Roman colonies, +Aleria or Mariana, where the stoic, accustomed to the conveniences of +Roman city life, may have established himself comfortably in some house +near the sea; so that the favourite mullet and tunny had not far to +travel from the strand to his table. + +A picture from the fearfully beautiful world of imperial Rome passed +before me as I sat on Seneca's tower. Who can say he rightly and +altogether comprehends this world? It often seems to me as if it were +Hades, and as if the whole human race of the period were holding in +its obscure twilight a great diabolic carnival of fools, dancing a +gigantic, universal ballet before the Emperor's throne, while the +Emperor sits there gloomy as Pluto, only breaking out now and then into +insane laughter; for it is the maddest carnival this; old Seneca plays +in it too, among the Pulcinellos, and appears in character with his +bathing-tub. + +Even a Seneca may have something tragi-comic about him, if we think +of him, for example, in the pitiably ludicrous shape in which he is +represented in the old statue that bears his name. He stands there +naked, a cloth about his loins, in the bath in which he means to die, a +sight heart-rending to behold, with his meagre form so tremulous about +the knees, and his face so unutterably wo-begone. He resembles one of +the old pictures of St. Jerome, or some starveling devotee attenuated +by penance; he is tragi-comic, provocative of laughter no less than +pity, as many of the representations of the old martyrs are, the form +of their suffering being usually so whimsical. + +Seneca was born, B.C. 3, at Cordova, in Spain, of equestrian family. +His mother, Helvia, was a woman of unusual ability; his father, Lucius +Annaeus, a rhetorician of note, who removed with his family to Rome. In +the time of Caligula, Seneca the younger distinguished himself as an +orator, and Stoic philosopher of extraordinary learning. A remarkably +good memory had been of service to him. He himself relates that after +hearing two thousand names once repeated, he could repeat them again +in the same order, and that he had no difficulty in doing the same with +two hundred verses. + +In favour at the court of Claudius, he owed his fall to Messalina. +She accused him of an intrigue with the notorious Julia, the daughter +of Germanicus, and the most profligate woman in Rome. The imputation +is doubly comical, as coming from a Messalina, and because it makes +us think of Seneca the moralist as a Don Juan. It is hard to say how +much truth there is in the scandalous story, but Rome was a strange +place, and nothing can be more bizarre than some of the characters +it produced. Julia was got out of the way, and Don Juan Seneca sent +into banishment among the barbarians of Corsica. The philosopher now +therefore became, without straining the word, a Corsican bandit. + +There was in those days no more terrible punishment than that of exile, +because expulsion from Rome was banishment from the world. Eight long +years Seneca lived on the wild island. I cannot forgive my old friend, +therefore, for recording nothing about its nature, about the history +and condition of its inhabitants, at that period. A single chapter from +the pen of Seneca on these subjects, would now be of great value to us. +But to have said nothing about the barbarous country of his exile, was +very consistent with his character as Roman. Haughty, limited, void +of sympathetic feeling for his kind, was the man of those times. How +different is the relation in which we now stand to nature and history! + +For the banished Seneca the island was merely a prison that he +detested. The little that he says about it in his book _De Consolatione +ad Matrem Helviam_, shows how little he knew of it. For though it was +no doubt still more rude and uncultivated than at present, its natural +grandeur was the same. He composed the following epigrams on Corsica, +which are to be found in his poetical works:-- + + "Corsican isle, where his town the Phocaean colonist planted, + Corsica, called by the Greeks Cyrnus in earlier days, + Corsica, less than thy sister Sardinia, longer than Elba, + Corsica, traversed by streams--streams that the fisherman + loves, + Corsica, dreadful land! when thy summer's suns are returning, + Scorch'd more cruelly still, when the fierce Sirius shines; + Spare the sad exile--spare, I mean, the hopelessly buried-- + Over his living remains, Corsica, light lie thy dust." + +The second has been said to be spurious, but I do not see why our +heart-broken exile should not have been its author, as well as any of +his contemporaries or successors in Corsican banishment. + + "Rugged the steeps that enclose the barbarous Corsican + island, + Savage on every side stretches the solitude vast; + Autumn ripens no fruits, nor summer prepares here a harvest. + Winter, hoary and chill, wants the Palladian gift;[I] + Never rejoices the spring in the coolness of shadowy verdure, + Here not a blade of grass pierces the desolate plain, + Water is none, nor bread, nor a funeral-pile for the + stranger-- + Two are there here, and no more--the Exile alone with his + Wo."[J] + +The Corsicans have not failed to take revenge on Seneca. Since he +gives them and their country such a disgraceful character, they have +connected a scandalous story with his name. Popular tradition has +preserved only a single incident from the period of his residence in +Corsica, and it is as follows:--As Seneca sat in his tower and looked +down into the frightful island, he saw the Corsican virgins, that they +were fair. Thereupon the philosopher descended, and he dallied with +the daughters of the land. One comely shepherdess did he honour with +his embrace; but the kinsfolk of the maiden came upon him suddenly, and +took him, and scourged the philosopher with nettles. + +Ever since, the nettle grows profusely and ineradicably round the Tower +of Seneca, as a warning to moral philosophers. The Corsicans call it +_Ortica de Seneca_. + +Unhappy Seneca! He is always getting into tragi-comic situations. +A Corsican said to me: "You have read what Seneca says of us? _ma +era un birbone_--but he was a great rascal." _Seneca morale_, says +Dante,--_Seneca birbone_, says the Corsican--another instance of his +love for his country. + +Other sighs of exile did the unfortunate philosopher breathe out in +verse--some epigrams to his friends, one on his native city of Cordova. +If Seneca wrote any of the tragedies which bear his name in Corsica, +it must certainly have been the Medea. Where could he have found +a locality more likely to have inspired him to write on a subject +connected with the Argonauts, than this sea-girt island? Here he +might well make his chorus sing those remarkable verses which predict +Columbus:-- + + "A time shall come + In the late ages, + When Ocean shall loosen + The bonds of things; + Open and vast + Then lies the earth; + Then shall Tiphys + New worlds disclose. + And Thule no more + Be the farthest land." + +Now the great navigator Columbus was born in the Genoese territory, not +far from Corsica. The Corsicans will have it that he was born in Calvi, +in Corsica itself, and they maintain this till the present day. + + +CHAPTER V. + +SENECA MORALE. + + ----"e vidi Orfeo + Tullio, e Livio, e Seneca morale."--DANTE. + +Fair fruits grew for Seneca in his exile; and perhaps he owed some of +his exalted philosophy rather to his Corsican solitude than to the +teachings of an Attalus or a Socio. In the Letter of Consolation to +his mother, he writes thus at the close:--You must believe me happy +and cheerful, as when in prosperity. That is true prosperity when +the mind devotes itself to its pursuits without disturbing thoughts, +and, now pleasing itself with lighter studies, now thirsting after +truth, elevates itself to the contemplation of its own nature and of +that of the universe. First, it investigates the countries and their +situations, then the nature of the circumfluent sea, and its changes of +ebb and flow; then it contemplates the terrible powers that lie between +heaven and earth--the thunder, lightnings, winds, rain, snow and +hail, that disquiet this space; at last, when it has wandered through +the lower regions, it takes its flight to the highest, and enjoys +the beautiful spectacle of celestial things, and, mindful of its own +eternity, enters into all which has been and shall be to all eternity. + +When I took up Seneca's Letter of Consolation to his mother, I was not +a little curious to see how he would console her. How would one of the +thousand cultivated exiles scattered over the world at the present time +console _his_ mother? Seneca's letter is a quite methodically arranged +treatise, consisting of seventeen chapters. It is a more than usually +instructive contribution to the psychology of these old Stoics. The +son is not so particularly anxious to console his mother as to write +an excellent and elegant treatise, the logic and style of which shall +procure him admiration. He is quite proud that his treatise will be a +species of composition hitherto unknown in the world of letters. The +vain man writes to his mother like an author to a critic with whom he +is coolly discussing the _pros_ and _cons_ of his subject. I have, says +he, consulted all the works of the great geniuses who have written upon +the methods of moderating grief, but I have found no example of any +one's consoling his friends when it was himself they were lamenting. In +this new case, therefore, in which I found myself, I was embarrassed, +and feared lest I might open the wounds instead of healing them. +Must not a man who raises his head from the funeral-pile itself to +comfort his relatives, need new words, such as the common language of +daily life does not supply him with? Every great and unusual sorrow +must make its own selection of words, if it does not refuse itself +language altogether. I shall venture to write to you, therefore, not in +confidence on my talent, but because I myself, the consoler, am here to +serve as the most effectual consolation. For your son's sake, to whom +you can deny nothing, you will not, as I trust (though all grief is +stubborn), refuse to permit bounds to be set to your grief. + +He now begins to console after his new fashion, reckoning up to his +mother all that she has already suffered, and drawing the conclusion +that she must by this time have become callous. Throughout the whole +treatise you hear the skeleton of the arrangement rattling. Firstly, +his mother is not to grieve on his account; secondly, his mother is not +to grieve on her own account. The letter is full of the most beautiful +stoical contempt of the world. + +"Yet it is a terrible thing to be deprived of one's country." What is +to be said to this?--Mother, consider the vast multitude of people in +Rome; the greater number of them have congregated there from all parts +of the world. One is driven from home by ambition, another by business +of state, by an embassy, by the quest of luxury, by vice, by the wish +to study, by the desire of seeing the spectacles, by friendship, by +speculation, by eloquence, by beauty. Then, leaving Rome out of view, +which indeed is to be considered the mother-city of them all, go to +other cities, go to islands, come here to Corsica--everywhere are more +strangers than natives. "For to man is given a desire of movement and +of change, because he is moved by the celestial Spirit; consider the +heavenly luminaries that give light to the world--none of them remains +fixed--they wander ceaselessly on their path, and change perpetually +their place." His poetic vein gave Seneca this fine thought. Our +well-known wanderer's song has the words-- + + "Fix'd in the heavens the sun does not stand, + He travels o'er sea, he travels o'er land."[K] + +"Varro, the most learned of the Romans," continues Seneca, "considers +it the best compensation for the change of dwelling-place, that +the nature of things is everywhere the same. Marcus Brutus finds +sufficient consolation in the fact that he who goes into exile can +take all that he has of truly good with him. Is not what we lose a +mere trifle? Wherever we turn, two glorious things go with us--Nature +that is everywhere, and Virtue that is our own. Let us travel through +all possible countries, and we shall find no part of the earth which +man cannot make his home. Everywhere the eye can rise to heaven, and +all the divine worlds are at an equal distance from all the earthly. +So long, therefore, as my eyes are not debarred that spectacle, +with seeing which they are never satisfied; so long as I can behold +moon and sun; so long as my gaze can rest on the other celestial +luminaries; so long as I can inquire into their rising and setting, +their courses, and the causes of their moving faster or slower; so +long as I can contemplate the countless stars of night, and mark how +some are immoveable--how others, not hastening through large spaces, +circle in their own path, how many beam forth with a sudden brightness, +many blind the eye with a stream of fire as if they fell, others pass +along the sky in a long train of light; so long as I am with these, +and dwell, as much as it is allowed to mortals, in heaven; so long as I +can maintain my soul, which strives after the contemplation of natures +related to it, in the pure ether, of what importance to me is the soil +on which my foot treads? This island bears no fruitful nor pleasant +trees; it is not watered by broad and navigable streams; it produces +nothing that other nations can desire; it is hardly fertile enough to +supply the necessities of the inhabitants; no precious stone is here +hewn (_non pretiosus lapis hic caeditur_); no veins of gold or silver +are here brought to light; but the soul is narrow that delights itself +with what is earthly. It must be guided to that which is everywhere the +same, and nowhere loses its splendour." + +Had I Humboldt's _Cosmos_ at hand, I should look whether the great +natural philosopher has taken notice of these lofty periods of Seneca, +where he treats of the sense of the ancients for natural beauty. + +This, too, is a spirited passage:--"The longer they build their +colonnades, the higher they raise their towers, the broader they +stretch their streets, the deeper they dig their summer grottos, +the more massively they pile their banqueting-halls--all the more +effectually they cover themselves from the sky.--Brutus relates in his +book on virtue, that he saw Marcellus in exile in Mitylene, and that he +lived, as far as it was possible for human nature, in the enjoyment of +the greatest happiness, and never was more devoted to literature than +then. Hence, adds he, as he was to return without him, it seemed to him +that he was rather himself going into exile than leaving the other in +banishment behind him." + +Now follows a panegyric on poverty and moderation, as contrasted with +the luxurious gluttony of the rich, who ransack heaven and earth to +tickle their palates, bring game from Phasis, and fowls from Parthia, +who vomit in order to eat, and eat in order to vomit. "The Emperor +Caligula," says Seneca, "whom Nature seems to me to have produced to +show what the most degrading vice could do in the highest station, ate +a dinner one day, that cost ten million sesterces; and although I have +had the aid of the most ingenious men, still I have hardly been able +to make out how the tribute of three provinces could be transformed +into a single meal." Like Rousseau, Seneca preaches the return of men +to the state of nature. The times of the two moralists were alike; they +themselves resemble each other in weakness of character, though Seneca, +as compared with Rousseau, was a Roman and a hero. + +Scipio's daughters received their dowries from the public treasury, +because their father left nothing behind him. "O happy husbands of +such maidens," cries Seneca; "husbands to whom the Roman people was +father-in-law! Are they to be held happier whose ballet-dancers bring +with them a million sesterces as dowry?" + +After Seneca has comforted his mother in regard to his own sufferings, +he proceeds to comfort her with reference to herself. "You must not +imitate the example," he writes to her, "of women whose grief, when +it had once mastered them, ended only with death. You know many, who, +after the loss of their sons, never more laid off the robe of mourning +that they had put on. But your nature has ever been stronger than +this, and imposes upon you a nobler course. The excuse of the weakness +of the sex cannot avail for her who is far removed from all female +frailties. The most prevailing evil of the present time--unchastity, +has not ranked you with the common crowd; neither precious stones nor +pearls have had power over you, and wealth, accounted the highest of +human blessings, has not dazzled you. The example of the bad, which +is dangerous even to the virtuous, has not contaminated you--the +strictly educated daughter of an ancient and severe house. You were +never ashamed of the number of your children, as if they made you old +before your time; you never--like some whose beautiful form is their +only recommendation--concealed your fruitfulness, as if the burden were +unseemly; nor did you ever destroy the hope of children that had been +conceived in your bosom. You never disfigured your face with spangles +or with paint; and never did a garment please you, that had been made +only to show nakedness. Modesty appeared to you the alone ornament--the +highest and never-fading beauty!" So writes the son to his mother, and +it seems to me there is a most philosophical want of affectation in his +style. + +He alludes to Cornelia, the mother of the Gracchi; but he does not +conceal from himself that grief is a disobedient thing. Traitorous +tears, he knows, will appear on the face of assumed serenity. +"Sometimes," says Seneca, "we entangle the soul in games and +gladiator-shows; but even in the midst of such spectacles, the +remembrance of its loss steals softly upon it. Therefore is it better +to overcome than to deceive. For when the heart has either been cheated +by pleasure, or diverted by business, it rebels again, and derives +from repose itself the force for new disquiet; but it is lastingly +still if it has yielded to reason." A wise man's voice enunciates here +simply and beautifully the alone right, but the bitterly difficult +rules for the art of life. Seneca, accordingly, counsels his mother +not to use the ordinary means for overcoming her grief--a picturesque +tour, or employment in household affairs; he advises mental occupation, +lamenting, at the same time, that his father--an excellent man, but too +much attached to the customs of the ancients--never could prevail upon +himself to give her philosophical cultivation. Here we have an amusing +glimpse of the old Seneca, I mean of the father. We know now how he +looked. When the fashionable literary ladies and gentlemen in Cordova, +who had picked up ideas about the rights of woman, and the elevation +of her social position, from the _Republic_ of Plato, represented to +the old gentleman, that it were well if his young wife attended the +lectures of some philosophers, he growled out: "Absurd nonsense; my +wife shall not have her head turned with your high-flying notions, nor +be one of your silly blue-stockings; cook shall she, bear children, +and bring up children!" So said the worthy gentleman, and added, in +excellent Spanish, "Basta!" + +Seneca now speaks at considerable length of the magnanimity of which +woman is capable, having no idea then that he was yet, when dying, +to experience the truth of what he said, in the case of his own +wife, Paulina. A noble man, therefore, a stoic of exalted virtue, +has addressed this Letter of Consolation to Helvia. Is it possible +that precisely the same man can think and write like a crawling +parasite--like the basest flatterer? + + +CHAPTER VI. + +SENECA BIRBONE. + + "Magni pectoris est inter secunda moderatio."--SENECA. + +Here is a second Letter of Consolation, which Seneca wrote in the +second or third year of his Corsican exile, to Polybius, the freedman +of Claudius, a courtier of the ordinary stamp. Polybius served the +over-learned Claudius as literary adviser, and tormented himself with +a Latin translation of Homer and a Greek one of Virgil. The loss of +his talented brother occasioned Seneca's consolatory epistle to the +courtier. He wrote the treatise with the full consciousness that +Polybius would read it to the Emperor, and, not to miss the opportunity +of appeasing the wrath of Claudius, he made it a model of low flattery +of princes and their influential favourites. When we read it, we must +not forget what sort of men Claudius and Polybius were. + +"O destiny," cries the flatterer, "how cunningly hast thou sought out +the vulnerable spot! What was there to rob such a man of? Money? He has +always despised it. Life? His genius makes him immortal. He has himself +provided that his better part shall endure, for his glorious rhetorical +works cannot fail to rescue him from the ordinary lot of mortals. So +long as literature is held in honour, so long as the Latin language +retains its vigour, or the Greek its grace, so long shall he live +with the greatest men, whose genius his own equals, or, if his modesty +would object to that, at least approaches.--Unworthy outrage! Polybius +mourns, Polybius has an affliction, and the Emperor is gracious to him! +By this, inexorable destiny, thou wouldst, without doubt, show that +none can be shielded from thee, no, not even by the Emperor! Yet, why +does Polybius weep? Has he not his beloved Emperor, who is dearer to +him than life? So long as it is well with him, then is it well with +all who are yours, then have you lost nothing, then must your eyes be +not only dry, but bright with joy. The Emperor is everything to you, in +him you have all that you can desire. To him, your divinity, you must +therefore raise your glance, and grief will have no power over your +soul. + +"Destiny, withhold thy hand from the Emperor, and show thy power +only in blessing, letting him remain as a physician to mankind, who +have suffered now so long, that he may again order and adjust what +the madness of his predecessor destroyed. May this star, which has +arisen in its brightness on a world plunged into abysses of darkness, +shine evermore! May he subdue Germany, open up Britain, and celebrate +ancestral victories and new triumphs, of which his clemency, which +takes the first place among his virtues, makes me hope that I too shall +be a witness. For he did not so cast me down, that he shall not again +raise me up: no, it was not even he who overthrew me; but when destiny +gave me the thrust, and I was falling, he broke my fall, and, gently +intervening with godlike hand, bore me to a place of safety. He raised +his voice for me in the senate, and not only gave me, but petitioned +for, my life. He will himself see how he has to judge my cause; either +his justice will recognise it as good, or his clemency will make it so. +The benefit will still be the same, whether he perceives, or whether +he wills, that I am innocent. Meanwhile, it is a great consolation to +me, in my wretchedness, to see how his compassion travels through the +whole world; and as he has again brought back to the light, from this +corner in which I am buried, many who lay sunk in the oblivion of a +long banishment, I do not fear that he will forget me. But he himself +knows best the time for helping each. Nothing shall be wanting on my +part that he may not blush to come at length to me. All hail to thy +clemency, Caesar! thanks to which, exiles live more peacefully under +thee than the noblest of the people under Caius. They do not tremble, +they do not hourly expect the sword, they do not shudder to see a ship +coming. Through thee they have at once a goal to their cruel fate, +and the hope of a better future, and a peaceful present. Surely the +thunderbolts are altogether righteous which even those worship whom +they strike." + +O nettles, more nettles, noble Corsicans,--_era un birbone!_ + +The epistle concludes in these terms: "I have written this to you +as well as I could, with a mind grown languid and dull through long +inactivity; if it appears to you not worthy of your genius, or to +supply medicine too slight for your sorrow, consider that the Latin +word flows but reluctantly to his pen, in whose ear the barbarians have +long been dinning their confused and clumsy jargon." + +His flattery did not avail the sorrow-laden exile, but changes in the +Roman court ended his banishment. The head of Polybius had fallen. +Messalina had been executed. So stupid was Claudius, that he forgot +the execution of his wife, and some days after asked at supper why +Messalina did not come to table. Thus, all these horrors are dashed +with the tragi-comic. The best of comforters, the Corsican bandit, +returns. Agrippina, the new empress of Claudius, wishes him to +educate her son Nero, now eleven years old. Can there be anything +more tragi-comic than Seneca as tutor to Nero? He came, thanking the +gods that they had laid upon him such a task as that of educating a +boy to be Emperor of the world. He expected now to fill the whole +earth with his own philosophy by infusing it into the young Nero. +What an undertaking--at once tragical and ridiculous--to bring up a +young tiger-cub on the principles of the Stoics! For the rest, Seneca +found in his hopeful pupil the materials of the future man totally +unspoiled by bungling scholastic methods; for he had grown up in a most +divine ignorance, and, till his twelfth year, had enjoyed the tender +friendship of a barber, a coachman, and a rope-dancer. From such hands +did Seneca receive the boy who was destined to rule over gods and men. + +As Seneca was banished to Corsica in the first year of the reign +of Claudius, and returned in the eighth, he was privileged to enjoy +this "divinity and celestial star" for more than five years. One day, +however, Claudius died, for Agrippina gave him poison in a pumpkin +which served as drinking-cup. The notorious Locusta had mixed the +potion. The death of Claudius furnished Seneca with the ardently longed +for opportunity of venting his revenge. Terribly did the philosopher +make the Emperor's memory suffer for that eight years' banishment; he +wrote on the dead man the satire, called the Apokolokyntosis--a pasquil +of astonishing wit and almost incredible coarseness, equalling the +writings of Lucian in sparkle and cleverness. The title is happy. The +word, invented for the nonce, parodies the notion of the apotheosis +of the Emperors, or their reception among the gods; and would be +literally translated Pumpkinification, or reception of Claudius among +the pumpkins. This satire should be read. It is highly characteristic +of the period of Roman history in which it was written--a period when +an utterly limitless despotism nevertheless allowed of a man's using +such daring freedom of speech, and when an Emperor just dead could be +publicly ridiculed by his successor, his own family, and the people, +as a jack-pudding, without compromising the imperial dignity. In this +Roman world, all is ironic accident, fools' carnival, tragi-comic, and +bizarre. + +Seneca speaks with all the freedom of a mask and as Roman Pasquino, +and thus commences--"What happened on the 13th of October, in the +consulship of Asinius Marcellus and Acilius Aviola, in the first year +of the new Emperor, at the beginning of the period of blessing from +heaven, I shall now deliver to memory. And in what I have to say, +neither my vengeance nor my gratitude shall speak a word. If any one +asks me where I got such accurate information about everything, I shall +in the meantime not answer, if I don't choose. Who shall compel me? Do +I not know that I have become a free man, since a certain person took +his leave, who verified the proverb--One must either be born a king +or a fool? And if I choose to answer, I shall say the first thing that +comes into my head." Seneca now affirms, sneeringly, that he heard what +he is about to relate from the senator who saw Drusilla [sister and +mistress of Caligula] ascend to heaven from the Appian Way.[L] The same +man had now, according to the philosopher, been a witness of all that +had happened to Claudius on occasion of _his_ ascension. + +I shall be better understood, continued Seneca, if I say it was +on the 13th of October; the hour I am unable exactly to fix, for +there is still greater variance between the clocks than between the +philosophers. It was, however, between the sixth and the seventh +hour--Claudius was just gasping for a little breath, and couldn't find +any. Hereupon Mercury, who had always been delighted with the genius of +the man, took one of the three Parcae aside, and said--"Cruel woman, why +do you let the poor mortal torment himself so long, since he has not +deserved it? He has been gasping for breath for sixty-four years now. +What ails you at him? Allow the mathematicians to be right at last, +who, ever since he became Emperor, have been assuring us of his death +every year, nay, every month. And yet it is no wonder if they make +mistakes. Nobody knows the man's hour--for nobody has ever looked on +him as born. Do your duty, + + Give him to death, + And let a better fill his empty throne." + +Atropos now cuts Claudius's thread of life; but Lachesis spins +another--a glittering thread, that of Nero; while Phoebus plays upon +his lyre. In well-turned, unprincipled verses, Seneca flatters his +young pupil, his new sun-- + + "Phoebus the god hath said it; he shall pass + Victoriously his mortal life, like me + In countenance, and like me in my beauty; + In song my rival, and in suasive speech. + A happier age he bringeth to the weary, + For he will break the silence of the laws. + Like Phosphor when he scares the flying stars, + Like Hesper rising, when the stars return; + Or as, when rosy night-dissolving dawn + Leads in the day, the bright sun looks abroad, + And bids the barriers of the darkness yield + Before the beaming chariot of the morn,-- + So Caesar shines, and thus shall Rome behold + Her Nero; mild the lustre of his face, + And neck so fair with loosely-flowing curls." + +Claudius meanwhile pumped out the air-bubble of his soul, and +thereafter, as a phantasma, ceased to be visible. "He expired while +he was listening to the comedians; so that, you perceive, I have good +reason for dreading these people." His last words were--"_Vae me, puto +concavi me_." + +Claudius is dead, then. It is announced to Jupiter, that a tall +personage, rather gray, has arrived; that he threatens nobody knows +what, shakes his head perpetually, and limps with his right leg; +that the language he speaks is unintelligible, being neither that of +the Greeks nor that of the Romans, nor the tongue of any known race. +Jupiter now orders Hercules, since he has vagabondized through all +the nations of the world, and is likely to know, to see what kind of +mortal this may be. When Hercules, who had seen too many monsters to be +easily frightened, set eyes on this portentous face, and strange gait, +and heard a voice, not like the voice of any terrestial creature, but +like some sea-monster's--hoarse, bellowing, confused, he was at first +somewhat discomposed, and thought that a thirteenth labour had arrived +for him. On closer examination, however, he thought the portent had +some resemblance to a man. He therefore asked, in Homer's Greek-- + + "Who art thou, of what race, and where thy city?" + +Claudius was mightily rejoiced to meet with philologers in heaven, and +hoped he might find occasion of referring to his own histories. [He had +written twenty books of Tyrrhenian, and eight of Carthaginian history, +in Greek.] He immediately answers from Homer also, sillily quoting the +line-- + + "From Troy the wind has brought me to the Cicons." + +Fever, who alone of all the Roman gods has accompanied Claudius +to heaven, gives him the lie, and affirms him to be a Gaul. "And +therefore, since as Gaul he could not omit it, he took Rome." [While +I write down this sentence of the old Roman's here in Rome, and hear +at the same moment Gallic trumpets blowing, its correctness becomes +very plain to me.] Claudius immediately gives orders to cut off +Fever's head. He prevails on Hercules to bring him into the assembly +of the gods. But the god Janus proposes, that from this time forward +none of those who "eat the fruits of the field" shall be deified; and +Augustus reads his opinion from a written paper, recommending that +Claudius should be made to quit Olympus within three days. The gods +assent, and Mercury hereupon drags off the Emperor to the infernal +regions. On the Via Sacra they fall in with the funeral procession of +Claudius, which is thus described: "It was a magnificent funeral, and +such expense had been lavished on it, that you could very well see a +god was being buried. There were flute-players, horn-blowers, and such +crowds of players on brazen instruments, and such a din, that even +Claudius could hear it. Everybody was merry and pleased; the Populus +Romanus was walking about as if it were a free people. Agatho only, +and a few pleaders, wept, and that evidently with all their heart. +The jurisconsults were emerging from their obscure retreats--pale, +emaciated, gasping for breath, like persons newly recalled to life. +One of these noticing how the pleaders laid their heads together and +bewailed their misfortunes, came up to them and said: 'I told you your +Saturnalia would not last always!'" When Claudius saw his own funeral, +he perceived that he was dead; for, with great sound and fury, they +were singing the anapaestic naenia:-- + + Floods of tears pouring, + Beating the bosom, + Sorrow's mask wearing, + Wail till the forum + Echo your dirge. + Ah! he has fallen, + Wisest and noblest, + Bravest of mortals! + He in the race could + Vanquish the swiftest; + He the rebellious + Parthians routed; + With his light arrows + Follow'd the Persian; + Stoutly his right hand + Stretching the bowstring, + Small wound but deadly + Dealt to the headlong + Fugitive foe, + Piercing the painted + Back of the Mede. + He the wild Britons, + Far on the unknown + Shores of the ocean, + And the blue-shielded, + Restless Brigantes, + Forced to surrender + Their necks to the slavish + Chains of the Romans. + Even old Ocean + Trembled, and owned the new + Sway of the axes + And Fasces of Rome. + Weep, weep for the man + Who, with such speed as + Never another + Causes decided, + Heard he but one side, + Heard he e'en no side. + Who now will judge us? + All the year over + List to our lawsuits? + Now shall give way to thee, + Quit his tribunal, + He who gives law in the + Empire of silence, + Prince of Cretan + Cities a hundred. + Beat, beat your breasts now, + Wound them in sorrow, + All ye pleaders + Crooked and venal; + Newly-fledged poets + Swell the lament; + More than all others, + Lift your sad voices, + Ye who made fortunes, + Rattling the dice-box. + +When Claudius arrives in the nether regions, a choir of singers hasten +towards him, crying: "He is found!--joy! joy!" [This was the cry of the +Egyptians when they found the ox Apis.] He is now surrounded by those +whom he had caused to be put to death, Polybius and his other freedmen +appearing among the rest. AEacus, as judge, examines into the actions +of his life, and finds that he has murdered thirty senators, three +hundred and fifteen knights, and citizens as the sands of the sea. He +thereupon pronounces sentence on Claudius, and dooms him to cast dice +eternally from a box with holes in it. Suddenly Caligula appears, and +claims him as his slave. He produces witnesses, who prove that he had +frequently beat, boxed, and horsewhipped his uncle Claudius; and as +nobody seems able to dispute this, Claudius is handed over to Caligula. +Caligula presents him to his freedman Menander, whom he is now to help +in drawing out law-papers. + +Such is a sketch of this remarkable "Apokolokyntosis of Claudius." +Seneca, who had basely flattered the Emperor while alive, was also +mean enough to drag him through the mire after he was dead. A noble +soul does not take revenge on the corpse of its foe, even though that +foe may have been but the parody of a man, and as detestable as he +was ridiculous. The insults of the coward alone are here in place. The +Apokolokyntosis faithfully reflects the degenerate baseness of Imperial +Rome. + + +CHAPTER VII. + +SENECA EROE. + + "Alto morire ogni misfatto amenda."--ALFIERI. + +Pasquino Seneca now transforms himself in a twinkling into the +dignified moralist; he writes his treatise "Concerning Clemency, to the +Emperor Nero"--a pleasantly contradictory title, Nero and clemency. It +is well enough known, however, that the young Emperor, like all his +predecessors, governed without cruelty during the first years of his +reign. This work of Seneca's is of high merit, wise, and full of noble +sentiment. + +Nero loaded his teacher with riches; and the author of the panegyric on +poverty possessed a princely fortune, gardens, lands, palaces, villas +outside the Porta Nomentana, in Baiae, on the Alban Mount, upwards of +six millions in value. He lent money at usurious rates of interest in +Italy and in the provinces, greedily scraped and hoarded, fawned like +a hound upon Agrippina and her son--till times changed with him. + +In four years Nero had thrown off every restraint. The murder of +his mother had met with no resistance from the timid Seneca. The +high-minded Tacitus makes reproachful allusion to him. At length +Nero began to find the philosopher inconvenient. He had already put +his prefect Burrhus to death, and Seneca had hastened to put all +his wealth at the disposal of the furious monarch; he now lived in +complete retirement. But his enemies accused him of being privy to +the conspiracy of Calpurnius Piso; and his nephew, the well-known poet +Lucan, was, not without ground, affirmed to be similarly implicated. +The conduct of Lucan in the matter was incredibly base. He made a +pusillanimous confession; condescended to the most unmanly entreaties; +and, sheltering himself behind the illustrious example set by Nero in +his matricide, he denounced his innocent mother as a participant in +the conspiracy. This abominable proceeding did not save him; he was +condemned to voluntary death, went home, wrote to his father Annaeus +Mela Seneca about some emendations of his poems, dined luxuriously, and +with the greatest equanimity opened his veins. So self-contradictory +are these Roman characters. + +Seneca is noble, great, and dignified in his end; he dies with an +almost Socratic cheerfulness, with a tranquillity worthy of Cato. He +chose bleeding as the means of his death, and consented that his heroic +wife Paulina should die in the same way. The two were at that time in +a country-house four miles from Rome. Nero kept restlessly despatching +tribunes to the villa to see how matters were going on. Word was +brought him in haste that Paulina, too, had had her veins opened. Nero +instantly sent off an order to prevent her death. The slaves bind the +lady's wounds, staunch the bleeding, and Paulina is rescued against her +will. She lived some years longer. Meanwhile, the blood flowed from the +aged Seneca but sparingly, and with an agonizing slowness. He asked +Statius Annaeus for poison, and took it, but without success; he then +had himself put in a warm bath. He sprinkled the surrounding slaves +with water, saying; "I make this libation to Zeus the Liberator." As he +still could not die here, he was carried into a vapour bath, and there +was suffocated. He was in his sixty-eighth year. + +Reader, let us not be too hard on this philosopher, who, after all, +was a man of his degenerate time, and whose nature is a combination +of splendid talent, love of truth, and love of wisdom, with the +most despicable weaknesses. His writings exercised great influence +throughout the whole of the Middle Ages, and have purified many a soul +from vicious passion, and guided it in nobler paths. Seneca, let us +part friends. + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THOUGHTS OF A BRIDE. + + "The wedding-day is near, when thou must wear + Fair garments, and fair gifts present to all + The youths that lead thee home; for of such things + The rumour travels far, and brings us honour, + Cheering thy father's heart, and loving + mother's."--_Odyssey._ + +Every valley or pieve of Cape Corso has its marina, its little port, +and anything more lonely and sequestered than these hamlets on the +quiet shore, it would be difficult to find. It was sultry noon when +I reached the strand of Luri, the hour when Pan is wont to sleep. The +people in the house where I was to wait for the little coasting-vessel, +which was to convey me to Bastia, sat all as if in slumber. A lovely +girl, seated at the open window, was sewing as if in dream upon a +fazoletto, with a mysterious faint smile on her face, and absorbed, +plainly, in all sorts of secret, pretty thoughts of her own. She was +embroidering something on the handkerchief; and this something, I could +see, was a little poem which her happy heart was making on her near +marriage. The blue sea laughed through the window behind her back; it +knew the story, for the fisher-maiden had made it full confession. +The girl had on a sea-green dress, a flowered vest, and the mandile +neatly wound about her hair; the mandile was snow-white, checked +with triple rows of fine red stripes. To me, too, did Maria Benvenuta +make confession of her open mystery, with copious prattle about winds +and waves, and the beautiful music and dancing there would be at the +wedding, up in the vale of Luri. For after some months will come the +marriage festival, and as fine a one it will be as ever was held in +Corsica. + +On the morning of the day on which Benvenuta is to leave her mother's +house, a splendid _trovata_ will stand at the entrance of her village, +a green triumphal arch with many-coloured ribbons. The friends, the +neighbours, the kinsfolk, will assemble on the Piazzetta to form +the _corteo_--the bridal procession. Then a youth will go up to the +gaily-dressed bride, and complain that she is leaving the place where +she was so well cared for in her childhood, and where she never wanted +for corals, nor flowers, nor friends. But since now she is resolved +to go, he, with all his heart, in the name of her friends, wishes her +happiness and prosperity, and bids her farewell. Then Maria Benvenuta +bursts into tears, and she gives the youth a present, as a keepsake for +the commune. A horse, finely decorated, is brought before the house, +the bride mounts it, young men fully armed ride beside her, their hats +wreathed with flowers and ribbons, and so the _corteo_ moves onwards +through the triumphal arch. One youth bears the _freno_--the symbol of +fruitfulness, a distaff encircled at its top with spindles, and decked +with ribbons. A handkerchief waves from it as flag. This freno in his +hand, the _freniere_ rides proudly at the head of the procession. + +The _cortege_ approaches Campo, where the bridegroom lives, and into +his house the bride is now to be conducted. At the entrance of Campo +stands another magnificent trovata. A youth steps forward, holding +high in his hand an olive-twig streaming with ribbons. This, with wise +old-fashioned sayings, he puts into the hand of the bride. Here two +of the young men of the bride's _corteo_ gallop off in furious haste +towards the bridegroom's house; they are riding for the _vanto_, that +is, the honour of being the first to bring the bride the key of the +bridegroom's house. A flower is the symbol of the key. The fastest +rider has won it, and exultingly holding it in his hand, he gallops +back to the bride, to present to her the symbol. The procession is now +moving towards the house. Women and girls crowd the balconies, and +strew upon the bride, flowers, rice, grains of wheat, and throw the +fruits that are in season among the procession with merry shoutings, +and wishes of joy. This is called _Le Grazie_. Ceaseless is the din of +muskets, mandolines, and the cornamusa, or bagpipe. Such jubilation +as there is in Campo, such shooting, and huzzaing, and twanging, and +fiddling! Such a joyous stir as there is in the air of spring-swallows, +lark-songs, flying flowers, wheat-grains, ribbons--and all about this +little Maria Benvenuta, who sits here at the window, and embroiders the +whole story on the fazoletto. + +But now the old father-in-law issues from the house, and thus +gravely addresses the Corteo of strangers:--"Who are you, men thus +armed?--friends or foes? Are you conductors of this _donna gentile_, +or have you carried her off, although to appearance you are noble and +valiant men?" The bridesman answers, "We are your friends and guests, +and we escort this fair and worthy maiden, the pledge of our new +friendship. We plucked the fairest flower of the strand of Luri, to +bring it as a gift to Campo." + +"Welcome, then, my friends and guests, enter my house, and refresh +you at the feast;" thus replies again the bridegroom's father, lifts +the maiden from her horse, embraces her, and leads her into the house. +There the happy bridegroom folds her in his arms, and this is done to +quite a reckless amount of merriment on the sixteen-stringed cithern, +and the cornamusa. + +Now we go into the church, where the tapers are already lit, and the +myrtles profusely strewn. And when the pair have been joined, and again +enter the bridegroom's house, they see, standing in the guest-chamber, +two stools; on these the happy couple seat themselves, and now comes a +woman, roguishly smiling, with a little child in swaddling clothes in +her arms. She lays the child in the arm of the bride. The little Maria +Benvenuta does not blush by any means, but takes the baby and kisses +and fondles it right heartily. Then she puts on his head a little +Phrygian cap, richly decked with particoloured ribbons. When this part +of the ceremony has been gone through, the kinsfolk embrace the pair, +and each wishes the good old wish:-- + + "Dio vi dia buona fortuna, + Tre di maschi e femmin' una:" + +--that is, God give you good luck, three sons and a daughter. The bride +now distributes little gifts to her husband's relatives; the nearest +relation receives a small coin. Then follow the feast and the balls, +at which they will dance the _cerca_, and the _marsiliana_, and the +_tarantella_. + +Whether they will observe the rest of the old usages, as they are given +in the chronicle, I do not know. But in former times it was the custom +that a young relation of the bride should precede her into the nuptial +chamber. Here he jumped and rolled several times over the bridal-bed, +then, the bride sitting down on it, he untied the ribbons on her shoes, +as respectfully as we see upon the old sculptures Anchises unloosing +the sandals of Venus, as she sits upon her couch. The bride now moved +her little feet prettily till the shoes slipped to the ground; and to +the youth who had untied them, she gave a present of money. To make +a long story short, they will have a merry time of it at Benvenuta's +wedding, and when long years have gone by, they will still remember it +in the Valley of Campo. + +All this we gossiped over very gravely in the boatman's little house +at Luri; and I know the cradle-song too with which Maria Benvenuta will +hush her little son to sleep-- + + "Ninnina, my darling, my doated-on! + Ninnina, my one only good! + Thou art a little ship dancing along, + Dancing along on an azure flood, + Fearing not the waves' rough glee, + Nor the winds that sweep the sea + Sweet sleep now get--sleep, mother's pet, + I'll sing thee _ninni nani_. + + "Little ship laden with pearls, my precious one, + Laden with silks and with damasks so gay, + With sails of brocade that have wafted it on + From an Indian port, far, far away; + And a rudder all of gold, + Wrought with skill to worth untold. + Sound sleep now get--sleep, mother's pet, + I'll sing thee _ninni nani_. + + "When thou wast born, thou darling one, + To the holy font they bore thee soon. + God-papa to thee the sun, + And thy god-mamma the moon; + And the baby stars that shine on high, + Rock'd their gold cradles joyfully. + Soft sleep now get--sleep, mother's pet, + I'll sing thee _ninni nani_. + + "Darling of darlings--brighter the heaven, + Deeper its blue as it smiled on thee; + Even the stately planets seven, + Brought thee presents rich and free; + And the mountain shepherds all, + Kept an eight-days' festival! + Sweet sleep now get--sleep, mother's pet, + I'll sing thee _ninni nani_. + + "Nothing was heard but the cithern, my beauty, + Nothing but dancing on every side, + In the sweet vale of Cuscioni + Through the country far and wide + Boccanera and Falconi + Echoed with their wonted glee. + Sound sleep now get--sleep, mother's pet, + I'll sing thee _ninni nani_. + + "Darling, when thou art taller grown, + Free thou shalt wander through meadows fair, + Every flower shall be newly-blown, + Oil shall shine 'stead of dewdrops there, + And the water in the sea + Changed to rarest balsam be. + Soft sleep now get--sleep, mother's pet, + I'll sing thee _ninni nani_. + + "Then the mountains shall rise before baby's eyes, + All cover'd with lambs as white as snow; + And the Chamois wild shall bound after the child, + And the playful fawn and gentle doe; + But the hawk so fierce and the fox so sly, + Away from this valley far must hie. + Sweet sleep now get--sleep, mother's pet, + I'll sing thee _ninni nani_. + + "Darling--earliest blossom mine, + Beauteous thou, beyond compare; + In Bavella born to shine, + And in Cuscioni fair, + Fourfold trefoil leaf so bright, + Kids would nibble--if they might! + Sweet sleep now get--sleep, mother's pet, + I'll sing thee _ninni nani_." + +Should, perhaps, the child be too much excited by such a fanciful +song, the mother will sing him this little nanna, whereupon he will +immediately fall asleep-- + + "Ninni, ninni, ninni nanna, + Ninni, ninni, ninni nolu, + Allegrezza di la mamma + Addormentati, O figliuolu." + + +CHAPTER IX. + +CORSICAN SUPERSTITIONS. + +In the meantime, voices from the shore had announced the arrival of the +boatmen; I therefore took my leave of the pretty Benvenuta, wished her +all sorts of pleasant things, and stepped into the boat. We kept always +as close as possible in shore. At Porticcioli, a little town with a +Dogana, we ran in to have the names of our four passengers registered. +A few sailing vessels were anchored here. The ripe figs on the trees, +and the beautiful grapes in the gardens, tempted us; we had half a +vineyard of the finest muscatel grapes, with the most delicious figs, +brought us for a few pence. + +Continuing our voyage in the evening, the beauty of the moonlit sea, +and the singular forms of the rocky coast, served to beguile the way +pleasantly. I saw a great many towers on the rocks, here and there a +ruin, a church, or cloister. As we sailed past the old Church of St. +Catherine of Sicco, which stands high and stately on the shore, the +weather seemed going "to desolate itself," as they say in Italian, +and threatened a storm. The old steersman, as we came opposite St. +Catherine, doffed his baretto, and prayed aloud: "Holy Mother of God, +Maria, we are sailing to Bastia; grant that we get safely into port!" +The boatmen all took off their baretti, and devoutly made the sign +of the cross. The moonlight breaking on the water from heavy black +clouds; the fear of a storm; the grim, spectrally-lighted shore; and +finally, St. Catherine,--suddenly brought over our entire company one +of those moods which seek relief in ghost-stories. The boatmen began to +tell them, in all varieties of the horrible and incredible. One of the +passengers, meanwhile, anxious that at least not all Corsicans should +seem, in the strangers' eyes, to be superstitious, kept incessantly +shrugging his shoulders, indignant, as a person of enlightenment, that +I should hear such nonsense; while another constantly supported his +own and the boatmen's opinion, by the asseveration: "I have never seen +witches with my own eyes, but that there is such a thing as the black +art is undoubted." I, for my part, affirmed that I confidently believed +in witches and sorceresses, and that I had had the honour of knowing +some very fine specimens. The partisan of the black art, an inhabitant +of Luri, had, I may mention, allowed me an interesting glimpse into his +mysterious studies, when, in the course of a conversation about London, +he very naively threw out the question, whether that great city was +French or not. + +The Corsicans call the witch _strega_. Her _penchant_ is to suck, as +vampire, the blood of children. One of the boatmen described to me +how she looked, when he surprised her once in his father's house; she +is black as pitch on the breast, and can transform herself from a cat +into a beautiful girl, and from a beautiful girl into a cat. These +sorceresses torment the children, make frightful faces at them, and +all sorts of _fattura_. They can bewitch muskets, too, and make them +miss fire. In this case, you must make a cross over the trigger, and, +in general, you may be sure the cross is the best protection against +sorcery. It is a very safe thing, too, to carry relics and amulets. +Some of these will turn off a bullet, and are good against the bite of +the venomous spider--the _malmignatto_. + +Among these amulets they had formerly in Corsica a "travelling-stone," +such as is frequently mentioned in the Scandinavian legends. It was +found at the Tower of Seneca only--was four-cornered, and contained +iron. Whoever tied such a stone over his knee made a safe and easy +journey. + +Many of the pagan usages of ancient Corsica have been lost, many +still exist, particularly in the highland pasture-country of Niolo. +Among these, the practice of soothsaying by bones is remarkable. +The fortune-teller takes the shoulder-blade (_scapula_) of a goat +or sheep, gives its surface a polish as of a mirror, and reads from +it the history of the person concerned. But it must be the left +shoulder-blade, for, according to the old proverb--_la destra spalla +sfalla_--the right one deceives. Many famous Corsicans are said to +have had their fortunes predicted by soothsayers. It is told that, as +Sampiero sat with his friends at table, the evening before his death, +an owl was heard to scream upon the house-top, where it sat hooting the +whole night; and that, when a soothsayer hereupon read the scapula, to +the horror of all, he found Sampiero's death written in it. + +Napoleon's fortunes, too, were foretold from a _spalla_. An old +herdsman of Ghidazzo, renowned for reading shoulder-blades, inspected +the scapula one day, when Napoleon was still a child, and saw thereon, +plainly represented, a tree rising with many branches high into the +heavens, but having few and feeble roots. From this the herdsman saw +that a Corsican would become ruler of the world, but only for a short +time. The story of this prediction is very common in Corsica; it has +a remarkable affinity with the dream of Mandane, in which she saw the +tree interpreted to mean her son Cyrus. + +Many superstitious beliefs of the Corsicans, with a great deal of +poetic fancy in them, relate to death--the true genius of the Corsican +popular poetry; since on this island of the Vendetta, death has +so peculiarly his mythic abode; Corsica might be called the Island +of Death, as other islands were called of Apollo, of Venus, or of +Jupiter. When any one is about to die, a pale light upon the house-top +frequently announces what is to happen. The owl screeches the whole +night, the dog howls, and often a little drum is heard, which a ghost +beats. If any one's death is near, sometimes the dead people come at +night to his house, and make it known. They are dressed exactly like +the Brothers of Death, in the long white mantles, with the pointed +hoods in which are the spectral eye-holes; and they imitate all the +gestures of the Brothers of Death, who place themselves round the bier, +lift it, bear it, and go before it. This is their dismal pastime all +night till the cock crows. When the cock crows, they slip away, some to +the churchyard, some into their graves in the church. + +The dead people are fond of each other's company; you will see them +coming out of the graves if you go to the churchyard at night; then +make quickly the sign of the cross over the trigger of your gun, that +the ghost-shot may go off well. For a full shot has power over the +spectres; and when you shoot among them, they disperse, and not till +ten years after such a shot can they meet again. + +Sometimes the dead come to the bedside of those who have survived, +and say, "Now lament for me no more, and cease weeping, for I have the +certainty that I shall yet be among the blessed." + +In the silent night-hours, when you sit upon your bed, and your sad +heart will not let you sleep, often the dead call you by name: "O +Mari!--O Jose!" For your life do not answer, though they cry ever so +mournfully, and your heart be like to break. Answer not! if you answer, +you must die. + +"Andate! andate! the storm is coming! Look at the tromba there, as it +drives past Elba!" And vast and dark swept the mighty storm-spectre +over the sea, a sight of terrific beauty; the moon was hid, and sea +and shore lay wan in the glare of lightning.--God be praised! we are at +the Tower of Bastia. The holy Mother of God _had_ helped us, and as we +stepped on land, the storm began in furious earnest. We, however, were +in port. + + [G] A kilometre is 1093.633 yards. + + [H] Usually given along with Seneca's Tragedies; but believed + to be of later origin--_Tr._ + + [I] The olive. + + [J] It may be worth while to notice a contradiction between + this epigram and the preceding, in order that no more insults + to Corsica may be fathered on Seneca than he is probably + the author of. It is not quite easy to imagine that the + writer who, in one epigram, had characterized Corsica as + "traversed by fish-abounding streams"--_piscosis pervia + fluminibus_--would in another deny that it afforded a draught + of water--_non haustus aquae_. Such an expression as _piscosis + pervia fluminibus_ guarantees to a considerable extent both + quantity and quality of water.--_Tr._ + + [K] "Die Sonne sie bleibet am Himmel nicht stehen, + Es treibt sie durch Meere und Laender zu gehen." + + [L] For this unblushing assertion, Livius Geminus had + actually received from Caligula a reward of 250,000 denarii. + + + + +BOOK V.--WANDERINGS IN CORSICA. + + +CHAPTER I. + +VESCOVATO AND THE CORSICAN HISTORIANS. + +Some miles to the southwards of Bastia, on the heights of the east +coast, lies Vescovato, a spot celebrated in Corsican history. Leaving +the coast-road at the tower of Buttafuoco, you turn upwards into the +hills, the way leading through magnificent forests of chestnuts, which +cover the heights on every side. The general name for this beautiful +little district is Casinca; and the region round Vescovato is honoured +with the special appellation of Castagniccia, or the land of chestnuts. + +I was curious to see this Corsican paese, in which Count Matteo +Buttafuoco once offered Rousseau an asylum; I expected to find +a village such as I had already seen frequently enough among the +mountains. I was astonished, therefore, when I saw Vescovato before +me, lost in the green hills among magnificent groves of chestnuts, +oranges, vines, fruit-trees of every kind, a mountain brook gushing +down through it, the houses of primitive Corsican cast, yet here and +there not without indications of architectural taste. I now could +not but own to myself that of all the retreats that a misanthropic +philosopher might select, the worst was by no means Vescovato. It is +a mountain hermitage, in the greenest, shadiest solitude, with the +loveliest walks, where you can dream undisturbed, now among the rocks +by the wild stream, now under a blossom-laden bush of erica beside an +ivy-hung cloister, or you are on the brow of a hill from which the eye +looks down upon the plain of the Golo, rich and beautiful as a nook of +paradise, and upon the sea. + +A bishop built the place; and the bishops of the old town of Mariana, +which lay below in the plain, latterly lived here. + +Historic names and associations cluster thickly round Vescovato; +especially is it honoured by its connexion with three Corsican +historians of the sixteenth century--Ceccaldi, Monteggiani, and +Filippini. Their memory is still as fresh as their houses are well +preserved. The Curato of the place conducted me to Filippini's house, a +mean peasant's cottage. I could not repress a smile when I was shown a +stone taken from the wall, on which the most celebrated of the Corsican +historians had in the fulness of his heart engraved the following +inscription:--_Has AEdes ad suum et amicorum usum in commodiorem Formam +redegit anno_ MDLXXV., _cal. Decemb. A. Petrus Philippinus Archid. +Marian._ In sooth, the pretensions of these worthy men were extremely +humble. Another stone exhibits Filippini's coat of arms--his house, +with a horse tied to a tree. It was the custom of the archdeacon to +write his history in his vineyard, which they still show in Vescovato. +After riding up from Mariana, he fastened his horse under a pine, +and sat down to meditate or to write, protected by the high walls of +his garden--for his life was in constant danger from the balls of his +enemies. He thus wrote the history of the Corsicans under impressions +highly exciting and dramatic. + +Filippini's book is the leading work on Corsican history, and is of +a thoroughly national character. The Corsicans may well be proud of +it. It is an organic growth from the popular mind of the country; +songs, traditions, chronicles, and, latterly, professed and conscious +historical writing, go to constitute the work as it now lies before us. +The first who wrought upon it was Giovanni della Grossa, lieutenant +and secretary of the brave Vincentello d'Istria. He collected the +old legends and traditions, and proceeded as Paul Diaconus did in his +history. He brought down the history of Corsica to the year 1464. His +scholar, Monteggiani, continued it to the year 1525,--but this part of +the history is meagre; then came Ceccaldi, who continued it to the year +1559; and Filippini, who brought it as far as 1594. Of the thirteen +books composing the whole, he has, therefore, written only the last +four; but he edited and gave form to the entire work, so that it now +bears his name. The _editio princeps_ appeared in Tournon in France, in +1594, in Italian, under the following title:-- + +"The History of Corsica, in which all things are recorded that have +happened from the time that it began to be inhabited up till the year +1594. With a general description of the entire Island; divided into +thirteen books, and commenced by Giovanni della Grossa, who wrote the +first nine thereof, which were continued by Pier Antonio Monteggiani, +and afterwards by Marc' Antonio Ceccaldi, and were collected and +enlarged by the Very Reverend Antonpietro Filippini, Archidiaconus of +Mariana, the last four being composed by himself. Diligently revised +and given to the light by the same Archidiaconus. In Tournon. In the +printing-house of Claudio Michael, Printer to the University, 1594." + +Although an opponent of Sampiero, and though, from timidity, or from +deliberate intent to falsify, frequently guilty of suppressing or +perverting facts, he, nevertheless, told the Genoese so many bitter +truths in his book, that the Republic did everything in its power to +prevent its circulation. It had become extremely scarce when Pozzo di +Borgo did his country the signal service of having it edited anew. The +learned Corsican, Gregori, was the new editor, and he furnished the +work with an excellent introduction; it appeared, as edited by Gregori, +at Pisa, in the year 1827, in five volumes. The Corsicans are certainly +worthy to have the documentary monuments of their history well attended +to. Their modern historians blame Filippini severely for incorporating +in his history all the traditions and fables of Grossa. For my part, +I have nothing but praise to give him for this; his history must not +be judged according to strict scientific rules; it possesses, as we +have it, the high value of bearing the undisguised impress of the +popular mind. I have equally little sympathy with the fault-finders in +their depreciation of Filippini's talent. He is somewhat prolix, but +his vein is rich; and a sound philosophic morality, based on accurate +observation of life, pervades his writings. The man is to be held +in honour; he has done his people justice, though no adherent of the +popular cause, but a partisan of Genoa. Without Filippini, a great part +of Corsican history would by this time have been buried in obscurity. +He dedicated his work to Alfonso d'Ornano, Sampiero's son, in token of +his satisfaction at the young hero's reconciling himself to Genoa, and +even visiting that city. + +"When I undertook to write the History," he says, "I trusted more to +the gifts which I enjoy from nature, than to that acquired skill and +polish which is expected in those who make similar attempts. I thought +to myself that I should stand excused in the eyes of those who should +read me, if they considered how great the want of all provision for +such an undertaking is in this island (in which I must live, since it +has pleased God to cast my lot here); so that scientific pursuits, of +whatever kind, are totally impossible, not to speak of writing a pure +and quite faultless style." There are other passages in Filippini, +in which he complains with equal bitterness of the ignorance of the +Corsicans, and their total want of cultivation in any shape. He does +not even except the clergy, "among whom," says he, "there are hardly a +dozen who have learned grammar; while among the Franciscans, although +they have five-and-twenty convents, there are scarcely so many as eight +lettered men; and thus the whole nation grows up in ignorance." + +He never conceals the faults of his countrymen. "Besides their +ignorance," he remarks, "one can find no words to express the laziness +of the islanders where the tilling of the ground is concerned. Even +the fairest plain in the world--the plain that extends from Aleria +to Mariana--lies desolate; and they will not so much as drive away +the fowls. But when it chances that they have become masters of a +single carlino, they imagine that it is impossible now that they can +ever want, and so sink into complete idleness."--This is a strikingly +apt characterization of the Corsicans of the present day. "Why does +no one prop the numberless wild oleasters?" asks Filippini; "why not +the chestnuts? But they do nothing, and therefore are they all poor. +Poverty leads to crime; and daily we hear of robberies. They also +swear false oaths. Their feuds and their hatred, their little love +and their little faithfulness, are quite endless; hence that proverb +is true which we are wont to hear: 'The Corsican never forgives.' And +hence arises all that calumniating, and all that backbiting, that we +see perpetually. The people of Corsica (as Braccellio has written) +are, beyond other nations, rebellious, and given to change; many +are addicted to a certain superstition which they call Magonie, and +thereto they use the men as women. There prevails here also a kind +of soothsaying, which they practise with the shoulder-bones of dead +animals." + +Such is the dark side of the picture which the Corsican historian draws +of his countrymen; and he here spares them so little, that, in fact, +he merely reproduces what Seneca is said to have written of them in the +lines-- + + "Prima est ulcisi lex, altera vivere raptu, + Tertia mentiri, quarta negare Deos." + +On the other hand, in the dedication to Alfonso, he defends most +zealously the virtues of his people against Tomaso Porcacchi Aretino +da Castiglione, who had attacked them in his "Description of the most +famous Islands of the World." "This man," says Filippini, "speaks of +the Corsicans as assassins, which makes me wonder at him with no small +astonishment, for there will be found, I may well venture to say, no +people in the world among whom strangers are more lovingly handled, and +among whom they can travel with more safety; for throughout all Corsica +they meet with the utmost hospitality and courteousness, without having +ever to expend the smallest coin for their maintenance." This is true; +a stranger here corroborates the Corsican historian, after a lapse of +three hundred years. + +As in Vescovato we are standing on the sacred ground of Corsican +historiography, I may mention a few more of the Corsican historians. +An insular people, with a past so rich in striking events, heroic +struggles, and great men, and characterized by a patriotism so +unparalleled, might also be expected to be rich in writers of the class +referred to; and certainly their numbers, as compared with the small +population, are astonishing. I give only the more prominent names. + +Next to Filippini, the most note-worthy of the Corsican +historiographers is Petrus Cyrnaeus, Archdeacon of Aleria, the other +ancient Roman colony. He lived in the fifteenth century, and wrote, +besides his _Commentarium de Bello Ferrariensi_, a History of Corsica +extending down to the year 1482, in Latin, with the title, _Petri +Cyrnaei de rebus Corsicis libri quatuor_. His Latin is as classical as +that of the best authors of his time; breadth and vigour characterize +his style, which has a resemblance to that of Sallust or Tacitus; but +his treatment of his materials is thoroughly unartistic. He dwells +longest on the siege of Bonifazio by Alfonso of Arragon, and on the +incidents of his own life. Filippini did not know, and therefore could +not use the work of Cyrnaeus; it existed only in manuscript till brought +to light from the library of Louis XV., and incorporated in Muratori's +large work in the year 1738. The excellent edition (Paris, 1834) which +we now possess we owe to the munificence of Pozzo di Borgo, and the +literary ability of Gregori, who has added an Italian translation of +the Latin text. + +This author's estimate of the Corsicans is still more characteristic +and intelligent than that of Filippini. Let us hear what he has to +say, that we may see whether the present Corsicans have retained much +or little of the nature of their forefathers who lived in those early +times:-- + +"They are eager to avenge an injury, and it is reckoned disgraceful not +to take vengeance. When they cannot reach him who has done the murder, +then they punish one of his relations. On this account, as soon as a +murder has taken place, all the relatives of the murderer instantly arm +themselves in their own defence. Only children and women are spared." +He describes the arms of the Corsicans of his time as follows: "They +wear pointed helms, called cerbelleras; others also round ones; further +daggers, spears four ells long, of which each man has two. On the left +side rests the sword, on the right the dagger. + +"In their own country, they are at discord; out of it, they hold +fast to each other. Their souls are ready for death (_animi ad mortem +parati_). They are universally poor, and despise trade. They are greedy +of renown; gold and silver they scarcely use at all. Drunkenness they +think a great disgrace. They seldom learn to read and write; few of +them hear the orators or the poets; but in disputation they exercise +themselves so continually, that when a cause has to be decided, you +would think them all very admirable pleaders. Among the Corsicans, I +never saw a head that was bald. The Corsicans are of all men the most +hospitable. Their own wives cook their victuals for the highest men +in the land. They are by nature inclined to silence--made rather for +acting than for speaking. They are also the most religious of mortals. + +"It is the custom to separate the men from the women, more especially +at table. The wives and daughters fetch the water from the well; +for the Corsicans have almost no menials. The Corsican women are +industrious: you may see them, as they go to the fountain, bearing the +pitcher on their head, leading the horse, if they have one, by a halter +over their arm, and at the same time turning the spindle. They are also +very chaste, and are not long sleepers. + +"The Corsicans inter their dead expensively; for they bury them not +without exequies, without laments, without panegyric, without dirges, +without prayer. For their funeral solemnities are very similar to those +of the Romans. One of the neighbours raises the cry, and calls to the +nearest village: 'Ho there! cry to the other village, for such a one +is just dead.' Then they assemble according to their villages, their +towns, and their communities, walking one by one in a long line--first +the men and then the women. When these arrive, all raise a great +wailing, and the wife and brothers tear the clothes upon their breast. +The women, disfigured with weeping, smite themselves on the bosom, +lacerate the face, and tear out the hair.--All Corsicans are free." + +The reader will have found that this picture of the Corsicans resembles +in many points the description Tacitus gives us of the ancient Germans. + +Corsican historiography has at no time flourished more than during +the heroic fifteenth and sixteenth centuries; it was silent during +the seventeenth, because at that period the entire people lay in a +state of death-like exhaustion; in the eighteenth, participating in +the renewed vitality of the age, it again became active, and we have +Natali's treatise _Disinganno sulla guerra di Corsica_, and Salvini's +_Giustificazione dell' Insurrezione_--useful books, but of no great +literary merit. + +Dr. Limperani wrote a History of Corsica to the end of the seventeenth +century, a work full of valuable materials, but prosy and long-winded. +Very serviceable--in fact, from the documents it contains, +indispensable--is the History of the Corsicans, by Cambiaggi, in four +quarto volumes. Cambiaggi dedicated his work to Frederick the Great, +the admirer of Pasquale Paoli and Corsican heroism. + +Now that the Corsican people have lost their freedom, the learned +patriots of Corsica--and Filippini would no longer have to complain +of the dearth of literary cultivation among his countrymen--have +devoted themselves with praiseworthy zeal to the history of their +country. These men are generally advocates. We have, for example, +Pompei's book, _L'Etat actuel de la Corse_; Gregori edited Filippini +and Peter Cyrnaeus, and made a collection of the Corsican Statutes--a +highly meritorious work. These laws originated in the old traditionary +jurisprudence of the Corsicans, which the democracy of Sampiero +adopted, giving it a more definite and comprehensive form. They +underwent further additions and improvements during the supremacy of +the Genoese, who finally, in the sixteenth century, collected them +into a code. They had become extremely scarce. The new edition is a +splendid monument of Corsican history, and the codex itself does the +Genoese much credit. Renucci, another talented Corsican, has written a +_Storia di Corsica_, in two volumes, published at Bastia in 1833, which +gives an abridgment of the earlier history, and a detailed account +of events during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, up to 1830. +The work is rich in material, but as a historical composition feeble. +Arrighi wrote biographies of Sampiero and Pasquale Paoli. Jacobi's +work in two volumes is the History of Corsica in most general use. It +extends down to the end of the war of independence under Paoli, and is +to be completed in a third volume. Jacobi's merit consists in having +written a systematically developed history of the Corsicans, using +all the available sources; his book is indispensable, but defective +in critical acumen, and far from sufficiently objective. The latest +book on Corsican history, is an excellent little compendium by Camillo +Friess, keeper of the Archives in Ajaccio, who told me he proposed +writing at greater length on the same subject. He has my best wishes +for the success of such an undertaking, for he is a man of original +and vigorous intellect. It is to be hoped he will not, like Jacobi, +write his work in French, but, as he is bound in duty to his people, in +Italian. + + +CHAPTER II. + +ROUSSEAU AND THE CORSICANS. + +I did not neglect to visit the house of Count Matteo Buttafuoco, +which was at one time to have been the domicile of Rousseau. It is a +structure of considerable pretensions, the stateliest in Vescovato. +Part of it is at present occupied by Marshal Sebastiani, whose family +belongs to the neighbouring village of Porta. + +This Count Buttafuoco is the same man against whom Napoleon wrote an +energetic pamphlet, when a fiery young democrat in Ajaccio. The Count +was an officer in the French army when he invited Jean Jacques Rousseau +to Vescovato. The philosopher of Geneva had, in his _Contrat Social_, +written and prophesied as follows with regard to Corsica: "There is +still one country in Europe susceptible of legislation--the island of +Corsica. The vigour and perseverance displayed by the Corsicans, in +gaining and defending their freedom, are such as entitle them to claim +the aid of some wise man to teach them how to preserve it. I have an +idea that this little island will one day astonish Europe." When the +French were sending out their last and decisive expedition against +Corsica, Rousseau wrote: "It must be confessed that your French are a +very servile race, a people easily bought by despotism, and shamefully +cruel to the unfortunate; if they knew of a free man at the other end +of the world, I believe they would march all the way thither, for the +mere pleasure of exterminating him." + +I shall not affirm that this was a second prophecy of Rousseau's, but +the first has certainly been fulfilled, for the day has come in which +the Corsicans _have_ astonished Europe. + +The favourable opinion of the Corsican people, thus expressed by +Rousseau, induced Paoli to invite him to Corsica in 1764, that he +might escape from the persecution of his enemies in Switzerland. +Voltaire, always enviously and derisively inclined towards Rousseau, +had spread the malicious report that this offer of an asylum in Corsica +was merely a ridiculous trick some one was playing on him. Upon this, +Paoli had himself written the invitation. Buttafuoco had gone further; +he had called upon the philosopher--of whom the Poles also begged a +constitution--to compose a code of laws for the Corsicans. Paoli does +not seem to have opposed the scheme, perhaps because he considered +such a work, though useless for its intended purpose, still as, in one +point of view, likely to increase the reputation of the Corsicans. +The vain misanthrope thus saw himself in the flattering position of +a Pythagoras, and joyfully wrote, in answer, that the simple idea of +occupying himself with such a task elevated and inspired his soul; +and that he should consider the remainder of his unhappy days nobly +and virtuously spent, if he could spend them to the advantage of the +brave Corsicans. He now, with all seriousness, asked for materials. +The endless petty annoyances in which he was involved, prevented him +ever producing the work. But what would have been its value if he had? +What were the Corsicans to do with a theory, when they had already +given themselves a constitution of practical efficiency, thoroughly +popular, because formed on the material basis of their traditions and +necessities? + +Circumstances prevented Rousseau's going to Corsica--pity! He might +have made trial of his theories there--for the island seems the +realized Utopia of his views of that normal condition of society which +he so lauds in his treatise on the question--Whether or not the arts +and sciences have been beneficial to the human race? In Corsica, he +would have had what he wanted, in plenty--primitive mortals in woollen +blouses, living on goat's-milk and a few chestnuts, neither science +nor art--equality, bravery, hospitality--and revenge to the death! +I believe the warlike Corsicans would have laughed heartily to have +seen Rousseau wandering about under the chestnuts, with his cat on +his arm, or plaiting his basket-work. But Vendetta! vendetta! bawled +once or twice, with a few shots of the fusil, would very soon have +frightened poor Jacques away again. Nevertheless Rousseau's connexion +with Corsica is memorable, and stands in intimate relation with the +most characteristic features of his history. + +In the letter in which he notifies to Count Buttafuoco his inability to +accept his invitation, Rousseau writes: "I have not lost the sincere +desire of living in your country; but the complete exhaustion of my +energies, the anxieties I should incur, and the fatigues I should +undergo, with other hindrances arising from my position, compel +me, at least for the present, to relinquish my resolution; though, +notwithstanding these difficulties, I find I cannot reconcile myself to +the thought of utterly abandoning it. I am growing old; I am growing +frail; my powers are leaving me; my wishes tempt me on, and yet my +hopes grow dim. Whatever the issue may be, receive, and render to +Signor Paoli, my liveliest, my heartfelt thanks, for the asylum which +he has done me the honour to offer me. Brave and hospitable people! I +shall never forget it so long as I live, that your hearts, your arms, +were opened to me, at a time when there was hardly another asylum left +for me in Europe. If it should not be my good fortune to leave my ashes +in your island, I shall at least endeavour to leave there a monument of +my gratitude; and I shall do myself honour, in the eyes of the whole +world, when I call you my hosts and protectors. What I hereby promise +to you, and what you may henceforth rely on, is this, that I shall +occupy the rest of my life only with myself or with Corsica; all other +interests are completely banished from my soul." + +The concluding words promise largely; but they are in Rousseau's usual +glowing and rhetorical vein. How singularly such a style, and the +entire Rousseau nature, contrast with the austere taciturnity, the +manly vigour, the wild and impetuous energy of the Corsican! Rousseau +and Corsican seem ideas standing at an infinite distance apart--natures +the very antipodes of each other, and yet they touch each other like +corporeal and incorporeal, united in time and thought. It is strange +to hear, amid the prophetic dreams of a universal democracy predicted +by Rousseau, the wild clanging of that Corybantian war-dance of the +Corsicans under Paoli, proclaiming the new era which their heroic +struggle began. It is as if they would deafen, with the clangour of +their arms, the old despotic gods, while the new divinity is being born +upon their island, Jupiter--Napoleon, the revolutionary god of the iron +age. + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE MORESCA--ARMED DANCE OF THE CORSICANS. + +The Corsicans, like other brave peoples of fiery and imaginative +temperament, have a war-dance, called the Moresca. Its origin is +matter of dispute--some asserting it to be Moorish and others Greek. +The Greeks called these dances of warlike youths, armed with sword +and shield, Pyrrhic dances; and ascribed their invention to Minerva, +and Pyrrhus, the son of Achilles. It is uncertain how they spread +themselves over the more western countries; but, ever since the +struggles of the Christians and Moors, they have been called Moresca; +and it appears that they are everywhere practised where the people +are rich in traditions of that old gigantic, world-historical contest +between Christian and Pagan, Europe and Asia,--as among the Albanians +in Greece, among the Servians, the Montenegrins, the Spaniards, and +other nations. + +I do not know what significance is elsewhere attached to the Moresca, +as I have only once, in Genoa, witnessed this magnificent dance; +but in Corsica it has all along preserved peculiarities attaching to +the period of the Crusades, the Moresca there always representing a +conflict between Saracens and Christians; the deliverance of Jerusalem, +perhaps, or the conquest of Granada, or the taking of the Corsican +cities Aleria and Mariana, by Hugo Count Colonna. The Moresca has thus +assumed a half religious, half profane character, and has received from +its historical relations a distinctive and national impress. + +The Corsicans have at all times produced the spectacle of this dance, +particularly in times of popular excitement and struggle, when a +national armed sport of this kind was likely of itself to inflame the +beholders, while at the same time it reminded them of the great deeds +of their forefathers. I know of no nobler pleasure for a free and manly +people, than the spectacle of the Moresca, the flower and poetry of the +mood that prompts to and exults in fight. It is the only national drama +the Corsicans have; as they were without other amusement, they had the +heroic deeds of their ancestors represented to them in dance, on the +same soil that they had steeped in their blood. It might frequently +happen that they rose from the Moresca to rush into battle. + +Vescovato, as Filippini mentions, was often the theatre of the Moresca. +The people still remember that it was danced there in honour of +Sampiero; it was also produced in Vescovato in the time of Paoli. The +most recent performance is that of the year 1817. + +The representation of the conquest of Mariana, by Hugo Colonna, was +that most in favour. A village was supposed to represent the town. +The stage was a piece of open ground, the green hills served as +amphitheatre, and on their sides lay thousands and thousands, gathered +from all parts of the island. Let the reader picture to himself such +a public as this--rude, fierce men, all in arms, grouped under the +chestnuts, with look, voice, and gesture accompanying the clanging +hero-dance. The actors, sometimes two hundred in number, are in two +separate troops; all wear the Roman toga. Each dancer holds in his +right hand a sword, in his left a dagger; the colour of the plume and +the breastplate alone distinguish Moors from Christians. The fiddle-bow +of a single violin-player rules the Moresca. + +It begins. A Moorish astrologer issues from Mariana dressed in the +caftan, and with a long white beard; he looks to the sky and consults +the heavenly luminaries, and in dismay he predicts misfortune. With +gestures of alarm he hastens back within the gate. And see! yonder +comes a Moorish messenger, headlong terror in look and movement, +rushing towards Mariana with the news that the Christians have already +taken Aleria and Corte, and are marching on Mariana. Just as the +messenger vanishes within the city, horns blow, and enter Hugo Colonna +with the Christian army. Exulting shouts greet him from the hills. + + Hugo, Hugo, Count Colonna, + O how gloriously he dances! + Dances like the kingly tiger + Leaping o'er the desert rocks. + + High his sword lifts Count Colonna, + On its hilt the cross he kisses, + Then unto his valiant warriors + Thus he speaks, the Christian knight: + + On in storm for Christ and country! + Up the walls of Mariana + Dancing, lead to-day the Moorish + Infidels a dance of death! + + Know that all who fall in battle, + For the good cause fighting bravely, + Shall to-day in heaven mingle + With the blessed angel-choirs. + +The Christians take their position. Flourish of horns. The Moorish +king, Nugalone, and his host issue from Mariana. + + Nugalone, O how lightly, + O how gloriously he dances! + Like the tawny spotted panther, + When he dances from his lair. + + With his left hand, Nugalone + Curls his moustache, dark and glossy: + Then unto his Paynim warriors + Thus he speaks, the haughty Moor: + + Forward! in the name of Allah! + Dance them down, the dogs of Christians! + Show them, as we dance to victory, + Allah is the only God! + + Know that all who fall in battle, + Shall to-day in Eden's garden + With the fair immortal maidens + Dance the rapturous houri-dance. + +The two armies now file off--the Moorish king gives the signal for +battle, and the figures of the dance begin; there are twelve of them. + + Louder music, sharper, clearer! + Nugalone and Colonna + Onward to the charge are springing, + Onward dance their charging hosts. + + Lightly to the ruling music + Youthful limbs are rising, falling, + Swaying, bending, like the flower-stalks, + To the music of the breeze. + + Now they meet, now gleam the weapons, + Lightly swung, and lightly parried; + Are they swords, or are they sunbeams-- + Sunbeams glittering in their hands? + + Tones of viol, bolder, fuller!-- + Clash and clang of crossing weapons, + Varied tramp of changing movement, + Backward, forward, fast and slow. + + Now they dance in circle wheeling, + Moor and Christian intermingled;-- + See, the chain of swords is broken, + And in crescents they retire! + + Wilder, wilder, the Moresca-- + Furious now the sounding onset, + Like the rush of mad sea-billows, + To the music of the storm. + + Quit thee bravely, stout Colonna, + Drive the Paynim crew before thee; + We must win our country's freedom + In the battle-dance to-day. + + Thus we'll dance down all our tyrants-- + Thus we'll dance thy routed armies + Down the hills of Vescovato, + Heaven-accursed Genoa! + +--still new evolutions, till at length they dance the last figure, +called the _resa_, and the Saracen yields. + +When I saw the Moresca in Genoa, it was being performed in honour of +the Sardinian constitution, on its anniversary day, May the 9th; for +the beautiful dance has in Italy a revolutionary significance, and +is everywhere forbidden except where the government is liberal. The +people in their picturesque costumes, particularly the women in their +long white veils, covering the esplanade at the quay, presented a +magnificent spectacle. About thirty young men, all in a white dress +fitting tightly to the body; one party with green, the other with red +scarfs round the waist, danced the Moresca to an accompaniment of horns +and trumpets. They all had rapiers in each hand; and as they danced +the various movements, they struck the weapons against each other. This +Moresca appeared to have no historical reference. + +The Corsicans, like the Spaniards, have also preserved the old +theatrical representations of the sufferings of our Saviour; they are +now, however, seldom given. In the year 1808, a spectacle of this kind +was produced in Orezza, before ten thousand people. Tents represented +the houses of Pilate, Herod, and Caiaphas. There were angels, and +there were devils who ascended through a trap-door. Pilate's wife was +a young fellow of twenty-three, with a coal-black beard. The commander +of the Roman soldiery wore the uniform of the French national guards, +with a colonel's epaulettes of gold and silver; the officer second in +command wore an infantry uniform, and both had the cross of the Legion +of Honour on their breast. A priest, the curato of Carcheto, played the +part of Judas. As the piece was commencing, a disturbance arose from +some unknown cause among the spectators, who bombarded each other with +pieces of rock, with which they supplied themselves from the natural +amphitheatre. + + * * * * * + + +CHAPTER IV. + +JOACHIM MURAT. + + "Espada nunca vencida! + Esfuerco de esfuerco estava."--_Romanza Durandarte._ + +There is still a third very remarkable house in Vescovato--the house +of the Ceccaldi family, from which two illustrious Corsicans have +sprung; the historian already mentioned, and the brave General Andrew +Colonna Ceccaldi, in his day one of the leading patriots of Corsica, +and Triumvir along with Giafferi and Hyacinth Paoli. + +But the house has other associations of still greater interest. It is +the house of General Franceschetti, or rather of his wife Catharina +Ceccaldi, and it was here that the unfortunate King Joachim Murat +was hospitably received when he landed in Corsica on his flight from +Provence; and here that he formed the plan for re-conquering his +beautiful realm of Naples, by a chivalrous _coup de main_. + +Once more, therefore, the history of a bold caballero passes in review +before us on this strange enchanted island, where kings' crowns hang +upon the trees, like golden apples in the Gardens of the Hesperides. + +Murat's end is more touching than that of almost any other of those +men who have careered for a while with meteoric splendour through the +world, and then had a sudden and lamentable fall. + +After his last rash and ill-conducted war in Italy, Murat had sought +refuge in France. In peril of his life, wandering about in the +vineyards and woods, he concealed himself for some time in the vicinity +of Toulon; to an old grenadier he owed his rescue from death by hunger. +The same Marquis of Riviere who had so generously protected Murat after +the conspiracy of George Cadoudal and Pichegru, sent out soldiers after +the fugitive, with orders to take him, alive or dead. In this frightful +extremity, Joachim resolved to claim hospitality in the neighbouring +island of Corsica. He hoped to find protection among a noble people, in +whose eyes the person of a guest is sacred. + +He accordingly left his lurking-place, reached the shore in safety, +and obtained a vessel which, braving a fearful storm and imminent +danger of wreck, brought him safely to Corsica. He landed at Bastia +on the 25th of August 1815, and hearing that General Franceschetti, +who had formerly served in his guard at Naples, was at that time in +Vescovato, he immediately proceeded thither. He knocked at the door of +the house of the Maire Colonna Ceccaldi, father-in-law of the general, +and asked to see the latter. In the _Memoires_ he has written on +Murat's residence in Corsica, and his attempt on Naples, Franceschetti +says:--"A man presents himself to me muffled in a cloak, his head +buried in a cap of black silk, with a bushy beard, in pantaloons, in +the gaiters and shoes of a common soldier, haggard with privation +and anxiety. What was my amazement to detect under this coarse and +common disguise King Joachim--a prince but lately the centre of such +a brilliant court! A cry of astonishment escapes me, and I fall at his +knees." + +The news that the King of Naples had landed occasioned some excitement +in Bastia, and many Corsican officers hastened to Vescovato to offer +him their services. The commandant of Bastia, Colonel Verriere, +became alarmed. He sent an officer with a detachment of gendarmes to +Vescovato, with orders to make themselves masters of Joachim's person. +But the people of Vescovato instantly ran to arms, and prepared to +defend the sacred laws of hospitality and their guest. The troop +of gendarmes returned without accomplishing their object. When the +report spread that King Murat had appealed to the hospitality of the +Corsicans, and that his person was threatened, the people flocked in +arms from all the villages in the neighbourhood, and formed a camp at +Vescovato for the protection of their guest, so that on the following +day Murat saw himself at the head of a small army. Poor Joachim was +enchanted with the _evvivas_ of the Corsicans. It rested entirely with +himself whether he should assume the crown of Corsica, but he thought +only of his beautiful Naples. The sight of a huzzaing crowd made him +once more feel like a king. "And if these Corsicans," said he, "who owe +me nothing in the world, exhibit such generous kindness, how will my +Neapolitans receive me, on whom I have conferred so many benefits?" + +His determination to regain Naples became immoveably firm; the fate +of Napoleon, after leaving the neighbouring Elba, and landing as +adventurer on the coast of France, did not deter him. The son of +fortune was resolved to try his last throw, and play for a kingdom or +death. + +Great numbers of officers and gentlemen meanwhile visited the house of +the Ceccaldi from far and near, desirous of seeing and serving Murat. +He had formed his plan. He summoned from Elba the Baron Barbara, one of +his old officers of Marine, a Maltese who had fled to Porto Longone, +in order to take definite measures with the advice of one who was +intimately acquainted with the Calabrian coast. He secretly despatched +a Corsican to Naples, to form connexions and procure money there. +He purchased three sailing-vessels in Bastia, which were to take him +and his followers on board at Mariana, but it came to the ears of the +French, and they laid an embargo on them. In vain did men of prudence +and insight warn Murat to desist from the foolhardy undertaking. He had +conceived the idea--and nothing could convince him of his mistake--that +the Neapolitans were warmly attached to him, that he only needed to +set foot on the Calabrian coast, in order to be conducted in triumph to +his castle; and he was encouraged in this belief by men who came to him +from Naples, and told him that King Ferdinand was hated there, and that +people longed for nothing so ardently as to have Murat again for their +king. + +Two English officers appeared in Bastia, from Genoa; they came to +Vescovato, and made offer to King Joachim of a safe conduct to England. +But Murat indignantly refused the offer, remembering how England had +treated Napoleon. + +Meanwhile his position in Vescovato became more and more dangerous, and +his generous hosts Ceccaldi and Franceschetti were now also seriously +menaced, as the Bourbonist commandant had issued a proclamation +which declared all those who attached themselves to Joachim Murat, or +received him into their houses, enemies and traitors to their country. + +Murat, therefore, concluded to leave Vescovato as soon as possible. He +still negotiated for the restoration of his sequestrated vessels; he +had recourse to Antonio Galloni, commandant of Balagna, whose brother +he had formerly loaded with kindnesses. Galloni sent him back the +answer, that he could do nothing in the matter; that, on the contrary, +he had received orders from Verriere to march on the following day with +six hundred men to Vescovato, and take him prisoner; that, however, out +of consideration for his misfortunes, he would wait four days, pledging +himself not to molest him, provided he left Vescovato within that time. + +When Captain Moretti returned to Vescovato with this reply, and +unable to hold out any prospect of the recovery of the vessels, Murat +shed tears. "Is it possible," he cried, "that I am so unfortunate! I +purchase ships in order to leave Corsica, and the Government seizes +them; I burn with impatience to quit the island, and find every +path blocked up. Be it so! I will send away those brave men who so +generously guard me--I will stay here alone--I will bare my breast +to Galloni, or I will find means to release myself from the bitter +and cruel fate that persecutes me"--and here he looked at the pistols +lying on the table. Franceschetti had entered the room; with emotion he +said to Murat that the Corsicans would never suffer him to be harmed. +"And I," replied Joachim, "cannot suffer Corsica to be endangered or +embarrassed on my account; I must be gone!" + +The four days had elapsed, and Galloni showed himself with his troops +before Vescovato. But the people stood ready to give him battle; they +opened fire. Galloni withdrew; for Murat had just left the village. + +It was on the 17th of September that he left Vescovato, accompanied by +Franceschetti, and some officers and veterans, and escorted by more +than five hundred armed Corsicans. He had resolved to go to Ajaccio +and embark there. Wherever he showed himself--in the Casinca, in +Tavagna, in Moriani, in Campoloro, and beyond the mountains, the people +crowded round him and received him with _evvivas_. The inhabitants +of each commune accompanied him to the boundaries of the next. In San +Pietro di Venaco, the priest Muracciole met him with a numerous body +of followers, and presented to him a beautiful Corsican horse. In a +moment Murat had leapt upon its back, and was galloping along the road, +proud and fiery, as when, in former days of more splendid fortune, he +galloped through the streets of Milan, of Vienna, of Berlin, of Paris, +of Naples, and over so many battle-fields. + +In Vivario he was entertained by the old parish priest Pentalacci, who +had already, during a period of forty years, extended his hospitality +to so many fugitives--had received, in these eventful times, +Englishmen, Frenchmen, and Corsicans, and had once even sheltered +the young Napoleon, when his life was threatened by the Paolists. As +they sat at breakfast, Joachim asked the old man what he thought of +his design on Naples. "I am a poor parish priest," said Pentalacci, +"and understand neither war nor diplomacy; but I am inclined to doubt +whether your Majesty is likely to win a crown _now_, which you could +not keep formerly when you were at the head of an army." Murat replied +with animation: "I am as certain of again winning my kingdom, as I am +of holding this handkerchief in my hand." + +Joachim sent Franceschetti on before, to ascertain how people were +likely to receive him in Ajaccio,--for the relatives of Napoleon, in +that town, had taken no notice of him since his arrival in the island; +and he had, therefore, already made up his mind to stay in Bocognano +till all was ready for the embarkation. Franceschetti, however, wrote +to him, that the citizens of Ajaccio would be overjoyed to see him +within their walls, and that they pressingly invited him to come. + +On the 23d of September, at four o'clock in the afternoon, Murat +entered Ajaccio for the second time in his life; he had entered it +the first time covered with glory--an acknowledged hero in the eyes of +all the world--for it was when he landed with Napoleon, as the latter +returned from Egypt. At his entry now the bells were rung, the people +saluted him with _vivats_, bonfires burned in the streets, and the +houses were illuminated. But the authorities of the city instantly +quitted it, and Napoleon's relations--the Ramolino family--also +withdrew; the Signora Paravisini alone had courage and affection enough +to remain, to embrace her relative, and to offer him hospitality in her +own house. Murat thought fit to live in a public locanda. + +The garrison of the citadel of Ajaccio was Corsican, and therefore +friendly to Joachim. The commandant shut it up within the fortress, +and declared the town in a state of siege. Murat now made the +necessary preparations for his departure; previously to which he drew +up a proclamation addressed to the Neapolitan people, consisting of +thirty-six articles; it was printed in Ajaccio. + +On the 28th of September, an English officer named Maceroni,[M] made +his appearance, and requested an audience of Joachim. He had brought +passes for him from Metternich, signed by the latter, by Charles +Stuart, and by Schwarzenberg. They were made out in the name of Count +Lipona, under which name--an anagram of Napoli--security to his person +and an asylum in German Austria or Bohemia were guaranteed him. Murat +entertained Maceroni at table; the conversation turned upon Napoleon's +last campaign, and the battle of Waterloo, of which Maceroni gave +a circumstantial account, praising the cool bravery of the English +infantry, whose squares the French cavalry had been unable to break. +Murat said: "Had I been there, I am certain I should have broken them;" +to which Maceroni replied: "Your Majesty would have broken the squares +of the Prussians and Austrians, but never those of the English." Full +of fire Murat cried--"And I should have broken those of the English +too: for Europe knows that I never yet found a square, of whatever +description, that I did not break!" + +Murat accepted Metternich's passes, and at first pretended to agree +to the proposal; then he said that he must go to Naples to conquer his +kingdom. Maceroni begged of him with tears to desist while it was yet +time. But the king dismissed him. + +On the same day, towards midnight, the unhappy Murat embarked, and, as +his little squadron left the harbour of Ajaccio, several cannon-shots +were fired at it from the citadel, by order of the commandant; it +was said the cannons had only been loaded with powder. The expedition +consisted of five small vessels besides a fast-sailing felucca called +the Scorridora, under the command of Barbara, and in these there were +in all two hundred men, inclusive of subaltern officers, twenty-two +officers, and a few sailors. + +The voyage was full of disasters. Fortune--that once more favoured +Napoleon when, seven months previously, he sailed from Elba with his +six ships and eight hundred men to regain his crown--had no smiles for +Murat. It is touching to see how the poor ex-king, his heart tossed +with anxieties and doubts, hovers hesitatingly on the Calabrian coast; +how he is forsaken by his ships, and repelled as if by the warning +hand of fate from the unfriendly shore; how he is even at one time on +the point of making sail for Trieste, and saving himself in Austria, +and yet how at last the chivalrous dreamer, his mental vision haunted +unceasingly by the deceptive semblance of a crown, adopts the fantastic +and fatal resolution of landing in Pizzo. + +"Murat," said the man who told me so much of Murat's days in Ajaccio, +and who had been an eye-witness of what passed then, "was a brilliant +cavalier with very little brains." It is true enough. He was the +hero of a historical romance, and you cannot read the story of his +life without being profoundly stirred. He sat his horse better than +a throne. He had never learnt to govern; he had only, what born kings +frequently have not, a kingly bearing, and the courage to be a king; +and he was most a king when he had ceased to be acknowledged as such: +this _ci-devant_ waiter in his father's tavern, Abbe, and cashiered +subaltern, fronted his executioners more regally than Louis XVI., of +the house of Capet, and died not less proudly than Charles of England, +of the house of Stuart. + +A servant showed me the rooms in Franceschetti's in which Murat had +lived. The walls were hung with pictures of the battles in which he had +signalized himself, such as Marengo, Eylau, the military engagement +at Aboukir, and Borodino. His portrait caught my eye instantly. The +impassioned and dreamy eye, the brown curling hair falling down over +the forehead, the soft romantic features, the fantastic white dress, +the red scarf, were plainly Joachim's. Under the portrait I read these +words--"1815. _Tradito!!! abbandonato!!! li 13 Octobre assassinato!!!_" +(betrayed, forsaken; on the 13th of October, murdered);--groanings of +Franceschetti's, who had accompanied him to Pizzo. The portrait of +the General hangs beside that of Murat, a high warlike form, with a +physiognomy of iron firmness, contrasting forcibly with the troubadour +face of Joachim. Franceschetti sacrificed his all for Murat--he left +wife and child to follow him; and although he disapproved of the +undertaking of his former king, kept by his side to the last. An +incident which was related to me, and which I also saw mentioned in the +General's _Memoires_, indicates great nobility of character, and does +honour to his memory. When the rude soldiery of Pizzo were pressing +in upon Murat, threatening him with the most brutal maltreatment, +Franceschetti sprang forward and cried, "I--I am Murat!" The stroke +of a sabre stretched him on the earth, just as Murat rushed to +intercept it by declaring who he was. All the officers and soldiers +who were taken prisoners with Murat at Pizzo were thrown into prison, +wounded or not, as it might happen. After Joachim's execution, they +and Franceschetti were taken to the citadel of Capri, where they +remained for a considerable time, in constant expectation of death, +till at length the king sent the unhoped-for order for their release. +Franceschetti returned to Corsica; but he had scarcely landed, when he +was seized by the French as guilty of high treason, and carried away +to the citadel of Marseilles. The unfortunate man remained a prisoner +in Provence for several years, but was at length set at liberty, and +allowed to return to his family in Vescovato. His fortune had been +ruined by Murat; and this general, who had risked his life for his +king, saw himself compelled to send his wife to Vienna to obtain from +the wife of Joachim a partial re-imbursement of his outlay, and, as the +journey proved fruitless, to enter into a protracted law-process with +Caroline Murat, in which he was nonsuited at every stage. Franceschetti +died in 1836. His two sons, retired officers, are among the most +highly respected men in Corsica, and have earned the gratitude of their +countrymen by the improvements they have introduced in agriculture. + +His wife, Catharina Ceccaldi, now far advanced in years, still +lives in the same house in which she once entertained Murat as her +guest. I found the noble old lady in one of the upper rooms, engaged +in a very homely employment, and surrounded with pigeons, which +fluttered out of the window as I entered; a scene which made me feel +instantly that the healthy and simple nature of the Corsicans has +been preserved not only in the cottages of the peasantry, but also +among the upper classes. I thought of her brilliant youth, which she +had spent in the beautiful Naples, and at the court of Joachim; and +in the course of the conversation she herself referred to the time +when General Franceschetti, and Coletta, who has also published a +special memoir on the last days of Murat, were in the service of the +Neapolitan soldier-king. It is pleasant to see a strong nature that +has victoriously weathered the many storms of an eventful life, and has +remained true to itself when fortune became false; and I contemplated +this venerable matron with reverence, as, talking of the great things +of the past, she carefully split the beans for the mid-day meal of +her children and grandchildren. She spoke of the time, too, when +Murat lived in the house. "Franceschetti," she said, "made the most +forcible representations to him, and told him unreservedly that he was +undertaking an impossibility. Then Murat would say sorrowfully, 'You, +too, want to leave me! Ah! my Corsicans are going to leave me in the +lurch!' We could not resist him." + +Leaving Vescovato, and wandering farther into the Casinca, I still +could not cease thinking on Murat. And I could not help connecting +him with the romantic Baron Theodore von Neuhoff, who, seventy-nine +years earlier, landed on this same coast, strangely and fantastically +costumed, as it had also been Murat's custom to appear. Theodore von +Neuhoff was the forerunner in Corsica of those men who conquered +for themselves the fairest crowns in the world. Napoleon obtained +the imperial crown, Joseph the crown of Spain, Louis the crown of +Holland, Jerome the crown of Westphalia--the land of which Theodore +King of Corsica was a native,--the adventurer Murat secured the Norman +crown of the Two Sicilies, and Bernadotte the crown of the chivalrous +Scandinavians, the oldest knights of Europe. A hundred years _before_ +Theodore, Cervantes had satirized, in his Sancho Panza, the romancing +practice of conferring island kingdoms in reward for conquering +prowess, and now, a hundred years _after_ him, the romance of _Arthur +and the Round Table_ repeats itself here on the boundaries of Spain, +in the island of Corsica, and continues to be realized in the broad +daylight of the nineteenth century, and our own present time. + +I often thought of Don Quixote and the Spanish romances in Corsica. It +seems to me as if the old knight of La Mancha were once more riding +through the world's history; in fact, are not antique Spanish names +again becoming historical, which were previously for the world at large +involved in as much romantic obscurity as the Athenian Duke Theseus of +the _Midsummer Night's Dream_? + + +CHAPTER V. + +VENZOLASCA--CASABIANCA--THE OLD CLOISTER. + + "Que todo se passa en flores + Mis amores, + Que todo se passa en flores."--_Spanish Song._ + +Near Vescovato lies the little hamlet of Venzolasca. It is a walk as if +through paradise, over the hills to it through the chestnut-groves. On +my way I passed the forsaken Capuchin convent of Vescovato. Lying on +a beautifully-wooded height, built of brown granite, and roofed with +black slate, it looked as grave and austere as Corsican history itself, +and had a singularly quaint and picturesque effect amid the green of +the trees. + +In travelling through this little "Land of Chestnuts," one forgets +all fatigues. The luxuriance of the vegetation, and the smiling hills, +the view of the plain of the Golo, and the sea, make the heart glad; +the vicinity of numerous villages gives variety and human interest, +furnishing many a group that would delight the eye of the _genre_ +painter. I saw a great many walled fountains, at which women and girls +were filling their round pitchers; some of them had their spindles with +them, and reminded me of what Peter of Corsica has said. + +Outside Venzolasca stands a beautifully situated tomb belonging to +the Casabianca family. This is another of the noble and influential +families which Vescovato can boast. The immediate ancestors of the +present French senator Casabianca made their name famous by their deeds +of arms. Raffaello Casabianca, commandant of Corsica in 1793, Senator, +Count, and Peer of France, died in Bastia at an advanced age in 1826. +Luzio Casabianca, Corsican deputy to the Convention, was captain of +the admiral's ship, _L'Orient_, in the battle of Aboukir. After Admiral +Brueys had been torn in pieces by a shot, Casabianca took the command +of the vessel, which was on fire, the flames spreading rapidly. As far +as was possible, he took measures for saving the crew, and refused to +leave the ship. His young son Giocante, a boy of thirteen, could not be +prevailed on to leave his father's side. The vessel was every moment +expected to blow up. Clasped in each other's arms, father and son +perished in the explosion. You can wander nowhere in Corsica without +breathing an atmosphere of heroism. + +Venzolasca has a handsome church, at least interiorly. I found people +engaged in painting the choir, and they complained to me that the +person who had been engaged to gild the wood-carving, had shamefully +cheated the village, as he had been provided with ducat-gold for the +purpose, and had run off with it. The only luxury the Corsicans allow +themselves is in the matter of church-decoration, and there is hardly +a paese in the island, however poor, which does not take a pride in +decking its little church with gay colours and golden ornaments. + +From the plateau on which the church of Venzolasca stands, there is +a magnificent view seawards, and, in the opposite direction, you have +the indescribably beautiful basin of the Castagniccia. Few regions of +Corsica have given me so much pleasure as the hills which enclose this +basin in their connexion with the sea. The Castagniccia is an imposing +amphitheatre, mountains clothed in the richest green, and of the finest +forms, composing the sides. The chestnut-woods cover them almost to +their summit; at their foot olive-groves, with their silver gray, +contrast picturesquely with the deep green of the chestnut foliage. +Half-appearing through the trees are seen scattered hamlets, Sorbo, +Penta, Castellare, and far up among the clouds Oreto, dark, with tall +black church-towers. + +The sun was westering as I ascended these hills, and the hours of +that afternoon were memorably beautiful. Again I passed a forsaken +cloister--this time, of the Franciscans. It lay quite buried among +vines, and foliage of every kind, dense, yet not dense enough to +conceal the abounding fruit. As I passed into the court, and was +entering the church of the convent, my eye lighted on a melancholy +picture of decay, which Nature, with her luxuriance of vegetation, +seemed laughingly to veil. The graves were standing open, as if those +once buried there had rent the overlying stones, that they might fly to +heaven; skulls lay among the long green grass and trailing plants, and +the cross--the symbol of all sorrow--had sunk amid a sea of flowers. + + +CHAPTER VI. + +HOSPITALITY AND FAMILY LIFE IN ORETO--THE CORSICAN ANTIGONE. + + "To Jove belong the stranger and the hungry, + And though the gift be small, it cheers the + heart."--_Odyssey._ + +An up-hill walk of two hours between fruit-gardens, the walls of which +the beautiful wreaths of the clematis garlanded all the way along, and +then through groves of chestnuts, brought me to Oreto. + +The name is derived from the Greek oros, which means _mountain_; +the place lies high and picturesque, on the summit of a green hill. +A huge block of granite rears its gray head from the very centre of +the village, a pedestal for the colossal statue of a Hercules. Before +reaching the paese, I had to climb a laborious and narrow path, which +at many parts formed the channel of a brook. + +At length gaining the summit, I found myself in the piazza, or public +square of the village, the largest I have seen in any paese. It is the +plateau of the mountain, overhung by other mountains, and encircled +by houses, which look like peace itself. The village priest was +walking about with his beadle, and the _paesani_ stood leaning in the +Sabbath-stillness on their garden walls. I stepped up to a group and +asked if there was a locanda in the place; "No," said one, "we have no +locanda, but I offer you my house--you shall have what we can give." I +gladly accepted the offer, and followed my host. Marcantonio, before +I entered his house, wished that I should take a look of the village +fountain, the pride of Oreto, and taste the water, the best in the +whole land of Casinca. Despite my weariness, I followed the Corsican. +The fountain was delicious, and the little structure could even make +pretensions to architectural elegance. The ice-cold water streamed +copiously through five pipes from a stone temple. + +Arrived in Marcantonio's house, I was welcomed by his wife without +ceremony. She bade me a good evening, and immediately went into the +kitchen to prepare the meal. My entertainer had conducted me into +his best room, and I was astonished to find there a little store +of books; they were of a religious character, and the legacy of a +relative. "I am unfortunate," said Marcantonio, "for I have learnt +nothing, and I am very poor; hence I must stay here upon the mountain, +instead of going to the Continent, and filling some post." I looked +more narrowly at this man in the brown blouse and Phrygian cap. The +face was reserved, furrowed with passion, and of an iron austerity, +and what he said was brief, decided, and in a bitter tone. All the +time I was in his company, I never once saw this man smile; and found +here, among the solitary hills, an ambitious soul tormented with its +thwarted aspirations. Such minds are not uncommon in Corsica; the +frequent success of men who have emigrated from these poor villages is +a powerful temptation to others; often in the dingiest cabin you see +the family likenesses of senators, generals, and prefects. Corsica is +the land of upstarts and of natural equality. + +Marcantonio's daughter, a pretty young girl, blooming, tall, and +well-made, entered the room. Without taking any other notice of the +presence of a guest, she asked aloud, and with complete _naivete_: +"Father, who is the stranger, is he a Frenchman; what does he want in +Oreto?" I told her I was a German, which she did not understand. Giulia +went to help her mother with the meal. + +This now made its appearance--the most sumptuous a poor man could +give--a soup of vegetables, and in honour of the guest a piece of meat, +bread, and peaches. The daughter set the viands on the table, but, +according to the Corsican custom, neither she nor the mother took a +share in the meal; the man alone helped me, and ate beside me. + +He took me afterwards into the little church of Oreto, and to the edge +of the rock, to show me the incomparably beautiful view. The young +curato, and no small retinue of _paesani_, accompanied us. It was a +sunny, golden, delightfully cool evening. I stood wonderstruck at such +undreamt-of magnificence in scenery as the landscape presented--for at +my feet I saw the hills, with all their burden of chestnut woods, sink +towards the plain; the plain, like a boundless garden, stretch onwards +to the strand; the streams of the Golo and Fiumalto wind through it to +the glittering sea; and far on the horizon, the islands of Capraja, +Elba, and Monte Chiato. The eye takes in the whole coast-line to +Bastia, and southwards to San Nicolao; turning inland, mountain upon +mountain, crowned with villages. + +A little group had gathered round us as we stood here; and I now began +to panegyrize the island, rendered, as I said, so remarkable by its +scenery and by the history of its heroic people. The young curate +spoke in the same strain with great fire, the peasants gesticulated +their assent, and each had something to say in praise of his country. +I observed that these people were much at home in the history of +their island. The curate excited my admiration; he had intellect, and +talked shrewdly. Speaking of Paoli, he said: "His time was a time of +action; the men of Orezza spoke little, but they did much. Had our +era produced a single individual of Paoli's large and self-sacrificing +spirit, it would be otherwise in the world than it is. But ours is an +age of chimeras and Icarus-wings, and yet man was not made to fly." +I gladly accepted the curate's invitation to go home with him; his +house was poor-looking, built of black stone. But his little study was +neat and cheerful; and there might be between two and three hundred +volumes on the book-shelves. I spent a pleasant hour in conversation +with this cultivated, liberal, and enlightened man, over a bottle of +exquisite wine, Marcantonio sitting silent and reserved. We happened +to speak of Aleria, and I put a question about Roman antiquities in +Corsica. Marcantonio suddenly put in his word, and said very gravely +and curtly--"We have no need of the fame of Roman antiquities--that of +our own forefathers is sufficient." + +Returning to Marcantonio's house, I found in the room both mother and +daughter, and we drew in round the table in sociable family circle. The +women were mending clothes, were talkative, unconstrained, and _naive_, +like all Corsicans. The unresting activity of the Corsican women is +well known. Subordinating themselves to the men, and uncomplainingly +accepting a menial position, the whole burden of whatever work is +necessary rests upon them. They share this lot with the women of all +warlike nations; as, for example, of the Servians and Albanians. + +I described to them the great cities of the Continent, their usages +and festivals, more particularly some customs of my native country. +They never expressed astonishment, although what they heard was utterly +strange to them, and Giulia had never yet seen a city, not even Bastia. +I asked the girl how old she was. "I am twenty years old," she said. + +"That is impossible. You are scarce seventeen." + +"She is sixteen years old," said the mother. + +"What! do you not know your own birthday, Giulia?" + +"No, but it stands in the register, and the Maire will know it." + +The Maire, therefore--happy man!--is the only person who can celebrate +the birthday of the pretty Giulia--that is, if he chooses to put his +great old horn-spectacles on his nose, and turn over the register for +it. + +"Giulia, how do you amuse yourself? young people must be merry." + +"I have always enough to do; my brothers want something every minute; +on Sunday I go to mass." + +"What fine clothes will you wear to-morrow?" + +"I shall put on the faldetta." + +She brought the faldetta from a press, and put it on; the girl looked +very beautiful in it. The faldetta is a long garment, generally black, +the end of which is thrown up behind over the head, so that it has +some resemblance to the hooded cloak of a nun. To elderly women, the +faldetta imparts dignity; when it wraps the form of a young girl, its +ample folds add the charm of mystery. + +The women asked me what I was. That was difficult to answer. I took out +my very unartistic sketch-book; and as I turned over its leaves, I told +them I was a painter. + +"Have you come into the village," asked Giulia, "to colour the walls?" + +I laughed loudly and heartily; the question was an apt criticism of my +Corsican sketches. Marcantonio said very seriously--"Don't; she does +not understand such things." + +These Corsican women have as yet no notion of the arts and sciences; +they read no romances, they play the cithern in the twilight, and sing +a melancholy vocero--a beautiful dirge, which, perhaps, they themselves +improvise. But in the little circle of their ideas and feelings, +their nature remains vigorous and healthy as the nature that environs +them--chaste, and pious, and self-balanced, capable of all noble +sacrifice, and such heroic resolves, as the poetry of civilisation +preserves to all time as the highest examples of human magnanimity. + +Antigone and Iphigenia can be matched in Corsica. There is not a single +high-souled act of which the record has descended to us from antiquity +but this uncultured people can place a deed of equal heroism by its +side. + +In honour of our young Corsican Giulia, I shall relate the following +story. It is historical fact, like every other Corsican tale that I +shall tell. + +THE CORSICAN ANTIGONE. + +It was about the end of the year 1768. The French had occupied Oletta, +a considerable village in the district of Nebbio. As from the nature +of its situation it was a post of the highest importance, Paoli put +himself in secret communication with the inhabitants, and formed a plan +for surprising the French garrison and making them prisoners. They were +fifteen hundred in number, and commanded by the Marquis of Arcambal. +But the French were upon their guard; they proclaimed martial law in +Oletta, and maintained a strict and watchful rule, so that the men of +the village did not venture to attempt anything. + +Oletta was now still as the grave. + +One day a young man named Giulio Saliceti left his village to go into +the Campagna, without the permission of the French guard. On his return +he was seized and thrown into prison; after a short time, however, he +was set at liberty. + +The youth left his prison and took his way homewards, full of +resentment at the insult put upon him by the enemy. He was noticed to +mutter something to himself, probably curses directed against the hated +French. A sergeant heard him, and gave him a blow in the face. This +occurred in front of the youth's house, at a window of which one of his +relatives happened to be standing--the Abbot Saliceti namely, whom the +people called Peverino, or Spanish Pepper, from his hot and headlong +temper. When Peverino saw the stroke fall upon his kinsman's face, his +blood boiled in his veins. + +Giulio rushed into the house quite out of himself with shame and anger, +and was immediately taken by Peverino into his chamber. After some time +the two men were seen to come out, calm, but ominously serious. + +At night, other men secretly entered the house of the Saliceti, sat +together and deliberated. And what they deliberated on was this: they +proposed to blow up the church of Oletta, which the French had turned +into their barracks. They were determined to have revenge and their +liberty. + +They dug a mine from Saliceti's house, terminating beneath the church, +and filled it with all the powder they had. + +The date fixed for firing the mine was the 13th of February 1769, +towards night. + +Giulio had nursed his wrath till there was as little pity in his heart +as in a musket-bullet. "To-morrow!" he said trembling, "to-morrow! +Let me apply the match; they struck me in the face; I will give them a +stroke that shall strike them as high as the clouds. I will blast them +out of Oletta, as if the bolts of heaven had got among them! + +"But the women and children, and those who do not know of it? The +explosion will carry away every house in the neighbourhood." + +"They must be warned. They must be directed under this or the other +pretext to go to the other end of the village at the hour fixed, and +that in all quietness." + +The conspirators gave orders to this effect. + +Next evening, when the dreadful hour arrived, old men and young, women, +children, were seen betaking themselves in silence and undefined alarm, +with secrecy and speed, to the other end of the village, and there +assembling. + +The suspicions of the French began to be aroused, and a messenger +from General Grand-Maison came galloping in, and communicated in +breathless haste the information which his commander had received. Some +one had betrayed the plot. That instant the French threw themselves +on Saliceti's house and the powder-mine, and crushed the hellish +undertaking. + +Saliceti and a few of the conspirators cut their way through the enemy +with desperate courage, and escaped in safety from Oletta. Others, +however, were seized and put in chains. A court-martial condemned +fourteen of these to death by the wheel, and seven unfortunates were +actually broken, in terms of the sentence. + +Seven corpses were exposed to public view, in the square before +the Convent of Oletta. No burial was to be allowed them. The French +commandant had issued an order that no one should dare to remove any of +the bodies from the scaffold for interment, under pain of death. + +Blank dismay fell upon the village of Oletta. Every heart was chilled +with horror. Not a human being stirred abroad; the fires upon the +hearths were extinguished--no voice was heard but the voice of +weeping. The people remained in their houses, but their thoughts turned +continually to the square before the convent, where the seven corpses +lay upon the scaffold. + +The first night came. Maria Gentili Montalti was sitting on her bed in +her chamber. She was not weeping; she sat with her head hanging on her +breast, her hands in her lap, her eyes closed. Sometimes a profound +sob shook her frame. It seemed to her as if a voice called, through the +stillness of the night, O Mari! + +The dead, many a time in the stillness of the night, call the name of +those whom they have loved. Whoever answers, must die. + +O Bernardo! cried Maria--for she wished to die. + +Bernardo lay before the convent on the scaffold; he was the seventh +and youngest of the dead. He was Maria's lover, and their marriage was +fixed for the following month. Now he lay dead upon the scaffold. + +Maria Gentili stood silent in the dark chamber, she listened towards +the side where the convent lay, and her soul held converse with a +spirit. Bernardo seemed to implore of her a Christian burial. + +But whoever removed a corpse from the scaffold and buried it, was to be +punished by death. Maria was resolved to bury her beloved and then die. + +She softly opened the door of her chamber in order to leave the house. +She passed through the room in which her aged parents slept. She went +to their bedside and listened to their breathing. Then her heart began +to quail, for she was the only child of her parents, and their sole +support, and when she thought how her death by the hand of the public +executioner would bow her father and mother down into the grave, her +soul shrank back in great pain, and she turned, and made a step towards +her chamber. + +At that moment she again heard the voice of her dead lover wail: O +Mari! O Mari! I loved thee so well, and now thou forsakest me. In my +mangled body lies the heart that died still loving thee--bury me in the +Church of St. Francis, in the grave of my fathers, O Mari! + +Maria opened the door of the house and passed out into the night. With +uncertain footsteps she gained the square of the convent. The night was +gloomy. Sometimes the storm came and swept the clouds away, so that +the moon shone down. When its beams fell upon the convent, it was as +if the light of heaven refused to look upon what it there saw, and the +moon wrapped itself again in the black veil of clouds. For before the +convent a row of seven corpses lay on the red scaffold, and the seventh +was the corpse of a youth. + +The owl and the raven screamed upon the tower; they sang the +vocero--the dirge for the dead. A grenadier was walking up and down, +with his musket on his shoulder, not far off. No wonder that he +shuddered to his inmost marrow, and buried his face in his mantle, as +he moved slowly up and down. + +Maria had wrapped herself in the black faldetta, that her form might be +the less distinct in the darkness of the night. She breathed a prayer +to the Holy Virgin, the Mother of Sorrows, that she would help her, and +then she walked swiftly to the scaffold. It was the seventh body--she +loosed Bernardo; her heart, and a faint gleam from his dead face, told +her that it was he, even in the dark night. Maria took the dead man +in her arms, upon her shoulder. She had become strong, as if with the +strength of a man. She bore the corpse into the Church of St. Francis. + +There she sat down exhausted, on the steps of an altar, over which the +lamp of the Mother of God was burning. The dead Bernardo lay upon her +knees, as the dead Christ once lay upon the knees of Mary. In the south +they call this group Pieta. + +Not a sound in the church. The lamp glimmers above the altar. Outside, +a gust of wind that whistles by. + +Maria rose. She let the dead Bernardo gently down upon the steps of the +altar. She went to the spot where the grave of Bernardo's parents lay. +She opened the grave. Then she took up the dead body. She kissed him, +and lowered him into the grave, and again shut it. Maria knelt long +before the Mother of God, and prayed that Bernardo's soul might have +peace in heaven; and then she went silently away to her house, and to +her chamber. + +When morning broke, Bernardo's corpse was missing from among the dead +bodies before the convent. The news flew through the village, and the +soldiers drummed alarm. It was not doubted that the Leccia family had +removed their kinsman during the night from the scaffold; and instantly +their house was forced, its inmates taken prisoners, and thrown chained +into a jail. Guilty of capital crime, according to the law that had +been proclaimed, they were to suffer the penalty, although they denied +the deed. + +Maria Gentili heard in her chamber what had happened. Without saying +a word, she hastened to the house of the Count de Vaux, who had come +to Oletta. She threw herself at his feet, and begged the liberation of +the prisoners. She confessed that it was she who had done that of which +they were supposed to be guilty. "I have buried my betrothed," said +she; "death is my due, here is my head; but restore their freedom to +those that suffer innocently." + +The Count at first refused to believe what he heard; for he held it +impossible both that a weak girl should be capable of such heroism, +and that she should have sufficient strength to accomplish what Maria +had accomplished. When he had convinced himself of the truth of her +assertions, a thrill of astonishment passed through him, and he was +moved to tears. "Go," said he, "generous-hearted girl, yourself release +the relations of your lover; and may God reward your heroism!" + +On the same day the other six corpses were taken from the scaffold, and +received a Christian burial. + + +CHAPTER VII. + +A RIDE THROUGH THE DISTRICT OF OREZZA TO MOROSAGLIA. + +I wished to go from Oreto to Morosaglia, Paoli's native place, through +Orezza. Marcantonio had promised to accompany me, and to provide good +horses. He accordingly awoke me early in the morning, and made ready +to go. He had put on his best clothes, wore a velvet jacket, and had +shaved himself very smoothly. The women fortified us for the journey +with a good breakfast, and we mounted our little Corsican horses, and +rode proudly forth. + +It makes my heart glad yet to think of that Sunday morning, and the +ride through this romantic and beautiful land of Orezza--over the +green hills, through cool dells, over gushing brooks, through the +green oak-woods. Far as the eye can reach on every side, those shady, +fragrant chestnut-groves; those giants of trees, in size such as I had +never seen before. Nature has here done everything, man so little. His +chestnuts are often a Corsican's entire estate; and in many instances +he has only six goats and six chestnut-trees, which yield him his +polleta. Government has already entertained the idea of cutting down +the forests of chestnuts, in order to compel the Corsican to till the +ground; but this would amount to starving him. Many of these trees have +trunks twelve feet in thickness. With their full, fragrant foliage, +long, broad, dark leaves, and fibred, light-green fruit-husks, they are +a sight most grateful to the eye. + +Beyond the paese of Casalta, we entered a singularly romantic dell, +through which the Fiumalto rushes. You find everywhere here serpentine, +and the exquisite marble called Verde Antico. The engineers called +the little district of Orezza the elysium of geology; the waters of +the stream roll the beautiful stones along with them. Through endless +balsamic groves, up hill and down hill, we rode onwards to Piedicroce, +the principal town of Orezza, celebrated for its medicinal springs; for +Orezza, rich in minerals, is also rich in mineral waters. + +Francesco Marmocchi says, in his geography of the island: "Mineral +springs are the invariable characteristic of countries which have been +upheaved by the interior forces. Corsica, which within a limited space +presents the astonishing and varied spectacle of the thousandfold +workings of this ancient struggle between the heated interior of the +earth and its cooled crust, was not likely to form an exception to this +general rule." + +Corsica has, accordingly, its cold and its warm mineral springs; and +although these, so far as they have been counted, are numerous, there +can be no doubt that others still remain undiscovered. + +The natural phenomena of this beautiful island, and particularly its +mineralogy, have by no means as yet had sufficient attention directed +to them. + +Up to the present time, fourteen mineral springs, warm and cold, are +accurately and fully known. The distribution of these salubrious waters +over the surface of the island, more especially in respect to their +temperature, is extremely unequal. The region of the primary granite +possesses eight, all warm, and containing more or less sulphur, except +one; while the primary ophiolitic and calcareous regions possess only +six, one alone of which is warm. + +The springs of Orezza, bursting forth at many spots, lie on the right +bank of the Fiumalto. The main spring is the only one that is used; +it is cold, acid, and contains iron. It gushes out of a hill below +Piedicroce in great abundance, from a stone basin. No measures have +been taken for the convenience of strangers visiting the wells; these +walk or ride under their broad parasols down the hills into the green +forest, where they have planted their tents. After a ride of several +hours under the burning sun, and not under a parasol, I found this +vehemently effervescing water most delicious. + +Piedicroce lies high. Its slender church-tower looks airily down from +the green hill. The Corsican churches among the mountains frequently +occupy enchantingly beautiful and bold sites. Properly speaking, they +stand already in the heavens; and when the door opens, the clouds and +the angels might walk in along with the congregation. + +A majestic thunderstorm was flaming round Piedicroce, and echoed +powerfully from hill to hill. We rode into the paese to escape the +torrents of rain. A young man, fashionably dressed, sprang out of a +house, and invited us to enter his locanda. I found other two gentlemen +within, with daintily-trimmed beard and moustache, and of very active +but polished manners. They immediately wished to know my commands; and +nimble they were in executing them--one whipped eggs, another brought +wood and fire, the third minced meat. The eldest of them had a nobly +chiselled but excessively pale face, with a long Slavonic moustache. So +many cooks to a simple meal, and such extremely genteel ones, I was now +for the first time honoured with. I was utterly amazed till they told +me who they were. They were two fugitive Modenese, and a Hungarian. +The Magyar told me, as he stewed the meat, that he had been seven years +lieutenant-general. "Now I stand here and cook," he added; "but such is +the way of the world, when one has come to be a poor devil in a foreign +country, he must not stand on ceremony. We have set up a locanda here +for the season at the wells, and have made very little by it." + +As I looked at his pale face--he had caught fever at Aleria--I felt +touched. + +We sat down together, Magyar, Lombard, Corsican, and German, and talked +of old times, and named many names of modern celebrity or notoriety. +How silent many of these become before the one great name, Paoli! +I dare not mention them beside him; the noble citizen, the man of +intellect and action, will not endure their company. + +The storm was nearly over, but the mountains still stood plunged in +mist. We mounted our horses in order to cross the hills of San Pietro +and reach Ampugnani. Thunder growled and rolled among the misty +summits, and clouds hung on every side. A wild and dreary sadness +lay heavily on the hills; now and then still a flash of lightning; +mountains as if sunk in a sea of cloud, others stretching themselves +upwards like giants; wherever the veil rends, a rich landscape, +green groves, black villages--all this, as it seemed, flying past the +rider; valley and summit, cloister and tower, hill after hill, like +dream-pictures hanging among clouds. The wild elemental powers, that +sleep fettered in the soul of man, are ready at such moments to burst +their bonds, and rush madly forth. Who has not experienced this mood +on a wild sea, or when wandering through the storm? and what we are +then conscious of is the same elemental power of nature that men call +passion, when it takes a determinate form. Forward, Antonio! Gallop +the little red horses along this misty hill, fast! faster! till clouds, +hills, cloisters, towers, fly with horse and rider. Hark! yonder hangs +a black church-tower, high up among the mists, and the bells peal and +peal Ave Maria--signal for the soul to calm itself. + +The villages are here small, picturesquely scattered everywhere among +the hills, lying high or in beautiful green valleys. I counted from one +point so many as seventeen, with as many slender black church-towers. +We passed numbers of people on the road; men of the old historic land +of Orezza and Rostino, noble and powerful forms; their fathers once +formed the guard of Paoli. + +At Polveroso, we had a magnificent glimpse of a deep valley, in +the middle of which lies Porta, the principal town of the little +district of Ampugnani, embosomed in chestnuts, now dripping with the +thunder-shower. Here stood formerly the ancient Accia, a bishopric, +not a trace of which remains. Porta is an unusually handsome place, +and many of its little houses resemble elegant villas. The small yellow +church has a pretty facade, and a surprisingly graceful tower stands, +in Tuscan fashion, as isolated campanile or belfry by its side. From +the hill of San Pietro, you look down into the rows of houses, and the +narrow streets that group themselves about the church, as into a trim +little theatre. Porta is the birthplace of Sebastiani. + +The mountains now become balder, and more severe in form, losing the +chestnuts that previously adorned them. I found huge thistles growing +by the roadside, large almost as trees, with magnificent, broad, +finely-cut leaves, and hard woody stem. Marcantonio had sunk into +complete silence. The Corsicans speak little, like the Spartans; my +host of Oreto was dumb as Harpocrates. I had ridden with him a whole +day through the mountains, and, from morning till evening had never +been able to draw him into conversation. Only now and then he threw +out some _naive_ question: "Have you cannons? Have you hells in your +country? Do fruits grow with you? Are you wealthy?" + +After Ave Maria, we at length reached the canton of Rostino or +Morosaglia, the country of Paoli, the most illustrious of all the +localities celebrated in Corsican history, and the central point of +the old democratic Terra del Commune. We were still upon the Campagna, +when Marcantonio took leave of me; he was going to pass the night in a +house at some distance, and return home with the horses on the morrow. +He gave me a brotherly kiss, and turned away grave and silent; and I, +happy to find myself in this land of heroes and free men, wandered on +alone towards the convent of Morosaglia. I have still an hour on the +solitary plain, and, before entering Paoli's house, I shall continue +the history of his people and himself at the point where I left off. + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +PASQUALE PAOLI. + + "Il cittadin non la citta son io."--ALFIERI'S _Timoleon_. + +After Pasquale Paoli and his brother Clemens, with their companions, +had left Corsica, the French easily made themselves masters of +the whole island. Only a few straggling guerilla bands protracted +the struggle a while longer among the mountains. Among these, one +noble patriot especially deserves the love and admiration of future +times--the poor parish priest of Guagno--Domenico Leca, of the old +family of Giampolo. He had sworn upon the Gospels to abide true to +freedom, and to die sooner than give up the struggle. When the whole +country had submitted, and the enemy summoned him to lay down his +arms, he declared that he could not violate his oath. He dismissed +those of his people that did not wish any longer to follow him, and +threw himself, with a faithful few, into the hills. For months he +continued the struggle, fighting, however, only when he was attacked, +and tending wounded foes with Christian compassion when they fell into +his hands. He inflicted injury on none except in honourable conflict. +In vain the French called on him to come down, and live unmolested in +his village. The priest of Guagno wandered among the mountains, for he +was resolved to be free; and when all had forsaken him, the goat-herds +gave him shelter and sustenance. But one day he was found dead in a +cave, whence he had gone home to his Master, weary and careworn, and a +free man. A relative of Paoli and friend of Alfieri--Giuseppe Ottaviano +Savelli--has celebrated the memory of the priest of Guagno in a Latin +poem, with the title of _Vir Nemoris_--The Man of the Forest. + +Other Corsicans, too, who had gone into exile to Italy, landed here and +there, and attempted, like their forefathers, Vincentello, Renuccio, +Giampolo, and Sampiero, to free the island. None of these attempts +met with any success. Many Corsicans were barbarously dragged off to +prison--many sent to the galleys at Toulon, as if they had been helots +who had revolted against their masters. Abattucci, who had been one +of the last to lay down arms, falsely accused of high treason and +convicted, was condemned in Bastia to branding and the galleys. When +Abattucci was sitting upon the scaffold ready to endure the execution +of the sentence, the executioner shrank from applying the red-hot +iron. "Do your duty," cried a French judge; the man turned round to the +latter, and stretched the iron towards him, as if about to brand the +judge. Some time after, Abattucci was pardoned. + +Meanwhile, Count Marboeuf had succeeded the Count de Vaux in +the command of Corsica. His government was on the whole mild and +beneficial; the ancient civic regulations of the Corsicans, and their +statutes, remained in force; the Council of Twelve was restored, and +the administration of justice rendered more efficient. Efforts were +also made to animate agriculture, and the general industry of the now +utterly impoverished country. Marboeuf died in Bastia in 1786, after +governing Corsica for sixteen years. + +When the French Revolution broke out, that mighty movement absorbed +all private interests of the Corsicans, and these ardent lovers of +liberty threw themselves with enthusiasm into the current of the new +time. The Corsican deputy, Saliceti, proposed that the island should +be incorporated with France, in order that it might share in her +constitution. This took place, in terms of a decree of the Legislative +Assembly, on the 30th of November 1789, and excited universal +exultation throughout Corsica. Most singular and contradictory was the +turn affairs had taken. The same France, that twenty years before had +sent out her armies to annihilate the liberties and the constitution of +Corsica, now raised that constitution upon her throne! + +The Revolution recalled Paoli from his exile. He had gone first to +Tuscany, and thereafter to London, where the court and ministers had +given him an honourable reception. He lived very retired in London, +and little was heard of his life or his employment. Paoli made no stir +when he came to England; the great man who had led the van for Europe +on her new career, withdrew into silence and obscurity in his little +house in Oxford Street. He made no magniloquent speeches. All he could +do was to act like a man, and, when that was no longer permitted him, +be proudly silent. The scholar of Corte had said in his presence, in +the oration from which I have quoted: "If freedom were to be gained +by mere talking, then were the whole world free." Something might be +learned from the wisdom of this young student. When Napoleon, like +a genuine Corsican, taking refuge as a last resource in an appeal to +hospitality, claimed that of England from on board the Bellerophon, he +compared himself to Themistocles when in the position of a suppliant +for protection. He was not entitled to compare himself with the great +citizen of Greece; Pasquale Paoli alone was that exiled Themistocles! + +Here are one or two letters of this period:-- + + PAOLI TO HIS BROTHER CLEMENS, + (_Who had remained in Tuscany._) + + "LONDON, _Oct. 3, 1769_.--I have received no letters from + you. I fear they have been intercepted, for our enemies + are very adroit at such things.... I was well received by + the king and queen. The ministers have called upon me. This + reception has displeased certain foreign ministers: I hear + they have lodged protests. I have promised to go on Sunday + into the country to visit the Duke of Gloucester, who is our + warm friend. I hope to obtain something here for the support + of our exiled fellow-countrymen, if Vienna does nothing. + The eyes of people here are beginning to be opened; they + acknowledge the importance of Corsica. The king has spoken + to me very earnestly of the affair; his kindness to me + personally made me feel embarrassed. My reception at court + has almost drawn upon me the displeasure of the opposition; + so that some of them have begun to lampoon me. Our enemies + sought to encourage them, letting it be understood with + a mysterious air, that I had sold our country; that I had + bought an estate in Switzerland with French gold, that our + property had not been touched by the French; and that they + had an understanding with these ministers, as they too + are sold to France. But I believe that all are now better + informed; and every one approved of my resolution not to + mix myself up with the designs of parties; but to further + by all means that for which it is my duty to labour, and for + the advancement of which all can unite, without compromising + their individual relations. + + "Send me an accurate list of all our friends who have gone + into banishment--we must not be afraid of expense; and send + me news of Corsica. The letters must come under the addresses + of private friends, otherwise they do not reach me. I enjoy + perfect health. This climate appears to me as yet very mild. + + "The Campagna is always quite green. He who has not seen it + can have no conception of the loveliness of spring. The soil + of England is crisped like the waves of the sea when the wind + moves them lightly. Men here, though excited by political + faction, live, as far as regards overt acts of violence, as + if they were the most intimate friends: they are benevolent, + sensible, generous in all things; and they are happy under + a constitution than which there can be no better. This city + is a world; and it is without doubt a finer town than all + the rest put together. Fleets seem to enter its river every + moment; I believe that Rome was neither greater nor richer. + What we in Corsica reckon in paoli, people here reckon in + guineas, that is, in louis-d'ors. I have written for a bill + of exchange; I have refused to hear of contributions intended + for me personally, till I know what conclusion they have come + to in regard to the others; but I know that their intentions + are good. In case they are obliged to temporize, finding + their hands tied at present, they will be ready the first war + that breaks out. I greet all; live happy, and do not think on + me." + + CATHERINE OF RUSSIA TO PASQUALE PAOLI. + + "ST. PETERSBURG, _April 27, 1770_. + + "MONSIEUR GENERAL DE PAOLI!--I have received your letter from + London, of the 15th February. All that Count Alexis Orloff + has let you know of my good intentions towards you, Monsieur, + is a result of the feelings with which your magnanimity, + and the high-spirited and noble manner in which you have + defended your country, have inspired me. I am acquainted with + the details of your residence in Pisa, and with this among + the rest, that you gained the esteem of all those who had + opportunities of intercourse with you. That is the reward of + virtue, in whatever situation it may find itself; be assured + that I shall always entertain the liveliest sympathy for + yours. + + "The motive of your journey to England, was a natural + consequence of your sentiments with regard to your country. + Nothing is wanting to your good cause but favourable + circumstances. The natural interests of our empire, + connected as they are with those of Great Britain; the + mutual friendship between the two nations which results from + this; the reception which my fleets have met with on the + same account, and which my ships in the Mediterranean, and + the commerce of Russia, would have to expect from a free + people in friendly relations with my own, supply motives + which cannot but be favourable to you. You may, therefore, + be assured, Monsieur, that I shall not let slip the + opportunities which will probably occur, of rendering you all + the good services that political conjunctures may allow. + + "The Turks have declared against me the most unjust war that + perhaps ever _has_ been declared. At the present moment I am + only able to defend myself. The blessing of Heaven, which + has hitherto accompanied my cause, and which I pray God + to continue to me, shows sufficiently that justice cannot + be long suppressed, and that patience, hope, and courage, + though the world is full of the most difficult situations, + nevertheless attain their aim. I receive with pleasure, + Monsieur, the assurances of regard which you are pleased to + express, and I beg you will be convinced of the esteem with + which I am, + + "CATHERINE." + +Paoli had lived twenty long years an exile in London, when he +was summoned back to his native country. The Corsicans sent him a +deputation, and the French National Assembly, in a pompous address, +invited him to return. + +On the 3d of April 1790, Paoli came for the first time to Paris. He was +feted here as the Washington of Europe, and Lafayette was constantly at +his side. The National Assembly received him with stormy acclamations, +and elaborate oratory. His reply was as follows:-- + + "Messieurs, this is the fairest and happiest day of my life. + I have spent my years in striving after liberty, and I find + here its noblest spectacle. I left my country in slavery, I + find it now in freedom. What more remains for me to desire? + After an absence of twenty years, I know not what alterations + tyranny may have produced among my countrymen; ah! it cannot + have been otherwise than fatal, for oppression demoralizes. + But in removing, as you have done, the chains from the + Corsicans, you have restored to them their ancient virtue. + Now that I am returning to my native country, you need + entertain no doubts as to the nature of my sentiments. You + have been magnanimous towards me, and I was never a slave. + My past conduct, which you have honoured with your approval, + is the pledge of my future course of action: my whole life, + I may say, has been an unbroken oath to liberty; it seems, + therefore, as if I had already sworn allegiance to the + constitution which you have established; but it still remains + for me to give my oath to the nation which adopts me, and to + the monarch whom I now acknowledge. This is the favour which + I desire of the august Assembly." + +In the club of the Friends of the Constitution, Robespierre thus +addressed Paoli: "Ah! there was a time when we sought to crush freedom +in its last retreats. Yet no! that was the crime of despotism--the +French people have wiped away the stain. What ample atonement to +conquered Corsica, and injured mankind! Noble citizens, you defended +liberty at a time when I did not so much as venture to hope for it. You +have suffered for liberty; you now triumph with it, and your triumph is +ours. Let us unite to preserve it for ever, and may its base opponents +turn pale with fear at the sight of our sacred league." + +Paoli had no foreboding of the position into which the course of events +was yet to bring him, in relation to this same France, or that he was +once more to stand opposed to her as a foe. He left for Corsica. In +Marseilles he was again received by a Corsican deputation, with the +members of which came the two young club-leaders of Ajaccio--Joseph and +Napoleon Bonaparte. Paoli wept as he landed on Cape Corso and kissed +the soil of his native country; he was conducted in triumph from canton +to canton; and the Te Deum was sung throughout the island. + +Paoli, as President of the Assembly, and Lieutenant-general of the +Corsican National Guard, now devoted himself entirely to the affairs +of his country; in the year 1791 he also undertook the command of +the Division, and of the island. Although the French Revolution had +silenced the special interests of the Corsicans, they began again to +demand attention, and this was particularly felt by Paoli, among whose +virtues patriotism was always uppermost. Paoli could never transform +himself into a Frenchman, or forget that his people had possessed +independence, and its own constitution. A coolness sprang up between +him and certain parties in the island; the aristocratic French party, +namely, on the one hand, composed of such men as Gaffori, Rossi, +Peretti, and Buttafuoco; and the extreme democrats on the other, who +saw the welfare of the world nowhere but in the whirl of the French +Revolution, such as the Bonapartes, Saliceti, and Arenas. + +The execution of the king, and the wild and extravagant procedure of +the popular leaders in Paris, shocked the philanthropic Paoli. He +gradually broke with France, and the rupture became manifest after +the unsuccessful French expedition from Corsica against Sardinia, +the failure of which was attributed to Paoli. His opponents had +lodged a formal accusation against him and Pozzo di Borgo, the +Procurator-general, libelling them as Particularists, who wished to +separate the island from France. + +The Convention summoned him to appear before its bar and answer the +accusations, and sent Saliceti, Lacombe, and Delcher, as commissaries +to the island. Paoli, however, refused to obey the decree, and sent a +dignified and firm address to the Convention, in which he repelled the +imputations made upon him, and complained of their forcing a judicial +investigation upon an aged man, and a martyr for freedom. Was a Paoli +to stand in a court composed of windy declaimers and play-actors, and +then lay his head, grown gray in heroism, beneath the knife of the +guillotine? Was this to be the end of a life that had produced such +noble fruits? + +The result of this refusal to obey the orders of the Convention, was +the complete revolt of Paoli and the Paolists from France. The patriots +prepared for a struggle, and published such enactments as plainly +intimated that they wished Corsica to be considered as separated from +France. The commissaries hastened home to Paris; and after receiving +their report, the Convention declared Paoli guilty of high treason, +and placed him beyond the protection of the law. The island was split +into two hostile camps, the patriots and the republicans, and already +fighting had commenced. + +Meanwhile Paoli had formed the plan of placing the island under the +protection of the English Government. No course lay nearer or was +more natural than this. He had already entered into communication +with Admiral Hood, who commanded the English fleet before Toulon, and +now with his ships appeared on the Corsican coast. He landed near +Fiorenzo on the 2d of February. This fortress fell after a severe +bombardment; and the commandant of Bastia, General Antonio Gentili, +capitulated. Calvi alone, which had withstood in previous centuries so +many assaults, still held out, though the English bombs made frightful +havoc in the little town, and all but reduced it to a heap of ruins. +At length, on the 20th of July 1794, the fortress surrendered; the +commandant, Casabianca, capitulated, and embarked with his troops +for France. As Bonifazio and Ajaccio were already in the hands of the +Paolists, the Republicans could no longer maintain a footing on the +island. They emigrated, and Paoli and the English remained undisputed +masters of Corsica. + +A general assembly now declared the island completely severed from +France, and placed it under the protection of England. England, +however, did not content herself with a mere right of protection--she +claimed the sovereignty of Corsica; and this became the occasion of +a rupture between Paoli and Pozzo di Borgo, whom Sir Gilbert Elliot +had won for the English side. On the 10th of June 1794, the Corsicans +declared that they would unite their country to Great Britain; that +it was, however, to remain independent, and be governed by a viceroy +according to its own constitution. + +Paoli had counted on the English king's naming him viceroy; but he was +deceived, for Gilbert Elliot was sent to Corsica in this capacity--a +serious blunder, since Elliot was totally unacquainted with the +condition of the island, and his appointment could not but deeply wound +Paoli. + +The gray-haired man immediately withdrew into private life; and as +Elliot saw that his relation to the English, already unpleasant, must +soon become dangerous, he wrote to George III. that the removal of +Pasquale was desirable. This was accomplished. The King of England, +in a friendly letter, invited Paoli to come to London, and spend his +remaining days in honour at the court. Paoli was in his own house at +Morosaglia when he received the letter. Sadly he now proceeded to San +Fiorenzo, where he embarked, and left his country for the third and +last time, in October 1795. The great man shared the same fate as most +of the legislators and popular leaders of antiquity; he died rewarded +with ingratitude, unhappy, and in exile. The two greatest men of +Corsica, Pasquale and Napoleon, foes to each other, were both to end +their days and be buried on British territory. + +The English government of Corsica--from ignorance of the country very +badly conducted--lasted only a short time. As soon as Napoleon found +himself victorious in Italy, he despatched Generals Gentili and Casalta +with troops to the island; and scarcely had they made their appearance, +when the Corsicans, imbittered by the banishment of Paoli and their +other grievances, rose against the English. In almost inexplicable +haste they relinquished the island, from whose people they were +separated by wide and ineradicable differences in national character; +and by November 1796, not a single Englishman remained in Corsica. The +island was now again under the supremacy of France. + +Pasquale Paoli lived to see Napoleon Emperor. Fate granted him at least +the satisfaction of seeing a countryman of his own the most prominent +and the most powerful actor in European history. After passing twelve +years more of exile in London, he died peacefully on the 5th of +February 1807, at the age of eighty-two, his mind to the last occupied +with thoughts of the people whom he had so warmly loved. He was the +patriarch and oldest legislator of European liberty. In his last letter +to his friend Padovani, the noble old man, reviewing his life, says +humbly:-- + +"I have lived long enough; and if it were granted me to begin my life +anew, I should reject the gift, unless it were accompanied with the +intelligent cognisance of my past life, that I might repair the errors +and follies by which it has been marked." + +One of the Corsican exiles announced his death to his countrymen in the +following letter:-- + + GIACOMORSI TO SIGNOR PADOVANI. + + "LONDON, _July 2, 1807_. + + "It is, alas! true that the newspapers were correctly + informed when they published the death of the poor General. + He fell ill on Monday the 2d of February, about half-past + eight in the evening, and at half-past eleven on the night + of Thursday he died in my arms. He leaves to the University + at Corte salaries of fifty pounds a year each, for four + professors; and another mastership for the School of Rostino, + which is to be founded in Morosaglia. + + "On the 13th of February, he was buried in St. Pancras, where + almost all Catholics are interred. His funeral will have cost + nearly five hundred pounds. About the middle of last April, + I and Dr. Barnabi went to Westminster Abbey to find a spot + where we shall erect a monument to him with his bust. + + "Paoli said when dying:--My nephews have little to hope for; + but I shall bequeath to them, for their consolation, and as + something to remember me by, this saying from the Bible--'I + have been young, and now am old, yet have I not seen the + righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.'" + + +CHAPTER IX. + +PAOLI'S BIRTHPLACE. + +It was late when I reached Rostino, or Morosaglia. Under this name is +understood, not a single paese, but a number of villages scattered +among the rude, stern hills. I found my way with difficulty through +these little neighbour hamlets to the convent of Morosaglia, climbing +rough paths over rocks, and again descending under gigantic chestnuts. +A locanda stands opposite the convent, a rare phenomenon in the country +districts of Corsica. I found there a lively and intelligent young man, +who informed me he was director of the Paoli School, and promised me +his assistance for the following day. + +In the morning, I went to the little village of Stretta, where +the three Paolis were born. One must see this Casa Paoli in order +rightly to comprehend the history of the Corsicans, and award a just +admiration to these singular men. The house is a very wretched, +black, village-cabin, standing on a granite rock; a brooklet runs +immediately past the door; it is a rude structure of stone, with narrow +apertures in the walls, such as are seen in towers; the windows few, +unsymmetrically disposed, unglazed, with wooden shutters, as in the +time of Pasquale. When the Corsicans had elected him their general, and +he was expected home from Naples, Clemens had glass put in the windows +of the sitting-room, in order to make the parental abode somewhat +more comfortable for his brother. But Paoli had no sooner entered and +remarked the luxurious alteration, than he broke every pane with his +stick, saying that he did not mean to live in his father's house like a +Duke, but like a born Corsican. The windows still remain without glass; +the eye overlooks from them the magnificent panorama of the mountains +of Niolo, as far as the towering Monte Rotondo. + +A relative of Paoli's--a simple country girl of the Tommasi +family--took me into the house. Everything in it wears the stamp of +humble peasant life. You mount a steep wooden stair to the mean rooms, +in which Paoli's wooden table and wooden seat still stand. With joy, +I saw myself in the little chamber in which Pasquale was born; my +emotions on this spot were more lively and more agreeable than in the +birth-chamber of Napoleon. + +Once more that fine face, with its classic, grave, and dignified +features, rose before me, and along with it the forms of a noble father +and a heroic brother. In this little room Pasquale came to the world in +April of the year 1724. His mother was Dionisia Valentina, an excellent +woman from a village near Ponte Nuovo--the spot so fatal to her son. +His father, Hyacinth, we know already. He had been a physician, and +became general of the Corsicans along with Ceccaldi and Giafferi. He +was distinguished by exalted virtues, and was worthy of the renown +that attaches to his name as the father of two such sons. Hyacinth had +great oratorical powers, and some reputation as a poet. Amid the din of +arms those powerful spirits had still time and genial force enough to +rise free above the actual circumstances of their condition, and sing +war-hymns, like Tyrtaeus. + +Here is a sonnet addressed by Hyacinth to the brave Giafferi, after the +battle of Borgo:-- + + "To crown unconquer'd Cyrnus' hero-son, + See death descend, and destiny bend low; + Vanquish'd Ligurians, by their sighs of wo, + Swelling fame's trumpet with a louder tone. + Scarce was the passage of the Golo won, + Than in their fort of strength he storm'd the foe. + Perils, superior numbers scorning so, + Vict'ry still follow'd where his arms had shone. + Chosen by Cyrnus, fate the choice approved, + Trusting the mighty conflict to his sword, + Which Europe rose to watch, and watching stands. + By that sword's flash, e'en fate itself is moved; + Thankless Liguria has its stroke deplored, + While Cyrnus takes her sceptre from his hands." + +Such men are as if moulded of Greek bronze. They are the men of +Plutarch, and resemble Aristides, Epaminondas, and Timoleon. They +could resign themselves to privation, and sacrifice their interests +and their lives; they were simple, sincere, stout-hearted citizens of +their country. They had become great by facts, not by theories, and the +high nobility of their principles had a basis, positive and real, in +their actions and experiences. If we are to express the entire nature +of these men in one word, that word is Virtue, and they were worthy of +virtue's fairest reward--Freedom. + +My glance falls upon the portrait of Pasquale. I could not wish to +imagine him otherwise. His head is large and regular; his brow arched +and high, the hair long and flowing; his eyebrows bushy, falling a +little down into the eyes, as if swift to contract and frown; but the +blue eyes are luminous, large, and free--full of clear, perceptive +intellect; and an air of gentleness, dignity, and benevolence, pervades +the beardless, open countenance. + +One of my greatest pleasures is to look at portraits and busts of great +men. Four periods of these attract and reward our examination most--the +heads of Greece; the Roman heads; the heads of the great fifteenth and +sixteenth centuries; and the heads of the eighteenth century. It would +be an almost endless labour to arrange by themselves the busts of the +great men of the eighteenth century; but such a Museum would richly +reward the trouble. When I see a certain group of these together, it +seems to me as if I recognised a family resemblance prevailing in it--a +resemblance arising from the presence in each, of one and the same +spiritual principle--Pasquale, Washington, Franklin, Vico, Genovesi, +Filangieri, Herder, Pestalozzi, Lessing. + +Pasquale's head is strikingly like that of Alfieri. Although the +latter, like Byron, aristocratic, proud, and unbendingly egotistic, +widely differs in many respects from his contemporary, Pasquale--the +peaceful, philanthrophic citizen; he had nevertheless a soul full of +a marvellous energy, and burning with the hatred of tyranny. He could +understand such a nature as Paoli's better than Frederick the Great. +Frederick once sent to this house a present for Paoli--a sword bearing +the inscription, _Libertas_, _Patria_. Away in distant Prussia, the +great king took Pasquale for an unusually able soldier. He was no +soldier; his brother Clemens was his sword; he was the thinking head--a +citizen and a strong and high-hearted man. Alfieri comprehended him +better, he dedicated his _Timoleon_ to him, and sent him the poem with +this letter:-- + + TO SIGNOR PASQUALE PAOLI, THE NOBLE DEFENDER OF CORSICA. + + "To write tragedies on the subject of liberty, in the + language of a country which does not possess liberty, will + perhaps, with justice, appear mere folly to those who look + no further than the present. But he who draws conclusions + for the future from the constant vicissitudes of the past, + cannot pronounce such a rash judgment. I therefore dedicate + this my tragedy to you, as one of the enlightened few--one + who, because he can form the most correct idea of other + times, other nations, and high principles--is also worthy to + have been born and to have been active in a less effeminate + century than ours. Although it has not been permitted you + to give your country its freedom, I do not, as the mob is + wont to do, judge of men according to their success, but + according to their actions, and hold you entirely worthy to + listen to the sentiments of _Timoleon_, as sentiments which + you are thoroughly able to understand, and with which you can + sympathize. + + VITTORIA ALFIERI." + +Alfieri inscribed on the copy of his tragedy which he sent to Pasquale, +the following verses:-- + + "To Paoli, the noble Corsican + Who made himself the teacher and the friend + Of the young France. + Thou with the sword hast tried, I with the pen, + In vain to rouse our Italy from slumber. + Now read; perchance my hand interprets rightly + The meaning of thy heart." + +Alfieri exhibited much delicacy of perception in dedicating the +_Timoleon_ to Paoli--the tragedy of a republican, who had once, in +the neighbouring Sicily, given wise democratic laws to a liberated +people, and then died as a private citizen. Plutarch was a favourite +author with Paoli, as with most of the great men of the eighteenth +century, and Epaminondas was his favourite hero; the two were kindred +natures--both despised pomp and expensive living, and did not imagine +that their patriotic services and endeavours were incompatible with the +outward style of citizens and commoners. Pasquale was fond of reading: +he had a choice library, and his memory was retentive. An old man +told me that once, when as a boy he was walking along the road with a +school-fellow, and reciting a passage from Virgil, Paoli accidentally +came up behind him, slapped him on the shoulder, and proceeded himself +with the passage. + +Many particulars of Paoli's habits are still remembered by the people +here. The old men have seen him walking about under these chestnuts, in +a long green, gold-laced coat,[N] and a vest of brown Corsican cloth. +When he showed himself, he was always surrounded by his peasantry, +whom he treated as equals. He was accessible to all, and he maintained +a lively recollection of an occasion when he had deeply to repent his +having shut himself up for an hour. It was one day during the last +struggle for independence; he was in Sollacaro, embarrassed with an +accumulation of business, and had ordered the sentry to allow no one +admission. After some time a woman appeared, accompanied by an armed +youth. The woman was in mourning, wrapped in the faldetta, and wore +round her neck a black ribbon, to which a Moor's head, in silver--the +Corsican arms--was attached. She attempted to enter--the sentry +repelled her. Paoli, hearing a noise, opened the door, and demanded +hastily and imperiously what she wanted. The woman said with mournful +calmness: "Signor, be so good as listen to me. I was the mother of two +sons; the one fell at the Tower of Girolata; the other stands here. I +come to give him to his country, that he may supply the place of his +dead brother." She turned to the youth, and said to him: "My son, do +not forget that you are more your country's child than mine." The woman +went away. Paoli stood a moment as if thunderstruck; then he sprang +after her, embraced with emotion mother and son, and introduced them to +his officers. Paoli said afterwards that he never felt so embarrassed +as before that noble-hearted woman. + +He never married; his people were his family. His only niece, the +daughter of his brother Clemens, was married to a Corsican called +Barbaggi. But Paoli himself, capable of all the virtues of friendship, +was not without a noble female friend, a woman of talent and glowing +patriotism, to whom the greatest men of the country confided their +political ideas and plans. This Corsican Roland, however, kept no +_salon_; she was a nun, of the noble house of Rivarola. A single +circumstance evinces the ardent sympathy of this nun for the patriotic +struggles of her countrymen; after Achille Murati's bold conquest +of Capraja, she herself, in her exultation at the success of the +enterprise, went over to the island, as if to take possession of it +in the name of Paoli. Many of Pasquale's letters are addressed to the +Signora Monaca, and are altogether occupied with politics, as if they +had been written to a man. + +The incredible activity of Paoli appears from his collected letters. +The talented Italian Tommaseo (at present living in exile in Corfu) +has published a large volume containing the most important of these. +They are highly interesting, and exhibit a manly, vigorous, and clear +intellect. Paoli disliked writing--he dictated, like Napoleon; he could +not sit long, his continually active mind allowed him no rest. It is +said of him that he never knew the date; that he could read the future, +and that he frequently had visions. + +Paoli's memory is very sacred with his people. Napoleon elates the +soul of the Corsican with pride, because he was his brother; but when +you name the name of Paoli, his eye brightens like that of a son, +at the mention of a noble departed father. It is impossible for a +man to be more loved and honoured by a whole nation after his death +than Pasquale Paoli; and if posthumous fame is a second life, then +Corsica's and Italy's greatest man of the eighteenth century lives a +thousandfold--yes, lives in every Corsican heart, from the tottering +graybeard who knew him in his youth, to the child on whose soul his +high example is impressed. No greater name can be given to a man than +"Father of his country." Flattery has often abused it and made it +ridiculous; among the Corsicans I saw that it could also be applied +with truth and justice. + +Paoli contrasts with Napoleon, as philanthropy with self-love. No +curses of the dead rise to execrate his name. At the nod of Napoleon, +millions of human beings were murdered for the sake of fame and power. +The blood that Paoli shed, flowed for freedom, and his country gave it +freely as that mother-bird that wounds her breast to give her fainting +brood to drink. + +No battle-field makes Paoli's name illustrious; but his memory is here +honoured by the foundation-school of Morosaglia, and this fame seems +to me more human and more beautiful than the fame of Marengo or the +Pyramids. + +I visited this school, the bequest of the noble patriot. The old +convent supplies an edifice. It consists of two classes; the lower +containing one hundred and fifty scholars, the upper about forty. +But two teachers are insufficient for the large number of pupils. +The rector of the lower class was so friendly as to hold a little +examination in my presence. I here again remarked the _naivete_ of +the Corsican character, as displayed by the boys. There were upwards +of a hundred, between the ages of six and fourteen, separated into +divisions, wild, brown little fellows, tattered and torn, unwashed, all +with their caps on their heads. Some wore crosses of honour suspended +on red ribbons; and these looked comical enough on the breasts of the +little brown rascals--sitting, perhaps, with their heads supported +between their two fists, and staring, frank and free, with their black +eyes at all within range--proud, probably, of being Paoli scholars. +These honours are distributed every Saturday, and worn by the pupil for +a week; a silly, and at the same time, hurtful French practice, which +tends to encourage bad passions, and to drive the Corsican--in whom +nature has already implanted an unusual thirst for distinction--even +in his boyhood, to a false ambition. These young Spartans were reading +Telemachus. On my requesting the rector to allow them to translate +the French into Italian, that I might see how they were at home in +their mother-tongue, he excused himself with the express prohibition +of the Government, which "does not permit Italian in the schools." The +branches taught were writing, reading, arithmetic, and the elements of +geography and biblical history. + +The schoolroom of the lower class is the chapter-hall of the old +convent in which Clemens Paoli dreamed away the closing days of his +life. Such a spacious, airy Aula as that in which these Corsican +youngsters pursue their studies, with the view from its windows of the +mighty hills of Niolo, and the battle-fields of their sires, would +be an improvement in many a German university. The heroic grandeur +of external nature in Corsica seems to me to form, along with the +recollections of their past history, the great source of cultivation +for the Corsican people; and there is no little importance in the +glance which that Corsican boy is now fixing on the portrait yonder on +the wall--for it is the portrait of Pasquale Paoli. + + +CHAPTER X. + +CLEMENS PAOLI. + + "Blessed be the Lord my strength, who teacheth my hands to + war, and my fingers to fight."--Psalm cxliv. + +The convent of Morosaglia is perhaps the most venerable monument of +Corsican history. The hoary structure as it stands there, brown and +gloomy, with the tall, frowning pile of its campanile by its side, +seems itself a tradition in stone. It was formerly a Franciscan +cloister. Here, frequently, the Corsican parliaments were held. Here +Pasquale had his rooms, his bureaus, and often, during the summer, +he was to be seen among the monks--who, when the time came, did not +shrink from carrying the crucifix into the fight, at the head of their +countrymen. The same convent was also a favourite residence of his +brave brother Clemens, and he died here, in one of the cells, in the +year 1793. + +Clemens Paoli is a highly remarkable character. He resembles one of +the Maccabees, or a crusader glowing with religious fervour. He was +the eldest son of Hyacinth. He had served with distinction as a soldier +in Naples; then he was made one of the generals of the Corsicans. But +state affairs did not accord with his enthusiastic turn of mind. When +his brother was placed at the head of the Government he withdrew into +private life, assumed the garb of the Tertiaries, and buried himself in +religious contemplation. Like Joshua, he lay entranced in prayer before +the Lord, and rose from prayer to rush into battle, for the Lord had +given his foes into his hand. He was the mightiest in fight, and the +humblest before God. His gloomy nature has something in it prophetic, +flaming, self-abasing, like that of Ali. + +Wherever the danger was greatest, he appeared like an avenging angel. +He rescued his brother at the convent of Bozio, when he was besieged +there by Marius Matra; he expelled the Genoese from the district of +Orezza, after a frightful conflict. He took San Pellegrino and San +Fiorenzo; in innumerable fights he came off victorious. When the +Genoese assaulted the fortified camp at Furiani with their entire +force, Clemens remained for fifty-six days firm and unsubdued among the +ruins, though the whole village was a heap of ashes. A thousand bombs +fell around him, but he prayed to the God of hosts, and did not flinch, +and victory was on his side. + +Corsica owed her freedom to Pasquale, as the man who organized her +resources; but to Clemens alone as the soldier who won it with his +sword. He signalized himself also subsequently in the campaign of 1769, +by the most splendid deeds of arms. He gained the glorious victory of +Borgo; he fought desperately at Ponte Nuovo, and when all was lost, +he hastened to rescue his brother. He threw himself with a handful +of brave followers in the direction of Niolo, to intercept General +Narbonne, and protect his brother's flight. As soon as he had succeeded +in this, he hastened to Pasquale at Bastelica, and sorrowfully embarked +with him for Tuscany. + +He did not go to England. He remained in Tuscany; for the strange +language of a foreign country would have deepened his affliction. Among +the monks in the beautiful, solitary cloister of Vallombrosa, he sank +again into fervent prayer and severe penance; and no one who saw this +monk lying in prayer upon his knees, could have recognised in him the +hero of patriot struggles, and the soldier terrible in fight. + +After twenty years of cloister-life in Tuscany, Clemens returned +shortly before his brother to Corsica. Once more his heart glowed +with the hope of freedom for his country; but events soon taught the +grayhaired hero that Corsica was lost for ever. In sorrow and penance +he died in December of the same year in which his brother was summoned +before the Convention, to answer the charge of high treason. + +In Clemens, patriotism had become a cultus and a religion. A great +and holy passion, stirred to an intense glow, is in itself religious; +when it takes possession of a people, more especially when it does +so in periods of calamity and severe pressure, it expresses itself +as religious worship. The priests in those days preached battle from +every pulpit, the monks marched with the ranks into the fight, and the +crucifixes served instead of standards. The parliaments were generally +held in convents, as if God himself were to preside over them, and +once, as we saw in their history, the Corsicans by a decree of their +Assembly placed the country under the protection of the Holy Virgin. + +Pasquale, too, was religious. I saw in his house the little dark +room which he had made into a chapel; it had been allowed to remain +unchanged. He there prayed daily to God. But Clemens lay for six +or seven hours each day in prayer. He prayed even in the thick of +battle--a figure terrible to look on, with his beads in one hand and +his musket in the other, clad like the meanest Corsican, and not to be +recognised save by his great fiery eyes and bushy eyebrows. It is said +of him that he could load his piece with furious rapidity, and that, +always sure of his aim, he first prayed for mercy to the soul of the +man he was about to shoot, then crying: "Poor mother!" he sacrificed +his foe to the God of freedom. When the battle was over, he was gentle +and mild, but always grave and profoundly melancholy. A frequent saying +of his was: "My blood and my life are my country's; my soul and my +thoughts are my God's." + +Men of Pasquale's type are to be sought among the Greeks; but the types +of Clemens among the Maccabees. He was not one of Plutarch's heroes; he +was a hero of the Old Testament. + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE OLD HERMIT. + +I had heard in Stretta that a countryman of mine was living there, a +Prussian--a strange old man, lame, and obliged to use crutches. The +townspeople had also informed him of my arrival. Just as I was leaving +the chamber in which Clemens Paoli had died, lost in meditation on the +character of this God-fearing old hero, my lame countryman came hopping +up to me, and shook hands with me in the honest and hearty German +style. I had breakfast set for us; we sat down, and I listened for +several hours to the curious stories of old Augustine of Nordhausen. + +"My father," he said, "was a Protestant clergyman, and wished +to educate me in the Lutheran faith; but from my childhood I was +dissatisfied with Protestantism, and saw well that the Lutheran +persuasion was a vile corruption of the only true church--the church +in spirit and in truth. I took it into my head to become a missionary. +I went to the Latin School in Nordhausen, and remained there until I +entered the classes of logic and rhetoric. And after learning rhetoric, +I left my native country to go to the beautiful land of Italy, to a +Trappist convent at Casamari, where I held my peace for eleven years." + +"But, friend Augustine, how were you able to endure that?" + +"Well, it needs a merry heart to bear it: a melancholy man becomes mad +among the Trappists. I understood the carpenter-trade, and worked at +it all day, beguiling my weariness by singing songs to myself in my +heart." + +"What had you to eat in the convent?" + +"Two platefuls of broth, as much bread as we liked, and half a bottle +of wine. I ate little, but I never left a drop of wine in my flask. +God be praised for the excellent wine! The brother on my right was +always hungry, and ate his two platefuls of broth and five rolls to the +bargain." + +"Have you ever seen Pope Pio Nono?" + +"Yes, and spoken with him too, just like a friend. He was then bishop +in Rieti; and, one Good-Friday, I went thither in my capote--I was in a +different convent then--to fetch the holy oil. I was at that time very +ill. The Pope kissed my capote, when I went to him in the evening to +take my leave. 'Fra Agostino,' said he, 'you are sick, you must have +something to eat.' 'My lord bishop,' said I, 'I never saw a brother +eat on Good-Friday.' 'No matter, I give you a dispensation; I see you +are sick.' And he sent to the best inn in the town, and they brought me +half a fowl, some soup, wine, and confectionary; and the bishop made me +sit down to table with him." + +"What! did the holy Father eat on Good-Friday?" + +"Only three nuts and three figs. After this I grew worse, and removed +to Toscana. But one day I ceased to find pleasure in the ways of men; +their deeds were hateful to me. I resolved to become a hermit. So I +took my tools, purchased a few necessaries, and sailed to the little +island of Monte Cristo. The island is nine miles[O] round; not a living +thing dwells on it but wild goats, serpents, and rats. In ancient times +the Emperor Diocletian banished Saint Mamilian there--the Archbishop +of Palermo. The good saint built a church upon the island; a convent +also was afterwards erected. Fifty monks once lived there--first +Benedictines, then Cistercians, and afterwards Carthusians of the Order +of St. Bruno. The monks of Monte Cristo built many hospitals, and did +much good in Toscana; the hospital of Maria Novella in Florence, too, +was founded by them. Then, you see, came the Saracens, and carried off +the monks of Monte Cristo with their oxen and their servants; the goats +they could not catch--they escaped to the mountains, and have ever +since lived wild among rocks." + +"Did you stay in the old convent?" + +"No, it is in ruins. I lived in a cave, which I fitted up with the help +of my tools. I built a wall, too, before the mouth of it." + +"How did you spend the long days? You prayed a great deal, I suppose?" + +"Ah, no! I am no Pharisee. One can't pray much. Whatever God wills +must happen. I had my flute; and I amused myself with shooting the wild +goats; or explored the island for stones and plants; or watched the sea +as it rose and fell upon the rocks. I had books to read, too." + +"Such as?"-- + +"The works of the Jesuit Paul Pater Segneri." + +"What grows upon the island?" + +"Nothing but heath and bilberries. There are one or two pretty little +green valleys, and all the rest is gray rock. A Sardinian once visited +the island, and gave me some seeds; so I grew a few vegetables and +planted some trees." + +"Are there any fine kinds of stone to be found there?" + +"Well, there is beautiful granite, and black tourmaline, which is +found in a white stone; and I also discovered three different kinds of +garnets. At last I fell sick in Monte Cristo--sick to death, when there +happily arrived a number of Tuscans, who carried me to the mainland. +I have now been eleven years in this cursed island, living among +scoundrels--thorough scoundrels. The doctors sent me here; but I hope +to see Italy again before a year is over. There is no country in the +world like Italy to live in, and they are a fine people the Italians. +I am growing old, I have to go upon crutches; and I one day said to +myself, 'What am I to do? I must soon give up my joiner's work, but +I cannot beg;' so I went and roamed about the mountains, and by good +fortune discovered Negroponte." + +"Negroponte? what is that?" + +"The clay with which they make pipes in the island of Negroponte; +we call it _meerschaum_ at home, you know. Ah, it is a beautiful +earth--the very flower of minerals. The Negroponte here is as good as +that in Turkey, and when I have my pipes finished, I shall be able to +say that I am the first Christian that has ever worked in it." + +Old Augustine would not let me off till I had paid a visit to his +laboratory. He had established himself in one of the rooms formerly +occupied by poor Clemens Paoli, and pointed out to me with pride his +Negroponte and the pipes he had been engaged in making, and which he +had laid in the sun to dry. + +I believe that, once in his life, there comes to every man a time when +he would fain leave the society of men, and go into the green woods and +be a hermit, and an hour when his soul would gladly find rest even in +the religious silence of the Trappist. + +I have here told my reader the brief story of old Augustine's life, +because it attracted me so strongly at the time, and seemed to me a +true specimen of German character. + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE BATTLE-FIELD OF PONTE NUOVO. + + "Gallia vicisti! profuso turpiter auro + Armis pauca, dolo plurima, jure nihil!"--_The Corsicans._ + +I left Morosaglia before Ave Maria, to descend the hills to Ponte +Nuovo. Near the battle-field is the post-house of Ponte alla Leccia, +where the Diligence from Bastia arrives after midnight, and with it I +intended to return to Bastia. + +The evening was beautiful and clear--the stillness of the mountain +solitude stimulated thought. The twilight is here very short. Hardly is +Ave Maria over when the night comes. + +I seldom hear the bells pealing Ave Maria without remembering those +verses of Dante, in which he refers to the softened mood that descends +with the fall of evening on the traveller by sea or land:-- + + "It was the hour that wakes regret anew + In men at sea, and melts the heart to tears, + The day whereon they bade sweet friends adieu, + And thrills the youthful pilgrim on his way + With thoughts of love, if from afar he hears + The vesper bell, that mourns the dying day." + +A single cypress stands yonder on the hill, kindled by the red glow of +evening, like an altar taper. It is a tree that suits the hour and the +mood--an Ave Maria tree, monumental as an obelisk, dark and mournful. +Those avenues of cypresses leading to the cloisters and burying-grounds +in Italy are very beautiful. We have the weeping-willow. Both are +genuine churchyard trees, yet each in a way of its own. The willow +with its drooping branches points downwards to the tomb, the cypress +rises straight upwards, and points from the grave to heaven. The one +expresses inconsolable grief, the other believing hope. The symbolism +of trees is a significant indication of the unity of man and nature, +which he constantly draws into the sphere of his emotions, to share in +them, or to interpret them. The fir, the laurel, the oak, the olive, +the palm, have all their higher meaning, and are poetical language. + +I saw few cypresses in Corsica, and these of no great size; and yet +such a tree would be in its place in this Island of Death. But the tree +of peace grows here on every hand; the war-goddess Minerva, to whom the +olive is sacred, is also the goddess of peace. + +I had fifteen miles to walk from Morosaglia, all the way through wild, +silent hills, the towering summits of Niolo constantly in view, the +snow-capped Cinto, Artiga, and Monte Rotondo, the last named nine +thousand feet in height, and the highest hill in Corsica. It stood +bathed in a glowing violet, and its snow-fields gleamed rosy red. +I had already been on its summit, and recognised distinctly, to my +great delight, the extreme pinnacle of rock on which I had stood with +a goatherd. When the moon rose above the mountains, the picture was +touched with a beauty as of enchantment. + +Onwards through the moonlight and the breathless silence of the +mountain wilds; not a sound to be heard, except sometimes the tinkling +of a brook; the rocks glittering where they catch the moonlight +like wrought silver; nowhere a village, nor a human soul. I went at +hap-hazard in the direction where I saw far below in the valley the +mists rising from the Golo. Yet it appeared to me that I had taken a +wrong road, and I was on the point of crossing through a ravine to the +other side, when I met some muleteers, who told me that I had taken not +only the right but very shortest road to my destination. + +At length I reached the Golo. The river flows through a wide valley; +the air is full of fever, and is shunned. It is the atmosphere of +a battle-field--of the battle-field of Ponte Nuovo. I was warned in +Morosaglia against passing through the night-mists of the Golo, or +staying long in Ponte alla Leccia. Those who wander much there are apt +to hear the ghosts beating the death-drum, or calling their names; they +are sure at least to catch fever, and see visions. I believe I had a +slight touch of the last affection, for I saw the whole battle of the +Golo before me, the frightful monk, Clemens Paoli in the thickest of +it, with his great fiery eyes and bushy eyebrows, his rosary in the one +hand, and his firelock in the other, crying mercy on the soul of him he +was about to shoot. Wild flight--wounded--dying! + +"The Corsicans," says Peter Cyrnaeus, "are men who are ready to die." +The following is a characteristic trait:--A Frenchman came upon a +Corsican who had received his death-wound, and lay waiting for death +without complaint. "What do you do," he asked, "when you are wounded, +without physicians, without hospitals?" "We die!" said the Corsican, +with the laconism of a Spartan. A people of such manly breadth and +force of character as the Corsicans, is really scarcely honoured by +comparison with the ancient heroic nations. Yet Lacedaemon is constantly +present to me here. If it is allowable to say that the spirit of the +Hellenes lives again in the wonderfully-gifted people of Italy, this +is mainly true, in my opinion, as applied to the two countries--and +they are neighbours of each other--of Tuscany and Corsica. The former +exhibits all the ideal opulence of the Ionic genius; and while her +poets, from Dante and Petrarch to the time of Ariosto, sang in her +melodious language, and her artists, in painting, sculpture, and +architecture, renewed the days of Pericles; while her great historians +rivalled the fame of Thucydides, and the philosophers of her Academy +filled the world with Platonic ideas, here in Corsica the rugged Doric +spirit again revived, and battles of Spartan heroism were fought. + +The young Napoleon visited the battle-field of the Golo in the year +1790. He was then twenty-one years old; but he had probably seen it +before when a boy. There is something fearfully suggestive in this: +Napoleon on the first battle-field that his eyes ever lighted on--a +stripling, without career, and without stain of guilt, he who was yet +to crimson a hemisphere--from the ocean to the Volga, and from the Alps +to the wastes of Lybia--with the blood of his battle-fields. + +It was a night such as this when the young Napoleon roamed here on +the field of Golo. He sat down by the river, which on that day of +battle, as the people tell, rolled down corpses, and ran red for +four-and-twenty miles to the sea. The feverous mist made his head +heavy, and filled it with dreams. A spirit stood behind him--a red +sword in its hand. The spirit touched him, and sped away, and the soul +of the young Napoleon followed the spirit through the air. They hovered +over a field--a bloody battle was being fought there--a young general +is seen galloping over the corpses of the slain. "Montenotte!" cried +the demon; "and it is thou that fightest this battle!" They flew on. +They hover over a field--a bloody battle is fighting there--a young +general rushes through clouds of smoke, a flag in his hand, over a +bridge. "Lodi!" cried the demon; "and it is thou that fightest this +battle!" On and on, from battle-field to battle-field. They halt above +a stream; ships are burning on it; its waves roll blood and corpses. +"The Pyramids!" cries the demon; "this battle too thou shalt fight!" +And so they continue their flight from one battle-field to another; +and, one after the other, the spirit utters the dread names--"Marengo! +Austerlitz! Eylau! Friedland! Wagram! Smolensk! Borodino! Beresina! +Leipzig!" till he is hovering over the last battle-field, and cries, +with a voice of thunder, "Waterloo! Emperor, thy last battle!--and here +thou shalt fall!" + +The young Napoleon sprang to his feet, there on the banks of the Golo, +and he shuddered; he had dreamt a mad and a fearful dream. + +Now that whole bloody phantasmagoria was a consequence of the same vile +exhalations of the Golo that were beginning to take effect on myself. +In this wan moonlight, and on this steaming Corsican battle-field, +if anywhere, it must be pardonable to have visions. Above yon black, +primeval, granite hills hangs the red moon--no! it is the moon no +longer, it is a great, pale, bloody, horrid head that hovers over +the island of Corsica, and dumbly gazes down on it--a Medusa-head, a +Vendetta-head, snaky-haired, horrible. He who dares to look on this +head becomes--not stone, but an Orestes seized by madness and the +Furies, so that he shall murder in headlong passion, and then wander +from mountain to mountain, and from cavern to cavern, behind him the +avengers of blood and the sleuthhounds of the law that give him no +moment's peace. + +What fantasies! and they will not leave me! But, Heaven be praised! +there is the post-house of Ponte alla Leccia, and I hear the dogs bark. +In the large desolate room sit some men at a table round a steaming +oil-lamp; they hang their heads on their breasts, and are heavy with +sleep. A priest, in a long black coat, and black hat, is walking to and +fro; I will begin a conversation with the holy man, that he may drive +the vile rout of ghosts and demons out of my head. + +But although this priest was a man of unshaken orthodoxy, he could not +exorcise the wicked Golo-spirit, and I arrived in Bastia with the most +violent of headaches. I complained to my hostess of what the sun and +the fog had done to me, and began to believe I should die unlamented on +a foreign shore. The hostess said there was no help unless a wise woman +came and made the _orazion_ over me. However, I declined the _orazion_, +and expressed a wish to sleep. I slept the deepest sleep for one whole +day and a night. When I awoke, the blessed sun stood high and glorious +in the heavens. + + [M] _Sic_ in the German, but it seems a pseudonym, or a + mistake.--_Tr._ + + [N] Green and gold are the Corsican colours. + + [O] _Miglien_--here, as in the other passages where he uses + the measurement by miles, the author probably means the old + Roman mile of 1000 paces. + + + + +END OF VOL. I. + + + + +EDINBURGH: T. CONSTABLE, PRINTER TO HER MAJESTY. + + + + +CONSTABLE'S MISCELLANY OF FOREIGN LITERATURE. + + +For our supply of the comforts and luxuries of life, we lay the world +under contribution: fresh from every quarter of the globe we draw a +portion of its yearly produce. The field of literature is well-nigh +as broad as that of commerce; as rich and varied in its annual fruits; +and, if gleaned carefully, might furnish to our higher tastes as large +an annual ministry of enjoyment. Believing that a sufficient demand +exists to warrant the enterprise, THOMAS CONSTABLE & CO. propose to +present to the British public a Series of the most popular accessions +which the literature of the globe is constantly receiving. 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