Pagina-afbeeldingen
PDF
ePub

France had for a long time claimed a right over Genoa; but after the battle of Pavia, when the French were forced intirely to abandon Italy, that claim had become of no effect. Henry the Second however, having commenced a new war in Italy, against the Emperor Charles V, resolved to assert his power in Corsica; Sampiero di Ornano encouraged this disposition, that he might avail himself of it, to free the island from a yoke which galled it so much.

An expedition was therefore or dered to Corsica in the year 1553, under the command of General Paul de Thermes, accompanied by Sampiero di Ornano, Jourdain des Ursins, and several other able commanders. Henry had also the Turks joined with him in this expedition, having prevailed with their fourth Emperor, Solyman, stiled the Magnificent, to send out a large fleet to the Tuscan sea.

This expedition was powerfully opposed by the Genoese. The great Andrew Doria, though then in his eighty-seventh year, bid defiance to

age and infirmities, and, since Corsica was an object of importance to his country, the gallant veteran' embarked with all the spirit of his glorious youth, having a formidable armament under his command.

The war was carried on with vigour on both sides. The Corsicans joined in the common cause, and the greatest part of the island was once fairly delivered from the tyrant. But the Geonese were so well commanded by the intrepid Doria, and had besides such assistance from Charles V. who sent strong reinforcements, both of Spanish and German troops, that the expedition was not intirely effectual.

At length, a treaty was concluded between the Corsicans and Genoese, advantageous and honourable for the former, having, for guarantee, his most Christian Majesty.

But, as there was an inveterate and implacable hatred between those two nations, this treaty did not long subsist; and upon Henry's death the same oppression as formerly became flagrant in Corsica.

[ocr errors]

Sampiero di Ornano, who had been again for some time in France, returned to Corsica, where his presence inspired the islanders with for titude, and occasioned a very general revolt.

He carried on his glorious enter prise with considerable effect; and the more so, that, as he had now no foreign assistance, he was not looked upon as very formidable, and the republic made little preparations against him. But he was stopped in his career by the treachery of the Genoese, who had him basely assas sinated, by a wretch of the name of Vitolli, in 1567.

His son Alphonso di Ornano, who had been brought up in the court of Henry II. kept alive the patriotic struggle for a short while; but, unable to make head against the republic, he retired from the island and settled in France.

The Genoese were thus again put in possession of Corsica. Enraged at what they had suffered from a daring rebellion, as they termed it; and, still dreading a new insurrection, they thought only of avenging themselves on the Corsicans; plunging that people still lower than ever in ignorance and slavery.

and

Their oppression became now, if possible, worse than before. They were inflamed with hotter resentment, and their tyranny formed itself into something of a regular system. They permitted nothing to be exported from the island, but to Genoa, where, of necessity, the Corsicans were obliged to sell their mer chandise at a very low rate; and, in years of scarcity, the island was drained of provisions by a sort of legal plunder. For the inhabitants.

were forced to bring them to Genoa, so that actual famine was often occasioned in Corsica.

Long despised, plundered and oppressed, the Corsicans again revived in 1729, when the war commenced, which, with some intervals, has continued till now.

It is wonderful to see how great events are produced by little causes. The rise of the Corsicans, in 1729, was occasioned by a single paolo, a piece worth about five pence English. A Genoese collector went to the house of a poor old woman, and demanded this trifling sum, as the money for which she was assessed. Being in extreme penury, she had not wherewithal to satisfy the demand. Upon which, the collector began to abuse her, and to seize some of her furniture. She begged him to have patience, and said, she hoped in a few days to be able to pay him. He persisted in his severity, and the poor woman made a great lamentation. Two or three people hearing the noise entered the house, took the part of the woman, and exclaimed against the barbarity of the collector. He threatened them with punishment, for having hindered him in the execution of his office, This provoked the villagers, and they drove him away with stones. The Genoese sent troops to support their collector, and the Corsicans assembled in large bodies to defend themselves. The tumult increased. A spark was sufficient to kindle the generous flame, in a people who had so often glowed with the enthusiasm of liberty; and, in a very short time the whole island was in motion.

The Corsicans immediately rushed upon the capital, which they took almost without resistance; and they would have been masters of the castle of Corte, had they been a little better regulated.

The Genoese at first endeavoured to overcome the Corsicans by the sole force of the republic; but find

ing themselves altogether unable for it, while the Corsicans were every day growing stronger, cutting to pieces the poor reinforcements of Genoese troops, and thereby supplying themselves with more arms; the republic was under the necessity of seeking foreign assistance.

They applied to the Emperor Charles VI. who sent to Corsica a body of auxiliaries under the command of General Wachtendonck. These harrassed the island, without being powerful enough to overawe it. They had continual rencounters with the Corsicans, who, in one action, killed 1200 of them. The Emperor then sent a strong army of Germans, with the Prince of Wir temberg at their head. The Corsicans were not in a condition to resist such a force. They laid down their arms upon condition, that a treaty should be made between them and the Genoese, having for guarantee the Emperor.

This treaty, which had been formally concluded between the Corsicans and the Genoese, having been broken by the latter, there was a very short suspension of hostilities; and in 1734 the Corsicans rose anew.

Giafferi, their former general, was again elected, and got for his colleague Signor Giacinto Paoli, fatherof the present general.

Giacinto Paoli was a Corsican gentleman of a good family. But his merit distinguished him more than his rank. He was a man of learning, religion, and bravery; well qualified to serve his country, either in politics or in war,

The Genoese had paid very dear for their victory in the former strug gles. It was computed that it had cost them above thirty milions of livres, besides costly presents to the Prince of Wirtemberg, and to the other general officers.

The Marquis d' Argens very pleasantly applies to the Genoese the French fable of a gardener, who com

France had for a long time claim

But, as there was

ed a right over Genoa; but after the and implacable g

battle of Pavia, when the French were forced intirely to abandon Italy, that claim had become of no effect. Henry the Second however, having commenced a new war in Italy, against the Emperor Charles V, resolved to assert his power in Corsica; Sampiero di Ornano encouraged this disposition, that he might avail himself of it, to free the island from a yoke which galled it so much.

[ocr errors]

upon

two nations, this
subsist; and
same oppression
flagrant in Ce
Sampiero
been agair
returned
sence
titud
ral

History of the Revolutions of Corsica.

།་་

bring them to Genoa, ing themselves altogether unable fa

amine was often oc- it, while the Corsicans were every
again revived Genoese troops, and there by *","*
pieces the poor reinforcemïents, cổ
plying themselves with more arms;
day growing stronger, cutting to

ndered and op

ommenced,

bas con- the republic was under the necessity
of seeking foreign assistance.

body of auxiliaries under the com
Charles VI. who sent to Corsica a
They applied to the Emperor
mand of General Wachtendonck.
*1 powerful enough to overake
harrassed the land, without
A continual rencoUEUTS

An expedition was therefore ordered to Corsica in the year 1553, under the command of General Pau de Thermes, accompanied by Sar piero di Ornano, Jourdain des sins, and several other able manders. Henry had also the joined with him in this exp having prevailed with the Emperor, Solyman, stile nificent, to send out a the Tuscan sea.

This expedition opposed by the Gen Andrew Doria, th eighty-seventh y age and infirmi sica was an e his country. barked wit'

rious you

armame, The

gour

joir

gr

the

aze

.s was the .e, whose sinMe so much noise. Newhoff, in the Marc in Westphalia, who aspired to the

[ocr errors]

personage

[ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small]

ga assistance.

ore assumed every mark of yal dignity. He had his guards, and his officers of state. He con ferred titles of honour, and he struck money, both of silver and copper. He immediately blocked up the Ge noese fortified towns; and he used to be sometimes at one siege, sometimes at another, standing with a telescope in his hand, as if he spied

gnty of Corsica. He had his the assistance which he said he ex

wards

in

the French service. He went to Spain, where he some marks of regard from of Riperda and Cardinal But, being of a strange

Duke

Alberoni.

pected. He used also the artifice of making large packets be continually brought to him from the continent which he gave out to be from the different Sovereigns of Europe, ac

Unsettled projecting disposition, he knowledging his authority, and pro quitted Spain, and went and travelled mising to befriend him.

into

ever

Italy, England, and Holland, in search of some new adventure. He at last fixed his attention on Corsica, and formed a scheme of making himself a King.

He was a man of abilities and address and, after having fully informed himself of every thing relating to the island, he went to Tunis, where he fell upon means to procure

The Genoese were not a little con⚫ founded with this unexpected adventurer. They published a violent manifesto against Theodore, treating him with great contempt, but, at the same time shewing, that they were alarmed at his appearance, Theodore replied, in a manifesto, with all the calmness and dignity of a monarch; expressed his indiffer

bring them to

to the injurious treatment of having delivered the island from blic; and appeared firin oppression.

of victory. minister at London, rest against the Core, 24th of July, he Queen-regent ed out her ibiting any

from furnce to

'ght

History of the Revolutions of Corsica.

mine was often oc

311

it, while the Corsicans were every ed and op- pieces the poor reinforcements of the republic was under the necessity plying themselves with more arms; evived Genoese troops, and thereby supe Genoa, ing themselves altogether unable for day growing stronger, cutting to king foreign assistance.

d,

applied to the Emperor

Wachtendonck. d, withe ut

who sent to Corsica a

es under the com

The Corsicans now talk differently of King Theodore. Some of them, who had most faith in his fine speeches, still extol him to the skies, to sup port their own judgment; others, who looked upon him as an impostor, and never joined heartily in his measures, represent him as a kind of Wat Tyler, a King of a rabble; but the most knowing and judicious, and the general himself, consider him in the moderate light in which he has now been represented; and wn, that he was of great service in iving the spirit of the nation, h, after a good many years of was beginning to p, but which Theodore restored, while he rekindled the sacred fire of uis liberty. in the

olland, and there

ssful enough to get cregreat extent from several merchants, particularly Jews, who trusted him with cannon, and other warlike stores, to a great value, under the charge of a supercargo. With these, he returned to Corsica, in 1739; and, on his arrival, he put to death the supercargo, that he might not have any trouble from demands being made upon him.

By this time, as shall be afterwards shewn, the French had become so powerful in the island, that, although Theodore threw in his supply of warlike stores, he did not incline to venture his person, the Genoese having set a high price upon his head. He therefore chose to relinquish his throne, and give up his views of ambition for safety, furnishing a remarkable example, how far a daring and desperate spirit may go; for, had Theodore had a little more prudence, and some better fortune, he and his posterity might have worn the crown of Corsica, upon the generous title

t war,

The Genoese, eager to repress the rise in 1734, hired some Swiss and Grisons, who, from being accustomed to such a country at home might scour the mountain of Corsica. But these soldiers found it no easy matter to scour mountains, where the natives were continually firing upon them, and had numberless ways of escaping. They soon saw that they had made a bad bargain, and that they gave the Genoese too much blood for their money.

But France, who has ever had an eye to this island, now began to be apprehensive, that the Corsicans might intirely throw off the yoke of Genoa; in which case they would either become a free state, which the powers of Europe would, from a mutual jealously, protect; or, perhaps, would put themselves under the sovereignty of some great nation. She resolved then to force them back under the dominion of Genoa, which she has since, from time to time, endeavoured to do; for, by constant negociations with that republic, France has such an ascendancy, that she may command, when

plained to a gentleman in the neigh bourhood, that a hare came every day into his garden, and eat his cabbages; and begged the gentleman would be so good as to drive her out for him. The gentleman comes with a pack of hounds, and half a dozen huntsmen, and does more mischief in five minutes, than the hare could have done in seven years. After a prodigious chace, the hare made her escape through a hole in the wall. Upon which the gentleman congratulated the gardener on getting rid of his enemy, and advised him to stop up the hole. So the Genoese, after having expended a great deal more upon foreign auxiliaries, than any advantage they can ever derive from Corsica, upon the departure of these auxiliaries, have the mortification to find themselves just as they were.

Genoa again tried her force against Corsica; but she only shewed her weakness and bad politics. In the mean time, a most extraordinary circumstance occurred, to the amazement of every body. This was the appearance of Theodore, whose singular story has made so much noise. Theodore Baron Newhoff, in the county of La Marc in Westphalia, was the personage who aspired to the sovereignty of Corsica. He had his education in the French service. He afterwards went to Spain, where he received some marks of regard from the Duke of Riperda and Cardinal Alberoni. But, being of a strange unsettled projecting disposition, he quitted Spain, and went and travelled into Italy, England, and Holland, ever in search of some new adventure. He at last fixed his attention on Corsica, and formed a scheme of making himself a King.

He was a man of abilities and address: and, after having fully informed himself of every thing relating to the island, he went to Tunis, where he fell upon means to procure

some money and arms; and then came to Leghorn, from whence he wrote a letter to the Corsican chiefs, Giafferi and Paoli, offering considerable assistance to the nation, if they would elect him as their Sovereign. He received for answer, that, if he brought the assistance he promised to the Corsicans, they would very willingly make him King.

Upon this he, without loss of time, set sail, and landed at Tavagna in spring, 1736. He was a man of a very stately appearance; and the Turkish dress which he wore added to the dignity of his mien. He had a few attendants with him. His manners were so engaging, and his offers so plauisble, that he was proclaimed King of Corsica. He brought with him about a thousand zechins of Tunis, besides some arms and ammunition, and made magnificent promises of foreign assistance.

He con

Theodore assumed every mark of royal dignity. He had his guards, and his officers of state. ferred titles of honour, and he struck money, both of silver and copper. He immediately blocked up the Genoese fortified towns; and he used to be sometimes at one siege, sometimes at another, standing with a telescope in his hand, as if he spied the assistance which he said he expected. He used also the artifice of making large packets be continually brought to him from the continent which he gave out to be from the different Sovereigns of Europe, ac knowledging his authority, and pro mising to befriend him.

The Genoese were not a little con founded with this unexpected adventurer. They published a violent manifesto against Theodore, treating him with great contempt, but, at the same time shewing, that they were alarmed at his appearance. Theodore replied, in a manifesto, with all the calmness and dignity of a monarch; expressed his indiffer

« VorigeDoorgaan »