COR 



562 



eon. 



Corsica. 



— ^~— 

 History. 



officer of considerable talents, landed with six battalions. 

 The caution and political prudence which Paoli now 

 thought it his duty to employ, nor yet the more active 

 exertions in which afterwards he had occasion to en- 

 gage, proved eventually sufficient for the safety or for 

 the maintenance of the independence of his country. 

 It was expected that England would take part in the 

 quarrel ; but this hope having been disappointed, and 

 the sovereignty of the island having been renounced by 

 Genoa in favour of the king of France, Corsica was, in 

 3768, invaded by a French army of 5000 men, under 

 the command of the Marquis de Chauvelin, supported 

 by two ships of the line, two frigates, and six armed 

 brigantines. In the furious contest which ensued, num- 

 -bers, military science, and discipline, were opposed to 

 an almost unarmed multitude, to enthusiasm, bravery, 

 and the cause of liberty. It was not, however, without 

 considerable difficulty, and till after the aid had been 

 obtained of some farther reinforcements, that the subju- 

 gation of Corsica was effected by Count de Vaux in 

 1769- Paoli having defended his country to the last, 

 escaped in-an. English ship to Leghorn, whence he af- 

 terwards repaired to London. Both he and the Corsi- 

 cans who acted along with him, are highly compliment- 

 ed by the celebrated General Dumourier, (who ser- 

 ved in the French army as adjutant general,) in the 

 memoirs which he has published of his own life. 



Paoli having taken the oath of fidelity to the consti- 

 tuent assembly of France, returned again to Corsica in 

 1792, when he was elected mayor of Bastia, commander 

 in chief of the national guard, and president of the depart- 

 ment. On the execution of Louis XVI. when there 

 was every prospect that a civil war was about to take 

 place in France, Paoli thought the opportunity favour- 

 able for rescuing his country from all subjection to a 

 foreign yoke. Having determined, therefore, to call in 

 the assistance of England, he invited Lord Hood, who 

 was then at Toulon, and who had recently been foiled 

 in an attempt against Corsica, to invade it anew. An 

 expedition sailed from the bay of Hieres on the 24-th 

 of January 1795, for the express purpose of recovering 

 it from the possession of the French. The towers of 

 Morsella, Fornelli, and San Fiorenzo, were taken by 

 the troops under the command of lieutenant general 

 Dundas, and Bastia and Calvi having likewise yielded 

 to the English, the union of Corsica with the British 

 empire was unanimously voted in a general consulta 

 that was assembled at Corte. This proposition was rea- 

 dily accepted on the part of the English commissioner 

 Sir Gilbert Elliot, now Lord Minto, and he was in con- 

 sequence immediately invested with the dignity of vice- 

 roy. Corsica did not however long continue an appen- 

 dage of the British crown. Jealousies arose between 

 the English viceroy and general Paoli. The latter re- 

 turned to England, but, before his departure, exhorted 

 his countrymen to continue steady in their allegiance 

 to Great Britain. This exhortation was not much re- 

 garded by the Corsicans. The splendour of the victo- 

 ries of their countryman Bonaparte in Italy, determi- 

 ned them to return to their allegiance to France. The 

 English troops accordingly evacuated the island, and Cor- 

 sica has ever since continued a province of the French 

 empire. 



See Boswell's Account of Corsica ; Herbin Statistique 

 de la France ; Memoirs of Corsica ; Mceurset Coutumes 

 des Corses, cfc. par G. Faydel ; Voyage en Corse, par 

 1'Abbe Gaudin ; Description de la Corse, SfC par Fre- 

 derick, colonel sous Theodore, roi de Corse ; Viaggio 

 ■di Licomedi, (Arrighi) in Corsica, &c. ; Mineralogical 



Account of the Island of Corsica, in a letter from M. 

 Rampasse to M. Faujas de St Fond, in Philosophical 

 Magazine, vol. xxx. ; Anquetil's Summary of Universal 

 Hist. vol. vii.; Peuchet Diction, Univers. de la Geogr. 

 Commerg. (k) 



CORTES, Fernando, the conqueror of Mexico, was' 

 born at Medellin, a small town in Estrerriadura, in 

 the year 1485, and descended from a family of noble 

 blood, but of small fortune. He was originally intend- 

 ed for the law, and studied for a while at Salamanca, 

 where he devoted himself chiefly to active sports and 

 martial exercises. At this period of his life, his dispo- 

 sition was so turbulent, and his habits so dissipated, 

 that his father was glad to comply with his inclination, 

 and send him forth as an adventurer in arms. Being 

 disappointed in his views of serving under the great 

 captain in Italy, a fair opportunity soon offered of try- 

 ing his fortune in the new world, by the appointment 

 of his kinsman Ovando to the government of Hispa- 

 niola, in the year 1 502. He was prevented, however, 

 from accompanying the governor, in consequence of an 

 unlucky accident which he met with, in attempting to 

 scale a lady's window ; he brought down an old wall 

 upon himself, and was so much bruised as to be unfit 

 for the voyage. He reached Hispaniola or St Domingo in 

 1 504, and met with a cordial reception from his kinsman. 

 He accompanied Velasquez in his expedition to Cuba, 

 which was conquered in 1511. Velasquez, seized with 

 that spirit of enterprise, which was so common and so 

 inviting in that age of wonders, sent Grijalva on a 

 voyage of discovery, who returned with the important 

 intelligence of having discovered the rich and populous 

 kingdom of Mexico, or New Spain. The next object 

 was to accomplish the conquest of this newly discover- 

 ed country. Velasquez fitted out an expedition for this 

 purpose, chiefly at his own expence ; but as he was of 

 a jealous and suspicious temper, he could not easily 

 find a commander whom he could trust with the con- 

 duct of such an important enterprise. Cortes was 

 warmly recommended to him, and his choice was de- 

 cided by his known activity and intrepidity, and also 

 by the little personal consequence which he then pos- 

 sessed. 



Scarcely had he been appointed to the command, 

 when the suspicions of the governor were excited; and 

 had he not hastened his departure with the utmost ex- 

 pedition, he would have been stript of the means of his 

 future glory. Cortes sailed straight for Trinidad, and 

 afterwards touched at the Havannah, to engage adven- 

 turers, and provide the necessary equipments for his 

 small armament. To both these places Velasquez sent 

 orders to deprive him of his commission, and com- 

 manded his lieutenant at the Havannah to send him a 

 prisoner to St Jago. Cortes defeated all these measures, 

 and after his plans were completely matured, he decla- 

 red to his followers the jealous suspicions of Velasquez, 

 and his determination to deprive them of the rich spoil 

 which they had in prospect. They received the intel- 

 ligence with the utmost indignation, and offered to shed 

 the last drop of their blood in maintaining the autho- 

 rity of their commander. Cortes, on his part, swore 

 that he would never desert soldiers who had given him 

 such a signal proof of their attachment. 



He now therefore prepaid to sail, determined to 

 assert his independence, and to renounce all his alle- 

 giance to Velasquez. .His fleet consisted of eleven ves- 

 sels ; the largest of a hundred tons burden, which was 

 dignified with the name of admiral : three of seventy 

 or eighty tons; and the rest small open barks. f)n 



CoTiet. 



