When Paoli manifested his determination to surrender the island to the English, the Bonaparte family continued to head the French party, and had the fatal honour of being the object of _a march_ of the inhabitants of the island, that is to say, they were attacked by a levy in mass: 12 or 15,000 peasants made a descent from the mountains on Ajaccio. The house occupied by Napoleon’s family was pillaged and burnt, and the vines and flocks were destroyed. Madame, surrounded by a few faithful friends, wandered for some time on the sea-shore, and was at length obliged to fly to France. The Bonaparte family had always been much attached to Paoli, and he in his turn had professed particular respect towards Madame. It is, however, but just to remark that he employed persuasion before he resorted to force. “Renounce this opposition,” said he, “it will prove the ruin of yourself, your family, and your fortune; you will bring irreparable misery on yourself.” The Emperor, indeed, affirmed that, but for the chance of the revolution, the family could never have recovered from their misfortunes. Madame, like another Cornelia, heroically replied, “that she, her children, and her relatives would only obey two laws, namely, those of duty and honour. Had old Archdeacon Lucien been living at that time, his heart would have bled at the idea of the danger of his sheep, goats, and cattle, and his prudence would not have failed to allay the storm.”
Madame Bonaparte, the victim of her patriotism and her attachment to France, expected to be received at Marseilles as an emigrant of distinction; but there she scarcely found herself in safety; and, to her astonishment, discovered that the spirit of patriotism existed only among the very lowest classes of the people.
Napoleon, in his youth wrote a history of Corsica, which he dedicated to the Abbé Raynal. This production gained for him some flattering compliments and letters from the Abbé, who was the fashionable author of the day. This history has been lost.
The Emperor remarked that, during the war in Corsica, all the French who came to the island formed some decided opinion on the character of the mountaineers. Some said that they were full of enthusiasm, others regarded them as mere banditti.