would leave Paoli with the spoils of victory. Napoleon's first idea was to
bribe the new military commander of Ajaccio, Colonna Leca, to open the
gates of the citadel, but he refused. His next project was a plan to visit the
Sanguinaires isles to set up a safe military haven. But before he could
implement this, he was warned that Paolistas planned to assassinate him
once he left Ajaccio. He therefore stayed on in the town until 2 May.
Paoli meanwhile summoned a convention at Corte to concert measures
for the defence of Corsica against the French and their allies. One of the
first decisions taken was to proceed against the Bonapartes, expropriate
their property and arrest Napoleon. Ignorant of this, Napoleon set out for
Corte, intent on another meeting with Paoli. On the road he was met by
his cousins the Arrighi, who advised him that Paoli had intercepted a
letter from Lucien to Joseph, making it clear that his denunciation had
triggered the virtual decree of outlawry from the Convention. Amazingly,
Napoleon seemed undeterred by this intelligence and pressed on to Area
de Vivaria, where he lodged with the parish priest, another Arrighi
connection. Next day he continued his journey and made the overnight
stop with another set of relations, the Tusoli, in the hamlet of Poggiolo.
On 5 May Napoleon was at Corsacci, trying to persuade some Corsican
delegates not to attend Paoli's convention at Corte. But he was already in
enemy territory, for the local magnates were his old enemies the Peraldis.
Marius Peraldi secured the help of the Morelli brothers to place
Napoleon under arrest. It was lucky for him that he still had many friends
and that some of them were resourceful. Two of them, Santo Ricci and
Vizzavona by name, cooked up an ingenious plan and persuaded the
Morellis to bring their prisoner to Vizzavona's house for a meal. Once
there, they spirited Napoleon away down a secret staircase to a waiting
horse. He and Santo Ricci then made their way back to Ajaccio by
backtracks and entered Ajaccio in secret on 6 May.
After hiding out with his friend Jean-Jerome Levie, three days later
Napoleon was able to secure sea passage to Macinaggio, from where he
travelled overland to Bastia. In Bastia he was reunited with Joseph,
Saliceti, Lacombe St-Michel and the principals of the anti-Paolista party.
After two weeks of plotting and preparing, the conspirators sailed from St
Florent in two ships with 400 men and a few guns. Ironically, on the very
day of departure the Bonaparte house in Ajaccio was being sacked by the
Paolistas and their farms gutted. Letizia fled with her daughters and hid
in bushes near the ruined tower of Capitello, across the bay from Ajaccio,
while the Paolistas looked for them. Once again Letizia experienced the
pendulum of fortune and was forced to become a fugitive.
A week later the ill-fated expedition anchored in the Gulf of Ajaccio
marcin
(Marcin)
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