'If it goes badly at the Jacobin Club then there will be nowhere safe in Corsica.'
'Then you must be ready to leave Corsica.You must leave in the morning. Take the family, and what's left of the gold Uncle Luciano left us in his will, and get berths on a ship to Calvi.When you get there, wait for me. I'll send word if it's safe to return. Otherwise I'll do my best to join you, or get a message to you to say that I've failed. If that happens, you must take the first ship to France. There you must tell Saliceti everything. He owes me a favour now.'
'Napoleon, you risk too much.'
'I must do this,' he replied firmly. 'I'll do it for France. I'll do it for the Corsican people, before Paoli sells them to the English. But most of all I'll do it because that old bastard betrayed me and I'd rather die than let him bring shame on the name of Buona Parte.
As soon as Napoleon entered the Jacobin Club the following evening he was aware of the tension in the atmosphere.The other members looked up as he passed through the crowd in the reading room and there was a brief lull in the conversation before they turned back to each other and resumed talking in undertones that only gradually resumed the previous intensity. The blame for the debacle at Maddalena had been pinned on Napoleon from the outset: the rumourmongers of Ajaccio had been primed well before the volunteer battalion's inglorious return. Napoleon made his way over to the club's secretary and added his name to the list of members wishing to address the meeting that night. Then he went to the table over which the latest newspapers from Paris were spread. He picked up a copy of the Moniteur and sat down in the corner of the room, his back to the wall, and began to read while he waited for the meeting to begin.
The war was not going well. General Dumouriez had been defeated by the Austrians at Neerwinden, the enemy forces opposed to France had been swelled by the declaration of war by England, Spain and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and the Convention had been forced to announce a mass conscription of up to three hundred thousand men to counter the threat. Nor was the threat purely external. Insurrection in the Vendee was threatening to turn into a full-scale counter-revolution. Napoleon smiled grimly. If Paoli was thinking of changing sides, now was the perfect time to do it.
'Good evening.'
Napoleon glanced up from the paper and saw Alessi standing over him. Alessi gestured to the empty chair beside Napoleon. 'May I?'
Napoleon nodded, as he closed the paper and slid it to one side. 'Are you here for the meeting?'
'Yes.' He smiled.'Haven't heard a decent debate in weeks.Then I saw your name on the list just now.'
'I'm putting a proposal before the club.' Napoleon lowered his voice. 'Concerning my friend Paoli and that debacle at Maddalena.'
Alessi raised his eyebrows in surprise.'Are you sure that's wise?'
'It's time someone exposed him for what he is.'
Both men looked up as the club secretary rang the bell to announce the start of the meeting. Napoleon and Alessi rose from their seats and joined the crowd pressing through the door into the meeting room, a large hall filled with benches. At the far end was the lectern on a raised platform for the speakers. Napoleon and Alessi pushed forward and took seats in the first row. As the other members entered the room and sat down, the secretary set up a small table to one side of the lectern and prepared his agenda for the night. While the final seats were filled up and more members stood at the rear of the hall, Napoleon went over to the secretary and asked if he could speak first, since his proposal was most pressing, and the man duly altered the order of speakers.
Napoleon returned to his seat. Inside, his stomach felt light and his heart beat quickly. Napoleon wondered if he should proceed with his plan.
The secretary stood up and rapped his gavel on the table to quieten the Jacobin audience. When all was still he declared the meeting open, read through the minutes of the previous meeting and then nodded to Napoleon.
Taking a deep breath, Napoleon moved round behind the lectern. The light cast by the dozens of wavering flames in the chandeliers suspended from the ceiling gave everyone's face a florid, orange glow that made them look hot and angry. For a moment Napoleon said nothing, his tongue stilled by the knowledge that his future, perhaps even his life, hung in the balance. He cleared his throat and began.
'Like all of you, I had regarded Paoli to be a patriot and a true Corsican hero.Throughout all the years he spent in exile we told ourselves that the day he returned to our land was the day we would be free again. And happy was that day when I first met him in Marseilles, held his hand and looked into his eyes and knew that my prayers had been answered. Here was our Paoli, our liberator.'
Napoleon looked over the faces in the audience and saw many nod their heads as they recalled their exhilaration at the return of Paoli to his homeland. Fortunately, a number of faces were stonily inexpressive as some members refused to indulge in the euphoria. Napoleon raised his hands to silence the muttering.
'I can see we all remember the moment as if it were only yesterday. If only it were yesterday, so that we could be spared what has happened since then… It has taken many months, but General Paoli has broken my heart. All the hopes I had for our future have been stolen and twisted into lies and deceit. General Paoli has bestowed on his followers all the favours and positions that were in his power to give, and then those that were not, by virtue of force, of bribery, of corruption and dishonesty. He treats Corsica as if we were his subjects and he our king!'
This time the audience was clearly and vocally divided in its response and while some applauded Napoleon, still more shouted angrily, 'Shame! Shame!' Some waved their fists at Napoleon and he felt the thrill of danger as he calmly called for quiet so that he might continue.
'And now, it seems, Paoli intends to betray the friendship of France, to betray the principles of the revolution that have made us into free citizens, no longer to suffer the humiliation of being mere subjects of a pampered and venal king. At present we are a part of France and our affairs are governed by the will of the common people. But what if Paoli sells us into an alliance with the enemies of France? What will guarantee our liberty then?'
'Enough!' one of the members shouted, jumping to his feet and thrusting his finger at Napoleon. 'Shut your mouth, traitor! How dare you insult the hero of Corsica?'
'He is no longer our hero!' Napoleon shouted back. 'He is the victim of his own vanity! Paoli is no more a hero than King Louis, and I call upon all here to demand his arrest and trial as we demanded that of Louis!'
More of the club's members stood up to denounce Napoleon, and he tried to call for order, but in vain. The meeting room was in an uproar, with members shouting angrily at him, and also amongst themselves. The secretary of the club took hold of Napoleon's arm.
'I think you have said enough, Buona Parte.'
'I have not finished.'
'Yes you have,' the secretary replied firmly. 'Return to your seat!'
'No!'
The secretary clenched his teeth and thrust Napoleon away from the lectern, and was rewarded with a loud cheer but also catcalls from the audience. For an instant, Napoleon turned on the man, ready to fight him for possession of the stage, but then he was aware of the rage directed against him from the audience, some of whom were already starting towards the stage, ready to assist the secretary.
'This is an outrage!' Napoleon shouted at the secretary above the din. 'By what authority do you deny me the right to address these citizens? Does Paoli already rule Ajaccio?'
'Sit down!' shouted the secretary. 'Now!'
Hands grabbed at Napoleon, and before he could react, he was hauled off the platform and bodily thrust back into his seat. Immediately, he made to get up but Alessi held his arm. 'Don't! Not yet.Wait until hot heads have cooled down.Then you can try and repair the damage.'
Napoleon glared at him, but before he could respond, the next speaker, Pozzo di Borgo, had taken the lectern and was waving his arms to calm the audience down so that he could be heard. As the noise died away the new speaker looked at Napoleon and called out. 'I wish to place a new proposal in front of the club. That Napoleon Buona Parte be stripped of his rank in the Ajaccio volunteers!'
The hall erupted in a loud cheer of approval. Pozzo di Borgo smiled and then continued, 'Furthermore, that his membership of this club be revoked.'
Again more cheers, until a voice from the back of the hall called out, 'On what grounds? You cannot make such proposals without just cause.'
Many in the audience jeered and hissed, and the secretary banged his gavel. 'The citizen is right. There must be a full and proper debate of any proposal that censures a member of this club so severely. Is that acceptable to
