was now convinced there was no disguise on my part, and that he would no longer have any reserve for me. He began by telling me, that he looked upon his nation as ruined without foreign assistance; that he was destitute of money, ammunition, and provisions and other implements of war; that his people were already dispirited by the losses that happened two days ago; that the two villages taken by the French (Barbagio and Patrimonio) gave them the entire communication between Bastia and St. Fiorenzo and cut off from him the whole province of Capo Corso, with the island of Capraia. He said the manner the French took to possess themselves of these posts was mean and treacherous; that M. Marbœuf always declared he would not begin to act till the 6th of August, when the Convention of four years should be expired, but that on the 1st, he sent a line to his nephew who commanded at Patrimonio, telling him that he had orders from the King his master to open the communication between St. Fiorenzo and Bastia, and that if he was not disposed to grant it, he might prepare to defend himself, for that in the meantime he had put the troops in march: half an hour after this, the villages were attacked. He blamed his nephew very much for allowing himself to be surprised, and suspected some treachery on the part of an officer whom he did not name; but I own I think there was a negligence on his (Paoli's) part, to leave a post of that importance in the possibility of a surprise; as to the rest, I acquitted him altogether of collusion. I watched him exceeding narrowly when he spoke of it and could perceive him much agitated, in a manner that seemed natural and unaffected.[1]
The loss the Corsicans sustained was very trifling, only five men killed and forty prisoners. The French lost four officers and a great many men. I suggested to him that it was worth while to attempt the recovery of these posts, that it would be a coup d'éclat and greatly serve his cause with the people all over Europe. He said he had meditated a great stroke, when the Convention should be expired. He had formed a project to burn the magazines, and carry off the provisions from the neighbourhood of Bastia, but that M. Marbœuf had got the better of him by breaking the truce; that at present he could attempt nothing; that the French were too well fortified in their posts to dream of retaking them, and that a defeat would ruin him for ever; but he said, if he were assisted and St. Fiorenzo attacked by sea, he would engage to keep off all succours from Bastia and would even assault their camp behind; but with the assistance of England alone he could do everything, and it would be impossible for the French to- ↑ A letter from Rochfort to Shelburne, August 1768, represents every one at Paris—with the exception of the friends of Choiseul—as ashamed of this piece of treachery.
