would lay totally at the mercy of the cruisers from Cape Corse; and their Newfoundland trade, their boasted nursery of seamen, would fail them of course. In the meantime, the French having command of the ports, timber, and seamen of Corsica, would raise her marine to a pitch it never reached before.
I have been particular as to the advantages held out by Paoli to the French at that time, because it is plain that they will equally arise from the possession they now aspire at, and by a parallel reasoning would equally accrue to the English, were they in the place of the French.
When Paoli mentioned the seamen of Corsica, I asked him what number he reckoned upon the island. He said, there were about 4000 in the province of Cape Corse, about 900 coral fishers at Ajaccio, and about 1000 seamen more in the rest of the island, but added he, "if the nation were once established in peace, their numbers would be doubled in a few years." I took notice that I saw few or no forests on the mountains where we were; he said they lay in the De la de Monte, that upon the occasion we were speaking of, they had been visited by two inspectors from France, who reported, that there was timber enough, easy to be transported to the sea-shore, capable to supply the royal arsenals for 100 years.
Paoli continued to relate the negotiations he had with France. After his project was broke off by the Convention with Genoa, he continued still to correspond with M. Choiseul, and still flattered himself, through his means to bring about something beneficial to his country. In fact there was at length a Treaty of mediation between them and the Genoese set on foot.[1] My Lord Shelburne was duly and exactly informed of this Treaty at the time by Sir Horace Mann, which makes it needless for me to enlarge upon it here. I shall only observe, that the French played the part of a true mediator, wanting to reserve the substance to themselves and give to each party a shell. They asked improperly, Bastia, St. Fiorenzo and the whole province of Cape Corse. Paoli persisted obstinately in refusing this. Butofuoco was his agent, and he told me at last, that he gave secret orders to him (Butofuoco) to consent as a pis aller to receive French garrisons into the two towns; but M. Choiseul even rejected this, saying, "that the King was weary of garrisoning towns for other Powers," and so the Treaty broke off. Paoli says, he now knows, that M. Choiseul was never sincere, that he only used his name and the negotiation with him, as means to frighten the Genoese into the cessions which he has now obtained.
When Paoli had concluded this account, I returned to the- ↑ In 1767.
