384
WILLIAM, EARL OF SHELBURNE
CH. X
affair, so that it be prudent for France to draw back, that then they should put the Genoese once more in possession of Calvi, Ajaccio and Bonifacio, keeping Bastia, St. Fiorenzo and Cape Corse, as a security in their hands for the reimbursement of the sums they may have expended in the attempt.[1]
In the conversations which I held with Paoli, I found him clear and intelligent, seeming to understand perfectly the interests of the different nations of Europe, and even well informed of what passes at their Courts. He is no stranger to the nature of our constitution, and even of the different factions which prevail among us. He knows the names of our present Ministers and the different ranks in which they stand; he mentions particularly my Lord Shelburne in whose department (he said) the Corsican affairs lay. He appears thoroughly well acquainted with both ancient and modern history, speaks his own language with remarkable eloquence, and the foreign languages rather imperfectly, although he understands them all. He translates English currently from the book. As to his management with the Corsicans, he seems to have them in a tolerable degree of subjection, merely by that ascendant which a man of parts and knowledge is sure to acquire over weak and uncultivated minds, and I find that like Numa and Mahomet he does not scruple to employ even visions, revelations, and dreams to strengthen his power. Religion seems to sit easy upon him, and notwithstanding what his historian Boswell relates, I take him to be very free in his notions that way. This I suspect both from the strain of his conversation, and from what I have learnt of his conduct towards the clergy and monks. If after all, I may venture to pronounce wherein I think him deficient, I should say it is in personal courage. The manner in which he answered when I endeavoured to spur him on to some spirited action, gave me first this idea, and then his complaints of sickness and feverishness as an excuse for his inactivity, seems unsoldierlike and equivocal at best. I ventured to hint this suspicion to a gentleman at Florence, a man of penetration and sense, who knows Paoli well and admires him much; he owned, he always had the same suspicion, and says he never understood that Paoli ever exposed his person in any action with the Genoese. To make up for this defect, he has an elder brother whom he puts forward on all occasions, a true lion, and who joins to constitutional bravery a religious fanaticism, which often leads to great and noble deeds. A priest told me "Signor Clemente de Paoli was always with his hands lifted up before the
- ↑ Stewart to Shelburne, August 14th, 1768.
