Young bloods

Chapter 68

'I'm telling you, Joseph, the whole fiasco was intended to fail from the outset.' Napoleon stabbed his finger on the table to emphasise the point.

They were sitting in the salon of the family's house in Ajaccio. It was late, and the rest of the family had gone to bed. After Napoleon's return from the failed expedition in March he had told them some of what had happened after he sailed off to battle with the volunteers. The rest he saved for his older brother, and now that Joseph had come home Napoleon at last unburdened himself. Joseph had never seen him so filled with anger and bitterness.

'Paoli wanted me to fail. No, he wanted me to be abandoned there. To die, or to be taken prisoner.'

Joseph looked at his brother uncomfortably. 'Assuming for a moment that your suspicions-'

'Suspicions?' Napoleon exploded. 'Have you been listening to a word I've said? I don't have any suspicions about Paoli. I know precisely what kind of creature he is.Yesterday, one of my friends at the Jacobin Club told me there's a rumour that the Paolists are planning to assassinate me.'

'This is madness.' Joseph drew a breath and tried again, in a calm tone. 'What reason could Paoli have for wanting you to fail in your mission, and maybe be killed or captured in the process?'

Napoleon reached across the table and tapped Joseph on the forehead. 'Think! He did not want this operation to proceed. Paoli wants to stay on good terms with Piedmont, and sabotage French policy. So, when the time comes to cut Corsica away from France and join Britain he can point to his record of resistance to France. But he couldn't be too obvious about it. So he went along with the instructions to prepare for the invasion of Sardinia. He is seen to co-operate, and even to offer a battalion of Corsican volunteers to carry out the job. So that when it fails he can blame me, a known Jacobin, and discredit the Jacobin party into the bargain. Of course, he has to make sure that I am not around to contradict him. The fact is that we succeeded, and that lickspittle Colonna ordered us to abandon the fort, abandon the guns… The guns,' Napoleon murmured, and sat back with a shocked expression. 'Of course! I see it now.'

'See what?'

'Colonna told me to abandon the guns and return to the frigate. He ordered me to.'

'So?' Joseph shook his head. 'I don't understand.'

'I'm an artillery officer. It's an article of faith that we never abandon our guns to the enemy. Paoli knew that. So Colonna makes up some story about a mutiny, and orders me to abandon the guns, knowing full well that I would not obey the order. He was counting on me destroying the guns and meanwhile the rest of the battalion would embark and set sail for home. Only, he didn't think that Lieutenant Alessi would put a gun to the head of the boat crews and force them to wait for us.' Napoleon slumped against the back of his chair. 'You have to admire Paoli – he thought it through in almost every detail.The only thing he didn't account for was Alessi.'

Joseph reluctantly concluded that Napoleon's version of events made sense. 'All right. So Paoli is our enemy, and he's betraying France, then what do you suggest we do? Inform the Convention?'

'It may be too late for that. By the time we got a message to Saliceti and he convinced the Convention to act, Paoli might have changed sides. He'll do it anyway, the moment he suspects that Paris knows about his treachery.' Napoleon looked at his older brother. 'We have to try and stop him here and now.'

'What are you talking about?' Joseph answered nervously. 'What can we do?'

'I'm going to speak at the Jacobin Club tomorrow night. I'm going to tell them everything. Just as I told you.' Napoleon's eyes widened as his mind seized on the options open to him.'Then I'll propose a motion that we name Paoli as an enemy of the state and order his immediate arrest.'

'No!' Joseph shook his head.'You go too far. Even the Jacobins wouldn't dare to oppose Paoli. Most of them wouldn't even think to. He's their hero, for God's sake! You tell them he's a traitor and you'll get yourself killed. And the rest of us too.You can't put your family in that kind of danger.'

'I must do this,' Napoleon insisted. 'Paoli is our enemy. He is the enemy of our people, only they don't know it yet. I have to open their eyes. So I will speak tomorrow night.'

'You can't! You'll get us all killed.'

Napoleon stared back at him, and then relented as he accepted that he would be taking a risk, and had no right to endanger his brothers and sisters and his mother. He sighed wearily and then spoke in as gentle a tone as he could manage. 'You must take the family somewhere safe.'

'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 the proposer?'

Pozzo di Borgo grinned. 'Why not? I'm happy to give people a chance to speak. Before we dispose of Citizen Buona Parte!'

Napoleon clamped his mouth shut and stared back at the man, daring him to look away first. He was beyond anger. He was surprised at how calm he was.This fight was lost and he knew it. There was no point in continuing. What mattered now was surviving until he could exact his revenge, as the Corsican code of honour demanded.

Napoleon turned to Alessi. 'I'm leaving. I'll be back at my house.'

The shouts and cries of the members died away as Napoleon rose to his feet. They looked at him expectantly and then he bowed to them and said, as calmly as he could, 'Good night, gentlemen.' Then he walked steadily between the rows of chairs to the door and out into the reading room.

'Coward!' someone shouted, and others joined in with jeers and catcalls until the secretary's frantic hammering brought quiet again. As he made for the door leading into the street Napoleon heard the secretary calling out to the crowd in the meeting room.

'Citizens! We have a proposal before the house. Let us deal with it in a manner worthy of the Jacobin party!'