Pasquale Paoli

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Cenotaph of Pasquale Paoli, at Westminster Abbey (London).

Pasquale Paoli AKA Pascal Paoli (April 6, 1725 – February 5, 1807), was a Corsican patriot and leader, the leader of the first democratic republic of the modern age.

1 Biography
- 1.1 Corsican republic
- 1.2 After the republic
2 Paoli commemmorated in the USA
3 See also
4 Further reading
5 References
6 External links
7 References

[edit] Biography

Paoli was born at Stretta in the parish of Rostino, the son of Giacinto Paoli, who had led the Corsican rebels against Genovese tyranny. Pasquale followed his father into exile in 1739, serving with distinction in the Neapolitan army; on his return to Corsica on April 29, 1755 he became the General of the Corsican Nation, the commander-in-chief of the Corsican independence forces.

[edit] Corsican republic

In November 1755 Corsican independence was proclaimed and the Corsican Constitution was created - this was the first constitution written under Enlightenment principles. The republic created an administration, justice system, and founded an army. After a series of successful actions Paoli drove the Genovese from the whole island except for a few coastal towns. He then set to work to reorganize the government, introducing many reforms. He founded a university at Corte. He created a short-lived "Order of Saint-Devote" in 1757 in honor of the patron saint of the island, Saint Devota.[1]

Paoli's ideas of independence, democracy and liberty gained support from such philosophers as Voltaire, Raynal and Mably ^[1].

In 1767 Corsica took the island of Capraia from the Genoese, who, one year later, despairing of ever being able to subjugate Corsica again, with the Treaty of Versailles sold their rights over it to France.

The French invaded Corsica the same year, and for one years Paoli's forces fought desperately for their new republic against the new invaders. However, in 1769 he was defeated in Ponte Nuovo by vastly superior forces under the Comte de Vaux, and obliged to take refuge in England.

[edit] After the republic

After the French revolution Paoli became something of an idol of liberty and democracy in France. In 1789 he was invited to Paris by the National Constituent Assembly and was celebrated as a hero in front of the assembly. He was afterwards sent back to Corsica having been given the rank of lieutenant-general.

Eventually however Paoli became disgusted with the excesses of the French Revolution, and having been accused of treason by the French National Convention, he summoned a consulta (assembly) at Corte in 1793, with himself as president and formally seceded from France. He then offered the sovereignty of the island to the British government, but finding no support in that quarter, he was forced to go into exile once more, and Corsica became a French département. He retired to London in 1796, when he obtained a pension.

[edit] Paoli commemmorated in the USA

The American Sons of Liberty were inspired by Paoli and his struggle against despotism.

In 1768, the editor of the New York Journal described Paoli as "the greatest man on earth".

In the American Revolutionary War General Anthony Wayne led his soldiers into battle with the cry "Remember Paoli!".

Many place names in the USA are named after him. These include:

Paoli, Pennsylvania, which was named after "General Paoli's Tavern" a meeting-point of the Sons of Liberty and homage to the "General of the Corsicans".
Paoli, Colorado
Paoli, Indiana
Paoli, Oklahoma

[edit] See also

Corsican Constitution

[edit] Further reading

James Boswell's Account of Corsica and Memoirs of P Paoli (1768)
N Tommaseo, "Lettere di Pasquale de Paoli" (in Archivio storico italiano, 1st series, vol. xi.), and Della Corsica, etc. (ibid., nuova serie, vol. xi., parte ii.);
Pompei, De L'état de la Corse (Paris, 1821); Giovanni Livi, Lettere inedite di Pasquale Paoli (in Arch. stor. ital., 5th series, vols. v. and vi.);
Bartoli, Historia di Pascal Paoli (Bastia, 1891); Lencisa, P. Paoli e la guerra d'indipendenza della Corsica (Milano, 1890).
John Ralston Saul, Voltaire's Bastards: The Dictatorship of Reason in the West.