| Anglo-Corsican Kingdom Regno di Corsica |
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| Unrecognized state | |||||
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| Motto Amici e non di ventura (English: Friends, and not by mere accident) |
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| Anthem Dio vi Salvi Regina |
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| Location of Corsica in Europe | |||||
| Capital | Corte, then Bastia | ||||
| Language(s) | Italian, Corsican | ||||
| Religion | Roman Catholic | ||||
| Government | Parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy |
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| Kingb | George III of the United Kingdom | ||||
| President of the Council of State | Carlo Andrea Pozzo di Borgo | ||||
| Legislature | Parliament | ||||
| Historical era | Age of Enlightenment | ||||
| - Established | June 17, 1794 | ||||
| - Conquered | October 19, 1796 | ||||
| Area | 8,680 km2 (3,351 sq mi) | ||||
| Currency | soldi | ||||
| Today part of | France | ||||
| a The flag of the kingdom was the Corsican Moor's head united with the British royal arms. b Represented by a viceroy. |
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The Anglo-Corsican Kingdom was a short-lived self-declared independent state on the island of Corsica during the mid-1790s.
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During the time of the French Revolution, Corsica had been a part of France for just two decades. The Corsican leader Pasquale Paoli, who had been exiled under the monarchy, became something of an idol of liberty and democracy, and in 1789 was invited to Paris by the National Constituent Assembly, where he was celebrated as a hero in front of the assembly. He was afterwards sent back to Corsica with the rank of lieutenant-general.
However, Paoli eventually split from the revolutionary movement over the issue of the execution of the king, and threw in his lot with the royalist party. Accused of treason by the French National Convention, he summoned a consulta (assembly) at Corte in 1793, with himself as president, and where Corsica's formal secession from France was declared. He requested the protection of the British government, then at war with revolutionary France, and suggested the Kingdom of Ireland as a model for an autonomous kingdom under the British monarch. For Britain it was an opportunity to secure a Mediterranean base.
In 1794 Britain sent a fleet to Corsica under Admiral Samuel Hood. It was during the fighting to capture Calvi the then-Captain Horatio Nelson lost the sight in his right eye. For a short time, Corsica was added to the dominions of King George III, chiefly by the exertions of Hood's fleet, and Paoli's cooperation.
The constitution could be considered democratic for its time. A viceroy represented the King. There was an elected unicameral Parliament, and a Council that was the executive body of the Kingdom.
Sir Gilbert Elliot represented the king's government as viceroy. Carlo Andrea Pozzo di Borgo was procureur-general-syndic (chief of the civil government), and later president of the council of state.
The relationship between Paoli's government and the British was never clearly defined, however, resulting in numerous questions of authority; in particular, tensions arose from the conflict between Sir Gilbert's loyalty to the British monarchy, and Paoli's republican leanings and desire to defend Corsican autonomy. There was also a pronounced division between Corte, the traditional capital and an inland stronghold, and Bastia on the coast, where Sir Gilbert moved the capital in early 1795, and which was the centre for French and Corsican royalists.[1] At last the crown invited Paoli to resign and return to exile in Britain with a pension, which, having no alternative, he did in 1796. With Spain coming in on the side of the French, the British realised their position in the Mediterranean was on precarious hold, so they had to withdraw their forces from the island before October. On October 19, 1796, the French reconquered Bastia and Corsica became a French département.[2]