When Paoli and Pozzo di Borgo received this terrible summons, they were together at Corte, the capital of the mountainous district. It was not unexpected, and they were both well aware of the consequences of a refusal to obey the commands of the Convention, for the conduct of this inexorable tribunal was that of a victor with whom lenity and forgiveness are unknown. What was to be done? To obey would be to submit at once to the yoke of the territorial unity, which sought to reduce all the various nations comprehended within it to one level. Resistance would, perhaps, be a still more dangerous course, for the French Republic had an army which they would be utterly incapable of withstanding, and it was also supported by a considerable party in Corsica. A few regiments occupied the city of Ajaccio, and a battalion formed the garrison of the fort of Corte and several posts on the sea-coast. Signals announced the arrival of a squadron bearing the tricoloured flag. Under these circumstances, the commissioners of the departments declared themselves a permanent assembly in a meeting of the people of Corte, and the tumultuous _comitia_ of the national party unanimously invited their chief, Paoli, and Pozzo di Borgo, to continue their administration. Finally, they declared _that it was beneath the dignity of the people of Corsica to trouble themselves with the two families of Arena and Buonaparte, and that they should be abandoned to their remorse and to infamy for having deserted the public cause_. I here copy the expressions of the national _consulta_.[17] [17] I saw all these papers, which were printed in 1793, in the hands of Count Pozzo di Borgo; he took pleasure in shewing the curious decree against Napoleon, afterwards the pride and glory of Corsica. The _consulta_ was composed of 1200 deputies. The popular energy, which sways in all instances the first movements in favour of liberty, was here very evident. What steps did they propose taking to maintain themselves in this _improvisé_ independence, as well as to uphold the decrees published by the assembly of Corsica? In the meanwhile fearful intelligence arrived among the mountains: Toulon, hitherto in the occupation of the English, had just fallen into the hands of the French Republic, whose orders Corsica had treated with contempt; and, to crown the whole, a young officer of twenty-six years of age, even the Buonaparte devoted to infamy and remorse by the Corsican council, had taken part in that memorable enterprise, and had been the principal cause of its success. The port of Toulon being now in the hands of the Republic, in thirty-six hours a squadron might arrive, and threaten with entire destruction the companions of Paoli.