Buonaparte happened at that time (1793) to have leave of absence from
his regiment, and to be in Corsica on a visit to his mother. He had
fitted up a little reading-room at the top of the house as the quietest
part of it, and was spending his mornings in study, and his evenings
among his family and old acquaintance, when the arrival of the
expedition threw the island into convulsion. Paoli, who knew him well,
did all he could to enlist him in his cause; he used, among other
flatteries, to clap him on the back, and tell him he was "one of
Plutarch's men." But Napoleon had satisfied himself that Corsica was too
small a country to maintain independence,--that she must fall under the
rule either of France or England; and that her interests would be best
served by adhering to the former. He therefore resisted all Paoli's
offers, and tendered his sword to the service of Salicetti. He was
appointed provisionally to the command of a battalion of National
Guards; and the first military service on which he was employed was the
reduction of a small fortress, called the Torre di Capitello, near
Ajaccio. He took it, but was soon besieged in it, and he and his
garrison, after a gallant defence, and living for some time on
horseflesh, were glad to evacuate the tower, and escape to the sea. The
English government now began to reinforce Paoli, and the cause of the
French party seemed for the moment to be desperate. The Buonapartes were
banished from Corsica, and their mother and sisters took refuge first at
Nice, and afterwards at Marseilles, where for some time they suffered
all the inconveniences of exile and poverty. Napoleon rejoined his
regiment. He had chosen France for his country; and seems, in truth, to
have preserved little or no affection for his native soil.

After arriving at supreme power, he bestowed one small fountain on
Ajaccio; and succeeded, by the death of a relation, to a petty olive
garden near that town. In the sequel of his history the name of Corsica