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

Filippo Antonio Pasquale di Paoli (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.

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.

Flag of the Corsican Republic (1755-1769)

In November 1755 Corsican independence was proclaimed and the Corsican Constitution was created - this was the first constitution written under Enlightenment principles, including the first implementation of female suffrage, later revoked by the French when they took over the island in 1769. 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 Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Voltaire, Raynal, Mably ^[1]. The publication in 1766 of An Account of Corsica by James Boswell made Paoli famous all over Europe. 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.

French invaded Corsica the same year, and for one year 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.

Pascal Paoli was considered by Niccolo Tommaseo, who collected his Lettere (Letters), as one of the precursors of the Italian irredentism.

Monument to Pascal Paoli, the Corsican hero who made Italian the official language of his Corsican Republic in 1755

The "Babbu di a Patria" (father of Corsica), as was nicknamed Pasquale Paoli by the Corsican Italians, wrote in his Letters ^[2] the following message in 1768 against the French invaders: We (Corsicans) are Italians because of birth and feelings, but first of all we feel Italians because of language, roots, traditions and all the Italians are all brothers for History and for God....As Corsicans we do not want to be slaves nor "rebels" and as Italians we have the right to be treated like all the other Italian brothers.... Or we 'll be free or we'll be nothing...Or we'll win or we'll die (against the French) with the arms in our hands...The war against France is holy and right as holy and right is the name of God, and here on our mountains will appear for all Italy the sun of the liberty.. ("Siamo còrsi per nascita e sentimento ma prima di tutto ci sentiamo italiani per lingua, origini, costumi, tradizioni e gli italiani sono tutti fratelli e solidali di fronte alla storia e di fronte a Dio… Come còrsi non vogliamo essere né schiavi né "ribelli" e come italiani abbiamo il diritto di trattare da pari con gli altri fratelli d’Italia… O saremo liberi o non saremo niente… O vinceremo con l’onore o soccomberemo (contro i francesi) con le armi in mano... La guerra con la Francia è giusta e santa come santo e giusto è il nome di Dio, e qui sui nostri monti spunterà per l’Italia il sole della libertà…")

Pasquale Paoli even wanted the Italian language to be the official language of his Corsican Republic. His Corsican Constitution of 1755 was in Italian and was used as a model for the American constitution of 1787. In the city of Corte Paoli founded in 1765 the first University of Corsica (that used the Italian).

After the French revolution Paoli became something of an idol of liberty and democracy. 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 and invited the British Admiral Samuel Hood to take Corsica in the name of the king of England. 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. Paoli was however soon forced to go into exile once more, and Corsica became a French département. He retired to London in 1796, when he obtained a pension.

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".

A literary party at Sir Joshua Reynolds (1781). The painting shows the friends of Reynolds (one is Paoli) - many of whom were members of "The Club" - use cursor to identify.

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
• Paoli, Wisconsin

• Corsican Constitution
• Corsican Italians

• 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.

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

• Association Pascal Paoli
• Pasquale Paoli the Father of the Corsican Nation
• Pasquale Paoli biography
• The Figures of History

• Corsican history:
  • CONSTITUTIONAL PROJECT FOR CORSICA, by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Drafted 1765
  • CORSICA by James Brannan
  • About Corsica
  • Corsica – a national question?

1. ^ http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&vid=ISBN0521845807&id=iv41_FKFfUQC&pg=PA259&lpg=PA259&dq=partitions+of+Poland+absolute+monarchies&vq=Pasquale+Paoli&sig=_gaNILwINF5DvjzaXBXDld8Veek Power and the Nation in European History
2. ^ N. Tommaseo. "Lettere di Pasquale de Paoli" (in Archivio storico italiano, 1st series, vol. XI).