NAPOLEON BONAPARTE by descent, both paternal and

maternal, and by birth, was a Corsican.

The mountainous but not unfruitful island of Corsica, which for some time previously had been subjected and occupied by the Saracens, or Arabs, from the neighbouring coasts of Barbary, was conquered by the great and warlike Republic of Genoa in the early part of the eleventh century, or about fifty years before the conquest of England by the Normans. The Mussulmans were exterminated

or expelled; the rude native islanders, originally settlers from the coast of Italy, were somewhat civilized; churches were erected; a Christian bishop was sent from Rome to reside among them; and, although turbulent by nature, the Corsicans rather quietly submitted to the Genoese for more than 500 years. The island received an Italian civilization, long the highest and best in Europe; but this did not penetrate into the interior, which remained, down to our own days, in a semi-barbarous condition. Towards the close of the sixteenth century the greatness of Genoa began rapidly to decline, and from that period the Corsicans were never tranquil. One rebellion or insurrection succeeded another, the object of all being to expel the Genoese, and turn the island into an independent state. In 1736 the Corsicans in arms elected for their king the noted Theodore, a poor German adventurer, who finished his career as a prisoner for debt in the King's Bench, London. Theodore's reign was very short (he had to fly for his life from those who had voted him a crown), but the war against the Genoese continued with great fierceness and cruelty on both sides; and when it was terminated, in the year 1740, it was through the powerful aid given by the French to the Genoese. From this time the French were more masters of the island than were those who had applied to them for assistance; but their authority was almost confined within the narrow limits of the coasts, and the forts, towers, and castles, which had been built by the old Italian Republic. In the mountains, and in the forests of the interior, the native population held out for independence; every man was armed, the women often fought like men, and the French sustained not a few surprises and reverses. It was as savage a war as ever raged in the mountains of Catalonia, Calabria, or Albania. As a general rule, no quarter was allowed to the Genoese. In the year 1755, the Corsicans elected to the supreme command of their forces the celebrated Pascal Paoli, afterwards the intimate associate and friend of Dr. Johnson, Oliver Goldsmith, Sir Joshua Reynolds, and all that constellation of ability and genius which shed a lustre over England in the early part of the reign of George III. Though only a private citizen, Paoli might have been king by name, as he was for a considerable time in fact. Under him the islanders gained