RETURN OF SAMPIERO--STEPHEN DORIA.
Sampiero was coldly received at the French court; the courtiers
whispered, avoided him, sneered at him from behind their virtuous mask.
Sampiero was not the man to be dismayed by courtiers, nor was the court
of Catherine de Medici a tribunal before which the fearful deed of one
of the most remarkable men of his time could be tried. Catherine and
Henry II. forgot that Sampiero had murdered his wife, but they would
do no more for Corsica than willingly look on while it was freed by the
exertions of others.
Now that he had done all that was possible as a diplomatist, and saw no
prospect of foreign aid, Sampiero fell back upon himself, and resolved
to trust to his own and his people's energies. He accordingly wrote
to his friends in Corsica that he would come to free his country or
die. "It lies with us now," he said, "to make a last effort to attain
the happiness and glory of complete freedom. We have applied to the
cabinets of France, of Navarre, and of Constantinople; but if we do
not take up arms till the day when the aid of France or Tuscany shall
be with us in the fight, there is a long period of oppression yet in
store for our country. And at any rate, would a national independence
obtained with the assistance of foreigners be a prize worth contending
for? Did the Greeks seek help of their neighbours to rescue their
independence from the yoke of the Persians? The Italian Republics are
recent examples of what the strong will of a people can do, combined
with the love of country. Doria could free his native city from the
oppression of a tyrannous aristocracy; shall we forbear to rise till
the soldiers of the King of Navarre come to fight in our ranks?"
On the 12th of June 1564, Sampiero landed in the Gulf of Valinco, with
a band of twenty Corsicans, and five-and-twenty Frenchmen. He sank the
galley which had brought him. When he was asked why he had done so, and
where he would find refuge if the Genoese were now suddenly to attack
him, he answered, "In my sword!" He assaulted the castle of Istria
with this handful of men, took it, and marched rapidly upon Corte. The
Genoese drew out to meet him before the walls of the town, with a much
superior force, as Sampiero had still not above a hundred men. But such
was the terror inspired by his mere name, that he no sooner appeared in
sight than they fled without drawing sword. Corte opened its gates, and
Sampiero had thus gained one important position. The Terra del Commune
immediately made common cause with him.
Sampiero now advanced on Vescovato, the richest district of the
island, on the slopes of the mountains where they sink towards the
beautiful plain of Mariana. The people of Vescovato assembled at
his approach, alarmed for the safety of their harvest, which was
threatened by this new storm of war. They were urgently counselled by
the Archdeacon Filippini, the Corsican historian, to remain neutral,
and take no notice of Sampiero, whatever he might do. When Sampiero
entered Vescovato, he found it ominously quiet, and the people all
within their houses; at last, yielding to curiosity or sympathy, they
came out. Sampiero spoke to them, accusing them, as he justly might,
of a want of patriotism. His words made a deep impression. Offers of
entertainment in some of their houses were made; but Sampiero punished
the inhabitants of Vescovato with his contempt, and passed the night in
the open air.
The place became nevertheless the scene of a bloody battle. Nicolas
Negri led his Genoese against it, as a position held by Sampiero. It
was a murderous struggle; the more so that as the number engaged on
both sides was comparatively small, it was mainly a series of single
combats. Corsicans, too, were here fighting against Corsicans--for
a company of the islanders had remained in the service of Genoa.
These fell back, however, when Sampiero upbraided them for fighting
against their country. Victory was inclining to the side of Genoa--for
Bruschino, one of the bravest of the Corsican captains, had fallen,
when Sampiero, rallying his men for one last effort, succeeded in
finally repulsing the Genoese, who fled in disorder towards Bastia.
The victory of Vescovato brought new additions to the forces of
Sampiero, and another at Caccia, in which Nicolas Negri was among the
killed, spread the insurrection through the whole interior. Sampiero
now hoped to be assisted in earnest by Tuscany, and even by the Turks;
for in winning battle after battle over the Spaniards and Genoese, with
such inconsiderable means at his command, he had shown what Corsican
patriotism might do if it were supported.
On the death of Negri, the Genoese without delay despatched their
best general to the island, in the person of Stephen Doria, whose
bravery, skill, and unscrupulous severity rendered him worthy of
the name. He was at the head of a force of four thousand German and
Italian mercenaries. The war broke out, therefore, with fresh fury.
The Corsicans suffered some reverses; but the Genoese, weakened by
important defeats, were once more thrown back upon Bastia. Doria had
made an attack on Bastelica, Sampiero's birthplace, had laid it in
ashes, and made the patriot's house level with the ground. Houses
and property were little to the man whose own hand had sacrificed
his wife to his country; noticeable, however, is this Genoese policy
of constantly bringing the patriotism of the Corsicans into tragic
conflict with their personal affections. What they tried in vain with
Sampiero, succeeded with Campocasso--a man of unusual heroism, of an
influential family of old Caporali. His mother had been seized and
placed in confinement. Her son did not hesitate a moment--he threw away
his sword, and hastened into the Genoese camp to save his mother from
the torture. He left it again when they proposed to him to become the
murderer of Sampiero, and remained quiet at home. Powerful friends were
becoming fewer and fewer round Sampiero; now that Bruschino had fallen,
Campocasso gone over to the enemy, and the brave Napoleon of Santa
Lucia, the first of his name who distinguished himself as a military
leader, had suffered a severe defeat.
If the whole hatred of the Corsicans and Genoese could be put into two
words, these two are Sampiero and Doria. Both names, suggestive of the
deadliest personal feud, at the same time completely represent their
respective nationalities. Stephen Doria exceeded all his predecessors
in cruelty. He had sworn to annihilate the Corsican people. His openly
expressed opinions are these:--"When the Athenians became masters of
the principal town in Melos, after it had held out for seven months,
they put all the inhabitants above fourteen years of age to death, and
sent a colony to people the place anew, and keep it in obedience. Why
do we not imitate this example? Is it because the Corsicans deserve
punishment less than those ancient rebels? The Athenians saw in these
terrible chastisements the means of conquering the Peloponnese, the
whole of Greece, Africa, and Sicily. By putting all their enemies to
the sword, they restored the reputation and terror of their arms. It
will be said that this procedure is contrary to the law of nations,
to humanity, to the progress of civilisation. What does it matter,
provided we only make ourselves feared?--that is all I ask. I care
more for what Genoa says than for the judgment of posterity, which has
no terrors for me. This empty word posterity checks none but the weak
and irresolute. Our interest is to extend on every side the circle of
conquered country, and to take from the insurgents everything that
can support a war. Now, I see but two ways of doing this--first,
by destroying the crops, and secondly, by burning the villages, and
pulling down the towers in which they fortify themselves when they dare
not venture into the field."
The advice of Doria sufficiently shows how fierce the Genoese hatred of
this indomitable people had become, and indicates but too plainly the
unspeakable miseries the Corsicans had to endure. Stephen Doria laid
half the island desolate with fire and sword; and Sampiero was still
unconquered. The Corsican patriot had held an assembly of the people
in Bozio to strengthen the general cause by the adoption of suitable
measures, to regulate anew the council of the Dodici and the other
popular magistracies, and to organize, if possible, an insurrection of
the entire people. Sampiero was not a mere soldier, he was a far-seeing
statesman. He wished to give his country, with its independence, a
free republican constitution, founded on the ancient enactments of
Sambucuccio of Alando. He wished to draw, from the situation of the
island, from its forests and its products in general, such advantages
as might enable it to become a naval power; he wished to make Corsica,
in alliance with France, powerful and formidable, as Rhodes and Tyre
had once been. Sampiero did not aim at the title of Count of Corsica;
he was the first who was called Father of his country. The times of the
seigniors were past.
He sent messengers to the continental courts, particularly to
France, asking assistance; but the Corsicans were left to their fate.
Antonio Padovano returned from France empty-handed; he only brought
Sampiero's young son Alfonso, ten thousand dollars in money, and
thirteen standards with the inscription--_Pugna pro patria_. This
was, nevertheless, enough to raise the spirits of the Corsicans; and
the standards, which Sampiero divided among the captains, became the
occasion of envy and dangerous heartburnings.
Here are two letters of Sampiero's.
To Catherine of France.--"Our affairs have hitherto been prosperous.
I can assure your Majesty, that unless the enemy had received both
secret and open help from the Catholic King of Spain, at first
twenty-two galleys and four ships, with a great number of Spaniards,
we should have reduced them to such extremity, that by this time they
would have been no longer able to maintain a footing in the island.
Nevertheless, and come what will, we will never abandon the resolution
we have taken, to die sooner than acknowledge in any way whatever the
supremacy of the Republic. I pray of your Majesty, therefore, in these
circumstances, not to forget my devotion to your person, and that of my
country to France. If his Catholic Majesty shows himself so friendly to
the Genoese, who are, even without him, so formidable to us--a people
forsaken by all the world--will your Majesty suffer us to be destroyed
by our cruel foes?"
To the Duke of Parma.--"Although we should become tributary to the
Ottoman Porte, and thus run the risk of offending all the Princes
of Christendom, nevertheless this is our unalterable resolution--A
hundred times rather the Turks than the supremacy of the Republic.
France herself has not respected the treaty, which, as they said, was
to be the guarantee of our rights and the end of our miseries. If I
take the liberty of troubling you with the affairs of the island, it
is that your Highness may, if need be, take our part at the court of
Rome against the attacks of our enemies. I desire that my words may at
least remain a solemn protest against the indifference of the Catholic
Princes, and an appeal to the Divine justice."