as an inconsiderable band of malecontents, as a disorderly troop of rebels, who would speedily be compelled to resume those chains which they had frowardly shaken off. They have however continued steady to their purpose. Providence has favoured them; and Europe now turns her eyes upon them, and with astonishment sees them on the eve of emancipating themselves for ever from a foreign yoke, and becoming a free and independent people.
Libertas quae fera tamen respexit
Respexit tamen et longo post tempore venit.
When a long age of vent'rous toil was past,
Celestial freedom blest their isle at last.
The smallness of the Corsican state does not render it less an object of admiration. On the contrary, we ought to admire it the more. The ingenious Mr. Hume[1] hath shewn us, that Rhodes, Thebes, and many of the famous ancient states were not so numerous as the people of Corsica now are. If the ten thousand Greeks have gained immortal honour, because they were opposed to the armies of the Persian monarch, Shall not the Corsicans be found deserving of glory, who have let themselves against a republick, which
- ↑ Essay on the populousness of ancient nations.
