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Rh expected quarter. "A great law-lord"—it was Mansfield—"being then in Paris declared at one of the Minister's tables that the English Ministry was too weak, and the nation too wise, to enter into a war for the sake of Corsica." In a moment everything was changed. "It is astonishing," wrote Rochfort to Shelburne, "how since Count Châtelet's arrival the language of everybody is changed, as he has made it his particular business to set it about that we shall not engage in war on account of their expedition." Chauvelin at once started for Corsica, followed by a formidable army.

Grafton now devised a scheme of his own. It was to send surreptitious assistance to the Corsicans. "Many thousand stand of arms were to be furnished from the stock in the Tower, yet so as to give no indication that they were sent from Government." The scheme combined every possible disadvantage. It excited and justified the hostility of the French, for secrecy in such a case was impossible. As a means of assisting the Corsicans it was ineffectual and ridiculous. Shelburne opposed it. He distrusted Paoli because of his previous intrigues with France, which he feared might be renewed if the help given by England were not open and real. If a modified help only was to be given it should be by the recognition of Corsica as a belligerent; but in reality the moment for a vigorous policy had gone by, as Grafton himself acknowledged. The Cabinet, "much vexed" at the opposition of Shelburne, took the scheme out of his hands, and without his consent they despatched Captain Dunant, a Genevese, on a mission to Corsica. Soon after this decision the report of Mr. Stewart arrived. Its picturesque description of the island, and of Paoli himself, may be compared with the contemporary description from the pen of Boswell.