However, Paoli eventually split from the revolutionary movement over the issue of the execution of King Louis XVI and threw in his lot with the royalist party.

Accused of treason by the French National Convention, he summoned a consulta (assembly) at Corte in 1793, with himself as president, at which Corsica's formal secession from France was declared.

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.

[2] With Spain coming in on the side of the French, the British realised their position in the Mediterranean was precarious and withdrew their forces from the island by October.

The Crown invited Paoli to resign and return to exile in Britain with a pension, which, having no alternative, he was forced to do, joining the British in their retreat from the island.