Pozzo di Borgo

Pozzo di Borgo, CARLO ANDREA, COUNT, was born near Ajaccio in Corsica, 8th March 1764, and was educated at the university of Pisa. An advocate in Ajaccio, in 1790 he joined Paoli (q.v.), becoming thenceforth the enemy instead of the friend of Bonaparte. Paoli made him president of the Corsican council of state in 1794, and subsequently secretary of state; but in 1796 he was obliged to seek safety from the Bonapartes in London. Two years later he went to Vienna and effected an alliance of Austria and Russia against France. In 1803 he entered the Russian service as a councillor of state, and was employed in many important diplomatic missions. After the battle of Jena he laboured to unite Napoleon's enemies against him, and again in 1809 and 1812. He also effected the seduction of Bernadotte, crown-prince of Sweden, from the Napoleonic cause; and after the allies had driven Napoleon across the Rhine, Pozzo di Borgo drew up the famous declaration, 'that the allies made war not on France, but on Napoleon.' It was he who urged the allies to march on Paris. He represented Russia at Paris and the Congress of Vienna, at the Congress of Verona, and in London, but retired from public life in 1839, and settled in Paris, where he died, 15th February 1842. See Notice Biographique by Vuhrer (Paris, 1842).