Paris, 22 Nivose An. (January 11, 1798.)
Quickness will be of supreme importance in your march upon Rome; it alone can assure the success of the operation. The moment that you have sufficient troops at Ancona you will take up the march.
You will strive secretly for a union of all the surrounding districts with that city, such as the Duchy of Urbino and the province of Macerata.
You will not make known your intentions against the Pope until your troops are at Macerata. You will say very briefly that the reason for your marching on Rome is to punish the assassins of General Duphot and all those who have dared to be wanting in the respect which is due to the ambassador of France.
The King of Naples will send his ministers to you, and you will say that the executive Directory is not influenced in this affair by any designs of ambition; that, on the contrary, if the French Republic was so generous as to restrain itself at Tollentino when it had still graver reasons for complaint against Rome, it will not be impossible, if the Pope gives satisfaction agreeable to our Government, to arrange this affair.
In the meantime, while making such proposals, you will continue on your way by forced marches. The art of the whole matter will consist in gaining ground, so that when the King of Naples becomes convinced that you are actually headed for Rome, he will not have the time to prevent it.
When you are two days' journey from Rome, you will menace the Pope and all the members of his government, who have rendered themselves culpable of the greatest of crimes, in order to inspire them with fear and cause them to take flight.
The plans of Bonaparte were carried out successfully. On February 10th, 1798, the French troops entered Rome by the Porta Angelica, and the Pontifical garrison was obliged to evacuate Castle San Angelo. On February 15th, a Calvinist named Haller brought to the Pope the final orders of the Directory, announcing his overthrow. French soldiers immediately replaced the Pontifical guards of the Papal palace, while one of Berthier's generals, Cervoni, had the effrontery to present to the Pope the tri-color cockade, which the Holy Father refused, saying, "I know no other uniform than that with which the Church has honored me." It was the beginning of the end.
NAPOLEON IN COUNCIL OF 500.
The commissioner Haller was now delegated to announce to the Pope that he must leave Rome. The Holy Father protested: "I am hardly convalescent, and I cannot abandon my people or my duty; I wish to die here."—"You can die anywhere," answered the brutal messenger. "If the ways of gentleness cannot persuade you to go, we shall employ rigorous means to compel you."
Pius VI. left alone with his servants, appeared for the first time overcome with sadness. He entered his oratory, and after imploring the aid of the Almighty; re-appeared in a few moments. "It is God's will," he said calmly, "let us prepare to accept all His Providence has in store for us."
On February 20th, the commissioner, on entering the apartment, found the Pope prostrate at the foot of the crucifix. "Make haste!" he cried, and pushing his august prisoner before him he compelled him to descend the stairs with undue hurry, nor did he leave him until he had entered the carriage waiting at the gate. A detachment of dragoons, which accompanied the carriage, served to hold in check the crowds that had gathered in the hope of following in the footsteps of their sovereign.
It was the intention of the Directory to deport the Holy Pontiff to the island of Sardinia; but it abandoned this design in the fear that the English might attempt his deliverance. At Sienna, the Pope was lodged in the Augustinian monastery, where he remained three months, when an extraordinary event compelled his departure thence. On May 25th, an earthquake destroyed the building, and the Holy Father had only time to quit his room when the floor collapsed. In June he arrived at Florence, where he remained for ten months, a prisoner, indeed, but yet enjoying many comforts from the company of congenial souls who were permitted to offer their words of sympathy. Among such were the Grand Duke of Tuscany and the King and Queen of Sardinia, the latter being a sister of Louis XVI., Maria Clotilda, besides numbers of the poor who craved a blessing from his hands.
In the meantime the Directory found it a very difficult matter to dispose of its august prisoner. In its fear and cruelty it strove to induce the Grand Duke to drive the Pope out of his dominions, to which demand the noble sovereign answered that as he had not brought the Pope to Tuscany it was not for him to drive the Holy Father away. This generous resistance was immediately punished by the invasion of Etruria.
In the beginning of the year 1799 the Russian and Austrian armies were already menacing Italy; the Directory thereupon found it expedient to transfer their illustrious captive to France. Hence, on April 1st, despite the paralysis of one of his limbs, he was hurried away to Parma, where he could rest only a few days. On the thirteenth the journey was again taken up, although the physicians protested the great danger of proceeding while the Pope remained in so feeble a condition. The commissioner, upon learning the opinions of the physicians, entered the apartment of the Pontiff, and there dragging the coverings from the bed, inspected the limbs, examined the ulcers that had collected, and proclaimed brutally: "The Pope must go on, dead or alive."