The War Upon Religion / Being an Account of the Rise and Progress of Anti-Christianism in Europe

by Francis A. Cunningham

CARDINAL CONSALVI.

It was shortly after the celebrated Treaty of Tollentino, that the unhappy affair of General Duphot occurred. On December 28, 1797, that officer, while commanding a mob of infuriated soldiery, was fatally shot by one of the Pontifical troops, and although no blame could be placed upon the government of the Pope, nevertheless the assassination was taken up as an excuse for hostility on the part of the French, who descended upon Rome, took possession of the city, and drove Pius VI. into that cruel exile which caused his death. Upon Consalvi especially, because of the position he then occupied in the Department of War, the full anger of the invaders fell. After an imprisonment in the Castel Sant Angels, he was subjected to many humiliating hardships. He was hurried off from Rome to Civita Vecchia with some Cardinals for the purpose of being transported to Cayenne. At Civita Vecchia, however, they were liberated with permission to go where they might choose, except to the Roman States. If found in that territory they were to be punished with death. Consalvi was again taken prisoner and confined in the Castel Sant Angelo. At this time it was determined to inflict a most trying humiliation upon him; he was to be led through the streets of Rome, mounted upon an ass, and beaten by ruffians hired for that purpose. Escaping this indignity through the scruples of a French official, he was sent to Naples. Thence, he was permitted to go to Venice, in which journey he met the Holy Father, Pius VI., then at Florence on the sorrowful way to death. It was while at Venice, that he learned of the death of the Sovereign Pontiff and remaining there took part in the Conclave that elected a successor.

PROPOSALS OF BONAPARTE.

In the meantime affairs in France were gradually assuming an aspect of peace and religious freedom. By the coup d'Etat of the 18 Brumaire. Bonaparte, returning from his Egyptian campaign, overturned the Directory, and effected a new government, December 15, 1799. The new power was to be presided over by a First Consul (Bonaparte) with two colleagues. Subordinate to these were the Senate of eighty members, the Tribunate of one hundred; and a Legislative Assembly of three hundred. The new government by proclaiming Bonaparte First Consul for life made him thereby a dictator, and placed practically the whole powers of the nation in his hands. It was with the glory of his triumphant elevation still fresh within his soul that the young conqueror set out early in the following year for the campaign of Italy. On June 14th, 1800, occurred the decisive victory of Marengo, whereby the French gained in a single day in Italy almost all that they had lost during the course of the last two years. The Austrians driven beyond the Mincio lost the Legations, and were finally forced to accept the Adige as the boundary of their possessions in Northern Italy.

In the midst of his glory the religious sentiment which had ever lain dormant in the heart of Napoleon came to the surface, inspiring him to a course of action which was to have immense importance in the future history of France. His intentions are best summed up in a letter which Cardinal Martiniana, Bishop of Vercelli, sent, at the request of Napoleon, to Pope Pius VII., just then entering the Eternal City after the Conclave of Venice. The contents of this letter are found in another letter sent by Cardinal Maury to Louis XVIII. to inform him of the turn events were then taking in the affairs of Rome and of France:

"The Consul Bonaparte paid a visit to Cardinal Martiniana (at Vercelli). He desired him to go to Rome and announce to the Pope that he wished to make him a present of 30,000,000 French Catholics; that he desired the return of religion to France; that the intruders of the first and second order (the constitutional bishops and priests) were nothing but a parcel of dishonored rascals of whom he was determined to rid himself; that the dioceses were formerly too numerous in France, and that their number ought to be restricted; that he desired to establish an entirely new clergy; that some of the old bishops were almost forgotten in their dioceses where they had hardly ever resided; that many of them had emigrated for no other purpose than to cabal, and that he did not care to have them return; that he would consider in their regard only their dismissal, although he was willing to grant them a proper salary; that, while waiting until he could donate funded property to the clergy, he would assure them of a very honest living, and that the poorest of the bishops should receive 15,000 livres a year; that the exercise of the Pope's spiritual jurisdiction should be carried on freely in France; that the Pope alone should institute the bishops, who should be nominated by whoever should administer the sovereign authority; finally, that he desired to re-establish the Pope in the possession of all his States."

This letter of Cardinal Martiniana was brought to Rome by Count Alciati, nephew of the Bishop of Vercelli, and was presented to the Holy Father shortly after his entrance into the Eternal City.

Very naturally the proposition of the First Consul met with hostility and protest from many quarters, notably from Louis XVIII., and from the old Catholic party under the leadership of the emigrated bishops. Every conceivable objection to such a treaty was placed before the Holy Father in the hope of influencing him to reject the overtures of the French ruler. He was reminded that the First Consul was the same Bonaparte who had imposed upon the Holy See the Treaty of Tollentino with its spoliation of Papal territory, its seizure of 30,000,000 francs, and other like exactions; it was the same Bonaparte who but a short time before had become a Mussulman in order to gain the good graces of the Eastern peoples. Moreover, what real favor might the Pope expect from that French government which he had ignored at the time of his election by neglecting to send to France the notification of that fact, especially when he had taken pains to recognize the rightful authority of Louis XVIII., by including him among the sovereigns to whom letters of greeting were sent upon his accession to the Papal throne? To the great mass of the French Catholic people the Church and the throne were inseparably bound together; they had existed together for fourteen centuries; they had fallen together amidst the horrors of the Revolution, and hence if one was again to rise to its ancient place of power and usefulness it should only be in conjunction with the restoration of the other. Added to this was the personal claim of Louis XVIII., expressed in very decided terms, whereby he declared himself as the only ruler of the French people whom the Holy See should recognize, as he was the only one the Pope had hitherto recognized; hence if the Concordat of 1516, contracted by Leo X. and Francis I., was to be abrogated and supplied by another, this work belonged by right to the successor of that king and not to a usurper. In presenting these and similar objections to the Pope the exiled king had a worthy representative in the person of Cardinal Maury, a man of singular eloquence and of great personal influence, all of which was brought to bear upon the mind of the Holy Father and the members of the Sacred College.

Pope Pius VII., however, regarded the project from a different standpoint. Much as he desired the restoration of the Bourbons and of Louis XVIII. in particular, of whom he had said to Cardinal Maury, "I would give my life to restore His Majesty to the throne," nevertheless the interests of religion appealed more strongly to his heart than the claims of any human affection. The letter of Cardinal Martiniana thus appeared providential in the midst of the difficulties that beset him, and from which neither Austria, Naples, Spain, or any other human power could liberate him. With every reason to expect hostile measures from Bonaparte, he could not but feel relieved by these expressions of cordial good feeling; nor could he help reflecting that this was the first time for many years since a French general had sent to Rome any other message than those of threats and exaction. The proposition of the First Consul opened up before him visions of future peace and prosperity for the universal Church, and seemed like a very answer from heaven to the prayers he had offered up ever since the day of his election. His gratification, therefore was expressed in the letter which he sent in return to Cardinal Martiniana.