"We can certainly receive no more agreeable news than that which is contained in your letter. The overtures it speaks of on the part of the First Consul cause us the greatest consolation, since they promise to bring back so many millions of souls to the fold of Christ, of whom we are the unworthy vicar. We shall regard it as our glory and an honor, and at the same time as something of benefit to the whole world, to behold the re-establishment in France of that most holy religion which has been the source of her happiness for so many centuries. You may say to the First Consul that we lend ourselves willingly to a negotiation whose object is so important.... Your presentation of his ideas gives us a well-founded hope that we shall be able to arrange affairs satisfactorily. However, your penetration must certainly perceive all the difficulties they present in themselves and in their application. But we confide in God's mercy and in His assistance in favor of the Church.... Observing that the First Consul has taken you into his confidence, we gladly accept you as a negotiator counting upon your zeal for the re-establishment of religion. With the object of hastening that result, and reflecting upon the extreme difficulty of explaining by letter affairs so intricate and so delicate, we have resolved to send you as soon as possible a person who has our confidence and who will be able to explain our intentions more easily, and to aid you in the negotiations...."
The person spoken of in this letter of Pope Pius VII., was Mgr. Spina, titular Archbishop of Corinth, a prelate well versed in the study of canon law, of a mild and pious disposition, one who had accompanied the late Pope during his exile and was with him in his last hours, and who had formed some little personal acquaintance with Bonaparte, as the latter was returning to Paris after his campaign in Egypt.
PRELIMINARIES OF THE CONCORDAT.
ARCHBISHOP SPINA.
Mgr. Spina set forth on the way to Vercelli on September 20th, 1800, and after many reverses, being at one time arrested at Modena, he arrived at his destination. It was the understanding of Pius VII. that the negotiations should be opened at Vercelli, or near at hand. The consternation of Mgr. Spina was therefore very great when, on reaching that city, he was confronted with the information that the First Consul had determined to transfer the place of meeting to Paris, a movement inspired no doubt by the twofold reason of making the whole proceeding seem to proceed from the petition of the Pope rather than from his own initiative, as also to prevent the appearance on the part of the French government of "going to Canossa." The Holy Father upon being informed of this new move of the First Consul yielded in the interests of peace, and directed Mgr. Spina to proceed as soon as convenient, in the company of Padre Caselli, General of the Servites, to Paris. The two negotiators arrived in that city on November 5th following.
CARDINAL CASELLI.
Of the two Papal representatives Spina alone was regarded as a negotiator, Father Caselli acting merely in the capacity of a companion, but having no voice in the deliberations. Even Spina himself was limited in his faculties, having no actual power of treating or of affixing his signature to the definitive documents. He was simply a delegate charged with exploring the ground, listening to the propositions, and of suggesting freely, but obliged to send his report to Rome ad audiendum et referendum.
The Papal commissioner was not long left in uncertainty as to the character and intentions of the French officials with whom he had to deal. Of these the most conspicuous were the First Consul himself, Talleyrand, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gregoire, the constitutional Bishop of Nancy, and the Abbe Bernier, the official negotiator in the deliberations.