"The First Consul was present in a saloon, which was thronged by a crowd of magistrates, officers, state dignitaries, ministers, ambassadors, and strangers of the highest rank, who had been invited to the banquet. He had already seen his brother, and it is easy to imagine the reception he gave us as soon as we had entered the apartment. The moment he perceived me, with a flushed face and in a loud and disdainful voice, he cried out:
"'Well, M. le Cardinal, it is, then, your wish to quarrel! So be it. I have no need of Rome. I will manage for myself. If Henry VIII., without the twentieth part of my power, succeeded in changing the religion of his country, much more shall I be able to do the like. By changing religion in France, I will change it throughout almost the whole of Europe, wherever my power extends. Rome shall look on at her losses; she shall weep over them, but there will be no help for it then. You may be gone; it is the best thing left for you to do. You have wished to quarrel—well, then, be it so, since you have wished it. When do you leave, I say?'"
"After dinner, General", calmly replied the Cardinal.
FOOTNOTE:
[1] Mémoires du Cardinal Consalvi, secrétaire d'Etat du Pape Pio VII., avec un introduction et des notes, par J. Crétineau-Joly. Paris, Henri Plon, Rue Garencière, 8, 1864. 2 vol. 8vo, pagg. 454-488.
(TO BE CONCLUDED IN OUR NEXT.)
ST. BRIGID'S ORPHANAGE.
St. Brigid's Orphanage for Five Hundred Children. Eighth Annual Report. Powell, 10 Essex Bridge, Dublin.
It would be interesting to trace the various arts and devices which have been adopted for the propagation of Protestantism in this country. Its authors certainly never intended to spread it through the world in the way in which the Gospel was introduced by the disciples of our Lord. The apostles gained over unbelievers to the truth by patience, by prayer, by good example, and by the performance of wonderful works. Their spirit was that of charity, their only object was the salvation of souls. So far from being supported by an arm of flesh, all the powers of the earth persecuted them and conspired for their destruction.
But how was Protestantism propagated in Ireland? By acts of parliament fraudulently obtained, by the violence and influence of two most corrupt and unprincipled sovereigns—Henry VIII. and Elizabeth. Under their sway great numbers of Irish Catholics were put to death because they would not renounce the ancient faith; convents and monasteries were suppressed because their inmates were faithful to their vows; the parochial clergy and bishops were persecuted and spoiled, and many put to death, because they adhered to the religion of their fathers, and would not separate themselves from the communion of the Catholic Church, spread over the whole world.