againft it. The court of Verfailles protected
Dolomieu : but his adverfary, excelling him in
the arts of intrigue, had found means to intereft
great perfonages in his own behalf, and pro-
cured powerful recommendations from all quar-
ters. The court of Rome attempted to ftrug-
gle againft fo formidable a party : but even the
friends of the Holy See were of opinion that it
too frequently received appeals from the grand-
mafter, and that by fuch affe6tation of para-
mount authority it only exafperated the govern-
ments which already had caufes of complaint
againft the papacy. The Neapolitan govern-
ment in particular was thereby rendered more
averfe to conciliation.
The pope meanwhile had concluded his vo-
luminous performance, and now condefcended
to communicate it to cardinal Buoncompagni,
who, not having expected that mark of confi-
dence, felt himfelf flattered by it, though he ne-
verthelefs feverely criticifed his holinefs's pro-
duction. " That memorial," faid he to his
friends, " is briftled with quotations, overloaded
" with authorities : the pope has fucceeded in
" rendering it at once tirefomely dull and in-
" conclufive : the king of Naples will never
" take the trouble of perufing it : but he will
" caufe ft to be anfwered with equal prolixity $
" and thus, inftead of remedying the difeafe, we
* : Ihall find that we have only increafed its
" virulence." The memorial, however, without
undergoing any alteration, was difpatched in
February 1789, and produced the effei which
the cardinal had predir.ed.
At the approach of the feftival of the apoftles
Peter and Paul, the epoch of that ceremony of
which the fufpenfion was productive to his holi-
nefs of fo many fleeplefs nights, he wrote to the
king of Naples, in hopes of reviving fome
fcruples in his breaft. Vain attempt ! the pal-
frey did not make his appearance ; and the ffi
cal renewed his proteft, but with yet greater fo-
lemnity than on the preceding occafion ; recall-
ing to memory that the offering of the pious do-
nation was to be made " cum prxfentatione para*
" phreni albi decent er ornati, per ipjum regem vel per
" ejmfpeciakm legation regio characters mtmitum, non
'* alicui miniftro pontificio vel camera apojtolicse, fed
" IPSI ROMANO PONTIFICI, PUBLICE, et cum
" folith Jolemnitatibus, ac in R EC o G N ITI o N E M ME"
" MORATI DOMINII *." Such were the ex-
preffions of the engagement renewed by the king
* With the prefentaticn of a white palfrey decently caJ-
parifoned, by the king himfelf or by his fpecial embaflatlor
veiled with the regal chara&er, not to any of the pope's mi-
nifters or to the Apoftolic Chamber, but to the Roman pcntijf
in per/un, publicly, and with the ufual folemnities, and as an
ent of the cfvrtjaidfwire'ignty.
don Carlos: and who could think of breaking
through a cuftom fo folemnly fanHoned? Yet
the Neapolitan agent continued inflexible : he
depofited the annual tribute in a public bank, as
he had done in 1788 : the fifcal renewed his pro-
teft ; and the agent refufed to receive it.
After a few days, the Neapolitan agent fent
a paquet from his court to the prelate Federici,
one of thofe fubordinate characters who have
acquired the confidence 'of their employer and
who often abufe it. Federici^ who temporarily
fupplied the place of the fecretary of ftate, was
more irritable than the pope himfelf, or had lefs
command of his temper. He refufed to receive
the paquet: it was fent to him a fecond time ;
and a fecond time he refufed to accept it. Pius
was not informed of this repeated breach of ci-
vility until the mifchief was irreparable : the in-
telligence wounded him to the foul. " Perhaps
" he had been made to reject a propofal of ac-
" commodation ! perhaps that paquet contained
" king Ferdinand's anfwer to his memorial !"
Cardinal Spinellii who, fmce the death of Or-
fini, was protector of the crown of Naples at the
court of Rome, happened at this time to be at
Naples. That prelate pofTeffed a good heart,
pure intentions, a native fund of found fenfe,
and refined penetration ; nor could Pius have
chofen a fitter perfon to be his interpreter. Ac-
97
cordingly he commiifioned Spinelli to exculpate
him from the involuntary offence, which was
imputable to Federici alone. But the court of
Naples, confidering itfelf as fuperior to the af-
front, was equally regardlefs of the apology : it
quietly advanced in its predetermined career,
and fpared none either of the fpiritual or tem-
poral ufurpations of the court of Rome.
The duchy of Caflro and Ronciglione, lying
within the territory that was called Saint Pe-
ter's Patrimony, had formerly belonged to the
Farnefe family, and had, under fome frivolous
pretext, been Confifcated by the Apoftolic Cham-
ber. The king of Naples,, who, as heir of the
houfe of Farnefe, continued to bear the title of
that duchy, determined at this period to recover
the properly of his ancestors. This was a new
fource of uneafinefs to the pope in that me-
morable year 1789, when the national aflembly
of France began to give the fignal for thofe
mortal wounds which were to be infli6ted on
the papacy. The other catholic governments
forefaw the approaching evil : they faw with
fecret forrow that the boldnefs of reform would
overftep the bounds which they had wilhed to
reach, and that the phiiofophic audacity of the
French nation threatened the very exiftence of
that fpiritual authority which it might be the
intereft of the temporal fovereigns to modify,
VOL. II, H
-98
butnot totally to overthrow. However power-
ful a monarch may fee.l himfeif by his own
ftrerigth, in critical, moments he wiihes to fave
his auxiliaries : thofe governments, therefore,
were feen to fufpend their hoftili.ti.es againft the
pontificate, without however making any retro-
grade motion. Such' was the conduct of the
Neapolitan court in the year 1789: it did not
furrender its conquefts; but it forbore to add to
their number.
*
In the month of July 1789, the king of Na-
ples at length replied to Pius's long memorial ina
refpetful and affectionate ftyle which announced
a defire of accommodation. But, with regard
to the prefentation of the palfrey, he explained
himfeif in a manner which forbade the pontiff
to entertain any further hope on the fubje6l.
He reverted to the times of the ufurpations and
hoftile invafions of Innocent IV. and Alexander
IV., " days of violence," he faid, " which ought
" never to be remembered without horror. And
" although he himfeif (Ferdinand) had ftill per-
" mitted the prefentation of the palfrey, he had
" not formed any engagement to have that cere-
<c niony accompanied by a numerous cavalcade.,
^ a folemn embafTy, .the roar of artillery, and all
k< the pomp of a triumphal exhibition. Such
ee folemnity was purely voluntary on his part: it
" was equally unbecoming his dignity as uncon-
99
" formable to the holinefs and humility pro-
" fefled by the vifible head of God's church.
" His resolution was taken j nor could any con-
*' fideration induce him to alter it."
The pope accordingly perceived that the de-
cree was irrevocable : the puerile homage of the
palfrey, fo flattering to his vanity, was irreco-
verably loft ; and from his pontificate would
henceforward be dated the difgrace of the tiara.
He was on the eve of fuffering much more fe-
vere loffes ; but none of them more painfully af-
fefbed him than this. Perhaps at this moment
he continues to deplore it within the recefles of
his Carthufian retirement at Florence.
During thefe tranfaftions the marquis Ca-
raccioli died; an event which opened a new
fource of alarms for Pius. In his relations with
the Neapolitan court, all the marks of conde-
fcenfion had proceeded from that minifter, the
meafures of violence from the chevalier A&on,
and the ats of inconfiderate caprice from the
queen. Henceforward therefore he had no
room to expeft the delicacy of tendernefs in the
treatment he was to experience.
But in this idea he was miftaken. In propor-
tion as the French revolution, which threatened
to prove fo fatal to him, was gradually deve-
. loped, the other governments became lefs en-
terprifing. That of Naples, without abandon-
H 2
too
ing its pretenfions to Benevento, to the duchy of
Caftro and Ronciglione, and to the indepen-
dence of its crown, fettled by compromife cer-
tain difficulties relating to difcipline. At the
conclufion of the year 1789 the negotiations
were refumed ; and the following year pro*
duced an accommodation by which the pope
renounced only what he had no hope of reco-
vering. It was agreed that each king of Na-
ples fhould, on his acceffion to the throne, pay
five hundred t'noufand ducats as a pious offering
to Saint Peter ; that the pope mould nominate
to all the letter benefices, but that his choice
ihould be confined to the king's fubjecis ; that,
for the epifcopai fees, he Ihould elect one of
three candidates prefented to him ; that appli-
cation Ihould be made to him for difpenfations
and matrimonial affairs, but that he fliould be
obliged to confirm all the difperifations already
granted by the biihops ; that the prcfentarion
of the palfrey mould be for ever aboliflied, and
that the king of Naples (hould ceafe to be called
vajj'al of the Holy See.
This reconciliation was followed by a vifit of
the king and queen of Naples to the pope dur-
ing Paffion-week of the year 1791. Pius Javiih-
ed on them all his moft affecting fuavity of man-
ner, his rnoft fumptuous difplay of courtly pa :
laue. He exhibited to them the fuperb and
101
ever-novel fpetacle of the girandole fire- work
played off from the caftle of Saint Angelo, and
the illumination of the cupola and colonnade ot
Saint Peter's church. He vifited them at the
Farnefe palace, which belonged to their family.
He offered them a prefent of eatables which
they refufed, and another of mofaics which they
accepted with pleafure. To gratify them, the
ceremony of the anniverfary of Pius's corona-
tion was celebrated two days before its ftated
time. They made their appearance at the prin-
cipal aflcmblies in Rome in the palace of
prince Doria, in that of the conftable Colonna,
at the Villa Borghefe. They in fome meafure
became reconciled with thofe Romans to whom
they and their fubje&s had teftified an inveterate
antipathy ran antipathy which they nourifhed
with food raked even from the annals of ancient
Rome. It is a known fad that the kings of
Naples, to indulge their rancor againft thofe Ro-
mans their detefted neighbours, had place^over
the gates of the caftle of Caferte, reprefentations
of hiftoric events calculated to tarnifli the glory
of their anceftors, fuch as the capture of Rome
by Brennus, the fubjugation at the Furca? Cau-
dinae, &c. But this ftay which the Neapolitan
monarch and his confort made at Rome, the re-
ception which they experienced there, and the
fordial conferences that took place between
H 3
102
them and the pope, confiderably foftened the
afperity of mutual prepofieffions.
From that epoch indeed every circumftance
tended to efTeft an approximation between the
Roman pontiff and tbofe of the European pow-
ers that flood in oppofition to France. At fir ft
Pius lent them his fpiritual aid with what fuc-
cefs, is univerfally known: at length, to his
great misfortune, he determined to add alfo the
afliftance of his temporal arms. After having
long fought againft thofe powers for his own in-,
terefts, he was ruined in fighting under the fame
banners with them in fupport of the common
caufe,
103
CHAPTER XXII.
Pius's Relations with different Powers of Europe
with the United States of America with Poland
the King of Szveden '-the Republic of Venice
.. Portugal the Dukes of ' Modena, Parma, &c.
JLF Pius has, by fome of his fault's, merited a
part of his misfortunes, it muft be owned that he
governed the church at a period when the '
greateft taieiits and the greateft virtues would
have been unable to fcreen it from the ftorms by
which it was aifailed. After the perfevering
efforts of half a centurv, philofophy had made a
progrefs which was truly alarming to every kind
of authority. She could not fail to make con-
verts of thofe men whom their education had
predifpofed to receive her le'flbns, of the worldly
throng whofe paiiions (lie left in many refpecls
unreftrained, and whom Hie emancipated from
the troublefome yoke of confcientious fcruple.
Had Die confined herfelf within thefe bounds,
(he would not have proved a dangerous foe to
that clafs of men who turned to lucrative ac-
count thofe prejudices which me combated,
but (he had faccetfively loweredherfelf to the level'
H 4
104
of the moft vulgar understandings : flie had pene-
trated even into feminaries and cloifters: in every
country fhe had gained fome profelytes around
the throne ; and, in fome, (he had even feated
herfelf upon it. Such was the enemy that Pius
had to combat at the commencement and during
the whole continuance of his pontificate. On
every fide he fuffered her attacks. We have al-
ready feen what he had been obliged to endure
from the emperor, from the emperor's brother
the grand-duke, from the government of Naples,
and even from the ecclefiaflic electors. Spain,
whofe fceptre had during two fucceffive reigns
been fwayed by religious princes, and from
which to the laft moment he received fo many
marks of deference even Spain did not forbear
to give him uneafinefs. The irreconcilable
hatred of the court of Madrid to the Jefuits, its
urgent importunity for the canonifation of the ve-
nerable Palafox, its maxims of government very
nearly approaching to the liberties of the Galli-
c.an church, conftantly flood in oppofuion to the
deareft affe&ions of the pontiff, and to his moft
deeply rooted prejudices. Formerly the Holy
See had. been a kind of facred citadel which kept
the nations in awe, commanded even their fove-
reigns, and menaced them with its formidable
thunders. In latter.times, the reverfe had taken
place } and it was now become as it were the
105
butt againfi. which were directed all the batteries
of the temporal authority. Their artillery al-
lowed not a moment's repofe to the befieged,
\v'no each day faw tumbling in ruin fome part
of thofe ramparts which they had been accuf-
tomed to conlider as inexpugnable. Heretics,
fchifmatics, catholics of every (hade and gra-
dation, bifhops, even devotees, feemed all to
have formed a general league as againft a com-
mon enemy. Its able auxiliaries, the Jefuits,
formerly fcattered in all parts of the univerfe,
vvere now almoft all collected around it : but,
far from adding to its ftrength, they increafed
its dangers by governing it according to the
rules of an antiquated fyftem of tatics, of which
every manoeuvre was watched and defeated.
Almoft all the temporal powers feemed to
have formed the plan, if not of utterly denying,
at leaft of considerably abridging, the fpiritual
jurifdi&ion of the court of Rome : and it were
no difficult talk to enumerate the few excep-
tions to this rule which fome of their number
have furniftied. But it will be matter of no
fmali furprife to find one of thofe exceptions be-
yond the ocean, in a nation young indeed in the
date of her political exiftence, but already old in
wifdom faithfully obfervant of the principles
of univerfal toleration which formed one of the
chief of her fundamental laws acknowledging
no paramount mode of worfhip, but affording
106
protection to all religions whdvfe profeflbrs had
taken refuge within her territories. During two.
centuries North America had been the afylum
of a considerable number of catholics whom per-
fecution had driven from different countries. So
long as thofe refugees had, together with their
adoptive countrymen, continued fubject to the
oppreflive yoke of England, their civil exiftence
had been equivocal and precarious. At length
breathing under a regular and protecting go-
vernment, they determined to fecure the exercife
of their mode of vvorfhip by the nomination of a
biihop. The congrefs, although for the moft
part confiding of philofophers and proteftants,
did not fcruple to at as their interpreter in ap-
plying to the court of Rome*. In 1789 they
alked of the pontiff a bifhop for the catholics of
North America, leaving to the Holy See the per-
petual right of nomination. Pius, who was not
accuilomed to fuch deference even from the ca-
tholic powers, accepted the offer, but did not
make an improper ufe of it. He left to the
members of the catholic cle.rgy the talk of no-
minating their bifliop. in this firft inftance, only
referving to himfelf the privilege of confirming
* That pontifical vanity and policy flioald have magnified
into a folemn aft of congreis feme private application from a
committee of catholics or from their clergy, is quite in cha-
racter : but be it remembered that the congrefs have uniformly
abllalncd from all interference in matters of religion.
107
their choice. The perfon whom they elevated
to the epifcopal chair was John Carroll, who
fixed his fee at Baltimore, and affumed the title
of pope's legate.
The authority of the pontiff was thus making
fome diftant acquifitions, while his loffes were
accumulated clofe around him : and to modern
Rome might have beeii applied what Racine
{aid of the ancient
" O Rome ! thy bitt'reft foes Hand at thy gates."
Accordingly, while the emperor, the grand-
duke of Tufcany, and the king of Naples,
feemed to confpire againft the papacy, it re-
ceived fome confolations, fome indemnifications
from certain ftates of the North. Have we not
feen the great Frederic teftify a regard for the
pontiff; Catherine II. likewife, notwithftanding
the vexations caufed to Pius by her agents, pay
a fort of homage to his fpiritual authority ? But
it was more particularly from Poland that he
more than once received flattering marks of de-
ference.
In 1 775, it had been remarked in this lad-men-
tioned country that the number of holidays was
too great. Application was made to the pope,
who fuppreffcd thirty. Several members of the.
confederation of Bar had leagued themfelves by
oath againft king Staniflaus; and when they
afterward wiQied for a reconciliation with him,
10S
they afked and obtained of Pius an abfolution
from their oath. The whole nation, however,
were not equally well difpofed toward the court
of Rome ; and many of the Poies were heard to
exprefs their wifhes that their country might be
emancipated from thofe fpiritual trammels which
retarded its progrefs in profperity. In lyyS-ap-
peared the plan of a code, digefted by the il-
luflrious Zamoiiiki, propofmg to abridge the ju-
lifdiclion of the pope's nuncio and the immuni-
ties of the clergy to abolifh the pra&ice of ap-
peals to the court of Rome to fubje6l all its
bulls to the king's approbation to eftablifh a
rule that monadic vows could not be pronounced
except by perfons of mature age, &c. But the
hour was not yet come when the torch of reafon
fhould be permitted to difpel the clouds of fu-
perftition from the Poliih Iky : the clergy of that
kingdom arofe in oppofition to thefe innovations:
the pontiff bitterly cenfured them; and the diet
of 17.80, in which the individuals who would
have been affected by them poffeffed a predomi-
nancy, rejected the plan of the intended code.
Its author went to feek an afylum in a -happier
land, where philofophy was not a crime : he
found protection under the \ving of Jofeph II.
Pius did not, during the whole courfe of his
ponti6cate, gain a more complete triumph.
King Staniflaus, enlightened as he was, pro-
cured for the pope fomc other fucceffcs j feeling
109
probably that the church afforded a fupport to
his limited and tottering authority. In 1779,
wifhing to fupprefs a chapter of canons, which
was equally ufelefs as fo many others of the kind,
he applied to the pope for permiilion. A con-
gregation of cardinals examined this momentous
queftion, decided it in the negative, and Sta-
niflaus fubmitted to their decifion.
In 1782, feveral marks of infanity, which had
been difplayed by the too-famous bimop of Cra-
cow, having induced his chapter to caufe him to
be confined, and this meafure having been ap-
proved by the diet, Staniflaus thought proper to
difarm the pope's refentment which might have
been excited by this fuppofed invafion of his
fpiritual authority, and for that purpofe fent to
him a plenipotentiary to juftify the Polifh go-
vernment. Finally, whoever recollects the con-
ciliatory part which Staniflaus took in the thorny
bufmefs refpe&ing the archbilbop of Mohilow,
muft acknowledge that no fovereign among
Pius's contemporaries took greater pains than
he to feek opportunities of alleviating the pon-
tiff's diftrefles.
Another northern potentate, whom difference
of religion as well as the diftance of his domi-
nions might naturally have precluded from, al-
moft all connexion with the pope Guftavus
III., who fought to diftinguim himfelf by every
no
fpccies of fingularity, feemed to affect
marks of regard for the head of a church to
which he did not himfelf belong. In 1781 he
published an edi& favourable to the catholics of
his kingdom, and on this occafion fignified to
Pius that " the ftyle of the edicl: was adapted to
te the conceptions of the Swedifli nation, but
" that the ftatutes were conformable to the
" fpirit of the mildeft toleration."
Two years after this, he perfonally paid
homage to the pontiff whom he had courted
from fuch a diftance. Setting out from Sweden
under the title of the count de Haga, he arrived
on the fecond of November at Pifa, where at this
time the grand-duke refided. Thence he wrote
to the pope a mod affectionate letter, announc-
ing his fpeedy arrival at Rome, and affuring him
that the catholics in his ftatcs enjoyed and ever
fhould continue to enjoy his peculiar protection.
Piranefi, his agent at Rome, experienced a very
cordial reception on delivering that letter to the
pontiff. A northern monarch, a heretical prince,
coming to vifit his holinefs, and loading him
with civilities, while fo many catholic princes
compelled him to fwallow deep draughts from
the bitter cup of infult and indignity ! fuch an
event at once afforded a feaft to his felf-love, and
poured the balm of con fo! at ion into his wounded
bofom. Immediately he difpatched a courier
Ill
who was ordered to meet tile royal traveller on
the frontier of the Ecclefiaftical State, and ac-
.company him to Rome. On a former occafion
\ve mentioned that this courier was deceived by
the emperor, who pafled himfelf for the count de
Haga, and entered Rome under that title. The
illufion continued until the moment when the
pope and the emperor appeared in each other's
prefence. Pius affered to feel only an agree-
able furprife on difcovering his error ; though his
bofom harboured an inward vexation, which he
exerted his utmoft power to conceal., This un-
expected though promifed vifit undoubtedly flat-
tered his vanity : but at the fame time it revived
unpleafing recollections,' and was perhaps an
omen that boded new ftorms. He had nought
but homage to expect from the king of Sweden:
with the inflexible Jofeph he was to have con-
nexions of a different kind ; and the latter en-
joyed with malicious pleafure the ill-difTembled
embarraffment of the pontiff, who, he plainly
faw, would by far have preferred the prefence
of the ft ray fon to that of the rebel.
The real count de Haga clofely followed him
who had furreptitioufly ufurped his name. On
the morrow of his arrival he affifted at divine
fervice celebrated in Saint Peter's church by the
pope himfelf, who profufely laviflied on him
every token of affection. His affable demean-
our immediately gained for him the good-will of
the Romans. He neglected none of thofe
winning arts of conciliation which were fo fami-
liar to him ; and he dextroufly accommodated
them in juft proportion to places and perfons.
Cardinal Antonelli having, as chief of the pro-
paganda, teftified to him his gratitude for the
kind indulgence which he granted to the catho-
lics in his dominions, " If God,'' replied he with
a hypocritic countenance, " prolong my life and
" health, I hope to do much more in their fa-
" vour." With zealous eagernefs he vifited all
the curiofities of Rome, and every-where left in
the minds of thofe with whom he converfed an
advantageous idea of his underftanding, his tafte
for the fine arts, and his refined politenefs. He