Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 10.djvu/760

 NAPOLEON

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NAPOLEON

Soc, but which were shut in by tlic Kingdom of Naples.

VicMing before the emperor's wrath, Consalvi re- signeii his office: Pius VII unwillingly accepted his resignation, and replaced him with Cardinal Casoni. But the first dispatch written by Casoni under Pius VII's dictation eonlirmcd the pope's resistance to the emperor's behests. Xapoleon then violently apostro- phizixl Cajjrara, in the presence of the whole court, threatening to dismember the Pontifical States, if Pius VII did not at once, "without ambiguity or reservation", declare himself his ally (1 July, ls;0(>). A like ultimatum was delivered, on 8 July, to Cardinal Casoni by Alquier. But Continental affairs were claiming Napoleon's attention, and the only itnraedi- ale result of his ultimatum was the em|)enir's order to his generals occupying Ancona and Civil il Vccchia, to seize the pontitieal revenues in those two cities. On the other hand, the constitution of the Imperial University (May, 1806), preparing for a state monop- oly of teacliinp, loomed up as a peril to the Church's right of teaching, and gave the Holy See another cause for uneasiness.

The Confederation of the Rhine, formed by Napo- leon out of fourteen German States (12 July, 1806), and his assertion of a protectorate over the same, re- sulted in Francis II's abdication of the title of em- peror of Germany; in its place Francis took the title of emperor of Austria. Thus ended, under the blows dealt it by Napoleon, that Holy Roman Germanic Empire which had exerted so great an influence over Christianity in the Middle Ages. The pope and the German emperor had long been considered as sharing between them the government of the world in the name of God. Napoleon had definitively annihilated one of these "two halves of God", as Victor Hugo has termed them. Frederick William II of Prussia became alarmed, and in October, 1806, formed, with England and Russia, the Fourth Coalition. The stunning vic- tories of Auerstadt, won by Davoust, and Jena, won by Napoleon (14 October, 1806), were followed by the entry of the French into Berlin, the King of Prussia's flight to Konigsberg, and the erection of the Electorate of Sa.xony into a kingdom in alliance with Napoleon. From Berlin itself Najjoleon launched a decree (21 November, 1806) by which he organized the Conti- nental blockade against England, aiming to close the whole Continent against English commerce. Then, in 1807, penetrating into Russia, he induced the tsar by means of the battles of Eyiau (8 February, 1807) and Friedland (14 June, 1807), to sign the Peace of Tilsit (8 July, 1807). The empire was at its apogee; Prussia had been bereft of its Polish provinces, given to the King of Saxony under the name of the Grand- Duchy of Warsaw; the Kingdom of WestphaUa was being formed for Jerome Bonaparte, completing the series of kingdoms given since 1800 to the emperor's brothers — Naples having been assigned to Joseph, and Holland to Louis. A series of principalities and duch- ies, "great fiefs", created all over Europe for his marshals, augmented the might and prestige of the empire. At home, the emperor's personal power was becoming more and more firmly established; the supervision of the press more rigorous; summary in- carcerations more freciuent. He created an heredi- tary nobihty as an ornament to the throne.

To him it was sorncthiiig of a humiliation, that the Court of Rome persisted in holding aloof, poHtically, from the great conflicts of the nations. He began to summon the pope anew. He had already, .soon after Jena, called Mgr Arezzo to him from Saxony, and in menacing fashion had bidden him go and demand of Pius VII that he should become the ally of the em- pire; once more Pius VIl had replied to .\rezzo that the pope could not consider the enemies of France his enemies. Napoleon also accused the pope of hinder- ing the ecclesiastical reorganization of Germany, and

of not making provision for the dioceses of Venetia. His grievances were nuiltiplying. On 22 July, 1807, he wrote to Prince Fiigene, who governed Milan as his viceroy, a letter intended to be shown to the pope: "There were kings before there were popes", it ran. " Any pope who denounced me to Christendom would cease to be pope in my eyes; I would look upon him as Antichrist. I would cut my peoples off from all com- munication with Rome. Does the pope take me for Louis the Pious? What the Court of Rome .seeks is tli<' disorder of the Church, not the good of religion. I will iiol fear to gather the Galilean, Italian, German and I'oli.sh Churches in a council to transact my busi- ness l/ioiir faire mes affaires] without any pope, and protect my peoples against the priests of Rome. This is the last time that I will enter into any discussion with the Roman priest-rabble [la pretraille romaine]". On 9 August Napoleon wrote again to Prince Eugene, that, if the pope did anything imprudent, it would af- ford excellent grounds for taking the Roman States away from him. Pius VII, driven to bay, sent Car- dinal Litta to Paris to treat with Napoleon: the pope was willing to join the Continental blockade, and sus- pend all intercourse with the English, but not to de- clare war against them. The pope even wrote to Na- poleon (11 September, 1S07) inviting him to come to Rome. The emperor, however, was only seeking oc- casion for a rupture, while the pope was seeking the last possible means of pacification.

Napoleon refused to treat with Cardinal Litta, and demanded that Pius VII should be represented by a Frenchman, Cardinal de Bayanne. Then he pre- tended that Bayanne's powers from the pope were not sufficient. And while the pope was negotiating with him in good faith. Napoleon, without warning, caused the four pontifical Provinces of Macerata, Spoleto, Urbino, and Foligno to be occupied by General Le- marrois (October, 1807). Pius VII then revoked Car- dinal Bayanne's powers. It was evident that, not only did Napoleon require of him an offensive aUiance against England, but that the emperor's pretensions, and those of his new minister of foreign affairs, Cham- pagny, Talleyrand's successor, were now beginning to encroach upon the domain of religion. Napoleon claimed that one third of the cardinals should belong to the French Empire; and Champagny let it be un- derstood that the emperor would soon demand that the Holy See should respect the "Galilean Liberties", and should abstain from "any act containing positive clauses or reservations calculated to alarm con- sciences and spread divisions in His Majesty's domin- ions". Henceforth it was the spiritual authority that Napoleon aspired to control. Pius VII ordered Bayanne to reject the imperial demands. Napoleon then (January, 1808) decided that Prince Eugene and King Joseph should place troops at the disposition of General MiolUs, who was ordered to march on Rome. Miollis at first pretended to be covering the rear of the Neapolitan army, then he suddenly threw 10,000 troops into Rome (2 P>bruary). Napoleon wrote to Champagny that it was necessary "to accustom the people of Rome and the French troops to live side by side, so that, should the Court of Rome continue to act in an insensate way, it might insensibly cease to exist as a temporal power, without anyone noticing the change". Thus it may be said that, in the begin- ning of 1808, Napoleon's plan was to keep Rome.

In a manifesto to the Christian powers, Pius VII protested against this invasion; at the same time, he consented to receive General IVIiollis and treated him with great courtesy. Champagny, on 3 February, again insisted on the pope's lieconiing the political ally of Napoleon, and Pius \ll Tifiiscd. The instructions

given to Miollis bei-.-unr i c severe e\cry day: he

seized printing prcs.-ics, journals, jiost olliccs; he deci- mated the Sacred College by having .seven cardinals conducted to the frontier, because Napoleon accused