Page:History of Freedom.djvu/192

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ESSA YS ON LIBERTY

of his palace. 1 The old spirit was decaying fast in France, and the superb indignation of Bossuet fairly expresses the general opinion of his time. Two works were published on the medals of the Popes, by a French and an Italian writer. The Frenchman awkwardly palliates, the conduct of Gregory XIII.; the Italian heartily defends it. 2 In Italy it was still dangerous ground. Muratori shrinks from pronouncing on the question,S while Cienfuegos, a Jesuit whom his Order esteemed one of the most distinguished Cardinals of the day, judges that Charles IX. died too soon for his fame. 4 Tempesti, who lived under the enlightened rule of Benedict XIV., accuses Catherine of having arrested the slaughter, in order that some cause should remain to create a demand for her counsels. 5 The German Jesuit Biner and the Papal historian Piatti, just a century ago, are among the last downright apologists. 6 Then there was a change. A time came when the Catholics, having long relied on force, were compelled to appeal to opinion. That which had been defiantly acknowledged and defended required to be ingeni.ously eXplained away. The same motive which had justified the murder now prompted the lie. Men shrank from the conviction that the rulers and restorers of their Church had been murderers and abetters of murder, and that so much infamy had been coupled \vith so much zeal. They feared to say that the most monstrous of crimes had been solemnly approved at Rome, lest they should devote the Papacy to the execration of mankind. A swarm of facts were invented to meet the difficulty: The victims were insignificant in number; they were slain for no reason

1 Germain to Bretagne, Rome, Dec. 24, 1685; Valery, Cornsp, de ltfabillon r i. 192, 2 Du 1\101inet, His!. S. Pont, per Numismata, 1679, 93 ; Buorranni, Numismata Pontijicum, i. 336, 3 Annali d'ltalia ad ann, 1572, 4 Si huviera respirado mas tiernpo, huviera dado a entender al mundo, que avia Rey en la Francia, y Dios en Israel (Vida de S, Francisco De Borja, 446).
 * > Vita di Sisto V" i, 119.

6 Quo dernum res evaderent, si Regibus non esset integrum, in rebelles, sub- ditos, quietisque publicae turbatores animadvertere? (Apþaratus Erudition is, vii, 503; Piatti, Storia de' Pontc.fici XI., p, 27 1 ).