Page:The Revolt of the Angels v2.djvu/18

 had transmitted to him as a sacred heritage. Compelled to oppose a Jacobin and atheistical Republic, he still called himself Republican. And it was in the name of liberty that he demanded the independence and sovereignty of the Church.

During the long debates on the Separation and the quarrels over the Inventories, the synods of the bishops and the assemblies of the faithful were held in his house. While the most authoritatively accredited leaders of the Catholic party: prelates, generals, senators, deputies, journalists, were met together in the big green and every soul present turned towards Rome with a tender submission or enforced obedience; while Monsieur d’Esparvieu, his elbow on the marble  opposed civil law to canon law, and protested eloquently against the spoliation of the Church of France, two faces of other days, immobile and speechless, looked down on the modern crowd; on the right of the  painted by David, was Romain Bussart, a  at Esparvieu in  and drill trousers, with a  air not untouched with cunning. He had good reason to smile: the worthy man laid the foundation of the family fortunes when he bought Church lands. On the left, painted by Gérard in bedizened with orders, was the peasant’s son, Baron Emile Bussart d’Esparvieu, prefect under the Empire, Keeper of the Great