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the secret conspiracies instigated by the famous Cardinal Ruffo and Cardinal Zelada, Bonaparte advanced. The army of the Pontiff fled; and Berthier, encamping on the heights of Mount Mario, summoned Pius to surrender Rome, or see it bombarded. He solicited an armistice, and made a present to Berthier of the greater part of the jewels of which, in the days of his prosperity, he had despoiled the Church of Loretto to. adorn his own person; and the curious have lately noticed, among the ornaments of an Italian lady celebrated for her birth, her beauty, her adventures, and, above all, for the passions she inspired even in her old age, the very diamond which for many years had sparkled on the hand of the Pontiff, and shared the adoration of the prostrate multitude, on whom he bestowed his Benedictions. Berthier gave him time to send ambassadors; who went with Azara, the Spanish minister, as mediator to Bonaparte, who granted them peace; and the Pope ceded the three legations of Bologna, Ferrara and Ravenna, with all their territories, together with a part of the Romagna, antiently called Emilia. Bonaparte signed this treaty at Tolentino, from whence he did not advance to triumph at the Capitol; and he who aspired to universal dominion, never beheld the metropolis of the world, though he bestowed its crown on his son while in his cradle. Before the frosts of the North had shown that the genius and power of Napoleon were among the precarious gifts of Fortune, the Italians had flattered themselves that he would one day transfer the seat of empire to Rome, as the only city from whence he could dictate to Europe. Such, however, was not his destiny-and the Capitol is again repeopled with Monks.

The plains of Italy were not only the noblest theatre of Napoleon's military glory, but it was there also that he acquired the reputation of a genius born, not merely to conquer, but to reform and govern nations-a reputation which he began to lose the moment he gave up his right to the awful title of Jacobin Emperor, and allied-himself as a champion of Legitimacy, with those very Prinees whom he had so often humiliated, despised, and deceived. When he conquered Italy, he kindled the flame of liberty in the place of religious fanaticism. He maintained the right of insurrection for the people, that he might be invited to assist in driving from their thrones those Princes who, incapable of defending their subjects, in fact merited their fate. He showed clemency to those who had been induced to revolt against him through the intrigues of the priests and nobles, while he profited by their tumults, by laying impositions on the cities and churches. While the forms of all the new governments which he established were democratical and

constitutional, all his acts were arbitrary, and emanated from himself alone.

The Directory, alarmed at the dictatorial conduct of this General, who made conquests, signed treaties, and regulated governments at his pleasure, sent General Clarke (the Minister of War under Louis XVIII.) as their representative to the army. Bonaparte received him at Montebello, surrounded by his Staff; and, without opening the credentials which Clarke presented to him, he said, General Clarke! if you come here resolved to act, write, and think as I shall order, you are welcome. But if you come to play the spy on me, return instantly from whence you came.

While he deceived the multitude by those democratic theories, which excited their hopes, but which his actions constantly belied, he showed that he secretly leaned towards the side of the rich and the noblesse, by the monarchial pomp which he naintained. The patricians, however, and particularly those of Milan, were never imposed on by his arts; and though they accepted, and sometimes solicited, his favours, they never rendered him any essential service, nor ever testified the slightest gratitude. He ceased to foment discord among the Italian States, as soon as he found those divisions no longer necessary to his views; and he succeeded at last in uniting the interests of six millions of Italians under the same laws;-an enterprise which, till then, had appeared almost impracticable.

While he was still but a General, and engaged in organizing the Cisalpine Republick, many of the most clear-sighted Italians believed that Bonaparte's project then was, to make himself master of a great part of Italy, and govern it as an independent prince, without risking his fortune and fame, by again venturing among the storms of the French Revolution; and the pains which he took to awaken the spirit and military valour of the Italians, certainly gave some colour to that conjecture. However, from the moment of his first victory in Italy to the hour when he signed his abdication at Fontainebleau, he never ceased to keep the new governments of Italy, their laws, and even their opinions, under the direct influence of France. And it is now certain, that if he had not been prevented by his reverses in Russia, he would have incorporated the kingdom of Italy, as he had already done the Roman territory, among the departments of the empire.

The changes which now took place in Italy, were such as no imagination could conceive. Venice, which had obtained peace as a sovereign power, by a public treaty signed by Bonaparte, was, after fourteen centuries of independence, made over to Austria by a secret treaty, signed at the

same time by the same individual. The revolts set on foot by the Jesuits, ceased in Lombardy the moment it was formed into a Republic. But the Pope was unable to restrain them in Rome; and some Cardinals, by opposing treason to treason, only provoked and hurried on that revolution they wished to avoid. La Reveilliere Lepaux, one of the members of the French Directory, seriously believed, that, if the Popedom were once destroyed, he would easily establish his favourite Deism throughout Europe! And his colleagues, desirous of keeping their armies at a distance from France, appeared to favour his religious views. The Directory sent emissaries to Rome, to tamper with some patricians who were known to be irritated against the priests; and money and arms were distributed among the malcontents. In the mean time, the police, without the knowledge of the Pope, raised a tumult, for the purpose of massacring the French and the conspirators. The French general Duphot, who was believed to be the chief of the Revolutionists, was killed by some of the Pope's soldiers. This was the signal for the populace to fall on the French and the Revolutionists. Joseph Bonaparte, at that time ambassador, escaped with difficulty. But the result is easily foreseen.-Military possession was taken of Rome-all negociation was in vain-and Pius was one night seized in his bed, forced into a carriage along with a prelate, a senator, and a servant, and was thus, at the age of 80, and in the 23d year of his pontificate, conducted out of his territories to die in the midst of a ferocious soldiery. On beholding the tricolor flag waving over the Capitol, he said with a sigh, This is the anniversary of the day on which I was raised to the Chair of St Peter. I have before had similar warnings from Heaven, to think seriously and weep bitterly over my errors, which have hastened the ruin of my people.

It is not our intention to trace the changes that took place in Rome, and in the Church, after the exile of Pius VI. We shall only remark, that the Ecclesiastical government, which, if it had not been for the Revolution, would have been obliged to declare itself bankrupt, finds itself at present almost free from debt, and in possession of a great revenue. The ingenious contrivances by which this has been effected, deserve notice. The French, whose main object was to collect money sufficient to pay their great armies, increased the issues of paper to the amount of thirty-six millions of piasters, (8 millions Sterling), which they received in payment of their contributions, and immediately exchanged for specie, at a loss. In a few months this paper money fell into total discredit; the French withthrew it from circulation; declared a bankruptcy; and im

puted the whole to the preceding administration of Pius VI. They then issued a new paper in assignats, down to the value of five sous; but the successes of the Allies obliging them to quit Italy for a whole year, this new paper fell of itself.

As to the public debt, the successor of Pius only paid to the holders two-fifths of the interest at 3 per cent.; and Napoleon, on uniting Rome to the French empire, would only recognise as capital that part on which interest had been paidthus cunningly getting rid of three-fifths of the debt. But the matter did not end here; for, soon after, a decree was issued, that those stockholders, like the other creditors of the empire, should receive 6 per cent.; and all that was exacted in return for this munificence, was the reduction of one half of their capital;-of course only one-fifth remained due of the sums actually deposited in the bank of the Pontiff. And Pius VII., on returning to Rome in 1814, not only found the public debt nearly extinguished, and the paper replaced by gold and silver, but the taxes augmented tenfold; and, in place of diminishing them, his ministers have since employed every expedient for their increase. The family of the reigning Pope, however, has not participated in this prosperity, for he has had the virtue to leave them in their original poverty: while individuals, who had been mere money dealers, have risen to the rank of Dukes. The ambition of aggrandizing one's relations, seems, after all, more pardonable than that carelessness which leaves the revenues of the State at the mercy of upstarts: and in spite of all that has been said against nepotism, what would Rome be at this day without the great families established by the former Pontiffs? It is believed that a portion of the revenue raised by the Government is annually sent to Vienna, in fulfilment of a secret article in the treaty which restored to the Church the three legations of Bologna, Ferrara, and Ravenna. But no prince who purchases his territories can ever possess them in safety. The garrison of Ferrara is Austrian.

The Romans now regret Pius VI., not merely because they are discontented with their present condition, but also because, with all his faults, Pius VI. really had virtues; and because the people always love those princes who are prodigal of the public money, and who exercise their despotism for the humiliation of the great. He displayed great magnanimity when he was dragged from his dominions. On his arrival at Sienna, an earthquake threatened the ruin of the city; and, instead of taking advantage of this event as directed against his impious oppressors, he attributed it to his own wrongs towards God; and issued a bull, in which, after releasing his subjects from their

oath of allegiance, he recommended docility and submission to the laws of Providence, and to the new Government. He was conducted to the Convent of the Chartreuse, near Florence, where, through the mediation of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, he was for some time permitted to remain:-But he was not destined long to enjoy this repose. The French Directory, pursuing its career of injustice and invasion, in a few months wrested his dominions from the Grand Duke, and conducted Pius, like a criminal, into France. He was carried through the most populous cities of Italy in open day; but his presence excited neither alarm, nor anger, nor even curiosity;-and the inhabitants of Bologna, where the enthusiasm of liberty pervaded all classes, and who had long been oppressed by his ministers, looked quietly on; and when the Pontiff bestowed his benediction through the glasses of his carriage, prostrated themselves with devotion before the Chief of their religion. They seemed to have forgotten, that he whom they now saw before them, was the very Sovereign whom they had so much detested, and against whom they had so lately risen in arms. No one made a movement to insult him; and no one breathed a sigh for his fate. The Directory, however, fearing the effect of his presence among the French, did not permit him to proceed beyond Mont Cenis, and shut him up in the fortress of Briançon: But the advance of the Allies in Piedmont, soon forced him into a new prison; and he was lodged in the citadel of Valance, where he endured many privations, which he bore without a murmur. A young man, the Count de Labrador, who accompanied him as Commissioner of the King of Spain, exerted himself for the relief of the dying Pontiff; and a French lady had the courage to bestow on him the cares and consolations which were necessary in one so worn down by age, infirmity, and solitude. But the vicinity of Valance to Avignon, which before the Revolution had belonged to the Holy See, roused afresh the suspicions of the Directory; and they ordered Pius to be transported to Dijon. This was a severe blow; but on being ordered to quit his pontifical habit, he sum moned all his courage. He had always worn it; and requesting to be carried in his chair, in full canonicals, before the French Commissioners, he said—I am ready to follow you: I have forgotten that I was one of the Monarchs of the earth; but the ministry to which Providence has called me, ought not to finish but when I shall have rendered up my account to my Eternal Judge. -His legs had been swelled for some weeks; and the fear that he might die during the journey, induced them to yield to the remonstrances of De Labrador against his removal.