Saint Angelo. It contained also a note which Alquier was to present to the Cardinal Secretary of State as soon as he learned that the French troops were at the gates of Rome. This document stated that the general's mission was to seize the Neapolitan brigands who had taken refuge in Rome, and to insist that all the other Neapolitans should at once return to Naples. The Emperor hoped that His Holiness would order the Neapolitan Cardinals to leave also for Naples within forty-eight hours, to take the oath to their sovereign, as otherwise he would look upon them as being the protectors of the brigands. The agents of England who disturb Italy must also be arrested, and General Miollis is not to leave until Rome has been purged of all the enemies of France. Alquier was also informed that the Emperor had no desire to take anything away from the Pope, but he wished to exercise in the Papal States the same influence as in Naples, Spain, Bavaria and the States of the Federation. If, however, the Court of Rome were to commit any more imprudent acts, it would lose its temporal power forever. The conduct of the Pope would decide what steps should be taken. Alquier was also instructed to prevent the circulation of any printed matter of a nature hostile to France; he was to tell the Governor of Rome and the head of the police that they should answer with their lives for the slightest insult offered to a Frenchman. By some lines written in cipher he was told that the Emperor's intention was to accustom the Roman people and the French troops to live together, so that if the Court of Rome continued to act in the same insane fashion, it should cease to exist as a temporal power by slow degrees and without any one being aware of it. The Emperor concluded by asserting that although he wished to leave matters in statu quo and to avoid making a disturbance, yet if the Pope were to publish a bull he would immediately issue a decree to revoke the donation of Charlemagne and unite the States of the Church to the Kingdom of Italy. 22 M. Alquier, the French Ambassador, had been a member of the convention and had voted for the death of Louis XVI., but, like his predecessor, M. Cacault, his stay in Rome had rendered him somewhat less of a revolutionist and inspired him with friendly feelings towards the Pope, whose defense he often ventured to take against Napoleon. He was ashamed to present to the Holy Father a letter containing such brutal and insolent expressions, and was in consequence recalled shortly afterwards by the Emperor. 23 It is, how 22 Correspondance, t. XVI., No. 13,477. A M. de Champagny, Ministre des relations extérieures. Paris, 22 Janvier, 1808. 28 Lettres inédites de Napoléon I. publiées par Léon Lecestre. Paris, 1897, t. I., No. 227. Au Prince Eugène Napoléon, Vice-roi d'Italie. Paris, 17 Fevrier, 1808. Rinieri, op. cit., p. 412. 1 ever, a fact that on January 29 he assured Cardinal Casoni that the troops of General Miollis would pass through the Papal States without stopping, and gave him a copy of their line of march, which he had received from the general, though from the Emperor's letter he must have known that his statement was false and that the marches beyond Rome indicated in the general's itinerary were not to be made.24 Pius VII. had at first intended to order the gates of Rome to be closed, so that the French troops should be obliged to take possession of the city by force and thereby openly declare their hostile intentions; but, yielding to the prayers of the Cardinals, he at last consented to offer no resistance. The entry of the army of General Miollis into Rome, the seizure of the Castle of St. Angelo and the threatening display of artillery in front of the palace of the Quirinal have been described in the preceding number of the REVIEW. As in the case of the other attacks on the possessions of the Church, the Holy Father could offer no other defense than the publication of a protest against the invasion of Rome. His sacred duties, he said, and the dictates of his conscience would not allow him to agree to the demands of the French Government, and he was therefore obliged to submit to the disastrous consequences with which he had been threatened and to the military occupation of his capital. Resigned, however, to the inscrutable judgments of the Almighty, in all humility he placed his cause in the hands of God, and wishing to fulfill the obligations imposed on him of defending his sovereign rights, he had commanded his Minister to protest in his name and in that of his successors against the occupation of his States. He then, as Vicar upon earth of the God of peace, who by His Divine example taught us meekness and patience, appealed to his subjects, who had given him so many proofs of obedience, to remain calm and not to be guilty of any offense against any member of a nation from which he had received so many proofs of devotion and affection during his journey to Paris and while he dwelt there. 25 The Holy Father consented to grant an audience to General Miollis on the day of his arrival in Rome. On seeing him the Pope said to him: "General, your cannons have not frightened us," and dismissed him after a short conversation. Cardinal Doria-Pamphili, who had succeeded Cardinal Casoni as Secretary of State, then addressed to Alquier in the name of the Pope an indignant denial of the calumnious accusations made by the Emperor against the Papal Government of connivance with the Neapolitan brigands and of intriguing against France with the agents of foreign powers. He added that as long as Rome should be occupied by foreign troops His Holiness would consider himself as a prisoner and would refuse to open any negotiation until they had been withdrawn from his capital. 26 24 Relation de ce qui s'est passé à Rome dans l'envahissement des États du Saint Siége par les Français. Pièces officielles et authentiques. A Londres, 1812, t. I., p. 13. Alquier à Casoni, 29 Janvier, 1808. "J'ai l'honneur de transmettre à Votre Eminence la copie de l'intinéraire qui sera suive par deux colonnes de troupes, formant 6,000 hommes; les quelles doivent, sans s'arrêter, traverser l'état Romain. Rinieri, op. cit., p. 411. According to this document, they were to have been at Albano, a day's march beyond Rome, on the 4th February. 25 Cantù, op. cit., p. 341. General Miollis soon began to act as though in a conquered city and to suppress by force every expression of disapprobation of the Emperor's proceedings. On February 17 Padre Lucchesi, of the order of St. Augustine and rector of the church of that name, whose sermons on the Macchabees had apparently displeased the French, was arrested and transferred from one fortress to another until he was finally banished to the island of Piombino. He was the first of a large number of priests who incurred Napoleon's anger and who underwent deportation or imprisonment while the imperial government held possession of Rome. 27 In the beginning of March the general caused the post office to be seized for the purpose of preventing any communication with the rest of Europe, and by means of the treachery of a Swiss officer, Lieutenant Colonel Baron de Fries, who deceived the soldiers under his command as to the Holy Father's intentions, the Papal troops were incorporated in the French army. Colonels Bracci and Cotti and the other officers who remained faithful to the Pope were imprisoned in the Castle of St. Angelo and then exiled.28 In order to isolate the Pope still more by depriving him of the assistance of the Sacred College, the Neapolitan Cardinals were ordered by General Miollis, on February 27, to leave Rome within twenty-four hours for Naples, and as the Pope forbade them to obey they were arrested and led to the frontier by French soldiers.29 26 Relation, etc., t. I., p. 61. Cardinal Giuseppe Doria-Pamphili à M. Alquier. Du Palais du Quirinal, 25 Février, 1808. 27 In his letter to Prince Eugene of January 23, 1808, Napoleon had ordered that after February 2 all couriers carrying the mails should be searched. The letters for Vienna, France and Germany should be put aside; those for the Kingdom of Italy should be read and thrown into the fire if they contained any insult to France. If they contained any imprudent act on the part of the Pope, they shall be allowed to pass a few days later, after withdrawing all bulls, briefs, forms of prayer or other writings composed with the object of exciting the people. - Lettres inédites, t. I., No. 213. Au Prince Eugéne Napoléon, Vice-roi d'Italie. Paris, 23 Janvier, 1808. 28 Rinieri, op. cit., p. 426. 20 Rinieri, op. cit., p. 429. They were Cardinals Saluzzo, Pignatelli, RuffoScilla and Caracciolo, and p. 434. At Gaeta they were asked to take the oath to Joseph Bonaparte, and as they refused, the King ordered them to be set free at Terracina, whence the Emperor ordered Cardinal Ruffo to be brought to Paris and the other Cardinals to be sent to Bologna. The expulsion of the Neapolitan Cardinals was soon followed by that of sixteen others belonging to various parts of Italy, who were commanded to leave Rome within three days. They refused to comply, and with the exception of a few, who were too infirm to travel, they were seized and escorted to their respective destinations. ३० According to the instructions of the Emperor, General Miollis tried to establish friendly relations between the Romans and their French conquerors by keeping open house at the Palazzo Doria on a scale of considerable splendor. A word of disapprobation from the Holy Father soon recalled to a sense of their duty the Romans who had accepted the general's hospitality, and with the exception of three or four nobles whose liberal opinions were already well known, they ceased to appear at his receptions. 31 The general then caused the anniversary of the Pope's election (March 14) to be celebrated by salvos of artillery from the Castle of St. Angelo, for which he was severely rebuked by the Emperor. He was told that since the Pope conducted himself so badly towards him, he should return ill usage for ill usage. He should keep his troops well in hand and put down the slightest disturbance with grape shot. 32 General Miollis faithfully obeyed the Emperor's instructions and lost no opportunity of offering fresh insults to the Holy Father. On April 7 a detachment of French soldiers appeared at the gates of the Quirinal. The Swiss sentinel on guard refused to admit them, but told the officer in command that he might enter alone. The officer, therefore, halted his men a few steps away, but as soon as he crossed the threshold he called them up. They pushed forward, disarmed the Swiss and entered the palace. They then broke open the doors of two armories and took away the carbines carried by the noble guard and the other soldiers while on duty in the antichambers. At the same time other detachments of French troops arrested in their palaces about forty members of the noble guard and imprisoned them in the Castle of St. Angelo.33 30 He was to be allowed 15,000 francs ($3,000) a month, besides a gift of 90,000 francs ($18,000) from the proceeds of the sale of the English merchandise seized in Tuscany. - Lettres inédites, t. I., Nos. 232 and 234. Au Prince Eugéne. Paris, 18 and 28 Février, 1808. 31 Louis Madelin, La Rome de Napoléon. La domination Française à Rome de 1809 à 1814. Paris, 1906, pp. 182, 185. 32 Lettres inédites, t. I., No. 255. Au Prince Eugène Napoléon, Vice-roi d'Italie. Saint Cloud, 27 Mars, 1808. "Qu'à la moindre émeute, ill la réprime avec la mitraille." 33 Cantù, op. cit., p. 354. Protest addressed by Cardinal Gabrielli to the foreign Ministers in Rome, 7th April, 1808. P. 356, Letter from Sig. Alberti, representative of the Kingdom of Italy, to Sig. Testi, Minister of Foreign Affairs, 8th April, 1808. |