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 DREAM OF BONAPARTE. 
 
 A NAPOLEONIC STUDY. 
 
 WILLIAM POLAND, S. J., 
 ft 
 
 Saint Louts University. 
 
 SAINT LOUIS: 
 5. HERDER, 17 S. Broadway 
 
 O . K Qn^^ 
 
Copyright, 1897, 
 By WILLIAM POLAND. 
 
 - .' 8 
 
 
 Little & Becker Press. 
 
THE 
 
 DREAM OF BONAPARTE. 
 
 HE question of "Pope and Emperor" has 
 always been a favorite one with those 
 who have professed to write the philo- 
 sophical commentary upon the events of Christian 
 history. The reason for this attraction is not hard 
 to find. In all the conflicts which the Popes have 
 had to sustain against the aggressions of civil 
 rulers, the principles at stake are always clearly 
 defined and of deep moment. In each conflict, the 
 opening, progress and conclusion of the storm 
 stand out, as it were, in great serial illustrations that 
 offer to the philosophical historian material which 
 he cannot find elsewhere in human records. The 
 forecast of the storm, namely, the wilful variations 
 of men from the laws which should guide their 
 motives; the overcast sky; the distant rumbling of 
 the powers of darkness; the crash; the opening 
 of the flood-gates, and the pouring down of the 
 torrents of human passion; the passing of the 
 tempest, borne away by its own momentum; stars 
 that herald the morn, gleaming through the rifts; 
 and then — sunshine for a season over those whom 
 the storm has been able only to purify: this is 
 the history of the struggle between the Popes and 
 the Emperors — emperors of Rome, emperors of 
 
4 TJie Dream of Bonaparte. 
 
 Constantinople, emperors of Germany, emperors 
 of France. They have all passed away with their 
 dynasties: the Pope remains. 
 
 The outline of every chapter is substantially 
 the same, from the day when St. Peter entered the 
 Mamertine, or, if you wish, from the time when 
 St. Melchiades emerged from the catacombs^ to 
 the hour when Pius IX. retired to the Vatican. We 
 shall follow, here, in more or less detail, a chapter 
 which is of present interest; which embraces events 
 now distant enough to be called history; and 
 which will exhibit to us, in contrast and in conflict, 
 the meekest man of his age and the most pov/erful 
 and most warlike emperor of all the ages, Pope 
 Pius VII. and Napoleon Bonaparte. 
 
 Napoleon Bonaparte was born in the island of 
 Corsica. The date most generally accepted as 
 that of his birth is the fifteenth of August, 1769. 
 When in his tenth year, he was sent to the 
 military school of Brienne. He was transferred 
 thence, at the age of fifteen, to the school in 
 Paris. In the course of two years he received his 
 first commission, as sub-lieutenant of artillery. 
 Shortly after, he was raised to the rank of lieu- 
 tenant ; and in 1792 we find him captain of 
 artillery at the age of twenty-three. He was 
 present in Paris at that memorable scene, June 
 20th, 1792, when the mob forced poor Louis XVI. 
 to appear, at the windov/, in the red bonnet of the 
 revolution. Bonaparte remarked, at the time, that 
 the King could have settled the whole matter with 
 a little grape-shot. In September of the next year, 
 
TJie Dream of Bonaparte. 5 
 
 1793, he was ordered down to the Mediterranean. 
 The fortified city of Toulon was in the hands of 
 the English and Spanish. The young captain 
 began to study the situation; and, after a month 
 of investigation, he presented to the council of 
 war a plan for the reduction of the city. The plan 
 was accepted ; and he himself was entrusted with 
 the execution of it. He carried it out successfully. 
 After the capitulation, General Dugommier wrote to 
 the Committee of Safety, the existing government, 
 that it would be well to reward this young man and 
 to promote him — or he would promote himself. 
 As governments were following, one the other, like 
 winds, the Committee of Safety, consulting its own 
 safety, appointed Bonaparte brigadier-general of 
 artillery, on February 6th, 1794. At this time he 
 wanted two weeks of being twenty-four years and 
 six months of age. On September 15th of the next 
 year, 1795, his name was stricken from the list of 
 officers in service, because he refused a post to 
 which he was assigned. Here, then, in Paris, 
 twenty-six years of age, idle, waiting to find or to 
 make an opportunity which he might choose to think 
 fit for his abilities, stood this very small man whom 
 we have been made to look upon as the colossus 
 of these recent centuries. We are, as yet, hardly far 
 enough away from him to get the true effects, the 
 prominences and the depressions of his character 
 and of his genius : and the analysis of his entangled 
 career as a factor in modern history, is still an intri- 
 cate and vexing task, because society is now widely 
 influenced by pernicious influences which he found 
 
6 The Dream of Bonaparte. 
 
 local, and which he controlled by turning them 
 loose upon the rest of the world as it stood in 
 opposition. The story of his life is a strange epic: 
 and the literature of his life forms a library, by 
 itself. 
 
 When Bonaparte was leaving the school, at 
 Paris, the illustrious mathematician, Monge, one of 
 his professors, gave this report of him: 
 
 "Reserved and studious — -prefers study to 
 amusement — likes to read good authors. . . De- 
 voted to abstract sciences — does not care for the 
 others — thorough in mathematics and geography. 
 Silent — loves solitude. . . Capricious — 
 haughty — strong bent to egoism. . . Speaks 
 little — energetic in his answers — quick and severe in 
 reply. . . Much self love. . . Ambitious — 
 aspires to everything. . . . . . This young 
 
 man is worth being protected." 
 
 This egoism, already so marked in the young 
 man, grew with the development of his genius and 
 the manifestation of his power. We are anticipat- 
 ing ; but it is as well for us to have here some outline 
 that may serve in the way of frontispiece. In 
 Bonaparte the ego, self, is everything. ■ Over-con- 
 scious of his superb genius, he is simply monumental 
 in his impudence. Of himself he said, "I am 
 something different from the rest of the world. I 
 accept conditions from no man." 
 
 As we look at the great figure of Bonaparte, 
 what we see everywhere is genius ; but it is genius 
 that has declared its own emancipation from the 
 guiding restraint of moral principle. His memory 
 
The Dream of Bonaparte. 7 
 
 was marvelous in every respect: for the extent of 
 its range; for the tenacity v^ith which it held to 
 what it had once taken in; for the exactness with 
 which it could reproduce the fact needed; for the 
 submissiveness with which it allowed itself to be 
 turned from one exercise to another. Constructive 
 imagination, which I would venture to put down as 
 the most highly developed of his gifts, spread out 
 the vast stores of his memory as a great map over 
 which the higher power, the intellect, soared; and 
 his action was swift and sure, like the swoop of the 
 eagle on its' prey. Pride sometimes made him err, 
 when imagination had built up worlds upon too 
 grand a scale. But he had the artist's gift pre- 
 eminent. How did he give this gift its outlet? In 
 the terrible art of war. What masterpiece did he 
 leave? The fair face of Europe bleeding. 
 
 His body was as restless as his mind. Mr. 
 Campbell, the English commissary, who was sent 
 with him to Elba, wrote: "Yesterday, after a walk 
 under the hot sun from five o'clock in the morning 
 until three o'clock in the afternoon, and after having 
 visited the frigates and the transports, he went out 
 on horseback for three hours— to untire himself, he 
 said." 
 
 As the greatest mihtary artist, he certainly stands 
 apart. He has made a height for himself. There is 
 but one, perhaps, who can see his summit — Han- 
 nibal. 
 
 Was he an organizer and an administrator, with- 
 al? He was careful to attend, when possible, all the 
 sessions of the Council of State; and he supervised 
 
8 The Dream of Bonaparte. 
 
 and directed all the details of its work. When 
 Consul, he said of the old officials, "I am older, as 
 an administrator, than they are." In fact, he had 
 been managing the most unmanageable portion of 
 the French nation in personally-conducted tours to 
 every country of Europe, as well as to Asia and 
 Africa. Yet, ambition always goes with him, as a 
 universal blight. He never wins to cultivate, but 
 only to create a stepping-stone to further glory. He 
 might have established the blessings of permanent 
 peace, with all Europe to applaud him. He had it 
 in his power to give to the nations a peace-Constitu- 
 tion which would, perhaps, have served them to this 
 day. But, instead, he preferred to play the part of 
 the politico-military gambler, the hero of gigantic 
 throws, always on the look-out for a chance of risk- 
 ing all to gain more. And thus, in the end, the 
 herculean energies of his genius are usually found 
 concentrated upon the production of some chef 
 d'oevre of war; and when this is finished, and he 
 has sated his ambition and love of adulation with his 
 uses of it, his fancy is again busy projecting pan- 
 oramas still more splendid, which will, eventuall}^ 
 have to be executed in the blood of unoffending 
 peoples. 
 
 With the artistic and poetic and nervous temper- 
 ament, of course he was an orator; and his speeches 
 to his armies were always bristling with eloquence. 
 His writings are oratorical, because they are dic- 
 tated. He eventually lost all command of the pen 
 and could not read his own writing. His spelling 
 was defective. Pen work was too slow for him. His 
 
The Dream of Bonaparte. 9 
 
 private secretaries had to use a kind of short-hand. 
 Madame de Remusat, tells us that he dictated whilst 
 walking rapidly to and fro ; and that, when he was 
 animated, his language was mixed with violent impre- 
 cations and even with oaths which the secretaries 
 suppressed and which, adds the same, gave the 
 secretaries time to catch up with him. 
 
 But this is picture enough. We left him in 
 Paris, in 1795, at the age of twenty-six, without a 
 commission. His ambition was moving him to go off 
 to the Orient to organize the artillery of the Sultan. 
 But something presented itself in two or three 
 weeks. A moderate party rose, in Paris, against the 
 actual government of the Convention (which had 
 just passed its eight thousand three hundred laws) 
 and bid fair to defeat the Convention in the new 
 usurpation by which the latter demanded two-thirds 
 of the seats, in the coming elections, for its own 
 members who were holding office. The Conven- 
 tion, terrified, called in Bonaparte. Whilst others 
 were discussing, he had his cannon around the 
 Tuileries ; and on the morrow he leaped from his 
 disgrace to the command of the army of the interior. 
 But now, having risen to command, he found no 
 outlet-for his activity, at home. So, in the next year, 
 1796, at the age of twenty-seven, he obtained com- 
 mand in Italy. He put his foot in the stirrup and 
 everything went like lightning. He called together 
 his generals, and laid down the plan of campaign; 
 then, falling sudden like the rapid flashes of the 
 thunder-cloud, he cut to pieces, crushed, routed the 
 enemy, Sardinians and Austrians, — and captured as 
 
lo TJie Dream of Bonaparte. 
 
 many troops as he himself had set out with. Every 
 stroke was a victory — Turin, Savoy, Nice, Milan, all. 
 Lombardy, Lonato, Castiglione, Bassano, Areola, 
 Rivoli. At thirty-one leagues from Vienna, acting 
 as supreme ruler, he dictated his treaty to the 
 Emperor ; established three Republics ; and, then, 
 retired to private life, just one year from the time 
 he had entered on command. In the next year, 
 1798, being tired of rest he was commissioned to 
 Egypt. On the way, he entered Malta as a guest of 
 the Knights and pillaged their churches and muse- 
 ums. Then he was off to Africa, to Asia. Calling 
 himiself the '^favorite of Allah,'' he played Mameluke 
 under the shadow of the Pyramids ; and, next. 
 Crusader, under the walls of Acre, in Palestine. 
 But, hearing that France was again in anarchy, he 
 eluded the vigilance of the British fleet that was 
 patrolling the Mediterranean, and, stepping into the 
 council chamber of the Directory at Paris, coolly 
 stated that he had come to give the Republic a more 
 fitting Constitution. "Down with the tyrant," they 
 cried, "outlaw the dictator!" and his grenadiers 
 hurried him away in their arms. He was still 
 standing in the street, speaking to Sieyes about the 
 unfortunate result, when his brother Lucien, presi- 
 dent of the Assembly, came to tell him that they 
 were going to outlaw him. "Why," said Sieyes, 
 "turn them out." So he turned them out; took the 
 title of First Consul; opened France to the Ref- 
 ugees ; abolished the pagan rites and festivals of the 
 Revolution ; and restored the freedom of Catholic 
 worship. 
 
TJie Dream of Bonaparte 
 
 II 
 
 Pope Pius VI. had just died of ill-treatment at 
 Valence (Aug. 28, 1799), having been dragged by 
 the Directorjr, for a long year, through the towns of 
 Italy and France. In the year 1800, thirty-five car- 
 dinals met on the island of St. George, in Venice, 
 and gave to Pius VI. a successor, in the person of 
 Barnabas Chiaramonti, who took the name of Pius 
 VII. Pius VII. announced his accession to the 
 Bishops of the Church, just when Napoleon was 
 scahng the Alps. The First Consul fell hke an ava- 
 lanche into the plains of Lombardy; and whilst the 
 world was still thrilhng with the story of Marengo, 
 he had a Te Deum sung in the great Cathedral of 
 Milan. Was it here, in the midst of this magnificent 
 ceremony, as the vaults of the great temple threw 
 back the echoed voices of the thousands who had 
 come at his bidding to pour forth the hymn of 
 thanksgiving, was it here that he conceived the idea 
 — entered on the day-dream — which we shall now 
 trace through the fourteen years during which he 
 kept all Europe at the point of his sword — the idea 
 of ruling not the mere bodies but the consciences of 
 men? "They keep the soul for themselves," said 
 he, later, oi the priests, "and they throw me the 
 carcass." 
 
 He had arranged to treat with the Papal Com- 
 missioner, at Turin. But now, student of effect, he 
 must have a Papal Envoy extraordinary, coming to 
 Paris, standing in the crowd, and seeking audience 
 of the First Consul at the Tuileries. So he broke 
 up the arrangement and went away to his Capital. 
 Cardinal Spina was then sent to Paris to settle the 
 
12 TJie Dream of Bonaparte. 
 
 basis of a Concordat between Rome and the Repub- 
 lic, for the re-establishment of religion. Spina 
 found Napoleon surrounded by such men as Talley- 
 rand, ex-Bishop of Autun, and the best leaven of 
 Gallicanism — which, briefly, means religious insub- 
 ordination. Spina could do nothing, and had to 
 return to Rome. Then, Napoleon sent his own 
 envoy to Rome. The envoy was instructed to treat 
 v/ith the Pope as if he were the commander of two 
 hundred thousand men; and to finish the matter in 
 five days. The demands were inadmissible; and 
 Cardinal Consalvi was, at once, dispatched to Paris, 
 — Consalvi, Minister of Pius VI., Prime Minister of 
 Pius VII., the "Roman Siren," the master of hearts. 
 What a conquest, what a morsel for the First Consul! 
 Tired after his journey of fifteen days the Cardinal 
 was called upon to present himself. It was a jour 
 de parade.^ one of those magnificent levees which 
 Napoleon held every fortnight. The Cardinal was 
 led up through the glittering assemblage. Bonaparte 
 addressed him: "I know why you have come to 
 France. Let the conferences begin at once. I give 
 you five days. If the business is not ended in that 
 time, you must return to Rome. I have made up 
 my mind as to what is to be done in such event." 
 Consalvi drew the five days out to twenty-seven. 
 The Concordat, drawn up by him and the Consul's 
 Commissioners, was sent to Napoleon, and sent back 
 to be signed by Consalvi and the Commissioners. 
 Consalvi claimed the right of signing first, for the 
 Pontiff; and as the parchment was unrolled, lo ! his 
 rapid eye discovered that Napoleon had caused to be 
 
The Dream of Bonaparte. 13 
 
 copied out the rejected plan, and had, besides, 
 charged it with inadmissible points. Consalvi re- 
 fused to sign this Consular forgery. Bonaparte was 
 mated. But it had been announced that the^ 
 Concordat was to be proclaimed, next day, at a 
 dinner of more than three hundred covers. It was 
 four o'clock in the afternoon. The Commissioners 
 and Consalvi were determined not to be found want- 
 ing in good will. So they set to work again; and, 
 laboring without intermission, had produced a new 
 document by one o'clock the next afternoon. From 
 this document was omitted one point which Bona- 
 parte insisted upon, and which the Pope had previously 
 refused to grant, at Rome. Consalvi declared that 
 it could not be inserted without the formal consent 
 of the Pope. Joseph Bonaparte carried a copy of 
 the new proposals to his brother. But, before two 
 o'clock, he was back again, telling the Commission 
 that the First Consul was in a rage, and had torn the 
 paper into a hundred pieces ; that he demanded the 
 insertion of the article or the breaking off of ail 
 negotiations ; and that at the great dinner of the day 
 he would announce either the signature or the 
 rupture . 
 
 "It is easy to imagine," writes Consalvi, "the 
 consternation into which we were thrown by such a 
 message. It wanted but three hours of five o'clock 
 when we were all to be present at the dinner. It is 
 impossible to tell all that was said by the brother of 
 the First Consul and by the two others to decide me 
 to yield. The picture of the horrible consequences 
 which would follow the rupture was terrifying. They 
 
14 The Dream of Bonaparte. 
 
 told me that I was ^oing to make myself responsible 
 for all these disasters which would come upon 
 France, upon nearly all Europe, upon my Sovereign, 
 upon Rome. They told me that, at Rome, I would 
 be charged with an inopportune inflexibility, and that 
 I would be blamed for having provoked the conse- 
 quences of the refusal. I suffered an agony of 
 death. All that they described stood out before my 
 eyes. I was (it is lawful for me to say it) as the 
 Man of sorrows. But duty carried the day ; with the 
 aid of heaven, I did not betray 'it. I held to my 
 refusal during the two hours of this struggle, and the 
 negotiations were broken off. 
 
 '^Thus ended this sad session of twenty-four 
 entire hours, begun towards four o'clock on the day 
 preceding and closing shortly before four o'clock of 
 this unhappy day, with great physical suffering, as 
 may be understood, but with still greater moral 
 suffering, such, indeed, as one must feel, to form an 
 idea of it." 
 
 The dinner was at five o'clock. Consalvi 
 entered. When Napoleon saw him he burst out: 
 ''Well, Monsieur le Cardinal, you wish to break off. 
 Let it be so. I have no need of Rome. I will act 
 by myself. If Henry VIII., who had not the twen- 
 tieth part of my power, could undertake to change 
 the religion of his country and could succeed in the 
 undertaking, I know still better how to do it, and 
 I am better able to do it, too. In changing religion 
 in France, I shall change it in nearly the whole of. 
 Europe, — wheresoever the influence of my power 
 dominates. Rome will see its losses. It will weep 
 
TJie Dream of Bonaparte. 15 
 
 over them. But there will be no remedy. You 
 may go; and that is the best thing you can do. You 
 have wished to break off. Well, be it so, since you 
 wish it. When do you leave?" 
 
 * 'After dinner, general." 
 
 Napoleon, seeing that the Cardinal was proof 
 against intimidation, called for a new discussion. 
 The next day, at noon, Consalvi went into session 
 for twelve hours. The objectionable point was this : 
 "Worship shall be public; but conformable to the 
 regulations of the police." Napoleon might m^ean 
 anything by this. Consalvi modified it thus : "in so 
 far as public order and tranquility are concerned." 
 Joseph Bonaparte carried the modification to his 
 brother. Napoleon yielded. Consalvi was stepping 
 into his carriage to depart. Napoleon must strike a 
 last blow. He sent word that he wanted the contents 
 of the Bull that accompanied the Concordat. Con- 
 salvi at once sat down for eight hours ; produced the 
 memorandum that baffled the Consul; and, immedi- 
 ately after, set out for Rome. Napoleon published 
 the Concordat. By it, religion was restored in 
 France. " 
 
 On the second of August, 1802, the First Consul 
 had himself proclaimed Consul for life. But he 
 coveted the diadem ; and on May 18, 1804, he 
 assumed the title of Emperor. 
 
 We may pass over the scenes connected with 
 the coronation: the condescension of Pius VII. in 
 going to Paris — the refusal of the Pontiff to crown 
 Josephine without a previous marriage (for there 
 had been but a civil marriage, which had taken place 
 
1 6 TJie Dream of Bonaparte. 
 
 on March 19, 1796)— the wrath of Napoleon — the 
 midnight marriage — the clutching of the crown — the 
 broken plight — the many disgraceful episodes that 
 no respectable civilian would care to leave in the 
 traditions of his family. But there were incidents 
 during the Pontiff's stay in Paris, which marked, 
 even thus early, as a faithful weather-vane, the 
 direction of the imperial aspirations, and gave a 
 premonition of the storm. Napoleon had instructed 
 one of his courtiers to broach to Pius — accidentally 
 — the possibility of the Pope again taking up his 
 abode at Avignon or even at Paris. Pius answered 
 that he had provided against such an emergency; 
 that if he were detained now, his abdication was 
 already signed and in the hands of Cardinal Pigna- 
 telli, at Palermo; and that they would thus have 
 captured only Barnabas Chiaramonti. Through 
 Napoleon's fear of being eclipsed by the Pontifical 
 splendor, Pius said mass, on Christmas-da}^ in an 
 obscure church of Paris ; his departure was hastened 
 before the ceremonies of Easter, for which festival 
 it was managed that he should not even be at L3^ons ; 
 and, before the departure, Napoleon appeared bear- 
 ing upon his own escutcheon the Papal keys. 
 
 The Pontiff entered Rome. Napoleon went to 
 Milan and crowned himself, with the Iron Crown of 
 Lombardy, as King of Italy. And, now, there 
 occurred an event which made him see that he could 
 still be opposed by conscience; and that there was a 
 power w^hich he could not subdue, and which he 
 must, therefore, sequestrate. His brother, young 
 Jerome Bonaparte, had gone to America and had 
 
TJie Dream of Bonaparte. 17 
 
 been married, to Miss Patterson at Baltimore. Napo- 
 leon refused Mrs. Jerome Bonaparte entry to the 
 continent, and then called upon the Pope to declare 
 the marriage null — for Miss Patterson was a Protest- 
 ant! Pius answered, that the demand exceeded his 
 power; and that, were he to make such a declaration, 
 he would become guilty of a great crime in the sight 
 of God. The coloring of Catholicity with which 
 Napoleon tried to cover his motives, rapidly faded 
 under the rays of royalty. For, a little later, he had 
 no objection whatsoever to Jerome's substituting for 
 his lawful wife another Protestant who was Princess 
 of Wiirtemberg. 
 
 We are studying him without his battles. He 
 now marched from glory to glory; defeated two 
 emperors; made and unmade kings and queens; and 
 remodeled the map of Europe. He occupied a part of 
 the Papal States, and wrote to the Pope: . . . . 
 "Your holiness is the Sovereign, but I am the 
 Emperor of Rome. All my enemies must be your 
 enemies. It is not becoming that any agent of the 
 King of Sardinia, or that any Englishman, Russian 
 or Swede, should reside in Rome or in your States, 
 or that a vessel belonging to these powers should 
 enter your ports. . . ." Pius replied that there 
 was no Emperor of Rome; that the Pope would not 
 betray his trust; that his mission was a mission of 
 peace ; and that he could harbor no enmities, as 
 suggested, towards those who were separated from 
 the unity of the apostolic see. 
 
 Napoleon laid the blame of his defeat upon Con- 
 salvi; and Consalvi resigned, to let Napoleon and 
 
 
1 8 The Dream of Bonaparte. 
 
 the world see that Pius was acting for himself. And 
 here we have the example of a Sovereign, the two 
 hundred and fifty-eighth of an uninterrupted succes- 
 sion, his only weapons right and conscience, at issue 
 with a warrior greater than Hannibal or Alexander ; 
 championing the rights of a Protestant girl, whom he 
 does not know, from distant Maryland; championing 
 the rights of a Protestant realm whose dealings with 
 his Catholic brethren stand beside those of the Roman 
 Empire under Nero and Diocletian. We may under- 
 stand the value of this resolution of conscience, if 
 we put these refusals beside the concessions of the 
 Concordat, in which Pius had exercised his jurisdic- 
 tion as no one of his two hundred and fifty-seven 
 predecessors had ever done. He had extinguished 
 one hundred and thirty-five Episcopal and Archiepis- 
 copal sees in France, and twenty-four in the annexed 
 provinces; and, in their stead, he had erected sixty 
 new sees. He had made concessions regarding the 
 alienation of Church property seized during the 
 Revolution, and regarding the nomination to Ecclesi- 
 astical offices, such as had never been made to earthly 
 potentate; and, still, when there is question of extin- 
 guishing the rights of a Protestant merchant's 
 daughter from over the sea, or of closing his ports to 
 a Protestant power, he can only say "Non possumus" 
 "it may not be done." Napoleon then sent word, 
 that he would take the rest of the papal territory and 
 confer it on whom he pleased. The revenues were 
 seized, and when an officer of the papal treasury 
 asked the executor of this imperial brigandage, "by 
 what right?" he was told: "You serve a small 
 
The Dream of Bonaparte. 19 
 
 prince and I a mighty sovereign," — a principle of 
 justice which may be blazoned upon the arms of every 
 invader of Rome. 
 
 Napoleon had now a fourth European coalition 
 to put down — England, Russia, Prussia He ground 
 Prussia to powder. (Jena, Oct. 14, 1806). He 
 swept away those marvelous troops of Frederick ; and 
 from the royal palace in Berlin wrote to Mgr. Arezzo 
 of Saleucia to notify Pius VII. that he must join the 
 French Confederation. Then he crushed Russia ; 
 and, at the Treaty of Tilsit (July 8, 1807), parcelled 
 out Europe between himself and the Czar. Two 
 weeks later, July 22, on his return to Dresden, he 
 wrote two letters which open up to us his character 
 as an arch-prevaricator. The letters were written 
 to Eugene de Beauharnais, his stepson, whom he 
 had adopted and made Vicero}^ of Italy. One of 
 the letters was addressed to Eugene, although it 
 was really penned for the Pope to whom Eugene 
 was directed to send it. The other, Eugene was 
 ordered to copy, sign with his own name, and 
 address to the Pope, as though it came spontaneously 
 from himself. The letter which was ostensibly for 
 his son but really for Pius, and which contains an 
 abundance of insulting language, is the famous doc- 
 ument wherein we read those memorable words too 
 truly brought to a consummation: "What does Pius 
 VII. mean by denouncing me to Christendom? 
 Would he put my throne under an interdict, or 
 excommunicate me? Does he imagine that their 
 arms will fall from the hands of my soldiers? . 
 ." Then he goes on to speak of * 'infuriated 
 Popes," of their duty of imitating St. Peter and St. 
 
20 The Dream of Bonaparte. 
 
 Paul and the Holy Apostles — of ''foolish conduct" — 
 of meddling in his affairs — that if it does not stop, 
 he will regard the Pope as his other Bishops — of 
 calHng a general Council, etc. Then Prince Eugene 
 is commanded to add, as though from himself, that 
 the letter was not intended for the eyes of his Holi- 
 ness ; and the whole concludes with an order, that 
 the letter be delivered to the Pope, and that word be 
 sent to the Emperor when this order shall have been 
 executed by M. Alquier, his representative at Rome. 
 In October, 1807, Napoleon wrote to Murat and 
 to Prince Eugene, instructions for the occupation of 
 Rome. Accordingly, at the opening of the year 
 1808, a plot was laid to compromise the Pope. A 
 division of the French troops was detailed, under 
 General Miollis, to enter Rome on the second day of 
 February. M. Alquier's official announcement to 
 the Pope was, that the troops were simply en route 
 for Naples. Then Alquier had the truth spread 
 abroad, but unofficially, that the entry was to be a 
 real occupation. Next, false orders, coming appar- 
 ently from the Holy See, and to be laid, later, to the 
 charge of Pacca and Consalvi, were communicated 
 to the Papal troops in the barracks. According to 
 these orders, the Papal troops were to open fire upon 
 the French, as soon as the latter had passed the Porta 
 Popoli. It was a scheme to make the Pope an 
 aggressor, a violator of hospitality; and, thus, to lend 
 a shadow of justice and necessity to the real intent of 
 seizure. But the Pope was notified of the whole 
 design ; and Alquier was summoned, by an official 
 note from the Secretary of State, to present himself 
 
The Dream of Bonaparte . 21 
 
 to the Pontiff, on the thirtieth of January. On the 
 thirtieth day of January, Pius, invested with his pon- 
 tifical cope, and seated on his throne, had gathered 
 all the cardinals and prelates around him, when 
 Alquier was introduced. After administering to 
 Alquier a scathing rebuke for his treachery, he closed 
 with the following words: *'Tell your sovereign that 
 our resolve cannot be shaken. If at any time he 
 wishes to have us carried off into exile, he has but to 
 give the order. But let him know that we shall then 
 be only a simple Benedictine monk, Gregory Barna- 
 bas Chiaramonti. Tell him that, against this event, 
 the Pope that will be then, has already been elected ; 
 and that the Emperor himself will thus be pro- 
 mulgating the choice of our successor. Do you 
 understand? You may retire." 
 
 The second of February came. Rome was 
 invaded under the pretence of accustoming "the peo- 
 ple of Rome and the French troops to live together," 
 but, at the same time, under orders from the Emperor 
 that the least uprising was to be quelled by the use of 
 effective measures. The cannon were pointed at the 
 windows of the Papal apartments whilst the Pontiff 
 was celebrating the Holy Sacrifice. All was done 
 with the greatest secrecy. Napoleon had complete 
 possession of press and post, and not a word of the 
 proceedings was printed. Twenty-one Cardinals 
 were driven away. Pius said: "We are prepared. 
 . Blessed are they who suffer persecution 
 for justice." 
 
 In March, the Pontiff recalled his legate from 
 Paris. Napoleon replied by signing a decree, on 
 
22 The Dream of Bonaparte. 
 
 April 2, for the incorporation of the Pontifical States 
 into the Empire. But, just then, he was busy at his 
 game of "kings." We find him at Bayonne, where 
 he had invited Charles IV. of Spain and the latter's 
 son Ferdinand VII. to meet him. He induces Ferdi- 
 nand to resign all rights in favor of Charles, and 
 then publishes the abdication of Charles which has 
 been previously obtained. Joseph Bonaparte is 
 transferred from the throne of Naples to that of 
 Spain; and the crown of Naples is put upon the 
 head of Murat. 
 
 After the resignation of Consalvi, pro-secretaries 
 had succeeded, one the other, rapidly enough: 
 Casoni, Doria, Gabrielli. Doria was ordered to quit 
 Rome and return to Genoa. Gabrielli was seized 
 and carried back to Sinigaglia. So, in the June of 
 this year, 1808, Pius appointed Cardinal Pacca to 
 the vacant post of Secretary of State. General 
 Miollis signified to Pacca the order he had received 
 from Napoleon, to shoot or hang anyone who should 
 offer resistance. Pacca answered that he would 
 obey the commands of his own sovereign, whatever 
 might befall. On the 6th of September, officers 
 came to the Secretary, with an order for him to leave 
 Rome, under an escort of dragoons, in twenty-four 
 hours. Pacca replied, that, in Rome, he took orders 
 from the Pope alone. He was allowed to send a 
 note to the Pope. Presently, the door flew open. 
 Pius entered, saying: "I command my Minister not 
 to obey the injunctions of unlawful authority;" and, 
 taking his Cardinal by the hand, he led him away to 
 his own apartments, where the Pope and his Minister 
 
TJie Dream of Bonaparte. 23 
 
 lived together, for nearly a year, prisoners in the 
 Quirinal. 
 
 The affairs of the summer and autumn bode ill 
 for the reign of the new king, Joseph, who was not 
 able to defend his throne, and was driven beyond 
 the Ebro. So, in November, Napoleon took the 
 field in Spain, with 180,000 men. From Spain he 
 announced to Murat that the Code-Napoleon, which 
 was in force in the rest of Italy, would soon be 
 applied to Rome. On the fourth of December, he 
 entered Madrid, and then hurried back to Paris, to 
 get ready for the Austrians. 
 
 On the First of January, 1809, mindful of the 
 day for greetings, and with an unworthy exhibition 
 of his attention to details, he finds time to send a note 
 to M. de Champagny, whom he had appointed Min- 
 ister of the Exterior in place of the too capable 
 Talleyrand, — he finds time to tell Champagny to send 
 word to the Pope that he does not want a blessed 
 candle on the second of February, adding that "there 
 may be Popes in hell as well as cures" and that the 
 candle blessed by his cure may be just as holy as 
 one blessed by the Pope. 
 
 In the month of April, he was fighting the Aus- 
 trians. On the thirteenth of May he entered Vienna ; 
 and, four days later (May 17), from the palace of 
 Schonbrunn, he issued the formal decree for the sup- 
 pression of the Temporal Power and the annexation 
 of the Papal States. 
 
 We cannot understand, — accustomed as we are 
 to read everybody's affairs in the morning paper, 
 better detailed, even, than they are to be found in 
 
24 The Dream of Bonaparte. 
 
 everybody's memorandum, — we cannot understand 
 the absolute secrecy that Napoleon enforced through- 
 out his vast realm. The veil of the secrecy had not 
 been pierced when the standard works were written 
 from which in our early years we formed our first 
 and lasting impressions of the great soldier. He had 
 learned from William the Silent. Writing to his 
 brother Louis to offer him the crown of Ferdinand, 
 he says: *'A deed should be accomplished before it 
 is known that we have even thought of it." This 
 secrecy was carried to an exquisite degree in matters 
 of religion, where his power to enforce it was less 
 hindered, and the danger of publicity was greater. 
 He wrote to his ministers, that he wanted the people 
 to stop talking, altogether, about ecclesiastical mat- 
 ters ; and for fourteen years, by a species of terrorism 
 which he knew how to exercise, he kept the people in 
 silence and in darkness. It will naturally be thought 
 that, at his fall, all should have been exposed. And, 
 indeed, much was written. The memoirs and diaries 
 of persons who were used as agents or as victims of 
 Napoleon's aspirations served to throw light upon his 
 religious dealings. But the truth was locked up in 
 Napoleon's private correspondence, and that was 
 locked up in the government archives. We need not 
 wonder at this. It was only the other day that the 
 British archives were thrown open and our late gifted 
 fellow-citizen, Mr. James F. Meline, drew therefrom 
 the documents wherewith in his work "Mary Queen 
 of Scots and Her Latest English Historian" he 
 silenced, for the time being, the then latest accession 
 to the conspirators against truth, James Anthony 
 
The Dream of Bonaparte. 25 
 
 Froude. During the Second Empire, the third 
 Napoleon made a show of editing the correspond- 
 ence of his warlike uncle. This was given to the world 
 as the material for a complete history of Napoleon 
 and of his relations with Pius VII. The correspond- 
 ence, as edited, follows events with the most minute 
 exactness, and bears the air of that unquestionable 
 strictness usually found in government pubhcations 
 of official correspondence. It gives so much, that 
 we should not dream of the possibility of anything 
 being added. And yet, though filling twenty-one large 
 volumes, it is by omission a studied falsification. It 
 was but a prop to the Second Empire. Like the 
 Plebiscite and the Life of Julius Cassar, it was but an 
 illumination of the family name. Not long after, a 
 new history was found. This new history was the 
 suppressed correspondence. During the latter part 
 of the Second Empire the documents of the archives 
 were opened to the pubhc. M. D'Haussonville, a 
 Protestant, profited by the occasion to sift the cor- 
 respondence. The press laws were just then suffering 
 a spell of relaxation; and he published the result of 
 his investigations. Unfortunately, he published only 
 five volumes. For when the government of Napoleon 
 III. saw what he was about, it closed to him, person- 
 ally, the archives that were open to the world at 
 large. But this high-handed exclusion only adds the 
 more weight to his volumes. Their special value lies 
 in the exposure of Napoleon's great secret — his deal- 
 ings with the Church — with Pope Pius VII. and with 
 the clergy and Bishops of the Empire: — his great 
 secret, so great, indeed, that Napoleon's Memoirs, 
 
26 TJie Dream of Bonaparte. 
 
 dictated at St. Helena, when compared with the 
 suppressed correspondence made public by M. 
 D'Haussonville, prove to be a deliberate prevarication 
 in all that part which refers to his relations with the 
 Pope. His design of becoming practically Pope of 
 the West was not to be accomplished ; and, so, he was 
 resolved to hold his secret to the end and to bury it 
 there with him on the wild rocks where only the 
 waves would sing its requiem. 
 
 On the tenth of June, 1809, the decree of the 
 dethronement of Pius VH. was proclaimed in Rome 
 with the braying of trumpets ; and the tricolor e of the 
 Revolution floated over the Castle of Sant' Angelo. 
 On the same evening the Papal protest was affixed to 
 the Basilicas; and, shortly afterwards, the bull of 
 excommunication, to the walls of St. Peter's, St. 
 Mary Major and St. John Lateran. The bull 
 comprised all "authors, promoters, counsellors or 
 adherents." A curious story is current in Rome 
 regarding the manner in which the bull was published. 
 A carrier with a wine cask on his back rested his 
 burden against the fagade of the Basilica. A little 
 boy hidden away in the cask opened a little door and 
 fastened the excommunication to the walls. It did 
 not name Napoleon personally. It w^as visible but 
 for a few moments when it was discovered and torn 
 away. But enough had been done. The formal 
 publication had taken place and it soon led to the 
 seizure of the Pontiff. Two years later, in an official 
 message to his National Council, Napoleon said that 
 Pius had left Rome without the knowledge of the 
 Emperor on the sixth of July, and had betaken 
 
The Dream of Bonaparte. 27 
 
 himself to Savona, where His Majesty had him 
 estabhshed with all due consideration. In his repeated 
 declarations to his friends, and in the denials of his 
 Memoirs that he had given orders for the arrest of the 
 Pope, Napoleon never suspected that the press he 
 silenced so effectually would play him false in giving 
 to the world his letter of June 19, 1809, to his brother- 
 in-law, Murat, the King of Naples . wherein he writes : 
 "If the Pope, contrary to the spirit of his state and 
 of the Gospel, preaches revolt and uses the immu- 
 nity of his house to have circulars printed, he must 
 be arrested." 
 
 There is no manuscript to indicate that the bull 
 was known to Napoleon when he wrote the letter to 
 Murat ; but the letter was a standing order which 
 was only too strictly obeyed. Pius did publish 
 "circulars." The bull of excommunication was a 
 strong one. The bull was published, as we have 
 seen, on June 10, 1809. Towards three o'clock in 
 the morning, Thursday, July 6, 1809, there was a 
 sound of crashing doors in the Quirinal, and soon 
 General Radet and his band stood before the Pontiff. 
 At four o'clock Pius descended the grand staircase 
 of the Quirinal with no equipment but his breviary 
 and his crucifix in his hands ; and with Pacca at his 
 side. A carriage, with blinds nailed down, was in 
 waiting. Pope and Cardinal entered. The doors 
 were locked. General Radet seated himself beside 
 the driver, and the carriage, with its pontifical pris- 
 oner, rolled along the streets of the silent city and 
 out through the Porta Pia. Pontiff and Prime 
 Minister, not knowing whither they were being 
 
28 The Dream of Bonaparte. 
 
 hurried, produced their purses to see how they were 
 provided against the emergencies of the journey ; 
 and they laughed on finding that they were setting 
 out in a manner bordering upon the apostoHc: they 
 had between them about thirty-five cents. It was 
 midnight on Saturday when they reached Florence. 
 The Pope was too ill to go further. The carriage 
 drew up at the Chartreuse and Pius was placed in 
 the room that had been occupied by Pius VI. when 
 the latter was being dragged along the same road ten 
 years before. But, at three o'clock in the morning, a 
 messenger came from EHza Bonaparte, who, fearing 
 her brother's wrath should she harbor his prisoner, 
 ordered Pius to proceed, no matter in what state of 
 health he might be, — and that without delay. It was 
 three o'clock and Sunday morning: and the Pontiff's 
 petition to be allowed at least to assist at Mass was 
 refused. He was carried off without his minister. 
 Three days more of weary travel brought him to 
 Genoa whence, as the feeling of the people ran high, 
 he was conveyed, upon a litter, at nightfall, to the 
 town of Alexandria. Thence the journey was 
 renewed to Turin; and, from Turin into France, 
 where he was lodged, as a prisoner, in the Prefecture 
 at Grenoble. Here he met Pacca who had been 
 separated from him at Florence; but they were soon 
 forbidden all communication. Napoleon was out of 
 humor. The people along the route had heard of 
 the Pontiff's coming and, from the entry into France, 
 his progress had been an ovation. The Emperor 
 was still in Austria, and, on July i8, he wrote from 
 Schonbrunn to Fouche, Minister of PoHce, charac- 
 
TJlc Dream of Bonaparte. 29 
 
 terizing the arrest as an act of folly. In this letter 
 he says : "They should have arrested Pacca and have 
 left the Pope alone at Rome. But there is no remedy, 
 now: what is done, is done." In the same letter, he 
 ordered the Pontiff to be sent to Savona, a sea-port 
 town of the Mediterranean ; and Pacca, to be con- 
 fined in the Alpine fortress of Fenestrello. It is 
 very significant of Napoleon's complete command 
 over the press, that not one word was published 
 regarding the seizure or the journey of the Pope. 
 Absolute silence was enjoined regarding the excom- 
 munication. A valet of the Pope, being asked if it 
 
 really had been issued, said, " it was as much 
 
 as his life was worth to answer, ..." And, lest even 
 the missionaries should tell the people about the 
 Pope, all missions and all missionary congregations 
 were suppressed. 
 
 Now the Emperor has the Pope ; — what shall he 
 do with him? Make him the tool of his ambition! 
 So, first, an effort was made to have the Pontiff live 
 in princely style in his prison. Pius refused to lend 
 himself to this outward show which they would thrust 
 upon him to make it appear to the uninitiated that he 
 was in voluntary exile and that the Emperor was 
 protecting him and his estates. The only relaxation 
 he permitted himself was to pace up and down the 
 little walk in the walled garden of his episcopal 
 prison. He was subjected to the strictest surveil- 
 lance. But Napoleon was at a loss. Other rulers 
 he had been able to reduce to his own terms. Here 
 was a man who cared neither for life nor for crown ; 
 but who, so long as the crown was his to defend, 
 
30 TJie Dreajii of Bonaparte. 
 
 was determined to make life subservient to its rights. 
 To rule not only the Empire but also the Church of 
 the Empire, Napoleon needed to give it the outward 
 forms of Catholicity: and he had genius enough to 
 see that even he could not guide an irreligious people, 
 for he said: "A society without religion is like a ship 
 without a compass." He needed for his Bishops the 
 Papal bulls, Papal institution and Papal sanction. 
 He had already violated the concordat; and, more- 
 over, Pius, left without Cardinals, Counsellors, books 
 or documents would not give the bulls. In his 
 dilemma, Napoleon said to the saintly M. Emery that, 
 with six months of theology, he (Napoleon) could 
 have cleared up the whole matter, because God had 
 endowed him with "intellect." Without waiting for 
 the half-year of theology he began to clear things up 
 by ordering the Cardinals to Paris. The freedom of 
 ordination was prohibited in the new departments of 
 Kome and Thrasymene, created out of the Papal 
 territory. Nineteen bishops were transported to 
 France, and priests were transported to Corsica; and 
 a decree of the Senate was passed, that the Pope and 
 his successors should swear to the Emperor and his suc- 
 cessors adhesion to the Galilean propositions of 1682. 
 Just now, the Emperor had to look about him for 
 another consort. We remember how he would have 
 crowned as Empress of the French a woman who was 
 not his wife — and how the marriage was celebrated at 
 the midnight that ushered in the day of the coronation. 
 After having tried various subterfuges to rid himself 
 of Josephine he finally declared that he had not con- 
 sented internally to the marriage. If that were true, 
 
TJie Dream of Bonaparte. 31 
 
 if he said *'yes" without meaning it, then he told a 
 sacrehgious lie and there was no marriage. If he 
 meant the *'yes" when he said it, then he was teUing 
 a lie in now saying that he did not mean it: and the 
 second marriage was no marriage at all. But he took 
 to himself Maria Louisa, Archduchess of Austria. 
 The marriage was celebrated by proxy on March 11, 
 1810 ; and on April 2, with Maria Louisa present in 
 the Tuileries. Thirteen Cardinals with Consalvi at 
 their head absented themselves. Napoleon had said 
 to Fesch, that they would not dare to stay away. But 
 they did dare. The vacant thrones were, removed, 
 that they might not strike the eye of the Emperor. 
 But when he entered the chapel, he looked, first for 
 the Cardinals; and, seeing but fourteen, he cried 
 out: "The fools, they are not here, the fools!" So 
 he deprived the thirteen of their robes; confiscated 
 their property and revenues ; and banished them to 
 provincial towns where they had to live upon the alms 
 of the charitable. Wearing the black soutane of the 
 clergy, they were called the * 'black" Cardinals. The 
 others were known as the ''red" Cardinals. On the 
 same occasion he suppressed the Sulpicians for 
 making much ado about nothing, because M. Emery, 
 their superior, when consulted by a Cardinal, had 
 told the latter that if he did not believe the marriage 
 to be valid, he would do well to absent himself. 
 "Much ado about nothing!" This was his serene 
 highness's delivered estimate of conscience. 
 
 Now that he had Austria by the hand, he was 
 ready again for the Pope. He tested him through 
 his red Cardinals and through von Lebzeltern, who 
 
32 TJie Dream of Bonaparte. 
 
 had once been Austrian Ambassador at Rome. Leb- 
 zeltern, in his letters to Metternich (May, 1810), 
 assures the Chancellor, that the Pontiff is holding 
 fast to conscience and to duty and to the firm convic- 
 tion that moral force will triumph in the end. But 
 Napoleon wanted the Bishops of his choice, and Pius 
 refused to act without his Counsellors ; so that the 
 question of having Papal confirmation for his Bishops 
 was one that presented itself to Napoleon as Duncan 
 to Macbeth, 
 
 That is a step 
 On which I must fall down, or else o'erleap, 
 For in my way it lies. 
 
 He began, therefore, by setting up Archbishops. 
 The Vicar General of Paris found means to apply to 
 the Pope and received from him a brief declaring 
 that Maury, placed by Napoleon in Paris, had no 
 jurisdiction. The brief was seized and so was the 
 Vicar General. Napoleon ordered the Vicar to be 
 shot; but, on representation that this would be 
 impolitic, hid him away in the dungeons of Vincennes, 
 and then imprisoned three Cardinals and a number 
 of ecclesiastics who were supposed to be in sympathy. 
 Next, he wrote (Dec. 31, 1810), to the Pope's keeper 
 to say, that his Majesty was able to distinguish the 
 doctrine of Jesus Christ from that of Gregory VII. ; 
 and he opened the new year by giving an illustration 
 of the methods he could employ to urge his distinc- 
 tions. Skilful lock-pickers were sent from Paris to 
 Savona, and, at early morn, when all were in deep 
 sleep, a most minute search was made of the Papal 
 apartments. Doors and drawers were forced; and 
 
The Dream of Bonaparte. 33 
 
 even the clothes of the Pontiff and his household 
 were unsewed, so that no paper might escape the 
 imperial vigilance. And as the Pope was taking his 
 little walk in the garden, on the same day, his poor 
 writing desk was forced open, where he had some 
 books, his Breviary and the Office of Our Lady. A 
 few pieces of gold, also, that had been given to him 
 as an alms, were found in Mgr. Doria's chamber. 
 When Pius was told of the imperial burglary, he 
 merely said: "The purse: let them keep it. But my 
 Breviary and the Office of Our Lady ! what will they 
 do with those?" To make the spoliation complete 
 the Fisherman's ring was demanded of him. He 
 took it from his finger; but, not knowing to what uses 
 it might be put, before handing it over he broke it in 
 twain. He was deprived of everything that might 
 give him communication with the outer world — of 
 books, pen and paper; and spies were lodged in all 
 the inns of Savona to give the alarm on the presence 
 of anyone who might be suspected of having come 
 thither for the purpose of conferring in some secret 
 manner with the Pontiff. Now there began to appear 
 in the Moniteiir, the only reading matter allowed to 
 the Pope, addresses of adhesion to the Emperor, — 
 addresses coming from the Ecclesiastics and Cathe- 
 dral Chapters, especially the Chapters of Italy, but 
 in reality made to the order of Napoleon himself. 
 The Mo7iiteur^2iS\ns organ. Prison and Press were his 
 weapons. In his Memoirs he states that the number 
 of clergymen detained was fifty-three. M. D'Haus- 
 sonville says: "Items of this kind so readily escape 
 the memory." Now, we know that in a year from 
 
34 The Dream of Bonaparte. 
 
 the decree making Rome the second city of the 
 Empire, thirteen Cardinals had been put under police 
 supervision; nineteen bishops of the Roman states 
 had been carried into France and treated in the eame 
 manner, and more than two hundred priests had been 
 banished to the Island of Corsica alone, etc., etc. 
 But news of this character was under an absolute 
 and universal ban. 
 
 For two years Napoleon had had an Ecclesias- 
 tical Commission at work to discover in what way he 
 might do without the Pope. The Commission 
 reported in favor of a National Council. He then 
 called a preliminary meeting. He opened the meet- 
 ing by a speech against Pius VH., and demanded 
 what punishment Canon law decreed against a Pope 
 who preached rebellion and civil war. There was 
 only one man in that assembly who had the courage 
 of his convictions. Emery, when called upon, did 
 not shrink from the duty of telling the truth to the 
 Emperor. The Emperor respected him for it. A 
 few days later (March i6, 1811) Cardinal Fesch 
 called upon his imperial nephew to speak of some 
 ecclesiastical matters. The Emperor broke out: 
 "Hush! You are an ignoramus. Go, look for 
 Emery and learn something about the canons." Still, 
 such is the wont of tyrants, respect did not shield 
 Emery from vengeance. The petition of Fesch to 
 permit Emery to spend his last days amongst his 
 brethren of Saint-Sulpice was refused. 
 
 Napoleon was anxious to proclaim, at the open- 
 ing of his Council, the submission of the Pope. He 
 dispatched three of his prelates to Savona. Pius was 
 
The Dream of Bonaparte. 35 
 
 surrounded by a network of spies ready to catch 
 every word that fell from his lips. His allowance 
 was reduced to a pittance and his physician was 
 bribed. Napoleon wrote from Amsterdam that the 
 physician was to be paid 12,000 francs a year from 
 the time of quitting Rome. He says (Sept. i, 181 1), 
 '*Dr. Porta has only to name his terms." The 
 keeper had written (May 11, 1811), '*M. Porta serves 
 us admirably." They were looking for the favorable 
 moment. The Pope demanded his advisers. These 
 were refused him. He was without books, pen, 
 paper, — and was even shut off from his Confessor. 
 He could take neither sleep nor nourishment, and 
 was plied from all sides. The "favorable moment" 
 came. Dr. Porta was of great service. When Pius 
 was in what the keeper, writing to the Emperor, 
 styled a state of "mental alienation" some verbal 
 concessions were obtained (May 18, 1811). The 
 prelates, leaving a memorandum of them on the 
 chimney piece, started early the next morning for 
 Paris. But before morning the Pontiff was sufficiently 
 himself to read the memorandum intelligently, and 
 he ordered carriers to be sent after the prelates to 
 revoke everything. 
 
 Napoleon was foiled. Still he would have his 
 Council. As a prelude, he sent M. de Gallois to a 
 dungeon in Vincennes for being "too clever." To 
 divert the minds of the people from the spectacle of 
 ninety-five bishops in mitre and cope assembled at 
 Notre Dame on the 17th of June, 181 1, he opened 
 the Legislative Assembly, in person, the day before. 
 The bishops were not docile ; so he broke up the 
 
36 The Dream of Bonaparte. 
 
 meeting and ordered four bishops to the dungeons. 
 The members of the Council were then threatened in 
 private. After this they were called together again, 
 and with only thirteen or fourteen dissenting voices, 
 voted the Emperor's demands regarding the naming, 
 institution and consecration of bishops. Eight Arch- 
 bishops and Bishops carried the demands to the Pope 
 and three red Cardinals with an Archbishop were 
 sent as his advisers. After being subjected, for 
 a month, ,to collusion and misrepresentation, the 
 Pontiff was induced to sign; and he wrote the 
 Emperor a letter breathing only kindness. 
 
 But there was a Providence again to interfere. 
 Napoleon was nearly ready for his Russian campaign. 
 Why not wait until it was over, — and, then, proclaim 
 himself Czar of the West. He had but petty conces- 
 sions in comparison. He must break with the Pope. 
 He ordered perfect silence to be kept about the brief , 
 and that the demands of the Council should be pub- 
 lished as state laws. Then like the wolf he complains 
 that the lamb is muddying the water. He wants the 
 bulls. He is told that he has not allowed the Pope 
 to have his secretaries. Then he complains to Pius 
 that the brief speaks of the '^Pope's Authority" and 
 of the Roman Church as the mother of all the 
 Churches, and he insists that his power of nomina- 
 tion must extend to Rome. The prelates at Savona 
 were ordered to approach the Pontiff. But the result 
 was absolute refusal. Pius saw that he had been 
 betrayed ; declared that he had had an inspiration in 
 his prayers: and that no threats could move him. 
 He found occasion to write a letter to Napoleon (Jan. 
 
The Dream of Bonaparte . 37 
 
 24, 181 2), closing with the prayer, that God might 
 pour abundant blessings on the Emperor. Napoleon 
 answered with what in M. D'Haussonville's work 
 makes up more than four pages of the grossest insult. 
 The keeper wrote that Pius was strengthening him- 
 self with the beHef that God would interfere. 
 Napoleon wrote to have the rigor of his imprisonment 
 renewed — to have him deprived of books, pen and 
 paper. Then he put under military service the sem- 
 inarists of Bishops who had not done his bidding ; 
 removed the Sulpicians from every seminary in 
 France; sent the General of the Lazarists to Fenes- 
 trello; broke up all the houses of the Sisters of 
 Charity: — and set out for Russia. 
 
 Halting at Dresden he held a grand levee where 
 he was honored by the Emperor and Empress of 
 Austria and all the kings and princes and nobles of 
 Germany. It may have been that he was fired by 
 this homage with the phantom realization of his 
 dream — not an Emperor of Germany, but a Pope 
 and a Papal Court at his feet ! He had suppressed 
 the temporal power of the Holy See, and annexed 
 Rome to the Empire. He must establish the Pope 
 at Paris or Avignon with "splendid palaces", as M. 
 Thiers wrote, "and a salary of two milHon francs 
 . . . . but subject to the Emperor of the French, 
 as the Russian Church is to the Czars ; and, Islamism, 
 to the Sultans." It was in the midst of his victories 
 over the Austrians that he had pronounced the tem- 
 poral deposition of the Pope ; and it was upon the 
 very day of Wagram that Pius had been carried off 
 from Rome. It may have been now that, after a 
 
■38 The Di'eam of Bonaparte. 
 
 Moscow or a Petersburg, with his foot on the neck 
 of the Czar, and, around him, the greatest army 
 that Europe had seen, he purposed to proclaim the 
 actuahty of his dream — his spiritual supremacy in 
 Europe. Immediately upon his securing Maria 
 Louisa of Austria, he instructed his Minister of 
 Worship (April 15, 1810), to draw up a detailed 
 plan which was to be decreed and executed in sec- 
 tions as circumstances might dictate. His general 
 charge to the minister was, that "Matters were to be 
 determined according to what they should be, and 
 absolutely, as if there were no Pope." However, 
 now on the very day of the grand levee at Dresden, 
 he wrote back to France to have new persecutions 
 inaugurated against the Sisters of Charity, and to 
 have the Pope removed from Savona to the Imperial 
 Chateau of Fontainebleau near Paris. He specified 
 all the details of the journey. The Pope should pass 
 through Turin, Chambery and Lyons by night, and 
 was to wear no mark of his Episcopal dignity. The 
 order reached Savona on the ninth of June, 181 2. 
 Pius was awakened from his siesta and told that in a 
 few hours he would have to set out for France. The 
 cross stitched upon his white shoes was cut away, 
 and his shoes were stained with ink. His pectoral 
 cross was taken off. A black hat was put upon him ; 
 and, covered with a long coat found amongst his 
 effects, he walked through the streets of Savona to 
 where the carriage was in waiting outside the walls. 
 For seven days, his dinner was brought up to his 
 apartments, at Savona, and the candles were lighted 
 as though for his Mass : and the keeper made official 
 
The Dream of Bonaparte. 39 
 
 calls upon the empty rooms, so that the departure 
 might not be suspected. At length the Cortege 
 reached the monastery of Mount Cenis. It seemed 
 that the Pope was about to die. A surgeon was 
 called. He was told, before being shown in, that he 
 was to do all in his power for the relief of the sick 
 man — that he would doubtless recognize him — but 
 that if he divulged, there was an end to his liberty 
 and perhaps to his life. Word was sent to Turin for 
 instructions. The instructions were, to continue the 
 journey. It was the 14th of June. The Pontiff had 
 received the last sacraments that morning ; but the 
 surgeon managed to restore him sufficiently to be 
 able to move him, fitted up a bed in the carriage, 
 and accompanied him the rest of the way— until, 
 after three weeks of helpless agony, the prisoner 
 arrived at the Imperial Chateau of Fontainebleau, 
 where he lay for three other weeks upon a bed of 
 pain. He was in the midst of princely splendor and 
 surrounded by the court prelates ; and in the Travel- 
 ler' s guide to Paris, the Archiepiscopal Palace was 
 named the Papal Palace. But Pius who had lived as 
 a prisoner at Savona refused all outward pomp and 
 lived as a prisoner at Fontainebleau. 
 
 But there is a tide in the affairs of men. Napoleon 
 returned from Russia. The contrary elements had 
 leagued against him. Fire and ice had shattered 
 that great army. The historian says: "The muskets 
 dropped from the frozen arms of those who bore 
 them." On the i8th of December, 181 2, Napoleon 
 entered Paris as a fugitive. Still he would make a 
 last stroke. He must conquer by foul means or by 
 
40 The Dream of Bonaparte. 
 
 fair. Dr. Porta was still under pay and a letter is 
 written from Fontainebleau, that they are watching 
 for the favorable moment. Napoleon appeared at 
 Fontainebleau and confronted the Pontiff. He made 
 outward demonstrations of affection. He remained 
 for five days working, with the red Cardinals, at the 
 Pope. Of those five days' doings little is known, 
 but Pius signed (Jan. 25, 1813) the preliminary draft 
 of what is called the fatal Concordat of Fontaine- 
 bleau ; and although he laid down the condition that, 
 before promulgation, each separate article was to be 
 discussed in Secret Consistory by the Cardinals, 
 Napoleon sent off the draft to be published without 
 delay, and ordered the Bishops to have the Te Deum 
 of thanksgiving sung from Paris to Marseilles. 
 
 The Emperor departed. He thought he now 
 had his Pope. The prison doors were opened. The 
 black Cardinals, at liberty, came flocking to Fon- 
 tainebleau; Di Pietro from Vincennes, Pacca from 
 Fenestrello, and Consalvi from the poverty of his 
 exile. They found the Pontiff helpless in body and 
 crushed in spirit and a prey to the agonies of grief. 
 Pacca had heard, along the route, suspicions of both 
 "foul play and unlawful concession." Now that they 
 were upon the spot, Pacca suggested the course 
 which Di Pietro and Consalvi approved; and Consalvi 
 took the responsibility of telling the Pontiff that 
 there remained for him one remedy: he must perform 
 an act of humility. He must make an unreserved 
 retractation of the fatal document. It must be 
 entirely in his own hand-writing, and in the form of 
 a letter to the Emperor. But Pius could not hold a 
 
The Dream of Bonaparte . 41 
 
 pen long enough to write a letter; and, besides, such 
 was the system of espionage, that all the papers 
 locked up in his room were submitted to inspection 
 every day during his mass. But Consalvi was equal 
 to the emergency. With Di Pietro he met the Holy 
 Father every day after his mass, when Pius wrote a 
 line or two. Again at four o'clock in the afternoon, 
 in a chance meeting with Pacca, Pius wrote another 
 line or two. Pacca always carried off the unfin- 
 ished letter to the house of the aged Cardinal 
 Pignatelli, whose broken health obliged him to reside 
 in the town instead of at the palace. He tells us 
 that so anxious was he about his letter, so fearful 
 of being searched, that, in his journeys to the town, 
 he was stifled by a burning fever. Each morning, 
 a trusty messenger from Pignatelli placed the precious 
 document in the hands of Di Pietro or Consalvi. 
 Finally on the 24th of March, 1813, the letter, a 
 long letter, was finished and . signed and sent to 
 the Emperor; and the Pontiff delivered an allocu- 
 tion to all the Cardinals informing them of what had 
 been done. Napoleon ordered his -Minister of Wor- 
 ship to keep the letter an inviolable secret. But the 
 work was done. Every Cardinal had a copy of the 
 letter. Napoleon turned Fontainebleau into a prison 
 and clad the Chamberlain in a jailor's garb. Di 
 Pietro was dragged from his bed and hurried to a 
 dungeon at Auxonne. Napoleon thrust his Bishops 
 into sees right and left; but the chapters resigned in 
 their presence. The Seminarists disbanded, protest- 
 ing against the spurious jurisdiction. Napoleon 
 retaliated by forcing the Seminarists into the army. 
 
42 The Dream of Bonaparte. 
 
 Those who were physically incapable of military 
 service, he imprisoned. The prison of Vincennes 
 again opened its gates to the purple. Poor Fesch, 
 the Cardinal uncle, fled in terror to Lyons where he 
 said to Madame Bonaparte: "It is all over with my 
 nephew. . . . Every one who touches the ark 
 meets the same destiny." 
 
 It was the hour of collapse. Russia had just 
 organized the sixth co-alition. We know the super- 
 human efforts of Napoleon whilst his friends were 
 deserting. He tried to gain the Pope through every 
 species of negotiation: until, at length, hearing that 
 even his faithful Murathad gone over to the co-alition, 
 and presuming that this was with a view to the 
 possession of the Roman States, he sent word to the 
 Pope (Jan. i8, 1814) that he would treat with him 
 for the restoration of his temporal power, saying 
 that he preferred "to see the Roman States in the 
 hands of the Pope rather than in those of any other 
 sovereign, whoever he might be." Pius replied that 
 an act of justice could not furnish matter for a treaty. 
 At the same time -he wrote to Mgr. de Beaumont, the 
 negotiator, to say, on his part, to the Emperor, that 
 he bore his Majesty no ill will, — religion would not 
 permit of such a thing. 
 
 The allies were closing in about Paris. It would 
 never do for them to restore to his rights the prisoner 
 of Fontainebleau. Besides, the star of fortune might 
 rise again; and, if so, the Pontiff must still be in the 
 imperial grasp. On the 23rd of January, three car- 
 riages drove up mysteriously to the Chateau; the 
 Pontiff was called upon to set out for an unknown 
 
The Dream of Bonaparte. 43 
 
 destination ; and soon the cannon were booming 
 about the deserted palace. Oh, the wonderful deeds 
 of those days ! We have read of De Bouillon and 
 Coeur de Lion wielding both mace and battle axe 
 and laying low whole scores of Paynims that pressed 
 upon them. So Napoleon wielded whole armies, 
 flying from one to the other to lend the inspiration 
 of his presence — here a blow and there a blow — 
 crushing, scattering, cutting to pieces the forces of 
 the co-alition that were radiating towards the Capital. 
 They had just refused an armistice after Montmirail : 
 now they asked for peace. Napoleon tore up the 
 paper and, though they were at his very gates, said 
 scornfully: "I am nearer to Vienna than they are to 
 Paris." So they pledged themselves (March ist) 
 to pursue him to the end. With one companion, 
 and followed by the Chamberlain-gaoler, M. Lagorse, 
 Pius was still pursuing the devious unfrequented 
 routes, as ordered by Napoleon for the sake of 
 securing silence and delay in the journey from Fon- 
 tainebleau to his secret destination — which was 
 Savona. But the Emperor soon saw what was 
 overtaking himself. He would never have his foes 
 undo his work. On the loth of March he signed 
 the decree restoring the Papal territory, and on 
 the i8th at Savona the keeper said to his prisoner : 
 *'Your Holiness is at liberty and can set out for Rome 
 to-morrow." The next day was the Feast of Otir 
 Lady of Deliverance. Pius said mass on that day for 
 the first time in the Cathedral of Savona, and set out 
 for Rome. At Cesena, Joachim Murat, simulating 
 ignorance of the Pontiff's object in returning to 
 
44 The Dream of Bonaparte. 
 
 Italy, asked for an audience, and presented a 
 paper to which he had obtained some signatures 
 asking the alHes for a secular Prince, sc. for Murat. 
 Pius took the paper. Without opening it he put it 
 quietly into the fire and said: "Is there anything 
 now to hinder us from entering Rome?" As he 
 journeyed on, passing through town after town amid 
 the salvos of artillery, away to the north at that very 
 table where he had put his signature to the fatal 
 Concordat of Fontainebleau, Napoleon Bonaparte 
 was signing the farewell to his greatness. Poison 
 only added bodily anguish to the bitterness of the 
 warrior's soul. And, whilst Pius was reigning amid 
 a joyous people, there came Elba and the hundred 
 days and Waterloo and St. Helena: and our story is 
 told. 
 
 For six years Pius had been a prisoner at Savona 
 and Fontainebleau: for six years Napoleon made 
 expiation on the barren rock, far from the society of 
 men, far from that empire of sixty million souls. 
 There, in the ocean-storm, he had leisure to study 
 the futile work of fourteen years. The low mist 
 driven before the wind — the murmuring surge, — the 
 rolling foam — dim cloudlets that gathered like meet- 
 ing armies, their ragged thunder edges bending to 
 the deep — the hastened dusk — the rising waters dis- 
 colored from the bed of ocean — the floods of flame 
 — the din of battling clouds — the fractured canopy — 
 the sweeping blast— the mingled waters of wave and 
 sky hurled through the midnight upon the ocean rock 
 to force it from its very base — then; morning across 
 the waters, revealing the rock still there, crowned 
 
The Dream of Bonaparte. _ 45 
 
 with its humble thyme, calm, unshaken as it had 
 
 been in the storms of centuries: this was the ever 
 
 returning reminder of what his own life had been 
 
 from the day of the grand Te Deiun in the Ambrosian 
 
 Cathedral, vainly spent in beating upon that other 
 
 rock against which 
 
 " — all human skill, all human strength 
 Avail not — ." 
 
 As he sits there solitary on the cliff, shall we 
 judge him? Shall we try him by the formula, by 
 the law of motives; try him by the decalogue, the 
 law that's writ upon the heart of every man? "Thou 
 shalt not have strange gods before me." The idol 
 of ambition, the Dagon he had raised in the temple 
 of his heart lies shattered, for he had dared to place 
 before it even the ark of the Most High. "Thou 
 shalt not kill." The blood of the Due D'Enghien is 
 still crying out; bones are bleaching on a hundred 
 battle grounds; the prisons have not yet told their 
 tale. "Thou shalt not covet." Peoples have rights 
 and so have crowns : the impoverished of his sword 
 shall not be named in the books of men. "Thou 
 shalt not bear false witness." His own true words 
 bear witness to the false : there stand Maria Louisa 
 and Josephine. 
 
 There is one who does not pass sentence — the 
 man who has been the victim. When Pius hears 
 that his persecutor is suffering, he charges even 
 Consalvi to write to the allied sovereigns, and 
 especially to the Prince Regent, in behalf of the exile 
 at St. Helena. He says that he would be overjoyed 
 to be able to do something to lighten the distress of 
 
46 The Dream of Bonaparte. 
 
 Napoleon ; that, in view of the good beginnings, he 
 forgets all that followed ; and that Savona and Fon- 
 tainebleau were mere errors or the illusive day 
 dreams of ambition. 
 
 Pacca, B. Cardinale: Memorie storiche. 
 
 Artaud de MontoR: Vie du Pape Pie VII. 
 
 J. Cretineau-Joly: L'Eglise Romaine en face de la Revolution. 
 
 Memoires du Cardinal Consalvi. 
 COMPTE D'Haussonville: L'Eglise Romaine et le Premier Empire. 
 Mary H. Allies: The life of Pope Pius the Seventh.