Part 7 (1/2)
The words of d'Azara produced a favorable impression upon the General, though at first they had but little real effect. On June 19th, d'Azara was summoned to meet the representatives of the Directory at Bologna, where a demand for 40,000,000 livres was made together with the cession of Ancona, the occupation of Bologna and Ferrara, provisions for the soldiery, one hundred pictures or statues from the Papal museums, five hundred ma.n.u.scripts, and the treasures of Loretto, or failing the latter, a fine of 1,000,000 francs. After many discussions the sum of payment in money was fixed at 21,000,000 livres. To arrange all matters in a more satisfactory manner the Holy Father sent Mgr. Pierracchi as plenipotentiary to Paris. Here the messenger of the Pope was received in so barbarous and insulting a manner that he was obliged to leave the French territory with all haste.
[Ill.u.s.tration: TREATY OF TOLLENTINO.]
So discouraging did affairs now appear to the Holy Father that for a time he thought seriously of abandoning Rome for the present and taking refuge in the Island of Malta. However, he determined to effect if possible a new accommodation; this attempt proved as unsuccessful as those which preceded it, and the Holy Father in his desolation declared before a commission of the cardinals: ”Let the Directory consider well the motives which constrain the conscience of His Holiness to such refusal, a refusal which he will be obliged to sustain at the peril of his life.”
The representatives of the Directory to whom this protest of His Holiness was brought, at Florence, could not but admire the courage with which it was inspired. The matter was now taken up personally by Bonaparte himself, whose influence led finally to the signing of a treaty at Tollentino, February 19th, 1797. By the terms of this convention the Pope revoked all treaties of alliance against France, he recognized the Republic, he ceded his rights over Venaissin, he abandoned to the Cis-Alpine Republic the Legations of Bologna, and Ferrara, and all of Romagna; Ancona was to remain in the possession of the French; the Duchies of Urbino and Macerata were to be restored to the Pope on the payment of 15,000,000 livres. A like sum was to be paid conformable to the armistice of Bologna, not yet executed. These 30,000,000 livres were payable, two-thirds in money and the rest in diamonds and precious stones; 300,000 francs were to be paid to the heirs of Ba.s.seville.
We shall not linger in relating the great difficulties the Holy Father experienced in raising the immense funds required by this treaty. The generosity of the Roman people, the cardinals, and the prelates of Italy, was displayed in a manner to reflect lasting honor upon their names. The whole transaction dealt a severe blow to the peace and security of the aged Pontiff from the effects of which he never fully recovered.
_ARREST AND DEATH OF THE POPE._
The Directory, ever on the watch for a pretext that might seem to justify new attempts against the government of the Pope, found one during the month of December, 1797. General Duphot, at the head of a band of rebellious Romans, had attacked the garrison at Ponte Sixto. The Papal soldiers, angered by the a.s.sault and the offensive insults of the mob, endeavored to repulse it by a harmless show of force. One soldier, more quick-tempered than his comrades, forgot himself in the moment of excitement, and fired into the crowd. The bullet struck General Duphot, who fell mortally wounded. The affair, accidental though it was, and perfectly natural, considering the circ.u.mstances, was taken by the French Government as an act demanding summary punishment. Accordingly, General Berthier, in command of the French forces at Ancona, received from General Bonaparte the following instructions:
Paris, 22 Nivose An. (January 11, 1798.)
Quickness will be of supreme importance in your march upon Rome; it alone can a.s.sure the success of the operation. The moment that you have sufficient troops at Ancona you will take up the march.
You will strive secretly for a union of all the surrounding districts with that city, such as the Duchy of Urbino and the province of Macerata.
You will not make known your intentions against the Pope until your troops are at Macerata. You will say very briefly that the reason for your marching on Rome is to punish the a.s.sa.s.sins of General Duphot and all those who have dared to be wanting in the respect which is due to the amba.s.sador of France.
The King of Naples will send his ministers to you, and you will say that the executive Directory is not influenced in this affair by any designs of ambition; that, on the contrary, if the French Republic was so generous as to restrain itself at Tollentino when it had still graver reasons for complaint against Rome, it will not be impossible, if the Pope gives satisfaction agreeable to our Government, to arrange this affair.
In the meantime, while making such proposals, you will continue on your way by forced marches. The art of the whole matter will consist in gaining ground, so that when the King of Naples becomes convinced that you are actually headed for Rome, he will not have the time to prevent it.
When you are two days' journey from Rome, you will menace the Pope and all the members of his government, who have rendered themselves culpable of the greatest of crimes, in order to inspire them with fear and cause them to take flight.
The plans of Bonaparte were carried out successfully. On February 10th, 1798, the French troops entered Rome by the Porta Angelica, and the Pontifical garrison was obliged to evacuate Castle San Angelo. On February 15th, a Calvinist named Haller brought to the Pope the final orders of the Directory, announcing his overthrow. French soldiers immediately replaced the Pontifical guards of the Papal palace, while one of Berthier's generals, Cervoni, had the effrontery to present to the Pope the tri-color c.o.c.kade, which the Holy Father refused, saying, ”I know no other uniform than that with which the Church has honored me.” It was the beginning of the end.
[Ill.u.s.tration: NAPOLEON IN COUNCIL OF 500.]
The commissioner Haller was now delegated to announce to the Pope that he must leave Rome. The Holy Father protested: ”I am hardly convalescent, and I cannot abandon my people or my duty; I wish to die here.”--”You can die anywhere,” answered the brutal messenger. ”If the ways of gentleness cannot persuade you to go, we shall employ rigorous means to compel you.”
Pius VI. left alone with his servants, appeared for the first time overcome with sadness. He entered his oratory, and after imploring the aid of the Almighty; re-appeared in a few moments. ”It is G.o.d's will,”
he said calmly, ”let us prepare to accept all His Providence has in store for us.”
On February 20th, the commissioner, on entering the apartment, found the Pope prostrate at the foot of the crucifix. ”Make haste!” he cried, and pus.h.i.+ng his august prisoner before him he compelled him to descend the stairs with undue hurry, nor did he leave him until he had entered the carriage waiting at the gate. A detachment of dragoons, which accompanied the carriage, served to hold in check the crowds that had gathered in the hope of following in the footsteps of their sovereign.
It was the intention of the Directory to deport the Holy Pontiff to the island of Sardinia; but it abandoned this design in the fear that the English might attempt his deliverance. At Sienna, the Pope was lodged in the Augustinian monastery, where he remained three months, when an extraordinary event compelled his departure thence. On May 25th, an earthquake destroyed the building, and the Holy Father had only time to quit his room when the floor collapsed. In June he arrived at Florence, where he remained for ten months, a prisoner, indeed, but yet enjoying many comforts from the company of congenial souls who were permitted to offer their words of sympathy. Among such were the Grand Duke of Tuscany and the King and Queen of Sardinia, the latter being a sister of Louis XVI., Maria Clotilda, besides numbers of the poor who craved a blessing from his hands.
In the meantime the Directory found it a very difficult matter to dispose of its august prisoner. In its fear and cruelty it strove to induce the Grand Duke to drive the Pope out of his dominions, to which demand the n.o.ble sovereign answered that as he had not brought the Pope to Tuscany it was not for him to drive the Holy Father away. This generous resistance was immediately punished by the invasion of Etruria.
In the beginning of the year 1799 the Russian and Austrian armies were already menacing Italy; the Directory thereupon found it expedient to transfer their ill.u.s.trious captive to France. Hence, on April 1st, despite the paralysis of one of his limbs, he was hurried away to Parma, where he could rest only a few days. On the thirteenth the journey was again taken up, although the physicians protested the great danger of proceeding while the Pope remained in so feeble a condition. The commissioner, upon learning the opinions of the physicians, entered the apartment of the Pontiff, and there dragging the coverings from the bed, inspected the limbs, examined the ulcers that had collected, and proclaimed brutally: ”The Pope must go on, dead or alive.”
The journey now led through Northern Italy, and across the Alps. On the evening of July 14th, the anniversary of the storming of the Bastille, the cortege arrived finally at Valence, in France. The Pope was lodged in the citadel, in the governor's apartments, near the convent of the Cordeliers, which served as the prison of thirty-two priests. In this place he died August 29, 1799, in the eighty-first year of his age.
CHAPTER III.