16] 
tions for defence. A corps of near 
two thousand men had been posted 
on the high grounds that command 
the access to this important place, 
towards the land; but the French 
general Victor, found means to sur- 
round them, and they surrendered 
without resistance. 
_ The next place of consideration 
that fel) into the hands of the 
French, was Loretto, famous for 
the credulity and superstition ex- 
hibited there in modernages. The 
treasure contained in the church, 
where the donations of princes and 
states and the rich offerings of per- 
sonages of the first rank and opu- 
lence had been so long accumu- 
Jating, had been partly removed by 
the Austrian general Colli, com- 
mander in chief-of the papal forces. 
The French, however, found arti- 
cles to the value of about a million 
of their money, But, ‘todo them 
justice, it was not plunder nor de- 
vastation they sought in conquering 
the pope’s dominions: for which 
indeed they could plead no pre- 
tence, as the inhabitants now sub- 
mitted to them without opposition, 
and seemed, in many places, in- 
tirely disposed to fraternize with 
French principles. 
After subduing the intermediate 
country, from Loretto to Macarate, 
Bonaparte fixed his quarters in this 
place on the twelfth of February. 
He was now within forty leagues of 
Rome, and it was evident that no 
obstacle could retard his march to 
that city. In order to terminate 
hostilities with all speed, he wrote a 
letter to cardinal Mattzi, wherein, 
after reproaching the pope for his 
endeavours to injure the republic, 
he advised him to trust to the gene- 
rosity of the French, and to have 
immediate recourse to a pacification, 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1797. 
He specified that five days would be 
allowed him to conclude a peace, 
for which purpose he would meet 
tlle persons commissioned to nego- 
ciate itata place which he appoint- 
ed. 
The situation of the pope, de- 
prived of all hope of assistance fiom 
any quarter, and relinquished even 
by bisown people, left him no other 
expedient to save himse’f, and the 
Roman see,, from absolute ruin, 
than to accept of such conditions as 
could be obtained from an exaspe- 
rated enemy, conscious that he sub- 
mitted through unavoidable ne- 
cessity, and would possibly observe 
the terms he agreed to no longer 
than those whoimposed them were 
able to enforce their observance. 
Yielding, however reluctantly, to 
circumstances, he wrote a letter te 
Buonaparte, apprising him of his 
desire to treat, and requesting that 
he would grant just and honourable 
conditious. Four persons were de- 
puted to the French general, as the , 
papal plenipotentiaries on this oc- 
casion. Cardinal Mattai, and duke 
Braschi, the pope’s nephew, were 
the principal. 
The conditions of this treaty 
were of the same tenour as those — 
concluded by the French with other 
powers. ‘l'be pope renounced his 
alliance with the coalition, He 
agreed to disband the troops he had 
levied against the republic, and to, . 
sbut his | ports against the ships of. 
war belonging to its enemies, and 
not to furnish them with supplies of 
any kind, AJl the rights and privi- 
leges enjoyed by France, in the pa- 
pal dominions, previously to the re- 
volution, were confirmed. He 
ceded to the French, in full sove- - 
reignty, the country of Avignon, 
and every place in France, formerly 
subject 
