STATE PAPERS. 



403 



done a great injury to the Chris- 

 tian religion, whose interests he 

 pretends to promote, by inducing 

 the loyal and peaceful Spaniards to 

 disaffection and resistance. Neither 

 is the offence slight with regard to 

 the holy father, whose disappro- 

 bation of a conduct so openly at 

 variance with the Gospel, is en- 

 sured by his heroic virtues. That 

 man insults the religious principles 

 of the pope, who can suppose him 

 capable of asserting, in a foreign 

 kingdom, the pretensions of his 

 court — nay, even his undoubted 

 rights, — by encouraging rebellion 

 amongst the people. This false 

 step of the most reverend nuncio 

 is one of the greatest evils which 

 the captivitj' of the holy father 

 has produced to our pious nation : 

 and nothing but the special care of 

 Providence could prevent its fatal 

 consequences. But such has been 

 the loyalty and obedience of the 

 bishops and the chapters of Spain, 

 that they have adopted the appa- 

 rently uncivil course of not even 

 answering the nuncio's letters. 



However, this is not enough to 

 appease my mind. The flame, 

 which has been quenched so 

 luckily, might be raised at an- 

 other time, and they might grasp 

 at some opportunity of imposing 

 upon the loyalty and exalted piety 

 of our nation : and I should not 

 be worthy of the trust which that 

 nation has reposed upon me if I 

 did not provide against such dan- 

 ger. What I could not wink at in a 

 Spanish bishop, I will not suffer in a 

 foreign prelate, who so ill requites 

 the hospitality and generosity of the 

 Spaniards. I am ready to excuse 

 the errors of what some people are 

 willing to call policy ; but I can- 

 not dissemble to myself that any 

 degree of connivance in this par- 



ticular instance would be highly 

 criminal, both from the injustice 

 of the act and the ruinous conse- 

 quences which it might bring upon 

 the country. 



1 bear in mind the unwearied 

 zeal with which our monarchs 

 have defended their own authority 

 against the pretensions of the court 

 of Rome. The mere suspicion 

 that briefs might contain some 

 doctrines or decrees contrary to the 

 privileges of the crown, has been 

 deemed sufficient reason to stop 

 their circulation until they are 

 examined and approved by go- 

 vernment. Whenever any relaxa- 

 tion appeared to glide in on this 

 point, government has instantly 

 applied a steady hand to stop its 

 progress. Our history presents very 

 awful examples of this kind, which 

 might have been a warning to the 

 most reverend nuncio. A govern- 

 ment which has been so jealous of 

 its unalienable rights is now doubly 

 bound to take the most effectual 

 measures against an agent of that 

 same court, who, by means of 

 intrigue and underhand practices, 

 endeavours to promote and or- 

 ganize a religious and political 

 schism, which might endanger 

 the security of the state. These 

 reasons have roused my justice: but 

 although i conceive myself fully 

 authorized to exercise it on the 

 most reverend Peter Gravina, by 

 ordering him out of Spain, and 

 seizing his temporalities, I have 

 limited myself to command that 

 the following royal decree be trans- 

 mitted to him ; and this for the 

 reasons expressed therein. 



(Signed) L. De Boukbon. 

 Cardinal of Scala, Archbishop 

 of Toledo, President. 

 Cadiz, April 23, 1813. 



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