STATE PAPERS. 



729 



course of excellent and pious inha- 

 bitants of that town was So great, 

 when we celebrated the holy myste- 

 ries, that the imtnen^e area of the 

 metropolitan church could not con- 

 tain them. How great then must 

 have been our holy raptures ! With 

 what fervent adoration did we ex- 

 press our gratitude to the father of 

 mercies, for working so wonderful, 

 so blessed a change ! We were in- 

 spired with the most lively gratitude 

 also, to the most potent emperor of 

 the French, to whom that happy 

 people owe the restoration of the 

 true religion, the public exercise of 

 which has been established under 

 the concordat, which lias passed be- 

 tween us. — We had not an oppor- 

 tunity of Avitnessing this complete 

 triumph of the true faith at Lyons, 

 so long as ive could have wished. 

 VVe were impressed with a lively 

 desire to be present with the empe- 

 ror, to consecrate him, and after 

 that to confer with his majesty on 

 the concerns of religion, and the af- 

 fairs of the church ; considerations 

 for which we braved every difliculty, 

 and had undertaken the journey. — 

 W'e proceeded on our route to Fon- 

 tainebleau, where, atlength, we had 

 the pleasure of beholding the most 

 puissant prince, who is so dear to 

 us. What pleasure, what joy, we 

 experienced in our first intervievv 

 with this emperor, whose lame has 

 sounded to the extremities of the 

 world, and whom God has chosen 

 tit restore his true religion, in 

 France, to its former publicity and 

 itplendour! We shall always, with 

 the most pleasurable sensations, re- 

 collect that, and the following days, 

 which, by the invitation of this most 

 excellent prince, we spent at Fon- 

 tuiuebleau, in refreshing ourselves, 

 after the fatigues of our journey. — 



From the castle of Fontainebleau, 

 where we experienced and had to 

 admire the just sentiments, and the 

 munificence of the emperor towards 

 us, we repaired together to Paris. 

 There, on a day, remarkable in it- 

 self, the first Sunday in advent, and 

 the second of December, in tha 

 midst of all the triumphal pomp and 

 splendour of that imperial city, ia 

 which all the population of France 

 seemed to have been congregated, 

 were celebrated in the most solemn 

 manner, the consecration and the 

 crowning of the emperor, and that 

 of our most dear daughter in Christ, 



Josephine, his august consort. 



This splendid ceremony being ter- 

 minated, we directed all our atten- 

 tcntion to the afl'airs of religion and 

 the church ; we placed the greater 

 confidence in the emperor, because, 

 as we apprised you, he had testified 

 by his letters, thathedesired to con- 

 fer freely with us, respecting the 

 means of re-establishing the ancient 

 .';plendour of religion and of divine 

 worship; and we cannot recollect, 

 without particular sentiments of gra- 

 titude, the ingenuousness, the po- 

 liteness, the good nature, the affec- 

 tionate regards towards us, with 

 which he listened to the desires, 

 which, in terms of apostolic free- 

 dom, we expressed ; and also enu- 

 merated the demands which we had 

 to make of him for the advantage 

 of the catholic religion, the glory of 

 the Gallican church, and the autho- 

 rity and dignity of the holy see.— 

 One consideration, which we had 

 particularly at heart, was the sincere 

 return of certain bishops to the ca- 

 tholic unity, who, before they re- 

 ceived their canonical institutions 

 at our hands, ought to have given 

 adequate testimonies of their recon- 

 ciliation ; but who, on the contra- 

 ry? 



