ROMAN CATHOLICS. 
tries, where is the unity and catholicity of 
tlie Romish faith ? 
We must now conclude, this article with 
a brief statement of the decline and present 
slate of the papal power in Europe. 
The deadly blow which this gigantic 
power received in the sixteenth century we 
have already treated of in the article Re- 
formation. 
From the effects of that blow the Roman 
Catholic interests have never yet recovered. 
It was a deep and deadly wound to the 
usurpations of tyranny and the towering 
pride of ecclesiastical domination. In the 
article to which we have already alluded, 
the reader will find a brief enumeration of 
the countries which received the doctrines 
of the reformation, as well also of those 
countries where the principles of religious 
liberty had made but little progress. These 
latter were principally France, Spain, Italy, 
and Poland. In each of these countries 
the spirit of refonn has, more or less, mani- 
fested itself since the era of the refonnation. 
In the first of these countries particularly, 
the authority of the supreme head of the 
church has, since the commencement of 
the revolution, received an alarming dimi- 
nution. Indeed, the liberties of the Gal- 
lican church had always depended upon 
two maxims: 1. That the Pope has not 
authority to command any thing in general 
Or particular, in which the civil rights of 
the kingdom are concerned. 2. That 
though the Pope’s supremacy is owned in 
spiritual matters ; yet his power is limited 
and regulated by the decrees and canons 
of ancient councils in the realm. , These 
maxims in the Gallican church have been 
superseded by the Concordat; and still 
more by events of a very recent date. 
When the French revolution first broke 
out, the clergy in that country suffered 
every species of insult and cruelty that an 
infuriate rabble or more refined councils 
could invent. Their tythes and revenues 
were taken from them, and the possessions 
of the church were considered as national 
property. The religious orders were dis- 
solved, and their estates confiscated. Wlien 
the National Assembly attempted to impose 
upon the clergy what they denominated The 
civil constitution of the clergy, a refusal to 
submit to it, and to thai of taking an oath to 
maintain it, was attended with the most 
alarming consequences. One hundred and 
thirty-eight bishops and archbishops, and 
sixty-eight curates, or vicars, were on this ac- 
count driven from their sees and parishes. 
Numbers of these unfortunate men were mas- 
sacred in the streets, while hundreds of them 
sought refuge in this and other countries. 
Notwithstanding these proceedings, on the 
28th of May, 1796, a decree was obtained 
for the freedom of religious worship ; and on 
the following June the churches in Paris 
were re-opened, and divine service was 
again performed with great ceremony. The 
clergy have never since been molested in 
France ; but their power and influence were 
greatly diminished, for though the Moderees, 
or Brissotine party, recalled them, no esta- 
blishment was made for them, until Bona- 
parte, as First Consul, procured the Pope’s 
consent to the Concordat, which the old Ca- 
tholics assert surrendered all their rights and 
privileges of the church to the secular head. 
By degrees the Pope of Rome has con- 
tinued to lose his influence in France. 
The number of Catholic clergy is now' 
very considerably reduced ; and all the 
religious orders in France, the Sisters of 
Charity excepted, are abolished, together 
with all public processions, pilgrimages, &c. 
The French General, Bonaparte, drove the 
late Pope, Pins VI., from Rome, and 
compelled him to take shelter in a Car- 
thusian monastery, about two miles from 
Florence, where he died, August 19th, 
1799. The French army who took pos- 
session of Rome, made no ceremony in 
abolishing many of those rites which for 
centuries had been regarded as sacred. A 
new Pope, however, has been elected, who 
has taken the name of Pius Vll. This 
pontiff at present resides at Rome, the seat 
of his ancestors, and has often officiated in 
the Vatican. But his power is gone, pro- 
bably for ever. Bonaparte has lately seized 
on his temporal dominions, and driven his 
friends and counsellors, the Cardinals, from 
his presence. On the 19th of April, 1808, 
a most curious and interesting state paper 
wasptiblished by the Pope, entitled “ Anwer 
of his Eminence Cardinal Gabrielli, first Se- 
cretary of State, to the Note of his Excel- 
lency M. Qiampagny, addressed to M. Le 
Fevre, Charge d’Affaires from the Emperor 
of France.” We lament that our limits will 
not permit us to preserve the whole of this 
curious document in our pages. We may 
however, remark, that this paper is in 
answer to a demand which the French 
ruler had made upon his Holiness, to enter 
into an offensive and defensive league with 
the other powers of Italy, against all the 
enemies of France, and also that the Pope 
should dismiss from his court the Cardinals. 
To tfiese demands his Holiness replies in a 
spirited but highly pathetic strain. He 
