5G7 
PIUS. 
revolution in the country which was the object of difpute, 
carried on againft each other what was called a civil, but 
a bloody, conteft. At length the revolutionifts of Avig¬ 
non gained the afcendancy ; and, after dethroning the 
archbiftiop, and difperiing the clergy for refufing to take 
the civic oath, they depofed the pope from his fovereignty, 
feized his revenues, and Avignon, with the whole of the 
papal territory in France, was converted into republican 
departments. When the National Afiembiy had formed 
their civil conftitution for the clergy, the pope was foli- 
cited by the anti-conftitrutionalifts, with the abbe Maury 
at their head, to fupprefs it by an apoftolical bull. Ac¬ 
cordingly he difpatched, with this view, his celebrated 
Monitory of the 13th of April, 1791. But this initru- 
ment, fo formidable in former times, now ferved no other 
purpofe than to excite ridicule, to increafe the feverity of 
the proceedings againft the non-conforming clergy, and to 
excite popular odium againft his holinefs. In Paris it 
was regarded as the toclin for a civil war; and the mob, 
without hefitation, to exprefs their refentment againft 
the power which ilfued it, burnt the effigy of the pope, 
in all his pontifical inlignia, in the garden of the Palais 
Royal. 
The hoftility of the court of Rome to what was tranf- 
aclir.g in France was not confined to briefs and bulls, 
but was difplayed in profecutions againft fuch perfons as 
were iufpedled of any attachment to the revolution which 
had taken place. Several officers, natives of France, but 
iu the pope’s employ, were degraded, and fent to the 
galleys, for having difcovered lentiments favourable to 
the new order of things. A kind of profcription, like- 
wife, was begun againft every thing or perfon which bore 
the name of French or Frenchman, till it was fnfpended 
in confequence of the interference of the executive coun¬ 
cil of the French republic, which threatened hoftilities, if 
redrefs were not inftantly obtained. After the appearance 
of the famous manifefto iffued by the duke of Brunfwick 
of the coalition of crowned heads againft the French re¬ 
public, menacing with extermination all who fhould dare 
to refift the forces employed in maintaining the caufe of 
royalty, military preparations were begun to be made in 
the papal dominions, which could not but be confidered 
by the French government as intended to ftrengthen the 
power of theirenemies. This fufpicion was confirmed by 
the circumftances connedted with, and immediately fol¬ 
lowing, the murder of Bafieville, the French, ambail'ador, 
by the mob of Rome. That minifter had been fent, in 
1793, to diffuade the pope from joining the league againft 
the republic, and had been inltrudted to erafe the royai 
arms from the French academy, and all public buildings 
belonging to the nation, and to fubftitute the republican 
infignia in their place. Pius, however, refufed to acknow¬ 
ledge him as the reprefentative of France, till a repara¬ 
tion had been made to the holy fee for its wrongs. Baf- 
leville, being prevented from difplaying on the public 
buildings the emblems of his own government, deter¬ 
mined to maintain its honour in his own perfonal appear¬ 
ance, and without hefitation openly paraded the ftreets 
with the national cockade in his hat. This conduct oc- 
cafioned violent murmurs among the populace, and in¬ 
duced the minifter for foreign affairs to requeft it of him, 
as a particular favour, that he would not expofe himfelf, 
by perfevering in that practice, to popular refentment, 
the confequences of which might prove fatal. To this 
admonition Bafieville paid no regard ; and having ven¬ 
tured out on a Sunday in his carriage, through the Strada 
del Corlo, which was molt frequented as a public parade, 
difplaying, as ufual, the national badge, the mob be¬ 
came fo irritated, that they affafiinated him upon the fpot. 
This horrid cataftrophe might be the effect of a fudden 
ebullition of popular rage ; but the gentle terms in which 
it was condemned by his holinefs, as an excels which had 
deranged the public tranquillity, afforded plaufible 
grounds to the republicans, for charging the Roman go¬ 
vernment with being abettors, if not the authors, of the 
crime. The certainty that this event mud be followed 
by a complete rupture between France and the holy fee, 
determined Pius openly to declare againft the republic. 
He therefore publifhed his Manifefto, in which he ordered 
a general armament to a HI ft in exterminating the fworn 
enemies of all thrones and altars, w hom he held out to 
univerfal odium in indignant language, the feverity of 
which feemed to be extenuated, if not juftified, by the 
atrocities which the revolutionifts had committed. This 
manifefto offered amnefty and abfolution to criminals who 
fhould take up arms for the church and ftate; and ex¬ 
empted no perfons from the general rifing but children, 
old men, and priefts, who, to ufe the pontiff’s language, 
“ were to raife up their hands on the mountain, while the 
faithful fought in the plain.” But the penury of the pa¬ 
pal treafury, owing to the wretched adminiftration of the 
finances, rendered it inadequate to the extraordinary de¬ 
mands of fuch a crifis; and the expedients to which re- 
courfe was had in order to raife fupplies, gave rife to fo 
much difeontent and difienfion, that all the force and vi¬ 
gilance of government were requifite to preferve internal 
quiet, inftead of being employed on objedts of foreign 
warfare. No long time, therefore, intervened, before 
the language of his holinefs underwent a change, and he 
was folicitous to be thought adverfe to all hoftile defigns 
againft France. It cannot but be fuppofed, that the fuc- 
cefs and progrefs of the republican armies had alfo fome 
weight in determining the line of conduit which he was 
now willing to adopt. To fome individuals of the 
French republic, who had been purfued by Neapolitan 
frigates, and were fiiipwrecked on the territory belong¬ 
ing to the church, he ordered every neceffary atten¬ 
tion and kindnefs to be fhown ; and when the pri¬ 
vateers of Civita Vecchia had captured fome French 
merchantmen, he immediately directed that they fhould 
be taken to Marfeilles, and reftored to their original 
owners, taking occafion from that circumftance to de¬ 
clare, that he was “ not at war with any country.” In 
thus declaring himfelf neutral, the pope undoubtedly 
chofe the wifeft and fafeft part; but he had not the pru¬ 
dence to be fteady in his neutrality. When Bonaparte 
penetrated into Italy in the fpring of 1796, after gaining 
lucceftive victories over the Aultrians, Pius committed 
an aid of aggreffion, by fuffering the Neapolitan cavalry 
(who were haftening to their fticcour) to pafs through 
the territories of the church, and even directing their 
march. It was r.ot long before he had reafon to lament 
the impolicy of his conduit. 
No iocner had Bonaparte difperfed the Auftrian armies 
in Italy, than he proceeded againft thofe Italian ftates 
which had either joined or favoured them. Having with 
his main army entered the territory of the pope, and with¬ 
out refiftance taken pofleffion of Bologna, Ferrara, and 
Urbino, his holinefs was under the necefiity of throwing 
himfelf on the clemency of the conqueror, who granted 
him an armiltice, but on very fevere conditions. By the 
terms of it, the pope was compelled to fet at liberty thole 
perfons who were at that time confined for their politi¬ 
cal conduit or opinions; to renounce the friendship of 
the coalefced-powers, and to fliut up his ports againft 
them; to furrender to the French the cities of which they 
already had pofl’eflion, as well as the citadel of Ancona; 
to pay twenty-one millions of French money ; and to de¬ 
liver one hundred piftures, bulls, vafes, or ftatues, and 
alfo five hundred manuferipts, to be felected by commif- 
fioners who lhould be fent to Rome lor that purpofe. 
Such were the conditions on which Bonaparte granted an 
armiftice to the pope, and confented that he fliould lend 
cotnmiffioners to Paris, in order to negotiate a peace witii 
the executive directory. In the mean time general Wurm- 
fer had arrived in Italy with his formidable army, and 
was at firft io fuccefsful, that he compelled the French to 
raife the fiege of Mantua with confiderable iofs. So in¬ 
fatuated was the pope with the news of this fuccefs, that 
he fent his vice-legate to take pofleffion of Ferrara, w hich 
