1799. ] 
tics; and among others the obfervation of the 
king of Prufhia fhould not be forgotten, 
who, in a letter to D’Alembert, wrote, 
** Courage, mon cher Araxagoras, Jofeph 
wa pas permis que la couronne fe courbit 
deveaut la tiare!”” 
On his return to Rome, Pius the Vith 
fpenc the fix following years of his ponti- 
ficate in the greateft tranquillity, wholly 
occupied in the improvement of his tem- 
poral dominions, and the aggrandifement 
of his relations. 
He was not, however, quite free from 
anxieties with refpect to the affairs of the 
church. ‘The government of .Naples, or 
more ftriétly {peaking the lawyers, whom 
Tralians call the monkeys of government, 
took advantage of the late violent innova: 
tions of the emperor Joleph, and the un- 
fuccefsful expedition of his holinefs, to 
bring about in the kingdom of Naples 
fome reform in fayour of royal juvifdic- 
tion and the lay magiftracy. There were, 
undoubtedly, great abules exifting among 
the Neapolitan clergy, both fecular and 
regular, and many unwarrantable prero- 
gatives had been ufurped there by the court 
of Rome, and the papal nuncio refiding 
at Naples. But this endeavour at reform 
anfwered in the end no nfeful purpofe. It 
ought, in the opinion of the moft intelli- | 
gent Neapolitans, fo to have been planned, 
that neither decorum nor dignity fhould 
be wanting in its execution; there ought 
to have been fubftituted, in place of exift- 
ing abufes, fome wife regulations calcu- 
tated to prevent the anarchy of judicial 
proceedings, andthe ill effects of ecclefiaf- 
tical intrigue; and laftly fome good ought 
» to have been the refultof the whole. For 
want of this, the heads of reform delivered 
i by the Neapolitan lawyers were little 
better than feholaftic and childith quef- 
tions. The whole of them confifted in 
alcertaining whether {uch a bifhopric or 
abbey was of royal-or ecclefiaftical foun- 
dation, whether fuch a:benefice or living, 
ought to be conferred by ‘the court of 
Rome or that of Naples, and, what is ftill 
more ridiculous, whether bifhops of the 
feveral diocefés in the kingdom ought to 
“ftyle themfelves, — Dei et apoflalice fedis 
gratia Epifcopus,—or—Dei et regis gratia 
Epifcopus. His holinefs was highly in- 
cenfed at feeing the; ecclefiaflical interefts 
thus falling a prey to forenfic cabal ; and 
made his Sicilian majefty fenfible, more 
than once, of the danger of fuch proceed- 
ings. He promifed alfo to grant a new 
concordate, in which he agreed willingly 
to refign any right his majefty fhould think 
- ebnoxious to royal prerogative, He was, 
_ Monrtary Mac, No. L. 
\ 
Memoirs of the Life of the late Pope, Pius V1. 
however, not more fortunate ‘with the 
court of Naples, than he had been before 
with that of Vienna: for the lawyers and 
pedantic canonizers had engroffed the whole 
adminiftration. 
In 1786, achange of miniftry having 
taken place in the Neapolitan cabinet, his 
holinefs thought the time favourable to put 
an end to thofe fcandalous and uftlefs difs. 
putes, whicl# had fo long exifted. The 
newly appointed firft minifter: was Mar- 
quis Caraccioli, formerly ambaffador at 
Paris, a profeffed atheift, and perfect adept 
in the {chool of D? Alembert, Diderot, Con-. 
dorcet, and other modern French philo- 
fophers ; all of whom were-his intimate 
friends. Pius the Vith was aware of 
this: but fo great was his .ayerfion to 
Neapolitan chicanery, that he chofe ra- 
ther to commit the interefts of the church 
to an atheift of good fenfe and liberality 
of mind, than to fuffer them to remain the 
topics of difcuflion among attornies, clerks, 
and practitioners of law. | 
In this he. was not wrong; for the 
marquis Caraccioli, whatever may have 
been his religious opinions, was too fen- 
fible not to feel the neceffity, in fuch a 
fituation, of a fteady upright conduc; 
and accordingly on the firft application he 
anfwered the cardinal fecretary of ftate, 
that if his holinefs fhould fend a prelate 
to Naples, in the capacity of nuncio ex- 
traordinary, he would then open the ne- 
gociation for the intended concordate. 
The nuncio difpatched on this occafon 
was Monfeigneur Galeppi, equally cele- 
brated for: his fagacity and achivity; 
and fome have thought, for. dupli« 
city alf. It will therefore appear in- 
credible, that the efforts of fuch an artful 
negociator, condugted for twelve months 
together, fupported by the marquis Ca- 
raccioli and his Sicilian majefty himfelf, 
who was heartily inclined to terminate the 
conte, fhould have been baffled and 
counteracted by the mean'intrigues of the 
lawyers and canonifts! They went fo far 
as to infinuate into his majefty’s mind, 
that the firft mitifter was evidently de- 
voted to the éourt of Rome. Upon which 
the pleafant atheift, Cacaccioli- was heard 
one night, inithe council of tate, ‘to ex= 
claim with one of thofe pulciwellefche {al- 
lies fo natural to him:—O+ holy Church! 
to what a difirefed condition muft thou be 
reduced when I am forced to be thy pros 
tegfar ! all. 
The mifcartiase of the concordcte, 
and the unfuccefstul return of the prelate 
Galeppi to Rome, made the Neapolitan 
pedants more bold than ever.- Accord- 
42 ingly 
77. 


