stablished system of the Church, whether
Gallican or Roman, that they were in flagrant contradiction with the
first principles of the Revolution; and why, in that immense explosion
of liberal sentiment, there was no room for religious freedom. They
believed that there was nothing in the scheme to which the Pope would
not be able to consent, to avoid greater evils, if the diplomacy of
the king was conducted wisely. What was conceded by Pius VII. to
Bonaparte might have been conceded by Pius VI. to Lewis XVI. The
judgment of Italian divines was in many instances favourable to the
decree of the National Assembly, and the College of Cardinals was not
unanimous against it. Their opinions found their way to Paris, and
were bought up by Roman agents. When the Concordat of 1801 was
concluded, Consalvi rejoiced that he had done so well, for he was
empowered, if necessary, to make still greater concessions. The
revolutionary canonists were persuaded that the Pope, if he rejected
the king's overtures, would be acting as the instrument of the
aristocratic party, and would be governed by calculated advantage, not
by conscience. Chenier's tragedy of Charles IX. was being played, and
revived the worst scenes of fanatical intolerance. The hatred it
roused was not allayed by the language of Pius VI. in the spring of
1791, when, too late to influence events, he condemned the Civil
Constitution. For he condemned liberty and toleration; and the
revolutionists were able to say that there could be no peace between
them, and that Rome was the irreconcilable adversary of the first
principles on which they stood. The annexation of the papal dominions
in France was proposed, in May 1791, when the rejection of the Civil
Constitution became known. It was thrown out at first, and adopted
September 14. We shall see, later on, that the conflict thus
instituted between the Revolution and the Church hastened the fall of
the throne, and persecution, and civil war.

I have repeatedly pointed to the jealousy of the executive as a source
of fatal mischief. This is the greatest instance of the harm it did.
That the patronage could not be left in the hands of the king
absolutely, as it was by the Concordat of Leo X., was obvious; but if
it had been given to the king acting through responsible ministers,
then much of the difficulty and the danger would have been overcome,
and the arrangement that grew out of the Concordat of Napoleon would
have been anticipa