to be the
headquarters of Christendom!" Rome, the second center of Christendom,
and the second residence of the Pope, is declared[5142] "an imperial and
free city, the second city of the empire"; a prince of the empire, or
other grand dignitary, is to reside there and "hold the court of the
emperor." "After their coronation in the cathedral of Notre Dame at
Paris, the emperors" will go to Italy before the tenth year of their
reign, and be "crowned in the church of St. Peter at Rome." The heir to
the imperial throne "will bear the title and receive the honors of
the King of Rome." Observe the substantial features of this chimerical
construction. Napoleon, far more Italian than French, Italian by race,
instinct, imagination, and souvenirs, considers in his plan the future
of Italy, and, on casting up the final accounts of his reign, we
find that the net profit is for Italy and the net loss is for France.
"Napoleon wanted to create the Italian kingdom over again,[5143]
combining Piedmont, Tuscany, etc., in one united independent nation,
bounded by the Alps and the sea.... This was to be the immortal trophy
erected in his honor.... He awaited impatiently the birth of a second
son that he might take him to Rome, crown him King of Italy and proclaim
the independence of the great peninsula under the regency of Prince
Eugene." Since Theodoric and the Lombard kings, it is the Pope who,
in preserving his temporal sovereignty and spiritual omnipotence, has
maintained the sub-divisions of Italy; let this obstacle be removed and
Italy will once more become a nation. Napoleon prepares the way,
and constitutes it beforehand by restoring the Pope to his primitive
condition, by withdrawing from him his temporal sovereignty and limiting
his spiritual omnipotence, by reducing him to the position of managing
director of Catholic consciences and head minister of the principal cult
authorized in the empire.

V. State domination of all religion.

Services which Napoleon desires or expects from the French
clergy.--His Roman idea of civil power.--Development of this
conception by the jurists.--Every religious association must
be authorized.--Legal statutes which fix the doctrine and
discipline of the four authorized Churches.--Legal
organization of the Catholic Church.--Its doctrine and
discipline to be that of the old Gallican Church.--New
situation of the French Church and new role of civil powe