system of the Berlin and Milan decrees; and thus far he at length
prevailed. But when he went on to demand that his holiness should take
an active part in the war against England, he was met by a steady
refusal. Irritated by this opposition, and, perhaps, still more by his
suspicion that the patriots of the Spanish Peninsula received secret
support from the Vatican, Buonaparte did not hesitate to issue a decree
in the following words: "Whereas the temporal sovereign of Rome has
refused to make war against England, and the interests of the two
kingdoms of Italy and Naples ought not to be intercepted by a hostile
power; and whereas the donation of Charlemagne, _our illustrious
predecessor_, of the countries which form the Holy See, was for the good
of _Christianity_, and not for that of the _enemies of our holy
religion_, we, therefore, decree that the duchies of Urbino, Ancona,
Macerata, and Camarino, be for ever united to the kingdom of Italy."

The seaports of the papal territory were forthwith occupied by French
troops, but Pius remained for some time in undisturbed possession of
Rome itself. On his return from Spain, however, Napoleon determined to
complete his work in Italy, ere he should begin the inevitable campaign
with Austria. General Miollis, therefore, took military possession of
Rome in February, 1809; the Pope, however, still remaining in the
Vatican, and attended there as usual by his own guards.

On the 17th of May, Napoleon issued, from Vienna, his final decree
declaring the temporal sovereignty of the Pope to be wholly at an end,
incorporating Rome with the French empire, and declaring it to be _his_
second city; settling a pension on the holy father in his spiritual
capacity--and appointing a committee of administration for the civil
government of Rome. The Pope, on receiving the Parisian
senatus-consultum, ratifying this imperial rescript, instantly
fulminated a bull of excommunication against Napoleon. Shortly after
some unauthentic news from Germany inspired new hopes into the adherents
of the Pontiff; and, disturbances breaking out, Miollis, on pretence
that a life sacred in the eyes of all Christians might be endangered,
arrested Pius in his palace at midnight, and forthwith despatched him
under a strong escort to Savona.

The intelligence of this decisive step reached Napoleon soon after the
battle of Wagram, and he was inclined to disapprove of the conduct of
Miollis as too precipitate. It was