hority which he had so long usurped and abused; and
the _11th of April 1814_, will be long hailed over Europe as the epoch
when liberty, peace and good order were restored to its inhabitants,
after the long and stormy reign of oppression, war and anarchy had so
long precluded the expected time of which it was impossible entirely to
despair--when Europe, so long a prey to dissension, should again be
united as one common family. These hopes have at last been realized; the
evils of the French Revolution (more productive of misfortune than the
fabled box of Pandora) have in a manner been surmounted; and we have
only further to wish, that the nations who have restored tranquillity to
Europe, may continue to act with the moderation for which they have
hitherto been distinguished [guess: distinguished].

It was natural, in beholding a place rendered memorable by such great
events,--events which are probably destined to fix the fortunes of
succeeding centuries, that the mind should dwell with more than common
attention on the scene, and give itself up to the reflections it was
calculated to produce. My thoughts were principally engaged in
considering the very opposite characters of Pius VII. and of Buonaparte.

In the first we see united all that can give dignity to an exalted
station, or that is praiseworthy in private life. We see him disposed as
much as possible to conciliation, and even persuaded by his cardinals to
cross the Alps in the most inclement season notwithstanding his advanced
age, to crown the _Usurper of France_, in the expectation of advancing
the interests of religion, by consenting to submit to a power which then
appeared but too firmly established. The hopes of the pope were not
realized; Buonaparte soon forgetting past services, made demands which
he well knew could not be complied with, and amongst them that his
holiness should declare war against England, and that too without the
slightest motive for such a proceeding on his part, as he stated in his
manifesto against the outrages of Buonaparte, a paper which must affect
all who peruse it, and excite their regret that the pope was not in a
situation effectually to preserve that independence which did such
honour to his heart.

The new-made emperor was not, however, to be reasoned with but by
_force_; and in about four years after the pope had placed the diadem on
his head, he caused him to be removed from his capital as a prisoner,
and united the Eccle