Page:On papal conclaves (IA a549801700cartuoft).djvu/244

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228
APPENDIX.

which he had reconciled himself with his adversaries by a compromise, due mainly to the Regent Orleans's influence.

The other case that offers a remarkable contrast to the mode in which Pius IX. has acted, is that of the protest signed on 6th April 1803, in London, by the French emigrant Bishops, headed by Cardinal Montmorency-Laval against the Bulls Ecclesia Christi and Qui Christi Domini, which Pius VII. had issued with the view of superseding them in their Sees after the conclusion of the Concordat. If there be such a thing as canonical obedience due to a Pope's utterance, simply because uttered by a Pope and irrespective of its subject, then certainly these Prelates who distinctly impugned solemn Bulls must have been guilty of it; and yet it does not seem that Pius VII. in any manner proceeded against Cardinal Montmorency-Laval.