2 AWAY FROM ROME!
ture, the new Gcsar also sought to find a footing on the Rock which had withstood so many turbulent floods of time. It was a sign that he did not know this yesterday; and if he had succeeded in making the High Priest his functionary, the curbed Papacy would not have lent his crown the splendour he desired.
Negotiations for a new Concordat lasted five days. Pius was no longer in possession of his powers. Bishops and Cardinals urged him to do the Emperor's bidding. He signed a calamitous paper with eleven preliminary articles, in which surrender to the rights to the Papal States was implied. The "Black Cardinals" were called back, and though Napoleon put up a stiff resistance Cardinal Pacca came too. He was not unaware of the new situation and was deeply moved when he saw his old friend again. The Pope stood before him a bent, pale, old man with sunken, almost lifeless eyes. They embraced, and Pius immediately explained with many self-accusations what had hap- pened. Since Napoleon had in the interim proclaimed this provi- sional agreement a law of the state and had ordered Te Deums to be sung in thanksgiving in the Churches, most of the Cardinals coun- selled the Pope to retract. Such a retraction was sent by the Pope personally to Napoleon at Consalvi's suggestion. In this letter he said that his conscience was on the rack and also expressed his aston- ishment that the provisional outline of a future treaty should have been made public. The Emperor kept the letter a secret so that he could act as if he had not received it, fc
Napoleon had neither the desire nor the rime to let matters drift to a schism, because he had to inaugurate the campaign of 1813. Reckoning with the possibility that the allied armies might reach Paris and liberate the Pope, he gave orders that the prisoner should be brought quietly back to Savona. Before he left Pius gave the Cardi- nals written directions governing the time of his absence. The "Black Cardinals" were interned in Southern France.
The fortunes of 1813-1814 compelled Napoleon, who had also lost Italy, to set the Pope free. When Pius went back to Rome, jubilant crowds welcomed him everywhere. At the same time, Napoleon was dictating his abdication in Fontainebleau. During the next year Gen- eral Murat invaded the Papal States, and the Pope had to flee once again to Genoa for a short time. The prophecies of St. Malachias
AQUILA
