ENGLISH COMMERCE AND THE HOLY SEE.
Gloucester Place, 16th, July.
Sin—The subjoined extract from Professor Fredet of Baltimore's Modern History shows how steadfastly, in a moment of great peril, Pius VII. stood by this country. See page 457, A.D. 1809. Your obedient servant, PHILIP H. HOWARD. "Elated with prosperity' and anxious to bring everything under his control, Napoleon solicited the Pope to close his harbours against British commerce, and become a party to the war against England and Austria. This Pius VII. positively and constantly refused : being, he answered, the Father of Christian nations, he could not, consistently with that character, become the enemy of anyone. The Emperor was highly incensed at this i courageous refusal, and, n order to gratify his ambition, determined on following a more audacious course. By a decree dated at Vienna, the 17th May 1809, he declared the Ecclesiastical State annexed to his empire; and, as this unwarrantable proceeding was instantly punished by excommunica- tion, the French troops, who had already taken possession of Rome, received an order to send the excellent Pontiff into captivity and exile. This out- rageous act filled up the measure of Napoleon's blindness and ingratitude, and, by provoking alike the justice of God and the indignation of all sen- sible men, was undoubtedly the chief among the remote causes of his sub- sequent downfall."
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