THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD.

APRIL, 1865.

MEMOIRS OF MY MINISTRY.
THE UNITED DIOCESES OF CORK AND CLOYNE.
THE CHURCH AND THE BIBLE.
THE SOCIAL MISSION OF THE CHURCH.
LITURGICAL QUESTIONS.
DOCUMENTS.
NOTICES OF BOOKS.

MEMOIRS OF MY MINISTRY.

BY CARDINAL CONSALVI.

In the lonely hours of his exile at Rheims, whither he had been banished by Napoleon for having refused to assist at the imperial marriage with Maria Louisa, Cardinal Consalvi found employment in tracing from memory an outline of the great affairs which had occupied him during his ministry as Secretary of State. It was no self-love nor mean desire of praise that induced the man of action thus to become the historian of his own deeds. To the same zeal which had nerved him in his conflicts for the cause of the Church, do we owe the truthful record he has left us of the fortunes of these conflicts in which the Holy See was so audaciously attacked and so successfully defended. The thought that, perhaps, one day his words might be of advantage to the interests of religion, or might supply weapons for its defence, was a motive strong enough to influence him to undertake the task under circumstances the most unfavourable that can well be imagined. "I have drawn up these memoirs", he writes, "at most critical moments; how critical, may well be imagined when I mention, that as soon as I have finished a page I must hide it at once in a safe place, so as to secure it from the unforeseen perquisitions to which at all times we are exposed.... I am without notes either to guide or to confirm my reminiscences. I have not the leisure, nor the tranquillity, nor the security, nor the liberty which I require, if I would enrich my narrative with comments and becoming ornaments.... If God grant me life and better days, I hope to give to my work all that perfection of form and style which is at present beyond my power".

But, whatever the narrative may lack in perfection of form and style, is abundantly compensated by the interest attaching to the events it describes. It sets before us a picture of the movement of European society during the stirring period of the Cardinal's administration. The intrigues, and schemes, and falsehoods of diplomacy; the art of masking ambitious designs under generous language, and laying snares for a rival's unwary feet; the dishonourable selfishness, the detestable hypocrisy—in a word, all that goes to make up the strategy of modern statecraft, is laid bare in its pages by a master hand. And what lends fresh interest to the subject is the contrast it offers between the baseness of courts and the loyal rectitude of the Holy See, between the plotting which on the world's side exhibits nought but the cunning of the serpent, and the honourable prudence on the part of the Church which tells also of the simplicity of the dove. On the one hand we have a web of intrigue, each thread of which is meant to secure some perhaps undue advantage; on the other, a straightforward policy placing religion above everything, and worthy of the Pontiff who is vicar on earth of that Lord who loves souls. That the voice of such a policy should be heard at all, is due under Providence to the temporal sovereignty of the Holy See. The folly of those who would wish, for the sake of religion, to see the Pope a subject rather than a sovereign, cannot be better shown than by the history of the relations between the Holy See and the courts of Europe during Consalvi's administration. During that period Naples, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Russia, Malta, and France had each of them separate negociations to conduct with the Holy See on matters affecting the liberty of the Church and the interests of religion. It was a time when the interests of different states crossed each other in a thousand ways, and if the Pope had been the subject of any one of these kingdoms, it would have been simply impossible, humanly speaking, to carry on the government of the Church. Statesmen would have at their hand the ready pretext that the decisions of the Holy Father were coloured by undue national prejudices, and this pretext would serve to excuse their own encroachments upon the liberties of the Church in their own territories. Besides, that jealousy of the Church which has ever impelled statesmen to fetter its action, would certainly influence the sovereign who might claim the Pope as his subject to interfere with the liberty of so formidable a rival. The success which followed Cardinal Consalvi's management of affairs was due, no doubt, in great part, to his surpassing abilities; but these abilities required, as the condition of their exercise, the vantage ground of independence. Speaking from the steps of a throne, with all the liberty which that position secured to him, the Cardinal Secretary had an influence which could never belong to the mere ecclesiastic raising a suppliant voice at the footstool of some haughty sovereign.

The relations of France with the Holy See in the beginning of this century were such as to demand the unceasing attention of the Papal minister. We have already given the history of the negotiations concerning the Concordat with the First Consul; we are sure that the Cardinal's narrative of other transactions between Napoleon and the Pope will prove not less interesting to our readers.

It is not a little singular that the earliest negotiation between Pius VII. and France was precisely similar to the latest, and that the name of England held a prominent place in both. It is not at all singular, however, that the Pope followed in the latest the self-same principles of conduct which he professed in the earliest, even though this faithful adherence to his duty cost him his throne, and his liberty. Soon after his arrival in Rome, from Venice, there was some reason to fear lest the French army might proclaim once more the Roman Republic, and thus deprive the Holy Father of his dominions. All anxiety was soon dispelled by the proclamation issued by Murat to his troops, then about to march upon Naples through the Pontifical territory. In this proclamation he commanded his soldiers to observe strict discipline in passing through the friendly territory of the Holy See. This recognition of the papal sovereignty was a joyful surprise to all those who heard of it. But among those who did not hear of it was a Mgr. Caleppi, just named as Nuncio to the Brazils, who had become acquainted with Murat at Florence. Filled with zeal for the Pope, Mgr. Caleppi, without having received any orders from Rome, hurried after the general and overtook him at Florence. He there induced Murat to agree to a treaty, securing the integrity