siastical States to the dominions of France. The
spirit of the pope was still unsubdued, and he refused, for himself and
his cardinals, all offers of subsistence from the usurper of their
possessions. When urged to come to some agreement with Buonaparte, he
answered that his regret at having accepted the late _Concordat_, would
be a sufficient security against his being again deceived. And when the
cardinals represented the evils which might result from his refusal, he
answered, "Let me die worthy of the misfortunes I have suffered." On the
23d of January, 1814, the pope was removed from Fontainbleau, as were
each of the seventeen cardinals, in custody of a _gend'arme_, and their
destination was kept secret. But on the 5th of April following, the
provisional government of France gave orders, that all obstacles to the
return of the pope to his states might be removed; and, after five years
of confinement and outrage, Pius VII. returned to his capital, to
receive the reward of that _firmness_ and _moderation_, which, blended
so happily in his character, will long render it an object of
admiration.

I next considered the character of the tyrant, who so long and so
successfully triumphed over prostrate Europe, England alone preserving
unimpaired that liberty, which she was destined to be the means of
diffusing to rival nations. It would be absurd to deny Buonaparte the
praise due to the matchless activity, and consummate skill, with which
he conducted the enterprizes suggested by his boundless ambition; and
which made him the most formidable enemy with whom England ever had to
contend; but his cruelty, his suspicion, and his pride, (which made him
equally disregard those laws of honour, and those precepts of morality,
respected by the general feelings of mankind), as they excited the
indignation of thinking men, prevented any pity at his fall. Such a man
was destined only to excite astonishment, not admiration; and that
astonishment could not fail of being greatly diminished, by his want of
extraordinary resources, when placed in a situation, upon the
possibility of which he had disdained to calculate.

His continued aggressions raised Europe against him from without, and he
was overthrown, because he had completely disgusted the fickle people,
whom he had made the instruments of his ambition.

It would surely require the pen of _a Tacitus_ to delineate with
accuracy the character of such a man, who, to use the words of t