The National Register.
London, England, 1808-07-17 00:00:00

,STATE PA P ER.


THE NATION

your
httcl. to this town at half past eleven at night, to wait for
further orders. The action, w hicit had been doubtful for two
hours, was decided in favour of the enemy, by the precipitate
111i.rht of the wined Wit-tint:Ants, hom I found it impossible to
keep in their ranks.. The or Gies bridge of Alecolea wa-
glorionsly defended hot!' by our artillery and the brave Lafal..
who had under his orders at Campo Mayor, 100 volunteers and
provincial grenadiers. I can assure your Highness, the pas•
cost the enemy upwards of 200 men in killed and wounded, an
that the reneoutitre with our cavalry cost them as many. For
our part, I will send positive intelligence to your Highness as
soon as I receive the returns from the respective Commandant.
of Corps—lo the mean while, front those in my hands, anti
from what have seen, lam convinced that the number of both
will not amount to thirty.
(Signed) PETER AUSTIN DE ECIIEVNIZR.I.
" To 11. M. S. H. FRANCIS .DE SAVEDNA, and the Supreme
Board of Neville."
(Signed)

By Order of the Supreme Board,
66 JUAN 11.4rTISL 4 PnAno, and
66 M4.VCvEL .111. AGUILAR, Secretaries."

AIItIVER OF HIS EMINENCE CARDINAL GABRIELLI, FIRST
SECRETARY OF STATE TO Tile NOTE OF lIIS EXCELLENCY
M. CIIAMPAGNY, ADDRESSED TO M. LE FEVRE, CHARGE
D'AFF AIRES FROM THE EMPEROR OF FRANCE, DATED
APRIL 19,1808.

" After your Excellency had made known to the Holy Fa-
ther, that it was the decided wish of his Majesty the Emperor
and King, that he should enter into an offensive and defensive
league with the other Pt) 4 ers of Italy, as had been declared
M. Champagny to the Cardinal Caprara , by note of the ;Id cur-
rent, the dispatch of the said Cardinal has been received, which
brought the original note of the above M blister.
" The holy Father, after having attentively read and consi-
dered the said document, has ordered Cardinal Gabrielli, First
Secretary of State, to make known to your Excellency his holi-
ness's sentiments on its contents; beginning with that which
forms the cardinal point among all the others. His Holiness
has seen with pain, that even the final proposition therein con-
tained, of the offensive and defensive league, should be accom-
pauied with the threat of depriving him of his temporal domi-
nions in case of his mm-compliance. If worldly consideration,
bad at all influenced the conduct of the Holy Father, he would
from the first have yielded to the wish of his Majesty, and nut
base exposed himself to suffer so many calamities; but the Holy
Father is regulated alone by the consideration due to his duty
and his conscience : both have prevented him from agreeing to the
Federation, and they equally hinder him from consenting to the
offensive and defensive league, which differs but in name; its na-
ture, however, does not except any Prince, to whom the Pope,
according to the circumstances of the times, might. not become
10 enemy.
" His Holiness feels, moreover, that this article, far from im-
proving, detracts from his situation. In the articles presented
to Cardinal de Eagan, the Federation was proposed as alone
against heretics and the English. tut this is couched in generol
terms, pointing out no people as an cuemy, yet excluding no
government, no nation, from the contingency of becoming one.
If, then, his Holiness declined from conscientious motives to be
a party to that Federation, so is he equally withheld from this
league. The Holy Father would not merely bind himself to a
-defence. hut to an aggression. Then would he seen the Minister
of the God of Peace placing himself in a state of perpetual war-
fare ; then would be seen their common Father in arms against
his children, and the Head of the Church exposing himself, by
his own act, to a deprivation of his spiritual connections with
the Catholics of those Powers against which the league wool::
make it imperative on him to act hostilely. How then can his
Holiness shake off his power and natural character, and sacrifice
as must be the consequence, the interests of Religion!
" His Holiness, unlike other Princes, is invested with a two-
fold character, namely, of Sovereign Pontiff, and of temporal
Sovereign, and has given repeated evidence that he cannot, b.
virtue of this second qualification, enter upon engagements whic;
would lead to results militating against his first and most im-
portant ()',nice, and injuring the religion if which he is the heat:,
tire Propagator, and the Avenger. His Holiness, therefore,