Star.
London, England, 1808-09-14 00:00:00

DECLARATION OF HIS HOLINESS.

" The Holy Father has seen, with infinite grief, that the force
of those reasons which he before advanced, has not prevented his
Imperial and Royal Majesty from putting his threats in execution.
He has seen with the same sentiments that the powerfui Monarch
in whose hands he placed, at the foot of the Altar, the sceptre
and the rod of justice, has, in return, committed a new act of
spoliation upon his remaining possessions.
" But what was the surprize of his Holiness on seeing a decree
dated one day previous to M. Champagny's note ; so that before
that Minister renewed his proposition, and received art answer,
the fate of the usurped provinces had been determined.
" The astonishment of the Holy Father was still mere in-
creased by seeing that the cause assigned for this spoliation was,
• his constant refusal to male war upon the English, and to league him-
self with the Xing, of Italy and Naples;' yet his Holiness had
never ceased to represent, that his sacred character ef ' Minister
of Peace' (the GOD, whose place be holds upon earth, being the
GOD of Peace)—that his quality of Head of Religion, universal
Pastor, and Common Father of all the faithful—those sacred laws
of justice, of which, as representative of a (;o u who is the source
of it, he ought to be the guardian and avenger, permitted him
not to enter into a permanent system of war; and till less to de-
clare K.. without any motive whatever, against the. British Go-
vernment, from which he had never received the slightest offence.
Nevertheless the Holy Father intreated his Majesty to reflect,
that neither having nor being capable of having any enemies, be-
cause he was the Vicar of CHRIST, who came into this world not
to foment but to destroy enmity, he could not pledge himself and
his successors for ever, as the Emperor desired, to make war in
the cause of others.

" However his Holiness bad impressed an opinion of the in-
calculable mischiefs which would result to religion, if he were to
enter into a system of perpetual league, and that he could not,
without vitiating kis honour—without incurring universal hatred—
without betraying his duty and his conscience, expose himself, in
consequence of the proposed treaty, to become the enemy of any
Sovereign, even Catholic, and to lay himself under an obligation
to make war upon him: but all these representations' and all
these arguments, so often laid before his Majesty with paternal
mildness, produced no impression.
" It has been attempted to justify this robbery by another pre-
' text, by assigning as another reason for it, that the interests of the
two kingdoms, and two armies of Italy and Naples, required that
their communications should not be interrupted by any hostile
power.
" If this is meant to include England. the history of almost two
centuries shews the falsity of this specious assertion. The Catholic
Sovereigns of Spain, and the House of Austria, from the Emperor
Charles V. to Charles 11. were in possession of the kingdom of
Naples and the Duchy of Milan, which form at present the prin-
cipal part of the kingdom of Italy, and they never pretended that
their interests were endangered; they never experienced this pre-
tended obstacle to the communication of their armies. They were
often at war with Great Britain, and still oftener with France,
and they never apprehended an intermediate landing in the States
of the Church : still less did they endeavour to force the Pontiffs
of that day into an alliance and confederation with them, and
threaten to strip them of their dominions in case of refusal.
" but not to advert to history, how could the interests of the
two separate kingdoms be endangered ? The neutrality of the
Holy Father, recognized and respected by all the other Powers, and
the measures taken to prevent its violation, were more than suf-
ficient to place it in security.
" To make this security greater, and remove every pretext, his
Holiness carried his condescension as far as it was possible and
declared that he was ready to shut his ports against England
the present war, and to employ all his troops to prevent the
shores of the States of the Church from being attacked.
" But what attack could the two kingdoms which adjoin the
States of the Church apprehend, when the French troops have so
long, without any regard to the interests of the State or of Indi-
viduals, occupied all his ports, and the whole of the coast.
" If it is meant by the words hostile Power to designate the
person of his Holiness, his mild and pacific character places hirfi
above this insulting imputation ; but to repel it still more, his Ho-
liness invokes the testimony of the French Empire and the king-
dom of Italy, in whose favour he signed two Concordats, the
violation of which is become a subject of perpetual grief to his
heart, having continually, but in vain, solicited the faithful execu-
tion ;hereof. He invokes the testimony of Europe, who has seen
Wan in his old age, in the most rigorous season of the year, tra-
verse the Alps on his way to Paris, not without exciting the jea-
lousy and disgust of the other great- Powers, for the purpose of
crowning his Imperial and Royal Majesty. He appeals to the
testimony of the whole French army, from the highest to the
lowest ranks, whether, in their passage through his territories, or
whenever they halted in them, if they have not met with the most
friendly reception and liberal hospitality—a reception and hospi-
tality which have brought tears in the eyes of his Holiness, who
found himself under the imperious necessity of loading his sub-
jects with taxes, to maintain and pay the French army. Finally,
his Holiness appeals to the testimony of his Majesty himself, to
whom on all occasions he has manifested the most marked esteem.

" But if his Holiness was surprised at the two first arguments
which were advanced to justify this spoliation, he cannot find
words to express the profoand astonishment which he felt at the
language in which the third was conveyed. It applies to the gift
of Charlemagne, and is followed by an observation, ' Mat it was
glop. for theadvantage oy. Christianity, aid net for Mat of the twenties of
our religion.'
" It is well known that this glorious and celebrated Monarch,
whose memory will for ever be blest by the Church, did not con-
fer on the Holy See the provinces which have been just usurped.
It is notorious, that for a considerable time antecedent to that
period they wave in the power of the Roman Pontiffs, by the vo-
luntary submission of the inhabitants who had been abandoned by
the Emperors of the East ; that the armies of the Lombards hav-
inglifterwards occupied the Escarquat of Ravenne and La Penta-
pole, which included these provinces, Pepin, the illustrious and
religious father of Charlemagne, wrenched them from their
bands, and. restored them to Pope Stephen, by a deed of gift;
that this great Emperor, the honour and admiration of the eighth
century, far from wishing to revoke this generous and pious act
of Pepin, his father, approved and confirmed it under Adrian ;
that far from wishing to despoil the Roman Church of its posses-
sions, he was inclined, on the contrary, to confirm and increase
them ; that in consequence, he inserted in his will, an express
command to his three sons, to protect them by his arms; that
he did not reserve to himself, or his successors, any right to re-
voke that which he and his father Pepin had done for the advan-
tage of the Chair of St. Peter; that his sole intehtion was to pro•
tect the Roman Pontiffs against their enemies, and not to compel

. - .
away since Charlemagne, and a thousand yean of peaceable pow,
session have rendered all antecedent inquity and ulterior interpre-
tation quite unnecessary; and that if even this religious Prince, its
place of • restitution or free gift. had terored ar given for the
benefit of Christianity, it is precisely for the good of Christianity,
or, to speak with mote exactitude, for the good of the Catholic
Church, that the Holy Father wishes for peace with all the world;
that he will not provoke the resentment of any Power; and that
he avoids engaging in political wars. If so many voices .have
been raised against those Pores, who, on the most just grounds,
engaged in war, the Holy Father cannot perceive how.- it can be
made an article of accusation against him--that having teceived
no provocation, but refusing to fallow a foreign impulse, he dons
not consent to assume a martial character, to the prejudice of re-
ligion and his subjects.
" His Holiness cannot, from any motive, dissemble the intuit
which is offered to him in the said decree, in which, in remarking
that the gyt of Charlemagne oaf not maelefor the advantage of the
enemit; of ma religion, he is accused of having betrayed its sacred
interests.

" This charge has greatly affected the Holy Father, who for
three years, and particularly a• present, has been exposed to per-
secution, which he suffers for the good of religion, and in conse-
quence of having remained faithful to the duties of his Apostolic
mission.

" He suffers this persecution for not having admitted the prin-
ciples which were suggested to him at different Nines—that if he
was the Holy Father and Sovereign If Rome, his Majesty was,
however, the Emperor thereof ; that the Holy Father ought to
submit to hint in temporaLin the same manner as it was his duty
to submit to the Pope In spiritual affairs ; that the States of the
Holy See belonged to the French en.pire' and were part thereof ;
that in consequence of the rights of his Crown, the Pope ought
now and for ever to make common cause with hint and his suc-
cessors; that he ought always to consider the enemies of France
as his own ; and that it was incumbent on him, therefore, to en-
ter into the federative system of the Empire.
" The solemn oaths flaken by the Holy Father to maintain his
liberty and independence, so necessary to the prosperity of the
Catholic religion, and the free exercise of his supreme Spiritual
Power, did not permit hint to subscribe to maxims of so destruc-
tive and fatal a tendency.
" He suffers the present persecution, because he could not as-
sent to the demands of his Majesty, who always it sisted upon
nominating a number of French Cardinals, sufficient to consti-
tute c.ne-third of the Sacred College ; because thh would be to
sap the firidamental basis of its constitution, to attack the lade- ,
peniknce of its spiritual, and to re-open an entrance to all those
fatal disasters which the Church of God has so long had occasion
to deplore.
" He suffers it, in short, for not being disposed to enter Into a
league, offensive and defensive ; for not permitting himself to be
drawn into a system of progressive hostility against all Powers
whatsoever, Catholic States included ; for not assuming a mili-
tary and aggressive character, to the evident detriment of religion.
" If this be what is called betraying its interests, let Heaven,
the Church, the world, and posterity, judge.
" The Holy Father has the inward consciousness of h.ving
done no injury either to his Majesty or to France. But even ad-
mitting that there were some grounds of personal complaint
against hint, it does not thence follow that the Roman Church
can or ought to be punished by, irrevocably and for ever, despoil-
ing it of the property which is stated in the decree itself to have
been given for the benefit of Christianity ; it does not follow that
that Church can be despoiled, which is no more the proprietor of
its estates than the Pontiff himself, who is simply their depositary
and guardian; that Church, which having a spiritual superintcn-
dance over all the others, has since the moment of the Peace of
Constantine been endowed by the piety of Monarchs and People,
arid by an admirable order of Providence, in the first instance,
with considerable patrimonies, and then with States, that ske
might be able to maintain her Spiritual Government with greater
dignity, freedom, and advantage; that Church, in short, which it
is intended to reduce to a state of degradation, and to render in•
capable of exercising its divine supremacy.
" His Holiness, besides, cannot sufficiently complain of the
error into which his Majesty the Emperor has fallen, since in the
act whereby he usurps from the Holy See a part of its States, and
declares that be seized upon them • !meanie they were not destined
fur tke advantage of the amnia of tht Catholic Rs iglu; he orders,
that in these same States there should be proclaimed a code,
against which the Head of that Religion has so often, though un-
successfully, remonstrated, on account of the different articles it
contains, particularly those of marriage and divorce, contrary to
the laws of the Church and the Gospel.
" Hie Holiness could not but feel astonishment at seeing-men-
tion made in this decree of the passports demanded by Monseig-
neur Cardinal Caprara, who is therein described only as the Am-
bassador from the Court of Rome, and at seeing this demand als
fledged as a fourth reason fur justifying the spoliation.
" After all that the Undersigned had the honour to signify, In
the month of April last, in answer to the Note oC.his Excellency
M. Ckampagny, his Holiness conceives that this topic of accusa-
tion is completely destroyed. It has been already sufficiently pro-
ved that the order of demanding passports was connected with
the just condition of evacuating Rome, and of forbearing to insist
on pretensions inadmissible by she head of the Church. His Ho-
liness could not, therefore, forbear to repeat, that it wholly de-
pended on his Majesty, and that he had the alternstive hi his
power, either to let M. Caprara depart, not simply as Ambassador
from the Court of Rome, but, at the smite time, as Apostolic Le-
gate, or to see him continue his residence at the Court of Paris.
Hence this matter is wrongfully stated in the Decree, as so great
a subject of complaint.
" But if the injustice of this Decree has added to the bitter grief
which afflicts the heart of the Holy Father, he has nut with less
pain seen, that the other decree of the same date, which enjoins
Cardinals, Prelates, Officers, and all persons whatsoever employed
by the Court of Rome, being natives of Italy, to return thither,
under pain of confiscation in case of disobedience.
" It is, s'ter this, too obvious, his Holiness states, that it is not
only his temporal power, but also his spiritual power that is sought
to be destroyed ; though in this second decree a studied distinction
is established between the temporal Sovereign of Rome and the.
Vicar of Jesus CHRIST, in order to affect some respect for the
latter.

" Who is there that does not perceive that the law just paved
tends to make it impossible for his Holiness to fulfil his duties,
disperses his sacred Senate, overturns the Government of the
Church, and, by removing from him the persons most dear to
him, deprives hint of the only consolation which remained to hint
in the painful exercise of his Apostolic functions, that are hence-
forth in a state of decline ?

" 1 he Pope is not simply Bishop of Rome, as has been so im-
properly alledged; he is at the same time pastor of the universal
Church, and has, consequently, the tight of choosing the Mini-
sters and co-operators of his Apostolic mission from among all the
nations of the earth. In fact, from the first tames of Christianity,
the Clergy of Rome have always been composed, not only of Ro-
mans but of individuals of all nations, as is evidently proved by
the number of strangers incorporated with the clergy of Rome,
and who ascended the Chair of St. Peter, in the first four cen-
turies of the Catholic Church,
" All these reasons justify the sorrow of his Holiness, who re-
monstrates against a law which spares net even those distin-
guished ecclesiastics chosen to assist him in the labours of the
Church of Go D.

" He, at the same time, remonstrates and loudly protests, in
the face of the whole earth, against the usurpation of his States.
He solemnly declares that it is unjust, void, null, and of no ef-
fect ; that it never can really affect the impreserlptible and legiti-
mate rights of sovereignty and possession i:lherent in his Holiness
and his successors in perp,tuny; and that, though forcibly di-
vested of the enjoyment of teem, he is resolved to maintain the
integrity of his rights, because the Holy See can recover actual
possession, when it shall seem meet to that faithful and true Gui
uultojudin and combats in favour of justice, aad who has interad upon
Ant vestments and hit forthead--T tut SING OF KINGS, AND THE MAS-
TER OF THOSE WHO GOVERN.

" At the sante time, his Holiness addresses the most fervent
prayers to the Father of Mercies that he may inspire all his sub-
jects, who are withdrawn from his power, and who have been
and ever shall be dear to his heart, with a spirit of patience and
resignation, that they may one day obtain of Heaven consolation
and peace, and that they ever .maintain entire in their hearts
religion and the faith.
" The Ceti of In-del still endow hi, people -with strength and sentare.
" Such are the sentiments and protestations Lis Holi-
ness has ordered the Undersigned to transmit to your illustrious
Lordship, as Charge d'Affaires ad' the kingdom of Italy, with
which his provinces have been incorporated. The undersigned
feels it his sacred duty to obey implicitly the order which he has
received, and at the same time renews to you the assurance of
his sincere consideration. ' (Signed)
" Cardinal C411%11141.
si To Seignior Alberti, Charge d'Affaires
of the Kingdom of Italy."

KATMNS.

.6 DUB L"

'et Wednesday last, an order artiield is Cork front
Government for the immediate embarkation at that
port, of the troops under the command of Lieutenant,.
Genefal Sir DAvio BAIRD. Some cavalry, and the
whole of the Foot Guards, will join him, with the
51st and 59th Regiments from England."

" RAMSGATE, SEPTEMBER Ig.

" Saturday last a part of the 95th Rifle Corps,
near 500 men, marched into Ramsgate and imtnedi.
ately e.nharked. Same day sever.ll transports with
part of the Guards sailed from this harbour for the
Downs. YesterJay the remainder of the Ist and 3d
battalions (,f We Ist Guards left the ha•-b. ur also for
the Downs. This morning the 95th Rifle Corps sailed
for the Downs, together with small detachments of the
9th, 52d infantry and Stair. Some artiii, ry Coeltpa.
vies and detachimqns of Wagg'en Train ;•re expected
h_re a; soon as th. re are vessels to receive thzni."

The transports having on hoard the Ist and 5,1 bat.
talions of the Ist regirnsmL of Guards are still in 'ha
Downs.