legislative statute, be the supreme head of the French Church."

Unfortunately, this is repugnant to France. Napoleon often tries to
bring it about, but is satisfied that in this matter "he would never
obtain national cooperation"; once embarked," fully engaged in the
enterprise, "the nation would have abandoned him." Unable to take this
road, he takes another, which leads to the same result. As he himself
afterwards states, this result "was, for a long time and always, the
object of his wishes and mediations. . . . It is not his aim[24] to
change the faith of his people; he respects spiritual objects and
wants to rule them without meddling with them; his aim is to make
these square with his views, with his policy, but only through the
influence of temporal concerns." That spiritual authority should
remain intact; that it should operate on its own speculative domain,
that it to say, on dogmas, and on its practical domain, namely, on the
sacraments and on worship; that is should be sovereign on this limited
territory, Napoleon admits, for such is the fact. We have only to open
our eyes to see it; right or wrong, spiritual authority on this
distinct domain is recognized sovereign, obeyed, effective through the
persistent, verified loyalty of believers. It cannot be done away with
by supposing it non-existent; on the contrary, a competent statesman
will maintain it in order to make use of it and apply it to civil
purposes. Like an engineer who comes across a prolific spring near his
factory, he will not try to dry it up, nor let the water be dispersed
and lost; he has no idea of letting it remain inactive; on the
contrary, he collects it, digs channels for it, directs and economizes
the flow, and renders the water serviceable in his workshops. In the
Catholic Church, the authority to be won and utilized is that of the
clergy over believers and that of the sovereign pontiff over the
clergy.