on regaining his freedom and surrounded by his cardinals, who inform
him on the political situation, he will emerge from his bewilderment,
be attacked by his conscience, and, through his office, publicly
accuse himself, humbly repent, and in two months withdraw his
signature.

Such, after 1812 and 1813, is the duration of Napoleon's triumphs and
the ephemeral result of his greatest military and ecclesiastical
achievements - Moskow, Lutzen, Bautzen and Dresden, the Council of
1811 and the Concordat of 1813. Whatever the vastness of his genius
may be, however strong his will, however successful his attacks, his
success against nations and churches never is, and never can be, other
than temporary. Great historical and moral forces elude his grasp.
In vain does he strike, for their downfall gives them new life, and
they rise beneath the blow. With Catholic institutions,[118] as with
other powers, not only do his efforts remain sterile, but what he
accomplishes remains inverse to the end he has in view. He aims to
subjugate the Pope, and he led the Pope on to omnipotence He aims at
the maintenance and strength of the Gallican spirit among the French
clergy, and yet brings them under the rule of the ultramontane
spirit.[119] With extraordinary energy and tenacity, with all his
power, which was enormous, through the systematic and constant
application of diverse and extreme measures, he labored for fifteen
years to rend the ties of the Catholic hierarchy, take it to pieces,
and, in sum, the final result of all is to tie them faster and hasten
its completion.

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Notes: