Humiliating as the compliance with Bonaparte's request must have seemed
to the more devoted Catholics, Pius VII. had already sacrificed, to
obtain the Concordat, so much of the power and privileges of the Roman
See, that he could hardly have been justified if he had run the risk of
losing the advantages of a treaty so dearly purchased, by declining to
incur some personal trouble, or, it might be termed, some direct
self-abasement. The Pope, and the Cardinals whom he consulted, implored
the illumination of heaven upon their councils; but it was the stern
voice of necessity which assured them, that, except at the risk of
dividing the Church by a schism, they could not refuse to comply with
Bonaparte's requisition. The Pope left Rome on the 5th of November. He
was everywhere received on the road with the highest respect, and most
profound veneration; the Alpine precipices themselves had been secured
by parapets wherever they could expose the venerable Father of the
Catholic Church to danger, or even apprehension. Upon the 25th of
November, he met Bonaparte at Fontainbleau; and the conduct of the
Emperor Napoleon was as studiously respectful towards him, as that of
Charlemagne, whom he was pleased to call his predecessor, could have
been towards Leo.

On the 2nd of December, the ceremony of the coronation took place in
the ancient cathedral of Notre Dame, with the addition of every ceremony
which could be devised to add to its solemnity. Yet we have been told
that the multitude did not participate in the ceremonial with that
eagerness which characterises the inhabitants of all capitals, but
especially those of Paris, upon similar occasions. They had, within a
very few years, seen so many exhibitions, processions, and festivals,
established on the most discordant principles, which, though announced
as permanent and unchangeable, had successively given way to newer