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    kind ; for to the strictest discipline of the ritual and observances of the church he added doctrines of . no very inviting tendency ; and to this impracticability and unfitness for that more liberal sort of reform which the Austrian and Tuscan courts would have preferred , he probably mainly owed his want of success , and his final abandonment by his former patrons . The Emperor Joseph's reforms in the administration of religion throughout the Austrian dominions have been often described , and still form a durable

    monument to his memory , and a subject of grateful regard from his country . The abolition of useless convents , and the due regulation of Others , the proper equalization and administration of the ecclesiastical revenues to more legitimate purposes , the prohibition of all references and appeals to Rome , and the establishment of the independent authority of domestic councils , dissevered all that part of the connexion with the Papal court which could give inconvenience to a government ; and the remonstrance and efforts of Pius VI ., even on a personal journey taken for the purpose to Vienna , were found perfectly powerless against a monarch who was resolute in his object .

    The following is an instance of the cool manner in which this Sovereign replied to the remonstrances of the Pope against his supposed intention of selling all the ecclesiastical property , and making the clergy simple pensionaries of the State . It is dated 2 d August , 1782 . " Holy Father , " I have the honour to reply by return of the same courier to the letter

    which your Holiness has just written me , relative to my alleged project of seizing * all the property of churches and ecclesiastics , ana reducing these last to simple pensionaries . Doubtless these reports come from the same persons to whom I am indebted for the singular honour of having seen your Holiness here , and who have now given me this new proof in writing of your friendship for me , and of your truly apostolic zeal .

    " Not to fatigue you with useless details , I will content myself with saying , that the rumours which ( to use your Holiness ' s words ) have reached your ears are wholly false . Without quoting , in justification of what I do , either from Scripture or the holy fathers , texts which are always subject to difference of interpretation , and must be understood in connexion with various circumstances , I content myself with saying , that I have within me a voice which

    clearly points out to me what I ought and ought not to do as a legislator and as a protector , of religion . This voice , with the assistance of Divine grace , and of that character of justice and honesty which I may , I trust , say I possess , will preserve me from falling into error . Trusting that your Holiness will rely upon this assurance , I pray you to believe me , with the greatest attachment and respect , &c . "

    In Tuscany , Joseph ' s brother Leopold was at the head of the Government , and had imbibed the same spirit of reform , and the same desire to set himself and his subjects free from the continued practical interference of the court of Rome , not merely in all matters which could be considered as in any way of a spiritual character , but in fact in the internal regulations of the state in the exercise of its authority over its subjects . Determined to free himself from this bondage , to dissolve the imperium in imperio created

    by the numberless affairs over which the Papal court claimed cognizance , Ricci ( who was in the year 1779 consecrated Bishop of Pistoia , and was well kqo v ^ i . for his Jansenist opinions ) was encouraged by the Government to comawmieate his vi # ws of reform , and to co-operate in the plans of establishing , # | e pwtfipal independence of the Church and State from foreign Controul . ^ The first matter which brought Ricci into conflict with the ec- < ijkpiasticai authorities , andjecl to placing the conventual establishments ! undec

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    508 Review . —Life Of Scipio de Ricci .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1827, page 508, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1798/page/36/