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    complaisant to Henry the Eighth , as the senate of France to Buonaparte ; and , where there is great power , there will be abject compliance . The French , however , look upon the dissolution of the marriage tie in the

    imperial house with great indifference : they are more affected by the account given of their internal and external relations under the name of the Expose laid before the senate by order of government . In this , the victories of France over its

    enemies > and the more important victories over the face of the country , by the digging of canals , levelling hills , piercing through mountains , building bridges , ports and quays , are displayed with great ostentation , but scarcely exceeding the truth . Improvements in agriculture , manufactures * arts , sciences , literature ,

    form a part of the relation ; and throughout it appears , that no sovereign in Europe can vie with Buonaparte in attention , to the splendour and comfort of his subjects . But we were struck particularly with two points , which affected religion in general , and Popery in particular .

    A very short article is dedicated to the former subject , but it is completely satisfactory . Government has not deviated in its respect for conscience from the line , which it liad traced out for itself , namely , universal toleration . What a satire does not this convey upon the Protestant governments of the world , which embarrass themselves with the foolish

    disputes of a pack of priests , about things they do not understand ! On the subject of the Pope , the Expose dilates very much . It dwells upon his protection of the English in his capital , on his acrimonious briefs , on the hatred of the court of Rprne to that of France , on Iris complaints of the principles of toleration consecrated in the Napoleon Code , on his endeavour to sow divisions in the emin he

    pire ^ which would have been successful , had any impoitant battle been lost . From these facts , it was evidently impossible to overcome the Pope's hatred , and there retnainedx > nly one of two modes of conduct ; either to create a

    patriarch for France , or to desti oy the Popc * s sovereign temporality . The first might have excited religious disputes , the second was a right belonging to the imperial power . Neither the Pope , says the Expose very justly , nor any other priest ought to enjoy any temporal sov $ - ¦

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    reignty . Never shall the emperor acknowledge the right of the triple crown * The emperor of France is thus ar political Protestant , and as a religious Protestant , he does not fall much short of the sovereigns , who go under that name ,

    though he acknowledges the spiritual mission given to the pastors of the church by Jesus Christ , and which St . Peter and his pious successors have so holily filled to the great advantage of religion . We do not know , whether the latter sentence is intended for what the French call

    a persimage , or a jeer upon the Pope and his adherents ; but , if it is so , do not let the Protestants triumph ; for , if the successors of Peter have been guilty of cruelties , disgraceful to the Christian name , what Protestant church is there , which has not sullied itself in the same manner , and exercised whenever it could , an abominable tyranny c ^ ver those not within its . pale ?

    The Pope ' s temporal power being thus cut off , and the threat of a patriarch having been thrown out , we cannot doubt , that the spiritual influence of the Pope will be much abridged . His

    consequence will be very little more during the i ; ergn than that of an archbishop of Canterbury ; but , whether it may not revive , posterity must determine . The serpent is scotched not killed * The venom still remains . Whether he will have

    even power again to spit it forth , as in former ages , must be developed by future history ; but let us hope , that the fruits of religious toleration may grow up in France , that our catholic brethren may see the merits of Christians out of their pale , and be inclined from thence to make the Scriptures , not the articles of fallible men , the rule of their

    conduct . Besides the princes of the imperial house , other dependent kings and princes had travelled to Paris , to pay their homage to their great patron . Most are returned . The king of Holland remains , and the destiny of his kingdom is not settled . It is generally thought , that it will be annexed to France , and the Dutch

    being converted into Frenchmen , are to diffuse a spirit of commerce over the grand empire . A report has been made to Buonaparte from that country , of the damage sustained at Flushing , by pur attempts to demolish the port : and batsin ; and it appears , that the materials we have left behind , will nearly pay for

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    40 State of Public Affairs .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1810, page 40, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2400/page/40/