CHAPTER III.

OPENING OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

State of France at the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century-- The Conclave of Venice-- Cardinal Chiaramonti Elected Pope Pius VII.-- Sketch of His Life-- Cardinal Consalvi-- Napoleon Makes Proposals of Peace With the Pope-- Preliminary Deliberations for the Concordat-- Diplomacy of Cardinal Consalvi-- The Concordat Signed and Ratified-- Text of the Concordat-- The Organic Articles-- They Are Repudiated by the Pope-- The Case of Jerome Bonaparte-- The Coronation of Napoleon-- The Emperor Becomes a Persecutor-- Excommunication of Napoleon-- Arrest of Pope Pius VII.-- His Imprisonment at Savona-- The Council of Paris-- The Pope is Imprisoned at Fontainebleau-- Defeat of Napoleon-- Triumphant Return of Pius VII. to Rome Page 105