the negotiation; not that he meant to stop here,APPEND. but that, being thus far agreed, they might the III. more easily go farther, descend to particulars, and render their scheme more perfect by degrees [t].

The violent measures of the court of Rome against that part of the Gallican church which refused to admit the constitution Unigenitus as an ecclesiastical law, made the Archbishop imagine that it would be no difficult matter to bring this opposition to an open rupture, and to engage the persons concerned in it to throw off the Papal yoke, which seemed to be borne with impatience in France. The despotic bull of Clement XI. dated August 28. 1718. and which begins with the words, Pastoralis officii, was a formal act of excommunication, thundered out against all the Anti-constitutionists, as the opposers of the bull Unigenitus were called; and it exasperated the doctors of the Sorbonne in the highest degree. It is to this that the Archbishop alludes, when he says, in his letter to Mr Beauvoir, dated the 23d of January 1718 [u], " At present he (the Pope) "has put them out of his communion. We have "withdrawn ourselves from his; both are out of "communion with him, and I think it is not ma"terial on which side the breach lies." But the wished-for separation from the Court of Rome, notwithstanding all the provocations of its pontif, was still far off. Though, on numberless occasions, the French divines shewed very little respect for the papal authority, yet the renouncing it altogether was a step which required deep deliberation, and which, however inclined they might be to it, they could not make, if they were not seconded by the state. But from the state they were not likely to have any countenance. The G 3 regent

[] Ibid. id.

[] See the letters subjoined, No X.

APPEND.regent of France was governed by the Abbé Du III. Bois, and the Abbé Du Bois was aspiring eagerly after a Cardinal's cap. This circumstance (not more unimportant than many secret connexions and trivial views that daily influence the course of public events, the transactions of government, and the fate of nations) was sufficient to stop the Sorbonne and its doctors in the midst of their career; and, in effect, it contributed greatly to stop the correspondence of which I have been now giving an account, and to nip the project of union in the bud. The correspondence between the Archbishop and the two doctors of the Sorbonne had been carried on with a high degree of secrecy. This secrecy was prudent, as neither of the corresponding parties was authorized by the civil powers to negotiate an union between the two churches [y]; and, on Dr Wake's part, it was partly owing to his having nobody that he could trust with what he did. He was satisfied (as he says in a letter to Mr Beauvoir) "that most of the high-church "bishops and clergy would readily come into such "a design; but these (adds his Grace) are not "men either to be confided in, or made use of, by "me [~]."

The correspondence, however, was divulged; and the project of union engrossed the whole con

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versation

[y] Dr Wake seems to have been sensible of the impropriety of carrying on a negotiation of this nature without the approbation and countenance of government. "I have always (says he, in his letter to Mr Beauvoir, which the reader will 66 find at the end of this Appendix, No XI.) took it for granted, that no step should be taken towards an union, but with "the knowledge, approbation, and even by the authority of "civil powers.-All, therefore, that has passed hitherto, stands "clear of any exception as to the civil magistrate. It is only a consultation, in order to find out a way how an union might be made, if a fit occasion should hereafter be offered." [] See the letters subjoined, No IX.

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andAPPEND.

III.

versation of the city of Paris. Lord Stanhope and APPEND. Lord Stair were congratulated thereupon by some great personages in the royal palace. The Duke Regent himself, and Abbé Du Bois, minister of foreign affairs, and Mr Joli de Fleury, the attorneygeneral, gave the line at first, appeared to favour the correspondence and the project, and let things run on to certain lengths. But the Jesuits and Constitutioners sounded the alarm, and overturned the whole scheme, by spreading a report, that Cardinal De Noailles, and his friends the Jansenists, were upon the point of making a coalition with the heretics. Hereupon the regent was intimidated, and Du Bois had an opportunity of appearing a meritorious candidate for a place in the sacred college. Dr Piers Girardin was sent for to court, was severely reprimanded by Du Bois, and strictly charged, upon pain. of being sent to the Bastile, to give up all the letters he had received from the Archbishop of Canterbury, as also a copy of all his own. The doctor was forced to obey; and all the letters were immediately sent to Rome, as so many trophies (says a certain author) gain"ed from the enemies of the church [a]." The Archbishop's letters were greatly admired, as stri king proofs both of his catholic benevolence and extensive abilities.

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Mr Beauvoir informed the Archbishop, by a letter dated February 8. 1719. N. S. that Dr Dụ Pin had been summoned, by the Abbé Du Bois, to give an account of what had passed between him and Dr Wake. This step naturally suspended the correspondence, though the archbishop was

G 4

at

[a] These trophies were the defeat of the moderate part of the Gallican church, and the ruin of their project to break the papal yoke and unite with the church of England. See above, note [b], p. 67. where the conclusion which the author of the Confessional has drawn from this expression is shewn to be groundless.

APPEND.at a loss, at first, whether he should look upon it III. as favourable, or detrimental, to the projected u

nion [b]. The letters which he wrote to Mr Beauvoir and Dr Du Pin after this, express the same sentiments which he discovered through the whole of this transaction [c]. The letter to Du Pin, more especially, is full of a pacific and reconciling spirit; and expresses the Archbishop's desire of cultivating fraternal charity with the doctor's, and his regret at the ill success of their endeavours towards the projected union. Du Pin died before this letter, which was retarded by some accident, arrived at Paris [d]. Before the Archbishop had heard of his death, he wrote to Mr Beauvoir, to express his concern, that an account was going to be published of what had passed between the two doctors and himself; and his hope, "that they "would keep in generals, as the only way to re"new the good design, if occasion should serve,

and to prevent themselves trouble from the re"flexions of their enemies," on account (as the Archbishop undoubtedly means) of the concessions they had made, which, though insufficient to satisfy true protestants, were adapted to exasperate bigoted papists. The prelate adds, in the conclusion of this letter, I shall be glad to know "that your doctors still continue their good opinion of us. For, though we need not the ap

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probation of men on our own account; yet I "cannot but wish it as a means to bring them, if "not to a perfect agreement in all things with us "(which is not presently to be expected), yet to such "an union as may put an end to the odious charges against

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[b] See his letter to Mr Beauvoir, in the pieces subjoined, No XI. dated February 5. 1718-19, O. S. that is, February 16. 1719. N. S.

[c] See ibid. No XL- -XVIII.

[d] See his letter to Mr Beauvoir, No XV.

against, and consequential aversion of, us, as he-AFPend. "retics and schismatics, and, in truth, make them, III. " cease to be so.”

Dr Du Pin (whom the Archbishop very sincerely lamented, as the only man, after Mr Ravechet, on whom the hopes of a reformation in France seemed to depend) left behind him an account of this famous correspondence. Some time before he died, he shewed it to Mr Beauvoir, and told him, that he intended to communicate it to a very great man (probably the regent). Mr Beauvoir observed to the doctor, that one would be led to imagine, from the manner in which this account was drawn up, that the Archbishop made the first overtures with respect to the correspondence, and was the first who intimated his desire of the union; whereas it was palpably evident that he (Dr Da Pin) had first solicited the one and the other. Du Pin acknowledged this freely and candidly, and promised to rectify it, but was prevented by death.

It does not, however, appear that Du Pin's death put a final stop to the correspondence; for we learn by a letter from the Archbishop to Mr Beauvoir, dated August 27. 1719. that Dr Piers Girardin frequently wrote to his Grace. But the opportunity was past; the appellants from the bull Unigenitus, or the Anti-constitutionists, were divided; the Court did not smile at all upon the project, because the regent was afraid of the Spanish party and the Jesuits; and therefore the continuation of this correspondence after Du Pin's death was without effect.

Let the reader now, after having perused this historical account, judge of the appearance which Dr Wake makes in this transaction. An impartial reader will certainly draw from this whole. correspondence the following conclusions: That Archbishop Wake was invited to this correspond

ence