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that would turn away the vengeance directed against the seat of wickedness, "the mother of "the abominations of the earth," that very city of Rome, within the precincts of whose empire was to be found "the blood of Prophets "and of the Saints, and of all that were slain 16 upon earth."

At the end of the history of the war a nation is spoken of, called the Holy Covenant; and they are introduced at the end, because they had no immediate concern in the campaign; but Buonaparte took advantage of the circumstances of it to shew his constant enmity against that nation. It is said, before his return from Italy into his own land, laden with spoil, that “his heart shall be against the Holy Covenant.” The Holy Covenant primarily means the Jews, for formerly, when all the world was involved in the darkness of a false religion, it then pleased God to choose one family alone, the family of Abraham, to himself; to make his name known unto them, and to make a covenant with them, that he would be unto them a God, and that they should be his people†. And so in these latter days, when all the ten kingdoms of the divided Roman empire were in

Rev. xviii. 24.

† Gen. xvii. 2, 4, 7, 9—14, 19, 21; Exod, ví, 4, 7.

volved in the darkness of the Papal superstition, one of them alone was (at the time of the Reformation) called by the mercy of God to the true knowledge of himself. This highly favoured nation is Great Britain, which now stands in the place formerly filled by the Jewish nation, as the chosen people of God; and against this nation, Buonaparte and Infidel France have maintained a constant and deeprooted enmity.

It has already been stated, that one of the primary objects of the Directory, in the invasion of Italy, was, that they might shut its ports against the English. Soon after Buonaparte's return into France, it is also to be observed that he took the command of an army destined for the invasion of England. But the particular proof that he gave during his stay in Italy, that his heart was set against Great Britain (the Holy Covenant), and which must therefore be considered to be the event referred to in the prophecy, was this, that he suddenly and unexpectedly took possession of the port and opulent city of Leghorn, belonging to the Grand Duke of Tuscany, with whom he had concluded a treaty, and seized all the British merchandise found in it, stating, as the reason for this outrageous violation of the neutral territories of the Grand Duke, that it was designed as

a blow against the English, or, in his words, "to repress the excesses daily committed by the English in the port of Leghorn."

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In concluding the account of the expedition of Buonaparte into Italy, I must observe, that though it may seem extraordinary that so large a portion of Scripture should be employed in describing the events of only one year, the fall of the modern Babylon, that is, of Rome, at whose temporal power the most important blow was now struck, is an event of so great interest, that in the Revelations of Saint John an entire chapter is employed in describing it.

The war in Italy terminated, as has already been stated, with the surrender of Mantua, on the 2d of February, 1797. The words of the text," the end shall be at the time appointed," will however carry on our attention to the events of the remainder of the year 1797, and to the month of February, 1798, when the Papal government, which had existed for so many centuries, was at length overthrown.

Buonaparte, having entirely expelled the Austrians from Italy, followed up his successes, and passing the Alps, invaded the hereditary estates of the Emperor; and having several times defeated the Archduke Charles, who endeavoured to oppose his progress, he threatened

Vienna itself. Early however in April, 1797, a suspension of hostilities was agreed upon, which terminated in the treaty of Campo Formio, signed on the 17th of October following.

A French writer, whom we cannot suspect of a wish to exhibit an exaggerated picture of the ill conduct of his countrymen towards the Pope, and of the wretched condition he was in when left in their power, thus describes his situation during the year 1797: "Commotions," he observes," anxieties of every kind, lively alarms, "serious losses, a catastrophe which cost him "at once his money and his peace, and his glory; humiliations, insurrections, every thing that can render a Prince's reign tempestuous-such were the events which "marked for Pius the chief part of the year * 1797."

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A very strong republican party existed in the city of Rome itself, and "no measures were spared that could tend to provoke an insur"rection, or at least to excite the apprehension " of such an event. In one place was read on "the walls" (as if the true meaning of the prophecy before us had been understood, and its speedy fulfilment was foreseen), "The time is "come;" in another, "Rome is in her last

"agony." For a long time the Roman government submitted patiently to these outrages, and when they at length appeared to assume so alarming an aspect, that it was obliged to take active measures to repress them, "from that moment," it is observed, "people "said, that the last hour of the Papacy was at "hand." A French woman, named La Barousse, declared, "that the empire of the Popes

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was drawing near to its end, that Heaven was 66 weary of it, and that she would not depart "from Rome until she had seen that prediction "accomplished."

Such was the state of the public mind, when, during a popular commotion that took place in the month of December, 1797, the insurgents of the republican party ran to take shelter within the jurisdiction of the palace of Joseph Buonaparte, who was the ambassader from the Freuch Republic resident at Rome; here however they were pursued by the soldiery, in violation of the privileges attached to the palaces of the ambassadors of foreign powers, and put to death; and the French General Duphot, who was shortly to have been married to one of Buon aparte's sisters, was slain in endeavouring to appease the tumult.

This unfortunate affair afforded a pretext to the French for completely overthrowing the

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