“The thunders of the Vatican have nothing terri− “ble in them; these are transient fires which go out “in smoke, and which do neither ill nor prejudice “but to those who launch them.
“The refusal of the pope to grant the bulls to the “bishops nominated by the king, causes a derange− “ment which encreases daily, and which requires a “prompt and efficacious remedy. The councils of “Constance and of Basle having laboured to reduce “to some moderation the usurpations of the court of “Rome, and the confusion which was introduced in “the distribution of benefices, the pragmatic sanction “was subsequently compiled from the decrees of these “councils. But the popes, seeing their authority “diminished by it, exerted eveiy artifice to cause “its abolition; and by the concordat entered into “between Francis I. and pope Leo X., the mode of “appointing to the vacant sees and abbeys was re− “gulated: not only the devolution, or right of pre− “sentation by lapse, but the reversion, was granted “to the pope, with power to admit resignations in fa− “vour of individuals, and many other articles; which “were very burdensome on the ordinary collators, “and altogether opposed to the ancient canons.
“Besides, our ancestors for a long period have re− “monstrated against the concordat: the ordonnance “of Orleans had restored the elections; and it would “be very advantageous if all ecclesiastical affairs were “arranged in the kingdom, without being obliged to “have recourse to Rome. In the sequel, however, “the concordat was acted on faithfully by us, and “we cannot conceive that the pope by an invincible “obstinacy, wishes now to compel us to deprive him “of the advantages which the court of Rome derives “from a treaty so advantageous to it....
“After all, those who, before the concordat, were “elected by the clergy and people, and afterwards “by the chapters, in presence of a king’s commissioner, “were they not ordained by the metropolitan, “assisted by the bishops of the province, after the “king had approved of the election? The right “acquired by the king in the concordat, authorised “in this case by the tacit consent of all the Gallican “church, and confirmed by a possession of near two “hundred years, ought so much the less be subject− “ed to change or attack, as, during the four first ages “of the monarchy, they did not resort to Rome to “ask for appointments to benefices; the bishops dis− “posed of all those which became vacant in their “dioceses, and our monarchs almost invariably nomi− “nated to the bishopricks; and, if they occasionally “granted to the clergy or the people, the privilege of “electing a pastor, they more frequently reserved the “selection to themselves; and without the pope “having any concern in it, those who they “elected were immediately consecrated. What “prevents us from following these examples, founded “on this excellent principle, that the right, which all “the faithful had originally in the appointment of a “head, when it could no longer be so exercised, “should pass into the hands of the sovereign, on “whom the people had conferred the government of “the state, of which the church is the nobler “part.”