The Jesuits were Ultramontanes; that is, they did everything they could to strengthen the authority from beyond the mountains, residing in the city on the Tiber. The Jansenists favored Gallicanism. A few words are necessary about this latter, for it had a large place in the discussions of the time, and echoes of it have continued to our day, the long conflict coming to an end in the recent rupture of the Concordat between France and the Vatican. The quarrel is of very long standing. It is historically certain that at a very early period the National Church of France had a character of freedom peculiar to itself. The Frankish Church in the time of Charlemagne gave evidence of a spirit and temper obviously different from the Italian ideal of the Church as organized under the popes. The French Parliaments from time to time manfully resisted encroachments on their powers or those of their kings, from beyond the mountains. As early as 1269, Louis IX of France issued an edict—so it is alleged—called the Pragmatic Sanction, in which he strove to protect the freedom of Church elections and the rights of patrons from the interference of the popes, and forbade papal taxation without the consent of the monarch. This conflict went on through the centuries with various incidents and differing results, which need not here be followed, although it is a very interesting story. In the time of Louis XIV matters naturally came to a head through the determination of that monarch to extend his absolute authority over the Church as well as the State, and through the support which he received from the strong feeling of nationality which dominated the French people during his reign, Louis’s aim was to exercise such power in ecclesiastical matters in France as Henry VIII had taken to himself in England, but not to effect a complete rupture with Rome. In particular he determined to enforce the right of the crown to the revenue and the patronage connected with vacant sees, which had long been exercised over a large part of the realm; he insisted on extending it to all the provinces. An assembly of the clergy was called in 1682, under the lead of Bossuet, the chief champion of the king in these matters. Four important articles formulating the opposition of France to the high claims of the papacy were drawn up by Bossuet, subscribed to by this assembly, and confirmed by the civil authorities. They contained in substance the following specifications: (1) The pope’s authority, as also that of the Church in general, is confined to things spiritual. He has no prerogative to depose kings and princes or to release their subjects from allegiance. (2) The decrees promulgated at Constance respecting the authority of Ecumenical Councils subsist in full force. (3) In the use of his power the pope must respect the ecclesiastical canons, as also such constitutions as are received in the kingdom and Church of France. (4)