[258] "The Directory adopted the most insulting forms in communicating with the Pope; the general wrote to him with respect. The Directory endeavoured to overthrow the authority of the Pope; Napoleon preserved it. The Directory banished and proscribed priests; Napoleon commanded his soldiers, wherever they might fall in with them, to remember that they were Frenchmen and their brothers."--LAS CASES, tom. i., p. 170. [259] Montholon, tom. iv., p. 25; Thibaudeau, tom. ii., p. 287. [260] Botta, tom. ii., p. 199; Thibaudeau, tom. ii., p. 239. [261] For an interesting sketch of the republic of San Marino, see Seward's _Anecdotes of Distinguished Persons_, vol. iii., p. 276. [262] Botta, tom. ii., p. 252; Daru, Hist. de Venise, tom. v., p. 544. [263] Montholon, tom. iv., p. 130. CHAPTER IX. _Archduke Charles--Compared with Napoleon--Fettered by the Aulic Council--Napoleon, by a stratagem, passes the Tagliamento, and compels the Archduke to retreat--Gradisca carried by storm--Chusa-Veneta taken--Trieste and Fiume occupied--Venice breaks the Neutrality--Terrified on learning that an Armistice had taken place betwixt France and Austria--The Archduke retreats by hasty marches on Vienna--The Government irresolute--and the Treaty of Leoben signed--Venice makes humiliating submissions--Napoleon's Speech to her Envoys--He declares War against Venice, and evades obeying the orders of the Directory to spare it--The Great Council, on 31st May, concede everything to Buonaparte--Terms granted._ [Sidenote: ARCHDUKE CHARLES.]