And with that the first interview came to an end. Lebzeltern did not see the Pontiff again until two days later. On May 18 he found him in a condition of great fatigue from overwork (as may be easily understood when one remembers that _the entire business of the Church had fallen upon the shoulders of the venerable Pontiff, deprived by Napoleon’s orders of assistance of any kind_ in the transaction of that stupendous task!), and having before him a letter recently received from Cardinal Fesch. In this letter the Cardinal had written of the Emperor’s intention—unless an agreement were speedily come to between himself and the Holy Father—of settling the question by choosing bishops that would do his will from among the French clergy, bishops who would administer their dioceses in accordance with Napoleon’s instructions alone, and without any reference to the Pope. In answer the Holy Father had condescended to write back to the Cardinal to say that the Emperor was evidently bent upon making impossible any reconciliation between them; and that any Episcopal Council that the Emperor might call together upon his own initiative would be absolutely null and void. Nevertheless he, the Pope, being unwilling to refuse any chance of reconciliation, the Cardinal was to exhort Napoleon upon the subject; to assure him of his glory in this world and in the next if he would but sincerely become reconciled to the Church; and, equally, to threaten him with condign punishment upon himself and his dynasty if he should persist in his persecution of the Church. Lebzeltern now had to recognize that the Sovereign Pontiff had, in his heart, lost all confidence in Napoleon’s good intentions; for Pius VII now spoke of yet further pains and penalties that he had not made use of and which were still at his disposal. Lebzeltern, though undiscouraged, only tried the harder to incline the Pope towards an understanding with the Emperor. “If Napoleon will do something in favour of the Church, then, and not before, will I withdraw my excommunication of him,” replied the Pontiff. “To gain absolution, one must do penance——” “Surely, Holy Father—but, generally speaking, the absolution precedes the penance”—a specious argument this, of the diplomatist, seeing that the fruit of the absolution is dependent upon the performance of the penance. All preliminaries being exhausted, it only remained for Lebzeltern to disclose the absolutely last possible basis of an understanding between the Pope and the Emperor.