The Holy Father, though declining the offers of the Austrian Monarch, wrote to him within a week after his election, in terms full of fatherly affection, and ignoring altogether the cowardly treatment he had just received from that source. The answer of Francis II. was one of empty felicitation, which he proceeded at once to falsify by his subsequent actions. At that very time he sent to Venice a diplomatic agent, the Marquis Ghislen who declared that it was his master's formal intention to retain possession of the three Legations. It will be remembered that in 1797, the Pope, Pius VI., by the Treaty of Tollentino, ceded to France the Legations of Bologna, Ferrara and the Romagna. In the signing of this treaty Cardinal Mattei represented the Holy See. In 1799, the Austrians gained possession of the Legations by conquest over the French. It was for this reason that Austria desired to see Mattei elected to the papal throne, imagining that in such an event he would honor his signature to the document of Tollentino, by permitting Austria to keep her spoils of war. As the new Pope appeared too earnest a defender of papal rights, it was considered necessary to inform him in this categorical manner of Austria's intentions with regard to the conquest territory. The Pope opposed most strongly these claims, and announced his resolution of proceeding immediately to his own States. The natural route for such a destination would lead overland through the disputed Legations; but again Austria stood in the way compelling the Pope to proceed to his own territory by sea. In fact, on June 6, 1800, Pius VII. embarked on the Bellona, a small vessel which the Austrian government had placed at his disposal without the courtesy of providing its crew or provisions. The ship was so utterly unseaworthy, and the hap-hazard crew so inexperienced that the voyage which ought to have taken only twenty-four hours, consumed twelve days. Landing at Pesaro, in his own States, the Pope proceeded to Ancona, where the vessels of England and Russia harboring there, rendered him military honors. From Ancona to Rome the journey of the Holy Father proved to be a triumphal march. He arrived in the Eternal City on July 3, 1800, in the midst of a people intoxicated with joy. As he knelt before the great altar of St. Peter's, his heart expanded with gratitude to God, who, after permitting the exile of His Vicar for two long years, was now graciously providing for a new era for His afflicted Church.