One of the first acts of Pope Pius VII., after his election was the appointment of an official to act as his Secretary of State. Even in this matter the intermeddling policy of Austria made itself felt, for on being denied in so many other pretensions, the Emperor sought at least to control the Papacy through its chief functionary. Hence its request sent to the new Pope that he would favor Austria by appointing Cardinal Flangini to that post. The Holy Father answered that as he had not at present any State he could not appoint a Secretary of State; he would, however, name a pro-secretary, and in fact had already provided for such an official. The ecclesiastic chosen for this emergency was that Mgr. Ercole Consalvi, who had already acted as secretary for the Conclave. _CARDINAL CONSALVI._ This celebrated man was born at Rome, June 8, 1757, of a noble family. The eldest of five children, he was left an orphan in his earlier years. He was educated at Urbino, by the Piarist brothers founded by St. Joseph Calasanzio in 1617. After four years at this school, he entered the school at Frascati, lately opened by the Cardinal Duke of York. The latter was a grandchild of King James II. of England, and a brother of Charles Edward the Pretender, known in Italy as the Earl of Albany. When Charles Edward died, the Cardinal-Duke assumed the title of Henry IX., King of France and England. The young Consalvi became a favorite with the princely protector who recognized in his young protege a gift of character, self-reliance and enthusiasm. During his term at Frascati, the future Secretary distinguished himself by his literary productions in prose and verse. In 1776, he entered the great ecclesiastical academy in Rome, where his abilities brought him to the notice of Pope Pius VI., who in 1783 raised him to the dignity of a cameriere sègreto, with the duty of providing for audiences at the Vatican. In 1784 he was made a domestic prelate. Promotions followed rapidly in the Curia; in a few months he became a member of the Governmental Congregation, and a secretary of the great hospital of San Michele. Still later he became a member of the pontifical _segnatura_. In 1786 he was offered the post of nuncio to Cologne, which he declined in favor of Mgr. Pacca. He next became a member of the Roman _Rota_, the tribunal of Justice. Again, he was made Assessor of the Department of War wherein he effected much good during the times of the French invasion of Italy. [Illustration: CARDINAL CONSALVI.]