Page 82 - les-miserables

CHAPTER XI

A RESTRICTION

We should incur a great risk of deceiving ourselves, were
we to conclude from this that Monseigneur Welcome was
‘a philosophical bishop,’ or a ‘patriotic cure.’ His meet-
ing, which may almost be designated as his union, with
conventionary G——, left behind it in his mind a sort of
astonishment, which rendered him still more gentle. That
is all.
Although Monseigneur Bienvenu was far from being a
politician, this is, perhaps, the place to indicate very briefly
what his attitude was in the events of that epoch, supposing
that Monseigneur Bienvenu ever dreamed of having an at-
titude.
Let us, then, go back a few years.
Some time after the elevation of M. Myriel to the episco-
pate, the Emperor had made him a baron of the Empire, in
company with many other bishops. The arrest of the Pope
took place, as every one knows, on the night of the 5th to
the 6th of July, 1809; on this occasion, M. Myriel was sum-
moned by Napoleon to the synod of the bishops of France
and Italy convened at Paris. This synod was held at Notre-

82 Les Miserables