6758. POPE PIUS VI., Influence of.—
A dispute has arisen between the Papal See and
the King of Naples, which may in its progress
enable us to estimate what degree of influence
that See retains at the present day. The Kingdom
of Naples, at an early period of its history,
became feudatory to the See of Rome, and
in acknowledgment thereof, has annually paid a
hackney to the Pope in Rome, to which place
it has always been sent by a splendid embassy.
The hackney has been refused by the King this
year, and the Pope, giving him three months to
return to obedience, threatens, if he does not,
to proceed seriously against him.—
To John Jay. Washington ed. ii, 454.
(P.
1788)
