CONSALVI, or Gonsalvi, Ercole (1757-1824), cardinal and statesman, was born at Rome on the 8th of June 1757, of a noble family originally belonging to Pisa. His boyhood was sickly, and presents nothing remarkable. From the college at Urbino, he passed to the Frascati College and the religious academy at Rome, studying theology, politics, music, and literature. Entering the Pontifical court as page in 1783, he rapidly advanced, and in 1797 obtained the office of auditor of the rota, which brought him into public notice. Accused of participation in the assassination of I)uphot, he was arrested by the French on their seizure of Rome, and after a period of incarceration condemned, like so many of his brethren, to exile. On the death of Pius VI. he succeeded, in conjunction with Cardinal Maury, in securing in the conclave at Venice the election of Chiaramonti as Pius VII.; and the new Pope rewarded his devotion by appointing him secretary of state. Though from the beginning an avowed antagonist of the principles of the Revolution, Consalvi was too wise not to know that even Rome required in some degree to acknowledge their influence. He accordingly instituted various reforms, and but for the bitter opposition of the Conservative party his measures would have been more thoroughgoing than they were. He permitted laymen to hold certain public offices, under surveillance of the prelates, organized a guard fιom among the Roman nobility, decreed a plan for redeeming the base coinage, permitted the communes a certain degree of municipal liberty, and promised the liquidation of the public debt In the long debates between Rome and France about the Concordat, Cρnsalvi was the leading power on the side of the church; and he fought for the Papal privileges during his visit to Paris, ...