THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 NEW DISQUISITION, 
 
 anti political, 
 
 CONCERNING 
 
 THE SOCIETY OF THE JESUITS, 
 
 AND THE 
 
 CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES 
 
 THEIR DESTRUCTION. 
 
 FAITHFULLY TRANSLATED 
 
 From " Nouvelles Considerations," &c. 
 
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 I 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 CHAPTER I. Of the Origin of the Institute of the Jesuits, ...... . 4 
 
 CHAP. II. Of the Jesuits' Enemies.. i >..~ 
 
 CHAP. III. Of the Huguenots W 
 
 CHAP. IV. -The Disciples of Jansens IT 
 
 CHAP. V.^-Of the Unbelievers of the Eighteenth Century....*. 21 
 CHAP. VI. A general Description of the Charges laid against 
 
 the Society of the Jesuits.. -~ 3T 
 
 CHAP. VII. Reflations upon the Character of the Enemies of the 
 
 Jesuits - 44 
 
 CHAP. VIII. Important and Authentic Evidence concerning the 
 
 Jesuits ... 40 
 
 CHAP. IX. Reflections upon the Facts and Testimonies com- 
 prised in the foregoing Chapters 69 
 
 CHAP. X. Examination of the Charge of Regicide ..:.... 91 
 I.- Of the Doctrine of Regicide attributed to 
 
 the Jesuits ihih 
 
 II. Of the Plots and Murders of Kings laid to 
 
 charge of the Jesuits 106 
 
 CHAP. XI. An Examination of the Charge of Avarice and Am- 
 bition 136 
 
 $ I. Of the Jesuits' Missions 137 
 
 11. Of the Jesuits who were Preachers and 
 
 Confessors to the Kings of France . , 153 
 III. Of the Spirit of Selfishness imputed to the 
 
 Jesuits 161 
 
 CHAP. XII. An Examination of the Charge of loose Morality . . 164 
 The Provincial Letters (Pascal's) carry upon the face 
 
 of them Ignorance and Malice . . . . , 1&6 
 
 1490414
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Page. 
 CHAP. XIII. Of the Consequences of the Destruction of the 
 
 Jesuits 201 
 
 (j I. France has lost in the Jesuits an Academy 
 
 of learned Men ibid. 
 
 II. France has lost in the Jesuits a valuable 
 Re-union of Teachers of Abilities and 
 
 Virtues . . 206 
 
 (j III. France has lost in the Jesuits the last Bul- 
 wark of Religion and Morality .... 229 
 (j IV. France lost in the Jesuits a powerful 
 support of the Throne of the Descend- 
 ants of St. Louis 235 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Page. 
 
 N"o. I. The Answer of Henry IV, to the Remonstrances of tfte Pre- 
 sident de Harlay J *ir 
 
 No. II. The Bull of Pope Pius VII. by which he Re-establishes 
 
 the Jesuits Ti 
 
 No. III. First Ordinance of the King of Spain, Ferdinand VII, for 
 
 the Re-establishment of the Jesuits x IT 
 
 Ho. IV. Second Ordinance of King Ferdinand on the same subject XYI
 
 CONCERNING THE 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 OF all the human institutions which owe their 
 to genius, virtue, or circumstance, the society of the 
 Jesuits has perhaps been the theme of the most 
 high-flown panegyric, and the most bitter invective. 
 The advocates of this celebrated society, place it at 
 the head of the finest productions of the human 
 mind : they give it a decided preference over all 
 pre-existing establishments in utility to learning, 
 morals, religion, and policy. Its enemies, on the 
 other hand, maintain, that it is alike fatal to morali- 
 ty and government. They assert, that if it loudly 
 professed to devote its zeal to the education of 
 youth, to the reform of morals, to the cultivation of 
 the arts and sciences, it was, in reality, but an as* 
 
 B
 
 2 
 
 semblage of ambition, under the guise of hypocrisy^ 
 that aimed at universal dominion, by the most odious 
 and criminal of means. 
 
 That this society has had celebrity, is agreed on 
 all hands. That it has performed a leading part in 
 the schools, and on the theatre of almost every go- 
 vernment in Europe, is an incontestable fact, not 
 denied either by its flatterers or slanderers. Its 
 successes, its failures, the causes of its fall, become 
 then fair and open field to the historian. Asto- 
 nished at the enormity of the charges preferred 
 against ft, 1 have carefully examined them with the 
 authenticated annals of the nations in which they 
 were accused. Having cleared away my doubts, 
 and dissipated my suspicions, 1 cherished the pleas- 
 ing conviction, that it would be useful and accept- 
 able to my countrymen, to communicate to them the 
 genuine results of the enquiries I made for my owri 
 instruction. I shall speak as freely of the enemies 
 of the society as of its advocates; I shall quote the' 
 testimony of kings, of the ministers of different so- 
 vereigns, of the learned of different natiofis, all 
 tending to throw daylight upon its history and its 
 importance. I shall examine with rigorous scrupu- 
 losity, the principal charges of accusation against 
 it, namely, regicide, ambition, avarice, and loose 
 morals-, In a word, I shall close the disquisition by 
 some observations upon the necessary consequences 
 of its destruction in France and other countries. 
 
 I declare truly, upon my honour, that I neither 
 am a Jesuit, nor was I educated by any Jesuit. 
 Born some few years before the commencement of 
 those revolutionary movements which have shaken
 
 the foundations of social order, and all the thrones in 
 Europe, I could not have imbibed from my educa- 
 tion any of those prejudices which were likely to 
 lead my mind astray, with .reference either to the 
 utility, or the vices, of that learned body. The 
 reader, therefore, cannot, with a shadow of justice, 
 impute it to me, that I have written any portion of 
 this disquisition, which is purely historical, with a 
 party bias, or under the prejudices qf a Jesuitical 
 education. With the love of truth at heart, and the 
 light of criticism in view, I shall expose the facts as 
 they really are, and support them with authentic 
 documents and irrefragable evidence. 
 
 Why should it appear strange that I take this 
 subject in hand? Has not a distinguished writer 
 lately favoured the public with a history of the Tem- 
 plars? And why may I not as freely call its atten- 
 tion to that of the Jesuits? The order of the 
 Knights Templars has ceased to exist for five cen- 
 turies. Sunk under the weight of that authority 
 which anathematized it, it never rose from its ashes. 
 The society of Jesuits was more numerous and more 
 widely dispersed, and cast more brilliancy over the 
 literary and learned world then the Templars. Fifty- 
 five years only are gone by, since the society was 
 suppressed in France ; and at this hour, having sud- 
 denly arisen from its tomb, it has revived with all its 
 ancient privileges, under the pontificate of Pius VII, 
 throughout the kingdoms of Spain, Naples, and 
 Sardinia. Amongst us, it numbers very many ene- 
 mies, several of whom hafe assailed it in recent pub- 
 lications and periodical prints. The discussion, 
 therefore, of its history, its character, and the eon-
 
 sequences of its abolition, will naturally create a 
 general interest, and arrest the attention of men of 
 literature. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Of the Origin of the Institute of the Jesuits. 
 
 HENRY VIII had driven England into schism ; 
 JLuther's heresy was making rapid progress in Ger- 
 many ; and France having been recently honoured 
 with the noble title of The most Christian Kingdom, 
 was becoming the theatre of error, and the victim of 
 civil war; when Ignatius of Loyola, a Spanish no- 
 bleman, who had in his youth served in the army of 
 his country with distinction, laid at Paris the foun- 
 dation of that celebrated order, since known under 
 the appellation of The Society of Jesus. At first, 
 this extraordinary man confined his views to the 
 planting of the cross in Palestine and the adjoining 
 countries. But this plan having from various cir- 
 cumstances failed, he adopted one upon a larger 
 scale, and of more general utility to religion. To 
 make head against the new errors, which threatened 
 to become so fatal to the peace of Europe, to extend 
 the empire of Christianity to the utmost boundaries 
 of the globe, he resolved upon establishing a socie- 
 ty of apostolical men, who should at the same time 
 be men of science. In the former capacity they 
 were destined not only to brave the prejudices of 
 civilized nations, but the barbarism of savages, by
 
 carrying the light of the Gospel into the deepest 
 gloom of superstition and idolatry : in the latter, 
 they were to be devoted in retirement to the attain- 
 ment of science, in order to train up youth to learn- 
 ing, at the same time that they were taught the 
 social and religious virtues, or by their solid writ- 
 ings to refute heresy, and defend the faith of the 
 church. 
 
 This certainly was a sublime plan, and argued in 
 Ignatius an elevated mind, and a heart capable of 
 vast designs. It was the high-minded effort of a no- 
 ble ambition, which had no longer for its object, as 
 formerly, the vain-glory which was to be tinged 
 with the blood of his fellow-creatures, but the spot- 
 less and solid glory of giving happiness to mankind. 
 Ignatius succeeded beyond the most sanguine ex- 
 pectation of human foresight. Though, at the time 
 of his death, the society had not existed more than 
 sixteen years, Xavier, one of his first disciples, had 
 already baptized with his own hand above a million 
 of idolaters, and brought thirty kingdoms under the 
 yoke of Christ. A hundred colleges were under the 
 direction of the Jesuits, as well in Germany and 
 Italy, as in Spain and Portugal. The very name of 
 their institute had become formidable to the new 
 heresies, as it so sensibly checked their progress, 
 and, of course, excited their jealousy and provoked 
 their vengeance. 
 
 Such was the origin of that famed society, which 
 calls upon the interest and attention of the public, 
 both in its prosperity and its adversity, and recom- 
 mends itself particularly to the interference of every 
 legislature throughout Christendom. In a religious
 
 point of view, it was the vigorous effort of an ardent 
 zeal roused into, action by the successful progress of 
 new errors,, bringing into the field a most formidable 
 force to oppose them. No one therefore can be 
 sincerely attached to the faith of the Catholic 
 church, without applauding the designs of Igna- 
 tius, and admiring his plans for crowning them 
 with success. In a political point of view., the origin 
 of the society loudly claims the veneration of sove- 
 reigns, and the gratitude of their subjects. For, as 
 religious sphism is but too frequently the fatal fuel of 
 civil dissension, to make head against the new sepa- 
 ratists in faith, is to be on the watch for the security 
 of the throne, it is to arm talent against error, and 
 preserve the tranquillity of nations. These obser- 
 vations have peculiar relevancy to the ris,e and pro- 
 gress of the society, which took place at the very 
 time when, by discarding all spiritual power and 
 substituting the pride of intellect for the Christian 
 tradition of ages, Luther and Calvin gave a convul- 
 sive shock to the foundations of every government, 
 brought the Germanic constitution within an ace of 
 its ruin, and threw a firebrand of discord into the 
 heart of France and of Germany, which set the four 
 corners of the civilized world in flames.
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 Of the Jesuits' Enemies. 
 
 a person indicted for a crim is 
 arraigned in a cotirt of justice, and pleads not guilty, 
 the judge, who is armed with authority to try him, 
 must hear and impartially canvass the whole of the 
 evidence, before he can be found guilty. What- 
 ever discussion and argument 'the case may un- 
 dergo, the judge never must lose sight of the law* 
 he must with unbending rigour point out the rele- 
 vancy of the evidence in all its bearings to the 
 matter at issue, and must sift to the bottom all the 
 views, motives, and designs, not only of the prose- 
 cution, but of all the witnesses brought forward td 
 support it, and also their private characters and re- 
 lations to the person arraigned. For should he pos- 
 sess a fair and honest character, should he have 
 rendered meritorious services to the state, and on 
 the other hand should any personal pique, revenge, 
 interest, party, or notorious profligacy, be discovered 
 in the witnesses, then must the court presume upon 
 the innocence of the party accused, acquit him, 
 and pronounce the prosecution malicious. There 
 may indeed be instances, in which, from the extra- 
 vagance, exaggeration, or inconsistency of the wit- 
 nesses, their credibility is so blighted, that, without 
 proceeding farther, the court will honourably dis- 
 miss the party arraigned.
 
 8 
 
 The society of the Jesuits I consider as a re- 
 nowned individual, arraigned before the tribunal of 
 the public of high crimes and misdemeanors, never 
 even before heard of, and I feel it my duty, to draw 
 from the character of their accusers, very import- 
 ant lights, vitally affecting the issue of their case 
 now before the public. 
 
 In looking into the ecclesiastical annals of France, 
 it appears, that the parliaments, the university, ancj 
 some of the monastic orders, opposed their esta- 
 blishment in this kingdom. Yet could I not draw 
 from that opposition any decisive result, as to their 
 guilt or innocence. It is fair to ascribe that first 
 persecution of the society, partly to an anxiety for 
 the public good, and partly to views of personal 
 interest. 
 
 The novelty and peculiarity of the institute of St. 
 Ignatius, and the numerous indults and privileges 
 imparted to the society by the holy see, set the par- 
 liaments against it. ; The origin moreover of the 
 order, which reckoned amongst its principal foun- 
 ders and supporters both Spaniards and Italians, 
 created in the sovereign courts a jealous apprehen- 
 sion, lest under pretext of preaching the gospel, 
 and improving the education of the rising generation, 
 the members of the society would foment troubles in 
 the state, and become fatal to its tranquillity in the 
 hour of an awful crisis, which would expose it to 
 the horrors and precarious issue of a war between 
 France and Spain, which were then divided by op- 
 posite political interests. It was not unnatural to 
 mistrust a novel institution set on foot by natives of 
 an enemy's country.
 
 ' Less honourable motives actuated the prejudices 
 of the university against the sons of Loyola. The 
 education which they gave was all gratuitous, and 
 their success was unparalleled. The credit of the 
 university consequently declined, and the number 
 of its scholars diminished. Such was the grievance 
 of this eldest daughter of the kings of Prance, laid 
 by them to the account of these new instructors. 
 Henry the fourth's answer to the president Harlay, 
 is a full voucher for my assertions. " The univer- 
 ee sity," said that monarch, " thwarted them, either 
 " because they did their duty better than others, 
 "(witness the vast concourse of scholars to their 
 "colleges,) or because they were not incorporated 
 " with the university, which will not be refused to 
 " be done, when I shall have ordered it, and when 
 ce I shall see that they stand in need of being better 
 te regulated/' 
 
 In a word, when the fathers of the society came 
 into France to found colleges there, there existed in 
 that kingdom the orders of Benedictins, Domini- 
 cans, Franciscans, and several other religious in- 
 stitutions, devoted to teaching and the promotion of 
 science : a very sincere conviction might then be 
 entertained, that the institute of St. Ignatius was at 
 that time useless in France : we may easily ima- 
 gine, that several of these pre-existing societies, re- 
 spectable for their antiquity and services, beheld 
 the new adventurers with a jealous eye, as coming to 
 oppose or break in upon the subsisting institutions. 
 From the experience of ages, and the knowledge 
 of the human heart, we must frankly own, that cor- 
 porate bodies, as well as individuals, are not always 
 
 c
 
 10 
 
 exempted from the attacks of self love ; mote espe* 
 cially, when the views of personal interest can be 
 plausibly covered with the mantle of public good. 
 
 Whatever be the case, we will no longer insist 
 upon this first persecution, which the society suf- 
 fered in France. In process of time, and even at 
 that very period, they had in many states of Eorcrpe, 
 enemies of a much more formidable cast to en- 
 counter ; the professed reformers of every denomi- 
 nation, the disciples of Jansens, and the incredu- 
 lous of the eighteenth century. In reasoning upoft 
 the character of these formidable enemies of the so 
 ciety, we hope to offer to the reader many reflec* 
 tions, which will throw a great body of light upon 
 the historical question of the guilt or innocence of 
 the Jesuits. 
 
 15. j' flffj}),; VOf'> )><' '}i)'' 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 ifiJ ,vr."i: ^"^Ho^llnijoi oJ sswwn^ oJ 
 
 Of the Huguenots. 
 
 tan of the Jesuits' host of enemies should 
 naturally consist of all who assume credit for hav* 
 ing become reformers. 
 
 It is no marvel, that Luther and Calvin should 1 
 have conceived an irreconcilable hatred of those, 
 who so incessantly, and so powerfully, made head 
 against the erroneous novelties, by which they as- 
 sailed the doctrines of the Catholic church; 
 
 To check the progress of this assumed reforma- 
 tion, the society encouraged and brought forward
 
 11 
 
 able writers, experienced teachers, and zealous mis- 
 sionaries : it introduced and set on foot spiritual re- 
 treats, pious congregations, public conferences, pri- 
 vate consultations, frequent and eloquent discourses 
 from the pulpit. Fathers Laynez, Salmeron and le 
 Jay were consulted by, and had great weight upon^ 
 the fathers of the council of Trent, in drawing up the 
 decrees by which the erroneous novelties of those 
 two leaders of reformation were condemned. Bel- 
 larmine took the field against them, with all the ad- 
 vantages of extensive knowledge and close reasoning. 
 Truth, aided by the powerful talents of this writer, 
 produced such an abundant crop in the vineyard, 
 and threw so much awe and terror into the ranks of 
 the enemy, that the consummate politician, queen 
 Elizabeth of England, thought she could not more 
 essentially serve the cause of the reformation, than 
 by establishing a public anli-bellarminian institu- 
 tion ; so called from the end of its establishment, 
 which was so refute whatever works should come 
 from Bellarmine's pen against the reformation. 
 Father Canisius was called the apostle of Germany, 
 because the numbers of strayed sheep, which he 
 brought back to the fold, placed him on a rank with 
 the first founders of Christianity in that country : 
 and father Edmund Auger had converted to the Ca- 
 tholic faith many thousand Calvinists, before he was 
 brought up to court to be the spiritual director of 
 Henry III. 
 
 The foundation of colleges, was the efficacious 
 mean used by the fathers of the society for keeping 
 up the ancient faith. Attracted by the fame of these 
 professors, the youth of the most distinguished fa-
 
 12 
 
 milies flocked from all quarters with eagerness to 
 avail themselves of their instructions, and imbibed 
 from these men of science, as well as virtue, a hor- 
 ror of innovation, and steadiness to the primitive 
 faith of the church. The catholic princes also of 
 Germany, who wished to preserve their states from 
 the heresies and schism, which then were pervading 
 so many other kingdoms, were unceasingly renew- 
 ing their applications for members of the society of 
 Jesus, to be appointed teachers and rectors of the 
 colleges within their dominions. The renowned 
 cardinal Commendon, whose political experience 
 and wisdom kept pace with his heroic virtues, hesi- 
 tated not to recommend the extension of the order 
 of St. Ignatius, as the infallible means of giving 
 effect and execution to the decrees of the council of 
 Trent, in defiance of all the counter efforts of the 
 heretics of his day. " I know," said that cardinal, 
 (as spoke also most of the ambassadors and parti- 
 cularly the count de Luna) " I know that the exe- 
 " cution of many of your decrees will meet with op- 
 " position in Germany : but you ought not to be dis- 
 " heartened ; with the aid of the fathers of the so- 
 " ciety of Jesus you may surmount all difficulties. 
 " Such is the conviction of his imperial majesty, of 
 " the princes, and even of the people of Germany. 
 <* With us these fathers have already given proofs of 
 " what is to be expected from their zeal. Their 
 " exemplary conduct, their preaching, their colleges 
 " have hitherto supported, and still do support the 
 " catholic religion amongst us. Multiply then the 
 " Jesuits, multiply their colleges, their academies,
 
 13 
 
 " and the fruit which religion will reap from them, 
 <( will be incredible."* 
 
 Thus is the society to expect the hatred of all 
 protestants. Their very name is odious to the party. 
 The princes who encouraged the reformation in 
 their states, were as averse from confiding the edu- 
 cation of their youth to those fathers, as the catholic 
 princes were anxious to multiply their colleges, and 
 extend their flourishing institution. They carried 
 their fanaticism, with reference to the disciples of St. 
 Ignatius, to the excess of making it criminal in pa- 
 rents, to send their children into foreign countries, 
 to be educated in any of their colleges. The ca- 
 lumnies which have been invented in these latter 
 days, to discredit them with the public, are but a 
 fastidious repetition of the enormities charged against 
 them by the early reformers, to blacken them in the 
 eyes of all the nations of Europe, by covering them 
 with infamy and ridicule. Thus in the year 1617, 
 in the memorial which the ministers of Charenton 
 presented to cardinal Richelieu, they roundly charg- 
 ed the society with maintaining king-killing doctrine. 
 This flat calumny, which has since been so frequent- 
 ly and so successfully renewed, produced not the 
 desired effect upon the cardinal minister, who an- 
 
 i JMt-v 
 
 . . ,, 
 
 1 '* I Gesuiti hanno ormai dimostrato in Germauia, quello 
 " che se ne posse sperare in effetto, poiche solamente con la 
 " buona vita, et con le prediche, et con le scuole loro, vi hanno 
 " ntenuta et vi sostentano luttavia la religion cattolica; on- 
 lt de non e dubbio, che quando si facessero molti collegii, et 
 '< molte scuole onde si potessero avere molti operarii, sene caver- 
 " ebbefrulto incredibile." See the registers of cardinal Com- 
 mendon, the registers of the legates, and the instructions of 
 the count de Luna, ambassador of the emperor.
 
 14 
 
 swered the four heads of the reformers in these 
 words. " You would have holden another language 
 " upon this topic, had you, in lieu of taking it from 
 " the writings of an individual, received it from the 
 " mouth of their general, who in 1610 made a pub- 
 " lie declaration, by which he not only disavowed, 
 " but strictly inhibited every one of his order, un- 
 " der the most grievous penalties, to hold that it is 
 " lawful, under any pretext of tyranny whatso- 
 " ever, to attempt the life of a sovereign."* 
 
 Itmust be allowed, that this hatred of the Jesuits, 
 which was so ferocious in the first reformers, has 
 been considerably softened down by time, in pro- 
 portion as their unfounded prejudices against the 
 Catholics have been dispersed, and their horrors of 
 the see of Rome have become less violent. There 
 lurks however at bottom so much of the old leaven, 
 that the sore place cannot be touched without pro- 
 ducing a new fermentation ; witness the late de- 
 bates of the British parliament upon the question of 
 Catholic emancipation Amongst the members 
 who declined supporting a measure of so much 
 equity and sound policy, several grounded their op- 
 position upon the restoration of the order of the Je~ 
 suits, by his holiness Pius VII. 
 
 This inveterate hatred of the Jesuits is not con- 
 fined to the reformers j some (called indeed) Catho- 
 lic writers, who without giving into the reformation 
 entirely, but manifesting a favourable bias towards 
 
 * The principal points of the Catholic faith, against the 
 writing addressed to the king, by the four ministers of Cha- 
 renton.
 
 ft, have outrun the most infuriate of their reformed 
 friends in displaying: their inveteracy and ragg 
 against the society of Jesus. Of this last was th 
 president de Thou, rather an impartial writer upon 
 every subject, except that of religion : he assumes 
 and acuminates the Protestant prejudices and ca- 
 lumnies against the Jesuits ; he is sympathetically 
 lenient to the Huguenots, panegyrising the talents 
 and virtues of that party. Of the like cast was the 
 lawyer Pasquier, under Henry HI, who pleaded 
 against that order before the university. He was 
 the author of an exhortation to all princes, written 
 with a view of enforcing the necessity he maintain-* 
 ed they were under, of countenancing and admit- 
 hig into their states the disciples of Calvin : his im- 
 partiality for the Jesuits is too remarkable not to 
 furnish the reader with some few samples of it. Ire 
 his Jesuits' Catechism, after playing upon these in- 
 structors of youth by all manner of endearing terms 
 and fulsome flattery, he treats their founder, St. 
 Ignatius, withoutany ceremony, as a knight errant* 
 an impostor, and a liar; an hypocrite, who wished 
 to be taken for Jesus Christ; a glutton, a regi- 
 cide, another Manes, worse than Luther, an in* 
 farnate demon; as the grand Turk, a great as 
 and another don Quixote. He is equally moderate 
 in his language concerning St. Francis Xavier, tn 
 apostle of the east, whose herioc virtues have been 
 the admiration of the whole world. In his eyes he 
 is an hypocrite, a Machiavel, a successor of the 
 heresiarch Manes. All his miracles are to be 
 reckoned as fairy tales ; that all Jesuits are the 
 scorpions of France : so far from being th* first
 
 pillars of the holy see, they are itsjirst plunderers. 
 They ought not to be called the order of Jesuits, 
 but the order of Jessites ; because they sell the s* 
 craments by wholesale, at a higher price than 
 Giessi wished to sell the gift of miracles to Naaman. 
 Every Jesuit is a Judas : in Jesuitism there is 
 much Judaism. Even as the ancient Jews perse- 
 cuted Jesus Christ, so do these modern Jeios perse- 
 cute his apostles. In a word, in the vows taken by 
 the Jesuits, there is heresy, machiavelism, and 
 manifest cheat and fraud. 
 
 How wonderful, and, at the same time, how edi- 
 fying, is this lofty flight of anti-Jesuitical zeal? I 
 have, however, passed over in silence the author's 
 observations upon the title of father, by which the 
 priests of this order are usually addressed. In that 
 infamous passage, with which I will not defile my 
 pen, the most abandoned lasciviousness is worked up 
 with an excess of sarcasm and abuse. The reading 
 of this invective, equally foolish, indecent, and out- 
 rageous, brings forcibly upon our recollection the 
 noble and energetic address of Martin Luther to the 
 pope, whom he terms a blasted villain, who spits up 
 devils ; the cardinals, a set of wretches, to be ex- 
 terminated ,- and the whole school of divinity at 
 Ixmvain, a herd of beasts, hogs, epicurians, and 
 atheists. If Pasquier have not soared above these 
 sublime flights, he has certainly made lusty efforts 
 to rival them. What greater honour can the Je- 
 suits aspire to, than to meet such enemies in the 
 front of their battle?
 
 17 
 
 The Disciples of Jansens. 
 
 AFTER the Protestants first come the disciples of 
 Jansens. 
 
 I do not here dissemble that I am about to ruffle 
 many prejudices, and excite alarm with a certain 
 party. I set out by rendering homage to the ex- 
 traordinary genius of Pascal, to the profound eru- 
 dition of Nicole and Arnauld, and to the bril- 
 liant powers of the writers of Port Royal: but,, 
 without betraying my conscience, I could not ap- 
 prove of the error, to the support of which they lent 
 the powerful aid of their talents, nor compromise 
 the truth of history, to flatter their school. It is im- 
 periously necessary that talent and genius should 
 bow with respect before the infallible tribunal which 
 God has established in his church, to watch over 
 and preserve the sacred deposit of his divine reve- 
 lation, lest, in process of time, from a love of no- 
 velty and spirit of revolt, it becomes corrupted or 
 lost, by being the victim of error, the sport of hu- 
 man passions, and the butt of censure and derision 
 to future generations. 
 
 It is an incontestible fact, that the five proposi- 
 tions extracted from the book of Jansens have been 
 condemned by the sovereign pontiffs, and that in 
 the very sense of the author. The bulls issued from 
 the see of Rome leave no room to doubt of the fact. 
 Equally certain is it, that almost every bishop of
 
 18 
 
 the Catholic world has expressly or tacitly approved 
 of the judgment of Rome upon these quarrels of the 
 Jansenists : the opinion, therefore, of the holy see, 
 thus expressed, has become a dogmatical decision, 
 to which every one of the faithful is bounden to 
 pay sincere submission, both of mind and heart. 
 The distinction between fact and right is a mere 
 subtilty, invented by the party to elude the effects 
 of the solemn condemnation of their error. It was 
 unknown to the ages that preceded Jansenism, and 
 tends to prove that the church has constantly usurped 
 a power not given to her by her Divine Founder. 
 She has at all times, resting upon the immutable 
 rock of the divine promises, been in the constant 
 usage of passing judgment upon, and pronouncing 
 anathemas both against heretical books and the per- 
 sons of heretics. The matter of the five proposi- 
 tions has been long set to rest ; and the abettors of 
 those erroneous doctrines, who, as well as the sup- 
 porters of many other errors, seem to have been 
 lately again awakened, are, in the eyes of every or- 
 thodox Catholic, rebels to church authority, and 
 enemies to her decisions. 
 
 The Jesuits then would have slept at their posts, 
 or basely deserted the cause of religion, if, unheed- 
 ing the rapid progress of Jansen's system, or af- 
 frighted at the number and consequence of his fol- 
 lowers, they had preserved a culpable silence, when 
 the faith of the church was exposed to so much dan- 
 ger. At the very intimation of this new error, they 
 felt themselves called upon to rally all their talents 
 and genius to check it in its first movements. They 
 demonstrated that it was semi-protestantism ; they
 
 19 
 
 pressed upon the new sect the weight of reason and 
 the authority of past ages ; and they contended 
 most vigorously for the authority of the judgments 
 of the church. The fathers Annat, Deschamps, 
 d'Avrigny, Lafitau, and many others of that society, 
 took the field in this conflict of novelty against the 
 ancient faith. But their zeal, which was a duty, be- 
 came an unpardonable offence in the eyes of the 
 party. From that moment the destruction of the 
 society was resolved upon, with all the address that 
 refined malice could suggest. At the period when 
 the doctrine of probable opinion was prevailing 
 through most of the Catholic schools, several Jesuits, 
 following the stream of the then favourite doctrine, 
 certainly published some propositions of too lax mo- 
 rality. These slips of some individuals were fast- 
 ened upon the whole body. Pascal, who had en- 
 listed himself under the banners of Jansenism, avail- 
 ed himself of them to decry the society in the eyes 
 of the public, by holding it forth as an ambitious 
 combination of men of science to annihilate the mo- 
 rality of the gospel. In his famous Provincial Let- 
 Jters he poured upon his enemies, with infinite wit 
 and humour, torrents of the bitterest irony and 
 abuse. Every pen of that party was busily em- 
 ployed upon the same subject. France was in a 
 moment inundated with a deluge of publications, 
 worked up in the high rant of fanaticism, to inspire 
 a blind and deadly hatred of the society of Jesus: 
 the institute of St. Ignatius was attacked in every 
 part, and the faithful observers of it were traduced, 
 vilified, and criminated in every possible way. In 
 the year 1781, the president Holland, in a printed
 
 20 
 
 memorial, scrupled not to make public boast of the 
 inveteracy with which he worked at the destruction 
 of the order. We there read this important avowal : 
 " The affair of the Jesuits alone has cost me above 
 " sixty thousand livres out of my own money. 
 " They would not have been destroyed, if I had not 
 fe devoted to that work my time, my health, and my 
 " purse.' 1 What manner of justice could the fathers 
 expect at the hands of such judges ? 
 
 These repeated charges proved fatal to the so- 
 ciety. A large portion of the public, who always 
 side with the majority, and give readier credit to 
 vice than to virtue, concluded in the persuasion, 
 that the Jesuits, under an affected zeal for Catholi- 
 city, were at bottom men of inordinate ambition, 
 devoted to intrigue, and demoralizers of mankind. 
 And the parliaments, then more bent upon favour- 
 ing Jansenism than administeringjustice, persecuted 
 the society to every excess, till at last they pros- 
 trated it under the weight of their ferocious decrees. 
 
 The parliamentary zeal in devoting the society to 
 forfeiture, banishment, and disgrace, drew from 
 d'Alembert this flattering compliment to them : 
 " The chambers of the parliaments deal not in 
 <e mortmain : they serve the cause of reason without 
 "suspicion; they execute summary justice on be- 
 " half of the philosophers, from whom they take 
 " their orders, without knowing it. It is philoso- 
 t( phy, properly speaking, that has, from the mouths 
 " of the parliamentary magistrates, passed sentence 
 <l upon the Jesuits. Jansenism was but the solicitor 
 " in the cause."
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Of the Unbelievers of the Eighteenth Century. 
 
 JN order to be convinced, that the unbelievers tif 
 the 18th century had formed the project of destroy- 
 ing religion in France, it is only requisite to read 
 the genuine correspondence of the heads of that im- 
 pious confederacy. It exhibits, in strong colouring, 
 men animated with an infuriated hatred of Chris- 
 tianity, concerting measures for debasing and anni- 
 hilating it, communicating in the effusion of their 
 guilty connections with each other, their mutual 
 hopes and fears for the issue of the fatal combina- 
 tion, animating themselves reciprocally by impious 
 tests and formulas to foment this sacrilegious prosti- 
 tution of intellect, which tramples under foot the 
 first duties to the Creator, blights in the bud every 
 religious and social virtue, rends asunder without 
 shame or remorse all the ties of conscience, and 
 shakes to the base, the foundation of every state. 
 
 Such men therefore never could approve of the 
 existence of any religious order: and of all those 
 venerable institutions, the society 6f Jesus was 
 that which eminently excited their rage and pro- 
 voked their attacks. The powerful influence, which 
 it exercised over the minds of all, who practised 
 morality and religion, was an unexpiable crime be- 
 fore the tribunal of philosophy, and was the direct 
 cause of the unbelievers determination to destroy 
 the institute of St. Ignatius.
 
 1 assert then, in defiance of contradiction, that 
 these strange innovators, were sworn enemies to 
 the Jesuits, and were resolved upon entombing their 
 whole society. The works of the philosophers, the 
 correspondence of Voltaire, d'Alembert, and Fre- 
 deric king of Prussia, prove it to demonstration. 
 
 In opening the correspondence of Voltaire, I per- 
 ceive this leader of the school of incredulity com- 
 posing and forcing into circulation arguments against 
 the Jesuits.* If he knew of any man in power at 
 court, who protected the order, he instantly set 
 about depriving it of that advantage. In writing to 
 the duke de Richelieu, he says: f " lam informed, 
 " that your grace has been favouring the Jesuits at 
 <e Bourdeaux. Endeavour, I pray your grace, to de- 
 " prive them of whatever credit they have.'* When 
 he was apprised of the disasters of the society, he fe- 
 licitated his impious confederates in a style of sar- 
 castic insult, which bespoke the most rancorous 
 wish for their blood and extermination. " I rejoice," 
 says he, " with my noble chevalier (the marquis de 
 " Villevielle) at the expulsion of the Jesuits. Ja- 
 (t pan began by driving out those rascals. China 
 " followed Japan. France and Spain are imitating 
 r ' the Chinese. May they exterminate all religious, 
 " who are not one jot better than Loyola's scoun- 
 " drels. W|ere they to give the Sorbonne their 
 " own way, they would be worse than the Jesuits. 
 " We are surrounded by monsters : but they do but 
 
 * Lettre au marquis d'Argens de Dirac, 26 Fev. 1762* 
 f Lettre du 27 Novembre, 176 1.
 
 23 
 
 " fire my worthy friend and rouse him to action, 
 '* and at the same time warn him to conceal his 
 " movements from the enemy."* 
 
 D'AIembert rivalled Voltaire in his zeal against 
 the disciples of St. Ignatius. He styles them the gre- 
 nadiers of fanaticism, in his pamphlet upon their 
 destruction, where he lavishes praise upon La Cha- 
 lotais for having seen, us a philosopher, that a mo- 
 nastic spirit is the plague of a state, and that they 
 ought to begin with the Jesuits, as the most power- 
 ful. When the fathers were forced to quit the col* 
 lege of Louis le grand t he wrote that letter to Vol- 
 taire, which we quoted in the last chapter, in which 
 he calls the parliament the executioners of summary 
 justice on behalf of the philosophers, whose orders 
 they take without knowing it ; and in the rapture 
 of his exultation he adds, " As for me, who see 
 " every thing in the most favourable light, I hence- 
 " forth view the Jansenists dying next year of their 
 " quiet death, after having caused the Jesuits to die 
 " this year of a violent death : toleration on its legs, 
 " the Protestants recalled, the priests married, con- 
 " fession done away, and fanaticism crushed without 
 " the people's perceiving it."f This letter gives a 
 fair idea of the philosophic views of this leader of im- 
 piety, and of the high consequence he attached to 
 the abolition of the society. In the like ecstasy of 
 his latitudinarian system, he wrote to the same, 
 Infine, on the 6th of the next month, shall we be de+ 
 tivered of the Jesuitical rabble. 
 
 * Lettre du 27 Avril, 1767. t Lttrc 100.
 
 24 
 
 Frederic king of Prussia, partook too strongly of 
 
 Voltaire's and d'Alembert's hatred of Christianity, 
 
 not to rejoice with them at the many reverses the 
 
 institute had suffered. " What an unfortunate a?ra 
 
 " for the court of Rome/' said his majesty. " They 
 
 " openly attack it in Poland. They are driving out 
 
 " its body guards from France and Portugal. And, 
 
 " it appears, they will do as much in Spain. The 
 
 t( philosophers are openly undermining the aposto- 
 
 " lie throne, they ridicule the juggle of the magi- 
 
 " cian, they bespatter the author of the sect, they 
 
 te preach up toleration. All is lost : Nothing short 
 
 "of a miracle can set the church on her legs again, 
 
 * c She has received a severe stroke of apoplexy. 
 
 ** And you (Voltaire) may have the satisfaction of 
 
 *' laying her in the grave, and writing her epitaph, 
 
 " as you formerly did that of the Sorbonne."* 
 
 When Spain had in fact followed the examples of 
 France and Portugal, this philosophic monarch 
 could hardly contain the ecstasies which that event 
 caused in him; he thus unbosomed himself to his 
 good friends in France : e: We have at least/' he 
 tells Voltaire, " gained an important advantage in 
 " Spain : the Jesuits are driven out of that king- 
 " dom. The courts of Versailles, Vienna and Ma- 
 * c drid have pressed the pope to suppress a consi- 
 * f derable number of convents. They say that the 
 t* holy father must consent, however reluctantly, to 
 " the measure. Cruel revolution ! What is not the 
 " next generation to. look up to ? The axe is at the 
 
 Lettre 6 Feyrier, 1767.
 
 25 
 
 " root of the tree. The edifice is sapped in its 
 " foundations, ready to fall in. The nations will 
 " recount in their annals, that Voltaire was the pro- 
 " moter of the revolution, which will take place in 
 '* the human mind before the close of the nineteenth 
 ' century."* 
 
 "What impressions does not this infuriated lan- 
 guage of philosophy force upon a reflecting mind ? 
 It proclaims through the wicked organ of an unbe- 
 lieving monarch, the whole malignity of its despe- 
 rate hopes. Intolerance has attained its acme, 
 and the modern philosophers have glutted to excess 
 in persecution of religion. That heavenly offspring 
 has beholden, to the astonishment of affrighted na- 
 tions, her altars profaned, her temples demolished, 
 her ministers banished or butchered, her festivals 
 abolished, her venerable chief twice exiled and im- 
 prisoned, and her enemies in savage triumph making 
 France and Europe ring with the doleful paeans of 
 their bloody trophies. Yet supported by the hand 
 of the Almighty, she still stands erect upon the dust 
 of her persecutors, crowned with new laurels, desrr 
 ponding as little for the future, as from the past. 
 Where then is this flimsy edifice, which the philo- 
 sophic monarch vainly boasted was undermined in 
 its foundations, and about to shake the earth with 
 the crash of its mighty fall? Where is now that 
 wonderful Voltaire, whose destinies had summoned 
 him to write the epitaph of religion expiring with 
 ignominy at his feet? The brittle structure, of 
 which the unbelievers had vauntingly predicted the 
 
 Lettre du 5 Mai, 1767. 
 E
 
 immediate downfall, is the religion of Jesus Christ, 
 eternal as its divine founder, which rears its head 
 in every nation of the earth, in defiance of the vio- 
 lent rage of persecution, which for these eighteen 
 centuries has assailed it. Voltaire the invincible, 
 who was to have assisted with an ignominious epi- 
 taph at her obsequies, is now no more, in the horrors 
 of the sepulchre, than a cold senseless atom of dust, 
 whilst his fastidious spirit ranges for eternity in the 
 regions pf bliss or woe, under the hand of a mer- 
 ciful or an angry God, as his evil deeds shall have 
 been followed by sorrow or impenitence. The per- 
 secution and crosses which religion experiences, 
 are ever sure to turn to her glory, in as much as 
 her constant triumph exposes the weakness of her 
 enemies on one hand, and on the other demonstrates 
 the omnipotency of the divine hand which protects 
 her. But as to the victories of impiety, they ever 
 must cover her with ignominious shame, branded by 
 the curse of nations, and disgraced by inevitable de- 
 feats, they leave her but the humiliating despair 
 of ever subduing Christianity. 
 
 However solid and consoling these reflections may 
 be, I must no longer entertain them here, but hasten 
 to the principal object of this work. 
 
 Notwithstanding Frederic's aversion to Christian- 
 ity, he could not bring his mind to drive the Jesuits 
 out of his states. Distinguishing the king from the 
 philosopher, he was sensible that he should contra- 
 vene every principle of sound policy and good go- 
 vernment, if, after the example of the catholic cabi- 
 nets of Europe, he should proscribe and banish the 
 fathers of the society. I shall hereafter mention this
 
 27 
 
 singular resolve of an unbelieving prince. However 
 justifiable his motives were, certain it is, that his most 
 intimate friends took it very ill of him. D'Alembert, 
 above all others, spared no pains to bring him over 
 to sentiments more congenial with those of the school 
 of disbelief. " My venerable patriarch," wrote he 
 to Voltaire, <f accuse me no more of being slack in 
 <e the good cause, no man perhaps exists, who ren- 
 ft ders it more essential services than I do. Do 
 rt you know what I am now about ? 1 am labouring 
 *' to procu re the expulsion of those Jesuitical mis- 
 * c creants from Silesia, whom your old disciple wishes 
 * c to get rid of, on account of the perfidy and trea- 
 te son, which he has owned to me, he experienced 
 <e from them during the last war. I never write a 
 " letter to Berlin, in which I do not paint in very 
 " strong colouring, the astonishment of the philoso- 
 " phers of France, that the king of philosophers, 
 " the avowed protector of philosophy^ is so back- 
 " ward in imitating the examples of Prance and 
 " Portugal. These letters are read to his majesty, 
 " who you know is peculiarly ambitious of the good 
 " opinion of the right believers."* 
 
 Voltaire acted perfectly in unison with d'Alem- 
 bert, when fifteen years after their expulsion from 
 France, he employed all his credit at the court of 
 St. Petersburg to procure their expulsion also from 
 China : because, said he, those Jesuits, whom the 
 emperor of China has had the goodness to preserve 
 at Pekin, are much more proseh/tizers than ma- 
 thematicians.* 
 
 * Lettre de d'Alembert a Voltaire du 29 Decembre, 1763, 
 t Lettre a d'Alembert da 8 Decembre, 1 776.
 
 28 
 
 On reading this ultraphilosophic correspondence, 
 it is evident, that the very shadow of a Jesuit ter- 
 rified these bravading unbelievers. They pursued 
 the society therefore with unrelenting perseverance 
 to its very last, member, dreading lest some day or 
 other, the order might revive out of its ashes, to the 
 discomfiture of the new school of philosophy, This 
 dread shewed itself in two particular instances. 
 
 The failures of the institute having inflicted a se- 
 vere wound upon the education of youth, the go- 
 vernment had it in contemplation to attempt to heal 
 it, by establishing a new society of clergymen, and 
 particularly of ex- Jesuits, who should devote them- 
 selves to teaching in public colleges. D'Alembert 
 instantly took alarm. He wrote repeatedly to Vol- 
 taire to apprize him of the different projects he had 
 devised, to defeat this new plan of reform. He chiefly 
 insists v.pon the danger itfhich would result from it 
 to the state, to the church, to the pope, to the king, 
 and to the duke dArguttlon, under whose administra- 
 tion the destruction of the Jesuits had been accom- 
 plished. That sufficed not : he found it essential to 
 demonstrate the mischief of putting the rising ge- 
 neration under the tuition of any of the priesthood, 
 all of whom he represented as ultramontanists, un- 
 natural and bad citizens. Voltaire is equally ter- 
 rified at the intended measure ; he considers it an 
 affair of the first consequence, and concerts with his 
 friend, the most efficient steps to preserve philoso- 
 phy from the impending danger.* The whole party 
 
 * See particularly the letters of the 26th February, 5th 
 March, and 22d March, 1774.
 
 29 
 
 is thrown into consternation and action, to counter- 
 act the plan at Paris and Versailles. Soon after 
 the terrific phantom disappeared. The leaders of 
 the party contrived to gain over the ministry, the 
 measure was dropped, and all the philosophic fears 
 were dispersed. 
 
 This calm was however of short duration. A re^ 
 port prevailed, that the society would be re-esta- 
 blished in Portugal. A fresh panic seized d'Alem- 
 t>ert ; he dreaded the success of the enemy in this 
 new conflict, and thus expressed himself in a letter 
 to Voltaire. " I am credibly assured, that those Je- 
 te suitical miscreants are about to be re-established 
 " in Portugal, in every thing, save their habit. 
 " This new queen appears to be a precious piece of 
 (f superstitious majesty. Should the king of Spain 
 *' drop, that kingdom, I doubt not, will follow the 
 " example of Portugal. The game is up with rea- 
 tr son, if the enemy gain this great battle.' 1 * 
 
 What formidable men these Jesuits are! Sunk 
 ^own into the abyss of ignominy, and buried in the 
 shades of death, they still strike a panic into the 
 victorious ranks of the modern philosophists. An 
 army of two hundred thousand men, would not have 
 spread greater consternation through their host. 
 Does it not very forcibly strike the reader of these 
 interesting extracts from the correspondence of the 
 heads of the philosophic party, that in defiance of 
 their boasted powers in captivating the hearts even 
 of sovereigns, by preaching up a morality that flat* 
 ters passion, and deifies crime, these religious men 
 
 * Lettre du 23 Juin, 1777.
 
 still possess the secret of rising from their ashes, 
 more -hale and vigorous than they were full fifty 
 years before their death. 
 
 One more instance shall suffice to characterize the 
 irreligious hatred, \vhichtheunbelieversentertained 
 of the institute of St. Ignatius. The dauphin, who 
 was the father of Louis XVI, held out to France 
 the promising prospect of a magnificent reign of 
 glory and prosperity. A happy genius, an upright 
 and magnanimous soul, great variety and depth of 
 knowledge, a love of religion, the people and the 
 fine arts, all the brilliant powers of the mind, all 
 the royal virtues of the heart, which make a prince 
 the idol of his people, the hero of the age, and th6 
 admiration of the world, graced with profusion this 
 heir apparent to the throne of France. A lingering 
 illness, threatening approaching dissolution, threw 
 a desponding gloom over the better part of the na- 
 tion, and drew from them tears, by anticipation, fof 
 the calamitous effects which it was about to suffer, 
 from the approaching loss of this promising inheri- 
 tor of our kings, the true friends of our monarchy 
 and religion. In the midst of this general mourn- 
 ing, the whole school of disbelief had the effrontery 
 to indulge openly, the most indecent excesses of ex- 
 ultation. They dreaded the dauphin's attachment to 
 the faith of his forefathers. Above all things, they 
 feared that his determined opposition in council to the 
 advice of the ministers, for crushing the society of 
 Jesus in France, would be followed up by his more 
 successful efforts for their re-establishment through- 
 out the kingdom. Lord Walpole, who was then in
 
 31 
 
 Paris, thus wrote to field-marshal Conway. " The 
 " dauphin has evidently but few days to live. The 
 a prospect of his death, maddens the philosophers 
 " with joy, as they dread his exertions for the re-esta- 
 * f blishment of the Jesuits." 
 
 It must however in justice be admitted, that some 
 of the school of disbelief did not carry their hatred 
 of the society to this degree of depravity. It is ge- 
 nerally believed, that Diderot refused the offer of a 
 considerable sum of money, to write against these 
 respectable objects of persecution. And J. J. Rous- 
 seau glories, in his letter to the archbishop Beau- 
 mont,* that he could never be induced to lend his 
 pen to decry and ruin the society. " They have,'* 
 says that philosopher, " wreaked their vengeance 
 " against me for my refusal to side with the Jansen- 
 '* ists, and my constant perseverance in the deter- 
 <f mination never to employ my pen against the Je- 
 <e suits, whom I do not like, but of whom I have no 
 (e personal ground of complaint, and whom 1 see 
 (( oppressed.' 1 There is another testimony in favour 
 of the disciples of St. Ignatius, still more singular 
 than the former, as coming from the mouth of a 
 professed atheist, the astronomer Lalande. Though 
 the passage be rather long, it is too full of point to 
 suppress any part of it from the reader. 
 
 In the Bulletin de I 1 Europe of the 0,0th Nivose, 
 this author says, ei I am twitted with being an athe- 
 " 1st, with being uglier than Socrates, with eating 
 " spiders, with calling the duchess of Gotha my 
 " intimate friend, with saying that Newton was a 
 
 ' 
 * Page 8.
 
 32 
 
 " tolerable mathematician, with having foretold a 
 " comet that never appeared, with having- made my 
 u court to the pope, and with having served the 
 " mass of a Jesuit. Nothing of all this deserves an 
 " answer. But the mention of a Jesuit awakens all 
 " the feelings of my heart, my mind, and my grati- 
 " tude. They have spoken much of their re-esta- 
 " blishment in the north ; that is all smoke : it has, 
 " however, harrowed up all my sore feelings at the 
 " blindness of the ministers in place in 1762. No ; 
 " mankind has irretrievably lost, and never will re- 
 " cover, that precious and surprising union of twenty 
 " thousand individuals, devoted incessantly and drs- 
 " interestedly to the functions of teaching, preaeh- 
 " ing, missions, conciliations, and succour to the dy- 
 '* ing, that is to say, to duties the most serviceable 
 ". and the dearest to humanity." 
 
 t( Retirement, frugality, and the renunciation 
 " of pleasure, constituted, in that society, the most 
 " harmonious concord of science and virtue. I had 
 " personal knowledge of them : they were an as- 
 " semblage of heroes for religion and humanity. 
 te Religion afforded them means, which philosophy 
 " cannot furnish. I was enraptured with them. 
 f{ When I was but fourteen years of age, 1 loved 
 f ' them to such a degree, as to solicit to be admitted 
 " amongst them ; and I regret, to this hour, that I 
 " did not persevere in this vocation, which origi- 
 * f nated from my state of innocence and thirst after 
 " knowledge. Amongst the absurd calumnies which 
 " the rag-e of Protestants and Jansenists have sent 
 
 o 
 
 " forth against them, I particularly remarked those
 
 S3 
 
 " of la Chalotais, who was so ignorant, or so blind, 
 " as to have asserted in his pleadings, that they had 
 " produced no mathematicians. I was then work- 
 " ing at my astronomical tables ; I devoted a special 
 " article to the astronomers, who were Jesuits, and 
 " their number astonished me. I had an opportu- 
 <e nity of meeting with la Chalotais at Saintes, on 
 " the 20th of October, 1773. I upbraided him with 
 " his injustice, which he did not pretend to deny. 
 " He was murdered on the 20th of July, 1774. 
 " Crimes are generally punished. 
 
 '* Rar6 antecedentem scelestum 
 tl Deseruit pede poena claudo. 
 
 " But the Jesuits' doom had been long since 
 " fixed. Two ministers, Carvalho and Choiseul, 
 " have irreparably broken the most beautiful work 
 < f of man, which no sublunary institution will ever 
 " again rival: the everlasting object of my admira- 
 <( tion, of my gratitude, and of my regret/'* 
 
 The Jesuits have been reproached for entertain- 
 ing too great an attachment and too high an esteem 
 for their own body. Let this taunt be well or ill- 
 founded, it will ever be curious to remark, that the 
 most splendid eulogy of their order has come from 
 the lips of an avowed atheist. I am not, indeed, 
 aware that any Jesuit ever stepped so far beyond 
 
 the bounds of modesty, as to have called his own 
 
 . n v 
 
 * This evidence of Lalande in favour of the Jesuits is to be 
 seen in the Annales Philosophiques, Morales et Litttraires, of 
 M. de Boulogne, the present bishop of Troyes. Tom. I, an. 1800, 
 p. 228. 
 
 P
 
 34 
 
 society an assemblage of heroes for religion and 
 humanity. It is here to be remarked, that the evi- 
 dence which we have drawn from these leaders of 
 the school of disbelief, has only been forced from 
 them, upon the score of their intimate conviction of 
 the innocence of the Jesuits j for no personal inte- 
 rest or credit with the sect to which they lent their 
 name could have induced them to give it. But if 
 these witnesses did not give into the conspiracy 
 against the society, it is not the less certain, that it 
 sunk under the redoubled efforts of the philosophers, 
 acting in concert with the Jansenists through every 
 scene of this fatal tragedy. The facts we have to 
 relate in the ensuing part of this chapter will add a 
 mass of evidence to the truth of the assertion. 
 
 Carvalho, better known under the title of mar- 
 quis de Pombal, gave in Portugal the first signal 
 for the destruction of the society. He was a sworn 
 enemy to the holy see, and to all bishops, and the 
 avowed abettor of several new doctrines subversive 
 of the rights of the church j and had resolved upon 
 the ruin of the society, on account of the opposition 
 he encountered from them to the progress of his in- 
 novations. The murder of the king of Portugal 
 was the pretext he set up for devoting them to pro- 
 scription and banishment, By an edict, dated on 
 the 3d day of September, 1759, the Jesuits were 
 banished the kingdom, declared traitors and rebels, 
 and all their property was confiscated: 
 
 France soon trod in the steps of Portugal. The 
 duke de Choiseul, the patron general of the philo^ 
 sophers, and the marchioness of Pompadour, who 
 had captivated the heart of the monarch, joined
 
 35 
 
 their interests to forward the persecution of the in- 
 stitute. To use the words of Voltaire, they wert 
 initiated in all the secrets of philosophy. The in- 
 fluence which they both commanded over Louis 
 XV, ensured the most brilliant success to all the de- 
 signs of the Jansenists, as well as of the unbelievers. 
 Notwithstanding the powerful reclamations of the 
 clergy, the institute of St. Ignatius was abolished 
 throughout France. And as if the preservation of 
 these zealous workmen in the vineyard, who had 
 devoted such a mass of learning and talent to the 
 glory of the kingdom, had been incompatible with 
 its laws and its monarchy, and destructive of its 
 prosperity, the Jesuits, to the amount of four thou- 
 sand, were compelled to quit their native soil, to 
 seek a precarious existence in foreign countries. 
 
 In Spain, the prime minister, count d'Aranda, 
 became, as d'Alembert expresses himself, the exe- 
 cutive administrator of supreme justice under phi- 
 losophy. He had confederated himself with the 
 philosophers, and, like them, he had sworn to de- 
 stroy the Jesuits. Having gained an uncontrolled 
 influence over the king's mind, he procured him to 
 sign an edict, by which the whole order was com- 
 manded to quit Spain, their whole property was 
 seized and forfeited, and they were prohibited from 
 ever returning into the kingdom. The edict was 
 put into the most rigorous execution, without defer- 
 ence io age, infirmity, or services. They were ar- 
 rested in one and the same night, conducted to the 
 frontiers, and thence embarked for Italy. In the 
 directions for executing this terrible sentence, his
 
 S6 
 
 majesty was made to declare, that he reserved to 
 his royal breast the motives for this rigorous treat- 
 ment. 
 
 In the kingdom of Naples, Tanucci, who, before 
 he was placed at the head of the council of regency, 
 had been a professor of civil law in the university 
 of Pisa, contributed most powerfully to the expul- 
 sion of the Jesuits. He countenanced and encou- 
 raged the Jansenian party, who made numbers of 
 proselytes throughout the kingdom, under the sanc- 
 tion of his authority. He was an avowed enemy of 
 the see of Rome, which had condemned one of his 
 works, in which he had violently arraigned some of 
 the ecclesiastical immunities ; and he therefore de- 
 voted all his powers and credit to the destruction of 
 the society. 
 
 In Austria, Van Swieten and Haen, two disciples 
 of the celebrated Boe.rhaave, professor of medicine 
 at Leyden, procured the Jesuits to be sent from all 
 the universities, in which they had chairs either of 
 divinity or canon law. They were both of families 
 attached to the Jansenian bishop of Utrecht, and 
 had been brought up in all the prejudices of that 
 party, as well against the society as against the holy 
 see. Having been appointed physicians in ordinary 
 to the empress Maria Theresa, and enjoying a 
 very large share of her confidence, they prevailed 
 upon her to institute a commission to reform the 
 system of education throughout her empire. The 
 commissioners acted up to the full spirit of Van 
 Swieten and Haen, The expulsion of the Jesuits 
 from the universities was the first measure they took
 
 37 
 
 in hand.* Maria Theresa, nevertheless, was par- 
 tial to the society: she opposed, for a length of time, 
 the intrigues of the cabinets of Madrid and Lisbon 
 at Rome for its suppression. But the queen of 
 Naples, instigated by the Spanish ambassador, 
 having urged her to it in the most pressing manner, 
 the empress dropped her opposition to the Jesuits' 
 enemies. Thus, in the course of some few years, 
 was the fire lighted in every quarter, and the world 
 beheld that celebrated society, consisting of above 
 twenty thousand subjects, ranged under the banners 
 of St. Ignatius, suddenly fall under the sword of 
 pontifical authority. Clement XIV, staggered by 
 the pressing importunities of the Spanish and Por- 
 tuguese ministers, and intimidated by the threats 
 which accompanied them, struck the fatal blow by 
 his brief for the suppression, dated on the 21st of 
 July, 1773. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 A general Description of the Charges laid against 
 the Society of Jesuits. 
 
 NEVER since the creation of the world, say the 
 enemies of the Jesuits, has there existed a society of 
 human beings so destructive of morality, and so 
 
 ' These particulars are given from the abbe Bellegarde, a 
 witness above all suspicion, as he was for a length of time head 
 of the Jansenian party at Utrecht, arid was one of the principal 
 writers in the Nouvelles EccUsiastiques.
 
 38 
 
 dangerous to governments, as the order of Jesuits, 
 Fired with unbridled ambition, their aim was uni- 
 versal monarchy. True it is, they command not 
 armies to besiege towns, and to subdue kingdoms by 
 force of arms. To supply that defect, they are 
 thorough masters of intrigue,, hypocrisy, and fraud ; 
 by means of which they command an ascendency 
 over every thing that is great, and thus ensure to 
 themselves an access to the palaces of kings. They 
 have two systems of morality at command, of which 
 they avail themselves with astonishing dexterity, in 
 order to attain this universal dominion. Should any 
 of their devotees exhibit a disposition to a rigorous 
 system of morality, they have their authors of severe 
 discipline, whom they push forward, inculcating the 
 principles of 'the most ascetic austerity. But if 
 placed in a situation to gain over to their purposes 
 men in high life, they then give into the full system 
 of their lax morality, and preach up, without stint 
 or scruple, theft, homicide, adultery, blasphemy, 
 witchcraft, superstition, divination, and idolatry. 
 They authorise all manner of crimes, and encourage 
 the unbridled indulgence of every passion. 
 
 But king-killing is their favourite and most promi- 
 nent doctrine ; and, as the abbe Pucelle has said, 
 it is the original sin of the society. They know 
 right well how to play the impostor to support their 
 institute, how to make sovereigns turn pale under 
 the diadem, and, when necessary, how to dispatch 
 them on their very thrones. The history of nations, 
 sullied in every page by the narratives of their con- 
 spiracies and murders, fully warrants the grounds of 
 this heavy charge. Open the history of France,
 
 39 
 
 and there will you find them deeply implicated in 
 the league raised against Henry III, then armed 
 with the poignard to assassinate Henry IV, and 
 Louis XV. Look into the annals of Portugal, and 
 you will see them proscribed en masse, and exter- 
 minated from their country for having, in the admi- 
 nistration of Pombal, attempted the life of Joseph 
 I. Take a view of the history of England, and you 
 will there see them ignominiously driven out of that 
 celebrated island, for having been at the bottom of 
 the noted gunpowder-plot, and having incessantly 
 laboured to dethrone Elizabeth and James I. Cast 
 your eye over the historical documents of Poland, 
 Russia, and other states, and you will perceive them 
 constantly employed in revolutionary projects, seek- 
 ing to spread discord through different kingdoms, 
 and overwhelming the whole world with confusion, 
 in order to clear their way to their sole favourite 
 object, universal monarchy. 
 
 Imagine not, they add, that their contempt of the 
 crowns of sovereigns inspired them with respect and 
 deference for mitres. Reeking with the blood of 
 murdered monarchs, whom they killed off, they 
 are also imbrued with that of Clement XIV, whom 
 they poisoned. Surcharged with the privileges im- 
 parted to their order, and inflated with conceit of 
 their own merit, they contemptuously tread under 
 their feet other monastic institutions, and set at 
 nought the divine rights of episcopacy. Imagine 
 not, therefore, that they traversed oceans, in order 
 to extend the empire of Christianity to the people 
 of Asia, or the barbarous hordes of American sa- 
 vages. Under the mask of zeal, and the imposing
 
 40 
 
 mantle of hypocrisy, they sought only to enrich 
 themselves by infamous traffic : they were lured out 
 of their own country by the thirst of conquest and 
 the lust for universal empire. Witness the scanda- 
 lous bankruptcy of father Lavallette, known all 
 over Europe ; witness also the terrible insurrections 
 raised by them in America against the kings of 
 Spain and Portugal. 
 
 Such consummate profligacy in a religious order, 
 fills the reflecting mind with astonishment : it baf- 
 fles every attempt to explain how so depraved a so- 
 ciety could have remained on their legs for more 
 than two whole centuries, and how it could have 
 enjoyed the confidence of the greatest princes, and 
 the esteem of the most revered pontiffs Bear also 
 in mind, that beyond the mysterious secrets of their 
 system of morality, which suited every disposition, 
 and fanned the flame of every passion, they had 
 their colleges, their missions, their brotherhoods 
 and affiliations, which constituted a resistless power 
 to attract and attach all classes of people to their in- 
 stitute. This was a never-failing source and supply 
 of auxiliary troops, which they could bring into the 
 field on any pressing occasion. One single histori- 
 cal trait, which, out of volumes of the like nature, 
 accidentally starts uppermost in my thoughts, will 
 throw the strongest day-light upon this dark mystery 
 of iniquity. It is the instance of Louis XIV en- 
 listing himself under the banners of St. Ignatius. 
 Is it not a certain and admitted fact, that this illus- 
 trious monarch, so jealous of his royal prerogatives, 
 and of so high-minded and warlike a disposition, 
 was seduced by father Le Tellier, his confessor, to
 
 41 
 
 take the three religious vows, under that father's 
 direction, namely, the vows of chastity, poverty, and 
 obedience. And he even, according to the abbe 
 Dorsanne,* also made the fourth vow of special obe- 
 dience to the pope, to go, if sent, upon any foreign 
 mission. Such a happy oblivion could he assume 
 of all his past quarrels with the court of Rome, 
 which is an inexplicable folly in so great a prince : 
 So expert and truly astonishing are the Jesuits in 
 every art of intrigue. 
 
 This horrible gang of crafty courtiers, of robbers, 
 of bankrupts, of idolaters, and of regicides, must 
 naturally have been headed by a man, imbrued in 
 every vice and crime that could draw upon him the 
 execration of the human species. Such then must 
 have been the general of the Jesuits. Here is his 
 true likeness, drawn from the life, by the author of 
 the apology of these religious, in bringing together 
 the scattered features, under which history and the 
 friends of truth have represented him. 
 
 " A sort of monster incessantly cringing at the feet 
 " of sovereigns and pontiffs, watching an opportu- 
 " nity of surprising them, when off their guard, and 
 " usurping their places ; coupling the language of 
 tf enthusiasm with the movements of the fanatic, the 
 et heart of the assassin with the spirit of the despot, 
 t( and masking the conduct of the abandoned profli- 
 
 * " The king's confidence,'* says this abb, " in father le 
 " Tellier, did but encrease during his illness. This ought not to 
 u create surprise, as that father had made his majesty take the 
 " fourth vow of that society, and had placed on his breast the 
 '* passport from St. Ignatius." See the Journal de I'altbc Dor- 
 sanne, 3d Edit, Tom. I, p. 453. See also page 455, 
 
 G
 
 42 
 
 te gate under all the \viles of the impostor : com- 
 " manding a caitiff group of base adorers prostrate 
 " at his feet, whom he fetters in chains, whose eyes 
 " he hoodwinks, whose brains he turns, whom he 
 " quenches with gall, whom he arms with poignards, 
 " whom he leads to slaughter, whom he trains to 
 " every vice, by exhorting them to every virtue: 
 " having at command on the seven hills, where he 
 tf has fixed his den, forty thousand eyes open upon the 
 " interior of every cabinet of state, as well as of 
 te every private family in the state; forty thousand 
 "arms extended over the necks of every sovereign 
 " and of all their subjects : spreading every where 
 f on the altar, on the throne, in public places, in pri- 
 " vate families, the fumes of superstition, the breath 
 " of discord, and the blast of death : quaffing out 
 " of a cup, prepared for the sacrilege, and presented 
 " by ruffians, the blood and gold mingled together 
 "both of the old and new world : rearing his lofty 
 " head up to heaven, ransacking the earth with his 
 "hands, and trampling with his feet the bottomless 
 pit of hell." 
 
 What a frightful portrait ! What an infamous 
 society! Who will henceforth wonder that Catholic 
 princes should have pressed, with all the weight of 
 their royal powers, upon this assemblage of nefari- , 
 ous miscreants ? Of all the damnatory judgments 
 emanating against these criminals, from the highest 
 courts of justice, will there be one to which pos. 
 terity will affix the stamp of equity, upon such just 
 grounds as that of the parliament of Paris, of the 
 6th of August, 1762, which declares the institute 
 inadmissible into any regular government.
 
 43 
 
 J may in the eyes of some appear unjust and ri- 
 diculous, by putting- such language into the mouths 
 of the Jesuits' enemies. Those who have read 
 their works against the institute, must bear witness 
 that I have not exaggerated a single point : they 
 must add, that I have passed over in silence a very 
 considerable part of the charges laid to their account, 
 although I have faithfully taken notice of the weigh- 
 tiest of those charges.* 
 
 * These charges are principally rehearsed in two works re- 
 cently published, one of which is intituled, Du Pape et des 
 jftsuites ; and the other, Les Jesuites tels quails ont etc dans 
 I'ordre politique, moral et religieux. (i. e. The Jesuits such as 
 they have been in the points of policy, morality and religion). 
 A monumental record of some curiosity will help me to another 
 justifying plea. It was an epitaph composed by the Jansenists, 
 at the time that ihe Jesuits were expelled from France. I 
 have now before me a copy of this interesting piece : it was cer- 
 tainly committed Jto the press, that it might travel down to pos- 
 terity ; and they will unquestionably have it engraven on the 
 tomb-stone of the society. 
 
 THE EPITAPH OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUITS. 
 
 HEALTH, GLORY, POWER TO OUR GOD,. 
 
 Fallen is this mighty Babylon ! 
 Fallen Is this intolerable society of the Jesuits ; 
 
 The scourge and disgrace of mankind ; 
 Decorating itself with the name of Jesus, blaspheming against 
 
 Jesus Christ ; 
 The school of every vice ; 
 
 Countenancing and committing all manner of crimes. 
 Greedy in traffic, bloated with riches, the fruit of its rapacity j 
 
 Haughty ruler of monarchs ; 
 
 Grasping at the e.mpire of the whole word. 
 
 Arming assassins against the anointed of the Lord ; 
 
 Violating all laws in virtue of their very institute ; 
 
 Rending the church asunder by schisms, 
 
 And states by sedition. 
 
 Altering the entire text of holy scriptures ; 
 
 It has perished drunk with the blood of the saints.
 
 44 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Reflections upon the Character of the Enemies of 
 the Jesuits.* 
 
 TT HEN the Templars were charged with tram- 
 pelling under foot the crucifix, and with giving into 
 every excess of debauchery, regular proceedings 
 were carried on against them. These celebrated 
 knights were questioned, brought face to face with 
 their accusers, and they were found guilty or ac- 
 quitted, as the evidence brought against them was 
 supported or failed. Such of them as confessed or 
 pleaded guilty to the charges laid against them, and 
 those who were found guilty, upon their trial, on the 
 evidence given in court, were sentenced to the most 
 rigorous punishment ; but as to such of them as per- 
 sisted in declaring their innocence, even under the 
 
 >O a Heaven rejoice over it, 
 And you holy pontiffs, doctors, virgins, and the just, 
 
 Whom it has assailed, oppressed and murdered, 
 Insulting your holy memory, profaning your sacred remains; 
 
 Rejoice, ye kings and bishops, 
 Whom it long has deluded under the guise of false piety : 
 
 Fallen has this society, 
 Execrable in the eyes of God and man, 
 
 Driven out of Portugal by an edict of his most faithful majesty, 
 And proscribed in France by an act of parliament, 
 
 Of the vith August, MDCCLXII. 
 Ubique exterminium societatis Jem vota et salus orbis. 
 
 * I rank not amongst the Jesuits' enemies, certain persons who 
 entertain prepossessions or prejudices against their order, al- 
 though they allow them their due merit. I only characterize 
 those as their enemies, who profess to carry on open war against 
 them.
 
 45 
 
 torture, and were, upon a fair trial, found not guilty, 
 they were remitted to the society of their fellow citi- 
 zens, and, like them, were allowed to breathe in 
 freedom the air of their native country. 
 
 Why should the Jesuits be more harshly treat- 
 ed than the Templars ? Why were they proscribed 
 en masse, ignominiously driven out of their houses, 
 bereft of their property, stowed on board of ships, 
 without any attention to their age, infirmities, or ser- 
 vices, and sent into banishment in foreign countries, 
 without having been examined, questioned, or con- 
 fronted with their accusers. I will allow, for the 
 moment, that the bulk of the society were guilty. 
 Ought therefore the innocent to be confounded with 
 the guilty and comprised under one general sen- 
 tence of proscription ? Who dispensed with the ad- 
 ministrators of justice from proceeding against these 
 religious men, with the same legal forms as they are 
 compellable to act against a professed assassin, or a 
 highway robber ? There is no persuading a man of 
 sane intellect, that out of twenty thousand human 
 beings, of which the society consisted, there existed 
 not one solitary individual, who was honest and vir- 
 tuous : and that from the instructor of youth in know- 
 ledge, morality, and religion, to the intrepid mission- 
 ary, who with the sweat of his brow has watered the 
 barbarous tracts of America, every Jesuit, unex- 
 ceptionably, was deserving of poverty, banishment, 
 and ignominy. 
 
 Bitterly however have the philosophers exclaimed 
 against the treatment of the Templars, and enthusi- 
 astically have they applauded the atrocious measures 
 pursued against the Jesuits. Not only have they
 
 46 
 
 applauded, but also co-operated with the Jansenian 
 party, in bringing all the misfortunes upon the so- 
 ciety. These gentlemen, who had shed such scald- 
 ing tears over the ruins of Port-Royal, the chief seat 
 of the learning of their school, now made France 
 and all Europe ring with paeans of exultation for the 
 fall of this learned order. It is evident then to 
 every one, who will read history without partiality, 
 that the tragical scene which brought the existence 
 of the society to a close, was the direct effect of jea- 
 lousy, hatred, and revenge. Even some of the phi- 
 losophers themselves have expressed in their works, 
 their indignation at the shameful treatment of the 
 Jesuits. Their enemies then, it must be admitted, 
 throughout the whole course of their proceedings 
 against the institute, acted merely from passion, 
 breathing nothing but destruction and revenge. 
 
 The passion of hatred, like all other passions, 
 reasons not upon a cool disquisition of the charges 
 and facts. It works itself into rage, and strikes with 
 fury. It seeks not that truth which enlightens the 
 mind of the judge, in apportioning punishment to 
 justice ; but seizes, with dark malignity, upon every 
 occasion of gratifying its anger, however unjust the 
 means. A moderate man then, whatever his reli- 
 gious creed may be, who wishes to unravel truth 
 from falsehood in the affair of the Jesuits, must be 
 on his guard, and very cautious how he credits the 
 charges laid to the account of the order ; nor ought 
 he in candour to pass a definitive sentence upon their 
 guilt or innocence, until he shall have duly weighed 
 the written evidence both for and against the in- 
 stitute. I will go further ; and 1 hesitate not to
 
 47 
 
 say, that, without any examination whatever, one 
 half at least of the charges against the society, may^ 
 be placed to the account of downright calumny. For 
 whenever passion wishes to disgrace and destroy, it 
 charges without proof, and traduces without shame. 
 Such is the invariable operation of hatred and re- 
 venge, more especially when the object of them 
 is a powerful body, commanding the esteem and con- 
 fidence of the public. 
 
 A man of true religion will draw from the cha- 
 racter of the Jesuits' enemies a chain of conse- 
 quences, which will throw a volume of day-light 
 upon the innocence of the society. Thus will he 
 reason : 
 
 To a man who has his country's interest at heart, 
 and who is consequently distressed to witness the 
 success of seditions efforts against it, the most ho- 
 nourable testimony of patriotism, is the hatred 
 which the seditious bear him. Had he unfortunately 
 enrolled himself with the faction, so far from being 
 hated and condemned by them, he would have been 
 the object of their esteem and remuneration. Nay, 
 though unshaken in his own allegiance, yet if he 
 but made a slight resistance to the malecontents, he 
 would have been passed over unheeded or unknown, 
 without exciting the hatred of the party, or being 
 immolated as the victim of their vengeance. His 
 claims upon the esteem and gratitude of his loyal 
 countrymen, are in the exact proportion of the ha- 
 tred and detraction he experiences from the oppo- 
 site party. This hatred, which follows him even 
 after death, will, in the eyes of posterity, constitute 
 the fairest apology for his innocence, and the most
 
 48 
 
 magnificent monument of the brilliant services he 
 has performed to his king and country. This just 
 reasoning applies to the society. 
 
 This religious body has ever reckoned for irre- 
 conciliable enemies, all heretics and unbelievers ; 
 that is, the declared enemies of religion and the 
 church. Traduced, debased, and charged with enor- 
 mous crimes by these party-men, they have fallen 
 victims to their vengeance. In the judgment then 
 of the friends to religion, the society of Jesuits ought 
 to be considered a corps eminently serviceable to 
 the cause of Christianity. The hatred which has 
 incessantly pursued them up to this time, will in fu- 
 ture ages become the highest eulogy of their insti- 
 tute, and the most triumphant evidence of their in- 
 nocence. 
 
 O you, then, who are sincerely attached to the 
 religion of your forefathers, double your esteem and 
 affection for this illustrious society, in proportion as 
 it has incurred the hatred of all the innovators of 
 the last three centuries. Indulge not the idea, that 
 a vast body of twenty thousand religious men, 
 would have been constantly and openly combating 
 every error, had they themselves been that horrible 
 kennel of profligacy and vice. Truth and guilt ne- 
 ver formed a lasting alliance in the human breast. 
 Had the Jesuits been weak enough to side with er- 
 ror, had they enlisted under the banners of philo- 
 sophy, then would every triumph of fame have re- 
 sounded with the praises of the children of Ignatius; 
 then would the loudest declaimers against, have be- 
 come the very warmest encomiasts of, the institute. 
 But would they not have tarnished the glory of their
 
 49 
 
 body, by so base a treason? Had they been fee- 
 ble, obscure, timid and hardly known, and barely 
 thrown up an insignificant dyke, to stay the torrent 
 of error and impiety, that has been ravaging the 
 catholic realms of Europe, they would not have been 
 the object of that peculiar and inveterate horror, 
 which burst forth into a fresh flame, at the very first 
 report of the restoration of the society, after having 
 lain in obscurity, contempt, and calumny, for upwards 
 of fifty years. They would have been merged in 
 the general proscription of religious orders, which 
 was meant to break up the sanctuary of knowledge, 
 and do away the asylum of innocence and virtue, 
 and they might have been devoted to ridicule or ob- 
 livion, but never to this implacable vengeance. Their 
 heroic zeal in the defence of religion was their crime, 
 and the importance of their services the cause of 
 their ruin. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 itoJBilvJ Ktntrp BnTrrm Mf|j l<, nojcsnvj 
 
 * ' 
 
 important and Authentic Evidence concerning the 
 Jesuits. 
 
 AFTER having exposed the character of the Je- 
 suits' declared enemies, I shall now quote some pieces 
 of evidence, which go great lengths towards dis- 
 sipating many of the prejudices, and throwing broad 
 day-light upon the truth of their history. From 
 necessity I limit myself to few quotations ; for were 
 I to bring together in this work, all the eulogies 
 that have been passed upon the wisdom and utility 
 
 H
 
 50 
 
 of the institute, 1 should exceed my intended limits, 
 and perhaps weary the reader to no purpose. I have 
 therefore found it necessary to make a selection out 
 of the vast mass of testimonies, which occur in the 
 historical monuments of that order. I shall there- 
 fore confine myself to the honourable testimonies of 
 Henry IV, of Louis XIV, of the dauphin who 
 was the father of Louis XVI, of Catherine II, era- 
 press of all the Russias, of Richelieu, of cardinal 
 de Fleury, of Bossuet, of Bacon, of Leibnitz, of se- 
 veral parliaments who took up the defence of the 
 Jesuits, about the time of their suppression, of Cle- 
 ment XIII, and of the French clergy, who vehe- 
 mently protested against the suppression of the order. 
 At the very name of Henry IV, France bows 
 with reverence and affection before this illustrious 
 offspring- of our monarchs, who knew so well how 
 to ensure the happiness of his people, by tempering 
 courage with goodness, magnanimity with firmness, 
 and state policy with enlightened religion. On the 
 occasion of the criminal charge laid against Chatel, 
 the parliament of Paris had exiled all the Jesuits. 
 Henry IV, convinced of the innocence of that reli- 
 gious body, and of the utility of their institute, re- 
 called them back into his kingdom, and re-established 
 them in part of their privileges. This act of royal 
 power displeasing the parl iament, their president Har- 
 lay preferred remonstrances to the king, in the name 
 of that sovereign court. Henry answered him in 
 these terms. " I know and understand all your inten- 
 *' tions and actions thoroughly ; but you do not know 
 " and understand mine. You have started difficulties, 
 " which appear to you great and considerable, but
 
 51 
 
 " you little surmise, that whatever you have been 
 *' telling me, I have turned and weighed in my 
 " thoughts for these eight or nine years. You set 
 " up for mighty statesmen, and know no more of the 
 IC matter, than I do how to draw legal pleadings." 
 After this check, the king defended the Jesuits with 
 equal clearness and precision against the principal 
 charges brought against them by their enemies : 
 such as the ambition of the body, the opposition, 
 which the Sorbonne and the university had made to 
 their establishment in France, the imperfect course 
 of studies taught in the Jesuits' colleges, their con- 
 duct during the disastrous period of the league, 
 their spirit of proselyting, their vow of obedience 
 to the pope, the manner in which they had pro- 
 cured admission into the kingdom, the scandal 
 which was taken by some clergymen on their score, 
 whom he taxes with ignorance, and calls ill-conducted 
 men, their ultramontane opinions, the doctrine of 
 regicide, and the attempts of Barriere and de Cha- 
 tel.* The remonstrances then of the parliament of 
 Paris were ineffectual. Henry IV persisted in his 
 resolution to encourage the institute, throughout the 
 whole extent of his dominions. He took the society 
 under the special shadow of his royal protection, 
 and never ceased to lavish upon the fathers marked 
 instances of his esteem and affection, till the fatal 
 moment when the parricidal steel of Ravaillac 
 robbed France of the idol of her affections and her 
 
 f i\} pi ! i.-i I . . j Trj 
 
 happiness. 
 
 Louis XIV trod in the steps of his august grand- 
 
 * Vide Appendix, No, 1.
 
 fft 
 
 father. The foundation of the college, called by 
 his name, which he placed under the direction of 
 the Jesuits, is an unequivocal demonstration of his 
 high confidence in, and esteem for., the society of Je- 
 sus. The letters patent enregistered in the parlia- 
 ment of Paris, by which that illustrious monarch of 
 the golden age of France, declared himself to be 
 the founder of that college, are a high encomium 
 of the education which the fathers of the society 
 gave to the youth committed to their charge, and 
 of the purity of their doctrines upon the important 
 duties to God and the king. His majesty says, he 
 founded this establishment " with a view to second 
 <f the care they so usefully take to train youth in the 
 " knowledge of useful literature, and teach them 
 " their duty to their Creator, as well as that which 
 (t they owe to those who are ordained to govern 
 " the people.** 
 
 As to the dauphin, father of Louis XVI, he stood 
 up firmly, as we before mentioned, against the mi- 
 Bisters who voted in council for the extinction of the 
 institute in France. And the dread, that if he ever 
 should come to the throne, he would re-establish the 
 society, worked so powerfully upon the minds of the 
 unbelievers, that they most indecently exulted in the 
 fatal malady which brought him to the grave. 
 
 But of all the testimonies in their favour, the most 
 singular is that of a sovereign out of the bosom of 
 the catholic church, namely of Catherine IT, em- 
 press of all the Russias, and who moreover was con- 
 nected with the French philosophers. In the year 
 her imperial majesty sent to Rome, as the
 
 53 
 
 accredited minister from the court of Russia, Be- 
 nislawski, the archiepiscopal coadjutor of Mohilow, 
 with a letter in her own hand writing to pope Pius 
 VI. In applying to the head of the church for the 
 re-establishment of the society, Benislawski put into 
 the hands of his holiness the letter written by his im- 
 perial mistress., of which we shall quote an extract, 
 that will, I doubt not, astonish my readers. " I am 
 " sensible," says she, " that your holiness is much 
 " embarrassed, but fear ill suits your character. 
 " Your dignity can never crouch to policy, when po-< 
 <e licy wounds religion. The motives which have 
 " induced me to protect the Jesuits, are bottomed in 
 * f reason and justice, and, I will add, a well founded 
 " expectation, that they will be serviceable to my 
 " government. This body of peaceable and un- 
 ft offending men shall subsist throughout my env 
 <c pire, because of all catholic associations, they are 
 " the best qualified to instruct my subjects, and in- 
 <f fuse into them the sentiments of humanity and the 
 (e principles of the Christian religion. I am deter- 
 " mined to support the priests against every power 
 " upon earth. In that I do but my duty ; for I am 
 cc their sovereign, and I consider them as loyal, use^ 
 (( ful and unoffending subjects. I moreover wish 
 (t to see four of them invested with the power of 
 <s giving confirmation, so that the catholic churches 
 <c of those two cities, may be confided to their su- 
 <e perintendence." 
 
 This very interesting letter is cited as an authen- 
 tic document by Castera, in his history of Catharine 
 II, and in the recent work of Mr. Dallas, a church 
 of England man, intituled, The new Conspiracy
 
 54 
 
 against the Jesuits detected and briefly exposed. 
 If it were disowned in the Petersburgh gazette, 
 that was merely done out of tenderness to the Greek 
 schismatics. It was apprehended, that the benevo- 
 lence of her imperial majesty towards her catholic 
 subjects, and, above all, her partiality for a religious 
 order specially devoted to the holy see, would not 
 flatter their feelings. But whatever were the po- 
 licy of disavowing the letter, the facts substantiated 
 its authenticity. It embarrassed the pope. Ten 
 years had barely elapsed, since the suppression of the 
 order by his immediate predecessor, Clement XIV, 
 and the cabinets of France and Spain, both of which 
 his holiness wished to humour, were against the 
 restoration of this famous order. Under the fear 
 of displeasing one or both of these courts, Pius VI 
 consulted their respective ambassadors, concerning 
 the answer his holiness should make to the empress. 
 Each of the ambassadors applied to his court for in- 
 structions how to act, but it was the determination 
 of both not to intermeddle. Pius VI, with every 
 due attention to the accustomed forms and usages, 
 joyfully seconded the wishes of the empress, by a 
 brief which set the society of Jesus on foot, through- 
 out the whole extent of her vast dominions. 
 
 Having now pointed out some of the warmest 
 apologists for the society from amongst the crowned 
 heads, I will next call up the manes of some of 
 their most trusty ministers, and of the most illustri- 
 ous genii of their nations. Richelieu thought it not 
 beneath his dignity to enter the lists with the minis- 
 ters of Charenton, to defend the honour of this illus- 
 trious society. In the work, which we before
 
 55 
 
 quoted,* he triumphantly cleared their reputation 
 from the calumnies imputed to them by these lead- 
 ing reformers, and in his political testament he 
 highly commends the utility of the institute. 
 
 Cardinal Fleury, the prime minister of Louis XV, 
 bad some reason to be dissatisfied with the Jesuits; 
 his displeasure however did not prevent him from 
 doing them justice. " It is to be regretted/' wrote 
 his eminence to cardinal Tencin, in the year 1740, 
 " that the credit of the Jesuits is on the decline ; 
 *' for it must be admitted, that theirs is almost the 
 " only body of men that defends the church, nor 
 " have we any other preachers left, but of their 
 " order. They were certainly no friends of mine 
 * in the late reign, and there is conclusive evi- 
 f( dence of their opposition. I know it, and bear 
 *' them no ill will." 
 
 The very name of Bossuet every where com- 
 mands respect and admiration; and he too well knew 
 human nature and human institutions, to withhold 
 his eulogies from the disciples of St. Ignatius. The 
 peroration of his third sermon on the circumcision, 
 contains a sublime panegyric of their order. " And 
 " you illustrious society/' exclaims the eloquent ora- 
 tor, " who bear not in vain the sacred name of Je- 
 " sus, whom the grace of the Lord has inspired with 
 * f the grand design of training up youth from the 
 " tenderest age, to the maturity of the perfect man 
 " in Christ Jesus ; to whom God hath given in these 
 '* latter days, doctors, apostles, evangelists, to carry 
 <f the glad tidings of the gospel to the furthest and 
 ** long unknown boundaries of the earth ; never 
 
 * See chap. in.
 
 56 
 
 " cease to employ in those sublime functions accord- 
 " ing to your holy institute,, that talent, genius, 
 " power, eloquence, refinement and learning, with 
 " which you are so eminently gifted ; and in order 
 <e that you may the more effectually accomplish the 
 " sublime work, receive with all this assembly, in 
 " token of eternal charity, the blessing of the Fa- 
 " ther, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." 
 
 The celebrated English chancellor Bacon, sur* 
 named the father of modern philosophy, rose above 
 the prejudices of education and of the church of 
 England, when he expressed an ardent desire to see 
 the society established in his own country, whose 
 schools for the education of youth, he preferred to 
 all others then existing, and to them he classically 
 applied the words of Agesilaus to his enemy Phar- 
 nabasus, tails cum sis f utinam nosier esses.* 
 
 Had this great man given credit to the grievous 
 charges laid by his Protestant countrymen to the ac- 
 count of the society ; had he believed, as the Jan- 
 senists and philosophers have effected to believe, 
 that this celebrated society had been at all times a 
 gang of ambitious, intriguing, seditious regicides, 
 covering, under the veil of superstition and hypo- 
 crisy, the most depraved passions, and the most 
 enormous crimes, would he have so frankly and so- 
 lemnly expressed the desires of his heart, that the 
 education of the rising generation should be com- 
 mitted to their charge ? His testimony is the more 
 favourable to the Jesuits, by how much less expect- 
 ed it was from the pen of a man of his reputation, 
 
 * Vide bis work, De diguttate et augtnente scient. L. I.
 
 57 
 
 who was not a member of their church : Truth alone 
 guided his pen and inspired his mind. 
 
 Leibnitz, who, throughout Germany, was looked 
 up to as the most learned of his cotemporaries, ad- 
 mired the works of the Jesuits,* and was indignant 
 at the calumnies, by which the Protestants attempt- 
 ed to blacken their character, and sully their reputa- 
 tion, in the eyes of the public. " Confident I am, 
 " that they frequently traduce the society, and fas- 
 " ten upon them opinions and doctrines, which they 
 " never thought of. Such was Titus Gates, who 
 
 * Count Merode, a grandee of Spain of the first order, and 
 a knight of the golden fleece, became acquainted with Leibnitz 
 at Vienna, and held correspondence with him from that time to 
 his death. Having mentioned to that learned man, in one of his 
 letters, the circumstance of his having purchased the Ada sanc- 
 torum of the Jesuits of Antwerp, the philosopher answered him. 
 by a high eulogy of the work, which concludes in these words : 
 4 ' If those fathers had never produced any other work than that, 
 " they would have been most worthy of being brought into ex- 
 " istence, and would have just claims upon the good wishes and 
 " esteem of the whole world." The Jesuits of Antwerp were 
 in possession of the original of this interesting piece, in which 
 count Merode attested the truth of the fact. The abbe de St. 
 Leger, who was librarian of St. Genevieve at Paris, gave an 
 authentic copy of it to M. Emery, the superior general of the 
 congregation of St. Sulpitius, and this estimable author of Leib- 
 nitz's Thoughts upon Religion and Morality, gave publication 
 to it by means of the press. (See Vol. ii. of this work, 2d edi- 
 tion page 426.) Should any one of the modern unbelievers) 
 on throwing his eye over this work, stumble by chance on this 
 quotation, he would probably smile with pity, at Leibnitz la- 
 vishing his praise on such a vast collection of the Lives of Saints. 
 We have not been prevented by a desire to screen the German 
 philosopher from the taunts of levity and ignorance, from noti- 
 cing the honourable testimony he has left of the valuable labours 
 of the Bollandists ; because, in the opinion of every man of 
 sound understanding, the philosophy which respects the Deity, 
 and the heroes of his religion, is by far more wise and reasona- 
 ble, than that proud philosophy, which insults the Creator, aud 
 effects to despise the sublime virtues of Christianity.
 
 58 
 
 " laid 1 know not what extravagancies to their ac- 
 " count ; such, for instance, that their generals ab- 
 "solutely appointed to all the civil and military em- 
 le ployment throughout England. I say nothing of 
 " the gross absurdities contained in the book, inti- 
 " tuled, The Emperor and the Empire betrayed. It 
 " is moreover very certain, that amongst the mem- 
 " bers of their society, there are some of the most 
 tf valuable and respectable men in being True 
 " also is it, that there are amongst them men of ar- 
 " dent minds, who, cost what it will, sometimes at- 
 " tempt measures not altogether justifiable, for the 
 t< aggrandizement of their order. But this is an 
 " evil common to all such societies ; and if it be 
 " more especially noticed amongst the Jesuits than 
 " others, it is because that society draws upon it 
 " the eyes of the public more than any other ."* 
 
 Here then is a Lutheran, of extraordinary learn- 
 ing and powers, who undertakes the defence of the 
 society of Jesuits, He is convinced, that the very 
 exaggeration of the calumnies against them, renders 
 them insignificant and ridiculous. He thinks there 
 are amongst them some of ardent minds, who la- 
 bour at the aggrandizement of their order, not by 
 crimes, as the Jansenists and unbelievers contend, 
 but by means not very becoming; and he also thinks 
 there are many amongst them, who are the most up- 
 right and valuable men in existence. He observes, 
 moreover, with much impartiality, that the failings, 
 which he censures in them, are common to others, 
 but are more particularly noticed in the society, be- 
 
 * Vol. Y, page 400. Epistr n. ad Tentzelium.
 
 59 
 
 cause the Jesuits themselves are more narrowly 
 watched than others. The result is, that though 
 this extraordinary man find some individuals, en- 
 listed under the banners of St. Ignatius, to blame, 
 yet he justifies the society at large. 
 
 To the estimation in which the society was hold- 
 en by kings, ministers, and some of the most learn- 
 ed and illustrious characters of the age, we must add 
 that of the most considerable corporate cities of the 
 kingdom, which have, on various occasions, given 
 with full freedom, and without fear or reserve, the 
 most ample testimonies of the utility and advantage 
 of the society both to church and state. 
 
 The authenticity of these documents is so incon- 
 testible, that even the Jansenistical editor of the 
 Nouvelles Ecclesiastiques has not ventured to call 
 them in question. He confines himself to the pitiful 
 task of lamenting the blindness of the magistrates, 
 who were seduced, by the arts and intrigues of the 
 Jesuits, to affix their names unto them. To these 
 we must adjoin the eloquent remonstrances of the 
 parliaments of Douay and Besanc.on, which loudly 
 proclaim the Jesuits as the religious order most 
 eminently serviceable to the church, and most du- 
 tiful and loyal to the king ; the remonstrance also of 
 the sovereign council of Alsace, who, through their 
 organ, M. Bours, publicly avowed their attach- 
 ment to a society, as much celebrated for its suffer- 
 ings and persecutions, as by the important servi* 
 ces it has at all times rendered to the public and 
 to the rouse of religion ; the remonstrances of the 
 provincial council of Artois, whose acts were an- 
 nulled by the parliament of Paris 5 the remonstran-
 
 60 
 
 ces likewise of the spirited minorities in almost 
 every parliament throughout France, who, with the 
 utmost ardour, opposed the destruction of the society, 
 which was generally carried by weak majorities of 
 two or three votes. Let us not omit that powerful 
 remonstrance of pope Clement XIII, who perceiv- 
 ing- the storm against the society ready to burst, did, 
 by a solemn constitution, called Apostolicum, con- 
 firm afresh the institute of St. Ignatius, which had 
 been solemnly applauded and formally confirmed by 
 nineteen of his predecessors, as well as by the un- 
 erring authority of the sacred oecumenical council 
 of Trent, which had declared it to be pious and ho- 
 ly. This same pope addressed separate briefs to 
 Louis XV, and to Charles III, of Spain, urging 
 them in the most affectionate, and at the same time 
 most energetic manner, not to lend the aid of their 
 royal authority to the enemies of God and the 
 church, to ruin the society of Jesus. During the 
 whole course of his trying and laborious pontificate, 
 that venerable chief pastor never ceased to protect 
 and defend the society, with a firmness which soli- 
 citation, promise and menace never could shake. 
 To these again must we add the remonstrances of a 
 considerable portion of the French prelates, who 
 far from considering those fathers, the avowed ene- 
 mies of their episcopal rights, and the fawning flat- 
 terers of the court of Rome, saw nothing in them 
 but supports of religion, the scourge of heretics, the 
 revered guardians of morality, and the solid but- 
 tresses of episcopacy, assailed on every side by the 
 host of infidelity. In one word, the powerful re- 
 monstrances and addresses of the assemblies of the
 
 61 
 
 clergy in the years J761 and 1762, laying at the foot 
 of the throne their testimony of the attachment and 
 deference which they bore to the society, pouring 
 forth the most ardent wishes for its preservation, 
 unable to view without horror and dismay the evils 
 which would befall religion in the most Christian 
 kingdom, should the society be compelled to yield 
 to the destructive efforts of their enemies. 
 
 These monuments of the zeal of the French 
 clergy, and of their lively attachment to the chil- 
 dren of St. Ignatius, are too remarkable not to find 
 their place in this publication. They shall close the 
 chain of the weighty and irrefragable evidence con- 
 cerning this religious order, which we had to detail 
 in this chapter. In them will be found a complete 
 apology of the society, together with fresh proofs of 
 the vindictive spirit of malice, which incessantly 
 exacerbated the enemies of religion and the church 
 against the order. 
 
 In the years 1614 and 1615, had the ecclesiastical 
 chamber of the states general represented to the 
 king, that the Jesuits' colleges should be multiplied - t 
 that their institute had been and would ever continue 
 to be mainly serviceable in preserving divine faitk 
 and the catholic religion, in restoring piety and 
 morality, and in extirpating heresies. 
 
 In the year 1617, had the assembly of the clergy 
 proposed the Jesuits' schools, as the fit means of 
 bringing back faith and religion into the hearts of 
 the people. These eulogies bestowed upon the fa- 
 thers of the society, were to be followed up by very 
 stormy circumstances, in order thajt by a profound 
 discusssion of the principal charges raised against
 
 the society, their innocence might be the more tri- 
 umphantly vindicated* 
 
 Louis XV, wishing to be apprised of the senti- 
 ments of the bishops of his kingdom concerning the 
 Jesuits, on the various heads of accusation against 
 them, in 1761, gave it in command to count St. Flo- 
 rentin to write in his majesty's name to cardinal de 
 Luynes, that it was the royal wish, that all the 
 bishops who were then at Paris, or about the court, 
 should meet to confer together concerning several 
 points touching the society of Jesus, and report their 
 advice upon them. 
 
 1 . As to what service the Jesuits can be in France, 
 and to state the advantages and disadvantages that 
 may result from their exercise of the functions com- 
 mitted to their charge. 
 
 2. The manner in which the Jesuits conduct 
 themselves, in teaching and treating the opinions 
 that are contrary to the personal safety of sove- 
 reigns, and the doctrine of the clergy of France 
 contained in the declaration of 1682, and the ultra- 
 montane doctrines in general. 
 
 3. The conduct of the Jesuits in the subordina- 
 tion which is due to bishops and ecclesiastical supe- 
 riors, and if they encroach upon the rights and 
 functions of spiritual pastors. 
 
 4. What feelings would be excited in France 
 by the extent of the power of the general of the Je- 
 suits, as he exercises it there in fact. 
 
 The bishops, in obedience to the king's com- 
 mands, convened to the number of fifty at cardinal 
 de Luynes', and there they named a committee to 
 examine the several questions, and report upon
 
 63 
 
 them to the assembly. It was not possible to frame 
 a more favourable report than what the committee 
 made to the assembly, who, at a meeting in De- 
 cember, I '.61, came to a resolution to write a letter 
 to the king, to apprise his majesty of the unanimous 
 opinion they had formed, upon the subject which 
 his majesty had been pleased to submit to their con- 
 sideration. 
 
 This letter was signed by forty-four prelates, 
 archbishops, and bishops. To avoid prolixity, I 
 shall only quote some passages more pointedly re- 
 levant to the questions proposed to the assembly. 
 
 1. After having spoken most honourably of the 
 society, and having ascribed the opposition which 
 they met with in France, on its first establishment 
 in that kingdom, to the novelty and singularity of 
 their institute, to the extent and variety of the privi- 
 leges granted to it by the holy see, and the gene- 
 rality of its object, which concurred with that of 
 so many other societies then on foot ; after having 
 also observed, that the fathers of the society had, by 
 their conduct, done away all the prejudices at first 
 entertained against the institute, that the clergy and 
 nobility of the kingdom had openly declared in their 
 favour, and that the kings of France had pledged 
 to them their protection upon the warranty of the 
 utility of the society, the prelates answered directly 
 to the first question, in the following terms : " The 
 " Jesuits are very useful to our dioceses, for preach- 
 " ing, for the direction of souls, for establishing, 
 " preserving, and renewing faith and piety by their 
 " missions, their congregations, and their retreats, 
 _" which they do with our approbation, and under
 
 64 
 
 " our authority. For these reasons, we are of 
 " opinion, sire, that to stop their course of instruc- 
 " tions would be highly prejudicial to our dioceses ; 
 " and, as for the education of youth, it would be 
 " next to an impossibility to replace them with 
 " effect, more especially in those country towns 
 " where there is no university. Adhering, then, 
 tf sire, to the judgment passed upon the society of 
 " Jesus, by so many sovereign pontiffs, and the coun- 
 " cil of Trent, and in unison with the honourable 
 " testimony given of the said society's services and 
 " utility in France, by the clergy of your majesty's 
 " kingdom, by the kings your royal predecessors, 
 " and by your government, we are decidedly of 
 " opinion, that by preventing any abuses that might 
 " possibly creep into the exercise of their func- 
 " tions, they cannot fail from being mainly servicea- 
 " bleto religion, and to your majesty js kingdom." 
 
 2. The prelates assembled place the imputation 
 of the odious doctrine of regicide to the society, to 
 the account of the implacable hatred which the 
 Calvinists bear against the Jesuits. They refer, in 
 proof of their innocence, to the protection con- 
 stantly given to them by the bishops of the realm, 
 who have at all times been so eminently renowned 
 for their loyalty and attachment to the sacred per- 
 sons of our monarchs. They complain, that, in 
 order to render the society odious, they have pub- 
 licly accused them of having invented and given 
 rise to a doctrine, that had been broached long be- 
 fore there was a Jesuit in the world. They allege, 
 in proof of the horror in which the Jesuits hold 
 every doctrine incompatible with the personal secu-
 
 65 
 
 rity of the sovereign, and of their adoption of the 
 principles laid down by the clergy of France, in 
 the four articles of 1682, the declaration which 
 they had just then been giving into their hands, 
 praying that it might be enrolled in the episcopal 
 court, as an everlasting test of their fidelity and 
 loyalty ; and they concluded in saying -" What 
 " the Jesuits, sire, teach in our dioceses is there 
 " publicly taught j persons of all ranks and condi- 
 '.' tions are witnesses of what they teach ; and we 
 " confidently dare assure your majesty, that they 
 '' have never been charged before us, with teach- 
 *' ing the doctrines which are imputed to them. 
 <( Let those be questioned who have been brought 
 '' up in their colleges, who have frequented their 
 " missions, their congregations, their retreats ; con- 
 " fident are we, that not one isolated individual will 
 " be found, who will depose that he ever heard 
 " them teach any doctrine incompatible with the 
 " personal security of the sovereign, or contrary to 
 '" the principles of the state. We must even do 
 te them the justice to attest, that in their colleges 
 " they devote their own and their scholars' talents 
 " to the sounding of the praises of our kings, and 
 " inspiring those sentiments of respect and attach- 
 " ment, which are due to the majesty and autho- 
 " rity of our monarchs." 
 
 3. The prelates assembled admit, " that the bulls 
 " of the sovereign pontiff's grant excessive privileges 
 " to the Jesuits, as well as to other mendicant orders, 
 " and that up to the year 1670, the Jesuits, as well as 
 " the other mendicant orders, strove to avail them- 
 *' selves of these privileges against the common rights
 
 66 
 
 " and jurisdiction of the ordinaries, under pretext that 
 "thecouncilof Trent, which abolished them, had not 
 " yet been received in France ; but from that period, 
 "the Jesuits had set up no such pretensions; and 
 " what is more, that, having renounced the privileges 
 " imparted to their order by these bulls, in as far as 
 " they clashed with the laws of the realm, and the 
 " liberties of the Gallican church, and, having made 
 " this renunciation in so very precise a manner that 
 " could cover no equivocation, in the declaration 
 " which they have recently presented, they have done 
 " whatever could be reasonably expected of them 
 " upon this head." 
 
 After they had cleared away all the apprehen-. 
 sions which may have pressed upon his majesty's 
 mind, concerning the society's encroachments upon 
 episcopal authority, the assembly concluded their 
 answer to the third question, by proposing a regu- 
 lation which would completely do away the very 
 shadow of any such abuse. 
 
 4. Far from being alarmed at the authority of 
 the general of the Jesuits, the prelates assembled 
 declared, that it was at least no greater than that of 
 the general of any other religious order ; that he 
 cannot dispose of the property of any of their 
 bouses within the king's dominions, but according to 
 the laws of the realm, and under the directions of 
 the royal commissioners. That by their conduct in 
 the affair of the regale , which was honourably men- 
 tioned by M. Novion, then first president of the 
 parliament, and by M. Talon, the king's attorney- 
 general, they shewed, better than by any chain of 
 reasoning, that all the Jesuits are convinced their
 
 obedience to their generals, as prescribed in their 
 constitution, obliges them to nothing incompatible 
 with their duties of allegiance and submission to 
 their sovereign. 
 
 In a word, say these prelates, We are, sire, of 
 opinion, that no change whatever ought to be made 
 in the constitutions of the society of Jesus, with 
 reference to the authority of their general. 
 
 Thus did that assembly of 1761 express its senti- 
 ments respecting the society of Jesus. Here then 
 are forty-four unimpeachable witnesses, invested 
 with a sacred character, deposing, in the presence of 
 their sovereign, in favour of the institute, doctrines, 
 and conduct of the society. An authority of so im- 
 posing a nature ought unquestionably to have stayed 
 the proceedings of these sovereign courts, in their 
 encroachments upon the rights of the church, had 
 the Jesuits' enemies at that time paid due attention 
 to the sacred line of demarcation, by which God has 
 separated the competency of the two powers. But 
 the parliaments of that period were led astray by a 
 wicked spirit of cabal and error ; they despised the 
 voice of the ministers of religion, and never ceased 
 to persecute the institute with fresh and accumulat- 
 ed rancour. Yet the assembly of 1762 redoubled 
 its zeal and efforts to bring over the royal authority 
 in favour of the society : it presented a memorial 
 from themselves to the throne, pressingly urging 
 his majesty to keep the society on foot. " Sire/' 
 said the prelates convened, " in imploring your ma- 
 " jesty at this time to preserve the society of Jesus, 
 " we present to you the ardent wishes of every 
 " ecclesiastical province of your realm. They can-
 
 68 
 
 *' not cast their eyes, without dismay, upon the de- 
 " struction of a religious order, renowned for the 
 " morality of their conduct, the rigour of their dis- 
 " cipline, the extent and variety of their lights and 
 " their labours, and the numberless services they 
 " have rendered both to the church and the state." 
 After having paid due homage to the utility of the 
 society, the prelates recapitulate the marks of esteem 
 and affection they had received from kings and peo- 
 ple ; are astounded at the ferocious harshness with 
 which they had been put out of their colleges, their 
 noviciates, and their property; have sought in vain 
 for the grounds upon which the civil power has been 
 thus armed against them; are indignant at the 
 hardihood with which they have considered and 
 treated, as impious and sacrilegious, those consitu- 
 .tions which had been consecrated by the recommen- 
 datory resolutions of the council of Trent, by the 
 assembly of 1574, and by several popes; they loud- 
 ly protest against the competency of the civil ma- 
 gistrate to arbitrate on the fate of the society ; they 
 set forth, in glowing colours, the advantages of re- 
 ligious education, the incalculable losses which it 
 suffered from the difficulty to replace the Jesuits ; 
 the rights of the bishops to look and superintend 
 the education of youth ; in a word, they shew, 
 throughout their memorial, which is drawn up with 
 the most close and correct reasoning, that noble in- 
 dependence and pastoral vigilance, which become 
 the first ministers of religion, when they support be- 
 fore the throne the high interests of the church and 
 state. 
 
 ;
 
 69 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 ,. . 
 
 Reflections upon the Facts and Testimonies 
 
 prised in the foregoing Chapters. 
 
 a meditating and disinterested powef 
 chosen as umpire to deliver a definitive award or 
 sentence upon the whole of the charges laid against 
 the Jesuits, after having impartially poised the 
 whole of the evidence in the double scales of truth 
 and justice, would the society be acquitted or found 
 guilty of the enormous crimes of which it has been 
 accused in its doctrine and conduct ? 
 
 I confidently affirm their innocence would b& 
 loudly proclaimed, whilst their enemies would be 
 dismissed with ignominy, as the basest of calum- 
 niators. 
 
 In fact, must we not pronounce a man innocent, 
 when his accusers are all men of party, swayed by 
 hatred and revenge, whose evidence bears through- 
 out irrefragable proofs of exaggeration and untruth; 
 whilst, on the other hand, the witnesses who speak 
 in favour of the accused, are invested with an august 
 character, and that, so far from their having any 
 personal interest in justifying him in the hypothesis 
 of his guilt, they would, on the contrary, have a 
 pressing interest in soliciting his condemnation ? ' 
 For then, unquestionably, the judges, exercising 
 their functions in open court, find incontestible 
 proofs of the innocence of the party arraigned, in
 
 70 
 
 the odious characters of his accusers, and the pal- 
 pable falsity of their evidence, and in the command- 
 ing weight of the witnesses who appear in his favour. 
 This sort of proof is the more irrefragable and con- 
 clusive, as it would recoil upon and prejudice the 
 witnesses, in the supposition that the accused were 
 really guilty. 
 
 I venture then to affirm, without fear of mistake, 
 
 1. That the accusers of the Jesuits are men of 
 party, swayed by the spirit of hatred and revenge* 
 
 2. That their evidence bears, upon the very face 
 of it, unequivocal badges of exaggeration and un- 
 truth. 3- That the witnesses who depose in their 
 favour, ate clothed with an august and respectable 
 character. 4. That it would have been their inte- 
 rest to procure their condemnation, in case these re- 
 ligious men had been guilty of the crimes with 
 Which they are attempted to be branded. 
 
 1. The Jesuits' accusers are men of party, 
 swayed by the spirit of hatred and revenge. 
 
 Who, in fact, are their accusers ? The Pro- 
 testants, the disciples of Jansens, and the unbe- 
 lievers. We are surely warranted in denominating 1 
 them men of party. 
 
 What right had Luther and Calvin, who were 
 born children of the Catholic church, to replace the 
 ancient faith with new and absurd doctrines, and to 
 violate the very constitution of the church, by open- 
 ly assailing the authority of the bishops and the pope ? 
 They acknowledged the divinity of the Christian re- 
 ligion : they ought therefore to have continued to 
 their last breath submissive to the government esta- 
 blished by the Divine Founder of this august reli-
 
 71 
 
 ligion, instead of revolting against it, under the 
 pretext of reform. Such is the common plea for 
 all sedition and conspiracy. 
 
 As to the disciples of Jansens, are they not also 
 men of party ? They admit the divinity of Chris- 
 tianity, and even the infallibility of the church.- 
 Yet are they carried away by the love of novelty, 
 and the lust for rule : they have exhausted all the 
 subtleties of the schools, and all the wiles of intrigue, 
 with a view to elude the judgments of the universal 
 church, and to withdraw themselves from the ana- 
 themas announced against their errors. 
 
 In fine, the unbelievers of the eighteenth cen- 
 tury, enemies alike to the throne and the altar, who 
 armed nations against their kings and governors, 
 abusing and inverting sovereignty ; who arrayed 
 against God and his divine religion all the bad pas- 
 sions and errors of mankind, destroying every mo- 
 ral check and call of conscience, in order to plunge 
 man into the fathomless gulph of freedom of thought 
 and action, were they not also men of party ? 
 Devoted to the spirit of revolt, and frantic in the 
 unbridled lust for putting down and altering every 
 institution, civil or religious, in order to be solemnly 
 proclaimed the reformers of mankind, and deities on. 
 earth, warring audaciously against the Creator of 
 the universe ? Many of these dangerous innovators 
 have, with sincerity, acknowledged the misfortune 
 of their blind ambition, in the awful moment when 
 error and passion rend each other asunder, and va- 
 nish into non-entity. They then clearly saw the 
 errors of their system, as they stood on the awful 
 brink of that eternity, during which they were
 
 72 
 
 about to fall into the hands of their Almighty Crea- 
 tor, whom they had rebelled against. I call to wit- 
 ness Boulanger, who declared in his last moments, 
 that he only opposed religion from the vanity of ac- 
 quiring fashionable renown. I appeal to Raynal, 
 who, in the beginning of the French revolution, 
 was seized with horror and astonishment at the sight 
 of the tragical scenes, which were the immediate 
 results of that terrific triumph of philosophy. Again, 
 I call to witness d'Argens, Toussaint, la Harpe, 
 1'Archer, and several others, who made public 
 avowals of their errors, abjured their crimes, and, 
 by their confessions, defeated the execution of se- 
 Teral fatal conspiracies, in which they had been im- 
 plicated. In a word, I appeal to the leader of the 
 irreligious host, to Voltaire himself, who, when 
 dying, was surrounded by his perfidious friends, 
 who could not damp in him the dread of the eternal 
 judgments of a God, nor prevent him from expiring 
 in the most deplorable agonies of despair. 
 
 But supposing these professed enemies of the so- 
 ciety to be men of party, could their evidence be ad- 
 mitted against the Jesuits in any court wherejustice 
 presided, if it were dictated by hatred and revenge ? 
 Unquestionably not; for evidence, emanating from 
 such a source, is not the voice of truth uttered to 
 detect crime, but the effusion of irritated passion, 
 bent on the immolation of its victim, Not only 
 would their evidence be rejected as suspicious, by 
 equitable judges, as against the party arraigned, 
 but it would be taken as corroborative of his inno- 
 cence. Let me now bring back to the recollection 
 of my reader, the reflections I have before submitted
 
 73 
 
 to Tiim concerning the character of the Jesuits' ene- 
 mies. The outrageous violation of all forms of jus- 
 tice in the manner of condemning these religious 
 men ; the extraordinary rigour, or rather barbarity, 
 with which they were robbed of their property, ba- 
 nished from their country, placed in a situation of 
 belonging neither to the world nor to religion, with- 
 out any consideration for the dignity of age, for the 
 magnitude or length of services, nor even for the 
 commanding majesty of virtue. Let me refresh his 
 recollection of the debasing terms, Jesuitical rabble 
 and Loyola s miscreants, which the heads of the 
 party in their correspondence with each other made 
 use of, to designate those respectable teachers of 
 youth, who trained them up in every social and re- 
 ligious duty with such successful zeal ; to describe 
 those enlightened characters, who added so much to 
 our literary glory, who enriched our circle of arts 
 and sciences with so many valuable discoveries; 
 those apostolic labourers in the vineyard, who were 
 so renowned for relieving the sufferings of their 
 fellow-creatures, for consoling the afflicted, and ci- 
 vilizing the most savage of nations. Let me re- 
 trace to his imagination the mean pitiful fury 
 with which d'Alembert persecuted the expiring re- 
 licts of the society in Prussia, under the unbelieving 
 monarch, and Voltaire was attempting to annihilate 
 them in China, under an idolatrous prince ; and if 
 in this odious chain of illegal and barbarous proceed- 
 ings, he discovers not hatred, then indeed must that 
 disgusting passion of depraved men be remitted to 
 the regions of fancy, and cease to have existence in 
 this mortal life. And if hatred and revenge do taint 
 
 L
 
 74 
 
 the consciences of the witnesses who depose against 
 the society, I again repeat it, their evidence is at 
 best suspicious, if it be not altogether conclusive 
 in establishing their complete innocence. 
 
 2. All the charges laid against the Jesuits, carry 
 upon the very face of them exaggeration and un- 
 truth. 
 
 Can there be a body of accusation more singular 
 and more atrocious, than that which holds forth to 
 the public the order of Jesuits as a low collection 
 of individuals, brought together merely from self in- 
 terest, scandalous bankrupts, intriguing ambitious 
 regicides, idolaters arid profligates, incessantly plot- 
 ting for their own fortune, always planning conspi- 
 racies against the state, never without a murderous 
 poignard in their hands, which they imbrue at every 
 instant with the blood of kings and people. A nd 
 alas ! the Jesuits notoriously led a life of austerity, 
 poverty and labour. All the rules of their institute 
 tend to subdue the vicious dispositions of nature. 
 Every thing in the constitution of their order, and in 
 the discipline which is daily practised amongst them, 
 is calculated to prevent, and to destroy in the very 
 budi all tendency to ambition, avarice, hatred, vicn 
 lence, and every other passion which create the trou- 
 bles of families and states. And yet they insist 
 upon this society being the veriest sink of vice, pro* 
 fligacy and crime, that ever contaminated the hu- 
 man race. They have the fool-hardiness to main- 
 tain, that the society contains in its bosom a gang 
 of robbers and murderers, more terrible and dan- 
 gerous than those of the noted Cartouche and Man- 
 darin, who terrified their whole neighbourhood, and
 
 r 
 
 5 
 
 robbed their countrymen of their gold and silver. 
 These assassinated private individuals, but the Jesuits^ 
 murdered kings ; these assailed travellers on the high 
 ways, the Jesuits set fire to the four corners of the 
 world ; they raised contributions upon small towns 
 and villages, through which they spread alarm and 
 terror, the Jesuits are the scourges of all cities and 
 provinces, and of all empires. Is there a shade of 
 truth, or even of probability, in all this mass of ac- 
 cusation ? 
 
 A Jesuit rises at four of the clock in the morning, 
 feeds very frugally, is poorly dressed, and has not 
 even a fire in his chamber to sit by, unless in case 
 f sickness. Obliged, in virtue of his vow and obe- 
 dience, to perfect submission to all who hold the 
 place of God over him, he quits his native soil, his 
 family, his friends, his country, with the consent of 
 his prince, to fly upon the wings of obedience to 
 whatever spot the voice of his superior calls him. 
 He may be entitled from the nobility of his birth, 
 or the supereminence of his talents, to possess an 
 ample fortune, or to be raised to some post of ho- 
 nour or dignity ; yet he voluntarily shuts himself out 
 of both by his ordinary vow of poverty, and his spe- 
 cial vow never to solicit upon any pretext whatsoever 
 preferment in his own order, or any clerical pro- 
 motion whatever. The greater part of the society 
 spend their lives in the education of youth, or iri 
 missions, or in the pursuits of science. The general 
 of the order has no other distinction from his subjects 
 than his title. The following; sketch is from the 
 
 O 
 
 pen of a writer, who had the opportunity of seeing 
 and judging from himself. " The general of the Je-
 
 76 
 
 <l suits is generally alone and retired, and mostly oc- 
 *' cupied in writing ; he has not even a fire in his 
 '.' room in winter ; nor is there even a chafing dish 
 t in his antichamber during the severest cold : some 
 " old fashioned chairs, some books of piety some 
 *' few prints and some paintings, make up the fur- 
 n niture of his apartment. A small study to work 
 " in, and a chapel to say mass in, make up his suite 
 " of apartments. When admitted to an audience of 
 " the pope, and when he has visits to make to cardi- 
 " nals, a Roman nobleman lends him the use of a car- 
 " riage. He has no other equipage than a chaise 
 " for two persons, which conveys him to Castel-Gan- 
 " dolfe, when he goes thither for country air. He sits 
 " in the first seat in the refectory, but he has no other 
 " distinction. He commands no funds, enjoys no re- 
 " venue, noprivate purse, no annual pension ; neither 
 " has he any servant to pay, no house to entertain, 
 te nor any sort of expense to make. His whole train 
 " of attendants consists of two lay brothers to wait 
 " upon him, four secretaries to write letters, one as- 
 " sistant from every nation to aid him with advice, 
 " a monitor to be a witness of his conduct, and to 
 " watch all his motions He possesses no other dis- 
 f< tinction, no other honour, no other consideration, 
 " than what flow from the respect which his order 
 " has for his authority, the love which they enter- 
 " tain for his person, and the veneration they pay to 
 " his virtues."* 
 
 In this general of the Jesuits, poor and humble in 
 his dress, in his furniture simple, and austere in his 
 
 * Coup d'aeil.
 
 77 
 
 manners, superintended and watched by a monitor, 
 and an assistant from every nation, do the enemies 
 of the society discover a despot, who brings around 
 him the gold and silver of the old and new world ; a 
 tyrant that renders all his subjects wretched, and 
 who is drunk with the blood of kings. In these re- 
 ligious men, tied down by the vow of monastic po- 
 verty, do they behold self-interested merchants, 
 traversing the most dangerous seas, braving the 
 changes of climate, defying the rocks and perils of 
 the most hazardous navigation, with the view to 
 amass fortunes, and lead a life of opulence. In 
 these religious instructors of youth, who devote 
 themselves to these obscure and painful duties ; in 
 these religious men, applying themselves to the high- 
 er studies, and to learned meditations, do they per- 
 ceive men of blood. and sedition, pining with thirst 
 after honours and places, regicides and revolution- 
 men, heading every conspiracy, and directing the 
 parricidal steel in the hands of every king-killer 
 throughout the globe. If there be not exaggera- 
 tion in these multifarious and ignominous charges, 
 exaggeration was never known in the writings of 
 the most partial authors, in the most fabulous tales 
 of poets, and fabricators of romance. 
 
 M r as there ever a more ridiculous and improbable 
 tale invented, than that of the enlistment of Louis 
 XIV under the banners of St. Ignatius ? Marvel- 
 lous faith indeed must be required, of which I am in- 
 capable, to believe, on the bare word of the Jesuits' 
 enemies, thatthat high-minded monarch had so damp-* 
 ed his warlike ardour, as to have laid by all his mili* 
 tary character, crouched to father Tellier, renounc*
 
 78 
 
 cd all his attachment to the grandeur of the world, 
 and carried his devotion to the point of making-, un- 
 der the seduction of that father, the three ordinary 
 vows of religion, and even the fourth special vow, 
 for going on any mission to which he might he 
 sent. 
 
 What, in fine, are we to think of that act of the 
 parliament of Paris, so revolting, and, at the same 
 time, so highly ridiculous, that declares the institute 
 is inadmissible, from its nature, into any regular 
 government, as being contrary to the rights of na- 
 ture, derogatory from the spiritual and temporal 
 power, &c. Henry III, Henry IV, Louis XIII, 
 Louis XIV, the greater part of the German princes, 
 and all the sovereigns of Europe, are thus formally 
 arraigned by the parliament of Paris, for having in- 
 troduced into their respective states, an institute in- 
 compatible, from its nature, with any regular go- 
 vernment. Here then are twenty sovereign pontiffs, 
 one general council, almost all the bishops of the 
 catholic church, convicted by this sovereign court 
 of having praised, panegyrized, and approved of an 
 institute, which they ought to have denounced and 
 condemned, as contrary to the rights of man, and 
 destructive of the spiritual and temporal power. 
 Up to the period at which this fulminating act 
 emanated from the sanctuary of justice, the first 
 ministers of religion had perceived, in this collection 
 of maxims and rules framed for keeping alive in the 
 society the spirit of their holy founder, nothing 
 but a sublime code of law, drawn from and founded 
 upon the evangelical counsels, the knowledge of the 
 human heart, and the experience of ages. But in
 
 79 
 
 one instant, the parliament of Paris, illuminated by 
 an extraordinary light, sets at defiance the wisdom of 
 the pontiffs, and the infallibility of a general coun- 
 cil. Better versed in morality than the judges of 
 faith and the instructors of the faithful, this parlia- 
 ment has discovered mysteries of iniquity, and en- 
 croachments on the rights of nature, precisely 
 where the universal church respected the divine 
 light, and admired an institute as pious and holy> 
 and a model of religious perfection. 
 
 As to the emperors, kings, and sovereign princes> 
 who have commended the institute, and protected 
 the Jesuits in their states, they are convicted by 
 this same parliament, of having wished to carry 
 back their people to the days of barbarism, which 
 neither knew nor practised any civilized form of 
 government. For, since the institute is incompati- 
 ble with any civilized form of government, the 
 Jesuits, who profess it and follow its maxims, are 
 of course dangerous subjects, who ought to make 
 the people incline to the manners of barbarians, 
 and lead them as insensibly to that ignoble state of 
 brutality, in which the Hurons, the Illinois, and the 
 Iroquois were found, before they had been hu- 
 manized and civilized by the sacred light of the 
 gospel. To countenance, then, encourage, and pro* 
 tect such men as these, would be to drive people 
 back to the blindness of superstition, and re-plunge 
 them headlong into the vices of barbarism. Yet 
 true it is, that these very men, so declared inadmis- 
 sible into a civilized state, have successfully culti- 
 vated the arts and sciences, not in the wilds and 
 forests, but in the principalities and kingdoms.
 
 80 
 
 which have attained the highest degree of civiliza- 
 tion ; true it is, that wherever their services have 
 been accepted., there have they uniformly display- 
 ed the most brilliant examples of evangelical virtue 
 and perfection; soothing human misery in the hos- 
 pitals, lightening in the prisons the sufferings which 
 help to expiate crimes, and softening on the scaf- 
 folds the bitterness of death, for the victims of hu- 
 man justice ; preaching to the people on their mis- 
 sions, and to the kings on their thrones, mildness, 
 humility, patience, forgiveness of injuries, zeal for 
 public welfare, and every virtue that honours 
 Christianity and dignifies humanity. True also is 
 it, that at the peril of their liberty and lives, at the 
 price of their sweat and their blood, they have hu- 
 manized, civilized, and organized these savage 
 hordes of America, that wandered through the 
 forests like wild beasts, and fed on human flesh like 
 voracious tigers and famished lions. No matter : 
 yet in virtue of the act of parliament of Paris, of 
 the 6th of August 1762, in defiance of these pro- 
 digies of charity and civilization, the Jesuits, as well 
 as their institute, are declared inadmissible into any 
 civilized state whatever. Thus the interminable 
 forests of America, and the burnt up deserts of 
 Africa, were to become the last refuge of these re- 
 ligious men, the bark of trees and the skins of bears 
 were to furnish them with rayment; hunting and fish- 
 ing were to supply their daily food; and, if the 
 civilized nations of the earth would not fall back 
 into their former ignorance and brutishness, they 
 must necessarily drive the Jesuits from amongst 
 them, as Europe for a long time struggled against
 
 si 
 
 the inundation of the barbarians from the north* 
 who laid waste the flourishing realms of the south, 
 infected the people of the continent with their vices^ 
 and threatened to ingulph mankind in that lamenta- 
 ble state of brutality, in which they were themselves 
 immersed fhus has the parliament of Paris de- 
 cided, that Charles V, Henry IV, and Louis XIV, 
 and many other princes, must remain condemned, 
 so long 1 as the ministers of the living God, who 
 are charged with the care of watching over and 
 preserving the sacred deposit of revelation, shall 
 bow with obsequiousness before this lay tribunal, as 
 the infallible interpreter of the rights of nature. 
 Have the magistrates, who passed this judgment, as 
 disgraceful to the throne as to the altar, been aware 
 of the direct consequences resulting from it? Never 
 can I believe they were so blinded or so besotted* 
 as not to have seen what flashes before the eyes 
 even of the poreblind. At the fatal hour, then, at 
 which this iniquitous act was passed, hatred must 
 have ousted justice from her seat. Whatever side 
 is taken between these two rocks (one or the other 
 of them will always be unavoidable), it is evident, 
 that in the language of this sovereign court, (the 
 declared enemies of the society) there is both pal- 
 pable exaggeration and ridiculous falsehood. 
 
 3. The witnesses, who depose in favour of the 
 the utility of the institute and the innocence of the 
 Jesuits, are invested with an august character^ 
 which commands respect and inspires confidence. 
 
 There exists nothing amongst mortals more 
 august and sacred; than the holiness of virtue, the 
 brilliancy of genius, the majesty of the throne, and 
 
 M
 
 83 
 
 the dignity of the priesthood. These respectable 
 titles and illustrious qualities have, more or less, 
 characterized every one of the witnesses who have 
 deposed in favour of the Jesuits' innocence. Out 
 of the numerous host of witnesses favourable to the 
 society, that came immediately under our eyes, we 
 have selected for our purpose Henry IV, Louis 
 XIV, the dauphin, father of Louis XVI, Catha- 
 rine II, empress of all the Russias, Richelieu, car- 
 dinal de Fleury, Bossuet, Bacon, Leibnitz, several 
 parliaments, Clement XIII, the general assemblies 
 Of French clergy in 1761 and 1?62, and several 
 other corporations or respectable individuals. I shall 
 not waste time in proving, that the pleasing recol- 
 lections of genius, of virtue, of the royal authority, 
 and pontifical dignity, are inseparable from those 
 illustrious names, which are indelibly graven on our 
 historic pages. Should the enemies of the society 
 have the hardihood to contest this glory with them, 
 the well-informed, and all posterity, would set them 
 down as grossly ignorant, or wickedly false. They 
 may, perhaps, endeavour to reply in attenuation of 
 the force of their evidence, that these great men 
 were mislead in the judgment they formed of the 
 utility of the institute, and the innocence of the 
 society. 
 
 Such a reply would prove a shameful defeat ; and 
 I hesitate not to affirm, would be devoid of the 
 slightest plausibility. In obscure and abstruse 
 questions of morality, metaphysics, law, and natu- 
 ral science, the brightest genius may be mislead by 
 sophism, and embrace an error, while he thinks he 
 adheres to truth. But upon clear and unquestiou-
 
 83 
 
 able facts, such as the existence of the sun, a man 
 cannot err, unless passion so transport him, as to 
 deprive him of the sane exercise of his judgment ; 
 nor can he adopt error, unless personal interest, 
 gaining an ascendency over his virtue, induce him 
 to trample under foot the truth of history. Now 
 the crimes imputed to the Jesuits by their enemies, 
 are, upon the very face of the charges themselves, 
 public and notorious facts, which passed not in 
 darkness or the impenetrability of forests, but upon 
 the vast and open theatre of all the kingdoms upon 
 earth. They charge them with teaching an infa- 
 mous system of morality, that overturns, root and 
 branch, every principle of natural law, and all the 
 sacred rules of conscience. The Jesuits preached 
 openly in their colleges, before crowned heads, and 
 in all the churches of the catholic world; they 
 taught theology in their own colleges, and in uni- 
 versities; and their books, from which so many 
 genuine or unfair quotations have been made, are 
 to be found both in public and private libraries. 
 They were known to the bishops, who took their 
 defence in hand ; for, in clearing the society from 
 the imputation of teaching loose morality, they have 
 not failed to stigmatize those authors, who were re- 
 prehensible, from having afforded just grounds for 
 censure. They accuse them, moreover, of being 
 ambitious, regicides, and seditious, who murdered 
 kings, and brought troubles into all their states. 
 History was open to the eyes of Henry IV, Louis 
 XIV, Catharine II, Richelieu, Bossuet, and so many 
 celebrated men of learning, who have bestowed 
 liberal praises upon the Jesuits. It cannot then be
 
 84 
 
 pretended, that they were ignorant of the ruling- 
 passions and prevailing crimes, with which they at- 
 tempt to brand the society, without fastening the 
 most gross and culpable ignorance upon those illus- 
 trious princes and immortal genii. There is but 
 one shift more, by which they can attempt to 
 weaken their evidence, which is, to pretend that the 
 public, or their own private interest, had so fasci^ 
 nated their senses, that they took for chimerical 
 phantoms, facts which took place in the sight and 
 with the knowledge of all mankind ; or else, that 
 they were so overpowered by these two prevalent 
 incentives, as to be determined to apologize for vice 
 and crime at every hazard, in defiance of truth and 
 virtue. If this, then, be the last resort of the ener 
 mies of the society, I scruple not to declare, that it 
 rests upon a ridiculous paradox, and a superstruc- 
 ture of downright absurdity. This will be easily 
 demonstrated in proving the fourth proposition 
 which I have advanced, namely, that both the pub- 
 lic and private interest of the apologists for the so- 
 ciety, far from exciting them to speak favourably of 
 the Jesuits, would, cm the contrary, have been a 
 most powerful motive for procuring their condem- 
 nation, and getting their order proscribed, as a 
 body deserving the execration of mankind, if it 
 had been really guilty of the charges brought 
 against it. 
 
 What public or what private interest could have 
 induced either Bacon or Leibnitz to esteem and 
 favour the Jesuits? Both of them were brought 
 up in a sect separated from the catholic church, and 
 H would have been more natural for them to despise
 
 85 
 
 and discredit them, as the most powerful opposers 
 of their errors. Yet the illustrious chancellor of 
 England laments their not bein^ settled in his 
 
 O o 
 
 country Why, being what you are, do you not be- 
 long to us ? And, if the German philosopher blames 
 some of the society, for carrying to excess the in- 
 terests of their own body, yet, is he indignant at 
 the malice of the calumnies raised against them, 
 and frankly confesses that their society boasts of 
 gome of the first characters existing. 
 
 What public or what private interest could have 
 determined Henry IV to recall into his states, and 
 protect, against the violent attacks of the parliament 
 of Paris, a society, who had, as alleged, sharpened 
 against him the steel of Barriere and de Chatel, 
 were they, in fact, but a vile gang of seditious 
 and murderous conspirators ? 
 
 What public or what personal interest could have 
 worked upon Louis XIV, to induce him to take 
 under the mantle of his royal protection, a despe- 
 rate band of ruffians, disguised under the fair em- 
 blems of religion, and rendered the more mischiev- 
 ous and dangerous, by the imposing external guise 
 of piety and zeal ? In lieu of ensuring and extend- 
 ing the glory of his crown and of his kingdom, of 
 which he was ever so tenacious and jealous, would 
 not such ill-placed favour, on the contrary, have ex- 
 posed the throne and the kingdom of France to the 
 machinations of all crimes, and the dangers of re- 
 volution ? 
 
 What public or private interest could have in- 
 spired Catharine II with the idea of writing to the 
 of the church, with equal freedom and energy,
 
 86 
 
 that this renowned society, was a body of peaceable 
 and innocent men ; that of all the catholic religious 
 orders, that was the best fitted to infuse into her 
 subjects the sentiments of humanity, and the princi- 
 ples of the Christian religion, and that she was de- 
 termined to support it against any power whatsoever ? 
 Was she compelled, in order to gratify a handful of 
 catholics thinly scattered over her vast empire, to 
 compromise the safety of her person and her throne, 
 with the peace and welfare of so many millions of 
 subjects under her to rule ? 
 
 Finally, what public and what private interest 
 could have engaged the bishops of France to vindi- 
 cate the morals of the Jesuits against the calum- 
 niating charges of their enemies ? I am fully aware, 
 that the Jesuits formed a very formidable force to 
 act against the progress of the modern philosophy, 
 like a compacted veteran phalanx of soldiers, habi- 
 tuated to victory, and that they gave it a very 
 powerful check ; and on this very score did the so- 
 ciety claim title to the best support which religion 
 could afford it. But in order to defend Christianity 
 against the ravages of these impious doctrines, did 
 it become necessary to trample under foot all the 
 writings of the holy fathers and doctors of the 
 church, to tear up the pages of the holy gospel, and 
 substitute for them a system of public education, 
 which authorized robbery, homicide, blasphemy, 
 regicide, adultery, idolatry, and all the crimes 
 which sully the perverted stated of man. No, ne- 
 ver will the public interest of religion persuade a 
 body of prelacy, enlightened as well as pious, that 
 the edifice of Christianity is to be propt up by but-
 
 87 
 
 tresses of such gross criminality. Better a hun- 
 dred times over would it be for the cause of Chris- 
 tianity, that their last sanctuary should be abolished, 
 and the very last altar, on which the sacred victim 
 is immolated, be precipated into the ocean, than to 
 redeem religion at such a price : I should have said 
 apostacy. It was by the divine assistance imparted 
 to the evangelical labours in the vineyard, that 
 Christianity conquered idolatry ; that it raised itself 
 in the world like a magnificent temple, into which 
 came the kings of the earth and their people, to 
 humble their pride, and lay down at the feet of the 
 living God, the trophies obtained over superstition 
 and vice, as the homage of their gratitude, and tri- 
 bute of their submission. This temple then, in 
 which all virtues are consecrated, and all vices eter- 
 nally condemned, retains no longer any stability or 
 glory in a realm, by reason of the treason of the 
 ministers of the Most High. Then again, by taking 
 in hand the defence of such loose and scandalous 
 morality, would not the prelates of the Gallican 
 church, have sunk down their characters, and for- 
 feited all their claim to respect and confidence from 
 the faithful children of the church? Did not per- 
 sonal interest impose upon them the indispensable 
 duty of commending the society in whatever was 
 commendable in it, and of condemning whatever 
 was censurable in it ? In imploring of his majesty 
 the preservation of their order, ought they not to 
 have proposed the means of checking the growth 
 of these newly-taught doctrines, as they wished to 
 efface for ever the slightest stain of the abuses, 
 which the numerous privileges and papal indults
 
 88 
 
 grauted to the society may have given rise to? 
 To have acted in any other manner would have 
 been an evident attempt to abuse the confidence of 
 their sovereign, the sure means of incurring his dis- 1 
 pleasure, and their inevitable fall into public dis- 
 grace and infamy. 
 
 We have now proved the truth of the four propo- 
 sitions, which we undertook to demonstrate: namely, 
 
 1. That the accusers of the society were men of 
 party, swayed by the spirit of hatred and revenge. 
 
 2. That their evidence bears upon it the face of ex- 
 aggeration and untruth. 3; That the witnesses 
 who have deposed in favour of the Jesuits, ard 
 clothed with an august character, that commands 
 respect and inspires confidence. 4. That these res- 
 pectable witnesses were not induced to become the 
 apologists of the society, from any motive of public 
 or private interest that contravened the truth; for 
 if the society had been guilty of the charges brought 
 against it, it would have been their double interest 
 to rank with its accusers, and omit nothing which 
 could bring about their condemnation. 
 
 What will the enemies of the institute oppose to 
 this mass of evidence and proofs ? They may per- 
 haps allege, that if men of learning have taken 
 their defence in hand, they were men also of learn- 
 ing, who have charged them with the greatest 
 crimes ; that if at one period the sovereigns of Eu- /^ 
 rope received and protected them in their states, at 
 a more recent period, the catholic courts, being 
 better informed of the true character of the society, 
 and more thoroughly apprised of the disasters with 
 which they had overwhelmned all nations, have con-
 
 89 
 
 tlemned, proscribed, stripped them of their pro- 
 perty, and devoted them to the execration of all fu- 
 ture ages. What a wretched shift ! What a dri- 
 velling and mean retreat of insincerity and fraud ! 
 
 "We have clearly demonstrated, by incontestible 
 facts, by authentic writings, that those men of learn- 
 ing, who were the enemies of the Jesuits, were men 
 of party, devoted either to heresy or impiety ; that 
 they had been contradicted by men of their own 
 sects, though less transported by their passions; 
 that the Catholic princes, who had expelled them 
 from their states, had been influenced and overruled 
 in their councils by philosophic or Jansenian mi- 
 nisters , that the very violent persecution, of which 
 this celebrated society has been the victim, is a fair 
 presumption of its innocence, in as much as their 
 zeal to defend religion and the church, has been 
 their capital offence, and the success and import- 
 ance of their services, the cause of their destruction. 
 The proofs, which we have alleged in favour of 
 these illustrious objects of persecution, lose nothing 
 of their force ; the evidence is irrefragable. But 
 if, after having brought together so many glorious 
 monuments of the utility of the institute, so many 
 respectable testimonies of the innocence of the so- 
 ciety in the face of all Europe, so many conclu- 
 sive arguments in support of the facts and evidence, 
 they still persist in denouncing the order, as guilty 
 of the most unheard of crimes, I must thenceforth 
 conclude, that there exist no longer any means of 
 justifying innocence in a court of justice ; and that 
 consequently every accusation of a capital offence, 
 must even, without trial, lead the accused to infamy 
 
 N
 
 90 
 
 or the scaffold. For what men were ever accused, 
 and were furnished with such a store of means to 
 repel the unjust attack, by such conclusive reason- 
 ing, such notorious facts, and such unquestionable 
 evidence ? Here then these unfortunate victims of 
 calumny confidently present themselves before their 
 judges, surrounded by this honourable retinue of 
 witnesses to their innocence, selected from amongst 
 kings and sovereigns, ^the faithful ministers of 
 thrones, the brightest ornaments of genius and ta- 
 knt, and the pontiffs of a divine religion. 
 
 The innocence of the society of Jesuits, handled 
 with so much harshness, pursued with such relent- 
 less hatred, has then been completely made out by 
 historical documents. And if some few individual 
 members of the order should be proved to have gone 
 somewhat astray, either in doctrine or conduct, from 
 the right road of truth and virtue, the whole body 
 is not branded for the failings of these individuals. 
 With this reflection might I close the discussion I 
 liave taken upon me to make upon this contention 
 which has occupied the whole world ; but to avoid 
 th suspicion of fearing to face the detail of the 
 charges imputed to the body at large, I readily con- 
 sent to enter into the examination of the four capital 
 charges constantly urged against the society by its 
 enemies; namely, regicide, avarice, ambition, and 
 laxity of morals.
 
 91 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Examination of the Charge of Regicide.. 
 
 THE charges of regicide laid to the account of 
 the society of Jesuits are, the teaching publicly the 
 murderous doctrine, that it is at all times lawful to 
 kill sovereigns, when they abuse their power to op- 
 press their subjects or overthrow religion ; to dis- 
 turb the state by plots and sedition, and to take away 
 the lives of princes by means which excite horror 
 and provoke indignation. So serious an imputa- 
 tion, at the very thought of which every upright 
 man must shudder, makes a prominent part of the 
 report (Comptes rendus} given into the parliaments,, 
 is the leading feature of all the libels written 
 against the institute, about the time of its destruc- 
 tion, as well as of those recent publications of which 
 I have before mentioned the titles. My task then 
 in this chapter will be to discuss the doctrine of re- 
 gicide, as attributed to the society, and the overt 
 acts of regicide, and actual attempts to overthrow 
 kingdoms, of which it was the object to convict the 
 Jesuits. 
 
 Of the Doctrine of Regicide attributed to the Jesuits. 
 
 If false principles: and systems of anarchy be- 
 come frequently the fuel which lights and keeps up
 
 92 
 
 the fire of sedition in states, sometimes also the ac- 
 tual troubles and revolutions of states engender false 
 opinions and dangerous theories. In the beginning 
 of the 15th century, John Petit, a graduate of the 
 university of Paris, was bribed by the duke of Bur- 
 gundy, who had caused the duke of Orleans to be 
 assassinated, to maintain openly in the university of 
 Paris this thesis : That it is not only lawful, but 
 meritorious, to kill a tyrant. This horrible doc- 
 trine was condemned in the general council of Con- 
 stance., holden in the year 1414. Never was there 
 but one Jesuit, namely Mariana, who ever attempted 
 to revive this opinion, not indeed in the full extent, 
 and to the purport, that it was broached by John 
 Petit ; the anathema of the council was too palpa- 
 ble, and too well known, for him to dare to contra- 
 vene it so audaciously ; he qualified it to a certain 
 degree, though not so as to justify the modification. 
 The Parisian doctor had maintained, that every sub- 
 ject and every vassal might kill a tyrant. The Je- 
 suit pretended, that for want of a general as- 
 sembly of the nation, an individual might lawfully 
 kill him, if thereunto authorized by the public voice 
 of the people, and the private approbation of grave 
 and learned men. The king of Spain was at this 
 time under the influence of unwise counsels, and 
 had conceived a foolish and mischievous idea, that 
 the propagation of this doctrine would, under exist- 
 ing circumstances, favour the interests of his go- 
 vernment j and under this conviction he accepted the 
 dedication of Mariana's book. The body at large 
 was in no manner affected by the circumstance, for
 
 93 
 
 in 1599, that is, as soon as the work was published, 
 the Jesuits apprized their general of it, and he im- 
 mediately issued his orders, that the noxious doc- 
 trine should be corrected. " Our father general/' 
 says Richeome, in his Examination of a publication, 
 intituled the Anti-Colon, ** having been advertised 
 " by me, when I was at Bourdeaux in 1599, and by 
 te our fathers of Prance, ordered that it should be 
 tf corrected; nor would any copy of the work have 
 " after that appeared, if the heretics, in order to turn 
 te it to their own account, had not printed a new 
 " edition of it, with its original fault/' In fact, the 
 protestants wished to avail themselves of this work 
 of Mariana, to lower the society in the eyes of the 
 public ; but Hessius argued that they could not, with- 
 out calumny, ascribe to the society at large the doc- 
 trine contained in that book ; Gretzer insisted, that 
 it was an opinion peculiar to the author alone ; and 
 Keller observes, that Mariana was right in calling 
 it his own opinion, for he was not aware of having 
 ever read it in the work of any other Jesuit. But 
 the most commanding and important authority for 
 this not being the doctrine of the order, is that of 
 their general Aquaviva, who formally condemned it 
 by a decree in 1610. " We command and enjoin," 
 says he, " by this present decree, in virtue of holy 
 " obedience, under pain of excommunication and in- 
 tf ability for any office, and suspension from the sa- 
 " cred functions, and other arbitrary penalties re- 
 u served to us, that no religious of our society do, 
 " eithfer in public or private, in reading or giving 
 " advice, and much less in publishing any work, pre- 
 [ e sume to maintain, that it is lawful for any person
 
 " whomsoever, or under any colour or pretence what- 
 " soever of tyranny, to kill kings or princes, or at- 
 <e tempt any violence upon their persons : lest such 
 " doctrine should open the road to the ruin of prin- 
 " ces, and disturb the peace or expose to doubt and 
 " hazard the lives of those, whom, according to the 
 " ordinance of God, we ought to honour and respect, 
 tc as sacred persons appointed by God to rule and 
 " govern the people in happiness. Wherefore our 
 "will is, that all the provincials, who shall haveac- 
 te quired any knowledge of these things, and shall 
 " not have corrected the defaulters, or shall not have 
 " provided against these inconveniences, or shall 
 " have neglected to put this decree into strict exe- 
 " cution, not only shall incur all the before mention- 
 " ed penalties, but they themselves, shall be deprived 
 " of their offices and appointments ; in order that 
 " every one may know what is the doctrine of the 
 " society upon this head, and that the fault of one in- 
 " vidual may not fall upon others, or render them 
 " suspected, I appeal to the fair judgment and con- 
 " science of every upright man, if it be not notori- 
 " ously admitted, that the fault of a single member 
 " can not be placed to the account of the whole 
 <c body. We will moreover, that all these provin- 
 " cials, acknowledge to us the receipt of this decree, 
 " and that they announce and make it known 
 " throughout their respective provinces, and then, 
 " that they make an entry of it in the archives of all 
 " their houses and colleges, in order that its me- 
 " mory and observance may remain inviolate for 
 ' ever. CLAUDIUS AQUAVIVA." 
 
 " Rome, 6 July, 1610."
 
 95 
 
 So formal and explicit a disavowal of Mariana's 
 doctrine, ought unquestionably for ever to have 
 sealed the lips of these unceasing calumniators of 
 the society upon that score. But the Jansenists, 
 who are all trained up to the arts of perplexing, 
 confounding, and eluding the most simple and plain 
 propositions, soon pretended to discover captions 
 terms in this letter of Aqaaviva, under which ceT^ 
 tain persons were allowed to kill a prince who 
 abused his power to oppress his subjects. They ca- 
 villed upon the term cuicunque personee. Instead of 
 translating these words in their ordinary acceptation 
 and obvious meaning, to any person who?nsoever, 
 they translated them, to all manner of persons / 
 as if it had been the intent of Aquaviva to insinu- 
 ate, that there really was a certain description of 
 persons who lawfully might attempt the life of a 
 tyrant. This to be sure is a mean pitiable shuffle. 
 Not only does this forced translation contravene the 
 natural and obvious sense of the original text, but 
 is palpably falsified by the ultimate inferences, and 
 the intermediate bearings of the whole context. 
 Aqoaviva proscribes the doctrine of Mariana, for 
 fear it should open the road to the ruin of princes, 
 and break up their peace and security. Had he li- 
 mitted his declaration, by limiting the prohibition to 
 certain persons, under certain circumstances, to 
 kill them, instead of extending the inhibition to all 
 persons indefinitely, would he not have opened the 
 way to the ruin of princes, whilst he was wishing to 
 secure their persons ? Would he not thereby be lay- 
 ing down a principle destructive of the peace of 
 the state, instead of ensuring it a warranty, founded
 
 96 
 
 Upon the true principles of public order and tran- 
 quillity ? He moreover adds, that he proscribes 
 the teaching of this king-killing doctrine, under 
 pain of excommunication, and other severe punish- 
 ments, because this doctrine puts in doubt and ha- 
 zard the personal safety of those, whom the ordi- 
 nance of God commands us to honour and respect, as 
 the sacred persons appointed by his divine omnipo- 
 tence to rule and govern his people in happiness. 
 If he authorizes certain persons to plunge the dagger 
 into the breast of a lawful sovereign, should he 
 abuse his power by vexing and tyrannizing over his 
 subjects, how is it that he ensures the personal 
 safety of the king? Is that person sacred and invio- 
 lable, who may be murdered without a crime ? Is 
 his life secure, when it is at the mercy of all his dis- 
 contented and seditious subjects, by declaring, that 
 it is forbidden to all manner of persons to deprive 
 him of his existence, without designating the parti- 
 cular class of persons to whom it is lawful to put 
 him to death ? And how shall such a prince rule 
 and govern his people in happiness, whilst his per- 
 son and throne are hourly exposed to danger? It is 
 then glaringly evident, that this Jansenian version 
 of Aquaviva's decree is entirely false, and most un- 
 warrantably tortures the original text, in order to 
 convert that general of the order of St. Ignatius 
 into a professed king-killer. It is moreover diame- 
 trically contrary to the sense in which it has ever 
 been taken by the society itself, and particularly by 
 the celebrated father Coton, who translated the de- 
 cree as I have above given it. This never even 
 entered the minds of the parliament of Paris, for
 
 97 
 
 they were so satisfied with the general Aquaviva'U 
 decree, that upon the occasion of publishing a work 
 of Suarez, intituled, A Defence of the Catholic 
 Faith, they required, by an act dated on the 96th of 
 June, 1614, of the fathers Armond, Coton, Fron- 
 ton, and Sirmond, to solicit their general to renew 
 that same decree, and have it published, so that 
 they might register it within six months. So far 
 was cardinal Richelieu from suspecting the society 
 of teaching this doctrine, that it was to this very de- 
 cree of Aquaviva, that he referred the four minis- 
 ters of Charenton, who charged the society with 
 teaching regicide, in order to learn from it, what 
 were the real sentiments of that illustrious society 
 upon that head of accusation. The opinion then 
 of Mariana is not what the Jesuits teach. It is, on 
 the contrary, blamed and condemned by the order, 
 and by their general at their head. 
 
 Some other opinions, less bold and dangerous 
 than those of Petit and Mariana, gained credit and 
 extensive circulation through Germany, and several 
 other states of Europe. Divines and lawyers ge- 
 nerally distinguished two sorts of tyrants; one of 
 usurpation, the other of administration. They con- 
 sider the first as a public robber, that attempts to 
 extinguish the liberty of a nation, and seize by vio- 
 lence the throne of the rightful possessor. The se- 
 cond has a right to rule and govern his subjects ; 
 but he exercises his rights and prerogatives in such 
 an oppressive manner, that he becomes as formida- 
 ble and odious to them as a wild beast, or a fero- 
 cious monster. In the 16th century, it seemed to be 
 the common opinion both of divines and lawyers^ 
 
 o
 
 98 
 
 that any individual might lawfully kill the usurper, 
 because he has no right to the crown ; and it is 
 moreover to be presumed to be the will of the 
 prince and people, that his life should be taken 
 away, if there be no other obvious means of ridding 
 the state of his usurpation. But as to him who 
 abused his rights by excessively oppressing his sub- 
 jects, they generally held that the representatives of 
 the nation in a general assembly might depose him, 
 and even condemn him to death, in case he conti- 
 nued his vexatious oppression after the nation had 
 willed his deposition. But they did not allow any 
 private individual to attempt his life, unless formal- 
 ly authorized so to do, by the body of the nation hav- 
 ing passed and promulgated a proscriptive sentence 
 of attainder against him. Should any one harbour 
 a shadow of doubt whether such were, at that day, 
 the general and common opinion of divines and 
 lawyers, he needs only to look into The Answer to 
 the Assertions (3 vol. art. Of Tyrannicide J^or The 
 Appeal to Reason, by the abbe de Caveyrac, and all 
 his doubts and difficulties upon this head will vanish. 
 In this latter work, he would find quotations in 
 abundance from theologians and law-writers, which 
 formally and explicitly express this doctrine. But 
 the society of Jesuits was not specially gifted by 
 God with the attribute of infallibility, which our 
 French doctors refuse even to the head of the 
 church, so as to be secure from all the common 
 errors of their age. Is it then to be wondered at> 
 that Suarez, and some other writers of the society, 
 then maintained these opinions ? And if, because 
 they were not sufficiently enlightened, to anticipate.
 
 99 
 
 their dangerous tendency from the consequences 
 likely to result from them, the public have a right 
 to arraign and condemn the society of sedition and 
 re-icide, then indeed must we also include in this 
 
 O " 
 
 sweeping judgment and its consequences, all the 
 cotemporary universities, all other religious orders, 
 and the whole profession of the law. 
 
 It must be specially observed, that amongst the 
 thirteen Jesuits, to whom they ascribe this king-kil- 
 ling doctrine, there are some of them, such as Es- 
 cobar, who speak only of deposition, without say- 
 ing a word of death. And it should be more espe- 
 cially noticed, that when their general, father Aqua- 
 viva, made head against the progress of this errone- 
 ous doctrine, he forbad the provincials to permit any 
 work to go to press, which handled the question of 
 tyrannicide, or the temporal power of the popes over 
 sovereigns, unless first revised and approved of at 
 Rome. A succeeding general of the order, father 
 Oliva, not only condemned, but wrote against this 
 doctrine, with great warmth and force of argument. 
 " A prince," says he,* " may sometimes resign his 
 " Own crown ; but none but God, or the sacri- 
 *' leinous hand of mortal, can force it from him. 
 
 o 
 
 " After God, the king is the first to whom St. Peter 
 " tells us we must render homage. Honour the 
 '* king. But what king, great God ! did the apos- 
 " tie enjoin his disciples to honour ? Nero, that 
 " infamous buffoon, a base glutton, the horror of 
 " his own gods, the scourge of mankind, the mon- 
 " ster that tore open the womb of his own mother, 
 
 * la 1 Esd. cap. 7. vol. 3, Ludg. 1679.
 
 100 
 
 ' the hydra of hiscountry, the tyrant of the globe. 
 " St. Paul said to Titus, Put them in mind to be 
 " subject to principalities and powers. Since such 
 " were the lessons which St. Paul gave at Rome, 
 t4 such the examples of the young men in the fiery 
 " furnace, I know not with what manner of phrenzy 
 ff certain persons are actuated, who fancy they 
 " please Heaven by railing at those whom the pro- 
 " phets honoured at Babylon, whom Paul at Rome 
 " ordered Titus, and Peter enjoined all the pastors 
 " of the church, to cause to be respected." 
 
 " Even corrupt princes," says again Oliva, in his 
 Dissertations upon the Gospels, p. 192, " must be 
 " honoured, and not despised, They bear the image 
 " of the divinity, although they sully it. Samuel 
 " cried over Saul ; he armed not his hand against 
 "him. The crimes of kings are to be expiated, not 
 cc in blood, but in tears; and even of those who 
 " consecrated them." 
 
 In a word, there is an opinion relative to the fair 
 and lawful defence of one's own life, upon which 
 they have hazarded a fresh charge of regicide against 
 the Jesuits. Daniel Concina, a dominican, and a 
 large number of divines and lawyers, have main- 
 tained, that it is lawful to defend one's own life, at 
 the risk of that of the sovereign, when he is the un- 
 just aggressor, and the assailed has no other means 
 of avoiding death.* Out of five hundred Jesuits, who 
 have written on moral divinity, and most of whom 
 
 * See The Appeal to Reason, in which the abbe Caveyrac 
 has brought together all the arguments by quotation from their 
 authors.
 
 101 
 
 had occasion to treat this question, only seven ot 
 them, namely, Azor, Keller, Suarez, Lorin, Les* 
 sius, Comitolus, and Busembaum, have adopted this 
 opinion. This sufficed, like the touch of a magic 
 wand, to convert in an instant the society into a des* 
 perate gang of regicides. It is a singular and 
 laughable sort of logic, that is constantly confound- 
 ing a body of fifteen or twenty thousand men 
 with some few individuals ; and, in order to blast 
 the credit of a religious order, possessing generally 
 the esteem of nations, and the confidence of their 
 sovereigns, to people, as it were, the whole surface 
 of the earth with troops of theological and legal 
 regicides. Thus, by dint of suppression, misrepre- 
 sentation, and slander, have these relentless enemies 
 of the Jesuits exposed themselves before the inform- 
 ed and independent public, as contemptible and de- 
 graded drivellers. 
 
 This is not all ; Azor, Lessius, Suarez and Bu- 
 sembaum, have so qualified this very doctrine, that 
 they have brought the case in which it is lawful to 
 kill a royal unjust aggressor, se defendendo, to a real 
 metaphysical subtilty. They have so narrowed the 
 case, that they say, if, from putting to death the 
 prince who so wantonly assails one, there be grounds 
 to apprehend any evil to the state, then charity and 
 regard to the public welfare impose the duty of let- 
 ting oneself be killed. So that, let a prince be 
 ever so profligate, some inconveniency to the state 
 must always be apprehended; there will therefore 
 generally be on such occasions a call of duty in the 
 individual to sacrifice his life, rather than create 
 danger to the public weal. We may here add, that
 
 102 
 
 M. de Monclar, notwithstanding the little partia- 
 lity he has shewn to the disciples of St. Ignatius, 
 had freely confessed (Note 70) that there was but 
 little practical danger in the doctrine of the seven 
 Jesuits. But if by teaching this doctrine, they might 
 create ever so slight an apprehension in any prince, 
 is that a reason, that they are to be put on a level 
 with Clement, Barrieres, Chatel, Ravaillac, and Da- 
 miens, whose very names inspire horror, and awaken 
 the indignation of posterity ? To teach and preach 
 up regicide, is to maintain, that in certain cases we 
 may attempt the life of the sovereign; but he, who 
 only defends his own life, does not properly make 
 an attempt upon that of another. In proof of this, 
 I appeal not only to grammarians, but to our crown 
 lawyers, who are in the daily habit of interpreting 
 our criminal code, and to the courts themselves, 
 which punish all treasonable attempts upon the life 
 of the sovereign. I desire not to be understood to 
 marshal myself with those divines of the society, 
 who maintain this opinion ; I have no such thought ; 
 I only mean to point out the absurdity and folly of 
 those impassioned authors, who cannot veiw a Je- 
 suit without setting him down for a professed regi- 
 cide, and, like the knight errant of Cervantes, when 
 called upon to redress grievances and repair injus- 
 tice, took every windmill for a giant, and a flock of 
 sheep for an army. 
 
 In short, the formal disavowal, by the superiors of 
 the order, of Busembaum's doctrine, clearly develops 
 the perfidy of their enemies. Some propositions 
 extracted from the works of this author, commented 
 upon by La Croix, beginning to make a sensation in
 
 103 
 
 1757, after an utter silence of above a hundred years, 
 the Jesuits of Paris presented a memorial to the 
 parliament, in which they declared, " That they 
 (( never had professed nor adopted, nor ever would 
 ' profess or adopt, either publicly or privately, such 
 " false and detestable maxims as are to be found 
 fl scattered through the works of Busembaum and 
 
 " the commentary of La Croix That they consi- 
 
 " der the very idea of the lawfulness of attempting 
 " the sacred life of the sovereign, under any circum- 
 " stance or pretext whatever, as horrible and exe- 
 " crable, and that they detest and abjure the opi- 
 " nions, which sanction, or which effect to sanction 
 " it, not only in Busembaum and La Croix, but in 
 " any of the authors quoted by them, or any other 
 " writer whomsoever, in whose works such opinions 
 " may occur, in whatever country, or under what- 
 " ever government, such authors may have written 
 te and published those criminal propositions." The 
 superiors of Rennes and Thoulouse had already 
 given into their respective parliaments memorials of 
 a similar tendency. This opinion therefore of Bu- 
 sembaum, Suarez, and the five other Jesuits, upon 
 the defence of one's own life, when unjustly as- 
 sailed by the sovereign, cannot fairly be said to be 
 taught and maintained by the society, more than the 
 doctrine of Mariana and some other doctors upon 
 the question of tyrannicide. 
 
 To these documents, which clearly vindicate the 
 society from the imputation of the doctrine of regi- 
 cide, we beg leave to add a solemn declaration, 
 which the Jesuits presented to Louis XV, in the 
 year 1761. At that period, the society was violently
 
 104 
 
 arraigned on the score of their institute, and of their 
 doctrines. The then chancellor Lamoignon sent 
 the draught of a declaration to the provincials of 
 the five provinces of the Jesuits in France, requiring 
 of them to return to him a copy of it, signed by all 
 the priests and young Jesuits of the different col- 
 leges and houses throughout the kingdom. This 
 declaration purports, amongst other things, " that 
 " they (the Jesuits) do hold and profess, and al- 
 *' ways will hold and profess, that in any case or 
 " in any place, or under any pretext of tyranny or 
 " vexation, or persecution for religion, or on any 
 " other pretence whatsoever, it is not and cannot 
 " ever be lawful for any person, of any rank or con- 
 " dition whatsoever, to attempt the life of the sove- 
 " reign, directly or indirectly, or to write, speak, in- 
 " sinuate or abet, or do any thing which may have 
 " a tendency to put the person of the sovereign in. 
 " danger ; that they condemn and detest, as perniei- 
 " cious and execrable to all generations, every posi- 
 " tion to the contrary thereof, in every book now 
 " published, whether written by one of their so- 
 " ciety, or any other author whomsoever." 
 
 So well was his majesty satisfied with this declara- 
 tion, that in an edict, which he published in the 
 month of March of the ensuing year, it was spe- 
 cially referred to, as the ground for a well founded 
 expectation of the royal protection to the society. 
 It is expressed in the most unequivocal and exten- 
 sive terms, so as to shut out all reasonable fear or 
 injurious suspicion. The Jesuits who signed it, 
 thereby gave utterance to the feelings of their 
 hearts. For the last century, these bold and dan-
 
 gerous opinions upon king-killing, had, like most of 
 the books which contained them, been consigned 
 to neglect, silence and oblivion. The preachers, 
 the historians, the spiritual writers, the divines of 
 the society, had, through the run of that century, 
 taught publicly,, and without evasion, the doctrines 
 diametrically opposite to those pernicious and su- 
 perannuated opinions.* Thus, for the sake of cry- 
 ing down this celebrated society, they have conta- 
 minated the public mind, by awaking from a pro- 
 found sleep those antiquated opinions, which had 
 been the error of their age, and had passed away 
 with the age itself. Such was the observation made 
 to Louis XV, by the assembly of 1 761, in their re- 
 port upon the principal charges made against the 
 society. We must not here omit to refer to their 
 honourable testimony of the Jesuits' 4pctrine on the 
 the sacred respect due to sovereigns.f What a tri- 
 umphant testimony in favour of the accused ! How 
 overwhelming to the accusers ! It is the evidence 
 of the first ministers of religion, that is to say, the 
 native protectors of religion, in support of their in- 
 nocence. It is the voice of the judges of faith, that 
 is to say, the depositaries of sound doctrines, which 
 lifts itself up and resounds from the four corners of 
 France, in vindication of a religious order, strangely 
 calumniated, for having been eminently serviceable 
 to religion and the church. 
 
 * See the 3d volume, p. 599, of The Answer to the Assertions. 
 See also the second part of The Appeal to Reason, p. 121, 
 &c. where are quoted crowds of writers of the society, who 
 have more strongly and explicitly proscribed and disclaimed 
 (he dotrine of regicide. 
 
 t See the 8th chapter abo?e, p. 67. 
 
 P
 
 106 
 
 1L 
 
 Of the Plots and Murders of Kings laid to the 
 charge of the Jesuits.. 
 
 There is so much absurdity and flat nonsense in 
 the charges of state plots and king-killing, brought 
 against the society, that I blush in undertaking a 
 detailed defence of the ridiculous accusations. What 
 man, of sane intellect, could for a moment be- 
 lieve that the order of St. Ignatius, panegyrized 
 by the learned of every nation, honoured by the 
 successive benevolence of all the potentates of Eu- 
 rope, ever had been that desperate band of ambi- 
 tious ruffians, with the poignard always in hand, to 
 plunge it in the breast of every prince who would 
 dare to stand in the way of their progress to univer- 
 sal empire ? Such, nevertheless, is the exact por- 
 trait of the society, drawn by the two Jansenian au- 
 thors, whom we mentioned in the commencement 
 of this work. Were we to credit their forged pieces 
 of history, and folloAV the rovings of their wander- 
 ing fancies, our princes ought to have a greater 
 dread of the Jesuits, than those in the days of St. 
 Louis had of the king-killing ruffians, who,, at the 
 whistle of the old man of the mountain, assassinated 
 princes and monarchs in the inmost recesses of their 
 palaces. I readily believe that no man of informa- 
 tion can read these impassioned authors, without 
 suspecting the authenticity of the facts they narrate, 
 and setting them down as mere fables ; but I la- 
 ment to remark, that in France, and more especi-
 
 ally during the last and the running century, many 
 weak, vain, and superficial minds exist, who will 
 swear to the dictum of any author, provided he 
 systematically hate, abuse, and cry down a religious 
 order. What now so frequent as to meet, in mixed 
 and even select society, young men, without reading 
 or information, rehearsing, with didactic insolence, 
 and in the pride of ton, the most atrocious calumnies, 
 which they had learnt by rote, as composed of the 
 fashionable stuff of the day ridicule of religion, and 
 hatred of Jesuitism. I have therefore found it of 
 no slight importance, to lay open the naked facts, 
 without the mask or veil of passion ; it is a tribute 
 due to truth, and may be an antidote against ca- 
 lumny and slander. The most prominent charges 
 of sedition and murder, brought against the Jesuits, 
 are, their conduct during the troubles of the league 
 in France, the attempts upon the lives of Henry IV, 
 Louis XV, and Joseph I, king of Portugal, the 
 noted gun-powder treason and plot in England, 
 and the poisoning of Clement XIV. But authentic 
 documents, and other irrefragable historic evidence, 
 will enable us to disperse the murky fog, through 
 the medium of which these criminal charges have 
 been magnified, distorted, or concealed, as it suited 
 the turn of the enemies of the society. 
 
 Under pretext of preventing the crown of France 
 from devolving upon a prince, who was not of the 
 Catholic religion, the leading men of the kingdom 
 fomented disturbances in the state, with a view of 
 opening the road and working their own way to the 
 throne, or to the highest offices of the state. The 
 true cause of the war of the league, so fatal to
 
 108 
 
 
 France, was ambition clad in the imposing mantle 
 
 of religion. In order to fan the flame of war, and 
 excite the people to sedition and revolt, the leaguers 
 artfully exhibited the throne of France, which ne- 
 ver had been possessed by error, as then being on. 
 the point of becoming sullied by heresy and schism ; 
 they represented to them, that if Henry IV should 
 seize the reins of government, these two impure 
 streams, which had already laid waste such a large 
 portion of the kingdom, would speedily involve, in 
 one common ruin, the altars and its ministers, the 
 temples and all religious institutions ; that the sec- 
 taries would not leave one stone upon another of 
 their ancient religion, which was at once their glory 
 and their happiness ; that no longer would the Ca- 
 tholics have the consolation of chanting the praises of 
 their Maker in their churches ; no longer, in the 
 holy sacrifice, would the blessed victim be immolated 
 in their presence ; but in lieu thereof, would the 
 black and gloomy errors of Calvin spread, like a 
 sable coverlid, over France, and in very few years 
 would put out that brilliant light of the gospel, 
 which has shone throughout France with lustre dur- 
 ing the unbroken chain of so many centuries. That 
 religion which comforts and strengthens man in this 
 vale of exile, which feeds his hopes of immortality, 
 which promises never ending bliss in the eternal man- 
 sions of the blessed, and constitute, without question, 
 the greatest happiness a nation can possess. Such 
 were the feelings of the nation, upon this precious 
 gift of heaven. Not, indeed, of a nation impious and 
 profligate, which sets up the idolatry of its lustful 
 passions upon the ruin of the holy worship of a liv-
 
 109 
 
 ing God , but of a wise and enlightened people, who 
 place the duties due to the Deity above all earthly ob- 
 ligations, preferring Christianity to all the gifts of 
 fortune, which that alone can consecrate in this life, 
 and immortalize the proper use of it in the life to 
 come. It is not then very surprizing, that, in the 
 very moment in which the French people perceived, 
 or were convinced, that they were about to be 
 bereft of their ancient inheritance, they should lose 
 sight of the genuine principles of civil government, 
 and, unmindful, for the moment, of the duties of al- 
 legiance to the lawful sovereign, should snatch up 
 arms in defence of their God and their religion. It 
 is not even surprizing, that the clergy, both secular 
 and regular, in this awful brink of danger, should 
 have deceived themselves; that they should have sin- 
 cerely persuaded themselves, that Henry, by having 
 been brought up in heresy, had forfeited his right to 
 the crown ; and that the French people, who had 
 been eminently religious and Catholic, from the bap- 
 tism of their king Clovis, down to that unhappy 
 epoch, had no obligation to a prince, who was 
 about to force from them what they held most 
 precious and valuable in this life. In this point 
 of view, resistance must have appeared a virtue, 
 and submission a crime. A general ebullition 
 turned every head ; and, in that famous proces- 
 sion in the capital, to implore the protection of 
 Heaven on the leaguers, noblemen were mingled 
 with carmen, the secular clergy and the religious 
 orders, persons of every rank and condition, were 
 seen encouraging each other to fight, and sacrifice 
 their lives in the good cause. To expect, in the
 
 110 
 
 general sweep of such a political and religious tor- 
 nado, that the Jesuits' heads and hearts should alone 
 be unaffected by it ; that they should remain calm 
 and steady; that, in the vortex of desperate opi- 
 nions and dangerous theories, which then agitated 
 every part of the kingdom, to expect the Jesuits 
 should alone be enlightened, and point out and 
 teach the truth, would be to require nothing short 
 of a miracle in their favour : it would be to exact of 
 of them, beyond heroic virtue, absolute inerrancy of 
 opinion and doctrine, which falls not to the lot of 
 man on earth. They must, of course, have been 
 driven, like their neighbours, by the violence of the 
 storm, which shook the very foundations of the 
 throne and state, and blinded mankind to the prin- 
 ciples upon which the repose and security of so- 
 cial order rests. If, from the part which they took 
 in the troubles of the league, they can justly be 
 termed seditious plotters against the state, then, 
 from the same cause, (it was the vice of the age) 
 the nobility, the lowest of the people, the magis- 
 tracy, and every rank of society, must equally sab- 
 mit to be branded by the same ignominious appella- 
 tion. 
 
 It has been alleged, that the Jesuits signalized 
 themselves in this religious war, as it has been 
 called, by preaching it up more violently, and with 
 more energy and zeal, than others. That is a false 
 allegation, as appears from the historiographer of 
 Henry IV. " The preachers of the society," says 
 Matthieu, * preached with more regularity, de- 
 cency, modesty, gravity, and temper, than many 
 others. The Jesuits did not join the famous proces-
 
 HI 
 
 sion of the league ; and they availed themselves of 
 all their credit to reconcile the king with the holy 
 see. But the Jesuits' enemies push home their ob- 
 jections, and ask, whether it be not matter of noto- 
 riety and incontestible, in the history of this civil 
 vrar, that a Jesuit, by name Mathieu, called him- 
 self the runner of the league, in as much as he was 
 constantly on the move, from one town to another, 
 from one kingdom to another, to enlist both French- 
 men and foreigners under the banners of the revolt- 
 ing leaguers, What a strange manner of reason- 
 ing is this? Was, then, that religious man more 
 extravagant and enthusiastic than the fanatic Cle- 
 ment, who assassinated Henry III ? Was he the 
 whole society, or only an individual member of it ? 
 Was it, because he was more active and zealous in 
 forwarding his party than most others, therefore 
 false, generally speaking, that the fathers of the so- 
 ciety were, in their sermons, more orderly, modest, 
 grave, and temperate, than the popular preachers ? 
 Why then so obstinately persevere in false logic, by 
 concluding from particulars to generals, whenever 
 the question refers to the society, or calls for a de- 
 cision upon the conduct of a Jesuit ? Let us give 
 attention to Henry iVth's answer to the president 
 Harlay : he shall conclude the reflections we ought 
 to make upon this first head of accusation. " To 
 call them," said this great prince, " a society Of 
 " factious rebels, because they entered into the 
 " league, which was the enil of its day, is unwar- 
 te rantable ; they thought they acted rightly, as 
 " many others did, who took an active part in the 
 " misfortunes' of those times j they were all wrong;,
 
 112 
 
 " and have now come about, since they have seett 
 "that I never had the intentions which the^ were 
 " taught to ascribe to me. I even think that their 
 <f convictions were accompanied with less malignity, 
 " than those of others ; and confident I am, that 
 " their consciences, co-operating with the favour I 
 " shew them, will gain over their attachments more 
 " strongly to me, than they ever were for the 
 " league." 
 
 Come we now to the attempts upon the life of the 
 well beloved prince, Louis XV. 
 
 The author of the recent work, intituled, The 
 Jesuits what they always have been in the policy of 
 States, $c. says, " In the year 1 593, Barriere was 
 " convicted of having resolved to take away the life 
 " of Henry IV ; being condemned to death, he ac- 
 " knowledged on die scaffold, that he had been in- 
 " etigated to that crime by father Varade, rector of 
 tc the Jesuits." This anecdote, unsupported by any 
 authority whatever, is a falsehood and a forgery. 
 Amongst all the cotempdrary writers upon this sub- 
 ject, not one of them notices it as a fact ; but 
 many have formally contradicted it. Father Fa- 
 bre, the oratorian, who continued Fleury's Ecclesi- 
 astical history, and whom M. S.* will not hastily 
 blame for his partiality to the society, does not con- 
 descend to allude to it. Chaudon, the author of the 
 Historical Dictionary, thought proper, in the edi- 
 tion which he published of that work in 1789, to re- 
 . tract whatever he had said, as positive and certain, 
 upon that event in the first editions. Chaudon's 
 
 * Silvie.
 
 113 
 
 tenderness throughout his work, for the disciples of 
 pere Quesnel, places him, as well as the historian 
 Fabre, out of the reach of sacrificing truth to a desire 
 of flattering the Jesuits. It is, moreover, matter of 
 notoriety, that father Varade was only put upon his 
 trial about a year after Barriere's crime had been 
 committed. Had that assassin really charged father 
 Varade, on the scaffold, with having instigated him 
 to that murder, who will believe that that very par- 
 liament, which had ever been so prominently zea- 
 lous in persecuting the Jesuits, would have been so 
 tardy in bringing tlie accused before a criminal 
 court to answer for the charge ? In short, of what 
 avail is the testimony of M. S. repeating, in his 
 usual notes of malign calumny, the slanderous for- 
 geries of men, as flagitiously impassioned as him- 
 self, when we see Henry IV personally clearing 
 these religious men of the bloody charge, in his an- 
 swer to president de Harlay. "As to Barriere," 
 said he to the president, " so far was he from hav- 
 " ing confessed to a Jesuit, the real fact is, that it 
 " was from a Jesuit that I was apprised of the in- 
 " tended attempt upon me ; and another Jesuit told 
 " him, that he would certainly be damned, if he 
 ** took it in hand." One should imagine that such 
 authority ought to outweigh that of M. S. how- 
 ever Jansenian he be. For, though he be an old 
 magistrate, he is not quite so old as that good king, 
 and I beg leave to add, not quite so credible a wit- 
 ness as his majesty, in support of that fact. 
 
 This same author, who is constantly raving about 
 Jesuitical plots against their sovereigns, -tells us, 
 " That, on the 2?th of December, 1594, there was 
 
 Q
 
 114 
 
 " another attempt made on the life of this prince. 
 " This was the principal cause of their having been 
 " expelled from France. They were publicly con- 
 " victed of having pointed the dagger of John Cha- 
 " lei, one of their scholars, against the body of their 
 u king, as it was acknowledged by several avowals 
 "of the criminal, and proved by several written 
 " regicide documents found in their house ; for 
 " which they were driven out of the kingdom by a 
 " solemn act of the parliament, and in virtue of 
 * f an edict of Henry IV." 
 
 It is rather awkward for M. S. always to be at 
 
 variance with the evidence given by Henry IV, con~ 
 
 cerning the attempts made upon his own august 
 
 person. tf As to Chatel," says this prince,* " the 
 
 " torture never could extort from him a shadow of 
 
 <e charge against Varade or any other Jesuit; and, 
 
 " had there been any such mode, how came you to 
 
 " spare him ? The Jesuit that was apprehended, 
 
 " was taken up upon another charge, comprised, as 
 
 ' they said, in some printed papers found in his 
 
 " chamber. And, after all, supposing that one Je- 
 
 " suit had been guilty of so foul a deed, must all 
 
 " the apostles suffer for one Judas, or must I an- 
 
 " swer for all the robberies, and other crimes and 
 
 " misdemeanors, which have been, or may be, 
 
 *' committed by my soldiers ? At that time, God 
 
 ' thought fit to humble and to save me, for which I 
 
 " give him thanks ; he teaches me to forgive all 
 
 " offences, and have I so done, freely and willingly, 
 
 (e for the love of him." 
 
 * Answer te president de Ifarlay.
 
 115 
 
 The historian Dupleix, a cotemporary writer, 
 traces the invention of this fable up to the hatred 
 which all the huguenots and libertines bore against 
 the Jesuits, and formally denies that these religious 
 were publicly criminated, by the avowals of the 
 guilty, as having directed the steel of Chatel against 
 the person of the sovereign. "Chatel," says this 
 historian, " having been arrested, and put into 
 <e the hands of the grand provost, and having been 
 " interrogated as to his crime, declared, that he 
 " had never communicated it to any person whom- 
 fe soever j except to his own father. Neither proof, 
 "nor presumption, (adds he) could be extracted 
 "from the mouth of the assassin, by the violence of 
 " the torture. But to implicate the Jesuits, as ac- 
 tr complices in his crime, commissioners were de- 
 ' puted to go and rummage over all the books and 
 " papers of the society, as well in their professed 
 t house at St. Louis, as in their college, where no- 
 " thing was found to criminate the body, but only 
 " to bear upon one individual, namely, father John 
 " Guignard, a native of Chartres."* 
 
 Father Fabre, whom we before quoted upon 
 Barriere's crime, has given the following report of 
 the questions put to Chatel. " He was asked, if he 
 " had received any education, and from whom ? 
 " He answered, that he had, at the Jesuits' college 
 " in Paris ; that he had studied three years under 
 " father Gueret, and after that in the schools of 
 " law at the university ; that he had seen father 
 'Gueret on the Friday next preceding the deed ; 
 
 <r * Page 165.
 
 116 
 
 et but it vras only to consult with him about some un 
 " natural sins he had committed, and which trou- 
 " bled his conscience ; but that it was from him- 
 " self alone, that he thought, that by killing the 
 " king, he should expiate his sins, or should at 
 " least diminish the punishment which he would 
 " have to suffer for them. And he steadily persever- 
 " ed, in the midst of his torture, in protesting, that 
 " neither father Gueret, nor any other Jesuit, had 
 " any thing to do with his crime."* 
 
 These authorities are, I humbly conceive, suffi- 
 cient to set by the allegations of the old magistrate. 
 And we may confidently conclude, that the Jesuits 
 were not convicted by the avowals of the criminal, 
 of having directed the dagger of Chatel against the 
 person of his sovereign, since, without insisting upon 
 the evidence of Henry IV, and of Dupleix, who 
 declare them innocent, the criminal himself con- 
 stantly protested, in the midst of his torture, that 
 he never had communicated his design to any other 
 than to his own father, and that no Jesuit ever had 
 encouraged him to commit the crime. It pains me 
 to be obliged repeatedly to charge M. S. of wil 
 fully falsifying this piece of history, but it is a no- 
 torious falsehood and an atrocious calumny in him 
 to say, that the Jesuits were publicly convicted of 
 having pointed the steel of Chatel against the per- 
 son of the king, from written regicide documents 
 found in their houses. 
 
 They did not find in the houses of the Jesuits, 
 one single regicide writing, which had even a ten- 
 
 * Tom.xxxvi. 1. J81. p. 542,
 
 11? 
 
 dency to prove them to have been accomplices of 
 the crime of Chatel. True it is, that in the cham- 
 ber of father Guignard, who was born at Chartres, 
 they did find some writings against the general power 
 of kings, and some libels, partly printed and partly 
 in manuscript, against the memory of Henry III, 
 and Henry IV. " They were," says the continuer of 
 Pleury, " some of those libels, which had been brought 
 " forth during the late troubles, and which had been 
 " kept from a curiosity, not altogether discreet."* 
 France had been overrun with them, and father 
 Guignard, instead of committing them to the flames, 
 had kept them. This was his whole offence ; this is 
 the sole charge proved against him, on his trial, on 
 which he was found guilty. 
 
 tf The person, who was apprehended," said Henry 
 IV, to the president Harlay, in speaking of the 
 crime of Chatel, " was taken up upon another 
 " ground, which they said was discovered in some 
 i* of his writings." 
 
 " But with reference to father Guignard/' adds the 
 historian Fabre,f ' after having shewn him the pa- 
 " pers seized in his room, he was instantly found 
 " guilty of high treason, and condemned to death 
 et as a traitor." This sentence of death had been 
 pronounced against him, in execution of some or- 
 ders of the police for public safety, which were 
 made and published after the taking of Paris, and 
 which forbad, under pain of death and forfeiture of 
 all property, the having in one's possession any writ- 
 ings published by the leaguers against the reigning 
 
 * Tom. xxxfi. 1, 181. p, 543. t Ibid, p. 557.
 
 118 
 
 king or against his predecessor. This father, after 
 sentence had been passed upon him, was conducted 
 to the entrance of the cathedral church of Notre 
 Dame, there to crave public pardon of God, the 
 king, and the law. A M. Rapin, one of the parlia- 
 mentary magistrates, dictated to him the formula of 
 this public reparation. He answered, that he asked 
 pardon of God, for whatever he may have offend- 
 ed him in, but that he never had offended the king. 
 M. Rap in having represented to him, that he had 
 offended his majesty by his writings ; he replied, that, 
 even in case they had found any thing amongst his 
 papers against his majesty, that offence would have 
 been pardoned and done away by the general am- 
 nesty, since which period he assuredly had neither 
 uttered or written a word against the king. Upon 
 which the magistrate replied : te You have at least 
 " contravened the orders of the police, published af- 
 " ter the reduction of Paris, for burning all sorts of 
 "writings whatsoever/' 
 
 ' Having arrived" says Mr. Chiverni,* chancellor 
 of France, " at the place of execution, he firmly 
 " insisted upon his innocence, and strongly exhort- 
 " ed the people to obey the king, and to pay due 
 " deference to his officers ; he even prayed loudly 
 <l for his majesty, imploring God to pour down upon 
 '* him his divine spirit ; he then entreated the people 
 c to pray to God for the Jesuits, and not to give credit 
 " to the false and wicked reports, that were set 
 <? afloat against their society ; he assured them, that 
 " they were not king-killers, as some people gave 
 
 * Me moires d'Etat.
 
 119 
 
 " out, nor were they abettors or encouragers of per- 
 te sons of that cast ; that the Jesuits execrated them, 
 *' and never had either occasioned or approved of 
 " the death of any king whatever. He expired in 
 " pronouncing these words. O Lord ! receive thy 
 " servant, and lay not this sin to their charge." 
 
 It must be allowed, that this was a hard sentence. 
 How many loyal citizens would have fallen under the 
 like condemnation, of which this Jesuit was the sin- 
 gle and selected victim, had as strict a search been 
 made throughout the studies and libraries of all Pa- 
 ris, as was made in the Jesuits' college ? The vast 
 number of these publications which have reached 
 us, demonstrates, that the multitude of Frenchmen, 
 who were deserving of the like rigodY, was very 
 considerable. Were an ordinance now to issue, or- 
 dering, under pain of death, the burning of every re- 
 volutionary work that came from the press, from the 
 commencement of our late troubles to the second re- 
 turn of our monarch to the throne of his ancestors, 
 and if a sudden and rigorous visit in private houses 
 should follow the ordinance, to ascertain how strictly 
 the prescriptive edict had been observed, I should 
 greatly fear, that a long train of most loyal and royal 
 citizens, would, like so many fathers Guignard, find 
 their way to the gallows. For is it ** to be pre- 
 sumed, that, with a mere view to the preservation of 
 historical monuments and interesting pieces, calcu- 
 lated to depict in strong colouring the ferocity of 
 the republican character and the fury of popular 
 faction, many Frenchmen, devotedly attached to the 
 house of Bourbon, would violate such an ordinance, 
 either as thinking it too severe, or fancying them-
 
 120 
 
 selves unlikely to fall as malefactors under the sword 
 of justice. For my own part, I am free to confess, 
 that I know of a small treatise, intituled, An Essay 
 on the Trees of Liberty, written in the style of the 
 most democratic phrenzy, which I should very re- 
 luctantly throw into the flames, so lively and true a 
 representation does it exhibit of that fanatical ver- 
 tigo, which turned the brains and involved so many 
 millions of Frenchmen in its revolutionary vortex. 
 Why then might not father Guignard have kept some 
 few manuscripts, to which he attached a consequence 
 from the interest and importance of their contents, 
 which he wished to retain the memory of, without 
 being implicated in Chatel's plot of assassination ? 
 There is as little necessary connexion between that 
 offence, and the crime of murdering Henry IV, as 
 there is between the conspiracy of Brutus against 
 Caesar, and the plot which, on the 30th of March, 
 brought back Buonaparte to the Thuilleries, for the 
 punishment of France. What then must not be 
 their lust for calumny, who, from such an incident, 
 have the hardihood to accuse a society of twenty 
 thousand of regicide ? 
 
 As to father Gueret, whom the enemies of the Je- 
 suits presume to be the most guilty of all, from the 
 circumstance of Chatel's having been his scholar 
 for three years, he is equally cleared from the impu- 
 tation of having taken a share in Chatel's attempt, 
 by the testimony of Henry IV, that of Dupleix, and 
 the answers of the prisoner himself. He was inhu- 
 manly thrown into goal, and put to the torture. 
 
 * Hist. Eccl.Tom. xxxvi,!. 181. p. 556.
 
 121 
 
 ** But," says father Fabre,* <e he acknowledged no- 
 ee thing, and as he had no accuser, they were con- 
 " tented to send him into banishment.'* In the act 
 of parliament for his perpetual banishment, the 
 parliament does not declare him, as they did father 
 Guignard, guilty of high treason. He is described 
 therein only as a priest, calling himself one of the 
 congregation and society of the name of Jesus, 
 and heretofore schoolmaster of John Chdtel. The 
 whole crime of this man then was, that he had beea 
 master to this regicide at the Jesuits' college. How 
 deplorable, in these our days, would not be the fate 
 of all the instructors of youth, if the courts of jus- 
 tice dealt with them, as they formerly did with P. 
 Gueret. Is a master, then, who teaches his scholar 
 latin, answerable for the follies and crimes into 
 which caprice and passion may lead him ? Had 
 the rules of this unheard of system of justice been 
 followed up, the parliament ought in consistency to 
 have sent all the professors of the university of Pa- 
 ris into banishment, tpgether with father Gueret ; 
 for after Chatel had finished his studies under the 
 Jesuits, he went through a course of law in that 
 university. f With like reason and equity did this 
 sovereign court of parliament send out of the king- 
 dom all the other Jesuits, though nowise implicated* 
 in the affair. They condemned them to banishment? 
 in the lump, as in cases of popular tumults ; they 
 sentenced whole groupes to exile, or to death, with- 
 out hearing the accused in their defence, or observ-'' 
 ing any of the ordinary forms of legal process : nee 
 
 * Hist. Eccl. torn, xxxvi. 1. 181. p. 556. t Ibid. p. 542. 
 
 R
 
 122 
 
 servato juris or dine, nee partibus auditis, says the 
 president de Thou, an avowed enemy of the Je- 
 suits, in reporting the words spoken by the presi- 
 dent de Harlay to Henry IV. f To palliate this un- 
 warrantable step, Harlay told the king, that the 
 parliament had been induced to take it, from their 
 sense of the danger to which his majesty had been 
 exposed. Had this really been the ground of this 
 unprecedented severity, whence then did it happen, 
 that the whole university of Paris was spared, since 
 Chatel had frequented their courses of law, after 
 having learned latin from the Jesuits ? Every man 
 of common sense, who does not wilfully blindfold 
 himself, must evidently see, that, throughout this 
 tragic scene, passion sat upon the bench of justice, 
 and calumny supplied the evidence. 
 
 Henry IV expired under the steel of Ravaillac. 
 This wretch constantly declared, both on the rack 
 and on the scaffold where he was executed, that he 
 had no accomplice, and that he never had commu- 
 nicated his design to any person. The opposite 
 parties, which then divided the state, reciprocally 
 imputed the abominable crime to each other. But 
 the unsupported and contradictory cross charges de- 
 stroy each other, and leave the unfortunate offender 
 exclusively tainted with the whole turpitude of his 
 sacrilegious parricide. At that moment, Henry IV, 
 who had recalled the Jesuits into France, in de- 
 fiance of the opposition of his parliament, was, of all 
 the crowned heads of Europe, the staunchest friend 
 of the society. None, therefore, but the blind and 
 
 t Hist, de Thou, lib. 132.
 
 123 
 
 prejudiced, who wilfully and obstinately reject all 
 evidence, reflection and reasoning^ can affect to 
 charge the Jesuits with having embrued their hands 
 in the blood of this illustrious protector of their so- 
 ciety. This would be to make them hate them- 
 selves; a charge with which they have never been 
 reproached. On the contrary, self-love has been 
 the unceasing and heaviest charge against the socie- 
 ty. It would be a glaring contradiction on the face 
 of the charges exhibited against the body, and 
 would be instantly rejected with scorn and pity. 
 
 With similar barefaced assurance has the crime 
 of Damiens been laid to the account of the society. 
 fe Brethren," said Voltaire in writing to Damilaville, 
 " you must perceive, that I have not spared the Je- 
 " suits; but I should raise posterity in their favour, 
 (f were I to charge them with a crime, of which 
 tc Europe and Damiens himself have acquitted them. 
 " I should be but the contemptible echo of the Jan- 
 " senists, were I to speak otherwise." (Let. 2d 
 March, 1763). In fact, the enemies of the fathers, 
 who forced themselves into an artificial necessity of 
 throwing the odium of this attempt upon the socio 
 ty, were reluctantly compelled to wander over the 
 interminable field of conjecture, fiction and false- 
 hood, as long as the genuine report of the trial of 
 Damiens was in common circulation, and spoke so 
 loudly in favour of their innocence. In the differ- 
 ent interrogatories which this unfortunate parricide 
 underwent, he contantly declared, without ever con- 
 tradicting himself, that he had no accomplice. He 
 was asked, whether attempts had not been made to 
 instill into him the doctrine of regicide, and whe-
 
 124 
 
 ther books had not been put into his hands, which 
 contained such doctrine. He said, he had never learnt 
 any thing of the sort, but that he had been strong- 
 ly affected by the reports of what the parliament 
 had done, and of the complaints of the people of 
 Paris and the provinces, who were perishing; that 
 he had so long heard this spoken of by the whole 
 world, and publicly in the streets of Paris, that fan- 
 eying he should thereby render a great service to the 
 state, it determined him to aim the fatal blow. 
 He added, that he had no other view, in aiming 
 the unfortunate blow which he made, then to se- 
 cond the trouble and care of the parliament, in up- 
 holding religion and the state; that he had con- 
 ceived the plan ever since the banishment of the 
 parliament ; that he hated the Jesuits' manner of 
 thinking, and, that if he lived under them, it was 
 only out of policy and to gain his bread. These 
 answers of Damiens little satisfied the magistrates 
 who put the questions to him ; but he persisted in re- 
 peating them in other words, and sometimes in 
 much stronger terms than he had first used. To 
 the interrogatory put to him on the 26th of March, 
 he said, in the presence of all his judges, that if he 
 had never gone into the chambers of the parlia- 
 ment, that would never have happened to him;. 4.. 
 that he had formed his plan after the of air oj the 
 parliament ; that if he had never put his foot into 
 their courts, that would not have happened to him ; 
 that if he had never been in the service of one of 
 these parliament men, that zoould never have en- 
 tered into his head; that he should not have so often 
 heard the refusal of the sacraments spoken of,
 
 125 
 
 which heated his imagination ; that the world iri 
 general was sufficiently heated; . . .that he heard it 
 expressly said in parliament, that it was a merito- 
 rious thing to kill the king. In the interrogatory 
 put to him, on the l?th of March, he had already 
 declared, that he had originally conceived his plan at 
 the times when he spent whole nights in attending 
 the debates (pleading) in parliament, to hear their 
 conclusions, and when he saw the little regard the 
 king shewed to the remonstrance of his parliament* 
 Is it not then evident, that the Jesuits had nothing 
 to do with the crime of Da miens ? It was in the 
 streets of Paris, and in the courts of parliament, 
 that he conceived and formed the design of cutting 
 off the days of his sovereign ; in hearing so much 
 said about the public misery ; in listening to sedi- 
 tious speeches, equally tending to break in upon the 
 public tranquillity, and to destroy the respect and 
 submission due to the king's majesty. It was not 
 to forward the views of the society, he hated the 
 Jesuits' manner of thinking; and, if he lived under 
 them, it was out of policy, and to gain his bread* 
 He had no other view, than to second the trouble 
 and care of the parliament, in upholding religion 
 and the state. Fathomless, then, is the depth of 
 the malice and hatred of the Jesuits' enemies, in 
 
 * See The original pieces and proceedings on the trial of Da- 
 miens, Paris, at Simon, printer to the parliament, 1757- These 
 authentic pieces were Collected and published in the very year of 
 the attempted assassination of Louis XV, by M. Breton, cri- 
 minal register to the parliament. One may also consult The Me- 
 moirs to serve the Ecclesiastical History Of the \SlFi century. 
 vol. ii. anno. 1757. Whatever there is interesting in them 
 with reference to the Jesuits, as to these authentic pieces, is 
 given in the original words.
 
 126 
 
 availing 1 themselves of the mere circumstance of his 
 having been a menial servant in one of the Jesuits' 
 colleges, in order to insinuate that he had imbibed 
 from them the doctrine of regicide, and that their 
 order were accomplices in his crime. In vain does 
 this profligate wretch deny, that these fathers ever 
 inculcated into him any such doctrines ; in vain does 
 he declare, that he hates their way of thinking; 
 that the incentives to his desperate resolve, which 
 he detailed at different times and in different words, 
 are totally foreign from any possible interests of the 
 society, and, in fact, go the whole length of acquit- 
 ting the society of any suspicion, even of their 
 being implicated in the crime. But, since the life 
 of Louis XV has been attempted, it must follow, 
 of course, that the attempt was made by the Jesu- 
 its. First, because they are capable of committing 
 every deed of blood, which every crowned head in 
 any part of the globe, sunk under. Secondly, be- 
 cause, nineteen years before the crime was commit- 
 ted, Damiens was in service in a Jesuits' college,, 
 although, since that time, he had been successively 
 in the service of four different counsellors in parlia- 
 ment, where he often heard the refusal of the sa- 
 craments spoken of, which very much heated his 
 imagination ; and, although he took his execrable 
 determination, not in any college or professed house 
 of the Jesuits, but in the courts of parliament, 
 where he heard seditious and regicidal speeches. 
 What incomparable logic ! 
 
 The enemies of the Jesuits are never weary of 
 heaping up calumnies, to render them odious in the 
 eyes of all people and of all sovereigns. In 1758,
 
 127 
 
 as the king of Portugal was returning from one of 
 his country residences, several muskets were dis- 
 charged at his carriage, though he was not wound- 
 ed. Pombal, the prime minister of this weak king, 
 was all-powerful at his court, and had been for 
 some time seeking a favourable opportunity of 
 driving the Jesuits out of the realm. He imme- 
 diately, thereupon, ordered three of the fathers to 
 be put into custody ; namely, Malagrida, Alex- 
 andre, and de Mathos. The first of them was in- 
 stantly sentenced to death, under pretext of his 
 having advised and sanctioned the murder of Jo- 
 seph I. According to the ordinances of the bull, 
 in Ccend Domini, which was published and received 
 throughout Portugal, Malagrida could not be exe- 
 cuted without the permission of the pope. Cle- 
 ment XIII, who was intimately convinced both of 
 the partiality of Pombal and of the c innocence of 
 the Jesuit, refused his consent. The minister, 
 piqued at this generous act of resistance, sent oil' 
 the pope's nuncio from Lisbon, and recalled the 
 king's ambassador from Rome. But, fearing lest 
 his first victim should slip through his hands, he de- 
 livered father Malagrida over to the tribunal of the 
 inquisition, as a false prophet. This tribunal is said 
 to have refused to find the Jesuit guilty j a special 
 commission was then named, at the head of which 
 the minister's own brother presided, which con- 
 demned him to be burnt alive, not for the conspi- 
 racy against the king, but for having written false 
 revelations, for having boasted of having perform- 
 ed miracles, and for having taught unsound doc- 
 trine. If, in fact, the two writings, produced in
 
 128 
 
 evidence against him, came from his pen, they 
 might prove a mental aberration, that would justify 
 his committal to a madhouse, but not to the fagot 
 and stake, as a false prophet.* 
 
 Whoever turns all the circumstances of this mat- 
 ter calmly in his mind, will discover, to demonstra- 
 tion, that the ruling and operative principles, 
 through this whole transaction, were revenge and 
 hatred. All the addresses presented to the Portu- 
 guese prelates and to the pope, the books and 
 pamphlets distributed gratis, and forced into cir- 
 culation, to fix the fathers with the murderous at- 
 tempt upon the life of the king, are dictated by sheer 
 passion. All the reports of the trials and the whole 
 proceedings, exhibit Pombal as a man of violence, 
 cruelty and injustice. Such is the express judgment 
 of the count d'Albon, in his Discourse upon his his- 
 tory of Portugal. Notwithstanding Pombal brought 
 to bear some salutary measures of reform in the ad- 
 ministratflb d? government, and in many instances, 
 after the disasters of the earthquake in 1756, he 
 procured succour and relief for the sufferers, yet 
 the people were so indignant and irritated at the ge- 
 neral cruelty of his conduct, that upon the first ru- 
 mour of his disgrace, their exultation was frantic 
 and outrageous. In order to keep up some degree 
 of credit, and to give some colour to his violence, 
 __, . . . 
 
 * Grave authors have attributed the fragments of these ex- 
 travagant writings to a certain father Norbert, a Jansenist, and 
 a renegado capucin friar, known under the assumed nams of 
 abbe Platel, who came to Lisbon to offer his services to Pom- 
 bal, and dispersed about Lisbon an incredible number of libels 
 against the society. See The Memoirs to serve the Ecclesiasti- 
 cal History, of the ISth century, vol. n. an. 175p, p. 366.
 
 129 
 
 he took care constantly to have some great and pow- 
 erful men under the rod of his oppression, and the 
 goals filled with some unfortunate victims. " They 
 "publish here," says LingUet in his Political An- 
 nals,* " the list of the unfortunate wretches, who 
 " have been swallowed up in the gulph dug by pri- 
 " vate vengeance, which they have the assurance to 
 et call state prisons. It amounts on the whole to 
 " about nine thousand persons, of whom not more 
 " than eight hundred can be accounted for. Many 
 tc horrid anecdotes are given in minute detail, well 
 ec calculated to shew the little value put upon the 
 tc lives of individuals, during the twenty years that 
 <c Pombal held the fate of all his majesty's sub- 
 et jects, under his uncontrolled use of the royal sig- 
 
 " net All the addresses and appeals to the pub- 
 
 es lie, (says he p. 155) published at the time and 
 " upon the subject of this unaccountable adventure, 
 <c although drawn up and settled, and sanctioned by 
 " the authority of the minister himself, are calcu- 
 <f lated to rivet incredulity in the mind. Nay, fur- 
 " ther, they afterwards went the length of formerly 
 " promulging an official inhibition, throughout Por- 
 ff tugal, to say any thing for or against (i. e. com- 
 " mending or censuring) that affair, and the expul- 
 tf sion of the Jesuits, under pain of death. Does 
 *' this bespeak a strong measure of a minister armed 
 ''with evidence of facts to support it ?f" 
 
 Besides all this, Pombal was a professed enemy of 
 
 * Tom. i p. 326, London, 1779. 
 
 f This opinion of Linguet is of the more weight upon this 
 subject, inasmuch as he says, in the very same page of his work, 
 ' I am no Jesuit, I do not like the Jesuits ; I am persuaded, 
 " and I have strongly expressed my opinion in print, that they 
 
 S
 
 130 
 
 the holy see, and the whole body of the prelacy. He 
 encouraged the propagation of the principles of Fe- 
 bronius, and countenanced the circulation of all irre- 
 ligious works. M. dell' Annunziata, bishop of Coim- 
 bra in Portugal, was thrown into a state prison, la 
 Junquera, for having published a circular, in which 
 he forbad the lecture of several improper books. 
 Nine religious men, of the order of St. Augustin, 
 underwent the like fate, for having been charged 
 with supporting their bishop's sentiments. In the 
 lieighth of the calumnious imputations against the 
 Jesuits, for carrying on an illicit commerce, the 
 archbishop of Bahia was banished from his see, and 
 bereft of his revenues, for having refused to declare, 
 publicly, that the fathers were engaged in trade, 
 contrary to the spirit of their institute. What de- 
 gree then of credit can be given to the memoirs 
 printed in Portugal against the Jesuits, on the oc- 
 casion of this attempt upon the king's life. A mi- 
 nister, with unchecked power, who has a despotic 
 and vindictive turn of mind, has always at his back 
 an host of witnesses and scribblers, to cry down a 
 body, or an individual. The condemnation of father 
 Malagrida proves the violence of Pombal's charac- 
 ter, but goes no vray in proving him an accomplice 
 in the attempt upon the life of Joseph I j and his 
 being burnt as a false prophet, is, to use the word* 
 of Voltaire,* the very achme of ridicule and ab- 
 surdity, coupled with an excess of horror. In a let- 
 
 ought to be abolished." And he immediately adds, " But 
 *' they ought not to be fixed with forged crimes; slander ought 
 fc not to be resorted to, in order to bring about their ruin j this 
 * { language I shall ever hold." 
 * See The Age of Louis XIV, c. xxxviii, p. 361. Edit, of 1785.
 
 131 
 
 ter, written to the duke de Richelieu, on the 27th of 
 November, 1761, he says, " The inquisition has 
 fl discovered the secret of inspiring 1 compassion for 
 " the Jesuits. I had rather be born a negro, than 
 M a Portuguese."* 
 
 We have frequently heard of the gunpowder 
 plot in England, and, as often, that it originated 
 with the Jesuits, in order to cut off the king, and 
 drench the land with the blood of the reformed. We 
 feel warranted in ascribing this slanderous imputa- 
 tion against the catholic clergy, and particularly 
 against the Jesuits, to the hatred of the protestante 
 against them ; because the king, in his speech to 
 parliament on the occasion of it, laid the whole 
 conspiracy to the account of eight or nine despera- 
 does, amongst whom there were several that were 
 not catholics ; because the celebrated Arnauld, the 
 author of the Moral pratique, and an inexorable 
 enemy of the institute, clears the missionary priests > 
 the greater part of whom were Jesuits, of the charge, 
 which was as false as it was atrocious ;f because, if 
 some individuals of the society then fell victims to 
 English fanaticism, about thirty priests, regular and 
 secular, either English or foreigners, underwent the 
 same fate ; because^ in a word, the most serious 
 charge in the whole matter was, that the knowledge 
 of the plot had been made known to one person in 
 confession, and that it had not been discovered by 
 him, to whom it had been confessed ; as if the viola- 
 tion of this awful seal of secrecy, even in so singu? 
 
 * See General Correspondence, vol. vi. p. 280. 
 f See bis Apology for the Catholics* Liege,
 
 132 
 
 lar an instance, would not have inspired the faith- 
 ful with an unsurmountable objection to the whole- 
 some practice of this divine institution ; as if, in a 
 word, a breach of that secrecy, which both the hu- 
 man and divine law imposes upon the ministers of 
 reconciliation, would not deprive them of the op- 
 portunity of rendering service to their king; and 
 country, by availing themselves of their sacramental 
 confidence and authority, in exhorting their peni- 
 tents to drop, prevent, or counteract, any such wicked 
 design, should they have made it a subject of their 
 confession. Every such advantage must be utterly 
 given up, if the disclosure to the minister of the sa- 
 cramental tribunal, were to be followed up by an in- 
 formation to the civil magistrate, that would lead the 
 penitent instantly to the scaffold. Does the earnest 
 desire of following the light of truth, dictate this 
 mode of reasoning ? Would a person, who dreaded 
 to be handed down to posterity as a base calumnia- 
 tor, thus wanton in criminating a very numerous so^ 
 ciety of men, whose incontestible services to the 
 public have entitled them to their esteem and grati- 
 tude ? 
 
 The poisoning of Clement XIV is another of the 
 charges very frequently brought against the society. 
 There might in reality be some plausibility in ar- 
 guing, that the Jesuits, irritated at his conduct to- 
 wards them, had sacrificed him to their hatred and 
 vengeance. Yet confidently do I assert, that this 
 idle fable was hatched in the brains of only the Jan- 
 senists, since father Marzoni, the general of the 
 conventuals, who attended that pope in his last mo- 
 ments, and whose sanction of that calumny the ene-
 
 133 
 
 mies of the society most earnestly solicited, certified, 
 upon oath, in a legal manner, on the 27th of June, 
 1775, that his holiness never had given him reason 
 to believe, that he thought himself poisoned; and in 
 a regularly authenticated report, made on the llth 
 of September, 1774, doctor Salicetti, who attended 
 his holiness during his last illness, together with his 
 physician in ordinary, declared, that upon the open- 
 ing of the body, there appeared no effect whatever, 
 that was not ascribable to some natural cause, and 
 that he attributed the dissolution of his holiness, not 
 to the action of any subtle poison, but to an inve- 
 terate poverty of blood, and to a very bad habit 
 of forcing excessive perspiration, both by night and 
 by day.* 
 
 What opinion is to be formed of the singular ex- 
 travagance of the author, whom we have frequently 
 cited and refuted in the course of this chapter, when 
 he gravely asserts, that popes, cardinals and bishops 
 had died very conveniently for the interests of the 
 society ? It would be difficult to decide, whether 
 malice or folly predominated in this whimsical ob- 
 servation. Were the Jesuits such adepts in poison- 
 ing, as this author will have, then strange is it, 
 that they did not administer the dose to Ganganelli 
 in time to prevent the mischief, instead of waiting 
 till he had destroyed all their colleges, noviciates, 
 and professed houses, throughout Italy and Germany. 
 Why did they not try their hands, so expert in this 
 art, upon Choiseuil, Pombal, Arande, Tannucci, and 
 
 * See Memoirs to help out the Eccl* History of the 
 Century, vol. n, an. 1774, p, 600.
 
 134 
 
 other ministers of cabinets, in the moment of their 
 actually discharging the batteries which blew them to 
 atoms ? We are lost in admiration of the incredible ge- 
 nius of this author, as eminent for the powers of di- 
 vination, as were the Jesuits for those of poisoning, 
 when he takes in hand the arduous task of persuad- 
 ing all France, that no pope, cardinal or bishop, 
 could die a natural death, if once he resisted the 
 pretensions or claims of the Jesuits. Can infuriated 
 passion be pushed further? Can we believe the tes- 
 timony of our senses, in reading such unparalleled 
 fooleries ? 
 
 To close this long and painful discussion, we 
 confidently conclude, that we have proved, to de- 
 monstration, that nothing can be more absurd, that 
 nothing is more contradictory to the truth of histo- 
 ry, than this frightful portrait of the society, equally 
 imbrued with the blood of foreign sovereigns as 
 with that of our own native princes. Whoever 
 seeks truth, and stands up for innocence, must be 
 convinced, that the enemies of the institute have, 
 from party spirit and the workings of bad passions, 
 resolved constantly to exhibit the Jesuits to the pub- 
 lic as a band of revolutionary regicides of the black- 
 est cast, in order to render them odious to all go- 
 vernments, and execrable to all mankind. With the 
 view of following up this determined system of 
 calumny, so well fitted to their designs, they quote 
 idle fables in lieu of authentic facts, forged anec- 
 dotes instead of original documents, and abandon 
 themselves to the most hazardous assumptions and 
 improbable conjectures, for the barbarous gra- 
 tification of decrying and blackening a body of
 
 135 
 
 virtuous teachers, men of information and science, 
 zealous ministers of the gospel; they adopt, with- 
 out a shadow of inquiry, all the most scandalous 
 reports ; they bring together and connect, with ma- 
 licious levity, circumstances and events the most 
 desperate from each other j in a word, they permit 
 themselves to be so transported with the worst pas- 
 sions, that they take in hand to write the history of 
 the Jesuits in a predetermined spirit of untruth and 
 barefaced ignorance. 
 
 Error is transcient, and, sooner or later, will 
 truth and justice claim their rights. There will be 
 a moment in which the passions become unruffled, 
 and the subsequent calm gives action to cool reason ; 
 then will the unbiassed reader be astounded at the 
 extravagant workings of his blinded intellects, in 
 setting up the inept issue of atrocious calumny, 
 against the irrefragable evidence of authenticated 
 facts. Thus is it, that the traduced innocence of 
 one age finds equitable judges in another ; and her 
 triumph becomes brilliant, in proportion to the vio- 
 lence with which she had been assailed.
 
 136 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 An Examination of the Charge of Avarice and 
 Ambition. 
 
 AMBITION, say the enemies of the society, has 
 ever been its predominant vice. To believe them, 
 the Jesuits went only upon foreign missions, to 
 enrich themselves with the gold and silver of the 
 new world, and to make themselves sovereigns of 
 the barbarous hordes of America. In civilized 
 courts, they possessed themselves of the honourable 
 functions of preaching to and confessing crowned 
 heads, merely to command an influence upon the 
 higher class of society, by possessing the confidence 
 and directing the conduct of kings and princes; 
 and their selfishness (esprit de corps) was carried 
 to such an excess, as to render them contemptible 
 and odious to the whole world. 
 
 In order to discuss fairly these different heads of 
 accusation, we shall follow the Jesuits through their 
 missions, and their conduct at the court of France, 
 where they exercised the honourable functions of 
 preachers and confessors to our kings ; and we 
 shall close the chapter, by some hasty observations 
 upon that selfishness, which they impute to them as 
 so heinous a crime.
 
 137 
 
 1. 
 
 Of the Jesuits' Missions. 
 
 The missionary zeal of the Jesuits extended over 
 the whole surface of the globe. Not only did they, 
 by means of home or national missions, set again on 
 foot the reign of Christian faith and morality, in those 
 civilized states where their institute flourished, but 
 they expatriated themselves into the most remote 
 regions, and, with more than human fortitude, 
 braved all the perils of climate, seas, and barbarism, 
 in order to gain over human beings to society, and 
 Christian souls to the gospel. 
 
 A Jesuit missioner, with his breviary under his 
 arm, his beads at his girdle, and his crucifix in 
 hand, went forth with assurance to preach the 
 mysteries of Christianity amidst tribes of barbarians, 
 that appeared to retain nothing more of the human 
 species, than a terrific countenance of suspicion and 
 menace ; to a brutalized herd of creatures, without 
 any moral code beyond the neglected shreds of that 
 light of nature, by which God enlighteneth every 
 man coming into this world. At the first sight of a 
 stranger, suddenly presenting himself on the skirts 
 of their inaccessible bogs and forests, these barba- 
 rians, naturally timid, suspicious, and cruel towards 
 their enemies, shuddered, as at the approach of 
 treachery and misfortune. Often did they immo- 
 late the holy missionary to their gloomy diffidence, 
 or fled to the woods to avoid the sight of the aposto- 
 lic minister. To tame and humanize them, the 
 
 T
 
 138 
 
 intrepid missionaries resorted often to pious and 
 innocent ingenuity. They offered them presents 
 with a gracious and interesting countenance ; some- 
 times they surprised their ears with the melodious 
 sound of some musical instrument, which tended to 
 melt their ferocious hearts into feelings of respect 
 and confidence. They would, at other times, in a 
 transport of holy zeal, run after the affrighted In- 
 dians, stretching out their arms, invoking the name 
 of Jesus, and pointing with their hands up to 
 heaven, as to a delightful country, What a moving 
 spectacle ! What an innocent victory ! Those un- 
 cultivated tracts, after having been long frequented 
 by hordes of human monsters, became, at length, by 
 the prayers and labours of these missionaries, fruit- 
 ful in prodigies of Christian virtue. The barbarous 
 natives, who had been in the savage habit of de- 
 vouring the bloody flesh of their enemies, succes- 
 sively gathered round the harbinger of peace, with 
 delight and confidence, sensible that he had come 
 from the extremity of the globe for their welfare 
 and salvation. There they listened, with silent re- 
 spect and admiration, to the oracles of eternal 
 truth - s there, in calm unction, they dropt the tear of 
 repentant gratitude at the feet of the apostle who 
 instructed them; their minds once opened to the 
 truth, their souls converted to the faith, they ear- 
 nestly prayed their evangelizers to regenerate them, 
 by pouring the holy water of baptism upon their 
 humble and penitent heads. As to the immortal 
 credit of our saving faith, these fervent neophytes 
 became men, because they had become Christians. 
 The East Indies, the Levant, the empire of
 
 China, the several islands lying in those oriental 
 seas, where idolatry had so long prevailed, became 
 a vast field, in which the disciples of St. Ignatius 
 displayed a zeal truly apostolic, which was crowned 
 with miraculous success. The conquests of St. 
 Francis Xavier, in the East Indies and Japan, are 
 better authenticated than the feats of Alexander, in 
 the whole course of his expedition to the east. We 
 have the most circumstantial details, breathing no- 
 thing but truth and candour, which equally attest 
 the heroical virtues and successful efforts of other 
 Jesuits, in their numerous and astonishing missions. 
 
 I have not indulged my fancy'; I have given bufr 
 a faint outline, without any glow of the colouring, 
 of which the portrait is susceptible. Who is so igno- 
 rant of the history of America, as not to have heard 
 of that magnificent mission of Paraguay, where the 
 cross became the standard, and the gospel the code 
 of law, to three hundred thousand Indians, who 
 lived for a whole century in a perfect Christian com- 
 munity, in which brotherhood and friendship pro- 
 duced nothing but the purest virtue, a happy sim- 
 plicity of manners, and the admirable fruits of the 
 most sublime Christianity. Muratori, by a masterly 
 touch of his pencil, has displayed, in the liveliest 
 colours, the happy effects of Christianity upon these 
 hordes of savages, by the two significant words 
 prefixed to his history of Paraguay j // Christiani- 
 simo felice. 
 
 So, in that age of erroneous novelty, when the 
 heresies of Luther and Calvin detached whole pro- 
 vinces and kingdoms from the Catholic church, did 
 God form, in the disciples of St, Ignatius, new con-
 
 140 
 
 querors, before unknown to the world, to repair 
 the ravages made on Christianity. The natives of 
 remote islands, and of both the Indies, dried up the 
 tears of the spouse of the Son of God, rent and torn 
 by the hands of her own children. The temples 
 erected in the wilds of America, or built in new 
 Christian cities, arose as substitutes to those pro- 
 faned sanctuaries, which were daily becoming in 
 Europe the resort of schism, and the asylum of re- 
 volt. Such is ever the fate of religion ; always 
 assailed, and always victorious. At certain periods, 
 fixed in the unfathomable decrees of Heaven, start 
 up, from amidst her ruins, unconquerable heroes, 
 who with no other arms than the cross and the di- 
 vine word, make her flourish in new places, when 
 she has fallen off in others. It is an immense ocean, 
 agitated by boisterous storms, which gains upon the 
 shores which it washed with its waves, as much as 
 it lost upon the opposite coast. The lamp of the 
 gospel travels over the world, as the light of the 
 sun successively illumines the earth. 
 
 Well, who would believe it, unless it were noto- 
 riously emblazoned in works circulated in profu- 
 sion through France ? All these miracles of chari- 
 ty and zeal, to perpetuate divine faith and happiness 
 on earth, all these apostolical conquests, the memory 
 of which ought to be engraven in characters of 
 gold in every nation upon earth, are but offences 
 and crimes in the eyes of the enemies of the Jesuits. 
 Under their pens, dipt in gall, are the missionaries of 
 the society suddenly transformed into ambitious pro- 
 fligates, tormented with the lust of rule and power; 
 into covetous misers, devoured with the thirst of
 
 HI 
 
 gain, establishing their factories and money-traps 
 throughout the most remote regions of the globe. 
 Thus does a blind and wicked passion blight the 
 sublimest virtues, as if vice were not already re- 
 dundant amongst men. Montesquieu^, Buffon, Hal- 
 ler, and Muratori, passed a very different judgment 
 upon these admirable missions of the Jesuits. 
 
 " Paraguay," says the celebrated author of the 
 Spirit of Laws, " furnishes us with a specimen of 
 " those admirable institutions, set on foot in order to 
 " raise people to virtue. Attempts have been made 
 " to make a crime of it in the fathers of the society. 
 te It is glorious for them to have been the first to 
 " give practical demonstration in those countries 
 " how to couple religion with humanity. In re- 
 fc pairing the outrages of the Spaniards, they began 
 " to heal one of the most deadly wounds ever in- 
 tc flicted on the race of man. A high and lively 
 ee sense of whatever is called honourable, and real 
 (C zeal for religion, made them undertake these 
 " things, and success attended their efforts/'* 
 
 " The missions," says M.d'Buffon, "have gained 
 " more subjects amongst the barbarous nations, than 
 " the conquering armies of the princes that sub- 
 " jugated them. Paraguay was only conquered in 
 fe this manner. The mildness, the good example, 
 " the charity, and regular conduct of the missiona- 
 " ries, affected the savages, soothed their ferocity, 
 (f and gained their confidence, frequently did they 
 " come on their own accord to seek out the teachers 
 tf of a law, which rendered men so perfect ; they 
 
 * Esprit des Loix, ch. YI. p. 40, 41.
 
 142 
 
 " adopted the law, and joined in community. No- 
 " thing does more credit to religion, than to have 
 " civilized whole nations, and to have laid the foun- 
 " datipns of an empire upon no other than the arms 
 " of virtue.* ,,v.,.. 
 
 " The enemies of the society/' says M. Haller," 
 (N.B. a Protestant) " undervalue its very best in- 
 " stitutions. They accuse them of boundless am- 
 " bition, on seeing them forming a species of new 
 '" empire in these remote regions. But what is 
 " there in nature more admirable and more advan- 
 " tageous to the cause of humanity, than to bring 
 " together into community hordes of our fellow- 
 " creatures, dispersed in the state of uncivilized 
 " nature throughout the wild forests of America, 
 " and to draw them out of the state of barbarism, 
 " which of itself is a state of wretchedness ; to pre- 
 " vent and check their cruel and destructive inter- 
 " nal dissensions, to enlighten them with thelightof 
 *' true religion, and to unite them into a society re- 
 " presenting the golden age, by the equality of its 
 " members, and the community of property. This 
 " is truly legislating for the good of mankind. An 
 ei ambition productive of so much good, is a praise- 
 <l worthy passion. No virtue in this life attains that 
 " perfection which is wished ; our very passions 
 " disfigures it not, when they tend to secure the 
 " public welfare.f 
 
 " I hesitate not to assert," says Muratori, " that 
 
 * Hist. Naturelle. Discourse upon the Varieties of the Hu- 
 man Species, 3 vol. p. 306, 7. 
 
 t Treatise on several interesting subjects of Politics and Mo- 
 rals, parag. in. p. 120*
 
 143 
 
 <f the Catholic'church has no missions in so flourish- 
 " ing a state as those, which are under the direction 
 " of the fathers of the society in Paraguay. The 
 " cross now triumphs throughout that vast tract of 
 " country, once so very barbarous, and now so 
 " highly polished. Numerous tribes of people 
 te now adore the Almighty, and enjoy a state wor- 
 ", thy of being envied, in the possession of the first 
 " bliss that can be tasted on earth, innocence and 
 " peace."* 
 
 Such irrefragable evidence, and such conclusive 
 reasons, surely furnish a triumphant apology to the 
 missionaries of the society, who displayed their zeal 
 in all parts of the world, whether civilized or bar- 
 barous. But, in order to leave no excuse for ca- 
 lumny, we shall minutely examine the charges laid 
 against the society, upon the very score of their 
 missions. 
 
 The Jesuits, say their enemies, go to the new world 
 and to remote regions, under pretext of preaching 
 the gospel, but with the real view to enrich them- 
 selves by unlawful commerce ; for which purpose, 
 they select, for the theatre of their missionary la- 
 bours, the richest and finest tracts upon the globe. 
 What evidence more conclusive of this lust of gain, 
 they cry out, than the bankruptcy of father Laval- 
 lette, who was in correspondence with all the great- 
 est capitalists of Europe ? They then resort to the 
 brief of Benedict XIV, which exhorts and enjoins 
 cardinal Saldanha, armed with a commission to re- 
 form the society in Portugal, to bring back the 
 
 Relation of the Missions of Paraguay, translated from the 
 Italian. Paris. Bordelet.
 
 144 
 
 Jesuits to the doctrines of the gospel and the apos- 
 tles,, and to an edifying regularity of life. They 
 next apply to the very decree of this reforming car- 
 dinal, under date of the 15th of May 1758, in which 
 he declares, "that he had found some individuals 
 " among the Jesuits, so obstinately hardened in 
 " their transgressions, that they may be constantly 
 " seen negociating bills and notes like bankers, and 
 " exposing to sale the produce of Asia, America, 
 " and Africa, brought to Europe for their own pro- 
 c< fit; as if their colleges, houses, and noviciates, 
 " were mere warehouses, stores, and deposits, of 
 " all foreign articles of commerce, &c." To sum 
 up all, for we must close this shameful and disgust- 
 ing detail of infamous traffic, they recur to the 
 ordinance of the patriarch of Lisbon, don Joseph 
 Manuel d'Atalaia, who, for these very reasons, in- 
 terdicted the whole order, throughout his patriarch- 
 ate, from hearing confessions and preaching. 
 
 The march of these enemies of the Jesuits is 
 always regular ; their batteries are played off al- 
 ways in an uniform direction. Some individuals of 
 the order, who were appointed to administer the 
 funds belonging to some of their colleges in foreign 
 parts, pushed rather too far such branches of trade 
 as were indispenibly necessary for the support of 
 their establishments, and were equally valuable for 
 the advancement both of knowledge and virtue. 
 Father la Vallette, highly blamed by his order, par- 
 ticularly in the apology of the society, is, through 
 necessity, thrown into a correspondence with seve- 
 ral bankers (rather capitalists) of Europe, and gives 
 the scandal of an act of bankruptcy : therefore all
 
 145 
 
 Jesuit missionaries, or at least the greater part of 
 them, brave the perils of the seas, waste themselves 
 on the burning sands of the desert, perish by the 
 fagots and arrows of the barbarians, to explore 
 new mines of gold and silver, even in countries which 
 are known to contain no mines; to enrich them- 
 selves, by illicit traffic, even in countries totally un- 
 cultivated, where nought occurs but impenetrable 
 forests, inaccessible morasses, which are incapable 
 ef 'Cultivation, and men more resembling wild beasts 
 than rational creatures, amongst whom they are in 
 constant danger of being put to a violent death. Thus 
 argue the enemies of the society ; always drawing 
 general conclusions from particular premises. This 
 is the fair and simple development of the views and 
 principles which haye brought forth ; such prodigies 
 of virtue, and which have extended the empire of 
 the cross by such numbers of evangelical triumphs. 
 
 The philosophers, infuriated against the society, 
 AS well as the Jansenists, are more dexterous in 
 their attacks, than their zealous coadjutors, though 
 equally unjust. 
 
 This commercial speculation appeared to the phi- 
 losophers so flatly absurd, so wide of probability, 
 that they found it advisable to consider the matter 
 quite in another light. They exhausted their powers 
 in throwing ridicule upon .the heroism of martyrdom. 
 We surely admit very readily, say they, that these 
 monks went to the missions to enrich themselves : 
 they were enthusiasts and fanatics ; mere victims of 
 Christian prejudices. Why, cry they out in arrogant 
 .pity, should they flock over to the deserts of Ame- 
 rica to get their throats cut ? At least this flagrant 
 
 u
 
 146 
 
 contradiction of charges, in the enemies of the so- 
 ciety, is worthy of observation, and ought to be 
 preserved. It tends to exhibit, in their true colours, 
 the folly and malice of metamorphosing in an in- 
 stant, to the utter astonishment of the historian and 
 of the enemy of religion, these apostles, burning 
 with a holy desire of gaining over to Christ the 
 souls which had been redeemed by the price of his 
 blood, into avaricious' tradesmen devoured with the 
 lust of gain, and ambitious adventurers pining from 
 the thirst of honours, and the love of rule and sove- 
 reignty, Although I have barely opened this charge 
 of avarice, I am both weary and ashamed of refuting 
 the pitiful rhapsodies, which have been countenanced 
 by the enemies of the society, and repeated to sa- 
 tiety by ignorance and folly, But, when I cast my 
 eyes upon a father Lizardi, pierced with arrows on 
 the point of a rock ; a father Brebreuf (an uncle to 
 the poet of that name) expiring amongst the Iro- 
 quois, who tied him to a stake, whilst some of the 
 barbarians burnt his body with red hot sword blades, 
 and others cut up his convulsed and trembling bow- 
 els ; a father I'Allemand, at a short distance from 
 that hero, gaining also the palm of martyrdom, by 
 undergoing the like torments ; a father Gamier, a 
 mere youth, entitling himself to the glory of being 
 associated to this list of martyrs for Christ, in a neigh- 
 bouring town. When I figure to myself a father 
 Claver, assuming the title of the negroes' slave, and 
 devoting forty years of his life, without interruption, 
 at Cartbegena, to the service of those brutalized 
 slaves, in the most isolated and infectious hovels, 
 and in the midst of all the miseries of human life, in
 
 147 
 
 the most suffering and degraded state: When I 
 I contemplate, on the deserted coast of the isle of 
 Sancian, the hero of eastern India, Francis Xavier, 
 covered with the glory of having gained innumera- 
 ble victories, in bringing over thirty kingdoms to the 
 yoke of Christ, dying in the absolute want of all 
 human comfort, throwing forth an ejaculation of 
 zeal for the conversion of the vast empire of China, 
 where he had hoped to have planted the cross ofc 
 Christ. When I reckon up, with astonishment, eight 
 hundred Jesuit missionaries, enriching with their 
 blood, shed for the faith of Christ, the distant coun- 
 tries which they moistened with the sweat of their 
 evangelical labours ; eight thousand apostles of the 
 same order, braving with intrepidity whatever is re- 
 volting in nature, perpetual snows, barren rocks, 
 dangerous rivers, burning sands; all that the preju- 
 dices of civilized nations hold in disgust and abhor- 
 rence, brutalized superstitions, deep rooted vices, un- 
 governable passions ; all that the most ferocious 
 hordes of savages have in them the most terrific, a 
 revolting coarseness of manners, disgusting food, 
 infamous habits, frightful punishments ; and all this 
 with a view to give to the world new polished peo- 
 ple, living under the shade of the standard of reli- 
 gion, under the protection of a paternal govern- 
 ment in peace, innocence and happiness. When, 
 I say, I behold these miracles of civilization and 
 Christianity, performed in these remote countries by 
 the children of St. Ignatius, by their trampling un- 
 der their feet all selfish views and interests, by for- 
 getting every motive of glory and profit, I cannot, 
 I frankly own, suppress my indignation, when I re-
 
 fleet, at the same instant, upon the jealousy and 
 hatred which, by insulting- common justice, and tear- 
 ing away the veil of shame, have gone the lengths 
 of endeavouring to convert these champions of the 
 gospel into a company of overreaching traders, and 
 a band of ambitious adventurers, the dread and exe- 
 cration of the human race. 
 
 Certain it is, that if we pass in review before OUF 
 eyes these different missions, we shall not see those 
 rich and inviting countries, to which the fathers re- 
 sorted in search of ease and luxuries, nor those 
 great thriving merchants, with establishments suited 
 to their opulence, nor those powerful monarchs seat- 
 ed on thrones and giving the law to numberless peo- 
 ple. Would to God, that all the oppressors of poor 
 and unfortunate families; who fatten upon- the tears 
 of the widow and orphan, would confine themselves 
 to that very avarice, which is found so heinously 
 criminal in the fathers of the society ! Our flou- 
 rishing cities would not then afford the heart rend- 
 ing scenes of extreme wretchedness overwhelming 
 numerous families, almost in contact with others 
 glutted with luxury and riches. Would to God, that 
 those renowned conquerors, who build their glory 
 upon tombs of undone families, and the disastrous 
 ruin of empires, would direct the fury of their insa- 
 tiable ambition to those very objects of the apostolic 
 conquests, for which the Jesuits have been reproach- 
 ed and criminated, with so much bitterness and ma- 
 lice; the world would not then have been, for so 
 many centuries, a temple consecrated to the misfor- 
 tunes of nations, and France, so long a victim to 
 that ambition, which revels in blood and devastation,
 
 149 
 
 would not now so bitterly weep over the loss of her 
 ancient glory, blighted and extinguished by the dis- 
 astrous crimes of her revolution, and followed up 
 by the oppressions and injustice of consummate 
 tyranny. 
 
 To sum up the whole of the evidence in the great 
 cause of the Jesuits, what avails the act of bank- 
 ruptcy committed by the individual father Laval- 
 lette ? What the brief of Benedict XIV to cardinal 
 Saldanha ? What the decree of that cardinal ? And 
 what the conduct of don d'Atalaia, patriarch of Lis- 
 bon ? The utmost lengths to which these facts and 
 authorities can go, is to fix some individuals of the 
 order with something not correct j but they touch 
 not the honour of the society at large. It must also 
 be remarked, that (save the bankruptcy of father La- 
 vaJlette) the other inculpations rest solely in alle-^ 
 gations; not a tittle of evidence is even offered to 
 support the charges. Their unsuspecting innocence 
 and candour were very likely to be overreached by 
 the craft and wiles of Pombal, even if they wanted 
 nerve to stand up against the frowns and menaces 
 of so cruel and violent a minister. And if any 
 abuses were found to exist, they would be enormously 
 exaggerated by his contrivance, in order to rendep 
 the institute odious to the faithful and suspected by 
 the ecclesiastical powers. 
 
 Such precisely was the opinion of the archbishop 
 of Bahia, who was thrust out of his see, and reduc- 
 ed to live upon alms, for having refused to wound 
 his conscience, by declaring, that the Jesuits had 
 been concerned in illicit commerce. Such also was 
 
 the opinion of pope Clement XIII. Intimately 
 
 . ,'* \'\
 
 150 
 
 convinced, that those proceedings against flie so- 
 ciety originated in calumny and passion, his holi- 
 ness refused to countenance them, preferring rather 
 to fall out with the court of Portugal, than to aid in 
 oppressing innocence. 
 
 As to Benedict XIV, the illustrious predecessor 
 of Clement XIII, he does not say, in his brief to 
 cardinal Saldanha, what that cardinal puts into his 
 mouth. That learned pontiff, harassed by the im- 
 portunities of the court of Portugal, consented to 
 commission the cardinal to investigate the charges 
 brought against the society, and to reform any 
 abuses that might be found to exist; but he no 
 where says or suggests, that the Jesuits were guilty ; 
 on the contrary, he expresses his warm regard and 
 affection for their order.* His holiness says, that 
 he thought himself bounden to tread in the footsteps 
 of his predecessors in similar cases ; namely, by 
 selecting some one from the sacred college, to ex- 
 amine minutely into all the heads of the several 
 charges, and report thereupon to the holy see, in 
 order that his holiness, after mature deliberation, 
 might be enabled to pass a definitive judgment upon 
 the whole matter.f He armed this cardinal prelate 
 with very extensive powers to correct abuses, and 
 to bring back the fathers to a regular mode of life, 
 but evidently under the supposition, that they should 
 have been found to have fallen off from their primi* 
 tive observance and regularity. J It is evident, 
 
 * " Nos qui societatem prtefatam paternis complectimur 
 affectibus." 
 
 t '' Ut postea, matura consideratione adhibita, qnidquid 
 statuendum sit opportunii et saluberriroe decernamus." 
 
 " Si fortasse exciderint, . . . . si aliquos in aliquo delin-
 
 151 
 
 then, that the quotations of the ancient magistrate 
 are full of infidelities ; for he makes Benedict XIV 
 hold a very different language from that which 
 actually came from the mouth of his holiness. 
 
 What that same writer has said about the Jesuits 
 having excited the natives of Paraguay and Ura- 
 guay to revolt against the combined armies of Spain 
 and Portugal, carries the most unblushing false 1 - 
 hood on the very face of it. At the very first order 
 from the sovereign, the Jesuits, submitting to the 
 power which comes from God, instantaneously quit- 
 ted these peaceful tribes, which paid annually to 
 the Spanish monarch a capitation tax of one crown 
 for every individual. They were even so puncti- 
 liously observant of, and submissive to, the royal 
 orders, that they concerted measures with the royal 
 commissioners, how to keep effectually from the 
 natives the purport of the royal mandate, lest, \ipon 
 its coming to their knowledge, they might fly to 
 arms, to prevent its execution, and rise up in revolt 
 against the king of Spain. When, however, the 
 afflicting tidings were made known to the natives, 
 the fathers did all they could to exhort them to sub- 
 mission and obedience ; they spoke highly in favour 
 of the secular clergymen, that had been sent from 
 Sancta Cruce to replace them j and they neglected 
 no means whatever to keep them in peace and pre- 
 vent a general rising. Sensibly touched, however, 
 at the injustice shewn to their benefactors, towards 
 whom they cherished a filial regard, and alarmed at 
 
 quentes repereris, eos juxta canonicas sanctiones punias et cas- 
 tiges." See the Bullarium of Benedict XIV. Venice edit, of 
 1778, Appendix altera, p, 288.
 
 152 
 
 the dread of being cruelly harrassed by the govern- 
 ment, having no confidence in the new missioners, 
 who were alike strangers to their habits and lan- 
 guage, these afflicted neophytes retired back into 
 their forests, repeating, with tears in their eyes, 
 these words : " Since they have deprived us of our 
 " fathers, we had rather return to our woods than 
 " remain in the reductions, where we shall see them 
 *' no more." The revolt, in fact, only broke out 
 against the Spaniards, after the departure of the 
 Jesuit missioners, who were all removed quietly, 
 and without bustle, in the course of eight months, 
 from those peaceable and happy countries, where, 
 with the cross of Christ, they had planted all the 
 Christian virtues with their sweat and blood.* This 
 is the faithful and simple history of that extraordi- 
 nary event The reports sent to Rome, on behalf 
 of the king of Portugal, in which the fathers are 
 roundly charged with being the authors of the re- 
 volt, were drawn out by the special orders of Pom- 
 bal, who spared no pains nor means to render the 
 society odious to the holy see, and infamous in the 
 eyes of the public. But Clement XIII, who, in 
 this whole affair had no other view or motive at 
 heart, than the real interests of religion and truth, 
 defended, with unshaken firmness, to the very last, 
 the innocence and honour of the fathers. 
 
 * See a latin work, De vitd et moribus tredecim Paragtiay- 
 t>rwm, composed by father Joseph Emanuel Peramasj one of the 
 fathers banished from Paraguay.
 
 Of the Jesuits, who were Preachers and Confes- 
 sors to the Kings of France. 
 
 Is it not evident, continue the enemies of the so- 
 ciety, that these fathers are transported by ambition, 
 since they are so intoxicated with their own merits, 
 which keep them unceasingly working at their fa- 
 vourite object of universal monarchy,, that we see 
 them worming their ways, seizing with -dexterity the 
 confidence of princes, becoming preachers to the 
 great, and confessors to the sovereigns, in order to 
 fceep under their direction and rule all classes of 
 society, give the ton and turn to the politics of na- 
 tions, and establish permanent dominion over pri- 
 vate families and whole communities. 
 
 That unquestionably is a singular species of 
 clerical ambition, which compels every professed 
 member of a religious order to make a solemn vow, 
 never to solicit any ecclesiastical dignity, on any 
 occasion, nor ,to accept of it, but under the explicit 
 and formal command of the head of the church. 
 They knew right well how to procure these formal 
 commands from the sovereign pontiff, and their am- 
 bition, wrapped up in this veil of affected modesty, 
 was rendered, by that very act, the more effectual. 
 The truth of history cries loudly against this new 
 sort of charge. From the foundation of the society, 
 the children of Ignatius were remarkable for their
 
 154 
 
 disinterestedness and shunning of honours. Father 
 le Jay, one of the first companions of that saint, de- 
 clined, without disguise, the offer pressed upon him 
 of the episcopal see of Triest. St, Francis of Bor- 
 gia, who had been viceroy of Catalonia before he 
 became a Jesuit, refused peremptorily the cardinals 
 hat, as well as several bishoprics. Father Canisius, 
 deservedly named the apostle of Germany, constant- 
 ly resisted the urgent solicitations of the emperor to 
 accept of the archbishopric of Vienna. The annals 
 of the society furnish numerous instances of such 
 refusals of the first honours and dignities in the 
 church ; suffice it here to mention the illustrious 
 names of Maldonatus, Coton, Beauveau, Montmo- 
 rency, Charles of Lorraine, Longueville, la Tre- 
 mouille, Vaubecourt, Sirmond, and Bourdaloue. 
 These names, renowned for birth, talent, and vir- 
 tue, would have adorned the first stations of ho- 
 nour and dignity, had they not appeared on the 
 muster-roll of Ignatius. The sole obstacle to num- 
 berless other men, of eminent science and virtue, en- 
 joying the first dignities and preferments in the 
 church, was, their being enlisted to fight under the 
 banners of that religious patriarch. With the view 
 to reward, in some instances, supereminent merit, 
 and to introduce into the sacred college, and the 
 body of the prelacy, men capable of rendering emi- 
 nent services to the cause of religion and truth, true 
 it is, that popes have sometimes found it proper to 
 throw open the gates, which generally shut out the 
 society from the road to ecclesiastical preferment 
 and benefices. But, if strict] and impartial regard 
 be had to the vast multitude of celebrated preachers,
 
 155 
 
 learned authors, and other men of exalted merit, 
 who have done honour and credit to the institute, it 
 will be found, that these -absolute and temporary 
 commands of the head of the church, from the sub- 
 mission to which, no humility, no disposition to re- 
 treat and privacy, no pre-engagement, no pretext, 
 can exempt the individual, have been very rarely 
 resorted to. The sovereign pontiffs, who were 
 deeply penetrated with the consummate wisdom of 
 their holy founder, and who had sanctioned and 
 approved his rules and institute, particularly his 
 enmity to ambition, and the safeguards which he 
 had provided to secure his order against it, as his 
 disciples were to be especially formed and destined 
 to add lustre to the church, by teaching, preaching, 
 and writing, the consequences of which passion 
 might have been so fatal to the spirit and regularity 
 of his order, came but seldom, and that always in 
 cases of delicate importance, to the resolution of 
 ordering one of the society to fill an episcopal see 
 or accept of the cardinal's hat. A man, there- 
 fore, of real ambition, who, with a view to make his 
 fortune in the church, should enrol himsel in the so- 
 ciety, would manifest the extreme of folly or weak- 
 ness; if such, therefore, were his disposition, he 
 never surely would have made himself a Jesuit. 
 
 But their enemies are cut to the quick, to see 
 them become preachers at court, and confessors to 
 the king. 
 
 This charge, I am free to say-, is directly levelled 
 against talent and virtue. Their talents brought 
 them into the sacred tribunal, where the ministers of 
 religion tell home truths to crowned heads; and
 
 their eminent virtue, joined to their knowledge and 
 experience, made them depositaries of the inmost 
 secrets of their consciences. Was it because father 
 Bourdaloue was a Jesuit, that therefore Louis XIV 
 should forbid him to utter in his presence the ora- 
 cles of eternal truth, with that spiritual freedom and 
 independence which immortalize his talent, his mind, 
 and his oratorical compositions ? Was it because 
 the fathers la Rue, Segaud, Neuville, and so many 
 other distinguished preachers, brought up under the 
 institute, were Jesuits, that therefore they should 
 be silenced, and the most fertile field of the sacred 
 ministry should be hermetically closed against their 
 talents, powers, and zeal ? When the fact, there- 
 fore, of a Jesuit's being a preacher at court, is im- 
 puted to the society as a crime, what is it but a 
 senseless and impotent invective against talent it- 
 self? In like manner am I free to say, that virtue 
 itself is dishonoured and outraged, by the flat stu- 
 pidity and barefaced malice of placing the direction 
 of the consciences of some princes by members of 
 the society to the general ambition of the order. If 
 father Edmund Auger became the confessor of 
 Henry III, it was neither to his intrigues, nor to his 
 ambition, that he owed that honourable employ, 
 which was at the same time a most onerous func- 
 tion ; but to his extensive information, to the sanc- 
 tity of his life, to the many conversions he had per. 
 formed by his eloquent preaching, eminently re- 
 nowned for solidity, zeal, and unction. Father 
 Coton, the director of the consciences both of Henry 
 IV and Louis XIII, gave manifest proofs of his not 
 having been attracted to court by any views of am-
 
 157 
 
 bition. Henry IV, who is on all hands allowed to 
 have been a keen appraiser of personal merit, a 
 good and great king, an able statesman, and a va- 
 liant warrior, wished to name him to the archie- 
 piscopal see of Aries, and to have him decorated 
 with the roman purple. But the virtuous unambi- 
 tious father succeeded in prevailing upon his sove- 
 reign to second his wishes to decline the honours 
 and dignity intended for him. 
 
 '* Colon," says the president Grammond, " lived 
 tf a length of time in the unceasing practice of vir- 
 " tue, and, what is rarely found even in religious 
 te men, he was wholly exempt from ambition. Charg- 
 *' ed with the direction of his sovereign's conscience, 
 " he never asked a personal favour for himself. He 
 ft had attained the pre-eminence of learning, and 
 "became the most eloquent orator during the reign 
 "of Henry IV. This certainly has its value in the 
 " eyes of men ; but what is more praiseworthy in 
 * f him is, that he lived only for God. He was a 
 " spotless lilly of singular lustre in the midst of 
 " thorns, that is to say, he was a man without spot, 
 " in defiance of the contagion of the court." (Hist. 
 Galliae, p. 655. ad an. 1626.) 
 
 " Those," says Dupleix,* " who were intimately 
 " acquainted with him, can testify, that he was a 
 " perfect religious man, and had as much at heart 
 " the service and prosperity of the king and the 
 " state, as the most loyal subject possibly could. 
 " And indeed his majesty, who yielded to no one in 
 " his kingdom, in discovering and appreciating 
 
 * Histoire de Henri le Grand, p. 509.
 
 158 
 
 " personal merit, always set a high value upon his 
 " admirable qualities, frequently sent for him to con- 
 " suit, and never passed him without stopping and 
 " conversing with him." 
 
 Father Annat, to whom Pascal addressed his two 
 last Provincial Letters, certainly was no flatterer, 
 and certainly betrayed no ambition. He lost the fa- 
 vour of that monarch,, and was banished from court, 
 for having spoken to him, with evangelical firmness 
 and freedom, of the dangerous ascendency which his 
 majesty's passion for the duchess de la Valliere was 
 then acquiring over him. 
 
 According to the testimony of the duke de St. 
 Simon, father la Chaise, another confessor of Louis 
 XIV, was an estimable character, to which even 
 the enemies of the society rendered justice. He 
 thus speaks of him. " Father de la Chaise was a 
 " man of moderate talents, but of a mild character; 
 " he was fair, upright, rational, prudent, amiable 
 " and moderate ; a fixed enemy to detraction, vio- 
 " lence and scandal ; he had honour, probity, hu- 
 " manity, and benevolence ; he was polite, affable, 
 t( modest and even respectful ; he was disinterested 
 " in every way, though affectionately attached to 
 <f his family ; he put a certain value on high birth, 
 tc and shewed favour to it, whenever he had occa- 
 " sion ; he was careful in making proper choice for 
 " bishops, especially when any state employ was 
 " annexed to the see, and he was fortunate in his 
 " selections, whenever he was not thwarted in his 
 " recommendation ; always disposed to retract 
 <f whenever he had erred, and ardent to repair the 
 *' consequences of his error, he was moreover both
 
 159 
 
 "judicious and cautious. Father la Chaise died 
 " peaceably at five o'clock in the morning. His 
 " two superiors, (father le Tellier, his provincial, 
 " and father Daniel, the rector of the professed 
 " house,) carried to his majesty, at the opening of 
 f< his levee on that day, the keys of his cabinet, in 
 ** which there were several papers and documents 
 " of moment. The king, whom experience has 
 (C inured to losses, received them in presence of all 
 " his court, and said many handsome things of fa- 
 " ther la Chaise, particularly of his goodness of 
 " heart ; then, with a gracious smile, he thus ad- 
 " dressed the two fathers : ' " He was, (said his ma- 
 ( " jesty, in the hearing of all the courtiers,) so very 
 ( " good hearted, that I often reproached him with it. 
 ' " His constant reply was ; It is not I, who am 
 ( - " good-hearted, it is you who are hard-hearted," ' 
 
 " Father la Chaise, by many good deeds in his 
 " life time, suppressed and defeated many anony- 
 " mous publications and plots against the characters 
 " of individuals ; he rendered many services to per- 
 " sons who were ignorant of their benefactor, and 
 te never hurt any one, but in his own defence ; and 
 <c he was indeed universally regretted, Even the 
 " enemies of the society were forced to do him jus- 
 " tice, and admit that his conduct answered in every 
 " particular his high birth, and that he was, in fact, 
 " peculiarly fitted for the place he filled." 
 
 Of all the Jesuits that ever were confessors to the 
 kings of France, father le Tellier has been the most 
 roughly handled by the enemies of the society. He 
 had ever made head, with zeal and energy, against 
 the progress of Jansenism ; and the ruin of Port-
 
 160 
 
 Royal, which, it is said, he had brought to bear, 
 was, in the eyes of the party, a crime never to be 
 forgiven. After the death of Louis XIV, the spirit 
 of the court was totally changed. In order to put 
 out the differences about Jansenism, resort was had 
 to conciliatory measures, which tended only to ag- 
 gravate the evil, in lieu of curing it. Father le 
 Tellier, who had always been prominently forward 
 in supporting the cause of genuine catholicity, was 
 exiled, first to Amiens, then to la Fleche, where he 
 died in 1719. 
 
 To this father's unabating zeal in combating 
 Jansenism, is to be attributed the invention of the 
 fabulous enrolment of Louis XIV under the banners 
 of St. Ignatius, and of several such other fooleries, 
 given out by the party against the society. Because 
 that father was a professed and declared enemy of 
 Jansenism and of Quesnel, and because he exerted 
 all the interest he could command, to discredit and 
 weaken him, he was therefore an ambitious intri- 
 guer ; and thus, under these odious colours, was 
 his character represented in all the pamphlets and 
 libels of the day, by the enemies of the society. 
 Hence the foul charge of unlimited ambition, which 
 forces itself into the palaces of princes, there in- 
 veigles itself into their confidence, and disguising 
 itself under the cloak of truth and virtue, usurps 
 and monopolizes the government and rule of all 
 sovereigns, all states, all families, and all con- 
 sciences. Mii: 
 
 Ridiculous charge ! Flat pitiful calumny ! Am- 
 bition confines not its views to sterile marks of af- 
 fection and esteem : where then are the rich abbeys,
 
 161 
 
 which father 1e Tellier had procured ? Where the 
 bishoprics which were offered to him, and which he 
 accepted of ? Is then a zealous effort to preserve 
 the ancient doctrine of the church against the at- 
 tacks of dangerous novelists, who put to hazard 
 the security both of church and state, to be con- 
 founded with the base crimes of a devouring ambi- 
 tion ? Is it, because a powerful prince condescends 
 to honour a simple religious man with his esteem 
 and confidence, that therefore such prince must 
 thenceforth, on a sudden, become an insensible and 
 inactive inspector of the disasters of the church ? 
 What is there in common between the zeal which 
 preserves the purity of Christian faith, which pro- 
 tects the tranquillity of the public weal, and this 
 restless and dangerous ambition, which insults, de- 
 bases, and calumniates, for the sake of tyrannizing 
 over the consciences, and degrading the condition, 
 of our fellow creatures? 
 
 111. 
 
 Of the Spirit of Selfishness imputed to the Jesuits. 
 
 Nothing then can be more unfounded, more un- 
 just, than this senseless reproach of ambition, press- 
 ed upon the society with a treacherous pertinacity. 
 The Jesuits undoubtedly did support the honour of 
 their institute with distinguished talents, by brilliant 
 services, by heroic virtues ; but this noble emula- 
 tion, this high-minded spirit of the order (we want 
 a term to express what the French mean by esprit 
 de corps}, is not to be confounded with that danger- 
 ous ambition, which upsets the throne, and brings 
 
 Y
 
 162 
 
 ruin on the people ; nor with that low-minded jea- 
 lousy, which views with a gangrened evil eye, as a 
 personal degradation, whatever honours and profit 
 are bestowed on the most eminent institutions. Such 
 emulation is far from deserving that ignominious 
 treatment ; it ought to be esteemed, and is worthy 
 of the highest praise ; for not only does it mainly 
 contribute to place virtue in its proper exalted sta- 
 tion in the state, but it lends a powerful aid and in- 
 fluence to promote the progress of learning, and the 
 fine arts. All corporate bodies, the magistracy, the 
 universities, the academies, the religious orders, are 
 all more or less influenced to forward their respect- 
 ive objects of virtue and science, by the honoura- 
 ble prospect of this creditable glory. When then 
 the Jesuits are dragged with such bitter cruelty be- 
 fore the tribunal of the public, as ambitious intri- 
 guers, because they have been honoured with the 
 favour of monarchs, what is it but to condemn, in 
 them, the very thing they commend in other reli- 
 gious bodies ? They blame, with fool hardihood, 
 the princes who were the friends of virtue and pro- 
 tectors of all scientific institutions, because they 
 were able to discern merit and talent, and honour, 
 and reward virtue, wherever it existed. This 
 censure, sharpened by the rooted hatred to the 
 body, is the more contemptible., as its direct ob- 
 ject is to blight the heroic virtues, which Chris- 
 tianity brings forth as the fruit of religion, by af- 
 fecting a forced undervaluing of the most wonder- 
 ful conquests, which can enrich the annals of a 
 people, who make the triumphs of the gospel their 
 highest national ambition, keeping the steps of
 
 163 
 
 monarchs in the paths of virtue, civilizing the sa- 
 vage, and imparting happiness to all mankind. 
 
 If it be still absolutely insisted upon, that the 
 Jesuits entertain too lofty ideas of their own insti- 
 tute, and that they have pushed this selfishness ( es- 
 prit de corps) to an insufferable excess, my an- 
 swer is, that we must judge of these institutions as 
 we do of human individuals. He is not the best 
 who is free from all fault ; but he who is subject to 
 the fewest : optimus ille qui minimis urgetur. A 
 state of perfection, which defies all censure, is the 
 privilege of the blessed spirits in heaven, not the 
 lot of man upon earth. No fair estimate can be 
 formed of any human institution, by casting up only 
 its imperfections and inconveniences, without any 
 attention to its advantages and services. Each must 
 be placed carefully in the opposite scale, nor ought 
 any judgment to be formed till the exact balance be 
 strucken. Let the society be thus impartially judg- 
 ed, and it will be impossible to deny, that its exist- 
 ence, though drenched with persecution and crosses, 
 has, under Providence, been a marked favour to 
 the states which have countenanced them. 
 
 " What," says M. Chateaubriand,* te can they 
 " reproach the Jesuits with ? Is it a pretended am- 
 {t bition, which in them was but zeal. It will be 
 fe> glorious, said Montesquieu, to govern men by 
 " making them happy. Weigh correctly the mass 
 * of good performed by the Jesuits ; bring to your 
 " recollection the celebrated writers which that 
 " body has furnished in France, and all the others 
 
 * Genie du Christianisme, 4 part. lib. vi. ch 5*
 
 16* 
 
 s< formed in their schools ; place under your consi- 
 " deration those entire kingdoms which have be- 
 " come united or connected with us in commercial 
 " relations, through their abilities, labours and 
 " blood ; pass in review before your eyes their mira- 
 " culous missions of Canada, of Paraguay, of China, 
 " &c., and you will find, that the very little harm 
 " which the philosophists accuse them of, will not, 
 " for a single moment, outbalance the services they 
 " have rendered society at large/' 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 An Examination of the Charge of loose Morality. 
 
 :-_-'' *-'." J "' .*.;. ._-. , j< _ut; :,',;> 
 
 MANKIND being generally more disposed to laugh 
 than to reason, in every war of opinion, ridicule 
 has ever been found a more efficient weapon than 
 argument. The public gives greedy credit to every 
 word of an author who is gifted with the seductive, 
 though dangerous, talent of amusing at the expence 
 ofa body or an individual. So, of all the tribe of 
 incredulity of the last century that have defiled their 
 pens in decrying Christianity, Voltaire has been the 
 most fatally mischievous. Possessed of a versatile, 
 ingenious, and well furnished mind, he dealt out, 
 with dexterity and profusion, new and ridiculous 
 sarcasms upon the books of holy writ, upon the 
 whole order of priesthood, upon monastic institutions, 
 and upon all the most sacred and august objects of
 
 165 
 
 religion. Amidst all the writers who undertook 
 the defence of religion against the assaults of the 
 philosopher of Ferney, the most distinguished and 
 successful was the abbe Gu6n6e, of the academy of 
 Inscriptions and Fine Arts. He possessed the happy 
 and rare talent of unmasking falsehood and impiety, 
 by seasoning real humour with depth of knowledge, 
 and tempering profound reasoning with the most 
 cutting irony, which made the deeper impression^ 
 as it was attended with the good breeding of a dig- 
 nified gentleman. 
 
 Pascal resorted to this delusive and weak weapon 
 of the human mind, when he undertook to defend 
 Jansenism, which had been strucken with the thun- 
 derbolts of the church, by turning the Jesuits into 
 contempt and ridicule. In his famous Provincial 
 Letters, he pretended, that the ruling spirit of the 
 society was ambition to extend the order ; that, with 
 the view of universal dominion over the whole 
 world, they had adopted a new code of morality, 
 fitted to every taste and every passion. ft If," says 
 he, " a person apply to them, bent on restoring to 
 "the rightful owner some ill-gotten property, do 
 " not imagine that they will dissuade him from his 
 " good resolve ; they will commend and strengthen 
 " him in his pious determination. But let another 
 " person come to them, who wishes to get absolu- 
 " tion without restoration of the ill-gotten property, 
 " things must go very hard with them indeed, if 
 " they do not strike out some means or other of 
 " evading restitution, the responsibility of which 
 " they take upon themselves. By these means they 
 " make every one their friend, and defend them-
 
 166 
 
 " selves against all their enemies." Nay, he goes 
 far beyond this extravagance ; in the body of his 
 work, he supposes that there is an actual conspiracy 
 of all the superiors of the order, with all the directors 
 (confessors) and teachers of divinity of the society, 
 to put down the morality of the gospel, in order to 
 attain their universal dominion over all mankind. 
 With a view to give some air of probability to this 
 wild hypothesis, which of itself could but inspire 
 diffidence and contempt, he quotes the loose opi- 
 nions of several Jesuit divines, whence he con- 
 cludes, that these good fathers, in external appear- 
 ances so zealous for the glory of God, authorize, 
 according to time and circumstances, robbery, mur- 
 der, adultery, idolatry, and every species of crime. 
 He maintains, that these opinions were not the pri- 
 vate sentiments of the particular divines who wrote 
 them, but those of the whole order, inasmuch as no 
 individual of the order could publish any thing con- 
 cerning morality, without the leave and approbation 
 of the superiors of the order. In a word, in the 
 doctrine of probable opinion, a doctrine at that time 
 of day much in vogue with theologians of several 
 schools, he lays the grounds and secret of that loose 
 infernal policy, which went in a direct line, and im- 
 mediate manner, to annihilate the whole morality 
 of the gospel. And, because this was a serious and 
 awful subject, likely to disgust and shock the greater 
 part of his readers, he took special pains to season 
 it with humour, wit, and pleasantry, and render it 
 attractive by the grace of style and eloquence of dic- 
 tion. He inspired all his light and superficial read- 
 ers with great confidence and assurance, by affect-
 
 167 
 
 ing to quote fully and faithfully whatever passages 
 he cited from Jesuit theologians, whom he brought 
 successively on the scene, to play their comic part 
 in his farce. To these arts and stratagems did these 
 Provinciates owe their brilliant success. 
 
 Nothing could have been more artful than Pas- 
 
 O 
 
 cal's conduct, under the embarrassing circumstances 
 in which Jansenism was at that time placed. Pope 
 Innocent X had condemned the five famous propo- 
 sitions of Jansenius; the clergy of France had ad- 
 dressed letters of congratulation and thanks for it to 
 his holiness ; the king had ordered the publication 
 and execution of the bull which blasted this novel- 
 ty; the evasive distinction between right and fact 
 had been rejected by the assembly of the clergy, as 
 a vain subtlety, tending to elude the solemn judg- 
 ments of the church in matter of doctrine ; Arnauld 
 had been expelled the Sorbonne, and the name of 
 this patriarch of Jansenism no longer graced the 
 list of doctors of theology. Thus the party, instead 
 of enlisting fresh recruits, daily fell off in credit 
 and favour. It seemed almost crushed under the 
 anathema of the church, writhing in convulsive 
 agonies, and faintly making head against both the 
 spiritual and temporal power. 
 
 By amusing his readers at the expense of the Je- 
 suits, by representing these religious men as the 
 corrupters of morals, Pascal weakened the most 
 powerful and terrible enemy the Jansenists had; 
 he thereby gave a change to the public mind, 
 which, forgetting the errors of Jansenism, now bent 
 their thoughts upon the morality which they were 
 taught to believe had been attempted to be under-
 
 168 
 
 mined from its very foundations ; and this played 
 off' the very men who had been solemnly declared 
 enemies to the catholic faith, as the intrepid de- 
 fenders of the morality of the gospel. He imitated 
 the conduct of an experienced general besieging a 
 town, who, in order to draw off the enemy's force, 
 makes a false attack, that he may with the more 
 effect fall upon the weak part. 
 
 It is not possible, in one short chapter of this 
 essay, to refute minutely and in detail every one of 
 the charges of loose morality, which Pascal has laid 
 to the account of the society. Father Daniel has 
 detected the falsity of them, and the want of can- 
 dour and truth in the author, with great solidity and 
 clearness, in his Conversations between Cleander 
 and Eudoxus. I shall confine myself to three 
 tasks. 1. To shew, that the pretended conspiracy 
 between the superiors and the directors and theo- 
 logians of the society, having for its end the aggran- 
 dizement of the order, at the expense of the morality 
 of the gospel, is a downright chimera. 2. That his 
 proofs to substantiate that conspiracy are ridiculous 
 in the extreme. 3. That these Provincial Letters 
 carry, upon their very face, both ignorance and 
 malice. 
 
 Nothing can be more chimerical than this con- 
 spiracy of the superiors of the Jesuits with the di- 
 rectors and theologians of their order, having in 
 view the aggrandizement of their order, at the ex- 
 pense of the morality of the gospel. 
 
 According to Pascal, this conspiracy had subsist-
 
 169 
 
 ed for a long time before the period at which he 
 wrote, since he quotes, as evidence of its existence, 
 a great number of Jesuit divines, who had been 
 dead and buried long before Pascal came into life. 
 
 Is it possible that such a conspiracy should have 
 existed for such a length of time, have been carried 
 into execution for nearly an entire century, without 
 having been discovered by, or denounced unto, 
 either the spiritual or temporal power ? 1 say no- 
 thing of princes, popes, bishops, and men of litera- 
 ture. Of so many millions of men, whose eyes 
 Were constantly set upon the society, and who were 
 constantly watching its conduct, there were four 
 particular descriptions of persons, who could not 
 have failed to see, and who would not have failed 
 to discover, this chimerical conspiracy, had it ever 
 existed. The Protestants, the novices of the instL 
 tute, the virtuous members of the society, and 
 those Jesuits who had been expelled or dismissed 
 from the order. 
 
 1. As to the Protestants. It is matter of noto- 
 riety, that they have ever had a rooted hatred of the 
 Jesuits, and have always endeavoured to let them 
 down in the eyes of the prince and people, No 
 one is ignorant of the singular and base calumnies 
 by which they have attempted the total ruin of the 
 order, which induced Leibnitz to qualify them, 
 without disguise, with the epithets impertinent 
 and ridiculous. It is well known, that amongst 
 these scandalous calumnies, was the imputation of 
 teaching king-killing doctrine, and of hatching 
 plots and conspiracies against states. How then 
 did it happen, that this particular conspiracy should
 
 170 
 
 have remained unknown to such clear sighted men, 
 who were under the influence of so much passion? 
 When a secret is confided to ten persons, there is 
 more danger of its being betrayed and discovered 
 by revelation or inconsiderateness, to which rob- 
 bers by profession and the most hardened mur- 
 derers are liable ; and shall it be insisted upon, that 
 during the run of a whole century, the secret of 
 this fatal conspiracy of the Jesuits, should never 
 have reached the ears of the Protestants ; notwith- 
 standing it be said to have been confided to fifteen 
 or twenty thousand religious men, who communi- 
 cated it to one another, or who received it immedi- 
 ately from their superiors ! If this conspiracy be 
 not a chimera, the region of chimeras exists no 
 more, and every thing is real throughout the do- 
 mains of fancy and absurdity. 
 -'-2. Amongst the novices, who postulated their ad- 
 mission into the society, must have been reckoned 
 several young men of high respectability, who 
 sought to ensure their eternal salvation, and attain 
 virtue, in the order of St. Ignatius. To obtain 
 this blessing, some renounced all the pleasures of 
 life, others the advantages of fortune, and others 
 debarred themselves from all the prospects of ho- 
 nour, dignity, and profit, which their talents or 
 birth held out to them. At all events, these novices 
 generally led a decent and Christian life in the world, 
 and were not flagitious and hardened sinners before 
 they enlisted under the banners of the institute. 
 When they had once entered their noviciate, they 
 heard no other discourses than of virtue and the 
 evangelical counsels, of a glowing zeal for one's
 
 171 
 
 own perfection, for the glory of God, and the sal- 
 vation of souls. And at the very moment, when 
 the fatal secret was communicated to them, that not 
 one of them should have shuddered with horror 
 and indignation, or if they did so shudder, that 
 they carefully deposited the secret in their hearts j 
 and they were not shocked and disgusted with a re- 
 ligious order, which, under the pretence of making 
 the gospel triumph among men, entered into an 
 absolute and universal conspiracy against the max- 
 ims of the gospel, with a view to attain universal do- 
 minion ; and they did not quit, with horror and dis- 
 gust, this seat of ambition and hypocrisy, where 
 they had fondly anticipated the practice of the evan- 
 gelical virtues in an heroic degree ; and they did 
 not communicate to a living soul their discoveries, 
 but entirely suppressed their astonishment and in- 
 dignation ! Can there be discovered in all this, I 
 do not say, a phantom of probability, but the faint- 
 est shade of possibility ? 
 
 3. By the undisguised avowal of the mortal 
 enemies of the Jesuits, there have at all times 
 existed amongst them men of enlightened minds 
 and virtuous conduct. How could they have been 
 accomplices with their brethren, in the combina- 
 tion to do away the whole morality of the gospel? 
 Even should they not have pushed their depra- 
 vity to this excess, still, how could they have so far 
 betrayed the cause of truth, as they must have done, 
 by keeping inviolate the secret of this irreligious 
 conspiracy ? Was there then to be found, amongst 
 these men of virtue, no love of truth, no upright-
 
 172 
 
 ness, no honour, no zeal for the public good, 
 no firmness to bring to light this impious combina- 
 tion ? Was the want and possession of virtue one 
 and the same thing with these estimable and re- 
 vered characters ? What incoherency! What ab- 
 surdity ! 
 
 4. Many individuals have been dismissed from 
 the body of the society, from a secret inclination to 
 heresy, or to overbold and hazardous opinions ; 
 others, from a want of sufficient talent to perform 
 the necessary and ordinary functions of the order, 
 or from scandal given by the incorrectness of their 
 conduct. Yet not one of all these, dismissed from 
 the body on the score of incapacity or scandal, has, 
 for the space of a century, thought fit to reveal this 
 unchristian conspiracy. They must then have re- 
 mained ignorant of it, although constantly sur- 
 rounded by these Jesuitical conspirators, or, if they 
 knew it, they never yielded to the first motions of 
 revenge, by justifying their quitting the order, in 
 revealing to the public the horrible combination 
 that prevailed throughout it. Is this the ordinary 
 method of acting, when men feel their self-love 
 wounded, and their honour compromised ? Do 
 they not, on the contrary, seize every opportunity 
 to allay the suspicions of the public which are inju- 
 rious to themselves? Far from suppressing justifi- 
 cative truths, do they not too frequently resort to 
 falsehoods and downright calumnies ? The admis- 
 sion of such a paradox, would be a renunciation of 
 all knowledge and experience of the human heart. 
 Pascal, than whom no man better knew the human
 
 17S 
 
 heart, could not have believed in this chimerical 
 plot. He intended to calumniate, aimed at amusing, 
 but never thought of reasoning. 
 
 True it is, that Pascal, in some part of his Provin- 
 cial Letters, in order to give credit to his favourite 
 hypothesis, has said that the extinguishment of the 
 whole morality of the gospel, was not the direct ob- 
 ject of the society ; that the Jesuits being persuaded 
 that it was useful and even necessary for the good 
 of religion, that they should possess the ascendency 
 over the whole world, in directing their consciences, 
 they had adopted a pliable and commodious system 
 of morality, which they bent with facility to every 
 taste, every circumstance and every passion. But 
 he could not believe that the Jesuits seriously meant 
 to forward the cause of religion, by tearing up the 
 gospel, and encouraging all the vices and crimes 
 which the gospel condemns. Does he not, on every 
 occasion, play off their ambition as the characteristic 
 master passion of the order, and bring upon the 
 stage this conspiracy of the superiors, divines, and 
 directors of the order, as the means of effectuating 
 their criminal ambition ? 
 
 It is evident, that Pascal charges the Jesuits with 
 having fdrmed a plot, the prime end of which was 
 to govern the world, by directing their consciences ; 
 and the efficient means of attaining that end was, 
 to do away and extinguish for ever the rules and 
 maxims of the gospel. We have demonstrated that 
 nothing can be in nature more chimerical.
 
 174 
 
 11. 
 
 The proofs which Pascal brings forward, in aid 
 of his discovery, are absurd even to contempt; they 
 amount to four ; namely, the difference of theolo- 
 gical opinions upon morals amongst Jesuit divines; 
 the great number of authors in the society who have 
 taught lax morality ; the approbation of superiors, 
 with which the books containing this doctrine are 
 sanctioned ; and the doctrine of probable opinion, 
 in which he discovers the foundation and whole se- 
 cret of their political ambition. 
 
 Before I enter into the discussion of these various 
 heads of accusation, I shall barely observe, that 
 were they even admitted to be true and incontesti- 
 ble, they would go no way in proving the existence 
 of the plot in question. From such an admission, 
 no other result would follow, than that the genera- 
 lity of the Jesuit divines maintained a relax system 
 of morality. But wide indeed is the difference be- 
 tween that fact, were it true, and which, for the 
 sake of the argument, I admit for the moment, and 
 the reality of such concerted combination between 
 the superiors, divines and directors of the society, 
 with a view to govern all consciences, by giving un- 
 bridled sway to the worst of passions. One might 
 surely exist without the other; consequently Pascal 
 would prove nothing to substantiate the plot, were 
 all the evidence admitted that he has thought proper 
 to bring forward on the occasion. I might here take 
 my leave of him with this single observation, which 
 reduces to atoms the vast machine constructed by
 
 175 
 
 this able geometrician, to crush the whole society 
 of Jesus. But, without giving into long and ha- 
 rassing detail, I shall easily take to pieces the scaf- 
 folding of reasons which he has erected to support 
 his system. 
 
 1. From the variety of opinions of the Jesuit di- 
 vines in casuistry, Pascal assumes a right to con- 
 clude, that the society has sold the gospel to their 
 criminal ambition of governing all consciences; as 
 if this discrepancy of opinion were not an effect of 
 the natural imperfection of the human mind, which, 
 in the thorny paths of morality, sometimes inclines 
 to rigour and severity, at others to moderation 
 and allowances. As if this diversity of opinion and 
 sentiments were peculiar to the society, whilst it 
 exists in other religious bodies, such as the Domini- 
 cans, Franciscans, &c. in all the universities, where 
 theological faculties exist, and in every school of 
 the Catholic world, where ecclesiastical knowledge 
 is in any way cultivated. As if different and very 
 opposite opinions were not to be met with in books 
 written upon the municipal and general law of na* 
 tions, upon physical and experimental philosophy, 
 and upon other heads of science, which often run 
 into systems so very widely diverging from t 'each 
 other, as to launch out into the extremity of absur- 
 dity and folly; in a word, as if the blameable ram- 
 blings of some bold adventurers in science, who 
 scruple not to diverge from the way of reason and 
 truth, in order to hazard, without light or guide, the 
 unknown regions of darkness, became the unexpiable 
 crime of a whole society. 
 
 2. It is notoriously false, that the Jesuit divines
 
 176 
 
 have generally maintained loose morality ; that they 
 have countenanced theft, murder, adultery, idolatry, 
 and all other crimes. Some authors of the society, 
 have, it is true, upon these different heads, advanced 
 Certain propositions that are blameable, and even 
 censurable j but these very propositions have been 
 rejected, and combated by far the greater part of 
 the divines of the society, who have treated those 
 heads of morality or casuistry. Father Daniel in 
 his Entretiens de Cleande et Eudoxe, offered a 
 challenge to the Jansenists, which they declined: 
 he undertook to produce, for every loose opinion 
 maintained by any one Jesuit, at least ten or twenty 
 opinions of Jesuits who maintained the contrary 
 doctrine. 
 
 3. The approbation of the general of the order, 
 with which every publication by any of his subjects 
 ought to be sanctioned, goes no way whatever in 
 proving and fixing the society with Pascal's horrid 
 plot ; otherwise, not only all the Jesuits through- 
 out the world, but ever other religious order, will 
 be brought in as accomplices in the conspiracy of 
 putting down the gospel, in order to attain this uni- 
 versal dominion over all consciences. It was a com- 
 mon rule in every one of them, not to publish any 
 book without the approbation of their superiors; and 
 there does not exist a single religious order of any 
 note in the church, of which some of their subjects 
 have not published books containing propositions of 
 lax morality, under the sanction of their superior's 
 license. If Pascal's argument proved what it im- 
 ports he wished and intended to prove, he must con- 
 sistently make the Benedictins, the Dominicans,
 
 177 
 
 the Franciscans, the Carmelites, the Barnabites, 
 the Carthusians, and all the religious orders that 
 ever existed, and that are now dispersed throughout 
 the Catholic world, so many conspirators against the 
 prevalence and existence of the gospel, as standing 
 in the way of each of their attaining this universal 
 monarchy. Does not the imagination shudder at 
 the very thought of so vast a band of concerted 
 conspirators ? Better then to exempt at once the 
 Jesuits of the guilt of this plot, which Pascal pre- 
 tends to have discovered, than thus cover the earth 
 with the infection of so many antichristian combina- 
 tions and conspiracies. For my part, I am far bet- 
 ter pleased to contemplate in most of the houses of 
 these religious, and even of the Jesuits, laboratories 
 of science and securities for virtue, than to fancy 
 nothing in them, but such foul and wicked plotters 
 and conspirators. In this, I am fully confident, I am 
 sanctioned by the truth of history in maintaining the 
 reality, whilst Pascal, far above me in the mathema- 
 tics, in natural philosophy, in general literature, is 
 grossly unfair and untrue in judgment as a critic. 
 
 But what avails then, exclaim the enemies of 
 the society, this approbation of superiors, blazoned 
 in the title-pages of the works containing these 
 scandalous and abominable propositions ? Is it not 
 to be considered as an authentic and evident proof, 
 that the doctrine contained in the approved book is 
 believed in, maintained, and taught by the society ? 
 To this I answer, 1. The greater part of these pro- 
 positions, which the enemies of the Jesuits call 
 scandalous and abominable, are no where to be found 
 in any work of a Jesuit. Father Daniel has de- 
 
 2 A
 
 178 
 
 monstrated, that Pascal has falsified and mutilated 
 the text of their works, in order to put into their 
 mouths what they never said. Even before he had 
 published his Entretiens (Conversations), Pascal 
 having been taxed with unfairness and incorrectness, 
 in quotation, by some Jesuit writers, very aukwardly 
 defended himself by saying, that he worked upon 
 quotations furnished by his friends, without verify- 
 ing them with the originals. 2. The superiors of 
 the society have formally disavowed the doctrine 
 maintained by some, but very few, that could with 
 any reason or pretext be termed scandalous and abo- 
 minable. Thus, for instance, in the year 1610, 
 father Aquaviva forbad any of his subjects to main* 
 tain the horrible doctrine of king-killing, In the 
 chapter upon that article, we gave the decree of 
 that famous general of their order. Mutio Vitelles- 
 chi, his successor, renewed this inhibition, and, in 
 the year 1617, addressed to the whole society a de- 
 cree, which prevented the abuses of the doctrine of 
 probable opinion, and checked the run of some lax 
 doctrines, which then were generally maintained in 
 Catholic schools, under the shade of that new doc- 
 trine of probable opinion. " It is to be feared," 
 says he, in this decree, " that some opinions, rather 
 " too indulgently maintained by some members of 
 " the society, especially in point of morality, should 
 n not only tend to the destruction of the society, but 
 " should produce incalculable mischief to the whole 
 *' church. Let the greatest caution be had, that 
 " those who teach and write do not, in making choice 
 ' of opinions, make use of or apply the following 
 *' rules; One may safely hold such an opinion;
 
 " that is probable : there are authors of that 
 ft opinion ; but let them adopt such as are the most 
 " sure, that are maintained by authors of the most 
 " grave authority, and of the highest repute, such 
 " as are most congenial with correct morals, that 
 " are calculated to improve the soul and cherish 
 " piety, and not such as have the contrary tendency 
 " to destroy and overset it." 
 
 In France, the superiors of the society presented 
 to the parliament of Paris, on the 5th of December, 
 1 757, a formal disavowal of the work of father Bu- 
 sembaum, and of his commentator father La Croix. 
 The Sommes des Peches of father Bauny, and the 
 Apo logic des Casuistes of father Pi rot, were pro- 
 ductions cried down, and despised by the Jesuits. 
 The blameable wanderings and extravagancies, in 
 casuistry or moral divinity, of some few Jesuits, fall 
 upon the individual authors, not upon the society at 
 large. 
 
 3. The general of the order was not conversant 
 with all languages, to be able to read the books that 
 were published by his subjects in different parts of 
 the world ; and had he indeed been master of them 
 all, the life of one man, even if wholly devoted to 
 the task, would never have sufficed to read through 
 all the publications made by the different writers of 
 the order ; and how much less could that man do 
 it, whose time was wholly engrossed by the labours 
 and correspondence incidental to so Vast an admi- 
 nistration, as was that of a society so numerous, so 
 dispersed, and so constituted ? He threw the revi- 
 sion of books on the provincials of the different na- 
 tions ; and the provincial, whose time was necessa-
 
 180 
 
 rily taken up in consultations, in correspondence, in 
 receiving visits, and making visitations, entrusted 
 this office to three or four divines of the society. It 
 most frequently turned out, that the superior of the 
 order was ignorant that a work had come before the 
 public, from the pen of one his subjects, till the 
 moment in which the enemies of the institute 
 sounded the alarm, by the cry of loose morals, 
 scandal, and inversion of the gospel. Under, the 
 sanction of what principle of justice do these 
 enemies of the institute fix the whole body with 
 the lax opinions of some very few individuals ? 
 This assuming logic leads to the most hideous ca- 
 lumny, which evidently is not sanctioned by the 
 gospel. In a word, the approbation of a book 
 is never supposed to go specifically to every propo- 
 sition contained in it. When a theological work, 
 which contains no heresy ; when the morality, which 
 it inculcates, is generally good and supported upon 
 true principles, a censor or reviser of the book, be he 
 of whatever order, or of whatever university, he may, 
 refuses not his approbation, although the work con- 
 tain several propositions which are not true in moral 
 theology, and have really a tendency to relax mora- 
 lity, on certain points, and under certain circum- 
 stances. St. Francis de Sales recommended the 
 book of Lessius, de Justitid et Jure, as a most use- 
 ful work to solve and clear up doubts upon this im- 
 portant subject. The illustrious Bossuet, bishop of 
 Meaux, in his synodal ordinances for 1691, re- 
 commended the theological works of Azor to the 
 lecture of the clergy of his diocese : yet each of 
 these divines have hazarded opinions in casuistry,
 
 which do not pass current with the more strict au- 
 thors, of which Pascal has availed himself, by un- 
 fair amplification and distorted caricatures, in his 
 usual style, to excite his readers to laughter at the 
 costs of the Jesuits. That renowned prelate of the 
 Gallican church recommended also the work of fa* 
 therTolet, intituled The Institution of Priests, in 
 his ordinances ; as it also was in the charge of Go- 
 deau, bishop of Vence, in 1644-, p. 44; in that of; 
 Vialart, bishop of Chalons-sur-Marne, in 1655, p. 
 221 ; in that of the bishop of Agen, in 1673, p,36 j 
 in that of cardinal le Camus in 1690, p. 42. Are we 
 to imagine that these bishops, who were never famed 
 for their partiality for the society, and whose autho- 
 rities have been frequently quoted against the Je- 
 suits, approved of all the opinions of Tolet upon 
 homicide and murder? Even doctor Dupin admits 
 the theology of P. Martin Becanus to be one of the 
 most luminous and methodical books ever given to 
 the public. Has he, therefore, approved of every 
 opinion of that divine, which are brought so pro- 
 minently forward, with those of Tolet, Azor and 
 Lessius, in the comic scenes of the Provincial Let- 
 ters ? The censors of the Sorbonne have approved 
 many theological works, which contain some opi- 
 tiions of rather lax morality ; have they therefore 
 commended, praised, and sanctioned those proposi- 
 tions specifically ? And are those opinions to be 
 deemed the genuine doctrine of that famous faculty 
 of theology ? In short, the universal church ap- 
 proves and recommends the reading of the works of 
 many holy fathers, and other writers whom it pla- 
 ces amongst its doctors ; yet, in several of those
 
 182 
 
 Works, are there contained heretical propositions, 
 which, to speak truly, were, at the time, free doc- 
 trines of the schools, but which afterwards became 
 heretical, by the subsequent condemnation of the 
 universal church. Do the popes, then, and bishops, 
 undertake to warrant the truth of these errors, which 
 they prescribe and anathematize ? Unquestionably 
 not. There would be as much malice and impiety, 
 as folly and falsehood, in the assertion. When, 
 therefore, Pascal, actuated by his hatred of the Je- 
 suits, attempts to fix the whole society with the lax 
 doctrine of some individuals of it, upon the score 
 of the license of superiors, he displays a ridiculous 
 paradox to demonstrate the reality of a chimera. 
 He brings, as a resistless proof of the conspiracy of 
 the Jesuits against the morality of the gospel, a 
 false principle, which, were it true, would convict 
 the whole church of Christ of heresy ; and im- 
 peach not only the order of St. Ignatius, but the 
 Sorbonne, and other religious orders and univer- 
 sities, who exercise the right of censuring books. 
 So that I conclude, that if, at a certain period of 
 his life, his disturbed imagination represented con- 
 stantly precipices under his feet, at the time he waa 
 writing his Provincial Letters, his intellects must 
 h-ive been led astray by some vertigenous affections 
 of the brain, that represented to him nothing but 
 plots and conspirators in every house of the Jesuits. 
 4. Pascal pretends, that the doctrine of probable 
 opinion is an invention of the society; and upon 
 that opinion does he rest the entire foundation and 
 secret of their ambitious policy. This is a notori- 
 ous falsehood. Peter Navarre, a Spanish doctor of
 
 183 
 
 divinity, in his work upon Restitution, published in 
 1587, maintains, that "according to the more com- 
 (C mon opinion of divines, juxta communiorem theo- 
 " logorum sententiam, it suffices, to secure a safe 
 *' conscience, to act according 1 to a probable opi- 
 " nion, should it even be the less probable." And 
 Valentia, the first Jesuit divine who embraced that 
 opinion, though confined within much narrower 
 bounds than it was by the generality of the main- 
 tainers of the doctrine, wrote only in 1593. Bar- 
 tholomew de Medina places its birth about the year 
 1577, that is sixteen years before the publication of 
 Vajentia's/work, which speaks of this new doctrine 
 of the schools only incidentally, and not ex-pro fesso . 
 For Vasquez was the first amongst the Jesuits who 
 maintained it, in that manner, in 1598, that is to say, 
 twenty-one years after the doctrine had been intro- 
 duced into the schools. What a luminous piece of 
 criticism is this of Pascal, who avers, that this theo- 
 logical opinion is an invention of the Jesuits ? But 
 this is not all, The Jesuits Rebello and Comitolo, 
 were the two first divines who openly attacked the 
 doctrine of probable opinion, one in the year 1608, 
 the other 1609.* Thyrsus Gonzales, a general of 
 the order, composed a work in quarto against this 
 opinion; and his work received an eulogy from the 
 great Bossuet. " No man," said he before the assem- 
 bly of clergy in 1700, " ever handled this subject 
 " with more erudition and uprightness. Goniales 
 " was a most holy man and burned with the love of 
 
 * See the Answer to the extracts from the Assertions, vol. n. 
 p. 380,
 
 184 
 
 " truth.' 1 * Several other Jesuits maintained the old 
 doctrine ; the thirteenth general congregation of 
 the order expressly declared, that the doctrine of 
 probable opinion, was not the doctrine of the so- 
 ciety, which it was obliged to maintain ; and, 
 amongst those Jesuits who did follow it, many op- 
 posed the excesses to which some maintainers of 
 the doctrine carried it. Such, for instance, was that 
 strange position, that a judge might decide a cause 
 in favour of one suitor, who probably might have a 
 right to the property in contest, although the other 
 suitor should have proved, that he had a more pro- 
 bable and better founded right to the property in li- 
 tigation. It must be moreover remarked, that pro- 
 bable opinion was the common doctrine of the 
 schools, not only in Spain, Italy, and Germany, but 
 even in France, where it was taught by three re- 
 nowned doctors of the Sorbonne, namely, Duval, 
 who was the director of St. Vincent de Paul, Ga- 
 maches and Isambert. It is therefore certain, h 
 
 *Qui nemo doctius etcandidius hanc materiam illustravit.... 
 Hie vir sanctissimus. zelo, ut legenti patet veritatis incensus. 
 (See the depositions of the assembly of 1700.) The Jansenists 
 gave out, that the greater part of the Jesuits was so dissatisfied 
 with the purport of his book, that they resolved to depose him. 
 There is no truth in this assertion. In a particular congrega- 
 tion of deputies, whom they term proxies, they put the question, 
 whether it was advisable to summon a general congregation, 
 not to examine the contents of the book, but to investigate his 
 general conduct and government ; and, upon debate, the propo- 
 sition for holding a general congregation was negatived ; which 
 clearly proves, that even in the suppositions, that some exalted 
 and overheated minds had wished to depose Gonzales, on the 
 score of his opposing the doctrine of probable opinion (which 
 was not the fact), the proposition would have been rejected by 
 the majority of the Jesuits. (See the Memorial concerning the 
 Institute, printed at Rennes in 1762. p. 329).
 
 185 
 
 That the Jesuits were not the authors of the doctriTte: 
 
 2. That they were the first who publicly opposed it. 
 
 3. That such of them as followed it, maintained a 
 doctrine common at that time to all the schools of 
 divinity. 4. That they taught it with great caution 
 and moderation. How then did Pascal discover, 
 and pretend to demonstrate, the foundation and se- 
 cret of the ambitious policy of the Jesuits, in this 
 their original and peculiar doctrine of probable 
 opinion ? It was a secret known to all catholic 
 schools, and generally followed up in the tribunal 
 of penance, when consciences are submitted to 
 their directors. How then could it become a new 
 and artful engine of policy, in the hands of the Je- 
 suits, to draw persons of every class and condition 
 to their confessionals, to attain universal dominion, 
 by commanding the consciences of all ? In a word, 
 if it be still insisted upon, that the maintenance of 
 this opinion necessarily develops a conspiracy against 
 the gospel, then not only the Jesuits must be charg- 
 ed with it, but the greater part of all other reli- 
 gious orders, and the greater number of divines of 
 all the universities of Europe, not even excepting 
 the Sorbonne. I repeat it again, it is supreme folly, 
 it is flat absurdity, to see nothing in these faculties 
 of theology, and these religious houses, but bands of 
 conspirators, who have combined together, at all 
 risks, hazard and expenses, to annihilate the whole 
 morality of the gospel. The evidence which Pascal 
 offers to demonstrate the existence of the conspiracy, 
 with which he wishes to fix the Jesuits, is as ridicu- 
 lous and chimerical; as the conspiracy itself.
 
 186 
 
 111. 
 
 ' v V 
 
 The Provincial Letters carry upon the face of 
 t them Ignorance and Malice. 
 
 I have already remarked, that father Daniel had 
 discovered a crowd of false quotations and palpa- 
 ble falsifications in this work. In some instances, 
 the translation of the Jesuit authors is not correct; 
 in others, the author gives one part only of the opi- 
 nion of the moralist,, and suppresses the other part, 
 which modifies or explains it ; and in very many, he 
 attributes the aberration of individuals to the body 
 at large. In this tissue, then, of false assertions, 
 studied inaccuracies, and atrocious calumnies, one 
 discovers not a spark of enlightened criticism, nor 
 a glimpse of that valuable commodity known 
 amongst men under the appellations of honesty and 
 uprightness. Such was the opinion of the parlia- 
 ment of Provence, concerning these Provincial 
 Letters. By their order, they were publicly burnt, 
 as being filled with calumies, falsehoods, supposi- 
 tions, and defamation. Such are the words of the 
 sentence passed upon them. The archbishop of 
 Mechlin, called them injurious, scandalous, crafty 
 impostures, and their authors insolent defamers. 
 Four French bishops, with nine doctors of the fa- 
 culty of Paris, whom the king had charged to exa- 
 mine and report upon them, did not handle them 
 more tenderly. The following is a copy of their 
 report,
 
 187 
 
 " We, the undersigned, having been deputed by 
 ** the king to pass our judgment upon a book, which 
 " is intituled, Provincial Letters of Louis de Mon- 
 ** talte, fyc. ; after having diligently examined it, 
 * we certify, that the heresies of Jansenius, which 
 " have been condemned by the church, are there 
 ** maintained and defended, and that not only in the 
 " letters themselves, but also in the notes of Wil- 
 " liam Wendrock, and likewise in the disquisitions 
 " of Paul lrena?us, which are annexed unto it. 
 *' This is so evident, that if any one deny it, he can 
 " net have read the book, or, if he has read it, he 
 ** -could not have understood it; or, which would be 
 <r still worse, he would net hold for heretical, what 
 fc the sovereign pontiffs, what the Gallican church, 
 ft and the sacred faculty of Paris have condemned 
 " as such. We testify also, that abuse and inso- 
 " lence are so common to these three authors, that 
 " saving the Jansenists, they spare no one whatso- 
 " ever; neither popes, bishops, nor the sovereign, 
 * e nor his principal ministers, nor the sacred faculty 
 "of Paris, nor religious orders ; and therefore the 
 <f book is worthy of all the pains and penalties 
 ** which the laws pronounce against defamatory and 
 " heretical libels. 
 
 tf . Done at Paris, -this ?th day of September, in 
 " the year 1660. HENRY DE LAMOTTE, bishop of 
 " Rennes. HARDOUIN, -bishop of Rhodes. FRANCIS, 
 te bishop of Amiens. CHARLES., bishop of Soissons. 
 "CHAPEL, curate of St. James. MOUEL, BAIL, 
 " NICOLAI, GRANDJN, SAUSSOY, DE GANCY., CHA- 
 " M.ILJ.ARD, DE LESTOCQ.'- 
 
 After this judgment of the bishops and doctors of
 
 188 
 
 the Sorbonne, the council of state condemned the 
 Provincial Letters to be publicly burnt; and at 
 Rome, too, they were condemned as heretical and 
 slanderous. 
 
 These authorities surely suffice to prove, that this 
 work of Pascal, carries., upon the face of it, both 
 ignorance and malice. We will, nevertheless, take 
 in hand the refutation of one of the most serious 
 charges laid by this author against the Jesuits, in 
 order to shew more clearly with what extreme dif- 
 fidence he ought to be read by any person who is in 
 search of truth. 
 
 In the 5th Provincial Letter, Pascal charges the 
 Jesuits with permitting the Christians in China and 
 India to commit idolatry : " They have" says he, 
 *' directors for all manner of persons ; and they 
 te answer so well to every question put to them, 
 * that when they are in countries where a crucified 
 " God passes for folly, they suppress the scandal of 
 " the cross, and only preach up Jesus Christ glori- 
 " fied, not Jesus Christ suffering ; as they did in 
 " China and India, where they permitted the chris- 
 " tians to practise downright idolatry, with this sub- 
 * tie invention of concealing an image of Jesus 
 " Christ under their clothes, teaching them to refer 
 " mentally to that image the public adorations 
 " which they paid to the idol of Chacim-choan, and 
 " their Keum-fucum, as Gravina, the Dominican, 
 "reproaches them with; and as it is witnessed in a 
 ,". Spanish memorial presented to Philip IV of Spain, 
 ** by the Cordeliers of the Philipine islands, as 
 f< reported by Thomks Hurtado, in his book inti- 
 *' tuled, the Martyrdom of Faith, p. 427 ; in such
 
 189 
 
 " manner, that the congregation of cardinals de 
 " propaganda fide, wl^ere obliged to issue special 
 '' inhibitions to the Jesuits, under pain of excom- 
 " munication., to allow of any acts of idolatry upon 
 " any pretexts whatever, or to conceal the mystery 
 tf of the cross from any of those whom they instruct 
 " in religion ; commanding them most expressly to 
 " receive none to baptism, till they have that know- 
 " ledge, and enjoining them to expose, in all their 
 " churches, an image of our Lord crucified, as it 
 " is more fully set forth in the decree of that con- 
 " gregation, given on the 9th of July, 1646, signed 
 ce by the cardinal CAPONI. Thus have they con- 
 " ducted themselves in every part of the world, 
 " under colour and favour of the doctrine of proba- 
 " ble opinion, which is the source and basis of all 
 " this irregularity and scandal." 
 
 This charge includes two principal heads, 1, of 
 passing over in silence the mystery of the cross, in 
 those countries where this mystery scandalized the 
 pagan ; 2, of allowing the practice of idolatry 
 to Christians, recommending to them to refer men- 
 tally to the image of Jesus Christ, concealed under 
 their clothes, the public adoration they paid to their 
 idols. Pascal brings in evidence, to substantiate 
 this horrid crime ; 1, the testimony of Gravina 
 the Dominican; 2, a memorial presented to the 
 king of Spain by the Cordeliers of the Philipine 
 islands; 3, a decree of the congregation de pro- 
 paganda, which forbids the Jesuits, in particular, 
 under pain of excommunication, to keep up this 
 horrid practice. We will begin by considering the
 
 190 
 
 most weighty objection, which is the decree of pro- 
 paganda. 
 
 There was no decree upon this subject in the 
 year 1646, but in 1645. Again, it was not passed 
 in July, but in September. The name of cardinal 
 Caponi appears not upon it ; it is signed by cardinal 
 Ginetti. These little observations we consider of 
 trifling consequence ; they serve however to show 
 the inaccuracy of the author who quotes, and who 
 must not therefore be considered infallible. Let us 
 come to the pith of the question. 
 
 When, in China, any person solicited the honour 
 of being graduated a doctor, he was called upon to 
 render some ceremonious forms to the memory of 
 Confucius. In the beginning, the Jesuits, and the 
 greater part of the missionaries of the different reli- 
 gious orders, considered these ceremonies purely 
 civil, and allowed their neophytes to attend them. 
 Some however saw something of an idolatrous wor- 
 ship in them, and severely prohibited their converts 
 from conforming to them. In the mean-while, fa- 
 ther Morales proposed to propaganda his difficulties, 
 amongst which were the following queries; namely, 
 whether it be lawful to prostrate oneself before the 
 idol Chin-choaniy and to sacrifice to Confucius. 
 The congregation decided, that it was not lawful to 
 
 o o 
 
 sacrifice to Confucius. Upon this point the Jesuits 
 agreed perfectly with propaganda, and with the 
 pope who approved of their answers; but they pre- 
 tended, that the ceremonies observed in honour of 
 this philosopher of China, were in no sense a sa- 
 orifice, but merely profane rites and honours, such
 
 191 
 
 as a scholar makes to his master, as an acknowledg- 
 ment of the respect and deference, in which he holds 
 his person and character. But some enemies of the 
 society spread abroad the news, that the fathers 
 allowed of the adoration of idols, and that they 
 concealed from the pagans the mystery of the cross. 
 Without pronouncing at all that the Jesuits were 
 guilty of these excesses, the sacred congregation 
 addressed the decree alluded to by Pascal, not to 
 the Jesuits in particular, but to all the missionaries, 
 of whatever order or institute they were; Omnibus 
 et singulis missionariis, cujuscumquc ordinis, re/?- 
 gionis et instituti ; and if the sacred congregation 
 added the words, even to the religious of the so- 
 ciety of Jesus, f etiam societatis JesuJ one must not 
 conclude with Pascal, that this notorious prevarica- 
 tion was specially inhibited to the Jesuits, under 
 pain of excommunication ; because the clause, etiam 
 societatis Jesu, was ihe ordinary style (stylus cu- 
 rue) in all the decrees concerning religious bodies, 
 as will appear evident to any one who will give him- 
 self the trouble of throwing his eye over the Bulla- 
 rium. It is also to be remarked, that this question, 
 concerning the Chinese ceremonies, was, upon the 
 whole, difficult and embarrassing; that, in the com- 
 mencement of the dispute, the Dominicans and se- 
 veral other missionaries thought with the Jesuits ; 
 that, notwithstanding the decree of 1645, propa- 
 ganda authorized, by another decree of 1656, all 
 the missionaries to allow of these exterior rites and 
 ceremonies, as being purely civil or political, and 
 that it was after very long discussion, that the holy 
 see at last proscribed them, by a definitive sentence
 
 192 
 
 of condemnation. Pascal has very fully cited the 
 decree of 1645, but has very carefully avoided any 
 mention of that of 1656, 
 
 As to the memorial of the Cordeliers of the Phi- 
 Jipine islands, it is in the well known style of a cer- 
 tain Diego Collado, a turbulent firebrand, notorious 
 for his impostures and inconsistencies, and who 
 makes a most disgraceful figure in the annals of his 
 order. The authority for fastening this memorial 
 upon him, is the positive assurance of Navarette, a 
 Dominican friar, who once was one of the mast ar- 
 dent enemies of the Jesuits, but, after he had been 
 raised to an archbishopric, became one of their 
 warmest apologists, and most zealous protectors. 
 He was not the only man of weight who, at that 
 time, stood forward in defence of the society. Two 
 bishops of the Philipine islands wrote to the pope, 
 that they felt themselves obliged in conscience to 
 apprize his holiness, that they were fully acquaint- 
 ed with the falsity of the charges, that had been 
 exhibited against these fathers of the society in that 
 memorial, and in general reports. And father Sar- 
 petri, a Dominican and a missionary in China, certi- 
 fied in writing, " that the fathers of the society, 
 " had announced in China Jesus Christ crucified, 
 ' not only by preaching, but also by printed books 
 " in the Chinese language, great numbers of which 
 tf they had forced into circulation ; that they ex- 
 " plain with great care and perseverance to their 
 " neophytes, the mysteries of the passion of our 
 " blessed Redeemer ; that in some of the residences 
 ({ of the fathers, there are brotherhoods of the sa- 
 " cred passions j and that very recently, the great,
 
 193 
 
 *' persecutor of our holy faith, called Yam-Quam- 
 " Sein, reproached the missionaries with nothing 
 te more than that, in preaching up their gospel, 
 te they held forth a crucified man, as the supreme 
 *' God of heaven and earth; and this he proved 
 <( from the very books published by the Jesuit mis- 
 tf sionaries/'j 
 
 He added, that fearing lest by his silence he might 
 be presumed to countenance the false calumnies 
 that were set afloat concerning the Jesuits, he felt 
 himself bounden publicly to declare, that the Je- 
 suits did not permit idolatry, and that they did 
 openly preach up Jesus Christ crucified. This 
 piece is deposited in the library of the Jesuits' col- 
 lege at Paris. The author of the work, intituled, 
 Defence of the new Christians and the Missiona- 
 ries of China, invites those, who might raise scru- 
 ples concerning the authenticity of this piece, to 
 convince themselves by ocular demonstration of its 
 originality. After such conclusive evidence, little 
 does it avail us to know what Gravina has thought 
 fit to think or say upon the subject. It is not upon 
 the testimony of a religious man, either misinformed 
 or prejudiced, that we believe -in facts vouched for 
 by historians of much higher credit than he can pre- 
 tend to, that we are to charge with the horrid crime 
 of idolatry, apostolic labourers in the vineyard, who 
 brave the dangers of the sea, and constantly expose 
 themselves to the immediate horrors of bloody per- 
 secution, in order to preach the gospel of Christ to 
 the idolaters. A critical judgment of that sort, 
 would bespeak, in downright earnest, a very loose 
 moralist, who ought in consistency to rouse the hor- 
 
 2 c
 
 ror and indignation of the whole tight-laced school 
 of austerity against him. 
 
 What are we then to think of the tale of the con- 
 cealed crucifix, with which Pascal has so pleasantly 
 enlivened his narrative? Is it not palpably a fiction, 
 not even alluded to in the decree of propaganda of 
 1645, but admirably served up to suit, adorn and 
 give zest to the Provincial Letters? If the Jesuits 
 thought that it sufficed to carry a concealed cruci- 
 fix under one's clothes, to avoid the commission of 
 idolatry by public acts of adoration, whence comes 
 it that they resorted not to this pious fraud them- 
 selves, to avoid the punishment and death which 
 awaited their profession of Christianity ? About one 
 hundred Jesuits were murdered in Japan alone. 
 Some underwent the frightful torment of being gra- 
 dually suffocated with water, others of being burnt 
 to death by slow fires. It would have been an easy 
 task to conceal a crucifix under their clothes, and 
 then prostrate themselves before the idols, mentally 
 referring this idolatrous worship to Jesus Christ. 
 If they had taught, that this refined direction of the 
 intention was a full excuse for apostasy, would 
 they, for the mere pleasure of suffering, have dis- 
 ported in the unheard of torments of a lingering 
 death from water and fire ? This must be allowed 
 to be truly a very singular piece of ambition; and 
 if this be the achme of Jesuitical policy, in lieu of 
 lying open to the imputation of being wily and ma- 
 licious intriguers, they ought to be dubbed senseless 
 drivellers and harmless ideots. I know not what 
 Pascal would have replied to this short argument ; 
 but I certainly feel that it is unanswerable, as to the
 
 195 
 
 fact of the concealed crucifix, demonstrating, that 
 the whole invention is but a malicious tale thrown 
 into the batch, admirably calculated to heighten the 
 relish of the Provincial Letters. 
 
 It is high time to put a finishing hand to this dis- 
 cussion,, by summing up the consequences and re- 
 sults of this chapter. The plot ascribed by Pascal 
 to the Jesuits, for attaining universal dominion, by 
 directing all consciences at the expense of th& 
 whole morality of the gospel, is a downright chi- 
 mera. The evidence produced by this writer, to 
 substantiate the reality of the conspiracy, is irrele- 
 vant and inconclusive to the last degree. The 
 Provincial Letters, though written in a style of 
 elegance and humour, cannot recommend them- 
 selves by any pretension to impartiality, truth or 
 honesty. The public justice of the country has 
 made a severe example of them. True it is, that 
 the Jesuits have had amongst them some rather 
 loose casuists, among whom are to be reckoned 
 above all, fathers Bauny, Escobar and Pirot, the au- 
 thor of the Casuist's Apology; but if we except the 
 doctrine of probable opinion, which was, for more 
 than half a century, the common doctrine of all the 
 religious orders and the catholic universities, there is 
 not to be found in the writings of any of the fathers 
 of the society, one proposition having a tendency to 
 lax morality, which has not been combated by ten 
 or twenty other divines of the society. Th ge- 
 nerals of the order of St. Ignatius have made many 
 regulations, to prevent or abolish abuses which a 
 fected the purity of their teaching; nor do the ap- 
 probations by the official revisers of books written
 
 196 
 
 by Jesuits, go any way to prove that the particu- 
 lar opinions contained in them was the doctrine of 
 the whole society. Nothing therefore can be more 
 unfounded, nor more calumniating, than to con- 
 demn the whole society of that laxity in morals 
 which their enemies place to their account. 
 
 We have not spoken of several other works writ- 
 ten in the same spirit, and with the same upright- 
 ness, as the Provincials ; because they have been 
 forgotten, and the facts and principles which we 
 have brought forward, are a clear and evident re- 
 futation of them. A certain modern author of a 
 very thick book,, intituled, The Jesuits, such as they 
 have ever been in the political, religious and moral 
 departments of the state, pretends, that there are 
 but three or four errors in the Extracts of Asser- 
 tions of the persons calling themselves Jesuits. We 
 shall do .no more than refer him to the Answer of 
 those Assertions, published by Griffet and de Me- 
 noux. He will then convince himself, that, instead 
 of four errors in the quotations, he should have 
 said that there were twelve hundred downright 
 falsifications, including studied and intentional sup- 
 pressions of the text, to give to the quotations, as 
 set forth in the assertions, a sense directly contrary 
 to the plain and obvious meaning of the original 
 authors. This is to be sure a slight error of 
 calculation, a pardonable trip in the chapter of ob- 
 loquy, especially in a book written ex professo upon 
 the morality of these very religious men. If, to com- 
 promise the difference, I shall give up to the ancient 
 magistrate six hundred of these falsifications, there 
 would still remain six hundred more, which, without
 
 197 
 
 being too severe upon the authors, one may confi- 
 dently assert so let down a critical work, as to throw 
 it into that class of party productions which com- 
 mand no esteem and inspire no confidence. 
 
 Some readers maybe surprised, and perhaps take 
 scandal, at the freedom with which I have spoken of 
 Pascal's Provincial Letters : they may think, that, 
 in lieu of respecting talent and genius, I contemn 
 them with equal presumption and indecency. No ; 
 I contemn neither talent nor genius, when em- 
 ployed in the cause of truth and the defence of in- 
 nocence. But when, led astray by a spirit of party 
 and revenge, they trample upon one and the other, 
 without shame, honesty or remorse; from that mo- 
 ment I am imperiously summoned to marshal my- 
 self on the side of history, innocence and justice. 
 I admire Pascal when, even in an early age, by an in- 
 comparable vigour of mind, he surmounts the rugged 
 difficulties in geometry, and throws new lights upon 
 the science of physics. I admire him still more, 
 when, giving new energies to his mental powers, he 
 seizes, with unprecedented efforts, the unlimited re- 
 lations which approximate mortal man with his Crea- 
 tor, and displays new and profound ideas of the 
 oeconomy of Christianity. But, by a criminal abuse 
 of talent, does he condescend to the shameful, the 
 pitiable excess of pouring out ridicule and abuse 
 upon a learned, a virtuous body of men, which has 
 enriched science by its discoveries, and honoured 
 mankind by its virtues. Then, and not till then, 
 supported by truth and justice, dare I, maugre my 
 personal weakness, stand up against this Colossus, 
 to give battle to this Goliah. It is not I, who charge
 
 198 
 
 him with being a calumniator, it is truth : it is not 
 I, who condemn him, it is justice : it is not I, who 
 triumph over him,, it is innocence, outraged inno- 
 cence, that is avenged by her satellites, truth and 
 justice. 
 
 With difficulty may I say it, in closing this chap- 
 ter, with great difficulty do I check the indignation 
 which arises at the violent efforts of some, to cry 
 down the Jesuits in the eyes of the public, under 
 the pretext of avenging degraded morality. The 
 public teaching of these learned religious men was 
 pure and spotless. They trained up youth to mora- 
 lity and religion, with a zeal crowned with success. 
 Kings, pontiffs, cities, provinces and empires, ho- 
 noured the society with their esteem and benevo- 
 lence. Then, to deprive the institute of this sweet 
 and gratifying reward for its services, they falsify 
 the works of the disciples of St. Ignatius ; they 
 bring to life books that had long been buried in the 
 dust of libraries, of which neither the titles nor au- 
 thors were longer known ; they sully the public 
 mind, by the revival of opinions forgotten or de- 
 tested by the Jesuits; they unwarrantably fasten 
 the aberrations of some few individuals upon the en- 
 tire body ; they set to scorn and naught those im- 
 mutable rules of honour and justice, which all tri- 
 bunals have unexceptionably observed towards the 
 most notorious malefactors; and this last mentioned 
 conduct of theirs is, above all the rest, marked with 
 violence and atrocity. What body on earth exists, 
 of which no single individual ever exposed him- 
 self to censure ? If whole institutions be to be made 
 responsible for the particular actions of each indi-
 
 vidual of their members, must they not all be abo- 
 lished, as so many schools to teach and encourage 
 vice, as so many temples dedicated to the indul- 
 gence of all the bad passions ? The whole order of 
 judges and magistrates ought to be therefore put an 
 end to, because some of them have, and some ac- 
 tually do oppress the poor and sell justice. You 
 must destroy all military orders, and every species of 
 military service, because several of that class and pro- 
 fession are turbulent libertines and murderers ; as 
 well as chevaliers or knights decorated with the marks 
 of bravery and honour, who disgrace with dastardly 
 meanness those colours covered with glory, under 
 which they ought to sacrifice their lives for their 
 prince and country. You must therefore trample in 
 the dust, and consign to ignominy and annihilation, 
 all governments, monarchical, aristocratic and re- 
 publican, because amongst kings there are tyrants, 
 turbulent and ambitious leaders in aristocracies, and 
 vile flatterers of the ferocious majesty of the mob in 
 all republics. In a word, the human species must 
 cut each other's throats, or their own, to entomb 
 the very last of the race, because as long as mankind 
 exists, so long will vice find its altars, and the earth 
 bring forth monsters. What excesses will not that 
 system produce, which blasts and destroys whole bo- 
 dies of men for the isolated crimes of the individual? 
 To follow it up in practice, as it is thus holden in 
 theory, would convert the world into a heap of ashes 
 and devastation. Such however is the barbarous 
 justice dealt out against the society of Jesuits, to 
 proscribe and devote them to infamy. History asserts
 
 00 
 
 it, and posterity will hand it over as a fact from ge- 
 neration to generation. 
 
 Some individual Jesuits have taught rather lax 
 morality, therefore all Jesuits are vile corrupters of 
 morals. Within the space of a whole century, there 
 was one instance of a Jesuit having committed an 
 act of bankruptcy; from that moment all Jesuits 
 are denounced to the public as interested and cove- 
 tous merchants, and infamous bankrupts. A father 
 Guignard kept in his room some pamphlets, publish- 
 ed in the time of the league ; and therefore all the 
 order is stigmatized with the odious denomination 
 of seditious regicides. Thus confounding the inno- 
 cent with the guilty, they have dealt out a general 
 condemnation, en masse, against a society of twenty 
 thousand religious men, as a town taken by assault 
 is delivered up to pillage and flames. At the thought 
 of such illegal process, and such unaccountable 
 judgments, who is the man of equity or honour, who 
 will not exclaim with indignant zeal, May such 
 tragic scenes, in which passion barbarously immo- 
 lated traduced innocence, never be renewed in times 
 to come. The glory of nations demands it, it is 
 the wish of human nature, it is the call of religion;
 
 201 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Qf the Consequences of the Destruction of the 
 Jesuits. 
 
 r 
 
 FRANCE has lost in the Jesuits an academy of 
 learned men, a valuable reunion of teachers of abi- 
 lity and virtue, which form the last rampart of 
 religion and morality, and a powerful support of 
 the throne of the descendants of St. Louis. 
 
 France has lost in the Jesuits an Academy of 
 learned Men. 
 
 The unbelievers of the last century turned to ri- 
 dicule all orders of monastic regulars, because they 
 were religious institutions. Yet were these monas- 
 teries, so cried down, vast laboratories consecrated 
 to useful pursuits, which have enriched the sciences 
 'and fine arts with precious discoveries and works of 
 immortal fame. Freed from the cares of a family, 
 strangers to civil or political employments, habi- 
 tuated by the rules of their order to an austere and 
 active life, these monks, of whom the fashion is to 
 speak with a smile of contempt, and to impress the 
 vulgar with the idea of their being creatures seclud- 
 ed from and quite useless to society, these I say are 
 
 9 D
 
 202 
 
 the very persons, who in the days of barbarism and 
 ignorance, have preserved the precious monuments 
 of the Greek and Roman literature, and, in these 
 latter days, they have projected and executed vast 
 undertakings, to which the life and fortune of any 
 individual would have been incompetent. In the 
 libraries of their order, they preserved books and 
 manuscripts, from which they drew knowledge; in 
 the members of their institute they had zealous co- 
 operators, who wrote what the more learned dic- 
 tated, lightened for them the labour of research, 
 and contributed, each according to his means, to the 
 common stock of knowledge and reflection for the 
 composition of what was to be brought before the 
 public; and, amongst the valuable donations, which 
 the piety of our ancestors made to these magnificent 
 institutions, there frequently were complete print- 
 ing offices, to put to the press those immense works 
 of erudition, which had been produced by the zeal- 
 ous and unceasing labours of several generations of 
 these religious. In France, the Benedictines, the 
 Jesuits, the Oratorians, have strucken out new and 
 valuable lights for the literary and learned world. 
 "Were our libraries divested of their productions, 
 how many previous monuments would not be want- 
 ing to criticism, taste, history, and every part of 
 science. 
 
 The limits of a small work, like this, permit me 
 not to display at full the numerous services render- 
 ed to the world at large, by the disciples of St. Ben- 
 net and cardinal de Berulle, in the departments of 
 human knowledge ; I have only to speak of the Je- 
 suits, which will not, 1 assume, give any handle or
 
 203 
 
 rise to jealousy or self-love from instituting rival 
 parallels. 
 
 Gifted with eminent powers of discerning men 
 and talents, the Jesuits were particularly happy in 
 their selection of the youth who solicited to be ad- 
 mitted into their order. They possessed also won- 
 derful sagacity in discovering and encouraging each 
 one's peculiar talents, and employing it in the man- 
 ner most available. On the other hand, very few 
 were to be found in their society, who were devoid 
 of any talent, or who were possessed of that awk- 
 ward, or if we may use the expression, that bastard 
 species of talent, which mars whatever it touches 
 or approaches, and which lets down a congregation 
 in the eyes of the public, in lieu of ensuring their 
 esteem and reverence. If a young Jesuit mani- 
 fested any of that fire of oratory, which blazed 
 forth in a Bourdaloue, a la Rue, aSegaud, a Neu- 
 ville, they immediately brought him forward in some 
 frequented pulpits, or destined him for the noble 
 function of some national mission ; if he shewed a 
 disposition for the more abstruse and profound 
 sciences, they applied him to philosophy, to mathe- 
 matics, to divinity, and to the labours of erudite 
 research. Thus were trained up to the profound 
 sciences, Sirmond, Petavius, Bougeant, Daniel^ 
 Tournemine, Parennin, Charlevoix, the Bollan- 
 dists, <&c. Such as are inclined to relish the sweets 
 of French literature, and to improve it by the study 
 and application of the Greek and Roman classics, 
 were let into the flowery meads of eloquence and 
 poetry, to make that branch of literature, and even 
 the theatre, the study and object of their literary
 
 204 
 
 pursuits. Brumoy, du Cerceau, Bouhours, Ra 
 pin, Juvency, Berthier, were launched into this 
 brilliant career, and have left behind them a name 
 and reputation ever dear to men of literature. To 
 those, in whom a singular piety and apostolic zeal 
 appeared to have lighted up the flame of that 
 magnanimous ambition, which inspires them to lead 
 mankind to happiness by the sacred torch of the 
 gospel, and force them from the tyranny of preju- 
 dice and passion, were pointed out the vast empire 
 of China, the Ottoman empire, the deserts of Africa, 
 the islands and interminable forests of America, 
 These regions were granted to them as vast inheri- 
 tances, which they were to improve and cultivate 
 with the sweat of their brows, and which they were 
 to fertilize by blood, but not by foreign blood, 
 like the invaders of other countries, but by that 
 \vhich runs through their own veins, as it behoves 
 the disciples of a crucified God. To this wise se- 
 lection of their subjects, to this practical discern- 
 ment of their inclinations and talents, is ascribable 
 that literary reputation and fame, which no one 
 denies to have been attained by the society. Out of 
 several testimonies of esteem, which they have re- 
 ceived from the mouths of men of real learning, I 
 crave leave to select one from the pen of M. Cha- 
 teaubriand. This celebrated writer has said, " Ci- 
 " vilized Europe has sustained an irreparable loss in 
 ft the Jesuits. They were naturalists, chemists, bo- 
 * c tanists, mathematicians, mechanics, astronomers,* 
 
 * We should not here pass over the testimony of Lalande con- 
 ceruiog the Jesuit astronomers. " Amongst the absurd calum-
 
 " poets, historians, translators, antiquaries, and 
 *< journalists, there was no branch of science, 
 " which they did not cultivate with brilliant success- 
 " Bourdaloue brought back Roman eloquence, Bru- 
 " moy introduced us to the Greek theatre ; Le- 
 " comte, Parennin, Charlevoix, du Cerceau, Sa- 
 " nadon, Duhalde, Noel, Bouhours, Daniel, Tour- 
 " nemine, Maimbourg, La Rue, Juvency, Rapin, 
 (' Vaniere, Com mire, Sirmond, Bougeant, Petau, 
 " have left names which ever will be honoured." 
 This vast multitude of elegant orators, of apostolic 
 labourers, of distinguished writers, that were pro- 
 duced from the society, to their immortal credit, 
 amongst all civilized people, excited, it is true, the 
 jealousy of many other bodies, and more especially 
 of the universities. But this low and groveling pas- 
 sion, the effects of which sometimes are disguised 
 under the affectation of pure zeal, manifests, in this 
 instance, the eminent merit of the society, and fur- 
 nishes fresh and conclusive evidence, that in their 
 destruction France suffered the loss of an academy 
 of learned men. 
 
 " nies, which the rage of the Protestants and Jansenists raised 
 " against them, I particularly noticed la Chalotais, who carrried 
 " his ignorance or blindness to that pitch, as to assert in his 
 <l pleadings, that the Jesuits had riot produced any mathema- 
 l{ ticians. I was then working at my astronomical table; I insert- 
 " ed an article upon the Jesuit astronomers; their number asto- 
 " nished me. I afterwards met la Chalotais at Saintes, on the 
 " 20th of October, 1773; I upbraided him for his injustice., 
 
 " and he agreed with me." 
 
 r '' 
 
 r
 
 206 
 
 11. 
 
 France has lost in the Jesuits a valuable Reunion of 
 
 i u .Teachers of Abilities and Virtues. 
 -&* ff. i ;'?:yi':'J -i) <7W A {!*>:'* ... ':'.*.? .-hf-cri ' 
 Those, who are entrusted by the community with 
 the charge of public instruction, are armed with a 
 double commission ; not only to train up youth to 
 the study of the sciences, but also to enkindle in 
 their hearts the love of virtue. Upon the success- 
 ful performance of these two duties, the happiness 
 of private families and the prosperity of the empire 
 will generally depend. If these trainers of youth 
 merely cultivate talent, without guarding the heart 
 from the tyranny of its passions, they will give ta 
 the state men puffed up with the pride of intellect, 
 but miserable and contemptible slaves to their vices; 
 they banish virtue from the heart of their country, 
 and with her they prescribe honour from families, 
 and happiness from the nation ; and should they in- 
 culcate any social or religious virtues, without giv- 
 ing a happy direction to rising talent, they deprive 
 the state of the credit and glory which the sciences 
 and fine arts are so admirably calculated to ensure. 
 This latter evil is, in truth, much short of the for- 
 mer, since solid virtues, resting upon true princi- 
 ples, are the real basis of all governments ; and not 
 the light of science, be it possessed in the highest 
 degree of perfection, that it is possible for man to 
 attain upon earth. It is however a considerable 
 evil, in as much as it directly counteracts the object 
 of public education, and one of the greatest bles-
 
 207 
 
 sings of society. To prove the abilities and powers 
 of the Jesuits, in giving public education, I must 
 shew their signal success, both in teaching the 
 sciences and in training up youth to virtue. 
 
 To succeed in teaching, three things are neces- 
 sary in the teacher; knowledge, constancy in fol- 
 lowing up a good method, and the power of excit- 
 ing emulation. Without knowledge, the instructor 
 is an ignoramus, and not a master; without punc- 
 tuality, in following up a good method, he is an 
 auk ward pedagogue, who leads his pupil astray, 
 instead of being an enlightened guide to conduct 
 him to the goal of his labours; and without the 
 power of exciting emulation, both science and me- 
 thod are no more than mere speculative theories, 
 whereas, they ought practically to improve and ex- 
 tend the light of science. Those Jesuits who 
 taught in their colleges, must have had knowledge. 
 Before they undertook a course of teaching, the 
 novice consecrated two whole years in retirement, in 
 that profound solitude, whither his vocation led 
 him; he there meditated upon the eternal truths, 
 broke in and formed his temper, unceasingly prac- 
 tising every Christian virtue in the most sublime de- 
 gree; he there contracted a habit of regular and 
 austere deportment, and acquired taste for serious 
 pursuits, which dry up in the very root every disposi- 
 tion to levity, which diametrically oppose science in 
 every stage. After having laid these foundations of < 
 wholesome knowledge, he made himself a perfect 
 scholar, in order in time to become a perfect teach- 
 er; for five years successively, and with unabating 
 assiduity, he strengthened himself in the learnei
 
 208 
 
 languages, and the classical pursuits of poetry artd 
 eloquence, in philosophy, natural history, and ma- 
 thematics; then, and then only, did the institute 
 allow him, not to fill the more honourable chairs of 
 the higher studies, but only to teach the lower clas- 
 ses (or forms) ; they could only attain the higher de- 
 grees, after having been long trained and exercised 
 in teaching the lower. One readily conceives, that 
 under such a course of discipline, young men, gifted 
 with talents, taste, and genius, fond of literary 
 pursuits, and completely broken in to regularity 
 and obedience, became, after the lapse of some few 
 years, men highly instructed, and professors of the 
 first merit. 
 
 These enlightened masters followed the very best 
 method of teaching, which had been sanctioned by 
 deep reflection upon long experience. Rules of 
 consummate wisdom, drawn up by men of eminent 
 ability and knowledge, was a code of elementary 
 instruction to the young professor; it was known 
 under the title of Ratio studiorum. Whatever 
 concerned the internal discipline of the schools, the 
 means of exciting emulation, the conduct of the 
 professors to their scholars, was there fully and 
 faithfully set forth, with all necessary details. This 
 was a constant, universal, invariable rule, which 
 every Jesuit was bounden perfectly to know, and 
 incessantly to keep in mind, from which no one 
 should ever swerve, it being always a matter of in- 
 finite danger, to leave to the arbitrary discretion of 
 individuals, to prejudice, and to the various work- 
 ings of the imagination, the rules which ensure 
 the success of scholastic exercises. It will be im-
 
 209 
 
 possible for me to particularize each article of this 
 code of classical legislation, if I may so express 
 myself, all of which contributed proportionably to 
 the perpetuation of that successful method of teach- 
 ing, for which the colleges of the society were 
 so renowned. The narrow limits of this book pre- 
 vent this examination ; we refer our readers to this 
 subject admirably treated in the Apology of the In* 
 stitute and of the Doctrine of the Jesuits* The 
 authority [ shall now quote is of the greatest weight, 
 no less than that of the father of modern philoso- 
 phy. " As to what relates to the instruction of 
 " youth," says lord chancellor Bacon, " there is but 
 * f one word to say ; consult the Jesuits' schools, for 
 " there is nothing better than what they prac- 
 tise f He had before explained himself in this 
 sense, upon the method which these religious men 
 pursued in teaching youth, at the begnining of that 
 work. We have already quoted that remarkable 
 passage, which expresses his enthusiastic admiration 
 of those fathers, that he cannot contemplate the 
 zeal and talents of the Jesuits, for training up youth 
 to science and virtue, without recalling to his mind, 
 what Agesilaus said of Pharnabasus j Such as you 
 are, why are you not one of us. 
 
 In a word, the Jesuits had an astonishing talent 
 for exciting a noble emulation, that necessary ri- 
 valry which is the soul of science, and the spring 
 
 * Chap. xxr. and xxn. This work, almost forgotten, because 
 it is not very modern, is a model of sound reasoning, and a mas- 
 ter-piece of eloquence. 
 
 + Ad paedagogicam quod attinet, brevissimum foret dictu: 
 *' consule scholas Jesuitarum : nil enim quod in usum vcnit, his 
 '* melius." Dedignitate et augment, scientiarum, lib, vn, p. 138, 
 
 2 E
 
 210 
 
 which gives energy to talent, even from the very 
 cradle. To distribute with inflexible impartiality 
 rewards and punishments, that is to say, to bring 
 prudently into action the two great springs of the 
 hearts of youths, as they are of the adult, to study 
 with indefatigable anxiety the characters of their 
 scholars, to draw them on to their duties by mo- 
 tives congenial with their dispositions, to make no 
 allowances for birth, but to square all by merit; al- 
 ways to follow the light of reason, never to be 
 transported by gusts of passion, to divide the school 
 into two rival armies, marshalled under the opposite 
 banners of Rome and Carthage, challenging each 
 other to classical combats, and gaining over each 
 other alternately by continually renewing efforts, 
 the palms of triumph, to honour the conquerors with 
 the titles of emperors, consuls, and commanders 5 
 titles, remarks Mr. Dallas, a Protestant, in them- 
 selves childish, if you please, but as necessary for 
 children, as titles of honour and coloured ribands 
 are for men; add then to these motives of interest 
 and reason for making progress in science, the more 
 efficient motives of an all-powerful religion, which 
 inculcates the love of labour and industry, and in- 
 spires resolution and ardour, by the attractive pro- 
 spects of eternal bliss, or the intimidating conside- 
 ration of the punishment awaiting the neglect or 
 violation of duties. Such were the principal means 
 of exciting emulation, which the institute recom- 
 mended or suggested, and which the Jesuits prac-? 
 Used with invariable success. The gravity of their 
 conduct, their affability, their mildness, the reputa- 
 tion of learning which the world in general al-
 
 2H 
 
 lowed them, gave an effect to their discourse, their 
 opinions, and their advice, which captivated the 
 heart, and rendered this emulation the more plea- 
 sant in its consequences. " These religious," says 
 M. de Bonald, " united, in an equal degree, wit and 
 " piety, politeness and austerity, the knowledge of 
 " God and of men." And M. Chateaubriand adds,* 
 " Education has never raised its head, since their 
 " fall. They were peculiarly pleasing to youth j 
 " their polished manners took off from their instruc- 
 '* tions that air of pedantic formality, which na- 
 " turally disgusts youth. As the greater part of 
 (f their professors passed in the world for men of re- 
 " fined learning, the youths committed to their 
 " charge fancied themselves in an illustrious aeade- 
 " my. They had the happy art of establishing 
 " amongst their scholars of different conditions in 
 " life a species of patronage, which ultimately be- 
 e( came very serviceable to the cause of science* 
 " These ties being formed at an age, when the 
 " heart tends naturally to generosity, were not af- 
 " terwards rent asunder, but laid the foundation, 
 " between the prince and the scholar, of such an- 
 (c cient and noble friendships, as we read to have 
 <f existed between the Scipios and Lrelius." 
 
 But facts go further than authorities. From 
 their first institution, the Jesuits had the reputation 
 of being enlightened men and able instructors. 
 The anxiety of sovereigns to call them to their states; 
 the astonishing rapidity with which colleges were 
 founded in Italy, in Spain, in Portugal, and in 
 
 Legislation primitive.
 
 Germany, furnish full evidence of their possessing 
 the double advantage of training up youth to science 
 and virtue, and that their method was eminently 
 successful. At the death of St. Ignatius, they had 
 above a hundred colleges under their, direction in 
 different states ; and within very few years after the 
 death of this venerated patriarch, they were in- 
 creased to more than four hundred. We have seen, 
 at the beginning of this work, that the ambassadors 
 from the emperor and other princes of Germany, 
 had solicited the council of Trent to found new col- 
 leges of this order, as the surest means of preserv- 
 ing the Catholic provinces from the contagion of 
 heresy. If the Jesuits had not, by their polished 
 address and affability, known how to gain over the 
 hearts of youth ; if, by their brilliant success, 
 they had not commanded the confidence of private 
 families and the esteem of the public, their colleges 
 would have been deserted, or very low in credit^ 
 nor would they have been citadels of the church, 
 nor the dread of heresy. 
 
 In France, as well as in other countries, they 
 bore the palm in every employment of public edu- 
 cation. Their success awakened the jealousy of 
 the eldest daughter of our monarchs. The youth 
 of our most distinguished families ran eagerly af- 
 ter the instructions of these new teachers, whose 
 renown had reached the four corners of the king- 
 dom, which let down the credit of our university, 
 and infused into it the seeds of acrimonious hatred 
 and jealousy, whence sprang the root of all their 
 quarrels with the Jesuits. And when, under the 
 reign of Henry IV., these fathers were forced to
 
 213 
 
 quit the kingdom, their scholars followed them into 
 foreign countries in such numbers, that the schools 
 of the university were in a manner deserted. This 
 fact we learn from the mouth of Henry IV himself. 
 In his reply to the president Harlay, he observes, 
 " you say, that the most learned members of your 
 " parliament have learnt nothing from them : if the 
 " oldest be the most learned, you are right ; they 
 " had finished their studies before the Jesuits were 
 " known in France ; but I have heard, that such is 
 <f not the language of the other parliaments, nor in- 
 " deed is the universal sentiment of all your own. 
 " If they did not teach better than others, whence 
 ef came it, then, that by their absence your univer- 
 " sity became almost a desert, and that, in defiance 
 " of all your decrees, they follow them to Douay, 
 " and other places out of my dominions." 
 
 This fact is also vouched for by Du Boulay, the 
 historian of our university. " They frequent their 
 " schools," says he, " in crowds, and they desert 
 " those of the university ; what the university loses 
 " thereby, is so much gain to the Catholic religion, 
 " as is admitted even by the bitterest enemies of the 
 " society."* Whence arose this influx of scholars 
 into the Jesuit's colleges? I admit impartially, 
 that the gratuitous education which they gave to 
 youth, increased the number of their scholars. I 
 will also add, that the wish of many to guard their 
 children from the seduction of Calvinism, which 
 was then making rapid strides throughout France, 
 induced many of the first families about the court, 
 
 * History of the University, vol. vi. p. 9 I 6.
 
 and through the kingdom, to send them by prefer- 
 ence to the Jesuits; but it is also unquestionable, 
 that the society had gained this partiality of the 
 public by the celebrity of their professors, who 
 more perhaps than rivalled those of the university. 
 I do not assert, that the course of studies given in 
 the university of Paris was inferior to that which 
 
 tf 
 
 was given in the Jesuits' colleges; I will go no fur- 
 ther than to remark, that these two rival bodies of 
 instructors were perpetually vicing with each, for 
 the excellency of their public education, with vari- 
 ous success and in various degrees. The chairs of the 
 university have been filled by men of eminent merit ; 
 and amongst their scholars are to be reckoned some 
 men of profound learning, who have graced our an- 
 nals with their immortal names, But it would be 
 unjust, in the extreme, to rob the society of the like 
 pretensions. Flat nonsense could not be pushed 
 further by stupidity, than by the assertion, that 
 the education given in the colleges of the institute 
 was vicious and barbarous. " What are you to 
 " think," exclaims indignantly the author of the 
 Apology for the Jesuits, " of a man, that con-^ 
 " demns, as vicious and barbarous, that education 
 <f which formed so many brilliant military characters, 
 " venerated under the names of Bourbon, Conde", 
 tf Conti, Bouillon, Rohan, Soubise, Luxembourg, 
 " Villars, Brissac, Montmorenci, Duras, Brancas, 
 " Grammont, Richelieu, Nivernois, Mortemart, 
 " D'Estree, Broglie, Choiseul, Beaveau, Crequy, 
 " &c. &c. &c.; so many bright luminaries of the 
 " church, namely, La Rochefoucault, Polignac, 
 " Flechier, Bossuet, Fenelon, Huet, Bissy, Fleury,
 
 215 
 
 ** Languet, Belzunce, &c. &c. &c. ; so many il- 
 '** lustrious ornaments of the profession of the law, 
 " viz. Lamoignon, Seguier, Pontchartrain, Bi- 
 " gnon, Novion, d'Argenson, de Mesme, Lebret, 
 " Potier, Bouhier, Montesquieu, Maupeou, Pelle- 
 " tier, Amelot, Nicolai, Mole, Renault, &c. &c. 
 " &c. ; so many great and renowned men of sci- 
 " ence and literature, as Justus Lipsius, Re- 
 " gis, Descartes, Cassini, Varignon, MaleYieux, 
 ** Tournefort, Corneille, Rousseau, Crebillon, Mo- 
 *' li^r, Fontenelle, Monnoye, Marian, d'Olivet, 
 " Voltaire, Gresset, Pompingaa, la Condamine, 
 " &c. &c. &c. 
 
 Let us leave the colleges, both of the universi' 
 ty and of the Jesuits, in quiet possession of the 
 reputation they have respectively enjoyed for a 
 long series of years, even centuries, without ex- 
 citing any rival jealousy that can wound self-love; 
 let us confine our observations to this single and sim- 
 ple remark, that the existence of this rivalry for- 
 warded the progress of science, and the emulation 
 of these learned bodies rendered essential services 
 to the cause of literature. This advantage was 
 strongly noticed by the famous cardinal de Riche- 
 lieu, and he was admitted, on all hands, to have 
 been a keen and deep politician. ' He thought 
 " that the society of the Jesuits could not, without 
 " injuring the public, in whose eyes it was so re- 
 " spectable for virtue and learning, be deprived 
 " of that function which they could exercise with 
 " signal service to the state.. ...And since the im- 
 " perfection of human nature always required 
 ft some make weight or counterpoise, it wa de-
 
 216 
 
 " sirable that the university and the Jesuits should 
 ' vie with each other in teaching 1 , in order that 
 " emulation should acuminate their powers, and 
 t( that science should therehy acquire a firm footing 1 
 " in the state, that if one of them should happen to 
 " lose so sacred a deposit, it might be found in the 
 " other."* 
 
 Besides the power of forming the minds of youth 
 to learning, the Jesuits possessed the happy art of 
 moulding their hearts to the more important prac- 
 tices of virtue. 
 
 What manner of conduct, in an instructor, is re- 
 quisite to keep up, in the heart of his pupil, thg 
 reign of social and religious virtue? 1. He must 
 display before him all the duties which religion 
 and social nature sanction and require, as well as 
 the motives for performing them with fidelity and 
 perseverance; for the heart of a youth is new and 
 uncultivated soil, upon which the seeds of virtue 
 should be cast early, if it be wished that, in the 
 season when his propensities and powers are about 
 to ripen, they be not blighted nor burned up by the 
 destructive winds of the passions. What then are 
 these first seeds of virtue, but the knowledge of the 
 relative duties to God and our fellow-creatures, and 
 the powerful motives which our interest, both tem- 
 poral and eternal, holds out to perform them ? 
 2. He must, by the sway of example, give credit 
 and efficacy to the lessons of wisdom and virtue 
 which come from his lips, otherwise his lectures 
 
 * The Political Testament of Cardinal de Richelieu, part 
 i, ch. 2.
 
 and instructions, however admirable in themselves, 
 will be no more in the eyes of his pupils than idle 
 speculations, which enforce no duty, and his con- 
 duct will be considered but as the getting up of a 
 part by a player, which begets no confidence, the 
 mere trick of a juggler, that inspires, as it deserves, 
 naught but contempt. 3. He must incessantly la- 
 bour at checking and forming the dispositions of 
 his pupil, whilst they are still pliant, lest they gain 
 a head and become unmanageable, at that critical 
 turn of life when the passions acquire their full 
 force and power. To succeed therefore in this im- 
 portant object, without which the youth's virtue 
 can be neither pure nor "permanent, he must study 
 with close attention his character, to learn its strong 
 and its weak parts, and to discover the most lively 
 and deeply-rooted propensities, to the ascendency of 
 which his vicious inclinations are most likely to 
 bend. But above all, it is indispensably necessary 
 to keep alive in his mind, and in full action, the 
 powerful spring of religion. Vainly will he talk to 
 him, in the most lofty and energetic terms, of jus- 
 tice, probity, honour, and philosphy, if he binds 
 not his passions with the chain of religion ; quickly 
 will he pride himself on his liberty of action, he 
 will disdainfully reject the curb of moral institution , 
 and plunge into the sensuality of the moment, 
 heedless of justice, probity/ honour, or philosophy. 
 For, say what they will, the keenest of the philoso- 
 phists cannot disprove, that the thought of a God, 
 terrible in his judgments, magnificent in his re- 
 wards, is a more powerful and efficient check to 
 
 man on the verge of crime, than the beauty of vir- 
 
 F
 
 218 
 
 tue, the hideousness of vice, the fear of disgrace, 
 or the thirst of fame. Without applying this reli- 
 gious sanction to morality, which alone embraces 
 all cases, extends to all circumstances, interests all 
 men of every description, quality and character, it 
 is but a shadow of legislation without the reality of 
 a legislator, a law without means of being enforced, 
 a stately edifice built upon sand, that falls before 
 the first gust of wind. Never then will an instruc- 
 tor, be he gifted with the rarest and the most desir- 
 able talents, train up a pupil into a solid virtuous 
 man, if religion be not the prime ingredient in his 
 education, or if it be only resorted to as an inci- 
 dental mean of attaining virtue. Experience proves- 
 the melancholy truth ; has not our youth been more 
 depraved in their taste, more corrupt in their mo- 
 rals, since that disasterous epoch, at which impiety 
 had become popular, and had overrun every public 
 institution, in order to burn up in the root every 
 social and religious virtue ? 4. In a word, a teach- 
 er must be highly gifted with the powers of persua- 
 sion, which inspires the love of virtue to his pupils, 
 by exhibiting her in the most attractive form, bring- 
 ing under her power and influence, the hardest 
 hearts and most haughty characters, by a happy 
 mixture of mildness, firmness, and authority, which 
 rises above all obstacles to the reform of morals, 
 both with vigour and skill. Without this essential 
 necessary, the pains, the instructions, the example 
 of the teacher would be fruitless j all he would ga- 
 ther from his labour, would be the cheerless certain- 
 ty of his having worked in vain. 
 1. The Jesuits were remarkable for instructing
 
 219 
 
 youth in their duties, in their catechisms, in their 
 retreats, and in pious congregations. If the youth 
 of the present day, said the judicious Fleury in his 
 day, be, without comparison, so much better in- 
 structed than those of former times, it is in a sreat 
 
 * O 
 
 measure ascribable to the excellency of the Jesuits' 
 catechisms.* 
 
 2. These fathers added great weight to their in- 
 structions on virtue, by the force of their own exam- 
 ple. No one discovered amongst them, that mon- 
 strous contradiction of precept and example, which 
 lets down the instructor, throws suspicion around 
 the principles of truth, and casts an air of contemp- 
 tible ridicule upon the preceptor and his precepts. 
 They lived under a severe rule, they faithfully ob- 
 served not only the commands of God, but the evan- 
 gelical counsels, they practised what they taught, 
 and acted before they commanded. The purity of 
 their morals has ever been so far above censure, 
 that their enemies even have done them justice upon 
 this head. The bishop Fitzjames published a letter 
 in his Appeal, in which he vehemently abuses the 
 order; "but as to their morals/* says he, " they 
 " are pure. We willingly do them the justice to 
 " admit, that there is not in the whole church, an 
 et order whose members are more regular and se- 
 " vere in their morals. f To the testimony of this 
 prelate, we will also add that of the Jansenisticaj 
 author of the pamphlet lately published, Upon the 
 Pope and the Jesuits, who frankly admits, that 
 tfery frequently the scandalous conduct of t/iose 
 
 * Preface to his Historical Catechism, t Page 20.
 
 220 
 
 who replaced the Jesuits, made the fathers to be 
 regretted ; and he soon after adds, " The Jesuits 
 " led a life of frugality ; they were modestly dress- 
 " ed, and with ordinary cloth. Their buildings 
 " had nothing magnificent in them ; and in their 
 " furniture one saw nothing that did not suit the sim- 
 <e plicity of the religious state."* These admissions 
 ere worth collecting, as they come from the mouths 
 of avowed enemies of the society. Satis firmum 
 est testimonium, quod perhibetur veritati, ab ipsis 
 inimic s. 
 
 S. The Jesuits did not confine their exertions 
 merely to the instruction of youth, and giving them 
 an example of virtue ; they laboured, moreover, 
 with a zeal, that nothing could check, at the reform 
 of the characters of their pupils, the improvement of 
 their morals, and the infusion of religious piety into 
 their souls. Hence that unceasing application of 
 the teachers to instil into their scholars a taste for 
 study, and a real spirit of emulation, to divert them 
 from habits of indolence, the ordinary source of li- 
 centiousness. Hence that continual vigilance, by 
 night and day, upon the actions of their pupils, in 
 order to stop any rising evil in the beginning; that 
 just severity, which forbids the explanation or lec- 
 ture of obscene books, which punishes the frequent- 
 ing of licentious spectacles, which breaks up dan- 
 gerous or suspicious friendships, and drives without 
 commiseration from their colleges all incorrigible 
 subjects, who encouraged disorder and misconduct. 
 Hence also that attention to recommend modesty 
 
 . 78, 2d Edit,
 
 221 
 
 and decency in their deportment, moderation and 
 politeness in classical disputes, ease and good breed- 
 ing in their conversation, that active and patient 
 charity, which accommodates itself to all characters 
 and all circumstances, which avails itself of private 
 advice and public exhortation, brings successively 
 into action honour, friendship, and fear, to subdue, 
 keep under, or correct disorderly propensities, at 
 the moment they take root and begin to shoot ; that 
 imprescriptible usage of requiring from each pupil 
 a monthly bill (certificate) of his having been to his 
 confessor; a practice which I must allow ranks 
 not very highly in the department of morals in this 
 age, in which the pride of intellect extinguishes all 
 piety; yet am I free to say, it is a wholesome 
 practice of devotion, which keeps men within the 
 boundaries of duty, and wards off those fatal aban- 
 donments of passion, which frequently heap disgrace 
 upon whole families, throw them into untimely 
 mourning, or plunge them into unmerited distress. 
 Hence, in a word, those retreats consecrated to 
 piety, where they thunder the divine word, in order 
 to rouse in the hardened sinner that remorse which 
 leads to repentance ; in which they display, before 
 the eyes of youth, the attractives to virtue, and the 
 delights of the heavenly kingdom, to draw timid 
 souls to virtue by the attraction of rewards, which 
 might be intimidated into despondency, and driven 
 in-to despair, from the awful dread of eternal punish- 
 ments ; those useful congregations (or brotherhoods), 
 which in the fashionable irreligious language of our 
 degenerated days, are termed aggregations of en- 
 thusiasts and fanatics 3 where, in defiance of the
 
 222 
 
 philosophism of the day, young and feeble virtue 
 found, in the imposing pomp of religious ceremo- 
 nies, and in the attractive example of the youth of 
 the highest ranks in society, an impenetrable shield 
 against the attacks of human respects; that is, in 
 plain language, against the most destructive weapon 
 ever levelled against morality. Such was the zeal 
 of the society in forming youth to social and reli- 
 gious virtue. I have advanced nothing which is 
 not literally true. " It is the public voice," says 
 the author of the Apologie des Jcsuites, tf forced by 
 " the great power of truth from the lips of the 
 *' bitterest of enemies, that, of all public institutions 
 " which exist, the colleges of the Jesuits are those 
 " which are most successful in training up youth to 
 ** morality and virtue." 
 
 4. In a word, the Jesuits possessed in an emi- 
 nent degree the happy power of persuading, which 
 crowns all the labours of the teachers in rendering 
 pleasing, attractive, and useful, the lessons of virtue 
 and example which he gives to his pupil, and ren- 
 ders fruitful his solicitude and zeal. The authority 
 which they exercised over the youth committed to 
 their charge, was untainted with any thing like 
 haughtiness or disdain. They cautiously avoided 
 that didactic pedantry 3 which breeds disgust and 
 contempt, and provokes insubordination. Their vir- 
 tue had nothing harsh or savage in it ; their man- 
 ners were pleasing and always bespoke good breed- 
 ing. They won the hearts of their pupils by the 
 polish of their language, by amenity of tem- 
 per, and a real paternal affection and tenderness. 
 The high degree of credit and reputation which
 
 223 
 
 they enjoyed in every town in France, gave them 
 an additional ascendency over the minds of their 
 pupils, and rendered them the more docile to the ad- 
 vice of friendship, and, when necessary, to the word 
 of command. I may spare myself the trouble of 
 quoting any authority to substantiate the truth of 
 my assertion, that the Jesuits were eminently gifted 
 with the powers of persuasion. The enemies of the 
 institute have frequently upbraided them with acri- 
 mony, that they were artful and insinuating, that 
 they had a thorough knowledge of the human heart, 
 and well knew the readiest and most efficient means 
 of attaining the objects of their pursuit; and, if the 
 unbelievers of the last century exerted themselves 
 with so much energy, to withdraw the rising youth 
 of their day from the tuition and instruction of the 
 fathers, it arose from their conviction, that so long 
 as the national youth should be committed to the 
 charge of the Jesuits to be educated, the cause of 
 incredulity (modern philosophism) never could tri- 
 umph in France. An evident proof that they as- 
 cribed to the society a peculiar talent of enchaining 
 youth to the car of Christianity, and forming their 
 hearts to the virtues of the gospel. I will, however, 
 cite one very affecting scene, which shews to what 
 degree the Jesuits possessed the affections and con- 
 fidence of their scholars; the instance is reported 
 by an eye witness. " I have seen," says one of the 
 authors of the Answer to the Assertions, " the 
 " scholars of the college of Louis le Grand, mute 
 " from grief, tear themselves, in sullen silence, or 
 '* with sobs and tears, from the embraces of their 
 " masters : I was witness to the regret and embar-
 
 224 
 
 '* rassment under which their parents consulted the 
 " fathers, about the future instructors to whom 
 " they should confide the education of their children, 
 " when taken out of the hands of the fathers of the 
 " society. I know several who pressed young Je- 
 " suits, with extraordinary earnestness, to under- 
 " take to continue, in a private manner, to finish the 
 (( education of those they had begun to instruct. I 
 " exaggerate not in saying, that our enemies them- 
 " selves witnessed all I have asserted, and were en- 
 " raged at it. Their sole wish and hope were, that, 
 " in process of time, they would lose the recollection 
 " of the Jesuits, and of the manner in which they 
 " had been oppressed." 
 
 Such was the ascendency of the Jesuits over their 
 pupils, whom they cherished like tender fathers, 
 and listened to them like sincere friends. With 
 what wonderful effect then are not the lessons of 
 virtue inculcated, and enforcedby example, on the 
 minds of docile and submissive youth, when accom- 
 panied with so much zeal, talent, and reputation ? 
 
 At the period of the downfall of the society of Je- 
 suits, France then suffered an irreparable loss, upon 
 the score of public education. The loss was the 
 greater, as the body was extended throughout every 
 part of the kingdom. No comparison can be set up 
 between the services rendered to the public by edu- 
 cation and instruction, which may be received from 
 private individuals, however valuable, and that 
 which is given to and received by the public youth, 
 from a public permanent body of men, amongst 
 whom sound and wholesome doctrines and exem- 
 plary virtues prevail. Private individuals vary and
 
 i' from each other in their plans and methods of 
 education; permanent bodies pursue one uniform 
 unvarying' system. In an age of incredulity and 
 consequent impiety, individuals set up fanciful and 
 absurd theories, destructive of all social and reli- 
 gious order ; whereas permanent bodies, that hatfe 
 been animated with a rig-lit spirit from the very be- 
 ginning of their institution, and gifted, moreover, 
 with an efficient constitution, make head against 
 the errors of the day, and check the mislefl genera- 
 tion in their senseless aberrations. Private indi- 
 viduals, slightly watched and slightly encouraged, 
 easily drop into indolence, or give way to scandal- 
 ous excesses ; public bodies, kept up to strict disci- 
 pline, and actuated by emulation, lop off the distem- 
 pered members, by ridding the body of refractory 
 and incorrigible subjects. In private, free and in- 
 dependent individuals, there is to be found no unity 
 of principle, no unity of conduct, no unity of in- 
 struction and doctrine ; but in those permanent 
 bodies, which have a code of rules to prevent and 
 correct abuses, this unity, so necessary to give suc- 
 cessful effect to education, will ever be found in- 
 variably to subsist. In short, private individuals 
 die off in the course of some few years, and their 
 services and utility seldom survive them ; public 
 bodies subsist for ages, arid perpetuate their services 
 and utility to the remotest of times. The former re- 
 semble those flimsy buildings that begin to crumble 
 to dust from the hour they come out of the hands of 
 the builders, and have, at most, afforded an imper- 
 fect shelter to some few passing generations ; the 
 latter are likened to those solid monuments of anti- 
 
 * G
 
 (juity, founded on immoveable bases, which have 
 furnished a secure retreat to millions, and appear to 
 have received, from the hand of the architect, the 
 attribute of immortality. But of all the causes 
 which concurred in rendering the suppression of the 
 society a truly deplorable event in France, was the 
 absolute inability to supply their want by any other 
 institution fitted for the purpose. 
 
 We often begin to appreciate the value of a good 
 thing, which we have possessed, only after we have 
 rejected it as a positive evil; just as we seldom 
 know how to appreciate virtue and merit till the 
 possessor is buried in his grave. A reason for this 
 is, that we see an evil when it exists, and the more 
 so if we suffer from the absence of what is good ; 
 whereas the limited mind of man seldom perceives 
 evil in prospective, otherwise than as a chimera, 
 without consistency or efficiency. This is precise- 
 ly what actually happened upon the destruction of 
 the society. That fatal act of demolition was pub- 
 licly hailed as the happy result of an act of autho- 
 rity, equally requisite for the progress of science, 
 morality, and government ; but it is too fatally true, 
 that the destruction of the society left a void m 
 public education, which it has hitherto been impos- 
 sible to fill. Men, void of knowledge and destitute 
 of moral virtues, were thrust into the places of the 
 enlightened and edifying instructors of the society. 
 Their enemies were forced into the avowal, that 
 since the fall of that order, education had suffered a 
 very lamentable drawback. Alarmed at the conse- 
 quences of this disaster, they endeavoured to check 
 it by putting an end to the root of the evil; they laid
 
 a plan for a new university, and adopted a pro- 
 ject for establishing a new order or congregation 
 throughout all France, who should devote -them- 
 selves exclusively to the instruction of youth. AH 
 their efforts and attempts failed. In the midst of 
 all this useless stir and idle shew, there was nothing 
 real, but the irreparable injury done to education by 
 the extinction of the order of Jesuits ; it is an easier 
 task to throw up a heap of ruins, than to erect a 
 magnificent monument. 
 
 Frederick, king of Prussia, though a professed 
 patron of the new philosophy, and a sworn enemy 
 f the Jesuits, did not however give into the general 
 impulse, which drove the Catholic states to the de- 
 struction of the order. He exulted, as we have be- 
 fore remarked, with his friends in France, Voltaire 
 and d'Alembert, at the misfortunes of the society, 
 as at the most signal victories gained by incredulity 
 over religion ; but in defiance of d'Alembert's up* 
 braiding him and taking scandal at the protection he 
 afforded them in his own dominions, he kept them 
 on foot for several years, from a thorough convic- 
 tion, that there were no persons who could supply 
 their places for education. " For my part," writes 
 he to Voltaire, " I should be wrong to complain of 
 fs Ganganelli : he leaves me my dear Jesuits, whom 
 " they persecute every where else : I will preserve 
 " the precious seed, to supply those with it, who 
 " may wish to cultivate so valuable a plant."* 
 
 Russia became also an asylum of the society. 
 Catharine II, whose court was ever open to all the 
 
 Lett of the 7th of July, 1770.
 
 228 
 
 French philosophers of the age, continually conn- 
 tenanced them throughout her states. The Jesuits 
 preserved their colleges to the very time their insti- 
 tute was re-established by Pius VII. Thus, whilst 
 the Catholic powers were banishing these religious 
 men with unaccountable severity, they found coun- 
 tenance and protection in countries overspread with 
 heresy and schism. In the early days of the insti- 
 tute, the conduct of the courts and cabinets was the 
 very reverse; for if, on one hand, the princes who 
 were most stedfastly attached to the unity of the 
 church, thought they could not render a greater 
 service to their people, than by introducing and 
 settling the fathers amongst them ; so, on the other, 
 all those princes, who gave into the new heresies, 
 entertained a sovereign hatred of them and banish- 
 ed them from their states. This whimsical turn of 
 events is not inexplicable. At the beginning of 
 the reformation, and in the infancy of the order of 
 St. Ignatius, the princes who were the most for- 
 ward in advancing the reformation, were inexorable 
 against the Jesuits, because they were the chief 
 bulwark of the papal chair, and the chief scourge 
 of heresy. At the period of the destruction of the 
 society, the Catholic courts ferociously persecuted 
 the order, because incredulity, which influenced all 
 their cabinets and overran their entire kingdoms, 
 saw in them able and firm champions against 
 this modern philosophy. But in Prussia and in 
 Russia they were protected, in consideration of their 
 edifying morality, and their important utility in the 
 education of youth.
 
 229 
 
 III. 
 
 France has lost in the Jesuits the last Bulwark of 
 Religion and Morality. 
 
 For a considerable time before the revolution, 
 many of the monastic orders, and spiritual corpora- 
 tions, had been very notoriously on the decline. 
 The congregations of Oratorians, who, on their first 
 establishment, and in their infancy, had justly acr 
 quired great credit from the science and virtue of 
 several of their members, exhibited to every person 
 interested in the cause of religion, a heart-rending 
 scene. Jansenism and Philosophisrn pervaded the 
 whole congregation, the former fastening upon all 
 those who were in, or were in the way of being pro- 
 moted to orders, the latter having seized upon their 
 secular pupils or scholars ; and in defiance of the 
 efforts of some of the leading members of that con- 
 gregation, to restore them to their ancient splen- 
 dour, the new errors gained rapidly upon them, un- 
 til, with other religious institutions, they fell under 
 the sword of the revolution. The Benedictines, the 
 Dominicans, the Bernadines, and so many other re- 
 ligious orders, which had edified the church and en- 
 riched the arts and sciences, were daily casting off 
 that ancient regularity and primitive fervour, which 
 keep up a love for the higher studies and communi- 
 ties, by the practice of Christian virtue and perfec- 
 tion. Thus these different religious bodies, upon 
 which religion heretofore rested as upon immovea-
 
 230 
 
 ble pillars, appeared secretly affected with a mortal 
 languor, which favoured the sarcasms and declama- 
 tions of the incredulous. I do not assert, that they 
 ought to be abolished, because they had fallen from 
 their primitive fervour; that principle would go to 
 break up and do away the very best institutions, be- 
 cause abuses are every where to be found. They 
 should have been reformed ; not proscribed and vi- 
 lified. Though they did not make any notorious or 
 efficient stand against the ravages of the incredu- 
 lous, yet they did render some valuable services to 
 religion and morals. Jt was a general and well- 
 founded remark, that there was more faith in those 
 provinces where convents abounded ; and, gene- 
 rally speaking, there was visibly much more mora- 
 lity in those colleges which were under the direc- 
 tion of religious men, than in those public schools 
 which were superintended by laymen. 
 
 A midst this general decay of religious fervour, the 
 society of Jesuits kept up all the vigour of youth, and 
 joined to it the wisdom of mature age. The per- 
 fect state of its health and fervour, was ascribable to 
 the internal power of its constitution. To the pro- 
 found wisdom of its maxims and rules, must be 
 placed that honourable but singular attribute, of 
 never having stood in need of reform. The severe 
 trials to which they drilled their novices, the dis- 
 cretionary powers vested by their institute in the su- 
 periors to discharge refractory and dangerous subi- 
 jects, even after they had taken their first simple 
 vows, seemed to warrant perpetuity to their primitive 
 fervour and regularity, and ensure the continuation 
 of their vigour and zeal in combating the enemies of
 
 231 
 
 the church. In point of fact, at the fatal moment 
 when these valuable institutions were falling into 
 dissolution and decay, when incredulity, rearing its; 
 lofty head above its Creator, was preaching up both 
 anti-social and anti-religious doctrines throughout 
 the kingdom of France, the Jesuits stood firm and 
 compact, like a mound of brass, to oppose the tor- 
 rent. These valuable men resorted to three princi- 
 pal means of preserving religion in the country, as 
 well as morality ; for morals without religion ex- 
 ist not. By their solid writings, they vindicated 
 the cause of religion against the outrages and as- 
 saults by which the incredulous attacked and abus- 
 ed the doctrine, the maxims, and the government 
 of the gospel ; by the various attentions and suc- 
 cessful efforts they unceasingly exerted towards 
 the youth which they had under their direction, in 
 their numerous colleges throughout France, they 
 kept alive in private families the sacred flame of 
 Christian piety, they inspired the higher classes of 
 society with love and respect for religion ; by means 
 of retreats, congregations, and national missions, 
 they rallied the timid and doubtful in faith, they 
 brought back the strayed sheep to the fold, and 
 planted virtue and morality in the soil, which had 
 been overrun and choaked up with passions and 
 vice. Like experienced and intrepid soldiers, who, 
 braving death, come to the relief of a besieged for- 
 tress as its walls are falling before the besiegers, the 
 Jesuits repaired the losses, and threw succours into 
 the lines of Christianity, that had been forced and 
 devastated by the violent assaults of the enemies 
 of revelation. Their society, then, was like the last
 
 battlement in defence of religion; I do not say over 
 the whole surface of the earth, where she will re- 
 main unshaken and triumphant till the end of time; 
 but in that flourishing kingdom of France, whence 
 she may be banished without infringement or failure 
 of the divine promises of perpetuity. Such was 
 the idea which cardinal Fleury had formed of it, 
 when he told cardinal Tencin, in the letter which 
 we have before quoted, that it was much to be de- 
 plored, that the Jesuits fell off in credit ; for every 
 one must allow, that they were almost the only de- 
 fenders of the church, and the only preachers we 
 had left. 
 
 The pretended philosophers of these latter days, 
 who swore with equal malice and address to bring- 
 about its total ruin, were well aware of the influ- 
 ence of the society in maintaining religion and mo- 
 rality. They knew right well, that if the rising 
 generation were trained up to religion, France 
 never would become incredulous ; and, on the other 
 hand, that, if the youth of the nation were brought 
 up in impiety and libertinism, religion, covered with 
 sorrow and indignation, would quit the soil of the 
 , most Christian kingdom. They had no doubt, but 
 that, when the institute of the Jesuits were once 
 abolished, the other religious orders would soon fall 
 into discredit and shame. They were most inti- 
 mately convinced, that men, believing neither in 
 God or virtue, never would be tempted to bury 
 themselves in the obscurity of a cloister. In short, 
 they deluded themselves with this cruel hope, that, 
 after having routed the auxiliary troops which re- 
 ligion had armed in its defence, they would success-
 
 233 
 
 fully attack the episcopal body itself, and do away 
 with facility all the fundamental institutions of Chris- 
 tianity. We must not forget the honourable epi- 
 thets of the popes body guards, the grenadiers of 
 fanatism, with which the philosophizing reformers 
 honoured the fathers of the society; the plaudits and 
 rejoicings which they sent forth on the news of the 
 downfall of the society ; the sensitive alarms that 
 cloud these exultations of the philosophers, on the 
 first whisper of an intention to re-establish the in- 
 stitute in a catholic kingdom; the intolerant zeal 
 with which the leaders of the unbelievers pursued 
 the last remains of the children of saint Ignatius still 
 subsisting in Prussia, and proposing to extirpate them 
 from Russia, and even to annihilate them in China, 
 and full conviction will follow, that they considered 
 the fall of the society as the most brilliant and de- 
 cisive victory for the philosophic party. The event 
 justified their calculations, and proved their hopes 
 to be well founded ; for, since the destruction of the 
 society, the unbelievers in France have been daily 
 gaining some new triumph, as they call it, over 
 Christianity. Religious education being no longer 
 founded on the same solid basis, the venom of the 
 new doctrines circulated with unchecked rapidity 
 through all classes of society. The efficient means 
 of reanimating the light of faith, resorted to by the 
 Jesuits, having been either totally suppressed, or 
 practised with less frequency and energy, religion 
 went off proportionably, and crumbled to atoms, 
 like a decayed building from age, and even hasten- 
 ed to its ruin by the destructive hands of workmen. 
 Incredulity, inflated with success, dogmatized with 
 
 211
 
 234 
 
 unchecked freedom, and outbraved all the lines 
 of decency: it resembled a rapacious conqueror, 
 marching with brutality over the mangled carcases 
 of the enemy, revelling in the bloody purpose of de- 
 stroying cities, ravaging provinces, and destroying 
 the people. Their fatal projects were in fact 
 realized, as they had anticipated, but to their eter- 
 nal disgrace. Within some few years after the de- 
 mise of the family of Ignatius, the monarchy was 
 upset, and religion banished. Europe beheld, with 
 consternation, princes and pontiffs immolated to 
 revolutionary rage, some falling under the stroke of 
 the executioner into those graves which incredulity 
 and impiety had been so long digging for them ; and 
 from these regions of blood and death, have been 
 ushered amongst us, the tremendous doctrines of 
 these latter days, upon systems of anti-religion and 
 the madness of people, who pretend to happiness, 
 without a God, without altars, and without public 
 worship. 
 
 Is this fatal catastrophe ascribable to the destruc- 
 tion of the Jesuits? Their friends maintain, that 
 the revolution would not have taken place, had not 
 the society been suppressed. Their enemies, on 
 the contrary, say, that this assertion is a ridiculous 
 paradox. In the next paragraph we shall offer our 
 thoughts upon this question, which is awfully im- 
 portant both to policy and religion.
 
 235 
 
 IV. 
 
 France lost in the Jesuits a powerful support of 
 the Throne of the Descendants of St. Louis. 
 
 The advantage of looking into the causes of great 
 events is, to draw from the past useful lessons for 
 the future. Some have thought that the cause of 
 the French revolution was a sort of infatuation for 
 the English constitution, which inspired us with a 
 contempt of our ancient monarchical institutions; 
 others placed it to the account of those long and 
 unceasing struggles of our sovereign courts with the 
 royal authority, which abated, in the hearts of the 
 people, that respect which was due to the prince, 
 and their submission to the fundamental laws of the 
 realm. Many have ascribed that lamentable event to 
 a variety of causes, such as the enormous extrava- 
 gance of the court, and the consequent fiscal diffi- 
 culties in the department of the finances, which 
 brought on the necessity of convening the states 
 general ; and last of all, the avarice of the clergy; 
 who refused to pay off the national debt. 
 
 This charge, brought by the philosophers against 
 the clergy, is flat absurdity. The clergy, though 
 the first victims of the revolution, were not the 
 cause of it. From the first meeting of the assem- 
 bly, the fermentation through the nation was gene- 
 ral ; great pains were taken to raise the second or- 
 der of the clergy against their bishops, by making 
 them flattering promises, and representing the pre-
 
 236 
 
 lates as absolute despots. The middling ranks, (or 
 third order) gave evident proofs of being actuated 
 by a mania for some political change, since, before 
 entering into discussion, the commoners, by abo- 
 lishing all distinction of ranks, upon their own au- 
 thority, constituted themselves the national assem- 
 bly. They stirred up the people against the nobi- 
 lity and clergy, who refused to coalesce with them, 
 on account of this arbitrary violation of their privi- 
 leges ; they held their sittings in defiance of the 
 royal prohibition, and then threw off the mask, in 
 that tumultuous assembly, where the deputies swore 
 to give a constitution to France, assuming immedi- 
 ately after, the title of representatives of the na- 
 tion, whilst the monarch was at the same time to be 
 contented with that of the people's proxy, the pub' 
 lie functionary, and trustee. The revolutionary 
 storm had gathered before the meeting of the states 
 general, and the clergy evidently did not contri- 
 bute to make it burst upon France, by refusing to 
 pay off the national debt. At the moment that the 
 great question of the spoliation of the clergy was 
 under debate, and upon the point of being deter- 
 mined, the archbishop of Aix came to offer four 
 hundred millions to meet the deficiency. To this 
 generous offer, a member of the committee an- 
 swered with harshness, " What you offer may an- 
 swer the ends of finance, but it will not answer the 
 ends we propose to ourselves."* The turn of events 
 proved, that this deputy represented faithfully, the 
 sense of the majority. 1 he proposals of the cler- 
 
 * See The Opinion of the duke of Fitz-James, peer of France, 
 vpon the law of Finances, fer 1817, where this fact is reported
 
 237 
 
 gy were rejected with disdain ; and the assembly 
 making- rapid strides from one innovation to ano- 
 ther, soon manifested, to all Europe, that they were 
 much more bent upon the destruction of religion 
 and the throne, than upon the arrangement of the 
 disordered finances. Consummateignorance or gross 
 partiality could alone ascribe the revolution to the 
 clergy's refusal to pay off the national debt. 
 
 Neither can we trace the cause of the revolution 
 to the fiscal embarrassments consequent to the ex- 
 travagance of the court. The difficulty in the fi- 
 nances was occassioned by, but did not cause, that 
 frightful political storm. It was the criminal pre- 
 text, of which the seditious availed themselves, to 
 calumniate the king and royal family, to destroy the 
 monarchy, and to proclaim the republic; but it was 
 not the destructive principle- which crumbled to 
 atoms our ancient institutions, and ingulphed us in 
 an abyss of miseries. 
 
 As to that general infatuation for the English con- 
 stitution, which is attributed to the writings of Mon- 
 tesquieu, and the stubborn resistance of the parlia- 
 ments to the will of the monarch, I think they ought 
 to be reckoned amongst the efficient causes of the 
 revolution, as by weakening throughout the nation 
 the sentiment of esteem for the monarchical consti- 
 tution, and the respect for the person of the prince 
 who fills the throne, they erect a lust for political 
 change, and prepare the way to bolder systems of 
 independence, and more dangerous revolutionary 
 
 upon the authority of the count L. who voted against the re- 
 storation of the unsold church property. At le Norman t's, IS 1 7. 

 
 238 
 
 projects. Yet it must be allowed, that wide indeed 
 is the difference between the constitutional govern- 
 ment of England and the French republic, between 
 the struggles of the parliaments with the monarch 
 concerning Jansenism and the registering of duties 
 and taxes, and the bloody horrors of the thorough- 
 paced revolutionists (the sans-culotes). We must 
 then place this change effected in our disposi- 
 tions and tastes by the Anglomania, and this dimi- 
 nution of respect for the king, produced by the par- 
 liamentary opposition to the royal will, only as ac- 
 cessary, not as principal efficient causes of the revo- 
 lution. They alone never could have plunged a 
 nation, so noble and so renowned for respect and at- 
 tachment to their princes, into so horrid a delirium ; 
 but when united with other elements of trouble 
 and discord, they gave a more energetic spring to 
 the passions, and a more terrible efficiency to the 
 principal cause of this fatal catastrophe. 
 
 What then was the real efficient principal cause 
 of the French revolution, which we have hitherto 
 sought in vain ? It is incredulity, equally hostile 
 to the altar and the throne ; they were the new and 
 fatal doctrines, broached, taught and circulated by 
 the philosophists of the eighteenth century, who 
 covered with contempt and ridicule, whatever was 
 most dignified in monarchy, and most sacred in re- 
 ligion. In fact, a nation, which, at the different 
 epochs of its political existence, has ever distin- 
 guished itself for its sincere devotedness to its 
 princes, and its lively attachment to the esta- 
 blished religion, does not become suddenly an in- 
 ftfriated enemy of royalty and religion, without a
 
 previous change of character or falling off from its 
 faith. Crimes are seldom committed without a mo- 
 tive : we convert not impassioned love into mortal 
 hatred, without a notorious change in our feelings 
 and sentiments. Never would Frenchmen have 
 been brought to the desperate excess of condemning 
 the best of kings to the scaffold, of contaminating 
 the wrecks of royalty with torrents of the purest blood 
 of the nobility and clergy, of upsetting the altars, 
 the temples, and' the most venerable monuments of 
 religion and monarchy, unless men of faction and 
 system had taught them to confound the ideas of 
 royalty and Christianity, with those of despotisms^ 
 tyranny, superstition, error, and imposture. Under 
 the glorious reign of Louis XIV, Fran ce was both 
 religious and monarchical; all ranks of society, the 
 clergy, the nobility, the people, were penetrated 
 with respect for the throne of the Bourbons and the 
 Catholic religion ; the history of that memorable 
 epoch is an irrefragable witness to the incontestible 
 fact ; and yet, under the reign of terror, France 
 was converted into one vast grave, into which they 
 promiscuously cast with the relicts of royal victims, 
 the mutilated bodies of the ministers of God into 
 which they threw into the dust, with ignominy, the 
 emblems of royalty and the awful symbols of our re- 
 ligion, the arms of the nobility, and the privileges 
 of the clergy,, the fundamental laws of our monar- 
 chy, and the sacred code of the gospel. Of neces- 
 sity therefore the depravation of the national cha- 
 racter must have preceded these political changes, 
 these deplorable excesses of the revolution. Who 
 then are the bold men who have so far succeeded
 
 240 
 
 in their rash efforts to change our national tastes, 
 and give a new direction to our passions and man- 
 ners, but those unbelieving writers, who, for many 
 years successively, brought into action the most re- 
 fined combination of talents, erudition, wit, hu- 
 mour, sarcasm and irony, to degrade and vilify 
 Christianity, and to blacken and render odious in 
 the eyes of the nation, the monarchical form of go- 
 vernment. 
 
 Was it not Jean Jacques Rousseau, whose trea- 
 cherous genius, armed with all the charms of a bril- 
 liant and imposing style, spread and gave credit in- 
 France to a system of irreligion, and also to false 
 principles concerning the supremacy of the people, 
 which became the watch word of faction and the 
 pivot of the revolution ? 
 
 Was it not Voltaire, the chief of the philosophic 
 party, who not content with devoting religion to 
 contempt and ridicule, shook the very foundation of 
 the state, by frequently repeating this address to the 
 " people. Do you know what is your greatest evil ? 
 " It is, that you are both fools and cowards : let the 
 " people at length determine to be neither one nor 
 the other."* 
 
 Was it not Raynal, that inveterate unbeliever, 
 who exclaims, like an enthusiast, in a work unfortu- 
 nately too much read and valued, " What then 
 " is this imbecile herd, which you call a nation ? 
 " Weak stupid people, since the continuance of your 
 
 * These are the expressions of Laharpe, whilst he still 
 played the philosopher, commending Voltaire for having brought 
 on the French revolution. (Mercure de Frame, No. 33. Aug. 7, 
 1790.)
 
 241 
 
 " wretchedness gives no energy. You reckon mij- 
 " lions, and you permit a dozen of children, with 
 " -sticks in their hands, (thus did he term the sceptre 
 ** in the hands of kings) to drive you about at their 
 " will. Obey then, walk on in the paths of servi- 
 " tude, but importune us no more with your plaints ; 
 " and learn at least to be wretched, if you don't 
 " know how to be free."f 
 
 Was it not Diderot, that bliad enemy of God 
 and royalty, who invited the people to murder 
 their kings and their priests in those two famous 
 lines, which have often been rerechoed in the revo- 
 lutionary clubs ? 
 
 To hang all kings, KB they deserve, on high, 
 The bowels of the priests will rope supply. 
 
 Was it not that anti-religious and anti-social club 
 of the baron d'Holbach, from whose private press, 
 were ushered the most horrid blasphemies and 
 curses against kings contained in small pamphlets, 
 either distributed gratis or sold at the lowest prices, 
 in order to give currency to the principles of anar- 
 chy, and mix them up with the absurd theories of in- 
 credulity ? 
 
 Was it not, in a word, that swarm of secondary 
 and mercenary scribblers, who, to intoxicate them- 
 selves with the fumes of praise, to gain academic 
 honours, or make their way in the political world, 
 became the base echoes of modern philosophism in 
 society, at the court, and upon those fields of bat- 
 
 * If 1st. p kilo sop ft. etpolit. des deux Indes. 
 2 r
 
 242 
 
 tie, where honourable badges were adjudged to the 
 conquerors in literary contests ? These, without any 
 doubt, were the men who, by the criminal abuse of 
 talent, have perverted the national character of the 
 French people These were the inflammable ele- 
 ments, so long under preparation, which, by their 
 sudden explosion, produced that political and irreli- 
 gious commotion, known by the appellation of the 
 French revolution, which threw down the throne 
 and the altar upon each other, and covered the land 
 we inhabit with carcasses and ruins. For after 
 all, what was the French revolution, but the re- 
 duction into practice of all those fine theories of in- 
 credulity, of which we have given a short sketch, 
 by men who vaunted them as the achme of human 
 wisdom and power of intellect ? What is the revo- 
 lution of the 18th century, but a bloody tragedy, 
 in which the impious were the actors, and kings 
 and priests were the victims immolated ? They 
 meant to exhibit this tragical scene, by the care and 
 industry with which they prepared the impure ele- 
 ments, and with which, if I may be allowed the 
 phrase, they got up and played off these dismal 
 and bloody decorations. They most literally exe- 
 cuted all their plans and horrid devices, since the 
 hands, doubly sacrilegious, by rooting up the founda- 
 tions of monarchy and plunging the dagger into the 
 heart of religion, were directed and commanded 
 by the genius of incredulity. 
 
 I speak not this by way of insult to the memory 
 of Voltaire, Rousseau, Diderot, and other chiefs 
 of the philosophic party. I pay ready homage to 
 the talents of some of them ; but 1 deplore, with
 
 243 
 
 tears, the infamous productions which have sullied 
 some of their pens. I have no difficulty in allowing 
 that they have enriched French literature; but 
 I cannot pass over in silence, the mischief they 
 have done to their country, by oversetting every 
 principle of social order. 
 
 But I shall be asked by some enemy of the Je A 
 suits, To what good end are all these frightful 
 reminiscences brought back upon our minds, from 
 which they have been almost erased; and what 
 natural connexion have these lamentable events, 
 which you have been retracing in our minds, with 
 the institute of saint Ignatius ? 
 
 In order to shew, that the society of Jesuits were 
 a powerful support of the throne of the descendants 
 of St. Louis, it was incumbent upon me to prove 
 that incredulity had overset it. For this proposition 
 having been once established, it will be an easy 
 task to follow up the proof, that the society is emi- 
 nently useful in its relations to monarchy. Thus 
 then I argue upon it. The most determined ene- 
 mies of religion, were the most irreconcilable ene- 
 mies to royalty. Then, to defend the interests of re- 
 ligion against the attacks of the incredulous, was to 
 protect the state and combat for the safety of the 
 throne. It was a check and resistance to the im- 
 petuous torrent, which threatened, in its course, to 
 overwhelm both the altar and throne in one common 
 ruin. We have given in evidence, from the mouths 
 of the leaders of the philosophers themselves, that 
 the Jesuits were the most efficient supporters of 
 Christianity in France. And that equally proves, 
 that they were one of the most solid supports of the
 
 throne of his most Christian majesty. If that learn- 
 ed body had not been destroyed, it is more than 
 probable, that the true principles, upon which rests 
 both religion and monarchy, would have been 
 brought forth and maintained by many works that 
 have not seen the light. The education of youth 
 being more moral and Christian, the new system 
 would have found fewer dupes, and made fewer 
 criminals. The retreats, the congregations, the 
 natural missions, to which the Jesuits devoted them- 
 selves with so much zeal and success, would have 
 relighted the torch of faith in the provinces, and 
 would have brought back to the wholesome doc- 
 trines of religion and politics, numbers of those flit- 
 ting superficial characters, who actually became the 
 sport of irreligious fanaticism, and the victims of re- 
 publican enthusiasm. At the moment, then, when 
 the French revolution was about to explode, the 
 managers and directors of it would have had fewer 
 means at their command to effectuate their wicked 
 purposes ; they would have found, in the principles 
 and religious sentiments of the deputies of the states 
 general, more opposition to anarchy, more horror of 
 the crimes which must for ever blacken our na- 
 tional annals It is therefore fair to presume, that 
 France would not, at that particular time at least, 
 have been delivered over to the fury of popular 
 faction, nor have been thus disgraced in the eyes of 
 Europe, by the enormity of unprecedented crimes. 
 This presumption is wonderfully strengthened by 
 the paucity of votes in the national assembly, by 
 which the unfortunate Louis XVI was condemned 
 to death i the majority did not exceed five. But
 
 whether Prance would, at some Future period, hava 
 become a prey to these political convulsions, to this 
 tyranny of irreligion, is a problem that may, for a 
 time, occupy and engage our prejudices and pas- 
 sions, but never can be solved by full reason and 
 conviction. God alone, whose almighty hand ma- 
 nages the reins of empires, who, from age to age, 
 views, with equal clearness, the past, the present, 
 and the future, can open our eyes to this impene- 
 trable secret. There is, however, one truth, which 
 reason and experience render incontestible. One 
 sometimes gains all, in gaining time against these 
 revolutionary demagogues. Experienced and wisfc 
 statesmen will, in the mean while, take in hand the 
 reins of government for the safety of the state ; they 
 will silence hatred and ambition, restore honour 
 and justice, the natural preservers of religion and 
 morals, coerce the refractory and turbulent, who ara 
 seldom accessible to honour, generosity, or any of 
 the refined feelings of the heart, and, in lieu of their 
 dangerous ferocity, will infuse into them a spirit 
 of mildness and love of their country. Thus, at the 
 sound of their voice, shall the elements of civil dis- 
 cord insensibly vanish, faction shall sink into the filthy 
 mire out of which it sprung; and the state, recovering 
 every year a part of its primitive vigour and ancient 
 splendour, shall, with a conscious pfideof superio- 
 rity, bid defiance, as heretofore, to all the efforts of 
 the enemies to its peace, welfare, and prosperity. Al- 
 though it be not within possibility to demonstrate, 
 that the French revolution would not have taken 
 place, had not the society of Jesuits been destroyed 
 throughout the kingdom, yet may the presumption
 
 246 
 
 fairly stand at the head of the most probable con- 
 jecture. 
 
 These observations suffice, unquestionably, to 
 convince every rational mind, that this renowned 
 society was a powerful support to the throne of the 
 Bourbons. We add, with the assembly of 1761, 
 that in the colleges under the direction of the fa- 
 thers of the society, both masters and scholars devot- 
 ed their talents to the praises of our kings, and to 
 keep alive and active those sentiments of submission, 
 affectionate attachment, and high spirited loyalty, 
 which are ever due to royal majesty and authority. 
 We beg leave to repeat the observation, that the 
 society in France gave frequent instances of their 
 adoption of the maxims of the Gallican church, re- 
 specting the independence of the temporal power of 
 princes, and the limitation of the power of the pope. 
 True it is, that Bellarmin and Santarel, have main- 
 tained in their writings doctrines upon these im- 
 portant points at variance with those of the Galli- 
 can clergy. But then it must be admitted, that in 
 holding those doctrines, they did but follow the com- 
 mon opinions of all the theological schools of Italy; 
 and yet these particular doctrines were not holden 
 by the French Jesuits. Even as far back as the 
 year 1682, they maintained at Bourges the doctrine 
 of the four propositions, as they also did in their 
 colleges in Britanny, namely, at Rennes and Vannes, 
 in the ensuing year. On several public occasions, 
 they formally renounced the privileges granted to 
 their order by the bulls of sovereign pontiffs, in 
 every point that could clash with the laws and 
 usages of the realm, and the liberties of the Galli-
 
 247 
 
 can church.* In the year 1761, by an authentic act 
 signed by all the priests and young Jesuits of every 
 house and college throughout France, they protest- 
 ed, that they do hold and profess, and always shall 
 and will hold and profess, the doctrine of the French 
 clergy, declared in their assembly of 1 682 ; that 
 they are, and ever more shall be, subject and liable 
 to the laws and usages of the realm, as well as any 
 other subjects of his majesty. Their conduct kept 
 pace with their professions, and more particularly 
 in the affair of the regale, they cided with the 
 court, and were blamed for it by many, who were 
 not enemies to the institute. It is moreover cer- 
 tain, that the zeal which the Jesuits in those dis- 
 putes manifested for the interests of the court, gave 
 strong displeasure to pope Innocent XI ; it was re- 
 ferred to in the style of the highest eulogy by M. 
 
 * See the depositions taken before the assembly of 1761 ; 
 viz. The Answer of the Bishops to the third question put to 
 them by the King. Although the Jesuits taught the doctrine of 
 the four articles of 1682, they were nevertheless warmly attach- 
 ed to the apostolic see ; and if they respected the true liberties 
 of the Gallican church, they held in abhorrence the numerous 
 badges of slavery to which she submitted, disguised under the 
 specious colouring of liberties. Under the description of this 
 slavery, to which the Gallican church had prostituted itself, is 
 the constant and uniform violation of her rights and privileges, 
 by which the parliaments gave so much mischievous scandal in 
 the frequent quarrels about Jansenism ; and in holding this 
 language, I speak as spoke Fleury, who, in his Discourse upon 
 our Liberties, has these remarkable words. " Some bad French- 
 ** man, who had emigrated from his country, might compose a 
 " treatise upon the slavery of the Gallican church, as treatises 
 " have been written upon its liberties; and proofs would not 
 be wanting." See the Nouveaux Opuscules de Fleury , p. 96. 
 Paris, 1807. He repeats the same thing, almost in the very 
 same words, in another small work, intituled, Libertes de 
 I'Eglise Gallicane. p. 108.
 
 248 
 
 de Novion, at that time president of the parliament, 
 as well as by the attorney general Talon. *' And 
 "this/* observed the prelates in the assembly of 
 1761, "proves more irrefragably than the most 
 " elaborate and conclusive argument, that all the 
 " Jesuits are convinced, that the obedience which 
 " they owe to the general of their order by their in- 
 " stitute, is not binding upon them in any thing, 
 " which contravenes their submission and their al- 
 *' legiance to the sovereign. The Jesuits, then, 
 were not those blind slaves to the pope and the 
 general as they are constantly represented, with a 
 view to render them suspected and odious in the 
 eyes of their native sovereigns. They were at all 
 times prominently forward in defending and main- 
 taining with zeal all the doctrines defined to be Ca- 
 tholic by the church, against innovators and reform- 
 ers of every description. But as to scholastic free 
 opinions, they generally followed those of the 
 country in which they were settled ; which fairly 
 proves, that they did not sacrifice their conscience to 
 the love of themselves, or the interests of their order; 
 for in every branch of literature, even in theo- 
 logy, there may be opposite opinions maintained by 
 different bodies, as there exist divers and contrari- 
 ant practices and usages in different nations. Man- 
 kind are in general so constituted, that they common- 
 ly adopt with partiality the sentiments and opinions 
 prevalent in the country which gave them birth. 
 This is so true, that one may assert with full con- 
 fidence, and almost absolute certainty, that our 
 doctors of Sorbonne, and our prelates, who have 
 most warmly espoused the defence of the declara-
 
 249 
 
 lion of 1682, would have professed and maintained 
 the doctrine of papal infallibility, and even the tem- 
 poral authority of the head of the church over 
 earthly sovereigns, had they been born on the 
 other, as they were on this, side of the Alps. This 
 is a necessary effect of the weakness of the human 
 mind, and of the power and influence of education 
 upon it. 
 
 In short, the Jesuits gave to the world at large 
 the most brilliant example of their submission to 
 government,, at the moment that their suppression 
 was decreed and carried into the most rigorous ex- 
 ecution. Driven with ignominy out of their col- 
 leges, their noviciates, and their professed houses, 
 stripped of their property and forced into exile, did 
 they make France resound with their plaints and 
 murmurs against the authority which raised its 
 heavy hand upon them? No; in awful silence they 
 adored the sacred designs of Providence, in the des- 
 tiny of their body; and if, in their many triumphant 
 apologies and defences, they have refuted the false 
 charges and imputations against their order, never 
 did they attempt to insult the magistrates, who con- 
 demned them, nor upbraid the prince for having ra- 
 tified their unjust sentence. Yet they were above 
 four thousand, and most of them were bereft of an 
 asylum to retire to in their misfortune. By this ad- 
 mirable conduct, they demonstrated to their ene- 
 mies, that the sentiments of dutiful submission to the 
 higher power, which they had so loudly professed, 
 were deeply engraven in the hearts of the professors. 
 They manifestly shewed, that their declarations 
 upon the importance of these sacred duties, had not 
 
 K
 
 250 
 
 been drawn from them by fear, nor dictated by po- 
 licy, but were the genuine expression and fruit of 
 their doctrine. Be it then freely confessed, that the 
 instructors of youth, who pay such docile and 
 prompt obedience to the sword that smites them, 
 who on every other ground have such claims upon 
 the attachment, affections and esteem of their pupils, 
 cannot fail to inspire into the rising generation, a 
 true love of their country, and an inviolable 
 attachment and loyalty to their prince* True 
 then is it, that France has lost in the Jesuits, a 
 powerful support of the throne and the monarchy, 
 With an academy of learned men, a valuable re- 
 union of teachers of ability and virtue, which form 
 the last rampart of religion and morality. The like 
 irreparable losses to the well-being of a state, were 
 suffered by every country, in which the society was 
 suppressed. Throughout the Austrian dominions, 
 the new opinions countenanced by Joseph II, which 
 threw trouble and disorder into all his states, began 
 to be- taught and propogated, from the hour in 
 which the Jesuits were expelled from the universi- 
 ties. In Portugal, the minister Pombal (Carvalho), 
 spread, with unresisted success, all the opinions of 
 of which he avowed himself the patron and protec- 
 tor. Spain found herself bereft of those fine mis- 
 sions of Paraguay, which extended her territories, 
 and helped her to support the charges of the state. 
 In every country, where the dissolution took place, 
 education ran on the decline in the double ratio of 
 learning and morality. Science, literature, and the 
 fine arts, were less encouraged and less cultivated; 
 and religion, the basis of social order and policy,
 
 251 
 
 worked less powerfully and less successfully in sub- 
 duing the passions and checking the vices of man- 
 kind. And if, since the re-establisment of the so- 
 ciety by Pius VII, the kings of Spain, Naples, and 
 Sardinia, have recalled the Jesuits into their respec- 
 tive states ; if the subjects of those states have re- 
 ceived them back with a fond enthusiaism, it is, 
 that the experience of half a continued century had 
 intimately convinced them, that this illustrious socie- 
 ty, which had been destroyed by calumny, had been 
 vindicated by misfortune. 
 
 Impartiality calls upon us to Correct an error, 
 into which we inadvertently fell. We have before 
 said, p 27, that Voltaire had availed himself of 
 his credit to procure the Jesuits to be expelled from 
 China ; in proof of which, we cited his letter to 
 d'AIembert, under date 18th December, 1776; but 
 this letter goes no further, than to express a desire 
 to co-operate in bringing about the expulsion of 
 the Jesuits from China. " It would be funny 
 enough," says Voltaire to his friend, " to prevent 
 those rascals there from doing mischief in China. 
 That might be brought to bear by the means of 
 the court of Petersburg ; but let us begin by 
 thinking of Paris."

 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 No. I. 
 
 THE ANSWER OF HENRY IV, 
 KING OP FRANCE, 
 
 To the Remonstrances presented by the first Pre- 
 sident de liarlay, in 1603, upon the subject of 
 the Re-establishment of the Jesuits. 
 
 I THOROUGHLY conceive your meaning, but you know 
 not mine. You have started difficulties, which, to your 
 minds, appear great and considerable ; but it has not oc- 
 curred to you, that whatever you have been saying to me, 
 I have been turning in my mind for these last eight or 
 nine years. You affect to be experienced statesmen ; but 
 you understand no more of state affairs, than 1 do to 
 draw the pleadings in a law suit. 
 
 As to the affair of Poissy, I would have you to know, 
 that matters would have gone much more favourably for 
 the Catholics, if all you had acted your parts as well as 
 one or two Jesuits did, who happened very luckily to be 
 there. There clearly appeared, not indeed the ambition, 
 but the abilities of the Jesuits. 1 am amazed how you 
 can charge those with ambition, who refuse dignities 
 and prelacies, when offered to them, and who make a 
 special vow to God never to aspire to any preferment ; 
 and who seek nothing in this world, but to serve all that 
 are willing to employ them, without pay or reward, If 
 the word Jesuit displease you, why not find fault with 
 
 A *
 
 II 
 
 <hose who stile themselves religious of the Trinity (or 
 Trinitarians). And if you fancy yourselves to be as 
 much of the society of Jesus as they are, why not say 
 that your daughters are as much religious as the nuns, 
 called the daughters of God (fdles Dieu) ; and that 
 you are as much of the order of the Holy Ghost, as my 
 knights and myself. For my part, I would as soon, or 
 rather, be called a Jesuit, than a Dominican or an Augus- 
 tinian. 
 
 The Sorbonne, of which you talk, has condemned them. 
 True; but that was, as you did, without knowing them. 
 And if the old Sorbonne would not know them, out of 
 jealousy, the modern Sorbonne is proud of and esteems 
 them. If they were not fixed in France before, God has 
 reserved that honour for me ; and, indeed, I esteem the 
 opportunity of settling them here a very marked favour ; 
 and if, heretofore, they were only provisionally admit- 
 ted, they shall henceforward have a permanent settlement 
 here, both by edict and arret. The will of my prede- 
 cessors kept them here ; my will is to establish them here. 
 
 The university has opposed them, but that was, either 
 because they excelled others (witness the vast concourse 
 of scholars to their colleges), or because they were not in-? 
 corporated in the university ; which will not be refused 
 to be done, when 1 shall have ordered it, and when I 
 shall see that they stand in need of being better regu- 
 lated. 
 
 You say, that the most learned amongst you have profit- 
 ted nothing from them. If the oldest be the most learned, 
 you are certainly right ; they had ended their studies be- 
 fore the Jesuits were known in France. Other parliaments, 
 I am informed, hold not this language ; nor indeed does 
 all yours. They teach better than others, and that is the 
 true reason why, since their absence, your university is 
 quite abandoned, and students flock after these masters to 
 Douay and out of my kingdom. 
 
 To call them & factious society, for having been con- 
 cerned in the league, is a reproach that falls on the times. 
 They thought they did well, as many others did, who
 
 Hi 
 
 were implicated in that matter ; they all mistook, and were 
 deceived together ; and they now own that they found my 
 intentions quite contrary to what they had preconceived. 
 But I incline to think that they acted with less malice than 
 others and I maintain, that their consciences, coupled 
 with the favours they receive from me, will attach their 
 affections more strongly to me, than they before were to 
 the league. 
 
 You say, they engage the youth of the most promise j 
 that they discern and pick out the choicest subjects for 
 their society. I commend them for it. When we go 
 to war, do we not make choice of those men that are 
 likely to turn out the best soldiers ? and, were there no 
 room for favour amongst you,, would you admit any who 
 were not worthy of being admitted to your society, and 
 of having a seat in your parliament ? If they furnished 
 you with ignorant teachers and preachers, you would 
 despise them ; and now they devote to your service men 
 of ability and talent, you are not pleased. Then, as to 
 the vast estates you say, they possess, it is all calumny 
 and imposture ; and I know right well, by the account of 
 the estates re-annexed to the crown, that seven or eight 
 masters could not be maintained at Bourges and Lyon, 
 whereas, when the Jesuits were there, they were thirty 
 or forty in number ; but should there be any difficulty on 
 that point, I have provided against it by my edict. 
 
 The vow of obedience they make to the pope, will not 
 subject them more to his will, than the oath of allegiance 
 they have taken to me, will bind them not to undertake 
 any thing against their natural sovereign. But their 
 vow does not extend itself to every thing, as is vainly 
 pretended. They only make a vow of obeying the pope, 
 when his holiness thinks fit to send them to labour for 
 the conversion of infidels ; and, in fact, by them has it 
 pleased God (to convert the Indies. This is what I fre- 
 quently say ; if Spain, has employed the Jesuits, why 
 should not France ? Are we in a worse plight than others ? 
 Why should France fare worse than Spain ? If she finds 
 them useful for her subjects, why should not France find 
 them serviceable to hers ?
 
 IV 
 
 They make their way to get footing whereever they can. 
 So do others. I myself got into my kingdom as well as 
 J could; but it must be allowed, that their patience is 
 great, and I admire it much. For with patience and a 
 regular way of life, they bring about whatever they have 
 in view. I esteem them not one jot the less for what you 
 say of them, that they are strict observers of their vows. 
 Their great care not to alter any thing in their institute 
 will be the cause of their stability and long continuance ; 
 and, therefore, in order to maintain and preserve them, 
 I myself would not make any change in their rules. If 
 1 have exacted any conditions from them, which may be 
 displeasing to foreigners, better is it that foreigners should 
 receive the law from us, than we from them. Be that as 
 it may, still am I in concord with my own subjects. As 
 to the churchmen, who except against them, at all times 
 has ignorance borne a grudge to learning, and I was fully 
 aware, that as soon as I should mention my intention to 
 recall the Jesuits, two sorts of persons would oppose the 
 design, namely, those of the new religion, and church- 
 men of irregular conduct, which raised their credit and 
 reputation still more in my eyes. 
 
 As to the opinion the pope has of them, I know that he 
 esteems them greatly: so do I. But you do not tell me, 
 that the pope was upon the point of seizing cardinal Bel- 
 larmin's books at Rome, for not allowing him as great an 
 extent of jurisdiction, as some other divines do. And 
 you studiously conceal what the Jesuits have latterly 
 maintained, that though the pope could not err, yet that 
 Clement might be deceived. Upon the whole, I am per- 
 suaded, that they say no more than others of the papal 
 authority ; and if opinions be to be tried, we must quar- 
 rel with those of the Catholic church. As to their teach- 
 ing, that churchmen are not subject to my power and 
 commands, and that kings may be lawfully murdered ; 
 we must, on one hand, see what they say upon the sub- 
 ject, and ascertain that they taught it to the youth en- 
 trusted to their care. One thing convinces me of the 
 direct contrary, that is, for the last thirty years, during 
 which they have been chiefly entrusted with the educa-
 
 tion of the French youth, above fifty thousand scholars 
 of different conditions in life have gone through their 
 regular course of studies in their colleges, have lived and 
 conversed with them, and not one single individual is to 
 be found, of that vast number, who can give it in evi- 
 dence, that he ever heard that, or any other doctrine of 
 a similar tendency, taught by the Jesuits. Nay, more, 
 there are some ministers of the new religion that have 
 received their education under them: let these ministers 
 be questioned about the lives of their masters, and their 
 conduct ; it is to be presumed, that their report would 
 not be favourable or partial, were it only to justify their 
 own defection from their communion. I know that the 
 experiment has been often made ; and the invariable 
 result has been, that they had nothing to object to their 
 moral conduct or doctrine. 
 
 As to Barriere, so far was he from having made his con* 
 fession to a Jesuit, as you say, that the first notice of that 
 attempt I actually received from a Jesuit; and another 
 Jesuit told him, he would be damned to a certainty, if he 
 took that mailer in hand. As to Chatel, the torture never 
 could extort from him any charge against Varade or any 
 other Jesuit. If any one had been charged, how came 
 you to spare him? For, he that was apprehended was 
 taken on account of some printed papers that were found 
 in his chamber. And what if a Jesuit had, in fact, per- 
 petrated that foul deed ; must all the apostles suffer for 
 one Judas ? And must J answer for all the robberies and 
 other crimes which have been, or which may be, commit- 
 ted by persans who have served under me as soldiers ? 
 At that time it pleased God to humble and to save me> 
 for which I give him thanks. He teaches me to forgive 
 all offences, and 1 have done it freely and from my 
 heart for his sake. I pray daily for mine enemies, and 
 am far from remembering what is past, as you, not like 
 very good Christians, invite me to do ; and for which I 
 am very far from thanking you.
 
 VI 
 
 No. IL 
 
 THE BULL OF POPE PIUS VII, 
 
 which he Re-establishes the Society of Jesus. 
 
 P/J7S BISHOP, 
 
 SERVANT OF THE SERVANTS OF GOD FOR PERPETRATING THE 
 MEMORV HEREOF. 
 
 THE care of all the churches confided to our humility 
 by the Divine Will, notwithstanding the disproportiou 
 of our deserts and abilities, makes it our duty to employ 
 all the aids in our power, and which are furnished to us 
 by the mercy of Divine Providence, in order that we may 
 be able, so far as the changes of times and places will 
 allow, to relieve the spiritual wants of the catholic world, 
 without any distinction of people and nation. 
 
 Wishing to fulfil this duty of our apostolic ministry, 
 as soon as Francis Kareu (then living), and other secular 
 priests resident for many years in the vast empire of 
 Russia, and who had been members of the society of 
 Jesus, suppressed by Clement XIV, of happy memory, 
 had supplicated our permission to unite in a body, for 
 the purpose of being able to apply themselves more easily, 
 in conformity with their institution, to the instruction 
 of youth in religion and good morals, to devote themselves 
 to preaching, to confession, and the administration of 
 the other sacraments, we felt it our duty more willingly 
 to comply with their prayer, inasmuch as the then reign- 
 ing emperor, Paul I, had warmly recommended the said 
 priests unto us, in his most gracious dispatches to us of 
 the eleventh day of August, 1800, in which, after having 
 expressed his special regard for them, he declared to us, 
 that it would be gratifying to him for the good of the
 
 VII 
 
 Catholics of his empire, that the said company of Jesus 
 should be established in his empire under our authority. 
 We, therefore, considering attentively the great advan- 
 tages which these vast regions, almost destitute of evan- 
 gelical workmen, might thence derive, and weighing in 
 our mind the great increase which these clergymen, 
 whose morals and doctrines were holden in such high esti- 
 mation, would, by their unabated labours, their intense 
 zeal for the good of souls, and their indefatigable preach- 
 ing of the word of God, occasion to the catholic religion, 
 have thought fit to second the wish of so great and bene- 
 ficent a prince. In consequence whereof, by our letters, 
 in form of a brief, dated the 7th day of March, 1801, 
 we granted to the said Francis Karen, and his colleagues 
 residing in Rusia, or who should repair thither from other 
 countries, power to form themselves into a body or con- 
 gregation of the company of Jesus ; that they should be at 
 liberty to unite in one or more houses, to be pointed out by 
 their superiors, provided such houses be situated wilhin 
 the Russian empire. And according to our good liking, 
 and that of the apostolical see, we named the said Francis 
 Kareu general of the said congregation ; we authorized 
 them to resume and follow the rule of St. Ignatius of 
 Loyola, approved and confirmed by the constitutions of 
 our predecessor, Paul III. of happy memory, in order that 
 the companions, joined in religious union, might freely en- 
 gage in the instruction of youth in religion and literature, 
 direct seminaries and colleges, and, with the consent of 
 the ordinaries, to hear confessions, preach the word of 
 God, and administer the sacraments; and we received 
 the said congregation of the company of Jesus under our 
 immediate protection and submission, reserving to our- 
 selves and our successors the right of prescribing and 
 sanctioning every thing that may appear to us proper to 
 consolidate, preserve, and purge it from any abuses or 
 corruption that may by chance have crept into it. And 
 for this purpose, we expressly abrogated such apostolical 
 constitutions, statutes, privileges, and indulgences, grant- 
 ed in contravention to these our concessions, especially ,
 
 VIII 
 
 the apostolic letters of Clement XIV, our predecessor, 
 which begin with the words Dominus ac Redemptor 
 noster, only in so far as they are contrary to our brief 
 beginning Catholicce, and what was issued only for the 
 Russian empire. 
 
 A short time after we had ordained the restoration of 
 the order of Jesuits in Russia, we thought it our duty 
 to grant the same favour to the kingdom of Sicily, on 
 the earnest request of our dear son in Jesus Christ, king 
 Ferdinand, who entreated that the company of Jesus 
 might be re-established in his dominions and states, as it 
 was in Russia, from a conviction, that, in these deplo- 
 rable times, the Jesuits were the teachers the most capa- 
 ble of forming youth to Christian piety and to the fear of 
 God, which is the beginning of wisdom, and to instruct 
 them in literature and science in the colleges and public 
 schools, under the direction of these regular clergymen. 
 The duly of our pastoral charge leading us to second the 
 wishes of so illustrious a prince, in matters which solely 
 concerned the greater glory of God and the salvation of 
 souls, we, by our letters, also in form of a brief, beginning 
 Per alias, and dated on the 30th day of July, 1804, ex- 
 tended to the kingdom of the two Sicilies the same con- 
 cessions which we had made for the Russian empire. 
 
 Almost the whole Catholic world demands, with unani- 
 mous voice, the re-establishment of the Society of Jesus. 
 We daily receive to this effect the most pressing petitions 
 from our venerable brethren the archbishops and bishops, 
 and the most distinguished characters of every degree and 
 order, more especially since the abundant fruits produced 
 in every country, in which this society has had a footing, 
 have been publicly known. 
 
 The very dispersion of the stones of the sanctuary, ia 
 those recent calamities, which it is better now to deplore 
 than to keep in reminiscence ; the annihilation of the 
 discipline of the regular orders, (the glory and support 
 of religion and the Catholic church, to the restoration of 
 which all our thoughts and cares are at present directed,) 
 require, that we should accede to a wish so just and
 
 IX 
 
 
 general. We should deem ourselves guilty of a great 
 crime towards God, if, amidst these dangers of the Chris- 
 tian republic, we should neglect the aids which the spe- 
 cial providence of God had placed at our disposal ; and 
 if, seated in the bark of Peter, tossed and assailed by con- 
 tinual storms, we should refuse to employ the vigorous 
 and experienced rowers, who volunteer their services, 
 in order to break the waves of a sea, which threatens every 
 moment shipwreck and death. 
 
 Influenced by so many and such powerful motives, we 
 have at length determined to do that which we earnestly 
 wished to have done at the commencement of our ponti- 
 ficate. After having by fervent prayers implored the 
 divine assistance, after having taken the advice and coun- 
 sel of a great number of our venerable brethren the car- 
 dinals of the holy Roman church, we have decreed, with 
 full knowledge, in virtue of the plenitude of apostolical 
 power, and with perpetual validity, that all the grants and 
 powers heretofore made and given by us exclusively to 
 the Rusian empire, and to the kingdom of the Two Sicilies, 
 shall henceforth extend to all our ecclesiastical states, as 
 as well as to all other states and dominions. 
 
 We therefore grant and allow to our well-beloved son, 
 Thaddeus Barzozowski, at this time general of the society 
 of Jesus, and to such members of the said company, as 
 be duly deputed by him, all suitable and necessary pow- 
 ers, according to the good-liking of us, and of the apos- 
 tolical see, in order that, throughout such states and do- 
 minions, they may freely and validly receive such as 
 wish to be admitted into the regular order of the society of 
 Jesus, who, under the obedience of the general of the order 
 for the time being, shall be distributed into communities, 
 according to the exigency of circumstances, in one or 
 more houses, one or more colleges, or one or more pro- 
 vinces, where they shall regulate their mode of life by 
 the rules prescribed by St. Ignatius of Loyola, as approv- 
 ed of and confirmed by the constitutions of Paul III. 
 We grant, moreover, and declare, that they may freely 
 
 B*
 
 [ and lawfully employ themselves in educating youth in 
 the principles of the Catholic religion, in forming them 
 to good morals, and in directing colleges and seminaries ; 
 and also in hearing confessions, in preaching the word of 
 God, and administering the sacraments, with the consent 
 and approbation of the ordinaries of the places where 
 they shall happen to reside. Henceforth we take under 
 our special care, protection, and obedience, as well as that 
 of the holy see, all the colleges, houses, provinces, and 
 members of this order so united, or which may hereafter 
 become so united ; always reserving to ourselves and the 
 Roman pontiffs, our successors, full right and authority to 
 ordain and prescribe whatever shall to us appear expe- 
 dient to consolidate more and more the said society, to 
 strengthen and establish it, and reform any abuses, should 
 any ever creep into it, which God avert. 
 
 We exhort, with all our heart, and as much as we can 
 in the Lord, ail superiors, provincials, rectors, com pa- 
 nions, and students of this established society, to shew 
 themselves, at all times and in all places, faithful imita- 
 tors of their holy father, to observe with precise exactness 
 the rule prescribed to them by their illustrious founder, 
 and obey, with ever increasing zeal, the useful advices and 
 wholesome counsels which he has left to his children. 
 
 In a word, we recommend most earnestly in the Lord 
 the aforesaid frequently mentioned society, and all its 
 members, to our dear sons in Jesus Christ, the illustrious 
 and noble princes and lords temporal, as well as to our 
 venerable brethren the archbishops and bishops, and to 
 all those who are placed in authority ; we exhort, we 
 conjure them, not only not to suffer that these religions 
 be in any way molested, but that they be treated with 
 all due kindness and charity. 
 
 We ordain, that these presents, and every thing therein 
 contained, shall be inviolably observed, according to the 
 form and tenor thereof, in all time to come ; and have their 
 full and entire effect ; and that they be so, and not other- 
 wise, judged and defined by all judges, with whatever
 
 XI 
 
 powers they may be invested ; and declaring null, void, 
 and of no effect, any manner of encroachment upon these 
 our ordinances, either knowingly or from ignorance; and 
 this notwithstanding any apostolical constitutions and or- 
 dinances, especially the brief of Clement XIV, of happy 
 memory, beginning with the words Dominus ac Re- 
 demptor noster, issued under the seal of the fisherman, 
 on the 22d day of July, 1773, which we expressly and 
 specially repeal and annul, as well as every other that is 
 contrary to the intent and tenor of these presents. 
 
 It is our will that the same credit be paid to copies, 
 whether in manuscript or print, of our present brief, as 
 to the original itself, provided they have the signature 
 of some notary public, and the seal of some ecclesiastical 
 dignitary. 
 
 Let no one then be permitted to infringe, or, by auda- 
 cious temerity, oppose any part of this ordinance and 
 should any one take upon himself to attempt it, be it 
 known to him, that he will thereby incur the indignation 
 of Almighty God and of the holy apostles Peter a, id 
 Paul. 
 
 Given at Rome, at Sancta Maria Major, on the 7th day 
 of August, in the year of our Lord 1814, and the 15th 
 year of our pontificate. 
 
 . I - .-J *tf? _F 
 
 A. Card. Pro-Dataire. R. Card. BRASCHI HONESTI. 
 Revised by the Court, De TESTA. 
 
 !/ |P i \ '^ I ' 
 
 The place t of the seal. : $ ? F. LAVIZZANI. 
 
 i<i alhuhii ' ' : '{d t 
 
 Entered at the Registry of Briefs. 
 
 .'UiAsTfltL 
 
 . 
 
 , 

 
 XII 
 
 No. III. 
 ORDINANCES OF THE KING OF SPAIN, 
 
 FOR THE 
 
 Re-establishment of the Jesuits throughout his States. 
 
 
 THE FIRST ORDINANCE. 
 
 ' DON Ferdinand VII, by the grace of God, king of 
 Castile, Leon, &c. &c. to all the members of my council, 
 presidents, regents, judges of ray courts and tribunals, in- 
 tendants, governors, high and ordinary magistrates of all 
 my good towns, villages, and boroughs, \vithin my king- 
 doms, as well to those who now, for the time being, do exer- 
 cise such offices, as those who shall exercise them hereafter,) 
 in time to come, and to all other persons, whom the orders 
 contained in my royal edict may in any manner interest 
 or concern, Know ye, that my secretary of state hath, 
 by my order, from grace and justice, issued an ordinance, 
 bearing date the 29th day of last May, addressed to my 
 council, through the hands of its president, the duke of 
 Infantado, to the following effect: 
 
 Since, by the effect of the infinite and special mercy of 
 our blessed Lord, for me and my faithful subjects, I 
 have found myself in the midst of them, reseated upon 
 the glorious throne of my ancestors, 1 have received, and 
 continue daily to receive, a number of representations, 
 made to me from the provinces, towns, villages, and bo- 
 roughs of my kingdom, from the archbishops, bishops, 
 clergy, and even the laity, all of whom have laid before
 
 XIII 
 
 me proofs of the loyalty and attachment, and of the warm 
 interests they take in the temporal and spiritual welfare 
 of my subjects, most earnestly supplicating and imploring 
 me to re-establish, throughout every part of my domi- 
 nions, the society of Jesus, inviting me in that to follow 
 the example of the other sovereigns of Europe, and espe- 
 cially that of his holiness, who has thought proper to 
 repeal the brief of Clement XIV, bearing date the 21st 
 day of July, 1773, which extinguished the religious re- 
 gular order of the society of Jesus, by the publication of 
 the famous constitution of the 7th day of last August 
 Sollicitudo omnium Ecclesiarum. After such respectable 
 precedents, I did whatever lay in my power to ascertain, 
 in the most positive manner, the falsity of the criminal 
 charges laid to the account of the ^society of Jesus, by 
 their rivals and their enemies, who were, at the same time, 
 the enemies of the most holy religion of Jesus Christ, 
 which is the first fundamental law of my monarchy, and 
 that which my glorious predecessors ever protected and 
 defended, with heroic firmness and constancy, thereby 
 fulfilling the obligation, which the title of Most Catholic, 
 which has ever been allowed them up to this day, by all 
 other sovereigns, imposed upon them, and that zeal and 
 example, which, with the help of God, I wish and hope 
 to follow. 1 have at length brought myself to the tho- 
 rough conviction, that the real enemies of religion and 
 kingly government, were the very persons who had la- 
 boured, with the most earnestness, at rendering the so- 
 ciety of Jesus odious, at dissolving it, at persecuting its 
 unoffending members, by employing against it the vilest 
 intrigues, the foulest calumny, and the most ridiculous 
 imputations. It has all been proved by experience, from 
 the moment that the society of Jesus was abolished, to the 
 triumph of impiety ; from that same moment we beheld 
 the same means employed, by the same men, during the 
 deplorable period which ensued, to upset several thrones; 
 which disastrous events would never have taken place, 
 had the society of Jesus maintained its footing ; it was an
 
 XIV 
 
 impregnable ram part of the holy religion of Jesns Christ, 
 the doctrines, precepts, and counsels of which alone can 
 render subjects so valiant and estimable, as mine have, 
 to the admiration of all mankind, proved themselves, 
 during my absence. The very same audacious enemies 
 of the society, they, who have levelled the most sacri- 
 legious propositions against their holy founder, against 
 their institute and rules, have, nevertheless, been forced 
 to allow the rapid progress of its establishments, the 
 credit and reputation which it acquired, the admirable 
 wisdom and prudence of its government; that its pre-emi- 
 nent excellency in educating youth had been of incalcula- 
 ble utility, from the active zeal and assiduous application of 
 all its members to the learned languages ; that to their 
 efforts is it chiefly owing that such progress has been 
 made in literature and science; that it has produced the 
 ablest professors in the several branches of science ; that 
 it may fairly boast of having furnished a greater number 
 of valuable authors, than all the other religious orders 
 taken collectively ; that in the new world, they have given 
 tbe brightest lustre to their talents, by devoting them to 
 the relief and welfare of humanity; that the pretended 
 crimes that have been laid to their charge, affected, at 
 most, some few individuals ; that by far the great majo- 
 rity of the society of Jesuits occupied themselves con- 
 stantly in the attainment of science, in the practical ad- 
 ministration of our holy religion, guided by the soundest 
 principles of morality, ever tending to alienate men from 
 vice, and lead them in the ways of justice and virtue. 
 Notwithstanding what has been said above, as my august 
 grandfather had reserved, in his royal heart, the just and 
 weighty motives which, he said, he had for sending all 
 the Jesuits out of his states, by his pragmatic sanction of 
 the 2d day of April, 1767; and as 1 have, on the other 
 hand, a thorough knowledge of the spirit of religion 
 which animated him, of his wisdom and experience in 
 the sublime and difficult art of governing, and as this 
 matter, from its nature, its relations, and consequences,
 
 tnust be considered and discussed in my council, in ordef 
 that I may avail myself of their advice, and adopt the 
 most salutary measures ; therefore did I lay before them 
 the several applications made to me to re-establish the 
 Jesuits ; and I doubt not, but they will give me the 
 best advice, and such as will best suit my royal person, 
 my states, and the spiritual and temporal welfare of my 
 subjects. As, however, 1 can form no idea that my coun- 
 cil can object to the expediency, or rather necessity, of 
 re-establishing the Jesuits, and as I have been latterly 
 more urgently than ever implored to re-establish them, I 
 do hereby ordain, that the order of Jesuits be provision- 
 ally re-established in all the towns and villages which 
 have asked for them, notwithstanding whatever may have, 
 been ordained by the said pragmatic sanction of the 2d 
 of April, 1767, notwithstanding any law or ordinance 
 upon the subject passed or made since that time, all of 
 which 1 repeal and annul, as far as is requisite, for the 
 towns and villages to enjoy, instantly, the re-establishment 
 of all colleges, houses, professed houses, noviciates, resi- 
 dences, and missions, which they before enjoyed ; and 
 that without prejudice to the extension of the same esta- 
 blishment of all that formerly did exist in my states ; pro* 
 vided, nevertheless, that all such as are established by this 
 royal ordinance, or such as may hereafter be so esta- 
 blished, be subject to such laws and ordinances as 1 shall 
 think fit to make, as well for the greater glory and prospe- 
 rity of the monarchy, as for the better economy and ad- 
 ministration of the society of Jesus, to which I must give 
 protection, as 1 do to all the other religious orders esta- 
 blished in my states, in virtue of that supreme and admi- 
 nistrative authority which I hold of God to govern my 
 subjects, and ensure respect for my throne. You will ob- 
 serve this as said, and make it known to whomever it 
 concerns, for its due execution. 
 Given in my palace on the 9th day of June, J81.5, 
 
 I, THE KING*
 
 XVI 
 
 THE SECOND ORDINANCE. 
 
 DON Ferdinand VII, by the grace of God, king of 
 Castile, Leon, &c. &c. to all the members of my council, 
 presidents, regents, judges of my courts and tribunals, in- 
 tendants, governors, high and ordinary magistrates of all 
 my good towns, villages, and boroughs of my kingdoms, 
 as well to those, who now, for the time being, do exercise 
 such offices, as those who shall exercise them hereafter, in 
 time to come, and to all other persons whom the orders 
 contained in my royal edict may in any manner, interest, 
 or concern Know ye, that since, by the infinite mercy of 
 God, and the very special protection which he has shewn, 
 as well in regard to my own person as to my most loyal 
 arid well-beloved subjects, 1 found myself replaced on the 
 throne of my renowned ancestors, there has been no ces- 
 sation of my receiving repeated entreaties and supplica- 
 tions from the provinces, towns, boroughs, and hamlets of 
 my kingdom, which has been presented to me by the 
 most right and reverend archbishops and other prelates, 
 and also from several of the laity ; all tending to urge me, 
 in the most impressive terms, to re-establish the society 
 of Jesus Avithin my states ; setting forth the great advan- 
 tages that would result from it to my subjects, exhorting 
 me in that to follow the advantages of other sovereign 
 powers of Europe, and more especially that of his holi- 
 ness, who did not think that he could dispense himself 
 from the obligation and duty of repealing the brief of 
 Clement XIV, dated the 21st day of July, 1773, by which 
 the order of the Jesuits was abolished, and to issue his 
 celebrated constitution of the 7th day of August of the 
 last year, beginning -with the words Sollicitudo omnium 
 'Ecclesiarum. Now, as this matter, from its nature, re- 
 lations, and results, was worthy of being examined and 
 discussed in our council, in order that, after their advice,- 
 1 might come to some wise and well-weighed determina- 
 tion, I laid before them the several representations made
 
 XVII 
 
 (o me upon the subject ; but, at the same time, unable to 
 form even a surmise that my council would not be alive i 
 to the utility and necessity of re-establishing the society 
 of Jesus, which was solicited with redoubled ardour, 1 
 deemed it expedient to issue my ordinance of the 29th of. 
 last May, and which I communicated to them on the same 
 day, and by which I ordered, in the mean time (provi- 
 sionally), the re-establishment of the order of the Jesuits 
 in all the towns, villages, and boroughs, which should 
 desire it, notwithstanding the pragmatic sanction of the 
 2d day of April, 1767, and all subsequent laws and or- 
 dinances which I annulled, with a view to effectuate the 
 instant re-establishment of the colleges, convents, professed 
 houses, noviciates, residences, and missions, in the towns 
 and boroughs aforementioned ; without prejudice of ex- 
 tension to the same establishment, to all those which ever 
 had existed in ray kingdoms, and also all those that should 
 be re-established by that ordinance, as well as those 
 which may become so by virtue of any determination I 
 may make, with the advice of my council, for the greater 
 glory and prosperity of the monarchy, and for the belter 
 administration and economy of the society, following up 
 in that regard the principle of protection which 1 give 
 to all other religious institutions in my states, and of the 
 supreme administrative authority, which the Almighty has 
 placed in ray hands, to enable me to work for the welfare 
 of my people, and to ensure respect for my crown, 
 For effectuating my royal intentions, I issued my ordi- 
 nance of the 9th of June in that same year. By another 
 of the 19th of the October following, I created a special 
 commission, charged to proceed upon re-establishing the 
 Jesuits in every town, village, and borough that had so- 
 licited their re-establishment. I also granted them the 
 necessary powers and jurisdiction to carry the object into 
 effect, giving orders to all the offices of the ministers of 
 state, those of justice, of the council, of the tribunals, of 
 the archives, and depositaries of documents and titles, 
 to furnish the commission whatever it should demand, 
 
 c *
 
 xvm 
 
 and all documents that it should judge necessary, and 
 enjoining it to consult me upon every incident in their 
 proceedings, (hat should require my royal approbation, 
 and to report to me, from time to time, through my mi- 
 nisters of state and justice, their progress in an affair of 
 such high importance. My council, after having been 
 attended by and having heard the arguments of profes- 
 sional advocates, and having debated upon and as- 
 certained the points which I charged them to investigate 
 on the 22d of January, have iuduced me to come to the 
 following resolution: 
 
 I hereby ordain, that the permission which I granted 
 on the 29th of last May, repealing the pragmatic sanction 
 and the laws and royal ordinances which are therein 
 quoted, for the re-establishment of the society of Jesus, 
 in the towns and boroughs which had solicited me for it, 
 at that period, shall be extended generally and without any 
 limitation to all my states, as well in Old Spain as to the 
 Indies and the islands adjacent thereto, wherever they had 
 any establishment before their banishment. I authorize 
 and give all necessary authorities to the present supe- 
 riors, and to all those who, in time to come, shall become 
 superiors, to enable them to put in practice all the cus- 
 toms and usages of a religious life, the full and free exer- 
 cise of their profession, by conforming in every thing to 
 the whole institute aud rules of their holy founder, ap- 
 proved by Roman pontiffs, and in conformity with the 
 declaration made by his present holiness, in his apostolical 
 constitution, beginning with the words Sollicitudo omnium 
 Ecctesiarum, given at Rome on the 7th day of Aug. 1814. 
 Desiring that the re-establishment of the society may be ef- 
 fected with all the d ispatch that I intend, and wh ich suits the 
 spiritual and temporal welfare of my kingdoms, I order 
 and command that restitution be immediately made to them 
 of all houses, colleges, convents, habitations, goods, and 
 rent-charges which were seized at the time of their ex- 
 pulsion, which are now in existence, but upon condition 
 Uiat they fulfil all the duties and charges, as well teacti-
 
 ing as of other services, to which they were subject and 
 liable, and which were acknowledged to have belonged to 
 them. I except out of this restitution all property, goods, 
 and other effects, actually sold or alienated for valuable 
 consideration, either to corporate bodies or to individuals ; 
 also such as have passed by regular donation into the 
 hands of any public institution, so that they cannot be 
 disannexed without producing public evil. In a word, 
 I charge this new special commission, created for carry- 
 ing on this re-establishment, in execution of my ordinance, 
 never to lose sight of the rules marked out for regulating 
 their conduct ; and, in case of any difficulty or doubt, 
 to propose to me the means most likely to avoid prejudice 
 and complaints, and to reconcile the restitution of the 
 colleges and houses with the service of God, the good 
 and happiness of my people, which is the only object I 
 propose to attain. I charge the most and right reverend 
 archbishops, bishops, chapters of our holy churches, 
 vicars general, archpriests, and other ecclesiastical judges 
 of our kingdoms, to concur in the execution of this my 
 present ordinance, and for this purpose to give whatever 
 orders they may deem suitable, for such is my will. 
 Given in my palace on the 3d day of May, 1816, 
 
 I, THE 
 
 FINIS. 
 
 Printer, Oarlirk Hill t London-
 
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