1 I WORKS UY THE REV. R. J. Mc GHEE, M.A., UECTOB OK IIOLYWKL.L, HUNTS. ULTRAMONTANISM, PAST AND PRE- SENT. A Letter to the Right Hon. Viscount Palraerston. Price Gd. EXPOSITORY LECTURES ON THE EPIS- TLE TO THE EPHESIANS. Two Vols. 8vo, price 15s. Fourth Edition. III. THE CHURCH OF ROME. A Report on the Documents deposited in the Universities of Cambridge, Oxford, and Trinity College, Dublin. Ratified by the Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge, in answer to a requisition from the County of Huntingdon, and by authorities in Oxford and Dublin. Price 5s. IV. MAYNOOTH, ITS SAYINGS AND DOINGS. A Review of a Report of the last Commission, in Letters to the Earl of Harrowby. Price 2s. Gd. THE ANTIQUITY OF THE CHURCH OF ROME BROUGHT TO THE TEST, in a Letter to Dr. Newman. Price 2d. VI. Just Published, THE POOR GENTLEMEN OF LIEGE, being the History of the Jesuits in England and Ireland for the last Sixty Years. Translated from their own Historian, M. Cre- tineau Joly, with Notes and Comments by the Rev. R. J. " Mc Ghee. " Part I., 8vo, 7s. 6d. cloth. This is earnestly recommended to all reflecting men. LONDON JOHN F. SHAW AND CO., PATERNOSTER ROW, AND SOUTHAMPTON ROW, RUSSELL SQUARE ; NISBET & CO., BERNERS STREET: BOSWORTH & CO REGENT STREET ; AND ALL BOOKSELLERS. THE HISTORY OF THE JESUITS FOR THE LAST SIXTY YEARS. ♦ THE POOH GENTLEMEN OF LIEGE: uk i so Tin-: HISTORY OE THE JESUITS IN ENGLAND AND IRELAND, FOR THE LAST SIXTY YEARS. TRANSLATED FEOM THEIR OWN HISTORIAN, M. CRETINEAU JOLY. EDITED, WITH PREFACE AND SUPPLEMENTAL NOTES AND COMMENTS, BY REV. R. J. M'GHEE, M.A., RECTOE. OF HOLYWELL-CUM-NEEDINGWOBTH. " Do you know them ? No, Sir, their hats are plucked about their ears, And half their faces buried in their cloaks, That by no means I may discover them. ***** They are the faction. Oh ! conspiracy, Sham'st thou to shew thy dangerous brow by night When evils are most free ? Oh ! then by day Where wilt thou find a cavern dark enough To mask thy monstrous visage? Seek none conspiracy, Hide it in smiles and affability, For if thou putt'st thy native semblance on, Not Erebus itself were dark enough To hide thee from prevention." Julms Crp.sar, Act ii., Scene 2. DOMESTIC LIBRARY % scft LONDON : JOHN F. SHAW AND CO., 48 PATERNOSTER ROW, AND 27 SOUTHAMPTON ROW. 1863. LONDON : MITCHELL AND SON, PRINTERS, WARDOUR STREET, W. CONTENTS OF CHAPTER I. pp. 1—60. Expulsion of the Jesuits from Russia. — Their situation in the empire. Jealous}'- of the Greek priests and of the Universities. Alexander authorizes the missions of Siberia and Odessa. The Due de Richelieu and the Abbe Nicole. Brzozowski, General of the Jesuits, and Count Joseph de Maistre. — Their plan to emancipate education. Requirements of the University. Brzozowski applies to Count RasoumofFski in August, 1810. Foreigners among the teachers. The Jesuits demand that the College of Polotsk should be made a University. Alexander hesitates. The Count de Maistre takes part with the Jesuits. Portrait of Joseph de Maistre. His letters to the Minister of Public Instruction. The Czar orders that the College should be made a University. Project of the Jesuits to go into Spain to re-establish their Institute, 1812. The Bible Society and Prince Galitzin, the Minister of Public Worship. Character of Alexander the First. He adopts the idea of the Bible Societies. The Romish Bishops encouraged by Prince Galitzin become members of the Bible Society. — The Jesuits refuse to become members. — They oppose it. The increase of Catholicism. — Causes of this increase. Alexander Galitzin embraces Catholicism. — Anger of his uncle. Letter of Father Billy. The Bible Societies occasion the fall of the Society of Jesus. Moans which were employed to effect the idea of the Holy Alliance exposed, and proved to be a plot against the Jesuits, formed by Protestants and schisniiitic Greeks. Ukase which banished the Jesuits from St. Petersburg. Alexander alleges religious motives for his decree of proscription. The Invalide Basse and Father Rozaven. Secret causes of the Indulgence of the Emperor Alexander to the Jesuits. — Seizure of their papers. Brzozowski writes to Alexander. — He demands leave to go to Rome. vi CONTENTS OF CHAPTER I. The Empire of Russia becomes merely a province of the Order. The Jesuits expelled from Russia. Report of Prince Galitzin. The accusation contained in the report. The Jesuits become missionaries. — Their labours. Father Grivel on the Volga. Father Coince at Riga. His works of charity and popular education. — His institutions. The Marquis Pallucci and the Jesuits. Father Gilles Henri in the Caucasus. The colonies of Mozdok. — Correspondence of the missionary. The Russian Government proposes to the Jesuits not to go beyond the circuit of their missions. The Jesuits refuse to adhere to this proposal. Dispersion of the Fathers. The Company of Jesus at Rome. Interior labours of its members. Situation of the Institute. — Its first Colleges. The Noviciate of Saint Andrew. Charles Emmanuel, king of Sardinia, becomes a Jesuit. He dies in his noviciate. Death of Brzozowski, General of the Jesuits. The Father Petrucci nominated Vicar. — Settles the time for the general con- gregation. The Cardinal della Genga and his opposition. Petrucci orders the deputies of the Professed to delay their journey. The Father Rozaven orders them to proceed. New requirements of the Cardinal della Genga to interfere with the election. Suspicions of the Jesuits. — They address the Pope. Cardinal Gonsalvi encourages them. Plan of the intrigues to oblige them to modify their constitutions. The Congregation assembles. Petrucci endeavours to get rid of the Fathers who suspect him. The Congregation degrades the Vicar-General. Louis Fortis is chosen chief of the order of Jesus. Condemnation of those who had endeavoured to sow discord in the Institution. Commissioners named for the revision of the Ratio-Studiorum. CONTENTS OF CHAPTER II. pp. 01—129. Father Landed arrives in Gallicia. The clergy and people call for the Jesuits. A College is founded at Tarnapol. The Archbishop Raezynski returns into the Institution. The enthusiasm with which the Gallicians receive the Jesuits. The Emperor Francis II. visits the Jesuits. Imperial decree which delivers the Jesuits from all the hostile measures against them by Joseph II. The cholera in Gallicia. The Archduke Ferdinand and the Archbishop Pistek. Father Dunin and the poor students. The Jesuits in Styria. Father Loeffler at Gratz. The Archduke Maximilian opens to them the fortress of Linz. — They enter the Austrian states. Policy of Austria. Religious liberty in England. Position of the Jesuits and Vicars Apostolic. The College of Liege. The Jesuits retire into Great Britain. Thomas Weld gives them his estate of Stonyhurst as a shelter for both the masters and their pupils. Changed state of public opinion. The English no longer hostile to the Company. Progress of liberty. Father Plowden and Father Lewall. Emancipation of the Catholics. Bill against religious vows. The Jesuits found Colleges. — They build Churches. Puseyism and conversions. The Jesuits in Ireland. Father Caliaghan supports them. Father Kenny founds the College of Clongowes. The systematic degradation of the Irish. — How carried out. viii CONTENTS OF CHAPTER II. The Jesuits try to advance religion and morality in Ireland. They associate themselves with Father Mathew, founder of the Temperance Societies. The Fathers in Holland. — Their labours to preserve the Institution. The Jesuit Fonteyne and the Fathers of the faith. Prince de Broglie, Bishop of Ghent.— He offers an asylum to the Jesuits. Character of William of Nassau, king of the low countries. His monarchical instincts and revolutionary friendships. Discussion between the king and the Belgian Bishops. The Jesuits expelled from their house by an armed force. The Prince de Broglie opens his palace to them. Condemnation of the Bishop of Ghent. Execution of the sentence. William obliges the Jesuits to leave the episcopal palace. They restrain the indignation of the Catholics. They emigrate. Father Le Maistre in Belgium. The Jesuits become the point of attack of the Catholic liberal opposition. William becomes arbitrary. Resistance to authority. The constitutionalists of Belgium make an alliance with the Catholics. MM. Gerlache and Potter. Belgium Revolution. The J esuits recalled. Father Joseph de Diesbach and Count Sineo della Torre in Switzerland. The Jesuits in the Valais. Fontanes and the Fathers. The Imperial University does justice to the Jesuits. Swiss Radical tactics against the Company. Ancient and modern Jesuits. The Grand Council of Fribourg calls for them. Mission of Father Roothaan into the Valais. Gregory Girard and his method. The Bishop of Lausanne and the Jesuits. Tumult against the Jesuits. Foundation of the College of Fribourg. Labours of the Fathers of the Company. They go to Dusseldorf, to Brunswick, and to Dresden. Father Gracchi and the Royal Family of Saxony. Father Ronsin converts the Duke and Duchess of Anhalt. Father Beckx and the Protestants of Koethen. Progress of the Jesuits in Switzerland. ADVERTISEMENT. It has been considered that the length of notes requisite to elucidate this history , if placed at the foot of the pages would interfere with the regular consecutive reading of the author, and that therefore it is preferable to append a Supplemental Commentary, which refers to the pages of the text ; so that those who wish to test the veracity and credibility of the history may have an ample means of doing so. The volume consists of eight chapters ; and it is proposed to publish it in four Parts, each containing two chapters, with notes appended as to this. The rapid progress and the acti- vity of the Society of Jesuits which exists in this country, in contempt of law, makes it desirable that the publication should not be delayed. If this Part is favourably received by the public, it is proposed to publish one of the succeeding Parts every quarter, so that the whole shall be completed within the year. PREFACE. We cannot present this translation to the public, without anticipating, with not unnatural sympathy, the sentiments of indignation which must pervade the breast of every honest Englishman when he shall have arrived at its conclusion. The imperturbed serenity with which the author lays claim to every earthly and divine perfection, on behalf of him- self and the society of which he is the historian, would be almost amusing, if it did not present another and a more serious aspect. It is, alas ! no unfounded aphorism, that men generally receive the price they set on their own merits, and that for one bold man of real merit who is duly appre- ciated, there are ten successful impostors who achieve more or less of influence over the mass of their fellow creatures by dint of audacity alone. That this book has been for many years past in circulation upon the Continent of Europe, and in the United States of America, is well known; but its size and its price have probably restricted its circulation to the upper, or rather, we should say, the more wealthy classes of society. We believe, however, that it is comparatively, if not altogether, unknown in England, and we trust that the pub- lication of this partial transcript of the past progress and pre- sent position of the Society of Jesuits, as detailed by their devoted advocate, in an English form, may in some measure defeat their designs. We are mistaken if the first sensation of the greater b 2 iv PREFACE. number of our readers will not be a grievous feeling of betrayal, of abused generosity, of deceived intelligence ; and we trust that the effect of this sentiment will be a strong and resolute determination to be no longer deceived and betrayed. That English statesmen, honoured and beloved by the English nation, have been made the agents of handing over the liberties of their country to the power of the Society of Ignatius Loyola, will hardly make submission to the results more palatable to the Protestant people of England ; perhaps it will rather serve to arouse in them the spirit of their forefathers, and induce them to distrust those rulers who would seek to continue so fatal a policy. In truth there is much room to doubt, if the "charity that hopeth all things, belie veth all things," etc., is an excellent practical virtue in a statesman : but we shall have occasion hereafter to notice that the errors of those who admitted these enemies into our citadel, cannot, even in candour, be attributed wholly to simplicity ; and while it would surely be unjust, to accuse them of having foreseen the full extent of the evils they were about to entail upon their country — the past history of the Society of Jesuits, and the experience of all the other nations of Europe, were sufficiently memorable to warn them from the deed they per- petrated ; nor can we believe that they consented to enter- tain these " angels " entirely " unawares." It is not now, however, with the past that we are called upon to concern ourselves, but with our present dangers, our present duties, our present responsibilities : that these are neither few or insignificant the state of this country and of Ireland can amply testify. We will cite in evidence the following: — "In times when the taste for criminal exploits was more general than now, such murders as are being committed in Ireland would have been the subject of daily gossip in half the families of the kingdom. They are so obscure in their origin, so strangely skilful in their execution PREFACE. V — they begin and extend, then suddenly cease, and are again renewed in a manner so inexplicable to every one who seeks to trace them out, that they will probably receive no little attention from any one who writes the history of these times. The stories that are current concerning them, though they may not be true, yet shew how general is the notion that the organization is more than usually extensive. It is even reported that the ' Vehm-gericht/ which pronounces on the fate of landlords and their agents in Tipperary, is held not in Ireland at all, but in the English city of Manchester. The Macaulay of the future will hardly be able to find, in the domestic annals of the present age, a more interesting subject for a chapter, than the agrarian crimes which are now infesting some of the Irish counties ; and, perhaps, the most remarkable of them is the murder of Mr. Braddell, which took place a few days ago in the town of Tipperary." — The Times, August 2, 1862. Again : — " Ireland is a country where, as a Longford witness naively said the other day, 'many very decent people are fond of murderers and the sort of murderers of whom Ireland is fond, are just the very worst and most detestable sort, that the earth has seen since the days of Cain. The favourite Irish type of murder is agrarian murder, which means, murder in cold blood, murder on principle and system, murder without the excuse of natural human passion, murder planned and prepared for weeks beforehand, murder which dogs its victim and waits its opportunity, murder done for hire at the bidding of a secret tribunal. This is the type of crime that Ireland delights to honour, cherish, and protect, and that unites a whole community in the sacred bond of active or passive complicity. It is the damning feature of murder in Ireland that the guilt of one becomes, by adoption, the guilt of many. The Irish assassin is a representative man ; he acts, not for himself alone, but for a vast constituency ; his deeds of blood are owned and vi PREFACE. approved by half a nation If caught, it is quite un- certain whether a jury will be found to convict him, and if convicted and executed, he dies in all the odour of popular sanctity and martyrdom In the meantime it would be very satisfactory to see some overt sign that the spiritual pastors and masters of the finest peasantry in the world interest themselves in the better observance of the sixth com- mandment As it is certain that assassination is quite as objectionable, in a religious point of view, as mixed educa- tion, and that it is quite as unorthodox to screen and shelter assassins as it is to withhold contributions to Peter's pence, or to impugn the divine right of the Pope's temporal power, there is no apparent reason why the same zeal should not be displayed against Bibbonism, which is never wanting on behalf of the distinctive tenets of ultra-montanism. At all events it strikes one that the posting of murderers' notices on chapel doors, is a form of sacrilege which might appropriately call forth a rousing altar denunciation ; it is not pleasant to be forced to the conclusion, that Dr. Cullen and his brethren only disapprove of murder languidly and in the abstract." — Saturday Review, September 13, 1862. We have quoted purposely from those two newspapers, which have been notoriously the advocates of the largest concessions to the claims of the adherents of the Roman Catholic faith ; and which have treated with contempt and ridicule the fears expressed, and the efforts undertaken by Protestant members of the legislature, and by public associations, to place the representatives of the nation on their guard, and to warn the nation at large of the danger of committing further power into the hands of the professors of this creed. It is now nearly nine months since the perpetrator of the murder alluded to in these quotations has been at large, as may be fairly presumed, within the shores of Ireland. A reward, which is monstrous/ no doubt, in the estimation of a PREFACE. vii poor population, has been during that time offered to the acceptance of any single individual, who will be the means of discovering the murderer; it has never yet been claimed, and we are bold to say that we are convinced it never will be claimed by any one of his co-religionists. We would not, however, be guilty of the foul aspersion on our Roman Catholic fellow-subjects, of declaring that we believe that all, or even the greater number of them, are linked with that mysterious body, the Society of Ignatius Loyola; so far from it, we believe that the principles and practices of this society, when known to them, which is not often the case, are as abhorrent to the educated and en- lightened Roman Catholics of England and Ireland, as to enlightened members of that church in France, Ger- many, Italy, and, in fact, in all Continental countries, even to Protestants themselves ; we feel that in exposing and de- nouncing the evil deeds and designs of the Jesuits, we denounce a common enemy, and incur no risk of being supposed to involve all Roman Catholics in one sweeping condemnation. Evidence of this is seen in the condition of Italy the last two years, and in the previous records of other nations. We have cited from the pages of our daily history, the evidence of the existence of some secret society of which Roman Catholics alone are members ; that its agents in its deeds of blood and violence are ignorant and unlettered men ; that its victims are their neighbours, sometimes their co- religionists, often their benefactors; that its exploits are conducted frequently in the open day, in the presence of numbers; that the perpetrators not only enjoy impunity but are honoured with applause ; that the great body of the Roman Catholic priests give (to say the least) no efficient token of their disapprobation of this system, but rather offer a certain amount of excuse for lawlessness and violence, by exciting the passions of the lower classes against the legislature and landowners. viii PREFACE. That these facts are palpable and manifest none can deny ; and we appeal to the judgment and candour of our Roman Catholic fellow-countrymen and fellow-subjects, when we pro- ceed to account for them. In the pages of the History of the Company of Jesuits, by Cretineau Joly, we have fully detailed who were the agents of introducing into Ireland the system of education which they represent as the greatest boon which they could bestow on that oppressed country ; he says, " The brief ' Dominus ac Redemptor' having annihilated the Company of Jesus, the children of Loyola would not be discouraged, like a flock of sheep, because their shepherd had abandoned them." " They could not found a college in Ireland to receive the young men whom they hoped soon to gather into their order whenever it should again arise from its ruins. The college of Stonyhurst opened its bosom to receive some of them, others went to Palermo, where they completed their studies." . . . "In 1811, the death of Thomas Betah broke the last link which, in Ireland, attached the new scholars* to the ancient company Father Kenny succeeded him in the month of November," and we shall presently see the character and zeal of Father Kenny and his confederates, and the favourable opportunities they enjoyed of carrying out their principles with energy and effect in Ireland. Cretineau informs us that in 1819 they had founded a college at Clongowes, and had more than two hundred and fifty disciples (pp. 92, 93). These quotations manifest not merely the existence, but the activity and zeal of the Jesuits in Ireland during the beginning of the nineteenth century, and that at that time they were not only a body separated from, but discredited by the Roman Catholic Church, their order having been sup- pressed by the bull of Clement XIV., in which we find these memorable words : — " After so many storms, troubles, and divisions, every good man looked forward with patience to the happy day which PREFACE. ix was to restore peace and tranquillity j but under the reign of this same Clement XIII. the times became more difficult and tempestuous, complaints and quarrels were multiplied on every side ; in some places dangerous seditions arose, tumults, dis- cords, dissensions, scandals, which, weakening or entirely breaking the bonds of Christian charity, excited the faithful to all the rage of party hatreds and enmities" " Desolation and danger grew to such an height, that the very sovereigns whose piety and liberality towards the Com- pany were so well known, as to be looked upon as hereditary in their families, we mean our dearly beloved sons in Christ the kings of France, Spain, Portugal and Sicily, found themselves reduced to the necessity of expelling and driving from their states, kingdoms and provinces, those very com- panions of Jesus; persuaded that there remained no other remedy to so great evils, and that this step was necessary in order to prevent Christians from rising one against another, and from massacring each other in the very bosom of our common mother the Church " Actuated by so many and important considerations, and as we hope, aided by the presence and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, compelled besides by the necessities of our ministry, which strictly obliges us to conciliate, maintain, and confirm the peace and tranquillity of the Christian republic, and to remove every obstacle which may tend to trouble it; having further considered that the said Company of Jesus can no more produce those abundant fruits and those great advantages with a view to which it was instituted : . . . that, on the con- trary, it ivas very difficult, not to say impossible, that the Church could recover a firm and durable peace so long as the said Society subsisted; in consequence hereof, and deter- mined by the particular reasons we have here alleged, and forced by other motives which prudence and the good govern- ment of the Church have dictated, the knowledge of which we reserve to ourselves : . . . after a mature deliberation we do X PREFACE. out of our certain knowledge and the fulness of our apostolical power, suppress and abolish the said Society; we deprive it of all activity whatever, of its houses, schools, colleges, hospitals, lands, and, in short, every other place whatsoever, in whatever kingdom or province they may be situated ; we abrogate and annul its statutes, rules, customs, decrees, and constitutions, even though confirmed by oath and approved by the Holy See, or otherwise. . . We declare all, and all kind of authority, the general, the provincials, the visitors, and other superiors of the said Society, to be for ever annulled and extinguished, of what nature soever the said authority may be, as well in things spiritual as temporal. " Further, we will that if any of those who have heretofore professed the Institute of the Company, shall be desirous of dedicating themselves to the instruction of youth in any college or school, care be taken that they have no part in the government or direction of the same ; and that the liberty of teaching be granted to such only whose labours promise a happy issue, and who shall shew themselves averse to all spirit of dispute, and untainted with any doctrines which may occasion or stir up frivolous and dangerous quarrels. In a word, the faculty of teaching youth shall neither be granted nor preserved but to those who seem inclined to maintain peace in the schools, and tranquillity in the world. 33 The remaining clauses of this bull provide against any reclamation against its edicts, declaring "our will and plea- sure is that these our letters should for ever, and to all ETERNITY, BE VALID, PERMANENT, AND EFFICACIOUS." Their historian admits and even boasts that it was in direct defiance of the authority of this bull, that the Jesuits, supposed to be suppressed, effected as Jesuits an establish- ment in these realms. But before the bull for their reconstitution the Pope, Pius VI., in 1800 had authorized the re-establishment of the Jesuits in Russia ; thus encouraged, they appealed to him to PREFACE. xi grant them the same privilege in England ; he did so ; and in May, 1803, by his authority Father Marmaduke Stone was appointed rector of the College of Stonyhurst, which Mr. Weld had given to them, and he was at the same time constituted provincial of the Order in England (p. 79). Immediately on this, the old Jesuits came flocking from the continent to Stonyhurst — England was engaged in her terrible war with France. Cretineau says, "England was shaken to her centre. . . Pitt had neither the time nor the inclination to oppose the re-establishment of the Institute. England had been indifferent to its destruction, and believed herself strong enough to disregard its resurrection. Every eye was turned towards the Continent. The Jesuits took advantage of this pre-occupation, and in order that they might not be taken unawares they decided that a noviciate should now be instituted" (p. 80); that is, they prepared to secure the perpetuity of their body by initiating the youth of the country into their order. It was natural, indeed, that the attention of Mr. Pitt should have been so engrossed by the fearful struggle in which his country was engaged, that the reconstruction of the Jesuits, conducted as it was by stealth, for the College of Stonyhurst was merely known as a Roman Catholic College, should have escaped his notice. But that great statesman affords a painful example how completely a Protestant, who is ignorant of the real nature and principles of the Jesuits and of the Church of Rome, may be duped by a power with whose workings he is unac- quainted. It appears from the interesting life of Mr. Pitt, by Lord Stanhope, that at that very time when his services were most needed by his Sovereign and his country, he resigned his ministry because the King would not consent to grant political power to the Roman Catholics.* In his letter to the King in * Stanhope's Life of Pitt, vol. iii., p. 263. xii PREFACE. the appendix to that volume, p. 25, he states "that those principles formerly held by the Catholics, which made them considered as politically dangerous, have been for a course of time gradually declining, and among the higher orders parti- cularly have ceased to prevail. That the obnoxious tenets are disclaimed in the most positive manner by the oaths which have been required in Great Britain, and still more by one of those required in Ireland as the condition of the in- dulgences already granted, and which might equally be made the condition of any new ones. That if such an oath, con- taining among other provisions a denial of the power of absolution from its obligations, is not a security from Catholics, the sacramental test is not more so." It is impossible to blame a man of such high and lofty principles as Mr. Pitt, for entertaining opinions which were the instinctive dictates of an honest mind, and which were in his day uncontradicted by immediate experience. He had probably been well acquainted with some of the refugees from the revolution, who, being members of the Gallican Church, and hating the principles of the Jesuits, led Mr. Pitt to feel that he was fully justified in the statements he had made to the King, and on which he was himself prepared conscien- tiously to legislate. Perhaps he had been not a little influenced by the answers sent by the foreign universities to those ques- tions which the wily Charles Butler, instructed probably himself by some Jesuits, had induced him, in the unsuspecting integrity of his heart, to propose. But how little did he dream that the Jesuit College of Lou vain, which was the loudest in the denial of the principles involved in those questions, and in its expressions of astonish- ment that a man of Mr. Pitt's intelligence should propose them, was at that time indoctrinating all its pupils in those very principles that they were so clamorously denouncing. How little did he dream, when establishing the college of Maynooth for the education- of the future priests of Ireland, PREFACE. xiii that the first command from Rome after its erection, trans- mitted through the Cardinal Prefect of the Propoganda to the bishops, who were the trustees of that college, would be to teach the principles which he had assured the King "were gradually declining," and those "obnoxious tenets" which he told his Majesty " had been disclaimed in the most positive manner by their oaths but which those bishops pledged themselves, in their answer to the Cardinal Prefect, to teach — a pledge which they have religiously redeemed to this day. This command and this pledge were conveyed in language which Mr. Pitt, even had he seen it, would not have under- stood; for he would not have known that the book which was commanded to be made the standard of instruction in Maynooth, is the book which both by the constitutions and canons of the Jesuits is made the standard for their body ;* so that none are to be permitted to teach who are not skilled in it ; and teaches the violation of oaths, the persecution of heretics, the absolving subjects from oaths of allegiance, and all the essential principles of Jesuitism. Mr. Pitt had little idea that the Jesuits were glorying at that moment in the disastrous difficulties of this country, and that, as their his- torian informs us, they took advantage of those difficulties, and of his devoted anxiety for his country, to establish themselves within it, and prepare for the part that, we learn from this historian, they have afterwards played in its history. When Mr. Pitt talked of the security of oaths, how little did he imagine that one of the principles of the religion he was advocating, as asserted by the standard of the college he had built, was, that a Romish bishop can grant himself a dispensation from any oath he may take ; and that when he talks of an oath containing a denial of the power of abso- lution, Paschenius the Jesuit justly ridiculed the folly of the provision, with the contemptuous remark, "as if the power * See Jesuits' edition of Canons i?om., 1616, torn, i., p. 65. XIV PREFACE. that could absolve from one part of the oath could not equally absolve from the other." We do not wish to anticipate the details which will appear in the perusal of the supplement, but it is important to sketch some of the most instructive facts which are to be deduced from the statements and admissions of Cretineau, who, while he labours to shew off his friends and brethren to the best advantage, affords abundant proof that they deserved the universal execration which led to their suppression by Clement XIV. ; and that the attention of this empire should be steadily directed to their proceedings since their admission, or rather their encouragement within our shores. To comprehend all Roman Catholics under one sweep- ing sentence of denunciation, infers an ignorance of the facts adduced by Cretineau. He shews that the Jesuits re- ceived the greatest opposition from the vicars apostolic in England ; that, in fact, in his own words, " Constitutional France, liberal Spain, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, and revolutionary Belgium, all united in one loud cry of male- diction ; but that in the country the most opposed to Catholic tendencies, that cry was destined to remain without an echo " (p. 82). That is, all the Roman Catholic countries which knew the Jesuits by experience, detested, abhorred, and impelled the Pope to suppress them ; but Protestant England, where the people were utterly ignorant of their real principles and cha- racter, afforded them toleration, protection, and encourage- ment. Yet Cretineau proves, that in England those who knew the principles of the Jesuits, but belonged not to their order, distrusted them as cordially as Roman Catholics on the Continent. Speaking of their establishment at Stonyhurst in May, 1803, he says, that "in this position the institute was likely to increase rapidly, when an obstacle was raised by the very authority which ought to have concurred in its propaga- tion. At different periods there had been serious conflicts be- PREFACE. XV twecn these missionaries and the Vicars apostolic. The Jesuits interfered rather to assist the Catholic cause than from any spirit of domination" (p. 80); but that in despite of this the opposition of the Roman Catholic Delegates was strong, and continued up to the year 1845 (pp. 81 — 84). That owing to the publicity given to all events by the means of the press, "such conflicts are no longer possible in Enyland" (p. 81). We have here the secret disclosed, why in this country, Roman Catholics dare not openly oppose, but must silently succumb to the power of the Jesuits; publicity would shew a schism in the body, and unity is boasted of as one of the marks of the Church. It appears from Cretineau that the English Roman Catho- lics still entertained the belief " that the existence of the Jesuits in the bosom of the three kingdoms would arouse again the old ferment of discord" (p. 83). That in the year 1829 the bill for the emancipation of Roman Catholics from political disabilities passed the legislature, " which forbade all subjects of the British crown to bind themselves by any religious vows in England, or to return to reside there after having taken such vows in any other country ;" that " the Jesuits knew that this was directed against themselves, hut they made no account °f H " (P- 85) . That " they therefore remained silent and unmoved at the post confided to their vigilance, and that this post was so well guarded that, between 1826 and 1835, eleven churches were built by their labours. Even then, that move- ment towards Catholicism had begun among the noble and learned classes, which has since progressed with such rapidity that it is impossible to calculate its ultimate issue" (p. 86). That the heretics of Great Britain were more tolerant of Jesuitism " than men born in the bosom of the church of Rome," who would "strangle it by constitutions" of which they establish themselves " the sole interpreters and regu- lators." That in 1811 Father Kenny established a Jesuit " national" college at Clongowes (p. 92). That in 1810 they xvi PREFACE. joined Father Mathew (a Capuchin) in heading the temper- ance society movement, and that it was u under their care it spread with inconceivable rapidity " (p. 96) . Hence the temperance movement begun by Father Ma- thew, was converted by the Jesuits into a system of organiza- tion of the people parading with bands, party-tunes, flags, etc., under pretence of temperance. That "in 1829 their numbers had augmented with their ascendancy; they were the bishop's right hand; they were the living models presented to the clergy by their prelates." And that " the general of the Company considered this to be a fitting opportunity to detach Ireland from the province of England. He nominated a vice-provincial to govern the Jesuits. . . . This separation promised to produce fruitful results" (pp. 96, 97), which we may be presumed to be now enjoying. The proof of the complicity of the Irish bishops with the Jesuits, and of the truth of Cretineau's confessions, is proved by the fact that Dr. Murray, when he was president of the College of Maynooth, appointed Father Kenny vice-president of the College, and established among the students by his own confession " the sodality of the Sacred Heart," which is the very special book of the Jesuits. Cretineau's description of Father Kenny, of his principles and objects, throws no little light on the subject. He informs us that Father Kenny succeeded Father Betah in 1811. That in despite of the bull of Clement, " with a patience which nothing could overcome, the Jesuits set themselves to work exactly as if the sovereign Pontiff had restored them to life. They felt the great dis- advantage of that sort of cosmopolite education which, by displacing children from their country in their youth, gives them less of patriotic feeling. * Ireland according to them had a right to see her children reared upon their own proscribed soil, in order that, nourished in her misfortunes, they might on some future day claim her emancipation with more energy. PREFACE. vni It was this thought that inspired Father Kenny with the pro- ject of forming a national college, and he did create one at Clongowes," not far from Dublin. ... ^ It was necessary to raise the Irish from the state of moral debasement in which it was the policy of England to keep them. To this people the great voice of Daniel O'Conncll, a pupil of the Jesuits, first taught the meaning of liberty. It was necessary to teach them their duties, and then their rights. The Company of Jesus undertook the first task, and O'Connell fulfilled the second" (pp. 92, 93). We have here from Cretineau the plain statement of the thoughts and intentions with which Father Kenny was inspired ; and his appointment by Dr. Murray as his vice-president and representative at Maynooth testify how amply the doctor partook of the inspiration. It is thus manifest from the testimony of their own his- torian that the Jesuits were the political directors of the Irish people. We have seen how the first command from Rome, after the erection of Maynooth, was to train all the pupils in the doctrines of the Jesuits, and as the bishops were pledged to carry out the command it was impossible for Dr. Murray, as president of the college, to find a more efficient master as his vice-president and representative than Father Kenny, or a better book of devotion for the students than that of the Sacred Heart, the very essence of the Jesuits' devotion ; and, accordingly, he not only appointed Father Kenny, but instituted a sodality of the Sacred Heart at Maynooth which was extorted from him by his own confession,* as we see in the Appendix to the Eighth Report of the Commissioners of Education. But Dr. Murray, with his assistant Father Kenny, and all the Jesuits, were perfectly aware of their security under the wing of the government. Dr. Murray sent an envoy (Dr. Ennis) to the Pope, and in the memorial sent by that prelate, the security of the Jesuits and the other * See Dr. Murray's evidence (pp. 409 — 411) compared with the examina- tion of Rogers (pp. 436—439) and of Coyne (p. 443). C XV111 PREFACE. monkish orders from the bill of 1829 formed a prominent feature among the privileges derived from the British govern- ment. It states : — " The law that emancipated the Catholics gave power to government to take an exact register, and that under severe penalties, of the age, residence, and number of every religious order in the three kingdoms, and gave the faculty of limiting their number and of excluding religious strangers, that is, monks of any nation whatsoever." " Twenty years have now elapsed, and notwithstanding the remonstrances of the English majority in both Houses of Parliament, no measures, either official or governative, have been taken to bring that law into execution, and, in fact, it remains at present a dead letter." We find therefore that, notwithstanding the provisions of the bill of 1829, the Jesuits were still so far tacitly favoured as that no investiga- tion was made as to whether or not these provisions were carried out, and that when, in the words of Mons. Cretineau, "In 1841 a college was erected in Dublin under the auspices of St. Francis Xavier, England took no alarm at this increase of Catholic influence ,} (p. 97), and " Protestants understood that it was not their province to pursue their conquered enemies, they left that care to Catholic courts, and to writers who wished to destroy all religion." The power attained by the Jesuits in England has been assuredly exercised with a great amount of discretion ; their sphere of operations being circumscribed and confined, more- over, to a class of society more exposed to adverse influences. That their power is " felt " rather than known in England is certain ; but in Ireland there has been not only no bar placed to their progress, but they have found in successive govern- ments the most willing and devoted assistants in the further - ance of their aims. It is true that the politic assumption of humility, which is one characteristic of the order, forbids them to boast of their achievements, but still their enthusiastic PREFACE. XIX historian cannot Buffer them to be defrauded of their just meed of honour : he says, " The Jesuits have only been able to realize in that country good without renown; good, without any of those social advantages with which the world believes them to be so much occupied" (Hist., p. 91). AYc arc compelled, therefore, to seek beneath the surface to discover the blessings for which Ireland is indebted to those who thus — "Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame." We have learned from the bull of Clement XIV. what had been the results of the teaching of these masters in France, Spain, Portugal, etc., etc.: we learn from their his- torian that, " by a strange reversal of all received opinion, it was in countries separated from the Catholic faith that the Jesuits prospered and increased we have, therefore, a right to expect a double portion of fruit from their labours in these lands, than could be looked for in those where their liberty was restricted and controlled. Having the incontrovertible testimony of Cretineau as to the ascendancy obtained by the Jesuits in the Irish Roman Church ("the bishop's right hand, the living models," etc.), let us refer to the testimony of M. Dupin, the present Procureur- general of France, whether the estimate of the Company of Loyola, by the Roman Catholic laity, has improved since the time of the clamour of all Europe for their suppres- sion. "According to those who profess these anti-national doc- trines, the Church ought to form a sort of state within a state, having its real sovereign in a foreign country, and its laws distinct. It pretends to absolute self-dependence, to be wholly independent of the laws of the country, which it braves, and of the magistrates whom it insults and defies. If this is not the spirit which should animate ecclesiastics to make them a clergy truly national, it is certainly the c 2 XX PREFACE. spirit with which some very active agents have sought to indoctrinate the clergy, in order to make them wholly Ultra- montane. " Shall this spirit be suffered to prevail in France ? Shall we allow it to take root in our country, in order to wage an incessant warfare against the spirit of patriotism, and against our national institutions ? for this is the question at issue and no other ; and to any person who seeks to discover the real facts of the case, without allowing himself to be misled by the hypocrisy of words, it may be truly declared that, that which, is agitated under the guise of a claim for liberty, is in reality a claim for domination. "But public opinion once warned, will not henceforth be deceived on the matter. It knows well the source from whence spring all these disturbances The Jesuits have reappeared, and this is an occasion to call to remem- brance the words of one of the most eminently wise men of the seventeenth century, P. Dupuy, in the dedicatory epistle of his work, The Liberties of the Gallican Church, addressed to Matthieu Mole, then keeper of the seals, in 1651, during the period of the regency and the minority : ' I entreat you, my lord, to believe that the designs and efforts of these men are not to be despised ; as the extraordinary noise of certain birds is a sure sign of coming rain, so we may divine, with equal certainty, that the strange commotion which these persons excite, is a presage that some plan is on foot disastrous for the state/ " It is for the public authorities to resist ; for the chambers to enlighten the government, to sustain it, to stimulate it, if necessary, and to lend it strength to maintain the independence of the nation, the dignity of the state, the liberty of the citizens, and the security of the public under agitations, which have religion for a pretext, as well as on all other occasions. " There are laws in the kingdom, why are not these laws PREFACE. XXI executed ? If they arc insufficient, let new laws be enacted j but can we accuse those which we already possess of in- efficiency, when no attempt has been made to carry them into effect ?" We have now established a scries of facts, which viewed consecutively and together, will, we believe, greatly lighten the labours of the " Macaulay of the future," to whom the limes assigns the task of discovering the reason why Irish landlords enjoy such an uncertain tenure of existence, and the " local habitation, and the name " of the dread and secret tribunal, which, it may be " from the English city of Man- chester," decides the fate of the inhabitants of Tipperary. It is a grievous reflection to the moralist and the patriot, to consider how the anomalous and, apparently, inexplicable events which from time to time betray the existence of a social and political condition in Ireland, that should occasion only the serious emotions of grief, and pain, and pity in a humane and Christian mind, are treated in many of the public journals of England as partaking rather of the nature of a jest, a token of " national eccentricities," " developments of the Celtic temperament," etc., etc. This mode of treating the subject is equally opposed to sound philosophy and to moral integrity ; the terrible and increasing demoralization of a nation, our fellow-subjects, our nearest neighbours, among whom education and the arts of civilization have been so largely diffused, is a problem not to be solved by a jest, but by anxious and careful study ; we have the highest authority for affirming that it is only "fools" who " make a mock of sin." We may hope that the light thrown upon the present and past relations of Ireland with the Company of Loyola, by the work of Mons. Cretineau, will cause all thoughtful men in England to consider henceforth that the solution of the " Irish difficulty" is a much more hopeful study, inasmuch as the condition of that country will appear entirely analogous to that of all other European countries in which this Company xxii PREFACE. were suffered to obtain power and influence, and the cause once discovered, the remedy cannot be far to seek* The great mischief of treating this subject in a light and frivolous spirit lies in this. It furnishes a species of absolution to the public from entering into any earnest investigation of serious evils, and offers an opportunity to ignorant and shallow politicians to suggest, as remedies, measures which must inevitably increase these very evils. When the Times and the Saturday Review gaily con- gratulate their readers upon the fact, that {< all persons in England, except, perhaps, Mr. Whalley, are convinced that the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church teach that murder is a sin ?' they virtually condemn, as vain and super- fluous, the enquiry whether or not there now exists in that Church a sect, or a body, who have taught, and still teach, that under certain conditions murder is not a sin but a virtue, a duty, an act which may tend " to the greater glory of God and by thus ignoring, not only the events of past history, but the reasons for the constitutional protection demanded by the Roman Catholics of continental states against the encroachment and domination of this sect or order, they either betray an ignorance disgraceful to their capacity, as the guides of public opinion, or a complicity with that party who, unless sheltered by the veil of secresy, could not escape denunciation as traitors at once to the state and to humanity. We will not believe that any English journalist could merit the latter charge; we willingly, therefore, give those the most entire credit for ignorance, who have hitherto advocated a forbearance from all investigation into the peculiar doctrines and teaching of certain orders in the Roman Catholic Church ; and we trust that should it appear that the Protestant government of Great Britain has, by extending to its Roman Catholic subjects the largest measures of civil and religious liberty, virtually imposed upon them u a yoke which neither their fathers nor they were able to bear," PREFACE. xxiii giving liberty to Jesuits and priests to establish a spiritual despotism over the people; that the free and generous citizens of this country will hasten to lift from their fellow-subjects this cruel burden, or place them on at least equal terms with their oppressors; since to inflict Jesuitism upon a Roman Catholic community, is a tyranny which Roman Catholic kings and statesmen, and even Popes, when cognizant of the facts which these pages disclose, have been too liberal, or, perhaps, too prudent to perpetrate. AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTION TO THE SIXTH AND LAST VOLUME. Having finished the fifth volume of The History of the Com- pany of JesuSj I was compelled to admit to myself that my work could not be called complete until I had summed it up, as it were, in a sort of comprehensive view, embracing the vicissitudes to which the Jesuits have been subjected since 1814, when Pius VII. re-established their Institute upon its ancient basis. There were many difficulties in the way to impede my design; the difficulty of writing of living men with the impartiality of an historian without anger and with- out flattery; the impossibility of procuring the necessary materials, owing to the prudent reserve of some parties, and the base chicanery of others, — these obstacles seemed to condemn me to a silence which I deplored; but I, neverthe- less, submitted to the consequences, and I would willingly have waited with resignation for the dawning of a better day. But that immediately parties arose, some armed with the weapons of obscure and romantic stories, some with calumnies of a philosophic order, and some with downright false accusations, all bent on casting imputations upon the Order of Jesus, which could only defend itself by prayers, by the eloquent silence of useful and laborious works, and the exercise of universal and Catholic charity. I considered that amidst the uproar of these outrages it was only becoming the dignity of history to interpose her still calm voice. INTRODUCTION. XXV It is not the design of this volume to adjudicate upon the acts of our predecessors, it is only with our contemporaries that I seek to deal. There is no occasion now to retrace the course of centuries, and interrogate the dusty archives of former ages. The history which I present to you has been transacted before your own eyes ; the men whom I am about to depict to you by the detail of their deeds, their words, and their writings, are still alive and amongst you. Some of them have fallen from power, others have been borne into eminence by revolution, all being guided either by the in- spiration of an unenlightened conscience, or paralyzed by the moral torture of a species of terror which seems ridiculous in the eyes of rational men. This terror which it has been the object of some to impose upon the mass of mankind, by painting in exaggerated colours the power and the influence of the Company of Jesus, has never disturbed my reason. I have seen the Jesuits from .the nearest point of view; I have studied them both in their private and in their public life, in their intimate correspond- ence, in their foreign missions, in their relations with the multitudes, and with the princes who ruled the multitude. Up to the period of their re-establishment I have detailed their history; the unimaginable dangers they encountered, their daily self-sacrifices, the grievous duties and uninter- rupted labours in which they engaged themselves. At a period when truth uttered without acrimony, but also without fear of results, too often entails upon the inde- pendent author not merely unjust reproach, but accusations which need no confirmation of proof to command the belief of many, this work has been favoured with singular good fortune, for which, however, the success which attended The Military History of La Vendee had already prepared me. There is no doubt that I have defied many established prejudices, unmasked more than one imposture, torn the visor from many errors. In order to enable me to arrive at xxvi INTRODUCTION. this result, every advantage was bestowed upon me which an author could desire. The most precious materials derived from the best sources, as well as from the most impure, were placed at my disposal, and I have given the history of the events from the authority of so many who had the opportunity to view them in every point of their aspect, that none can cast suspicion upon the evidence to which I appeal, the evi- dence of documents, which confer such a vivid and unexpected illumination upon the facts of this history. I have justified the Jesuits from the imputation of a number of impossible crimes, which, nevertheless, calumny had attributed to them actually because they were impossible, and yet the bitterest foes of the congregation have not ventured to contradict my testimony, or to convict me of Jesuitism. When earnest zeal for truth compelled me to condemn the reprehensible acts of certain members of the Company, and to blame those tendencies and opinions which seemed to me contrary to the spirit of the Institute founded by St. Ignatius de Loyola, the most enthusiastic friends of the society did not condemn my judgments. The Jesuits themselves were the first to applaud and respect this manifes- tation of independence. By a favour, truly exceptional, both the hostile parties concurred in proclaiming my impartiality, and bowed before the severe truth of the historian. The greater number of the newspapers in France, in England, in Germany, in Italy, in Spain, in Belgium, in Switzerland, and in the United States of America, have noticed this work. All these journals, taking each its view, have largely discussed its literary merits, but it never occurred to any one of them to insinuate a doubt as to the facts and the documents, which patient study and long voyages and for- tunate discoveries put it in my power to reveal to the world. I have recorded my unprejudiced judgment concerning the Company of Jesus. The political and literary critics of INTRODUCTION. xxvii Europe have examined my book with the same impartiality. I endeavoured always to keep within the bounds of justice, and I have met with justice in return, and I must say that in the midst of all the excitement and irritation which pervades contending parties, this general homage paid to my conscien- tiousness as an historian has impressed me deeply. Innumerable counterfeits of The History of the Company of Jesus have been published out of France, and still more numerous translations of it have been made into every lan- guage, all serving to proclaim the success of a work, to which the boldness of truth has contributed much more largely than its literary ability. I should not have extended my labours any further if the entreaties of friends, the wisdom of whose counsels com- pletely overcame my personal inclinations, had not laid it upon me as a matter of duty, to complete the work which the Church and the Catholic world had welcomed with so much favour. Like the poet, I have been condemned to pass through the fire. I have been called upon to give the explanation of matters inexplicable to those who live outside the circles of parliamentary intrigues. The task has been imposed upon me to demolish the fragile edifice of a grandeur, which existed only in the imagination of a few individuals who, by means of these falsehoods, attained popularity and fortune. I have been required to give, in minute detail, the proceedings of the Jesuits since 1814 up to the present time, for which purpose I was obliged to follow them throughout Europe, and over the continents of the New World. I was required to prove how much was real, and how much fictitious concerning the omnipotent power of a society, to which had been attributed the most disgraceful measures of the Restoration, the most bloody deeds of the reign of Ferdinand VII. of Spain, the obstinate resistance of the Catholics of Belgium to the Pro- testant reaction of William of Nassau. I was interrogated xxviii INTRODUCTION. concerning those events which, since the revolution of 1830, have been inevitably connected with the names of certain fathers of the Institute; they were accused without proof, but they have been defended with the eloquent indignation of conviction. In public papers, and at the tribune in the council cham- bers of the Holy See, as well as in the midst of the calamities of civil war, the Society of Jesus were represented as the leading agents, breathing into the hearts of some the fiery spirit of social discord, and inspiring others with emotions of terror, in which they affected to share, in order the more effectively to communicate. Before I consented to undertake to retrace this last phase of the Institute, it was essential that I should possess myself of every means of information that could throw light upon the subject, and study upon the spot those conflicts which the unwise ambition of some subaltern agents had provoked between the Holy See and the French Government. I desired to fathom thoroughly the question as to the part taken by the Holy See and the Jesuits, in the drama of which Switzerland has been, and will again be the theatre. I wished to ascertain how, in despite of so many failures and after so many ardent struggles, the Company had been able again to reconstitute itself in Europe, and by what means it had regained throughout the world that moral authority which had been so warmly disputed, and by what mysterious combi- nation of circumstances it had become, on escaping from its ruins, an object either of admiration or of terror. I sought to appreciate, at a distance from Paris, facts so apparently contradictory, which malevolence, speculating upon credulity, took pleasure in misrepresenting in so extraordinary a manner. It was repugnant to me to confine myself entirely to official declarations, which, in my eyes, were nothing better than cunningly devised legal* fictions ; I, therefore, went to INTRODUCTION. xxix Rome, and, without asking any of the parties interested for secrets which did not properly belong to them, I saw enough, and learned quite enough, to give a faithful account of the diplomatic espionage ; in which certain French priests had played a part as derogatory to the sacerdotal character with which they were invested, as to their personal dignity. The relations of the Holy See with other powers have always a somewhat mysterious character. The pontifical court veils itself with reserve as with a garment. It knows that, besides those human interests which endeavour to win the support of its tacit or open approbation, it possesses a divine power, the influence of which it must maintain by concealing it from common observation. It seldom interferes when the faith or the conscience of a nation are not menaced, but in 1814, and again in 1845, it gave sufficient evidence of its prudent firmness to inspire the hope that it will always manifest the courage to enforce justice, as it has never ceased to have the courage inspired by virtue. In the difficult circumstances in which the Company of Jesus was and is still placed, the Holy See has never mis- interpreted them j for it was well aware that the outcry against the Jesuits, in Germany, in France, in Switzerland, and in Spain, was a note of war — the rallying cry uttered by the mocking hypocrites of revolutionary impiety, to summon the adherents of every species of fanaticism. A pass-word was necessary for their preconcerted out- breaks, which, after having succeeded in subverting thrones, aspired also to cast down the rock on which God has built His Church. To render their triumph more certain, they formed a conspiracy to associate the Papacy in a plan, of which they concealed neither the ramifications nor the aim. They en- deavoured to draw the Holy See into the fatal path of con- cessions, but it saw the snare, and would not consent to be entrapped in it. They trampled over the Company of Jesus XXX INTRODUCTION. in order to reach, almost without a blow, the heart of Catholicity. The common Father resisted entreaties hitherto unheard of in the former annals of diplomacy, menaces impossible to realize, fallacious promises, and hypocritical blandishments. He preferred to hearken to the voice of conscience rather than to lend an ear to gilded falsehoods. The Court of Rome followed the example of its head. The history which I now write is taken from life ; it will serve to manifest the power exercised by certain words alone, over imaginations big with credulity, or over malignant natures which take advantage of the stupid prejudices of others, to further their own selfish interests or impious designs. The history of the Company of Jesus was begun when the storm first threatened the Jesuits ; it finishes at the moment when the tempest had burst over their head. Civil wars in honour of any political principle, or for the destruction of kings, or of the liberty of the people, are no longer possible ; a feverish agitation is all that now remains throbbing in the heart of Europe — an agitation which, in the mind of all, has a strong religious tendency. Some desire at all hazards to maintain the integrity of their faith, while others aspire to crush down all true religion to the same level as innovations and infidelity. The world has become in the nineteenth century once more a vast battle field of theology. This movement which can take so many different forms, but which reigns over France, England, Germany, Polish Russia, the Rhenish Provinces, Prussia, Belgium, Saxony, Spain, Italy, and Switzerland, is not of a character to be arrested by the first obstacle, or to be put down by the caprice of a monarch. The origin of this conflagration sprang from political dis- enchantments, from betrayed expectations, and from the desire of keeping the world attentive to the tumultuous voices of those intriguing men, whom accident thrust into temporary power. INTRODUCTION. XXXI These wicked adventurers set every earthly engine in motion for their own ends. Having no other Clod than their own interests, no other resources than their calculation* of possible success, they sought to awaken those passions which they believed to be extinguished. And passions started up before the eyes of these mocking sceptics, armed with all the vital energies of ancient faith, or of the modern spirit of prosclytism. Europe now tends towards a dissolution of all faith in Christianity, or to a Catholic reconstitution. All will soon be ripe for the development of this supreme effort of human thought. Each party is preparing for this consummation, with means appropriate to its aim. When that day shall arrive, each will take its stand under the banner of its con- victions, or of its ambitious dreams ; each devoted to perish for its threatened faith, or to combat for legalizing atheism ; already its reign is inaugurated, by calling down exile or death upon the head of the Jesuits. I will neither defend the proscribed, nor attack those who proscribe them; this double role is fulfilled by the militant press, and would ill suit the dignity of history. It has never by my pen degenerated into either a panegyric or a pas- quinade, and I hold it my duty to maintain the dignity of its independent impartiality. It is necessary that all the relative positions should be clearly defined, that all the facts should be revealed ; for it is not merely the Institute of Loyola that is in peril, but Catholicity itself in its very existence. We will make no appeal to the passions, or to the hopes or the terrors of mankind, we will rest on truth alone for our support. If it is found to be often in opposition to errors skilfully accredited, or to exaggerations purposely devised ; if it wounds selfish ambitions., unravels the web of wily intrigues, and tears away the mask from many diplomatic, parliamentary, and sacerdotal hypocrisies ; it is not upon the historian that the charge should be laid, but upon the acts and the official xxxii INTRODUCTION. documents which testify concerning them. The author will have fulfilled his duty to the end, without considering the consequences which may result from a logical demonstration, but pursuing his narrative without fear, and yet without taunting reproaches, through a course of events which each party has endeavoured to misrepresent to the advantage of its own peculiar cause. We have been in a position to penetrate into the secret of a great number of ingenious calumnies, which, let them pro- ceed whence they may, are ever the offspring of cowardice or of treason, of rashness or of malice ; it is necessary to expose their falsehood. While we respect individuals and their per- sonal convictions, we may not, nevertheless, tamper with the duty of the historian ; at a period when license is universal, we may not bid truth be silent. J. Cretineau Joly. Portici, September 4, 1845. H I S -T II Y OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. CHAPTER I. Scarcely had the Society of Jesus been reconstituted in the Catholic world, when it found itself again banished from the empire which had been its second cradle from the cares of the Empress Catherine and Paul I. The day of restoration had y ^ e i arrived, and the kings of the house of Bourbon, following page i. the example of the sovereign Pontiff Pius VII., endeavoured to repair the great iniquity against which Catherine of Russia and Frederick II. of Prussia had so energetically protested. The Jesuits were reinstated by the Holy See, and by the kings who had proscribed* the institution, at the very time when they were sent out of Russia, the country of their adoption. After having received them as exiles, Russia appeared to regret the good faith in which she had received them, and now denounced to Europe the very monks whom she had preserved from destruction. This change of tactics might have become fatal to the Company of Jesus ; it ex- posed them to suspicions which tended inevitably to awaken old hatred, and embarrassed their first steps on a yet uncertain ground. The Czar, now at the highest pitch of power, both * Altered in Ed. 1851, p. 2, to "who had rejected the institution." B 2 HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. military and moral, might have been for the disciples of Loyola, his subjects or his guests, a most dangerous enemy. Note 2. Alexander possessed sufficient rectitude not to allow his rea- p- iv sons for exiling them to be misunderstood. He made no mystery about it ; he did not try to propagate against them those falsehoods which their enemies had at all times received with eagerness ; their exile was caused by nothing that could dishonour their consciences, or be considered to do so in the eyes of mankind. It was produced by the rivalry of two reli- gions. The Emperor and the Russian government represented it in these terms, and Europe accepted it as such ; and to make it clearly understood, we have only to develope the events and characters which occasioned it. As long as the Jesuits were only few in number, occupy- ing themselves in the reconstruction of their order, the Rus- sian clergy and the teaching body never shewed any distrust of these proscribed men, and took no offence at their won- derful aptitude for the education and bringing up of youth ; and they allowed them in the midst of White Russia, and in the colonies on the banks of the Volga, to propagate both the Scriptures and civilization. But when the friend- ship of the Emperor Paul I. for Father Gruber, and the very rapid success of a militia, still scarcely re-organized, and always as moderate as they were learned, had opened to the Jesuits a very large field of action, the Popes and professors of the University of Wilna felt that a fearful blow was about to fall on their omnipotent power. The comparisons drawn by all sensible men shewed to their disadvantage. They avowed to themselves their own inferiority on all human learning as well as divine knowledge. Too much humbled, too much depressed by serfdom to raise themselves from this state of normal de- basement, they nevertheless would not consent to lose the last gleams of power which alone assured their precarious existence. A Russian Pope does not hold the same position as a Catholic priest; he can never inspire the same implicit obedience, HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. 8 and he never lias possessed the same education, charity, or zeal ; he is never seen as the almoner of the rich, and the father of the poor, inspiring in every class respect and con- fidence. The exhibition of virtues which the Jesuits pre- sented to them, the consideration they enjoyed, the whole of the duties accomplished by them, all combined to produce a deep impression on the schismatic clergy : their admiration soon degenerated into jealousy. It was impossible to imitate the Jesuits, either in teach- ing or in their apostolic labours. The Greek priests and the professors of the university united and carried on a species of underhand war against them. They watched their words ; they misrepresented their thoughts; they endeavoured to render their most indifferent actions liable to suspicion ; they called the national pride into play against them ; they affected chimerical fears as to the perpetuity of the religion of the country, which they pretended was endangered by prose- lytism, and when they had succeeded in sowing the seeds of fermentation in the hearts of the people, they awaited until a proper moment should arrive for its favourable development. The hour was not long delayed. Alexander had followed, as regarded the Jesuits, the same line of conduct which had been pursued by his father and also his grandmother. He protected and encouraged them, and in 1811 he allowed them to go into Siberia. A mission had been formed in its inhospitable deserts, for the Christian heart of the Emperor would not allow him to abandon the Catholic exiles, or those whom the hope of gain retained in the midst of ice, to the want of all religious help. Three fathers of the Company, named by the monarch, gave themselves up to the fulfilment of his wishes, and in the same year others went to Odessa. That rising colony is indebted to two Frenchmen for the most astonishing part of its prosperity. The Duke de Richelieu and the Abbe Nicolle saw each in his own peculiar sphere the triumph of the plan of govern- b 2 4 HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. ment and education, which they themselves had proposed. They desired the Jesuits to give to their work all the exten- sion of which it was susceptible, for they wished to enlarge the circle of social progress as much as possible. The mis- sionaries of the institution had the gift of languages, and by persuasion and charity they gained an irresistible ascendency over the barbarous people. They united them into families in order to teach them little by little to bless the yoke of civilization, and the emperor wished to associate Richelieu and Nicolle with himself in these projects. Other children of St. Ignatius were sent by him to Odessa ; that city soon be- came the centre of a new mission, which spread throughout the Crimea the blessings of Christianity. Father Thadeus Brzozowski watched over the labours of the order of which he was the head. He knew that the dominant idea of the Emperor was nothing less than the propagation of knowledge in the most distant lands. In order to second so laudable an intention, Brzozowski did not fear to engage in a struggle with the ambition of the universities. Gifted with a rare intelligence, and a tenacious and patient spirit, he knew himself to be supported at the court of Russia by a man who enjoyed there an authority due rather to his genius than his diplomatic title. Count Joseph de Maistre, the ambas- sador from Sardinia to the Czar, had, in the frankness of his avowed convictions, and the somewhat absolute sternness of his character, declared himself in favour of the Jesuits • he supported them as one of the keystones of the social arch, and the laborious work of producing a plan for the education of the public ; he urged Brzozowski to create for his institu- tion an entirely independent position. Note 3, The houses of the J esuits had been under the jurisdiction p- vi. of the university from their first establishment. It was essen- tial for them to obtain an enfranchisement from the authority of the colleges, and from the anxiety which the system of monopoly never ceases to produce, and which might com- HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. 5 promise the future. Discussions had more than once arisen between the Academy of Wilna and the fathers at Polotsk- The university wished by tricky supervision and minute orders to subvert in its very essence the education given by the Jesuits. It contravened them in their direction and in their progress. They wished that all the young men on leaving the college belonging to the Company should enter their uni- versity, there to complete their education. The University of Wilna, reinforced by a great number of foreign doctors and cosmopolite tutors, at that time advanced anti-catholic principles. It certainly did possess an indis- putable right to profess the religion of the state, and even to insist upon that religion being respected in every pulpit, but this right did not extend to discussing the faith of other Russian subjects, and endeavouring arbitrarily to destroy it. The Jesuits there, as everywhere else, invoked liberty. Sub- missive to the inspection of the visitors of the university, the fathers did not oppose the rigorous examinations to which their pupils were subjected. This state of legal inferiority did not in any way injure the Society of Jesus; but it kept up a constant irritation in the minds of both the novices of the Company and the professors of Wilna, which might at length have prevented their devoting themselves to serious studies. This question of pre-eminence had often been dis- cussed from two points of view ; but the debates now took a wider sphere ; little by little it had become a state question. Father Brzozowski endeavoured to bring this unsettled state of things to an end, and on the 24th of August, 1810, he wrote to Count Rasoumoffski, Minister of Public Instruction : "Two rival bodies mutually prevent each other from doing harm. It is without doubt very important that the youth of a Note 4, state should be brought up in principles of patriotism, in sen- p. xii. timents of submission, and of respect and devotion to the person of the sovereign. But what certainty is there that these principles will be carefully inculcated in the universities, 6 HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. in which so many of the professors are only connected with the state by the appointments they receive from it, and who have different and independent interests from those of the state, and who appear for that reason more likely to extin- guish than to kindle patriotism in the heart of youth ?" The Jesuits found that their mode of teaching and its results were attacked by these men, who had been called from the east and the west to cultivate Russia. The children of Loyola defended their ratio studiorum. The university, jealous of its privi- leges, and confiding in its monopoly to popularize the progress of literature and science, asked to have the fathers placed under the subjection of their laws and their rules. The Jesuits, on the contrary, asserted that from an open competi- tion of these different methods a stronger-minded generation would arise. With the intention of stimulating emulation, without crushing either the one or the other, the Jesuits pro- posed to the Emperor to erect their college at Polotsk into a university, under the immediate and especial supervision of the government. On the 11th of September, 1811, the general of the order addressed a note to Count Rasoumoffski, in which is said, " We ask absolutely nothing but to be main- tained in the possession of the properties we already enjoy. What renders the universities so expensive to the state are the salaries of the professors, who are often obliged to be sent for at a great expense from foreign countries. As to our- selves, our order furnishes all the professors whom we require, and each of these professors gives their care and their labour without any salary, and without expecting any temporal benefit, solely to fulfil the duties of their vocation." This correspondence of Father Brzozowski with the min- ister of the Czar, the notes which Alexander examined, and which accorded so well with his sense of justice, and the prayers of his Catholic subjects, contain much real ability, and truly form within themselves a theory of education. What the Jesuits and the inhabitants of White Russia asked HISTORY Or THE COMPANY OF JESUS. 7 for was perfectly just. Alexander understood it to be so; but around him, and in the inferior ofliccs of state, preju- dices existed, ambition, and rivalries of sect or of worship, which were opposed to this act of emancipation. Some de- clared the Greek religion to be endangered ; others demon- strated that very soon the Jesuits would take possession of every branch of public administration ; and all agreed in saying that the Jesuits abused the liberty allowed them to supersede all the other teaching corporations. It appeared N o,f s almost an impossibility to the children of Loyola that they 1 nv ' should obtain what they asked for, when Count Joseph de Maistre threw himself into the dispute with his cutting elo- quence and his reasoning, which went always straight to its aim, without regarding any obstacles. Count de Maistre was rather a great writer and bold thinker than a diplomatist. There was in his mind and heart a super- abundance of life, such a complete devotion to the opinion which appeared to him to be truth revealed or demonstrated by reason, that he carried it triumphantly as far as it is per- mitted to human weakness. The half measures of party spirit, the delays of consideration, the difficulties of time and place, nothing could obstruct the rising sap of his genius, overflowing every subject he touched upon, and leaving on each its living impress. Possessed with a love of the true, the good, and the just, but perhaps not sufficiently distrusting his own cutting irony, his own originality, and his passion for polemics, Joseph de Maistre had obtained at St. Peters- burg a position as new as it was decided. An ardent Catholic, he had known how to create for himself, among the schismatic Greeks, friends who honoured his faith, who esteemed his private virtues, and who were proud of his genius. The struggle between the Russian universities and the Jesuits was deadly ; for on one side it was a question of giving themselves a rival j and on the other, of life or death. The ambassador of Sardinia at the court of the Czar 8 HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. had, in fact, nothing to do with these internal disputes; but the Catholic saw in them a mission to be fulfilled, and he took it upon himself. Brzozowski had fought the University of Wilna with the arm of logic; de Maistre raised the question to as high a point as he had done. Alexander was occupied in founding education in his empire. From duty, conviction, and grati- tude, the great Piedmontese writer — he who has enriched the French language by so many celebrated works — came to offer his tribute to the cause of religious and paternal liberty. The general of the Jesuits addressed himself to the Minister Of Public Instruction. It is to the same person that Joseph de Maistre addressed himself. In his five letters still unpublished* he does not only plead for the Company of Jesus, he has almost involuntarily enlarged the sphere of his opinions; he developes the system which he thinks the best suited to the morals, the character, and the laws of Russia. He brings to this work a prodigality of new imagery and sketches which arrests attention ; then when he has taken possession of his subject, he passes in his fourth letter to his principal aim. The three first notes belong to philosophical ideas ; the two last, in their entirety and in their details, are consecrated to the Society of Jesus. Joseph de Maistre examines it in its connection with the people as well as with kings, placing before his eyes a picture of the follies and crimes which a revolutionary spirit have produced; he exclaims in a prophetic accent which the events of 1812 have not less exemplified than those of 1845, "This sect, which is at the same time one and many, surrounds Russia, or more truly may be said to penetrate into all its parts, and attack it even at its deepest roots. It only asks, for the moment, the ear of its children of all ages and the patience of sovereigns, reserving the great explosion until the last." Then after having traced these lines, always more true as you extend the * In page 7 of the edition of 1851 the word unpublished is omitted. HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESTS. 1) revolutionary circle so unfortunately enlarged by the careless- ness of princes, Joseph dc Maistre adds, " In so pressing a danger there is nothing more useful to the interests of his imperial majesty, than a society composed of men essentially inimical to those, from whom Russia has everything to fear ; above all, in the education of youth. I do not believe it to be possible to substitute with advantage any other preservative. This society is the watch-dog which you must beware of send- ing away. If you will not permit him to bite the thieves, that is your affair; but at least allow him to roam around your house, and awaken you when it may be necessary, before your doors are broken open, or that they have made their entrance by the windows." The diplomatic writer has an answer ready for every objection. He then goes on to establish how the Jesuits understand sovereign power by similitudes borrowed from military usage. He goes on to demonstrate that they never had sought to create for them- selves an authority independent of the constituted authorities. " The Jesuits," they say, " wish to make a state within the state." What an absurdity ! it is as much as to say that a regiment wishes to make a state within a state, because they wish to depend upon their own colonel, and that he would consider himself injured, for example, and even insulted, if it were submitted to the examination and under the control of a stranger colonel. He does not shut himself up in his own quarters to manoeuvre it j he does it in the public place. If they do not perform their drill properly, the inspecting generals, or even the Emperor, could see it, and set them to rights. But that under the pretext of unity, this regiment (w r hich I suppose to have been famous and irreproachable for three hundred years) should be deprived of the power of regulating itself, and submitted with all its officers to a captain of militia, who had never drawn a sword, is an idea which would be very laughable, if the results did not become ex- tremely fatal. To this, nevertheless, M. le Count, we have 10 HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. reduced that burlesque bugbear of " a state within a state." A state within a state is a state hid in a state, or independent of the state. The Jesuits, like all other legal societies, and even more so than any others, are under the hand of the sovereign. He has only to let it fall, and they are crushed. Note 5, Brzozowski had prepared the triumph of the Society of p. xiv. Jesus; Count de Maistre decided it; In 1812 the college of Polotsk was erected by the Czar into a university, with all the privileges of the other academies ; this concession was made on the eve of those calamities and glories of which Russia was to become the theatre. Napoleon carried war even into the bosom of the Muscovite empire ; he menaced its nationality : and preoccupied by still graver cares than those of Public Instruction, Alexander called upon his people to resist this unjust aggression. The Russians answered the call of their sovereign with the most sublime devotion. Brzozowski was a Russian. Without taking any part in a struggle from which his sacerdotal character forcibly withheld him, he thought that the circumstances in which the empire was now placed, were the forerunner of the reconstruction of his order. Spain, given up to a brother of Napoleon's by one of those strokes of policy of which the din of battle can never drown the iniquity, and weakened under its last king, had re- found in the remembrance of Pelago a new baptism of power ; at the call of her priests and her guerillos she rushed forward to maintain her independence. The Jesuits believed that the hour for their re-entrance into the Peninsula had struck ; their name was popular there : a long regret had followed them to the country of their exile. They could return benefits to the family of Bourbon for the outrages they had received from them, and victims of the errors of Charles III., they could labour for the restoration of his posterity. On the 28th of August, 1812, Brzozowski resolved to set out on his journey into Spain with five other fathers of the institution, for the purpose of preparing the return of the Company. Spain was HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. U the battle-field opened for the enemies of the revolutionary opinion. The Jesuits sought to go there to combat with the arms suited for their peculiar use. In the meantime Louis Philippe, Duke of Orleans, asked of that country which had risen against France, the honour of continuing under the banner of Spain his apprenticeship in war, and the power of re-establishing a name so fatally compromised in the excesses of 1793. In the month of November, 1812, the Minister of lleligion, Prince Alexander Galitzin, answered the general of the Jesuits in the following terms : — « Very reverend Father, — I have placed under the eyes of his Imperial Majesty the letter which you wrote to me on the 30th of October, as well as the note which it is your inten- tion to present to the Supreme Junta concerning the re-esta- blishment of your order in Spain. His majesty has com- manded me to inform you that he will place no obstacle to the execution of your project, but without taking any other part in this transaction, — its object being of a nature entirely foreign to him, — as the establishment in question is to take place beyond his empire." TVhile the Jesuits were endeavouring to regain the ground they had lost from the machinations of the philosophers of the eighteenth century, there was being organized in the bosom of Russia a combination of interests employed in pre- paring their fall. This combination was — the Bible Society. The invasion of the French army on the Muscovite territory had drawn England and the cabinet of St. Petersburg to- gether. England was the natural ally of those states of which Napoleon was the declared enemy. England offered to assist Alexander in his struggle against the man whose day-dream was the annihilation of Great Britain. As an earnest of this treaty, which was to change the face of Europe, England Note 6, obtained in 1811 that the London Bible Society — that im- p> XV1, mense bazaar which covers the world with its productions, and transforms a work of piety into a mercantile speculation 12 HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. — should establish a branch association in St. Petersburg. Some months later, the Drs. Patterson and Pinkerton entered the Russian territory, charged with the mission of translating into the Russian language the Protestant Bible. The burning of Moscow, the calculated disasters and vic- tories of his army, victories not entirely due to the ability of its generals or the courage of its soldiers, present griefs and future hopes, all contributed to modify the impression- able character of Alexander, — a loving soul, but always en- deavouring to take refuge in mystic opinions to escape from the reality of his internal troubles and his recollec- tions. The Czar feared the responsibility which events had accumulated upon him. In the midst of his devastated cities, his bloody fields, and his armies conspiring, with the cold, to annihilate the French army, that prince still young, and always handsome, now raised his heart towards heaven; he wished to calm those fleeting impressions which agitated his mind incessantly. Pleasure had left him almost as indifferent as glory had done. His ambition was to attain internal peace. Galitzin indicated to him the Holy Scrip- tures as the source of all consolation. His mind at once received it ; he listened in silence to the voice of God which now made itself heard. The Vulgate translated into French, had been to him the book of consolation. It was at this moment that it was proposed to him to place in the hands of all Russians, the Divine work which had triumphed over his languor, or over his unavailing remorse. No one explained to him the difference of the two Bibles; he never imagined that the hand of man could have dared to alter the primitive text of God's own Word. From gratitude for the blessing which the reading of the Vulgate had produced on his feel- ings, on the 18th of December, 1812, he authorized the establishment of the Bible Society. The Emperor had allowed himself to be deceived ; Prince Galitzin his Minister of Religion, the highest functionaries of HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. 13 the State, the majority of the Russian bishops and Stanislas, Sicstrzenccwicz, Archbishop of Moliilow himself, declared themselves the patrons of this institution, which was hereafter to deal a mortal blow both to the Greek religion and Catholic- ism. There existed at that time in Russia one of those enthusiastic manifestations in favour of the Bible Society, which at this distance of time it is impossible to account for. Anglicanism set its foot on the borders of the Black Sea, and also on the banks of the Frozen Ocean; it extended itself even to the confines of China. The Catholic prelates excited by Galitzin, being used as blind instruments for its propaga- tion, encouraged their flocks to favour this work, of the tendency of which they were themselves ignorant. The Note 7, Jesuits never lent themselves to this movement towards P« XV11> heresy. More accustomed than the Russian bishops to the struggles of opinion, more able to understand the mischiefs resulting from this innovation, they opposed it with a firm- ness which the menaces and the entreaties of Galitzin, who up to this time had been their protector and their friend, could never conquer. Pope Pius VII. expressed his grief and his surprise in a brief addressed to the Archbishop of Mohilow ; he blamed him for having co-operated in the triumph of Anglicanism. The blame so justly bestowed upon the prelate, was an indirect homage paid to the disciples of St. Ignatius, who, more fully imbued with the true spirit of the church, had refused to make common cause with error. The partizans of these Biblical associations took offence ; they imagined that in the Jesuits they should find indefatigable adversaries, that their success would be constantly impeded, and, under the inspira- tion of the Minister of Religion, they entered into a league against the Company of Jesus. The Jesuits had just resisted a wish of Galitzin's. Galitzin called the fury of the uni- versities to aid his hopes, and they now awaited a favourable opportunity for the conspiracy to break forth. 14 HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. The Anglican propaganda had organized itself under the shelter of the Russian ministers, and under that of the bishops of the Roman as well as those of the Greek ritual. The Jesuits now determined to countermine them. They com- posed a Catechism, in the idiom of the country, for children born of Catholic parents. But Galitzin would not authorize its being printed. Things were in this state when events occurred, which reopened the wounds which were still bleeding in the heart of the minister. The favour which the college of the Jesuits of St. Petersburg enjoyed was continually in- creasing, and at Polotsk they now counted in their ranks many young men of the highest families of the empire. Placed between the natural wish of proselytism, and the duty of tacitly respecting the consciences of their pupils, a duty which was self-imposed upon them, the Jesuits had never given occasion for complaint on this very sore subject. Catholics to the very bottom of their hearts, they trained in morals as well as in literature children who belonged to all forms of religion, even those of the Greek ritual ; and during the space of more than forty years their circumspection had Note 8, never failed. No person had ever been able to accuse them p. xxii. of having betrayed the confidence of parents for the benefit of the Roman faith. Nevertheless, the number of Catholics was yearly increased. This reaction towards unity was owing to the activity of the French emigrant families, to the reading religious books, and above all other causes, to the prudence combined with zeal of the Jesuits. The Czar had shut his eyes to a state of things which could not have any alarming effect on the safety of the country. The newly converted Catholics distinguished themselves in the world and at court by new virtues, and Alexander did not wish to make them repent of having listened to the voice of conscience. A prince who perfectly comprehended liberty of thought, he did not dare confine it within the limits of HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. L5 legal arbitrary power. He had sought for truth himself, and he did not disapprove of the Russians following his example. Conversions, nevertheless, rarely occurred, because the fathers did not encourage them or sanction them till after a long trial had been made. These conversions remained unperccived, when towards the middle of the month of December, 1814, the young Prince Galitzin, a nephew of the Minister of Re- ligion, publicly embraced the Catholic faith. Here is the account which Father Billy, in his correspondence, still unpub- lished, with his brothers in France, gives of this conversion : — <{ Our Father Gloriviere," he writes from St. Petersburg on the 1st of March, 1815, u is at the head of a numerous noviciate at Paris, in the Rue des Postes. There will be a Company of Jesus in France, in fact, before it can exist there by right. As to our existence here in St. Petersburg it is doubtless very useful, but very precarious and much contra- vened, and more so during the absence of the Emperor : the jealousy of the popes and Russian bishops is the principal cause. The Minister of Religion, Prince Alexander Galitzin, still a young man who allows himself to be led by the popes, never leaves us in peace wherever he can, or imagines he can, find a proper opportunity of gratifying their and his own ani- mosity. A month or two ago, a circumstance occurred which has made a great noise here, and from which consequences must follow. A young Prince Alexander Galitzin, a nephew of the Minister of Religion, a pupil of our institution for the last two years, and about fifteen, an excellent creature in every respect ; pious, diligent, successful in his studies ; polite, docile, and remarkable for his attachment to the Russian Church, even wishing to persuade his friends among the Jesuits to join it in his anxiety for their souls, and taking for that reason two or three times a week regular lessons from a doctor of Russian theology, he was suddenly found to have changed so completely, as to be on the point of declaring himself a Catholic at the last of the Christmas festivals. 16 HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. How great was the astonishment of all the world, particularly of those who had seen and heard him speak in favour of the Russian religion. Summoned by his uncle, the Minister of Religion, who represented to him the danger he would incur, shewing him that the Russian law forbids any person from drawing to the Catholic religion any Russian subject ; he explained his belief with precision and firmness, and said that he was ready to seal it with his blood. They tore him from our institution, and placed him in the corps of pages with his younger brother, and at the same time forbade him to have even the slightest communication with any of the Jesuits. Then came a still greater astonishment, for it was discovered that he possessed a hair shirt and a discipline. Good God ! what is here ? He had taken these instruments of mortifica- tion from the room of a Jesuit who had left St. Petersburg to go to Polotsk. They made him appear before the bishops and popes, who questioned and argued with him. He an- swered in a manner which excited the surprise of all who heard him, and which placed them themselves ad metum non loqui. They attributed his facility in controversy to the Jesuits, though the Jesuits had nothing to do with it. They now await the return of the Emperor to know his decision on the subject. In the meantime the Jesuits receive no Russians into their institution, only the Catholics, in order to withdraw themselves from the intrigues of the popes. " But there are still other subjects which occasion rancour. Several distinguished persons are suspected of being Ca- tholics, and spies are employed to watch them. It is truly a persecution. The Jesuit missionaries in Siberia are forbidden to make the idolatrous Tartars Catholics: they ought, it is said, to confine their care to the Catholics alone; they forbid them to confess or administer to the united Greeks, who have no priests belonging to their communion. This is most inconceivable ; this is what is called toleration, about which we hear so much in this country under the Galitzin ministry of religion ! HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. 17 " The town of St. Petersburg at tins moment presents us the curious spectacle of two Prince Alexander Galitzins, an uncle and a nephew. The first, the violent persecutor of the Catholic religion and the Jesuits ; the second, a zealous and imperturbable Catholic, the defender of his masters, and only- asking- to die for his religion; living in a way to merit such a blessing, if this predestined blessing can ever be merited. After having vainly endeavoured to bring him back to schism by arguments, they are now trying the influence of pleasure, and they take him to the play. But up to this time this argument has been as ineffectual as the other." In their most intimate correspondences the Jesuits deny y t e 9, ever having had any participation in the conversion of this i • xxiv. ardent neophyte ; they do not boast themselves of it, but they do not accuse themselves. The young Galitzin has taken this course of himself. Father Billy very naively gives an account of this return to the Roman faith in its different phases, and there he stops. Prince Alexander declared that no disciple of the institution had endeavoured to induce him to change his form of worship. He even persisted in saying that he could not find one who would receive his abjuration. The letter of Father Billy fully corroborates these facts. But truth was not sufficient to satisfy the actively wounded self- love of the Minister of Religion, or the anger of the popes : they organized a conspiracy, in which they endeavoured to rally all the interests of sect, all the vanity of the universi- ties, and all the prejudices of the nation. It was necessary to predispose the minds of men for a general rising against the Jesuits. They applied themselves to misinterpret their most indifferent acts ; they altered the sense of all their words ; they watched them in their pulpits ; they followed them even to the foot of the confessionals and of the altars. Father Balandret, who had gained a justly-merited confidence throughout St. Petersburg, was a Frenchman, and to him they directed their most minute investigations. They intcr- c 18 HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. rogated the pupils of the colleges belonging to the institution, and pressed those who had left it for two or three years to reveal the importunities by which they had been beset to induce them to embrace Catholicism. These young men answered that the Jesuits had never spoken to them on difference of religions, and that they were allowed to practise their own with complete liberty. Galitzin and the Bible Society undermined the ground beneath the feet of the Jesuits; the metropolitan Amboise and the universities seconded their views with rare address. It was essential to predispose the Emperor and Empress, who on their return, after the campaign of 1815 and the treaty of . Paris, were to give the last blow to the company. All was arranged with this view; the conversions were not more numerous than they had been in former years ; but the au- thorities surrounded them with a disquieting eclat. Until this time their imperceptible returns to unity had been kept secret, but now so much publicity was given to them that one might hate supposed that in every family might be found a Jesuit who directed everything in it. The great interests which were then the subjects of debate in the world, — Napo- leon vanquished, Europe triumphing at Waterloo, exhausted France, the Bourbons re-established on the throne, the Holy Alliance promulgated, — all these events seemed as nothing at St. Petersburg before the silent attitude assumed by a few fathers of the order of Jesus. The Czar had thrown into the balance of European power the weight of his sword, and the scale inclined according to the wishes of the Russian diplo- matist. Alexander had imposed law upon the Congress of Vienna ; he inspired the constitutional charter of Louis XVIII.; legitimate kings hailed him as the liberator of Note 10, monarchy. All these glories coming at the same moment, p. xxiv. which ought to have rendered his subjects intoxicated with pride, were effaced at once by some obscure preaching in a Catholic church. Russia had placed herself at the head of HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. 19 all nations, and its bishops and its ministers pretended that they trembled with fear because a small number of ladies who belonged to the court renounced its too exciting plea- sures to listen in silence and solitude to the voice of God then speaking in their hearts. This position, which the Jesuits had in no degree provoked, exposed them to a double danger. They were accused of making proselytes of persons whom they had never known ; some persons presented themselves before their tribunal whose entreaties it was impossible for a priest to reject. Persecution engendered faith; this produced neophytes. Such was the position when Alexander returned to his capital; the great crisis over which he presided, the debasement of some, the elevation of others, the inconceiv- able changes which were still felt throughout Europe, had given a gloomy turn to his thoughts. He had examined men and things so closely, that a complete disgust had taken possession of his morbidly impressionable heart. In order to fill up the void, he threw himself unreservedly into the new world of mysticism which the Baroness de Kriidener had opened to the view of a mind satiated with pleasures, with ambition, and glory. Alexander gave himself up to certain Note 11, beliefs, resting on no fixed principle, and he aspired to impose P- XX1V * them upon others as convictions. But he had neither suf- ficient vigour of intellect or perseverance of talent to attain this object. People flattered him with the idea that he might appear as the visible head of ancient Christianity regenerated by himself. This was the idea brought before his imagination to induce him to misuse the Jesuits of his empire. He flattered himself that he had reunited, in the same vow of fraternity, all the dissentient forms of worship introduced by him into the Bible societies ; they were to be the privileged instruments, for this fusion of every pious sect which reposed under the shelter of his sceptre. The Pope was no longer to be the centre of unity. The reign of Catholicism was to give place to a union of all Christian nations. Alexander knew c 2 20 HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. tihe Jesuits would never consent to such a Utopia. Anxious to accelerate its progress, he allowed that hatred, which he found so ardent in those who surrounded his throne, to lull his justice to sleep; they talked to him of destroying the Company of Jesus, of commencing the work by banishing them from St. Petersburg. The Emperor, who would never have consented at once to this iniquity, gave way to the im- portunities of his ministers and popes. And on the 20th of December, 1815, issued the following ukase : — " Returned after the happy conclusion of the exterior affairs of Russia, to the empire which God has committed to our care, we have been informed by many facts, complaints, and reports of the following circumstances. The religious order of the Jesuits belonging to the Roman Catholic Church, had been abolished by a bull of the Pope. In consequence of this measure the Jesuits were expelled, not only from the states belonging to the church, but also out of all other coun- tries. They were nowhere allowed to remain. Russia alone, always guided by feelings of humanity and toleration, pre- served them, gave them an asylum, and assured their tran- quillity under her powerful protection. She interposed no obstacle to the free exercise of their worship. She did not harass them either by force, by persecutions, or by seduction. But in return ; she thought that on their part she had a right to expect fidelity, devotion, and usefulness. In this hope they were permitted to devote themselves to the education and instruction of youth. Fathers and mothers fearlessly confided their children to their care, to be instructed in science, and for the formation of their morals. Now it has been proved to us that they have not fulfilled the duties imposed upon them by gratitude, and the humility which is commanded by the Christian religion; and instead of remaining peaceable inhabitants in a foreign country, they have endeavoured to disturb the Greek religion, which, since the most distant ages, has been the established religion in our empire, and on which, HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. 21 as on an unshaken rock, repose the happiness and tranquillity of the people under our sceptre. They first began by abusing the confidence they had gained ; they drew away from their own churches the young who had been confided to them, and some women of weak and inconsiderate minds. To induce men to abjure their faith, — the faith of their forefathers, to extinguish in their hearts all love of those who profess the same faith, to render them strangers in their own country, to sow dissension and anger in the bosom of families, to detach the father from his son and the mother from her daughter, to occasion division among the children of the same church, — is this the voice of God ? the will of His Divine Son Jesus Christ, our Saviour who shed his blood for us, the purest of all blood, that we might lead a life of peace and joy in all piety and holiness ? After such conduct we can no longer feel surprise that this religious order should have been banished out of every country, and be nowhere tolerated. What would that state be, who allowed to nestle in its bosom those who spread within it hatred and discord ? Ever occupied in watching over the well-being of our faithful subjects, and con- sidering it a wise and sacred duty to destroy this evil at its root, in order that it may not ripen and produce bitter fruits, we have in consequence resolved and ordered : — First, that the Catholic church now in Russia shall be replaced on the same footing as it occupied during the reign of our grand- mother of glorious memory, the Empress Catherine, and until the year 1800. Secondly, that all monks belonging to the order of Jesus shall be immediately sent out of St. Peters- burg. Thirdly, that they shall be forbidden to enter either of our capital cities. We have given special orders to our ministers of police and of public instruction, for the prompt execution of this our determination, and for every thing con- cerning the house of the institution hitherto occupied by the Jesuits. At the same time, in order that there may not be any interruption of divine service, we have ordered the 22 HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. metropolitan of the Roman Catholic Church to replace the Jesuits by priests of the same rite, who are now in St. Peters- burg, until the arrival of monks of another Catholic order, whom we have summoned for the purpose. " (Signed) Alexander." One would have said that the mission to preserve the Jesuits in Russia had been accomplished. The Czar no longer considered it as his duty to shelter these proscribed men, who had enjoyed so generous a hospitality under the rule of Catherine II. and Paul I. He in his turn now sent them away ; but from a feeling of propriety and justice-, of which a schismatic prince has set a good example to more than one Catholic sovereign, Alexander did not wish to rest his decree of banishment on any other than a religious motive. It was repugnant to his conscience to appeal to the passions or to calumny. He never endeavoured to injure by false accusations those priests whom he had hitherto honoured by Note 12, his benevolence. He continued just, even in the severity of p. xxv. his ukase. The archbishop of Mohilow, who had contributed so much to the maintenance of the Society of Jesus at the time of its suppression under Clement XIV., executed exactly the orders intimated to him by Galitzin ; he took measures to prevent the interruption of public worship by the withdrawal of the Jesuits; and during the night of the 20th and 21st of December, the general of the police made an irruption into their college at the head of an armed force. He took posses- sion of all the outlets ; then, without interrogating even one father, without even telling them the cause of this sudden invasion, they placed a guard over them, while the minister read to Brzozowski the decree of exile. The head of the Jesuits was an old man, but he knew the value of such ignominy ; he accepted it with joy, and contented himself by answering, (C His Majesty shall be obeyed." The following night the fathers were taking the road to Polotsk. Seals had HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. 23 been placed upon their correspondence as well as upon their manuscripts; their moveables, their library, their museum, and their cabinet of physic, were confiscated. On the 20th of February, 1816, Father Thadcus Brzozow- ski wrote to Father Gloriviere at Paris : — " Your letter of the 8th of January has reached me at Polotsk, where I have been for the last six weeks. Our position in this country is very much altered since I last wrote to you. The public papers, no doubt, have not left you ignorant of our expulsion from St. Petersburg. It occurred on the 3rd of J anuary, in the space of twenty-four hours. That makes us suppose that we are considered to have been very culpable in the eyes of the government. The two great faults expressly named in the decree of our expulsion are : — 1st, To have drawn into the Catholic religion the pupils confided to our care. 2nd, The having equally drawn into the Catholic religion, some women of weak and inconsiderate minds. In regard to the second point, there may have existed some imprudence done without my knowledge, and against my wishes, which according to all ordinary rule could only have compromised the man who did it. As for the first complaint, it is entirely supposititious, and Note 13, people have represented facts to his Majesty as they were not. p- xxv. Not only have our fathers never attempted to draw our pupils towards the Catholic religion, but even when pupils have shewn a desire to become Catholics, which must have hap- pened occasionally in the space of thirteen years, in a mixed school where all the masters were Catholics, our fathers have always refused to allow them to participate in the sacraments. This is the truth ; but the truth is seldom known ; for such is the condition of the very best princes, that they have far more difficulty in knowing it than other men. This event is very sad and provoking to the company. But we were not much astonished at it; for a long time we had seen the tempest gathering, and we knew it must burst over us a little sooner or a little later." 24 HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. In Russia the government is never blamed ; it is scarcely allowable to approve in writing of any act of authority ; it never allows discussions on any of its measures ; the govern- ment is arbitrary. Silence reigns there; and in the end, perhaps, there are not more victims to be registered there, than in kingdoms where liberty of speech rests upon a con- stitution, of which the most powerful or the most astute interpret every article as they please ; notwithstanding this, the numbers of the 3rd and 15th of March, 1816, of the Invalide Russe, contain, by an unheard-of exception, attacks against the Jesuits. The general of the institution desired Father Rozaven to avenge his brothers for the insults with which this paper did not fear to overwhelm the exiles. Father Rozaven de- fended his order with a logic of facts more eloquent than any disquisition ; it was clear and sensible ; clever and profound. His answer was sent to the Minister of Religion, that he might obtain its insertion in the Invalide. It was too con- clusive, and Galitzin condemned it to silence. A quarrel was now begun between the government and the company. The company were not unaware that this ukase of the 20th of December, 1815, was only the prelude of another more decisive. But strong in its innocence, it would not allow the ministerial proscription the right of calumniating it. In this conflict which arose between the civil power and the Society of Jesus, there reigned, beyond official usage, a certain equality which is not generally met with, in the connection of persons persecuted and their persecutors. It was seen that the Jesuits never despaired of obtaining justice from Alexander, and in all they wrote they appeared rather to dictate the law, than to submit to it. There is something mysterious in the connection between the Czar and the children of St. Ignatius, which was not revealed even to his favourite minister. Both parties allowed their vengeance a certain limit ; but it might be said that they were not permitted to pass it, and that they HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. 25 intuitively respected it. This extraordinary concurrence of circumstances betrayed itself at every phase of their exile. The innovating opinions of Alexander had been unveiled. He knew the Jesuits to be an eternal obstacle to them j how- ever, he did not at once come to the resolution of driving them out of his empire. He treated the exiles with bene- volence. The winter was a severe one; the journey long and painful ; the Autocrat ordered that the J esuits should be wrapped up in pelisses and furs. To warm their limbs stiffened by the cold, he ordered arrack to be given to them ; he miti- gated his blows, when all around him excited him to be piti- less. He ordered seals to be placed upon their archives, and they discovered no trace of a conspiracy, no vestige of con- versions, no paper having any allusion, near or remote, to politics. This mystery ought to be explained, and we will do so as clearly as the interests of history require. The family of Romanoff owed a great deal to the company of Jesus. Some fathers had been, against their will, honoured by the con- fidence of Catherine II. They knew all the family details during the reign of Paul I., which it is as well to bury in oblivion. Father Gruber, and other heads of the order, had known from this Sovereign the last word of many diplomatic transactions; they had been initiated either by word of mouth, or by correspondence, into all the griefs of the life of the Hereditary Grand Duke, into the sufferings of his life as Emperor. The J esuits had been made the depositories of all the family secrets, and they had rendered services to him, which kings themselves are not sufficiently ungrateful to for- get. This reciprocity of good offices had established a bond of union, of which neither of the interested parties dared to break the prestige. There was, so to say, a mutual agree- ment on both sides ; confidence had engendered discretion, and this singular contract has not even been annulled by intolerance. The Jesuits allowed themselves to be exiled by 26 HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. the son of Paul I., and they took the road of exile without evoking a vengeance which it would have been so easy for them to obtain. They shewed themselves worthy of the esteem of the Czar at the very hour when his ministers were endeavouring to make them odious in the eyes of the country. Prince Galitzin and the Russian police were in possession of all the papers belonging to the order. They could, there- fore, have put themselves on the track of any conspiracy, which they believed it to be useful to allow the Jesuits to be suspected of. The most minute investigations could discover no traces of it. Alexander himself knew beforehand what would be the issue. He did not even deign to shew any excitement in public. Thus, when Father Brzozowski asked that Count Litta, or any Russian gentlemen nominated by him, might be present at the examination of the archives of the company, this proposition, which contained nothing but what was most natural, was rejected without examination. From family traditions Alexander knew the sagacity of the Jesuits; he would neither prepare a triumph for them, or give himself one, too decided over them. The temporal interests of the Catholic church at St. Petersburg, were complicated with those of the Jesuits ; the fathers having become guarantees to the lessees of the funds (bailleurs de fonds). This debt had existed from its establish- ment in 1806, and was recognized as a debt of the church. However, by an ukase, dated 25th of May, 1816, Alexander declares, " That all pecuniary claims which might be made upon the fathers of the institution, should be placed upon their funded property (biens-fonds) , without any power of charging those claims upon the newly constructed building near the Catholic church." The Jesuits would not allow themselves to be alarmed by these local vexations, which one word would suffice to arrest. This word put their habitual discretion to a HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. 27 trial j they had rather suffer than pronounce it. On the 31st of August, 181G, Father Brzozowski wrote to the Emperor : — u During the time that the affair about the nephew of the Minister of Religion became public, I wished to send a peti- tion to your Majesty exposing the facts, but the ministers rejected it ; and while sending to your Majesty their accusa- tions against my order, they deprived me of every means of making my defence. Being unable to induce them to accept my justification of what had already occurred, I took precau- tions for the future, by declaring, that in order to remove every cause of suspicion, I would not henceforward receive into our colleges any pupils, excepting those professing the Catholic religion. I placed my declaration in the hands of the Minister of Public Instruction and of Religion; and since the month of January, 1815, no pupil of the Greek religion has been received into the institution, notwithstand- ing the earnest applications of a great number of parents. Here, Sire, are facts which prove how earnestly I wish to put aside everything which could cause any suspicion on the part of the government, and I entreat your Majesty to listen to me for one moment. If my order had been such as it has been described to your Imperial Majesty, they would have found some proofs of it in my papers. They have now been under examination for eight months, and so far from having found anything in them which could have offended the government, they have been obliged to acknowledge to your Majesty, that in my most secret correspondence, whenever on any occasion I have spoken either of your sacred person, or of your government, I have always done so with those feelings of respect and veneration, which have always filled my heart. I do not ask, Sire, that your Majesty should revoke anything that has been done; we submit ourselves with the most entire resignation, and without a murmur, to the decree pronounced by your Majesty, that 28 HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. the order should be for ever excluded from the capitals of the empire, our sojourn there having proved so fatal to us. " Our ambition confines itself to rendering ourselves use- ful in any places where your Majesty will deign to employ us. Your Majesty knows that we have not shewn less zeal, in devoting ourselves to the painful service of the Catholics of Siberia, than to those employments which were less obscure and more agreeable. Our devotion will always remain the same, and our most earnest aspirations are to prove to the whole universe, that the remembrance of the benefits your Majesty has conferred on us, is engraven on our hearts in ineffaceable characters. " But we also wish to ascertain whether our efforts will be agreeable to your Majesty, and whether we are not consi- dered as ungrateful and unworthy of your Majesty's kindness ; and I dare to ask for a proof of it, by imploring your Majesty to grant a favour, which I have vainly solicited from the minis- ters for more than eighteen months. It is permission to undertake, with two fathers of my order, a journey to Rome. My obligation to the sovereign Pontiff, and the necessary business of my order, have long called for my presence there, . and I shall be truly happy to make known to foreign nations all that my order owes to your Majesty, and the gratitude with which I am penetrated." This journey to Rome, the last thought and the day-dream of the old Brzozowski, deranged the hopes of the Emperor on religious subjects. This prince was in the first ardour of the Holy Alliance, that is to say, he sought by this act of federation, to reunite all species of worship into one of which he dreamt, and which would realize a universal toleration. Brzozowski exiled from St. Petersburg and Moscow, was a prisoner in Russia. Alexander occupied himself with a feverish anxiety, in this religious and constitutional emancipation of Note 14, the whole world, and he obliged the general of the J esuits to p. xxvi. HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. 29 die in his states, when the affairs of Catholicism, and those of 1 1 is institution, called him to Rome. In the midst of White Russia, Brzozowski continued to govern the children of St. Ignatius. He directed their efforts, assisted in their first combats, he opened their transatlantic missions. On the 5th of February, 1820, he expired, having designated as vicar the Father Mariano Petrucci, rector of the noviciate at Genoa. His death, long foreseen, put an end to an anomaly which, from their deference to power, the J esuits had always respected. It was not possible that the general of a company spread all over every part of the globe, and taking as its source the catholic principle, could exist anywhere but in the very centre of Christendom. Its professors acknowledged to themselves, that the sojourn of the general at Polotsk or at Witebsk was an obstacle to the labours of their order, and the diffusion of Note 15, the Gospel ; they submitted notwithstanding without a mur- P- xxvii. mur. In the person of Brzozowski they honoured all those fathers who had never doubted the re-establishment of the company, and who had obliged themselves to maintain it in its integrity. Death had now removed this power ; the Jesuits thought that the successor of Loyola, of Laynes and Aqua- viva, would be more at ease near the pontifical chair than under the sceptre of the Romanoffs. The day after the death of Brzozowski the chief establishment of the Jesuits trans- formed itself into a simple province, of which Father Stanislas Szvietokowski had the direction. The new provincial pre- sented a petition to the Czar ; this petition was to obtain per- mission to send deputies to the congregation about to assemble in Rome. All the provinces had a right to vote in it by their proxies ; but this election unsettled the terms of the existence of the Society of Jesus in Russia, in the way in which Cathe- rine II. had dreamt of establishing it. It deprived the Impe- rial Government of the moral authority which it might exer- cise over an institution which, from 1786 to 1816, had arisen 30 HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. from the number of 178 members, so rapidly to the number of 674."* The Jesuits had spread themselves like a net from Polotsk to Odessa ; they were to be found at Witebsk and at Astracan, at Ormsk and even at Irkoutsk ; they possessed nourishing colleges and missions, in which they had the art of rendering themselves indispensable. Several great families had invited them as preceptors. It was necessary to close Russia to them, or circumscribe their zealous activity within the boundary of its frontiers. By means of their organ, Father Szvietokowski, they asked to change the nature of the contract which attached them to the empire. Galitzin, always hostile to the children of St. Ignatius, advised the Czar to seize the opportunity which was now offered him. On the 13th of March, 1820, a decree of expulsion was the response to their petition. This decree was preceded by a report from the Minister of Religion. The Prince Galitzin had shewn himself too prejudiced an adversary of the company of J esus, for his assertions to gain credit before the tribunal of history. We admit them, how- ever, as one of those official documents which never prove what they pretend to demonstrate. We read in this one : — " The sending the Jesuits of St. Petersburg away, has not produced any alteration in their conduct ; the reports of the civil and military authorities agree in proving, that they con- tinue to act in a sense contrary to law ; they endeavour to draw into their creed pupils belonging to the Greek rite, who are now in the college at Mohilow ; and when, in order to take from them every means of proselytism, it was com- manded to them that henceforward none but Roman Catholics were to be allowed to study there, they began to seduce the military who professed the Greek ritual in cantonments at Witebsk, to pervert them from the faith of their forefathers. In Siberia, in the same manner, their conduct did not answer the end for which they ha ment in Ireland to receive the young men, whom they hoped ! ' lxxix - soon to gather into their order, whenever it should again arise from its ruins. The college of Stonyhurst opened its bosom to receive some of them ; others went to Palermo, where they completed their studies. In 1807, Richard Ireland as their difficulty. Every phase of sedition and rebellion from 1641 to 1798, and from that to 1848, whether Peep-o'-day Boys, Caravats, Shana- vests, Defenders, Whitefeet, Blackfeet, Eockites, Ribbonmen, or Phcenix Conspirators, — these have been all alike the disciples, and the Jesuits have been the apostles and missionaries, of their religion and their morals. — Ed. 92 HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. Callaghan died, burdened with years and good works. In 1811, the death of Thomas Betah broke the last link which in Ireland attached the new scholars to the ancient company. Betah,* whose name is still popular in Dublin and in Ireland, found in his heart that species of eloquence which excites the natural instincts of this people in so lively a manner. Father Kennyf succeeded him in the month of November. With a patience which nothing could overcome, the Jesuits set them- selves to work exactly as if the sovereign Pontiff had restored them to life. They felt the great disadvantages of that sort of cosmo- polite education which, by displacing children from their country in their youth, gives them less of patriotic feeling. Ireland, according to them, had a right to see her children reared upon her own proscribed soil, in order that, nourished in her misfortunes, they might on some future day claim her emancipation with more energy. It% was this thought that inspired Father Kenny with the project of forming a national college ; and he did create one at Clongowes, not far from * In Ed. 1851, p. 27, is added a note : " Betah was vicar general of Dublin; his funeral was celebrated by an immense concourse of people, and a monu- ment was erected to his memory by the Catholics." f Altered in Ed. 1851, p. 73, to "Father Kenny, already superior of the archiepiscopal seminary, succeeded." % How remarkably this history indicates the real circumstances of Ire- land. We see that the bull of Ganganelli produced no effect there, and never for a moment interrupted the work of the Jesuits in that country, — " they set themselves to work exactly as if he had restored them." It is clear that politics was their great object — Father Kenny, their agent — and Clongowes their institution. Eeligion was but the means to the end, as it is in all their pro- ceedings ; it was not to feed souls with the " bread of life," but to or- ganize them for sedition, that their spiritual pastors laboured. This reminds me of a story told me by a dear and venerable friend, the late Lord Mount- sandford. He was paying a visit to those two remarkable recluses, Lady E. Butler and Miss Ponsonby, at their cottage in Wales. A tenant of one of them, I think of Lady E. Butler, had come from the vicinity of Clongowes to solicit some favour from this lady, shortly after the establishment of this college. She said, — HISTORY OE THE COMPANY OF JESUS. 93 Dublin. The restoration of the institute augmented its pros- perity to such a degree, that in 1819 they had more than two hundred and fifty disciples. In the same year, the gene- rosity of Mary O'Brien enabled them to build another in the district of King's County. It was necessary to raise the Note 42 Irish from the state of moral debasement in which it was the P- lxxxv policy of England to keep them. To this people the great voice of Daniel O'Connell, a pupil of the Jesuits, first taught the meaning of liberty. It* was necessary first to teach them their duties, and then their rights. The company of Jesus undertook the first task, O'Connell fulfilled the second. From the time of Henry VIII. to Cromwell, and from Cromwell to the kings of the House of Hanover, everything had been done to degrade the Irish, and to enslave them by " I hear you have got a number of religious gentlemen in your neigh- bourhood ?" " Indeed, we have, my lady." " I suppose they do a great deal of good to all the people there ?" " Indeed, they do a great deal, my lady." " I have no doubt you get a great deal of spiritual comfort from them ?" " Oh I the devil a drop of that at all, please your ladyship." Her ladyship meant religion, but poor Paddy thought she meant the whiskey. But the religion of Father Kenny and the teetotalism of Father Mathew were, as we shall see, made equally subservient to the objects of this holy brotherhood. — Ed. * This fully exhibits the process by which the Jesuits train a people in sedition ; they are taught in the first instance unbounded subjection to the Church ; their duty to her sovereign power, as above all human authority and obligation, is first instilled into their consciences ; then the political objects of their hierarchy are called their rights ; and they are thus wielded under con- scientious obligations, and organized for the purpose, whatever it may be. Thus they have a right in Ireland to the restitution of all the forfeited estates ; a right to subjugate heretics ; a right to cast off allegiance to a heretical government ; a right not to execute heretical laws ; thus all political, moral, social obligations are rendered subordinate and subservient to the Church. O'Connell was a scholar we see, and a mere tool of the Jesuits, and he worked on the people by the same influences that wrought on himself. The secret statutes of the bishops prove that they drilled the priests in their conferences " to direct the consciences of the people committed to their charge." — Ed. 94 HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. consigning them to ignorance. They* took advantage of their love of intoxicating liquors, and little by little they plunged them into that torpid state which makes life a kind of bestial Note 43, sleep. They habituated the people, always Catholic at heart, p. xoi. to debaucheries, which the authorities had the art to place under the protection of some saint, whose name was popular in Ireland. Provided there remained in the Irish sufficient bodily strength to cultivate the earth, whose fruits and har- vests were destined to supply the luxuries and pleasures of England, no one occupied themselves further with their welfare, their health, their families, or even with their exist- ence, f They made them labourers without wages, or soldiers in India without the hope of advancement. Everything was combined against them, and this position, had it been pro- longed, might have produced the most cruel results ; but an unexampled concurrence of events obliged the British govern- ment to blush for its schemes of demoralization. The Fathers Kenny, Esmond, and Aylmer acknowledged in the sorrow of their hearts this intellectual brutalization ; but they felt that the remedy was in their hands, and that the necessity for its application had become urgent. It was difficult all at once to correct so many and such deeply rooted evils. Hitherto religion itself had been proscribed : there were neitherj temples or altars. The Irish knew not the * This is a perfect exhibition of the trick of the Jesuits to throw the odium of their own sins on the government. It was their aim to keep the unfortunate people in ignorance and bondage, as it is to this day. There was not a single popish chapel in Ireland to which there was not one or more whiskey shops attached, and habits of idleness, superinduced by their holi- days to bring them to their chapel, and of drunkenness by their whiskey shops adjacent to them, tended more to demoralize and degrade the poor unfortunate people than any other cause — their influence on their bodies was as debasing as their religion on their minds. — Ed. f Too true ! Had the Protestant Church of Ireland and the Protestant landlords laboured faithfully to enlighten the poor Roman Catholics, they had not been the slaves of Jesuits as they are at this day. — Ed. t Altered in Ed. 1851, p. 74, to " there were few temples," etc. HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. 95 pomp of festivals ; they had never experienced the effect pro- duced upon the masses, by those solemn processions in which God appears to mingle himself with man, to bless their labours, and to participate in their sorrows. They had hitherto been Catholics, secretly communicating only with the ancient Jesuits, or with the secular clergy, through a thousand dan- gers. The new disciples of the institute, profiting by the tole- ration which wiser policy now allowed to prevail, decided upon initiating the Irish people into the triumphant joys of the church. The Fete Dieu was celebrated at Clongowes in 1822, in the midst of an enormous crowd. External worship renewed in their hearts the ideas of the faith, and the neces- sity of internal reformation. Churches were built, missions were opened, religious associations created, and soon the children of these martyrs received from piety and education the necessary vigour to obtain peaceably their social regenera- tion. To realize this project the Jesuits had to endure many painful labours, and to make great sacrifices. The* Jesuits accomplished the whole without allowing any obstacle to arrest them. They had often been accused of refusing to participate in any institution of which some one of their fathers had not been the first promoter, but fact in Ireland gives the lie to this imputation j in 1840, at the moment when by retreats or missions they were teaching the multitude * It is not a little instructive, in the perusal of this history, to reflect on the processes by which the British government was endeavouring to discover the state of the Roman Catholic mind, and of the country, by examining the Eomish bishops before the committees of Parliament, who were only blinding and deceiving them by protracted tissues of perjury. These bishops, with the aid of the Jesuits, or rather indeed as the tools and agents of the Jesuits, were carrying on at that moment, in the most efficient manner, every prin- ciple they were denying, every doctrine they were renouncing, every law they were abjuring, through the length and breadth of the country; so that while the government were utterly blinded by the oaths of the papal hierarchy, the Jesuits, of whose existence they were scarcely aware, were carrying on the organization of the whole Roman Catholic population. — Ed. 96 HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. to celebrate the third secular feast of the foundation of the order of Jesus, it was by popularizing the work of another that they obtained a most brilliant success. The Capuchin, Theobald Mathew, had two years before laid the basis of his temperance society. The Jesuits took advantage of every- thing that could be useful in this voluntary renunciation of all inebriating liquors in such a country as Ireland. They became the zealous propagators of the Christian idea of Father Mathew ;* by their care it spread with inconceivable rapidity. The temperance societies were the auxiliaries of the mission which the fathers established for themselves; but this did not divert them from their own peculiar object. In 1829 their numbers augmented with their ascendancy ; they were the bishop's right hand,f they were the living models Note 44, presented to the clergy by the prelates. The general of the p. xcvi. company considered this to be a fitting opportunity J to detach Ireland from the province of England. He nominated a vice-provincial to govern the J esuits : his choice fell upon Father Robert St. Leger.§ This separation promised to pro- * The movement of Father Mathew, which imposed so effectively on such multitudes, is here proved to have been made subservient to the objects of the Jesuits ; whatever may have been the intention of the mover, they seized and turned it to their account. This was evident at the time to all those who were acquainted with Popery ; and the temperance bands and proces- sions, so perfectly organized in Dublin and various parts of the country, demonstrated that, under the pretence of temperance, a systematic drilling of the population was being carried on ; and on many occasions the most offensive manifestations of paraded defiance were exhibited. — Ed. f The book by a professor of their college, at Louvaine, Dens, was the book in which all the bishops drilled all their priests, in their conferences, to instil into the consciences of the whole Roman Catholic population ; and it appears from Dr. Murray's own admission, in his evidence before the commissioners of education, in 1826, that when he was president of Maynooth he had Father Kenny some time as his assistant in the government of that college. — Ed. i Omitted in Ed. 1851, p. 75, the paragraph "to detach Ireland from the province of England." § Omitted in Ed. 1851, these words, " this separation promised to produce fruitful results." HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. 97 ducc fruitful results.* In 1841 a college was erected in Dublin under the auspices of St. Francis Xavicr; England took no alarm at this encrease of Catholic influence. Anglicanism had been shaken by the return towards unity of a number of upright spirits in the three kingdoms, who had been taught by study to see the inefficiency of their official belief. A slow but progressive work was perceptible in English society. Every one felt that the Jesuits had the great- Note 15, est share in this, while keeping strictly within the limits of the p. xcix. law. Governmentf saw nothing in all this but the natural consequences of liberty, and gave a salutary example of the respect due to those rights which it had itself proclaimed. By a strange reversal of all received opinions, it was in countries separated from the Catholic faith that the Jesuits prospered and increased. We have seen them, in Russia and in Great Britain, preserve the elements of reconstitution, and connect the future with the past. In Holland the same pheno- menon was accomplished as in England ; the republic of the united provinces made open war upon this order, whose influ- ence over the population was apparent. Scarcely was it anni- hilated when old insults and even the memory of old distrust subsided. Protestants understood that it was not their province Note 46 to pursue their conquered enemies ; they left that care to Catho- p. c. lie courts, and to writers who wished to destroy all religion. These unexpected circumstances allowed the fathers of the company, who were dispersed throughout Holland, to con- * Here it is demonstrated by this writer that the whole Repeal move- ment in Ireland was the work of the general of the Jesuits, and that O'Con- nell, the bishops, and the priests were their tools. — Ed. t No form of expression could more emphatically exhibit the historian's view of the blindness and credulity of the British government ; it is as much as to say, while all this was going forward, which was enough to awaken any men who were not asleep or dead, the government could see nothing in it but the natural consequences of liberty. The Roman Catholic countries, who knew the Jesuits, denounced the order ; but such was the blindness of the British government, that they prospered and encreased under its pro- tection.— Ed. H 98 HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. Note 47, tinue the work to which they had devoted themselves. Their p. cm. chief had placed them as sentinels at a dangerous outpost (en sentinelles perdues) in the midst of the enemies of the Church, and no one thought of relieving them ; they re- mained there under the direction of Father Thomassen. He was an aged man. Adam Beekers came from Amsterdam to comfort and assist him in the labours of the apostolate. As soon as it became possible to attach themselves by new vows to the company, Beekers, Henri Groessen, Luyton, and Ver- bek took advantage of the privilege. The Jesuits of Nimeque and Culembourg followed their example ; but at Culembourg, Father Huberti, who had been enriched by an inheritance of some property, consecrated his fortune to the advancement of that mission. Father Arnold Luyton developed the budding association, and the Apostolic Inter - Nuncio Ciamberlani seconded his projects so earnestly, that in 1818 it was pos- sible to found a small seminary in that town. The Pope Leo XII. had desired to recover for the Jesuits all the posts occu- pied by them before the suppression : they returned there- fore to the Hague. About the same time,* the fathers of the faith, whose origin we have just briefly sketched, had been living in Bel- gium since the beginning of the nineteenth century. Their most ardent aspiration was to be incorporated into the insti- tute of St. Ignatius. The military events of 1814 were tend- ing towards the decision of a very grave question : — the fall of the empire of Napoleon was imminent. The fathers of the faith, under the direction of Benson and Le Blanc, addressed themselves to Fonteyne, then superior of the Jesuits in Hol- land ; they were admitted into the company, but were obliged to go through a noviciate ; and, in the overturning of all the kingdoms, the members of the society of Jesus, like many monarchs, were left with no other aliment than hope. Prince Maurice de Broglie, Bishop of Ghent, did not long leave them * " About the same time " is omitted in p. 70, Ed. 1851. HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. 99 in this state of uncertainty. This bishop, whose name is so often heard in the annals of this period, was a witty courtier, and an accomplished orator, a man of God, and also a man of the world, always ready to assist the unfortunate, or to per- form any deed of courage and magnanimity, that could serve as a noble example to his fellow men. Napoleon had con- ceived a strong liking for him. He valued in him his high birth, and his distinguished virtues, his piety, and his cheer- fulness. Maurice de Broglie shewed himself full of gratitude and enthusiasm for the emperor. But from the moment when Bonaparte, blinded by ambition or anger, declared himself the persecutor of the sovereign Pontiff, the conscience of the Bishop of Ghent raised him above all human attach- ments. In the council of Paris, in the dungeons of Vincennes, and in the Isle of St. Marguerite, the Prince de Broglie never shrunk from the fulfilment of any of his duties ; he had only just been released from a state prison, when the Jesuits soli- cited his help and patronage ; this he promptly accorded to them. The diocese of Ghent was opened at their request, and from that day there was formed, between the prelate and the disciples of St. Ignatius, an alliance cemented by virtue, which nothing on earth could ever dissolve. A noviciate was at once decided upon ; the Marchioness of Rhodes supplied the funds for this first establishment ; the Comte de Thiennes placed his chateau of Bumbeck at the dis- posal of the society : then the exercises commenced. After the interval of a few months, Belgium became the theatre of a great and decisive battle. Europe awaited Napoleon at Waterloo. His armies approached from Courtray and from Boulers. Father Fonteyne contemplated retreating before them, the noise of camps not being suited to the abstraction and retirement required of the novices. Fonteyne placed them in a country-house at Distelberg, offered to him by Messrs. Gobert. Events hurried on with such precipitation that, in the course of a few days afterwards, there remained h 2 100 HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. in Belgium the wreck of an army, and a new throne, William Frederick of Nassau, the son of the last Stadtholder of Hol- land, was destined to occupy it. This prince, whose good qualities as well as his faults will be severely judged by his- tory, for he caused both to be equally injurious, had long resided as an obscure exile in England. Driven by the French revolution from his hereditary states ; called by the victorious party to reign over two nations, whose manners and religion had no point of resemblance, William did not understand how to hold the balance between his predilections and his duties. He was made by treaty a legitimate king. His am- bition made him a revolutionist. The France of the Bourbons drove from her bosom the judges and executioners of Louis XVI. ; she proscribed some of the minor leaders of the hun- dred days, who had overturned even William's own throne. William welcomed into his palace these regicides and con- spirators ; his dream was to secure the crown of St. Louis for his son by a Protestant conspiracy. In a Catholic country he endeavoured to seduce the people from their faith, and to render the clergy odious. Differences speedily arose between the Belgians faithful to the Roman Church, and their new monarch. King and people interpreted, each in his own way, the rights acquired, the promises made, and laws accepted. This struggle, begun even during the fetes of his coronation, ought to have brought William to reflection. Led by the counsels of Protestant fanatics, or intoxicated by the interested flatteries of the enemies of all religion, the king of the Low Countries proved himself unequal to the difficulties of the position. He had to satisfy two rival nations, which chance had united under the same sceptre ; the Dutch were sted- fastly resolved never to become Belgians. In the early part of his reign, from 1814 to 1815, he had proclaimed liberty and abolished several flagrant monopolies; but he soon endeavoured to overturn with one hand that which he had established with the other. The Jesuits took no part in any HISTORY OF THE COMPANY 01 JESUS. 101 of these debates, whether religious or political, with regard to the interpretation of the fundamental laws. Suddenly, on the 3rd of January, 1816, William com- manded the fathers of Distelberg to dissolve their community immediately. To this injunction the Jesuits answered, " One word from the bishop will be sufficient to disperse us. If the prelate does not pronounce that word, there will be little diffi- culty by force of arms to expel the peaceful inhabitants of this house." Father Vanderbiest,* who after the death of Fonteyne had been named superior, communicated to the Abbe Lesurre, vicar-general of Ghent, the answer that he had made. Maurice de Broglie was absent. He wrote, saying that it was the duty of a captain never to abandon, without defence, his faithful soldiers ; that therefore he would not suffer the Jesuits to be exposed to the darts of their enemies, but that they should pierce him through before the Jesuits should be touched : then he added, " I wish all the doors in my palace to be opened to them, in order that as large a number as it can contain may retire there." The prelate was not satisfied with this declaration, but came himself to Dis- telberg to encourage the Jesuits, and confirm them in their resolution. William heard of this resistance, and fearing that the report of its success might injure his ulterior plans, determined to put it down. Troops were marched against the noviciate ; the Jesuits dispersed as they approached, and took refuge in the episcopal palace. The first ferment of opposition drew down upon the head of the Prince de Broglie the stubborn rage of William. The Bishop of Ghent, who, since the month of October, 1814, had foreseen these diffi- culties, had submitted them to the Congress of Vienna the 28th of July, 1815; the other heads of dioceses protested against it in a letter addressed to the king. On the 2nd of August Maurice de Broglie addressed a pastoral admonition * In Ed. 1851, p. 78, instead of " Father Vanderbiest," it is " Father Le Blanc' 102 HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. to his flock.* In this document, which proclaims in every line the courage to meet, and the necessity to avert, the dangers which threatened the Church of Belgium, the pontiff inveighed with great power against the new constitution : it was in his eyes inadmissible by Catholics, and he protested against it. The bishops had said that this legislative compact " was a sinister omen for the future Maurice de Broglie demonstrated it. The foreigners who had entirely gained the confidence of William of Nassau had little difficulty in irri- tating him against this factious prelate, whom his episcopal colleagues, and Pius VII. himself, congratulated on his zeal. The arrest of the Bishop of Ghent as a preventive step was decided upon. He took refuge in France with the rector of the noviciate of the Jesuits. Advantage has been taken of that fact to declare that the Jesuits alone ought to be held responsible for the resistance of the prince. The prince was but a mortal adversary : the order of Jesus has perpetual vitality, and therefore the enemies of the Catholic Church sought to make it guilty for the personal intrepidity of Maurice de Broglie. The latter entertained no hostile feelings towards the government ; but his struggles and his sufferings for the faith had made him popular. But above all other things, he defended with the utmost inflexibility the rights of conscience. The Belgians saw in him a martyr. William and his revo- lutionary courtiers represented him as a fanatic, — a mere tool in the hands of the Jesuits. " Legal oppression," says M. de Gerlache,f " is perhaps the worst of all tyranny, because in it fraud is added to vio- lence." William of Nassau, when he ascended the throne, had begun by paying court to the clergy ; he had even sought to conciliate the esteem and goodwill of the children of Loyola. In 1817, he was carried away by his Protestant * History of the Kingdom of the Pai/Bas. By M, de Gerlache, first pre- sident of the Cour de Cassation. Vol. i., p. 315. t Ibid., p. 341. HISTORY OF THE COMPANY 01 JESUS • 103 zeal, and plunged into the waves of that religious reaction in which the foam of party spirit sought to overwhelm his dreams of pride. As yet nothing could be brought against the Jesuits but pure calumnies, and these they did not spare. The Bishop of Ghent was an excellent victim to sacrifice, and he was the more severely dealt with in the hope that his punishment might terrify the other prelates. The Court of Brussels, by an act of the 9th of October, 1817, " condemned Maurice de Broglie, then a fugitive, or in concealment, to perpetual banishment, and to pay the costs of the suit." This judicial drama, in which the Jesuits were the real defend- ants, although they did not appear before the jury where the decree was levelled against them, and on account of them could not end there. Two culprits, convicted of robbery and burglary, sentenced to the pillory and to hard labour for life, were at that time in prison at Ghent. The judgment given against the prince- bishop ought, in accordance with the terms of the sentence, "to be advertised on a pole placed in the great public square," but the law of the country was violated to confer the right of violating the decencies of social life ; instead of this, the venerated name of the prelate was fastened upon the pillory between these two thieves. This was the golden age of journalism. Conscience maintained its right even over party spirit. The Belgian Observer, a newspaper hostile to the Roman faith, could not refrain from shewing its indigna- tion,* while this insult was accepted as an honour by all true * The Belgian Observer thus expresses itself in the fourteenth volume of its collection, p. 181 : — " He would have been universally considered a madman, or perhaps been persecuted as a villain, who, after the 18th of Brumaire, or at the epoch of the Concordat, but above all in 1814, or at the beginning of 1815, would have believed it possible that before 1818, under a Protestant prince and by a secular tribunal, a bishop would be condemned in Belgium to an infamous and disgraceful punishment for having subscribed, in common with all his co-ordinates, and made public, a doctrinal opinion as to the lawfulness or 104 HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. Catholics. It was not consistent with the character of the King himself, — a worthy descendant of William " the Silent," — to compromise his authority by excesses such as these ;* but his counsellors succeeded in persuading him that ever since the time of Philip II. of Spain the Jesuits had been the inveterate enemies of his family ; and as the prince-bishop supported them with all his power, upon him the first ebulli- tions of his anger fell. On the 24th of February, 1818, he attacked the disciples of the institute. Having taken refuge in the episcopal palace, they lived in the utmost retirement : a troop of soldiers, headed by the Procureur du Eoi, invaded the palace; they examined the books and papers, and placed seals on the fur- niture, and arrested the Abbe Lesurre ; then, arriving at last at the principal design of all these strict searchings, they gave them to understand that the same course would be pur- sued towards them throughout the whole of the kingdom. unlawfulness of an oath ; for having written two letters to the holy father relative to the public prayers which the prince might command to be used ; received a response conformable to the wishes of the government, and by giving immediate publicity to the said response, achieved the double end of tranquillizing all refractory spirits, and justifying the demand of the govern- ment and the solemn public act by which he had yielded obedience to it. " Still less would it have been believed that without necessity, without utility, — against all right and reason, — the sentence would have been carried out in such a manner as made it as ignominious as it could be towards the accused, an outrage to the religion of which he was the minister, and still more insulting to the nation which had remained faithful to the creed of its forefathers." " This public insult to Catholicism," says M. de Gerlache, in p. 345 of the first volume of his history of the kingdom of the Netherlands, "this profana- tion of a sacred and venerable character, only excited a general sentiment of indignation and disgust at its author. As for the Bishop of Ghent, he ought to consider himself too highly honoured by the insult, which recalled invo- luntarily to every one's remembrance the sufferings of his Divine Master. We have no occasion to mention the comparison instituted of his perse- cutors." * After "excesses," in Ed. 1851, p. 81, is added, "he possessed both sense and heart, but they had," etc. HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. 105 The company did not consider itself sufficiently strong to brave the tempest. Its beginning was difficult : it had every kind of obstacle to encounter. It postponed the struggle : and with a prudence which has been blamed by its friends who did not sufficiently penetrate its motives, it submitted to the exile to which despotism had condemned it. Switzer- land and the Netherlands formed at that time one province : it was towards these Catholic cantons* that they conducted the novices. To pay the travelling charges and support these exiles in a foreign land, was not an easy matter. Madame de Gizighen took upon herself this care; she only made one condition, that is to say, that if brighter days should ever shine upon Belgium, these young men should be bound to return to their country, and there carry on the mission which, as Jesuits, it was the hope of their vocation to fulfil. The general of the order accepted the contract on these conditions. Some of the children of Loyola, however, still remained in the kingdom. Father Lemaistre was their director ; but on considering the violent and open struggle which subsisted between the two powers, a struggle which promised inevitably to terminate in a revolution, owing to the obstinacy of the king and the per- severance of the people, the Jesuits decided upon transferring their noviciate elsewhere ; there was not a noviciate in Bel- gium during a space of thirteen years. There only remained there a small number of the professed brothers enrolled under the banner of the Church : they fought under Lemaistref in the character of volunteers ; their arms were — prayer, study, resignation, and the exercise of charity. * After " Catholic cantons," in p. 81, Ed. 1851, it is altered to " that they conducted the majority of the young Jesuits, some of the eldest conducted by Father Corneille. Van Eversbroocke found a refuge in Hildesheim in Han- over with old Father Lusken, who exercised there the function of president of seminaries." f After " Lemaistre," is added in Ed. 1851, p. 82, "and Bruson, in the character," etc. 106 HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. Belgium scarcely dared to resist the sovereign, who did his utmost to eclipse his princely qualities by the most incompre- hensible vagaries. Belgium had Catholic instincts ; William endeavoured to crush them all one after another. Every utter- ance of freedom was but a new provocation to despotism. The Jesuits, though few in number, exercised a strong influence over the masses ; their words, their advice, their looks, — even their very silence, all became matters of suspicion and, conse- quently, of incrimination. The Dutch agents, on whom Wil- liam had conferred public appointments, the refugees'* from all countries to whom he granted a most impolitic hospitality, never ceased to represent the disciples of Loyola as the enemies of his government. They were accused of reigning over France under the fleurs de lys mantle of the Bourbons. William of Nassau did not choose to have it said that the company held another kingdom also in its hands. It had opened re- treats where the secular priests and laymen mingled their prayers and trained themselves in the practice of every Chris- tian virtue. In 1824 the king desired the bishops to prohibit these spiritual exercises ; the religious warfare was suppressed. The Belgians had bowed their necks to the yoke, and Wil- liam's visitors persuaded him the time was now come to put an * What is this hut a proof of the necessity of the bull for the suppression of the Jesuits by Ganganelli. The refugees from all countries could only report the opinions of all countries. Ganganelli says, " So far from every precaution being sufficient to appease the clamour and complaints against the society, on the contrary, in almost every part of the universe very sad disputes were seen to rise against its doctrines." " Accusations abroad became every day more frequent, principally re- specting their too great avidity for terrestrial possessions." And the cardinal ambassador of France, in transmitting a confirmation of this bull to the minis- ter of foreign affairs, and commenting on the bull, says, " The Pope believed that a religious order, proscribed from the most Catholic states, strongly suspected of having both formerly and recently entered into criminal plots, addicted, in order to render themselves more powerful and formidable, to com- merce, stock-jobbings and politics, could produce only fruits of dissension and discord," etc. Quinet, Lect. 2, On Jesuits. — Ed. HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. 107 end to all Catholic teaching.* In less than a year after, the college of Liege,, which had been offered to the Jesuits by M. de Stas, was closed at the very moment when the king was about to issue an order for that purpose ; the little seminary at Culembourg was destined to the same fate, when the arch- priests of Amsterdam and Utrecht, united with the vicars apostolic of Holland, resolved that they would not yield except to violence. William had at length succeeded in tiring out even Ca- tholic opposition, and reigned in peace. This species of apathy, this sentiment of indifference, which at some period is fre- quently found to pervade the spirit of even the most energetic, was now apparent. The king, as well as his two confidants, Gaubau and Van Maaven, believed that the moment had arrived to subjugate Belgium to the will of Holland, and to crush the church of Rome under the yoke of Protestantism. The creation of a college of philosophy at Louvaine, the ^ ote i8 vexatious measures, and the fetters imposed upon the liberty p. oviii. of instruction, and the prescriptive rightsf of parents, awak- ened in their hearts a hope which their recent afflictions had almost banished. The brothers^ of the Christian doctrine diffused among the * After " Catholic teaching," in Ed. 1851, it is altered to, " In less than a year afterwards the college of Beauregard at Leige, of which M. de Stas was the director, having called some professed Jesuits to his assistance, closed it at the moment when the king was about to issue an order to that effect ; the little seminary, 5 ' etc. f This is the very same pretext with which the priests cover the suppres- sion of the Scriptures in Irish education ; they veil their despotism over the unfortunate parents and children by pretending that respect is to be paid to the rights of parents. — Ed. X This is only another form of the Jesuits. When it is said they taught them to be sober, pious, active and submissive, this is in a sense true : they do not, avowedly, teach sedition ; they teach a pious, devout, unconditional submission to the Church, and when they have them drilled into perfect staunch submission to the Church of Rome, they have them then ready, as occasion may offer, to be drilled as foes to whomsover or whatsoever may oppose her. — Ed. 108 HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. children of the poor and among the young workmen instruc- tions appropriate to their need ; they taught them to be sober, pious, active and submissive ; they made them obedient sons, in order that hereafter they might become good citizens. These instructors of the poor were accused of spreading ultramontanism throughout Belgium, and of plotting a revo- lution. In the eyes of the court of William they were nothing else than Jesuits in disguise."* The Jesuits were the constant terror of the king, who made common cause with the liberals of all sects to secure the triumph of his own here- tical opinions. He shut up the schools belonging to these brothers, the colleges of the company having already suffered the same fate. This act of royal treachery, which all the anti-Catholic journals of France and the Netherlands applauded with shouts of triumph, gave a new vigour to the opposition it met with from the Parliament and from all the Christian families in the nation. Laws were enacted to bar the future to any youth who should study elsewhere than in the schools salaried by the government. Ambition and all private inte- rests gave way before the necessity of saving the faith and good morals. William was obstinate, and the people at last began to murmur. At that time there raged in France such a virulent war against the Jesuits, that the Belgians believed it might be practicable to sacrifice their fellow-countrymen, the children of Loyola, to the prejudices of ministers and to the necessity of maintaining peace, and the alliance signed between the Constitutionalists and the Catholics was by no means calculated to deter the king from his attack upon the faith. They declared the Jesuits to be dangerous, while at the same time they avowed that they had no belief in the calumnies which the liberal press and the government of the Netherlands heaped upon them. This betrayal of the prin- ciple of truth brought no advantage to the opposing coalition. * Ilistoire du Boyaume des Pays Bas. Par M. de Gerlache. p. 377. HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. 109 M. dc Gcrlache himself, who had attempted a similar kind of tactics in his discourses, had speedy cause of repentance.* William had hoped that he would have given strength and stability to his government by trying to obtain for himself the same kind of popularity which the revolutionists of France had earned so cheaply. Like them, and along with them, he traded upon the name of the disciples of St. Ignatius, to whom he affected to attribute every mischief and disaster that had taken place in the kingdom. The Belgians, however, were not so credulous as the partizans of the charter of Louis XVIII. In the month of November, 1827, a writer, Note 49, then celebrated by his anti-Catholic works, M. de Potter, P- CX1V - deprived the Protestant king of this weapon of Jesuitry. " ' Those accursed Jesuits/ exclaimed the head of the con- stitutional opposition in the Netherlands,t ' what evils have they not occasioned ! For, in order to defend us against them, we have been like the horse in the fable, saddled, bridled, and mounted. It was so convenient to be able to answer a Frenchman, who, after the sojourn of fifteen days at Brussels, might say, "What! have you not here trial by jury ?" " No ; but then we have no Jesuits." " What ! no liberty of the press ?" " No ; but we have no Jesuits." " What ! no ministerial responsibility? no independent judi- cature ? an overwhelming and unpopular system of taxation, a weak, limping administration V etc., etc. All that is very true ; but there are no Jesuits." ' Now, I would fain ask * We read in vol. ii., p. 80, of the first edition of the History of the King- dom of the Netherlands, by this magistrate : " The reader must again call to mind the fact that this (this alludes to M. de Gerlache's own essay) was written in 1825 ; that for the love of peace we wished to make every possible concession to the government (which we supposed in a certain degree sincere in its apprehensions with regard to the Jesuits) in order to avert great cala- mities ; we nevertheless committed a serious mistake, of which our adversa- ries well knew how to take advantage. By yielding this principle, we weak- ened instead of strengthening our cause. f Lettre au Courrier des Pays Has. Par M. de Potter. 110 HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. our neighbours, Can we help all this? The moment we meddle with our own affairs, there is a cry, ' Beware of the Jesuits V and thus we are deprived of every common right. Tell me, gentlemen, when a man is called a Jesuit, does it follow that he must be imprisoned, judged, tortured, and condemned ? do all his actions become crimes, and his words absurdities V This was the language of sound reason. It was punished by William, but understood by the people. The fathers of the institute found themselves against their will made the lever of the opposition ; they served as a pretext to the king for refusing even the most equitable concessions, and they found themselves exiled as a society, and obliged to 50, live as isolated individuals : their name was made a war-cry ; cxx - and yet in seeking most deeply into the causes, none of the events which so rapidly followed could be traced to their instigation. The head of the company wrote to them these significant words, " For God's sake, do not interfere in politics."* Such was the counsel which came from the Gesu, * Let the reader look back to pages 82 — 85, and he will appreciate the sincerity of this advice. If it were really given as here stated, the meaning and intention of it was, For God's sake, work politically as hard as you can. Wherever they volunteer the profession of any apparent good, it is merely a cloak to cover the evil exactly opposite. Look at the facts stated in the note (p. 83), to which may be added, that in the year 1830, when the whole body of the Romish bishops addressed a pastoral to the priests and people, express- ing the utmost gratitude for the bill of 1829, and expressing their own inten- tion to retire from all political agitation, the very next year they set to work with more activity than ever ; made Dens the conference-book for the priests ; — diffused the instruction through the population of the laws of their Church against heretics — published, and thereby put in force, their canon laws, including all those which they had renounced on oath before the com- mittees of parliament and the commissioners of education — published their law for the restitution of all the forfeited estates, — for enforcing complete submission to the temporal power of the Pope, — for the establishment by law of all the ultramontane principles which they had professed on oath to deny, — for the extirpation of heretics out of their dioceses, — and for the pardon of all crimes, how atrocious soever that could be committed, by the power of papal absolution : this was the fulfilment of their pastoral, promising to HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. Ill and was so strictly obeyed,* that only two Jesuits ventured to use their electoral rights, and that on but one occasion. The general of the order and Van de Veld, Bishop of Ghent, prohibited the exercise of a right which might furnish arras to the Dutch ministry. William banished the fathers from his dominions; the Belgians were determined to recall them. Everything had long been ripening for a revolution, and it burst forth in the month of September, 1830. The revolution was made in the name of the Catholics and the Jesuits. Its cause was upheld by all those who, having taken part at Paris in the former revolution under another banner and with very different projects, yet did not fear to sing a paean for the victory won by the Belgians. As long as William of Nassau was powerful enough to drive away the Jesuits and to weaken Catholicism, he was set up by liberal inconsistency as the type and example of a tolerant, philoso- phical, and enlightened monarch. The adversaries of the Jesuits, at least, owed him some sympathy and favour in bis fall. Now, he was nothing more than a legitimate prince, who had been foiled in his attempt to proscribe the faith of his subjects. His panegyrists of 1825 changed into scoffers, and loaded him with insults. The Belgian revolution was a great and holy thing, because it sheltered itself under that of July, of which the origin and results were so diametrically opposite. Curses against the Jesuits were resounding through France at the same moment in which they were hailed in Belgium as the martyrs of religious liberty and the guardians of families. William had driven them from the Netherlands ; but scarcely had a new government been established, when retire from all political agitation, and exhorting their flocks to imitate their example. Such is the value of, "/or God's sake, do not interfere in politics." We see the fidelity with which they adhered to the advice in this history itself, and in the fact of the Belgian revolution. — Ed. * After " strictly obeyed," note 2, in Ed. 1851, p. 85, it is altered and omitted, " Only once in 1834, in the midst of patriotic enthusiasm, two fathers made use of their electoral rights at Ghent. William banished," etc., etc. 112 HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. "the fathers again resumed their labours. The blow given to the education of youth, by the suppression of the order of Jesus, had extended far and wide. The bitter fruits of this measure were reaped in the despair of many a domestic circle, and from every part of Europe independent voices were raised to recall the company. The fathers formerly known amongst them, had universally acquired the confidence of the public ; but they were gradually becoming extinct, and the Catholics never ceased to turn their imploring eyes towards the Holy See, entreating for the resuscitation of the institute. In Switzerland, the cantons attached to the union had never consented to be separated from their masters in the faith. Vacquerie, Muller, Joseph de Diesbach, and the Count Sineo della Torre, laboured to give new life to the society. The council of Soleure, deeply interested in the question, wrote thus to Father Vacquerie :* u The government of Soleure desire so ardently the re-establishment of this admirable order, that it has only waited for your concurrence to address directly the holy father, with whom a correspondence has already been decided for some time through the medium of the Apostolic Nuncio, who will second with ardent zeal the designs of our government ; and as it is certain that the Pope will without any difficulty yield to our petitions, they cannot fail to be speedily carried into effect if the beloved and reverend father-general will lend us his kind assistance." In the Yalais there was the same zeal on the part of the people, and the same disinterested devotion on the part of the Jesuits. On the 31st of July, 1810, the fathers Godinot, Drach, Rudolph and Standinger, affiliated themselves; the company, under the direction of Joseph Seneo della Forre, renouncing all earthly riches and grandeur to follow a career of humiliation and labour. They devoted themselves to the education of youth in the college of the capital town of the canton. De Valais, then annexed to the empire, formed the * After " Father Vacquerie " in Ed. 1851, p. 86, is added, u in 1805." HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. 113 department of the Simplon. Bonaparte being at war with the Note 51, sovereign Pontiff, his prefects and his universities declared P- (JVXU open hostilities against the Jesuits. The state did not recog- nize them under that character; but except in official acts no one ventured to ignore it. They asked neither assistance nor payment from the administration. Two years rolled on in a state of abandonment, which was rather a benefit than an affliction to these children of Loyola. They had taken the vow of poverty; the indigence to which they were reduced had no terrors for them; however, the grand-master of the imperial university was shocked at the picture drawn by Nom- pere de Champagny, the rector of the Academy of Lyons, of the grievous destitution and exemplary virtue of the Jesuits; and he addressed the following letter to the prefect : — " The painful position of the principals and tutors of the colleges in the department of the Simplon has awakened my most lively interest ; the delay which they have experienced in the payment of their salaries can only be temporary. I will endeavour by every means in my power to remedy this grievance; the subject will occupy the council of the univer- sity during one of its earliest sittings, and as soon as His Majesty shall have decided upon the propositions which will be laid before him, I will hasten to the execution of his deci- sion. I entreat of you, M. le Prefect, to encourage in every way, by your help and approbation, these learned men, to whom the instruction of the colleges of the Valais has been confided. The proofs of devotion which they have exhibited under these difficult circumstances shall not be forgotten ; it is a temporary sacrifice which it will be my happiness to re- compense hereafter." This letter from Fontanes was a great encouragement to the Jesuits; on the 2nd of December, 1812, Champagny wrote in these terms to Father Sineo; — <( Monsieur le Principal j I know your zeal, your devotion, and the pious disinterestedness with which you have hitherto i 114 HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. fulfilled your functions, and you are about again to resume the career of eminent usefulness in which you are engaged. Your labours will not be thrown away. The university has already heard of your worth, and will not confine itself within the limits of mere barren admiration. But what more precious recompense can be offered to you than that which you find in your own heart ! When, as in your case, the heart is fixed on the things of eternity, all that this world contains appears of little value; you will give in the university, an example which will confer upon it lasting honour, and which will be cited with pride by all its present and future members. As for myself, M. le Principal, having the advantage of being per- sonally acquainted with you, I shall, perhaps, be less surprised than strangers by your merits, but more particularly devoted to your interests, which you yourself only are so nobly used to sacrifice." Such were the earliest connections between the university of France and the company of Jesus. The university, having Fontanes at its head, protected against official vexations, these few pious monks who were not to be terrified by poverty any more than by persecution. Fontanes and Champagny honoured them with their esteem ; but the Count de Rambuteau, the prefect of the Simplon, was anxious to expel them. But events proved stronger than even the will of the Emperor. In 1814 the little college of Sion became the cradle of the province of High Germany. The companions of Father Sineo, who had been proved by long sufferings, devoted themselves to the Valais, and the Valais were deeply grateful to them. Baron de Stockalper, one of the highest magistrates of the canton, proposed to restore to the Jesuits their old college at Brig, which had been converted into a fortress by the French ; the proposition was enthusiastically received ; the enthusiasm spread largely among the Catholics. Peter Tobias Yenni, bishop of Lausanne, turned his thoughts towards the com- pany j he was about to introduce it into Fribourg, when he HISTORY OP THE COMPANY OF JEMS. 115 received a letter from Goeldlin de Tieffenau, vicar apostolic, which confirmed his intentions. Tieffenau' s mandate ran : — " I am entirely convinced, and my opinion is founded upon experience, that there cannot be a more efficacious remedy propounded for the prevailing evils of this age than the recall of the company of Jesus into our cantons, now newly esta- blished by our holy father Pius VII."* This society will once more supply defenders of the ecclesiastical power, and instructors for Christian youth. It would regulate learning, and cause piety and continence to flourish amongst the clergy, and will form a rampart between the people and the corrup- tions of the age. As to myself, I desire most ardently to have the Jesuits brought into the diocese confided to my care ; and I wish you with my heart to secure the same blessing for yours." Canisius had evangelized Switzerland : his tomb at Fribourg was the object of general veneration, and it was on the strength of this remembrance that the Catholics appealed to the Jesuits ; the Helvetic prelate claimed them as indis- pensable coadjutors. Baron D'Aregger, the chief magistrate of Soleure, fol- lowed up the suggestions of the clergy, and formed a scheme of inviting the company into that town. In the month of June, 1816, the grand council met, and they decreed that the company was for ever excluded from entering the canton. This check, which was the result of certain personal preju- dices, and local rivalries, and of the terrors so skilfully kept alive in the minds of the people by the adversaries of the institute, did not serve to quench the zeal of Fribourg. Father * This is all very true ; the Jesuits are the right arm of the Papal power ; their greatest object, as appears in all this history, is to gain the education of the youth. They are so thoroughly trained to subjugate, or powerfully influence the plastic mind of youth, that they depend with confidence on their success, when they can command education ; and it is no wonder that such masters are highly prized by parents who wish their children to be educated in Popery, and that such able defenders are courted and valued by bishops of Rome who feel their power or their Church in danger. — Ed. i 2 116 HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. Corneille Van Everbroeck offered the exiles from Belgium an asylum at Hildesheim ; others devoted themselves to preaching or teaching. This activity on their part, the effects of which were soon made manifest, became a perpetual subject of dis- Note 52, quiet to the heretics and radicals. They dreaded the ascen- p. cxxii. dancy which the fathers knew so well how to acquire over the common people. They knew well that such influence must eventually defeat those designs which they now hardly sought to conceal. The Federal decree of 1815 was irksome to them : they endeavoured to foment discontent by irritating the peo- ple, in order that hereafter they might establish in Helvetia the reign, of what they called liberty ; a liberty of which they were to be the sole apostles and judges, and of which they alone would enjoy the benefits. In order the better to disguise their schemes, they pursued a course which has since been followed by the most skilful enemies of the institute. The ancient society of Jesus had fallen amid the plaudits of those who were the declared enemies of Catholicism ; each had contributed his efforts to promote its destruction. It no longer existed. The Swiss radicals now took occasion to regret it : they loaded it with praise and benediction : it alone had had the gift of rendering the art of teaching agreable : it alone was the mother of martyrs, apostles, orators, poets and sages. They crowned their victim with flowers, when they thought it was impossible that it should rise from under the stroke of their axe. Then, by a transition of which some writers availed themselves more or less happily, the Swiss radicals declared that the new order of Jesus had nothing in common with the old one: that modern Jesuits were but degenerate children of St. Ignatius : that they did not possess the secret of the constitution : that they were ignorant of the method of teaching, and that they denied the principles which had raised the early Jesuits to so high a reputation. Thus they were condemned as either impotent or mischievous. De Rivaz, high bailiff (grand baillij of the Valaisian republic, HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. 117 brought all these mingled charges against them, on the 4th of May, 1818. He spoke in the name of the state, and his declaration had the force of law. About the same time Balthasor de Miiller proposed to the grand council of Fribourg to recall the fathers into that can- ton; sixty-nine votes against forty-two carried the propo- sition, which the magistrate, Techtermann, undertook to carry into effect. We have seen in Italy and in Germany how nobly the Jesuits abandoned the dignities with which they had been invested in order to die in the bosom of their resuscitated society. Antoine Hausherr, Joseph de Schaller and Laurent Doller, three veterans belonging to the company, hastened to imitate this example of filial devotion. In 1821 Louis Foites reunited Switzerland ; and the missions in Holland, Belgium and Saxony as a vice-province, of which Father Godinot was created the head. While the Catholic cantons were making an alliance with the Jesuits, and while Father Jean de Roothaan was travelling through the Valais, spreading all around the fruits of salva- tion, a storm was gathering at Fribourg over the head of the disciples of Loyola. For more than twenty years the primary instruction of the young had been in the hands of the Cordeliers ; at the head of this school was Father Gregory Girard. A new method of teaching had been introduced under his auspices; the Lancasterian system of mutual teaching and the plans of Pestalozzi combined and modified with skilful ingenuity. Father Girard's system was quite new, and like all other novelties, it was subjected to the ordeal of discussion : it had its partizans and its opponents. The Jesuits had not yet penetrated into Fribourg ; and already the bishop of Lausanne, a very competent judge in matters of education, had pro- nounced against the adopted system. He had even asked the grand council to interdict its use. When the college was 118 HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. placed in the hands of the institute in conformity with the directions of the bishop, the fathers did not adopt the prin- ciples of Girard; and this fact was seized npon as a pretext to accuse them of having imposed upon the bishop the con- demnation of the Cordelier. His friends were aroused at this, and all parties were warmly excited ; at that period anything or everything served as an occasion of tumult. During the nights of the 9th and 10th of March, 1823, the college was beset riotously. Father Girard had never any other aim than to be useful to the children in his own sphere of duty ; but his name now served as a rallying cry against the Jesuits; they threatened them with death, and insulted them for their silence. This outbreak was only the first essay of the radical forces, and it was soon quelled by the indifference of the public. Father Girard had, without desiring it, auxiliaries who compromised his cause. On the 26th of May, the Bishop of Lausanne published the reasons for his interdiction, and thereby justified the Jesuits. "The haste with which the liberal and anti-Catholic newspapers of Switzerland have defended this system ; and their declamations against the reverend Jesuit fathers, who were absolutely strangers to the determination which we have made, must suffice to open the eyes of all faithful people." The grand council participated in the opinion of the prelate, and the system of Father Girard was suppressed. Twenty years later the French Academy, by its organ, M. Villemain, solemnly crowned with its approbation the work of M. Cordelier. But in this homage rendered to a Franciscan monk, by those who ordained a last posthumous triumph to Voltaire, there was, perhaps, more of sarcastic malevolence towards the Jesuits, than of justice in favour of their pre- tended rival. This insurrection, which ignorance organized to insure the promotion of learning, found no response : the Jesuits were even less affected by it than the magistrates, for at that time HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. 11!) an idea, productive of great results, was germinating in their minds. William of Nassau drove beyond the frontiers of his kingdom the fathers who spread instruction in Belgium and in Holland; the canton of Fribourg prepared to receive these outcasts of Lutheran fanaticism. In 1824 Tobie de Gottrau, Charles de Gottrau, Philippe d'Odit, Nicholas de Buman, Hubert de Boccard, Pierre de Gendre, and Theodore de Dies- bach conceived the idea of founding a school at Fribourg. It met with universal approbation ■ the edifice was begun ; it was finished, and became in the hands of the Jesuits one of the most beautiful establishments in Europe. " There were erected at the same period," wrote the celebrated Baron de Haller, " a school at Fribourg, and a house of correction at Geneva. These are two remarkable edifices j but the people of Fribourg shewed the greater wisdom. They founded an establishment to prevent crime : the people of Geneva built one to punish it when it had been already committed."* * Had Baron de Haller been really informed as to history and fact in this instance, he would never have instituted such a contrast between these edifices : he might more truly have stated that one establishment was erected to promote crime, and the other to punish it. The practical comment on the history of the Jesuits by the Eev. E. Grinfield gives a more just view of the case. He says at the close of his seventh chapter : " We cannot conclude this chapter without again remarking the uniform miseries and disasters which the Jesuits have entailed on every country which has encouraged their missions. Such a general result must be the effect of an instrumental cause. There must be some radical evil in a system which thus raises up against itself its own pupils, and which so frequently compels even Popish govern- ments to demand its exile. " When we behold France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Naples, Sicily, above all, Ireland, torn with civil and religious quarrels and dissensions ; and when we know that the Jesuits have been more especially active and busy in these various countries, we are led by irresistible logic to identify them with the miseries and misfortunes of nations. Go where they may they are the harbingers of evil. They destroy the conscience by their confessions ; they sap morality by their casuistry ; they reduce religion to empty form and ceremony : where it is practicable, they keep the people in ignorance ; where it is not practicable, they educate them in error. In 120 HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. The small number of Jesuits which Switzerland could command rendered the labour of teaching and apostleship painfully laborious, and even sometimes mortal; the fathers had in fact not only to watch over the education of the young, but at the same time to fulfil all other sacerdotal functions ; to be at once tutors, directors of conscience, and catechists. The stipend allowed by government to the professors em- ployed in the colleges never exceeded six hundred francs, and it was on this very moderate allowance that they had to live and carry everywhere the good news of the Gospel. They were in the Valais, as well as at Fribourg, teachers and mis- sionaries, but their zeal was not circumscribed to these two cantons. At Schwytz, at Zug, at Uri, at Unterwald, at Lucerne, at Geneva, at Soleure, at Neufchatel, and at Berne, there were Catholics who invoked their aid, priests who felt the need of being fortified in virtue, neglected villages which claimed with eagerness the consolations and succour of the Church. It was the Jesuits to whom all these petitions were preferred, and who responded to these earnest entreaties : they placed themselves everywhere and always under the direction of the bishops or of the vicars apostolic ; they appeared to multiply themselves in order to propagate charity in all hearts, and to conquer the spirit of doubt or of indifference ; they went about labouring incessantly. politics they can take part with any faction, but generally they favour despotism. England they hate because they cannot master her institutions. She bids them defiance by her laws, and sustains her liberties by her religion. Long may she uphold her banner against the common enemy of nations ! long may she continue the advocate and protector of civil and religious free- dom ! esto perpetual"— The Jesuits, by Rev. E. Grinfield. Ed. 1853, p. 304. Such is Mr. Grinfield's statement of the Jesuits — a statement borne out by the history of every nation in Europe. Would that his statement of Eng- land were equally true ; but before it is verified, her Government must cease to train Jesuit priests in Jesuit books -in Maynooth, to direct the consciences of an unhappy people : and to educate the people of Ireland without the Scrip- tures, thus making them the slaves and victims of the masters she has given them. — Ed. HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. 121 At Dusseldorf they inhabited a portion of their own col- lege, and they re-awakened in that town the sentiments of faith and piety, and they opposed there with great success a new sect called the Momiers, of whom Count de Beck had declared himself the champion. At Hildesheim, the fathers Lusken, Van Everbroeck and Megan ck, with thirteen other Jesuits, were occupied in the same labours. At Brunswick, the Protestant magistrates would not consent to be separated from the Jesuit whom the bishop of Hildesheim had sent there as the messenger of peace. At Dresden, where Father N t e 53, Gracchi possessed the confidence of the royal family, and p. exxii. where he directed at the same time the conscience of the monarch,* the hospital of the town, and all the Catholic chil- dren, an insurrection burst forth in 1830. It was against the Jesuits alone that it was directed j they besieged the house in which some of the secular ecclesiastics resided ; Gracchi was in the midst of them, and hearing the threats and the imprecations of the mob, he presented himself before them : " You call for the Jesuits," he cried, " I am the only one of the order in this house, and here I am. Gracchi was known, and was especially beloved for his charity; the multitude bowed before him, and the tumult immediately subsided. A few years before this the whole of Protestant Germany had been agitated by the abjuration of Frederick Ferdinand, Duke of Anhalt-Koethen. During a visit which this prince made to Paris, in 1825, with his wife the Duchess Julia, and sister of the King of Prussia, he frequently saw the Father Bensin. This Jesuit pleased him by the amenity of his man- ners and the charms of his conversation, and he held several discussions with him : he proposed his doubts and his objec- tions to the doctrine of Catholic truth ; and Bensin resolved them all. On the 25th of October the Duke, the Duchess, and their brother the Duke of Ingenheim abjured Luther- * Pray can the reader guess who rules the state when the Jesuit directs the conscience of the monarch ? — Ed. 122 HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. anism, and embraced the Roman faith. Hardly had he come home to his principality until Ferdinand of Anhalt announced to his subjects his return to unity. This news excited violent irritation among the Lutherans : the king of Prussia was in- dignant ; he declared that neither authority or tradition should be the rule of faith, but only private judgment ; and he could not find any anathemas sufficiently strong to condemn his sister and his brother-in-law for listening to the voice of their convictions. One Jesuit had gained this victory over Protestantism; another Jesuit consolidated it. At the request of the Duke, and by the command of the Pope, Father Beckx hastened to Koethen. Hitherto the Catholics there had languished under oppression ; Beckx revived their courage, while at the same time he made it a duty to respect the various forms of worship established there. He laboured ; he preached ; he evangelized almost without any hope of success, for Ferdinand of Anhalt had no children, and at his death his states were to devolve upon a heretic sovereign. Beckx knew all these obstacles, but he did not therefore relax in his labours. In 1830 the death of the duke put an end to his mission, and the Father followed the Duchess of Anhalt who presented to Europe a model of every virtue. But during the few years of his mission the Jesuit had sown skilfully the seeds of toleration. His preaching had greatly increased the number of the Catholics ; and in order to leave some recollection of his passage among them he had laid the foundation of a Church. Prince Henry of Anhalt, the brother and successor of Ferdinand, was attached to the Lutheran faith, but nevertheless he accepted the legacy of the Jesuit; the church was finished by his care, and in 1833, on the day when the vicar of the diocese of Osnabruck came to consecrate it, the new Duke desired to assist at the solemnity with his family and the chief of the Protestants.* 54 * Added in Ed. 1851, p. 93, after " chiefs of the Protestants :"— " At • this period the revolutionary press thought that everything was permissible HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. 123 The new elements which now constitute European society, N , no longer permit the children of St. Ignatius to take an active p, c against the children of St. Ignatius. In France they were attacked with daily sarcasm and by parliamentary phraseology. In Germany, where hatred is a more serious thing, they attempted to destroy the company of Jesus by imputing to them attempts on the life of various persons. The name of Fa- ther Beckx resounded everywhere : he was concerned in an act which wounded the susceptibility of the Lutherans most deeply. In Saxony and in the Duchy of Brunswick the agitation was most prevalent. The tempest which had burst over France in July, 1830, had caused the revolutionary leaven to ferment elsewhere. The Protestants made use of this state of exaspera- tion to destroy Beckx. A newspaper, which owed its celebrity to its anti- Catholic fanaticism, appeared at Leipsic under the name of the Sentinelle Canonique fder Connishe WachterJ. Towards the end of the year 1830 Hurle- busch, president of the Consistory of the Duchy of Brunswick, signed and published in this paper a declaration, in which Father Beckx at Koethen, and Father Luskin at Hildeshiem, a Jesuit of eighty years old, had endeavoured to convert a Protestant of Wolfenbuttel. They declared that they had even dared to place a poignard in the hand of an assassin to murder a preacher in Brunswick. Such a fact brought into a polemical discussion at such a time was well calculated to obtain credit from many who were only too ready to accept and propagate the falsehood, and the attempt of Father Beckx became the subject of general conversation and of universal terror. The calumny of Hurlebusch had great effect. He endeavoured to exercise its notoriety ; he therefore published a pamphlet, giving all the particulars of the crime and the provocation, which were related with the utmost details, which could not leave a doubt of their truth. Tempe, a neophyte of the Jesuits, was trans- formed into ' the old man of the mountain.' He acknowledged that Father Beckx had instructed him that to kill heretics was a meritorious work before God. The pastor of Brunswick was the first victim devoted to his dagger. This pamphlet, which caused civilization to retrograde by two or three hun- dred years, was largely circulated throughout Germany. It became the study of the children in the Protestant schools : it was posted upon the very doors of these same schools ; it was distributed in the towns, and hawked about the country. Father Beckx wrote a contradiction of it to the Protestant paper ; but, as is too often the case, the liberty of the press became a mono- poly in the service of a few : the contradiction only served to exasperate the discussion, and to revive the imposture. Father Beckx had denied the truth of the whole story; the journalist demonstrated that this weak and timid assertion was another proof of the truth of Hurlebusch's tale. Nothing remained for the Jesuit but to bring it before the tribunals of Wolfenbuttel. The magistrates were all Protestants, but the Jesuit had full faith in their 124 HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. part in the negociations of the world or of ecclesiastical offices ; the Holy See can no longer invest them with the character of legates or nuncios extraordinary, and send them all over the world as Pasquier, Brouet, Francois de Borgia, Canisius, Pos- sevia and Tolet, to discuss and regulate concerning the in- terests of Catholicity, sometimes with kings and sometimes with nations; the natural course of events has replaced the society of Jesus in the position which its founder had assigned to it and beyond which it never steps, except in self-defence. It has become more purely religious than ever in an age during which political agitation is rampant, and in which every in- dividual considers it his privilege to cite before his own private tribunal the acts of kings, and the tendencies of governments ; in the presence of such a state of confusion of opinions and powers, the Jesuits have wisely considered that there only justice, and, above all, in his own innocence. Beckx placed his honour as a Catholic priest under the protection of the law : the law was Lutheran, and tried to maintain silence. However, it was necessary to pronounce judgment on an attempt which had long been exposed. Hurlebusch was condemned as a calumniator. He had recourse to the Court of Appeal. The magistrates found themselves obliged to confirm the sentence, which had been inserted in the Official Gazette of Brunswick, No. 107 ; 1833. The president of the Protestant Consistory was condemned to ask pardon, and in writing, of the two children of St. Ignatius. To try and gain time, and to avoid the humi- liation of such an avowal, Hurlebusch undertook a journey among the Harz mountains : he died there struck with apoplexy. Tempe, his accomplice, whom the Lutherans had at first protected, was exposed to all the vicissitudes attached to an exposed crime. He wandered from Wolfenbuttel to Dusseldorf, from Dusseldorf to Cologne. It was in that city that, stung by remorse, he retracted before the tribunal all the imputations he had cast upon the Fathers Lusken and Beckx.* His retractation is now in our hands, as well as all the documents relative to this affair, which occupied all Germany during three years. It proves to conviction the malice of some and the credulity of others, and how easy it is to excite both when a Jesuit is in question." * Observe, in Ed. 1851, it is Father Beckx, the same as the present general of the Jesuits ; in Ed. 1846 the name is spelt Beck. Is the hero of this story the general himself? HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. 125 remained one part for them to perform.* In order to attain the object of their institute, it was essential to abstain from all participation in public events; to receive, without any ex- pression of joy or regret, any re-action, be it what it may ; and to pursue in silence, but continually and in every place, the path towards the end which was proposed to them.f Their action would now only be appropriately manifested in colleges and in the evangelizing pulpits. Their only mission was to soothe the tumults of the soul, to strengthen sentiments of piety, and to conduct the young to happiness and peace by a Christian education. They will never depart from the plan left to them by the great legislator of their company. This plan may expose them to suspicions, to accusations, and to insults; they resign themselves to endure. " The generals and the principal members of the society," it is thus that Protestant writers in the Oxford and Cambridge Review express themselves, J "have always been, and still are, men of strong character; prudent, but possessing more re- solution than is to be found among men of the world. They are men of cool, clear, and lucid intellect, but of enthusiastic hearts, which have never been taxed with insensibility. Men who can be relied upon in all affairs, which they conduct with an enlargement of wisdom far different from the petty cun- ning which sometimes passes for skilful policy. Under the direction of these admirable guides, and engaged in an un- ceasing warfare in the cause of virtue, purity, civil and re- ligious order, this vast army of Jesuits marches on, great, not so much from its numbers as from its deeds, and com- posed of eloquent preachers, of missionaries the urbanity of * There are certain historians who ought proverbially to have good memories — the statements in pp. 90 to 96 prove that there is no truth in this one. — Ed. f What an admirable picture of their constant system of deceit ! — Ed. \ In Ed. 1851, p. 96, the note after " Cambridge Review " is altered to : " The Oxford and Cambridge Review of 1845. Among the contributors to this review we find Lord John Manners and Mr. Smythe, both members of Parliament." 126 HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. whose mariners is never diminished by the rudest labours ; literary men of the most accomplished taste and lively imagi- nations ; learned men with a passion for study without carry- ing it to a monomania ; men living in the world, but never worldly/'* these are the colours in which the Anglicans depict Note 56, the old and the new Jesuits. The Anglicans are beginning p. cxxxii. to blush for the credulity and injustice of their forefathers. In Switzerland the progress of ideas had not in 1831 sanc- tioned such equity. The Jesuits remained strangers to the commotions which agitated Europe. Their name had been made use of as a standard for revolutionary hopes when it was believed their triumph was assured, and yet it was the Jesuits who were reproached subsequently as having retarded their success. The college of Fribourg prospered; it became a source of riches to the country, and a guarantee of security to families. France, Belgium, and Italy, after 1830, found themselves in a condition bordering on anarchy, the canton of Fribourg reduced itself to an almost similar state, by placing certain radicals in power, who only proclaimed liberty in order to obtain arbitrary dominion. f The company of * Oxford and Cambridge Review, 1845. It is tolerably certain that none but a Jesuit would have the effrontery to write such an eulogium on Jesuits, and that is the way in which they proceed. They insinuate themselves, perhaps as zealous Protestants, into positions where they can wield the press ; beyond all doubt they are largely employed in the newspapers, the reviews, and other popular productions of the present day, and there they put forth such sentiments as are written here ; and whatever they can in- sinuate, affirm, or proclaim to the advance of the cause of Jesuitism it is all in their favourite profession, " Ad majorem Dei gloriam." — Ed. f This is a ruse familiar to the Jesuits. It is thus the Romish party in England and Ireland always made common cause with radicals in claiming what they call civil and religious liberty ; that is, liberty to gain power to make others slaves. Every accession of political power that Popery has ob- tained has only been used to exercise a more stringent authority over the laity ; and the language of their new class-book of dogmatic theology in Maynooth is this, " Tolerantia religiosa est impia et absurda." Cardinal Wise- man's appeal to the liberality of England on the papal aggression was really an official proclamation of the canon law of Rome in this country. — Ed. HISTORY OF THE COMPANY 07 JESUS. 127 Jesus was threatened with utter destruction, but the contact with, and the responsibility of, command, cooled down by degrees this radical effervescence. It was the opposition of 1818 which triumphed; but it could not dare to alienate the people and the clergy by enforcing its doctrines. The magis- trates and the great council of Fribourg made common cause with the active democracy, but the new government was com- pelled to sacrifice its hostility to the welfare of the masses, radicalism made its peace with the Jesuits, and since that day nothing has arisen to disturb the harmony of this canton. It was not, however, without a struggle that this union was effected. Youths were called upon to attend the deliber- ations of the council that they might be initiated into public life. The day-scholars of the Jesuits enjoyed this right. One of them was heard to utter a murmur of disapprobation at the address of a certain deputy, and an order was issued to the fathers interdicting their disciples to enter the tribune. The fathers obeyed the order : the scholars, encouraged by the support which they received from the masses, spoke of revolting against the resolution. There was but one means of calming their youthful ardour : the Jesuits intervened, and peace was re-established. A w ar of the pen succeeded this insurrection. The Society of Jesus was made the object of attack, of which the grand council did not perhaps foresee the issue. The students once more rushed into the arena.* Note 57, p. exxxii * In Ed. 1851, p. 98, there is a note after, " into the arena." " A former pupil of the College of Fribourg declared himself why it is not known as the enemy of the Jesuits. He published a journal under the title of The Friend of Progress (DAmi du ProgresJ. In it he attacked the fathers in a series of articles. The day scholars in the higher class answered by a series of letters, which they had printed. Their discussion destroyed the journal. One of the complaints which UAmi du Progres brought against the Jesuits was the use they made of the revenues of the college. M. Esseiva, a secular priest, an inhabitant of Fribourg, and an administrator of the property belonging to the college, refuted these charges most triumphantly, and he demonstrated by figures that every Jesuit belonging to the college had only three hundred francs for his maintenance." 128 HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. Free from their colleges, or already become the fathers of families themselves, they were the best judges of the question ; they cut it short by combating in the public papers all the imputations brought against the institute. The Government in the Valais, considering the paucity of the Jesuits, and acknowledging that all their travels were undertaken in the services of the public, ordered that, dating from the year 1814, all the public conveyances of the State should carry them gratuitously. At the same period the magistrates of Schwytz introduced them into their vallies. Father Drach, rector of the college of Fribourg, the provincial Ignatius Brocard, vainly endeavoured to defer carrying out this project. The wishes of Philippe de Angelis, the papal-nuncio, the prayers of the population, and the voice of the sovereign Pontiff, triumphed over their resist- ance; the Jesuits penetrated for the first time into that coun- try, celebrated for its love of liberty and independence, and formed the bulwark which Catholicism extended from western to eastern Switzerland. And to demonstrate that their taking possession of it had a moral and literary aim, they transformed their noviciate at Estavayer into a college ; and in 1842, in order to accommodate themselves to the desires of the country, Gregory XVI. addressed a brief to the bishop of Caire in the following terms : " Having heard a few years ago that at Schwytz, in your diocese, the principal inhabitants desired to build a college for the training of youth in piety and letters by the fathers of the company of Jesus, we have approved, as most suitable, of their pious designs, and we have seconded it with much plea- sure. We congratulate this illustrious canton and your bro- therhood, and we congratulate ourselves that so soon after the monks of the aforesaid company had been recalled by the unanimous voice of the people and the clergy, and that they had there opened their schools for the benefit of the young, and that gradually, by means of the alms of the faithful and the HISTORY OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS. 12 ( J munificence of some foreign princes, they had been enabled to build a house sufficiently large to serve as a college. And that from the happy success which had attended these infant seminaries, the highest presages might be formed as to the services which, by God's help, this college would render to the Catholic religion and to the Republic." SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. Note 1, page 1. "The day of restoration had arrived, and the kings of the house of Bourbon, following the example of the sovereign Pontiff Pius VII., endeavoured to repair the great iniquity against which Catherine of Russia and Frederick II. of Prussia had so ener- getically protested." — Cret., chap, i., p. 1. The truth on this subject is, that neither " the kings of the house of Bourbon" nor " the sovereign Pontiff, Pius VII.," at any time signified their belief that any "great iniquity" had been perpetrated against the Company ; nor yet did Catherine of Russia, or Frederick II. of Prussia, protest against the bull which suppressed that order. It is a certain and to some an inexplicable fact, that when, by the universal demand of all Christian states, the Pope Clement XIV. annihilated by the bull " Dominies ac Bedemptor" the Society which had been the agent of so much unmitigated evil in Europe, those two sovereigns afforded it their protection within the pale of their own dominions. For the motives which prompted them to this anomalous conduct, we will refer our readers to the pages of Nicolini, who in the eighteenth chapter of his admirable history sufficiently accounts for this proceeding. The probable motives attributed to Frederick by Nicolini are founded on a quotation from Frederick's own letter to d'Alembert in reply to a remonstrance from him addressed to that monarch : "I did not offer," said he, "my protection to the Jesuits while they were powerful, but in their adversity ; I consider them as learned men whom it would be extremely difficult to replace to educate youth. This most important object renders them most valuable in my eyes, for among all the Catholic clergy in my kingdom the Jesuits alone are given to letters :" and this was true a ii SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. as regarded the newly acquired province of Silesia. The other all-powerful and efficient reason is, that Frederick wished through the agency of the Jesuits to gain the goodwill of those Poles whom he had so shamefully betrayed. We have seen what immense influence the Jesuits possessed over the Poles. It is known what authority they exercised everywhere over ignorant and bigoted papists. Frederick knew this, and was very well aware that the Jesuits who had no other asylum but his estates would, without being asked, of their own free will do their utmost to persuade the unfortunate Poles, who had been despoiled of their nationality, and who had been set up in lots as the booty of a conquered town, to endure patiently the yoke of a new master for their own personal interest and the greater glory of God. This was the all-powerful motive which induced Frederick to stand forth as the protector of a brotherhood for which he could not have any sort of esteem, but which he in no way feared." — Nicolini, History of the Jesuits, p. 429. Edinburgh : 1853. With regard to the reasons which impelled Catherine of Russia to afford her protection and support to the outlawed fraternity, we may venture to offer the same explanation. We are informed by Grrinfield on the subject : " In Catherine II. of Russia they found another protector. Possessed of superior talents, she did not even pretend to the virtues. The murderer of her husband, she lived in notorious profligacy with her nobles. She favoured the Jesuits, and retained them in the White Russian provinces bordering on Poland. They were active pioneers in her designs on that ill-fated kingdom. The Society, as we have shewn (part i., chap, viii.), had been long powerful and active in Poland. In 1772, when the first partition of that unfortunate country took place, the fathers were stationed at Polotzk — a magnificent college surrounded with large estates, containing about 10,000 peasants or serfs ; some were on the left, others on the right of the Dwina. They exercised a great influence over the whole country in bringing it under Russian bondage; but when the brief of Ganganelli was issued for their suppression, they did not hesitate to throw themselves into the arms of the Greek Church (St. Priest, chap. vii.). Quitting the left bank of the Dwina, which was still Polish, they became the subjects of Russia; they swore allegiance to Catherine. Retaining their state, their habit, and their name, they bade defiance to the Pope, SUPPLEM ENTAL COM M ENTA RY. ill and obstructed the publication of his brief. After a while they thought it more expedient to set up a mock primate or patriarch, one who had been a Calvinist and married, who then became a priest, but of very dubious orthodoxy. To him they joined as coadjutor an ex-Jesuit, who, on the recommendation of Catherine, set out for Rome and demanded " the pallium " for " the arch- bishop of Mohilow." Pius VI., in his heart befriending the Jesuits, after some hesitation granted their request. A nuncio was soon after dispatched to St. Petersburg. Prince Potemkin, the favourite of Catherine, was their patron. These facts are not without application to Cardinal Wiseman and the titular bishops now in England — "Dolus an virtus quis in hoste requirat?" — The Jesuits, an historical sketch, by E. Grinfield, pp. 267, 268. London: 1853. But in addition to the reasons already given, we may add that Catherine being a member of the Greek Church was really ignorant of the system of the Jesuits; she considered them as the same with other Roman Catholics, and her Roman Catholic subjects were as peaceable and well conducted as other denomina- tions within her realm ; she knew not that the system of the Jesuits was that of a mere political organization, in w r hich religion was but a means to an end ; she knew not, as the Roman Catholic monarchs and states who had called for their suppression knew, the doctrinal principles of a system which makes religion the instigator of falsehood, treachery, and crime, and which aims not at the conversion but the subjugation of mankind. It is to this ignorance on the part of Protestants, as well as to that of the Greek Church, that we are indebted for the reception and entertainment of Jesuits in these realms. And Cretineau in a subsequent portion of this volume somewhat naively acknow- ledges this fact; he says, "Thus the heretics of Great Britain, like those of Germany and Prance, shew themselves more tolerant in respect to Catholicism, their natural adversary, than men born in the bosom of the Church of Rome, who aspire to chill her to death by their sceptical indiiference, or to strangle her by con- stitutions of which they establish themselves the sole interpreters and the only regulators." And again, " By a strange reversal of all received opinions, it was in countries separated from the Catholic faith the Jesuits prospered and increased. We have seen them in Russia and in Great Britain preserve the elements of a 2 iv SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. reconstitution, and connect the future with the past Pro- testants understood that it was not their province to pursue their conquered enemies, they left that care to Catholic courts," etc. — Cretineau, pp. 90 — 97. We have ventured to emphasize by italics the expressions which manifest the gratitude by which this generosity is rewarded. Nor is Cretineau more just or true in asserting that " Pius VII. endeavoured to repair the great iniquity " committed against the Jesuits by their suppression. The best evidence of this is to be found in the bull for their restitution by that pontiff. Nicolini says, "He (Pius VII.) speaks of it (the bull for their suppression) as a legal and perfectly authoritative act, by which the Company had ceased to exist ; and when he is obliged in some sort to annul it, he does not annul it except in that part which is contrary to his own bull, namely, that which affects the existence of the Society. In the whole bull there is not a word, not a syllable, to contradict or weaken the long list of terrible accusations brought against them by Clement. If it were an injustice done to the Jesuits which Pius wished to repair, he ought at least to have mentioned that they had been wronged, and that it was the duty of the supreme chief of the Church to reinstate them in the good estimation of Europe. But the bull is silent as to any such wrongs, and is very chary of its commenda- tions of the sons of Ignatius." — Mcolini, p. 440. So that, in fact, so far is the statement of Cretineau from being true, that Pius endeavoured to repair the cruel iniquity, that the silence of the bull of their restoration as to any injustice in the bull of their suppression, is rather a corroboration of its truth than a confession of its iniquity. Note 2, page 2. " Alexander possessed sufficient rectitude not to allow his reasons for exiling them to be misunderstood. He made no mystery about it ; he did not try to propagate against them those falsehoods which their enemies at all times received with eagerness ; their exile was caused by nothing that could dishonour their con- sciences, or be considered to do so in the eyes of mankind." The extract given by Cretineau himself from the ukase of Alexander in page 21, sufficiently explains the reasons of the SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. V Emperor for the expulsion of the society. And it is only neces- sary to quote a passage from the ukase to shew that it disproves this statement. It says : — "To induce men to abjure their faith — the faith of their fore- fathers — to extinguish in their hearts all love of those who profess the same faith — to render them strangers in their own country — to sow dissension and anger in the bosom of families — to detach the father from his son and the mother from her daughter — to occasion division among the children of the same church — is this the voice of God ? the will of His divine Son Jesus Christ, who shed His blood for us — the purest of all blood — that we might lea.d a life of peace and joy in all purity and holiness ? After such conduct we can no longer feel surprise that this religious order should have been banished out of every country, and be nowhere tolerated! What would that state be who allowed to nestle in its bosom those who spread within it hatred and discord." — Cretineau, p. 21. We may concede with justice to Cretineau, that this might not dishouour nor even wound the consciences of Jesuits, but we must hesitate on pronouncing that it is calculated to secure for them the approbation of mankind. But there is another ukase, which Cretineau has not quoted, but which w r ill more fully manifest the real opinion Alexander entertained of the Jesuits, and the candour of the historian who has omitted to quote it. It is dated March 13, 1820, and these are its words : — " They plant a stern intolerance in the minds of their votaries — striving to subvert that attachment to the faith of our fore- fathers which is the best public safeguard. They destroy social happiness by dividing families. Their efforts are directed soldi/ to their own interests and promotion, and their statutes fur- nish their consciences with a justification of every refractory and illegal action.'''' To ratify the ukase of the Emperor Alexander, we may refer to four volumes 12mo, containing "Extracts of Dangerous and Per- nicious assertions of every kind which the Jesuits have at all times and perseveringly maintained, taught, and published, in their works, with the approbation of their Superiors and Generals. Verified and compared by Commissioners appointed under a decree of the Parlia- ment of Paris. Paris : Simon, printer to the Parliament, 1762." vi SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. These volumes contain extracts from all their highest autho- rities, some of them standard authors in Maynooth, and quoted by their professors in the last commission, such as Suarez, De Lugo, Eellarmine, A Lapide, Becanus : these contain their opinions on idolatry, probabilism, treason, regicide, homicide, perjury, false- hood, impurity, and all sorts of crimes, and may be properly said to instigate, under certain circumstances, to their commission. It is not likely that many, if any, readers will be able to peruse these volumes ; but there is a small volume entitled Principles of the Jesuits, by the Rev. Challis Paroissien, rector of Hardingham, fellow of Clare College, Cambridge. London : Bivingtons, 1860, — which contains copious extracts from them, and which, from the perfect authenticity of its contents and the solid testimony which they bear to the real practical principles of Jesuitism, ought to be in the hands of every man who desires to know the truth on this subject. Note 3, pages 4 — 5. " The houses of the Jesuits had been under the jurisdiction of the university from their first establishment. It was essential for them to obtain an enfranchisement from the authority of the col- leges ; and from the anxiety which the system of monopoly never ceases to produce, and which might compromise the future." . . . " The university wished by tricky supervision and minute orders to subvert in its very essence the education given by the Jesuits." ..." The Jesuits here as everywhere else ' invoked liberty.' " The intense anxiety and constant aim of the Jesuits has always been to obtain a monopoly of educating youth, and as their efforts to oppose the universities, and emancipate themselves from their supervision or interference, will be manifest from various parts of this history, it is desirable to give some little sketch of their system, that their motives may be exhibited. For this purpose we shall give a few extracts from the tenth chapter of Nicolini, the whole of which is very valuable and instructive, and a reference to this note will supersede the necessity of adverting on other occasions to the subject. He says : — " The instruction of hoys and of ignorant people in Christianity was one of the ends which they proposed to attain, and for which Loyola asked Paul III. to approve his order. The example of John III. of Portugal and of the Duke of Candia, who first SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. vii erected colleges lor the fathers, was eagerly imitated by many. Their colleges increased rapidly, and were soon planted all over the world, so that there were no less than GG9 of them at the epoch of the suppression of the order. ... It is well known that all persons of whatsoever rank are admitted into the Jesuit schools, and receive the same instructions. At school hours the prince's son, who is brought up in their boarding houses, descends and takes hisseat on the same bench with the son of the cobbler ; and this we consider an admirable and most instructive plan. The only obligation imposed on the day-scholars is, that they must give in their names, and promise to observe the rules of the college, which are everywhere uniform, and which oblige the pupil to hear mass every day and to go to the confessional once every month. ... It is, however, worthy of remark that Loyola, the clear-sighted Loyola, foreseeing that the obligation to follow the rules of the college would deter Protestants from sending their children to it, and wish- ing above all things to get hold of those children, and to try what the Jesuits could do to convert them, had taken care to leave an opening for their admission He says : — ' If any of those who present themselves to our schools will neither engage to observe the rules nor give in his name, he ought not for that reason to be prevented from attending the classes, provided he conduct himself with propriety, and do not cause either trouble or scandal. Let them be made aware of this, adding, however, that they shall not receive the peculiar care which is given to those whose names are inscribed in the register of the university or of the class, and who engage to follow its rules.' This is a characteristic specimen of Jesuit policy. . . . On the one hand such pupils cannot but imbibe in the ordinary course of instruction the principles and spirit of their masters, and on the other their pride is mortified at never being considered or mentioned at those public exhibitions which form so important a part of the Jesuit system of education. This artful policy is too frequently successful. Oftentimes the parents, jealous of their children's renown, and anxious to see them surrounded by those affectionate and friendly cares which the Jesuits unsparingly bestow upon the regular pupils, are induced to consent that they shall follow the rules of the college, and go to mass and to the confessional, and even change their own faith, the better to secure for them these desired ad- vantages ; and if it should chance that the mother alone is left as viii SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. guardian, it commonly happens that both mother and son become Roman Catholics." — Mcolini, pp. 214 — 216. 4£ «3£ ' tf|> 4^ *1£ Nicolini goes on to describe the politeness and affability of the Jesuit teachers : — " Accommodating their language and manners to the class of persons they had to deal with." How the parents, " delighted with the polished manners and high attainments of their children, spread abroad their fame." He tells how men of all ranks, even those who have been afterwards most hostile to the order of Jesuits, still retain a grateful recollection of their Jesuit teacher, and gives even Voltaire as an example, who dedi- cated his tragedy Merope to his dear master Father Poree : such influence did they gain over the minds of their pupils. He gives another instance of the way in which they en- deavoured to maintain the influence they had acquired. He tells us how the Jesuit Leon, in the year 1569, employed " some boys in the intervals of their studies, who were willing to assemble and sing the praises of the Virgin, with certain acts of devotion, con- tributing small sums monthly for charitable purposes" — that "these meetings by degrees took the form of associations — that these spread so rapidly that Gregory XIII. in .fifteen years after, viz., in 1584, erected them into congregations under the title of Congregations of the Holy Virgin" — that these Congregations were under the general of the Jesuits, and spread abroad their commu- nities, banded together by the ties of this association in religious exercises through Europe and India, east and west, north and south. At appointed times they met to repeat the office of the Virgin, and to listen to the advice of the Jesuit who presided over each of these congregations, and exercised of course his best efforts to gain influence over them, practising all his art to obtain this end. Nicolini remarks on this thus : — " One is amazed when he con- siders what immense power these congregations must have given the general of the Society. His orders, his curses or commenda- tions of a book, of a man, or of a measure, were repeated in the same tone throughout all the world by tens of thousands, who considered it a sin to disbelieve his word or to disobey his com- mands. ~No wonder then that the court of Rome itself was obliged to submit to the ascendancy of the Jesuits, and that the suppression of the order was with difficulty effected by the united BUPPLEMEN TA L COM M E N T A K Y . IX efforts of all the sovereigns of Europe." — Nicolini, pp. 217, 218. Nicolini, page 218, informs us that these congregations were diminished after the suppression of the order, though secretly kept up ; but that after the restitution of the Pope and the Bourbons, missionaries were dispersed through all Italy, Spain, and part of France, and that the congregations of the Virgin were re-estab- lished — that they are very numerous now, both of men and of women under various denominations, directed by tbe Jesuits where there are any, and by proxy where there are not — that "these congregations have certain privileges, going foremost in processions — entitled to a greater number of days of indulgence," etc. We abridge Nicolini's statement. But the great object of this is union and organization — the education of the young — attach- ing them to their masters, and employing them in religious combi- nations, where they are under their power and guidance, with inducements of spiritual benefits to continue those combinations through life — these are abundant reasons for the intense anxiety of the Jesuits to monopolize education if they can in any country, and to reject with jealous indignation the interference or super- vision of any power that could control them. But their system of discipline in the schools evinces their mode of obtaining despotic power over their pupils. " Two pupils, and every day different ones, are secretly charged by the prefect to give an account of the behaviour of all the others, and they are punished if they are not accurate in their denuncia- tion." " No one, not even a parent, is allowed to visit a boarder without the consent of the superior, who is almost always present at the interview. No letter can be sent off or received by any boarder, but it must pass through the hands of the rector, who stops it if he thinks proper. The boarders never go home except during the holidays in September, and some remain in the college even during that period. The consequence is that the influence of the family is gradually destroyed, and the Jesuits mould these youthful hearts and intellects according to their own Jesuitical pattern. . . . In all the Jesuit colleges, as we have already observed, reigns the greatest decency, and a sort of military order and discipline which is highly pleasing to the young." Cretineau says ; — " Their colleges were open for all the graceful arts ; even dancing and fencing icere not excluded ; the annual dis- X SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. tribution of prizes was preceded not only by tragedies full of poli- tical allusions, but also by ballets composed by the reverend fathers, and executed by the most agile of their pupils" No pains were spared by the Jesuits to advance their pupils in their studies, but as the end which they taught them to have in view was not the truth, as it was not their purpose to inspire their young minds with those noble and generous sentiments which form great citizens, but only to instruct them in their peculiar doctrines, and render them subservient to their order ; the whole course of in- struction was directed to the attainment of these ends, and the progress of their pupils was more brilliant than solid — partook more of a theatrical character than of a serious method of learning that would have developed the power of reason and reflection. In the speculative sciences, especially, their instruction was most defective."— Nicolini, pp. 219—221. The testimony of Mcolini is more than corroborated by Lamar- tine, from whose Confidences we translate the following passage : — " I do not like the institute of the Jesuits. Educated in the bosom of the Society, I was able to discern ever since that period the characteristic spirit of seduction, of pride, and of domination, which their policy either masks or displays according to circum- stances, and which, by sacrificing each member to the general body, and identifying the body with religion, skilfully usurps the place of Grod himself, and aims to secure for a superannuated sect the government of consciences, and universal sovereignty over the human mind and will." — Les Confidences, by A. de Lamartine. Ed. Bruxelles, 1849. Tom. i., p. 148. As this was the nature of the education which the Jesuits aspired to promote, it is not to be wondered at that they were urgently desirous " to obtain an enfranchisement from the authority of the colleges?' and we shall find in the subsequent pages of this history that this " enfranchisement " was not sought for by them more perseveringly in Russia than in France and in Great Britain — more especially in Ireland, in which latter country they are now exerting their most arduous efforts to obtain from the British government a charter for a university, and where they have, " as everywhere else, invoiced liberty.'" It will be well for such of our readers as have been heretofore disposed to regard with indulgence, if not with admiration, the zeal and learning of the Jesuits in former times, and to consider them in their present position in SUPPLEM E N T A L COM M E NTARY. XI these countries as a harmless, if not useful, body, — rather superior in manners, taste and refinement, to other orders of their co- religionists, to read with especial attention the history of their educational system and labours,- — as given by their own historian in these pages and elucidated by these notes. By this study two facts will become apparent : — that when in any country or community a strenuous opposition is made by Eoman Catholics to a system of Scriptural or even of mixed education, this opposition is the work of the Jesuits ; and secondly, that the Jesuits in this, as in all other matters, consider the education of youth not as an end, but a means ; — that in fact their great aim is not to spread civilization, learning, science, morality, or to render the youth of a nation good and useful citizens, but rather to make them sub- servient tools for the promotion of their own ends, and to ad- minister so much and no more of learning, than will qualify them to suit this purpose. To obtain this object, they wisely and necessarily have recourse to the only method whereby they could ho\>e jjossibly to succeed — they "invoke liberty;" they accuse all who would venture to offer the blessings of Scriptural, or of purely secular, education, exempt from their jurisdiction, of bigotry and intolerance, thus skilfully turning against their opponents those weapons which they are well aware would necessarily be fatal if directed against themselves. In the lips of a Jesuit, liberty of education means neither more or less than a monopoly of the right of instruction by themselves. In Ireland, before the introduction of the present system of national education, they had full liberty of teaching, — but then Protestants had liberty also. Scriptural as well as secular education was in the reach of the poorer as well as the richer classes ; by " invoking liberty " the Jesuits were suc- cessful in procuring that Roman Catholics shoidd be deprived of all opportunity for Scriptural instruction in the schools supported by the Government, and that the Protestant clergy who declined to take part in this wrong-doing should be deprived of all assistance in the religious and secular education of the Protestant poor, and of educating Roman Catholics who chose to be emancipated from Jesuit thraldom. When the obnoxious element of Scripture was eliminated, and the means of secular education given to Roman Catholic as well as to Protestant children, though the schools were chiefly in the hands of the priests, yet they were still subject to lay supervision, and the admixture of children of different creeds Xll SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. was not forbidden, but encouraged ; and when, under the errone- ous belief that any "liberty " but the "liberty " to enslave others would satisfy the Jesuits of Ireland, colleges were erected by the Government in which the religious element was omitted, " liberty" was again " invoked " to procure sanction for a university in which submission to Jesuit instruction is to be the law, and if this demand is acceded to, the experience of other states which has failed to serve our statesmen as a warning, will at least prove an example of the folly of believing that a fountain can at the same time " send forth sweet water and bitter." Note 4, pages 5, 6. " It is, without doubt, very important that the youth of a state should be brought up in principles oe patriotism, in sentiments of submission, and of respect and devotion to the person of the sovereign." — Extract of letter from the General of the Jesuits in Russia to the Minister of Public Instruction " This correspondence of Father Brzozowski with the minister of the Czar, the notes which Alexander examined, and which accorded so well with his sense of justice, and the prayers of his Catholic subjects, contains much real ability, and truly form within themselves a theory of education." The passage above quoted from Father Brzozowski's letter to Count Rasoumoffski, dated August 24, 1810, is thus noted by Lutteroth : — " This passage is repeated almost literally in a note of the 16th of September, 1811, but with one very significant variation ; there is no longer any question, as in the note of 1810, of ' exciting patriotism in the minds of the rising generation :' the word ' patriotism' has entirely disappeared ; the father-general now mentions nothing but ' devotion to the sovereign? ' with which it is so important,' he says, ' that youth should be inspired.' Perhaps he perceived that he injured his cause by appearing to make Russian patriotism consist in anything but submission and attachment to the emperor." — p. 10. " 'As for the Jesuits,' says the father-general, ' I do not believe that any one can have the slight- est doubt about their principles ; I will not make any apology for my order, or give it any praise, which would be unbecoming from me. I will only say that the people believed it to be so certain that the principles inculcated by the Jesuits on their pupils were opposed to the ideas 'of reform or revolt which prevailed, SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. xiii that, in order to effect the general overthrow of Europe which we have witnessed, it was found necessary to begin by withdraw- ing the young from these faithful guardians. ... It is true we have in our order some foreigners, but these foreigners on enter- ing our order immediately adopt its spirit, its interest, and its maxims. Thus bound irrevocably to a body which belongs to the empire, they inevitably become subjected to it, and cannot have any interest which is opposed to it.' Perhaps no words were ever written against the Jesuits more condemnatory than those which we have just transcribed, and which were intended by the father- general for their justification. From the moment that a man enters this order, he adopts so implicitly its spirit, its interests, and its maxims,' that he no longer belongs to himself. He belongs to the company to which he is so irrevocably bound, and to him to whom that company belongs. If we believe the father- general, a foreigner on entering it becomes a Russian, because the company once belonged to the empire. But if this company is restored to its old master, if it belongs to the Pope now as it did in former times, if spread over the whole world, it is everywhere acknowledged and directed by him, does it not follow that those who enter it become Romans whatever may be their country, and are so, as is the company itself, by ' its maxims, its interests, and its spirit?' In Russia they made a merit under existing circumstances of this unanimity of spirit, and represented it as a title to favour. But is it possible that this can ever in any place, or under any circumstances, be reasonably considered as a recommendation?" — Russia and the Jesuits, by Henri Lutteroth, pp. 15, 16. London : 1858. In a leading article of the Times, referring to the now cele- brated Father Passaglia's movement in Italy, we find the follow- ing: — "It is indeed extraordinary that the leader of such a movement as the present should come out of the bosom of such a society, and it is a fact which shews how impossible it is to repress the workings of the human mind. If there is any one principle that the Jesuit order has set itself dead against, more than another, it is the principle of patriotism. Its special maxim has been, — ' no home, no country, but the Church ;' and all national feelings have, in the Jesuit system, been totally absorbed and engulphed in the one universal religious organization under the headship of the Pope. The order has diligently indoctrinated its pupils in this xiv SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. belief, and trained them up as citizens of the world in the Jesuit sense, i.e., as having no connection with country, but only with the universal Church." — Times, as quoted by Dublin Evening Mail, Nov. 17, 1862. Our historian has wisely chosen to cite the earlier rather than the later exposition of Father Brzozowski's Theory of Education, in which the virtue of patriotism is omitted. Note 5, page 7 — 10. " It appeared almost an impossibility to the children of Loyola that they should obtain what they asked for, when Count Joseph de Maistre threw himself into the dispute with his cutting elo- quence, and his reasoning, which went always straight to its aim without regarding any obstacles." — p. 7. " Brzozowski had prepared the triumph of the Society of J esus, Count de Maistre decided it. In 1812 the college of Polotzk was erected by the Czar into a university, with all the privileges of the other academies. . . . Napoleon carried war even into the bosom of the Muscovite empire Brzozowski was a Russian. Without taking any part in a struggle, from which his sacerdotal character forcibly withheld him, he thought that the circumstances in which the empire was now placed were the forerunner of the reconstruction of his order." — p. 10. It may be useful here to give some few extracts from the arguments of this successful advocate of the Jesuits, Count Joseph de Maistre, contained in a series of letters, five in number, addressed to Count Rasoumoffski, minister of public instruction ; it is certain that, in the present state of society, they will be considered to embody very strange ideas relative to education. " Count de Maistre begins by stating that public education, like certain other political institutions, is not suitable to all nations. . . . * Science,' he goes on to say, ' renders a man idle, unfit for business or any great enterprise, disputatious, obstinately attached to his own opinions, and disdainful of others, a critical observer of government and essentially an innovator, a scorner of authority and of national predilections, and, consequently, wanting that counterpoise which morality and religion alone can give ; the Jesuits knew how to give this equilibrium." The second letter contains an account of the ancient system of education, and a clever and spirited criticism of the project of SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. XV study, evidently too extensive, which had heen proposed for adop- tion in Russia, and which it was necessary to curtail. But we are astonished at the studies which Mons. de Maistre proposes to omit. First, natural history, which, according to him, resembles poetry, inasmuch as while rendering those illustrious who attain the highest degree of knowledge, it renders all others ridiculous. Then follows history, yes, history ! . . . . He thought it quite suf- ficient that during meals a complete course of history should he read aloud by one of the students But the greatest care must be taken in the selection of the book, "for no species of lite- rature is more corrupting /" " The panegyrist of the inquisition is afraid of history ; these samples of his retrenchments give an idea of the nature of all the others He might have cogent reasons in the eyes of the Church for interdicting Greek ; but taking it in another point of view, one is astonished to hear it said to the Minister of public instruction : — " Believe then, M. le Comte, those hardworking men who have cultivated this most beautiful and difficult language, that there is no young man of rank in Russia who would not prefer to make three campaigns and take part in six pitched battles rather than learn by heart the conjugations of the Greek verbs. Therefore no Greek.''' — Lutteroth, pp. 18 — 22. "We have seen how the Jesuits were successful in their project concerning the university, and the above extracts manifest the character of the very select course of study recommended by their skilful and enthusiastic advocate, Comte de Maistre : but we must not omit an anecdote also given by Lutteroth, when Father Brzozowski went to the directors of the department of public worship to " thank them, with an air of humility and triumph. We do not know how Prince Galitzin received him, but the counsellor Tourgueneff contented himself by answering, with more frankness than was to be found in the compliment of the father-general: — "This is the heginning of the end; you will do so much that you will he sent out of the country." — Lutteroth, pp. 28, 29. With respect to the part taken by the Jesuits in Russian struggles, we will give one more quotation from Lutteroth : — " Twice there had been fighting at Polotzk, and the father-general had fled to St. Petersburg, and, in the midst of this convulsion of nations, he coolly prepared the re-establishment of his company xvi SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. in Spain. This daring attempt, the moment for which appeared to be strangely chosen, was sure to be well looked upon by the Russian government, because it would naturally foment a re-action against Trance The Jesuits asked no more ; they felt that the more they agitated Spain the more they would be favoured in Russia, and they had reason to think so because in so doing they served its interests." — Lutteroth, pp. 30, 31. Note 6, page 11. " England obtained in 1811," etc. It is worthy of a cursory remark on this, that when Cretineau describes the establishment of the Bible Society in Russia as the " earnest of a treaty " between England and Alexander for their mutual resistance of France, he is either totally ignorant of the fact, or wilfully misrepresents it. The government of England had no more to do with the Bible Society than with the business of any humble firm in London. The Bible Society, at that time in its infancy, was maintained by the co-operation of a few pious individuals, who were associated together for the glorious object of disseminating the Sacred Volume throughout the world. Mr. Pinkerton, Mr. Pater son, and Dr. Steinkopff, were the instruments by whom, under the Divine blessing, the Society was established • at St. Petersburg. Baron Nicolai, the Russian ambassador at Stockholm, appears to have been chiefly the person under whose patronizing recommendation Mr. Paterson seems to have been specially induced to visit that capital; and having procured an introduction from the Bishop of Abo to Prince Gralitzin, and communicated to him in an audience the object of his visit, he received from that Prince the encouragement which led him, in conjunction with Mr. Pinkerton, to establish that Society in Russia which was so formidable and so hateful to the Jesuits. It was established by a memorial presented by Prince Gralitzin to the Emperor, dated December 6, 1812, and ratified by a ukase of the Emperor written by his own hand at the foot of the memorial. Thus : — "Approved by his Imperial Majesty, who subscribed with his own hand 'Be it so.' " Alexander."* * See Owen's History of the Bible Society. London, 1816. Vol. ii., pp. 233—244. SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. xvii Note 7, page 13. " The Jesuits never lent themselves to this movement towards heresy Pope Pius VJI. expressed his grief and his surprise in a brief addressed to the archbishop of Mohilow ; lie blamed him for having co-operated in the triumph of Anglicanism. The blame so justly bestowed upon the prelate was an indirect homage paid to the disciples of St. Ignatius, who, more fully imbued with the true spirit of the Church, had refused to make common cause with error." The course taken by the Jesuits, even as narrated by their own historian, with respect to the introduction of the Bible Society into Eussia, and indeed into every other country, affords a remarkable proof of the essential difference that existed and still exists between the "children of Loyola" and every other order in the Roman Catholic Church. We have reason to be deeply grateful to Monsieur Cretineau for furnishing us with such irrefragable evidence as to their characteristic distinction. We have given a sketch of the system of education so eloquently recommended by Count de Maistre, but we have not yet given his views with respect to the Bible. "All should shudder," said he, "at the fundamental sophism of a system which has unfortunately divided Europe. The partizans of that system say, ' We believe nothing but the Word of God.'' What an abuse of words ! What a strange and perverse ignorance of the Divine will ! We alone believe the Word, whilst our dear enemies persist in believing nothing but ivhat is written; as if Grod could or would change the nature of things of which He is the author, and give a life and efficacy to writing which it has not. Are not the Holy Scriptures writings/" were they not traced with a pen and a little black fluid? do they know what ought to be told to one man and hidden from another ? do not Leibnitz and his maid read the same words there ? . . . We laugh in peace at the false god waiting with tender impatience for the moment when its undeceived partizans shall throw themselves into our arms, which have been extended towards them for nearly three hundred years." — Essai sur le Principe Oenerateur des Con- stitutions PoJitiques, by Count Joseph de Maistre; quoted by Lutteroth, pp. 32, 33. " According to Count de Maistre the Holy Scriptures can only ft XV111 SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. address themselves to certain understandings. . . . they cannot answer those who interrogate them, nor defend themselves, if the Father — not the author, but the interpreter; not God, but the Pope — is not there The sentiments expressed by Count de Maistre were participated by his friends at Polotsk. The Company of Jesus have always considered the diffusion of the Bible in the vulgar tongue as the most formidable obstacle to the species of influence they aspire to exercise." — Lutteroth, pp. 33 — 38. In order to form a just estimate of the character and motives of Alexander, as well as of those of the Jesuits, we will refer to Monsieur Cretineau himself for the following statements : " In the midst of his devastated cities, his bloody fields, and his armies conspiring with the cold to annihilate the Prench army, that prince, still young and always handsome, now raised his heart towards heaven His ambition was to attain internal peace. Gralitzin indicated to him the Holy Scriptures as the source of all consolation ; his mind at once received it ; he listened in silence to the voice of Glod which now made itself heard. The Yulgate translated into Prench had been to him the book of consolation. It was at this moment that it was proposed to him to place in the hands of all Russians the Divine work which had triumphed over his languor, or over his unavailing remorse. No one explained to him the difference of the two Bibles ; he never imagined that the hand of man could have dared to alter the primitive text of GJ-od's own word. Prom gratitude for the blessing which the reading of the Yulgate had produced on his feelings, on the 18th December, 1812, he authorized the establishment of the Bible Society. The Emperor had allowed himself to be deceived. Prince Gralitzin, his minister of religion, the highest functionaries of the state, the majority of the Russian bishops and Stanislaus, Siestrzencewicz, archbishop of Mohilow himself, declared themselves the patrons of this institution, which was hereafter to deal a mortal blow both to the Grreek religion and Catholicism." — pp. 12, 13. And again : " He flattered himself that he had re-united in the same vow of fraternity all the dissentient forms of worship introduced by him into the Bible Societies. They were to be the privileged instruments for this fusion of every pious sect which reposed under the shelter of his sceptre. The Pope was to he no longer the centre of unity. The reign of Catholicism was to give place to a union of all Christian nations. Alexander knew SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. XIX the Jesuits would never consent to sucii a. utopia." — pp. 10, 20. A formidable prospect indeed would such a consummation be to the company of Loyola ; " a union of all Christian nations !" never will the Jesuits " consent" to sucli a sacrilege. That a realization of this holy and happy object was the ardent desire of the heart of Alexander we can make no question ; he had no desire to impose any peculiar form of worship on his people, — but, to quote the words of Lutteroth, " Alexander had learnt by the light of the flames of the Kremlin to see in a new point of view the duties and obligations of the sovereign of such a multitude of people. He had resolved to civilize them by the influence of the Gospel ;" and again, " I cannot help expressing the general satisfaction which is felt," said Prince Galitzin, in a letter written at this period, " in seeing so many denominations of Christians thus cordially uniting their efforts to serve the great cause of Christianity." — Lutteroth, p. 38. "We have ample evidence that the disposition on the part of all sects and denominations in Russia to aid the Emperor in his pious and noble design was universal, with but one exception, but our business is to shew the spirit which animated the Roman Catholics in particular. The Roman Catholic bishop of Polotsk, in a circular addressed to the clergy and laity of his persuasion, recommends the Society in the following terms. " Its object is truly sacred. It is the printing of the books of the Old and New Testaments in every language, for all nations which inhabit the earth ; it embraces not only the present generation, but extends to the most distant posterity." " While I refer to all the truly grand and extensive operations of the Society, which constitutes a powerful argument for joining it, and cheerfully devoting part of our property to the promotion of its noble designs, I have only in addition to express my joy that in our present times, in which even some orthodox men too much indulge in propagating speculations of their own, it has pleased God to raise up men who exert all their powers and energies for spreading His word, — the word of salvation which is contained in the books of the Old and New Testament, as extensively as possible among the nations of the earth, even among the Mahom- medans and heathens." b 2 XX SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. " Surely we ought to rejoice to see such prospects opening for the renewed and most extensive circulation of that Word which the wicked wished to extirpate. It is evident to every reflecting mind that, as Christians faithful to their high calling, we ought most sincerely to esteem that book from which such blessedness is derived, both in this present life and in that which is to come." " With regard to myself, I hasten with the most lively zeal to join those who so laudably endeavour to accomplish this desirable purpose. I will cheerfully devote my time and talents, as well as part of my income (small as it is) to the furtherance of an object, which, by the assistance of God, cannot but prosper. With such views, I address you, reverend brethren, pastors of our flocks, that ye, who are the first leaders of the people, ye who first stand in need of these books, and, following the example of David, ought to meditate on the law of your G-od day and night, may likewise be the first to inscribe your names in the list of the Bible Society, the first to present your donations, or annual subscriptions, each according to his ability and inclination." " To these it may be added that the Catholic metropolitan and archbishop of Mogileff, a venerable prelate of more than eighty years of age, closed a pastoral epistle, addressed to his clergy and their flocks, at the end of the year, 1814, in these striking and memorable terms. " I by this epistle give intimation to my flock, concerning the Bible Institution in Bussia, and conclude with the following words of St. Paul : — ' I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.'' " —Owen's History of Bible Society, vol. iii., pp. 427 — 429. Lond. 1816. It is little to be wondered at that this approach towards the spirit of Christianity, on the part of the prelates and people of the Boman Catholic religion, should have inspired with consterna- tion the disciples of Loyola, and that they should have immediately had recourse to every available method to crush the growing mischief; the censure of the Pope was invoked against the arch- bishop of Mohilow, and the "general of the Jesuits went to Prince Galitzin, and declared to him that the Boman Church pro- hibited the reading of the Bible by the people, and therefore he absolutely could not consent to become a member of a Society whose object it was to disseminate the sacred volume : and no SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. XX 1 one attempted to constrain him. 1 ' — Lntteroth, p. 39. This auda- cious assumption of authority on the part of the general of the Jesuits to be the only true interpreter of the doctrines of the Human Church will be strangely manifested when we contrast his assertion with the following : — " The impression made on many members, both of the Greek and the Catholic Church, resident in the Levant, was equally manifest and encouraging." "Among these appeared some enlightened men who sympa- thized with Pius VI. in his veneration for the lively oracles of God, and his desire to promote their universal distribution. With that pontiff they professed to believe 1 that the Bible ivas the proper instrument to maintain in the faith those Christians ivho are scattered abroad, to establish those who are wavering or falling of, and to bring about the propagation of the Christian religion, and lag open to mankind the ivay of salvation.'' — Hist. Bible Society, part ii., chap, iii., page 98. We may perceive by this a remarkable proof of the fact that during the period when the Jesuits were a subordinate, or at least not a dominant party in the Church of Home, that even the exclusive and intolerant character of that religion was ame- liorated ; and on several occasions its spirit shewed manifest signs of approximation towards the spirit of true Catholicity and illu- mination. We have already seen in the bull of Ganganelli for the suppression of the order, the mild and tolerant maxims he inculcated on the clergy and people ; and the letter we have just quoted by his successor, Pius VI., demonstrates that even a Pope, when free from the influence of the Jesuits, could dare to admire and reverence the Holy Scriptures. But the time was at hand when the order was to resume its ascendancy ; and the brief of Pius VII. to the archbishop of Mohilow was the first of its triumphs, but not the last. Subsequently the Church of Eoine has been blessed with Popes after their own heart, and as fully imbued as themselves with the resolution that such a " utopia " as * The words of Pope Pius are very emphatical : " I Hi enim sunt fontes uberrimi qui cuique Patere debent ad hauriendam et morum et doctrines sanctitatem." " For they are the exuberant fountains to which every individual ought to have access, that he may derive from them sound doctrine and pure morality." — Brief of Pius VI. to Martini, archbishop of Florence. XXII SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. "a unity of all Christian nations" shall never be realized with their " consent" Let us read and digest the following : — " It is from that most fetid fountain, indifferentism, springs the absurd and mistaken notion, or rather raving of madness, that liberty or conscience is to be recognized and vindicated. What has prepared the way for this most pestilential error, is that ample and immoderate liberty of opinion, which is spreading far and wide to the ruin of Church and state ; though there are some men who out of most consummate impudence maintain it is an advantage to religion. . . . This is the aim of that ivorst of all liberties, that never enough to be execrated and detestable liberty of the press, which some dare so loudly to demand and even promote. We are most horribly affrighted, venerable brethren, when we see with what monsters of doctrine, with what portents of evil we are overwhelming." — Encyclical letter of Gregory XVI. to all the patriarchs, primates, archbishops and bishops, August, 1832. Quoted in Cases of Conscience by Pascal the Younger, p. 14. It was, doubtless, with a prospective view of what the doctrine of the Church was to be, rather than as to what it was in Russia, that the general of the Jesuits " refused to make common cause ivith error " by the dissemination of the Bible ; and finding that " the Anglican propaganda had organized itself under the shelter of the Russian ministers, and under that of the bishops of the JRoman as ivell as those of the Greek ritual, the Jesuits now determined to countermine them." — p. 14. Note 8, page 14. "No person has yet been able to accuse them of having betrayed the confidence of parents for the benefit of the Roman faith. Nevertheless, the number of Catholics was yearly in- creased." — p. 14. The facility with which a Jesuit can write an account of a transaction, and the presumption with which he can make the most confident assertions, which he himself subsequently proves to be false, are here strictly exemplified. He had stated a few lines before, " Placed between the natural wish' of proselytism and the duty of tacitly respecting the consciences of their pupils, a duty which was self-imposed on SUPPLE M ENTAL COM M E N T A It Y . XX111 them, the Jesuits had never given oceasion for complaint on this very hopeless subject." Now the patent falsehood of this is proved by two facts. First. That the bringing discord into families was one of the many reasons for the bull of their suppression, as evinced in the language of the bull itself. Secondly. That the very same fact is alleged as a cause of their expulsion from St. Petersburg in the ukase which Cretineau quotes himself in six pages after (p. 21). The emperor says : — " To detach the father from his son, and the mother from her daughter ; to occasion division among the children of the same Church ; is this the voice of God ? the will of His Divine Son Jesus Christ ?" etc. But the fact is, that it is for the purpose of gaining proselytes that the Jesuits labour so earnestly to get the education of youth into their hands ; and the pretended " natural wish of proselytism," and "the duty of respecting the consciences of their pupils," are both the reverse of the fact ; for proselytism is not a " natural wish " but their sworn duty, and their aim and ambition. By their constitutions they are bound to open their schools to scholars not of their own persuasion ; and they are bound " to instruct them well in those things that pertain to Christian doctrine," and " to take care as far as they can that they come to the sacrament of confession." — Constit. Jesuit., pars iv., chap, vii., sec. iii. Nay, they are to be asked "to make a vow of obedience to the rector, and of observing the constitutions which he may pro- pose ;" but they are " not to be excluded if they do not choose to obey." — Pars iv., chap, xvii., sec. iii. But while Cretineau denies with such confidence the aim of the Jesuits to proselytize, and yet gravely tells us that, " never- theless, the number of Catholics was yearly increased," he says in the very same sentence that this was owing, " above all other causes, to the prudence combined with the zeal of the Jesuits." How could their zeal have effected this, unless it had been zeal to effect it by proselytism? and wherein could their prudence be combined with that zeal, unless in their attempts, like his own, to conceal or deny it ? xxiv SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. Note 9, page 17. "In their most intimate correspondence the Jesuits deny ever having had any participation in the conversion of this ardent neophyte." — p. 17. Nothing can be more absurd than to quote the correspondence of Jesuits as evidence on any subject ; by their constitutions and canons they dare not indite a letter " without permission, and without shewing their letters to the person appointed by the superior to inspect them." — Monita Greneralia, cap. iv., sec. 4. Eom. 1617. So that it is almost impossible to expect any truthful evidence, or anything that could transpire to militate against the interests of the Jesuits, in their letters and correspondence. Note 10, page 18. " All these glories," etc. Nothing can more explicitly demonstrate the dangerous effects produced by the intrigues of the Jesuits in Russia than this con- fession of their historian ; he enumerates the glories which encircled the brow of Alexander, on his return from the congress of Yienna, — attributes them to the influence of his policy and the power of his sword, and adds, that " all these glories coming at the same moment, which ought to have rendered his subjects intoxicated with pride, were effaced at once by some obscure preaching in a Catholic church." What must the nature of that preaching have been, and what the character of the preachers ? The ukase of Alexander, which has been quoted by Cretineau himself, p. 21, gives, in a single sentence, the character of these instructors : it is only necessary to cite that sentence instead of reciting the ukase again : — " Where, in fact, is the state that could tolerate in its bosom those who sow in it hatred and discord ?" What wonder that the blessings of European peace were obliterated in the midst of a people for the time by the intrigues and machinations of those who were only fermenting discord and intestine war. Note 11, page 19. i_ " Alexander gave himself nip to certain beliefs, resting on no fixed principles," etc. SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. XXV It is perfectly well known that the burning of Moscow, and the disastrous results of the French invasion of his empire, pro- duced a deep and sanctifying influence on the mind of Alexander. He had found in his Bible a rest for his soul in the bosom of his Sa\ Lour, and been taught in the shaking of his earthly dominions to learn the blessing of seeking "a kingdom which cannot be moved;" hence his value for the Bible Society, and hence probably his estimate of the religion of those who opposed the word of God. Hence the representation of him by the Jesuit historian ; they represent every man, whose faith is built on the sacred volume, as having " no fixed principles;" they know no fixity of principles, and no security of hope but in the surrender of reason, conscience, and soul into the slavery of subjection to the church. Note 12, page 22. "He continued just, even in the severity of his ukase." Before Cretineau recites the ukase of Alexander, he says that "he allowed the hatred of others to lull his justice to sleep." Here he declares that " he never endeavoured to injure by false accusations those priests whom he had hitherto honoured by his benevolence. He continued just, even in the severity of his ukase." If this historian speaks true, as he certainly does, in this admitted justice of the condemnation of the society, it is unnecessary to offer any comment on his vain but varied attempts at their vindication. Note 13, page 23. " Entirely supposititious." A Jesuit historian ought proverbially to have a good memory, as Cretineau frequently evinces. A few pages back he states that " no one could accuse them of betraying the confidence of parents but still that through their prudence and zeal " the number of Ca- tholics yearly increased." And in the last page he admits the jus- tice of the ukase which banished them pre-eminently for this among other charges against them, and here he quotes the general of the Company as declaring in bis letter to Grloriviere that the charge was " entirely supposititious." Are we to believe the general as contra- xxvi SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. dieting the historian, or the historian as contradicting the general ? or rather Alexander as denouncing both ? Note 14, page 28. " He obliged the general of the Jesuits to die in his states." The fact here stated by Cretineau furnishes a singular com- ment on the cool audacity which we find in the assertions and insinuations of the preceding pages. He informs us, (in page 24,) that " in all they wrote the Jesuits rather appeared to dictate the law than to submit to it." He tells us " there was a something mysterious in the con- nection between the Czar and the children of St. Ignatius, which was not revealed even to his favourite minister." He more than insinuates that Alexander and the royal family of Russia were in the power of the Jesuits — that " the Jesuits had been made the depositories of all their family secrets "■ — that " they had rendered services to him which kings themselves are not sufficiently un- grateful to forget," and that "this reciprocity of good offices had established a bond of union, of which neither of the interested parties dared to break the prestige. There was, so to say, a mutual agreement on both sides ; confidence had engendered discretion, and this singular contract has not even been annulled by intoler- ance." — p. 25. Now, as neither Alexander nor his predecessors belonged to the Popish Church, there could have been no seal of confession to secure the silence of the Jesuits ; and yet it is marvellous that though Alexander had denounced the Society in his ukase of December, 1815, in such unmeasured terms, no provocation has elicited from this amiable Society one of these portentous secrets which had placed that sovereign so effectually in their power; forbearance appears to have been all on their side — certainly not on his — did they seem to dictate a law that "any state could allow to nestle in its bosom those who spread within it hatred and discord." That they were compelled to submit to this law is certain ; but how could a historian worthy of any credit say they dictated it ? He gives a testimony of their patience and humility, which is truly astonishing, when he tells us, " The Jesuits allowed them- selves to be exiled by the son of Paul I., and they took the road of SUPPLEMENTAL COM MEN TA11Y. XXV11 exile without evoking a vengeance which it would have been so easy for them to obtain." — p. 2(>. "They would not allow themselves to be alarmed by these local vexations which one word would suffice to arrest. This word put their habitual discretion to a trial ; they had rather suffer than pronounce it." How could this historian imagine that any of his readers could be so besotted as to believe such palpable falsehoods ? If indeed the Jesuits possessed such amiable for- bearance at that time as rather to suffer exile than to wound the feelings of Alexander by the pronunciation of even a single word, why not inform the world now of this mighty talisman that could have arrested the ukase of the Czar, and rescued the Jesuits from exile ? Alexander's feelings can now be no longer wounded. The Jesuits can be exculpated from every imputation : it can be shewn how they ought to be honoured for their forbearance and canon- ized for their patience : but how could Cretineau suppose that any rational being could believe such an incredible falsehood ? Had not the experience of Alexander rather ratified the opinion of his predecessor Peter the Great, who, in a ukase dated ninety- four years before his own, had said — " It is after seeing with our own eye their conduct in foreign countries, and with astonishment that the other sovereigns of Europe still tolerate them, that we have resolved to prohibit their continuance in our states." — Ukase of Peter the Great, 1719, cited by Usborne in Rise and Progress of the Jesuits, p. 26 (London, 1851). The very letter which he quotes here from the general Brzo- zowski, containing such an humble and imploring petition for per- mission to go to Home, and the steady refusal of such petition, and his compelling that general to remain till his death in his states, proves that the whole preceding series of assertions is a fiction to give the Jesuits a false importance, and that Alexander was neither afraid to command their strict obedience, nor to pro- voke their worst resentment. Note 15, page 29. "The labours of their order, and the diffusion of the Gospel." If it is to the Sacred Volume mankind are indebted for the Gospel, by the historian's own account the most hostile of all men to its diffusion are the Jesuits. Speaking of the Bible Society, he XXV111 SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. says (page 13), "the Jesuits never lent themselves to this move- ment towards heresy." He calls those engaged in it " the Anglican propaganda," and says, " the Jesuits were determined to counter- mine them" (page 14), and proves that, in every way in their power, they manifested the utmost hostility to the diffusion of the Holy Scriptures. When, therefore, he states that the residence of the general of the order in Russia, instead of at Eome, was an obstacle to " the labours of their order and the diffusion of the Grospel," he would have written more truthfully had he stated that the non- residence of their general at Eome tended to diminish the power of the Jesuits in their universal labours to impede and counteract the Grospel of Christ, and to promote the idolatry and superstitions of the Church of Eome. In 1832, when the then pope sent over his encyclical letter to Ireland, which was translated for the benefit of the Irish population, and signed by every Eoman Catholic bishop as having their entire approbation, — in this encyclical, which was a manifesto against the Bible Society, the Pope calls the Scriptures circulated by the Bible Society " the Grospel of the devil;" and in a copy of the Record, printed the very day on which this note is written, the following statements shew how the priests of Eome treat the Bible ; so identified are the labours of the Jesuits with " the preaching of the Grospel." " At a meeting of the Wesleyan Missionary Society, held at Auckland on the 10th of November, the Eev. T. Buddie read the following statement from the Annual Eeport : — ' Efforts have been made by the priests of the Church of Eome to gain a footing in Waikato, and a Pastoral has been addressed to the Maori king, asserting the supremacy and infallibility of that Church • repre- senting the Holy Bible as but a paper Bible, full only of black lines, resembling a lamp with oil and wick, but without flame — a deaf and dumb Bible — and insisting that the pastors of that Church are the living Bible, with whom alone is the Holy Spirit, the flame to light the lamp ; and a priest has been sent to reside at the Maori capital, but, so far as we are informed, no encouragement has been given by the natives ; Eunangas have decided that no priest shall reside there, and no perverts have as yet been made. The Maori king and his friends repudiate the whole movement.' " This Pastoral fully agrees with Count de Maistre in his opinion of the Bible. See this supplement, page xvii. SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. xxix Note 16, page 3G. " It lias been eondemned, branded, banished, and decimated ; but it bafl never been brought before the tribunal of justice." It is amusing to see the defence which the historian attempts to set up for his brethren of the school of Loyola ; no better comment can possibly be written on it than the review of the last sixteen pages of his own history, which the reader is respect- fully invited again to peruse. Cretineau readily admits some pai l; of the report of Prince Gralitzin, but he omits, as he candidly informs us, " ten other articles, regulating, explaining, corroborat- ing this decree of banishment," (p. 34;) in these, we may presume, the gravamen of the charges for the report was to be found, but it requires no addition. Let the reader simply peruse what the historian himself selects, and he must at once pronounce that if the Emperor could depend on the mere veracity of his prime minister, he must have been insensible to the interests of his empire and to his own if he had not adopted at once the recom- mendation of Prince Galitzin, namely, "that they (the Jesuits) shall be sent, under the supervision of the police, beyond the frontiers of the empire, and never suffered to return under any form or denomination whatever." The latter was a most necessary precaution, for these gentlemen can change their names with as much facility as their garments, and assume one as far from their real name as the dress of a mountebank is from that of a monk ; as they stole into England under the title of "The poor Gentlemen of Liege. " And at this moment no person can tell in this country under what name they are working ; whether Fathers of the oratory, Eedemptorist fathers, Christian brothers, or various other titles which no one can know. But this has been always a part of the imposture of this great engine in the "mystery op iniquity." Cretineau himself confesses this in the third chapter of this volume, which we hope will soon succeed this number: he says, " They concealed their title of members of the order of Jesus under a clerical denomi- nation." ..." They had hoped that mystery would have protected them from the falsehoods to which the old company had fallen a victim, but that mystery had only furnished arms to calumny." Its true character was recognized. " Upon her forehead was A NAME WRITTEN, MYSTERY." XXX SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. Cretineau complains bitterly that they have been banished from Russia, from Lisbon, from Spain, from France, and from Rome by the blindness of Clement XIV., but "that they have never been brought before the tribunal of justice." If he means to assert that none of them have been brought to justice, condemned and executed for their crimes, he asserts what the records of crime, not only in other states of Europe but often in our own dominions, prove to be false. But if he complains that the body of Jesuits has been expelled without being brought en masse to trial, he might as well complain that a horde of brigands should be driven en masse, if it could be accomplished, from a scene of their depredations, because they could not be individually arrested, and made amenable to a court of justice. Note 17, page 41. " The Jesuit was accused of sowing perturbation," etc., to "the great adversaries of their system" (p. 42). It is no small evidence of the formidable nature of that vast conspiracy, the Society of Loyola, that while their historian records with the utmost candour the accusation which was brought against them in almost every country where they obtained any permanent footing, viz., that they were disturbers of the public peace, and aimed at the overthrow of all laws, civil and ecclesiastical ; he also is enabled to record the utter impotence of every other mode of protection against their encroachments, but one, their utter banishment from the countries where they had established themselves. Thus in Riga he relates that " the people dreamt of placing other obstacles in his path;" an action was brought against him, but Coince with his select band of male and female dupes, chosen skilfully from the nobility, set all these obstacles at defiance. And in England also we learn, referring to the bill of 1829, " The Jesuits knew that this law was peculiarly directed against them- selves, but they made no account of it." And we shall presently see that even the bull of Clement, which effected a legal dissolu- tion of the order, proved itself but to be a dead letter as concerned the vital existence of the Society. Truly they fear no laws that human intellect can devise, but their historian plainly reveals that they have one object of fear/ and but one, the promulgation of SUPPLEMENTAL COM M ENTARY. xxxi the law and Word of (\od, and Uioy may well fear it, for they believe and tremble at the knowledge of the truth of the words of the Inspired Psalmist: — "The entrance of thy Word giveth light : it giveth understanding to the simple." Therefore we find that while the Jesuits are comparatively indilferent to all other assaults, the propagation of the Bible among the people is regarded by them with equal terror and ab- horrence, and while, according to their historian, they submitted joyfully, in the pursuit of their missionary enterprise, to "in- expressible privations and frightful sufferings," 11 the storm directed by the Bible societies" was alone found unendurable. Note 18, page 43. " The governor of Riga, P. Marquis de Pallucci.' , It is worthy of remark, that while Monsieur Cretineau records with no limited detail the zealous exertions of the Jesuits in the conversion and education of the poor and abject of the community, he seldom if ever favours his readers with any account of their missionary labours among the wealthy and high born, whose souls we must nevertheless suppose were equally precious in the sight of these venerable fathers. Now and then, indeed, we hear of some noble and eminent convert, whose spontaneous adhesion to the true faith, and devout sacrifice of all earthly honours and pleasures, causes equal as- tonishment and joy to their paternal hearts. Thus we are especially informed that they had no concern in the conversion of the young Prince Gralitzin ; that " they were accused of making- proselytes of persons whom they had never known ; but that some persons presented themselves before their tribunal whose entreaties it was impossible for a priest to reject." In fact, it would appear, according to Monsieur Cretineau, that in the plenitude of their disinterestedness and desire to avoid scandal, the Jesuits rather discouraged the spread of the faith among the upper classes in society. He tells us, however, that when Father Joseph Coince founded his schools in Riga, " in order to gain the confidence of parents, he placed noble ladies, both French and German, as teachers in them, under the direction of the Countess de Cosse-Brissac, and the Baroness de Hoik " (p. 40) ; and that * they gave to these species of infant schools, or halls of safety, an XXX11 SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. extraordinary development. The benevolence of females assisted the charity of the Jesuit, and he soon overcame both prejudice and bad feeling." And we find that in the Governor of Riga, the Marquis of Pallucci, Father Coince had a zealous and devoted coadjutor. Notwithstanding Monsieur Cretineau's reserve, we are afforded some little light on this subject by other historians of the Society. " The members of the Society are divided into four classes, the professed, coadjutors, scholars, and novices. There is also a secret fifth class, known only to the general and a few faithful Jesuits, which, perhaps, more than any other, contributes to the dreadful and mysterious power of the order. It is composed of laymen of all ranks, from the minister to the humble shoe-boy. Among the individuals composing this class are to he found many ladies, who, unknown and unsuspected, are more dangerous in themselves, and more accurate spies to the Company. These are affiliated to the Society, but not bound by any vows. The Society, as a noble and avowed reward, promises to them forgiveness of all their sins, and eternal blessedness ; and, as a more palpable mark of gratitude, protects them, patronizes them, and, in countries where the Jesuits are powerful, procures for them comfortable and lucrative places under government or elsewhere. If this is not sufficient, they are paid for their services in hard cash, according to an article of the constitution, which empowers the general to spend money on persons who will make themselves useful. In return for these favours they act as the spies of the order, the reporters of what goes on in those classes of society with which the Jesuit cannot mix, and serve, often unwittingly, as the tools and ac- complices in dark and mysterious crimes. Father Francis Pellico, brother to the famous Sylvio, in his recent quarrel with the celebrated Gioberti, to prove that the order is not so very deficient of supporters as his opponent asserts, candidly confesses that "the many illustrious friends of the Society, prelates, orators, learned and distinguished men of every description, the supporters of the Society, remain occult and obliged to be silent." — A. Vin- cenzo Gioberti, Fra Pellico delta Compagna di Oesu, pp. 35, 36. "This avowal, coming from the mouth of a Jesuit, must be specially noted." — Nicolini, pp. 45, 46. SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. xxxiii Note 19, page 47. "Napoleon, who wanted to be received in Asia," etc. : also note. This quasi protection, extended by Napoleon to the Jesuits who might be sent into Persia, we must remark is qualified by the accompaniment of the condition, that " they shall not interfere in anything concerning the Mussulman faith," and " that they are never to overpass their path of duty." — Note, p. 47. We may profitably cite as a comment upon this, which Monsieur Cretineau relates with complacency as an evidence of the esteem of Napoleon for these pious fathers, the opinion he expressed to Montholon of the results to be expected from the restoration of the Society : " The general of the Jesuits insists upon being a sovereign over sovereigns. Wherever they are admitted, they will be masters, cost ichat it may. Their Society is by nature dictatorial, and, therefore, it is the irreconcilable enemy of constituted authority. Every act, every crime, however atrocious, is a meritorious work if it be committed for the interest of the Jesuits or by the order of their general." — See Becit. Captiv., ii., pp. 269, 294. Note 20, page 52. "In his earnest solicitude for the accomplishment," etc., to "the happiness of obedience." In this short page is recorded the event which, perhaps, was more momentous to Europe than any other that has hitherto taken place in this nineteenth century. By the restoration of the Company of Loyola a triumph was gained by that party in the Church of Rome, whose aim was the subjugation of the papal power, to a power the ramifications of which were far more extensive, occult, and unimpregnable ; a power to which certain Popes had succumbed in terror and dismay ; against which others had protested ineffectually, or been enabled but partially to control ; and which but one brave Pope had defied nobly and magnanimously, for he knew too well the character of his enemy to be ignorant that he was purchasing what he fondly hoped would be the security of the Catholic Church by the sacrifice of his life; for when Clement XIV., on the 23rd of July, 1773, affixed his signature to the memorable brief, " Dominus ac Ee- c xxxiv SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. demptor," in the very act of signing his name, he uttered, " Sotto scrivianio la nostra morte," — I have signed my death warrant. The event of the battle of "Waterloo, the restoration of peace to Europe, the return of her legitimate king to France, involved no event of equal importance to that of the restoration to Rome of the Pope, who, in an evil hour for Christendom, decreed the re- constitution of the Jesuits. "They were recalled at the moment when their talents were required. Everything was to be re-adjusted and re-established; the whole of the temporal and spiritual power of the Pope was to be re-constructed. No wonder, as the bull expresses it, that ' St. Peter's bark must be confided to these vigorous and ex- perienced rowers.' Henceforth the Jesuits became the virtual ministers and masters of the Pope, the executive of the Roman Church. "Again: we affirm that ancient Romanism has expired, and that Jesuitism has succeeded, both in things temporal and things spiritual. Henceforth Rome is no longer the nominal head of Christendom, but the real head of ecclesiastical despotism and spiritual domination. Popery absorbed in Jesuitism has ceased to be what our reformers charitably considered it — a real though a corrupt Church. By taking back the Jesuits, and submitting to their sway, the court of Rome has resigned all pretensions to adhere to the doctrine of the Council of Trent on the subjects of grace, free will, and justification — that doctrine was Augustinian ; it was adverse to the Pelagian sentiments of Lainez and Salmeron. She has sacrificed her historical traditions. The Jesuits were accounted heretics in theology, rebels in church discipline, and monsters in morality, till they were absolved by the bull of Pius VII. (Solicitudo omnium Ecclesiarum) . This is a considera- tion of much importance." — The Jesuits, by Grinfield, pp. 278-79. Note 21, pages 57, 58. "Without measuring the depth of this intrigue, etc;" to " carry out this project." In despite of the boasted " unity " of the Church of Rome, an attribute which doubtless M. Cretineau would not hesitate to claim, there are glaring proofs afforded in his history that the bitterest and most determined enemies of the Company of SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. XXXV Loyola were some of the most eminent members of that church, and in this passage especially we see that even with the Pope on their side it was not without strong and energetic opposition that " the bark of Peter was confided to these vigorous and experienced rowers." It would be impossible and profitless, if it were possible, to seek to ascertain the precise grounds on which the cardinals Gonsalvi, Delia Genga and Galetti rested their opposition to the reconstitution of the order. It may be that they desired the pre- servation of a religious and moral element in their Church, and would not that henceforth and for ever Eomanism and Jesuitism should be identified before the world, which they must have wisely foreseen would be the case if this secret and indomitable fraternity were suffered to elect to themselves a peculiar pope, over whom cardinals would have neither influence or control. It is but just to give those men credit for a remnant of conscientiousness and piety who would fain have rescued their Church from this depth of degradation, but we perceive that their efforts were vain, that the Jesuits being masters in intrigue, became masters of the posi- tion, and Romanism as a religion was more than transmuted — it was annihilated ; — for truly, to quote the forcible words of Grin- field, " Whilst Protestantism is religion, Tractarianism is religion, J esuitism is no religion at all : it is Popery minus piety, it is superstition minus devotion, it is infidelity minus profession, it is worldly wisdom clothed in Mariolatry. ... It may seem harsh and uncharitable to write about any order assuming the name of the 1 Society of Jesus ' in this peremptory strain, but we do it out of respect to the old Church of Rome, as well as to Pro- testants. As the Jesuits before their expulsion were often con- sidered rather merchants than missionaries, and were frequently denounced by Romish bishops as utterly undeserving of the name of Christians, so we cannot be deemed unnecessarily severe in describing them since their return as meriting the same treatment. We are only applying to them the language which the better part of their Church applied to them before they became its masters. They have done nothing since their restoration to wipe off" the stigma. By their triumph over the Papacy they have succeeded in debasing Romanism to their own level. Popery and Jesuitism are now identified." — The Jesuits, by Grinfield, pp. 355, 356. c 2 xxx vi SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. Note 22, page 60. " Opinions on the subject of education," etc., to " congregation of the revived institute." "We have seen in the prior page to this how rigorously this newly reconstituted order adhered to the system of the old, as its first exercise was to constitute " a tribunal to try such of the professed as had been ambitious of power, or who had endeavoured to carry discord into the bosom of the institution." The question has been often asked, " Wherein lay the seeds of that vitality, in the original constitution of the Jesuits, which has served during three centuries to maintain the ranks of the Society under so many shocks still unbroken ?" See introduction to Nicolini, p. ii. We would fearlessly assert that the secret lies in its strict and consistent adherence to the monarchical principle, of individual absolutism, whereby every shock of opposing wills is avoided, every defeat by variety of plan or method is obviated, whereby one head is endowed with the motive service of some thousand hands, one aim steadily and persistently carried into effect by the exercise of the intellects of thousands, whose glory and whose pride consists in its attainment. The constitution of the Society of the Jesuits is, as it were, a sort of imitation of the heavenly hierarchy, as may be seen by the formula of the vow taken by the coadjutors of the Society s — " I, N — , promise Almighty Grod, before the Virgin Mother, and before all the heavenly host, and you, reverend father-general of the Society of Jesus, holding the place of God, and of your successors, or you reverend father, vice-general of the Society of Jesus, and of your successors, holding the place of God, perpetual poverty, chastity, and obedience, and therein peculiar care in the education of boys, according to the manner expressed in the Apostolical letters and in the constitutions of the said Society." — Constitutions, part v., cap. iv. and ii., quoted from Nicolini, p. 50. We need not here descant upon the hacknied truism that absolute power can never be safely wielded by any mortal man, even though it extend only over a family. The exercise of the individual will, conscience and judgment, is more or less indis- pensable to the dignity and the perfection of every human being, and insomuch as these are absorbed in the will, conscience and SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. xxxvii judgment of another, by so much does each forfeit of worth and virtue, by so much is the ruler corrupted and the subject debased. Blind and passive and dutiful and enlightened obedience are not only different, but opposed. Tyrants have been portrayed in history whose acts of cruelty and oppression may well cause the blood to curdle with horror, and the eye to kindle with indignation. Confederacies have been organized for purposes so vile and repugnant to humanity, that we can hardly believe we share a common nature with the beings who organized them ; but never, except in the " Society " (so called) " of Jesus," has been exemplified the fearful, the almost illimit- able capacity for evil with which power can endow a tyrant, or the horrible unanimity which can be made to prevail in a con- federacy which is voluntarily the engine of his power. Let us here set aside, however, all enquiry as to the nature of their object, or the means by which they sought to attain it, as matter of moral approbation or censure, and merely consider their pro- ceedings in a prudential aspect, and we will find that by the steady and persevering adoption of the course they pursued, it was hardly possible that they could fail of success wherever they were suffered to obtain an entrance, and to carry out the osten- sible purpose they were organized to fulfil, viz., the education of youth. In a former note we have quoted from Nicolini a slight sketch of the system they pursued in their schools, as also of the curriculum which their somewhat too candid friend and advocate, the Count de Maistre, had laid down as that best adapted for the training of Russian youth, which would at once secure that they should be made pious Christians, submissive subjects, and ardent warriors. To this end he proposed that the Bible, science, his- tory, and Greek should be sedulously excluded, and we have every reason to suppose that his liberal views had the entire approbation of his clients in Russia. This scheme, however, we must suppose was only calculated for a Northern meridian, as we here learn that as " opinions on the subject of education had altered entirely all over the world, it was resolved to adapt the ' ratio studiorum ' to the requirements of modern society." We shall see hereafter the varied character of this adaptation when we come to learn from Monsieur Cretineau the views of the fathers upon " the requirements of modern society " in Trance, xxxvm SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. in Switzerland, in Belgium, and in Ireland. We learn here a fact which should be especially noted and borne in mind. " It appeared indispensable to establish immediately a certain degree of uniformity at least in each province" and that it "was decided that they should trace out and submit to the general some pro- visional rules which should be compulsory upon all the masters." Although Monsieur Cretineau does not profess to furnish us with a precise statement of the rules here alluded to, still in a subse- quent part of his history he enters into a tolerably minute expo- sition of the Jesuit system of moral training, and manifests how admirably it was calculated to obtain and to hold the mastery over the affections as well as the will of the pupils committed to their care. If we credit his statements (and on this point we believe they are worthy of full credit), w r e must be convinced that when Satan would appear as an angel of light, he could never assume a more suitable form than that of a Jesuit professor. So perfect is their simulation of all those qualities which at once attract and subdue the heart and mind of childhood, — of more than paternal, of maternal affection, of condescending sym- pathy, discerning approbation, and, when necessary, unwilling severity, that it would be impossible for the ingenuous spirit of youth to even suspect imposture. In truth, the chief study of the Company of Loyola is the study of the human heart, — its amiable weaknesses, its instinctive aspirations : in early childhood it is weakest and most amiable, and therefore to obtain the manipulation of children is the object of the Society's highest and most universal ambition. Education in the eyes of the Jesuits is neither more or less than a species of manufacture of tools for their General, to be used by him as occa- sion may offer or require ; some may be necessarily framed of a rough and unpolished kind, and others may need the employment of artistic care and skill and taste in their construction ; but this we may be well assured of, that whether the pupil be an O'Connell, or a Montalembcrt, he is but a tool in the hands of his masters — the Jesuits. Note 23, page 62. " After < 7th of June, 1820/ there is a note added in Ed. 1851, p. 53, ' Father Landed found,' "-etc. SUPPL K M ENTAL COM M E N T A It V . X XXIX By this note, which is added in the later edition of Mods. Cretineau's work, a curious light is thrown upon the condition of tin 4 Company of Loyola during the period of their suppression, ». e., between the year 1773 and the year 1811. We learn from Nicolini, and indeed it is the avowed rule of the order, that " No Jesuit, without the consent of the General, is allowed to accept any ecclesiastical dignity or benefice, and the General is required to refuse such consent unless the Pope command him in the name of holy obedience to grant it. By this rule Ignatius designed to avoid exciting the animosity and jealousy of the other monastic orders and of the elergy in general. Besides, Ignatius knew well that any ecclesiastical dignity would confer lustre and power on the individual, but be detrimental to the order. A bishop or a cardinal would be less disposed than a poor priest to obey the general and to work for the Society. He himself most rigidly enforced it, and would permit neither Lainez or Borgia to receive the cardinal's hat which the Pope offered them. Since his time the Jesuits have very seldom broken this rule." — Nieolini, p. 43. When we discover therefore that in 1820 Father Hohenwart, " an old Jesuit" was seated on the archiepiscopal throne of Vienna, we must suppose that he was appointed thereto by the Pope not as a Jesuit, but as a Eomish priest, during the period of the suppression of the order, when Jesuits were supposed to have no legal existence. Note 24, page 64. " The good done by the Jesuits," etc., to " another was created at Stara AVies." We have here another glimpse afforded us of the fortunes of at least one of the " Children of Loyola" during the suppression of the order. We find that Prince Eaczynski, who had been a member of that Society, had on its suppression accepted eccle- siastical preferment, and condescended to become archbishop of Guesen and primate of Poland, no doubt, " for the greater glory of God." We say condescended advisedly, for it appears that on the reconstitution of his order " he solicited and obtained from the Holy See the favour of abdicating the dignities of the Church." It would hardly be possible for any one unacquainted with the system of training of the Jesuits -physical, moral, and intel- xl SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. lectual— to appreciate fully the significance of this fact and others of a similar kind which the history of the order so frequently brings to light. "We are informed concerning this Prince Pac- zynski that "his youth had been spent in those labours which prepare for profession." It would be impossible here to give extracts sufficiently detailed to convey even a partial conception of these " labours," but we would refer our readers to a small book, entitled The Noviciate, by Andrew Steinmetz, for an expe- rimental history of the results of one year passed amongst the English Jesuits at Hodder House, and we believe that it will then be no longer matter of surprise that individuals who have undergone this system of training for progressive self-annihilation for four years, should at the end of that time have ceased to be men, and become Jesuits ; and we may further add, that it will also be manifest that a man who has once been metamorphosed into a Jesuit, can hardly be believed to be capable of again becom- ing a man. It is said that this miracle has been exemplified in the case of the now celebrated ex- Jesuit, Father Passaglia, but the ultimate aim and issue of the proceedings of this deserter from the ranks of the order are still mysterious and uncertain. "We will quote one passage, however, from this book which will serve to illustrate the subject. " There was a difference in the conversation of the second- year novices. These, I could not help remarking, spoke very pointedly on the vow of obedience. Prom them I heard the tropes and metaphors which Ignatius has bequeathed as a sign to his faithful followers. ' I must be,' said they, ' like soft wax in the hands of my superior, to take ivhat form he pleases :' again, ' I must look upon myself as a corpse, which has no voluntary mo- tion] or, ' as a staff in an old man's hand, which he uses according to his own convenience." 1 These are the very words of their con- stitutions : — ' Sibi quisque persuadeat quod qui sub obediential vivunt se ferri ac regi a divina providentia per superiores suos sinere debent, perinde ac si cadaver essent, quod quoquo versus ferri, et quacunque ratione tractari se sinit : vel similiter atque senis baculus, qui, ubicunque, et quacunque in re velit, eo uti qui eum manu tenet ei inservit.' — Constit. Societ. Jes. Eom. 1683. Pars vi., cap. i. " This is not ' tyranny,' ' oppression,' ' a gross insult to com- mon sense !' Not the least in the world : it is only the perfection SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. Xli of holy obedience, nothing more. How can there be tyranny, oppression, where men are willing and eager to do all that is com- manded ? The enemies of the Jesuits never stumbled on a more stupid argument than this — it is the very essence of ignorant prejudice." .... " Here, then, has holy Father Ignatius selected three meta- phors to give an idea of what sort of obedience he expects to find in his Jesuits. These metaphors are, — 1st, wax ; 2nd, a corpse ; 3rd, an old man's stick. Very expressive certainly ! But he did not stop there ; he subjoined the property of w r ax, namely, 1 to take ivliat form he pleases ;' he intimates the passiveness of a corpse, ' which has no voluntary motion? he declares the unscru- pulous adaptation of an old man's stick, ' ivhich he uses according to his convenience.'' " Now r in all fair play, I ask if a man becomes in the hands of his superiors as this wax, — this corpse, — this old man's stick, in the manner that Ignatius superadds by way of explanation ; I ask, in the name of common sense, Will that man not do ivhatever his superior commands ? ' He will,' you say, but ' where no sin lies.' "Will your w r ax demur to be made into a Ravaillac by Madame Tussaud ? Will your corpse refuse to be dissolved into rank cor- ruption ? Will your old man's stick aid his steps, but refuse to ' knock down ' according to his convenience ? Here is no ' con- fusion of tongues,' indeed ; here is argument — argument suggested by yourself. True, we w r ere told that 4 holy obedience would never exact what was contrary to the will of God.' Alas ! what crimes have men not committed under the sanction of conscience ! . . . The boundless confidence, the divinity with which you are invested as ' superiors' the mystification which you constantly keep alive, suppresses every question or thought of a question in your wax, your corpse, your old man's stick, and your Jesuit w T ill be true to his calling in all things, superadding if you like, ' ichcre no sin lies' for that is necessarily understood, and would not be more satisfactory if you printed the w r ords in italics as long as a line of longitude." — The Noviciate ; or, The Jesuit in Training, by Andrew Steinmetz, pp. 232—234. We have no direct information from Mons. Cretineau whether or not Father Hohenwart's elevation to the archiepiscopal throne of Vienna had weakened his sympathies w T ith his order ; but we may suppose that it was to his influence it was due, that the xlii SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. jealousy Avhich had always subsisted between the Eomish episco- pate and the company of Loyola, was not manifested towards Father Landes and his associates on their entrance into Austria, and that the favour shewn to them by Louis Ankwicz, the Arch- bishop of Lenberg, by the Baron de Hauer and the Count de Sauran, was due to the good offices of the ex- Jesuit archbishop. The Prince Raczynski it appears was of more definite utility, as, "After some years passed in the Glesu at Rome, the old archbishop, once more a Jesuit, returned to Gallicia, .... and there he died, while Antoine de Gotasza, bishop of that town, laid the fov/ndation of a noviciate for the company" It would be impossible now to ascertain, we suppose, how many Jesuits were promoted to ecclesiastical dignities during the suppression of the order, but it is more than probable that at that period a large infusion of the Jesuit element into the episcopate of the Romish Church may have taken place, and that this con- tributed in no small degree to procuring for the fathers subse- quently an easy victory over their former inveterate foes, the secular clergy. Note 25, page 65. " The prelates employed them," etc., to " into Hungary." "We are here given the name of another ex- Jesuit who had been elevated to the dignity of archbishop, and there is a strange simi- larity in the expression used by Cretineau with respect to the reception given to the Jesuits by the Romish prelates in Austria, and that afforded to them in Ireland. " The prelates employed them in all works of ministration," and " they were the bishop's right hand, the living models held out by them to their clergy," etc. It would be a still more curious coincidence should it appear hereafter that Ireland had been similarly favoured by the Holy See by the promotion of ex-Jesuits. We may hereafter have an opportunity to make this a subject of investigation. Note 26, pages 70, 71. "Like every other society," etc., to " doubled their number." Monsieur Cretineau presumes much on the simplicity of his readers, by venturing to assimilate the order of Loyola in any of its characteristics with " every " or any " other society." Whether we consider its successes or its "declension, at various times and in su PPLE1I BNTAL COM M ENTABT. xliii various places, we are compelled to declare that it is a society "per #0 /" and as we shall presently have opportunity to prove from the evidence of its historian, from the account of its entrance and progress in Austria, that even the hatred and distrust of an almost absolute government is as powerless against its encroach- ments as the free institutions of a commonwealth. W e may appropriately cite here the words of Monsieur Charles Sauvestre, in his preface to a new edition of the Monita Sccrcta Socictatis Jesu, in translation published by Dentu, Palais Koyal, 1862. " Let us imagine an association, the members of which, having severed themselves from all the ties of family and of country which united them to society, bend all their efforts towards the attainment of one single and formidable end, — the development and the establishment of the domination of their association, by every possible means, over all the nations on the earth. " Let us imagine, moreover, that this immense conspiracy shall have concluded, by substituting its own rules and politics in the place of the precepts of religion itself; that it shall have succeeded in gradually subduing the princes of the Church, and in holding them in a condition of real though unacknowledged servitude, in such a manner that those who bear the titles and incur the responsibility of office, are truly no more than the docile instru- ments of a mute and hidden power. Such are the Jesuits. Con- tinually banished, continually they re-appear, and little by little and clandestinely they again establish themselves, and extend their roots subterraneously, only the more vigorously, in the shade. " Their property may be confiscated, but their losses are soon repaired. They are equal adepts at the wheedling of testators out of their estates, and at the conduct of commercial speculations. Confessors, merchants, usurers, sellers of pious toys, etc., they invent novel devotions to create a fresh market for their wares ; and, meanwhile, they mingle in politics, agitate kingdoms, and make princes tremble upon their thrones : for their hatred is terrible. "Woe to him who becomes their enemy. By the special favour of heaven, whoever has been an obstacle in their path, were he placed on the highest pinnacle of earthly power, has fallen as by the stroke of a thunderbolt. Henry IV., the only king whose memory is dear to the people, was thrice attacked by assassins, and died by the dagger of a fanatic at the very moment xliv SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. he was about to assail Austria, the favoured government of the Jesuits. Clement XIV., a pope, suppresses the order of the Jesuits, and shortly dies of the colic."* At this moment the Jesuits are again established amongst us, notwithstanding the edicts and laws against them. As formerly, they have re-opened their colleges, and are busy in training the youth of the country according to their principles. Their society aggrandises in wealth and influence by means of every description, and nothing can arrest its progress ; for every- where men are to be found, who will be disposed to serve it in order to obtain from it the advancement of their fortunes, or of their dignity. The book of which we present this new edition to the public, is the secret manual of this too celebrated Company. They have continually sought to make it appear an apocryphal production, and to exculpate the order of which it is the secret code. All crimes may be denied according to these pious fathers, but how in conscience can we rely upon the testimony of men to whom all falsehood is lawful, provided that it is of utility : — " A man may swear that he has not done an act, although he may really have done it, provided he utters the oath with the secret reserve in his own mind, that he did not do it on a certain day, or before he was born, or some such mental reservation, without the words he uses having any other sense than the apparent one ; and this is very convenient in many junctitres, and it is always most justifiable when necessary or useful for the preservation of health, or of honour, or of property" This quotation is extracted from the Moral Theology of E. P. Sauchez, p. 2, lib. iii., c. vi., No. 13. We know that the Jesuits are unchangeable in their doctrines as well as in the constitution of their order, " sint ut sunt aut non sint." — Instructions Secretes des Jesuites, par Charles Sauvestre, pp. 5—9. So much for the similarity that exists between the Society of the Jesuits and " every other society" Let us now refer to the * The king of Sardinia, Victor Amedee, said to one of our ministers, who is still living, and from whom I have the anecdote, that his Jesuit confessor, heing on his death-bed, entreated him to visit him ; and the dying man said this to him, " Sire, I rjave been loaded with favours by you, and I would fain testify my gratitude to you for it. Never take a Jesuit for your confessor: ask me no questions, for I may answer none." —Extrait des Mernoires de Duclos, iv., p. 119. SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. xlv same acute and candid writer we have just cited for a confirmation of the truth of the latter portion of Mons. Cretineau's testimony as to the disinterested zeal and devotion of the " Fathers," who u asked nothing for themselves, nothing for their order ;" to whom " success or defeat teas as nothing in the multiplicity of their duties ;" who " accepted of jog or sorrow ivith equal submission" and whose perseverance was crowned with such success, that when after three years at least " Jaques Stopper, the secretary of the prince bishop, and Xavier Wirminger, a doctor of theology, entered the noviciate accompanied by seventeen young men, four months afterwards they had doubled their number." " We will now give a short history of the order. We shall see that the Jesuits have been successively expelled everywhere, but that everywhere they have again made good their re-entrance furtively, but perseveringly. In France, having been condemned solemnly both for their acts and for their doctrines, they have none the less audaciously opened their schools in the bosom of the country from which they have been thrice ignominiously driven. Ministers pass away, governments change, revolutions overturn the land, laws are remodelled, Jesuits still remain always, and, in despite of them all, they alone never change. " This immutability, which is the sign of their strength, is also their condemnation. Movement is the law of existence ; every living thing is subject to change ; change is the very essence of progress. This formidable company is a society of the dead, ' perinde ac cadaver,' and it is a work of death which it fulfils. " Founded at the period when Europe was awakening after the long and bloody night of the middle ages, it set itself the task of keeping back the current which was bearing mankind towards the region of light and of science. It opposed to the torch of reason the dogma of passive obedience, 1 the immobility of the corpse to the pure and vivid illumination of conscience, the corruptions of probabilism and casuistry. " The worship of the saints replaced the worship of God, puerile formalities were substituted for morality, and religion made way for gross superstition, and as the human mind can never pause in its progress, the separation between faith and reason was rendered wider and wider, and Atheism spread abroad increasingly, as Jesuitism tends to the inevitable destruction of the sentiment of true religion. xlvi SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. " It is true, however, that it has bestowed upon us hypocrisy in its place. Established and directed with the view to the attainment of universal domination, this society presents in the mechanism of its organization such a power of usurpation, such a subtle morality, that we cannot contemplate it without a sort of awe. It may be that its early founders had no other aim than to bring about and confirm a unity of faith, and it may be that even now there are some amongst its members who have but this one purpose, and who pile up artifice upon artifice, hypocrisy on hypocrisy, with the most pious designs possible. Theirs is not the only example of a similar error, but their influence on the society is none the less pernicious, but rather the more ruinous. " The statutes of the Society of Jesus interdict all personal ambition to its members, but Satan is no loser by this bargain. The good fathers labour quite as vigorously to promote the exal- tation and the aggrandizement of the Company, the wealth and power of which is reflected upon every member it contains. Cor- porate pride and every sectarian passion takes the place of pri- vate interest ; in a word, none of them preserve any individual or distinct personality, but each is a Jesuit. " Personal disinterestedness makes the most reprehensible deeds appear innocent in their estimation, while, at the same time, it inspires in them the pride of absolute perfection. It thus verifies the maxim of Pascal, ' To metamorphose a man into an angel is to make Mm a least? Nothing is so near akin to arrogance as excessive humility, and it is thus that the Jesuits have come to believe themselves superior to all the other members of the eccle- siastical community, however elevated their dignity or position; and it is on this ground they rest their pretensions to dominate over the whole Catholic world. " They are nothing in themselves, they bear no sonorous titles, no sumptuous ornaments, neither the crozier nor the mitre, not even the ribbon of the Canon, but they belong to an order which rules and directs them all ; the others have the semblance of authority, they, and they alone, have the reality ; and in what part soever of the Catholic world he meets with resistance, or is treated with dishonour, how insignificant soever the Jesuit may appear, he knows well that he will have satisfaction from his enemy." — Instructions Secretes des Jesuits, par Charles Sauvestre, pp. 13—18. SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. xlvii Note 27, pages 72 — 74, also Note. " Austria then had accepted the Jesuits," to "education and by works of charity." The brief hut truly philosophical and comprehensive sketch of the principles, the aim, and the character of the Company of Loyola, which we have extracted from the pages of Mons. Sau- vestre's introduction, will have served to throw considerable light on the events related here and in the former part of this history. It confirms the boast of Mons. Cretineau, that " the institute of St. Ignatius knows admirably well how to adapt itself to circum- stances" which we suppose he would interpret as being a pious fulfilment of the apostolic words, " to be all things to all men, that hy all means I may win some," and possibly he might also cite in justification of the proceedings of his brethren, the text, "but being crafty I caught you ivith guile" We have seen with what skill Father Brzozowski appealed to Russian absolutism, in order to induce the Emperor to confide to his order the education of the youth of his empire, that he might convert them into " submissive subjects," and at the same time, according to the sage theory of Count de Maistre, take care not to over-educate them, or make them — " Too bright and good w to be fit " food " for gunpowder. "We are now given an insight into their manipulation of Prince Metternich and his obedient sovereign, and we learn that he was not approached by the same vulgar method. We are somewhat too candidly informed in this edition of Mons. Cretineau's history that Prince Metternich " had imbibed a secret repulsion for the Company of Jesus" and the utmost praise awarded to him is that " without making any external demonstra- tions of favour, but ivithout offering any impediment to the course they had taken, he allowed them to respond to the appeal of the bishops and Catholics." While in the last edition of his history (1851), the Prince is honoured by a much more unequivocal tribute ; there we are told "he presented himself as one of their principal supporters — he cleared aivay obstacles — he assisted the fathers by his advice and his influence" being " above prejudice from the ele- vation of his mind" etc. We have a high appreciation of the prudence of the fathers xlviii SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. as well as of the perspicacity of the Prince Metternich ; but not- withstanding Mons. Cretineau's amended history of the transac- tion, we can hardly credit that that wily politician was induced to believe in the single-hearted simplicity and purely spiritual cha- racter of these pious missionaries, or that he ever truly regarded them with the trustful reliance and admiration which Mons. Cre- tineau attributes to him. We are rather inclined to think that the secret of Prince Metternich's acquiescence in the reception of the Jesuits into Austria escapes in the following passage of the note, "following his great maxim of always doing the contrary to that which the enemy wished, he resolved to he just and favour the Jesuits." Prince Metternich no doubt conceived that having been banished from every country where there was even a semblance of liberty and constitutional freedom, the Jesuits would be naturally inimical to the doctrines of the liberal school of politicians, and might become safe allies of the government in withstanding the spread of these opinions in the schools and colleges. But he took the precaution to place them under such restrictions as he supposed would render them subject to the surveillance and control of the bishops and secular clergy. This is manifest from the quotation given by Cretineau himself from the Emperor's decree, 22nd of November, 1827, pp. 65, 66. " In the hope that the Jesuits admitted into my kingdom of Gallicia will render useful service by instruction and the educa- tion of youth, as also by the temporary assistance given to those pastors who have the cure of souls, — and that they may impose a salutary check to impiety and corruption of morals ; that they will make their pupils good Christians and faithful subjects ; and that by that means they will contribute to the true civilization and happiness of my people, I will agree to grant the respectful request they have presented to me Nevertheless as to that which concerns the sacerdotal functions, the celebration of divine service, preaching, the ministrations of the confessional, and the temporary assistance given to pastors having cure of souls, the Jesuits must be submitted to the bishops in such a way, that only their internal administration and maintenance of discipline will be reserved to the superiors of the Order according to the laws of their institute." It is evident from this that the reliance placed in the Jesuits SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. xlix by the Austrian government was of a very limited extent, and t hat the chief supporters of the Jesuit interest were the bishops and clergy, who lent to them their influeuce with the people, and assisted in every way to prepare and confirm their triumph, so that literally the government gave them no further token of appro- bation than " allowing them to respond to the appeal of the bishops and Catholics." We have already had reason to conjecture to what cause this earnest welcome to the " children of Loyola" on the part of the Austrian bishops may be attributed, viz., to the number of ex- Jesuits who had been promoted to ecclesiastical dignity in Austria during the suppression of the Order. With " Father Hohenwart on the archiepiscopal throne at Vienna," and " Prince Kaczynski, archbishop of Gruesen and primate of Poland," and " Pierre Klobuszycki, archbishop of Colocza and an old brother of their institute," it would have been strange indeed if the fathers had failed in securing a cordial reception, or if Prince Metternich (" supreme arbiter of alL affairs," as Mons. Cretineau declares him to have been) had been enabled to exercise much privilege of choice in submitting to their " respectful request." Nor is this the only instance, as we shall hereafter have occa- sion to remark, in which " the bishops and Catholics" have proved too many for merely temporal governments, when it was the pur- pose of the " children of Loyola" to make good their entrance and establishment in a state; and the subsequent and present condition of religion and morals in Austria, characteristically ex- emplifies the result of the education they bestowed upon the people. " As to Austria, she is entirely under the sway of ultra- montane principles. Whether in politics or religion she is en- circled with douaniers and engineers, with bastions and with J esuits. In vain she strives to extinguish light and to augment darkness. At Vienna or Inspruck it is well-nigh as perilous to read or preach the Bible as at Borne or Madrid. The Jesuits are prowling everywhere in the towns and villages. They have spies and watchmen who are ever on the alert to detect and apprehend the traveller who may dare to carry a Bible in his wallet or port- manteau. . . . We ask in the name of liberty and religion how long this anti-Christian despotism is to be tolerated in the midst of Christendom?"—! 7 /^ Jesuits, by Grinfield, pp. 288-9. Having now recorded the fortunes that befell the few wan- d 1 SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. dering exiles that accompanied Father Landes to Vienna, we are next called upon to consider the results of the hospitality afforded to another band of these brethren in a country nearer home, — " The poor Gentlemen of Liege." And we are informed by Cre- tineau that we are in the unconscious enjoyment of equal benefits with Austria, since from their " courage inspired by wisdom," " the same success awaited them in England." Note 28, page 75. " They never fell back before their enemies. This courage, inspired by wisdom, increased their influence : they increased in Germany, and the same success awaited them in England." " We say that the influence of the Jesuits in the three kingdoms of Great Britain has increased since 1814, and that its bad effects may be daily traced. We would almost be bold to assert that every obstacle which has come in the way to impede the progres- sive march of a free and powerful nation is, to a certain extent, due to the hidden hand of a Jesuit. " It must be borne in mind, that Rome of all things desiderates the ruin of heretic England, and endeavours to the utmost of her power to create troubles and difficulties to that free country, and if this be admitted, we shall remind our readers, that all [the arduous missions, all the delicate and secret undertakings for that purpose, since the times of Salmeron and Brouet, were always entrusted to the fathers." — Nicolini, p. 465. Alas ! it is too true in some respects that "the same success awaited them in England." They have not turned England into an Austria ; but in England, as in Austria, they have succeeded in spreading an atmosphere of darkness where there might have been light, in preventing the spread of the holy Word of God, in im- posing slavery for liberty, and in substituting hypocrisy for piety, in so skilfully blinding the eyes of men in authority as to induce them to call " evil good and good evil ;" and worst of all, in mak- ing the free institutions of this country the very agencies by which they effect all this mischief. England is, as it were, a richly manured and well watered garden, in which they have successfully sowed not tares but hemlock, and the rain and sunshine of the people's love to their country and its institutions only serve to foster the growth and rankness of those evil weeds, which " the enemy " has sown in our land. And we are not left to conjee- SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. li ture, nor can our assertions upon this matter be disputed by those whose theory it is that no country, with such a liberal constitution as ours, can ever be subjected to the domination of an oligarchy or an autocracy. We can cite the evidence of the theory, as well as the more emphatic evidence of fact to prove our position. A high authority, referring to the Clare election in 1829, says, " It was very immaterial as to the great question, whether or not Mr. O'Connell should immediately succeed. Afar more mighty bloiv had been struck than giving an individual a seat in the British senate. Incontestible proof had been put forward that a new order of things had really arisen in Ireland. The menaces and denunciations of the Association orators had been long treated by ministers as insolent but idle declamations. But here teas the thing itself, so sternly expressed, that it was quite impossible even for the most deluded or prejudiced opponent of the Catholics to shut his eyes to its existence or results. A cabinet minister, a warm friend to the Catholics, a gentleman wielding the most extensive govern- ment patronage .... expelled contumeliously from a seat which he had long held with distinguished credit to himself and his con- stituents, was, no doubt, a very striking and alarming political phenomenon ; but such things had happened in many former elec- tions. . . . The principle here illustrated had never before been tried in Ireland The man was nothing in the case, but the measure was everything. It was designed to tell ministers, in a language which should no longer be misunderstood, that wherever the Association chose to call, that there were the people ready to follow ; that obedience to the Association was the paramount prin- ciple in the heart of every peasant in the country ; that the power of tbe Association was therefore absolute and universal ; that it could not be got rid of by the law, for it never infringed the law ; that it could not be got rid of by brute force, for it never ren- dered brute force necessary ; that it was therefore unattackable and enduring ; that unattackable itself it could attack others ; that without injuring established institutions, it might make use of those very institutions for every purpose of injury ; that it could wield the constitution against the constitution; introduce a sullen perpetual war into the bosom of peace ; disturb every relation of society icifh- out violating a single enactment on which such relations repose ; and, finally, produce such an order of things as to compel the minister to choose between coercion and conciliation, between jus- d2 lii SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. tice or tyranny, between war or peace, between equalization or revolution. It was intended to tell him that the crisis had come, and there was no longer any time left him for pause or deliberation. This was the moral of the piece," etc. — Historical Sketch of the late Catholic Association of Ireland, by Thomas Wyse, Esq., vol. i., pp. 191—193. Mr. "Wyse is right, the " moral of the piece " was unequivocal, and we are fortunate in finding in Mons. Cretineau a commentary which should make "the moral" still more profitable. He informs us that " the man " whom Mr. Wyse declares " was nothing" was virtually everything, inasmuch as he was the tool and organ of that " which the blessed father, St. Ignatius, was ordinarily wont to call — the very little Company of Jesus" — Cretineau, p. 153. It is, and must be a humiliating reminiscence for England, to recall for how many years not long passed away this nominee of the Jesuits — this coarse and vulgar demagogue — was installed by them in the post of dictator in the United Kingdom : never yet, even in Austria, were they so successful as to find at once an instru- ment so fitted for their purpose, or politicians so largely endowed with docility as to submit to the domination of so unworthy a ruler, who triumphed in trampling on moral obligations and oaths, and of whom the highest commendation that can be given is, that he was a pupil worthy of his masters. Note 29, page 75. " "We have already related," etc. "We must not omit to notice an act which we suppose Mons. Cretineau's discretion caused him to forbear recording, although he would doubtless condemn it as persecution of a more cruel and unnatural kind than any that was perpetrated by heretic sove- reigns against the objects of his devout admiration. It is a peti- tion addressed to the Pope in 1537, by the English Roman Catholic priests, in which they say, " That those fathers (the Jesuits) were the sole authors of all the troubles which agitated the English Church ; that previous to the Jesuits coming to England, no Catholic had been accused of high treason ; that they no sooner made their appearance in Great Britain, than the aspect of things began to undergo a change ; that their political ambi- tion was manifest, and that they had set a price on the crown and put the kingdom to auction."— See De Thou. SUPPLEMENTAL COM M ENTAHY. liii These were the times and the circumstance! in which on the 20th November, 1581, Campion and fifteen other priests were brought to trial at West minster. They were all condemned, and three .Jesuits, Campion, Sherwin, and Briant were publicly exe- cuted. Cretineau and the other Jesuit historians give them the name of martyrs. Hume, on the contrary, following the histo- rians of the epoch, says that " Campion was detected in treason- able practices, and being put to the rack confessed his guilt, and was publicly executed." — Hume, chap, xii., a.d. 1580. Nicolini, p. 1G3. It is a certain fact, that while other orders of the Koman Catholics have been found in different periods of history to be not only good and peaceful men, but loyal and faithful subjects to Protestant sovereigns, and contented with equal civil and religious . rights and privileges, the followers of Loyola have never been satisfied with less than supreme domination, nor ceased in their efforts to stir up in all the other members of their church the same antisocial and antichristian spirit. The successor of Eliza- beth, the fantastic and semi-popish James, wins no higher favour from Mons. Cretineau, as appears by the above, than that vigour- ous and truly Protestant queen. " Aut Caesar aut nullus " is the enduring motto of the children of Loyola : " The son of a Catholic martyr," as they loved to style him, would, they hoped, become eventually subjugated to their yoke, and the persecution which Mons. Cretineau characterises as " always equally inhuman," was - in truth such a system of generous conciliation and forbearant tolerance, that it in some sort defeated the aim of the Jesuits by winning upon the affections and loyalty of a great body of English ltoman Catholics, in fact, the Jesuits despised him for his clemency. " It is remarkable that though the hierarchy thus affected to rely on his entire devotion to their cause, they would not suffer their followers to take the oath of allegiance. The discovery of the gun- powder treason had been so far from ruffling the benevolence of the king, or thwarting his schemes of conciliation, that his naturally undignified character rose with the emergency into a clemency and magnanimity truly royal. In his speech to the Parliament, he observed, 1 that though religion had engaged the conspirators in so criminal an attempt, yet ought we not to include all the Romanists in the same guilt, or suppose them equally disposed to commit such enormous barbarities. The wrath of heaven is liv SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. denounced against crimes, but innocent error may obtain its favour, and many holy men, our ancestors among the rest, had concurred with the Church of Rome in her scholastic doctrines, who yet had never admitted her seditious principles concerning the Pope's power of dethroning kings. For his part, the con- spiracy, however atrocious, should never alter in the least his plan of government, while with the one hand he punished guilt, with the other he would support and protect innocence.' " — Hume, vol. vi., p. 38, quoted from Phelan's History of the Church of Borne in Ireland. Note 30, page 75. " The revolution of 1688 was made to the cry of ' death to the Jesuits,' " etc. The well known anecdote of the American citizen, whose cha- racteristic view of constitutional liberty was to be " free to make every one else do as he liked," finds a parallel here. " Liberty or death," in the Jesuit vocubulary, means absolute domination over the mind and body of each and every individual, while the alternative of "death" means a privation of the exercise of this vital function. " The accession of James II. presented," as the present Pope remarks, " a prospect of happier times for the Catholic religion," but it was the darkest day in England for Protestantism since the reign of Mary. There was now no affectation as to the intention of the court. "The queen," says Hume, alluding to James, " had much influence over him. She was much governed by the priests, especially by the Jesuits, and as these were also the king's favourites, all public measures were taken from their suggestions, and bore marks of their ignorance and their religious zeal." The king sent the Earl of Castlemaine to Rome to make advances for reconciling his kingdom in form to the Romish communion. The papal nuncio resided openly in London. Eour popish bishops were publicly consecrated in the royal chapel, and sent out under the titles of vicars apostolic to exercise the episcopal functions in their respective dioceses. Their pastoral letters were printed and dispersed by the express permission of the king. The regular clergy appeared at court in the habits of their orders, and were so indiscreet as to boast that they hoped soon to walk in procession through the capital. Then came the days for forcing Benedictines SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. lv on Cambridge, and Jesuits on Oxford. Every insult was offered to the clergy and to the Protestant dissenters. The six bishops were sent to the Tower because they would not read the declaration of the dispensing power of the crown. The nation saw no escape from Popery and tyranny but by inviting William and Mary to come over and save them. William was a firm Protestant, but he urns no persecutor of the Papists. He included them in the toleration which he granted to others, and would not be induced to exercise any needless severities against them ; but they evinced little gratitude for this generosity. They were continually exciting the Jacobites, and more than once entered into schemes for his assassination. The Jesuits as usual were the most active in these conspiracies. In 1695 a plot was laid for destroying the king at Turnham Green, on his return from hunting; Charnock the Jesuit was executed at Tyburn, with several others, in the following year, for being concerned in this plot.''' — The Jesuits, an historical sketch, by E. W. Grrinfield, M.A., pp. 129, 130. In fact, to quote the words of Hume, " The restless and enter- prising spirit of the Catholic Church, particularly of the Jesuits, is in some degree dangerous to every other communion. Such zeal of proselytism actuates that sect, that its missionaries have pene- trated into every section of the globe, and in one sense there is a Popish plot perpetually carrying on against all states, Protestant, Pagan, and Mohammedan." — Hume's Hist. Charles II., a.d. 1678. Note 31, page 76. " In the beginning of the eighteenth century," etc., to " the Jesuits were no longer pursued as if they were public malefactors." This paragraph can find no more appropriate comment, than the following slight sketch of the proceedings of the general assembly of the Roman Catholic clergy of Prance, at precisely the same period when Mons. Cretineau congratulates England on her return to true principles of liberty. " In France the commencement of the eighteenth century was signalised by the decree and declaration of the general assembly of the clergy, on the faith and morals of the Jesuits, (see Du Pin, cent, xvii., vol. iv., p. 445). The archbishop of Rheims was the president, and to render the assembly more solemn and in- Ivi SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. fluential he invited the Cardinal de Noailles, archbishop of Paris, witkwhom was associated the celebrated Bossuet, bishop of Meaux, and others of great eminence. Their first act is dated 5th of October, 1700. " In this letter, addressed to the French bishops, they censure, in the strongest terms, the doctrines which had been recently advocated by the Jesuits. They combat their semi-Palagian tenets concerning grace and free-will, and denounce as scandalous and blasphemous their hideous casuistry. These censures extend to nearly all the topics in The Provincial Letters ; to the questions concerning homicide, chastity, the doctrine of 'probability,' the 'first intention,' etc. On all these subjects the prelates, being four archbishops and two bishops, deliver a strong and unanimous condemnation of the opinions and principles of the Society. The despotism and tyranny of the Jesuits cannot be more strongly ex- hibited than in that retractation which Noailles, the archbishop of Paris, was subsequently (a.d. 1720) compelled to make of his approbation of Jansenius. — See Du Pin, Hist. Eccles., vol iv., p/422. * # # # # " The rage and displeasure of the Jesuits against the bishops who had thus declared against them, in favour of Jansenius, knew no bounds. Such were their calumnies against the illustrious Bossuet, that his nephew, bishop of Troyes, was compelled to appeal to Parliament in his defence ; they pursued the other bishops with the same hostility. To their honour, be it remembered, they still persevered in protesting against such demoralizing maxims." — The Jesuits, by Grinfield, pp. 243, 244. It would not reflect much credit on the British cabinet if it were really the case, that it had extended such undiscriminating indulgence to all orders of Romanists, as Mons. Cretineau assumes it to have done, and although it was a fact that "Jesuits were no longer pursued as if they were public malefactors," the reason was, that the existence of Jesuits in England ivas unknown. The law still considered them malefactors, and paid the homage to morality of excluding them from the kingdom, and if they were not discovered under their specious disguises, or hunted from their secret lurking places, it was due rather to their cunning than to the law's connivance. It is not to be believed that there were any men in England, in the Cabinet, or out of it, who would wit- SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. Ivii tingly have harboured within her shores such notorious enemies of liberty, of peace, and order, and virtue. Note 32, page 78. "They were about to be left homeless and hopeless," to "Thomas "Weld opened England to them." It is not without reason that Count de Maistre declared con- cerning history, " there is no study more dangerous ;" the maxim admits of a manifold application. From the applause which Monsieur Cretineau bestows upon English liberality and easiness, the unsophisticated reader might be given to believe that the lessons of the former century had been lost upon our country and its rulers, and that England, as a nation, had welcomed these calumniated innocents, and proudly offered them a shelter from the rage of their persecutors. We must remember that this history was not written for England or Englishmen, nor perhaps designed for the edification of Protestants in any country ; and it is an artifice worthy of a Jesuit to seek to involve a nation in the act of an individual, when by so doing he may have a chance to win, for his clients, the reputation of having conquered by their virtues a dominant position in a great and enlightened community. In the foregoing paragraph, however, Monsieur Cretineau states the simple truth, although his previous introduction of it gives it a colouring which amounts to falsehood. It was truly "Thomas Weld" who "opened England to them," but be it re- membered, not as " Jesuits" but as " the poor gentlemen of Liege." "They professed poverty on their arrival, and obtained the house, with eleven hundred acres of ground around it, at a moderate rent. Poor Mr. Weld was afterwards induced to enter the order, to which he bequeathed the whole property away from his own 'very large family' (see Overbury's Jesuits, 207). The government, which established Maynooth College, and endowed it in a fit of unwise liberality, could not consistently uproot Stony hurst. So the Jesuits have kept their ground, and grown and multiplied in England." — Secret History of Romanism, by Rev. Dawson Massy, p. 94. Iviii SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. Note 33, page 79. "Since 1786, the Jesuits of Great Britain," etc., to "this solemnity took place." While in relating the struggles and triumphs of the Company in Eoman Catholic countries, Cretineau is comparatively com- municative, as to the opposition of the other orders of the Romish Church to the domination of the J esuits, it is only here and there, and with great reserve as to the details and particulars, that we are given a glimpse into the relative position of the Romish Church at large, and the Jesuits in these countries. We must commend greatly the prudence of the historian in this matter, but we believe that if the history had been penned for Protestant eyes, he would have observed even a stricter reticence. We have alluded in a former note to the disregard shewn by the fathers to the brief of Q-anganelli; here we learn that the English Jesuits considered themselves " placed beyond its pale ;" but the vicar- general of the Romish Church was, it seems, of a different opinion, and " refused to incorporate them into the newly-established society," and "signified" "that they must renounce this project." We are not at this moment aware of the existence of any documents accessible to Protestants, which would serve to throw light on the struggles which took place at this period ; but if any of our readers can furnish us with references on the subject, an examination into the details of the event would be, no doubt, highly useful. In The Noviciate, by Steinmetz, to which we have referred before, he says, speaking of the lectures delivered to the novices, " they were composed by one Father Plowden, formerly master of the novices at Hodder. They were remarkably well written, always well arranged, luminous, full of vigour, and not unfrequently facetious. I enjoyed these lectures, and yet, strange to say, it was the lecture which referred to the downfall of the Society, and the charges brought against it, that first shook my resolution to become a Jesuit. I shall never forget the impression made on my mind by the concentrated ferocity with which the character of an English priest, who had written against the Society, was assailed. In reading the passage, the meek father of the novices seemed to tremble at the words of wrath." In a note to this account we find the following: "Referring perhaps to the fierce dissensions between the' regular and secular clergy of SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. lix England many years ago, I think a full account of the matter appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine." — See The Noviciate, pp. 104, 105, and note. There is another remarkable passage in this book, relative to a conversation held by the author with the agent of the Jesuits in London ; he says, " I remember on one occasion I alluded to the charges made against the Society. ' What do they accuse us of?' said he freezingly. I was rather startled by this apparent ignor- ance, and in self-defence stumbled on the Paraguay affair. 'It is all false, sir,' said he, ' from beginning to end ;' and he began to give me some spiritual advice. This is curious, but the fact is, I believe that the Jesuits are for the most part kept in total igno- rance of their own history in general. A discretion is used in this matter, as in the permission to read the Scriptures generally amongst the Roman Catholics ; and only ' the great and glorious deeds ' of holy Father Ignatius (as he is styled par excellence) , of Father Xavier, Father Campion, Father Parsons, etc., are familiar to the uninitiated." — Ibid., pp. 18, 19. "We have not been so fortunate as to find the numbers of the Gentleman's Magazine, alluded to by Steinmetz as containing the account of this warfare between the English priests and the Jesuits ; but if any of our readers can furnish us with a more par- ticular reference, we shall feel much indebted for the information. Note 34, pages 80, 81. " The company now risen from the tomb," etc., to " identified themselves completely with them." In these two short pages we are afforded all the light which Cretineau considers it wise to bestow upon his readers as to this momentous conflict. Never again are we suffered to hear of any internecine struggles in the English branch of the Romish Church, and truly this resume of events is a profitable one for us to consider. "England," we are told, "was shaken to her centre." " Pitt had neither time nor inclination to oppose the re-establishment of the Institute." " England had been indifferent to its destruction, and believed herself strong enough to disregard its resurrection." There is a quiet sarcasm in this last expression, which can hardly escape the notice of even the most casual reader ; and we lx SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. can easily comprehend the silent exultation of the historian as he penned that phrase, while engaged in the record of those events which have subsequently manifested how powerless was the strength on which England prided herself. We need not to be informed that no sign of conscious potency, no anticipations of future supremacy, were ever suffered to appear in the demeanour and proceedings of " The poor Gentlemen of Liege." They could afford to smile benignantly behind their cowls at the innocent simplicity of poor Britannia; while, like the fair Una in the exquisite allegory of the poet, though guarded by her faithful lion and devoted knight, she was assailed by one — "Whose looks seemed still to threat Cruel revenge, which he in heart did hide, While on his shield ' Sans Foy' in bloody lines was dyed." "We are simply informed that " the Jesuits took advantage of this pre-occupation, and in order that they might not be taken unawares, they decided that a noviciate should now be created. ' They only required one house and a garden? and the generosity of Thomas Weld provided both." Their first great aim was now achieved — the Jesuits had be- come possessors of a plot of English soil. Lords of a few acres at Stonyhurst, they knew well that to extend their demesne over a much larger district was but a question of time ; but they were well aware that while they had little to fear from unsuspecting Protestants, there were those in England by whom "they were better known than trusted," viz., all the pious and patriotic mem- bers of the Church to which they professed such ardent devotion. Englishmen, although Roman Catholics, had not ceased to be Englishmen, and what wonder that they endeavoured to defend their country from the inroads of those men — who know no country, and who had raised tumults and seditions wherever they had been afforded a harbour. Cretineau does not tell us the grounds of the dispute between the Jesuits and the vicars apos- tolic ; but we have an intimation, although but a slight one, that it had in it a national element, for he says, " The authority of the vicars apostolic had never been contested, but it was as transitory as the life of the person who held the office ; from that cause- alone it was exposed to the errors of self-love" by which we may under- stand that it was possible that a vicar apostolic might be a man SUPPLEMENTAL COMM E \TA BY. Ixi and a patriot, and not a mere ecclesiastic — an item in a corpora- tion, which acknowledged the existence of no individual will or sympathies. These refractory vicars promised to be dangerous enemies, and the brethren were resolute to give them no quarter. For this determination we must declare that " they were wise in their generation," for it has ever been found that Romanism, however erroneous its dogmas and superstitious its practices, when separated from Jesuitism is susceptible of influences from without, and has in some cases been modified, as at different periods in France and in other countries, into a system comparatively inno- cuous to political and social freedom. We shall presently have occasion to give a very unequivocal proof of the beneficial influences which the free institutions and the liberal atmosphere of England had exercised over English Romanism ; and we believe that we are fully justified in the con- clusion, that if in this struggle the victory had rested with the vicars apostolic instead of with the Jesuits, that if ere this the Romish Church in England was not absorbed into the Protestant, its type would have become so essentially changed as to manifest few, if any, of the deformities which now characterize British Romanism, so that those who are now called most ultra and bigoted Protestants would be deprived of all chance of public sympathy and support in seeking to exclude Roman Catholics from the privilege of the utmost extent of civil and religious liberty. At this period perhaps it would not be possible for us to ascertain what were the methods resorted to by the Jesuits, to prevent the voice and the opinion of the people of England from being evoked in the cause of their adversaries. "We must sup- pose, however, that at that time the public interest was almost entirely concentrated on the events and results of the war ; and that the battle between the English Catholics and the Jesuits, if it attracted any notice at all, was considered in the light of a sectarian squabble with which those outside the pale of the Romish Church could have no possible interference. By this means our Roman Catholic fellow-countrymen were precluded from any means of defence against their enemies, and were therefore silently victimized by this small but compact band of foreign conspira- tors. We believe that their success was chiefly due to " the illus- trious Milner" who was a traitor in the camp, and opened the doors of the citadel to the foe. But let this be as it may, the fact Ixii SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. is undeniable that from the date of the establishment of the Jesuit Society in England, the nationality of the Roman Catholic Church in England was utterly annihilated, and patriotism was numbered among the sins against which every true son of the Church should most especially guard himself. Note 35, pages 81, 82. " In the present state of affairs," etc., to " an engine of power." Perhaps the most lucid comment that could be made upon this paragraph will be found in the following extract from the writings of a man who can scarcely be accused of narrow views or secta- rian or illiberal tendencies. Himself an ardent republican and citizen of a republic, he is better qualified than any Englishman to appreciate the abuses of liberty, and to exemplify the methods by which the maxim may be verified, " Summus jus — summa injuria." " Associations injure free action by a very plain and obvious operation. They accumulate power in a few hands, and this takes place just in proportion to the surface over which they spread. In a large institution a few men rule, a few do everything ; and if the institution happens to be directed to objects about which conflict and controversy exist, a few are able to excite in the mass strong and bitter passions, and by these to obtain an immense ascendancy. Through such an association, widely spread yet closely connected by party feeling, a few leaders can send their voices and spirit far and wide ; and where great funds are accumulated, can league a host of instruments, and by menace and appeals to interest, can silence opposition. Accordingly we fear that in this country an influence is growing up through widely-spread societies, altogether at war with the spirit of our institutions, and which, unless jealously watched, will gradually but surely encroach on freedom of thought, of speech, and of the press. It is very striking to ob- serve how, by such combinations, the very means of encouraging a free action of men's minds may be turned against it. We all esteem the press as the safeguard of our liberties — as the power which is to quicken intellect — by giving to all minds an oppor- tunity to act on all. Now by means of tract societies, spread over SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. Ixiii a whole community and acting under a central body, a few indi- viduals, perhaps not more than twenty, may determine the chief reading for a great part of the children of the community, and for the majority of the adults, and may deluge our country with worthless sectarian writings, fitted only to pervert its taste, de- grade its intellect, and madden it with intolerance. Let associa- tions devoted to any objects which excite the passions be every- where spread and leagued together for mutual support, and nothing is easier than to establish a control over newspapers. "We are persuaded that by an artful multiplication of societies devoted apparently to different objects, but all swayed by the same leaders, and all intended to bear against a hated party, as cruel a persecu- tion may be carried on in a free country as in a despotism. Public opinion may be so combined and inflamed and brought to bear on odious individuals or opinions, that it will be as perilous to think and speak with manly freedom as if an Inquisition were open before us. It is now discovered that the way to rule in this country is by an array of numbers which a prudent man will not like to face. Of consequence all associations aiming or tending to establish sway by numbers, ought to be opposed. They create tyrants as effectually as standing armies. Let them be withstood from the beginning. No matter whether the opinions which they intend to put down be true or false, let no opinion be put down by such means. Let not error be suppressed by an instrument which will be equally powerful against truth, and which must subvert that freedom of thought on which all truth depends. . . . In this country few things are more to be dreaded than organiza- tions or institutions by which public opinion may be brought to bear tyranically against individuals or sects. Prom the nature of things public opinion is often unjust, but when it is not embodied and fixed by pledged societies it easily relents ; it may receive new impulses ; it is open to influences from the injured. On the con- trary, when shackled and stimulated by vast associations, it is in danger of becoming a steady, unrelenting tyrant ; brow-beating the timid, proscribing the resolute, silencing free speech, and vir- tually denying the dearest religious and civil rites." — "W. E. Chan- ning, Remarks on the Formation of Associatio?is. The practical truth and wisdom of this admirable and philo- sophic sketch of the nature and operation of large associations will not be questioned by any thoughtful reader ; and the views Ixiv SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. it contains may derive additional force from the fact, that it was not written with special application to the Society of Jesuits, but rather to the innumerable political and religious associations that were rife in America at the period, 1829-30. Let us now see with what tenfold force these remarks will apply to the associations of the Company of Loyola. " The members of the Society are dispersed through every corner of the world — distinguished by as many nations and king- doms as the earth has intersections ; but this is a division arising from diversity of place, not of affection — a dissimilarity of coun- tenance, not of morals. In this association the Latin thinks with the Greek, the Portuguese with the Brazilian, the Irishman with the Sarmatian, the Englishman with the Belgian, and among so many different dispositions there is no strife, no contention, no- thing which affords opportunity of discovering that they are more than one. The place of their nativity affords them no personal advantage. The same design, the same manner of life, the same uniting vow combines them. The pleasure of a single individual can cause the whole Society to turn and re-turn, and determine the revolution of this numerous body, which is easily moved, but with difficulty shaken." — Imago, Primi Saeculi, proleg., p. 33, lib. v., quoted in The Jesuits, by T. H. Usborne, Esq., pp. 26, 27. It is in fact the power of a democracy wielded by an autocrat. Note 36, page 82. "With their practical good sense, the English," etc., to "sought the shade." "We have here perhaps the most admirable specimen of Monsieur Cretineau's adroitness in presenting a palpable falsehood in terms of unquestionable truth ; the sentence is framed with considerable skill, for each portion is true ; but as a whole it conveys a most audacious misrepresentation. "While it is true that the English were indisposed to carry on " a war against the opinions " of Roman Catholics, it is most untrue that they "accepted the Jesuits as they were," knowing them to be Jesuits ; in fact, so far from this being the case, the very act which conferred what was called " liberty " upon the Roman Catholics, made especial provision for the restriction and ultimate annihilation of the Jesuit order in England. This is subsequently admitted by Cretineau, with the remark, that SUPPl.KM BNTAL COM M ESNTABY. kv although they "knew the edict was especially directed against themselves, they made no account of it." We must, therefore, conclude that there is a sly satire contained in the allusion to the " practical good sense " of a measure, the provisions of which were so easily converted into a nullity; especially as it follows the strange admission, that while "constitutional France, liberal Spain, Italy, Germany, and revolutionary Belgium, all united in one loud cry of malediction," that " in the country the most opposed to Catholic tendencies that cry was destined to remain without an echo." We do not question the fact that it was under the guise of " practical good sense " that the view was promulgated in England ; that it was beneath the wisdom and the dignity of the nation to enter into the religious question with Eomanists. Although the arguments adduced were rather of an ad captandwm than of a solid kind, there is no doubt but that they had great weight and influence with the British public. We can all remember the popularity of " Peter Plymley's Letters," and the nature and quality of the reasons advanced in them, for admitting Eomanists to the highest privileges of the constitution. Apart from the proved "practical" folly of some of the conclu- sions, it seems almost inexplicable to the thoughtful reader how it could have happened that reasoning so shallow, and wit of such an inferior order as that displayed in those letters, should have met with such a degree of admiration. We may cite the following par exemple, " For God's sake do not think of raising cavalry and infantry in Ireland. They interpret the epistle to Timothy in a different manner from what we do. They eat a bit of wafer every Sunday, which they call their God. I wish from my soul they would eat you and such reasoners as you are." Again : "lamas disgusted with the nonsense of the Roman Catholic religion as you can be, ... . but what have I to do with the speculative nonsense of his theology when the object is to elect the mayor of a county town, or to appoint a colonel of a marching regiment ? Will a man discharge the solemn impertinence of the one office with less zeal, or shrink from the bloody boldness of the other with greater timidity, because the blockhead thinks he can eat angels in muffins, and shew a spiritual nature in the crumpet he buys from the baker's shop ? I am sorry there should be such folly in the world, but I should be ten times a greater fool than he is, if I e Ixvi SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. refused to lead him out against the enemies of the state, till he had made a solemn protestation that the crumpet was spiritless, and the muffin nothing but a human muffin." — Peter JPlymley's Letters, pp. 14, 15. To the reader of good taste we think this savours much less of wit and wisdom than of folly and profanity, and if the reputa- tion of the really gifted author had no better foundation than this work to rest upon, we cannot believe it would have survived even to this day. That such representations should have had effect is by no means an evidence of the "practical good sense" of the English, but rather of their unadvised rashness and over-confidence ; the conflict of centuries, as proved by the experience of all Europe, between the authority of civil governments and the ecclesiastical powers, could not be safely decided by the sprightly lucubrations of the facetious divine : nor do we believe that it was at the period alluded to by Cretineau that the question was brought to a practical issue. The impunity given to the Jesuits, and the sub- sequent passing of the bill of 1829, were but the sequence of a former transaction, the establishment of the college of Maynooth. " When," to use Mr. Wyse's expression, " Maynooth began to be felt," the turbulence and sedition of the Irish Eomanists became a motive power in the state, and the "relief of Catholic disabilities " was a mere party cry of the Whigs, and the preservation of British liberty and the integrity of the constitution could no longer be matters of legislative deliberation, but were a simple question of numerical majorities, as has been plainly manifested by the former note extracted from Mr. Wyse's History of tlie Catholic Association. Notes 37, pages 83, 84. "The position we have just described," etc., to "distracted by intestine war." The whole proceedings of the Romish Church are so hidden in mystery, that even their own laity have little or no cognizance of them, except when the laws are brought to bear upon themselves in special instances ; the laws which regulate their clergy are wholly unknown to them, nor in general do they care to investigate the subject ; any undue curiosity concerning it being considered a species of sacrilege. We may therefore easily believe, that the whole SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. Iwii ecclesiastical system of the Romish Church might be revolutionized, and the laity be condemned to a condition of spiritual and civil Helotism, without their having any cognizance of the time or the method by which the revolution was effected. Although Protestants are not withheld by any sentiments of awe or reluctance, from seeking to ascertain the secrets of the eccle- siastical polity of Rome, they are debarred from all means of learn- ing the precise facts concerning it except through the medium of Romish writers belonging to the opposing sections of that Church. We have an opportunity of learning, both from the record of facts by some of these writers, and by inferences which these facts neces- sarily involve, some strange particulars as to the quarrel between the Vicars Apostolic and the Jesuits, which Cretineau here so cautiously alludes to. We transcribe from the pages of the Quarterly Review, March 1841, p. 547, the following short account of all that Protestants were suffered to know with respect to this quarrel. u It is evident that Popery being Christian, though a perversion of Catholic Christianity, and under the appearance of rigid inflexibility, leaving much of its practice to be modified by individual character ; may assume not only a decent and quiet, but also a spiritual form, when the turbulent, avaricious and ambitious spirit by which it is too often possessed, is lulled for a time by circumstances. It does assume this form in the many, great, and good, and holy men who have lived within the Romish communion, and especially in the parochial clergy of some Roman Catholic countries, as for instance at some periods in France ; and, as was stated before, there is reason to believe that towards the end of the last century, this was to a certain degree the case in Ireland. Priests appear to have been men of education, gentlemanly habits and associations, loyal, orderly and benevolent. Few obstacles were offered to attendance on Protestant schools ; servants were permitted to attend family prayers ; acts of courtesy and kindness, and even more, were exchanged between themselves and the clergy of the Church. The Protestants subscribed largely, in fact almost built for them their chapels, and the landlords and tenants appear not to have been hostilely separated. " Notwithstanding the mischievous system which prevailed of middle men, there seems to have been even some disposition to modify the papal part of the system, and to introduce something of the Gallican e 2 lxviii SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. liberties, the first step towards the cure of Popery. An illustration of this may be found in the history of the veto. 'In 1791,' said Mr. Wyse, 'the English Roman Catholics, anxious for immediate ad- mission into the pale of the constitution, attempted to establish a church a la Utrecht, independent of the Roman See, but preserving the old dogmas, and adopted as their designation, the significant name of ' Protestant Catholic dissenters.' These opinions were embodied in an oath which they offered to take in lieu of the oath of supremacy.' Sir John Cox Hippesley seized these suggestions, and matured them into the project of a veto. The plan was adopted by Mr. Pitt, and in 1799 the Romish bishops of Ireland were induced to acquiesce in it. They agreed that ' a provision from government for the clergy ought to be thankfully accepted and the proposal ' that the Crown might be allowed such an interference in the ap- pointment of bishops as might enable it to be satisfied of the loyalty of the person appointed,' they allowed ' was just, and ought to be agreed to.' In 1808 Lord Fingal, according to Mr. Wyse the sole delegate of the Catholics of Ireland, and Dr. Milner, ' the accredited agent of the Irish (Roman) Catholic bishops, gave sub- stantially (at least) their assent to the proposition of vesting a nega- tive on the nomination of (Roman) Catholic bishops in the Crown.' ' The whole history of this proceeding,' says Mr. Wyse, ' is still involved in much obscurity. But one thing is certain, that some influence, of what kind no one pretends to explain, compelled Dr. Milner to retract his concession, roused a popular movement in Ire- land to condemn the proposal, induced all but three of the bishops, originally subscribers to the resolutions of 1799, to meet in September, 1808, and condemn them formally; 'whether,' says Mr. Wyse, ' they directed or followed the people is not quite clear,' (nor does it matter) ; and induced them again, in 1810, to pass six formal reso- lutions, the direct contradictories of those which had been subscribed in 1799. This sudden alteration of sentiment is in itself remarkable ; and it might be interesting to inquire if any of the parties who were employed in rousing the popular feeling against the veto, (the well- known Dr. England for instance in Cork) were connected either directly or indirectly with any secret influence from another quarter. 1 '' — Quarterly Review, March 1841, pp, 547-8. We have here given upon Mr. Wyse's evidence the following facts — that the great body of Roman Catholic prelates, including Dr. SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. Milner, had in 1790 signed a document which placed the Church of Rome in these islands, in a comparative subordinate relation to the Government, so as to secure the loyalty of those individuals who might subsequently be appointed to bishoprics in that Church — that owing to some unexplained influence, the history of the transaction being "still involved in much obscurity," a popular feeling was roused in Ireland against the proposal, that " whether they directed or followed the people is not quite clear," but that the result was, that in 1801, and subsequently again in 1810, Dr. Milner and the other bishops, (all but three,) were induced or compelled to sign a retractation of their consent to it. We must remark, that while the acceptance of this species of " concordat " with the government on the part of the Romish pre- lates of these kingdoms, did not involve any change in the theological dogmas of their religion, it did involve the placing the British branch of the Roman Catholic Church on a certain footing of nationality, and was virtually an assertion on their part of their adherence to the doctrine of the Galilean liberties, the doctrines which protected the civil liberty and national independence of the Church of France, and which therefore ever had been, and must be abhorrent to the Jesuits. That it was the admission of this Gallican principle which was the subject of contention, we learn from a pamphlet written by Dr. Milner (after his conversion) in the year 1808-9, in w T hich he uses these words. "The ex-cure (Blanchard) insists in the strongest terms on revolutionizing our English theology no less than our Church government, by obliging us to adopt the four French articles ; there is not a single prelate in England or Ireland who is not firmly resolved to reject the four articles of the Gallican Church, commonly called the Gallican liberties" — Digest of Evidence before the House of Lords, 1824-5. Part II., page 106. From this the following facts are apparent : that up to the year 1799 the doctrines of the Gallican liberties were not held, as in France, by the Roman Catholic prelates of England and Ireland, but that such a national and constitutional feeling predominated amongst them, as induced them to assent to the proposal of the Government, to enter into a sort of direct and friendly and legal relationship with the Crown. That this amicable and loyal desire of theirs was frus- trated by the exercise of some secret influence manifested by exciting a popular movement in Ireland against the arrangement, and that Ixx SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. virtually the will and wishes of the loyal and peaceable Roman Catholics of England and Ireland were subjected and overruled by u a popular movement in Ireland" stirred up by means of some occult agency. This furnishes us with a clue to the method whereby *• the illustrious Milner" and the other prelates were brought in accordance with Cretineau's statement, to u identify themselves completely with them" and " Catholic unity" preserved from being " distracted by intestine war." At the risk of making this note unreasonably long and tedious, we think it desirable to direct the attention of our readers to another remarkable fact which was presented at this crisis. It will be remembered that by a rescript of Quarantotti, the see of Rome con- ceded to the crown, under certain conditions, a negative on the ap- pointment of Popish bishops, and Dr. Doyle was examined before a parliamentary committee on the subject of the retractation of the consent of the Popish prelates to the proposal of the British govern- ment, which Dr. Milner had stated in the pamphlet just quoted would " revolutionize our English theology." The following questions were put to him, and the following are his replies. " In that rescript, was not the power of the Crown to interfere with the nomination of bishops recognized as not inconsistent with the discipline of the Catholic Church?" A. — " It was recognized by a man who outstripped his authority, who was incompetent to decide on a matter of such moment; but though it had happened to have proceeded from higher authority in Rome, we would have acted as we did, that is, the prelates would, for I was not then a bishop." Q. — "Are we to understand from you that this rescript of Qua- rantotti's did not come from the See of Rome?" A. — " It did come from the See of Rome, but the Pope being then a prisoner in France, his spiritual jurisdiction was vested in certain persons, of whom Quarantotti was the third, and he, hj the removal of the two before him, happened to remain in possession of those powers and began to exercise them, and not being at all acquainted with our affairs, gave this rescript upon an application from some interested person." Q. — " He was a cardinal, was he not?" A. — " He was afterwards appointed a cardinal. He had some merit with the Pope ; but his appointment was not the reward of his conduct towards us." SU P I' L E M E N T A L CO M M E N TA R Y . Ixxi Q. " Is not the general principle in that rescript, the interference of a Protestant sovereign in the appointment of bishops ?" A. — " Circumstances affect principles, so as almost to change them in their operation. / could not, therefore, recognize the principle, because it may be so modified as to be changed altogether in its operation, from what it would be in the view we take of it as regards our own country." Let us now return to Quarantotti. lie is made an object of con- tempt not only by Dr. Doyle, but also by Dr. Murray, who is pleased to call him "a very weak old man;" and the only apparent ground for all this indelicate abuse of an ecclesiastic of their own church, greatly their superior in rank and function, is his having forwarded this rescript to Ireland, acknowledging the fitness of giving to the Crown a veto in the appointment of Roman Catholic bishops. Dr. Doyle we have seen roundly asserts, " that he outstripped his autho- rity in doing this, and that he was incompetent to decide on a matter of so much moment." Here the matter rested for awhile, and if the committee had depended for information solely on Dr. Doyle and Dr. Murray, they and the world would have been induced to believe, that this admission of a veto had never any higher authority than the much slandered Quarantotti. What must then have been the feelings of the com- mittee? What will be the judgment of the public when informed, that the Pope himself, in an official letter through the prefect of the Propaganda, Cardinal Litta, dated Genoa, 2Gth April, 1815, gave his express and formal assent to that very measure t This is stated to the committee by Mr. Phelan (p. 484), and reluctantly admitted by Dr. Murray (p. 650), when he is afterwards called in again for the very purpose, apparently, of removing the impression made by Mr. Phelan and other Protestant witnesses. Thus then the case stands : Dr. Doyle affirms that " it would be " (not unwise, not inexpedient, but) " inconsistent with the dis- cipline of the Roman Catholic Church to admit any interference, direct or indirect, of the Protestant sovereign of this country in the appointment of Roman Catholic bishops in Ireland." He says this, not as expressing his own private opinion, but as a prelate solemnly delivering the recognized doctrine of his church : he says it too without limitation or restriction, without implying or in any way intimating that there is the slightest doubt on the subject, much less lxxii SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. that the language or practice of his church had ever been contrary to it. And yet we find that when Dr. Doyle spoke thus, he knew not only that the Pope had made treaties with other Protestant states involving " arrangements of that kind, though Dr. Doyle knew not the nature of them exactly," not only that even to Ireland a rescript recognizing and admitting such interference, in the strong form of a veto, had been sent from the See of Rome by a person empowered to execute the functions of the captive Pope, but also that the Pope himself had, in an official letter, expressly approved and sanctioned'ihe granting of a veto to our own Protestant govern- ment.^ — (Supplemental letter to Charles Butler, Esq., on some parts of the evidence given by the Irish Roman Catholic bishops before the Committee of the two Houses of Parliament, in the session 1825, by Rev. H. Phillpotts, D.D., now Lord Bishop of Exeter, pp. 495—500). A brief statement of the four articles commonly called " the Gallican liberties," may be necessary to enable our readers, who have not previously studied the question, to estimate how nearly it concerns every constitutional government whether or not they are rejected by the Roman Catholic members of the community. Article I. — That to St. Peter and his successors, the vicars of Christ, and to the Church, there was given by God a power over spiritual things, but not over civil or temporal things. Art. II. — That in St. Peter and his successors, the vicars of Christ, and in the Apostolic See, the full power over spiritual things is in such sort vested, as that the decrees of the holy and apostolical synod of Constance, concerning the authority of general councils, are at the same time in full force, and remain unshaken. Art. III. — That, therefore, the exercise of the apostolic power is to be regulated by the canons of general councils ; that, likewise, the usages of the Church and kingdom are to remain unshaken. Art. IY. — That, although in questions of faith, the chief place belongs to the Pope, and his decrees extend to all and singular (particular) churches, yet his judgment is not irreformable, unless it have the concurrence of the Church universal. These articles contain an assertion of civil rights, on the part of Roman Catholics, and a denial of the infallibility of the Pope ; there- fore, those Roman Catholics who maintained these "liberties," might safely be entrusted with civil rights and privileges, inasmuch SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTA R Y. Ixxiii as they would be enabled, without incurring the penalty of excom- munication, to exercise them freely and independently of the jurisdiction of their priests ; and, secondly, because the Pope could not be truly asserted to be their temporal as well as spiritual ruler, and they would be competent to swear true allegiance to any temporal sovereign, as rightfully and justly supreme in all civil affairs. The inference to be drawn from the opposition of the Jesuits to the reception of these articles is obvious, and the results of their rejec- tion will be apparent in the future pages of this history ; and let it be remembered, that if it should appear that the Jesuits were the directors of " the popular movement in Ireland" if they were the agents of the transaction, " the whole history " of which, " is still involved in much obscurity" if, in short, it was by the agency of the Jesuits that it was effected, that the Roman Catholic church in England and Ireland was prevented from being made a national institution, they proclaimed, by their success in the matter, their supremacy over the British government, over the English and Irish prelates, and, it also appears, over the Pope himself ; and after this victory we can easily credit the declaration of Cretineau : " every year saw the Jesuits gaining ground; they advanced noiselessly, suppressing the triumph of to-day under their hope for the morrow, leaving nothing to chance* And when, in 1817, Father Grivel was nominated visitor of the province by Brzozowski, he had only to approve of what had been already done, and of the plans then in course of execution." — p. 84. Note 38, page 88—90. " As the British Government," etc., to "privilege to choose for himself." "We have here another specimen of the cool assurance with which Cretineau ignores the existence of any law in England derogatory to " the children of Loyola," and claims for the Jesuits the title of "citizens of England." It is certainly true, that under the name of " the poor gentlemen of Liege," they had obtained a domicile at Stony hurst, and that subsequently they became the possessors of houses and lands, but, as yet, according to the provisions of English law, they are only tolerated aliens ; as Jesuits, they have no legal existence, and therefore have no real pretensions to " that title, which they claimed lxxiv SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. with pride." 11 The British Government had laid down the funda- mental principle of liberty" but it had not stultified itself, or insulted the British people by an open declaration that Jesuits should become partakers of "liberty" in the British dominions, as it was too well known throughout Europe, for above two hundred years, that Jesuitism and liberty were incompatible. We have seen how skilfully, under the general denomination of u Catholics" the Jesuits had obtained possession of all the rights and privileges of citizens, and that the liberties of the loyal and patriotic Catholics of Great Britain and Ireland had been effectually crushed by the process, but we must remember that both the nature and subject of the struggle had been kept a profound secret from the British public. " Catholic unity" had been attained, — we have discovered how, — but it was far from the purpose of the Jesuits to proclaim their victory, or even to suffer it to appear that there had been a battle ; and we believe that it will occasion some surprise to the general public in England to learn, from the pages of Mons. Cretineau, that the liberty and privileges conferred by the Act of Emancipation upon Roman Catholics, from which liberty and privileges Jesuits were excluded by name, were nevertheless claimed and boasted of by the Jesuits as bestowed upon themselves. The triumph being achieved, Mons. Cretineau boasts of it boldly, but he is prudently silent as to the methods by which it was secured. Let us see, however, how far he is borne out by truth in his asser- tions as to the present position of the Jesuits in this country, and we can hardly find a more correct or trustworthy witness on the subject than Nicolini : — " The moment 'the Bull of 1814 relieved them from the interdict under which they laboured, the number of Jesuits increased so very rapidly, that, according to a return printed by order of parliament in 1830, Ireland at that period possessed fifty-eight fathers, and one hundred and seventeen were to be found in England. To what extent their number is increased up to the present moment is rather difficult to ascertain. The clause in the Emancipation Bill, which forbids any man to make vows or to receive vows in England, or to come into it after having made them elsewhere, obliges the Jesuits to observe some moderation and secrecy. Not, indeed, that they pay any attention or submit to the law, because, as Cretineau ex- SUPPLEMENTAL COM ME NT A l< Y . Ixxv prcssly says : 1 The Jesuits felt that sucli a law (the schedule on the religious communities in the Emancipation Act) was enacted against them, * but they made little account of it. 1 u But they use some prudence to avoid trouhle, if possible, and because it is their practice not to oppose boldly any measure, but to find a certain pleasure in eluding the law, and thus shew themselves more cunning than their neighbours. Nevertheless, whoever should inspect the general register kept in the Gcsu, at Rome, might get at the exact number of the four avowed classes of the Jesuits — novices, scholastics, coadjutors and professed, — but who could tell the number of persons belonging to the fifth secret class, who, by the confession of Father Pellico, constitute the strength and the power of the Society, and who, we may add, render it the more dangerous ? " Who can count those innumerable agents who, partly inten- tionally, partly in ignorance, are actively employed in furthering the success of the well-contrived and deeply-laid plans of the fathers — those secret conspirators against the civil and religious rights of mankind ? Nobody can ; and in this, we repeat, lies the danger. A Jesuit, when known, is as little dangerous as a robber who should give you intimation of his intention to steal your property. Should they present themselves boldly and frankly, and say : u Here we are — we, the Jesuits, the most determined adversaries of the Pro- testant faith, the most strenuous supporters of the Court of Rome. Renounce your religion, burn your Bible, tear your thirty-nine articles, and embrace the doctrine of Rome, which is the only true one, — you may believe it on our word." Should they speak thus, they w r ould effect no mischief at all. But the manner in which the Popish missionaries attempt to proselytize is a very different one, and shews that their religion is not in itself forcible, and that it does not possess such irresistible evidence of truth, that the simple and unvarnished exposition of its principles is sufficient to persuade one to embrace it. From the tiny images distributed by monks to little boys, to the gorgeous pageant of the theatrical representations of the Vatican, all is intended to be the means of proselytizing heretics, or of retaining believers' in the communion of their Church Nor does the agent of Rome, and, above all, the Jesuit, expound at once the whole system of his religion, such as it is ; but, with diabolical dexterity, he first insinuates himself into the confidence of the man lxxvi SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. he has marked for a proselyte, captivates his benevolence by all sorts of arts, and then, step by step, he leads him as a convert into the fold of the modern Babylon. The same method is resorted to, by those individuals who aim at wholesale conversions. They bring one to apostacy, in the name, so to speak, of one's own religion. See, for example, the Puseyites ; observe their progressive march from their first tracts, in which loads of abuse were heaped upon Popery, to the recent attempt to introduce auricular confession, and you will discover the same proceeding as that by which the Roman agent, the Jesuit, endeavours to convert, we should say seduce, a single individual I would rather see all the various species of those parasite animals called monks, transplanted into the English soil, than let one Jesuit live in it a single day ; and it is not without good reason that we speak so in this Protestant country. The order of the Jesuits was purposely instituted to combat, to extinguish Pro- testantism, and we have shewn whether the fathers were scrupulous about the means they employed to effect their object. The extirpa- tion of heresy is their principal occupation, the work which renders them meritorious in the eyes of Rome Plots and machina- tions against Protestants, and against all civil and religious freedom, are the characteristics of the Jesuits." — Nicolini, pp. 462, 3, 4, 6. We perceive by this, as well as by Mons. Cretineau's statements, that whatever might be their claim to the title of citizens, they certainly " enjoyed the right to instruct the youth, to spread their faith, and to guide other men in those paths of religion, which each has the privilege to choose for himself" Note 39, page 90. " Thus the heretics of Great Britain," etc., to " the only regu- lators." To any one who is even partially acquainted with the principles and aspirations of the Jesuits, there must appear a certain dry humour in the style of Cretineau, when he launches forth, as he occasionally does, in enthusiastic encomiums on the liberality of heretics. We may not question the sincerity of the admiration, which he bestows on the virtues of guileless candour and simplicity. We can readily fancy the high moral appreciation which a fraudu- lent clerk would exhibit for the master who never put a lock upon his cash- box, and who had such absolute reliance on the fidelity of SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. 1 x x v i i hifl servants, that he would take no note of its contents, — so that hundreds and thousands of his golden gains might be safely ab- stracted, while he was enjoying the sleep of innocence in his peaceful home, surrounded by his unconsciously injured family ! We can imagine how eloquently this fortunately-circumstanced clerk, would descant to his accomplices upon the generous and confiding nature of his excellent employer, and no doubt contrast his own position most favourably, with that of those unfortunate individuals, whose masters diligently emptied the till nightly, and made a weekly balance of their receipts and expenditure. A ssuredly, this is no merely sportive illustration, but a precisely analogous case. When we ascertain what meaning the Jesuits affix to the word " liberty," we shall discover the agreement which subsists between the English and the Jesuit vocabulary, and be duly qualified to under- stand their reasons for prizing the blessings of civil and religious liberty, as extended by Englishmen to " their natural adversary /" In truth, this passage should literally be read thus : — " Thus the Protestants of Great Britain, like those of Germany and France, shew themselves more ignorant with respect to Jesuitism, ' their natural adversary, 1 than men born in the bosom of the Church of Rome, who despise the superstitions which the Jesuits propagate under the name of religion, and repel their encroachments by stringent laws, which an experimental knowledge of what Jesuit tyranny is, has taught them to consider indispensable." We must say, it seems an awkward admission for Mons. Creti- neau to make concerning his friends, — that in Roman Catholic countries, at least, they were better known than trusted. It is perfectly clear, from the very statement of the training of a Jesuit as embodied in their constitutions, that the meaning of liberty, in the lips of a Jesuit, is liberty to carry out their system, that is, liberty to organize the most perfect despotism and the most abject slavery in the world, and that, for this purpose ; that the despot may wield the whole body of the enslaved, as the tools of carrying out his despotic will and power, for any object he pleases in any country. We mean by liberty, the privilege of enjoying and maintaining the unrestricted exercise of our religion, the throne of our beloved Protestant Sovereign, our free constitution, and the laws and liberties lxxviii SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. of England. They mean by liberty the power of unchecked, unli- mited organization and plotting to subvert them all. The same difference that there is in the liberty of a man to enjoy his own house, and his property, and the company of his friends, and the liberty of the swell mob to get in among them by false introductions, or under false pretences, to steal and to plunder, and, if need be, to assassinate the owner, — the same is the difference between liberty on the lips of an honest Englishman, and liberty in the mouth of a Jesuit. Note 40, page 91. u The Jesuits have only been able to realize in that country, (Ireland) good without renown." Alas, we may truly enquire when we read these words, — what is the " good " that has been realized in unhappy Ireland ? We might ask this question, and despair of receiving an answer, did we not remember that good, according to Jesuit interpretation, has no meaning analogous to that given in ordinary dictionaries of that fine old Saxon w r ord. It has nothing in common with " God and goodness," with well-being, happiness, benevolence, or any of the characteristics of those creatures whom, when God had formed, He said, were M very good. 11 But where the Jesuits proclaim that they have " realized good," all who are not Jesuits must be given to comprehend that they have " realized " unmitigated evil. That in that miserable locality, whether it be the earthly paradise outstretched under the bright blue canopy of an Italian sky, or the bleak uncultivated hills and wild green plains and valleys of unhappy Ireland, they have been successful in establishing the reign — " of Chaos and old Night," that there the l\ght of Gospel truth is hidden from the eyes of the people, and ignorance is the handmaid of slavery and the parent of crime and superstition, and that sloth, improvidence, falsehood and revenge are cultivated as Christian virtues. We will not dispute it with Mons. Cretineau, that Ireland may justly be cited as a fair example of the effects of Jesuit domination. A land teeming with useless riches, with mineral and agricultural wealth buried in its soil, with - manufacturing capabilities greater, SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. lxxix perhaps, than those of any other country under heaven — broad, bright, swift navigable rivers, that might turn a thousand mills — fair fertile valleys, that might pasture innumerable flocks — quarries of fine variegated marble, that might build palaces worthy of the pride and pomp of the emperors of old Rome — a temperate and genial climate — a numerous and hardy population, naturally brave, generous, warm-hearted, intelligent, pious, laborious, blessed with a free constitution, just and equal laws, and assimilated by name, and sharing in the privileges of the most highly civilized nation of modern Europe. Why is this country, for the most part, a waste and howling wilderness ? why are its mines unexplored, its quarries silent ? why do its rivers run idly into the sea ? why does the soil yield such a scanty and precarious subsistence to the wretched inhabitants, that every now and again they are decimated by famine? Why are its free institutions " a mockery, a delusion, and a snare?" Why are it3 just laws powerless to restrain the proffered benefits of civiliza- tion, despised, superseded, and trampled on by the Canon Law of Rome? And, above all, why is this nobly-endowed people a by- word to all other nations ? Why are their constitutional bravery, their generous aspirations, their warm affections, their bright intel- ligence, their natural piety, their spirit of toilsome endurance, all perverted and turned to evil ; while murder, sedition, and anarchy run riot through the land ? Let Mons. Cretineau reply. It is there that " from the first days of its foundation, the Order of Jesus afforded to Ireland apostles and consolers, and in every epoch it has shewn how well they knew how to offer her comfort." Truly we may say, " the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel." Note 41, pages 91 — 93. "They could not found an establishment," etc., to "another in the district of King's County." Our historian having shifted the scene to Ireland, and long since claimed for the Jesuits the common title of " Catholics," it might be naturally anticipated that he would make grateful and approba- tory mention of another proof of the liberal sentiments and confid- ing character of the British Government evinced, by its endowment of the Royal College of St. Patrick's, Maynooth ; but, strange to say, from the beginning to the end of Monsieur Cretineau' s work we look Ixxx SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. in vain for a history of, or even an allusion to, this monument of British integrity ; we use this expression deliberately, for we believe that if ever there was a statesman in whose breast honour and patriotism were the ruling passions, as well as principles, that states- man was William Pitt. With the design to secure the Romish ecclesiastics from the infection of foreign revolutionar}^ principles, but forgetful alas ! of the sound principles of true religion and Pro- testant duty, Mr. Pitt proposed to found a collegiate institution for them in Ireland, where their religion might be taught by profes- sors of their own choosing, into which, he took it for granted, no political theories would find an entrance subversive of the govern- ment to which the seminary owed its existence and support. May- nooth was expected to be the bulwark of Roman Catholic loyalty, the pledge of Roman Catholic gratitude ; but Monsieur Cretineau ignores it altogether ; it is not worth mentioning if we except a note appended to the last edition of his history, but omitted in the present : — " Father Kenny, already superior of the Archiepiscopal seminary (i. e., Maynooth) succeeded. 11 In the absence of all enlightenment from Monsieur Cretineau we are left ample room for conjecture on the subject of Maynooth ; but we have no reason to believe that his silence proceeds from either ignorance or indifference, but that it has its source in praiseworthy discretion. Monsieur Cretineau has not learned in vain the proverb, " Speech is silver, but silence is golden." Let the following resume of events prove his wisdom. " About the year 1795 a small fraternity of Jesuits, described, in the Laity's Directory for that year, as 'the gentlemen of the English academy of Liege,' were driven by the fury of the French revolution to seek an asylum in this country. They established themselves at Stonyhurst, near Clithero in Lancashire, of which house and estate a long and advantageous lease was granted them by the owner, Mr. Weld, a gentleman of an ancient and wealthy Roman Catholic family. They consisted at this time, according to the description given of them by their apologist, Mr. Dallas, of ' a few ancient men,' whose settlement in this country excited no suspicion or alarm, but was rather greeted with a share of that public sympathy which was so honourably and charitably displayed * towards all the victims of revolutionary violence. " The professed design of these fugitives went at first no farther SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. lxxxi than to undertake, as a means of providing for their own subsistence, the education of youth. The title assumed in the prospectus of the infant establishment is that of "the College of Stonyhurst," which was described as conveniently prepared for the accommodation of one hundred and fifty scholars. In addition to the pupils whose circumstances enabled them to pay the regulated charges for board- ing and tuition, it was generally understood, that a certain number of the children of poorer parents were received for gratuitous educa- tion upon the foundation of the College, who might be afterwards adopted into the society, and employed in forwarding its designs, as they should be found to unite a suitable inclination for the service, with promising talents and the requisite degree of flexibility. " Thus without one dissenting voice was a foundation laid for the re- establishment of an order which had been finally expelled from England, a.d. 1604. The design proceeded prosperously *, the pro- posed number of pupils was speedily obtained, and, with the funds thus placed at their disposal, the directors proceeded to prepare for far more extended operations. Continued improvements in the estate were accomplished. The mansion, which when first occupied by the Society, had become much dilapidated by time and neglect, was gradually put into a state of complete repair, and at a very great expense a large building was added to the original fabric. Means were thus obtained for a great extension of the original scheme, insomuch that the number of students for several years past may not have been short of three hundred. As their resources thus increased, more extended plans occupied the thoughts of the fathers, and while, by means of the influence which their large expenditure secured to them, the work of proselytism continued to extend in the neighbourhood of Stonyhurst, and to make some progress in other parts of the kingdom, through the exertions of those judiciously planted agents, who were issuing yearly from the college. The im- mediate successors of that feeble band which had professed to seek no more than a refuge from overwhelming misfortune found them- selves in a situation to extend their exertions beyond the limits of England. 11 The parliamentary foundation of the College of Maynooth had given in Ireland the first promise of a revival of Roman Catholic influence. Yet there were still some circumstances, which diminished the satisfaction with which the institution was regarded by such of / lxxxii SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. the titular hierarchy as held what are termed ultramontane senti- ments. The heads of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland had generally sided with the Jesuits. They were believed to have unani- mously accepted the Bull Unigenitus, and to have acquiesced in other edicts which had a like tendency to exalt the papal power. They appear therefore, to have viewed with displeasure and alarm, the disposition towards Jansenism manifested at Maynooth, and even threatening to obtain there a positive ascendancy. As an instance of its prevalence, may be mentioned that Dr. Ferris, one of the pro- fessors, a man of learning, and highly esteemed among the pupils, had, in lecturing his class, ventured so near the borders of heresy as to affirm that ' the merits of the saints, compared with the merits of Christ, were no more than a drop of water compared to the ocean.' It was thence obvious, that measures could not be too speedily taken to meet this pressing danger, and to restore the tenets of Jesuitism to their proper ascendancy. For the accomplishment of this object recourse was had to the establishment at Stonyhurst, on the perfect orthodoxy of which, not a shade of suspicion had ever been cast, and which was now in circumstances to afford very im- portant aid. The Rev. Peter Kenny, who had been educated partly at Stonyhurst, and afterwards at the College of Palermo, was trans- lated from the former residence to Maynooth, where he filled the office of vice-president, that of president being at the same time held by Dr. Murray, the titular Archbishop of Dublin. In addition to the proper duties of his collegiate office, Mr. Kenny was also entrusted with the occasional charge of conducting the 4 retreats ' on those seasons at which the students are accustomed to retire for the sake of meditation and discussion. The subjects for considera- tion at such times are fixed by the conductor, who also delivers every day one or more hortatory discourses, and may, at the con- clusion of the retreat, hear the confessions of such students as apply to him. " Mr. Kenny thus enjoyed most ample and favourable opportuni- ties of inculcating the principles of his order, and of eradicating any opinions of an opposite complexion, which, through his intimate acquaintance with the most secret sentiments of the students, he might discover the slightest tendency in any of them to adopt. The testimonies which he had given of the most devoted and reso- SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. lxxxiii lute attachment to the cause of the Society, were bo many proofs of the wisdom of those who selected him to fill these situations, where his zeal and his talents might be directed to the best account, lie had, it appears from his own evidence, taken the simple vows of the order during his residence in England; but, doubts having arisen whether he could be lawfully aggregated in a country where a re- storation of the Society by the Pope had not taken place, he was compelled to seek elsewhere an opportunity of being unquestionably incorporated. The order most seasonably for his purpose had been re-established in Sicily by a special brief of the Pope in 1804, and Mr. Kenny, therefore, proceeded to Palermo, where in 1808 he be- came formally and certainly aggregated as a member of the Society of Jesuits. This display of resolution and of indefatigable perse- verance in the cause, clearly pointed out this individual, as one whose services might be relied on whenever a suitable opportunity should present itself for employing them in the great and growing design of which the Jesuits were at the head. And such an occasion was not long wanting. The College of Maynooth, it should be observed, being expressly limited to the education of ecclesiastics, did not com- pletely fulfil the wishes of the leaders of the Society, whose object was then, as it ever has been, by means of their peculiar system ot education, to obtain influence not over the clergy alone, but over the minds of men of all ranks and professions, especially of those who might probably rise to eminence and influence in political and secular pursuits. An attempt had, therefore, been made to erect a lay college within the walls of Maynooth, but the design was defeated, after having made some progress, by the firmness of the late Mr. Abbott, afterwards Lord Colchester, who justly thought that such a proceeding was a plain infraction of the condition upon which the College was endowed. The design, however, was too advantageous to be altogether abandoned. u Negotiations were set on foot for the purchase of a suitable pro- perty in a convenient situation, and towards the close of 1813 an agreement was made with the proprietor of Clongowes Wood, in the county of Kildare, and six miles from Maynooth, for the surrender of that estate as the site of the proposed lay- seminary or college. It was opened in July, 1814, for the reception of scholars, Mr. Kenny having been appointed to the office of president. All circum- stances, indeed, seemed to concur most favourably for the advance- /2 lxxxiv SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. merit of the design, for at the same precise period of time (viz., in August, 1814) the Pope, with a memorable coincidence, issued his Bull for the restoration of the order of the Jesuits, and so far as the validity of the vows is concerned, they were from that moment re- established throughout the world. "There was, now, therefore, no longer any question as to the regularity and sufficiency of a profession made in this country, and great facility was thus afforded for the aggregation of members. Mr. Kenny was joined at Clongowes by others of his order, who undertook with him the task of education, and the affiliation of the younger establishment with the parent institution of Stonyhurst was thus rendered complete. The two societies have since main- tained constant intercourse and mutual good understanding, and with force more effective, because united, have proceeded in the design to Catholicize the British empire. A striking circumstance in illustra- tion of the rapid revival of the influence of Romanism may be men- tioned upon the authority of Mr. Kenny, who states, upon oath, that there were but two members of the Jesuit order besides himself in the whole of Ireland when he was appointed vice-president of May- nooth. When he, after a short interval, removed to Clongowes, the number of priests, and of those who might become priests, had in- creased to nearly twenty. And, from a return ordered by the House of Commons to be printed, June 15, 1830, the number of persons in Ireland bound by the Jesuit vows appears to have been fifty-eight; in England, at the same time, one hundred and seventeen. All these, with any augmentation which may have taken place during the ensuing five years, have grown up as suckers from that, in appear- ance, exanimate root which was planted at Stonyhurst not forty years before. This design for reviving the Roman Catholic faith in England has been thought deserving of more than domestic en- couragement. It has attracted the attention of foreign states, and has its branches extended especially to Rome. \ The English Catholic library ' is established with the avowed purpose of obtain- ing proselytes by lending, gratuitously, books treating of religious controversy and piety, ' especially to their Protestant countrymen,' when under the influence of admiration of the ceremonies of the church in 'that seat of catholicity.' ' Many proofs,' it is boasted, have lately been given of ' the happy effect of those books of in- struction,' and certainly when it is considered what crowds are S V P P L E M E N T A L COM M E N T A It Y . lxxxv attracted to Rome of Protestants ill-grounded in the principles of their own faith, and most favourably situated for receiving the desired impression, as well as how extended may be their influence in multiplying the same impression on their return home, this source of conversions is not to be thought lightly of." — Appendix to a Sermon by Dr. Broughton, late Bishop of Australia, preached in Canterbury Cathedral, September 17, 1835, quoted in The Principles of the Jesuits, developed in a series of extracts from their own authors, by Rev. Challis Paroissien, M.A., formerly Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge. Rivingtons, Waterloo Place. 1860. This extract from Bishop Broughton is accurate and valuable as far as it goes. But he was not aware of the fact that the standard theology of the Jesuits was commanded by the cardinal-prefect of the Propaganda, to be adopted as the standard theology of Maynooth from the date of its establishment, and that all the Romish bishops were pledged to its adoption. They endeavoured, however, to deceive the government, and effectually succeeded in the deception that the Gallican doctrines were those taught in that college, and possibly Dr. Ferris may have been made use of to carry on the im- posture. Cretineau was doubtless well informed of this ; and it is more than probable that he ignored Maynooth in his history, because if he spoke of it as Gallican, he could not speak of it with approba- tion ; and if he spoke of it as a Jesuit college, he might betray the secret of his order, and expose it to the suspicion or abandonment of Government. But Cretineau now may acknowledge it with his warmest approbation, for every class-book in that college is the work of a Jesuit, both its moral theology, its dogmatic theology, its Scrip- ture and its canon law. The Romish bishops are no longer afraid to throw off the mask. This fact comes out in the Report of the last Commission, so that the British Government, in utter defiance of their own law of 1829, are actually training at the public expense a body of ecclesiastics in a system that has again and again been execrated and expelled from every state in Europe. Will the constituencies of England ever be awakened from their lethargy of ignorance and folly ? "Will they permit their representatives to tax them for the purpose of training at their expense a body of men who are acknow- ledged, by their own historian, to be " their natural adversaries" enemies to their persons, their religion, their throne, their institu- tions, their laws, their liberties, every blessing they enjoy them- lxxxvi SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. selves, and which if they have any sense of their value, or any gratitude to the God who has given them, it is their duty as freemen and as Protestants to bequeath to their children. Note 42, page 93. " It was necessary to raise the Irish from the state," etc., to " O'Connell fulfilled the second." That we may not lose the instruction to be derived from this passage, we must recite here once more the words of Cretineau, pp. 88 — 90. "As the British Government had laid down the fundamental principle of liberty, it adopted all its consequences. The Jesuits were citizens of England, and by that title, which they claimed with pride, they enjoyed the right to instruct the youth, to spread their faith, and to guide other men in those paths of religion which each has the privilege to choose for himself." It may appear a difficult task to some of our readers to reconcile "the pride" with which Cretineau declares the Jesuits "claimed the title of citizens of England" with the political views and aspira- tions adopted and indulged by the fathers, which he here so candidly proclaims to us ; but those who are skilled in Jesuit phraseology will readily understand the paradox, and find in the interpretation of the word "liberty" a complete solution of the mystery. The Jesuits as "citizens of England" of course enjoyed the liberty to teach Ireland "the great disadvantages" of a "cosmo- polite education," that she "had a right to see her children reared upon her own proscribed soil, in order that nourished in her mis- fortunes, they might at some future day claim her emancipation with more energy," as also to exert themselves " to raise the Irish from the state of moral debasement, in which it was the policy of England to keep them." Some shortsighted and narrow-minded persons might be disposed to think the energies of devout and pious indi- viduals calling themselves by the name of Him who declared " My kingdom is not of this world," (and who so strongly disclaim the accusation of any ambition to interfere in political matters,) might have been more appropriately expended in inculcating feelings of affection and good-will towards the sister nation, and in endeavouring to amalgamate the discordant elements by a diffusion of the doc- trines and sentiments of unity and love. And we must admit that SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. lxxxvii this is the course which it would appear would be most congenial to the principles and interests of " citizens of England" but to have adopted this obvious and apparently excellent policy would have effectually crushed the u fundamental principle of liberty" and de- prived England of the benefits " of all its consequences. 11 We have already heard from Mons. Cretineau that the Jesuits were ardent advocates for liberty, and in the pages of their eloquent and accomplished friend and admirer, Mons. de Montalembert, we learn the reason. " Without political liberty they were impotent ; with it everything has proved to be impotent before them Such is the virtue of liberal institutions sincerely carried out, that their spirit is invariably successful in dominating over both the manners and the most inveterate prejudices of a nation, as also over the letter of the most rigidly constructed laws. Can we imagine the introduction of a measure such as that for the re-establishment of the Catholic hierarchy by Pius IX. into a Protestant country, governed in the same way as the kingdom of Naples ? It would be absolutely impossible. But in England, notwithstanding the furious excitement of the popular passions, thanks to civil and religious liberty, it has met with no serious obstacle, and has served only to accelerate the Catholic movement. All those restrictions which even the Act of Emancipation of 1829 imposed upon the development of the Jesuits and of the other religious orders, all the penalties recently decreed against the public assumption of the new episcopal titles, have been absolutely and ludicrously powerless ; thanks to the liberty of association, to the liberty of teaching, and to the liberty of the press, of which it is . now no longer possible to deprive an English citizen English pride, the fanaticism of the dis- senters, would see with lively satisfaction the English and Irish Catholics replunged into their former condition of Helotism, but under the safeguard of the principles and practices of a government sincerely and seriously constitutional, the Catholics have hitherto braved triumphantly the hatred and the malice of their enemies. Their churches, their houses of education, their monasteries for both sexes, are founded, are peopled, and are administered with a facility and a freedom which is not only unsurpassed, but actually unequalled in any other country in the world, Catholic or Protestant. Their liberty is perhaps now considered as unassailable. It still, however, remains for them to obtain in practice a more perfect and equitable lxxxviii SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. observation of the principles of equality, in everything which regards the nomination to employments, the distribution of the funds of the budget, through the intervention of the ecclesiastics endowed by the State, in the army, in prisons, and in hospitals. They will attain this object by and bye — slowly it may be, but surely ; their rights, their continually increasing numbers, and the necessities of the times in which we live, are all in their favour." — Political Future of England, by Mons. Le Comte de Montalembert, pp. 196 —200. We see by this, that in Roman Catholic countries, the Jesuits are subjected to laws, whereas in Protestant countries where " liberty" prevails, no laws can be so constructed as to be capable to control them. King, Lords and Commons may legislate, and the people may loudly proclaim their approbation of the measures ; but the Jesuits indulgently smile at their enactments, and calmly proceed to defy them. We are not the accusers of these worthy " citizens," we only record their own declarations of their principles and practices. How can we question that they are sincere lovers of " liberty ?" We do not question the fact, but we think that English- men may be at a loss to understand the justice of the application of that word to a system of things whereby the liberty of King, Lords, and Commons is set at nought, and the liberty of the Jesuits alone provided for. For the benefit of these unenlightened persons we append the following, which may serve to convey some idea of the Jesuit interpretation of " liberty. 11 " We heard comparatively little about the vows of poverty and chastity, but every moment of the day .we were reminded of that of obedience. If chastity were the crown and poverty the robe, obe- dience was to be the head and the body to wear them ; it was to be the virtue of the Jesuit. No boundaries, no limits were set to this virtue, it was infinite space for ever enlarging ! It was to extend over body and soul, as if we had ' sold them to the devil V One single example which was held forth to us for a ' sign,' will enable the thoughtful reader to apply the principle in all its bearings ; it was to shew the nature of blind obedience and its reward. — See Const., part vi., c. 191. " A certain holy man was ordered by his superior to water a dry stick set upright in the ground ; he obeyed without a question or a thought of a question, and behold ! the stick put forth branches and SUPPLEMENTAL CO M MEN TARY . lxxxix became a beautiful tree. True, we read that ' for no reason in the world, for the pleasure of no man was any evil to be done but were we to judge what was evil? did the holy man referred to, judge what seemed to be absurd, useless? The will of the superior is 'as it were the will of God,' and were we to question his morality ? If ' there was a way which seemeth good unto man, but leadeth unto death,' there might also be a way which seemeth evil to a man, but which leadeth to life ! . . . . Consider the fact of twenty thousand men thus obedient to the will of one man, the general of the society ! From the highest official, next in succes- sion, the provincials in their respective countries, in every region of the world, the masters of colleges, the professed, the simple socii, the lay brothers, down to the aspirant novice, all ready, eager to obey the will of this one man, without a question or a thought of a question, as if he were God himself! Consider the possibility of this man being bought over or bribed, or from himself possessed of some 4 Napoleonic idea,' to bring all his forces to act on any given point, all his forces of intellect, eloquence, the secret influences of the confessional, in a word, all the arts, human and divine, at his command ! I ask who shall resist this man ? It is not a question whether such has been or will be the case, but whether such might not be the case. To say that there would be some honest worthy men among them who might question the morality of the mandate, is quite beside the question, the majority must always yield a blind obedience, for this is essential to the very existence of the society. The love for the society has been shewn to exist to an unlimited extent. All desire its advancement and prosperity. Each member, therefore, is satisfied that every mandate of the general will tend to those grand objects of desire, and, consequently, as his temporal welfare depends on the temporal welfare of the society, his own individual interest is involved in blind obedience, for, it is not to be supposed that the inculcation of 'a splendid indifference to all things,' has anything to do with the prosperous condition of the society : to that indeed the Jesuit must not be indifferent. "This is not tyranny, oppression, a gross insult to common sense, not the least in the world ! it is only the perfections of holy obedience, nothing more. How can there be tyranny, oppression, where men are willing and eager to do all that is commanded ? The enemies of the Jesuits never stumbled on a more stupid argument xc SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. than this, it is the very essence of ignorant prejudice." — The Novi- ciate, pp. 139—141, and 232, 233. We have here expounded " the fundamental principle of liberty" and Mons. de Montalembert has shewn us how thoroughly the English nation has " adopted all its consequences." It is therefore manifest that the plan resorted to by these " citizens of England" to promote the cause of "liberty" in that country was most judi- cious. England, it was evident, had yet to learn the real nature of liberty, and a great prophet was chosen to enlighten her,, and surely most faithfully did he fulfil his mission. It was, however, to the Irish "people that the great voice of Daniel O'Connell, a pupil of the Jesuits, first taught the meaning of liberty," but not until the soil had been duly prepared for the reception of this " plant of grace," for we are told, "It was necessary first to teach them their duties, and then their rights." The Jesuits no doubt felt that liberty to a people who were unacquainted with their duties would be a bane rather than a blessing, and selected Ireland as the field of their labours, no doubt with the view of exhibiting in her a spectacle of what a nation might become which was properly indoctrinated in the true principles of civil and religious liberty, and awakening England to emulation by the example. Never were zeal and prudence more amply rewarded ; the Irish were apt scholars in the lessons of duty inculcated upon them, and the master selected to teach them their rights had no cause to complain of their want of docility. But we need not encroach upon the time and patience of our readers by entering into any details of the career of O'Connell, who was himself in reality but a mere instrument in the hands of a mighty master. Un gifted with any superior powers of intellect, he had yet sufficient readiness of wit and command of language to be an efficient mouth-piece to those under whose guidance he placed himself. Coarse, vigorous, humorous, utterly regardless of truth, and thoroughly acquainted with the nature and character of the people he had to deal with, he easily won a sort of personal popularity which blinded the English nation as to the real source of his power. He was supposed to be only a bold and vulgar demagogue, whose aims were confined to the gratification of his own personal ambition and aggrandizement, and the promotion of his family and dependants, but as he assumed the character of " the man of the people," he was accepted as a fitting representative of Ireland ; this was, however, but the part for which SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. xci he was chosen by the Jesuits, and well and wisely they made the selection. But how shall we account for his success in England, in a civilized and cultivated nation, where truth and honour, and de- cency, at least, of manners and deportment, might be supposed necessary qualifications for acceptance in the senate and in society ? It can be accounted for but in one way, — he was the accredited emissary of a party too powerful to be contemned. "The poor Gentlemen of Liege," then swelled into a goodly company of masters and pupils, of all ranks, and in all professions, protected and supported him ; and although formidable enough to be mentioned almost by name in a speech from the throne as a dangerous enemy, England had so thoroughly adopted " the fundamental principles of liberty," that she was compelled to submit to the dictatorship of this insolent, vulgar, and unscrupulous nominee of the Jesuits as one of " all its consequences." The history of the Lichfield House compact is no longer a mystery ; if it were doubtful before, Mons. Cretineau has now un- ravelled it, and fully developed the grounds upon which the Jesuits u claimed with pride" the " title of citizens of England" and the inestimable value in which they held in their own sense, and for their own use, what they call u civil and religious liberty." Note 43, page 94, 95. "They habituated the people, always Catholic," to "their social regeneration." If our historian were giving us the biography of an individual instead of an authentic account of the proceedings of a Society, we would perhaps be disposed to pronounce that " the citizen of Eng- land," who promulgated the doctrines and fostered the sentiments, and indulged in the opinions attributed to the Jesuits, was a traitor to his country, an enemy to humanity, and one who, in every respect, merited the appellation of a political incendiary. The u citizen of England," who would deliberately accuse England of wilfully degrading and enslaving a large section of the people, for the purpose of plunging them into ignorance, drunkenness and debauchery, of withholding from them all but such a bare pittance of subsistence as might enable them to perform efficiently the labour of inferior animals, of denying them wages for their toil, and honour and advancement in reward for shedding their blood in warfare, XC11 SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. must be either an enemy or a most inconsiderately candid friend ; and it is likely that the estimate we would form of the morality and patriotism of such an individual would hardly be raised, if we were informed that he was associated with a large number of others who shared his views and aided in propagating his designs. But Mons. Cretineau did not record his history for persons who would be disposed to judge of the Company of Loyola by such a low and unworthy standard of morality. His history was written for those who are initiated into the pious doctrine — that the end sanctifies the means, — and that, in a peculiar sense, u all things work together for good," which are conducted by the Jesuits. It might have an ugly aspect, in Protestant eyes, to labour to awaken in an ignorant and excitable people a violent hatred and indignation against their rulers, an abhorence of their religion, and a contempt for their authority ; but, in the eyes of a true Catholic, these acts of apparent violence and outrage were truly deeds of justice and mercy, designed for promotion of universal harmony and paradisaical perfection. Let us do justice to the fathers, by a simple statement of their programme, and begin by accepting their interpretation of " civil and religious liberty." It may be contained in a few words — firm belief in the Jesuits, and absolute submission to them. It would have proved an utterly hopeless task to teach this translation directly to heretic England. At the beginning and the middle of this century, although many of the upper classes had imbibed principles of great liberality, i. e., sublime indifference to all that regards religion ; the middle and lower classes preserved a stupid veneration for Church and King, and a strong belief in the morality inculcated in the ten commandments ; this was a present, but it might be hoped not an insuperable, obstacle to their conversion ; but the Irish were capable scholars, " always Catholic at heart ;" they were open to the recep- tion of any development of Catholic doctrines, among which, that u killing was no murder," held a prominent position ; that revenge was but " wild justice," was a lesson easily acquired ; in fact, all that was necessary to enlighten this people was to direct the indul- gence of their naturally righteous instincts, and identify the spirit of evil with the heretic and the Saxon, alias the Protestant. How admirably " Daniel O'Connell, the pupil of the Jesuits" succeeded in popularizing these doctrines of his masters, we have already seen, and by a reference to the pages of Mons. de Montalembert, we shall see SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. XClll that his authority still extends over the minds of devout Catholics, and that his " good is not interred with his bones. 11 u In retaining the position upon which the genius of O'Connell has planted their banner, they (the Romanists) remain unassailable, and may be sure of progressing to victory. In quitting it for the shelter of the intolerant and absolutist theories of certain Catholic writers of the Continent, they open their flank to attacks as perilous as they are easy ; they will again become, and continue to remain, nothing more than domesticated foreigners, and will render the gulf which separates them from their Protestant fellow-citizens im- passable." — Political Future of England, pp. 200. It was, therefore, by no means a matter of great difficulty to instruct the Irish in their duties, and this step being attained, they might safely be urged to claim their rights. Mons. Cretineau is silent as to the particulars of these duties and rights, but, happily, we are now in a condition to supply his deficiencies, as we are enabled to give, as our authorities on the subject, the present Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin and the present Pope of Rome. " Our venerated hierarchy and clergy, in the fulfilment of their duties, will inculcate the strict and religious duty of selecting, as re- presentatives of the people, those men who are best fitted to support, in the Imperial Parliament, our religious rights." — Address to the Catholics of the United Kingdom. Signed : " Paul, Archbishop of Armagh, Primate of all Ireland." In an allocution of Pius IX., to the Cardinals of the Church of Rome, delivered in the month of September, 1851, we learn these " rights :"— u He hath taken this principle for basis, that the Catholic religion, with all its rights, ought to be exclusively dominant, in such sort that every other ivorship shall be banished and interdicted. 11 In the same allocution, the Pope explains also that by ecclesias- tical liberty is meant " the free exercise of their proper episcopal jurisdiction by the Bishops. 11 Now, the Sacrosanct Council of Trent has decreed " inviolably 11 that this jurisdiction reaches to civil officers, " even though created by imperial or royal authority that it may be exercised over " cleric or layman, by whatever dignity pre-eminent, be he Emperor or King ; that it includes the right, if it be judged expedient, to proceed against all persons whatsoever, by means of pecuniary fines, by distress upon the goods or arrest of Xciv SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. the person ; and if there be contumacy, by smiting with the sword of Anathema." — See Reasons for abjuring Allegiance to the See of Home, by Pierce Connelly, pp. 30, 31. From the pity and sympathy expressed for the physical sufferings and afflictions of the poor Irish people, it might be anticipated that at least some portion of the rights they would have been encouraged to claim would have relation to their material well-being, but it would not have been characteristic of the pious ambition of the fathers to have urged them to seek such purely ephemeral advan- tages. No ; the blessings they demanded for them, and sought to confer on them, were wholly spiritual, " provided there remained in them sufficient bodily strength to cultivate the earth, whose fruits and harvests were destined to supply the luxuries and pleasures of England ; no one occupied themselves further with their welfare, their health, their families, or even with their existence. They made them labourers without wages, or soldiers in India without hope of advancement." These would seem serious hardships ; but, after all, they were but minor miseries, their crowning wretchedness was this : — " The Irish knew not the pomp of festivals ; they had never experienced the effect produced upon the masses by those solemn processions in which God appears to mingle himself with man, to bless their labours, and to participate in their sorrows. . . . The new disciples of the Institute, profiting by the toleration which wiser policy now allowed to prevail, decided upon initiating the Irish people into the triumphant joys of the Church. The 4 Fete Dieu ' was celebrated at Clongowes, in 1822, in the midst of an enormous crowd Churches were built, missions were opened, associations created, and soon the children of these martyrs received from piety and education the necessary vigour to obtain peaceably their social regeneration." — See History, p. 95. Assuredly, the proceedings of these fathers are a remarkable exemplification of the practical contempt of all mundane comforts and enjoyments, which they would seek to inspire in their disciples. It may be, perhaps, that they consider the possession of a sufficiency of food and clothing unfavourable to the development of the reli- gious element in humanity, and that to be " poor in this world " is a necessary condition to becoming " rich in faith." If we may believe the evidence of Mons. About, we must suppose that this is the theory of social perfection which prevails at SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. XCV Rome, and which is favoured generally in all the States of the Church. He says : " The streets and the highways are peopled by beggars. In a country under lay dominion, the government relieves the poor in their homes, or collects them into poor houses ; it does not permit them to infest the public road, and to bully the passengers. But here we are in an ecclesiastical country, so we must consider that, in the first place, poverty is dear to God, and in the next, that almsgiving is a pious action. If the Pope could only so manage, as that the one-half of his subjects should be perpetually holding out their hands, and the other half perpetually putting a halfpenny into each, he would secure the salvation of the whole people. " Mendicity, which mere temporal sovereigns treat as a disease, is here cultivated as a precious exotic by the clerical government. Give a trifle to this pretended cripple, who is just going by, and something, too, to this maimed smuggler ; above all, give to this blind boy, whom his father is leading towards you. A surgeon, a friend of mine, offered yesterday to restore him his sight, by the operation for cataract ; the father, with loud cries, forbade any attempt to deprive him thus of his livelihood. Put something for this poor fellow into the father's hat, and the Pope will open the gates of Paradise, of which he keeps the keys." — The Roman Question, by E. About, pp. 218, 219. Protestants, who know no better, are apt to hold wilful poverty in contempt, and to consider labour honourable ; but the Jesuits, doubtless, considered that it would be a sort of desecration to intro- duce habits of activity and a spirit of independence into Ireland, the abject condition of which afforded a field for the exhibition of so many Christian virtues. Hence, " the great voice of Daniel O'Con- nell," their " pupil," was never raised for the purpose of demanding from the British Parliament the introduction of any measure that would tend to raise the Irish from the state of physical destitution and misery in which Mons. Cretineau declares " it was the policy of England to keep them." It is true he demanded " repeal of the Union," which, he insisted, would restore prosperity to trade, esta- blish domestic manufactures, stimulate internal and foreign commerce, and, in fact, convert Ireland into a commercial nation, by the original process of cutting her from all connection with the greatest commer- cial nation in the world. Strange to say, the Protestants of the two kingdoms, and Europe in general, were unable to appreciate the xcvi SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. logic of these arguments ; but England was well disposed to try the experiment of affording to the Irish an opportunity for the display of all their latent energies. When, at the period of the memorable famine of 1846 and 1847, Lord George Bentinck introduced hi3 admirable bill to cover Ireland with a net- work of railways, the construction of which would have given the starving multitudes profitable employment, and made Ireland the highway of communi- cation for American commerce, facilitated the export of her produce and the import of English wealth and civilization, it might reason- ably have been expected that " the man of the people," — the great Irish patriot, — would be the first to welcome the project ; but in- spired, we must suppose, with the paternal instinct of the father of Mons. About's blind beggar-boy at Rome, " the great voice of Daniel O'Connell " was the loudest in denouncing this interference with the decrees of Providence. This policy was puzzling to the understanding of the obtuse people of England ; but we must remember that, as yet, the connec- tion between the fathers and their " pupil " was undeclared ; had it been known, there would have been no cause for astonishment, for now the world is well aware that railroads and steam-engines are unsanctified agencies, that the Holy Father disapproves of them on principle, and that as, no doubt, the highest aspiration of the Jesuits would be to assimilate Ireland to the States of the Church, and having all taken the vow of poverty themselves, they must naturally desire to cultivate this virtue in their disciples. Note 44, pages 96, 97. " The general of the Company," etc., to u . increase of Catholic influence." The first matter which attracts our notice in this passage is the significant omissions pointed out in the notes. Monsieur Cretineau doubtless considered, on second thoughts, that it was as well not to point out the especial period, or the fact of Ireland's being " detached from the province of England," nor yet to proclaim the name of the provincial chosen to govern the latter province. We discover, from the examination of the Rev. Peter Kenny before the Commissioners of Education, that there was no provincial either in Great Britain or Ireland in the year 1826, and that there was no authority existing in gradation between his own as " local SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. xcvii superior," and that of the general of the order. We learn, there- fore, from Monsieur Cretincau, that between that period and 1840, England and Ireland had been erected into a province, and that at that period Ireland was made a separate province and placed under a vice-provincial. The suppression of the name of this official was considered desirable, as it would be a bar to the supervention of any dangerous speculations, or the indulgence of any inconvenient curiosity. In despite of their characteristic prudence, and reticence, and theological shields, in the art of evasion, it is not agreeable to the Society to be compelled, as it were, to set their " light in a candle- stick " for all men to behold, in fact they seem to prefer to hide it "under a bushel ;" but we must suppose that it was only intended to be a partial eclipse, and that when "the fruitful results" which were promised by "this separation" were ripe for the harvest, their good deeds were intended to be made manifest. There is no doubt that in one respect they endeavoured to fulfil the precept of Him whom they falsely call "their master" to his apostles — they were " wise as serpents ;" but even in the pages of Monsieur Cretineau we cannot find any evidence of their adherence to the latter part of the command. Their whole course, from the entrance of the "poor Gentlemen of Liege" into England, was manifestly a series of tentative experiments skilfully conducted, and every page is a record of their progressive success. It is manifest that in England they did not connect themselves openly with any political combinations, but confined themselves solely to the busi- ness of education ; and in this they manifested their discretion, for, as a body, the English Roman Catholics had shewn themselves to be loyal and peaceable subjects, and there is no doubt, but that they would have recoiled with disgust from those principles, which uni- versally pervaded their co-religionists in Ireland. Irish disaffection and sedition, were as abhorrent to the Roman Catholics as to the Protestants of England, and for many years the name of Daniel O'Connell was considered as opprobious and contemptible amongst them. The well-bred, orderly, respectable, and educated Romanists were shocked by his scurrility, violence, insolence, and unparalleled mendacity, as well as disgusted by the idea that they might be sup- posed to share in the disgrace of belonging to the same party as the mendicant patriot. The English Jesuits did wisely to hold them- selves aloof from O'Connell, how much soever they valued him. 9 xcviii SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. But in Ireland — oh, there they had a different people to deal with — there was misery, squalour, idleness, ignorance, discontent, disaffec- tion ; what was to be done to utilize these troublesome elements ? There was England hard by, a prosperous and wealthy nation, there were Protestants, landlords and tenants, at least endowed with the comforts of food and clothing, while the masses were miserable and destitute. Whose fault was this ? An answer was readily found to the question. England, heretic England — who having cast off the ancient faith, now waged a war of extermination against all who adhered to it. After 1829 English Romanists could not be brought to accept this solution ; they were free and happy, and by no means conscious of any trials by persecution, so that doctrine was not fitted for them ; the poor had no extra pressure made upon their poverty ; the rich enjoyed their wealth, and desired its security and preserva- tion. Ireland, therefore, was the appropriate sphere for the mission of Daniel O'Connell, and we have seen how ardently he laboured in it ; his success, however, was confined to the lower classes, the educated Romanists in Ireland were somewhat doubtful of him. Those men who were selected as members of Parliament, and who were commonly called "his tail," did not consist of persons of birth, or property, or position ; but rather of mere adventurers, whose manners, morals, and education, were not of a character to win for them a high place in the estimation of the English public ; but it was not the purpose of the Jesuits to seek to win English approba- tion for their Irish policy or politicians ; but to compel the submis- sion of England to its dictates, Ireland was to be made into a power, an engine, and this once effected, the aid of the English Jesuits might be invoked to share in its direction. There w r as an appropriate sphere for the brethren of each province, and a good reason for their division of labour. Although the Protestant Church in England could not be abolished, it might be corrupted ; though the Dissenters might be possessed with too great an amount of "obstinate ra- tionality " to be promising subjects for conversion, they might still become useful allies in an assault against all Protestant institutions subsidized by the State, and be deluded into fulfilling the behests of the Jesuits, under the belief that they were serving the cause of liberty. If the Romish religion could not be implanted in the heart of the masses of the great manufacturing towns, at least all other religions might be discredited;; the seeds of infidelity or "secularism," SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. XC1X as it is called, might be widely sown and diligently nurtured. In fact there was no lack of useful occupation for the successors of the "poor Gentlemen of Liege" and their disciples; nor did they lack reinforcements from the overflowing population of the sister island. Agents and missionaries for the dissemination of their doctrines, among the lower and middle classes were easily supplied by the faithful emigrants from Ireland, large multitudes of whom trans- ported themselves to Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Stockport, Bir- mingham, Preston, and London, without any fear that their fidelity to the faith would be damaged by their contact with English heresy. Thus, the lower classes in England were inoculated from Ireland, while the higher orders were delicately indoctrinated, in a less re- volting and more elevated form of Romanism. Meanwhile, a more elegant and refined type of religion, was like- wise in request in Ireland, for the middle and higher class of mem- bers of the church there. Education and increasing wealth had pro- duced their effects on those, who, by means of trade, or from the possession of some amount of landed property, had attained a sort of social equality with the Protestant gentry and manufacturers. The Maynooth priests were excellent men, no doubt, but then they were somewhat vulgar and coarse, too "racy of the soil" to be wholly acceptable to these "bourgeois gentilhommes." An infusion of the English and foreign element became highly desirable, and so "in 1841 a college was erected in Dublin under the auspices of St, Francis Xavier, and England took no alarm at this increase of Catholic influence." It is possible that fears might have been enter- tained that she would be alarmed, that a college notoriously Jesuit should, in despite of the bill of 1829, be erected in the second city in the empire, the metropolis of the sister kingdom ; but these fears were very shortly dissipated, and from that period up to the session of the synod of Thurles, and thence to the recent demand for a charter for the Romish university, the encroachments of the Jesuits upon the meekness or the weakness of the Government have been culminating in audacity. Note 45, page 97. " Every one felt that the Jesuits had the greatest share in this,' etc. It is very important that the Protestants of England should 9 2 c SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. clearly understand and recollect this fact. They see the very state of things in their own country, in their church, among their own friends, perhaps, in their own families, produced by the Jesuits on the confession of their own historian, which took place in Russia, and for which, as is proved by his ukase, Alexander was compelled to drive them from his empire (see p. 21). He says, "To induce men to abjure their faith, the faith of their forefathers, to extinguish in their hearts all love of those who profess the same faith, to render them strangers in their own country, to sow dissension and anger in the bosom of families, to detach the father from his son, and the mother from her daughter, to occasion division among the children of the same church, is this the voice of God?" .... " After such conduct, we can no longer feel surprised that this religious order should have been banished out of every country, and be no- where tolerated. What would that state be, which allowed to nestle in its bosom those who spread within it hatred and discord?" There is not an imputation in the ukase of Alexander, of which we could not name examples and melancholy proofs within the circle of our own friends. Cretineau strenuously denies the justice of these charges against them in Russia, which he acknowledges and boasts of in England. And let England, Protestant England, know and feel, that the corruption of her Church, the seduction to Papal idolatry, and superstition of her sons and daughters, perhaps some of the highest and noblest in the land, the anguish of husbands, wives, parents, children, dearest friends, and relatives, the ruin of souls, the disloyalty, the sedition, the murders that defile her empire, and threaten her institutions and her throne ; for these she is indebted to taking into her arms and cherishing in her bosom Jesuitism and Jesuits, and excusing her ignorance, and sin, and folly, under the pretext of " civil and religious liberty' 1 Note 46, page 97. "Protestants understood," etc., to "wished to destroy all re- ligion." Once more Mons. Cretineau, in reference to the success of the Jesuits in Holland, takes occasion to point out the pre-eminent libe- rality of Protestant countries towards the Jesuits, and to compliment them accordingly ; and here, as elsewhere, he uses the same phraseo- SUPPLEMKNTA L COMM i:\TAKY. ci logy with respect to both parties. M Enemies' 1 is the designation he adopts for (lie Jesuits, while he attributes solely to Roman Catholics inimical sentiments towards them. We think it would be well for our Protestant readers to take this significant admission into serious consideration, for assuredly they would not be visited by the praise of their "enemies" unless they were really performing towards them the part of very useful auxiliaries and friends, and that this is manifestly the case, can readily be shewn. In Roman Catholic countries the protection of the Government is extended to the laity, by the strict exclusion from the country of the canon laws, that place them completely under the spiritual and temporal despotism of the Pope, by the exercise of strict supervision over the conduct of the priesthood, and over the education bestowed upon youth ; so that the laity have more or less security afforded them, that they shall enjoy freedom in the exercise of their civil rights. These necessary precautions of the Government in Roman Catholic states, are pecu- liarly obnoxious to the Jesuits, and according to Cretineau, they tend "to destroy all religion," they "strangle her by constitutions," etc., (p. 90.) From these inflictions, Protestant Governments gene- rously free them, but in direct proportion to the freedom conferred upon the Jesuits, is the cruel burden of slavery imposed on the Roman Catholic laity. Our Government, by some extraordinary in- fatuation, has permitted the worst Papal laws that are excluded by every Government in Europe, to be introduced by the bishops, under the control of the Jesuits, into these realms since 1832, enslaving the laity ; and that they cannot, and dare not, complain or appeal to a heretical Government, makes their case all the more desperate and pitiable. Let us take, for instance, the example of an election in Ireland. A grateful and prosperous tenant of a good and considerate landlord is desirous to vote for the son and heir of his property, who desires to be returned for the county, but the priest has selected another candidate. If the tenant persists in his resolution to sup- port his right of voting according to his own will or conscience, the first step that will probably be taken against him, will be to denounce his name from the altar ; should this prove inefficacious, he will pro- bably be admonished by the destruction of his cattle, or some such token of public disapproval of his insubordination, and if he resists both these, he is a happy man, if the worst that is in store for him is to be carried off bodily on his way to the poll, and locked up in safe Cll SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. quarters till the election is over ; and subsequently he may reckon on being branded amongst his neighbours, as a traitor to his country and his religion, and probably refused the rites of his Church, until he is reduced to abject subjection to " the spiritual power" Our readers will admit that this is not either an extreme nor a rare case, nay, that it is one of very frequent occurrence in Ireland. The right and duty of the priests to control and command their flocks at elections is openly and plainly asserted. It is vindicated by the first professor in Maynooth, as appears by the report of the last Commission.* It is expressly commanded by the whole synod of Roman Catholic bishops, and ratified by the Pope ;\ and the spirit with which this command is enforced, may be seen from a speech of the Rev. Mr. Maw, priest, at the election of Tralee in 1853, as follows : — " If there be a Catholic elector of this borough (thundered the reverend gentlemen) who will dare to go forward and register his vote for the English enemy, pass him by with scorn and con- tempt. Do not be seen to walk with him, to talk to or associate with him. Let him fester in his corruption ; be not you contaminated by any contact with a wretch so base and degraded. Despise him. If you meet him on the high road pass over to the other side. Have no dealing with him. Make him understand that he cannot afford to brave the honest indignation of his fellow-countrymen. Electors of Tralee, you, the honest electors, who have always upheld the independence of your town, assemble in a body to-morrow ; go to those unfortunate wretches, and make them acquainted with the consequences of their guilt. Eor my part, I'll confess to you what my feelings are with respect to those wretched and corrupt Catholics. Let me suppose one of those wretches prostrated by sickness. Sup- pose the hand of death heavy upon him, and that a messenger comes to me to attend him in his dying moments. If there were no other priest in the way I would be bound to go. I dare not refuse to attend him. But I confess to you, that I would be sorry from my heart to be called upon to attend the death-bed of such a being (great sensation). I would go to attend such a wretch with a heavy heart, without much hope, because I would feel that I was going to * See Ultramontanism Past and Present. A Letter to Lord Palmerston, pp. 55, 5G. Bosworth and Harrison, Regent Street. 1863. Price sixpence. t Ibid., pp. 51, 52. S [J P 9 L I M BNTAL COMMENTARY. ciii administer sacraments to one whose conscience was so seared, and whose heart was so rotten at the core, that I could not have much expectation of effecting a conversion. Overpowered with the im- pression that I was about to visit a perjured wretch, who, for a miserable bribe, had betrayed the dearest interests of his country and his religion, and borne down with the harrowing reflection that Grod, in his just anger, might leave such a wretch to die in his sins (sensation), I would fear that my mission would be fruitless, that I could have no hope of converting a heart so hardened, so lost to every sense of duty and religion, as to vote in support of those who would trample on the Lord of Hosts (sensation)." Such are the results of Protestant freedom as given to Jesuits. Statesmen ignorant of the facts and principles of the system, and deceived by the sound of words, extend the shield of our free laws over the enemies of all free institutions, and cherish and protect the wolf of political despotism, as he prowls through the land in the sheep's clothing of religious liberty. Note 47, pages 98—100. " Their chief had placed them," etc., to "and a new throne." In the account given by Cretineau of the proceedings of the Jesuits in England and Ireland, no direct allusion is made to " their chief;''' in fact, for all that appears with respect to those countries, we are left to suppose, that they w^ere but a handful of helpless and homeless exiles, who were to seek for a position and means of existence, and whose efforts for their own support and for the spread of their religion were successful as it were by acci- dent. In England they were indebted to the charity of Mr. Weld for an asylum ; in Ireland, to Mary O'Brien: for the source of the funds by which Clongowes was purchased and supported, is judi- ciously left untold. Nevertheless, there can be no question that they were not in Ireland any more than in Holland — " as sheep without a shepherd." " Their chief who, Monsieur Cretineau says, " had placed them as hidden sentinels in the midst of the enemies of the Church " in Holland, was not unmindful of the other outposts of the camp, for we learned in p. 86, " they re- mained silent and unmoved at the post confided to their vigilance : that post was so well guarded, that between 1826 and 1835 eleven churches w ere built by their labours." "We are not therefore left civ SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. to conjecture as to the reality of the fact — that the movements of the Jesuits were guided by one head and one hand, and that there- fore the Society scattered throughout all the countries of Europe and the world had but one aim. It is not without reason that this truth is only incidentally suffered to be apparent in the pages of Cretineau. The acts of Alexander, Prince Q-alitzin, Mr. Pitt, the Pope, Mr. Weld, "William of Nassau, Napoleon, are related and attributed to these individuals respectively, but to the acts of the Jesuits are given a character of divided responsibility. We hear of how " Father Landes took his departure for Vienna with a few of the flock committed to his care " (p. 62) ; — how " Father William Strickland was ordered to elevate to the degree of pro- fessor, Father Marmaduke Stone, rector of the New English Col- lege, and to establish him as provincial" (although Mr. Kenny testified on oath before the Commissioners of Education in 1826, as we have seen, that there was no provincial in Great Britain) ; — how " the Fathers Kenny, Esmond, and Aylmer acknowledged in sorrow" the " brutalization " of the Irish, " but they felt that the remedy was in their hands" etc. In none of these places is the existence or the control of a guiding power expressed, though it may be clearly understood. We can only learn of its existence by inference. It would appear as if the general of the Company were desirous to exemplify the modest slyness which the poet attributes to the cuckoo, that he was " A hope — a love Still longed for — never seen." And this reticence is not without cause ; for assuredly if it were a declared, established, and universally well-known fact, that there is a body of men living in these kingdoms, of every" rank, in every profession, whose numbers and names are unknown, and who are secretly banded together for the achievement of certain objects, unknown also, except by " their chief" whose name and office is unknown ; the people of England would not be indifferent, as they are, to the existence and the proceedings of such a body ; but would consider it a just and rightful prerogative of their " civil and religious liberty " to enquire into its nature, character, constitution, objects, and purpose, so as to discover whether or not it merited here, as elsewhere, the name of a conspiracy, rather than an association. We have heard the burst of indigna- tion that followed the recent discovery of an attempt on the part SUPPLEMENTAL COM M ENTARY. CV of certain members of the French ministry to purchase the co- lumns of an English newspaper, for the dissemination of French sentiments and the support of French interests; and we must believe that if it were known that not one, but many, newspapers Eire made the agents of a potentate much more formidable and powerful than Louis Napoleon, — that according to his bidding, and under the control of his influence, facts and documents are sup- pressed or disseminated, and that not only seats in the senate, but on the bench of justice, and even on the bench of bishops, have been given under his influence to purchase his favour, or to deprecate his wrath, — the free-born, high-spirited, gallant-hearted people of England would rise up like one man, and demand the deposition of the tyrant, whose power only subsists in virtue of the mystery in which he is shrouded. "We may perceive by the following ex- tract how jealously the influence of such organizations is watched in the neighbouring kingdom. Is no safeguard needed in our own ? " THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON AND THE SOCIETY OF ST. VINCENT DE PAUL. " The following is the circular, having reference to the socie- ties of St. Vincent de Paul, which was issued on Saturday by Count de Persigny, Minister of the Interior, to all the prefects of France : — " ' Paris, April 5, 1862. " ' Monsieur le Prefet, — By my circular of the 25th of J anuary last, I requested you to consult the conferences of St. Vincent de Paul, in your department, on the question as to whether they wished to be united between themselves by a central council, formed for the most part of the members of the old committee of Paris, and having for president a high dignitary of the Church, named by the Emperor, or whether they preferred to continue to function isolatedly, as they are now authorized to do. After some hesitation and long delays, most of the conferences at length replied. Eighty-eight accepted a council-general, presided over by a high dignitary of the Church, nominated by the Emperor, but seven hundred and sixty-six declared that they preferred to operate isolatedly. In consequence and in conformity with the wish of the great majority of the conferences, I have the honour to inform you that the Government considers as at an end, the re- gularization of the societies of St. Vincent de Paul, the legal exist- ence of which henceforth remains subordinate to the isolation of cvi SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. each conference, and to the suppression of all central bond. While on this subject, I think it my duty to mention an incident to which I call your attention. In a letter published in the journals the ancient President of the Council-general has declared, that the council before dissolving itself transmitted to him its powers; that he intended to exercise them on all the conferences ; and that in case of death or other impediment he should delegate them to a committee of three foreign members — a Belgian, a Dutch- man, and a Prussian. In spite of the laws and of the wish of the conferences themselves to operate isolatedly, a pretension is therefore put forth to form the whole of the conferences into a vast association governed by a supreme chief, or even by foreigners, without the authorization, and independent, of the control of the State. I need not tell you, Monsieur le Prefet, that such an infraction of the law of the country, by whatever motives, charit- able or religious, it may be covered, cannot be tolerated by the Grovernment. I therefore request you to make known this pre- tension to the conferences, and to warn them that if they should submit to it, contrary to the system of isolation chosen by them- selves, they would place themselves in flagrant opposition with the laws which regulate associations. — Accept, etc. " ' F. de Persigny." That the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and the Jesuits are one in heart and action, if not in essence, is proved by the fact that the Synod of Thurles named them both as emissaries to be sent through Ireland to preach. We have seen in some degree what the Jesuits were as missionaries in Ireland ; Nicolini shews what they were in Holland and Belgium : — " The military events of 1814 were tending towards the deci- sion of a very grave question," and there is nothing extraordinary therefore in the intelligence, that " the most evident aspiration " of " the fathers of the faith " was " to be incorporated into the institute of St. Ignatius" Kingdoms and dynasties were in the balance, revolutions were impending over Europe, — as it was, — " when England was shaken to her centre" that the fathers made good their landing on her shores ; so in Holland and in Belgium they flew to mingle in the storm. Let us hear the account of Nicolini of their proceedings at this period : — "In Holland the Jesuits acted in very nearly the same way as SUPPLKMKNTAL COMMENTAKV. cvii fchey did in Russia. It seems as if at the time of the suppression, the Protestant countries, forgetful of all prudence, merely to shew their opposition to the Papal Court, vied with each other in cheering and patronizing those monks whom Rome was perse- cuting. Even in England Jesuits were never so well treated, nor perhaps so prosperous, as during their legal suppression. Some of the Jesuits recovered a standing in Holland, and lived there unmolested and protected till the French armies drove them away, or obliged them to disguise themselves under another garb ; but they reappeared in 1814, and, with their wonted activity, they began to erect houses and noviciates. King William of Nassau tolerated them, but it would appear that they were not contented with being tolerated, — they aspired to higher destinies. Spreading dissatisfaction among the Roman Catholic population, they en- couraged them not to accept of or submit quietly to a constitution so unfavourable to their interests, and were preparing materials for a revolution. De Broglie, the Archbishop of Ghent, entirely devoted to their order, wrote in the same sense to all his subordi- nates. Aware of their intrigues and machinations, the Govern- ment thought it necessary, by a decree of 1816, to banish them. The audacious monks, instead of obeying, repaired to the Arch- bishop's palace as if to brave the laws. But the Government maintained its rights. A warrant was issued against De Broglie, who, however, took to flight, and accompanied into Prance the rector of the college of the Jesuits. The fathers then left the country, but not all of them. ' Some sons of Loyola nevertheless remained on the spot directed by Pather le Maistre, and, enrolled under the standard of the Church, they fought as volunteers ' (Cret., vol. vi., p. 105). In other words, under different disguises they kept up their intrigues, and they breathed the spirit of revo- lution into the Popish population of Belgium." — Nicolini, pp. 453-4. Let us not omit to notice here also how much the pious fathers were indebted to female friendship. " The Marchioness of Rhodes supplied the funds for this first establishment." When we proceed a little further in their history, we shall find that Loyola was perhaps more blessed in the zeal and fidelity of his posthumous daughters than of his sons, and they were more espe- cially beloved by their brethren when they were accompanied by a good dowry. cvm SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. Note 48, page 107, 108. " The creation of a college of philosophy," to " speedy cause of repentance." Whatever variety there may appear in the tactics of the Jesuits, with respect to other matters ; in some countries, and on some occa- sions siding with kings and rulers ; in other countries, or even in the same, at other times, inciting the populace to revolt or agitation, they have everywhere observed the same policy as regards the ques- tion of education ; — they will invariably support the authority that can be either persuaded or cajoled, or compelled to allow them a monopoly of the education of youth ; on all other questions they are comparatively indifferent. In countries where they have some degree of influence over the whole population, they make use of the argument — that to interfere with them, is to encroach on " the pre- scriptive rights of parents," — and then they enforce upon the parents the duty of transferring these " rights " to themselves. In countries where they cannot entirely rely upon this method of obtaining domination, they appeal to the conservative instincts of rulers, on the plea that a religious education is absolutely necessary to instil into the mind of youth a due veneration for authority, etc. ; that liberal and infidel principles are closely allied ; and that they, and they only, are the safest guardians of youth, where it is desir- able to preserve in the people sentiments of conservatism, subjection, etc., etc. In Belgium, they had an excellent field of operation, as in Ireland they had an ignorant and bigoted population of adult Romanists, whom they could readily persuade to believe themselves oppressed by the establishment of a system of education which was purely secular, and left the teaching of religion to the clergy of different persuasions as a wholly separate affair. We do not con- sider it necessary here to enter into the question as to whether this system can be wisely adopted or approved of, but we are bound to assert, that in no way can it be called oppressive ; but the J esuits characteristically proclaim every system to be oppressive, from the supreme control of which they are themselves shut out. In truth, they are compelled to resort to some subterfuge, in order to find a pretext for assuming direction ; for what people would be so obtuse, what Government would be so blind, as to commit sons or subjects to the guidance of those men, whose principles and whose practices are so antagonistic to the laws and instincts of nature, no less than SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. CIX to the will and laws of God ; and whose theory it is, that the highest development of man is to convert him into a machine, under the regulation of some unknown and irresponsible individual? We will here venture to transcribe a portion of a lecture of Mons. Michelet, delivered before the University, at Paris, May 11, 1843. The portion which we quote deals in universal principles, and demonstrates unanswerably, we will not say the wickedness, but the inhumanity of the Jesuit system : — " The eternal miracle of the world is, that infinite power, far from stifling what is weak, wishes it to become strong. The Almighty seems to find a divine felicity in creating and encouraging life, action, and liberty. Education has no other aim than to imitate this conduct of Providence in the culture of man. What education proposes to itself, is to develop a free creature, which may itself act and create The whole thought of parents, the end and aim of their cares for so many years, is, that at length the child may be enabled to do without them, and leave them some day. Even the mother is resigned ; she sees him depart, and sends him into hazard- ous careers, into the army or the navy. What is her wish ? that he may return a man, bronzed by the sun of Africa, distinguished and admired, and then marry, and love another more than his mother. Such is the disinterestedness of the family ; all it asks for, is to produce a man free and strong, who may, if it be necessary, separate from it. " The Jesuits alone, instituted for a violent action of policy and warfare, undertook to make man enter entirely into this action. They want to appropriate him without reserve, to employ and keep him from his birth to his death. They take him, by education, before his awakened reason can stand on the defensive, overawe him by their preaching, and govern his slightest actions by their direction. " W T hat is this education ? Their apologist, the Jesuit Cerutti, tells us pretty plainly (Apologie, p. 330) : — " * As one swathes the limbs of a child from his very cradle, to give them their just proportion, even so from his early youth we must, so to speak, swaddle the will, in order that it may preserve throughout his life a happy and salutary suppleness. 1 " If we could believe that a faculty, for a long time ' swaddled,' could ever become active, it would be sufficient to place side by side, with this wheedling expression, the much franker word which they cx SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. have been so bold as to write in their regulations, which indicates pretty strongly the kind of obedience they require, and what man will become in their hands — a stick, a corpse I know that the English have found out an art of making strange breeds of cattle — sheep, that are nothing but fat ; oxen, all flesh ; and beautiful skele- tons of horses, to win at the races ; and to ride these horses, they must have dwarfs, — poor creatures stinted in their growth. u Is it not impious to apply to the soul this shocking art of making monsters, and to say : ' This faculty you shall keep, that you shall sacrifice ; we will leave you memory — the sense of petty things — and this or that habit of business or of chicanery — but we shall take from you what constitutes your essence — what is your- self — will — liberty ! — so that, though thus useless, you may still live, but be no longer your own ?' " To make these monstrous beings, requires a monstrous art. " The art of keeping men together, and yet in isolation, united for action, disunited in heart, concurring to the same end, though at war with each other ! " To obtain this state of isolation, in the Society itself, it is neces- sary, at first, to leave the inferior members in perfect ignorance of what will be revealed to them in the higher grades (Reg. Comm., xxvii.), so that they may go on blindly, from one step to the other, and as if they were ascending in the dark. " This is the first point. The second, is to make them distrustful of one another, by the fear of mutual informations (Reg. Comm., xx.) The third, is to complete this artificial system by special books, which shew them the world in an entirely false light, so that, having no means of verification, they find themselves for ever shut up, and, as it were, immured in falsehood." — The Jesuits, by Messrs. Michelet and Quinet, of the College of France. Translated from the Seventh Edition, with the approbation of the authors, by C. Cocks, B.L., pp. 27—29. The " Brothers of the Christian doctrine " were the agents employed by the Jesuits in Belgium, to inaugurate amongst the lower classes this species of education, and we have, therefore, the authority of Mons. Cretineau for the assertion, that they are virtually to be identified with the Jesuits, an admission which is of the greater importance, as it is to this body that the education of the lower orders of Romanists in Ireland is chiefly confided. We may here SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. cxi appropriately quote a short account of this body, from the pages of the Quarterly Review, only observing that, during the twenty-two years that have elapsed since this account was published, the orga- nization lias increased to about a fourfold extent, and their schools been multiplied enormously in England, as well as in Ireland ; — M In Waterford, Cork, Limerick, Dublin, and in some of the manufacturing towns in England, these very interesting institutions have spread rapidly within about twenty-five years. They consist of small monastic bodies devoting themselves to the education of the poor. And a stranger who passes cursorily through their large and well-arranged schools, and sees the simple, zealous, paternal devotion to their work which characterizes especially the younger portion of the members, will be struck with the contrast between these establishments and our own ill-regulated national schools, ruled only under one paid master ; nor will he be surprised to hear that it is to these bodies, multiplied and extended, that Romanism is now looking for the conversion of the lower orders in England. There are in Ireland about eighty of these * brothers,' dispersed in various houses, not wholly dependent on charity (as has recently been asserted), for in Cork, Limerick, and Waterford, they seem to pos- sess some property of their own ; but they educate, except under certain conditions, gratuitously. Now if these excellent men (and we really believe them to be such) were taken from the entire seclu- sion, the ignorance of the world, and the habits of blind obedience in which they are trained up, and were placed before a Committee of the House of Lords, we should like to ask a simple question, How many of them are aware that they are, in fact, nothing but tools in the hands of the Jesuits ? But of the whole eighty, but ten or twelve only we believe, and these the superiors, are acquainted with this remarkable fact. And we are quite sure that the question here put will not be allowed to reach them, for they are not permitted to read anything which does not come to them through the hands of the superiors. "Now we may be allowed to connect with these hints a few ques- tions, and questions, it must be added, not to be met by vague denials and violent abuse. We ask what influence procured the brief from the Pope, establishing the order in Ireland ? Was it Dr. Kenny, the present Jesuit, head of Clongowes, a person, it may be suggested, to whom the minute and very vigilant attention of cxii SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. Government might have been wisely directed for many years, and may be directed with advantage now ? Was this brief obtained on a statement that the majority of the Roman Catholic bishops in Ireland recommended the institute, vihile only a very small minority was in its favour ? Were the Christian brothers at first averse to the system proposed to them by the Jesuits ? At a general meet- ing of the body, was a protest about to be entered into ? And did Dr. Kenny persuade Mr. Rice, the nominal founder, to dismiss the meeting on the ground of its being too numerous to be canonical ? Was subsequently a smaller meeting brought together where the influence of the Jesuits prevailed, and the brothers were induced to adopt their system ? Did they vainly endeavour, again and again, at many angry meetings, to shake off the yoke, till overcome by artifices, terrified by the threats of the Romish Church, and ex- hausted in their attempts, they at last succumbed, and have ever since been held unconsciously, except in the case of the superiors, in the hands of the Jesuits ; the general of the Jesuits moving Dr. Kenny, Dr. Kenny commanding the superior of the order, the superior nominating the directors, and all the other brethren being bound to yield to them the most implicit obedience, as one of the chief virtues of their religious calling? Again, it has been dis- tinctly stated that the Christian brothers in Ireland have no con- nection with those of France. We ask, when fifteen years ago an attempt was made to organize the system more perfectly, did Ignatius Barry and Bernard Dunphy (a name known to parlia- mentary committees) go to France? Did they spend six months in visiting the houses of the brethren in France? Did they bring back with them, for the institution, books written by Jesuits? religious doctrines peculiarly characteristic of the Jesuits, works kept in manuscript and not printed ? Especially are the decrees by which the body is secretly governed carefully kept from the know- ledge of the brethren, until they have taken the vows for life in the presence of those only who have professed for life themselves ? Are these decrees of such a nature as to shock even those who find that they are bound by them. We would suggest also that some in- quiries might be made as to exposures which have lately been made in France on the subject of these Christian brothers. Lastly, how is this profession for life, or the evasive profession of vows for terms of years, to be reconciled with the so-called Emancipation Act, SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. cxiii which, under a foal* of Jesuitism, whether visionary and delusive or not, did prohibit everything of the kind, under the penalty of banishment from the United Kingdom for life?" — (Quarterly Review, March 1841, pp. 542—544.) We have ample grounds, therefore, for knowing that " the court of William " was justified in believing that these "Christian brothers were nothing else than Jesuits in disguise and we think, more- over, that the Government of Queen Victoria should not consider it an insignificant circumstance, that some millions of her subjects are at this moment under the training of these same masqueraders, and that unless the Government of England is prepared to incur the imputation of fixing the mark of its approbation upon Jesuitism, it is bound to rescue the people of Ireland from being trained by the Jesuits. We discover from Cretineau that in Belgium, as in Ireland, there existed a party amongst the Romanists who were desirous to make a struggle for their freedom from the yoke of Jesuitism, and we also perceive how bitter and intense was the rage, which this symptom of revolt against their authority excited in the Jesuits. " The Belgians believed it might be practicable to sacrifice their fellow-countrymen, the children of Loyola, to the prejudices of ministers." "They declared the Jesuits to be dangerous, etc. This betrayal of the prin- ciple of truth brought no advantage to the opposing coalition." We can entertain no doubt of this fact ; and we believe, more- over, that Monsieur Cretineau might have further asserted, that in no country where the Jesuits have been allowed to establish them- selves, and to obtain influence over the population, will Roman Catholics of tolerant principles, and a desire for peace and unity with their Protestant fellow-subjects, find any " advantage " by struggling for freedom, but rather have reason to expect M speedy cause of repentance " for the effort. To be proclaimed traitors to their religion, and enemies of their country, is the smallest of the penalties they will have to encounter, and eventually they will be compelled to succumb to a despotism all the more oppressive, be- cause their instincts for liberty make them constant subjects of sus- picion by their tyrants. We shall see how Monsieur de Gerlache was obliged to rescind his opinions, and to submit to the commands of the fathers by withdrawing his support from the Government, and in the end the triumph of the Jesuits was complete ; the storm h cxiv SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. which they had been so long brewing " burst forth in the month of September, 1830." " The revolution was made in the name of the Catholics and the Jesuits." Nicolini adds, " Very well ; we like this bold and frank language, and the Jesuits have our felicitation for having helped an oppressed people to shake off a yoke which brutal force had imposed upon them. But, then, let them never come again and assert they are a religious order entirely occupied in spiritual concerns, and quite indifferent to political matters. Since the revolution of 1830 the influence of the Jesuits have greatly increased in Belgium At the very moment we are writing these pages, they are striving hard to prostrate Belgium at the feet of their worthy protector, Louis Napoleon." — Nicolini, p. 454. Note 49, page 109, 110. " In the month of November, 1827, a writer," etc., to " under- stood by the people." Perhaps a better illustration of the most adroit method in which the Jesuits work upon the public mind could hardly be furnished, than in this quotation of Monsieur Cretineau from M. de Potter, "celebrated for his anti- Catholic works." Truly if the Jesuits had no allies, but such as avowed them- selves to be of their party, their success would have been but partial in these countries ; for in the ears of all Protestants, and of most Romanists educated in Protestant countries, the word " Jesuit " has a portentous significance : they very wisely, there- fore, desire to " sink " the soubriquet, and denominate themselves " Catholics " in these islands, and under this denomination they find numerous and most " liberal " patrons, especially among " anti- Catholic " writers, who 'philosophically, like M. de Potter, associate their cause with that of " liberty," " progress," "national independence," " commercial prosperity," and in fact every other good thing which we all desiderate. Here assuredly, as in Belgium, the Jesuits have met with few friends, but with what is far more useful, some very good natured "enemies," especially amongst the public journalists. Who could suspect the Times, for instance, or the satirico-philosophic Saturday Review, or the candid Examiner, or the indifferent Spectator, of any possible pro- clivities towards Romanism ? "What can be more jocose than the SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. CXV " Thunderer " of Printing-house Square, as he flashes his lambent lightning over the pages of a magniloquent pastoral of Cardinal Wiseman ? What can be more playfully severe than his diatribes upon the unseemly gambols of his Eminence's " lambs," or more amusingly " critical " upon the variegated texture of the Cardinal's or Archbishop Cullen's theological English ? He is greatly shocked also at the unaccountable propensity of the Irish Koman Catholics to murder their landlords, and astonished at the impossibility of procuring Irish jurors to find a verdict according to evidence. He is scandalized likewise at the obtrusive disloyalty of the masses ; and even sometimes raises an admonitory finger, with a gentle " fie! fie!" to the Eomish prelates and clergy for not having more assiduously trained their children "in the way they should go." But would the Times desire to abridge any of the privileges, or curb any of the homicidal vagaries of these eccentric and incom- prehensible individuals ? Oh no, not for the world ! What would become of " civil and religious liberty," if Cardinal Wiseman were not free to violate the provisions of the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill ? if the Phoenix Club and the United Brotherhood of St. Patrick, with their priests at their head, and their representatives at their tail, their bands playing, and their banners streaming, might not march in procession through Dublin — while a few hundred loyal Protestants, meeting in quiet assembly to discuss their interests, are branded as incendiaries and persecutors, and commended to the notice of Government as disturbers of the public peace ? — What — if any suggestion as to the propriety of investigating whe- ther £30,000 per annum of the revenues of the empire are not expended upon teaching the priesthood of Ireland doctrines of sedition, perjury, murder, intolerance, etc., were not stigmatized as the ravings of an imbecile mountebank — while the proposition of an assault upon the revenues of. the Protestant Church establish- ment in Ireland, is heralded with notes of triumph, and pronounced to be a dutiful task, to the dispensers of the income of the nation ? The Roman Catholics are a very wrong-headed class of people, very ignorant, and behind the age ; and there is no doubt some of the opinions ascribed to them are quite indefensible, and, indeed, they now and again shew a tendency to carry them out into practice ; but what of that ? Let us not scan their little pecca- dilloes too closely, nor, above all, encourage the characteristic intolerance of Protestantism, which is a most vulgar and narrow h2 CXVi SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. sentiment. It is quite unworthy of a great and powerful nation like the English, to shew any fear of the encroachments of an insignificant old gentleman, an amiable, polite, and tender-hearted old gentleman moreover, although his little domestic concerns now occupy the attention of the rest of Europe, and require the ser- vices of a trifle of a few hundred thousand soldiers to keep them in order. In Erance, and Italy, and elsewhere, to be sure Govern- ments may exhibit an absurd terror of his pretensions, but in England surely he should be allowed room and fair play ; all his faults may be summed up, in his indulgence in a fancy for comical parti-coloured liveries for his servants, and a partiality for sesqui- pedalian words, and mediaeval doctrines. Besides, it is intolerable that the time of the legislature should be occupied in the discus- sion of mere theological questions. "What are the parsons paid for ? These matters are their affair ; and English churchmen are too orthodox to deny the right hand of fellowship to the good old Mother Church of all Christendom. Let us talk about the war in America, of the distress in Lancashire, of the Greek monarchy, of the Erench in Mexico ; these subjects concern us ; but the Pope ! — poor old soul ! what have we to do with him but to wish him well out of his troubles — place our fleet at his service, and provide him a palace at Malta, if he will graciously accept our civilities ? This is the generous and philosophic tone adopted by our " anti- Catholic" writers; and the shrewd and intelligent, but liberal and large-hearted people of England are delighted to find at how cheap a rate they can afford to display the virtue of magnanimity. But perhaps some dull and over inquisitive member ventures to enquire if any one knows what has become of an Order known by the name of Jesuits, that some few years ago England thought it not unbecoming her dignity to desire to get rid of, but whom it was whispered were now the virtual rulers of one-third at least of the population of the British islands. "What is to be done with this pertinacious blockhead, this unconscionable bore ? There is but one course to pursue with him — hiss him down ; do not allow him to be listened to ; decline to report his speeches ; who knows but if he got a hearing some fools might be disposed to believe him ; such maunderings might be tolerated at Exeter Hall, but in the British Parliament ! What ! should it be said that the columns of the Times proclaimed to Europe, to the si 1TLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. CXV11 world, that the question was asked in the English House of Commons, what was become of the Jesuits P " Dear sacred name ! rest ever unrevcalnl, Nor pass these lips in holy silence scaled." In sober seriousness we must call upon the people of England, or that portion of her people who are our thoughtful readers, to observe w r ith strict and watchful attention the proceedings of "the fourth estate" in this country, and we think they will find sufficient evidence that even there, is " the trail of the serpent ;" and perhaps no more striking proof of the fact could be adduced than that afforded by the treatment of the Irish Church question by that journal which claims to itself to be the organ of English public opinion. We are thankful to be able to say that now, at least, the treachery of the tactics pursued towards Protestantism and Protestants cannot henceforth be carried on without the risk, nay the certainty, of exposure ; the able writer of the following article in the Dublin Evening Mail and Packet is evidently fully a match for "The Thunderer" in intellect and experience. We can make but a short extract, but ex pede Herculem : — " The Times and the Irish Church. — Apropos of Mr. Dillwyn's Return of the number of members and revenues of the Irish branch of the United Church, the Times has published one of those acerb, sweeping, and unjust diatribes, which serve as proof to closer observers that the conductors of that journal, whilst affecting a strong detestation of the Papal system, and prone to vapid declamation against it, reserve their practical and real hostility for the Church of the Constitution. It is more than suspicious that no opportunity for delivering a treacherous stab to the Irish Church escapes the malignant zeal of our contemporary. If the unity of the two Churches, of England and of Ireland, is admitted at all by the Times, the design of those attacks can only be to break down the Church in its entirety as a national institution, by injuring it in what seems to its opponents its most vulnerable part. We make no appeal to the Times against a proceeding so unworthy of its position. The Church is able to answer for her- self, and the reaction of late years in favour of constitutional politics shews how profoundly the philosophy of the Times was a miscalculation of the characteristic tendencies of the English mind. What we should have a right to expect, however, from cxviii SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. the most virulent Nonconformist journal, or the most ignorant Papal one, we surely have the right to demand from the Times — that the case of the Irish Church should be fairly stated, and that if numbers be taken as the test of her activities and their results, all the considerations affecting those figures, which the most super- ficial inquiry would suggest, should have their honest value allowed them. There could be nothing, in the first place, more mischievous in intention than the waspish article to which we refer. If meant to sound the tocsin of a fresh Ultramontane agitation against the Irish Church, it is craftily and effectively contrived for that object. * No sensible man,' says the Times, 1 can suppose that a question of this kind (the existence of the Church) is settled because it is dropped, and no longer claims notice in Royal speeches.' Further, we are told that the Irish Church is a ' great experiment, tried under every advantage? which has ' failed.' Thus the Times strikes the key-note for Dr. MacHale, and does its worst to initiate an agitation which might even be fraught with social consequences of a serious nature. Upon the temerity and recklessness of this attack, as emanating from a journal professing to take a broad and national view of affairs, we might observe with a harshness which the circumstances would justify, but we pass by the motive and character of the strictures to say a word on their flagrant injustice." And again: — "The device of the Ultramontane journals in presenting only half the case, is an artifice which may be more powerful for mischief in the Times than in the Morning News or Nation, but if so, it is also more discreditable. It might be imagined, however, that when the Times insists upon this ' bald statistical comparison,' it would at least quote fairly the figures that constitute it. Tet, even to this small extent the Times refuses to act honestly by us. Here are its words : ' Now the facts are shortly these : — the number of members of the Esta- blished Church in 1834 was 853,160; in 1861 it was 691,782.' Now, the facts are not these, as the Times, if it were not so earnestly concerned to support a foregone conclusion, would have seen. In 1834 the Methodist body were included in the Church return, whilst in 1861 they demanded to be placed in a separate category. It would not suit the Times to make a just ' statistical comparison,' and so this fact- is flung overboard. To make the comparison fair, the Methodists of 1861 must be added to the SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. Cxix Church population, when the numbers of the latter will be 730,899, and not 691,872. The spirit in which the Times has entered into the case is seen in this advised omission. With like eontempt for fairness, the Times denounces a flagrant waste of endowments in the diocese of Cashel, concealing the fact that the Protestant worshippers of that large diocese are widely scattered, and that the labours of the clergy are not to be measured by the mere number of their flocks. "What would the Times do with these 5,000 Churchmen ? That is the question. Cast them adrift without a shepherd, and allow them to lapse into Romanism, that, after a generation or two, their descendants might become rebels against the throne of England? "We really claim some sobriety from the Times in dealing with the great interests, tem- poral no less than spiritual, that are at stake in this controversy. "When half a dozen Roman Catholics in an English jail are prompted by the designing political leaders of their system to cry out for a salaried chaplain, the Times has no scruple about de- manding for them this ' wasteful endowment ;' but when the religious interests of the Protestants of the diocese of Cashel are involved, the Times is cynical and parsimonious. We leave the reader to find a motive for the extraordinary line of conduct which this contrast marks. There is a monstrous job on foot to purchase the Exhibition buildings at Kensington, and the fee of the ground on which they stand, in order to carry out some huge and incom- prehensible folly of a science and art memorial to the late Prince Consort ; and as the scheme is supposed to be in favour at Court, the Times, with a flunkeyism not uncommon in its columns of late, will doubtless support the project so ardently as to give Mr. Gladstone the desired excuse for appropriating £400,000 — double his remaining surplus — for the purpose ! This is about three- fourths of the net revenue of the Irish Church for a year, and when the buildings have been purchased, some £50,000 or £60,000 per annum will be required to keep them in repair. But that will be a mere bagatelle to the Times. A glowing picture will be drawn of England's wealth, and the flattered vanity of a nation which, under the teaching of the Times is rapidly reach- ing the American condition of effervescence and bounce, will grant the little sum of half a million. What is the Irish Church weighed in the scale with a Kensington show-box ? We rejoice that we have compelled the Times to acknowledge so much as ig cxx SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. conceded in the article which is the subject of these observations. ' It may be qnite true,' the Times now allows, ' that the ministers of the Establishment are more learned, more active, more pious, less self-seeking.' A real and progressive work is admitted to be going forward ' in some districts of Connaught,' and finally, abating its haughty hostility, the Times only asks for 'grave inquiry,' and feebly hints the impropriety of t hasty or violent legislation.' So far discussion has done good. All we demand is fair treatment, and an intelligent respect for the position and achievements of the Church which, despite the senseless sneer of the Times, we repeat is ' the Church of the Constitution ' — ' the Irish branch of the National United Church of England and Ire- land,' and the mainstay of the ' British connection in Ireland.' Much depends upon whether this relation of the Irish to the English Church is honestly and chivalrously avowed by the 1 leaders ' of the Conservative party on the 28th instant ; but even should they hold back, or speak with bated breath, we trust to be able to complete without them a victory that is already half won." But it is to the people of England that England must look for security — to that great and wise people, who may be duped for a while, or betrayed for a while, but who have inherited that from their forefathers which will forbid that, as a nation, they will ever become the tools of Jesuits, or the slaves of her upon whose "forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of harlots and abominations of the earth." " Let not your king and parliament in one — Much less apart — mistake themselves for that Which is most worthy to be thought upon ; Nor think they are essentially — the State. Let them not fancy that th' authority And privileges upon them bestown, Conferred, are to set up a majesty, A power, or a glory of their own ! But let them know 'twas for a deeper life Which they but represent — That there's on earth a yet auguster thing, Veiled though it be, than parliament or king." Note 50, pages 110, 111. "Their name was made a-war cry," etc., to "on but one occasion." SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. cxxi Truly we believe that it would require a deep search to trace out fully, all the deeds that are done at the instigation of the Jesuits; they are now as in the days of the worthy old Master Fuller, and this extract from his Good Thoughts in Bad Times, is as appropriate to this season as in the year of grace 1045. He heads it aptly, " Wolf in lamb's skin." " But where is the Jesuit all this while ? One may make hue and cry after him ; he can as soon not be, as not be active. Alas ! with the maid in the Gospel, he ' is not dead but sleepeth,' or rather he sleepeth not, but only shutteth his eyes in dog's sleep, and doth awake when he seeth his advantage, and snappeth up many a lamb out of our flocks. Where is the Jesuit do you say ? yea, where is he not ? They multiply as maggots in May, and act in and under the fanatics. What is faced with faction, is lined with Jesuitism. Faux's dark lantern by a strange inversion is under our new lights. "Meantime we Protestant ministers fish all night and catch nothing, yea, lose many who, in these times, fall from our Church as leaves in autumn. God, in his due time, send us a seasonable spring that we may repair our losses again." Let us not omit to notice here, the hint afforded us by this exculpation of the Jesuits from all possible concern in the revo- lutionary movement. The head of the Company wrote to them these significant words, " For God's sake do not interfere in politics." What a superfluous exhortation to these humble and pious men, who, having renounced the world, with all its riches, and honours, and interests, were devoted solely to promoting the spiritual edification of the poor and friendless ! " Such was the counsel that came from the Gesii." This "counsel" was, it appears, issued upon a special occasion; but it is strange that Monsieur Cretineau's historical fidelity nowhere prompts him to a revelation of other " counsels " from the Gesu, which possibly may not have been of such a pacificatory nature. We hear when the Jesuits were forbidden to interfere in politics, and it is a curious coincidence, that it was just at the period when " a revo- lution" was about to be "made in the name of the Catholics and the Jesuits." But the crowning proof is given of their innocence in the fact, that "scarcely had a new Government been established when the fathers again resumed their labours." cxxii SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. Note 51, page 113. "Bonaparte being at war with the sovereign pontiff," to " rather a benefit than an affliction to those children of Loyola." Thus it ever is with the truly virtuous ! trials and indignities manifest and cultivate their graces. The worthy brethren dis- owned by the state were, nevertheless, not only willing, but determined to take upon themselves the whole burden and labour of bestowing on the subjects of this ungrateful tyrant, Bona- parte, gratuitously a religious education. How can we wonder that Providence rewarded their disinterestedness ? and that soon " Events proved stronger than even the will of the emperor ; and in 1814 the little college of Sion became the cradle of the province of high Germany." — p. 114. Note 52, page 116. " They dreaded the ascendency," etc., to " alone would enjoy the benefits." If ever there were a body of men who seemed to merit the blessing pronounced on those whom all men should " revile and persecute," the Jesuits, according to Monsieur Cretineau, have assuredly earned it. Alike obnoxious to the mighty despot of Europe, and to the apostles of liberty at Iribourgh, we are driven to the conclusion that they are indeed of that number, in their own esteem, of whom " the world was not worthy," and to believe that they will only meet with their due appreciation and reward in another sphere ! Note 53, page 121. " At Dresden, where Father Gracchi possessed the confidence of the royal family, and where he directed at the same time the conscience of the monarch." No language can more fully convey the power at which the Jesuits aim, and which they practically exercise, than the words of this sentence. They do not seek to enlighten the understand- ing ; their object is not to inform the judgment, but they " direct the conscience of the monarch" that is, they give to their commands the weight and solemnity of a religious obligation, so that the monarch, or whoever their unfortunate penitent may be, does not SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. cxxiii act from the conviction of his own unfettered judgment, nor yet from the advice of any minister or statesman in whose judgment and opinion he might naturally feel confidence, but from some obliga- tion imposed on his conscience under the terror of religious duty pressed on him by his confessor. It is important that we should reiterate the laws under which these confessors themselves are compelled to act, as we find in their constitutions in reference to their conduct with princes. The following is the command of the Jesuit general Aquaviva on the duties of confessors of princes. " The Prince ought to listen with equanimity and patience to what- ever the confessor conscientiously thinks, ought to be suggested to him every day, according to every exigency. Because in acting with a public man and with a Prince, it is fit that the father- confessor should bring forward with religious freedom whatsoever he shall have judged in the Lord to conduce to the greater rever- ence of God and the Prince himself; not only in those matters which he may have learned from himself in confession, but in others also which are commonly reported and require a remedy ; to restrain oppressions and to diminish scandals which often happen through the fault of ministers, contrary to the mind and will of the Prince, and nevertheless the fault and the necessity of guarding against it must devolve on the conscience of the Prince himself. " And if at any time it happens, as may be easily the case, that any difficulty should arise as to the judgment of the confessor, the Prince should consult with two or three other theologians on the matter. Because as it will be his (the confessor's) duty to acquiesce in the matter by laying aside his own conscience, if they shall give their j udgment contrary to his opinion, so it would be equally a grave matter in the Prince not to assent on his part that that should be done which they shall have determined ought to be done." — Consti. Ordin. Prcep., cap. xi., sec. 8, 9. So that in fact the Prince must be borne down by the authority of the Jesuits, for they are too well drilled in unity of purpose to differ from each other. It is no wonder, as we see in this supple- ment (note, page xliv.), that the king of Sardinia, Victor Amedee, was advised by an affectionate Jesuit confessor, when he was dying, never to have a Jesuit again for his confessor. It is clear, from their very constitutions, that they rule a state through their power over the conscience of a Prince; nor can it be doubted that they do the same as confessors of any person in authority. cxxiv SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. Note 54, pages 122 — 124 (note) " At this period," to " a Jesuit is in question." In this note added to the last edition, we are given the interest- ing episode concerning Father Beckx. We have no means of as- certaining the truth or falsehood of Mons. Cretineau's statement, as to the triumphant proofs given of his innocence : but this we say advisedly, deliberately, with certain knowledge of the truth of our assertion, that if the deeds secretly perpetrated by some of the Jesuits in Ireland (and it may be in England also, but we will only say in Ireland), within this nineteenth century, within the jurisdiction of English magistrates, could be openly declared to the public by the individuals who have the most convincing evidence of the facts, they would surpass in horror and in cruelty the most thrilling incidents in any modern " sensation" novel, and cast the little exploit attributed to Eather Beckx completely into the shade. "We do not here allude to the system of landlord and tenant intimidation, of terrorism and murder carried on against refractory "subjects" amongst the laity. It is certain that these deeds of blood, which in England are attributed to the lawless and san- guinary disposition of the Irish people, are virtually but the decrees of the canon law carried out in a somewhat rough and irresponsible method, resembling that of the Italian and Neapo- litan brigands ; for the weeding of " the tares" from amongst " the wheat" is a pious process, when it can be safely, however irregularly, conducted (see Bheimish Testament, note on Matt, xiii., 29, 30). But we now speak of sentences pronounced with judicial solemnity, administered by ecclesiastical officials against offenders of their own order who have abjured Popery, or who may have rashly reckoned on the protection of British law and British liberty, and believed that under this shelter they might transgress with impunity the commands of Home, It would not be difficult to imagine a touching instance of— let us say — an aged ecclesiastic, educated abroad in all the tolerant principles of the Grallican church, eloquent, accomplished, amiable, mild and social in disposition, returning to spend his latter days in his native country. Let us suppose that he is earnestly solicited by the Government to undertake to preside over an establishment for mixed education, SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. CXXV and that, undeterred by the denunciations of the project by the bigots and ultramontanes of his own Church, he accepts the appoint- ment, selects his subordinates, and in due time proceeds alone to the Beat of his future labours ; suddenly we hear that he is struck by a mortal malady ; he has no relatives, but some of his attached friends write to enquire concerning him : they get no reply : they go down to see him, but are informed that he is too ill to receive visitors : at last they get access to him, but it is not to him, but to an imbecile and miserable wreck of humanity, that can just spread out its worn hands in token of benediction over the head of those who best loved him, and whom he best loved on earth, before the stern spectators of his agony clear the room of his visitors, and he is left to sink into the arms of death. Although an admired orator, — an elevated dignitary of the Romish Church, no bells are tolled at his departure, no masses offered, no honours lavished on his name, or his memory. He was, — he rebelled, — and he is not : — that is all we are given to hnoiv concerning him. Will any of the accredited authorities of the Eoman Catholic Church in Ireland volunteer to give to the public, authenticated by the evidence of any lay members of their Church, a history of the latter days of Dr. Doyle or of Dr. Kirwan, the first president of the Queen's College in Galway ? There were strange rumours rife concerning both these eminent personages, to which no satis- factory contradiction was ever vouchsafed. "Would the holy fathers give us a sample of their drink — the JSeatificato — to be analyzed by Professor Faraday ? This is not what may be called an era of romance, but romantic incidents do happen now and then, and they may well inspire us with a feeling resembling that here ex- pressed by the poet : — " I have lain on a sick man's bed, Watching for hours for the leech's tread, As if I deemed that his presence alone Were of power to bid my pain begone. I have listed his words of comfort given, As if to oracles from heaven, I have counted his steps from my chamber door, And blessed them when they were heard no more ; And sooner than Walwayn my sick couch should nigh, My choice were by leechcraft unaided to die." Nor have we any doubt that the next couplet to the above is as applicable as ever : — cxxvi SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. " Such service done in fervent zeal, The Church may pardon or conceal." — Scott's Harold, iv. There is no doubt that even amongst the most devout of the laity, the Inquisition would not be a popular institution in these days or in this country, but we have no reason to doubt, but every reason to believe, that it would be as strongly patronized by the ecclesiastics of the Church of Rome at this moment as in the most palmy days of the Church's power. We are tempted here to give an extract from a book just published by Dr. Madden, entitled Galileo and the Inquisition, the appendix to which, is at least deeply interesting, not only for the details it affords us, but the moral drawn from them by the candid and pious Romanist who is the author : — " The Inquisition at Avignon. — In the month of July, 1840, the mission of Sir M. Montefiore to Damascus, which I accompa- nied to Egypt, set out from Paris for Marseilles, at which place we were to embark for Alexandria. We passed through Avignon, and remained a couple of days in that remarkable city. One of our party, Dr. Lowe, a very learned Prussian rabbi, informed me and another gentleman attached to that mission in a legal capacity, the late Mr. Wire, subsequently Lord Mayor of London, that the Jews in former times had suffered heavy persecutions in that city, that traces of their blood were still to be seen on the walls of the Inquisition that formed part of the ancient palace of the Popes in that city, and that he himself had seen them on the walls of one of the places of torture in that building. " Accompanied by the late David Wire, Esq., (a gentleman, I may observe, of the Baptist persuasion, very much attached to the tenets of his religion,) I proceeded to the ruins of the ancient palace of the Popes, a Saracenic pile of extraordinary strength and vast extent, formerly surrounded by fortifications which must have rendered it at that period, I have no doubt, impregnable. This remarkable edifice, of vast proportions, destitute of all architec- tural beauty, sombre, gloomy, and of great strength and elevation, is still in very tolerable condition, except one wing of it which has fallen into decay. The portion which is habitable has been converted into a barrack, and is now thronged with French soldiers. One portion of the palace — namely, the Inquisition — forms a very considerable part of the whole structure. It is in a good state of repair. The various departments of it, where the judicial proceed- SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. cxxvii ings were carried on, the confinement of the prisoners and the torturing of the accused persons were effected, and the service of the Church was performed, are in such a perfect state that the spectator beholds the whole history and mystery of the Inquisition vividly brought before him ; and my firm conviction is, that nothing he has ever read in works at all deserving of credit, calculated to leave a painful impression of this institution, can make a worse one on his mind than the dungeons, judgment-hall, and places of punishment of the inquisition of Avignon. "Nothing, indeed, can be more appalling than these gloomy dungeons, strangely constructed courts or audience saloons, those frightful chambers reserved for punishment, and one of those open spaces under an immense chimney, funnel-shaped, like the furnace- chimney of a glass-house, for the same uses which the Spaniards call quemaderos, or burning-places. " In some of the saloons of punishment vestiges remain of iron bars and rings that had been connected with implements for in- flicting torture. Some of these chambers are constructed on scientific principles of acoustics, for the purpose of drowning the cries of sufferers when their limbs were racked, or the joints were stretched and distended on the far-famed 1 cheval de fer, 1 the grooves for the iron bars of which are to be seen in the wall of the principal hall of torture. " La Salle de Torture, or hall of torture, is a large chamber entered by a narrow door : it is open at the top, and the height and solidity of the walls are very great. This chamber, as I have already remarked, is most singularly constructed ; each wall pro- jects and recedes in such a manner as to exhibit a face in a differ- ent direction to that of the wall on the opposite side, and in this way the solid mass of masonry of each wall is carried upwards ; and the sole object of this peculiar structure of the chamber was to cause the shrieks and groans of those tortured to be thrown back from wall to wall, and effectually prevent the cries from terrifying the public outside, or disturbing the repose of the in- mates of the adjoining palace. "In a chamber above this, ascended by a winding staircase, there is a gloomy dungeon with a hole about the middle of the flooring, through which it was the custom, it is said, to throw down the mangled bodies of the sufferers. Even now, to look down the deep and dreadful abyss beneath, and trace the course cxxviii SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. of the broad, dark brown stream of clotted gore which had flowed along one of the walls on the left hand side of this frightful chasm, is enough to make one dizzy, and more than enough to make the blood curdle in one's veins. It is a relief to leave this place even to enter the dreary dungeons of the Inquisition. Some of these reminded me of the solitary cells I have seen in our own prisons of an ancient date, except that they seemed more rudely con- structed, and must have been more damp and cheerless, if it be possible. But there is one common cell which is tolerably large, and well lit and ventilated, where many unfortunate wretches were confined, probably previous to trial and torture. The stone walls are covered with the names of the victims, with declarations of their innocence, of their hatred of persecution, and of their trust and confidence in God. These are generally expressed in scriptural passages, and in the Latin tongue, and the ancient forms of the letters shew that the inscriptions are quite as old as the dates on them would prove them to be. " These inscriptions, moreover, prove that the sufferers were no ordinary men ; that whatever might be their errors in faith, they were men of high and lofty notions of human liberty. " Such is the state of preservation of the judgment-hall of the Inquisition of Avignon, that a visitor conversant with its modes and forms of procedure may imagine he sees the whole dread business of this tribunal passing before him ; and, while he does so, may well feel his flesh creep and his hair stir at the realization, even for a few moments, of those images of its past horrors. The first thing that attracted my attention on entering the hall of judgment, or place of audience, was an inscription in large letters on the wall in front of the entrance, which had been there certainly from the time that awful tribunal had been in operation — 'Dexteo Oladitjm teneo,' — ' I hold in my right hand the sword.' And the sword of God being thus impiously referred to, my companion Wire (a member of the legal profession be it remembered), on reading the inscription, exclaimed — ' What devils men become when they gain power over their fellow-men, and lose the grace of God, and therefore fail to exercise it in mercy and with justice.' " The judgment-hall I have referred to is a spacious chamber, the ceiling of which is painted in fresco by Giotti, representing scriptural scenes of a judicial character, and of course those of the most terrifying description. On the left hand, as you enter the .4 SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. cxxix end of this hall, is an elevated platform covered by a canopy, where the judges usually presided. About the centre of the room, the place where the accused was seated, on a low bench, was in front of this platform. On the right hand of the door, at the entrance to this end of the room, there is a small gallery, with an lurch at a small distance in front of it thrown across the hall, and so partially intercepting the gallery that, while the prisoner was fully visible to the persons in the gallery, they were invisible to him. This gallery was intended for the members of the Holy Office who might choose to witness the proceedings on these trials. But im- mediately over the judgment seat and the spot where the prisoner stood, there are several circular apertures in the ceiling, about five or six inches in diameter, communicating with an upper chamber, where the prosecutors, it is said, and those who took down in writing the proceedings and the answers of the prisoner, were stationed un- seen by him ; and yet, by whom every word he uttered was recorded, perhaps to be adduced against him on some future examination. " In fact, the man who was there placed on his trial, the issue of which was often life or death, saw neither the prosecutor who appeared against him, nor the witnesses who gave evidence in the cause, nor the audience who listened to the proceeding, nor even the very clerks who made a record of them — nay, the accused man had not even the knowledge imparted to him of the precise crime laid to his charge, and of the time of its alleged commission, or of the person who accused him of it " The place where the victims were burned is the most appal- ling of all the buildings belonging to the Inquisition. You enter by a narrow passage into a vast circular chamber, shaped exactly like the furnace of a glass-house, and terminating at the top in a narrow outlet or chimney of a funnel form. " The height of this place must be equal to that of the palace, which is about 100 feet. On the left hand side of the entrance a number of grooves in the wall, for the fixture of rings or bars to which the victim was chained, and the black marks on the wall made by the volumes of smoke which arose from the faggots and combustible materials employed on these occasions, plainly point out where the terrible auto-da-fes were carried into execution. " But if ever the wrath of God was distinctly written on the face of a great pile of building, prematurely, it may be said, tum- bling into ruin, it surely was on the walls of the Inquisition at cxxx SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. Avignon. "When I reflected on the objects this institution was intended to promote — namely, the preservation of the Church from heresy and schism, and considered how signal had been the failure of all its efforts there — for religion can hardly be at a lower ebb than it now is at Avignon — I could not help thinking how mar- vellously humbled had become the pride of those, who had blazoned on the walls of the Inquisition, ' Dextro gladium teneo? The sceptre and the sword of the power of the Inquisition, have passed away ; and that they never may return to the hands of the ministers of that Church, which they professedly were employed for the defence of, must be the prayer of every man who wishes well to his religion. On quitting this frightful place with mingled feel- ings of horror and of shame, I did not venture or feel disposed to enter into communication with my companion. I had frequently seen him shrink and shudder at the objects presented to our eyes, as we proceeded from one part of the Inquisition to another, and he seemed also little inclined to make any comments on what he saw. But as we walked along he said to me, 'Well, Madden, what do you think of your religion now ? 1 1 1 feel persuaded, "Wire,' I replied, ' that it must be a true religion, for if it had not a divine and vital principle in it, it never could have survived the crimes that have been committed in its name.' " The notes of the above account were written at Avignon in 1840, immediately after my visit to the place I have described, accompanied by my friend, the late David Wire of London. Sub- sequently to that mission of Sir Moses and the late Lady Monte- fiore to Damascus, to which I have previously referred, on my return to England those notes were put together, and communi- cated in two letters to my friend the late William Murphy, Esq., of Mount Merrion, near Dublin. I was informed at the same time by Mr. Wire, that he also had made extensive notes on the same subject; and I have reason to believe they agreed in all material points with mine. " But it will be in vain for the tourist to expect now to find * the palace of the Inquisition ' at Avignon in the state I have described it, as it existed in 1840. On my last visit to Avignon, in 1860, I found that, at the desire of the superior ecclesiastical authorities of Avignon, some of the chambers and saloons I have described have been dismantled, and others have been shut up, and are no longer shewn to strangers." SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTS R V . cxxxi Note 55, page 123—125. "The new elements which now constitute," to "they resign themselves to endure." Perhaps it would be difficult to find in the writings of any Jesuitical historian, a passage more perfectly illustrating the prin- ciples of the order, than that included between the first and last sentences here quoted. The calm, cool, deliberate mendacity, the effort to disarm suspicion, to impose on credulity, and to calculate on the success of his efforts on both, is amusing to any one who knows the real workings of Jesuitism. Whenever a Jesuit makes a profession of anything which it is his object to make you believe, you may be perfectly satisfied that the opposite is true, and the more strongly he professes it, from an affirmation to an oath, the more confidently you may be assured that it is only the greater object with him to deceive. "We have seen how the Eomish bishops in Ireland were associated with, or rather ruled by, the Jesuits, and well did they profit by the association. They pub- lished a pastoral on oath, addressed to the priests and the people in 1826, for the purpose of effectually imposing on Protestants, and lulling suspicion to sleep ; renouncing the principles and doctrines, in which they were subsequently proved to have been training those priests, to instil into the consciences of the people for eighteen years at least before that time, and even in the very year when they were giving their oath. And in the year 1830, after they had obtained the object of this awful imposture, they published another pas- toral, addressed to the priests and the people, expressing their own warm gratitude to the King and Parliament, and their devoted loyalty to their sovereign ; and, calling upon the people to manifest the same feelings and principles, by devoted obedience to the law. They professed that they would now retire from all interference in political concerns, just as M. Cretineau professes here for the Jesuits : while the real intention was, to agitate and convulse the nation more than ever ; for the next year they set up afresh, as they had done in 1808, the very standard of the Jesuits, to drill the whole body of the priests — they put in force a code of canon law, containing all the laws of intolerance, sedition and sanguinary persecution which they had renounced on oath before the com- mittees of Parliament ; and they trained the priests, to enforce on the consciences of the whole population, the very principles which CXXX11 SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. they had not only abjured before committees, but which they had renounced on oath in the pastoral before mentioned, addressed to those priests and people themselves ; nor have their political agita- tions ceased from that day to this. So M. Cretineau's profession for the Jesuits in this passage, that they were no longer to take an active part in the affairs of the world — no longer to be sent by the Pope on political missions, to " become more purely religious than ever ;" " to abstain from all participation in public events ;" " that their only mission now was to be manifested in colleges and in evangelizing pulpits ;" " to sooth the tumults of the soul ;" " to strengthen sentiments of piety, and to conduct the young to happi- ness and peace by a Christian education ;" and that though this course might possibly expose innocent and unoffending persons " to suspicions, to accusations and to insults," still, to so high a standard does their system of Christian patience, humility, and submission soar, that they bear it all with more than mortal equa- nimity; that " they resign themselves to endure." Never was a time of political activity more surely to be apprehended, and more vigilantly to be guarded against, than when the Jesuits make such a profession. " Creditis avectos hostes ? aut ulla putatis Dona carere dolos Danaum ? sic notus Ulysses ?" Note 56, page 126. " The Anglicans are beginning to blush for the credulity and injustice of their forefathers." There is nothing more lamentable in the present state of this empire, than the progressive deterioration of that mighty law which, in a free and constitutional government such as ours, is really the standard of all others — the law of public opinion. The detection of the sedition and treason of Jesuits in former days — the deliverance of the land from the darkness and bondage of Popery by the glorious labours of our Reformers, are spoken of now, as if they had been a sort of mistake — the result of credulity and prejudice, which led to acts of injustice, oppression and cruelty; and consequently, a kind of charitable indulgence, a respect for their " religious opinions," and a full and ample scope for their political action, assumes now the names of " development," "progress," and maintenance of "the glorious principle of civil and religious liberty." SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. CXXxili The political equality of all denominations, has superinduced, as a matter of courtesy, the admission of an equality of all religious principles ; thus truth and falsehood, pure religion and the gross- est superstition ; the worship of the true God, and the darkest idolatry ; the divine records of fact, and the traditions of fables ; the immutable stability of revealed truth, the conceited pre- tences of theological scholarship, and the daring speculations of infidel philosophy, are to be admitted to the same courteous con- sideration, as their respective professors are to political equality. Hence the great law of public opinion sinks to the same degraded level as the standard of public principle in the nation. The growth of true religion in some quarters, is painfully counterbalanced by the privileged presumption of falsehood and wickedness in others ; so that the barriers between good and evil are broken down, by what is called " liberalism ;" and the nation is falling fast under the woe, denounced against those that " call evil good and good evil, that put darkness for light and light for darkness, that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter ;" and the more rapid and decisive in its downward course is the progress of the nation, the more triumphantly will the flattery of the Jesuit sound in the ear of England ; that she is advancing in her progress, to true charity and true religion, the more deeply her cheeks are tinged with blushes " for the credulity and injustice of her forefathers." Note 57, pages 127, 128. "The students once more rushed into the arena," to "In- stitute." We see here fully exemplified, the reason for the great anxiety of the Jesuits at all times, and in all countries, to monopolize the education of youth. Their aim is to gain an influence and mastery over the human mind, at the time when it can be most easily impressed and subjugated; and here they boast of the result — their pupils are trained to become their apologists and defenders. They rush into the arena for their defence, and, though advanced beyond the age of youth, they are still resolute defenders of their old masters. " Free from their colleges, or already become the fathers of families themselves, they were the best judges of the question. They cut it short by combating, in the public papers, all the imputations brought against the Institute." cxxxiv SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY. Let a government give up a people to the Jesuits to educate, and they may be certain as of their existence, that they surrender their own power over that people. They not only abandon sound principles of government, but they subvert the very foundation on which all sound principles of government are based. There cannot be a more appropriate conclusion to this volume than some extracts from the Canon Law, which the lloman Catholic Bishops of Ireland published and put in force in that country immediately on obtaining political power, namely, in 1832, immediately after they published their pastoral breathing peace and gratitude, and declaring their intention of retiring from all political agitation. And Cardinal Wiseman's appeal to the liberality of the people of England, declaring that the Bishops were established in this country for the purpose of carrying out the Canon Law, was an official publication on his part of these laws in England. Sxjpee Soliditate. — This Bull was published at length by these Bishops in a book added as an eighth volume to Dens's Theology \ for the express pur- pose of establishing the Ultramontane doctrines in Ireland, namely, 1st, the personal Infallibility of the Pope ; 2nd, His power to interfere in the temporal affairs of kingdoms, and to absolve from oaths of allegiance : 3rd, That he is above a General Council ; 4th, That his power is not to be restricted by the Canons. — See Church of Home, Report on Documents in Universities, 10 — 16, and 94, 95. PASTOEALIS HOMANI. — This is the celebrated Bulla Coenat Domini. — This well-known Bull hurls all the excommunications and curses of the Church of Rome against all Protestant Sovereigns and all their Protestant subjects of every denomination, as heretics ; subverting the rights of conscience, and all civil and religious liberty. Dr. Doyle's testimony was, that it would leave nothing at rest in any state in Europe ; and Dr. M'Hale's, that it would be in collision with the authorities of this country. It gives the Pope temporal power over all Roman Catholics by i( reserved cases." — All Europe has testi- fied against it. — Naples testifies that it was