^3Z,5 TA54^ Columbia ^nibetjeiitp LIBRARY I BOHN'S ILLUSTRATED LIBRARY. NICOLINI'S HISTOEY OF THE JESUITS. ^ HISTOEY OF THE JESUITS: THEIE OEIGIN, PEOGRESS, DOCTRINES, AND DESIGNS. BY G. B. NICOLINI, OF ROME, AUTHOR OF "the HISTORY OF THE PONTIFIGATR OF PIUS IX., "the life of father gavazzi," etc. LONDON : HENRY G. BOHN, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN. 1854. PRINTED BY HARRISON AND SONS : LONDON GAZETTE OFFICE. ST. MAETIN's LAW.. PREFACE. I TRUST that In the following pages I have suc- ceeded in the task I proposed to myself, of con- veying to my readers a just and correct idea of the character and aims of the brotherhood of Loyola. At least I have spared no pains to accomplish this end. I honestly believe that the book was wanted ; for liberal institutions and civil and religious freedom have no greater enemies than that cunning fraternity ; while it is equally true, that although the Jesuits are dreaded and detested on all sides as the worst species of knaves, there are few who are thoroughly ac- quainted with their eventful history, and with all those arts by which the fathers have earned for themselves a disgraceful celebrity. The fault does not altogether lie with the public; for, strange to say, there is no serious and complete history of this wonderful Society. I have done my best to supply the deficiency ; and I indulge 138569 IV PREFACE. the hope that, if the book is fortunate enough to challenge public attention, it may be produc- tive of some good. In no other epoch of history, certainly, have the Jesuits been more dangerous and threatening for England than in the pre- sent. I am no alarmist. I refuse to believe that England will relapse under the Papal yoke, and return to the darkness and ignorance of the middle ages, because some score of citizens pass over to the Romish communion ; but at the same time I do believe that many bold and less reflective persons make too light of the matter, and are wrong in refusing to countenance vigor- ous measures, not for religious persecution, but to check the insolence and countermine the plots of these audacious monks. It is true that there exists a great difficulty in deciding what mea- sures are to be adopted for accomplishing this end. It is repugnant, doubtless, to a liberal and generous mind, and it is unworthy of a free and great nation, to persecute any sect, and to make different castes in the same body of citizens. But, it may fairly be asked, are monks, and especially Jesuits, really English citizens, in the strictest sense of the word ? Do they recognise Queen Victoria as their legitimate sovereign ? Are they prepared to yield a loyal obedience to the laws of the land ? To all PREFACE!. T these questions I answer, ]^o ! Even when born in England, they do not consider them- selves Enghshmen. They claim the privileges which the name confers, but will not accept the obligations it imposes. Their country is Rome ; their sovereign the Pope; their laws the com- mands of their General. England they consider an accursed land ; Englishmen heretics, whom they are under an obligation to combat. The perusal of this work will, I imagine, prove beyond the possibility of contradiction that, from their origin, the Jesuits have constantly and energetically laboured towards this object. I cannot too much impress upon the minds of my readers that the Jesuits, by their very call- ing, by the very essence of their institution, are bound to seek, by every means, right or wrong, the destruction of Protestantism. This is the condition of their existence, the duty they must fulfil, or cease to be Jesuits. Accordingly, we find them in this evil dilemma. Either the Jesuits fulfil the duties of their calling, or not. In the first instance, they must be considered as the bitterest enemies of the Protestant faith ; in the second, as bad and unworthy priests ; and in both cases, therefore, to be equally regarded with aversion and distrust. Can no measure, then, be taken against these VI PREFACE. aliens, wlio reside in England purposely to trouble her peace? Cannot a nation do something to protect itself, without incurring the reproach of being intolerant? What ! When some English writers and newspapers insist that measures should be taken against certain other foreigners, who trouble not the peace of Great Britain, though they may disturb the imperial dreams of a neighbouring tyrant ; and when the local authorities in Jersey have, to a certain extent, re- sorted to such measures, shall England be denied the right to take steps against the enemies of her faith, her glory, and her prosperity ? The important point of the question which I submit to the consideration of those who, indifferent in matters of religion, care very little whether Jesuits convert a half of the nation to Eoman- ism, is this : In England, the religious question involves also the question of national peace, great- ness, and prosperity. If one-half of England w^ere Papists, Queen Victoria, in given circum- stances, could not depend upon the allegiance of her subjects, nor the Parliament on the exe- cution of the laws. It may be that the priests (to be liberal in my hypothesis) will teach the igno- rant and bigoted Popish population to respect and obey the Queen — but most assuredly they will also command them, and, moreover, under PREFACE. TU penalty of- eternal damnation, to obey, in pre- ference, the orders of the Pope, if they are in contradiction to those of the Sovereign. Their cry will be : — the Pope before the Queen ; the canon laws before the civil code ! I^ow, I ask, if the Pope were sure of being obeyed by half the English population, would England long enjoy her liberties, would she prosper in her enterprises, and continue to be, without contra- diction, the first and most powerful nation of Europe ? Can it be imagined that that admir- able combination of rights and duties embodied in the constitution, that respect of the Sovereign for the rights of the citizens, and that unaffected love of the people for the Sovereign, which form the real strength and power of Britain, could long be preserved ? I need not insist further on this point. I believe, however, I have said enough to shew that, whether any other measures can be taken against this insidious Order or not, the clause in the Emancipation Act concerning the religious communities should be rigorously executed. I am sensible that the above remarks would perhaps have been more appropriate to the Conclusion of the work ; but, as they have not a general character, but are considerations more particularly submitted to an English public, I Tin PREFACE. have thought it better to consign tkem to the Preface, which may be modified, according to place and circumstances, without altering the general features of the work to which it belongs. In the compilation of this work, I have studi- ously kept my promise not to advance a single fact for which I could not produce unquestion- able authority ; and^ while I expect that my de- ductions will be impugned, I can safely defy any one to contradict the facts upon which they are based. When I have quoted original authors, on the authority of others, I have never done so with- out ascertaining, by my own inspection, or by that of friends — when the works were not to be had here — that the quotations were correct. I have entered somewhat minutely into details in the first part of the History, partly, perhaps, a little influenced by the interminable prolixity of the Jesuit authors I consulted, and partly because I deemed it necessary, in order that my readers might form a correct idea of the mechanism, the principles, and the proceedings of the So- ciety. Once persuaded that the reader was acquainted with the acts and ways of the fraternity, I have abandoned detail, and given such broad features of the principal events as might afford instructive lessons. I have endea- voured to reject from the narrative all that is PREFACE. 1 X extraneous to the subject. I have overlooked embelhshments. I do not claim the merit of being an elegant or eloquent writer, still less in a language which is not my own, and in which I was often at a loss to express my ideas. But I must confess that I have some hope that in the eyes of an indulgent reader the consequences I have deduced from the facts will be found to be logical, the language intelligible, and the work not altogether wanting in order. In the course of the publication, I have received many letters — some friendly, others insulting ; but, as they were all anonymous, I could answer neither. In any case, I should only have answered my friends, and thanked them for their advice ; while, in regard to the second class of my correspondents, even although the " modest authors " had not deemed it prudent " to conceal their names," I should assuredly not have condescended to furnish a reply, contenting myself with the simple reflec- tion that it is naturally unpalatable to the culprit to have his crimes dragged into the light of day. I cannot conclude this Preface without ex- pressing my warmest gratitude to the libra- rians of the different public establishments in Edinburgh, and especially to the librarian of X PREFACE. ' the Advocates' Library, and his assistants, for the liberal manner in which they have put at my disposal the books contained in their collec- tions. Finally, as I am sensible (from a conviction of my own insufficiency) that the work cannot be productive to me of either renown or con- sideration, my chief hope is, that it may prove useful and beneficial to some portion at least of the English community, otherwise I should indeed have cause immensely to regret my pains and my labour. Edinburgh, December 4, 1852. CONTENTS. Preface, ••....,. iii INTRODUCTION. Tlie Axxthor dissuaded from siting the History of the Jesuits— Keasons for undertaking the Work— Difficulty of M^ell delineating the Character of a Jesuit— The Author pledges himself to be Im- partial, A ^ \i ;' t-i ■ - . ..... 1 CHAPTER I. 1500-40. OBIGIN OF THE ORDER. State of Europe in the Sixfteenth Century— Italy the Centre of Civihsation- Alexander VI.— Julius II.— Leo X.— His Indifter- ence in matters of Religion— Obliged by the Court to Excommuni- cate Luther— Reformation m Germany, England, and Switzerland —Ignatius of Loyola— His Birth and Education— Wounded at rampeluna— He decides upon becoming a Saint— The Spiritual Exercises-Ov^gm of the Book-Cretineau-Joly-Analysis of the Spiritual Exercises by Cardinal Wiseman-Some Quotations from It— Pilgrimage ot Loyola to Palestme— His Return— His Attempts at Piv^selytism m Barcelona- In Alcada— In Paris— The First Ten Companions of Loyola-They take the Vow of Obedience at Montm^rtre m 1534-They depart for Italy-Projected Missions in the Holy Land— Pierre Carraffii, afterwards Paul IV —Loyola and his Companions in Rome— They conquer all Opposition, and the intended Society is approved of by a Bull of Paul III 1540 CONTENTS. CHAPTER II. 1540-52. CONSTITUTIONS OF THE SOCIETY. Btate of the Roman Churcli at the Epoch of the Establishment of the Society — Adriau VI. 's extraordinary Avowal — Loyola's remark- able Cleverness in framing the Constitutions — Analysis of this Work — Passive Obedience — Poverty — Instruction given gratis, and why — Ways by which the Jesuits get at Wealth, . , 30 CHAPTER III. 1540-53. HIERARCHY. The Members of this Society are divided into Four Classes — Gioberti and Pellico upon a Fifth Secret Class — The Novices — Their Trials — Theii- Vows — Scholars — Qualities they must possess — Coadjutors Temporal and Spiritual — Their several Duties — Their Vows — Pro- fessed Members— The First Class in the Society — They take a Fourth Vow of implicit Obedience to the Holy See — Ceremony in taking the Vows — They as well as the Coadjutors are bound to live by Alms— The General of the Order— How Elected— His Attribu- tions — His Powers — The Provincial and other inferior Officials of the Order— Their Attributions, . . . . 45 CHAPTER IV. 1541^8. PROGRESS OF THE ORDER, AND ITS FIRST GENERAL. Ignatius elected General, at first refuses the office — Afterwards accepts of it — His Zeal and Activity in promoting the Interests of the Order — Chai'itable Institutions in Rome — He co-operates in re-establishing the Inquisition — The Albigenses — Rules of the Tri- bunal — Terror which it spread through Italy — The Jesuits in Missions Lq various parts of Europe — The first Jesuits in Great Britain— Instructions given them by Loyola— Their Proceedings, CHAPTER V. 1547-1631. THE FEMALE JESUITS. Their origin — Donna Isabella — Rosello — Trouble which they gave to Ignatius — He refuses to take charge of them — Attempts of some Women to establish the Order of Female Jesuits — They are Sup- pressed in 1631— They Revive as the Sisters of the Hol^ Heart, CONTENTS. I CHAPTER VI. 1548-56. THE FIRST OPPOSITION TO THE ORDER, AND DEATH OP LOYOLA. Charles V. — His Interim — He banishes Bobadilla, who opposes it — Cano, a Dominican Friar — His Opposition to the Jesuits — He is made Bishop of the Canaries — He renounces his Bishopric to return to Europe — His Prediction concerning the Society — The Archbishop of Toledo lays an Interdict on the College ofthe Jesuits — Disturbance in Saragossa to prevent the Jesuits from opening their Chapel — The Jesuits in Portugal — Their Idleness and Debauchery — Recall of the Provincial Rodriguez — New Superiors — Stratagem to reduce the Members to their Duty — The Jesuits in France— Du Prat, Bishop of Clermont, their Protector — Henry II., at the recommendation of Cardinal Guise, wants to Establish the Jesuits in France — The Parliament refuses to Register the Ordi- nances — Their Establishment opposed by the Sorbonne — Also by De Bellay, Archbishop of Paris — Reasons adduced by them for their Opposition — The Jesuits obliged to leave Paris — Accused at Rome of Heresy — Remarkable imanimity of the different Nations in opposing the Establishment of the Order — The Jesuits conquer all Opposition — The Order Established in direct Opposition to the Reformed Religion — Character of Loyola — His Correspondence with the different Sovereigns — His Illness and Death, 1556 — Partiality of Macaulay, Taylor, Stephen, and others, for Loyola and the Jesuits — Reason of this Partiality, .... CHAPTER VII. 1541-1774. Jesuit Authors who write about them — Mission of East India — Francis Xavier — Zeal and Devotedness of the First Missionaries — Sketch of the Life and Character of Xavier — He Arrives at Goa — Moral State of the Town— Efforts of Xavier to Reform it — He Succeeds but Partially — Xavier on the Coast of Malabar — His Conduct there — He goes to Malacca — To Japan — His inten- ded Mission to China — Opposition of Don Alvarez, Captain General of Malacca — Xavier lands at Sancian — His Illness and Death, 1552 — Appreciation of Xavier's Merits — Prevarication of the Missionaries after Xavier's Death — Father Nobili introduces Idolatry into the Christian form of Worship — He gives himself out as a Brahmin — The Jesuits maintain the Distinction of Castes among the Con vei-ts— Their way of making Christians — They greatly exaggerate the number of Converts — Scandalous Idolatry — The Court of Rome condemns it — Cardinal de Tuurnon, Pope's Legate in India — He solemnly condemns the Malabar Rites — Incredible Impudence and Audacity of the Jesuits, to elude the Ordinance of the Legate — The Pope and the Inquisition confirm the XIV CONTENTS, PAGE Decree of De Toumon — He proceeds to China — His Conduct there — He is F spelled from Pekin — His Imprisonment — Cruel Treat- ment to which he is subjected — His Death, 1710 — The Jesuits the Au+hors of his Misfortunes — The Pope's Eulogium on De Tournon — Repeated Decrees of the Holy See against the Jesuits — Decline of their Influence in India — Principal Feature of Missions — Why the Pope Condemned the Malabar Eites — Popish Idolatry — Procession of Good-Friday , ... 96 CHAPTER VIII. 1556-1581. THE GENERALS OP THE OEDER, Lajnez is chosen Vicar-General — Difficulties of holding a General Congregation — Paul IV. — His Hatred against the Spaniards — Revolt of Bobadilla — How subdued — War between Paul IV. and Philip II. — The Duke of Alva in Rome — General Congregation — Interference of the Pope — Lainez chosen General — The Pope orders that the General should only stay in Office for Three Years — Death of Paul IV.— Election of Pius I'V.— The Nephew of the late Pope Executed— The Jesuits suspected of having Participated in that Act of Revenge — The Jesuits accused of various Misdemeanours — Lainez in France at the Congress of Poissy — He goes to Trent — The Council of Trent — Its Opening and Close — Its Results — Influ- ence of the Jesuits — Lainez returns to Rome — He Dies, 1565 — His Character — Borgia, ex-Duke of Candia, elected Third General — His History — Pius V. Cruel and Sanguinary — He subjects the Jesuits to Monastic Duties — Borgia in Spain and France — Battle of Lepanto, 1571 — Defeat of the Turks — Eve of St Bartholomew — Death of Borgia, 1572 — IMercurianus Fourth General — The Jesuits Inherit the Wealth of the Bishop of Clermont, . 133 CHAPTER IX. 1560-1600. PROCEEDINGS OP THE JESUITS IN THE DIFFERENT COirNTRIES OP EUROPE. Jesuits in England under Elizabeth — William Allen establishes Colleges at Do\iay and in Rome for Englishmen — The Jesuits direct them — Bull of Pius V. Excommunicating Elizabeth — Character given of her by the Jesuits — Campion and Parson at the Head of a Jesuit Mission in England — Their Biography — They arrive in England — Encourage the Roman Catholics to Disobey the Queen — Proclamation against the Jesuits — Their Answer to it — Enmity of Gregory XIII. to England — His Cha- racter — He Encourages all the Insurrections against the Queen — Parson and Campion eagerly sought by the Government — Elude the Seai-ch — Capture of Campion — Divers Opinions concerning his CONTENTS. XV PAGE Trial — Execution of three Jesuits, Campion, Sherwin, and Briaut — Parry's Project for Assassinating the Queen — Encour- aged by the Jesuits and the Pope's Nuncio, Kagazzoni — The Jesuits attempt to justify PaiTy — Absurdity of their Vindication — Severe Laws against the Jesuits — The most of them leave Enghmd — Hume on Babington's Conspiracy — The Jesuits along ■with the Great Armada — The Jesuits actually Troubling the Peace of England — Duplicity of their Conduct — A Jesuit, pretending to be an ardent Republican in Rome in the last Revolution — Is thro-vvn into the Tiber, ... . . 151 Conduct of the Jesuits in Portugal — They prevent Don Sebastian from Marrying — Pasquier accuses them of having aspired to he- come Kings of Portugal — The Accusation repeated throughout all Europe — They suggest to Don Sebastian the Expedition to~ Morocco — Death of the King — The Jesuits place the Crown on the Head of Philip II. of Spain, . . . , . 171 The Jesuits at last admitted into France — Under what Restrictions — Principal Doctrines of the Galilean Church — The League — Henry III. of France — His Indolence — His Tolerance — Ambition of the Duke of Guise — He is declared Chief of the League — Makes a Treaty with the King of Spain — Day of the Barricades — The King causes Guise to be Murdered — The Jesuits Preach against the King —Clement, a Dominican Friar, stabs him, 1589— The Council of Seize order the Preachers to praise Clement's Deed — Henry of Bourbon, King of Navarre, assumes the Title of King of France — Opposed by Cardinal de Bourbon — Civil War — Henry IV. abjures Calvinism — Siege of Paris — Conduct of the Jesuits — Henry Ac- knowledged as King — Part taken by the Jesuits in the League — Barriere attempts to Assassinate the King — The Jesuits are his Accomplices — John Chastel — Stabs the King — Instigated by the Jesuits — The Jesuits expelled from France — Execution of Chastel, and of the Jesuit Guinard — The House of Chastel is pulled down — A Pyramid erected to perpetuate the Memory of his Crime — Inscription on the Pyramid concerning the part the Jesuits had in it — Horrible Doctrines of the Jesuits — Reflections upon them, ,175 Immense Influence exercised by the Jesuits in Germany — What' Requisites they had for success — Their Schools and Colleges — Their Method of giving Instruction — Even Protestants send their Chil- dren_ to their Schools — The Sovereigns of Germany support the Jesuits — Albert V. of Bavaria obliges his Subjects to subscribe the Professio Fidel — Rodolph 11. Emperor of Germany — Is directed by Father Maggio — Persecutes the Protestants, and re-establishes the Roman Catholic Worship, .... 194 The Jesuits in Poland — Sigismond the King of the Jesuits — The Jesuits' Paramount Influence employed in re-establishing Popery, 202 Attempt of the Jesuits to convert to Romanism John III. of Swe- den — The Jesuit Possevin in Stockholm in Disguise — John pro- mises to become a Roman Catholic — Haughty Conduct of Gregory XIII.— John remains a Protestant, and expels the Jesuits— Sigismond succeeds John — War between Sweden and Poland — The Jesuits are the Authors of it, .... 203 The Jesuits in Switzerland and Piedmont — Canisius founds the College of Friburg— The Waldenses— Their Simplicity and Inno- cence — Persecution and Cruelties exercised against them by Pos- sevin— He hunts them as Wild Beasts— Pretends that many ab- .y :V1 CONTENTS. PAGE jure Protestantism — Refleiions on tlie Influence and Conduct of the Jesuits throughout Europe, . . . • 205 CHAPTER X. 1581-1608. COMMOTION AMONG THE JESUITS. Acquaviva chosen General— His Character — The Spanish Jesuits refuse to obey him— Philip II. takes part with them— Sixtus V. supports Acquaviva Prudence of the latter — His Letter — Ratio Studioruni — Admirable Plan of Education — Influence which it gave them — Origin of the Congregations, 1569 — Its rapid Increase — Directed by the Jesuits — Who derive immense Power from it — Its various Denominations — Internal Life of the Jesuit Colleges— Their Studies — The Instruction more Specious than Solid — Dis- tinctive Character of Jesuit ^Yriters— They are Affected— Excep- tions — Bartolis Segneri — Bourdaloue — Great Change in t!ie Policy of the Society— They become Attached to the French Interest- Henry IV. re-establishes them in France, 1603— Reasons which he adduces to his Minister Sully -He writes to the General Con- gregation in favour of Acquaviva — Affair of Venice — The Jesuits leave the Territory of the Republic— Henry IV. sues for their Return — Spain opposes it — The Jesuits not allowed to re-enter Venice till 1657 — Acquaviva's Success in mastering the revolted Province of Spain — Proves ultimately the Ruin of the Order, . 209 CHAPTER XL 1600-1700. DOCTRINES AND MORAL CODE OF THE JESUITS. Acquaviva's opinion of St Thomas's Theology — Molina's Doctrine on Free-will — The Dominicans oppose Molinism — The two parties hold thirty-seven Disputations in TTt^'^nce of the Pope— Clement VIII. adverse to the Doctrine of the Jtsiite— Why he did not condemn it — He imposes silence on the two parties— Origin of Jansenism — Jansenius — Du Verger de Hauranne, Abbotof StCryan — Jansenius composes the " August inus" and dies — St Cyran Chief of the School— The Nuns of Port-Royal and the D'Arnauld family — St Cyran Prisoner at Vincennes — The Jesuits embody the essential Docti'ines of the Augustinus in five Propositions, and oblige the Pope to condemn them — The Jansenists deny that such Propositions are contained in the Book — Alexander VII. declares by a Bull that they are contained in it — The Pope's In- fallibility in Matters of Fact— Why the Jansenists took such pains to persuade people that they were good Roman Catholics — How the Jesuits had become such a powerfal Brotherhood — They are no more needed as Theologians — Many Kings and Nobles have each his own Confessor — Contrivances of the Jesuits to be chosen to this Office — Their very accommodating Doctrines — Escobar and his Moral Doctrines of the Jesuits on Sin — Inviu- CONTENTS. XVU PAGE cible Ignorance — Pasciil the Provincial — Probable Opinion — Men- tal Reservation — Impiety — Easy way to go to Paradise — The Book of Father Barry — Extracts from it — The Month of M;iry — Ridiculous Ceremonies in honour of the Virgin during the Month of May — Secreta Monita — How originated — Why we believe them to be Apocryphal, ..... 230 CHAPTER XII. 1608-1700. OVERGROWING INFLUENCE OF THE SOCIETY. New Phase of the History of the Order — The Jesuits contend for iSuprenuicy wherever they are established — Their Influence in various Courts — They become Confessors of the Kings of France — Assassination of Henry IV. — The Jesuits accused by the Par- liament of being the Accomplices of Ravaillac — Apologetic Letters of Father Cotton, the late King's Confessor — The Anti-Cotton, a Pamphlet against the Jesuits — Cotton, Confessor of Louis XIII. — Death of Acquaviva, 161.5 — His Acts — With him ends the •prestige exercised by the Generals — Election of Vitelleschi— His Character — Canonisation of Loyola and Xavier — Rules to be ob- served in making Saints — Quantity of Saints found in the Ceme- try of St Lorenzo fuor delle mura — They are at last discovered to have been dug up from a Pagan Burial-place — Feasts on the Ca- nonisation of Loyola and Xavier — Impious Panegyrics in their Honour — Solemnisation of the Secular Year of the Establishment of the Society — Imago Primi Scecidi — Some Extracts from it — How Cretineau excuses the Extravagancies of the Imago — The Book expresses the real Feelings of the Jesuits — The greatest Hous-^s have one of their Members a Jesuit — The Jesuits under Richelieu — Under Mazzarini — Louis XIV. assumes the Government— Begin- ning of theextraordinary Influence of the Order — Louis XIV. and Philip II. both bigoted Papists — Both wage War against the Pope > — Servility of the Jesuits towards Louis XI V. — TJiey are allowed to persecute the Protestants — De la Marca's Furmula to be sub- scribed by the Jansenists — They refuse to do so — Persecution raised against them — Edict of Nantes — Father Lachaise — His Cljaracter — He becomes the King's Confessor — His Ascendancy over the King — Revocation of the Edict of Nantes — Massacre of the Huguenots— Their Bodies exhumed from the Tombs — Num berless Faiflilies oliliged to leave France — Lachaise becomes an important Personage — His Residence — He disposes of Lettrcs de Cachet — What these were — He unites in Secret Marriage the King and Madame de Maintenon. The Right of disposing of all the Livings and Bishoprics attached to the Office of the King's Confessor — Immense Power which it confers upon the Order — Letellier succeeds Lachaise as King's Confessor — His Character — His Persecuting Spirit — By his orders, Port-Royal Destroyed from the Foundation, the Tombs Violated, and the Bodies of the Deceased given to be Devoured by the Dogs, . . . 253 The Jesuits in Spain — Their Influence under Philip III. and IV. — XVm CONTENTS. PAGE Olivarez leaves them little share of Authority— They resolved to he Revenged — Their Conspiracy in Portugal —Father Corea and the Duke of Braganza— Cretineau confesses the part they took iu the Revolution — Tlie House of Braganza ascend the Throne of Portugal — Paramount Influence of the Jesuits — Lisbon the Centre of their Commerce — Decrees of the General Congregations forbid- ding the Jesuits to mix in Political or Commercial Matters — "Whether observed or not — Why enacted, . . . 274 The Jesuits in Germany — They are the most able Auxiliaries of Ferdinand in destroying the Protestants — Tilly, Walenstein, and Piccolomini, their Pupils — Conduct of the Jesuits in the Thirty Years' War — Advantages which they derived from it, . 278 Influence of the Jesuits in Poland — They used it against the Protes- tants — Letter of the University of Cracow to that of Louvain on the Jesuit Cruelties — Cassimir, King of Poland, formerly a Jesuit — He is on the point of losing his Kingdom — Commits it to the care of the Virgin Mary, ...... 2S0 The Jesuits and Christina of Sweden — Father Macedo Converts her to Romanism — She Abdicates the Crown and goes to Rome, 282 The Jesuits in England under James I. — Grunpowder Plot — What part the Jesuits had in it — Difiiculty of arriving at the Truth — The Jesuits from first to last the Contrivers of all the Plots against Elizabeth and James — Parson disposes of the Crown of England — He obtains from the Pope a Bull which forbids the Roman Catholics to take the Oath of Allegiance — Percy reveals to Father Gerald the Gunpowder Plot — Garnet pretends not to have knowTi the Conspiracy but under the Seal of Confession — This Plea cannot exculpate the Jesuits fi'om being Accomplices in the Plot — Reasons why — Imprisonment of Garnet — The Govern- ment violates all the Laws of Justice and Humanity — Punishment of Garnet — Moral Torture he is made to endure on the Scaff"old — Execution of Father Oldcorne — The Jesuits are not discouraged from Plotting — Struggle of Charles I. with his Parliament — The Jesuits accused of fighting in both Camps — Absurdity of the Re- cital of Jurieu to prove the Accusation — The Author's opinion upon the Fact — The Jesuits' Discouragement under Cromwell — They re-appear under Charles II. — Cretineau on a Treaty to Re-establish the Roman Religion — Popish Plot — Gates and Bedloe — Their in- famous Character —Their absurd Inventions — Credit they obtain — Persecution of Papists — Father Ireland executed — Reign of James II. — Influence of the Jesuits — Father Peter, Member of the Privy Council— Revolution of 16S8, . . .283 CHAPTER XIII. 1600-1753. AMERICAN MISSIONS. Our Opinion of the Missions — Praises awarded to the Fathers — Differeaice batween the Indian and American Missions — State CONTEXTS. XIX PAGli of the two Countries — Cruelties exercised by the Spaniards against the Indians — Humane and Christian-like Conduct of the Jesuits — Tliey Differ from other Monks— The Indians receive the Jesuits as their Protectors — Wandering of the Jesuits in making Proselytes — Acquaviva Traces to tliem a Plan of Proceeding — They Establish themselves in Paraguay — The Reductions — Conduct of the Jesuits — The Indians Idolise them — Form of Government of Reductions — Communism — Mode of Life in the Reductions — The Indians forbidden to leave the Reductions, and Stran^'ers to enter them — The Indians drilled to Arms — The Jesuits accompany and direct them in their Expedi- tions — Criticism of the Jesuits' System in the Reductions- Opinion of Quinet — Our Opinion differs from that of this cele- brated Professor — "Well-founded Reproaches addressed to the Jesuits on account of the Superstitious Practices Introduced by them into Religion — They are reproved even by Roman Catholics — Palafox, Bishop of Angelopolis — He attempts to exercise his Authority over the Fathers — Privileges of the Jesuits — Letter of Palafox to the Pope, asking for a Reform of the Society — Persecution raised against him by the Jesuits continued after his Death — They Oppose his Canonisation — What are the Causes of Discord between the Jesuits and the other Orders — Opinion of Gioberti — The Jesuits want to Domineer over Bishops and Legates —Their Conduct towards them — Divers Bulls of different Popes on the Disobedience and Revolt of the Order against the Holy See, 295 v/ CHAPTER XIV 1617-1700. INTERNAL CAUSES OF DECLINE. A Spirit of Independence pervades the Order — The Aristocratic Class of the Professed refuse Obedience to the Generals — Incapacity of the latter — Under Vitelleschi, the Spirit of the Constitution is quite Changed — Letters of Vitelleschi and Carafflx to deprecate the Ruin of the Order — Piccolomini and Gottifredi, Genei'als — Nickel, the elected General, attempts a Reform — General Congre- gation depriving him of all Authority — Oliva Vicar-General — He becomes General after the Death of Nickel — His Character — His Epicurean Habits — Relaxation of Discipline — Political Influence which the Society acquired at such an Epoch — Its Causes — The Jesuits, blinded by Prosperity, become less Cautious — Noyelle, Gonzales, and Tambourini, Generals — The Company follow a Ruad which leads to Ruin — They excite the Jealousy of all the other Monastic Orders — They sell a Passport against the Evil Spirit — Mastrilli sends a Message every day by an Angel to Xavier, and receives Answers, . , , 31.5 XX CONTENTS. PAoa CHAPTER XV. 1700-1772. DOWNFALL OF THE JESUITS. Gradual March of the Order — It attains the Height of its Power — Causes of Decay — The Instruction no more Gratuitous — The Prin- ces of Germany limit thfir Unrestricted Authority — Rome begins to frowTi upon them — Benedict XIV. 's injurious Description of them — Hatred which they incur in France — Its Causes — After the Death of Louis XIV., they are attacked from every Quarter — The Jesuits have Identified themselves with all the Absurd and Idolatrous Practices of the Roman Church — They are attacked by the Encyclopedists — OtFer no Efficient Resistance — Philip of Orleans, Regent of France — He refuses to protect them — They attempt in vain to regain their Influence under Louis XV. — The Ministers of various Sovereigns of Europe undertake Reform — Choiseul — Tanucci — Squillace — Carvalho — The Fall of the Jes- uits ouglit not to be attributed to Private Causes — Epitome of the History of the Jesuits in Portugal — Carvalho, Marquis of Pombal — His Character — His Hatred of the Jesuits and the Aristocracy — Portugal and Spain exchange their Possessions in America — The Indians of the Reduction refuse to Obey — They take up Arms — Are Defeated — The Jesuits Accused by Pombal of having Excited the Revolt — Denial of the Fathers — Earthquake of Lisbon — Intrepid and Heroic Conduct of Pombal — He becomes All-powerful — He Removes from the Court the three Jesuit Con- fessors — Manifesto against them — Benedict XIV. subjects them to a Visitation — Commerce of the Company in Europe — In both Indies — The Visitor, Cardinal Saldanha, Censures the Commercial Pursuits of the Order — Death of Benedict XIV. — Clement XIII. — His Character — His Partiality for the Fathers — Cardinal Torrigiani, the Pope's first Minister, is bribed by the Jesuits — Joseph I. of Portugal — Attempt to Assassinate, while returning from his Nocturnal Visit to a Lady — Measures taken by Pombal — The Duke d'Averio, the Marquis of Tavora's Family, and some of their Relations, are thrown into Prison — They are accused of being AccomiDlices in the Attempt — Illegal and Inquisi- torial Proceedings — The Prisoners are Condemned and Executed — - Horrible Mode of Execution — It tarnishes Pombal's Fame — The Jesuits are Imprisoned as Accomplices — New Manifesto of Pombal against them — Decree Expelling all the Jesuits from the Portu- guese Dominions, 1559 — France strikes the second Blow against the Order— Aff"air of La Valette— The Order is held by the Tri- bunals as answerable for all his Debts — Unaccountable Blindness of the Jesuits, in appealing to the Parliament against this decision — Cardinal de Luynes and the Assembly of Bishops — They declare the Obedience due by the Jesuits to their General to be Incom- patible with the Duties of a Subject — Louis XV. — His Character — Pressed by Choiseul and Madame de Pompadour, demands a Reform of the Order — Character of Choiseul — There was no Agree- ment between him, the Philosophers, and Pombal, to Destroy the Jesuits — Answer of Ricci, the General, to the Demand for Reform — The Parliament AI)olish the Society, 1702 — Its Members Ex- pelled from France, 17o4, . . . . . .326 CONTENTS. XXI I'AGE The Jesuits meet with a Greater Calamity in Spain— Charles III., his Character— Uncertainty as to the Motives which induced him to abolish the Order— Erneute des Chapeaux—'Royiil Proclamation Abolishing the Order of the Jesuits, 1767— Motives adduced by Charles for this Measure— Motives ascribed to him by the Jesuits • and llanke— Our own Conjectures on this matter— The way in which the Decree was executed — Clement XIII. 's Useless Pro- tection of the Jesuits— His Praises of the Order— llicci's Desperate Efforts to Save tlie Society— His Character— By his orders, the Jesuits, expelled from Spain, are refused Admittance into the Papal Dominions— They are repulsed from Leghorn and Genoa- After Six Mouths' Wandering on the Sea, they are received in Cor- sica—Naples and Parma Expel the Jesuits from their States— The Pope Excommunicates the Duke of Parma— Indignation of Charles III. at the Boldness of the Pope— Louis XV. unites with him in Remonstrating against the Act— The Pope refuses to re- ceive the Remonstrance— The French Troops take Possession of Avignon— The Neapolitans of Benevento— The Pope has no Friend left to whom he can apply for Aid— The Courts of France, Spain, and Naples, demand the Suppression of the Order— Death of Clement XIII. — His Monument by Canova, . . 349 CHAPTER XYI. 1773. ABOLITION OF THE ORDER. The Court of Rome is divided into Zelanti and Regalisti— Intrigues of the two Parties to Insure the Tiara to one of tlieir own Adhe- rents — Cardinal de Bernis— His Character — His Insinuations to the Conclave— Answer of the Opposite Faction— Charles III. Refuses to give his Support but to a Candidate who would promise to Abolish the Order— Joseph II., Emperor of Germany, and Leo- pold, Grand Duke of Tuscany, in Rome— Veneration of the Romans for the names of Republic and Emperor— Joseph is courted by both Parties— His Visit to the Gesu— His Words to the General— Consternation which they produce— He affects an Indifference as to the Election of the Pope— He Visits the Con- clave—His Haughty Behaviour there— The Spanish Cardinals enter the Conclave— They succeed in bringing it to a close — Lo- renzo Ganganelli— His Birth— First Education — Character- Habits before and after being elected Pope — Ranke and others exaggerate the Virtues of Ganganelli — His Ambition — His Equi- vocal Conduct in order to gratify it — How he was chosen to the Throne — Written Opinion concerning the Abolition of the Jesuits, given by him to the Spanish Cardinals— Whether this constitutes the Sin of Simony— Specious part played by De Bernis in tlie In- triiiUes for the Election— Joy of Ganganelli at being elected Pope — His Liberal and TolerantPoliey— The Affair of the Jesuits Poisons all his Joy — His Perplexities on the Measure of Abolishing them — He flatters Do Bernis, in order to obtain some delay in coming to a Decision— He obtains some Respite— He goes to Castel-Gau- XXll CONTENTS, PAGE dolfo to enjoy this short Triumph— Charles III. and Choiseul press De Bernis to bring the Pope to a Speedy Decision — Bemis' Urgency with the Pope — Letter of Ganganelli to the King of Spain to obtain some Respite — The Jesuits assert that Ganganelli ■wsis Forced by the Sovereigns to Abolish the Order— How far this Assertion is true — Very Plausible Reasons why he Hesitated so long to Abolish the Order — Some of them less honourable — The Pope is afraid of being Poisoned by the Jesuits — Menacing Atti- tude of the Sovereigns of the House of Bourbon toward the Court of Rome — Florida Blanca, Spanish Ambassador — Clement resists all Importunities till he is persuaded that the Abolition is an Act of Supreme Justice — His Foreboding in Signing the Bull of Suppression — A Short Analysis of the Bull — Gioberti's Opinion of it — The Bull Dominus et P^.edem'ptor, . . _ . 3G2 Proceedings against the Jesuits immediately after the Publication of the Bull— A Retrospective Glance at the Progress of the Order — Its Humble Origin— Its Increase — Its Considerable Power — Num- ber of Houses, Colleges, and Fathers at the Epoch of the Sup- pression — Approximate Estimate of their Wealth — Different Sources of it — Ricci's Denial that the Order possesses any Money — Reasons for believing otherwise — Ricci and some other Jesuits sent Prisoners to the Castel St Angelo — Slanders of the Jesuits on Ganganelli's Conduct, ..... 407 CHAPTER XYII. 1774. DEATH OF CLEMENT XIV. After the Issuing of the Bull, Clement re-assumes his gay hu- mour—His Health is perfect— Unanimity of the Authors on this point— The Jesuits have his Death Predicted— The Pythoness of Valentano— Sudden Illness of the Pope — Symptoms— His Delirium — Compulsusfeci — He resumes some Composure — His Death, 1774 — The Romans had expected his Death — Indecent Joy ofthe Jesuits — What was the Nature of Clement's Illness — The Jesuits assert that he died of Remorse — Untruth of the Assertion— Reason for it — Decomposition of Ganganelli's Body after his Death — Salicetti, the Apostolic Physician, declares the Rumour False that the Pope Died by Poison— The Romans had no doubt that he perished by the Acqua To/a na— Gioberti's Authorities for believing the Pope Poisoned — Irrefragable Testimony of De Bemis — His Letter to the Court of France — Character of Ganganelli, . . 412 CHAPTER XVIII. 1773-1814. TnE JESUITS DURING THE SUPPRESSION. Conduct of the Jesuits after the Suppression — Few obey the Bull — They seek an Asylum with Protestant Prmces— Strange conduct CONTENTS. XXIU fACB of Frederick of Prussia— lie Protects the Jesuits— Is EicUculed by his friend D'Alembert— The Jesuits in Silesia— Braschi (Pius VI.) succeeds Ganganelli in the Papal Chair— The Sovereigns of the House of Bourbon press him to see the Bull of his Predecessor executed— Character of Braschi — He fears rather than loves the Jesuits — He writes to Frederick — The Answer of the King— St Priest explains the Conduct of Frederick— The Author differs with him in Opinion, . . . ... . _ 422 Catherine of Russia protects the Jesuits — Her Motives — The Jesuits Establish themselves in Russia in Opposition to the Pope's Com- mand—Death of Ricci — The Jesuits in Russia name a Vicar- General — Siestrence-wiecz, Bishop of Mohilow — He permits the Jesuits to receive Novices — Remonstrances of the Court of Rome — The Jesuits name a General and act as if the Bull of Suppres- sion had not been Issued — How Cretineau Exculpates them — Chi- aramonti (Pius VII.) succeeds Braschi — He Re-establishes the Society in White Russia — Its Progress there — Grouber elected General — His Talents and Prudence — The Jesuits Re-established in Sicily — Grouber Dies in a Conflagration — Imprudent Conduct of the Jesuits afler his Death — Alexander Expels them from St Petersburg — The Jesuits persisting in their Criminal Practices, axe Expelled from Russia, 1820, .... 430 CHAPTER XIX. 1S14. EE-ESTABLISMENT. Fall of Napoleon — Restoration of different Princes— The Jesuits pretend that all the Evils of the last Revolution were the Conse- quences of their Suppression — The Princes Believe or feign to Be- lieve it — The Jesuits are the natural Enemies of the Liberals — Restoration of Pius VII. — His Character — He Re-establishes the Order — Why — The Bull of Re-establishment weakens but little that of Suppression — Short Analysis of the Former — Bull of Re- establishment, 1814 — The Jesuits flock to Rome from every part — Eagerness of many to become Members of the Society — The King of Sardinia a Jesuit — Italy covered with Jesuits — Their per- fect Understanding with the Pope — Hatred of the Italians against the Order — They Invade the principal Countries of Europe — They are Befriended by Ferdinand VII, in Spain — They side with Don Carlos — Are Abolished by the Cortes, 1835 — They re-enter, and are soon after Expelled from Portugal — Metternich refuses to admit the Jesuits into Austria — They are permitted to Establish them- selves in Galicia — Their Influence there, and its Effects — The Jesuits Excluded from every other part of Germany — The Jesuits in Holland — Ungrateful to King William — Their undutiful Conduct there — They Prepare the Revolution of 1830 — Their flourishing state in Belgium — Vicissitudes of the Jesuits in France after 1764 — They never quitted the Country — Different Names under which they Concealed themselves — The Sisters of the Sacred Heart —The Congregation of the Sacred Family of the XXIV CONTENTS. PAGE Virgin — Their Object— The Fathers of the Faith Suppressed by Napoleon — Also the Congregation of the Virgin — Intrigues and Conduct of the Jesuits after the Restoration — They court the Favour of the Clergy— Their Mission— They Monopolise the Edu- cation — Decree against them in 1828 — They disappear from France after the Revolulion of 1830 — They are again found numerous in 1836 — Affairs of Affnaer — Thiers invokes against them the Laws of the Land — Rossi's Mission to Rome — Its Results — The Jesuits constrained to Abandon their Establishments — Their Colleges of Bragellette and Friburg— Little is known of them for some years — Their Re-appearancein 1849 — Their Influence in the present Day ■ — Affairs of Lucerne — The Jesuits guilty of Fomenting the Civil War — Cretineau's Account of the Jesuits' Conduct in England — Mr Weld presents the Jesuits with his Property in Stoneyhurst — — Their rapid Progi'ess there — Prodigious Inci'ease of the Papists after their Establishment fhere — Part of the Colony pass over to Ireland — Father Kenny, Vice-President of Maynooth — The Jesuits Disregaixl the Clause of the Emancipation Act on the Re- ligious Corporations — The Fifth, Secret Class of the Jesuits the most Dangerous of all — Perfidious Arts of the Jesuits in making Converts — The Puseyites — The Papists rely upon them -Their Eulogium by Cretineau — Rome desires the Ruin of England-^Has intrusted to the Jesuits the Mission of bringing it about — The Jesuits more Dangerous to Protestantism than all other Monks — Every Roman Catholic Priest is by his Calling obliged to Labour for the Extirpation of Protestants — England ought to awake to a Sense of her Danger, ,.,•.. 43G CHAPTER XX. 1848-1852. THE JESUITS IN AND AFTER 1848. Italy the Seat of Jesuitical Power after the Re-establishment of the Order — State of the Peninsula before the Pontificate of Pius IX. ■ — Auspicious Beginning of his Reign — The Jesuits Oppose his Acts of Benevolence — The Romans decide upon Dej^riving the Priests of all Civil Authority — Resistance of the Pope — Death of Grazioli, the Pope's Confessor — Pius falls back to the Errors of former Popes — Hatred of the Romans to the Jesuits — II Gesuita Moderno — Gioberti in Rome — The Pope's Menaces against the Enemies of the Order — The Jesuits forced to leave Rome — Mortal Hatred vowed by the Pope against the Liberals — Flight of the Pope to Gaeta — Moderation of the Romans — Plots of the Jesuits and Cardinal Antonelli — Crusade to Replace the Pope on the Throne — Louis Napoleon, who fought in 1831 against the Pope, sends an Army against the Roman Republic — Why — General Oudinot — His Jesuitical Conduct — Gallantry of the Romans in Defending their Country — They are obliged to yield — Reproaches against England for having Abandoned the Cause of Civil and Religious Freedom — Serious Consequences which followed— Whether England could with justice have Interfered in the Affairs of Italy — The French enter Rome — Oudinot goes to Gaeta — Receives the Pope's Blessing CONTRNTS. XXT PAGE — Acts of Revenge of the Clerical Party after their Restoration — Miserable Condition of the Roman States — The Executions at Sinigallia and Ancona— Political Assassinations in those Towns — The Jesuits suspected of being the Instigators — How State Trials are Conducted in the Papal Dominions — a Note upon Simoncelli — The Pupo grants £40,000 to his native Town for erecting a Jesuit College — Reception of the Jesuits on their Re-entering Naples — Ridiculous xVddresses — The Jesuits All-powerful in the Two Sicilies — Abominable Conduct of the Neapolitan Government — Jesuitism invades Tuscany — Its Effects — Religious Persecution — Jesuits Introduced into Lombardy — The Jesuits Excluded from Piedmont — The Clergy refuse to submit to Equality of Rights — The Priest considers himself a Superior Being — Why — Intrigues and Hatred of the Piedmontese Clergy against the Government — Ominous In- fluence possessed by the J esuits in France at the present moment — The Laws of Providence — Popery can never again be the Religion of the Italians — Abject Flatteryof theJesuitsto Louis Napoleon — His Character — The Priests help him to grasp the Imperial Crown — His Marriage — Why we do not speak of the Actual State of the Jesuits in England, ...... 469 "oNCLusiON, ....•«. 493 INDEX . . . . . . .497 ILLUSTUATIONS. 1. Portrait of Loyola {Frontispiece). Page 2. „ Xavier 98 3. „ Lainez 133 4. „ Borgia 145 5. „ Acquaviva 210 C. „ Laciiaise 270 7. „ Ricci 357 8. „ Ganganelli 413 INTRODUCTION. When I first Intimated to some of my friends my in- tention of writing the History of the Jesuits, most of them dissuaded me from the enterprise, as from a task too difficult. I am fully aware of all the difficulties I have to encounter in my undertaking. I am sensible that to write a complete and detailed history of the Jesuits would require more time and learning than I have to bestow : neither could such a history be brought within the compass of six or seven hundred pages. It will be my endeavour, however, to give as faithful an account of the Society as I can, to furnish an accurate narrative of facts, and an outhne of the principal members of the order. Thus much, at least, with the aid of time, patience, and study, may be achieved by any one. I confess, too, that 1 am encouraged by a sense of the intrinsic interest of the subject itself, which may well do much to cast a veil over my own imperfect treatment of it : for, amidst the general wreck and decay of all human things, amidst the rise and fall of dynasties, nay, of empires themselves and whole nations of men, the inquiry may indeed give us pause — Wherein larj the seeds of that vitality in the ori- ginal constitution of the Jesuits, luhich has served INTRODUCTION. during three centuries to 'maintain the ranhs of the Society, under many shocks, still unbroken ? A suf- ficient answer to this inquiry will, 1 trust, be deve- loped during the course of my narrative. The main difficulty of my subject, as will be readily understood, lies in "discovering and delineating the true character of the Jesuits : for, take the Jesuit for -what he ought or appears to be, and you commit the greatest of blunders. Draw the character after what the Jesuit seems to be in London, and you will not recognise your portrait in the Jesuit of Rome. The Jesuit is the man of circumstances. Despotic in Spain, constitutional in England, republican in Paraguay, bigot in Rome, idolater in India, he shall assume and act out in his own person, with admirable flexibility, all those different features by which men are usually to be distinguished from each other. He will accom- pany the gay woman of the world to the theatre, and will share in the excesses of the debauchee. With solemn countenance, he will take his place by the side of the religious man at church, and he will revel in the tavern with the glutton and the sot. He dresses, in all garbs, speaks all languages, knows all customs, is present everywhere though nowhere recognised — and all this, it should seem (O monstrous blasphemy!), for the greater glory of God — ad majorem Dei gloriam. According to my opinion, in order to form a cor- rect estimate of the Jesuits, we must, first, study their code, and, disregarding its letter, endeavour to discover the spirit in and by which it w\as dictated ; secondly, we must be ever on our guard against the deception of judging them simply by their deeds, without con- stant reference to the results flowing from them — for we may rest assured that, in their case, it will be too often found that the fruit which externally may be fair and tempting to the eye, yields nothing at. its core but vileness and corruption. INTRODUCTION. 3 It is under the guidance of such principles of criti- cism as these that I shall write my history. My readers, however, must not look to find my book thick- soAvn throughout with nothing but vehe- ment and indiscriminate abuse against the order. Such is not the vehicle through which, in the judg- ment of the impartial, I shall be expected to manifest my disapproval, whenever the occasion for such disap- proval shall present itself. It will be my endeavour not to be led astray by any feeling whatsoever, but to give every one his due. Whatever I shall advance against the Jesuits, I shall prove upon their own authority, or by notorious, incontestable facts Alas ! these will prove to be too numerous, and of too dark a character, to require the addition of anything that is untrue; and the Society numbers among its mem- bers too many rogues to prevent its historian (if, indeed, one so unjast could be found) from making creditable mention, for poor humanity's sake, of the few honest, if misguided, ones he may chance to meet on his way. I hope my readers will be indulgent to me, if I promise that I will spare neither trouble nor exertion to surmount all the difficulties that lie in my path, and to present in as true a light as possible the crafty disciples of the brotherhood of Loyola. HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. CHAPTER I. 1500-40. ORIGIN OF THE ORDER. The sixteenth century presents itself pregnant with grave and all-important events. The old world dis- appears — a new order of things commences. The royal power, adorned with the scignorial prerogatives snatched from the subjugated barons, establishes itself amidst their ruined castles, beneath which lies buried the feudal system. Mercenary armies, now constantly maintained by the sovereign, render him independent of the mihtary services of his subjects, and formid- able alike to foreign foes and to turbulent nobles. The monarchs advance nxpidly towards despotism — the people subside into apathetic submission. Europe has become the appanage of a fevr masters. Henry Vin. of England, Francis I. of France, and Charles V. of Spain, share it among them ; but, not content with their respective dominions, they fight among themselves for the empire of the whole, or at least for supremacy of power. Henry having retired from the contest after the Electoral Congress of Frankfort, B 6 HISTORY OP THE JESUITS. the other two contuiue the strife with varying suc- cess. The gold of the recently discovered western world, and his immense possessions, give to Charles an enormous power. The bravery of a warlike nation makes formidable the chivalrous spirit of the indomit- able Francis. Their wars redden Europe with blood, yet produce no decided result. Meamvhile, as a compensation for these evils, the human mind, casting off the prejudices and igno- rance of the Middle Ages, marches to regeneration. Italy becomes, for the second time, the centre from whence the light of genius and learning shines forth over Europe. Leonardo da Vinci, Tiziano, Michael Angelo, are the sublime, the almost divine interpre- ters of art. Pulci, Ariosto, Poliziano, give a new and creative impulse to literature, and are the worthy descendants of Dante. Scholasticism, with its subtle argumentations, vague reasonings, and illogical de- ductions, is superseded by the practical philosophy of Lorenzo and Machiavelli, and by the irresistible and eloquent logic of the virtuous but unfortunate Savo- narola. Men who for the last three centuries had been satisfied with what had been taught and said by Aristotle and his followers — who, as the last and incontrovertible argument, had been accustomed to exclaim. Ipse dixit — now begin to think for them- selves, and dare to doubt and discuss what had liitherto been considered sacred and unassailable truths. The newly-awakened human intehect eagerly enters upon the new path, and becomes argumenta- tive and inquiring, to the great dismay of those who deprecated diversity of faith ; and the Court of Rome, depending on the blind obedience of the credulous, anathematising every disputer of the Papal infallibi- lity, views with especial concern this rising spirit of inquiry, and has to tremble for its usurped power. Fortunately, the three last Popes had bestowed little or no attention on the spu-itual affairs of the ORIGIN OP THE ORDER. 7 world, and made no effort to combat the new ideas. Borgia, amid his incestuous debaucheries, had been solely intent upon suppressing by poniard and poison the refractory spirit of the Roman barons, and upon acquiring new territories for his cherished Caesar — a son worthy of such a father. Julius, in his noble enterprise of ridding Italy from foreign domination, was a great deal fonder of casque and cuirass than, of the Somma of St Thomas or any other theological book. Leo, son of that Lorenzo rightly called " Magnifico," had inherited his father's love of art and literature, and of every noble pursuit. Magnificent, generous, affable yet dignified in his manners, living amidst every luxury, the centre of the most splendid court in the world, he exhibited the characteristics of a temporal prince rather than those of the supreme pontiff. He took a greater interest in a stanza of Ariosto or a statue by Michael Angelo than in all the writings of the scholastics, of which, in fact, he knew very httle. The impartial and accurate Sarpi says of him — ■" He would have been a perfect pontiff, if to so many excellencies he had united some knoiuledge in the matter of religion, and a little more inclination to piety, two things about which he seemed to care but Httle." * He laughed heartily when some of his more bigoted prelates pointed out to him the imminent perils to rehgion and the Church from the rapid spread of ■ the new and dangerous doctrines. He viewed the quarrels between the Dominican and Augustine Friars much in the same light in which Homer is supposed to have regarded the battle of the frogs and mice, and was at last roused from his indifference only when Luther attacked-— not any article of faith, but his pre- tended right of selling indulgences to replenish his coffers and provide his sister's dowry. Yet even then he would have preferred a compromise to a religious * RiUory of the Coimcil of Trent, by Fra Paolo Sarpi, tome i. p. 9. 8 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. war. Had his fanatical courtiers participated in his prudent scruples, the Roman Church might have long retained Germany and many other European coun- tries under her yoke. But God in his wisdom had ordained otherwise. To a very submissive letter which the Reformer addressed to the Pope, appealing to him as to a judge, the Court of Rome replied by a bull of excom- munication. Upon this Luther renewed his anxious investigation of the Holy Scriptures with increased ardour ; and, becoming more and more powerfully convinced that he had been propounding nothing but the Word of God, fearlessly cast aside all idea of a reconciliation, and stood firm in support of his doc- trines. Previously he might have been inclined to keep in abeyance some of his private opinions, but now he had come to consider it a deadly sin not to preach the truth as expressed by God in his Holy Word. The German princes, partly persuaded of the truth of Luther's doctrines, partly desirous to escape the exacting tyranny of Rome which drained their sub- jects' pockets, supported the Reformer. They pro- tested at Spires, and at Smalkaden made prepara- tions to maintain their protest by arms. In a few years, without armed violence, but simply by the persuasive force of truth, the greater part of Germany became converted to the Reformed faith. The honest indignation of Zuinglius'in Switzerland, and, conspir- ing with the diifusion of the truth, the unbridled passions of Henry VIH. in England, alike rescued a considerable portion of their respective countries from the Romish yoke. In France and in Navarre the new doctrines found many warm adherents ; whilst in Italy itself, at Brescia, Pisa, Florence, nay, even at Rome and at Faenza, there were many who more or less openly embraced the principles of the Refor- mation. Thus, in a short time, the Roman religion — ORIGIN OF THE ORDER. \J founded in ancient and deep-rooted prejudices — sup- ported by the two greatest powers in the world, the Pope and the Emperor — defended by all the bishops and priests, who lived luxuriously by it — was over- turned throughout a great part of Europe. And let us here admire the hand of Divine Provi- dence 1 As if with the special view of facilitating the rapid diifusion of the Peformed religion, there was given to the world but a few years before, and in that same Germany where it took its rise, the most won- derful and efficient instrument for the purpose — the Art of Printing. Without the press, Luther's doc- trines would never have spread so widely in so very few months. As at that time this beneficent invention was a powerful agent in advancing rehgious reforma- tion, so has it since become an effective means of political as well as religious enfranchisement. Hence the hatred of the Popes and their brother despots towards this staunch supporter of hberty. But while the Word of God was thus rescuing such multitudes from idolatry, the Spirit of Evil, furious at the escape of so many victims whom he had already counted his own, made a desperate effort to retrieve his past, and prevent future losses. He saw, Avitli dismay, Divine truth, hke a vast and ever-extending inundation, rapidly undermining and throwing down, one by one, his many strongholds of superstition and ignorance ; and, with the despairing energy of baffled malignity, he set about rearing up a bulwark which shoutd check the tide ere its work of destruction was completed. For this bulwark he devised the since famous order of the Jesuits, which arose almost simultaneously with the establishment of the Refor- mation. So lue may say. The Roman Catholic writers, however, ascribe the origin of the Jesuits to a far different influence. They declare, '' that, as from time to time new heresies have afflicted the Church of God, so He has raised up holy men to 10 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. combat them ; and as He had raised up St Dominic against the Albigenses and Vaudois, so He sent Loyola and his disciples against the Lutherans and Calvinists." * It is of this renowned and dreaded Society that I purpose to write the history. As a matter of course, the first few pages will contain a biographical sketch of its bold and sagacious founder, to whom altars have been consecrated, and who is still regarded as the type and soul of the order. Ifiigo, or, as commonly called, Ignatius Loyola, the youngest of eleven children of a noble and ancient family, was born in the year 1491, in his father's castle of Loyola at Guipuscoa in Spain. He was of middle stature, and rather dark complexion; had deep-set piercing eyes, and a handsome and noble countenance. While yet young he had become bald, which gave him an expression of dignity, that was not impaired by a lameness arising from a severe wound. His father, a worldly man, as his biographer says, instead of sending him to some holy community to be instructed in religion and piety, placed him as a page at the court of Ferdinand V. But Ignatius, naturally of a bold and aspiring disposition, soon found that no 2;lory was to be reaped in the antechambers of the CathoUc king ; and, delighting in military ex- ercises, he became a soldier — and a brave one he proved. His historians, to make his subsequent con- version appear more wonderful and miraculous, have represented him as a perfect monster of iniquity ; but, in truth, he was merely a gay soldier, fond of plea- sure no doubt, yet not more debauched than the generality of his brother officers. His profligacy, whatever it was, did not prevent him from being * Helyot, Histoire des Ordres Monastiques, Religieux et Militaires, tome vii. p. 452. When we have modern Catholic authors who quote from Sacchinus Orlandinus, &c., we shall quote them, as books more easily to be had. ORIGIN OF THE ORDER. 11 a man of strict honour, never backward in time of danger. At the defence of Pampeluna against the French, in 1521, Ignatius, while bravely performing his duty on the walls, was struck down by a ball, which dis- abled both his legs. With him fell the courage of the besieged. They yielded, and the victors enter- ing the town, found the wounded officer, and kindly sent him to his father's castle, which was not far dis- tant. Here he endured all the agonies which gene- rally attend gunshot wounds, and an inflammatory fever Avhich supervened brought him to the verge of the grave — when, "Oh, miracle!" exclaims his biographer, " it being the eve of the feast of the glorious saints Peter and Paul, the prince of the apostles appeared to him in a vision, and touched him, whereby he was, if not immediately restored to health, at least put in a fair way of recovery." Now the fact is, that the patient uttered not a syllable regarding his vision at the time; nevertheless we are gravely assured that the miracle was not the less a fact. Be this, however, as it may, Ignatius un- doubtedly recovered, though slowly. During his long convalescence, he sought to beguile the tedious hours of irksome inactivity passed in the sick chamber by reading all the books of knight-errantry which could be procured. The chivalrous exploits of the Po- lands and Amadises made a deep impression upon his imagination, which, rendered morbidly sensitive by a long illness, may well be supposed to have been by no means improved by such a course of study. When these books were exhausted, some pious friend brought him the Lives of the Saints. This work, however, not suiting his taste, Ignatius at first flung it aside in disgust, but afterwards, from sheer lack of better amusement, he began to read it. It presented to him a new phase of the romantic and marvellous, in which he so much delighted. He soon became 12 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. deeply interested, and read it over and over again. The strange adventures of these saints — the praise, the adoration, the glorious renown which they acquired — so fired his mind, that he almost forgot his favourite paladins. His ardent ambition saw here a new career opened up to it. He longed to become a saint. Yet the military life had not lost its attractions for him. It did not require the painful preparation ne- cessary to earn a saintly reputation, and was, more- over, more in accordance with his education and tastes. He long hesitated which course to adopt — whether he should win the laurels of a hero, or earn the crown of a saint. Had he perfectly recovered from the effects of his wound, there is httle doubt but that he would have chosen the laurels. But this was not to be. Although he was restored to health, his leg remained hopelessly deformed — he was a cripple for life. It appeared that his restorer, St Peter, although upon the whole a tolerably good physician, w^as by no means an expert surgeon. The broken bone of his leg had not been properly set; part of it pro- truded through the skin below the knee, and the limb was short. Sorely, but vainly, did Ignatius strive to remove these impediments to a military career, which his unskilful though saintly surgeon had permitted to remain. He had the projecting piece of bone sawn off, and his shortened leg painfully extended by me- chanical appliances, in the hope of restoring it to its original fine proportions. The attempt failed ; so he found himself, at the age of thirty-two, with a shrunken limb, with httle or no renown, and, by his incurable lameness, rendered but shghtly capa- ble of acquiring military glory. Nothing then re- mained for him but to become a saint. Saintship being thus, as it were, forced upon him, ho at once set about the task of achieving it, with all that ardour which he brought to bear upon every pursuit. He became daily absorbed in the most pro- ORIGIN OP THE ORDER. 13 found meditations, and made a full confession of all his past sins, which was so often interrupted by his passionate outbursts of penitent Aveeping, that it lasted three days.* To stimulate his devotion, he lacerated his flesh with the scourge, and abjuring his past life, he hung up his sword beside the altar in the church of the convent of Monserrat. Meeting a beggar on the public road, he exchanged clothes with him, and, habited in the loathsome rags of the mendicant, retired to a cave near Manreze, where he nearly starved himself. When he next reappeared in pub- lic, he found his hopes almost realised. His fame had spread far and wide ; the people flocked from all quarters to see him — visited his cave with feelings of reverent curiosity — and, in short, nothing was talked of but the holy man and his severe penances. But now the Evil Spirit began to assail him. The tender conscience of Ignatius began to torment him with the fear that all this public notice had made him proud; that, while he had almost begun to consider himself a saint, he was, in reality, by reason of that very belief itself, the most heinous of sinners. So embit- tered did his life become in consequence of these thouo-hts, that he went wellnio-h distracted. '' But God supported him ; and the Tempter, baftled in his attempts, fled. Ignatius fasted for seven days, neither eating nor drinking ; went again to the con- fessional ; and, receiving absolution, was not only delivered from the stings of his own conscience, but obtained the gift of healing the troubled consciences of others." ■\ This miraculous gift Ignatius is believed to have transmitted to his successors, and it is in a great measure to this belief that the enormous influ- ence of the Company of Jesus is to be attributed, as we shall see hereafter. Kow that Ignatius could endure his saintship witli- * Helycc, Hist, des Ord. Mon., Rd. et Mil., tome vii. p. i56. t Ibid. p. 459. 14 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. out being overwhelmed by a feeling of sinfulness, he pursued his course with renewed alacrity. Yet it was in itself by no means an attractive one. In order to be a perfect Catholic saint, a man must become a sort of misanthrope — cast aside wholesome and cleanly apparel, go about clothed in filthy rags, wearing hair- cloth next his skin — and, renouncing the world and its inhabitants, must retire to some noisome den, there to live in solitary meditation, with wild roots and water for food, daily applying the scourge to expiate his sins — of which, according to one of the disheartening doctrines of the Catholic Church, even the just commit at least seven a day. The saint must enter into open rebellion against the laws and instincts of human nature, and consequently against the will of the Creator. And although it cannot be denied that some of the founders of monastic orders conscien- tiously believed that their rules were conducive to holiness and eternal beatitude, nevertheless, we may with justice charge them with overlooking the fact, that as the transgression of the laws of nature inva- riably brings along with it its own punishment — a certain evidence of the Divine displeasure — true holi- ness cannot consist in disregarding and opposing them. Ignatius, however, continued his life of penance, made to the Virgin Mary a solemn vow of perpetual chastity, begged for his bread, often scourged himself, and spent many hours a day in prayer and medita- tion. What he meditated upon, God only knows. After a few months of this ascetic life, he pubhshed a little book which much increased his fame for sanctity. It is a small octavo volume, and bears the title of Spiritual Exercises* As this work, the only one he has left, is the acknowledged standard of * By the term " Spiritual Exercises," Catholics understand that course of solitary pi-ayer and religious meditation, generally extending over many days, which candidates for holy orders have to perform in tlie seclusion of a convent previous to being consecrated. Again^ when a ORIGIN OF THE ORDER. 15 the Jesuits' religious practice, aud is by them extolled to the skies, we must say some few words about it. First of all, we shall relate the supernatural origin assigned to it by the disciples and panegyrists of its author. *'IIe" (Ignatius) "had already done much for God's sake, and God now rendered it back to him with usury. A courtier, a man of pleasure, and a soldier, he had neither the time nor the will to gather knowledge from books. But the knowledge of man, the most difficult of all, was divinely revealed to him. The master who was to form so many masters, was himself formed by Divine illumination. He composed the Spiritual Exercises, a work which had a most important place in his life, and is powerfully reflected in the history of his disciples." This quotation is from Cretineau Joly (vol i. p. 18), an author who professes not to belong to the Society, but whose book was published under the patronage of the Jesuits, who, he says, opened to him all the depositories of unpublished letters and manuscripts in their principal convent, the Gesu, at Rome ; he wrote also a virulent pamphlet against the great Pontiff Clement XIV., the suppressor of the Jesuits. Hence we consider ourselves fairly entitled to rank the few quotations we shall make from him as among those emanating from the writers that belong to the order; and we arc confident that no Jesuit would ever think of repudiating Cretineau Joly. This author proceeds to state, that " in the manuscript in which Father Jouvency narrates in elegant Latin those strange events, it is said — ' This light shed by the Divine will upon Ignatius shewed him openly and without veil the mystery of the adorable Trinity and other arcana of religion. He remained for eight days as if de- priest incurs the displeasure of his superior, lie is sent as a sort of prisoner to some convent, there to perform certain prescribed ''spiritual jgxercises," which in this case may last from one to three weeks. 16 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. prived of life. What he witnessed during this ecstatic trance, as well as in many other visions which he had during life, no one knows. He had indeed committed these celestial visions to paper, but shortly before his death he burned the book containing them, lest it should fall into unworthy hands. A few pages, how- ever, escaped his precautions, and from them one can easily conjecture that he must have been from day to day loaded with still greater favours. Chiefly was he sweetly ravished in contemplating the dignity of Christ the Lord, and liis inconceivable charity _ to- wards the human race. As the mind of Ignatius was filled with military ideas, he figured to himself Christ as a general lighting for the Divine glory, and call- ing on all men to gather under his standard. Hence sprang his desire to form an army of which Jesus should be the chief and commander, the standard inscribed — •' Ad majorem Dei gloricun.' " With deference to M. Joly, we think that a more mundane origin may be found for the "Exercises" in the feverish dreams of a heated imagination. Be this as it may, however, we shall proceed to lay before our readers a short analysis of it, extracted from Cardinal Wiseman's preface to the last edition. He says — " This is a practical, not a theoretical work. It is not a treatise on sin or on virtue ; it is not a method of Christian perfection, but it contains the entire practice of perfection, by making us at once conquer sin and acquire the highest virtue. The person who goes through the Exercises is not in- structed, but is made to act ; and this book will not be intelligible apart from this vicAV." "The reader will observe that it is divided' into Four Weeks; and each of these has a specific object, to advance the excrcitant an additional step towards per- fect virtue. If the work of each week be thoroughly done, tJiis is actually acconij^lished* '■• The Italics here are our own. ORIGIN OF THE ORDER. 17 " The first week has for its aim the cleansiniy of the conscience from past sin, and of the affections from their future clangers. For this purpose, the soul is made to convince itself deeply of the true end of its being — to serve God and be saved, and of the real worth of all else. This consideration has been justly called by St Ignatius the prmci/^/e or founda- tion of the entire system." The Cardinal assures us that the certain result of this first week's exercises is, that '' sin is abandoned, hated, loathed " In the second, the life of Christ is made our model ; by a series of contemplations of it we become famihar with his virtues, enamoured of his perfec- tions ; we learn, by copying him, to be obedient to God and man, meek, humble, affectionate; zealous, charitable, and forgiving ; men of only one wish and one thought — that of doing ever God's holy will alone ; discreet, devout, observant of every law, scru- pulous j)erformers of every duty. Every meditation on these subjects shews us how to do all this ; in fact, tnakes us really do it.* The third week brings us to this. Having desired and tried to be like Christ in action, we are brought to wish and endeavour to be hke unto him in suffering. For this purpose his sacred passion becomes the engrossing subject of the Exercises But she (the soul) must be convinced and feel, that if she suffers, she also shall be glorified with him ; and hence the fourth and concluding week raises the soul to the consideration of those glories which crowned the humiliations and sufferings of our Lord." Then, after a highly figu- rative eulogium upon the efficacy of the Exercises *' duly performed," the reverend prelate proceeds to shew that the one " essential element of a spiritual retreat " (for so the Exercises reduced to action are popularly called) "is direction. In the Catholic Church no one is ever allowed to trust himself in * The Italics here are our own. 18 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. spiritual matters. The sovereign pontiff is obliged to submit himself to the direction of another, in what- ever concerns his own soul. The life of a good re- treat is a good director of it." This director modifies (according to certain written rules) the order of the Exercises, to adapt them to the peculiar character of the exercitant ; regulates the time employed in them, watches their effects, and, like a physician prescribing for a patient, varies the treatment according to the symptoms exhibited, encouraging those which seem favourable, and suppressing those which are detrimen- tal, to the desired result. " Let no one," says the Cardinal, " think of undertaking these holy Exercises without the guidance of a prudent and experienced director." *' It will be seen that the weeks of the Exercises do not mean necessarily a period of seven days. The original period of their performance was certainly a month ; but even so, more or less time was allotted to each week's work according to the discretion of the director. Now, except in very particular circum- stances, the entire period is abridged to ten days; sometimes it is still further reduced." It will be observed from the above extracts, that the Cardinal, ignoring the fact that the sinner's con- version must be effected entirely by the operation of the Holy Spirit, seems to regard the unregenerate human soul merely as a piece of raw material, which the " director " may, as it were, manufacture into a saint, simply by subjecting it to the process pre- scribed in the Exercises. In regard to the merits of the book, I cannot agree either with Wiseman or a very brilliant Protestant writer,* who, speaking of the approbation bestowed on it by Pope Paul III., says — " Yet on this sub- ject the chair of Knox, if now filled by himself, would not be very widely at variance with the throne of St * Stephens. ORIGIN OF THE ORDER. 19' Peter." The book certainly does not deserve this high euloo'ium. However, it cannot be denied that, amidst many recommendations of many absurd and superstitious practices proper to the Popish rehgion, the httle volume does contain some ver}^ good maxims and precepts. For instance, here are two passages to which I am sure that not even the most anti- Catholic Protestant could reasonably object. At page 16 it is said — " Man was created for this end, that he might praise and reverence the Lord his God, and, serving him, at length be saved.* But the other things which are placed on the earth were created for man's sake, that they might assist him in pursuing the end of creation ; whence it follows, that they are to be used or abstained from in proportion as they benefit or hinder him in pursuing that end. AVherefore we ought to be indifferent towards all created things (in so far as they are subject to the liberty of our will, and not prohibited), so that (to the best of our power) we seek not health more than sickness, nor prefer riches to poverty, honour to contempt, a long life to a short one. But it is fitting, out of all, to choose and desire those things only which lead to the end." And again, at page 33 — " The third" (article for meditation) " is, to consider myself; who, or of what kind I am, adding comparisons which may bring me to a greater contempt of myself; as, if 1 reflect how little I am when compared with all men; then, what the whole multitude of mortals is, as compared with the angels and all the blessed : after these things I must consider what, in fact, all the creation is in com- parison with God the Creator himself; what now can I, one mere human being, be? Lastly, let me look at the corruption of my whole self, the wicked- ness of my soul, and the pollution of my body, and account myself to be a kind of ulcer or boil, from * See the Shorter Catechism, Qu. 1. 20 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. ■which so great and foul a flood of sins, so great a pestilence of vices, has flowed down. " The fourth is, to consider what God is, whom I have thus offended, collecting the perfections which are God's peculiar attributes, and comparing them with my opposite vices and defects; comparing, that is to say, his supreme power, wisdom, goodness, and justice, with my extreme weakness, ignorance, wick- edness, and iniquity." But then the above " Exercises " are followed by certain *' Additions," which are recommended as con- ducing to their " better performance." Some of these are very strange; for instance — " The fourth is, to set about the contemplation itself, now kneeling on the ground, now lying on my face or on my back ; now sitting or standing, and composing myself, in the way in which I may hope the more easily to attain what I desire. In which matter, these two things must be attended to : the first, that if, on my knees ot in any other posture, I obtain what I wish, I seek nothing further. The second, that on the point in which I shall have attained the devotion I seek, I ought to rest, without being anxious about pressing on until I shall have satisfied myself." " The sixth, that I avoid those thoughts which bring joy, as that of the glorious resurrection of Christ; since any such thought hinders the tears and grief for my sins, which must then be sought by calling in mind rather death or judgment." " The seventh, that, for the same reason, I deprive myself of all the brightness of the light, shutting the doors and windows so long as I remain there" (in my chamber), " except while I have to read or take my food." At page 55 we find, in the Second Week — " The Fifth Contemjjlation is the application of the senses to those" (contemplations) *• mentioned above. After the preparatory prayer, with the three aleady mentioned preludes, it is emi- nently useful to exercise the five imaginary senses ORIGIN OF THE ORDER. 21 concerning* the first and second contemplations in the following way, according as the subject shall bear. " The first point will be, to see in imagination all the persons, and, noting the circumstances which shall occur concerning them, to draw out what may be pro- fitable to ourselves, " The second, by hearing, as it Tvere, what they are saying, or what it may be natural for them to say, to turn all to our own advantage. " The third, to perceive, by a certain inward taste and smell, how great is the sweetness and delight- fulness of the soul imbued with Divine gilts and virtues, according to the nature of the person we are considering, adapting to ourselves those things which may bring us some fruit. " The fourth, by an inward touch, to handle and kiss the garments, places, footsteps, and other things connected with such persons ; whence Ave may de- rive a greater increase of devotion, or of any spiritual good. *' This contemplation will be terminated, like tha former ones, by adding, in like manner, Pater noster." At page 52, among things " to be noted " is — " The second, that the first exercise concerning the Incarnation of Christ is performed at midnight ; the next at dawn ; the third about the hour of mass ; the fourth about the time of vespers ; the fifth a little before supper ; and on each of them will be spent the space of one hour ; which same thing has to be observed henceforward everywhere." Loyola's next step towards hoHness w^as a pil- grimage to Palestine to convert the infidels. AVhat he did in the Holy Land we do not know ; his bio- grapher tells us only that he was sent back' by the Franciscan friar who exercised there the Papal authority.* * Hd. Eist. dee Ord. Mon., Bel. et Mil. tome vii. p. 461. ' c 22 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. On his homeward voyac^e, Ignatius conceived that a httle learning would perhaps help him in the task of converting heretics, and thus furnish him with an additional chance of rendering himself famous ; so after his return he attended a school at Barcelona for two years, where, a full-grown man of thirty- four, he learned the rudiments of the Latin language, sitting upon the same bench with little boys. Having failed to make any proselytes to his ex- travagances at Barcelona, he went to Alcala, and studied in the university newly erected there by Car- dinal Ximenes. Here he attracted much public notice by the eccentricities of his fanatical piety. He wore a peculiar dress of coarse material, and by his fervid discourse contrived to win over to his mode of life four or five young men, whom he called his disciples. But he was regarded with sus- picion by the authorities, who twice imprisoned him. He and his converts were ordered to resume the com- mon garb, and to cease to expound to the people the mysteries of religion.* Indignant at this, Ignatius immediately set out for Paris, where, in the beginning of 1528, he arrived alone, his companions having de- serted him. His persecutions at Alcala had taught him pru- dence ; so that, although his attempts at notoriety in Paris, in the way of dress, manners, and language, brought him before the tribunal of the Inquisition,f he nevertheless had managed matters so cautiously as to escape all punishment. Here, while contend- ing with the difficulties of the Latin grammar,{ he * Hel. Hist, des Ord. Mon., Rel. et Mil. tome vii. p. 463. + Ibid, tome vii. p. 464. X Once for all, I promise my readers that I am not going to trouble them with the nan-ative of all the miraculous legends related concerning Loyola. They are in most instances so absurd as to be beneath the dignity of history. Let the two following suffice as specimens. It is said that the devil, determined to prevent his learning Latin, so confused his intel- lect that he found it impossible to remember the conjugation of the verb amo ; whereupon he scourged himself unmercifully every day, until by ORIGIN OF THE ORDER. 23 was ever revolving in Ills vast and capacious mind some new scheme for fulfilling his desires and gra- tifying his passion for renown. But as yet he knew not what he was destined to accomplish. There seems no ground for supposing that he could already have formed the gigantic and comprehensive pro- ject of establishing, on the basis on which it now stands, his wonderful and powerful Society. No ; he only contrived, as he had done in Spain, to enlist some followers, over whom lie could exercise an absolute control, for the furtherance of any future project. In this his success had far exceeded his expectations. The magnanimous and heroic Xavier, the intelligent and interesting Le Fevre, the learned Laincz, the noble and daring Rodriguez, and some three or four others, acknowledged him as their chief and master. It may at first sight appear strange that such pri- vileged intelligences should have submitted themselves , to a comparatively ignorant ex-officer. But when it is borne in mind that Ignatius had a definite end, towards which he advanced with steady and unhesi- tating steps, whilst his companions had no fixed plan — that he was endowed with an iron will, which neither poverty, nor imprisonment, nor even the world's contempt, could overcome — that, above all, he had the art to flatter their respective passions, and to win their affections by using all his influence to promote their interests — it is less surprising that he should have gained an immense influence over those inexperienced and ingenuous young men, on whose that means the evil spirit was overcome, after which the saint was soou able to repeat amo in all its tenses. Again, when Ignatius was in Venice on his way to the Holy Land, it is said that a wealthy senator of that city, Travisini by name, whilst luxuriously reclining on his bed of down, was iniormed b}' an angel that the servant ot God was lying upon the hard stones under the portico of his palace. Where- upon the senator immediately arose, and went to the door, where he foxmd Ignatius. 24 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. generous natures the idea of devoting their lives to the welfare of mankind had already made a deep impression. Loyola's courage and ambition were strongly stimulated by the acquisition of disciples so willing and devoted — so efficient for his purpose — so attached to his person; and he began to consider how he mio'ht turn their devotion to the best ac- count. After some conferences with his companions, he assembled them all on the day of the Assumption, 16th August 1534, in the church of the Abbey of Montmartre, where, after Peter Le Fevre had cele- brated mass, they each took a solemn vow to go to the Holy Land and preach the gospel to the infidels. Ignatius, satisfied for the present with these pledges, left Paris, in order, as he asserted, to recruit his health by breathing his native air at Loyola before setting out on his arduous mission, and doubtless also to find solitude and leisure in which to meditate and devise means for realising his ambitious hopes. His disciples remained in Paris to terminate their theological studies, and he commanded them to meet him again at Venice in the beginning of 15e37, en- joining them, meanwhile, if any one should ask them what rehgion they professed, to answer that they be- longed to the Society of Jesus — since they were Christ's soldiers.* Our saint preceded them to Venice, _ where he again encountered some difficulties and a little perse- cution ; but he endured all with u»flinching patience. Here he became acquainted with Pierre Carafta (after- wards Pope Paul IV.) This harsh and remarkable man had renounced the bishopric of Theate, to become the companion of the meek and gentle Saint Gaje- tan of Tyenne, and with his assistance had founded * Negroni expounds the word societas "quasi dicas coliortem aut centuriam qu» ad pixgnam cum hostibus spiritualibus conserendam con- Bcripta est. ' OUIGIN OF THE ORDER. 25 the religious order of the Thcatincs. The mcmhors of this fraternity endeavoured, by exemplary living, devotion to their clerical duties of preaching and administering the sacraments, and ministering to the sick, to correct the evils produced throughout all Christendom by the scandalous and immoral conduct of the regular and secular clergy. To Caraifa, who had already acquired great influence, Ignatius at- tached liimself, became an inmate of the convent he had founded, served patiently and devotedly in the hospital Tvhich he dn-ected, and shortly became Ca- raifa's intimate friend. This fixed at once the hitherto aimless ambition of Loyola. He conceived the idea of achieving power and fame, if not as the founder of a new order, at least as the remodcller of one already existing. With this design, he submitted to Caraffa a plan of reform for his order, and strongly urged its adoption. But Caraifa, who perhaps suspected his motive, rejected his proposal, and offered to admit him as a brother of the order as it stood. This, however, did not suit Ignatius, whose proud nature could never have submitted to play even the second part, much less that of an insignificant member in a society over which another had all power and au- thority. He therefore declined the honour, and at once determined to found a new religious community of his own. Aware, however, of the difficulties he might have to overcome, he resolved to proceed with the utmost caution. Being under a v^w to go to convert the infidels in the Holy Land, he gave out that to this work alone were the Hves of himself and his companions to be devoted. Accordingly, as soon as they arrived in Venice, he sent them to Rome to beg the Pope's bless- ing on their enterprise, as he said ; and also, no doubt, to exhibit them to the Eoman court as the embryo of a new religious order. The reason assigned by his 26 HISTORY OP THE JESUITS. historians for his not going to Rome along with them, is, that he feared that his presence there might be prejudicial to them.* It is just as likely that he was afraid lest, beneath his cloak of ostentatious humility, the discerning eye of Pope Paul might detect his un- bounded ambition. At Pome his disciples were favourably received ; — the Pontiff bestowed the desired benediction, and they returned to Venice, whence they were to sail for Pa- lestine. Here Ignatius prevailed upon them to take vows of perpetual chastity and poverty, and then, under pretext of the war which was raging at the time between the emperor and the Turks, they aban- doned their niission altogether. So ended their pious pilgrimage. Taking with him Lainez and Le Fevre, Loyola then proceeded to Rome, and craved audience of the Pope. The chair of St Peter was at this time occupied by Paul Farnese — that same Pope who opened, and in part conducted, the Council of Trent; who insti- gated the emperor to the war against the Protes- tants : who sent, under his grandson's command, 12,000 of his own troops into Germany to assist in that war; and who hfted up his sacrilegious hand to bless whoever would shed Protestant blood. He had been scandalously incontinent ; and if he did not, like Alexander VL, entirely sacrifice the interests of the Church and of humanity to the aggrandisement of his own family, nevertheless, his son received the duke- dom of Piacentia, and his grandsons were created car- dinals at the age of fourteen, and one of them was intended to be Duke of Milan. However, Paul had some grandeur in his nature. He was generous, and therefore popular, and his activity was indefatigable. * Hel. Uist. des Ord. 3Ion., Rel. et Mil. tome \ii. p. 469. ORIGIN OF THE ORDER. 27 But Sarpl says of liim, that of all his own qualities, he did not appreciate any nearly so much as his dissimulation.'^ By this amiable pontiff, Ignatius and his compa- nions were kindly received. He praised their exem- plary and religious life, questioned them concerning their projects, but took no notice of the plan they hinted at, of originating a new religious order. But Loyola was not to be thus discouraged. He summoned to Borne all his followers (who had re- mained in Lombardy, preaching with a bigoted fana- ticism and calling the citizens to repentance), and gave them a clearer outline than he had hitherto done of the society he proposed to establish. This they en- tirely approved of, and took another vow (the most essential for Loyola's purpose) of implicit and un- questioning obedience to their superior. Admire here the cautious and consummate art by which Ignatius, step by step, brought his associates to the desired point. Notwithstanding the repeated refusals of the Court of Borne to accede to his wishes, neither the courage nor the perseverance of Ignatius failed him. After much reflection, he at last thought he had discovered a way to overcome the Pope's unwillingness. Consult- ing with his companions, he persuaded them to take a fourth vow, viz., one of obedience to the Holy See and to the Pope |9ro tempore, with the express obli- gation of going, Avitliout remuneration, to Avhatever part of the world it should please the Pope to send them. He then drew up a petition, in which were stated some of the principles and rules of the order he desired to estabhsh, and sent it to the Pope by Car- dinal Contarini. This fourth vow made a great impression on the wily pontiff ; yet so great was his aversion to rehgious communities, some of which were just then the objects * Fra Paolo Sarpi, Hi&tory of the Council of Trent, p. 118. 28 HISTOKY OF THE JESUITS. of popular hatred and the plague of the Roman court, that he refused to approve of this new one until he had the advice of three cardinals, to vrhom he referred the matter. Guidiccioni, the most talented of the three, strenuously opposed it ; but Paul, who per- haps had by this time penetrated the designs of Loyola, and perceived that the proposed Society could not prosper unless by contending for and maintaining the supremacy of the Holy See, thought it would be his best policy to accept the services of these volunteers, especially as it was a time when he much needed them. Consequently, on the 27th of September 1540, he issued the famous bull, regimini militantis EcclesicE, approving of the new order under the name of " The Society of Jesus." We consider it indispen- sable to give some extracts from this bull. " Paul, Bishop, Servant of the Servants of God, for a perpetual record. Presiding by God's will over the Government of the Church, &c. . . . Whereas we have lately learned that our beloved son Ignatius de Loyola, and Peter Le Fevre, and James Lainez ; and also Claudius Le Jay, and Paschasius Brouet, and Francis Xavier ; and also Alphonso Salmeron and Simon Rodriguez, and John Coduri, and Nicolas de Bobadilla ; priests of the Cities, &c. . . . inspired, as is piously believed, by the Holy Ghost ; coming from various regions of the globe ; are met together, and become associates ; and, renouncing the seductions of this world, have dedicated their lives to the perpetual service of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of us, and of other our successors, Roman Pontiffs ; and exj^ressly for the instruction of hoys and other ignorant people, in Christianity ; and, above all, for the spiritual con- solation of the faithful in Christ, by hearing confes- sions ; . . . We receive the associates under our protec- tion and that of the Apostohc See ; conceding to them, moreover, that some among them may freely and law- fully draw up such Constitutions as they shall judge to ORIGIN OF THE ORDEH. 2^ be conformable to, &c. . . . We will, moreover, tliat into this Society there be admitted to tlie nmnber of sixty persons only, desirous of embracing this rule of living, and no more, and to be incorporated into the Society aforesaid." The above-named ten persons -were the first com- panions of Loyola, and, -with him, the founders of the Society. But the merit of framing the Constitu- tion which was to govern it belongs solely to Ignatius himself. He alone among them all was capable of such a conception. He alone could have devised a scheme by which one free rational being is converted into a mere automaton — acting, speaking, even think- ing, according to the expressed will of another. There is no record in histor}^, of any man, be he king, emx- peror, or pope, exercising such absolute and irrespon- sible power over his fellow-men as does the General of the Jesuits over his disciples. In the Spiritual Exercises Loyola appears to be merely an ascetic enthusiast ; in the Constitution he shews himself a high genius, with a perfect and profound knowledge of human nature and of the natural sequence of events. Never w^as there put together a plan so admirably harmonious in all its parts, so wonderfully suited to its ends, or which has ever met with such prodigious success. Prompt, unhesitating obedience to the commands of the General, and (for the benefit of the Society, and ad mqjoreni Dei gloriam) great elasticity in all other rules, accordino; to the General's o-oodwill, are the chief features of this famous Constitution, which, as it con- stitutes the Jesuits' code of morality, we shall now proceed to examine, doing our best to shew the spirit in which it was dictated. 30 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. CHAPTER 11. 1540-52. CONSTITUTIONS OF THE SOCIETY.* The times in which Ignatius wrote the Constitutions were, for the Court of Rome and the Cathohc rehgion, times of anxiety and danger. The Reformation was making rapid progress, and all Christendom, Catholic f as well as Protestant, resounded witli the " Hundred Complaints" {Centum gravamina) brought forward at the Diet of Nuremberg against the Roman court — complaints and accusations which the wonderfully candid Adrian VI. acknowledged to be too well founded. This pontiff, by his nuncio, frankly declared to the Diet, " that all this confusion was originated by men's sins, and, above all, by those of the clergy- men and prelates — that for many years past the Holy See had committed many abominations — that numerous abuses had crept into the administration of spiritual affairs, and many superfluities into the laws — that all had been perverted — and that the corrup- tion, descending from the head to the body, from the Sovereign Pontiff to the prelates, was so great, that * These famous Constitutions were composed by Loyola in the Spanish language. They were not at first the perlect system we now find them ; and it was not till about the year 1552 that, after many alterations and improvements adapting them to the necessities of the times, they as- sumed their ultimate form. They were translated into Latin by the Jesuit Polancus, and printed in the college of the Society at Rome in 1558, They were jealously kept secret, the greater part of the Jesuits themselves knowing only extracts fiom them. They were never produced to the light until 1761, when they were published by order of the French parliament, in the famous process of Father Lavalette. "Y We beg to explain the sense in which we xise the word Catholic. We don't mean that the Christians of the Roman persuasion have anex- clusive right to it. We only maintain to them the current denomination, as all other historians do^ to prevent confusion. CONSTITUTIONS OF THE SOCIETY. 31 there could hardly be found one wlio did good." * When a pope confessed so much to Protestant cars, it may well be imagined to what a degree of rottenness the moral leprosy must have arrived. But, besides this corruption, great confusion reigned throughout the Roman Catholic world. The different monastic orders were at war with one another. The bishops accused the Pope of tyranny ; the Pope de- nounced the bishops as disobedient. The mass of the people were deplorably ignorant, and general disorder prevailed. Now, mark with what admirable art, what pro- found sagacity, Ignatius modelled a society, which, by displaying the virtues directly opposed to the then prevailing vices, should captivate the affections and secure the support of the good and the pious, ■whilst, by underhand practices, and, above all, by sheAving unusual indulgence in the confessional, it should obtain an influence over the minds of the more worldly believers. In order that diversity of opinion and the free exercise of individual will should not produce division and confusion within this new Christian community, Loyola enacted that, in the whole Society, there should be no will, no opinion, but the General's. But, in order that the General might be enabled profitably to employ each individual member, as well as the collective energy and intelligence of the whole So- ciety, it was necessary that he should be thoroughly acquainted with his character, even to its smallest peculiarities. To insure this, Ignatius established special rules. Thus, regarding the admission of pos- tulants, he says — *' Because it greatly concerns God's service to make a good selection, diligence must be used to ascertain the particulars of their person and calling ; and if the superior, who is to admit him into probation, cannot * History of the Council of Trent, by Paolo Sarpi, tome i. p. 47. 32 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. make the inquiry, let him employ from among those who are constantly about his person some one whose assistance he may use, to become acquainted with the probationer — to live with him and examine him ; — some one endowed with prudence, and not unskilled in the manner which should be observed with so many various kinds and conditions of persons." * In other words, set a skilful and prudent spy over him, to surprise him into the betrayal of his most secret thoughts. Yet, even when this spy has given a tole- rably favourable report, the candidate is not yet admitted — he is sent to live in another house, " in order that he may be more thoroughly scrutinised, to know whether he is fitted to be admitted to pro- bation."]' When he is thought suited for the Society, he is received into the '' house of first probation ; " and after a day or two, " he must open his conscience to the superior, and afterwards make a general con- fession to the confessor ivJio shall be designed by the superior."+ But this is not all, for — " in every house of probation there will be a skilful man to whom the candidate shall disclose all his concerns with conhdence ; and let him be admonished to hide no temptation, but to disclose it to him, or to his confessor, or to the superior ; nay, to take a pleasure in thoroughly manifesting his whole soul to them, not only disclosing his defects, but even his penances, mortifications, and virtues." § When the candidate is admitted into any of their colleges, he must again *' open his conscience to the rector of the college, whom he should greatly revere and venerate, as one who holds the place of Christ our Lord ; keeping nothing concealed from him, not even his conscience, which he should disclose to him (as it is set forth in the Examen) at the appointed season, and oftener, if * Const. Socie. Jcsu, pars i. cap i, § 3, t Const, pars i. cap. iv. § 6. t Const, pars i. cap. ii. § 1. § Const, pars iii. cap. i. § 12. COXSTITUTIOXS OF THE SOCIETY. 6d any cause require it ; not opposing, not contradicting, nor shewing an oj)inion, in any case, opposed to his opinion." * The information thus collected, regarding the tastes, habits, and inclinations of every member, is communi- cated to the General, who notes it down in a book, alphabetically arranged, and kept for the purpose, in "which also, as he receives twice a year a detailed re- port upon every member of the Society, he from time to time adds whatever seems necessary to complete each delineation of character, or to indicate the slightest change. Thus, the General knowing the past and present life, the thoughts, the desires of every one belonging to the Society, it is easy to understand how he is enabled always to select the fittest person for every special service. But this perfect knowledge of his subordinates' in- most natures would be of but little use to the General, had he not also an absolute and uncontrolled autho- rity over them. The Constitution has a provision for insuring this likewise. It declares that the can- didate '•' tnust regard the superior as Christ the Lord, and must strive to acquire perfect resignation and denial of his own will and judgment, in all things conforming his will and judgment to that which the superior wills and judges." f To the same purpose is the following : "As for holy obedience, this virtue must be perfect in every point — in execution, in will, in intellect; doing what is enjoined wdtli all celerity, spiritual joy, and perseverance ; persuading ourself that everything is just ; suppressing every repugnant thought and judgment of one's own, in a certain obe- dience ; and let every one persuade him- self that he who lives under obedience should be moved and directed, under Divine Providence, by his superior, just as if he were a corpse (perinde ac si cadaver esset), which allows itself to be moved and * Const, pars iv. cap. x. § 5. f Const, pars iii. cap. i. § 23, 34: HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. led in any direction."* And so absolutely is this rule of submissive obedience enforced, that the Jesuit, in order to obey his General, must not scruple to disobey God. The warnings of conscience are to be sup- pressed as culpable weaknesses ; the fears of eternal punishment banished from the thoughts as supersti- tious fancies ; and the most heinous crimes, when committed by command of the General, are to be regarded as promoting the glory and praise of God. Head and consider the following blasphemy : — " No constitution, declaration, or any order of living, can involve an obligation to commit sin, mortal or venial, unless the su]oerior command it in the na3ie of our Lord Jesus Christ, or in virtue of holy obedience ; which shall be done in those cases or persons wherein it shall be judged that it will greatly conduce to the particular good of each, or to the general advantage ; and, instead of the fear of offence, let the love and desire of all perfection succeed, that the greater glory and praise of Christ, our Creator and Lord, may follow !" -f 1 shudder at the thought of all the atrocities which have been perpetrated at the order of this other " old man of the mountain," who presents to his agents the prospects of eternal bliss as the reward of their obe- dience. But this is not enough. Not content with having thus transferred the allegiance of the Jesuit from his God to his General, the Constitution proceeds to secure that allegiance from all conflict with the natural affec- tions or worldly interests. The Jesuit must concen- trate all his desires and affections upon the Society. He must renounce all that is dear to him in this life. The ties of family, the bonds of friendship, must be broken. His property must, within a year after his entrance into the Society, be disposed of at the bid- ding of the General ; " and he will accomplish a work * Const, pars vi. cap. i. § 1. f Const, Dars vi. cap. v. § 1. CONSTITUTIONS OF THE SOCIETY. 35- of greater perfection if he dispose of it in benefit of the Society. And that his better example may shine before men, he must put aiuay all strong affection for his parents, and refrain from the unsuitable desire of a bountiful distribution, arising from such disad- vantageous affection."* He must, " besides, forego all intercourse with his fellow-men, either by word of mouth or by writing,! except such as his superior shall permit. " He shall not leave the house except at such times and with such companions as the superior shall allow. Nor within the house shall he converse, without restraint, with any one at his own pleasure, but with such only as shall be appointed by the superior." | Such was the strictness with which these rules were enforced, that Francis Borgia, Duke of Candia, afterwards one of the saints of the Society, was at first refused admit- tance into it, because he delayed the settlement of the affairs of his dukedom, and refused to renounce all intercourse with his family; and although, by a special rescript from the Pope, he was enroUed as a member, Ignatius for three years sternly denied him access to the house of the community, where he was not admitted till he had renounced all intercoui^se with the external world. But not only is all friendly communication forbidden to the Jesuit, but he is also placed under constant espionage. He is never permitted to walk about alone, but, whether in the house or out of doors, is always accompanied by two of his brethren.§ Each * Examen, iv. § 11 ; and Const, pars iii. cap. i, § 7-9. + After his entrance into the house of first probation, the Jesuit is not allowed either to receive or send away any letter wliich has not been previously read by his superior. X Const, pars iii. cap. i. § 2, 3. § Let not any English reader accuse me of inaccuracy on this_ point, upon the ground that Jesuits actually walk about the streets in this country slngbj, or even in disguise. They must take notice that CA'ery rule of the Constitution contains this clause — "Except the General order otherwise, for the greater glory of God, and the benefit of the 36 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. one of this party of three acts, in fact, as a spy upon his two companions. Not, indeed, that he has special instructions from his superior to do so, but, knowing that they, as well as himself, have been taught that it is their duty to inform the General of every suspici- ous or pecuhar expression uttered in their hearing, he is under constant fear "of punishment, should either of them report anything regarding the other which he omits to report likev>ise. Hence it is very seldom that a Jesuit refrains from denouncing his companion. If he does not do so at once, his sinful neglect becomes revealed in the confessional, to the special confessor appointed by the superior. Then, in order that these members, so submissive in action to their General, should not differ in opinion among themselves and so occasion scandal in the Cathohc world, and to oppose an uniformity of doc- trine to that of the free examen of the Protestants, the Constitution decrees as follows : — " Let all think, let all speak, as far as possible, the same thing, accord- ing to the apostle. Let no contradictory doctrines, therefore, be allowed, either by w^ord of mouth, or public sermons, or in written books, wdiich last shall not be published without the approbation and the consent of the General; and, indeed, all difference of opinion regarding practical matters should be avoided."* Thus, no one but the General can exercise the right of uttering a single original thought or opinion. It is almost impossible to conceive the power, especially in former times, of a General having at his absolute disposal such an amount of intelli- gences, wills, and energies. Society." Is it not " for the greater glory of God, and tte benefit of the Society," that the Jesuit, to escape suspicion, should go alone 1 — that he should be introduced into your family circle as a Protestant gentleman 1 — that he should, to gain your unsuspecting confidence, enact the part of your gay companion at theatres, concerts, and balls ? — that he should converse with you upon religious matters, beginning always by cursing the Pope, &c. % * Const, pars ill. cap. i. § 18. - » > CONSTITUTIONS OF THE SOCIETY. 37 Now, it must not be imagined that all, "willing miplicltly to obey the behests of the superior, arc indiscriminately admitted into the Society. Such, indeed, is the case with all other monastic orders (I speak more particularly of Italy and Spain). Vaga- bonds, thieves, and ruffians, ol'ten became members of those connnunities, in whose convents they had found an asylum against the police and the hangman. Igna- tius wisely guarded his Society from this abuse. Its members must be chosen, if possible, from among the best. The Avealthy and the noble are the fittest for admission ; although these qualifications are not essential, and the want of them may be supplied by some extraordinary natural gift or accpired talent.* Besides this, the candidate must possess a comely presence, youth, health, strength, facility of speech, and steadiness of purpose. To have ever been a heretic or schismatic, to have been guilty of homicide or any heinous crime, to have belonged to another order, to be under the bond of matrimony, or not to have a strong and sound mind, are insurmountable obstacles to admission. Ungovernable passions, habit of sinning, unsteadiness and fickleness of mind, luke- warm devotion, ivant of learninf/ and of ability to acquire it, a dull memory, bodily defects, debiUty and disease, and advanced age — any of these imperfections render the postulant less acceptable ; f and, to gain admission, he must exhibit some very useful compen- sating qualities. It is evident that persons so carefully selected are never likely to disgrace the Society by any gross misbehaviour, and will perform w^ith pru- dence and success any temporal or worldly service they may be put to by the General. I say ivorldly ser- vice, because I should suppose that it must matter very little for the service of God should the servant be lame or of an " uncomely presence.'' * Const, pars i. cap. ii. § 13. f Ibid, pars i. cap. iii. § 3-10. 38 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. But in no part of the Constitution do Loyola's genius and penetration shine so conspicuously as in the rules regarding the vow of poverty, and the gratuitous performance of the duties of the sacred ministry. The discredit and hatred which weighed upon the clergy and the monastic orders was in great part due to the ostentatious display of their accumu- lated wealth, and to the venality of their sacred ministry. To guard against this evil, Ignatius or- dained that " ijoverty should be loved and maintained as the firmest hiilivark of religion.'' The Jesuit was forbidden to possess any property, either by inheri- tance or otherwise. He was required to live in an inexpensive house, to dress plainly, and avoid all appearance of being wealthy. The churches and reli- gious houses of the order were to be without endow- ments. The colleges alone were permitted to accept legacies or donations for the maintenance of students and professors. No limit was assigned to these gifts, the management of which was intrusted entirely to the General, with power to appoint rectors and admini- strators under him. These functionaries, generally chosen from among the coadjutors and very rarely from the professed Society, although debarred by their vow of perpetual poverty from the possession of the smallest amount of property, are yet, by this ingenious trick, enabled to hold and administer the entire wealth of the Society. We shall afterwards see, and especially in the famous process of Lavallette, in what a large sense they understand the word ad- minister. So much for the display of wealth. AYitli respect to the venality of the sacred ministry, they declared that " no Jesuit shall demand or receive pay, or alms, or remuneration, for mass, confessions, ser- mons, lessons, visitations, or any other duty which the Society is obliged to render ; and, to avoid even the appearance of covctousness, especially in offices of piety which the Society discharges for the succour of CONSTITUTIONS OF THE SOCIETY. 39 souls, let there be no box In the church, into wliich alms are generally put by those -who go thitlier to mass, sermon, confession," &c.* Thus the Jesuit refuses to accept a few paltry sixpences for performing- mass, or a fee of some shilHngs per quarter for teach- ing boys. He disdains to appear mercenary. Ho would much rather be jyoor. He looks for no reward. Yet, those httle boys whom he instructs gratuitously, and with such affectionate tenderness that lie cannot bring himself to chastise them, but must have the painful though necessary duty performed by some one not belonging to the Society;! — these boys, I say, will become men, many of them religious bigots, strongly attached to their kind preceptors, to whom they will then pay the debt of gratitude incurred in their youth. Alas for such gratitude ! How many families have had cause to deplore it! How many children havo been reduced to beggary by it ! How many ancient and noble houses has it precipitated from the height of affluence and splendour into the depth of poverty and wretchedness ! Who can number the crimes committed in the madness of despair occasioned by the loss of the family inheritance ? That the parent may suffer a few years less of purgatory, the child has been too often condemned to misery "in this life, and perhaps to eternal punishment in the next. But all this is of no consequence. The man who has been led thus to disregard one of his most sacred parental duties, in order to found a Jesuits' college or endow a professorship, will be saved, because they promise him — " In every college of our Society, let masses be celebrated once a week for ever, for its founder and benefactor, whether dead or alive. At the beginning of every month, all the priests who are in the college ought to offer the same sacrifice for them ; and a solemn mass, with a commemorative * Comt. pars t. cap. ii. § 7, 8. t Il^id. pars iv. cap. xvi. § 3. 40 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. feast, shall be celebrated on tlie anniversary of the donation, and a wax candle offered to the donor or his descendants." Besides this, " the donor shall have three masses while alive, and three masses after his death, by all the priests of the Society, with the prayers of all its members ; so that he is made par- taker of all the good works which are done, by the grace of God, not only in the college which he has endowed, but in the whole Society." * By such allurements do these crafty priests, with diabolical cunning, snatch princely fortunes from the credulous and superstitious believers. And so assi- duous and successful were they even at the very beginning, that, only thirteen years after the estab- lishment of the order, during Loyola's lifetime, they already possessed upwards of a hundred colleges very largely and richly endowed. Now, let not my Protestant readers wonder how sensible men can be induced, by such ephemeral and ill-founded hopes, to disinherit their families in order to enrich these hypocritical monks. They nmst re- member that the Komish believer views these matters in quite a different light from that in which they see them. Masses and prayers are, in his belief, not only useful, but indispensable. For lack of them he would writhe for centuries amid the tormenting fires of purgatory, the purifying pains of which are described by his priest, with appalling eloquence, as being far more excruciatino- than those of hell. Accordino- to the doctrine of his Church, every soul (one in a million only excepted) who is not eternally damned, must, ere it enter heaven, pass a certain time in this abode of torture for the expiation of its sins. And let him not take comfort from the fact that his con- science does not reproach him with the commission of any heinous crime. Tlie catalogue of sins by which he may be shut out from eternal blessedness is made * Comt. pars iv. cap. i. § 1, G. CONSTITUTIONS OP THE S JCIETY. 41 artfully long, and detailed with great miimtcncss. The most upright and pious of men must condemn himself as a presumptuous sinner if he for an instant harbours the hope of escaping the purifying lire. So he becomes quite resigned to his fate, and all his care in this life is, how to appease the Divine anger, and shorten tlie period of his exclusion from heaven. This he is taught to do — not by trusting to the righteous- ness of jesns Christ, with the true repentance which manifests itself through a holy life, but by accumulating on his head hnndrcds of masses and millions of days of indulgence. Hence the innumerable masses and prayers which he sends before him during his life, as if to forestall his future punishment, and bribe the Divine justice. And wlien the terrible moment arrives — that moment in which he is about to appear before the awful Judge, beneath whose searching eye his most secret thoughts lie bare — when, trembling at the strict ac- count that is about to be demanded of him, his fears represent to his excited imagination the most trifling shortcomings as mortal sins — when, with the decline of bodily strength, his enfeebled mind becomes more easily worked upon — then does his Jesuit confessor, his gene- rous master, his kind, disinterested friend, come to give him the last proof of his ever-growing affection. He seats himself at his bedside, and, serpent-like, under pretence of inducing him to repent of his sins, he draws liim a fearful and impressive picture of the tor- ments which aAvait the damned, lie descants to him with oily sanctity upon the enormity of offending the Divine Saviour, who shed his precious blood to redeem us. He tcrrifles him with the Almighty's im- placable vengeance ; and when his victim, choked Avith heart-rending agony, distracted, despairing of his ulti- mate salvation, is ready to curse God, and set his power and anger at defiance — then, and not till then, does the Jesuit relent. Now he raises in the sufferer's heart the faintest hope that the Divine justice may possibly 42 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. be disarmed, and mercy obtained by means of masses and indulo-ences. The exhausted man, who feels as if he were ah^eady phmged amid the boihng sulphur and devouring flames, grasps with frantic eagerness at this anchor of salvation ; and, did he possess tenfold more wealth than he does, he would willingly give it all up to save his soul. It may be that his heart, yearning with paternal aff"ection, shrinks at the thouglit of con- demning his helpless ones to beggar}^ ; but neverthe- less, as if the welfare of his family were necessarily connected with his own perdition, and that of the Jesuits with eternal beatitude, the family is invariably sacrificed to the Jesuits. It is notorious that the most diabolical tricks have been resorted to in the case of dying men whose better judgment and natural sense of duty have with- stood such perfidious wiles. Alas! the punishment of such criminal obstinacy was always near at hand ; the sick-chamber has been suddenly filled with flames and sulphureous vapour as a warning to the impenitent sinner. And if he still resisted, the Evil Spirit himself, in his most frightful shape, has appeared to the dying man, as if waiting for his soul. Ah! — one's hair stands on end while listening to such sacrilegious manoeuvres. The immense wealth of the Jesuits lias been bequeathed to them by wills made at the last hour ! In order that all classes of Jesuits may better attend to their peculiar occupations, Ignatius relieved them from the obligation, incumbent on all other religious communities, of performing the Church service at the canonical hours. Jesuits of every class may be expelled from the order, either by the general congregation or by the all-powerful General. In such cases, however, it is enacted, that great care be taken to keep secret the deeds or crimes which necessitate the dismissal, in CONSTITUTIONS OF THE SOCETY. 43 order that tlio cx-Jcsuit may suffer the least possible disgrace ; also, tliat he shall be assisted by the prayers of the community, too'cthcr with something more sub- stantial, to the end tliat he may harbour no resent- ment against the order.* No Jesuit, witliout 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 clergy in general. Besides, Ignatius knew well that any ecclesiastical dignity would confer lustre and power on the indivi- dual, 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 nor Borgia to receive the cardinal's hat, which the Pope offered them. Since his time, the Jesuits have very seldom broken this rule, and that most often only to undertake some bishopric in far distant countries where no one else would desire to go. The dress of the Jesuits consists of a long black vest and cloak, and of a low- crowned broad-brimmed hat, all of the greatest simplicity, and of good but common material. In their houses and colleges there reigns the most perfect order, the most exemplary propriety. The banqueting, revelling, and licence which so disgrace the establishments of the other monastic orders, are strictly prohibited.! They are * Const, pars ii. cap. iii. § 5, G, 8. + In most monasteries, and more particularly in those of the Capuchins and lleforraed {Riformati), there begms at Christmas a series of feasts, which continues till Lent. All sorts of games are played 6he most splendid banquets are given, and in the small towns, above all, the retectory of the convent is the best place of amusement for the greater number of the inhabitants. At carnivals, two or three very magnificent entertainments take place, the board so profusely spread that one might imagine that Copia bad here poured forth the whole 44 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. very frugal in their habits, and prudently avoid all display of wealth. It is said that the General occasion- ally relaxes the rules in favour of some of the most trusty of the iwofessed and coadjutors, in order that, disguised as laymen, they may enjoy a few hohdays as they please, in some distant place where they are not known. We shall now proceed to examine that part of the Constitutions which concerns the hierarchy. Our readers must always bear in mind what we have already said, that the Constitutions were not finished till the year 1552, and it may perhaps be that some rules were added even after. The Society at first consisted only of professed members, and of scholastics or scholars, a sort of Jesuit aspirants who were trained up for the Society, into which they were admitted or not, accord- ing to the proofs which they had given of their fitness. In the year 1546, Paul III. approved of the introduc- tion of the class of the Coadjutors, and in the year 1552 was erected at Lisbon the first house for the novices. We may further observe that, under the first three Generals, those Constitutions were scrupu- lously observed. And those were the heroic times of the Society. But from that moment, internal discord at first, and afterwards the more worldly and political character assumed by the Society, were its ruin, and the cause of its suppression as well as of its re- establishment. But let us not anticipate events. contents of her Lorn. It must be i*emembere(I tliat these two orders live by alms. The sombre silence of the cloister is replaced by a confused sound of merrymaking, and its gloomy vaults now echo with other songs than those of the Psahnist. A ball enliven'3 and terminates the feast; and, to render it still more animated, and perhaps to shew how completely their vo'^ of chastity has eradicated all their carnal appetite, some of the young monks appear coquettishly dressed in the garb of the fail sex, and begin the dance along with others transformed into gay cavaliers. To describe the scandalous scene which ensues would be but to disgust my readers. I will only say that I have myself often been a spectator at such saturnalia. HIEUAUCIIY. 45 CIIAPTELl III. 1540-53. HIERARCHY. The government of the Company of Jesus is purely monarchical, and the General is its absolute and un- controllable king-. The members of the Society are divided into four classes, — the Professed, Coadjutors, Scholars, and jS'o- vices. There is also a secret lifth class, knoAvn only to the General and a few faithful Jesuits, which, perhaps more than any other, contributes to the dreaded and mysterious power of the order. It is composed of lay- men of all ranks, from the minister to the humble shoe-boy. Among the individuals composing this class are to be found many ladies, who, unknown and unsuspected, are more dangerous in themselves, and more accurate spies to the Company. These are affihated to the Society, but not bound by any vows. The Societ}^ as a noble and avowed reward, promises to them forgiveness for all their sins, and eternal bless- edness, and, as a more palpable mark of gratitude, protects them, patronises them, and, in countries where the Jesuits are powerful, procures for them comfort- able and lucrative places under government, or else- Avhere. If this is not sufficient, they are paid for their services in hard cash, according to an article of the Con- stitution, which empowers the General to spend money on persons ivho will make themselves useful. In re- turn for these favours, they act as the spies of the order, the reporters of what goes on in those classes of 46 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. society with Avliicli tLe Jesuit cannot mix, and serve, often unwittinoly, as the tools and accomphces in dark and mysterious crimes. Father Francis Pelhco, brother to the famous Silvio, 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 he silent.''^ This avoAval, coming from Ihe mouth of a Jesuit, must be specially noted. Now, reversing the order of the classes, we shall begin by describing I. THE NOVICES. We have already seen the process a candidate must go through before being admitted into the House of First Probation. After undergoing a still more search- ing scrutiny there, he passes to the House of Noviciate. The noviciate lasts two years, and may be shortened or prolonged at the General's pleasure. There are six principal exercises by which the Novice is tried ; they are as follows : — " 1. The Novices are to devote a month to the spiritual exercises, self-examination, confession of sins, and meditation, and to a contemplation of the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ. " 2. They are to serve for another month in one or more of the hospitals, by ministering to the sick, in proof of increasing humihty and entire renunciation of the pomps and vanities of the world. " 3. They must wander during a third month with- out money, begging from door to door, that they may be accustomed to inconvenience in eating and sleeping, or else they may serve in an hospital for another month, at the discretion of the Superior. * A Vincenzo Giohevti Fra PcUico della Co7np((C/nia di Gesu, pp. 35. 86. HIERARCHY. 47 "4. Thcj must submit to be employed in the most servile offices of the house into which they have en- toi'cd, for the sake of shewing a good example in all things. " 5. They are to give instruction in Christian learn- ing to boys, or to their untaught elders, either publicly, privately, or as occasion may be offered. " 6. When sufficient proof has been given of im- provement in probation, the Novice may proceed to preach, to hear confessions, or to any exercise in which circumstances may direct him to engage."* " While a Jesuit is thus fulfilling the several trials of his titness, he may not presume to say that he is one of the Society ."j" lie must only describe himself as wishing to be admitted into it ; indifferent to the station which may bo assigned to him, and waiting in patient expectation until it be determined how his services may be most advantageously employed." At the expiry of the biennium, if he has gone through all his trials satisfactorily, he takes the vows, of which the following is the formula : — " Almighty, everlasting God, I, N., albeit every w\ay most unworthy in Thy holy sight, yet relying on Thine infinite pity and compassion, and impelled by the desire of serving Thee, in the presence of the most lioly Virgin ]\Iary, and before all Thine heavenly host, vow to Thy divine Majesty perpetual poverty, chastity, and obedience in the Society of Jesus, and promise that I will enter the same Society, to live in it perpetually, iinderstanding all things according to the Constitutions of the Society. Of Thy boundless goodness and mercy, through the blood of Jesus Christ, I humbly pray that Thou wilt deign to accept this sacrilice in the odour of sweetness, and, as Tliou hast granted Thine abundant grace to desire and offer, so Thou wilt enable me to fulfil the same. At Rome, or elsewhere, in such a place, day, month, and year." * Examen, iv. § 10-15. f Examen, iv. § 17. 48 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. " Then shall they take, as the others, the most holy body of Christ, and the rest of the ceremony shall proceed as before."* After the T^ovice has taken the vows, he must remain in an undeterminate state until the General has decided in what capacity he can best serve the Society. To this he must be wholly indifferent, and on no account endeavour to obtain, either directly oi' indirectly, any particular employment, but must await in silence the General's decision. Those are the written precepts ; but the sly and abominable acts to which the Jesuits resort in or- der to model the man to the standeird of the Society, are numerous, and differ according to circumstances and to the character of the Novice. But, in all cases, before the hienniiun is elapsed, either the man is dis- missed, or he has lost all ideas, all hopes, all desires of a personal nature ; he is a man without will, sub- mitting blindly to obey any order, and devoting soul and body to the aggrandizement of the Society. II. THE SCHOLARS. To promote the objects of their Society, the Jesuits rely in a great measure upon the talent and learning of its members. Hence their decided preference for candidates with superior mental endowments, and their assiduous attention to the prosperity and good manage- ment ot their colleges and universities, which were at one time the best regulated and most efficient in Europe. Their judicious arrangement of the studies, their admirable superintendence, their exemplary dis- cipline, their many inducements to application, ren- dered the Jesuit colleges the resort of all those who aspired to em/inencc in the literary or learned world. The greatest men in all tiie Catholic countries of * Const. Pars v. cap. iv. § 4. HIERARCHY. 49 Europe during tlio seventeenth and clglitcenth centu- ries were educated by the Jesuits. All the property bequeathed or given to the So- ciety is made over to the colleges and universities, which, however, have not the power of administering it. In these colleges are trained the Scholars, of whom there are two sorts — the Received and the Approved. The former are candidates for member- ship, who are being tried for their skill in learning previous to entering upon the noviciate ; the latter are those who have completed their noviciate, and taken the voAYS. Every Novice and Scholar aspires to enter the class of the Coadjutors, or that of the Professed, in which two classes reside all the power and authority of the order. The vows of the Scholars are the same as those of the Novices. III. COADJUTORS. The third class of Jesuits consists of Temporal and Spiritual Coadjutors. The Temporal Coadjutors, ho^Y- ever learned they may be, are never admitted to holy orders. They are the porters, cooks, stewards, and agents of the Society. The Spiritual Coadjutors arc priests, and must be men of considerable learning, in order that they may be qualiticd to hear confessions, to teach, preach, &c. The rectors of the colleges, and the superiors of the religious houses, are appointed from this class. They arc sometimes permitted to assist in the deliberations of the general congregation, but have no voice in the election of the General. Besides undergoing the tirst probation, and the noviciate, the Coadjutors must submit to a third year of trial, in order to afford a stronger proof of their aptitude. It is here worthy of remark, that in the case of a porter or a cook, there is required a year of trial more than is thought necessary to qualify the scholar who is to preach, and teach the Catechism. 50 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. The porters and cooks must know something of worldly- business, and, consequently, there is the greater need that they should be faithful and trustworthy. Here is the formula of the voav taken by the Coadjutors : — " I, N., promise Almighty God, before His Virgin Mother, and before all the heavenly host, and you, reverend father, General of the Society of Jesus, liolding the i^lace of God, and of your successors ; or you, reverend father, Vice-General of the Society of Jesus, and o'f his successors, holding the j)lace of God, perpetual poverty, chastity, and obedience, and therein, peculiar care in the education of hoys, according to the manner expressed in the Apostolical Letters, and in the Constitutions of the said Society. At Rome, or elsewhere, in such a place, day, month, and year. " Then let him take the most holy body of Christ ; and let the rest of the ceremony be the same as in the case of the Professed."* The clause, "peculiar care in the education of boi/s," is omitted in the vow when taken by the Temporal Coadjutors. lY. THE PROFESSED. This fourth class, the first in order of power and dignity, may be said to constitute, alone, the Society. The probation required for it is longer and more rigorous than that of any of the other classes. Tiuo additional years of trial must be endured, in order to gain admission into it. This is partly to prevent the class becoming too numerous. The Professed must, in terms of the Constitutions, be priests, above twenty-five years of age, eminent in learning and virtue. In addition to their acquirements in lite- rature and philosophy, they must devote four years specially to the study of theology. Their admission is the immediate act of the General, who seldom de- legates his power for that purpose, as he generally * Const. Pars v. cap. iv. § 2. HIERARCHY. 51 does for admitting to the other classes. Solemn vows are taken by this class only ; those of the other classes are designated merely as simple vows. Be- sides the three ordinary vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, the Professed take a fourth — to obey the Holy See, and to go, as missionaries, into whatever part of the world the Pope 2:^ro tempore chooses to send them. My readers will remember, that it was this fourth vow which overcame the crafty Pope Paul's ob- jections to sanction the order. But this pontiff, with all his cunning, was no match for Loyola, who quite nullified this voav by the formula in which he embodied it. According to this formula, the vow is made only in accordance with the spirit of the Constitution. Now, the Constitution enacts, " that the General shall have all power over every individual of the Society, to send any one on a mission, to recal missionaries, and to proceed in all things as he thinks will be best for the greater glory of God."* Thus, obedience to the Pope depends entirely on the will and pleasure of the Ge- neral. Hence the General's preponderating influence with the Court of Pome. The ceremony of taking the vows of the Professed is more solemn than that of the others. It must take place in the church, which with the others is not im- perative. " First of all, the General, or some one empowered by him to admit to Profession, when he has offered the sacrifice of the pubhc Mass in the church, before inmates and others there present, shall turn to the person who is about to make profession with the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist ; and he, after the general confession and the words which are used before the communion, shall, with a loud voice, pronounce his written voav (which it is meet that he should have meditated on for several days), whereof this is the form : — " I, JS"., make profession, and promise Almighty * Const. Pars ix. cap. iii. § 9. 52 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. God, before His Virgin IMother, and before all the heavenly host, and before all bystanders, and yon, reverend father, General of the Society of Jesus, hold- ing the place of God, and your successors ; or you, reverend father, Vice-General of the Society of Jesus, and of his successors, holdimj the place of God, per- petual poverty, chastity, and obedience, and therein peculiar care in the education of boys, according to the form of living contained in the Apostolic Letters of the Society of Jesus, and in its Constitutions. More- over, I promise special obedience to the Pope in mis- sions, as is contained in the same Apostolic Letters and Constitutions. At Rome or elsewhere, on such a day, month, and year, and in such a church. *' After this, let him take the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist. Which being done, the name of him who makes profession shall be written in a book v>^hich the Society shall keep for that purpose ; the name of the person to whom he made it — the day, month, and year, being also set down ; and his written vows shall be preserved, that an account of all the par- ticulars may appear for ever, to the glory of God."* It is this class, and that of the Coadjutors, who are wont to live by alms, and who, for appearance ' sake, sometimes o-o beo-frincv from door to door — (this is the case in Italy, at least). But, either from pride or roguery, they never ask, in our day, anything in their own name, but always in the name of the poor, the hospitals, and the prisoners, and thus they win for their order the veneration of the credulous and the iirnorant. To the Professed alone are confided the missions, and the management of the more important affairs of the order, into the secrets of which they are admitted farther than any other class. Hence they were never, except in urgent cases, to be appointed rectors of colleges, or superiors of the House of Probation. It * Const. Pars v. cap. iii. § 2—1:. HIERARCHY 53 was tlie strict observance of tliis rule ^vlllch, perliaps more than anything else, contributed to the ruin of the order. The General, as wc have already said, is at the head of the hierarchy, the absohite master of persons and things. He is elected for life, by a General Con- gregation of the Society, the decision requiring a majority of votes, and the observance of certain rules. But sometimes, when " elected by general in- spiration, those rules may be dispensed with," for the Holy Ghost, who inspires such an election, sup- plies the want of every form of election.* To this Congregation there arc convened two Jesuits of the J^rofessed class residing in Rome, all the Pro- vincials, and also two Professed members chosen in every province by a Provincial Congregation. The formalities of the election are very much the same as those observed in the election of the Pope.f After attending mass, the electors are confined in an apart- ment, where they cannot communicate with any one from without ; and, to compel them to decide within a reasonable time, they are allowed no better aliment than bread and water until a General is chosen. When this fortunate occurrence takes place, and tlic new General is proclaimed, every one present must come forward to do him reverence, and, kneeling on both knees, kiss his hand.t The same Congregation which elects the General appoints also four assist- ants, to reside near him in Pome. At the period when the Constitution was ultimately defined, toward 1552, the Jesuits had divided the world into four provinces, viz. India, Spain and Portugal, Germany and France, and Italy and Sicily. Each of the four assistants attend separately to the affairs of one of these four provinces, and all of them together, when * Const. Pars ix. cAp. v. § 5. + See my Historif of the Pontificate of Pids IX., p. 3. X Const. Tars viii. c:ip. vi. § t\ E 54 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. required, assist the General in the general business of the Society. At the same Congregation there is also appointed a pious man as admonitor to the General, Avhose duty is to be near the General, to watch him, and, " should he perceive him swerving from the right path, with all possible humility to advise him, after earnest and devout prayer to God, what he considers to be the best course to follow." In the event of the death or prolonged absence of any of these officials, the General may appoint some one to the vacant post, provided his choice be ap- proved by the majority of the Provincials. All these officials are given to the General by the Constitution, partly to assist him in the fulfilment of his duties, and partly to be constant and keen surveyors of his conduct. " And should the General sin in copula carnalis, wounding any one, applying to his own use or giving away any cf the revenues of the colleges, or holding depraved doctrines, as soon as the charge is proved by adequate evidence, the four assistants immediately call forth the General Congregation." * However, with the exception of alienating any real property of the colleges, the General has full and unlimited power, even to the granting of a dispensa- tion for any of the rules of the Constitution. He ap- points and disposes of all the subaltern officials of the Society, and receives into it, or dismisses from it, any person Avhom he pleases, and that at any time he may choose. He buys or exchanges property for the order by his own authority, and has the superintendence of its whole administration. The Provincials send him, once a year, an elaborate and detailed account of every member of the order, the correctness of which is ascertained by private in- vestigation through difiercnt and opposite sources, because (as is thought) he does not place implicit con- fidence even in them. The Constitutions say — " The *■ Conbt. Pars ix. cap. iv. § 7. HIERARCHY. 55 General scrutinises as far as possible tlie character of those who are under his control, and especially Pro- vincials, and others to whom lie intrusts matters of importance." * V. THE PROVINCIALS. The Provincials are elected by the General from the class of the Professed. They are appointed for three years, but may be confirmed or dismissed at the General's will. The importance of the province over which he is set depends upon the number of houses or colleges established within its bounds. The Pec- tors, Administrators, or local Superiors, write to the Provincials monthly a full and correct account of the inclinations, opinions, defects, propensities, and cha- racters of every individual under their charge. Con- fidential persons, and especially Confessors, are of great assistance to them in the drawing up of their reports, from which the Provincials extract theirs, which are yearly sent to the General. VI. RECTORS, SUPERIORS, AND ADMINISTRATORS. The Rectors are intrusted with the superintendence of the colleges. The General chooses them from the class of the Spiritual Coadjutors, but appoints them for no determinate period, which leaves him at liberty to dismiss them wdienever he pleases. The Superiors, elected from the same class and by the same authority, have the oversight of the Houses of the First and Second Probation. Each of these officials, Superior, Kector, and Provincial, has in his respective sphere as absolute a power over his subor- dinates as the General has over any member of the Society. The Administrators arc chosen by the General from * Const. Pars. ix. caj). iii. § 14-19. 56 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. the Temporal Coadjutors under his control. They have the entire management of tlie temporal concerns both of houses and colleges. The Hectors and Superiors are forbidden to have anything to do with any temporal matter whatever; because it forms a conspicuous part of the admirable Jesuitical system, to have prescribed for every class of Jesuits its particular duties, from which it is not to be diverted by any occupation whatever. This has largely contributed to the aggrandisement and suc- cess of the Society, as long as the rules were ob- served. All these functionaries have subaltern officers, who assist them in the discharge of their duties. Provin- cials, Hectors, Superiors, and some of tlie Professed, compose the Provincial Congregations, where the aifairs of the district are discussed, and whence the delegates which are to be sent to the General Congre- gation are chosen. Having thus given a general outline of the origin and constitutions of the Society, and the limits of this work forbidding me to enlarge to any great extent upon this part of my subject, I shall now proceed to examine its progress. PROGRESS OF THE ORDER. 57 CHAPTER IV. 1541-48. THE PROGHESS OF THE ORDER, AND ITS FIRST GENERAL. Ignatius had no sooner obtained a bull from the Pope approving of the Society, than ho thought it expedient to give it a cliief, or, to speak more correctly, to bo himself formally elected as such, being de facto its master already. In order, therefore, to proceed to the election of the General, he summoned to Rome his companions, who were scattered through different parts of Europe. Six came. Bobadilla, Xavier, and Rodriguez sent their votes written. Both absent and present were unanimous in their choice, which (as one may well imagine) fell upon Ignatius. He, however, had the modesty (so we are told) to refuse the honour, and insisted that they should proceed to a new elec- tion. The second trial had the same result, but Ignatius still declined to accept of the office. At last, however, on being much importuned to do so, he ex- claimed — -" Since you persist in choosing me, who know well my infirmities, I cannot in conscience sub- scribe to your judgment. It only remains, then, that we refer the contested point to my confessor, whom, as you know, I consider the interpreter of the Divine will."* The good fathers consented to this arrange- ment the more willingly, as they had no doubt what- ever (I should think not) that Father Theodose * Maffei, Vita T * Cret. vol. i. p. 299. t Ibid. p. 292. As this author genera' ly quotes Orlandini and the FIRST OPPOSITION TO THE ORDER. 81 perhaps, the fate wliicli encountered his successor, tlic learned but unfortunate Carranza — twelve years of torture in the dungeons of the Inquisition. A still fiercer tempest was gathering over the heads of the Jesuits at Saragossa. Instructive is the cause of the quarrel. The town of Saragossa was so full of convents and monasteries, that, to observe the rule which forbade any religious house to be built within a certain distance of another, it w^as impossible for the Jesuits to find a spot unforbidden. However, after thoroughly surveying the town, they imagined they had found a spot at the requisite distance. They there erect a house and a chapel, which is to be consecrated on Easter Tuesday 1555. Great preparations are made to make the pageant pompous and attractive, when, alas ! Lopez Marcos, Vicar-general of Saragossa, on the complaint of the Augustine Friars, who pretend that the chapel was built on their grounds, intimated to Father Brama, the superior of the house, that the ceremony might be deferred. Brama refused to obey. Lopez, at the very moment the Jesuits were perform- ing the solemn ceremony, issued a proclamation for- bidding the chapel to be entered under pain of excom- munication. x\nathemas were poured upon the fathers, and the clergy, accompanied by a great crowd of people, march through the town, singing the 109th Psalm, the people repeating — " As he clothed himself •with cursing like as with his garment, so let it come into his bowels like w^ater, and like oil into his bones ;" and, to unite the ludicrous with the terrible, they carry along images with hideous faces, representing the Jesuits dragged to hell by a legion of demons still more hideous. A funeral procession, with the image of Christ covered with a black veil, sino-ino; lugubrious songs, march towards the house of the Jesuits. From other Jesuitical writers verhatim, we shall refer our readers to him, as it can much more easily be procured, and we shall only quote from the original when the translation is inaccurate. 82 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. time to time, the cr j, " Mercy ! Mercy ! " bm^st from the crowd, as they wished to avert the curse of God from an interdicted city. The poor Jesuits, shut up in their own house, patiently wait for a fortnight, until the tempest should pass away. But this ignoble gob- lin representation, worthy only of Jesuits and of their opponents, not yet ending, Loyola's disciples, as usual, gave way, feeling assured that, if actual force would be of no avail in making good their claim, intrigues and cunning would in the end win the day. Nor were they deceived.* In Portugal, dangers of another kind menaced the Society. It seemed as if Portugal were to be the theatre where the Jesuits were to perform the principal act of their ignoble drama. The protection of John III., united with the zeal of Rodriguez, had made this country one of the most flourishing provinces of the Society. But its very prosperity nearly caused its ruin. Having possessed themselves of immense wealth, the Jesuits, yielding to the common law, relaxed in the strictness of their con- duct, pursued a life of pleasure and debauchery ; above all, their principal college (Coimbra) resembled more a garden of academics than a cloister.f Scandal became so great, that the court began to frown upon them, and the people were losing that respect and venera- tion with which they had before regarded them. Ignatius, of course, was soon informed of the state of things, and took at once the most energetic measures for repressing the evil (in 1552). Rodriguez was recalled and sent to Spain, and a new provincial and rector were sent to Coimbra. Mir on, the provincial, attempted a reform, but the Jesuits — spoiled children — refused to submit to it. Some he dismissed from the college — a greater num- ber abandoned it. Insubordination and disorder were at their height. Fortunately, Ignatius had in the * Cret. vol. L p. 305. f I^id. p. 299. FIRST OPPOSITION TO THE ORDER. 83 rector Godin a man according to Lis licart. Godln proved a worthy disciple of the author of the Spiritual Exercises. Stripping his shouklers of their garments, arming himself with a scourge, he rushed, demoniac- like, out into the streets of Coimbra, and flagellated himself, crying for mercy. Breathless, covered with dust and blood, running and screaming, he returned to the college church, where the brethren were as- sembled, and here he again lashed himself. Strange and uncommon examples fire the imagination and pre- judices of imitators. The Jesuits were at first sur- prised ; then, all on a sudden, they beg to be allowed to undergo the same public penance. Godin feigns to refuse ; he speaks of the scandal given — ^^he paints in strong colours the enormities of their sins, and dwells at length upon the sufferings and passion of Christ. When he had wrought their feelings to the highest pitch, he granted them the permission solicited, and, like a crowd of Bacchanti, when their deity rages within them, they all rush out of the church, and with lamentable cries run through the streets, scourging themselves in a most merciless manner. When they reached the Church of the Misericordia, they knelt down, whilst the rector begged pardon of the multitude for the scandal they had given them. Some of the people are moved — others laugh loudly — but the intent of the rector is obtained. The disciples become more tractable ; the college submits to the necessary reform, and the Jesuits regain their influence.* The Society met with a more serious and durable opposition in France. After their first banishment they had returned to Paris, but there they had no house of their own, neither could they find any. They therefore took up their abode in the College des Lombards, till Du Prat, Bishop of Clermond, offered them his own hotel, to which they immediately re- * Oret. vol. i. p. 290. 84 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. paired. As yet, however, this establishment was neither a house for professed members, since there were none of them, nor a noviciate, since the rules for the noviciate were not established till six or seven years afterwards. The members who repaired to Clermond hotel were only students, or priests aspiring to become members of the Society ; but we are told that they were so conspicuous for their learning and piety, that three of them were chosen by Ignatius to establish a new college in Sicily, while Viole, the chief of those aspirants, was named by the university, Procurator of the College des Lombards. This nomination, however, appeared to Ignatius to be of a rather doubtful character, since it proceeded from the university, which had been adverse to the order from the first. It seems as if he feared that these students, seduced by the allurements of honour and emoluments, would renounce their pious determination to become Jesuits; he therefore ordered Viole to give up the appointment, and to take the vows of the order before Du Prat, enjoining at the same time, that all students who may receive any pension from the Colleo-e des Lombards should instantlv renounce it. Although these orders were absolute, they were promptly obeyed. The great secret of Loyola's influence and power lay in the inflexibility of his character, and in his miUtary education, which ren- dered him absolute and imperative, and excluded the possibility of others disputing his orders. Meanwhile the Society in France — we should say in Paris — the only place where it had tried to establish itself, lived in a most precarious state, until the year 1550, when Henry IL, stimulated by the too famous cardinal of Guise, thought of establishing the Jesuits in his kingdom, and issued patent letters authorising them to do so. The ordinances of the French kins: were not at riRST OPPOSITION TO THE ORDER. 8-3 this time considered binding, nntil they were regis- tered by the parhament.* When those concerning the Jesuits were brought before them, the parhament, after hearing the conclusions of their Advocate-Gene- ral, refused to register them, on the ground " that the new institute would be prejudicial to the monarchy, the state, and the ecclesiastical hierarchy." The contest lasted for two years, wdien the king, in 1552, sent an order to the parliament to register the patent letters of 1550, authorising the establishment of the Jesuits. The order w^as formal and imperative, yet the parhament refused to comply with it, although, out of deference to the sovereign will, they advised that further inquiries be made concerning the Society. After other two years of serious consideration and strict inquiry, the parliament, in 1554, enacted that "tho bull establishing the Society, and ihe king's patent let- ters, shall be communicated both to the Archbishop of Paris, and to the Faculty of Theology there, in order that, their opinion heard, the court may come to a sen- tence. The archbishop and the faculty were thus called to decide upon a question of their exclusive competence, since the one was the ecclesiastical superior, and the other the natural judge in matters of faith. Both took the case in hand, and after due consideration, they re- spectively decided against the establishment of the Society. The archbishop, Eustache de Bellay, belong- ing to one of the most illustrious parliamentary families of France, after mature deliberation, gave out all the reasons why he thought it his duty to op- pose the introduction of the order, and concluded in this remarkable and logical way : — '• Since the order pretends to be established for the purpose of preach- * Our readers must not take the word parliament in the same signifi- cation it has in England. The parliament of France was composed of a body of magistrates, and formed the Supreme Court of Judicature, in which the princes of the Llood had a stat ; and which was sometimes presided over bj- the king. Every province had its parliament, but none exercised the same influence with that of Paris. 86 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. ing to the Turks and infidels, to bring them to the know- ledge of God ; they ought to establish their houses and societies in places near the said infidels, as in the times of old had been done by the Knights of Rhodes, who were placed on the frontiers of Christendom, not in the midst thereof." But the severe and bitter censure of the Doctors of the Sorbonne was a more explicit con- demnation of the order. Here is the document of their famous " conclusion :" — " As all the faithful, and principally the theologians, ought to be ready to render an account to those who demand the same, respecting matters of faith, morals, and the edification of the Church ; the faculty has thought, that it ought to satisfy the desire, the de- mand, and the intention of the court. " Wherefore, having perused, and many times re- perused, and well comprehended all the articles of the two bulls, and after having discussed and gone to the depths of them, during several months, at different times and hours, according to custom, due regard be- ing had to the subject, tlie Faculty has, with unani- mous consent, given this judgment, which it has sub- mitted with all manner of respect to that of the Holy " This new Society, which arrogates to itself in par- ticular the unusual title of the name of Jesus — which receives with so much freedom, and without any choice, all sorts of persons, however criminal, lawless, and in- famous they may be — which differs in nowise from the secular priests in outward dress, in the tonsure, in the manner of saying the canonical hours in private, or in chaunting in pubhc, in the engagement to remain in the cloister and observe silence, in the choice of food and days, in fasting, and the variety of rules, laws, and ceremonies which serve to distinguish the different in- stitutes of monks ; — this Society, to which have been granted and given so many privileges and licences, chiefly in what concerns the administration of the sac- FIRST OPPOSITION TO THE ORDER. 87 raments of penance and the cucliarist, and this without any regard or distinction being had of places or per- sons; as also in the function of preaching, reading, and teaching, to the prejudice of the ordinaries and the hierarchical order, as well as of the other religious orders, and even to the prejudices of princes and lords, temporal, against the privileges of the universities, — in fine, to the great cost of the people ; — this Society seems to blemish the honour of the monastic state ; it weakens entirely the painful, pious, and very necessary exer- cises of the virtues of abstinences, ceremonies, and austerity. It even gives occasion very freely to desert the religious orders ; it withdraws from the obedience and submission due to the ordinaries ; it unjustly deprives lords, both temporal and ecclesiastical, of their rights, carries trouble into the government of both, causes many subjects of complaint amongst the people, many lawsuits, strifes, contentions, jealousies, and divers schisms and divisions. " Wherefore, after having examined all these mat- ters, and several others, wdth much attention and care, this Society appears dangerous as to matters of faith, capable of disturbing the peace of the Church, over- turning the monastic order, and more adapted to break down than to build up."* Here, as in the denunciations of Cano, the faculty seem to have got a glimpse of the future history of the Jesuits, since, at that epoch at least, the accusation of receiving into the Society indiscriminately was not well founded. The apologists of the Jesuits have said — and we are partly incHned to admit the truth of their assertion — that as the Jesuits were then in possession of the edu- cation of youth in many parts of Europe, the univer- sity, jealous of its privileges, condemned the order of the Jesuits, not as an infamous and sacrilegious com- munity, but as a dangerous rival. They have also * CreL vol. i. p. 320. C« HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. affirmed, that the expulsion of the famous Postel* had irritated the Sorbonne, of which he was a doctor. But this we behove to be a gratuitous supposition. However, the decisions of the parhament, arch- bishop, and university, were hailed throughout France with a shout of jubilee. The Jesuits were obliged to leave Paris, and as all the parliaments of France had echoed the resolution of that of the capital, they would be nowhere received, and, as a last and momentary refuge, they went and hid themselves in the Abbey of St Germain des Pres. Tlie more warlike and inconsiderate members of the order woukl have replied to the terrible sentence of the Sorbonne, but Ignatius was too consummate a poli- tician to yield to their imprudent desires. For open wars, the Jesuits had no predilection. When their op- ponents were too strong for them, their practice was, and still is, to give way, as if in submission ; but then they begin a hidden and mysterious war of intrigues and machinations, tliat in the end they are always the victors. So acted Ignatius in tliis affair in France. The Jesuits contented themselves with living for some time in obscurity and complete seclusion from all society, and preparing the way for future triumph. Nor had they long to wait. Soon were they called into France to help and cheer that atrocious and cruel hecatomb, that bloody debauch of priests and kings — the Saint Bartholomew. But what is worthy of more serious reflection, is the fact, that in Rome — the centre of their power and * This Postel was a rabbin converted to Catholicism. He was very- learned, a graduate of the university, and held in high estimation by Francis I. and all his court. In 1515 he went to Rome to enter the Society of Gesii. This acquisition gave great joy to the Jesuits. Postel was very kindly received, and much flattered. He then went through the Spiritual Exercises; but this strange course of devotion affected his fervid imagination so much, that his faculties became impaired. He began to propound strange doctrines — to propose new rules for the Society ; and, above all, would by no means obey the orders of Ignatius. Loyola having no longer any hold upon him, dismissed him, for which act of firmness Loyola's panegyrist extols him to the skies. FIRST OPPOSITION TO THE ORDER. 89 glory — the Jesuits were also publicly accused as a set of heretics, dangerous and immoral persons ; and the famous book of The Spiritual Exercises was submitted to the Inquisition. It is indeed true that this little manual got a certificate for orthodoxy, and that the priest who had traduced them before the tribunal, having to struggle alone against the Society, was con- demned (we don't wonder at it) as a calumniator ; but how can you, you subtle sons of Ignatius, explain this concurrence, this accumulation of accusations and hostilities? IIow is it that nations, separated from one another by diversities of interest, custom, opinion — that citizens of diifcrent classes, characters, princi- ples, interests — that all men and nations, widely sepa- rated in every thing else, united only by a common tie — i\\Q Catholic religion — should exactly agree in this one thing — hatred to and abhorrence of the avowed champion of Catholicism ? And remember we don't speak of Protestant countries, or Protestant oppo- nents. All your adversaries were bigoted Catholics. There is but one way to explain this strange coin- cidence. We fear that from the very beginning, the Jesuits, notwithstanding all their prudence, could not conceal from the eye of the observer those subtle arts, that duplicity of character, that skill in accomplishing dark and mysterious exploits, for which they were in later times opposed, and at length abolished. What is still more remarkable, is the fact that the greatest part of those persons who were foremost in opposing the Jesuits, knew Loyola, and, if not as inti- mately as Caraffa and Cano, at least well enough to be able to appreciate him. We shall adduce as the last, though not the least fact, militating against the order — that Caraffa, a man of the most rigid Catholicism, nay, bigotry — who had nothing so near his heart as the furtherance of the Roman rehgion — the former friend of Loyola, both as cardinal and as Pope, was constantly and firmly adverse to the order. I 90 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. should like if some of the reverend fathers would ex- plain this almost inexplicable fact. However, all these oppositions were sooner or later got rid of by Jesuitical craft ; and the Society, in 1556, only sixteen years after its commencement, counted as many as twelve provinces, a hundred houses, and up- wards of a thousand members, dispersed over the whole known world. Their two most conspicuous and important establishments were the Collegio Romano and the German College. They already were in pos- session of many chairs, and soon monopolised the right of teaching, which gave them a most overwhelming influence. We shall speak of the colleges, and of their method of study, after it had received from Acquaviva, the fifth General, a farther development, and nearly the same form in which it is at the present day. The Jesuits also derived great importance from their mis- sions, to the consideration of which we shall devote the next chapter. The reason of the immense success of the Jesuits is the fact, that their order was established in direct opposition to the rising Protestantism, and that both the court of Rome, and those princes whose interest it was to maintain the Catholic religion, and oppose that of the Reformed, were very eager to in- troduce and uphold the Society of Jesuits into their states. Yet even with this preponderant favourable circumstance, the Society would have either succumbed under the many obstacles it encountered in its begin- ning, or at least would not have progressed so rapidly, had it not been for Ignatius Loyola. This extraordi- nary man seems to have united in his own person all the quaUties indispensable for succeeding in any undertaking; — unbounded ambition — inflexibility of character — unwearied activity, and a thorough and profound knowledge of the human heart. With such qualities, he could hardly fail to succeed in the ac- complishment of any project. Almost every writer of Loyola's life (I do not speak cither of the miracle- FIRST OPPOSITION TO THE ORDER. 91 tellers or of the pamphleteers) has represented him as most sincere, fervidly devout, and pious. On this pomt, however, we must observe, that all the histo- rians, not excluding even the Protestant, copied from his two first biographers, MafFei and Rybadaneira. We also beg to be permitted to give the humble opinion which we have formed of him, after having carefully perused what has been said regarding him — and much more, after a dispassionate examination of the facts connected with his life. Without doubt, Ignatius, during his illness, felt disposed to change his dissipated course of life, and, as happens in every sudden reaction, he, from being a profligate freethink- ing officer, went to the other extreme, and became a rigid and bigoted anchorite. No penances were too severe to expiate his numerous sins, and no devo- tion was too fervent to atone for his past irreligion. So he thought at the moment, and, we think, con- scientiously. But after the first burst of his devotion — after the deep contemplation into which he was plunged had given place to the felt necessity of acting in one way or another, we are led to believe, and have already expressed that belief, that his natural ambi- tion rose, and that all his thoughts were turned upon the surest method of accomphshing some great and uncommon exploit, by which he might render himself famous. As devotion was the principal requisite for success in the path which he had chosen, Ignatius was a fervent devotee, first by calculation, and then by habit — but not the less zealous for all that. Had his whole thoughts been absorbed with that one object — the salvation of his soul — his devotion would have been less ostentatious, and, without wavering between one project and another, he would have been contented with an humble and retired life, or would have spent it in unquestionable works of charity — in ministering to the sick, as he had begun in the Hospital of the Theatincs. It cannot be denied, however, that Ig- 92 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. natius, after his conversion, was very humane, com- passionate, and charitable, and that his private con- duct, in the later part of his life, was moral and unimpeached. He treated his disciples with much kindness, and never denied them what he could grant without inconvenience. On the other hand, he was imperious to the last degree, and could not endure the slightest contradiction. An old Jesuit priest, who had been once guilty of disobedience, was scourged in his own presence. One instance will perhaps serve to depict Loyola more effectively than words can. He had sent Lainez as provincial to Padua. Lainez, who had had an immense success at the Council of Trent, and who was in fact superior to any one then be- longing to the Society, at first refused this secondary post, but at last obeyed. Hardly had he, however, entered upon his functions, before Ignatius drained his province of all the best professors, whom he summoned to Rome. The provincial remonstrated. It was the Lainez, Ignatius' bosom friend — his right hand — the glory of the company — the man who had been chosen to be a cardinal. But Ignatius disregarded all these considerations, and without even entering into any discussion, simply wrote to him, thus : " Reflect on your proceedings ; tell me if you are persuaded of having erred, and if so, indicate to me what punish- ment you are ready to undergo for the expiation of your fault." * This letter pourtrays the man ! We are also assured, that the general was so humble, that you might have seen him carrying wood on his shoulders — lighting the common fire — or going to the well with a pitcher in his hand. We should be incHned to call such humility ostentation, or, if you prefer it, good policy. Ignatius was, above all, anxious to curb the spirit of his disciples. In his eyes, they could not be humble and submissive enough. The Jesuit ought to value himself, individually, as * Cretineau, vol. i. p 334. FIRST OPPOSITION TO THE ORDER. 93 notliing — tlic Society as everything. Now, which of his disciples would have dared refuse any undertaking, however humble, after he had seen his general en- gaged in the meanest services ? But while Ignatius affected these acts of humility, lie was seriously giving his attention to the state affairs of different nations. He was holding correspondence with John III. of Portugal, the cardinal his son, Albert of Bavaria, Ferdinand of Austria, Philip of Spain, Ercole of Est, and many other princes. Ho was the spiritual director of Margaret of Austria. He went to Tivoli, purposely to alla;y the quarrels of two neighbouring towns, and to Naples to make peace between an angry husband and his wife of rather doubtful morals. All these things tend to prove what we have said regarding his devotion, viz. that it was of a rather meddlesome and ambitious character. But his career was now drawing to an end. These different occupations — the direction of both the spiritual and temporal matters of the order, which was already widely spread — the anxiety caused by the many con- flicts in which the Society was engaged — the fear of defeat — the joy arising from success — his unrelenting activity — his uneasiness at seeing the pontifical chair occupied by Caraffa, always adverse to the order — all these things contributed to shorten his days. His con- stitution, which had been impaired in his youth, and in the cavern of Manreze, now gradually gave way ; and although no symptom of his approaching end was yet visible, " no paleness of countenance, not a sign in all his body,"* nevertheless he felt the vital principle fading away within him, and that his last hour was rapidly drawing near. He tried the country air, and for this purpose went to a villa lately given by some friends for the use of the Roman college,! but he found no relief. His strength was fast failing him ; an un- conquerable lassitude crept over his whole frame, and * Maffei, Ignaf. Vita, p. 110. t I*^lem, p. 109. 94 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. his intellect only remained clear and unchanged. He spoke of his illness, nay, of his approaching- end, to nobody. He returned to Rome, and threw himseK upon a bed. A doctor was sent for by the alarmed fathers, but he bade them be of good cheer, " for there was nothing the matter with the general." Ignatius smiled; and when the physician was gone, he gave orders to his secretary, Polancus, to proceed to the holy father straightway to recommend the Society to his care, and to obtain a blessing for himself (Ignatius), and indulgences for his sins.* Perhaps he made this last attempt to disarm, by his humility, the inflexible Paul ly. (Caraffa), and so render him favourable to the Society. He was mistaken. Paul sent the requested benison, but he did not change his mind toward the Society. However, Polancus, reassured by the doc- tor, and not seeing any danger himself, disregarded the order, postponing the fulfilment of his mission till next day. Meanwhile, after Ignatius had attended till very late to some affairs concerning the Roman college, he was left alone to rest. But what was the surprise and consternation of the fathers, on enter- ing his room next morning, to find him breathing his last! The noise and confusion caused by such an unexpected event were great. Cordials, doctor, confessor, were immediately sent for ; but, before any of them came — before Polancus, who only now ran to the Pope, returned — Loyola had expired. His demise took place at five o'clock on the morning of the 31st of July 1556, in his sixty-fifth year. So ended a man who is extolled by the one party as a saint, exe- crated by the other as a monster. He was neither. Most assuredly, in the Protestant point of view, and by all those who advocate the cause of freedom of con- science, and of a return to the purity of the primitive rehgion of Christ, Ignatius ought to be detested above any other individual. To him and to his order belongs * Orland. lib. xvi. § 96, 97. FIRST OPPOSITION TO THE ORDER. 95 the mournful glory of having checked the progress of the lleformation, and of having kept a great part of Europe under the yoke of superstition and tyranny. And here we are led to mention a fact which we think has hitherto been unnoticed — the indulgence, we should say the partiality, evinced by Protestant writers for these last ten years towards the Jesuits, and especially the founders of the order. The fact must be explained. The Jesuits, from 1830 to the end of '48, seemed to have lost all public favour, all influence and authority. Persecuted and hooted in France, Switzerland, Russia, hated in their own domi- nion, Italy, they were considered as a vanquished enemy, deserving rather commiseration than hatred. A reac- tion ensued in their favour among their most decided opponents. Generous souls rose up to defend these persecuted men, and stretched out a friendly hand to them, thus trodden upon by all. Carried away with such chivalrous sentiments, they have embellished, with the colours of their fervid imaginations and the graces of their copious style, whatever the Jesuit writers have related of their chiefs, and have repre- sented Loyola and his companions as heroes of romance rather than real historical characters. We leave these writers to reflect whether the Jesuits are a vanquished enemy, or whether they are not still redoubtable and menacing foes. But, with deference to such distin- guished writers as Macaulay, Taylor, Stephen, and others, we dare to assert that in writing about the Jesuits they were led astray by the above romantic sentiments ; and we should moreover warn them that their words are quoted by the Jesuit writers, Cretiueau, Pellico, &c., as irrefragable testimony of the sanctity of their members. 96 HISTORY OF THE JF4SUITS. CHArTER VIL 1541-1774. MISSIONS. Before we proceed any further, we feel obliged to say a few words regarding the missions which were under- taken by the J esuits soon after the estabhshment of their order. To write a complete history would be almost interminable. To analyse Orlandini, Sacchini, Bartoli, Jouvency, the Litterce Annum, and Les Let- tres Edifiantes, not to speak of a hundred others, would take up a great many volumes.* "We think we may fill our pages with more instructive matter. We shall now confine ourselves to a short chapter on the missions of India. AYe shall next speak of those of America, and finally, in what condition the missions iire at the present day. In speaking of the missions of India, we fear we shall incur the reproach we have addressed to others, because we frankly confess that we are partial to Francis Xavier ; but our Protestant readers, to be impartial, must not judge those missions by too rigid a standard, or by too constant a reference to the doctrinal errors of those who undertook them, furthermore, by the consideration of what those missions subsequently became. All human institutions emanating from imperfect beginnings, are necessarily imperfect, and the further they recede from their * The Litterce Annuce Societatis Jesxi, from 1606 to 1614, fill eight volumes in 8vo; the Lettres Edifiantes, twenty-one volumes in 8vo, and so on. MISSIONS. 97 origin, the more tlioy lose of tlicir primitive chcaracter, and the less are they calculated to answer the end for which they w^ere established. The idle and immoral monk — this gangrene of Catholic countries — was at one time the most industrious of men ; and Europe owes much to the monastic orders, not only for the preser- vation of the greatest part of the works of genius of our forefathers, but also for the tillage of its barren wastes. If the monks and priests now bring disorder, confu- sion, and often civil war into the countries where they are sent under pretence of missions, such was not the case at the discovery of the Western World, and at the conquest of India by the Portuguese. The first zealous and devoted missionaries attempted to civilise and Christianise savage and barbarous populations. And if you object that in their missions they preached the Popish creed, and destroyed one idolatry by in- troducing another, at least you ought to give them credit for their good intentions. Nor are you to suppose that they undertook the task of civilising these nations in order to acquire dominion over them. No. Such, indeed, has been the case in later times, but in the beginning they w^ere actuated by worthier and more disinterested motives. In going thither they had before their eyes martyrdom rather than worldly establish- ments. They carried with them no theological books. Having no antagonist to dispute with, they had left behind the acrimony and hatred inherent in almost all theological controversies. They brought with them the essence of the Christian rehgion — the most consoling and sublime part of it — gratitude to the Creator, with charity and love to their fellow-creatures. Undoubtedly, when we speak of their missions, we must not blindly believe all that the Jesuitical histo- rians, who are often the only chroniclers of these events, relate to us. We shall not give them credit for the prodigies and miracles said to be performed by their missionaries, even though that missionary be Xavier 98 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. himself. We shall not believe that he raised from the tomb another Lazarus, or that at his bidding the salt waves of the ocean were changed into sweet and palat- able water. Yet there are irrefragable proofs of the good done by their exertions, and of their success in introducing Christianity, or at least civilisation, into India and America. The man who first engaged in that glorious work was Francis Xavier — Xavier, whom, if Rome had not dishonoured the name by conferring it upon assassins and hypocrites, we would gladly call a saint. He was the offspring of an ancient and illustrious Spanish family, and was born in 1506, at his father's castle in the Pyrenees. He was about the middle size, had a lofty forehead, large, blue, soft eyes, with an ex- quisitely line complexion, and with the manners and demeanour of a prince. He was gay, satirical, of an ardent spirit, and, above all, ambitious of literary re- nown. All his faculties, all his thoughts, were directed to this noble pursuit, and so efficiently, that at the age of twenty-two he was elected a professor of philo- sophy in the capital of France. There he lived on terms of intimacy with Peter Lefevre, a young Savoy- ard, of very humble extraction, of a modest and simple character, but of uncommon intelligence and industry. It was with Lefevre that Xavier first met Ignatius. Francis was shocked at his appearance, his affected humility, his loathsome dress ; and when he spake of spiritual exercises, Xavier looked at his own fair, white arms, shuddered at the idea of lacerating them with the scourge — this principal ingredient of the spiritual exercises — and laughed outriglit in his face. But Ignatius, having cast his eyes upon such a noble being, was not to be discouraged by a first or second repulse in his endeavours to become intimate with him. He spared no exertions to ingratiate himself with Xavier ; and at last, as Bar toll says, " he resolved ot gain him over by firing his ambition, just as Judith MISSIONS. 99 did with feigned love to Holofcrncs, that she might triumph over him at tlio last." * As we have already stated, Xavier was ambitious, and eager for literary renown. Ignatius made himself the eulogist of his countryman. He gathered around his chair a benevo- lent and an attentive audience, and gratified the young professor in his most ardent wishes. The generous heart of Xavier was touched by this act of kindness, and he began to look upon this loathsome man with other eyes. Ignatius redoubled his efforts. The improvident Xavier was often surrounded with pecuniary difficulties. Ignatius went begging, to replenish his purse. It was not wonderful that Xavier, having fallen under the influence of such a persevering assailant, who was ad- monitor at once and friend — who flattered and exhorted, rebuked and assisted, with such matchless tact — should gradually have yielded to the fascination. He went through the Spiritual Exercises, and from that moment became a mere tool in the hands of Loyola. This was the first missionary sent to India. The order had not yet been approved by the Pope, when John III. of Portugal, by means of his ambas- sador D. Pedro de Mascaregnas, asked of him six mis- sionaries to be sent to the East Indies. The Pope, who was undecided whether he should consent to the establishment of this new order or not, thought this a plausible pretext to get rid of them altogether, and asked Loyola for six of his companions. But Ignatius was not the man to consent to the suicide of the intended Society, and oftcrcd the Pope only two members for the undertaking. The choice fell upon Rodriguez and Bobadilla. The first set out immediately, but Bobadilla falling ill, Ignatius called Xavier, and said to him, '*■ Xavier, I had named Bobadilla for India, but Heaven this day names you, and I announce it to you in the name of the Vicar of Jesus Christ. Receive the ap- pointment which his Holiness lays upon you by my * Bart. Vita Ian. 100 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. mouth, just as if Jesus Christ presented it liimself. Go, brother, whither the voice of God calls you, and in- flame all with the divine fire within you — Id y accen- dedlo todo y emhrasadlo en fiiego divino." Ignatius often used these words, and in his mouth they were a talisman which fanned the flame of enthusiasm. It is impossible to describe the exultation of Xavier at the thought of the boundless regions which would open before him there, to exercise his unbounded charity and love of mankind. Xavier went to receive the Pope's blessing, and the very next morning he left Rome — alone — penniless — clothed in a ragged cloak, but with a light heart and joyful countenance. He crossed the Pyrenees without even visiting his father's castle, and hastened to Lisbon, where he joined his companion Rodriguez. Portugal at this epoch was experiencing the influence of the wealth brought from the recently conquered provinces of India. Eagerness for pleasure, effeminacy of manners, relaxation from every duty, had completely changed the aspect of the nation. These two Jesuits, by exhortation and preaching, endea- voured to stem the onward march of that fast spread- ing corruption. Their panegyrists assure us that they succeeded in their efforts, but the subsequent history of Portugal gives them the lie. To no man is given the power to stop the propensities or the vices of a nation, when they are in the ascendancy. Xavier may perhaps have made the Portuguese nobihty for a moment ashamed of their luxurious and profli- gate life ; but if so, a more complete abandonment to a life of idleness and pleasure succeeded a fugitive shame. However, the King of Portugal, changing his mind, wished to retain in the capital the two Jesuits whom he had intended for India, but he could only prevail on Rodriguez to remain. Xavier was impatient to be sent on his mission. At length, on the 7th of April 1541, the fleet, having on board a thousand men to MISSIONS. 101 reinforce the garrison of Goa, left tlic Tagus, and spread her sails to the wind. It was under the com- mand of Don Alphonso of Sousa, the vice-king of India. As the fleet sailed on, the eyes of the soldiers were bc- dimmed with tears ; even the bravest of the host could not see without emotion and dismay the shores of their native land receding irom their view. Xavier alone was serene, and his countenance beamed with dehght. On sailed the fleet, and after five long and weary months, they reached the coast of Mozambique. Un- der a burning African sun, they found httle relief from the fatigues of their tedious voyage, and an epidemic fever spread consternation and death among these European adventurers. Xavier was indefatigable among them, nursing the sick, consoling the dying, and cheering all with his joyful and placid counte- nance. After six months' stay, they left this inhospitable land, and arrived at Goa, the capital of the Portuguese dominions in India, thirteen months after their depar- ture from Lisbon. There Xavier was horror-struck at the indescriba- ble degradation in which he found, not the Indian idolaters, but the Portuguese Catholics, their own priests foremost in the path of vice. The contempt that these proud conquerors had for a feeble and despised race, the charm of the East, the wealth they found, the climate inspiring voluptuousness — all com- bined to banish from their breasts every sentiment of justice, shame, and honesty. The history of their debauches and immoralities is really revolting. Thirst for gold and voluptuousness were their two predomi- nant passions ; and the gold, acquired by infamous and cruel means, was dissipated in revolting and degrad- ing deeds. Bartoli gives us a fearful picture of the demoralised condition of the Portuguese in India.* But, without trusting implicitly to all this historian * Bart. Asia, p. 31. H 102 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. represents regarding their corruptions and licentious- ness, we know by other sources that the corruption was extreme, and that it was their dissolute life that in- duced the Indians who had been converted to our rehgion, feeling ashamed of the name of Christian, to return to their idols. Xavier thought it would be use- less to attempt converting the idolater before he had reformed the morals of the Christian; but he consi- dered it neither prudent nor useful to attack so great an evil directly and openly. He rightly judged that the children would be most easily worked upon, and he resolved to reach this by exciting their love of novelties and unwonted sights. He arms himself with a hand-bell, which he swings with a powerful hand, throws away his hat, and calls in a loud and impres- sive tone on the fathers to send their children to be catechised. The novelty of the fact, the noble and dignified countenance of a man dressed in rags, could not fail to excite curiosity at least. Men, women, and children rush out to see this strange man, who draws along with him a crowd to the church, and there, with passionate and impressive eloquence, endeavours to inspire them with shame for their conduct, and lectures to them on the most essential rules of morality. Then he begins to teach the children the rudiments of the Christian religion, and these innocent creatures love to listen to a man who shews himself the kindest and gentlest companion, joyfully mixing in all their pastimes. A number of children soon became his constant auditors, and to say he did not work any good among them would be an untruth. Nor did he confine his apostolic ministry to the instruction of children. He was, on the contrary, indefatigable in his exertions to be of use to every one. He took up his abode in the hospital, visited the prisoner, assisted the dying. With a flexibility characteristic of the system, and often employed for the worst ends, he mixed with all classes, and spoke and acted in the most suitable MISSIONS. '103 manner to please them all. Often might you have seen him at the same tabic with the gamester — often did he by his gay humour rejoice the banquet table — often might he have been seen in the haunts of debauchees ; and in all those places exquisite good taste, combined with jest or bitter sarcasm, d-j^ropos to time and place, rendered the vice either ridiculous or loathsome. Many, to enjoy Xavier's friendship, re- nounced their profligate habits, and fell back to the paths of virtue. But it is a gratuitous assertion, and contradicted by Xavier himself, that the aspect of the town was changed by his predications and catechis- ings. We repeat it again — no man has the power to work such miracles. After Xavier had spent twelve months in Goa, he heard that the pearl fishermen on the coast of Malabar were poor and oppressed. Thither Xavier went without delay. He took with him two Malabarese whom he had converted, as his interpeters. But finding this mode of communication slow and in- effectual, he committed to memory the creed, the decalogue, and the Lord's Prayer in the Malabar language, and repeated them to the natives with pas- sionate and eloquent eagerness. By degrees he began to be able to communicate with them ; and here, as else- where, Xavier not only acted the indefiitigable apostle, but also shewed himself the best friend, the kindest consoler of these poor people, and shared in their fatigues and privations. Many were the favours which he obtained for them from the vice-king, and these grateful fishermen willingly embraced the religion preached by their benefactor. He lived among them for thirteen months, and we are assured that at his departure he had planted no less than forty-five churches on the coast. From Cape Comorin he passed to Travancore, thence to Meliapore, to the Moluccas, to Malacca; and, in short, he visited a great part of India, always vigilant, zealous, and indefatigable in 104 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. his endeavours to make these Idolaters partake of the benefits of the Christian religion. In 1547 he returned to Goa. Ignatius had sent him in the year 1545 three Jesuits. Xavier had directed two of them to go to Cape Comorin, and named the third, Lancillotti, Professor of the College of Saint Foi. Soon after, nine other Jesuits were sent to assist him. Xavier assigned a place and an occu- pation to each of them, and he himself returned to Malacca. Here he learned something about Japan. He was informed that the Japanese were moral, indus- trious, and very eager to acquire knowledge of every kind, Xavier at once determined that neither the dis- tance nor the difficulties of the way should deter him from visiting Japan. Listening to no remonstrance which would have dissuaded him from this undertaking, he named the Jesuit, Paul of Camarino, Superior in his place, and with two companions set out for Japan. Before leavino' Malacca he wrote to lo-natius thus : — *' I want words to express to you with what joy I un- dertake this long voyage, full of the greatest dangers. Although these dangers arc greater than all I have yet encountered, I am far from giving up my under- taking, our Lord telling me internally that the cross once planted here will yield an abundant harvest." We shall not relate the various extraordinary inci- dents or miracles which we are told he performed whilst on the way, and we shall conduct him at once to that cluster of islands, with mountains barren of fruits and grain, but rich in mines of all sorls, which we call Japan, where he arrived in the summer of 1549. The Japanese of those days were partly atheists, partly idolaters. Xavier endeavoured to ingratiate himself with the Bonzes, those crafty priests of Japan. He succeeded in converting some of them, and by their influence a great many more of the idola- ters, and prepared the ground which should afterwards MISSIONS. 105 have produced an abundant liarvcst, if tins lather's successors had possessed a little more of his upright- ness and charity. But Xavier's vivid imagination and restless activity made him soon desert Japan for a more ample and splendid theatre. He formed the project of pene- trating into the Celestial Empire. Leaving his two companions in Japan, he returned to Goa to settle the affairs of the Society, which had increased in num- bers, influence, and authority; and this duty performed, he returned to Malacca, to embark from thence for China. Better to succeed in his undertaking, he iiad ob- tained for a Portuguese merchant, Pereyra, the title of ambassador to the emperor. Pereyra, according to custom, had purchased many presents, in order to obtain a more cordial reception for himself and his friend Xavier. The vessel in which the two friends were to take a passage was on the point of saihng, when Don Alvarez, Captain-General of Malacca, op- posed their departure, and, effectually to prevent it, laid an embargo on the Saint Croix, the only vessel which was bent thither. Xavier remonstrated in vain. The captain persisted in opposing the embassy of Pereyra. Xavier shewed him the commission of John III., which conferred upon him great and almost unlimited power, and also his commission as the Pope's legate. Alvarez still refused to consent to their departure, and Xavier fulminated against him the anathemas, but without any effect. Pereyra was thus obliged to remain, and Xavier, after having lost much time, took a passage in tliis same vessel, which Avas now ordered for the island of San- cian. _ There they at length landed, to the inexpres- sible joy of Xavier, who saw himself within a few leagues of this promised land of his own. But, alas ! his hopes were frustrated. It was ordained that his praiseworthy ambition should not be gratified, and 106 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. tliat he should not see the vast empire he aspired to conquer to Christianity, but at a distance. Others might attempt this difficult mission; Xavier, a victim, to fatigue and fever, lay powerless on the inhospitable shore of Sancian. In a very few days his illness made fearful progress, and on the 2d of December 1552, Xavier, in the forty-sixth year of his age, breathed his last. Thus ended the adventurous life of this noble and extraordinary man, which we have merely sketched. We pass over the absurd and miraculous facts which the panegyrists of the saint have coupled with his name. We think they have injudiciously smothered, in ridiculous and supernatural legends, the many noble exploits and the great qualities of Xavier. In respect for his memory, we shall therefore make no mention of his miracles. Besides, Xavier's miracles are as nearly as possible the same as those performed by other saints. We really believe that the biographers of any saint might do hke that gentleman who, after having writ- ten a long letter without either comma, colon, period, or point of interrogation, put down a great quantity of these at the close of the epistle, and enjoined his cor- rjespondent to insert them in their requisite places. Our biographers should, in like manner, place at the end of their panegyrics some hundreds of miracles performed OH the sick, or the blind, or those possessed wnth devils, and let the judicious reader insert them in those parts of the narrative they may think proper.* No one, however, will deny to Xavier uprightness * For nearly two centuries, miracles and saints rarely occurred. It seems as if they were in a state of embryo, slumbering until an oppor-. tune season for their appearance should arrive. After the Reformation, however, it was deemed expedient that some n.w miracles and saints should come forth to prove the truth and the superiority of the Roman Catholic religion over the Protestant, whicli cannot boast of such testi- monials. It was then that the images of tlie Virgin Mary again began to speak, laugh, weep— that the hair of the images on the crucifix grew — that they slied blood from their wooden sides — that the relics of saints acted as a charm to keep away diseases and miafortunes — and that uew saints sprang into existence like mushrooms. MISSIONS. 107 of purpose, sincerity of conviction, mildness and in- trepidity of character, self-denial, and a fervid zeal for the propagation of the Christian religion. But while we gladly give him praise for his excellent qualities, ^\o cannot overlook some of his defects. Thus, for exam- ple, we cannot approve of his continual -wandering, and we think, that in undertakino- his voyao-es, he was actuated, perhaps, as much hy the love of novelty as by the desire of propagating Christianity. His way of makino; Chi-istians was also in the hio-hest deo^ree in- considerate and hasty ; for, most assuredly, the 10,000 idolaters whom he christened in a single month, had no more of the Christian than the baptism. But we must impute to him a still greater fault, and one which seems to be inherent in the character of the llomish priests — the absolute authority which they claim over all men, and their unscrupulous pro- ceedings against any one who is bold enough to resist their orders — nay, their very wishes. Observe. Don ^ Alphonso de Sonza, vice-king of India, although an exemplary Roman Catholic, because he does not yield to all Xavier's wishes, the Jesuit writes to the king and procures his recall ! Alvarez opposes the embassy of Pereyra, which Xavier had contemplated, and for this the Jesuit priest excommunicates him ! These two acts are characteristic of the Romish priests, and we quote them to shew that even the mildest does not hesitate at anything, in order to carry his point. However, in the time of Xavier, and for some fifty years afterwards, the missions, if they were far from what they ought to have been, as instrumental for pro- pagating the gospel, were nevertheless conducted in a manner not altogether unpraiseworthy. The mission- aries were laborious, energetic, indefatigable. They submitted to every kind of privation, persecution, even death itself, with a courageous and sometimes joy- ful and wilhng heart. Had they simply preached the gospel, and not mingled with it the diffusion of the 108 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. superstitious practices of the Church of Kome, no praise would be adequate to their deserts. But, alas I the noble quaUties which they brought to work were soon per- verted, and directed to interested and impure motives, so that we fear the good which they did at first can hardly compensate for the evil which they at length produced. The man who after Xavier had the greatest suc- cess in India, but who also perverted the character of the mission, and introduced the most abominable idolatry, was Father Francis Nobili. He arrived at Madura in 1606, and was surprised that Christianity had made so little progress in so long a time, which he attributed to the strong aversion which the Indian had for the European, and to the fact, that the Jesuits, having addressed themselves more especially to the Pariahs, had caused Christ to be considered as the Pa- riahs' God.* He therefore resolved to play the part of a Hindoo and a Brahmin. After having learned with wonderful facility their rites, their manners, and their language,! he gave himself out as a Saniassi, a Brah- min of the fourth and most perfect class ; and, with imperturbable impudence, he asserted that he had conie to restore to them the fourth road to truth, which was supposed to have been lost many thousands of years before. He submitted to their penances and observances, which were very painful ; abstained from everything that had life, such as fish, flesh, eggs; J respected their prejudices, and, above all, the main- tenance of the distinction of classes. It was forbidden the catechumen Pariah to enter the same church with the Siidra or Brahmin converts. All this was the beginning of those heathen ceremonies and superstition^ with which the Christian religion was contaminated. Great care was taken by these Koman Saniassi * Ranke's Hist, of the Popes, vol. ii. p. 231. English translation. + Juvencius' Hist. Soc. Jcsu. pars v. torn. ii. lib. xviii. J Leltres Edifianics, torn, x.' p. 324. MISSIONS. 109 that tlicy might not be taken for Ferlncjee.'^,^ and still greater care not to liurt the prejudices of the Hindoos. AVe might multiply quotations ad infinitum to provo our assertions, but we shall content ourselves with two. " Our whole attention," writes Father de Bourges, " is taken up in our endeavour to conceal from the people that we are what they call Feringees ; the shghtest suspicion of this would prove an insurmountable ob- stacle to our success." f And Father Mauduit writes, — '' The oatechist of a low caste can never be employed to teach Hindoos of a caste more elevated. The Brah- mins and the Sudras, who form the principal and mosfc numerous castes, have a far greater contempt for the Pariahs, who are beneath them, than princes in Europe can feel for the scum of the people. They would be dishonoured in their own country, and deprived of the privileges of their caste, if they ever listened to the instructions of one whom they look upon as infamous. We must, therefore, have Pariah catcchists for the Pariahs, and Brahminical catechists for the Brahmins, which causes us a great deal of difficulty." " Some time ago, a catechist from the Madura mission begged me to go to Pouleour, there to baptize some Pariah catechumens, and to confess certain neophytes of that caste. The fear that the Brahmins and Sudras might come to learn the step I had taken, and thence look upon me as infiimous and unworthy ever of holding any intercourse with them, hindered me from going ! The Avords of the holy apostle Paul, Avhlch I had read that morning at mass, determined me to take this re- solution, — ' Giving no offence to any one, that your ministry might nut be blamed' (2 Cor. vi. 3). I therefore made these poor people go to a retired place, about three leagues from here, where I myself joined them during the night, and with the most careful precautions, and there I baptized nine I " J * Feringee was the name given by the Hindoos to the Portuguese. + Lcttres Edif. torn. xxi. p. 77. + Idem, torn. x. pp. 2'i3-2'45, 110 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. We appeal to every impartial man, if these were apostles and teachers of the gospel. But it seems by all their proceedings, that they considered the conver- sion of these idolaters to consist in the mere fact of their being baptized. To administer baptism to a man volens nolens, was the Jesuits' utmost ambition, and this ambition they satisfied per fas et nefas. Let them relate the facts themselves : — •' When these children," says Father de Bourges, *' are in danger of death, our practice is to baptize them without asking the permission of their parents, which would certainly be refused. The catechists and the private Christians are well acquainted with the formula of baptism, and they confer it on these dying children, iindei^ thej^retext of giving them medicines."^ Women were also found very useful in the case of newly born infants, when none other could obtain ac- cess. Father Bouchet mentions one woman in parti- cular, " whose knowledge of the pulse and of the symptoms of approaching death was so unerring, that of more than ten thousand children whom she had herself baptized, not more than two escaped death." f In like manner, during a famine in the Carnatic, about A.D. 1737, Father Trembloy writes, that according to the report of the catechists and missionaries, the num- ber of deserted and dying children baptized during the two years of death, amounted to upwards of twelve thousand. He adds, that, as every convert knew the formula of baptism, it was rare, in any place where there were neophytes, for a single heathen child to die unbaptized.'' \ The logical consequence of this mode of making Christians was, that at the first opportunity these con- verts repudiated the name of Christian with as much facility as they assumed it. This was seen on many occasions, and more particularly, perhaps, in 1784 : — * Lettres Edifiantes, torn. xii. p. 107. t Tom. xiii. p. 54. J Tom. xiv. pp. 185, 186. MISSIONS. 11 r . " When Tlppoo ordered all the native Christians in Mysore to be seized, and gathered together in Seringa- patam, that he might convert them to Mahometanism, amidst that vast multitude, amounting to more than 60,000 souls," says the Abbe Dubois, " not one — not a single individual among so many thousands — had courage to confess his faith under this trying circum- stance, and become a martyr to his religion. The ■whole apostatised eii masse, and without resistance or protestation." * But even when these converts retained the name of Christian, we are much at a loss to distinguish them from the pagans, either in their manner of worship, or in their moral conduct. And what is still more dis- heartening, is to see that the Jesuits, who nourished them in those idolatrous and diabolical superstitions make light of them — nay, even seem to approve of them. Listen to M. Cretineau : — " The Malabar rites consist in omitting some cere- monies in the administration of baptism, respecting, however, the essence of the sacrament ; in disguising the name of the Cross, and of the objects of the Catho- lic religion, under a more common and vernacular appellation ; to give them heathen 7iames ; to marry children before the age of puberty, seven years; to allow the women to wear the Taly (bijou), f which they receive the day of their nuptials, and upon which is engraved an idol, tlie Greek god Priapus ; to avoid assisting the Pariahs in their illness, and to refuse them certain spiritual succours — the sacraments of confession and communion." J He might have added that these rites consisted also in the use of burned * Letters on the State of Christianity in India, p. 74. Loudon, 1823. + The Taly bears the image of the god Pollyar, supposed to preside over nuptial ceremonies. This most indecent idol was attached to a ecrd of 108 threads, and worn round their necks by the women ever after their marriage, as a wedding-ring. X Cret. vol. V. p. 47. Tlie italics are our own.. 112 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. cows' dung applied to the body,* in a joyous feast, at an occasion which decency forbids us to name, in dancino- and playing instruments of different kinds, in idol processions, in ablutions according to the Brah- minical rites, and in sundry other pagan superstitions. Now, listen to what Cretineau and the Jesuits think about these abominable acts of idolatry: — " The Jesuits of Madura, Mysore, and the Carnatic found themselves surrounded by so many superstitious practices, that they thought best to tolerate those tvho in their eyes did not cause any prejudice to the Chris- tian religion.'" f ^o\y, these practices which in their eyes " did not cause any prejudice to the Christian religion," were exactly those which we have named ; which the Jesuits pertinaciously maintained even after they were condemned by three successive Popes, and which they still considered " innocent ones." Really, we don't know whether we ought most to execrate their wickedness, or to lament their bhndness. We could almost regret that they do not deny these facts. A lie more or less would not*^ matter much in the sum total, and would, at least, shew that they are still alive to some sense of shame. Mycio, seeing Eschi- nus blush at his remonstrances, looks complacently aside, and says, " Eruhuit, salva res est !" Terentius was right. Eschinus was capable of feeling shame, and amended ; but the Jesuits blush not. Either they have lost all shame, and you would not find — •' CM di mal far si vergogni" — * The ashes of the cows' dung are consecrated to the goddess Lakshini, and are supposed to cleanse from sin anybody to whom they are applied. The missionaries laid these ashes upon the altar near the crucifix (horrid to relate !) or the image of the Virgin, then consecrated and distributed them in the shape of little balls among their converts. This strange sort of Christians invoked a pagan divinity as often as they applied the dung to the body. Thus, when they rub it on the head or forehead, they say, Neruchigurm netcliada ,S/iiven — that is, may the god Shiva be within my head ; when they rub it on the breast, they say, Manu Rudren — that is, may the god Hudren be in my breast ; and so on. — See Jlemoire^ Historiqucs, tom. iii. pp. 29, 30. Lucca, 1745. t Cret. vol. v. p. 47, MISSIONS. 113 "any one blush at doing wroni^," or tlicy consider as innocent the most abominable profanation of our holy religion. In both cases, I fear, we must renounce all idea of seeing them change till their impenitent heads be visited by the wrath of God. ]\Iay their conversion avert it ! Complaints of these scandalous profanations were sent to Home, even in the lifetime of Nobili. Paul Y. delegated the Archbishop of Goa to inquire into the nature of these practices, which the prelate utterly condemned. The Jesuits stirred themselves up in their own defence, and represented to Gregory XIII., Paul's successor, that those rites were merely civic ceremonies, and not at all religious ones. Gregory, either little scrupulous or persuaded by their misre- presentations, by a brief, dated 1G23, approved con- ditionally of some of those practices, such as absolution, painting with sandal-wood, and some others, which, as we said, were represented by the Jesuits to be merely civic ceremonies. This success confirmed the Jesuits in pursuing the same line of policy ; and as they were also at that time at war wdth other monks to acquire, each for his order, paramount influence over the Indians, they thought that nothing could be more efficient to accomplish their ends than to flatter the prejudices of their neophytes, to be liberal in their concessions, and, in fact, to tolerate almost all the pagan usages. They acted in India, in all respects, as they did in Europe, wdiere, to be the confessors of kings and of the powerful, they invented the doctrines of probable- ism, of mental reservation, and others of a character as immoral, which we shall examine by and by. For €ighty years, therefore, they went from one abomina- tion ito another, till the scandal became so great and so universal, that the Roman See was again moved to interfere. Accordingly, Clement XL delegated Charles Maillai'd de Tournon, Patriarch of Antioch, with un- limited authority to investigate into and settle the 114 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. matter. The patriarch is described by Clement XI. as *' a man whose well-known integrity, prudence, charity, learning, piety, and zeal for the Catholic religion made him worthy of the highest trust;" and, according to Cretineau, " a man who possessed the highest' virtues and best intentions, which, however, should have been directed by a less intemperate zeal." * He landed at Pondicherry on November 6, 1703, and immediately commenced a thorough and minute investicration of the whole aifair. After eio-ht months, he, on June 23, 1704, published the famous decree con^ demning and prohibiting all these idolatrous practices ; although the noble prelate, a good Roman Catholic as he was, is not altogether free from superstition, as may be seen in the decree itself. Here are some ex* tracts from it : — " Charles Thomas Maillard de Tournon, by the grace of God .... Legate a latere, &c having maturely examined all things, .... having heard the above mentioned fathers (the Jesuits), having by public prayers implored divine aid ; we, .... in our capacity of Legate a latere, have enacted the present de- cree : — '' And to begin by the administration of the sacra- ment. We expressly forbid that, in administering bap- tism, any of the Christian rites are to be omitted. . . . AYe command, moreover, that a name of the Roman martyrology be given to the catechumen, and not an idolatrous one.- .... We order that no one, under any pretext whatever, shall change the signification of the names of the cross, of the saints, or of any other sacred thing. . . - . " Further, as it is the custom of this country that children, six or seven years old, and sometimes even younger, contract, with the consent of their parents, an indissoluble marriage, by the hanging of the Taly, or golden nuptial emblem, on the neck of the bride, * Cret. vol. V. p. 50. MISSIONS. 115 wc command the missionaries never to permit sucli invalid marriages among Christians. " And since, according to tlie best informed adhe- rents of that impious superstition, the Taly bears tlie image, thougli unshapely, of Pullcar, or Pillear, the idol supposed to preside over nuptial ceremonies ; and since it is a disgrace for Christian women to wear such an image round their necks, as a mark that they are married, wc henceforth strictly prohibit them from daring to have the Taly with this image suspended from their necks. But, lest luives should seem not to he married, they may use another Taly, ivitJi the image of the holy cross, or of our Lord Jesus Christy or of the most blessed Virgin, marked on it ! " The nuptial ceremonies also, according to the cus- tom of the country, are so many, and defiled by so much superstition, that no safer remedy could be de- vised than to interdict them altogether ; for they over- flow with the pollutions of heathenism, and it would be extremely difficult to expurge them from that which is superstitious " In like manner, w^e cannot suffer that these offices of charity which Gentile physicians, even of a noble race or caste, do not consider unworthy (for the health of the body) to be given to those poor people, the Pariahs, although in the most abject and lowest con- dition, be denied, for the sake of souls, by spiritual physicians. Wherefore, w^e strictly enjoin the mission- aries, as far as they can, to see that no opportunity for confession be awanting to any sick Christian, al- though he be a Pariah, or even of a more despised race, if there were. And lest they should be compelled to consult for their eternal welfare, when the disease is increasing, and their temporal life is in evident dan- ger, we chai'ge the missionaries not to wait till those in this weak condition are brought to church, but, as far as they are able, to seek for them at home, to visit them, and to comfort them with pious discourses and 116 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. prayers, and with sacramental bread; and, in short, to administer extreme unction to them, if they are about to die, -without making any distinction in persons or sexes, expressly condemning every practice contrary to the duty of Christian piety " We have learned with the greatest sorrow, also, that Christians who can beat the drum, or play on a flute, or other musical instruments, are invited to per- form during the festivals and sacrifices in honour of idols, and sometimes even compelled to attend, on ac- count of some species of obligation supposed to be con- tracted towards the public by the exercise of such a profession, and that it is by no means easy for the missionaries to turn them from this detestable tbuse ; wherefore, considering how heavy an account we should have to render to God did we not strive, with all our power, to recall such Christians as these from the honouring and worshipping of devils, we forbid them," &c. *' The missionaries also shall be held bound, not only to acquaint them with the aforesaid prohibition, but also to insist on its entire execution, and to expel from the Church all who disobey, until they repent from the heart, and by public marks of penitence ex- piate the scandal they have caused." In hke manner, the legate expressly prohibits the heathen ablutions and superstitious bathings, at set times, and with certain ceremonies, to all, and more especially to the preachers of the gospel, whatever pretence they allege, were it even to pass themselves off as Saniassi, who were distinguished by their mani- fold and multiplied washings — ' ut existementur Sanias seu Brachmaues, pra) ceteris dediti hujusmodi ablu- tionibus.' *' We, in like manner, prohibit that the ashes of cow-dung, a false and impious heathen penance insti- tuted by Kudrcn, should be blessed and applied to the foreheads of those who have received the sacred unction MISSIONS. 117 of Chrism ; wc also proscribe all the signs of a red and white colour, of which the Indians are very supersti- tious, from being used for painting their face, breast, and other parts of the body. We command that the sacred practice of the Church, and the pious usage of blessmg the ashes, and of putting them upon the head of the faithful, Avitli the sign of the cross, in order to re- call their own unworthiness, be religiously observed, at the time and after the manner prescribed by the Church, on Ash-Wednesday, and at no other time. "And, lest from those things which have been ex- pressly prohibited in tins decree, any one may infer or believe that we tacitly approve of or permit other usages which Avere wont to be practised in these mis- sions, we absolutely reject this false interpretation, and we explicitly declare the contrary to be our intention. W^e will, also, for just causes knoivn to us, that the present decree should have full force, and should be considered as published, after it has been delivered up by our Chancellor to Father Guy Tachard, Vice- provincial of the French Fathers of the Society of Jesus in India; and we command him, by vh^tue of holy obedience, to transmit four similar copies to the Father- provincial of the province of Malabar, to the Superiors of the Mission at Madura and Mysore, and of the Carnatic, who after two months, and all the other mis- sionaries after three months, from the day in which this decree shall be notitied to Father Tachard, shall be bound to consider It as having been made pubhc, and notified to every one. " Given at Pondlcherry, this day, 23d June 1704." ^ Nothing can more effectually prove the culpability of the Jesuits, and their sacrilegious crime, in encou- raging such abominable Idolatry, than this decree, ema- nating from so high a lioman 'Catholic authority, and from a man Avho reproaches himself for being too lenient I 118 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. towards the fathers. This document is a terrible and overwhelming proof against the order's orthodoxy, and M. Cretineau himself can find no fault with it. Hia only complaint is, that the different historians who have, quoted the prelate's decree, have omitted to speak of the preamble, in which the patriarch declares that he had been assisted in the investigation by tAvo of the Jesuits, from which fact he (M. Cretineau) seems^ anxious that we should infer that the Jesuits them- selves have condemned these practices. This, besides being contradictory to what M. Cretineau has just said, is by no means true in the sense in which he wishes us to receive it. According to Father JN'or- bert's version,* it seems that the patriarch arrived at the truth of the whole matter by making use of a little Jesuitical cunning. He called two of the fathers to a private conference, received them with great kindness and urbanity, praised their zeal, pitied them in their difficult position, and so overcame them, that they frankly confessed every thing to him. Now, their confession was written down by two secretaries, who were concealed in a closet for the j)urpose. The supe- rior, to whom the Jesuits related what had taken place, was indignant and alarmed at their wonderful inge- nuousness, and sent tliem back to the prelate to retract what they had said.j But it was too late. The legate, to give more weight to the decree, begins somewhat maliciously by saying, that he had been helped in his investigation by Fathers Venant Bouchet and Charles Bartolde, ** learned and zealous men, who had resided long in the country, were perfectly acquainted with its manners, lano-uao-e, and relio^ion, and that from * Father Norbert was a Capuchin missionary in India, who presented to Pope Benedict XIV. a book entitled, Memoires Historiques sur les Missions des Indes Orientales. The work is illustrated with authentic documents. It was published with the approbation of all the ecclesias- tical authorities, and never contradicted. iStill, we will not quote Father Norbert as a proper authority, unless what he relates can be corrobo- rated by other proofs. i* Mem. HisL torn. prim. p. 142. MISSIONS. 119 their lips he had got a right iiuJcrstanding regarding the real state of matters, which rendei*ed the vine and branches feeble and barren, from adhering, as they did, rather to the vanities of the heathen than to the real vine, Christ Jesus." What makes us believe in the veracity of Father Norbert in this case is, that the Jesuits never submit- ted to the decree, that they still continued to persist in their old practices, and that neither Father Bouchet nor Bartolde was punished or dismissed, one or other of which would most certainly have taken place had they deliberately and openly denounced these diaboli- cal practices. On the contrary. Father Bouchet was one of the two Jesuits who Avere sent to Rome to get the decree abrogated. The Jesuits, however, did their utmost to parry the blow. Faithful to an essential rule of Jesuitical cunning, they at first feigned to submit, only entreat- ing the patriarch to suspend for a time the censures attached to the non-execution of the decree, which the good prelate granted for three years, hoj^ing that they would obey, and abolish these abominations gradually. But they were far from intending to do such a thing. On the contrary, they, as we have already said, immedi- ately despatched two Jesuits to Rome, for the purpose of getting the patriarch's decree abrogated by the Holy See. Father Tachard, the vice-provincial of the India missions, thought that it would perhaps make a great impression in Rome if, to the opinion of the legate De Tournon they could oppose the opinion, not only of all the Jesuits residing in India, but also of the other priests along the ^lalabar coast. With this end in view, he sent many emissaries round with a sort of circular containing a number of questions, to which he solicited answers, and these, as might be ima- gined, were all found to be according to his wishes. This strange circular is to be found in the eighth and tenth pages of the third volume of the Memoires His- 120 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. toriques. Did not subsequent facts and the whole conduct of the Jesuits render it credible, we should have hesitated to insert it as an historical truth, so strange does the document appear to us. Here it is: — *' I. Is the frequent use of ashes (burnt cow's dung) necessary for the Christians of these missions 1 They answered in the affirmative. " II. As the Pariahs are looked upon in a civil light as so despicable that it is' almost impossible to describe how far the prejudice is carried against them, ought they to assemble in the same place, or in the same church, with other Christians of a higher caste? They ansiuered in the negative. " III. Are the missionaries obliged to enter into the houses of the Pariahs to give them spiritual succour, while there are other means of arriving at the same end, as is remarked elsewhere? They answered in the negative. " IV. Ought we, in the said missions, to employ spittle in conferring the sacrament of baptism 1 They answered in the negative. " V. Ought we to forbid the Christians to celebrate those brilliant and joyous fetes which are given by parents when their young daughters ' ont pour la pre- miere fois la maladie des mois?' They answered in the negative. " VI. Ought we to forbid the custom observed at marriages of breaking the cocoa-nut ? They answered in the negative. " VII. Ought the wives of the Christians to be obliged to change their I'aly or nuptial cord ? They answered in the negative.'^ And he, Father Tachard, was not content with the mere signature ; he wanted, also, a solemn oath — " I, John Venant Bouchct, priest of the Society of Jesus, and Superior of the Carnatic Mission, do testify and swear, on my faith as priest, that the observance of the rites, as set forth in the preceding answers, is MISSIONS. 121 of the greatest necessity to these missions, as well for tlicir preservation as for the conversion of tlie heathen. Further, it appears to me, tliat tlie introduction of any other usage contrary to these, would be attended WITH EVIDENT DANGER TO THE SALVATION OP THE SOULS OP THE NEOPHYTES. Thus I answor the reverend father superior general, Avho orders me to send him my opinion as to these rites, and to confirm it hy an oath, for assurance and faith of which I here sign my name. Signed, Nov. 3, 1704, in the Mission of the Carnatic. Jean Venant Bouchet." Fathers Peter Mauduit, Phihp de la Fontaine, Peter de la Lane, and Gilbert le Petit took the same oath, and attested it by their signatures, and after like fashion swore all the Portuguese Jesuits in Madura and Mysore. Whilst two Jesuits were dispatched to Home with this document, F. Tachard set another battery at work. The Bishops of Goa and of St Thomas were creatures of the Jesuits, and altogether devoted to their interest. At the instigation of the fathers, they, respectively, published an ordinance, by which, on their own autho- rity, they annulled the decree of the legate, under the specious pretext that they were not satisfied that this prelate's power and authority were sufficient to enact it. The Bishop of Goa, to whom the Pope had sent De Tournon as his representative, to whom he had grant- ed full and unlimited power, went still further, and had the impudence to write to the Pope, telling him that he, the bishop, had annulled the decree of the patriarch, not knowing that he had power to publish it. The Pope was highly incensed, both against the bishops and Jesuits, and on the 4th January 1707 he fulminated a brief against the bishop's declaration regarding De Tournon's decree, giving his full sanction to the legate's decision in all its parts. At the same time he wrote a terrible letter of admonition to the 122 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. Bishop of Goa, reproaching him for his impudence, and threatening to depose him. One would now, perhaps, imagine that the Jesuits are going to acquiesce in these ordinances, which, ift fact, are merely directed to abohsh Pagan superstition, too abominable even in the eyes of a Popish pre- late. Doubtless, these champions of Rome, these de- vout servants of the Holy See, to which they are bound by a special vow, are going to yield implicit obedience to the supreme head of their Church. Far from it. On the contrar}^ the Jesuits added per- jury to disobedience, and uttered falsehoods so bold and so barefaced, as Jesuits alone are capable of* Fathers Bouchet and Lainez were unsuccessful in their mission to Rome. Before they had even reached the capital, the decree of the legate had been confirmed by a decree from the General Inquisition, dated 6th January 1706. The Pope received them very coldly; and while they were in Rome, he published his brief against the Bishops of Goa and St Thomas, and con- firmed the ordinances of the patriarch. Well I can it be behoved — would it be credited, that there could be found two men, even among these Jesuits, so lost to all sentiments of probity and honour, as to declare on their return that the Pope had received them with the greatest kindness, and that the decree of the legate De Tournon had been abrogated ! Great was the astonish- ment of the missionaries of the other orders, and of some few Christians who viewed with abhorrence so much idolatry as was introduced into the religion of Christ. But after the first moment of surprise was over, they began to doubt the veracity of the Jesuits' report, and sent a memorial to Rome to ascertain the whole truth. The Jesuits attempted to intercept this ; but the messenger with great diflficulty escaped an ambush that had been laid for him near Milan, and at length arrived at Rome. We shall say nothing MISSIONS. 123 regarding the indignation of Pope Clement XL on hear- ing this. We sliall only report part of his brief, which removes all doubt regarding the guilt of the Jesuits : — " To the Bishop of St Thomas of MeUapar, Pope Clement XI. tvisheth health, ^^c. *' We have learned with the greatest sorrow, that it has been divulged in your country (India) that wc have nullified and abrogated the ordinances contained in a decree of our venerable brother, Cardinal de Tour- non, dated 23d June 1704, Pondicherry, whither he had gone on his way to China ; and that we have, moreover, permitted and approved of those rites and ceremonies which in the aforesaid decree are declared to be in- fected with superstition. Ardently wishing, that in a matter of such importance, not only you, but by your care all the other bishops and missionaries, should know the truth, we have thought proper to send to you the joint documents,* authenticated by an aposto- lical notary, and by the seal of the General Inquisition ; and we beg of the princes of the apostles, &c. " Bome, Sej^t. 17, 1712." Before we proceed further in our narrative, we must go back some few years, and resume the history of the Patriarch de Tournon, who, after having pub- lished his decree at Pondicherry, proceeded to China, where he arrived in 1705. The Jesuits were already there. Before attempting to penetrate into this vast empire, they had carefully studied the habits of that (comparatively) scientific and learned people ; and, to succeed in their enterprise, they resolved upon flatter- ing the national prejudices, as well as instructing the natives in the sciences and arts. Towards the end of the sixteenth century, Father Ricci made his first * The decree of the Inquisition of 1706, and his own of 1707, approving and confirming De Tournon's decree. 124 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. entrance into China, and received a very friendly wel- come, because he was an able mathematician, and could repeat from memory the most important passages of Confucius. The emperor esteemed him much for a clock which struck the hours, and which had been made pur- posely for him by the Jesuit ; and still more for a map, far superior to anything the Chinese had attempted in that department of knowledge.* But from their too great desire to please the Chinese, the Jesuits did here as they had already done in Madura — they allowed the Christian religion to be contaminated with idolatrous practices, and adapted themselves to all the manners of the Chinese. Ranke says that llicci died in 1610, not by excess of labour merely, but more especially by the many visits, the long fastings, and all the other duties of Chinese society and etiquette.* The first step of the Patriarch de Tournon, on enter- ing the Chinese Empire, was to summon all the mis- sionaries and priests he was able, to Canton, and to declare to them that he was determined to tolerate no idolatrous superstition whatever. In consequence, he commanded them to remove all idolatrous emblems from their churches. The Chinese Jesuits seem to have shewn more of the hypocrite than those of Ma- dura had done. They manifested no opposition what- ever to the commands of the patriarch, and obtained for him a very kind reception from the Emperor Thang-hi. But he enjoyed the imperial favour for a very short time indeed. The Jesuits secretly stirred up the emperor against him, by representing to him that the legate despised the Chinese, their sovereign, and their religion, and that he was the instigator and adviser of the Bishop of Conon, who was apostohc- vicar in the province of Foukin, and who had pro- hibited some of the heathen superstitions, in compliance with the patriarch's desire. The emperor, indignant * Ranke's Hist, of the Popes, vol. ii. p. 230. Eng. trans. * Ibid. MISSIONS. 125 at this, by a decree in August 1706, banished the legate from his dominions, and by a subsequent one, tlie Bishop of Conon.* The Jesuits, these diabohcal sons of liypocr-isy, exulting in their hearts at the defeat of their enemies, had the impudence — -we should say, the cruelty — to insult their grief by a letter full of false condolences and tears, which they sent to De Tournon, while still in Nankin. However, it does not seem that the prelate was the dupe of their arts, as may be perceived from the following noble and pathetic answer to the fathers of the Society residing at Fekin : — " We have received, reverend fathers, in a letter of your reverences, full of grief, the decree of the 16th December 1706, against the most illustrious Bishop of Conon and others You say that this event causes you grief and affliction. Would to God that your affliction would lead you to repentance ! I should re- joice at it, because it would be acceptable to God, and might be the means of your salvation. "Night and day I shed tears before God, not less for the distressed state of the mission, than on account of those u'Jio are the causes of its ajjliction ; for, if I kneiu not the cause of the evil, and the authors of it, I might endure all more cheerfully. The Holy See has condemned your practices ; but much more to be detested is that unrestrained licence tvith which you try to bury your shame under the ruins of the mission. You have not lent your ears to salutary counsel ; and now you betake yourselves to means that cause horror (modo ad horrenda confugitis). " What shall I say ? Wo is me ! The cause has * Maigrot. "We do not iu the least wish to diminish the merit and the good intention of these two prelates, "We even believe that M. de Tour- non was an excellent man. We only wish to observe that both he and Maigrot were Frenchmen ; that very many of the French prelates always evinced great enmity towards the Jesuits, and that this, perhaps, had £ome influence in stimulating their zeal for the purity of the Christian religion. 126 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. been determined, but the error continues ; the mission will be destroyed sooner than it can be reformed. " However, your reverences are not in earnest, but merely jesting {ludiint non dolent reverentice vestrcB), when you represent tlie emperor as being angry with you — the emperor who does not act but according to your wishes. He would assuredly be angry if he knew (God forbid!) what injuries you have caused to his glory What faith can I place upon those who in all their intercourse with me have used nothing but insidious devices? .... I pray of Him who has re- served revenge for Himself, not to give you the recom- pence you deserve, nor to measure to you with the same measure ye have meted to your neighbour .If you knew the emperor so well as to make you think he deserves the name of Herod, why had you recourse to him ? . . . . Why have you malignantly excited his hatred against an apostoUc legate ? . . . . Would to God that you would repent from your hearts ! — ^Yours, &c. ''Nankin, 17th January 1708." But if the prelate was well acquainted with all the Jesuitical cunning, he did not know the extent of their wickedness. Soon after De Tournon had sent this letter, he was arrested by order of the emperor (we may well suppose at whose instigation), sent to Macao, and delivered up to the Portuguese. The Bishop of Macao, who was another creature of the Jesuits, loaded him with chains, and threw him into prison. ^ It is highly instructive to read the bull of excommunication which Pope Clement XL fulminated against the Bishop of Macao for this deed. He complained that a Papal legate had been arrested, " not by pagans, but by Christian magistrates and officers, who, forgetful of his sacred character, of his dignity, &c., had dared to lay their hands upon him, and to make him endure such indignities and tortures that the heathen themselves were horror-struck — ij^sis exhorrescentihus ethnicis,'^ MISSIONS. 127 In the same bull the Pope lets us know that De Toiirnon, for certain causes, had been subjected to the ecclesiastical censures of the Church, the College, and Seminary of the Jesuits, which leaves no doubt as to the authors of the capture and ill treatment of the prelate, who was used like the worst of criminals, all ta gratify the revenge of the Jesuits. To console De Tournon for all these hardships, Clemens bestowed upon him the cardinal's hat ; but, alas ! the prisoner did not rejoice long in this high honour. His life was near a close. The ill treatment, and, as many say, the fastings, which he endured, brought his troubles to an end. He died in 1710, at the age of forty-two. Oh ! one is almost tempted to implore the vengeance of God upon such sacrilegious men, who, calling themselves Christians — nay, most perfect Christians — condemned to exquisite tortures, and to a most miserable and pro^. tracted death, this noble-hearted man, for attempting to purify the religion of Christ from pagan supersti^ tion. So perished De Tournon, a man certainly one of the best prelates of the Romish Church. Clement XL eulogised him in a public consistory, and, as we have said, excommunicated the Bishop of Macao. We shall not add a word of observation ; the facts speak clearly for themselves. We shall now resume our narrative about the Malabar rites, and endeavour to bring it to a speedy conclusion ; the facts which we have already reported being more than sufficient to give a very clear idea of the religious teaching of the Jesuits in India, and of their deportment there. Clement XL, in 1719 ; Bene- dict XIIL, in 1727 ; Clement XIL, in 1734 and 1739, pubhshed briefs upon briefs to oblige the Jesuits to submit to the decree of Cardinal de Tournon, but in vain. The Jesuits either refused or eluded obedience to them. And when Clement XIL, in 1739, forced them to take a very stringent oath* to obey the ^ I, N., of the order N., or Society of Jesus, sent, designated as a misr 128 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. decree, every Jesuit took it, but no one observed it; finding a specious excuse for not doing so in that doc- trine of theirs, then in full force, which declares that *' the man who makes an oath witli his mouth, without the consent of his mind, is not obliged to keep the oath, because he had not sworn, but only jested." At last Benedict XIV. resolved to put an end to the contest, by pubUshiog, in 1741, a terrible bull, in which he calls the Jesuits chsobedient, contumacious, .crafty, and reprobate men {inobedientes, contumaces, captiosi, et 2^erditi homines), and in which he made such stringent and undoubted provisions, that it was a difficult matter to evade obeying it; and especially after the Pope, by another brief in the following year, commanded that the brief of 1741 be read every Sab- bath-day in all the houses, churches, and colleges of the Society. The influence of the Jesuits in India now began to decline rapidly. Their Saniassi were discovered to be sionary, to the kiDgdom or province of N. in the East Indies, by the Apostolic See, by my superiors, according to the powers granted to them by the Apostolic See, obeying the precept of our Holy Lord Pope Clement XII., in his Apostolic Letter, issued in the form of a brief, on the 13th day of May 1739, enjoining all the missionaries in the said missions to take an oath that they will faithfully observe the apostolic determination concerning the Malabar rites, according to the tenor of the Apostolic Letter in the form of a brief of the same our Holy Lord, dated 24th August 1734, and beginning Com2)C)'tum deploratumque, well known to me by my reading the whole of that brief, promise that I will obey fully and faithfully, that I will observe it exactly, cntirchj, ahsolutthj, and inviolabUi, and that I will fulfil it without any tergiversation; moreover, that I will instruct the Christians committed to my charge according to the tenor of the said brief, as well in my preaching as in my private ministrations, and especially the catechumens before they shall be bap- tized ; and unless they promise that they will observe the said brief, with its determinations and prohibitions, that I will not baptize them ; further, that I shall take care, with all possible zeal and diligence, that the cere- monies of the heathen be abolished, and these rites practised and retained by the Christians which the Catholic Church had piously decreed. But if at any time (which may Grod forbid !) I should oppose (that brief), €ither in whole or in part, so often do I declare and acknowledge myself subject to the penalties imposed by our Holy Lord, whether in the decree or in the Apostolic Letter, as above, concerning the taking of this oath, in like manner well known to me by reading the whole thereof. Thus, touching tlie Holy Gospels, I promise, vow, and swear, so may God help me, and these God's Holy Gospels ! Signed with my own hand — N." MISSIONS, 129 impostors. The war that bco-an shortly after between France and Eno-land caused still greater damage ; and when their order was abohshed in 1773, the Jesuits had httle or no influence in India. — These are the principal features of the missions in India, properly so called. In Japan, that turbulent and warlike country, the Jesuits adopted a different and more appropriate method to acquire influence among the people. Throw- ing away somewhat of their cunning and pretended sanctity, they espoused the cause of one or other of the various parties who were disputing for power, were cherished, respected, and permitted to preach their religion, if the party they sided with were triumphant ; persecuted, exiled, and put to death if it were van- quished. The hundreds of Jesuits who are represented to us as having perished martyrs for their faith were oftener executed as unsuccessful conspirators. The Japanese were not so bigoted a race as the Indians, and the Bonzes, their priests, were not all-powerful like the Brahmins. The persecutions they exercised against their dangerous rivals, the Jesuits, could not be successful but when the people and the sovereign were off'ended against them, not as missionaries, but as defeated malcontents and conspirators. The Jesuits maintained their ground in Japan with various vicissi- tudes, till they were suppressed. In China, also, they maintained their ground by the same means which opened it for their reception — they conformed themselves to the manners and customs of the people as far as they could, and it appears that they partly succeeded in conquering some of their national pre- judices ; they were at least supported by the higher classes, who held them in much esteem for their learn- ing, and so much respected that some were made mandarins ; and even when the Christians were perse- cuted as dangerous conspirators, the Jesuits were left unmolested. However, we possess few documents, excepting those of the Jesuit historians relating their 130 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. own deeds, whereby to ascertain the real truth regard- ing their condition in that country. The Jesuits assure us that milHons of idolaters were converted by them in all these countries, but their fabulous narrations are contradicted by facts. For, when a statistical account was made in 1760, of all the Christians residing in India and Japan, the num- ber was found to be less than a half of what Xavier alone is said to have converted, and more than one hundred times less than had been accomplished by the united labours of all the Jesuit missionaries. This reminds us of the computation made by a witty person of all the Arabians killed by the French bulletins from 1831 to 1841, which three or four times outnumbered the whole Arabian population. In all these countries the Jesuits derived from their converts great contributions ; but of their traffic more anon. We have thus given an outline of these celebrated missions, and we are sorry that we cannot extend the recital of them any further. A characteristic fact ascertained from an accurate study of their missions is, that the Jesuit missionaries, with the view of domi- neering over these countries, altogether regardless of the interests of the Christian religion, slandered and persecuted all other missionaries, even although they were Roman Catholics. And so they do still. We must further observe, that the Jesuits, these so- called fervent and unexceptionable Roman Catholics, lived for more than fifty years in open rebellion against the chief of their Church — God on earth — the infallible vicegerent of Christ — and committed during that same period as many sacrileges as were the sacerdotal func- tions they performed ; for, since by the non-observance of the Cardinal de Tournon's decree, they incurred a suspension a divinis, which means, suspension from the exercise of their ministry — whatever sacerdotal act they performed, they committed a sacrilege. MISSIONS. 131 But metliinks I hear some one say, do you believe that the court of Home persisted in such a contest be- cause she abhorred such idohitrous practices ? By no means. The Popes fought for their authority, for tlie infalhbihty of their oracles, and not to uphold the purity of the Christian religion. Superstition — idolatry — they like, they encourage, they live by it. Under their eyes such acts of idolatrous abominations are daily committed, that those of India become insig- nificant when compared with them. I beg permission to relate only one, which, if the fact could not be as- certained by any one every year in many of the Italian towns, I fear would not be credited, so very sacrilegious is it. In the httie town of San Lorenzo in Campo,* forty miles distant from Ancona, the fol- lowing procession takes place on the Good Friday of every year. The line of procession extends from the town, through an almost open country, for about a mile and a half, the whole way having been previously prepared for the purpose. On platforms, erected at certain distances, the different stages of our Saviour's passion are represented. On one of them you see the judgment-seat, and Pilate condemning Christ to death ; on another, Christ crowned with thorns; on a third, Christ falling under the load of the cross on his way to Calvary, and so on. Next comes the crucifixion, represented in four different acts. The first exhibits Christ with one of his hands nailed to the cross ; the second, with both his hands nailed; the third, with both hands and feet ; and in the foui'th, our holy Re- deemer is exhibited as expiring, and with his breast pierced by a spear. At the foot of the cross may be seen the three Maries. All these personages chosen to represent our Lord's passion, are picked out from the very dregs of the people, and are paid more or less, according to the uneasiness of the posture which they * I choose to speak of the procession held in this town, because I have there witnessed it myself. 132 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. -> are made to assume. He who personates our Saviour receives the greatest pay, a crown ; while the respec- tive representatives of Pilate and Mary obtain the smallest named, eighteenpence. All these sacri- legous pantomimers are at their post half an hour before the procession begins, and dressed suitably to the character impersonated by each. The mis- creant who hangs upon the cross (we shudder to relate such abominations) has only a belt around his middle, the cross being so constructed as to lessen the diffi- culty of his posture. About an hour and a half after sunset, the priests, in their pontifical robes, issue from the church, accompanied by all the civil authorities, and by a great concourse of citizens dressed in mourn- ing, and carrying lighted torches in their hands. On their way they kneel down before every platform, offer up a prayer, and sing a part of some sacred hymn ! This impious ceremony is performed with be- coming gravity so soon as the priests and the bulk of the procession draw nigh to tlie respective platforms ; but before their arrival, and after their departure, the scene presents a most revolting and disgusting spec- tacle. Many of the lazzaroni go round, laughing and shouting, and address those who impersonate our Saviour and the Virgin, in the most insulting and profane language. You may hear many saying, " Ha, ha ! thou art here, Theresa ! Thou art the Virgin, art thou not ? Ah, ah ! you " — (modesty forbids us to repeat the remainder of the sentence). " Ah I Frances, thou art the Magdalen ! By my troth, it is not long since thou repentedst" — or, "Oh, Paul I Paul ! there is some mistake. Thou oughtest to repre- sent the impenitent robber, and not the Christ, thou arrant thief I " But we must draw a veil over the rest of that infernal scene. So abhorrent is idolatry to the Court of Rome I '^6^ .^.-Z^a^niS THE GENERALS OF THfcJ OKDEK. CHAPTER YIII. 1556-1581. ■ THE SECOND, THIRD, AND FOURTH GENERALS OF THE ORDER. Many were the trials tlie Jesuits had to encounter after the death of Loyola. The moment he expired, the pro- fessed memhers who were at Kome appointed Lainez Vicar-General, although he was at the time dangerously ill, fixing, at the same time, the month of November for the election of the new General. No objection could be raised against the nomination of Lainez, he being without contradiction the most prominent living member of the Society. The difUculties only began when the Vicar-General adjourned the General Con- gregation sine die. Lainez was constrained to take this step because Philip IL of Spain had forbidden any of his subjects to leave his dominions, as he was then at war with the Pope. Since that fatal epoch in which Clement VIL, for the benefit of his family (the Medici), had betrayed the glory and destinies of Italy into the hands of the house of Austria, the unfortunate peninsula (if- we except Venice) became an imperial fief, and the sub- sequent popes the Emperor's chief vassals. Paul IV., although worn out with years, conceived the bold idea of freeing Italy from the Austrian yoke. *' He would sit," says llanke, quoting Xavagero, " for long hours over the black, thick, tiery wine of Naples, his usual drink, and pour forth torrents of stormy eloquence against these schismatics and heretics — accursed of God — that evil generation of Jew and K 134- HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. Moor — that scum of the world, and other titles equally complimentary, which he bestowed with unsparing- liberality on everything Spanish." * And so intense was his hatred against the house of Austria, that he made a strict alliance with the Protestant leader, Albert of Brandenburg, and formed his regiments almost entirely of Protestants, to fight against a Ro- man Catliolic king. "And, as if this were not enough, the Pope, the so-called chief of Christianity, made proposals to Soliman I., the great enemy of the Christian name, to enter mto an alliance with him, in order to destroy the ultra-Roman Catholic and bigoted Philip 11. The Spanish Jesuits thus prevented from going to Rome, the General Congregation, as we have said, was postponed. This began the strife. Private ambition broke forth, and threw the community into great confusion. The revolt was headed by the vio- lent Bobadilla. He prevailed upon Rodriguez, Brouet, and two or three others, to join him in reproaching the tyranny and despotism of Lainez. They pre- tended that he had no right to possess, alone, the su- preme authority, which ought to reside in all the sur- viving founders of the order till a General was elected. Pamphlets were addressed to the Pope, accusing the Vicar-General of entertaining the design to repair to Spain for the purpose of holding the Congregation, and of establishing the seat of the order in that coun- try. The Pope, upon this announcement, became furious ; he thundered imprecations against the So- ciety ; and when Lainez presented himself to have an audience, he refused to see him, and ordered him to give up, within three days, all the constitutions and ordinances of the Society, with the name of every professed member resident at Rome, and forbade any one of the latter to leave the capital. The storm, it is evident, was gaining strength, but Lainez was * Eanke's Uist. of the Popes, vol. i. p. 217. (Eng. trans.) THE GENERALS OF THE ORDER. 135 an expert and skilful pilot. Inferior to Loyola in natural <>ifts, in firmness of character, in boldness and energy, he was his superior in cunning, in reflection, in patience. Ignatius, the imperious ex-ofliccr, in the same circumstances, would have scourged Boba- dilla, dismissed some rioters from the Society, and obliged the others to fall at his feet and ask forgive- ness. The politician Lainez avoided combat in an open field, hoping to gain the battle by stratagem. He quietly and stealthily got possession of all Bobadilla's writings on the subject,* learned from them what were his enemies' projects, prepared his means of defence accordingly, detached Rodriguez and Brouet from Bobadilla's interest by caresses and promises, sent the latter to reform a convent of Franciscan friars at Fo- ligno, and condemned Gorgodanuz, the most pertina- cious of the rebels, to say one pater noster and one ave Maria ! When a cardinal related this fact to the Pope, Paul crossed himself as at something strange and prodigious.f Sacchini pretends that the Pope made the sign of the cross, being filled with wonder at the blind- ness of the rebels ; but assuredly Paul was struck at the supremely cunning pohcy of the Vicar-General.J The revolt was, however, subdued, the Pope ap- peased, and soon after the war was also brought to an end. The Duke of Alva, that sanguinary and ferocious * The passage of Saccliini is most instructive upon this point. " Lainez," says he, " did not write a shigle word on the matter ; on the contrary, BohadilUx and Gorgodanuz did nothing else than issue pamphlet upon pamphlet, but it always happened l)y the Divine will (Divino tamen consilio Jicb(it), that their writings fell into the Yicar-General's hand. Sometimes they (Lainez's enemies) imprudently drt)pped the writings in the street, sometimes they negligently left them in their rooms unlocked, at other times they were delivered up to Lainez by the very persons to whom they were addressed. " In other words, Lainez, by the most ignoble proceedings and abject espionage, made himself master of his enemies* writings ; yet the Jesuit historian says " that it happened JJivino consilio." I wonder he docs not add, ad majorem Dei gloriam. t Sach. lib. i. § 86. X The act of makiiig the sign of the cross is very significant. It is still the custom in Italy tor the common people to do so on hearing of some great aud unwonted crime, or of some extraordiuaxy event. 136 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. butcher of the Belgians, conqueror of the Papal troops and of the allied armies, entered vanquished Rome, craved for an audience of the Pontiff, threw himself at his feet, and implored his forgiveness for having dared to fight against him. What a strange piece of contra- diction is man ! The peace established between King Philip and the Pope made a free passage between Italy and Spain. The fathers arrived in Rome, and the General Con- gregation met on the 19th of June 1558. On the 2d of July, while the fathers were on the point of proceeding to the election of the General, Cardinal Pacheco presented himself to the conclave in the Pope's name, and after some trifling compliments, said he was ready to act as secretary and teller of the ballot. We cannot imagine the reason Paul had for taking such a precaution, unless he was afraid lest Bor- gia should be elected General — Borgia, the companion, tlie friend of Charles V. and of his son. The Cardinal, however, took his place among the fathers, and pre- pared to act as secretary. The schedules, which had been put into an urn by each elector, having been with- drawn and examined, the Cardinal announced that Lainez was elected by a majority of 13 to 7. He was in consecpience proclaimed General, and the Jesuits went in one after another to pay him homage, and to kiss his hands on their bended knees. The Congregation then proceeded to dispose of other business. There was first of all a discussion as to whether or not the Constitutions should be modified. This was answered in the negative. It must be ob- served, however, that Lainez, in the margin of the 16th chapter of the fourth part of the Constitutions, where it is prescribed that in the School of Theology the scholastic doctrine of St Thomas shall be explained, had inserted a declaration, " that if any book of the- ology could be found more adapted to the times, it shall be taught." An liistorian very judiciously re- THE GENERALS OF THE ORDER. 137 marks, tliat Lalncz appears already to have formed the project of estal)llsliing a new doctrine, wliich was propounded by Molina soon after. The original ma- nuscripts, which were written by Ignatius in Spanish, were next confronted with the Latin version by Po- lancus. The latter was approved of, and ordered to be printed by the press of the Roman College, and this was immediately executed — the first edition of the Constitutions bearing the date of 1558. But whilst in the middle of their legislative labours, they were startled by the arrival of Cardinal Trani, Avho announced to them that it was the Pope's pleasure that they should perform the choral office, like all the other monastic orders, and that the office of General should only last for three years. The Jesuits remon- strated, and spoke of their Constitutions, and of the papal bull that had been issued in their favour. The cardinal answered that the commands of his holiness must be obeyed. The Jesuits got up a memorial, and Lainez and Salmeron went to present it to the Pope. Paul received them freezingly; and at the first obser- vation of Lainez, exclaimed, *' You are contumacious persons. In this matter you act like heretics, and I fear lest some sectarian should be seen issuing from your company. But we are firmly resolved to tole- rate such disorders no longer."* This was the second time that Lainez had been abruptly and arrogantly apostrophised by Paul. When he visited him after he had been chosen Vicar-General, he received the volleys of insult which the Pope poured upon him with the greatest submission. But it seems that his patience at this time gave way, and he boldly answered, that he had not sought of his own accord to be made General, that he was ready to give up the office at that very moment, but that his holiness knew well that the fathers, in pro- ceeding to the election, had intended to name a General for life, according to the rules of theu' Constitutions; * Cret. vol. i. p. 369. 138 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. for the remainder, " we teach," added he, " we preach against the heretics; on that account they hate us, and call us Papists. Wherefore your holiness ought to give us your protection, and evince toward us the yearnings of a father, rather than find fault with us."* This was the substance of Lainez's answer, shaped by the Jesuit his- torians into a more humble and respectful form. But the irascible and obstinate Paul was unmoved by his appeal. He told Lainez that he would not accept of his resignation, that his orders must be executed, and then dismissed him and his brother envoy. Paul was fierce and vindictive, and not to be trifled with. He had accused his own nephews in a full consistory, and banished them and their families from Rome. His greatest desire was to see the Inquisition at work. "Ranke says that he seldom interfered in other matters, but was never so much as once absent from presiding every Thursday over the Congregation of the Inqui- sition. Having such a man to deal with, the Jesuits w^ere forced to submit to perform the choral oflice, con- soling themselves with the hope that the next Pope would be more lenient toward them ; nor were they disappointed. Medici, the successor of Paul, who took the name of Pius IV., shewed himself more favourable to the Company of Jesus; not for love of them, but out of hatred to his predecessor, who had been his enemy.t Although he was of a mild and cheerful dis- position, he made a fearful example of the nephews of the deceased pontiff. Their crimes assuredly deserved punishment ; but as it was not in the disposition of Pius to be cruel or revengeful, he was doubtless insti- gated to act in this case with unwonted rigour. But who his instigators were, or whence he derived the * Cret. vol. i. p 369. + Paul IV. had hardly expired, when the Romans, highly incensed at the miseries caused by the war, and at the severities of the" Inquisition, rose in a body, and with execrations and curses pulled down the statue which haxl been erected to him in the beginning of his Pontificate, broke into the Inquisition, and destroyed every thing in it. THE GENERALS OP THE ORDER. 139 maliojnant and rctributory inspiration on which he acted, it would be difficult to determine. We only know that the Jesuits had been persecuted by the Caraffas from the beginning, and that '* Pius IV.," as Cretineau affirms, " shewed himself from first to last to be more fiivourable to the Jesuits than even Paul III. had been."* The Jesuits, it is certain, had then great influence at the Court of Rome. Cardinal Car rafl'a and the Duke of Palliano, nephews to the late Pope, along with two of their relatives, were condemned to death. They were denied their own confessors, and Jesuits were called in as their spiritual comforters. Cre- tineau says, that the Duke of Palliano asked Lainez to send him a Jesuit confessor, while the detractors of the order think that they intruded themselves, to wit- ness the agony and death of their enemies. We let our readers judge for themselves. The unfortunate culprits were executed during the night of the 6th and 7th August 1561. The cardinal never for a mo- ment suspected that they would execute the sentence upon him. He tried to delay his execution by linger- ing with his confessor. " Make an end, my lord, we have other business on hand," exclaimed an officer of police. A few minutes longer, and the cardinal was a corpse. The Society now seemed upon the whole to be in a prosperous condition, and increased rapidly. Lainez did not exercise his authority with an iron hand, like Loyola, but he had great tact, and knew how to govern a community by cunning policy. Some mishaps, how- ever, befel the Society. In Grenada, a Jesuit confessor refused to give absolution to a woman till she had re- vealed the name of her accomplice in the sin which she had confessed. This made a great noise. But the Jesuits, supported by the archbishop and the Inquisition, braved the opinion of the public so far, that one of them, John Paminius, declared from the pulpit, as an established * Cret. vol. i. p. 386. 140 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. doctrine, " that although in general no sin of the most holy confession ought to be revealed, there may, never- theless, be circumstances in which the confessor may- oblige the penitent to discover the accompUce of the sin, or to give up the names of the persons infected with heresy, permitting him (the confessor) to denounce the person or persons to the competent tribunal."* This of itself shews clearly enough the inviolability of the secret of confession, yet we must say that these gentlemen have made great progress since, for now, without asking the penitent's permission, they betake themselves at once to the officers of pohce.f However, it is only the sins committed against rehgion or politics which never fail to be disclosed ; the ruffian and assassin need not apprehend that their crimes will be brought to light. The next disaster the order encountered was the dis- pleasure evinced by Philip II. against Francis Borgia, the ex-Duke of Candia, one of his father's testamentary executors, and who had a very great influence over the other sons of Charles V. % The Inquisition, that faithful satellite of the Spanish crown, to please the king, condemned two ascetic books by that same Borgia, who, a few years afterwards, was numbered among the saints who were worshipped; he himself narrowly escaped being captured as a heretic. Borgia bore all this with true Christian humility, as well as some opposition shewn him by his own subordinates, and * Saccli. lib. ii. § 131. t I may here repeat what I have already said in one or two of my for- mer publications. 'When we in 1848 took possession of the Convent of La Minerva, the seat of the Inquisition in Rome, we found among other things a packet of autograph letters, written by the priests of different countries, revealing various confessions to the Inquisitor. And it was a very curious thing that the first letter which fell into the hands of Mr j\Iontecchi, a secretary of State, was from the capuchin of the State Prison, in which he was a prisoner a few years before. These letters, which are now out of our reach, are, however, safe, and will, I hope, be soon published. X The Jesuits, in this circumstance, were again forbidden to leave Spain, or to send any money out of the country. THE GENERALS OF THE ORDER. 141 was consoled by the Pope, who called him to Rome, and received him with the utmost kindness. Again, in Montepulciano, a town fifteen miles distant from Sienna, the Jesuits were accused of immoraUty. One was charged with having pressed a woman to go home with him ; another, of having issued from a brothel; a tliird, of having offered violence to a fe- male; and Father Gombar, the Superior himself, of having iUicit intercourse with several ladies, and par- ticularly with one whose love-letters were found in his possession. All these were incontestible facts, proved by sworn witnesses. Now listen to the im- perturbable impudence of the historian Sacchini upon this matter. The reason he assigns for all these calum- nies is, that " the Jesuits confessed almost all the women in Montepulciano ; that they induced many young ladies to consecrate themselves to God in monasteries, and married females to be chaste and faithful wives. Hence arose the grief and fury {dolor et furor) of those whose passions could no longer find aliment. They, therefore, plotted the expulsion of the fathers." What a set of monsters were these citizens of Montepul- ciano ! But let us proceed. "The man accused of having solicited a woman to go with him, was a simpleton, who, meeting a female on the road, was asked where he was going, and had the imprudence to answer. It was an enemy of the order, dressed as a Jesuit, who was seen to leave the brothel. Gombar, the Rector, did indeed entertain himself rather long in the confessional, but then he was engaged in spiritual conversation with the ladies. Among other penitents, he had two sisters belonging to a very high family ; and the father, not being able to undertake the cliarge of both, was forced to abandon one of them. The one that was dismissed, out of spite and jealousy, accused the other to her brother, who forbade her to confess any longer to Gombar. The letters were falsified, and every other ac- 142 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. cusation was mere calumny." * After such justifications as these, few will doubt that the Jesuits were guilty. Gombar, at any rate, frightened by the public rumour, fled, and Lainez dismissed him from the Society, in spite of all his entreaties. The town-council stopped paying the Jesuit teacher the allowed salary. The College was deserted — no alms ! — no friends ! Poor Jesuits ! they were starving. And Lainez, after trying in vain to regain for the College its former good name, by sending thither some of the best and most conspi- cuous of the Jesuits, suppressed it altogether in 1563. Let them after this proclaim their innocence ! Accusations of a like nature were brought against the Jesuits in Venice, and were corroborated by the Patriarch. Some of the senators proposed to expel the Jesuits from the states of the republic, or to make them submit to the Patriarch's authority ; but the authority and interference of the Pope brought mat- ters ao'ain to an accommodation. Further, all the Jesuits in the CoUeo-e of Milan were accused of unnatural crimes. Here, also, the facts were pretty well established. Cretineau himself is forced to admit the occurrence of individual crimes; but, although a certain bishop brought forth many young men as witnesses against the Jesuits, yet the cardinal, chosen by the Pope to examine into the case, absolved them. Meanwhile, at the end of three years, Lainez thought it would be politic on his part to appear anxious to re- sign the office. Having consulted his brethren on the subject, they declared that the office should be perpetual. We shall here give Bobadilla's answer, on account of its originality. The formerly fierce opponent of Lainez writes to him thus from Ragusa : — "My opinion is that the office of General should be perpetual, according to the letter of our Constitutions. Let, then, your reverence keep a firm hold of it for a hundred years, * Sacch. lib. V. § 107-10. THE GENERALS OF THE ORDER. 143 and if after your death you should return to hfe, my advice is that the oiiice be again conferred upon you, that you may keep it to the day of judgment. And 1 beg of you, for the love of Christ, to keep it, and be of good cheer," &:c. Lainez being now assured of the perpetuity of his office, leaving Salmeron to manage the affairs of Italy, set out for France, in order that he might take part in the famous colloquy or conferences of Poissy, of which more hereafter. From France he passed into Bel- gium, visited the Ehenish provinces, apart of Germany, and crossed the Tyrol on his way to Trent. In all these places Lainez made good use of both his name and authority, endeavoured to acquire new protectors for his order, to increase its revenues, to estabhsh new houses, never forgetting, either in his sermons or controversies, to throw out slanders, and vehemently to attack the Protestant cause. He at last arrived in Trent for the re-opening of the Coun- cil. This famous assembly, which so solemnly conse- crated some of the greatest errors that had ever been given to the world — which interposed an impassable barrier between Christian and Christian, but which, nevertheless, the Court of Rome calls most holy, re- opened on the 18th January 1562. This last Council had been called for by Luther, by the Protestants, and all those princes who were desirous to check the despotism of the Court of Rome, and to give peace to the Church by mutual concessions between the op- posing parties. Different successive Popes refused this as lon^ as possible, dreading the total ruin of their authority. Yet this assembly, as Fra Paolo, its his- torian, judiciously remarks, had a result quite opposite from that which was expected. The Potestants took no part in the Council's proceedings, the authority of the Popes was further extended and more firmly established than ever, and the hope of heaUng the schism in the Church was altogether blasted. 144 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. The Council commenced its sittings in Trent on the 13th December 1545, was thence transferred to Bolog- na in March 1547, against the will of the German and Spanish prelates, who continued at Trent, was inter- rupted on the 2d of June of the same year, re-opened in May 1551, was again suspended in April 1552, re- opened in Trent, as we have said, in January 1562, and finally closed on the 3d of December 1563. The Jesuits boast of having had the greatest share in drawing up the decrees and fixing the dogmas as they now stand. Salmeron, Brouet, and especially Lainez, exercised great influence; and, if there were any glory in upholding erroneous doctrines and the tyrannical authority of the Pope, it most undoubtedly belonged to them, nor are we disposed to envy them the dis- tinction they thus gained.* Lainez left Trent for Rome, and his whole journey through Italy was one continued triumph. But, alas ! poor Lainez had not long to taste the sweetness of adulation. His health, which had always been deli- cate, became worse and w^orse. He fell seriously ill, lingered in his bed for two or three months, and breathed his last on the 19th of January 1565, at the age of 53. Lainez was under the middle size, had a fair com- plexion and cheerfnl countenance, with large bright eyes, but his appearance was very unprepossessing. He was gifted with a great facility of elocution, and a prodigious memory. He left many manuscripts be- hind him ; some were unfinished, and almost all are unintelligible, as his handwriting was execrable. * Lainez, among other exploits, attacked with great violence the autho- rity of the bishops, and would have had them to be mere tools in the hands of the Pope. He maintained on another occasion that, "as the slave possesses less authority than his master, in like manner the Council could not undertake a reformation upon the matter, the annates being of Divine right." Again, "as Jesus Christ has the power to dispense from all sorts of laws, the Pope, his vicar, has the same authority, since THE Judge and his Lieutenant have the same tribunal," and other similar blasphemies. See Fra Paolo Sarpi upon the Congregations, 20th October 1562, and 16th June 1563. THE GENERALS OF THE ORDER. 145 The day after Laincz expired, the Jesuits in Rome named Francis Borp;ia Vicar-General, until a now election should take place. Borgia is one of the saints and glories of the order, and his history is really a most extraordinary one. He was descended from that Alexander VI. who united in his person all the crimes of past and future Popes, and was a stain to humanity itself. Our Borgia was, however, a man of the strictest honesty, and of unhlemished honour. He was hand- some, brave, the companion in arms and friend of Charles V., was Duke of Candia and Vice-king of Barcelona. In 154G, when he was only 36 years of age, his duchess died. The sight of her beautiful face, altered and disfigured by death, made such a powerful impression upon his mind, that he from that moment resolved to give up all worldly thoughts, and consecrate himself (as the phrase goes) to God. He chose the Society of the Jesuits as the safest retreat, and wrote to Loyola for the purpose. Ignatius' an- swer begins thus : — " The resolution you have taken, most illustrious lord, gives me much joy. Let the angels and saints in heaven give thanks to God, for we on this earth cannot be sufficiently grateful to God for the great honour He bestows upon His httle Society in calling you to join it."* This man had nine children, some in infancy, and all under age,, whom he left in the wide world unpro- tected, to enter the Society. And the angels and saints ought to praise God for this! Alas for the moral blindness of perverted human nature ! Loyola again wrote to him, saying that he accepted him as his brother, but that, before he could be admitted into the noviciate, he must settle all his temporal affairs, and have nothing more to do with the world ; meanwhile, until he was ready to enter the Society, to keep his intention a secret. Borgia was admitted into the house of probation in 1548, and from that moment he * See the whole letter in Cret. vol. i. p. 294. 146 HISTORY OP THE JESUITS. became a bigoted fanatic, whose greatest happiness consisted in lacerating his body. Macaulay says,_ in an article in the Edinburgh Revieiu, " that it is making penitence with him to hsten to the recital of his flagel- lations and his self-inflicted punishments of all kinds." He had so destroyed his constitution by this absurd way of trying to please God, that he never had a single day of good health, and was even once threat- ened with a gangrene over his whole body. Such was the man appomted Vicar-General, and afterwards chief of the order. He had no wish for the honour, con- sidered the ofiice a burden, and we believe he was sincere in his humility. The first battle he had to fight was against the Holy See itself. Almost contempo- raneously with his nomination, a Dominican friar as- cended the Papal throne, under the name of Pius V. A more bigoted, fanatical, cruel, and sanguinary man never existed. Brought up under the wing of the Inquisition, he contracted a sort of bhnd passion for that bloody tribunal, and never felt so happy as when he heard of some barbarous cruelties inflicted upon the heretics, or when some hecatombs of these accursed enemies of Popery were sacrificed at the altar of his revenge, or when some new instrument of torture was invented against them. Suffice it to say, that when he sent his general, Santafiore, to fight against the French Protestants, he commanded him in the most peremptory manner to take no Huguenot prisoner, but to put them one and all to the sword ; and because San- tafiore had not rigorously executed his commands, he reproached him in the most bitter manner. And when that monster of cruelty, the Duke of Alva, had spread death and desolation over the entire of the Nether- lands, 18,000 of the inhabitants of which he boasted of having delivered up into the hands of the executioners, so pleased was Pius with his deeds, that he sent him the consecrated hat and sword, as marks of his approval.* Can this, then, be the rehgion of Christ ? Is it for a * Ranke, Hist, of the Popes, vol. i. p. 286. THE GENERALS OF THE OHDER. 147 moment possible that this should be the true religion, this which erects upon its altars the statues of such monsters of iniquity, and impiously calls them saints, to be worshipped in place of God the Lord ? And among the greatest of these modern saintships stands forth the name of Pius V. ! This Pope, a most rigorous observer of all the monastic and superstitious cere- monies, gave the Jesuits to understand that they should undertake the choral hours as prescribed by Pius IV., and that no Jesuit should be ordained a priest before he had pronounced the four vows. We shall not repeat the conversation wdiich took place between the Holy Father and the saint Borgia, as given by Sacchini and other historians ; we shall only give some extracts of the bold and eloquent memorials which the Jesuits presented to the Pope on this occasion. After reminding his holiness, in a gentle ^^et ad- monitory manner, that their Constitutions had been approved of by three popes, and that they could not be altered without good reasons for so doing, they proceed to state, " that their Society had been established to repel the impious efforts of the heretics, to oppose the infernal tricks which had been had recourse to to ex- tino'uish the light of the Catholic truth, and to resist the barbarous enemies of Christ, who were besiegmg the holy edifice of the Church, undermining it insen- sibly ; that, in order that they might be able to resist this invasion effectually, their holy father Ignatius thought that it would be better for them to leave singing to others And did not the same causes still exist, they inquired, for the exercise of their ac- tivity, as the signs of the times unmistakably demon- strated? They submitted that a vast conflagration was devouring France ; that Germany was in a great measure consumed ; that England was one heap of ashes ; that Belgium was falling into ruins ; that Poland smoked in every quarter ; that the flames were already blazing around the confines of Italy And they 148 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. should lose their time in undertaking the choral hours."* On this point the Pope yielded; but, on the other, he was inflexible, saying, that it was requi- site that at least as much learning and virtue should be in a priest as in a Jesuit, even of the class of the Pro- fessed. This Sacchini denies, affirming that it is more difficult to make one good Jesuit than a thousand priests. The Jesuits, wlio stood in need of priests, but would not enlarge the aristocratic class of the Professed members, who alone take the four vows, obtained as usual their end by exercising a little cunning. They presented themselves for ordination, not as Jesuits, but as secular ecclesiastics. We pass over a number of interesting incidents which happened under the generalship of Borgia down to the year 1571, when we find the General, though in very ill health, leaving Rome for Spain and France, for the purpose of soliciting assistance from the respective monarchs of these countries to aid the Venetians in a war against the Turks, who were then threatening to pour their savage hordes over Europe. Philip II. joined the league, and his vessels gained some of the laurels which were won at that ever memorable battle fought at Lepanto on the 7th Octo- ber 1571, when the descendants of the Prophet suffered a defeat from which they have never recovered. Before Borgia entered Spain, the Inquisition, aware that PhiHp was on the best terms both with him and the Pope, published, with the highest eulogium, those same works which she had proscribed nine years before when the king frowned upon Father Borgia — a most striking example of the servility of the Spanish Inquisition to the crown. From Spain, Borgia proceeded to Portugal, thence to France, at the very time when Catherine and Charles were plunged in continual feasts and pleasures, the forerunner of what they expected to enjoy on Saint Bartholomew's eve. But we have no reason to believe that he was at all privy to the * See Cret. vol. ii. pp. 25 and following. THE GENERALS OF THE ORDER. 149 plot. It is not at all likciy that the ciinnln*^ and circumspect Catherine of Mcdicis would be so foolish as to confide so important a secret to such a weak- brained man. Borgia witnessed the massacre in the southern provinces of France, when on his return to liome, where he arrived on the 28tli of September 1572, and where he expired three days after. So ended this extraordinary man, whom the Church of Home has enrolled among the saints. Would to God that none of them were worse than he ! At the opening of the fourth General Congregation the Pope inquired of the Jesuit deputies, Avho had gone up according to custom to ask his benison, " How many votes each nation had?" The answer was that " Spain had more votes than all the rest put together." " And from what nation or nations has the General been hitherto chosen 1 " " From Spain," was the reply. " Well," resumed Gregory XIIL, " it would be but just, then, that you should, for this once, elect one from some other nation." The deputies remon- strated ; " but," said the Pope, " Father Mercurianus is a very good man," and dismissed them. To another deputation, sent purposely to assert their independence in the choice of their own General, the Pope answered, that he did not impugn their right, that he only re- quested of them to inform him if their choice should fall upon a Spaniard, before he was officially proclaimed. The reason of all this was national jealousy, united to the aversion evinced by Spain and Portugal to all Christianised Jews and Moors. This aversion was shared in by the Court of Rome, and w\as now aroused by the fear of seeing Polancus, a Christianised Jew, on the point of being elected General of the order, " and it was not thought desirable that the supreme authority in a body so powerful and so monarchically constituted should be confided to such hands.* * Sacchiiii iu Eanke's History of the FqpcSj vol. ii. p. 80. L 150 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. Father Mercurlanus was chosen. He was a sim- ple and weak old man, a native of Belgium. He deUvered up the government of the Society first to Father Palmio, then to Father Manara. This produced internal troubles and the formation of two parties, which caused great commotion in the days of his suc- cessor. Mercurianus exercised very little influence on the destinies of the order, and was the first General whose authority was held in little account. He died on the 1st of August 1580, at which time the Society numbered 5750 members, 110 houses, and 21 pro- vinces. The wealth they had acquired was immense ; it did not matter how it was got, as the end with them sanctified the means. For example, when the troops of the ferocious Alva sacked Malines, Father Trigosus freighted a vessel with victuals and sailed to Mahnes to buy a great part of the booty, under the pretext of giving it back to the proprietors. Doubtless, to deceive the fools, he restored some of it to the proper owners, but then this was only to a trifling amount ; the re- mainder and most valuable portion was employed to adorn the College of Antwerp with regal magnificence. In France the Jesuits were left heirs to the immense fortune of the Bishop of Clermont. In Spain they allured into their Society the representatives of two of the wealthiest families in that country, for which they were brought before the tribunal and condemned. Moreover, Gregory XIII. presented them with enor- mous sums, and founded no fewer than thirteen of their colleges, every one of which was richly endowed ; while in Portugal they were almost masters of the entire kingdom. We shall by and by examine the causes of this unparalleled prosperity. PROCEEDINGS THROUGHOUT EUROPE. 151 CHAPTER IX. 1560-1 GOO. PROCEEDINGS OF THE JESUITS IN THE DIFFERENT COUNTRIES OF EUROPE. ENGLAND. Many have pronounced it impossible to write an ade- quate history of the Jesuits, because, being more or less connected with the history of the world, it is no easy matter to pass from one event, and from one country, to another, and yet follow the chronological order, that the reader may have a clear and consecu- tive narrative. To obviate this difficulty as far as possible, we have, in the preceding chapter, which embraces a period of twenty-five years, related only the facts connected with the internal history of the order; we shall now proceed to those which during nearly the same space of time more or less exercised an influence upon the history of the different countries in Europe. Let us begin with England. After the first expedi- tion of Brouet and Salmeron in 1541, which we have already noticed. Great Britain was no longer troubled with Jesuitical missions till the '' good Queen Mary had expired, to the inestimable damage of the Catholic rehgion."* In 1550, however, the Pope despatched to Ireland the Irish Jesuit, Davis Wolfe, and after three years more, a bishop, accompanied with other two Jesuits ; " while," as Sacchini says, " Father Chimage, an Englishman, returned home, for the purpose of having his health restored by his own * Sacch. lib. ii. § 134. 152 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. native air."* These satellites of the Pope entered the country under fictitious names, and as stealthily as nocturnal robbers, mendacious in every word they uttered, and exciting the people to rebellion against the " impious " queen. However, the vigilance of Eli- zabeth's police prevented them for the time being from doing any material injury. Wolfe, guilty of a thousand immoralities, was dismissed the Society, and the others were obliged to return to Rome. About this time (1562), Father Gandon was sent into Scotland to exhort and encourage Queen Mary to be faithful to her religion. This Avas, perhaps, the avowed motive, but, doubtless, he had received similar instructions to those given by Paul III. to Brouet and Salmeron. Mary admitted him by a postern door into her palace, and had three secret conferences with him ; but his steps were traced, he was pursued, and a pnce set upon his head. The Jesuit, who, it seems, had no taste for martyrdom, left Scotland, but not before he had done some mischief. He departed, along with several young noblemen, whom he had seduced, and who accompanied him to be educated in Flanders. " They were hostages to the Church, and were after- wards to return home, carrying thither the faith with them."f About the same period, William Allen, "to perpetuate," as Butler says, " the Catholic ministry in England," resolved upon establishing colleges abroad, in which English priests should be educated, preparatory to exercising their calling at home. His exertions were crowned with success. A college, which he consigned into the hands of the Jesuits, was esta- bhshed in Douay in 1568, and Pope Gregory XIH. endowed it with £1500 yearly. When the Jesuits * It is a remarkable fact that during the reign of the bigoted and per- secuting Mary, the Jesuits did not make their appearance in England. Cardinal Pole, to whom they had made several applications to be per- mitted to establish themselves in Great Britain, always refused his con- sent. Pole hiev) Loyola intimately. t Cret. vol. i. p. 4G3, PROCEEDINGS THROrCHOUT EUROPE. 153 •were expelled from Doiiay, and tlicir college sacked hy (lie people, the Cardinal of Lorraine called tlicm to Ivlieims. This happened in 157G. The same Pope Gregory established another college in Rome for the education of English youth, and for the purpose of imbuinp' their minds Avith hatred to their soverei2;n and country. The Jesuits had the supermtendence of this also. Hence proceeded those priests and Jesuits, who, with brands of discord in their hands, departed to set their country on fire. Many Jesuits were sent to Great Britain between the years 1^62 and ]580, and they all received the same instructions, and acted in tlie same manner. Elizabeth, wdio at the beginning of her reign had exercised a spirit of toleration towards her Catholic subjects, w^as now greatly incensed against them, driven, as she was, to extremities by the continual torrent of abuse which was poured upon her head by the sectarians of Eome. The holy Pius V., on the 5th of February 1570, fulmi- nated a bull of excommunication against "Ehzabeth, the so-called queen of England, who, after having usurped the throne, has dared to assume the title of supremechief of the Church, and, moreover" . . . [here the bull enumerates all Elizabeth's crimes]. "We, therefore," the bull continues, " by the authority which is given to us, declare that the aforesaid Elizabeth, and all her adherents, have incurred excommunication ; that she has forfeited her pretended right to the crown of England; and we deprive her of it, and of all other rights, domains, privileges, and dignities. We absolve the Lords and the Commons of the realm, and all others her subjects, from the oath of allegiance which they may have tendered to her, prohibiting thtm from obeying her commands, ordinances, and procla- mations, under the penalty of being excommunicated in like manner."* The abuses poured upon her by priests and Jesuits * See the whole Bull in Cret. vol. ii. page 241. 154 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. were most revolting and insulting. Without referring to ancient writers, we shall quote a passage from Cretineau, a writer of the present civilised and tolerant age, that our readers may have an idea of what must have been the scurrility of those times of fanaticism and intestine commotions. " The Holy See," says the French historian, "had frequently cursed the heiress and daughter of Henry VHI. The Cathohcs, on the other hand, having penetrated, along with all England, into her licentious and voluptuous private life, refused to salute the mistress of Leicester with the name of maiden queen, to worship her caprices, or to applaud her hypocritical passions."* Nor were the Roman Catholies merely contented with attacking Elizabeth by words — their deeds were yet more criminal. Long before this, Allen solicited the General of the Jesuits to establish a house in Eng- land. But it seems that the General and the Pope were waiting their own time, and that they did not resolve till the year 1579 to grace Great Britain with a per- manent Jesuitical establishment. When this resolution was made known, the most distinguished members of the Society implored, on their knees (as it is reported), to be sent to England to brave the persecutions of Elizabeth; Mercurianus told them, however, that Enghsh Jesuits should be preferred for this mis- sion. In consequence of this declaration, Fathers Campion and Parson were chosen to head the mission, which was composed of thirteen members.-f It arrived at the sea-coast of France, about the month of June 1580. Campion and Parson were both fellows of Ox- ford University, and not the least among its professors and tutors. It seems that both of them were Catholics at heart, though they pretended to be Protestants. The Jesuits affirm that Parson was dismissed the University because of his Catholic sentiments, while the other party assigns his immoral conduct as the reason. * Cret. vol. ii. p. 269. f Cret. vol. ii. p. 255. PROCEEDINGS THROUGHOUT EUROPE. 155 Both took the oatli; both, we are assured, repented it all their hves. Both left the university, and after various vicissitudes, and the necessary probation, were received among the sons of Loyola. As we may believe, Cecil's police knew almost all the movements of these self- invited visitors. Their intended landing in England was announced to all the authorities, their persons were carefully described, and orders were given for arresting them the moment they put foot on shore. But all was to no purpose. The Jesuits eluded every vigilance, and Father Parson, upon arriving at Dover, played to the officer who had the charge of examining the passengers, a trick that would shame any modern Robert Macaire. He gave out that he was a captain returning from Flanders ; and being dressed suitably to the character assumed, so well did he perform his part, that the inspecting officer received him with every species of civility and courtesy, shook hands with him, and promised, moreover, to shew every attention to one of the captain's merchant friends, who, as that impostor intimated, was expected every day from the Continent, and who proved to be no other than Father Campion. AVhen the latter arrived in London, Parson was on the banks of the Thames to receive him, and saluted and cheered him with the air of one meeting a long absent friend, so that no one could have suspected that all was an artifice and a trick.* The Jesuits, once in Eup-land, lost no time in com- mencmg operations. A meeting of all the missionaries and secular priests was summoned. Parson pre- sided, lie was too cunning to declare publicly the end of their mission, as he did not wish to frighten the timid with the announcement of some dangerous en- terprise. He disclaimed all political objects, and said that he only aimed at the conversion of England in co-operation with the secular priests ; and swore that this was his only intention.| But then appeahng to a * See Bartoli dell' lug. F. 101, 102, 104 f Bartoli, ibid. 156 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. decree of the Council of Trent, he forbade the Catho- hcs to attend divine service in Protestant churches, and recommended strict nonconformity. In the com- pany of the more faitliful, he inveighed most bitterly against the queen, and pointed out with what ease she might be detln-oned, by the assistance of the King of Spain and tlic Tope. Such exhortations as this caused a great ferment among the Roman Cathohcs. '" Swarms of Jcsuits\and Papists (from the seminaries of Pome and Phehns), hnpclled by rehgious enthusiasm, sedulously cultivated for that very purpose, and desir- ous of returning to their own country, were constantly pouring into the kingdom."* Parson, who was the Provincial, guided all their movements, and himself Mcnt from place to place to excite the worst passions of man's nature in the breasts of those who sought him, as their spiritual father, to confer peace and con- solation. A great stir soon became visible among the Ponian Catholics. People talked of nothing else than conspiracy and revolt. Sinister rumours were afloat, and acquired new strength from day to day, as is al- ways the case in times of excitement, when some strange idea always pervades the minds of the multi- tude. It was now the general behef throughout Eng- land that every Roman Catholic was a traitor, and at the bidding of the priests was ready to become an assassin. A general massacre of the Protestants by the Papists, assisted by the invasion of a foreign power, was talked of as a matter of more than probable occurrence. Above all, Ehzabeth — the beloved queen — the idol of the people — was in danger every moment of being murdered. Books were daily printed denoun- cing more or less particularly their abominable ma- chinations. These gave consistency to the popular belief. This belief extended from the lowest to the liighest ranks of society, and put the nation into an indescribable state of excitement. The government, * Raiike's Hist, of the Popes, vol. i. p. 512. (Eng. trans.) TROCEEDINGS THROUGHOUT EUROPE. 157 satisfied that the Jesuits were tlie cause of all these troubles, aud ^vith tlie view of quieting the popular commotions, issued a proclamation, -which may have been considered just in those days, but which we, who live in a more tolerant age, must unconditionally con- demn. Among its other enactments were the follow- ing : — " That whosoever had any children, wards, kinsmen, or other relations in parts beyond the seas, should after ten days give in their names to the ordinary, and within four months call them home again, and when they had returned, should forthwith give notice of the same to the said ordinary. That they should not, directly or indirectly, supply such as refused to return with any money. That no man should entertain in his house or harbour any priests sent forth fi'om the aforesaid seminaries, or Jesuits, or cherish and relieve them. And that whosoever did to the contrary, should be accounted a fkvourer of rebels and seditious persons, and be proceeded against ac- cording to the kiws of the land."* The proclamation was boldly answered by pamphlets from each of the Jesuits. Parson's was full of virulence towards the Protestants, and Campion's, although writ- ten in a more moderate tone, was no less offensive. This last was entitled Ten Reasons. It was a defence of the Church of Rome and its supremacy, and made no little noise, f In both of these writings, it was protested that the Jesuits were in England solely for the pur- pose of exercising their holy ministry, and not for any political end whatever ; that, on the contrary, they had come to modify the Bull of Pius V. Cretineau says, that " Parson and Campion would not leave Rome until they obtained from the Holy See this concession (the modification of the Bull), which would greatly facihtate their apostolic mission ; even the Protestants * Camden, a.d. 1580. + It was secretly printed in Lady Stour's house, and widely circulated. —See Cret. vol. ii. p. 272. 158 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. themselves mention this in their annals as a fact."* And in a note he cites " Camden." We shall quote for him the passage of the English annalist. " Robert Parson and Edmund Campion were author- ised hj Gregory XIII. in these words : — An explica- tion of the bull issued by Pius V. against Elizabeth and her adherents is sought for from our supreme lord, since the Catholics desire that it be thus under- stood, that it should always bind her and the heretics, but by no means the Catholics, as matters now stand, but only when the execution of the same bull be publicly ordered. The supreme Pontiff granted the aforesaid grace to Father Eobert Parson and Edmund Campion when about to set out to England, on the 13th April 1580, in the presence of Father Ohver Manara assistant."! We might perhaps say that this pretended conces- sion is rather an aggravation of the bull than any- thing else ; but we shall be generous, and give it the best interpretation possible. But then, if we prove that all this was a wily cunning contrivance, that the Jesuits might have greater chance of success in their treacherous projects, their crime will be still more execrable. Let us examine. The facts, it is true, are far from us, and the actors have long ago departed to their accounts : True ; but then the deductions of logic from well-authenticated facts still remain to us, and are equally convincing. The Jesuits assert that the Pope, out of leniency and benignancy towards England and its queen, had ordered them not to * Cret. vol. ii. p. 266. + ''Robertus Parsonius et Edmundus Campionus facultatem impetra- runt, a Gregorio XIII. in li^ec verba. Petatur a summo Domino nostro explicatio BuUsfi Declaratorite per Pium V. contra Elizabetham et ei ad- lian-entes, quern Catholicis cupiunt intelligi hoc modo, ut obliget semper illam et hiereticos, Catholicos vero nullo modo rebus sic stantibus, sed turn demum quando publica ejusdem Bullas executio fieri poterit. Has in-:iedictas gratias concessit summus Pontifex Padri Roberto Parsouio et Kdmundo Canipionio, in Anglicam profecturis die 13 Aprilis 1580, prse- scate Padre Oliverio Manarco assistente."— Camden, p. 464. PROCEEDINGS THROUGHOUT EUROPE. 159 f(irce upon the Roman Catholic believers the clause of his predecessor's bull which forbade them, under pain of excommunication, to consider Elizabeth as their legitimate sovereign. Well, if the rest of the Pope's conduct leads us to believe in the sincerity of this mandate, we shall absolve them of every crime, and say that the Jesuits proceeded to England with the best intentions, and were martyrs to their faith. But who was this pacific and tolerant Pope ? It was Gre- gory XIII. ; that same Gregory who, at the news of Saint Bartholomew's infernal feast, went in procession to the French Church in Rome, offered up thanksgiv- ings to the Almighty for the blood of 50,000 of His creatures barbarously butchered, and had medals struck to commemorate this glorious event ! It was this same Gregory who had on the previous year sup- plied the ruffian Stukely with money, arms, and troops for the invasion of England, whilst the Catholics in the interior were ordered to rise in rebellion in his fa- vour.* It was this identical Gregory who at the same time sent into Ireland the famous Dr. Sanders, as the Pope's legate, with a bull declaring the invasion a regular crusade with all its privileges! It was that same Gregory who, says Ranke, " excited and en- couraged all those insurrections which Elizabeth had to contend with in Ireland."! All these facts, proving Gregory's inexorable hatred towards the Protestants, and his determined desire to dethrone Ehzabeth, hap- pened shortly before and after the mission of the Jesuits. And yet it is pretended that this same man forbade the Jesuits from mixing in political affairs, and that, on the contrary, he charged them to preach obedi- ence to the queen 1 We believe that few will give the * It is well knowTi that this adventurer, whom the Pope had made his chamberlain, when off the coast of Portugal with the fleet which had been equipped for the invasion, was persuaded by king Sebastian to accompany him in his enterprise against Morocco, where he perished along -with the imprudent monarch of Portugal. t Kaaike's Hist, of the Fojjes, vol. i. p. 324. (Eng. trans.) 160 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. Jesuits credit on that score, but rather will be satisfied they were sent for the purpose of stirring up a rebellion, if possible to find an assassin, and that the injunction was nothing else than a ruse — an act of duplicity where- with the better to succeed in their treasonable designs. The government was, however, highly incensed at their audacity, and attached the utmost importance to their capture. Another proclamation was issued, forbidding any one to harbour, protect, or assist the Jesuits to escape, and that he who did so would be considered guilt}^ of high treason. This produced an effect quite contrary to what was intended. Hun- dreds of persons who, before the proclamation, shewed no liking for the Jesuits, now risked their fortunes, their lives, to protect them. So interesting does per- secution render a man — so generous are the instincts of the people. All the activity, all the vigilance of the most energetic and vigilant of governments was for thirteen months baflled by the dexterity and resources of the Jesuits. The history of their escapes, and the daring methods in which they executed them, is both curious and amusing. Space will not permit us to indulge in the recital of more than one of those marvellous escapes. One evening the house in which Parson had sought a retreat was suddenly surrounded by a band who were in pursuit of him. Resistance or concealment was impossible. Parson at once de- termined on what he would do. He went to the door, opened it, and calmly asked what they Avanted. •' The Jesuit," was the reply. " Walk in," said he, " and search for him quietly ;" and as they entered, he went out, and made his escape.* The escapes of Campion were no less wonderful. He himself wrote, " My dresses are most numerous, my fashions are various, and as for names, I have an abundance. "j The government, enraged at being so often baflled, had recourse, we are sorry to say, to persecution. *Ann. Litt. 1583. f Bart. dell. Ing. F. 117. PROCEEDIN'GS THROUGHOUT EUROPE. IGl Thousands of citizens were thrown into prison for nonconformity, or on mere suspicion. Domicihary visits frequently disturbed even the inoffensive and peaceful Papists, whilst the Jesuit authors of all these disturbances and miseries laughed at the abortive attempts of their enemies to capture them. At last, in July 1581, Elliot, a Papist, betrayed. Campion. He was arrested along with two other priests, in a secret closet in a wall of the castle of Yates. They mounted him on the largest horse that could be got, tied his legs under it, pinioned his hands behind his back, and fixed a placard on his hat with this inscription, in great capitals, " Campion, the seditious Jesuit." He was brought to London, surrounded by a great multitude, vociferating impre- cations and curses upon his head. The shouts of jubi- lee among the Protestants throughout England were deafening, and many a sincere person rejoiced at it, as if by this capture the kingdom was rescued from imminent danger and certain destruction. The contradiction which exists between the Protestant and Catholic writers, regarding the treatment, trial, and execution of the Jesuits, renders it almost impossible for us to arrive at the exact truth. The one party calls them innocent martyrs, the other infernal traitors. The one complains that they were most unmercifully treated, the other, that they had too much lenity shewn them. It is, however, an incontestible f^ict that they were put to the torture, and Cretineau is right when he exclaims against the Protestants, who, while professing to abhor the Papal Inquisition so much, noAv adopted all its bar- barous proceedings. It may be also true, that a jury sitting no^v at Westminster w^ould not find sufficient mate- rial from which to condemn them. But we must remind the Catholics, that to judge of these events with imparti- ality, we must transport ourselves to those times, w^hen Ireland was in an almost continual state of rebellion ; Avhen England was daily menaced with invasion ; when 162 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. the Roman Catholics of all Europe spoke of another Saint Batholomew; when torrents of imprecations were poured out against Elizabeth, her ministers, and all her Protestant subjects. We must go back to those times when the Jesuits persuaded the Roman Catholics that it was a mortal sin for them to acknowledge Eli- zabeth's right to the throne ; to those times in which the Jesuitical doctrine, that it was lawful, nay meri- torious, to kill an excommunicated king, had already been proclaimed ; finally, to those times when the con- test had come to this, — " Whether England should be Protestant under the sway of Elizabeth, or Catholic under Mary of Scotland, or PhiHp of Spain." That the Jesuits and the Pope caused all this agitation, there can be no doubt whatever. Hume, quoting a passage from Camden, and Walsingham's letter in Burnet, appears to me to assign the most plausible reason for it in the following words : — " And though the exercise of every religion but the established one was prohibited by the statute, the violation of this law, by saying mass, and receiving the sacrament in pri- vate houses, was, in many instances, connived at; while, on the other hand, the Catholics, at the begin- nino; of her reiinion of tlie p>enitent to be probable. " It may be asked whether a confessor may give advice to a penitent in opposition to his oiun opinion ; or, if he should think in any case that restitution ought to be made, whether he may advise that the * In quoting Pascal, we make use of the translation of Dr M'Crie, to render the author's meaning better than we could do. P. 107. 242 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. opinion of others may be followed, who maintain that it need not be made? / answer, that he lawfully may, . . . because he may follow the opinion of an- other in his own practice, and therefore he may advise another person to follow it. Still it is better, in giving advice, always to follow the more probable opinion to which a man is ever accustomed to adhere, especially ivhen the advice is given in ivriting, lest contradic- tion he discovered. It is also sometimes expedient to send the consulting person to another doctor or con- fessor who is known to hold an opinion favourable to the inquirer, provided it be probable."* " Without respect of persons may a judge, in order to favour his friend, decide according to any probable opinion, while the question of right remains unde- cided 1 " If the judge should think each opinion equally probable, for the sake of his friend he may laivfidly pronounce sentence according to the opinion which is more favourable to the interests of that friend. He may, moreover, with the intent to serve his friend, at one time judge according to one opinion, and at an- other time according to the contrary opinion, pro- vided only that no scandal result from the decision." f " An unbeliever who is persuaded that his sect is probable, although the opposite sect may be more pro- bable, would certainly be obliged, at the point of death, to embrace the true faith, which he thinks to be the more probable. . . . But, except under such circumstances, he ivould not. . . . Add to this, that the mysteries of faith are so sublime, and the Chris- tian morals so rejmgnant to the laivs of flesh aiid blood, that no greater probability whatever may be * John of Salas. Dispufafionum R. P. Joannis de SaJa^, e Soc. Jesu, in primam secundce D. Thomce, torn. i. tr. 8, sec. 7, 9, N. 74, S3. (Bar- cinone, 1607. E<1. Bibl Arch. Cant. Lamb.) •j- Gregory of Valentia. Coinmentariorum Tlieologicortim, torn. iii. dis. v, quaes. 7, punct. iv. (Lutetiae Parisionmi; 1609. £d. Coll. Sion), MORAL CODE OF THE JESUITS. 243 accounted sufficient to enforce the obligation of be- lieving* " Indeed, while I perceive so many different opi- nions maintained upon points connected with morahty, I think tliat the Divine providence is apparent ; for, hi diversity of ojnnions, the yoke of Christ is easily borne.'' \ " A confessor may ahsolve penitents, according to the probable opinion of the penitent, in opposition to his own, and is even bound to do so."j: " Again, it is probable that pecuniary compensation may be made for defomation ; it is also probable that it cannot be made. May 1, the defamed, exact to-day pecuniary compensation from my defamer, and to- m.orrow, and even on the same day, may I, the defamer of another, refuse to compensate with money for the reputation of which I have deprived him '!....! affirm that it is laiifitl to do at pleasure sometimes the one and sometimes the other. '' Those ignorant confessors are to be blamed who always think that they do luell in obliging their 2^€ni- tents to make ^restitution, because it is at all times more safe."^ By this abominable doctrine the confessors were made to answer yes or no, as might be most agreeable to their penitents ; and these might obhge the confessor to absolve them of their sins, if they only themselves believed that they were not sins. Imagine what an arrant knave the person inclined to do evil must have become, when, to the firm belief that the absolution of the confessor cleanses from all crimes, was superadded * Thomas Sancliez. Opus Morale in prcerepta Decalogi. L. ii. c. i. N. 6. (Venetiis, 1614. Autverpia;, 1624. Ed. Coll. Sion.) + Antony Escobar. Unirersce Theologice -.. oralis JRecejjtiores absque lite Sentential, necnon ProUematicoi Disquisitiones, torn. i. L. ii. sect. i. de consc. c. 2. N. 18. (Lugduni, 1652. Ed. Bibl. Acad. Cant.) X Simon de Lessau. Propositions dictees dans le College des Jesuites d' Amiens Dn praecppt. Decal. c. i. art. 4. § Thumas Tambiirin. Explicatio Decalogi. L. i. c. iii. § 4. N. 15. (Lugduni, 1659. Lugduni, 1665. Ed. Coll. Sion.) 244 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. the certainty that this confessor must absolve him ahnost according to his own wishes. We shudder to think of it! The doctrine of equivocation came in aid of that of probabihsm. By the former, accorcUng to Sanchez, *' it is permitted to use ambiguous terms, leachng people to understand them in a diiferent sense from that in which we understand them."* "A man may swear," according to tlie same author, " that he never did such a thing (though he actually did it), meaning within himself that he did not do so on such a day, or before he was born, or understanding any other such circum- stances, while the w^ords which he employs have no such sense as would discover his meaning."! And Filiutius proves that in so speaking one does not even lie, because, says he, " it is the intention that deter- mines the quaUty of the action ; and one may avoid falsehood if, after saying aloud / swear that I have not done that, he add in a low voice, to-day ; or after saying aloud, / swear, he interpose in a whisper, that I say, and then continue aloud, that I have done that, and this is telhng^ the truth." With mental reservation and probabihsm, they have sanctioned all sorts of crimes. The varlet might help his master to commit rape or adultery, provided he do not think of the sin, but of the 2^rofit he may reap from it — so says father Bauny. If a servant think his salary is not an adequate compensation for services, he may help himself to some of his master's property to make it equal to his pretensions — so teaches the same father. You may kill your enemy for a box on the ear, as Escobar asserts in the follow- ing w^ords : — *' It is perfectly right to kill a person "who has given us a box on the ear, although he should run away, provided it is not done through hatred or revenge, and there is no danger of giving occasion thereby to murders of a gross kind and hurt- ful to society. And the reason is, that it is as law^ful * Op. Mor. p. 2. + Ibid. MORAL CODE OF THE JESUITS. 245 to pursue tlic thief that has stolen our honour, as hira \ that has run away with our property. For, altliough | your honour cannot be said to be in the hands of your enemy in the same sense as your goods and chattels are in the hands of the thief, still it may be recovered in the same Avay — by shewing proofs of greatness and authority, and thus acquiring the esteem of men. And, in point of fact, is it not certain that the man who has received a buffet on the ear is held to be under disgrace, until he has wiped off the insult with, the blood of his enemy?" In short, you may be a fraudulent bankrupt, thief, assassin, proHigate, impious atheist even, with a safe conscience, provided always you confess to a Jesuit confessor. It is doubtless in this that we are to see the efficacy of that miraculous gift, wdiich w^e read at 2^age 13 Loyola had received from heaven, and trans- mitted to his successors — tlie gift of healing troubled consciences; and this is even boldly asserted by them- selves. In the Imago j^rinii Soeculi, S. 3, ch. 8, are words to this effect : — " With the aid of pious finesse and holy artifice of devotion, crimes may be expiated now-a-days alacrius, with more joy and alacrity, than they were committed in former days; and a great many people may be washed from their stains almost as cleverly as they contracted them." After this quotation, we need not trouble the reader with any more regarding the doctrine of the Jesuits on social duties. " We only beg of him, in order that he may well understand all the enormity of these doc- trines, to look at them from the point of view of the Papists, who consider the confessional as the only way of salvation, and who blindly obey their spiritual fathers, especially if they flatter their passions, and promise them paradise as the reward of their vices. It is also of importance that our readers should be made acquainted with the doctrine of the Jesuits regarding rehgious duties, and the love which is due 246 HISTORY OP THE JESUITS. to God, that they may the better judge of the cha- racter of those champions of Romanism, those monks who are hibouring liard to make proselytes to their rehgion — the only true one, as they pretend, out of which there is no salvation. Father Antony Sirmond, in his book on The Defence of Virtue, has the following passage : — " St Thomas says that we are obliged to love God as soon as we come to the use of reason ; that is rather too soon ! Scotus says, every Sunday ; pray, for ivhat reason ? Others say, when we are sorely tempted; yes, if there he no other way of escaping the temptation. Sotus says, when we have received a boneiit from God ; good, in the way of thanking him for it. Others say, at death — ratJier late I As little do I think it binding at the reception of any sacrament ; attrition, in such a case, is quite enough, along with confession — if convenient. Suarez says, that it is binding at some time or another ; hut at what time ? He does not know ; and what that doctor does not know, 1 know not who should know." * And father Pinter can crown those execrable doc- trines by the impious assertion, that the dispensation from the painful obligation to love God is purchased for us through the merits of Christ's blood. " It was reasonable," says that sacrilegious Jesuit, " that under the law of grace in the New Testament, God should relieve us from that troublesome and arduous obligation which existed under the law of bondage, to exercise an act of perfect contrition, in order to be justified ; and that the place of this should be sup- plied by the sacraments instituted in aid of an easier exercise; otherwise, indeed. Christians, who are the children, would have no greater facility in gaining the good graces of their Father than the Jews, who were the slaves, had in obtaining the mercy of their Lord and Master." f * Tr. 1. et. 2. n. 21. f Pintereau in Pascal, pp. 205, 206. MORAL CODE OF THE JESUITS. 247 And men gnilty of all sorts of crimes — men who pretend tluit no love is due to God, that not even attrition is necessary for the remission of sins — such men shall be made worthy of the eternal blessedness tlirough some idolatrous practices ! Such is the doc- trine taught by Jesuits, and, Ave must add, by most of the Roman Catholic clergy, some of whom we arc going to brino; under our reader's eye. We beg permission to quote Pascal again. Our readers will certainly prefer the trenchant, sarcastic style of the celebrated Janscn- ist to our imperfect manner of narration. In a dia- logue which he pretends to have had with a Jesuit, the father addresses him in the following words : — " ' AVould you not be infinitely obliged to any one who should open to you the gates of paradise ? Would you not give millions of gold to have a key by which you might gain admittance whenever you pleased ? You need not be at such expense ; here is one — here are a hundred for much less money.' ** At first I was at a loss to know whether the good father was reading or talking to me, but he soon put the matter beyond doubt by adding : — " ' These, sir, are the opening words of a fine book, written by Father Barry of our Society ; for I never give you anything of my own.' *' ' What book is it 't ' asked I. *' * Here is its title,' he replied — ' Paradise Opened to Philagio, in a Hundred Devotions to the Mother of God, easily practised.' ** ' Indeed, father ! and is each of these easy devo- tions a sufficient passport to heaven ? ' *' ' It is,' returned he, * Listen to what follows : *' The devotions to the mother of God, which you will find in this book, are so many celestial keys, which will open wide to you the gates of paradise, provided you practise them ; " and accordingly, he says at the con- clusion, " that he is satisfied it' you practise only one of them." ' 248 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. " ' Pray, then, father, do teach me one of the easiest of them.' " ' They are all easy,' he replied ; ' for example — " Saluting the Holy Virgin when you happen to meet her huage — saying the little chaplet of the pleasures of the Virgin — fervently pronouncing the name of Mary — commissioning the angels to bow to her for us — wish- mg to huild her as many churches as all the monarchs on earth have done — bidding her good-morrow every morning, and good-night in the evening — saying the Ave Maria every day in honour of the heart of Mary" — Avhich last devotion, he says, possesses the additional virtue of securing us the heart of the Virgin.' " ' But, father,' said I, ' only provided we give her our own in return, I presume ? ' " ' That,' he rej)lied, ' is not absolutely necessary, when a person is too much attached to the world. Hear Father Barry : " Heart for heart would, no doubt, be highly proper ; but yours is rather too much at- tached to the world, too much bound up in the crea- ture, so that I dare not advise you to offer, at present, that 2^00'^^ little slave which you call your heart." And so he contents himself with the Ave Maria which he had prescribed.'* " ' Why, this is extremely ea,sy w^ork,' said I, ' and I should really think that nobody w^ill be damned after that.' " * Alas! ' said the monk, ' I see you have no idea of the hardness of some people's hearts. There are some, sir, who would never engage to repeat, every day, even these simple w^ords. Good clay, Good eveniny,]\\^t because such a practice w^ould require some exertion of memory. And, accordingly, it became necessary for Father Barry to furnish them with expedients still easier, such as wearing a c.iaplet night and day on the arm, in the form of a bracelet, or carrying about * " These ai-e the devotions presented at pp. 33, 59, 145 15u, 172, 258, 420 of the first edition." MORAL CODE OF THE JESUITS. 249 one's person a rosary, or an image of the Virgin. " And, tell me now," as Father Barry says, " if I have not provided you with easy devotions to obtain the good graces of Mary?" ' " ' Extremely easy, indeed, father,' I observed. '' ' Yes,' he said, ' it is as much as could possibly be done, and I think should be quite satisfactory. For lie must be a wretched creature indeed, who would not spare a single moment in all his hfctime to put a chap- let on his arm, or a rosary in his pocket, and thus secure his salvation ; and that, too, with so much cer- tainty, that none who have tried the experiment have ever found it to fail, in whatever way they may have lived ; though, let me add, we exhort people not to omit holy living. Let me refer you to the example of this, given at page 34; it is that of a female who, while she practised daily the devotion of saluting the images of the Virgin, spent all her days in mortal sin, and yet was saved after all, by the merit of that single devotion.' '' ' And how so ? ' cried I. " ' Our Saviour,' he replied, ' raised her up again, for the very purpose of shewing it. So certain it is, that none can perish who practise any one of these devotions.' " * We may, perhaps, mention here also, the greatest of all the Jesuitical devotions to Mary, the one which, according to them, is the sovereign specific for obtaining salvation — namely, the month of Mary. The month which they have chosen to consecrate to the Virgin is the month of May. I dare not say for Avhat reason. During its long thirty-one days, nothing is to be heard but songs and h^^nns in honour of the Virgin. Altars are dressed before every niche in which stands a Madonna. Sundry other images are placed around it — as smaller divinities, we may suppose — and, among images and burning lamps, * Pascal, pp. 176-178. 250 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. a profusion of flowers of all colours send up tlieir frac^rant perfume as an offering to the Virgin. At different hours the devotees prostrate themselves before these altars, and offer their vows and their prayers to the Madonna. The most extravagant language is addressed to her, and she is represented as possessing the most extraordinary attributes " Any person performing the month of Mary, should he die within the month, will be saved, even if he had murdered his parents." In the churches and schools of the Jesuits are performed the same ceremonies as in the streets. God for this month is still more forgotten than He generally is. We could fill volumes with such extracts, but must be content with those Ave have given, referring such of our readers as wish to know more of the Jesuitical doctrines to Pascal, to the Morale Pratique des Jesuites by Arnauld, and to the Principles of the Jesuits, de- veloped in a Collection of Extracts from their own Authors (London, 1839). We have also shrunk from polluting these pages by extracts from Lacrois, Sanchez, and such like, whose obscene and revolting lucubrations, the inevitable fruits of the celibacy of the cloister, have left far behind all that has been conceived by the most wanton and depraved imagination. We have omitted, more- over, to extract from the Secreta Monita, and for the following reason : — The Secreta Monita are a collection of precepts and instructions the most nefarious and diabolical, given, it is supposed, by the General of the order to his subalterns, as if to shew them the way how to proceed in all their perfidious plots for the aggrandisement of the Company. The book in which those precepts are collected, came out for the first time in Cracow in 1612, and was reprinted in Paris in 1761. The Jesuits assert that it owes its origin to an expelled Jesuit, Zaorowski, while their opponents contend that the Secreta Monita had been found by MORAL CODE OP THE JESUITS. 251 Christian of Brunswick in the Jesuit college of Prague or elsewhere. The Secreta Afonita were condemned at Home. But, to confess the trutli, our opinion is, that the book is at best apocry])hal. The Jesuits were too cunning foxes to expose their secrets to the risk of being discovered, by leaving copies of such a book here and there. They were not yet so firmly esta- blished as to risk the very existence of their order, if one of those copies were discovered, or if a member should be tempted to betray the Society. Besides, from the knowledge we have of the Jesuitical cha- racter, we feel assured that no superior would ever have inculcated with such barefaced impudence such abominable and execrable rules of roguery. So much are the Jesuits accustomed to dissemble and deceive, that even their conduct towards each other is one con- tinued act of deceit. For instance, if the superior wishes to ruin the fair fame of a man adverse to the order, he will say to his subalterns, '' What a pity it is that Mr N. should be guilty of such and such faults (and, generally speaking, he invents some calumny) ! it would be well that, for the greater glory of God, others should be apprised that it is unbecoming a Christian to act so. Should you chance to meet any of his or your acquaintance, you may warn them of that, but take care not to slander your neighbour's reputation." Again, if a Jesuit chief should covet the wealthy of some family, he would say to his subordinates, " It is a pity that so much w^ealth should pass into the hands of his son or nephew, who w^ill spend it in ofiending God and gratifying their own evil passions. It would be a pious w^ork if he could be induced to leave it to us, that we might use it to the greater glory of God." And if a subaltern, less cunning than the rest, should openly and frankly propose to slander the reputation of the honest man, or to make an attempt to snatch the princely fortune of the wealthy, he would be reprimanded, as guilty of an action unworthy of a son of the holy Father 252 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. Loyola. And, while the superior speaks in this man- ner, he not only knows tliat he cants, but he is also per- fectly convinced that his hearers know it, and yet he ■will never speak otherwise. And it is to us altogether inconceivable, that men who are thus mutually conscious that they are playing a part — who, in their common intercourse, and even when forming the basest designs, are careful always to speak in the character of the pious devotee — should so far forget their cue as to give a ijroad unvarnished statement of their whole system of roguery. For these, and many other reasons which we might\adduce, we believe that the book is apocr}^- phal ; but, though apocryphal, it certainly gives a true representation of the horrible arts and practices of the Jesuits; and we are inclined to credit the Jesuits when they assert that the book is the work of a dis- carded brother, so deeply does it initiate us in the secret arts of the Society. However, as we have thousands of unimpugnable testimonies to their impious and in- fernal doctrines, we shall not weaken the authority of our narrative by adducing contested proofs. OVERGROWING INFLUENCE OP THE SOCIETY. 253 CHAPTER XII. 1608-1700. I OVERGROWING INFLUENCE OF THE SOCIETY. We now enter on a new pliaso of our lilstory. Up to the period at which we are arrived (the beginning of the seventeenth century), the Jesuits have been obhged ~> more or less to struggle for existence. Noav they contend / for supremacy and a domineering power in those same ^ countries into which they had been at first refused admittance. Vagrant monks, who had but an hospital for a place of refuge, tliey now possess all over the surface of the earth hundreds of magnificent establish- ments, endowed with princely revenues, and in the West Indies are laying the foundations of a kingdom of their own. Cherished by the populace, in league with the nobility, they are become so powerful, that great monarchs themselves are obliged to put the fate of the Jesuits in the same balance in which are weighed the destinies of nations. Two of Ignatius' disciples have a seat in the College of Cardinals, and the order, by the many exorbitant privileges it has obtained, forms a sort of separate church within the Church — the envy of other religious orders, the rival of bishops, and the dread of the Court of Kome itself. They possess the supreme swa}^ in Portugal, Poland, Bavaria, have the utmost influence in Spain, Austria, Italy, and arc rapidly advancing towards that power which they at last obtained in France, and which was productive of so many miseries to the French nation. In fact, the princi- 254 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. pal seatof the Jesuits' power will liencefortlibe in France, as, of the many sovereigns whom the Jesuits more or less govern, the Frencli monarch is the most powerful of them all. Henry lY., as a measure of precaution, in the letters-patent by which he re-established the Jesuits, had enacted that a man of authority in the order should always be near the king's person, as preacher, and as a warranty for the conduct of his brethren ; and the Jesuits made of this offensive clause the very pivot of their fortunes. The preacher became the confessor of the kings, and France will but too soon feel the persecuting power of Fathers Lachaise and Le- teUier. Before, however, they had attained the height of their power, they had to endure a passing storm. In 1610, Henry IV., while proceeding in his coach to visit his faithful Sully, who was dangerously ill, was stabbed to the heart. The Jesuits were accused by the parhament and the university, and even by some curates from the pulpit, of being the accomplices and the instigators of Ravaillac the assassin ; but no proof v/hatever was adduced in support of this accusation. Public opinion absolved them from any participation In the crime, and to that judgment we ourselves subscribe ; unless, indeed, we charge them with being morally accessory to the murder by their doctrines, and the abominable writings commending the murder of Sovening, with which they had covered France at the time of the League, the Jesuits liad too great ascendancy over Henry's mind, they derived from him too many benefits, to render credible the supposi- tion of their connivance in the parricide. Some authors, too eager to fmd the Jesuits guilty of every crime, and not reflecting that by asserting controvert- ible facts they diminish the credit of their other asser- tions, have suggested that, as Henry was preparing to send an army to succour the German Protestants, the Jesuits contrived to have him murdered. But those authors are quite ignorant of the true spirit of OVERGROWING INFLUENCE OF THE SOCIETY. 255 Jesuitism. The great end which the Jesuits have ever in their view, the criterion by which alone we are able to judge of the probability of their acting in any particular way, is their own interest, and in no way the advantage of religion or the glory of God; and, as in this instance the interest of the Jesuits, and especially of those of France, was to preserve rather than destroy Henry's life, we repeat our assertion — we do not believe them guilty. We do not think it necessary to fill our pages even with an analysis of the writings poured forth by both parties on this tragic event. The Anti-Cotton, a virulent pamphlet against the Jesuits, and, above all, against some asser- tions of Father Cotton, the late king's confessor, who had addressed some apologetic letters to the queen on the subject, and who had now gone, according to Henry's testamentary disposition, to deposit that prince's heart in the Jesuits' college of La Fleche, was and has continued to be fomous in France, more for the sarcastic wit with which it is written than because it gives any proofs of the Jesuits' guilt ; and, therefore, we need not give any account of it. ^ The Jesuits, protected by the Court and the Arch- bishop of Paris, after the first commotion had passed away, reassumed their former position ; and Father Cotton was appointed to hear the juvenile sins of Louis XHL, as he had formerly heard those of his gallant and profligate father. But a real though inevitable calamity awaited the Society some few years after. On the 31st January 1615, expired one of their greatest men, Claude Acquaviva, the fifth General of the order. He had been in oflfice thirty-four years, and may be accounted the second founder of the Society, as he has been, un- doubtedly, its ablest legislator. " During his govern- ment, external tempests and internal discord had menaced the very existence of the Society, but he had dissipated and appeased them all with admirable 256 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. courage and prudence. Ilis death was to the Com- pany an irreparable loss. With him ended the prestige through which the Generals exercised such extraordinary authority over its members. For the future they will still be entitled by the Constitutions to the same blind obedience as before ; but their man- dates will be implicitly obeyed by none but some simple-hearted Jesuits, or by those far away in dis- tant lands, wdio venerate their superior in proportion to the distance that separates them from him. And this it may be said is the case with all earthly powers. But the members who have some authority in the order, the provincials, the confessors or favour- rites of princes, will, generally speaking, act indepen- dently and according to their own views, without, how- ever, losing sight of the Society, whose aggrandisement and glory is always the ultimate end which they all keep in view. The consequence w^ill be that their con- duct will in many respects be less uniform, and even their solemn assemblies will be wanting in that unanimity of purpose which had marked their former operations. A striking proof of this appeared in the election of Acquaviva's successor itself. The old Spanish party revived after the General's death, and hoping to re- gain the influence and power it had exercised under the first three Generals of the order, made a great stir ; and, foreseeing that Yitelleschi, a Eoman Jesuit, "would be elected, they first intrigued with the French and Spanish ambassadors, and afterwards accused Vitelleschi to the Pope of being guilty of many vices and crimes, which was far from being true, he being, on the contrary, a simple, inoft'ensive, unpretending man. The contest for the election was very keen, and of seventy-five members who composed the congregation, Vitelleschi obtained only thirty-nine suftVages, being only one more than was necessary for the validity of his election. He assumed the office, but exercised very little influence in the afl'airs OVERGROWING INFLUI•:^X'E OF THE SOCIETY. 257 of the Company. It was, however, in the hcginning of Vitcllcschi's gcncralatc that measures were taken to get Loyola and Xavier enroUed in the Calendar of Saints. It is true that, even under Acquaviva's life- time, Henry IV., to please his father confessor, and render him still more indulgent to his immoralities, had, by an autograph letter, asked the reigning Pope to find a place in heaven for the two founders of the order ; but Paul V., thinking, perhaps, that the recom- mendation of the ex-Huguenot Henry would be rather a suspicious passport for opening the gates of heaven, did not feel inclined to comply. There were, how- ever, other sovereigns, as those of Bavaria, Poland, Spain, &c., who had Jesuits for their confessors ; and now that those monarchs united in begging from the Holy See the canonisation of the two Jesuits, Gregory XV., who had been educated in the fathers' schools, could no longer refuse to comply with their wishes. He accordingly solemnly pronounced them to be saints, but being surprised by death, the glory of having issued the bull for their apotheosis belongs to his suc- cessor. Urban VHL* As the Jesuits, in the short space of less than a century, have furnished eight or ten saints to the calendar, perhaps it will not be extraneous to our work to devote a few pages to shew in what manner, mortals such as we are, and who but yesterday were mere loathsome corpses, are, by the pretended power of another mortal man, transformed into privileged and divine beino-s, to whom is attributed a power almost equal to that of the Almighty. A word of any Pope, even of an Alexander VL, will change every fragment of those corrupted remains into sacred relics, possessing such miraculous powers, that the worship * Gregory XV. and his nephew Cardinal Ludivisi, have two magnifi- cent monuments in the Church of St Ignatius of the CoUegio Romano, which church they had built and richly embellished for the Jesuits, and ■where they axe buried. 258 HISTORY OP THE JESUITS. of them is deemed sufficient to insure eternal salva- tion. The practice of investing certain persons with the honours of saintship originated with the people. In the early ages of Christianity, when an individual, whether a truly holy Christian or a consummate hy- pocrite, had struck the impressible imaginations of the multitude by a pious and extraordinary course of life, he Avas regarded by them as a supernatural being, and was addressed and vrorshipped as such. A little later, persons of this description began, with the help of the priests, to work miracles ; and when the renown of their holiness and of the prodigies they had performed had spread far and wide, the Court of Rome interfered and gave them a regular patent for saintship. If they had been extraordinary persons of their own class, their canonisation took place almost immediately on their decease, as was the case with St Francis, the founder of the ragged and beggarly order of monks which bears his name, and St Antony, the great miracle worker,* both of whom were ranked among the saints only a year after their death. The trade of saint- making proving very lucrative, from the many offer- ings presented at their shrines, the priests encouraged the multitude, always ready to believe in the marvel- lous, to credit extraordinary legends and to find saints everywhere. Above all, as we have said elsewhere, after the Reformation, the priests were creating saints * This man is famous for working miracles. He is said to have re- stored to life his dear companion, a pig, which had been stolen from him, after it had been killed and eaten, and its bones thrown into a furnace ; just as Thor, the great Scandinavian god, restored to life his ram. Ano- ther great miracle is recorded of him by his panegyrist. Having been forbidden by his superior (St Antony was a monk) to work too many miracles, he one day found himself ini a great perplexity. As he was passing through a street, he heard a poor mason, in the act of falling from a lufty building, call upon him by name for a miracle. The poor- saint, not knowing what to do, had recourse to an expedient. " Stop a moment," said he, to the falling man, " till I go for the permission of the Father Superior ;" and the man waited suspended in the air till ho returned with permission to work the miracle ! OVERGROWING INFLUENCE OF THE SOCIETY. 259 in such alarming numbers, that Urban YIII. fearing, it would seem, that lieavcn would not be large enough to admit the whole of them, by two bulls, of 1625 and l(io4, put a check upon the mania of saint- making, and swept away from churches, convents, and public places, the images of those poor blessed ones who had been patiently waiting in their niches for the supreme oracle of the Vatican to send them up to heaven ; and who, doubtless, were now much annoyed at being removed from their places of adoration and worship. The bull ordained that no offering, no burn- ing lamp, nor any sort of worship whatever, should be rendered to any one, no matter how great might have been the fame of his saintship, if he had not been re- cognised as a saint, either from immemorial time, im- memoixibilem temporis cursum, or by the unanimous consent of the Church, per coimnunem Ecclesice con- sensum, or by a sort of tolerance of the apostolic see, tolerantid sedis apostolicce. By immemorial time, the Pope says in his bull of 1634 that he means more than a hundred years. In consequence, all those persons who had been called saints, and worshipped as such for only ninety-nine years and some months, were to be dis- carded, and their images or statues removed from the place of worship;* unless, indeed, some money were spent, and a privilege or dispensation obtained from the all-powerful Pope. Alas ! how many sinners, who had perhaps chosen those very saints as mediators between them and an oifended God, must have been driven to despair by the unmerciful bull 1 However, a regular canonisation may be obtained from Rome, and in two diiferent ways. The first is the more simple : — Whosoever is interested in obtaining a canonisation must prove before the Congregation of * This was the case with many, and, to mention one, with Father Zaccheria, the founder of the Barnabites, who had been a heatifice for eighty-four years, had mass and prayers offered to him, but is at present merely Father Zaccheria. 260 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. the Rites,* that, for more than a hundred years, the man who is proposed as a candidate for saintship had been worshipped either by a burning lamp before his image or his sepulchre, or by a person praying before it, &c. ; and that these signs of veneration had been repeated before they had been prohibited at no greater distance of time than ten years. If the congregation de- liver their opinion in a dubious form, that the immemo- rial worship seems to them to be proved, videtur con- stare de cultu immemorahili ; and, if the 'omniscient and infalUble Pope affirm, constare, " it has been proved," then the man becomes a heatifice, and mass, prayers, and offerings may be addressed to him with a perfectly safe conscience. This was the mode of canon- isation resorted to after the famous bull of 1634. More difficult is the other way, now generally fol- lowed, to obtain a canonisation. The man must pass through many stages — as it were, serve an apprentice- ship before he become a saint ; first, the name of Servus Dei, servant of God, must be obtained for the candi- date ; and that is neither difficult nor expensive. Then, if the Congregation of Rites find, on examining his printed life, that his virtues seem to be proved, videtur con- stare de virtutihus, and the Pope says, constare, the JServus Dei is to be called venerahilis Servus Dei, venerable servant of God. Again, if the authenticity of the life, and of the virtues and miracles, is proved in another congregation, in the same way, then the vene- rahilis servus Dei assumes the title of blessed, heatus; a feast, mass, prayers, &c., are voted to him, and the Pope goes to St Peter's Church, to be the first of all to worship that same man who, had he pronounced * This congregation, as well as all tte others, such as those of indul- gences, of inquisition, &c., is compose^ of cardinals, bishops, prelates, and some few advocates. They form a sort of committee. Tliere is a prefect and secretary ; the others are called consultori, counsellors — the Pope is de jure prefect of them all. Those of the Congregation of Hites are very glad when there is a canonisation. They are entitled, be- sides, to a portrait of the saint, which, if the samt take, they sell verj dear, and to I know not how many pounds of chocolate. OVERGROWma INFLUENCE OF THE SOCIETY. 2G1 only those tAvo words, non constare, would liavc been a Pagan, or little better. That the blessed (beato) should become a saint, nothing more is necessary than that he should have worked three iirst-class miracles * (such as those performed by St Anthony, I suppose), and that there should be paid (not by tlic blessed — ■ heato — for the oiferings are only shewn to him, but by whosoever would make a saint of him) twenty thousand pounds sterling for the diploma. As may be perceived, the degree is somewhat dearer than in any other uni- versity ; but only consider the difference betwixt a doctor and a saint If However, as the expenses are too great, families or religious communities who wish for a saint, now unite together, each proposing a candidate for saintship, and a single proceeding serves to decide the fate of live or six saints, and the expenses are paid in conmion. Under the last Pope, Rome witnessed two or three of those wholesale canonisations. We Itahans call the proceeding, /are znia infornata di Santi, making an ovcnful of saints. But under the reign of Leo XIL, in 1826, a much more scandalous profanation took place. Saints being wanted by some town or other (almost every Italian borough has got one), and the Congregation of Relics, who dispense those Beati, having none at hand, one of the counsel- lors, we suppose, thought of a very expeditious way of making saints, and supply what was wanted. A sort of catacomb having been discovered at the church S. Lorenzo fuor delle nnira, in which some skulls were found, live of them Avere extracted, and declared to be * For Loyola's sake we should have liked that one of the three first-class Tniracles, recorded in tlie bull of canonisation, should have been a little more supernatural, and a little more decent, perhaps. It is said in the bull, that a woman of Gandia, being dropsical, applied to the part af- fected the image of the saint, and was cured, imagine dicti beati ventri at/mota, &c. t The saying of one of the descendants of Charles Borromeo has remained famous m Italy. After having paid all the expenses of the canonisation, Jie turned to his fomily and said, " Ee always good Christians, my dear children, but never saints ; one other saint, and we are ruined for ever." S 262 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. the skulls of martyrs. The Pope, with the advice of the Congregation of Rites, by his apostolic authority and certain knowledge, Apostolicd auctoritate ac certd scientid, declared that they were martyrs; and, two or three months after, they vrere exposed to the public worship in the Aj)ollinare, the ancient Collegio Ger- manico, which had belonged to the Jesuits, and where now met the Congregation of the Relics. I have my- self seen them thus exposed. Those having been dis- posed of, other skulls were dug up, and other martyrs made ; till, at last, a learned antiquarian (I do not remember whether French or German) proved almost to a certainty that the place where these skulls were found had been a Pagan burial-place. The noise was great, and so great the scandal, that the Pope ordered the catacomb to be shut, and no more martyrs to be made. One may still see the excavation, and some bones may be seen through an iron grating, but they are called martyrs no more. If these were not facts which happened in our own days, and of which all Rome is witness, I would hardly have dared to men- tion them, so incredible do they appear. We hope we shall be excused for this digression. The canonisation of Loyola and Xavier took place in 1623. AVe shall spare the recital of all the feasts, all the gorgeous ceremonies, all the pagan pageantry exhibited on the occasion. At Douay, above all, the whole of this theatrical representation was on a great and magnificent scale. Two galleries, supported by a hundred columns adorned with tapestry, and with no less than four hundred and forty-five paintings, were erected in the two streets leading to their college. The panegyrics in honour of the saints were not only ridiculous, but impious in the highest degree. In one of them it was said that " Ignatius," by his name written upon paper, " performed more miracles than Moses, and as many as the apostles!" And again, *' The hfe of Ignatius was so holy and exalted, even in OVERGROWING INFLUENCE OF THE SOCIETY. 2G3 the opinion of heaven, that only Popes like St Peter, empresses like the Mother of God, some other sovereign monarchs, as God the Father and his holy I Son, enjoyed the bliss of seeing him." We do not comment on these words ; even the Sorbonne, now in league with tlie Jesuits, condemned them. Some years after, another extraordinary and fan- tastic solemnity came to rejoice the Jesuitic world. From the year 1636, Vitelleschi had ordered that preparations should be made to solemnise, in 1640, the secular year of the establishment of the Society. We shall not give any description of it, but must mention a strange publication, which has given to this j feast an historical celebrity ; we mean the Imago \ Primi Scecnli Societatis Jesu. It is a huge folio of i 952 pages, richly and superbly printed, embellished | by hundreds of fantastic and extravagant emblems, and filled with absurd and ridiculous praises of the Society. Many were the contributors to this work, which was printed at Antwerp. " Many young Jesuits," says Cretineau,* " found in the aspirations of i their hearts poetical inspiration, accents of love, and i words of enthusiasm ! " The book is modestly dedica- ] ted to — God the Father ; and among the poetical inspira- tions, we read as follows : — " The Society of Jesus is not of man's invention, but it proceeded from Him tvJiose name it bears, for Jesus himself described that rule of life which the Society follows, first by his example, and afterwards by his AVord."f And further on, — " The Company is Israel's chariot of fire, whose loss Elisha mourned, and which now, by a special grace of God, both worlds rejoice to see brought back fi'om heaven to earth, in the desperate condition of the Church. In this chariot, if you seek the armies and soldiers by which she daily multiplies her triumphs with new victories, you will find — (and I ho23e you will take it in good part) — you will find a I * Vol. Hi. p. 471. t S. i. c. iii. p. 64. 264 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. cTiosen troop of angds who exhibit under the form of animals all that the Supreme Ruler desires in this chivalry." * "As the angels, enlightened by the splendours of God, purge our minds of ignorance, suffuse them with light, and give them perfection, — thus the companions of Jesus, copying the purity of angels, and all attached to their origin which is God, from whom they derive those fiery and flaming movements of virtue, with rays the most refulgent, putting off the impurities of lust in that furnace of supreme and chastest love in which they are cooked {excoquuntur), until being illuminated and made perfect, they can impart to others their light mingled with ardour — being not less illustrious for the splendour of their virtue than the fervour of charity with which they are divinely inflamed. " They are angels like Michael in their most eloquent •battles with heretics — like Gabriel in the conversion of the infidels in India, Ethiopia, Japan, and the Chinese hedged in by terrible ramparts, — they are like Raphael in the consolation of souls, and the con- version of sinners by sermons and the confessional. All rush with promptitude and ardour to hear confes- sions, to catechise the poor and children, as well as to govern the consciences of the great and princes; all are not less illustrious for their doctrine and wisdom : so that we may say of the Company what Seneca ob- serves in his 33d epistle, namely, that there is an in- equality in which eminent thii\gs become remarkable, but that we do not admire a tifee when all the others of the same forest are equally high. Truly, in what- ever direction you cast your eyes, you will discover some object that would be supereminent if the same were not surrounded by equals in eminence." f These quotations may suffice to give the reader an idea of the book. It will, however, be instructive to * S. iii. p. 401. t ILid. 402. OYERGROWIXG INFLUENCE OP THE SOCIETY. 2G5 give the opinion of Cretlncau upon it. lie calls the -work, indeed, a dithyrambic, and admits that there are some exaggerations in those academical exercises (he might as well have said that even the Court of Kome condemned the book); "but," adds he, "the critics would not recollect the extravagances, the im- pieties even, of the book entitled Conformity of the Life of St Francis ivith that of Christ, by brother Bartholomew of Tisa, nor the Or'ujo Seraficoi Faniillce Franciscance by the Capuchin Gonzalez;" and so on. Indeed we know that other monks are as boast- ful, as impudent, as impious as the Jesuits ; yet it seems a very poor a})ology to exculpate one's own faults by proving that our neighbour has committed similar ones. But so it is, w^e repeat it again, the Jesuits would inculpate God himself to justify their order. All we can say of the book is, that it is a most in- genuous and sincere exposition of the feelings of the Jesuits at such epochs, and of the opinion they had of themselves. They were at the height of their pro- sperity. The ditficulties they had encountered — the battles they had fought — the victories they had ob- tained — the consciousness of their own strength and power, all combined to make them believe that their ambition had to recognise no limits short of the absolute dominion of the world. This idea is clearly- expressed in every page of the Imayo ; and they struggled hard to reahse it. Had the Jesuits united to this consciousness, and to the superlative force of will and perseverance which is characteristic of their order, the conception of some great and magnani- mous object, which drew upon itself the interest and admiration of the multitude ; and had they by bold and unequivocal conduct contrived to carry into exe- cution the lofty design, — who knows what might have not been accomplished by a society so strongly and so admirably constituted 1 Such as they were, however, their influence became greater and greater every day. 266 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. As when of two royal pretenders to a noble kingdom, the conqueror sees the crowd of his courtiers increased, not only by all those prudent persons who had waited for the result of the contest, but by a part of his former adversaries, now the most submissive and humble of all his flatterers ; so the Jesuits, after they had mastered all opposition, and were in possession of power, saw themselves surrounded by a multitude of adherents and courtiers, eager to obtain their all- powerful influence. When to be a Jesuit became an honour, and the shortest way to ecclesiastical and secular dignities, persons of every sort, and especially such as were ambitious, resorted to the Society, to find the means of satisfying their several aspirations. Before Vitelleschi, the nobility had protected the Jesuits, but few of them had embraced the institute ; but afterwards, the highest famihes in Europe, princely houses not excepted, had a representative in the Com- pany, who gave to the order a new prestige, and im- parted to it the love and veneration with which his name was regarded by the people. The houses of Lorraine, Montmorency, those of Gonzaga and Orsini, Medina-Sidonia and Abouquerque, Limberg, and Cassimir of Poland, and a thousand other great and illustrious families, respectively contributed mem- bers to the order of the Jesuits. Our space will not allow us to enter into details, and to follow the Jesuits step by step in their pros- perous course. Let it suffice that we have shewn how the Society developed itself by degrees, and by what means it arrived at the pinnacle of power and great- ness. We shall now proceed to shew, in its principal facts, what use the Jesuits made of their ill-gotten influence. As we have already said, France was now the chief seat of their power, and the field where they reaped their laurels. Under Louis XIIL, or, to speak more correctly, under liichelieu, they could not pretend to a OVERGROWING INFLUENCE OF THE SOCIETY. 267 great sliaro of aiitliority. The despotic cardinal will only have them as his tools. He will protect them ; he will go with his royal slave to lay the lirst stone of a Jesuit edifice in a faubourg of Paris (St An- toine), but he will cause to bo condemned and burnt by the hands of the hangman, the books of Keller and Santarelli, that exalt the papal above the royal autho- rity, wdiich liichelieu considered his OAvn. Cardinal Mazzarini was as little disposed as his predecessor to tolerate any rival domineering influence ; and durino* his administration, the Jesuits had no considerable part in the public affairs. If Mazzarini shewed them some kindness, and afforded them his protection, it was because he wanted their support in opposition to the Jansenists, the partisans of the Cardinal of Metz, Archbishop of Paris, and Mazzarini's rival in power and in gallant intrigues. But when Louis XIY., on reaching his twentieth year, assumed the government of his kingdom, then really began the reign of the Jesuits. Not that the man who entered the Par- liament in his hunting apparel, with his whip in his hand, and was accustomed to say, L'etat c'est moi, .was much disposed to act by the advice and under the influence of other persons ; yet the Jesuits had a great share in all the great events of his reign. Louis had a Jesuit confessor from his childhood,* who, by insidious and daily-repeated insinuations, had rendered him a fanatical bigot, and made him believe that the greatest glory he could achieve would be the upholding of the Popish religion. In this point, as in- deed in many others, Louis bears a resemblance to Philip II. of Spain. Both gloried in the appellation of champions of Poper}^, both had its persecuting spirit, both sacrificed the love of their people to the w^ish to appear most zealous Pomanists; yet both, despotic and *_ Roman Catholics consider it their duty to send children to the con- fessional at the early age of seven years ; and nine out of ten hear for the first time, from the confessor, words which awaken in their young aud innocent minds lascivious and till then unknown desires. 268 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. jealous of their royal prerogative, waged war against their god on earth when he attempted to impugn it. Philip sent Alva, who, having conquered the Papal troops, entered Rome, and ohliged the Pope to sub- scribe his master's conditions ; Avhile Louis took posses- sion of Avignon, threw the Papal nuncio into prison, and obliged every member of the French clergy to subscribe the four articles of the Gallican Church, expressly got up against the pretensions of Rome. "With such a man as Louis, the Jesuits could not succeed in gaining their ends but by the most complete sub- jection to his orders or caprices. So, accommodating themselves at once to the prince's character, there was no mark of devotion and servility which they did not shew to him. They supported him in his schism against the Pope, subscribed the articles of the Galli- can Church, and refused to publish the bull of excom- munication the former had fulminated against the first- horn of the Church of Rome,^ persuading him, how- ever, that he would always remain a good Roman Catholic while they confessed and absolved him. They praised him for his military achievements, and en- couraged him in his profligacy, taking great care to abandon the former mistress the moment they saw the inclination of the prince directed towards a new one. For these criminal compliances, they obtained, in exchange, full liberty to persecute the Jansenists and Protestants to their hearts' content. The Jansenists were the first w)io experienced the vindictive hatred of the progeny of Loyola ; not because they were considered more dangerous heretics than the Huguenots, but because they had dared to attack the Order openly ; because the Provincial Letters had covered it with shame and confusion, and because the most considerable among them were re- lated to that Arnauld who first opposed its establish- ment in France, and declared its members to be the * Cret. vol. iv. p. 366. OVERGROWING INFLUENCE OF THE SOCIETY. 2GD accomplices of the crime of Jacques Clement. We insist upon tliat point, because it shews one of the most prominent characteristics of Jesuitism, never to forgive an injury, and to persecute the remotest descendants for the oifences they may have received from their ancestors. It would require volumes to relate all the persecu- tions to which the inhabitants of Port-lloyal were subjected. Hardly had Louis assumed the reins of government than, at the instigation of the Jesuits, he convened an assembly of bishops, and declared his in- tention to extirpate the Jansenists. The crafty and unscrupulous Do Marca, Archbishop of Toulouse, pre- pared a formula to the following effect : — " I sincerely submit to the Constitution of Pope Innocent X., of May 31, 1653, according to its true sense, as defined by the Constitution of our holy Father, Pope Alexander VII., of October IG, 1656.* I acknowledge myself bound in conscience to obey this Constitution, and I condemn, from my heart and with my mouth, the doctrine of the five propositions of Cornelius Jansenius, which are contained in the book of Augustinus, which both the popes and the bishops have condemned : and the doctrine of St Augustine is not that which Jansenius has falsely set forth, and contrary to the true sense of the holy doctor." All the clergy, and all persons who were in any way engaged in the tuition of youth, were required to subscribe this formula, and the most severe perse- cution awaited those Avho refused to do so. Neither the pure and uncontaminatcd life of those nuns of Avhom Bossuet himself said that they were " as pure as angels," nor the learning, the piety, the austere and exemplary conduct of De Lacy, Arnauld, iS'icole, and a hundred others, were a suflScient protection against This is the hull by which tlie Pope dedared that the five proposi- tions were to be found in Jansenius ; and this gave rise to the celebrated distinction oifact and right. 270 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. the persecuting spirit of the Jesuits. Those noble and magnanimous men were dragged from their peaceable retreat, and sent to pine away their lives either in foreign lands or in the dungeons of the Bastille, of which the very passages were crowded with prisoners. Yet the noble resistance of the nuns could not be overcome, and the persecutors could only have amends of Port-Royal by levelling it to th« ground. Fiercer and more sanguinary was the persecution exercised upon the Huguenots, who were very numer- ous in France at this epoch. Henry TV., after his cowardly apostasy, in order to pacify and calm his Calvinist subjects, had, in 1598, by an edict dated from Nantes, the principal town of Brittany, insured to them the free exercise of their religion ; leaving in their hands some strong places as a warranty. This edict had afterwards been disregarded by the French Government on many occasions, and Richelieu almost hazarded the throne in reducing Rochelle, the strong- hold of the Calvinists; yet no sanguinary measures were resorted to, from purely religious motives, and the Huguenots hved, we may say, almost unmolested. But after 1660, numberless and incessant petty perse- cutions, or tracasseries, must have made those Protes- tants aware of their impending ruin. The Jesuit La- chaise w^as the principal instrument of all the cruelties exercised afterwards upon them. This Lachaise was a relation of the famous Father Cotton, and confessor to the king. He was the very personification of Jesuitism — handsome, polite, courteous, pleasing in his manners, it seemed as if his whole care were directed to captivate the love of all sorts of persons ; he was never heard to utter a word of dissatisfaction against any one. S. Simon says of him, " II eta\t fort Jesuite — but pohte, and without rage ; " and Duclos affirms that " he knew how to irritate or calm the conscience of bis peni- tents always with a view to his own interests;" and that, " though he had been a fierce persecutor of every OVERGROWING INFLUENCE OF TUE SOCIETY. 271 party opposed to his own, he always spoke of them with great moderation." lie became the king's con- fessor in 1G75, and, by the most skilful and adroit flattery, acquired a great ascendancy over him. But do not imagine that he forgot his Jesuitical cunning. The profligacy and the continual state of adultery in which Louis lived w^as too great a scandal to be over- looked by such a pious man as Lachaise pretended to be. Sometimes he got angry v/ith his royal penitent, and denied him absolution. " The solemnity of Easter" (the time in wdiicli tlie confession is obliga- tory), says S. Simon, "gave him the political colic dur- ing the king's passion for Madame de Montespan;" and Cretineau says that '' he would not absolve the king, but sent him another Jesuit, who bravely absolved him." Such was the man who undertook to extirpate the Huguenots. In 1685 appeared the proclamation which recalled the Edict of Nantes, La 7'evocation de Vedit de Nantes, and from that moment the poor Calvinists were consigned to the tender mercies of the ferocious Jesuits, who, with the help of the dragoons and the low^est of the populace, renewed the horrible scenes of St Bartholomew, carrying the rage of fanaticism and revenge so far as to exhume the buried bodies of the murdered victims, and throw them into the common sewers. How many thousand industrious families were driven naked and penniless into foreign lands ! how many children were made orphans ! how many decrepid old men were left without a child or descendant to close their eyes ! Alas ! let us draw a veil over the infernal saturnalia. Lachaise became now a most important personage of the court of Louis. The king had built for this monk — who, though he made a vow of poverty, never travelled but in a coach and six — a magnificent house surrounded by a garden,* where the humble disciple of •* The place was called Mont Louis, but was afterwards converted into 272 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. Lovola received his courtiers and flatterers, and where he freely distributed lettres cle cachet.^ He was the arbiter between Fenelon and Bossuet, be- tween Montespan and Maintenon, between the sove- reign and his clergy. It was Lachaise who united by a secret marriage the great king and the gover- ness of his illegitimate children ; but Madame de Maintenon never forgave him that he had not obliged his royal penitent to acknowledge her publicly as his wedded queen. But all the influence he exercised was nothing compared to the exorbitant and almost royal power which he possessed as king's confessor, Lafeuille des benefices, that is, the right of disposing of all the livings of all the bishoprics in the kingdom, was attached to the oflice.| One may well imagine that Lachaise, who, as St Simon says, was/or^ Jesiiite, was not very sparing in conferring rich benefices upon his own order. But a still greater advantage re- sulted to the Society from the subjection in which they held the French clergy, who, depending exclu- sively on a Jesuit for favours and advancement, re- nounced the opposition they had formerly shewn to the Compan}^, and became the most humble and flatter- ing adherents of the lathers. Even the Sorbonne, that fiery opponent, became the supporter of the Society. To the pleasing and polite Lachaise, in 1709, suc- a magnificent and beautiful cemetery, v/liicli now bears tlie name of La- chaise. * A leitre de cachet was an order bearing the king's signature, generally requiring the arrest or exile of the person specified. Under the reign of the despotic Louis, lettres de cachet were issued with scandalous profusion. The courtiers, the ministers, the king's mistresses, asked, in exchange for a flattery or a caress, a lettre de cachet. Often the letter was blank, having only the king's signature, and left to the person who had obtained it to fill it up with any name and any sort of punishment he pleased. Father Lachaise had always by him a quantity of letters of this last sort. + In the first years of Louis's reign that right resided in a commission composed of two prelates and a Jesuit ; but Ferrier, Lachaise's prede- cessor, possessed himself of the exclusive right, which ever after belonged to the king's confessor. OVERGROWINa INFLUENCE OF THE SOCIETY. 273 cccdcd as confessor the gloomy Lctcllicr. He was CTiicl, ardent, and inficxible in Jiis enmities, reserved, mysterious, and cunnini^ in his dark projects," conceal- ing always the violence of his passions under a cold and impassive exterior. His predecessor had left him little to do in the way of wholesale persecution and massacre. The Huguenots had been murdered by thousands, and three hundred thousand Calvinist fjimilics had Hcd from their unrelenting enemies. The Jansenists had been in part disbanded, and death had removed from the contest the Pascals, the Nicoles, the * Letellier was accused of being the contriver of the following shame- ful deception. In 1690, during a dispute, M. de Ligny, Professor of Moral Philosophy at the Royal College of Douay, fell out with Father Beckman, a Jesuit professor. Drawn to extremities in the argument, he menaced his opponent with revenge, saying, Ego te flcujellabo — " I will give you a whipping." Fifteen days after, Ligny received a letter under the false signature of Antoine A ; that is, Antoine Arnauld, the famous Jansenist, with an address for the expected answer. Now, the professor, flattered by the honour of receiving a letter from so famous a man as Arnauld, replied to the letter, and continued the correspondence — so that at last the impostor, under the name of Arnauld, drev.^ from Ligny the names of those who opposed the Jesuits, all of them doctors and pro- fessors in theology. The impostor thereupon began and continued a correspondence with these doctoi'S, who supposed they were writing to the true Arnauld, the staunch opponent of Jesuit doctrine. Lignyeven begged the invisible Arnauld to be his spiritual director, and sent him a general confession of the state of his conscience. Thereupon he was induced to leave his chair, his benefice, and to send all his papers to the impostor, whilst he set out by the same command to a place appointed, which was Paris. He went to St Magloire, but found no Arnauld ; proceeded from place to place, until at last the simple Fleming found that he was duped. JVIeanwliile, however, all the professors before alluded to were denounced by the Jesuit Letellier, and exiled to various towns in France ; and Ligny him- self was sent to Tours. Meanwhile, the Jesuit publislied a letterdirected to a doctor of Douay, under the title oi Secrets of the -partij of M. Arnauld lately discovered. Then Arnauld, in his place of exile, discovering the cheat, published a first and second complaint, and a tliird, concluding one in answer to the Jesuit who had replied to his second. Every one was indignant, and even Louis XIV. himself. But the Jesuits assured him that they were innocent of the plot; and having obtained forgiveness for a supposed contriver, Tournelay, a doctor whom the Jesuits had named professor in the place of the expelled Gilbert, confessed that he had himself played the ixart of the false Arnauld, and the J esuits were by this imposture exculpated from this act of perfidy, Lx the Gazette of Rotterdam, 1692, it is said, "But little esteem v/as felt for him (Tournelay) since it was discovered that he consented to pass for the iather of the false Arnauld, to exculpate the Jesuits, and above all, author de Vaudripont, the man who had answered Arnauld's complaint, and who was supposed to act by Letellier's inspiration." 274 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. De Lacys, and the whole of the Arnauld family. Only a few nuns, who could no more receive novices or pupils, and with whom, therefore, their order must necessarily be extinguished, remained in the monastery of Port- Royal for the ferocious Letellier. He sent thither a troop of rough and licentious soldiers, who dragged those delicate and feeble women from their abode, and conducted them prisoners as obstinate heretics, to be confined in different monasteries. Yet the dwelhng which those sainted nuns had occupied, the church where they had worshipped the Lord, the tombs where many of them lay, and which they had sought in the hope to be delivered from their persecutors, and there to rest their wearied bodies in peace, still remained imtouched. Letellier, to glut his revenge, turned his rage against their glorious monuments, had the mo- nastery and church pulled down ; and, violating with Vandalic ferocity the asylum of the dead, he caused the bodies to be exhumed and thrown together in a heap, to be devoured by the dogs, and had the plough driven over the sacred edifice.* After such examples as these, it is unnecessary to add more to shew the influence the Jesuits possessed in France, and the abominable use they made of it. We have gone beyond the epoch we have prefixed to this chapter, the facts we have last reported having occurred in 1709, 1711, and 1713. And we have done so, because these events mark the time from which the power of the Jesuits began in France to decline from its ascendancy. Let us now see what was the conduct and the influence of the Jesuits in other countries. In Spain, the affairs of the Order were in the most flourishing condition. Their revenues amounted to a very considerable sum. The authority they possessed was almost unlimited. Philip III., who had loaded them with benefices, expired on the arm of a Jesuit; * See Edinburgh Review, vol. Ixxiii. p. 361. OVERGROWING INFLUENCE OF THE SOCIETY. 275 and hardly had Philip IV. taken the government into his OAvn hands than he showered down upon the Society still greater fiivours than his predecessor.* He encouraged his subjects to build colleges for them; and many bishops and noblemen, to please the sove- reign, vied with each other in endowing the Society with richly provided establishments, and in investing them with all power and influence. But it seems that when the haughty and imperious Olivarez possessed himself of the supreme power, he ruled with such a despotic hand both king and kingdom, that very little share of authority or influence was left to the reverend fathers. Inde irce. The affront must be resented, and, although it was rather difficult to attack openly in Spain either the premier or the monarch, surrounded as he was by the devotion and the love of his subjects, yet the Jesuits were not the men to suffer patiently what they considered an injury. They then thought of snatching from the hands of Philip that same sceptre of Portugal which they had placed in the hands of his grandfather. They accordingly set themselves to work, and formed a conspiracy to transfer the crown to the head of the Duke of Braganza. The pulpit, the confessional, the congre- gations, were all made to subserve their designs ; and the minds of the people being sufficiently pre- pared, they caused the duke to repair to Evora. He took up his abode in the Jesuit college ; and when he descended into the church, thronged with people, Corea, a Jesuit father, addressing the duke from the pulpit, exclaimed, " I shall yet see upon your head the crown of glory, to which may the Lord call us all !"t The church rung with plaudits at this well- managed reticence; and the mysterious prediction passed from the church to the street, and from thence throughout Portugal, to strengthen the hopes and in- flame the courage of the Portuguese, already impatient * Cret. vol. ui. p. 356. f Ibid. p. 363. 276 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. to shake off the Spanish yoke. From that moment the conspiracy made rapid progress. The fathers pub- licly preached the revolt, without, however, altogether forgetting their Jesuitical duplicity. The provincial forbade all his subordinates to mix in political matters, and even imprisoned one of them for having from the pulpit too openly exhorted the citizens to rebel. But the greatest part of the fathers disregarded the order of their superior, who, nevertheless, except in the instance just mentioned, left them unpunished, and in the even- ing sat down with them at the same table as friendly as ever — a policy which, we must observe, was adopted by the fathers in all doubtful emergencies, in order that, on whichever side the scales declined, there might be a portion of the .Jesuits claiming the merit of fidelity, and screening the others from the conqueror's resentment. Cretineau confesses frankly that the Jesuits had been the soul of the revolution, and says, '^ The Duchess of Braganza hoped to make her duke king, even against his own will ; but it was necessary to obtain the co-operation, or at least the neutrality, of the Jesuits." * The efforts of the Jesuits were crowned with success. In 1640 a revolution broke out at Lisbon, and was successful. " The house of Braganza did not forget what it owed to the Jesuits for the past and tlie present ; and wishing, through them, to make sure of the future, it awarded to them unlimited influence. The Jesuits were the first ambas- sadors of John IV." t After those very explicit words, let the Jesuits assert that they are a religious community, detached entirely from worldly interest, and merely occupied in the salvation of souls. It has been asserted that the Jesuits, besides being animated by hatred to Olivarcz, were induced to co-operate in the revolution by the instigation and perhaps by the liberal promises of Ilichelieu, who, as everybody * Crct. vol. iii. p. 362. + Ibid. p. 3C3, OVERGROWING INFLUENCE OF TUE SOCIETY'. 277 knoTVS, was anxious by every possible means to liarass and enfeeble tlie rival house of Austria. However this was, the Jesuits became the almost absolute masters of Tortugal. Nothing was done without their consent. No minister would take any important step with- out first consulting the Jesuits and obtaining their permission. Lisbon became the seat of their extensive conmiercial operations, and the centre of their trade between Europe and the Indies ; and Eankc says that the Portuguese ambassadors Avere empowered to draw upon the Jesuits of Portugal for considerable sums. And, strange to say, they at the same time enjoyed some influence in Spain under Philip IV.; and this appears to have increased to such an extent under Charles II., that the testament by which this monarch named a grandson of Louis XIV. to the throne of Spain, was dictated, it is asserted, by the Jesuits. Here we are led to make a remark which will serve to illustrate the true spirit of Jesuitism. In the fifth general congregation was passed a decree forbidding all Jesuits to mix in any way in political or secular matters ; and by the eighty-fourth decree of the sixth general congregation, all operations which have any appearance of being commercial are strictly forbidden to the members of the Society. Notwithstanding these decrees, the Jesuits dispose of the destinies of kingdoms almost at their pleasure, and are the earliest bankers in Europe. The General, who is armed by the Constitution with almost unlimited powers to punish the infraction of his orders, and who can dismiss the delinquent at any time he chooses, not only remains- silent when such transgressions are committed, but con- nives at, and even encourages them, by raising those members who are the most skilful in political affairs to the most important offices in the Society, and by himself using and disposing of that money which has been acquired by a manifest breach of the Constitution. For what purpose, then, those decrees, if they are 278 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. not to be observed ? What was the purpose contem- plated by theh^ framers, ^^e cannot say, but the use the Society makes of them is a very simple one. When they are accused of mixing in political matters or commercial speculations, they answer : " This cannot be ; the Constitutions or the decrees expressly forbid such things." Thus, for example, Cretineau, after mentioning the decree which forbids any sort of operation of a commercial nature, adds, •' This is the answer to the partial criticisms and interested injustice of those who will endeavour to attribute to the great work of the missions a sordid cupidity of lucre." * We admire the boldness, not to say the impudence, of this panegyrist of the Order. All throughout Germany the Jesuits spread desola- tion and misery whenever the cause of truth and free- dom was overcome by the superior material force of despotism and bigotry. " They were the most able auxiharies of Ferdinand in destroying the Protestants; they were in the imperial cabinet, in his armies, among the defeated sectarians, and they even dared to pene- trate into the camp of the Lirfherans "f (as spies, no doubt). The Jesuits had formed Tilly, Wallenstein, and Piccolomini, the three champions of the Cathohc cause in the Thirty Years' War. " They (the Jesuits) accompanied the armies in their march, they followed them to the battle-field; and after the victory, they disputed with the Croats the fate of the prisoners of the day." J Such is the version of their historian. How far from the truth ! It is un- questionable that they had formed the three champions, and worthy of their masters did they prove by their spirit of revenge and persecution. But it is an impu- dent falsehood that the Jesuits interposed (as their calling made it their duty) betwixt the executioner and the victim, betwixt the sacred laws of humanity and the barbarous laws of war. No. On the contrary, * Cret. vol. iii. p. 179. f Ibid. p. 3S8. ll: Ibid. pp. 371, 372. OVERGROWma INFLUENCE OF THE SOCIETY. 279 tlicy prcaclicd the extermination of tlie Protestants, and gave out that no work was so meritorious in tho eyes of God as to kill those accursed heretics. They did not calm, but rather excited, the ferocious passions of their pupils the generals, and, above all, of Tilly, over whom they possessed a very great influence. Once, after the battle of Strato, in Munster, I believe the voice of the Jesuits was added to that of the citizens in imploring mercy for some hundreds of unfortunate prisoners on the point of being mercilessly put to the SAVord; and this single and exceptional instance, whether the act of some human and compassionate persons, or of cunning rogues eager to win for tho Order an unmerited reputation for clemency, is re- ported by the Jesuits as a general practice : while the many acts of brutal Vandalism and revenge perpetrated under their very eyes, and at their instigation, when they cannot be denied, are laid to the account of others. This is a historical truth. Nor were they disinterested persecutors. They fought here, as elsewhere, not for their faith or their Church, but for their idol — the Order. Let them speak for themselves : — " Corvin Gosiewsky, Palatine of Smolensk, met Gustavus Adolphus near the Duna- munde, defeated him, and, to consecrate the remem- brance of this day, he founded a Jesuit house in the town he had dchvered. Every victory of that Pala- tine was for the Jesuits a new mission," * which means the erection of a new house or college. The greatest part of the properties of which the Protestants were iniquitously divested went to enrich the covetous and insatiable disciples of Loyola. The Pope, usurping the right of disposing of those properties, only because they had once belonged to the clergy, by a decree, ordered '' that a part of the property which had been recovered be employed in erecting seminaries, board- ing-schools, and colleges, as well for the Jesuits who * Crct. vol. iii. p. 375. 280 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. have been the principal authors of the imperial pro- clamation,* as for other religious orders;" | which last clause was of course rendered illusory, the Jesuits pos- sessing themselves of whatever portion of those pro- perties was set apart for the aforesaid purpose of building houses and colleges. We have already seen what Influence the Jesuits- had acquired in Poland, under Sigismund III., in whose reign " a systematic war of popular riots, excited by the Jesuits or their tools, was begun against the Pro- testants."J In fact, their temples were overthrown, their burial-grounds jDrofaned, their properties de- stroyed, their persons injured, and no redress what- ever was given or could be expected from judges and magistrates appointed at the recommendation of the Jesuits. Their pupils not unfrequently celebrated Ascension-day by assaulting those of the evangelical persuasion, breaking into their houses, plundering and destroying their property. Woe to the Protes- tant whom they could seize in his house, or whom they even met on the streets on these^ccasions ! The evangelical church of Cracow was attacked in the year 1606, and in the following year the church was furiously stormed, the dead being torn from their graves ; in 1611, the church of the Protestants in Wilna shared the same fate, and its ministers were maltreated or murdered. In 1615, a book appeared in Posen, which maintained that the Protestants had no right to dwell in that city. In the follow- ing year, the pupils of the Jesuits destroyed the Bohemian church so completely, that they left * This proclamation was the decree b}- wliicli the bigoted Ferdinand II., with revolting injustice, dispossessed legitimate holders of property which had belonged to religious communities, but which in great part had been allotted more than a hundred years before to those monks and priests who had embraced Protestantism, and which, passing through many hands to the persons then in possession, constituted the most legitimate property. + Cret. vol. iii. p. 390. J Krasiuski's Lectures on Slavonia, p. 321. OVERGROWING INFLUENCE OF THE SOCIETY. 281 no stone rcmaliiino- upon another, and tlie Lntlicran church Avas burnt. The same things occurred in other places; and in some instances the Pro- testants were compelled by continual attacks to give up their churclies. Nor did they long confine their assaults to the towns ; the students of Cracow proceeded to burn the churclies of the neighbouring districts. In Podlachia, an aged evangelical minister named Barkow was walking before his carriage, lean- ing on his staff, when a Polish nobleman approaching from the opposite direction, commanded his coachman to drive directly over him ; before the old man could move out of the way, he was struck down, and died from the injuries he received.* The University of Cracow, writing to that of Louvain, and referring to one of those expeditions against the Protestants, headed by Jesuits, in 1621, expresses it- self as follows : '* The Jesuits are very cunning, expert in a thousand artifices, and clever at feigning sim- plicity ; but they were the cause of much innocent blood being slied. The town (Cracow) was deluged with it. The fathers were never satiated with mur- ders, only the arms of those ruffians whom they em- ployed for their crimes were tired ; they were moved with compassion, and refused at last to proceed in the inassacre."t Indeed, the fiery spirit of intolerance and bigotry which the Jesuits had difi:\ised was so strong and universal, that even Wladislau, Sigisnumd's suc- cessor, notwithstanding all his efforts, could not arrest the religious persecution and protect his Protestant subjects from the sanguinary fury of the Papists. It is true that Sigismund, in following the Jesuits' direc- tions, and in attempting to re-introduce Romanism into all his dominions, had lost his hereditary kingdom of Sweden and the magnificent province of Livonia ; * Ranke's Ilistori/ of the Popes, vol. ii. p. 161. t Literte Academise Cracoviensis ad Academiaiu Lovaniensem, 2 July 1627. 282 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. but that was nothing to the fathers. Protestantism was broken, their opponents were despised or sacri- ficed, their houses and colleges had received great additional revenues — what did they care for the losses of others? On the premature death of Wladislau, his brother Cassimir ascended the throne of Poland. He had been a Jesuit, and had sat in the College of Cardinals. The Pope, that he might assume the sceptre, had granted him a dispensation from all his vows. This Jesuit king, by his bad conduct and cowardice, very nigh lost his kingdom ; and when his subjects recovered it from the hand of the imperious Charles Gustavus, king of Sweden, he, in gratitude for that fidelity and gallantry, " committed himself and the kingdom to the care of the Virgin Mary, and vowed to convert the heretics ; " which meant, says Krasinski, to disperse and extirpate them. The Jesuits triumphed. We shall not follow those pitiless and relentless monks in all the iniquities they committed, in all the miseries they inflicted on poor Poland, which owes in great part to them the_loss of her literature, of her glory, and, in part, of her national existence. Much has been said and written about the conver- sion to Romanism, by the Jesuits, of Christina, the daughter of the heroic Gustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden. But as this event did not produce any ma- terial change on that country, we shall be very brief in our account of it. No doubt, the Jesuits had a great share in bringing that capricious and haughty woman into the pale of the Roman Church. The sad glory belongs to Macedo, confessor to the Portuguese ambassador at the court of Sweden. He persuaded her to seek rest to her disquieted mind in the un- changed and unchangeable doctrines of Rome. By her order, Macedo went to Rome to ask the General of the Jesuits to send her some of the most trusted mem- OVERGROTnNG INFLUENCE OF THE SOCIETY. 283 bers of the order.* Some time after, two very liand- somc and young Italian noblemen, travellino;, as they gave out, for their improvement, arrived at the Swed- ish court, and were introduced to the queen, and ad- mitted to the royal table. In these two very pleasing young men were to be recognised two Jesuits, sent by the General ; and these, being admitted to secret in- terviews with the princess, achieved the work begun by Macedo. Christina, on her conversion, renounced the crown, and wxnt to Rome to worship on his own pedestal of pride the idol which the bigoted Papists adore in the place of God the I^ord. AVe must now return to examine the conduct of the Jesuits in England, and we could wish that w^e were spared the task ; for, in connexion with their plots and crimes, we shall have to speak of the shameful and unchristian proceedings of their opponents, which were such as we cannot think of withoujt sadness, and which convey but a poor idea of the goodness of human na- ture when acting under the influence of exciting pas- sions. By the one party, the conception of a most abominable and infernal crime is extolled as a merito- rious and heroic action ; while the other, to punish the intended crime, violates the most sacred laws of justice and humanity. There is no event in the annals of any nation, the memory of which has been so carefully perpetuated as has been in England the gunpoAvder plot. It is the first page of the national history which is taught to children by its annual commemoration every fifth of November. We therefore shall relate of it only so much as is necessary to demonstrate the part in it that may be attributed to the Jesuits. Here, as in the affair of Campion, it is rather difficult, amidst the many contradictory versions and documents, to arrive at a clear and satisfactory conclusion regarding the degree of culpability of the accused. We shall neither credit * Rauke, vol. ii, p, 3C2. 284 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. the apologists of the Jesuits, Eudemon and Bellarmine,* nor Ahhott's Antologia, and the assertions of James YI. himself, who, forgetting the dignity of a king, entered the hsts to shew his pedantic learning and love of con- troversy. Instead of filhng hundreds of pages with contradictory quotations, we shall frankly state the conclusions to which we have come after a careful examination of what has been written on the subject, j That the Jesuits Avere from first to last the con- trivers of all the machinations against Elizabeth and James, is an incontestable fact, and we have in part proved it. The notorious and unrelenting Parson, who, after he fled from England, became rector of the Enghsh college in Rome, and possessed very great influence at the Papal court, was the chief instigator of these plots. During EUzabeth's lifetime, he had had the idea of unceremoniously disposing of the English crown in. favour of the Duke of Parma, or of Cardinal Farnese, his brother ; _ a ridiculous and absurd project of a fanatic conspirator, which was ridiculed at the time, by Pasquino,! in these w^ords : "If any man will buy the kingdom of England, let him repair to a merchant with a black square cap, in the city, and he shall have a very good pennyworth of it." § "^It was Parson, and his brethren the Jesuits, who obtained from Paul V., against the representation of Henry IV. of France, the bull which * This Bellarmine, as is known to many of our readers, was a famous Jesuit, a cardinal, and one of the most fanatic and bigoted in the order, celebrated above all for exalting the Papal authority above every other earthly power. He is the author of a catechism, which is still tau-ht over all Italy, under the name of Za Dottrina Cristiana de Bellarmino. He was very learned, and appears not to have been a bad man, as regards his outward conduct. 'i' Jardine is, perhaps, the most impartial guide to follow in inquiring into this tragical event. X Pasquino and Marforio are, or at least were (only one of them_ being now in existence), two statues placed at the corners of two contiguous streets in Rome, on which the Komans affix those libels in which they, generally speaking, express their hatred of the Roman court and its abominable vices. The statues are supposed to address one another. § Butler, Jlem. ii. 51. OVERO ROWING INFLUENCE OF THE .SOCIETY. 285 forbade all tlic lloman Catholics to take tlic oath of allco'iancc, and which produced so many miseries. It was he, too, Avho constrained the Pope to disgrace the arch -priest ]>lackwell for having taken it, and who compelled the secular priests to become rebels and victims against their own will ; which circumstance elicited from them the memorial to the Pope which we have reported at p. 163. But, that no doubt may remain about it, listen to the ingenuous Cretincau, who, enumerating the benefits rendered by the Jesuits to liomanism, says, *' Have they not preserved in Eng- land the germ (of Popery) which is now developunj itself with such vicjour, and which in Ireland, after three hundred years of martyrdom, became a legiti- mate REVOLUTION?"* No words can prove better than these that the Jesuits were constantly and actively employed in Great Britain in propagating Romanism, a doctrine which, according to them, confers upon the Pope the right of supremacy, of disposing of the crown at his pleasure, and of releasing the subjects from their allegiance to a heretic sovereign, and which, conse- quently, amounts to high treason. In this aspect alone can be in part excused those sanguinary laws of perse- cution and tyranny enacted in the reigns of Elizabeth and James against the lioman Catholics. We insist upon this consideration. Now, in the particular case which we are examin- ing — the gunpowder plot — we believe that Catesby and Percy, at first, contrived the plot without the knowledge or participation of the Jesuits, as it is not denied that afterwards Gerard, Tezmund alias Green- wall, and Garnet, were made acquainted with it in all its horrid details. The whole question regarding Garnet, who alone suffered for the conspiracy, has hitherto amounted to this — whether he knew of it in * " N'ont ils pas conserve en Angleterre le p;erme qui se dcveloppe avec tant de vi.^ueur, et qui en Irlande, apres trois cents ans de martyre, devient une revolution legitime V Vol. iii. 510. 286 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. any other way than as it was revealed to him by Father Gerard, under the seal of confession. And the Jesuits and Papists insist upon this point, pretending that, in such a case, Garnet could not reveal the con- spiracy without committing sacrilege. To speak the truth, we arc inclined to believe that he, literally speaking, did not know of it otherwise ; and these are the reasons why we believe so. Garnet was not, like Parson, a bold and daring partisan, capable of braving any danger, of attempting an^^ enterprise. He was a very poor conspirator, in no way disposed to earn the palm of martyrdom. Catesby, who had been his asso- ciate in the plots during the reign of Elizabeth, must have known him well, so that he and the other conspira- tors did not trust him at first even with their confession. It was Greenway who, in our opinion, violated the seal of confession by apprising his superior of what was going on. It is not improbable, then, that when after- wards Catesby proposed to disclose to him the whole plan of the plot. Garnet, who had nothing to learn, refused to listen to him, in order that, in case of ill- success, he might not be accused of being an accom- plice. That all the Jesuits approved of the plot and wished it success, there is very little doubt, and we even behove that, without speaking openly to the point, Garnet must have indirectly, by cunning, adroit in- sinuations, encouraged the conspirators to consummate the horrible crime. It is a fact deponed by Bates, and indubitably proved, that Garnet and the other two Jesuits had frequent interviews with Catesby and the other conspirators some few days before that which had been fixed upon for the execution of the plot ; and we do not hesitate to say, that had Garnet wished to deter the conspirators from their infernal projects, he might have found a thousand ways of doing so without at all betraying the secrets of the confessional. But suppose that, as we have said, Garnet and Greenway did not know of the conspiracy OYERG ROWING INFLUENCE OF THE SOCIETY. 287 except under tlic seal of confession, and that they In no way cncourngcd and ahetted it, yet we cannot acquit them of the charge of being accomphccs in tlic crime. We have related at p. 140 that at Grenada the Jesuits liad propounded a doctrine that there arc cir- cumstances in which the confessor may obHge his penitent to discover his accomphces or permit him to inform the competent authorities of the crime. It is true that the crime specified was heresy, but we think that the same may be said of murder or any other crime, and that that doctrine which is good at Grenada must be equally good in England. But let that pass, and let us proceed. The conspirators, at least five of them, declared to the confessor, that they were medi- tating a horrible crime, that they were taking mea- sures to accomplish it, and that they were sure of success. The confessor granted them absolution, and another Jesuit administered to them the communion. Now, the indispensable condition of the validity of ab- solution from a sin, is, that the penitent feel repentance or contrition for havino- committed it. How then could Father Greenway absolve the conspirators from a crime of which they not only did not repent, but which they were proceeding at all hazards to perpetrate? The evil spirit himself expounds this doctrine to the unfor- tunate Guide, to whom he proves that the absolution he had received from the Pope from a sin he \iad not yet committed was null. " No power can the impenitent absolve. Nor to repent and ■will at once consist. By contradiction absolute furbid."* Wc conclude from this, that either your confession is merely a snare to entrap fools, or that Greenway considered the conspiracy not a hellish crime, but a meritorious deed ! * " Che assolver non si puo chi non si pente, Ne pentere e vulere insienie puossi Per la contradizion che nol consente." — D ante's Inferno. 288 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. But we have a still more stringent argument. Suppose that, following some of their pro6a5/e opinions f the Jesuits thought that they were obliged to absolve the miscreants, and that their ministry obliged them faithfully to keep the secret, had they not the Pope, the omnipotent Pope to apply to, to absolve them from that obligation ? Is there any precept, any sacrament, any law Imman or divine, from the fulfihnent of which, according to their doctrine, the Pope cannot grant a dispensation ? If there is any, let it be pointed out, and we shall absolve them. But if they cannot deny that the Pope could have released them from the secrecy of confession, and if they cannot prove that they asked such dispensation, it is evident that they did not wish to prevent the crmie. And if this was connivance, and if this connivance was a capital crime, then their condemnation was undoubtedly a legal and just sen- tence, and they met with nothing but deserved punish- ment. We wonder that James, who was so well versed in theological controversies, did not find out any of these arguments, which would certainly have furnished more plausible grounds for a condemnation than the equivocal confession wrung from the Jesuits by the contrivance of ignoble and disgraceful snares. For if we unreservedly condemn the Jesuits, we exclaim with equal energy against the proceedings of their adversaries. All the forms of justice, all the laws of humanity, were scandalously violated. Garnet is con- fined in a prison, repeatedly interrogated, and, in order that he may betray himself, assured that his accomplice Father Grcenway has been arrested, and that he has confessed everything. Then, after he has been long in a dungeon alone, a jailor, pretending to be touched with compassion, tells the desolate man, that another Jesuit is close by, and that lie can converse with, and even see him ; and opens a door through which the two friends can see each other. The manner in which his secrets were surprised ; the OVElvGROWING INFLUENCE OF THE SOCIETV. 28D misconstruction of his words; the interception of letters, which he was assured he might in safety write to his bosom friends; the strange hnputation of roguery, because he did not consent to accuse himself, in clear and precise words ; the promises which were held out to him and never kept ; and, above all, the protracted, cruel, and inhuman moral torture which was intiicted upon him on the scaffold ; * all deserve our severe and unconditional censure. Thank God! in England at least we are now far from those cruel times of in- justice and fanaticism, and we sincerely hope we shall never see tliem back again. The Jesuits were not appalled nor discouraged by the execution of Garnet, nor by that of Oldcorne, who had suffered at AVorccstcr some days before.f AVe lind them in almost all the conspiracies which were got up to impede the regular march of the government, and we find from time to time severe and inquisitorial laws enacted against them, some of which forbade thera to set foot in England, under penalty of death. It is an incontestable fact, that the Jesuits, by their turbulent and treacherous conduct, were the cause of most of the rigorous measures taken by the govern- ment against the lloman Catholics, who ought there- fore to consider those crafty monks as their most bitter enemies. Another inference may be drawn from what we have related, namely — that no danger, not even that of death, can deter a Jesuit from follow- ing out his projects, wlicn once they are considered to be profitable to the Order, or necessary to avenge it of its enemies. The moment they could return from exile, the instant they were set free from * Tbe Kecorder of London, the Dean of St Paul's, and that of West- minster, acompanied him to the fatal scaffold, and at that awful moment, when the wretched man had need to prepare himself for the presence of the supreme infallible Judge, they, for tks space of an hour, obliged him to discuss tlie lawfulness of equivocation, and the criminality of the Plot, and thus subjected him to another trial ! t Oldcorne Avas executed on the 17th of April 1G06, Garnet on the 3d of May of the same year. 290 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS, dangers or untied from the rack, tliey returned to tlieir plots and intrigues with unabated ardour and most wonderful obstinacy. A striking instance of this was furnished by the Jesuit Fischer, who, the moment he was liberated from the tower, undertook to convert to Catholicism the mother of the brilliant Buckingham, who did in fact abjure Protestantism, and, in union with France and Spain, contrived to render less cruel the laws of proscription against the Catholics.* During the fatal struggle which Charles I. main- tained against the Parliament, the Jesuits pubhcly and openly took part with the cavaliers, because Charles was evidently much better disposed towards them than were the Puritans. It is evident that, by shewing their devotedness to the king, if the contest had ended in his favour, they might not only have hoped for the free exercise of their religion, but for a consider- able share of influence over him. But a very grave accusation was brought against them, which, if true, would shew them guilty of the most diabolical iniquity. We have no proofs to establish this accusation, which was produced some years after the event; but, if we are to declare our own conviction, we firmly believe them guilty ; not because we credit in all its parts the narrative of Jurieu, but for the reasons we are about to give. Jurieu relates that the Jesuits, to re-establish the Poman Catholic religion, thought that it would be necessary that Charles, then prisoner, should fall, and the monarchy along w^ith him. In consequence, eighteen of them, headed by a lord of the realm, went to Pome to consult the Pope. The matter was dis- cussed in secret assemblies, and it was decided that it was lawful that Charles should die. The deputies, on their return from Rome, shewed to the Sorbonne * Cret. vol. iii. p. 476.— He might have said that Fischer was the author of many paltry contrivances, and that his endeavours were not so much directed to alleviate the misery of the persons of his persua- sion as to resuscitate enemies to the established government^ in con- formity with the wishes of Spain and France. OVEIIGROWING INFLUENCE OF THE SOCIETY. 291 tlic response of the Pope, ofivhich many copies ivere distributed. The Sorbonne approved. On their return to England, the Jesuits set themselves to work, and sent many of the most ardent Catholics among the Independents, dissembling their religion, to inflame still more their passions, and push things to extremities. Their scheme having failed, they wished to have back the copies of the considtation of the Pope and the Sorbonne; but the priest who before abjuring Protes- tantism liad been Charles's confessor, and who was intimate with the Jesuits, w^ould not give up his copy, and, after the return of the Stuarts, shewed it to many persons who were still living, and could afford actual evidence of the reality of what he nar- rated.* This statement, literally taken, does not stand exa- mination, and Cretineau, who reports it, triumphantly exclaims, that this manner of writing history renders all discussion impossible.! JN'o, certainly not \ such m- fernal projects as to drive the king to extremities, and make the king's head fall for the fulfilment of their designs, if formed, were neither publicly nor secretly discussed at the Court of Rome in the presence of eighteen Jesuits and a lord, and much less was the conclusion they came to, and their approval of the project, put in writing and freely distributed : we readily acquit them of such foohsh contrivances. But, knowing as we do the arts of the Loyolan brother- hood, we repeat that we firmly believe that it is more than probable that the Jesuits did mix among the lloundheads and excite their fanaticism to frenzy. I have recorded (page 171) an almost similar fact which appeared under our own eyes in Rome. And I must further add, that all the more virulent men who, in the beginning of Pius IX.'s reign, were proposing * Politique dii clerge de France, ou entretiens curieux ; deuxieme entretien : par Pierre Jurieu la Haye^ 1(382. + Cret. vol. iii. p. 489. 292 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. the most darino- and extravao-ant measures, were afterwards discovered to be either in the pay of the fathers, or to he the unconscious tools of their secret agency. Discouraged a Httle under Cromwell, the Jesuits took heart again after the restoration of Charles II., and resorted to their usual arts and machinations. If we are to believe what they boast of, it seems that they had plunged into a more dangerous and extensive conspiracy against the Protestant religion and the English liberties than we are aware of. '' A secret treaty," says Cretineau, "had been signed between Louis XIY. and Charles IL, to re-establish the CathoUc religion in Great Britain. Fathers Annat and Terrier, successively confessors to the French kino-, and the English Jesuits, had not been strangers to this nego- tiation; Colraan did not ignore those details, and he spoke of them in his letters to Father Lachaise."* We do not know how far we may credit this assertion ; vre know that Charles debased himself by asking and receiving money from the French monarch, to whom, he betrayed the interests of his allies and of his own kingdom ; but, as to having stipulated for the re- establishment of the Komish religion, we would not be bold enough to assert that it was so. However it be, this statement is connected with the famous Popish plot which, in 1678, threw Great Britain into such a state of alarm and excitement, and which, although it was at first the cause of many innocent victims beings sacri- ficed, ultimately produced an immense and glorious result — the Habeas Corpus Act. Gates and Bedloe are two names which have come down to posterity abhorred and execrated by every honest man. These infamous and abandoned men accused the Jesuits, the Pope, the Kings of France and Spain, many English noblemen, and some scores of thousands of the Enghsh citizens, of a plot so * Crct. vol. iv. p. 197. OVERGROWING INFLUENCE OF THE SOCIETY. 203 absurd, as to make, in our "days, every one ashamed of rc})cating it. And yet the generality of the com- mon people, and the greater part of the higher classes, at the time believed in its reality. Nothing else was talked of, and all the cares of the government, the activity of the parliament, and the energy of the citizens, were exerted to protect the nation from an imaginary impending ruin. This ought to teach us how the passions and spirit of party deprive us of our right feeling and judgment, and how dangerous it is to give way to the impulse of the moment in times of great commotion. Many noblemen and citizens were arrested upon the deposition of these scoundrels. Many suffered the extreme penalty of the law. Father Ireland, on the deposition of Gates, for which the latter was afterwards condemned for perjury, was sentenced to death and executed ; and soon after, the provincial and four other Jesuits met with the same fate upon the same absurd and unjust accusation. AYe do not pretend to say, however, that the Jesuits at such an epoch had quite renounced their intrigues and treacherous projects, and were not to be looked after. No ; their restless and enterprising spirit ren- dered, and does still render, them very dangerous, and their conduct in Protestant countries may be said, with justice, to be a permanent conspiracy against the welfiire and the interests of all other communities ; and tliey themselves, as we said, confess as much. But they Avere guiltless of the crime of which they were accused, and for which they suffered. How much more mischief they were the cause of in the reign of the despotic and bigoted James II. ! It was at their instigation that this bigoted monarch annulled the test act, imprisoned many Protestant bishops, had as many as four Roman Catholic priests consecrated bishops at a time, and had formed a plan for converting England to the Popish idolatry. Yet all these arbitrary and foohsh acts resulted also at last in the great advan- u 294 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. tage of the English nation. The Jesuits' influence had grown so powerful under James's reio;n, that Father Peter was admitted Into the privy council, and we do not hesitate to say, that the favour James shewed to the members of the Company and to the Catholics in general, and the authority they exercised over him, was one of the most efficient causes of raising up the people of England's feelings of indignation, and to bring them to resolve upon and achieve the glorious Revolution of 1688 AMERICAN MISSIONS. 295 CHAPTER XIII. 1600-1753. AMERICAN MISSIONS. When we reflect that the Jesuits are our fellow-men, that their crimes and iniquities which we are compelled to stigmatise, are in some measure a stain upon the human species, we sincerely rejoice when we find some noble action to record, and when we may write a page of praise and eulogium. We think we have shewn this impartiahty in our account of the Indian missions, when, while condemning with all our might the idolatrous practice of later times, we awarded to the first missionaries the praise that was due to their pure and generous intentions, and to their prodigious and unremitting activity. We are placed in much the same predicament in speaking of the American missions, when we find the evil inherent in the spirit of the sect, and in the religion they profess, united with noble and generous endeavours to make the happiness of a barbarous and savage population, by reducing it under benignant and humane laws, and by imparting to it the benefit of Christianity, at least in its effects upon the external conduct and mode of living. ]S^o doubt, a Christian Protestant — a man deeply imbued with the true spirit of the gospel, and who abhors any form of worship which consists in mere bodily service — will find much to blame in these missions. No doubt the Jesuits here, as in India, 296 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. preached and taught superstitious practices and ex- ternal observances, rather than the sincere devotion of the heart, and the feith to be reposed on the merits of Christ's blood. No doubt they converted the spiritual and mystic religion of Christ into a sensual worship of material symbols. But, to be just, we think that these reproaches are due to Popery, to the Roman Cathohc religion in general, and not to the Jesuits alone, and that we ought not to withhold from them the praise they deserve for any good quality or merits they possess, merely because they are Papists. This would be too invidious, and would render us guilty of capital injustice towards those Romanists or Jesuits who sincerely believe that theirs is the only true religion ; and be assured that in all rehgions, there are some who think thus of their own. On the other hand, the Jesuits are accused of having undertaken these missions solely with a view to their private ends, to aggrandise and enrich the order, and not to advance the interests of religion and the glory of God. This we freely admit, and we have re- peatedly said that the Order has always been the ultimate end of their conduct; but to refuse them the merit of having brought a savage population into the pale of civilisation, because they did so for their own private interest, would be the same as to apply the epithet of rogue to a landlord or manufacturer, who treats his dependants with unwonted kindness and humanity, because, by treating them in this manner, he himself receives immense advantage. Our readers must not infer from what we have just said, that we do not find anything with which to re- proach the Jesuits in their American missions. We shall have many things to censure in them, but, on the whole, their proceedings appear to us to be deserving of the greatest praise, and we feel obliged to defend them from the gross abuse which has been indiscri- minately poured upon them on this score. AMERICAN MISSIONS. 297 The character of the AYestcrn and Eastern missions (lifter widely, both in the means employed and the results obtained. In East India and China, the principal feature of the missions is the idolatry -with which the Jesuits polhited the Christian religion. Having to deal with populations in possession already of more or less civilisation, and deeply imbued with the prejudices of their religion, the Jesuits thought of humouring them in their belief, and sometimes shewed themselves more inchned to idolatry than the pagans they were labouring to convert. Besides, having on one side to contend with the pagan priests, who wanted themselves to work the ignorance and pre- judices of the Indians to their own account, and being harassed on the other by the chief of their own rehgion, who would not admit of any other idolatry than that which was approved by himself, the Jesuits could not obtain in the East Indies any great and permanent result. Of a quite diftcrent character are the missions of America. The Jesuits found there a barbarous and savage population, zealous of their vagabond inde- pendence, fierce in their enmities, without any positive notion of a peculiar religion, and, consequently, easy to be subjected to any superior intelligence who should undertake to inculcate upon them no matter what new creed. The chief difficulty there lay in the im- possibility of having any intercourse with the persons whose conversion was desired. The Indians, simple and kind when first discovered, had now become ferocious and excessively cunning, having been driven to extre- mities by the cruel and merciless treatment they had experienced from the rapacious Spaniards, a treat- ment which had inspired them with mortal hatred against all Christians, and against the very name of Christ, which had been sacrilegiously employed in the massacre of their kinsmen. Yet it was among the same savages, who avoided Europeans more than a ferocious 298 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. beast, tliat the Jesuits, without arms or any com- pulsory means, simply by persuasion and kindness, succeeded in erecting an empire, all the laws of which were based upon the first principles of Christianity. Let us see how they performed such real prodigies. The Spanish adventurers had brought into con- quered America all the vices and the ferocious passions of their Inquisition. It might be said that South America had been transformed into a large inquisitorial tribunal, and that every soldier was an inquisitor and an executioner at the same time. The adventurers, to palhate their crimes, when they mur- dered the poor, inoffensive Indians, gave out that they did so to honour Christ, whom these obdurate pagans refused to worship. It is not our intention to detail all the crimes of those most Christian assassins, and we shall be contented with saying, that while they butchered tens of thousands of inoffensive people, in endeavouring to convert them to their religion, they succeeded with but very few ; and those who, to avoid tortures and death, submitted to be haj^tized, hated still more than their pagan brethren the very name of Christians. Ranke gives a very prosperous picture of the state of rehgion in America, and says, " In the beginning of the sixteenth century we find the proud fabric of the Catholic Church completely erected in South America. It possessed five archbishoprics, twenty-seven bishop- rics, four hundred monasteries, and doctrines in- numerable." * Now, with all deference to so great a liistorian, we venture to say, that we admit the veracity of the statement as to the number of monks and monasteries, archbishoprics and bishoprics ; but we believe that these establishments were in proportion to the extent of the country, not to the number of Christian inhabitants. Indeed, in every * Ranke, quoting Herrara, vol. ii. p. 228. AMERICAN MISSIONS. 299 tract of land of which the Europeans had taken pos- session, there Avas erected a church, if not for the accommodation of these same Europeans, at least to furnish priests and monks with a pretext to claim a share in the spoils and wcaltli of the country ; but we doubt much that many Indians frequented these churches. The swarms of monks who had flocked to America, finding in the climate a still greater stimulus to their usual propensity to indolence and luxury, indulged in all their vices, and thought only of making converts as far as was necessary to procure some subjects who might enrich their patrons, the soldiers, as well as their monasteries.* Such, however, was not the con- duct of the .Jesuits. There, as in Europe, they wished to be distinguished from other brotherhoods, and affected a more saintly and pious course of life. Con- cealing their ultimate purposes under the cloak of rehgion and piety, they spoke of nothing else but of converting infidels, and opposed, in the name of Christ, the sanguinary measures adopted by the conquerors, and approved by other religious communities. Per- haps we are not far from the truth when we assert that the Jesuits adopted a more humane and Christian pohcy, as well for their private purpose, as to set themselves in opposition to other rehgious communi- ties. Because, it is a remarkable fact in the history of the Church of Rome, that while every other brother- hood has both friends and foes in the other bodies, the Jesuits alone have none but enemies. However it w^as, they set themselves to work; and, overlooking for a moment the greater or less hohness of the end they proposed, we repeat, that the means they made use of to acquire a standing among the savages of South America are deserving of the highest enco- * "We need hardly remind our readers^ that when we speak of the idle, luxurious, and seltish life of the monks, we sj^eak of the generality, for we are not so illiberal as to say, that among them was to be found no one really animated by a true zeal, and by the desire of converting infidels to that religion which they thought the true one. 300 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. miura. The conquerors of this unfortunate part of the globe, as Robertson remarks, had no other object in view than to rob, to enslave, to exterminate, while the Jesuits estabhshed themselves there in the view of humanity. They overran the country to a great extent, and wherever they could find an Indian, they overwhelmed him with so much kindness, shewed him so much affection, spoke so indignantly of the cruelty and avarice of the ferocious conquerors, with so much unction of the mercies of God. that these injured men yielded by degrees to the fascination, and accustomed themselves to look upon a Jesuit as a protector from the oj)pressions of the other Europeans. And pro- tectors they were, and proved to be. Father Valdiva "went purposely to Madrid to obtain from Philip III. orders enjoining officers to treat the poor Indians with a little more humanity, and brought back a decree, that those Indians who had settled within certain precincts ruled by the Jesuits, should neither be reduced to servitude, nor be forced to embrace the Christian religion.* In the Tucuman, in Paraguay, in Chili, the Jesuits in their wanderings were making many and devout proselytes, but v»'itli no other material advan- tage to the order except the envy of the other brotherhoods, and the hatred of tlie Spaniards, whose interests they were damaging. The sagacious and politic Acquaviva perceived at once that this state of things must be mended ; and, in consequence, he sent to America, in 1602, a commissioner, who, re-uniting in Salta all the Jesuits dispersed in difl'ercnt countries, apprised them that the General thought it expedient to trace a plan to moderate the eccentricities {ecarts) of zeal, and to direct its impetuosity ; j in other words, to turn such zeal to account. In consequence, it was determined to concentrate all, or at least their greatest efforts, upon a point, and fix there the seat of their power in the Kew World. After having pro- ^ Crct. vol. iii. p. 292. f Ibid. p. 2S9. A^IERICAN MISSIONS. 301 Tided tliat a sufficient number of the order sliould remain at the stations throughout all South America, to keep up their schools and colleges, and their com- mercial establishments, Acquaviva wished that his disciples should employ all their energies in creating a ncAV kingdom Avliich they could call their own. Paraguay, an immense and most fertile region, was chosen for a site on which to erect this principality, far from any rivalry, and with the view that the subject sliould know no other master, no other reli- gion, no other God, than those presented to them by the fathers. The undertaking was difficult, and required a great deal of courage, patience, and intre- pidity ; but the Jesuits proved equal to the task. By degrees, they succeeded in bringing some tribes to listen to them. The Guaranis were the first who had friendly intercourse with the Jesuits, and who were persuaded by them to renounce their wandering and adventurous life, and to taste the sweets of a well- regulated society. Some houses were built under the direction of the fathers. The lay brothers, or tem- poral coadjutors, were the artisans who supplied them with what was most essential to render life pleasant and comfortable. Above all, the power of music was brought to bear on the vivid mind of those savages, who were charm.ed by the melody of the sacred songs repeated by the fathers. The knowledge the Jesuits had of the art of heahng wounds and bodily diseases, contributed also in great measure to procure them friends and admirers. Curi- osity further favoured their efforts, while it brought the Indians to view what appeared to them such strange things in the Jesuit settlements, after they were sure that they should meet with nothing but kindness and presents. AVhere at first stood a foAV isolated houses, soon sprung up a village, which subse- quently became a neat and regular little town. The plan traced for these towns w^as uniform, and very 302 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS, simple. The streets, of one breadth, extended in straight lines, and met in a central square. The church was built in the most conspicuous situation of the village, and was by far the most handsome and decorated building in the town. Near the church were the house of the fathers, the arsenal, and the storehouses. In every village there was also a work- house, or a sort of penitentiary for bad women. These A'illages were known under the general appellation of Reductions, but each of them was distin- guished by a proper name. The first which was established was dedicated to the Madonna of Loretto ; the second, to St Ignatius ; and others to other saints and Madonnas. As early as the year 1632, the Jesuits possessed twenty deductions, each containing a thousand faraiUes. Two Jesuits, the curate and the vicar, were appointed to the management of each Reduction, which they governed with absolute and unquestioned authority. They were the sovereigns, the friends, the physicians, the gods, of those barba- rians who consented to live in the Reductions. They partook of their labours, of their amusements, of their joys, of their sorrows. They visited daily every house in which lay a sick person, whom they served as the kindest nurse, and to whom they seemed to be ministering genii. By such conduct they brought this primitive population to idolise them. It must not be supposed, however, that the Jesuits obtained at once over the ferocious adult Indians a general and absolute power. Even those who had con- sented to receive baptism, and to hve for some time in the Reduction, often deserted it, and disdaining to live that peaceful and comparatively effeminate life, return- ed to their forests, and to their former life of constant warfiire, in search of their enemies, in order to gratify their cannibal appetites. Often they rebelled against the Jesuits' authority, and not seldom menaced them with utter destruction. But the second generation — AMERICAN MISSIONS. 303 those chflclrcn "wlio -were born within the Reduction, and had been brought up by the latliers — shewed themselves the most submissive and devoted of all subjects. Gratitude for the kindness they had ex- perienced, admiration for the superior intelligence and acquirements of their masters, awe for the religion they w^ere taught, fear of punishment and disgrace — all combined to render them faithful and submissive to the fathers. When once the Jesuits had raised up a generation so devoted and obedient, they tlien brought into operation their system of government, and made a successful attempt to realise that repubhc preconceived of old by Plato, and which, wath perhaps more inte- rested views, is held out to us by the Socialists of our own day. In fact, their form of a republic was nothing else than that Communism which the famous Cabet is now trying to establish in nearly the same regions ; the only difference being, that the Jesuits substituted themselves for the state or community. The most perfect equahty reigned in the Reductions. No mark of distinction, no difference of dress, of house accommodation, or of food, rendered one envious of the lot of another. In every Reduction there were work- shops in which were exercised the most useful arts. The moment the boys were able to work, they were sent there to learn the trade to which they felt most strongly inclined, according to a principle to which the Jesuits invariably adhered — " that the art must be guided by nature." The Jesuit lay brothers, or temporal coadjutors, were the artisans who instructed the youth, and they and the professed members them- selves put their hand to the plough, to encourage the Indians in conquering their repugnance to labour the soil. Every family w^as assigned a portion of ground, which they were obliged to cultivate ; and 04, severe vigilance insured a good cultivation. The women had also their occupations. Every Monday morning 304 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. tliey received a certain quantity of wool or cotton, and every Saturday they were required to bring it back ready for the loom. All the produce, of what- ever sort, was deposited in large storehouses, and distributed, by the Jesuits, in equal portions to every individual. Even meat was portioned from the pubhc slaughter-houses in the same manner. In the distri- bution, the greatest attention was paid to tlie orphan, the helpless, and the superannuated. The surplus of the produce was exported, and partly exchanged for European wares which were wanted in the Reduction ; and the remainder, after having paid a piastra (four shillings) for each individual from eighteen to fifty years of age, as a sort of tribute to the King of Spain, remained at the disposal of the fathers. No coin of wdiatever sort was permitted or known at the Reduc- tion. A spot of ground attached to every house may be said to have constituted the only property belong- ing to the individual ; and this was done to encourage and recompense industry: for, if he made it pro- ductive, he reaped all the profits himself, without diminishing the portion he received from the common store. The daily occupations were minutely regu- lated. There were fixed hours for work, for amuse- ment, for prayers, and an hour was even fixed in the evening after which every person was obliged to return within the wall of his own habitation. Any transgression of any of the established rules met with public corporal punishment ; but, in general, the trans- gressor feared more the anger of the father, than the castigation that awaited him. General suffrage was exercised in its fullest extent ; and it was the people wdio elected their magistrates, and their civil and military officers. All these public functionaries were invariaDly chosen from the Indians ; but, to flatter the pride, qv lull the jealousy, of the Spanish king, they were distinguished by the Spanish appellations, Cor- regidor, Alcalde, &c. The choice of the people was AMERICAN MISSIONS. 305 anhmiticd, pro forma at least, to the approval of tlio Spanisli authorities, -who, not knowing either electors or candidates, could not but approve of it; but, in reality, the sanction of the Jesuits was indispensable to the validity of the election. To keep these people in such a state of dependence and submission, the Jesuits had secluded them from the rest of the world. No individual could leave the Eeduction without permission, and no European was allowed to visit these Reductions unaccompanied, or to have free intercourse with the inhabitants. The knowledge of any other than the native language was altogether banished, and aversion and prejudices against the Europeans as carefully cherished as in ancient Egypt. Nor were the Reductions left unprotected against the possible attacks of foreign enemies. All able- bodied men were drilled to arms, and formed into a mihtia, having its regulations, its officers, its arsenal, its artillery, its ammunition. The officers were chosen by the soldiers ; the arms and ammunition, not except- ing the cannon, were manufactured in the Reduction, always by, and under the direction of, the Jesuits. On the afternoon of every Sunday, and other holidays, the militia assembled and executed military exercises and evolutions. When that militia was called forth for the service of the Spanish king, " they had always at their head and among their ranks, Jesuits, who pre- vented all contact with other Indians or with Euro- peans, and who ansAvered for their virtue before God, as the Indians answered for their courage before men."* Nor, indeed, did they fail in their duty when an occasion presented itself. Tribes of savages often attacked the Reductions, but were met with undoubted courage, and, generally speaking, were repulsed after sustaining severe loss. But if, on the one hand, the Jesuits cherished among * Cret. vol. iii. p. 312. 306 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. the people distrust and aversion towards strangers, they, on the other hand, diHgently inculcated the exercise of hospitality and friendship among the dif- ferent Reductions. On the great festival days, and especially on the day of the patron saint of any Ile- duction, the neighbouring ones went thither in solemn procession, and were received with all possible marks of love and friendship. Such is a sketch of the civil government of the Eeductions, and of the kind of life led by the inhabi- tants. Objections and reproaches, and perhaps not always unfounded, have been raised against such a system. It has been said that the inhabitants of the Reductions were low and abject slaves, led on by the scourge, deprived even of the faculty of thinking, and confined in a perpetual imprisonment, though within a large space. Quinet, with perhaps more eloquence than reason, exclaims, "Are we sure that it (Paraguay) contains the germ of a great empire ? Where is the sign of life ? Everywhere else, indeed, one hears at least the squalhng of the child in the cradle; here, I greatly fear, I confess, that so much silence prevail- ing in the same place for three ages, is but a bad sign, and that the regime which can so quietly enervate virgin nature, cannot be any other than that which develops Guatmozen and Montezuma." All this is very well said, and may be in part true. Doubtless, these people were kept in perpetual infancy. Doubtless, nothing great, nothing of a creating stamp, must be expected from them. Doubtless, they did not develop and expand the new element of life imparted to them, as other nations have done who were more left to themselves; nor did they exercise the noblest part of their nature — the inteUigence — in that pursuit for which we think man was created — the search after truth. But surely there are nations who have been placed in worse circumstances, and subjected to more dis- astrous influences, and more deserving our pity and AMERICAN MISSIONS. 307 commiseration. Thus, if a nation, that has. through tlic free exercise of all its faculties and activities, arrived at a hio-h state of civilisation and refinement, should be at once crushed, as France is at the present moment, under the iron hand of despotism, that people would be really miserable, and such doleful lamentations as those of the eloquent ex-professor of the College of France would not in this case be misplaced. But these Americans, who knew nothing of the pleasures of moral and intellectual refinement but what was presented to them by their instructors, and found therein content- ment, we do not know how far they deserve to be pitied. AVere these people, we ask in our turn, less happy or more miserable than those tens of thousands who wallow in vices of all sorts in the free and civil- ised towns of Paris and London ? Are, then, squalid poverty, the groans of the oppressed, and reckless sensuality, necessary elements of national happiness? These are questions which in our opinion deserve some consideration ; and although we think the human race has been destined by the Creator to greater and nobler purposes than the mere enjoyment of a mate- rial life ; and although we know that humanity must progress in its career, and that this progress cannot be attained without great commotion and great evil, nevertheless, when we contemplate all the miseries which surround our state of civihsation, we freely forgive the Jesuits for having, in one part of the globe, let civilisation and progress sleep a while, to render these poor Indians happy. Better founded are the charges brought by the pious and zealous against the Jesuits, with respect to the kind of religion they taught to their neophytes. In fact, though we cannot trace any such permanent system of gross idolatry as was practised by the order in the East Indies, nevertheless it is an undeni- able fact, that what was taught by them under the name of the pure religion of Christ, was little else 308 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. than a series of emjity forms and superstitious ob- servances, and tliat the worship which was rendered to God was httle better than a continual and motley- masquerade, if we may be allowed the expression. "We shall not enter into details, the following passage from Cretineau sufficiently shewing what sort of Christians, if they can be called so at all, were those converted by the Jesuits. *' Those Indians had a very limited intelligence; they only understood what fell under their senses ; and the missionaries were so alarmed at their stupidity, that they asked themselves whether it was possible to admit them to the participa- tion of the sacraments. They consulted, upon this point, the bishops of Peru assembled at Lima, who came to the decision that, baptism excepted, no act of Christian devotion shoidd be imjwsed upon them, without infinite p>recautions''* It is true that the panegyrist of the order adds, that the patience of the Jesuits was not discouraged for all this, and that they endeavoured to render them better Christians, and, we even believe, if the man who fulfilled all the im- posed external ceremonies may be called a Christian, that they succeeded in their attempt. However, it seems that the Jesuits had so com- pletely perverted the true spirit of the Christian religion, that even Roman Catholic bishops, who, as every one knows, are not very scrupulous in these matters, were shocked and indignant at their conduct, and made an attempt to put a stop to it. Bernardin of Cardenas, Bishop of Paraguay, and John Palafox, Bishop of Angelopolis, were the most prominent in their efforts to put a stop to the Jesuitical supersti- tions ; but both were unsuccessful ; both were worsted in the contest ; both w^ere obliged to wander as poor exiles out of their dioceses; and both were at last compelled to give up their bishoprics. The history of Palafox in particular deserves to be briefly told. * Cret. vol. iii. p. 502. AMERICAN MISSIONS. 309 Palafox was a man of tlic greatest piety, of a pure and uncontanilnatcd life, and, after his death, was even proposed for canonisation, lie bore no ill-will to the Jesuits; on the contrary, as a good Papist which he was, he even overrated their merits. In his letter to the King of Spain, he says of them, " The Company of the holy name of Jesus is an admirable institution, learned, useful, sainted, worthy not only of the protection of your majesty, but of all the Catholic prelates."* A man who thus speaks of the order cannot be sus- pected of enmity ; and it must be inferred that ho would not have attacked the Society, unless constrained by duty or necessity. He attempted at first to bring them to reason by rem ons trance. f He afterwards wrote a strong letter to Pope Innocent X., and asked for a reform of the Society, indispensable, he said, for the good of the Christian community. The result was. that the Jesuits raised such a storm, and excited so many bad passions against the virtuous prelate, that he, " not to be imprisoned or murdered, was obliged to fly, and to wander," as he wrote to the Pope, " through inhospitable mountains and forests ; to appease his hunger with the bread of affliction ; to quench his thirst with the water of his eyes ; to have no other house than caverns and the hard ground; and to pass his life with serpents and scorpions." :j: Such was the life to which the Jesuits had reduced the poor bishop. But even this did not satisfy them. To satiate their spirit of revenge, they did not scruple * See this and "other letters of this preLate in ArnaulJ, torn, xxxii. and xxxiii. f PaUxfox, wishing to see the authorisation, which the fathers pre- tended to have, to confess without tlie diocesan's order, in opposition to a decree of the Council of Trent, asked them to shew him such an authorisation ; they answered that they had the privilege not to shew it. " Let me see that privilege," said the bishop. " We have the privi- lege to keep secret our privileges." " Shew me at least this last privilege." " \A''e are authorised to keep secret even this other privilege." See the letter in which the prelate relates the fact in Aruauld, torn, xxxiii. pp. 486-534. X Letter to Innocent X., An. 1G49, ss. 14-18. X 310 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. to profane the episcopal dignity, and the most sacred mysteries of that rehgion which they professed to uphold. In 1647, on the day of the festival of their founder Loyola, the pupils of the college got up a procession, of which the following were the principal features. One of the scholars had the crozier hanging from the tail of his horse, and the mitre at the stir- rup. Another carried an image of the bishop in caricature ; others carried indecent images of highly respectable priests. This one gave a blessing with the horns of a bullock, saying, '' Such are the true armorial of the Christians." That others held iqy with one hand the image of the Saviour , and with the other an infamous thing vjhich decency forbids us to name. All of them shouted out the Lord's Prayer, at the end of which they repeated with thundering shouts, " Libera nos a Palafox — Deliver us from Palafox." * At last, the Court of Rome, in order to protect him, transferred him to the see of Osma in Spain, where he gave such proofs of virtue and piety, that he died in the odour of sanctity, received subsequently the title of Servus Dei and Venerahilis, and, about -sixty years after, was proposed for canonisation, t But can it be believed — would any one imagine — that Jesuits of the third generation would step forward to renew their attack against the ancient opponent of the order, and oppose his canonisation? And yet such was the case. The General of the Company * Letter of Palafox to Father Rada, Provincial of the Jesuits, 1649. See Arnauld, torn, xxxiii. p. 643. Some Jesuits have denied the authenticity of this letter, others the truth of the accusation, and have called the prelate a calumniator. As to the authenticity of the letter, it cannot be denied, since the bishop himself published it in his Defensa Canonica, dedicated to the King of Spain ; and the well-known character of Palafox puts his veracity beyond question ; nor would he have dared to bring before the royal throne a false accusation. + I forgot to mention, in speaking of the canonisation of saints, that, in general, many years are allowed to pass after obtaining a title of Servus Dei, for example, before the other title, Venerabilis, is asked for, and so on. AMERICA]!?' MISSIONS. 311 actiually interfered, and by the mouth of the promo- ter of the faith — promotore delict fede,* calumniated his doctrines, his conduct, his Hfe ; and succeeded in postponing the canonisation till the storm which was gathering broke forth, and dispersed for a while the hated Company of Jesus.f This example goes far to shew how deeply is rooted in the heart of the Jesuit the spirit of hatred and revenge ! We have reported at some length the incidents connected with Palafox, as peculiarly exemplifying both the character of that individual, and the nature of the facts and the scandal they produced among the Papists themselves, and which is not yet alleged. But this is merely one example, amongst tliousands, of the domineering and persecuting spirit of Jesuitism. " The innumerable and continual proceedings that were brought against you at the Court of Rome," says Gioberti, addressing the order, ''bear witness of the kind of concord and good friendship which the Com- pany maintained with their companions in the priest- hood and apostolate. The first cause of the quarrel has always been, that your missionaries wanted to be alone, and to exclude the other orders from any participation in the missions; and for this they first of all applied to the Holy See ; and when they did not succeed there, they had recourse to all sorts of tricks, insidious calumnies, persecutions, and acts of violence/'^ So speaks a man who glories in being a truly good * The office of this personage in the canonisation is to raise, pro forma, ohjections to its accomplishment, by questioning the virtue of the man, the reality of his miracles, and so on. In Italy he is called the advocate of the devil ; and our Gioberti, with perhaps more wit than Christian charity, says, " In the case of Palafox, the name (advocate of the deAil) may have well become him, as he was the advocate of the fathers." t Owing to the French Revolution of seventeen hundred and eighty- nine, the proceedings for the canonisation of Palafox, which had lasted fifty-five years, were never resumed, till lately an attempt was made to make a saint of him ; but the Jesuits were again too powerful to allow it, and the case is yet pending, so that it may be said that the good Palafox is in a sort suspended between earth and heaven. X Gioberti, ut supra, vol. iii. p. 151. 312 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. Eoman Catholic, and who enumerates many bishops, vicar-generals, popes, legates, &:c., who had been sorely persecuted by the fathers. In fact, here is the policy adopted by the Jesuits towards the supe- rior ecclesiastical authorities everywhere, and more especially in the East and West Indies. We beg the especial attention of our readers to the following state- ment, because it serves to explain the apparent anomaly existing among Popish bishops and other functionaries, in respect to the favour or hatred shevrn by them to the Jesuits. The bishop, or legate, or cardinal, or whoever possesses any authority, must be either friendly or adverse to the Company, and this especially in foreign and distant lands far from the control of Rome. In the former case, the Jesuits will load him -with praises, whether deserved or not. They will pronounce him a saint, a luminary of the Church, a model of Christian virtue ; and leaving to him all the external pomp and ostensible authority of his office, they will command and direct everything in his name. To such men they give the utmost outward respect, and make the most humble protestations of devotion, repeating at every word that they are the most obedient servants of the Holy See, and of its representative. And this same conduct of theirs, and the testimony which those same persons are ready to give to their dutiful behaviour, is held out by the fathers as an answer to those who reproach them with disobedience and irrehgion. But if these eccle- siastical dignitaries refuse to submit to the guidance of the fathers, and pretend to exercise their own au- thority independently, they become profligate heretics, monsters of iniquity; and they may consider them- selves fortunate if they escape with treatment short of that bestowed upon Palafox and De Tournon. Indeed, even the very Popes have been treated in nearly the same manner, and have been extolled or slandered, americ.\:n missions. 313 according as tlicy were fi\voiiral)lc or adverse to the ►Society. There arc to be found in the Bu liar Iidu a quan- tity of briefs against the Jesuits for their disobedience to the representatives of the Holy See, and for the persecutions these liad suffered from them.* Their disobedience, and spirit of revolt against the Court of Rome, -with respect to their conduct in the missions, in Avhich they persisted, had become so offensive and provoking, that tirst Innocent X., and then Innocent XIII., had resolved to abolish the Society, not by a bold and decisive measure, as did afterwards Clement XIV., but by forbidding the reception of any more novices. Innocent XIII., after having ordered the Inquisition to collect full evidence of the almost traitorous actions of the Jesuits, in answer to an apologetic letter of the General, who declared the Society to be innocent, or, at least, excused their insubordination and rebellion, issued a bull by which it was expressly forbidden to the General, and the Society, to give the habit to any novice, or to admit any to take vows, whether simple or solemn.f But while Innocent was deter- mining to act with extreme vigour against the Society, he died, and by a death which awakened no unnatural suspicion of foul play.j: Such are the broad features of the American missions. We may as well add, that the Jesuits thought it prudent to refuse admittance into the Company to all the aborigines, in order that they might not lose the prestige which they exercised over them. We must also Avarn our readers not to imagine that the Jesuits had confined their cstabHsh- * For the persecutions to -whicli all those ecclesiastics, regular or secular, were subjected, because they -would not submit to the domineer- ing spirit of the Jesuits, see the preface of torn, xxxii. of Arnauld's work, M ith documents. + Inhibendum est Patri Gencrali, totique societate ne in posterum recipiant novicios ad habitum societatis, neque admittant ad vota sive siniplicia sive solemnia. X See tlie Memoires Ilistorique de Xorhcrt, already quoted. See also Anecdotes sur Le Chine, t. vi. p. 408. 314 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. ment to the Reductions of Paraguay. Paraguay was their own private kingdom, we may say, but they had also magnificent estabhshments of all kinds through- out all South America. Particular incidents, minute details, miracles, wonders, as related by the Jesuits in their histories, and in their letters, annucel or edifi- antes, we shall not repeat ; nor shall we record some partial acts of cruelty and wickedness with which some of the Jesuits have been reproached. We think we have given as fair an idea as possible of the general character of the missions, and this is all that can be done in a general history of the order. As we shall afterwards have occasion to speak at some length of the commercial operations of the Jesuits, and of the ultimate fate of the Reductions, we shall now bring this chapter to an end. INTERNAL CAUSES OF DECLINE. 315 CHAPTER XIV. 1617-1700. INTERNAL CAUSES OF DECLINE. We have seen in one of our former chapters, that during Acquaviva's generalate, there broke out several partial insurrections against the exorbitant power of the General, and that, although they were quelled, they had left in the community seeds of disobedience and a spirit of independence, which it was to be feared would manifest itself again at the first favourable moment. In fact, the instant it was no more restrained by the iron hand of the inflexible Acquaviva, it pervaded all the classes of the order, especially the highest, that of the professed, and a turbulent and haughty aristocracy took, in the management of the Society, the place reserved by Loyola for the all-powerful General. The character of the immediate successors of Acquaviva greatly facilitated such an innovation, which ultimately produced the ruin of the order. Vitelleschi, Caraifa, Piccolomini, Gottifredi, were not the proper men to govern this brotherhood, noAV ascended to the height of its power and pride. They were neither saints nor rogues enough to succeed in the undertaking. They did not inspire veneration enough by their pious and saintly life as did Borgia, nor respect and admiration by their superior genius in governing the community, as Lainez and Acquaviva had done, and the conscious- ness of their own insufficiency rendered them still less suited to the task. 316 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. Vitelleschi, Acquaviva's immediate successor, was a ■well-intentioned man, mild and conciliatory. He was called by his friends the angel of 'peace, and on his deathbed he found consolation from the conviction that he had never injured any one.* But it is evident that .such a' kind and indulgent man could not oppose any effectual resistance to the fast-spreading corruption of the order, nor to the demands of determined ambition. What under Acquaviva had only been the expedient of the moment, became under Vitelleschi a rule. The professed members became, if not exclusively, at least simultaneously with the coadjutors, the administrators of the temporal concerns of the Society ; and the con- trol which the two classes had exercised, the one over the other, according to the wise enactments of Igna- tius, was for ever annihilated. While the number of the coadjutors decreased, that of the professed became out of all proportion numerous, but lost some of that veneration which they had earned in former times by a life, in appearance at least, wholly spiritual and ascetic. Besides, as we have said, persons of the high- est famiUes, eager for ecclesiastical dignities or tem- poral power, now sought admission into the order, and Vitelleschi had neither the intention nor perhaps the power to refuse them, whether they were qualified or not. The strict and searching scrutiny to which the candidate ought to have submitted, and to which in fact he had been subjected under Loyola and the two following Generals, had become gradually less severe ; but under Vitelleschi it was altogether ne- glected, and the novices were absolved from many obhgations to which the Constitution rightfully sub- jected them. The abuses resulting from the non- observance of the most essential rules increased so greatly, that Vitelleschi himself was much aft'ected by it, and poured forth his affliction in a most eloquent and deprecatory letter, which he addressed to the * Eauke, vol. ii. p. 388. INTERNAL CAUSES OF DECLINE. 317 members of the order. From this letter we extract the following passage : — '' But whence can we suspect our disinclination to Divine things — our feeling of laborious irksomeness in recollection — in checking the wanderings of our vagrant imaginations, frequently tending in that direction which is least to be desired, because we have not repressed them when wo could ? What is that tenacious and entanghng love of the low- est objects — the world, honour, parents, and worldly- comforts? — that greater authority conceded to the rebellious flesh and blood rather than to the spirit m action, for I care not for words ; — that enervated ex- hausted weakness in resisting the solicitations of tho adversary in our conflicts with the domestic enemy, perhaps not entirely yielding, but still not evincing that alacrity and exaltation of mind to which only victory is granted ? These are the fruits of timidity and of a dissolute spirit, which, unless it is raised betimes, and warmed anew, is clearly approaching o, tall and destruction." And the letter concludes with these remarkable words — '' I eagerly call all to witness and proclaim to them, that with Bernard I expect an answer to this epistle, but an answer of deeds, not words." * " So that," says Gioberti, " during Vitel- Icschi's government, the spirit of the Constitution was quite changed : the politicians prevailed over the saints, and a worldly spirit over that of mysticism." f The evil increased under Caraffa, who succeeded Vitelleschi in 1646, and wlio was still less able than liis predecessor to govern the Society. Carafta was a simple and innocent bigot, not altogether unworthy of commendation. He was remarkable for his humility: lie would have no carriage, no servant, no mark of distinction, as to food or raiment, from the humblest of the brethren.^ He repeatedly begged his disciples * Epist. Mcutii Vitelleschi, kc. (Antwerp, 1GG5.) + Gioberti/^ Gcsuita Modcrno, vol. iii. p. 2D9. X Diario Deone apud llanke, vul. ii. p. oS9. 318 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. to lay aside all political and temporal concerns, and to live a religious and pious life. He was shocked and grieved at heart on account of the pervading spirit of licentiousness and avarice, and predicted that it would be the ruin of the order. In fact, the Society was continually departing more and more from the prin- ciples on which Loyola had estabhshed it. The rule, that all who entered the order should abandon every temporal possession, had been strictly enforced in former times, but now the act of renunciation was either delayed, or performed under conditions, and that under different pretences, and especially on the ground that any Jesuit was liable at any time to be expelled from the Society. So when a novice now made the transfer of his property to the order, he clearly specified that it was in favour of such and such a college to which he was attached, and often with the reservation of himself administering the property he bequeathed ; so that, even when the property remained in the order, it was no more unconditionally at the disposal of the General representing the entire community, but of an individual, who, in a certain measure, still considered it as his own. Nay, many of the Jesuits, having more leisure and skill than their relations, undertook the management of their affairs. Against those evils Caraffa could do nothing but write letters filled with complaints, and prescribing remedies which were never to be resorted to. Thus, speaking of those Jesuits who wished to retain their property, he says, *' Having settled in their own minds in what houses or colleges they are to fix their abode, they labour strenuously to obtain for them- selves the administration of wdiat they have resigned to the Society." And again, " Our procurators should be more cautious, for, although they seek what is just by lawful right, still they seem to seek it with avarice and cupidity, and exhibit too much avidity, which INTERNAL CAUSES OF DECLINE. 319 smells of the world." * And as to profane conversation and licentiousness, CarafFa says, " Nor can I possibly pass over in silence that these errors are in a great measure the result of the error of the superiors." f What a poor idea these two generals give of the authority, the prestige exercised by them over the Community ! what a contrast with their predecessors ! How different would Loyola, Lainez, or even Acquaviva have acted ! When a General of the Order, aware of the evils which have invaded the Society, can find no remedy but in complaints, the Society must inevitably perish ; and so it happened to the Jesuits. Piccolomini, who succeeded Caraffa in 1649, and Gottifredi, who succeeded this last in 1652, were men without any energy or capacity, perhaps less jealous than the two former Generals of the purity and morality of the order ; and, in their short administra- tions, they could do nothing but witness its increasing corruption. Here it is to be remarked, that in the election of the General, the choice of the congregation now in- variably fell upon a person without character or authority, that the fathers might have no master over them; and when the next General, Goswin Nickel, attempted to assert, in part, his authority, he was soon made aware that the times of Loyola and Acquaviva were gone by. Nickel, elected General in 1652, was a rude and obstinate man. He did not, indeed, contemplate any very deep or searching reforms ; he suffered things to proceed, on the whole, as they had previously done ; but it was his habit to insist on the observance ' of his orders with peculiar obstinacy, without having any regard to the feelings of others, and he offended so grievously the self-love of the aristocratic part of * Vincentii Caraf^se EpisfoJe deModis conscrrandi prima'vum spirit uvt Socictads. Part of it apud Ranke, in a note, vol. ii. p. 391. t Ibid. 820 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. the Society, that the General Congregation of 1661 adopted measures against him, such as, from the monarchical character of the institution, could hardly liave been supposed possible.* The Congregation, desu^ous of setting Nickel aside, and yet unwilling to pronounce a deposition, applied to the Pope for permission to elect a vicar- general, and Innocent X. not only granted their request, but pointed out for the office his friend Oliva, who was accordingly elected. Then the Congregation, having decided that the vicar- general should possess a ^^rwrnYzVe power, independent of the General, the authority of the latter was wholly superseded, and entirely transferred to the vicar; so that, when some Jesuits went to pay their respects to Nickel, he, in a lamentable tone, said to them, " I find myself here entirely abandoned, and have no longer power to do anything." t It is curious, if not instructive (the veracity of the Jesuit historians being very well known), to listen to Cretineau's account of this transaction. " Nickel," says the French historian, " felt that he was growing old, that his infirmities no longer permitted him to govern "with the required vigour ; lie begged of the Jesuits to discharge him from a responsibility too great for him, by giving him an assistant ; and they acceded to his prayers." % Nickel survived his disgrace three years, and Oliva became General. Oliva was descended from a noble family of Genoa, where his grandfather and his uncle had respectively been Doge of the republic. In Oliva the Jesuits found at last a chief according to their hearts. He worshipped. a repose interrupted only by political intrigues, and the pleasures of the table. § He spent a great part of his time in the delicious villa near Albano, where he * Ranke, vol. ii. p. 3S9. 'h Circumstantial uairation in the contemporary discorso, apud Hanke, vol. ii. p. 396. X Cret. vol. iv. p. 96. g Gioberti, vol. iii. p. 299. INTERNAL CAUSES OF DECLINE. 321 occupied himself with the cultivation of the rarest exotics. AVhen in Uonie, he retired to the noviciate of St Andrea, "vvhere he seldom condescended to ^ivo audience. lie never went out on foot, lie lived in a most sumptuously and elegantly adorned apartment, enjoying the pleasures of a table furnished with the most select delicacies, such as would have tempted the appe- tite of a Vitellius.* lie was only studious of enjoying the position he held, and the power he had obtained. Keserving for his particular attention matters of political huportance, he left the affairs of the Society to the entire management of subordinate officials ; and from that moment it may be said that every individual (wo speak of persons of some consequence, for in every society there are simpletons always ready for obe- dience) became, in a great measure, his own master. Not that the interests of the Society were neglected ; on the contrary, they were never so prosperous. The members of every religious community are individually great in proportion to the greatness of the society to which they belong, and the esteem in which it is held by the public. This of itself induces every individual member to seek with all his powers the aggrandisement and the splendour of his order ; and if this is true of any other association, it is l^re-eminently so of the Society of Jesus. The Jesuits of the seventeenth century worshipped the Order with as much idolatry as their predecessors, and, to servo it, were always ready to act the part of hypocrites, deceivers, perjurers, miscreants ; but every one served it (except in great general emergencies, in which they all acted in union) according to his oAvn views and his own affections, some of them assuming even an absolute independence; as, for example, Annat, La- chaise, Letellier, &c. Under Oliva's government, the Society acquired an immense political importance. Some years before * Gioberti, vul. iii. p. 299. 322 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. his death, Ohva pubhshed his correspondence, which extended to almost all the monarchs of Europe, in which, indeed, he shews himself a consummate politician, and deeply engaged in most serious and important affairs. This already awakened some in- terest, and made people look upon the Order as a good auxiliary in political intrigues. Besides, the fact that the Jesuits were confessors to all the Roman Cathohc sovereigns, and that through them the General had it in his power to become acquainted with the most secret dispositions and plans of these sovereigns, ren- dered his friendship of inestimable value, and an object to be eagerly sought for by the most potent princes. Again, the confessor, having less or more, but al- ways a great influence over his royal penitent, became also a great personage in the country where he exercised his functions. Annat was a mediator between the great king and the Pope; and Alex- ander VII. thanked him for his good offices by a brief.* Lachaise and Letelher were possessed of still more power than Annat. The Court of Rome itself, at such an epoch, was obliged to succumb to the influence of the Order ; and if any Pope, in an unlucky moment, ventured to oppose them in any of their contrivances, he was soon obliged to retract his orders, and to confess implicitly that he had done wrong. The Jesuits call this epoch the golden age of their Society; but we should rather caU it the iron one, since it was dur- ing this epoch of splendour and glory that they departed furthest from the principles of their institution, and so prepared their own ruin. Possessed of very great wealth, enjoying an immense credit and influence with * The tone in which Annat wrote to his general deserves to be re- marked, and to be compared with the letters that Lainez and Borgia used to write to Loyola — " I cannot omit to communicate," he writes, *' to your paternity my grief on seeing that the hope which I had con- ceived of a speedy conclusion of the peace between the sovereign pontiff and the most Christian king has vanished. ... I do not know what malignant coincidence of events destroys all my plans," &c. INTERNAL CAUSES OP DECLINE. 323 all classes of society, tlicy yielded to the temptations peculiar to such a situation ; and, disregarding every rule of prudence, and the restraints of public opinion, they gave themselves up to the lust of power and riches — prosecuting their ambitious projects by the most questionable means, and thinking of nothing else but reaping the advantage of the position they had attained. As few dared now to oppose them, and as the people were silent on their vices, they thought that these vices were now overlooked; and this en- couraged them still more to persist in their reprehen- sible conduct. It was during the seventeenth century that the Jesuits, lifting up for a while the thick veil of hypocrisy under which they had perpetrated their crimes, allowed the world to penetrate into the heart of their conduct, and to discover what they really were. In vain, when they perceived they were known, did they pull down the veil again. Their faces had been observed, and ever after they were to be recognised, under whatever mask they attempted to conceal them- selves. It was during the seventeenth century that they gave to their traffic a scandalous development, and that they set themselves up as dangerous rivals to the largest establishments. It was during the seven- teenth century that they set all the other religious orders at defiance, and awakened in them sentiments of hatred and jealousy, which are not yet extinguished. It was during the seventeenth century that they abused, more scandalously than ever, the credulity of their votaries. The example which we are going to quote in this particular will serve for many. Among the manuscripts in the British Museum, there is a passport given by the Jesuits in 1650, for the consideration of 200,000 florins (£10,000), to Hij^polite Braem of Ghent, promising to defend him against all infernal powers that might make attempts upon his person, soul, or goods. Here is a translation of this strange document : — 324 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. " The undersigned protest and promise, on the faith of priests and true rehgious m the name of our Com- pany, sufficiently authorised for that effect, that our Company, takes Master Hippohte Braeni, LL.D., under its protection, and promises to defend him ao-ainst all infernal powers which may make attempts upon his person, his soul, his goods, or his means ; that we conjure and shall conjure for this effect (to prevent attempts upon his person, &c.), the most serene Prince our Founder, making use in this case of his autho- rity and his credit, in order that the above-named Braem may be presented by him to the blessed chief of Apostles with much fidelity and carefulness, since our Company is infinitely obhged to him. In faith of which we have signed the present, and authenticated it with the seal of the Society. Given at Ghent, March 29, 1650, and signed by the Rector, SecHn, and two Jesuit priests." * It seems that in India the Jesuits made a great traffic of such passports. In those distant regions, the impudence of the fathers must have been still greater than it was in Europe. The Father Marcello Mastrilli, when in Japan, boasted that many times a- day he sent his guardian angel to pay reverence- and deliver messages to St Francis in heaven, and that he received answers.f We are not surprised at the ridiculous and barefaced impudence of Mastrilli, who is celebrated for his ridiculous impostures ; but we are surprised that Bartoh, such an accomplished w^riter, and not altogether despicable historian, should relate with imperturbable gravity such puerile absur- dities. In 1681, Noyelle, " who had not the same brihiant qualities as his predecessors," f succeeded 01iva,and was himself succeeded, in 1687, by Gonzales, a harsh theo- * MS. Bill. Harl. v. 895, f. 143. ■f Bartoli Oiappone, t. 22. J Cret. vol. iv. p. 417. INTERNAL CAUSES OF DECLINE, 325 logian, who died in 1705, and had for his successor Father Tambourini. Nothing remarkable happened during the rule of these generals; at least nothing that presents us with any new feature in the history we are writing. The Company followed the course ifc had entered upon, and marched with steady step to- wards its proper ruin. Not that there was any appa- rent sign of decay. The Society was, on the contrary, more powerful, more courted than ever. But its power did not lie any longer in its intrinsic merits, or its adaptation to the wants of humanity ; and the in- terest and respect by which it seemed to be surrounded w^as ephemeral, and in some degree compulsory. AVith a few sincere devotees there was a crowd of courtiers who flattered for their own interest. The Company resembled an all-powerful minister, hated for his per- sonal qualities, but worshipped and extolled to the skies by the crowd of those who fear his power or await his favour, impatient till the sovereign frown upon him, that they may manifest their real senti- ments. Such was the state of the Society of Jesus durino; the seventeenth century. 326 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. CHAPTER XV. 1700-1772. DOWNFALL OF THE JESUITS. "We have brouglit down our history to the beginning of the eighteenth century, an epoch in which the power and greatness of the Society of Jesus had, by a gra- dual march, ascended to a point from which, following the law inherent in all human things, it could not but decline ; for institutions, empires, and nations, have, as well as man himself, their successive periods of infancy, youth, manhood, old age, and decrepitude ; and if institutions, doctrines, or nations, revive after their moral death, they never regain the same degree of force and vitality which they possessed when rising to the maturity of their poAver. According to this constant rule, it was evident to any profound observer that the Jesuits had attained that height from which they must inevitably descend ; but, as always happens, they never dreamed of their impending fate, and scorned the sinister forebodings of some of their number who foresaw and predicted it. Then, when these pre- dictions proved true, they laid the blame of their fall upon every one but its real authors — themselves ; for it is to them that must be attributed the ruin of their institution. To the causes of decay which we have stated, we must add that which was perhaps the prin- cipal one — namely, that the Jesuits, once in posses- sion of power, remitted their prodigious activity, for DOWNFALL OF THE JESUITS. 327 whicli they had been so reraarkahle at the commence- ment of their institution, and even disregarded those arts by which they had obtained that power. Even the Instruction, that all-powerful engine which had so admirably served their purposes, was neglected, and had lost its orio-inal character. It was no lono-er either gratuitous or universal ; children of families known to be adverse to the Order, were, on one pretence or another, refused admittance, or sorely annoyed if ad- mitted. Twice a year, at Christmas, and on their patron saint's (Loyola's) day, the pupils were obliged to bring presents to the masters ; and rewards and marks of distinction were given in preference to the children of wealthy families, or to those who brought the richest present. This naturally produced in these young persons a consciousness of independence, so that they would no longer endure the severity of the ancient discipline.* Some of them even went so far as to stab their masters, and the revolts of the pupils of the CoUegio Romano became provei^bial. Besides, the zeal which the fathers had shewn at lirst to promote study, had not only cooled away, but was directed to oppose any sort of progress. To those primary and internal causes which ac- celerated the downfall of the order, must be added also many external ones, all militating against them. In those countries in which the Jesuits had had the greatest influence, as Spain, Portugal, and Poland, although they preserved, as yet, the favour of the court, they had lost that of all the other classes of society, who, at least in secret, accused them of being the cause of the abasement and the ruin of their respective coun- tries. On the other hand, those sovereigns of Germany who had sought the Jesuits' help to oppose their Pro- testant subjects, after the peace of Westphalia, wishing to calm rather than inflame religious quarrels, though they did not withdraw from the Jesuits that protection * Hanke, vol. ii. p. 293. 328 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. they had granted them, at least refused to give them that almost unlimited authority they had for- merly enjoyed. But the surest, perhaps, of all the symptoms of their approaching ruin was, that the Court of Rome itself began to frown upon them, and to shew a determination to lower their pride, and to bring them to some sense of their duty. We have already seen (pp. 127, 128) many bulls condemnatory of their conduct in China and India, and that Benedict XIV. had applied to them the very harsh and oifensive appellations of " disobedient, contumacious, crafty, and reprobate men." The same Pope, at this period also accepted the dedication of Father Norbert's Memoires Historiques, of which we have already spoken; and encouraged the publication of many other books, all adverse to the Society. All this was ominous to the Jesuits. It was, however, in France, the former seat of their power and glory during the seventeenth century, that the ruin of the order was most effectually prepared. The overthrow of Port-Royal, the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, the massacre of the Huguenots, and all the persecutions exercised in that country in the name of religion, w^ere justly attributed to the Jesuits. Nor was this all ; the exclusion from every office, civil or ecclesiastical, of every person who was not entirely devoted to the Order, had made their tyrannic yoke to be detested and abhorred in the highest degree. While the despotic Louis XIV. ruled France with an iron hand, and Lachaise and Letelher had a full dis- posal of lettres cle cachet, few dared openly to give vent to the hatred they bore to the Society ; but hardly had the bigoted prince expired, wdien the long-re- strained animosity broke forth, and the Jesuits were assailed on every side. The Jansenists, the other re- ligious orders, the curates, the bishops, all now attacked the monks, who, some months before, had kept them in such awe, and had been masters of their fortmies. DOWNFALL OF THE JESUITS. 329 It lias also been asserted — and the Jesuits repeat it every day — that the abolition of their order was due to the then fast spreading subversive doctrines of the Encyclupoedists, and that Ganganelli suppressed this bul- wark of the Christian religion to please the atheist Vol- taire and his disciples. But this, in the exclusive sense in which the Jesuit takes it, is by no means true. The Encyclopcedists were not the Jesuits' particular enemies, nor the auxiliaries of the Jansenists. They were, per- haps, more opposed to the strict and ascetic character of the recluses of Port-Royal, than to the worldly and accommodating morality of the progeny of Loyola. But the Jesuits had identiticd themselves with the Roman Catholic religion, and all its bigoted and super- stitious practices, and the philosophers were happy that they had introduced into it so many ridiculous superstitions and ceremonies, upon which they could exercise their sarcastic and trenchant wit. Voltaire and his school could not have awakened in the hearts of their contemporaries such dislike, nay, contempt and abhorrence, for the religion of Christ, had not the Jesuits furnished them the means, by having intro- duced into it contemptible and idolatrous superstitions. The Encyclopaedists' principal aim was to destroy the Christian religion ; and for this purpose, coupling with malignant sagacity the sublime doctrines and pure morality of Christ with the ridiculous practices and impure doctrines of the Papists, and especially of the Jesuits, held up the whole to the derision and profa- nation of a superficial public ; Avho, unwiUing to make any distinction, boldly asserted that nothing Avas true, nothing was holy, nothing respectable, in the Christian code. Again, the philosophers, in their praiseworthy endeavours to introduce the principles of civil and reli- gious liberty, attacked the Jesuits, now become the unconditional supporters of all despotism and tyranny. In this sense, and in this sense alone, it is true that the Encyclopaedists largely contributed to the overthrow 330 HISTOEY OF THE JESUITS. of the order. The pamphlets and books printed and widely circulated at that time against the reverend fathers were mainly a mass of evidence exposing their iniquity, and tending to effect their ruin in the opinion of Europe. Nor did the Jesuits, blinded as they were by past success, oppose any efficacious resistance to the tor- rent which threatened to sweep them away. Without changing their conduct in the least, they had re- course to expedients, and thought that a little pa- tience and cunning would suffice to shelter them from the passing hurricane. This was their general prac- tice. However, not to be altogether passive spectators in the contest, they made an attempt to ingratiate themselves Avith the sceptical and profligate Philip of Orleans, regent of France, not, indeed, by granting him absolution, which he cared very little for, but by negotiating for him with the Papal Court, by dis- covering to him the secrets of Philip V. of Spain, who had intrusted to his confessor his intention of abdicating, and by procuring for the libertine and ignoble Dubois an episcopal seat and a cardinal's hat. But if D'Orleans, for political ends, seemed to be the Jesuits' friend, he was not assuredly the man to use his authority to defend them ; and they were, from 1716 to 1729, deprived of the exer- cise of every ecclesiastical function, having been inter- dicted by Cardinal de Noaille. Under the sensual and voluptuous Louis XV., the Jesuits attempted again to regain their lost influence, and, as far as the favourable hearing of the sovereign was concerned, they in part succeeded. They contrived to insinuate to him that their cause was the cause of religion and of the throne, both menaced by the philosophers ; and, to a certain extent, they persuaded many that such was the case, and their enemies did not remain unmolested. But while the parliament and the court, in their official capacities, condemned the Encyclopaedists to the Bas- DOWNFALL OF THE JESUITS. 331 tile, and tlieir works to be burnt, they individually read with avidity whatever epigram was aimed at the Jesuits and the Christian religion, and Louis XV. was not the last to participate in the sneer. Meanwhile, the new doctrines of political reform and civil liberty had spread so fast, and were so eagerly embraced by the populations of different kingdoms, that their sovereigns thought proper to give some satisfaction to public opinion, and call to their councils reforming ministers. In France, Choiseul ; in Spain, Wah and Squillace ; in Portugal, Carvalho ; in Naples, Tanucci — were placed at the helm of the state, and began to attack the most obnoxious abuses against which people had set their minds. Now, in this disposition of the public opinion, it was evident that, at the first favourable circumstance, the ruin of the Jesuits, who had been so greatly damaged in popu- lar favour, would be actually consummated ; because it was to be expected that in this case would happen what generally takes place in political movements, that when once the moral revolution is accomphshed, the smallest pretext suffices to achieve the triumph of the material one also. Either the Jesuits furnished this pretext to Car- valho, prime minister of the King of Portugal ; or, at any rate, imagining that he had himself discovered it, he attempted the overthrow of the Order. But the causes of this overthrow were not, as is asserted by the able historian of the fall of the Jesuits, wholly local, and of a private and personal nature.* Any other occurrence would have served the purpose as well. It may be that Carvalho ac- celerated their ruin ; but even without him the Jesuits must have fallen. We shall brietiy trace the order of events which issued in their expulsion from Portu2:al. St Priest's History of the Fall of the Jesuits, English Trans, p. 3. 332 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. The Jesuits, from their first entrance into the kingdom, had exercised a great influence over the destinies of Portugal. This influence, which they had in part lost during the interval that Portugal was under the sway of the Spanish monarch, became para- mount under the new dynasty. The Jesuits governed in the name of the two queens, the widow of John IV. and the wife of Alphonso YL, who had married her brother-in-law during the lifetime of her first husband, whom she dethroned, and chained to a rock.* Under John v., their power reached its climax, and it was while they ruled the nation that " Portugal fell ex- hausted under the protecting power of England, never again to recover her position." "f At the com- mencement of Joseph I.'s reign, which w^e are now considering, they possessed an equal and again un- limited power ; but at that juncture a man arose to arrest their progress. This man was Carvalho. He w^as born in 1699, of a family of the middle class, or at the most of the lowest grade of the nobility. He was endowed with many rare qualities, w^ith a great apti- tude for business and administration, with unequalled energy and courage, and with a mind vast and capable of great designs; but he was proud, vindictive, cruel, and not seldom unjust. To arrive at power, Carvalho (subsequently Count of Oeyras, and Marquis of Pom- bal, under which last name he is better known to his- tory, and by which we shall henceforth designate him) had courted the friendship of the Jesuits, and was by them brought into favour. He soon became tlie favourite, and then the master, of the weak and con- temptible Joseph I. Pombal, in appearance, shewed himself grateful to the Jesuits, and to the last moment assured them of his friendship. But whether, in his capacity of statesman, he thought them to be prejudi- cial to the welfare of the Portuo-uese nation, or whether * A Jesuit was the confessor of that faithful wife ! + St Priest's Histovy of the Fall of the Jesuits, English Trans, p. 4. DOWNFALL OF THE JESUITS. 333 he began to hate them, because the fathers, pcrcelvinu; that they could in no way govern such a man as Pombal, had leagued with the nobility a class of citizens whom the vindictive minister wished to anni- hilate, it is unquestionable that at a certain period Pombal resolved, if possible, to rid Portugal of these dangerous monks. But, prudent and crafty, he dis- sembled his sentiments till a pretext or a favourable moment should arrive. A first unjust pretext he thought he had found in the conduct of the Jesuits in 1753. At this epoch a treaty between the Kings of Spain and Portugal effected a mutual exchange of provinces in America ; and, in order that the inhabitants might remain under their former sovereigns, it was stipulated that they should respectively quit the ceded territories. These people resisted such an unjust and tyrannical order; and the population of the Reductions took up arms and fought bravely for their own country, although in vain. The Jesuits were accused by the minister of having excited them t j revolt, which they have denied, even affirming that the General wrote to his subordi- nate of Paraguay to prepare the neophytes for such a change, and warning them that, if difficulties should arise, he would transport himself to the place, to see that the orders of the kings were obeyed.* But, from what we know of the power exercised by the Jesuits in the Reductions, it is evident that these submissive beings would never have dared to stir without the consent and the encouragement of the fathers — encou- ragement which possibly they may have given them underhand, while preaching, in public, obedience to the sovereign's orders. By resorting to this duplicity, they incurred the blame of both parties, while, if they had boldly asserted their interference in vindicating the inalienable right of men not to be bartered as cattle at the caprice of every despot, they Avould * Cret. vol. V. p. 158. 334 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. have earned the applause and the eulogy of every noble and generous soul. However, Pombal had not as yet acquired that un- limited power which he afterwards attained, and did not dare, or was not able, to strike the blow he was meditating against the Society, and was obliged to be contented to prepare the way for their ruin. But an event soon occurred wdiich rendered him absolute master of the destinies of Portugal, and left him at liberty to deal with the Jesuits as he pleased. On the 1st of ^N'ovember 1755, an earthquake de- stroyed three-fourths of Lisbon. A conflagration added to the desolation, and, that nothing might be w^anting in this scene of horrors, an armed band of brigands preyed in open day on the unfortunate victims of the direful calamity. Discouragement anddespair had seized on the boldest. The courtiers insisted that the court should emigrate to Oporto, and the king and the royal family ardently desired to leave the desolate Lisbon Pombal alone refused to let them depart. " The king's place," said he to Joseph, " is in the midst of his people; let us bury the dead, and take thought for the living." * Under appalling and difficult circumstances, the power belongs to the most energetic. Pombal seized on the helm of the state as his right, declared himself prime minister, and, unaided and alone, prepared to conquer all the difficulties with which Portugal was at this moment threatened. There was something of antique greatness in the courage which Pombal displayed that excited general astonishment. f In fact, he was everywhere; he thought about ever3^thing ; he provided for every emergency ; and soon, by his unequalled energy, a new town sprung up on the ruins of the ancient capital. And now Pombal, having attained a position which permitted him to attempt everything, thought of putting in execution the two great projects he had * St Priest, p. 9. t Ibid. DOWNFALL OF THE JESUITS. 335 conceived — the subjection of tlic aristocracy, and tlio expulsion of tlic Jesuits from Portuo-al. He had already published a number of edicts to restrain the power and humiliate the pride of the nobility, against whom he had conceived a great hatred, for the scorn they had offered him in refusing to admit him among them. And noAv the turn of the Jesuits had come. On the morning of the 19tli September 1757, without any new motive or circumstance having determined the proceeding, he removed from the court the three Jesuit confessors, and assigned to the royal penitents three ordinary priests. This first act of enmity was immediately followed by manifestoes which soon inun- dated Europe, in which the premier brought against the Jesuits several terrible accusations. Then, to coun- tenance his accusations, Pombal applied to the Pope, as ecclesiastical chief of these monks, and in his com- plaint he gave especial prominence to that which was most calculated to displease and provoke the censure of the Court of Pome. He represented to the Holy See that the great mercantile operations of the Society impeded the accomplishment of his commercial plans and the promotion of the national prosperity, and asked for a prompt and efficient measure to put a stop to it. The chair of St Peter was at that time occu- pied by the amiable, learned, and upright Lambertinl. Benedict XIV. did not hesitate a moment to comply with Pombal's desires, and committed the visitation of the Order to Cardinal Saldanha, a very intimate friend of the minister. Before we proceed further, we think it necessary in this place to give our readers some general idea of the commercial operations of the Society. The large donations which, at the commencement of the institution, had enriched the Society, having be- come less frequent, the Jesuits thought of increasing their wealth by applying themselves to trade. They pretended that there was no material difference be- 336 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. tween tlic practice of agriculture, which had formed the principal occupation of the first monastic orders, and the hibour of commerce in which they were en- gaged. The Collcgio Romano possessed a manufac- tory of cloth at ]\iacerata, and though at first they produced it only for their own use, yet they soon pro- ceeded to supply all the other colleges in the provinces, and ultimately the public in general, for which last purpose they attended the fairs. From the close con- nexion existing between the different colleges, there resulted a system of banking business; and the Portu- guese ambassador at Rome w^as empowered to draw on the Jesuits of Portugal. Their commercial transactions were particularly prosperous in the colonies. The trading connexion of the order extended, as it were, a network over both continents, having Lisbon for its central point.* Such is the account given by our con- temporary historian. We shall now quote the opinion of an eye-witness, a man high in power in India, and wdio could certainly have had the best information regarding the facts. M. Martin, general commander of Pondicherry, expresses himself thus : — " It is certain that, after the Dutch, the Jesuits are the largest and the richest traders in India, richer even than the English, than the Portuguese themselves, who have brought them there Those disguised Jesuits intrigue everywhere. The secret correspondence they keep up amongst themselves, apprises them of the merchandises that ought to be bought or sold, and to what nation, in order to make a more considerable profit ; so that those disguised Jesuits are of immense axivantage to the Society, and are only responsible to the Order represented by other Jesuits, who overrun the world under the true habit of St Ignatius, and who possess the confidence, the secrets, and the orders of their chiefs in Europe. Those Jesuits, disguised and dispersed all over the earth, know each other by sig- * Ranke, vol. ii. p. 392. DOWNFALL OF THE JESUITS. 337 nnls, like the freemasons, and act all upon the samo plan. They send merchandise to other diso-uised Je- suits, -who, having the goods from tirst hand, realise considerable profits for the order. However, this traffic is highly prejudicial to the interest of France. I have often written about it to the Company (of India), but under Louis XIV. I have received orders very precise, and often repeated, to grant and advance to those fathers all that they may ask. And Father Tashard alone owes at this moment more than 450,000 fi-anes to the Company (of India)."* AYe have reported this document, because it was considered at the time, even in Rome, and by the Papal Court, as of great importance, and as representing the real state of things. In the West Indies, Jesuits were to be found in all the markets with different kinds of produce ; and this they do not even attempt to deny, but excuse them- selves by saying that " the ecclesiastical law has never forbidden the sale of the produce of one's own domains. The Jesuits were the guardians of the Christians, whom they had reunited in society in Paraguay ; and in con- sideration of the inabihty of these savages to manage their own affairs, many Spanish kings granted to the missionaries the right of selling the produce of the ground cultivated by the neophytes, as well as that of their own industry."! The Jesuits had so well used this liberty of trading, that the largest banking houses in South America belonged to the Company, and one of them ^ alone became bankrupt for more than two millions and a half of francs, an enormous sum at the epoch. Nor had they been less busy and active speculators in Europe. In j\lalta, in the year 1639, during a famine, the Jesuits, who had five thousand sacks of * Voriagc de Diiquesne Chef (Tescadrc, torn. xxxv. p. 15. •f* Cr6t. vol. V. p. 171. + Lavallette. OOO HISTORY OP THE JESUITS. corn in their granaries, in order that they might not be obhgecl to give it up to the government at a lower price than they expected for it, apphed to the Grand Master Lascaris for succour to their actual necessities, and were relieved, on account of their supposed poverty, from the public storehouse. But the trick was at last discovered, and they were expelled from the island. But we could not adduce stronger proofs of their eagerness to accumulate wealth than the letters of Vitelleschi, CaraiFa, and Nickel, some passages of which we have reported, in which they bitterly com- plain of that spirit of avarice and speculation which had pervaded all the classes of Jesuits, and which they vainly deprecated. To return to our narrative; Saldanha, either to satisfy the impatience of Pombal, or because the proofs of the Jesuits' guilt were too numerous and too clear, soon published a decree severely reprobating the com- mercial pursuits of the order, and empowering the roval authorities to confiscate all merchandise belono-- ing to those ecclesiastics.* But, in the meanwhile, the man who had ordered the visitation, and to whom belonged the ultimate de- cision, Lambertini (Benedict XIV.), had departed from this world. Had God granted him a longer life, he would probably have taken energetic and decisive measures against the order; and any other pontiff than the one who succeeded him, would in all likeli- hood, in one way or another, have given satisfaction to the public opinion. But, unfortunately perhaps for the Jesuits, Benedict XIV. was succeeded by a man wholly blinded in their favour, who declared that, to the last, he would be the protector and the friend of " the holy Company of Jesus." This man was l\ago;onico, who assumed the name of Clement XIII. He was pure in soul, and upright in purpose. He was constantly engaged in fervent prayer, and his * Kanke, vol. vii. p. 443. DOWNFALL OF THE JESUITS. 339 highest amhition was to obtain a canonisation. But ]ie was a bigoted fanatic — was convinced that the power of the Papac}^ should be unhmited ; and in the Jesuits he behekl the most faithful defenders of the Papal See and of rehgion. But, besides the disposi- tion of the Pope in their fixvour, the Jesuits had, in the Court of Borne, a still more efficient supporter in the person of Cardinal Torrigiani, in whose hand actually resided all the power. " He had the reputa- tion," says Banke, " of taking a personal interest in the farming of the papal revenues, and was said to be generally fond of powder for its own sake." * It is, then, easy to be conceived that the Jesuits, in order to pre- serve the bulk of their wealth, did not hesitate to sacrifice a part to satiate the avidity of the cardinal ; and that to this is to be attributed the partiality, we should say the servility, evinced by Torrigiani towards the order. But this partiality of the Pope and his minister proved fatal to the Company. Had they consented to effect some substantial reforms, the So- ciety might yet have existed for some time longer, or at least have only perished in the general shipwreck produced by the French Bevolution, and they would not have had pronounced upon them the terrible and crushing sentence of Clement XIV. Pombal perceived at once that no hope could be entertained that such a Pope w^ould co-operate in the suppression, or even in the reform and abasement of the Jesuits, but did not, for that reason, renounce his projects ; he only waited for a more fitting moment to effect his purpose by his own authority. Circumstances served Pombal's designs better than he could have expected. Joseph I. had an intimacy with Dona Theresa, the young wife of the Marquis of Tavora, one of the noblest families in Portugal, and one which, having scorned Pombal's alliance, w^as par- ticularly hated by him. Now it happened, on the * Ranke, vol. ii. p. 444. 340 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. night of the 3d of September 1758, that the king, returning to the palace from a visit to Dona Theresa, was wounded in the arm by a pistol-shot fired upon him. Next morning the court presented an unusual aspect. The gates of the palace were shut ; the king did not make his appearance, and nobody knew ex- actly wdiat was the cause of these strange measures. It was indeed whispered that an attempt had been made upon the king's person ; but nobody dared to speak it aloud, or knew to what extent it was true. The courtiers were all taciturn and in consternation. Pombal alone appeared calm and serene. This state of things lasted for some days. At last this anxiety w^as by degrees dispelled, and, a few weeks after, nobody thought any more about the attempt, and many doubted whether it had ever occurred. But on the 12th of September, the Duke of Averio, of the family of Mascarenhas, who, with Tavora, was at the head of the Portuguese aristocracy, the Marquis of Tavora, Dona Eleanor, his mother, and many of their relations and servants, were suddenly arrested and thrown into prison. Our limits Avill not admit of our ex- amining Avhether or not the prisoners were culpable, or in what degree. It seems most probable that the young Marquis of Tavora may have attempted to avenge his injured honour ; and indeed there is every reason to believe that some of the prisoners arrested were really accomplices of the crime ; but, as the trial was not public, as it was conducted by an exceptional tribunal la inconfidenza, and as Pombal has never substan- tiated, by valid proofs, the accusation brought against them, it would be harsh to form any decided judgment. What is incontestable is, that all forms of justice were violated in the trial, and that the cruel and inhuman way in which the unfortunate prisoners were tortured and executed, would induce us to believe that this sacrifice of lunnan life was offered rather to revenge than to justice. In the night of 12th of January 1759, DOWNFALL OF THE JESUITS. 341 a scaffold, ciglitecn feet high, was erected on the square of Belem, fronting the Tagus. At daybreak, this open space was filled with soldiers and the popu- lace, and even the river was covered with spectators. The servants of the Duke of Averio appeared first upon the platform, and were fastened to one of the corners to be burned alive. The Marchioness of Tavora then ascended the scaffold with a rope around her neck, and a crucifix in her hand. She was scantily clad in some tattered clothes, but her whole figure and demeanour were stamped with firmness and dignity. The executioner, in attempting to bind her feet, accidentally raised the hem of her robe. "Stop!" cried she, " forget not who I am ; touch me only to kill me." The executioner fell on his knees before Dona Eleanor, and begged her to pardon him, where- upon she drew a ring from her finger, and said, " Here ; I have nothing but this in the world ; take it, and do your duty." This courageous woman then laid her head upon the block, and received her death-blow. Her husband, her sons, the youngest of whom was not twenty years of age, her son-in-laAv, and several servants, perished after her in frightful torments. The Duke of Averio was led forward the last ; he was fiistened to the wheel, his body covered with rags, and his arms and thighs naked. Thus was he broken alive, not expiring till after he had endured protract- ed tortures, making the square and the neighbourhood re-echo with frightful cries. At length the machine was set on fire, and presently wheel, scaffold, bodies, all, were burned and cast into the Tagus.* Even if the sentence had been just, the merciless cruelty which Pombal shewed in accomplishing its execution has greatly tarnished his fame, and diminished the admiration due to his other eminent services ren- dered to Portugal. Meanwhile, on the night vrhich preceded the exe- * St Priest, p. 12. z 342 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. cutlon of the prisoners, the house of the Jesuits was invested, their chiefs were cast into prison, and three of them. Mattes, Alexander, and Malagrida, accused of having fomented the conspiracy. With what degree of truth this accusation was brought against them, it is also difficult to say. According to the sentence passed upon them, the suspicions of their having participated therein were confirmed by their arrogance previous to the attempt, and their desponding after its failure; by their intimate connexion with the chief of the accused (D'Averio), with whom they had formerly been at variance; by a conversation reported of Father Conta, who, it seems, had declared that a man who should murder the king would not be guilty of even a venial sin. Their intercourse with the conspirators was indeed unquestionable. They had been their friends and advisers, and had taken a decided part in the discontent, murmurs, and open opposition of the Fidal- goes.* But no other material proof was brought to confirm the charge, and although the three accused were condemned to suffer the highest punishment, the sentence was not executed. Malagrida, who some time after was burned, suffered for the crime of heresy, not for that of regicide. Whatever opinion our readers may form of the Jesuits' guilt or innocence, Pombal, in his manifestoes, represented them as guilty, and called for the animadversion of Europe upon them, while he himself Avas taking more decisive measures to destroy the order. As in Portugal, up to that moment, to the nuncio alone belonged the right of pronouncing judgment upon ecclesiastics, Pombal, although he had already resolved to transfer that right to a commission named by the sovereign, thought proper to solicit the Pope for a nominal authorisation ; and as Clement's answer did not come quick enough for the minister's impatience, he, on 1st of September 1759, issued a decree for the * St Priest, p. 13. DOWNFALL OF TUE JESUITS. 343 expulsion of the Jesuits from all the states of his most fixithful majesty. All the hishops of Portiioal received a command to take the office of instruction out of the hands of the Jesuits, and supersede them instantly in the universities of Coimhra and elsewhere ; and imme- diately after, all the Jesuits residing in Portugal were put on board royal and merchant vessels, and shipped over into Italy ; * similar orders were given to the governors of all the Portuguese colonies, and imme- diately executed. This was the first blow dealt to the Society of Jesus; and, as if it had been a signal, it was followed by a succession, till Ganganelli dealt it the last and mortal one. It seemed as if before no one had dared to attack such a powerful colossus : but when once the people saw with what facility it could be attacked, and even conquered, every one wished to break a spear upon it. France, as was to be expected, struck the second blow. When the minds of men were once bent upon it, any pretext would have been sufficient to expel the Jesuits ; and it requires no great insight to perceive that the apparent causes Avhich led to this step were only secondary. It is true that Madame de Pompadour, the king's mistress, had resolved upon their de- struction ; but, although it is well known that she harassed the king to obtain it, it is by no means cer- tain that Louis yielded to her influence alone, and we doubt much that she would have been able to effect it at all, had she lived a hundred years before. It seems that the Jesuit confessors of the marchioness and the king refused, we do not know for what rea- sons, to absolve them, unless the lady should quit the com't. She herself has transmitted to us a long _ * Fifteen hundred of these monks lauded at Civita Vecehia. It was a pitiful sight to behold some of those very old priests torn from the phice where they had spent tlieir lives, and thrown upon a foreign land. Even the Dominicans, their constant opponents, were touched with compassion, and received tliem kindly ; and they have perpetuated the memory of this act of generosity by an inscription on stone. 344 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. recital of her negotiations with the confessor;* and when she could not bring him to her wishes, she TOwed a mortal hatred against the Society, which, however, remained for some years without result. But in 1761 a more decisive occasion was offered to the enemies of the order to ask for their expulsion. Father Lavallette, the Superior General of Martinique — a bold and unscrupulous speculator, a priest who, by their own confession, began to operate not only on the produce of the goods belonging to the house, but who purchased large properties, and bought tivo thousand slaves to work them — was the means of creating this occasion.! He entered into vast and compUcated speculations with different maritime towns of Europe; and as some of these speculations failed, he stopped payment — a measure which caused the ruin of several houses, among Avhich were one of L3^ons and another of Marseilles. The house of Marseilles, Leoncy, held the Society responsible for the debt of its member, and applied to the General for payment. Ricci, the then chief of the order,:!: committed the irreparable error of refusing to recognise the debt. The Widow Grou & Son, of JS'antez, then commenced a process before the consular tribunal of Paris. Leoncy followed the example. The Jesuits having been condemned, were blind enough to bring the cause before the parliament. This supreme court of judicature, the better to estimate the merit of the cause, ordered that the Constitutions of the Society should be brought before the tribunal. The Jesuits consented, arid this decided their ruin. After prolonged examination, the parliament gave its judgment, by which the Society was condemned to pay all the en- gagements incurred by Lavallette, for which, accord- * See it reported in St Priest, p. 21, and following. + Cret. vol. V. p. 236. J Three generals, Retz, Visconti, and Centurioni, had, after Tam- ■bouriui, governed the Society ; and the 19th General Congregation, named Lorenzo Ricci, who was the 18th Greneral before the suppression. DOWNFALL OF THE JESUITS. 345 ino" to the tenor of their Constitution, the whole order was answerable.* ]\Iany authors, speaking of this affair, have expressed their astonishment that the Jesuits, who were accounted so cunning, could have committed such bhniders. AVe have nothing to answer to this, except that they may be compared to those generals who, having lost their presence of mind in a difficult and critical moment, have suffered defeat by committing errors that a simple non- commissioned officer would never have been guilty of; or they may be compared perhaps to those consummate criminals who, having long eluded the vigilance of the police with extraordinary dexterity, at last commit such blunders, that one could almost swear they con- spired for their own capture. Or it would be more correct to say that God had numbered their days, and their hour was come. Quern Dens vult 2^erd€re prius dementat. From the moment when the Constitutions of this mysterious and dread Society were brought to light. Constitutions which had been kept jealously secret, all minor questions disappeared. Father Lavallette, the bankrupt, the bankers (who were never paid), all were forgotten in the great question affecting the Society itself. " Dogmatic disputes, which had so long been forgotten, now resumed all the force of pre- sent interest, and all the attraction of novelty. There vras a universal eagerness to discover and apply those mysterious Constitiitions. Women, and even children, were animated with the ardour of old practised law- yers. Pascal became the idol of the day, and La Chalatois its licro."t Innumerable writings were daily printed and read with the greatest avidity by all * The debts of Lavallette amounted to 2,400,000 francs ; but Cretineau assures us that the houses aud lands belonging to the Company were bought by English capitalists for the sum of four millions of francs ! Did aot'the Jesuits well observe the vows of poverty, this huUvavk of veil' gionl + St Priest, p. 27. 346 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. classes of persons ; and for a while notliing else was spoken of but the Society of Jesuits. In these circumstances, fifty-one French bishops, under the presidency of the Cardinal of Luynes, as- sembled, and, after a prolonged examination of the Constitutions, declared that the unlimited obedience that the General residing in Rome was empowered to exact from every member, was incompatible with the laws of the kingdom, and with the general duties of the subject to his sovereign. Now the opponents of the Jesuits, and Madame de Pompadour at their head, pressed upon the king to take a decisive mea- sure. Louis XV. was an indolent profligate, whose chief characteristic was the love and veneration of himself. Provided royalty did not perish in his own person, he cared little what should become of it after his death. He had no liking for any person but those who could amuse him — a thing in his old age by no means easy. He cared nothing for the Jesuits, but he feared them. He was persuaded that they had been accom:)lices in the assassination of Henry HI. and Henry IV.; he had always before his eyes the poniard of Damiens, and attributed to the fathers both the will and the power to murder him. Por this all-important reason, he resisted long all soli- citations to expel them from France, but he consented to address a request to the Pope to grant a reform, but to grant it immediately, and without hesitation or subterfuge. Choiseul himself prepared a plan of re- form, which, it may be said, centred in this prin- cipal point, namely, to propose to the General the appointment of a vicar-general for France, wdio w^as to fix his residence in that country, and pledge himself to render obedience* to its laws — a measure which was in conformity with the statutes, since these authorised the General, in case of a great emergency, to name a vicar-general.* The fact of this most rea- * Ranke, vol. u. p 4i7 ; St Priest, p. 29. DOWNFALL OF THE JESUITS. 347 sonablc demand liavino; bcrn made, would of itself be a sufficient answer to the Jesuits and their partisans, who pretend that the destruction of the order was not the consequence of any of these misdemeanours, but that it had been planned long before between the Encyclo- pc^dists Choiseul and rombal. Yet we shall adduce some further proofs to shew how unfounded their assertions arc. Pombal, although he was executing some of the reforms called for by the Encyclopajdists, was no Avay connected with them, and he is perhaps the only man of mark of this epoch whom Voltaire has not I'avoured w^ith a word of his inexhaustible correspondence. On the contrary, the Patriarch of Forney often blames the marquis for his affected deference to the Pope and respect for religion, as wxll as for his cruelty, so dis- pleasing to the naturally humane heart of Voltaire. Choiseul was indeed for a time the friend of Pombal, and acted in concert with him in affairs of general policy. But Pombal was too haughty, he had too exaggerated an opinion of his own capacity, to act under or by the direction of any man whatever. Be- sides, the w^ell-known character of Choiseul renders it altogether incredible that he could have been long and deeply engaged in a plot to expel the Jesuits from Europe. The duke was the type of the French gen- tilhommes of the eighteenth century. He possessed the incredulity, the grace, the vanity, the courage, and that levity which woukl have sacrificed the dear- est interests to the pleasure of an epigram, and which was so characteristic of the French noblesse in the former part of Louis XV.'s reign. He was too frivo- lous to be capable of nourishing in his heart for years a deep scheme of malice ; nor did he honour or value the Jesuits enough to make them the object of a mortal enmity. On the contrary, with the Count of Kaunitz, the Austrian minister, he ridiculed the sort of passion with which the Marquis of Pombal perse- 348 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. cuted the sons of Loyola. *' Co, Monsieur," they would say, " a done toujours un Jesuite a cheval sur le ncz."* However, it is evident that Choiseul could not be the man to protect the Jesuits : it is evident that, to please Madame de Pompadour, and to court public opinion, he must have shewn himself unfavourable to the fathers, and must have pursued them with his sar- casms. It is also certain that afterwards he became their enemy, not out of hatred, but rather to comply with Charles III.'s wishes, and in order to get rid of them, and that he used all his influence to have them expelled from France, and ultimately abolished. The duke ren- ders our assertions incontestable, when, in a memorial addressed to the kino^, after havino- reminded him that he had not been the man who had commenced the great measure of the expulsion of the Jesuits, he adds, " Your Majesty knows well that, although it has been said tliat I have laboured at the expulsion of the Jesuits, .... I have in no way, either at a distance or on the spot, either in public or in private, taken any step with this intent." And he finishes by saying, that only at a later period, after he had known them, he had become their enemy. When, then, the duke made application to Rome to obtain the nomination of a vicar-general who should reside in France, with authority independent of the General, he was person- ally indifferent in the question. It is well known what answer the General, Ricci, made to this application — " Sint ut sunt aut non sint," Let them be as they are, or be no longer. The parhament first abolished and suppressed all the congregations, those powerful engines of the order ; then, on the 6th of August 1762, it declared that the Institute of the Jesuits was opposed to all authority, spiritual and temporal, ecclesiastical and * state Papers and Manuscripts of the DuJce of Choiseul. See Sfc Priest, p. 18. DOWNFALL OF THE JESUITS. 349 civil, and was calculated to render them entirely independent of such authority by all sort of means, and even to favour their usurpation of the f^overn- ment; it therefore declared that the order should be irrevocably and for ever expelled from the king- dom.* In consequence of this decree, the eighty- four colleges of the Jesuits were shut up. The fathers were expelled from all their houses, their properties were confiscated ; f each individual, hoAvever, being al- lowed a small income from the public treasury, and being permitted for the moment to reside in France, separately, and as secular clergymen. This permis- sion was withdrawn two years after, and in 17(34, the repugnance of Louis XV. having been overcome, the Jesuits were ordered to quit the French territories. But a more serious and unexpected calamity befel the Company only three years after. Till the present moment, the Jesuits and their partisans had boasted of their defeats and persecution, and had haughtily proclaimed in the face of the world that they were only persecuted by the philosophic spirit which had pervaded Europe, and which, its principal aim being the destruction of the Catholic religion, had begun by attacking its firmest bulwark — the Society of Jesus. Pombal and Choiseul were but the emissaries of Vol- taire ; Joseph and Louis, indolent and voluptuous monarchs, entirely under the guidance and yoke of the two ministers. But what had they to say, now that they were going to be expelled from the dominions of a king not only adverse to the philosophers, not only a bigoted Roman Catholic, but, till the present moment, the friend and the protector of the Order ? What had they to say against this exemplary Christian, Charles III. of Spain, loyal, frank, virtuous, chaste, and irre- * See Ranke, vol. ii. p. 447 ; Cret. vol. v. p. 274. + The property which the Jesuits possessed in France was estimated at fifty-eight millions of francs ; but in that sum, says Cretineau, must not be included the alms M-hicli were given to the Mentions Professes. They possess fifty-eight millions, and ask for alms / Oh ! holy povei-ty ! 350 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. proacliable, as he was ? Narrow-minded, indeed, he may have been, but no less clear-sighted, active, and considerate ; self-willed rather than disposed to succumb to the influence of any person ; and if he can be reproached with anything, it were with the fiiult of having been rather partial to that nursery of monks and nuns which infested Spain, and for one or other of whom he was continually petitioning Rome for a canonisation. Yet this man, more than any other, contributed to the abolition of the order. The motives which induced Charles to take such a decided part in the destruction of the Society are not very well ascertained, and the two parties attribute it to different causes. We will try to throw some new light on this obscure affair. As every one, in the absence of proofs, has been obliged to have recourse to conjectures, we beg leave to give our own also. We begin by relating the facts. The long and ample cloaks, and the low, large- brimrned hats, worn at this epoch in Spain, served to facilitate the perpetration of many crimes, and to conceal the criminals. Squillace, the king's prime minister, by Charles's order, issued a proclamation prohibiting the use of them ; but the populace of Madrid broke out in insurrection, beseiged the minis- ter in his house, pulled it down, repulsed the Walloon guards which had marched against them, and obliged the king, whose exhortation they despised, to retire for the moment from Madrid. The revolt lasted for several days, when the Jesuits, mingling amongst the rioters, appeased them in a moment with the greatest facihty. This revolt, Avhich happened in 1766, is known in history as the Emeute des Chapeaux. This outbreak, which had no result, was entirely forgotten, when, on the 2d of April 1767, appeared a royal proclamation abolishing the Society of the Jesuits in the peninsula, and expelling them from the Spanish monarchy. Let the reader imagine the astonishment DOWNFALL OP THE JESUITS. 351 wliicli the proclamation produced tlirougliout Europe, and the consternation and despair into which it threw the Jesuits. AVhat had happened that could furnish a motive for such a harsh and most severe measure? No sign of change had been the precursor of the storm ; no warning had been given to the Jesuits ; no signs of enmity had been shewn to them. The pro- clamation not only was silent as to the motives which had elicited it, but forbade every man to appreciate and discuss either the measure or its causes ; and this redoubled the astonishment and the curiosity. Let us try to penetrate this mystery. First of all we shall give the reasons which, according to the Marquis d'Ossun, French ambassador at the court of Madrid, were adduced to him by Charles himself, as having induced him to the suppression of the order. "Charles pledged his honour to the Marquis d'Ossun that he had never entertained any personal animosity against the Jesuits ; that, before the last conspiracy, he had even repeatedly refused to sanction any measures inimical to them. Notwithstanding that he had been warned by confidential advisers, on whose word he could rely, that, ever since 1759, the Jesuits had inces- santly traduced his government, his character, and even his faith ; his reply to these ministers had uni- formly been that he believed them to be either prejudiced or ill-informed. But the insurrection of 1766 had opened the king's eyes ; Charles was con- vinced that several members of the Society had been- arrested in the act of distributing money among the populace. After they had prepared the way by poisoning the minds of the citizens with insinuations against the government, the Jesuits only awaited the signal to spring the mine. The first opportunity was sufficient, and they were content with the most frivolous pretexts ; — in one instance, the form of a hat or cloak ; in another, the misconduct of an intendant, or the knavery of a corregidor. The attempt (the aneute of 352 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. 1766) failed, as the tumult had broken out on Palm Sunday. The time fixed upon had been Holy Thurs^ day, during the ceremonies of visiting the churches, ■when the king was to be surprised and surrounded at the foot of the cross. Such is the substance of the motives stated by the King of Spain to the Marquis d'Ossun, accompanied by a reiterated protest of the truth of what he had said, and, in proof of this, he appealed to judges and magistrates of the most incor- ruptible integrity; he even reproached himself with having been too lenient to such a dangerous body, and then drawing a deep sigh, added, ' I have learned to know them too well.' " * These are the motives assigned for this conduct by the opponents of the Jesuits, and they rest, as may be seen, on very high authority. On the other hand, the Jesuits and their friends assert that the whole affair w^as an abominable and dishonourable plot of Choiseul. They pretend that the duke had managed to put into the hands of Charles an autograph letter supposed to be written by the General of the order to a provincial in Spain, in which it w^as asserted that Charles was an illegitimate son of Cardinal Alberoni, and that the throne belonged to Don Louis, the king's younger brotlier, and that it w^as this letter that excited the resentment of Charles. Cretineau affirms that such was the case. " Charles, who remained a fervent Christian, would not have destroyed the institute, but that they affixed upon his royal escutcheon the stigma of illegitimacy. . . . This fact is certified by other contemporary testimonies, and by the docu- ments of the Company." f Ranke, without accusing either party, seems to incline to this supposition, and says, " Charles III. became persuaded that it was one of the purposes of the Jesuits to raise his brother Don * Despatches of the Marquis d'Ossun to the Duke of Choiseul. See St Priest, p. 34. ' i Crtt. vol. V. p. 293. DOWNFALL OF THE JESUITS. 353 Louis to the throne in liis place."* Noav, rejecting the absurd accusation of the forgery of this letter, which many reasons render altogether impossible, and which is by no means consistent with the character of Choiseul, and adopting the version of Eanke or of Ossun, there still remains to be explained the enmity of the Jesuits against such a o-ood lioman Catholic as Charles; and this enmity, no historian, iter far as we know, has ever attempted to explain. Yet this is the point most necessary to be examined ; because, unless we suppose that such a sagacious and clear-sighted man as Charles III., after a year of strict and severe investigation, came to the serious decision of con- demning the Jesuits solely on the authority of a forged letter, without any other proof of their ill- will to him, it remains certain that the Jesuits were guilty, and adverse to his person and govern- ment. Whence, we repeat, this enmity ? By consider- mg a little the well-known character of the Jesuits, we may perhaps be able to answer the query. Every one who directly, or indirectly even, opposes the wishes or the designs of the Society, is regarded as its mortal enemy, and every enemy must, by whatever means, be broken down. Charles, from the beginning of his reign, had constantly insisted upon the canonisa- tion of Palafox, the abhorred opponent of the Society — first grief. Charles did not show the Jesuits any par- ticular aifection, and had protected and befriended them only as he did all other monastic orders — second grief. Charles would not submit as his predecessors had done to the influence of the fathers, and his con- fessor was of the order of the Dominicans, the ancient and implacable enemy of the Company — third and most serious grief. Now, if once it is admitted that the Jesuits had reason to dislike Charles, all is easily explained. Then no act of enmity on their part ought to surprise us. They would not have hesitated * Eanke, vol. ii. p. US. 354 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. a moment to spread the report that Charles was a bastard, to raise a conspiracy, to excite the people to revolt, and to endeavour to supplant the king by his younger brother. Tiius it becomes clear how Charles, after obtaining the proofs of their machinations, be- came furious against them ; and it may easily be con- ceived that, from pride and delicacy, he did not men- tion to the French ambassador, among the other causes of resentment against the Jesuits, that of their having slandered him as a bastard liable to be de- throned. This is the view we take of the matter, and we doubt if the conduct of Charles can be explained in any other plausible way. Such, in our opinion, were the .motives which induced the pious King of Spain to expel the Jesuits from all his estates. The way in which this was accomplished was also most remarkable, and deserves to be men- tioned. Immediately after Vemente des chapeaux, which seems to have awakened Charles's suspicions, the proceedings ag?anst the Jesuits commenced, and were continued for a year with the greatest secrecy. D'Aranda, now the principal minister, con- ducted them. He neglected no precautions to insure the success of his plan. He took great care, above all, that the Court of Rome should have no suspicion of his projects. The king and his ministers admitted into their confidence only Don Manuel de Roda, an able jurist, and previously an agent of Spain in Rome. D'Aranda conferred with ^loniiio and Campomanes, two very influential magistrates, in a singular and romantic manner. They repaired separately and unknown to one another, to a kind of ruined house, worked alone, communicating afterwards only with the prime minister, who either transcribed himself their informations or intrusted them to his page, who was too young to be mistrusted. Those informations the minister carried himself to the king.* Notwith- •^ St Priest, p. 35. DOWNFALL OF THE JESUITS. 355 standino'' these precautions, it seems tlic Jesuits were not altogether ignorant that some strange measures were coutemphited against them. In fact, it would have been ahnost incredible that a judicial investiga- tion, although surrounded with mystery and secrecy, in which many persons, no matter of what measure of discretion, were interrogated, could have been so con- ducted that not a word should have come to the ears of the fathers. They certainly were ignorant of the real state of things, and were perhaps far from sus- pecting the calamity impending over their heads. But what proves that they must have had some inti- mation of what was going on, is, that some short time before their expulsion they had requested of the king the confirmation of their privileges, and had removed tlieir papers and their money.* When all measures were ready, despatches were sent from Madrid to all the governors of all the Spanish possessions of Africa, Asia, America, and throughout all the peninsula. These despatches, signed by the king, and counter-signed by D'Aranda, were sealed with tliree seals. On the second envelop was written, '' Under pain of death, you shall not open this despatch but on the 2d April 1767, towards the closing of the day."t The orders to be executed in the diiferent places, on the 2d of April, were all of the same tenor. The alcaldes were enjoined, on the severest penalties (Cretineau says on pain of death), immediately to enter the establishments of the Jesuits armed, to take possession of them, to expel the Jesuits from their convents, and to transport them within twenty-four hours as prisoners to such ports as were designated. The fathers were to embark instantly, leaving their papers under seal, and carrying away with them only a breviary, a purse, and some apparel. | The orders * See in Ranke, vol. ii. p. 447, a note, where he quotes a passage of a MS. t Cret. vol. V. p. 29C. J St Priest, p. 3itate, but to take due time ; not only to examine attentively, weigh carefully, and. wisely debate, but also, by unceasing prayers, to ask of the Father of Lights his particular assistance under, these circumstances ; exhorting at the same time the ABOLITION OP THE ORDER. 397 faithful to co-operate with us by their prayers and good Avorks in obtaining this needful succour. " And lirst of all we proposed to examine upon what grounds rested the common opinion, that the institute of the Clerks of the Company of Jesus had been ap- proved and confirmed in an especial manner by the Council of Trent. And we found that in the said Council nothing more was done with regard to the said Society, only to except it from the general decree, which ordained that in the other regular orders, those who had finished their novitiate, and were judged worthy of being admitted to the profession, should be admitted thereto ; and that such as were not found worthy should be sent back from the monastery. The same Council declared, that it meant not to make any change or innovation in the government of the clerks of the Company of Jesus, that they might not be hin- dered from being useful to God and his Church, ac- cording to the intent of the pious institute approved by the Holy See. ''Actuated by so many and important considerations, and, as we hope, aided by the presence and inspira- tion of the Holy Spirit; compelled, besides, by the necessity of our ministry, which strictly obliges us to conciliate, maintain, and confirm the peace and tran- quillity of the Christian republic, and remove every obstacle which may tend to trouble it ; having further considered that the said Company of Jesus can no longer produce those abundant fruits, and those great advantages, Avith a view to which it was instituted, approved by so many of our predecessors, and endowed w^ith so many and extensive privileges; that, on the contrary, it was very diflicult, not to say impossible, that the Church could recover a firm and durable 'peace so long as the said Society subsisted ; in conse- quence hereof, and determined by the particular reasons we have here alleged, and forced by other motives which prudence and the good government of the Church 398 HISTORY OP THE JESUITS, have dictated, the knowledge of which we reserve to ourselves, conforming ourselves to the examples of our, predecessors, and particularly to that of Gregory X. in the general Council of Lyons; the rather as, ia the present case, we are determining upon the fate of a society classed among the mendicant orders, both by its institute and by its j^trivileges ; — after a mature deliberation, ive do, out of our certain knowledge, and the fulness of our apostolical power, suppress AND ABOLISH THE SAID COMPANY : WO dopHve it of all activity whatever, of its houses, schools, colleges, hospitals, lands, and, in short, every other place what- soever, in whatever kingdom or province they may be situated; we abrogate and anmd its statutes, rules, customs, decrees, and constitutions, even though confirmed by oath, and approved by the Holy See or otherwise ; in like manner we annul all and every its privileges, indults, general or particular, the tenor whereof is, and is taken to be, as fully and as amply expressed in the present Brief as if the same were inserted word for word, in whatever clauses, form, or decree, or under whatever sanction their privileges may have been conceived. 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. We do likewise order that the said jurisdiction and authority be transferred to the respective ordinaries, fully and in the same manner as the said generals, &c. exercised it, accord- ing to the form, places, and circumstances with respect to the persons and under the conditions hereafter determined ; forbidding, as we do hereby forbid, the reception of any person to the said Society, the novitiate or habit thereof. And with regard to those who have already been admitted, our will is, that they be not received to make profession of the ABOLITION OF THE ORDER. 399 simple, solemn, absolute vows, under penalty of nul- lity, and such other penalties as we shall ordain. Further, we do wnll, command, and ordain, that those who are now performinf^ their novitiate be speedily, immediately, and actually sent back to their own homes; we do further forbid that those who have made profession of the first simple vows, but w^ho are not yet admitted to either of the holy orders, be ad- mitted thereto under any pretext or title whatever ; whether on account of the profession they have already made in the said Society, or by virtue of any privi- leges the said Society has obtained, contrary to the tenor of the decrees of the Council of Trent. " And whereas all our endeavours are directed to the great end of procuring the good of the Church and the tranquillity of nations ; and it being at the same time our intention to provide all necessary aid, consolation, and assistance to the individuals or com- panions of the said Society, every one of which, in his individual capacity, we love in the Lord wdth a truly parental affection ; and to the end that they being de- livered on their part from the persecutions, dissensions, and troubles with which they have for a long time been agitated, may be able to labour with more success in the vineyard of the Lord, and contribute to the salva- tion of souls ; therefore, and for these motives, we do decree and determine that such of the companions as have yet made professions only of the first vows, and are not yet promoted to lioly orders, being absolved, as in fact they are absolved, from the first simple vows, do, y^ithout fail, quit the houses and colleges of the said Society, and be at full liberty to choose such course of life as each shall judge most conformable to his vocation, strength, and conscience, and that within a space of time to be prescribed by tlie ordinary of the diocese ; wdiich time shall be sufficient for each to provide himself some employment or benefice, or at least some patron who will receive him into his house, 400 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. always provided that the time thus allowed do not exceed the space of one year, to be counted from the day of the date hereof. And this the rather, as, according to the privileges of the said Company, those who have only taken these first vows may be expelled the order upon motives left entirely to the prudence of the superiors, as circumstances require, and without any previous form of process. As to such of the companions as are already promoted to holy orders, we grant them permission to quit the houses and col- leges of the Company, and to enter into any other regular order already approved by the Holy See. In which case, and supposing they have already professed the first vows, they are to perform the accustomed novitiate in the order into which they are to enter according to the prescription of the Council of Trent; but if they have taken all the vows, then they shall perform only a novitiate of six months, we graciously dispensing with the rest. Or otherwise, wc do permit them to live at large as secular j)yiests and clerks, always under a perfect and absolute obedience to the jurisdiction of the ordinary of the diocese where they shall establish themselves. We do likewise ordain, that to such as shall embrace this last expedient, a convenient stipend be paid out of the revenues of the house or college where they reside ; regard being paid, in assigning the same, to the ex- penses to which the said house shall be exposed, as w^ell as to the revenues it enjoyed. AVith regard to those who have made the last vows, and are promoted to holy orders, and who, either through fear of not being able to subsist for want of a pension, or from the smallncss thereof, or because they know not where to fix themselves, or, on account of age, infirmities, or other grave and lawful reasons, do not choose to quit the said colleges or houses, they shall be permitted to dv/ell therein, provided always that they exercise no ministry whatsoever in the said houses or colleges. ABOLITION OF THE ORDER. 401 wid he entirely subject to the ordinary of the diocese; that tJiey make no acquisitions ivhatever, according to the decree of the Council of Lyons, that they do not ahcnate the houses, possessions, or funds which they actually possess. It shall be lawful to unite in one or more houses the number of individuals that remain, nor shall others be substituted in the room of those who may die ; so that the houses which become vacant may be converted to such pious uses as the circum- stances of time and place shall require, in conformity to the holy canons, and the intention of the founders, so as may best promote the divine worship, the salva- tion of souls, and the public good. And to this end a member of the regular clergy, recommendable for his prudence and sound morals, shall be chosen to preside over and govern the said houses ; so that the name of the Company shall he, and is, for ever extinguished and sujypressed. " In like manner we declare, that in this general suppression of the Company shall be comprehended the individuals thereof in all the provinces from whence they have already been expelled; and to this effect our will is, that the said individuals, even though they have been promoted to holy orders, be ipso facto reduced to the state of secular priests and clerks, and remain in absolute subjection to the ordinary of the diocese, supposing always that they are not entered into any other regular order. *' If, among the subjects heretofore of the Company of Jesus, but who shall become secular priests or clerks, the ordinaries shall find any qualified by their virtues, learning, and purity of morals, they may, as they see fit, grant or refuse them power of confessing and preaching; but none of them shall exercise the said holy function without a permission in writing; nor shall the bishops or ordinaries grant such permis- sion to such of the Society who shall remain in the colleges or houses heretofore belonging to the Society, 402 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. to whom we expressly and for ever prohibit the administration of the sacrament of penance, and the function of preachino- ; as Gregory X. did prohibit it in the Council already cited. And we leave it to the consciences of the bishops to see that this last article be strictly observed ; exhorting them to have before their eyes the severe account which they must render to God of the flock committed to their charge, and the tremendous judgment with which the great Judge of the hvino" and the dead doth threaten those who are invested with so high a character. "Further, we will, that if any of those who have here- tofore professed the institute of the Company, shall be desirous of dedicating themselves to the instruction of youth in any college or school, care he taken that they have no part in the government or direction of the same, and that the hberty 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 hut to those ivho seem in^ dined to maintain j?eace in the schools and tran-* quillity in the world, " Our intention and pleasure is, that the dispositions which we have thus made known for the suppression of this Society shall be extended to the members thereof employed in missions, reserving to ourselves the right of fixing upon such methods as to us shall appear most sure and convenient for the conversion of infidels and the conciliation of controverted points. " All and singular the privileges and statutes of the Baid Company being thus annulled and entirely abro- gated, we declare that as soon as the individuals thereof shall have quitted their houses and colleges, and taken the habit of secular clerks, they shall be qualified to obtain, in conformity to the decrees of tlie ABOLITION OP THE ORDER. 403 lioly canons and apostolic constitutions, cures, benefices without cure, ofHces, charges, dignities, and all em- ployments whatever, ivhicli they could not obtain so long as they ivere members of the said Society, accord- ing to the will of Gregory XIIL, of blessed memory, expressed in his bull bearing date September 10th, 1548, which Brief begins with these words — Satus super que, &c. Likewise we grant them the power which they had not before, of receiving alms for the celebration of the mass, and the full enjoyment of all the graces and favours from idiich they ivere hereto- fore precluded as regular clerks of the Company of Jesus. " We likewise abrogate all the prerogatives which had been granted to them by their General and other superiors in virtue of the privileges obtained from the Sovereign Pontiffs, and by which they were permitted to read heretical and impious books proscribed by the Holy See ; likewise the power they enjoyed of not ob- serving the stated fasts, and of eating flesh on fast days ; likewise the faculty of reciting the prayers called the canonical hours, and all other like privileges ; our firm intention being, that they do conform themselves in all thino's to the manner of livino- of the secular priests, and to the general rules of the Church. *' Further, we do ordain, that after the publication of this our letter, no person do presume to suspend the execution thereof, under colour, title, or pretence of any action, appeal, relief, explanation of doubts which may arise, or any other pretext wliatever, foreseen or not foreseen. Our will and meaning is, that the sup- pression and destruction of the said Society, and of all its parts, shall -have an immediate and instantaneous effect in the manner here above set forth ; and that under pain of the greater excommunication, to be im- mediately incurred by whosoever shall presume to create the least impediment or obstacle, or delay in the execution of this our will : the said excommunica- 404 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. tion not to be taken ofF but by ourselves, or our suc- cessors, the Roman Pontiffs. " Further, we ordain and command, by virtue of the holy obedience to all and every ecclesiastical person, regular and secular, of whatever rank, dignity, and condition, and especially those who have been hereto- fore of the said Company, that no one of them do carry their audacity so far as to impugn, combat, or even w^rite or speak about the said suppression, or the rea- sons and motives of it, or about the institute of the Company, its form of government, or other circum- stance thereto relating, without an express permission from the Roman Pontiff, and that under the same pain of excommunication. " We forbid all and every one to offend any person whatever on account of the said suppression, and espe- cially those who have been members of the said Society, or to make use of any injurious, malevolent, reproachful, or contemptuous language towards them, whether verbally or by writing. '' We exhort all the Christian princes to exert all that force, authority, and power which God has given them for the defence of the holy Roman Church, so that, in consequence of the respect and veneration which they owe to the Apostohc See, things may be so ordered, that these our letters have their full effect, and that they attentively heeding all the articles therein con- tained, do pubhsh such ordonnances and regulations as may prevent all excesses, disputes, and dissensions among the faithful, whilst they carry this our will into execution. *' Finally, we exhort all Christians, and entreat them by the bowels of our Saviour Jesus Christ, to remember that we have one Master, who is in heaven, one Saviour, who has purchased us by his blood ; that we have all been again born in the water of baptism, through the w^ord of eternal life ; that we have all been declared sons of God, and co-heirs with Jesus Christ ; all fed ABOLITION OF THE ORDER. 405 ■with the same bread of the CathoHc doctrine, and of i\\o Divine Word ; that we are all one body in Jesus Christ, of which we are members, consequently it is absolutely necessary that, united by the common bond of charity, they should live in peace with all men, and consider it as their first duty to love one another, remembering that he who lovetli his neighbour ful- filleth the law, avoiding studiously all occasion of scandal, enmity, division, and such-like evils, which w^ere invented and promoted by the ancient enemy of mankind, in order to disturb the Church of God, and prevent the eternal happiness of the faithful, under the false title of schools, opinions, and even of the per- fection of Christianity. On the contrary, every one should exert his utmost endeavours to acquire that true and sincere wisdom of which St James speaks in his canonical epistle, ch. iii. v. 13. " Further, our will and pleasure Is, that though the superiors and other members of the Society, and others interested therein, have not consented to this disposition, .have not been cited or heard, still it shall not at any time be alloAved them to make any observa- tions on our present letter, to attack or invalidate it, to demand a further examination of it, to appeal from it. make it a matter of dispute, to reduce it to the terms of law, to proceed against it by the means of restitutionis ad integrum, to open their mouth against it, to reduce it ad viam et terminos juris, or, in short> to impugn it by any way whatever, of right or fact, favour or justice ; and even though these means may be granted them, and though they should have obtained them, still they may not make use of them in court or out of court ; nor shall they plead any flaw, subrep- tion, obreption, nullity, or invahdity in this letter, or any other plea, how great, unforeseen, or substantial it may be, nor the neglect of any form in the above proceedings, or in any part thereof, nor the neglect of any point founded on any law or custom, and com- 2 D 406 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. prised in the body of laws, nor even the plea of enormis enormissimce et totalis Icesionis, nor, in short, any pre- text or motive, however just, reasonable, or privileged, not even though the omission of such form or point should be of such nature as, without the same being expressly guarded against, would render every other act invalid. For all this notwithstanding, our will and pleasure is, that these our letters should for ever and to all eternity he valid, permanent, and efficacious, have and obtain their full force and effect, and be in- violably observed by all and every whom they do or may concern, now or hereafter, in any manner whatever. " In like manner, and not otherwise, we ordain that all the matters here above specified, and every of them, shall be carried into execution by the ordinary judge and delegate, whether by the auditor, cardinal, legate a latere, nuncio, or any other person who has, or ought to have, authority or jurisdiction in any matter or suits, taking from all and every of them all power of interpreting these our letters. And this to be executed, notwithstanding all constitutions, pri- vileges, apostolic commands, &c. &c. &c. And though to render the abolition of these privileges legal they should have been cited word for word, and not com- prised only in general clauses, yet for this time, and of our special motion, we do derogate from this usage and custom, declaring that all the tenor of the said privileges is, and is to be supposed, as fully expressed and abrogated as if they were cited word for word, and as if the usual form had been observed. " Lastly, our will and pleasure is, that to all copies of the present Brief, signed by a notary public, and sealed by some dignitary of the Church, the same force and credit shall be given as to this original. ** Given at Rome, at St Mary the Greater, under the seal of the Fisherman, the y. 21st day of July 1773, in the fifth year t of our Pontificate." ABOLITION OF THE ORDER. 407 Immediately after the promulgation of tliis Brief, tlie prelates Maccdonio and Alfani, accompanied by the Corsican soldiers, presented themselves at the Gesii, called together all the members of the Society, read to them the Brief of Suppression, and dispersed them, for the moment, in different ecclesiastical esta- blishments ; the General Kicci being confined to the English College. The two prelates, who were mem- bers of a commission appointed to examine and pro- ceed in all this important matter, then took possession of the building, put the seal on all papers and other valuable things, and left the house in the keeping of the soldiers. Other commissioners resorted to the same proceedings in the thirty-one establishments which the Jesuits possessed in Kome ; while in the provinces, the bishops received and executed the same orders. Next morning, the Collegio Romano, and all the other different schools of the Jesuits, were taken possession of, and served by the Capuchins. But we must here observe, that even before the Brief was published, the Jesuits had been brought before divers tribunals in Home, and in other parts of the Papal States, accused and found guilty of various misdemean- ours ; that several of their houses, as in Bologna Mecerata Frascati, had been, by the bishops, subjected to visitation, and some of them shut up ; and that even the possessions, and all the valuable things of the Col- legio Romano, had been confiscated to pay creditors. So that it may be said that even had Ganganelli wished to preserve the Jesuits, he would have found it difficult to resist public opinion, which, even in his own dominions, was so decidedly against the order. It will be perhaps well to take here a retrospective glance, and rapidly examine the progressive march of the famous Society. As we have seen, ten homeless and penniless enthu- siasts, under the guidance of a remarkable and supe- rior intelligence, had decided upon estabhshing a new 408 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. religious order in a country already so infested by such leprosy, that the Holy See itself had forbidden the establishment of any new brotherhood. They were without friends, without supporters; they met ■with many obstacles, which nothing but the courage and indomitable energy of their chief could enable them to overcome. They were obliged to beg, from door to door, a hard piece of bread, and had nothing to shelter their wearied heads but the roofs of hospi- tals. Yet all difficulties were vanquished, the Society was established, and sixteen years after, in 1556, when Ignatius died, the order numbered more than a thou- sand members, was estabhshed in thirteen provinces, and was in possession of many valuable establishments. A hundred years afterwards, the members of the Society had increased to twelve thousand, the pro- vinces to thirty -four, their w^ealth and the number of their establishments to a very considerable extent. Already, at this epoch, they boasted of having three saints, eight or ten martyrs, and ten or twelve of Loyola's disciples had sat in the College of Cardinals. At the time of the Suppression, the Society numbered thh^ty-nine houses of professed members, 669 colleges, 61 novitiates, 196 seminaries, 335 residences, 223 mis- sions, and 22,782 members, dispersed all over the surface of the earth. The order then reckoned, as its chief glory, in the register of its members, 24 car- dinals, 6 electors of the empire, 19 princes, 21 arch- bishops, 121 titular bishops (so much for the article in the Constitutions which forbids the member to accept of any dignity), 11 martyrs, and 9 saints. - We wish we could give, with an equal degree of exactness, the amount of their fortune, raised by some to a fabulous amount, and by others represented as very insignificant. Kevcrthcless, we shall try to come to a fair estimate of the whole, from what we know, from their own confession, to have been a part of it. Cretincau gives a very minute detail of the fortune ABOLITION OP THE ORDER. 40J> possessed by tlio Jesuits in France; and the total sum, according to his calcuhxtions, amounted to 58 millions of francs.* In the same vohnnc, at page 303, the same historian says that the fortune tlie fathers pos- sessed in Spain was much more considerable — heau- conpplus considerable — than that they had in France; let us, then, say 80 millions ; while that which they possessed in Austria, according to the same authority, amounted to 125 millions.f So that the total sum of their fortunes in those three estates amounted, by their OAvn account, to 263 millions of francs. We, who know almost all the establishments they had in Italy, do not hesitate to say that what they possessed there amounted to an equal sum, 2G3. Now, let us add to these 526 millions their otlier possessions in Belgium, Poland, in the remainder of Germany, in Portugal, in other small states, and in those rich mercantile estabhshments in both Indies, and we think it may be boldly asserted that their fortune amounted, in the whole, to a sura certainly not short of 40 miUions sterling. So much for the article of the Constitution recommending hohj 2^overty as the huhuarh of religion. To this prodigious and almost incredible amount of property — which, how- ever, was not all productive, part of it consisting in: houses and colleges — the reverend fathers added the annual income arising from pensions, or incomes assigned by princes, towns, or chapters for the main- tenance of divers colleges, some of which assignments -were so considerable as to amount to £3000 yearly. Besides this, they had the annual revenues arising from the presents which twice a year they received from two or three hundred thousand pupils; the emoluments received by some of them as private tutors, agents, or stewards of great families; and, lastly, the alms ! ! ! Is not that a wonderful and astonishing fact, which proves forcibly the cunning and cleverness of those monks, wdio, to appearance, had nothing at heart but * Cret. vol. V. p. 275. t Ibid. p. 390. 410 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS, the conversion of souls and the gratuitous education of children, and who were able, in the space of 230 years, to accumulate the immense sum of forty millions sterling ? However, when RiccI was examined, he swore that he had no hidden treasures nor money laid out at interest; and we suppose that the good father, not to tell an untruth, must have added secretly after the words, we have no hidden treasures, " in the places where you have looked for them, or where you sup- posed them to exist." We know, however, that after the Jesuits had been driven from France, Spain, Naples, and Parma, " they were so terrified, that Father Delci started instantly for Leghorn, carrying off the treasures of the order, with the intention of transporting them to England ; but the General, who was less pusillanimous, stopped him in his flight."* What then became of all the moneys and valuable things which the Jesuits possessed, since little or nothing was found in their establishments? This is a mystery which we are not able to explain. AVe can conceive, and every one may easily imagine, that the Jesuits, who, during the last twelve years of their existence, expected to be suppressed from day to day, were not so simple as to leave their transportable wealth at the mercy of their enemies ; but we would not hesitate to affirm that the Society must have pos- sessed a large treasure at the time, though, what became of it, we cannot say. Indeed they were so cautious, and so eager to accumulate specie, that for many years the revenues of the CoUeglo Romano were not employed for its maintenance, and the fathers pre- ferred having their immovable possessions confiscated to pay its debts, in heu of disbursing money. We know- also, that when they were re-established in 1814, they at once got up their establishments in the most splendid style, and soon after made many acquisitions, * St Priest, p. 50. ABOLITION OF THE ORDER. 411 How did tlicy come by the means by whicli all tliis was eftected ? Was it the ancient treasure ? and who had it in charge during all the forty years of their legal suppression ? This rather resembles a romance than pure historical truth, and we have no means whatever of elucidating it. Meanwhile a commission was named to commence proceedings against Kicci and some others of his brethren. The old General, when interrogated, an- swered with sufficient simplicity, and without any apparent resentment. lie enlarged on the innocence of the Society, and protested that he had neither con- cealed nor lent out at interest any money ; and of all the accusations that were brought against him, he only admitted that he had a correspondence with the King of Prussia ; we shall see afterwards for what purpose. About two months after, Ricci, the assistants, the secretary of the order, the Fathers Favre, Forrestier, Gautier, and some others, were sent to the Castel St Angelo, the state prison. The crimes of which they were accused and convicted were, that they had at- tempted, both by insinuations, and by more open eiforts, to stir up a revolt in their own favour against the Apostolic See; that they had published and circulated throughout all Europe libels against the Pope, one of which had for its title, De Simoniaca electione fra- tris Ganganellii in Suinmum Pontificem — Simonia- cal electicii of brother Ganganelli to the office of Chief Pontiff; while Favre, Forrestier, and Gautier were loudly repeating everywhere that the Pope was the Antichrist, and that the live cardinals of the com- mission were to be compared to the five propositions of Jansenius.* And in the follo^Ying chapter, we shall see that they did not confine their anger to threaten- ings and imprecations. * Botta Storia cCItalia cont. da quella del Guic. 4S. See also Gio- berti, vol. iii. p. 391, and fl". 412 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. CHAPTER XYIL 1774. DEATH OF CLEMENT XIV. DuRiNa the struggle which Clement had to undergo before the suppression of the order, his health, as we have seen, had been injured, and his gay, placid humour much altered. But the moment he had af- fixed his signature to the document, after pronouncing those foreboding prophetic words, " This suppression will cause our death" — wrung from his heart by the knowledge he had of the enemies he was going to offend, as if those words were the last doleful thought he was going to give to the subject — he be- came an altered man, or, to speak more correctly, he again became the saaie good-humoured, mild, and affable monk he had ever been. Tlie facility with which his orders were executed filled him also with extraordinary joy. '*' His health is perfect, and his gaiety more remarkable than usual," wrote Bernis on the 3d of November 1773. Whatever discontent the nobles and the cardinals may have felt, they remained silent spectators of the event; and the generality of the citizens of Bome, and, in particular, the Transtevc- rini, hailed the Pope with loud acclamations. In vain did the conquering party foment a revolt; Rome re- mained tranquil; Clement was dehghted; and, as if to compensate for the sad moments he had passed, and the irascible humour he had shewn, his character 7l^?-2^^i^. DEATH OF CLEMENT XIV. 413 became still more joyful, and almost infantine. Ono day, followed by the Sacred College and all the ]io- man prelates, lie went on horseback to the Church La Minerva. Suddenly a heavy rain came on ; Por- porati Monsignori all vanished, and the light horse- nTcn themselves sought shelter. The Pope, left alone, and laughing at the terrors of his escort, proceeded bravely on his way amidst the storm, and the people were delighted at the sight, and loud in their ap- plause.* All the authors are unanimous on this point, and agree in representing Ganganelli as full of vigour, and enjoying the most perfect health. " The Pope," says Botta, " enjoyed rather good health, because he was of a strong constitution, and his natural strength had not been wasted by an intemperate and licentious life ; for, on the contrary, he had always lived with frugality and moderation, according to his own natural inclination."t And the ex- Jesuit Georgel, who cer- tainly can be accused of anything but partiality to the suppressor of his order, says " that Ganganelli's strong constitution seemed to promise him a long career."! Nevertheless, in spite of appearances, sinis- ter rumours were afloat not only in Pome, but throughout all Italy. At the very time that the Pope was seen in the public ceremonies, in all the churches and everywhere else, enjoying the most per- fect health and strength, the rumour of his death was widely circulated. The Pythoness of Valentano an- nounced it with a characteristic obstinacy ; and a Jesuit, writing to a brother of the order, and relating such impious predictions, says, Aj^lica ut fiat sys- tema.§ Nor was it long before the ominous predictions were reahsed. This man, represented by everybody * St Priest, p. 89. f Botta, ubi supra. X Georgel, Mcmoircs, vol. i. p. 160. Apx^d St Priest, i?. 90. § Gioberti, quoting Florida Blanca, vol, iii. p. 394. 414 HISTORY OP THE JESUITS. as strong and healthy, suddenly, on the approach of the holy week of 1774, some eight months after the signature of the Brief, was taken ill, confined to his palace, and unable to grant any audience, even to the diplomatic body. What had happened to Clement, who, when on the 17th of August the ambassadors of the great powers were admitted into his presence, appeared a mere skeleton? Whence such strange and fatal change? The answer to these questions will appear from the following statement of facts. One day, on rising from table, the Pope felt an in- ternal shock, followed by a great cold ; and although he was for a moment alarmed, he soon recovered from his fright, and attributed his indisposition to indigestion. But soon after, the voice of the Pope, which had always been full and sonorous, was lost in a singular hoarse- ness ; an inflammation in his throat compelled him to keep his mouth continually open. He had repeated attacks of vomiting, and felt such feebleness in his limbs, that he was obliged to discontinue his long habi- tual walks. His step became interrupted by sharp pains, and at length he could not find any rest at all. An entire prostration of strength suddenly succeeded a degree of even youthful activity and vigour ; and the sad conviction that his fears were realised, and that his life had been attempted, seized upon Clement, and rendered him strange even to his own eyes. His cha- racter was changed as by magic. The equability of his temper gave place to caprice, his gentleness to passion, and his natural easy confidence to continual distrust and suspicion. He saw poison and poniards everywhere. Sometimes, under the conviction that he had been poisoned, he increased his malady by ineffi- cacious antidotes; at other moments, in the hope of escaping an evil which he imagined not yet accom- plished, he would feed upon dishes prepared by his own hands. His blood became corrupted, and the close atmosphere of his apartments, which he would DEATH OP CLEMENT XIV. 415 not quit, agi^ravated the effects of an unwliolesonic diet. In this disorder of his ph^^sical system his moral strength gave way ; all trace of the former Ganganelli disappeared ; and even his reason became disordered. He was haunted by phantoms in his short moments of rest ; and, in the silence of night, he started up continually, as if dreams of horror had struck his imagination. Often he ran from one place to another as if ho was pursued, exclaiming, as in the act of asking mere}'', *' Compulsus feci ! compidsus feci /" — I have been compelled !* Indeed, that his reason had abandoned him, is generally believed ; and Pius VII., when prisoner at Fontainebleau in 1814, exclaimed that he should die mad, as Clement XIV. These words are reported by Cardinal Pacca, a fellow- prisoner of Pius.f Ganganelli passed seven months in this dread- ful state ; at last his reason resumed its sway. For a • while he shewed himself superior to his terrors and infirmities. " He resumed some tranquillity," says Botta, -"as generally happens some moments before man arrives at the last moment of his life, as a warning of God to mortals to think of their own affairs in that last moment. Already the attendants were rejoicing as if their master was returning to life ; but the calm was the forerunner of death. The fatal signs soon re-appeared, and on the 22d September Ganganelli breathed his last — giving back his courageous soul to Him from whom he had received it.":j: The Pomans heard of the Pope's demise with indif- ference, as of an event daily expected ; but the Jesuits * St Priest, p, 91, and following. All these details of the illness and death of Ganganelli we have taken from St Priest, adding now and then some particulars which we have found in other writers. Bat St Priest is the best authority on the subject. He has drawn from original sources — the Letters of Bernis, of Florida Blanca, the History of Botta Gorani Caraccioli — and has condensed his materials into a most accurate and impartial narrative. It would be useless, then, either to send back our readers to those authors, or to endeavour to analyse them ourselves. We shall, then, be contented with some reflections or deductions at the proper place. t Ibid. X Botta, uhi supra. 416 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. and their partisans gave an indecent and unblushing ex- pression to their joy, conveyed in the most infamous and sacrilegious satires, which they carried themselves from place t^ place ; and this circumstance, together with what was known of GanganelU's illness, left no doubts whatever in the people's minds that the unfortunate Clement had died by poison. " The human mind," says Gioberti, *• is reluctant to believe in certain atro- cious crimes, and I confess that I have hesitated to believe the sect guilty of the death of Ganganelli; nor have I consented to beheve it till forced by the evi- dence of the facts."* Although our opinion exactly coincides with that of our illustrious countryman, yet we shall put the facts and documents under the eyes of our readers, and let them form a judgment for themselves. What was Clement's illness? How did his strong and healthy constitution undergo such an instantaneous and fatal change? And what complaint brought him to his grave ? The partisans of the Jesuits, and some not very well informed historians, as Gorani, for ex- ample, Schoel, and others, deny that GanganelU met with foul play. Georgel pretends that he died of re- morse — that he made a full retractation ; and, in proof of this, he points to his habitual exclamation, " Com- jnilsusfeci /" Of his retractation we shall not speak. It is contested by every historian ; no mention is made of it except in the writings of the ex-Jesuit Georgel and his followers, who cannot produce a single proof or witness of their assertion. But is it true, at least,^ that the remorse, which had rendered him mad, asCretineau affirms, brought him to the grave? AVe question whether the Jesuits can make good this other as- sertion. How can it be affirmed that Clement died of remorse, since, during eight long months after he had signed the Brief, he enjoyed not only his ordinary health and calmness, but was, on the con- * Gioberti, vol iii. p. 392. . DEATH OF CLEMENT XIV. 417 trary, more playful than ever? How came the re- morse at such a late hour? What new crime had lie committed in the interval? Does remorse admit of postponement? Docs remorse produce all tlic physical diseases with Avhich Ganganclli was suddenly affected ? Tlie extinction of voice, the inllannnation of tlie throat, vomiting, complete prostration of strength — are these the symptoms of remorse? It is true that he often exclaimed '■ Comjmlsiis feci!" and asked for mercy ; but the unfortunate man asked for mercy from his assassins, not from the Supreme Judge. In his delirium, he supplicated his murderers to spare him ; not to repeat the dose ; or to administer to him some antidote, that his sufferings might cease. " Spare me ! spare me !" he repeated; " I have been forced to the act, not so much, indeed, by the sovereigns, as by your own iniquities. Spare me, spare me these hor- rible sufferings!" he cried to everybody, and called upon his cherished Madonna to entreat for him, and to put an end to his tortures. Are dehrium and in- sanity consequences of remorse, or rather the effects of several poisons — the belladonna, for example ? But let us see what other symptoms preceded and accompanied his death, and we shall be better able to judge of the equality of the illness which brought him to his grave. " Several days before his death, his bones were exfoliated and withered — to use the forcible expression of Caraccioli — like a tree which, struck at the root, dies away, and sheds its bark. The scientific men who were called in to embalm his body, found the features livid, the lips black, the abdomen intlated, the limbs emaciated, and covered with violet spots ; the size of the heart was much diminished, and all the muscles de- tached and decomposed in the spine. They filled the body with perfumes and aromatic substances; but nothing would dispel the mephitic exhalations. The entrails burst the vessels in which they were deposited; 418 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. and when his pontifical robes were taken from his body, a great portion of the skin adhered to them. The hair of his head remained entire upon the velvet pil- lows upon which he rested, and w4th the slightest friction his nails fell off."* The sight of Ganganelli's dead body was quite sufficient to satisfy every one as to the sort of death he had met with. It chd not even retain those lineaments which nature leaves to our remains at the moment when death seizes upon them, and the funeral obsequies convinced all Rome that Clement XIV. had perished by the acqua to/ana of Perugia.f However, Dr Sallcetti, the apostolic physician, and Adinolfi, Clement's ordinary doctor, on the II th of December, three months after Ganganelli's death, gave in a long joroce.5 verbal, declaring that it was false that the Pope had been poisoned ; but they adduced no proofs wdiatever, and explained the fact of the body's corruption by such strange and suspicious reasons, as rather to strengthen than diminish the opinion of those who thought differently. The fact is, that in Rome, after the doctors' statement was made public, even the few who had some doubts as to the cause of this mysterious death, were now firmly of opinion that the Jesuits had poisoned the poor Pope. Gioberti, among other proofs which he adduces of the poisoning of Ganganelli, names a Dr Bonelli, famous for learning and probity, almost an ocular witness of the facts, who had often asserted to many persons still living that there was no doubt that Ganganelli had been poisoned. But there is a witness far more respectable and trustworthy, who puts the question beyond doubt: * St Priest, p. 92. + It is a popular tradition, and, indeed, not at all unfounded, that in Perugia some persons liad the secret of composing a sort of water which, when drunk, produced certain death, although life was prolonged for more or less space of time, according to the quantity and strength of the dose given. The nuns, in particular, had a sad celebrity for composing this drug. DEATH OP CLEMENT XIV. 419 that witness is Bernls ; and no one that knows any- thins: of the loyalty and nnbleness of his character, would ever dare to impugn his testimony in an atl'air of such mairnitude, when he, as ambassador, gives an account to his court of facts of which he was an eye- witness. Bernis, during the illness of the Pope, while every other person believed that Clement had met with foul play, alone had doubts ; and his very hesita- tion, which proves his candour, leads him more surely to the discovery of the truth, which he attains step by step.* "^ On the 28th of August, twenty-four days before Ganganelli's death, he wrote to the French minister : " Those who judge imprudently, or with malice, see nothing natural in the condition of the Pope ; reason- ings and suspicions are hazarded with the greater fa- cility, as certain atrocities are less rare in this country than in many others." Six days after the Pope's demise, on the 28tli of September, he wrote : " The nature of the Pope's malady, and, above all, the cir- cumstances attending his death, give rise to a common belief that it has not been from natural causes. . . . Thy physicians who assisted at the opening of the body are cautious in their remarks, and the surgeons speak with less circumspection. It is better to credit the account of the former than to pry into a truth of too afflicting a nature, and which it would perhaps be distressing to discover." A month after, Bernis' doubts are vanished, and on the 26th of October he writes : " When others shall come to know as much as I do, from certain documents which the late Pope communicated to me, the suppression will be deemed very just and very necessary. The circumstances which have preceded, accompanied, and followed the death of the late Pope, excite equal horror and compassion. . . , I am now collecting together the true circumstances attending the malady and * St Priest, p. 93. 420 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. death of Clement XIV.,* who, the Vicar of Jesus Christ, prayed, hke the Redeemer, for his most im- placable enemies ; and who carried his conscientious- ness so far, as scarcely to let escape him the cruel suspicions which preyed upon his mind since the close of the holy week, the period when his malady seized him. The truth cannot be concealed from the king, sad as it may be, which will be recorded in history." But there is another and a more imposing testimony to the fact — that of Pope Pius VI., the successor of Clement XIV. ; it is transmitted to us also by Bernis, who speaks in the following cool and dispassionate terms, more than three years after the death of Gan- ganelh. He wrote on the 26th of October 1777, sm follows : — " I know better than any one how far the affection of Pius VI. for the ex-Jesuits extends ; but he keeps on terms with them rather than love them, because fear has greater influence on his mind and heart than friendship. . . . The Pope has certain moments of franlcness, in which his true sentiments shew themselves. I shall never forget three or four effusions of his heart which he betrayed when with me, by which I can judge that he was well aware of the unhappy end of his predecessor, and that he was anxious not to run the same risks." f Such was the end of a man born with the best pos- sible dispositions, and endowed with truly noble and amiable qualities. His spirit of tolerance, above all, deserves the highest euloo-ium. He tolerated all sorts of opinions, provided they were expressed in decorous lano-uao-e : and althouo-h he condemned the doctrines of the philosophers, he kept on good terms with them. He would not, as Benedict XIV. had done, write to Voltaire ; but, in answer to some sporting jests made upon his person, which were reported to him, he inti- mated to the Patriarch of Ferney, through his old * St Priest could not find those documents anywlicre. t See all those letters iu St Priest, p. 93, aud ibllowiug. DEATH OF CLEMENT XIV. 421 friend De Bcrnls, tliat lie ''would willingly take him to his heart, provided he would end by becoming a good Capuchin." * GangancUi was, no doubt, a man incapable of governing under difficult circumstances. He had neither energy nor skill enough in handling diffi- culties, and he placed all his merits in evading them. But his moderation, his genuine spirit of tolerance, the purity of his morals, his modesty, his benevolence, deserve tlie sincerest respect, and his deplorable death n lasting compassion. f * Sfc Priest, p. 78. + It is commonly reported in Italy, and it is also believed in France, that on the day commemorating Ganganelli's death, every year, the Jesuits, at least those who are deep in the secrets of the order, assemble in a room, and, after one of them has addressed a volley of curses and imprecations against Clement's memory, every person present pierces his image with a poniard. We repeat the popular belief, without, however, warrantuig its correctness. 2 B 420 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. death of Clement XIV.,* who, the Vicar of Jesus Christ, prayed, hke the Redeemer, for his most im- placable enemies ; and who carried his conscientious- ness so far, as scarcely to let escape him the cruel suspicions which preyed upon his mind since the close of the holy week, the period when his malady seized him. The truth cannot be concealed from the king, sad as it may be, which will be recorded in history." But there is another and a more imposing testimony to the fact — that of Pope Pius VI., the successor of Clement XIV. ; it is transmitted to us also by Bernis, who speaks in the fohowing cool and dispassionate terms, more than three years after the death of Gan- gancUi. He wrote on the 26th of October 1777, as follows : — " I know better than any one how far the affection of Pius VI. for the ex- Jesuits extends ; but he keeps on terms with them rather than love them, because fear has greater influence on his mind and heart than friendship. . . . The Pope has certain moments of frankness, in which his true sentiments shew themselves. I shall never forget three or four effusions of his heart which he betrayed when with me, by which I can judge that he was well aware of the unhappy end of his predecessor, and that he was anxious not to run the same risks." f Such was the end of a man born with the best pos- sible dispositions, and endowed with truly noble and amiable qualities. His spirit of tolerance, above all, deserves the highest eulogium. He tolerated all sorts of opinions, provided they were expressed in decorous language ; and although he condemned the doctrines of the philosophers, he kept on good terms with them. He would not, as Benedict XIV. had done, write to Voltaire ; but, in answer to some sporting jests made upon his person, which were reported to him, he inti- mated to the Patriarch of Ferney, through his old * St Priest could not find those documents anywhere. t See all those letters iu St Priest, p. 93, aud ibllowiug. DEATH OF CLEMENT XIV. 421 friend De Bcrnis, tliat lie '' would willingly take liim to his heart, provided he would end by becoming a good Capuchin." * GangancUi was, no doubt, a man incapable of governing under difficult circumstances. He had neitlier energy nor skill enough in handling diffi- culties, and he placed all his merits in evading them. But his moderation, his genuine spirit of tolerance, the purity of his morals, his modesty, his benevolence, deserve tlie sincerest respect, and his deplorable death a lasting compassion.f * St Priest, p. 78. + It is cciuimonly reported in Italy^, and it is also believed in Fnince, tliat on the day commemorating Ganganelli's death, every year, the Jesuits, at least those -who are deep in the secrets of tlie order, assemble in a room, and, after one of them has addressed a volley of curses and imprecations against Clement's memory, every person present pierces his image with a poniard. We repeat the popular belief, v^ithout, however, warranting its correctness. 2 B 424 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. me that this treaty resembles miicli that of the wolves with the sheep, which were obliged, as a principal condition, to give up their dogs. Every one knows liow they fared for this. However, it will be singular, sire, that while their most Christian, most Catholic, most Apostolic, and most Faithful majesties endeavour to destroy the grenadiers of the most Holy See, your most heretic majesty should be the only one who wishes to preserve them." This letter was written, as may be seen, before the suppression, and many other missives were addressed to Berlin b}^ D'Alembert after the Brief was issued. When the Jesuits of Silesia, refusing to obey the Papal orders, remained in their convents and houses as before, and acted as if nothing had happened, D'Alembert, on the 10th of December 1773, wrote to Frederick, telling him that he " wished that neither he nor his successors might ever have cause to repent of granting an asylum to intriguers, and that these men might prove more faithful than they had been in the last war of Silesia." Another time, sneering at Frederick's condescension, he says, that " he much doubted whether the Jesuits would ever pay his majesty the honour of admitting him to their order, as they did the great Louis XIV., though he could well have dispensed with it, and the poor, miserable James H., who was much more fit to be a Jesuit than a king." — January 1774. And passing from personal argu- ments to more general considerations, he says : " It is not on your majesty's account that I dread the re- establishmcnt of these formerly self-styled Jesuits, as the late Parliament of Paris called them. What harm, indeed, could they do to a prince whom the Austrians, the Imperialists, the French, and the Swedes united, have been unable to deprive of a single village ? But I am alarmed, sire, lest other princes, who have not the same power as you have to make head against all Europe, and who have weeded out this poisonous hem- THE JESUITS DURING THEIR SUPrRESSION. 425 lock from their gardens, sliould one day take a fancy to come to you and borrow seed to scatter their ground anew. I earnestly hope your majesty will issue an edict to forbid for ever the exportation of Jesuitic grain, which can thrive nowhere but in your do- minions."* Frederick remained unmoved ; and when the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Breslau, thinking it was his duty to see the orders of the Holy See obeyed, at- tempted to interdict the Jesuits, the king interfered, contiscated the bishopric, and haughtily proclaimed that the fathers were under his protection. Then all throughout Silesia sprung up a great number of houses and colleges, and Jesuits assembled here from all quarters. It was on this occasion that the old Vol- taire, laughing at his quondam disciple's strange con- duct, exclaimed that " it would divert him beyond measure to think of Frederick as General of the Jesuits, and that he hoped that this would inspire the Pope with the idea of becoming mufti." | Meanwhile, the courts of France and Spain were pressing Ganganelli's successor to execute rigorously the Brief of Suppression, pointing out all the diiferent places, and especially Prussia, where the Jesuits were still in existence and prospering, and asking, not without a certain arrogance, the Pope to comply with their wishes. But the reigning Pontiff was not a man to be easily frightened. To the humble, plain, unpre- tending monk had succeeded, on the chair of St Peter, Ange Braschi, a prince in the best acceptance of the word. In the Conclave, he, after a long struggle be- tween the two parties, had re-united the votes of both, as a man really indifferent to all political intrigues, but possessing in the highest degree qualities which commanded esteem and admiration, and as one who could restore to the low-fallen tiara some of its ancient * D'Alembert to Frederick. April 2i, 177^. t St Priest, p. Ui, 426 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. splendour ; and if any man could accomplish such a miracle, Braschi was indeed the man. In all his per- sonal qualities shone forth something royal and great. Tall, handsome, with a slightly bald forehead, his features were impressed with majesty, tempered by a sweet and serene expression. His expenditure was royal, his magnificence such as Rome had not witnessed since the time of Leo X. His ideas were lofty and great, his love for the arts enlightened and persever- ino'. Many are the monuments which he has left to posterity of his love for the arts and for useful enter- prises. He formed and enriched the museum begun under his directions in the Pontificate of Clement, which, as we said, bears the name of Museo Pio-Cle- mentino, and which is the greatest wonder of modern times. He spent an immense sum of money to prevent the entire fall of the Coliseum. He attempted, though with little success, to drain the Pontine Marshes, and was a generous friend and protector of all literary per- sons. In his capacity of Pope, Pius VI. — such was the name he assumed — was also extraordinary. While he opposed every reform, even the most neces- sary and urgent, and decided upon taking the singular step of going himself — the Pope — to Vienna to dissuade Joseph II. from accomplishing them, in Rome, the churches and his own chapel were filled with persons of all religions, to whom Pius granted the same protection and favour as to his own subjects. In regard to the Jesuits, in which we are more particularly interested, Braschi, according to Bernis, neither loved nor hated them. He was per- suaded that they had poisoned Ganganelli ; and as he set an immense value on his own life, he would not endanger it by following the example of his prede- cessor. It seems that Pius, naturally of a benevolent disposition, pitied them ; and, if he had not feared to irritate the Bourbons, would perhaps have bettered their condition. Under him the Jesuits made Titanic THE JESUITS DURING THEIIl SUPPRESSION. 42? efforts to rcf^ain the position they had lost. They as- sembled in Rome, and set at work every engine which was still at their disposal, to attain their desired ob- ject ; but in vain. Florida Blanca was implacable in his hatred toward the disciples of Loyola, and, as we have said, made the strongest remonstrances against the favour which he pretended was shewn to the Jesuits by the Court of Rome. Braschia,as we say, was not so pusil- lanimous as Ganganelli, and those intrigues or diplomatic negotiations were not able to affect him so much as to dis- turb his constant placid serenity ; yet he thought proper to do something to appease the Bourbons, and live on good terms with everybody. He accordingly sent a copy of the remonstrances he had received from Spain and France to Frederick, asking him to withdraw his protection from those monks whom the Holy See had condemned. Frederick's satiric spirit must have re- joiced to see the Pope implore him to disperse Roman Catholic votaries; but he answered scornfully, as a great monarch aware of his rights and dignity. The Pope insisted anew with infinite management, till at last Frederick, while maintaining the Jesuits in all their revenues and charges, consented that they should change their garb. The Pope, satisfied perhaps with this solution, wrote to the King of Spain : " I have done all in my power; but the King of Prussia is master in his own dominions." The accurate and impartial historian of the fall of the Jesuits, in an admirably well written chapter, ex- plains the conduct of Frederick, in supporting the Jesuits, by the fact, that the Prussian monarch had got angry with the philosophers, when the latter, not content with attacking the Christian religion, set to work to destroy monarchy, and ridicule every noble sentiment which had till then been held sacred. He says that not only Frederick, but almost all the ministers of other princes, if not the princes themselves, and the aristocracy, far from 428 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. restraining the audacity of the philosophers, had, to follow the fashion, made it a point of honour to encourage and protect it while attacking religion and priestcraft ; but when they, leaving the churches and cloisters, penetrated into the antechambers and state- rooms, and their attacks became personal, then the great of the world, who had treated Christ and the Apostles with irreverence, would not endure the like towards themselves. lie says, moreover, that when the school of D'Holbach produced the too famous work, the Systhne de la Nature, Frederick's indignation knew no bounds. In this book, in fact, written by thirty clever, daring, and excited individuals, nothing "was left standing : " each of them found something to take to pieces ; one began upon the soul ; another, the body ; one attacked paternal love, gratitude, con- science ; all subjects were examined, dissected, dis- puted, denied, condemned loudly without appeal. It was a kind of Old Testament, which prefigured the new by types and symbols. . . . Frederick read this hideous but prophetic book ; a fatal light gleamed across his mind, and made him dread the future." * All this is admirably w^ell said ; and by the answer which the King of Prussia made to the Sijsteme de la Nature, it clearly appears that Frederick would not go the length of the new school, and wished to have nothing more to do with them. But, with all deference to the noble writer, we can- not see what connexion existed between the King of Prussia fearing the downfal of monarchical government and the protection he granted to the Jesuits. Does the French historian pretend to affirm that Frederick, the clear-sighted and remarkably sensible Frederick, considered the Jesuits in the light in wliich they them- selves desired to be viewed, namely, as the foremost defenders of the throne and the altar ? We scarcely should have believed St Priest capable of attributing * St Priest, p. 155. THE JESUITS DURING THEIR SUPPRESSION. 429 to such a man as Frederick so erroneous a notion, yet Ills -words leave little doubt that this is the opinion ho attributed to his majesty. But, it may bo asked, if this is not the case, how, then, shall we account for the favour bestowed by the Prussian monarch on those detested monks? We believe that, by assignino:, as the efficient and principal causes, those which St Priest, in a dubitable tone, esteems only as secondary, we should be nearer the truth. The first of those reasons is to be found in what the king wrote himself to D'Alembert : "I did not offer," said he, " my protection to the Jesuits while they were power- ful, '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 ren- ders them most valuable in my eyes ; for, among all the Cathohc clergy in my kingdom, the Jesuits alone are given to letters ; " and this was true as regarded the newly-acquired province of Silesia. The other all-powerful and efficient reason, which the French writer little insists upon, is, that Frederick wished, through the agency of the Jesuits, to gain the good- will of those Poles whom he had so sliamefuUy be- trayed. 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 the new master /or 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. 430 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. The same motive induced Catherine 11. to gra-nt them a refuge and protection in her estates, and espe- cially in White Russia, formerly a province of Poland, but which, in the partition, had fallen to the lot of the Russian sovereign. Nor was Catherine deceived in her expectation. The Jesuits at first proved of immense service to her. Before the first partition of the unfortunate Poland in 1772, the fathers resided at Polotsk, in a magnificent college, surrounded by an immense tract of land, cul- tivated for the fathers' benefit by more than ten thousand serfs, partly on the right and partly on the left bank of the river Dwina. After the Brief of Sup- pression, the Jesuits found themselves either obhged to submit to the sentence of the Holy See, and cease to exist as a body, or to accept the offered protection of Catherine. They embraced the latter alternative, abandoned the left bank of the Dwina, which was still Polish, for the right bank, which was now Russian, and there not only preserved their garb and their name, but obtained the favour that the Brief of Suppres- sion should not be published in all the Russian states. From that moment, setting at defiance the Papal autho- rity, those monks, who, as a religious community, could have no existence without the consent of Rome, estabhshed in Russia a sort of patriarchate, a supreme seat of the Roman Catholic religion, represented by individuals who, by a solemn decision of the supreme chief of this same religion, were excommunicated and out of its pale. Meanwhile, Ricci was dying in the state prison of Castel St Angelo. Pius VI. had not dared to set him at liberty, but had rendered his captivity as support- able as possible. Yet the old man expired in Novem- ber 1775. making an insignificant testament, exculpat- ing the Society from every charge which had been brought against it.* * See this Testament in Cr^tineau, vol. v. p. 401, and ff. THE JESUITS DimiNG THEIR SUPPRESSIOX. 431 The Jesuits in Russia, some time after they had heard of tlie death of llicci, convened a general conoTcgation to elect a vicar-general, with fall au- thority over all those members who should consider themselves as Jesuits. This being accomplished, they pitched upon a man worthy of their protection, Sies- trencewiecz, formerly a Calvinist, now a priest of equi- vocal orthodoxy, as are all those converts who have left their former religion from motives of personal interest or consideration ; and through his agency they trusted to revive the Society. This is the method they adopted : They prevailed upon Catherine to nominate him Bishop of Mohilow, and have one of their number, Benislawski, appointed his coadjutor. The latter, supported by the authority of the empress, proceeded to Home, boldly presented himself at the Vatican, and required the Pope to grant the Pallium to Siestrence- wiecz, the man whom they had chosen as bishop ; and as he could not at first get admittance to the Pope's presence, he firmly declared, that, should he spend his whole life in the antechamber, he would not quit it until he was satisfied on every point. And he succeeded in his mission. Now, this Siestrencewiecz, who was after- wards named Legate for White Russia, at once per- mitted the Jesuits to erect a novitiate, and to receive candidates for the Society, regardless of any other consideration but that of pleasing his protectors. The Nuncio of Warsaw, and the Court of Rome, on hear- ing of such an abuse of authority, reproached him with this violation of the Papal decrees, and menaced him with interdiction ; but Catherine took him under her protection, and upheld him with all her power. And thus was presented the singular spectacle of a Popish prelate denounced by the Holy See for uphold- ing a sect of priests accounted the most fervent Roman Catholics, while he was defended by a princess for affording protection to these same priests, who, as devotees of Rome, were the bitter enemies of her own 432 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. faith. The Jesuits, emboldened by the favour they obtained in Russia, acted entirely at their own discre- tion, conferred upon the Vicar- General the title and the absolute authority of General, named an assistant and an admonitor, received novices and scholastics, and nothing seemed changed in the Society excepting the residence of the General. To exculpate them from these continued acts of rebellion against the Papal authority, Cretineau, and after him Curci, a Neapolitan Jesuit, assert, that although Pope Pius VI. had not, by any public act, re-established the Society, yet that he had, in the pre- sence of Benislawski (mark !), pronounced the words, " Approbo Societatem Jesu in Alba Russia degentem ; approbo, approbo," — T approve of the Society of Jesus residing in White Russia ; I approve, I approve. We suppose we must rely upon the veracity of Father Benislawski for this revelation of the sentiments of the Holy Father. Three or four obscure and insignificant names* suc- ceeded one another as Generals of the Order, while it still laboured under the anathema launched by Clement. At last, Pius VII., who had succeeded Braschi in 1800, authorised the Society to establish itself in White Russia, and to live according to the Constitution of Loyola. This brief bears the date of 1801, and was the forerunner of their re-estabhsh- ment. Meanwhile, the Society made wonderful progress in Russia ; and, as if all conspired to favour them, there chanced to be among them at the epoch a man whom they had the tact to choose for their General, and Avho was little inferior to the Lainez and Accjuavivas. This man was Groubcr, a learned and very able in- dividual, who had long been at the court of St Peters- burg, a welcomed guest of Catherine, much esteemed by Paul, and employed by Alexander on some deli- * Czerniwiecz, Leukeawiecz, and Korell. THE JESUITS DURING THEIR SUPPRESSIOX. 433 cato missions. Groubcr was a man wlio had an exact and just idea of tlie times in Avliicli he lived, and repressed the immoderate zeal of proselytism disphiyed by his subordinates, who ah^eady spoke of working miracles, and establishing new missions in the East. Grouber received the congratulations of all the par- tisans of the Jesuits, and, with admirable dexterity, he made use of the influence and resources the Society still possessed, to obtain the re-estabhshment of the order in various parts. They had already re-en- tered Parma, though only on toleration, and in 1804, the Pope granted to the Jesuits of the two Sicilies the same favours he had granted to those of White Russia. lie re-established them in Sicily, of course under the authority of the General residing in Russia. Unfortunately for the Society, Grouber perished in a conflagration in 1805. After his death, the Jesuits, renouncing the wise policy adopted by their late General, and encouraged by partial success, returned to the inveterate policy of the order, and attempted to domineer over a country which had sheltered them during their days of trouble and misci'y. ^0 pages of ours could convey to our readers a more accurate idea of the conduct of the Jesuits in Russia, than a passage of the imperial decree by which Alexander expelled them from his capital. We consider this expulsion, and the motives alleged by the sovereign as having impelled him to adopt the measure, as most significant, and as stigmatising more forcibly than any pamphlet or declamation the abominable arts and practices of the incorrigible progeny of Loyola. Alexander, after having recorded, that while the Jesuits were persecuted in the rest of Europe, Russia alone, from a spirit of humanity and tolerance, had pro- tected them, had showered favours upon them, had put no constraint on the free exercise of their religion, and had confided to their care the education of youth; 434 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. thus continued in the imperial document: " It has been, however, proved that they have not relished the duties imposed on them by gratitude, and that humility com- manded by the Christian religion. Instead of remaining peaceable inhabitants of a foreign land, they have endeavoured to disturb the Greek religion, which, from time immemorial, has been the predominant religion in this country. They began by abusing the confidence they had obtained, and have turned away from our rehgion young men who had been intrusted to them, and some weak and ignorant women whom they have converted to their own Church. To induce a man to abjure his faith, the faith of his ancestors, to extinguish in him the love of those who profess the same belief, to render him a stranger to his country^ to sow tares and animosity among families, to tear the son from the father, the daughter from the mother, to stir up division among the children of the same Church, — is that the voice and the will of God, and of his holy Son Jesus Christ? . . . After such actions, we are no more surprised that these monks are expelled from all countries and nowhere tolerated. Where, in fact, is the state that would tolerate in its bosom those ivho sow in it hatred and discord ? '* For all these reasons, the emperor, in 1815, expelled the Jesuits from St Petersburg, and forbade them to re-enter either that capital or Warsaw. And mark, that to prove that he did not expel them because they were Catholic priests, the emperor, in the same decree, adds, that he has already oont for monks of other orders for the benefit of his Roman Catholic subjects! But let no one imagine that this severe admonition from a sovereio-n to whom and to whose ancestors the Jesmts were so deeply indebted, had the effect of bringing them to some sense of their duty. On the contrary, they redoubled their intrigues and their ma- lignant practices ; and as their numbers increased, ra- THE JESUITS DURING THEIR SUPPRESSION. 485 pidly rlsino- in 1820 to 674,* and tlicy might liavo be- come dano-crous, Alexander, by another decree, of 13th March 1820, expelled them from all his dominions. In the statement of motives which the Minister of Worship presented to Alexander in asking for the expulsion, we read : " The expulsion of the Jesuits from St Petersburg has not made them change their conduct ; " and it then goes on to enumerate all the mischiefs caused by the fathers in Russia and Poland. We can hardly imagine what the Jesuits can have to answer to these accusations. It is also to be remarked that their own creature, Siestrencewiecz, Archbishop of Mohilow, was one of the most ardent in procuring their expulsion. No Jesuits are now in Russia or Poland, except those who, in Galicia, assist the Austrian sovereign to govern that province — every one knows how. * Cret. vol. vi. p. 33. d-.^G HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. CHAPTER XIX. 1814. RE-ESTABLISHMENT. The events which took place in Europe In 1814 are known to every one. Napoleon, who represented abroad that same French Revolution which his mihtary despotism had smothered at home, fell under the united efforts of Europe, favoured by the elements and by the treachery of his former companions in arms, to whom he had given either the staff of the lield-marshal or the sceptre of the king. The restora- tion of all the dethroned sovereigns followed, and on re-entering their dominions, these monarchs directed all their cares to obliterate even the remembrance (foolish and useless attempt !) of all that had been done, said, and published, in the past time of hurricane and revolution, and hurried back with inconsiderate earnest- ness to their old and primitive system of governing. The Jesuits, skilful in profiting by every circum- stance, then stepped forward, and offered to those sovereigns their unconditional services. Already, after their suppression, and during the ascendant march of the French Revolution, they, with infinite address, had persuaded the different sovereigns, either menaced on their thrones or already hurled from them, that their overthrow — the crimes which, it is unfortunately true, in a moment of delirium, had been committed in the name of liberty—the impious and RE-ESTABLISHMENT. . . 437 suDvcrsIvc doctrines -svlilch liad invaded Europe, and extinguished every sense of morality and religion — ■ all were to be attributed to the suppression of the order. They asserted that the Encyciopa)dists, after the destruction of the Society, the surest bulwark of the throne and the altar, finding no more opposition, and passing from theory to practice, had caused the revolution, and set the ^vhole of Europe in a blazing conflagration ; and this is even now repeated by the fathers and their partisans. Wc must, before pro- ceeding any farther, give the answer Gioberti makes to their assertions. He grants that the Encyclopaedists did make the revolution. '' But," says lie, " the Society, by altering and disfiguring, in the opinion of many, the Catholic faith, the morality of the gospel, the authority of princes, and all those fundamental laws which form the basis of all states and governments — in fact, by substituting for religion their own sect — had shaken all principles of morality, religion, and good government, and had indeed brought the Encyclopaedists into existence ; the most conspicuous of whom, in fact, as Voltaire, Dide- rot, Helvetius, Marmontcl, St Lambert, Lametrie, and many others, had issued from Jesuitical colleges, or had had Jesuits as their tutors." * HoAvever, these monks, who, as we have seen, had conspired against the life and independence of almost all the sovereigns of Europe, now had the art to persuade the reigning monarchs that they would be always insecure on their thrones without the as- sistance and the support of the Company ; and, strange to say, some actually believed them, while others feigned to do so. From that moment to our days, in the eyes of such bigoted and short-sighted despots as the Ferdinands of Is'aples, tlie Leopolds of Tuscany, the Francis Josephs of Austria, and all the supporters of absolutism, the Jesuits have been considered as the * Vol. iii. p. 30. 2 P 438 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. best pillars and supporters of despotism and tyranny. Nor is this belief destitute of foundation so far as the intentions of the fathers are concerned. The Liberals in our time are in their eyes what the Re- formers were two centuries back. Against them are now directed all their efforts ; the Liberals are now the accursed of God, the impious whom all the courage and ability of the sons of Ignatius can hardly keep at bay. Nor is this the first time that these mendacious and impudent monks have contrived to impose them- selves on different states, representing their interfer- ence as indispensable to the welfare of society and to the repression of its enemies. Thus they had imposed themselves as necessary to combat the Reformers in the sixteenth century, the Jansenists and Calvinists in the seventeeth, and again, in the eighteenth, the philo- sophers and the approaching revolution ; although it was not till very late, and when the first persecutions had awakened them from their state of beatitude, that they proclaimed themselves the opponents of the Encyclopaedists. In the nineteenth century, the adver- saries with whom they are wont to contend are, as we said, the Liberals; and the fathers must, indeed, be skilful and powerful instruments for suppressing all ideas of liberty, all free aspiration, all generous senti- ments, all personal dignity, and for keeping the people in servitude, since the supremely cunning Louis Napoleon has chosen them as his most useful auxiliaries, and lavished on them all sorts of favours. Among the sovereigns who, in 1814, re-ascended the thrones from which a daring and unscrupulous conqueror had hurled them, was the old Pontiff", who, after his captivity at Fontainebleau, had, on the 24th of May, re-entered Rome amidst unfeigned marks of love and veneration from his people. Indeed, the man who at this epoch occupied the pontifical chair w^as, for many reasons, w^orthy of the greatest admiration and respect. This person was Barnaba Chiaramonti, a RE-ESTABLISHMENT. 439 Benedictine monk, who assumed the name of Pius VII. His hfe was pure and uncontaminated ; his intentions were good ; his character was mild and benevolent ; and before his misfortunes, he had shewn some readi- ness to make concessions required by the times and the circumstances ; but after his captivity, after the series of direct miseries which had befallen him and the Sacred College, miseries which he attributed to tho spirit of irreligion then prevalent in Europe, Pius VII... now a feeble old man, gave way to all the pro- pensities of a fonatical, bigoted monk, which in his better days he had subdued and restrained by reason- ing. His first care, therefore, was to re-establish all the monastic orders he could, and among the first was that of the Jesuits, who had already flocked to Rome from every part, with the certainty of soon re-acquiring their former position and splendour. Nor were they disappointed in their expectations. On Sunday, the 7th of August 1814, Pius Yll. went in state to the church of the Gesu, celebrated himself the mass before the altar consecrated to Loyola; heard a second mass, immediately after which he caused to be read and promulgated the bull by which the Society of Jesus was re-established according to the ancient rules. Party writers, too eager to find Popes in contra- diction with each other, and to hold up their pre- tended infallibihty to the ridicule of their readers, have taken up these two acts, and asked, " Who was infallible — Clement XIV., who abohshed the Society, or Pius VII., who re-established it ? " We do not aspire to so easy a triumph, and we shall consider Chiaramonti's bull in a somewhat more seri- ous manner. In our opinion, the bull of Pius VII. is less in con- tradiction than may be supposed with the brief of Clement. Pius does not in the least condemn either the brief or its author ; nor does he say that it had 440 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. been extorted, as Ganganelli said of the bull of Rez- zonnico. On the contrary, he speaks of it as of 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, ex- cept 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 to weaken the long list of terrible accusations brought against them by Clement. If it was an injustice done to the Jesuits, which Pius wished to repair, he ought at least to have mentioned that they had been wronged, 9.nd 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 commendations of the sons of Ignatius. Why, then, one may ask, did Pius VII. re-establish the Company of Jesus ? First, as I have stated, because he was a bigoted monk, and thought that it might be in the power of the fanatical and idle brotherhoods of all kinds to extinguish the light spread by the new doc- trines, and to bring humanity back to the blessed darkness of the middle ages. In other words, he thought, and many of the sovereigns, some of them not Ivoman Catholics, thouo-ht with him, that the priests and monks would be able to arrest the pro- gress of civilisation ; for it must be remembered that the horrors and acts of barbarity which were com- mitted during the last ten years of the eighteenth century, and which were the consequences of a forced and exaggerated application of the new theories on government and religion, could in no way be laid to the charge of the doctrines themselves, which are cal- culated to promote the real and beneficent progress of society. Besides Chiaramonti's predilection for all monks, to whose re-establishment, as he says in the bull, " all his care and all his solicitude are given,'^ RE-ESTABLISHMENT. 441 Pius was requested by all tlic sovercio-ns to rc-csta- blisli the Company ; and lie says that he should con- sider himself as wanting in his duty if, while the bark of Peter was tossed to and fro amidst dangerous rocks, he should disdain the help of those vigorous and experienced roivers. Such were the motives, of a purely political nature on the part of the sovereigns, and of a mixed nature on the part of the Pope, which induced the former to ix^quest, and the latter to grant, a new existence to the Society of Jesus. But observe, that in the act itself, by which he reinstated the order, Pius reserved to the Holy Sec the power of modifying it if its provi- sions were abused. He subjects the members of tho Company, in the exercise of all their spiritual functions, to the jurisdiction of the ordinaries, thus despoiling it of the most precious of its privileges, the whole of which he expressly recalls. And the bull is still more significant, when it conjures all the members of the Society to return to the primitive rules of Ignatius, and to take him as their model. The Pontiff does not say, return to your occupation, to those exercises in which you were engaged before the Suppression. But he tells them to return to the primitive spirit of their institution, from which they had so far departed. The noble and virtuous Pontiff hoped that their past misfortunes would have instructed those inconsiderate and wicked monks, and warned them not to incur again the hatred of Christendom, Vain hopes ! use- less admonitions ! Before fifteen years shall pass, the whole of Europe, except, perhaps, some despots and their supporters, will look anxiously for the happy day when the troublesome progeny of Ignatius shall be irrevocably banished from its bosom ! However, as the bull is very short, we shall submit it to the calm and serious consideration of our readers, and vre feel confident tliat they will form the same opinion of it that wc have done, namely, that in the 442 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. act itself, in which Pius re-establishes the Jesuits, he modifies their institutions and condemns their past conduct. " Bull for the Re-estahlishment of the Order of the Jesuits.* "Pits, Bishop, Servant of the servants of God (ad perpetuam rei memoriam). *' The care of all the Churches confided to our humi- hty by the Divine will, notwithstanding the lowness of our deserts and abilities, makes it our duty to employ all the aids in our power, and which are furnished to us by the mercy of Divine Providence, in order that w-e may be able, as far as the changes of times and places will allow, to relieve the spiritual "wants of the Catholic luorld, without any distinction oi 2^<^ople and nations. " Wishing to fulfil this duty of our apostolic ministry, as soon as Francis Karew (then living) and other secular priests, resident for many years in the vast empire of Eussia, and who had been members of the Company of Jesus, suppressed by Clement XIV., of happy memory, had supplicated our permission to unite in a body, for the purpose of being able to apply themselves more easily, in conformity with their institutions, to the instruction of youth in rehgion and good morals, to devote themselves to preaching, to confession, and to the administration of the other sacraments, we felt it our duty the more willingly to comply with their prayer, inasmuch as the reigning emperor, Paul I., had recommended the said priests, in his gracious despatch, dated 11th August 1800, in w^hich, after setting forth his special regard for them, he declared to us that it would be agreeable to him to see the Company of Jesus established in his empire * The translation here given is from the Protestant Advocate, vol. iii. p. 13, &c. RE-ESTABLISHMENT. 443 under our authority ; and we, on our side, considering attcntivcl}^ the great advantage -which these vast regions might thence derive, considering how useful those ecclesiastics, whose morals and learning were equally tried, would be to the Catholic religion, thought fit to second the wish of so great and benefi- cent a prince. " In consequence, by our brief, dated 7th March 1801, we granted to the said Francis Karew, and his colleagues, residing in Russia, or who should repair thither from other countries, power to form them- selves into a body or congregation of the Company of Jesus; they are at Uberty to unite in one or more houses, to be pointed out by their superior, provided these houses are situated within the Russian empire. We named the said Francis Karew General of the said congregation ; we authorised tliem to resume and follow the rule of St Ignatius of Loyola, approved and confirmed by the Constitutions of Paul III., our predecessor, of happy memory, in order that the companions, in a religious union, might freely engage in the instruction of youth in religion and good letters, direct seminaries and colleges, and, with the consent of the ordinary, confess, preach the Word of God, and administer the sacraments. By the same brief, we received the congregation of the Company of Jesus under our immediate protection and depend- ence, reserving to ourselves and our successors the prescription of everything that might appear to us proper to consolidate, to defend it, and to purge it from the abuses and corruptions that might be therein introduced ; and for this purpose we expressly abro- gated such apostolical constitutions, statutes, privi- leges, and indulgences, granted in contradiction to these concessions, especially the apostolic letters of Clement XIV., our predecessor, which begun with the words Dominus ac RedemjJtor Nostra, only in so far as they are contrary to our brief, beginning Catho- 444 HISTORY OP THE JESIHTS. licce, and T>-liich was given only for the Russian empire, " A short time after we had ordained the restoration of the order of Jesuits in llussia, we thought it our duty to grant the same favour to the kingdom of Sicily, on the warm request of our dear son in Jesus Christ, King Ferdinand, who begged that th^e Company of Jesus might be re-estabhshed in his kingdom and states as it was in Russia, from a con- Tiction that, in these deplorable times, the Jesuits were instructors most capable of formiug youth to Christian piety and the fear of God, which is the beginning of wisdom, and to instruct them in science and letters. The duty of our pastoral charge leading us to second the pious wishes of these illustrious monarchs, and havino- only in view the o-lorv of God 111- Oe/ Ot, and the salvation of souls, we, by our brief, begin- ning Per alias, and dated the'^ 30th July 1804, extended to the kingdom of the two Sicilies the same concessions we Imd made for the Russian empire. " The Catholic tvorld demands with unanimous voice the re-establishment of the Company of Jesus. We daily receive to this eifect the most pressing petitions from our venerable brethren, the archbishops and bishops, and the most distinguished persons, especially since the abundant fruits which this Company has produced in the above countries have been generally known. The dispersion even of the stones of the sanctuary in these recent calamities (which it is better now to deplore than to repeat), the annihilation of the discipline of the regular orders (the glory and support of religion and tlie Catholic Church, to the restoration of which all our thoughts and cares are at present directed), require that we should accede to a wish so just and general. *' We should deem ourselves guiky of a great crime towards God, if, amidst these dangers of the Christian repubhc, we neglected the aids which i\iQ special RE-ESTABLISHMENT. 445 providence of God has put at our disposal, and if, 2)laced in the hark of Peter, tossed and assailed by continual storms, ive refused to emploi/ the vigorous AND EXPERIENCED POWERS zvlio voluuteer their ser~ vices, in order to break the waves of a sea ivhich threaten every moment shipwreck and death. De- cided bj motives so numerous and powerful, we have resolved to do now what we could have wished to have done at the commencement of our pontificate. After having by fervent prayers implored the Divine assistance, after having taken the advice and counsel of a great number of our venerable brothers, the cardinals of the Holy Eoman Church, we have decreed, with full knoAvlcdge, in virtue of the pleni- tude of apostolic power, and with perpetual validity, that all the concessions and powers granted by us solely to the Eussian empire and the kingdom of the Two Sicilies, shall henceforth extend to all our ecclesiastical states, and also to all other states. We therefore concede and grant to our vrell-beloved son, Tadder Barzozowski, at this time General of the Company of Jesus, and to the other members of that Company lawfully delegated by him, all suitable and necessary powers in order that the said states may freely and lawfully receive all those who shall wish to be admitted into the regular order of the Company of Jesus, who, under the authority of the General, ad interim, shall be admitted and distributed, according to opportunity, in one or more houses, one or more colleges, and one or more provinces, where they shall conform their mode of life to the rules prescribed by St Ignatius of Loyola, approved and confirmed by the Constitutions of Paul III. We declare, besides, and grant power, that they may freely and lawfully apply to the education of youth in the principles of the Catholic faith, to form them to good morals, and to direct colleges and seminaries ; we authorise them to hear confessions, to preach the Word of God, and 446 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. to administer the sacraments in tlie places of their residence, with the consent and approbation of the ordinary. We take under our tutelage, under our immediate obedience, and that of the Holy See, all the colleges, houses, proAnnces, and members of this order, and all those who shall join it ; always reserv- ing to ourselves and the Koman Pontiffs, our success- ors, to prescribe and direct all that we may deem it our duty to prescribe and direct, to consolidate the said Company more and more, to render it stronger, and to purge it of abuses, should they ever creep in, which God avert. It now remains for us to exhort, with all our heart, and in the name of the Lord, all superiors, provincials, rectors, companies, and pupils of this re-established Society, to shew themselves at all times, and in all places, faithful imitators of their father ; that they exactly observe the rule prescribed by their founder; that they obey with an always increasing zeal the useful advices and salutary counsels which he has left to his children. *' In fine, we recommend strongly in the Lord, the Company and all its members to our dear sons in Jesus Christ, the illustrious and noble princes and lords temporal, as well as to our venerable brothers the archbishops and bishops, and to all those who are placed in authority ; we exhort, we conjure them, not only not to suffer that these religions be in any way molested, but to watch that they be treated with all due kindness and charity. '' AVe ordain, that the present letters be inviolably observed according to their form and tenor, in all time coming; that they enjoy their full and entire effect; that they shall never be submitted to the judgment or revision of any judge, with whatever power he may be clothed ; declaring null and of no effect any encroachment on the present regulations, either knowingly or from ignorance; and this not- withstanding any apostohcal constitutions and ordi- RE-ESTABLISHMENT. 447 nances, especially the brief of Clement XIV. of happy memory, beginning Avith the words Domimis ac Re- demptor JVoster, issued under the seal of tlie fisher- man, on the 22d day of July 1773, which we ex- jDressly abrogate as far as contrary to the present order. " It is also our will that the same credit be paid to copies, whether in manuscript or printed, of our present brief, as to the original itself, provided they have the signature of some notary public, and the seal of some ecclesiastical dignitary ; that no one be p)ermitted to infringe, or by an audacious temerity to ojypose, any p)cirt of this ordinance ; and that, should any one take upon him to attempt it, let him know that he will thereby incur the indignation of Almighty God^ and of the holy apostles Peter and Paul. " Given at Rome, at Sancta Maria Major, on the 7th of August, in the year of our Lord 1814, and the 15th of our Pontificate. (^' • (\\ " Cardinal Prodataire. ^ ° ^ " Cardinal Braschi." The moment the bull of 1814 had given to the Society a new existence, nearly two hundred fathers, who had survived the calamities of 1773, re-assembled at the Gesii, and in the novitiate of St Andrea in Home. Along with the old remains of the Company, many young Jesuits, who during the suppression had been received into the order in their houses in Silesia, Russia, and Palermo, re-entered the abode of their past glory and splendour, and opened their hearts to new and bril- liant prospects. Neither were they deceived in their expectations. In those first moments of violent re- action in Italy, the priests and monks were considered as almost saints, and Pius VII. was actually worshipped — \ as God. The overthrow of Napoleon's empire was in Italy considered as due to the hand of God, who had 448 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. punished liim for laying his mipious hand on the anointed of the Lord — the Vicar of Jesus Christ. JS^apo- ieon, "who was considered in France as the restorer of religion, was in Italy regarded as the greatest heretic who had ever hved — worse than Luther, Calvin, Zuingle. As the ignorant and bigoted people of the peninsula, at such an epoch, made religion consist in monks, nuns, and processions, so the man who had abo- lished these was in their eyes the greatest enemy of God and religion ; and those friars, though held in very- little consideration as individuals, were, when re-in- stated in their convents, cheered and worshipped. Even those whose sentiments were anything but of a religious character, thinking that the clerical party would now re-acquire the supreme sway, and would exercise it in a more absolute and exclusive manner, feigned to be devoted to the- reigning power, either to avoid persecution or to obtain favour as devout sup- porters of the Roman Catholic faith. Thank God, this is no longer the case. The Order of the Jesuits, above all, fixed the at- tention of every one, and admission into it was sought vrith passionate eagerness, as the surest way to for- tune and consideration. Many younger brothers of good families entered the novitiate of St Andrea, which had the rare honour to see as a postulant for admission into the brotherhood, a once crowned head. Charles Emanuel of Savoy, who had already renounced the crown of Sardinia in favour of his brother A^ittorio, entered the novitiate, fulfilled with unfeigned humility all the duties of a novice, and died some three or four years after, asking, as a last favour, to be buried in his garb of a Jesuit. Another fortuitous circumstance soon came to re- lieve the Jesuits from great difficulties. In 1820, the death of General Barzozowski, whom Alexander would never permit to leave Russia, and without whom nothing definitive could be done, put an end to this RE-ESTABLISHMENT, 449 anomalous state of tilings. The new election restored tlic chief of the Company to the metropolis of Chris- tendom ; and from the Gesu, where Loyola and Iticci had sat, Fortis, the elected General, now watched over the interests and the prosperity of the Society, which he hoped to see again in all its former glory. In our peninsula their progress was rapid. ' Come di gramigiia, Vivace terra,"^ so Italy was soon covered with the noxious weed. Most of their former establishments Avere given back to them, others they bought; and, in perfect concord with the Court of Rome, as each stood in need of the other, they set to work to reduce the unfortunate country to the lowest possible degree of ignorance and degradation, to extinguish every noble aspiration, to suppress every generous sentiment, and to force us into that mould in which idle, debauched, and corrupt monks are cast. But their united efforts, thank Heaven ! proved ineffectual. The genius of ancient Eome, though clad in sable, watched over us from the ruins of the Coliseum, and from the summit of the Capitol, and pointed out to us written on every stone of our cities, a page of glory, an inscription of noble and heroic deeds ! Yes ! in the very names of our monuments, even when they are not present to our eyes, there is something magical, some mys- terious power, which thrills all the fibres of the heart, and makes one long to restore tlie glories of the past. And in this, we behove, more than in any- thing else, is to be found the explanation of that his- torical fact, that while in the middle ages the Popes were almost supreme umpires of the different king- doms of Europe, they could never obtain a stable footing in Home, but were often driven from it, often beseiged in their castles or made prisoners, while their court and government were generally held in * As lively turf witli green herb.— Dante. 450 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. the greatest contempt. So now, though the Jesuits were supported by all the petty ItaUan despots, and by their master the Emperor of Austria, and though they almost had at their disposal the thunderbolts of the Vatican and the dungeons of the Inquisition, they could only persuade old women, and feeble and bigoted men, but none of the thinking and active population of Italy. The revolution of 1848 proved once more how deeply rooted was the hatred of the Italians against the brotherhood of Loyola, the only religious order among such an immense number which was forcibly expelled from the whole peninsula. However, the Jesuits, the moment they were re- established, lost no time in invading other countries where they thought they could retrieve their fallen fortunes. Immediately after the restoration, they re-entered Spain, France, Belguim, Austria, Switzer- land, and many countries in the New World. We shall endeavour, in the little space left to us, to sketch the history of the fathers in those different countries. The Jesuits, to the number of about one hundred, mostly members of the Society who had been expelled in 1667, re-entered Spain, and were associated with Ferdinand VII. in all the acts of revenge which that cruel and stupidly ferocious prince exercised upon the unfortunate Spaniards. They increased so rapidly, that as early as 1820, they numbered already 397 members.* But at that time the Castilians revolted against the cruelty of the despotic king. Successful in their revolution, they estabUshed the Constitution of 1812 ; and one of the first acts of the Cortes was to enact a law which expelled the Jesuits from all the Spanish dominions. But it was not long before they re-entered in the rear of the French army, conducted by the Duke of Angouleme, to replace Ferdinand on the throne, and became the most efficient instru- * Crct. vol. vi. p. 323. BB-BSTABLISHMENT. 451 mcnts of Ills bigoted and cowardly policy. In 1825, a general military college was established at Segovia, and, strange to say, the Jesuits were made the pre- ceptors of those future officers in all that was not strictly military. In 1827, another college for the nobility and children of courtiers and chamberlains was established, and also delivered to the Jesuits' di- rection. But their prosperity was put a stop to by the death of Ferdinand. The right of Isabella, the infant daughter of the late king, was contested by her uncle Don Carlos, and long and murderous civil war was the consequence of this contest. The Jesuits took the part of the Carlists secretly at first, and acting only as informers when they were able. In an emeute in 1834, the people of Madrid murdered some of them, and in 1835 they were legally abo- lished by a decree of the legislature, sanctioned by the sovereign. But they did not on that account quit Spain. They recovered their standing in those pro- vinces in which the armies of Don Carlos were predo- minant, and were chosen as tutors to the pretender's sons. They built a novitiate in Quipuzoa, and seemed to set at defiance the government of the country. After the convention of Vergara, Espartero caused them to be expelled from their new colleges, and ordered them to leave the Spanish territories ; but although, since this epoch, they have no legal existence in the land of Loyola and Xavier, according to the best information, in 1845, about 250 Jesuits were to be found there, apparently as single individuals, but in reality forming part of the order, and being attached either to the province of Belgium or to that of South America. Their history in Portugal may be more summarily narrated. In 1829, some French Jesuits, invited by the usurper Don Miguel, arrived in Portugal, and were honourably received, as they pretend, by the grand-daughter of Pombal, wdio offered to intrust to 452 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. tliem four of lier children to be educated.* The authorities also contrived to get up a sort of manifes- tation, given by the other monks on the Jesuits* entrance into Coimbra, where they stayed two or three years. But hardly was Don Pedro master of Portugal, than, by a decree in 1834, he expelled the fathers from all the dominions of his daughter Dona Maria. We are not aware that there are many Jesuits now in Portugal. In Germany, the fathers vfere far from regaining the position they had formerly held. Austria itself refused to re-admit them. Metternich, brought up in the school of Joseph II. and Kaunitz, was not disposed to let the bad seed take root again in the German soil. However, when, in 1820, the Jesuits, expelled from Russia, passed through Vienna, they found means to obtain permission to settle in Galicia, where they soon opened schools and colleges, the principal of Avhich were in Tournow and Lemberg, and where they met with such success, that the latter college, in 1823, counted 400 pupils. The number of Jesuits in the province went on increasing, and their influence, especially over the rural population, who are almost all Papists, is now all-poAverful and irresistible. Now, our readers, who remember the atrocious and inhuman acts which desolated the unfortunate country in 1846, may form an estimate of the good Avhich their system of education has produced. They also attempted to establish themselves in Styria, though with little success. But in 1838, they were at last permitted to re-open their former college at Innspruck, where they are now in the most prosperous and flourishing state. In no other part of the German Confederation have they a legal existence; and the late King of Prussia very wisely forbade any of his subjects to pass into foreign countries to be educated by the Jesuits. * Crct. vol. vi. p. 338. RE-ESTABLISHMENT. 453 In Holland, the Jesuits acted in very nearly the same Avay as they did in Russia. It seems as if, at the time of the Suppression, the Protestant countries, forgetful of all prudence, merely to shcAV their opposi- tion to the Papal Court, vied with each other in cheer- ing and patronising those monks whom Home was persecuting, 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 hved there unmolested and protected, till the French armies drove them away, or obliged them to disguise themselves under another garb ; but they re-appeared in 1814, and with their wonted activity they began to erect houses and novitiates. King AVilliam 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 lloman Catholic population, they encouraged them not to accept of, or submit quietly to, a constitution so unfavourable to their interests, and were preparing materials for a revolution. He Broglio, the Archbishop of Ghent, entirely devoted to the order, wrote in the same sense to all his subordinates. Aware of their intrigues and machinations, the government 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 Broglio, who, however, took to flight, and accompanied into France 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 Father Demeistre, and, enrolled under the standard of the Church, they fought as volunteers."* In other words, under different disguises, they kept up their intrigues, * Crct. vol. vi. p. 105. 2 G 454 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. and breathed the sph-it of revolution into the Popish population of Belgium. At the first opportunity, this spirit broke out. " The revolution of 1830 was made in the name of the Cathohcs and of the Jesuits."* 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 has greatly increased in Belgium, and this country is now one of the most flourishing provinces of the order, numbering more than 400 members. The ext}'eme ]3rudence and sagacity of Leopold has prevented them from doing much mischief; but they have done their best to acquire a supreme sway in that country, and to extinguish in it every civil and religious liberty. 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. In France, the fathers have led a much more agi- tated and unsettled existence since their expulsion in 1765. Portugal and Spain, in expeUing them, had resorted to such rigorous and universal measures, that few or no Jesuits were to be found in the two countries for some time after their banishment. But it was not so in France. No stringent measures had been taken to see the decree of expulsion executed. The Jesuits, it is true, had disappeared from their colleges and houses, and dropped the long mantle and large-brimmed hat ; but a great part of them remained in the French territory, changing residences, and many of them me- tamorphosing themselves into the Fathers of the Faith, or the Brethren of the Doctrine C/iretienne, Then, * Cret. vol. vi. p. 110, RE-ESTABLISHMENT. 455 "wlien the opportunity presented itself, they rc-appearcd everywhere in their own garb, and nobody knew whence they came, or where they had been. We find few traces of them during the first years of the French Kcvolution of 1789; but the moment Napoleon, for his own political ends, re-established the ancient form of religion, and restored to the clergy some liberty to fulfil their duties, the Jesuits, under the name of the Fathers of the Faith, re-appeared, and set themselves at once to work, endeavouring, by new contrivances, to re-acquire at least some of their lost influence and power. In 1800, the sister of Father Barat, under the direction of her brother, founded the Sisterhood of the Sacred Heart; while Father Baruffe established the Congregation of the Sacred Family ; the first to preside over the education of the daughters of the aristocracy, the latter to instruct governesses and servants, whom they distributed especially amongst families whose secrets they were interested in know- ing. Father Despuits was still more audacious, and established the Congregation of the Holy Virgin, in which he enrolled all sorts of persons, but particularly those of the upper class of society, and military men as often as he could. The two first institutions are at the present moment very flourishing in France, and almost all the French nobility send their daughters to bQ educated at the famous convent of Les Oiseaiix, in Paris. The Congregation of the Virgin decayed after the revolution of 1830. However, Napoleon, alarmed at the progress and the intrigues of the Fathers of the Faith, by a decree of Messidor, anno XII. (1804), abolished the brother- hood, and, by another imperial decree of 1810, the ConoTCo-ation of the Viro-in and for some little time the Jesuits were obliged to be more prudent and less meddling. But, in 1814, those m.onks, who had for a mo- ment disappeared from the scene, came forth again 456 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. more alive and more intriguing tlian ever. They dropped the borrowed name of Fathers of the Faith, and reassumed that of Jesuits. The congregations received a new impulse, and that of tlie Virgin, above all, was eminently active in inducing military men to join it. Kendered wise by past experience, they per- ceived that they should never succeed in their designs without the concurrence, or at least the neutrahty, of the secular clergy. To disarm, then, its animosity, which had been so ardent in former times, they spontaneously renounced their privileges, and shewed the utmost deference to the secular priests of all ranks. Father Simpson, the Provincial in 1819, writing to his subordinate, says to him : " Let us remember that we are only the auxiliaries of the secular priests, that we, in our quality of monks, must look upon them ^s our superiors, and that St Ignatius has given to our Society, as its distinctive title. The Little Societij of Jesus." * We wonder whether Lachaise or Letellier would have written so. Then, supported by a great part of the bishops, and encouraged by the govern- ment, part of the Jesuits went over to France as mis- sionaries, to try what they could do to restore the reign of superstition and bigotry, and to bring back France to the good old times of civil and rehgious bondage ; part again undertook to monopolise the edu- cation of youth ; and in both undertakings they were, with certain classes, prodigiously successful. But the sacrifices France had made to obtain liberty were of too fresh date that it should quietly submit to a priestly domination, which had become now too visible and threatening. Public opinion declared itself so strongly and so irresistibly against all priests in general, and against the Jesuits in particular, that the bigoted Charles X. himself was forced, in 1828, to issue an ordinance which deprived the fiithers of the faculty of instructing youth, and providing, moreover, * Cret. vol. vi. p. 110. RE-ESTABLISHMENT. 457 that no person wliatever slioiild be admitted to teach without taking an oath that he did not belong to any rchgious community not approved by law. The Jesuits, liowever, secretly encouraged by the court, and supported by the aristocracy, eluded these ordi- nances by a thousand different stratagems; and, al- though not so openly, they never rested from their intrigues, and from taking an active part in education. The llevolution of ISoO, due in a great measure to the aversion of the French nation to the domi- nation of the priests and Jesuits, again dispersed them for a while. I'hey left the scene; nobody knew when they disappeared, whitlier they went, and when they returned, till, towards 1836, they came to be spoken of and pointed out as becoming numerous, powerful, and dangerous ; they, neverthe- less, went quietly and prudently on, continually pro- gressing, till 1845, when an affair of money now, as in 1761, again brought them into momentary trouble. A certain Affnaer — an arch-Jesuit, it would seem, since he cheated his dupes by feigning to be a converted sinner — became their conlidential agent, and robbed them of the immense sum of £] 0,000, of which embezzlement they remained ignorant till he took to liight — (so poor they are !) The fathers had the im- prudence to apply to the tribunals. The swindler was indeed condemned, but at the same time was brought to light the existence of the Jesuits, not as private citizens, but as a religious comnmnity, ah'eady possess- ing immense wealth and establishments of all kinds, till then almost ignored, or at least overlooked — all this being contrary to the existing laws. Thiers, courting popularity, called upon the government to advert to this subject, and the parliament unanimously declared that it felt confident that the ministry would see the laws of the land strictly executed. To avoid an open rupture with Home, liossi was sent thither, to obtain from the Pope and the General of the order a 458 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. voluntary" acquiescence in the wlslies of the nation. Roothaan, the then chief of the Society, more prudent than Ricci, granted the request, and ordered his bre- thren to quit their estabhshments. However, not to renounce all the advantages they were deriving in educating the rising generation of Frenchmen, the fathers established a college on the very limits of the French territory, at BrugeUette, and the French nobility sent their children either there or to Fribourg, where a part of the French fathers had emigrated. Once more the Jesuits were supposed to have left France. Little Avas seen of them in the last two years of Louis PhiHppe's reign, and during the event- ful year of 1848 ; but in '49 they reappeared, hesitat- ingly at first, but more boldly afterwards ; and now, in 1852, they possess such an influence, that even the unscrupulous military usurper is obhged to court their friendship. In 1845, the number of the Jesuits in France amounted to 870. In Switzerland, the bloody and inhuman acts by which the Jesuits sought to enter Lucerne are of too recent and terrible recollection to require to be related by us at length. The expedition of the Corps Franc, their defeats, 112 dead, 300 wounded, 1500 prisoners, the Sonderbund, and all the fraternal blood spilt in Switzerland in 1844, 45, and 46, must be laid to the charge of the Jesuits, who insisted on entering Lucerne against the will of half the population. Had they been true Christians, and religious men, they would have renounced their projects of installing themselves by force where they knew that the attempt would cost the lives of so many of their Christian brethren, and an Iliad of miseries to the unfortunate country. Although we find few indications of the presence of the Jesuits in England, after the accession of the house of Hanover to the throne, till the last few years of the past century, Cretineau, who may be relied upon as having written his apology of the Society upon the RE-ESTABLISHMENT. 459 rco;istcr of the order, and under the dictation of the fathers, informs us that, " from the day on which Hberty was no more a deception, the Jesuits perceived that they had no more to fear the extraordinary rigours of past times They then began to hve in fixed abodes, at first in secret, then a little more openly, and in community. Such were at first the missions of Livei'pool, Bristol, Preston, Norwich, and many other towns. A little chapel was annexed to the house (which means, that an altar had been con- structed in a room) ; and without exciting the least suspicion, the faithful could repair thither and pray."* This, according to the French historian, was the way in which they lived till 1795, when the Jesuits of Liege, flying from the victorious republican armies of France, sought a refuge in Great Britain which granted them that hospitality she never refuses to the unfortunate. Then Mr Weld, a wealthy Koman Catholic, w4th a liberality for wdiich, whatever grati- tude the Jesuits may owe to his memory, England certainly owes him none, presented them with an old manor and some property in Stoneyhurst, near Preston, in Lancashire. Thither the worthy fathers instantly repaired, and at first conducted themselves with all humility, avowing it to be their intention to earn a subsistence solely by tuition. As we have said, the Protestants of that epoch seem to have taken a sort of pleasure in protecting these rebellious monks, and the more so, perhaps, because they persist- ed in being monks against the will of Rome. Hence the Jesuits quietly settled themselves in Stoneyhurst, nemine contradicente. By degrees, finding all sorts of encouragement, they changed the manor into a college, where, besides the boarders and pupils wdio paid them regular fees, they gave gratuitous instruc- tions to every one who would attend their classes. Improvements to a great extent were made upon * Vol. vi. p. 81. 4G0 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. the house, by which it Avas rendered capable of re- ceiving at first 150, and subsequently, by additional buildings, 300 pupils. Weld gave up to them a large tract of land, and one of his sons entered the order. '' All the ancient Jesuits flocked to Stoneyhurst. Amono- the first were Fathers Stanley, O'Brien, Lawson, Church, Jenkins, Plowden, Howard, and some others."* All together consecrated their cares '' to make priests, and to form young men equally devoted and learned, who should bring into their families the courage and the faith of which they gave and received the example in the college."! In a httle while the college of Stoneyliurst was deemed insuflli- cient for the number of pupils who repaired thither from every part ; so that, within a quarter of a mile, at Greenhurst, was established a seminary for board- ing and educating boys preparatory to their entering Stoneyhurst. The most striking characteristic of Jesuit education, as we have already frequently remarked, was, and still is, that almost all the persons educated in their colleges consider themselves in a certain way attached to the order, and to the end of their lives work to their utmost for its aggrandise- ment. And this art of binding to their Society all their disciples, makes the Jesuits powerful and danger- ous, especially in those countries where they are adverse to the government or to a class of citizens. We insist upon this consideration. At Stoneyhurst, the ambition of the fathers rose with their prosperity, and inspired their restless activity with bolder and more extensive plans. The exertions of these same young men who were educated by them, and some of whom had become priests, spread the seed of Jesuitism in all parts of England, and, above all, in the surrounding neigh- bourhood of Stoneyhurst, A\here their large properties and considerable annual expenditure gave the fathers * Cret. ^ol. vi. p. S4. t Ibid. p. 83, RE-ESTABLISHMENT. 461 an additional influence, so tliat soon Roman Catliollc chapels were to be seen over all the country rouud ; and a modern author* affirms, that while, before the establishment of the Jesuits, there were only five Papists near Stoneyhurst, they were now numbered by thousands. "From England, part of the successful colony of Ignatius passed over into Ireland in the beginning of the present century, and at once fixed their regards upon the most important position for acquiring an extensive influence. Father Kenney, one of the three first Jesuits who migrated thither, found means to be appointed vice-president of Maynooth College, of which he became the leading and influential member, and in which have ever since been taught the Jesuitical doctrines both in the matter of theology and of discipline ; so that it is a notorious fact, that of all the Roman Catholic clergy, the English are those who profess the most absolute and unrestricted prin- ciples of ultramontanism. As to Father Kenney, who was indefatigable in his vocation, and had already acquired an immense authority, some scruples now arose in the morbid consciences of strict Papists, whether he really was a legitimate Jesuit, since he had only taken his vows at Stoneyhurst while the Society had no legal existence. Sensible of the justness of these observations, Kenney hastened to Palermo, where the Society was in some sort re- established. He was there received and recognised as a genuine son of Loyola, and returned to Ireland to resume his office. But, as Maynooth College was established only for the education of priests, Kenney thought of creating another college for laymen. Clon- gowes was chosen for the purpose. Kenney was appointed president of it, and his exertions were so successful in attracting pupils thither, that, from 1814, the epoch of its opening, to 1819, it already numbered * Overbury. 462 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. 250 pupils ; while, bj tlie liberality of Mary O'Brien, a Popish devotee, another college was erected in the district of King's County.* The moment the bull of 1814 relieved them from the interdict under which they laboured, the number of Jesuits increased so very rapidly, that, accord- ing to a return printed by order of parliament in 1830, Ireland, at that epoch, possessed 58 fathers, and 117 were to be found in England. To what extent their number has increased up to the pre- sent 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 expressly says, " the Jesuits felt that such a law (the schedule on the religious communities in the Emancipation Act) was enacted against them; but they made little account of it,'' — lis en tinrent ^^e?* de compte.^ Bat they use some prudence, to avoid trouble, if possible, and because it is their practice not to oppose boldly any measure, but to find a certain pleasm^e in eluding the law, and thus shew themselves more cunning than their neighbours. Nevertheless, whoever should inspect the general register kept in the Gesu in Home, 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 also very dangerous 'i Who can count those innumerable agents who, partly intention- ally, partly in ignorance, are actively employed in fur- thering the success of the well-contrived and deeply- * Cretineau, vol, vi. p» 94. + Vol. vi. p. 89. EE-ESTABLISHMENT. 463 laid plans of tlie fathers — those secret conspirators against the civil and religious rights of mankind? ^'obody can; and in this, we repeat, hes 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 them- selves boldly and frankly, and say : " Here w^e are — we, the Jesuits, the most determined adversaries of the Protestant faith, the most strenuous supporters of the Court of Rome. Renounce your religion, burn your Bible, tear your Thirty-nine Articles, and em- brace the doctrine of Rome, which is the only true one ; you may believe it on our word." Should they speak so, they would effect no mischief at all. But the manner in which the Popish missionaries attempt to proselytise 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, to the theatrical representation of the Vatican, all is intended to be the means of proselytising heretics, or of retaining believers in the communion of their Church. Then comes the con- fessional for those who wish to sin in all surety of conscience; then, again, masses and indulgences for those whose sins could not be cleansed by the absolu- tion, but required the excruciating fires of Purgatory. Formerly, in the good old times of Popery, they re- sorted to still more persuasive arguments ; w^itness the unfortunate Albigenses, Huguenots, Indians, and many others, who were so blind as not to see in Popery a revelation of Him who is at once the Father of Mercies and the Father of Lights. 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 insmuates liim- 464 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. self into the confidence of tiie man lie 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 v/holesale conversions. They bring one to apostasy 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. And who would take his oath that Dr Pusey does not belong to that fifth secret class of the Order of Jesus ? or that my lord Bishop of Exeter is not one of its members ? We could not affirm the fact, of com\se, but no more would we deny it. What we know, and what ought to be well con- sidered and borne in mind by all English Protestants, is, that the Jesuits are loud in their praises of the Puseyites, and that they frankly confess that this Anglican sect will be the means of bringing back England to the Roman communion. May God avert the ill-omened prediction ! Let our readers well ponder upon the following extract from Cretineau, who, after having traced the history of the Puseyites from its origin, and exalted to the skies their princi- pal leader, says : — " The Puseyites, carried aw\ay against their wills, by the force of evidence, towards the Roman faith, pretended, it is true, that they would never go over to Rome. Nevertheless they, in fact, embraced one part of her dogmas and even her practices. A certain number of their disciples went fi ankly back to Catholicism. From April 1841, the publication of tracts had been suspended, it is true, but the party was at no loss for means for propagating its doctrines. It reio-ncd in manv seminaries and univer- EE-ESTABLISIIMHNT. 4G5 sities ; it spread in America, and even in India. The British Critic went on with its quarterly labours ; and renouncing by degrees its attacks against Rome, it ex- ercised its learned hostilities against the Jieformation of the sixteenth century This school (Puseyism), in its pacific progress, shakes Anglicism /"rom its base. It exercises an immense influence for the extent of its reports and its literature, and makes numberless proselytes. Many Puseyites, carried away by the truth, were not long in renouncing their theories. They sought a logical unity : the Church of Eome offered it to them, and they accepted of it ! "* We add no comment. To return to our history, we say that the influence of the Jesuits in the three kingdoms has increased since 1814, and 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 progressive 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 thino-s, 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 intrusted to the fathers. The secular priest, espe- cially in countries distant from Rome, looks upon the Jesuit as his superior in knowledge of the affairs of religion, as better informed of the intentions of Rome ; and is always disposed to shew all deference to his advice, and not seldom to execute his orders. " Al- ready, from 1829," according to Cretineau, " the Jesuits were the right arm of the bishops, the living- models proposed by the prelates to the clergy." f And this renders the Jesuits more dano-erous than * Vol. vi. pp. 91, 92, in a note. + Vol, vi. p. 97. 466 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. any other religious community. Indeed, I would rather see all the various species of those parasite animals called monks transplanted into the English soil, than lot 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 Protest- antism ; and we have shewn whether the fathers were scrupulous about the means they employed to effect their object. The extirpation of heresy is their prin- cipal occupation, the work which renders them meri- torious in the eyes of Rome. Deprive the Jesuits of the vocation of annoying, persecuting, or converting heretics, and they become the most insignificant of all corporations, having no end whatever. Every monas- tic order is distinguished by a peculiar character. Plots and machinations against Protestants, and against all civil and religious freedom, are the charac- teristics of the Jesuits. A Benedictine monk will sit calmly in his very comfortable room, sip his chocolate, take a hand at whist, and not even dream of convert- ing any one. A Franciscan, of any denomination, will sit jocosely before a succulent dinner, which he has provided by going from door to door, distributing, in return for provisions, snuff and images, without uttering a word about his or your religion, and only relating some pleasing anecdotes of the holy founder of his order, St Francis. A Dominican will assuredly report your conduct to Rome, and will try to convert your daughter to his principles, but will care very little about the conversion. The Auto-da-fe, in which ho formerly delighted, was regarded by him as a means not so much of converting heretics, as of procuring for himself a barbarous pastime. He was forbidden to assist at bull-fighting ! The Jesuit, on the contrary, has, as we have said, no other occupation or desire than to make converts ; and this we need not take the trouble to prove, since they themselves confess it. RE-ESTABLISHMENT. 467 They p;lory in it, and it forms their title to the grati- tude of the Holy See, and of all bigoted Papists. We Avill not say that other Koman Catholic priests Avill not endeavour to make converts. JMay, they are obliged by their calling to labour hard at it. In their orisons, in their anthems, in all the solemn ceremonies of the Church of Rome, prayers are addressed to the Al- mighty, not so much for the conversion, as for the ex- tirpation of heretics ; and every bishop takes an oath to do his utmost for this purpose ; so that a Roman Catholic priest must either neglect the principal duty of his ministry, or become the bitterest enemy of ail Protestant institutions, if not of every Protestant. Yet they are not as the Jesuits, prepared to resort to the most criminal arts to bring about conversion. The conduct of the Jesuits in Holland, Prussia, Russia, clearly proves that no benefits can ever make any impression on that fraternity, or prevent them from conspiring your ruin ; and if Protestant England do not soon awake to a sense of her danger, we fear she will repent, too late, of having fostered in her breast those poisonous vipers. Behold what is going on ! See whether Romanism has ever been so menacing 1 See the arrogance of the Court of Rome ! Behold the almost uninterrupted state of rebellion in which the priests keep the fanatic Papists of Ireland, and be sure that such Avould not be the case if you had not Jesuits among them. All our hfe long we have fought for equality of rights, for civil and religious hberty, and we w^ould not preach intolerance now. We should like to see no difference whatever in respect of civil rights and privileges between Roman Catholic laymen and Protestants ; but, most assuredly, we would execute to the letter the clause against the religious fraternities, and think long before we should grant money to bring up a set of priests, who, from the very nature of their caUing, are strictly bound to sue for your destruction. I beo; to be excused for having indulged in these 468 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. remarks. They are not vain declamations ; I trust to be believed. I have been born and brought up among monks and Jesuits ; and it is because I tho- roughly know them, that, grateful for the hospitality afforded me, I warn England to beware of all monks, but especially of Jesuits. They are inauspicious birds, which cannot but infect with their venomous breath the pure and free air of Great Britain. We shall now conclude our history with a chapter on the present condition of the Company in Europe. THE JESUITS IN AND AFTER 1848. 4G9 CHAPTER XX. 1848-1852. THE JESUITS IN AND AFTER 1843. Before tlie Suppression, tlie Jesuits, with alternate vicissitudes, possessed less or more influence in all Roman Catholic countries, in some of which, at different epochs, they were all-powerful and domineer- mo-. But since their rc-establisliment, their real effective power, it may be said, is confined to the Italian peninsula. It was my unfortunate country that, from the beginning of their restoration, more than any other part of Europe, experienced the pernicious effects of their revival. As from the first they had stood up as the natural enemy of the liberal party, the sovereigns of the peninsula, who wished to reign despotically, without granting any concession required by the times, countenanced and protected the Jesuits in the most decided manner. Charles Felix had delivered up Piedmont to them, and they had taken possession of it, and governed it, as if they were its absolute masters. Even Charles Albert vras unable or unwilling to counteract their influence. In Jtlodena and Parma they possessed an equal authority; while in Naples their dominion was still more tyran- nical, inasmuch as it rested not only on the support of the court, but also on the superstition and ianati- cism of the populace, the most blindly bigoted of all Italy. But the supreme seat of their power, as may 2 H 470 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. be easily conceived, was Rome — Rome, now in per- fect friendship with the fathers. Odescalchi, a Jesuit, was Cardinal Vicar of Rome, the highest ecclesiastical authority in the world after the Pope. The whole of the public administration was filled with persons either belonging to the Society, or protected by them. Public education was entirely in their own hands, or of those protected by them. The nomination of every teacher or professor was submitted to the approval of the bishop. Recommendation from the fathers was listened to as if it were the orders of a superior ; and few, if any, of the estabhshed authorities dared to oppose them in any of their undertakings. Poor Italy was in a lamentable condition. The diiferent governments of Italy, encouraged by the fathers in their tyrannical and intolerant policy, had spread such dissatisfaction among the higher classes of society,* that every other year attempts were made at a revolution, some of which were in part successful, as those of 1821 and 1831. They were, however, always crushed by the overAvhelming forces of Austria, and only served to increase the number of victims, and the cruelties of the goverments, inflexible in their despotic policy. Yet the population, driven to despair, and preferring death to ignominy, were ready to shed their blood to mend the wretched condition of the country. In the latter part of Gregory XVI. 's reign, matters were brought to such a state, that every moment was expected a new general outbreak through- out all Italy ; the consequences of which, from the exasperated state of the popular mind, would have been incalculable. In these circumstances, Gregory XVI. died, and Giovanni Mastai was, after only two days' conclave, raised to the pontifical chair. It was thought that the meekness of his character, the purity * Itis to be remembered that all tlie revolutions wliicli have taken place in Italy since 1814 were prepared and executed by the upper classes of the nation. THE JESUITS IN AND AFTER 1848. 471 of his life, his decided aversion to every act of tyran- ny, mio'ht in part calm the exasperated state of the po[)ulation of tlie lloman states, the most oppressed of all the states of Italy, as well as the readiest for a revolution ; and the beginning of Pins IX. 's reign promised to the unfortunate peninsula a new era. Fugitive and deceitful hope ! Alas ! the noAv era is now such as to make the futm^e generation curse the day that Mastai ascended the throne ! However, a month after his elevation, Pius IX. granted an amnesty, reformed some gross abuses, dis- carded the most obnoxious agents of the past tyrannical government, and promised to reign according to just and paternal laws. We extolled his clemency to the sky, and saAV in him the palladium of freedom ; we celebrated his virtues in a thousand diiferent ways. The world was soon filled with the eulogiums of Pius, and for a brief period Europe prostrated herself at the feet of the idol raised up by our gratitude. But while we w^ere loud in the praises of Pius IX,, hoping that he would prove a reformer and a bene- factor to Italy, the Jesuits, united with the old des- potic party, w^hich recognised Austria for its chief, contrived, by all sorts of means, to oppose his acts of benevolence, slandered his person, abused his minis- ters, and openly conspired against him. The Romans feared that he w^ould meet with the fate of Ganganelli ; and those fears were not only expressed in all writ- ings and in all pieces of poetry, but when the Pope passed through the streets of Kome, the Trasteverini shouted out, " Holy Father, beware of the Jesuits ! " A very significant tact, w^iich shews the opinion in which the fathers are held where they are best know^n. The good understanding, however, which existed for some eighteen months betw^een the hberal party and the Pope, began to be shaken when the Romans, tired of benisons and insignificant concessions, asked for liberal organic laws, and wished, above all, U 472 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. snatcli from the hand of the priests and monks their ill-gotten and ill-used authority, extending* to all branches of the administration, even to those most in- consistent with their calling. It is well known that no office of any importance in the Roman states was filled by a layman — even the general of the army was a Monsignore. AVe wished for a radical reform on this point. Unfortunately, at this time, Grazioli — a high-minded and tolerant priest, the Pope's con- fessor — died; and Pius fell into the hands of a confessor devoted to the Jesuits, and from that moment his conduct became hypocritical and deceitful, and after- wards cruel and inhuman. To the Jesuits is certainly to be attributed the change in the politics of the Pope. From the beginning, Pius had been displeased when he heard abuse poured upon the Company ; but his desire of popularity and applause had modified the propensities of the priest, nay, of the narrow- minded, bigoted chief of the priests. But now, divest- ing himself of the borroAved character of a tolerant and liberal man, Pius returned to the former error of all Popes, and would not listen to a w^ord about reform touching the priesthood. It was this inflexible opposition to our just and reasonable desires, and not our petulance, which brought things to extremities, and the Jesuits were even the apparent cause of the rupture. Although the Romans were resolved to be no longer the vassals of the priesthood, and were deter- mined not to leave a vestige of authority in civil matters to any churchman except the Pope, never- theless, no injury, no abuse, was oifered to any secular priest or monk, with the exception of the Jesuits. But against them there was raised a great commotion. Publications of all sorts were daily poured into the streets of Rome against the fiithers ; and along with the shout for Italy, was mingled the cry, ''Down with the Jesuits ! '' THE JESUITS IN AND AFTER 1848. 473 Globertl's book, II Gesuita Moderno, was in cvcry- bodA^'s hands, and when that courageous priest came to l^ome, the people shouted his name as that of a benefactor ; a guard of honour was stationed at liis hotel, and almost royal honours were rendered to him for having so nnreservedly laid bare the iniquities of the fathers.* All this irritated the Pope in the highest degree. From the balcony of the Quirinal he reproached the Romans with slandering venerable ecclesiastics; and when the news arrived that the Neapolitans had expelled the Jesuits from their citj^ he issued a proclamation, in which he threatened us, if we were tempted to imitate them, ivith his anger, and ivitli the curse of God's indignation, who would launch His hohj vengeance against the assailants of His anointed.^ But the Papal protection was no longer sufficient to shelter the Jesuits from public hatred. Pius IX. lost a great part of his popularity, but could not save them. They were expelled from the whole of the peninsula — not as a general revolutionary measure,^ since all other religious communities lived unmolested, but as a manifestation of the public opinion against the hateful descendants of Ignatius. The Pope's indignation at this sacrilegious act knew no bounds, and from that instant he vowed an implacable and * "We have to lament the decease of this illnstrions Italian, -which has happened while we were writing these pages. His country has not forgotten that it is due to him, perhaps more than to anything else, that Piedmont is without Jesuits. Monuments are to be erected to him, and his mortal remains will be transported from Paris to Turin at the public expense. But while all Italy is unanimous in regretting his loss, a Jesuit newspaper, the Armonia, attributing his sudden death to the judgment of God, exclaims. "See what it is to wage war against Heaven ! Gioberti died like Simon the magician, like Anus ! " A Jesuit in Rome asserted the same thing from the pulpit ; while the Romans repeat that the Jesuits have poisoned him. He was firm to the end in his hostility to the fathers, and in the last letter he wrote to the author of this history, encouraging him to proceed with the work, he adds, *' You will render a. good service to our country."' + See my Hutory of the Pontificate of Fius IX., p. 29 and/. 474 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. intense hatred against tlie liberals of whatever nation.f Not only did Pins now refuse to grant any new concession, but he attempted to recall those which he had been forced to grant: and when he saw that he could not effect his purpose, he fled to Gaeta, in the hope that Rome and Italy would soon fall into a state of anarchy and confusion, so that the great powers of Europe would be obliged to interfere, and restore him to the throne as an absolute master. The wisdom and moderation of the people again disappointed his hopes. Never was Rome more true to her duty than during the absence of the Pope. For a while, even the government was carried on in the name of a sovereign who had abandoned the state, and who refused even to listen to three deputations sent to Gaeta to come to some understanding. This exaspe- rated Pius still more than anything else. From Gaeta he poured forth his curses on his subjects. And while he was giving these manifestations of his paternal heart, the Jesuits and Cardinal Antonelli were laying the plan of that infernal compact between the Court of Rome and almost all the despots of Europe, for crushing and annihilating all seeds of civil and rehgious liberty, and for murdering, with merciless ferocity, all those who had shouted for reform, in the name and under the auspices of Pius IX. ; a just re- tribution, it should seem, for having trusted in a priest, and thought him capable of being an honest and + A month before the Pope fled from Rome to Gaeta, the author had a conversation with Joseph Mastai, the Pope's brother, who had been an exile and a political prisoner during the last reign. He, to excuse the change in his brother's conduct, said, " I warned you not to attack religion, or you would ruin the cause of liberty. You have not listened to my advice, and you must abide the consequences." When I asked him in what respect we had shewn disrespect to religion, he answered, with great earnestness, "You have driven the Jesuits from Rome, and attempted to deprive the ecclesiastics of all authority." These words speak volumes. They express the true sentiments of the Pope, which were adopted, it seems, by his brother, who had formerly been a Carbonaro. THE JESUITS IN AND AFTER 1848. 475 liberal man. Monsignor do Falloux, a Jesuit, brother of the tlien all-powerful minister of Louis Napoleon, was notoriously tlie soul of the negotiation, and it was he who decided the com^t of liome to accept the succour of the French. The crusade undertaken against Rome, by four nations so diiferent in charac- ter, and having such opposite interests, as Austria and France, Spain and Naples, was the signal of that fiery reaction against the liberty of all nations which still rages, and which, we fear, will not cease till another general outbreak shall teach the tyrants that it is not always safe to try too severely the patience of the people. Distressful consequences for the people followed the league. The Roman states were first made to feel the rage of the allies. Louis Napoleon, who, in 1831, had fought along with us to overturn the Papal throne, liow sent an army in support of the Pope. He thought (I expressed this opinion in my History of the Pontificate, written two years ago) that priests and peasants would assist him to grasp the imperial sceptre, and that he could not better ingra- tiate himself with them, than by replacing the Pope on the throne ; an act which would also be very accept- able to the other despots. In consequence, he hastened to send his troops to crush the new republic. The French army landed at Civita Vecchia. The general chosen to command it was worthy of the end proposed. Oudinot is the type of Jesuitism : and Louis Napoleon himself has, more recently, given him his desert. Hardly had he landed on our shores,^ when many of the fiithers (we here relate facts of which we ourselves were witnesses) — as an envenomed brood, sprung by magic from the soil — put them- selves in communication with him. The very pro- clamation by which he announced the landing of the army was a masterpiece of Jesuitical craft. Accord- ing to its tenor, every party might have considered 470 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. the French expedition as coming to its own support. Oudinot informed the first deputation sent by the repubhcan government to inquire about the motives of this unwelcome visit, that the French came as its friends; but, some hours after, when pressed by a second deputation to be more exphcit, he at last con- fessed that they came to rephice the Pope on the throne.* It would be to our glory, but not to the pur- pose, to describe the prodigies of valour performed by our inexperienced volunteers, in contending for three months with forty-five thousand of the best troops of Europe. We fought as only citizens combat for home and liberty. Men and women were in the melee. Neither wife nor mother attempted by tears and entreaties to stay her husband or son, but with a blessing and a kiss sent him forth against the enemy. O Rome ! my noble country ! when 1 rem.ember thy noble deeds, the readiness with which thou didst sacrifice the noblest of thy children to achieve thy hberty, hope lends me patience to endure the longing and miseries of ray exile ! Thou canst not be long under the yoke of the priests ! But our valour availed us nothing. Left alone, we could stand no longer. Four nations were leagued against us, and not a friendly hand was stretched forth to succour us. England must reproacli herself for having left us to contend, unaided and alone, against four Catholic powers, combined together to re-establish the Pope, wdio is as much her enemy as ours. She must now feel the consequences of her culpable indif- ference. The result was — and this is of great import- ance for Eno'land — that at last, masters of our * The author was a member of this second deputation. Oudinot was at first indignant that we should think of oifering opposition to hi^j troops. "How!" said he, " two armies, the Neapolitans and the Austrians, are marching against Rome ! We come to succour j'ou, and you fe-])eak of fighting us ! " And half an hour after this, when we pressed him hard, forgetting himself, he exclaimed, "Eh bieu ! nom de Dieu nous venovis pour remettre le Tape sur lo trone." THE JESUITS IN AND AFTER 1S48. 477 destinies, the Austrians liave established a military- port at Leghorn, the French one at Civita Vccchia. Englishmen are cnt down in broad day in the streets of Florence,* condemned to death by an Inquisi- torial tribunal at llome,t imprisoned at Verona, i and insulted and ill-treated throughout all Italy. An English ambassador sues in vain for the friendly in- terference of the Pope in English affairs ; lie is not listened to, and the newspapers of the peninsula, and of the powers adverse to England, laugh at his discomfiture. But there is in the looming a stiil darker and more serious prospect, threatening to punish England for having abandoned the cause of civil and religious freedom. Eighteen millions of Englishmen live, we will not say in perpetual fear — they are too brave for that — but not without appre- hension of seeing their shores invaded by the same army which conquered Rome, and which would carry with it the blessing and the good wishes of Pius IX. — God forbid that it should also have the support of the m.ost fanatical and ignorant portion of the Irish Papists, led by priests and Jesuits. We hope that this will not be the case ; yet we must remind our readers, that every time the French speak of a war ■with England, they count on the Irish as their natural allies. We are not of those who, possessed by the fixed idea that impending dangers threaten the Protestant religion, believe and aihrm that Louis Napoleon will be read}^ at the bidding of the Jesuits, to send an expedition against heretic England. On the con- trary, we think that, having once possessed himself of the imperial diadem, and having firmly estab- lished himself on the throne, through the instrumen- tality of the priests, and by the magic power which he seems to possess, of making the electoral urn yield exactly the amount of votes asked from it, he will * Mather. f Murray. J Newton. 478 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. soon put a stop to the insolence of the clergy, which, we are sure, will increase in the direct ratio of the services they are rendering to the usurper, and of the favours he has lavished upon them. But at the same time, we firmly heheve that, should Napoleon, in order to give employment to his troops, and to gratify the national animosity, attera])t to invade Great Britain, or should he succeed in landing his adventurous bat- tahons on the British shore, then, though England may not have to lament the treachery of the fanatic Papists of Ireland, she must expect to find in her bosom as many spies and allies of her enemy as she has Je- /euits on her soil. All this is the result of the indiffer- ence shewn by England to the affairs of the penin- sula. Had she interfered when the Romans were bravely struggling for their liberties, the Pope and Louis Napoleon would not have cemented with our blood their anomalous alliance, and the before-men- tioned disastrous results would have been averted with less difiicultics and sacrifices than are now required to check the insolence of that monstrous coalition. And let no one aflirrn that England could not have justly in- terfered with the internal policy of other nations. What I shall then intervention only be lawful and commend- able when employed to oppress a nation awaken- ed to a sense of its rights, and to extinguish every spark of freedom and patriotism ? Shall it only be permitted to outrage humanity, and never to benefit it ? And to apply the rule to the case now in ques- tion, we ask, shall the ferocious bands of Croats, and the degraded soldiers of Louis Napoleon, trample upon our unfortunate country, ajid dispose of its destinies at their pleasure, and England remain an indifferent spectatress of their atrocious proceedings ? These are considerations which we beg leave to submit to the meditation not only of the statesmen of Great Britain, but also of every free and enlightened EngHsh citizen. To return to our narrative : the French entered THE JESUITS IN AND AFTER 1848. 479 Rome (3d July 1849), and with tlicm priests cand Jesuits, wlio luid concealed themselves, or assumed dif- ferent disguises (not unfrequently that of patriots), re- appeared, to enjoy their triumph, and the groans of the unfortunate country. Oudinot, covered with the blood of the brave Romans, hastened to Gaeta to re- ceive the Pope's blessing and acknowledgment, and Avas hailed there as an angel of deliverance. The vin- dictive priests rejoiced at the recital of the slaughter of the flock committed to their paternal care, and made the General repeat the names and the numbers of the victims. Then, when the hero of St Pancrace * re- turned to Rome, the priests, to enjoy a barbarous pleasure, ordered a solemn Te Deimi to be sung in all the churches of the state ; and those of the unfortu- nate Italians whose sustenance and liberty were in the poAver of their relentless enemy, were obliged to assist at the ceremony, and with their lips, at least, thank the Almighty for the slaughter of their best friends and nearest relations, f 131asphemous profanation ! Then began that ceaseless persecution which is still continued; and the priests gratitied their thirst for revenge by crowding the dungeons with victims, and by driving thousands into exile in foreign lands. I w^ill not prolong the painful history of our mise- ries. I will not speak of ruined fomiHes — of forlorn and wandering children. I will not dwell upon the fate of the ten thousand captives taken by Papal sbirri and French gens-d'armes, and who fill the prisons of the state. I will not implore the reader's compassion for the many victims wlio have been again immured in the dungeons of the Inquisition, some of whom, for the last three years, have never seen a friendly face or heard * OiT^inot ^vas nametl by tlie Pope Duke of St Pancrace, in comme- moration of his having destroyed a church dedicated to that saint, and also that part of the wall by which, the French entered, which bears the same name. f Many public officers were dismissed or imprisoned for refusing to be present at the Te Deum. 480 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. a compassionate word. I will not point out the inhu- man and hypocritical conduct of the so-called Vicar of Jesus Christ, vfho, while speaking with devout emo- tion of his clemency, his paternal heart, and the mer- cies of the Christian religion, ha^ not granted a single pardon, dried a single tear, shortened for a single day the torments to which he has condemned thousands of his suhjects. I shall only give an account of the whole- sale execution which, in the last month, took place at Sinigallia and Ancona, and which has tilled Italy and Europe Avith horror and amazement. As the Jesuits are notoriously the soul and spirit of Popery, and are at the present moment th.e recognised advisers and ministers of the Court at Rome, this short narrative will not, we hope, be considered extraneous to our subject. Those who, in times of calm and tranquillity^ judge of events that occur in epochs of commotion and revo- lution, when the passions of men are excited to the highest paroxysm, and the voice of reason imposes a feebler restraint upon their actions, leaving them little liberty to judge of the character of their actions, arc apt to commit serious injustice ; for they are too prone to brand as criminal, and deserving the highest repro- bation, deeds which, although culpable in themselves, were yet committed under the impulse of heroism and devotedness. We do not intend by this to approve or countenance crime, no matter under what pretext it may have been committed. But assuredly there are circumstances that ought to be taken into account which might render it, if not excusable, at least less heinous and worthy of reprobation ; and whoever would form a just judgment in such cases, will never lose sight of these considerations. The first two years of Pius IX. 's pontificate are re- markably characteristic of the nobleness and genero- sity of the liberal party. Though the liberals had been, for the thirty years previous, so cruelly and mer- THE JESUITS IN AND AFTER 1848. 481 cilessly treated, and though tliey ^vcrc now the domi- nant party in the state, they cannot bo reproached with having offered an insult to tlieir late oppressors, nor with a single act of revenge. But it is, unibrtun- ately, true that, latterly, when the Pope had fled to Gaeta for the very purpose of exciting civil war, when the priests were plotting against the republic, calling in sti'angers to tlieir aid, and menacing us with foreign mvasion, many political assassinations were committed in Ancona and Sinigallia. This cannot be denied or palliated; only it is to be remarked, that the crimes were coniined to these two towns — the latter the Pope's birthplace ; and both places being the residence of his family, relations, and friends, a suspicion na- turally arose in the minds of many that these crimes •were committed by persons misled by the advice of some hidden Jesuits and partisans of the Pope, whose endeavour it was to bring matters to the worst. The suspicion acquired snength from the circumstance, that nobody belonging to the Mastai family was injured. Although, as we have already reported, Ave were wit- ness of the fact that those who, during the late com- motion in Rome, proposed the most energetic and revolutionary measures, were, in the end, discovered to be the agents or the tools of the Jesuits, neverthe- less we would not like to affirm that the political mur- ders committed at Sinigallia were due to the perfidious instigation of the priests. We do not like to believe in the reality of such hellish perfidy ; yet why had Sinigallia and Ancona the sad preference of seeing their streets stained with fratei'nal blood'/ Were there not exasperated minds also in other places ? Had no other populations of the state good grounds for calhng to a strict and severe account the agents and supporters of the past tyrannical government ? V\ hy, we repeat, •was the sad pre-eminence in guilt assigned to the native town of the Pope? However it were, after the Papal restoration, about 482 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. 150 individuals were thrown into prison, accused of being the accomplices or the abettors of these crimes. Some of the accused, perhaps the guilty, were never taken, having fled from the country. About eighty were condemned to the galleys for life, the remainder to death.* Forty of the unfortunates have already been executed, and the rest will meet the same fate when the Pope shall find executioners as clement and humane as himself ; — the garrison of Ancona having to a man refused to be any longer the accomplices of the Papal revenge. What is of more importance than all this, is to place before the eyes of our readers and civilised Europe the manner in which political trials are conducted in the Roman states, in order that they may be aware of the justice, charity, and humanity which characterise the acts of him ayIio blasphemously calls himself a god upon earth, the representative of Christ. Whoever has the misfortune to incur the displeasure or the hatred of his Holiness, his ministers, a police- man, a sbirro, the bishop, the curate, a monk, or any other of such rabble, which form an integral part of the biform Papal government, is thrown into a dungeon, helpless, comfortless, alone, and during several months hears and sees nothing else than the grating sound of the rusty bolts, and the inauspicious face of his guar- dian, who comes to bring his miserable pittance of food, and to ascertain that the victim cannot make his es- cape. After a longer or shorter space of time, but never shorter than three or four months, according to the hatred or fear the prisoner has inspired, or the interest possessed by his friends without, he is brought before a cancelliere o giudice 2>'^ocessante, a sort of scribe, by whom he is interrogated.! In that exa- * Murray is of this number, t When nothing can be invented which may at least have the appear- ance of criminality, and the man is punished merely for his opinions, he is not interrogated at all, but is kept a prisoner as long as his persecutors E lease, and released after five, six, or more years, without ever liaving een interrogated, or even seeing the face of a judge. THE JESUITS IN AND AFTER 1848. 483 mination all the care of tlie man of police — tv'c can- not call him a mavrote to Simoncelli from Rome, entreating him to use all ids influence to repress tliese murders. He answered in a tone which left no doubt that he entirely condemned them. He said he had been Jible to save the lives of some, and would I'edouble his exertions to put a stop to crimes, which he abhorred and detested. I gave the letter to •Uazzuii. Yet this same man has been shot as an abettor and accomi:)licei Such is the justice of the priests ! THE JESUITS IN AND AFTER 1848. 485 When the Jesuits re-entered Naples in 1849, the Superior held a sort of levee, when the generals of the army, tlie first magistrates of the kingdom, and all the civil and military authorities, went to pay their respects to those very humble monks. The addresses which were delivered on the occasion in praise of these men of Providence, these messengers of God, these restorers of all moral and sainted institutions, were, from their hyperbohcal style, amusing in the extreme ; and it is curious to find that some of them were repeated almost literally (plagiarism seems to become very fashionable now-a-days) by some bishops to Louis Napoleon, the saviour of society, the man of Providence, the pearl of chastity and virtue — just as was done to the fathers themselves. If in Home the Jesuits must shew deference to the chair of St Peter, in Naples they are masters of the situation. St Ignatius has superseded even St Janu- arius, and both have almost obliterated the name of Christ. The superstition and bigotry of that part of the peninsula exclusively under the sway of the Jesuits is almost incredible ; and the government, con- ducted on those principles, has reached the highest point of immorality and corruption, and is held up by every honest person, no matter of what party, to the execration and contempt of Europe ; while, to leave no doubt as to the influence which predomi- nates there, the Pope, the Jesuits, and the priests, their abettors, represent Ferdinand II. as a model of Christian perfection, and the kingdom of the two Sicilies as the best governed in the world ; the Roman states being of course excepted. Unfortunately, the wretched Neapolitans, and the noblest and best amongst them, have to pay with their liberties and their lives for the eulogium awarded by the Jesuits to the merciless Bourbon. The policy of the Neapolitan governments is a disgrace to civilisation. A band of ruffians, under the name of police or govern- 2i 488 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. ment, seize upon all persons who have had the misfor- tune to displease them ; their victims are thrown into prison, and are accused of imaginary crimes; while the accusers, changing themselves into witnesses, often into judges, in order to make good the charge, keep them chained for three or four years in Ischia, as in the case of Poerio and Dragonetti, and finally pass a sentence of death upon them, in order to give the pious and clement Ferdinand and his Jesuit confessor the merit of having commuted the infam- ous sentence into a horrid and perpetual imprison- ment ; and to all this complication of iniquities they give the name of a state trial. Such is the Neapolitan government under the conduct of the sons of Loyola. But the malignant spirit of the Jesuits, in breaking forth from Naj)les and Rome, has lately made an in- road into a province which, till then, had been spared its pernicious influence. Among all the other provinces of Italy, Tuscany had been favoured with a compara- tively just and tolerant government ; and this, it was openly asserted, was owing to the absence of the Jesuits from the country. Now, whoever has followed the march of events there, must have been struck by the wide difference that exists between the former policy of the government and the new one introduced after Leopold IL had been some time at Gaeta, under the influence of Antonelli and the Jesuits. From that moment all things changed in Tuscany. The priests re-acquired an influence which they had never pos- sessed since the time of Leopold L, and made it sub- servient to their unworthy ends. Madonnas became again miraculous. Feasts and processions were got up with the greatest pomp, and were numerously attended by all those who had anything to hope or fear from the government. A furious war was declared against all doctrines but those harmonising with the strictest ultra-Popish principles. Books and newspapers were interdicted, and no efforts were spared to bring the THE JESUITS IN AXD AFTER 1848. 487 enlightened, lively, and intellectual people of Tuscany to limit their literary pursuits to the perfect know- ledge of the Catechisms. The influence of the too notorious Bocclla, by his own confession a Jesuit, was, above all, fatal to the country. While he was the chief adviser of the Grand Duke, the Grand Duchess went in proces- sion to worship a miraculous Madonna at Rimini, and Leopold himself ordered a sumptuous and extra- ordinary feast for another Madonna in Florence, to whose church he repaired in state. But at tho same time, the most respectable citizens of Florence, Count Guicciardini and others, were prosecuted and exiled for the heinous crime of reading the Bible ; and two unfor- tunate and inofl'ensive creatures — the Madiais — have been condemned to the punishment of malefactors (hard labour), for having in their possession the sacred volume, and for discussing and endeavouring to prove its veracity. Later still, an ordinance of the Grand Duke re-establishes capital punishment, which had long since been abolished ; while another ordinance of the minister of police expels from the hospitable soil of Tuscany hundreds of unfortunate Italians, who had sought there a refuge against the ferocious and relent- less persecution of the Roman Court. Such are the effects of the influence of the Jesuits. What will become of Lombardy, already so wretched, now that Austria has decided on re-establishing the Jesuits there on an extended scale, it is disheartening to contemplate ; while, on the other hand, it is cheer- ing in the extreme for an Italian, and for every true friend of civil and religious liberty, to see the conduct of the Piedmontese government towards the Jesuits and the priesthood. The Jesuits, after their expulsion, were never per- mitted to re-enter the kingdom, and the priests are now subjected, like other citizens, to the laws of the land, and are obliged to submit to that equality which 488 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. they consider as a disgrace to their privileged caste. For it must be borne in mind that the priest, and the conscientious one more than others, considers him- self a superior being, a man far above any layman, even thouo^h he were a kino^. He imbibes this idea from childhood, when he begins to dress in a peculiar garb, and is accosted by a respectful appellation. Ac- cording to the canonical law (and in Italy that law is universally respected and strictly enforced, except, indeed, in Piedmont), the moment an infant assumes the garb of a priest, and receives the first order (ton- sura), he is no more subject to the civil authorities ; he is henceforth only amenable to the ecclesiastical court, and whoever strikes him, incurs de facto ex- communication. After he has been consecrated priest, he pretends, or in reality believes, that it is in his power to oblige the Almighty to descend from heaven into his hands, and that at his bidding the flesh and blood of the Divine Redeemer is transub- stantiated into bread and wine, and in that form goes to sanctify his breast. Again, he believes, or feigns to believe, that it rests with him to open or shut the gates of heaven, and that he has the power of be- stowing everlasting beatitude or dooming to eternal damnation, according as he absolves from sin or refuses absolution. In fact, he puts himself in the place of God, of whom he calls himself the Anointed, and whose name he often usurps. When we consider all this, we do not wonder that the priests cannot endure equality of rights with other citizens. We are rather astonished that serious and enlightened people of this country can for a moment entertain the idea that the Irish Roman Catholic priests are sin- cere when they ask for equahty of rights. Look to Piedmont; there the Romish priesthood enjoy this equality — nay, more than equality. Their religion is acknowledged to be the religion of the state ; and many are the writers who have lately been condemned THE JESUITS IN AND AFTER 1848. 489 for dlsparacrlnf^ it. They possess, also, some other less considerable privileges over the other citizens ; and yet they are far from being satisfied. On the contrary, they accuse the government of tyranny. The bishops are in open rebellion against the sovereign ; priests and curates oppose the laws of the country. The pulpit, the confessional, are made subservient to their hatred of the new state of things ; and all this because the legislature attempts, not to deprive them of any right, or subject them to any incapacity, but to intro- duce equality, and to subject ecclesiastics of all sorts to the common law. The rage of the priesthood at this sacrilegious audacity on the part of the parlia- ment, in seeldng to assimilate them to other men, is such, that they have launched a solemn act of excom- munication against all those who shall read the news- papers advocating such infamous measures. The Jesuits are at the bottom of all this, and their intrigues brought Piedmont but the other day to the brink of ruin. Fortunately, public opinion declared itself so strongly, and the king shewed such firmness, that their machi- nations proved abortive. It must be remarked in all this, that when the liberal newspapers reproach the clerical party with their acts or words, they always stigmatise them with tlie name of Jesuits — so univer- sally is the abhorred name coupled with all that is bad, cunning, and criminal ! Appalling and ominous of incalculable consequences is the influence which the Jesuits have acquired in France — in that country which has prostrated all its past glory and its dignity as a nation, at the feet of an unscrupulous, merciless tyrant; endeavouring, at the same time, to forget its ignominy in the intoxica- tion offcasts and champaigne. The Jesuits and priests are the firmest supporters of Louis Napoleon ; and it is worthy of remark, that the bishops who are known for their ultramontane principles and their adherence to the Jesuitical discipline are those who lavish the 490 HISTOKY OF THE JESUITS. highest eulogiums on the unprincipled usurper. This affords us another instance of the worldly spirit of the Popish clergy, and may be a salutary lesson for the future. For our own part, indeed, we are inchned to recognise in it the hand of Providence consummating the speedy downfall of the Popish religion. The con- duct of Pius IX. has already extinguished in Italy the last lingering sentiments of respect and devotion to- wards the Papal religion. The Itahans had hopes for a moment that Pius would reconcile them to the religion of their forefathers, by shewing that it is not a religion of blood and persecution, but of love and brotherhood, eminently liberal and national. They had hoped that Popery, to which Italy owes all its misfortunes, would now change, and restore to it part of its former glory. And this idea prevented them from renouncing alto- gether rehgion such as it is preached to them. But now that no doubt remains as to the true spirit of Popery, now that no one can reasonably entertain the least hope that it will ever change from what it has been — an institution founded on superstition, ce- mented with blood, and maintained by the axe of the executioner — now that the last testing experiment has shewn to all the world its utter helplessness against free physical force, it may be truly said that Popery has been irrevocably doomed in Italy. It may linger yet a while by the aid of despotic bayonets, but never again will the Itahans, of their own free will, repose their faith in the religion of the Popes, f ' ' '■ - ^^ In precisely a similar manner are the priests and Jesuits now giving the last blow to the Popish rehgion in France. Let the present transient moment of de- lirium pass over, and the French nation will reconsider the servile and ignominious part played by the clergy in the recent immoral saturnalia. It will remember that the man who had perjured himself — who had caused thousands of citizens to be butchered because they were faithful to the laws — who had been a trai- THE JESUITS IN AND AFTER 1848. 491 tor to all governments from his youth — who had never kept his word — who had been distinguished for immo- rality and debauchery even among the unscrupulous lions of London and Paris — that this man was ex- alted by the surpliced emissaries of Rome as the man of Providence, the messenger' of God, the restorer of moralitij and religion, and the benefactor of huma- nity. Who, need it be asked, will once again beheve them, when speaking of the things of heaven, after they have lied so impudently and deliberately in speaking of the things of this world? But till a reaction take place, the Jesuits triumph in France. As we have had occasion to speak incidentally, in various parts of this work, of the arts and practices employed at the present moment by the Jesuits against England, and as our readers have daily so many means of ascertaining the manners of the fathers in the pub- lic prints, we do not think it necessary to add anything more in this place. We have also little to say about the actual missions of the Jesuits in both Indies. They are neither prosperous nor important, and are only distinguished by their intrigues and by the war which they keep up against all other missionaries, whether Popish or Protestant. The actual wealth of the Jesuits, though considerable, is far from approaching the fabu- lous amount it possessed before the suppression. If our information and calculation are correct, and we be- heve they are, the total number of the members to he found on the register of the Order amounts to nearly six thousand — an enormous increase since 1814, and such, indeed, as to give to reflective minds serious apprehensions. But we have nearly exhausted the space we had allowed ourselves. We must pass to the conclusion. CONCLUSION. 493 CONCLUSION. "We arc now at the end of our labours ; but, before parting with our readers, we would briefly call their attention to some of the chief points in our History. If we mistake not, the perusal of our narrative, imper- fect as it may be, will convince even an indifferently attentive reader that Loyola had but one end in view — one fixed idea — namely, to establish an order which should domineer over society ; and that his successors have been arrested by no scruples as to the means to be employed for obtaining this end. "With the exception of this fixed rule, to which the Jesuits have adhered with undeviating constancy, it may be as- serted that they have no principle whatever. The dogmas of their creed, the precepts of their moral code, their political principles, all these they have changed or modified according to places and circumstances. They have been against or in favour of the Roman See, ac- cording as it served or injured the interests of the order. They have proclaimed the unhmited sove- reignty of the people, and have been instrumental in bringing many unfortunate persons to the scaffold, for resisting the tyrannical power of absolute monarchs. To accomplish their ends, they have all along thought that money would be the most efficient instrument ; hence their insatiable desire of wealth, to accumulate which, they violated all laws, divine and human. The riches got by ihicit means have been ever expended for still more culpable purposes. A Jesuit docs not desire or spend money for his own personal self; he is frugal in his habits, and parsimonious in expenditure as far as regards mere comforts ; but he is no miser. He does not hide his treasures in the bowels of the 494 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. earth, but spends them freely to increase the influence and power of his order. The secret agent of the Society is handsomely rewarded ; the spy liberally paid. Ministers of different sovereigns are bought over by princely largesses ; and even the ruling beauties of courts are bribed to serve the order with costly and suitable presents. The fathers were also persuaded, from the beginning, that it would greatly contribute to the grandeur and power of the order to insinuate themselves into the susceptible minds of the young, and they left nothing untried by which this might be effected. Other schemes — the conversion of heretics, the missions, the outward exercise of many of the Christian virtues — were all directed to the attainment of the same identical end — the ao-o-randisement of the order. Two other principal facts are deserving of attention. The first is, that, from the beo-innino; the establish- ment of the Society was everywhere opposed, and in all places where it was finally admitted, it was subsequently, at different epochs, persecuted, and convicted of iniquitous and abominable crimes. The second fact is, that the Society of Jesus, though it may at times have disregarded its rules of internal policy, has nevertheless maintained its general primi- tive character ; namely, its relentless domineering spirit, and the abnegation of every personal feehng in favour of the community. The Jesuits of the pre- sent day, unlike all other religious fraternities, which have invariably undergone so many modifications, are exactly the same as they were in Loyola's lifetime. Founded by that bold, despotic, and ambitious man, it seems as if his spirit had transmitted itself into the whole Society, and presided over all its acts. The Company, so to speak, has perpetuated the life of Loyola. If we would personify the order, we might represent it, after his likeness, as an apparently humble and sainted man, deeply absorbed in the contemplation CONCLUSION. 495 of heavenly things, Avhile in rcahty revolving in his capacious and daring mind projects of unbounded am- bition. There is no record in liistory of an association whose organisation has stood for three hundred years unchanged and unaltered by all the assaults of men and time, and which has exercised such an immense influence over the destinies of mankind. This perseverance of the order in its principles and policy is comparable to nothing except the correspond- ing constancy of the world in the opinion which it formed of the Society at its commencement, and which it still retains. " The moment," says an author of the beginning of the soA^enteenth century, "a great crime is committed, the public voice at once and unanimously accuses the Jesuits of being its perpetra- tors." And the same sentiments with regard to them prevail to this day. In former times, indeed, that opinion was so strongly and universally received, that our forefathers, less scrupulous than we are in the administration of justice, at the simple announcement of a misdeed, brought the Jesuit before the tribunal, and sometimes unjustly condemned him for crimes of which he was guiltless. Do, then, the Jesuits, from the habit of committing crimes, bear on their counte- nances the indications of a criminal and wicked dis- position, as is commonly the case with ruflSans by pro- cession ? Or do they, by public and open misde- meanours, give the world a right to form this judgment of them ? By no means. We have already said the reverse. They appear, on the contrary, to conduct themselves as the most innocent, most inoftensive, and holy of men ; and, indeed, unless one has been present at the representation of Tar tuff c, he would not easily recognise the Jesuit from the undisguisedly honest man. However, we would not be so illiberal as to say that all the Jesuits are knaves. Our lamented friend Gioberti, Avhen Father Pellico said to him, " Are we, then, all assassins and robbers?" answered, "By no 496 HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. means. Individually, I consider you very honest fellows, and had I treasure, I would unhesitatingly intrust it to your keeping." We would not perhaps go quite so far ; but we will freely admit that the Jesuit may be individually honest, unless the interest of his order obhges him to be otherwise. For there are no considerations of religion, honesty, or virtue, which he does not feel himself bound peremptorily and at all times to sacrifice to this one supreme considera- tion. " The end sanctifies the means," is his favourite maxim ; and as his only end, as we have shewn, is the order, at its bidding the Jesuit is ready to commit any crime whatsoever. Such, then, is the history of a Society dreaded and rehed upon, worshipped and abhorred, which has pro- duced little good, and infinite mischief, and which, having been hurled down from the pinnacle of splendour and glory, attempts now, with renewed vigour and unceasing activity, to regain the summit of its ancient pre-eminence. An appalling prospect, fore- boding no good to the welfare of mankind ! One cheering idea, however, still remains to dissipate the evil apprehension. The Jesuits, now more decidedly than ever, have identified themselves with the cause of despotism, fanaticism, and ignorance; and the day on which the tottering thrones of tyranny shall crumble under the mighty and resistless arm of progressive civilisation, they will bury deep and for ever under their ruins all traces of the influence once possessed by this most formidable and pernicious Society. THE END. INDEX, A. Abbot of St. Cyran, writings of, 232 ; history of, 233 Abolition of the Order, 362, 374— 376, 411 Absolution, origin of the doctrine, 13; consequences of the, 243 — 245 Acquaviva, Fifth General of the Order, 90; character of, 186, 210 ; election of, ibid ; his success in Spain, 228; his opinions on the theology of St. Thomas, 230 ; on the doctrines of Grace and Free- Will, 231; death of, 255; con- sequences of, to the Order, 256 ; his successor, ibid Administrators, appointment and duties of, 38, 55; pre-eminence of, 316 Admonitors, 54 — 56 Adrian VI, confessions of, 30 Albert of Bavaria, supports the Jesuits, 199 Albigenses, massacre of the, 60 Alcala, introduction of Jesuitism, 22; oppositions to the Order in, 79 Alexander VII, opposes the doc- trines of the Augustinus, 234 of Russia expels the Jesuits, 433 Alva, Duke of, 135; his charac- ter, 146 America, Jesuit missions of, 297; state of religion in 298 ; conduct of the Jesuits in, 300; features of the mission in, 302 — 313; ex- change of possessions in, 333 Analysis of the brief of suppres- sion, 387 of the bull of re-establish- ment, 442 of the constitution, 31 — 33 of the brief of re-esta- blishment, 442 Ancona, executions at, 480, 481 Angouleme, Duke of, aids the Jesuits, 450 Angustinus, publication of the, 233 Antonelli, Cardinal, plots the revo- lution in Rome, 474 Antony, St., miracles of, 258 n. Antwerp, Jesuit congregations of, 217 Archbishops of the Society, 408 Armada, Jesuits connected with the, 168 Armagh, Archbishop of, seeks to suppress the Protestants in Eng- land, 63 Arret, for the expulsion of the Je suits from France, 224 Alliance, purport of the, 180 Assassination of Queen Elizabeth projected, 164; encouraged by the Jesuits, 165, 166, 168 of Henry IV, 254 Assembly of Bishops, 346 498 IITDEX. Austria, restoration of the Jesuits to, 200, 450; their influence in, 253 ; governed by Jesuits, 435 ; Jesuits refused admission to, 452; aids the Pope in the late revolu- tion, 475 ; consequences to, 477 Authors, Jesuit, 15, 96 Averio, Duke of, executed, 340, 341 Avignon, Jesuit congregation of, 217; is seized by the French, 359 B. Babington, conspiracy of, 1G7 Baptism, Jesuit administration of the ordinance, 110 Barcelona, Vice- King of, aids the Jesuit influence in Spain, 62 Barriere, attempts to assassinate Henry IV, 187 ; his confession, ibid; is executed, 188 Barry, Father, writings of, 247 Bavaria, supremacy of the Jesuits in, 253 Bedloe, character and plot of, 292, 293 Belgium, flourishing state of the Jesuits in, 454; their designs on, ibid Bellarmine, Robert, on the ** Poli- tical Creed" of the Jesuits, 191 Benedict XIV, opposes the Jesuits, 128, 328 Bernis, Cardinal, 363 ; his answer to the Conclave, 365; intrigues for the election of Pope, 375 ; urges Clement to destroy the Jesuits, 378—380 Bishops, 346 ; number of, 408 Boarders in Jesuit colleges, 219, 220 Boarding-houses, connected with the colleges, 214 Bobadilla, one of the ten founders of the Order, 28 ; mission of, to Naples, 59; is expelled by Charles V, 76; banished, 77; heads a revolt against Lainez, 134; his letter to, 142 Books, Protestant, confiscation of, at Vienna, 201 Borgia, character of, 7 ; is admitted to the Society, 35 ; uses his in- fluence to establish the Jesuits in Spain, 62; elected Vicar-General, 145 ; visits Spain and France, 148; his death, 149 Bourbon, Cardinal de, assumes the title of King of France, 182 Bourbon, influence of the House of, 378 Braganza, Duke of, crowned King of Portugal, 275, 276 Braschi, made Pope, under the title of Pius VI, 425 ; character of, 426 ; his conduct towards the Jesuits, ibid. Briant, execution of, 163 Bridgewater, John, on the " Poli- tical Creed" of the Jesuits, 191 Brief of suppression, 382, 383; analysis of the, 387 — 400; pro- visions of the, 422 for the re-establishment of the Jesuits, 439 ; analysis of the, 440 Brotherhood, Jesuit, 217; doctrines and practices of the, 235 Brouet, his mission to Ireland, 64 Brugellette, Jesuit college of, 458 Bulls issued against Queen Ehza- beth, 153, 162 against the Jesuits, 127, 128, 313, 328 for the suppression of the Order, 387 for the re-establish- ment of the Order, 439, 442 in favour of the Order, 28, 62 Busembaum on the " Political Creed" of the Jesuits, 193 INDEX. 499 c. CiESAR, Julius, character of, 7 Calvinism, doctrines of, 183 Calvinists, persecution of, 270, 273 Campion, his mission to Enj^land, 154; arrest of, 161; trial of, 163 Candia, Duke of, aids the Jesuits, 62 Candidates for the Order, require- ments of, 31—37, 448 Canisius, Peter, 62 founds the College of Friburg, 206 Canonization, rules for, 258 — 262, 310 n. of Loyola and Xavier, 262 Cano, a Dominican friar, preaches against the Jesuits, 78; is made Bishop of the Canaries, 79 Canova, statue of Clement XIII by, 361 CarafFa, General, 317, 318, see "Paul IV" Cardinals, Jesuit, 408 Carlos, Don, supported by the Jesuits, 451 Carvalho, Minister of Portugal, 331; created Marquis of Pombal, 332 ; see " Pombal" Casimir, King of Poland, 282 Castilians, revolt of the, 450 Catechisms, Jesuit, 197 Catesby, 286 Catherine of Austria, deposed by the Jesuits, 171 • de Medicis, opposes the Jesuits, 176, 177 . of Russia, protects the Jesuits, 430, 431 CathoUcism, decline of, 58 Catholics, Roman, first persecuted in England, 163 Cave of Manreze, the place of Loy- ola's retirement, 13 Ceremonies, CathoUc, 249, 250, 262 Charamonti, 438 ; re-establishes the Jesuits, 439 Charles 1, of England, 290 Ill, of Spain, 349; expels the Jesuits, 350; his motives for, 352 — 354; seeks to destroy the Jesuits, 379 V, opposes the Order, 75 IX, of France, 179 Chastel, John, attempts to assassi- nate Henry IV, 188; his punish- ment, 189, 190 China, Jesuit mission to, 105 Choiseul, minister of France, 331; attempts to reform the Order, 346; character ol, 347, 348 Christina of Sweden and the Jesuits, 282, 283 Church of England agitated by Catholic aggression, 163 Evangelical, of Cracow, attacked by the Jesuits, 280 of Rome, decline of the, 9; doctrines of, 14, 15, 40; con- dition of, in the 16th century, 30, 31; supremacy of, 195; re- storation of, in Austria, 201; in Sweden, 203; arrogance of, to- wards England, 467 Churches of America, 299 Civilization, progress of, 7 Civita Vecchia, arrival of French troops at, 475; becomes a French port, 477 Classes of Jesuits, 46,462 Clement VIII, Pope, 231, 232 XIII, 338; his partiality for the Fathers, 339; protects the Jesuits, 357, 359; death of, 360; monument of, by Canova, 361 XIV, 371; character of, 872, 383, 420; is elected Pope, 375; policy of, 376, 378; hesi- tates to suppress the Jesuits, 381—384; death of, 412; mys- terious cause of the, 414 — 420 Clergy, Roman Catholic, two classes 500 INDEX. of, 178 w. ; subjected to the Jesuits, 272 Coadjutors, 44, 49, 50 Code of legislature for Jesuit schools, 213—215 moral of the Jesuits, 230—252 Coirabra, first college of the Jesuits founded at, 62 College of Cardinals, 253 Colleges of the Society, 39, 48, 62, 90; endowed by Gregory XIII. 150; class of education imparted in, 214; rules for the admission of pupils to, ibid ; internal life of the, 219; discipline in, 221; education of English youths m, 152, 153, 168; established in France, 178, 458; character of, 185; in Germany, 196, 452; in Austria, 200; in Switzerland, 206; in Spain, 451; in Gallicia, 452; in England, 459; in Ireland, 461; in Italy, 484; number of at the time the Society was suppressed, 408 Cologne, Jesuits in, 196 Commerce of the Order, seat of, 277; character of, in Europe, 335, 336 Commotions among the Jesuits, 209 Communism in America, 303 Companions of the Order, 23, 24 Company of Jesus, 45, see "Society of" Conolave, affairs of the, 368—372 Confession, doctrine of, 41, 238 — 244, 287; practised in Jesuit colleges, 220 n., 221 n. Comessors, importance of, 236, 237; influence of, 322; to the Kings of France, 254, 255,267, 271, 272 . influence of, in Portugal, 171; removal of, 335 Congregation of rites, 259, 260 n. Congregations, or assemblies of the Order, 53; origin of the, 217; various denominations of, ibid; abolished by the Parliament, 348 Congregations, general, 53; diffi- culties of assembling, 134; in- fluence of the, 217; decrees of, 277, 278 of the Holy Virgin, 217, 455 provincial, 56 of the Sacred Heart, 455 Congress of Poissey, 143 of Worms, 58 Consalves de Camera, influence of, in Portugal, 171 Conspiracies of the Jesuits la England, 164, 165, 285, 286, 292 in France, 179, 186 in Portugal, 172, 173, 276 Conspirators, trial and execution of, in England, 285, 289 Constitution of the Society, 30; analysis of the, 31 — 33 ; changes in the, 317; exposition of the, 345 Convent of Santa Martha, 59 of Santa Catherine, 59 Converts, Jesuit, 463 CordeUers, Order of, 369 Corsica, Jesuits in, 358 Cotton, Father, apologetic letter of, 255 Council of Poissey, 177 Seize, 182 w. Trent, 143, 144 Court of Rome, struggles with the Jesuits, 235, 328; succumbs to the Order, 322; two distinct powers of the, 363 Cracow, Evangelical Church of, attacked by the Jesuits, 280 Creed, political, of the Jesuits, 191—193, 931 Creighton, conspiracy of, 164 Cretineau-Joly, writings of, 15; on the conspiracies in England, 161, 166; on the "Imago Primi Soeculi," 265; on the conspiracies in Portugal, 271 ; on the conduct INDEX. 501 of the Jesuits in England, 458, 459; on " Puseyisin," 4G4 Cromwell, Jesuits discouraged by, 291 Crusades, 475 Cyran, St., 232, 233 D. Days of the barricades in France, 181 Decrees against the Jesuits in Por- tugal, 342; execution of the, 355 j in England, IGl; in Spain, 351 Democracy, encouraged by the Jesuits, 194 Diet of Nuremberg, 30 Dissensions among the Jesuits, 210 Doctrine of absolution, 13, 243 —245 of confession, 140, 238 243, 287 of equivocation, 244 of free will. 231 of grace, 231 of infallibility, 233, 234 of transgression, 238 Doctrines of the Church of Rome, 13, 18, 40 of the Galilean Church, 177, 178, 179 «. of Jansenius, 233, 234 of the Jesuits, 168, 191, 194, 230—234, 23G— 250 Dominicans oppose the Jesuits, 231 Don Carlos supported by the Jesuits, 451 Pedro, Jesuits expelled from Portugal by, 451 Dress of the Jesuits, 43 Dubarry, Mme de, 386 Du Prat, Bishop of Clermond, esta- blishes the Jesuits in Paris, 84 E. EARTHauAKE of Lisbon, 334 Edict of Nantes, 270 ; revoked, 271 Edicts of Henry VIII, 63 of Queen Elizabeth against the Jesuits, 157 Education of the Jesuits, 48, 196 197 ; the cause of their influence, 213; course of, 221; character of, 222, 224 Election of Generals, 49, 53, 136 145, 149, 256 -of Popes, party struggles for the, 362, 367, 369 Electors, 408 Elizabeth, Queen, persecuted by the Jesuits, 153, 284; character given her by the Catholics, 154 ; pro- jected assassination of, 164, 165; excommunication of, 162; her opinions on the apostacy of Henry IVof France, 183 n. Elliot, conspirators betrayed by, 161 Emancipation Act, tendency of, to check the Jesuits, 462 Emperor, attachment of the Romans to the title, 366 Emperors of Austria, 278, 450 of France, 436, 438,447 448, 455 of Germany, 75, 365, 368 Emeute des Chapeaux, 350 Emmanuel Sa on the " Political Creed" of the Jesuits, 191, 192 Encyclopaedists, 329; attempt to reform the Order, 347; the French revolution ascribed to, 437 England, dawn of the Reformation in, 8 ; mission of the Jesuits to, 63—70, 151—156; conduct of the Jesuits in, 158 — 162, 283; peace of, disturbed by them, 169, 284, 292; present relation of tlie Jesuits to, 194; their plots in, 284 — 296 ; position of, during their suppression, 453 ; Jesuits, 2k 502 INDEX. refugees, admitted to, 459; causes which tend to check their progress in, 462 ; efforts to restore Ro- manism in, 4G4; destruction of, intended by the Jesuits, 465,466; Italy abandoned by, 476 ; Jesuit emissaries in, 464 Epitome of the history of the Jesuits in Portugal, 332—335 Equivocation, Jesuit doctrine of, 244 Escobar, on the moral doctrines of the Jesuits, 236 Estates in England given to the Jesuits, 459 ; consequences of, 460 Establishments of the Order, 366, 410 Europe, state of, in the sixteenth century, 1 ; com.merce of the Jesuits in, 335 — 337 ; moral condition of, at the period of the French revolution, 436, 437 Eve of St. Bartholomew, massacre on the, 148, 159 Excommunication of Queen Eliza- beth, 162; of Henry III of France, ISl ; of the Duke of Parma, 358 Exeter, Lord Bishop of, a supposed member of the secret class, 464 Execution of Jesuits in England, 163, 165 in France, 189 in Portugal, 341 Exercises, religious, in the Church of Rome, 17; for the Novitiates, 46—48 Fathers of the Faith, 422; take part in the French revolution, 455; abolished by Napoieou, ibid Ferdinand aids the Jesuits in per- secuting the Protestants, 278; is again associated with them, 450 Florence, persecution of Protestants at, 477 Florida Blanca, Count, Spanish Ambassador to Rome, 385; his hatred of the Jesuits, 427 Fortis elected General, 449 Founders of colleges, benefits de- rived by, 39 Founders of the Society, 29 France, mission of the Jesuits to, 62; opposes the Order, 83 — 88, 175, 177; progress of the Jesuits in, 178, 181; origin of the civil wars in, 179; expulsion of Jesuits from, 189, 349; readmits them, 224 — 226, 450; influence of the Jesuits in, 253, 266, 272, 274; their overthrow in, 328, 330, 458: causes of the, 329, 343; encourages political reform, 331 ; revolutions in, 436, 455, 457; present position of the Je- suits in, 458, 489. Frederick of Prussia protects the Jesuits, 423 ; explanations of his conduct, 427—429 Free Will, doctrine of, 231 Friburg, college of, founded, 206; present condition of the, 450 ; congregation of, 217 G. Gaeta, Pope Pius IX takes refuge at, 474 Galicia, Jesuits in, 435 ; schools and colleges of, 452 Ganganelli, 369 ; character of, 370, 372, 374 ; elected Pope under the title of Clement XIV, 371, 375; slandered by the Jesuits, 411 ; decline and death of, 413 INDEX. 503 — 420; his successor, 425. See also Clement XIV Garnet, connection of with Gun- powder Plot, 286 Generals of the Order: — Acquaviva, elected, 1581, 210; Barzozowski, 1805, 448; Borgia, 1567, 146; Caraffa, 1646, 317; Czerniwiecz, 432; Fortis, 1820, 449; Gon- zales, 168 7,324; Gottifredi. 1652, 319; Grouba, 1801,432; Koller, 432; Lainez, 1558, 136; Len- keawiecz, 432; Loyola, 1541, 58; Mercurianus, 1572, 150; Nickel, 1652, 319; Noyelle, 1681,324; Oliva, 1664, 320; Piccolomini, 1649, 319; Ricoi, 1758, 357; Rootham, 1829, 458; Tambourini, 1705, 325; Vitelleschi, 1615, 256 powers of, 31—34, 45, 48; election of, 49, 53, 136 ,145, 319; limitation of the office, 137, 212; their influence on the congre- gations, 217; diminished power of, 256; their office in canoni- zation, 311 ?^. Genoa, Jesuits repulsed from, 358 Germany, dawn of the Reformation in, 8; mission of the Jesuits to, 59; decline of the Order in, 75, 76; Jesuit influence in, 194; miseries arising to the country from, 278; Princes of, limit the authority of the Jesuits, 327, 328; Joseph, Emperor of, visits Rome, 365 — 369; Jesuitsdismissedfrom, 452; present position of, ibid Gesu, visit of the Emperor Joseph to the, 366, 367 ; Jesuits reas- sembled at the, 447 Gioberti on the ''Secret Class," 46; on the " Spirit of the Con- stitution," 317; his death, 473w. Goa, arrival of Xavier at, 101 ; character of the inhabitants, 102 Gospels, as translated by the Je- suits, 185 Gottifredi, elected General of the Order, 319 Grace, doctrine of, 231 Great Britain, increased influence of the Jesuits in, 153, 465 Gregory XIII, 149 ; colleges founded by, 150, 153 ; his enmity to England, 159; to John of Sweden, 205 ; assemblies or- ganized by, 217 Grenada, Jesuits in, 139, 287 Grouber, chosen General in Russia, 432, 433 Guise, Duke of, 179; chosen chief of the Holy Alliance, 180; his ambition and death, 181 Guinard executed in France, 189 Gunpowder Plot, connection of the Jesuits with, 283—286; results of the, 292 H. Habeas Corpus Act, origin of the, 292 Hanover, House of, conduct of the Jesuits under the, 459 Henry III of France, 179; cha- racter of, 180, 181 ; death of, 182 IV of Bourbon forms a league with Philip of Spain, 182; abjures the loctrines of Calvin, 183, 270; attempted assassina- tion of, 187, 189 ; re-establishes the Jesuits in France, 225 ; grants letters patent, 254 ; death of, ibid VIII of England and the Jesuits, 63, 64 Hierarchy of the Jesuits, 45, 53 Hindoos, missions of the Jesuits to the, 108, 109 Holland, Jesuits in, 453 Holy Alliance, or League, purport of the, 180 ; members of, ibid 04 INDEX. louses connected with Jesuit Col- leges, 214 of novitiate, 46 of probation, 32 of professed members, 408 luguenots, persecution of the, 270, 273; massacre of, 271 lume on " Babington's Conspi- racy," 167 on the "Jesuit Conspiracies in England," 162,163 L [dolatry, introduced into the Christian form of worship, 108 — 111; practised in America, 307 [gnatius of Loyola, see " Loyola " [gnorance, doctrine of the invin- cibility of, 238, 239 11 Gesuita Moderno, 473 [mages, worship of, taught by the Jesuits, 249 [mago Primi Soeculi, 263, 264 India, Jesuit missions to, 101, 297; influence of the Jesuits in, 128; Jesuit commerce in, 336 Indians, effects of Spanish cruelties on the, 297; drilled by the Jesuits to arms, 305; Jesuit influence over the, 301, 302, 305; revolt of, 333 Ingoldstadt, Jesuit college at, 197 Innocent X, Pope, 233 Inquisition, restored by Loyola, 59; rules of the, 60, 61; working of in Italy, 61 ; in Spain, 148, 209 Inquisitors, appointment of, 60 Inspruck, Jesuit college of, 452 Institute, Jesuit, established by Par- liament, 348 Institutions, founded by Loyola in Rome, 59 — religious, of the Jesuits, 455 Instructions, gratuitously imparted by the Jesuits, 198, 327; design of, 213; character of the, 221 Insurrections in America, 333 in England, 63, 285 in France, 273 in Madrid, 350, 451 Interim, published by Charles V, 75 Intrigues of the Court of Rome, 363, 364 Ireland, Jesuits sent to, 64; their design and work in, 68; renewed mission to, 151 ; Jesuit college in, 461 ; rapid increase of the Jesuits in, 462 Isabella Rosello, see "Rosello" of Spain, opposed by the Jesuits, 451 Italians, their hatred to the Order, 449, 450 Italy, the centre of civilization, 6; restoration of the Inquisition in, 62; influence of the Jesuits in, 253; political reform encouraged in, 331; Jesuits expelled from, 357, 358, 473; re-established in, 447; present power of the Jesuits in, 469, 471; state of before the pontificate of Pius IX, 470, 471; civil wars in, 474 — 478 James II, reign of, 293 VI, designs of the Jesuits on, 164, 284; his connection with, 169 Jansenism, origin of, 232 Jansenius, 232; persecution of, 268, 273 Japan, Jesuit mission to, 104; cha- racter of the Japanese, ibid Jesuits, origin of the, 24; require- ments of, 34, 35, 38; dress of, 43; characteristics of the, 67, INDEX. 505 195, 493, 495 ; works of, G8, G9; causes of their success, 90; imu^o- rality of, 140—143; wealth of, 150, 493; influence of, over the minds of youth, 169; political creed of, 150, 191—193, 194; reflections on the influence and conduct of, throughout Europe, 207, 208; internal commotions of the Order, 209 ; influence of, 213, 217, 266, 312, 458; ascen- dancy of over all other powers, 218, 253; moral code of the, 231; principal seat of their power, 254; commerce of, 277, 335 — 338; conduct of, during the Thirty Years' War, 278, 279; causes of the discord between them and other orders, 311; causes of their decline, 315, 326—329; attach- ment of, to the Order, 321; golden age of, 322; condition of, in the seventeenth century, 323; downfall of, 326—329; expelled from Portugal, 343; from France, 348, 349; from Spain, 350, 351, 358; refused admission to the Papal dominions, 357, 358; re- ceived into Corsica, 358; abolition of the, 376; suppressed by the Pope, 380, 387; condition of the, after their suppression, 422 — 435; re-establishment of, 436 — 467; the natural enemies of liberty, 438; present designs of, 454; their position in and after the year 1848, 469, 491 Jesuits in America, 398, 301, 333 in Austria, 200 in England, 155—168, 170, 194, 283, 284, 291 in France, 176 — 179, 182, 184—189, 224, 271—274, 328— 330, 349 in Germany, 194, 198 — 202, 278, 327 in Great Britain, 153 Jesuits in Poland, 202, 203, 253, 280, 282 in Portugal, 171, 172, 253, 275, 277, 331, 334, 342 in Prussia, 423—429 in Russia, 423, 430, 431 ■ in Sardinia, 448 in Scotland, 152, 169 in Sicilv, 433 in Siles'ia, 424, 433 in Spain, 209, 350, 450, 451 in Sweden, 195, 205 in Switzerland, 205 in the Venetian States, 226 in White Russia, 430, 433 under the House of Hanover, 459, 462, 469 under Mazzarini, 267 under Richelieu, 266, 267 Jesuitism, progress of, 58, 59; true spirit of, 277, 311; compared with Protestantism, 464; spread of, in England, 460; decline of, in Germany, 75; in Spain, 78 — 81; in Portugal, 82; in France, 83 John III, of Portugal, 171 of Sweden, subverts Protest- antism and aids the Jesuits, 203; vaccilation of, 204, 205 Joseph I, of Portugal, 175; at- tempted assassination of, 339, 340 II, of Germany, 365; de- signs of on Papal power, 367 Julius Caesar, see " Caesar" Justitia Britannica, 163 K. Kenney, Father, President of Jesuit colleges in Ireland, 461 King of the Jesuits, 202 Kings, Jesuit, of Poland, 202, 282 of Portugal, 175 KoUer, General of the Order, 432 •6 INDEX. .CHAISE, Pere, 270 croix on the " Political Creed" of the Jesuits, 193 inez, a companion of Loyola, 23; accompanies him to Rome, 26 ; erects a convent in Venice, 62 ; appointed Vicar-General, 133, 136 ; attends the Congress of Poissy, 143; assembles the Coun- cil of Trent, ibid ; character and death of, 144; instigates the per- secution of the Waldenses, 206 ; his successor, 145 mbertini, 338 vallette, Father, 38 ; character of, 344, 345 ws enacted in England against the Jesuits, 167, 292 — issued in France against the Jesuits, 189 :ague, or "Holy Union," 179; chief of, elected, 180; object of the, ibid; termination of the, 184 ; part taken by the Jesuits in, 185 ;fevre, a Companion of the Order, 23; one of its founders, 28; mission of, to Spain, 58 !gends of Loyola, 22 n., 23 n. 'ghorn, Jesuits repulsed from, 358 ; becomes an Austrian port, 477 ;jay, mission of, to Germany, 59 ;o X, character of, 7 ;opold, Duke of Tuscany, 365; admits the Jesuits, 486 !panto, battle of, 148 jtellier, 272, 273 ;ttre de cachet, 272 n. berals, Jesuits opposed to, 438 ; hatred of Pope Pius IX to, 474 sbon, the seat of Jesuit commerce, 277 ; great earthquake in, 334 terature, importance of, 222 verpool, Jesuits established at, 459 Lombardy, Jesuits in, 487 Loyola, Ignatius, biography of, 10, 21, 23; writings of, 14 — 17, 30 w. ; visions of, 15; pilgrim- age of, 21 ; his attempts at pro- selytism, 22 ; disciples of, 24, 28; vows of, 24, 25 ; elected First General of the Order, 57; insti- tutions founded by, 59 ; character of, 90; his correspondence with the Sovereigns of Europe, 93; illness and death of, 93, 94; canonized as a saint, 262 ; statue of, 367 ; state of the Society at his death, 408 ; his chief aim, 493 Louis XIII, Jesuit influence under, 266 XIV, confessors of, 267, 272 ; assumes the Government, 269 ; marries Madame de Maintenon, 272 XV supports the Jesuits, 330; character of, 346 Napoleon, see " Napo- leon " Louvaine, Jesuit college first founded at, 62 Lucerne invaded by the Jesuits, 458 Luther, excommunication of, 8 ; doctrines of, 232 Luynes, Cardinal, 346 M. Madiais, offence and punishment of the, 487 Madrid, insurrection of the Jesuits in, 350, 451 • Maintenon, Madame de, 270, 272 Malabar, mission of Xavier to, 103 Malacca, Jesuit mission to, 104 Malta, commerce of the Jesuits in, 337 Manifesto against the Confessors, 335 ITs-DEX. 507 Manifesto against the Jesuits in Portugal, 342 Marca, Archbishop of Toulouse, persecutes the Jesuits, 2G9 Mariana, John, on the '* Political Creed" of the Jesuits, 192 Martyrs of the Society, 2G2, 408 Mary of England receives the Je- suits, 152 of Scotland, 162 Mass, benefits procured by, 46 Massacre of the Huguenots, 271 on St, Bartholomew's Eve, 159 ; consequences of the, 179 Maynooth, college of, 461 !Mazzarini, 267 Memorial of the Jesuits in England to the Pope, 163, 285 Mercurianus elected General, 149; character and death of, 150; submission of the Jesuits to, 209 Mctternich refuses to admit the Jesuits to Austria, 452 INIissionaries, Jesuit, first sent to England, 64—66 ISIissions of the Jesuits in America, 301—313 in China, 105, 297 in England, 151, 171 in Europe generally, 62 in France, 179 in Germany, 75 to the Holy Land, 24, 25 in India, 96—129, 297 in Ireland, 152 in Portugal, 171 — 175 in Scotland, 152, 169 • political, of the Jesuits to England, 63 Modena, Jesuits in, 469 Mohilow, Bishop of, 431 Molina, on the doctrine of Free Will, 231 Molinism, 231 Monastery of Port Royal, destruc- tion of, 274 Monasteries, 369 n. Monks, Benedictine, 466 Month of INIary, or period conse- crated to the vporship of the Vir- gin, 249 Morality of the Jesuits, 238 Morals, Jesuit Code of, 230 — 252 N. Nantes, edict of, passed, 270; revoked, 271 Naples, political reform encouraged in, 331; Jesuits expelled from, 358; re-established in, 485; government of, 486 Napoleon, fall of, 436; causes of the, 447, 448; Jesuits encouraged by, 455 Louis, his connection vpith the Jesuits, 438, 454, 491; sup- ports the Pope in the late revo- lution, 475 Nevil, the conspirator, 165 Nickel, General, 319; is deposed, 320 Nobili, Father, 108 Norwich, Jesuits established in, 459 Novices, 46 Novitiates, 408, 451 Noyelli, General, 324 Nuns, 233; persecution of, 209, 270 O. Oates, character and plot of, 292, 293 Officers of the Order, 38, 54—56 Oldcorne, Father, 289 n. Oiiva, General, 320; character of, 508 INDEX. 321; corresponds with tlie sove- reigns of Europe, 322 Olivarez, attacks the Jesuits, 389 Order of Cordeliers, 369 of Franciscans, 3G9, 371 of Jesuits, origin of the, 9; founders of the, 29; generals of the, see ** Generals;" companions of the, 23; assemblies of the, 53; progress of the, 57, 62; causes which led to its ultimate destruc- tion, 228, 325 — 327; new phase of the history of, 253; reform of, demanded, 346; abolition of, 348, 350, 355, 362; suppression of, 360, 382, 383; policy of the, 433; re-establishment of, in Rome, 439; present designs of, 466 of Theatines, 25 Orders suppressed by the Popes, 389 religious, instituted ty the Jesuits, 455 Oudinot, General, 475, 479 P. Padua, Jesuit college founded at, 62 Palafox, Bishop, history of, 309 Palestine, pilgrimage of Loyola to, 21, 26 Pampeluna, Loyola wounded at the siege of, 1 1 Papists, 293; eiforts of the, to re- store Romanism into England, 464 Paraguay, Jesuits established at, 301 Paris, operations of the League in, 181; siege of, 184 Parma, Jesuits expelled from, 358 Duke of, excommunicated, 359 Parry, William, his project to assassinate Queen Elizabeth, 164; trial and execution of, 165 Parson, heads the Jesuit mission to England, 154, 155; is persecuted by the English, 160; escapes to France, 164; attempt to dispose of the crown, 284 Pascal, on " Invincible Ignorance," 240; exposes the Jesuit consti- tution, 345 Pasquier, on "the Jesuits in Por- tugal," 172, 173 Passports, spiritual, granted by the Jesuits, 323, 324 Paul III, 28 ; issues a bull in favour of the Jesuits, 62; sends Jesuits to Ireland, 64 IV, CarafFa, 24, 25; opposes the Jesuits, 94; at war with Spain, 133; death of, 139 V, 232 Pellico, Francis, on the " Secret Class," 46 Percv, reveals the Gunpowder Plot, 285 Persecutions of the Protestants in France, 159, 179,269—271; in Germany, 201, 278, 279; in the Papal States, 477; in Poland, 202, 280; in WiJna, 280 Piiilip II, 136; opposes the Jesuits, 140; is crowned King of Portugal, 174; joins the League, 182; character of, 267 Ill, Jesuit influence under, 275 IV, 274 of Orleans, made Regent of France, 330 Philosophers, 6 Piccolomini, 278; elected General, 319 Piedmont, exclusion of the Jesuits from, 487, 488 Pierre CarrafFa, see Paul IV Pilgrimages ot Loyola, 21, 24, 26 Pius V, character of, 146; subjects the Jesuits to monastic duties. INDEX. 509 148; issues a bull against Queen EUzabeth, 153 Pius VI, 42(i VII, 438; the Order of Jesuits re-established by, 439; is wor- shipped by the people, 447 IX, auspicious commencement of his reign, 471; his struggles with the Jesuits, 472 — 474; flies to Gaeta, 474; restoration of, 481 Poland, works of the Jesuits in, 194, 202; their supremacy in, 253; persecution of the Protest- ants in, 380, 381; expulsion of the Jesuits from, 435 Policy of the Society, great change in the, 224 Pombal, Marquis of, 332; heroic conduct of, in the great earth- quake, 334; increasing power of, 335; opposes the Jesuits, 339; issues a decree for their expulsion from Portugal, 343; attempts to reform the Order, 34 7 Pompadour, Madame de, 343; op- poses the Jesuits, 346; her suc- cessor, 386 Pontecorvo, seized by the French, 359 Popery, means by which it has been preserved in England, 285 decline of, in France, 490 decline of, in Italy, 490 Pope Adrian VI, 30 Benedict, 128, 328, 338 Clement VIII, 231, 232 XIII, 338, 339 XIV, 371, 372, 381 —385, 412—420 Gregory XIII, 149, 153, 159 Innocent X, 233 Pius V, 146, 148, 153 VI, 426 VII, 438, 439, 447 IX, 471—474, 481 Sixtus V, 182 Urban, 233 Popes of Rome, 6; infallibility of, 233; secular power of, 361; election of, 369 Port Royal, sisterhood of, 233, 269, 270; monastery of, 274 Portugal, Jesuits in, 82, 171, 332 — 335; their supremacy in, 253; conspiracies in, 275, 276; poli- tical reform encouraged in, 331; possessions of, in America, ex- changed with Spain, 333; Jesuits expelled from, 342 ; re-established in, 451 Possevin, persecutes the Waldenses, 207 Postulants, rules for the admissioa of, 31—33, 37 Poverty of the Jesuits, 38 Prague, Jesuit assembly in, 217 Preston, Jesuits established in, 459 Priests of the Order, 40; their influence over the people, 217 Printing, introduction of, 9 Probabilism, Jesuit doctrine of, 237, 241; eff'ects of, 244, 245 Procession to the Church of Gesii, 59 Processions, Catholic, 131, 132 Proclamations, 157, 160 issued in England against the Jesuits, 161 abolishing the Order in Spain, 35] Professed, Jesuit class of the, 50; admission of, to the Order, ibid; vows taken by the, 51; increased numbers of the, 316 Professio Fidei, restored in Ger- many, 199 Proselytism, Jesuit, 463, 464, 466 Protestantism, early characteristics of, 58; powerfully opposed by the Jesuits, 195; reaction against in Germany, 199; extirpated from the Imperial cities, 201; sub- verted in Poland, 203, 280—282; attacked in Sweden, 203; re- established, 204; attacked in 510 INDEX. England by the Puseyites, 264 — 266; results of these contests on, 235 Protestants, projected massacre of, by the Papists, 156; persecution of, by Pope Gregory, 159; en- couraged in France, 179; per- secution of, by the Jesuits, 20 1 , 202, 269—271, 278, 279, 280; extirpation of, enjoined on Catholic priests, 466; duty of, in the pre- sent religious crisis, 467 educated in Jesuit col- leges, 198 massacre of the, 159 in France, 179, 269— in Germany, 201,278, in Poland, 202, 280— 282 Provincials, election of, 55 Prussia, Jesuits admitted to, 423, 429; late king of, 452 Purgatory, doctrine of, 40 — 42; propounded by Father Maldonat, 179 n. Pusey, Dr., a supposed member of the Fifth Secret Class, 464 Puseyites, progressive work of the, 464; similarity of, to Jesuitism, ibid Pythoness, the, of Velantano, 413 271 279 Q. Qui NET, on the sions," 306 Paraguay Mis- R. Raggonico, character of, 338 Ranke, on the " State of Religion in America," 298 ; on the " Com- merce of the Jesuits,*' 336; on the " Expulsion of the Jesuits from Spain," 352 Ratio Studiorum, or Code of School Legislature, 213; importance of the, 224; condemned by the In- quisition, 231 Ravaillac, the assassin of Henry TV, 254; Jesuits accused as his ac- complices, ibid Rectors, appointment of, 38, 49, 55 Reductions, or Village Missions, 302; life in the, 303, 304; government of the, 305, 306; insurrections in the, 333 Re- establishment of the Jesuits in France, 436 ■ of the Jesuits in Rome, 439 — 447; consequences of the, 447 Reform, political, encouraged by the sovereigns of Europe, 33 Reformation, dawn of the, 6 ; pro- gress of, in Europe, 8,30; opposed by the Jesuits, 90, 95, 235; re- sults of, in Germany, 199 Regalisti of the Court of Rome, 363 Regeneration, doctrine of, 18 Relics, restoration of, in Germanj?-, 199, 200 Religion of the Jesuits, 194; taught in schools, 216; superstitions of the, 308 Republic, veneration of the Romans for the, 366 Venetian, Jesuits expelled from the, 227 Reservation, mental, encouraged in confession, 244 Restrictions imposed on the Jesuits in France, 177 Revolution of 1688, in England, 294 ; causes of the, ibid of 1830, prepared by the Jesuits, 454; causes of the, 457 French, conduct of the Jesuits in the, 436, 455 INDEX. 511 Revolution in Rom^, 170, 171} causes of the, 475 ; results of the, 476, 477 Rheims, Jesuit college at, 1G8 Ricci, General, 348; efforts of, to save the Society, 357; denies the wealth of the Jesuits, 410; is sent prisoner to the Castle of St. Angelo, 411; death of, 430 Richelieu, Cardinal, 233; Jesuit influence under, 26G, 267 Riots in England, 1G9 Rochelle, siege of, 270 Rodolph 11, persecutes the Protest- ants in German j% 201 Rodriguez, conversion of, to Jesuit- ism, 23; mission of, to Portugal, 59; recall of, 82 Romanism, restored in Germany, 201 in Poland, 202 in Sweden, 203 Romans, opposition of, to the Jesuits, 472; gallant defence of their country by, 476 Rome, charitable institutions of, 59; opposition to the Jesuits in, 89; Jesuit influence in, 384; return of the Jesuits to, 447; the ruin of England desired by, 465 ; Jesuits expelled from, 473 ; civil wars in, 475 ; entered by the French, 478, 479 Rosaries, use of, vindicated, 249 Rossi, mission of, to Rome, 457, 458 Rules for the admission of Postu- lants, 31, 32, 37 for the expulsion of mem- bers, 42 of the Inquisition, 61 of the Jesuit schools, 213, 215 to be observed in making saints, 257, 262 Russia, Jesuits protected in, 423, 430 ; progress of the Society in, 432 ; Jesuits expelled from, by Alexander, 433—435 S. Saints, Catholic, requisitions for, 14 Jesuit, 35, 257 ; canoni- zation of, 258—262, 301 71, ; number of, at the suppression of the Order, 408 Saldanha, Cardinal, censures the Jesuits, 338 Salmeron, mission of, to Ireland, 64 Saragossa, opposition to the Jesuits in. 81 Sardinia, Jesuit King of, 448 Scholastics, or. Scholars, 44 ; Clas- sification of, 49; vows of the, ibid ; mode of training, 214, 215; studies of the, 221 School of St. Cyran, 233 Schoolmasters, Jesuit, 216 Schools of the Order, 39; profes- sors of the, 196; code of legis- lation for, 213; masters of the, 217; influence of the, 455 for the poor, 197 ; servants educated in, 455 Sicily, Jesuits in, 433 Scotland, missions of the Jesuits to, 152; their influence in, 169 Secreta Monita, the, 250; reason why they are believed to be apo- cryphal, 251 Secret Class of the Jesuits, 45, 462; supposed members of, in England, 4 64 Sherwin, trial and execution of, 163 Siege of Paris, 184 Siestrencewiecz, 431 Sigismond, King of Sweden, sup- ports the Jesuits, 195 ; is nomi- nated their King, 202; succeeds John III, 205 Silesia, Jesuits in, 424, 425 Simoncelli, 484 Simony, sin of, 373, 374 Sin, Jesuit notions of, 233 Sinigallia, execution at, 481, 484 512 INDEX. Sixtus V, 184 J supports the League, 188 ; takes part with Acquaviva, 211 Sisters of Port Royal, 233 ; per. secution of, 274 of the Sacred Heart, 455 Society of Jesus, 24; founders of the," 29 ; constitution of tlie, 44, 316, 318; great change in the policy of the, 224 ; overgrowing influence of, 253 ; authenticity of the, 263 ; attachment of members to the, 321 ; destruction of, 325; reformation of, 346 ; suppression of, 374; progress of the, 407; origin of, 408; re-establishment of, 439 ; character of, 494 established in Spain, 209 ; abolished from >painj 350 abolished in France, 348 Sovereignty, supported by the Jesuits, 195; Jesuit doctrine of, 493 Spain, success of the Jesuits in, 62; oppositions raised against them in, 78; works of the Inquisition in, 148; General Acquiviva's in- fluence in, 228, 274; political reform encouraged in, 331 ; Ame- rican possessions of, exchanged with Portugal, 333 ; Jesuits ex- pelled from, 350; restored to, 450 Speculations, commercial, of the Jesuits, 336 Spies of the Jesuits, 35; payment of, 45 Spiritual Exercises, origin of the book of, 15; quotations from the, 16 — 20; opinions of Cardinal Wiseman on the, ibid; the work submitted to the Inquisition, 89 Squillace, Minister of Spain, 331 St. Bartholomew's Eve, 159 St. Cyran, Abbot of, 232; school ] of, 233 St. Petersburgh, Jesuits expelled from, 434 St. Thomas, theology of, 230 States of the Church, seized from the Jesuits, 359; miserable con- dition of the, 479 Roman, political trials in the, 482 Venetian, expulsion of the Jesuits from the, 227; their return to the, 228 Stoneyhurst, settlement of the Jesuits at, 459, 460 Styria, Jesuits in, 452 Sully, on the recall of the Jesuits to France, 225, 226 Superiors, appointment of, 49; duties of, 55; immorality of, 319 Superstitions of the Jesuits, 197 Suppression of the Jesuits, 380 — 383 ; powers united in the accom- plishment of the, 386; brief for the, 387, 406; conduct of the Jesuits during the period of, 422 Sweden, teachings of the Jesuits in, 194; becomes a Romish province, 203; restoration of, to the Pro- testants, 204 Switzerland, dawn of the Reform- ation in, 8 ; invaded by the Jesuits, 450, 458; Jesuits esta- blished in, 306 T. Tambourini, elected General, 325 Tanucci, Minister of Spain, 331 Tavora, Marquis of, accused of assassinating the king, 340; per- secution of the family of, ibid Marchioness of, executed, 341 Theatines, origin and doctrines of the Order, 25 I Theologians, Jesuit, 235 INDEX. ;i3 Theology of the Jesuits, 230 Thiers, Jesuits opposed by, 457 Thirty Years' War, 278; advan- tages derived by the Jesuits from the, 279 Thomists, doctrines of the, 232 Tilly, 278 Toledo, opposition to the Jesuits in, 80 Torrigiani, Cardinal, 339 Touron, Cardinal, Pope's Legate to India, 114; decree of, forbidding Malabar rites, 115 — 117; mission of, to China, 123; banishment of, 125; imprisonment and death of, 127 Transgression, doctrine of, 238 Trials, political, in the Roman States, 482—484 Tuscany, Jesuits in, 486 ; persecu- tion of Christians in, 487 U. Universities, Jesuit, 196 University of Cracow, letter of, addressed to the University of Louvain, 281 of Louvain, 281 Urban VlII, Pope, 233 V. VAsauEZ, Gabriel, on the "Political Creed " of the Jesuits, 192 Venice, Jesuit power in, 227 Verger de Hauranne, Abbot of St. Cyran, 232 Verona, persecution of Protestants at, 4 77 Vicar-General, appointment of, 320 of Russia, 431 Vienna, Jesuit schools of, 197 Virgin Mary, the worship of, taught by the Jesuits, 247—250 Vitelleschi elected General of the Order, 256; character of, 316; influence of the General's decline during his Generalate, 317 Voltaire, character of, 347 Vows of the Coadjutors, 56 Jesuits, 24, 26; for- mula of the, 47 Novices, 46 Professed, 51, 52 Scholars, 46 Voyages of Lainez, 143 W. Waldenses, characteristics of the, 206; persecution of, by the Jesuits, 207, 453 Wall, Minister of Spain, 431 Walsingham aids Parry's conspi- racy against Queen Elizabeth, 166 War between Sweden and Poland, 205 declared against Rome, 422 Wars of the Jesuits, 278, 279, 422 Wars, Civil, in France, 179 ; origin of the, ibid ; projected by the Pope, 182; termination of the 183 in Rome, 475—480 in Switzerland, 206, 458 ; instigated by the Jesuits, ibid Wealth of the Jesuits, 39, 408; means by which it is acquired, 40, 42, 150, 279; effects of the, 82 ; estimate of 409, 491 ; sources of, ibid Weeks of spiritual exercises, 16 — 18 Weld, Mr., estates in England pre- 514 INDEX. sented to the Jesuits by, 459; son of, enters the Order, 460 West Indies, commerce of the Je- suits in the, 336 White Russia, Jesuits in, 430, 433 Wihia, persecution of the Protes- tants in, 280 William, King of Nassau, treach- ery of the Jesuits to, 453 Wiseman, Cardinal, on the " Spi- ritual Exercises," 16; mission of, to England, 64 Worship of images encouraged, 249 of the Virgin Mary incul- cated by the Jesuits, 247 Writers, Jesuit, 222 Writings of the Jesuits, 224, 247 Xavier, Francis, a Companion of the Order, 23 ; mission of, to Portugal, 59; character of, 98; mission of, to India, 99, 100; his conduct at Goa, 101 ; his mis- sion to the coast of Malabar, 103 ; to China, 105 ; exertions of, to convert idolaters, 102 ; illness and death of, 106 ; canonization of, 257, 262 Ximenes, Cardinal, college erected by, at Alcala, 22 Y. Year, secular, solemnization of the, 263 Yorkshire, estates in, presented to the Jesuits, 459, 460 Zelanti, of the Court of Rome, 363 PRINTED BY HARRISON AND SONS, LONDON GAZETTE OFFICE, ST. MARTIN's LANE. MESSRS. BELL AND DALDY'S CATALOGUE OF BOHFS YAKIOUS LIBEAEIES THEIR OTHER COLLECTIONS, WITH A CLASSIFIED^NDEX. LONDON : No. 186, FLEET STEEET, AND 6, YOEK STEEET, COVENT GAEDEN. 1864. BOHN'S VARIOUS LIBRARIES. A comi^lete Set, in 483 Volumes, price 1211. 13s. No. of olunies. SEPAKATE LIBKAKIES. Price £ s. d. 150 Standard Library (including the Atlas to Coxe's Marlborough) 26 15 13 Historical Library 3 5 6 Library of French Memoirs .... 1 1 43 Uniform with the Standard Library 8 3 6 19 Philological Library 4 29 British Classics 5 1 6 8 Ecclesiastical Library 2 40 Antiquarian Library 10 74 Cheap Series 5 19 6 76 Illustrated Library 19 9 89 Classical Library ''including the Atlas) 21 18 6 63 Scientific Library 16 4 IN PEEPARATION, MISS AGNES STEICKLANDS LIVES OF THE QUEENS OF England. A Popular Eevised Edition, in six volumes (Historical Library). LOWNDES'S BIBLIOGEAPHEK'S MANUAL, Appendix Vol. con- taining the Lists of Books published by various Societies and Clubs, (Philological Library). FOSTEE'S MISCELLANEOUS WOEKS, including his Essay on Doddridge, &c. (^Standard Library). FESTUS, A POEM, by P. J. BAILEY. Seventh Edition, Eevised. ({Jniform with the Standard Library). NOTICE. Messrs. Bell and Daldy beg to announce that they have purchased of Mr. H. G. Bohn, who is preparing to retire fiom business, after forty years of successful enterprise, the entire stock of his various Libraries, consisting of more than 600 different works, and comprising nearly half a million of volumes. These Libraries have been created by Mr. Bohn during the past twentj^ years by an amount of energy and industry, bibliographical knowledge and literary skill never before united with the requisite amount of capital ; and they repre- sent an accumulation of valuable works unexampled in the history of literary undertakings. Though Mr. Bohn was not the first to recognize the power of cheapness as applied to the production of books, he was the first to address his efforts exclusively to works of a standard character and enduring interest. He threw himself into the movement with characteristic energy ; and in developing his aim he is known by those who have watched the progress of cheap literature to have distanced- all competitors. During the time that his Libraries have been before the public, he has carried into all classes in all parts of the world where the English language is under- stood an unexampled choice of books, not only for students and scholars, but for readers who merely seek amusement. Such a choice, so varied, and at so low a price, does not exist in this country or elsewhere ; and Mr. Bohn is entitled to the gratitude of all who value the humanizing effects of literature. Since the commencement of these Libraries at B 2 IV NOTICE. least three million volumes have been issued, and these may fairly be taken to represent thirty million readers. In accepting the responsibility of so large an under- taking, Messrs. Bell and Daldy desire to carry on the pro- jects of Mr. Bohn with the same spirit and energy which have influenced him, and they are happy to announce they will have the advantage of his bibliographical knowledge and large experience. In addition to the Libraries of Mr. Bohn, this Catalogue comprises the various Collections published by Messrs. Bell and Daldy during the last nine years, and now in progress. These Libraries and Collections together afford a choice from about 800 volumes on general literature and educa- tion. To assist purchasers in making their selections a classi- fied index is attached, by which they will be guided to the subjects of the books. Messrs. Bell and Daldy venture to add, that the Aldine Poets, Aldine Series, British Worthies, Elzevir Series, and Pocket Volumes, are specially prepared for the lovers of choice books, and are specimens of careful editing combined with the most finished workmanship in all external features. They believe that they are not surpassed in these respects by any similar productions of the present day. Many of the above works are adapted for prizes and presents ; and they may be had through any bookseller, bound in a suitable stj-le, by giving a short notice. CLASSIFIED INDEX. ASIUSKSfENTS. Angler, Walton . . . ' , 31 Angler's Manual, Hofland Chess Congress . . . Games of, Morphy • Player's Companion Handbook . Praxis, Staunton . Tournament . . Games, Handbook of Manly Exercises, Walker Shooting, Kecreations iu Art, Didron's Iconography Holbein's Bible Cuts Dance of Death Lanzi's Painting . . . Lectures on Painting Michael Angelo and Raphael Reynolds' (Sir J.) Works Schlegel's Esthetic Works Stanley's Synopsis of Painters Vasari's Lives of the Painters Atlases. Classical Geography . . Long Grammar School Atlas . Marlborough's Campaigns Biography. Burke's Life .... Cellini, Memoirs of . . Fosters Life, &c. . . . Franklin's Autobiography Irving's Life and Letters Johnson's Life, &c Locke's Life and Letters Luther's Life, Michelet . Nelson's Life, Southey . Pope's Life, Carruthers . Walton's Lives . . . Washington's Life . . Wellington, Life of . . British Classics. Addison's Works . . Burke's Works . . Speeches . , Milton's Prose Works Divi>'rrT. Butler's Analogy . . and Sermons Sermons Works , Chillingworth's Religion of testants . . . . , Gregory's Evidences . Henry on the Psalms Kittos Scripture Lands , Krummacher's Parables Neander's Christian Dogmas Christian Life page 41, 42 . 17 . 38 . 40 . 40 . 40 . 40 . 40 . 38 . 31 . 30 . 27 . 27 . 27 . 12 . 39 . 28 . 13 . 14 . 40 . 15 . 46 . 47 . 10 19 . 10 . 23 17, 24 . 23 . 12 . 12 30, 41 . 30 41, 42 17,24 . 31 Pro- PAGE Divinity — c Travels. Anglo-Saxons, Miller . . . . 2S Antiquities, Popular, Brand . . 21 Arabs in Spain, Condd .... 9 Christianity, First Planting of, Neander 13 Chronicles. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Bede Florence of Worcester's Geoffrey de Vinsauf Heniy of Huntingdon's Ingulph's Chronicle Matthew of Paris . . AVestmmster Athenasus Bion Callimachus 34 Demosthenes' Orations ... 16, 33 Diogenes Laertius 34 Euripides 34 Heliodorus 34 Herodotus 34 Analysis of .... 18 Notes 1« Hesiod Homer's Iliad .... Pope . . Odyssey . . . Pope . Longus 34 Moschus 36 Philo-Judffius 20 Pindar 35 Plato 35 Sophocles 36 Theocritus 36 Theognis 34 Thucydides 36 Analysis of .... 19 Tyrtaeus 36 Xenophon 36 Historical Memoirs. Carafas of Maddalonl 9 Coxe's Life of :]tLirlborough . . 10 Memoirs of the House of Austria 10 Guizot's Life of Monk .... 24 Monk's Contemporaries . 24 Irving's Life of Washington . 17, 24 James's Louis XIV 11 Richard Coeur de Leon . 11 Kossuth, Memoirs of .... 11 Lodge's Portraits of Illustrious Per- sonages 28 Memoir of Colonel Hutcninson . 11 Duke of Sully ... 16 Richard of Devizes . Roger de Hovenden Six Old English Chronicles. William of'Malniesbury Chronological Tables, Blair . Church History, Neander . Civilization, Guizot . Conquest of England, Thierry Diary, Evelyn Pepys Ecclesiastical History, Bede . . Eusebius . Ordericus Vi- talis Socrates — _ • Sozomen Theodoret & Evagrius . Egypt, Lepsius 22 England, History of, Hughes . . 48 Hume ... 48 . Smollett . . 48 English Constitution, Delolme . .10 Revolution of 1640, Guizot 11 Florence, Machiavelli .... 12 French Revolution of 1848, Lamar- tine 12 French Revolution, Michelet . . 12 Mignet ... 12 Smyth ... 14 Germany, Menzel 12 Giraldus Cambrensis, Historical Works 21 Girondists, Lamartine .... 12 History Philosophically Considered, Miller 17 Hungary, History of H Index of Dates 37 India, Conquest of. Hall . . . . 41 Jesuits, History of, Nlcolini . . 29 Modern History, Schlegel ... 14 Smyth .... 14 Naples under Spanish Dominion . 9 CLASSIFIED INDEX. VI 1 History akd Travet^s — continued. Naval Jkttles, Allen .... 26 Nineteenth Century, Gcrvimis . . 24 Northern Antiquities, Mallet . . 22 Philosophy, Tenneman .... 19 of History, Hegel . . 18 Schlegel . 14 Popes, Ranke 13 Pretenders, Jesse 15 Representative Government, Guizot 11 Restoration of the Monarchy, La- martine 12 Revolution, Counter, in England, Carrel 9 Roman Empire, Gilibon .... 20 Republic, Michelet . . . 12 Russia, Histoiy of 13 Saracens, Ockley 13 Servia, Ranko 13 Stuarts, Jesse 15 Three Months in Power, Lamarthie 25 Tiers Etat, Thierry 15 Travels, Early, in Palestine . . 21 in America, Humboldt . 39 of Marco Polo .... 22 Wellington, Victories of ... 28 Italian (the) Translations fkom. Ariosto's Orlando Furiosa . . 26 Dante, Gary 16 Wright 26 Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered . . 31 Latin Authors. Caesar, De Bello Gallico . . . 46, 47 Bks. 1-3 ... 46 Cicero's Cato Major . . . Orations .... Horace 45, Juvenal, Satires, 1-16 . . . — and Persius . . . Lucretius Ovid's Fasti Sallust Tacitus, Germania, &c. . . . Terence Virgil Latin (the). Translations from. Ammianus Marcellinus . . . Antoninus's Thoughts . . . Apuleius, the Golden Ass . . Boethius Cjesar Catullus Cicero's Academics, &c. . . . . Nature of the Gods, &c Ofaces, &c On Oratory .... Orations Cornelius Nepos Eutropius Florus Horace IT Johannes Secundus Justin Juvenal Livy pagb Latin (thk) Translations from — C07I tin lied. Lucan 35 Lticllius 34 Lucretius 35 Martial's Epigrams 35 Ovid 35 Persius 34 Petronius 35 Phiedrus 36 Plautus 35 Pliny's Natural History .... 35 I'ropertius 35 Quintilian's Institutes .... 36 Sallust 36 Suetonius 36 Sulpicia 34 Tacitus . 36 Terence 36 Tibullus 33 Velleius Paterculus 36 Virgil 36 Literary History, &c. Lowndes's Bibliographer's Manual 18 Schlegel's History of Literature . 14 Sismondi's Literature of South of Europe 14 M ISCELL A NEOUS. Ascham's Scheie Master ... 45 Bacon's Essays 9. 44 Browne's (Sir T.) Works ... 21 Cape and the Kaffirs 23 Coin Collector's Manual, Hum- phreys 39 Cotton Manufactures, Ure ... 40 Cruikshank's Three Courses, &c. • 26 Dictionary of Obsolete Words . . 19 Emerson's Orations and Lectures . 23 Representative Men . 23 Epitaphs 21 Foster's Essays, &c 10 Lectures, &c 10 Miscellaneous Works . . 10 Fosteriana 10 Fuller's Works 10 Gray's Works 44 Hall's (Basil) Lieutenant ... 41 Midshipman ... 41 (Robert) Works .... 11 Herbert's Works 41,42 Jesse's Dogs, &c 27 Junius's Letters 11 Lion Hunting 25 lAjcke's Conduct, &c 45 Luther's Table Talk 12 Ma'4c (Ennemoser's) 38 Manufactures (Philosophy of), TJre 40 Moral Sentiments, Smith ... 14 Political Cyclopaedia 18 Pottery and Porcelain .... 30 Preachers and Preaching ... 25 Prout's (Father) Reliques ... 30 Starling's Noble Deeds of Women. 30 Taylor's Logic in Theology ... 45 Physical Theory . . .43 Ultimate Civilization . . 45 Vlll CLASSIFIED INDEX. TiiliscELLAXEOVB— continued. ' Temperance, Carpenter .... 23 Wines, Eedding on . . , . [ 30 Young Lady's Book . . ', [ | 31 Natural History. British Birds, Mudie 29 Cage Birds, Bechstein .... 26 Poultry, Dicicson and Mowbray . 16 Seasons, Howitt 27 Selborne, White . . . . * 31, 41 Warblers, Sweet '26 Poetry. Alcen side's Poems 43 British Poets— Milton to Eirke White i>j Bums's Poems * 41, 42 Songs '41 Butler's Hudibras 26 Coleridge's Poems . . . . 41, 42 Collins's Poems ...... 43 Cowper's Poems , . , , * = | 43 Works '^ [ 10 Dibdin's Sea Songs 23 Dryden's Poetical Works ... 43 Ellis's Metrical Romances ... 21 Goldsmith's Poems 41 Gowers Confessio Amantis ... 43 Gray's Poems . . . „ . . 41 44 Herbert's Poems . . . . ! 41' 43 Klrk.^ ^Tiite's Poems . . . . ' 44 Longfellow's Poems . . . . 28, 41 Milton's Paradise Lost . . 28,41,42 • Regained. . »28, 41 Petrarch's Sonnets 2» Pope's Poetical Works .... 30 Robin Hood Ballads 41 Sea Songs and Ballads . . . . 4i Shakespeare's Poems ... 18, 43 Spenser's Works '43 Thomson's Poems ... 1 ! 44 • Seasons 44 Vaughan's Poems 41,45 Young's Poems '44 .Proverbs a^td Quotations. Dictionary of Greek and Latin Quo- tations 34 Handbook of Proverbs . . .' ! 21 Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs . '. 22 Science axd Philosophy. Anatomy, Comparative, Lawrence . 11 Animal Physiology, Carpenter . . 38 Arts and Sciences, Joyce ... 17 Astrolopfj', Lilly 17 Astronomy, Carpenter . . . ! 38 r ■ Hind 39 Bacon's Advancement of Learning 37, 44 Novum Organum . . 37, 44 Botany, Carpenter 3g o ^ PAGE bciENCE AND VmLosoTSY— Continued. Botany, De Jussieu 39 Bridgewater Treatises. Chalmers on Moral Man . . 37 Kidd on Man 37 Kirby on^Animals .... 3? Prout on Chemistry ... 37 Whe well's Astronomy and General Physics .... 37 Chemistry. Agricultural, Stockhardt . .40 Elementary, Parkes .... 18 Principles of, Stockhardt . . 40 Chevreul on Colour 33 Comparative Physiology, Agassiz . 37 Corate's Philosophy of the Sciences 38 Cosmos, Humboldt's 39 Geology. General, Richardson . . . 40 Medals of Creation, Mantel! . 39 Of Isle of Wight, Mantell . . 39 Of Scripture, Pye Smith . . 40 Petrifactions, &c., Mantell . . 39 Wonders of Geology, Mantell 39 Horology, Carpenter 38 Inventions, Beckmann's History of . 9 Joyce's Scientific Dialogues ... 39 Kant's Pure Reason is Life, Philosophy of, Schlegel . . 14 Locke's Philosophical Works . . 12 Logic, Devey ig Mechanical Philosophy, Carpenter . 38 Medicine, Domestic 33 Mineralogy, Richardson ... 40 Natural Philosophy, Hogg ... 38 Oersted's Soul in Nature ... 40 Paleontology, Richardson ... 40 Physics, Hunt 39 Races of Man, Pickering. ... 29 Schouw's Earth, Plants, Man . . 40 Science, Poetry of, Hunt. ... 39 Technical Analysis, BoUey ... 37 Vegetable Physiology, Carpenter . 38 Views of Nature, Humboldt . . 39 Zoology, Carpenter 33 Topography. Athens, Stuart and Revett ... 31 China 26 Egj-pt, Lord Lindsay's Letters . . 27 Geography, Modern 29 Strabo 36 India . . 27 London, Pictorial Handbook of . . 29 Redding 25 Nineveh, Bonomi 26 Norway 29 Paris ... 29 Rome ! ! an / I. Bohn^s Standard Library : A SERIES OF THE BEST ENGLISH AND FOREIGN AUTHORS, PRINTED IN A NEW AND ELEGANT FORM, EQUALLY ADAPTED TO THE LIBRARY AND THE FIRESIDE, AND PUBLISHED AT AN EXTREMELY LOW PRICE. Ea(ili volume contains about 500 pages, is printed on fine paper in post 8vo., and is strongly hound in cloth, at the low price of 3s. 6d. Bacon's Essays, Apophthegms, Wisdom of the Ancients, New Atlantis, and Henry VII., with Introduction and Notes. Portrait. 3s. 6d. Beaumont and Fletcher, a popular Selection from. By Leigh Hunt. 3s. 6d. Beckmann's History of Inventions, Discoveries, and Origins. Kevised and enlarged, by Drs. Francis and Griffith, with Memoir by H. G. Bohn. Portraits. In 2 vols. 3s. Qd. each. Bremer's (Miss) Works. Translated by Mary Howitt. New Edition, carefully revised. In 4 vols. 3s. 6d each. Vol. 1 contains The Neighbours, and other Tales. Portrait. Vol. 2. The President's Daughter. Vol. 3. The Home, and Strife and Peace. Vol. 4. A Diary, the H Family, the Solitary, &c Butler's (Bp.) Analogy of Religion, and Sermons, with Analytical Introductions and Notes, by a Member of the University of Oxford. Portrait. 3s. 6d Carafas (The) of Maddaloni : and Naples under Spanish Dominion. Translated from the German of Alfred de Eeumont. Portrait of Massaniello. 3s. 6d. Carrel's History of the Counter Eevolution in England, for the Ke-establishment of Popery under Charles II. and James II. Fox's History of James II. And Lord Lonsdale's Memoir of the Eeign of James II. Portraits of Carrel and Fox. 3s. 6d. Cellini (Benvenuto), Memoirs of. Written by himself. Translated by Thomas Eoscoe from the new and enlarged Text of Mohni. Portrait. 3s. 6d. Conde's History of the Dominion of the Arabs in Spain. Translated from the Spanish by Blrs. Foster. In 3 vols. 3s. 6d. each. 10 bohn's standard library. Cowper's Complete Works. Edited by Soutliey ; compris- ing his Poems, Correspondence, and Translations, and a Memoir oflhe Author. Elustrated icith fifty fine Engravings on Steel, after designs hij Harvey. In 8 vols. 3s. {)d. each. Vols. 1 to 4. Memoir and Correspondence ; with General Index to same. Vols. 5 and 6. Poetical Works, 2 Vols. Fourteen Engravings on Steel. Vol. 7. Translation of Homer's Iliad. Plates. Vol. 8. Translation of Homer's Odyssey. Plates. Coxe's Memoirs of the Duke of Marlborough, 3 Vols. Portraits of the Duke, Duchess, and Prince Eugene. 3s. 6d. each. %* An Atlas to the above, containing 26 fine large Maps and Plans of Marl- borough's Campaigns, including all those pubUshed in the original Edition at 12?. 12s. may now be had, in one volume, 4to. for 10s. 6d. History of the House of Austria, from the Founda- tion of the Monarchy by Khodolph of Hapshurgh, to the death of Leopold II., 1218— 1792. With continuation to the present time. New and Revised Edition, including the celebrated work Genesis, and the trial of Latour's Murderers. Portraits of Maximilian, Rliodolph, Maria Theresa, and the reigning Emperor. In 4 vols. 3s. Qd. each. De Lolme on the Constitution of England, or an Account of the English Government, in which it is compared both with the Eepublican form of Government and the other Monarchies of Em-ope ; Edited, with Life of the Author and Notes, by John Macgregor, JM.P. 3s. 6cZ. Foster's (John) Life and Correspondence, Edited by J. E. Ryland. Portrait. In 2 Vols. 3s. Qd. each. Lectures, delivered at Broadmead Chapel, Bristol, Edited by J. E. Eyland. In 2 vols. 3s. 6cZ. each. Critical Essays, contributed to the Eclectic Pie- view. Edited by J. E. Ryland. In 2 vols. 3s. 6d each. Essays : on Decision of Character ; on a Man's Writing Memoirs of himself; on the epithet Romantic; on the aversion of Men of Taste to Evangelical Religion, &c. 3s. Qd. Essays on the Evils of Popular Ignorance. IS'ew Edition, to which is added, a Discourse on the Propagation of Christianity in India. 3s. Qd. Fosteriana : Thoudits, Reflections, and Criticisms of the late John Foster, selected from periodical papers, and Edited by Hemy G. Bohn (nearly 600 pages). 5s. Miscellaneous Works. Including his Essay on Doddridge. Preparing. Fuller's (Andrew) Principal Works. With Memoir. Por- trait. 3s. Qd. BOHN S STANDARD LIBRARY. 11 Goethe's Works. In 5 vols. os. ChJ. each. Vols. 1 and 2 coutain Autobiof^raphy, 13 Books; and Travels in Italy, France, and Switzerland. Portrait. "Vol. 3. Faust, Ipliigonia, Tonjuato Tabso, Egmont, &e. Trans- lated by Miss S\van^Yick; and Gotz von Berlicbingen, by Sir Walter Scott, revised by Henry G. Bohn. Frontispiere. Vol. 4. Novels and Tales ; containing Elective Atlinities, Sor- rows of Wertlicr, The German Emigrants, The Good Women, and a Nouvelette. Vol. 5. Willielm Meister's Apprenticeship, a Novel, translated by R. D. Boylan. Gregory's (Dr.) Letters on the Evidences, Doctrines, and Duties of the Christian Religion. 3s. 6d. Gnizot's History of Eepresentative Government, trans- lated from the French by A. R. Scoble, with Index. 3s. Gd. History of the English Eevolution of 1640, from the Accession, to the Death of Charles I. With a Prehminary Essay on its causes and success. Translated by William HazHtt. Fortrait of Charles I. 3s. Gd. History of Civilization, from the Fall of the Roman Empire to the French Revolution, Translated by WiUiam Hazlitt. In 3 vols. Fortrait of Guizot, &e. 3s. Gd. each. Hall's (Rev. Eobert) Miscellaneons Works and Eemains, with IMemoir by Dr. Gregory, and an Essay on his Character by John Foster. Fortrait. 3s. Gd. Heine's Poems, complete, translated from the German in the original Metres, with a Sketch of Heine's Life, by Edgar A. Bowring. 3s. Gd. Hungary: its History and Eevolutions. With a copious Memoir of Kossuth, from new and authentic som-ces. Fortrait of Kossuth. 3s. Gd. Hutchinson (Colonel), Memoirs of, by his Widow Lucy; with an Account of the Siege of Latham House. Fortrait. 3s. Gd. James's (G. P. E.) History of the Life of Eichard Coeur de Leon, Iving of England. Fortraits of Eichard and Fhilip Augtistus. In 2 vols. 3s. Gd. each. History of the Life of Louis XIV. Portraits of Louis XIV. and Cardinal Mazarin. In 2 vols. 3s. Gd. each. Junius's Letters, with all the Notes of Woodfall's Edition, and important additions ; also, an Essay disclosing the Authorship, and an elaborate Index. In 2 vols. 3s. Gd. each. 12 bohn's standard library. Lamartine's History of the Girondists, or Personal Memoirs of the Patriots of the French Revolution, from unpublished sources. Portraits of Bohespierre, Madame Roland, and Charlotte Corday. In 3 vols. 3s. 6d. each. History of tlie Restoration of the Monarchy in France (a Sequel to his History of the Girondists), with Index. Portraits of Lamartine, Tallyrand, Lafayette, Ney, and Louis XVII. In 4 vols. 3s, 6(7. each. History of the French Revolution of 1848, with a fine frontispiece containing Portraits of Lamartine, Ledru Bollin, Dupont de VEure, Arago, Louis Blanc, and Cremieux. 3s. 6d. Lanzi's History of Painting : a revised translation by Thos. Eoscoe, with complete Index. Portraits of Baphael, Titian, and Correggio. In 3 vols. 3s. 6d. each. Locke's Philosophical Works, containing an Essay on the Human Understanding, an Essay on the Conduct of the Understand- ing, &c., with Preliminaiy Discourse, Notes and Index by J. A. St. John, Esq. Portrait. In 2 vols. 3s. 6d. each. Life and Letters, with Extracts from his Com- mon-Place Books, by Lord King, New Edition, with a General Index. 3s. 6d. Luther's Table Talk, translated and Edited by William HazHtt. New Edition, to which is added the Life of Luther, by Alexander Chalmers, with additions from Michelet and Audin. Portrait, after Lucas Kranach. 3s. Qd. Machiavelli's History of Florence, Prince, and other Works. Portrait. 3s. 6d. Menzel's History of Germany. Portraits of Charlemagne, Charles V., and Prince Metternich. In 3 vols. 3s. 6cZ. each. Michelet's Life of Luther, translated by W. Hazlitt. 35. 6d. History of the Roman Republic, translated by William HazUtt. 3s. Qd. History of the French Revolution, from its ear- liest indications to the flight of the King in 1791. With General Index. Frontispiece. (646 pages.) 3s. Qd. Mignet's History of the French Revolution from 1789 to 1814. Portrait of Napoleon as First Consul. 3s. Qd. Milton's Prose Works, including the Christian Doctrine, translated and Edited, with Notes (many additional), by the Eight Kev. Charles Sumner, D.D„ Bishop of Winchester, and General Index. Portraits and Frontispiece. In 5 vols. 3s. Qd. each. bohn's standard library. 13 Mitford's (Miss) Our Village. Sketches of Eural Character, and Scenery; New and Improved Etlition, complete. Woodcuts and Engravings on Steel. In 2 vols. 3s. Gel. each. Neander's Church History, translated from the German ; complete, with General Index. In 10 vols. 3s. Gd. each. Life of Christ, translated from the German. 3s. 6d, First planting of Christianity, and Antignostikus. Translated by J. E. Ryland. In 2 vols. 3s. 6d. each. History of Christian Dogmas, translated from the German, by J. E. Ryland. In 2 vols. 3s. Gd. each. Memorials of Christian Life in the Early and Middle Ages (including his Light in Dark Places), translated by J. E. Ryland. 3s. 6d. Ockley's History of the Saracens, revised and enlarged, with a Life of Mohammed, and Memoir of the Author, by H. G. Bohn. Portrait of Mohammed. 3s. 6d. Eanke's History of the Popes, translated by E. Foster. Portraits of Julius IT., Innocent X., &c. In 3 vols. 3s. 6d. each. ■ History of Servia and the Servian Eevolution. With an Account of the Insurrection in Bosnia. Translated by Mrs. Kerr. To which is added, The Slavonic Provinces of Turkey, from the French of Cyprien Robert, and other soui-ces. 3s. Qd. Reynolds' (Sir Joshua) Literary Works, with Memoir. Portrait. In 2 vols. 3s. 6d. each. Eoscoe's Life and Pontificate of Leo. X., with the Copyright Notes, Appendices of Historical Documents, the Episode on Lucretia Borgia, and an Index. Three fine Portraits. In 2 vols. 3s. 6d. each. Life of Lorenzo de Medici, called the Magnificent, including the Copyright Notes and Illustrations, and a new Memoir by his Son. Portrait, as. 6d. Etissia, History of, from the earliest Period, compiled from the most authentic sources, including Karamsin, Tooke, and Segur, by Walter K. Kelly. Portraits of Catherine, Nicholas, and Ment- schikoff. In 2 vols. 3s. 6cZ. each. Schiller's Works. In 4 vols. 3s. Qd. each. Vol. 1, containing History of tlie Thirty Years' War, and Revolt of the Netherlands. Portrait of Schiller. A'ol. 2. Continuation of the Revolt of the Netherlands ; Wallen- stein's Camp ; The Piccolomini ; The Death of Wallenstein ; and Waiiam Tell. Portrait of Wallenstein. Vol. 3. Don Carlos, Mary Stuart, IMaid of Orleans, and Bride of Messina. Portrait of the Maid of Orleans. Vol. 4. The Robbers, Fiesco, Love and Intrigue, and the Ghost- Seer, ti-anslated by Henry G. Bohn. 14: bohn's standakd library. Schlegel's Lectures on the Philosophy of Life and the Philosophy of Language, translated by A. J. W. Morrison. 3s. 6^. Lectures on the History of Literature, Ancient and Modern. Now first completely translated from the German, with a General Index. 3s. Qd. Lectures on the Philosophj' of History, translated from the German with a IMemoir of the Author, by J. B. Kobertson, Esq. New Edition, revised. Portrait. 3s. Qd. Lectures on Dramatic Literature, translated by Mr. Black. New Edition, with Memoir, carefully revised from the last German Edition, by A. J. W. Morrison. Portrait. 3s. Qd. Lectures on Modern History, translated from the last German Edition. 3s. M. ' Esthetic and Miscellaneous Works, containing Letters on Christian Ai-t, Essay on Gothic Ai'chitecture, Eemarks on the Eomance Poetiy of the Middle Ages, on Sliakspeare, the Limits of the Beautiful, and on the Language and Wisdom of the Indians. 3s. 6cZ. Sheridan's Dramatic Works and Life. Portrait. 3s. Qd. Sismondi's History of the Literature of the South of Eu- rope, translated by Eoscoe. A New Edition, with all the Notes of the last French Edition. The Specimens of early French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese Poetry are translated' into Engiish Verse by Gary, Wiffen, Eoscoe, and others. Complete with Memoh of the Author, and Index. Two fine Portraits. In 2 vols. 3s. M. each. Smith's (Adam) Theory of Moral Sentiments ; with his Essay on the First Formation of Languages ; to wliich is added a Biographical and Critical Memoir of the Author by Dugald Stewart 3s. 6d Smyth's (Professor) Lectures on Modern History; from tlie irruption of the Northern Nations to the close of the American Eevolution, New EcUtion, with the Author's last Corrections, an additional Lecture, and a complete Index. In 2 vols. 3s. Qd. each. Lectures on the History of the French Eevolu- tion. New Edition, with the Author's last corrections, and Index. In 2 vols. 3s. ijd. each. Sturm's Morning Communings with God, or Devotional Meditations for Every Day in the Year. Translated from the German. 3s, Qd. Taylor's (Bishop Jeremy) Holy Living and Dying. For- tran. 3s. Qd. Thierry's History of the Conquest of England by the Nor- mans ; its Cciuses, and its Consequences. Translated by William Hazlitt. Portrait of Thierrij and William I. In 2 vols. 3s. 6d. each. BOHN's niSTOKICAL LIBRARY. 15 Thierrj-'s History of the Tiers El at, or Third Estate, in France. Translated from the French by the Ilev. F. B. Wells. 2 vols, in one. 5s. Vasari's Lives of the Painters, Sculptors, and Architects. Translated by Mrs. Foster. In 5 vols. 3s. 6d. each. Wesley's (John) Life, by Eobert Sonthey. Kew and Com- plete Edition. {Double Volume). 5s. Wheatley on tlie Book of Common Prayer. Frontispiece. 3s. Gd. II. Bohn's Historical Library. Uniform with tlie Standard Library, 5s. yer volume. Evelyn's Diary and Correspondence, with the Private Correspondence of Charles I. and others during the Civil War. New Edition, revised and considerably enlarged, from the original Papers. Now first Illustrated with numerous Portraits and Plates engraved on Steel. In 4 vols. 5s. each. " No change of fashion, no alteration of taste, no revolution of science have impaired, or can impair the celebrity of Evelyn. His name is fresh in the land, and his rtpatation, like the trees of an ludiaii Paradise, exists, and will continue to exist, in full strength and beauty, uninjured by \,ivcie."—Quarttrl!j Revievj {SoLithey). Pep3's' Diary and Correspondence. Edited by Lord Bray- brooke. New and Improved Edition, with important Additions, including niunerous Letters. Illustrated with many Portraits. In 4 vols. 5s. each. Jesse's Memoirs of the Court of England during the Eeign of the Stuarts, including the Protectorate. With General Index. Upwards of Forty Portraits on Steel. In 3 vols. 5s. each. ... Memoirs of the Pretenders and their Adherents. New Edition, with Index. Six Portraits. 5s. Niigent's (Lord) Memorials of Hampden, his Party and Times. Fourth Edition revised, with a Memou- of the Author, and copious Index. Illustrated with twelve fine Portraits. 5s. Strickland's (Miss Agnes) Lives of the Qneens of England, from the Norman Conquest. From official records and otlier authentic docvuucnts, public and private. Kevibcd Edition. In G vols. Now Publishing. III. Bohn's Library of French Memoirs. Uniform with tlie Standard Library, 3s. Qd. per volume. Memoirs of Philip de Commines, containing the Histories 16 bohn's school and college series. of Louis XI. and Charles VIII., Kin^s of France, and of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. To which is added. The Scandalous Chronicle, or Secret History of Louis XL Edited, mth Life and Notes, by A. K. Scoble, Esq. Portraits of Charles the Bold and Louis XL In 2 vols. 3s. 6d each. Memoirs of the Duke of Sully, Prime Minister to Henry the Great. Translated from the French. New Edition, revised, with additional Notes, and an Historical Introduction, by Sir "Walter Scott. With a General Index. Portraits of Sully, Henry LV., Coligny, and Marie de Medicis, In 4 vols, 3s. 6d each. IV. Bohn's School and College' Series. New Testament (The) in Greek. Griesbach's Text, with the various readings of Mill and Scholz at foot of page, and Parallel References in the margin ; also a Critical Introduction and Chrono- logical Tables. By an eminent Scholar. Third Edition, revised and corrected. Two facsimiles of Greek Manuscripts. (650 pages.) 3& 6d or bound up with a complete Greek and English Lexicon to the New Testament (250 pages additional, making in all 900). 5s. Uniform with the Standard Library. Bailey's (P. J.) Festus, a Poem. Seventh Edition, revised and enlarged. 5s. British Poets, from Milton to Kirke White. Cabinet Edi- tion. Frontispieces containing Twenty-two Medallion Portraits. Complete in 4 vols. 14s. Gary's Translation of Dante's Heaven, Hell and Purgatory. 7s. 6c?. Chillingworth's Eeligion of Protestants. 3s. Qd. Classic Tales. Comprising in one volume the most esteemed works of the imagination : Contents — Easselas, The Vicar of Wakefield, The Exiles of Siberia, Paul and Virginia, The Indian Cottage, Gullivers Travels, Sterne's Sentimental Journey, Sorrows of Wei-ter, Theodosius and Constantia, and the Castle of Otranto. 3s. Qd. Demosthenes and ^schines, the Orations of. Translated by Thomas Leland, DD. 3s. Dickson and Mowbray on Poultry. Edited by Mrs. Loudon. Illustrations by Harvey. 5s. UNIFORM WITH THE STxVNDARD LIBRARY. 17 Henry's (Matthew) Commentary on tlio Psalms. Numerous Illustrations. 4s. Gd. Ilofland's British Angler's Manual, inclTullng a Piscatorial Account of the principal Rivers, Lakes, and Trout-streams in the United Kinu;dom. Improved Edition, enlarged, by Edward Jesse, Esq. Illustrated with sixty beautiful Steel Engravings and Ligno- graphs. 7s. Gd. " A book of marvellous beauty. For practical information or pleasing detail it can hardly be exceeded." — Bell's Life. Horace's Odes and Epodes. Translated literally and rhythmically, by the Eev. W. Sewell. 3s. Gd. Irving's (Washington) Complete Works. In 10 vols. 85. 6d. each. Vol. T. Salmagundi and Knickerbocker. Portrait of the Author. Vol. ir. Sketch Book and Life of Goldsmith. Vol. III. Bracebridge Hall and Abbotsford and Newstead. Vol. IV. Tales of a Traveller and the Alhambra. Vol. V. Con(|uest of Granada and Conquest of Spain. Vols. VI. and VII. Life of Columbus and Companions of Colum- bus, with a new Index. Fine Portrait. Vol. VIII. Astoria and Tour in the Prairies. Vol. IX. Mahomet and his Successors. Vol. X. Conquest of Florida and Adventui-es of Captain Bonne- ville. (Washington) Life of W^ashington, Sequel to Wash- ington Irving's Works. With General Index. Portrait. In 4 vols. 3s. Gd. each. (Washington) Life and Letters, by his Nephew, Pierre E. Irving. In 2 vols. 3s. Gd. each. Joyce's Introdnction to the Arts and Sciences. Containing a general explanation of the fundamental principles and facts of the Sciences, in Lessons, with Examination Questions subjoined. 3s. Gd. Lawrence's Lectures on Comparative Anatomy, Physiology, Zoology, and the Natui-al History of Man. Frontispiece, and 12 Plotes. 5s. Lilly's Introduction to Astrology, with nnmerons emenda- tions adapted to the improved state of the science of the present day, by Zadkiel. 5s. Miller's (Professor) History, from the Fall of the Roman Empu-e to the French Revolution, philosophically considered. New Edition, revised and improved, with Index and Portrait. In 4 vols. 3s. Gd. per vol. 18 bohn's philological and philosophical libraey. Parkes' Elementary Chemistry, on the basis of the Chemical Catechism. Eevised Edition. 3s. Qd. Political, The, Cyclopgedia. In 4 vols. 35. 6d. each. Also bound in 2 vols, with leather backs. 15s. Contains as much as eight ordinary 8vos. It was originally published in another shape by Mr. Charles Knight, under the title of Political Dictionary, at £1 16s. Shakespeare's Plays and Poems, with Life, by Alexander Chalmers. In clear diamond type. 3s. 6d. or, with forty beautiful outline Steel Engravings. 5s. Uncle Tom's Cabin, with Introductory Pemarks by the Rev. J. Sherman. Printed in a large clear type, ivith 8 Illustrations by Leach and Gilbert, ami Frontispiece by Hinchliff. 3s. Qd. " Mrs. Beecher Stowe's incomparable tale." — The Times. Wide, The, Wide World, by Elizabeth Wetherall. Illus- trated by 10 highly -finished Engravings on Steel. 3s. 6d. VI. Bohn's Philological and Philosophical Library. Uniform with the Standard Library, at 5s. per volume (excepting those marked otherwise). Hegel's Lectures on the Philosophy of History. Trans- lated by J. Sibree, M.A. 5s. Herodotus, Turner's (Dawson, W.) Kotes to, for the use of Students ; with Map, ApiDendices, and Index. 5s. Wheeler's Analysis and Summary of; with a Synchronistical Table of Events, Table of Weights, &c. &c. 5s. Kant's Critique of Pure Eeason ; translated by J. M. D. Meiklejohn. 5s. Logic, or the Science of Inference ; a Popular Manual ; by J. Devey. 5s. Lowndes' Bibliographer's Manual of Engli.sh Literature ; comprising an account of rare, curious, and useful Books published in England since the invention of Printing; with bibliographical and critical Notices and Prices. New Edition, revised and enlarged ; by Henry G. Buhn. Parts I. to X. 3s. Qd. each. Part XI. (the Appendix Volume) in the Press, BOHn's BRITISH CLASSICS. 10 Tennemaim's Manual of the History of Philosophy ; revised aud contiuued b}' J. R. Morell. Thucydides, Wheeler's Analysis of. With Chronological and other Tables. New Edition, with a General Index. 5«. Wright's (Thomas) Dictionary of Obsolete and Provincial English (1048 pages). In 2 vols. 5s. each. or, bound in one thick volume, half morocco, marbled edges. 12s. M VII. Bohn's British Classics. Uniform icith the Standard Library, 3s. 6d. per volume. Addison's Works, with the Notes of Bishop Hurd. New Edition, with much additional matter, and upwards of 100 Unpub- lished Letters. Edited by Plenry G. Bohn. With a very copious Index. Fortrait and eight Engravings on Steel. In 6 vols. 3s. 6d. each. %* This is the first time anything like a complete edition of Addison's Works has been presented to the English Public. It contains nearly one third more than has hitherto been published in a collective form. Burke's Works. In 6 Volumes. 35. Qd. each. Vol. 1, containing his Vindication of Natural Society, Essay on the Sublime and Beautiful, and various Political Miscellanies. Vol. 2. Ketiections on the French Eevolutiou; Letters relating to the Bristol Election ; Speech on Fox's East India Bill ; etc. Vol. 3. Appeal from the New to the Old Whigs; on the Nabob of Arcot's Debts; the Catholic Claims, etc. Vol. 4. Eeport on the Afifairs of India, and Articles of Charge against Warren Hastings. Vol. 5. Conclusion of the Articles of Charge against Warren Hastings ; Political Letters on the American War ; on a Kegi- cide Peace, to the Empress of Russia. Vol. G. Miscellaneous Speeches, Letters and Fragments, Abridg- ments of English History, etc. With a General Index. — Speeches on the Impeachment of Warren Hastings ; and Letters. With Index. In 2 vols, (forming Vols. 7 and 8 of the complete works). 3s. 6d. each. Life. By Prior ; New Edition, revised by the Author. Portrait 3s. 6d. %* This is usually attached lo the works, and forms a 2^iuth Volume. c2 20 bohn's ecclesiastical libraet. Defoe's Works. Edited by Sir Walter Scott. In 7 Yols. 3s. 6d. each. Vol. 1. Life, Adventures, and Piracies of Captain Singleton, and Life of Colonel Jack. Portrait of Defoe. Vol. 2. Memoirs of a Cavalier ; Adventures of Captain Carleton, Dickorv Cronke, &c. Vol. 3. Life of Moll Flanders ; and the History of the Devil. Vol. 4. Koxana, or the Fortunate Mistress; and Life of Mrs. Christian Davies. Vol. 5. History of the Great Plague of London, 1665, (to which is added, the Fire of London, 1666, by an Anonymous writer) ; The Storm ; and The True Born Englishman. Vol. 6. Life and Adventures of Duncan Campbell; Voyage Bound the World ; and Tracts relating to the Hanoverian Ac- cession. Vol. 7. Robinson Crusoe. Gibbon's Eoman Empire ; complete and unabridged, with variorum Notes ; including, in addition to the Author's own, those of Guizot, Wenck, Niebiihr, Hugo, Neander, and other foreign scho- lars ; and an elaborate Index. Edited by an English Chm'chmau. Fortrait and Ma^s. In 7 volumes. 3s. 6d. each. VIIL Bohn's Ecclesiastical Library. Uniform with i/te Standard Libkaky, 5s. per volume. Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History. With Notes. 55. Philo Juda3ns, Works of; the contemporary of Josephus. Translated from the Greek, by C. D. Yonge. In 4 vols. 5s. each. Socrates' Ecclesiastical History, in continuation of Eiise- bius ; with the Notes of Valesius. 5s. Sozomen's Ecclesiastical History, from a.d. 324-440 : and the Ecclesiastical History of Philostorgius ; translated from the Greek. With a Memoir of the Author, by E. Walford, M.A. 5s. Theodoret and Evagrins. Ecclesiastical Histories, from A.D. 332 to A.D. 427 ; and from a.d. 431 to a.d. 544. With General Index. 5s. 21 IX. Bohn^s Antiquarian Library. Uniform with the Standard Library, at r)s. per volume. Bede's Ecclesiastical History, and Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. 55. Boetliius's Consolation of Philosophy, rendered into Anglo- Saxon by King Alfred, with the Anglo-Saxon Metres, and a literal English translation of the whole, by the Eev. Samuel Fox. 5s. Brand's Popular Antiquities of England, Scotland, and Ire- land. By Sir Henry Elhs. In 3 vols. 5s. each. Browne's (Sir Thomas) Works. Edited by Simon AVilkin. In 3 vols. '5s. each. Vol. 1. containing the Vulgar Errors. Vol. 2. EeKgio Medici, and Garden of Cyrus. Vol. 3. Urn-Burial, Tracts, and CorresiDondence. Chronicles of the Crusaders; Richard of Devizes, Geoffrey de Vinsau^ Lord de Joinville. Illuminated Frontispiece. 5s. Chronicles of the Tombs. A collection of Epitaphs, pre- ceded by an Essay on Monumental Inscriptions and Sepulchral An- tiquities. By T. J. Pettigrew, F.E.S., F.S.A. 5s. Early Travels in Palestine; Willibald, Ssewnlf, Benja- min of Tudela, Mandeville, La Brocquiere, and MaundreU ; all un- abridged. Edited by Thomas Wright, Esq. Map. 5s. Ellis's Early English Metrical Ptomances. Eevised by J. 0. Halliwell, Esq. Illuminated Frontispiece. 5s. Florence of Worcester's Chronicle, with the Two Continu- ations: comprising Annals of English History, from the Departiu-e of the Komans to the Eeign of Edward I. Translated, with Notes, by Thomas Forester, Esq. M.A. 5s. Gii-aldus Cambrensis' Historical Works. Containing his Topography of Ireland ; History of the Conquest of Ireland ; Itine- rary through Wales; and Description of Wales. With Index. Edited by Thomas Wright, Esq. 5s. Hand-Book of Proverbs. Comprising all Pay's Collection of English Proverbs ; with his additions from Foreign Languages, and a Complete Alphabetical Index, introducing large Additions, as well of Proverbs as of Sayings, Sentences, Maxuns, and Phrases, collected and edited by Henry G. Bohn. 5s. Henry of Huntingdon's History of the English, from the Eoman Invasion to Henry II. ; with the Acts of King Stephen, &g. Translated and edited by T. Forester, Esq., M.A. 5s. 22 bohn's antiquarian library. Ingnlpli's Chronicle of tlie Abbey of Cro^^land, witli the Continuations by Peter of Blois and other Writers, Translated, with Notes and an Index, by H. T. Riley, B.A. 5s. Keightley's (Thomas) Faiiy Mythology. Kew Edition, corrected and enlarged by the Author. Frontispiece by George Cruikshank. 5s. Lamb's Specimens of English Dramatic Poets of the Time of Elizabeth ; including his Selections from the Garrick Plays. 5s. Lepsiiis's Letters from Egypt, Ethiopia, and the Peninsula of Sinai ; also Extracts from his Chi'onology of the Egyptians, with reference to the Exodus of the Israelites. Eevised by the Autlior. Translated by Leonora and Joanna B. Homer. Maps of the Nile, and the Peninsula of Sinai, and Coloured View of Mount Barkal. 5s. Mallet's Northern Antiquities, by Bishop Percy. With an Abstract of the Eyrbiggia Saga, by Sir Walter Scott. New Edition, revised and enlarged by J. A. Blackwell. 5s. Marco Polo's Travels ; the translation of Marsden. Edited with Notes and Introduction, by T. Wright, M.A., F.S.A., &c. 5 Matthew Paris's Chronicle. In 5 vols. 55. each. First Sectign, containing Roger of Wendover's Flowers of English History, from the Descent of the Saxons to a.d. 1235. Trans- lated by Dr. Giles. In 2 vols. Second Section, containing the History of England from 1235 to 1273. With Index to the entire Work. In 3 vols. Matthew of Westminster's Flowers of Histor}^ especially such as relate to the affairs of Britain ; from the beginning of the World to A.D. 1307. Translated by C. D. Yonge. In 2 vols. 5s. each. Ordericns Yitalis' Ecclesiastical History of England and Nonnandy. Translated with Notes, the Introduction of Guizot, and the Critical Notice of M. Delille, by T. Forester, M.A. With very copious Index. In 4 vols. 5s. each. Panli's (Dr. E.) Life of Alfred the Great : translated from the German. To which is appended Alfreds Anglo-Saxon Version of Orosius. With a literal translation interpaged. Notes, and ati Anglo-Saxon Grammar and Glossary, by B. Thorpe, Esq. 5s. Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs ; comprising French, Italian, German, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, and Danish ; with English Translations, and a General English Index, bringing the whole into parallels, by Henry G. Bolm. 5s. Koger De Hoveden's Annals of English History ; from A.D. 732 to A.D. 1201. Translated and edited by H. T. Riley, Esq., B.A In 2 vols. 5s. each. bohn's cheap series. 23 Six Old English Chronicles, viz., Asser's Life of Alfred, and the Chronicles of Ethelwerd, Gildas, Nennius, Geoffrey of Mon- mouth, and Richard of Cirencester. 5s. William of Malmesbnry's Chronicle of the Kings of Eng- land. Translated by Sharpe. 5s. Yule-Tide Stories. A collection of Scandinavian Tales and Traditions. Edited by B. Thorpe, Esq. 5s. X. Bohn's Cheap Series. Berber (The) ; or, Tlie Mountaineer of the Atlas : a Tale of Morocco, by W. S. Mayo, M.D. Is. 6d. Boswell's Life of Johnson, including his Tour to the Hebrides, Tour in Wales, &c., edited with large additions and Notes, l)y the Right Hon. John Wilson Croker. The second and most complete Copyright Edition, re-arranged and revised accord- ing to the suggestions of Lord Macaulay, by the late Jobn Wright, Esq., witli further additions by Mr. Croker. TJpimrds of 40 fine Engravings on Steel. In 8 volumes. 2s. each. %* The public has now for 16s. -what was formerly published at 21. • Johnsoniana : a collection of Miscellaneous Anec- dotes and Sayings of Dr. Samuel Johnson, gathered from nearly a hundred publications ; a Sequel to the preceding, of ivhich it forms Vols. 9 and 10. Engravings on Steel. (Vol. 2 contains a General Index to the ten volumes.) In 2 vols. 2s. each. Cape and the Kaffirs ; a Diary of Five Years' Eesidence ; with a Chapter of Advice to Emigrants. By H. Ward. 2s. • Carpenter's (Dr. W. B.) Physiology of Temperance and Total Abstinence. Being an Examination of the Effects of Alco- holic Liquors. Is. or, on fine paper, hound in doth. 2s. Gd. Cinq-Mars ; or, a Conspirac}^ nnder Lonis XIII. An His- torical Romance by Count Alfred de Vigny. Translated by Wil- liam Hazlitt, Esq. 2s. Dibdin's Sea Songs (Admiralty Edition), Illustrations hy CruilislianJ:. 2s. dd. Emerson's Orations and Lectures. Is. ■ Eepresentative Men. Complete. Is. Franklin's (Benjamin) Genuine Autobiography, from the Original Manuscript, by Jared Sparks. Is. 24 bohn's cheap series. Gervinns's Introduction to tlie History of the 1 9tli Cen- tury, translated from the German, with a Memoir of the Author. Is. Guizot's Life of Monk. Is. 6d. ' Monk's Contemporaries : — Biograpliic Studies on the English Revolution of 1688, Portrait of Lord Clarendon. Is. Gd. Hawthorne's (Nathaniel) Twice Told Tales. Is. ' the same, Second Series. Is. Snow Image, and other Tales. Is. • • Scarlet Letter. Is. House with the Seven Gables, a Eomance. Is. Irving's (Washington) Life of Mohammed. Fine Por- trait. Is. Gd. Successors of Mohammed. Is. 6d. Life of Goldsmith. Is. Gd. — Sketch Book. Is. 6d. Tales of a Traveller. Is. 6d. Tour on the Prairies. Is. Conquests of Granada and Spain. 2 vols. Is. 6d, each. . Life of Columbus. 2 vols. Is. 6d. each. Companions of Columbus. Is. Gd. Adventures of Captain Bonneville. Is. Gd. Knickerbocker's New York. Is. Gd. Tales of the Alhambra. Is. Gd. Conquest of Florida. Is. Gd. Abbotsford and Newstead. Is. Salmagundi. Is. Gd. Bracebridge Hall. Is. Gd. • Astoria. Fine portrait of the Author. 2s. Wolfert's Eoost, and other Tales. Is. or, on fine paper, (uniform with the Complete Edition of Irving's Works). Portrait of the Author. Is. Gd. Life of Washington, authorized edition (uniform with the Works). Fine Portrait, &c. 5 parts, with General Index. 2s. Gd. each. Life and Letters. By his Nephew, Pierre E. Irving. Portrait. In 4 Vols, 2s. each. *, * For Washington Irviug's Works, with Memoir, collected in 16 vols., see page 17. bohn's cheap series. 25 Lamartine's Genevieve; or, The History of a Servant Girl, translated by A. R. Scobcl. Is. Gd. Stonemason of Saintpoint. A Village Tale. Is. Gd. . Three Months in Power ; a History and Vindica- tion of his Political Career. 2s. Lion Hunting and Sporting Life in Algeria, by Jules Gerard, the " Lion Killer." Twdve Engravings. Is. 6d. London and its Environs, by Cyrus Eedding. Numerous Illustrations. 2s. Mayhew's Image of his Father; or. One Boy is more Trouble than a Dozen Girls. Twelve 'page Illustrations on Steel hy " Phiz." 2s. Modern Novelists of France, containing Paul Huet, the Young Midshipman, and Kernock the Corsair, by Eugene Sue ; Physiology of the General Lover, by Soulie; the Poacher, by Jules Janin ; Jenny, and Husbands, by Paul de Kock. 2s. Munchausen's (Baron) Life and Adventures. Is. Preachers and Preaching, in ancient and modern times, an historical and critical Essay, including, among the moderns. Sketches of Robert Hall, Newman, Chalmers, Irving, Melvill, Spurgeon, Bellew, Dale, Gumming, Willmott, &c. By the Ptev. Henry Christmas. Fortrait. Is. Qd. Sandford and Merton. By Thomas Day. New edition. JEight fine Engravings on Wood, hy Anelay. 2s. Taylor's El Dorado; or, Pictures of the Gold Region. 2 vols. Is. each. Uncle Tom's Cabin; or. Life among the Lowly: with Introductory Remarks by the Rev. J. Sherman. Beprinting. White Slave. Beprinting. Willis's (N. Parker) People I have Met; or, Pictures of Society, and People of Mark, Is. Qd. Convalescent, or Rambles and Adventures. Is. 6d. Life Here and There ; or, Sketches of Society and Adventure. Is. 6d. Hurry -graphs, or Sketches of Scenery, Celebrities, and Society. Is. Pencillings by the Way. Four fine plates. 2s. 6d. 26 XL Bohn's Illustrated Library. Uniform with the Standard Libhary, 5s. per volume {excepting those marked otherwise) . Allen's Battles of the British Xav3\ New Edition, revised and enlarged l)y the Author. Numerous fine Portraits engraved on In 2 vols. 5s. each. Andersen's Danish Legends and Fairy Tales, containing many Tales not in any other edition. Translated from the Original by Caroline Peachey. Illustrated with 120 Wood Engrav- ings, chiefly hy Foreign Artists. 5s. Ariosto's Orlando Furioso, in English Yerse, by W. S. Kose. Twelve fine Engravings, including an unpublished Portrait after Titian. In 2 vols. 5s. each. Bechstein's Cage and Chamber Birds, including Sweet's Warblers. Enlarged edition. Numerous Plates. 5s. %* All other editions ai-e abridged. or, with the plates coloured. 7s. 6d. Bonomi's Nineveh and its Palaces. New Edition, revised and considerably enlarged, both in matter and Plates, including a Full Account of the Assyrian Sculptures recently added to the National Collection. Upwards of 300 Engravings. 5s. Butler's Hndibras, with Variorum Notes, a Biography, and a General Index. Edited by Henry G. Bohn. Thirty beautiful Illustrations. 5s. or, further illustrated with 62 Outline Portraits. In 2 vols. 10s. Cattermole's Evenings at Had don Hall. 24 exquisite En- gravings on Steel, from designs by himselj, the Letterpress by the Baroness De Carabella. 5s. China, Pictorial, Descriptive, and Historical, with some Account of Ava and the Burmese, Siam, and Anam. Nearly 100 Elustrations. 5s. Cruikshank's Three Courses and a Dessert; a Series of Tales, embellished ivith 50 humorous Illustrations by George Cruik- shank. 5s. Dante, translated into English Yerse by T. C. Wright, M.A. Third Edition, carefully revised. Portrait and 34 Illustrations on Steel, after Flaxman. 5s. bohn's illustrated library. 27 Didron's Christian Iconography; a History of Christian Art. Translated from the French. Upwards of 150 beautiful outline Enriravings. In 2 vols. Vol. I. 5s. (Mons. Dklron Las not yet written the second volume.) Gil Bias, the Adventures of. Twenty-four Engravings on Steel, after SmirJce, and 10 Etchings by George Cruikshanlc. (G12 pages). 6s. , Grimm's Gammer Grethel ; or, German Fairy Tales and Popular Stories, containing 42 Fairy Tales. Translated by Edgar Taylor ; numerous Woodcuts hj G,eorge Cruikshank. 3s. 6d. Holbein's Dance of Death, and Bible Cuts ; upwards of 150 subjects, beautifulhj engraved in/oc-s/mi7e, with Introduction and Descriptions by the late Francis Douce, and Dr. Thomas Frognall Dibdin. 2 vols, in 1. 7s. 6d. Howitt's (Mary) Pictorial Calendar of the Seasons ; ex- hibiting tlie Pleasures and Pursuits of Country Life, for every Month, and embodying the whole of Aikin's Calendar of Nature. Upwards of 100 Engravings on Wood. 5s. Howitt's (Mary and William) Stories of English and Foreign Life. Twenty beautiful Steel Engravings. 5s. Hunt's (Leigh) Book for a Corner. Eighty extremely beau- tiful Wood Engravings and a Frontispiece on Steel. 5s. India, Pictorial, Descriptive, and Historical, from the Earliest Times to the Present. Upwards of 100 fine Engravings on Wood, and a Map. 5s. Jesse's Anecdotes of Dogs. New Edition with large addi- tions. Illustrated by numerous fine Woodcuts after Harvey, Bewick and others. 5s. or, with the addition of 34 highly-finished Steel Engravings after Cooper, Landseer, &c. 7s. (JcZ, Kioto's Scripture Lands, and Biblical Atlas. Twenty-four Maps, beautifully engraved on Steel, accompanied by a Consulting Index. 5s. or, with the Maps coloured. 7s. 6d. Krummacher's Parables. Translated from the 7tli GeiTnan Edition. Forty Illustraticiis by Clayton, engraved by the Brothers Dalziel. 5s. Lindsay's (Lord) Letters on Egypt, Edom, and the Holy Land. New Edition, enlarged. Thirty-six beautiful Wood Engrav- ings, and 2 Maps. 5s. 28 bohn's illustrated lebrart. Lodge's Portraits of Illustrious Personages of Great Britain, with Biographical and Historical Memoirs. Tico Hundred and Forty Portraits, heautifullij engraved on Steel, with the respective Biographies uuabridge'cL Complete in 8 vols. 5s. each. Longfellow's Poetical Works, complete, including Hia- watha, IMiles Standish, and The Waj'side Inn. Twenty-four full- page Wood Engravings, by Birket Foster and others, and a new Fortrait engraved on Steel. 5s. or, without the illustrations. 3s. 6d. Prose Works, complete. Sixteen full-page Wood Engravings by Birket Foster and others. 5s. Marryat's Masterman Eeady ; or, the Wreck of the Pacific. New Edition. Ninety-three beautiful Engravings on Wood. 5s. Mission; or, Scenes in Africa. (Written for Yomag People). Illustrated by Gilbert and Dalziel. 5s. Pirate and Three Cutters. New Edition, to which is prefixed a Memoir of the Author. Illustrated with 20 beautiful Steel Engravings, from Drawings by Clarkson Stansfield, E.A. 5s. Privateer's-Man One Hundred Years Ago. Eight highly-finished line Engravings on Steel, after Stothard. 5s. Settlers in Canada. New Edition. Ten fine En- gravings by Gilbert and Dalziel. 5s. Maxwell's Victories of Wellington and the British Armies. Illustrations on Steel. 5s. Michael Angelo and Eaphael, their Lives and Works. By Duppa and Quatremere de Quincy. Illustrated with 13 highly- finished Engravings on Steel; including the Last Judgment, and " Cartoons," with Portraits. 5s. Miller's History of the Anglo-Saxons, written in a popular style, on the basis of Sharon Turner, with a General Index. Portrait of Alfred, Map of Saxon Britain, and 12 elaborate Engrav- ings on Steel, after Designs by W. Harvey. 5s. Milton's Poetical Works, with a Memoir and Critical Pe- marks by James ]Montgomery, an Index to Piiraelise Lost, Todds Verbal Index to all the Poems, and a Selection of Explanatory Notes, by Henry G-. Bolin. Illustrated with 120 Wood Engravings by Thompson, Williams, 0. Smith, and Linton, from Drawings by W. Harvey. In 2 volumes. 5s. each. Vol. I. Paradise Lost, complete, with Memoir, Notes and Index. Vol. 2. Paradise Ptegained, and other Poems, with Verbal Index to all the Poems. bohn's illustrated library. 29 Mudie's Britisli Vnrds ; or, llisiory of the Feathered Tribes of tlio Britisli Islands. New Edition. Revised Ly W. C. L. Martin, Esq. Fifty-two figures of Birds and 7 addiiiorud FlcdeH of Egrjs. In 2 vols. 5s. each. or, witli the Plates coloured. Is. Gd. per vol. Naval and Military Heroes of Great Britain ; or, Calendar of Victory : being a Record of British Valour and Conquest by Sea and Land, on every day in the year, from the time of William the Conqueror to the battle of Inlvorniann. By IMajor Johns, R.M., and Lieutenant P. II. Nicolas, R.]\I., with chronological and alpha- betical Indexes. Illustrated with 24 Fortraits engraved on Steel. 6^. Nicolini's History of the Jesuits : their Origin, Progress, Doctrines, and Designs. Fine Fortraits of Loyola, Laines, Xavier, Borgia, Acquaviva, Fere la Chaise, Bicci, and Fope Ganganelli. 5s. Norway and its Scenery, comprising Price's Journal, with large Additions, and a Road-Book. Edited by Thomas Forester, Esq. Twenty-two lUustrations on Steel hy Lucas. 5s. Paris and its Environs, including Versailles, St. Cloud, and Excursions into the Champagne Districts. An illustrated Hand- book for Travellers. Edited by Thomas Forester, author of " Nor- way and its Scenery." Twenty-eight beautifid Engravings. 5s. Petrarch's Sonnets, Triumphs, and other Poems, trans- lated for the first time completely into English verse. By various hands. With a Life of the Poet, by Thomas Campbell. Illustrated with IG Engravings on Steel. 5s. Pickering's History of the Paces of Man, with an Ana- lytical Spiopsis of the Natural History of Man. By Dr. Hall. Illustrated hy numerous Fortraits. 5s. or, with the Plates coloured. 7s. 6d. *,* An excellent Edition of a work originally published at 31. 3s. by the American Government. Pictorial Handbook of London, comprising its Antiquities, Architecture, Arts, IManufactures, Trade, Institutions, Exhibitions, Svtburbs, &c. Two hundred and fire Engra rings on Wood, hy Bransfon, Jewitt, and others ; and large Map, hy Lowry. 5s. This volume contains above 900 pages, and is undoubtedly the cheapest five shilling volume ever produced. Pictorial PTandbook of Modern Geography on a Popular Plan. Compiled from the best authorities, English and Foreign, and ct)mpleted to the Pre-ent Time. With numerous Tables, and a General Index. By Henry G. Bohn. Blustrated hy 150 En- gravings on Wood, and 51 accurate Maps engraved on Steel. 6s. or, with the Maps coloured. Is. 6d. Two large Editions of this volume have been sold. The present New Edition is corrected and improved, and besides introducing the recent Cvnsiit.es of England and olher countries, records the changes which have taken'place iu Italy and Amtrica. 30 bohn's illustrated libraet. Pope's Poetical Works, edited by Eobert Carruthers. New Edition, revised. Numerous Engravings. In 2 volumes, os. each. Homer's Iliad, with Introduction and Kotes by the Eev. J. S. Watson, ]\I.A. Blustraied hy the entire Series of Flax- mans Designs, beautifully engraved by Moses {in the full Svo, size). 5s, • Homer's Odyssey, with the Battle of Frogs and Mice, Hymns, &c., by other translators, including Chapman, and lutioduction and Notes by the Eev. J. S. Watson, M.A. Flax man's Designs, beautifully engraved by 3Ioses. 5s. Life, including many of his Letters. By Eobert Carruthers. New Edition, revised and enlarged. Illustrations. 5s. The preceding 5 vols, mahe a complete and elegant edition of Pope's Poetical TVorks and Translations for 25s. Pottery and Porcelain, and other Objects of V'ertu (a Guide to the Knowledge of). Comprising an Illustrated Catalogue of the Bernal Collection of Works of Ai't, with the prices at which they were sold by auction, and names of the possessors. To which are added, an Introductory Lecture on Pottery and Porcelain, and an Engraved List of all the known Marks and Monograms. By Henry G. Bohn. Numerous Wood Engravings. 5s. . . — or, coloured, 10s. 6d. Prout's (Father) Eeliques. New Edition, revised and largely augmented. Twenty-one spirited Etchings, by D. Maclise, B.A, Two volumes in one (nearly 600 pages). 7s. Qd. Eecreations in Shooting. By Craven. Sixty -two Engravings on Wood, after Harvey, and 9 Engravings on Steel, chiefly after A. Cooper, B.A. 5s. Eedding's History and Descriptions of Vv'ines, Ancient and Modem. New and revised Edition. Twenty beautiful Woodcuts, and fine Frontispiece. 5s. Eobinson Crusoe. With Illustrations b}^ Stothard and Harvey. Twelve beautiful Engravings on Steel, and 74 on Wood. 5s. or, without the illustrations. Ss. 6d. The prettiest Edition extant. Eome in the Nineteenth Century. New Edition. Eevised by the Author. With Complete Index. Illustrated by 34 fine Steel Engravings. In 2 Vols. 5s. each. Southey's Life of Nelson. With Additional Notes, and a General Index. Blustraied icith G4 Engravings on Steel and Wood, from Designs by Duncan, Birhet Foster, and others. 5s. Starling's (Miss) Noble Deeds of Woman; or. Examples of Female Courage, Fortitude and Vhtue. Fourteen beautiful Illus- trations on Steel. 5s. bohn's illustrated library. 31 Stuart and Eevett's Antiquities of Athens, and other Monuiuents of Greece : to wliicli is added a Glossary of Terms used in Greeiiiu Architecture. Illmtnited in 71 I'laies ewjraved on Steel, and numerous Woodcut Capitals. 5s. Tales of the Genii ; or, the Delightful Lessons of Horam. Translated from the Persian by Sir Charles MorcU. New Edition, collated and edited by Philo-juvenis (H. G. Bohn.) Numerous Woodcuts, and 8 Steel Engravings, after Stotliard. 5s. Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered. Translated into English Spenserian Verse, with a Life of the Author. By J'. H. Wiffen. New Edition. Eight Engravings on Sted, and 24 on Wood, by Tlmrston. 5s. Walker's Manly Exercises ; containing Skating, Eiding, Driving, Hunting, Shooting, Sailing, Bowing, Swimming, &c. Tenth Edition, carefully revised by " Craven." Forty-four Flates, engraved on Steel, and numerous Woodcuts. 5s. "Walton's Complete Angler. Edited by Edward Jesse, Esq. To which is added an Account of Fishing Stations, &c., by Heniy G. Bohn. Upwards of 203 Engravings on Wood. 5s. or, icith the farther addition of 2G Engravings on Steel. Is. Gd. Wellington, Life of. By " i\n Old Soldier," from the materials of INIaxwell. Eighteen highly-finished Engravings on Steel by the best Artists. 5s. White's Natural History of Selborne. With Notes by Sir William Jardiue and Edward Jesse, Es SONS, STAMFORD STREET AXD CHARING CROSS. BRITTLE PHOTOC^ COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IIIIIIIIIII|j|||||||||!i!|!||||l|!i lllllllllUlllllliL 0035518618 X