Chapter II: Preface

Having formerly occupied my thoughts on the subject of promoting the knowledge and practice of religion among the Negroes in the West Indies, I was naturally led to inquire into the means, which had been successfully adopted in the catholic islands. I traced them to the enthusiastic labours of the clergy in general, particularly the Jesuits. The conduct of the fathers of that society in South America, not only excited in me admiration, but the highest esteem, veneration, and affection, for that enlightened and persevering body in the Christian cause, who had spread over the immense regions of that {x} continent more virtue and real temporal happiness than were enjoyed by any other quarter of the globe, as well as a well founded hope of eternal felicity, by the redemption of mankind through Christ. This undeniable merit made such an impression on my mind, that I never gave credit to the horrors, which have been attributed to the society.

Among the objects of my attention, during a late residence in France, the restoration of the order became an interesting one, affording me some pleasing conversations, and inducing me to search into authorities respecting the actions and character of men, whom I had learned to venerate and to love, the result of which was a confirmation of my early predilection. On my return from the continent a short time since, I met with a pamphlet {xi} lately published, entitled "A Brief Account of the Jesuits," the ostensible object of which is to render the order odious, but the real one is seen to be an attempt to attach odium upon catholics in general, in the present crisis of the catholic question. I learned, from a literary friend, that this pamphlet had originally appeared as Letters in a newspaper, and that they had been answered in the same way, but that the answers had not been republished. These I obtained and perused. I received much satisfaction from them, and thought them worthy of being preserved. They did not, however, appear to me sufficiently full upon the subject, and I therefore resolved to publish them in the form of a pamphlet, with a preliminary statement. I consequently renewed my inquiries, and the more I inquire the more am I satisfied, that my veneration for this body of Christian instructors is not misplaced. {xii}

It is perfectly evident to me, that there was an unjust conspiracy, which originated in France, to destroy the Jesuits; and that it terminated successfully about the middle of the last century. It is not an easy task to unfold to its full extent the injustice and various iniquities of it, since even respectable historians have been led away by the imposing appearance, which the then undetected and half-unconscious ingenious agents of jacobinism had, by every expedient of invention, of colouring, and of wit, given to the hue and cry raised by those bitter enemies of the order, the university and parliaments of France, and by some ministers of other governments, particularly by the marquis de Pombal, the minister of the king of Portugal. It is not my intention to undertake so laborious a task, but I trust, that the following exposition will unfold sufficient {xiii} of the injustice, which has been so unfeelingly and indefatigably heaped upon the Jesuits, to convince every unprejudiced man, that the suppression of the order has been injurious to society, and that the revival of it, far from being dangerous, must be beneficial. I am not afraid, that this expression of my sentiment will draw upon me any suspicion of disaffection to the state, or the established church; my sentiments are well known to my friends, and have been more than once publicly professed. The benefit, which I think will arise from the restoration of the society, will consist more particularly in the active and zealous cultivation of Christian virtues, and a spirit of LOYALTY among the catholics of all countries, whether protestant or catholic; and, unless we mean to say, with some of the furious reformers, that the religion of the catholics is to be {xiv} extirpated altogether, it is absurd to say, that they shall not have their best and most active instructors.

When this volume had nearly gone through the press, in the course of reading I met with the following curious passage, extracted from a Letter to a Noble Lord by a Country Gentleman, entitled "Considerations on the Penal Laws," &c. published by the Dodsleys, of Pall-Mall, so long ago as 1764, about two years after the suppression of the Jesuits in France, and eleven previous to their total suppression by Clement XIV; I insert it, as I think it will not be unacceptable to the reader:--"The rising generation are now forming their principles on the writings of Voltaire, Rousseau, D'Argens, and the philosopher of Sans-Souci; to whom may be added a long catalogue of authors of our own {xv} country. In FRANCE _grave magistrates already celebrate and_ THE FIRST COURTS OF JUDICATURE echo with the praises of _Julian and Diocletian_; calculations are made, and the period is pretended to be fixed, when Christianity is to be no more. The powerful weapon of ridicule is employed not against popery alone, but to render contemptible the whole Jewish and Christian revelation." The _grave magistrates_, and _first courts of judicature_, are no other than _the French parliaments_, who, we are informed by a member of the lower house, were "ever ready to support the national independence[1]:" we see by what steps, and we have felt with what success.

In the following pages, I have shown, {xvi} that those _courts of judicature_ (which, far from being the immediate organs of the monarchs of France, as the same member asserts, were, for the greater part of the last century, in constant opposition to them, and the organs of rebellion) had conspired to effect the destruction of the Jesuits; and, I suspect, that "the mass of information," which supplies the proofs of the nascent revolutionary spirit, and which is to be met with in the histories of all Europe, are documents resulting from the piques and resentments of Pombal and other arbitrary ministers, who chose to take the consciences of their princes under their own care. These documents, afforded indeed by a most respected character, are nevertheless open to all the objections that arise from the principles and history of the intrigues of the ordinances alluded to. There is however some decency in recurring to {xvii} ordinances to found charges upon; the enemies of the Jesuits were not always so nice, as the following extract from one of their calumniators will show:--"When the Jesuits revolutionized Portugal, in 1667, and placed on the throne the infant don Pedro, sir Robert Southwell was there, as our ambassador from Charles II. His very curious correspondence with the duke of Ormond and lord Arlington is extant, and is a precious fragment of a great political event. The silent intrigues of the Jesuits do not seem to have been known to sir Robert; but, according to the _Recueil Chronologique_, published by THE COURT OF PORTUGAL, it is evident they were the principal actors, who, having overturned the monarchy, afterwards suppressed the democracy, and then, substituting an apparent aristocracy, reigned for some time over Portugal, concealed under that {xviii} cloak." This is a fine specimen of the warfare carried on against the society. The ambassador's ignorance of the intrigues of the Jesuits is not brought forward as a proof of their innocence, but as a reason why we should believe Pombal. As to the revolutionizing Portugal, and placing don Pedro on the throne, the ambassador could have been no stranger to the real causes of don Pedro's being proclaimed regent during the life of his brother Alonzo, from the incapacity of the latter, and the intrigues, first of his mother, and afterwards of his wife, the princess of Nemours.

I would here leave the reader, with this fact fresh on his mind, to enter upon the book before him, but that I wish to detain him a moment longer to request him to carry also along with him the asseveration {xix} of the author, that he is entirely unconnected with the individuals of the body, whose character it is the object of this volume to place in a just point of view. Though familiar with accounts of the society, I am unacquainted with a single individual of it. The interest I feel is that which has been inspired by their virtues, and by the injustice and cruelty of their enemies, which I have ascertained to my complete conviction.

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{xxi}

CONTENTS.

PAGE
INTRODUCTION 1

CHAPTER I.

_Remarks on the Objects of the Author of
"A brief Account of the Jesuits," and
on his mode of conducting his Argument_ 5

CHAPTER II.

_Inquiry into the Character of the Authorities
against the Jesuits, and of
those in favour of them; with a notice
of some of the Crimes imputed to
them_ 23

CHAPTER III.

_Of the Order of the Jesuits, with the
prominent features of the Institute_ 173

{xxii}

CHAPTER IV.

_Character of Pombal. Summary Observations,
and a brief notice of the tendency
and danger of Education independent
of Religion_ 229

THE LETTERS OF CLERICUS 259

APPENDIX.

_The Bull of Clement XIII_ 335

_The Judgment of the Bishops of France
in favour of the Jesuits_ 346

* * * * *

ERRATUM, or Omission, Page 81.

At the end of Henry IV's speech, add a reference to Dupleix, the same historian referred to in page 72. The speech is also to be found in the Memoirs of the Minister Villeroi, the confidant of Henry IV, in the Pleadings of Montholon, in the French Mercury of 1604, and in Matthieu, Henry IV's historiographer, whom that prince himself furnished with memoirs for his history. De Thou himself reports it, but in a mangled way, and professedly as _an extract_, yet clearly enough to corroborate the substance of it.

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{1}

THE

NEW CONSPIRACY

AGAINST THE JESUITS,

_&c._ _&c._