establishment by a formal brief, beginning with the words, "Catholici Præsules," dated the 17th day before the calends of October 1778.

It was confirmed to the college at Stonyhurst by briefs of the 14th of February 1796, and 14th December 1818.

LXXV. 9.

The Dissolution of the Society.

It does honour to christianity, that the first persecution of her was set on foot by Nero: it does similar honour to the jesuits, that the first persecution of them was set on foot by the marquis de Pombal, the most sanguinary and remorseless minister of state, that appeared in the last century. The charge, which he brought against the jesuits, was, that they were parties to a plot, for the assassination of the Portuguese monarch. Now, that such a plot existed, is very doubtful:-that the jesuits were concerned in it, has not been shown by the slightest evidence. For their supposed participation in it, they were banished from Portugal in 1759.

In the following year, the attack was made upon them in France. Father de la Valette, the procurator of their house of St. Peter in Martinique, and the superior-general of their missions in the Leeward Islands, had the direction of some plantations which belonged to the society; and, from the produce of which, their missions in those islands were altogether supported. He made a large con

signment of colonial produce to the house of Lionçys and Gouffre, at Marseilles, and drew on them for the amount of two-thirds of it, by bills payable at a distant day. The Lionçys and Gouffre accepted the bills; the ship, charged with the consignment, was captured by the English; the bills became due, were dishonoured and protested: the Lionçys and Gouffre became bankrupts; and their effects were assigned, in the usual manner, to the syndic of Marseilles, for the benefit of the creditors. It was contended, on the part of the creditors, that, under the circumstances of the case, the general body of the society was answerable for the debt. This, the jesuits denied, and the cause was brought before the parliament of Paris. In support of their defence, the jesuits alleged their constitutions. Here, their enemies awaited them; and the parliament instantly ordered them to produce their constitutions in court and deposit them in the Grêffe. On the 8th of May 1761, the cause was decided in favour of the creditors.

The parliament did not rest there; it proceeded to an examination of the constitutions, and by an arrêt of the 6th of August 1762, declared the bulls, briefs, constitutions, and other regulations of the society, to be abusive; and dissolved the society within the limits of their jurisdiction. Some other parliaments of France proceeded in the same manner. Finally, by an edict of 1763, Lewis the fifthteenth suppressed the society within his dominions. They were banished by the king of Spain, in 1767; by the king of Naples, the duke of Parma, and the

grand master of Malta, in 1768; and where wholly suppressed by pope Clement the fourteenth, in 1773.

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"In general," says the author of the "Vie

privée de Louis XV.*"-and he certainly cannot be accused of partiality to the order,-"the more numerous and respectable portion of the nation "regretted the jesuits. If this great cause had "been heard, with the solemnity and gravity due "to its importance, the jesuits might have thus "addressed the magistrates;- You! all you, "whose hearts and understandings we have formed, "answer, before you condemn us, these questions! "We appeal to the judgment, which you formed "of us, in that age, when candour and innocence "reigned in your hearts. Now, therefore, come "forward! Declare!- Did we in our schools, in "our discourses, or in the tribunal of penance,

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ever inculcate to you, any of those abominable "maxims, with which we are now reproached? "Did you ever hear them fall from our lips? Did

you ever read them in the books, which we put "into your hands? Did you ever observe in our "public or private conduct, any thing approaching "to them? Is it upon a few passages, torn and "twisted from books, long buried in the dust of “libraries, that we should be judged? Should it "not rather be on the doctrine which you heard "from us, when you filled our colleges, when

you frequented our schools, our pulpits and our "confessionals? Is there among you, one, who * Tom. iv. p. 61.

"has heard from us, even a single maxim, with "which we are now charged? Why,'-the jesuits might have continued, did you send your sons "to our schools, if you had been taught, or did "seriously suspect us of teaching, in them, bad "morality.'

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"Alas!" continues the same writer, "the magistrates said all this to one another:-in private they held no other language; but they were "no sooner seated on the bench of justice, than they were overpowered by their fanatical and "louder brethren."

At the time of its dissolution, father Ricci, of an illustrious house in Florence, was the superiorgeneral of the society. He, and several others of its most distinguished members, were, on a sudden, imprisoned, by the order of pope Clement the fourteenth, and, after some changes of prison, conveyed to the castle of St. Angelo, and closely confined. They underwent separate interrogatories. Two questions only, in these interrogatories, seem to deserve notice.-The general was asked "If there were abuses in the order?" He replied,

that, "through the mercy of God, there were no "abuses, that could, in anywise, be called gene"ral; on the contrary, there were great regu"larity, piety, zeal, and particularly great union "and charity; this was demonstrated by the cir"cumstance, that, during fifteen years of extreme

tribulation, there was no internal trouble or "tumult; and that all remained attached to their "state, though excessively persecuted. This did

"not prevent particular abuses from rising, through "human frailty,-to which proper remedies were " applied."

The other question, which we shall notice, respected the wealth of the society.-Its enemies had foretold that its dissolution would lead to the discovery of immense treasures.--In no country, from which they were expelled, was this wealth, or the slightest vestige of it, discovered. This, the enemies of the society accounted for, by supposing, that, foreseeing the storm which was to burst upon them, the persons entrusted with the management of its funds, had transmitted them to Rome. "Their avidity for the good things of this world," says the author of the celebrated treatise, Du Pape et des Jésuites*, "is one of the greatest re"proaches made to the society, in the brief of "Clement the fourteenth; and yet, at the moment "of their dissolution, they were encumbered by a heavy debt. This is an enigma, which can only "be explained by a fact sufficiently known,-that "they were obliged to send, every year, to Rome, "the fruit of their economy and savings; that "these sums were put under the disposition of the "general; who, by their constitutions, was the "sole proprietary of the company. By these means, a portion, not inconsiderable, of the reve"nues of the state flowed, furtively, through secret "canals to swell a foreign treasure, and often "served suspicious purposes."

* 2d edit. p. 17.