the following sufficiently shew the depressed state of mind under which it was composed :-" We respect the hands of those sovereigns, by whom God now corrects, visits, and humbles us; and, though it were in our power to repel force by force, we should nevertheless prefer humiliation to a triumph, [credat Judæus! if the militia of the Dutchy of Urbino had been numerous enough to take the field against the allies, he would have told her Majesty a very different tale;] being convinced that the piety of monarchs is our strength, and that our best arms are tears and prayers. Our whole defence is in the hands of God, who softens and moves the hearts of princes." "Such and so different," observes the his torian of the Annual Register, "is the language of a modern bishop of Rome, from that held by the Popes his predecessors." Old Clement, as Voltaire called him, did not employ his best arms only, but, in addition to the battalions of Urbino and Ravenna, he pelted his enemies with Briefs and battered them with Bulls. Prayers and tears, it is well known, were the arms of the primitive church, before Popery was established; but low as Clement was reduced, and compelled as his successor was to suppress the order of the Jesuits, Pius VII. the present Bishop of Rome, has resumed the high tone of the Popes in the middle ages, and, in the plenitude of his power, has restored the society execrated in 1768 by all the sovereigns of Europe, and forcibly banished out of their territories. And are the principles of the Jesuits altered? Is their code of morals reformed? Hath the Ethiopian changed his skin? Hath the leopard got rid of his spots? Have they who so long were accustomed to evil, learned to do well? Will the sovereigns and the states of Europe permit the re-establishment of the Jesuits to take place without an effort to prevent it, without a single protest against it? The Jesuits were a thorn in the sides of the last generation, and they will cost those that are to

of re-establishing the Jesuits within his dominions, sent orders to his ambassador at Paris to declare to the court at Versailles, that if a resolution should be formed to compromise the affairs of the Jesuits, at a time when the negociations were in so favourable a train, as to promise a speedy annihilation of that pernicious society, by whose destructive machinations France had so severely suffered, above all nations, his Catholic Ma jesty should find himself obliged to break the treaty [at that time held of the highest consequence] called the Family Compact, and to recal his minister from Paris.

From a letter dated at the Hague, [then the principal seat of political information,] May 14th, 1771, it appears that the King of Spain seemed determined at all events to procure the dissolution of the order, and that he had sent particular injunctions to M. Asparu, his resident ambassador at Rome, to insist on the point, in the most pressing manner, with the Pope. His Catholic Majesty followed up, his measures against the Jesuits with the greatest assiduity. Search had been made in their houses, and seventy millions of piastres had been discovered, together with many papers of importance.

come many a groan; for we firmly believe that Jesuitism will be found semper idem, as completely as the church of Rome, on the authority of Mr. Plowden, is semper cadem.-For our authorities we refer to the periodical publications of the period which we have mentioned, generally; the statements being found to tally throughout them all.-Let the reader judge of the Jesuits from the Bull of Clement.

"A Translation of the Bull for the effectual Suppression of the Order of the Jesuits.

"CLEMENT XIV. POPE, &c.

"Jesus Christ our Saviour and Redeemer was foretold by the prophets as the Prince of Peace: the angels' proclaimed him under the same title to the shepherds at his first appearance upon earth; he afterwards made himself known repeatedly as the sovereign pacificator; and he recompeace to his disciples before his ascension to heaven.

mended

Having reconciled all things to God his father, having pacified by his blood and by his cross every thing which is contained in heaven and in earth, he recommended to his apostles the ministry of reconciliation, and bestowed on them the gift of tongues, that they might publish it; that they might become ministers and envoys of Christ, who is not the God of discord, but of peace and love; that they might announce this peace to all the earth, and direct their efforts to this chief point, that all men being regenerated in Christ, might preserve the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace; might consider themselves as one body and one soul, as called to one and the same hope, to one and the same vocation, at which, according to St. Gregory, we never can artive, unless we run in concert with our brethren. This same word of reconciliation, this same ministry, is recommended to Us by God in a particular manner. Ever since We were raised (without any personal merit) to the chair of St. Peter, we have called these duties to mind day and night, we have had them without ceasing before our eyes; they are deeply engraven on our hearts, and we labour to the utmost of our power to satisfy and fulfil them. To this effect we implore without ceasing the protection and the aid of God, that he would inspire us and all his flock with counsels of peace, and open to us the road which leads to it. We know, besides, that we are established by the Divine Providence over kingdoms and nations, in order to pluck up, destroy, disperse, dissipate, plant, or nourish, as may best conduce to the right cultivation of the vineyard of Sabaoth, and to the preservation of the edifice of the Christian religion, of which Christ is the chief cornerstone. In consequence hereof we have ever thought, and been constantly of opinion, that as it is our duty carefully to plant and nourish whatVOL. III. [Prot. Adv. Jan. 1815.]

X

ever may conduce in any manner to the repose and tranquillity of the Christian republic, so the bond of mutual charity requires that we be equally ready and disposed to pluck up and destroy even the things which are most agreeable to us, and of which we cannot deprive ourselves without the highest regret and the most pungent sorrow.

"It is beyond a doubt, that among the things which contribute to the good and happiness of the Christian republic, the religious orders hold as it were the first place. It was for this reason that the apostolic see, which owes its lustre and support to these orders, has not only approved, but endowed them with many exemptions, privileges, and faculties, in order that they might be so much the more excited to the cultivation of piety and religion to the direction of the manners of the people, both by their instructions and their examples; to the preservation and confirmation of the unity of the faith among the believers. But if at any time any of these religious orders did not cause these abundant fruits to prosper among the Christian people, did not produce those advantages which were hoped for at their institution; if at any time they seemed disposed rather to trouble than maintain the public tranquillity; the same apostolic see, which had availed itself of its own authority to establish these orders, did not hesitate to reform them by new laws, to recall them to their pri mitive institution, or even totally to abolish them where it has seemed necessary. Upon motives like these, Innocent III. our predecessor, having considered that the too great multiplicity of regular orders served only to bring confusion into the church of God, did, in the fourth Coun cil of Lateran, forbid all persons to invent any new religious institution; and counsel all those who were called to the monastic life to embrace one of the orders already established. He determined, also, that whoever was disposed to found any new religious house, should submit it to some of the rules or institutions already approved. From hence it results that no one has a right to found any new order, without the special permission of the Roman Pontiff, and that with very good reason; the rather, as the end of new institutions being the attainment of a greater degree of perfection, it is proper that the Apostolic See should previously and carefully examine the rules of conduct proposed to be laid down, lest great inconveniences, and even scandals, should be introduced into the church of God, under the specious appearance of a greater good.

"Notwithstanding the wisdom of these dispositions of Innocent III. in after times excess of importunity wrung from the Holy See the approba tion of divers regular orders; nay, such was the arrogant temerity of many individuals, that an infinite number of orders, especially mendicants, started up without any permission at all. To remedy this abuse, Grego

ry X. likewise our predecessor, renewed the constitution of Innocent III. in the General Council at Lyons, and forbid every one, under the most severe penalties, to invent thereafter any new orders, or to wear the habit of them. And as to the new institutions and mendicant orders, established after the Council of Lateran, and not then approved by the Holy See he abolished them all; and with regard to those which had then been confirmed by the Apostolic See, he ordained, that those who had already taken the vows might, if they saw good, remain in them, on condition that they received no new members, that they acquired no new houses, lands, or possessions whatever, and that they did not alienate the possessions they then had, without the express permission of the Apostolic See. And further, he reserved to the said See the disposition of all the goods and possessions, to be carried to the subsidies destined for the Holy Land, or for the poor, or for other pious uses, and that through the channel of the ordinary of the place, or of such other person as the Holy See should appoint. He prohibited, likewise, the members of the said orders to preach, confess, or even inter any other dead, except those of their own order. He declared, however, that the orders and preachers called “Fratres Minores” should be exempted from this constitution, inasmuch as the evident advantage the Catholic church reaped from them entitled them to an entire approbation. He ordained, likewise, that the order of the Hermits of St. Augustine, and that of the Carmelites, should remain on their ancient footing, inasmuch as their institution was prior to the Council of Lateran. And finally, he permitted the individuals of the orders, comprised in the said constitution, full liberty of transporting themselves and their effects into any other order already approved; provided only that no whole order or convent should pass with all their effects into any one other order, without a previous and express permission of the Holy See.

"The other Roman Pontiffs, our predecessors, followed the same steps, as circumstances required. Among others, Clement V. by a letter sub plumbo, expedited the 3d of May in the year 1312, induced thereto by the general discredit into which the order of Templars was fallen, did entirely suppress and abolish the said order, though it had been legally approved, and though, on account of the services it had rendered to the Christian republic, the Holy See had heretofore bestowed on it many and important privileges, faculties, and exemptions; and though the General Council of Vienna, to whom the examination of this affair had been committed, had not thought proper to pronounce a formal and definitive

sentence.

"St. Pius V. likewise our predecessor, whose eminent virtues are ho

noured by the church, suppressed and entirely abolished the order called "The Humble Brothers," though it was anterior to the Council of Lateran, and had been approved by Innocent III. Honorius III. Gregory IX. and Nicholas III. pontiffs of blessed memory, and our predecessors; his reasons for which were, that the disobedience of this order to the apostolic decrees, their quarrels among themselves and with strangers, left-no room to hope from them any example of virtue; and that besides some individuals of this order had made an infamous attempt on the life of St. Charles Boromæus, a cardinal of the holy church, and apostolic visito of the said order.

"The Pope Urban VIII. our predecessor, of blessed memory, did in the same manner, by a Brief dated the 6th of February, abolish-and for ever suppress the congregation of Fratres Conventuales reformati, though this order had been approved by Pope Sixtus V. who had distinguished it by particular benefactions and favours. Urban VIII. suppressed it, because the church of God did no longer receive any spiritual advantages from it; and because violent disputes had arisen between this order and those of the "Fratres Conventuales non reformati." He ordained that the houses, convents, and goods, moveable and immoveable, belonging to their congregation, should be assigned over to the "Fratres Minores Conventuales" of St. Francis, except only the house at Naples, and that of St. Anthony of Padua, called "de Urbe." This last he incorporated, and applied to the apostolic chamber, leaving the disposition of it to his successors. Lastly, he permitted the brothers of the said congregation to pass into the houses of the Capuchins, or into those of the brothers called " de ob

servantia."

"This same Urban VIII. by another letter in the form of a Brief, dated the 2d of December 1643, suppressed for ever, extinguished, and abolished the regular order of the Saints Ambrose and Barnaby, ad nemus, submitting the regulars of the said order to the jurisdiction and government of the Ordinary, permitting the individuals thereof to pass into other regular orders approved by the Holy See. Innocent X. confirmed this abolition afterwards by his letter sub plumbo of the 1st of April 1645. He farther secularized all the benefices, monasteries, and houses of the said order, which were heretofore regular. The same Innocent X. our predecessor, having been informed of the great disorders which had arisen among the regulars of the order of the pious schools of the mother of God; and notwithstanding the said order had been solemnly approved by Gregory XV. did, after a mature examination, and by his brief, dated March 16, 1645, reduce the said order to a simple congregation, dispensing with all obligation to make any vow, in imitation of the institu