[393] St Priest, ubi sup. He has extracted all those details from a letter of Florida Blanca, addressed to Pope Pius VI.
[394] It is differently reported by what means the consent of Austria to the destruction of the Jesuits was obtained. The report most current at the time was, that Charles III. obtained it from Maria Theresa, by sending to the empress her own confession, which her Jesuit director had sent to the General, and which the king had had the means of obtaining. St Priest, in contradicting this opinion, says that Maria Theresa’s resistance was conquered by her son Joseph, who, although he took little interest in the affair as it affected the Jesuits, yet coveted their possessions.
[395] These are the words attributed to the Pope by the popular tradition. However, St Priest, following Caraccioli, makes the Pope exclaim, after having signed the brief, “Questa suppressione mi dará la morte”—This suppression will be my death.
[396] Gioberti, vol. iii. p. 374.
[397] It is here given as translated in the Protestant Advocate, 1815, vol. iii. p. 153, &c.
[398] Crét. vol. v. p. 275.
[399] Ibid. p. 390.
[400] St Priest, p. 50.
[401] Botta Storia d’Italia cont. da quella del Guic. 48. See also Gioberti, vol. iii. p. 391, and ff.
[402] St Priest, p. 89.