The German Jesuits were, as I said, expelled in 1872; the Italian Jesuits followed in 1873. At that time the Jesuits of France were enjoying the reaction of public opinion which followed the attempts of the Communists. Under Napoleon III. they had quickly recovered, and as early as 1855 there had once more been appeals for their expulsion. They returned to their schools and colleges after the disturbances of 1871, and the Conservative Government permitted them to prosper. A reaction set in in the later 'seventies, when Gambetta vigorously led the anti-clerical forces and began to denounce the Society. The Catholics had almost succeeded in overthrowing the Republic and enthroning the Duc de Chambord. When (in 1877) they went on to demand the employment of French troops for the re-establishment of the Pope in his temporal power, they lost the cause of their Church. From that year Catholicism has decreased in France, shrinking from 30,000,000 to about 5,000,000 followers in thirty years.
Within two years there was an enormous growth of the anti-clerical feeling, especially against the Jesuits. They, and the great majority of the religious orders, had no legal right to existence in France. Only three or four Congregations, of a philanthropic character, were authorised by French law. Yet these useful bodies made no progress, while the unauthorised Congregations held property of the value of 400,000,000 francs. Jules Ferry now became Minister of Education, and framed a law to prevent any member of an unauthorised Society from teaching. When the Catholic Senate rejected it, the unauthorised Congregations were dissolved by decree (1880). Once more the Jesuits were banished from France, and 2904 members of the Society were added to the number of exiles. In 1880 more than half the Jesuits—or 7400 Jesuits—were excluded from their respective countries.
As France was still overwhelmingly Catholic, the successive Governments were unable to enforce the law, and the Jesuits quietly returned to their work. It is enough to say that during the next twenty years, until France had become predominantly non-Catholic and disposed to insist on their exclusion, the 2900 Jesuits actually increased their number; the property of the unauthorised Congregations rose in value from 400,000,000 to 1,000,000,000 francs; the higher education was controlled to a great extent by the Jesuits, whose pupils passed largely into the army and navy. It is hardly necessary to recall the successive blunders by which the Jesuits (and other religious) brought on themselves the sentence of expulsion in 1901. In 1886 Boulanger became Minister of War and popular idol. His Radical friends soon distrusted him, and the Monarchists and Catholics fanned the popular agitation to have him made Dictator. In this case we have positive and sufficient information of the complicity of the Jesuits. Count von Hoensbroech, then a young Jesuit, heard from the lips of Father du Lac, the most prominent of the French Jesuits, that he had collected large sums of money for the "Deliverer of France" and the overthrow of the "dirty and impious Republic." [45] We can hardly doubt that they had been equally zealous for the Duc de Chambord, and were later as zealous for the cause of the Duc d'Orleans.
Boulanger fled, to escape arrest, in 1889, and the Republicans added to the reckoning against the Jesuits. In 1897-99 occurred the famous agitation for the retrial of Dreyfus, and once more the Jesuits ranged themselves on the losing side of tyranny and prejudice. By the end of the century France had become overwhelmingly non-Catholic, and was not disposed to tolerate further the intrigues and wealth of bodies which had no legal existence in the country. The Jesuits, in particular, were a menace to the Republic. The new century opened therefore with an anti-clerical campaign which is still fresh in our memories. Waldeck-Rousseau passed his Associations' Bill in 1901, and the Jesuits now were once more expelled. Combes and Rouvier completed the work in subsequent years. There is, however, no very drastic action taken against invading religious, and the Jesuits frequent Paris as they do Berlin. The number of members of the French Provinces of the Society has risen to 3071 (many of whom are on the foreign missions), and from comfortable homes in England (where we have 226) and other countries, with their funds safely invested, they await the day of recall. But the general collapse of the Church in France makes it certain that they will never be readmitted.
Apart from the Latin-American Republics, in connection with which it would be tedious to enumerate the various expulsions and recalls of the Jesuits, and Portugal the Society has made great progress in other countries. Of Portugal little need be said; the situation is similar to that in France. The Jesuits had no authorised existence in the country, and, when Portugal was at length enabled to assert its will (after the revolution of 1910), it sharply dismissed them. Here again the country is predominantly non-Catholic, if we confine our attention to voters, and the Jesuits are never likely to return.
Spain has become the refuge, and almost the last hope in the Latin world, of the expatriated Jesuits. In the corrupt and worthless reign of Isabella II. they had been suffered to return to their posts and prosper. Properly speaking, they have had no legal right to exist in Spain since they were abolished by Christina in 1835. The Concordat of 1852 stipulates for the admission of the Oratorians and Vincentians and "one other" Congregation; but casuistic skill has interpreted this to mean "one for each diocese," and all have been admitted. The abominable rule of their patroness Isabella ended in revolution in 1868; the frivolous Queen was deposed, and the Jesuits shared the fate of her other strange favourites. With the accession of Alfonso XII., however, they returned to Spain, and obtained the wealth and power which they enjoy to-day.
The secrecy of the Society emboldens its apologists to make the most audacious denials of these constant charges of wealth, power, and intrigue, but it constantly happens that some confiscated document or disaffected admirer betrays them. Such an instance may be quoted in connection with the Spanish Jesuits. In 1896 a devout Catholic, a former pupil and employee of the Jesuits, Señor Ceballos y Cruzada, quarrelled with and turned against them. In the little work in which he expounds his grievances (El Imperio del Jesuitismo) he tells us some interesting facts about their wealth and activity. There is in Spain a vast Catholic Society known as the Association of Fathers of Families, which is quite as much concerned with sound politics as sound morals. Señor Ceballos shows how the Jesuits secretly use and direct it for their political aims, and for thwarting rival ecclesiastical bodies. As to their wealth, he says that they have 11 colleges worth from 1,000,000 to 12,000,000 reales each, while their chief house at Loyola has property of incalculable value. At his own college, at Deusto, there were about 300 pupils paying 1500 pesetas a year each; in none of them is education gratuitous. The schooling is very poor and antiquated, and few of their scholars later rise to any distinction. It is curious to know that these wealthy Jesuit institutions have the British flag ready to be hoisted in case of revolution (which they yearly expect).
There is, however, little need for proof of the wealth and political influence of the Jesuits in Spain. In the struggle which is proceeding between the reformers, of all parties, and the supporters of the deeply corrupt political system, the Jesuits use their whole strength as educators, and intrigue far beyond their schools, in the interest of corruption; and, true to their maxim of educating and capturing the sons of the wealthier classes, they have permitted the mass of the people to remain at an appalling level of illiteracy. The great majority of the men of Spain, in the large towns, hate them intensely, and await with impatience the day when, like their Portuguese neighbours, they will expel their insidious enemies. A few years ago a drama entitled Paternidad was put upon the stage of one of the chief theatres at Barcelona, and received with the wildest enthusiasm. It was written by a Catholic priest, Segismondo Pey-Ordeix, and represented the Jesuits of modern Spain as practising the most corrupt devices known in the history of the Society. The sternly critical works of the great Spanish writer, Perez Galdos, are just as enthusiastically received at Madrid and in all the cities. Spaniards watch with indignation the concentration of exiled Jesuits on their territory. To the exiled French communities of 1880 were added the 147 Jesuits of Cuba and the Philippines in 1898, and these are now reinforced by the Portuguese. They now number 3859. In 1901, 1906, and recently, the Liberals have attempted or threatened to deal with them; but there is too much collusion in the Cortes between the opposing parties, and the Jesuits have too strong an influence at the Palace: I am informed that the present Queen has surrendered entirely to the pressure of the Queen-mother and the Jesuits. Unless the King has the courage to lighten the labouring vessel of royalty by sacrificing the Jesuits, which would give him immense popularity, Spain will, within ten years, follow the example of Portugal.
Several of the South American Republics, and Mexico, have already reached a state of permanent triumph of the Liberal elements, and expelled the Jesuits for ever. As this work proceeds with the growth of education, it is natural to presume that they will all in time exclude the Jesuits. Italy also will return to its strict law, when the Government discovers that the shrinking influence of the Papacy is no longer a valuable ally against advanced schools. At present the law is not enforced, and there are large numbers of Jesuits in the country; the Italian Province numbers more than a thousand members. At Rome they control the Gregorian University, the German and Latin-American Colleges, the Biblical Institute, and other papal establishments. Restrained in some measure by Leo XIII., they have recovered all their influence at the Vatican under the present mediæval Pontiff, and they are amongst the most ardent supporters of the reactionary policy with which he is paralysing higher culture in the Church of Rome. The higher secular clergy are little less anxious than the Socialists and Freemasons to see them suppressed. The same forces are at work against them in Belgium, where they number 1200 (including foreign missionaries), and Austria. A coalition of Liberals and Socialists in Belgium would at any time put an end to the Catholic power, as the anti-clerical voters are in the majority, and the Jesuits would not long survive the change.
Yet one of the most singular features of the whole singular story of the Jesuits is that they have increased enormously during this half-century of afflictions. The growth of the Society during the last hundred years is seen in the following table:—