pope: that, if it was desired, he would call a council, in which every thing should be discussed with justice and equity, and the Jesuits heard in their own defence; that he owed to the Jesuits, as to all the religious orders, justice and protection; that, besides, the states of Germany, the king of Sardinia, and the king of Prussia, had written to him in their behalf; and that he could not, by their destruction, content some princes, without displeasing others." Nevertheless, without calling a council, without hearing their defence, he destroyed them; and, certainly, it will ever be a matter of astonishment, that, in a cause of such magnitude, a Roman pontiff, whatever motives may have impelled him to pronounce the suppression, could so far assimilate himself with the ministers of Portugal, Spain, Naples, and France, as to overlook that primary maxim, which Rome, whether Pagan or Christian, had in all ages respected: "It is not the manner of the Romans to deliver any man to die, before that
he, which is accused, have the accusers face to face, and have licence to answer for himself concerning the crime laid against him[[50]]."
The writer of some anecdotes annexed to his Letters, relates one, which shows the notoriety of the fact, that his suppression of the Jesuits was not the effect of a bad opinion of the order: as it is applicable to the subject I will insert it here. "While the bells were ringing, and cannon firing, to celebrate his exaltation, the general of the Jesuits observed, with a sigh, there tolls our passing-bell. Not," says the writer, "that Ganganelli was hostile to the Jesuits, but because he thought it was necessary to attend to the representations of the sovereigns."
THE PRESIDENT D'EGUILLES.
This gentleman was the Aristides of the French magistracy. I have already mentioned
him, when speaking of Monclar's Compte Rendu[[51]]. His opinion of the persecution of the society will be seen in the following passage, which was addressed by him to Louis XV. "If the church be incessantly outraged, by the judgments passed against the institute of the Jesuits, the throne is still more pointedly attacked, upon the two principal motives, which instigate the enemies of the Jesuits to work their destruction. The first of these motives is, plainly, to deprive a society, which is entirely devoted to the interests of its king, of the education of youth; but more especially of the youth of the nobility. The second, which is equally as dangerous, is, to astound all the other bodies of the kingdom by the terrible fall of that, which seemed the most unlikely to be shaken; and thus to make them sensible, that the hatred of the parliaments is more to be dreaded than the protection of the king to be coveted."
ABBE PROYART.
In his work entitled "Louis XVI dethroned before he was King," speaks of the Jesuits in these words: "The Jesuits, considered only in the light of public teachers, were, during their existence, the first supports of the throne."—"The destruction of the Jesuits was the ruin of the precious edifice of national education, and gave a general shock to public morality." The abbé, from his many testimonies in favour of the Jesuits, being suspected to be one of their order, openly declares, "that he never belonged to the society, and that he owed them only truth and justice, for that he was not even indebted to them for his education."
VOLTAIRE.