and to shew with what sanctity and simplicity the Jesuits carried on trade in that quarter. He then passes à toute bride over the scandalous bankruptcy of the Jesuit LAVALETTE, and his Mercantile Colleagues, which produced a considerable sensation throughout Europe, and observes, that "the circum"stances attending his conduct are not very clear:" he then inquires, "what numerous body can be answerable for every "individual of it;" after which, he contrives to extract from the whole affair of LAVALETTE's Bankruptcy (the circumstances of which shall be noticed shortly) the extraordinary and unwarrantable conclusion, that "it exonerates all other "Jesuit Missionaries from the charge of trading!"

The widely extended Commerce of the Jesuits has been, from their earliest history, the inexhaustible source of their wealth. They obtained from POPE GREGORY XIII. under the plea of POVERTY, which has always been so useful to them, the privilege of trading in the most remote countries. It was he, who, in permitting them to go to Japan, ostensibly as Missionaries, virtually licensed them as Merchants; and although other Popes withdrew these privileges, the Jesuits were not much embarrassed by their prohibitions, proceeding to persecute and expel the Missionaries of all other Religious Orders, on every occasion where they were in their way *.

THE UNIVERSITY OF PARIS, in 1644, reproached them with "the insatiable avarice which had crept into their osten"tatious piety, and which made them traverse the most distant "seas to seek any thing else than souls, as had been proved "by the most authentic documents †.”

THE BISHOP OF HELIOPOLIS, in his Memoirs for the College de propaganda fide, in 1677, refers the Jesuits' persecution of all other Missionaries to "their desire of concealing from Europe what they were doing in those nations, particularly "the Commerce which they had always carried on, and were

* See La Morale pratique, Mémoires des Missions Etrangères, and du Père Norbert; also the Letters of M. Faure.

+ See Réponse à l'Apologie du Père Gaussin, ch. xxvii.

"resolved to continue, notwithstanding the prohibitions of the "Popes."

M. MARTIN, Governor of Pondicherry, observes, "It is "certain that, next to the Dutch, the Jesuits carry on the

greatest and most productive commerce with India. Their "trade surpasses even that of the English, as well as that of "the Portuguese, who established them in India. There may "possibly, indeed, be some Jesuits who go there from reli

66

gious motives; but they are very few, and it is not such as "those, who know the grand secret of the Company. Some "among them are Jesuits secularized, who do not appear to "be such, because they never wear the habit; which is the reason why at Surat, Agra, Goa, and every where else they "are taken for real Merchants of the countries whose names "they bear. For it is certain that there are some of all na ❝tions, even of Armenia and Turkey, and of every other "which can be useful and necessary to the Society. These

66

disguised Jesuits are intriguing every where. The secret. "intercourse which is preserved among them, instructs them "mutually in the merchandise which they ought to buy or "sell, and with what nation they can most advantageously "trade: so that these masked Jesuits make an immense profit "for the Society, to which alone they are responsible, through "the medium of those Jesuits who traverse the world in the "habit of St. Ignatius, and who enjoy the confidence, know "the secrets, and act under the orders of the heads of Eu"rope." Again: "These Jesuits, disguised and dispersed. over the whole earth, and who all know each other by signs, "like the Free Masons, invariably act upon one system *. 66 They send merchandise to other disguised Jesuits, who having it thus at first hand, make a considerable profit of

66

* DECEPTION, under one form or other, is the unvarying policy of the Jesuits, who can, with equal ease, pretend to be what they are not, and dissemble what they are; answering precisely to the description given by SALLUST of a well-known character, "CUJUSLIBET RES "SIMULATOR ET DISSIMULATOR.”

"it, for the Society. This traffic, however, is very injurious "to France. I have often written respecting it to the East "India Company trading here; but I have received express "and repeated orders from it" (under Louis XIV.)" to "concede and advance to these Fathers, whatever they might "require of me. The Jesuit TACHARD, alone, owes that Com"pany, at this moment, above four hundred and fifty thousand "Livres. Those Jesuits who, like TACHARD, pass and re"pass between this quarter and Europe, are, ambulatory Di"rectors and Receivers General of the Bank, and of the "Trade *."

་

"In the Antilles" (says COUDRETTE) "LAVALETTE the "Jesuit has half the worth of the property, for whose con"veyance to France he undertakes. In Portugal the Jesuits "had vessels employed exclusively in their service; which "facts are established by the process of Cardinal Saldanha. "All the accounts of Travellers in the East Indies speak in "the same way, with astonishment, of the extent of their ❝ commerce. In Europe, and even in France, they have "Banks in the most commercial Cities, such as Marseilles, "Paris, Genoa, and Rome: in addition to this, they publicly "sell drugs in their houses; and in order to their sanction in "this, they procured from POPE GREGORY XIII, the privi

lege of exercising the art of medicine. Their medical La "boratory at Lyons is celebrated. That of Paris, which was "sufficiently well known before, became still more so, on the

seizure which the apothecaries made of their compounds. "Even at Rome, in spite of the opposition of the tradesmen, "and the prohibitions of the Pope, they carry on trade in

66

Baking, Grocery, &c. Let us only imagine Twenty Thou"sand Traders, dispersed over the world from Japan to "Brazil, from the Cape of Good Hope to the North, all cor

66

respondents of each other, all blindly subjected to one Indi❝vidual, and working for him alone; conducting two hundred "Missions, which are so many Factories; six hundred and

* See Voyage de Duquesne, Chef d'Escadre, Vol. iii. p. 15 et seq.

"twelve Colleges; and four hundred and twenty-three houses "of Professors, Noviciates, and Residents, which are so many "Entrepôts; and then let us form an idea, if we can, of the "produce of a commerce of so vast an extent *.”

66

66

Let us lastly hear THE BISHOP OF ANGELOPOLIS, who in his Letter to POPE INNOCENT X. has the following passage: "What other Order (most Holy Father) from the first origin of Monks and Mendicants, or any other of the Religious, has made a Bank of the Church of God, has lent "money at interest, and publicly conducted butcheries and "other shops in its houses; a traffic which is disgraceful, and "unworthy of Religious characters? What other Order has "ever become Bankrupt, or, to the great surprise and scandal "of the Laity, has filled almost all the world by sea and land "with its trade, and its commercial contracts? Undoubtedly “such profane and worldly conduct does not appear to have "been dictated by Him, who declares in his Gospel, that no one can serve God and Mammon.

"All the great and populous City of Seville is in tears: "the widows of that country, pupils, orphans, virgins, Priests, " and Laymen, mingle their lamentations on account of their "having been miserably deceived by the Jesuits, who, after "having obtained from them above 400,000 Ducats, and spent them all for their own purposes, only paid them by a σε disgraceful bankruptcy; but having been brought to justice, " and convicted to the great scandal of all Spain, of acts which, "in private Individuals, would have been capital offences, they "made every effort to withdraw themselves from the secular jurisdiction, by their claims of spiritual immunity, and "named Ecclesiastics for their Judges, until the matter having "at length been carried before the Royal Council of Castille, it "decreed, that, since the Jesuits exercised the same Commerce as was practised by Laymen, they ought to be treated like "Laymen, and sent back to the secular power. Thus a great "multitude of persons who are reduced to ask charity, demand

* See COUDRETTE'S HISTORY, Vol. iv. p. 201,

"at this hour with tears from the civil Tribunals, the money "which they have lent to the Jesuits; which to some was all "their substance, to others all their dowry, to others all their "savings and subsistence, who in consequence exclaim loudly against the perfidy of these Religious, and load them with "execration *.

"What will English and German Protestants say of these "things, who boast of preserving such inviolable fidelity in "their engagements, and of proceeding in their commerce "with so much sincerity and frankness? They must cer"tainly make a mock at the Roman Catholic faith, at ecclesi❝astical discipline, at Priests, Regulars, and the holiest profes"sions in the Church, and become only more hardened and ❝ obdurate in their errors.

"Have such proceedings as these, which are absolutely “worldly and unlawful, ever been practised by any other "Religious Order, than by the most holy Society of Jesu"its? Has any example of such conduct been ever witness"ed in any other Society of Priests, who, by devoting them❝selves to the service of God, have at the same time stood 1.66 pledged to the contempt of temporal things +?"

With regard to the third charge against the Jesuits, namely, that of Sedition, MR. DALLAS finds it convenient to consider only their Sedition in PARAGUAY, which, however, was rather an act of open rebellion against the Parent States of Spain and Portugal. MR. DALLAS hurries over the charge of Sedition, as affecting the Jesuits in other countries, as if he were passing over burning lava; but he dwells with complacency on the

*The Jesuit LAVALETTE was at the head of the Mission to Martinique, and the greatest Merchant of the West India Islands. The sum for which he failed, was no less than three millions of money. Many persons who were interested, applied to the Parliament of Paris, who ascertained on that as on other occasions, that the General of the Order, who resided at Rome, possessed complete control over the property of the Society.

+ See Letter of PALAFOX, BISHOP OF ANGELOPOLIS, to POPE INNOCENT X. dated 8th of January, 1649, p. 39, Edit. Cologne, 1666.