THE BISHOP OF HELIOPOLIS, in his Memoir for the College de Propaganda Fide in 1677, says of their constant persecution of all other Priests and Missionaries (the proofs of which will appear hereafter), "Wherever they may be, they will ad"mit neither of Superiors nor Equals." And THE BISHOP OF ANGELOPOLIS says, in his Letter to POPE INNOCENT X. dated 8th of January, 1649, "Their power is at this time so for"midable in the whole Church, their riches are so great, their "credit so extraordinary, and the deference which is paid "them is so absolute, that they erect themselves above all Dignities, Laws, Councils, and Constitutions."

With regard to their Commerce. Their usurious practices in CHINA, and their immense gains arising from their Commerce there and elsewhere, will also appear in the following History: without a Commerce conducted on the largest scale and with the greatest spirit, they could not have carried their ambition so far as to support a powerful army, and resist the two Kingdoms of Spain and Portugal; nor could they have bribed the Papal Consistory, acquired friends, and appeased enemies, nor, in the language of HENRY IV. have "maintain"ed intelligence and correspondence all over the world.”

It is impossible that the proofs upon this subject should appear in the Reply to MR. DALLAS, as they do throughout the following History; but a little may be said upon it here. MR. DALLAS first observes that Commerce "is forbidden "by the Canons of the Church to Ecclesiastics;" as if the Jesuits were likely to trouble themselves with the anti-commercial prohibitions of the Church. The Jesuits, however, he says, "had a Depot at Lisbon, where they kept effects "which served them instead of money; these things were sold "to support the brothers of the Order in America, who hav"ing no income could only be supplied with commodities in "those savage countries." After this unintelligible statement of the nature and uses of the Lisbon Depot, he quotes the Spanish Catholics JUAN and ULLOA, to prove the pious kind of barter which obtained between the Jesuits and the Indians,

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

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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. Favre.

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

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

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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 "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 [naw ❝tions, even of Armenia and Turkey, and of every other "which can be useful and necessary to the Society. These "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

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over the whole earth, and who all know each other by signs, "like the Free Masons, invariably act upon one system *. "They send merchandise to other disguised Jesuits, who "having it thus at first hand, make a considerable profit of

*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 REF "SIMULATOR ET DISSIMULATOR."

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"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 Company, 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").

"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

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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

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 *.'

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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.

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“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 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.