dlers, during a single year. And the contriver of them, you tell us, was Laines, whom you have thoughtlessly allowed to have been a man of superior abilities in the science of Government. The folly of imputing such trash to Laines must appear evident to whoever knows that this man was one of the most distinguished divines and preachers of his age; that he was, in three different Popedoms, deputed as Pontifical Theologian to the Council of Trent; that his harangues were considered almost as oracular by the fathers of that venerable assembly; that his manners were as saintly as his learning was extensive; that he was specially selected by Pius IV. to overawe the Hugonots at Poissy; that he returned from that embassy to refuse the dignity of Cardinal, with which the Pope of fered to distinguish his eminent merit; and that he ended his career in 1565, seven years after he had been elected General of the young Society. Now say, what time could a man, so buried in theological and missionary labours in Italy and France, command to conduct commercial speculations in India, as your odious libel asserts? But alas, why should Laicus spare Laines, when he has dared to blaspheme the great, the renowned Francis Xavier, as a monster of cruelty, an extortioner of Indian wealth? As if such senseless insult, at the distance of 260 years, could disparage the revered merit, or obliterate the tribute of admiration and praise, which mankind have agreed to give him, and which sober Protestants have not refused. Such are Baldeus and Flackluyt, cited in the wonderful life of that famous apostle, by Bouhours, translated into English by our Dryden. tell us, that any man whatever gave credit t them, unless there existed, at the pe riod of the discovery, (and this i hardly credible) men as shallow an malicious as yourself. Would yo know, Sir, the origin of your despic ble Monita? Not in the days Laines, not at the close, but in t early years of the 17th century, a J suit was dismissed with ignominy fro the Society in Poland, and this uncor mon circumstance was judged duel his misconduct. The walls of the cit of Cracow were soon covered with si gle sheets of revengeful insults, an in the year 1616, this outcast of th society published his fabricated Secon ta Monita, with a view to cover hi own disgrace, or to gratify his revenge Whether he attained either of thes objects, says the elegant historian Cordara (a name well known in th republic of letters), I cannot deter mine; certain it is, he continues, 200 thing was ever more inaptly silly tha this work, "Quo opere, ut modes dicam, nihil ineptus," vide Cordu Hist. Soc. Yes. page 29. Cordar would have made an exception in vour of Laicus, if he had lived to rea his letters in The Times. The lib was, however, industriously prop gated, to meet every where its merite contempt, and it was victoriously futed by Gretser, who died in 162 seventy-five years before the work wa discovered, if the admirable Laicus is to be believed. The refutation, which was not wanted, may be read in Gret ser's Work, Edit. Ratisbon, 1634. A edition of the Monita, says was dedicated to Sir Robert Walpol in 1722. Though every assertion Laicus may be doubted, yet admittin the truth of this, which I cannot dis prove, a probable reason for it may, think, be assigned. Laicu The maxims of Xavier and Laines, consigned in your Monita Secreta, were first brought to light, you From the accession of the House at the close of the 17th century, about Hanover, in 1714, a negotiation bac 140 years after the decease of the sup-been on foot for the repeal of the posed author; and yet you have not a shadow of proof to allege, that they made any sensation in the world, that Penal Laws. It miscarried, principally from the still subsisting attachment to the House of Stuart, and partly from any Prince, Prelate, or Magistrate, the enmity openly professed against the angry Jesuit missioners by a small number of Catholics, priests and laymen, who insisted that they should be excepted from the expected act of grace. During the first years of George I. several libels had been circulated, to indispose the public against them; and it is observable, that the same jealousy and party rancour had influenced the negotiations instituted in favour of Catholics in the reign of Charles II, and even during the usurpation of Cromwell. The edition of Laicus's dear libel, in 1722, if it be a reality, was probably made on the same principles; and this reflection will soon lead me to detect the ultimate view of Laicus and Co. in the present unceasing showers of foul slaver, which they are scattering abroad. This may be reserved to another day. The dered by Jesuits? Strange, that the discovery of such a crime should have been reserved for Laicus 91 years after the death of that Pontiff! Who, before Laicus, ever wrote that the assassin of Heury the Third was instigated by Jesuits? Wait another Times; Laicus will improve; he will roundly assure us, that the miserable Clement actually was a Jesuit. No man conversant in the history of France, ever doubted of the civil wars in the 16th century having originated from rebellious Hugonots; but no man before Laicus ever attributed all the horrors of that dismal period to Jesuits. famous league opposed the succession of the Bourbons in the person of Henry IV; and the whole guilt of their proceedings against Henry IV. is exclusively ascribed to Jesuits. And yet It is not possible to dwell upon all this very Monarch, whom Laicus calls the wilful falsehoods of the second let the greatest and best King of France, ter, with the same extent which I have was, perhaps, the warmest friend and given to the fable of the Monita. The protector of the Jesuits, of all men Ower of the General of the Jesuits is who ever wore a Crown. Possibly I erely ascertained in the volumes of may be wrong in this assertion, behe Institute; and, indeed, a true ac- cause the glory of Henry IV, in this ount of it cannot be drawn from any particular, is certainly rivalled, if not other source. Now, I assert, that every exceeded, by the illustrious favour and word, written upon it in the Institute, protection afforded to the persecuted stands directly in contradiction to your Jesuits, by the late Empress Catherine description of it in your second letter. of Russia, and by the present magnaIt was said of an ancient painter, nimous Emperor Alexander.-Henry "Nulla dies sine linea." I say of the Fourth condescended to refute in your wild rant, "Nulla linea sine public the passionate imputations of mendacio." In the books of the In- the President Harlay against the Je stitute, the General's power is basuits. His son, Lewis XIII, and his anced and checked in a style, that has grandson, Lewis XIV, imitated his the science of legislation, Cardinal been admired by the deepest men in example in their esteem of the Society; and because this was undeniable, beRichelieu and others; and all this has hold, Laicus has transformed this fabeen repeatedly sanctioned, confirmed, mous French Monarch into a Jesuit and extolled by Popes, who, accord-professed of four vows. Fancy, how ng to you, were at once governed and a Frenchman would scout such ribaldopposed, ruled and thwarted, over-ry, But enough of these extravawayed and disobeyed, and sometimes gancies. In reading them, I began to murdered by Jesuits. What ideots suspect that Laicus's aim might be to these Popes must have been! In what ridicule the revilers of Jesuits, by imchapter of the Institute did Laicus dis- puting to the latter, things evidently over the power, or the practice, of false, clearly inconsistent, absolutely admitting men of all religions? In impossible. Thus, more than fifty what historian has he found that Inno- years ago, when the absurd tale of the cent XIIIth was murdered, or mur- Jesuit King Nicolas of Paraguay, `amused the Laicuses of the day, the writer of one of the Holland Gazettes, in his description of that King's battle against the Spanish and Portuguese troops, endeavoured to turn the fable into ridicule, by asserting that King Nicolas had displayed much bravery, and had fought until three Capuchins were shot under him in the action. But I apprehend, friend Laicus does not rave merely for sport. His real views will gradually appear. They are not quite unknown to CLERICUS. THIRD LETTER TO LAICUS. guilt, even against the worst of cul prits, solely upon the asseverations o their declared enemies; and if thes enemies stand otherwise convicted o malicious calumnies, this circumstanc alone must go far towards the acquit tal of the accused. It is well known that Prynne and De Thou wrote i the most turbulent times, amidst th distractions of civil wars, occasione by restless sectaries, that they wer both inflamed with party rage, an never spared their adversaries. 1 their testimony is to be admitted as in refragable in the present times, in on point, why not in another? If, with out a shadow of proof, we must be lieve with Prynne and you, that the Irish massacre, and the British civil wars, were to be referred to Jesuits and especially to Cuneus, the Pope's Nuncio, and Cardinal Barbarinis (who were not Jesuits), we must also be lieve every thing written by that foul SIR,-At the close of your first letter, you promised to refer in your next to the evidences for the statements which you had made. I was curious to see, upon what historical evidence such a mass of forgeries could rest. In labouring through your se cond letter (Times, Feb. 9.), I disco-mouthed lawyer against Charles vered much intrinsic evidence, that you are a still improving adept in the art of bold and unsupported assertion, but not a shadow of proof, that your rants were ever believed by any man before yourself. The only authority cited in it, is of one Collado, who asserted, that the conduct of the Jesuits was the occasion of the abolition of Christianity in Japan: and whoever has read the history of Christianity in those islands, will deny the position upon much surer grounds than it is advanced. The whole of your second letter is no more than an unconnected congeries of the grossest impostures. In my second I marked out a few; shall presently indicate some others; and I shall leave my readers to determine, whether you have proved your first calumnies, only by the production of new ones. against episcopacy, and the famou Archbishop Laud. But we know tha the fellow's ears were twice bored an cropped in the pillory for his defama tory libels, that he was seared wit the letter S. L. (seditious libeller) I believe my readers will agree tha the stigma might, with propriety, b transferred to the retailer of his false hoods, to the unblushing front of the venal LAICUS. Before I speak of De Thou, I will mention only a few of your insufferable lies, which hardly Prynne himself would have ventured to utter, at least after his first crop ping: they will make your ears tin Igle-1. (See letter 2d.)-In matter both of faith and practice, the mem bers of the Society are bound to obey the Society, and not the Church. 2. They have invariably opposed Epis copacy (like Prynne), and they have repeatedly attacked the decrees of Ge neral Councils, especially that of Trent. 3. The Society has prisons, independent of secular authority, in which refractory members are put to death, a right which Laines obtained for them-Quere, From whom? 4. I search your third letter (Times, Feb. 13.) in quest of evidence, of proof, of historical support; and I find that the two most prominent names in it are Prynne and De Thou. may here remark, that it is highly illiberal to uphold imputations of I One peculiar object of the Society is to direct and aid the operations of the Inquisition-(ib.). It is certain that the Society never had any concern in that Tribunal, 5. The Jesuits usurped the sovereignty of Paraguay, and held the Indians in slavery. They formed two conspiracies against King Joseph of Portugal and his whole family. 6. The Jesuits beheaded 80 Frenchmen and hung 500 friars, for maintaining the rights of Anthony, King of Portugal, in the island of Tercera, where they had compelled him to take refuge, after having disposed of his Crown-(ib.) All this is a blundering confusion of the adventures of the bastard Antonio, Prior of Pralo, who never was at Tercera, and of the history of the deposed King Alfonso, who, a hundred years later, was really confined in that island. Jesuits had no concern with either. 7. The Jesuits deposed the Grand Duke of Muscovy with great bloodshed, for a creature of their own-when did all this happen, and who was this Grand Duke? 8. A Memoir of Cardinal Noailles leaves no doubt of Lewis the XIVth having taken the four vows of the Jesuits. (3d Letter.) On this point the policy of the Jesuits appears to have been defective. If they had sent Father Lewis XIVth to a foreign mission, viz. Canada or Brazil, and had bestowed his Crown upon some other creature, as they had h transferred that of poor King Anthothey might have ruled Europe a should be killed, of being placed in the Martyrology." The other is still more extraordinary. You invite us to consult "the important 'memorial presented by Parsons, the Jesuit, to King James II. for bringing in Popery." (Letter 3d.) This Parsons is a most wonderful Jesuit. You have already exhibited him as the associate of Campion, to assassinate Queen Bess, in 1581, that is, 104 years before James II. became King of England; and he fairly died and was buried at Rome, in 1610, that is, 23 years before King James II. was born. I omit the other Jesuitical pranks which you allege, relative to English history, because every reader may find the refutation of them only by looking into Dr. Milner's late celebrated Letters to Dr. Sturges. He It is time to think of De Thou.De Thou's character is well drawn by the learned Lavanist, Dr. Paquot. "Thuanus audax nimium: hostis Jesuitarum implacabilis; calumniator Guisiorum; Protestantium excirptor, laudator, amicus; sedi apostolicæ & synodo Tridentina, totique rei Catholicæ parum æquus." was fully animated with the general spirit of the Parliament of Paris, in which he was a President, and it led them at all times to advance their own importance, by favouring every party, that opposed the church or the Crown. Their aim was to balance the power of the Monarch, and to depress the spiritual authority of the holy see and the bishops. DuI mention but two facts more, be- ring the active administration of they Prynne, are new, not related by Lewis XIVth, they were confined to nor even by the writer of the their proper functions of civil and historical articles in The Encyclopedia criminal justice; but in the times Britannica, whose words in his article which preceded and followed that Jesuits, you have so exactly copied reign, they were leaguers and fainto your letters. "Pope Urban VIII. vourers of the Hugenots and abettors transmitted a bull to the Jesuit Vice of the Fronde, and lastly, open proProvincial Stillington, commanding all tectors of the Jansenists. De Thou Catholics to be aiding in the civil war, never publicly seceded from the Ca with less trouble. cause gences, such as power of releasing insulting it. His abilities were great, the elegance of his style is engaging; but as he wrote solely to favour the Hugenots, his narrations are compiled only upon their memoirs, or they are sports of his own imagination. He professes to write only the history of his own times, and consequently his story rests upon its own credit, unsupported by vouchers. Ipse dixit is the whole proof. He is ever fond of detailing conspiracies against Princes, and in these fabulous tales, he sacrifices the dignity of the historian; he becomes a romancer, a comedian. He leads his conspirator through cities and provinces to gather associates: the Pope, or the King of Spain, or some Cardinal, directs the plot; he has at his finger ends the closet secrets of the conspiracy, he recites letters which were never written, and Jesuits are commonly his principal actors They give anticipated absolution to the assassin, they promise him the crown of martyrdom, they give him the Pope's blessing, and to use your odious cant language, they give him the sacrament upon it. All this is sweet language to bigotted sectaries, and with them the word of De Thou is paramount to demonstrative proof. I have sketched De Thou's character, because he stands foremost among the modern corrupters of history, too successfully followed by Voltaire, by Hume, and a throng of servile imitators in France and in England, whose historical romances have so much contributed to render religion odious, and to plunge mankind into scepticism and infidelity. should not have known that Lewis XIV. was a professed member of the Order, bound by four vows, viz. of poverty, chastity, obedience to the General, and likewise to the Pope, with respect to foreign missions! Surely he would have enriched The Encyclopedia with this prominent fact, so undoubtedly ascertained by Laicus and Cardinal De Noailles. How strange again it is, that the penetrating Laicus should have been ignorant that this professed Jesuit, this very Lewis XIV. arrogated to himself the worship and honours which religion appropriates to the divinity; and yet this important fact, which had esca ped all the writers of that royal Jesuit's life, is consigned to posterity. for an historical truth in the seventh volume of The Encyclop. Brit. page 432. in the following words:-"He (Lewis XIVth) was so blinded by Battery, that he arrogated to himself the divine honours paid to the Pagan Emperors of Rome." The circula tion of this fact by Laicus, would, at one stroke, have crushed the Jesuits, and would have conciliated immortal honour and credit to The Times. Who can contemplate the publications of these three worthies, without thinking of the fate of Prynne? It is remarkable, that while the Jesuits were thus insulted by Prynnes and DeThous, and their numerous disciples, they were every where befriended by Princes and States, who freighted them to foreign missions at the public expence, who multiplied their colleges and settle ments throughout Europe, in which they quietly assisted the clergy in the functions of religion, and successfully conducted those schools which our, famous Bacon so much admired."Consule scholas Jesuitarum," is his well known text, "nihil enim quod Having already mentioned the writer of historical articles in The Encyclopedia Britannica, I here recommend to Laicus to cultivate a more close correspondence with that excellent compiler, if he be still engaged in historical pursuits. They will thus reciprocally gather improve-in usum venit, his melius." He had ment; they will mutually support each other, and advance the common cause, in which they are engaged.How strange it is, that the historian of The Encyclopedic, so well-informed of whatever concerus. Jesuits, already said of the Jesuits, "quorum cum intucor industriam solertiamque, tam in doctrina excolenda, quam in moribus informandis, illud occurrit Agesilai de Pharnaboso: talis cum sis utinam noster esses." |