246

EXPOSURE OF THE JESUITS.

Ch. 20 It must be borne in mind that the Jesuits had embarked in commercial enterprises, while officiating as missionaries. La 1762. Valette aimed to monopolize, for his order, the trade with the

A. D.

their com

mercial

affairs.

West Indies, and this commercial ambition excited the jealousy The of the mercantile classes in France. It happened that some Jesuits; of his most valuable ships were taken and plundered by the English cruisers, which calamity, occurring at a time of embarrassment, caused his bills to be protested, and his bankers to stop payment. The bankers indignantly accused the Jesuits, as a body, of peculation and fraud, and demanded repayment from the Order. Had the Jesuits been wise, they would have satisfied them. But who is wise on the brink of destruction? The Jesuits refused to sacrifice La Valette. The matter was carried before the Parliament of Paris in the year 1762, and the whole nation was interested in the result. It was decided by this supreme judicial tribunal, that the Jesuits were responsible.

But the commercial injury was weak in comparison with the moral. In the course of these legal proceedings, the books and rule of the Jesuits were demanded; that mysterious rule which had never been exposed to the public eye, and which had been so carefully guarded. When this was produced, all minor questions vanished; mistresses, bankruptcies, politics, finances, wars, all became insignificant, compared with those questions which affected the position and welfare of "The Society." Their Pascal became a popular idol, and "Tartuffe grew pale princi- before Escobar." Reports of the trial lay on every toilet table, ples and

errors.

66

and persons of both sexes, and of all ages and conditions, read
with avidity the writings of the casuists. Nothing was talked
about but " probability," surrender of conscience," and
"mental reservations." Philosophers grew jealous of the
absorbing interest with which everything pertaining to the
régine of the Jesuits was read, and of the growing popularity
of the Jansenists, who had exposed it.
แ What," said Vol-
taire, "will it profit us to be delivered from the foxes, if we
are to be given up to the wolves ?" The philosopher had

THEIR EXPULSION FROM FRANCE.

247

been among the first to raise the cry of alarm, and he now Ch.20 found it no easy thing to allay the storm.

rescue.

A. D.

Embarrass

of the

The Jesuists, in their distress, had only one friend suffi- 1762 ciently powerful to protect them, and this was the King. He to had been their best friend, and he still wished to come to their 1767. But his minister and his mistress circumvented him. They represented that, as the Parliament and the nation were both aroused against the Jesuits, his resistance would neces- ments sarily provoke a new Fronde. The wavering Monarch, placed Jesuits. in the painful necessity of choosing, as he supposed, between a war and the ruin of his best friends, yielded to the solicitations of his artful advisers. But he yielded with a moderation which did him honor. He would not consent to the expulsion of the Jesuits until efforts had been made to secure their reform. He accordingly caused letters to be written to Rome, demanding an immediate attention to the subject. Choiseul himself prepared the scheme of reformation. But the Jesuits would not hear of any retrenchment of their power or privileges. "Let us remain as we are, or let us exist no longer," was their reply. The Parliament, the people, the minister, and the mistress renewed their clamors. The Parliament decreed that the constitution of the Society was an encroachment on the royal authority, and the King was obliged to yield. The members of the Society were forbidden to wear the Jesuit habit, or to enjoy any clerical office or dignity; Their their colleges were closed, their Order was dissolved, and in expul1764 they were expelled from the kingdom.

sion and

sup

Through the intrigues of the Duc de Choiseul, the Jesuits presin 1767 were also expelled from Portugal and Spain. Soon sion. after this, at the instigation of the ambassadors by whom his election had been secured, Pope Gangenelli suppressed the Order. Sixty-nine colleges were closed, their missions were broken up, their churches given to their rivals, and twentytwo thousand priests were left, without organization, wealth, or power. They had their revenge. Ganganelli died by slow poison, and the expelled priests found a refuge in Prussia,

248

SUICIDAL MEASURES OF THE COURT.

Ch. 20 Frederic having by that time begun to perceive the revo. lutionary character of the new philosophers.

A. D. 1767 It is impossible to avoid being struck by the suicidal chato racter of the measures, which all connected with the Court, 1774. during this reign, instigated or encouraged. Whoever pre

The

of the

people.

tended to give his aid to the monarchy helped to subvert it by the very measures and principles he proposed. The Duke of Orleans, when he patronized Law, gave a shock to the whole economical system of the old régime. And when this Scotch financier said to the powerful aristocracy around him, "Silver is only to you the means of circulation; beyond this it belongs to the country;" he announced the ruin of the glebe, and the fall of feudal prejudices.

The bankruptcies which followed the bursting of his bubble weakened the charm of the word honor, on which was based the stability of the throne. The courtiers, when they blazed in jewels, and in all the costly ornaments of their time, gave growth employment and importance to a host of shopkeepers, who grew rich as those who patronized them grew poor. The Court, when it encouraged their extravagance, raised up a new aristocracy, into whose hands the chateaux of the ancient nobles fell. The philosophers who dined at the table of the King and his mistresses, taught the prosperous middle class a knowledge of their rights, as well as inflamed their social ambition. In their dingy back rooms they discussed the theories of the new apostles. Even the improvements of Paris, such as the erection of theatres and operas, became nurseries of future clubs, and poisoned wells of popular education; while the ruin of the Jesuits-the grand stroke of the Duc de Choiseul, deprived the press of its most watchful spies, and literature of its most jealous guardians.

The

revolu

In like manner, when the grand seigneurs and noble dames seeds of of that aristocratic age wept over the sorrows of the "New Heloise," or craved that imaginary state of untutored innocence which Rousseau so morbidly described; or admired the brilliant generalization of laws which Montesquieu had pen

tion.

THE SEEDS OF REVOLUTION.

249

A. D.

ned; or laughed at the envenomed words of Voltaire; or quoted Ch. 20 the atheistic doctrines of D'Alembert and Diderot, or enthusiastically discussed the economical theories of Du Quesnay 1774 and old Marquis Mirabeau,-that stern father of him who, both in his intellectual power and moral deformity, was alike the exponent and product of the French Revolution; they little dreamed that these new expounders of humanity would bring forth the Brissots, the Condorcets, the Marats, the Dantons, and the Robespierres of the next generation.

of the

Perhaps no one more clearly perceived the tendencies of the times than the King himself, with all his Sardanapalian Insight! effeminacy; but he had not the courage to face them. Seeing King. the danger, but feeling his impotence, he exclaimed to his courtiers, "Apres moi, le deluge." The latter days of such a man were of course melancholy. A languor, from which only his mistresses could momentarily rouse him, oppressed his life. Deaf, incapable of being aroused, worn out with infirmities, perhaps stung with remorse, he dragged out his sixtyfourth year, and at last, in the year 1774, died of the small- His pox, which he caught in one of his infamous visits to the Parc au Cerfs. His loathsome remains were hastily huddled into a carriage, and deposited in the vaults of St. Denis.

REFERENCES." Louis XV. et la Societé du XVIII. Siecle," par M. Capefigue; "Histoire Philosophique du Regne de Louis XV.," par de Toqueville; "Mémoires Secrets" de Saint Simon; "Anecdotes de la Cour de France, pendant la favour de Madame de Pompadour." But for a general view of the reign of Louis XV., see the histories of Lacretelle, Voltaire, and Crowe. The scheme of Law is best explained in Smyth's "Lectures," and Anderson's "History of Commerce." The struggles between the King and the Farliament of Paris are tolerably described in the "History of Adolphus." For a view of the Jansenist Controversy, see Du Pin's "Ecclesiastical History;" Ranke's "History of the Popes;" Pascal's "Provincial Letters ;" and Stephen's article in the "Edinburgh Review," on the Port Royalists. The fall of the Jesuits has been admirably treated by Quinet. For the manners of the court of Louis XV., the numerous memoirs and letters, which were written during the period, may be consulted.

death

250

ENGLISH POSSESSIUNE.

Ch. 21

A. D.

CHAPTER XXI.

THE COLONIAL WARS BETWEEN ENGLAND AND FRANCE.

DURING the administration of Sir Robert Walpole, the English colonies in America, and the East India Company's 1683. settlements, began to attract great attention, and to be regarded as of considerable political importance. A very brief sketch of the history and growth of these possessions is all that can be given.

English In 1688, the American colonies, of which there were twelve, colonies. contained about two hundred thousand inhabitants, and all of these were Protestants; all cherished the principles of civil and religious liberty, and sought, by industry, frugality, and patience, to secure independence and prosperity.

ments.

But the shores of North America were not colonized merely by the English and Dutch. On the banks of the St. Lawrence and Mississippi, another body of colonists arrived, and introduced other customs and different institutions.

French Within seven years from the discovery of the continent, the settle- fisheries of Newfoundland were known to French adventurers. The St. Lawrence was explored in 1506, and in 1688, Quebec was settled by Champlain, who aimed at the glory of founding a state. In 1627 he succeeded in establishing the authority

of the French on the banks of the St. Lawrence.

In 1688, England possessed those colonies which border on the Atlantic Ocean, from Maine to Georgia. The French, cn the other hand, possessed Nova Scotia, Canada, Louisiana, and the countries bordering on the Mississippi and its branches, from the Gulf of Mexico to Lake Superior, as well as the territories around the great lakes.