J E S 
retained an afcendant over them in their advanced years. 
They poffeffed, at different periods, the direction of the 
moft confiderable courts in Europe. They mingled in all 
affairs. They took part in every intrigue and revolution. 
The general, by means of the extenfive intelligence which 
he received, could regulate the operations of the order 
•with the moft perfeft difcernment; and, by means of his 
abfolute power, could carry them on with the utmoft vi¬ 
gour and effeCt. Together with the power of the order, 
its wealth continued to increafe. Various expedients were 
deviled for eluding the obligation of the vow of poverty. 
The order acquired ample poffeffions in every catholic 
country ; and by the number as well as magnificence of 
its public buildings, together with the value of its pro¬ 
perty, moveable or real, it vied with the moft opulent of 
the monaftic fraternities. Befides the fources of wealth 
common to all the regular clergy, the Jefuits poffeffed one 
■which was peculiar to themfelves. Under pretext of pro¬ 
moting the fuccefs of their millions, and of facilitating 
the fupport of their miflionaries, they obtained a fpecial 
licence from the court of Rome to trade with the nations 
which they laboured to convert. In confequence of this, 
they engaged in an extenlive and lucrative commerce 
both in the Eaft and Weft Indies. They opened ware- 
lioufes in different parts of Europe, in which they vended 
their commodities. Not fatisfied with trade alone, they 
imitated the example of other commercial focieties, and 
aimed at obtaining fettlements. They acquired polfefiion 
accordingly of a large and fertile province in the fouthern 
continent of America, and reigned as fovereigns over i'ome 
hundred thouiand 1 objects. 
Unhappily for mankind, the vaft influence which the 
order of Jefuits acquired by all thefe different means, had 
been often exerted with the moft pernicious effect. Such 
was the tendency of that difcipline obferved by the foci- 
ety in forming its members, and fuch the fundamental 
maxims in its conftitution, that every Jefuit was taught 
to regard the intereft of the order as the capital objeCt to 
which every confideration was to be facrificed. This fpirit 
of attachment to their order, the moft ardent perhaps that 
ever influenced any body of men, was the charaCteriftic 
principle of the jefuits, and ferves as a key to the genius 
of their policy as well as the peculiarities in their fenti- 
ments and conduCt. 
As it was for the honour and/idvantage of the fociety 
that its members fhould poflefs an afcendant over perfons 
in high rank or of great power; the defire of acquiring 
and preferving fuch a direction of their condudi with 
more facility, led the Jefuits to propagate a fyftem of re¬ 
laxed and pliant morality which accommodated itfelf to 
the paffions of men, which jultined their vices, which to¬ 
lerated their imperfections, which authorifed almoft every 
adtion that the moft audacious or crafty politician would 
wifh to perpetrate. 
As the profperity of the order was intimately connected 
with the prefervation of the papal authority, the Jefuits, 
influenced by the fame principle of attachment to the ia- 
terefts of their fociety, have been the moft zealous patrons 
of thofe dodtrines which tend to exalt ecclefiaftical power 
on the ruins of civil government. They attributed to 
the court of Rome a jurifdidfion as extenfive and abfolute 
as was claimed by the moft prefumptuous pontiffs in the 
dark ages. They contended for 'the intire independence 
of ecclefiaftics on the civil magiftrates. The-y pubiifhed 
fuch tenets concerning the duty of oppofing princes who 
were enemies of the Catholic faith, as countenanced the 
moft atrocious crimes, and tended to dilfolve all the ties 
•which conned!: fubjeCts with their rulers.. As the order 
derived both reputation and authority from the zeal with 
which it ■ ftood forth in defence of the Romilh church 
againft the attacks, of the reformers, its members, proud 
of this diltincUpn, confidered it as their peculiar function 
to combat the opinions and to check the progrefs of the 
Proteftants. They made ufe of every art, and employed 
«¥<£ry weapon, againft them. They let. themfelves in op- 
U I T. - 787 
pofition to every gentle or tolerating meafure in their fa¬ 
vour. They inceflantly ftirred up againft them all the 
rage of ecclefiaftical and civil perfecution. Monks of 
other denominations have indeed ventured to teach the 
fame pernicious dodtrines, and have held opinions equally 
inconfiftent with the order and happinefs of civil fociety; 
but they, from reafons which are obvious, have either 
delivered fuch opinions with greater referve, or have pro¬ 
pagated them with lefs fuccefs. Whoever recollects the 
events which have happened in Europe during two cen¬ 
turies, will find that the Jefuits may juftly be confidered 
as refponfible for moft of the pernicious effedts arifing 
from that corrupt and dangerous cafuiltry, from thofe ex¬ 
travagant tenets concerning ecclefiaftical power, and from 
that intolerant fpirit, which have been the difgrace of the 
church of Rome throughout that period, and which have 
brought fo many calamities upon civil fociety. 
But, amidft many bad confequences flowing from the 
inftitution of this order, mankind, it mall be acknow¬ 
ledged, have derived from it fome confiderable advantages. 
As the Jefuits made the education of youth one of their 
capital objedts, and as their firft attempts to eftablilh col¬ 
leges for the reception of ltiidents were violently oppofed 
by the univerfities in different countries, it became necef- 
fary for them, as the moft effectual method of acquiring 
the public favour, to furpafs their rivals in fcience and 
induftry. This prompted them "to cultivate the ftudy of 
ancient literature with extraordinary ardour. This put 
them upon various methods for facilitating the inftruCtion- 
of youth; and, by the improvements which they made in. 
it, they contributed fo much towards the progrefs of po¬ 
lite learning, that on this account they have merited well 
of fociety. Nor has the order of Jefuits been fuccefsful 
only in teaching the elements of literature ; it has pro¬ 
duced likewife eminent mafters in many branches of fci¬ 
ence, and can alone boaft of a greater number of ingenious 
authors than all the other religious fraternities taken to¬ 
gether. 
But it is in the New World that the Jefuits. exhibited 
the moft wonderful difplay of their abilities, and contri¬ 
buted moft effectually to the-benefit of the human fpecies. 
The conquerors of that unfortunate quarter of the globe 
had nothing in view' but to plunder, to enflave, and to 
exterminate, its inhabitants. The Jefuits alone made hu¬ 
manity the objeCt of their fettling there. About the be¬ 
ginning of the 17th century, they obtained admiffion into 
the fertile province of Paraguay, which ftretches acrofs 
the fouthern continent of America, from the bottom of 
the mountains of Potofi to the confines of the Spanifh and 
Portuguele fettlements on the banks of the river de la 
Plata. They found the inhabitants in a lfate little dif¬ 
ferent from that which takes place among men when they 
firft begin to unite together ; ftrangers to the arts, fub- 
fifting precarioufly. by hunting or fifiling, and hardly ac¬ 
quainted with the firl'c principles of fu'oprdination and go¬ 
vernment. The Jefuits let themfelves to inftruCt and to 
civilize thefe favages. They taught them to cultivate the 
ground, to rear tame animals, and to build licules. Tliey 
brought them to live together in villages. They trained 
them to arts and manufactures. They made them tafte 
the l'weets of fociety, and accuftomed them to the blefl- 
ings of fecurity and order. Thefe people became the 
fubjeCts of their benefactors, who governed them with a 
tender attention, redoubling that with which a father di¬ 
rects his children. RefpeCted and beloved almoft to ado¬ 
ration, a few Jefuits preiided over fome hundred thoufand 
Indians. They maintained a perfeCi-equality among all 
the members of the community. Each of them was 
obliged to labour, not for himielf alone,.but for the pub¬ 
lic. The produce of their fields,.together with the fruits 
of their induftry of every fpecies, were depofited. in com¬ 
mon ftore-houles,. from which each individual received 
every thing neceflary for the fnpply of his wants. Bv 
this inftitution, almoft all the paflions which dilturb the 
peace of. fociety, and render the members of it unhappy 5 ,, 
