343 
of the earliest authentic writers on the subject, who had 
an opportunity of examining them before their manners, 
and, we might add, their morals , had been tainted by the 
pernicious intercourse with Europeans.* 
In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, after the 
discovery and conquest of the Western Continent had 
taken place, two prevailing passions held possession of the 
mind of the European nations—a desire to discover new 
countries—and a zeal for the Catholic religion, and the 
extirpation of heretics. In those days of Papal tyranny, 
the Jesuits possessed almost unbounded influence; and 
the spirit of proselytism which distinguished their profes¬ 
sion was so strong, as to cause them literally “ to compass 
sea and land” to gratify it. With the exception of 
England and the Dutch provinces, Europe had long been 
enslaved by them; and if the latter had succeeded in 
emancipating herself from the iron yoke, it was in a great 
measure effected by the countenance she received from 
England; for, notwithstanding the noble resistance she 
made to the attempts to force a false religion upon her, 
she must, in all human probability, have sunk at last, but 
for their assistance. 
The zeal of the Catholics, however, took an entirely 
new direction, upon the discoveries which were made in 
the East and West; and a field was opened, which pre¬ 
sented so boundless a prospect for its exercise, as made 
them quite impatient to begin the cultivation. Accord¬ 
ingly we find them, at the very first onset, endeavouring 
to plant the Catholic faith in the new world; and, in the 
true spirit of Popery, rushing furiously forward, with the 
cross in one hand, and the sword in the other, (for we 
hear nothing of the Bible at that period,) to extirpate 
heresy; signifying, by these emblems, that when the 
former failed, the latter must be brought into exercise. 
* Sec Preface to Flacourt, p. 2 . 
