CHAPTER XXIII.
EXPULSION OF THE JESUITS.
1720-1810.
The Society of Jesus in Mexico — Last Services — Moral Condition — Squabbles about Tithes, and the Consequences — The Situation in Mexico and the World in 1750 — Members, Houses, and Missions in Mexico in 1767 — Converts Made — Unsuccessful Renunciation of Missions — Clouds Portentous of Disaster — Persecution in Portugal and France — Obloquy and Refutation — Expulsion from Spanish Dominions and Other Nations — Causes therefor — How Effected in Mexico — Sufferings of the Exiles — Harsh Treatment — Means of Support — Revolutionary Movements in Mexico Quelled — Relentless Punishment of the Leaders — Papal Suppression of the Society — Later Moderation — The Order Restored and Readmitted in Mexico to be again Expelled.
We come now to one of those episodes in the history of intellectual development which occasionally startle us from our contemplation of the more usual monotony of facts; in this instance an episode which causes us to wonder at a state of human society that could evolve such phenomena. There are few events in the annals of the race, very few upon its later pages, wherein is so displayed the mighty power of one over the many, not of one mind over the will of the many, as frequently occurs in the great currents of superstition, but the arbitrary and unjust domination, the iron tyranny of one will over the minds and bodies of millions. In the midst of its palmiest days, at a time when its wealth and influence are almost limitless, the church throws a faint, almost imperceptible scowl at the state, and instantly one of her most powerful divisions is hurled hence, and dissipated to the winds; and this in a Catholic country, by a Catholic monarch,
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