only available recourse. It was thought that he might be amenable to papal reasoning; that something might be gained by a friendly interference to obtain a revocation, or at least a suspension of the obnoxious decree. The plan was tried and failed. Indeed the pope's brief of April 16th, overpraising the virtues and other merits of the Jesuits, at that particular time, and bespeaking favor for them, was a blunder; at all events, it did not mend matters.
The king submitted the brief for advice to his council, which on the 30th of the same month met in extra session, and after minutely reviewing its contents, expressed the opinion that the pope had no business to interfere in a matter so entirely temporal in its nature, and of the king's exclusive province; and that no power on earth had any right to call him to account for his decision thereon, much less after he had, from pure courtesy, advised the pope of his action in the premises. The council, furthermore, not recognizing in the Jesuits the merits ascribed to them, but on the contrary many serious faults that made them dangerous, could see no reason why the sovereign should abandon or even modify his order.[1] It concluded
- ↑ It has been said that the real reason was that Clement XIII. and his minister Cardinal Torregiani had seen through the motives of the enemies of public order and opposed them with all their might. Schœll, Cours d'Hist., in Alaman, Disert., iii. 305. The king's council said, the hand of the Jesuit general, Lorenzo Ricci, could be detected in the brief, he being the confessor and spiritual adviser of the cardinal, with an influence potential. It charged the Jesuits with the introduction of false doctrines in the church and corruption of morals, probably referring to what has been published under the title of secret instructions of the Jesuits, of which I have a copy, but whose authenticity I have no means of verifying. It accused them of being promoters and accomplices in several riots, rebellions, and regicides in various kingdoms of Europe, as evidenced in solemn decisions standing against them in courts of justice; of being the persecutors of bishops, and keeping prelates, chapters, orders, universities, etc., in turmoil by banding themselves as to have their own opinions and schemes prevail over those of other respectable corporations or persons: 'assi sedio â conoser la Compañia desde qe se fundo; y assi se hallaba quando V. M. se sirviô por su Rl. Decreto de 24 de Febrero mandarla extrañar de sus Dominios.' The necessity was denied of the society's existence; and even its usefulness was greatly doubted, as it had tolerated superstition in America; and in the Philippines caused a revolt of the natives in favor of the English; and everywhere its members had made themselves the actual sovereigns; y en todas las Yndias, como en el Paraguay, Moros, Maynas y Orinoco, California, Sinaloa, Sonora, Pigmería, Nayarit, Tayanularit,
