A Curious Correspondence.

Henry IV . by their pupil Chatel , and for the subsequent murder of the same monarch by Ravaillac . The Order was condemned by the Parliament as being the seducers of youth , the disturbers of the public peace , and the enemies of the State . Its members were expelled from France in 1594 , 1764 , and 1848 . In England , the fires of Smithfield were kindled b y Mary under the influence of Jesuit fanaticism . Priests of the Order conspired against the lives both of

Elizabeth and James I . They carried on incessant intrigues at the courts of Charles I . and II ., and James II ., ancl hatched treasonable jilots against the House of Hanover . In the Italian ancl Iberian Peninsulars , the Jesuits early prospered . In Portugal , however , they gradually aroused the hatred of the clergy and the people , till they were finally expelled in 1759 for instigating the Indians of Paraguay to rebel , and for being concerned in an attack on the

life of Joseph I . Eight years later , they were also expelled from Spain on account of their intrigues against the sovereign . Both in Spain and Portugal , as well as in South America , they were officers or supporters of the Inquisition . They also strove to keep the people in a state of constant tutelage , and thereb y blighted every germ of progress . In Italy , they were driven out of the Republic of Venice , the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily , and the Duchy of Parma . Pope Clement XIV . himself was at last compelled to dissolve the Order throughout Christendom by the bull Dominus aa Redemptor in 1773 . In

Southern Germany , Austria , Bohemia , and Hungary , whose rulers were pupils and devoted servants of the Order , Jesuits virtually held the reins of government , and were thus enabled to re-establish the Catholic religion by the strong arm of executive power . The Reformers were compelled to recant by means of the cruellest persecutions . Those of their clergy who refused to conform were cast into dungeons , tortured to death , or sold as slaves to the Neapolitan

galleys . In Poland , under Sigismund III ., another Jesuit pupil , the Society was the cause of numerous fruitless wars against schismatic Russia , whereby the country , where commerce ancl science formerl y flourished , was reduced to a state of decay from which it has never recovered . In Germany the Jesuits made a last great effort to uproot Protestantism b y instigating the outbreak of the Thirty Tears' War . It is not too much to say that , had it not been for the

signal victories of Gustavus Adol phns , their labours would have been crowned with success , As it was , Germany emerged from the terrible struggle utterly exhausted and sunk in the deepest misery . I may add that in the space of two hundred years the Society of Jesus has suffered expulsion no less than fifty times in different parts of the world . This , in itself , affords a strong proof that it , has been universally regarded as a formidable danger to the State . Notwithstanding all its reverses , however , it did not abandon its original aim . Thus the promulgation of the Syllabus and Encyclica in 1864 , ancl of the dogma of Papal Infallibility in 1869 , which assert in their extremest form the claims

of medieval Papacy to universal supremacy , is entirel y the work of its hands . By the rules of this Society , the constitutions were , from the very first expressly forbidden to be disclosed , and would probabl y never have seen the light had they not been produced in evidence before the French Parliament in 1759 . The Order , also , is trul y Protean in character . Its members have always shown a remarkable talent for disguise , whenever the execution of their

plans required it . By joining various professions , they have constantly concealed their connection with the Order . When it was dissolved they skilfully evaded the law by continuing to exist as a corporate body under various other designations , such as Peres de la Foi , Paccacanarists , Redemptionists , or Brethren of the Sacred Heart . The widespread ramifications of the Order and the intricate threads of its gigantic administration remain a profound secret to this

day . It includes within its bod y a vast auxiliary force , composed of individuals whose membership is never disclosed , aud who are consequently known as Clandestine Jesuits . Its most powerful instrument , the Confessional , is in its very nature shrouded in secrecy . The principles of its moral code dis-