THE PORTUGUESE AND THE JESUITS.
At the period referred to in the last chapter the Jesuits were held
in low esteem everywhere in Europe. They were severely censured, not
alone by Government authorities, but by the great body of the Christian
people, more especially those who desired to save the Roman Church from
their dangerous and baneful influences. The leading Roman Catholic
Governments were all incensed against them, and it only required some
master spirit, some man of courage and ability, to excite universal
indignation against them. Protestants had comparatively little to do
with the matter--nothing, indeed, but to make public sentiment somewhat
more distinct and emphatic.
Pombal understood thoroughly the character of the adversary he
was about to encounter--the adroit artifices which the Jesuits,
collectively and individually, were accustomed to practice, and by
which they had often succeeded in obtaining assistance from unexpected
quarters. Therefore he resolved at the outset not to temporize with
them, but to put in operation immediately a series of measures of the
most active and energetic character. He may not have known that the
other Roman Catholic Governments would unite with that of Portugal, but
he must have seen ground for believing that they would, in the general
displeasure they exhibited at the conduct of the Jesuits throughout
Europe. Howsoever this may have been, he saw plainly his own line of
duty toward the Portuguese Government, and had not only the necessary
courage, but the ability to pursue it. A royal council was held at the
palace of the King of Portugal in 1757, at which he suggested "the
imperative necessity of removing the Jesuits from their posts of
confessors to the royal family," for the reason that the controversy
in South America could not be satisfactorily settled, if at all, so
long as they remained in a condition to influence the action and
opinions of the king in any degree whatsoever.[102] He knew perfectly
well how ingeniously they had wormed themselves into the confidence
of kings, so that by becoming their confessors they should not only
obtain a knowledge of the secrets of State, but so to influence the
policy and action of Governments as to promote their own interests.
And like a sagacious and skillful statesman, as he undoubtedly was, he
saw at a glance how necessary it was that they should not be permitted
to have further access to the king. The Jesuits represent the king
as having been unwilling to assent to this proposition; but that is
not of the least consequence, because, as they admit, he signed "the
decree which excluded all Jesuits from their office of confessors of
the court."[103] This was a terrible blow to them--perhaps the first
of a serious character they had ever encountered. It was made the
more serious by the fact that Portugal was recognized as a thoroughly
religious country, and sincerely devoted to the Church of Rome.
Whatsoever may have been its immediate effect upon the Jesuits, it left
no ground for retreat or equivocation upon either side, but placed the
contestants in direct and open hostility, each with drawn swords. From
that time forward the conflict, on the part of the Jesuits, was one
of life or death, and they fought it with a desperation born of that
belief.
To justify itself, and to explain to the European nations the reasons
which influenced it, the Portuguese Government caused to be prepared
a statement of grievances, wherein the course of the Jesuits "in the
Spanish and Portuguese dominions of the New World, and of the war
which they had carried on against the armies of the two crowns,"
were set forth. It is insinuated that Pombal was the author of this
pamphlet, but no evidence of that has been produced. It does not matter
whether he was or not, inasmuch as it amounted to such an arraignment
of the Jesuits as gave tone to the public sentiment of Europe, and
influenced the course of all the Governments toward the society. Viewed
in this light, it becomes of the utmost importance, inasmuch as we
may rightfully regard as true, even without special investigation,
whatsoever influences the action of Governments and communities, and
can not safely accept in opposition to it what interested parties--such
as the Jesuits were--may assert to the contrary. The substance of this
statement is contained in the work of Weld, one of the most earnest of
the Jesuit defenders. It is in the nature of an indictment against the
Jesuits, preferred by one of the leading Roman Catholic Governments
of Europe, and on that account is both important and instructive.
Abuse and vituperation--in the use of which the Jesuits are trained as
experts--are no answer to it.
After alleging that the power of the Jesuits had so increased as
to render it evident that there must be war between them and the
Government in Paraguay, it proceeds to affirm "that they were laboring
sedulously to undermine the good understanding existing between the
Governments of Portugal and Spain," and that "their machinations were
carried on from the Plata to the Rio Grande." It then embodies in a few
expressive words, as given by the Jesuit Weld, these serious charges:
"That they had under them thirty-one great populations, producing
immense riches to the society, while the people themselves were kept
in the most miserable slavery; that no Spaniard or Portuguese, were he
even governor or bishop, was ever admitted into the Reductions; that,
'with strange deceit,' the Spanish language was absolutely forbidden;
that the Indians were trained to an unlimited, blind obedience, kept in
the most 'extraordinary ignorance,' and the most unsufferable slavery
ever known, and under a complete despotism as to body and soul; that
they did not know there was any other sovereign in the world than the
fathers, and knew nothing of the king, or any other law than the will
of the 'holy fathers;' that the Indians were taught that white laymen
adored gold, had a devil in their bodies, were the enemies of the
Indians, and of the images which they adored; that they would destroy
their altars, and offer sacrifices of their women and infants; and they
were consequently taught to kill white men wherever they could find
them, and to be careful to cut off their heads, lest they should come
to life again."[104]
One would scarcely suppose that, after this terrible arraignment
of the Jesuits in Paraguay, there could be any other counts added
to the indictment. But in order to aggravate these offenses and to
explain their disloyalty to the Government--as we learn from the same
Jesuit authority--they were also charged with opposing and resisting
the treaty of boundary between Spain and Portugal; with carrying
on a war against the two Governments; fortifying and defending the
passes leading to the Reductions with artillery; inciting the Indians
to revolt; and with exhibiting an obstinate resistance to royal
authority.[105]
There has never been, in the civilized world, such an enumeration
of serious offenses charged against any body of men by so high and
responsible authority as that of one of the leading Governments,
as Portugal was. The modern reader can not avoid the expression of
surprise when he realizes that they were made by those who faithfully
adhered to the Church of Rome, and against a society which professed to
have been organized to promote "the _greater_ glory of God," for the
express reason that no existing order sufficiently did so.
It is scarcely possible that such accusations as these would have been
made without some justifying cause. If they were even exaggerated, the
Government of Portugal must have obtained information from responsible
sources sufficiently reliable to authorize a searching investigation.
That, undoubtedly, was the object of Pombal and the king, not merely
in explanation of their own official conduct, but to bring the conduct
and attitude of the Jesuits to the notice of other Governments.
Whatsoever the direct object they had in view, the charges thus
formally made by them against the Jesuits led to a fierce and angry
controversy. The Jesuits defended themselves with their accustomed
violence, and it has required many pages to convey to the world the
character of the maledictions visited by them upon the name and memory
of Pombal. To us of the present time these amount to very little,
inasmuch as they are almost entirely supported by _ex parte_ statements
of those implicated by the Government, and which are entitled to no
weight whatsoever against the general verdict ultimately rendered
by the European nations, in obedience to public opinion. We can not
accept the Jesuit theory that these nations were all misled by false
accusations, or that the subsequent suppression of the society was the
consequence of undue popular prejudices. It is not difficult to deceive
individuals, but Governments and communities are not apt to fall into
serious errors. The collective judgments of whole populations are
seldom wrong.
It was natural that the Christians of Europe should become, not only
interested, but in some degree excited, when they came to know the
character of the charges made against the Jesuits by the authority
of the Portuguese Government. Many of them desired to look favorably
upon the order on account of the relations they supposed it to bear to
the Church. The Roman ecclesiastics were divided, some attacking and
others defending it. It became necessary, therefore, that the matter
should be brought to the attention of the pope, in order that the final
judgment should be pronounced by him, inasmuch as they were considered
a religious order, and, consequently, within the proper jurisdiction
of the Church. With this view, Pombal, in behalf of the Government of
Portugal, forwarded an official dispatch to Rome, whereby the pope
was informed of the causes of complaint against them. The Jesuits say
this dispatch is filled with "libels;" but this is to be attributed
chiefly to their hatred of Pombal, to whom they, of course, assign the
authorship. Nevertheless, it emanated from so responsible a quarter
that the pope felt himself obliged to give it due consideration. He
owed it to Portugal, no less than to the Church, to cause a searching
investigation to be made, so that it might be ascertained whether the
charges against the Jesuits were true or false. This could not have
been avoided, even if he had desired it, and there is no evidence that
he did.
Benedict XIV was at that time pope, and his secretary of briefs was
Cardinal Passionei, who had the reputation of being a man of integrity
and ability. The initiatory steps had, consequently, to be taken by
them. The pope, however, was in infirm health, and the Jesuits insist
that his sympathies were with them. This may probably have been so;
but if it were, it furnishes no argument in their favor, because there
was yet no evidence before him upon which any decision could have been
based. The question he had then to decide was not whether they were
innocent or guilty, but whether his duty did not require of him to
take the necessary steps to ascertain what the truth really was. The
charges were too serious to be passed over without this, and whatsoever
the fact may have been with regard to his sympathies, Benedict XIV
felt himself constrained to order, and did order, an investigation
to be made. His brief to that effect was dated April 1, 1758, and
addressed to Cardinal Saldanha by Passionei, as the pope's secretary,
and commanded that the charges made by the Portuguese Government
should be thoroughly investigated, and the facts laid before him for
his pontifical guidance. This was the inauguration of a regular trial
before a tribunal of acknowledged jurisdiction, and probably had the
effect of suspending, in some degree, the public judgment to await his
final decision. The Jesuits could not rightfully have objected to this
course; and if it be true, as they insist, that the pope sympathized
with them, they doubtless congratulated themselves upon his favorable
inclination towards them. Whatsoever may have occurred afterwards, the
investigation undoubtedly had an impartial beginning. On this account,
the inquirer who desires to understand the history and character of the
Jesuits, will be interested in its important details.
Cardinal Saldanha was appointed "visitor and reformer of the society,"
with full power to reform whatsoever abuses should be found to exist,
and if, after investigation, "any grave matters" were discovered, he
was required to report them to the pope, who would then decide what
subsequent steps were to be taken.[106] The proceedings up to that
point were therefore judiciously conducted. The death of Benedict XIV,
however, within about a month after the date of this brief, passed it
over to Clement XIII, his immediate successor. The Jesuits strive hard
to show that although the pope referred in his brief to the reform
of abuses, he did not intend thereby to signify that he had then
decided that reforms were necessary. If they be allowed the benefit of
this argument, it does not avail them against the fact that Cardinal
Saldanha, after investigation, made a report in which "the fathers of
the society in Portugal, and its dominions at the end of the earth, are
declared, on the fullest information, guilty of every crime of worldly
traffic that could disgrace the ecclesiastical state."[107] Whilst the
special accusation here made had reference to the commercial traffic by
which, in express violation of the rules of the society, the Jesuits
had accumulated immense wealth in all parts of the world, and in direct
violation of their vow of "extreme poverty," Pombal considered himself
justified, with the assent of the king, in requiring of the cardinal
patriarch of Lisbon the issuance of an official order "to suspend from
the sacred ministry, or preaching and hearing confessions, all the
religious of the Society of Jesus," in the Patriarchate of Lisbon. An
order to that effect was accordingly issued by the patriarch, which
made the issue more serious and complicated than ever; for it was a
direct and practical procedure which everybody could understand. In
their own defense, the Jesuits urge that the patriarch was intimidated
by Pombal, and that, in consequence, he died of remorse within a month,
and confessed his error upon his death-bed. Such defenses as this are
of no weight as arguments, in the face of actual and known occurrences,
and especially when it is well known that the Jesuits are in the habit
of resorting so frequently to death-bed repentances, obtained in
private by themselves, as to excite general suspicion against them.
Even, however, if their statement in this case is accepted as true, the
order of the patriarch was carried into effect by the Government of
Portugal, and proved, in the end, to be the most fatal blow ever aimed
at the society before that time. The proceedings were not arrested by
the death of the patriarch; for the vacancy made by it was immediately
filled by the appointment of Cardinal Saldanha as his successor, which
the Jesuits were compelled to construe as a censure of their society,
inasmuch as he had already, in his report, charged them with crimes
disgraceful to the "ecclesiastical state." As this appointment was
made by the pope, it is at least to be inferred that he, up to this
point, regarded the investigation as fairly and impartially made. After
his appointment as patriarch, Cardinal Saldanha banished the father
superior of the Jesuit "Professed House," and caused such measures to
be taken as resulted in the arrest of two Jesuits in Brazil, who were
sent to Portugal and imprisoned. He appointed the Bishop of Para, in
Brazil, as his ecclesiastical delegate to act in his name in South
America. It would be impracticable to trace here all the events which
followed; nor is it necessary, inasmuch as it is of far more importance
to know the results than the series of details that led to them. The
first important result that occurred in South America, under the
ecclesiastical administration of the Bishop of Para, was the issuance
by him of a decree whereby "he suspended all Jesuits in his diocese
from the functions of the confessional and the pulpit."[108] He then
continued to investigate the conduct of the Jesuits, and found that the
ecclesiastics were divided with reference to them--some accusing and
others defending them. Among those who opposed them were the Bishop of
Olinda and the Bishop of San Sebastian, and these two prelates of the
Church have been violently denounced by the Jesuits on that account.
This, however, is a fixed habit with them. They denounce all who oppose
them, and bestow fulsome praises upon all their defenders. By this
indiscriminate method they impair confidence in themselves, and make it
difficult to decide how much of what they say shall be accepted and how
much rejected. The safer plan is to follow the course of public events,
giving but little heed to the vituperation with which Jesuit works
abound.
There can be no doubt of the fact that Benedict XIV had authorized the
cardinal visitor appointed by him to apply all the measures necessary
to reform the Jesuits, if, after investigation, he found any to be
required. Thus the visitor was empowered to act for the Church and the
pope; and, hence, the Jesuit resistance to his decrees was disobedience
and insubordination. When Clement XIII became pope, he found just
this condition of things existing, which not only increased his
responsibilities, but added greatly to his embarrassment. The Jesuits
say that Cardinal Passionei unjustly impressed his mind with the idea
that Benedict XIV had already decided that the reform of their society
was necessary, and that whatsoever he did under the influence of this
false impression should not be considered to their prejudice. This is
barely possible; but whether he did or not is immaterial, since Clement
XIII could not, under any circumstances, have found himself justified
in either abandoning or suspending the investigation which Benedict XIV
had ordered. Nor could he have changed its course at any time after he
reached the pontificate--the interests at stake were too important, and
the welfare of the Church was too deeply involved. At all events, the
investigation was continued under Clement XIII; and when the Jesuits
realized that he could not be persuaded to abandon it, they endeavored
to shift the issue by insisting that the hostility exhibited towards
them had not arisen out of any of the things charged by the Government
of Portugal, but had been created by the opposition of the "Jansenists
and heretics" to them on account of their orthodox adherence to the
Church of Rome. In this they exhibited their usual sagacity and
cunning, evidently believing that it was the only means left them to
bring over the body of the Roman Christians--the pope and all--to their
side. It did, probably, tend somewhat to that, but fell far short of
what they must have expected from it; for the further the investigation
proceeded, the more unpopular their society became, not only on account
of the proceedings in Paraguay, but because of their interference with
all the Governments of Europe. We see this in the measures adopted in
those Governments, and in the unanimity of the public sentiment which
sustained them. The belief can not be indulged for a moment that these
Governments and peoples--faithful and devoted as they always had been
to the Church of Rome--were influenced by prejudices alone, and acted
without some strong, controlling, and justifiable cause. It is worthy
of repetition that Governments and communities do not thus act. And
we shall soon see that there have been scarcely any other events in
history so ratified by public approval as the expulsion of the Jesuits
from the leading nations of Europe, and their final suppression and
abolition by the pope. The evidence upon these subjects is so complete
and overwhelming that it can not be set aside by volumes of eloquent
denunciation, or weakened by Jesuitical sophistry.
Whilst it is not proper to exclude from our consideration all that the
Jesuit writers have said with reference to the period and controversy
here referred to, it should be accepted with a great many grains of
allowance. Their warmth and vehemence excite suspicion, indicating
more of passion than comports with the quiet composure of innocence.
They are not willing that the least credit shall be given to anything
against them, and demand that whatsoever is said in their behalf shall
be accepted as indisputably true. It is not difficult to see, however,
that much of the matter offered by them as historic truth does not
reach the dignity of impartial evidence, and ought not to be given
any serious weight when in conflict with allegations proceeding from
reputable and responsible sources. Within a recent period an elaborate
defense of the society has been made by one of its leading and most
learned members, and sent forth to the world as a conclusive and
unanswerable vindication. It is contained in the volume so frequently
referred to in this chapter, and alleged to be mainly founded upon what
"writers of the society" have said. He supports his defense of this
method of making history by introducing the statements of anonymous
authors which bear upon their face presumptive evidence that they were
manufactured for the purpose by interested parties. He does not, of
course, rely exclusively upon them, but, with true Jesuit ingenuity,
has so interwoven these irresponsible statements with less suspicious
authorities as to give coloring and credibility to the whole. He
says: "The details have been filled chiefly in from three well-known
contemporary works, _the names of the authors of which have not reached
us_."[109] Such a course indicates the partisan rather than the
impartial chronicler of events, and an absence of the candor with which
so important a discussion should be conducted. Anonymous statements
should not be entirely discredited, because they may be true; but
in searching after the "truth of history" they should avail nothing
unless consistent with the general course of events, and then only
because of that consistency. One illustration must serve. It is argued
that Benedict XIV sympathized with the Jesuits, and was favorable to
them at the time he appointed Saldanha as visitor with authority to
investigate and reform, and yet this same pope was constrained by their
persistent disobedience to declare them "contumacious, crafty, and
reprobate men."[110]
One reason why the papal authorities found so much difficulty in
prosecuting the investigation of Jesuit affairs, was the impenetrable
mystery which hung over the conduct of the society for more than two
hundred years. By means of this secrecy and the concealment of the
principles of their constitution, they were so enabled to compact
their organization as to present a solid front to the world, with all
its energies devoted alone to its own success. It was only when the
constitution became known that Governments and society could defend
against their machinations, which, as we have seen, were sufficiently
well planned to defy even the pope and the Church functionaries
appointed by him to inspect their conduct. Their persistency in
refusing to expose to the public the principles of their constitution
indicated, in the public judgment, that they feared a knowledge of
them would add to the public indignation at their presumptuousness and
vanity. And so decided was this refusal that it required the authority
of the French Parliament--the highest judicial authority in that
country--to drag the constitution from its hiding-place. One of their
members had engaged in a mercantile adventure until he became bankrupt.
Professing to have no property of his own out of which his debts could
be collected, his creditors brought suit against the society, insisting
that as the property it possessed was held in common for the benefit
of all the members, it should be made liable for the debts of each.
This having been resisted by the society, the Parliament, in order to
reach a correct decision, compelled the surrender of the constitution.
It was then decided that the defense set up could not be maintained,
whereupon judgment was rendered against the society, and the debt was
paid. After this time--when the principles of the constitution became
known--the odium in which the Jesuits were held rapidly increased among
both Roman Catholics and Protestants, but more particularly among
the former, on account of their unremitting efforts to defeat and
embarrass the investigation ordered by the pope. Unsophisticated minds,
accustomed to respect the Church and obey its authority, could not
understand why so many impediments should be thrown in the way of the
pope in his efforts to discover the truth, if the society were, as it
pretended to be, entirely faultless in its conduct. Even the authority
of the Church was comparatively powerless to resist and overcome their
obstinacy, as we shall have many occasions to observe in the course of
our inquiries.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 102: Weld, p. 94.]
[Footnote 103: _Ibid._]
[Footnote 104: Weld, pp. 96-97.]
[Footnote 105: _Ibid._]
[Footnote 106: Weld, pp. 131-132.]
[Footnote 107: _Ibid._, p. 138.]
[Footnote 108: Weld, p. 148.]
[Footnote 109: Weld. Introduction, pp. xxxviii-xxxix.]
[Footnote 110: Nicolini, p. 128.]