But we have now less to do with the motives of the pope in abolishing the society, and with the circumstances immediately attending the act, than with the act itself and its consequences. As pope, Clement XIV had the undoubted power to make and promulgate the decree. When this was done, it was accepted with satisfaction, not alone by the sovereigns who had made themselves accusers of the Jesuits, but by the great body of the European Christians. Among the latter the belief almost universally prevailed that he had thereby conferred a benefit upon the Church and the Christian world by removing a serious and disturbing evil. In the course of history no important public act has been more generally approved. This would have been the case even if but part of what is alleged in their terrible arraignment by the pope had been true. But there is every reason for believing that all the charges were fully verified by proof, and that the Christian people accepted that fact as complete justification for the abolition and absolute suppression of the society. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 125: History of the Popes of Rome. By Cormenin. Vol. II, p. 392.] [Footnote 126: _Ibid._] [Footnote 127: History of the Popes of Rome. By Cormenin. Vol. II, p. 393.] [Footnote 128: History of the Popes of Rome. By Cormenin. Vol. II, p. 393.] [Footnote 129: _Ibid._, p. 394.] [Footnote 130: History of the Popes of Rome. By Cormenin. Vol. II, p. 394.] [Footnote 131: History of the Popes of Rome. By Cormenin. Vol. II, p. 394.] [Footnote 132: History of the Popes of Rome. By Cormenin. Vol. II, p. 395.] [Footnote 133: De Montor, Vol. II, p. 329.] [Footnote 134: Daurignac, Vol. II, p. 167.] [Footnote 135: Letters of Pope Clement XIV: To which are Prefixed Anecdotes of His Life. By Lottin Le Jeune. London, 1781.] [Footnote 136: Nicolini, p. 382.] [Footnote 137: This bull is given by Nicolini, pp. 387-406.] [Footnote 138: Cormenin, Vol. II, p. 398.] [Footnote 139: Le Jeune, Vol. I, p. 43.] [Footnote 140: Nicolini, pp. 387 to 406. This decree may also be found in De Montor, Vol. II, pp. 347 to 364. His translation differs somewhat from that of Nicolini, which is followed in the text, but the variance is not substantial in the condemnation of the society.] [Footnote 141: Daurignac, Vol. II, p. 173.] [Footnote 142: Daurignac, Vol. II, p. 175.] [Footnote 143: _Ibid._, p. 177.] [Footnote 144: _Apud_ Nicolini, p. 412.] CHAPTER XIV. RE-ESTABLISHMENT.