These details, under ordinary circumstances, might seem tedious to the general reader, but they are justified by their necessity in showing how the Jesuits obtained their first signal triumph. There has been a long list of similar triumphs since then to which this contributed. The events themselves, in so far as they involve merely the occupation and use of a piece of ground, are comparatively insignificant; but they serve, far better than many of greater magnitude, to display the prominent and most dangerous characteristics of the Jesuits. They show their absolute disregard of all rights and interests in conflict with their own, and how thoroughly Loyola succeeded in making this the governing and cardinal principle of the society; and their significance is increased by the fact that the affair at Saragossa inaugurated a policy which the Jesuits have steadily pursued throughout their history, varying their methods according to the character of the objects they have endeavored to attain. In this sense, they are introductory to a proper estimate of them. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 36: Rome and the Newest Fashions in Religion. By Gladstone. Pages 94 to 102. It is here stated that the "Jesuit General Linez [Laynez], strongly advocated papal infallibility in the Council of Trent, ... but the Council left the question undecided."] [Footnote 37: History of the Jesuits. By Steinmetz. Vol. I, p. 378.] [Footnote 38: History of the Jesuits. By Steinmetz. Vol. I, pp. 380-381.] [Footnote 39: History of the Society of Jesus. By Daurignac. Vol. I, pp. 82-83.] [Footnote 40: Daurignac, Vol. I, pp. 84, 85.] CHAPTER V. STRUGGLES AND OPPOSITION. The assistance rendered to the Jesuits at Saragossa by the regent, in the name of the Emperor Charles V, very greatly encouraged them. It gave them assurance of royal sympathy with the monarchical principles of their constitution, and taught them how to invoke that sympathy successfully in future controversies with their adversaries, although the latter might be ecclesiastics in the active service of the Church.