[35] The fifth article of the _pacta conventa_, confirmed by the empress's edict of September 5, 1772, runs in these words:--"Catholici utriusque ritûs in his provinciis inhabitantes, quæ augustissimæ Russiarum imperatrici ex pacto convento cesserunt, ad civilem statum quod attinet, omnibus possessionibus bonisquæ suis fruentur. In iis vero quæ ad religionem spectant, _omnino_ conservabuntur _in statu quo_: videlicet, in eodem libero exercitio cultûs et disciplinæ suæ, cum omnibus templis et bonis ecclesiasticis, _eodem modo_ quo possidebantur cum ii catholici sub dominium majestatis suæ imperialis venerunt. Nec majestas sua imperialis nec ejus successores utentur unquam suprema potestate et auctoritate in detrimentum _statûs quo_ catholicæ Romanæ ecclesiæ in commemoratis provinciis." This fifth article was afterwards formally accepted and agreed to by the empress, the king of Poland, and the pope, in the diet of Poland, September 18, 1773, five weeks after the suppression of the society at Rome. The nuncio Garampi had laboured in vain to obtain the exclusion of the Jesuits from the benefit of it. [36] Additional note, page 36. [37] Mr. Plowden, whose book, I am sorry to say, I have not read. [38] "Popes," says the very pontiff on whom sir John relies, "are pilots, steering almost always through boisterous seas, and, of course, must spread or shorten sail according to the weather."--Ganganelli's Letters, Letter cxii. [39] Ganganelli's Letters, Letter cxii. [40] Ibid. [41] Letter cxii. [42] St Luke, chap. xxiii. verse 24. [43] Letter cxii. [44] Appendix No. I. [45] Urban VII is placed at the head of the roll of the pontiffs hostile to the Jesuits. If sir John will take the trouble of looking into Sacchinus's History, part v, book x, page 505, he will there read, that, as soon as pope Urban VII was elected, he discharged from prison an innocent Jesuit, whom his violent predecessor, Sixtus V, had confined, publicly declaring him to be free from guilt, and suspicion of guilt. This, says the historian, was the first, and it was also the last, act of government of pope Urban VII, who presently was taken ill, and died on the twelfth day after his election, September 27, 1590. [46] After this, under the hand of Ganganelli, when pope, what can we think of those, who attempt to mislead the public mind by asserting, that the Jesuits were connected with the Inquisition? [47] This is directly in contradiction to sir John Hippisley's remark of the influence of the Jesuits being considered as so exceptionable, even by prelates of their own community. [48] Castéra's History of Catherine II. [49] Clement XIII's Letter of the 9th July, 1763, to the archbishops and bishops of France. [50] Acts of the Apostles chap. xxv, verse 16. [51] See page 29. [52] Spirit of Laws, Book IV, chap. vi. [53] Dissertation on the Varieties of the Human Species. [54] Tracts on several interesting Subjects in Politics and Morals.