distorted character, drawn of them by their foreign enemies, obtained ready credit in this country, without inquiry or examination; and, as they could neither act nor speak in their own defence, it has happened, that the notion of a Jesuit is to this day _vulgarly_ (I take the word in its full meaning) associated with the idea of every crime. In foreign countries, the Jesuits formed a conspicuous body, to which no man was wholly indifferent. They could not be viewed with the eye of contempt. They were highly esteemed, and they were bitterly hated. In all catholic countries, the esteem and respect, which they enjoyed, were fully established. They were every where considered as pure and holy in their morals and conduct, eminently zealous for {177} religion, and highly serviceable to the public. Their enemies, at all times, were either open separatists from the catholic church, or secret enemies of it, who formed parties for its destruction; or they were rivals, who vied with them in some branches of the public administration of religion. From these sources proceeded, at different times, that undigested mass of criminations, unsubstantiated by proof, which are so inconsistently collected in the new conspiracy against the Jesuits. It is evidently folly to imagine, that a large body of men, connected with the public by a thousand links, surrounded by jealous enemies, could possibly be a band of unprincipled knaves, impostors, and miscreants. The universal favour of the bulk of so many polished nations forbids, at once, such an idea. Popes, kings, prelates, magistrates, everywhere protected and employed them. Bishops and their clergy everywhere regarded them as their most useful auxiliaries in the sacred ministry, because they professedly exercised every duty of it, except that of _governing_ the church; {178} and this they renounced by vow. The people, in all towns, even in villages, felt their gratuitous services. A hundred years ago, if the public voice had been individually collected in Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, and Poland, undoubtedly, they would rather have parted with any other, perhaps with most other religious bodies, than with the society of Jesuits alone. A hundred years ago, all the continental sovereigns in Europe would have concurred in the same sentiment. With them they advised in all concerns of religion; to them they listened as preachers; to them they intrusted the instruction of their children, their own consciences, their souls. In those days, not only kings, but ministers of kings, and the great bulk of their nobles and people, believed in religion. They were sons of men, who had fought hard battles in France and Germany, in defence of catholic unity, against confederate sects, who had conspired to overturn it. Voltaire had not yet appeared among them. Religion was not yet presented to them as an object of ridicule. They {179} deemed of religion with reverence and awe,