e always printed
together, and go down side by side to posterity. Where now is "the
formidable array of pontiffs," which show that Ganganelli "is not the
solitary impugner," among popes, of the order of Jesuits? Ganganelli tells
you, that they were tossed on a stormy sea, where they were obliged to
manage their sails dexterously, that they might not sink themselves; and,
in the very rescript which sir John has hung by the side of Pius VII's bull
{101} in his appendix, he declares, that it blew so hard from the four
quarters, France, Spain, Portugal and Sicily (see page 24), that he was
under the necessity of throwing the Jesuits overboard: "Our dear sons in
Jesus Christ," says he, "having made known their _demands_ and _wills_ in
this matter."

Clement XIV vainly flattered himself, that, by making ample concessions to
the importunity of the combined ministers, by persecuting the Jesuits in
detail, contrary to his own conviction, he should, in the end, escape the
necessity of crushing them altogether. It was the policy of Pontius Pilate.
His whole reign was one series of vexatious treatment; even outrages
against them. From the first day of his pontificate they were the only
Christians excluded from access to the common father. His condescension
only betrayed his weakness, and enhardened the ministerial conspirators.
When, at length, he found it impossible to resist them, without incurring
the loss of his states, "he gave sentence, {102} that it should be as they
required[42]." He resorted to the principle of the high priest, in St.
John, chap. ii, verse 50, the expediency of which is so clearly announced
in his Letters[43]. But here three things sorely distressed him: the
incongruity and injustice of condemning the Jesuits without a trial, which
he knew the ministers would not permit; the approbation of their institute
by the council of Trent; and the concurring approbation of the order by
nearly twenty popes, especially the very recent constitution, or bull, of
his immediate predecessor, Clement XIII, solemnly published, and received
by the whole church. The applicants for the destruction of the order
undertook to remove his scruples.

I am obliged to sir John for drawing my attention to Ganganelli's brief,
which I might otherwise have passed over without much {103} scrutiny. He is
of opinion, that it should accompany the bull of the reigning pontiff; but
some connoisseurs may think, that it will show to more advantage