t of a short-sighted
policy. It is impossible to read Ganganelli's Letters, and deny that he was
highly intellectual, virtuous, religious, and amiable; nor would I confound
the philosophy which he cultivated, with that which is {131} destructive of
religious hope and political order; but his whole conduct, in the affair of
the Jesuits, proves, that his soul was not formed to the honours of
martyrdom, as he was ready to act against his own conviction, and to
sacrifice principle to convenience; a maxim peculiarly impugned by Jesuits,
and by catholics in general.

In addition to the proofs of his good opinion of the society already given,
I will here insert a passage to be found in the twelfth volume of the
Annual Register. In addressing the courts of Paris, Madrid, and Naples,
after his elevation to the pontificate, he states, that, "in regard to the
Jesuits, he could neither blame nor annihilate an institute, which had been
applauded and confirmed by nineteen of his predecessors; that he could the
less do it, because it had been authentically confirmed by the council of
Trent; and that, by the French maxims, the general council was above the
{132} pope: that, if it was desired, he would call a council, in which
every thing should be discussed with justice and equity, and the Jesuits
heard in their own defence; that he owed to the Jesuits, as to all the
religious orders, justice and protection; that, besides, the states of
Germany, the king of Sardinia, and the king of Prussia, had written to him
in their behalf; and that he could not, by their destruction, content some
princes, without displeasing others." Nevertheless, without calling a
council, without hearing their defence, he destroyed them; and, certainly,
it will ever be a matter of astonishment, that, in a cause of such
magnitude, a Roman pontiff, whatever motives may have impelled him to
pronounce the suppression, could so far assimilate himself with the
ministers of Portugal, Spain, Naples, and France, as to overlook that
primary maxim, which Rome, whether Pagan or Christian, had in all ages
respected: "It is not the manner of the Romans to deliver any man to die,
before that {133} he, which is accused, have the accusers face to face, and
have licence to answer for himself concerning the crime laid against
him[50]."

The writer of some anecdotes annexed to his Letters, relates one, which
shows the notoriety of the fact, that his suppression of the Jesuits was
n