ilant, whom one must be surprised to find
unacquainted with the writings of such an author as Raynal.

THE BISHOPS OF FRANCE.

There are forty-five names of bishops subscribed to a reply made by them to
certain articles proposed for their examination by Louis XV. Their judgment
is given at considerable length, and the testimony of it is too valuable to
be abridged. I have already referred the reader to the document, printed at
length, in the Appendix, at the end of this volume; to enable him, however,
to judge here of the importance of it, I will insert the articles in this
place. {151}

The first is: "Of what use the Jesuits may be in France; the advantages or
inconveniences that may attend the various functions, which they exercise
under our authority."

The second: "How the Jesuits behave, in their instructions, and in their
own conduct, with regard to certain opinions, which strike at the safety of
the king's person; as, likewise, with regard to the received doctrine of
the clergy of France, contained in the declaration of the year 1682; and,
in general, with regard to their opinions on the other side of the Alps."

The third: "The conduct of the Jesuits, with regard to their subordination
to bishops; and whether, in the exercise of their functions, they do not
encroach on the pastoral rights and privileges."

The fourth: "Whether it may not be convenient to moderate and set bounds to
the {152} authority, which the general of the Jesuits exercises in France."

The replies fully substantiate the utility of the society, the purity of
their doctrine, the regularity of their conduct, and the consistency of
their government with their duty to their king and country[59].

Such, then, is the nature of the authorities, that rank in favour of the
Jesuits; and the reader, by comparing them with the inveterate and corrupt
spirits, which have been dragged from obscurity to destroy them a second
time, will be able to estimate their respective value, and the motives of
the new conspirators against them.

Perhaps enough has incidentally appeared, in the preceding pages, to inform
the reader of the {153} chief crimes imputed to the society of the Jesuits,
and to satisfy his mind of the falsehood of the imputations, as well as of
the baseness and wickedness of the means contrived for attaching them upon
those devoted victims. Many of the imputations are also removed in the
following Letters. And when I consider, that the jud