itute the greatest perfection of the Christian character, should
believe, that they are obliged, by virtue of that very institute, to commit
the greatest sins man is capable of; and it is absurd to {223} suppose,
that, if a general were mad enough to abuse his power, there would not be
found a pope wise enough, or Jesuits virtuous enough to depose him,
conformably to the laws of the church and of the institute.

Formerly, when the Jesuits had powerful protectors, the practice was to
turn them into ridicule; now, that they have powerful enemies, the object
is to stigmatize them with every vice. Nothing is more difficult, or more
delicate, than to parry ridicule; but, to refute abuse, one has only to
expose it.

In the present state of the continental powers, it seems hardly possible,
that the society of Jesuits should recover its ancient importance, but
their destruction must ever be lamented; and, since their unrelenting
enemies have tempted the public curiosity to inquire into their history,
this chapter shall be closed with a brief account of the final catastrophe
of that small portion of their body, which for two {224} hundred years was
connected with England, by the common bonds of country, language, and
blood.

About the year 1590, the English Jesuits obtained, from the liberality of
Philip II of Spain, the foundation of their principal college at St. Omer;
and, soon after, the bishop of that city conferred upon them an ancient
abbey, with its demesnes, situated in the neighbouring small town of
Watten. A few years later, they acquired the foundation of their college at
Liege, from Maximilian the elector of Bavaria, and likewise a smaller
settlement in the city of Ghent. In these several houses, they applied
themselves to the education of British catholic youth, and to the formation
of missionaries. In 1762, the two first-mentioned of these establishments
were subjected to confiscation by the unsparing _arrets_ of the parliament
of Paris. The inhabitants could obtain no mercy, on the consideration of
being foreigners admitted on the public faith; they were all ejected, {225}
without the smallest allowance for their support, or even for their return
to their native soil. They presented themselves to the Austrian government
of the Netherlands, at Bruxelles; they were admitted under an _octroi_, the
most solemn act of that government, and they established themselves in the
city of Bruges. In 1773, on the appearance o