a, would have been sufficient to induce him to take
a measure so violent, if there had not intervened a circumstance which
necessarily appeared, in his eyes, an outrage on his dignity, a wound on
his self-respect, and a threat against the legitimacy of his rights.

The king was as much a Jansenist as his ministers. The Jesuits knew it,
and resolved to make a secret war against him, which should terminate in
his dethronement. Father Rizzio, General of the Jesuits established in
Rome, gave orders to all the chiefs of the convents belonging to their
institution to propagate, by means of their subalterns, as well by
private conversations as through the confessional, the important secret
that Charles III. was the illegitimate son of Ferdinand VI., and that,
consequently, he ought to be considered as a usurper of the throne of his
reputed father. The minister, Roda, intercepted a correspondence
containing irrefragable proofs of that abominable intrigue; and this was
sufficient to make the king resolve upon a course of action which he had
refrained from for some time, at the instance of his ministers, through
fear of offending the court of Rome and of bringing a scandal on the
Christian world. The king had no power to suppress a religious order;
but he could, as chief of the state, expel from his territory any persons
whomsoever, and this was the part which he took with respect to the
individuals of the Company of Jesuits. The execution of this grand
design was a master-work of foresight and prudence. The civil
authorities of all the towns having Jesuitical establishments, as well in
Spain as in the colonies, received a sealed packet from the government.
On opening the outer cover was found an order that the interior packet
was not to be opened till a certain day and at a certain hour, and in the
presence of the subaltern authorities, and a most severe injunction to
keep even that operation secret till the moment of its execution. On the
arrival of the day and hour appointed the packets were opened, as had
been previously arranged, simultaneously; and then was found, in each, an
order to take immediate possession of the houses of the Jesuits, to
sequester their goods, and transmit, without delay of time, their persons
to the nearest port, in which would be found vessels already waiting to
receive them on board, and convey them into Italy. This was done, at the
same instant, in all places for hundreds of leagues in extent