worldly pursuit, his only aim can be the good of his neighbour.

"The influence, which Priests have it in their power still to acquire from the use of Confession, it must be allowed, is very great! Take but once fast hold of a man's conscience, and you may lead him where you please. It is therefore, in our Church, a concern of the greatest moment, that Priests be well-instructed, and that they be good men. Abstracting from all divine institution, were I to found a commonwealth, a law, obliging all my subjects to frequent confession of their sins, should be a principal ordinance. But the choice of my Priests should have my peculiar care. I would not, however, myself be found often in their com pany for the Priest who holds in his hand the conscience of his Prince, too often meddles in the temporal concerns of State, which belong not to him."

Sir, it is a most valuable concession FOR US, that so candid an acknowledgment as the foregoing has been thus spontaneously afforded, by a Roman Catholic of uncommon penetration: and, if the power of ALL Priests be so very great" over men's consciences, as is here represented, it cannot be denied that they who "too often meddle in the temporal concerns of State," ought to be kept at the greatest possible distance from a reigning PRINCE,

"The Jesuits, from the day of their institution, raised through the Christian world, a suspicious jealousy, which they were little careful to suppress; they also raised an admiration of their zeal and of their unbounded activity.

"In our penal statutes they are marked out as a body of men wholly distinct from other Priests. It was thought, that they held principles inimical to the rights of mankind, and that their designs against Princes and their States were of the most deleterious complexion. There was no truth in this imagination. They had amongst them, indeed, Divines of wild fancy; they had loose and indulgent Casuists; and they had men of dangerous activity. Where the weak

nesses and common passions to which our nature is subject, are allowed to operate, things could not be otherwise; and the Jesuits were not more reprehensible, than are all other societies of men. The influence which their zeal, their soft insinuation, and their abilities, acquired them, was, in every walk of life, amazingly extensive. It was often productive of great good, and it was sometimes productive of great evil. They aspired, I think, too high; and the rapidity of their fall could only be equalled by that of their ascent. To the Protestant Church they were always particularly odious: they were purposely raised to oppose the progress, and to combat the opinions, of the first Reformers. Their attachment to the See of Rome was great; and in them the Papal prerogative had always experienced the firmest support. It was, therefore, matter of astonishment when the Roman Pontiff pronounced their dissolution. He was either a bad politician, or he was compelled to do it. In abilities the Jesuits were thought to surpass all other religious Orders; but because they wanted prudence to rein their ambition, and to moderate their career of power, they fell,-probably to rise no more.

The few still remaining, daily dying off, in the course of some years their generation will be extinct, and their name almost forgotten. WE shall then perhaps see reason to lament their suppression. At all events, it is now time to drop those idle fears, which the phantom of Jesuitical craft and machinations formerly gave rise to."

At p. 160, this intelligent Roman Catholic writer again says, "The Jesuits are also dying away; nor is there any succession to supply their places." Sed tempora mutantur!

In my next Letter I shall call your attention to a valuable record, which has never been contradicted, and must be believed until it is publicly disproved, The learned author of "A History of the Jesuits; to which is prefixed a Reply to Mr. Dallas's Defence of that Order," 8vo. 1816, 2 vols. gives a most luminous exposé of the Jesuits now in England,

LETTER VI.

SIR,

IN developing the views of the Jesuits in England, and describing their footsteps at Stonyhurst, in Lancashire, I shall only do what you personally requested of me on a late occasion; that is, lay before you a few extracts from one of the works which "you had not time to read."

The author of that History asks, "Now, how does the fact really stand? A reference to the extensive and increasing Establishment of Jesuits at Stonyhurst, near Preston in Lancashire, will best answer the question: at this place the Order of Jesuits has for thirty years past possessed a spacious College, which is principally a College of JESUITS; is amply provided with all the materiel and morale of Jesuitism, and is carrying on the work of Catholic Instruction, and Protestant Conversion, upon the most large and extensive scale! The studies at this place are conducted upon the same system, and to the same extent, as at the Catholic Universities abroad: and there are regular professors in Divinity, Mathematics, Philosophy, Astronomy, &c. The College, which is a very large building, is capable of containing at least four or five hundred pupils independently of Professors, Managers, and domestics. It is supposed to contain at this time five hundred or more individuals of various descriptions.

"About eleven hundred acres of land are attached to the College, which the Jesuits keep in their own hands, and farm themselves. A Jesuit (who would be called, in a similar situation in a Nobleman's family, the Land Steward) has the direction and management of the land, with a very liberal salary, besides board and accommodation. The Jesuits consume the produce of the land in the College, and

and also make large purchases in addition, from the farmers and graziers for many miles round; from which circumstance, their influence is considerably augmented, and their principles are widely diffused throughout the country.Adjoining to the College, they have suitable offices for all manner of tradesmen and artificers, such as tailors, shoemakers, smiths, carpenters, butchers, bakers, &c.

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They have Pupils from various parts of the Continent; from Ireland, and from different parts of Great Britain: they have, of course, a correspondence with most parts of the world, and they adopt particular precautions with regard to their letters. Their present number of pupils may be from two to three hundred, and the general average for the last twenty-five years cannot have fallen far short of that number.

"At Hirst-Green, within a quarter of a mile of the College of Stonyhurst, is a Seminary for boarding and educating young boys, preparatory to their entering the College of Stonyhurst. The apartments and grounds of this initiatory Establishment are appropriated solely to those who are destined for the superior College; and the almost entire seclusion of these youths from all intercourse with mankind, which takes place during their probationary studies, is not calculated to remove the distrust and apprehension which are naturally excited, by the mystery which attaches more or less to Jesuitism in general, and to this fact in particular.

"The amount of the accumulating capital of the Jesuits is very considerable, arising from the value of their estate, and the annual profit accruing from their Pupils§.

§ A considerable part of the land attached to the College was granted to the Jesuits as a free gift; the other part is held by them at a low rent: the whole estate is of great value, and they have already possessed it nearly thirty years. Their Pupils (as has been observed above) have, for the last twenty-five years, averaged from about two to three hundred: and their gain by each Pupil (after

"The influence of the Jesuits in the adjacent country is incredible: the Manor and surrounding district being their own, they are more or less the accredited heads of the neighbourhood; they are at once bold and indefatigable in making proselytes; and, in consequence of their exertions, Popery has very considerably increased in the vicinity of Stonyhurst, and in the town of Preston, within the last thirty years.

"Before the establishment of this College, there were not half a dozen Papists about Stonyhurst, but now the greater portion of the population in that part of the country are Papists to the amount of many thousands! From this Jesuits' College all the Roman Catholic Chapels in that part of the kingdom (which are nearly as numerous as the Protestant Churches) are filled with Priests of the Order of Jesuits, though they are unwilling it should be known that they are any other than ordinary Romish Priests. There are several Jesuit Priests stationed in Preston, who frequently travel from thence to Ireland; and, since the last peace, they have great intercourse with France, and other parts of the Continent.

"The principal Jesuit Priest of Preston now makes a boast, that when he first came into it (a little more than twenty years since) a small room would have contained his whole congregation; at this time, he proclaims with triumph that two large Chapels have been built which will hold two thousand persons each, and that even these Chapels will not contain their congregations. From this fact, some idea may be gained of the extent to which they have proselyted in one parish !!!

"The Jesuits and Papists, in conjunction, have within

every expense is paid) forms no inconsiderable addition to their an nual revenue; to say nothing of the original endowment from which they derived their support in the first instance."