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Transcriber's note: A few typographical errors have been corrected: they
are listed at the end of the text.

French extracts are reproduced as printed, with hardly any accents.

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THE

NEW CONSPIRACY

AGAINST THE JESUITS

DETECTED AND BRIEFLY EXPOSED;

WITH A

SHORT ACCOUNT OF THEIR INSTITUTE;

AND

OBSERVATIONS ON THE DANGER OF SYSTEMS OF

EDUCATION INDEPENDENT OF RELIGION.

       *       *       *       *       *

BY R. C. DALLAS, ESQ.

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    Omnes qui se Societati addixerunt, in virtutum solidarum ac
    perfectarum, et spiritualium rerum studium incumbant.

      INSTITUTUM SOC. JESU, ed. Pragae, 1757, vol. ii, p. 72.

    The causes which occasioned the ruin of this mighty body, as well as
    the circumstances and effects with which it has been attended in the
    different countries of Europe, are objects extremely worthy of the
    attention of every intelligent observer of human affairs.

      ROBERTSON'S CHARLES V, vol. iii, p. 225.

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LONDON:

PRINTED FOR JAMES RIDGWAY, PICCADILLY.

1815.

  C. WOOD, Printer,
  Poppin's Court, Fleet Street.

       *       *       *       *       *


{v}

TO

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE

GEORGE CANNING, M. P.

HIS MAJESTY'S AMBASSADOR EXTRAORDINARY TO

THE COURT OF PORTUGAL, _&c._ _&c._

  SIR;

Your absence from this country, and the observation of the historian, which
I have adopted as a motto, will plead my excuse for dedicating this volume
to you, without a previous intimation of my wish for that honour to my work
and to myself. "The causes {vi} of the ruin of the society of Jesuits, with
its circumstances and effects, are worthy of your attention." I have
bestowed a considerable degree of labour in making myself acquainted with
them, and, having been induced to throw the result of my inquiries into the
form of a book, I know not to whom I can better present it than to a man,
who, among the services which he has been active in rendering to his
country, in her legislation and letters, has been the liberal advocate of
the catholic body in general, and who, I am confident, will be pleased to
see any society, or any individual, rescued from opprobrium, which time and
colouring may have fixed on character. You are on the spot, Sir, where the
Jesuits were persecuted with the greatest virulence; a circumstance, to
{vii} my apprehension, not the most favourable to the investigation of
truth, as it may well be imagined, that the prejudices, which were raised
by the unprincipled and unrelenting minister of Joseph I, of Portugal, have
too strongly enveloped it to be easily removed: but there are minds gifted
with a discernment approaching to intuition, and, if any man can unweave
the web, which has been spun around this unfortunate society, to your
penetration may it be trusted. I have examined the subject with sincerity
and disinterestedness, and, from conviction, I feel such interest in the
establishment of the facts which I have stated, and the conclusions which I
have drawn, that I dare hope that what I here offer to your consideration
will one day be corroborated by testimony and {viii} talents, that shall
remove all the doubt which the feebleness of my pen may leave upon it.

  I have the honour to be,

    Sir,

      Your most obedient and

        humble Servant,

          R. C. DALLAS.

_September 4, 1815._

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{ix}

PREFACE.

Having formerly occupied my thoughts on the subject of promoting the
knowledge and practice of religion among the <DW64>s in the West Indies, I
was naturally led to inquire into the means, which had been successfully
adopted in the catholic islands. I traced them to the enthusiastic labours
of the clergy in general, particularly the Jesuits. The conduct of the
fathers of that society in South America, not only excited in me
admiration, but the highest esteem, veneration, and affection, for that
enlightened and persevering body in the Christian cause, who had spread
over the immense regions of that {x} continent more virtue and real
temporal happiness than were enjoyed by any other quarter of the globe, as
well as a well founded hope of eternal felicity, by the redemption of
mankind through Christ. This undeniable merit made such an impression on my
mind, that I never gave credit to the horrors, which have been attributed
to the society.

Among the objects of my attention, during a late residence in France, the
restoration of the order became an interesting one, affording me some
pleasing conversations, and inducing me to search into authorities
respecting the actions and character of men, whom I had learned to venerate
and to love, the result of which was a confirmation of my early
predilection. On my return from the continent a short time since, I met
with a pamphlet {xi} lately published, entitled "A Brief Account of the
Jesuits," the ostensible object of which is to render the order odious, but
the real one is seen to be an attempt to attach odium upon catholics in
general, in the present crisis of the catholic question. I learned, from a
literary friend, that this pamphlet had originally appeared as Letters in a
newspaper, and that they had been answered in the same way, but that the
answers had not been republished. These I obtained and perused. I received
much satisfaction from them, and thought them worthy of being preserved.
They did not, however, appear to me sufficiently full upon the subject, and
I therefore resolved to publish them in the form of a pamphlet, with a
preliminary statement. I consequently renewed my inquiries, and the more I
inquire the more am I satisfied, that my veneration for this body of
Christian instructors is not misplaced. {xii}

It is perfectly evident to me, that there was an unjust conspiracy, which
originated in France, to destroy the Jesuits; and that it terminated
successfully about the middle of the last century. It is not an easy task
to unfold to its full extent the injustice and various iniquities of it,
since even respectable historians have been led away by the imposing
appearance, which the then undetected and half-unconscious ingenious agents
of jacobinism had, by every expedient of invention, of colouring, and of
wit, given to the hue and cry raised by those bitter enemies of the order,
the university and parliaments of France, and by some ministers of other
governments, particularly by the marquis de Pombal, the minister of the
king of Portugal. It is not my intention to undertake so laborious a task,
but I trust, that the following exposition will unfold sufficient {xiii} of
the injustice, which has been so unfeelingly and indefatigably heaped upon
the Jesuits, to convince every unprejudiced man, that the suppression of
the order has been injurious to society, and that the revival of it, far
from being dangerous, must be beneficial. I am not afraid, that this
expression of my sentiment will draw upon me any suspicion of disaffection
to the state, or the established church; my sentiments are well known to my
friends, and have been more than once publicly professed. The benefit,
which I think will arise from the restoration of the society, will consist
more particularly in the active and zealous cultivation of Christian
virtues, and a spirit of LOYALTY among the catholics of all countries,
whether protestant or catholic; and, unless we mean to say, with some of
the furious reformers, that the religion of the catholics is to be {xiv}
extirpated altogether, it is absurd to say, that they shall not have their
best and most active instructors.

When this volume had nearly gone through the press, in the course of
reading I met with the following curious passage, extracted from a Letter
to a