(except for form's sake) at present; because the
first three editions were sold in ten days, and
the fourth is already out.

If the deed has been done with Imperial
connivance, it can hardly have obtained Jesuitical
permission. On the contrary, there is a
loud ultramontane shout denying the authenticity
of the document; but to dissipate all
doubts on the subject, it suffices to turn to
history, and compare the conduct of the Society
of Jesus with the secret instructions now
divulged to the world. This is not the first time
they have been brought to light; but every
time the Society has contrived to secure the
copies, and put them out of sight, as soon
as the first excitement of publicity had passed
away. The Superiors of the Jesuits are ordered
to retain and to hold these private instructions,
with great care, in their own hands, and to
communicate them only to a few of the professed;
some of the instructions may be imparted to
non-professed persons, when advantage to the
Society is likely to follow: but it must be done
under the seal of secrecy, and not as if they
were written rules, but merely suggestions drawn
from the actual experience of the person who
gives the advice. Since many of the professed
are acquainted with these secrets, the Society
has, from its commencement, laid down the
rule that those once initiated can enter no
other religious order, except that of the
Carthusians, on account of the retirement in which
they live, and the inviolable silence they
maintain.

Special care is ordered to be taken that these
admonitions fall not into the hands of strangers,
who might put upon them an unfavourable
construction, through envy of the Order. Should
such ever happen (quod absit!—far be it from
us!), it must be stoutly denied that these are
the real sentiments of the Society, confirming
the assertion by calling to witness such members
as remain still in ignorance, and by opposing to
these the general instructions and the printed or
the written rules.

The Superiors are required constantly to
watch, with prudence and solicitude, to find out
whether any members have betrayed these
instructions to any stranger. No one may copy
them for himself, nor allow them to be copied
for another, except with the consent of the
General or the Provincial; and, if the Society
doubts the fidelity of any of its members in
this matter, let the suspected member be first
assured that no such doubts exist, and then
let him be dismissed. Such is the mode of
action.

The Society may compress and try to keep
things close, but all elements do not submit to
compression with equal facility. Some, like air,
you can squeeze into next to nothing; others,
like water, you can scarcely squeeze at all: if
pressed too hard, they will contrive to ooze out,
even through the pores of solid metal. Thus,
between two opposing pressures—the
ministerial and the clerical—the Monita Secreta
have forced their way through the bolts and
bars by which Gallic typography in general is
secured. It is for us to profit by the occasion,
and edify our friends with tho arcana so
promulgated.

Truly or falsely, the Jesuits have got a name
for ability, power, unscrupulousness, and
indestructibility. Crush them here, they shoot out
again there. Break them up, each dispersed
fragment heals and forms to itself a new head
and new members. Pound them to pieces and
bury them in the south, they crop out unhurt
in the north. Suppressed throughout orthodox
Catholic Europe, they secure a retreat in
schismatic Russia. Often are they hated and
feared; never are they despised or sneered at.
They are high-flying hawks, who strike only
at the noblest game. The place of confessor
is, with all Catholic princes, a sort of
ministerial office more or less powerful, according
to the age, the passions, the temper, and the
intelligence of the penitent.

Père Lachaise held this post for a long
period, and obtained for his Society great
consideration. Supple, polite, adroit, with a cultivated
mind, gentle manners, and an even
temper, he knew how to alarm or to soothe
his penitents' conscience according to occasion,
and never lost sight of his own interests nor of
those of his Company. A masked opponent of
all opposite parties, he spoke of them with
moderation, and even praised some few individuals
belonging to them. A few days before his death,
he said to the king, "Sire, I entreat you to do
me the favour to choose my successor out of our
Company. It is extremely attached to your
majesty; but it is very wide-spread, very
numerous, and composed of very different
characters, who are all very susceptible touching the
glory of the corporation. No one could answer
for it if it fell into disgrace; and a fatal blow is
soon struck." The king was so surprised at this
address, that he mentioned it to Maréchal, his
head surgeon, who spoke of it to other intimate
friends. A fatal blow is easily struck, in more
than one way. Pope Clement XIV. issued, in
1774, a bull abolishing the Society of Jesuits,
and was poisoned very shortly afterwards. The
King of Sardinia, Victor Amadeus, told one of
the ministers of France that his Jesuit confessor,
being on his death-bed, begged the king to visit
him. The dying man said, "Sire, I am
overwhelmed with your kindnesses, I wish to testify
my gratitude. Never take a Jesuit for your
confessor; ask me no questions, for I could not
answer them."

A propos to which we will dip into the second
chapter of the instructions: "How the Fathers
of the Society are to acquire and keep the intimacy
of princes, great men, and persons of the
highest consideration."

Above all things, every effort must be made to
gain the ear and the mind of princes and persons
of the first quality everywhere, in order that no
one may dare to rise up against us, but, on the
contrary, may be compelled to depend upon us.
But, as experience teach that princes and
great men are particularly well affected towards