M. de la Chalotais's son succeeded him in his office, and he

died at an advanced age, at Rennes, on the 14th July, 1785. The patience with which he had borne his imprisonment, and his courage in upholding freedom of speech and of religion, rendered him worthy of grateful remembrance by his countrymen and by all who value the privileges for which he strove. Ho wrote -'memoirs of his life, and an essay on national education.
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APPENDIX.
CARDINAL WISEMAN ON THE ABBE DE LA
MENNAIS.
[Extracted from " The Recollections of the four last four Popes," by H. E. Cardinal WISEMAN. Hurst and Blackett, 1858.]
(!N describing the examination of a candidate for theological honours in Rome in 1825, Cardinal Wiseman writes, p. 302) : " I remember well the particular instance before my eyes, that a "monk clothed in white glided in and sat down in the inner " circle ; but, though a special messenger was despatched to him " by the Professors, he shook his head, and declined to become " an assailant. This monk was Cappellari, who, in less than six "years after, was Pope Gregory 16th. He had been sent to " listen and report. Not far from him was seated the Abbe de "La Mennais, whose works he so justly and so witheringly " condemned. Probably it was the only time they were ever " seated together, listening to an English youth vindicating the " faith of which one became the oracle, the other the bitter foe." After referring to the probability, that if Dr. Baines, Bishop of Siga, and coadjutor of the English western district, would have been made a Cardinal in 1826-27, if he had not died, and that Pope Leo 12th was believed to have thought of Dr. Lingard for that honour, the Cardinal writes (p. 335) : " But beyond this "circle, where Dr. Lingard was known and appreciated, it " certainly was not so (thought) ; but a very different person was " then and ever afterwards, and is still, considered to have been " the subject of the Pope's reservation.". . . .
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" Tliis was the celebrated Abbe de La Mennais. As has been " said, he had been to Rome in 1824, and had been received " with the most marked distinction by the Pope. He was then " in the splendour of his genius, arrayed not only on the side of "faith, but of the highest Roman principles. The boldness of " his declarations on doctrine, the independence of his tone in " politics, the brilliancy of his style, and the depth of thought " which it clothed, put him at the head of religious champions " in France. He had undoubtedly assaulted the flying rear of "the great Revolution, the indifference which lingered behind "it by his splendid ' Traite sur 1' Indifference en Matiere de "Religion;' he had next endeavoured to beat back from occupy- " ing its place, what he considered had led to that fatal epoch " and its desolating results, a kingly Gallicanism. This he had " done by a treatise less popular indeed, but full of historical " research and clearness of reasoning, ' La Doctrine de 1'Eglise " sur 1'Institution des Eveques.'
" It was to this work that the Pope was considered to allude. " The text of the allocution is not accessible, but it was thought " to allude to this book with sufficient point. So matter-of-fact " was the book, so completely the fruit of reading and study, "rather than of genius and intellectual prowess, that it has been " attributed to a worthy brother, who survives the more brilliant "meteor now passed away, in a steady and useful light, &c
" Be this as it may, the more celebrated brother has his " name on the title-page, and had well-nigh won its honours ; " and then he was gathering round him an earnest band, not " only of admirers, but followers, so long as he cleaved to the " truth. Never had the head of a religious school possessed so " much fascinating power to draw the genius, energy, devoted- " ness, and sincerity of ardent youths about him ; never did any " one so well indoctrinate them with his own principles, as to " make them invincible even by his own powers. He was in this " like Tertullian, who, when sound of mind, prescribed medicines "too potent for the subtle poisons which he dealt out in his " heterodox insanity : both laid them too deep, and made them " too strong to be blasted even by their own mines, &c.* * This appears applicable to the Comte Montalembeit.
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" But in him there was long a canker deeply sunk. There " was a maggot in the very core of that beautiful fruit. When, " in 1837, he finished his ecclesiastical career by his ' Affaires " de Rome/ the worm had only fully writhed itself out, and "wound itself, like the serpent of Eden, round the rind. But it " had been there all along, &c. Often has one heard good men " say in Rome, what a happy escape the church had experienced " from one, who turned out so worthless !"
THE ABBE DE LA MENNAIS ON THE ORDER
OF JESUITS.
[Extract from "Les Affaires de Rome," by M. L'Abbe de La MENNAIS.
1837.]
[THE first part of this Extract is a repetition of what was published in the " L'Avenir," a journal of which the editors were (see p. 83,) the Abbe La Mennais, the Abbe Gerbot, the Abbe Robacher, the Abbe Lacordaire, P. de Poux, Ad. Bartels, The Comte Montalembert, Daguerre, and d'Ault Dumenil. The Pope disapproved, and the Church and the French Government seized and suppressed its publications. On the accession of Gregory the 16th to the Pontificate (he had been a Jesuit) in February 1821, three of the editors went to Rome to present a memorial to the Pope, to declare their opinions, and ask his approbation. These three were (see p. 115) the Comte Montalembert, Lacordaire, and La Mennais. (Page 22.) "But the animosity of the Jesuits was of older "date. They never forgave the following passage in one of " our publications : ' This is neither the time nor the place in ' which we ought to judge the company of Jesus, and to seek 'for truth, pure but severe, amidst the calumnies invented by 'hatred, or panegyrics inspired by enthusiasm. Nothing can cbe more absurd, more iniquitous, or more revolting than the
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'greatest part of the accusations of which they have been the ' objects. No part of society can be found, whose members ' are more worthy to be admired for their zeal and respected ' for their virtues : still we are not of opinion that this institu- ' tion, so holy in itself, is at present exempt from defects and 'inconveniences, of a very serious nature, and that it is ' sufficiently in accordance with the actual state of the world, ' its feelings and its wants : but we repeat, this is neither the ' place nor the time to argue this great question ; and we should 'feel the deepest sorrow if any word should fall from us, which ' could afflict these venerable men at the moment, when 'fanaticism and impiety are persecuting the whole Church ' through their name.' : When they shall have left this trans- itory scene, Jesuits will become nothing but a subject for history, and its impartial judgment will be obliged to treat them with more severity than we will exercise towards them. If we should endeavour to define the peculiar charac- teristic which has distinguished this society from its first formation, and which has rendered it constantly the object of so much praise and so much blame, we believe it will be found in its original principle of the abnegation of individuality on the part of each of its members, in order to augment the strength and the unity of the body. Among the Jesuits, action, and even thought, is subjected to obedience, and absolute obedience. One chief, called their General, and a few assistants, compose the whole government of the Company. They are its reasons and its will. The rest follow passively, blindly, the impulse that is given to them : nothing is more forcibly inculcated by the precepts of the founder than is this entire abnegation of self ! Such is the sacrifice required from each candidate for admission ; and what is the consequence ? Man may try as he will, it is impossible for him to abjure himself to that degree : his most sincere endeavour for this purpose ends merely in a transfer: he can only displace that, which he endeavours in vain to destroy ; his whole being is only transported into the complicated existence of the society of which he is a member, with which he united, and into which he has fused himself. In it he lives ; he loves himself in it
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uloiie ; and that self-love becomes his first duty, and it becomes more ardent and more active, because it is the only vent, which his conscience allows him for the gratification of his own satisfaction ; and because this being now wholly under the direction of the commands, which have become his only law, unless they should be in direct violation of the laws of Grod, he has become divested of moral responsibility. Thus, the passions restrained by severe laws, inasmuch as they concern himself, are to him hallowed, but not destroyed or corrected. They pass after a fashion into the service of the body, which directs and employs them to gain its own ends : if its objects are good and honourable, such will also be the aim of each member. But the motive which impels them all is the aggrandizement of the society in reputation, power, wealth, or glory. There is no personal, but great collective ambition ; no personal desire for wealth, but a cupidity and a collective pride that knows no bounds. This renders the society somewhat anti-social. One man, so concentrated in self, would be .a model of egotism, and whatever might be his object, he would be a unit separated from the human race ; and such is the Society of the Jesuits : they have an existence apart. Meddling with every thing, they belong to nothing. They raise an undefined but insurmountable barrier between themselves and humanity. They may be touched at all points, but they never unite ; and this is one of the causes of the feeling of vague suspicion, with which they have, always been regarded.
The effect of this innate ceaseless desire to obtain influence has been to render them often unscrupulous as to the means of obtaining it, and has rendered them liable to the imputation of seeking universal dominion. We believe that the dominion they desire to establish is Catholicism, but that this dominion shall be exclusively of their creation ; and whoever should in- terfere in the mission, they have allotted to themselves, and does not humbly range himself under their direction, excites their jealousy, becomes obnoxious to them, and they subject him to a thousand tracasseries and accusations, which they will remorsely sustain against him.
As these men cannot reign in their own society, or exercise
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upon it the influence they may desire, either by science or by intellect, they endeavour to act out of it ; they endeavour to circumvent men in power ; they steal about kings, and their ministers and favourites, and try to reign through them. To gain them, they intrigue, and fawn, and flatter, and learn to creep rather under the earth than upon the earth, and wind and double in every sense, in order to govern the world by using the sceptre of the masters, &c.
Between the despotism they live under, and the despotism which they exercise wherever they can, there is a secret attrac- tion, a natural interchange of sympathy, &c.
Never did any one arriving at Rome on important business meet with a less favourable reception.* The Court of Rome does not generally act thus by accident, by caprice, or from mere im- pulse. Let us explain what occasioned this.
For twenty years consecutively we employed ourselves to defend the spiritual power of the Pope, and, to speak frankly, we do not think the cause suffered in our hands. Witness the decay of Gallican principles among the Catholics of France now,f compared with the opinions which existed forty years ago. So long as we confined ourselves to the defence of the spiritual power of Home, without committing herself to an open approbation, she encouraged our efforts and applauded their success ; and in vain did diplomacy, when our work " On the progress of the Revolution " appeared, solicit some words that might be construed into disapproval or disavowal ; they were refused.
But so soon as we declared wishes which might militate against the system, with which the temporal interests of Rome are connected, and that action had given weight to our wishes, the former benevolence with which we had been regarded, was succeeded by lively irritation.
* See p. 115. t In 1837.
134 GALLICAN OPINIONS.
Extracted from the Publications of the Protestant Alliance.
[The book from which the extracts now published have been made are in the Office of the Protestant Alliance, 7, Serjeants' Inn, Fleet Street, London, and will be produced to any one who desires to verify them.]
" Ext raits des Assertions Dangereuses et Pernicieuses, fyc.," published by the command of the Parliament of France, and presented to the King, March 5, 1762. This collection of ex- tracts, from 147 Jesuit authors of celebrity, was collated and verified by Commissioners appointed by the French Parliament, consisting of five Princes of the blood, four peers of France, seven presidents of the court, thirteen councillors of the grand chamber, and fourteen other functionaries. The decree states that the object of the extracts was " to prove to the king the " perversity of the doctrine, constantly maintained, and without "interruption, by the priests, scholars, and others, styling " themselves of the Society of Jesuits, in a multitude of works "reprinted a great number of times, in public theses, and in " lesson books (cahiers) for the young, from the origin of the "said Society to this very moment, with the approbation of " theologians, the permission of superiors and generals, and the " eulogy of other members of the said Society : a doctrine, the "consequence of which would be to destroy the natural law, " that rule of life which God himself has written in the heart " of man ; and, as a natural result, to break all the bonds of " civil society, in authorising theft, lying, perjury, impurity the " most criminal, and, generally, every passion and every crime, " by teaching secret compensation, equivocation, mental re- " servation, probability, and philosophical sin ; to destroy every " feeling of humanity among men, by favouring homicide and " parricide ; to annihilate the royal authority and the principles " of subjection and obedience, by degrading the origin of this " sacred authority, which came from God himself, and by
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" altering its nature, which chiefly consists in the entire in- " dependence of every power upon earth ; to excite by the " abominable doctrine of regicide in the heart of faithful subjects, " and, above all, of those, who compose the French nation, most " lively and well-founded alarms for the safety even of the sacred " person of the kings, under which they have the happiness to " live ; in fact, to overturn the principles and practice of religion, " and to substitute in its stead all kinds of superstition by favour- " ing magic, blasphemy, irreligion, and idolatry."
(Extracted from the Publications of the Protestant Alliance.)