o the Atheist Damilaville: "I should rouse posterity
in their behalf, if I accused them of a crime, of which Europe, and Damiens
himself, have acknowledged them innocent." Writing, in 1765, three years
after the suppression of the Jesuits, to the same Damilaville, he thus
exults in the realized expectations of D'Alembert: "Victory declares for us
on every side. I can assure you, that, in a short time, the rabble alone
will remain under the standard of our enemies." In subsequent letters he
declares, that "a general revolution was making its appearance in every
quarter; that philosophy was gaining strength in the north of Germany; that
similar revolutions were taking place in Poland, Italy, and Spain." Such
was the rapid effect of the substitution of philosophical to religious
education! However borne away by the charms of {137} philosophy, Voltaire
was greatly attached to the Jesuits, and had the highest opinion of them:
this he fully expresses in a letter to father de la Tour, principal of the
college of Louis le Grand, where he was himself educated, which has been
already cited.

MONTESQUIEU.

Montesquieu, mentioning the government of Paraguay, then under the guidance
of the Jesuits, as an instance, among other extraordinary institutions
formed to exalt nations to virtue, alludes to the imputed ambition of the
society to govern; to which he replies, "but it will ever be a glorious
ambition to govern men by rendering them happy. It is glorious to the
society to have been the first to give, in those regions, the idea of
religion united with humanity. By repairing the devastations of the
Spaniards, they have begun to heal one of the {138} most dangerous wounds
the human race ever received. They have drawn wild people from woods,
secured them regular maintenance, and clothed their nakedness; but even,
had they done no more than add to the stock of industry among men, that
would have been doing a great deal[52]."

BUFFON.

"The missions," says this celebrated natural philosopher, "have formed more
men, in the barbarous nations, than the victorious armies of the princes,
who subjugated them. It is only in this way, that Paraguay has been
conquered: the gentleness, the good example, the charity, and the exercise
of virtue constantly maintained by the missionaries, made their way to the
hearts of the savages, and conquered their distrust and their ferocity.
They {139} would frequently come, of their own accord, and beg to