el of
intelligence. His increased rage against the missionaries and Jesuits in
general may be imagined. The conduct of the Jesuits, after the earthquake
in 1755, afforded him fresh grounds of enmity. They spread themselves
through the city and the adjacent country, everywhere inviting the people
to repentance. Their sermons were everywhere attended by multitudes, their
confessionals were thronged. Penitential processions were instituted, the
city was edified. In their {234} discourses, they attributed the public
calamity to a special visitation of Divine Providence, with the design of
chastising the increasing depravity of morals in all ranks, and inviting
them to repentance. The court was pleased with the exertions of the
Jesuits. The king, in particular, thanked their provincial, and ordered the
repairs of their professed house to be undertaken and defrayed by the royal
treasury. This mark of royal favour sorely mortified the minister: he
complained of the fanaticism of the Jesuits, especially of Malagrida, who
had printed a discourse on the subject of the earthquake, which was read
and highly commended by the king. His majesty had signified his intention
of making a spiritual retreat, or exercise, for a week, under the direction
of that celebrated father. The marquis, after innumerable other artifices
to discredit the Jesuits, and their doctrine of an interfering Providence,
assured the king, that a conspiracy was formed to overturn the government;
that, unless Malagrida were withdrawn, a public sedition would ensue. The
{235} king, intimidated, at length consented to his removal; but the crafty
minister, dreading the resentment of the whole city, applied, the same day,
to the pope's nuncio, and stating the king's authority and positive
request, prevailed upon him to order Malagrida to retire from Lisbon to
Setubal. He then forbade processions, or other marks of public penance and
devotion, publicly alleging, that the misfortune of the city was to be
attributed solely to natural causes; and by these and other means he
succeeded in keeping the weak king in constant dread of imaginary plots,
conspiracies, and insurrections. The king was soon completely subdued;
every thing was abandoned to the disposal of the minister, his authority
and power became absolute, and he soon displayed his real character in such
a series of despotic and tyrannical deeds as the annals of mankind cannot
equal. These may be found fully detailed i