all such abuses.

ARTICLE II. "How the Jesuits behave in their instructions and in their own
conduct, with regard to certain opinions which strike at the safety of the
king's person; as likewise with regard to the received doctrine of the
clergy of France, contained in the declaration of the year 1682; and in
general with regard to their opinions on the other side of the Alps."

Our history informs us, that, in the infancy of the society in France, the
Calvinists used their utmost endeavour to hinder the growth of a body of
men raised on purpose to oppose their errors, and to stop the spreading
contagion: to this end they dispersed into all parts a multitude of
pamphlets, in which the Jesuits were arraigned, as professing a doctrine
inconsistent with the safety of his majesty's sacred person; being well
assured, that the imputation of so atrocious a crime was the shortest and
securest way to bring about their ruin. These libels soon raised a
prejudice against the Jesuits in {353} the minds of all those, who had any
interest in opposing their establishment in France, and some communities
even joined in the impeachment. The crimes, which are now laid to their
charge, in the numberless writings, that swarm in all parts of your
majesty's dominions, are no other than those which were maliciously forged
and published above one hundred and fifty years ago. It is not from such
libels as these, that we are to form a just idea or rational judgment of
the Jesuits' doctrine or behaviour: such wild and groundless accusations
did not deserve our attention, and the little notice we took of them may be
a convincing proof to your majesty of the Jesuits' innocence.

And, indeed, the inviolable fidelity of the bishops of your kingdom, and
their sincere attachment to the crown, is too well known to leave any room
for suspecting, that they could be either so blinded as not to discover
that, which, as is pretended, is visible to the whole world; or, if they
had perceived it, that they should so far have forgot their duty to God, to
religion, to your majesty, as to encourage such treasonable doctrine by a
criminal silence, and trust the most sacred functions of the ministry to
persons convicted of publicly professing the same.

We will not here pretend to refute or to give an exact account of a
doctrine, which will not bear the light, and can no way be exposed to the
public without danger of infection; of which we may truly say, what St.
Pa