," &c. &c. There is, however, one more of the catalogue,
which I will notice, to prove still farther the dishonesty of the means
taken by the new conspirators to blacken the Jesuits; it is {71} "Le Franc
Discours, or the Memorial presented to Henry IV against them." Did it not
become an inquirer into the truth of the accusations, to state the answer
of Henry IV to the accusers of the Jesuits? An answer which, in itself
alone, is enough to vindicate the society, and unveil the immense and
complicated engine so long since put in motion for its destruction; and so
irresistibly and successfully employed, in the course of time, by the
framers of it. Pius VII is not the first, who has recalled the Jesuits; the
great and good Henry IV recalled them, after they had been banished from
his kingdom by the machinations of their enemies. Then it was, that he was
memorialed; that remonstrance upon remonstrance was laid before him: but
Henry was not easily imposed upon by passionate asseverations, nor made the
dupe of envious persecutions. On the parliament delaying to give effect to
his edict for the re-establishment of the Jesuits, he informed them, that
he was determined to be obeyed; but he admitted a deputation of some of
their members, with {72} their first president, Harlay, at their head, who
went to the palace to state anew their remonstrances. Dupleix, a French
historian, says, that Harlay made a long harangue to the king, which "was
rather an invective, filled with all the abuse and outrage in the pleadings
of Pasquier and Arnaud; in the Catechism of Pasquier, and in the work
entitled _Franc Avis_, against the society, than the speech of a
statesman[30]." Henry's reply lies at this moment before me on the table,
and, I think, I should be wanting to the cause of truth and justice, if I
neglected to insert it here. It is rather long for a quotation, but it
cannot be tedious, and I am certain, that every unprejudiced reader will be
gratified with the perusal of it.

"It is very kind, it is very kind of you to be so careful of my person
and my kingdom. I know your meaning perfectly; but you do not know
mine. You have started difficulties, to {73} your thinking, very great
and considerable, and little know, that I have thought on and
considered them all these eight or nine years past; and that the best
resolutions for the time to come are taken from reflections on things
past, which I am acquainted with