am,
jam ad paucos redactam, pene ab interitu vindicasti!" Sir John will not
refuse her this compliment, when he discovers the extraordinary inaccuracy
into which he has been betrayed by his informer. He asserts[36], that
Catherine "secured the tractability of these {91} restless men by the _sine
qua non_ of the residence of their general, _a subject_, within the state."
It is true, that their general could not conveniently reside in any other
state; but my information emboldens me to affirm, that no restraint
whatever was laid upon the Jesuits, in the election of their generals; that
they have already elected five in Russia, all of whom have been
_foreigners_. The three first were Poles, of whom one, named by sir John,
F. Carew, was of British extraction. Their late general, Gruber, was an
Austrian; the present superior is a Prussian, and is actually expected at
Rome.

In a detail of restrictions he mentions the superintendence of the
seminaries being consigned to the ministry of public inspection, and
asserts, that priests of the _Greek_ national church are directed to attend
the Jesuit colleges, to instruct the pupils of the Greek communion in
religion. I am unacquainted with the weight of authority to be allowed to
sir John's correspondent; but, certainly, the result of my inquiries
differs {92} widely from the information communicated by him. The Jesuits
have, ever since their establishment in Russia, been treated with
unsuspecting liberality. The integrity of their institute has been
scrupulously maintained, and the authority given to the catholic archbishop
of Mohilow has ever been exactly confined within the limits prescribed by
the council of Trent. By a law of the present emperor, all colleges were
subjected to the control of the university of Petersburgh. The Jesuits,
feeling the inconvenience of this, soon had their own chief college of
Polosk erected into a university, by which they became exempted from the
temporary control. They have an establishment at Petersburgh, called the
"College of Nobles," into which young noblemen only are admitted as
pensioners, and these are educated in the regular collegiate discipline,
whatever be their religion. They attend at divine service, and at public
catechisms and instructions. The majority of them are of the national
religion, and, if their parents or they themselves desire it, the {93}
superior of the Jesuits permits a priest of the Greek church to come to the
colleg