LIBERAL VERSUS JESUIT.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IV, Issue 182, 22 September 1876, Page 10

LIBERAL VERSUS JESUIT.

The party that dubs itself liberal in France, in the warmth of its desire for the prosperity of the nation to which it belongs, is at present bent on the expulsion of the Jesuits from the°French Republic. It is found, we presume, that the presence of the learned order is antagonistic to the progress of liberalism, and the friends of this honorable cause, not being capable of overcoming their opponents by fair means, are determined, if it be in their power, to accomplish their ends by foul means. It is quite true that the members of the Society of Jesus are utterly opposed to liberalism, because liberalism is identical with license, and it is impossible that any body of sincere ecclesiastics should not with all their energies oppose this. Moreover, their opposition, being that of men pre-eminent by virtue of their cultivation and talents, is a strong opposition, and one against which all intellectual methods of warfare are seen to have but little strength. It cannot be objected to the Jesuits that they are ignorant and consequently thattheiropinions are valueless, for invariably since the foundation of their order, there has been found amongst them one man at least of European reputation for genius as well as learning ; such, for instance, as was Boscovich in the last century and in the present is Secchi, and this in addition to the fact that the general body of the

fathers of the Society are of more than average ability and culture ; for it is well known that their preparatory course of studies is strict, severe, and required of all. Again, the trite and absurd accusation brought generally against the Church, that she is unwilling to see her children educated, cannot, without patent absurdity and transparent falsehood, be particularly brought against the members of the Society of Jesus, i for they are clearly and beyond all dispute the advocates of ■^liversal education ; and of that given by them, the names who hud been their pupils during the course of the Hftst three hundred years are quite sufficient to attest the exBbellence. They cannot, therefore/be themselves accused of ignorance, nor of being opposed to learning in others, which seem to us to be the most frequent matters of complaint to be found in the mouths of those who identify themselves with antiCatholic cant — albeit we know that such complaints are nauseating nonsense at any time. What is it, then, that they are accused of ? So far as we can discover, there is nothing definite laid to their charge, but their cunning enemies have contrived to excite against them a suspicion of being engaged in a certain strange conspiracy, which is totally wanting in end or object, for, while their lives are sacrificed to its furtherance, there is not even a pretence made that they themselves expect to benefit by its success. And in advancement of this plot they are affirmed to employ means utterly at variance, not only with their profession and pursuits, but even with the whole tone of their intellect and feelings, indubitably those of highly cultivated gentlemen, and which means it would be simply impossible for a multitude of men, endowed by nature with an abundance of talent, and by cultivation enabled to make the best use of this, to employ unanimously even for a short season — much less for hundreds of years. Yet such is the monstrous suspicion that obtains against the Jesuits, and which, were it true, — as it is ludicrously false — would at once force us to relinquish all respect for learning and genius, and to look upon the intellect as unworthy of culture or polish, since it would then be proved incapable of influencing men towards a right line of conduct, even when under the guidance of religion. Absurdities such as these it is that the name of Jesuit suggests to the fancies of many well-meaning people, who are so blinded by prejudice as to have surrendered their judgment in this instance to the influences of men from whose designs, were they to behold them in their true light, they ■would shrink as from a poisonous reptile. And such are the grounds upon which are based the attempts, now being made in France, to pave the way for the spread of license and its orgies by the expulsion of the Jesuits, even as by the suppression of this Order in the last century the path was made smooth for the great French with all its accompanying horrors.