into general use, that it is sincerely to be hoped this Geritleman will not (like the followers of ROSICRUSIUS) suffer such a secret to die with him; but will immediately communi→ cate it, for the benefit of all poor authors, with whom Time is such a precious commodity, and more particularly, for the advantage of Reviewers.-How far, indeed, the manner in which MR. DALLAS has answered the Brief Account of the Jesuits, which he has read, will tend to recommend his answer to those books which he has not read, must be left for the Public to decide.

MR. DALLAS, in p. 97, enters upon a course of argument, which he pursues through several pages, the main object of which is to prove, that although GANGANELLI (CLEMENT XIV.) suppressed the Order of Jesuits, yet he was only induced to do so, partly from motives of policy, and partly of compulsion; and that such act was altogether opposed to his own private and personal convictions of the utility of the Order. "The Jesuits" (says MR. DALLAS) “ were to be sacri❝ficed in spite of their innocence, in spite of their religious " and moral virtues (!!!), in spite of his own" (Clement's) "attachment and approbation, to the necessity of preserving "the power of the Monarchs of Europe;" and MR. Dallas then quotes abundantly from the work purporting to be the Letters of Ganganelli, for the purpose of shewing that, in suppressing the Order of Jesuits, this Pope acted under moral restraint, was not master of his own conduct, and would have followed a very different course if he had been able to obey the suggestions of his conscience. MR. Dallas even compares this Pope to PONTIUS PILATE, for pursuing the policy of expediency; and quotes the Scriptures twice in one page to prove the similarity of character between the Roman Governor, who consented to the crucifixion of our Lord, and the Roman Pontiff, who consented to the suppression of the Jesuits. How far MR. DALLAS's friends, the Roman Ca tholics, will thank him for his parallel, will remain for them to determine.

Unfortunately for MR. DALLAS, all the reasoning by which he arrives at the conclusion that Pope CLEMENT XIV. abolished the Order of Jesuits contrary to his own convictions, is founded upon a work which has been long and universally disavowed as authentic, both by the Religious and Literary world, namely, Ganganelli's LetTERS. It is only the part of charity to presume, that MR. DALLAS was ignorant of the general understanding and belief respecting these Letters, and to conclude that he never would have consented to reason upon such materials, if he had not supposed them to be genuine : in this case his defective information alone will become the subject of censure; and it is far better that a writer should be convicted of resorting to a modern forgery in ignorance of its nature, than that he should have called in its aid under a consciousness of its falsehood. MR. DALLAS, therefore, shall have all the benefit which he can derive from this concession: though, after all, it must be admitted, that an author who professes to inform the British Public upon a point so essential to their interests, cannot be too careful to be well-informed himself upon the character of his authorities. The question raised in France respecting these Letters is well known, and has never yet been answered-" WHERE ARE THE ORI"GINALS?" In urging that question, and in demonstrating the fraud which was attempted to be put upon the world by the publication of these Letters, VOLTAIRE, perhaps, was most successful; nor can the general Infidelity of that writer be mixed with this question, as any reason for rejecting his aid in detecting imposture, since the question is simply one of fact, namely, whether GANGANELLI did or did not write the Letters attributed to him after his death. If a man gives such information as may preserve our House from plunder, we do not object to him the unsoundness of his religious principles as a reason for discrediting his testimony. DR. JOHNSON was so perfectly convinced that these Letters were a forgery, that he asserted his conviction in the most unequivocal terms (see Boswell's Life, Vol. iii. p. 308, Edit. 1799):

indeed, the learned world has been long agreed in the same view of the subject; and these Letters are now almost universally regarded as the composition of CARACCIOLI.

The clumsy defence inserted by Messieurs the Editors and Booksellers in their Preface to the later Editions, in answer to those objectors who had very naturally inquired after the sources whence these Letters were obtained, is rendered sufficiently ridiculous by the pompous mystery which it affects. "As this" (say they)" is a matter of confidence, "and the persons from whom we received them are unwilling "to appear, we are by no means entitled to break the seal of "secrecy, under which they were intrusted to our hands." They had, indeed, the best reason in the world for not producing the persons from whom they pretended to have received them; but it is probable these worthy Editors had never met with the maxim, " De non apparentibus, et non existen"tibus, eadem est ratio."

The evidence, therefore, to be derived from these fabricated Letters, as opposed to the great public and solemn act of the Pontificate of CLEMENT XIV. cannot be admitted to have any weight; and with regard to MR. DALLAS's suggestion (p. 104), that in suppressing the Order by a Brief, CLEMENT chose to adopt that mode, because it was not usual to consult the Cardinals in issuing that form of mandate, it may be replied, that, so far was CLEMENT from acting without the advice and authority of his brethren, that he took four years to deliberate upon the matter before he acted, in which space of time he referred the consideration of it to a commission, composed of five Cardinals, and of several Prelates and Advocates: he searched himself the Archives of the Propaganda, for the Documents relative to the Missions of the Jesuits; considered the accusations brought against the Society, and the apologies in its favor; and read every publication of importance on the subject, whether for or against the Order. He went farther: anxious to be correct as well in the manner, as in the matter, of his judicial condemnation, he communicated

his Brief, privately, to several Cardinals and Theologians before it was promulgated, as well as to some Sovereigns who were interested in the fate of the Order, and to others who were more indifferent parties; and he at length determined upon the measure of its extinction, not without the fullest consideration of the consequences of the act, both to the world and to himself. He believed that it would be useful to mankind, but he did not doubt that it would cost him his life. His remarks, after signing this instrument, were: "The suppression "is accomplished. I do not repent of it, having only re"solved on it, after examining and weighing every thing, "and because I thought it necessary for the Church: if it "were not done, I would do it now; but this suppression " will be my death-(ma questa soppressione mi dara la "morte)."

The initial letters of a Pasquinade appeared at this time on St. Peter's Church, which CLEMENT himself interpreted to mean "the Holy See will be vacant in September." His death was attended with every symptom of poison: his throat, stomach, and intestines were in a state of the highest inflammation; and immediately on his death his whole body turned black, his flesh fell off, and he became so offensive, although rémarkably thin, that it was impossible to approach him. There can be no reasonable doubt that CLEMENT XIV. died by poison, and there can be as little doubt at whose instance it was administered. Another attempt had been made in the month of April, 1774, to destroy him by the same means; but it was not until the end of June in that year, that his enemies succeeded in their object. The attestations of the Physician SALICETTI, to prove that his death proceeded from natural causes, were generally discredited, and he was universally be lieved to have been influenced by certain parties interested in perverting the truth *.

Whether, therefore, CLEMENT XIV. was right or wrong

* The above facts are taken from the LIFE OF GANGANELLI printed in 1776.

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