force, and the pretences of an affiftance that ruled with the great eft degree of defpotifm. In fome places the Ruffian officers, who attended at all the dietines, were infulted; however their oppofition fhewed rather their difcontent than their power. It was evident that the diet was only a form; and that the Empress of Ruffia was the only governing power in Poland. The mott refractory of thefe nobles were fufficiently punished; the Ruffian troops being fent to live at free quarter upon their eftates. In the mean time, the tribunal of the general Sept. confederacy was opened 25th. with great folemnity, in the palace of Prince Radzivil; where the re-union of the confederacy of the Diffidents, and of the general confederacy of the Malecontents, was declared. At length, the fo much October wished and hoped for 5th. event took place, and the diet met at Warfaw. The king began, by addreffing the affembly with a most pathetic fpeech, in which he strongly recommend. ed concord to the numbers. This was followed by a fpeech from the Bishop of Cracow, much to the fame purpose as that he had made laft year; he inveighed warmly against the pretenfions of the Diffidents, and reminded the king in the ftrongest terms of the oath he had taken to fupport the Catholic faith; and concluded by obferving, that it was not fufficient for his Majefty to bear the title of an orthodox prince, but that he fhould be fo in reality. The diet, without proceeding to the election of a marshal, agreed, that prince Radzivil fhould perform the func. tions of that office. Having met again on the next day, the affair of the Diffidents was carried on with great warmth. This induced Prince Radzivil to adjourn the diet to the 12th, in hopes that fome of the prefent heat would wear off, and that a better method of treating the affair might be concerted in the interval. During this time every expedient was ufed, to qualify the heat of the oppofite party, and to bring them into a difpofition favourable to a happy accommo. dation. A plan was alfo concerted, which it was thought would be the most effectual one to anfwer the defired purposes; which was, that the diet fhould appoint a certain number of commiffioners, out of the three orders of the ftate, to whom it should grant full pow ers to fettle with the Ruffian em. baffador, and finally to conclude upon all matters relative to the Diffidents. All the attempts to introduce good temper, or even moderation, proved fruitlefs; and this third meeting of the diet proved more turbulent and tumultuous than the others. The bishops of Cracovia, Kiovia, and fome other prelates, together with feveral of the magnates, fpoke with more vehemence than ever, against all the pretenfions of the Diffidents; and declared they never would confent to the establishment of a commiffion with full powers to enter into conferences with the Ruffian embaffador upon that fubject. Several of the deputies anfwered them with great warmth; and the ani. mofity among them rofe to fuch a degree, that the marfhal was obliged to prorogue the meeting to the 16th. The The Ruffian troops, who had for fome months nearly furrounded, as well as interfected the kingdom of Poland, had now clofely invefted the city of Warfaw, and were in poffeffion, and kept ftrict guards upon all the avenues leading to it. The day after this tumult in the diet, fome detachments of their troops entered the city, and having feized the Bifhops of Cracow and Kiovia, together with Count Rzewuski, the Waywode of Cracovia, and his fon, and fome other deputies, they carried them off prifoners. As nobody knew at first the deftination of thefe grandees, nor even where they were carried to, this affair caufed a great and general confternation. But though it intimidated fome of the deputies belonging to that party; yet it only ferved to inflame others. Many people blamed the noble prifoners for the virulent and unguarded ex-, preffions they had made ufe of, in fpeaking of fome of the great powers who had interefted themfelves in favour of the Diffidents. On the other hand it was alledged, that every deputy at the diet ought to fpeak his fentiments freely, and that if he exceeded the bounds of decency, with refpect to any foreign power, it belongs to the tribunals of the kingdom to proceed against him judicially for it. In this critical fituation, the king feemed to have need of the greatest wifdom, and of the utmoft extent of capacity, to devife means to guard against the dangers with which the ftate was furrounded; the hope of which, from the turbulence of the diet, grew every day more precarious. His majefty is faid to have deli vered himself in the following terms, in a conference he had upon this fituation of affairs: "There is little knowledge required to govern a veffel when the winds are favourable. A skilful pilot fhould know how to withftand the ftorm without abandoning the helm. I have feveral times intertained the defign, as I ftill do, of abdicating the crown, the burthen of which I feel, but that my love for my country made me alter my refolution. You ought all, gentlemen, to confider the melancholy circumftances which you have drawn upon us. I have conftantly employed all my endeavours for the good of the ftate; but few among you have affifted me with your fupport: and I find myfelf abandoned by the greater part: yet I can affure you, that if I had taken the courfe of abandoning you in my turn, you would now have found yourfelves in a miferable fituation." October 16th. The fourth meeting of the diet, notwithstanding the abfence of the most turbulent members, was extremely tumultuous, and great heat and animofity was fhewn by the different parties. The King, the Prince Primate, and the Nuncio of Podolia, made very pathetic and conciliating fpeeches; but it feemed as if nothing could calm the violent fpirit which poffeffed the members. However, the diet having again met the following day, it was at laft concluded, after long debates, to adopt Prince Radzivil's propofal, and to appoint a commiffion to fettle the affairs of the Diffidents. This commiffion confifted at first of fourteen members, but was increased to about fixty; their meetings were in the houfe of the Ruffian embaffador, and the diet, to give them time finally to fettle, and thoroughly to examine into the important fubject in which they were engaged, was prolonged to the first of February. To this commiffion the republic of Poland is indebted for the profpect of a lafting harmony between the different parts of which it is compofed, and the Diffidents for the restoration of their juft rights and privileges, and their future fecurity in the enjoyment of them. The commiffioners, after many meetings, at Nov. length figned their re20th. folutions, which were then tranfmitted to Mufcow, for the approbation of the Emprefs; after which they are to be paffed into a law, and confidered as one of the fundamental conftitutions of the republic. both clergy and laity, with refpect to worship and all other matters, are to poffefs equal rights, privileges, and immunities, with the Roman Catholics. And that a fuperior tribunal, confifting of an equal number of members of the three religions, is to be formed; the prefident of which is to be a Roman Catholic, a Greek, or a Proteftant, alternately; and that all difputes whatsoever, relative to the Diffidents, are to be judged by it. During thefe tranfactions, feveral applications were ineffectually made for the enlargement, of the grandees who had been feized by the Ruffians: Prince Repnin, however, fatisfied the minds of the people, by declaring they were not in clofe confinement, but were at large under the care of a detachment at Wilna, where they were treated with all the refpect due to their quality. The Emprefs of Ruffia, upon an application that was made on this fubject, is faid to have made answer, that thefe nobles were poffeffed with fo turbulent a fpirit, that their liberty would deftroy all the pains fhe had taken for the peace and happiness of the republic. CHA P. V. Though thefe refolutions are not authentically published, yet they are known to be founded upon the following bafis: That the Catholic is to be confidered as the predominant religion in Poland; of which profeffion the king is always to be. That the Diffidents, Spain. Meafures relative to the expulfion of the Jefuits; the caufes that are affigned for that proceeding. The houses of that fociety in every part of Spain feized by the king's troops; the members arrested, and their effects fequeftered. The King of Spain's ordinance against the fociety. The FeSuits transported to Civita Vecchia; but are not fuffered to be landed: from thence they are carried to Corfica. The Jefuits in Mexico, and all the other Spanish colonies arrested, and their property feized. Similar meafures purfued in Naples and Sicily. THE HE expulfion of the Jefuits this year from the Spanish dominions, is perhaps one of the moft remarkable incidents that has happened in the courfe of the prefent century. This event was not not more extraordinary in its nature, than it was unexpected at the time, and unforeseen by the fufferers. Mankind have beheld with amazement a nation not only the most violently attached to the Roman Catholic religion, but alfo to the principles, interefts, and views of the court of Rome, fuddenly destroy, and almoft totally annihilate a religious order, which had its birth and nurture in itself, and that had been long looked upon as the principal ftrength and fupport of the papal power. This order, which had fo long ruled the cabinets, and guided the confciences of kings; which had extended its power and influence into every quarter of the world; and which had great poffeffions, and ftill greater connections, in the very country from which it was profcribed; now beheld its unhappy members, fugitives, outcafts of all mankind, refufed admittance by every nation in Europe, even by the fovereign pontiff, to whom they were fo zealously attached; and after wandering about the feas, failing from port to port, enduring numberless hardships, and finding every port fhut against them, were at last happy to meet an afylum, which was procured for them with great difficulty in the barren island of Corfica. Such is the uncertainty of human affairs, and fuch the influence that time has upon opinions, that this mighty blow was ftruck without the leaft difturbance; with fcarce a murmur from the fufferers, and fcarcely a remonftrance in their favour from thofe they might have thought their friends. The time has been, when an at tempt of the fame nature might have overturned the best founded government in Christendom. This event fufficiently fhews the great latitude that a freedom of thought and enquiry has gained in countries that were hitherto the moft wedded to particular forms and opinions. It alfo evidently fhews, that bigotry is not the reigning vice of the prefent age; whatever complaint may with too much juftice be made of the progrefs of infidelity. The real motives of this extraordinary expulfion have not been declared; thofe general ones that have been given out, are found. ed only upon uncertain furmifes. The king, in the ordinance which he iffued for their banishment, talks only in general terms of keeping his people in due fubordination, of tranquillity, juftice, &c. but profeffes other juft, urgent, and neceflary caufes, which he referves within his own breast. This compendious method of condemnation, for caufes referved in the judge's breaft, and only known to him, who is at once the accu fer, judge, and avenger of crimes, which he does not fpecify, may, upon many occafions, be very ufe. ful to fovereigns. But however this order may have merited the rigorous treatment which they met on this occafion, the mode and circumstances of the proceeding against them furnish a striking inftance of the miferable infecurity of private property, and the continual danger which all the natu ral rights of mankind are in of being violated, under a defpotic go vernment. Some are of opinion, that the Jefuits had been the fecret instigators gators of all the late tumults that had happened in Spain; and confequently of the banishment of the Marquis de Squillacci, the king's favourite minifter. Others attri-, bute to them fchemes ftill deeper laid, and more dangerous, which, they fay, the king fortunately difcovered in time. It is poffible that the example fet by France and Portugal, together with the powerful influence which the former power has upon the court of Madrid, might have had its full weight upon this occafion. The Spaniards in general are much averfe to this French influence; and it is afferted that the Jefuits, probably from refentment of the fufferings of their brethren in France, had taken great pains to encourage and heigh ten this diflike. Many other caufes have been affigned, which might have contributed to the extirpation of this fociety. Their conduct in Paraguay, with refpect to the kings of Spain and Portugal; the contumacy with which they not only refused to fubmit to their edicts, but even opposed their troops in the field; might have given juft grounds for the court of Spain to free itself from a body full of ambition and of power. They are alfo faid to have monopolized, in a great degree, the commerce in the Spanish West Indies, to the great prejudice of the ftate, as well as to the detriment of individuals; and they are charged with holding opinions, and pub. lifhing tenets in their writings, which were not only deftructive to religion, but fubverfive of all kingly government. The fecrefy with which all the measures leading to this event were conducted, and the filence with which they were put in execution, were circumftances as remarkable as any that attended it. The Jefuits, notwithstanding their extenfive correfpondence and connec-. tion, and their ufual good intelligence, were furprised in their beds, without the leaft time to avert the danger, or the fmalleft warning of the impending blow. This will appear the more extraordinary, as the king's ordinance, which was published upon the occafion, fhews that these measures were the refult of a council, held the 29th of the preceding January; and that the king's commiffion to the count de Aranda, for the execution of them, was iffued on the 27th of February. Mar. 31ft, 1767. Between eleven and twelve at night, the fix different houfes of Jefuits in the city of Madrid, were furrounded by large detachments of regular troops; who, having got open the outfide doors, the bells were immediately fecured, and a fentry placed at the door of each cell. When every neceffary measure was taken, the Jefuits were ordered to rife, and being affembled, they were acquainted with the king's commands, and were then affifted in packing up fuch things as were requifite for their journey. In the mean time, all the hired coaches and chaifes in Madrid, together with feveral waggons, had been fecured, and diftributed in proper places; fo that, without any lofs of time, they began their journey to Carthagena very early in the morning, and were escorted by a ftrong and numerous guard. All this was effected without the leaft |