BOOK of leaders capable either of directing their councils, or conVI ducting their troops, abandoned by the French king, and Reduction unsupported by their countrymen, were unable to resist of Ghent; their offended sovereign, who was ready to advance against 40. ment of the citi zens. them with one body of troops which he had raised in the Netherlands, with another drawn out of Germany, and a third which had arrived from Spain by sea. The near approach of danger made them at last so sensible of their own folly, that they sent ambassadors to the emperor, imploring his mercy, and offering to set open their gates at his approach. Charles, without vouchsafing them any other answer, than that he would appear among them as their sovereign, with the sceptre and the sword in his hand, began his march at the head of his troops. Though he chose to enter the city on the twenty-fourth of February, his birth-day, he was touched with nothing of that tenderness or indulgence which was natural towards the and punish-place of his nativity. Twenty-six of the principal citizens were put to death; a greater number were sent into banishment; the city was declared to have forfeited all its privileges and immunities; the revenues belonging to it were confiscated; its ancient form of government was abolished; the nomination of its magistrates was vested, for the future, in the emperor and his successors; a new system of laws and political administration was prescribed; and, in order to bridle the seditious spirit of the citizens, orders were given to erect a strong citadel; for defraying the expence of which, a fine of an hundred and fifty thousand florins was imposed on the inhabitants, together with an annual tax of six thousand florins for the support of the garrison'. By these rigorous proceedings, Charles not only punished the citizens of Ghent, but set an awful example of severity before his other subjects in the Netherlands, whose immunities and privileges, partly the effect, partly the cause, of their extensive commerce, circumscribed the prerogative April 20. * Les Coutumes et Loix du Compté de Flandre, par Alex. le Grande, 3 tom. fol. Cambray, 1719, tom. i, p. 169. f Haræinnales Drabantiæ, vol. i, 616. VI. 1540. use to ful to i rancis. of their sovereign within very narrow bounds, and often BOOK stood in the way of measures which he wished to under-: take, or fettered and retarded him in his operations. Charles having thus vindicated and re-established his Charles reauthority in the Low Countries, and being now under no fil his ennecessity of continuing the same scene of falsehood and gements dissimulation with which he had long amused Francis, began gradually to throw aside the veil under which he had concealed his intentions with respect to the Milanese. At first, he eluded the demands of the French ambassadors, when they again reminded him of his promises; then he proposed, by way of equivalent for the duchy of Milan, to grant the duke of Orleans the investiture of Flanders, clogging the offer, however, with impracticable conditions, or such as he knew would be rejected 5. At last, being driven from all his evasions and subterfuges, by their insisting for a categorical answer, he peremptorily refused to give up a territory of such value, or voluntarily to make such a liberal addition to the strength of an enemy, by diminishing his own power h. He denied, at the same time, that he had ever made any promise which could bind him to an action so foolish, and so contrary to his own interest 1. Of all the transactions in the emperor's life, this, without doubt, reflects the greatest dishonour on his reputation. Though Charles was not extremely scrupulous, at other times, about the means which he employed for accomplishing his ends, and was not always observant of the strict precepts of veracity and honour, he had hitherto maintained some regard for the maxims of that less precise and rigid morality by which monarchs think themselves entitled to regulate their conduct. But on this occasion, the scheme that he formed of deceiving a generous and open-hearted prince, the illiberal and mean artifices by which he carried it on, the insensibility with which he received all the marks of his friendship, as well as the em. de Ribier, i, 509, 514. 'Fellay, 365-6. b Ibid. 519. Jovil Hist. lib. xxxix, p. 238,-a. V BOOK ingratitude with which he requited them, are all equally unbecoming the dignity of his character, and inconsistent with the grandeur of his views. 1540. The pope the institu order of Jesuits. This transaction exposed Francis to as much scorn as it did the emperor to censure. After the experience of a long reign, after so many opportunities of discovering the duplicity and artifices of his rival, the credulous simplicity with which he trusted him at this juncture, seemed to merit no other return than what it actually met with. Francis, however, remonstrated and exclaimed, as if this had been the first instance in which the emperor had deceived him. Feeling, as is usual, the insult which was offered to his understanding, still more sensibly than the injury done to his interest, he discovered such resentment, as made it obvious that he would lay hold on the first opportunity of being revenged, and that a war, no less rancorous than that which had so lately raged, would soon break out anew in Europe. But singular as the transaction which has been related authorizes may appear, this year is rendered still more memorable tion of the by the establishment of the order of Jesuits; a body, whose influence on ecclesiastical, as well as civil affairs hath been so considerable, that an account of the genius of its laws and government justly merits a place in history. When men take a view of the rapid progress of this society towards wealth and power; when they contemplate the admirable prudence with which it has been governed; when they attend to the persevering and systematic spirit with which its schemes have been carried on; they are apt to ascribe such a singular institution to the superior wisdom of its founder, and to suppose that he had formed and digested his plan with profound policy. But the Jesuits, as well as the other monastic orders, are indebted for the existence of their order, not to the wisdom of their founder, but to his enthusiasm. Ignatio Loyola, whom I have already mentioned, on occasion of the wound which he received in defending Pampeluna', was a fanatic dis 1 Vol. v book ii, p. 284. tinquished by extravagancies in sentiment and conduct, no less incompatible with the maxims of sober reason, than repugnant to the spirit of true religion. The wild adventures and visionary schemes in which his enthusiasm engaged him, equal any thing recorded in the legends of the Romish saints, but are unworthy of notice in history. BOOK VI. 1540. Prompted by this fanatical spirit, or incited by the love Fanaticism of power and distinction, from which such pretenders to its founder. of Loyola, superior sanctity are not exempt, Loyola was ambitious of becoming the founder of a religious order. The plan which he formed of its constitution and laws was suggested, as he gave out, and as his followers still teach, by the immediate inspiration of heaven. But, notwithstanding this high pretension, his design met, at first, with violent opposition. The pope, to whom Loyola had applied for the sanction of his authority to confirm the institution, referred his petition to a committee of cardinals. They represented the establishment to be unnecessary as well as dangerous, and Paul refused to grant his approbation of it. At last, Loyola removed all his scruples, by an offer which it was impossible for any pope to resist. He pro- The pope's posed that, besides the three vows, of poverty, of chastity, confirming and of monastic obedience, which are common to all the the order." orders of regulars, the members of his society should take a fourth vow of obedience to the pope, binding themselves to go whithersoever he should command, for the service of religion, and without requiring any thing from the holy see for their support. At a time when the papal authority had received such a shock by the revolt of so many nations from the Romish church; at a time when every part of the popish system was attacked with so much violence and success, the acquisition of a body of men thus peculiarly devoted to the see of Rome, and whom it might set in opposition to all its enemies, was an object of the highest consequence. Paul, instantly perceiving this, confirmed the institution of the Jesuits by his bull; granted Sept. 17. Compte rendu des Constitutions des Jesuites, au Parlement de Pro vence, par M. de Monclar, p. 285. VOL. VI. motives for VI 1540. BOOK the most ample privileges to the members of the society; and appointed Loyola to be the first general of the order. The event hath fully justified Paul's discernment, in expecting such beneficial eonsequences to the see of Rome from this institution. In less than half a century, the society obtained establishments in every country that adhered to the Roman Catholic church; its power and wealth increased amazingly; the number of its members became great; their character, as well as accomplishments, were still greater; and the Jesuits were celebrated by the friends, and dreaded by the enemies, of the Romish faith, as the most able and enterprising order in the church. Its constitution and genius ticular at tention. The constitution and laws of the society were perfected by Laynez and Aquaviva, the two generals who succeedmerit par- ed Loyola, men far superior to their master in abilities, and in the science of government. They framed that system of profound and artful policy which distinguishes the order. The large infusion of fanaticism mingled with its regulations should be imputed to Loyola its founder. Many circumstances concurred in giving a peculiarity of character to the order of Jesuits, and in forming the memhers of it not only to take a greater part in the affairs of the world than any other body of monks, but to acquire superior influence in the conduct of them. The object der singu lar. The primary object of almost all the monastie orders is, of the or- to separate men from the world, and from any concern in its affairs. In the solitude and silence of the cloister, the monk is called to work out his own salvation by extraordinary acts of mortification and piety. He is dead to the world, and ought not to mingle in its transactions. He can be of no benefit to mankind, but by his example and by his prayers. On the contrary, the Jesuits are taught to consider themselves as formed for action. They are chosen soldiers, bound to exert themselves continually in the service of God, and of the pope, his vicar on earth. Whatever tends to instruct the ignorant; whatever cars be of use to reclaim or to oppose the enemies of the holy see, is their proper object. That they may have full |