AN
ACCOUNT
OF THE
DESTRUCTION
OF THE
JESUITS
IN
FRANCE.
By M. D’ALEMBERT.
Incorruptam fidem professis, nec amore quisquam,& fine odio dicendus est.
Tacit. Hist. ch. 1.
LONDON.
Printed for T. Becket and P. A. De Hondt,
near Surry-street in the Strand.
MDCCLXVI.
To M. * * *
COUNSELLOR
TO THE
PARLIAMENT
OF * * *.
PERMIT,Sir, an unknown,but zealous, citizen, animpartial historian of the Jesuits,to pay public homage tothat truely philosophical patriotismwhich you have displayedin this affair. In excitingagainst the society the zeal ofthe magistrates, you have not[Pg iv]neglected to fix their enlightenedattention on all those men,who may have with this aliensociety any marks of resemblance,and who, arrayed inblack, gray, or white, may acknowledgelike it, in the verybosom of France, another country,and another sovereign.
You have shewn no lesslights in making known to thesage Depositaries of the laws,all the Men of the party, whoeverthey be, all the fanaticks,whatever livery they wear, whetherthey invoke Francis ofParis, or Francis of Borgia,[Pg v]whether they maintain predeterminatingdecrees, or congruousassistances.
If the author of this writinghad been able to ask you youropinions, his work would, withoutdoubt, have gained greatlyby it. May you, such as it is,grant it your suffrage, and receiveit as a slender mark ofthe acknowledgement whichreligion, the state, philosophy,and letters owe to you.
ADVERTISEMENT.
THEdifferent pieces whichhave been published on theaffair of the Jesuits (if we excepttherefrom the requisitories of themagistrates) breathe an animosity orfanaticism in those who have undertakeneither to defend or attack thesociety. We may say of these historians,what Tacitus said of the historiansof his time: Neutris cura posteritatis,inter infensos vel obnoxios:“None of them were influenced byany regard for posterity, beingthemselves among the exasperatedor the obnoxious.” As the author[Pg vii]of the following writing professes apretty great indifference for quarrelsof this sort, he has had no violenceto do himself in order to tell thetruth (so far at least as he has beenable to come at the knowledge of it)with respect to the causes and thecircumstances of this singular event:if he has sometimes told it withenergy, he flatters himself at leastthat he has delivered it without bitterness,and he hopes that thus hiswork will not displease those, wholike him are detached from any spiritof party or interest. He has evenwaited, bef