Cited in ex-Italian Catholic Priest, Luigi A. Giustiniani; “Intrigues of Jesuitism in the United States of America,” Ed. 7, Ch. 2: “General Assembly of the Order,” p. 12-19, Ch. 5: “Missionary Plan for the United States,” p. 30-39, Ch. 8: “Instructions of the Father General of the Jesuits to the Provincial of America,” p. 47-51, (New York: 1846), [Emphasis Mine]
Chiesa del Gesù, Rome: the Gesuit Mother Church
“A palace of a mixed, but gorgeous architecture situated in the central, and at the same time the most retired part of the city of Rome; a palace distinguished not only by its chaste architecture and the riches it contains, but the splendid situation which it occupies, is the residence of the General of the Order of the Jesuits. This palace which is called ‘La Gesu’ is situated on a square of the same name, evidently after the name of the Order; […]
In that convent all the Provincials from all parts of the world have been assembled. A Province among the Jesuits comprehends a kingdom, and even a whole empire.
So the United States is only a Missionary Province, directed by one [four now] Provincial, who is obliged to give every three months, to the General of the order residing at Rome, an account of all important events in his Province, Ecclesiastical as well as Political.
One evening when the Tramontana (north-wind) blew in its height, and the streets of the city of Rome were as empty as if the malarea had swept away the whole population. An evening, when all the inhabitants of the eternal city creep into their dwellings, and crawl round their Scaldone as if the day of judgment had approached, or as if by some fatal accident, the north pole had broken loose, and offered its icy hand to the lovely mistress of the world. The streets were not only depopulated, but as dark almost as a grave; […] The night was so unusually cold, that Saints and sinners would have frozen had they exposed themselves to the rigor of the Tramontana. In that night the convent of Jesuits presented a scene of intrigues, the theatre of plots, and traitors.
The saloon, where the General Assembly was to be held was badly illuminated; three lights, (one on each wall) were the only ones which shed their dim rays in that immense space. At the upper end a platform of two steps high was erected; a table upon it, covered with a green cloth, upon which the ink and greese-spots gave testimony that it remembered many Provincial assemblies, even long before the suppression of the Order by Pope Ganganelli. Two wooden candlesticks, with burning tapers, and writing aparatus, formed the whole ornament of the Provincial saloon.
All at once the doors were thrown open and the procession commenced; two by two the Provincial fathers in full talar entered and occupied their seats according to their age; the saloon was nearly filled with the oldest and most tried subjects of the Society. If their deeds could have been gathered together, and put into print, they would have filled the world with astonishment and horror, and would have formed the best and most profitable school for Sovereigns, Nations and the whole human family.
The silence, which usually characterises the Order, was here displayed in a more solemn manner than under ordinary circumstances. With lowered eyelids, as if afraid to look each other in the face, and in such a dejected manner as if they were awaiting the sentence of death to be pronounced on a member of the Assembly, without knowing who the unfortunate victim was to be, and looking at their morose and unfriendly physiognomies any one could have easily perceived that these Holy Fathers though they had passed more than the meridian of their lives in different climates, labored in various countries, and had been exiled from all parts of Europe, they had departed without leaving a friend, and were to die without leaving a heart to mourn over them.
After an interval of ten minutes, an old Jesuit of middle stature about 60 years of age, entered the door; his forehead high and bold, his hairs which were few and white like silver, fell over his shoulders, his eye gray and sparkling and full of fire, indicating that his intellectual organs were in their full strength. His face was wrinkled, and care worn, but expressive, showing that his past life had not been spent like that of a careless Friar, or a sensual Monk, but of a man who aboured hard, travelled much, and had felt the pressure of the tropical sun, as well as the keenness of the northern Pole; in one word it was a weather beaten face, like that of a skilful mariner, who had navigated against the power of the storm, and advanced in spite of the resistance of the waves. It was the General or the order. All rose; crossing their hands over their breasts, bowing very low, and saying with a loud voice in Latin, ‘We bless thee, Father.’
He passed through the middle of the saloon, and on his way he crossed the air right and left with his fingers, giving them the Benediction, and arriving at the first step of the platform, he knealt; all the Fathers followed his example; the General prayed thus in Latin. […]
When the Most and Right Rev. Father General ascended the platform, and took the chair: after having laid several papers upon the table, covered with the dirty green cloth, he arose, and addressed the Assembly as follows:
The 21st Gesuit Superior General, Jan P. Roothaan, S.J.
[…] Fathers and Masters of the Order: you have all passed through the ordeal of the fire; the frozen ice of Siberia, and the scorching sun of the tropical clime has not diminished your zeal for the Order, but rather in creased it. When I look around and see the scattered fragments of our Society united in this assembly, it appears to me that the whole map of the world is spread before my eyes, and that I see as it were the axis of the earth bend into a ring, and the opposite poles touch and kiss each other. My prayers have often ascended to heaven in your behalf; my heart has often fainted within my bosom, when I have read your communications, and heard of the persecutions which you have endured in all parts of the world: I thought many times our Holy Order was born to live in the storm, to advance in the tempest, and to defy the rocks, which threaten destruction, but thanks to the Holy Founder of our Order, St. Ignatius Loyola, we have a home. The Spirit of St. Ignatius Loyola is hovering over his children, and protects the Order. Rome is again ours. The Schools, Seminaries, and Universities, are under our management; the property of those Houses have been indentured in favor of the Society.
The situation of the Church is unhappily critical, the Pope must patronize us; his power is visibly diminishing in Europe, he cannot dispense with our aid.
The secular Clergy without any exception are our enemies, they hate us at the very time that they Court us. The other religious Orders as in times of old seek our destruction.
I have employed faithful agents to watch their movements, and found means to counteract their iniquitous designs. The Pope fortunately is not aware of his tottering position, he is determined not to yield, not to accede to the least concession, neither Political nor Ecclesiastical; thinking to prevent through his inflexibility any eruption of the volcanic elements which invisibly burn beneath his throne, and threaten destruction to the Papal hierarchy, all the better for us, for in such a state of things our assistance is indispensable.
The sacred vessels, and other movable property of great value, which have been preserved in America from the time of the suppression of our Holy Order by the infidel Ganganelli, the ever cursed Clement XIV, have been safely returned, and are in my possession. Our Holy Society has made great acquisitions. And acquired great influence in the Ecclesiastical Dominions. The son of Prince Mtieri has taken the vow, and the Habit of the Society. Cardinal Prince Odescalchi has resigned the honor and advantages connected with the Cardinal’s Hat, for the humble, but holy Habit of the Society of Jesus; both of them gave their property to the Society, ‘to administer to the wants of the poor.’ Several other young men of great talents have entered the Order, and soon we shall have the literary as well as the Political ascendancy in the whole Ecclesiastical Dominion.
In Naples the Order is prospering. We have faithful agents in the whole Kingdom; some of them have joined even the Freemasons, others associated with the Carbonaries; and we have given them permission to take the oath by Mental Reservation, in order that we may discover where they meet, and what their movements are. Through their faithful services, assisted by the Confessionals and our most Holy Founder, St. Ignatius Loyola, we have been able to inform His Majesty the King of Naples, of the rebellious plots framed in those secret places, where they held their iniquitous conventicles. The King of Naples is too shallow minded to see that our agents are the causes of all the Political movements, and inform only after they have been able in reality to foment and create them. In gratitude for our services, he has restored unto us all the Houses, Convents, and other property, which belonged to our Society before the suppression.
Modena is entirely ours. The Duke is an imbecile; the Dutchess his wife, who is a talented woman, reigns; she is an affiliated daughter of our Holy Society. Father Piotti is the Confessor of the Duke and his family. In consequence of this, our influence is unlimited.
Sardinia—thrones do not renew hearts; crowns do not give wisdom to stupid heads. That man who broke his oath, and betrayed the people when it suited his purpose before he ascended the throne, is incapable of keeping faith with his friends when upon that throne. The Queen is hopefully converted, and through her influence all the instruments of public tuition are in our hands. Father Zelotti is the Confessor of the Court; and Father Intriga the instructor of the Crown Prince.
Piedemont is a very important Province, not only for the extension of ground, but for the geographical position, and commercial facilities. It lies on the borders of Protestant Switzerland, infidel France, and the Mediterranean, from which Bibles and other pestiferous books are imported into Italy. In France the Order assumed the name of ‘Patres pii operarum’; ‘Fathers of the Pious Works’: the Sisters pass under the name, ‘Mater Dolorosa’; ‘The Suffering Mother of Christ.’ The prospects are not very propitious.
France is not now bloody, as it was in the time of Robespierre; it is not now infidel, as in the time of Napoleon, but she is more corrupt in her principles than she ever was; she has a tendency to Protestanism and the Evangelical Societies, introduce Bibles, and other anti Catholic books into every family, and corrupt every true French heart.
The Orleans are still the same, with this difference, that the Father betrayed his Brother; he ascended the Guillotine, the son betrayed his uncle; he ascended the throne, but both betrayed France.
The present King of France is Protestant in heart, his religious demonstrations are but hypocrisy, to deceive the pious portion of the people, and delude the Pope.
Germany represents an aspect of contradictory principles in its Political, as well as religious features.
In Prussia, the Coadjutors succeeded to excite the inhabitants of the Rheinish Provinces against the civil authority. The Mixed Marriages have been the ostensible cause, while our schools have been purged of the Protestant contagious influence of Hermers’ works, which were proscribed by the Ministerium.
Austria is in Status Quo.
Fathers! The troubles and political struggles of Brazil, Mexico, and other parts of South America, have obliged the members of our Holy Society to concentrate in Paraguay, and act in these parts of our Provinces through agents. The expenses for the maintenance of such agents are not great, for the people in those parts of the, world, do not place a very high value on their honor, nor do they sell their consciences for a high price.
With regard to the general state of the inhabitants of South America, they are not yet so degraded as the inhabitants of North America; they have been kept (through the grace of our most Holy Founder, St. Ignatius Loyola) in ignorance of the wisdom of this world, and we have carefully prevented the introduction of any of the modern systems of education, which have proved so great a curse to the people of our United States, to the Church, and to the Holy Society. Unfortunately the principle of (what they call) moral standard in the United States stands high; the modern mania of improvement upon our old solid and sound foundation, has taken hold upon the heart of the community in that section of our Province. We employed all our energies to introduce Puseyism into the Church of England, and it has proved very beneficial to our interests.
The Quakers unknowingly favor our system, by advocating liberty of conscience indiscriminately to all, and being naturally enemies to the Presbyterians, our agents steadily kept up the memory of it by word and print. There is a great prospect of a division among the Quakers, which will exceedingly help our interests.
The Presbyterians have the wealth and learning, consequently they have an unlimited influence; our agents have succeeded by the help of St. Ignatius Loyola, effecting a breach, which is every day more and more widening, and the rupture must prove fatal to that body, and forward our Holy interests.
The Methodists are the most powerful and dangerous enemies to our Holy Cause. Their preachers make no pretensions to learning as those of the other Sects, but they are zealous, they are enthusiasts, self denying, enterprising, untiring, and work upon the heart, as well as the understanding; their modus operandi much resembles ours; they strive to occupy their ground, measure their space, count their numbers, balance their force, and they are the only sect we have to fear. Divisions among Methodists have proved more fatal to our Holy Cause, than their union; they split, and the branch never withers, but grows, flourishes, spreads, and even among our own subjects, that cursed sect is the most fatal enemy in the heart of our western Province, and like a worm corrodes and destroys the Holy interests of the blessed Society of St. Ignatius Loyola. [After the Gesuit created American Civil War to the present, the Methodists have been fully Counter-Reformed under Rome.]
Fathers of the Order, that part of the world to which I would direct your attention, is our Province of the United States, there I wish to concentrate all our efforts and labors. The Constitution of the United States is favorable to our designs. The naturalization law is most propitious to our success; the political dissensions must forward our object; nothing but a well digested plan is required, which I recommend to your wisdom and experience; and the United States will be ours also.
The sixty-three members of our Society, who have been compelled to leave France, in consequence of the late Revolution of July last, and the revolutionary movements in Belgium have obliged them to lay aside the religious Habit, and live a secular life in Brussels; whom I have destined for the United States, as soon as we have fixed on a well matured plan.
As soon as that plan shall be framed and digested by you, I shall be happy to meet you again for its adoption.
Fathers and Masters, here I present to you the most perfect map of the United States, sent to me from Boston, the red crosses, indicate the Mission stations; the red squares, the Seminaries and Colleges; the red three angles, the female Convents and Houses of Probation; the red stars, indicate the places of residence of our Agent. The green crosses, show the places where a large number of Irish Catholics reside, and Missionary stations should immediately be formed and Churches erected as soon as possible. The green squares, indicate the places where Churches are already built. The yellow squares, indicate spots where seminaries for both sexes are most needed, and are required for the interests of our own Order, and the glory of God; the yellow three angles, where nunneries ought to be established.
England—that Province will in the course of time be ours; our beloved son, Daniel O’Connel, has taken the vow of obedience; he has already succeeded to disaffect the Irish Catholics from the Government, the English ministry are afraid; having France (its natural enemy) on one side, rebellious Ireland on the other, the disaffected Catholic Canada beyond the Atlantic, and the Repeal agitation in the heart of the United Kingdom, they must grant us eventually everything. England’s enormous national debt, its innumerable Paupers, Charterism, Puseyism, the dissenter’s opposition to the established Church; all these heterogeneous matters combined in the bosom of England, will shake the British Crown; subvert the schemes of the Hero of Waterloo, and the repeal principle, must prevail in the House of Commons, Lords, and in the land. Urgent business of the Society calls me; here I give you in writing the financial outline of our blessed and most holy Society of Jesus.”
Gesuit Provincial of United States, Fr. Fox, S.J. addressing the General Assembly of the Gesuits:
“Most Reverend Father, [bowing to the Father General] there is no nation upon the surface of the earth, which is more hospitable, more kind, and more generous than the Americans. With truth do they call their country, ‘The land of the brave and the assylum of the oppressed.’
The Americans are naturally so, it is not a forced kindness nor a virtue acquired by habit, it is constitutional with them. All the Protestant Benevolent Associations who go under the name American, as the American Bible, the American Tract, and American Missionary Societies, are liberally supported.
The American has a quick perception, he is cool, calculating in his business, and is not so easily excited as the European. But when he is excited, he passes to the other extreme. He becomes violently revengeful. Nothing can excite an American easier than an offence to his country, a censure on the institutions of his Republic, an affront to the ‘Star Spangled Banner,’ [as he calls it] cannot be forgiven or forgotten. Touch America in any way, you touch the American's heart. Therefore the Missionaries must never speak of America neither pro nor con in order that they may not come in collision with the inhabitants.
The politics of that country is an anomaly which cannot be described; it is an indefinable principle which the political leaders themselves do not understand and their candidates for the Presidential chair never choose to explain.
There are two Political parties, more than two parties cannot exist in the United States. Some years ago a party started in New Orleans under the ‘Native’ Banner, but soon it died away to rise no more. There is no clanger that Nativism will ever take root as long as we have Roman Catholic voters to present to either of the two political parties who will promote our Holy cause, which is that of the Holy Catholic Apostolic Church of Rome.
As I have before remarked, I have been sixteen years in the United States, and served our holy society for eleven years in the capacity of a Provincial, I have travelled the length and breadth of that country, and have had the pleasure of counterbalancing the elections even in the Puritan part of the Union—New England States, by the power of the Confessional [the Geusit invented Noosphere: i.e., the “Internet”]. The Confessional must be the focus of all our movements, round which all our evolutions must be regulated, for there we are sure to succeed and never be detected.
Reverend Father, the great mass of the people are not to be feared; they speak of liberty; fight for liberty and self-government, and scarcely inquire into the elementary principles of that great and noble idea. They repeat what their self-interested leaders say: they vote as their leaders direct them to do, and either party slanders in its turn, libel each other until the election is decided. These are the men whom we must have as our allies and the people will be ours too.
To give your Reverence an idea of the purity of the political principles of those who speak so much of self government, I would state that you will rarely find a political ‘head-quarters’ in the Union in any other place than in a public house or tavern, and often, very often, in the lowest of them. The politicians are as corrupt as their politics, for without grog they cannot advance the
interests of their party. Grog! Reverend Father, grog is the great lever of Archimedes for the promotion of the ambitious designs of corrupt politicians.
As a consequence of this you can see drunken men, who scarcely can stand upon their feet, approach the polls. Fighting is not unfrequent and the constables are stationed at these places, to keep the men who advocate self-government in good order, or to send them to the lock-up for the welfare of their better government.
Politics in America is a trade, a business as any other business, using the American phrase—‘it is nothing but loaves and fishes.’ The doctrine of their political leaders is sufficiently elastic, they sell and buy, and com promise their principles according to circumstances; they have adopted our Doctrine of Expediency to its full extent, and carry it out with as much skill, as if they had been in our school. These are the very men whom the Missionary must court and have as friends; these are the very men who will support our holy cause, if we offer them our support at the ballot box.
Reverend Father, The Press is an item which we must consider as the soul of our mission, the nerve of all our operations. In a land where the mass of the people can read and we having no means to prevent it, it is imperative that we should have the control of the press in a direct as well as in an indirect way. Ten thousand scudi (dollars) annually, will be required to accomplish this great object. I have known a Presbyterian Minister in one of the commercial cities of our Province of North America, whose name was Brokenbridge; his talents were far superior to his name, for he was a very talented man; an untiring enemy of our holy cause; with all his talents, with all his popularity, with all his indefatigable and hellish zeal against the Society of Jesus, we tired him out by preventing the political papers from taking side with him. We could not master that infernal disciple of Calvin in argument, he was strong, unconquerable, [here his voice increased and became emphatical, and so impressive, that the Father General’s countenance became quite expressive] but we tired him out, we let him feel that he was single-handed, he became discouraged and gave up the race, his periodical stopped, and he was compelled to retire from the arena. All this was done [he lowered his tremulous voice] by the control of the press. And even at this very day there is scarcely to be found one periodical which would venture to insert the slightest offensive article against our holy interest in that state.
Our advantages are far above the Protestants’ in this sphere of labour; for we can forbid our people from reading Protestant publications, but the Protestants read ours as well as their own.
Emigration from Roman Catholic countries must be the chief object of our missionary operations; emigration is the living spring, which never fails. We must not only encourage emigration, but make arrangements with Austria, Bavaria, and the Emigrating Society of England and Ireland to send over their paupers, and even convicts, and all they can entice to emigrate; for the alien law is in our favour’ and it will have a double influence; First: We shall get a Catholic army in time of need. Second: We shall acquire power to over-balance the political scale at the ballot box in time of peace.
Our Missionaries must always advocate the Constitution, and they will always keep the Alien law in Statue quo, until we shall acquire so much power as to be able to change it from five to three years.
The point of concentration must be in the western part of the United States. The valley of the Mississippi. The vast extent and boundless resources of the great valley of the Mississippi is little known to the greater part of the American people. Extending from the 26th to the 47th degree of north latitude, and stretching from the Alleghany to the Rocky Mountains, it embraces an area of 400,000 square miles of land; unsurpassed for fertility and unequalled in productions; a country intersected in every direction by magnificent and beautiful rivers, affording more than 12,000 miles of navigable water. Every Roman Catholic colony in that part of North America must prosper and flourish. If we can balance the political power in the west our success is sure; therefore our missionaries must build churches at every important point of the western section of the Union. [Here a sardonical smile surrounded his lips and he pressed them for a moment together as if an important thought had crossed his mind, and continued.] The Protestants themselves will build our Churches, or rather they will furnish us with the pecuniary means to build them for the purpose of drawing a larger number of Roman Catholic inhabitants into their neighbourhood, in order to sell their land to a better advantage.
[Here the solemnity of the Assembly was broken, a burst of spontaneous laughter was heard all around, which said more than a hundred volumes could contain, it showed that they laughed at the foolery of American protestants, who after they have placed the rod in their hands by the Alien law, offer their backs, in order that they may flog them if they please.]
Education must be advocated in connection with liberty. Schools and Literary Institutions are very rare in the West, therefore we must erect schools, Colleges, and Academies in order that we may destroy Protestant influence; our terms must be very low, especially for the Protestant children; and if they are poor, educate them gratis, and you are sure of your prey.
Female education must occupy a prominent place in our Missionary operations; here we have nothing to fear from Protestants, for with them it is a money-making system; with us it is a vehicle to gain souls; their female; institutions are conducted with great expense, they must pay their teachers and build or rent houses for that purpose; but we have our convents at our disposal and the teachers gratis; the Sisters of Charity may be as useful to the public as they are charitable to the Missionaries in private!
The building of the churches and convents must be on a new plan. They must have vaults underneath for we cannot know what use we may have for them here after.
Temperance Societies must not be neglected, for the medals will be a source of great income, and it will keep up respectability among the Protestants. The great design should not be so much to advance the temperance cause, but to promote Catholic Associations throughout the land. Therefore the Missionaries must prevent in all cases, and under all circumstances the union of the Catholic Temperance Societies with the Protestant, in order that our great object may not be defeated.
Mixed marriages must be scrupulously watched, and if rightly attended to will be more productive of good, and augment our strength more than all our preaching. First of all, our Missionaries must oppose and prevent all marriages, where a Roman Catholic gentleman intends to marry a Protestant woman, and encourage the marriage of a Roman Catholic woman with a Protestant gentleman, for your Reverence can rely upon it, that the husbands go with their wives. The American ladies are real witches, with their obstinate heads, and pretty little faces, they are able to turn the brain even of a Canonized Saint. But in case our Missionaries should be unable to prevent such mixed marriages, they ought not to perform the marriage ceremony, except the Protestant party solemnly promises to bring up their children in the Roman Catholic faith.
Most Reverend Father; Servants of Roman creed are not to be overlooked; they may be of great use in time of peace, to know what is going on in the protest ant families, and direct our movements in the heart of Protestantism; and in time of a religious persecution which must follow, if our Missionaries do their duty their assistance will be of great importance.
The confessors must rule this class by the Doctrine of Expediency, decide whether they shall go to prayers with the family, or not; whether they shall read the Bible in order to gain the affection and confidence of their masters, or oppose Protestantism, all these must be regulated by circumstances. In one word the Spiritual Father must have them always devoted to the Catholic cause and have them ready when their services are required.
Religious associations must be kept up in America, in order that the Europeans may always remain Europeans in spirit; it will have a salutary influence over the minds of the American Roman Catholics, who will become more intimately associated with the Europeans and be easier disciplined and more submissive to the Holy Mother Church; the Europeans will keep up their national spirit, and as a matter of course not be so easily Americanized.
Let the Irish emigrants always be remembered on St. Patrick's day, and they will always feel themselves to be Irishmen. Let the English celebrate the festival of St. a'Becket, and they will continue to, love England in their Saint. So it is with all nations, the religion of their fathers is associated with their native land.
[Note, a “secret society” according to the definition of the Roman Catholic Canon Law and Theology (and not what we know them as) is: any life style that is performed faithfully independent and set apart both spiritually and temporally, then that of the Roman Catholic Church’s metaverse of the Beast system; i.e. observance of Yahuah’s Torah and the Besorah of Yahusha: the only way to come out of the Whore of Babel and destroy Rome from your life.]
Secret associations are very numerous in America. If ever Satan invented a system to oppose and destroy our society, it was by the instituting of secret associations; therefore we must oppose them with all our might. Give no absolution to any who are associated with them; refuse even the burial; excommunicate and curse even the dead bodies of all who die without repentance in this particular […] At present these associations have only a benevolent tendency, out in the course of time they will become political and religious, this is inevitable.
Suppose the Devil should put it into the minds of these heretics to form a secret society and deny the ad mission of Roman Catholics; suppose they should form instead of a secret beneficial society, a political association under the ostensible purpose of being beneficial; what would become of us? We could not reach them through our press, because all their movements would be secret, and our cause be crushed; the ballot box through which we conduct our interests, would be under the influence of the American protestants; and our downfall sure. Therefore the Missionary must oppose and condemn all secret associations with all their might, and excommunicate every person belonging to any of them and deprive them of all their rights and privileges in the Roman Catholic Church.
The School System in the New England States is free, and they speak of introducing that dangerous System into the whole Union. Should that be the case, we must prevent the Roman Catholic children from uniting with the Protestant ones, not for fear that they will be come protestants, but for the certainty that they will be come Americanized, lose their Irish nationality, and with that, the love of the religion of their Irish parents. We must, therefore, demand a portion of the School Fund, under the pretext that we cannot consistently and conscientiously allow our children to read the Protestant Bible, and should we not succeed in obtaining a portion of the School Fund, which in all probability will be refused, if not supported by one of the political parties, we must organize our own schools, and educate our own Roman Catholic children, or we shall lose them for certain.
These are the views of the committee, this is the plan which the missionary committee humbly present to you, most Holy and very Reverend Father General for your consideration.”
Gesuit Superior General, Jan P. Roothaan, S.J. writing to Gesuit Provincial of United States, Fr. Fox, S.J.:
“Rome the 20th Sep., 1830.
My Dear Son:—As it has pleased our Holy Father the Vice-gerent and Vicar of Christ [VICARIVS FILI DEI = 666: Latin for: in place of Mashiach/anti Mashiach], our Pontiff Gregory XVI to consign unto us the United States as the field of our Missionary labour, I have chosen you as the head of the Western Province, with the assurance that the Holy Father will recompense your services and that I shall urge on your promotion.
1st. You must not exercise any ecclesiastical function, for as a secular and a private individual, you will attract no suspicion, and have the opportunity of mingling freely in all political Societies, and you will be able to agitate and treat with all the political parties without making our Society conspicuous or injuring the interest of the Church of Rome.
2nd. You must never be known to any of the Clergy or Priests of the other Orders, not even to the Bishops; but act through your own confidants and well tried men. A handful of men behind the entrenchment are stronger than a large army in open field.
3rd. You will soon find out that American politics are as fluctuating as the waves which surround that country. The American political parties are as fickle as the waters which bind their shores. The American population is composed of all the nations of the world, it is a compact mass of heterogeneous elements, which accounts for the instability of political principles; it will be your duty to chain these heterogeneous national ingredients, as you will find necessary, or to divide them and even make them wrestle one against the other, according as our interest will require. It will not be a difficult task for you to embroil or to reconcile according to interest; when the division is made, show it, point out exactly the line of demarcation between the split party, but never heal it.
4th. The experience of European policy is of no use in your present situation in the United States. In Europe all is fixed, even the court intrigues run round the axis, the centre of which is only one person, a king, or a minister of state, but in the United States all are kings and none govern, except the Constitution, which is not known by the greater mass of the people, and thoroughly studied but by few, with which however, you must be well acquainted.
5th. As a good politician you should not only study the history of that country, but learn the degree of strength of the parties who appear on the political stage, in order that you may be able to intimidate them if they are weak, oppose them if they have courage, and mislead them if they are rash. Your study as a politician must not be books, but men, in order that you may perfectly know whom you have to employ, and in whom you can trust. For in Europe we have only to act, in a republican country you must have men who can speak, while the more courageous will act. All depends upon not mistaking their characters, which was the case last July in the French Revolution.
6th. You must take hold of every little circumstance, appear to say every thing, though in reality, you must say nothing, in order that you may be able to mislead them with address, without betraying your holy cause. For it is never lawful to vary from the principle: ‘that the end justifies the means.’ Yield rather when you can not do otherwise; never push the matter to a defeat, for in certain circumstances to yield is wisdom, and not weakness, all depends upon knowing the proper moment when to act, and the character of those with whom you have to deal. Therefore be always cool and determined, act not by impulse or by passion; oppose always with a cool head those who have the greatest warmth. The only way to disconcert the most impetuous political adversary is by indifference.
7th. The means to execute the Missionary plan are administered by his Holiness from the funds of the Propaganda, the Leopoldine and the French societies; but it is not sufficient to have men and money at our disposal, we must know how to employ them, and reflect that fortune is not always in the hands of the strongest. The experience of the last unfortunate event in France has sufficiently taught us not to be over zealous in the good cause, and to trust neither in money nor in men. You will find enclosed the Missionary plan adopted by the General Assembly, which must be executed with strictness, but always in harmony with the Doctrine of Expediency.”
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