identical terms, were sent to the princes of Germany, the Kings of England and France, the Republic of Venice, the Duke of Savoy, and others. These despatches all affirmed the complete loyalty of the Bohemians to the "Emperor Matthew their king," and a detailed account was given of the provocations the Protestants had endured. It was strongly represented that the violation of the Letter of Majesty and of the contemporaneous Agreement signed in 1609 had forced the Protestants to rise up in arms. The entire responsibility for the troubles was thrown on the order of the Jesuits, who were accused of having stirred up domestic strife in Bohemia.
It is a proof of the strong feeling against the Jesuits then prevalent in Bohemia, that one of the first acts of the new Government was a decree ordering their expulsion (June 1, 1618). The enumeration of the reasons for this decree bears a singular resemblance to the accusations which were brought forward against that Order at the time of its suppression by Clement XIV in the eighteenth century. The Jesuits were accused of "desiring to subdue all the kingdoms and lands of the world to their yoke and power; of having even employed artifices to incite the potentates of the world one against the other; and especially of having, in countries where various religions existed, stirred up strife among the Estates." It was further said that "the Jesuits instigated the authorities against the subjects and the subjects against the authorities; that they had empowered 'parricides' to murder kings and the anointed of the Lord who refused to act contrary to their God and in accordance with their (the Jesuits') counsels; that they had promised these criminals eternal salvation and freedom from the pains of purgatory; that they had by means of confession obtained knowledge of many family secrets; also they had, 'exemplo templariorum,' become owners of vast estates; and finally, that they had openly preached that no faith need be kept with heretics,"[1] At the same moment the Romanist Archbishop of Prague and the Abbot of Břenov were also ordered to quit Bohemia. The Jesuits, shortly after their expulsion, published a written defence. They stated that it was impossible that different religions should be tolerated in the same country; that they could not spread the Catholic faith without
- ↑ I quote from a MS. copy preserved in the State Archives at Venice.
