Two things principally occupied the Romans during the next weeks and
months, offering them rich material for conversation. In talking of
these they had forgotten all other events; they spoke no more of the
giant fish which had destroyed the friendship of France and Spain; they
no longer entertained each other with anecdotes in connection with the
festival of Cardinal Bernis, at which the entree of that fish upon his
long silver platter was hailed with shouts and vivats--yes, even that
Russian princess, who had momentarily shown herself on the horizon of
society, all these were quickly forgotten, and people now interested
themselves only about the extirpation of the order of the Jesuits, which
Pope Clement had now really effected, and of the arrival of the Russian
ambassador-extraordinary, the famous Alexis Orloff, whose visit to Rome
seemed the more important and significant as they well knew in what near
and confidential relations his brother, Count Gregory Orloff, stood with
the Empress Catharine, and what participation Alexis Orloff had in the
sudden death of the Emperor Peter III.
The order of the Jesuits, then, no longer existed; the pious fathers of
the order of Jesus were stricken out of the book of history; a word of
power had annihilated them! With loud complaints and lamentations they
filled the streets of the holy city, and if the prayer of humility and
resignation resounded from their lips, yet there were very different
prayers in their hearts, prayers of anger and rage, of hatred and
revenge! They were seen wringing their hands and loudly lamenting, as
they hastened to their friends and protectors, and besieged the doors of
the foreign embassies. With them wept the poor and suffering people to
whom the pious fathers had proved themselves benefactors. For, since
they knew that their existence was threatened, they had assiduously
devoted themselves to works of charity and mercy, and to strengthening,
especially in Rome, their reputation for piety, benevolence, and
generosity. Prodigious sums were by them distributed among the poor;
more than five hundred respectable impoverished Romans, who had been
accused of political offences, were secretly supported by them. In this
way the Jesuits, against whom the cry of denunciation had been raised
for years in all Europe, had nevertheless succeeded, at least in the
holy city, in gaining for themselves a very considerable party, and
thus securing protection and support in the time of misfortune and
persecution. But while the people wept with them, and many cardinals and
princes of the Church secretly pitied them, the ambassadors of the great
European powers alone remained insensible to their lamentations. No one
of them opened the doors of their palaces to them, no one afforded
them protection or consolation; and although it was known that cardinal
Bernis, in spite of the horror which had for years been felt of this
order in France, was personally favorable to them, and had long delayed
the consent of the court of France to their abolition, yet even Bernis
now avoided any manifestation of kindness for them, lest his former
friend, the Spanish ambassador, might think he so far humiliated himself
as to favor the Jesuits for the sake of recovering the friendship and
good opinion of the Duke of Grimaldi. But Grimaldi himself now no longer
dared to protect the Jesuits, however friendly he might be to them,
and however much they were favored by Elizabeth Farnese, the Spanish
queen-mother. King Charles, her son, had finally ventured to defy her
authority, and in an autograph letter had commanded the Duke of Grimaldi
to receive no more Jesuits in his palace. And while, as we have said,
the whole diplomacy had declared against the order of the holy fathers
of Jesus, it must have been the more striking that this Russian
Count Orloff had compassion upon them, and lent a willing ear to the
complaints of the unfortunate members of the order.