millions of miracles. tradict their assertions. Far be it from me to con- be to a Biscayan, a Bergamasque, or a Norman, to learn the Indian language in a few days, and preach like an Indian. With regard to miracles, nothing is more easy than to perform them at a distance of six thousand leagues, since so many have been performed at Paris, in the parish of St. Medard. The sufficing grace of the Molinists could undoubtedly operate on the banks of the Ganges, as well as the efficacious grace of the Jansenists on those of the river of the Gobelins. We have however said so much already about miracles, that we shall pursue the subject no farther. A reverend father jesuit arrived in the course of the past year at Delhi, at the court of the Great Mogul. He was not a man profoundly skilled in mathematics, or highly gifted in mind, who had come to correct the calendar, or to establish his fortune, but one of those poor honest zealous jesuits, one of those soldiers who are despatched on particular duty by their general, and who obey orders without reasoning about them. M. Andrais, my factor, asked him what his business might be at Delhi. He replied, that he had orders from the reverend father Ricci to deliver the Great Mogul from the paws of the devil, and convert his whole court. I have already, he said, baptised twenty infants in the street, without their knowing anything at all about the matter, by throwing a few drops of water upon their heads. They are now just so many angels, provided they are happy enough to die directly. I cured a poor old woman of the megrims by making the sign of the cross behind her. I hope in a short time to convert the Mahometans of the court and the Gentoos among the people. You will see in Delhi, Agra, and Benares, as many good catholics, adorers of the Virgin Mary, as you now do idolaters, adoring the devil. M. ANDRAIS. You think then, my worthy father, that the inhabitants of these countries adore idols and the devil? THE JESUIT. Undoubtedly, as they are not of my religion. M. ANDRAIS. Very well. But when there are as many catholics in India as idolators, are you not afraid that they will fight against one another; that blood will flow for a long period, and the whole country be a scene of pillage and devastation? This has happened in every country in which you have obtained a footing hitherto. THE JESUIT. You make one pause for a moment; but nothing could happen better than that which you suggest as being so probable. The slaughtered catholics would go to paradise (to the garden), and the Gentoos to the everlasting fire of hell created for them from all eternity, according to the great mercy of God, and for his great glory; for God is exceedingly glorious. M. ANDRAIS. But suppose that you should be informed against, and punished at the whipping-post? THE JESUIT. That also would be for his glory. However, I conjure you to keep my secret, and save me from the honour and happiness of martyrdom. MONEY, A WORD made use of to express gold. Sir; will you lend me a hundred louis-d'ors?-Sir, I would with all my heart, but I have no money; I am out of ready money. The Italian will say to yon: Signore, non ha di danari,' I have no deniers. Harpagon asks Maître Jacques, Wilt thou make a good entertainment ?—Yes, if you will give me plenty of money. We continually enquire, which of the countries of Europe is the richest in money? By that we mean, which is the people who circulate the most metals representative of objects of commerce? In the same manner we ask, which is the poorest? and thirty contending nations present themselves-the Westphalian, Limosin, Basque, Tyrolese, Valois, Grison, Istrian, Scotch, and Irish, the Swiss of a small canton, and above all the subjects of the pope. In deciding which has most, we hesitate at present between France, Spain, and Holland, which had none in 1600. Formerly, in the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries, the province of the papal treasury had no doubt the most ready money, and therefore the greatest trade. How do you sell that? would be asked of a theological merchant, who replied, For as much as the people are fools enough to give me. All Europe then sent its money to the Roman court, who gave in change consecrated beads, agnuses, indulgences plenary and limited, dispensations, confirmations, exemptions, benedictions, and even excommunications against those whom the subscribers chose, and who had not sufficient faith in the court of Rome. The Venetians sold nothing of all this, but they traded with all the west by Alexandria, and it was through themonly that we had pepper and cinnamon. The money which went not to the papal treasury came to them, excepting a little to the Tuscans and Genoese. All the other kingdoms of Europe were so poor in ready money, that Charles VIII. was obliged to borrow the jewels of the duchess of Savoy and put them in pawn, to raise funds to conquer Naples, which he soon lost again. The Venetians supported stronger armies than his. A noble Venetian had more gold in his coffers, and more vessels of silver on his table, than the emperor Maximilian surnamed ' Pochi danari.* Things changed when the Portuguese traded with India as conquerors, and the Spaniards subjugated Mexico and Peru with six or seven hundred men. We know that then the commerce of Venice, and the other towns of Italy all fell to the ground. Philip II. the master of Spain, Portugal, the Low Countries, the Two Sicilies, and the Milanese, of fifteen hundred leagues of coasts in Asia, and mines of gold and silver in America, was the only rich, and consequently the only powerful prince in Europe. The spies whom he gained in France kissed on their knees the catholic t doubloons, and the small number of angels and carolusses which circulated in that country had not much credit. It is pretended, that America and Asia brought him in nearly ten million ducats of revenue. He would have really bought Europe with his money, but for the iron of Henry IV. and the fleets of queen Elizabeth. The Dictionnaire Encyclopedique, in the article 'Argent,' quotes the Spirit of Laws, in which it is said, "I have heard deplored, a thousand times, the blindness of the council of Francis I. who rejected the proposal of Christopher Columbus for the discovery of the Indies-perhaps this imprudence has turned out a very wise thing.' We see by the enormous power of Philip, that the pretended council of Francis I. could not have done such a wise thing. But let us content ourselves with remarking, that Francis I. was not born when it is pretended that he refused the offers of Christopher Columbus. The Genoese captain landed in America in 1492, and Francis I. was born in 1497, and ascended not the throne until 1515. Let us here compare the revenues of Henry III. Henry IV. and queen Elizabeth, with those of Philip II. The ordinary income of Elizabeth was only one hundred thousand pounds sterling, and with extras it was, one year with another, four hundred thousand; but she required this surplus to defend herself from Philip II. Without extreme economy she would have been lost, and England with her. The revenue of Henry III. indeed increased to thirty millions of livres of his time; this, to the sum that Philip drew from the Indies, was as three to ten; but not more than a third of this money entered into the coffers of Henry III. who was very prodigal, greatly robbed, and consequently very poor. We find that Philip II. in one article was ten times richer than Henry. As to Henry IV. it is not worth while to compare his treasures with those of Philip II. Until the peace of Vervins, he had only what he could borrow or win at the point of his sword; and he lived as a knighterrant, until the time in which he became the first king in Europe. England had always been so poor, that king Edward III. was the first king who coined money of gold. Would we know what became of the money which flowed continually from Mexico and Peru into Spain? It entered the pockets of the French, English, and Dutch who traded with Cadiz under Spanish names; and who sent to America the productions of their manufactories. A great part of this money goes to the East Indies to pay for spices, cotton, saltpetre, sugar, candy, tea, cloths, diamonds, and monkeys. We may afterwards demand, what is become of all the treasures of the Indies? I answer, that ShahThamas-Kouli-Khan or Shah-Nadin had carried away all those of the Great Mogul, together with his jewels. You would know where those jewels are, and this money that Shah-Nadin carried with him into Persia? A part was hidden in the earth during the civil wars; predatory leaders made use of the rest to raise troops against one another; for-as Cæsar very well remarks"with money we get soldiers, and with soldiers we steal money." Your curiosity is not yet satisfied; you are troubled to know what have become of the treasures of Sesestris, of Croesus, Cyrus, Nebuchadnezzar, and above all of Solomon, who, it is said, had to his own share equal to twenty millions and more of our pounds in his coffers. I will tell you. It is spread all over the world. Things find their level in time. Be sure, that in the time of Cyrus, the Gauls, Germany, Denmark, Poland, and Russia, had not a crown. Besides, that which is lost in gilding, which is fooled away upon our Lady of Loretto, and other places, and which has been swallowed up by the avaricious sea. How did the Romans under their great Romulus, the son of Mars and a vestal, and under the devout Numa Pompilius? They had a Jupiter of oak; rudely carved huts for palaces; a handful of hay at the end of a stick |