submit  themselves  to  the  laws  of  the  land,  they  might  lay  claim-
to  a  considerable  pension."

Such  was  the  resolution  of  Parliament ;  but  the  Jesuits  were
not  agreeable  to  do  this,  and  declined  to  take  the  oath;  Some-
five  or  six,  indeed,  among  the  five  thousand — the  number  to  which
the  sons  of  Loyola  now  amounted  in  France — individually
declared  themselves  prepared  to  render  obedience  to  the  edict
of  the  High  Court  of  Justice,  and  were  formally  expelled  from
the  Order  as  recreant  and  perjured  transgressors !  This  was,,
indeed,  too  much  of  a  resistance  to  law,  and,  consequently,
on  the  9th  of  March  1764,  the  Parliament,  in  solemn  conclave
assembled,  declared,  almost  unanimously,  that  all  the  members  of
the  Society  of  Jesus  should  be  compelled  to  quit  France  within  tha
period  of  one  month.  This  resolution  was  at  once  laid  before  the
King  for  confirmation,  and  the  whole  world  was  now  intent  to  know
what  he  would  do,  as  the  said  resolution  was  of  no  effect  without
the  King's  signature.  The  sons  of  Loyola  still  entertained  hope,
as  they  held  it  to  be  impossible  that  a  descendant  of  Lotiis  XTV.
