FRANCE DISTRACTED BY RELIGIOUS DISPUTES.

During these transactions France was distracted by religious disputes, occasioned by the bull Unigenitus thundered against the doctrines of Jansenius; a bull which had produced a schism in the Gallican church, and well nigh involved that country in civil war and confusion. It was opposed by the parliaments and lay tribunals of the kingdom; but many bishops, and the Jesuits in general, were its most strenuous assertors. All the artifices of priestcraft were practised on both sides to inflame the enthusiasm, and manage the superstition of the people. Pretended miracles were wrought at the tomb of abbé Paris, who had died without accepting the bull, consequently was declared damned by the abettors of that constitution. On the other hand, the Jesuites exerted all their abilities and industry in preaching against the Jansenists; in establishing an opinion of their superior sanctity; and inspiring a spirit of quietism among their votaries, who were transported into the delirium of possession, illumination, and supernatural converse. These arts were often used for the most infamous purposes. Female enthusiasts were wrought up to such a violence of agitation, that nature fainted under the struggle, and the pseudo saint seized this opportunity of violating the chastity of his penitent. Such was said to be the case of mademoiselle la Cadiere, a young gentlewoman of Toulon, abused in this manner by the lust and villany of Père Girard, a noted Jesuit, who underwent a trial before the parliament of Aix, and very narrowly escaped the stake.