# Memoirs of the Twentieth Century/Moscow, Jan. 27, 1997

To the Lord High Treasurer.
Mosco, Jan. 27, 1997.
My Lord,
I Have the Pleasure of your Commands by Mr. Secretary of January the 3$^d$, and am highly delighted that I have in some measure answer'd your Expectations by mine of the 29th of November last; and as I shall faithfully pursue my Instructions, and particularly the Hints in Cypher, so if any thing new arises, I ​shall use my best Diligence to give the earliest Intelligence, and in the mean time shall act as my present Lights shall direct me.
I find your Lordship considers me as very little employ'd here, since you seem desirous I should explain to you, upon what Grounds the common Opinion hath prevail'd, that the Muscovites, who have so long adhered to the Greek Church, are now, as it were, with all their Sails, a Trip bound for Rome. You desire I should also inform you at large, by what Methods the Jesuits have been able to overcome, that violent Aversion which has so long been manifested, against them and their Communion here; and above all, what Alterations they have been able to bring about, in order to make the Doctrines and Rites of this Church, compatible with theirs.
I will make no Apologies for my Inability to perform this Task, since you have enjoyn'd it me; and shall endeavour to lay the whole of the Jesuits Plan before you, as I have been shewn it here by a very considerable Person, that you may gratify your Curiosity fully, and judge if I am right in my Conjectures, in saying Venient Romani, as the Jews said of old; and that the Greek Church will soon veil her Mitre, to the Pope's Triple Crown.
​It must be confest indeed, that the Jesuits herein have proceeded with their usual subtlety and caution, and have not hitherto attempted in an avowed manner the least publick step to oblige this Church to own her Subjection to that of Rome. As they know the general stream of the People's affection, as well as of the inferior Clergy, went violently against them; they have taken their measures accordingly, and have done all they could to remove that Aversion: while at the same time, they have by a thousand methods, secured to themselves the Czar's favour and protection, as well as the Patriarchs, the two Metropolitans, and most of the Bishops, and the Chiefs and Heads of the regular and secular Clergy.
They have managed this point so well, that they are more respected at Court than is easy to be credited, and have such interest with the Nobility, that no man can succeed with them, but as he is favoured and recommended by these pious and worthy Fathers. It is true, indeed, they owe this kind reception to the vast interest this Court finds they have all over Europe, and if that were weakened, or overturned, probably they would soon sink here also; but as there ​is little danger of that, and as they are on all occasions vastly serviceable to the Czar's affairs, both at home and abroad, it is certain their power will rather increase than lessen here.
In the mean time, they make the utmost use of what they have, to bring over more and more the whole body of the Clergy to their Party, that by them they may gain on the People, and by degreees prepare this Church to receive the Yoke on her neck, which she has so long, and so obstinately renounced.
To oblige the Clergy in the most sensible manner, they have persuaded the Czar to establish in different parts of the Empire, near two hundred Schools for the Muscovite Youth, and especially the Sons of the Clergy; and to settle the annual Præmiums on the several Universities, for such of them as distinguish themselves by their parts and diligence: and at the same time, they have those Schools, and Universities, and Præmiums, entirely under the management of persons solely dependant on them.
By this means, such principles are instilled, secretly and imperceptibly, into the Youth of the Empire, as necessarily beget a ​horror of Schism, a love of Union, and a high veneration for the authority and doctrines of the Church of Rome.
But as these counterfeit Fishers of men are generally observed not to do their work by halves, they have taken measures yet more effectual, to oblige both the People and Clergy for ever. There are, my Lord, numbers of poor mortals in this Nation, who being able just to read the service of the Church in their own tongue, and a translation of St. Chrysostome's Homilies into it, to the People, get into Priests Orders, like the sons of Eli, to gain a piece of bread; and yet the provision made for them is so small, they are disappointed even in securing that, and are almost starving two thirds of the year. There are in the Czar's Dominions four thousand Parishes in these circumstances, where the priest was in this wretched scituation; and yet by his Majesty's personal contributions, and by a regular tax of the tenth penny on all ecclesiastical preferments, which they procured to be voluntarily laid on, by the Patriarch, Bishops, and richer Clergy, whose livings exceed a hundred pounds per annum, there is a fund raised, with so generous and christian a spirit, that their poor ​brethren, who were daily in danger of perishing, and Religion with them, for want of support, are delivered from the contempt and misery of their condition, and have now full forty pounds per annum, settled for ever on each of their Livings.
While they thus provided for the poor and the ignorant, they have not forgot the richer and more learned Clergy; and as they have their spies and emissaries every where, whenever they find a man of real merit confin'd to a parish in some remote corner, out of the eye and notice of the Court, where he is obliged to waste his life in instructing his Russes (the most stupid of rational Creatures) like a second St. Francis preaching to the rocks in a desart; they take care, if they find him a friend to their Order, or can make him so, to have him removed to some happier scituation.
Judge, my Lord, what an influence this must give them on poor Russian Monks, who though they are regular enough in their lives, and are good men at their breviary; yet, I fancy, when they pray, may now and then, as Naturalists say of the Cameleon, look at the same time with one eye to Heaven, and with the other on the Earth, ​where ease and convenience are pretty industriously sought after. Nay, they have even taken care of their interests, if I may so speak, after their death; and have obtained a Law, that their Widows, if poor, shall enjoy one year's full profit of their Husband's living, after his decease, or ten pounds per annum for life: So that here is another deep obligation laid on this powerful body, and by men that are little inclined to favour a married Clergy.
I shall continue, my Lord, a little longer, to make these Jesuits panegyrick (and certainly, if they did these good things to a good end, they would deserve a much nobler one than I can honour them with;) for I must confess, the Constitutions they have introduced into this Church, as to Bishops, are worthy the virtue and piety of the apostolick Age. For in the first place, they have obtained a Law, that no Bishop shall be capable during life, of being translated from the first See he is appointed to fill, (except when he is removed to be Patriarch) but he is married as effectually to his Church as to his Wife, and can never espouse another. The Russian Bishops formerly were still changing their scituations, and driving ​about in their coaches, like the Tartars who lived perpetually in carts, journeying from one place to another for better grass, when they had eat the pasture bare where they had first settled; but they have taught them now, like Issachar, to know that Rest was good (at least in one sense) for them, and made them both remember and practise the good old Monkish maxim,
By this Law they have obtained two good ends. First, that the Bishops shall not dangle perpetually after the Court, but shall be less slavishly dependant on the Czar, (who before used to manage them as he pleased, and set their tongues to go faster or slower, as we do our Clocks, as he found most convenient) and in consequence hereof, that hereafter they shall be more inclinable to the interest of the Pope, and his ecclesiastical Authority, when once it shall be established here. This was certainly a most impolitick step for this Court to make, but it is grown a maxim now in this, as well as most Governments in Europe, that ​where the Jesuits are obliged, every thing is done with prudence; and this original error sanctifies all others that flow from it.
In the second place, by bolting the gate against all future preferments, they have effectually provided that the Sees shall be faithfully watched over, and constantly resided on, to the infinite emolument of the Christian Church, and the several Cures dependant on their Bishopricks.
This your Lordship will certainly allow to be an excellent regulation, and yet I have another to mention, nothing inferior to it, which is established by the same Law; and that is, that every Bishop shall on the death of any of his Clergy, before he gives away his Living, publickly receive the Sacrament in his Cathedral Church, and in the view of all his Congregation, solemnly swear on the Evangelists, that he will collate to that Living no Relation, nor be moved by any respects to solicitations of others, or blood or affinity, or any worldly regards, nec prece nec pretio, but the service of God, and his true Religion; and shall then and there (I am repeating the words of the Law to your Lordship) on the place name the person to whom he resolves to bestow it. A ​security so strong and binding, to have piety, learning, and true merit only considered in such sacred preferments, that if it prevailed through the whole body of the Popish Church, or indeed in any other, would soon give them strength and credit sufficient to baffle and overturn all their adversaries, and almost give countenance and authority to the worst and weakest Doctrines she could maintain. Behold here the noblest provision for learning and merit! but the difficulty that still remains, is to find either of them in Russia. My Lord, they have taken effectual care, even of this almost insurmountable evil; for besides the new Præmiums they have got established in the Schools and Universities, which are able to rouse and awaken the drowsiest natures, the Bishop is obliged to keep a constant Library (appropriated to, and belonging to the See) in good order and condition, for the use of his Clergy; and in their turns of seniority, to have six of them residing in his house for twelve calendar months, reading under his direction for at least eight hours every day.
By this means learning, that is, some reasonable degree of it, is become more gene​ral among the Clergy who formerly could hardly read their Liturgies; and surely if this obtain'd in our Country, it would be of much greater service than our larger libraries are, which like armories have few or no arms kept for constant service, but are really more for shew than use, and to give an air of strength and superiority to our Neighbours and Strangers that visit them.
And because formerly the Russian Clergy like the rest of the Greek Church entirely neglecting preaching, never making Sermons but twice in the year, on the First of September when their year begins, and St. John Baptist's day, they have by their influence and authority in many Diocesses prevail'd on the Bishops to oblige their Parish Priests to preach at least the first Sunday in every month, and to lessen their labour those days they have order'd them to abbreviate the tedious Liturgies of the Greek Church, and thereby prepar'd them for the shorter and much easier one used in the Latin. It is certain indeed, with all this care and reading the Russian Sermons are miserable Performances; for tho' they are kept by turns thus constantly poring in their Bibles and Comments on them, and ​eternally turning over the best of the ancient Fathers of the Greek Church, they do not seem to relish, or at least to digest them well; and if I may be allow'd the levity of the expression, they drink Wine, but they piss Water.
But methinks, my Lord, I perceive an Objection ready to be offer'd here, and which yet I will undertake the good Jesuits shall effectually answer; and that is, that by these excellent Institutions they seem to have cut short their own power of providing for the Friends of their Society and Faction. No, my Lord, never doubt them, they are not so short-sighted; for tho' they concern themselves less in the smaller Preferments, they industriously take care of all that are considerable, and particularly as to the Bishopricks they let no Man step into the poorest See of this Church, whom they cannot absolutely depend on as a Creature of their own.
There are in all Churches, and especially in this, a kind of very managing and manageable Divines, who pay their court to interest and power, wherever they find it, by a servile obsequiousness in prostituting their Pens and their Pulpits to defend or ex​plode all Tenets as they are convenient or improper for the present times, and the present views of their masters. They are a race of creatures who are still mighty sticklers for all seasonable local Truths and temporal Verities, and are too often found to be the usefullest tools that ever were set at work by the wise Matchiavels of the world: However the malice of some envious people nick-name them sometimes the Professors of the Engastromythick Divinity, and rail at them a little severely as teaching trencher Truths, and writing and preaching from that lower kind of Inspiration which has set so many great Souls at work, and fills the head from the fumes of the belly.
Out of this illustrious body these good Fathers fail not with infinite skill and care to garble such Spirits as they find entirely devoted to their service, and ready to act the part of meer machines, to be directed and managed as they shall find proper to employ them; and of this clay, thus temper'd and prepar'd, are the choice vessels of the Russian Church, her holy Bishops and Fathers constantly made. ​Next to this great circumstance (which is ever a conditio sine quâ non) there are two material considerations that have perpetually influenc'd their choice of fit Persons to fill the vacant Sees, both which deserve your Lordship's consideration.
The first is, that such as are of the families of the Nobility, and related nearly to the great Knezzes and Officers at the Court, or in the several Provinces, shall still be preferr'd to those that are meanly born, tho' superior to them in parts and learning; by which rule they tie down their relations to support their designs, and approve of that great revolution they have projected.
The second is, that unmarried and childless persons shall always be pitch'd on; because tho' they find it impracticable to introduce Celibacy among the inferior Clergy (who by the Canons of the Greek Church must be married before they take orders, and can never marry again being widowers) yet by this method they have sufficiently establish'd it among the whole Order of Bishops. Hereby they have brought them to conform to the Latin Church in a material article, and by being childless, made them less tied down in their families ​and fortunes to the Civil Powers, and likelier and abler with their Wealth and Interest to support the Ecclesiastical Estate, to which they are so nearly related.
A rule, my Lord, which, if it obtain'd in the Greek and Protestant Churches, which allow marriage to their Clergy, would at least have this good consequence, that men of the greatest Talents, and bless'd with a spirit and genius fit for governing others, would live unmarried, and prepare themselves by times for such important trusts; and also the little stream of wealth which is yet left undrain'd and allow'd to feed the conveniences or necessities of their Prelates, would not so often be entirely sunk in filling up the private ponds and canals of a family, but be more generally dispers'd to enrich the face of their country, to the profit and service of the publick. But as these reflections are fitter for a different place, I shall dismiss them, to mention to your Lordship another maxim by which these good and pious Fathers prepare the way for the papal authority; and that is, by encouraging learning among the Nobility and Clergy of Russia. ​This would be a very unlikely Engine for them to work with, if they did not confine it in proper bounds and limits; but as there are few Printing-presses here, and most of them set up by themselves; and since they are in a manner the sole importers of books; they take heed, while they cherish and reward Scholars, to furnish them only with such Authors as are either secretly or openly conducive to these ends. Thus in Russia, as in many other places, Men read not to direct themselves in forming just thoughts and opinions of things, but to confirm them in those which they have already taken up, or in favour of which their Interest or their Passions are strongly engag'd. As to this people, it is beyond all question, the Jesuits could not have so effectually broken down (the main fences between the Greeks and Latins) the Zeal and Ignorance of the Laity and Clergy, as by this limited kind of learning; which is as different from true knowledge, as the light of a lanthorn that just directs us in the night in the path we desire to walk in, is from the light of the Sun that opens the whole face of the Creation to our view.
​Let us now pass from their management of the Clergy, to consider the mixt body of the people in general; and we shall find there three powerful causes, that are perpetually at work to bring about the ends which the boundless ambition of this society, and the empire of the Vatican are ever persuing.
The first of these is, removing a scandalous practice that prevail'd, as all historians tell us, for many ages in this country, of the landlords obliging all their poor vassals to work on Sundays as much as other days, to the intolerable burthen of their tenants, to the utter breach of the Laws of God, and the scandal of those of Men. Their remedy indeed has little regarded the former of these, but has entirely removed the latter, which was nearer their hearts; for by a new constitution of the Czar's, and a Canon of one of their Synods, they have ordain'd, that on Sunday no person shall be allow'd to labour, but shall spend the day, after attending divine service, entirely in sports and diversions of all kinds. As this was known to be their work, it is incredible what favour and respect they have gain'd by it among all the lower ranks of people; ​who used to abhor the least communication and correspondence with them.
As this artifice takes in all the herd of the lower people, the second reaches to those who are easier in their circumstances, and endeavour by their industry to enlarge their fortune. To gain these, as the good Fathers are the great Bankers and Traders in the Catholick world, (where they have labour'd to supplant both the Dutch and us) so they have with great expence and gain establish'd trade and manufacturies in the chief towns of this vast Empire, and have taught the Russians to extend their commerce and bring in wealth to their country in a surprizing manner.
How far this must endear them to all, is easily conceiv'd; and therefore I shall pass on to the last main cause that favours their designs, and that is the universal Deism that has infected such crowds of persons considerable for rank, power, and fortune in this nation. This epidemical plague has spread most unaccountably among them from several ill-grounded and shameful causes, the falshood and folly of which we are not to examine now: but it has prevail'd so here, that even those who still ​preserve some remains of respect for our holy Faith, indulge themselves in picking out of it and their particular fancies and prejudices, a mix'd Olio of a Religion of their own, which deserves to be compar'd to nothing so properly as that of their neighbouring Tartars, the Morduites; who are both circumcis'd and baptiz'd as Jews and Christians, and yet are absolute Pagans in their worshipping and sacrificing to Idols. Nay, I have known Great Men here, remarkable for more Learning than generally falls to the share of Noblemen in Russia, who were credulous enough to allow a thousand historical absurdities in Authors of credit on the slightest evidence, who believ'd, or affected to believe nothing in the Bible, tho' supported by the strongest.
Such an odd unaccountable way of thinking have some Minds contracted, that resemble the Dead Sea, as Mandeville describes it, on which Iron would swim, but a Feather would sink immediately. How far this deluge of Infidelity, overspreading and overturning the old Foundations settled here in this Church, may contribute and give opportunity to the building up the papal Authority amidst the ruins and destruc​tions of both, I need not observe to your Lordship, who have so thorough an insight in the dependance and consequences of such things. Thus far it is obvious to remark, that in so terrible a confusion, Rome and the worst of her corruptions will be preferred by the Clergy themselves, and all that have any remainder of Piety left, to no Religion at all; and even the debauch'd and immoral part of Men who have none, and find it necessary to keep up some outward profession in the world, will come into the change as the best and fittest they can find for their purpose. And indeed it must be confest, there is no Religion upon earth, where believing or doing so little, will so effectually serve the turn (if men will be silent and obedient) as that of the Church of Rome, and these good Fathers with their distinctions and absolutions.
But while I say this I would not be understood, my Lord, as if I gave credit to the reports that are spread here, as if the Jesuits secretly favour'd the growth of this devouring pestilence. Tho' we well know by sad experience in Great Britain, what horrible sects and heresies their emissaries sow'd among our ancestors, in the calami​tous confusions of the seventeenth Century, in hopes to overturn our Church and restore their own; yet I am unwilling to believe they can be possess'd with so infernal a spirit as that of James Mora the Surgeon and William Platen of Milan, who conspir'd to poison and infect the Citizens in the time of the Plague, in order to make themselves masters of their Fortunes, as an old Author tells us in his Travels. However I think I may without breach of charity say, that they would rather even Deism or Mahometism should prevail, so they could at last establish themselves, than that the Greek Church should flourish in opposition to Rome, and keep their ador'd St. Nicholas in his post of Porter of the gates of Heaven, in contempt of St. Peter whom they have plac'd there.
And thus I shall put an end to this account of their Intrigues here, and their Schemes for obliging and serving the Russian Church and Clergy, in order to enslave them; and must own, there are some things they have done as to this last particular, that with proper Abatements I would rejoice to see copied in our own Kingdoms, whenever the ​wisdom and piety of our excellent Sovereign should judge it convenient.
Where truth allow'd it, I have given them their due praises, and should be sorry to speak of them with any unreasonable bitterness and severity. I admire the great Talents, Learning, and Wisdom of that prodigious society as much as any man, where they are applied (as they ought solely to be) to the good of Mankind, and the glory of our Creator. But to see such excellent instruments turn'd to corrupt our Morals, to wound Religion, and raise Factions, Schisms, and Rebellions in the earth to serve their own ambition, must raise every one's indignation. 'Tis a detestable perverting of Wit and reason, and all the powers of the human mind, from the noble purposes they were given us for by Heaven, to the worst that can be suggested by Hell; and bears a near resemblance of their practice who make use of that foul of vegetation, and basis of nutriment, the Nitre of the Earth, to convert it into gunpowder for the destruction of their fellow-creatures.
It is true they pretend the good of mankind, and the peace of the Church, are the great views which all their toils and labours ​as such are directed to; tho' they make use of such infernal methods to arrive at them, as plainly shew 'tis the power and empire of this world they aim at. If they made a good use of their power where they are masters, Men would certainly oppose them with less violence than they do; but alas, they are perpetually employing it where they dare, to persecute and torment their Christian brethren for the least unessential differences in opinions: condemning them to dungeons and tortures, and delivering them up, as far as they are able, both to temporal and eternal fire. The savage nations in America indeed, are said to make war on their neighbours, who do not use the same customs and speak the same language; but these Gentlemen go a few steps further, and persue you to the death, nay beyond the grave, because you do not think as they do (a matter in no man's power) in speculative points of their own contriving and imposing. For after all, my Lord, they have not only made a perfect manufacture of this commodity, but a monopoly too, and have manag'd with their Faith, as to the world, as the French King has done with his salt as to his subjects. At first it lay ready in every ​creek, a plain useful healthful commodity, which all that pleas'd had for taking up, till by his absolute power the King seizes it solely into his hands, makes it up his own way, and refines it as he thinks proper; and then orders every one, on pain of death, to take such a proportion of it as he thinks necessary for them, whether they want it or no, or whether they will or no; and forbids under severe penalties that any that's foreign should be imported, and punishes all that make use of any other (tho' ever so much better) that is privately brought in by strangers.
But my zeal to satisfy your Lordship's curiosity on this subject has made me go somewhat beyond my own intentions, and I fear a great way beyond your desires. I will not encrease my fault by a long apology, and how ill soever I may have executed this, I shall wait with impatience for some new occasion of obeying any other commands you have for me, and every opportunity of shewing my self with great respect and submission,
My Lord, Your Lordship's, &c.
Clare.