William Hepworth Dixon, White Conquest: Volume 1

“ [128] oust the settlers from their farm and c.lttle-runs. Right lay with the brethren, law with the settlers. Most of the intruders were English and Americans, who had bought their farms and cattle-runs from Mexicans, in free possession at the time of sale. The purchasers were armed with rifles, and the courts of law were on their side. What could the brethren do? Nobili counselled peace. The brethren quitted Santa Clara, having lost their means of doing good. Seeking another field elsewhere, they left their church and garden to Padre Nobili, who organised a college, which he hoped to make a rival of Michigan, if not of Yale.”

Padre Varsi has perfected what Nobili began. In Rome, a Jesait may denounce the modern world, but Varsi has to make this modern world a servant of his Church. “We pay attention to all improvements in physical science,” he says, and his laboratories seem to prove that he is right. Books, tools, instruments, crucibles are of the newest style. These Jesuit fathers understand their age. At Santa Clara we find a printing-press, a photographic studio, a monthly magazine. The rooms are airy, bright, and clean, for the Jesuits strive