“’And, then, such a beneficent association would be able to combat the fatal conspiracy of which I am the victim, and which, in a century and a half, may have lost none of its formidable power.

“’So, to this work of darkness, restraint, and despotism, which weighs heavily on the Christian world, my family would oppose their work of light, expansion, and liberty!

“’The genii of good and evil would stand face to face.  The struggle would commence, and God would protect the right.

“’And that these immense pecuniary resources, which will give so much power to my family, may not be exhausted by the course of years, my heirs, following my last will, are to place out, upon the same conditions, double the sum that I have invested—­so that, a century and a half later, a new source of power and action will be at the disposal of their descendants.  What a perpetuity of good!

“’In the ebony cabinet of the Hall of Mourning will be found some practical suggestions on the subject of this association.

“’Such is my last will—­or rather, such are my last hopes.

“’When I require absolutely that the members of my family should appear in person in the Rue Saint-Francois, on the day of the opening of this testament, it is so that, united in that solemn moment, they may see and know each other.  My words may then, perhaps, have some effect upon them; and, instead of living divided, they will combine together.  It will be for their own interest, and my wishes will thus be accomplished.

“’When I sent, a few days ago, to those of my family whom exile has dispersed over Europe, a medal on which is engravers the date of the convocation of my heirs, a century and a half from this time, I was forced to keep secret my true motive, and only to tell them, that my descendants would find it greatly to their interest to attend this meeting.

“’I have acted thus, because I know the craft and perseverance of the society of which I have been the victim.  If they could guess that my descendants would hereafter have to divide immense sums between them, my family would run the risk of much fraud and malice, through the fatal recommendations handed down from age to age in the Society of Jesus.

“’May these precautions be successful!  May the wish, expressed upon these medals, be faithfully transmitted from generation to generation!

“’If I fix a day and hour, in which my inheritance shall irrevocably fall to those of my descendants who shall appear in the Rue Saint-Francois on the 13th February, in 1832, it is that all delays must have a term, and that my heirs will have been sufficiently informed years before of the great importance of this meeting.

“’After the reading of my testament, the person who shall then be the trustee of the accumulated funds, shall make known their amount, so that, with the last stroke of noon, they may be divided between my heirs then and there present.