to the detriment of the Queen and the Dauphin. Suspecting her motives were less than spiritual, the priests demurred until such time as she should cease to be the King's mistress. Within a few years she became one of the most ardent promoters of the destruction of the Society; the reason for her hostility suspected by many. Antoine de La Valette was the thirty-four-year-old Superior of the missions in Martinique, which were heavily in debt. Lavallette borrowed heavily, became over-extended, and went bankrupt when the British seized twelve of thirteen ships carrying produce from the plantations for sale in France. The Society's efforts to intervene with LaValette in Martinique were hampered by the Seven Years' War. The war had left France almost bankrupt, and the Duke de Choiseul, minister for foreign affairs and secretary of war, saw in the Jesuit assets an opportunity to rebuild crown revenue. The French Jesuits were making an effort to settle with the creditors, but when the case was brought before the courts, the whole Society was held responsible for the debt, and a decree was issued for the seizure of all their property. This rendered the Society in France bankrupt. An anonymous French author published a pamphlet supposedly of letters between Ricci and Corsican insurgents. The Society was expelled from France in 1764, from Spain and Naples in 1767, and from the Duchy of Parma in 1768. The helpless Ricci saw it all. As long as Clement XIII was pope, the Society was somehow protected in Rome. The Pope gave a new public approval of the Society (the bull Apostolicum pascendi, of 1769). The Pope advised courage, prayer and patience to Ricci who was inexperienced in the art of governing and who had always lived apart from the world and diplomatic intrigues. The spiritually inclined Superior General sent circular letters to the Jesuits on Fervent perseverance in Prayer (1763), On greater fervour in prayer in 1769, and just a few months before the suppression of the Society another one on a New Incentive to Prayer (February 1773). Clearly he was not in touch with what was going on. But pressure on the Holy See was increasing and at the conclave called (in 1769) to elect a successor to Clement XIII the suppression of the Jesuits was the main issue. Clement XIV was elected; it is not clear whether he made a promise to have