The Sun.
London, England, 1802-04-16 00:00:00

tHE o&vcoPhA2-.

Is the Sitting of the Legislative Body of Fiance
of the sth of this month, PORTAL IS, (as we have
already stated) made his Report, which had been
so long expected, on the Agreement entered into
between the Popt and the French Republic; and
which we mean to give at length to our Readers.
This Report, the longest and the:mbst important
which we have ever seen in the Mogiteur, has been
drawn up, it seems, with a good deal of attention,
and deserves to be read with no less by those whom
it is peculiarly likely to interest. The Orator
of the Council of State exerts himself successively
to prove, that some Religion was necessary
to every Political Society ; that the Catholic
Religion was that best suited to the French Peo-
ple ; that the exercise of any mode of Worship
should be organized and paid by the Government ;
that in order to establish this Religion solidly and
advantageously for the State, it had been necessary
to come to a proper understanding with the Spi-
ritual Head' of the Church.

The proof of the first Proposition does not seem
to have admitted of much difficulty ; and there
would have been room for surprize at the pains
taken by PORTALIS to establish it, had it not been
known that the execution of the Concordat had
long since experienced much opposition at Paris,
and even in the Government itself, from two or
three persons, who might perhaps be consilered as
interested in the disbelief of the Eternity of Punish-
ments. The Orator determined to destroy, at the
out-set, their Philosophical Arguments and Revo-
lutionary Principles. Every species of Belief had
besides been so entirely eradicated from some minds
in France, for many years past, as to render it
necessary, to endeavour to revive it in those who
had lost it, and to confirm it in such as had not
altogether abjured it. It is besides to be observed,
that the Orator of the Government has rather pre-
sented Religion as a Political Means than a Natu--
ral Duty, and seems.racher to have had his eyes
fixed on Earth, than raised towards Heaven.
The same observation suggests itself on what he
has said of the Christian Religion in general, and
of the Catholic Religion in particular. He seems
to speak rather as a Statesman than as a Christian,
as an enlightened Philosopher, than as a sincere
Believer. All his Arguments are drawn from the
Lessons of History, or the Precepts of the Sages of
the Earth. The Divine Legislator has been for-
gotten in his own cause. A single perusal of the
Discourse is enough to demonstrate that its Author
pronounced it before men, to whose Faith he could
not address himself, but simply to their Reason :
and we apprehend that he told them in vain—
That if the force of Laws is derived from what
we fear, the force of Religion proceeds alone from
what we believe."

That which presented the. greatest difficulty to
the Orator to prove, and which consequently re-
quired, on his part the most address, was to make
it appear that the Catholic Religion was adopted
by the Government in stri& concert with the POPE,
and that its Ministers were paid by the Nation.—
He got out of this cleverly enough, and found the
means of making these measures appear necessarily
to result from the principles which he had already
established in the first part of his Discourse. He
anticipated the obje&ion, that this would be to
make the Catholic ReligiOn the commanding one, by
saying, that it would be neither commanding, nor
exclusive, but simplyproteaed. The intervention of
the POPE he has considered as the only means of put.
ting an end to Schisms, and, of course, as absolutely
necessary. . The Salaries granted to Bishops and
Priests is insisted on as being likely, beyond every
thing, to keep them in a state of dependance on
Government, and to interest them in its support.
In order to satisfy all the world, and to silence the
Enemies of the Court of Rome, it is even proposed
to_ pay tke Ministers of the Protestant form of
Worship.—With respea to the Jews, PORTALIS
observes, that there could be no question about pay-
ing them, since they formed less a Religion than a
People. The liberty of Worship is consequently
all that is left to them.

Such are the principal traits of the Plan agreed
upon between the French Government and the POPE,
and of which this discourse of Po RTAL IS is at once
the exposition and the apology. One impression
which this Leaure is calculated to produce is, that of
the precaution and even timidity with which he ap-
pears to present this Plan to the Legislative Body.
His turns of phrase, his exprcssions, and his argu-
ments may be said to be continual excuses for what
be proposes and requires. Could one have believed
that he should have taken pains to justify the Go-
vernment from its not having created a new Reli-
gion in the room of Christianity, from its having
ceased to persecute the faithful Priests, and that the
strongest motive which he holds out for a preference
to Christianity is, that 9f all the positive

is the b-e'st adapted to our Plllo7tyhy
and our Manners ?" Such phrases sufficiently slim,
descriptidn of men this Preacher had to per.
.;;aade,,who was thus recommending Religion in the
language of Philosophy. If their Belief had had
the start of his mode of reasoning, he would not
have had occasion to tell them, " that it never can
be right, unreasonably, to change an Established
Religion"—and before,." Take away Religion from
the mass of mankind, and what remains to them i"
Surely, when any question arises on the subject o
the Christian Religion in our Parliament, it is in
different words that an homage is paid to it, worthy
of its sacred. tharader, and by no means in negative
terms of its advantages and merits. Here, we bring
down Religion from Heaven to the Earth—at Paris,
the reverse seems to be the fashion.

We are far, however, from meaning to criticize
this prodation too severely. Things cannot be
exile led to change all at once from what is de.
plorably bad, to what is eminently good ;—tior
Atheism to be converted in a
.day to the most pure
Belief: We respea the Author of it, and•are dis-
posed to do full justice to the truth and beauty of a
great many of the maxims scattered through his
Report, which seems to have been the result of much
refleaion and great labour. " It is better that a
People should sometimes abuse a Religion than be
without any." " There is no question between false
systems of Philosophy and false systems of Reli.
gion." "It is necessary that men should be
believers, that they may not be credulous ; they
require a form of Worship to avoid superstition."
These phrases, and many others, prove, that the
faults of this Report belong rather to the Audience
than to the Orator ; and that, like SOLON, he pre-
sented to them, not that which was best, but what
they were most capable of assenting to, and most
likely to adopt.