The Sun.
London, England, 1845-01-16 00:00:00

inexhaustible resources, the'chari ty of the Catholic Church ,
nor, above all, the different religious communities. An
error Lad been fallen into, and which was still persevered
in, that the clergy alone were interested in the freedom
of education, wh.!reas it was the lait.), it was the citizens
who were more interested in it than the rricsthood. The
hick prudence of the clergy was the Lest guarantee for the
citizen. It was pretended that the liberty of the church,
as it was understood by them, would be the continued
encroachment of the spiritual over the temporal poser.
At an epoch like this—at a moment when in Switzer-
land, in Russia, in Poland, and in Spain, the spoliation
of the church was being carried on, and it was compelled
to defend its cb gmas— when the greatest liberty in Pro.
testant countries, such as Holland and England, was
formed in the midst of so many dangers and storms—to
affect thus to fear, not the encl. sachment of that old in-
structress of nations, but its aristocracy, its absolute
power, was indeed to give proof of either grt at ignorance
or of singular blindness. Far from favouring the triumph
of the spiritual over the temporal power, it was on the
contrary the Catholic doctrine which rendered such a
thing impossible ; it was that which had at all times pro-
claimed the distinction of the two powers ; it was that
which commanded believers to render unto Caesar that
which was Caesar's, and unto God that which was God's.
To affect such fears was, he repeated, contrary to good
sense. The Catho is clergy claimed its part, its legi-
timate part, in political liberty and common right,
the fruit of two revolutions ; it was under the shelter of
these great principles that it sought to exercise its em-
pire over men's souls. He accepted the revolution as a
fact, liberty as a right, the charter as a safe-guard. This
is what they wished. What their adversaries wanted
was the reverse of liberty and of the Constitution; their
full conviction was that prosperity would avenge this
great injustice; it would admit, with some surprise, per.
haps, but with gratitude, that all that was favourable
to liberty and human dignity, all that was pure and
generous in the instincts of 1789 and 1830 had been de-
fended by Catholocism, and that the declaration of the
rights of man had not more ardent defenders than the
champions of the faith.
The Chamber adjourned at half•past five.
SITTING OF TUESDAY, JAN. 14.
The President took the chair at two o'clock.
The attendance of Peers and of the public was un-
usually great, and the Ministers were in their places.
Count de Montalembert resumed his discourse, left
unfinished the preceding day. He complained that there
was not a clearly recognised head of religion in France,
as there was of the army and the navy. Hence most deli-
cate and difficult questions were frequently referred to a
Minister who was bit little calculated to resolve them.
The Hon. Peer proceeded to remark on several points
decided by the Minister, in his opinion erroneously.
He referred particularly to the favour shown to
Protestants in France, and compared it with the
manner in which Roman Catholics had been legis
lated for in England, particularly the Irish Catholic*.
Ile then referred to the gunnel which had lately arisen
between the University end the clergy in France, and
declared that mutual concessions ought to be made if the
diffrences were to be arranged. Those to be made by
the Government must, hoe ever, be greater than on the
other side, since it had lately endeavoured to curtail that
-freedom of religion sanctioned by the charter. This
could only have arisen from the fear the Government
felt of the influence which the admirable conduct of the
clergy was sure to gain over the friends of the people.
He referred to past times, to the reign of Louis XV.,
and the periods following, to show that nothing was
ever demanded from the clergy of such importance as
was required at present. He complained of the calum-
nies which, he declared, had been permitted, if not coun-
tenanced, by the favourers of the Universities, against
all classes of the clergy and the religious communi-
ties. Ile instanced a number of cases where severity
had been shown against the last-named associa-
tions. He referred to the conduct of M. Cousin when
in power, as having been far more liberal than that of
the present Administration. He then adverted to the
present conduct of the clergy, to which he gave the
h'ghest praise. He sketched the progress of religious
opinions in the public mind at present, and insisted
strongly on the extent of their advancement. Fourteen
years back the crosses were torn from the churches of
Paris, and every indignity offered to the ministers of
eligion ; now, on the contrary, the churches were filled,
the public worship constantly attended, and the preachers
of the faith everywhere followed. He considered that
the present attacks on the church from the Government
were most undeserved. The Noble Peer concluded by
declaring that the clergy would still pursue their career
of charity and love in spite of any persecutions that
might be directed against them, and that if they gained
nothing else, they would obtain the respect and affection
of all men of worth.
M. Mat tin (du Nord), in reply, declared that he dif-
fered from the Noble Peer on the greatest portion of the
subjects to which he had adverted. So far from fhe
Government atoisliing or persecuting the clergy and re-
ligious associatioes, it had been obliged to stand on its
defence, and to incessantly oppose the attempts at total
independence entered on of late years by the clergy.
The conduct of the Government was the best answer to
such accusations, for he defied any man of candour to
say that it had gene beyond the exigencies of the case.
He maintained that the clergy were, to a certain extent,
abusing religion to carry out their own plans of tempo-
ral aggrandisement. He thought it must unjust that
noble orators should ascend the tribune every session to
make those vague accusations without proving any one
of them. The Hon. Minister then adverted to a num-
ber of cases, in which he had been obliged to inter.
fere to check the encroachments of all classes of the
clergy. Ile read extracts from letters written by
the inferior clergy to their diocesans, in order to
show, the spirit which generally animated that body.
The bishops, he observed, though men of' education,
were still above all, high dignitaries of the church, and
devoted to its interests. Hence they sanctioned,
to a considerable extent, the conduct of the inferior
clergy in various points of discipline. Ile could advert
to their refusal to bury in cases where the deceased per-
son had not lived according to their ideas of proper de-
votedness to the church. He could also speak of their
refusal to serve in private chapels, when required in
lawful cases. The Hon. Minister, after dwelling on
other points of this kind, declared that the clergy at
present appeared to altogether mistake its mission ; fore
in place of getting their champions to advocate their
cause in the Chambers—a defence required by their aim-
ing at power out of their own province--it would be more
suitable to their sacred functions to confine themselves
to their own duties, and not endeavour to assume an au •
thority which the law never intended to assign them.
On the part of the Government he could declare that
such conduct could not be permitted, and, however in-
clined the Government felt to concede to the clergy in
all reasonable points, it must continue to persevere in
its present line of conduct.
Count de Montalembert said, that when he defended
the cause of religion, he had not looked for the Hon.
Minister's approbation. He had spoken from an inti-
mate conviction of the truth of his assertions. He
had not intended to accuse the Government of direct
persecution of the ministers of religion ; he was aware
that the Government could not, with any appearance of
propriety, act openly and decidedly in the movement at
present in progress against the clergy ; but he did ac-
cuse the Hon. Minister and his colleagues of partaking
of a certain moral complicity in the attempt, by sanc-
tioning various persecutions against members of the
clergy and the religious communities of the kingdom.
He declared that several of the suits to which he alluded
had been carried from court to court with unusual se-
verity, and in that point the Government bad kept up
ell the movement of which he spoke. He had not even
accused the Hon. Minister of having abandoned the
clergy—lie had merely declared that he had not per-
mitted the religious liberty promised in the charter to
prevail to its legitimate extent. All that the clergy de-
sired or demanded was to have that liberty completely
established. The Government, he would maintain, had
done everything is their power to arrest the free course
of religious freedom, and of that the clergy thought
they had a right to complain. The speech just delivered
by the Hon. Minister appeared to him likely to render
all arrangement in this matter more than ever impos-
sible.

Count Pelet (de la Lozire) spoke at some length
against the conduct pursued by the Minister of War in
the interval between the two sessions, relative to the
Polytechnic School. He qualified such conduct as un-
justifiable.

Marshal Soult entered into explanations on the sub-
ject. He maintained that with any attention to disci-
pline the condact of the young men at that institutioa
could not be permitted. The Commission to whom the
matter was entrusted had come to that decision, and
such was he believed the opinion of all men who had
considered the subject. The Noble Marshal continued
for some time to lay before the Chamber the circum-
stances of the case, such as they have beon already
brought before the public. He insisted particularly on
the necessity of obedience in such an establishment.
Baron C. Dupin attackid the conduct of the Noble
Marshal in the affair in strong terms, declaring that he
had thrown doubt and distrust amongst the young men,
of France, who could not now be certain, after years of
severe study, of not having their career stopped short by
some capricious decision of the Government He
tained that the conduct of the pupils in the late Case
stifled by the examiner being given thera contrar;ll
justified
Soultions again ascended the tribune, but his es-
tdiffered little from those h
p the
la3infraactrgiouhnlasal
w he had already
Laplagne Barris defended the ethoonduhet pursued by
given.m.
been shown, the exigencies of the case d
the Noble Marshal, declaring that, though severity had
Count Montalivet ).aid that, as having been himself a
pupil of theTolytechnic School, he might be permitted
to advocate the cause of the young men who were incul-
pated. No more generous-minded or patriotic class of
:nen could be found in the kingdom. He should, there-
fore, remind the Government that such a f,eling a, cle-
tnency existed, and that in no case could it be better ex-
hibited than in the present one.
Count Pelet (de la Lozere) again ascended the tA.I-
- and was again examining the question under
cos sion.

VA.-1 Vd