New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1879-07-19
ANTLLIBER1L IDEAS IN FRANCE.

The most vigorous circumstances against the
passage of the French Education bill have been
made by an English POsitiyist and French Prot
We recently laid stress upon the conclusions
reached by Mr. John Morley in his admirable article
IN The F0RigbtIy ReUiec, and now wish to direct
attention to pamphlet which is generally believed
to be the work of Pastor Bersier one of the abest
members of the French Protestant Church. 1t is
plea for religious tolerance made by one who abhOrs
the Jesuits and who has no sympathy with the re-
dictionary factions that plotting against the peace
of the Republic aud the future of France.
HIS Huguenot blood bols when he thinks of
the prosecutions which his ancestors have
endured at the hands of these enemies
of liberty of conscience, and his judgment
is strained when he remembers that Votaire and
Diderot came from their schools; but it Is impossible
for him to support the Republican majority in the
war of repression and retaliation which it has
undertaken He tells them in the plainest language
that they have borrowed the weapons OF their
foes that they are compromising the cause of the
Republic by an anti-Liberal policy, and that they
are letting loose against t the force of oonSoiSnoo
itself and with light heart are opening way
for the reactions of the future. He is convinced
that Professionalism should not be made an ally in
warfare such as this and accordingly be feels bound
10 speak out.
is scarcely necessary TO auu tnat we regard TINS
Protestant minister's argument good law, good
policy and the best sort of religion. 1t true that
the Republic has encountered nothing but resist
ance from priests and bishops and that the Eccle-
siastical schools have made alarming progress during
the present decade. In the eleven years following
1865 the gains of the State and the ecclesiastical
schools dealt with in NJ. Ferry's bill well
abreast, but the free Lay schools, which con-
Quoted on the basis of the lvcees and communal col
leges, lost nearly as many pupils as the eccle-
siastical schools gained. The Republican lead
ers cannot but regard with uneasiness the
increasing popularity of institutions which
are controlled by their worst enemies. the re-
lgOus orders. especially the Jesuits. Nothing can
be more natural than their anxiety TO restrict the
abOrS of priests and Jesuit teachers to the churches
and the theological seminarles. At the same time
nothing can be more unwise than TO interfere with
the night Of religious bodies to open and conduct
their schools, and to confer degrees upon their
cwn students. The passage of the Ferry bill with
its an-Jesuit clause Will not promote the cause of
undenOmina tional education. 1t will be proof
that the Republicans cannot resist the temptation
to strike back, and moreover that they lack conf
dence III the permanence OF their own institutions.
The latest dispatches from Paris indicate that
the Senate will reject the most object enable fea-
lures of this measure. If tins report proves to be
we'll grounded, the upper Chamber will render the
country a great service. Every tue should stand
upon its own bottom. The popularity of the Eccle-
siastcal schools is due mainly to the thorouchness
of their courses of Instruction. If the State and
free Lay schools can be brought TO the same or TO a
higher level of efficiency, they will regain the lnlr-
encc& hich they have lost. The Republic has more
to dread from an anti-liberal policy than from
schools and Summaries where the law of the Sylla-
bus is Taught.