, 1879-07-13
FRENCH EDUCATION.

FRENCH ED DUCAllONs
DEFEAT OF THE CLERICAL PARTY.
ID. Ner Iork H<ruid
N. Jules Feny's Educational bill, directed
against the Jesuits and the unauthorized rellg-
ious congregations, which passed the Chamber
Of Deputies on Wednesday BY vote OF 35o 10
159, has long been the great topic OF discussion
in France. at Is evident" said q correspond
ent some time ago, "that the war between
Church and State in France, which has so long
been looming, is now about to take place, and
that the bat,le which has lasted SO long ana
ragged 80 ferccly in Germany is to be resumed on
this side Of the Rhine. Whether the republican
Government will be more successful than Prince
Bismarck remains to be seen. At present there
are strong doubts on the question. VI one
thing, however. there can be no doubt, and TINT
is the bitter and violent feelings which the sub
iect is arousing on both Sides" Art. OF the
law has been the cause Of angry debates In the
Chamber OF Deputies. This article or para
Graph disqualfes members of religious bodies
not recognized BY the State from teaching. The
principal unauthorized teaching bodies in France
since 1920 are enumerated as follows:
In 1saD the Jesuits numbered 1G2; in 1910,
ooG; in 1850, 565; in 1850, 6S9; in 1870, VA,
aud in 1875, 1,5o2- The number Of their estao-
lishments- rose, from. 1920 to 1873, from
TO SO. The Dominicans numbered, In $50, IA,
md in 1873, 327. There are in all 1876 establish
ments belonging to unauthorized bodies, Of
which 16 are congregations ol men and I@o o1
women. The figures are contained IN replies
sent in officially under return ordered BY the
law Of 1876 and mag probably he relied upon
rs nearly accurate. The congregations have be-
tween them 555 establishments for the fnstruc-
ton OF female students and eighty-one Tor men
and BOYS, and there are employed in the educa-
tional work no less than ,S57 females and IL ,o56
male teachers. The pupils amount to about
81, 200, the women and girls being about twice
as numerous as the men aud boys, aud OF these
some 3,5D boys and G00o girls are in receipt Of
pecuniary assistance by way Of what we shall
call scholarships or exhibitions. The expenses
of providing this aid amount to nearly sSoooou
year Thirty immense uud prosperous edu-
catiopaI establishments Of the Jesults will be
closed. NJ. Spuller, in bis report advocating
the bill, said: 'sThe iovasions OF Oltramontan-
ism have reached their term. The Government
of the Republic sewers itself from policy
which has hitherto closed mems eyes to these
invasions when it has not favored Them. lnat
is the meaning OF the bill; that is its aim; that
is what France must see in it. And this very
considerable event explains the excitement Of
the reactionarY parties. OF whom U1tramontan-
ism is the bond Of union, and the warm sym
pathy manifested by republican democracy to-
measures OF rcparation long awaited.
III. Jules Ferry concluded on June 81 his
speech in defense OF his bill. Hc argued that
teachlng openly aud Systematically hostile to
French Institutions could not safely be LETT 1lu-
checked, for If the d1acen regime, though backed
by the tribunals, the entire bourgeois, and two
thirds ot the Catholics, felt defensive measures
necessary, much more was this the case noT,
when Cabinets we're short-liVed, when the toa7'-
geoisi was deeply tainted, aud when the clergy
TJv1;r tai ihor}
would involve not only Jesuit. but Communist
schools; but he warned the Extreme Left that
a struggle between the black International and
the red international would end in tie triumph
Of the strongcsr,-viz., the Jesutts. The peril
trayersed By the Republic during the past eight
years was too serious to allow OF blind conf
dence in the permapence of the triumph, and
be deprecated the conversion OF society Into the
battlefield Of the official classes trained IN reac
tionary and the masses in liberal sentiments.
The Government, having au admitted right to
dissolve or prohibit associations dangerous to
the state, had right to forbid educational
organizations the avowed alm OF which was
to corrupt the rising generation. We are
withdraw the right Of teaching from a
few thousands OF congregationists- Il is
forgotten that the Catholics count at present
15o.000 authorized monks and 173, QUO authorized
sisters. Do We cut down the public-Turship
estmatcss On the contrary, we arc asking this
wear Tor 20o 600 francs more for the desseruauts.
Nothing in THE bill prevents any religious body,
except, of course, the Jesult6, from bringing its
statutes and asking to he recognized. Suppose,
however, no non-authorzcd body asked to be
recognized, how many young people would be
deprived OF their teachers? Sixteen Thousand.
They would probably not all be sent to us. The
others would go into the 130 establishments uu-
der the direction Of secular priests. Our fycfes
and colleges, according to CALCULATION nave
without new buildings. OF these, 1900 could
be accommodated iu the departments where the
non-authorizcd bodies have their establish
meuts." AS regards the objection raised against
Government as the Republic, N. Ferry con-
tended that the task was increasing in difficult
Ties, and that not day should be lost IN grap-
pling with them. n. Ferry cxhortcd the Cham
ber to vote for Art. z. Otherwise 1t would lor-
nnd those who wrote the history OF
our time would say that the powerful
body which had agitated the eighteenth century
had been driven from every European country,
except Prussia and Russia, had been attacked
In 17U3 by the Parliament, and re-estahlishcd
by Louis XVI on condition OF their abstaining
from al1 teaching, had been abolished by
Pope, and only restored In 1914 under nc" con-
di,lons-these Jcsuits, with whom ule ressoia-
tion could not exist, seeing that 1t Inflicted the
ordinance OF 1928 on them, with whom mon
arcby could not exist either, Tor it inflicted the
orucr of the Gay OF 1S45 on thenl-these Jcsuits
a Republican majority recalled, and they found
in French Parliament tile solemn sanction
they lacked NJ. Ferry Was warmly applauded.
The bill has been wurmy advocated anu op-
posed, both in the Chamber Of Deputies aud by
means of addresses and petitions UD to the
eth OF May there were 6U 140 signatures against
tie bill, while 1900, ,00, signatures we're col
lected By the Lgne de lEnsegncment in favor
OF compulsory, gratuitous, and lay instruction.
Declarations Of war we're issued AGAINST n.
Ferry's bill By the Archbishop OF Tours aud his
sufIragan MoDsignors OF Lucon, Nantes An
gouicme, aud Aneers. Cardinal Bonnechose,
archbishop OF Rouen, also entered the lists,
followed by the Bishops OF Scez, Bayeu1,
Lisicux, and Egrcux, with an address to the
Chamber aud the Senate in which they con-
demn the bill, especially on the ground that It
would be positive interference with the rights
of property. The bill has. however, been
generally condemned IS TOO sweeping IL its
effects The Paris correspondent Of the 1tHes
sa,d recently: I" No cloquence is able to make
the bill anything but tnopportune, llliberaI, anu
ipauplicable. Nobody asked for measure
which 'has reused the most inanspicious Ut
struggles. Ii II. Ferry wanted to please Ger
tain portion Of the nation, that portion with
whom hatred Of the Catholic Church is po-
litical and social creed it would have sufced 20
have placed the granting Of degrees in the hands
anf1 1l,a r1nt nf inc