The record-union., 1899-10-10

the hepubl1c anu All L1Deral
Institutions and Ideas.
NEW YORK, Oct. 9.-The ''Tri-
bune's" Paris correspondent says:
The militant attitude of the Roman
Catholic clergy of France from the
very outset of the Dreyfus agitation
may be followed by far-reaching con-
sequences. Not since the clerical en-
croachments which led to the coup
d'etat of May is, 1877, have the
French clergy taken such violent part
in active politics.
M. Jonnart, the influential Deputy
from the Pas du Calais, a modera ,e
Conservative Republican and Liberal
Catholic, who occupied the portfolio of
Minister of Public Works in the Cast
Ministry in 1893, has writ
ten a remarkable letter to NJ Cornely,
in which he points out that the Drey-
fus affair has been utilized by the
clericals and Monarchists solely as q
pretext for making desperate on
slaught upon the republic and upon
all Liberal institutions and ideas. NJ.
Jonnart's views are indorsed by the
Figaro" the Temps" the "Matin,,
the Steele" the "Aurore" and by all
the newspapers that had the courag ge
of honesty to espouse the cause of
truth and justicess Clear headed, con-
servative Catholics like M. Hebrard,
the editor of theE'Temps;" NJ. Rodays,
editor of Figaro NJ. Cornely and NJ.
a
the open hostility Of the French clergy
toward the republic is such that they
fear not only that there will be anti
clerical reprisals,s but that when these
reprisals once begin they will become
so vindictive that no one can say
whree they will end. The Radical and
Socialist press already demands the
expulsion of the Jesuits and all the re-
ligious congregations. The clericals
utterly ignore the encyclical which Leo
XIII. recently addressed to the French
Bishops, enjoining them in mild acade
mic language to.:use their influence to
restrain the partisan zeal of the lower
clergy. The encyeIical is very different
from the forcible one of February 16,
1892, in which the Pope SO clearly in
dicated to French Catholics that it was
their bounden duty to accept the re-
public as the firmly established form
of government. Both of these Papal
admonitions are unheeded and the
clerical organs, more violent than ever.
declare that in order to be a gooI
Catholic, one must first of all be an
"anti-Dreyfusard.'
During the last five years the re-
ligious congregations, which were dis
persed in 1880, have re-established
themselves, andg adroitly profting by
their former experience, have more
than regained their former power.
This is especially so with the Jesuits,
and the Assumptionists of Paris. The
who have their quar-
ters in Rue Francois Premier, and who
began the fierce propaganda against
Dreyfus. Under the leadership of
Fathers Picard and Bailly, who threw
themselves into the movement with an
conviction worthy of Peter
the Hermit, the Assumptionist news
paper the "Croix," was converted into
an effective instrument to attain their
ends.
The "Croix, was founded twenty
years ago. Although rarely seen out
side of France, it has an enormous in
f1uence with French Catholics. The
subscription lists opened in it's columns
for the dome of the Church of the
Sacred Heart at Montmartre speedily
reached a sum of nearly 100000. Its
Paris edition is estimated to have a
circulation of 800, 600. There are over
sixty subsidiary "Croix'' throughout
the country districts. There is a
"Croix de Rennes," the "Croix d'Auv-
ergne,' the "Croix de Bordeaux and
there are "Croix' in every department.
and important town of France. All
these "Croix'' have the same general
appearance. In the left-hand upper
corner there is a large figure of the
Crucifixion, with the motto, "Adveniat
Regnum Tuum." There is prominent
Rubric, entitled lie Courier Militaire,
in which purely military topics are
treated, and in which answers are given
to all sorts of queries from soldiers re-
lating to their comfort and welfare IN
barracks or elsewhere. La Croix" has
it is distributed to soldiers gratuitous-
ly. The price of the paper, which
usually consists of eight pages, is l
cent. 1t was in the "Croix'' that the
subscription was started to commem-
crate the memory of the late Colonel
Henry, the forger The "Croix" on
September 18th, contained the follow
ing editorial reference to the Rennes
verdict: Justice has been done, Drey-
fus has been condemned. AS French
men we rejoice over it. AS Catholics
we praise God for it."
When Dreyfus was spardoned the
"Croix' published the following ex-
planation in large characters:
'.The Dreyfusards were themselves
astonished at the haste with which
President LoubeE signed the pardon.
Many Of them Counted upon another
trial, from which they anticipated an
acquittal They were forced to aban-
don this project under threat Of pro-
duction of a photograph of the original
bordereau, upon which was an annota-