The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1902-08-10
OF COMBES'S
BLUNDER APPARENT
Has Given Enemies of the Republic
Long-LoOked-For Opening
for Attack.
PURSUED A RADICAL COURSE.
Statesmanlike Policy of Compro-
mise and Concession Did
Not Occur to Him
Till Too Late.
BY ]. CORNELLY.

SPECIAL BY CABLE TO THE NEW YORK
HERALD AND THE ST. LOUIS
Paris. Aug. 9-(Copyright, 19O2.)-Let us
do some figuring. There were in France
1900 Congregations establishments affected
by the preventive DEGREES of NJ. Combes.
Half of them have submitted. In the other
half the majority were spared. either be-
cause they gave evidence of good faith or
because they have a charitable aim.
There are about 800 establishments which
will have to be closed. That is to say, not
5 per cent. 1t is rough to compare the first
figures, 1900, with the final figures, 300, to
measure the blunder committed by III.
Combes. Not knowing what he was doing,
having sought no Information, he has I'M
chained trouble and agitation in some parts
of the country-in Catholic Brittany. in the
nationalist capital. He has furnished a
plausible pretext to the enemies of the Re
, public.
If from the outset he had proceeded in
V fsely. If he had said: Several Thousand
establishments are affected by the law. APP
plying 1t strictly l could force them to close,
put respect all those which in good faith
belieVed they were authorized; l respect.
also. all those which accomplish charitable
works; there remain u ~few-three houses
that are not covered by gPod faith or by
charity; these l shut Because they are re-
bellious with premedltation." If he had
used such statesmanlike language, without
doubt the Nationalist would have protested
my bpNNs cNA AAAtA fouAa lldEC l1u ltSS It6-
son to do so and they would have been less
numerous.
Lucky That Chambers Had Adjourned.
II is regrettable, from one point of view,
that the Chambers should not be in session
and with laundering of the Premier cannot
be brought out plainly; but, from another
point of view, from u much higher point
of view. 1t is very lucky that the French
Parliament is not sitting and that the nu-
merous incidents that have darkened the
past few weeks cannot be ampliied in the
tribune and are not displayed before the
eyes of the gallery as in a cinematograph.
The press doubtless has altered their
character by eXaggerating them, but the
eXaggerations of the press are corrected by
the fact that they never lost more than one
day, and particularly because they exert an
influence always on an isolated man. upon
a man who is reading his paper and cannot
feed his Indignation or his enthusiasm by
contact with others.
I think the newspapers would become
quite redoubtable from the political point of
view If meetings were held at which to
read them in a body. This is why what is
happening is. while regrettable, not very
dangerous.
There is nothing very charming in the
meetings presided over by the recOnciled
leaders of the Patrie Franchise and at
which appeals to instruction are made; or
the night watches of the Breton peasants
waiting with pitchforks for the soldiers,
whom they welcomed with cries of '.Vive
larmee, or the anti-clerical demonstrations
of citizens marching 10 the cry of "A bas
la caloXe' past the statue of Etrenne Doieti
or the letters OF protest which members u
the institute are exchanging; or the in
fantile speeches of Nj. Camille Pelletan
sounding a war cry against reaction; or the
visits of the Partisan Deputies to NJ.
Combes, or the resolutions passed by the
radical and radical socialist committees or
the childish threats of a refusal to pay
taxes.
Vital Question to the Front.
The only important facts are the attitude
of the adversaries of the Cabinet, who are
employing their vacation in trying to dis
integrate its majority, and the two letters
written by NJ. Gobler and NJ. Monodme.
which rightfully defend the congregational
lists, but raise the question of the separa-
ton of the church and state.
This question has Of late ripened more
than il had previously done in a century:
1t Is a question which will fill the place OF
the years now coming and which Will De
much more vital to the church in france
than the disposal of the ongregationallSts.
AS for the sisters, you can CONSIDER that
alarm is over and that the greater NUMBER
OF their schools will be reopened In octo-
Der next.
At Landerneau, the chief center of resist
ance, the DEGREES have been carried INTO eI-
feet. 1t required three brigades OF gen.
rme and 200 soldiers. There was a not
protesting, shouting and cursins OF ofnciaIs'
Including the locksmith who was called IN
to service and who thus was fulfliling an
official function. Then everybody went away
and remarked, probably with pleasure, IHal
nothing had happened but a little ihsiehi"-
cant crushing.