The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1905-02-18
THE FRENCH SITUATION.

been shouting, fighting dying for liberty He
philosophers and public men have been teaching ant
preaching liberty to all, and yet the Frcnchmal
seems to have been utterly unable to learn thes
elementary truisims. That the rights of one citi
/ zen cease where those of the other begin; tina
practical freedom rests upon the preservation Of
private rights; that subversion of the later always
leads to tyranny. In 1899 the states general were
convoked to ameliorate the distressful financial con
dition-incdently to reform abuses growing out OF
the frudal system. The several representative as
semblies abolished the old system of government
destroyed all formulaes Ito use the expression of
! Carlyle) but they were unable to build up truly
| free government in spite of the example the United
States had given the world barely a quarter of a
century before. The first French effort at govern
ment building ended in chaos. In sheer desperation
| France welcomed iron despotism at the hands of
Napoleon, who easily graduated from elective first
CONSUL to omnlpotent emperor In the name Of
good government or of liberty monarchies sue
ceeded empire republic and the latter monarchy
yet during these 125 years the affairs of France have
been really administered by. despotisms, and the
most Indifferent of those have been the despotisms
of the republics The Frenchman in power seems
HIS motto seems to be do unto others as they have
done unto you. The men who protested the loudest
against injustice when they were the sufferers pro-
we'd themselves the worst tyrants when they became
the governors. 1t has been turn about at oppres-
sion. With the exception of the Red Terror, the
present republic has out done all its predecessors by
the rankness of Its prosecutions the arbtrariness of
It's enactmens and the scale of its spoliation and
robbery. We say robbery advisedlv The violent
appropriation of another's property without due
compensation is robbery whether perpretrated bv a
holdup man by ministry The past and the
prospective policy of the officers of the present
French republic merit and should receive the IN
qualified condemnation of every lover of freedom.
Inc light Is not merely against the religious orders
or the Catholic church, but against Freedom itself
The excuse for it is that these institutions are
enemies of the republic The statement is false |
The Catholic church is not opposed to anv par
ucular form of civil governmental she ever
asked all she asks today is freedom to exercise her
spiritual ministry untrammeled. That the members
OF the religious orders are now-if they were not
betore-opposed to the personal of the present adj
mInlstration IS but natural. This fact would not
initiate against them opinions and the right 70 OK
press them are the privileges of every citizen under
any Tree government. Opposition to the men OF the
methods OF the men who administer temporarily af-
ars OF the state does not imply emniy to the state
tselt or It's form of government Several millions of
American voters eXpressed-through the ballot box
the conviction that the Republican party is not
1t to rule this republic. They differed with their
'ohtlcal opponents as to the best means to pro-
note American welfare They were not enemies of
he republic. But your modern French statesman
easons otherwise. 1t is with him as it was with
4ous XIV: L am the state" and anyone who on
oses me or my methods is an enemy of France and
must be destroyed or silenced" So it has come to
ass that France, which has done so much for
YhrStlanlty and civilization, tolerates form of
yranny more unjustifable than that which AFFECTS
russia.
One more thunderbolt the Rouvier ministry is
aid to hold in reserve /. e.. the abolition of +be
oncordat. Well! we do not fear anv disastrous
esult for the church. Undoubtedly the rupture of
me honored relations would inhict hardshpis. It {
Ill take some time to educate the people to the
ew order and to support the church from their !
olntary offerings. Yet we believe that in very t
lort time the good results would outweigh the bad
les. We have been born and bred in America We Il
saize the wonderful development of Catholcitv in
lese United States during the last century and "
specially during the last fifty years-and remem- a
erlng the great love which the laity entertain for
lie clergy, their great loyalty creed the influence
the hierarchy and the respect which it receives e
ON all classes and the fact that the church is in S
niger OF dying Of starvation because it is not SIM
'rted by the state, incline to the belief that tbe
rogation of the Concordit may prove BLESSING in f
e end. salutary and much needed effect would s.
to cure the French Catholic voter of his apthv o
lsguise 1t as we may, the fact remains that apathy
the only possible explanation of the existence of b
e present anti-religious war; IL
France is Catholic to the core. What then makes
possible for handful of erratie doctrinaires- tt
ompted by no common purpose and without anv p
ed political programme except vpportunism- el
lat makes 1t possible for this handful TO tvran d
over 100000 of souls-prescribe the best cit "a
us dictate not only the extent but the nature and ~
e quality OF the education which a parent may 40
We his children, and trampe under foot every "
lnclple OF public liberty and of privaty ripbt2 III
ice again we answer: Apathy and moral
wardice. Our French coreligionists must learn
at the for their present illg will NOT Como