The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1906-10-13
THE CRISIS IN FRANCE.
Continued from Page 1

free thought should not fall back upon the names
of our kings, but on that of the Emperor Julian.
One would like to see them exhibiting in their
conduct the admirable frankness he displayed
in his.
On several occasions we have declared that
there is something noble in the eternal Revolt of
Prometheus, in the perpetual renewal of a task
has been able to accomplish in that intense
longing after the impossible which compels certain
philosophers to attempt to bring about a change in
the human soul. 1t is similar to the impulse that
urges mariners to make voyages of discovery in the
polar regions, but these mariners risk only their
lives in their fruitless efforts But rulers and leg
slators have no right to jeopardize the tranquility
the interests and the spiritual liberty of a great
nation.
Who will restore to us these blessings which
have been compromised by this stupid law of sep
aration All that it will be necessary to do will be
to open the inevitable negotiations. 1t was huge
mistake not to have begun them much sooner We
are convinced that for some this will be bitter pill.
but it should not be any more so than the going
to Algeciras There will be a certain amount of
growing in some newspaper offices and on some
parliamentary benches. Canossa! they will
claim. Pshawl Call Canossa Fontainebleau and
ask that a egate be sent to Paris 1t is all a mat
ter of words. Bismarck would not indulge in
false pride when he recognized the mistake he had
made
We French have wished to read into the Ency-
ccal war challenge; the Italians, who are some
thing of experts III diplomacy, are unanimously of
the opinion that it is invitation to enter into
further negotiations. We know not which of these
views is the correct one. But do know. and
those who have had the most to do with this mat
ter know in their hearts that sooner or later re-
course must be had to negotiations 1t will be a
repetition of the Dreyfus affair. Many who
growed from the force OF habit and from the
noyance they felt at having been deceived were
thoroughly convinced that some day or other Drey-
fus would have to be rehabilitated. Where is the
minister possessed of common sense and of courage
the statesman truly republican who will save US
years of dscord at the small sacrifice of his amouP
propre, and thus consolidate the republic for half
century to come.
VIII NJ Clemenceau be the man of the hourl
He is fighter, man of remarkable intellectual
resources. who is not frightened by attacks even
when they are unexpected. The confidence one feels
disposed to place in him is somewhat shaken when
we recall fine and profound saying of Renan.
whom we have quoted above. In his souvenirs
de jeunesse" he lauds the strength his old masters
at Saint Sulpce derived from prayer, in other
words from daily meditation away from the noisy
din of the world and then adds: "Some things
are applicable by the fact that NJ. CeInenceau does
not pray" The ill-dsguised anxiety the Encycli-
cal has caused some persons may be due to the fact
Inat rus y prayS
In default of a pacifcator the Separated"
Church and State which will not be separated will
tear each other to pieces The Encyclical has dis
spated the frai hopes of a truce with which some
deluded themselves. The echoes of the tumult that
is precursor of battle reaches the writer whilst
he is staying In a country which recently passed
through religious strife that IS now at an end It
is prosperous country where social order and la
Dor in the enjoyment of undisturbed domestic peace
have increased the comforts of life to a renaarka-
bic degree. The Figaro has placed before its read
ers the able studies of NJ Huret. They cannot be
read too often, they give description of
what one sees at every turn. Whilst the Germans
are gathering unto themselves wealth, we are neg
Letting our interests and abandoning all ambition
The vast and rich universe we leave to our neiob
bors to go in search of the North Pole-a land
without God which philosophers dream of
reaching. May the good genius of France save ia
from the inevitable shipwreck in which all these
chimerical enterprises win founder if we do not
tack about in time.