The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1906-12-22
CRISIS IN FRANCE.
Continued from First Page.

lister or public worship, and the mos
strenuous advocate OF the law OF sep
aration, Nj. BRAND, said 10 an ad.
dress to school teachers:
The time has come to root uf
from the minds Of French children
tie ancient faith, which has served its
purpose, and replace it with the light
of free thought. It ID time to get rid
Of the Christian idea. We have hunted
Jesus Christ out of the army, the navy,
the schools, the hospitals, insane and
orphan asylums. and law courts, and
now we must hunt him out OF the state
altogether. ~
"In order to understand the present
stu alton, it must be borne in mind
that before the French revolution al
churches, all ecclesiastical lands and
property belonged to the church by as
just a title as property is owned IN
our country by the Catholic, Metho-
dist or any other religious denomina-
ton. At the revolution all buildings,
landed properties, funds, ETC., were
confscated by the reye lutionists. But
the injustice OF this was soon recog-
nized, and the constituent assembly
pledged itself to render some sort OF
justice to the churches by giving fer
the support of the clergy and the 70 ain
tenance Of worship an annual budget.
This amounted to a little more than l
per cent on the values appropriated.
Let it be remembered, too, that this
justice took place twelve years before
the concord.t between the Holy See
and Napoleon I. The payment, there.
fore, OF the clerical stipends was not
dependent simply upon concord at,
but was recognition OF just debt
owed by the state to the church.
1.-THE present conflict dates back to
the year 1880, when large number of
religious houses were closed By the
government and their occupants dis
persed. From that time scarcely q
year has passed without some annoy
anee to the church, series of petty
acts of discrimin alton tn at were bound,
in the long run, to call for protest.
The protest came in the form OF per-
sonal letter from Pope Leo XIII to
President Grevy, il May, 1883. In
spite of the pontitR 8 reasonable OBJ
jections the injurious laws were
passed.
''As far as possible God and religion
were banished from the schools and
hospitals, the oath deprived of its
religious character and clerics i'm
pressed in the military service.
next, ID 1901, the law OF associa-
tions was passed, causing untold mis-
cry to thousands, IS by 1t the schools
10 charge Of religious orders were
forced out Of existence. The members
of the different religious congrega-
tions, male and female, were cast on
the world. Many OF these were old
and had spent a lifetime within the
convent walls.
Finally, il December, 1905, the
eoncordat was dissolved and separa-
ton Of church and state proclaimed.
lit is essential to bear in mind that
the concOrdat was q genuine contract
and that this construction was an
nulled by one of the parties, the
French government, with no regard to
The wishes OF the other party.
Perhaps the feature Of the situat. On
that will surprise US most and call for
our just indignation as Americans il
,he French governments absolute dis
regard for the property rights OF the
church. What would we think if our
government had seized on the friars'
lands in the Philippines without CIV
ng any compens alton, or after having
pledged solemnly a compensation,
should afterWard refuse 80 keep its
part Of the contract? Furthermore,
suppose the American government had
eft to the Filipinos merely the use and |
- 49, $500 :. sAe,1 oaafshes'
:. - go. -. .sa1..ioAs 1eiu ooNh
:. So sae 80 - - 'l'ol1 very uss
- $50 - oe lesoAeu as any s..he
:. a.s.sa - s1'e prov .slons u she
epss. s'loa ens.ieiy ignoring
lo spnsS1''.ioa anu shs laws OF the
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