The Irish standard., 1907-02-23

Catholics Of France that a public that
will seize without right what belongs
to another, and withdrawing without
seizure for a century was condoned.
will observe any later or less sub
stantial promises that it will make?
What assurance have the Catholics of
France that step by step, as it is now
going on, this process OF elimination
will not result in the end in the total
elimination of the Catholic faith from
the properties that their ancestors
have created?
Indeed, every attempt at justifying
these acts of the French Government
dissolves the moment it is put under
the lense of any honest application of
the aXion1s of law or nlorals-dissolves
instantly one applies to it that highest
test Of fair Judgment, "Have you done
unto others what you would have them
do unto you?" And it is then that the
defender Of tho French Government
falls back upon the assertion that af-
ter all the Concordat was not u set
tlenent but was merely ain arrange
nent for governmental voluntary COLI
| tions that the state may continue or
discontinue at will. But argument like
that is as bad as it's predecessors, for
it tries to make us believe that an ull-
truth is the truth. The seizure of the
churches at the beginning of tho Rev.
olution and the Concordat at the end
arc not separate items in French his
| tory, unrelated to each other.
| On the other hand, they are two
events closely related, standing to each
other in the relation of cause and CT
feet: for without the unlawful seizures
the Eoncordat would never have been
brought into existence, and without the
Concordat the church would eventually
have found some other Way to retrieve
| the Mreng-,lone. Napoleon was not
making a contribution: He was right
ing the wrong. He needed the church
to help govern France, and the Con-
cordat was his token that the Church
was not to he despoiled. He needed
to show the world that. he was not fo,
overturning the we'll established insti-
tutions of mankind Justice to tho
church that had been robbed was the
best evidence Of his good faith. In ev-
cry honest view Of history il was a
settlement that these parties entered
upon liz 1901, not a surrender--a settIe-
ment that had the intended effect of
forestalling the church from appealing,
OH that day or at some later day, to the
conscience Of France for the Justice
that the conscience of France was
bound some day. .....
1t is not as q Catholic, therefore, or
IL Protestant speaking to Catholics,
that l. choose to raise my voice for
whatever my voice is worth against
this invasion OF the rights Of the
church, nor as IL Protestant merely i'll
terested i'll seeing that the great sister
church is not dcspoiled. 1 speak as a
Protestant and in tho interest Of Pro-
testants; because if such things could
be done outside of Franco, the great
Protestant church to which I belong,
secure now iii the enjoyment Of the
prophecy it has created as tile human
instrument through which it is work.
ing out it's faith, would be 10 longer
secure. l speak, too, as an American
who though irrevocably opposed to q
church controlled state, is as irrcvoc-
ably opposed to a state controlled re-
ligion L speak as d man to whom
breach of faith is none the less odious
because it may emerge from high alti-
tudes. And speak us a believer who
sees in what is transpiring in France
an organized movement against belief
in God after any faith.
Happily what is transpring there is
not likely to transpire here. Republic
can America would not tolerate il. Pro-
testant America would put herself
against ii. Liberty loving America
would ovorwhelm it n perish, for what
France is doing to the Catholics Of
France. if accepted by the world as a
thing rightly done, would be looked
back to some day as the first great
step toward the extinction not merely
i Of the faith Of men in God, but Of lib
, erty as individual men
1t is not alone the right Of the Cath
olics Of France to hold that which they
have created that is on trial today.
The whole cause Of individual prop
erty is OH trial. Individual liberty Of
conscience is on trial. And on issues
such as these the attitude Of America
ought not to be in doubt