Private Correspondence.
The Times, 1824-12-23T00:00:00

PARIS, DEC. IC). If we only judged of the state of France by the remarkable evenits which occur in this country, we shiould be lcd to believe that every thing foUowed the miost natural ordler, and that the action of. the Governiment wasrieversniore regular or less felt.', The taxes, equally imti6sed oh~ all the inhabitants In proportion to thteir fortanes, are paid withi pi~ncituallty ;juistice, less expensive than in any of' the otber great nations of Europe, follows in appearance its natural course ; every one enjoys isis property, without fear of' being dis. possessed by the acls of' the Govermnenit or of violence ; industry scarcely su%ri~ any restraints; and, finally, if certain political or reli- gious opiniions are grounds of favour with thie Governmenit, no person is at pr~ sens persecu'ted foy what he thinks or what he believes. If, thien, our journals appear to, you devoid of remarkable or interesting facts, you mrust not be-astonished at the circutmstance, for no such facts, are occurring. Do not, however, infer ?am this representationi that the -action of the Government upon the population is either without existence or without tefr.ct It is, on the contrary, snore aelive than it hass been for several years;, and if it is less apparent, it i5 becauise it overetes less on individuals than on entire classes, and becausee it meets with less resistance. To give you just ideas of the general policy of our Govert?iffent, it is necessary to distinguish the action whiich it exercises in the interior from that which it exerts abroad ; and that which it exerciscs on the ignorant portion of' the people from that which it exerciser,or at least tendls to exercise, on thje enilighitened or wealthy classe,s, whichi is nor. the same thing in this country. That wvhichllias distinguished the French revolution from the re- volutions, of Naples, Piedmont, and Spain, is, that in the formner all classes of'society (with the exception of a portioni of' the nobleuse and cleray emibraced the defence of libertY Or of national independence; whie,in the latter, tbe-lowe6t classes of the population tooki upi the dfneof despotism, ranged themnselves under the banners of their enemes,or emaned neuiter. Prance wotild have suff-ered thirty- two ear agothefat to hic Span i no sbjected, if the French peassnt andlaburin clsseshadrecive lte Prussirro, Austrian, or ussan rmis, s te. pansh easntshave lately received the Conincd hatnorevlutoncanbebrought about or maintained withiout the assistance of' thie most numerous class - of society, our Government -exerts all its power to produce in this class the manners and opinions which it has in Spain a'nd somne parts of italy-to iender the peasants and the working classes in the great cities as ig- norant as possible-to place themn under the dom-inion of the Catholic priests, Rad to prevent the enlightened part of tbe nation from eqxercising over them any influence. Such is the object of our Ministry. I mentioned to you in a preced,ing letter, thiat the Alinister gf* the Interior, Al. de Corbiere, in virtue of thle decree of' Buonaparte, whichi gives to thie Giovernment the monopoly of' education, hiail suprpresised the schools of mutual instructiorn in the places where they had been established, and hiad prohibited their establishment in she situations where they were projected; that his proceed. ingswer diectd, artculrly toprisons, and that he had pro. hibtedpriones fom ein taghtto read or write. The facts whic I hen nnoncedto ou ae oly the continuation of a gene. ral yste whih ha bee purued ithactivity for the last four year, ad i th excuton f wichtheagents of the GJovernment and te AMinisters of the Cathoi orhpvie with each o her in zeal, It Is a notorious fact,ta naget number of' cases Ipriests have refused the spirita sucus fw ic they are only thie distributors, to the poorer classes, on th rnd atlone of their having sent their cbiIlJrcn to schiools of' mutua istruction. At the samec time that they suppress for the inferior classes all the mneans of instruction, andI render it impossible for them to learni to read or writE, priests, the inore fanatical that they have sprung from thie samne raniks, enid that the Government whiich has fashioned their minds can hasten or retardl their promot ion, endea- votir to instil into all classes of societythie spirit by whichi they them- selves are animated. Thtey go, for instance, to the prisons, not to inspire horror for crimnes or respect to good Morals, but to speak to the prisoners of the love due to the Ki ng, of the advatntages of le- gitimnacy, of the crimes to whiich phtilosophy and liberalism lead, andt above all of the obedience due to the church,. It would be im- poss,ible to give vou ani idea of the extravagan-cies which they utter to the wretched prisoners, es ecially in the prisons of' Paris. Mlalefactors are persons4 wvllo hiave false ideas, or limited notions, on every thh,ig that relates to their social duties, but who possess an extrordnar saacit whn a oportnity .ucturs of taking iadvan- tag ofthefoly r ceduit of oters WIs-us, among those who are ever da harngud i prions th miost perverse are the most speeily onveted To doptthe argn whiich is uttered to themi, notingis equsit bttie s lern t;and to appear tse m-ost zealous of evoees itis uffciet t beabl toimitat,~ certain grimaces. Were the influetices of' theclry or rather of' the Governmient wvhicht eoploys thiemi, to enid here, h thing iwould be merely ridicn- Ious; hut Llhe MeI Who are ChIOse topropogate in the prisoins whiat are calledi sound doctrines, are at th ame time intrusted with n dis- tribution of' pardlons, anid of this the malefactors are not ignorant. You May judj.e whether that is not a sure way of' increasing among ttiem the numnber of' the friends of the thron;e and the altar. The number of' pardonis granted in the course of this year is alfeady 2,491, and will exceed 3,000 befcore the year closes. You cannot fonn a correct opinion of the influience of this multitude of pardons, by what passes in your country. Your laws arc infinitely more severe thani oars, andi whien your CGovemmient grants life to a 6?nK4L .. tleast taken care thiat England shall be rid ASWe wivirn us, ti1i ue contrary, tne (jovernnsent usuially throws' into society all the rnalefactors whoni the priests point out as having acloptedi sousmid dbocri7les, and as9 being disposed to propagate themi. Thus, thouigh the- criminal laws a~plear to be regularly administered, there is in rea lity searec .sthng likte juxstic, as the priests and thie friars are coni- s,tantly emnployedl in perverting thje wvork of' the Courts. You may thus undterstand wliy crinies atre increasing with us in the sanie proportion as tlevomtetcs, or, in oilier words, hypocrites. The evil hias bcconmesogreat.mlqat Many Magistrates, niot'less zealous for thle Cathlolic religionl thlani for thte interests of thle reigniing family, have miade serious comiplaints on thle subject. Som-ejadicitul bodies, indeued, have vilade representations on the abuse ot' thec righit of' par. don ; but their representations hiave had no effect. Religious principles, whien made to support morality, miay becomie a powerfeul obstacle to despotism anic ecorruption. On the contrary, when Cathiolic mninisters andi priests studiously propagate doctrinurs anid practices wvhicli they conisidter favourable to theirown interestss wheFn thecy enidesvour to instil into the ignorant classes a blind( dec- votioni to the will of the chutrchi and the court, and a no less blind hiatred of' every siting whiichi may tendl to give them ideas of liberty, those piriinciples are as far as possible emiployed in preventing the propagat ion of' evangelical mnorality. A few years ago an association wits formeod at Paris, under the namec of' the Nocie[6 (le h. worlei Cr&ifennc. Thzis society, whiich COLut,tedI among its meutibers Elite most re-spectabhle ment of' ev'ery political opinion, had for its speciail olbject the diffusion of the morality af' the gospel by the publication of suita-ble tracts, Its iufluence was chiiefly exerteti to instigate. by, dtue recompenses the heat writers to dlevelope! the principles' 'MO- rality, ztnd to tnaice plain to thie simplest understandings the fata crnsequencecs of vice, atial the advantages resulting 1roin tite practice of social virtues. The existetice of this Society and of the Bible Societv, n part of tse memberst of' which bielongtobhsciie,aeo some of our Alinister~, anld to the Jesuits who siecondl tkerns, &bjects of continual alartn anisi dcclamation. It wvoiid qeemi that the legitlisite Al o- narclhv atnd the Catholic clergy niiust be lost the mnoment thiat tile love 0f oriler, indusr,andc econiiosny, and aversion to gaming, in- tenmperance, and their aeopaya vices, shall prevail in society. Amionig zall the declarsiItions of whlichi thesr societies. arec the ob,ject. I shall selecet a few paas'srges fronm the Etoile, as thiat joutrnal belongs bothi to the ill inistrv anti ite Jesuits. " All thec soc~ie is, witichi have for somec years p:sst iseen form-ed." ~says the Mlinistcriar writer, "1 utnder the nanses ofe Bible Socitety, Religiotta Tract Societv, Chtri.stian ihlorality Society, tire tt vas,t Ieaf:ne, formed by, the Protestants and( oiur Liberals for un-Catho. licizirig Franice, anid for bringing about a complete religious tolera- tion, butided upon tlic preofession of a miorality whiicl izs conven-. tional anti diivested of all dloctrine. 'l'hiis mutltiplicity of nstasaciations, appearing tinder different nlatres, hut all tuitite(i by the samie spirit, alt latbouring for Sthe sasne Object, anti rivalling eachi other in zeal and efforts, is truly alarining. Doubtfless, as their principal iuteans of actioni is,, and only can exist in theiri writings, thecse societiesdso not threatenl 1its wviitI an inmmledi. ate revolution ; but ii'tlie effects if the press ate slow, are they tile lensacertain ? S ti 0 LIFor our part, we canniot rely o'n the laws of the pres-sfor puittine a stop to thiis inundation of' books. it, appearance religious, bitt in stihitaniceat.lrsin.(te Bible, thlen. is incltstedl anone thie anti-L'luis-lians hoolcaR)"-whi-h areputblmshied b~ the societiesin qites. tion, atid whiceh increase the mnore as they receive froal all hands ptcuniiarv sionationis for the accomiplishment of this great work. Our laws cannlot reach books oftitis kind. a fLto w, thien, in this powerless state of the laws, is thiis ttew con- tagion to be opposed P There is only oi iticamens-thlat of grad ually suppressing all these societies, wiiieni are, in fact, so nanyv sotirces of irreligion.. Wheti,i individuials are left to act 6itgly, they' hiave slot thie cas.ne ardiour, thie sante energy-, lior thec samie meanls. "1 Inl vain dio these societies pretend thiat thiev hatve nothi;ag to do withi politics will it he believed thatt thecy do' mint secretly emnploy titeniselves upion that subject :" Y'ott will perceive, that if the bookssellers, whto sell works on re. liginots utiorality, auud particularly the Bible, are not prosecuted, their safety depientis on the imnperfection of the law, wliicht has not fc4re. seen this kindt of cruise;, buit you will also observe, that there is a hiope of' obtal-iing the saute resuilt by attacking the Bible Society anid the Chiristian Ailoralitv Society. To state pvlainly thec influence exercis-il by piart of the mnost itiflti. emitial inerv,hers of' thte Government, Lt(id the Catholic clergy, on the least enlighitened classes of society, it amrounlts to tlii,-t prevetit, as f,%e as possible, tuie individiuals com-posing the"e classes, antI more particularly thlose whiom igrnnranca- has al. ready' rendered criminal, frou learning to reatl and write; in this way to prevent tile ilifluelce which the wlitings of enligltcrned mien might have upoi) those tunfortunate persons, or, in oiher worts. tocut off all mcans of coulmunicating hleas and sentimeris betiveen the informed and tile ignerant classes-to place the latter classes tinder tie exclusive influence of the Catholic clergv, whose subserviency is secutred by their initercsts-to propagate tite uhoctritie of nassiveobe- tience to the GGv%rninent atnd to isie Church aimong the ignolant clAsses, ati( to instigate titeii to a blind hatred of men or books twhich tend tn give tlicmt proper ideas ot libertvyts make the remis. sion of sentences pronounced by the tribunals, or ot royal pardons, a recompense for inalefactors who profess that loctrine or man7ifet this hatred-to incldcate in all tinds the dogiinas of the Catholic taitim, anm to proscribe at the same tinie the mornaity of the gospel, in or(der that religion niay he It lever ftr despatism, and ncvcr be. conic an slistacle to it. If this system, thc existence of which ntulileroius facts dcmion- stralte, ani wihich the ibinistcri.l anti clerical journals eagerly pro. claim, shouhl succeed, it cantiot be dloubted thait we shall soon have in France a piopulation simjilar to that of Spain, and *f tstine parts of Italy. The maltfautor will be secn on the highway with a rosary in the one hand, sitd the datgger in the other. The titiif, while lie picks his neighbour's pocket, will take care to nuakc the sign of the cross, and the iattiits of tlebautcliery will be adornetd with picttmres oi the salits. We have already had sonme retmarkabie examples of Qhis.tendency. Vlien (iastaing. the poisoner, hail no deffnce to titake against an Overwhelming testimispny, lie directe.l his eyes to. tvards ilhe crucifix placed in the Coutk of Justice, and gave a deep sigh. MWith Bacat Practices, if we do not obtain a menaecy ac- ?ording to the eChrter,"e ruelalI at lesst-have a .; =,-,S ; ing to the Hioly Allianmc." In addition to the general causes which render the Chrlstian Rn-- rality Society hateful to the ruling party, there is a particulacr= which I must not omit, becaase it will make you acquainted wiya the spirit whlch animates our devotees. Some time ago this Society offered n prize tor the work vvhich should best demonstrate the fatal consequences of the passion of gaming. Now yen are aware that our Finance Mlinister draws annually 6 or 7 millions of frnncs from the Lsrtery and that he gets irom the gaming4ioas nearly nn e4wil sum, or which he renders no account to the Chambers. Thus the houses of prostitution yield the Ministry a considbleb revenue, and should the Christian Alorality Society have the effect of diminish- ing that revenue, it is much to be feared that its seppresion will be authorized by the Bishop who is at thehead of the DFep ent of Public Instruction. ' Tltle ef a celebrated Work of ?J. de Chateautbriand. PRRIATE CORRESPONDENCE. OF .TME INFLUENCE Or. THE AINISTRY TN FRANCX ON THE DIFFEftENT CLASSES OF THE rOPULATION.