THE KGMSE CATHOLIQUE FIIANCAISE. 517 



M. Lambert, who distinguished himself, on the late trial, by the talent 

 with which he defended the chiefs of the sect against the attacks of the 

 crown lawyers. The conversation was begun by common-place inqui- 

 ries as to the number of residents in the house ; whether any female 

 establishment had yet been formed ; and how far they had succeeded 

 in making proselytes in France, or in foreign countries. In answer to 

 these questions we were told that, in the house of Menilmontant, there 

 were forty residents, who lived there in a state of celibacy, no female 

 having yet joined the sect, although many professed themselves converts, 

 and even advocated their doctrines in general society. Besides the 

 principal one at Menilmontant, there are other subordinate establish- 

 ments, both in Paris and the provinces, and there are missionaries now 

 at work in England and in Germany, for the purpose of propagating the 

 doctrines of the new faith, but hitherto without much success in in- 

 creasing the number of their converts. 



It is notorious, that before they separated themselves from society, by 

 the assumption of a distinguishing costume, their efforts were much 

 more directed to political than to religious purposes. The sermons, or 

 predications, as they were called in the Salle Taitbout, were directed 

 much more distinctly against the form of government, the national 

 guard, and the has baronettes bourgeoises, than against points of faith or 

 the supremacy of the Catholic religion. This will account to you for 

 the sensitiveness of the government in regard to them, and will throw 

 some light on the subtlety of the chiefs, who, when shut out in one 

 direction, are ready to open a way for themselves in another. Their 

 language is now directed to subjects which do not bear so directly on 

 politics or forms of government, and which are not, therefore, so likely 

 to excite the apprehensions of men in power 



While I stood by M. Lambert, he was questioned rather closely in 

 the Socratic style, by a gentleman about his own age, which approaches 

 to forty, as to the tendency of the new doctrines in relation to forms of 

 government, and their influence on society, in the event of these doc- 

 trines being adopted by the majority. These questions were parried by 

 M. Lambert with consummate skill. He would not admit that the new 

 faith led to despotism in government, and denied most strenuously that 

 Enfantin, the nominal chief of the society, is endowed with arbitrary 

 power. He told us that the capacities and capabilities of the members 

 are judged of and determined by a series of elections, which, he con- 

 tended, led in every case to the best practical result. I am inclined to 

 believe in the truth of this statement of M. Lambert, and that Enfantin is a 

 mere puppet, set up by himself and others, of the apostolical oligarchy, as 

 the most convenient instrument for executing their decrees. In the 

 course of this conversation, the judgment of the Court of Assize, and 

 its probable eifect on the future prospects of the society, was repeatedly 

 alluded to. The answer of M. Lambert was what might have been 

 expected. It would rid them, he said, of the weak and wavering, and 

 would strengthen the resolution of all among them who were worth re- 

 taining. It seems, in fact, to be clear, that such prosecutions can do no 

 possible good. Like the proceedings against the newspapers, they but 

 increase the evil they are meant to repress. 



. The sound of a hunting-horn announced that dinner was about to be 

 served. A few minutes afterwards, the society having assembled in the 

 interior of the mansion, marched round the outside of the building in 



