FRANCE. 



283 



the measure was an arm raised against religion, 

 and had been brought forward without any seri- 

 ous reason. Following the leadership of Simon 

 and Dufaure, a number of members of the Left 

 Center and the Left voted with the Eight 

 against clause seven, which accordingly was re- 

 jected on March 9th by 148 against 129 votes. 

 Great excitement followed the announcement 

 of this vote. In the principal towns of France, 

 meetings were held and petitions signed in 

 favor of expelling the Jesuits in accordance with 

 the existing law, which the present Govern- 

 ment, like its predecessors, had ignored up to 

 the present time. The reading on the second 

 bill began on March 15th. M. Pelletan moved 

 that clause seven should be restored, and the 

 motion was rejected by 149 to 132. M. de 

 Freycinet stated, with regard to M. Dufaure's 

 suggestion of a compromise, that, despite the 

 desire of the Cabinet for conciliation, and their 

 deference for the illustrious orator who ad- 

 dressed to them that appeal, they could not 

 submit a fresh clause, the clause itself being 

 in their eyes a compromise. The clause being 

 rejected, it only remained for them to enforce 

 the laws. The bill, as amended, was agreed to 

 by 187 to 103. On March 16th, the bill again 

 came before the Chamber of Deputies, and was 

 declared urgent. The Prime Minister, M. de 

 Freycinet, again declared that the Government 

 intended to apply, on its responsibility, the ex- 

 isting laws, and asked the Chamber for a dec- 

 laration of confidence. An order of the day 

 in this sense was then put and carried by a 

 majority of 338 against 147. The bill, as modi- 

 fied by the Senate, was afterward adopted by 

 376 against 88. On March 30th, the "Journal 

 Officiel " published the decrees of the Govern- 

 ment respecting the religious congregations. 

 The first article dissolves ~the Jesuits' Associa- 

 tion, and orders the closing of the schools and 

 novitiates within three months. On April 26th, 

 M. Baragnon, a member of the Right, moved 

 that urgency should be accorded to his propo- 

 sal that all diplomas granted by the Minister of 

 Public Instruction should be placed upon an 

 equal footing in all examinations for prizes. 

 This was granted, by 153 votes to 104. M. 

 Baragnon's motion was directed against a re- 

 cent circular of the Minister of Justice, which 

 determined that, for the examinations for the 

 posts of auditors of the Council of State, only 

 those candidates could compete who had ob- 

 tained their diploma from the state faculties. 



Nearly all the archbishops and bishops of 

 France issued a protest against the resuscitation 

 of the laws against the Jesuits ; and the Pope, 

 in an address made to a company of French 

 pilgrims, declared himself in the same sense. 

 In the Chamber of Deputies, M. Larny, who is 

 both a supporter of the Government and a 

 zealous Catholic, brought forward an interpel- 

 lation questioning the validity of the laws cited 

 by the Government in support of the decrees 

 against the Jesuits. M. Cazot, the Minister of 

 Justice, replied that the laws under which the 



Government had acted were good and binding, 

 and the Ministry would enforce them accord- 

 ing to their right and duty. After a long dis- 

 cussion, the order of the day pure and simple 

 was voted by 362 to 137. Prince Napoleon 

 issued a manifesto, in which he took the ground 

 that the recent decrees do not amount to per- 

 secution, and that they are but a return to 

 constitutional law. The Bourbons recognize 

 that theocracy must give way to the state. 

 The Prince declares it to be time that the fic- 

 tion of a conservative union should be ended, 

 as there is nothing in common between the 

 Legitimists and the Bonapartists. He con- 

 cludes by saying that the most fatal policy of 

 the Bonapartists would be to adopt a retro- 

 grade policy. 



After the reassembling of the Chambers in 

 November, the Senate adopted M. Camille See's 

 bill for the creation of high schools for girls, 

 under the surveillance and responsibility of the 

 state. Like the educational bills of M. Jules 

 Ferry, this bill intends to weaken the influence 

 of the Church upon national education, and to 

 increase that of the state. The bill had previ- 

 ously been adopted in the Chamber of Depu- 

 ties by a large majority. 



Another measure directed against the influ- 

 ence of the Church was the proposed repeal of 

 the army chaplains law of 1871. The Min- 

 ister of War, General Farre, was much ap- 

 plauded by the Left when he stated that he 

 should have himself proposed the repeal had 

 nobody else done so, andt hat a chaplain's pres- 

 ence with a regiment was, undesirable from a 

 military point of view, for, whatever influence 

 he acquired would be at the expense of the 

 officers. The repeal was adopted by 342 to 111. 



No less than three Public Meeting Bills en- 

 gaged the attention of the Chamber of Deputies 

 soon after it met in January one introduced by 

 the Government, a second by the committee, 

 and the third by M. Louis Blanc this last pro- 

 posing the repeal, pure and simple, of all laws 

 fettering the right of meeting and forming as- 

 sociations, whereas the others insist on notice 

 being given to the authorities and on police 

 regulations. On January 26th the Chamber 

 rejected M. Louis Blanc's motion by 322 votes 

 against 162. On January 27th M. Lepere, the 

 Minister of the Interior, spoke in favor of the 

 bill proposed by the Government. He main- 

 tained the necessity of the object of a public 

 meeting being declared beforehand by its pro- 

 moters. Despite the Minister's argument, the 

 Chamber adopted the fourth clause of the bill, 

 as proposed by the committee, by 310 votes 

 against 167. A long discussion ensued upon 

 clause seven, which aims at preventing politi- 

 cal meetings. It was on January 29th adopt- 

 ed by 266 votes to 199. The other clauses 

 having been agreed to, the bill was read a first 

 time, when the subject came up again for dis- 

 cussion in May. M. Cazot, the Minister of 

 Justice, moved as a compromise that the Com- 

 missary of Police should have the right to at- 



