REFORMED CHURCHES. 



711 



out of the revenues of the property for the 

 surviving members of the order, the last of 

 whom died in 1800. It is contended that, 

 even if the lands had not been already confis- 

 cated, they would then have escheated to the 

 crown for want of other heirs. The revenues 

 of the estates were applied to educational pur- 

 poses. The estates were transferred to the old 

 Province of Canada, and at the time of confed- 

 eration (1867) a large portion of them was 

 ceded to the Province of Quebec. From time 

 to time the ecclesiastical authorities have de- 

 manded the transfer of the Jesuits' estates to 

 the Roman Catholic Church. In 1878 it was 

 claimed that the bishops were the rightful 

 heirs to the suppressed order. In 1887 the 

 Quebec Legislature passed an act incorporat- 

 ing the Jesuits, and the Quebec Government 

 entered into negotiations with the Jesuits and 

 with the Holy See for a settlement of the 

 long-disputed claims. In these negotiations 

 the Premier, the Hon. Honore Mercier, refused 

 to recognize any civil obligation, but merely 

 "a moral obligation," on the part of the Gov- 

 ernment. The Jesuit fathers were authorized 

 by the Pope to treat with the Government, on 

 condition that the money received be depos- 



ited and left at the free disposal of the Holy 

 See. Finally an agreement was made and 

 ratified by the Legislature, at this session, in 

 the act respecting the settlement of the Jes- 

 uits' estates. Under this act the Government 

 of the Province pays $400,000 to the Society 

 of Jesus, and also transfers Laprarie Common 

 to it, and pays $60,000 to the Protestant Com- 

 mittee of the Council of Public Instruction for 

 the purposes of higher education. The society 

 in its own behalf, for its suppressed prede- 

 cessor, for the Pope, and for the Roman 

 Catholic Church generally accepts the grant 

 as a full settlement. 



The passage of the act gave great offense to 

 Protestants, and the Dominion Government 

 was urged to exercise its power of disallow- 

 ance ; but the Dominion Government took the 

 ground that, wise or unwise, the legislation 

 was within the competence of the Provincial 

 Legislature. Some politicians were unkind 

 enough to say that the act was passed in the 

 hope that it would be disallowed, in which 

 case the Quebec ministry would have appealed 

 to the electorate upon an issue that would 

 have greatly strengthened thek weak ma- 

 jority. 



R 



REFORMED CHTRCHES. The following table of is published in the "Almanac for the Reformed 

 comparative statistics of the Reformed Churches Church in the United States" for 1889: 



* Tt:ese four organizations compose the General Synod of the Reformed Church in Austria, 

 t Estimated. $ In United Church of Japan. 



