FRANCE. 



lion are guilty of a punishable offense. Members 

 of religious orders bound by vows of obedience, 

 poverty, and celibacy are debarred from being 

 electors, and members of dissolved orders from 

 teaching unless they prove that their member- 

 ship has been terminated. The prohibition of con- 

 gregational schools and of all professional instruc- 

 tion by members of non-authorized orders was 

 considered by many a blow dealt at secondary 

 schools that would have deplorable results, and 

 was, moreover,- an infraction of the principle of 

 the liberty of education, which was made a part 

 of the French law in 1830 as regards elementary 

 schools, in 1850 for intermediate education, and in 

 1875 for higher education, and limited only by the 

 law of 1880 subjecting the qualifications of 

 teachers and school standards to state super- 

 vision. A proposal supported by M. Ribot and 

 the Republican Opposition to sever this clause 

 from the bill and enact a separate bill on schools 

 was opposed by M. Waldeck-Rousseau as equiva- 

 lent to wrecking the bill and overturning the 

 Cabinet, and was rejected by 297 votes to 248. 

 The bill does not apply to the colonies, in some of 

 which the religious orders perform the work of 

 parish priests, while in others foreign orders are 

 established under international treaties, so that 

 the dissolution of French orders would leave to 

 these a monopoly. The colonies will therefore 

 continue to be regulated by decrees. Gifts and 

 bequests for sheltering and reconstituting dis- 

 solved orders were declared to be null and void, 

 the burden of proof, according to an amendment 

 emanating from the Clerical side, being placed 

 upon the state. Associations are obliged to fur- 

 nish an annual balance-sheet on demand of the 

 prefect of police. Associations between French- 

 men and foreigners must have the authorization 

 of the Council of State, and those having a for- 

 eign domicile or foreign directors can not be 

 formed without special authorization by Parlia- 

 ment, nor can associations the members of which 

 live in common. All deeds of property to associa- 

 tions whose members live in community were de- 

 clared null and void. On the motion of a Social- 

 ist an amendment was adopted providing for the 

 dissolution of associations whose acts are such 

 as to falsify the normal conditions of buying or 

 selling and of such as menace the integrity of 

 the national territory and the republican govern- 

 ment. 



The general application of the bill to all asso- 

 ciations except commercial ones was dreaded by 

 many, and especially by the Socialists, who feared 

 that it would be applied by some future ministry 

 to objects for which it was not intended, as such 

 measures often have before. M. Groussier pro- 

 posed a clause giving the right to form associa- 

 tions without authorization or previous declara- 

 tion, but depriving them of the right to sue unless 

 they do conform to the clause requiring them to 

 register their name, objects, statutes, and mem- 

 bership. By an amendment of M. Fourniere this 

 permission is confined to non-religious associa- 

 tions. Every authorized body has the right of 

 legal personality to the extent that it can hold 

 property necessary to the fulfilment of its ob- 

 * and be represented before the tribunals by 



s officers. No property not needed for or de- 

 voted to the purposes set forth in the registered 

 declaration can be legally held by any associa- 

 tion, nor can its funds be invested in the names of 

 other persons. The civil courts are empowered 

 to dissolve unlawful and refractory associations 

 on the motion of an interested person or of the 

 public authorities. In considering applications 

 for authorization, weight is given to any objec- 



tions made by the local authorities. Religious 

 associations before receiving authorizations must 

 promise obedience to the bishop of the diocese, 

 and can not obtain it unless the bishop accepts 

 jurisdiction. All schools must keep a register of 

 the birthplace, nationality, antecedents, and di- 

 plomas of its teachers. The bill was passed in the 

 Chamber on March 31, by 303 votes to 224. The 

 amendment providing for the payment of a capi- 

 tal sum or an annual income out of the unclaimed 

 assets of dissolved associations to members who 

 have no sure means of existence or who can prove 

 that they have contributed to the acquisition 

 of the common riches of the order was made by 

 the Senate, which passed the bill on June 23, by 

 173 votes to 99. The bill became law on July 1. 

 The associations bill was in no way directed 

 against the parish clergy, who are state officials, 

 receiving stipends from the Government by virtue 

 of the concordat. The persons aimed at are the 

 members of the religious corporations, auxiliary 

 associations of the Church, having their own spe- 

 cial statutes, rivals and competitors often of the 

 parish priests, only partially subordinated to the 

 episcopate, sometimes rebellious against the slight 

 episcopal control to which they are subjected, and 

 responsible only to the Pope and to their su- 

 periors, who in the great orders are foreigners. 

 Headed by the Jesuits, the Dominicans, and the 

 Passionists, these societies, with their enormous 

 membership, formed a most prevailing and potent 

 element in the economical as well as the social 

 life of France, and the greatest of them had for 

 their objects nothing connected with French na- 

 tional aims and interests, but the international 

 ends and cosmopolitan policy pursued by the 

 Catholic Church. The Pope instructed the re- 

 ligious orders to apply for authorization if they 

 desired, furnishing the state authorities with a 

 synopsis only of their statutes, not submitting 

 their ancient rules and constitutions. They were 

 allowed to promise submission to the bishops, 

 but only such submission as is conformable to the 

 character of each institution. While episcopal 

 rights over the external or parochial operations of 

 the religious orders are respected, the direct de- 

 pendence of the latter on the Holy See can not be 

 impaired. There were 152 male and 1,511 female 

 communities in France, of which 5 male and 905 

 female communities had been authorized prior 

 to the new law, which, however, obliged them to 

 make fresh applications. The 147 male non-author- 

 ized communities possessed 2,010 and the 006 

 female ones possessed 2,282 establishments, be- 

 sides which the authorized orders had 1,276 male 

 and 272 female establishments that had not been 

 authorized. There were in all 4,292 establish- 

 ments requiring authorization by Parliament and 

 12,176 requiring authorization by the Council of 

 State. The time for making applications expired 

 on Oct. 2. Only 1,740 male and 1,227 female es- 

 tablishments sent in applications for sanction by t 

 Parliament and 39 male and 2,135 female estab- 

 lishments applied to the Council of State, making 

 5,141 out of 16,468 establishments, containing over 

 400,000 inmates, which leaves 11,327 establish- 

 ments which made no application. The sisters 

 of St. Vincent de Paul, having 1,045 establish- 

 ments, applied for authorization, and so did 1,352 

 other female establishments devoted to nursing 

 and other charitable work. The Assumptionists, 

 the Jesuits, the Passionists, and some of the 

 minor orders placed their property outside of 

 French jurisdiction before the term for application 

 expired. The Carmelite, Oblate, and Benedictine 

 nuns took refuge in England, Switzerland, Spain, 

 and Italy. The Jesuits sent their novices to Hoi- 



