The War Upon Religion Part 19

It now became quite evident that the plans of Bismarck must require a reversal of his former policy. Accordingly, in 1880, a beginning was made by a slight modification of the obnoxious laws. The Government thereby yielded its claim to the right of deposing ecclesiastics; in 1881, it recognized the vicars-general who had been appointed through ecclesiastical channels to administer the dioceses of Paderborn, Osnabruck and Breslau; nor were these prelates required to take the oath of blind obedience to obnoxious laws. The bishoprics of Fulda and of Treves had been filled by papal appointment, the former receiving as its inc.u.mbent, Mgr. Kopp, and the latter, Mgr. Korum; strange to say, the Chancellor recognized both prelates.

These victories of the Catholics, slight in themselves, were powerful as evidencing the direction of governmental policies. The reversion, however, of Bismarck, was not so quickly followed by the creatures whom he had placed in the Chambers, and whose hostility to Catholic interests continued as violent and bitter as ever. "Let us be patient for one or two years," cried Bennigsen, the leader of the Liberals, "and we shall see the fruits of our glorious policy; we shall have conquered the Pope." In two years, 1882, the Pope remained unconquered, while in Germany the Catholic party increased in numbers and in power.

On May 31, 1883, new concessions were made to the Catholics. Provision was made for the pardoning of deposed bishops, the legal formalities required by candidates for ecclesiastical offices could be dispensed with at the option of the Minister of Worship, the State examinations of ecclesiastical students were set aside. Still the May Laws remained upon the statute books, and against them the Centre party, under the leadership of Windthorst, continued to protest even though advised to show some leniency by Mgr. Galimberti. The firmness of the great leader was rewarded. The affair of the Caroline Islands, disputed between Germany and Spain, gave Bismarck an opportunity of approaching the Holy See with better grace than before. Accordingly the Chancellor arranged that the Holy Father, Leo XIII., should be invited to arbitrate between the contending nations. The Sovereign Pontiff could not help being happily impressed by this diplomatic action on the part of the two powers, which thereby recognized the Holy Father as a temporal sovereign despite the Piedmontese occupation of Rome.

The successful result of the papal arbitration opened up new avenues whereby reconciliation might be effected in Germany. The Sees of Cologne and Fribourg were at once filled, and Mgr. Kopp, Bishop of Fulda, was offered a seat in the Upper House of Prussia. In return for the many evidences of good feeling thus betrayed by the Government, Cardinal Ledochowski, who knew himself to be a persona non grata to the Prussian State, resigned his diocese of Posen, which was immediately filled by a new inc.u.mbent, Mgr. Dinder. On May 21, 1886, the theological schools were re-established as they had been before the beginning of the Kulturkampf. The High Court inst.i.tuted for the adjudging of ecclesiastical affairs was suppressed, and the Sovereign Pontiff was. .h.i.therto to be recognized as the superior judge in such matters. The elections of February, 1887, increased the numbers of the Centre party, and Bismarck, thereupon, deemed the time fitting to end once for all the supreme trial of the Kulturkampf. Certain modifications of the May Laws were placed in the hands of the Centre; some were accepted, others rejected. The concessions, however, were of such a nature that they might be in a way accepted, inasmuch as they gave promise of other and larger benefits. Through that diplomatic farsightedness which ever distinguished the great Pope Leo XIII., affairs were gradually a.s.suming a condition satisfactory to the Catholics of Germany, although Windthorst and the Centre Party still claimed many concessions due in ordinary justice. The peace finally concluded, the Holy Father conferred upon the Chancellor the Order of Christ. It was a complimentary decoration that if it did not win the real convictions of Bismarck, at least served to silence any open hostility on his part for the future.

The May Laws were finally revised in the Reichstag and abolished.

Thenceforth cordial relations were established between the Pope and the Emperor William II. The Catholics of Germany began to taste the fruits of peace; today they have become a power in the country.

CHAPTER VI.

The Third Republic.

The Second Empire, especially during its last ten years, had proven itself no less hostile and treacherous to the Church than had many of its predecessors. This was evident most of all in the unworthy treatment of the Holy See during its trying conflict with the revolutionists of Italy. France had encouraged the spoliation of the Papal States by the forces of Garibaldi and Victor Emmanuel, and in 1870 it was forced to abandon Rome to the Italian Unionists. Before this last act had been consummated, however, a revolution broke out in France, September 4, 1870, and overturned the imperial Government.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FATHER OLIVAINT, S. J., and OTHER MARTYRS OF THE COMMUNE.]

The new republic was born in the midst of war and confusion. The Prussians were already displaying admirable vigor and activity, and the cause of France was trembling in the balance. A provisory government was established, ent.i.tled the Government of the National Defence. During the five and a half months of its life the National Defence held its sessions in Paris, then surrounded by the besieging forces of the enemy.

In the meantime the French armies met with one defeat after another.

Paris itself capitulated on Jan. 29, 1871. Preliminaries of peace were signed that day at Versailles and confirmed by the Treaty of Frankfort on May 10 of the same year. After the capitulation of Paris a general election was held to provide representatives to a national a.s.sembly.

This a.s.sembly met at Bordeaux and named Adolph Thiers, Chief of the Executive of the French Republic. On August 31 of the same year, 1871, Thiers was elected President of the Republic. The presidents thence to the present time were: Marshal MacMahon, from May 24, 1873 to 1879; Jules Grevy, from January 30, 1879 to December, 1887; Sadi Carnot, from December 3, 1887, to his a.s.sa.s.sination in June, 1894; Casimir Perier, from June 27, 1894, to January, 1895; Felix Faure, from January 17, 1895, to his death, Feb. 16, 1899; Loubet, from Feb. 18, 1899, to February, 1906; Fallieres, at present holding that office.

_THE COMMUNE._

It was while the Prussian army was yet encamped near Paris, during the months of March, April and May of 1871, that the Commune held its sway.

At the very moment when France was bleeding from a thousand wounds, the International, taking advantage of the circ.u.mstances, and aided by 150,000 of the National Guard, took possession of Paris and ruled the city with a high hand. On March 18 the a.s.sembly fled to Versailles, leaving the place in the hands of the insurgents. On the 26th a species of election was held which surrendered the destinies of the Capital to the Commune. It numbered among its members fifty-four Jacobins, Blanquists and Hebertists, out of a total of seventy-nine. It was an a.s.sembly of Internationalists indeed. During the two months that followed, from March 18 to May 26, nothing was done without the approbation or intervention of the International.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ABBE DEGUERRY. A Martyr of the Commune.]

Socialists of a later date, in their shame over the excesses of their party, have endeavored to excuse their actions; but the cold facts of history stand unshaken to condemn them, and to point out the sort of destiny to which practical socialism must inevitably lead.

The Commune was an orgy of dissipation. Its officials, to compensate themselves for their services, sat down to banquets worthy of Sardanapalus, where there was no lack of the wines of Beaune and Macon, nor of litres of cognac, nor of routs unmentionable. The simple National Guards gorged themselves with wine and alcohol, while the common people looked on and howled their approbation and applause. There were women in their ranks, dressed as men, who feared neither sword nor rifle, and to whom in their uns.e.xed condition the horrors of bloodshed and conflagration acted as intoxicating draughts of burning absinthe.

The Commune was above all an explosion of rage against religion and the middle cla.s.ses. All who in any way represented religion or the social order--priests, magistrates, soldiers, police--were arrested and cast into prison as "hostages." The Archbishop of Paris, Mgr. Darboy; M.

Bonjean, President of the Tribunal; M. Deguerry, Pastor of the Madeleine; the Jesuits; the Fathers of Picpus; the Dominicans; the Sulpicians, and other priests, besides an entire convent of religious women, were confined in the various jails of the city. The Commune imprisoned about 5000 persons, both lay and clerical. At the same time it laid hands upon the property of the churches, sacked the Archbishop's palace, and turned the churches to sacrilegious and scandalous uses.

Feeling at length that its victory could only be short-lived, and that Paris must soon fall before the army of MacMahon, surrounding it from without, the Commune began its campaign of destruction of the city itself. Vast quant.i.ties of petroleum were procured, and tons of gun-powder were made the instruments for furthering this end. On the night of May 21, the army of Versailles made a breach in the walls, the savage instincts of the mob were loosened and the "b.l.o.o.d.y week" began.

Cluseret, the International, had already written: "It is we, or nothing! Paris will be ours, or it will cease to exist." The Commune accomplished as much as it could of this sinister programme.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ADOLF THIERS. First President of French Republic.]

As the army of Versailles advanced, the Communards applied the torch to every monument of note that came in their way.

During the 23rd of May petroleum was poured upon the Tuileries, and all along the Rue de Lille. Toward the end of the day the buildings on the Rue Royale and the Rue Saint-Honore were burning. The Court of Accounts, the Legion of Honor, the Council of State, the Barracks, went down one by one. The next day the flames attacked the Prefecture of Police, the City Hall, the Custom House, the Archives and other buildings. How far the fury of the Communards might have gone toward the complete destruction of Paris cannot be said; it was a fortunate circ.u.mstance which saved from their torches the Louvre with its treasures of art, and the great Church of Notre Dame.

When it was not possible to employ fire, the artillery was called into action. The batteries of Pere-Lachaise poured shot and sh.e.l.l against the dome of St. Augustine's, the bourse, the post-office, and other prominent edifices. Murder accompanied the horrors of fire. Men were shot down in the open street, or stabbed in the shadows of dark alleys.

Six hostages, among them Mgr. Darboy and M. Bonjean fell at La Roquette.

Fifteen priests and religious sustained on that day the agonies that make martyrs, pierced with bullets, transfixed by bayonets, and beaten to death by the blows of a savage mob. With them a number of laymen fell victims to hatred on that fateful 25th of May, 1871.

[Ill.u.s.tration: JULES FERRY.]

While all Europe felt a thrill of horror at these cowardly and brutal deeds, socialism seized the occasion to chant the praises of the Commune. Its princ.i.p.al organ, the _Vorbote_, calls it a revolution "which the socialist democracy of the whole world ought to hail with enthusiasm," "which is only an episode in the social revolution." "The Commune is dead," it cried, "Long live the Commune!"

_ANTI-CLERICALISM._

It is not surprising that a Government born under such auspices should prove very unfavorable to the cause of religious and social freedom. The first promptings of war against the Church had sounded in the very first moments of the Third Republic. Its actual declaration and acts of hostility required a preparation of several years. It was on May 4, 1877, that M. Gambetta terminated his vehement a.s.sault upon the Catholic Church in the Chamber of Deputies with those words which have become famous: "Our enemy is clericalism!" In spite of the protest uttered by the Count de Mun, the Chamber acquiesced silently in the charge and thereby betrayed its evident purpose of antagonizing the Church. The administration of President MacMahon proving unfavorable to anti-religious sectarianism, it was determined to compel the hero of so many battles to resign--a consummation that was finally effected in January, 1879.

_THE CAMPAIGN OF JULES FERRY._

The following election placed Jules Grevy in the chair, with Jules Ferry as Minister of Public Instruction. The latter, one of the most acrobatic and unscrupulous demagogues of the century, would have courted the favor of the Catholic party had it been dominant at the time; but his ambition for power and notoriety led him to the side he found most opportune. His zeal against the Church was increased by the compet.i.tion of such rivals as Gambetta, Brisson and Paul Bert, all worthy apostles in the cause of de-christianization. The law of laicisation const.i.tutes the culminating point in the life of Jules Ferry.

This law was not of recent origin; it had already been proposed in 1876, by the extreme Left. Paul Bert was then one of its most enthusiastic exponents. It is a law that denies to French Catholics the most essential liberties.

It required the elimination of the religious element in the Superior Council of Public Instruction, the reservation to the State of the monopoly of degrees, the suppression of mixed juries,--established by the law of 1875 in regard to higher education,--the suppression of university rights for every Catholic establishment of superior education, and, finally, it a.s.serted that every member of a Congregation not authorized should be held incapable of partic.i.p.ating in any instruction public or private. In a word, it made the Catholic an outcast in the domain of education.

The discussion upon the law took place in the Chamber from June 16 to July 9, 1879. During this time the high lodges of Masonry hoped to diminish in the eyes of Catholics the importance of this law. But the Catholic Press did its duty; the question was placed in its proper light, public attention was awakened, and the contest promised to become warm. It became especially bitter when the discussions touched upon the Congregations. Jules Ferry had inserted in the bill, under Article VII., the words: "No one shall be permitted to partic.i.p.ate in instruction, whether public or private, or to direct an establishment of instruction, of whatever order it may be, who belongs to a Congregation not authorized."

These few lines awakened the Catholics of the country, and with them the more honest republicans. To declare an immense category of French citizens incapable of teaching, in spite of the fact that they held diplomas, and that only because they pleased to live in community, const.i.tuted the most evident violation of justice and equality.

A cry of protest went up from every side. Jules Ferry, realizing that he was playing his highest stakes, and urged on by his brethren, struggled desperately for his _Article_. Moreover, all the Masonic lodges had entered into the contest; every morning the irreligious journals, denounced the Congregations as the great peril of the nation. Political questions, both foreign and domestic, seemed to have no more interest; the military reorganization of Germany was forgotten; all attention was concentrated upon the Congregations, the members of which were themselves astonished at the importance given to them by their adversaries; even in the tribune it was considered proper to discuss cases of conscience selected from old volumes of Jesuit theologians.

Nevertheless, despite the mobilization of all the forces of irreligion, despite the explosion of the most unbridled anger that was ever seen since the Revolution, despite the personal intervention of De Freycinet at the Luxembourg the Senate, influenced by more than 1,800,000 protests from heads of families, vetoed _Article VII_. Jules Ferry was defeated, and every one imagined his defeat to be definitive.

[Ill.u.s.tration: JULES GReVY.]

The worthy Minister of Public Instruction revised his tactics. Repulsed in one method of action, he knew how to gain his end by other and more decisive ways. On March 27, 1880, in concert with his friends of the Cabinet, he induced the President to affix his signature to the famous decrees of expulsion. In virtue of these decrees, which were launched under the pretence of "existing laws," thousands of religious were expelled from their convents--with what violence, and in the midst of what protestations and tragic incidents, it would take too long to tell.

When the decrees were made known to the Pope Leo XIII., on March 31, the Holy Father replied to M. Desprez, then amba.s.sador of France to the Holy See:

The Church, which seeks the salvation of souls, has no more ardent desire than to preserve peace with those who govern public affairs, and to strengthen that peace among peoples.

At the same time, the Church never changes. We are plunged in grief to learn that it is intended to adopt certain measures in regard to the religious Congregations. In the eyes of the Holy See the Congregations are all of equal value. Our heart is torn with the profoundest sorrow to learn that they have become the b.u.t.t of a hostile power, and it is our duty to raise our voice to protest in their favor.

Still later, in writing to Cardinal Guibert, the Holy Father said:

As soon as the expulsion of the Company of Jesus was ordered, we have directed our Nuncio in Paris to bear our remonstrances to the members of the government of the Republic, and to represent to them the injustice of this treatment accorded to men of virtue, of devotion, and of recognized and approved learning. But, as the remonstrances formulated by our Nuncio have been fruitless, we were on the point of raising our Apostolic voice, as it was our right and our duty to do, when it was represented to us that there was a chance of arresting the execution of the decrees.

This last resource, which M. de Freycinet proposed to the Holy Father, was to obtain from the Congregations not yet stricken the written declaration that they were not hostile to the political inst.i.tutions of France. Following the guidance of Cardinals Guibert and Bonnechose, and counselled by the Holy Father, the Congregations appended their signatures to the declaration. The action of M. Freycinet only aroused the anger of the Masons, whose adherents in the Cabinet met the declaration and destroyed it as soon as presented. Freycinet was not long in meeting summary punishment from the sectaries. On the day following the presentation of the declaration he was forced to resign his portfolio.

_EXPULSION OF RELIGIOUS._