The French Laic Laws (1879–1889): The First Anti-Clerical Campaign of the Third French Republic 9780231894043

Table of contents :
Preface
Contents
I. Relations between Church and State from 1871 to 1879
II. The Roots of Republican Anti-Clericalism
III. The Roots of Republican Anti-Clericalism: The Renaissance of Jacobin Nationalism
IV. Laic Laws concerning Higher and Secondary Education
V. The Reform of Primary Education
VI. Other Laic Legislation
VII. Attacks on the Concordat and Religious Orders
VIII. Conclusion
Bibliography
Index

Citation preview

S T U D I E S IN H I S T O R Y , ECONOMICS, A N D PUBLIC L A W Edited by the FACULTY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

N U M B E R 48

THE FRENCH LAIC LAWS (1879-1889) BT

EVELYN M. ACOMB

T H E FRENCH LAIC LAWS (1879-1889) The First Anti-Clerical Campaign of the Third French Republic

BY

EVELYN M. ACOMB, Ph.D.

NEW

York

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON : P. S . KING & SON, L T D .

1941

COPYRIGHT,

1941

BY

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

PRESS

PRINTED I N T H E UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

¡Kn mg ¿Botfyrr anb JTatíjrr DORA GRAY ACOMB AND

WILLIAM EDWARD ACOMB

PREFACE IN the decade after the adoption of a constitution for the Third French Republic, the moderate republicans who were in control o f the government devoted a great part of their energies to the passage of a number of " laic laws," which secularized French institutions and restricted the privileges which the Catholic Church had enjoyed. In the following pages the origins, nature, and significance of these measures will be studied. Hitherto they have been treated in a partisan spirit, anti-clerical or Catholic. The point of view of the present author is that of a Protestant who believes that the civil and religious liberty of those of every faith should be preserved. Certain aspects of the anti-clerical movement have been discussed in biographies and in histories of French politics, education, laicism, and religion, but no unbiased, liberal, and integral synthesis has yet been written. The subject is one o f contemporary interest in a period when nationalistic, totalitarian states are crushing civil and religious liberties and substituting the worship of the Fatherland for that of a benevolent Deity. This study should contribute, moreover, to an understanding of the disintegration of the Third French Republic and of the religious policy of the Vichy government. It is difficult to acknowledge adequately the encouragement and assistance which numerous friends and members of my family have given me. I am deeply grateful to Professor C. J . H. Hayes, under whose direction this work was carried on, for his penetrating insight into the significance of the subject and wise counsel. I am likewise indebted to Professors Jacques Barzun, Jean-Albert Bédé, Shepard B. Clough, Charles W . Cole, Charlotte Muret, and Leo J . Wollemborg, who read the manuscript carefully and gave me the benefit of their suggestions. Professor Isaac Kandel of Teachers' College and P r o fessor Donald M c K a y of Harvard University discussed various aspects of the question with me. My research was made possible by the grant of the Alice Freeman Palmer Fellowship from Wellesley College. NEW YORK, 1941

7

CONTENTS PAGE PREFACE

7

CHAPTER

I

Relations between Church and State from 1871 to 1879 1. T h e Status of the Concordat and Organic Articles 2. Sources of Strength and Weakness in the Catholic Church . . 3. T h e G r o w i n g Power of the Republicans and Their Attitude toward the Concordat . CHAPTER

32

II

T h e R o o t s of Republican Anti-Clericalism 1. T h e Monarchist Sympathies of the Clergy and the Absolutism of the Papacy 2. Increasing Influence of Anti-clerical Philosophies and of Liberal Protestantism 3. Interest in Educational Reform . 4. Appeasement of Conservatives and Radicals through the Substitution of Anti-Clericalism for Social Reform 5. T h e Relation between Anti-Clericalism and French Foreign Policy , CHAPTER

11 11 15

41 41 43 58 62 82

III

The Roots of Republican Anti-Clericalism: T h e Renaissance of Jacobin Nationalism . . 94 1. Source and Character of the Nationalism of the Period . 94 2. Propaganda A g e n c i e s of the Jacobin Nationalists: the Public Primary School, the A r m y , the Press, the Educational League, and Freemasonry 108 3. Intolerance of the Republican Jacobin Nationalists 122 CHAPTER

IV

Laic L a w s concerning Higher and Secondary Education 1. T h e Curtailment of the Rights of Catholic Universities and the A t t a c k on the Unauthorized Religious Orders 2. T h e Reorganization of the Higher Council of Public Education and the Suppression of the Faculties of Catholic Theology 3. T h e Establishment of Secondary Schools for Girls and the A t tempt to Regulate Private Secondary Education 9

130 130 148 153

IO

CONTENTS CHAPTER

V

The Reform of Primary Education . . 1. T h e Creation of Primary Normal Schools and the Suppression of the Letters of Obedience . . . . . . . . 2. T h e Provision for Free, Compulsory, and L a y Primary Education 3. T h e Exclusion of the Religious Orders from Public Primary Schools and the Reorganization of the Departmental Council CHAPTER

163 168 176

VI

Other Laic Legislation . . . 1. Reduction in the Number of A r m y Chaplains and Requirement of Universal Military Service • . . . . . . . . 2. T h e Divorce Law of 1884 . 3. Secularization of the Cemetery, Encouragement of Civil Funerals, and Attempt to Abolish the Vestry Monopoly of Funerals 4. Laicization of Charitable Bureaux, Definition of the Relations between the Commune and Church Vestry, and Secularization of the Panthéon . . . . . . . . . . . 5. T h e Legalization of Labor on Religious Holidays, the Attempt to Secularize the Courts, the Abolition of Public Prayers for Parliament, and the Removal from the Press Law of Penalties for A t t a c k s on Religion CHAPTER

163

183 183 193 202

207

216

VII

Attacks on the Concordat and Religious Orders 224 1. Proposals for Separation of Church and State and for Stricter Execution of the Concordat . . . . 224 2. Discrimination against the Religious Orders in regard to Scholarships, Freedom of Association, and Taxation 229 3. Reasons for Failure to Carry Anti-Clericalism Further . . . . 236 CHAPTER

VIII

Conclusion

249

BIBLIOGRAPHY

261

INDEX

273

CHAPTER I R E L A T I O N S B E T W E E N CHURCH A N D STATE FROM 1871 TO 1879 I T H E T h i r d French Republic, born of a disastrous military defeat and but newly endowed with a f o r m a l constitution, w a s confronted in 1876 with g r a v e problems. Monarchist pretenders threatened the government within and a hostile G e r m a n y without. T h e radical republicans demanded the restoration of civil liberties; democratic

institutions; separation

of

church

and

state; free, compulsory, and lay primary education; a progressive income tax ; national ownership of

banks, mines,

railroads; revision of the constitution; and amnesty

and

f o r the

communards. 1 T h e moderate republicans, w h o had recently w o n a m a j o r i t y in the Chamber of Deputies, were at last in a position to carry out these reforms, the greater number of which they themselves had promised. Y e t their leaders, the dynamic and

brilliant

Gambetta

and the v i g o r o u s and keen

Ferry,

warned of the danger in attempting to solve all at once. Instead, they devoted their energies to a w a r upon clericalism, an issue which had embittered French politics throughout the nineteenth century. A s early as December 3, 1874 Gambetta had w r i t t e n : . . . Europe moves rapidly towards a political and religious crisis in which the Jesuits are the most dangerous antagonists; the moment has come to make them known without idle talk or passion, stealing their secrets from them. 2 A g a i n on A u g u s t 20, 1875 he confided to A r t h u r R a n c : 1 Léon Jacques, Les Partis Politiques 1912), p. 163.

sous la Troisième

République

(Paris,

2 Léon Gambetta, Lettres de Gambetta, 1868-82, Daniel H a l é v y and Émile Pillias, editors ( P a r i s , 1938), N o . 223.

11

12

THE

FRENCH

LAIC

LAWS

I have the intention, already executed in part, of carrying on a campaign in the press against the clericals, of unmasking their doctrines, and of showing the country, by the example of Belgium, towards what decadence freedom of instruction leads France.3 In the elections of 1876 and 1877 he attributed to clericalism the misfortunes of France. 4 Within the next decade the republicans enacted a series of measures, known as the " laic laws," which secularized the institutions and ceremonies of the national state and endeavored to make the Church a subservient instrument of its will. The nature and course of this legislation and the immediate origins of the anti-clericalism which inspired it will be studied in the following pages. First, however, it is necessary to understand the position of the Catholic Church in France in the years following the Franco-Prussian War and the concordatory regime under which it functioned. The celebrated Concordat, which had been entered into by Napoleon I and Pope Pius V I I in 1801 for their mutual advantage, contained a preamble, stating that the Catholic religion was that of the great majority of the French people and of the consuls, and seventeen articles. Article one declared that the Catholic faith " will be practised freely in France; its worship will be public, conforming to the police regulations that the government will judge necessary for the public tranquillity." The other articles provided that the bishops were to be named by the government and instituted by the pope, as under the old regime. The bishops were, in turn, to nominate the cures, whose appointment the government must confirm. They could establish cathedral chapters and seminaries, which the state was not obligated to endow, and they were given the use of unalienated churches.5 The courts later held that the communes were the proprietors of these churches and of parish presbyteries, and the departments and state of cathedrals and episcopal 3 Ibid., No. 248. 4 Ibid., No. 343. 5 Lavisse et Rambaud, editors, Histoire ( P a r i s , 1897), I X , 260-61.

Genérale du IV'

Siécle á Nos

Jours

CHURCH

AND

STATE:

187I

TO

1879

13

palaces.® In articles thirteen and fourteen the pope agreed to renounce his right to alienated ecclesiastical property, but the government promised to pay the salaries of bishops and curés.7 The Concordat did not describe this remuneration as an indemnity, but these two articles were always coupled in the negotiations and in the government's defense of the convention.8 The French clergy were required to take an oath of fidelity to the government and, at the end of the divine office, to pray for the welfare of the republic and of the consuls.9 The pope recognized in the First Consul the same rights and privileges which former governments had enjoyed with him, which, according to the point of view taken, might mean only honorary prerogatives or all the rights upheld by the Gallican kings against the encroachments of Rome. The Concordat did not mention the regular clergy, despite the fact that religious orders existed in France and were being given legal status while negotiations for the convention were in process.10 Some of the provisions of the Concordat were no longer observed in the 1870's. The clergy were no longer required to take an oath of fidelity to the republic,11 and the government secured the agreement of Rome before appointing bishops.12 Ostensibly to define the police power which the government had by virtue of article one, but in reality to recapture the 6 G. Pariset, Le Consulat

et l'Empire.

Histoire

de France

Contemporaine,

Ernest Lavisse, editor ( P a r i s , 1921), I I I , 93. 7 Lavisse et Rambaud, op. cit., I X , 261. 8 Pariset, op. cit., I I I , 94. 9 Lavisse et Rambaud, op. cit., I X , 260-61. 10 Pariset, op. cit., I I I , 94-96. 11 Journal Officiel mentaires,

de la République

Française.

Chambre.

Documents

Parle-

I, Feb. 1882, pp. 278-79, N o . 351. H e r e a f t e r cited as J. O. C. If

the number is given, the reference is to the documents ; if not, to the debates. 12 A . Debidour, L'Église 1906-09), I, 11.

Catholique

et l'État sous la

République

(Paris,

THE FRENCH

14 Gallican r i g h t s

13

LAIC

LAWS

o f the F r e n c h m o n a r c h s , N a p o l e o n h a d a p -

pended to the C o n c o r d a t a series o f O r g a n i c A r t i c l e s

which

regulated both C a t h o l i c a n d P r o t e s t a n t churches. T h e C a t h o l i c C h u r c h maintained that these articles exceeded the police p o w e r over

public

worship

given

the

state

and

dealt

with

purely

spiritual questions o f discipline and doctrine in a m a n n e r sometimes in contradiction w i t h canon l a w a n d even w i t h the C o n c o r d a t . 1 1 S o m e o f the O r g a n i c A r t i c l e s , v e r y Gallican in c h a r acter, were, in this period, violated w i t h the tacit approval o f the g o v e r n m e n t . T h u s the requirement that the Declaration o f 1682,15

the cornerstone

of

" Gallican

liberties,"

should

be

t a u g h t in the seminaries w a s n o longer observed, bishops could not be kept f r o m t r a v e l i n g at their pleasure, a n d their costumes and titles w e r e not regulated b y the g o v e r n m e n t . F r e e d o m o f the press nullified the regulation that the state m u s t authorize the publication o f pontifical bulls. 1 6 O t h e r p r o v i s i o n s of the O r g a n i c A r t i c l e s w e r e still observed. T h e Council o f

S t a t e could punish the c l e r g y

for " abuse."

13 According to the " liberties of the Gallican Church," papal bulls were excluded from F r a n c e if they did not have the sanction of the crown, French subjects were independent of Roman courts or of the decisions of Roman congregations, and French courts had jurisdiction in ecclesiastical affairs if French law were violated. Cambridge Modem History ( N e w York, 1902-12), V, 74. Papal legates could not enter or act within France and bishops could not leave the kingdom without the king's consent. The king might assemble councils within his dominions and make laws regarding ecclesiastical matters. H i s officers could not be excommunicated for official acts. T h e pope could not authorize the alienation of landed estates of the Church or issue dispensations contrary to its customs. A French subject might appeal from him to a f u t u r e council or have recourse to the " appeal as from an a b u s e " against acts of the ecclesiastical power. Catholic Encyclopedia, " Gallicanism." 14 Lavisse et Rambaud, op. cit., I X , 264-65. 15 The Declaration of 1682, one of the Gallican liberties, had stated that a general council was superior to the pope, that the temporal sovereignty of kings was independent of him, that his authority belonged to himself and the bishops jointly, and that the ancient liberties of the Gallican Church were sacred. C. J. H . Hayes, Political and Cultural History of Modern Europe ( N e w York, 1936), I, 312-13. 1 6 / . O. C., Feb. 1882, I, 278-79, No. 351.

CHURCH

AND S T A T E :

1871

TO

1879

15

Cures were assisted by vicars, and their parishes were divided into districts administered by desservants. There were 30,000 of the latter under 3,000 curcs; but since all priests were equal canonically, the desservants were appointed by and answerable only to the bishop, who could remove them, although he could not remove the curcs. When it is added that all exemptions from episcopal jurisdiction were abolished, it is evident that the Organic Articles gave the bishop far greater powers than under the old regime. Ecclesiastical establishments other than cathedrals and seminaries were suppressed, from which it might be inferred that religious orders could not exist. Vestries were established to care for the support of churches and the administration of alms. A nuptial benediction could be given only after a civil marriage. 17 The Reformed and Lutheran Churches were arbitrarily given their constitutions in the same Organic Articles. Their pastors continued to be elected by consistories but were authorized and paid by the government, which had extensive control over the worship and doctrine of the churches. The Jews were given almost as much liberty as the Catholics in a series of decrees issued in 1808. A s long as the rabbis were loyal, the emperor did not exercise his right to approve the election of members of consistories and of rabbis. He fixed a salary for the latter, but only by a law of 1 8 3 1 did the state pay it. 1 * II The enforcement of the Concordat and the non-observance of the more Gallican Organic Articles thus gave the Catholic Church a privileged and powerful position, which was enhanced by several other factors. Conservatives regarded the Church as a great bulwark against " free thought " and communism, whose terrors had been so recently witnessed in Paris. 19 The 17 Pariset, op. cit., I l l , 100-104. 18 Lavisse et Rambaud, op. cit., I X , 268-72. 19 M. Delpit, Martial pp. 238-46.

Delpit,

P. B. Des Valades, editor (Paris. 1897),

i6

THE

FRENCH

LAIC

LAWS

Church had gained in solidarity with the acceptance by all French bishops of the doctrine of papal infallibility, which the country priests already warmly supported.20 The bishops were also more ultramontane in their sympathies than formerly, because after 1871 the government secured the prior consent of the pope to their appointment.21 Their power to remove desservants at will, save for an appeal to Rome, ensured subordinates of their own views. The cathedral chapters, which had once been elective bodies, were now appointed by the bishop. The great majority of the instructors in the ecclesiastical schools were regulars, who were loyal to the papacy.22 The Church had acquired some privileges not provided for in the Concordat, such as the right to use episcopal palaces, the creation of new bishops and cardinals, increased salaries, the payment of canons and vicars-general by the state, the construction and subsidizing of seminaries by the government, the monopoly of funerals, and exemption of the clergy from military service.23 In 1876 there were some 55,000 priests, and the total budget for religious purposes amounted to about 52,000,000 francs. 24 The influence of the Church in education, which had been growing by leaps and bounds under the Second Empire, increased markedly in this period with the aid of new legislation. The Catholic Church was quick to take advantage of a law of 1875, which abolished the monopoly given to the University by Napoleon and established freedom of higher education for the first time. Catholic universities with the power to confer degrees were established at Paris, Lille, Angers, and Lyon. By a law of 1873 the state churches were represented on the Higher Council of Public Education and on the academic councils, 20 G. Hanotaux, Histoire de la France Contemporaine, 1871-içoo 1908), II, 649-51-

(Paris,

21 Debidour, op. cit., I, n . 2 2 / . 0. C., Dec. 9, 1876, p. 9159, No. 584; Dec. s, 1880, pp. 11954-56, No. 2961. 23 Journal Officiel de la République Française. Sénat. March 6, 1883, p. 236. Hereafter cited as J. O. S. 24 Hanotaux, op. cit., II, 651-53.

CHURCH

AND STATE:

1871

TO

1879

17

which supervised secondary education. The Falloux L a w of 1850, whose form had been shaped by the fear of socialism and by the desire to give the Church a larger part in education without destroying the University, was still in force. B y its terms, " free," that is, private, schools were inspected by the state only to insure " morality, hygiene, and sanitation " and to see that education conformed to " the constitution, morality, and the laws." A n article permitting individuals and associations to found and maintain schools had been considered an invitation to the religious orders to do so. Since the Jesuits were not mentioned, they had been assumed to have the same rights. There was no state control over preparatory ecclesiastical seminaries, no requirement, as previously, of attendance at a state school for the baccalaureate, and no exclusion from educational rights of members of religious orders. Ministers and teachers in primary schools for girls were exempt from the usual requirement of a qualifying certificate. Ministers were especially charged with the religious education of children and were admitted to the school house for that purpose. The curriculum of the primary school included moral and religious instruction. 25 A f t e r the passage of the Falloux L a w the Catholic " free " schools had gained tremendously in numbers and enrollment, private lay schools had fallen off correspondingly, and state schools had been faced with serious competition. The religious orders were influential in formulating methods and programs, since their members taught in public as well as in private schools. The religious orders themselves were growing steadily in numbers and in wealth. B y 1877 there were about 30,000 monks, of whom 1,800 were Jesuits, and 128,000 nuns. The 29 Jesuit secondary schools contained more than 10,000 students, while the 62 such schools of the other religious orders had nearly 1 1 , 0 0 0 students. 29 There were, in 1876, 3 2 au25 R. W . Collins, Catholicism and the Second French Republic, ( N e w York, 1923), pp. 266-98. 26 Joseph Brugerette, Le Prêtre ( P a r i s , 1935), H , 59-62.

1848-52

Français et la Société Contemporaine

l8

THE

FRENCH

LAIC

LAWS

thorized orders for men with 228 establishments and 22,843 members and 903 for women with 2,552 establishments and 113,750 members. There were 384 unauthorized establishments for men with 7,444 members and 602 for women with 14,003 members. 27 The unauthorized teaching orders had grown from 45 in 1850 to 94 in 1870 and 140 in 1 8 7 8 . " In 1878 there were 16,478 primary schools directed by authorized orders of nuns, of which 10,951 were public schools and 5,527 private. A u thorized orders of monks directed 2,328 public schools and 768 private schools. In 1880 there were 2,197,775 children taught in these schools out of a school population of 4,949,591. In 1878 the Frères des Écoles Chrétiennes directed 1,856 schools in France with about 68,000 students.2® In 1850 the authorized orders had held property worth only 43 million francs ; but in 1879 their holdings were worth 421 million francs, those of the unauthorized orders 160 million, and of the Jesuits alone 42 million. 30 In addition to their educational and philanthropic activities at home, the orders sent missionaries to the Far East, the Near East, and A f r i c a , who contributed as much to French imperialism as to the saving of heathen souls. The legal status of the religious orders was very confused. T h e unauthorized orders held that legal recognition was a privilege, not a necessity, and had, as a matter of fact, been tolerated by the government. T h e y based their right to existence on the common law principles of individual liberty, inviolability of domicile, and private property; and they based their right to live in common on article 291 of the Penal Code. The authorized orders were supposed to attain their civil personality through a law, but no such legislation had ever been enacted. In 1901 the Council of State declared that only four of the male orders had been legally authorized, although some had been recognized as 27 Hanotaux, op. cit., II, 653-54. 28 J. O. C., June 12, 1879, p. 5027. 29 Hanotaux, op. cit., II, 656. 3 0 J. O. C., D e c . 10, 1880, p. 12150.

CHURCH

AND STATE:

187I

TO 1 8 7 9

19

31

establishments of utilité publique engaged in charitable work or education. Many female orders had been recognized by ordinances or decrees.3® Among the population of France as a whole there seemed to be a quickening of the religious impulse, which was manifested in pilgrimages to shrines, in tales of miracles, and in the construction with public funds of the Church of the Sacred Heart on Montmartre. By a law of 1873 the elder curé of the commune and representatives of the Jewish and Protestant churches were made members of the administrative committees of hospitals and benevolent institutions. Religious influences were extended in the army by the law of 1874, which established military chaplains in time of peace for the first time since 1830. Ordinances required civil funerals to be held before dawn and to follow unfrequented routes. Catholic organizations to support religious education in the schools and to aid workingmen flourished. In 1868 the Society for Education and Instruction had been founded by Keller, Chesnelong, the Vicomte de Melun, and others 33 to encourage religious schools, study educational questions, and defend freedom of conscience. It was administered by a council, which, from its seat in Paris, carried on relations with local committees. On the council were many prominent members of parliament, Chesnelong, Keller, the Duc de Broglie, Lucien Brun, and the Baron de Mackau, all of whom were active in combatting the anti-clerical legislation.34 The society published a monthly bulletin,35 studied bills before parliament, gathered statistics on the effects of laicization, and examined textbooks in morals and civics and the classics for irreligious tendencies. 31 A religious order which had been recognized as an establishment of utilité publique could buy and sell property and sue in the courts. 32 Paul Nourrisson, Histoire de la Liberté 1789 (Paris, 1920), II, 219-25. 33 Gustave Gautherot, Émile Keller

d'Association

en France

depuis

(Paris, 1922), p. 368.

3 4 F . Gibon, "Les Oeuvres Catholiques," La Quinzaine, III (1895), 95-97. 35Georges Weill, Histoire 1909), p. 176.

du Catholicisme

Libéral

en France

(Paris,

20

THE

FRENCH

LAIC

LAWS

It likewise inspected public school libraries. It secured 1,800,000 signatures against Article Seven, which expelled the unauthorized orders from public and private education; whereas the Educational League, its anti-clerical counterpart, collected only 400,000 signatures for the article. The Society for Education and Instruction assisted the Catholic Faculties established in 1875, organized and gave financial aid to " free " schools, created academic bureaux to help private school students pass state examinations,36 and played a large part in the enactment of the law of 1875 for the freedom of higher education.37 Another extremely active Catholic organization was the Catholic Committee, which was established in 1871. 38 In annual assemblies it defended religious education, freedom of instruction, and appropriations for the established churches and discussed laic legislation before parliament.39 Although the Paris committee had many liberal members, it formally accepted the Syllabus and both it and the 45 provincial committees affiliated with it were often intransigeant.41 For a time the Catholic Committee of Religious Defense, which had been founded during the Franco-Prussian War, was attached to the Catholic Committee.42 In 1872 the Association of Catholic Workingmen's Clubs was created by the Comte de Mun, with the aid of fellow of36Gautherot, op. cit., pp. 392-96. 37 Gibon, " L e s Oeuvres Catholiques," La Quinsaine,

I I I (1895), 101-02.

38 Gautherot, op. cit., p. 369. 39 J. O. C., M a y 4, 1877, p. 3254. 40 "A Syllabus containing the most important errors of our t i m e " was published by P o p e Pius I X on December 8, 1864. Its eighty theses dealt with errors regarding modern liberalism, the temporal power of the pope, Christian marriage, natural and Christian ethics, relations between state and church, secret societies, communism, socialism, indifferentism and false tolerance in religious matters, rationalism, naturalism, etc. Catholic Encyclopedia, " Syllabus ". Ultramontanes praised the Syllabus and liberals condemned it as an attack on m o d e m society and civilization. Its theological value w a s likewise disputed. Encyclopedia Britannica, " Syllabus ". 41 W e i l l , op. cit., p. 187. 42 Gautherot, op. cit., pp. 291-92.

CHURCH

AND

STATE:

1871

TO

1879

21

ficers and of a lay member of the order of St. Vincent de Paul, to connect the Catholic Committee with the Union of Catholic Workingmen's Associations, 4 " which had been organized by Gaston de Ségur the previous year. D e Mun's association, Legitimist in tone, worked for counter-revolution and paternalistic reform of labor conditions. 44 F o r a few years the Catholic committees grew rapidly. In 1875 there were 130 committees and 150 clubs with 18,000 members, and by 1884 there were 400 committees and 400 clubs with 50,000 members. 45 The clubs, however, were supported largely by the great nobles and propertied manufacturers and merchants. Workingmen were discouraged by their masters from joining or were induced to form their own associations. Many who hoped for a career in the courts or public administration feared to compromise themselves by belonging to the clubs, 46 whose authoritarian and religious character likewise alienated urban laborers. Another organization which endeavored to turn public opinion against anti-clerical legislation was the Unions for Social Peace, sponsored by L e Play, the great Catholic economist, in 1872, " to oppose socialism, strengthen the family, establish good relations between capital and labor, . . . improve the morality of women, and oppose Sunday work." 47 Catholic lawyers, w h o wished to have civil marriage abolished, published the Revue Catholique des Institutions et du Droit after 1873 and held annual congresses. 48 Catholic newspapers and periodicals were likewise influential in maintaining the Church's position. Liberal Catholics ex43 W e i l l , op. cit., pp. i 8 ; - 8 8 . 44 P . T . M o o n , The Labor Problem and the Social in France ( N e w Y o r k , 1921), pp. 80-85.

Catholic

Movement

45 B r u g e r e t t e , op. cit., I I , 17-18. 46 E u g è n e

L o u d u n , Journal

( P a r i s ) , V , 5, 20. 47 M o o n , op. cit., p. 80. 48 W e i l l , op. cit., p. 189.

de Fidus

sous

la République

Opportuniste

22

THE

FRENCH

LAIC

LAWS

pressed their views in the bulletin of the Society for Education and Instruction, and authoritarian Catholics expressed theirs in La Revue de l'Enseignement Chrétien. Le Correspondant was a liberal, Orleanist periodical sympathetic to the Church. The organ of the Jesuits was Les Études Religieuses. Liberal papers were Le Français, a Catholic Orleanist journal of the Duc de Broglie and Buffet, which disappeared at the beginning of Leo X I I I ' s reign," and Dupanloup's La Défense Sociale et Religieuse, which was founded in 1876,84 helped bring about the dissolution of the Chamber in 1877, and continued to champion the conservative cause after the defeat of MacMahon." L'Univers, edited by Louis Veuillot until his death and then by his brother Eugène, was ultramontane, Legitimist, and so violent that the Pope himself had to curb it. Le Monde aimed at the reconciliation of all Catholics. La Croix, first a monthly, and after 1883 a daily, was a conservative Catholic paper of great influence.52 The numerous monarchist papers were, of course, favorable to the Church.83 The Church was strengthened from 1873 t o by the close relationship between some of the clergy and the monarchists, who were in the majority in the National Assembly and hoped then to terminate their differences. The greater number of bishops and priests were monarchists," chiefly Legitimists, although some influential bishops were Bonapartists 65 or Orleanists. This political affiliation was only natural, since all the pretenders had affirmed their loyalty to the Church; whereas the republican leaders were anti-clerical, if not anti49 L e R . P . L e c a n u e t , La Vie de VÉglise sous Léon XIII pp. 2 I O - H , 249, 252.

(Paris,

1930),

50 W e i l l , op. cit., pp. 196-200. 51 E . B a r b i e r , Histoire du Catholicisme en France ( B o r d e a u x , 1924), I I , 3. 52 L e c a n u e t , La Vie de l'Église 53 E . A . Vizetelly, Republican 54 L e c a n u e t , Les Premières

Libéral

sous Léon XIII, France

Années

55 E . L o u d u n , Journal de Fidus:

et du Catholicisme

Social

pp. 223-41.

( P a r i s , 1912), p. 210.

du Pontificat

de Léon XIII,

pp. 180-81.

Le Prince Impérial ( P a r i s , 1891 ) , I V , 233.

C H U R C H AND S T A T E : 1 8 7 1 TO 1 8 7 9

23

religious. Moreover, the French Revolution, whose tenets inspired the policies of the latter, had been anti-clerical. T h e Church had been favored by the Napoleonic Empires and monarchical régimes. T h e political sympathies of the clergy as private citizens were, however, a different matter f r o m the use of their official position to advance the cause of any one party. A m o n g the clergy there w a s a wide difference of opinion and policy in regard to active participation in politics. T h e r e were men like Cardinal Guibert, w h o w r o t e : I should not insist on political considerations — I am a pastor of souls. . . . The republican government, considered in itself, would not meet . . . my hostile prejudice, if it were administered with wisdom and justice. 54 T h e r e were those like the Archbishop of Besançon, w h o sent a circular letter u r g i n g that his flock " never contribute by their votes to the success of a candidate whose triumph would be a threat to religion."

57

And,

finally,

there were prelates w h o

worked hand in hand with the monarchist parties. T h u s M g r Pie, then Bishop of Poitiers and later cardinal, advised the Comte de Chambord to insist on a previous declaration by the National Assembly of the principles of the old régime and white flag before returning to France, and was gratified to the extent of having some of his program reproduced literally in Chambord's letter f r o m Salzburg of October 27, 1873. 5 8 T h e Orleanist Bishop Dupanloup wrote Marshal M a c M a h o n a f t e r the elections of the Seise

Mai,

advising him to dismiss his

ministers and f o r m a ministry with D u f a u r e and D e M a r c è r e . " Bishop Freppel, one of the stoutest opponents of the laic laws in the Chamber, w a s an ardent Legitimist. M g r d ' H u l s t sup56 J. Pagnelle de Follenay, Vie du Cardinal Guibert (Paris, 1896), II,

650, 653. 57 Le Temps, Feb. 9, 1876.

58 Frantz Despagnet, La République et le Vatican, 1870-1906 (Paris,

1906), p. 33. 59 De Marcère, Histoire de la République de 1876-79 (Paris, 1908), II, m .

24

THE FRENCH

LAIC

LAWS

ported the Comte de Paris and objected strenuously to his acceptance of compulsory Christian public education, with tolerance for dissenters, in 1873. Later the count came out against the Ferry school laws." 0 Cardinal de Bonnechose, who always asked divine protection for the Prince Imperial in the mass,* 1 twice visited Marshal MacMahon after the senatorial elections of January, 1879 a n d suggested a government by one of the pretenders, or at least a change of ministers. H e later denied that he had known of any conspiracy, for, he said, his character as a prince of the Church would prevent his joining any political party or using force! 8 2 A f t e r the death of the Prince Imperial, the octogenarian and irrepressible cardinal tried to secure secret promises from Prince Napoleon that he would respect freedom of education. But Bonnechose admitted that if the republic would respect religious liberty, he would prefer it to a sovereign, who would exact concessions which the temporary leaders of a republic could not demand. 83 Thus, despite the denials of such writers as Barbier, 84 it must be said that some prominent Catholic prelates actively supported the cause of the pretenders. It was, indeed, often difficult to determine what constituted proper conduct for the clergy in an election in which their interests were vitally concerned. In 1876 the Chamber deprived many deputies, among them the Legitimist Comte de Mun, of their seats because of the interference of priests in the campaign. It held that the latter, as officials salaried by the state, should not express an opinion on the merits of candidates for office. De Mun retorted that it was only natural for the clergy to support him, since he had presented himself as a " Catholic " candidate and defender of the faith. He denied that the clergy 60 Alfred Baudrillart, Vie de Mgr d'Hulst (4th ed.; Paris, 1928), I I , 254-57. 61 Loudun, Journal de Fidus. Le Prince Impérial, I V , 316. 62 Ibid., pp. 249-62; 298-99. 63 Loudun, Journal

de Fidus sous la République

64 Barbier, op. cit., II, 67-70.

Opportuniste,

V, 35-36.

CHURCH

AND

STATE:

1871

TO

1879

25

w e r e officials and claimed that their salary was only a n indemnity f o r property confiscated by the state during the F r e n c h R e v o l u t i o n . H e insisted that the clergy had not mentioned the names o f candidates f r o m the p u l p i t . " T h e monarchist supporters of the Church were inspired b y a " traditional n a t i o n a l i s m , " which they proudly upheld in the C h a m b e r and Senate. T h e y gloried in the traditions o f " noble, France "

illustrious, 66

ancient,

Christian,

and

the

monarchical

and in the patriotic services of the C h u r c h in the

schools, w a r , f o r e i g n missions, and philanthropy. In the w o r d s o f the C o m t e de M u n , . . . the best guarantee that you can have of our patriotism is our Christian faith, for that teaches us to cherish the fatherland and to devote ourselves to it; and I do not know what lesson you will give the child to teach him love of his country if you do not teach him first love of his God. W h a t I love in my fatherland is not only the ground which bears my steps, but the belfry in the shade of which I was born, the altar where I made my first prayer, the tomb where those I have loved lie, and the imprint of my country which God has left both in my heart and on the ground, so that I would not know how to defend the one without the other, my religion and my fireside.67 T h e D u c de B r o g l i e eloquently defended French patriotism o f the old régime, w h e n church and state were closely allied : W h a t ! Would a great nation like France, during those years of glory and grandeur, have grown, conquered, shone, reigned for centuries without any patriotic sentiment having filled the hearts of its inhabitants, or having inspired the genius of its kings or of its ministers ! W h a t ! W a s patriotism of no consequence in the feeling which inspired the devotion of Joan of A r c or the political ideas of Henry I V and of Richelieu ! What ! W a s this great work of French territorial unity, which ten centuries of monarchy have laboriously effected, and which ours has seen so sadly mutilated, 6 5 L'Année

Politique,

M a r c h 1876, pp. 90-96, 209-12.

66 7. O. C., Jan. 18, 1880, p. 451. 6 7 J. O. C., M a y 5, 1877, p. 3286-

26

THE

FRENCH

LAIC

LAWS

accomplished by chance, without design, without patriotic calculation ! No! You will not make anyone endowed with conscience and common sense believe that the soldiers of Bouvines, of Rocroy, of Lens, and of Fontenoy did not have any concern for patriotism on the scene of their victories, and that the three hundred princes of the house of France who poured out their blood on the battlefields knew neither for whom nor for what they were giving their lives! And when the great Corneille put into the mouth of the aged Horace those magnificent verses: ' T o die for the fatherland is such a worthy fate That men would gather in crowds for such a death,' who would then believe that the noble youth who applauded him with such enthusiasm did not understand the meaning of his words ? 68 Although these Catholic monarchists were united in believing that the Church was inextricably linked with the traditions and future of France, they differed in their concept of the part it should play. There were conservatives so extreme as to hold that the Church should be the final arbiter in all spheres and liberals so advanced as to advocate complete separation of church and state, in order that the Church might develop freely. The conservatives were much more numerous," but, when hard pressed, they snatched liberal weapons. Thus they demanded freedom of higher education, of which the liberals had been the chief sponsors, 70 so that Catholic faculties might be established ; but they were taunted by the republicans with the charge that, once in power, they would deny this to the minority. 11 Most loyal Catholics probably believed that the Church should be supreme in spiritual and the state in temporal matters, and that when these two spheres overlapped, the relationship between church and state should be governed by a concordat. 6 8 / . O. S., Mar. 14, 1882, p. 189. 69 Weill, op. eit., p. 202. 70 Ibid., p. 195. 71 J. O. C., June 4, 1876, pp. 3844-43-

CHURCH

AND STATE:

1871

TO 1 8 7 9

2J

They held that the Church, in addition to its purely religious functions, should assume the responsibility for the relief of the poor and for the education of the child. Since the Catholic faith should permeate every phase of life, Catholic children should attend Catholic schools, where religious instruction was an integral part of the curriculum. They extolled the Catholic faith for instilling morality in the masses through the doctrine of the responsibility of the immortal soul," and for bringing peace of mind in the conflict between faith and credulity." They claimed that Catholic schools would stimulate moral and intellectual activity and provide a disciplined and well assimilated education. Without religious instruction they feared that the democratic state would produce mediocrity of mind, vulgarity of character, and decadence.74 Religious education would be a preventive against socialism and communism, 75 give permanence to the curriculum in a period of ministerial instability, 7 ' and inculcate patriotism for France, if not for the French Revolution. 77 If it were banished from the school, a state doctrine might be substituted in its place.78 Devoted Catholics argued that religious principles would inevitably enter into the study of history and science,78 and that moral principles could not be taught without some religious or philosophic basis. Such questions as free will, evolution, immortality, and duty precluded philosophic neutrality. The difficulty could not be solved by omission of these considerations, for that might be construed as the positive negation of religion. 80 7 2 / . O. C., Dec. 5, 1880, p. 11949; Dec. 15, 1880, p. 12344. 7 3 / . O. C., Dec. 17, 1880, p. 12434. 7 4 / . O. C., Dec. 21, 1880, pp. 12623-27. 7 5 / . O. C„ Dec. 5, 1880, p. 11952. 7 6 / . 0. C., Dec. 15, 1880, p. 12345. 7 7 / . O. C„ Dec. 15, 1880, p. 12344. 7 8 / . O. S., June 11, 1881, pp. 804-05. 7 9 / . O. C., Dec. 15, 1880, p. 12344. 80/. 0. S., Dec. ii, 1880, pp. 12185-86.

28

THE FRENCH

LAIC

LAWS

Catholics believed that the father, rather than the state, should have absolute authority over his children and the right to choose the type o f school to which he would send them. Within their own schools they demanded absolute freedom from state interference in regard to the curriculum, methods of instruction, selection of teachers, and certification of achievement. They felt that there should be no discrimination by the state between public and private schools in regard to financial subsidies and recognition of diplomas. As Louis Veuillot remarked, the conservative Catholic relied upon canon law and the liberal Catholic upon common law to safeguard the Church. 81 The conservative Catholics denied the validity of complete freedom o f instruction. 82 Blachere, a Legitimist, could not accept the concept o f a university where all doctrines were taught, for he felt that a state morality must rest upon dogma, needless to say, Catholic dogma. H e argued that even Comte had realized that he must make a religion of his Positivism. 8 3 Conservative Catholics held that it was not the function of the state to teach, since it embraced so many different doctrines within its own union. 84 T o men of this stamp the French Revolution and all that it implied was anathema. T h e Comte de Mun vividly contrasted his views with those o f the republicans, when he said: The Revolution is neither an act nor a fact but a social and political doctrine, which pretends to base society upon the will of man instead of founding it upon the will of God, which puts sovereignty of the human reason in the place of divine law. That is the Revolution, the rest is nothing, or rather, all the rest devolves from that, from this proud revolt whence the modern state has evolved, the state which has taken the place of all, which has become your God, and which we refuse to adore with you. The counter-revolution is the contrary principle: it is the doctrine 81 E. Veuillot, Louis Veuillot

(Paris, 1913), I V , 647-48.

82 J. O. C., June 4, 1876, pp. 3844-45. 8 3 / . O. C., July 18, 1879, p. 694S.

84/. O. C., June 17, 1879, p. 5321.

2Q

C H U R C H AND S T A T E : 1 8 7 1 TO 1 8 7 9

which makes society rest on Christian l a w ! . . . The Revolution already existed under the old régime; it was produced by the rationalist philosophy which created the free-thinkers. . . . It came f r o m forgetfulness of social duties, which brought antagonism between classes; from the state's invasion of the domain of the Church, from the decrees of the Parlements expelling the religious, from the judicial mind's hold over the nation. . . . Well, gentlemen, we wish neither the old régime nor the Revolution. What we wish is the Christian society, which is the reign of liberty founded on religious faith, established on tradition, and guaranteed by the devotion of the strong for the feeble; the Christian society is the alliance of church and state; and the Revolution, what you wish, is the Church enslaved by the state ! 8 5 T h e liberal Catholic, on the other hand, emphasized the natural rights of f r e e d o m of worship, freedom of association, and freedom of instruction.

H e recognized the right of the

state to teach and to have surveillance over " free " education. D e B r o g l i e reasoned that this w a s probably not an inherent right, since E n g l a n d left it to independent corporations and the U n i t e d States to individual initiative; but a s long as it w a s a legally established right, it should be respected. 68

Similarly

A r c h b i s h o p M a r e t sanctioned the right of the state to require that religious orders be authorized, at a time when other Catholics were f u l m i n a t i n g against the decrees of 1880. 8 7 F a l l o u x openly criticized D e M u n f o r antagonizing the republicans with the w o r d " counter-revolution," firmed

that

members

of

88

his

and Bishop Dupanloup a f -

faith

could

defend

modem

liberties. 89 S t r o n g as w a s the Catholic Church in 1 8 7 6 in its organization, internal unity, political connections, patriotism, and educational and charitable activities, nevertheless the acute observer 85 L'Année Politique, 1878, pp. 278-79. 86 J. O. S., Jan. 25, 1880, p. 728.

87 Abbé G. Bazin, Vie de Mgr Maret (Paris, 1891), III, 386-88. 88 Hanotaux, Histoire de la France Contemporaine, IV, 402-03.

89/. 0. S., July 20, 1876, p. 5341.

30

THE FRENCH

LAIC

LAWS

would have discerned certain sources of weakness.80 In May, 1876 Gaston de Saint-Valry noted that there was not a very vigorous revival of faith among the masses, and that, despite much Catholic activity in education and philanthropy, there was an apathy in regard to political facts which contradicted Catholic doctrine and a clinging to the hope that a miracle would save the day for the Church. 91 Brugerette goes so far as to contend that the religious manifestations of 1871-76 were only those of an élite minority. He holds that the Jesuits created an aristocracy to influence the lower classes in political and religious matters, but that it was a closed caste, which lost favor with the people.92 A renegade from the Church, Father Hyacinthe Loyson, drew crowds from all faiths to lectures in which he praised the French Revolution, attacked papal infallibility, and demanded freedom for priests to marry, the election of bishops by the clergy and people, and the conduct of religious services in the national tongue.93 He did, however, denounce divorce and the laicization of schools, and declared that morality must be based upon religion.94 There was much alarm over the decline in the number of applicants for the priesthood, especially in the country districts. This was attributed to the poverty of the clergy, their solitary life, and the hostility of the masses.95 It was said that the wealthy refused to take up any calling, the bourgeoisie was indifferent, and the poor no longer had so many children that they were willing to devote one to the Church. 98 It was feared 90 Hanotaux, Histoire de la France Contemporaine, I I , 660. 91 Gaston de Saint-Valry, 1886), I, 175-79-

Souvenirs

et Réflexions

Politiques

(Paris,

Catholique

(Paris,

92 Brugerette, op. cit., I I , 12, 62. 93 Albert Houtin, Le Père Hyacinthe. 1922), pp. 228-32.

Réformateur

94 Robert de Bonnières, Mémoires d'Aujourd'hui

( P a r i s , 1883), I I I , 38-42.

95 L'Abbé Bougaud, Le Grand Péril de l'Église de France au içe ( P a r i s , 1878), pp. 21-34. 96 Ibid., pp. 79-84.

Siècle

CHURCH AND STATE:

1871

TO 1 8 7 9

¿1

that laymen, through books and the press, would take over the religious and political direction of priests and the defense of religion. Priests were needed to care for the growing population and unify the social classes. 97 The number of doctors of theology among the clergy was declining, and the secular clergy were said to minister chiefly to the lower classes and servants. 98 Some felt that Catholics should try to remedy these conditions themselves and not rely upon the state ; 9 9 others feared that the increasing initiative taken by Catholics in soliciting alms for private charities and schools would only lead to the suppression of the budget of cults. 100 The Catholics have been criticized for their failure to produce leaders for the defense of the Church in their schools, 101 and for their lack of constructive proposals in a crucial period. They could, for example, have supported a bill for proportional schools, whose principle was accepted in Protestant countries ; 1 0 2 but the National Assembly did not enact a law on primary education or on freedom of association which would have checked the men it feared, and it did not adapt the laws of 1 8 3 3 and 1 8 5 0 to new conditions without changing their principles. 103 F o r the many bills emanating from the republican groups, there was scarcely one from the monarchists. The Catholics did have such outstanding leaders as Freppel, De Mun, De Broglie, Keller, and Chesnelong ; and at times able republicans like Jules Simon, Étienne Lamy, and Bardoux espoused their cause. But they were divided into Legitimists, Orleanists, and Bonapartists according to their political al97 Bougaud, op. cit., pp. 57-71. 9 8 / . O. C., Dec. 5, 1880, p. 11956, No. 2961. 99 Bougaud, op. cit., p. 164. 100 De Saint-Valry, op. cit., I, 175. 101 Brugerette, op. cit., II, 63-64. 102 D. Halévy, La République des Ducs (Paris, 1937), p. 236. 103 Marie de Roux, Origines et Fondations de la 3e République 1933). PP- 345-47-

(Paris,

32

THE FRENCH

LAIC

LAWS

legiance, into conservatives and liberals according to their doctrinal views, and into socialists and individualists according to their theories of the state. 104 Thus it was impossible to form a strong Catholic party like that of the Center in Germany; although, as will be told later, De Mun attempted this in 1885 when conditions had changed. Catholics in 1876 concentrated upon persuading candidates for office to subscribe to their principles. 10 ® The ambiguity of terminology and omissions in the Concordat resulted very naturally in differences of interpretation and dissension. The fact that the practise of the Church no longer conformed to the letter of the Concordat and Organic Articles became a convenient weapon for the anti-clericals. The position of the Church was still further weakened by the fact that many members of the conservative ruling classes, its most loyal supporters, were scornful of modern ideas and unimaginative. 106 Moreover, if the social Catholics, like De Mun, enlisted the working classes in the cause of the Church, they upheld an aristocratic and paternalistic conception of society which became increasingly distasteful to those classes. And as will be shown more fully later, if the close understanding between the clergy and monarchist parties was a source of strength when the latter controlled the government, it would be a danger to the Church if the republicans should win the support of the masses. Ill The gradual rise of the republicans to power was a much greater threat to the influential position which the Church enjoyed than the internal weakness of the Church. The swing in sentiment towards the republic was slow but persistent. Its source was a general disinclination to disturb the stable and 104 Jean Guirard, Mgr Freppel (Paris, 1933), pp. 233-39. Freppel broke with De Mun over state socialism. 105 Veuillot, op. cit., IV, 624-26. 106 Dietz, " Jules Ferry et les Traditions Républicaines," Revue Politique et Parlementaire, ann. 41 (1934), CLX, 104-05.

C H U R C H AND S T A T E : 1 8 7 1 TO 1 8 7 9

33

peaceful government under which the business interests and the peasants were leading lucrative and contented lives rather than any great enthusiasm for republican forms. A republican constitution was adopted by the National Assembly in 1875 by a majority of one because of the rivalry of the monarchist cliques and the astuteness of republican leadership. Although the elections of 1876 gave the republicans control of the Chamber, it is probable that they did not represent a majority of the country, for only three quarters of the electorate voted, and, as later elections revealed, those who abstained were conservatives. 107 The blundering attempt of Marshal MacMahon in 1877 to appeal to the country against the radical republicans, from whom he feared an attack on the social institutions which he had sworn to defend, resulted in the loss of a few republican seats in the Chamber, but confirmed the principle of responsible government and demonstrated the value of anti-clericalism as a means of consolidating the republican groups. The resignation of MacMahon in December, 1878 and the republican victory in the senatorial elections of January, 1879 assured the permanence of republican institutions and ideals. Hence it is important to consider the attitude of the republican factions toward the Catholic Church and the Concordat. The Church might well have looked with apprehension upon the swelling tide of republicanism, for republican leaders had been uncompromisingly hostile to the Church before the FrancoPrussian War. In 1869 both Gambetta 108 and Ferry 1 0 9 had demanded complete separation of church and state ; while Jules Simon had written in La Liberté de Conscience: . . . the church in the state is the abdication of religious faith; the state in the church is the absolute negation of all liberty; the Concordat is faith completely debased and liberty proscribed.110 107 Charles

Seignobos, L'Évolution

de la Troisième

République,

1875-

IÇ14 (Paris, 1921), p. 7. 108 Léon Jacques, Les

Partis

Politiques

sous la Troisième

République

(Paris, 1912), p. 163, note. 109 Jules F e r r y , Discours

et Opinions

de Jules Ferry,

(Paris, 1893), I, 191. Cited hereafter as Discours. 110 Léon Séché, Jules Simon (Paris, 1887), p. 94.

P . Robiquet, éd.

34

T H E

F R E N C H LAIC L A W S

Once entrusted with the responsibilities of government, however, these same men changed their tune, at least in their public utterances. Ferry declared that their policy was anti-clerical, but not irreligious, and that the government would faithfully support the Concordat.111 Jules Simon defended the Concordat and held that the budget of cults should be retained, not as an indemnity, but as a public service which the state should provide for its citizens when private funds were lacking.112 Gambetta demanded the strict execution of the Concordat, in other words, stripping the Church of the privileges which it had enjoyed beyond the letter of the law, and an investigation of the power and credit of the Church. In the Concordat and Penal Code he found means of protecting the rights of the state and of the citizen. By transitory measures the clergy could be made respectful servants of the government. The state owed a salary to the curés as an indemnity, but not to the desservants.113 It was rumored that Gambetta was about to encourage the establishment of a Gallican Church, with Father Hyacinthe at its head.114 The Comte de Mun wrote Cardinal Pie : The authoritarian school of Jacobins . . . , with M. Gambetta at its head, dreams of I do not know what national church, independent of Rome and subject to the civil power.115 Some bills were introduced to republicanize the lower clergy by making them independent of the ultramontane bishop and more subservient to the government, but they never became law.118 That love of the Church was not the motive underlying Gambetta's policy was demonstrated by Jules Simon, when he said that the Concordat could not be applied literally without 111 / . O. C., May 29, 1881, p. 1047. 112 Jules Simon, Nos Hommes d'État (2nd éd.; Paris, 1887), pp. 161-66. 113 Léon Gambetta, Discours et Plaidoyers Politiques de M. (Paris, 1883), IX, 417-19. Cited hereafter as Discours.

Gambetta

114 Pierre Chanlaine, Gambetta (Paris, 1932), pp. 222-25. 115 Mgr Baunard, Histoire du Cardinal Pie (2nd ed. ; Paris, 1886), II, 605. 116 See Chapter VII.

CHURCH AND STATE:

1871

TO 1 8 7 9

35

harming the Church, because the value of money had changed since 1 8 0 1 , the population had grown, and the number of candidates for the priesthood was declining. 117 It is probable that Gambetta's real objective was accurately described by his trusted adviser, the militant Freemason, Jacobin, and patriot, Arthur Ranc, 1 1 8 when he declared that separation of church and state was " an end to attain ; that it is necessary to proceed towards it with persistence, breaking one by one all the bonds which unite church and state, laicizing successively all public services." 1 1 9 Or, as one deputy put it, To separate the Church from the body of the state, some preparatory measures are necessary, so that the amputation may be without danger and not enfeeble the state too much. One must tie the veins of the Church so that the blood may remain in the body of the state, that it may learn to do without the Church and scarcely perceive the amputation.120 F o r many reasons immediate abrogation of the Concordat seemed inexpedient in 1876. The peasant would have opposed it, 121 partly because of his religious devotion and partly because of his possession of property which the state had confiscated from the Church and which he might lose in a new settlement. 122 Ferry said that if there was anything illogical in separating the Church from the school and not the Church from the state, it was due to " this contradiction which is deeply rooted in the mental and moral condition of the populations we represent." This was the fact that French electors were loyal, practising Catholics at the same time that they were averse to taking advice from their priests in elections. Littré had called this trait " Catholicism according to universal suf117 Simon, Nos Hommes d'État, pp. 161-66. 118 G. Hanotaux, Mon Temps (Paris, 1938), II, 146. 119Arthur Ranc, Souvenirs-Correspondance 120/. O. C., June 3, 1876, p. 3813. 121 Ranc, op. cit., pp. 367-68. 122 Hanotaux, Mon Temps, II, 503.

(Paris, 1913), pp. 367-68.

36

THE

FRENCH

LAIC

LAWS

frage." H e had said that it had nothing in common with Gallicanism nor with the Old Catholics, who were trying to establish a particular church, but it had been born after the Revolution and was essentially political in character. In elections it considered only the political opinions of candidates, especially their acceptance of the modern laic society created by the Revolution, and had no prejudices against dissenters. It had two enemies, radicals and clericals, against whom the Concordat should be preserved as a defense. 1 " The influence of the positivist philosopher Littré's thought upon Ferry and Gambetta is evident in another reason which they advanced for deferring the abrogation of the Concordat. In the Revue de Philosophie Positive for January-February, 1877, Littré had written : The separation of church and state, not being a principle, remains a political measure, always subordinate to circumstances of time and place. . . . Certainly no assembly will assume the responsibility for a very difficult innovation in the midst of so many other internal and external difficulties surrounding us. W e must find the intellectual and moral change we seek in the progress of science and in the growth of the positive spirit. A s modifications are made in this direction, they will lead to separation.124 Several months later Gambetta echoed this opinion when he said that the moral and social condition of the country did not warrant separation of church and state. 125 A s early as 1872 Jules Ferry had written his brother Charles that they must consider the " essential factor in everything, time," and had affirmed his belief that The clerical bourgeoisie is not France, but only a minority in this third estate which is our true marrow. The republic does not face the hostility of the majority of interests. It has only one formid1 2 3 / . O. C., M a y 29, 1881, pp. 1047-48; E . L i t t r é , De l'Établissement la 3e République ( P a r i s , 1880), pp. 489-95.

124 L i t t r é , De l'Établissement

de la 3e République, pp. 394-95-

125 / . 0. C., M a y 5, 1877, p. 3283.

de

CHURCH

AND

STATE:

1871

TO

1879

37

able enemy: the clergy. But the nonsense of Lourdes shows clearly the latter's irremediable decadence. This shifting, decomposing body will never triumph over a living society, whose entire progress is absolutely laic, and which, generally speaking, has taken no step for one hundred years which does not separate it more and more from the old worship and the old idols. 126 T h u s through the scientific education of the masses, and especially of women, the Opportunists hoped to create a new intellectual and moral environment which would make disestablishment inevitable. 127 M a n y republicans feared that abrogation of the Concordat would lead to the dominance of the Church over the state. 1 2 8 Paul Bert warned that if the Church were given complete freedom under the common law to meet, teach, preach, and acquire property as lay associations did, it would control the state within thirty years. If restrictions were imposed, the Church would appear to be persecuted. Since the religious orders had never been popular in France, most people would be indifferent to the dissolution of the unauthorized orders; but to touch the secular priest would be another matter. T h e fact that liberal Catholics approved of separation, said Bert, showed that the Church would gain thereby. 129 Since the Concordat and the Organic Articles were treaties, it was said that they should not be abrogated by unilateral action. 1 3 0 Moreover, both Gambetta and F e r r y realized that the election of L e o X I I I in 1 8 7 8 might mean the possibility of a reconciliation with the Vatican, f o r although the new Pope would not break openly with the policy of his predecessor, he might do so in reality. If he did not die too soon, " we can hope f o r the marriage of reason with the Church." 1 3 1 Gam126 Jules Ferry, Lettres de Jules Ferry

(Paris, 1914), p. 167.

1 2 7 / . O. C., Oct. 1883, p. 1 1 7 7 , N o . 1947128 Ranc, op. cit., pp. 367-68. 1 2 9 / . O. C., Oct. 1883, pp. 1174-76, N o . 1947. 130 / . O. C., May 5. 1877, P- 3283. 131 Hanotaux, Histoire de la France Contemporaine, I V , 252.

38

THE

FRENCH

LAIC

LAWS

betta's mistress, Leonie Leon, who claimed to have made him more tolerant toward the Church, once wrote, " I have some letters of Gambetta which prove how well he understood the great intellectual role of the papacy in the w o r l d ! " T h e declaration of the dogma of papal infallibility by the Vatican Council of 1 8 7 0 1 8 3 convinced Ferry that the Concordat should be retained, for the more centralized and absolute the papacy became, the more disciplined and subservient to it the national churches would be. Hence the French government should be on good terms with the Pope. He believed that there had been a kulturkampf in Belgium, Italy, and Germany because those countries had had no Concordat. 184 While the L e f t was cautious, the Extreme L e f t boldly demanded immediate separation of church and state. It declared that freedom of conscience, one of the great principles of the French Revolution, was incompatible with a system of established churches, richly endowed by the state. It asserted that the Catholic Church no longer rendered any general services to the nation, 180 for in addition to the Protestant churches, there was the " immense diocese of free thought." Conditions in the 1880's were f a r different from those in 1 8 0 1 . Napoleon had used the Church as an instrument of domination to enhance his prestige; 1 8 8 whereas the republic was threatened by the tre132fimile Pillias, Leonie Leon, Amie de Gambetta (2nd ed.; Paris, 1935), pp. 66, 70. 133 The Vatican Council, which met from December 8, 1869 to October 20, 1870, revolutionized the position of the pope, who was declared infallible when he spoke ex cathedra, i. e., "in the exercise of his office as shepherd and teacher of all Christians," regarding faith and morals. The council likewise asserted the complete and supreme jurisdiction of the pontiff in matters concerning the discipline and governance of the Church. Thus there could be no appeal to an oecumenical council from his decision, as the Declaration of 1682 had stated. The Catholic Encyclopedia and the Encyclopedia Britannica, " The Vatican Council". 134/. O. C., May 29, 1881, pp. 1046-47. 135/. O. C., Aug. 23. 1879, p. 8737. No. 1844. 136/. O. C., Feb., 1882, p. 279, No. 351.

CHURCH

AND STATE:

1871

TO 1 8 7 9

39

137

mendous power of the Church. The Extreme Left accused the Catholic bishops and clergy of rebellion against the state and interference in elections, while they were receiving a subsidy of 50 millions as officials of the state." 8 It declared that the Syllabus of Errors and the Declaration of Papal Infallibility had materially changed the position of the Church, 1 " which it accused of teaching reactionary dogmas and traditions. It praised the republic as a government of intellectual emancipation and of progress." 0 This radical group asserted that the Concordat should not be maintained, since some of its terms had originally been based on the Declaration of 1682 and Gallican ideas and had been allowed to lapse with the increasing ultramontanism of the Church.141 It said that France could denounce a treaty in which the French nation had had no part. The papacy had never recognized the Organic Articles.142 Since churches were associations of citizens ruled by national laws, international law was not involved.143 To abrogate the Concordat would not disarm the state, for the convention did not contain powerful weapons against the Church. The latter recognized this when it opposed separation. The Penal Code, laws against mortmain, and legislation regulating the religious orders could be invoked.144 Separation would weaken the unity and pecuniary strength of the Church. 145 A victorious republican party meant, then, either a rigorous application of the concordatory legislation or separation of church and state, depending upon whether the moderates or 137 J.

O. C.,

Mar. 8, 1882, p. 249-

138 / . 0. C., Aug. 23, 1879, PP- 8737-38, No. 1844139 J. 140/.

O. C., O. C.,

Mar. 8, 1882, p. 249. Feb. 1882, p. 279, No. 351.

1 4 1 / . O. C„ Feb. 1882, pp. 278-80, No. 351. 142 / . O. C., July 1886, p. 765, No. 257. 143 / . O. C., Mar. 8, 1882, p. 252. 144 / .

O. C.,

Feb. 1882, p. 280, No. 351.

145 / . O. C., D e c 1886, pp. 1762-63, No. 746.

40

THE FRENCH

LAIC

LAWS

extremists gained the upper hand. In the elections of 1876 the Extreme L e f t and Republican Union, the more radical element, won almost a third of the republican seats. 148 Encouraged by their gains, they were not inclined to delay their demand for reforms." 7 T h e Church might well fear that the inertia, blindness, and disunity of its own communicants as well as the hostility of the republican party would endanger its seemingly impregnable position in education, philanthropy, politics, and spiritual matters. 146 L'Année Politique, Feb. 1876, p. 42. 147 Charles de Freycinet, Souvenirs, 1848-78 (5th ed. ; Paris, 1912), p. 338.

CHAPTER II THE ROOTS OF REPUBLICAN ANTI-CLERICALISM I THE roots of republican anti-clericalism, which we shall endeavor to trace in the next two chapters, were diverse, complex, and somewhat obscure. Contemporaries did not realize all their ramifications, and some documents which would help untangle them have still to be published. 1 A study of the political situation and of the intellectual and religious ideas of the period will, however, make the ensuing anti-clerical legislation comprehensible. The sympathy shown by the majority of the clergy for the monarchist cause naturally made the republicans antagonistic toward the Church. Freycinet charged that the unauthorized teaching orders had supported the " counter-revolution," 2 and Dufaure attributed the attack on these orders to a desire f o r revenge on the government of the Seize Mai. O n that date ( M a y 16, 1 8 7 7 ) , Marshal MacMahon, fearful of the radical tendencies of the Chamber, had dismissed the Simon ministry, which still had a majority in the Chamber, and had appointed the Duc de Broglie, an Orleanist, as premier. H e had then had the Senate dissolve the Chamber and declare new elections. In the campaign which followed, responsible government and anti-clericalism were the chief issues. T h e republicans were victorious in October, but it was not until December that MacMahon agreed to accept a ministry supported by the Chamber 1 The memoirs of Scheurer-Kestner and of Lockroy have been published only in part. T h o s e of Ferry have never been printed, although they have been consulted by Jean Dietz and utilized in his articles. A n exhaustive list of manuscript material for the period of the Third French Republic is given in the preface to the collection of Gambetta's letters edited by Daniel H a l é v y and Émile Pillias. 2 L'Année

Politique,

1880, pp. 84-101.

41

42

THE

FRENCH

LAIC

LAWS

and that danger of a coup d'état w a s over. T h e Française,

République

organ of Gambetta's group, said on October 20,

1879, " T h e introduction o f the F e r r y bills has been a perfectly clear declaration of w a r . "

!

In 1883 President G r é v y wrote

Leo X I I I : Y o u r Holiness rightly complains of anti-clerical passions. They certainly exist, together with the opposing sentiments of the great majority of Frenchmen. But can one fail to recognize that these passions, which I condemn, have been the product chiefly of the hostile attitude of a part of the clergy towards the republic, either upon its establishment or in the struggles which it has since had to carry on for its existence, or in those which it still carries on daily against its mortal enemies? 4 T h e more discerning members of the R i g h t and leaders of the Church came to fear the effects of an open alliance with each other. D u r i n g the Seise Mai M a c M a h o n tried to disengage the government f r o m too close relations with the ultramontane Catholics. 8 T h e D u c de Broglie confessed in his memoirs that religious pilgrimages and worship had been too ostentatiously carried out before 1875

that

political hopes badly disguised mingled with expressions of piety and even with the formulas of prayer. The cause of religion, that of the temporal power of the pope, and that of the restoration of Henry V were too frequently described in these devout meetings as destined to triumph some day by the same means. Nothing was less skilful and nothing gave reason more unfortunately to the ridiculous imputations of the republican press. 8 N o t only did the republicans feel that the Church must be curbed if their government w a s to survive, but they also hungered f o r the positions in the schools or municipalities 3 J.O.S.,

M a r . 10, 1880, pp. 2827-28.

4 L e c a n u e t , Les Premières 5 L'Année

Politique,

Années

du Pontificat

de Léon XIII,

p. 177.

1877, p. 277.

6 D e B r o g l i e " M é m o i r e s , " Revue 147-49.

des Deux

Mondes,

p é r . 8, V I I

(1932),

ROOTS OF R E P U B L I C A N

ANTI-CLERICALISM

43

which the secular and regular clergy occupied, and they believed that a purge would strengthen the republic. A n attack upon clericalism w a s also a clever move, because Orleanists, Legitimists, and Bonapartists had one bond in common, their devotion to the Church. 7 Moreover, anti-clerical Bonapartists were detached from the monarchist coalition by this strategy. Prince Napoleon, who succeeded the Prince Imperial as pretender, aligned himself with the republicans during the Seize Mai8 and later supported the decrees against the religious orders. T h e Church's monarchist organization and the attitude of Pope Pius I X toward " liberalism " and " progress " offended republican sensibilities. T h e Declaration of Papal Infallibility in 1870 enhanced the prestige of an absolutist pope, who had sternly suppressed revolts in his own dominions. 9 T h e Syllabus of Errors,1" which had been promulgated in 1864, seemed in its condemnations to negate the very principles of the French Revolution. II A republic based upon the principle of religious freedom seemed to many incompatible with a system of established churches, whose ceremonies were given official sanction, whose teachings were propagated in the schools, and whose ministers were supported by the contributions of all citizens. The alliance between church and state grew more irksome as religious indifference increased and as new faiths became popular. T h e bourgeoisie was absorbed in its business a f f a i r s 1 1 and more and more interested in science. The experimental method, which was exalted, cast doubt on supernatural affirmations. M a terialism, Positivism, and " free t h o u g h t " flourished, while Deism was the prevailing doctrine in the University. 7 J. O. C., June 12, 1879, p. 5012. 8 De Roux, of. cit., p. 279. 9 P. Nibroyet, L'Ambassade

de France

1912). P- 3710 See page 20, note 40. 11 D e Saint-Valry, op. cit., I, 169.

au Vatican,

1870-1904

(Paris,

44

THE FRENCH

LAIC

LAWS

Not only did the prevalence of these philosophies create a desire for the separation of church and state, but certain of their tenets influenced the thought of the republican leaders and were incorporated in the legislation of the period. First in significance was the Positivism of Comte, as interpreted by his disciple, Littré. The latter, a " strange old man ", with a " wrinkled and lined face, . . . broad and powerful forehead . . .," black hair falling on the " nape of his neck like an ecclesiastic's . . .," eyes which shone behind spectacles, and " a bitter and sovereignly disdainful expression," i a exerted a remarkable influence over both Ferry and Gambetta. Ferry, who was admitted to the masonic lodge, Clémente-Amitié, at the same time as Littré, praised his " social services " and " moral grandeur." 13 Gambetta attended a dinner given in honor of Littré in 1873 a n < i lauded " your philosophy—ours." 14 Although Gambetta was not as thorough-going a positivist as Ferry, he wished to be considered one. Jules Simon, himself a deist, admitted that he had been very good friends with Auguste Comte,15 and many deputies in the Chamber were devotees of the latter's philosophy. The goal of the positivists was progress, which they defined as the development of order.18 They held that mankind had already passed through the theological or fictitious and the metaphysical or abstract stages and was now in the positivistic or scientific stage. Further progress was to be attained through the intellectual and moral development of the masses.17 In the words of Gambetta, . . . our most elevated task consists in developing in every man born into the world—and by this word I embrace the entire spec12 Jules Claretie, Portraits Contemporains (Paris, 1875), I, 380. 13 Ferry, Discours, II, 193. 14 Gambetta, Discours, IX, 112. 15 A. Lavertujon, Gambetta Inconnu (Bordeaux, 1905), pp. 106, 116, 123. 16E. Littré, Conservation, Révolution, et Positivisme (Paris, 1852), p. 311. 17 J. E. McGee, A Crusade for Humanity (London, 1931), pp. 3-6.

ROOTS OF R E P U B L I C A N A N T I - C L E R I C A L I S M

45

ies—active intelligence, this capital by means of which one can conquer all else and thus realize social peace on earth without force or violence, without civil war, by the victory of right and justice alone. Our religion, my friends, is that of intellectual culture. This sublime word, ' religion', means, in effect, only the bond which binds man to man, and which makes each one equal to whomever he meets face to face, makes him salute his own dignity in the dignity of another, and founds right on reciprocal respect for liberty.18 Just as Comte had written that " morality is our constant guide in our three-fold search after the beautiful, the true, and the good," 1 9 so Jules Ferry declared that Auguste Comte shows marvellously . . . that every society contains in its bosom a moral power which governs individual wills without courts and without gendarmes, a power concentrated in theocratic societies and confided to a caste or to a body, a power dispersed and scattered, so to speak, throughout society in free countries and called ' opinion.' It is on this moral action that positive philosophy bases its hope, it is thus that it hopes to reform ideas and customs, even more than by law, whose field of intervention should be as limited as possible, and which is never, in view of the great evolutions of society, other than oppressive and ineffective.20 For Positivism, morality is an essentially human fact, distinct from every belief concerning the beginning and end of things. Morality is a social fact, which bears within itself its beginning and end; and social morality thus becomes everywhere a question of culture, not only the culture which primary or higher education gives, but that which results from good legislation and from the intelligent practise of the spirit of association.21 From these ideas was derived the program for compulsory and gratuitous lay primary education, with instruction in an " independent morality " rather than in religion. 18 Gambetta, Discours, I X , 449. 19 A. Comte, The Catechism of Positive Religion (London, 1858), p. 68. 20 Ferry, Discours, I, 588. 21 Ibid., II, 194.

46

THE

FRENCH

LAIC

LAWS

Since Comte had said that the progress of society must necessarily be gradual, the republicans adopted the opportunistic policy of attaining their objectives by degrees.22 Whereas Positivism worked for the progress of humanity, " the universal fatherland," 28 the statesmen of the Third Republic added a more exclusive patriotism to their positivist faith. Thus Gambetta acclaimed a new era when France would be restored " to its true rank of a great nation by work, by science, by virtue, by solidarity " and asserted that Frenchmen should will " all for the fatherland, for science, and for glory." 24 The republicans carried out the educational ideas of Comte and Littré when they advocated freedom of instruction and reliance in the official schools upon merit rather than monopoly.25 They likewise found in these philosophers' writings the opinion that the state should give aid only to its own primary schools and to special schools preparing for government positions, that it should suppress all grants to theological and metaphysical societies, and that it should inspect private schools in regard to morals alone.26 In the law for the " freedom " of higher education, Ferry adopted Littré's suggestions in an article published in the Revue de Philosophie Positive for January-February, 1875, in which he supported freedom of higher education as a step towards separation of church and state and as a means of reviving a languishing university through competition, but asserted that the state should retain the exclusive right to confer degrees.27 Members of the L e f t repeatedly criticized the education of the past as supernatural and metaphysical and declared that it should be based upon science, as had Littré. 22 H e n r y L e y r e t , Waldeck-Rousseau p. 264. 23 L i t t r é , Conservation,

Révolution,

24 G a m b e t t a , Discours,

I X , 103-04.

et la 3e République et Positivisme,

25 L i t t r é , Conservation, Révolution, et Positivisme, Catechism of Positive Religion, pp. 354-55.

( P a r i s , 1908),

p. 130. p . 107 ; C o m t e ,

The

26 A . C o m t e , A General View of Positivism ( L o n d o n , 1908), p p . 133-35, 203; L i t t r é , Conservation, Révolution, et Positizrisme, pp. x v - x v i . 27 L i t t r é , De l'Établissement

de la 3e République,

pp. 323-29.

ROOTS

OF R E P U B L I C A N

ANTI-CLERICALISM

47

Positivism regarded women highly, since it believed that they had not been tainted by participation in politics and were more susceptible to feeling. Positive philosophy places morals at the summit of its encyclopedic edifice, and thus is in perfect agreement with the convictions of women. . . . The system of positive worship looks upon woman as the moral providence of our species... as the finest representative of the true Great Being. The family is the normal basis of society and the plan of life which conforms to the faith. . . . This form of association ensures the due prevalence in the family of woman's influence, for in her is vested the supreme control, in so far as it can be private, of the education of all. . . . The revolution in woman's position must be the complement of the revolution which took place in the proletariat. . . . Her influence will facilitate the advent to political power of the industrial patriciate and of the positive priesthood. . . . Women were thus to be well educated and given the same professors as men, 28 but they were never to work away from home and were to be supported by male relatives or by the state. 29 The establishment of state secondary schools for girls was probably inspired in part by these ideas. Comte forbade a second marriage for his followers. 80 The French parliament permitted divorce and re-marriage by the law of 1884, but Jules Ferry long combatted the measure when it was under discussion. Positivism gloried in a life of action, whereas the Catholic Church extolled the life of contemplation which some of its religious orders led. 31 In the worship of Humanity, the priesthood was to renounce all temporal power and possessions and to rely entirely upon the contributions of the faithful. Priests were also required to marry. W h e n Positivism was universally 28 Comte, Catechism of Positive Religion, servation, Revolution, et Positivisme, p. 133. 29 Comte, Catechism 30 Ibid., p. 323. 31 Ibid., p. 66.

of Positive

Religion,

pp. 14-36, 2 9 3 ; L i t t r e , pp. 326-30.

Con-

48

THE

FRENCH

LAIC

LAWS

adopted, Comte held that the state should support it by an annual appropriation,32 but until that time the separation between the spiritual and the temporal should be carried out to prevent the subordination of morality to politics 8 * and to promote individual freedom and social cooperation." He believed that immortality was possible only in so far as man's influence survived over succeeding generations. 85 The memory of the dead should be cultivated. Miracles were no longer valid, since all knowledge was derived from the observation of facts." The attack which the radicals made on the property of the religious orders, on the budget for the established churches, and on the supernatural character of the Catholic faith found confirmation in these ideas. Both Littré and Comte advocated freedom of speech, press, conscience, and association as means by which their ends might be attained.37 Both said that the French Revolution had, in its first or negative phase, stimulated a desire for progress and had given the last blow to the old system, and in its second, which had not yet come to an end, sought spiritual reorganization according to Positivism. 38 Both declared that prominent industrialists should be the temporal leaders, after they had received the proper moral and intellectual preparation ; 3 9 and they held that positivists would find their most energetic allies among the working classes. 40 They proposed that the central 32 Comte, Catechism

of Positive

33 Littré, Conservation, 34 Comte, A General

Religion,

Révolution,

View of Positivism,

35 Comte, Catechism of Positive Révolution, et Positivisme, p. 123. 36 Littré, Conservation,

Révolution,

37 Ibid., p. 95 ; Comte, Catechism View of Positivism, p. 138.

pp. 300-04.

et Positivisme,

p. 30.

p. 406.

Religion,

p. 77 ; Littré,

et Positivisme, of Positive

Conservation,

pp. 123, 304.

Religion,

p. 340 ;

38 Comte, General View of Positivism, pp. 65-72, 90 ; Littré, tion, Révolution, et Positivisme, pp. 144, 153. 39 Littré, Conservation,

Révolution,

40 Ibid., p. 153; Comte, A General

et Positivisme,

pp. 120-21.

View of Positivism,

p. 142.

General Conserva-

ROOTS OF R E P U B L I C A N A N T I - C L E R I C A L I S M

49

power should be predominant, that order might be preserved and progressive tendencies favored. 41 Littré suggested that Paris alone should elect the executive, since it had always made and unmade governments and was most competent and progressive. 42 A s will be evident later, these ideas inspired the activities of the republican leaders. In certain of his conceptions Littré differed from Comte and was followed by the Opportunists. Comte scorned popular sovereignty and equality, 43 denied the existence of rights, stressed duties, declared that men were free if they acted according to the laws applicable to them,44 and believed in a strong government and the use of force. He eventually decided that no political conservatism was possible without the Church, preferred Catholics to all but the strongest positivists, because of the doctrine of papal infallibility, and disliked Protestantism. Littré, on the other hand, repudiated Comte's religion of Humanity, held that no social reform was possible until theological beliefs had been crushed, and believed that the proletariat could be free only under Positivism. He finally came to desire a liberal republican, parliamentary government. 45 He praised Protestantism, which he said had been the death-blow to Catholic unity and had, after being transformed into the critical philosophy of the eighteenth century, produced the Revolution of 1789. 46 He came to realize that the peasants were more numerous than the proletariat and very important.47 While Positivism was the most significant influence upon the anti-clerical program of the Opportunists, other faiths and 41 Littré, Conservation, Révolution, et Positivisme, p. 153; Comte, A General View of Positivism, pp. 136-37. 42 Littré, Conservation, Révolution, et Positivisme, pp. xix, 155. 43 Léon Duguit, Law in the Modern State, F. and H . Laski, trans. (New York, 1919), pp. 17, as44 Comte, Catechism of Positive Religion, pp. 230-31, 332. 45 R. H . Soltau, French Political Thought in the Nineteenth Century (New Haven, 1931), pp. 206-09. 46 Littré, Conservation, Révolution, et Positivisme, p. 143. 47 E. Caro, " Émile Littré," Revue des Deux Mondes, L (1882), 542.

50

THE

FRENCH

LAIC

LAWS

philosophers left their imprint as well. We can mention only those whose effect was most immediate and direct, since it would be manifestly impossible to sketch the intellectual background of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries here. It should be borne in mind, however, that anti-clericalism was not a new phenomenon, and that its deepest roots were in the scientific advancement of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and in the critical writings of the philosophes. The Deism or " Spiritualism " of Victor Cousin and Janet was the creed of many members of the French parliament, among them the senator and philosopher in his own right, Jules Simon. This eclectic school stressed belief in a divine creator, in the immortality of the soul, and in freedom of conscience and of thought.48 Reason was held to be the mediator between man and God, Who was manifested by ideas of the Beautiful, the True, and the Good. Conscience recognized in duty the bidding of God." Deism was the prevailing faith in the University and was made the basis of instruction in morals in state primary schools, although Ferry refused to have its principles affirmed in the education laws. Free-thinkers, who believed that the human mind could be its own guide to truth, demanded freedom of speech and thought.50 Materialists, like Paul Bert, co-author with Ferry of the school laws, derided supernatural ideas. As professor of physiology at the University of Paris, Bert had done research on the influence of compressed air upon fermentation and of altitude upon human life. Hanotaux, who knew him well, said of him that he was " vigorous, surging with energy, confident, sympathetic, with an open countenance, lively eye, broad shoulders, devilishly high-spirited manner, the animation of a good fellow. All his philosophy is summed up in one word: Science." 61 48 Séché, J vies Simon, pp. 39, 54-5549 Lucien Lévy-Bruhl, History of Modern Philosophy in France (Chicago, 1899), P- 34350 Lecanuet, Vie de l'Église sous Léon XIII, pp. 391-9351 Hanotaux, Histoire de la France Contemporaine, IV, 607-08.

ROOTS OF R E P U B L I C A N

ANTI-CLERICALISM

51

Personalism, the philosophy o f Renouvier, stressed the happiness o f the individual in a reasonable world and denied any duties to others, a future life, and any god other than the finite and unified conscience of the world. It attacked the Church for restraining the autonomy o f the Person and f o r lack o f sympathy with modern principles. It believed that Protestantism should be fostered temporarily to combat the Catholic Church, 5 2 and that the state should be neutral in doctrine but give instruction in morals. 53 These views were drawn in part from Kant, whose emphasis on respect for the individual's actions and beliefs and the sacred character of the moral person 54 were influential in republican thought. 6 5 F e r r y extolled Condorcet as " one of the greatest philosophers in whom the eighteenth century and humanity can honor itself," and declared that he had first outlined with clarity in theory and practise a system of education for modern society. He had established education on a scientific basis, with emphasis on mathematics and the natural and moral sciences when the Jesuit colleges had given first place to Latin verses and memory work. He had included instruction in patriotism and morals in his curriculum, had wished all branches of education to be gratuitous, 5 8 and had hoped to give women an education equal to that of men. 57 F e r r y was doubtlesss sympathetic with Condorcet's belief in the illimitable perfectibility o f mankind and attack on Christianity as antagonistic to science, the spirit of investigation, and reason. 5 8 52 Lecanuet, La Vie de ¡'Église sous Léon 53 Georges Weill, Histoire (Paris, 1929), pp. 231-33.

de l'Idée

XIII,

Laïque

pp. 401-20. en France

54 Dietz, " Les Débuts de Jules Ferry," Revue (1932), 509. 55 F . Buisson, La Foi Laïque

au içe

de France,

Siècle

ann. 12, V

(Paris, 1 9 1 3 ) , p. 3.

56 Ferry, Discours^ I, 291-94. 57 Paul Bert, Le Cléricalisme

(Paris, 1900), pp. 146-47.

58 Condorcet, Outlines of an Historical View Human Mind (London, 1795), pp. 3-4, 128.

of

the Progress

of

the

52

THE FRENCH LAIC

LAWS

Ferry visited and corresponded with Edgar Quinet,™ who, in L'Enseignement du Peuple, had declared that freedom of conscience and political liberty were unattainable in Catholic states. Quinet had thus demanded absolute separation of church and state, free, compulsory, and lay education, and moral instruction in the ideals of the nation.80 In La République, published in 1872, he wrote that women should be given an education which would make marriage a community of minds and emancipate them from the Chvirch. He also urged the removal of the bishop from the Higher Council of Public Education to promote scientific education and liberal ideas.61 Gambetta is said to have read Proudhon's La Justice dans la Révolution et dans l'Église."2 This author was hostile to Catholicism and advocated freedom of education if the clergy did not profit by it.63 He wrote, however, that religion should be honored as the expression of the human conscience, and that Christianity should be respected as " the most grandiose monument of humanity's virtue and genius and the most formidable phenomenon of its history." 84 The Catholic Church, in dogma, discipline, hierarchy, and progress, realized to the highest degree the theory of a religious society, and so had the most right to govern souls. But all churches should be abolished, for the Revolution, not they, had affirmed a belief in Justice and Humanity and defined the Social Contract. Justice was the subordination of the individual interest to the greater interest, of personal dignity to social dignity. It was the product of conscience, which was an individual matter. God was the negation of Justice, and 59 Dietz, " Jules Ferry et les Traditions Républicaines," Revue Politique et Parlementaire, CLX, (1934), 108. GO Edgar Quinet, Oeuvres Complètes. L'Enseignement du Peuple (Paris, 1870), pp. 2-5, 12-13, 68, 84, 122-25, 140-44, 17961 E. Quinet, Oeuvres Complètes. La République (Paris, 1872), pp. 96-97, 190-221. 62 E. Tavernier, Cinquante Ans de Politique (Paris, 1925), p. 212. 63 Ibid., p. 220. 64 Faure, "A la Mémoire de Jules Ferry," Revue Politique et Parlementaire, C X X X I (1927), 11-12.

ROOTS

OF R E P U B L I C A N

ANTI-CLERICALISM

53

religion and morality were incompatible. Christianity had no morality, f o r it condemned the human personality, declared that the natural state of man w a s sin, and defended inequalities. 85 P r o u d h o n asserted that education w a s the " improvement o f all spiritual powers."

ee

It should be the " methodical develop-

ment of the physical, intellectual, and moral faculties of the child." T h e schools of the Church, on the other hand, had not been

concerned

with

vocational

subjects,

science, the

arts,

philosophy, jurisprudence, and pedagogy. 6 7 Gambetta w a s said to have derived f r o m Proudhon the idea of solving questions by degrees.' 8 T h e influence of Herbert Spencer's t h o u g h t upon

Ferry,

Gambetta, Bert, and Clemenceau w a s extensive.* 9 Spencer endeavored to make progress the supreme law o f the universe. T h e P o w e r behind this universe w a s unknowable. Since man's ideas of matter and motion came f r o m force, or resistance, the persistence of

force w a s the ultimate basis o f

knowledge.

Spencer held that religion had originated f r o m the w o r s h i p of ancestral ghosts and w a s opposed to a state church. 7 0 H e believed that science w a s the most valuable f o r m of knowledge, objected to the classical curriculum, and regarded instruction in morality as useless, 71 since morality w a s the adaptation of the individual to the social milieu. M a n ' s o b j e c t should be happiness, that is, the attainment of relative perfection,

for

which education w a s essential. 72 65 P. J. Proudhon, De la Justice dans la Révolution 1858), I, 26-183, 258, 507.

et dans l'Église

66 Dietz, " L e s Débuts de Jules Ferry," Revue de France, V, 508. 67 Proudhon, op. cit., II, 6-10. 68 E. Labarthe, Gambetta et ses Amis

(Paris,

ann. 12 (1932),

( P a r i s , 1938), p. 114.

69 J. Reinach, La Vie Politique de Léon Gambetta ( P a r i s , 1918), p. 195. 70 Langel, " Les Études Philosophiques en Angleterre. M. Herbert Spencer", Revue des Deux Mondes, ann. 34, pér. 2, X L I X (1864), 945; Encyclopedia Britannica, " Herbert Spencer ". 71 G. Compayré, Herbert Spencer and Scientific Education ( N e w York, 1907), pp. 20, 45, 54, 60, 88, 23-24. 72 Dietz, " Les Débuts de Jules Ferry ", Revue de France, ann. 12, V (1932), 508-509.

54

THE

FRENCH

LAIC

LAWS

Other thinkers and historians might be named who contributed to the anti-clerical and agnostic ideology of the period. Michelet, the historian of the French Revolution, collaborated with Quinet in writing a work attacking the Jesuits, and, in 1864, published La Bible de l'Humanité, where he tried to separate from different religions the moral ideal which should lead man towards freedom of thought. Renan held that truth could be known only through science, and that mankind should work towards the ideal through science, morality, and art. Since he believed that one should study the development of humanity, especially its religious history, he wrote his Histoire Critique des Origines du Christianisme. He praised Christianity for stating some eternal moral truths. In his Vie de Jésus, published in 1863, he endeavored to describe the historical Jesus. The positivist Taine attacked the eclectic school of philosophy and studied literature as the product of race, environment, and time. The great poet, Victor Hugo, who played a prominent part in politics, was a deist.71 The communist, Blanqui, urged the establishment of lay and compulsory education and the abolition of cults and priests. Social questions should be adjourned, he said, while the renovation of minds was being accomplished under a Parisian dictatorship.74 From these diverse sources arose a strong sentiment for separation of church and state, compulsory and lay primary education, instruction in civics, morals, and science, and the equal education of women. Belief in the progress of mankind, in the right of the individual to freedom of expression, and in the beneficial effects of Protestantism was re-enforced by these philosophers. Liberal Protestantism contributed its ideas and energies to the anti-clerical movement. Renouvier published two periodicals, La Critique Philosophique and La Critique Religieuse, in which free-thinkers were urged to become Protestant in order to consolidate the republic, and in which the authorities were 73 La Grande Encyclopédie,

" Michelet ", " Renan ", *' Taine ".

74 De Roux, op. cit., pp. 16-17.

ROOTS

OF

REPUBLICAN

ANTI-CLERICALISM

55

asked to secularize the public schools and appoint more Protestant teachers, not for the propagation of their religious beliefs but for the communication of their austerity, independence, and liberalism. Quinet had likewise wished to promote the Reformed and Lutheran faith.7® In the last days of the Empire Ferdinand Buisson, Félix Pécaut, and Jules Steeg had established a liberal Protestant Church at Neufchâtel in Switzerland. These men became in later years respectively director of primary education, inspector-general of public education and reorganizer of the normal schools, and director of the Pedagogical Museum. 76 Buisson said of Ferry, It is not astonishing that he should find as first collaborators those who, in every church and school, believed in the possibility of deriving education altogether from this natural light which guides every man entering the world rather than from a dogma or antidogma. Among us many have been formed by liberal Protestantism, which was the advance guard and extreme left of the religious world. . . . 7 7 A t the time the anti-clerical legislation was enacted, Protestants were represented in the cabinet and chambers in numbers far beyond their relative position in France. Clamageran, a Protestant deputy, wrote on December 20, 1877 : The presence in the ministry of three Protestants (some say three and one-half because of Madame Bardoux) is significant. It is, in effect, the Protestant spirit which has directed the order of events and carried off the victory. 78 Six out of the ten ministers in the cabinet of February 2, 1879 were Protestants. 79 Waddington, Freycinet, Léon Say, L e Royer, Eugène Pelletan, Nefftzer, Réville, and Jauréguiberry 75 G. Goyau, L'École

d'Aujourd'hui

( P a r i s , 1910), I, 67-86.

76 Dietz, " Jules F e r r y et les Traditions Républicaines," Revue Politique Parlementaire, ann. 41, C L X (1934), 109. 77 F. Buisson, Un Moraliste

Laïque

78 J. J. Clamageran, Correspondance 79 D e R o u x , op. cit.. p. 367.

( P a r i s , 1933), pp. 22-23. ( P a r i s , 1906), p. 417.

et

56

THE FRENCH LAIC

LAWS

were of that faith, while Ferry had been married in a civil ceremony to a Protestant. 80 Paul Bert's w i f e was a Scotch Protestant, and his daughters were reared in that religion, 81 as were the children of Taine and Renan. 62 Jules Favre was married and buried with the services of the Reformed Church, although that faith did not completely satisfy him. 8 " There were several reasons for the popularity of Protestantism at this time. The victory of Germany over France had been that of a Protestant Prussia. 84 The Reformed and Lutheran Churches were more exclusively national churches than the Catholic Church, since they had no foreign head and were much more subservient to the government. In 1879, despite the protests of the Catholics, the Lutheran synod meekly accepted the government's revisions of its reorganization plan, even though these gave the state greater power over the nomination and dismissal of pastors and theological professors. 88 The Reformed Church had been divided into warring factions since 1872 over the recognition of the authority of a general synod called by the government in that year. 8 ' The number of Protestant communicants and schools was so small that they could not be considered a threat to state institutions. Protestantism was popular, likewise, because it was considered republican, whereas Catholicism was termed monarchical. The former was said to teach the worth of the individual, the value of science, and the equality of laymen and priests; the " passive faith " and priestly hierarchy of the latter were 80 Dietz, " Les Débuts de Jules Ferry," Revue de France, ann. 13, V (1932). 509-1081 De Roux, op. cit., p. 367; Léon Dubreuil, Paul Bert (Paris, 1935), p. 23582 D. Halévy, La République des Ducs, p. 229. 83M. Reclus, Jules Favre (Paris, 1912), pp. 537-38. 84 G. Renard, Études sur la France Contemporaine (Paris, 1888), pp. 91-93. 8 5 / . O. S., Feb. 21, 1879, pp. 1260-67 ; /. 0. C., June 27, 1879, pp. 5695-97, No. 1482 and July 25, 1879, pp. 7390-9186 / . O., April 28, 1877, pp. 3108-09.

R O O T S OF R E P U B L I C A N

ANTI-CLERICALISM

57

democracy. 87

deemed incompatible with When Ferry opened the new buildings of the Protestant Faculties of Theology in 1879, he praised the atmosphere of liberalism and tolerance to be found there, and said : Protestantism has been, in modern history, the first form of liberty. Our political gospel is also yours: the Revolution of 1789, of which our Republic is the logical development and the necessary conclusion, has been carried out in part in your behalf ; it is the beginning of your definite enfranchisement.88 The Catholic Faculties of Theology, on the other hand, were suppressed. The anti-clericals believed that a personal religion was necessary if Catholicism were to be overcome; the worship of science would suffice for only a small number. 89 Liberal Protestantism and " free thought " had much in common. They were similar in method, said Buisson, for both emphasized free examination, as Comte had recognized. 90 They were similar in content, since liberal Protestantism had sought to disengage from traditional and ecclesiastical Christianity what one could call eternal Christianity, a sort of Gospel created from the marrow of the old Gospel, a laic religion of the moral ideal, without dogmas, without miracles, without priests.91 Its followers did not believe that the Bible was directly inspired, nor did they interpret it literally. Félix Pécaut had discarded the divinity of Christ in Le Christ et la Conscience long before Renan. Liberal Protestants doubted that there was a personal God and believed that " morality is the solid nucleus of all religions." Buisson begged free-thinkers to collaborate 87Goyau, op. cit.. I, 247-50. 88 Ferry, Discours, I I I , 200-01. 89Goyau, op. cit., I, 256. 90Buisson et W a g n e r , Libre-Pensée 1903), PP- 14-IS. 91 Goyau, op. citv I, 69.

et Protestantisme

Libéral

(Paris,

58

THE FRENCH

LAIC

LAWS

with liberal Protestants, since he believed the former were not anti-religious and reverenced the good and noble." Anti-clericals thus found allies in some liberal Protestants, although some conservative Protestants remained aloof. T h e pastor Bersier and Edmond de Pressensé, the most outstanding political representative of French Protestantism, protested against Article Seven, 9S which excluded the unauthorized religious orders from all schools. 94 General Baron de Chabaud L a T o u r opposed changes made in the constitution of the Reformed Church without its consent. 85 The liberal Protestants, however, exerted an influence beyond their numbers. In 1896 Sabatier, the dean of the Faculty of Protestant Theology at Paris, wrote that if the enemies of Buisson and Pécaut were mistaken in calling them the first initiators of the laic laws, at least these men were responsible for their success." Ill It is sometimes difficult to determine where a genuine interest in educational reform began and anti-clericalism ended in the minds of republican legislators. This is true, because a deep concern with pedagogical problems had revived in France during the last days of the second Empire. Victor Duruy, minister of education under Napoleon III, secured the passage of a law requiring every hamlet to have a school and communes of more than eight hundred inhabitants to have a school for girls. Municipal councils were authorized to establish gratuitous education by means of a special t a x ; and agricultural and industrial schools were encouraged. 97 In 1866 Jean Macé organized the Educational League to promote compulsory, gratuitous, and lay primary education ; and two years later the Society for 92 Buisson et Wagner, op. cit., pp. 23-60. 93 D e Roux, op. cit., p. 367. 94 See Chapter IV, pp. 137-43. 9 5 / . O.S.,

Feb. 17, 1880, pp. 1814-16.

96Goyau, op. cit., I, 259. 97 Dietz, " Jules Ferry et les Traditions Républicaines," Revue et Parlementaire, CLXI (1934), 123-24.

Politique

R O O T S OF R E P U B L I C A N

A NTI - CLERIC ALI S M

59

Education and Instruction was created to encourage private primary schools. The Guizot committee studied the reform of higher education in 1870. 98 In 1872, Jules Simon, then minister of public education, presented a bill for compulsory primary education, which the assembly committee, presided over by Bishop Dupanloup, rejected. Simon reconstructed higher education after the war, defended a bill for the reform of the Higher Council of Public Education, and wrote an influential book, La Réforme de l'Enseignement Secondaire,89 In 1875 a law was finally enacted establishing the freedom of higher education. Many works which discussed educational problems were published in this period. Those by Simon, Bréal, Renan, Monod, and Lavisse were among the most significant.100 These reformers pointed out the poor physical equipment of the University and lycées and the insufficient number of instructors.101 Large classes of one hundred or more students were the rule.102 It was said that the curriculum and educational methods were in need of revision. Ferry demanded that Latin verses and speech be eliminated from preparation for the baccalaureate, criticized Jesuit education for its training of memory rather than of the reason,103 and wished to substitute the experimental method for abstract rules.104 Jules Simon complained that in England and Germany the child was prepared for life, but in France he was prepared for examinations. The child's will rather than his memory should be fortified, so that he might act freely and independently. Programs for admission to state 98 E. Beaussire, La Liberté d'Enseignement el l'Université sous la 3e République (Paris, 1884), p. 22. 99 G. Simon, " Jules Simon : Notes et Souvenirs," Revue Mondiale, C L X X , 118-21. 100 L. Liard, L'Enseignement Supérieur en France (Paris, 1894), II, 340. 101 L. Liard, " L'Oeuvre de Jules Ferry dans l'Enseignement Supérieur et Secondaire," Revue Internationale de l'Enseignement, LIII, 10. 1 0 2 / . O. C., May 24, 1882, p. 665. 103 J.O.C.,

July 20, 1879, p. 7061.

104 Ferry, Discours, III, 506.

6o

THE FRENCH

LAIC

LAWS

schools should be adjusted to care f o r individual differences. There should be more time f o r history and geography, modern languages, and French language and literature. 105 Bishop Freppel wished to substitute course examinations like the Maturitäts Prüfungen in Germany f o r the examination for the baccalaureate. H e criticized the classical courses in state secondary schools as crowded in content, superficial, and subject to political influences. 106 Others demanded a more intensive study of science and courses in vocational subjects, civics, gymnastics, and military exercises. T h e organization of the University was a frequent subject of discussion. Some wished it to be decentralized, with faculties in populous centers. It was said that young doctors should have the right to give courses as under the system of frrivat-docenten in Germany. 1 0 7 Professors should be given permanent tenure and faculties be made autonomous. 1 0 8 The relative merits of day and boarding schools were much debated. 1084 M a n y bills were introduced in the Chamber f o r educational purposes apart from those f o r the secularization of the school. These asked f o r uniform certification of teachers and their nomination by rectors rather than by prefects, compulsory and gratuitous primary education, primary normal schools f o r both sexes, the construction of school buildings, and manual schools of apprenticeship, among other things. B y the time that the general budget of 1 8 7 9 was voted, the appropriations for public education for the first time surpassed those f o r the established churches. 1 0 9 Within the next decade many reforms were realized in laws or decrees. Jules F e r r y , minister of education in several cabinets, Paul Bert, reporter f o r many of the school laws and 105Jules Simon, La Réforme Paris, 1874), PP- 7-36, 303.

de l'Enseignement

106 / . O. C., May 22, 1882, pp. 649-50. 107 Le Temps, April 26, 1876. 108 Beaussire, op. cit., p. 26. 108» J. O. C., Jan. 20. 1880, pp. 527-28. 109/. O. C., Nov. 15, 1878, p. 10597, No. 835.

Secondaire

(2nd ed.;

ROOTS

OF R E P U B L I C A N

ANTI-CLERICALISM

6l

minister of education under Gambetta, Octave Gréard, director of primary education in the Seine, Buisson, director of primary education, and Zévort, director of secondary education, were instrumental in making this one of the most fertile periods in French educational history. There was increasing interest in the science of pedagogy, a sense of esprit de corps among the teachers, fostered by frequent meetings, and more democratic representation on academic councils. Clericals did not share conspicuously in this demand for reform. It is true that they supported the law providing freedom of higher education in 1875, but the Catholic Faculties were the chief beneficiaries of this. When the right of these faculties to confer degrees was attacked, Legitimists and Bonapartists proposed examination before a state jury for admission to a public office or profession, 110 or before a state jury of nonuniversity men for a degree. 111 The law reforming the Higher Council of Public Education in 1873, for which De Broglie was responsible, gave university professors permanent tenure and had them elect representatives to the council ; 1 1 2 but this body did not innovate many reforms, because the ministers did not take the initiative, and because the permanent section had been abolished. 113 The Society for Education and Instruction devoted itself largely to the support of " free " schools and the defense of religious education. As we have seen, Bishop Freppel criticized courses in state secondary schools and the examination for the baccalaureate when instruction in church schools was attacked. The Comte de Mun urged that teachers be nominated by the rector with the approval of the municipal council.114 The Jesuits, whose schools were constantly under fire, experimented with the establishment of day schools to democratize the student body and provide a more stimulating life for the masters. 118 110/. O. C,. June 7, 1876, p. 3907. I l l J.O. C., June 8, 1876, pp. 3954-57. 1 1 2 / . 0 . 5 " . , J a n . 25, 1880, pp. 113 J.O.S., 114 J.O.C.,

M a r . 4, 1884, pp. 613-17.

115 J . B u r n i c h o n , La 409-47.

731-32.

J a n . 24, 1880, p. 691. Compagnie

de Jésus

en France

( P a r i s , 1922),

IV,

62

THE

FRENCH

LAIC

LAWS

T h e y likewise held meetings of rectors and prefects to study the education and discipline of the collège. T h e y introduced French in the lower classes and tried to broaden the curriculum, but even one of their own members admitted that they neglected the study of mathematics and science. 118 It was an easy matter for those w h o wished to secularize the public schools, and for those w h o were jealous of the reputation of the religious schools to utilize this zeal f o r r e f o r m f o r their own purposes. Members of the religious orders might be ejected f r o m the state schools, because they lacked the proper certificates. Catholic faculties might be denied the right to give degrees, because their instruction was not sufficiently " scientific " or patriotic. Catholic secondary schools might be closed f o r violating " morality, the constitution, and the laws." In later chapters this method of attack will be studied in greater detail. IV A somewhat intangible but none the less important factor which contributed to the anti-clerical movement was the pressure of certain economic interests upon the republican politicians. The evidence for this must be gathered f r o m widely scattered sources or, in some cases, by inference, but once amassed, it is fairly convincing. A s a radical republican candidate at Belleville in 1869, Gambetta had demanded separation of church and state ; gratuitous, lay, and compulsory primary education; freedom of the press, meeting, and association ; the suppression of permanent armies ; modification of the system of taxation; the election of deputies and municipal councillors by universal s u f f r a g e ; the use of the jury f o r political crimes; and the election and direct responsibility of all officials. 117 H i s party, in those early days, had en116 Ibid., IV, 474-83. 117 Jacques, Les Partis Politiques sous la se République, p. 163, note.

R O O T S OF R E P U B L I C A N

ANTI-CLERICALISM

63

deavored to remain free from embarrassing connections. O n October 27, 1871 Challemel-Lacour wrote that his friends were about to establish La République Française as the official organ of the group, but that they had had to refuse absolutely the aid of financiers and had accepted funds only from their political followers in order to retain their freedom. 118 They hoped that, in the words of Gambetta, Today politics, until now reserved to a few, to a jealous oligarchy, are going to fall into the hands of the little bourgeois, of the laboring man, of the small capitalist, and of the peasant, of all those who work or think, and, associating them in common efforts for the same end, give them an equal share of rights and responsibilities.119 These " new social classes " did triumph at last in the elections of 1876 and 1877, 120 as we have already said; for the Extreme L e f t and Republican Union won almost a third of the republican seats. 121 The platform of the Extreme L e f t , moreover, was substantially that of Gambetta in 1869, with the addition of requests for amnesty, revision of the constitution, divorce, and national ownership of the bank, mines, and railroads. 122 But by 1876 Gambetta had undergone the moderating influence of responsibility. H e did not deny his earlier objectives, 128 but he described his policy as " firmness in principles, prudence and moderation in procedure, indefinite progress for an end, reason as a means, and the republic as aegis." 124 Ferry, leader of the moderate L e f t , likewise stood for a " republic neither exclusive nor intolerant, . . . open to all, a policy of appeasement, frankness, and freedom . . ., a spirit of modera118 E. Krakowski, La Naissance de la 3e République: (3rd éd.; Paris, 1932), p. 327.

Challemel-Lacour

119 Gambetta, Discours, V, 41. 120 Hanotaux, Histoire de la France Contemporaine, I V , 394. 121 L'Année Politique, Feb. 1876, p. 42. 122 Jacques, op. cit., p. 163. 123 Gambetta, Discours, V, 23-25. 124 Ibid., V, 324.

64

THE

FRENCH

LAIC

LAWS

tion a n d practical w i s d o m . " H e declared that " F r a n c e needs a resolutely c o n s e r v a t i v e p o l i c y , " a n d w r o t e his w i f e o n J a n u a r y 17, 1876, T h e r e is in the village groups something which already resembles a public opinion, that is, independent people who get together, read a little, reason. I believe more than ever in a republic of peasants ; it will not be gay, perhaps not at all Athenian, but full of people of good will, w h o m our prudent, practical republic will completely satisfy. A peasant left center is new, unexpected, but exists. It is not necessary to seek anything beyond this for a long time. 125 W h a t , then, should be the opportunist p r o g r a m ? B o t h G a m betta a n d F e r r y realized that separation o f c h u r c h a n d state w a s inexpedient

f o r the present,

f o r reasons a l r e a d y

T h e suppression o f permanent a r m i e s w a s n o l o n g e r a f t e r the w a r scare o f

given. feasible

1875, when French re-armament and

a l a r m i s t articles in the press led m a n y to believe G e r m a n y w o u l d w a g e a preventive w a r against France. A u s t r i a and w e r e rivals in the B a l k a n s , w h e r e B o s n i a a n d revolted in 1 8 7 5

ar,d

Russia

Herzegovina

threatened to involve the E u r o p e a n p o w e r s

in w a r . F u r t h e r m o r e , a n y t h o r o u g h - g o i n g social r e f o r m w o u l d alienate the c o n s e r v a t i v e elements, w h o s e support w a s essential to the success o f the republic. A t a banquet g i v e n o n M a r c h 2 7 , 1 8 8 1 , G a m b e t t a told the merchants, leaders o f i n d u s t r y , a n d politicians w h o m a d e up his audience, T h e day when one saw that the men of commerce, the men of industry, the business men were on the side of the republic, that is to say, of assured order, of domestic security, that day the Seize Mai was conquered. 12 ® O n A u g u s t 12 o f the same year, at an electoral m e e t i n g , he declared that the republican party had failed in the past, because it h a d been t o o rash, a n d because the r u l i n g classes h a d been f e a r f u l . I t w a s necessary to unite the people a n d the 125 Dietz, " Jules Ferry et les Débuts de la 3e République," La Grande Revue.

C X X X I X (1932), 571.

126 Gambetta, Discours, IX, 182.

ROOTS OF R E P U B L I C A N

ANTI-CLERICALISM

65

bourgeoisie by moderation. 127 Ferry emphasized the same point in 1883, when he asked the Extreme L e f t not to alarm the laboring class, which had established the republic as a shelter f r o m the attacks of the past and from vain Utopias, a class which judged politics only by results. He asserted that the republic had been destroyed twice before by the conviction that it would produce radicalism, and claimed that the success of the republican party in the last ten years had been the result of its giving the masses stability and peace, order and work. 1 2 8 T h e Opportunists hoped that the wealthy bourgeois would rally to the republic if they were promised peace and profits. 128 Hanotaux says that Gambetta intended to " respect certain financial influences which interfered more and more in the affairs of the republic." 130 During the Seise Mai the latter expressed to Elihu B. Washburne, the American ambassador, his concern for the great material and business interests of the country, whose loss amounted to fifty million francs a day. 131 H e told the French people that under the republican government there would be no social peril and no contest over questions of property, public order, the family, or freedom of conscience. The enemies of civil and social peace were, on the contrary, monarchists and Bonapartists. 132 H e reassured Mme A d a m in 1879 that in France there are only republican and religious questions ; social questions are words which clerical or anarchist vocabularies use in parallel manner. One can pretend to fear social questions, but these are straw fires [that is, sudden, short blazes] . 13S m

Ibid., I X , 400-01.

128 Dietz, " Jules Ferry : La Révision de la Constitution et le Scrutin de Liste," Revue Politique et Parlementaire, C L X V I (1936), 521. 129 v o n Hohenlohe-Schillingsfuerst, Memoirs of Prince Chlodwig Hohenlohe-Schillingsfuerst, F. Curtius, ed. ( N e w York, 1906), II, 176. 130 Hanotaux, Histoire

de la France Contemporaine,

131 Department of State, U . S . A . , France. 1877), N o . 1498. 132 Gambetta, Discours,

I V , 730. LXXXII

(June 8,

V , 43 (Jan. 18, 1876).

133 Juliette Adam, Après l'Abandon 345-

Dispatches,

of

de la Revanche

( P a r i s , 1910), pp. 30,

66

THE FRENCH

LAIC

LAWS

Gambetta became more and more closely associated with the business interests as time went on. H e told Mme Adam that the whole L e f t was turning increasingly to Opportunism, and that she could show her friends of the L e f t Center that their interests were identical with his. H e added, And then . . . I have, thanks to the financial cleverness of Adam, by the sale of La Petite République, the sinew of the war. Now our rich friends, since they know me to have some money—coincidence or singular logic — offer me more for my electoral propaganda.18* He was not averse to permitting his followers to grow wealthy through their political connections, for he believed that " the new social classes should aristocratize themselves by fortune," and thought that to govern men one must let them grow rich. 185 So flagrant was the speculation and corruption of the period that Robert de Bonnières expressed the opinion that Gambetta's adversaries in the Chamber, perhaps even Clemenceau, attacked him only for the benefit of the spectators, especially for the naïve elector. He believed that everyone supported Gambetta, because everyone hoped for a government which was " not liberal, not glorious, not politic, but profitable. A government whose device will be ' Business ! Business ! and still more Business !' " 1 8 6 Gambetta, however, took pains to preserve his own reputation from any scandal in connection with the banker and railroad magnate, Philippart. 187 His personal fortune was not as great as believed. 138 He took seriously Edmond Adam's advice : It is necessary to destroy the idea that you are Hottentots. . . . The success of the men of the moral order is due to their all be134 Ibid., p. 13. 135 Ibid., pp. 143-44. 404. 136 De Bonnières, Mémoires

d'Aujourd'hui,

I, 110-11.

137 Adam, op. cit., pp. 18-20. 138 Andrieux, À Travers

(Paris, 1893), p. 235-

la République,

p. 232 ; A. Tournier,

Gambetta

R O O T S OF R E P U B L I C A N

ANTI-CLERICALISM

67

longing to society. It is necessary to take sides in the future. You can be the opposition in the cafés, but you cannot be in the government unless you are in the fashionable world.189 In the spring of 1881, without many knowing it, he began dining with Legitimists and reactionaries, such as the Duc de la Tremóille, the Marquis de Lau, Alphonse de Rothschild, and others. For a wonder, he was immaculately dressed, put on his best manners, and appeared to be delighted with these gentlemen. At their table he professed to admire Henry I V , who, it must be remembered, had been the first to say Paris was worth a mass, Louis X V I I I , and Talleyrand.140 Such connections were inevitably noised about and were resented by his old following in Belleville. When he spoke there on August 18, 1881, he was shouted down by his audience and was elected by only eight votes in one arrondissement and by 350 in the other. 1 " The close relations between the government and the business interests and the fact that, as Henri Rochefort succinctly put it, clericalism was the enemy from all points of view 142 were demonstrated in the curious history of the Union Générale. This company was established in 1870 with a capital of 25 millions,143 but was taken over on June 3, 1878 by Bontoux, a director of railroad companies in southern Austria and former employee of Rothschild, with whom he had quarreled after losing part of his fortune in 1873. 144 " Bontoux, whose relations with the Catholic world were numerous, let himself be known as a man capable of taking from the Jewish and foreign 139 Juliette Adam, Nos Amitiés Politiques (5th éd.; Paris, 1908), pp. 117-18.

avant l'Abandon

de la

Revanche

104 L. Halévy, Trois Dîners avec Gambetta ( P a r i s , 1920), pp. 28-9, 34, 39, 104. 141 Ibid., pp. 66-70. 142 H . Rochefort, Les Aventures 143 Marcel Marion, Histoire 1 9 3 O . V I , 39. 144 La Grande Encyclopédie,

de ma Vie ( P a r i s , 1896), I V , 267.

Financière

de la France

" Bontoux ".

depuis 1715

(Paris,

68

THE

FRENCH

LAIC

LAWS

bank the scepter of finance. . . ." 143 The Pope was said to favor the enterprise,1*9 among whose directors were the Due de Broglie, Eugène Veuillot, the Vicomte Emmanuel d'Harcourt, Mayol de Lupé, the Marquis de Ploenc, and others.147 Some of the religious orders and even the Pope were said to have invested money in the company.148 The Union Générale became interested in Brazilian railroads, Bucharest oil, and the Bank of Austria, and by December, 1881, had a capital of 150 millions. Its stock climbed phenomenally from 1,500 francs in June, 1881 to 3,040 francs on January 5, 1882,149 partly because of the excessive speculation on the Bourse, and partly because a group of Jewish bankers tried unsuccessfully to absorb the company by buying up its stock.150 De Vogué suggests in his diary that the Opportunists tried to effect a reconciliation with the Catholic financiers when the latter were at the height of their prosperity. He wrote on October 29, 1881 : This evening, Michel Annenkof arrived from France, impregnated with the air of Paris and swearing only by Bontoux. He is the Napoleon of the present hour. Gambetta is only second to him. Curious chapter in the history of this era! This financier, who appears to have some rare qualities, conceived the idea of grouping the capital and the dispossessed powers of the former world, Catholicism, Legitimism, Orleanism, etc., then, by means of money, fusing with Opportunism and overthrowing the Jewish people. It is the French side of the great anti-semitic struggle which will be the dominant fact of this year in the history of Europe. One has seen the money of churches and of sons of crusaders flow into the coffers of Bontoux ; and, as it was for the good cause, kind-hearted people have not refused to win a little money. Seeing that the scheme was popular, the Opportunists have extended a discreet 145 Marion, op. cit., V I , 39. 146 A . Chirac, L'Agiotage

sous la 3e République

UT Ibid., I I , 18-20. 148 Vizetelly, Republican

France, p. 263.

149 Marion, op. cit.. V I , 39. 150 Chirac, op. cit., I, 345.

( P a r i s , 1888), I, 239-40.

ROOTS

OF

REPUBLICAN

ANTI-CLERICALISM

69

hand. The terrain is one of fusion and reconciliation. . . . One wins some millions in a day, but one wins them holily. . . . One sees the pious Bontoux at M. Talabot's 151 creating with the support of the Opportunists a consortium for the railroad of the Indies. . . . Profiting by all that, holding the cards, Gambetta walks rather cleverly. These last days the trip in Normandy has shown him concerned only with commercial interests, speaking as their arbiter. He has known how to impose himself on all without revealing himself, making his conditions in advance, having himself demanded by all as a doctor pursued by his clients. W e are going to see him enter on the scene.152 A t the end of December, 1881 the Bank of L y o n and of the Loire fell, dragging with it the Parisian banks ; and the highly inflated market collapsed of its own weight. 153 T h e stock of the Union Générale began a disastrous decline from its high point to 425 francs in the first days of F e b r u a r y . 1 " O n January 26 the Gambetta government fell because of its defeat on the question of the scrutin de liste, and perhaps because of the financial crisis. 155 Léon Say, in whom the conservative interests had confidence, because he was opposed to conversion, government ownership of the railroads, and a new issue of bonds, became minister of finance. Many of the brokers were saved on January 28 by a loan of 40 millions from the Rothschild banks and of 40 millions from banks affiliated with that of Paris. 159 But the government made no effort to aid the Union Généraleand Bontoux was a r r e s t e d and im158 prisoned, although no one connected with the Bank of L y o n and of the Loire was prosecuted. 158 Many people with small 151 Constructor of the first sections of the P. L. M., of which he w a s director f r o m 1862-82. 152 D e Vogiié, Journal du Vicomte 153 Neymarck, Finances

de Vogué

Contemporaines

( P a r i s , 1932), pp. 269-70.

( P a r i s , 1911), V I , 264.

154 Marion, op. cit., V I , 39. 155 D e Vogiié, Journal,

pp. 292-93.

156 Neymarck, op. cit.. V I , 269-72. 157 G. Hanotaux, Histoire 158 La Grande Encyclopédie,

de ¡a Nation " B o n t o u x ".

159 J. O. C., Feb. 3, 1882, pp. 78-79-

Française,

X , 462.

70

THE

FRENCH

LAIC

LAWS

savings were ruined, and the disaster was " exploited against the clerical party, which was attacked both in its material interests and in its prestige." 160 Arthur Meyer contends that the Union Générale was the victim of a confessional war waged against it by the anti-clericals. Although the bank was declared insolvent, he says that 90 per cent of its assets were later found to be sound. T o its fall he attributes some of the subsequent antisemitism in France. 161 The incident shows that Gambetta was not averse to dealing with clericals if it were profitable and also reveals the manner in which clericalism might be used as a pretext for an attack upon business rivals. Since the Opportunists hoped to wean the conservatives over to the republic from monarchism, they postponed social reforms. In 1876 the Chamber refused to grant amnesty to the communards and objected to a new form of revenue tax. 181 In 1877 Gambetta's financial reforms were not even discussed, after Léon Say had shown the budget committee that they would alarm the interests.163 In 1881 the Comte de Mun taunted the government with its failure to relieve the condition of the laboring classes : All sorts of promises have been made to the workingman. But his leisure, his health, his old age, his home, his future, his professional interests—who cares about them? After ninety years, they [the politicians] have got to the point where they discuss whether it is proper to restore to the workingman a part of the right of association of which the Revolution despoiled him ! And that is all that they can do to attempt to solve this social question, this economic question, which is the vital problem of modern times, which confronts all the governments of Europe, and the importance of which ought to be made clear by the public interest, in the absence of a sense of justice. 160 Roussel-Despierres,

" Souvenirs d'Hier ", Nouvelle

Revue,

(1934). 18-19. 161 A . Meyer, Ce que Mes Yeux Ont Vu ( P a r i s , 1911), p. 336. 162 L'Année

Politique,

June 1877, pp. 204-23.

163 J. O., June 17, 1877, P- 445®-

CXXXI

ROOTS OF R E P U B L I C A N

ANTI-CLERICALISM

71

In M a r c h , 1 8 8 1 the Chamber passed a bill establishing 6 6 hours as the m a x i m u m week f o r women and children in industry, but the Senate defeated i t . 1 " Only in 1 8 8 4 w a s a law g i v i n g freedom o f association to laborers finally enacted. F r o m 1 8 8 3 to 1 8 8 9 the C o m t e de M u n demanded legislation f o r guild organizations, compulsory sickness, accident, and old-age insurance, child and w o m a n labor laws, and the regulation of hours of labor, but he asked f o r these in vain. 1 6 5 Instead of labor legislation, the Opportunists promised to enact measures f o r the improvement of the a r m y , agriculture, commerce, industry, and transportation. 1 8 8 T h e y hailed compulsory and gratuitous primary education as a means of preventing social eruptions among the lower classes. 1 8 7 F e r r y declared that it w o u l d help eliminate class consciousness and enable the rich to j u s t i f y their possession of property and demonstrate their high sense of morality in providing instruction f o r the poor. 1 6 8 V o n Hohenlohe, the G e r m a n ambassador, wrote on M a r c h 2 0 , 1 8 7 9 : It was surprising that Gambetta declared the scrutin de liste was necessary in order that moderates should be elected. H e spoke generally in a conservative spirit. A s an example of the elections, he instanced Belleville, and thought if he had not been elected there, the electors would have got quite a red deputy. 189 W h i l e Gambetta cultivated the conservatives, he

realized

that it w a s just as essential to retain the support of the radicals, f r o m w h o m he had sprung. A s L u d o v i c H a l e v y put it, he would never cut off his " unfortunate tail," but he would sit on i t ! 1 7 0 164 Moon, The Labor Problem and the Social Catholic Movement in France, pp. 90-1, 96. 165 Ibid., pp. 101-12, 146-56. 166 Gambetta, Discours, VIII, 237, 249. 167 Ibid., VI, 271-75. 168 Ferry, Discours, I, 289, 299. 169 von Hohenlohe, op. cit., II, 244. 170 L. Halevy, " Les Carnets de Ludovic Halevy," Revue des Deux Mondes, per. 8, XLII (1937), 831.

72

THE

FRENCH

LAIC

LAWS

If the L e f t were to be held together to meet the attack of the monarchist groups, the Extreme L e f t must be compensated for its failure to secure social legislation. T h e substitute was, in Keller's trenchant phrase, " the dried up bones of some Jesuit." 171 Louis Andrieux, prefect of the Paris police from 1879 t o 1881, and then a deputy, confirmed this explanation of Gambetta's policy in his memoirs. T o this afflux of intransigeant strength, Gambetta opposed as counter-irritant the call to anti-religious passions : ' clericalism, there is the enemy ! ' . . . . For a long time the starving contented themselves with manger du prêtre-, the religious question dominated the social question. W h e n Andrieux reasoned with the unauthorized orders, which carry out, would only alienate sults, Gambetta replied that he

Gambetta that the expulsion of he, as prefect of police, had to sympathy without bringing rerealized this, but

that he attached importance to their execution as an indication of a policy. . . . M. Gambetta well knew that the policy whose affirmation appeared important to him would have as a consequence the definite alienation from the republic of a considerable fraction of the nation ; but he concerned himself above all with maintaining the great cities in his orbit. He was deputy of Belleville ; his principal subordinates represented the populations of the great working centers ; ' One does not govern against Paris ; one does not govern without Paris,' Gambetta had said.172 Further proof that anti-clericalism was a political weapon in Gambetta's eyes is found in his praise of the work done by Cardinal Lavigerie and his missionaries as " worth an army corps to France in Algeria " . W h e n some one commented that this " sang a different tune from the old battle-cry " , Gambetta replied, " That was a question of home politics ; anti-clericalism, you know, is not one of our exports." 178 Freycinet wrote the 171 Gautherot, Emile Keller, p. 383. 172 Andrieux, A Travers la République, pp. 220, 224. 173 P. Deschanel, Gambetta (London, 1920), p. 292.

R O O T S OF R E P U B L I C A N

ANTI-CLERICALISM

73

F r e n c h ambassador to Constantinople that the decrees against the unauthorized religious orders, f o r w h i c h Gambetta

was

largely responsible, were due to " considerations of purely domestic policy " and did not apply to Catholic missions in the Orient. 1 7 1 V o n Hohenlohe says that Gambetta told h i m the new P o p e m i g h t be dangerous, " since he is capable o f lulling apprehensions about the dangers o f clericalism ". 1 7 5 O n the death o f V i c t o r Emmanuel, Gambetta went to church, with the c o m ment, " R o m e is well w o r t h a m a s s . "

178

H i s determination to

conceal his real intentions in order to attain his end is disclosed in a letter to his mistress, in w h i c h he w r o t e : W h a t a task is mine ! B e f o r e taking any active steps, I must gain the right to let reason and justice triumph under the guise of violence. I must allay the suspicions of some, check the calumnies of others, and deceive all alike in order the better to serve all. B y whose desire is it ordered that truth may never walk openly in the land? By the strongest characteristic of mankind, that of refusing obedience unless forced to it by means of seduction or of violence. 177 T h e monarchists occasionally voiced the opinion that anticlericalism w a s a red herring. T h e D u c de B r o g l i e declared that the bill of 1876 for the " f r e e d o m " of higher education w a s supported by a radical party which, f o r the first time since the last elections, w a s about to win control o f the government by legal means. And at the same time it remembers that, twice before, it attained power by revolutionary methods, and twice the principles of this party, the compromising language, the senseless acts of its leaders, excited such fear, such consternation in the material interests that, by a sudden reaction, power escaped from its hands, and the cup was withdrawn from its lips ! Hence it does not wish this misfor174 Documents Diplomatiques Français, III (April 6, 1880), 73-74. 175 von Hohenlohe, Memoirs, II, 211. 176 H a n o t a u x , Histoire

de la France Contemporaine,

177 H a n o t a u x , Contemporary France, I V , 30.

I V , 251.

74

THE

FRENCH

LAIC

LAWS

tune to happen a third time, and to prevent this, it wishes to spare the material interests greatly, to accustom them little by little to its sway; it is preoccupied with a very singular fear, which I might call the fear of creating fear !. . . and that is why it consents to adjourn the great economic and financial reforms, the famous necessary destructions of which it spoke when it was in the opposition. . . . But what should it do? There are some electoral engagements to fill, there are some excited passions to satisfy, there are some hasty and impatient friends. What could satisfy all these impatient desires, restrain them peacefully, and make them feci the time less long? What if one gave them some religious questions to discuss and religious institutions to destroy? Religious interests concern only timid consciences and dreaming minds which defend themselves illy. That would serve as a substitute and make them patient ; then, by waiting, one would win some time, and the policy of opportunism, the policy of results, would proceed toward its goal by the slow and sure step which it announced and which suited it.178 Gontaut-Biron, former ambassador to Germany, told Lord Odo Russell after his retirement that, since he was no longer in office, he might admit that clericalism was a " phantom." 179 In the budget discussion of 1878 De la Bassetière accused Gambetta of deferring economic reforms by anti-clericalism, 180 and in 1879 Keller made the same charge, citing a statement in La République Démocratique et Sociale for December 15, 181 1878. L'Association Catholique, organ of the Catholic workingmen's clubs, also accused the Opportunists of this. 182 Liberals on the L e f t and L e f t Center likewise doubted the genuineness of the anti-clericals' outcries. Laboulaye asked, " Frankly, do you fear a clerical invasion today? In a country like this, when elections have just taken place, do you not see 178 / . O. S., July 2i, 1876, p. 5384179 De Gontaut-Biron, Dernières Années de l'Ambassade M. de Gontaut-Biron ( P a r i s , 1907), p. 269, note. 1 8 0 / . O . C . , Feb. 15, 1878, p. 1583. 181 / . O. C., July 6, 1879, p. 6212. 182 Moon, op. cit., p. 94.

en Allemagne

de

ROOTS

OF

REPUBLICAN

ANTI-CLERICALISM

that the danger is not on this side ? "

183

75

A n d Jules Simon

reiterated the opinion that w a r on the clericals had been decided upon to s a t i s f y the E x t r e m e L e f t , and later the Republican Union, since there was no social legislation to placate them. 1 8 4 Further evidence that this was the policy of the Opportunists is found in their actions while in control of the government. T h e m a j o r i t y of the anti-clerical measures were first introduced by the radicals and then taken up by the government, with more or less hesitation. T h u s in 1876 and 1877 the E x treme L e f t proposed the secularization of primary education, divorce, the abolition of army chaplains, the conversion of the Pantheon into a patriotic temple, and the suppression of religious holidays, all of which eventually became law. F o r a time in 1878 there was a slight lull in the anti-clerical movement because of

the Exposition and the expectation of

a

republican m a j o r i t y in the Senate a f t e r January, 1879. B u t the radicals demanded the expulsion o f

the Jesuits, 1 8 5 and the

Chamber began the discussion of a bill f o r the establishment of primary normal schools in June. O n

September

18, at

Romans, Gambetta made a virulent attack upon clericalism, which he said must be ejected f r o m education, and asked that the religious orders be made to c o n f o r m to the laws. 1 8 8 T h e pressure of the E x t r e m e L e f t became more pronounced in 1879. A f t e r the senatorial elections in January of that year, Gambetta is said to have told his intimates, " W i t h o u t these elections, at once republican and conservative, w e would have been l o s t ! " 1 8 7 In February F e r r y became minister of education in the W a d d i n g t o n cabinet, and on M a r c h 20 Gambetta told the German ambassador that the establishments of the unauthorized orders would have to be closed. 1 8 8 T h i s decision 1 8 3 / . O.S.,

J u l y 21, 1876, p. 5376.

184 S i m o n , Dieu, Patrie, 185 A d a m , Après

Liberté,

l'Abandon

186 G a m b e t t a , Discours, 187 E . D a u d e t , Souvenirs

pp. 205-06.

de la Revanche,

p. 153.

V I I I , 242-45. de la Présidence

(Paris, 1880), p. 198. 188 von Hohenlohe, op. cit., II, 244.

du Maréchal

de

Mac-Mahon

76

THE FRENCH LAIC

LAWS

may be explained by a letter of April 7, in which Laboulaye wrote that the Extreme L e f t had decided to break with a moderate policy and to demand complete amnesty, the trial of the ministers of the Seise Mai, the return of the chambers to Paris, and the Ferry laws to suppress the freedom of higher education and drive the religious orders from the schools. 189 It is interesting that Bert's bill of January 23 for the abolition of degrees from Catholic universities contained no article attacking the unauthorized religious orders. 190 On May 15 Ferry introduced his bill for the " freedom " of higher education, which, in Article Seven, excluded these orders from all branches of education. Three days earlier he had written in a private letter that Clemenceau had approved this bill two months a g o ; but now that the leader of the radicals had become popular, he disdained it, objecting to the revival of laws long dead and preferring to hunt the monk from the land rather than from education. 191 The Extreme L e f t was firmly intrenched in the municipal council of Paris, over whose growing power alarm was felt in 1879. Taine wrote, " The municipal council of Paris poses as the successor of the Commune and may some day revive it." 192 Mme Adam reported that the Right regarded it as an increasing danger, 193 while De V o g u e noted in his diary: Return of the communards . . . , of Rochefort carried in triumph by the populace. Plan for communal organization elaborated by the municipal council. The great danger for our future lies there: increasing, forced schism between Paris and France, the impatience of this feverish head which wishes to rid itself at any price of the burden of the body, if it cannot direct it according to its fantasy. The government, in its weakness, gives in every day to the monster which threatens to devour it.1*1 189/. O. C., July 4, 1879. P- 6123. 190 J.O.C., Feb. 15, 1879, P- 1096, No. 1083191 Ferry, Lettres de Jules Ferry, pp. 275-76. 192 H . Taine, Sa Vie et sa Correspondence (Paris, 1907), IV, 99. 193 Adam, Apres I'Abandon de la Revanche, p. 311. 194 De Vogue, Journal, p. 200.

ROOTS

OF R E P U B L I C A N

ANTI-CLERICALISM

77

In the course of the debates over the laic laws there were reverberations of this accusation. Thus it was said that the bill to suppress religious holidays was only part of an anti-clerical campaign against freedom sponsored by the council and prefect of Paris, Hérold, in agreement with the Chamber and in opposition to the ministers and the S e n a t e . 1 " The municipal council of Paris was notorious for its anticlericalism. In 1876 it suppressed the customary subsidies for all benevolent works of any religious character, Protestant, Catholic, or Jewish. 1 8 8 In December, 1880 the prefect, Hérold, had crucifixes and holy images removed from the walls of Paris schools and was commended by Ferry for this action. 1 " 7 In December, 1882 the municipal council showed its disapproval of a ministerial decree prescribing instruction in Deism in the primary schools by adopting the motion " that education in all degrees should be essentially laic " , especially secondary education. 198 Although the law of March 28, 1882 prohibited religious instruction in the public schools, Paris public schools attended by Jewish and Protestant children were permitted to continue it, while Catholic schools could not. 189 From 1878 to 1888 Paris secularized almost all its hospitals, replacing nuns by lay nurses, and from 1879 t o I 8 8 3 it removed chaplains from them. 200 The Senate protested twice, and the government, in a decree of March 7, 1883, declared that the municipal council had exceeded its powers ; but in May Waldeck-Rousseau asserted that there was no obligation for the municipal council to provide funds for chaplains. 201 195 / . O. S„ M a y 8, 1880, p. 4924. 196 L'Annce

Politique, A p r i l , 1876, p. 125.

197 B a r b i e r , op. cit., I I , 79-80. 198 S i m o n , Dieu, Patrie, Liberté,

pp. 354, 358.

199 A . D e s Cilleuls, L'Administration ( P a r i s , 1910), p. IS9200 L e c a n u e t , Les Premières 206.

Parisienne

sous la 3e

Années du Pontificat de Léon XIII,

201 J. O. S., M a y 30, 1883, pp. 584-88.

République pp. 197-

78

THE

FRENCH

LAIC

LAWS

Gambetta supported Article Seven for the sake of party discipline, although Mme A d a m says that he was not enthusiastic about the Ferry laws. 202 A f t e r this controversial article was defeated in the Senate, he was responsible for the overthrow of the Freycinet cabinet in September, 1880, because it had been dilatory in executing the decrees against the unauthorized orders. 208 H e pledged his support to the Ferry cabinet which followed; but in November the radicals in his group, such as Floquet, Brisson, and Allain-Targé, made matters so unpleasant for Ferry that the latter implored Gambetta to take the reins. 204 A g a i n in August, 1881, Ferry wrote his wife, " T h e Republican Union is the most admirable machine of disunion of which it is possible to dream." 208 B y 1881 the Opportunists had secured the enactment of laws for the establishment of primary normal schools to train secular teachers, for the removal of priests from the administration of charities, for the suppression of degrees from Catholic faculties, for the elimination of bishops f r o m the Higher Council of Public Education, for the abolition of letters of obedience permitting nuns to teach, for gratuitous primary education, for the non-observance of religious holidays, for the secularization of the cemetery, for the freedom of the press f r o m all religious restrictions, for the secondary education of girls, and for the reduction of the number of chaplains in the army. The Extreme L e f t , however, increased its demands, asking for the suppression of the Senate and of the presidency and a socialistic program. It attacked the imperialistic policy of the government in Tunis. The municipal council of Paris asked for autonomy. Gambetta was fearful of losing Paris in the elections of 1881. While the Right struggled desperately on religious questions, he wished to avoid, even at the price of the largest concessions, break2 0 2 A d a m , Après I'Abandon de la Revanche, p. 369. 2 0 3 F r e y c i n e t , Souvenirs, 1878-93, p. 153. 2 0 4 F e r r y , Lèttres de Jules Ferry, pp. 306-07.

205 Dietz, " Jules Ferry : S a Première Présidence du Conseil," Revue Politique et Parlementaire, ann. 42, C L X V

(1935), 102.

ROOTS

OF R E P U B L I C A N

ANTI-CLERICALISM

79

ing with the advanced Left. If a schism occurred before the elections, all government would become impossible. T o safeguard the union of moderates and radicals, he asked for amnesty f o r the communards. 20 * In his speeches he discussed social problems rather vaguely. In March he said that the following year they would try to study arbitration in labor disputes, freedom of association, and an international code of commerce; and that the Chamber would be transformed from a liberating into a reforming body. T h e state should protect the sick, the poor, and the unemployed, and eliminate some of the uncertainties of existence. 207 During the campaign he told his Belleville constituents that that quarter should remain the source of his political authority in the democracy and suggested mild social legislation for the future. In addition, he asked for modification of the constitution of 1875, equal and compulsory service in the army, compulsory and lay primary education, the suppression of clericalism, strict execution of the Concordat, reduction of mortmain, taxation of church property, and freedom of association for all but the monks. 208 Thus he hoped to disarm the radicals by taking their program from them. 206 T h e elections resulted in a strong republican majority. T h e Republican Union, Gambetta's group, gained at the expense of the Extreme L e f t . 2 1 0 Shortly after the balloting, Gambetta declared : I said some four years ago that the era of perils was closed, that that of difficulties was opening. Gentlemen, the era of difficulties is not closed. The problems are changing: these difficulties which we have overcome and concerning which we were right, were the overthrow of personal power, the purification of the administration, the recapture of the legitimate authority of the secular and 206 H a n o t a u x , Histoire 207 G a m b e t t a , Discours,

de la France

Contemporaine,

I V , 552-53.

I X , 171-72, 179, 162.

208 Ibid., I X , 396, 412-24. 209 L . A n d r i e u x , Souvenirs 210 L'Année

Politique,

d'un Préfet

1881, pp. 220-21.

de Police

( P a r i s , 1885), I, 234-40.

8o

THE FRENCH

LAIC

LAWS

civil power from the encroachments of the ecclesiastical spirit; they were the remaking and remodeling of a secular legislation. These things are now accomplished : it is necessary to go farther. . . . But it is also necessary to be careful not to attempt all at once. 2 1 1 On September 7 he avowed that his constant objective had always been the emancipation of the working classes; but, since the emancipation of the individual should come before that of society, they had tried to enlighten the mind of the child " with the pure radiance of reason and science, instead of leaving it in the shadows of credulity and superstition. W e think that . . . universal education is the cornerstone of social renovation." 2 1 2 In October Ludovic Halévy remarked in his journal : A new Gambetta, a man of business. . . . No more revision. No more war on the Senate. No more declarations against clericalism. Peace and business, that is his refrain. For how long? There are decidedly too many Gambettas in Gambetta. One never knows with whom one has to deal. 213 In November, 1 8 8 1 Gambetta at last became premier. T o the horror of the Right, he appointed Paul Bert as minister of cults. The latter's program was so hostile to the Church that Flourens, director of worship, resigned and was replaced by Castagnary, a materialist and Freemason. 2 1 4 Bert proceeded to issue a circular to make religious education optional in the schools and introduced a bill requiring teachers in " free " schools to have university degrees, 2 1 8 but the fall of the Grand Ministère in J a n u a r y , 1 8 8 2 checked his intention to execute 211 Gambetta, Discours,

IX, 462.

212 Gambetta, Discours. IX, 481-82. 213 L. Halévy, " Les Carnets de Ludovic Halévy," Revue Mondes, pér. 8, X L I I (1937), P- 396. 214 Tournier, Le Cardinal Lavigerie, 215 Lecar.uet, Les 134-35-

Premières

Années

des

Deux

p. 123. du Pontificat

de Léon

XIII,

pp.

HOOTS O F R E P U B L I C A N A N T I - C L E R I C A L I S M

8l

Concordat strictly, Within the next five for the protection of civil funerlls, for divorce, for of the functions of vestry and commune, for the removal of the religious orders from public primary schools, orders and ecclesiastical students. The Pantheon by decree, public prayers for the work of the abolished by the National Assembly, and the Catholic Faculties of Theology were suppressed; but the proposed by the radicals were never enacted, for will be considered later/" Social refoi :ver, were not undertaken in this decade; and since G; led in the last days of 1882, the question whether he re returned to

. and the to indicate that; Opportunists as a means of satisfying the radical < the social reforms for Thus the ; to religion or mildly anti-clericai, were enlisted in the ranks by an appeal to their love of property and enough, been disregarded or only suggested by most of the major historians, even by those with jLaDusquiere, m tne jrttstotre oocuui$*cs says merely tnat his war on clericalism when the danger o f

82

THE

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LAIC

LAWS

comment. In a work published in 1881 Georges M o r e a u asserts that the clerical question w a s a bone thrown to the people to quiet them when the government was in difficulties at home or abroad. 280 L é o n Daudet, monarchist in sympathy, writes that Article Seven was a political maneuver to rally the E x t r e m e L e f t . " 1 A f e w writers have been more discerning. Daniel H a l é v y declares in La Fin des Notables that the republicans hesitated to carry out fiscal or social reforms f o r fear of antagonizing the interests, and hence embarked on the struggle against the Church. 2 2 2 Y v e s de Constantin asserts that since the separation of church and state, the people were beginning to realize that in anti-clericalism they had a d j o u r n e d the r e f o r m of laboring conditions. 223 Eugène Dufeuille, in tracing the history of anti-clericalism f r o m the middle ages to the twentieth century, says that the bourgeoisie believed that " if the government of the republic did not amuse its clientèle with some attacks against the C h u r c h and religion, the people would perhaps wish to divert themselves by war on property and property holders." 224 M o o n suggests that anti-clericalism was a red herring, in his w o r k on the Social Catholic movement. 2 2 5 V F o r e i g n affairs as well as the domestic situation led the O p portunists to adopt an anti-clerical policy. A f t e r the FrancoPrussian W a r , Gambetta understood fully the delicacy of the French position. A s a patriot he continued to long secretly f o r 220 G. Moreau, Le Budget

de Cultes,

La Question

Cléricale

(4th é d . ;

Paris, 1881), p. 107. 221 L. Daudet, Panorama de la 3e République (22nd ed. ; Paris, 1936), P- 50.

222D. Halévy, La Fin des Notables (Paris, 1930), p. 127. 223 Yves de Constantin, Gambetta, Serviteur de Bismarck (Paris, 1911),

pp. 1-2. 224 E . Dufeuille, L'Anti-Cléricalisme

(Paris, 1910), p. 342. 225 Moon, op. cit., p. 93.

avant et pendant Notre

République

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83

revanche and the restoration of Alsace-Lorraine. 22 * Goblet even believed that he had this more at heart than his program of reforms. 3 " But he realized the need for concealing these thoughts until France had recovered her military strength, and until the republic was firmly established. It is said that after his death, among his private papers, was found a notebook containing a survey of the political affiliations of the officers of the French army. This revealed that three-fifths of its leaders were active Bonapartists, a little more than a fifth Legitimists and Orleanists, and scarcely one-tenth loyal republicans.228 Putting a bold face on the matter, Gambetta told the American ambassador at the time of the Seise Mai that the division of the army into geographical regions had kept the soldiers in close communication with sentiment at home, and that they were young and loyal to the government. He believed that many higher officers were republicans, and that some who were not were disinclined to aid the Bonapartists.229 Nevertheless, it behooved him to tread warily. Gambetta declared on February 2, 1876 that French policy in Europe should be inspired by an anti-clerical principle,2®0 since this would ensure peaceful relations with Italy, with whom France should always be friends. Later he condemned the petition of the French bishops in behalf of the temporal power of the papacy in the spring of 1877, because it had endangered those relations.231 In 1878, after a journey to Italy, where he talked with prominent politicians, he disclosed his thoughts more fully to Mme Adam : 226 L. Halévy, Trois Dîners avec Gambetta, p. 42. 227 Goblet, " Souvenirs de ma Vie Politique," Revue Politique mentaire, ann. 35, C X X X V I (1928), pp. 383-84. 228 P. B. Gheusi, La Vie et la Mort Singulières 1932), p. 197.

et Parle-

de Gambetta

(Paris,

229 Department of State, U.S.A., Dispatches. France, L X X X I I (June 8, 1877), No. 1498. 230 Gambetta, Discours, V, 60. 231 Ibid., V, 175.

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A s for my anti-clericalism at home, so much the better if it is an out-growth of my foreign policy, but, be assured, it will not blind me to the extent of making France run the risk of losing the benefit of our activities and Catholic traditions abroad. . . . The great question is to disengage the state from its clerical bonds and to release the Church from its officialism. While we remain the ' eldest daughter of the Church ', the papacy will count on us for support, and thus, logically, our relations with Italy will remain unstable. It is necessary to untie our papal attachments and renew our connections with the Italian royalty. W e have had our grandeur as adherents of the papacy, but we will be greater still as the champions of the freedom of churches. The policy of the Kulturkampf has changed the principle of anti-clerical struggles. It has made them a question of European politics; we can no longer disregard this.232 Gambetta believed that anti-clericalism would likewise promote cordial

relations

with

Germany,

whose

Kulturkampf

was

in his mind when he considered the relations between church and state. 283 H i s close friend, Spuller, resented the fact that Anti-clericalism leads him to Bismarck and Bismarck to that policy. . . . Certainly I am passionately republican, but to receive the republic from Prussia terrifies me. A n d as for anti-clericalism, my dear friend, beware, it is Prussian ! 2 3 4 Thiers, with w h o m Gambetta w a s on g o o d terms in 1876, thought that a common interest in the overthrow of montanism would guarantee g o o d relations between

ultraFrance

and Germany. 2 8 8 Gambetta m a y well have taken stock of the fact that Russia, A u s t r i a , and England

would not be hostile to his policy.

Russia had persecuted the Catholic C h u r c h in Poland in an endeavor to suppress Polish nationalism and w a s opposed to the 232 A d a m , Après

l'Abandon

2 3 3 T o u r n i e r , Gambetta, 234 A d a m , Après

de la Revanche,

pp. 123-24.

pp. 309-10.

l'Abandon

de la Revanche,

235 von Hohenlohe, Memoirs, II, 172.

p. 123.

ROOTS OF R E P U B L I C A N A N T I - C L E R I C A L I S M

85

papal claims to temporal power."* She was the ally of Germany and did not fear French radicalism. Indeed, many of her nobles were sympathetic with Gambetta's ideas. 2 " On March 18, 1876, the French ambassador to St. Petersburg, L e Flô, wrote the Due Decazes that the Tsar had disliked the news of the last French elections, which had given the republicans a majority in the Chamber; but that Prince Gortchakoff had declared that Russia could live on good terms with a conservative and pacific republic. Russia disliked the Comte de Chambord for his political ineptitude and clerical sympathies, linked the Comte de Paris to the Polish prejudices of the July Monarchy, and hated the Empire for its refusal of an alliance in 1863 and 1867, for its intrigues in Poland, and for its permitting Germany to become so strong. 238 On May 27, 1877 L e Flô reported that the Tsar feared the return of the Bonapartists, 239 and on September 22 Laboulaye wrote from St. Petersburg that the Russians were hostile to the De Broglie government, which they regarded as clerical. 240 Austria, bound by ties to Germany, likewise favored an anticlerical policy. When the king of Italy visited Vienna in September, 1873, he was told that Austria would not support the papal claims. 241 Andrassy, then foreign minister, as a liberal and champion of the rights of the state, would not submit to the dictates of the Pope. Since 1867 no Austrian or Hungarian statesman had dared to re-establish the Concordat of 1 8 5 5 . ® " Many Englishmen were sympathetic with Bismarck's anti-papal policy. 243 The English press opposed Marshal MacMahon after 236 W. L. Langer, European Alliances and Alignments ( N e w York, 1931), PP- 33, 37237 De Gontaut-Biron, op. cit., pp. 278-81. 238 Documents Diplomatiques Français, II, 46-47, No. 38. 239 Ibid., II, 180-81, No. 176. 240 Ibid., II, 208-09, No. 203. 241 Langer, op. cit., pp. 33, 35. 242E. von Wertheimer, Graf Julius Andrassy (Stuttgart, 1913), II, 19091. 243 Langer, op. cit., p. 37.

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the dissolution of the Chamber in 1877 and desired the triumph of liberal ideas.244 Thus, as Paul Bert told von Biilow, France must be laicized, because its international position and the existence of the republic depended upon this." 4 Mme Adam, who was prejudiced against Gambetta by her intense hatred of Germany and conversion to the Catholic faith, indicates that anti-clericalism was substituted for revanche as an issue in political campaigns, since peace with Germany was essential. Perhaps there is something in her thesis. I was more and more haunted by the conviction that the relinquishment of the idea of revenge by our friends was a reason for their hatred of Catholicism. . . . Not giving revanche, it [the republic] logically gave the priest to be fed on. Gambetta, whom one accused of not realizing the program of Belleville, and who had more than once smiled at the accusation, began to realize it in the most dangerous manner. The separation of church and state not only was announced by the spoliation of the Church, but those who tyrannized over it adjured the sovereign pontiff to order his flock to accept the republic with its threats.249 It may also have occurred to the Opportunists that the republican party, which had preached war to the bitter end in 1871, might now appear as the peace party, if it accused the monarchists of embroiling France in war in 1877 by their clericalism.247 It was to Bismarck's interest to promote anti-clericalism in France too. His ambassador there, von Hohenlohe, told the German emperor that if France were kept engrossed in her own concerns, isolated, and weak, revanche would be an impossibility. Gambetta's attack on the clericals would make her so disunited and occupied that she could not wage war on Germany.248 Bismarck also hoped to alienate Alsace-Lorraine 244 Documents Diplomatiques Français, I I , 212, N o . 212. 245 von Biilow, Memoirs of Prince von Biilow

(Boston, 1932), I V , 506.

246 Adam, Après l'Abandon de la Revanche, pp. 380-81. 247 D e Roux, op. cit., p. 282. 248 von Hohenlohe, Memoirs, II, 205 ( O c t . 22, 1877).

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87

from the mother-country by this means. 249 H e regarded the Church as the chief source of French strength, and said in 1870: The Latin races have had their day. A single element of force remains to them: religion. . . ,250 If we can extirpate it [Catholicism] from her [France], we will be masters of the Latins. W e will impose our romantic mentality on the world, we will command it in continuation of the old struggle of the Germans against Rome, of Luther. . . . 251 Bismarck's o w n struggle against the Church made him sympathetic with an anti-clerical policy. Thiers asserted that all French difficulties with R o m e were inspired by Bismarck, w h o wished to grind down the papacy, 252 whose political power he feared. 353 T h e German statesman foresaw that re-establishment of a Catholic monarchy in France would mean French championship of papal claims, monarchical alliances with European courts, especially with Austria, and w a r with Germany. 2 5 4 In 1878 he had his son w r i t e : W e do not wish and we have no need of a war with France; we believe also that it will not break out fatally while the pope does not give the express order. 255 In September of the previous year he told Crispi : I hold that only a return to monarchy would make war possible. In France all dynasties are of necessity clerical, and because her clergy are restless and powerful and her kings must be warriors in order to sway the masses, the natural consequence is that they 249 Yves de Constantin, op. cit., p. 8. 250 Gautherot, op. cit., p. 369. 251 Adam, Après l'Abandon de la Revanche, p. 396. 252 Adam, Nos Amitiés Politiques, pp. 396-97. 253 Langer, op. cit., p. 36. 254 Die Grosse Politik der Europatschen Kabinette (Berlin, 1922), I, 239-40, No. 151. 255 R. Pinon, France et Allemagne, 1870-1913 (Paris, 1913), p. 18.

88

T H E F R E N C H LAIC L A W S

are forced to attack their neighbors. Such conditions have long prevailed, and you will find an example of them as far back as the reign of Louis X I V . On the other hand, the republic could exist only by keeping peace." 6 Hence Bismarck preferred France to have a republican government, which he considered weaker. He succeeded in overruling the German emperor, who feared radicalism more than clericalism. 257 However, Bismarck wished the republic to be conservative and supported by the monarchists, 258 since too radical a regime would be a source of instability. His ambassador in Paris wrote on January 15, 1 8 7 9 : We can see whither the Jacobins are leading the republic. In any case, we must keep a sharp eye on affairs. For a radical republic can play the maddest tricks : Kulturkampf, war with us, and so on. . . . I fear that the republic will be led into excesses by the Jesuits.259 B y that time Bismarck feared radicalism more than clericalism, because he had become reconciled with the papacy. A f t e r the passage of the tariff of 1879, the government needed the support of the Center, the Free Conservatives, and the Conservatives, who had opposed the Kulturkampf. The Church was regarded as a check upon socialism, which was growing. It was hoped that the new Pope, Leo X I I I , would be less reactionary in his policies. Consequently diplomatic relations with the papacy were resumed in 1882, and much of the anti-clerical legislation was abrogated by 1887. Bismarck constantly used his influence to ensure the continuance of a moderate republican government in France. He wrote : 256 F. Crispi, The Memoirs of Francesco Crispi, Mary Prichard-Agnetti, trans. (New York, 1912), II, 29. 257 De Gontaut-Biron, op. cit., pp. 278-81. 258 Ibid., pp. 18-20, 367. 259 von Hohenlohe, op. cit., II, 241, 257.

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ANTI-CLERICALISM

89

Naturally we cannot interfere in the domestic affairs of France, but certainly we have a perfect right to express our sympathies for the persons and institutions from which we expect the maintenance of the peace which we desire.260 In a speech before the Reichstag he attacked the education given by ecclesiastics in France because of its credulity; and the German press highly approved of the proposed revision of the law on higher education in 1876. 281 The Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, Bismarck's organ, rejoiced over the result of the elections of 1876 as the defeat of ultramontanism.262 On February 24, 1876, the Post, a Berlin paper devoted to the chancellor's policy, said that a French monarchy would mean foreign war and a republic peace.26® During the Seize Mai Bismarck wrote von Hohenlohe that they must persuade the French electorate, influential men, and the press that this was the case. 2 " On October 11, three days before the French elections, the Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung declared that the cabinets of Berlin and Rome were consulting on the perils of a clerical triumph in France. 285 A f t e r the elections were over, it charged that the French government had been allied with ultramontanism and stated that the present liberal republic appeared to be the best guarantee of a pacific policy and that the success of the De Broglie government would have interrupted the friendly relations of France abroad.288 Bismarck suggested that the German papers should declare the possibility of the convocation of the Reichstag in case of a coup d'état in France.*67 260 Die Grosse Politik,

I, 327, No. 212.

261 D e Gontaut-Biron, op. cit., pp. 71, 260. 262 Documents 263 L'Année

Diplomatiques Politique,

264 Die Grosse Politic

Diplomatiques

267 Die Grosse Politik,

I I , 43, No. 35.

I, 326-27, No. 212.

265 D. Halévy, La République 266 Documents

Français,

Feb. 1876, pp. 40-41. des Ducs Français,

I, 328, No. 214.

( P a r i s , 1937). PP- 217, 316. I I , 217, No. 212.

90

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FRENCH

LAIC

LAWS

T h e republicans themselves used this argument to excellent advantage in the elections of 1877. Gambetta cried in the Chamber, " Fear that one may say dissolution is war." 2 , 8 Clamageran, a Protestant deputy, wrote in his journal : Danger of war will not be possible if public opinion is energetically opposed to the clericals in the elections, for Germany thinks it needs an alliance with Italy, and the Italians do not hate France, but only fear clerical aggression."' A f t e r the elections Ferry told the Chamber that a clerical government would endanger French interests 270 and claimed that there had been an understanding, although no treaty, between Germany and Italy in regard to their course of action. 271 The De Broglie government realized the effectiveness of this form of propaganda, and asked the clergy to abstain from interference in politics during the elections and the prefects to deny that a conservative victory would mean war with Germany and Italy. 272 T h e Due Decazes gave Italy assurances of France's peaceful intentions. His government even tried to get German support, and sent Gontaut-Biron to pay his respects to Emperor William in Alsace-Lorraine ! 273 But the French peasant abhorred the idea of a war in behalf of the temporal power of the Pope, 274 wished the continuance of the status quo and a conservative republic, 278 and was, perhaps, as Ferry claimed, " fundamentally anti-clerical." 276 The republicans returned to power. 268 D. Halévy, La République des Ducs, pp. 305-06. 269 Clamageran, op. cit., p. 406 (May 25, 1877). 270 Ferry, Discours, II, 433 ( N o v . 15, 1877). 271 D e Roux, La République de Bismarck (Paris, 1915), p. 19. 272 Hanotaux, Histoire de la France Contemporaine, IV, 177-78. 273 J. Reinach, " La Diplomatie de la 3e République," Revue des Sciences Politiques, sér. 3, X L I V (1921), 38-39274 D. Halévy, La République des Ducs, p. 305. 275 D. Halévy, Décadence de la Liberté, pp. 28-29. 276 Ferry, Discours, II, 378.

R O O T S OF R E P U B L I C A N

ANTI-CLERICALISM

91

German interference in yet another connection was whispered about. Marshal MacMahon told Lord Lyons, British ambassador to France, on. December 18, 1877 that he had remained in office and had established a parliamentary ministry, because he had received a warning from abroad that if he retired or formed a clerical government, war would follow.*" This is confirmed by another source.278 After the funeral of Thiers in 1877, Gambetta told Lalance that it would be preferable to conclude a peaceful agreement with Germany, by which France would receive Alsace-Lorraine in exchange for financial, colonial, or customs compensations. Otherwise there would be perpetual war. 279 It is clearly established that in 1877 and 1878 Gambetta was in close relations with agents of Bismarck : von Hohenlohe, Henckel von Donnersmarck, and the latter's mistress, the n o t o r i o u s La Paiva.a80 Henckel is said to have told Gambetta on December 23, 1877 that " a resolute attitude against Rome would be the surest way to arrive at a final rapprochement." Perhaps because of these influences, the government appointed Waddington, a Protestant, as minister of foreign affairs, and sent SaintVallier as ambassador to Berlin in place of Gontaut-Biron, who had been unpopular at his post. 281 The French chargé d'affaires at Berlin wrote Waddington : The news that the ministry contained some persons belonging to the reformed religion was the best proof for the German government that clerical ideas did not inspire our policy in the interior or abroad.282 277 Lord Newton, Lord Lyons (London, 1913), pp. 119-20. 278 Hanotaux, Histoire de la France Contemporaine, I V , 167. 279 A. Lalance, Mes Souvenirs

( P a r i s , 1914), p. 70.

280 Adam, Après l'Abandon de la Revanche, pp. 70-71 ; D. Halévy, La République des Ducs, p. 308. 281 De Roux, La République de Bismarck, pp. 30-31. 282 Documents Diplomatiques Français, II, 226, No. 222.

92

THE

FRENCH

LAIC

LAWS

There was even talk of an interview between Gambetta and Bismarck at Varzin. Henckel wrote the latter that Gambetta would propose a rapprochement and collaboration between France and Germany. That appears necessary to him to produce stable relations in Europe and to ward off the industrial and commercial crisis; the entente bearing especially on a common position taken by Germany and France against Rome, the re-establishment of confidence between the two countries, and some mutual enlightenment on the subject of the war budgets.283 Gambetta finally refused to take this step on April 28, 1878, 284 perhaps because he feared the effect of the disclosure of such relations upon his popularity in France, perhaps because he would not g o without being assured that he could speak of Alsace-Lorraine. O n A u g u s t 28, 1878 Bismarck wrote von Hohenlohe that he was still willing to meet Gambetta. 288 Relations between the two countries remained satisfactory. Germany supported the Tunisian policy of France and AngloFrench action in Egypt. 2 8 8 She steadfastly refused to lend any aid to the monarchist groups. 287 W h e n Gambetta became prime minister, Bismarck's son wrote that this would not affect the foreign policy of Germany; for France should be completely independent in her domestic affairs. 2 8 8 In November, 1882, he wrote again that the chancellor wished the continuance of the existing order in France to maintain the stability and peace of Europe. 288 A year later, when monarchist parties were finding some sympathy in Austria, Bismarck declared that he would never fight for or against France because of her form of gov283 Pinon, France et Allemagne, pp. 43-44. 284 von Honenlohe, op. cit., II, 293. 285 Die Grosse Politik, III, 387, No. 654. 286 Langer, op. cit., p. 190. 287 von Hohenlohe, op. cit., II, 301, 308. 288 Die Grosse Politik, III, 403. No. 670. 289 Ibid.. I l l , 405, No. 673-

ROOTS OF R E P U B L I C A N

ANTI-CLERICALISM

93

ernment. The French republic would become increasingly feeble and serve as a warning against that form of government. But his policy of peace towards France would not change if France became a monarchy. Although a French king would more easily find alliances against Germany than the republic, the latter could breed war as easily, since its rulers were irresponsible and would be aided by other powers whose interests were involved." 0 It is thus certain that Gambetta, although he secretly longed for revanche, wished a rapprochement with Germany until France had recovered her strength and until the republic was firmly established. H e appreciated the fact that an anti-clerical policy was best calculated to win the friendship of Germany, Austria, Italy, England, and Russia. It would also serve at home as a substitute for revanche and secure the support of the peace-loving masses. Bismarck, likewise desirous of the maintenance of peace, used his influence to encourage a conservative, anti-clerical republic, sought an entente with France, and fostered her expansion abroad. 290 Ibid., Ill, 407-09, No. 676.

C H A P T E R III T H E ROOTS OF R E P U B L I C A N A N T I CLERICALISM: THE RENAISSANCE OF JACOBIN N A T I O N A L I S M I T H E Franco-Prussian W a r and the triumph of republicanism in France evoked a Jacobin nationalism, which, in its praise of the traditions of the French Revolution, helped to foster the anti-clericalism of the period. Despite the statement of Daniel Halevy that the republicans' deep concern was with the universal rather than with the fatherland, 1 and despite the cosmopolitan humanitarianism of Comte and Freemasonry, it must be maintained that the republicans of 1 8 7 6 were French patriots first and foremost. In September, 1 8 7 1 Gambetta told the organizers of the Peace Congress at Lausanne: I have never been a very active partisan of cosmopolitan ideas and principles. They are somewhat too vague, too idealistic, although they have certain brilliant and specious aspects. I believe that their most certain effect is to efface or decrease too greatly love of the fatherland and the duty of civic responsibility.2 H e admitted that it was " this secret spring of wounded patriotism which has caused the cult of popular education to develop so prodigiously in the country. . . . " 8 F e r r y likewise declared in the Chamber: Before 1870 this flag of compulsory, popular education was waved, acclaimed; this demand came not only from public reason but also from popular instinct, like a presentiment; and the day after our disasters, the whole country, all of France hailed it . . . as a cry of pacific revenge, a cry of comfort and hope, of safety and promise* 1 D. Halevy, La Fin det Notables, pp. 127-28. 2 Gambetta, Littres de Gambetta, No. 127. 3 Gambetta, Discours, VIII, 295 (Dec. 27, 1878). 4 J. O. C., Dec 21, 1880, p. 12614. 94

RENAISSANCE

OF J A C O B I N

NATIONALISM

95

It is through a great intellectual culture that powerful democracies, those which aspire to a long future, maintain themselves, rise, and achieve their place in the sun.5 Paul Jozon, in the discussion of compulsory primary education, asked, Could it be true that France has been reduced to a condition inferior to that of neighboring peoples, so that we cannot realize here the progress accomplished elsewhere? Gentlemen, you cannot believe it.® This passion for revanche, which Charles Maurras so aptly called the " queen of France ", 7 led Frenchmen to adopt those features of German life which seemed to account for German success: military conscription, the scientific method,8 and popular education.9 They praised, and in many cases adopted, certain characteristics of German instruction, such as equal education for girls, the cultivation of reason rather than of memory, emphasis on science and modern languages, gymnastics, day schools, and course examinations.10 Apparently the republicans did not notice that the Church had extensive control over the Prussian school.11 It is amusing to find that Monsignor Dupanloup told a committee of the National Assembly in 1871 that Prussian education should be emulated, because, ever since the days of Frederick the Great, the Catholic priest and Protestant pastor had been patrons and directors of the primary schools! 1 2 5 Liard, etc. "L'Oeuvre de Jules Ferry," Revue Internationale de VEnseignement, LIII (1907), 5-156 J. O. C., Dec. 15, 1880, p. 12340. 7 D. Halevy, La Decadence de la Liberti, p. 99. 8Renard, op. cit., p. 96. 9 Dubreuil, Paul Bert, p. 32. 10 Renard, op. cit., pp. 104-06. 11 D. Halevy, La Fin des Notables, pp. 127-28. 12 Delpit, Martial Delpit, pp. 130-31.

96

THE

FRENCH

LAIC

LAWS

T h e patriotic statesmen of this period were imbued with the traditions of the French Revolution and endeavored to find precedent f o r their every step in the acts of the revolutionaryassemblies. Gambetta is said to have been particularly influenced by the ideas of Mirabeau and Danton. T h e former, w h o m he called " the most glorious political genius that this country has had since the incomparable Cardinal Richelieu," had been tolerant in religious matters, had believed in the value of experience, and had stressed individual liberty. Danton, too, had been tolerant and had wished to establish a broad republican government through the agency of the élite. H e was thought to represent the scientific aspect of the Revolution in opposition to the religious aspect. H e had opposed the separation of church and state and had been interested in popular education. 13 T h e Jacobin nationalism of 1876 was republican and democratic, and lauded popular sovereignty and natural rights. A b o v e all, it extolled the cardinal principles of the French Revolution: Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity. In fulfillment of these ideals the republicans enacted a law to establish freedom of the press f r o m religious restrictions on July 29, 1881, a law to permit freedom of meeting f o r religious and political purposes on June 30, 1881, and a law to grant freedom of association to labor organizations, although not to religious orders, in 1884. T h e y maintained freedom of instruction in the law of M a r c h 18, 1880, in that any Frenchman or association might conduct courses, although they violated its spirit in refusing to permit other than state faculties to confer degrees or bear the title of university. T h e y invoked freedom of conscience to j u s t i f y the secularization of the schools, the courts, the army, cemeteries, funerals, marriage, and holidays. A s F e r r y said, Freedom of conscience principle; and if it were legislator would always only for one case. . . .

is not a question of quantity, but one of violated in respect to one citizen, a French make it a point of honor to act, were it I assert that these are great and noble

13 Labarthe, Gambetta et ses Amis, pp. 96-102. Antonin Dubost, in 1880, published a work demanding that the republic follow a Dantonesque policy.

RENAISSANCE

OF J A C O B I N

NATIONALISM

97

conceptions which constitute the ideals of our legislation; conceptions for which French parliaments have been honored in sacrificing secondary considerations at all times.14 Like the Jacobins, the republicans of 1876 regarded equality even more highly than liberty. Ferry exclaimed, Equality, gentlemen, is the very law of human progress! It is more than a theory; it is a social fact, the very essence and justification of the society to which we belong. H e believed that the two natural inequalities of muscular force and wealth had been abolished. The two great conquests of the nineteenth century had been freedom to work, which the Revolution had helped to achieve through the suppression of labor corporations; and universal suffrage, which had abolished privileges of property and class. But equality remained to be established in education in order to give the worker dignity and an understanding of his contract and to eliminate class consciousness. 15 The democratic point of view in this question is that a society like ours, modern France, should mingle on the school benches the children who will later be mingled under the flag of the fatherland. 19 Republicans hence established free and compulsory primary education, equal education for women, and equal military service for all but public school teachers and ecclesiastical students of the established churches, fidouard Lockroy declared, France is one neither by race nor by soil: a community of ideas has created her; a community of wills, of aspirations, of interests; and the day when democratic equality, which she desired passion1 4 / . O. S., June ii, 1881, p. 809. 15 Ferry, Dtscours, I, 284-89, 299. 1 6 / . O. C., July 14, 1880, p. 8151.

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LAWS

ately and for which she carried on the French Revolution, would be lacking in the army, that day one could say France had disappeared.17 Gambetta, the great apostle of national fraternity, said, after the elections of 1881: Yes, all interests in a democracy like ours must be satisfied, but on one condition, that they harmonize and find in the law and customs their true equilibrium. The republic, gentlemen, does not exist for the benefit of any one person; it is not the concern of any one social category; it is, on the contrary, a sheaf of all national interests. It is thus that it will be a national government; and here, in a country of freedom and labor, where those who live by the wages of their hands and those who consecrate their intelligence and energy to endowing France with truly national industries are constantly associated in common efforts, these men can understand each other, if they know how to renounce either the aversion which the customs of democracy sometimes inspire in highly cultivated and perhaps too refined minds or the envy and defiance that democracy perhaps too often feels for the upper classes. I believe conciliation can take place. . . .1S The nationalism of this decade was similar to that of the Jacobins in its emphasis on militarism and the authority of force. This was derived from the war itself 18 and from the teachings of Comte. Jules Ferry said that in Prussia the duty of the parent was expressed in two words, Schulpflichtigkeit and Dienstpflichtigkeit, words which he felt contain the secret of its originality as a nation, of its power as a state, and the germ of its future; they express in my opinion the two bases of true civilization, which is composed at once of knowledge and of force.20 17 J. O. C., April 6,1884, p. 1049. 18 Gambetta, Discours, IX, 506-07. 19 Hanotaux, Histoire de la France Contemporaine, III, 485-86. 20 J. 0. C., Dec. 2i, 1880, p. 12619.

RENAISSANCE

OF J A C O B I N

NATIONALISM

ÇÇ

Gambetta wrote in the same vein : It is an inexorable law of politics that peoples incapable of destroying domestic tyrannies are powerless to maintain their national integrity. Force is an indivisible element in the grandeur of races, and those who submit to the law of conquest in the interior are ripe for the yoke of the foreigner. . . . T h e country should have been covered with schools. . . . T o resist this always conscious invasion of the races of the North, which have achieved science, discipline, courage, order, the feeling of primacy, one only knows how to make scholars with the methods of seventeenth century Jesuits. . . . These are the signs which foretell decadence, and if old France has not a violent crisis soon, the end of the century will consecrate its fall. Could it be true that for peoples, as for the animal races, the struggle for existence and the law produce periodically the disappearance of the most feeble, of the most ignorant, of the most rattle-brained, by the aggression of the strongest, the most learned, the wisest? Could it be true that politics are only a branch of human physiology? Perhaps. 2 1 T h r o u g h universal and compulsory lay education,

Gambetta

hoped that the nation would be reborn and that as its literacy rose, the morale of the a r m y would rise. 22 Spuller said that a r e f o r m of the military institutions o f a g r e a t people disclosed the extent and import of a great political and social change, but the latter must precede the former. 2 3 R e f o r m o f the national a r m y w a s one o f the most important issues o f the period. T h e radicals' proposal to abolish all e x emptions f r o m military service and to exclude chaplains f r o m the a r m y vitally concerned the interests o f the Church. A r t i c l e one o f the education law o f M a r c h 28, 1882 made gymnastics and military exercises compulsory in the public p r i m a r y schools for boys. Paul Bert said that these subjects were more important than civics, since the existence and honor o f the country 21 Adam, Nos Amitiés Politiques, pp. 148-50. 22 Gambetta, Lettres de Gambetta, N o . 126. 23 A d a m , Nos Amitiés Politiques,

p. 221.

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LAWS

depended on them. F e r r y declared at a celebration of the g y m nastic societies of France on M a y 28, 1882 that he would seal a lasting pact between the University of France and the gymnasts, the pacific, advance guard of the armed fatherland. . . .We are resolved to organize in all the schools a serious and strong military education, of which instruction in gymnastics is the basis and principle. T o carry this out we count on the assistance of the teacher and of the army. 24 Freemasonry and the Educational L e a g u e both promoted military education by discussion and propaganda. 2 5 T h e republicans of 1876, like those of 1792, were fanatically religious in their patriotism. Spuller, at a meeting of French choirmasters, expressed the hope that his audience would work f o r the unity of the fatherland. In his enthusiasm he exclaimed : I wonder if this might not be the religion of the future, destined to replace Catholicism and its supernatural dogmas, which have had their day ! T o which Granier de Cassagnac retorted, " It is God replaced by a trombone ! "

29

Paul Bert wrote on the occasion of the

dedication of a monument to the children w h o had died during the Commune : It is said, and I do not deny it, that if one wishes to express the need for association in noble and high-minded ideas of generosity and devotion, a religion is necessary for the people. W h a t religion could one offer more beautiful, holy, and pure than that of justice? W h a t worship more inspiring than civic ceremonies? What saints and martyrs more worthy of being honored than those who have died in devotion to the security of their country? I am a fervent follower of this religion, of this cult, of these saints. That is why I feel a profound regret in not being able to accompany you to the tomb, which will serve as an altar for your 24 Goyau, L'École

d'Aujourd'hui,

I I , 66, 266.

25 G. Goyau, L'Idée de Patrie et d'Humanitarisme (Paris, 1913), pp. 306-07. 26 J. O. C., July 6, 1879, p. 6212.

RENAISSANCE

OF

JACOBIN

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IOI

patriotic ceremony, in not being able to take my place in the liturgy of the service for those dead for the fatherland. From the unhappy feelings which arise in the soul, an austere joy is released, which it is good to feel, to express, and to know to be shared by hearts beating in unison. . . . 2 7 Republican, Jacobin nationalism was secular in spirit and hostile to the Church in 1876 as it had been during the French Revolution. Perhaps the clash between a strongly centralized national state and an equally centralized and powerful Catholic Church was inevitable, when each demanded the supreme allegiance of its followers. Spuller asserted that civil society had given the world freedom of conscience and freedom of thought.28 Renault of the L e f t Center said that if these achievements were to be preserved, the laws and institutions of the nation could not bear the imprint of any particular belief.29 The anti-clericals accused the Church of being unsympathetic with the ideals of the Revolution, and of being opposed to free investigation, scientific research, and social reform. 30 They criticized its international character and foreign head, resident in Rome. They declared that the state should not confide French youth to men who, in their affections, give precedence to a supernatural and mystic fatherland over the earthly fatherland.81 They held that differences in religion would only divide citizens, who should be imbued with the sense of " union, concord, and fraternity which ought to exist between the children of the mère-patrie."33 They attacked the religious orders for not obeying the laws, for trying to elude military service, and for encouraging local dialects. 27 Dubreuil,

Paul Bert,

p. 88.

28 / . O. C., June 25, 1879, p. 5605. 29/.

O. C., Jan.

31, 1880, p. 1098, N o . 2177.

3 0 / . O. C., Dec. 1881, pp. 1861-62, N o . 176. 31 / . O. C., Dec. 17, 1880, pp. 12427-28. 3 2 / . O. C., Dec. 5, 1880, p. 11943.

I02

T H E F R E N C H LAIC

LAWS

It is universally agreed in all the reports of academy inspectors that wherever a language other than French is spoken, whether it is a true language like the Breton or a simple patois, in all these districts, the religious orders, supported by the clergy, who insist that the catechism should be learned in patois, exert all their efforts to prevent the French language from being used." This was regarded as a particularly heinous offense, for like the Jacobins, the republicans of 1876 considered the national tongue as " the great vehicle of our ideas." Édouard Lockroy of the Extreme L e f t declared : The child who speaks French becomes twice French. The man who speaks French is twice French. From the moment he learns our French language, he becomes a real part of modern society; he shares our feelings, our ideas; he ceases to belong to a province, and he belongs in reality to the French fatherland; on the other hand, the patois constitutes a sort of intellectual prison for those who speak it, which separates them from their fellow men, from their time, from their country, carrying them back to the middle ages . . . thus in these regions [where dialect is spoken] the French language appears as a liberation ; it brings with it discussion, light, and liberty; it is called not only the French language, but also politics, history, philosophy, enlightenment; it is called the fatherland ! 8 4 The anti-clericals wished to relegate the Church to a subordinate position, and believed that the national state should assume its duties as teacher, source of moral and civic inspiration, and dispenser of charity. In the parliamentary reports on the various anti-clerical measures they attempted to j u s t i f y this position. Barthélémy Saint-Hilaire admitted that the father of a child could choose the type of schooling which his offspring should have, but held that the state was entitled to inspect the physical and moral conditions in private schools and even in certain cases close them. H e maintained that a society which was sovereign 33 / . O. C., May 26, 1880, pp. 5690-91.

34 J. O. C„ Dec. 18, 1880, pp. 12483-84.

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OF J A C O B I N

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IO3

in moral and political matters bestowed upon the state the duty, not the right, to teach. Public schools, he said, were always superior, because they conformed to the spirit of the society and age which created them. " The University is only the state teaching." 85 It was conceivable that some day, if the great mass of citizens were loyal to the same political principles, the state could give up its interest in education, save for general supervision; but at present a part of French society wished to change the form of the state and secure a monopoly for its own education. 38 Spuller declared that the power of the state over education had been recognized in the past in the public law of France. Its control of this function was essential, because its customs and discipline depended upon the development o f its youth, and because public education was given in assemblies which, by their very nature, could exist only with the permission of the authorities. He denied that there was reason to fear excessive centralization; for, as Vacherot had said, when the state " is only the organ of social justice, which is the fact in a democracy, of what can individual liberty complain? " 87 Ferry eloquently defended the theory that free, compulsory, and lay primary education was essential in a democracy, since its citizens must be trained in the ideals of the state and in the defense of the honor and integrity of the fatherland. I ask this Chamber, this republican majority which is listening to me, if the fatherland is not a portion of land that events can extend or diminish; and if, besides this fatherland, there is not a moral fatherland, a group of ideas and ideals which the government should defend as the patrimony of the souls which it has in charge? I ask them if there is not, in this French society, a certain number of ideas sprinkled with the most pure and generous blood, for which for twenty-five years soldiers, men of letters, philosophers, orators, statesmen, have toiled, have poured out their blood; 35 J. O. S., Feb. 7, 1880. PP- 1393-95. N o . 4. 36 / . O. S., Jan. 25, 1880, p. 738. 37 J. O. C., June 12, 1879, pp. 500-12.

104

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and if there is not a heritage of which you are the guardians, a heritage which you ought to transmit to your children as your fathers have willed it to you ? Well, these two or three ideas, which are the foundation of a society derived from the French Revolution, are the doctrine of the state; that is the manner in and extent to which the state should be the guardian of national unity.88 F e r r y admitted that the state should not have a monopoly in higher education, because associations and individuals o f t e n could carry it on as well as or better than the state; but the state alone should have the power to confer degrees in order that high standards might be maintained. 3 9 T h e modern, laic state, he said, had t w o claims to direct theological education, although it should not determine dogmas : that of guardian of the terrestrial city, and that of guardian of human learning; it watches over it in the name of civil government, which could not have an ecclesiastical education hostile to its principle and perilous for its future; it watches over it in the name of Science, of which the state is definitely the most energetic, powerful, lasting, and above all, whatever one may say, the most liberal promoter. Dogma for the churches, Science for the state: that is a question of frontier, it being of course understood that in mixed matters the state, by its very nature, determines, in the last resort, the frontier it is charged with defending. See, gentlemen, how these necessary relations, this supremacy, full of deference on the one hand, this dependency, full of dignity on the other, are easy to maintain here! H o w could there be discord between the state and you ? 4 0 T h e republicans included instruction in civics among the compulsory subjects in the education law of 1882. Hippolyte M a z e of the L e f t , on whose motion this was done, said that civics would be taught in a non-partisan manner and comprise a study of French government, universal suffrage, taxation, 38 F e r r y , Discours, I I I , 66-67. 39 Ibid., I I , 146-49. 40 Ibid., I l l , 200-01.

RENAISSANCE

OF J A C O B I N

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IO5

military service, tolerance, and devotion to the fatherland. Patriotism would be aroused by narratives from French history, from Joan of A r c through the young Lorraine girl who had died in 1870 rather than reveal the passage of a French regiment. Maze recalled that civic education had been approved by Talleyrand, Condorcet, the Constituent Assembly in 1791, and Carnot in 1 8 4 8 . " M a n y texts which condemned cosmopolitanism and the fraternity of peoples were produced for use in this course. 42 Paul Bert urged, moreover, that history be used to teach the glories of France's Latin and Germanic heritage, the progress of mankind, and the superiority of the democratic régime to any which had preceded it.48 In the education law of 1882 religious education was replaced by instruction in morals. Chalamet contended that this did not mean that the state was atheistic, for atheism was a doctrine, whereas the state had none. 44 Ferry argued that the exclusion of religious education from the schools would preserve the freedom of conscience of the teacher and student and leave religion to those most competent to deal with it.45 " Thank God," he said, " morality has no need to be defined in our French society, after so many centuries of civilization." B u t when the deputies and teachers pressed him to be more explicit, he declared there was one morality to which all forms o f thought, even Positivism and evolution, led : ideas of duty, devotion, respect, and obedience to parents and the Golden Rule. Different forms of morality would not be taught in the primary school. 48 Teachers should proceed from concrete to abstract and back to concrete, for there was danger in the abstract; and they should observe one practical rule, that if any maxim could offend any honest man, they should refrain f r o m 41 J. O. C., Dec. 22, 1880, pp. 12679-81. 42 Goyau, L'École d'Aujourd'hui,

II, 77.

43 Bert, Cléricalisme, pp. 121-23. 44 J. O. C., Dec. 17, p. 12427. 4 5 / . O. S., Nov. 23, 1880, pp. 11368. 46 J. O. C., July 3, 1881, pp. 1003-04.

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saying it. T h e test of their success would be the conduct of their students outside the class room. 47 In the secondary schools f o r girls the course would be less a series o f lessons in philosophy than instruction in practical morality. It would treat o f the conscience, the good, freedom and d u t y ; of different conceptions of the sovereign g o o d ; o f the doctrine o f obligation; of virtue, responsibility, and sanctions; of practical, personal, domestic, and social morality; of charity, law, suffrage, military service, devotion to the fatherland, religious morality, and duties toward God. 48 F e r r y defined morality differently on various occasions. A t one time he said it must be disengaged f r o m contentious metaphysical conceptions as well as f r o m religion. 48 A g a i n he stated that it might be strengthened by a connection with metaphysical, but not confessional, ideas; just as Comte had tried to utilize the Catholic faith in his system, as Condorcet had founded an independent morality on natural feelings and reason, and as Herbert Spencer had based morality upon scientific facts derived f r o m experimentation. 5 0 F e r r y argued that philosophic neutrality would be impossible when the greater number of Frenchmen believed in God and the immortality of the soul. M o s t children came to school with a previous religious training. T h e instructor should cultivate these ideas of eternal and universal morality which had been planted at home, so that all his students might be united in the religious creed of the Good, the True, and the Beautiful. T h e child should be taught veneration for God, the First Cause and Perfect Being, even when the name differed f r o m that of his own faith, and obedience to the laws of God as revealed by his own conscience and reason. 61 A l t h o u g h the name o f God was not mentioned in the education law of 1882, the programs issued by the ministry of educa47 F e r r y , Discours,

I V , 261-65.

4 8 / . O. S., D e c . n , 1880, pp. 12187-88. 49 Ibid., p. 12187. 50 J. O. C., D e c . 24, 1880, pp. 12793-94. 51 F e r r y , Discours,

I V , 354-60.

RENAISSANCE

OF J A C O B I N

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IO'/

deistic.52

tion were So were the majority of texts written for the course in morals. Ferry claimed that even the few based on an " independent morality," where the name of God was not given and morality was the product of reason, with a scientific and positive basis, were not scornful of religion. A t first the instructors were permitted to select their own texts,53 and the most widely used were those by Bert, Brun, Laloi, Simon, Steeg, and Compayré. But the works of Bert, Steeg, Compayré, and Mme Gréville were placed on the Index. When more than fifty bishops and 2,000 curés announced this from the pulpit, the government suspended the salaries of five bishops and of all the dissenting curés. About twenty bishops declared that a teacher or student using one of these texts would commit a mortal sin, and that parents should withdraw their children from schools where they were read. Mgr Isoard threatened to deprive them of the sacraments if the books were not destroyed.54 The Council of State upheld the government in a decision of April 26, 1883. After complaints from the Pope and interpellations in the chambers, ecclesiastical salaries were gradually restored; and the teachers were told to keep the prohibited books for personal use.55 But text books were thereafter chosen from a list drawn up by the minister of education and the Higher Council of Public Education from lists adopted by the teachers in cantonal conferences.58 The anti-clericals wished the state to assume the charitable as well as the educational functions of the Church. Their humanitarian interests were the natural result of their allegiance to Jacobin traditions, Positivism, and Freemasonry. By the law of 52 E . Barret, La Doctrine de l'Église

Catholique

en Matière

d'Enseigne-

ment Publique (Paris, 1912), pp. 146-48. 53 F e r r y , Discours, I V , 360-62, 377-80. 54 Lecanuet, Les Premières Années du Pontificat de Léon XIII,

p. 159.

55 Dietz, " L'Instituteur selon Jules Ferry," Revue Politique et Parlementaire, ann. 41, C L X I (1934), 495-96. 56 E . Detourbet, La Loi du 28 Mars, 1882 sur l'Enseignement Obligatoire ( P a r i s , 1884), pp. 116-19.

Primaire

I08

THE FRENCH

LAIC

LAWS

August 6, 1879, priests were no longer to be ex officio members of committees for the administration of hospitals and benevolent bureaux. T h e Chamber voted to consider, but never acted upon, a bill introduced by Caze for the establishment of a national orphanage. 57 II Jacobin nationalists were skilled in developing agencies to propagate their doctrines, and those of 1876 were no exception. T h e free, compulsory, and lay primary school was, as has been made evident, an admirable instrument for this purpose. Ferry developed another, the annual meeting of school teachers in Paris, before whom he appeared to expound the new school legislation and his conception of courses in civics and morality. By such gatherings an esprit de corps was fostered among the teachers and an enlightened body of republican agents was trained. N o t that they were to interfere openly in elections, but, as Ferry said to them, A s citizens you have been enfranchised by the French Revolution ; as teachers you are going to be emancipated by the republic of 1880 : how could you not love and not make loved both the Revolution and the republic in your teaching ? This policy is a national policy.58 The army was another agency of republican propaganda. Mme A d a m told Gambetta that she hoped our teachers might become to some extent non-commissioned officers and our officers to some extent teachers, that our common soldiers might reach the army rough-hewn militarily and depart better acquainted with the great facts of our history. Gambetta replied, " S u r e l y ! T h e army first, education next, public works in the third place, and the promised reforms." 59 Bert believed that compulsory military service would make 5 7 / . O. C., Mar. i, 1881, pp. 174-75. No. 3354; Mar. 9, 1881, p. 463. 58 Ferry, Discours, IV, 257. 59 Adam, Après l'Abandon de la Revanche, pp. 138-39.

RENAISSANCE

OF J A C O B I N

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IC>9

teachers " still better educators of citizens; for that is, after all, their chief rôle. . . ." 40 The republican press was a well-developed means of propaganda, and was encouraged by the new press law. One of the most important party organs was the République Française, founded by Gambetta in 1871 and staffed by able men, many of whom later became members of the government. Challemel-Lacour, Ranc, and Spuller wrote on domestic politics, Allain-Targé on financial matters, Freycinet on war and public works, and Paul Bert on public education. Their writing was, however, anonymous, and reflected the views of the Republican Union. Needless to say, the newspaper was anti-clerical.91 Clemenceau established La Justice in 1880, with Camille Pelletan as editor and Jules Roche among the contributors. Clemenceau himself rarely wrote for it. Its spirit was expressed in these words : The great formula of the Revolution, Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, which contains in these three words all the rights of man, all social reforms, all the precepts of morality, is summed up in a briefer formula still : Justice.42 Le Temps expressed the views of the moderate Left. Other dailies, such as Le XIXe Siècle, Le Rappel, La Liberté, L'Evénement, Le National, L'Opinion Nationale, and L'Avenir National,™ as well as periodicals like La Revue Scientifique and La Revue des Cours Politiques et Littéraires, spread republican ideas." One of the most influential of the agencies which the Jacobins of 1876 utilized for carrying out their legislative program was the Educational League. Founded in 1866 by Jean Macé, the League had a decade of prodigious activity behind it, both in 60Dubreuil, Paul Bert, pp. 215-17. 61 De Freycinet, Souvenirs, 1848-78, pp. 281-83. 6 2 T . Revillon, Camille Pelletan

(Paris, 1930), pp. 38-39.

63 Vizetelly, Republican France, p. 211. 64 Jacques, op. cit., pp. 153-54.

no

THE

FRENCH

LAIC

LAWS

France and Algiers, when the republicans took over the reins of government. It consisted in a large number of autonomous clubs, each with its own treasury and organization, which, however, sent an account of their activities every year to the Paris club." The League became more centralized after 1881, when a congress formed a confederation called the " French Educational League," with the privileges of an establishment of utilité publique. It was administered by a central committee, elected by an annual congress, but this committee served only as a bureau of information and protection for the clubs, which remained independent in their action,66 fixed the amount of their own financial contributions, discussed any modification o f the general statutes, and were free to withdraw at will.87 Jean Macé was president, Henri Martin vice-president, and Emmanuel Vauchez secretary-general of the central committee,4* which published a bulletin and financial statement, organized public lectures and annual congresses, and promoted the work of the organization.®9 The clubs of the League founded schools and lending libraries, sponsored adult courses and lectures, supported regimental libraries, circulated petitions, and collected subscriptions, such as le sou des écoles laïques.70 In 1872 they secured 1,200,000 signatures to a petition in behalf of compulsory primary education, of which only 400,000 asked for gratuitous and lay education as well.71 Anti-clerical writers generally state that all the signatures favored lay instruction, and also claim that municipalities representing half the population of France 65 J . de M o u s s a c , La Ligue de l'Enseignement

( P a r i s , 1880), pp. 41, 158-

59, 188. 66 G. C o m p a y r é , Jean Macé 78, 87-88. 67 G a m b e t t a , Discours, CS Bulletin

de la Ligue

69 G a m b e t t a , Discours,

et l'Instruction

Obligatoire

( P a r i s ) , pp. 77-

I X , 196, note. Française

de l'Enseignement,

I, 1-5.

I X , 196, note.

70 D e M o u s s a c , op. cit., pp. 165-210. 71 C o m p a y r é , Jean Macé et l'Instruction

Obligatoire,

p. 85.

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OF J A C O B I N

NATIONALISM

III

petition. 72

favored the In 1879 the clubs got 3,000 municipal councils to support a new petition for compulsory, free, and lay primary education. 71 In 1877 Macé asked for freedom of association in the name of the League. T h e annual congress of 1882 adopted a motion in favor of civic and military education and in 1883 decided to form clubs in every canton to give such instruction to those who had finished school but were not yet twenty. 74 The Freemasons supported this cause likewise. By 1885 there were 63 such societies belonging to the League, and others with military sections. 75 The congress of 1884 asked the government to introduce a bill for compulsory military exercises on Sunday for those from 17 to 20 years of age. This was the substance of a bill which Bert had prepared in 1882, except that Bert would have added compulsory military education in the schools for boys of 13 to 16. 78 The Educational League was largely responsible for the enactment of the laws for compulsory, gratuitous, and lay primary education, according to the testimony of Paul Bert. That its chief work was the preparation of public opinion is confirmed by Bert 7 7 and Macé. 78 Its founder continually urged political neutrality upon the members of the League, although he said that they must be republicans and " men of progress." 78 The Paris club declared in its statutes that it would not concern itself with politics or religion, and the French Educational League said that its aim was " to provoke by all possible means individual initiative for the development of popular educa72 Gambetta, Discours, I X , 192. 73 A. Léaud, L'École Primaire en France ( P a r i s , 1934), II, 98; E. Petit, Jean Macé et la Ligue Française de l'Enseignement ( P a r i s ) , pp. 36-37. 74 J. H . de Cathelineau, La Fr.-. M.-, et l'Enseignement 132, 177-78. 75 Ligue Française de l'Enseignement,

( P a r i s , 1910), pp.

1884, p. 91.

76Dubreuil, Paul Bert, pp. 215-17. 77Compayré, Jean Macé et l'Instruction Obligatoire, p. 6. 78 Cathelineau, op. cit., p. 90. 79 Gambetta, Discours, I X , 193.

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tion." In 1884 Macé boasted that the League could say, " we are the government " ; but he cautioned his followers to be more neutral than ever on religious and political issues.*1 80

Although the League was chiefly concerned with forming public opinion, its cause was naturally aided by the fact that many prominent senators and deputies were among its members, such men as Victor Hugo, Paul Bert, Henri Brisson, Spuller, and H é r o l d . " Littré 8S and Buisson '* were also associated with it. In 1894 Challemel-Lacour, a member of the League, declared that it " had won over the government and public powers, had exerted a real influence in the domestic politics of the last twenty years, and had had its part in the conception of several laws of great significance." Y e t by 1887 Buisson admitted that it no longer had the important rôle it had played as initiator and organizer o f lay education, for the state had taken over its functions. 8 * T h e Educational League intended originally to be neutral in religious matters, but it was attacked by the clergy in 1867 and won the support of the Freemasons. 89 Macé himself was a deist 8 7 and disliked the word " laic," preferring " non-sectarian." H e wrote : By laicity I understand science in the School and religious education in the Church. . . . Confessional education alone should be relegated to the Church. A s for this common foundation of universal religion, to whose influence all are subject, and which has promoted the progress of the human conscience throughout the ages, it would certainly not be well to exclude it from the program of our schools : they would sin fundamentally if the conscience of 8 0 Bulletin

de la Ligue Française

8 1 La Franc-Maçonnerie 8 2 Bulletin

de la Ligue

de l'Enseignement,

Démasquée, Française

de l'Enseignement,

8 3 D e M o u s s a c , op. cit., p. 41. 8 4 Goyau, L'École

d'Aujourd'hui,

I, 209-10.

85 Ibid., I, 190, 214, note. 86 W e i l l , Histoire

de l'Idée

8 7 P e t i t , op. cit., p. 27.

Laique,

I, 1,497.

M a r . 1884-Feb. 1885, p. 118.

pp. 265-68.

I, 5.

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the child were not subject to the same solicitude as his intelligence and reason. . . . H e accepted lay education only as a necessary accompaniment of compulsory education, 88 and claimed that the members of the League were truly religious, since they worked for social justice and human fraternity. 8 * The League proposed that religious emblems in the school should be replaced by a bust of the republic, which would symbolize its ideals. The pedestal of this bust bears some significant ornaments: on the right, Ignorance and Superstition, represented by the mitred monk, are strangled by a cord on which one reads: Educational League. A veil with masonic emblems covers the left side. Voltaire lifts it and laughs at the progress his ideas have made.90 T h e masonic symbols on the veil were to recall the close relations between the League and Freemasonry. In its early days the Educational League had asked for the aid of the masonic lodges, since their common aim was the enlightenment of mankind; and the lodges were told by their grand master that it was their duty to support the League. 9 1 In 1872 the annual assembly of Freemasons voted unanimously to promote free, lay, and compulsory primary education. Jean Macé, who was himself a Mason, welcomed their aid, and by 1877, i l l lodges had adhered to the League. 92 In 1881 Macé said that the two organizations were independent of each other but worked for the same end.93 B y 1885 he called the League a " masonic institution." 04 Freemasonry was indeed another powerful instrument through which the Jacobin nationalists of the Third French 8 8 C o m p a y r é , Jean Macé et 1'instruction Obligatoire, pp. 67-68, note, 71. 89 Gambetta, Discours, I X , 194-95. 90 Lecanuet, Les Premieres Années du Pontifical de Léon XIII, 91 Cathelineau, op. cit., p. 91. 92 Ibid., pp. 130-31. 93 Gambetta, Discours, I X , 190. 94 Cathelineau, op. cit., p. 184.

p. 158.

114

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FRENCH

LAIC

LAWS

Republic accomplished their ends. The Masons of 1876 were republican in sympathy and increasingly democratic in organization. 95 A t this time an important group of them sacrificed the international character of French Masonry 88 when the Grand Orient severed its relations with English Masonry for religious reasons. 87 The lodges demonstrated their patriotism by advocating civic and military instruction for French youth and the celebration of the centenary of the French Revolution.* 8 Freemasonry was influenced strongly by Positivism. Littré had become a Mason at the same time as Ferry, and the latter had acknowledged that " there was an intimate, secret affinity between Masonry and Positivism." Both championed tolerance, charity, fraternity, enlightenment, progress, and scientific learning. 88 The conception of an independent morality had been elaborated by a Mason, Alexandre Massol, in April, 1864 in Le Monde Maçonnique. The council of the society and the Grand Assembly of 1865 had condemned his ideas, but Massol secured the support of Henri Brisson and gradually won the organization over to his views. 100 In the new constitution of the Grand Orient, drawn up in 1884, the humanitarian and scientific objectives of Positivism were fused with the Jacobin ideals of liberty, equality, and fraternity. 101 The chief orator at the assembly of 1886, the pastor Dide, declared, " W e are positivists." 102 It is noteworthy, too, that Protestants were influential in masonic circles. In 1877 the report recommending the suppression of the name of God for the sake of tolerance was read by 95 G. M a r t i n , Manuel d'Histoire ( P a r i s , 1932 a n d 1934), pp. 225-26.

de

la

Franc-Maçonnerie

96 A . Lantoine, Histoire de la Franc-Maçonnerie Maçonnerie dans l'État ( P a r i s , 1935), p. 362.

Française.

Française La

Franc-

97 Martin, op. cit., pp. 222-32. 9 8 La Franc-Maçonnerie 99 F e r r y , Discours,

Démasquée,

1884-85, pp. 119-20, 58.

I I , 193-97.

100 G. Goyau, La Franc-Maçonnerie 101 La Franc-Maçonnerie

en France

Démasquée,

102 Goyau, La Franc-Maçonnerie

( P a r i s , 1904), pp. 22-23.

1884-85, pp. 296-97.

en France, p. 27.

RENAISSANCE

OF J A C O B I N

NATIONALISM

a y o u n g , practising Protestant minister, Ferdinand

I 15

Desmons

o f Nîmes. 1 0 3 T h e outstanding characteristic of French Freemasonry

in

this period w a s its anti-clericalism. 1 0 4 T h e extremes to which some M a s o n s might g o is evidenced in the w o r d s of

Cour-

d a v o u x , p r o f e s s o r of literature at Douai, to a lodge at Lille : T h e distinction between Catholicism and clericalism is purely official and subtle, for the needs of the tribune. But here, in the lodge, let us say aloud, for the sake of truth, that Catholicism and clericalism are only one; and in conclusion, let us add: one cannot be Catholic and republican at the same time ; it is impossible. 105 In 1865 Massol had suggested that belief in the " inviolability of the human person " be substituted f o r belief in God and the immortality o f the soul. A l t h o u g h the Grand Orient refused to carry this out, it permitted free-thinkers to become members. 1 0 8 In 1877, a f t e r a decade of discussion, the assembly of the Grand Orient voted to suppress the references to the Great Architect of the U n i v e r s e and to immortality of the soul in its constitution. It asserted

that one could have a religious

faith

in

H u m a n i t y , Science, and Reason. T h e Supreme Council, which conferred

high

degrees,

still

retained

the deistic

formula,

although it w a s really as atheistic as the Grand Orient. 1 0 7 O n F e b r u a r y 12, 1880 the Symbolic Scotch L o d g e seceded f r o m the Supreme Council and gradually increased f r o m twelve to thirty-six lodges. It wished a more democratic

organization,

excluded any reference to the Great Architect, and was ardently republican and anti-clerical. 108 103 M a r t i n , op. cit., p. 229. 104 La Franc-Maçonnerie

Démasquée,

1884-85, p. 309.

105 R. V a l l e r y - R a d o t , Dictature de la Maçonnerie 03; J. O. C., Dec. 31, 1880, p. 12624.

( P a r i s , 1935), pp. 202-

106 A. Lantoine, Histoire de la Franc-Maçonnerie Française. Maçonnerie chez Elle (2nd éd., P a r i s , 1927), pp. 345-46. 107 M a r t i n , op. cit., pp. 222-32. 108 Lantoine, La Franc-Maçonnerie

chez Elle, pp. 362-64.

La

Franc-

Il6

THE

FRENCH

LAIC

LAWS

T o these different masonic groups, which their enemies classed as one, belonged in 1871 some 50,000 republicans, whose influence was much greater than their numbers. 109 Their ranks grew as Masonry became a way of obtaining political preferment, and their authority became even more impressive through the Catholic habit of denouncing every anti-clerical politician as a Mason. 1 1 0 Deschamps estimated that in 1877 there were 203,000 active Freemasons in France, of whom 15,000 were in Paris. 1 1 1 A s has already been said, the lodges carried on an intensive campaign in conjunction with the Educational League, in behalf of free, compulsory, and lay primary education. 112 They distributed thousands of copies of cheap anticlerical works 1 1 3 and established some courses in modern languages, history, geography, accounting, and stenography. 114 Gambetta and Challemel-Lacour told Mme A d a m that their joy at the entrance of Ferry and Littré into Freemasonry hid a plan to join with that society in a war on clericalism. 115 Léo Taxil, a reformed Mason, whose word, it is true, was not always trustworthy, claimed that in November, 1877 twelve Paris lodges drew up a thirty year program for the establishment of compulsory and gratuitous primary education, the secularization of communal schools, the suppression of " free " religious schools, and the materialization of education in state schools. Each of these lodges chose a deputy from the Extreme L e f t to propose an education bill embodying their views. 1 1 6 A f t e r the Ferry laws were introduced in the Chamber, the Paris lodges gave lectures to win over public opinion to their 109 J a c q u e s , op. cit., p. 163. 110 M a r t i n , op. cit., pp. 238-39. 111 L e c a n u e t , L'Église 482.

de France

sous la 3e République

( P a r i s , 1910), I,

112 C a t h e l i n e a u , op. cit., p. 95. 113 V a l l e r y - R a d o t , op. cit., pp. 175-76. 114 C a t h e l i n e a u , op. cit., p. 158. 115 A d a m , Nos Amitiés 116 ¿ a Franc-Maçonnerie

Politiques,

p. 262.

Démasquée,

1887-88, pp. 406-10.

RENAISSANCE

OF J A C O B I N

NATIONALISM

II7

support. A f t e r the Chamber had passed Article Seven, which dissolved the unauthorized religious orders, the assembly of 1879 adopted a resolution on September 9 stating that it was inadequate. 117 From September 1 3 to 18, 1880 the Grand Orient held annual meetings which may have helped bring about the fall of the Freycinet cabinet and the decision to execute the decrees against the unauthorized orders. 118 It also formed a committee to purge the classics of references to God and religion. 119 The Masons were sympathetic with the emancipation of women, and it is said that they elaborated the bill for the secondary education of girls in their lodges before it was presented to the Chamber. 120 During the course of the debates, Fresneau charged that it was the product of the " dictatorship of the lodges." 1 2 1 Before 1882 only lodges of " adoption " were composed of women ; but in that year the " Free-thinkers " of Pecq revolted against the Great Symbolic Scotch Lodge and initiated Maria Deraismes, who declared upon entering the society : In France masculine supremacy is the only surviving aristocracy. . . . How has it happened that Freemasonry, antagonist of the clergy, hated by it, has not understood that the introduction of woman into its order was the surest way to reduce and conquer the Church? [Through the mother] Freemasonry will seize hold of education. Five months later the audacious lodge was forced to submit and exclude women once more. It was not until 1893 that a lodge was created for mixed Masonry. 1 2 2 117 Cathelineau, op. cit., p. 149. 118 Dietz, " Jules Ferry et les Traditions Républicaines," Revue Politique et Parlementaire, CLX (1934), 510. 119 Cathelineau, op. cit., pp. 162-65. 120 F. Gibon, Les Lycées de Filles en 1887 (Paris, 1887), p. 29. 121 J. O. S., Dec. 10, 1880, p. 12138. 122 Nourrisson, " La Question Féministe dans la Franc-Maçonnerie," Le Correspondant, CXCVIII, n. s. CLXII (1900), 603-07.

118

THE

FRENCH

LAIC

LAWS

T h e lodges agitated constantly for the separation of church and state. 120 Léo T a x i l declared that a group of Masons, including such men as Macé, Naquet, Eugène Pelletan, Bert, Barodet, Floquet, Clemenceau, Spuller, Gambetta, and Madier de Montjau, called a national congress of democratic propaganda societies in Paris to stage a demonstration for the separation of church and state, which the Chamber was about to discuss. A t three secret meetings of the congress, held at the headquarters of the Grand Orient on March 29, 30, and 31, 1882, it was agreed to prepare public opinion for this action by papers and lectures. Seminarians were to be forced to serve in the army ; the embassy to the Vatican was to be abolished ; and the property of the religious orders was to be confiscated. 124 O n May 9, 1886 Y v e s Guyot, deputy from the Seine and a Mason, gave a public lecture on the separation of church and state, with Anatole de la Forge, Mason and vice-president of the Chamber, presiding. 125 The Masons were eager to rescue public charity from " clerical domination." 126 They established a masonic orphanage in 1885. 127 They likewise supported divorce; 1 2 8 and in a masonic wedding ceremony they broke a glass ring before the couple to remind them that their union could be dissolved. They also held elaborate and picturesque funeral services for their members. These ceremonies had been devised in an attempt to formulate a ritual or " white Masonry " to win over the masses. Blatin, radical deputy, said in 1883: The great obstacle to the propagation of free thought is this complete absence of symbolism, which makes its practise so glacially austere. . . . Birth, adolescence, marriage, death will always be 123 Vallery-Radot, op. cit., p. 216. 124 La Franc-Maçonnerie

Démasquée,

125 R. C. Feuillette, Précis ( P a r i s , 1928), p. 131.

1887-88, pp. 402-06.

de l'Histoire

126 Vallery-Radot, op. cit., p. 215. 127 Feuillette, op. cit., p. 130. 128 V^llery-Radot, op. cit., p. 222.

du Grand

Orient

de

France

RENAISSANCE

OF J A C O B I N

NATIONALISM

IIÇ

occasions of joys or griefs, of regrets or hopes, which demand expression by physical signs and special formulas ; until now religions have monopolized these, which it is our duty to dispute with them today. . . . The annual assembly agreed, and Blatin published his rituals in 1 8 8 6 and 1 8 9 5 ; but it was not until the latter year that the Grand Assembly accepted such symbolism. 1 2 9 S o active was masonic anti-clerical propaganda that the assembly of 1 8 9 7 could assert, " Freemasonry secured the passage of the military and school laws. . . . " 1 1 0 Cardinal de Bonnechose wrote the pope on December 30, 1 8 7 9 that the campaign against the clergy could be explained only by the persistent activity of the masonic sects. 1 3 1 Y e t how great the influence of Freemasonry really was in the passage of the anticlerical legislation, beyond the formation of a favorable public opinion, is a highly controversial question, difficult to answer, since adequate records are not available. Almost every politician of note supporting the laic laws was a Freemason, although in some cases, as in that of Paul Bert, his status is disputed. 1 3 2 Many prominent ministers, senators, deputies, and editors were Masons, as were the president of the republic, the prefect of the Seine, and many members of the municipal council of P a r i s . 1 3 3 The more cautious feared to commit themselves openly, like Freycinet, but he assured the Masons of his active sympathy f o r their w o r k . 1 3 4 B y 1 8 8 7 there was comment upon the fact that no active politician was elected president or member of the council of the Grand Orient, while very f e w 129 Goyau, La Franc-Maçonnerie en France, pp. 6-15; P. Nourrisson, Le Club des Jacobins ( P a r i s , 1900), pp. 76-108. 130 P. Nourrisson, Un Siècle de Politique Maçonnique (Paris, 1929), p. 76. 131 M g r Besson, Vie du Cardinal Bonnechose ( P a r i s , 1887), I I , 632. 132 Dubreuil, Paul Bert, p. 92 ; Lecanuet, Les Premières Années du Pontificat de Léon XIII, p. 109. 133 L a Franc-Maçonnerie Démasquée, 1884-85, pp. 53-55; Vallery-Radot, op. cit., pp. 179-80. 134 La Franc-Maçonnerie Démasquée, 1887-88, p. 143.

120

THE FRENCH

LAIC

LAWS

such were even present at the assembly; but it may have been that the politicians did not feel congenial with the radicals who had gained the upper hand in the lodges, or that they felt that once intrenched in power, there was no need to cultivate the society. 135 The president of the Grand Orient boasted in 1887 that there were 200 anti-clerical Masons in the Chamber. 1 ® 6 The next year a delegate to the assembly of this order said, We have organized in the bosom of parliament a true masonic syndicate, and it has been my fortune not ten but one hundred times to group around me not only those who were of the Council, but all those who belong to our order in parliament, to have some letters signed by fifty or sixty masonic names, and, thanks to these signatures, to obtain some extremely effective intervention with the public powers, to give satisfaction to hundreds of M a s o n s . . . . 1 3 7 These deputies were usually nominated by the lodges, had their platforms approved by them, consulted with them in times of crisis, and could be expelled from the order for non-fulfillment of their engagements. 138 Although the Freemasons were not relatively very numerous, three or four energetic members could easily control the political machinery of a large district, intimidate the officials, and manipulate the press. 139 The responsibility which masonic deputies felt to their society is evidenced in a speech which Ferry is said to have made to the Freemasons of Lille in May, 1880, after the decrees against the unauthorized religious orders had been issued : I am not a very assiduous or regular Mason, and I regret it, for our lodges are excellent schools; I need not make excuses, since 135 Ibid., pp. 443-45. 136 Lecanuet, Les Premières Années du Pontificat de Léon XIII, pp. 324-25. 137 O. G. Michel, La France sous l'Étreinte Maçonnique (Paris, 1934), P- 37138 L. Taxil, La Franc-Maçonnerie Dévoilée et Expliquée (Paris, 1886), pp. 274-77. 139 Hurlbert, France and the Republic, pp. 166-67.

RENAISSANCE

OF J A C O B I N

NATIONALISM

121

you know what impediments keep me from our temples. Outside the lodges I struggle, however, for the triumph of our masonic principles; and although it has been said otherwise, the government will have the law executed without weakness. . . . 1 4 0 The constitution of the Grand Orient is said to have forbidden the lodges to carry on political discussions, but this article was eliminated in 1884. 1 4 1 Lantoine contends that when the lodges, acting individually, took part in public ceremonies, the people did not distinguish between them and the society as a whole. Masonic leaders did not check these unruly lodges, for they did not wish to appear reactionary or to stifle their financial support. 142 Gaston Martin probably gives a correct appraisal of the situation, when he says that the acts of the individual Mason from 1880 to 1 9 1 0 did not always conform to the general will of the society in regard to dabbling in politics, and that it is difficult to distinguish between the right of the individual to align himself with a party and that of a society. 143 Although the unauthorized religious orders were disbanded by the government, the Masons were not attacked. Nourrisson holds that Freemasonry was a secret society, and hence illegal. Its members, like those of religious orders, took vows and owed obedience to a superior. 144 A t the Grand Assembly of 1894 a councillor of the Poitiers court of appeals admitted that the Freemasons were only tolerated by the government. 145 But Gaston Martin denies that their order was a secret society, since only their interior regulations were secret. Their existence, hours of meeting, statutes, and officers were known officially to the prefects, who made a practise of inspecting them. A f t e r 1875 the Freemasons did not consider being recognized as 140 Cathelineau, op. cit., pp. 141-42. 141 La Franc-Maçonnerie Démasquée, 1884-85, pp. 223, 254. 142 Lantoine, La Franc-Maçonnerie

dans l'État, pp. 352-53.

143 Martin, op. cit., pp. 255-56. 144 Nourrisson, Histoire de la Liberté d'Association, I I , 244-45, 253-54. 145 Goyau, L'École d'Aujourd'hui, I, 48, note.

122

THE

FRENCH

LAIC

LAWS

an association of utilité publique, but created civil societies with civil personality for the administration of property. 146 There were many other less important organizations which spread republican and anti-clerical ideas. The Association for the Diffusion and R e f o r m of Education in France had the same objectives as the Educational League, but was especially concerned with the education of girls. T h e Society for the Professional Education of W o m e n established elementary and special courses, and the Society for Republican Education organized lectures on the principles and advantages of republican government and on the history of the French Revolution. 147 T h e Society for Elementary Education, founded in 1815, had been active throughout the century in supporting educational legislation ; in this period it advocated free, compulsory, and lay primary education and instruction in morals and civics. The prefect of the Seine, Hérold, was president, and many members of the society were senators or deputies, among them Barthélémy Saint-Hilaire, Laboulaye, Pelletan, Jules Simon, Bardoux, Barodet, Bert, Boysset, Brisson, Ferry, and Gambetta. 148 T h e Union of France was composed of over one hundred autonomous anti-clerical societies, with a total membership of 17,000 men and women. It had a central committee and held an annual congress. It worked to improve the condition of the working classes and emphasized scientific education, an independent morality, and equal education for women. Members promised to have a civil funeral. 149 Because of the activities of all these organizations, the attitude of the country as a whole was favorable to the laic laws and expedited their passage through parliament. Ill The Opportunists and the Jacobins were similar in another respect, their intolerance of internal dissent. This was mani146 Martin, op. cit., pp. 252-53. 147 Cathelineau, op. cit., pp. 126-130. 1 4 8 / . O., May 14, 1877, pp. 3570-71, N o . 879. 149 L. T a x i l , Confessions

d'un Ex-Libre

Penseur

( P a r i s ) , pp. 323-41.

RENAISSANCE

OF J A C O B I N

NATIONALISM

123

fested in the years a f t e r the Franco-Prussian W a r in the restrictions upon the freedom of the Catholic Church, in the development of a state doctrine in the schools, and in the increasing centralization of the government. T h e perilous position of the republic made tolerance of its opponents highly dangerous. F e r r y said on April 2 3 , 1 8 7 9 : If the republic does not act at this time, when it is all powerful, if it does not profit by this maximum force which belongs to every new government to put itself in a state of defense, when will it do so? 1 5 0 A s De Tocqueville once remarked, " I f one revolution can found liberty in a country, several successive revolutions can make all regular liberty impossible there f o r a very long time." 1 5 1 T h e recent war and the Commune had demonstrated the value of a strongly centralized government. 1 5 2 A g a i n , the problem of the relation to the state of cultural, geographic, and economic groups had not been solved. 1 5 3 A s Duguit says, " T h e conception of sovereignty has always been, both in theory and practice, an absolutist conception," and national sovereignty seemed inconsistent with the existence of autonomous units. 1 5 4 The Opportunists had not always been adherents of a strong central government and absolutist methods. F e r r y condemned centralization in 1 8 6 3 , 1 3 5 called the Jacobins " casuists of liberty " in 1866, 1 5 8 and believed with Littré that the chief end of progress was the attainment of the greatest number of liberties. 157 In 1 8 7 2 Paul Bert advocated working towards com150 Ferry, Discours, 151 Soltau, French xviii, xx.

III, 59. Political

152 E. Rousse, La Liberté

Thought

Religieuse

in

the

en France

Nineteenth

Century,

pp.

(Paris, 1908), p. vi.

153 Jhid., p. xxii. 154 Duguit, Lazv in the Modern 155 Ferry, Discours,

State, pp. 20-28.

I, 58.

156 Ibid., I, 101-03. 157 Dupront, " Jules Ferry opposant a l'Empire Quelques Traits de son Idéologie Républicaine," Revue Historique, C L X X V I I (1936), p. 370.

124

T H E

munal antonomy.

158

FRENCH

LAIC

LAWS

In the same year Gambetta said,

The state can have no competence nor any control over dogmas nor over philosophic doctrines ; it must ignore them, or it becomes arbitrary, persecuting, intolerant, and it cannot, it has not the right to become thus. 159 Y e t as early as 1 8 6 8 Mérimée, a free-thinker, scoffed at M m e A d a m ' s f a i t h in the republicans : Y o u believe that some Peyrats, some Challemel-Lacours, some Aragos, and their Jacobin progeny, some Brissons, some Ferrys, some Rancs, will give you liberty if they govern one day? These are the sons of Robespierre, of Saint-Just, and of Marat . . . these fanatics of anti-clericalism are a church in themselves, a smaller church than the great one, but as dogmatic. They believe themselves free minds and are only minds which others irritate in not submitting to their formulas. 1 8 0 A n d in 1 8 6 9 Gambetta said, It is not necessary through excessive reaction against the administrative despotism of the decayed monarchies and of the two Bonapartist régimes to go as f a r as the suppression of the idea of the state, of the socialized government, Initiator and Protector. 1 6 1 Once in the saddle, the republicans accepted the concept of a p o w e r f u l national state, jealous of its prerogatives. T h e C o n stitution o f 1 8 7 5 contained no principle of public law s a f e g u a r d ing essential liberties, especially not the f r e e d o m of association. 1 6 2 I n 1 8 7 8 Gambetta stated at R o m a n s : Y e s , I am a defender of the state, and here I will not use the word ' centralization for it has often been used abusively ; I am 158 Dubreuil, Paul Bert, p. 46. 159 J. Vaujany, L'École Primaire en France sous la 3e République ( Paris, 1912), p. 25, note. 160 Guiraud, Mgr Freppel, p. 155. 161 Gambetta, Lettres de Gambetta, No. 54 (Aug. 30, 1869). 162 P. Nourrisson, Histoire Légale des Congrégations Religieuses en France depuis 178Ç (Paris, 1928), II, 2.

RENAISSANCE

OF J A C O B I N

NATIONALISM

125

a defender of national centralité, and I could not imagine introducing here those forms and almost anarchical doctrines which suppose customs, traditions, and origins different from ours. I am for unity, for French centralité, because I am convinced that the thing which has contributed the most since the Convention to the constitution of the French nation as we know it should also serve to maintain it and increase its moral, social, and political integrity. 163 F e r r y affirmed a similar faith at B o r d e a u x in 1 8 8 5 : W e believe that the republic ought to be a government. W e separate ourselves completely from a certain part of the democracy which proposes manifestly to reduce and decrease as much as possible the action, the authority of the government; in my opinion, this tendency is in complete opposition with the state of our civilization and of our customs, with all our traditions. . . . One must have been blind during the events of 1870, to have been accomplices in 1871, not to acknowledge that, in these two terrible experiences, one would not have been able to save the honor of France nor France itself, without these two things : the persistent feeling of national unity and the little which remains standing of a unitary and centralized government. 164 Prince von Biilow, then a member of the G e r m a n legation at Paris, wrote of F e r r y : His was a despotic nature and in his heart he despised plain democracy. Fraternity, and in particular international 'Fraternité', he declared to be a silly phrase, ' Égalité ' to be nonsense, because impossible, and ' Liberté ' only permissible in so far as it did not interfere with the interests of the state. 165 T h e republicans not only endeavored to establish a system of state schools which would instill their o w n doctrines into f u t u r e citizens, but they also believed that the state should inspect and restrain private institutions, whose activities they regarded with suspicion and hostility. F e r r y declared in the Senate, 163 Gambetta, Discours,

V I I I , 236-37.

164 A. Rambaud, Jules Ferry 165 von Biilow, Memoirs

(Paris, 1903), p. 408.

of Prince

l'on Biilow,

IV, 488.

126

THE

FRENCH

LAIC

LAWS

But a country like ours, whose first capital should be an educated and patriotic youth, cannot abandon instruction, even in free schools, to the anarchy of doctrines, nor to the relinquishment of every guarantee of capacity or of morality.1®" B y 1886 Goblet could tell the Chamber and S e n a t e : W e do not understand the fatherland to be an arena eternally open to every kind of struggle, to every pretension, to every upheaval in the government and in ideas. For us the fatherland is a free France, governing herself by the institutions which she has adopted and never abandoning her destinies to the caprices of one man or to the interests of a caste. 1 9 ' . . . to give the same favors and privileges to religious education is not asking me for liberty; that is asking me for anarchy. 168 W h e r e a s the republicans contended that instruction in state schools w o u l d be " neutral " and inoffensive to men of

any

faith, they gradually tended towards the formulation of a state doctrine in their courses in an independent morality and civics. T h u s F e r r y declared in one o f his reports: For us and for the French language, the word laic is not the opposite of the word religious, but of the word ecclesiastic. There is a laic religion as there is an ecclesiastic religion, and if this laic religion is not the basis of our morality, it is at least its crown. 168 S o m e deputies proposed that a public school of political science, g i v i n g instruction only in doctrines acceptable to the state, should be established. 1 7 0 In the succeeding chapters the intolerance of the Opportunists in their relations w i t h the Catholic Church will become evident, as the anti-clerical legislation is analyzed in detail. T h e government's policy brought sharp criticism, not only f r o m the R i g h t , 166/. O . S . , April 1, 1881, p. 536. 167/. 168/.

O. S., O. S.,

Feb. 4. 1886, p. 103. Mar. i,

1886,

p.

297.

169/. O. S , June n , 1881, p. 804.

170/. 0. C., July 1881, pp. 1168-69, No. 3801.

RENAISSANCE

OF J A C O B I N

NATIONALISM

127

but also from the L e f t and L e f t Center, and from erstwhile friends of the Opportunists. Étienne Lamy, liberal Catholic and member of the Left, complained that Article Seven violated freedom of association and declared bitterly : Gentlemen, parties have their ages like men, I know. The republican party, they say, sacrificed to the cult of absolute liberty in the innocence of its youth, but today it has tasted the tree of good and evil, that is, power, and does not wish to sacrifice the vital interests of a government even to liberty. 171 Laboulaye, of the L e f t Center, warned that the republicans were preparing the way for a dictatorship and said that the functions of the state should be clearly defined so that it might be strong while the citizens remained free. 1 ' 2 Louis L a Caze of the L e f t Center and member of the State Council denounced " a state orthodoxy . . . the constitution of the most formidable war machine one has ever seen in the name of the state, to bend all minds in a great country under the same yoke." 178 Jules Simon described the Opportunists as neo-Jacobins, and wrote bitingly, " I admit that the new ones have eliminated the guillotine. They enslave, but no longer produce corpses." 174 Paul Target attributed the calamities of France to a minority which attacked existing institutions as much as the acts of those in power, and to a majority which accepted illiberal measures in order to 171 J. O. C„ June 27, 1879, p. 5677. 172 J. O. S., Jan. 28, 1880, p. 913. 173 J. O. S., Feb. 8, 1880, p. 137. 174 J . Simon, Nos Hommes d'État (2nd éd.; Paris, 1887), p. 296. Yet Simon himself was not always so tolerant as one would think. When premier in 1877 he twice refused Father Hyacinthe's request that he be allowed to to give lectures on morality and religion. Ferry, Discours, II, p. 326. A s a deist, he was opposed to the suppression of the judicial oath and to the removal of religious emblems from schools and hospitals, because he believed, " There is a necessary bond between the idea of justice and the idea of God. But one has no concern for the beliefs of humanity and sacrifices them to the opinion of a very small number of non-believers, among whom four could not be cited who have studied enough philosophy to be entitled to speak about it." Simon, Dieu, Patrie, Liberté, pp. 257-60.

128

THE

FRENCH

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strengthen the republic. He feared that parliamentary anarchy would result in despotism and appealed to the liberal conservatives to enter politics with " God, Fatherland, and Liberty " as their watchword. 1 7 5 Louis Andrieux, prefect of police and deputy, wrote in his memoirs : But Opportunism dreamed of a sort of Jacobin parliamentarianism, a national representation without a minority; order assured by oppression; a combat which would end for lack of combatants." 8 Mme A d a m declares that Spuller feared that Jacobinism dominated the will of his friends. 177 She herself told Ferry to his face that the victorious, who had fought f o r liberty, should give it to those they had conquered to show their moral and political superiority. 178 She regretted that Gambetta was " very much penetrated by classicism . . . more Roman than Greek, more authoritarian than passionate for liberty," 178 and that those whom she had helped to win over to the republic were, like herself, repelled by an increasing authoritarianism and exclusiveness. 180 Victor H u g o began to wonder if liberty was not worth more than the Ferry laws, 181 and Taine declared that the Jacobins of his day resembled those of yesterday in believing that they constituted the state. 182 Even Littré, whose philosophy the Opportunists so admired, wrote in October, 1879 that in peaceful times like the present, he was opposed to a preventive system, with laws of exception, especially affecting freedom of education. The laws against the Jesuits had fallen into disuse, and the attack on them violated 175 P. L. T a r g e t , Dix Ans de République

( P a r i s , 1889), pp. 3, 5, 6.

176 Andrieux, A Travers la République, pp. 220-21. 177 Adam, Après l'Abandon de la Revanche, pp. 383-84. 178 Adam, Apres l'Abandon de la Revanche, pp. 360-61. 179 Ibid., p. 302. 180 Ibid., pp. 371, 392. 181 Ibid., p. 371. 182 Taine, Sa Vie et Sa Correspondance, I V , 92.

RENAISSANCE

OF J A C O B I N

NATIONALISM

I2Ç

papal dogma and aroused secret discontent. It would be preferable to give liberty even to those who denied it and to rely upon moral disgust for authoritarianism and upon positive education. 183 Vacherot wrote on August 5, 1 8 8 1 , " The struggle is not between the Monarchy and the Republic; it is between Jacobins or radicals, on the one hand, and liberals or conservatives on the other." 1 8 1 In spite of the opposition of monarchists, liberal conservatives, writers, and philosophers, the leaders of the republic, apprehensive of foreign war and internal dissent and convinced of the righteousness of their cause, could brook no opposition to their party and no competition with their institutions and doctrines. It is a strange paradox that in establishing a highly centralized national state, with a system of public schools f o r the training of future citizens in science and patriotism, they violated those very principles of freedom of worship, association, and instruction, of equality, and of national fraternity which they had so loudly proclaimed. 183 Littré, De l'Établissement de la 3e République, pp. 498-501. 184 Target, Dix Ans de République, p. 2.

CHAPTER LAIC

LAWS

AND

IV

CONCERNING

SECONDARY

HIGHER

EDUCATION

I IN their endeavor to fortify and secularize the national schools so that they might successfully compete against, if not surpass, the rapidly growing Catholic educational system, the republicans turned first to higher education, in which the Catholics had most recently won ground. A f t e r prolonged discussion during the last years of Napoleon I l l ' s reign and in the early days of the republic, the monopoly of the Napoleonic university had been broken and the principle of the freedom of higher education had been affirmed in the law of July 12, 1875. A c cording to its terms, any Frenchman of twenty-five with civil rights and any legal association for higher education could give courses after declaring their intentions to the rector or academy inspector. Institutions conducting courses in higher education might be called " faculties " if they included the same number of professors as the state faculties, and " universities " if they contained at least three faculties, excepting that of theology. The minister of public education might investigate moral conditions within them and their obedience to the constitution and the laws. If they became associations of utilité publique, they could acquire property, make contracts, and receive gifts. The most important provisions of the law concerned the conferring of degrees. State faculties alone could give the baccalaureate and grant higher degrees to their students. Students of " free " faculties had the choice between examination by the state faculties or by a " mixed jury," chosen by the minister of public education from professors of the state faculties and from those of the candidate's faculty. If there were an even number of members on the " mixed jury," free and state faculties were to be equally represented; but in the case of an uneven number, the state was to have the majority. The 130

LAIC

LAWS

CONCERNING

EDUCATION

I3I

presiding officer was to come from a state faculty. Students of " free " faculties were to conform to the same regulations as those of state faculties. The Catholic Committees regretted that this law gave " freedom for all to teach all " and that the " free " faculties could not give higher degrees and examinations on the same terms as those of the state. On the other hand, republicans felt that the state had given up one of its most precious privileges when it permitted " free " faculties to share in the conferring of degrees. They were, moreover, alarmed by the precipitation with which the Catholics hurried to take advantage of their new rights. Within a year Catholic universities were established at Paris, Lille, Angers, and Lyon, with faculties of law, letters, medicine, and science, a promising enrollment, and large contributions. 1 The Catholic Church alone had the resources and organization to profit by the new law. Private lay institutions of higher education were few in number and unimportant, and prepared chiefly for examinations in law or medicine. A plan for a positivist university, which was broached in La Revue de Philosophie Positive, never materialized. The attitude of many Catholics toward the law of 1875 was that of Father Didon, who wrote, " T h e struggle has begun ; the battlefield is the country; the arm the universities; Catholicism and Positivism are about to dispute the soul of France." 2 In its declaration of March 14, 1876 the L e f t Center Dufaure cabinet promised reform of the law of 1875, and only ten days later the minister of public education, Waddington, a short, fat, little man, with blond moustaches and even disposition, 3 introduced a bill into the Chamber to abolish the " mixed jury " and give the state the exclusive right to confer degrees. A f t e r prolonged discussion in the early days of June, the Chamber passed the measure by 357 to 123. 4 All groups 1 J. O. S., J u l y 18, 1876, p. 5254, N o . 105. 2 L o u i s L i a r d , L'Enseignement

Supérieur

en France,

i?8ç-i8ç3

1894), II, 297-323. 3 R o b e r t de B o n n i è r e s , Mémoires 4 J. O. C., J u n e 8, 1876, p. 3960.

d'Aujourd'hui,

I I I , 125.

(Paris,

132

THE

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LAIC

LAWS

of the L e f t and the L e f t Center supported it, while the monarchists opposed it. The Chamber had rejected the amendment of Ferdinand Boyer, a Legitimist lawyer, which permitted both " free " and state faculties to confer degrees but required an examination before a jury appointed by the Higher Council of Public Education for admission to a public office or profession.5 It had likewise not accepted the plan of Raoul Duval and Sarlande, Bonapartists, f o r a jury appointed by the state outside the faculties.® The premier, Dufaure, appealed to the Senate to support the bill in order to give the government a weapon against more radical anti-clerical measures before the Chamber, 7 but a movement to pass to the discussion of the articles was defeated by the close vote of 144 to 139. 8 The Right, including the Bonapartists, and conservatives like Laboulaye and Wallon made up the majority against the bill.9 The Catholic universities were safe for the time being, but with a growth in republican sentiment, their position would be precarious. Those who supported the bill declared that discussion of freedom of instruction was irrelevant, for the articles giving every qualified Frenchman or association the right to conduct courses were preserved, and doctrines of every kind could be taught if they were not contrary to morality, the constitution, and the laws. Professors in " free " faculties were not required to have diplomas and no method or program was imposed. 10 They held that " freedom to teach does not in any way imply the right of free faculties to confer degrees." 1 1 In the words of Jules Ferry, a degree was a " stamp intended to guarantee the capacity of the one who obtains the degree either to carry on a profession, the practice of which is submitted to certain 5 J. O. C., June 7, 1876, p. 3907. 6 / . O. C., June 8, 1876, pp. 3954-577 J. O. S., J u l y 21, 1876, p. 5430. S J. O. S„ July 22, 1876, pp. 5433-349 L'Année

Politique, July 1876, p. 237.

10 7. O. C., M a y 27, 1876, p. 3614. 11 J. O. C., April 3, 1876, p. 2381, No. 30.

LAIC

LAWS

CONCERNING

EDUCATION

I33

legal conditions, or to enter a career or public office f o r the service of society."

12

H e n c e the state could not relinquish its

control over degrees, f o r it alone could be an impartial j u d g e o f the probity and learning of the examiners. " M i x e d juries " would result in inevitable compromises and avoidance o f disputed subjects. T h e L e f t claimed that f o r over seventy years the integrity of professors of the U n i v e r s i t y had not been doubted. T h e y w e r e considered more impartial, because they w e r e nearly alw a y s the choice o f the faculties, w h i c h had permanent tenure and represented all shades of o p i n i o n ; whereas the professors of " free " faculties were appointed by the rector of their university, could be recalled by him, and represented only one system o f ideas. Students in the state university could be e x amined by the faculty of their choice. 1 3 T h e U n i v e r s i t y w a s n o longer the monopoly it had been in 1808; and the

Higher

Council of Public E d u c a t i o n , w h i c h g a v e its opinion on prog r a m s and examinations, contained representatives of all recognized faiths, of ministerial departments, and of public and " free " education. 1 4 W a d d i n g t o n pledged himself not to e x clude representatives of the established churches f r o m educational councils. 1 5 It w a s said, furthermore, that n o one had protested the exclusive right o f the state faculties to c o n f e r the baccalaureate in secondary education. 1 9 Jacques

Spuller,

Gambetta's

devoted

friend,

an

" inde-

fatigable o x in the f u r r o w of the republic . . ., a perfectly honest man, vigilant patriot, w h o a l w a y s knew h o w to love, if he did not a l w a y s understand,"

17

asserted that acquired

rights

were not injured by the bill, since no degree had yet been conferred by a " m i x e d j u r y . "

H e neglected to mention the

18

12 J. O. C., M a y 27, 1876, p. 361513 J. O. C., J u n e 4, 1876, pp. 3838-39. 14 J. O. C., A p r i l 3, 1876, p. 2381, N o . 30. 1 5 J . O. S„ J u l y 21, 1876, p. 5377. 16 7. O. C., A p r i l 3, 1876, p. 2381, N o . 30. 17 Gabriel H a n o t a u x , Mon

Temps,

18/. O. C., M a y 27, 1876, p. 3614.

I I , 143-44.

134

T H E

FRENCH

LAIC

LAWS

establishment o f f o u r Catholic universities, and when some of his colleagues w e r e later reminded o f this, they accused the Catholics o f h a v i n g been unduly hasty in taking advantage o f the

1875 l a w ! 1 9

T h e veteran professor, Jules Simon,

who

periodically recalled to the Senate his f o r t y years o f service in the cause of higher education, contended that the bill did n o harm to contributors, professors, or students. T h e Collège de France, he said, w h i c h w a s held in high esteem, g a v e n o e x aminations; and the École Centrale, which had begun as a private institution, had become so f a m o u s that the state had taken it over. Catholic faculties could g i v e examinations and diplomas,

which

would

be valued

as their schools

became

renowned. 2 0 In an examination, wrote Spuller, w i t h an optimistic faith in the O l y m p i a n qualities of examiners, there w a s no question of competition, but only one of knowledge. " Diversity of methods is the soul of

science," he said. E x a m i n a t i o n

before

state

faculties w o u l d preserve higher education f r o m decline, but the competition resulting f r o m a " m i x e d j u r y " would inject politics into science. T h i s last must be avoided, since schools must assure the " moral unity of the F r e n c h fatherland, the unity o f society as created by the French R e v o l u t i o n . " E v e n w i t h freedom of instruction, may there be at least one point of contact, one common meeting . . . when, before mingling in the struggles of life, young Frenchmen may feel and recognize themselves as the sons of the same fatherland! May this day be that of the final examinations . . . ; may this place be one of the asylums of pure and disinterested science, like the Sorbonne, where passions other than those for the true, the good, and the beautiful do not penetrate; may this meeting be a struggle for the progress of the high intellectual and moral culture of our country under the impartial and benevolent eye of masters of human thought. 21 19 J. 0. S., July 19, 1876, p. 5303. 2 0 / . O. S., July 20, 1876, pp. 5347 -48. 21 J. O. C., May 27, 1876, pp. 3615-16.

LAIC

LAWS

CONCERNING

EDUCATION

I35

Truly Spuller was a great patriot! W h a t a worthy sentiment f o r all those about to undergo examinations ! Opponents of the bill clearly demonstrated that the government was striking at the heart of freedom of instruction when it gave the state the exclusive right to confer degrees. Paul de Cassagnac, as bellicose in manner as a Gascon captain, 22 speaking not as a Bonapartist but as a Catholic, declared that the measure attacked freedom of thought. T h e examination f o r the baccalaureate was a different matter, f o r political or philosophic doctrines were not involved in the subjects studied, and students were not examined by their own instructors. P r o f e s s o r s in " free " universities would have to follow state programs, new methods would be impossible, and the " free " faculties would be deprived of their resources. 23 In the faculties of law and medicine to which the greater number of students in higher education belonged, it would be impossible to teach if one did not give the examinations, so great was their number in one year. The inferiority of instruction in France was due to servile adherence to one program. It would be better to establish professional juries f o r entrance to careers, if necessary. 24 I f Spuller did not want his professors degraded by being deprived of the right of examination, why should " free " professors be so degraded? With the " mixed j u r y " and state inspection of schools, the state still retained control. 25 T h e minister of public education, by virtue of a decree of 1808, could refuse to confer the degree if he felt it was not being regularly given. 2 6 E d u cation was not an essential attribute of the state, but only a public service. T o claim more was inconsistent with the decentralization demanded in the communes. 27 22 François Berthet-Leleux, Le Vrai Prince I 9 3 2 ) . P- 1/6. 23 J. O. C., June 2, 1876, pp. 3764-66. 24 J. O. C., July 20, 1876, pp. 5374-7525 J. O. C., June 2, 1876, p. 3766. 2 6 / . O. S., July 18, 1876, p. 5252, No. 105. 27 J. O. S„ July 20, 1876, p. 5374-

Napoléon

(Jérôme)

(Paris,

136

THE

FRENCH

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LAWS

One of the most effective arguments of the opposition was that showing that the acquired rights of Catholic universities would be destroyed by the measure. They held it deplorable that a law enacted only a year ago, and then supported by four ministers of the present cabinet, should be overthrown, when no complaint had been made against the " free " faculties, and when there had been no trial of the system. T h e Senate had received 126,000 legalized signatures on petitions against the bill. 28 T h e Right contended that distrust of the instruction given by the Catholic Church and a desire to check the growth of Catholic universities were the real motives of the L e f t . The failure of the attempt to abrogate the law of 1875 establishing the freedom of higher education left the republicans determined to return to the attack when their strength in the Senate had increased. In 1877 Eymard-Duvernay of the L e f t proposed a plan for a decentralized and state-controlled system of higher education, with nine universities for letters, arts, and sciences, and four great faculties of medicine. A l l other faculties were to be suppressed, but within each university each professor was to have freedom of instruction. Catholic universities were described as no more than advanced seminaries, where science was made to conform to orthodox doctrines rather than being derived from the experimental method. 29 Although Paul Bert approved of this project in general, 30 nothing came of it. O n May 15, 1879, after the republican victory in the senatorial elections of January and the formation of the Waddington ministry in February, Jules Ferry introduced a bill to provide for the " freedom " of higher education. The vigorous minister of public education and leader of the moderate L e f t was described by Hanotaux as correctly reared in the bourgeoisie, wearing in bourgeois style a formal top hat and frock coat, with pale complexion under his black moustaches, his fingers at his lips, biting his nails, stooped, 2 8 / . O. S., J u l y 18, 1876, p. 5254, N o . 105. 2 9 / . O. S., A p r i l 1, 1877, pp. 2605-10; A p r i l 4, 1877, pp. 2641-44, N o . 59. 30 / . O. C., J u n e 3, 1876, p. 3807.

LAIC

LAWS

CONCERNING

EDUCATION

I37

cold in listening, cold in speaking, intimidating his opponent by his direct and penetrating glance; always self-confident, assertive, and peremptory ; inability to capture crowds was his greatest lack.31 The new bill, like that of 1876, provided that examinations for degrees could be undergone only before state faculties, which alone could confer degrees, and that all candidates must submit to the same rules in regard to programs, age, and matriculation. Matriculation before the state faculties would be free, to enable them to compete with the " free " faculties. 32 In two ways the measure went farther than that of 1876. First, the " free " schools or associations for higher education were forbidden to take the title of university or to become establishments of utilité publique except by special law. Second, in the famous " Article Seven " an attack was made on the unauthorized religious orders, which were forbidden to participate in public or " free " education of any kind. 33 Because of the intense feeling engendered by Article Seven, the debates were protracted and passionate. T h e fact that the Chamber talked for two weeks of everything but the reform of higher education seemed to indicate that Ferry was supporting the bill for political reasons. 34 T h e prerogatives of the national state and the position of the Catholic Church and of the religious orders were the absorbing subjects of discussion. There was almost no mention of the merits or demerits of the " mixed j u r y , " and it was only in counter-bills and amendments that educational problems were really considered. Lenglé and Mitchell, Bonapartists, suggested examination before either a state faculty or a state jury and more efficacious inspection of " free " schools. 35 T h e Duc de Feltre of the same group proposed that degrees should be conferred by any kind 31 Hanotaux, Mon Temps, II, 178. 32 Marie de R o u x , Origines

et Fondations

de la Troisième

P- 348. 3 3 / . O. C., April 1, 1879, p. 2768; March 19, 1880, p. 3193. 34 7. O. C., July 1, 1879, p. 5934, N o . 1239. 35 Ibid., p. 5938.

République,

Í38

THE

FRENCH

LAIC

LAWS

of faculty, but that admittance to state functions should be contingent upon degrees f r o m state faculties. 3 8 De Gasté of the L e f t Center wished to establish a state j u r y f o r higher degrees, but permit both " free " and state faculties to give the baccalaureate. 37 Although Beaussire of the L e f t secured free matriculation in state faculties, 38 the opponents of the bill were still dissatisfied, for they argued that state matriculation would deprive the " free " schools of valuable income and force students to take long and expensive journeys when they had already paid tuition at private schools, and when their parents had been taxed f o r the support of state schools. On the other hand, church schools cost the state nothing and contributed large sums to education. 38 When Spuller and F e r r y expounded their doctrine of the responsibility of the state f o r the education of its citizens, Boyer, a Legitimist, replied that it was not the function of the state to teach, f o r it embraced so many different doctrines. With eleven ministers of education in eight years there could be no stability in theory. It was casuistry to say that the Declaration of the Rights of M a n implied the right to teach freely in the broad but not in the strict sense. T h e right to teach was derived f r o m natural rights and was stated in the constitution of 1 8 4 8 and in the laws of 1 8 3 3 , 1 8 5 0 and 1 8 7 5 . I f the state were to have a monopoly of education, there was danger that one party would acquire excessive powers or that the state would give positions only to its graduates. 4 0 In the battle over Article Seven, the Opportunists singled out the Jesuits, who were only one of a number of unauthorized orders, for a vitriolic attack upon their doctrines and conduct. 41 They accused them of constituting a state within a state, with 36 J. O. C., April 15, 1879, p. 3264, No. 1293. 37 / . O. C., May 29, 1879, pp. 4434-36, No. 1374. 3 8 / . O. C., July s, 1879, P- 6156. 3 9 / . O. C., June 18, 1879, p. 53244 0 / . O. C., June 18, 1879, pp. 5319-25. 41 / . O. C., July 6, 1879, pp. 6213-21.

LAIC

LAWS CONCERNING

EDUCATION

I39

a toreign head. They dubbed them the " militia of the counterrevolution," 42 and condemned their support of legitimacy, theocracy, and the Syllabus of Errors. They affirmed that the Jesuits could not be patriots, since their teachings were contrary to the principles of the French Revolution. They drew a line between the Jesuits and the rest of the French clergy, for whom some hope was felt; and in particular warned the L e f t Center that if it gave freedom to the Jesuits, it must be prepared to give it to the communists. 43 T h e Jesuits were held responsible for the organization of the Catholic committees and Catholic workingmen's clubs, and their publication, Les Études Religieuses, was said to have commented on recent political struggles. 44 The Jesuits were also attacked for their illegal position. It was pointed out that they had been banished under the ancien régime, that perpetual vows had been abolished in 1790, and that secular orders and brotherhoods had been suppressed in 1792 and in the Concordat. Some dissolutions had been pronounced under Napoleon, and all religious associations had been required to seek authorization by the government in the laws of 1817 and 1825. A n ordinance of 1828 had forbidden an unauthorized order to direct or teach any branch of education. Although the education laws of 1850 and 1875 were silent in regard to such orders, it was said that this did not exempt them. 45 The L e f t affirmed that the religious orders had refused to secure authorization, because to do so it was necessary to disclose their statutes, submit to ordinary jurisdiction, recognize civil formalities, and agree to temporary vows. 48 The Right warmly defended the unauthorized orders and held that the laws suppressing them were invalid. The decree of 4 2 / . O. C., June 12, 1879, p. 5015, No. 1442. 4 3 / . 0. C., June 27, 1879, pp. 5681-91 ; June 28, 1879, pp. 5722-28. 4 4 / . O. S., Mar. 7, 1880, p. 2713. 4 5 / . O. C., June 12, 1879, pp. 5014-15, No. 1442; April i, 1879. p. 2768, No. 1239. 46 L'Année Politique, 1880, pp. 76-81.

I40

THE FRENCH

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LAWS

1 7 9 0 deprived them only of their civil personality, not of their right to live together; and the ordinances w e r e the product of exceptional circumstances. T h u s the law o f 1792 abolished all corporations but did not forbid the establishment of new religious orders. T h e decree of Messidor, A n X I I w a s termed despotic and ineffective and w a s soon superseded. Article 291 o f the Penal Code forbade the existence of associations of more than twenty persons, but not of those living in the same house. T h e law of 1834 w a s said to apply to political associations only. Since by article one of the Concordat the Catholic religion w a s to be freely practised in France, the religious orders, which were necessary f o r the worship, instruction, and propagation of the Catholic faith, should be unmolested. 4 7 T h e education laws of 1850 and 1875 gave the right of f r e e d o m of instruction to all Frenchmen. 4 8 T h e R i g h t defended the patriotism of the orders. O n l y three out of 28 had a superior in Rome. 4 9 T h e Jesuits had done a remarkable w o r k in the A m e r i c a n colonies, in E n g l a n d in the sixteenth century, and in India." 0 T h e i r doctrines were those of all C a t h o l i c s . " Such a large number of people could not be criminals, especially when the state had entered into relations with them over the care of vagabonds and had even chosen four bishops f r o m among them. Petitions with 1,500,000 signatures had been sent in against the bill. 52 Article Seven, since it related to all branches of education, did not properly belong in a bill on higher education. 53 Members of the L e f t and L e f t Center joined w i t h the monarchists in championing the right of the unauthorized orders to g i v e instruction. Jules Simon objected to depriving 4 7 7. O. C., F e b . 22, 1878, p p . 1860-61. 46 J. O. C., June 24, 1879, p. 55434 9 J. O. C., J u n e 18, 1879, PP- 5326-28. 5 0 J. O. C., J u n e 28, 1879, p . 5734. 51 J. O. C., J u n e 22, 1879, p . 5499. 5 2 ]. O. C., J u n e 18, 1879, p p . 5326-29.

5 3 / . O. S., Feb. 28, 1880, p. 2317-

the

LAIC

LAWS

CONCERNING

" f r e e " schools o f the title o f

EDUCATION

I4I

f a c u l t y a n d o f the p o w e r to

matriculate their students, but h e believed that the state should h a v e the e x c l u s i v e r i g h t t o c o n f e r degrees. H e did, h o w e v e r , feel that f r e e d o m o f conscience w a s violated b y A r t i c l e S e v e n , since the i n d i v i d u a l m e m b e r o f an order w a s f o r b i d d e n to teach and w a s c o n d e m n e d

b e f o r e he had been p r o v e n guilty.

In

eloquent w o r d s S i m o n pled f o r l i b e r t y : T h e religion of the state oppresses the conscience and the education of the state, thus understood, suppresses it. . . . Freedom of thought is not the abstract right to have an opinion to oneself in the secret of his conscience . . . it is not f o r that that martyrs have died and revolutions have triumphed; it is for freedom spread abroad by w o r d and by book. 54 S i m o n confided t o h i s son that he t o o believed in checking the religious

orders,

which

were

inclined

to trespass, but

that

F e r r y ' s policy w o u l d o n l y increase their p o w e r . It w o u l d be better to restrain the development o f m o r t m a i n a n d apply the e x i s t i n g l a w s r i g o r o u s l y . 5 5 I n the Senate he asked that

the

question o f the r e l i g i o u s orders be dealt w i t h in a separate l a w on associations,

since the g o v e r n m e n t h a d r e c o g n i z e d

their

r i g h t t o teach a n d h a d appointed one o f their n u m b e r to the H i g h e r C o u n c i l o f P u b l i c E d u c a t i o n . 5 8 B a r d o u x , minister o f public education in the D u f a u r e cabinet a n d m e m b e r o f

the

L e f t Center, took a similar s t a n d : I am one of those w h o believe that we ought to sow ideas and let others be sown, because I have confidence in the harvest; because I have faith in the human spirit and in the effects of liberty, above all when they are combined with justice and good s e n s e . " The

Extreme

Left

would

have

gone

even

farther

than

A r t i c l e S e v e n . In J u l y , 1 8 7 9 , M a d i e r de M o n t j a u , ardent republican in 1848, e x i l e under the E m p i r e , and talented l a w y e r , 5 4 / . 0. S„

D e c . 27, 1879, p p . 11579-81, N o . 20.

55 Jules Simon, Le Soir de ma Journee (Paris), pp. 422-24. 5 6 / . O. S., Feb. 28, 1880, p. 2317. 5 7 / . O. C., July 1, 1879, p. 5941.

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sponsored an amendment providing that no one was to direct or teach in public or private schools of any kind if he belonged to the secular clergy or to any religious order. T h i s did not apply, of course, to professors of the theological faculties or of the m a j o r seminaries recognized by law. M o n t j a u cleverly argued that logic would support his amendment, since the g o v ernment had proven that the secular clergy and Jesuits subscribed to the same doctrines. T h e amendment was supported by only seventy-nine of the E x t r e m e L e f t , but the threat of its revival remained. 88 The Chamber adopted Article Seven by 3 3 3 - 1 6 4 . The opposition was composed of monarchists and men like Beaussire, Marcel Barthe, and L a m y of the L e f t and B a r d o u x and D e Gasté of the L e f t Center. T h e whole bill was passed by 3 4 7 1 4 3 , with most of the L e f t Center joining the groups of the L e f t in its support. 69 D u r i n g the parliamentary holidays, F e r r y campaigned in its defense, while Laboulaye, the Protestant pastor Bersier, Littre, and Vacherot united with the bishops and Catholic press in denouncing it. When the departmental general councils considered the F e r r y laws in August, 28 approved and 3 8 condemned them. 60 Shortly a f t e r the reconvening of parliament, the Waddington cabinet fell, because it had failed to r e f o r m rapidly enough. T h e Freycinet ministry which followed, and in which F e r r y retained his post, although it too was, in Clemenceau's phrase, only " a patching up of a patching u p , " worked more vigorously f o r the passage of the bill on higher education. T h e wily Freycinet, who was popularly nicknamed the " white mouse," 81 told the Senate the government's policy would be moderate. It would forbid the f o r m a tion of new establishments by the unauthorized orders and require existing ones to seek authorization, " with a reasonable 58 J. O. C., July 8, 1879, pp. 6319-25; July 9, 1879, p. 6387. 59 J. O. C., July 10, 1879, pp. 6432-34. 60 Lecanuet, Les Premieres

Années du Pontifical

61 William Henry Hurlbert, France p. 8.

de Léon XIII,

and the Republic

pp. 33-35.

(London, 1890),

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I43

delay," from the executive authorities. If some orders were denied approval, the government would inspect their instruction to see if it were harmful to French youth, and if not, tolerate them. 82 But Dufaure, sincere republican and liberal Catholic, 83 despite his bulldog countenance and glacial manner, 84 persuaded the Senate to defeat Article Seven by 149-132 on the second reading 65 by accusing the government of seeking revenge on the clerical party through this measure. 88 T h e majority was made up of 118 of the Right, Simon of the L e f t , and 28 of the L e f t Center. Seven of the L e f t abstained from voting. The other terms of the bill were adopted by the Senate by 183-98, with almost all the L e f t Center and Simon in the majority, 8 7 and by the Chamber, without discussion, by 364-92. Even Étienne Lamy, De Gasté, and Bardoux approved of the measure, and a number of Bonapartists abstained from voting. 88 T h e law for the " freedom " of higher education was promulgated March 18, 1880. The republicans thus failed through legislation to exclude the unauthorized religious orders from education, but they did succeed in depriving Catholic faculties of the title of university, of the right to confer degrees and of the right to matriculate their own students. T h e law restricted the freedom of instruction, for the curriculum and methods were naturally determined to some extent by the examination which concluded a course. T h e recently acquired rights of the Catholic universities were destroyed and their prestige injured, although " free " education was, to some degree, liberated from state dictation as to the number and type of faculties and pro62 L'Année

Politique,

1880, pp. 84-101.

63 De Marcère, Histoire

de la République

de 18/6-79

(Paris, 1908), I,

74-7564Hippolyte Stupuy, Henri

Brisson

6 5 / . O. S., Mar. 16, 1880, p. 3062. 6 6 / . O. S., Mar. io, 1880, p. 2827. 6 7 / . O. S., Mar. 16, 1880, p. 3063. 6 8 / . O. C., Mar. 17, 1880, p. 3140.

(Paris, 1883), p. 24.

144

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fessors. 89

T h e Catholic faculties, which were originally established f o r laymen, came to be valued f o r their preparation of an intellectual élite in the French clergy. 7 0 O n M a r c h 16, 1880 the government was interpellated by the f o u r groups of the L e f t on its policy, but it won a vote of confidence when Freycinet said that it would apply the existing laws in regard to the unauthorized orders with firmness and prudence. O n March 29 it issued two decrees, by which the Society of Jesus was to be dissolved within three months, with an extension of time until A u g u s t 31 for its schools; and by which the other unauthorized orders must, within three months, request authorization or undergo the application of the existing laws. 7 1 Freycinet, in his memoirs, attributes to Gambetta, not F e r r y , the responsibility f o r the decrees, and adds that President G r é v y thought them unnecessary and provocative. 7 2 T h e religious orders almost unanimously decided on April 27 not to seek government approval and to make common cause with the Jesuits. 73 T h e latter were expelled without disorder on June 30, but the Paris prefect of police reported to the minister of the interior on July 5 that if the government did not stop with this, all classes of society and the suburbs would be alienated. H e added that the working classes did not altogether f a v o r the execution of the decrees, and all the foreigners in P a r i s were opposed to them. 74 Nearly 400 magistrates or officials resigned rather than enforce them. T w o thousand lawyers signed an opinion written by the eminent barrister, Rousse, which declared that the unauthorized religious orders had a legal right to live a common life, hold property, and be free, and could be dissolved only by court action, not by decree." 69 Alfred Baudrillard Vie de Mgr d'Hulst (4th ed.; Paris, 1928), 391-92. 70 D e M eaux, Souvenirs Politiques, 1871-77 ( P a r i s , 1905), pp. 262-63. 71 Debidour, L'Église Catholique et l'État sous la 3e République, I, 239. 72 Freycinet, Souvenirs, 1878-93, pp. 143-47.

73 Barbier, op. cit., II, 32-33. 74 Andrieux, À Travers la République, p. 246. 75 Lecanuet, Les Premières Années du Pontificat de Léon XIII, pp. 54-56.

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Prince Napoleon, however, wrote a letter in which he approved the decrees and adhered to the principles of the F r e n c h R e v o l u tion. T h u s he split his party. 7 6 In the meantime, Freycinet w a s in consultation with A r c h bishop L a v i g e r i e and the nuncio, Czacki, over a possible compromise. A f t e r protracted negotiations, a declaration w a s d r a w n up in which the unauthorized orders were to affirm their loyalty to the republican government and reject affiliation with political parties. It was agreed that D u f a u r e would present a bill on freedom of association and that the government would postpone execution of the decrees until it had passed. T h e religious orders were persuaded to accept the declaration a f t e r they had been told that the Pope wished them to do so. 77 Freycinet won the approval of G r é v y and of the cabinet, although not o f Gambetta, since he was absent, to a speech which he gave at Montauban on A u g u s t 18, in which he indicated that, if the attitude of the orders warranted it, the g o v e r n m e n t

would

prepare a new law to determine the status of both lay and religious associations. 7 8 But on A u g u s t 28 a L e g i t i m i s t newspaper, La Guyenne

of B o r d e a u x , thwarted these carefully laid

plans by publishing the text of the declaration. T h u s it hoped to prevent a reconciliation between the republicans and the Church. L a v i g e r i e 7 9 and G a m b e t t a 8 0

both confirm the fact

that extreme Catholics, imprudent friends of the Jesuits, and Legitimists were to blame. T h e cabinet was divided in its views on the policy to follow. W h e n t w o members of the Republican U n i o n resigned, F r e y cinet was forced to retire, and was succeeded by Jules Ferry. 8 1 Gambetta was responsible for this, f o r he had resented F r e y cinet's attacks on himself and, as we have seen, wished to retain 76 Loudun, Journal de Fidus sous la République

Opportuniste,

77 B a r b i e r , op. cit., I I , 55-60. 78 Freycinet, Souvenirs,

1878-93, pp. 143-47.

79 J. T o u r n i e r , Le Cardinal Lavigerie

( P a r i s , 1913), p. 51.

50 von H o h e n l o h e , op. cit., I I , 282. 51 F r e y c i n e t , Souvenirs,

1878-Ç3, p. 153.

V , 103.

146

THE

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LAWS

the allegiance of the anti-clericals of Paris. The decrees were then executed in October; but female religious orders were exempt, foreign orders were not touched if their ambassadors demanded it, and some religious were left to guard the evacuated property. In all, 2 6 1 religious houses were closed and 5,643 monks were expelled. 8 * Since the latter still had the right to teach, many of them became instructors in schools headed by secular priests or laymen, but lived outside the school. S o m e remained in their houses under cover of a civil society formed by friends, or under a borrowed name, and taught, with a layman at their head. 83 T h e government, if it could not prosecute the Jesuits f o r living in common, sometimes closed such schools by requiring the head to appear before the academic council f o r breach of professional morality. 84 T w o years a f t e r the promulgation of the decrees, the reconstitution of some of the orders was denounced. 85 The government, it must be said, was high-handed in its dealings with the unauthorized religious orders. It declared in advance that the Jesuit order could not be approved and based its action on decrees of doubtful validity. It acted by executive order a f t e r the Senate had refused to pass a law embodying its wishes. 86 When the religious orders wished to appeal to the courts against the decrees, the prefects held that the latter were incompetent in the case; and the Court of Conflicts, over which Cazot, signer of the decrees as Keeper of the Seals, presided, 87 declared that their only redress was an appeal to the Council of State. This last was a political body, located at P a r i s , and composed of predominantly republican members a f t e r its enlargement in 1879. 8 8 T h e injustice of giving this council juris82 Dietz, " Jules F e r r y et les Traditions Républicaines," Revue Politique ei Parlementaire, ann. 41, C L X ( 1 9 3 4 ) , 509-12. 83 Simon, Dieu, Patrie, Liberté, pp. 234-40. 84 Ferry, Discours, I V , 330-46. 85Freycinet, Souvenirs, 1878-93, p. 157. 86 Nourrisson, Histoire de la Liberté d'Association, II, 231-32. 87 Nourrisson, Histoire de la Liberté d'Association, II, 235. 88 Debidour, op. cit., I, 218.

LAIC

LAWS

CONCERNING

EDUCATION

I47

diction in a question to which the state was party was pointed out by Batbie, Orleanist, in a bill to guarantee individual rights, which he introduced in the Senate, February 1 5 , 1 8 8 1 . 8 9 Laboulaye of the L e f t Center upheld him and contended that his cause had been that of the liberal school f o r sixty years. But the Senate supported the government by 1 5 0 - 9 4 on the ground that administrative powers should be separate f r o m judicial powers. 9 0 A m o n g the 4 7 senators who did not vote were Simon, E y m a r d - D u v e r n a y , and Barthe of the L e f t and Barthélémy Saint-Hilaire of the L e f t Center. Laboulaye, as usual, joined the monarchists. Despite a pledge made to Jules Simon on March 3, 1 8 8 0 that the law for the " freedom " of higher education would not be made retroactive, the government did so, and shifted the blame to the Council of State, which was required by law to draw up rules for competitions. 91 A bill introduced by Baragnon, which stated that all diplomas given by the minister of public education according to the laws should have the same value in all competitions, w a s passed by the Senate by 2 1 4 - 2 3 , with 55 f r o m all groups abstaining. 9 3 T h e Chamber took no action on this, beyond an unfavorable report, which stated that the bill attacked the freedom of the executive power to choose its agents, and that the government had the right to choose between diplomas which represented different educations. It insinuated that the Catholic schools were hostile to the institutions and principles of the country. 93 In a new report in 1 8 8 6 it was said that those who had received degrees a f t e r examination before a " mixed j u r y " were now beyond the age limit f o r competitions, and that no one had applied to the Council of State for relief. 94 T h u s the government continued its policy of 8 9 / . O. S„

Feb. 2 7 , 1 8 8 1 , pp. 94-95. N o . 57.

90 7. O. S., J u l y 1 8 8 1 , pp. 487-88, N o . 3 5 6 ; F e b . 10, 1882, pp. 5 6 - 5 8 . 91 J. O. S., A p r i l 2 3 , 1880, pp. 4 3 7 7 - 8 2 . 9 2 / . O. S . , J u n e 1, 1880, pp. 5 9 1 3 - 1 8 . 9 3 / . O. C., F e b . 1 8 8 2 , pp. 2 0 1 - 0 3 , N o . 3 2 5 94 / . O. C., N o v . 1886, pp. 1 3 7 4 - 7 5 . N o . 674-

I48

THE FRENCH

LAIC

LAWS

eliminating monarchists and clericals from state positions by all possible methods. Its interests were declared higher than those of the individual, and the only recourse against an injustice was to one of its organs. In this case the numbers concerned were very negligible, but the tendency manifested was of grave import. II If the French schools were to be successfully nationalized and secularized, the bodies which held sway over the administration, programs, and discipline of both public and private schools would have to be reformed. A s constituted by the law of March 19, 1873, the Higher Council of Public Education contained forty members, twelve from public and four from private education, and the remainder from social groups such as the established churches, the army and navy, the Council of State, and the higher councils of arts, manufacturing, commerce, and agriculture. Four bishops of the Catholic Church and one representative each from the Reformed and Lutheran Churches and from the Central Jewish Consistory ensured harmony between the educational system and the principles of the Concordat. 95 The academic councils likewise contained rectors and educational inspectors, representatives of the clergy, magistrates, and general councillors, but no teachers.96 On March 15, 1879, Jules Ferry, then minister of public education, introduced a bill for the reform of the Higher Council of Public Education through the exclusion of the clergy and representatives of social interests; through the representation of all the great public schools, especially of the University; and through the election of the majority of the members.97 His wishes were fulfilled in the law of February 27, 1880, which stated that in the future the council was to consist of the minister of public education; representatives of the state 95 J. O., March 26, 1873, pp. 2097-98. 96 Alfred Rambaud, Jules Ferry

(Paris, 1903), pp. 95-96.

9 7 / . O. C., July 7, 1879, PP- 6286-96, No. 1551.

LAIC

LAWS

CONCERNING

EDUCATION

faculties and special and professional schools; eight elected by their colleagues in the lycées; six members of education and two from the communal colleges, elected colleagues; and four representatives of private and public education, appointed by the government. Only of 58 members were not elected.

I49

agrégés, primary by their nine of 13 out

The council was given extensive jurisdiction over the programs, degrees, texts, administration, discipline, and staff of public education. It had surveillance over " free " schools, could forbid their use of certain texts as contrary to morality, the constitution, and the laws, and was the last resort for appeals from decisions of academic or departmental councils dismissing or expelling teachers and students in such schools. The composition of the academic council was likewise changed to include representatives of the schools and municipal councils, as well as government appointees. T w o members of private education, named by the minister, sat only in disciplinary or disputed matters concerning their schools. These councils gave advice on the administration, discipline, and budget of public schools. The departmental councils, which dealt only with primary education, were not regulated by this law, but by one passed in 1886. 88 Those who supported the changes in the councils argued that professional educators should reform the University from within, and charged that the old Higher Council of Public Education had been reactionary in its policies. 98 But it was apparent that the elimination of ecclesiastical influences was as strong a motive, if not stronger, in the reform. Ferry accused the bishops who had sat on the council of differing from the government in their political views, and said that it was part of the national tradition to keep a firm barrier between the temporal and the spiritual. 100 Although the Jesuits had nothing to do with the council, they were once more attacked 98 / . 0 . , F e b . 28, 1880, pp. 2305-06. 9 9 / . O. C., J u l y 7, 1879, pp. 6289-92, N o . 1 5 5 1 . 1 0 0 / . O. S., Jan. 3 1 , 1880, pp. 1065-66.

I50

THE

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LAWS

in order to whip up sentiment for the bill. 101 Representatives of theological faculties were at first omitted f r o m the council, although those of all other faculties were included; but the Senate restored them, on the proposal of Beaussire of the L e f t , so that the state might have a firmer grip on them and encourage the appointment of their graduates to positions in the Church. 1 0 2 F e r r y took pains to assure the Right that " free " schools would be inspected only superficially for conformity to morality, hygiene, and the law. The council would not investigate their methods or doctrines, and its main purpose would not be disciplinary. 103 Only the courts could close schools. T h e council would be impartial, since all the public school delegates, except those in secondary education, belonged to bodies not under the control of the minister. As for religious education, the chaplain in the University, appointed by the bishop and paid by the state, could safeguard the interests of his faith, as could the public, the family, and the Catholic press. 104 T h e Due de Broglie was perhaps the most logical and convincing orator for the Catholic position. H e accused the government of excluding all social interests f r o m the council to get rid of the clergy and of dragging in the Jesuits to obscure the debate. He held that clericals were not in the majority in the old council, and that bishops were needed as members to give competent guidance in regard to instruction in history and philosophy, and especially in regard to religious education, which was then compulsory in primary and optional in secondary schools. H e asserted that the new councils would safeguard freedom of instruction less effectively than the old, f o r in the new councils all members were named by the minister or elected f r o m among his nominees. These councils could, either directly or on appeal, oppose the opening of any " free " 101 J. O. S., Feb. 7, 1880, pp. 1399-1401, No. 4102 J. O. S., Feb. 7, 1880, p. 1396, No. 4. 1037. O. S., Jan. 31, 1880, pp. 1063-64. 104 J. O. S„ Jan. 27, 1880, p. 860.

LAIC

LAWS CONCERNING

EDUCATION

151

school, prohibit any member of private education from teaching temporarily or permanently, and draw up examinations for use in both public and private schools. Thus the councils became judges of their own cause. 105 Jules Simon once more defended the freedom of the Catholics. He felt that the law was imperfect and short-sighted. T h e proposed council would be three things at once: an administrative council for public schools, a reform council for public, and to some extent, for private schools, and a disciplinary council, chiefly for private schools. His sense of esprit de corps made him wish to have the University ruled only by its own men, and he emphatically did not want the clergy to dominate it; but he doubted if 4 bishops out of 54 could injure French unity. A reform council should include not only professors who were specialists, but also men with broad practical experience and intellect from all walks of life. The freedom of private schools was sacrificed, since a man should be judged by his equals. 106 Simon's ideas inspired Bardoux's bill for a university council and one for private education, which was defeated by 298-169. 107 The bill to reform the Higher Council of Public Education was adopted in the Chamber by 352-128 on July 19, 1879, with the L e f t and L e f t Center solidly in the majority, save for Bardoux and Lamy, who did not vote. 108 It was accepted by the Senate by 150-121 on February 16, 1880. Dufaure, Laboulaye, and Wallon of the L e í t Center opposed the law, while Simon abstained from voting. 109 Paul Bert exclaimed, " First v i c t o r y ! " 110 The Faculties of Catholic Theology, already attacked in the budget discussions of 1876 and 1879 and in the debates on 1 0 5 / . O. S„

Jan. 25, 1880, pp. 728-36.

1 0 6 / . O. S., Jan. 31, 1880, pp. 1067-71. 107 / . O. C., July 18, 1879. PP- 6947-50. 1 0 8 / . O.

C.,

1 0 9 / . O. S„ 110/.

O. C.,

July 20, 1879, pp. 7069-71. Feb. 17, 1880, pp. 1827-28. Feb. 24, 1880, p. 2145-

152

THE

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the bill r e f o r m i n g the H i g h e r Council of Public

Education,

were completely suppressed in bills proposed by Boysset and B e r t in 1882. 1 1 1 A t the same time Bert suggested the creation o f chairs in the history of religions, Hebrew, and ecclesiastical law so that the " scientific " study of religion might supplant the dogmatic study of faith. 1 1 2 F e r r y was likewise sympathetic with the study of religious history. 1 1 3 B e r t gave several reasons for suppressing the Faculties of Catholic T h e o l o g y . T h e five faculties at A i x , B o r d e a u x , L y o n , P a r i s , and Rouen had been established by virtue of a decreelaw of 1808 and were not mentioned in the Concordat, which provided only f o r diocesan seminaries. T h e Faculties of Catholic T h e o l o g y had conferred an extremely small number of degrees, ranging f r o m 14 in 1876 to 28 in 1880, because of papal and episcopal hostility. T h e Pope had preferred to g i v e canonical

institution to the " f r e e "

faculties established

in

1 8 7 5 at Lille, L y o n , and A n g e r s , because the state insisted on its right to dismiss professors of state faculties.

Moreover,

laws requiring Catholic clergymen to have degrees were dead letters, while the R e f o r m e d Churches obeyed the requirement that every minister be a bachelor of theology. T h e Protestants had given one hundred times more degrees than the Catholics. In suppressing the Faculties of Catholic T h e o l o g y centers of Gallicanism or liberalism would not be injured, f o r liberals like M a r e t , dean of the P a r i s Faculty, had not been influential. 1 1 4 T h e R i g h t contended that these faculties were sources of liberal inspiration, and that the number of their students w a s increasing. It held that Bert w a s simply t r a n s f e r r i n g subjects w h i c h they had taught without polemic to other faculties which m i g h t not be so tolerant. 1 1 6 M g r Maret was tireless in his efforts to save the Catholic faculties, visiting the Pope, F e r r y , and various deputies in their 111 J. O. C„ Feb. 3, 1882, p. 7 7 ; Feb. 8, 1882, p. 108. 112 J. O. C„ Feb. 1882, p. 342, No. 394. 113 F e r r y , Discours,

I I I , 232-41.

114 7. O. C., Feb. 1882, pp. 341-42, No. 394. 1 1 5 / . O. C„

M a y 14, 1882, pp. 597-98.

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153

behalf. T h e Pope professed to be benevolent in his attitude toward them, but some of the most influential French bishops, especially Cardinal Guibert, favored the private faculties. Since Guibert had disapproved of Maret's appointment as archbishop in September, 1882, the Pope did not wish to offend him in another matter. A f t e r endless negotiations, Leo X I I I finally refused on April 30, 1 8 8 3 to give the Catholic faculties canonical institution before the government had given guarantees safeguarding the rights of the Church. 1 1 6 A f t e r Maret's death in 1884, the Chamber suppressed the five Faculties of Catholic Theology on December 1 5 , but retained the Protestant ones. 1 1 7 The Senate upheld this action after F e r r y declared that as minister of public education he had sincerely tried to revive these faculties, but had not met with the cooperation of the Pope or bishops. 11 * III Secondary education was less effectively secularized than higher or primary education at this time. It seemed more important to the republicans that a foundation of compulsory, free, and lay primary education should be established first, so that the mass of the electorate might be trained in the ideals of the new régime. It is true that in Article Seven of the law f o r the " freedom " of higher education the government attempted to expel the unauthorized orders f r o m education, and in the decrees of March, 1 8 8 0 actually suppressed the Jesuits and unauthorized orders of men ; but the hold of the authorized orders was still powerful in secondary education. L a y teachers and funds were lacking f o r large scale measures. Y e t a beginning was made in providing f o r the secondary education of girls. H a d not the master, Comte, written that the support of women and of the proletariat must be won f o r Positivism? Public schools for girls were few and only very recently founded. It was not until 1867 that a law was actually passed 116 Abbé G. Bazin, Vie de Mgr Maret. ( P a r i s , 1891), I I I , 414-55. 117Tournier, Le Cardinal Lavigerie, p. 137; Lecanuet, Les Années du Pontificat de Léon XIII, p. 196. 118 L'Année Politique, 1885, pp. 31-34.

Premières

154

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FRENCH

LAIC

LAWS

requiring communes with more than 5 0 0 inhabitants to have a special school f o r girls. D u r u y , w h o w a s responsible f o r this measure, invited rectors to organize courses f o r g i r l s in literature, modern languages, science, and d r a w i n g , under the direction of the municipal authorities, and given by p r o f e s s o r s of the U n i v e r s i t y . T h i s w a s carried out to some extent in P a r i s and the provinces, but the m a j o r i t y of F r e n c h girls still obtained their education in private lay or religious boarding schools. 1 1 9 On October 29, 1 8 7 8 , Camille S e e of the L e f t , on his o w n initiative, introduced a bill to provide f o r the secondary education of girls, " to raise the intellectual level of women, since we wish, f o l l o w i n g the thought of Montesquieu, to f o u n d the republic on v i r t u e . " 1 3 0 P a u l B e r t introduced a similar bill on December 1 0 , d i f f e r i n g f r o m See's in its preference f o r day rather than boarding schools and f o r religious instruction outside the school instead of within. 1 2 1 T h e Chamber committee p r e f e r r e d S e e ' s measure in its report, which considered at great length the secondary education of girls in the United States, in E n g l a n d , and on the Continent, and which included an outline of the instruction given at V a s s a r and Wellesley. 1 2 2 T h e Chamber passed the bill by 3 4 7 - 1 2 3 on J a n u a r y 20, 1 8 8 0 , with monarchists alone in the opposition, 1 2 3 and the Senate by 1 6 1 1 1 7 on December 1 0 of the same year. D u f a u r e , L a b o u l a y e , and W a l l o n of the L e f t Center voted against the measure. 1 2 4 A c c o r d i n g to the terms of the law, the state w a s to found, with the aid of the departments and communes, secondary schools f o r girls, which would be day schools, although boarding schools could be annexed to them at the request of the municipal council, with the approval of the state. A woman 119 7. O. C., Aug. 4, 1879, pp. 8093-94, No. 1437. 120 7. O. C., Nov. 6, 1878, p. 10218, No. 836. 121 7. O. C., Dec. 29, 1878, p. 12480, No. 1036. 122 7. O. C., Aug. 4, 1879, PP- 8078-8144. No. 1437. 123 7. O. C., Jan. 21, 1880, pp. 573. 583. 124 7. O. S., Dec. n , 1880, p. 12198.

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LAWS

CONCERNING

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I55

w a s to head the school, but both m e n a n d w o m e n w o u l d be included on the f a c u l t y . T h e c u r r i c u l u m

w a s to include

in-

struction in m o r a l s , the F r e n c h l a n g u a g e , a n d a t least one other m o d e r n l a n g u a g e , ancient a n d m o d e r n literature,

geography,

national h i s t o r y , a s u r v e y o f g e n e r a l h i s t o r y , a r i t h m e t i c ,

the

elements o f g e o m e t r y , c h e m i s t r y , physics, a n d n a t u r a l h i s t o r y , h y g i e n e , domestic e c o n o m y , n e e d l e w o r k , c o m m o n law, ing, music, and g y m n a s t i c s .

Furthermore,

" religious

draweduca-

tion will be g i v e n , at the request o f parents, by the ministers o f the different faiths, inside the schools, outside class hours. T h e ministers o f the d i f f e r e n t f a i t h s will be acceptable to the minister o f public education a n d will not live in the s c h o o l . "

125

Camille S e e declared that f a i l u r e to g i v e w o m e n m o r e than a p r i m a r y e d u c a t i o n w a s a denial o f justice to them, a political a n d social blunder, a n d a w r o n g to children, o f w h o m they w e r e necessarily

the

first

teachers.

Women

must

be educated

if

superstitions w e r e to be o v e r c o m e , f o r w o m e n influenced customs. 1 2 6 Jules F e r r y , w h o h a d d e m a n d e d the equal instruction o f both sexes a s early as 1 8 7 0 , attributed the opposition to this r e f o r m to F r e n c h masculine pride a n d to w o m a n ' s acceptance of

a servitude based on intellectual i n f e r i o r i t y . J o h n

Stuart

M i l l ' s book a n d H i p p e a u ' s v i s i t s to a d v a n c e d schools f o r g i r l s in A m e r i c a d e m o n s t r a t e d that w o m e n h a d the s a m e faculties as men, he said. H e described the f o u n d i n g o f V a s s a r C o l l e g e in a little city, whose name I cannot give you, f o r I pronounce English so badly . . . [where] soon there will rise on the banks of the Hudson . . . a magnificent palace; it is built on the model and dimensions of the palace of the T u i l e r i e s ; it can receive 400 girls who find there everything necessary f o r their education, not the futile training of girls' boarding schools, but that equal, virile education that one ardently demands f o r them in our country. F e r r y declared that the education o f w o m e n w o u l d m a k e m a r riage a true one o f

" souls " a n d w o u l d emancipate

f r o m the principles o f the old r é g i m e . 125 J. O., Dec. 22, 1880, p. 12645. 126/. O. C., Nov. 6, 1878, p. 10217, No. 836.

women

156

THE

FRENCH

LAIC

LAWS

It is apparent that there w a s a real need f o r public secondary schools f o r girls, but it is also true that the republicans hoped by this means to w e a n w o m e n f r o m religious influences. F e r r y asserted, " W o m a n must belong to Science or to the Church."

127

Camille See remarked that w o m e n did not put the

ballot in the b o x , but many of them wrote it, as the clergy well k n e w ! H e accused the C h u r c h o f more than once c a r r y i n g some elections through the confessional and of wishing w o m e n to remain ignorant so that it m i g h t g o v e r n them, and through them, their families. T h e convent w a s said to give girls a mystical outlook which alienated them f r o m their husbands and bred skepticism in their children. 1 2 9 T h e question whether the new schools should be day boarding schools w a s much discussed. F o r

financial

or

reasons

F e r r y preferred day schools, 1 2 9 but See objected that they w o u l d not be numerous enough to care for the girls, w h o w o u l d be l e f t to the religious orders. 1 3 0 B e r t ' s compromise text, providing f o r day schools as a rule but boarding schools if the municipal council so desired, w a s adopted. 1 3 1 T h e problem o f

religious education in these schools

was

also much debated. F e r r y contended that in g i v i n g over religious instruction to the pastor, it w a s given to the one most competent, and the f r e e d o m of conscience of the teacher w a s s a f e guarded. 1 3 2 H e outlined a course in an " independent morality " w h i c h w o u l d be adopted, and said that, since the U n i v e r s i t y w a s idealist, H e n r i Martin, a deist, would teach in the advanced school of pedagogy f o r girls. 1 3 3 Keller, independent monarchist, charged that the law fulfilled Bert's desire f o r the suppression of religious education, since it replaced b o a r d i n g schools for 127 F e r r y , Discours,

I, 301-05.

128 J. O. C., Jan. 20, 1880, pp. 523-25. 129 Ibid.,

pp. 527-28.

1 3 0 / . O. C., J a n . 21, 1880, pp. 566-67.

131 J. O. C., Jan. 21, 1880, p. 572. 132 J. O. S., N o v . 23, 1880, pp. 11367-69. 1 3 3 / . O. 5., Dec. n ,

1880, p. 12188.

LAIC

LAWS

CONCERNING

EDUCATION

I57

girls, closed by Article Seven, with state lycées. He denied that an independent morality could be taught without a basis in religion or metaphysics, and declared that Bert had been hostile to Deism. 134 The opposition once more gained some aid from Jules Simon, who wished the chaplain to give the instruction in religion but questioned whether a good theoretical course in morality could be given. That, he said, did not mean the suppression of morality in the school, for any good teacher revealed the grandeur of duty and of God in his teaching of history and literature. 135 Members of the Right defended the quality of the instruction in the private secondary schools for girls, which were numerous and gave a more varied and original education than in the lycées for boys. They asked why a law was necessary, when there were day schools for girls founded by state decree in 67 cities. They believed the measure was dangerous socially, for it would draw students from the working classes rather than from those attending the schools of the religious orders and would thus arouse ambitions which could not be fulfilled. It was better, they said, to have working women study a trade than prepare for a profession, or to preach a new gospel, " the glad tidings of the masculinization of woman " ! 1 3 6 Despite these objections, the government pushed through its program for the emancipation of women. By 1886-87 there were 16 lycées and 19 collèges for girls.1®7 Contrary to the wishes of Ferry, boarding schools tended to be the rule. The upper bourgeoisie seemed to lack interest in the secondary schools for girls, whose students were recruited largely from the families of officials, of the lesser bourgeoisie, of farmers, of teachers, and of Protestants and Jews. Scholarships helped to swell the enrollment. 138 The problem of a suitable staff for 1 3 4 / . O. C., Jan. 20, 1880, pp. 517-20. 1 3 5 / . 0. S., N o v . 23, 1880, pp. 11370-71. 1 3 6 / . 0. S., N o v . 21, 1880, pp. 11303-10. 137 Barbier, op. cit., II, 71 a n d note. 13S F. Gibon, Les Lycées

de Filles

en 1887 ( P a r i s , 1887), pp. 10-16.

158

THE

FRENCH

LAIC

LAWS

these schools w a s met by the establishment of the École N o r male of Sèvres, where w o m e n were admitted by competitive examination and given free tuition and board by the state. It w a s founded by authority of a law o f July 26, 1881, sponsored by Camille See. 1 3 9 N o t content with the e f f o r t to exclude members of unauthorized religious orders f r o m the schools, some of the L e f t tried to regulate severely the private secondary schools under the pretext o f i m p r o v i n g their standards so that they might compete with state schools. In this w a y they hoped to crush them unobtrusively. M a r c o u of the E x t r e m e L e f t introduced a bill to that end in 1880-81, which w a s sponsored by F e r r y and B e r t during their terms as minister of education. 1 4 0 It was adopted by the C h a m b e r on July 12, 1882 by 3 5 3 - 1 2 3 , with many of the E x t r e m e L e f t in the minority, 1 4 1 but its consideration by the Senate w a s indefinitely postponed in 1886. 142 T h e bill provided that the founder of a secondary

school

must make a declaration to the academic inspector concerning the proposed location and p r o g r a m of the school and the names and degrees of the teachers. T h e head of the school must have a bachelor's diploma and a certificate of pedagogical

aptitude

given by a j u r y composed o f f o u r representatives of state and t w o of private education and one general councillor. T h e prog r a m of the examination f o r this certificate w a s to be d r a w n up by the H i g h e r Council of Public E d u c a t i o n and to deal with the history of educational doctrines and educational legislation. A l l teachers in a private secondary school must have a bachelor's diploma, save in the schools f o r girls, where the principal need have only a higher and the w o m e n teachers elementary certificates f o r primary education. E v e n assistants w h o did not teach were to have an elementary certificate. E v e r y private secondary 139/. O., July 27, 1881, p. 4121. 140/. O. C., Nov. 17, 1880, p. 11159; Dec. 12, 1880, p. 12223; Jan., 1882, p. 10, No. 231. 141 /. O. C„ July 13, 1882, p. 1266. 142/. O. S., Mar. 2, 1886, p. 320.

LAIC

LAWS

CONCERNING

EDUCATION

159

school preparing for the baccalaureate or for the special government schools must have two teachers with the licence. The terms of the bill were likewise to apply to ecclesiastical secondary schools. There was to be compulsory inspection at least once a year of " free " secondary schools, and if this disclosed violation of morality, the constitution, or the laws or " grave disorders ", the head or teachers could be suspended or dismissed by the academic council. The school could be closed, notwithstanding appeal. Teachers and principals with five years of experience and over 35 years of age were to be exempt from the certificate of aptitude or diplomas, and two to four years' delay was given those getting degrees. 143 Jules Ferry reiterated his belief that the state should require guarantees of morality and capacity from teachers, especially in secondary education, despite the principle of freedom of instruction. He wished " free " secondary schools to be retained, because the state could not care for their 70,000 students or do the experimental work they could d o . 1 " He believed the jury giving the examination for teaching certificates would preserve freedom of education, since it contained no representatives of state secondary education—surely curious reasoning! 1 4 5 The examination would be concerned with educational principles and legislation, not with methods. 146 Compayre, famous historian and teacher of education, frankly admitted that, in addition to the improvement of education, the advocates of the bill wished to impose conditions of morality and capacity on those who could use the schools to fight modern ideas. 147 Ferry complained of the poor training given teachers in the " free " schools and of the quality of the examinations for the baccalaureate. 148 Marcou justified the in143 J.

O. S.,

Mar. 1883, p. 498, No. 28.

144 / . O. C., May 22, 1882, pp. 670-71. 145 J.

O. C.,

May 24, 1882, p. 672.

146 J. 0. C., July 12, 1882, p. 1228. 147 J. O. C., May 22, 1882, pp. 654-551 4 8 / . O. C., May 24, 1882, pp. 671-72.

IÓO

THE

FRENCH

LAIC

LAWS

elusion of the ecclesiastical secondary schools in the bill, because they were ordinary secondary schools, no longer preparing exclusively f o r the m a j o r seminaries, and hostile to the Revolution and free examination. They were not mentioned in the Concordat. 149 Needless to say, the opponents of the bill, not all of whom were on the Right, found several good targets in these arguments. They demonstrated that freedom of instruction would be a myth tinder such a law, for the requirement of a teaching certificate of private school principals would indirectly establish previous authorization for the opening of a school. The examination, conducted by a jury on which representatives of official education were by far in the majority, would allow the government to impose its ideas, programs, and methods. 1 5 0 De Lanessan of the Extreme Left, a professor of zoology in the P a r i s Faculty of Medicine, 151 Beaussire of the L e f t , professor of philosophy at Paris, 102 and Joseph Fabre of the Republican Union, professor of philosophy, were among those who condemned the bill as arbitrary. 1 5 3 The Comte de M u n declared that the subject matter of the examination was too vague and would not test character. H e argued that " morality " and " rebellion against modern society " were nebulous terms and matters of opinion. 154 T h e Right denied that state secondary schools were superior to private secondary schools, and gave evidence that both needed reform. 1 3 5 It pointed out that the new requirements demanded a more extensive training for teachers in private than in public schools 156 in regard to degrees and the certificate of pedagogical aptitude, which was not asked of principals in state 149/. O. C„ May 28, 1882, pp. 719-20. 1 5 0 / . O. C., May 22, 1882, pp. 648-49. 1 5 1 / . O. C., May 24, 1882, pp. 669-70. 1 5 2 / . O. C„ July 11, 1882, p. 1217. 1 5 3 / . O. C., May 26, 1882, pp. 687-91. 154 /. O. C., May 24, 1882, pp. 672-73. 1 5 5 / . O. C., May 22, 1882, pp. 649-50; May 24, 1882, pp. 665-70. 1 5 6 / . O. C„ May 22, 1882, p. 651.

LAIC

LAWS

CONCERNING

EDUCATION

l6l

schools. 1 5 7 It w a s ridiculous, it said, to require an elementary certificate of assistants w h o had only disciplinary duties and n o future c a r e e r . " 8 Private schools could be easily closed, w h e n there was no definition of " g r a v e disorders."

158

T h e ecclesias-

tical secondary schools should be regulated only by the Church, w h i c h had the right to prepare men f o r the priesthood. T h e m a j o r i t y of their students became priests, but it w a s not a l w a y s possible to foretell a vocation. Bishops should have complete freedom in selecting instructors, since formation of character w a s essential f o r the priesthood. 1 8 0 T h e irrepressible Madier de M o n t j a u of the E x t r e m e L e f t urged that private schools conducted by both the secular and regular clergy should be suppressed, but that private lay schools should be given the greatest possible freedom. 1 6 1 Others in the same group hoped to achieve decentralization and freedom in education through a system of lay public communal schools competing with the state schools and through the removal o f any restrictions upon private secondary and higher education, except for the c o n f e r r i n g o f degrees. 1 " 8 A u d i f f r e d of the R e publican U n i o n tried to encourage communal colleges to win over the 70,000 students in ecclesiastical schools and to train teachers. 163 A n even more drastic blow to private secondary education than the bill prescribing qualifications f o r its teachers w a s proposed by M a r c o u in the same year. Students wishing to be admitted to the baccalaureate examinations would have to show that they had spent the last three years in state secondary schools, study at home, or institutions affiliated with the U n i versity, whose scholarship and liberalism were proven.

This

157 J. O. C., July 11, 1882, p. 1210. 158 ]. O. C„ May 26, 1882, p. 6q71 5 9 / . 0. C., May 24, 1882, p. 665. 1 6 0 / . O. C., May 26, 1882, pp. 717-18. 161 J. O. C„ July 11, 1882, pp. 1211-12. 162 J. O. C., April, 1882, pp. 817-19. No. 499. 1 6 3 / . O. C., Dec. 13, 1880, pp. 12743-44; Jan. 1883, pp. 101-07, No. 1526.

162

THE

FRENCH

LAIC

bill was considered by the Chamber first Marcou asserted that his aim preparation for the baccalaureate, 165 true motive when he attacked the preparatory seminaries and Catholic clerical. 166

LAWS

but never accepted. 16 * was improvement of but he later revealed instruction given in schools as worthless

At the his the and

W e have seen that religious education was declared optional in the secondary schools for girls. In March, 1877 Talandier and others of the Extreme L e f t asked that religious education should be made optional in primary, higher, and secondary education, and given outside the school by others than professors, at hours determined by regulations. 167 The Chamber was favorable to this proposal in February, 1879, 168 but by June, 1881 Paul Bert wrote that an opinion of the Higher Council of Public Education, which sufficed to end compulsory religious education in primary normal schools, would suffice for secondary schools, where it did not exist by virtue of a law. 169 Religious instruction in primary schools was abolished by a law in 1882, which we shall discuss in the next chapter. Thus by 1880 the republicans restored to the state the exclusive right to confer degrees, removed religious influences from the Higher Council of Public Education, and gave that council extensive powers over private education. They established secondary schools for girls, partly to remove them from religious and monarchical influences, and tried unsuccessfully to stipulate the qualifications which a private secondary school teacher must possess and to require preparation for the baccalaureate in state schools. 164/. O. C., Feb. i, 1882, p. 70; May 28, 1882, p. 725. 165/. O. C., Feb. 20, 1881, pp. 144-45, No. 3318. 166/. O. C., Dec. 1881, pp. 1861-62, No. 176. 167/. O. C., Mar. 8, 1877. PP- 1778-79, No. 797168/. O. C., Feb. 15, 1879, P- 1088. 169/. O. C., July 1881, p. 1148, No. 3775-

CHAPTER V THE REFORM OF PRIMARY EDUCATION I FROM

1 8 7 6 to 1 8 7 9 the chambers were literally showered

with bills for the r e f o r m of primary education. M a n y of these were anti-clerical, and all, in strengthening the state primary schools,

were

undermining

the

influence

of

the

Catholic

Church. T h e most ambitious w a s an organic measure o f over one hundred articles d r a w n up by B a r o d e t o f the E x t r e m e L e f t . I t provided f o r lay, compulsory, and gratuitous primary education, instruction in civics, a lay staff in public schools, and certification of teachers in both public and private

schools. 1

B a r d o u x of the L e f t Center, minister of public education in 1878, did not object to h a v i n g the C h a m b e r consider this bill, but he shrewdly observed that " it would be more practical to proceed by special laws on points already assured and enlightened by public opinion."

2

T h u s he inaugurated the policy of

" legislative attrition," to g i v e it Bert's scientific term. 3 T h e first of these special laws w a s that o f A u g u s t 9, 1879, providing that every department must have a normal school f o r men and one f o r women within f o u r years. T h e s e were to be financed

by the department with state aid. 4 T h i s measure had

been proposed by P a u l B e r t in 1876

5

and 1878, 6 and had been

accepted by the C h a m b e r by 3 1 7 - 1 2 6 on M a r c h 20, 1879

7

and

by the Senate by 158-109 on A u g u s t 1, 1879.® T h e opposition 1 J. 0. C., M a y 7, 1877, PP- 3355*58, No. 855; M a y 8, 1877, pp. 339°-932 J. 0. C.,

M a r . 1, 1878, p. 2195.

3 J. O. C., M a y 25, 1880, p . 5627.

4 J. 0., A u g . 10, 1879, pp. 8333-34. 5 / . O. C„

M a r . 24, 1876, p . 2065, N o . 15.

6 J.O.C.,

J a n . 15, 1878, p . 326-

7 / . O. C.,

M a r . 21, 1879, p . 2297.

8 J. 0. S.,

A u g . 2, 1879, p . 7964.

163

164

THE FRENCH

LAIC

LAWS

to this law was composed of monarchists. T h e republican leaders realized that if French children were to be weaned f r o m " free " to public schools, and if the religious orders were eventually to be excluded f r o m the latter, many more lay teachers must be trained at once. There were 79 normal schools f o r men, of which 76 were directed by laymen and 3 by the religious orders; but there were only 1 9 f o r women, over half of them created since the Franco-Prussian W a r , 1 1 of them lay and 8 religious. There were also 50 normal courses f o r women, largely directed by nuns, in 3 6 of which the state provided scholarships. 9 F e r r y declared that the normal schools would give a much better training in pedagogy than the normal courses, and would assist in the creation of an enthusiastic teaching corps. 1 0 A n increasing number of communes was clamoring f o r lay teachers. Although there were 2,000 unemployed instructors, over half of them were desirous of remaining in Paris or else were not well qualified to teach. 1 1 Gréard, when he was director of primary education at P a r i s in 1 8 7 5 , had expressed the opinion that the certificate given by a state jury to candidates from " free " schools did not guarantee professional merit or moral aptitude. 12 Granier de Cassagnac, Bonapartist, objected to the expenditure of fifteen millions on these schools when the system of certification then in use was satisfactory. Since the number of teachers was already in excess of positions, they might better be used in girls' schools in small towns, which usually had only part-time teachers. He feared that the government would give preference to candidates f r o m normal schools, as it undoubtedly intended to do. 1 3 Both Right and L e f t recognized that the replacement of religious by lay teachers was the intent of the advocates of the 9 J.O. C., June 6. 1878, pp. 6318-20, No. 582.

10 J. O. S., Aug. 2, 1879, pp. 7952-5311 /. O. S., July 29, 1879, P- 7681, No. 356. n J . O . S . , July 31, 1879. P- 7805. 13 /. O. C„ Mar. 18, 1879, PP 2168-69.

THE

REFORM

OF

PRIMARY

EDUCATION

165

bill. Keller pointed out the fact that Bert had renounced exclusively lay normal schools only because there were not enough teachers available. H e declared that teachers f r o m the religious orders were needed f o r the country districts, since they were obedient, poor, celibate, and willing to do charitable work in addition to teaching. 14 B y a decree of J u l y 1 3 , 1880, F e r r y established a school at Fontenay-aux-Roses, near Paris, to prepare women teachers f o r the primary normal schools f o r girls. It was directed by F e l i x Pecaut and had as lecturers such men as Compayre, Proust, Albert Sorel, Paul Bert, Breal, Buisson, Greard, and Levasseur. In 1 8 8 2 a similar school to prepare teachers f o r boys' normal schools was opened at S a i n t - C l o u d . " A f t e r the f r o m public budget was chaplains in

passage of a law excluding religious instruction primary schools in 1 8 8 2 , the Chamber, when the under consideration, voted the suppression of the primary normal schools by 3 7 5 - 9 5 . 1 8

While the bill f o r primary normal schools had yet to be considered by the Senate, F e r r y introduced another f o r the suppression of the letters of obedience 1 7 in M a y , 1879. T h i s was accepted by the Chamber on M a y 27, 1 8 8 0 by 3 5 5 - 1 2 0 , 1 8 and by the Senate on M a y 1 7 , 1 8 8 1 without recording the vote, 1 9 and became law on J u n e 1 6 , 1 8 8 1 . It required all teachers and their assistants in public or " f r e e " primary schools to have a teaching certificate, and all heads of public or " free " nursery schools to have a certificate of aptitude. These must be applied f o r within the year, but re-examinations might be taken until October, 1884. Men principals exempt by the 1 8 5 0 law and women principals and teachers over thirty 1 4 / . O. C., Mar. 18, 1879, pp. 2171-73. 15 Dietz, " L'Instituteur selon Jules Ferry," Rcvuc mcntaire. arm. 41, C L X I (1934), 125-29.

Politique

et

Parlc-

1 6 / . O. C., Dec. 6, 1882, pp. 1883-85. 17 The letter of obedience, which was given a nun by her superior, conferred upon her the right to teach. 18 / . O. C., May 28, 1880, pp. 5778-7919 J.O.S.,

May 18, 1881, p. 696.

l66

THE

FRENCH

LAIC

LAWS

five, with five years' experience, were exempt f r o m the new law. 2 0 T h e law of March 1 5 , 1880 had accepted five equivalents f o r teaching certificates: the letter of obedience given by the superior to a teaching nun, a bachelor's diploma, the title of minister of an established church, a certificate of admission to one of the special state schools, and the certificate of probation given to those who had taught at least three years in a school designated by the departmental council. Neither men nor women assistants had been required to have any certificates. 21 T h e L e f t declared that the suppression of such exemptions was consistent with the principle that everyone who wished to teach, either in a public or private school, should give proof of his capacity, without special privilege. 22 It held that the equivalents f o r teaching certificates did not guarantee pedagogical ability and charged the religious orders with insisting upon the letter of obedience to cloak the poor quality of their instruction, to remain independent of the civil authorities, and to check independence of spirit among their members. It cited statistics to prove that the religious schools were f a r behind lay schools in the number of teaching certificates held by principals and teachers 23 and attacked the value of their education. 24 When Ferry insisted that he was confident there would be enough teachers, even if certificates were required, he was reversing the position he had taken in asking f o r primary normal schools. 25 The L e f t finally had to admit that 1 2 , 0 0 0 teachers who were needed would not be available, and consequently gave active instructors a delay of three years to fulfil the requirements. 26 It assured the nuns that examinations f o r the cer20 J.O., J u n e 17, 1881, p. 33M21 ]. 0. C., J a n . 15, 1880, p. 341, N o . 2041. 22 J. 0. C., J u n e 6, 1879, p. 4782, N o . 1402. 2 3 / . O.C., J a n . 15, 1880, p. 341, N o . 2041; J u n e 6, 1879. p. 4783, N o . 1402; J. O. S., M a r . 12, 1881, pp. 233-34, N o . 78. 24 J. 0. C., M a y 26, 1880, pp. 5690-91. 25 J.O.S.,

A p r i l 2, 1881, p. 557-

26 J.O.S.,

M a y 16, 1881, pp. 679-83.

THE

REFORM

OF P R I M A R Y

EDUCATION

l6f

tificate would be simple in content 2 7 and private, with the minister of their faith a member of the examining committee. 28 Y e t a note of hostility to the orders sometimes crept into the debate, as when Ferrouillat declared: I f , however, some vacancies should occur in the orders' schools, the state could envisage this prospect without too much disquiet; for the posts they occupy are generally the most advantageous, and their vacant places would be quickly filled by laymen.28 T h e R i g h t declared that the letter of obedience was given only by convents especially devoted to teaching, after regular courses and examinations had been taken. T h e education of nuns continued f o r fifteen years, whereas that of lay teachers ended much sooner; and the novitiate was a better test of ability to teach and of character than an examination. Both the state and bishops inspected convents. T h e rising number of religious schools and their success in winning scholarships attested to the value of their instruction. A t a time when some classes contained eighty students and some schools were without teachers, the L e f t proposed to disqualify f r o m 28,000 to 46,000 teachers. T h e examination for the teaching certificate might have dangerous possibilities. The jury might be hostile to the religious orders, or the examination might be based in part upon civic and republican morality, as Barodet had proposed. 30 Only very recently the minister of public education had recommended that the prefects choose teachers as examiners, and he, rather than the rector, would select the subject matter of the examination, f r o m which the catechism and sacred history were eliminated. T h e politics of a candidate might easily be disclosed in such a question as that asked at Toulouse: " Role of Marie Antoinette as queen, w i f e , and mother, with supporting facts " ! 3 1 27 /. 0. C., May 26, 1880, p. 5686-87. 28/. O.S., April 1, 1881, pp. 533-3429 J.O.S., Mar. 12, 1881, p. 235, No. 78. 30/. O. C„ May 26, 1880, pp. 5674-87. 31 /. O. S., April 2, 1881, pp. 545-48.

i68

THE FRENCH

LAIC

LAWS

The government, however, was successful in securing the suppression of the letter of obedience. T h e law was undoubtedly progressive in its requirement that all teachers conform to certain minimum standards in their preparation, but its application to private as well as to public schools was at variance with the principle of freedom of instruction. T h a t hostility to the religious orders as well as educational r e f o r m underlay the zeal of the government is indicated by the dearth of teachers, even under the old system, by the attack on the quality of the instruction in the orders' schools, and by the type of examination f o r the certificate, which might easily be used to exclude those critical of the republican régime. II T h e L e f t applauded heartily on J a n u a r y 20, 1880, when F e r r y introduced two important bills to establish free and compulsory primary education, reforms f o r which the Educational League, university men, and politicians had long clamored. During the course of the debates, F e r r y found it expedient to incorporate secularization of the curriculum into the bill on compulsory education, but f o r practical reasons he believed it necessary to postpone laicization of the teaching force until 1886. The bill f o r gratuitous primary education was adopted by the Chamber by 3 5 6 - 1 2 0 on November 29, 1880, with the Extreme L e f t , Republican Union, L e f t , and most of the L e f t Center in f a v o r of it. 32 A f t e r the Senate had accepted it on M a y 1 7 , 1 8 8 1 by 164-90, it became law on J u n e 16, 1 8 8 1 . A m o n g those abstaining f r o m voting were Laboulaye, Léon S a y , and Wallon. 3 3 Henceforth no tuition was to be charged in public primary schools and no board in normal schools. T h e support of these institutions was divided between the department and the commune, but subsidies might be obtained f r o m 32 7. O. C., Nov. 30, 1880, p. 11729. 33 7. O. S., May 18, 1881, pp. 703-04.

THE

REFORM

OF

PRIMARY

EDUCATION

l6g

the state if one-fifth of the total income f r o m communal property had been applied and found inadequate. 34 F r e e primary education is such an accepted system in the modern state that it is difficult to realize that serious opposition was once raised against it. One of the government's strongest arguments in behalf of the bill w a s the need f o r a thoroughgoing revision of the anomalous situation which existed in educational finances. A f t e r Duruy authorized the communes to grant free education in 1 8 6 7 and provided f o r state aid a f t e r a certain amount of communal taxation, the number of free students rose to 57 per cent in 1 8 7 7 . T w e n t y - s i x thousand communes which could have raised taxes f o r this education were subsidized by the state, since there was no fixed sum which they were required to raise. T h e arrangement was obviously complex, unfair, and costly. 35 Columns of figures might win over hard-headed business men, but something more stirring was needed to arouse the sympathies of the country in support of the bill. It was alleged that poor students, who were exempt f r o m primary school fees by the law of 1 8 3 3 , felt their position to be an ignominious one and were discriminated against by the teachers, 3 ® especially, said Paul Bert, by members of the religious orders. Bert, who wrote the Chamber report on the measure and was active in its defense, declared that free education was particularly fitting in a republic and could not be considered a sign of socialism or communism. It had been adopted by many other countries, America, Switzerland, Denmark, Prussia, Italy, and Spain. If it were established, politics would be removed f r o m exemptions and the burden of taxation would fall on land, buildings, and patents rather than on the poor. L a y schools would be put on an equal footing with religious schools when the municipal councils were required to levy taxes f o r the support of educa34 J. O., June 17, 1881, p. 3 3 1 3 . 35 J.O.C.,

Feb. 18, 1880, pp. 1895-98, N o . 2208.

3 6 / . O. C., July 7, 1880, p. 7707-

170

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tion. 37

Bert even suggested that free education be extended to secondary schools, 38 but the more cautious Ferry argued that only those capable of receiving secondary education were entitled to it.39 The latter emphasized the value of the free primary school in fostering national unity and patriotism. 40 Bishop Freppel, a former professor of sacred eloquence in the Faculty of Theology at Paris, deputy from Brest, and most persistent opponent of the laic legislation, gave a finished exposition of the Catholic point of view. H e declared that the Ecumenical Council of the Lateran, as far back as the year 1179, had favored gratuitous education, but believed that it should be supported by gifts, bequests, and foundations rather than by the state. France was a nation of small proprietors, with over two million families in agriculture, who would bear the brunt of the tax. H e feared that gratuitous education would tend to make teachers lose interest in holding their students. The principle stated by the Convention that primary education was a rigorous debt which society owed to all was a dangerous one, communistic in implication. Free higher and secondary education would logically follow from this, and do you not fear that, after having demanded of the state the bread of intelligence, one may end by demanding the right to receive from the state just as freely the bread of the body, which, after all, is necessary? 41 Boyer, a Legitimist, warned that in accepting one point in the government's program they would have to accept all, even lay schools. 4i Beaussire, professor of philosophy at Paris and member of the L e f t , feared that the financial burden resulting from the law would arouse discontent with republican institu3 7 / . O. C., J u l y 7, 1880, p. 77X73 8 / . O. C., J u l y 7, 1880, p. 7 7 1 3 . 3 9 / . O. C., J u l y 14, 1880, p. 8154. 40 Ibid., p. 815141 / . O. C., J u l y 14, 1880, pp. 8145-50. 4 2 / . O. C., J u l y 7, 1880, p. 7707.

THE

REFORM

OF

PRIMARY

EDUCATION

I7I

tions. Parents who sent children to private schools and farmers who owned land in different communes would pay twice over. The increasing demand for exemption f r o m school fees showed that it was not regarded as humiliating to seek it. In a delightful syllogism Beaussire argued that education was the duty of the father, but since a duty must be painful to be meritorious, free education would deprive the father of certain benefits! 43 Keller, independent monarchist and ardent Catholic, suggested that free education be left a question for communal option, and that revenue for educational purposes be divided between public and private schools according to the number of students enrolled in each. 44 The law for the establishment of free primary education was of great significance. Not only did it effect a necessary reorganization of educational finances, but it affirmed the theory of the responsibility of the democratic state for the education of its citizens. The principle of compulsory contributions from all for the functions of the state supplanted that of voluntary offerings for the privileged out of sentiments of Christian charity. Indirectly, the law dealt a blow to the religious schools, because it subsidized their competitors. There would have been no opposition to free primary education if revenue had been shared with the private schools, but the government, determined to secularize instruction, would lend no support to such a policy. The Opportunists next proceeded to enact a law for compulsory primary education. Ferry's bill, which merely set up machinery to that end, was greatly changed in the committee sessions presided over by Paul Bert. It has been suggested that Bert, who as an infant was nursed by a goat, owed to that animal some of his independence of mind, fantastic gaiety, petulance, and vivacity! 4 5 Be that as it may, Bert frequently differed from the more compromising Ferry. The Chamber committee asserted that the type of education which was to be 4 3 / . O. C„ July 6, i88o, pp. 7658-60. 44 J.O.C.,

Nov. 26, 1880, pp. 11488-92.

45Austruy, " P a u l Bert," Nouvelle

Rei'ue, ser. 4, C X X V I I (1933), 242.

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LAWS

compulsory should be known in advance, and hence it supported the " fundamental principle of the neutralization of the school, laicization of the program, separation of school and temple, and the reciprocal independence of priest and teacher." Other differences between Ferry and the committee appeared in the framing of the measure and in the course of the debates. Since Ferry's policy was anti-clerical but not irreligious, he desired a milder bill, which would have permitted religious education to be given by ministers at hours determined by the schools, either in the church or in the local school building; and which would have permitted ministers to inspect public and private schools, as had been customary. 40 Bert's bill, which became substantially law, took a much stiffer tone. Religious education was no longer to be given in public primary schools, but was optional in private schools. Public primary schools would be dismissed one day a week in addition to Sunday to permit parents, if they so desired, to give their children religious education outside the school buildings. Ministerial inspection of schools was to be abolished. Primary education was to be compulsory for all children from the age of six to thirteen, inclusive. A municipal school commission was to enforce this requirement, while the father or guardian of a child was to notify the mayor as to the school of his choice and give the head of the school reasons for any absence. Children educated in the family were to take an examination given by a special jury every year. An amendment proposed by Hippolyte Maze defining the compulsory subjects in primary education, including morals and civics, became an integral part of the bill. This has already been discussed in a preceding chapter. 47 Consideration of this measure was confused by the inclusion of both compulsory primary education and the suppression of religious education. The first was accepted by the majority in principle, but over the second opinion was much divided and 46 ]. 0. C., May 26, 1880, pp. 5697-99, No. 2606. 47 J. 0.,

March 29, 1882, pp. 1697-98. See p. 104.

THE

REFORM

OF P R I M A R Y

EDUCATION

I73

p a r t y lines w e r e broken. C o m p u l s o r y p r i m a r y education d e f e n d e d as essential in a d e m o c r a c y

48

was

a n d as necessary

to

restore F r a n c e a f t e r her humiliation at the hands o f G e r m a n y . 4 9 It w a s said that the superior rights o f the state o v e r those o f the parent had been demonstrated in the conscription laws

50

a n d in legislation restricting the w o r k o f children in factories. 5 1 P u b l i c opinion w a s s t r o n g l y in f a v o r o f this r e f o r m , as evidenced by the D u r u y inquiry o f initiative, a n d petitions o f

1868, bills o f

parliamentary

general and municipal

councils. 5 2

R e g u l a r attendance w o u l d improve instruction, and the school c o m m i s s i o n w o u l d n o t be unduly inquisitive. 5 3 F r a n c e , 1 5 per cent o f her population illiterate, w a s l a g g i n g

with

behind

P r u s s i a , w h i c h had 11 per cent illiterate, and B a v a r i a , S a x o n y , a n d the S c a n d i n a v i a n states, w h i c h had only 3 per cent. In F r a n c e there w e r e 6 2 4 , 7 4 3 children w i t h o u t schooling. 5 4 T h e R i g h t objected to c o m p u l s o r y p r i m a r y education as a n e n c r o a c h m e n t upon the p r e r o g a t i v e s o f the father. 5 5

Freppel

attributed the illiteracy in F r a n c e to the remoteness o f schools, the lack o f a g r i c u l t u r a l and domestic labor, a n d the bad roads. 5 8 B o y e r f e a r e d that a u n i f o r m education w o u l d produce " children o f

the people, b e a r i n g the imprint o f

the same m o l d ,

w h o s e intelligence has been kneaded, f a s h i o n e d in the i m a g e o f the men w h o are in p o w e r . "

57

T h e suppression o f religious education in the public p r i m a r y schools w a s m u c h m o r e bitterly contested. T h e L e f t d e f e n d e d it as necessary to ensure the f r e e d o m o f conscience o f the n o n 4 8 / . O. C., D e c . IS, 1880, p. 12338. 4 9 / . O. C., D e c . 21, 1880, p. 12614.

50 J.O.C.,

Dec. 5, 1880, p. 11942.

51 /. O. C„

D e c . 15, 1880, p. 12347.

5 2 / . 0. C., Dec. 5, 1880, p. 11942. 5 3 / . 0. C., D e c . 15, 1880, pp. 12339-40. 5 4 / . O. C., D e c . 21, 1880, pp. 12614-19. 5 5 / . O. C., D e c . 15, 1880, p. 12351.

56 J.O.C.,

Dec. 15, 1880, p. 12349.

5 7 / . O. C., D e c . 21, 1880, p. 12612.

174

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E

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LAWS

Catholic parent and of the instructor. It was said that religion would benefit from expert instruction, and attention was called to the neutral schools in England, Holland, Switzerland, Ireland, Belgium, and the United States. The secularized state would be a stronger national unity. 68 The education of the Catholic Church was criticized once more as hostile to the traditions and principles of the republic, to free investigation, and to social reform. 69 Not only the Right, but also many of the L e f t who had strong religious convictions, condemned the substitution of instruction in morals and civics for religious education. They contended that the Catholics were vastly in the majority and had provided confessional schools for all but non-believers. Those too poor to attend Catholic schools would suffer from the law. The advantages to be derived from religious education, which have been discussed above, were dwelt upon at length. 80 Some of the L e f t and L e f t Center, who were deists, wished to have the existence of God and the immortality of the soul taught in the public schools. Bardoux, minister of education in the Dufaure cabinet and a leader of the Left Center, said that even the Convention had not gone so far as Bert, for it had celebrated the worship of the Supreme Being and had dreamed of an official catechism of morality containing a prayer and the recognition of God. Instruction in the University and in the secondary schools for girls was deistic. Mark you, in this country there is a feeling the strength of which is not sufficiently appreciated; it is the devotion to the ideal which characterizes our race, which creates its power of expansion, its true originality in the world.61 Henri de Lacretelle, publicist and member of the Extreme Left, defended Deism, because he was tired of hearing of God only 58 7. O. C., Dec. 5, i88o, pp. 11943-48. 5 9 / . O. C., Dec. 17, 1880, pp. 12430-32. 60 S e e Chapter I, p. 27. 61 J. O. C., Dec. 17, 1880, p. 12434.

THE

REFORM

OF P R I M A R Y

EDUCATION

175

Right. 6 2

from the Trarieux of the L e f t wished morality to be taught to prepare children to practise " Christian and social virtues," to f o r t i f y them against a materialistic philosophy. 43 Jules Simon, the foe of Article Seven, in a clever move suggested that atheism be forever banished by inserting the sentence, " Masters will teach their students their duties toward God and the fatherland," and called on parliament to support this amendment as an act of religious faith. F o r fear of being hailed as enemies of religion, the senators adopted this version by 139-126, although Ferry warned them that there were different conceptions of God and that the teacher would become a professor of positive religion. 84 Gasté of the L e f t Center tried to have religious schools authorized in the commune if a majority of families requested them, but his proposal failed. T h e Chamber passed the bill by 329-134, with some of the L e f t Center and L e f t abstaining. 611 T h e Senate accepted it by 162-111, after inserting the Simon amendment, 66 which the Chamber rejected in July, 1881. 67 The Chamber committee's version was adopted by 334-127 on July 25. 68 In the parliamentary elections which followed in August, all groups of the L e f t demanded free, compulsory, and lay education. 69 It was third in rank among the questions considered by the candidates, being preceded only by revision of the constitution and military reform. T w o hundred and thirtynine deputies supported it, while only 52 opposed. One hundred and thirteen wished free education to be extended to secondary or higher education by competitive scholarships, and 33 asked 62/. O.C., Dec. 22, 1880, p. 12683. 63 J.O.C..

Dec. 22, 1880, p. 12686.

6 4 / . 0. S., July 5, 1881, pp. 1029-31. 6 5 / . O. C., Dec. 25, 1880, pp. 12875-79. 6 6 / . O.S., July 13, 1881, pp. 1142-43. 67 J.O.C.,

July 24, 1881, pp. 1752-53-

68 J.O.C.,

July 26, 1881, pp. 1780-81.

69 L'Année Politique, 1881, pp. 399-404, 411-27.

iy6

THE

FRENCH

LAIC

LAWS

that all branches of public education be laic. 10 The overwhelming success of the republicans in the elections n and their gains in the contest for the Senate in January, 1882 72 enabled Ferry to push the bill for compulsory and lay primary education through the latter body rapidly. He threatened the Senate with a constitutional revision curtailing its powers if it insisted upon retaining the Simon amendment. The Senate thereupon rejected instruction in " duties toward God and the fatherland " by 1 5 8 - 1 1 6 , with the L e f t Center split on the issue," and adopted the Chamber bill by 1 7 1 - 1 0 5 . Marcel Barthe and Jules Simon of the L e f t did not vote. 74 The new law brought to fruition a reform long demanded by the republican party. Compulsory primary education, including instruction in civics and an independent morality, could not fail to strengthen the foundations of the republic and to contribute to national unity. The secularization of the curriculum safeguarded freedom of conscience, but this advantage was offset by the danger of regimented knowledge and a state doctrine. The question might well be raised whether abstract theories of morality could ever replace religious education as an effective force in the development of character. The Right contended that it could not, and many to this day agree with that point of view. Ill In February, 1882, during the final stages of the Senate debate on the bill for compulsory and lay primary education, Paul Bert introduced a bill for the complete reorganization of 70 J.O.C., Jan. 1883, pp. 47, 60-62, No. 808. These statistics are based upon the professions de foi of the deputies and on the programs of committees and records of public meetings accepted by the deputies. They were gathered and compiled by a parliamentary committee, which emphasized in its report that failure of a deputy to comment on an issue might lead to confusion of interpretation. 71 L'Année

Politique,

1881, pp. 220-21.

72 Ibid., Jan. 1882, pp. 2-3. 7 3 / . O.S..

Mar. 12, 1882, pp. 175-/8.

74 J. O. S., Mar. 24. 1882, p. 298.

THE

REFORM

OF

PRIMARY

EDUCATION

IJJ

primary education. It dealt with such questions as the certification of teachers, the relationship between private and public schools, and the membership of departmental and local school committees. Concealed in its eighty some articles were terms which were intended to remove forever f r o m the French public school those religious influences which were so disturbing to men of Patriotism and of Science. E v e r y o n e realized the truth of Steeg's statement to the Chamber: In effect, gentlemen, this article seventeen concerning the laicization of the staff is the origin and source of all the other articles of the law that we are proposing ; I will say more : it is the result of the laws on primary education which have already been voted. 75 T h e Chamber did not conclude the debates on the measure until March 18, 1884, when the bill was passed by 3 9 i - i o 8 . 7 6 T h e Senate adopted it by 1 7 1 - 1 0 0 on March 30, 1886. A m o n g those in the minority were Marcel Barthe, Jules Simon, and Eymard-Duvernay of the L e f t and B a r d o u x , Barthélémy SaintHilaire, Léon S a y and Wallon of the L e f t Center. 77 T h e Chamber accepted the Senate's version by 3 6 3 - 1 7 9 on October 28, 7b and the law was finally promulgated on October 30, 1886. 7 9 Several factors were responsible f o r the halting and protracted course of the bill. A s originally framed, it contained provisions f o r an increase in salaries and f o r the creation of new schools and official positions which Bert w a s forced to strike out, a f t e r consultation with the budget committee. In 1 8 8 2 France had suffered an economic and financial depression which threw her budget out of balance f o r several years. 8 0 There was also the usual lack of unity among the government leaders. In the same month in which Bert introduced his bill, 75 J. O. C., Oct. 23, 1886, p. 1607. 7 6 / . O. C., M a r . 19, 1884, PP- 833-3477 J. O.S.,

M a r . 30, 1886, pp. 5 3 1 - 3 2 .

78 J. O. C., Oct. 28, 1886, p. 1698. 7 9 / . O., Oct. 3 1 , 1886, pp. 4997-5001. 80 L'Année

Politique,

1884, pp. 60-62.

178

THE

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LAWS

F e r r y proposed a less drastic one; f o r he felt that such an extensive reorganization as Bert contemplated should not be carried out until the effects of the school laws were discerned, until normal and communal schools were built, until all teachers were provided with certificates, until there was a sufficient supply of lay instructors, and until conditions were normal. 8 1 Moreover, changes in the ministry were frequent and other problems seemed more acute. T h e country was concerned with colonial expansion, municipal organization, constitutional revision, and economic and judicial questions. Despite its losses in the elections of October, 1 8 8 5 , 8 2 the L e f t was able to weld together its forces sufficiently to pass the bill on primary education in 1886, although with smaller majorities. Article seventeen of the law stated that education in the public schools should be confided exclusively to a lay personnel. Article eighteen declared that no new appointment of a member of the religious orders would be made in a department where a normal school had functioned f o r f o u r years. In schools f o r boys the substitution of a lay f o r a religious staff was to be completed within five years, but no time limit was placed upon the completion of that process in schools f o r girls. T h e physical impossibilities of completing laicization immediately had softened the original proposals considerably. T h e government claimed that the minister of public education had the power to remove religious teachers f r o m the schools without the passage of the bill, but it wished to set a definite term within which the process must be completed by law. 8 3 It said that f r o m 1 8 7 6 - 7 7 to 1880-81 the number of teachers f r o m the religious orders had fallen off 1 5 . 9 per cent, the number of their schools 1 0 per cent, and the number of their students 3 5 . 7 per cent. 84 There was little novelty in the reasons 81 J. 0. C., Feb. 1882, pp. 373-75. No. 423. 82 L'Année

Politique,

1885, pp. 2-6, 225-28.

83 J. O. C., Mar. 2, 1884, p. 588. 84 J. O. C., July 1882, p. 1836, No. 993-

THE

REFORM

OF P R I M A R Y

EDUCATION

I79

given for the exclusion of the orders f r o m public schools. The election of 1 8 8 1 was declared a mandate f o r laicization. The orders were said to be bound by their vows to give religious instruction, which would violate the law of 1882. They must pay obedience to their religious superiors rather than to the government, and could be appointed only on the recommendation of those superiors. They were accused of being inadequately trained, celibate, sometimes criminal, unsympathetic with the material, moral, and intellectual progress of modern society, unpatriotic, and hostile to the principles upon which the republic was founded. In vain did Freppel demonstrate that religious teachers were loyal to France in temporal matters or else all Catholics were disloyal; that since 1 8 8 1 teaching certificates had been required of all instructors; and that many lay teachers were also single. H e argued that the Declaration of the R i g h t s of Man was violated when all citizens were not admitted equally to all offices or given equality before the law. 8 5 B a r d o u x of the L e f t Center asked that municipal councils might be permitted to decide whether they wished a lay personnel in schools, in order to preserve freedom of conscience and the incompetence of the state in questions of dogma and philosophy. 88 That other great defender of human liberties, Jules Simon, returned f r o m a sick bed to deliver an eloquent appeal, not f o r the religious school, against which he would vote in his own commune, but f o r the freedom of departments, communes, and individuals. 87 The 1886 law defined the nature and functions of the departmental educational council, which was composed largely of state officials: the prefect and academy inspector, four general councillors elected by their colleagues, the directors of normal schools for men and women, four public school teachers elected by their colleagues, and two inspectors of primary education appointed by the minister of public education. Only in cases 85 J. O. C., Feb. 20, 1884, pp. 480-87. 86 J.O.S.,

Feb. 8, 1886, pp. 133-35-

8 7 / . O. S., Mar. 18, 1886, pp. 384-89; Mar. 20, 1886, p. 401.

l8o

THE

FRENCH

LAIC

LAWS

of dispute or discipline affecting private education were two members of that education, one laic and the other religious, to be elected by their respective colleagues to sit on the council. Thus the departmental council would correspond to the Higher Council of Public Education and the academic councils as constituted in 1879. T h e Right and some of the L e f t Center protested against the exclusion of the clergy and the secret sessions of the departmental council and municipal commission, and asked that the latter should have jurisdiction over the curriculum. The departmental council might forbid the opening of a private school within a month after the declaration of intention had been made, with appeal to the Higher Council. It might decide whether private primary schools could receive students of both sexes or children below six if a public school did so, an important question in a small community; and it might reprimand or expel a private school teacher, on the complaint of the academic inspector, for grave misdemeanors in his duties, misconduct, or immorality. Appeal was possible in the latter case too. 8S There was much discussion of a provision that any action to recover g i f t s or legacies made to communes for the foundation of schools directed by religious orders, or with a religious staff, must be started within two years. The government said this was necessary to save the commune from continuous litigation, but the opposition said the thirty year limit in the common law should be allowed to stand, and they talked of confiscation. 89 There was also considerable outcry against the rule that public school teachers should not engage in another business or in the service of churches. This attempt to check the influence of the curé over the teacher interfered with the latter's private life and prevented him from eking out his small salary with other employment. 90 88 ]. O. C., M a r . 16, 1884, p p . 770-75; M a r . 18, 1884, p p . 787-99; M a r . 19, 1884, p p . 805-14.

89 J.O.C., Mar. 2, 1884, pp. 589-97. 90 J.O.C., M a r . 4. 1884, pp. 605-08; J.O.S.. Feb.

13, 1886, pp. 173-77-

THE

REFORM

OF

PRIMARY

EDUCATION

l8l

Private school teachers were required to have a certificate corresponding to that required of public school teachers; and until the passage of a new army law, only the latter could be exempt f r o m military service by promising to remain ten years in educational service, except f o r those who had already made such an engagement. A s many pointed out, education was a public service, and such a provision would make it difficult to secure teachers f o r religious schools. 81 T h e military law of 1 8 8 9 confirmed the requirement of military service f o r private school teachers. The republicans had condemned the appointment of teachers by the prefect as contributing to the reactions of 1 8 7 3 and 1 8 7 7 ; 82 but now that they were firmly intrenched in power, they refused to permit the rector to make the appointment, as the R i g h t and some of the E x t r e m e L e f t wished. 0 3 The law marked an advance in governmental centralization which was bitterly opposed by the R i g h t and E x t r e m e L e f t . It was now the responsibility of the state instead of the commune to found schools and support their teaching staff, with the aid of the department and commune. T h e commune was to provide f o r the construction and equipment of the school house. State officials were to discipline teachers, and the departmental council was given wide powers. 8 4 T o combat this tendency toward centralization some of the E x t r e m e L e f t proposed a bill according to which the municipal council would formulate the curriculum and nominate teachers, both laic, of course, and fix the expenses, which the state would pay. A cantonal primary school commission of elected councillors and teachers would give advice in educational matters. T h e bill was defeated by 347-76, with only a handful of the E x t r e m e L e f t and Right voting for it. 85 Jean Jaurès wished communes to have the right to establish schools and the worker to sit on the municipal coun91 J. O. C., Mar. 19, 1884, pp. 819-21. 92 J. O. C., Mar. 4, 1884, pp. 614-16. 93 J.O.C.,

Mar. 5, 1884, pp. 639-40.

94 J. O. C„ Feb. 1882, pp. 303-08, N o . 39395 J. O. C., N o v . 16, 1883, pp. 2349-53 ; July 1882, p. 1842, N o . 993.

182

THE

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LAIC

LAW'S

cil to say what phases of history and science had aided him most in solving the political and social problems of the day. 84 Another speaker hoped that when the " commune had made its immolation to the god, state," it might support religious schools to unify the people on a basis of " social and religious pacification " in an era of social disintegration. 97 Thus was concluded the last of the measures during this period for the reform of primary education. Logically it was the fulfillment of the program for a national education, for once free public schools had been established and made compulsory, it was only fitting that a state official, free from religious affiliations, should train the future citizen in patriotism and moral principles. It was an interesting paradox that policies initiated by the state for the liberation of some should result in the repression of others. While the government continued to assert that it was granting " freedom of education " to the private schools, it was apparent that it could not tolerate their equality with its own institutions. The " free " schools, although inspected by the state, were denied recognition as instruments of public service, and their teachers must undergo full military service. They must obtain permission from the state to open, they were closely inspected by it, and their teachers must have the same qualifications as those in state schools. A council in which government appointees were by far in the majority was to have disciplinary powers over them. The law was noteworthy likewise for the highly centralized form it gave to the public school system. Opposition to this development came not only from the ardent Catholics on the Right but also from the free-thinkers on the Extreme Left. Those who lamented the state's usurpation of the rights of the father joined hands with those who deplored the loss of communal power in order to combat the inexorable trend of the secular and national state towards dominance. And some, like the venerable Jules Simon, still spoke of natural rights and of human liberty. 96 J.O.C.,

Oct. 21, 1886, pp. 1577-78.

97 Ibid., p. 1586.

CHAPTER VI OTHER LAIC LEGISLATION I T H E halo with which historians of the period have surrounded the reform of the public school system has tended to obscure the less spectacular legislation which secularized other aspects of French life. While the removal of religious influences from the school was undoubtedly more significant because of its effect upon future generations, nevertheless the weakening of the Church's hold over the army, marriage, charity, funeral ceremonies, communal property, the courts, and holidays was of vital concern to the average citizen and gradually loosened the bonds which united church and state. Since the chief instrument of revanche must be the national army, it is not surprising that there was a strong demand that it should be strengthened, unified, and purged of alien influences, and that all Frenchmen, without any exception, should undergo training in its ranks. R e f o r m of the army, however, affected the interests of the Catholic Church, for its chaplains were active among the garrisons, and its ecclesiastical students, priests, and teachers were exempt from military service. Military chaplains had been suppressed during the French Revolution, re-established in 1816, and abolished in the army in time of peace, although not in the navy or in time of war, in 1830. Provision was made for them once more in 1874, 1 but two years later they were attacked in the discussion of the budget for 1877. T h e Chamber decided to deal with the question in a separate law, 2 and passed the D u v a u x bill by 342-111 in January, 1880. Over seventy deputies from all groups abstained.3 The Senate accepted the measure by 169-92 in June, 1 J. O. C., March 4, 1877, p. 1674, No. 789. 2 J. O. C., Dec. 29, 1876, p. 9842; Mar. 4, 1877, p. 1674. No. 789.

3 J.O.C., Jan. 18, 1880, p. 461. 183

184

THE

FRENCH

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1880, with only the monarchists in opposition. 4 The law, which was promulgated July 8, 1880, declared that ministers of the established churches would be stationed in remote camps and garrisons with at least 2,000 men if they were outside the city limits and three kilometers distant from parish churches and temples. They would also be provided for hospitals and for military prisons. In time of war, they would accompany the army in the campaign. 5 Those who were opposed to army chaplains argued that the experience of the nineteenth century proved that they were unnecessary in peace. Moreover, the army law of 1872 required that soldiers be given time and freedom to carry out their religious duties, 6 and in all the garrison cities there were churches they might attend. 7 Freedom of conscience was violated if Protestants and Jews had to attend Catholic services. 8 Conditions in the navy might first be rectified, for there were 120 warships and 50 chaplains, of whom only 22 were at sea.9 Before the Franco-Prussian war there had been 65 chaplains, one for each ship commanded by a captain. 10 The supporters of the D u v a u x bill asserted that their desire was not to attack religion, 11 but to uproot clericalism, to which they attributed the revival of army chaplains. They accused chaplains of encouraging official piety, of strengthening an " occult and invading power " which interfered with military authority, 12 and of spreading propaganda by preaching and by distributing a n t i - F r e n c h R e v o l u t i o n a r y pamphlets. 13 They 4 J. O. S., June 29, 1880, pp. 7198-99. 5 / . O., July 10, 1880, p. 78496 J. O. C., Jan. 10, 1877, p. 233, N o . 685. 7 / . O. S., June 22, 1880, p. 6815. 8 / . O. C., Mar. 4, 1877, p. 1674, N o . 789. 9 / . O. S., June 21, 1880, p. 6771, N o . 332. 10 J.O.S.,

Mar. 23, 1878, p. 3245.

11 J. O. C., Mar. 3, 1877, P- 1630. 12 J. O. C., Mar. 4, 1877, p. 1674, N o . 789. 13 J. O. C., July 20, 1877, p. 5324, N o . 994.

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sketched a terrifying picture of clerical activity within the army for the overthrow of the republic. It was true that the Légion de Saint-Maurice, which had been founded at the École Militaire in 1878 under the direction of the chaplain, with branches in all forts, had been abolished in the same year ; but .Votre Dame des Soldats, established by the unauthorized order of Eudist fathers, continued and had been empowered by the Pope in 1879 to establish branches. The latter society gave lectures, but its special object was the financial support of 120 voluntary chaplains, who received no state salary, and of 166 auxiliary chaplains, whose pay was uncertain. It was said that the army contained numerous representatives of the counter-revolutionary clubs of Catholic workingmen among its generals and officers ; and the misleading impression was given that these circles were affiliated with the chaplains. 14 The military leader, said the anti-clericals, should take the place of the chaplain in education and moral leadership. A t the hour of death Catholicism could not rival patriotism in inspiring bravery. By what right do you appropriate for yourselves a monopoly of devotion and sacrifice ? Do we not know that on the battlefields the blood of free-thinkers, Protestants, and Jews is mingled to a great extent with that of believers and worshippers? 15 . . . on the battlefields there is a religion which belongs to us all : the religion of patriotism, of respect for the flag and of devotion to the country! . . . In 1790 the armies of the republic, which . . . did not go to confession every day, knew how to defend the soil of the fatherland valiantly against all Europe ! 1 8 The army should educate not only the nation. It was to be the new instrument school of discipline where all classes, both be joined without distinction in equality " new social pact." 1 4 / . O.S.,

June 21, 1880, pp. 6766-69, N o . 332.

15 7. O. C., D e c . 21, 1879, p. 11404.

16/.

0. C., Jan.

18, 1880, p. 454-

soldier but also the of national unity, a rich and poor, would and fraternity, in a

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T o summarize, gentlemen, the question is whether the army, as at all great periods in our military history, will be the national army, alien and superior to every feeling of sect, concerned only with the defense of the fatherland; whether this genuinely national army will re-establish our military state on its true bases, that is, on a group of proved institutions, never discussed, best suited to the particular temperament of the nation, to its needs, and to its customs. W a r in modern times has become a scientific and moral problem entirely, a question of devotion and of science: armies being scarcely more than the levee en masse of nations will be more and more a good criterion of the value of a race. Ours, with its faults and its virtues, with this great reserve of devotion, of sacrifice, of moral force, of cultivation, which noble races bear within themselves as a heritage from their ancestors, has never known how to subject or bow itself to a certain spirit which has never been able to penetrate the army in an effective manner, and which has always been rejected in the end. . . . T h e spirit of sect and of fanaticism has had its day. . . . 1? T h e R i g h t defended the chaplains f o r their w o r k in conducting masses, hearing confessions, g i v i n g lectures, f o u n d i n g clubs, and caring for libraries. Since they were no longer o f ficers,

but lived in the barracks, they could not influence the

military leaders. W h e r e there had once been 6 9 chaplains with officers' pay in the garrisons, there were n o w only 15. A u x i l i a r y chaplains received only 2 5 0 francs, m a k i n g the total burden on the annual budget only 90,000 francs. 1 8 I f w a r broke out, it would be difficult to secure chaplains at once, and these men would not have won the confidence o f the soldiers b y close association with them. 1 9 Chaplains helped to build up the morale, discipline, and patriotism of the soldier. 2 0 Where there are an altar and priest, there is not only the great fatherland, which is never absent where the flag waves, but also 1 7 J.O.S.,

J u n e 21, 1880, p. 6770, N o . 332.

1 8 J.O.C..

D e c . 2, 1879, p p . 10570-72.

19/. O. C„ Jan. 18, 1880, p. 457. 2 0 Ibid., pp. 451-52.

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the little fatherland, where are our affections, our memories, and our hopes! 21 The opposition charged that soldiers did not have time and liberty for their religious duties, since Sunday morning in the army was used for the care of personal equipment and for reviews. The churches were generally crowded and the hours for mass inconvenient. Soldiers preferred short services addressed especially to them. They were not forced to g o to mass. 21 The work of Notre Dame des Soldats was necessary, said the Right, for auxiliary chaplains could not live on their pittance. Its founders, the Eudists, were not regulars and the society did not include soldiers. There were, in fact, very few regulars among the chaplains. The workingmen's clubs did not try to attract soldiers and did not admit those who were already members in their native cities. 23 The Right, by strenuous efforts, managed to secure some alleviation of the terms of the bill. It wrote in the words, " There will be stationed " instead of " There can be stationed," thus closing a loophole by which the minister of war might quietly have done away with all chaplains! The distance of garrisons with chaplains from town was reduced from five to three kilometers. 24 But the result of the law was a reduction in the number of chaplains and further obstacles in the way of the common soldier's practise of his religion. Patriotism was to supplant Catholicism as the faith which would inspire the defenders of the fatherland, and the republic was strengthened by the elimination of one more source of possible monarchical influence. There was marked difference of opinion as to how stringently the principle of the " nation in arms " was to be observed in 21 J. O. S., M a r . 23, 1878, p. 3247. 2 2 J. O. C., D e c . 2, 1879, pp. 10570-72. 2 3 / . O.S.,

J u n e 23, 1880, pp. 6866-67.

24 J.O.S..

June 29, 1880, p. 7193.

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recruiting French youth. T h e army law of 1872, which required five years of military service, exempted public school teachers, teachers in lay private schools, and members of religious teaching orders which were associations of utilité publique,

if they would

serve in public or private schools for ten years, and likewise ecclesiastical students of the established churches if they had entered m a j o r orders or had been ordained by the age of twenty-six. 2 5 A s early as A u g u s t 4, 1876 P a u l B e r t introduced a bill f o r the abolition of these exemptions, but providing that public school teachers and clergy in state cults need serve only one year in the army. 2 6 In the spring of 1880 he revived his measure, 2 7 while at the same time Labuze of the L e f t demanded that everyone serve the full term. 28 T o w a r d off radical proposals, the g o v e r n m e n t tried to sponsor a general r e f o r m of the a r m y , b u t the C h a m b e r would not agree, 3 0 and the government w a s forced to compromise. 3 1 O n M a y 28, 1881 the C h a m b e r adopted by 3 3 1 - 1 2 6 a bill which permitted one year's service in time o f peace, but not in time of war, f o r the classes mentioned in B e r t ' s bill. 32 O v e r sixty abstained f r o m voting. T h e Senate committee rejected the measure as an attack on private education, f o r members of religious teaching

orders

w e r e not exempt. 3 3 In the elections o f 1881 military r e f o r m w a s second only to constitutional revision in the interest of candidates for office. 31 S o m e 2 7 8 asked f o r three years of military training, 200 f o r suppression or modification of exemptions, especially that of 25 J. O., July 27, 1872, p. 5137. 2 6 / . O. C., Sept. 14, 1876, p. 6968, No. 460. 27 / . O.S.,

April 24, 1880, pp. 4428-31.

2 8 / . O. C., M a y 6, 1880, p p . 4897-98, N o . 2545.

29 J.O.C.,

Feb. 6, 1881, pp. 156-57.

3 0 / . O. C.,

M a r . 22, 1881, p p . 376-78, N o . 3406.

3 1 / . O. S.,

A u g . 1881, p p . 649-50, N o . 555.

32J.O.C..

May 29, 1881, pp. 1059-60.

3 3 / . O.

S.,

Aug.

1881, p p . 650-51, N o . 555.

3 4 / . O . C . , J a n . 1883, p p . 46-47, N o . 808.

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seminarians, and 28 for military education in the schools. Only twelve opposed the suppression of exemptions in the name of religion. 35 The following year Gambetta lent his support to three years of military service for everyone, 36 while the government asked for the usual exceptions. 3 ' In 1885 the Chamber suppressed exemptions by 338-87, with 58 not voting, among them Bert and Ferry, the patron saints of the public school teacher,38 but in the spring of 1886 the president of the republic withdrew the bill.39 In 1887 the Chamber passed a similar measure, 40 but the Senate re-established exemptions. Exactly the same thing occurred in 1888, and the deadlock appeared hopeless until the approaching elections forced the Chamber to accept the Senate terms by 306-162 on July 8, 1 8 8 9 . " A s finally framed, the law stated that in time of peace, after one year of military service, the following classes were exempt from military service: teachers agreeing to serve ten years in public education, lay teachers and members of religious teaching orders which were associations of utilité publique promising to serve ten years in French schools in the Orient and A f r i c a , young men who had obtained or were studying for the licence or doctorate or were students in some of the higher schools, and ecclesiastical students of the established churches if they became ministers by the age of 26. In case of mobilization, medical and ecclesiastical students were to be put in the health service, while the rest were to be called to the colors. All others were required to pass three years in the active army, seven in the reserve, six in the territorial army, and nine in the reserve of the territorials ! 4 2 35 J. O. C., J a n . 1883, pp. 63-66, N o . 808. 3 6 / . O. C., Mar. 1882, pp. 770-73, N o . 659. 3 7 / . O. C., Mar. 1882, pp. 773-76, N o . 669. 3 8 / . O. C„ June 21, 1885, p. 1176. 39 / .

O. S., Mar.

27, 1886, p. 473.

4 0 / . O. C., July 12, 1887, p. 1686. 41

L'Année Politique,

1888, pp. 137-39, 1 7 2 ; 1889, pp. 6, 124, 150-51.

4 2 / . 0., July 17, 1889, pp. 3437-40.

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Those who wished the suppression of exemptions declared that in the future military exercises and patriotic instruction would play a greater part in the school. Hence it was important for the teacher to learn to handle a gun and to undergo military discipline. Paul Bert cried, Gentlemen, the instructor does not teach only reading, writing, arithmetic, and history, but he must also be a professor of patriotism; and how can he be that if he has not himself given an example of it? With what authority will he speak of love of the fatherland, of supreme devotion, if he sees in the eyes of the child who listens to him an expression of doubt and distrust, if he reads in them the thought that perhaps he fled to this chair to escape the fatigues and perils of the battlefield?43 In 1879 the pedagogical congress of directors of normal schools, inspectors, and primary school teachers at Paris had asked for the abolition of exemptions for teachers and had claimed the number of applicants for teaching positions would not be seriously affected. 44 As for the clergy, it was said that their recruitment would not be harmed, nor would freedom of conscience and worship be injured. Although the Catholic Church had condemned military service for priests and ecclesiastical students in the Syllabus and in recent statements, canon law did not have to be respected by the state. It was pointed out that all the Protestant clergy and most of the Protestant press had welcomed the new bill enthusiastically.45 The army law of 1872 needed reform, because the bishop at times excused from military service students in preparatory seminaries, some of whom would never have entered the secular clergy. 48 The number of assistant teachers in the religious schools was eleven times that of the 43

J.O.C.,

A p r i l 6, 1881, p. 772.

4 4 / . O. C., A p r i l 29, 1880, p. 4627, No. 2524. 45/. 46/.

O. C.. A p r i l 6, O. C., Jan. 31,

1881, pp.

774-77-

1877, p. 740, No. 713.

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lay assistants, which meant that many did not undergo military training. 47 Both the Extreme Right and the Extreme L e f t objected to these contentions. The former argued that the Concordat, in permitting episcopal seminaries to exist, implicitly included the exemption of priests and ecclesiastical students from military service, or else they would be unable to obtain students. The Convention and Napoleon had exempted priests. Since the priest contributed more to the country than ordinary men, he was being unequally treated. He should not be subjected to the temptations of life in the barracks. It was foolish, moreover, to go to the expense of training 5,000 men who would never be used in active service. F o r 1879 there had been only 1674 ecclesiastical exemptions. What difference could such a small number make in the defense of the country? The Church absolutely forbade its ministers to fight except in unusual cases. The recruitment of missionaries and teachers would be endangered at a time when the new educational laws required more instructors.48 The injustice done to the members of religious orders, who were subject to full military service, was demonstrated. They were required to have the same certificates as public school teachers and were more and more excluded from the public schools, so that they could not make a ten year contract.49 The London Times was quoted as saying: The sympathies of France and of the world will always be on the side of the feeble and the oppressed. The treatment recently inflicted upon the unauthorized orders in France is generally condemned by impartial judges. The new bill on military service is a new step in the same direction and is as impossible to justify. J.O.C., April 6, 1881, p. 772. 48 J.O.C., April 8, 1881, pp. 793-97, 801-04. 49 J.O.S., Aug. 1881, pp. 650-51, No. 55547

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To which Bert retorted, " Let the Times concern itself with the Irish and not with us! " 50 The Extreme Left, represented by fidouard Lockroy, showed the inconsistency of the government in putting the clergy and public school teachers on an equal basis in regard to military service when the education laws recognized the neutrality of the state in religious matters. Neutrality, he argued, was inevitably a step towards separation of church and state.®1 Madier de Montjau of the same group declared that equality was inscribed with liberty and fraternity in the national device and quoted Barrere's famous and stirring plea: Liberty has become the creditor of all citizens; some owe their industry, others their fortune; some their counsel, others their arms; all owe their blood, all French people of every sex and age are called by the fatherland to defend Liberty. All physical and moral faculties, all political and industrial resources belong to it; all metals, all the elements are its tributaries. Let each one fill his post in the national and military movement which is being prepared. . . ,52 The debates on recruitment of the army etch more clearly the policies and doctrines of the Opportunists. The glorious and patriotic duty of military service was to be required of all without exception, so that even teachers and priests might grow in love of country and moral discipline through the experience. The harm that might be done to the national schools would be more than offset by the injury to the " free " schools, whose teachers were not exempt. Yet preaching and teaching were still regarded as public services deserving the special protection of the state. Once more the Left was divided in its views, with the Extreme Left advocating absolute equality of service for all and with more cautious radicals, like Paul Bert, going as far as the spirit of the Chamber made it practicable to go. 5 0 / . O. C., April 8, 1881, p. 798.

J.O.C., SZJ.O.C., 51

May 15, 1881, pp. 897-99May 15, 1881, pp. 894-95-

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T h e long struggle between C h a m b e r and Senate over recruitment of the a r m y revealed the strength o f the anti-clerical and nationalistic forces. II From

1 8 1 6 until 1884 divorce w a s impossible in France,

although civil marriage existed. It had been established d u r i n g the French Revolution by the very liberal law o f 1792, 5 3 somew h a t restricted in 1803, and finally abolished in the early years of the Restoration. 5 4 Its revival in the law o f July 27, 1884 w a s the fruition of more than a decade of discussion in the press, literature, and drama, but more especially of the v i g o r o u s leadership and tenacity shown by A l f r e d Naquet. T h i s freethinking Jew w a s described by a contemporary a s h a v i n g . . . ardent, large eyes, a long and bent nose, a sensual mouth, the hair of Samson, and the double-pointed beard of the prophets. . . . O n this pale, mobile, and hairy face there is the mark of the idealist, of the mystic, of the skeptic, and of the man of good fortune. . . . one faculty commands all the somewhat too independent forces of his intellectual organism. This mastering faculty is activity. It has permitted him to live several lives in a f e w years and to do many scattered things." P r o f e s s o r of organic chemistry at the U n i v e r s i t y of Paris, he had become interested in journalism and politics. H e had collaborated with the E x t r e m e L e f t , which, however, had tried to exclude and then to quarantine him, 5 6 and a f t e r 1877 he had gradually g r o w n closer to the Opportunists. O n June 6, 1876 Naquet introduced a bill into the C h a m b e r f o r the re-establishment of divorce. Modeled on the law o f 1792, it permitted divorce by mutual consent or at the desire o f 53 A. Naquet, Le Divorce 54 J.O.C.,

(2nd ed.; Paris, 1881), pp. 187-206.

June 23, 1876, p. 4435, No. 177; June 25, 1876, pp. 4517-20,

No. 17755 De Bonnieres, op. cit.. I l l , 178-79. 56 A. Naquet, Alfred

Naquet. E. Pillias, ed. (Paris, 1939), pp. 8-10.

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reasons.07

one party, and for numerous It was rejected by a parliamentary committee consisting for the most part of men who were later to support the anti-clerical school laws of the government—Constans, Lockroy, Barodet, and Spuller, among others. They argued that public opinion was not ready for divorce, and that to discuss it at that time would alarm the conservative supporters of the republic. Naquet's bill was too radical, in that it regarded divorce as a principle in itself rather than as a tolerant exception to the principle of indissoluble marriage.68 It is not surprising that Naquet's measure did not meet with the favor of these deputies. His own record would have alienated the more conservative; for in 1869 he had been so indiscreet as to publish a work entitled Rêligion, Propriété, Famille, in which he had urged the abolition of marriage as harmful to individual liberty and observed only in form. He had attacked the family and had suggested that the mother should be made its center and given a state subsidy derived from inheritance taxes and capital levies for the maintenance of her children. Naquet later renounced these views,59 but how thorough was his conversion might be a matter of doubt. The Seize Mai prevented consideration of the bill by the Chamber. On May 21, 1878 Naquet introduced a more moderate bill, although it still retained divorce by mutual consent and permitted divorce for desertion, religious differences, permanent insanity, and adultery of the husband.80 The Chamber voted to consider the bill, after a fervent plea from Naquet. 61 Public opinion was won over toward divorce in part by the publication of Alexandre Dumas, fils' work, La Question du Divorce, in 1880. Dumas, a monarchist in politics but a liberal in social questions, declared that the patriarchs of the Old Testament 57 J. O. C., J u n e 28, 1876, pp. 4604-06, N o . 177. 68 J.O.C., D e c . 10, 1876, pp. 9192-94, N o . 599. 5 9 J . O.S.,

J u n e 1, 1884, pp. 1015-19.

60 J. O. C., J u n e 1, 1878, pp. 6055-56, N o . 694. 61 / . O. C., M a y 28, 1879, PP. 488-90.

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had been polygamous, that St. Matthew permitted divorce f o r adultery, and that the Church masked divorce by nullification of marriage. 8 3 Pope L e o X I I I in the same year issued the encyclic a l , Arcanum

Divinae

Sapientiae,

in w h i c h h e

repeated

and

re-emphasized the Catholic condemnation of divorce. 63 Debate on the divorce bill opened in February, 1 8 8 1 . Many members of the L e f t joined with the R i g h t in opposing the measure, while the L e f t Center was divided in its attitude. Jules F e r r y believed that divorce should be possible only when there were no children. 84 Cazot, minister of justice, urged that it was not politically expedient to take up the measure before the elections; 8 5 and the crucial article one, which established the right of divorce, was overthrown by 2 4 7 - 2 1 6 . 8 0 Too many elements were united against divorce: pious Catholics, craven Opportunists who feared the approaching elections, those who genuinely believed divorce would mean the disruption of society, and positivists who remembered that Comte had taught that marriage should be indissoluble, even by death. In the elections of 1 8 8 1 divorce was not one of the major issues. F o r t y - t w o candidates advocated it, among them Gambetta and Clemenceau, while only two opposed it.87 Naquet claimed that all deputies who had voted f o r divorce were reelected, save Leon Renault, who must have fallen f o r other reasons, since his opponent had stood f o r divorce. 83 Probably the results of the election were inconclusive on the question, but then, as Naquet said, if the country were to become passionate about it, it would indicate that all Frenchmen were unhappily m a r r i e d ! 8 9 62 A. Naquet, La Loi du Divorce

(Paris, 1903), pp. 57-63.

63 Barbier, op. cit., II, 4. 64 Rambaud, Jules Ferry,

p. 216.

65 J. 0. C„ Feb. 9, 1881, p. 192. 66 Ibid., p. 201. 67 J.O.C.,

Jan. 1883, p. 57, No. 808.

68/. O. C„ Dec. 1881, p. 1704, N o . 55. 69 J. O. S., May 27, 1884, p. 964.

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The indefatigable Naquet re-introduced his bill on November 1 1 , 1 8 8 1 , and it was accepted by the Chamber on June 19, 1882 by 3 3 1 - 1 3 8 . Since the government refused to give its opinion before the closure of the session, Ferry, Gambetta, Goblet, Constans, and Waldeck-Rousseau were among those abstaining. Paul Bert supported the bill.70 Discussion did not follow in the Senate until 1884 because of differences of opinion and changes of personnel in the committee considering the measure, 71 but the bill was passed by 1 5 3 - 1 1 6 , with the L e f t Center still split.72 The government finally asked for divorce for certain reasons, but not by mutual consent.73 The Senate bill differed in several respects from that of the Chamber. It did not permit divorce by mutual consent, which both the Civil Code and the Chamber had admitted. It forbade, as the Chamber had not, the adulterous spouse to marry the accomplice. In order to satisfy the Catholics it permitted the re-marriage of the divorced couple, if a marriage contracted later had been terminated by other means than divorce; and it forbade automatic divorce without court action after three years of separation.74 Despite the urgent plea of Bishop Freppel, the Chamber accepted the Senate bill by 3 5 5 - 1 1 5 on July 19, 1884. All the groups of the L e f t now supported divorce, with even Jules Ferry falling into line. Opposed to the bill were the Right and some individual members of the Left. 7 5 It is apparent from the above account that the divorce question divided parties within themselves and that in the early days at least, divorce was advocated or condemned largely on the basis of individual temperament and social views. The religious aspects of the problem were touched upon as lightly as possible, and, indeed, were often declared completely alien to 7 0 / . 0. C„ June 20, 1882, pp. 964, 966-67. 71 /. O. S., 1884, pp. 65-87, No. 31. 72 J. O. S., June 25, 1884, pp. 1205-06. 73 /. O. S„ May 30, 1884, pp. 985-89. 7 4 / . O. C „ 1884, pp. 1073-74, No. 2920. 7 5 / . O. C„ July 20, 1884, p. 1774-

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it. B o t h R i g h t and L e f t seemed to fear re-opening the religious struggle upon this g r o u n d , but occasionally, as in the Senate in 1884, the old a n t a g o n i s m w a s evident. O n the whole, by f a r the greatest emphasis w a s laid upon the sociological effects o f divorce, which will be considered only very briefly here. U n d e r l y i n g the discussion of divorce were, as in that of the school legislation, t w o different conceptions of society, civil and religious. N a q u e t defended the f o r m e r when he said: Gentlemen, you have begun a great struggle, not against the Catholic religion, which you respect, but against the encroachments of the secular or religious clergy upon the political domain, against the progress of clericalism, which wishes to recapture one by one all the conquests of our great Revolution. That is why you have approved the decrees of March, that is why the other day you voted for lay primary education. Well, there is a law which thrusts itself upon your attention in the name of this same struggle, in the name of this same principle of the secularization of society: the divorce law, which will restore to your civil code that integrity with which it left the hands of the legislator in 1810, and of which the law of 1816 deprived it. That is why you will restore divorce. 79 T h o s e in f a v o r of divorce disagreed a s to the nature o f m a r riage. Naquet contended that it had become a civil contract in 1789 and hence should c o n f o r m to the principles of a civil contract, including dissolution by mutual consent and on the demand of one party f o r non-fulfillment of the contract. 7 7 T h e government held, on the contrary, that marriage w a s not an ordinary contract, and that not all contracts could be dissolved by the will of those f o r m i n g them, as in adoption; but although in principle m a r r i a g e should be permanent, in practise exceptions might be allowed. 7 8 A l l advocates o f divorce asserted that it w a s justified by the principle of individual liberty f o u n d in the French Revolution, 7 6 / . O. C., Feb. 8, 1881, p. 184. 77 J. O. C., May 28, 1879, PP- 4385-86. 78 J. O. S„ May 30, 1884, pp. 985-86.

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the Declaration of the Rights of M a n , " and French public law. Naquet declared that the law no longer recognized personal contracts, such as selling oneself into slavery or taking religious vows, as valid. Only two personal contracts remained, military service and marriage, and the former was being reduced. 80 Divorce was also declared essential to the religious freedom of Protestants, Jews, and free-thinkers. In permitting either divorce or separation, the conscience of the Catholics would not be harmed, for the Catholic could always remain single. Several deputies argued that in the early days of the Catholic Church divorce had been tolerated for certain reasons, especially for adultery. 81 Furthermore, it had existed in France when the Church accepted the Concordat. Under the First E m pire priests had blessed divorced spouses, as they still did in countries like Belgium, Rhenish Prussia, and Baden, which, although Catholic, kept the French law of 1803, and in countries where Catholics were in a minority and divorce was legal. 82 The Catholic Church, they said, permitted nullification of a marriage in approximately fourteen cases where the civil law did not, 83 but only the rich and powerful could avail themselves of this privilege. 84 Several other arguments were advanced in favor of divorce. Freedom would strengthen the institution of marriage, because it would require mutual self-restraint. There were few reconciliations after separation, and natural offspring were the result. Children would be benefited by a happy union. 85 Statistics testified to the fact that morality was improved by divorce. 7 9 / . O. C., Jan. 31, 1880, p. 1098, No. 2177. 8 0 / . O. C., June 22, 1876, p. 4400, No. 17781 / . O. S„ May 30, 1884, p. 9898 2 / . O. C.. June 22, 1876, p. 4402, N o . 177. 83 / . O. C., May 28, 1879, p. 4386. 84 J.O.C.,

June 14, 1882, p. 898.

85 J.O.S., Feb. 1884, pp. 65-68, No. 3 1 ; J.O.C., 02. No. 177.

June 22, 1876. pp. 4400-

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I99

86

The population of France would grow, and the condition of women would be improved. 87 Divorce was lauded as a social reform corresponding to a new interest in human suffering. 8 * Bishop Freppel stated the orthodox Catholic position in regard to divorce. The great majority of French citizens were Catholics, he said, and according to their doctrine, marriage is an institution of natural law that Christ has elevated to the dignity of a sacrament, in such a manner that the contract is inseparable from the sacrament, and wherever there is a legitimate contract between Christians, there is a sacrament by virtue of this fact. . . . Consequently, when you wish to break a legitimate contract, you are attacking the very substance of the sacrament. . . . The role of civil legislation is to regulate the civil and temporal effects of marriage and not to form bonds, much less to dissolve them. . . , 89 Freppel asserted that the Church had raised marriage to a permanent status and had buttressed it by natural, divine, ecclesiastical, and civil law after a struggle against the Roman emperors, barbarians, feudal customs, and royal despotism. He charged that divorce was a Semitic cause, supported by a " handful of Israelites." 90 Certain members of the Left opposed divorce for diverse reasons. Louis La Caze of the L e f t Center said that it would mean " the loss of part of the sacred patrimony of France." 91 Austere and stoical Henri Brisson, radical member of the Republican Union and active Mason, said that he had been opposed to divorce for many years, because it would harm woman and marriage as a social institution. The more permanent the union had been historically, the higher the dignity and influence of 8 6 / . O. C.. Feb. 8, 1881, pp. 174-82; June 26, 1876, p. 4602, No. 177. 87 / . O. C., Feb. 9, 1881, p. 193. 8 8 / . O. C„ Feb. 8, 1881, p. 178. 89 / . O. C., June 14, 1882, p. 895. 90 / . O. C., July 20, 1884, p. 177391 / . O.S.,

June 25, 1884, p. 1200.

200

THE FRENCH

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woman had been. Perhaps Brisson's early marriage to the daughter of a Saint-Simonian and an ardent republican accounted for his views.92 Yet he found an opportunity to attack the Church for creating " the abyss which separates man from woman in regard to primary education." 93 Amagat, former professor of natural history at Montpellier, likewise felt that indissoluble marriage had coincided with periods of high moral elevation. The Protestants had always condemned divorce in practise, although they had sanctioned it to conform to scriptural teaching and to counteract Catholic doctrines.94 It was asserted that marriage was not an ordinary civil contract, since one could put no end or condition upon it nor give husband and wife equal authority. Those who entered upon it had permanence in mind and had freedom to choose whether or not to engage themselves. Marriage must be permanent for the sake of the children and for the preservation of its high moral level. Moreover, said Brisson, " in the midst of such mobile elements in our contemporary society, it assures social continuity itself, the necessary condition of human progress." 95 Freppel contended that, since Frenchmen were notably inconstant, without " Flemish sangfroid, Britannic phlegm, and German patience," and since they were politically unstable, they needed a firm basis in marriage! 96 Jules Simon waxed eloquent over the family as the nursery of those great feelings of morality, honor, respect for parents, love of kin and of the fatherland, which must be inspired within the child. He believed that even those who were hostile to supernatural religions often regretted the lack of solemnity in a civil marriage, for at heart they felt the need of religious inspiration in their daily lives. 92 Allain-Targe, "Souvenirs d'avant 1870," La Revue de Paris, L (1903),

11.

9 3 / . O. C., Feb. 9, 1881, p. 19794 /. O. C., May 9, 1882, p. 532. 95/. O. C., Feb. 9, 1881, p. 195. 96/. O. C., June 14, 1882, p. 894.

OTHER

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20I

Love was eternal; and when passionate love died, if divorce were possible, one might miss the richness of the comradeship which could follow. 97 Marcel Barthe of the Left and Henri Giraud of the L e f t Center characterized divorce as an aristocratic institution.08 Giraud declared that 48 per cent of those separated were working men (of whom one tenth lived in Paris), 16 per cent rentiers or professional men, 15 per cent merchants, and 12 per cent farmers. Since 52 per cent of the general population of France was of the farming class, he concluded that the majority of France did not favor divorce. Thus he made a shrewd appeal to the great conservative masses." Once more the republicans had returned to the French Revolution as a source of inspiration and had restored the right of divorce. The secularization of society had been carried one step further. Justification for this action had been found, as in the case of preceding anti-clerical legislation, in the principles of individual liberty and freedom of conscience, but this time the claim was more legitimate. Since the right of separation was maintained, the conscience of Catholics was not violated, while that of non-Catholics was enfranchised by divorce. Credit for passage of the bill was due largely to the positivist, radical, and Jew, Alfred Naquet, but he was upheld in his efforts by men from all groups of the Left. L e f t and L e f t Center were divided by the issue as never before, partly because Positivism, " Spiritualism," and P r o t e s t a n t i s m frowned on divorce, partly because conservatives feared the weakening of one of the bulwarks of a society which had already sustained manifold shocks. On the whole, religious considerations were not as influential in determining the attitude of the legislators as those concerned with morality, the position of women, the happiness of children, and the stability of 97 J. O. S., May 28, 1884, pp. 978-84. 98 J.O.S., June 1, 1884, pp. 1013-15. 99;.

O. C., May 7, 1882, p. 523.

202

THE FRENCH

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LAWS

society. This is further evidence that religious liberty was really advanced by the divorce law of 1884. Ill The anti-clericals attempted to curtail the privileges of the Church in another sphere which had long been regarded as peculiarly its own: death. They found a precedent for this in a decree of the Convention in 1793 which provided that members of all faiths should be buried in one cemetery. 100 Throughout the nineteenth century France had followed the Napoleonic regulations which allotted to each church a separate burial place, or, if there were only one cemetery, a separate section with its own entrance. F o r practical reasons, these had not been observed in Paris and the larger cities. In every commune the municipal administration had been the legal guardian of the cemetery. 101 Pressure to open the burial ground to everyone, irrespective of his religious affiliation, came first from the Protestants in 1 8 7 1 , 1 0 2 but it was not until 1879 that Rameau and Journault of the L e f t and Joly of the Republican Union introduced a bill to neutralize the cemetery. 103 The Chamber adopted the measure by 3 3 5 - 1 1 9 on March 7, 1 8 8 1 , with a number of the L e f t and Bonapartists abstaining. 104 It was accepted by the Senate by 146-88 1 0 5 after the general elections of 1881 and became law on November 14. 1 0 8 The L e f t insisted that freedom of conscience was harmed when different cults were segregated, since the faith of the deceased had to be declared to secure a grave for him. There was, moreover, no place for non-com100 J. O. C., Jan. 23, 1880, pp. 648-49. 101 J.O.C.,

Mar. 7, 1879, pp. 1776-77, No. 1179.

102/. O. S., July 1881, p. 517, No. 374103 J.O.C.,

Feb. 13, 1879, P- 1360.

104/. O. C., Mar. 8, 1881, p. 443. 105 / . O. S., Oct. 30, 1881, p. 1397106/. O., Nov. 15, 1881, p. 6345.

OTHER

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203

municants. 107

Constant quarrels arose over separating husbands and wives of different faiths and over the burial of unbaptized children and Protestants in holy ground. 108 The cemetery was not the " church of the dead " but the " common house of the dead," 109 and should be policed by the commune, to which it belonged. 110 The Right sprang to the defense of Catholic doctrine, which the bill violated, and declared that freedom of worship was as vital as freedom of conscience. T h e cemetery was a place of worship and generally contained a chapel for public prayers. 1 1 1 In one ceremony, said Bishop Freppel, the bishop blessed the church and the cemetery, which was the church of the dead in canon law. 1 1 2 T o neutralize a burial ground, the cross would have to be removed. 113 If the cemetery were the property of the commune, the church was likewise. Jews, as well as Catholics, had always insisted upon a separate burial place. 11 * T h e Right suggested two practical compromises which would have solved the problem, but the Senate committee rejected them for superficial reasons. One, which left separate sections in every cemetery for minority cults and free-thinkers, was objected to as not providing for Catholics who had failed to carry out their religious duties. T h e other, which gave each faith the power to acquire lands for the burial of its members, was cast out as contrary to the principle of communal control and as too expensive. 115 T h u s Catholic religious customs were disregarded so that Frenchmen of every faith might be equal 107 / . O. C„ July s , 1880, P- 7596, No. 2 7 2 8 . 108 J.O.C.,

Mar. 7 , 1 8 7 9 , pp. 1 7 7 6 - 7 7 , No. 1 1 7 9 .

1 0 9 / . O. C., Mar. 8 , 1 8 8 1 , p. 4 2 9 . 1 1 0 / . 0. S„ July 1 8 8 1 , p. 5 2 4 , No. 374111 / . O. C.. Jan. 23, 1880, pp. 6 4 8 - 4 9 . 112/.

O. C.,

Mar.

8, 1 8 8 1 ,

p. 434-

1 1 3 / . O.S., July 29, 1881, p. 1 3 5 1 . 114/.

O. C.,

Mar.

8, 1881,

p. 430.

115 / . O. S., July 1 8 8 1 , pp. 5 2 0 - 2 1 , 5 2 4 , No. 3 7 4 .

204

T H E F R E N C H LAIC

LAWS

in death. The cemetery was secularized and its communal character reaffirmed. The spectacle of a civil funeral was shocking to devout Catholics, but in the decade of the 1870*5 such ceremonies became increasingly common, despite the efforts of the authorities to hinder them. They were finally given special protection in a bill introduced by Chevandier of the Republican Union on May 24, 1880. B y its terms all the honors to which a person was entitled should be given him, no matter what his political, philosophic, social, or religious doctrines, in both religious and civil funerals. Prefects and mayors were never to assign an unusual hour or route to funerals or to limit the number of persons in the procession. 118 The bill passed the Chamber by the large vote of 401-91 in June, 1882, with only the monarchists in the minority, 117 but in the Senate there were difficulties over some other terms which had been added by the Chamber to enable anyone over sixteen to declare the kind of funeral he desired, if he did not wish to be buried by the church in which he had been baptized. 118 The nature of this declaration was left ambiguous to secure Senate approval of the bill by 1 5 9 - 1 0 1 on June 14, 1883. 1 1 8 The Chamber did not consider the measure again until 1886, when it adopted it by 339-168, with all groups of the L e f t in favor of it. 120 A f t e r very little discussion in the Senate in February, 1887, the bill was again passed by the Chamber by 3 6 1 - 1 5 0 on October 29, 1887. 1 2 1 By the terms of the law, one could make a declaration in regard to one's funeral either before a notary or in a will, which had the same force as a will concerning property and was liable to the same rules regarding revocation. One could appoint executors to carry it out, and in 116/. O. C.. June 10, 1880, p. 6314, No. 2639. 117/. O. C., June 28, 1882, pp. 1070-71. 118/. O. C., Nov. 1881, pp. 1707-08, No. 26. 119/. O.S., June 15, 1883, p. 701. 120 /. O. C„ Mar. 30, 1886, p. 627. 121/. O. C., Oct. 29, 1887, sess. extra., p. 1907.

OTHER

LAIC

LEGISLATION

205

disputed cases the justice of the peace could settle the issue. Penalties for violation of the will of the deceased were h e a v y . 1 " T h e Opportunists justified this law, as they did all these measures, on the ground that it would ensure freedom of conscience and equality. They asserted that full military honors had not been given civil funerals after 1873 by official orders, 12 ' and that they had had to take place before dawn and follow special routes. 124 Furthermore, the dying man, who was in a weakened condition, should be protected against obsessions and against the undue influence of the priest. Free-thinkers should have the right to solidarity as well as others. 1 " It was necessary to enact a law, because at present one could dispose only of property in a will. 126 A s usual, Bishop Freppel vehemently dissented. He felt that civil burials were a disgrace to a family and a pretext for antireligious demonstrations. Associations of free-thinkers formed to execute the will of the deceased in regard to his funeral violated the rights of the family. T h e law infringed upon the freedom of the priest, who was bound to give a man a religious burial if he had repented and received extreme unction, no matter whether he had made a declaration or not. 127 Under the common law a will regarding property might be broken if there had been a change in conditions or in the wish of the deceased, but the reporter of the bill made it clear in the Senate debates that for the deceased to have received the last sacraments was not sufficient evidence of such a change. The judge would have to determine if he had been in possession of his faculties and had acted freely. 128 122/. 0., 123 J.O.C.,

Nov. 18, 1887, p. 5077. Dec. 9. 1880, P- 12104, No. 3054.

124 J . O. C., Feb. 1882, p. 204, No. 332. 1 2 5 / . O. C„ M a y 7, 1882, pp. 514-16. 126/. O. S., June 13, 1883, p. 680. 1 2 7 / . O. C., M a y 7, 1882, pp. 512-14. 125 J . O.S.,

June 15, 1883, pp. 689, 694.

206

THE F R E N C H LAIC LAWS

Protest was of no avail. A f t e r 1887 any priest who gave religious burial after a death-bed conversion might be liable to heavy penalties or violate the teachings of his church and his conscience. E v e r y encouragement was given to those who wished a civil funeral, despite the wishes of their families. Once they had declared their intention to have such a burial, it would be carried out, unless their subsequent careers patently contradicted such an engagement, even if they had been converted just before death, when there was not time or strength to sign a new declaration. The Senate had called this measure " a law concerning the freedom of funerals," 128 a title which had as ironic a sound to the Right as that of the law " f o r the freedom of higher education " ! The L e f t was less successful in its effort to abolish the monopolistic control of church vestries over funerals. A bill to this effect, proposed by Lefebvre of the radical L e f t on December 1 3 , 1 8 8 1 , was accepted by the Chamber by 3 4 6 - 1 0 2 on November 1 2 , 1883, although a considerable number of the L e f t , including Ferry, Bert, and Waldeck-Rousseau and some Bonapartists did not vote. 1 3 0 According to its terms, municipal councils alone could furnish the equipment f o r funerals, either directly or through secular undertakers. The municipal decorations were not to have emblems peculiar to any religion, but the vestries and consistories could supply special ornaments if the family so desired. The burial of the poor was to be at communal expense. 1 3 1 The anti-clericals argued that this arrangement would prevent the priest f r o m giving a religious burial against the will of the deceased, would take care of the poor, 1 3 2 and would keep country vestries from refusing to supply nonCatholics with a hearse. 133 129/. O. S., 1887, pp. 9-10, No. 28. 130 J.O.C., Nov. 13, 1883, pp. 2311-12.

131 /. O. C., Nov. 13, 1880, pp. 2292-95. 132 J.O. C„ April 3, 1879. P- 2863, No. 1253. 133/. O. C., Jan. 1882, p. n , No. 254.

OTHER

LAIC

LEGISLATION

20J

Those who believed the vestries should retain the monopoly of funerals said that this privilege had been given them in 1804 to compensate for property taken in 1789, and to enable them to meet their expenses, especially the salary of vicars. Dividing the arrangements between the two parties would only increase the financial burden and give the commune the power to make the funeral partly civil. 1 " Moreover, Jews would not wish the hearses used by other faiths. 135 The Senate re-wrote the bill, giving families the right to choose between funerals conducted by vestries and by the communes. In case the one refused to transport the body, the other must do so ; while burial of the poor was to be carried out by either at a fixed rate. 138 It was believed that these terms would avoid disputes, relieve expense, and provide for country parishes far f r o m the commune. 137 Some felt that churches would not assume responsibility for the poor, except for those of their own faith. 138 The Senate bill, adopted on January 25, 1886, was not acted upon by the Chamber, and the question is interesting only as one more attack upon the privileged position of the Church. IV A s has been apparent in the discussion of funeral legislation, the relationship between the churches and the commune was becoming more clearly defined during this period, and many functions and much property formerly in ecclesiastical hands were being taken over by the civil authorities. The administration of charities, in which the clergy had once taken a large part, was now regarded as the responsibility of the central and local government. A bill introduced by Victor Plessier of the Extreme L e f t was passed by the Chamber by 326-99 134/. O. C., Mar. 19, 1882, pp. 349-50. 135/. O . C . , Nov. 13, 1883, p. 2293. 136/. O. S., 1885, pp. 273-75, No. 264. 137 /. 138/.

O. S., 1885, p. 272, No. 264. O.S., Nov. 20, 1885, p. 1184.

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THE

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LAWS

on July 30, 1879, after modifications by the Senate, and became law on August 6. 139 B y its terms committees for the administration of hospitals and benevolent bureaux, which had previously been composed of the mayor, elder cure, representatives of the Jewish and Protestant churches, and five men appointed by the prefect, 110 were now to consist of the mayor, t w o men elected by the municipal council, and four appointed by the prefect. 141 Although there was considerable disagreement as to whether the municipal council or the prefect should choose the members of the charitable committees, there was pretty general condemnation from the L e f t of clerical representation. It was said that the cure would be irremovable, irresponsible, and prejudiced in favor of religious rather than charitable institutions. 142 A l l Frenchmen should be equal before the law. 143 The French Revolution had made public aid a state service. 144 T h e religious orders which administered hospitals were accused of using property intended for the sick and poor for personal profit. 146 It was insinuated that politics entered charity and that the votes of inmates of charitable institutions were always unfavorable to the republic. 146 A government official went so far as to accuse the benevolent bureaux of using a large part of their resources to pay the school fees of children in religious schools. 147 The opposition declared that religion was the natural and necessary ally of charity, and that until 1789 the clergy had taken a large part in its administration. They feared that under 139 J.O.C.,

J u l y 31, 1879, PP. 7833-34.

140 / . O. C., D e c . 20, 1877, pp. 8558-59, N o . 189. 141 / . O . , A u g . 7, 1879, P. 8233. 1 4 2 / . O.C.,

M a r . 6, 1879, p. 1740, N o . 1173.

143 / . O. C., M a r . 25, 1877, P- 2 4 ' 6 .

N

°-

144 J.O.C.,

M a r . 21, 1879, p. 2293.

1 4 5 / . O.C.,

M a r . 26, 1879, pp. 2515-20.

146 / . O. S., J u l y 9, 1879, p. 6366. 1 4 7 / . 0. S., J u l y 11, 1879, P. 6473.

8i

7-

OTHER

LAIC

LEGISLATION

2C>9

the new system politics would play a part in the direction of hospitals. 148 They said that the cure was especially fitted to care for the goods of the poor and to assure the fair distribution of aid, since he knew the poor more intimately. He could help coordinate public and private charity and encourage the giving of alms and represent the sisters of charity who served in some hospitals. He need not necessarily have permanent tenure. 1 " It was pointed out that the law would mean the immediate dispersal of 1,450 hospital committees and 1 3 , 3 5 0 benevolent bureaux, or 79,000 members in all, a grave matter. 180 The new law regarding the administration of charities gave the government the opportunity to establish republican supporters in one more branch of the administration. The principle of decentralization was defeated once more, although the communes were given some right of selection. The representatives of religious interests, who might be considered especially qualified for charitable work, were denied any privileged status, and the lay character of philanthropy was affirmed. If religious sympathies were excluded from charity, there was no guarantee that political sympathies would be absent. The contentious matter of the relation between the commune and the church vestry was regulated in the lengthy law 011 municipal organization, which had been under consideration since 1876. It had been adopted by the Chamber by 432-64 on November 10, 1883, 1 5 1 revised by the Senate by 174-79 on March 29, 1884, 1 5 2 accepted by the Chamber on March 3 1 , 1 5 3 and finally promulgated April 5. 154 Ministers of the established 148 / . 0. C„ Mar. 21, 1879, pp. 2293-95. 1 4 9 / . O.S.,

July i i , 1879, pp. 6471-72.

1 5 0 / . O. S.. July 29, 1879, pp. 7665-67. 151 J.O.C.,

N o v . 11, 1883, p. 2290.

152 / . O. S., Mar. 30, 1884, p. 868. 1 5 3 / . 0. C., April 1, 1884, p. 966. 154 / . 0 . , April 6, 1884, pp. 1857-68; / . O. C., Feb. 1882, pp. 185-95, N o . 297.

2IO

THE

FRENCH

LAIC

LAWS

churches were no longer eligible to sit on the municipal council, although Bishop Freppel protested that this was unfair when the council could oversee the budget of the v e s t r y . 1 " T h e municipal council could also express an opinion on the creation of benevolent bureaux and on the budgets of charitable institutions, as well as on those of vestries. It was given this power, because the majority of vestry councils solicited funds from municipal councils. 156 The commune must assume as compulsory expenses an indemnity for lodgings for ministers of state churches, if the vestry could prove there were no buildings for them, and large scale repairs to communal churches, if the vestry had already exhausted its funds. The minister of cults was to be arbiter in case of dispute. The Right had held that the commune should give financial aid to the vestry, since the latter's property had been confiscated and given largely to the commune. The L e f t denied that any such obligation existed in the Concordat itself and pointed out that the vestry no longer had to pay the salary of the desservants,157 Paul Bert, supported by Clemenceau, tried to make it compulsory for property belonging to the commune but used by the Church, outside the terms of the Concordat, to be returned to the commune, 158 but it was finally agreed that this should be left to the option of the municipal council. Preparatory seminaries and buildings used by the religious orders might be affected by this. 159 T h e municipal police were to maintain good order in the churches and cemeteries without distinction because of faith, and the revenue from the cemeteries w a s to g o to the commune. Even such a minor matter as the ownership of church bells was disputed; it was at last acknowledged that they were especially connected with religious ceremonies, but might be used in an emergency in accordance with law or 155/. O. C., Feb. n , 1883, p. 271. 156/. O.C., Feb. 14, 1883, pp. 3I3-I5157/. O. C„ Mar. 2, 1883, pp. 431-37158 /. O. C., Nov. 7, 1883, pp. 2240-41. 159/. 0. C., Nov. 9, 1883, pp. 2255-60.

OTHER

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LEGISLATION

211

local usage. A key to the belfry was to be deposited with the ecclesiastical authorities, and another with the mayor, who could use it as the law provided. If the entrance to the belfry was not outside the church, the mayor was to have the key to the church. 180 A s the Chamber committee wrote in its report, a desire for communal liberty and religious neutrality inspired the law. 161 The most outstanding example of the secularization of church property was that of the Panthéon. Its history is also one of the most curious chapters in the story of the laic movement and one of the most symbolic, in its mingling of the patriotic and anti-clerical strains. Established by the dissolute Louis X V because of a vow he had made in a serious illness, the Church of St. Genevieve, later known as the Panthéon, had not yet been used for worship when the National Assembly, by a decree of April 4, 1791, declared that it should be consecrated to the burial of Frenchmen who had served the fatherland nobly and well. Religious symbols were removed from the church and the inscription, Aux Grands Hommes La Patrie Reconnaissante, was carved on its façade. Mirabeau, Voltaire, and Rousseau were interred there with appropriate ceremonies. A f t e r the reconciliation with the papacy, the Panthéon was restored to public worship in 1806 and served by the Chapter of Notre Dame. However, it was still to be the burial place for great men of the Empire, and it was there that celebrations of the anniversary of the Battle of Austerlitz and of Napoleon's coronation were to be held. Under the Restoration the tombs of Voltaire and of Rousseau were violated, and in 1821 the church was given over to public worship under the administration of the archbishop of Paris. One of the first acts of the July Revolution of 1830 was the restoration of the Panthéon to its revolutionary position, with the patriotic inscription. A n d just as surely, Napoleon III by a decree of 1851 returned it to 1 6 0 / . 0 . , A p r i l 6, 1884, pp. 1861-64. 161 J.

O. C., M a r . 1884, p. 284, N o . 2710.

212

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LAWS

the Church and endowed a community of priests with 24,000 francs a year to conduct services there. A s one deputy

re-

marked, what zeal the clergy must have shown in praying f o r the souls of V o l t a i r e and Rousseau ! 1 9 2 T h e republicans of 1876 were n o less eager to change the destiny of the unfortunate edifice. It is interesting to recall that Positivism had emphasized the cult of great men. 1 6 3 A number of deputies, f r o m all groups of the L e f t , headed by Bouchet o f the Republican Union, introduced a bill on July 20, 1876 to make the Panthéon a civic temple once more. In the accompanying report the Catholic clergy were

fiercely

and charac-

teristically denounced : These men, whose avowed mission is to urge the mind to triumph over the body, and who, nevertheless, strange to say, employ pagan methods to lay hold of the senses and thus govern the soul absolutely. Catholic temples are planned to enrapture one's eye by the splendor of their interior and exterior decorations, by the soft and bewitching light sifted through multi-colored glass ; to captivate the ear by the suave accents of the organ, harps, and human voices ; to please one's nostrils with the penetrating odor of incense. A n d , when the body is under the influence of these purely sensual satisfactions, the holy scriptures pour into the mind the principles of sweet fraternity, illustrated by the Inquisition; of tolerance, illustrated by the dragonnades of Cévennes ; of Christian charity, illustrated by St. Bartholomew ; of renunciation of terrestial goods, illustrated by the scandalous wealth of churches, of convents, and of religious orders of every description. 164 T h e Chamber took no action immediately, but the radicals made an attack during the budget discussions of

1876 and

1879,

when credits were asked f o r the decoration o f the Panthéon

166

and f o r the chaplains of St. Genevieve. In 1881 the E x t r e m e 1 6 2 / . O.C.,

A u g . 11, 1876, pp. 6243-44, N o . 339-

163 G o y a u , L'École

d'Aujourd'hui,

I I , 83.

1 6 4 / . O. C., A u g . 11, 1876, p. 6243, N o . 339. 165 Ibid.,

p. 6236.

OTHER

LAIC

LEGISLATION

2 13

L e f t reintroduced the bill, with an additional provision abolishing the chaplains of St. Genevieve and their dean. 160 Bishop Freppel hotly protested against this measure. Great men could still be buried in the Pantheon, he said, and to disa v o w St. Genevieve was to desert a very popular, patriotic, and national cult. 167 The chaplains had maintained a fertile center of oratory, one of France's greatest traditions. 168 H e was told, however, that " the worship of the glorious dead is one of the sentiments we have preserved, one which will remain profoundly engraved in our hearts." 169 The Chamber adopted the bill by 2 7 9 - 1 2 5 , although 91 members of the L e f t , L e f t Center, and Bonapartist group, including F e r r y and Waldeck-Rousseau, did not vote. 1 7 0 T h e Senate did not consider the bill because of the expiration of the legislature; and there the matter was allowed to rest, except f o r the suppression of the salary of the chaplains in 1 8 8 1 , until the death of the greatest literary figure in France, Victor H u g o , in M a y , 1885. The Chamber voted that he be given a national funeral, and bills restoring the Pantheon to the cult of great men and providing for his burial there were hastily introduced. 1 7 1 T h e government, however, chose to carry out these measures by decree. 172 The patriotic ceremony centering around the interment of the great author and senator was described by Goblet thus: . . . the funeral of Victor Hugo resembled a triumphal march. They had, several days previously, placed the catafalque under the A r c de Triomphe, magnificently decorated. The body, transported the night before, had been guarded during the night by soldiers 1 6 6 / . 0. C., April 16, 1881, p. 539, N o . 3575. 1 6 7 / . O. C., Mar. 6, 1881, p. 418. 1 6 8 / . O.C.,

July 20, 1881, p. 1698.

1 6 9 / . O. C„ Mar. 6, 1881, pp. 419-20. 1 7 0 / . O. C., July 20, 1881, p. 1703. 171 / . 0. C., May 24, 1885, pp. 899-901. 172 J.O., May 27, 1885, pp. 2705-06.

214

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bearing torches. T h e next day, in the morning, representatives of the President of the republic, of all the great bodies of the state, of the Senate, of the Chamber, of the magistrature, of the Institute, of the A c a d e m y , etc., met around the sarcophagus. N u m e r ous speeches were delivered. I spoke in the name of the government; then the cortege descended slowly, between two rows of an attentive and respectful crowd, the A v e n u e of the ChampsÉlysées, traversed the Place de la Concorde, and by way of the Boulevard Saint-Germain moved to the Panthéon, where new orators spoke ; innumerable delegations finally passed b e f o r e the body until evening, dipping their banners and laying, each in its turn, magnificent wreaths of flowers on the steps of the stairways, which were soon covered. . . . 1 7 3 S e v e r a l d a y s later the C o m t e de M u n interpellated the g o v ernment, a l l e g i n g that the P a n t h é o n could not be secularized b y decree, that it h a d been r e g a r d e d a s the W e s t m i n s t e r

of

F r a n c e f o r a time under the N a t i o n a l A s s e m b l y , and that the g o v e r n m e n t ' s action h a d violated f r e e d o m o f conscience. 1 7 4 In the S e n a t e B a r o n de R a v i g n a n declared that the g o v e r n m e n t h a d realized that the decrees w e r e illegal, but h a d yielded to the pressure o f the radicals. H e f e l t that great men o f r e l i g i o u s faith could n o l o n g e r be buried in the P a n t h é o n . 1 "

Goblet,

minister o f education and cults, replied, " W e are the s o n s o f the F r e n c h R e v o l u t i o n ; and w h a t w e d o today, w e d o to r e g a i n a temple consecrated b y the R e v o l u t i o n , in order to restore it t o its o r i g i n a l u s a g e . " H e claimed that the P a n t h é o n h a d been a religious b u i l d i n g only under the R e s t o r a t i o n . W h e n

seized

in 1 7 9 1 , it w a s unfinished, and n o public w o r s h i p h a d been held there. H e denied i n d i g n a n t l y

that the g o v e r n m e n t h a d

suc-

c u m b e d t o e x t e r n a l pressure a n d contended that previous action in r e g a r d to the P a n t h é o n h a d been taken by decree. 1 7 6 173 Goblet, " Souvenirs de ma Vie Politique," Revue Politique mentaire,

CXXXVIII

(1929), 364.

1 7 4 / . O. C„ M a y 29, 1885, pp. 925-26. 1 7 5 / . O. S„ M a y 31, 1885, pp. 617-19. 1 7 6 / . O.S.,

M a y 31, 1885, pp. 619-21.

et

The Parle-

OTHER

LAIC

LEGISLATION

215

government's policy was upheld by 330-88 in the Chamber, 177 and by 181-72 in the Senate.178 Once more the Panthéon became a temple of patriotism and the shrine of great heroes. Stripped of its cross and altar, of the warm vestments of religious worship, it was transformed into a stately and frigid edifice, filled with the cold marble of statues commemorating service to La Patrie. Today two objects seem to give it life : the series of soft-toned murals by Puvis de Chavannes, which depict the gracious and simple St. Genevieve engaged in her lowly task of bringing aid and comfort to the people of Paris; and the urn containing the heart of Gambetta, which somehow escaped being confined in the dank and chilling darkness of the crypt. Two other religious buildings were attacked during the decade, but perhaps because they were not to be turned over to patriotic uses, the bills failed. Jules Roche of the Extreme Left on January 21, 1882 asked that the Expiatory Chapel built by Louis X V I I I in the Rue d'Anjou to atone for the execution of Louis X V I be demolished, since a republican and national government had found the act a just one.179 A month earlier a group of deputies from the Extreme L e f t proposed that the Church of the Sacred Heart on Montmartre be destroyed, since it outraged freedom of conscience and had been opposed by the city of Paris. 180 The famous basilica had been authorized in 1873 ar>d begun in 1875, but mass was not celebrated in the crypt until 1881, and the nave was not completed until 1891. 181 Goblet, minister of the interior and of cults, admitted that it had been illegal to construct the church on territory belonging almost entirely to Paris and to consecrate it to a particular faith, but it was now too late to condemn it. 1 7 7 / . 0. C., May 29, 1885, pp. 938-391 7 8 / . O . S . , May 31, 1885, p. 627.

O. C„ Feb. 1882, p. 278. No. 328. O.C., Dec. 1881, p. 1970, No. 228. 181 Lecanuet. La Vic de l'Église sous Léon XIII, 179/.

180/.

pp. 124-25.

216

THE

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LAWS

T h e Chamber agreed to consider the bill, but never took any further action. 1 " 2

V T h e observance of holidays, which affect the recreation and labor of all the people and are often expressive of their ideals and aspirations, can be an important and irritating question to the masses. D u r i n g the French Revolution a republican calendar was adopted which was patriotic and anti-clerical in character. In like manner, the E x t r e m e L e f t in 1876 and 1877 proposed measures for the abrogation of the " blue law " of 1814, which had forbidden labor, sales, or the display of goods on Sundays or religious holidays and had prohibited, in cities with less than 5,000 people, drinking or g a m i n g in public houses during the hours for mass or vespers. T h e Chamber passed Maigne's bill by 329-96, with many Bonapartists abstaining, on December 1, 1879, 1 8 3 and the Senate concurred by 156-103 on M a y 27, 1880. 184 A f t e r the law of July 13, 1880 w a s promulgated, labor was legal ori Sundays except for officials, courts, and children in industry. 1 8 5 Those w h o asked for the right to labor on religious holidays said that this would ensure freedom of conscience and of the individual to work. It would g r a t i f y the Jews, w h o celebrated the sabbath on Saturday and did not recognize Catholic holid a y s ; the Protestants, w h o did not observe the feasts of the Assumption and of A l l S a i n t s ; and the Moslems, w h o celebrated Friday. It would follow the precedent set in the constitutions of the French Revolution and disavow that of the Restoration, when Catholicism was the state religion. It would not prevent anyone f r o m taking a holiday if he so desired; some Catholics liked well enough to be pious if it did not cost 182 J.O.C..

June 30, 1882, pp. 1075-79, 1092.

183 J. O. C., D e c . 2, 1879, p. 10577. 184 J. O. S„ 185 J.O.,

M a y 28, 1880, p. 5762.

J u l y 14, 1880, p. 8079-

OTHER

LAIC

LEGISLATION

21J

them anything! It was said that the law of 1814 depended for its enforcement largely on local feeling, although the courts regarded it as binding. 188 T h e Extreme L e f t took pains to deny that republicans were unsympathetic with the interests of labor. H a d they not given the worker universal suffrage and freedom from the domination of labor corporations, and were they not proposing to give him freedom of association? His day should be limited to ten hours so that he might educate himself and spend some time with his family. In some localities it was the custom on Sunday for the laborer to g o to town for mass or to hire workers for the coming week. If the weather were bad, it was only natural that he should go to the cabaret to discuss his affairs. 1 8 7 The nineteenth century " liberal " bourgeois spoke out in Senator Oudet, who asked if the Right wished to guarantee the worker a chicken in the pot from state funds or from their personal fortunes. T h e republic had given him civil and political rights and an education so that he might take care of his own interests! 1 8 8 Keller, speaking for the opposition, cleverly based his attack on social rather than religious grounds. H e accused the L e f t of being concerned exclusively with the interests of the aristocratic or bourgeois entrepreneurs and public officials. It was infinitely more important, he said, to make Sunday a day of leisure than to reduce the working day by an hour. W h e r e the French laborer worked 66 to 72 hours a week, the Englishman worked 57 and the American 48. The difference lay in the rigid observance of Sunday as a holiday in England and America. Keller proposed unsuccessfully to make Sunday a legal holiday on public works, local railroad trains, and in postal and telegraph offices, except in Paris and the departmental capitals. 189 186 J.O.C., Mar. 18, 1880, pp. 3169-70, No. 97. 187 J.O.C.. Dec. 2, 1879, pp. 10566-68. 188 J. O. S., M a y 8, 1880, p. 4930. 189 / . O. C., Dec. 2, 1879, pp. 10561-67.

218

THE

FRENCH

LAIC

LAWS

The Right dwelt upon the important point that freedom for the worker to labor or rest on Sunday was only illusory, since economic competition would force the Catholic to work if others did so. 190 A s far as freedom of conscience was concerned, Catholics were overwhelmingly in the majority, and Protestants celebrated Sunday as a holiday. In 1872 there had been only 50,000 Jews in France, and these were practically all leaders in commerce and industry employing Catholics. A n d then what difference could it make to free-thinkers whether Sunday was chosen as a day of rest or not? N o one was obliged to worship on that day. Even the French Revolution had had its Day of Decadi. 1 9 1 It is interesting to see the stand of the different political groups when religious and social questions coincided. The anticlerical spirit was sufficiently strong to persuade several members of the Extreme L e f t , who would ordinarily have sponsored the interests of labor, to take an individualistic position. Some of the Right took a progressive view and supported moderate state action in behalf of the worker, in other words, the tenets of the Social Catholic movement, of which De Mun was a leader. The L e f t , true to its alliance with business interests, stood for laissez-faire, which, happily for it, coincided with its religious interests. That it was not entirely comfortable, however, is evident from the fact that 85 deputies abstained from voting on the law in the Chamber, while 329 supported and 96 opposed it. 192 Like so much of this anti-clerical legislation, the measure only defined what had long been custom. It injured the feelings and economic position of devout Catholics, satisfied the pride of the free-thinker, and attested to the laic character of the state. In its emphasis on freedom of conscience and of labor and in its abolition of religious holidays, the new law revived another feature of the Jacobin period. 190/. O. S., May 8, 1880, p. 4934. 191 J. O. C., Dec. 2, 1879, pp. 10561-69. 192 J. O. C., Dec. 2, 1879, p. 10577.

OTHER

LAIC

LEGISLATION

219

A bill sponsored by Joseph Fabre and 2 5 2 deputies f r o m all groups of the L e f t who wished an annual celebration to be held on M a y 8 in commemoration of J o a n of A r c was proposed J u n e 30, 1884. T h e legislature ended before the bill could be discussed, but J e a n Macé opposed it. Jules Fabre, on the other hand, urged the republic not to be hostile to religion. W h a t if J o a n had had superstitions? She had saved France, and had been morally beautiful. Perhaps some of the deputies recalled that Auguste Comte had paid homage to her patriotism and had proposed that a fête be held in her honor. 1 8 3 Remembering that the Constituent Assembly and the Convention had removed the name of God f r o m oaths, Jules Roche and others of the E x t r e m e L e f t proposed a bill on February 6, 1 8 8 2 to guarantee freedom of conscience in the courtroom. According to the terms of the measure, the formula f o r the oath was to be " on your honor and your conscience, swear," the words " before God and before men " were to be suppressed, and no religious emblem was to be placed in the courtroom. 1 9 4 Roche's action was followed immediately by a series of incidents like that at A i x , where the foreman of a jury refused to give the deistic formula. 1 " 5 T h e government then sponsored a similar measure, save that it permitted the word " swear " to be replaced by " promise." 1 B 6 In the ensuing discussion in the Chamber and Senate the deputies and senators aired their religious views so extensively that Eugène Pelletan remarked, " In truth, when I hear all these questions touched on at this tribune, I wonder if we are in a council or at the Sorbonne." 1 9 7 T h e L e f t was divided in its opinion to a greater extent than ever. The chief battle was waged over the intriguing question whether the word " swear " 193 Goyau, L'École d'Aujourd'hui, 1528; Dec., 1884, p. 1116, No. 2926.

I I , 283-88; J . O . C . , July 1, 1884, p.

1 9 4 / . O. C„ Feb. 1882, pp. 300-01, No. 383. 195 J . O . C . . J a n . 1882, p. 1 5 3 1 , N o . 8 7 1 .

1 9 6 / . O . C.,

Mar. 19, 1882, p. 346.

1 9 7 / . O . S . , Feb. 3, 1883, p. 76.

220

THE FRENCH

LAIC

LAWS

had any religious significance. Some held that an oath was religious only when it was intended to be so. There was the case of the Tennis Court Oath. W h a t if Bailly had kept his hands in his pockets when he promised that the deputies would not separate without having drawn up a constitution? 1 9 8 T h e Masons required their initiates to take an oath. When Joseph Fabre o f the Republican Union, a professor of philosophy, quoted Spinoza's suggestion that, since each man understood the divinity in his own way, they should swear by liberty and the security of the fatherland, serious-minded Spuller exclaimed, " T h a t is the true f o r m u l a ! " 1 9 9 Some of the L e f t believed that an oath was essentially religious in nature, an invocation to an omniscient God as witness of the truth and an imprecation of vengeance on one who foreswore. Had not Christ forbidden swearing in Matthew V ? 2 0 0 T w o different conclusions followed from this view. One might either suppress the oath entirely or, as the government wished, permit two kinds of oaths, a practise followed in most European countries. But it was objected that the latter course would arouse religious prejudices in the courtroom. 2 0 1 Bishop Freppel stated firmly his belief that the oath had always had a religious significance. Those who used it felt the need o f an appeal to eternal truth when even the honest man's self interest was concerned. Honor and conscience were not absolute terms unless based on the idea of God. St. Paul had written in the Epistle to the Hebrews, " T h e oath is the greatest assurance that men can give to end their differences " and had urged that they swear by one greater than themselves and immovable. Calvin, too, had believed in an oath. T h e laws should not be made for a small minority. 1 0 2 198/. O. C., June 2i, 1882, p. 984. 1 9 9 / . O. C„ June 23, 1882, p. 994. 2 0 0 / . O. C„ June 1882, p. 1533. No. 871. 201 / . O. C., June 23, 1882, pp. 1002-03. 202 Ibid., pp. 997-1000.

OTHER

LAIC

LEGISLATION

221

The second issue in the debates was the suppression of religious emblems in the courtroom. Jules Roche condemned the cross as " the image of an innocent God, tortured by a just God, to satisfy a beneficent God." 303 Freppel asked that it be retained to remind the judge of fairness and the accused of resignation. 204 The government took the same position, because it wished to let sleeping dogs lie and felt that the judges could remove religious emblems as public opinion changed. The majority of the L e f t , however, wished their removal to carry out the secularization of the state.208 The Chamber adopted the Roche bill, which the majority of the L e f t favored, by 263-137, although Ferry, Goblet, and Waldeck-Rousseau did not vote. 208 But the Senate discarded it in favor of a more moderate bill, which did not suppress religious emblems and obliged all to swear ; but permitted jurors to say simply " on my honor and my conscience " and to eliminate the words " before God " if they requested this before the opening of a hearing. 207 Jules Simon of the L e f t and W a l lon, Barthélémy Saint-Hilaire, and Bardoux of the L e f t Center joined the Right in opposing this reading. 20 " The Chamber insisted upon its original bill in 1884, 1889, and 1890.208 It was not until 1904 that the crucifix was removed from the courts, while the oath still contained the name of God, although the judges did not invoke His name. 210 Allou of the L e f t Center probably expressed the opinion of the majority when he said that he believed civil society and the state should be superior in power to the Church, but that he had a horror of useless 203 J. O. C., J u n e 25, 1882, p. 1012. 204 J. O. C., J u n e 23, 1882, p. 1000. 205 / . O. C., J u n e 25, 1882, p. 1017. 2 0 6 / . O. C„ J u n e 25, 1882, p. 1027. 207 J. O.S.,

M a r . 1883, pp. 475-78, N o . 7-

2 0 8 / . O. S., Feb. 3. 1883, p. 89. 2 0 9 / . O. C., Jan. 1884, pp. 2101-02, N o . 2396; 1889, pp. 1272-73, N o . 3847; 1890, pp. 1589-92, N o . 839. 210 T a v e r n i e r , Cinquante

Ans

de Politique,

p. 13.

222

THE

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LAIC

LAWS

violence, which only alienated the followers of the republic. He felt that politics could not be logical. There was one problem arising from social necessities, he said, but it was not this problem.211 Anti-clericals even went so far as to have the words Dieu protège la France struck from the national currency by executive order. 212 On August 13, 1884 the National Assembly, which had met at Versailles to revise the constitution, voted by 501-180 to accept article four, which suppressed the requirement in the law of July 16, 1875 that public prayers in behalf of the assemblies should be addressed to God in the churches and temples the Sunday following the return of parliament. The Right naturally contested this article, while many of the Left Center and some of the Left did not vote.213 Bishop Freppel denounced it as a declaration of official atheism. He said that public prayers gave a religious consecration to the constitution and enhanced its prestige. They did not encroach upon religious freedom, since attendance on them was not compulsory. It was inconsistent to abolish them when the priest was still required to pray for the republic.214 But the majority upheld the view that the state should remain neutral in religious matters. In the law of July 29, 1881, which gave a much broader freedom to the press, an outrage to public and religious morality or to a religion recognized by the state and an attack against the freedom of the churches were no longer punishable as crimes, as they had been under the laws of 1819 and 1832. Let God avenge Himself and religion rely upon its own strength, said those in favor of this change. Freedom of conscience and of worship should be guaranteed by law, but doctrine should not be. Public morality, which was based upon the 2 1 1 / . O . S . , Dec. 5, 1882, p. m i . 212 Tavemier, op. cit., p. 13. 2 1 3 / . O., Assemblée 214 J.O.C.,

Nationale,

Aug. 14, 1884, pp. 175-76.

July 4. 1884, pp. 1570-71.

OTHER

eternal

truths

of

LAIC

conscience,

LEGISLATION

could

differ

223

from

religious

morality. 2 1 5 T w o concessions, h o w e v e r , were still made to religion. T h e d e f a m a t i o n of a minister of one of the established faiths was still punishable, 2 1 8 and the church, to set it apart f r o m political struggles, 2 1 7 w a s excluded f r o m the list of public buildings on which electoral notices could be posted. 2 1 8 215/. O. C., July 18, 1880, pp. 8297-98, No. 2865. 216/. O., July 30, 1881, p. 4203. 217 /. O. C., Dec. 1881, pp. 1975-76, No. 242. 218 /. O. S., July 10, 1881, pp. 1092-94.

CHAPTER VII ATTACKS ON THE CONCORDAT AND RELIGIOUS ORDERS I

T H E Concordat itself was not immune from attack by the more radical elements in the Chamber. In April, 1876 Floquet asked for the suppression of the budget of the established churches, 1 and in the'following November a similar proposal, made by Boysset and Talandier of the Extreme L e f t , mustered sixty-two votes. 2 Boysset renewed his demand in the spring of 1 8 7 8 / and the next year introduced a bill for the abrogation of the Concordat and Organic Articles. He was supported by seventeen deputies, among them the arch-radicals Clemenceau, Floquet, Louis Blanc, Édouard Lockroy, A l f r e d Naquet, and Barodet, whose names have figured frequently in the account of anti-clerical activities. 4 For reasons already discussed, the Chamber committee opposed consideration of the bill. 5 In the elections of 1881 separation of church and state was fifth in rank among the questions considered by the deputies. It was preceded by revision of the constitution, military reform, compulsory, free, lay primary education, and peace, in the order mentioned. T w o hundred and thirty-three deputies stated their views on separation of church and state, of which 140 clearly demanded it. O f the 163 who favored separation, 18 were indefinite as to when it should be carried out, and 15 added strong restrictions. Forty-five protested against the anticlerical policy of the republic. 6 1 L'Année Politique, April, 1876, p. 128. 2 Ibid., Nov. 1876, pp. 340-413 Hanotaux, Histoire de la France Contemporaine, I V , 247. 4 J.O.C..

July 3I, 1879, P. 7823.

5 J. O. C., May 20, 1880, p. 5445, No. 2589. See pp. 34-38. 6 J. O. C., Jan. 1883, pp. 47, 53-54, No. 808. 224

ATTACKS

ON

THE

CONCORDAT

225

W i t h the advent of Gambetta to power in the fall of 1881, Boysset introduced his bill once more, and now 85 of his colleagues dared to append their names to his measure. 7

The

Protestant pastor, Jules Steeg of the Republican Union, recommended consideration of the bill in a report which was adopted by the Chamber by 338-132, t w o months after the fall of Gambetta. Freycinet, then premier, rallied all groups of the L e f t to its consideration on the ground that it would give the Chamber an opportunity to debate the relations between church and state, even though the Concordat should not be abrogated for an indeterminate period. T h e Jeromist Bonapartists and some of the L e f t joined the opposition to this step.8 Thus the radicals were allowed to blow off steam safely. In like manner the government sent to the committee on the Concordat a bill introduced by Jules Roche and others of the Extreme L e f t for the separation of church and state and secularization of church property.' But on this occasion the Chamber recommended consideration by only 280-130, with 99 abstaining. The Extreme L e f t and Republican Union were in sympathy with this, but many of the L e f t , L e f t Center, and Bonapartist group did not vote. Some of the L e f t even joined the monarchists. 10 In the budget discussion of 1882 an amendment proposed by Lockroy and Talandier for the suppression of credits for the established churches was defeated by 348-83." Paul Bert, in a lengthy report on the problem of the Concordat, rejected separation in 1883. 12 Although the government was frequently asked to discuss it in the Chamber, it never permitted such a debate to take place in 1884 and 1885. 7 / . O. C., Nov. 18, 1881, p. 2041. 8 /. O. C., Mar. 8, 1882, pp. 250-52. 9 J. O. C., Mar. 1882, pp. 393-98, No. 403. 10/. O. C , May 16, 1882, pp. 616-1711 Despagnet, La République

et le Vatican,

p. 107.

1 2 / . O . C . , Oct. 1883, pp. 1174-75, No. 1947.

226

THE

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LAIC

LAWS

In the elections of 1885 separation of church and state and the recall of the ambassador to the Vatican were demanded by radical deputies, 13 but the conservative gains in the elections forced Henri Brisson to admit that separation had been rejected by universal suffrage. Bishop Freppel claimed that of 580 deputies, not 80 had asked for it in their platforms. 1 4 Nevertheless, in December of that year, Planteau and Michelin proposed this reform once more, 15 and the following June the Chamber agreed to consider it by 289-240, with the approval of Goblet. Ferry and Waldeck-Rousseau, the L e f t Center, Jeromist Bonapartists, and the monarchists were in the minority; the majority was composed of the Extreme L e f t , Republican Union and Left. 1 9 The hold which the idea of communal autonomy had over the radicals is evident in Yves-Guyot's bill of May, 1886 for the transfer of the administration of religion from the central government to the commune, which should acquire title to church property and decide by a majority vote whether or not to contribute to the support of the church." The intolerance of the Extreme L e f t is manifest in a bill of February 13, 1882 for a census of religious opinions every five years to prove that France did not have a large Catholic majority. 1 8 T h e same group proposed the suppression of credits for the French ambassador to the Vatican in 1876 and every year thereafter until 1891, save for 1877, 1878, and 1885. It argued that maintenance of the ambassador implied French recognition of the temporal claims of the pope, and it refused to recognize that the pope had any spiritual authority over France. The government justified its retention of the ambassador by the existence of the Concordat, the high moral authority of the pope, and 13 Despagnet, op. cit., pp. 13-14. 1 4 / . O. C., June 1, 1886, p. 996. 15 J. O. C., July, 1886, p. 765, N o . 257. 1 6 / . O. C., June 1, 1886, pp. 994-1002. 17 / . O. C., Dec. 1886, pp. 1764-66, N o . 746. 1 8 / . O.C..

Feb. 1882, pp. 370-71, N o . 418.

ATTACKS

ON T H E

CONCORDAT

227

19

the public services of religion. Gambetta agreed with this stand.20 For reasons we have already analyzed, many members of the Chamber and of the executive branch of the government did not favor separation of church and state, but stricter execution of the Concordat and Organic Articles. On their own initiative some deputies proposed measures which meddled in the internal discipline of the Church in order to reduce the authority of the bishop, increase the independence and dignity of the lesser clergy, and tighten government control of the clergy as a whole. They believed that the Church could be divorced from its monarchist affiliations, if not republicanized, through winning the sympathies of the lesser clergy. 21 Bills inspired by these ideas were proposed by Guichard and Parent in December, 1876, by Corentin-Guyho of the Left Center in November, 1880, by Saint-Martin in June, 1879, by Bernard-Lavergne in 1882, by Jules Roche in the same year, and by Bert in 1883. In these measures the position of desservants was strengthened by requiring government approval of their nomination, dismissal, or resignation.*2 No new curé would be acceptable until his predecessor had reported to the government that his resignation had been voluntary. The bishop might choose the curé with the approval of the government only from candidates who had been examined by a jury of priests named by the minister of cults from nominees of the bishop. The cathedral chapter should elect canons, whose functions or salary were not to be usurped by the vicars general. The curé must consent to the presence of the vicar in the parish before the latter could draw a salary. The bishop must be a doctor of theology from a faculty recognized by the state. There need 19 P. Xibroyet, L'Ambassadc 1912). 20 Gambetta, Discours, 21 J.O.C., 2961.

de Francc

au Vatican,

1870-1904

(Paris,

VI, 54-56.

Dec. 9, 1876, p. 9159, Xo. 584; Dec. 5, 1880, pp. 11954-60, No.

2 2 / . O. C.. Dec. 9, 1876, p. 9159, No. 584.

228

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LAWS

no longer be ten archbishops and fifty bishops, and salaries of the clergy might be changed annually. The state would give its scholarships to students in the m a j o r seminaries individually a f t e r agreement between the prefect and bishop. In Bert's bill these scholarships and the salary of canons were to be abolished. T h o s e chosen to teach in the seminaries must be approved by the minister of cults, with the advice of the minister of education. H o w e v e r , it w a s no longer necessary f o r them to teach the Declaration of 1682. 23 In these bills, in addition to undergoing the " declaration of abuse," 24 the clergy might be prosecuted in the courts, especially for influencing the vote of electors in the course of their ministry, and their salary might be suppressed f o r a year. T h e y must produce a certificate of residence to obtain their pay. 25 A n y state official w h o refused to marry one w h o had been a member of the priesthood or religious order was to be punished. 26 These measures were never even discussed in the chambers, but in 1883 the Council of State said that the g o v ernment could suspend or suppress the salary of the clergy of every rank, and based its decision on the state's right to watch over public services, on its right to order saisie du temporal as under the old régime, on the article of the Con23 J.O.C., Dec. 5, 1880, pp. 11958-59, No. 2961; May 1882, pp. 1124-31, No. 742; Feb. 1882, p. 291, No. 373; Oct. 1883, pp. 1178-85, No. 1947. See page 14, note 15. 24 According to the law of April 8, 1802, abus by ecclesiastics was defined as usurpation or excessive use of power, infraction of the laws and rules of the state, infraction of the French canonical laws and attempts against the liberties and customs of the Gallican Church, and proceedings in the exercise of religion which compromised the honor of, troubled the freedom of conscience of, or oppressed citizens. An appeal against such acts might be made by laymen to the Council of State, or by clergymen to the same body against a civil official who prevented the exercise of their religion. The Council of State could only decide whether there had been abus, it could not inflict a penalty. De Broglie, An Ambassador of the Vanquished, p. 149, note. 25 J.O.C., No. 1516. 26 J.O.C.,

Oct. 1883, pp. 1178-85, No. 1947; July 9, 1879, PP. 6393-95, Feb. 11, 1877, p. 1076, N o . 742.

A T T A C K S ON T H E

CONCORDAT

229

cordat which recognized the head of the state as having the rights and prerogatives formerly held by the kings of France with the papacy, and on the precedent of the French Revolution and nineteenth century.27 The Chamber upheld this opinion by 3 1 7 - 1 5 6 in December, 1885, with over sixty not voting, among them Ferry. 28 II It should now be clear that the religious orders were made to bear the brunt of anti-clerical resentment. The Jesuits were the chief scape-goats, but the unauthorized, and to some extent the authorized, orders were also attacked. We have described the controversy over Article Seven and the effect of the decrees excluding the Jesuits and other unauthorized orders from the country. Even before the proposal of Article Seven, in the budget discussions of 1878 the Chamber decided that seminaries whose direction and instruction were confided to unauthorized religious associations would not be given state scholarships.29 The Comte de Mun protested that nothing in the Concordat or Organic Articles denied the right of bishops to choose their own professors in ecclesiastical seminaries and claimed that this proposal was only a pretext for attacking these orders. 30 Bardoux, minister of cults, said that it was not a question of suppressing the scholarships, but of forbidding religious orders to have moral and civil personality without the intervention of the state.31 The authority of the bishop over the seminary was not contested; 32 but since article seven of the Concordat provided that bishops could establish seminaries without the state's being obliged to endow them, the latter could give scholarships as it pleased.33 27 J. O. S., May 6, 1883, pp. 430-38. 28 J. O. C., Dec. 16, 1885, pp. 264-65. 2 9 / . O. S., Mar. 26, 1878, p. 3421. 307. O. C., Feb. 22, 1878, pp. 1856-57. 31 J. O. C., Feb. 22, 1878, p. 1863. 32 / . O. S., Mar. 26, 1878, p. 3428. 33J.O.C..

Feb. 22, 1878, p. 1856.

-'3°

T H E

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LAWS

The religious orders were also discriminated against in a law of 1884 giving freedom of association to all but religious groups. Formerly the Penal Code had provided that no association of more than twenty persons could meet for any purpose without the consent of the government and without submitting to certain conditions. International associations, especially those of workingmen, had been proscribed by a law of 1 8 7 2 . " O n March 23, 1876 Naquet proposed a bill abrogating all laws restraining the right of meeting and association, 35 and again on June 1, 1878; 3 8 but the government decided to separate the two questions. It secured the passage of the law of June 30, 1881, by which public meetings were henceforth free and could take place without previous authorization after a declaration of time, place, and object had been given to the prefect. Secret societies, however, were prohibited. 37 Cantagrel of the Extreme L e f t proposed bills for the freedom of association in 1877 and 1879, 38 and Louis Blanc in 1880; 3 9 but in these the religious orders were excluded from the privilege. It will be remembered that in the spring of 1880, after the decrees against the unauthorized orders had been issued, Freycinet and Lavigerie wished to delay the execution of the second decree until a law regulating associations had been enacted. Such a bill was proposed by Dufaure of the L e f t Center on June 17, 1880, in which religious orders were placed under the jurisdiction of the common l a w ; 4 0 but the Chamber on July 10 rejected consideration of a similar bill,41 introduced 3 4 J . O . C . , D e c . 15, 1879, pp. 11126-28, No. 1919. 3 5 / . O. C„

Sept. 24, 1876, p. 7148, N o . 487-

3 6 J . O . C . , J u n e 25, 1878, p. 7036, N o . 772. 37 7. 0 . , J u l y 1, 1881, p. 3625. S e e pp. 121-22 on the legal status of F r e e masonry. 3 8 / . O . C . , J a n . 27, 1877, p. 634, N o . 701; A p r i l 3, 1879, pp. 2866-67, N o . 1262. 3 9 / . 0. C.,

J a n . 25, 1880, pp. 756-59-

4 0 / . O . S . , J u l y 8, 1880, pp. 7747-48, No. 375. S e e p. 18. 41 / . 0. C„ J u l y u , 1880, p. 7946.

ATTACKS

ON

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23I

1879,42

by Marcel Barthe of the Left on November 27, and shortly thereafter Dufaure died. His work, however, was taken up by Jules Simon, who managed to have the Dufaure bill discussed by the Senate after the government had had it adjourned six times on one pretext or another. The Dufaure bill provided that any association for religious, political, scientific, or other purposes could be organized if its founders first declared to the prefect its object, name, members, and statutes. After such a statement it could meet or live in common, but it could possess no real property beyond that strictly necessary for its purpose, nor acquire real or personal property nor receive gifts nor belong to a profit and loss society. It could become an association of utilité publique only by a special law, after which it could buy and sell property and sue in the courts. Recognition given previously by decree or by the laws of 1817 and 1825 would still be valid. Existing associations which were not recognized by law and not establishments of utilité publique were to make a declaration within three months. Secret and civil and commercial societies, as well as the International Association of Workingmen, were to be excluded from the effects of the law. 4 ' In the elections of 1881 freedom of association was sixth in rank among the reforms advocated, with 154 candidates in favor of it. However, 29 of these specifically excluded the religious orders from the right.41 Simon fought almost single-handed for his bill, except for some aid from Chesnelong of the Right. He defended the Catholic Church and the religious orders with the same arguments which were utilized in the fight against Article Seven. He declared that the state was not legally aware of the existence of vows, which should not be the concern of legislation. The state did not need the assent of the Church to modify the Organic Articles, and hence could change article eleven, which 42 J.O.C..

Dec. 15, 1879, PP- 11125-29, No. 1919.

43 J. O.S., Aug. 1882, p. 429, No. 318. 44/. O. C., Jan. 1883, pp. 47, 52, No. 808.

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suppressed all ecclesiastical establishments except seminaries. The Constitution of 1848 had promised freedom of association. 45 His opponents took issue with every one of these contentions." It was largely due to the intervention of WaldeckRousseau, minister of the interior, that article one, and hence the whole bill was defeated by 161-118. T h e L e f t and L e f t Center were divided by the issue.47 The minister asserted that the bill really restricted freedom of association in forcing lay associations to conform to the provisions for religious orders. " N o true liberty can be a threat to the state," he said. Moreover, the question of associations between Frenchmen and foreigners had not been solved. Accordingly, he would draw up a new bill.48 In the meantime Eymard-Duvernay of the L e f t proposed a measure which resembled Simon's, except that it gave the government rather than the courts the right to dissolve associations and enumerated illegal organizations, among them those enrolling both Frenchmen and foreigners. 49 Georges G r a u x of the radical L e f t asked that religious orders engaged in prayer or work within a convent be regulated by the common law on associations, and that those engaged in teaching or preaching be authorized by law. 50 Waldeck-Rousseau's measure, introduced on October 23, 1883, enfranchised common law associations, except those between foreigners and Frenchmen and religious orders. It required religious orders to seek authorization and forbade perpetuation of their property in the person of one or several members. 51 But it was never considered by the Chamber. 45 J.O.S.,

A u g . 1882, pp. 424-25. N o . 318.

4 6 / . O.S., A u g . 1882, p. 424, N o . 3 1 8 ; M a r . 6, 1883. pp. 230-43. 47 J. O. S., M a r . 9, 1883, p. 274. 48 J. O. S., M a r . 7, 1883, pp. 256-59. 49 J.O.S.,

A u g . 1882, p. 428, N o . 318.

50 / . O. C„ Dec. 1882, pp. 2614-15, N o . 145751 J. O. S., Dec. 4, 1883, pp. 1018-20, N o . 4-

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ON T H E

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233

Further requests for complete freedom of association made in 1886 were unsuccessful. 52 The property of the dispersed orders was not confiscated, showing Ferry's respect for property, 5Î and attempts to curtail the possessions of the orders in the association bills failed, as we have seen. However, two laws were enacted to check mortmain by taxation. On December 9, 1880 Henri Brisson proposed an amendment to the budget of 1881, which was somewhat modified by the Senate and became part of the law of December 28, 1880. It provided that all societies and authorized or unauthorized orders whose revenue was not distributed in whole or in part among their members should pay the tax levied by the law of June 29, 1872, based upon revenue assessed, in default of a declaration from the society or of a ruling of the administrative council, at 5 per cent of the valuation of their real and personal property. All societies or civil associations must pay a tax on property left them at the death of their members.54 Authorized orders were exempt from this " tax on increment," which in some cases was 1 1 per cent of the capital acquired, because they already paid a mortmain tax. 55 Brisson told the Chamber that the religious orders paid a tax of only 600,000 francs on property worth 7 1 4 millions in 1879. They had escaped the revenue tax of 1872 on the plea that their capital consisted only of landed property of indeterminate value and that their revenue was not distributed among their members. The authorized orders formed civil societies to avoid taxation and the need for government approval of new acquisitions; and the unauthorized orders took over property as private citizens and kept it as collective bodies, a practise upheld by the courts. 59 5 2 / . O. C., Dec. 1886, pp. 1741-42, No. 731 ; Jan. 1887, p. 25, No. 799; Jan. 1887, pp. 322-23, No. 957; 1887, p. 466, No. 1036. 53 De Roux, Origines et Fondations

de ¡a 3e République,

5 4 / . O., Dec. 29, 1880, p. 13013. 55 Barbier, op. cit., II, 78-79. 56 J.O.C.,

Dec. io, 1880, pp. 12151-57.

p. 350.

234

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LAWS

Bishop Freppel protested dealing with this question in a budget discussion and treating authorized and unauthorized orders in the same manner, when the regulations governing them differed. He believed that the bill violated the equality of the citizen before the law, because religious orders must pay real and personal property taxes twice over, once like all taxpayers, on the revenue from real and personal property, and a second time on the revenue calculated at 5 per cent of the same property. Other kinds of associations could pay less than 5 per cent. T o the 1849 t a x o n mortmain was to be added one on acquisitions by death and gift. 5 7 Others said that the orders had acted legally in forming civil societies, and that it was for the courts to apprehend them if they had not. Associations whose purpose was the care of the sick, orphans, and aged and instruction were not comparable with commercial or industrial associations. Most of the property of the orders consisted of buildings which brought in no revenue. 08 The religious orders continued to elude taxation under the law of 1880. In 1883 societies worth 5 3 0 millions paid a tax of only 177,OCX) francs. They claimed that they did or did not distribute their revenue among their members as the occasion demanded to avoid taxation under the 1872 law. The unauthorized orders were affected by the tax on increment only if the statutes of the civil associations which they formed contained reversion and adjunction clauses. They escaped the tax by modifying their statutes.59 The government said that definitions must be made clearer and charged that the majority of the orders were engaged in productive industry'.90 The budget law of December 29, 1884 provided that the taxes established by the law of December 28, 1880 should be paid by all religious orders, both authorized and unauthorized, whose object was not to distribute their revenue in whole or in part among their 5 7 / . O. C., Dec. 10, 1880, pp. 12144-45. 5 8 / . O. C., Dec. 12, 1880, pp. 12228-35. 59 Lecanuet, L'Église de France sous la 3e Ré publiquer II, 97. 60/. O.C., Dec. 21, 1884, pp. 2992-93.

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235

members. 61

T h e Right argued that no property then produced 5 per cent and that the returns from the 1880 law had been small, because the revenue on which the anti-clericals had counted did not exist, since it was given to charity. M a n y of the orders occupied property for charitable purposes on which they would have to pay a tax, even though they did not own it. T h e members of authorized associations did not have personal property on which they could be taxed. 43 T h e tax on increment sometimes amounted to almost as much as the inheritance. 43 Nevertheless, the law passed the Chamber by the large majority of 393-89 44 and the Senate by 155-90. 65 Other more drastic measures against the religious orders did not become law in this period. On December 6, 1880 Gatineau proposed abrogating the 1817 law by which ecclesiastical establishments had the right to acquire and hold real and personal property, and the 1825 law which extended to the religious orders the right of the law of 1817 on mortmain and gave the orders for women the right to obtain authorization by decree, if established before 1825, or by law. 64 In 1881 Ballue and others asked that property belonging to the state or to Paris and used by the orders should be returned to the former. 47 Paul Bert supported this suggestion and urged that property thus restored be used for schools and libraries. Episcopal palaces, diocesan seminaries, preparatory seminaries, and property of the religious orders should be returned to the state, he said, if not specifically given the Church by the Concordat. 48 The Chamber expired before these bills could be discussed. 80 61 J. 0.,

Dec. 30, 1884, p. 6874.

6 2 / . O. C., Dec. 21, 1884, pp. 2990-92. 63 Lecanuet, L'Église

de France

sous

¡a 3e Ré publique,

64 / . O. C., Dec. 21, 1884, p. 2999-3000. 65 / . O. S„ Dec. 28, 1884, p. 2045. 66/. O. C., Jan. 1882, pp. 1993-94, N o . 204. 6 7 / . O. C., Feb. 3, 1881, pp. 225-26. 68 J.O.C.,

July 1881, pp. 1331-56, N o . 3776.

69 J.O.C.,

1882, p. 1277, N o . 771.

II, 99.

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LAWS

In the elections of 1881, 40 deputies asked that mortmain property of the religious orders be returned to the state or communes. Twelve others asked for laws to prevent the development of mortmain, and sixteen wished for the expulsion of all the orders. Forty-five protested against the decrees and other measures hostile to the Church. 70 In 1882 Jules Roche and others of the Extreme L e f t proposed a bill for the separation of church and state, suppression of the religious orders, and secularization of the property of religious orders, vestries, seminaries, and consistories. The Chamber agreed to consider it by 2 8 0 1 3 0 , with 99 not voting, among them Henri Brisson, Ferry, Goblet, Cunéo d'Ornano, and Waddington. Gambetta, Bert, Waldeck-Rousseau, and Spuller joined the radicals in supporting it.' 1 Ill That these attacks on the Concordat were unsuccessful and that the religious orders did not suffer further persecution may be explained by a number of circumstances. A f t e r the death of Gambetta in December, 1882, Ferry became leader of both the Republican Union and the moderate L e f t . In the struggle over the passage of the laic laws he had consistently maintained that his policy was anti-clerical but not anti-religious, and had endeavored to check the more radical tendencies of Paul Bert. Unlike Bert, Ferry's political rather than his intellectual views determined his policy. 72 In 1882, when Maze proposed an amendment to the bill on private secondary education which was only another version of Article Seven, Ferry, then minister of education, did not support it in the Chamber; and in 1889 he is said to have declared that the religious orders had the right to a more liberal régime than that of 1792. 73 Although he 70 J. O.C..

Jan. 1883, pp. 54-55, N o . 808.

71 J. O. C., M a y 16, 1882, pp. 616-17. 72 Rivero, " L'Idée Laïque et la Réforme Scolaire," Revue Parlementaire, ann. 38, C X L V I I I ( 1 9 3 1 ) , 367-80. 73Rambaud, Jules Ferry, pp. 131 -33-

Politique

et

ATTACKS

ON

THE

CONCORDAT

permitted chaplains to be suppressed in Paris hospitals, he adjourned Waldeck-Rousseau's bill on associations and did not permit Bert's report on the practise of the Catholic cult in France to be discussed. H e re-established credits for the Church, opposed the reduction of the salary of the archbishop of Paris, and permitted numerous public schools to retain their religious emblems, and some expelled orders to live in common once more. In August, 1883, he wrote his wife : W e have reduced the clergy and religious orders to submission, we are imposing obedience on the judges. W e can now pursue a moderate policy. In October of that year he began a war on the Extreme L e f t , which he said was sterile and could never accomplish any positive reforms. 7 1 On October 6, 1884 he said to Count Herbert Bismarck : I believe that our bad days have passed and I await the elections with calm. The only enemies of some importance with which we have still to reckon are the radicals; but all their force rests in negation, in ' opposition for its own sake,' and in their suspicions of the statesmen in office. Our power rests on the middle class, the friend of order and endowed with ' common sense,' and above all on the peasants. W e have six million property holders in France, and they constitute the best defense against revolutionary tendencies. . . A f t e r Ferry's fall there was some fear that the radicals in the Chamber might resume the attack on the Church, but Cardinal Lavigerie wrote on March 23, 1886 that after secret interviews with leading statesmen, he found they were less determined to g o to extremes than their words and public acts would indicate. T h e y were going against their own convictions for fear of radicals in the Chamber and country. 1 4 T h e law for 74 Dietz, " Jules Ferry : Sa Seconde Présidence du Conseil," Revue Politique et Parlementaire, ann. 42, C L X V (1935). 288-89, 299-300, 304-07. 75 Die Grosse Politik,

III, 432, No. 694.

76Tournier, Cardinal Lavigerie, pp. 246-48.

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LAWS

laicizing the personnel o f public primary schools was promulgated October 30, 1886, and the Chamber passed a bill for the protection of civil funerals and remained adamant on requiring military service of all Frenchmen. B u t relations between church and state improved once more. T h e republicans feared that the supporters of the Church would align themselves with Boulanger if not placated. 77 T h e y were distracted by the fear o f w a r with Germany and by the political scandals which were beginning to exude an unsavory odor. T h e Chamber was divided into three groups of nearly equal strength: 200 Opportunists, 180 radicals, and 200 conservatives. 7 8 T h e radicals were weakened by division into the radical L e f t , represented by L o c k r o y and F l o q u e t ; the E x t r e m e L e f t , represented by Clemenceau; and the Independents by Brisson and Goblet. W h e n the question of separation of church and state w a s discussed, the radical vote was split, because the government radicals had to choose between supporting the ministry or voting against their own program. 7 8 More absorbing questions clamored for solution in both the foreign and domestic sphere. F e r r y was intent upon securing a French protectorate over Indo-China, where the Catholic missions would be useful allies. H i s policy w a s bitterly attacked in the C h a m b e r ; and he w a s finally overthrown on M a r c h 30, 1885 when news came of the evacuation of Lang-Son, although a peace w i t h China w a s about to be signed. France likewise wished to retain her protectorate over the missions in the Near East and A f r i c a , where, in 1881, she. had established her authority over Tunis. Anti-clericalism no longer served to win friendship f o r her abroad, since Bismarck, forced to rely upon Conservatives and Catholics a f t e r the enactment of the tariff of 1879 a n d f e a r f u l of socialism, was gradually becoming reconciled with the papacy. 8 0 T h e Pope was seeking rapproche77 Debidour, op. cit., I, 387. 78Tournier, op. cit., p. 266. 7 9 S w e i t z e r , French Political

Parties,

1885-89. pp. 6, 18-19.

80Barbier, op. cit., II, 97; Debidour, op. cit., I, 349.

ATTACKS

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239

ments with Russia, England, and Switzerland. Italy, alienated by French expansion in Tunis and fearful of the temporal claims of the Church, had joined the Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria in M a y , 1882. Relations between England and France were strained after the English occupation of E g y p t in the same year. 81 T h e scrutin de liste, reform of the method of electing senators, and the alleviation of the condition of the working classes were of more immediate concern than the struggle against the Church. The masses were beginning to tire of clericalism as an issue and to awaken to the fact that war on the monk did not solve the problem of the worker. In November, 1882, Fidus, a Bonapartist, wrote: Just as I had noticed a great lassitude towards the present state of affairs in the provinces, the disgust that the republic inspires is spoken of everywhere in Paris. This disgust has even, according to what I learn, penetrated to the workers. At the tobacco factory and at the Gros Caillou the workers do not hesitate to show their disillusionment, to say that they have been deceived ; that they have gained nothing from the republic ; on the contrary, that they have enough of it, and if a monarchy were established, they would not ask for a better thing.82 Waldeck-Rousseau attributed the swing in sentiment toward the Right in the election of 1885 to the desire of the masses for reform. . . . the last legislature dealt too exclusively with the concerns of speculative politics, with the evolutions and maneuvers of parties, and gave too little place to economic preoccupations, to practical reforms, and to the work of defense, which every day becomes more evidently necessary.83 T w o years later he said at Lyon : 81 T o u r n i e r , op. cit., pp. 153-55. 82 Loudun, Journal de Fidus sous la République 8 3 W a l d e c k - R o u s s e a u , Discours 20, 1886.

Parlementaires

Opportuniste,

V , 338-39.

( P a r i s , 1889), p. 87. S e p t .

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We have done much for education, but let us emphasize that each intellectual progress commands a social progress and that in developing education, which is the first duty of the state, one does not solve social questions; one poses them with more precision and insistence.84 Perhaps, too, the Opportunists felt that they need give less heed to the anti-clericalism of the radicals, because, as we have seen, the latter were divided among themselves and had, in the elections of 1881, suffered some losses to the gain of the Republican Union. 85 Ferry, unlike Gambetta, had no large following in the cities whose support he was required to seek. The sympathy of the conservative classes had been won for the republic, thanks to the tactfulness of Gambetta; hence a moderate program of reforms might be inaugurated. Moreover, it was, to some extent, a practical impossibility to secularize the schools and courts completely. There was a shortage of qualified lay instructors, the financial depression made it difficult to secure the necessary funds, and public opinion had not yet accepted the final severance of the bonds between church and state. One of the most important reasons for the cessation of active anti-clericalism was the growing sympathy felt by many Catholics for both the government and ideals of the republic. This attitude reached its fruition in the Ralliement of 1890, but its seeds were sown at least a decade earlier. Cardinal Lavigerie was perhaps the most influential churchman to urge reconciliation with the republic and to preach the dangers for the Church in political affiliation with any one party. He hoped to bring about an alliance between the moderates of the L e f t and the Catholics if the former would abandon their anticlerical program and the latter their monarchism. Such a union would relieve the L e f t of its reliance upon the ultra-radicals and reduce the monarchists to impotence, since their only 84 Ibid., pp. 576-7785 L'Année

Politique,

1881, pp. 220-21.

ATTACKS

ON

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24I

religion.86

common bond was A s we have already seen, he worked tirelessly to bring about tolerance of the unauthorized religious orders in return for their acceptance of a republican government. Likewise Mgr Maret published La Vérité Catholique et la Paix Réligieuse in 1883, which won him papal praise and the archbishopric of Lepanto. In this work he wrote : . . . the clergy should be convinced that the remedy for the evil which is at work in our society in political forms is not politics. Everything which favors the reign of light, justice, charity, peace, everything which contributes to the reconciliation of science with faith, of freedom with religion, should be the object of the clergy's aspirations. . . ,87 The Pope himself frequently enjoined the clergy by private correspondence and encyclical to remain loyal to the republican government while steadily resisting its anti-clerical measures. In an encyclical of February 8, 1884, Nobilissima Gallorum Gens, he urged French bishops to defend the Church without animosity toward the republic and to preserve their unity. On November 4 of that same year he wrote the nuncio condemning the Catholic press for its violent polemics, which could only incite deleterious passions, and in the encyclical of November 19, 1885, Immortale Dei, he refused to condemn any form of government or tolerance by a government of other faiths.88 The Pope likewise endeavored to establish cordial relations with the French government, although he severely denounced its anti-clerical policy. In 1880 Mgr Czacki, the nuncio, had three interviews with Gambetta.89 During the elections of 1881 Leo X I I I asked Czacki to have the conservatives carry on a Catholic, not a royalist, campaign.9" Most of the bishops were 86 T o u r n i e r , op. cit., pp. 47-48, 98-99. 87 B a r b i e r , op. cit., I I , 118. 88 Lecanuet, Les Premières 312-16. 89 P . de Luz, Henri 90 W e i l l , Histoire

Années

du Pontificat

de Léon XIII,

V ( P a r i s , 1931), P- 447-

du Catholicisme

Libérai,

p. 208.

pp. 216-19.

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LAWS

silent during the elections, but the Univers attacked the republic and asked support for the counter-revolution and royalty.®1 The Pope's endeavor to conciliate the French government may have stemmed in part from the difficulties of his position in Italy, where the state permitted anti-clerical riots to take place and the radicals demanded the abolition of the law of guarantees. After the formation of the Triple Alliance, which Italy entered partly in the hope of securing German and Austrian support against the temporal claims of the Pope,®2 Leo X I I I was forced to look to France and Russia for assistance.93 In a letter of May 12, 1883 to President Grévy, the Pope protested against the expulsion of thç religious orders, the school laws, the divorce bill, military service for monks, and the opinion of the Council of State that the government might abolish ecclesiastical salaries.94 But he took no drastic action, and wrote : . . . we have never diverged from the strictest rules of moderation and delicacy, in order not to diminish the prestige of the civil authority, more than ever necessary to public order, at a period when many subversive currents seem threatening to undermine and destroy it.95 On June 23, 1883 Cardinal Jacobini wrote Mgr di Rende, Czacki's successor, that the Pope had favorably received Ferry's proposals for concord between church and state as beneficial to the vital interests of both.99 In 1885 the Pope broke up the League of Counter-Revolution, founded at the close of 1884 by the Univers and the Legitimists at the instigation of the Abbé Jude de Kernaeret 91 Lecanuet, Les Premières Années du Pontificat de Léon XIII,

p. 131.

92 Langer, op. cit., p. 232. 9 3 H . Johnson, The Papacy and the Kingdom of Italy (London, 1926), PP. 45-46. 94 Barbier, op. cit., II, 99-100. 95 Lecanuet, Les Premières Années du Pontificat de Léon XIII.

96Hanotaux, Mon Temps, II, 515-16.

p. 176.

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243

to unite the followers of the Comte de Chambord with those of the Comte de Paris on the basis of the Syllabus and a Christian monarchy.97 The fact that the League had affirmed its belief in complete freedom for religious associations, freedom of education in all degrees, complete autonomy for Catholic universities, and corporations for working men did not save it.98 The Pope also had Cardinal Lavigerie issue a letter on the elections on August 15, 1885, asking the clergy to keep out of politics and the Catholics to unite for religious defense. The great majority of bishops respected his wishes during the elections. Thirteen of the chief Catholic representatives in parliament, among them Brun, Chesnelong, Keller, De la Bassetière, De Mun, and De Ravignan, united to ask Catholics to exclude anti-religious deputies, but they omitted any reference to the form of government." On November 8, 1885 the Pope forced the Comte de Mun to abandon his Catholic Union, which he had organized shortly before the October elections with the hope of forming a great Catholic party, with representatives in all branches of the government, congresses, a permanent subscription, and a press. The party was to stand for abrogation of the laic laws, complete freedom for the Church, and labor legislation. There had been no objections from the Catholic press or Rome before the elections, but sentiment turned against De Mun because of his royalist affiliations, socialistic ideas, and opposition to the French Revolution. Only extreme conservatives backed him; even Chesnelong and Keller remained aloof. 100 It must be noted that Leo X I I I did not break off relations entirely with the monarchists, who might, after all, recapture the government. One of his organs, L'Aitrora, sometimes 97 Lecanuet, Les Premieres

Années du Pontificat de Léon XIII,

p. 303.

98 B a r b i e r , of. cit., II, 143-44. 99 Lecanuet, Les Premières 301.

Années du Pontificat de Léon XIII,

pp. 299-

100 Ibid., pp. 309-10; C. M a i g n e n , Maurice Maignen et les Origines Mouvement Social Catholique en France ( L u ç o n , 1927), I I , 887-97.

du

244

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FRENCH

LAIC

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stand.101

praised the Legitimist In September, 1882 the Pope received the Comte de Paris cordially and with princely honors. In November, 1883 he spoke to Keller of the need for a monarchical restoration in France, and in 1886 he suggested to Chesnelong that the Comte de Paris might save France from her difficult situation, since nothing could be done with Boulanger. 102 He gave a yearly subsidy of 20,000 francs to Le Monde from 1885 to 1888. This was a monarchist organ, but a rival of Veuillot's L'Univers and edited by Mgr d'Hulst, a liberal. Chesnelong, Keller, and Cardinals Guibert and Lavigerie were interested in its success.103 Some of the clergy 104 and Catholic laymen adopted a more progressive attitude toward republican ideals of freedom, equality, and fraternity, thus helping to create a more favorable attitude toward them. The Pope on several occasions showed his sympathy with liberal Catholic bishops.105 In his encyclical of November 19, 1885, Immortale Dei, he cleverly tried to end the quarrel between liberal and ultra-conservative Catholics by discussing the Christian constitution of states in such a manner that both parties found some support for their views. He proclaimed the supremacy, each in its own sphere, of both church and state. While he condemned the idea of the absolute equality of all men, and of absolute freedom of thought and action, he denied that the Church wished anyone to be a Catholic against his will or that it was hostile to freedom, progress, or scientific discoveries.108 Catholic laymen like De Mun and Keller adopted a more progressive program than many republicans of the Left in their advocacy of social legislation.107 101 Barbier, op. cit., II, 122. 102 D e Luz, Henri V, p. 448. 103 Barbier, op. cit., II, 126. 104 Ibid., II, 118. 105 Weill, Histoire du Catholicisme Libéral, p. 209. 106Lccanuet, Les Premières Années du Pontificat 312-16. 1 0 7 / . O . C . , D e c . 2, 1879, p p . 10561-67.

de Léon XIII,

pp.

ATTACKS

ON T H E

CONCORDAT

245

Reconciliation with the republic was made easier for Catholics by the ineffectiveness of monarchist leadership. The various pretenders seemed pursued by bad luck. The young Prince Imperial died in battle in South A f r i c a in 1879, and with him expired Bonapartist hopes ; for Jérôme Bonaparte, Prince Napoleon, his successor, displeased many imperialists by his approval of revolutionary doctrines and of the decrees against the unauthorized religious orders. 108 Jérôme did stand for maintenance of the Concordat and instruction in regard to the Deity in primary schools and criticized Hérold's removal of crucifixes from the schools in 1880 and the laicization of hospitals in 1881 ; 1 0 8 but his son, Prince Victor, soon won the allegiance of the majority of the party. 1 1 0 The Comte de Chambord, who could not bring himself to relinquish all that the white flag of the Bourbons signified, died in August, 1883. 1 1 1 The majority of his followers turned to the Comte de Paris, 1 1 2 but the latter harmed his party by publishing a letter on December 14, 1886 in which he asked the monarchists to adopt a conservative platform and cooperate with the republicans until the country was ready for a monarchy. Raoul Duval, an Imperialist, tried to assemble a republican Right which would stand for fiscal reform and the security of property and religion, but his group dwindled away in a few years. 1 1 8 Some Catholics turned to Boulanger, 114 and some even rallied to Don Juan of Spain. 1 1 ' A s the prestige of the pretenders waned, the authority of the republic grew. 108 P. Lenglé, Le Neveu de Bonaparte (3rd éd.; Paris, 1893), p. 48. 109 Berthet-Leleux, Le y rai Prince Napoléon, pp. 183-84, 255. 110 Loudun, Journal de Fidus sous la République Opportuniste, V, 321. l l l T o u r n i e r , Le Cardinal Lavigerie, p. 176. 112 Marquis de Dreux-Brézé, Notes et Souvenirs pour Sent'r a l'Histoire du Parti Royaliste (Paris, 1895), p. 227. 113 Sweitzer, op. cit., pp. 22-23. 114Gautherot, Émile Keller, pp. 266-68. 115 Lecanuet, Les Premières Années du Pontificat de Léon XIII. 185-86.

pp.

246

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Another reason for the failure of the extreme radicals to achieve their ends was the able and effective opposition of the Catholics in the press and parliament and the enthusiastic response of Catholic laymen to the appeals of the Pope and the clergy. Keller, Chesnelong, Lucien Brun, De la Bassetière, De Mun, Batbie, De Mackau, De Ravignan, De Broglie were only a few of those who contested inch by inch every bit of ground which the radicals won, and who often, with the aid of the conservative liberals, managed to retrieve something for the Church. These men formed a " Committee of the Right," composed of senators, deputies, and former members of the Council of State, for the study of bills submitted to the chambers. 110 The League of Counter-Revolution and De Mun's Catholic Union were other organizations supporting Catholic objectives. A f t e r the Pope had issued an encyclical, Humanum on April 20, 1884 against

Freemasonry, 1 1 7

issued called La Franc-Maçonnerie

Démasquée,

Genus,

a quarterly was which exposed

masonic activities. A n association called the Fraternity of Our Lady of Salvation was established for the Christian regeneration of the working class family. This was directed by a priest, who was aided by centurions charged with ten families each. It urged laboring men not to join secret societies, not to work on religious holidays, to send their children to Catholic schools, and to go to mass. 118 A f t e r the passage of the law for compulsory, lay primary education in 1882, the Pope condemned neutral schools in the encyclical, Nobilissima

Gallorum Gens, but the nuncio told the

bishops not to resist the measure.

T h e majority of the latter

issued pastoral letters denouncing the law, but they did not refuse to allow children to attend such schools for fear of retaliatory acts and of depriving 40,000 teachers of their re1 1 6 L e C o m t e d e F r a n q u e v i l l e , Souvenirs

( P a r i s , 1922), 1922), p . 131.

117 B a r b i e r , op. cit., I I , 5. 118 La Franc-Maçonnerie

Démasquée,

1884-85, p p . 28-29.

ATTACKS

ON

THE

CONCORDAT

247

118

sources. Instead they encouraged the foundation of " free " schools. The Society for Education and Instruction collected subscriptions and succeeded in getting school committees appointed by municipal councils in 1882 which were 65 per cent Catholic, with many priests members. In three years 126 " f r e e " schools with 50,000 pupils were opened at Paris at a cost of more than seven millions, while 1 3 2 schools were laicized.120 The Univers, as might be expected, urged outright resistance to the law. It wished parents to refuse to send their children to lay schools and to form committees to collect funds for the payment of fines, and it asked teachers from the religious orders to strike. 121 After the education law of 1886 was enacted, the Catholics continued to establish schools. From 1880 to 1889, they opened 7,154 elementary schools and 1,557 nursery schools, with 1,500,000 students. The state secondary schools increased by only 40,000 students. Despite the attacks on religious schools from 1875 to 1892, they lost only 18 per cent of their students, while lay private schools lost 40 per cent.122 After the government removed the clergy from the benevolent bureaux, some devout Catholics established private bureaux containing the dismissed administrators for the distribution of alms. Mgr d'Hulst created the Hospital of St. Joseph as an annex to the Faculty of Medicine of the Catholic University of Paris. 128 The Catholic Committee for Societies of Soldiers and Sailors was founded in 1880 by Baudon, president of the Society of Saint Vincent-de-Paul, to give the armed forces religious aid. 124 119 B a r b i e r , op. cit., I I , 90-95, 120 Lecanuet, Les Premières

Années du Pontificat de Léon XIII,

pp. 138,

152-53121 B a r b i e r , op. cit., I I , 85. 122 A . des Cilleuls, Histoire de l'Enseignement en France

Libre dans l'Ordre

( P a r i s , 1898), p. 678.

123 De Franqueville, Souvenirs,

pp. 130-31.

124 H a n o t a u x , Histoire de la France Contemporaine, I I , 658.

Primaire

248

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LAWS

The Concordat thus ruled the relations between church and state in France for some twenty years longer, and the activities of the religious orders were tolerated by a government which lacked the personnel to replace them and was engrossed in other foreign and domestic problems. The radicals had aroused the disgust of the Opportunists by their sterile opposition, and the conservatives now looked with favor upon the republic, thanks to Gambetta's conciliatory policy and to the papal plea for acceptance of the new political order. Zealous Catholics defended the Concordat and the religious orders in parliament and the press and endeavored to combat the secularization of life through private educational and charitable activities.

CHAPTER

VIII

CONCLUSION FROM the foregoing study it should be evident that no one factor was responsible for the enactment of the laic laws. The position of the Church in 1876 was such as to make it vulnerable to attack. Its growing ultramontanism and increasing influence in education, philanthropy, the army, and politics during the years of monarchist coalitions aroused alarm among the advocates of an all-powerful national state. Republicans coveted the positions held by the secular and regular clergy. The status of the Church under the Concordat and Organic Articles was ill-defined, for, in the course of the nineteenth century, certain provisions of those measures had become dead letters, especially those of a Gallican character. The Church had obtained additional concessions, such as the right of the pope to give prior consent to the appointment of bishops by the government, the exemption of the clergy from military service, and the monopoly of funerals. Some of the terminology of the Concordat was ambiguous and some of its omissions, especially that of any reference to the religious orders, were used by the radicals for their own advantage. Within the Church itself there were signs of weakness. The number of candidates for the priesthood was rapidly falling off, and the clergy was less highly educated than it had been. Catholics offered few constructive proposals for reform and were divided by their political, doctrinal, and social views. The aristocratic outlook of their leaders alienated the working classes. The sympathy expressed by many members of the Church for the monarchist cause antagonized the republicans, whose position was insecure while the pretenders lived. The foolish attempt of Marshal MacMahon to dismiss a government supported by a majority in the Chamber brought retaliation upon the Church, which was accused of encouraging this move. The promulgation of the Syllabus of Errors in 1864 and the 249

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LAWS

Declaration of Papal Infallibility in 1871 seemed to deny the very principles upon which the republic was founded. B y 1879 the republicans were in control of both chambers, where the Extreme L e f t and the Republican Union held onethird of the republican seats. The Extreme L e f t openly asked for separation of church and state, suppression of the religious orders, and the secularization of church property. It also demanded decentralization and greater liberty for all but the Church. Clemenceau, Madier de Montjau, and Naquet were leaders of this group. The Republican Union, headed by Gambetta and containing such active men as Spuller, WaldeckRousseau, and Paul Bert, was somewhat less radical in its anticlericalism, preferring restriction of the privileges of the Church through strict execution of the Concordat. The L e f t , led by Jules Ferry, wished to respect the Concordat but gradually secularize French institutions. Both Gambetta and Ferry at heart looked forward to eventual separation of church and state, but they deemed it impossible of fulfillment until the public mind had been sufficiently influenced by modern philosophies and until the wealth and authority of the Church had been brought under control. The L e f t Center wavered in its religious attitude between the Right and Left. A group of liberal conservatives, including such men as Jules Simon, Laboulaye, Dufaure, Étienne Lamy, and Bardoux, was opposed to the laic laws as a violation of those principles of freedom of conscience, freedom of instruction, and freedom of association for which the republican party had long stood. The Bonapartists, whether they were followers of Jérôme or of Victor, opposed the anti-clerical legislation and wished to maintain the Concordat, although they were more willing to abstain from voting or occasionally join the L e f t than the Legitimists or Orleanists, who were unwavering in their opposition. The attack upon the Church would not have been so generally supported if the ground had not been prepared by the anticlerical philosophies then popular. Most influential of all were the ideas of Auguste Comte, as revised by his disciple, Littré.

CONCLUSION

251

The assertion that scientific knowledge alone was valid, that mankind could gradually attain perfection through the intellectual and moral development of the masses, that woman was destined to be the moral guardian of the family, and that the state should be separate from the church contradicted fundamental conceptions of Catholicism and inspired the laic laws. The views of Comte and Littre on education, the position of the priesthood, the significance of the French Revolution, the function of the industrialists and workers, centralized government, and civil liberties also underlay the legislation. The Deism or " Spiritualism " popular in the University retained only two cardinal tenets of the Christian f a i t h : belief in God and the immortality of the soul. Materialism rejected the supernatural completely, and the Personalism of Renouvier opposed the Church's restraint upon the autonomy of the individual. Free-thinkers agitated for freer expression. Readers of Kant, Condorcet, Quinet, and Proudhon declared that education should be laic and include instruction in the principles of morality. They found in Condorcet equal education for girls and courses in patriotism and in Spencer an enthusiasm for science. Liberal Protestantism, the religion of a conquering race, was popular in France because of its emphasis upon democratic practises and moral principles, subservience to the national state, and belief in scientific education and freedom of examination. It was similar to " free thought " in its content and method and was regarded as a likely substitute for Catholicism among the common people. Subscribers to these philosophies and free-thinkers resented the privileged position of the established churches under a republic based upon freedom of worship and equality of rights. The demand for reform of the French school system, which had been revived during the last years of the Second Empire, encouraged discussion of the relative merits of state and religious schools and facilitated the anti-clerical attack upon Catholic schools. Education in the latter was denounced for its preoccupation with memory work and the classics and neg-

252

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LAWS

lect of science and " modern " ideas. Members of the religious orders were declared ill-prepared to teach. It was said that instruction would benefit by the creation of a real competition between public and private schools. Although both educational systems were obviously in need of improvement, the private schools were discriminated against in the endeavor to strengthen the schools of the state. Anti-clericalism was an expedient policy for the Opportunists to pursue for several reasons. It was useful as a weapon against the monarchists, who were united in their loyalty to the Church. It also served to retain the allegiance of the radicals, through whose aid Gambetta had risen to power, whose voice was loudly heard in the Chamber, and who were in the majority in the municipal council of Paris. It was substituted for abrogation of the Concordat and social reforms which must be postponed until the conservative bourgeoisie and peasantry had been won over to the republic through a peaceful and profitable régime. Since France was still weak from the crushing blow of 1871, Gambetta, although he did not relinquish the hope of revenge, endeavored to remain at peace until the country was re-armed and the republic secure. Anti-clericalism assured peaceful relations with Italy, which feared that France might champion the claims of the Pope to temporal power. It promoted friendship with Germany, which had carried on its own Kulturkampf and believed that an anti-clerical, conservative republic in France would be weak at home and abroad. And it was a policy with which England, Austria, and Russia were sympathetic. The republicans cleverly substituted it for revanche in political campaigns and contrived to fasten upon the monarchists the stigma of inciting neighboring countries to war. They were abetted by Bismarck, who used his influence to persuade the French electorate that an ultramontane, monarchical regime would endanger the cordial relations between France and Germany. Republican, Jacobin nationalism contributed to the anticlerical movement through the propagation of its ideals. The

CONCLUSION

253

thirst for revenge led to an imitation o f Prussian education, military methods, and science. T h e traditions and principles o f the French Revolution filled the minds of the republican statesmen and inspired the legislation which they enacted. Freedom of conscience was used to justify the secularization o f the school, the courts, the army, cemeteries, funerals, marriages, and holidays. Equality and fraternity were invoked to defend free, compulsory, and lay primary education and universal military service. Belief in the authority o f force, derived from Comte and from the success of Prussian militarism, led to the exaltation of ideals far removed from those of the Christian Church. T h e national army was to be not only an instrument of defense, but also a source of patriotic inspiration. T h e more radical republicans even believed that some day faith in the fatherland might replace the supernatural and divisive dogmas of Catholicism. Republican, Jacobin nationalism was hostile to the Church, whose privileges it regarded as derogatory to the sovereignty of the national state and as inimical to freedom of conscience. T o civil society it attributed mankind's achievement o f freedom of conscience and thought, and accused the Church o f antipathy to free investigation, scientific discoveries, and social reform. It declared that an organization with a foreign head could not be patriotic and that religious sects prevented the fulfillment o f a sense of national fraternity. It denounced religious orders as unpatriotic, violators o f the law and of individual liberty, and sponsors of provincialism. It asserted that the state should be the supreme dispenser o f instruction in civics and morality to its future citizens, that it should have the right to inspect and even suppress rival institutions, and that it alone should have the power to confer advanced degrees. T h e state should direct theological education, since it was the guardian of Science. T h e Church should watch over dogma, but in case of conflict, the temporal power should be supreme. T h e state was neutral in doctrine, but it might teach an " independent morality " in the public schools, based upon that which underlay all forms of

254

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LAWS

thought. This morality might be divorced from both philosophy and religion or it might be deistic in principle. The state was also to assume charitable responsibilities. Various agencies propagated these Jacobin ideals: assemblies of teachers, the army, the press, the Educational League, and the Freemasons. The clubs of the League carried on an active propaganda in behalf of free, compulsory, and lay primary education, freedom of association, and civic and military education. Many prominent deputies and senators were members of the League and promoted its objectives in the chambers. The organization was anti-clerical in sympathy, although its founder, Jean Mace, was a deist and denied that it was irreligious. The Freemasonry of the period, which was republican, positivistic, and anti-clerical, stirred up sentiment for the laic laws through pamphlets, lectures, and meetings. Many members of the chambers and government were Masons. Although the society theoretically did not engage in politics, individual members or lodges probably used every opportunity to further its ends. Once in power, the republicans became increasingly intolerant of internal dissent. Their experiences during the war and Commune, their conceptions of state sovereignty, and the peril of their own position led them to adopt ruthless tactics. They discriminated against private institutions, failed to provide for freedom of instruction and freedom of association, and sometimes violated the conscience of Catholics. The danger that the " neutral" school would become a center for the propagation of the doctrines of those in power was great. Not only the Right, but men of the L e f t and L e f t Center, philosophers, writers, and clergymen protested against these policies. The concurrence of all these forces and motives resulted in the introduction and enactment of a series of anti-clerical measures from 1876 to 1889 which foreshadowed the eventual separation of church and state and postponed consideration of constructive social legislation. The state alone was given the right to confer higher degrees, and Catholic faculties were

CONCLUSION

255

denied the title of university. Freedom of instruction was thus violated, and the provision regarding degrees was made retroactive. Bishops and those susceptible to religious influences were excluded from the Higher Council of Public Education, which was composed henceforth of representatives of education, the great majority of whom were from public schools and elected by their colleagues. This council had jurisdiction over the curriculum, administration, and discipline of public schools and rights of inspection and discipline over private schools. In matters affecting the latter, it was thus judge in its own cause. The academic councils were now composed of elected representatives of the schools and municipal councils, as well as government appointees, and dealt with the administration, discipline, and budgets of public schools. If disciplinary or disputed matters in connection with private education were discussed, two members of such schools, appointed by the minister, entered the council. The Faculties of Catholic Theology were finally abolished in 1884, while the Protestant Faculties were fostered. Secondary schools for girls were created, in which religious education was optional and given within the school, outside class hours, and in which instruction in morals was compulsory. A n attempt to require principals of private secondary schools to have a certificate of pedagogical aptitude given by a state jury and teachers in those schools to have the baccalaureate or licence failed, despite the support of Ferry and Bert. These qualifications were higher than those demanded of public school instructors. Likewise a bill to require that the last three years of study for the baccalaureate be passed in state schools was never adopted. The reforms in primary education were much more extensive. Every department was required to have a normal school for men and one for women, to prepare teachers to replace the members of religious orders. Every teacher in both public and private schools was forced to possess a teaching certificate; or, in other words, the letter of obedience, by which nuns had been

256

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LAWS

permitted to teach, was abolished. Free, compulsory, and lay primary education was established, with instruction in civics and morals a compulsory part of the curriculum. The content of these subjects was so nebulous that politics might well be introduced into the schools. Religious education and religious teachers were excluded from the public schools. The departmental council, composed largely of state officials, was given the power to forbid the opening of private schools and to discipline their teachers. Instructors were still to be appointed by the prefect, a political appointee. Some deputies even proposed the organization of a public school of political science, which would teach only doctrines acceptable to the state. The religious orders were attacked directly or indirectly by this legislation. By decree the government expelled the Jesuits and required other unauthorized orders to seek government approval within a short period. Unauthorized orders for men were dealt with severely, but those for women were tolerated. This action was taken by executive order after the Senate had refused to confirm it, and redress in the courts was denied the orders. The chambers refused to give freedom of association to the religious orders but gave it to workingmen. Religious orders were no longer exempt from service in the army, and ecclesiastical students of state churches were required to serve one year. The property of the orders, which was generally devoted to charitable purposes, was doubly taxed in an effort to check the development of mortmain. Members of religious orders were excluded from public schools and branded as unpatriotic or even criminal. Attempts to suppress the orders completely or confiscate their property never became law. Chaplains were permitted to carry on their work only in garrisons of at least 2,000 men, three miles from churches. Every Frenchman was forced to spend in time of peace three years in the national army, unless he was a teacher serving ten years in public education in France or abroad, a student for a higher degree, or an ecclesiastical student, in which case he must serve one year. In time of war all must serve the father-

CONCLUSION

257

land, although ecclesiastical students were placed in the health division. Divorce was finally re-established after an interlude of sixtyeight years. The cemetery was declared open to men of all faiths on equal terms, although this was contrary to Catholic dogma. Civil funerals were encouraged, and a priest who insisted upon religious burial after a death-bed confession might incur heavy penalties. The curé was no longer to be an ex officio member of administrative committees for hospitals and benevolent bureaux, and he was no longer eligible to sit on the municipal council, which had supervision of the budget of vestries. Property owned by the commune but used by the Church, outside the terms of the Concordat, might be returned to the commune, if its council so desired. The Pantheon was secularized and restored as a burial place for patriots by executive decree. Labor was legalized on Sundays, except for officials, the law courts, and children in industry. This was an economic hardship to Catholics and a social one for the workingman. An attempt to suppress the use of the oath and religious emblems in the courtroom failed. Public prayers for the work of the chambers were abolished as a symbol of the laicization of the state. Outrages to public and religious morality and to a state religion in the press were declared no longer punishable. The radicals attacked the Concordat itself in budget discussions and bills, and asked for the recall of the ambassador to the Vatican, but in vain. Likewise bills to strengthen the independence of the lesser clergy, to curb the power of the bishop, and to penalize the clergy for political activity failed. But an opinion of the Council of State approved the government's suppression or suspension of the salary of the clergy. The intolerant nature of much of the anti-clerical legislation of this period should not, however, obscure the outstanding contributions which the republicans made in the direction of personal freedom and enlightenment. The enactment of a divorce law did not injure the conscience of Catholics and

258

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freed the non-Catholic from a bond in which he might not believe. Separation of church and state by gradual processes and respect for the position of the free-thinker were in accordance with the principle of freedom of conscience. The establishment of secondary schools for girls and of free, compulsory, and lay primary education diffused culture more widely and strengthened democracy. The requirement of uniformly high qualifications for teachers and the revision of the curriculum to include scientific subjects and civics improved the quality and content of instruction. A study of the laic legislation of the 1880's has a wider significance than is at first apparent. It is more than a tedious analysis of conditions and laws in a brief decade long since forgotten by all but the professional historian. It is an illustration of the fact that subservience to the ideal of a highly centralized national state may produce intolerance, violation of civil liberties, and suppression of the rights of autonomous groups within the state. These evils, it should be noted, may exist in a democratic republic, governed by men who once extolled individual liberties. Private educational institutions and associations differing in doctrine from those of the controlling régime are especially vulnerable to attack. The danger to religion of any political affiliation is likewise demonstrated by the history of the Church in this period. The laic laws of the 1880's are also significant as a prelude to a more intense struggle between the anti-clerical and religious forces which took place between 1899 and 1907. A f t e r Cardinal Lavigerie's plea for reconciliation with the republic at Algiers in 1891, there was a period of Ralliement, during which more moderate Catholics cooperated with the government in the hope that the laic legislation might be repealed peacefully. The Dreyfus crisis, however, interrupted this truce, for many Catholics joined the anti-revisionist forces and brought down upon the Church the vengeance of the radicals. Under the Waldeck-Rousseau ministry all religious orders were required to be authorized and regulated by the government in

CONCLUSION

259

1 9 0 1 . T h e Combes ministry interpreted this law strictly and dissolved many of the orders. In 1904 every member of a religious association, authorized or unauthorized, was forbidden to teach in either public or private schools a f t e r ten years. Finally in 1 9 0 5 church and state were separated, although the provisions regarding the supervision of churches were not agreed upon until 1907. A f t e r the World W a r the question of diplomatic relations with the papacy, the retention of the Concordat in AlsaceLorraine, and tolerance of the religious orders continued to be issues in French political life. The V i c h y government has repealed the legislation of 1 9 0 1 and 1904 in regard to the religious o r d e r s 1 and has declared that primary education should contain courses in morals and civics and should stress in the teaching of history the continuity of French effort under all regimes. 2 It has decreed the suppression of the primary normal schools by October, 1 9 4 1 and the division of secondary education into classical and modern studies. 3 It has required all educational associations to join a national federation, whose president and council are named by the government, 4 and has abolished secret societies. 5 The motto of France will henceforth be " Country, Family, W o r k . " 6 Conversations have been inaugurated with representatives of the papacy in regard to a concordat. 7 These laic campaigns have continued the division within the French nation which has existed since the French Revolution, that of " the two Frances." In peace this hostility has wasted energy in recrimination and has diverted attention f r o m pressing social questions. In war it has indirectly weakened the 17. O., Sept. 4, 1940, pp. 4489-90. 2 J. O., Sept. 17, 1940, pp. 5033-343 J. O., Oct. 6, 1940, pp. 5225, 5228. 4 J. O., Nov. 16, 1940, p. 5698. 5 / . O., Aug. 14, 1940, pp. 4691-92. 6 New

York

Times,

Sept. 3, 1940, p. 5.

7 Ibid., Aug. 25, 1940, p. 17.

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unity and powers of resistance of the French people, a s has been vividly disclosed in the events o f

1939-40. It will be

recalled that Gambetta once w r o t e : It is an inexorable law of politics that peoples incapable of destroying domestic tyrannies are powerless to maintain their national integrity. . . . T o resist this always conscious invasion of the races of the North, which have achieved science, discipline, courage, order, the feeling of primacy, one only knows how to make scholars with the methods of seventeenth century Jesuits. . . . These are signs which foretell decadence, and if old France has not a violent crisis soon, the end of the century will consecrate its fall. 8 Y e t the anti-clerical policies which he and his followers pursued became a " domestic tyranny " and perpetuated a schism which contributed to the collapse of France. Mutual tolerance and fulfillment of the revolutionary ideals of liberty, equality, and fraternity might have preserved the T h i r d French 8 Adam, Nos Amities Politique*, pp. 148-50

Republic.

BIBLIOGRAPHY I.

BIBLIOGRAPHIES

Bibliographie Critique des Principaux Travaux parus sur l'Histoire de 19HPubliée par le comité de direction de la Revue d'Histoire Moderne. Paris. Caron, Pierre et Stein, Henri. Répertoire Bibliographique de l'Histoire de France. Paris. Halévy, Daniel. " Pour l'Étude de la Troisième République." Revue des Deux Mondes, pér. 8, X X X V (1936), 811-28. International Index to Periodicals. Weill, Georges. " Le Catholicisme Français au X I X e Siècle." Revue de Synthèse Historique, XV (1907), 319-56. . " Le Catholicisme Français depuis 1802." Revue de Synthèse Historique, XL, nü. XIV (1925), 57-72. Winnacker, R. A. " T h e Third French Republic: 1870-1914." Journal of Modem History, X (Sept., 1938), 372-409. Wolfstieg, A. L. Bibliographie der Freimaurerischen Literatur. 1911. 3 vols. II.

PRIMABY

SOURCES

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Department of State, U. S. A. France. Dispatches. Elihu B. Washbume. Edward F. Noyes. Vol. L X X X I I , Mar. 29, 1877-Nov. 23, 1877, No. 1471-1532, 1-32. France. Ministère des Affaires Étrangères. Documents Diplomatiques Français. 1871-19H- Paris, 1930. Sér. 1, 1871-1900. Vol. II, July 1875-Dec. 1879; Vol. I l l , Jan. 1880-May 1881. France. Ministère de l'Instruction Publique et des Beaux-Arts. Rapport sur les Résultats des Laïcisations Scolaires. Paris, 1891. E. Levasseur, president of the committee. Die Grosse Politik der Europäischen Kabinette. 1871-1914- Berlin, 1922. J. Lepsius, A. M. Bartholdy, and F. Thimme, editore. Vols. I and III. Journal Officiel de la République Française. Paris, 1876-1889. 1876-80: parliamentary debates published with documents in daily newspapers. 1881-89: debates published in separate volumes as Comptes Rendus for each year. Chamber and Senate documents in separate volumes. 2 . LETTERS, DIARIES, S P E E C H E S , AND M E M O I R S

Adam, Juliette. Après l'Abandon de la Revanche. Paris, 1910. . Nos Amitiés Politiques avant l'Abandon de la Revanche. 5th edition. Paris, 1908. Allain-Targé. "Souvenirs d'avant 1870." La Revue de Paris, L (1903), 1-16. Andrieux, Louis. A Travers la République. Paris, 1926. . Souvenirs d'un Préjet de Police. Paris, 1885. 2 vols. 261

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L'Année Politique. André Daniel, editor. Paris, 1876-89. Bulletin de la Ligue Française de l'Enseignement. Paris. 1882. Vols. I-VII. Cercle Parisien de la Ligue de l'Enseignement. Enquête sur l'Obligation, la Gratuite, et la Laïcité de l'Enseignement Primaire. Paris, 1880. La Franc-Maçonnerie Démasquée. 1884-89. Paris. Ligue Française de l'Enseignement. Compte Rendu des Travaux du Cercle Parisien. Vol. XVI-XVIII. The London Times. The New York Times. Le Philosophie Positive. Le Temps.

INDEX A

B

Abus, 14 and note 13, 228 Adam, Edmond, 66 Adam, Mme Juliette, 65-66, 76, 78, 83, 86, 108, 116, 124, 128 Allain-Targe, 78, 109 Allou, 221 Alsace-Lorraine, 83, 86, 90-92, 259 Amagat, 200 Andrassy, 85 Andrieux, Louis, 72, 128 Annenkof, Michel, 68 Anti-clerical campaigns, 12, 33, 3536, 41, 70, 75, 77, 224, 236, 258-59 Anti-clerical legislation, see Laic laws Anti-Clericalism, of the Freemasons, 115-21, 254; as a policy, 34, 42-43, 72, 74, 79-82, 86, 102, 107, 163, 172, 211, 218, 224, 236, 238, 241, 252; reasons for failure of, 236-48; roots of, 23, 41-129: absolutism of the papacy, 43, 250, anti-clerical philosophies and liberal Protestantism, 43-58, 250-51, educational reform, 58-62, 251-52, foreign policy, 82-93. 252. Jacobin nationalism, 94-129, 252-54, monarchism of the clergy, 41-43, 249, substitution for social reform, 62-82, 252 Anti-Clericals, 32, 42, 57-58, 70, 90, 101-02. 107, 109-10, 116, 146, 193, 222. 224. 235. 240, 250, 254 Anti-Semitism, 68, 70, 199 Arago, 124 Army, 64 , 71. 83, 99-100, 108, 110, 175, 224, 247. see Chaplains. Conscription, Education, military Article Seven, 20. 58, 76. 78, 82, 117, 127, 137-38, 140-13, 153, 157, 175, 229. 231, 236 Association of Catholic Workingmen's Clubs. 20-21, 139. 185. 187 Associations, of free-thinkers. 205; international, 230; lav, 17, 37. 130. 132, 140, 145, 232, 237; of utilitc publique, 19 and note 31. 110, 122. 130, 137, 188-89. 231; sec Freedom of association. Religious orders, Societies Audiffred. 161 Austria, 64. 84-85, 87, 92-93, 239, 242, 252

Baccalaureate, 17, 60-61, 130, 133, 135, 138, 159, 161-62, 166, 255 Ballue, 235 Baragnon, 147 Bardoux, 31, 122, 141-43, 151, 163, 174, 177, 179, 221, 229, 250 Bardoux, Mme, 55 Barodet, 118, 122, 163, 167, 194, 224 Barrère, 192 Barthe, Marcel, 142, 147, 176-77, 201, 231 Bassetière, de la, 74, 243, 246 Batbie, 147, 246 Baudon, 247 Beaussire, 138, 142, 150, 160, 170-71 Belgium, 12, 38, 174, 198, 200 Bernard-Lavergne, 227 Bersier, 58, 142 Bert, Paul, 37, 50, 53, 56, 60, 76, 80, 86, 99, 100, 105, 107-09, 111-12, 11819, 122-23, 136, 151-52, 154, 156-58, 162-63, 165, 169-72, 174, 176-78, 18890, 192, 196, 206, 210, 225, 227-28, 235-37, 250, 255 Besançon, Archbishop of, 23 Bishops, 16, 30, 107, 140, 142, 153, 161, 167, 190, 203, 227-29, 246, 249, 257 ; in the Concordat, 12-13; and the Higher Council of Public Education, 52, 78, 148-51, 255; in the Organic Articles, 14 and note 13, 15 ; palaces of, 13, 16, 235 ; political activities of, 22, 39, 149, 241-43, see Freppel; relations with the papacy, 16, 34, 83, 244 ; salaries, 13, 16, 107, 237 Bismarck, Herbert von, 92. 237 Bismarck. Otto von, 84-89, 91-93, 238, 252 Blachère, 28 Blanc, Louis, 224, 230 Blanqui, 54 Blatin, 118-19 Bonapartists, 22, 31, 43, 61, 65, 83, 85, 132, 135, 137, 143, 145, 164, 202, 206. 213, 216, 225-26, 239, 245. 250 Bonnechose, Cardinal de, 24, 119 Bonnières, Robert de, 66 Bontoux, 67-69 Bouchet, 212 Boulanger, 238. 244-45 Bourgeoisie, 36, 43, 63, 65, 82, 136, 157, 217, 237, 252 273

274

INDEX

Boyer, Ferdinand, 132, 138, 170, 173 Boysset, 122, 152, 224-25 Breal, 59, 165 Brisson, Henri, 78, 112, 114, 122, 124, 199-200, 226, 233, 236, 238 Broglie, Due de, 19, 22, 25, 29, 31, 41-42, 61, 68, 73, 81, 85, 89-90, 150, 246 Brugerette, 30 Brun, Lucien, 19, 107, 243, 246 Budget of cults, 13, 16, 20, 31, 34, 39, 46, 48, 151, 165, 186, 212, 22425, 229, 233-34, 237, 257; of schools, 60, 149, 177, 255; of vestry, 210, 257 Biilow, von, 86, 125 Buffet, 22 Buisson, Ferdinand, 55, 57-58, 61, 112, 165 Business interests, 33, 47-48, 63-70, 74, 80-81, 98, 218, 251 C Calvin, 220 Canons, 16, 227-28 Cantagrel, 230 Carnot, 105 Cassagnac, Paul de, 135 Castagnary, 80 Cathedrals, 12, 15; chapters of, 12, 16 Catholic Church, 32, 49, 52, 56, 68, 84, 87, 123, 137, 174, 195, 198-99, 237, 239-40, 243; position, 1871-79, 12, 40, 47, 131, 163, 183, 249; relations with the state, 12-14, 16-17, 20 note 40, 26, 29, 33-35, 37-39, 43, 53, 56, 84, 102, 104, 133, 137, 149, 190, 221, 225, 229, 231, 238, 242-44, 248, 251, 253, 259; strength, 12-29, 249; weakness, 30-40, 249; see Clergy, Concordat, Faculties, " Free " schools, Organic Articles Pope, Property of the Church, Separation of church and state Catholic Committee, 20, 131, 139; for Religious Defense, 20; for Societies of Soldiers and Sailors, 247 Catholic Union, 243, 246 Catholics: conservative, 20 note 40, 22, 26, 28, 32, 42, 244; liberal, 20 note 40, 21-22, 26, 28-29, 32, 37, 127, 143, 244; see Old Catholics Caze, 108 Cazot, 146, 195 Cemeteries, 78, 96, 202-04, 210, 253, 257

Census, religious, 226 Certificates, 17, 28, 60, 62, 158-61, 163-68, 177-79, 181, 255 Chabaud La Tour, General Baron de, 58 Chalamet, 105 Challemel-Lacour, 63, 109, 112, 116, 124 Chamber of Deputies, 11, 22, 24, 33, 41, 44, 70-71, 75-76, 79, 108, 118, 120, 126, 131-32, 137, 142-43, 147, 151, 153-54, 158, 162-63, 165, 168-69, 171, 175-76, 183, 188-89, 192-94, 202, 204, 206-07, 209, 212-16, 218-19, 221, 224-27, 229-30, 232-33, 235, 237-38, 249 252 Chambord, Comte de, 23, 42, 85, 243, 245 Chaplains, 19, 75, 77-78, 96, 99, 150, 157, 165, 183-87, 237, 245, 253, 256 Charities: benevolent bureaux and hospitals, 19, 78, 108, 207-10, 247, 257; and the Catholic Church, 15, 27, 31, 165, 171, 183, 207-09, 212, 235, 247-49; politics in, 208-09; and the state, 102,107, 118, 183, 206-07, 254 Chavannes, Puvis de, 215 Chesnelong, 19, 31, 231, 243-44, 246 Chevandier, 204 Christianity, 51-54, 57, 175 Church buildings, 12, 172, 203, 21015, 223 Church of the Sacred Heart on Montmartre, 19, 215 Civics, 19, 54, 60, 99, 102, 104, 108, 111, 114, 122, 126, 163, 167, 172, 174, 176, 253-54, 256, 258-59 Clamageran, 55, 90 Classics, 19, 51, 53, 59-60, 117, 128, 155 251 259 Clemenceau, 53, 66, 76, 109, 118, 142, 195, 210, 224, 238, 250 Clergy, Catholic, secular, 13-14, 16, 30-31, 34-35, 37, 56-57, 139, 142, 166-67, 172, 180, 188-92, 208, 210, 212, 223, 227-28, 246, 249, 257; monarchism of, 22-26, 41-42, 249; in politics, 22-26, 39, 90, 228, 24041, 243, 249, 257-58; salaries of, 13, 25, 34, 39, 107, 213, 227-28, 237, 242, 257 Clericalism, 11-12, 67, 70, 72-75, 79, 84, 86, 91, 115-16, 184-85,197, 239 Clericals, 12, 36, 61, 65-66, 70, 75, 90, 143, 148, 150, 162, 238 Coins, 222 Collège, 62, 149, 157, 161

INDEX

Collège de France, 134 Combes, 259 Communards, 11, 70, 76, 79 Commune: autonomy of, 124, 209, 226; and church property, 12, 180, 183, 202-04, 207, 226, 236, 257 ; and education, 149, 154, 156, 161, 164, 168-69, 171, 173, 175, 177-82, 247, 255; and funerals, 206-07; hospitals and benevolent bureaux, 207-09, 257; of Paris, 76, 100, 123, 125, 254; and the vestry, 81, 209-11 Communism, 15, 20 note 40, 27, 16970 Communists, 54, 139 Compayré, 107, 159, 165 Comte, Auguste, 28, 44-49, 57, 94, 98, 106, 153, 195, 219, 250-51, 253 Concordat, 26, 32-34, 36-38, 139-40, 148, 152, 160, 191, 210, 229, 235, 245, 248-49, 252, 257, 259; abrogation of, see Separation of church and state; attacks on, 224-28, 236, 257 ; of 1855, 85 ; stricter execution of, 34, 79, 81, 250; terms, 12-13 Condorcet, 51, 105-06, 251 Conscription, 16, 79, 81, 95, 97-99, 105-06, 108, 173, 181-93, 198, 238, 249, 256-57 Conservatives, liberal, 128-29, 250 Constans, 191, 196 Corentin-Guyho, 227 Corneille, 26 Council of state, 14, 107, 127, 146-48, 228 and note 24, 242, 246, 257 Councils, academic, 16, 61, 148-49, 159, 180, 255; departmental, 149, 166, 179-82, 256; ecumenical, 14 note 15, 38 note 133; municipal, see Commune and Paris; see Higher Council of Public Education Counter-revolution, 21, 28-29, 41, 184-85, 242-43, 246 Courdavoux, 115 Courts, 14 note 13, 96, 146, 150, 183, 216-17, 219-21, 228, 232-33, 240, 253, 256-57 Cousin, Victor, 50 Crispi, 87 Crucifixes, 77, 127 note 174, 203, 219, 221, 237, 245, 257 Curés, 12-13, 15-16, 19, 30, 34. 37, 107-08, 161, 180, 205-06, 208-09, 222, 227, 246-47, 257 Curriculum, see Civics, Classics. French language. History. Modem

275

languages, Morality, education, Science Czacki, 145, 241, 246

Religious

D Danton, 96 Daudet, Léon, 82 Decazes, Duc de, 85, 90 Declaration of 1682, 14 and notes 13 and 15, 38 note 133, 39, 228 Decrees of 1880, 29, 43, 72, 78, 117, 144-46, 153, 197, 229-30, 236, 245 Degrees, 16, 28, 46, 61-62, 76, 80, 96, 104, 130-33, 135, 137-38, 141, 143, 147, 149, 152, 159-60, 162, 227, 25356; see Baccalaureate and Licence Deism, 43, 50, 77, 107, 115, 157, 174, 201, 219, 251, 254 Deists, 44, 54, 112, 127 note 174, 156, 174, 254 Democracy, 95, 97-98, 103, 105, 118, 125, 173, 251, 258 Denmark, 169 Department, 12, 154, 163, 168, 177, 179, 181 ; see Council, departmental Deraismes, Maria, 117 Deschamps, 116 Desmons, Ferdinand, 115 Desservants, 15-16, 34 , 210, 227 Dide, 114 Didon, Father, 131 Dietz, Jean, 41 note 1 Divorce, 30, 47, 63, 75, 81, 118. 193202, 242, 257 Dreyfus, 258 Dufaure, 23, 41, 131-32, 141, 143, 145, 151, 154, 174, 230-31, 250 Dufeuille, Eugène, 82 Duguit, 123 Dumas fils, Alexandre, 194 Dupanloup, 22-23, 29, 59, 95 Duruy, Victor, 58, 154, 169. 173 Duty, 27, 4&-50, 105-06, 157, 175-76 Duval, Raoul, 132, 245 Duvaux, 183-84 E Eclectic school, 50, 54 École Centrale, 134 Education, private, lay, 17 ; religious, see Budget, Councils, Degrees, Faculties, " F r e e " schools. Freedom of instruction, Letters of obedience, Religious education. Religious orders, Teachers Education, public, 29, 44-45, 47, 53, 58-61, 80, 97-99, 102-03, 108, 110,

276

INDEX

112, 126, 129, 169, 185, 217, 240, 242, 251, 253, 255-56; higher, 59, 61, 104, 130-53, 162, 170. 175; law of 1833, 31; of 1850 ( F a l l o u x ) , 17, 31, 39, 140; of 1875, 130-31. 134, 139-40; military, 60, 100, 111, 114, 189-90, 254; primary : 31, 45-46, 50, 75, 77, 95-96, 99, 105. 122, 14&-50, 162-82, 200, 224, 238, 247, 251, 25556, compulsory, 11, 24, 45, 52, 54, 58-60, 71, 79, 81, 94-95, 97, 99, 103, 108, 110-11, 113, 116, 122, 153, 163, 168, 171-76, 224 , 246, 253-54. 256, 258; free, 11, 45, 51-52, 58, 60. 71, 78, 97, 103, 108, 110-11. 116, 122, 153, 163, 168-71, 175. 253-54. 256, 258; lay. 11, 45, 52, 54-55, 58, 79, 81, 99. 103. 106, 108, 110-13, 116, 122, 153. 163. 168, 170, 172-83, 197, 224, 246, 251, 253-54, 256. 258; normal, 55, 60, 75, 78, 162-66, 168, 178-79, 255, 259; reform of, 58-62, 251-52; secondary, 17, 59-62, 77, 149-50, 153-62, 170, 175, 236, 247, 259, schools f o r girls, 47, 78. 97, 106, 117, 153-58, 174, 255 . 258 Educational League, 20, 58, 100, 10913, 116, 168, 254 Elections, 223; Catholics in, 35-36, 156; of 1876, 12, 24-25, 32-33, 40, 63, 89; of 1877, 12, 23. 41, 63, 90; of 1879, 24, 33, 75, 136; of 1881, 7879, 98, 175-76 and note 70. 179, 188, 195, 202, 224. 231. 236. 239-42; of 1882, 176; of 1885, 178, 226. 237, 243 Encyclicals, papal, 14 note 13, 195, 241, 244, 246 England, 29, 59, 84-85. 93, 114. 140, 154, 174, 192, 200, 217, 239, 252 Equality, 49, 56, 63, 96-97. 109. 114, 125, 179, 185, 192, 204-05, 208. 234, 244, 251. 253, 260 Evolution, 27, 105 Examinations, 60-61. 95, 130-35. 137, 143, 151, 158-61, 165-67. 172 Expiatory chapel, 215 E x t r e m e L e f t , 11, 33, 36, 38-40, 48, 62-63, 65, 71-73, 75-76, 78-79. 8182, 85, 88, 102, 116, 129, 141-42, 158, 160-63, 168, 174, 181-82, 19193, 206-07, 212-13, 215-19, 224-26, 230, 232, 236-38, 240, 246, 248-50, 252-53, 257-58 E y m a r d - D u v e r n a y , 136, 147, 177, 232

F Fabre, Joseph, 160, 219-20 Faculties, Catholic, 16, 20, 26. 61-62, 76, 78, 130-32, 134-38, 141, 143-44, 152-53, 243, 247, 254 Faculties of Catholic T h e o l o g y , 57, 81, 104, 142, 150, 151-53, 227. 255 Faculties of Protestant T h e o l o g y , 57-58, 142, 150, 153, 255 Falloux, 17, 29 Favre, Jules, 56 Feltre, Duc de, 137 Férrouillat, 167 Ferry, Charles, 36 Ferry, Jules, 11, 33-38, 41 note 1, 42, 44-47, 50-53, 55-56, 60, 63-65, 71, 75-78, 81, 90, 94, 96, 98, 100, 103-08, 116, 120, 122-26, 128, 132, 136-38, 141-42, 144-45, 148-50, 152^53, 15559, 165-66. 168, 170-72, 175-76, 178, 189, 195-96, 206, 213. 221, 226, 229, 233, 236-38, 242, 250, 255 Fidus, 239 Floquet, 78, 118, 224, 238 Flourens, 80 Force, 49, 53, 98-99, 253 Foreign policy, 82-93 Forge, Anatole de la, 118 Fraternity of Our L a d y of Salvation, 246 " Free " schools, 20, 27. 31. 53, 59, 61, 80, 116, 138, 147, 150-51. 164. 16669, 177, 180, 182, 188, 190, 192, 208, 246, 259; finances of. 28. 171, 182, 247; inspection of. 17, 28-29, 46, 102, 125-26, 137, 149-50, 158-59, 161-63, 171-72, 174. 180, 182, 247-49, 251-53, 255-56, 258; lay, 247; secondary, 62, 158-62, 255 Free-thinkers. 50, 54, 115, 117, 124, 182, 185, 198, 203, 205, 218, 251, 258 " F r e e - t h o u g h t , " 15, 29, 38, 43, 57, 118, 251 Freedom of association, 11, 29, 31, 37, 45, 48. 71, 79, 96, 111, 124, 127, 129, 145, 217, 230-33, 237, 243, 250, 254 , 256; of conscience, 38. 43, 48, 50. 52, 96. 101, 105, 141, 156, 173, 176, 179, 184, 201-03, 205, 214-16, 218-19, 222, 228 note 24, 250, 25354. 257-58 ; of higher education, 16, 20, 26, 46. 59, 61. 73. 76, 89, 96, 13032, 136, 143, 147, 153, 206; of instruction, 11-12, 20, 24, 28-29, 37, 52. 128-29, 134-36, 138, 140. 143, 150, 159-61, 168, 182, 243. 250, 25455; of meeting, 11, 37, 96, 103,

277

INDEX

230; of speech, 48, 50, 54, 141, 251 ; of worship, 11, 29, 37, 129, 203, 222, 237, 251 Freemasonry, 94, 100, 107, 113-22, 246 254 Freemasons, 35, 44, 80, 111-22, 199, 220, 254 French language, 30, 62, 101-02, 155 ; and literature, 60 French Revolution, 23, 28-30, 36, 38, 43, 48-49, 52, 54, 57, 70, 94, 96, 98, 101, 104-05, 108-09, 114, 122, 134, 139, 145, 160, 170, 174, 183, 191, 193, 197, 201-02, 208, 211, 214, 216, 218-20, 229, 243, 251, 253, 259 Freppel, Bishop, 23, 31, 60-61, 170, 173, 179, 196, 199-200, 203, 205, 210, 213, 220-22, 226, 234 Frères des Écoles Chrétiennes, 18 Fresneau, 117 Freycinet, Charles de, 41, 55, 72, 78, 109, 117, 119, 142, 144-45, 225, 230 Funerals, civil, 19, 81, 96, 118, 122, 183, 204-06, 238, 253, 257; monopoly, of, 16, 206-07, 249 G Gallican Church, 34, 228 note 24; liberties, 14 and notes 13 and 15; rights, 13-14 Gallicanism, 35, 39, 152, 249 Gambetta, Léon, 11, 33-38, 41 note 1, 42, 44, 46, 52-53, 61-75, 78-84, 86, 90-94, 96, 98-99, 108-09, 116, 118, 122, 124, 128, 133, 144-45, 189, 195-96, 215, 225, 227, 236, 240-41, 248, 250, 252, 260 Gasté, de, 138, 142-43, 175 Gatineau, 235 Germany, 11, 32, 38, 56, 59-60, 64, 74, 84-93, 95, 173, 200, 238-39, 242, 252; Catholic toleration of divorce in Baden and Rhenish Prussia, 198; Center party, 32, 88; illiteracy in Bavaria, Saxony, and Prussia, 173 ; see Prussia Giraud, Henri, 201 Goblet, 83, 126, 196, 213-15, 221, 226, 236 238 Gontâut-Biron, de, 74, 90-91 Gortchakoff, Prince, 85 Grand Orient, 114-15, 117-21 Granier de Cassagnac, 100, 164 Graux, Georges, 232 Greard, Octave, 61, 164-65 Gré ville, 107 Grévy, 42, 144-45, 189, 242 Guibert, Cardinal, 23, 153, 244

Guichard, 227 Guizot, 59 Guyot, Yves, 118, 226 Gymnastics, 60, 95, 99-100, 155 H Halévy, Daniel, 41 note 1, 82, 94 Halévy, Ludovic, 71, 80 Hanotaux, Gabriel, 50, 65, 136 Harcourt, Vicomte Emmanuel d', 68 Henckel von Donnersmarck, 91-92 Henry IV, 25, 67 Henry V, see Comte de Chambord Hérold, 77, 112, 122, 245 Higher Council of Public Education, 16, 52, 59, 61, 78, 107, 132-33, 141, 148-52, 158, 162, 180, 255 Hippeau, 155 History, 27, 60, 102, 105, 116, 122, 150, 152, 155, 157, 167, 182, 259 Hohenlohe, von, 71, 73, 86, 89, 91-92 Holidays, 21, 75, 77-78, 96, 183, 21618, 246, 253, 257 Holland, 174 Hospitals, see Chaplains and Charities Hugo, Victor, 54, 112, 128, 213 Hulst, Mgr d', 23, 244, 247 Humanity, 46-47, 49, 52, 54, 94, 107, 113 Hyacinthe, Father, see Loyson I Illiteracy, 173 Immortality, 27, 48, 50-51, 106, 115, 174, 251 Imperialism, 18, 72, 78, 93, 238-39 Indifferentism, 20 note 40, 30-31, 43, 81 Intolerance, 122-29, 182, 226, 254, 258, 260 Ireland, 174 Isoard, Mgr, 107 Italy, 38, 83-85, 89-90, 93, 169, 239, 242, 252

J

Jacobini, Cardinal, 242 Jacobins, 34-35, 88, 94-129, 218, 252 Janet, 50 Jauréguiberry, 55 Jaurès, Jean, 181 Jérôme, Prince Napoléon, 24, 43, 145, 225-26, 245, 250 Jesuits, attacks on, 11, 54, 59, 72, 75, 88, 99, 128, 138-40, 144-46, 149-50, 153, 229, 256, 260; periodicals of,

278

INDEX

22; schools of, 17, 30, 51, 61-62, 146; see Religious orders Jesus, 54, 57, 220 Jews, 15, 67-68, 70, 77, 148, 157, 18485, 193, 198-99, 201, 208, 207-08, 216, 218 Joan of Arc, 25, 105, 219 Joly, 202 Jozon, Paul, 95 Juan, Don, 245 Jury, 61, 132, 135, 137-38, 158^0, 164, 167, 172, 219, 227, 255; " mixed," 130-31, 133-35, 137, 147 Justice, 52, 100, 109 K Kant, 51, 251 Keller, 19, 31, 72, 74, 156, 165, 171, 217, 243-44, 246 Kemaeret, Abbé Jude de, 242 Kulturkampj, 38, 84, 88, 252 L La Caze, Louis, 127, 199 La Païva, 91 Labor, see Workingmen Laboulaye, 74, 76, 85, 122, 127, 132, 142, 147, 151, 154, 168, 250 Labusquière, 81 Labuze, 188 Lacretelle, Henri de, 174 Laic laws, 12, 19, 20, 23-24, 30, 34, 42, 50, 58, 75-78,116, 119, 122, 128, 132, 142, 170, 191-92, 194, 236, 243, 24951, 254, 258; army chaplains, July 8, 1880, 183-87; cemeteries, Nov. 14, 1881, 202-04 ; charitable bureaux, Aug. 6, 1879, 207-09; civil funerals, Nov. 18, 1887, 204-06; compulsory and lay primary education, March 28, 1882, 171-76; conscription, July 16, 1889, 188-93; divorce, July 27, 1884, 193-202; Faculties of Catholic Theology, Dec. 15, 1884, 151-53; free primary education, June 16, 1881, 168-71; freedom of higher education. Mar. 18, 1880, 136-43; freedom of the press, July 29, 1881, 222-23; Higher Council of Public Education, Feb. 27, 1880, 148-51 ; holidays, July 13, 1880, 216-18; letters of obedience. June 16, 1881, 165-68; municipal reorganization, April 5, 1884, 20911; normal schools for primary education. August 9, 1879, 163-65; normal schools for secondary

schools for girls, July 26,1881,158; reorganization of primary education, Oct. 30, 1886, 176-82; secondary schools for girls, Dec. 21, 1880, 154-57 Lalance, 91 La loi, 107 Lamy, Étienne, 31, 127, 142-43, 151, 250 Lanessan, de, 160 Lantoine, 121 Lau, Marquis de, 67 Lavigerie, Cardinal, 72, 145, 230, 237, 240, 243-44, 258 Lavisse, 59 Laws, see Laic laws Le Flô, 85 Le Play, 21 Le Royer, 55 League of Counter-Revolution, 24243, 246 Lecanuet, 81 Lefebvre, 206 Left, 38, 46, 63, 66, 72, 74, 104, 109, 127, 131-33, 136. 138-40, 142-44, 147, 150-51, 154, 158, 160, 164, 16668, 170. 173-78, 188, 192, 195-97, 199, 201-02, 204, 206, 208, 210, 21213, 217-22, 225, 231-32, 236, 240, 250 254 Left Center, 66, 74, 101, 127, 131-32, 138-43, 147, 151, 154, 163, 168. 17477, 179-80, 195-96, 199, 201, 213, 221-22, 225-26, 230, 232, 250, 254 Legates, papal, 14 note 13 ; see Czacki and di Rende Légion de Saint-Maurice, 185 Legitimists. 21-23, 28, 31, 43, 61, 6768, 83, 132, 138-39, 145, 170, 242-45, 250 Lenglé. 137 Leo X I I I , Pope, 22, 37, 42, 68, 88, 107, 119, 145, 152-53, 185. 195, 238, 241-44. 246, 248 Léon, Léonie, 38, 73 Letters of obedience, 78, 165-68, 255 Levasseur, 165 Licence, 159, 189, 255 Littre, 35-36, 44 , 46, 48-49, 112, 114, 116, 123, 128, 142, 250-51 Lockroy, 41 note 1, 97, 102, 192, 194, 224-25, 238 Louis XV, 211 Louis XVI, 215 Louis XVIII, 67, 215 Loyson. Father Hyacinthe, 30, 34, 127 note 174

INDEX Lutheran Church, 15, 55-56, 133, 148 Lycées, 59, 149, 157 Lyons, Lord, 91 M Maoé, Jean, 58, 109-13, 118, 219, 254 Maigne, 216 Mackau, Baron de, 19, 246 Mac Mahon, 22-24, 33, 41-42, 85, 91, 249 Manual schools of apprenticeship, 60 Marat, 124 Marcère, de, 23 Marcou, 158-59, 161-62 Maret, Archbishop, 29, 152-53. 241 Marriage, 20 note 40, 47, 52, 155, 194-200; civil, J5, 21, 96, 118, 183, 193, 197, 200, 253; of priests, 30, 47, 228 Martin, Gaston, 121 Martin, Henri, 110, 156 Masons, see Freemasons Massol, Alexandre, 114-15 Materialism, 43, 175, 251 Materialists, 50, 80 Matriculation, 137-38, 141, 143 Maurras, Charles, 95 Mayol de Lupé, 68 Maze, Hippolyte, 104-05, 172, 236 Melun, Vicomte de, 19 Mérimée, 124 Meyer, Arthur, 70 Michelet, 54 Michelin, 226 Military training, see Education Mill, John Stuart, 155 Mirabeau, 96, 211 Miracles, 19, 48, 57 Mitchell, 137 Modern languages, 60, 95,116, 154-55 Monarchists, 11, 22-26, 31-33, 65, 73, 81-82, 86-89, 92, 129, 132, 140, 142, 147-48, 154, 156. 162, 164, 171, 184, 187, 194, 204, 225-27, 239-41, 24345, 249, 252 Moon, Parker Thomas, 82 Monod, 59 Montesquieu, 154 Montjau. Madier de, 118, 141-42, 161, 192. 250 Morality, 20 note 40, 21, 28, 30, 3637. 45, 47-48, 53-55, 57, 71, 103, 106. 109, 114. 122, 167. 185-86, 192, 198. 200-01, 219, 222-23, 226, 251, 257; inspection of in " free " schools, 17, 46, 62, 126, 130, 132, 146, 149-50, 159-60, 164, 180; instruction in, 17, 27, 38 note 133, 44-45, 47-48, 50-54,

279

102, 106-08, 122, 126, 127 note 174, 134, 155-57, 172, 174-76, 182, 251, 253-56, 259 Moreau, Georges, 81 Mortmain, see Religious orders and Property of the Church Moslems, 216 Mun, Comte Albert de, 20-21, 24-25, 28-29, 31-32, 34, 61, 70-71, 160, 214, 218, 229, 243-44, 246

N Napoleon I, 12, 14, 16, 23, 38, 124, 139, 191, 202, 211 Napoleon III, 23, 58, 85, 124, 130, 211

Napoleon, Prince, see Jérôme Naquet, 118, 193-98, 201, 224, 230, 250 National Assembly. 22-23, 31, 33, 81, 95, 222 Nationalism and patriotism, 27, 35, 46, 51, 62, 82, 134, 139-40, 170, 17477, 179, 182, 185-87, 190, 192-93, 200, 211, 213, 215-16, 219-20, 25153, 257; Jacobin, 94-129, character of, 96-108, 253-54, intolerance of, 122-29, 254, propaganda agencies of, 108-22, 254, sources of, 94-96; Polish, 84 ; Traditional. 25-26 Nefftzer, 55 Neutrality, philosophic and religious, 27, 51, 106, 112, 126, 172, 174, 192, 202-03, 211, 222, 246, 253; political, 111-12, 121, 223, 254 Notre Dame des Soldats, 185, 187 Nourrisson, 121 O Oaths. 13, 127 note 174, 219-21, 257 Old Catholics, 36 Opportunism, 46, 53, 63-64, 66, 68, 74, 128 Opportunists, 37, 49, 65, 68-71, 74-75, 78, 81-82. 86, 122-23, 126-28, 171, 192-93, 195 , 205, 238, 240, 248, 252 Orders, see Religious orders Organic Articles. 14-15, 32, 37. 39. 224, 227, 229, 231, 249 Orleanists, 22. 31, 41, 43, 68, 83, 147, 250 Ornano, Cunéo d', 236 Oudet, 217

P Panthéon. 75, 81, 210-15, 257 Parent, 227

28O

INDEX

Paris, 49, 54, 67, 72, 111, 144, 146, 154, 164, 202, 215, 218, 235. 239, 247; municipal council of, 76-78, 119 252 Paris,' Comte de, 24, 85, 243-15 Patriotism, see Nationalism Peasants, 33, 35, 49, 63-64, 90. 17071, 201, 237, 252 Pecaut, Felix, 55, 57-58, 165 Pedagogical Museum, 55 Pelletan, Camille, 109 Pelletan, Eugene, 55, 118, 122, 219 Penal Code, 18, 34, 39, 140, 196-97, 230 Periodicals, Catholic, 19, 21-22 Personalism, 51, 251 Peyrat, 124 Philippart, 66 Philosoph.es, 49-50 Pie, Mgr, 23, 34 Pillias, ¿mile, 41 note 1 Pius VII, Pope, 12 Pius IX, Pope, 20 note 40, 43, 152 Pius XII, Pope, 259 Planteau, 226 Plessier, Victor, 207 Ploenc, Marquis de, 68 Poland, 84-85 Political parties, see Bonapartists, Extreme Left, Left, Left Center, Legitimists, Liberal Conservatives. Monarchists, Opportunists, Orleanists, Republican Union, Republicans, Right Pope, infallibility of, 16, 30, 38 and note 133, 39, 43, 49, 250; powers of, 12-14 note 13, 20 note 40, 38-39, 83, 85, 87, 90, 101, 226, 239, 242, 252; see Leo X I I I , Pius VII, Pius IX, Piua XII, Vatican Popular sovereignty, 49 Positivism, 28, 36, 43-49, 105, 107. 114, 131, 153, 201, 212, 254 Positivists, 54, 114, 195, 201 Prayers, public, 13, 81, 222, 257 Press, 89, 120, 193; anti-clericalism in, 12, 257; Catholic, 22, 31, 142, 145, 150, 241, 243-44, 246, 248; freedom of, 11, 48, 78, 96; law of 1881, 222-23; Legitimist, 22; Orleanist, 22; Protestant, 190; republican, 42, 66, 109, 254 Pressense, Edmond de, 58 Priests, see Clergy and Cures Primary normal schools, see Education, primary Prince Imperial, 24. 43, 245

Progress, 36-37, 39, 43-44, 46. 48-49, 51-54, 63, 105, 111-12, 114, 123, 244 Property, of the Church, 13, 14 note 13, 25, 35, 37, 47, 79, 207, 210-15. 225-26, 250; mortmain, 39, 79. 141, 233-36, 256; of the religious orders. 18, 48, 212, 233-36, 256 Proportional schools, 31 Protestant Churches, 14-15, 38. 208 Protestantism, 49, 51, 54-58, 201; Liberal, 54-58, 251 Protestants, 31, 58, 77, 90-91, 95, 114, 142, 152, 157, 184-85, 190, 196, 200, 202-03, 216, 218, 225 Proudhon, 52-53, 251 Proust, 165 Prussia, 56, 84, 95, 98. 169, 173, 198, 253 Q Quinet, Edgar, 52, 54-55, 251 R Rabbis, 15 Radicals, see Extreme Left Rameau, 202 Ranc, Arthur, 11, 35, 109, 124 Rationalism, 20 note 40, 28-29, 51; see Reason Ravignan, Baron de, 214, 243, 246 Reason, 50-51, 63, 80, 95, 106-07, 113, 115 Reform, see Social reform Reformed Church, 15, 55-56, 58. 91, 133, 148, 152 Religion, 45, 52, 126, 127 note 174. 152; laic, 57, 100, 112, 124, 126. 185, 245 Religious education in schools, 17, 19-20, 27, 61, 77, 80, 104-06. 112. 126, 150, 154-57, 162, 165, 172-76. 179 245 255-56 Religious orders, 16-18, 47, 143, 15657, 161, 164-65, 176-82, 238. 247; attacks on, 41, 101-02, 113, 169. 253; authorized, 17-18, 233-35; conscription of, 81, 185, 187-92; dissolution of, 37, 75-76, 138-46. 153, 236, 242, 250, 259; exclusion from public primary schools, 62, 81, 164-65, 176-82, 252, 255, 258-59; exclusion from freedom of association. 79, 230-33, 256; in hospitals. 208-09; legal status of, 13, 15. 1819 and note 31. 139-40, 188-89, 23033, 236-37, 248-49; property of, 68. 79, 118, 210, 212, 232-36; regulation

INDEX

of, 39, 258-59; scholarships in, 229; unauthorized, 18, 20, 37, 41, 58, 72, 75-76, 117, 121, 137-40, 142, 144-45, 153, 158, 185, 233-35, 241, 245; see Article Seven, Decrees of 1880, Freedom of association, Jesuits, Letters of obedience, Property of the Church Renan, 54, 56-57, 59 Renault, Léon, 101, 195 Rende, Mgr di, 242 Renouvier, 51, 54, 251 Republic, Third French. 32-33, 36, 39, 41 note 1, 43, 54, 57, 63-65, 88, 93, 108, 113, 122-23, 129, 145, 16971, 174, 176, 187, 208, 217, 222, 23941, 245, 248, 252, 260; constitution of, 11, 33, 63, 79, 124, 175, 178, 222, 224; problems of, 11, 38, 258 Republican Union, 40, 63, 75, 78-79, 109, 145, 160-61, 168, 199, 202, 204, 212, 220, 225-26. 236, 240, 250 Republicans, 31, 33, 42-44, 46, 49, 51, 83, 86, 100-02, 111, 114-16, 124-25, 127, 136, 145-46, 156, 164, 168, 176, 181, 194, 200, 209, 212, 238, 244, 249-50, 254 ; anti-clericalism of, 12, 22, 26, 33-41, 249, 254; contributions of, 257-58; political groups, see Extreme Left, Left, Left Center. Liberal Conservatives, Republican Union, Republican Right, 245; rise of, 11, 32, 65, 250 République Française, 42, 63 Restoration, 193, 211, 214, 216 Revanche, 83, 86, 93-95, 183, 252-53 Réville, 55 Revolution, of 1789, see French Revolution; of 1830, 211 Richelieu, 25, 96 Right, monarchist, 42, 76, 78, 80, 126, 132, 136, 139-40, 143. 150, 152, 157, 160, 164, 167, 173-76, 180-82, 18687, 191, 195-97, 203, 206, 210, 21718, 221-22, 231, 235 . 239. 246. 250, 254; republican, 245; see Bonapartists, Legitimists, Monarchists, Orleanists Robespierre, 124 Roche, Jules, 109, 215, 219, 221, 225, 227, 236 Rochefort, Henri, 67, 76 Rothschild. Alphonse de, 67, 69 Rousse, 144 Rousseau, 211-12 Russell, Lord Odo, 74 Russia, 64, 84-85, 93, 239, 242, 252

S Sabatier, 58 Saint-Hilaire, Barthélémy, 102-03, 122, 147, 177, 221 Saint-Just, 124 Saint-Martin, 227 Saint-Vallier, 91 Saint-Valry, Gaston de, 30 Sarlande, 132 Say, Léon, 55, 69-70, 168, 177 Scheurer-Kestner, 41 note 1 Scholarships, 157, 164, 167, 175, 22829 School houses, 60, 181, 235 Schools, boarding, 60, 154-57 Science, 27, 36-37, 43-44, 46, 50-54, 56-57, 60, 62, 80, 95-96, 99, 101, 104, 106-07, 112, 114-15, 122. 129, 131, 134, 136, 152, 154-56, 163, 177, 182, 186, 241, 244 , 251-53, 258, 260 Secondary schools for girls, see Education, secondary Secularization, see Laic laws Sée, Camille, 154-56, 158 Segur, Gaston de, 21 Seignobos, 81 Seize Mai, 22-23, 33, 41-43, 64-65, 76, 83 89 194 Seminarians, 97, 118, 150, 188-192; see Conscription Seminaries, 12, 14-17. 142, 152. 160, 162, 191, 210, 228-29, 232, 235-36 Senate, 41, 71, 75-78, 80, 125-26, 132, 134, 136, 141-43, 146-17, 150-51, 153-54, 158, 163, 165, 168, 175-77, 183, 188-89, 193, 196-97, 202-09. 21316, 219, 221, 231, 233, 235, 239, 256 Separation of church and state, 11, 26, 33, 35-39, 44, 46, 48, 52, 54, 64, 82, 86, 96, 118, 183, 192, 224-27, 236, 238, 240, 250-52, 254, 258-59 Simon, Jules, 31, 33-34, 41, 44, 50, 59, 75. 107, 122, 127. 134. 140-41. 143, 147, 151, 157, 175-77, 179, 182. 200, 221 231 250 Social reform, 11, 21, 29, 31, 40, 4445, 49, 54. 64, 70-72, 74-75, 78-83, 101, 108-09, 113, 174, 182, 199, 21718. 237 , 239-40, 244, 249, 252-54, 259 Socialism, 11, 17, 20 note 40, 21, 27, 32, 63, 88, 124, 169, 238, 243 Societies, educational, 122, 259, see Educational League and Society for Education and Instruction ; Catholic, 20-21, 131, 139, 185, 187,

28 2

INDEX

242-43, 246-47; secret, 20 note 40, 121, 230-31, 246, 259 Society for Education and Instruction, 19-20, 22, 59, 61, 247 Society of Saint Vincent-de-Paul, 247 Sore!, Albert, 165 Spain, 169, 245 Spencer, Herbert, 53, 106, 251 Spinoza, 220 " Spiritualism," see Deism Spuller, 84, 99-101, 103, 109, 112, 118, 128, 133-35, 138, 194, 220, 236. 250 State, centralization of, 49, 103, 12325, 12», 135, 181-82, 209, 250-51, 258; and church, see Catholic Church and Protestant Churches; doctrine of, 27-28, 104-05, 123-27, 138, 173. 176, 179, 254, 256; functions of, 28, 102-08, 123-27, 133, 135, 137-38, 141, 152, 162, 171, 173, 181, 192, 208, 218, 222, 228-29, 242, 244, 253-54, see Degrees; secularization of, 12, 174, see Laic laws Steeg, Jules, 55, 107, 177, 225 Switzerland, 55, 169, 174, 239 Syllabus of Errors, 20 and note 40, 39. 43. 139, 190, 243, 249 T Taine, 54, 56, 76, 128 Talabot, 69 Talandier, 162, 224-25 Talleyrand, 67, 105 Target, Paul, 127 Taxil, Leo, 116, 118 Teachers, 59, 60-61, 80, 97, 100, 10509, 132-33, 148, 151, 153, 157-69, 172, 174-75,177-83, 188-92, 238, 240, 246-47, 254-56, 258, 259 Textbooks, 19, 105, 107, 149 Thiers, 84. 87, 91 Tocqueville, de, 123 Trarieux, 175 Tremoille, Due de la, 67 Tsar, 85 Tunis, 238-39 U Ultramontanism, 16. 20 note 40, 22, 39, 42, 84, 89, 249, 252 Union of Catholic Workingmen's Associations, 21 Union of France, 122 Union Generate, 67-70

Unions for Social Peace, 21 United States, 29, 154, 169, 174, 217 Universities, Catholic, see Faculties, Catholic University, 17, 43, 46, 50, 59-60, 100, 103, 133, 136-38, 148-52, 154, 156, 160-61, 168, 174, 193, 251; monopoly of the state, 16, 130, 133, 137, 254-55; private lay, 131; see Education, higher and secondary V Vacherot, 103, 129, 142 Vassar 154-55 Vatican, Council of 1870, 38 and note 133; ambassador to, 118. 226, 257 Vauchez, Emmanuel, 110 Vestries, 15, 81 Veuillot, Eugène, 22, 68, 244 Veuillot. Louis, 22, 28 Vicars, 15-16, 207, 227 Vichy government, 259 Victor Emmanuel, 73 Victor, Prince, 245, 250 Vocational studies, 60 Vogiié, Vicomte de, 68, 76 Voltaire, 113, 211-12 W Waddington, 55, 75, 91, 131, 133, 136, 142, 236 Waldeck-Rousseau, 77, 196, 206, 213, 221, 226, 232, 236-37, 239, 250, 258 Wallon, 132, 151, 154, 168, 177, 221 Washburne, Elihu, 65, 83 Wellesley, 154 White Masonry, 118-19 William I, Emperor of Germany, 86, 88 90 Women, 47, 71, 117, 199, 201, 251, 256; education of, 37, 51-52, 54, 122, 153-58, 163-64, 251, 255; see Education, secondary of girls Workingmen, 21, 32, 48, 63, 65, 7071, 74, 79-80, 96-98, 122, 139, 144, 153, 157, 173, 181, 185, 187, 201, 216-18, 230-31, 239, 243, 246, 249, 251, 256-57 Y Yves de Constantin, 82 Z Zévort, 61