CHURCH AND STATE IN FRANCE.

Evening Post, Volume LXXI, Issue 148, 23 June 1906, Page 14

CHURCH AND STATE IN FRANCE.

• The Paris correspondent of The Times writes, under date 26th April': — The fate that has befallen an esteemed member of the last Legislature, the Abbe Lemire, is a characteristic incident of the present electoral campaign, and one which throws a suggestive light on the occult forces at work. The Abbe Lemire has been the representative of the constituency of Hazebrouck, in the Nord, during the last <hree Legislatures. For nearly fifteen years this distinguished Catholic, whose staunch Republicanism, coupled with his humanitarian ideals, recalled the famous figures headed by the Abbe Gregoire in the Convention, has defended the interests of his working-class constituents to their complete satisfaction. He intended further to devote himself to their interests in the coining Legislature. lie had already begun the canvassing of his district ; his election address w<ia ready to be posted on the walls of Hazebrouck ; the voting papers were printed. Suddenly a decree from Rome was transmitted to him by his Archbishop forbidding the French clergy to become candidates without the consent of thpir ecclesiastical superior and of the ecclesiastical authority in the district for which they stand. The decree seems clear enough, but it is manifestly somewhat ambiguous in the case of a' Deputy like the Abbe Lemire. In an interview with a representative of the Matin the A.bbo suggests that this very justifiable measure of control has been taken to avoid more or less compromising candidates, but that it does not affect clergymen in his position. It is doubtful, therefore, whether the Abbu Leuiirc will or will not be «i candidate. But it is certain that his friends do not accept his tolerant vc-ision of the motives for this measure. They think, on the contraiy, that it is | fi reuctionaiy contrivance, the object being to suppress the .popular Republican .Abbs in order to substitute for him a reactionary candidate. However Ibis may be, it is certain that the Abbe Lemire's attitude in the Chamber during the debate on the Separation Bill did not please the Right. He is -nell known to be in favour of a loyal effort to apply the Separation Law. Meanwhile, Rome is hesitating as to its decision with regard to acceptance of the associations cultuelles. It is not uninteresting to note that the lower clergy are agitating to be heard by tho plenary assembly of the Episcopate, which is. to open on the 30th inst. at the Archbishopric of Paris. Under the Concordat, the secondary clergy have been uniformly debarred from taking part in the government of the Church 'in France. Admission of the leading priests to the coming assembly would be a movement towards Qallicanism, which it can hardly be expected that Rome will facilitate. Under the old regime general assemblies in which the lower clergy were represented were not infrequent. The Abbe Feret recalls this fact in a letter published by M. de Nurfon in the Figaro ; and, according to M. de Narfon, two of the leading parish priests of Paris and the most 2'opular priest of the suburbs propose to claim a place in the assembly of the Episcopate.

When Messrs. Huddart, Parker and Company's steamer Coogee reached Melbourne on Friday, Ist June, she completed her 1000 th trip in the Melbourne Launceston trade. This means tftiat she crossed the Straits 2000 times, and as the distance from wharf to wharf is 272 miles, she had covered while so engaged not less than 544,000 miles. During the summer the Coogee retires in favour of tihe modern turbine steamer Loongana, but in the winter she comes out to relieve the stress on account of weather conditions, and carries out her timetable with creditable regularity.