THE FRENCH CLERGY AND CONVENT SCANDAL IN PARIS.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXVI, Issue XXVI, 29 July 1871, Page 2

THE FRENCH CLERGY AND CONVENT SCANDAL IN PARIS.

TO THE EDITOR Ol f THE INDEPENDENT.

Silt, — As Father O'Reilly bus deemed it necessary to tbrow light on " puvL" of the " tale" of the Paris correspondent of tho " Times," perhaps in a further dofenco of tho French clergy ho will throw furthor "light" upon somo other mutters than " tho instruments of torture," eeeing he haa so lately eomo from Eomo und Paris, tho groat contres of convents nnd such like. The public would like " light" on tho following : — 1. How is it that idiot nuns are kept in tho open uiv in wooden cages, summer and winter, respecting whioh tho French officer said they wore not fit for a dog ? 2. How is it the monasteries stand side by sido with convents ? 3. What of the fuct (not tho fh-Bt time revealed to tho outside world) ' that the two buildings communicated with each other by means of an old door, which still exists, nt tho back of a Bttible, as well as by apertures in the

■ . . . .... .. ■ <*>+ garden wall, which show signs of having been recently closed up ? 4. Why should the " Lady Superior" be so stubborn in refusing to answer questions, if all was right with the " French clergy" and thoir nuns ? 5. What about "the key of the groat vault," and the determination not to tell where that " great vault" waa ? Was it the burial place of infants similar to others told of by escaped nunß ? 6. What of the morality of " begging for money from door to door to buy broken vioken victuals for their pensioners," during the siege, when in an underground warehouse they had vast stores of potatoes and barrels of pork ? The cry of civilised men is — these convents must bo opened to the light. — I am, &c, Anxious tor " iight."