THE WAR ON THE FRENCH JESUITS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume VII, Issue 375, 25 June 1880, Page 5

THE WAR ON THE FRENCH JESUITS.

Thk venerable Father Thebaud, of the College of St. Francis Xavier, in New York, was lately called on by a reporter who asked for his views concerning the attitude of the French Government toward the religious orders. " Father Thebaud," the reporter says, " was very frank and outspoken on the matter." "M. de Freycinet," said he, "is in this position. He found M. Ferry's clause, Article 7th, attached to a bill bequeathed him by the government of M. Waddington, and he had not the strength of purpose and character to shrink from adopting a clause which his predeces^M in the government had deliberately approved. How this cla^pof M. Ferry's could have ever been introduced in a bill affecting superior education has never been satisfactorily explained. Our Order cannot be charged with any interference with what they call superior education." " How is that, Father? " " Because we have nothing to do with the universities, in which the course of studies is termed 'superior education.' Our schools and colleges are entirely different, and a clause referring to them in a bill on superior education is completely foreign to the subject." " What is the origin of these decrees, Father ? " " Why, they date back so far and so many changes have taken place since their enactment, that they are, in every sense of the word obsolete. They were enacted in 1761, in the reign of Louis XV., and and were the work of the Jansenists and encyclopedists of that time.

The conspiracy against the Church was then attaining strength, and the first blow was aimed against the Jesuits." " Here is, then, the illegality of M. de Freycinet Vproceedingi. He proposes to enforce laws nearly 120 years old, which were iwept out of existence by the revolution, and requires the authorisation of the Government for congregations which have already obtained that authorisation." " What do you think the result of M. dc Freycinet's action will be?" " The destruction of hig Ministry and the re-establishment of sounder principles in regard to religion on the part of future governments. This war against the Jesuits has brought out into strong relief the fact that the tendency of the French people at the present time is toward religion representing order and peace. The wild utterances of atheists, for there is no middle course between the parties engaged in this struggle, will now be measured according to their true value." " Why, when the result of the vote in the Senate on M. Ferry's article was announced, the Jesuits were cheered in the most enthusiastic manner in the streets of Par's. Again, the fact that on this question the Left Centre joined the Conservatives, is a strong proof of the disgust inspired among all respectable people against the course pursued by the enemies of religion. "Is there a particular necessity for religious schools ra France ? " " More than in any other country, on account of the vast number of materialists and atheists among secular teachers. I have known eminent physicians, for instance, who maintained that man was simply a structure of bone, flesh, sinew, and tissues, and that nothing existed beyond the material body.' " " What do you think, father, of the question from a stand-point of liberty ? " Only this. Can there be any more open and flagrant attack on . the liberty of parents to choose for their own children the teachers they think best 1 It all arises from the intense hatred which Ferry and his associates bear toward the Church. The antagonism of their course to the true principles of a Republican government caused two men, Jules Simsn and Dufaure, who are not Catholics, to defend our order in the most eloquent manner that has ever characterised their public career. They saw that Ferry's clause was a direct attack on liberty and they met it on that ground. " Again, there is no justifiable cause for this attack upon our schools. Our method of instruction in France in no wise differs from that we pursue in this country, and, I am sure, no one thinks hero that we have any designs on the institutions of the Republic. This persecution of our Order will react on its authors you will find, and the Ministry that champions it will fall from power. There is a stronger Catholic element in Paris than is generally supposed to exist, only that the small band of scoffers at religion and professed atheists make most noise, and, therefore, conceal their real weakness."