The End of M. Combes

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXIII, Issue 12, 23 March 1905, Page 6

The End of M. Combes

When the fall (in minion oi a secret power came into office (says a writer in the ' Catholic Times ') everyone foresaw that as soon as his work was don© he world be cast off. He himself perhaps cherished the idea of a personal triumph, but no such intention was in the minds of his masters, and when they now drive him of! like a beaten ciir, they are by no means too thankful for the way in which he has retrieved the prey marked uut for him. We canuot be surprised at the issue. Combes, the comet of low magnitude, has fallen. V.hat else did we expect? As he completed tihe work of the cunninp: Waldeck-Rouaseau, so there are others to complete his work. Waldeck-Rousseau was by far the more dangerous man. M. Combes was the man of a moment in. the course of time, and ne could never do more than the work of a moment. When lie came to power he had to finish the bad work of Waldeok-Rousseau. And he went on as his predecessor had begun. The furst inkling of the Associations Law was an act of hypocrisy. The Orders were attacked under the guise of dispensation, selection, privilege, freedom. It was the same in Rome when Victor Emanuel promised to respect Catholic institutions. The Orders being thus lulled, and as it were gagged, the work of destruction had taken its first step Then Convbes came an the stage. He was bolder,, and the time favored a more open front. Flinging aside all courtesy, all kindness, all consideration for his victims, he spoke of the Orders, of the Catholics, of the Church, of the Pope, in derisive terms. The Association Law was passed mler a false promise ; when passed it was applied illega'ly ; even the illegality was steeped in the lawless despotism of hatred. The record is one of foul dishonor. All this and more took I laoe by reason of The Concordat. The Ondors, it was said, were not under the Concordat. Yet the Concordat was used to crush them. Without the Concordat the Government could have done nothing. This plea of the Concordat put forth by robbers of the sanctuary has deceived some people. Noav, what is the .Concordat 9 It is a *>hort code of regulations ccaiterning the relations of the Church and the State. In the Freemasons' hands it was used as an instrument to prevent the Church from erowina;. It is e\ident that if an institution recognised by law outgrows the law, it is the duty of lawgners to adapt the law to the institution. In the case, for instance, of our Indian Empire, when in the course of time it outgrew the obsolete rule of the East India Company the Crown made a new and comprehenshe law to take in all the fresh conditions of exist once So in France, if the Orders had grown up outside the Concordat, it was the duty of statesmen to put them into the Concordat. It was their safety also, for if they wished to have a larce and venerated body completely o\ershadowing tihem they could not have taken a' shorter cut to that end than the one they took. Then, again, if the Orders are not recognised in the Concordat, by what right are they to be crushed by the Concojrd,a,t ? In the eves ol the law they are merely laymen. 'Why should they not be treated as auoh ? The apostate hatred of M. Combes found many vents. He hua-ridd off to Brittany to erect a statue to Renan He spoke coarse and vile things to Bishops, whom he called ' Monsieur.' These tjhings were not, indeed, takpn seriously, and this called him most of all. People knew, we all Inow, that he had his tether and his hour. His colossal vanity reached its apex when he said, ' I will not go to Canos'sa.' This is an ominoms saying, and no one has thriven under it. With the example of Bismarck, be ought to have avoided it. It - cast a spell over his last months, which all in their degree were sio many steps to his Canossa. To his Canmss'a ! which is a Small one, not easily discernible to the! man in the street. In the mouth of Bismarck the words ' Our German Emperor will not go to Canossa ' wer^ felt to be dramatic and fit to the occasion. They brought back great figures, and at the time they seemed true. Tn the mouth of Combes the words ' I will not go,' etc., never seemed fitting to anything that is, or was. or could be. They provoked laughter. Not only was the Government lavish in breaking its word, not only were the halls of Parliament thronged with perjured senators and puny despots, but the Concordat was broken openly. The very first clauses assert that Ihe Chief Ruler in France is to be a Catholic, and that the majority of Frenchmen are Catholics. These clauses were violated. The Chief Ruler and his Minister favored a ny religion but the Catholic — they oppressed and persecuted it. But a change has come, and hopes sjeem to be well grounded that an improvement is at hand. Combes is at an end for ever.