THE NEW ZEALAND TABLET THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 1908. PETTY PERSECUTION

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVI, Issue 2, 9 January 1908, Page 21

THE NEW ZEALAND TABLET THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 1908. PETTY PERSECUTION

contained the scales of justice-. But -the cups of the scales of the balance were a pair 'of' velvet pouches, the one full of bullion, which i, overpoised the other, empty and long, hoisted higher than the middle of the beam '. What lust of gold did to pervert .the Course of justice in the Island of Sharping, anti-reli-gious fanaticism is doing to-day in sundry, of; the courts in France. In the higher courts, and in many of those of first instance, many independent judges and fearless justices have acted a fair and manly part,- even though they have not risen to the height of the bold jurors who, in the days of "the second James, did not consider ' whether some obscure or vicious Act of Parliament had been violated, but whether oppression, or resistance to oppression, was to be supported.'

There are, unfortunately, numerous ' furred law-cats' in the French Republic, and they have proved themselves ready instruments in the hands of those Who are conducting the war against religion in that unhappy country.- Bitter wrongs have been inflicted for trivial breaches, or constructive breaches, of the dragnet legislation against religion. But few cases that have been brought before the lesser courts have, thus far, been of a more vexatious nature than that . which was tried ati Noyers on - December 13. A straw shows how the wind blows. And the atmosphere in France is loaded "with

HEN Pantagruel arrived at .the Island of - Sharping, he found • the .place of ' justice .. , held by ' a moa'e dreadful monster than-; ■ was ever read of in the legends of tonight-, 1 errantry. ~ This was the cruel, three- > headed tyrant, Giipe-men-all, Archduke of the Furred Law-cats. His coat-of -arms'

indication^ of the- trend' ah'd -intent of the 'anti-rejig^ous legislation of the ' bloc ' or ' machine ' that rules the Third' Republic. -; The Noyers case sufficiently shows the worse than Cromwellian way in which ' religious lib- ' erty ' Ijs; '.understood by, French officialdom tcnday.^ - The - finding of the colurt is hot, yet announced in -these counr ■ tries. But the -fact; that such a case 1 should' Be : solemnly .laid and- tried speaks for -itself. 'We ''quote r - the story' of -the affair from the London "Tablet I*1 '* of November 23 :— _ 'It appears that, a 'short time ago, the safety of the French Republic"' was* gravely endangered" by an imposing •-demonstration" of a religious character^ which became sufficiently formidable to alarm - the .mayor into taking 'such, precautions *as,he, in the discharge of his office, might ,deem tp be_ necessary for the protection of the public. As a result, the whole of the demonstration was. summoned before the justice of the peace.- The| demonstration, consists of one man — the Suisse or beadle of the parish church.;- Some one may ask how this one man could contrive -by himself to make -a "religious demonstration "'? Those who ask such a question, entirely forget -how very impressive a French Suisse can be when he tries. No doubt our readers have recollections of his laced and corded tunic and his aweinspiring cocked, hat. But it was not' even a question of these, which might be, called the upper regions of his magnificence. "It appears that the Suisse of Noyers managed to make ' the religious demonstration amd shake the foundations of the French Republic merely by_.wearing a pair of his official trousers ! He actually walked " in the open light of -day in the said- trousers— < ir pan--talon d'uniforme ", be it observed— from his own house to the parish church ! Little wonder that the 'panicstricken mayor, when he "heard of the matter, hastened to draw a formal process' against the culprit for having, all by himself, . made " a religious- manifestation ", which was of a nature "to coimpromise the public tranquility and the liberty of the thoroughfare ". What would have happened to the public • tranquility 'if the Suisse- had chosen --to' 7 ..wear ' his- whole uniform — espe- ' cially his hat — it. is too fearful to contemplate.) One would -have imagined that the " liibfcfty' of the thoroughfare " was what the Suisse would have invoked-, as a reason for being allowed to wear his trousers. But, apparently, in France " liberties " are like dreams that go contrariwise. One can remeiriber a time when French authorities were not afraid of a beadle's pair of trousers ! ' , a When 'honest Daniel Defoe', of Robinson Crusoe • fame, was unjustly placed three times in the pillory in 1703, great crowds acclaimed him, dra<nk his health,' " loaded the pillory with garlands, and read and sang- his' : ' Hymn to the Pillory ', and especially these mordant ' lines :—: — -^- ' Tell them the men that placed him here Are scandals to the times ■; ■ Are at a loss to -find his guilt, And can't commit his crimes*'.The same may be said in regard- to the punishments inflicted upon Catholic priests and laymen in France for alleged .breaches of laws which penalise some of the highest acts of worship of the Creator and of charity to fellow-men. Such penalties throw an aureole around the pillory or the prison cell. • The Belgian Socialist senator, M. Edmond Picard, ' touched the right spot ' when he said in a recent interview with a representative of the ' XX. Siecle ' (Brussels) : 'At the present moment French Catholics are treated as no" foreign conqueror would ever treat them \ But (as • John Bull ', an English secular paper, remarked "some " time ago), ' People jhave to pay for .prejudices as well .as plea- ' sures. The French ha.ye been venting > their" spleen" 1 vp Ojl* religion and ■ religious Orders.- - Then, -as the - cat's-paw - - of Europe," they have". been exhibiting -their martial- incapacity, in Morocco. Hitherto, when they have tried' to go to war,, they have had the succor- of nuns, ' Sis-- • ters of Charity, and other ' religious -philainthfopistg; who have tended -'their' wounded."* Now religious^ Or- ■ ders are' taboo, "and r ' the consequence -is that wounded- " froggies " have to nurse themselves. - There may be no such thing as Providence, but there is evidently a Nemesis. "Vive Dieii." '

The French Nemesis holds in her hands a ' cat ' of nine scorpion tails. Another of them is the rapid increase of juvenile crime ; a third is the growing menace of the gangs of ' apaches ' in the big cities of the Republic. The • juvenile delinquents and the ' armed '"-and 1 "-- - organised hoodlums will probably" furnish problems that will keep many a French statesman awake o' nights 'in- <[ the not distant future. The atheist ' bloc" has- set 3 the 1 ". vl country' on the slippery slope -of Avernus. And the pace'- -- is pretty hot, even for - the days of the- two 'hundred 1 '< horse-power motor-car.

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