Show ernp HE CHURCH PROPERTY kt luious bigotry has been used again in this country and eamma oada by a recent event affecting oman catholic church the Wa lature of the province of que be bec ped passed a bill to indemnify that for the confiscation of lands ich eh belonged to the order of juita to and the sum of was for that purpose the V nion government holds the of veto but sir john mac wo the canadian premier has ed that the measure will be al wel ped to become a law this has wats up the no popery 11 fanatics to extrie at wrath it donathe ro nathe the history of this case as y appears of record the quebec have erred only in the of the appropriation it ft ab 00 8 A of compromise measure half i halfhearted alf hearted settlements are veldeva osa right through lack of ga courage to face hostile public anti meluk public men play fast and with conscience and fan fall to do at vm while the do they y fear to entirely g they yield a little to con c and grant the rest to lw clamor t Is 8 like some other peoples peopled od gd of settling a dispute over dr ay oP ertY instead of boldly des elding tu in favor of the lawful claim tice rard regardless less of anything but jus and truth they divide it be es the claimants as solomon coed to do with the child j by two mothers the dif aft noe between solomon Is wisdom ayad air their weakness is that his was only a ruse to make where justice lay that right be done and their policy is a alce e of de justice in a puerile y ift please both parties the ne present ewe case Is described as when great britain so ac pa 1 lower canada under the y of 1763 1768 the jesuits were pos hip d of property iL amounting mounting to than shan five hundred thousand ot 0 land d in extent and in value u t 8 in 1773 the order of jesuits was abolished by the pope under the rules of the roman catholic church every kind of ecclesiastical property belongs to the church at large represented by the pope on the suppression of theonder the order of jesuits therefore under roman catholic law the property held by the order would have reverted to the pope under the english law it reverted to the government and in 1800 a warrant was issued declaring that by reason of conquest and confiscation the property of the jesuits belonged to the crowland Crow nand later these properties were taken possession of by the government the catholic clergy never acquiesced ced in this decision they have always protested against this seizure of property which they claimed belonged to the Church and not to the crown on the other hand the canadian protestants have held that on the extinction of the order of jesuits in that province the property lawfully became escheat to the government perhaps under the letter of the law the protestants are right but in justice and equity they ure tire clearly in the wrong it is also doubtful whether a fair interpretation of the law would establish the power of the crown to coni confiscate lacate the property in dispute it is a question whether or not the british government by leaving undisturbed the possession of these lands by the jesuits after the conquest of canada recognized their legal rights thereto also if when the catholic church administered these estates it was as the legal successor to the property the original purpose of the trust was to promote the extension and interests of that church and therefore under well known principles of english law the judicial power should be exerted to secure the execution of the trust after the di solution of the particular order or corporation which was created for that purpose this would place the property in legal control of the catholic church where it 2 justly belonged and though this might be against the protestant policy yet it would be both lawful and right putting we sectarian considerations erat ions aside and these ought not to figure in any dispute over property the confiscation of these catholic estates was effected in a similar spirit to the attempt to escheat to the united states government pr property perty belonging to the mormon church but in the former case there was more of the semblance of settled law than appears in the latter reversion and escheat to the crown were recognized in certain cases as established principles in english jurisprudence property of extinct corporations could be and often was turned over to the government but in the united states there is no crown to confiscate estates and the property of defunct corporations goes to the stockholders or contributors or trustees kru for persons holding individual or associate rights in both cases prejudice bigotry and religious antagonism prompted the robbery and moved under the pretended forms of law in both instances the motive and the deed were wrong quebec is endeavoring in a timid paltry way to undo the injustice perpetrated many years ago the small sum of is poor compensation for the loss of the estates wrested from the catholic church it is to be hoped that the august tribunal before which the mormon church confiscation case is now pending will not be swayed by the hostile spirit in which this attempt to escheat the property of a church has been made but will fearlessly do right according to law and equity regardless of the popular voice and the prospects of clerical criticism the legislature of quebec in touching the matter of the catholic estates at all should have either thrown out the bill or made fair compensation to the defrauded church and if wrong is allowed to prevail in the present instance there will come a time when it will be recognized and the history of this assault upon the property of the latter day saints will reflect no credit upon its promoters and abet tors |