| Show THE CRISIS IN FRANCE A dars DISPATCH PATCH from paris france dated february 24 bays thai that do de freycinet will not attempt the task of forming anew a new cabinet owing to his hie very weak state of health considering the fact that a republican form of government prevails vails in france this crisis in french fren ch ministerial affairs may appear to many peculiar the defeat of a government measure in that country involves the fall or reorganization of the ministry in this particular it resembles lesem bles england though in the latter country the defeat of a govern ment meat measure means more than ministerial Ister erial lal downfall it means an appeal to the people at large and a new dew parliament as well as a new ministry about a week ago go what Is known as the associations bill was introduced as a government measure and defeated in the chamber of deputies by a vote of to this was effected by a coalition of two factions in the chamber immediately after all the members of the french ministry tendered their resignations to president carnot since then the political situation has been rather critical french politics at all times are not the simplest in the world but at this time they are more complicated than usual the present crisis however might be traced indirectly to the incident of the french pilgrims in italy last summer bummer when insults to the mem ory of victor emanuel caused some excitement the french government peremptorily prohibited future pilgrimages from france to rome the archbishop of alx aix in rather intern kemte language criticised criticized the action setton of his government he was taken in hand by FaIl bailleres leres the minister of public worship prosecuted and fined this led to a sort of politico religious agitation in france it was soon ascertained that a strong party in Chamber the favored a severance of church and state it led also to what might be termed two parties in the church itself the radical wing comprising mostly the higher dignitaries are monarch lots and they endorsed the action of the archbishop of aix the moderate wing comprise the main body of the priests and humble clergy who are all republican they endorsed the action of the government at this juncture the pope interposed he forwarded to the archbishop of paris a letter or epistle to be read to the bish bishops and minor clergy instructing them to toab sain from active interference in politics this letter the arch bishop withheld the pope in the meantime seeing that his advice was not complied with forwarded a copy of his letter to his nuncio at paris who had it promulgated among the bishops priests and laity the archbishop arch bishops and cardinals did not like this and proceeded immediately to do some active political work de Freye tret et seeing that the pope and the humbler clergy of france were in harmony with the republic deemed it prudent to meet them half way he had the associations bill in produced trod in the chamber of deputies this was in reality a religious measure intended to regulate the relations of church and state in such a manner that the priests and bishope and even the pope could be made steadfast friends of republican government the measure did not suit the radical politicians J liticia ns nor the radical cardinals both factions united in the chamber and defeated it from this it will be seen that the situation in france Is critical the high clergy are more than the pope himself and join with infidels in defeating a measure not net hurtful to the church but tending to weaken their own prestige As much as francs is in paid annually by the state treasury to tho tb church in france the richest benefices beneficed benefi ces are held by church dignitaries who favor a restoration of monarchy there are five cardinals in france FrI ance and they are active in politics the feeling Is in fast gaining ground that a divorce between church and state would be the proper thing the popes reference to the united states in this respect shows that he to is prepared to accept the severance when it comes |
