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Show j THE- CRISIS IN TRANCE j The Elections Are Debauched and the ! Franchise Is a Bugaboo 600,000 Offi-! Offi-! cials Vote as One Man The Youth of the Nation Are Worshipping the Same Vices That Brought Assyria and Baby-1 Baby-1 Ionia to the Dust Clemenceau, Briand j and Their Followers Are Desperately De-I De-I sirous of Rooting Out All Religion, Cath-j Cath-j olic and Protestant, From the Republic. ; i j , (Written for The Interiuounlain Catholic.) I We have hunted Jesus Christ out of the 1 1 f-chools. out of the universities, out of the hospitals I jukI asylums. It now remains for us to hunt him out f the government of Fran.ee." Extract from I $ perch of M. Eriands, Independent-Socialist, and ! ' member of M. Clemenceau's cabinet, j If It is an unfortunate habit with the able editor i j of the Catholic Record, from which we cite, to pass over the authorities supporting: his quotations, so that without great inconvenience it is impossible to ! ; verify his abstracts. We Catholics, and especially j those of us of Irish descent, know what it is to have 1 our doctrines most shamefully misrepresented and f I our definitions and controversial language most un- j fairly twisted from the perpendicular. We there- j t fore insist that our enemy be met in the open and J given a fair field. If the methods of our foe in the 1 ' light, be foul, his treachery will not palliate our un- j fair retaliation. Even the ethics of the prize ring I Mauds for what is called a square deal. Voltaire I himself, a man of brilliant parts, and the most sub- ; lie and argumentatively fertile enemy of Christ ian- ity in modern liistory, publicly denied that his infamous in-famous "Keraze l'infame" (crush the infamous , thing) wss intended as an insult to or attack on i .the. personality of our Divine Lord. He was aiming aim-ing at superstition. ;-jii;lcue " va4u-U in. his day.' threatened 1 lie Tsart i yT of the French," peasantry. Yet notwithstanding Voltaire's disclaimer, our controversialists continue, no doubt unwittingly, to i. charge the French deist with shamefully attacking M the character of our. Lord. It seems incredible that in a professedly Catholic country like France I any man filling the office of a cabinet minister could descend to language so utterly subversive of : ; the decencies of debate. It is not so much a ques- i turn of the man's implacable hostility to the Chris- tion religion, nor of his opinion touching the Di-j Di-j vinity of our Lord as of his -public exhibition of i blasphemous vulgarity and contempt for the ordi- nary amenities of discussion. If it be true that H Briands spoke these sacrilegious words before the j Premier, the members of the ministry and of the j assembly, and stepped down from the tribune unre- i buked, what are we to think of the French electo- l rate if That the party in power brings strong pres-t-urp to bear on election days and drives its six ; ! hundred tliousand officials like one man to the ;, j polls and organizes a conspiracy of fraud and de- S eeit. we believe. Every government from the days I I (,f ihc first Napoleon has done the same, and we i j do not iliink the scheming Frenchman can give either of our own political parties many pointers j on how 1o run an election. This is an excuse for, jl but not an explanation of the present deplorable h condition of things in France. That the attitude it of 1 lie French assembly is hostile to Christianity is I j n'- to be denied, but that they hold their seats by I the will of their constituents must.be admitted. Several of its members, of whom eight are affil- M iated to a deist ic Masonic fraternity (with which . Fnglish and American masonry has so far Aery lit- j tic in common) openly declare their intention to Jiir.I.e socialism the cult of France and deehristian- : ize liie pojiulation as speedily as possible. Do . i lliinnns and these men voice the opinions of the majority of the French voters who sent them to the Assembly and the sentiments, of the Premier j of ilicir country j Eiiher ihese men are misrepresented or their i j constituencies are anti-Christian, and if so, what ombinalion of untoward circumstances has eon-I eon-I spired to debauch ihe electorate and befoul the fair .; I name of the "elect daughter of the church Pass over ihe unthinking masses and the hoodlum elc- 1 ment in the large cities that today cry aloud "Uo- sniinah to ihe son of David"' and tomorrow shout "Crucify Him. Crucify Ilim." and let us come to I the men of ihc schools and universities, ihe men of 1 the pros, ihe professional classes, and the great liias of sturdy, common-sense voters. Why are many of those men atheists, deists, rationalists, j :f roe-ili inkers, or what you will? Well, let us whis-5 whis-5 it aside, there is. man for man. no more infidel- ity in France than in our own land, with its 30.000 I Protestant ministers. In France infidelity assumes a more aggressive front and a more insujting at- I titude. That is all. The French infidel was born I Mid baptized into the Church and in most cases re- I ceived liis first communion. The corruption of the I besi is nearly always the worst and a man's or a re- ligion's most bitter enemies are those of the household. house-hold. TIi e -e is a melancholy absence- of unity of t "pinion among foreign Catholic thinkers touching I the reasons for ihe rationalism of -France. We have heard it staled lhat the ecclesiastical dress of j t'1" l rencli clergy; the alienation of the French peasant from the traditions of his forefathers; the j 1'redoniinaling influence given to the mere train- f tng of ihc intellect and of the artistic sense in the j Catholic schools and seminaries and the neglect of ihe development of manly character' are to blame. Again, we are told that it is the absence of stal-Continued stal-Continued on Page 5. I 1 t . ( ; ., ; . ...mi .,'.m.iw( I, . .- i. THE CRISIS IN FRANCE. Continued from Page 1. . wart, manly priests in the pulpits; that the people are fed on spiritual mush and thirteenth century legends and that the priests do not mingle enough j with their parishioners. These are but sweeping: assertions, assumed generalities and are too trivial to count for much in a discussion over great issues. After a year's sojourn in France and since -then several visits to the Bepublic, when we were privileged priv-ileged to meet and converse with many of its prominent prom-inent men, Ave are persuaded that the nation is threatened with moral disintegration. The decay of a race begins like that of the individual with a decay of morals. The loss of faith almost invariably invaria-bly follows the loss of morals. For two centuries the intellectual and aristocratic youth of France have been worshipping at the shrine of Venus. The decline of morals portended the dissolution of the Koman Empire. Xow listen to St. Paul: "Because they liked not to have God in their knowledge, God delivered them up to a reprobate sense to do those things Ihat are a shame. Because when they had known God. they have not glorified him as God nor gave thanks; but became vain in their thoughts and their foolish hearts were darkened; and professing themselves-wi-f-e they became fools. Wherefore God 1 ' gave them up to the desires of their heart, to un-cleanuess un-cleanuess ... to shameful affections." Two of the most prominent statues in Paris are those of Gambetta, the libertine shot by his paramour, para-mour, and of Carot, the atheist, on the head of which, when we last saw it, was an immortelle bearing the inscription "Xi Dieu. ni maitre," (Xo God. no master), sent by the Atheists' club of Marseilles. Mar-seilles. 1 But there is to our mind another reason for the deplorable state of France. When Puenzi, the last of the tribunes, was meditating an attack on Boine, he sent one of. his captains into the city disguised as a peddler. "Well, how did you find things," he asked his spy on his return. "The churches are crowded," he answered ; "they are making Xovenas and marching in processions, sineing. 'Liberasti nos Domine ex aifiigcutibus nos.' " "Good!" exclaimed Puenzi; "we'll attack tomor row.' . The French Catholic, like the Roman, forgets that God helps those who help themselves, and too often looks for assistance from above. He expects a miracle and marvels why God permits the innocent inno-cent to suffer. Even, the learned hierarchy and devoted priesthood are satisfied things will come out all right. The "si Deus pro nobis quis contra nos" (If God be for us why need we care) is the shield behind which they march to meet the enemy. But there are times and occasions when the saint must fight as well as pray. The German Catholics uuder Windthorst fought Bismarck to a "standstill," and prayed while they fought. The Irish are the greatest prayers in the world, but they are also the greatest fighters, fight-ers, and they have won out. The Belgian Catholics Catho-lics had it out with their enemies fourteen or fifteen fif-teen years ago, and since then they have said and are saying their prayers in peace. We American Catholics .prayed during the "Ivnow Xothing" campaigns cam-paigns of and 1S5", but we put up a stubborn stub-born fight all the same, and for thirty years the bigots let us' alone. Then, when ten years ago. calling themselves A. P. A.'s. they again invaded our territory, we fought them to a finish,' and when the smoke of battle disappeared we organized the American Federation of Catholic Societies, and when they come for us again, "We'll be there." "And though we hope not thence unscathed to go. Who conquers us shall find a stubborn foe." Why don't the French Catholics organize and, following O'Connel's advice to the persecuted Irish of his day, agitate, educate, legislated In the ranks of the French clergy there arc men who in ability, oratory and scholarship stand with the best in Europe. Until now they were salaried, officials and, like the canes nwti of Holy Writ, dared not bark. Their independence was held in governmental govern-mental leash, and they were not free. Xow that the miserable Xapoleonic Concordat is smashed by their implacable foe, the finger of silence has also fallen, they are freemen and 4 "We may hear from them in the next few years." Xor is France, wanting in distinguished Catholic laymen, courageous men, full of fight and of ability, lacking only encouragement and organization. They have across the channel the example of the Irish-and English Catholic electors who are massed under the banners of the United Irish League, the "Catholic Association and other Catholic bodies pledged to stand together anil vote as one man in defense of their rights' and their principles. France' is a paradox filling history' with' chapters of the most heroic sacrifices offered iip on behalf of humanity and religion and with pages of unexampled unexam-pled blasphemy and satanic malice. She has given to God and humanity the greatest saints and missionaries mis-sionaries in history, and the blackest and most accomplished ac-complished scoundrels that ever disgraced our race since the days of the deluge. |
