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Show m INTERESTING LETTER The Writer Has Met Some of France's Greatest Statesmen, Authors and D'h vines Cardinal Richard's Protector, M j Denys Cochin, a Noble Character Told the Writer How Thiers, in '49, Insisted! j on Religious Training in the Schools ; j Comparison of Places Where Religious. j Teaching Prevaite With Paris Without Itj Other Useful Information. To the Kditor. Sir: , 1 have read with very gn-at interest and hav. been much impressed with the articles of your sp-, cial correspondent dealing with the present unfort-i una to condition of affairs in France. I passed' many months in Paris, Marseilles and Lyons. mer, many of the prominent men of the country, audi claim to know the Republic fairly well.- A cable-j gram, you will remember, appeared in our newspa-! pe-rs a few days ago reporting that when the venerable ven-erable Cardinal Richard. Archbishop of l'aris, was about to be expelled from his Episcopal palace. M., Denys Cochin, the Conservative deputy, waited upon him and tendered to the aged prelate the hospitality hos-pitality of his home in the Rue do Babyloue. This is the Denys Cochin who in 10OJ took such, an honorable and prominent part in the school agitation which threatened to suppress all Chris-, tian symbols and even the mention of the name of i God in schools and institutions supported by the f state. The threat afterward passed into a law. I 1 was then a guest of the Hotel Fenelou. Paris. 1 and I remember the commotion among the citi- zens of the Quartier Latin when the police entered J one of the ward hospitals and began a systematic search for bibles, crucifixes, rosaries, religious pic- tures and player books. When. tlj years before the visit of the policp. . the Sisters- tsumed charge of the building, they placed eae k'ard under the patronage uf a ainU. t When the s Aers were dismissed and seeulavor lay ' "" ' nurses substituted, the wards which were known by I the names of saints, such as St. Mary, St. Thomas, eter.. were no renamed aft?r prominent free- think- j ers. such as . Josseau. Voltaire. Kenan, and others. f But to reiirn to M. Denys Cochin. 1 knew his , j- father, Augustin 'Cochin, well. This was the Au- ' gust in Cochin who, with Mgr. Dupanloup. afterwards after-wards Bishop of Orleans. M. de Montelambert. au- j thor of the "Monks of the West." one of the great- j est works ever Avritten in defense of Monasticisrn. j and the illustrious and saintly Lacordair. formed with Victor Cousin. M. Thiers and the philosopher. j Cuvier. the greatest sextette in the history of moil- i ern France. f I was privileged to make the acquaintance of l Augustin Cochin in 170 when, in the evening of I his life, he was wintering at Monte Carlo. I was j then a young man. and 1 thought it a great honor t to enjoy the society and conversation of one who, f with Dupanloup and Montelambert, had fought thet $ battle of freedom of worship and led the attack on' I the government on the famous night. March I 1S40. Our meeting occurred a short time before t the outbreak of 1 lie Franco-Prussian war. M. Thiers, who was in delicate health, was passing the spring of 1870 at ,( 'amies with his sister-in-law. I Madle Dosne. M. Cochin corresponded with the" j distinguished statesman who lived to become I the first President of the Republic. i It was news to me to hear from M. Cochin that, as far back as 1841). Thiers delivered four remark- j able speeches in the Assembly on educational lib- erty whicch resulted in the formation of a comtnis- sion for the purpose of further examining into that. most important matter. It is worthy of note that. J though Thiers was a Calvinist, he was so persuaded j of the wisdom of religious instruction in the ele- raentary school that he would make it obligatory. j "T consider.' he said, "religion to be so absolute ' a necessity for the people thst I would oblige the parish priests to add to their other duties those of. the schoolmaster." Then rose Mgr. Dupanloup and said that this would interfere with the lay teachers and impose I too much work upon the pastors of ?ouls. I "Well, then." replied M. Thiers, "let the priest have extra curates." I 1 record these public expresions of M. Thiers as heard them from M. Cochin to indicate th:; grave importance the first president of the third Republic attached to religious education in the schools as far back as 1840. When I met M. Cochin in 1870 the second empire, which was draw- j ing near to its close, was. to all outward seeming, as I tirmly established as the British empire. 1'nder thp Third Xapoleon and during nearlv ten years- of the present Republic the communal schools were almost entirely in the hands of the clergy. Not until 1880 was this orer disturbed not, indeed, until M. Jules Ferry began his notorious notor-ious anti-clerical campaign which ended the other day in the ftminous climax of separation of tho state from God. Under the leadership of Ferry, the attack on clerical education was inaugurated, anel some years after the communal schools were laicised, the names 'of God. Christ and the saint? omitted from the school books, and all emblems of the crucifixion, pictures and statues of the Blessed Virgin Vir-gin and the images of the saints detached from tho walls and carted away as so much rubbish or scrap, iron. The details associated with the gruesome clear-Continued clear-Continued on Page 4, ' ' ii l i ; ! : ;.( I ! 'BIRBEL'S BILL REJECTED. Continued from Page 1. separate., or what we call the parochial school i, fare today. MR. BIKRKLL'S BILL This state of a if airs was objected to by th" Protestant bodies outside the Church of England, or Nonconformists, as they are known in law. on the grounds of preference. The Church of England Eng-land teaching in its schools its own doctrines and rites was receiving public money money which ether denominations had to supply. The Birrell bill was framed to meet the objection. The bill which Mr, Birrell introduced hist year j is the one over which the Lords and Commons have disagreed. It passed all the schools over to the local authorities to manage and declared that these authorities could determine whether or not there I should be religious instruction in the schools under their jurisdiction. No religion-' instruction was. however, to be denominational, and if any religious reli-gious body wished to teach its religion, it. might do so provided the local authorities consented twice a week at its own expense juid through teachers other than those regularly engaged in the school. This arrangement was viewed by the Church of England as unfair. The argument was advanced that the schools established by that church at enormous enor-mous expense wore now being secularized or rendered ren-dered absolutely non-religious. The pith of the bill sent up to the House of Lords is that all schools i ... are secuclar, bur that the local authorities may admit ad-mit religion, if they pb-tise, subject to certain government gov-ernment provisos. The Lords sent back the bill torn with amendments and in its tattered condition condi-tion the Commons declined to accept it. The Premier. Pre-mier. Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman. will not go to the eocuntry to ask an imprimatur for his measure, meas-ure, but will bide bis time and next session of tho House the Ghost will walk again. THE CATHOLIC ATTITUDE . The Catholics, represented by Cardinal Yaugtian and the Duke of Norfolk, have entered an emphatic protest against the contemplated secularized or Godless schools. The Catholic population has increased in-creased in England since lt'iO from 120.000 to 2,."00.00o. By conversion they have won over some of the ablest men in England and many distinguished dis-tinguished members of the nobility and peerage. The Church's attitude 011 education is fixed and unalterable. un-alterable. She will never consent to a divorce which separates religion from education. Th"' Church of England will probably yield to the State? in time and accept secularization of the schools. The Catholic Church cannot; it would be a violation viola-tion of principle, and if the English government forces the issue.'' the Church in Groat Britain will open her own schools just as she has done and U doing here and in Australia. |