THE ORIGINS OF CONTEMPORARY FRANCE, VOLUME 6

THE MODERN REGIME, VOLUME 2

by Hippolyte A. Taine

Contents:

BOOK FIFTH. The Church. 

 Chapter I. Moral Institutions

 Chapter Ii. 

 Chapter Iii

Book Sixth. Public Instruction. 

 Chapter I. 

 Chapter Ii. 

 Chapter Iii. Evolution Between 1814 And 1890. 

*****

 After Taine's death in March 1893, his nephew André Chevrillon arranged his last manuscripts on the Church and Education for publication and wrote the following introduction which also tells us much about Taine and his works

*****

PREFACE By André Chevrillon. 

"To treat of the Church, the School, and the Family, describe the modernmilieu and note the facilities and obstacles which a society like ourown encounters in this milieu, such was the program of the last[5101]section of the "Origins of Contemporary France. " The preceding volume isa continuation of the first part of this program; after the commune andthe department, after local societies, the author was to study moraland intellectual bodies in France as organized by Napoleon. This studycompleted, this last step taken, he was about to reach the summit. Hewas about to view France as a whole, to comprehend it no longerthrough a detail of its organs, in a state of formation, but its actualexistence; no longer isolated, but plunged, along with other occidentalnations, into the modern milieu, experiencing with them the effects ofone general cause which changed the physical and intellectual conditionof men; which dissolved sentiments formerly grouping them together, moreor less capable at length of adapting themselves to new circumstancesand of organizing according to a new type suited to the coming age thatnow opens before us. 

Only a part of this last volume was written, that which relates to theChurch and to public instruction. Death intervened and suddenly arrestedthe pen. M. Taine, at this moment, was about completing his analysis ofsubordinate societies in France. --For those who have followed him thusfar it is already clear that the great defect of the French communityis the fragmentation of the individuals, who isolated, dwindling, andprostrate at the feet of the all-powerful State, who, due to remotehistorical causes, and yet more so by modern legislation, have been madeincapable of "spontaneously grouping around a common interest. "Very probably--and of this we may judge by two sketches of a plan, undoubtedly provisional, but the ideas of which were long settled in hismind--M. Taine would have first described this legislation and definedits principles and general characteristics. He meant to show it moreand more systematic, deliberately hostile to collective enterprise, considering secondary bodies not as "distinct, special organs, "endowed with a life of their own, "maintained and stimulated by privateinitiation, " but as agents of the State "which fashions them aftera common pattern, imposes on them their form and prescribes theirwork. "--This done, this defect pointed out, the author was to enumeratethe consequences flowing from it, the social body entirely changed, "notonly in its proportions but in its innermost texture, " every tendencyweakened by which individuals form groups that are to last longer thanthemselves, each man reduced to his own self, the egoistic instinctenhanced while the social instinct wastes away for want of nourishment, his daily imagination solely concerned with life-long aims, incapacitated for politics as he is "lacking spheres of action in whichhe may train himself according to his experiences and faculties", hismind weakening in idleness and boredom or in a thirst for pleasure andpersonal success, --in short, an organic impoverishment of all facultiesof cohesion, leading to the destruction of the natural centers ofgrouping and, consequently, to political instability. [5102]

One association of special import remains, the most spontaneous, thedeepest rooted, so old that all others derive from it, so essentialthat in any attack upon it we see even the substance of the social bodydecaying and diminishing. On the nature of the Family; on its profoundphysiological origins; on its necessary role in the prolongation and"perpetuation of the individual" by affording him "the sole remedy fordeath"; on its primitive constitution among men of our own race; on itshistoric organization and development "around the family home"; on thenecessity of its subsistence and continuance in order to insure theduration of this home; on its other needs, M. Taine, with his knowledgeof man and of his history, had given a good deal of thought tofundamental ideas analogous to those which he has consecrated to theclassic spirit, to the origin of honor and conscience, to the essenceof local society, so many stones, as it were, shaped by him from timeto time and deeply implanted as the foundations of his criticism ofinstitutions. Having set forth the proper character and permanent wantsof the Family he was able to study the legislation affecting it, and, first, "the Jacobin laws on marriage, divorce, paternal authority and onthe compulsory public education of children; next, the Napoleonic laws, those which still govern us, the Civil Code" with that portion of itin which the equality and leveling spirit is preserved, along with "itstendency to regard property as a means of enjoyment" instead of thestarting-point and support of "an enduring institution. "--Having exposedthe system, M. Taine meant to consider its effects, those of surroundinginstitutions, and to describe the French family as it now exists. He hadfirst studied the "tendency to marriage"; he had considered the motiveswhich, in general, weaken or fortify it, and appreciated those nowabsent and now active in France. According to him, "the healthy ideal ofevery young man is to found a family, a house of infinite duration, tocreate and to rule. " Why in modern France does he give his thoughts to"pleasure and of excelling in his career"? Why does he regard marriage"without enthusiasm, as a last measure, as a 'settling-down, ' and not asa beginning, the commencement of a veritable career, subordinatingall others to it and regarding these, pecuniary and professional, asauxiliary and as means?"--After the tendency to marriage, "the tendencyto paternity. " How does the shrunken family come to live only foritself? In what way, in default of other interests, --homestead, domain, workshop, lasting local undertakings, --how does the heart, now deprivedof its food by the lack of invisible posterity, fall back on affectionfor visible progeny?[5103] In a country where there are fewopenings, where careers are overcrowded, what are the effects of thispaid idolatry[5104], and, to sum up in one phrase, in what way does theFrench system of to-day tend to develop the most fatal of results, thedecline in the birth rate?

Here the study of institutions on a grand scale terminated. Formerly, M. Taine had contemplated a completion of his labors by a descriptionof contemporary France, the product of origins scrutinized by him andof which he had traced the formation. Having disengaged his factors hemeant to combine them, to show them united and acting in concert, allcentering on the great actual facts which dominate the rest and whichdetermine the order and structure of modern society. As he had given apicture of old France he aimed to portray France as it now is, withits various groups, --village, small town and large city, --with itscategories of men, peasants, workmen, bourgeois, functionaries andcapitalists; with the forces that impel each class along, theirpassions, their ideas, their desires. Besides the numerical statisticsof person he meant to have set forth the moral statistics of souls. According to him, psychological conditions exist which render the socialactivity of men possible or impossible. And, especially, "in a givensociety, there is always a psychological state which provokes the stateof that society. " It was his aim to seek out in the novel, in poetry, inthe arts since 1820, that is to say in all works that throw light on thevarious and successive kinds of the reigning ideal--in philosophy, inreligion, in industry, in all branches of French action and thought--thesigns of the psychological tendencies of modern Frenchman in this orthat social condition. What would this book have been? M. Taine hadsketched it out so far back, he had abandoned it for so long a time andnever alluded to it, that nothing remains by which we can form anyidea of it. But, in this undertaking demanding so much science, so muchintuition, so much experience of accurate observation, of general viewsand precise generalization--in this vast study requiring such profoundknowledge, not alone of France but of societies offering points ofcomparison with her, we may be certain that the author of Notessur Paris, Notes sur l'Angleterre, of the Ancien Régime, the criticaccustomed to interpret civilizations, literature and works of art, the thinker, in fine, who, to prepare himself for the greatest tasks heundertook, traveled five times over France, studying its life withthe eyes of an artist, in the light of history and of psychology, everpreceding his philosophic study with visual investigation, would havebeen equal to the task. [5105]

Already for several years, M. Taine, aware that his time was short, hadnarrowed the limits of the work he was engaged upon. But what his worklost in breadth and in richness of detail it would have gained indepth and in power. All his master ideas would have been found in it, foreshortened and concentrated. Always seeking in this or that group ofthem what he called his generators, intellectual and moral as well aspolitical, he would have described all those which explain the Frenchgroup. Unfortunately, here again the elements are wanting which allowone to foreshadow what this final analysis and last construction mighthave been. M. Taine did not write in anticipation. Long before takingthe pen in hand he had derived his most significant facts and formedhis plan. He carried them in his brain where they fell into order ofthemselves. Ten lines of notes, a few memoranda of conversations--faintreflections, to us around him, of the great inward light--are all thatenable one to attempt an indication of the few leading conceptions wereto complete "Les Origines de la France Contemporaine. "

"Le Milieu Moderne", was to have been the title of the last book. Thequestion here is how to discover the great characteristics of the periodinto which European societies entered and about were to live. Risingto a higher point of view than that to which he had confined himselfin studying France, M. Taine regarded its metamorphosis as a case oftransformation as general as the passage of the Cité antique over tothe Roman Empire over to the feudal State. Now, as formerly, thistransformation is the effect of a "change in the intellectual andphysical condition of men"; that is to say, in other words, in theenvironment that surrounds them. Such is the advent of a new geologicalperiod, of a glacial period, for example, or, more precisely, "the veryslow and then accelerated upheaval of a continent, forcing the submarinespecies which breathe by gills to transform themselves into specieswhich breathe by lungs. " It is impossible to divine in what sense thisadaptation takes place if we do not comprehend the event, that is tosay if we do not perceive its starting-point and the innate force whichproduces it. According to Taine, this force, in the present case, is theprogress the increasing authority of positive, verifiable science. Whata definition he would have given of science and its essence! What atableau of its progress, the man whose thought was matured at the momentwhen the scientific spirit entered into history and literature; whobreathed it in his youth with the fervid and sacred enthusiasm of a poetseeing the world grow brighter and intelligible to him, and who, at theage of twenty-five, demanded of it a method and introduced this intocriticism and psychology in order to give these new life--the mechanicalequivalent of heat, natural selection, spectroscopic analysis, the theory of the microbes, recent discoveries in physics and theconstitution of matter, research into historic origins, psychologicalexplanation of texts, extension of oriental researches, discoveries ofprehistoric conditions, comparative study of barbaric communities--everygrand idea of the century to which he has himself contributed, all thoseby which science embraces a larger and larger portion of the universe, he saw them containing the same essence; all combining to change theconception of the world and substitute another, coherent and logical inthe best minds, but then confused and disfigured as it slowly descendsto the level of the crowd. --He would have described this decent, thegradual diffusion, the growing power of the new Idea, the active fermentwhich it contains after the manner of a dogma, beneficent or perniciousaccording to the minds in which it lodges, capable of arming men andof driving them on to pure destruction when not fully comprehended, andcapable of reorganizing them if they can grasp its veritable meaning. 

Its first effects are simply destructive, for, through Darwinism, through experimental psychology, through the physiology of the brain, through biblical exegesis, through the comparative study of savagecommunities and their moral systems, the new concepts at first shocksthe religious idea which it tends to replace; even, with the half-cultivated and in the minds of novices, it tends to pure negation, tohostility against existing religions. To every social gathering aroundthe religious idea that explains and sustains it, what a disturbance inthe secular system formed by the co-ordination and mutual adaptation oflaws, customs, morality, and institutions! What a rupture of the inwardequilibrium which maintains man passive and tranquil! The consequentmental agitation will lead to agitation, impulsion, ambitions, lassitude, despondency, and disorder in all the sentiments which hadthus far maintained every species of society, the family, the commune, the Church, free association and the State!--Now, along with theimmediate effects of science on the intellectual habits of men considerthe effects of its application to their material condition; at first, their increased well-being, their power increased, then the rupture ofthe ties that bind them to their birthplace, the concentration of massesof workmen in the towns to which they are attracted by great and rapidindustrial development, the influx of new ideas, of every species ofinformation, the gradual decline of the old hereditary prejudices ofcaste and parish which act automatically as instincts, and are usefulas instincts to the small groups in which the individual is born andin which he lives. How could such a profound change in the condition ofhumanity fail to undermine everywhere the order of things which groupmen together? Why should not the new milieu at once attack all ancientforms of society? For, at the moment of its establishment, there existsin Europe a general form of society manifest through features in common;a monarchy--hereditary royalty, dynastic but frequently limited, atleast in fact, --a privileged nobility performing military service as aspecial function, a clergy organized as a Church, proprietary andmore or less privileged, local or special bodies also proprietary--provinces, communes, universities, brotherhoods, corporations--laws andcustoms which base the family on paternal authority, perpetuating it onthe natal soil and by social rank; in brief, institutions which modernideas disturb in every direction, the first effect of which is, while developing the spirit of doubt and investigation, to break downsubordination to the king, to the gentleman, to the noble, and, ingeneral, to dissolve society founded on heredity. Such phenomena arealready observable everywhere, the ruin of feeble corporations by thestate, its constant tendency to interference, to the absorption of everyspecial service and the descent of power into the hands of a numericalmajority. --What plan, then, governs these societies in the way ofreorganization, and, since they all belong to a common type, what arethe common resources and difficulties of adaptation? On what lines mustthe metamorphosis be effected in order to arrive at a viable creations?And, abandoning the general problem in order to return to contemporaryFrance, grown up and organized under our own eyes, how does the greatmodern event affect it? How does "this common factor combine withspecial factors, permanent and temporary, " belong to our system? Withthe French, whose hereditary spirit and character are easily defined, in this society founded on Napoleonic institutions moved by our"administrative mechanism, " what are the peculiar tendencies of aleveling democracy which seeks immediate establishment? Among themaladies which are special with us--feeble birth-rate, politicalinstability, absence of local life, slow industrial and commercialdevelopment, despondency and pessimism--can an aptitude fortransformation which we do not possess be distinguished in the sensedemanded by the new milieu? The knowledge we have of our origins, ofour psychology, of our present constitution, of our circumstances, whathopes are warranted?

M. Taine could not have replied to all these questions. If, twenty yearsago, on the morrow after our disasters, just as we once more set abouta new organization, putting aside literature, art, and philosophy, noblecontemplation and pure speculation, abandoning works already projected, he gave himself up to the technical study of law, political economy andadministrative history; if, for twenty years, he secluded himself anddevoted himself to his task--at what a cost of prolonged effort, withwhat a strain his mental faculties, with what weariness and often withwhat dissatisfaction!--if he shortened his life, it was to dischargewhat he deemed a duty to that suffering France which he lovedwith tender and silent passion, the duty of aiding in her cure byestablishing the general diagnosis which a philosopher-historianwas warranted in presenting after a profound study of its vitalconstitution. The examination finished, he felt that he had a right tooffer the diagnosis. Not that his modesty permitted him to foretell thefuture or to dictate reforms. When his opinion was asked in relation toany reform he generally declined giving it. "I am merely a consultingphysician, " he would reply; "I do not possess sufficient details on thatparticular question--I am not sufficiently familiar with circumstanceswhich vary from day to day. " In effect, according to him, there is nogeneral principle from which one can deduce a series of reforms. On thecontrary, his first recommendation would have been not to try to findsimple solutions in political and social matters, but to proceed byexperiments, according to temperaments, and accepting the irregularand the incomplete. --One becomes resigned to this course by a studyof history and by acquiring "the sense of surrounding facts anddevelopments. " Here do we find the general remedy for the destructiveeffects produced by the brusque progress of science, and she herselffurnishes this remedy, when, from the hasty and the theoretical, shebecomes experimental and builds on the observation of facts and theirrelations. "Through psychological narration, through the analysis ofpsychological conditions which have produced, maintained, or modifiedthis or that institution, we may find a partial solution to eachquestion of reform, " gradually discovering laws and establishing thegeneral conditions that render possible or impossible any given project. When constituted and then developed, reorganized, respected and appliedto human affairs, the sciences of humanity may become a new instrumentof power and civilization, and, just as the natural sciences have taughtus to derive profit from physical forces, they may teach us to benefitby moral forces. M. Taine believed that the French were very wellqualified for this order of study: if any other people possesssuperior mental faculties in respect of memory or a better knowledgeof philology, he thought we had in our favor a superiority of thepsychological sense. 

Except for such beneficial generalities which may provide generalhygienic guidelines, could M. Taine have suggested immediate remedies?It is scarcely probable. In any even, he was not a partisan forhasty decentralization. When, under the influence of a bad system, anorganization has contracted a vice that reaches its vital organs, thefollowing treatment nearly becomes mandatory;[5106] in any event, nosudden modification of it must be thought of; all that can be done isto lessen its pernicious effect by resorting to make-shift or shortterm measures. Taking advantage of unforeseen circumstances, using greatcircumspection, noting favorable symptoms that had impressed him--forexample a certain new birth of the spirit of association under the ThirdRepublic--leaving to political authorities the care "of adjusting means"to the diversity and mobility of things, we may believe that M. Tainewould have confined himself to indicating in what sense we could, withprudence, lay our course. To do this, it sufficed for him to sum up hisdiagnosis and lay down the conditions of duration and progress. In amatter of such vital import nobody can speak for him. Accordingly, ifthe conclusion is not written, whoever knows how to read his thought maydivine it. The work, such as it is, is finished; it already contains hisideas in full; the intelligent eye has only to follow them and to notetheir consequences and combination. 

André Chevrillon

Menthon, St-Bernard, October, 1893. 

BOOK FIFTH. THE CHURCH. 

CHAPTER I. MORAL INSTITUTIONS

I. Napoleon's Objectives. 

 Centralization and moral institutions--Object of the State in absorbing Churches. --Their influence on civil society. 

After the centralizing and invading State has taken hold of localsocieties there is nothing left for it but to cast its net over moralsocieties[5107], and this second haul is more important than the firstone; for, if local societies are based on the proximity of physicalbodies and habitations, the latter are formed out of the accord whichexists between minds and souls; in possessing these, the hold is nolonger on the outside but on the inside of man, his thought, his will;the incentive within is laid hold of, and this directly; then only canhe be fully mastered, and disposed of at discretion. To this end, themain purpose of the conquering State is the possession of the Churches;alongside as well as outside of itself, these are the great powers ofthe nation; not only does their domain differ from its own but, again itis vaster and lies deeper. Beyond the temporal patrimony and the smallfragment of human history which the eyes of the flesh perceive, theyembrace and present to mental vision the whole world and its firstcause, the total ordinance of things, the infinite perspective of a pasteternity and that of an eternity to come. Underneath the corporeal andintermittent actions which civil power prescribes and regulates, theygovern the imagination, the conscience and the affections, the wholeinward being, that mute, persistent effort of which our visible acts aresimply the incomplete expressions and rare outbursts. Indeed, even whenthey set limits to these, voluntarily, conscientiously, there is nolimit; in vain do they proclaim, if Christian, that their kingdom is notof this world; nevertheless, it is, since they belong to it; mastersof dogma and of morals, they teach and command in it. In theirall-embracing conception of divine and human things, the State, like achapter in a book, has its place and their teachings in this chapter arefor it of capital importance. For, here do they write out its rights andduties, the rights and duties of its subjects, a more or less perfectplan of civil order. This plan, avowed or dissimulated, towardswhich they incline the preferences of the faithful, issues at length, spontaneously and invincible from their doctrine, like a plant from itsseed, to vegetate in temporal society, flower and fructify thereinand send its roots deeper down for the purpose of shattering or ofconsolidating civil and political institutions. The influence of aChurch on the family and on education, on the use of wealth or ofauthority, on the spirit of obedience or of revolt, on habits ofinitiation or of inertia, of enjoyment or of abstention, of charity orof egoism, on the entire current train of daily practice and of dominantimpulses, in every branch of private or public life, is immense, andconstitutes a distinct and permanent social force of the highest order. Every political calculation is unsound if it is omitted or treatedas something of no consequence, and the head of a State is bound tocomprehend the nature of it if he would estimate its grandeur. 

II. Napoleon's opinions and methods. 

 Napoleon's opinions on religion and religious belief. --His motives in preferring established and positive religions. --Difficulty in defining the limit between spiritual and temporal authority. --Except in Catholic countries, both united in one hand. --Impossible to effect this union in France arbitrarily. --Napoleon's way of attaining this end by another process. --His intention of overcoming spiritual authority through temporal interests. 

This is what Napoleon does. As usual with him, in order to see deeperinto others, he begins by examining himself:

"To say from whence I came, what I am, or where I am going, is above mycomprehension. I am the watch that runs, but unconscious of itself. "

These questions, which we are unable to answer, "drive us onward to religion; we rush forward to welcome her, forthat is our natural tendency. But knowledge comes and we stop short. Instruction and history, you see, are the great enemies of religion, disfigured by the imperfections of humanity. . . . I once had faith. Butwhen I came to know something, as soon as I began to reason, whichhappened early, at the age of thirteen, my faith staggered and becameuncertain. "[5108]

This double personal conviction is in the back-ground of his thinking, when he drafted the Concordat:

"It will be said that I am a papist. [5109] I am nothing. In Egypt I wasa Moslem; here I shall be a Catholic, for the good of the people. Ido not believe in religions. The idea of a God!" (And then, pointingupward:) "Who made all that?"

Imagination has already decorated this great name with its legends. Letus content ourselves with those already existing; "the restlessness ofman" is such that he cannot do without them; in default of those alreadymade he would fashion others, haphazard, and still more strange. Thepositive religions keep man from going astray; it is these which renderthe supernatural definite and precise;[5110] "he had better catchit there than pick it up at Mademoiselle Lenormand's, or with somefortune-teller or a passing charlatan. " An established religion

"is a kind of vaccination which, in satisfying our love of themarvelous, protects us against quacks and sorcerers;[5111] the priestsare far better than the Cagliostros, Kants, and the rest of the Germanmystics. "

In sum illuminism and metaphysics, [5112] speculative inventions of thebrain or of a contagious overexcitement of the nervous system, all theseillusions of gullible men, are basically unhealthy, and, in general, anti-social. Nevertheless, since they are part of human nature, let usaccept them like so many streams tumbling down a slope, but on conditionthat they remain in their own beds and that they have many but no newones and never one bed alone for itself. 

"I do not want a dominant religion, nor the establishment of newones. The Catholic, Reformed, and Lutheran systems, established by theConcordat, are sufficient. "[5113]

Their direction and force are intelligible, and their irruptions can beguarded against. Moreover, the present inclinations and configurationsof the human soil favor them; the child follows the road marked out bythe parent, and the man follows the road marked out when a child. 

"Listen, [5114] last Sunday, here at Malmaison, while strolling alone inthe solitude enjoying the repose of nature, my ear suddenly caught thesound of the church-bell at Rueil. I was moved, so strong is the forceof early habits and education! I said to myself, What an impression thismust make on simple, credulous people!"

Let us gratify them; let us give back these bells and the rest to theCatholics. After all, the general effect of Christianity is beneficial. 

"As far as I am concerned, [5115] I do not see in it the mystery ofthe incarnation, but the mystery of social order, the association ofreligion with paradise, an idea of equality which keeps the rich frombeing massacred by the poor. "

"Society[5116] could not exist without an inequality of fortunes, and aninequality of fortunes without religion. [5117] A man dying of starvationalongside of one who has abundance would not yield to this differenceunless he had some authority which assured him that God so orders itthat there must be both poor and rich in the world, but that inthe future, and throughout eternity, the portion of each will bechanged. [5118]"

Alongside of the repressive police exercised by the State there is apreventive police exercised by the Church. The clergy, in its cassock, is an additional spiritual gendarmerie, much more efficient than thetemporal gendarmerie in its stout boots, while the essential thing is tomake both keep step together in concert. 

Between the two domains, between that which belongs to civil authorityand that which belongs to religious authority, is there any line ofseparation?

"I look in vain[5119] where to place it; its existence is purelychimerical. I see only clouds, obscurities, difficulties. The civilgovernment condemns a criminal to death; the priest gives him absolutionand offers him paradise. "

In relation to this act, both powers operate publicly in an inversesense on the same individual, one with the guillotine and the other witha pardon. As these authorities may clash with each other, let usprevent conflicts and leave no undefined frontier; let us trace this outbeforehand; let us indicate what our part is and not allow the Church toencroach on the State. --The Church rally wants all; it is the accessorywhich she concedes to us, while she appropriates the principal toherself. 

"Mark the insolence of the priests[5120] who, in sharing authority withwhat they call the temporal power, reserve to themselves all action onthe mind, the noblest part of man, and take it on themselves to reducemy part merely to physical action. They retain the soul and fling me thecorpse!"

In antiquity, things were much better done, and are still better donenow in Moslem countries. 

"In the Roman republic, [5121] the senate was the interpreter of heaven, and this was the incentive of the force and strength of that government. In Turkey, and throughout the Orient, the Koran serves as both a civiland religious bible. Only in Christianity do we find the pontificatedistinct from the civil government. "

And even this has occurred only in one branch of Christianity. Everywhere, except in Catholic countries, "in England, [5122] in Russia, in the northern monarchies, in one part ofGermany, the legal union of the two powers, the religious control inthe hands of the sovereign, 'is an accomplished fact. ' One cannot governwithout it; otherwise, the repose, dignity, and independence of a nationare disturbed at every moment. "

It is a pity that "the difficulty[5123] cannot be overcome as withHenry VIII. In England. The head of the French government would then, bylegislative statute, be the supreme head of the French Church. "

Unfortunately, this is repugnant to France. Napoleon often tries tobring it about, but is satisfied that in this matter "he would neverobtain national cooperation"; once embarked, " fully engaged in theenterprise, "the nation would have abandoned him. " Unable to take thisroad, he takes another, which leads to the same result. As he himselfafterwards states, this result "was, for a long time and always, theobject of his wishes and mediations. . . . It is not his aim[5124] tochange the faith of his people; he respects spiritual objects and wantsto rule them without meddling with them; his aim is to make these squarewith his views, with his policy, but only through the influence oftemporal concerns. " That spiritual authority should remain intact; thatit should operate on its own speculative domain, that it to say, ondogmas, and on its practical domain, namely, on the sacraments and onworship; that is should be sovereign on this limited territory, Napoleonadmits, for such is the fact. We have only to open our eyes to seeit; right or wrong, spiritual authority on this distinct domain isrecognized sovereign, obeyed, effective through the persistent, verifiedloyalty of believers. It cannot be done away with by supposing itnon-existent; on the contrary, a competent statesman will maintain it inorder to make use of it and apply it to civil purposes. Like an engineerwho comes across a prolific spring near his factory, he will not try todry it up, nor let the water be dispersed and lost; he has no ideaof letting it remain inactive; on the contrary, he collects it, digschannels for it, directs and economizes the flow, and renders the waterserviceable in his workshops. In the Catholic Church, the authority tobe won and utilized is that of the clergy over believers and that of thesovereign pontiff over the clergy. 

"You will see, " exclaimed Bonaparte, while negotiating the Concordat, "how I will turn the priests to account, and, first of all, thePope!"[5125]

III. Dealing with the Pope. 

 Services which he obliges the Pope to render. --Resignation or dismissal of the old bishops. --End of the constitutional Church. --Right of appointing bishops and of sanctioning curés given to the First Consul. 

"Had no Pope existed, " he says again, [5126] "it would have beennecessary to create him for the occasion, in the same way that the Romanconsuls appointed a dictator for difficult circumstances. " Only such adictator could effect the coup d'état which the First Consul needed, in order to constitute the head of the new government a patron ofthe Catholic Church, to bring independent or refractory priests undersubjection, to sever the canonical cord which bound the French clergy toits exiled superiors and to the old order of things, "to break thelast thread by which the Bourbons still communicated with the country. ""Fifty émigré[5127] bishops in the pay of England now lead the Frenchclergy. Their influence must be got rid of, and to do this the authorityof the Pope is essential; he can dismiss or make them resign. " Shouldany of them prove obstinate and unwilling to descend from their thrones, their refusal brings them into discredit, and they are "designated[5128]as rebels who prefer the things of this world, their terrestrialinterests to the interests of heaven and the cause of God. " The greatbody of the clergy along with their flocks will abandon them; they willsoon be forgotten, like old sprouts transplanted whose roots have beencut off; they will die abroad, one by one, while the successor, who isnow in office, will find no difficulty in rallying the obedient aroundhim, for, being Catholic, his parishioners are so many sheep, docile, taken with externals, impressionable, and ready to follow the pastoralcroisier, provided it bears the ancient trademark, consists of the samematerial, is of the same form, conferred from on high and sent fromRome. The bishops having once been consecrated by the Pope, nobody savea Gregory or some antiquarian canonist will dispute their jurisdiction. 

The ecclesiastical ground is thus cleared through the interposition ofthe Pope. The three groups of authorities thereon which contend witheach other for the possession of consciences[5129]--the refugee bishopsin England, the apostolic vicars, and the constitutional clergy--disappear, and now the cleared ground can be built on. "The Catholicreligion being declared[5130] that of the majority of the French people, its services must now be regulated. The First Consul nominates fiftybishops whom the Pope consecrates. These appoint the curés, and thestate pays their salaries. The latter may be sworn, while the priestswho do not submit are sent out of the country. Those who preach againstthe government are handed over to their superiors for punishment. ThePope confirms the sale of clerical possessions; he consecrates theRepublic. " The faithful no longer regard it askance. They feel thatthey are not only tolerated, but protected by it, and they aregrateful. [5131] The people recover their churches, their curés, theforms of worship to which they are almost instinctively accustomed, theceremonial which, to their imagination, belongs to every important actof their lives, the solemn rites of marriage, baptism, burial, andother sacramental offices. --Henceforth mass is said every Sunday in eachvillage, and the peasants enjoy their processions on Corpus-Christiday, when their crops are blessed. A great public want is satisfied. Discontent subsides, ill-will dies out, the government has fewerenemies; its enemies, again, lose their best weapon, and, at the sametime, it acquires an admirable one, the right of appointing bishops andof sanctioning the curés. By virtue of the Concordat and by order of thePope, not only, in 1801, do all former spiritual authorities ceaseto exist, but again, after 1801, all new titularies, with the Pope'sassent, chosen, accepted, managed, disciplined, [5132] and paid bythe First Consul, are, in fact, his creatures, and become hisfunctionaries. 

IV. The Pope, Napoleon's employee. 

 Other services expected of the Pope. --Coronation of Napoleon at Notre-Dame. --Napoleonic theory of the Empire and the Holy See. --The Pope a feudatory and subject of the Emperor. --The pope installed as a functionary at Paris, and arch-chancellor on spiritual matters. --Effect of this for Italy. 

Over and above this positive and real service obtained from thesovereign pontiff, he awaits others yet more important and undefined, and principally his future coronation in Notre Dame. Already, during thenegotiations for the Concordat, La Fayette had observed to him with asmile:[5133] "You want the holy oil dropped on your head"; to which hemade no contradictory answer. On the contrary, he replied, and probablytoo with a smile: "We shall see! We shall see!" Thus does he thinkahead, and his ideas extend beyond that which a man belonging to theancient régime could imagine or divine, even to the reconstruction ofthe empire of the west as this existed in the year 800. "I am not LouisXIV. 's successor, " he soon declares, [5134] "but of Charlemagne. . . . I amCharlemagne, because, like Charlemagne, I unite the French crown tothat of the Lombards, and my empire borders on the Orient. " In thisconception, which a remote history furnishes to his boundless ambition, the terrible antiquitarian finds the gigantic and suitable framework, the potent, specious terms, and all the verbal reasons he requires. Under Napoleon, the successor of Charlemagne, the Pope can be only avassal: "Your Holiness is the sovereign of Rome, but I am its emperor, "the legitimate suzerain. "Provided with "fiefs and counties" by thissuzerain, the Pope owes him political fealty and military aid; failingin this, the endowment, which is conditional, lapses and his confiscatedestates return to the imperial domain to which they have never ceased tobelong. [5135] Through this reasoning and this threat, through the rudestand most adroit moral and physical pressure, the most insidious and mostpersevering, through spoliation, begun, continued and completed by theabduction, captivity and sequestration of the Holy Father himself, heundertakes the subjection of the spiritual power: not only must thePope be like any other individual in the empire, [5136] subject by hisresidence to territorial laws, and hence to the government and thegendarmerie, but again he must come within the administrative lines;he will no longer enjoy the right of refusing canonical investiture tobishops appointed by the emperor, [5137] "he will, on his coronation, swear not to take any measures against the four propositions of theGallican Church, "[5138] he will become a grand functionary, a sort ofarch-chancellor like Cambacérès and Lebrun, the arch chancellor of theCatholic cult. --Undoubtedly, he resists and is obstinate, but he is notimmortal, and if he does not yield, his successor will: it suffices tochoose one that is manageable, and to this end things work in the nextconclave. 

"With my influence and our forces in Italy, " Napoleon saysafterwards, [5139] "I did not despair, sooner or later, by one meansor another, of obtaining for myself the control of the Pope, and, thenceforward, what an influence, what a lever on the opinion of therest of the world!"

"Had I returned victorious from Moscow, I intended to exalt the Popebeyond measure, to surround him with pomp and deference. I would havebrought him to no longer regretting his temporality; I would have madehim an idol. He would have lived alongside of me. Paris would havebecome the capital of Christendom, and I would have governed thereligious world the same as the political world. . . . I would have hadmy religious as well as legislative sessions; my councils would haverepresented Christianity; the Popes would have been merely theirpresidents. I would have opened and closed these assemblies, sanctioned and published their decrees, as was done by Constantine andCharlemagne. " In 1809, the restoration of the great Carlovingian andRoman edifice had begun; its physical foundations were laid. By virtueof a decree, [5140] "the expenses of the Sacred College and of thePropaganda were declared imperial. " The Pope, like the new dukes andmarshals, was endowed with a landed income on "property in differentparts of the empire, two millions of rural revenue free of all taxation. "Necessarily" the Pope must have two palaces, one at Paris and the otherat Rome. He is already nearly fully installed in Paris, his person beingall that was lacking. On arriving from Fontainebleau, two hours off, hewould find everything belonging to his office; "the papers[5141] of themissions and the archives of Rome were already there. " "The Hôtel Dieuwas entirely given up to the departments of the court of Rome. Thedistrict around Notre Dame and the Ile Saint-Louis was to be theheadquarters of Christendom!" Rome, the second center of Christendom, and the second residence of the Pope, is declared[5142] "an imperial andfree city, the second city of the empire"; a prince of the empire, orother grand dignitary, is to reside there and "hold the court of theemperor. " "After their coronation in the cathedral of Notre Dame atParis, the emperors" will go to Italy before the tenth year of theirreign, and be "crowned in the church of St. Peter at Rome. " The heir tothe imperial throne "will bear the title and receive the honors ofthe King of Rome. " Observe the substantial features of this chimericalconstruction. Napoleon, far more Italian than French, Italian by race, instinct, imagination, and souvenirs, considers in his plan the futureof Italy, and, on casting up the final accounts of his reign, wefind that the net profit is for Italy and the net loss is for France. "Napoleon wanted to create the Italian kingdom over again, [5143]combining Piedmont, Tuscany, etc. , in one united independent nation, bounded by the Alps and the sea. . . . This was to be the immortal trophyerected in his honor. . . . He awaited impatiently the birth of a secondson that he might take him to Rome, crown him King of Italy and proclaimthe independence of the great peninsula under the regency of PrinceEugene. " Since Theodoric and the Lombard kings, it is the Pope who, in preserving his temporal sovereignty and spiritual omnipotence, hasmaintained the sub-divisions of Italy; let this obstacle be removed andItaly will once more become a nation. Napoleon prepares the way, and constitutes it beforehand by restoring the Pope to his primitivecondition, by withdrawing from him his temporal sovereignty and limitinghis spiritual omnipotence, by reducing him to the position of managingdirector of Catholic consciences and head minister of the principal cultauthorized in the empire. 

V. State domination of all religion. 

 Services which Napoleon desires or expects from the French clergy. --His Roman idea of civil power. --Development of this conception by the jurists. --Every religious association must be authorized. --Legal statutes which fix the doctrine and discipline of the four authorized Churches. --Legal organization of the Catholic Church. --Its doctrine and discipline to be that of the old Gallican Church. --New situation of the French Church and new rôle of civil power. --It sets aside its ancient obligations. --It retains and augments its regalian rights. --The Church of France before 1789 and after 1802. --Increased preponderance and complete dominion of the civil power. 

In carrying out this plan, he will use the French clergy in masteringthe Pope, as the Pope has been made use of in mastering the Frenchclergy. To this end, before completing the Concordat and decreeing theOrganic Articles, he orders for himself a small library, consisting ofbooks on ecclesiastical law. The Latin works of Bossuet are translatedfor him, and he has drawn up an exposition of the Gallican parliamentarydoctrine. The first thing is to go down to the roots of the subject, which he does with extraordinary facility, and then, recasting andshaping all theories to suit himself, he arrives at an original, individual conception, at once coherent, precise, and practical; onewhich covers the Cæsar and which he applies alike to all churches, Catholic, Lutheran, Calvinist, and even Jewish, to every religiouscommunity now existing and in time to come. His master-idea is thatof the Roman legists and of ancient imperial jurisprudence; here, aselsewhere, the modern Cæsar goes back beyond his Christian predecessorsto Constantine, and farther still, to Trajan and Augustus. [5144] So longas belief remains silent and solitary, confined within the limits ofindividual conscience, it is free, and the State has nothing to do withit. But let it transgress these limits, address the public, bring peopletogether in crowds for a common purpose, manifest itself openly, it issubject to control; forms of worship, ceremonies, preaching, instructionand propaganda, the donations it calls forth, the assemblies itconvenes, the organization and maintenance of the bodies it engenders, all the positive applications of the inward reverie, are temporal works. In this sense, they form a province of the public domain, and comewithin the competency of the government, of the administration andof the courts. The State has a right to interdict, to tolerate, orto authorize them, and always to give them proper direction. Sole anduniversal proprietor of the outward realm in which single consciencesmay communicate with each other, it intervenes, step by step, either totrace or to bar the way; the road they follow passes over its ground andbelongs to it; its watch, accordingly, over their proceedings is, andshould be, daily; and it maintains this watch for its own advantage, for the advantage of civil and political interests, in such a way thatconcern for the other world may be serviceable and not prejudicial tomatters which belong to this one. In short, and as a summary, the FirstConsul says, in a private conversation:

"The people want a religion, and this religion should be in the hands ofthe government!"[5145]

On this theme, his jurists, old parliamentarians or conventionalists, his ministers and counselors, Gallicans or Jacobins, his spokesmen inthe legislative assembly or the tribunate, all imbued with Roman lawor with the Contrat Social are capital megaphones for proclaiming theomnipotence of the State in polished sentences. "The unity of publicpower and its universality, " says Portalis, [5146] "are anecessary consequence of its independence. " "Public power must beself-sufficient; it is nothing if not all. . . " Public power cannottolerate rivals; it cannot allow other powers to establish themselvesalongside of it without its consent, perhaps to sap and weaken it. "Theauthority of a State might become precarious if men on its territoryexercise great influence over minds and consciences, unless these menbelong to it, at least in some relation. " It is careless "if it remainsunfamiliar or indifferent to the form and the constitution of thegovernment which proposes to govern souls, " if it admits that the limitswithin which the faith and obedience of believers "can be made oraltered without its support, if it has not, in its legally recognizedand avowed superiors, guarantees of the fidelity of inferiors. " Such wasthe rule in France for the Catholic cult previous to 1789, and such isto be the rule, after 1801, for all authorized cults. If the Stateauthorizes them, it is "to direct such important institutions with aview to the greatest public utility. " Solely because it is favorable to"their doctrine and their discipline" it means to maintain these intactand prevent "their ministers from corrupting the doctrine entrusted totheir teaching, or from arbitrarily throwing off the yoke of discipline, to the great prejudice of individuals and the State. "[5147] Hence, inthe legal statute by which a Church is incorporated and realizes whatshe is, it states in precise terms what it exacts or permits her to be;henceforward she shall be this or that and so remain; her dogmas and hercanons, her hierarchy and her internal regime, her territorialsubdivisions and circumscriptions, her regular or casual sources ofincome, her teachings and her liturgy are definite things and fixedlimitations. No ecclesiastical assembly, Protestant, Catholic, orIsraelite, shall formulate or publish any doctrinal or disciplinarydecision without the government's approbation. [5148] No ecclesiasticalassembly, Protestant, Catholic, or Israelite, shall be held without theapproval of the government. All sacerdotal authorities, bishops andcurés, pastors and ministers of both Protestant confessions, consistorial inspectors and presidents of the Augsbourg Confession, notables of each Israelite circumscription, members of each Israeliteconsistory, members of the central Israelite consistory, rabbis andgrand-rabbis, shall be appointed or accepted by the government and paidby it through an executory" decision of its prefects. All the professorsof Protestant or Catholic seminaries shall be appointed and paid by thegovernment. Whatever the seminary, whether Protestant or Catholic, itsestablishment, its regulations, its internal management, the object andspirit of its studies, shall be submitted to the approval of thegovernment. In each cult, a distinct, formulated, official doctrineshall govern the teaching, preaching, and public or special instructionof every kind; this, for the Israelite cult, is" the doctrine expressedby the decisions of the grand Sanhedrin";[5149] for the two Protestantcults, the doctrine of the Confession of Augsbourg, taught in the twoseminaries of the East, and the doctrine of the Reformed Church taughtin the Genevan seminary;[5150] for the Catholic cult, the maxims of theGallican Church, the declaration, in 1682, of the assembly of theclergy[5151] and the four famous propositions depriving the Pope of anyauthority over sovereigns in temporal matters, subordinating the Pope toecumenical councils in ecclesiastical and spiritual concerns, and which, in the government of the French Church, limit the authority of the Popeto ancient usages or canons inherited by that Church and accepted by theState. 

In this way, the ascendancy of the State, in ecclesiastical matters, increases beyond all measure and remains without any counterpoise. Instead of one Church, it maintains four, while the principal one, theCatholic, comprising 33 million followers, and more dependent than underthe old monarchy, loses the privileges which once limited or compensatedit for its subjection. --Formerly the prince was its temporal head, oncondition that he should be its exterior arm, that it should have themonopoly of education and the censorship of books, that he should usehis strong arm against heretics, schismatics and free-thinkers. Of allthese obligations which kings accepted, the new sovereign frees himself, and yet, with the Holy See, he holds on to the same prerogatives and, with the Church, the same rights as his predecessors. He is just asminutely dictatorial as formerly with regard to the details ofworship. Sometimes he fixes the fees and perquisites of the priestsfor administering the sacraments: "This charge is a purely civil andtemporal operation, since it resolves itself into a levy of so manypence on the citizen. Bishops and priests should not be allowed todecide here. [5152] The government alone must remain the arbiterbetween the priest who receives and the person who pays. " Sometimes, he intervenes in the publication of plenary indulgence: "It isessential[5153] that indulgences should not be awarded for causes whichmight be contrary to public order or to the welfare of the country; thepolitical magistrate is equally interested in knowing what the authorityis that grants indulgences; if its title to act is legal, to whatpersons indulgences are granted, what persons are entrusted with theirdistribution, and what persons are to fix the term and duration ofextraordinary prayers. "--Thus bound and held by the State, the Church issimply one of its appendices, for its own free roots by which, in thisclose embrace, it still vegetates and keeps erect have all been cut offshort; torn from the soil and grafted on the State, they derive theirsap and their roots from the civil powers. Before 1789, the clergyformed a distinct order in temporal society and, above all others, abody possessing property and exempt from taxes, a tax-payer apart which, represented in periodical assemblies, negotiated every five yearswith the King himself, granted him subsidies and, in exchange for this"disinterested gift, " secured for itself concessions or confirmations ofimmunities, prerogatives and favors. Today, it is merely a collectionof ordinary individuals and subjects, even less than that--anadministrative staff similar to that of the university, of themagistrature, of the treasury, and of the woods and forests, even moreclosely watched and bridled, with more detailed precautions and stricterinterdictions. Before 1789, the curés and other second-class officialswere, for the most part, selected and installed without the prince'sintervention, sometimes by the bishop of the diocese or a neighboringabbé, sometimes by independent collators, by the titular himself, [5154]by a lay patron or a chapter, by a commune, by an indultaire, by thepope, while the salary of each titular, large or small, was his privateproperty, the annual product of a piece of land or of some indebtednessattached to his office and which he administered. Nowadays, everyincumbent, from the cardinal-archbishop down to a canon, cantonal curé, and director or teacher in a seminary, is appointed or accepted by thecivil power to which he swears fidelity. His salary, set down in thebudget, is simply that of a public employee, so many francs and centimesfor which he comes monthly to the office of the treasury paymaster, along with others of his colleagues who are employed by the State innon-Catholic cults, together with others, his quasi-colleagues, whom the State employs in the university, in the magistrature, in thegendarmerie, and in the police. [5155] Such, in all branches of sociallife, is the universal and final effect of the Revolution. In theChurch, as elsewhere, it has extended the interference and preponderanceof the State, not inadvertently but intentionally, not accidentallybut on principle. [5156] "The Constituent" (Assembly), says Siméon, "had rightly recognized that, religion being one of the oldest and mostpowerful means of government, it was necessary to bring it more thanit had been under the control of the government. " Hence, the civilconstitution of the clergy; "its only mistake was not to reconcileitself with the Pope. " At present, thanks to the agreement between Popeand government (Napoleon, First Consul), the new régime completesthe work of the ancient régime and, in the Church as elsewhere, thedomination of the centralizing State is complete. 

VI. Napoleon Executes the Concordat. 

 Reasons for suppressing the regular clergy. --Authorized religious associations. --The authorization revocable. 

These are the grand lines of the new ecclesiastical establishment, andthe general connections by which the Catholic Church, like an apartmentin a building, finds itself included in and incorporated with the State. It need not disconnect itself under the pretext of making itself morecomplete; there it is, built and finished; it cannot add to or go beyondthis; no collateral and supplementary constructions are requisite which, through their independence, would derange the architectural whole, nomonastic congregations, no body of regular clergy; the secular clergysuffices. "Never[5157] has it been contested that the public power hadthe right to dissolve arbitrary institutions which do not insist on theessence of religion and which are judged suspicious or troublesome tothe State. " As a principle, all religious communities should be judgedin this way; for they are spontaneous bodies; they form their ownorganization, and without the aid of the State, through the free willof their members; they live apart, according to the proper and peculiarstatute which they adopt, outside of lay society, alongside of theestablished Church, under distinct chiefs chosen by themselves, sometimes under foreign ones, all more or less independent, all, throughinterest and by instinct, gathered around the Holy See, which, againstdiocesan authority and episcopal jurisdiction, serves them as protector. Formerly, the monks[5158] formed the Pope's militia; they recognizedno other sovereign, and thus were they more to be feared by governmentsthan the secular clergy. The latter, without them, "would never havecaused embarrassment;" henceforth there will be no other body. [5159] "Iwant bishops, curés, vicars, and that's all! Religious communities havebeen allowed to re-establish themselves against my instructions;--I aminformed that, at Beauvais, the Jesuits have formed establishments underthe name of the Fathers of Faith. It should not be allowed"--and heprohibits it by decree. [5160] He dissolves "all associations formedunder the pretext of religion and unauthorized. " He decides that, infuture, "no aggregation or association of men or of women shall beformed under pretext of religion unless formally authorized;" he enjoinsthe prosecuting attorneys of his courts "to prosecute even by extraproceedings all persons of both sexes who directly or indirectlyviolate this decree. " He reserves to himself, however, the facultyof authorizing communities by which he can profit, and, in fact, heauthorizes several of these as instruments which society needs, orwhich are useful to the State, especially nursing or teaching sistersof charity, [5161] the brethren of Christian schools, [5162] and, firstin rank, the Lazarists and the Fathers of foreign missions. [5163] "Thesemonks, " he says, [5164] will be of great service in Asia, in Africa, andin America. I will send them to procure information on the state of thecountry. Their robe protects them, while it is a cover to politicaland commercial designs. . . . I will allow them a capital to start withof 15, 000 francs rental. . . . They cost little, are respected by savages, and, having no official character, can not compromise the government. "Moreover, "religious zeal leads them to undertake work and to faceperils which are beyond the strength of a civil agent. "--Of course, asthey are "secret diplomatic agents, " the government must keep themin hand and direct them. Consequently, "their superior must no longerreside in Rome, but at Paris. " The same precaution is taken withreference to other congregations, which, in teaching or in charity, become regular auxiliaries of the lay power. "The general-superior ofthe Sisters of Charity will live in Paris[5165]; the entire body willthen be in the hands of the government. " As to the brethren of theChristian schools, Napoleon absorbs these in his university. [5166] "Theymust be licensed by the grand-master, [5167] who will certify to theirinternal regulations, accept their oaths, prescribe a special costume, and superintend their schools. " Observe the exigencies of the governmentat this point, its measures for controlling the religious ordersauthorized by it. Abbé Hanon, [5168] the common superior of the Sistersof Saint-Vincent de Paul, having refused to place Madame Lætitia(Napoleon's mother) at the head of the council of the order, is carriedoff at night and shut up at Fenestrelles, [5169] while the Sisters, who, following the instructions of their founder, refuse to recognize asuperior appointed by the civil power, are treated in the same manner asformerly the nuns of Port-Royal. [5170]

"It is time to put an end to this scandal of the Sisters of Charity inrebellion against their superiors. It is my intention to suppress allthe houses which, in twenty-four hours after the notice you give them, do not return to subordination. You will replace the houses suppressed, not by Sisters of the same order, but by those of another order ofcharity. The Sisters at Paris will lose their influence, which will be agood thing. "

Whatever the communities may be, the authorization by which theyorganize is merely a favor, and every favor granted may be withdrawn. 

"I will have no more missions of any kind. [5171] I establishedmissionaries in Paris and gave them a house: I cancel it all. I amcontent with religion at home; I do not care to spread it abroad. . . . Imake you responsible if (in a month from this) on the first of Octoberthere are any missions or congregations still existing in France. "--

Thus does the regular clergy live, under a revocable title, bytoleration, despotically, suspended by a thread which, perhaps to-morrow, may be cut at the masters pleasure. 

VII. System to which the regular clergy is subject. 

 System to which the regular clergy is subject. --Restoration and application of Gallican doctrines. --Gallicanism and submission of the new ecclesiastical staff. --Measures taken to insure the obedience of the existing clergy and that of the clergy in the future. --Seminaries. --Small number of these allowed. --Conditions granted to them. --Proceedings against suspicious teachers and undisciplined pupils. 

The secular clergy remains, better protected, it seems, and by a lessprecarious statute, for this statute is an international and diplomaticact, a solemn and bilateral treaty which binds the French government, not only to itself but to another government, to an independentsovereign and the recognized head of the whole CatholicChurch. --Consequently, it is of prime importance to rebuild and raisehigher the barriers which, in ancient France, separated the secularclergy from the Pope, the customs and regulations which constitutedthe Gallican Church a province apart in the Church universal, theecclesiastic franchises and servitudes which restricted the Pope'sjurisdiction in order that the jurisdiction of the king might beextended. All these servitudes to the advantage of the lay sovereign, and all these franchises to the prejudice of the ecclesiastic sovereign, are maintained and increased by the new statute. By virtue of theConcordat and by consent of the Pope, the First Consul acquires thesame rights and privileges in relation to the Holy See as the oldgovernment, "[5172] that is to say the same exclusive right to nominatefuture French cardinals and to have as many as before in the sacredcollege, the same right to exclude in the sacred conclave, the samefaculty of being the unique dispenser in France of high ecclesiasticalplaces and the prerogative of appointing all the bishops and archbishopson French territory. And better still, by virtue of the Organic Articlesand in spite of the Pope's remonstrances, he interposes, as with theformer kings, his authority, his Council of State and his tribunalsbetween the Holy See and the faithful. "No bull, brief, rescript, decree. . . Of the court of Rome, even when bearing only on individuals, shall be received, published, printed or otherwise executed withoutpermission of the government. No person, bearing the title of apostolicnuncio, legate, vicar or commissioner, . . . Shall, without the sameauthorization, exercise on the French soil or elsewhere any functionin relation to the interests of the Gallican Church. . . . All cases ofcomplaint by ecclesiastical superiors and other persons shall be broughtbefore the Council of State. "[5173] Every minister of a cult[5174] whoshall have carried on a correspondence with a foreign court on religiousmatters or questions without having previously informed the Minister ofWorship and obtained his sanction shall, for this act alone, be subjectto a penalty of from one hundred to five hundred francs and imprisonmentduring a term of from one month to two years. Every communication fromhigh to low and from low to high between the French Church and its Romanhead, cut off at will, intervention by a veto or by approval of allacts of pontifical authority, to be the legal and recognized head ofthe national clergy, [5175] to become for this clergy an assistant, collateral, and lay Pope--such was the pretension of the old government, and such, in effect, is the sense, the juridical bearing, of theGallican maxims. [5176] Napoleon pro-claims them anew, while the edictof 1682, by which Louis XIV. Applied them with precision, rigor andminuteness, "is declared the general law of the empire. "[5177]

There are no opponents to this doctrine, or this use of it, in France. Napoleon counts on not encountering any, and especially among hisprelates. Gallican before 1789, the whole clergy were more or less sothrough education and tradition, through interest and through pride;now, the survivors of this clergy are those who provide the newecclesiastical staff, and, of the two distinct groups from which itis recruited, neither is predisposed by its antecedents to becomeultramontane. Some among these, who have emigrated, partisans of theancient régime, find no difficulty in thus returning to old habits anddoctrines, the authoritative protectorate of the State over the Church, the interference of the Emperor substituted for that of the King, andNapoleon, in this as in other respects, the legitimate, or legitimated, successor of the Bourbons. The others, who have sworn to the civilconstitution of the clergy, the schismatics, the impenitent and, inspite of the Pope, reintegrated by the First Consul in the Church, [5178]are ill-disposed towards the Pope, their principal adversary, andwell-disposed towards the First Consul, their unique patron. Hence, "the heads[5179] of the Catholic clergy, that is to say, the bishops andgrand-vicars, . . . Are attached to the government;" they are "enlightened"people, and can be made to listen to reason. 

"But we have three or four thousand curés or vicars, the progeny ofignorance and dangerous through their fanaticism and their passions. "

If these and their superiors show any undisciplined tendencies, thecurb must be tightly drawn. Fournier, a priest, having reflected on thegovernment from his pulpit in Saint-Roch, is arrested by the police, put in Bicêtre as mad, [5180] and the First Consul replies to the Parisclergy who claim his release "in a well-drawn-up petition, ":

"I wanted[5181] to prove to you, when I put my cap on the wrong sideout, that priests must obey the civil power. "

Now and then, a rude stroke of this sort sets an example and keeps theintractable on the right path who would otherwise be tempted to leaveit. At Bayonne, concerning a clerical epistle in which an ill-soundingphrase occurs, "the grand-vicar who drew it up is sent to Pignerol forten years, and I think that the bishop is exiled. "[5182]

At Séez, when constitutional priests are in disfavor, the bishop iscompelled to resign on the instant, while Abbé Langlois, his principalcounsellor, taken by the gendarmes, led to Paris from police stationto police station, is shut up in La Force, in secret confinement, withstraw for a bed, during fourteen days, then imprisoned in Vincennes fornine months, so that, finally, seized with paralysis, he is transferredto an insane retreat, where he remains a prisoner up to the end of thereign. 

Let us provide for the future as well as for the present, and, beyondthe present clergy, let us train the future clergy. The seminaries willanswer this purpose: "Public ones must be organized[5183] so thatthere may be no clandestine seminaries, such as formerly existed in thedepartments of Calvados, Morbihan and many others;. . . The formation ofyoung priests must not be left to ignorance and fanaticism. "--"Catholicschools need the surveillance of the government. "--There is to be one ofthese in each metropolitan district, and "this special school must bein the hands of the authorities. "--"The directors and teachers shallbe appointed by the First Consul"; men will be placed there who are"cultivated, devoted to the government and friendly to toleration; theywill not confine themselves to teaching theology, but will add to thisa sort of philosophy and correct worldliness. "--A future curé, a priestwho controls laymen and belongs to his century, must not be a monkbelonging to the other world, but a man of this world, able to adapthimself to it, do his duty in it with propriety and discretion, acceptthe legal establishment of which he is a part, not damn his Protestantneighbors, Jews or freethinkers too openly, be a useful member oftemporal society and a loyal subject of the civil power; let him bea Catholic and pious, but within just limits; he shall not be anultramontanist or a bigot. --Precautions are taken to this effect. Noseminarist may become subdeacon without the consent of the government, and the list of ordinations each year, sent to him at Paris by thebishop, is returned, cut down to the strictly necessary. [5184] From thevery beginning, and in express terms, [5185] Napoleon has reserved allcuracies and vicarages for "ecclesiastics pensioned by virtue of thelaws of the Constituent Assembly. " Not only, through this confusionbetween pension and salary, does he lighten a pecuniary burden, buthe greatly prefers old priests to young ones; many of them have beenconstitutionnels, and all are imbued with Gallicanism; it is he who hasbrought them back from exile or saved them from oppression, and theyare grateful for it; having suffered long and patiently, they are weary, they must have grown wiser, and they will be manageable. Moreover, he has precise information about each one; their past conduct is aguarantee of their future conduct; he never chooses one of them with hiseyes shut. On the contrary, the candidates for ordination are strangers, the government which accepts them knows nothing about them except that, at the age when the fever of growth or of the imagination takes a fixedform, they have been subject for five years to a theological educationand to a cloistral life. The chances are that, with them, thefeverishness of youth will end in the heat of conviction and in theprejudices of inexperience; in this event, the government which exemptsthem from the conscription to admit them in the Church exchanges a goodmilitary recruit for a bad ecclesiastical recruit; in place of a servantit creates an opponent. Hence, during the fifteen years of his reign, Napoleon authorizes only six thousand new ordinations, [5186] in allfour hundred per annum, one hundred for each diocese or six or seven perannum. Meanwhile, by his university decrees, he lets lay daylight intoclerical enclosures[5187] and shuts the door of all ecclesiasticaldignities to suspicious priests. [5188] For more security, in everydiocese in which "the principles of the bishop" do not give him fullsatisfaction, he prohibits all ordination, nomination, promotion, orfavor whatever. "I have stricken off[5189] all demands relating to thebishoprics of Saint-Brieuc, Bordeaux, Ghent, Tournay, Troyes and theMaritime Alps. . . . My intention is that you do not, for these dioceses, propose to me any exemption of service for conscripts, no nominationsfor scholarships, for curacies, or for canonries. You will send in areport on the dioceses which it would be well to strike with this ban. "Towards the end, the Gallicism of Bossuet no longer suffices for him; heallowed it to be taught at Saint-Sulpice, and M. Emery, director of thisinstitution, was the priest in France whom he esteemed the most andmost willingly consulted; but a pupil's imprudent letter had been justintercepted, and, accordingly, the spirit of that association is abad one. An order of expulsion of the director is issued and theinstallation in his place of a new one "day after to-morrow, " as well asnew administrators of whom none shall be Sulpician. [5190] "Take measuresto have this congregation dissolved. I will have no Sulpicians in theseminary of Paris. [5191] Let me know the seminaries that are servedby Sulpicians in order that they too may be sent away from theseseminaries. "[5192]--And let the seminarists who have been badly taughtby their masters take heed not to practice in their own behalf thefalse doctrines which the State proscribes; especially, let themnever undertake, as they do in Belgium, to disobey the civil power indeference to the Pope and their bishop. At Tournay, [5193] all those overeighteen years of age are sent to Magdebourg; at Ghent, the very youngor those not fit for military service are put in Saint-Pelagie; therest, two hundred and thirty-six in number, including forty deacons orsub-deacons, incorporated in an artillery brigade, set out for Wesel, acountry of marshes and fevers, where fifty of them soon die of epidemicsand contagion. --There is ever the same terminal procedure; to Abbéd'Astros, suspected of having received and kept a letter of the Pope, Napoleon, with threats, gave him this ecclesiastical watchword:

"I have heard that the liberties of the Gallican Church are beingtaught: but for all that, I wear the sword, so watch out!"

So behind all his institutions one discovers the military sanction, thearbitrary punishment, physical constraint, the sword ready to strike;involuntarily, the eyes anticipates the flash of the blade, and theflesh is feels in advance the rigid incision of the steel. 

VIII. Administrative Control. 

 Changes in the ecclesiastical hierarchy. --Motives for subordinating the lesser clergy. --The displacement of assistant priests. --Increase of episcopal authority. --Hold of Napoleon over the bishops. 

Thus is a conquered country treated. He is, in relation to the Church, as in a conquered country. [5194] Like Westphalia or Holland, she is anaturally independent country which he has annexed by treaty, which hehas been able to include but not absorb in his empire, and which remainsinvincibly distinct. The temporal sovereign, in a spiritual society, especially such a sovereign as he is, --nominally Catholic, scarcelyChristian, at best a deist and from time to time as it suits, --willnever be other than an external suzerain and a foreign prince. To becomeand remain master in such an annexed country it is always advisableto exhibit the sword. Nevertheless, it would not be wise to strikeincessantly; the blade, used too often, would wear out; it is better toutilize the constitution of the annex, rule over it indirectly, not byan administrative bureau (régie), but by a protectorate, in which allindigenous authorities can be employed and be made responsible for thenecessary rigors. Now, by virtue of the indigenous constitution, thegovernors of the Catholic annex--all designated beforehand by theirsuitable and indelible character, all tonsured, robed in black, celibates and speaking Latin--form two orders, unequal in dignity andin number; one inferior, comprising myriads of curés and vicars, and theother superior, comprising some dozens of prelates. 

Let us turn this ready-made hierarchy to account; and, the better to useit, let us tighten the strings. In agreement with the upper clergy andthe Pope, we will increase the subjection of the lower clergy; we willgovern the inferiors through the superiors; whoever has the head hasthe body; it is much easier to handle sixty bishops and archbishopsthan forty thousand vicars and curés; in this particular we neednot undertake to restore primitive discipline; we must not be eitherantiquaries or Gallicans. Let us be careful not to give back to thesecond-class clergy the independence and stability they enjoyed before1789, the canonical guarantees which protected them against episcopaldespotism, the institution of competition, the rights conferred bytheological grades, the bestowal of the best places on the wisest, theappeal to the diocesan court in case of disgrace, the opposing pleabefore the officialité, the permanent tie by which the titular curé, once planted in his parish, took root there for life, and believedhimself bound to his local community like Jesus Christ to the universalChurch, indissolubly, through a sort of mystic marriage. "The number ofcurés, " says Napoleon, [5195] "must be reduced as much as possible, andthe number of assistants (desservans) multiplied who can be changed atwill, " not only transferable to another parish, but revocable from dayto day, without formalities or delay, without appeal or pleading in anycourt whatsoever. Henceforth, the sole irremovable curés are the fourthousand; the rest, under the name of succursalists, numberingthirty thousand, [5196] are ecclesiastical clerks, surrendered to thediscretionary power of the bishop. The bishop alone appoints, places anddisplaces all belonging to his diocese at his pleasure, and with a nod, he transfers the most competent from the best to the worst post, fromthe large borough or small town, where he was born and has lived at easenear his family, to some wretched parish in this or that village buriedin the woods or lost on a mountain, without income or presbytery; andstill better, he cuts down his wages, he withdraws the State salary offive hundred francs, he turns him out of the lodgings allowed him bythe commune, on foot on the highway, with no viaticum, even temporary, excluded from ecclesiastical ministries, without respect, demeaned, avagabond in the great lay world whose ways are unknown to him and whosecareers are closed to him. Henceforth, and forever, bread is taken outof his mouth; if he has it to-day, it is lacking on the morrow. Now, every three months, the list of succursalists at five hundred francsdrawn up by the bishop, must be countersigned by the prefect. In hisupper cabinet, near the mantelpiece on which the visiting-cards ofevery considerable personage in the department are displayed, facing theemperor's bust, the two delegates of the emperor, his two responsibleand judicial managers, the two superintended overseers of theconscription, confer together on the ecclesiastical staff of thedepartment. In this as in other matters, they are and feel themselveskept in check from on high, curbed and forced, willingly or not, tocome to some agreement. Compulsory collaborators by institution, eachan auxiliary of the other in the maintenance of public order, theyread over article by article the list of appointments of their commonsubordinates; should any name have bad notes, should any succursalistbe marked as noisy, undesirable, or suspect, should there be anyunfavorable report by the mayor, gendarmerie or upper police, theprefect, about to sign, lays down his pen, quotes his instructions anddemands of the bishop against the delinquent some repressive measure, either destitution, suspension or displacement, removal to an inferiorparish, or, at least, a comminatory reprimand, while the bishop, whomthe prefect may denounce to the minister, does not refuse to the prefectthis act of complacency. 

Some months after the publication of the Concordat, [5197] MademoiselleChameron, an opera-dancer, dies, and her friends bear her remains to thechurch of Saint-Roch for internment. They are refused admittance, andthe curé, very rigid, "in a fit of ill-humor, " orders the doors of thechurch to be shut; a crowd gathers around, shouts and launches threatsat the curé; an actor makes a speech to appease the tumult, and finallythe coffin is borne off to the church of Les Filles-Saint-Thomas, wherethe assistant priest, "familiar with the moral of the gospel, " performsthe funeral service. Incidents of this kind disturb the tranquilityof the streets and denote a relaxation of administrative discipline. Consequently the government, doctor in theology and canon law, intervenes and calls the ecclesiastical superior to account. The firstConsul, in an article in the Moniteur, haughtily gives the clergy theirinstructions and explains the course that will be pursued against themby his prelates. "The Archbishop of Paris orders the curé of Saint-Rochinto retirement for three months, in order that he may bear in mind theinjunction of Jesus Christ to pray for one's enemies, and, made sensibleof his duties by meditation, may become aware that these superstitiouscustoms. . . , which degrade religion by their absurdities, have been doneaway with by the Concordat and the law of Germinal 18. " From now onall priests and curés are prudent, circumspect, obedient, andreserved, [5198] because their spiritual superiors are so as well, and could not be otherwise. Each prelate, posted in his diocese, ismaintained there in isolation; a watch is kept on his correspondence; hemay communicate with the Pope only through the Minister of Worship;he has no right to act in concert with his colleagues; all the generalassemblies of the clergy, all metropolitan councils, all annual synodsare suppressed. The Church of France has ceased to exist as one corps, while its members, carefully detached from each other and from theirRoman head, are no longer united, but juxtaposed. Confined to acircumscription, like the prefect, the bishop himself is simply anecclesiastical prefect, a little less uncertain of his tenure of office;undoubtedly, his removal will not be effected by order, but he can beforced to send in his resignation. Thus, in his case, as well as for theprefect, his first care will be not to excite displeasure, and the nextone, to please. To stand well at court, with the minister and with thesovereign, is a positive command, not only on personal grounds, but forthe sake of Catholic interests. To obtain scholarships for the pupils ofhis seminary, [5199] to appoint the teachers and the director thatsuits him, to insure the acceptance of his canons, cantonal curés, andcandidates for the priesthood, to exempt his sub-deacons from militaryservice, to establish and to defray the expenses of the chapels of hisdiocese, to provide parishes with the indispensable priest, with regularservices and the sacraments, requires favors, which favors cannot beenjoyed without an affectation of obedience and zeal and, more importantstill, devotion. Moreover, he is only a human being. If Napoleon hasselected him, it is on account of his intelligence, knowing what he isabout, open to human motives, not too rigid and of too easy conscience;in the eyes of the master, the first quality is an obedient personalityattached to his system and person. [51100] Moreover, with his candidates, he has always taken into consideration the hold they give him throughtheir weaknesses, vanity and needs, their ostentatious ways andexpenditure, their love of money, titles and precedence, their ambition, desire for promotion, enjoyment of credit, and right of obtaining placesfor protégés and relations. He avails himself of all these advantagesand finds that they answer his purpose. With the exception of three orfour saints, like Monsignor d'Aviau[51101] or Monsignor Dessolles, whohe has inadvertently put into the episcopate, the bishops are content tobe barons, and the archbishops counts. They are glad to rank higher andhigher in the Legion of Honor; they loudly assert, in praise of the neworder of things, the honors and dignities it confers on these or thoseprelates who have become members of the legislative corps or been madesenators. [51102] Many of them receive secret pay for secret services, pecuniary incentives in the shape of this or that amount in ready money. In sum, Napoleon has judged accurately; with hesitation and remorse, nearly the whole of his episcopal staff, Italian and French, 66 prelatesout of 80, are open to "temporal influences". They yield to seductionsand threats; they accept or submit, even in spiritual matters, to hispositive ascendancy. [51103]

Moreover, among these dignitaries, nearly all of whom are blameless, or, at least, who behave well and are generally honorable, Napoleon[51104]finds a few whose servility is perfect, unscrupulous individuals readyfor anything that an absolute prince could desire, like Bishops Bernierand De Pancemont, one accepting a reward of 30, 000 francs and the otherthe sum of 50, 000 francs[51105] for the vile part they have played inthe negotiations for the Concordat; a miserly, brutal cynic like Maury, archbishop of Paris, or an intriguing, mercenary skeptic like De Pradt, archbishop of Malines; or an old imbecile, falling on his knees beforethe civil power, like Rousseau, bishop of Orleans, who writes a pastoralletter declaring that the Pope is as free in his Savona prison as on histhrone at Rome. After 1806, [51106] Napoleon, that he may control menof greater suppleness, prefers to take his prelates from old noblefamilies--the frequenters of Versailles, who regard the episcopate asa gift bestowed by the prince and not by the Pope, a lay favor reservedfor younger sons, a present made by the sovereign to those around hisperson, on the understood condition that the partisan courtier who ispromoted shall remain a courtier of the master. Henceforth nearlyall his episcopal recruits are derived from "members of the old noblestock. " "Only these, " says Napoleon, "know how to serve well. "

IX. The Imperial Catechism

 Political use of the episcopacy. --The imperial catechism. --Pastoral letters. 

From the first year the effect arrived at is better than could beexpected. "Look at the clergy, "[51107] said the First Consul toRoederer; "every day shows that in spite of themselves their devotion tothe government is increasing, and much beyond their anticipation. Haveyou seen the pastoral declaration of Boisgelin, archbishop of Tours?. . . He says that the actual government is the legitimate government, thatGod disposes of thrones and kings as he pleases and that he adopts thechiefs whom the people prefer. Your yourself could not have said thatbetter. " But notwithstanding that this is said in the pastoral letter, it is again said in the catechism. No ecclesiastical publication is moreimportant: all Catholic children are to learn this by heart, for thephrases they recite will be firmly fixed in their memories. Bossuet'scatechism is good enough, but it may be improved, --there is nothingthat time, reflection, emulation, and administrative zeal cannot renderperfect! Bossuet teaches children "to respect all superiors, pastors, kings, magistrates, and the rest. " "But these generalities, " saysPortalis, [51108] "no longer suffice. They do not give the propertendency to the subject's submission. The object is to center thepopular conscience on the person of Your Majesty. " Accordingly, let usbe precise, make appointments and secure support. 

The imperial catechism, a great deal more explicit than the royalcatechism, adds significant development to the old one, along with extramotives:

"We specially owe to our Emperor, Napoleon the First, love, respect, obedience, fidelity, military service, and tributes ordained for thepreservation of the empire and his throne. . . For God has raised him upfor us in times of peril that he might restore public worship and theholy religion of our fathers and be its protector. "

Every boy and girl in each parish recite this to the vicar or curé aftervespers in their tiny voices as a commandment of God and of the Church, as a supplementary article of the creed. Meanwhile the officiatingpriest in the pulpit gravely comments on this article, already clearenough, at every morning or evening service;[51109] by order, hepreaches in behalf of the conscription and declares that it is a sin totry to escape from it, to be refractory; by order, again, he reads thearmy bulletins giving accounts of the latest victories; always by order, he reads the last pastoral letter of his bishop, a document authorized, inspired and corrected by the police. Not only are the bishops obligedto submit their pastoral letters and public instructions to thecensorship; not only by way of precaution, are they forbidden to printanything except on the prefecture presses, but again, for still greatersecurity, the bureau of public worship is constantly advising them whatthey must say. First and foremost, they must laud the Emperor. But inwhat terms, and with what epithets, without indiscretion or mistake, inorder not to meddle with politics, not to appear as a party managed fromabove, not to pass for megaphones, is not explained, and is thereforea difficult matter. "You must praise the Emperor more in your pastoralletters, " said Réal, prefect of police, to a new bishop. "Tell me inwhat measure. " "I do not know, " was the reply. Since the measure cannotbe prescribed, it must be ample enough. There is no difficulty asregards other articles. --On every occasion the Paris offices takecare to furnish each bishop with a ready-made draft of his forthcomingpastoral letter--the canvas on which the customary flowers ofecclesiastical amplification are to be embroidered. It differs accordingto time and place. In La Vendée and in the west, the prelates are tostigmatize "the odious machinations of perfidious Albion, " and explainto the faithful the persecutions to which the English subject the IrishCatholics. When Russia is the enemy, the pastoral letter must dwellon her being schismatic; also on the Russian misunderstanding of thesupremacy of the Pope. Inasmuch as bishops are functionaries ofthe empire, their utterances and their acts belong to the Emperor. Consequently he makes use of them against all enemies, against eachrival, rebel or adversary, against the Bourbons, against the English andthe Russians, and, finally, against the Pope. 

X. The Council of 1811. --The Concordat of 1813. 

Similar to the Russian expedition, this is the great and last throwof the dice, the decisive and most important of his ecclesiasticalundertakings, as the other is in political and military affairs. Justas, under his leadership, he forces by constraint and, under his lead, acoalition of the political and military powers of his Europe againstthe Czar, --Austria, Prussia, the Confederation of the Rhine, Holland, Switzerland, the kingdom of Italy, Naples, and even Spain, --so does heby constraint and under his lead coalesce all the spiritual authoritiesof his empire against the Pope. He summons a council, consisting ofeighty-four bishops that are available in Italy and in France. He takesit upon himself to drill them, and he makes them march. To state whatinfluences he uses would require a volume[51110]--theological andcanonical arguments, appeals to Gallican souvenirs and Jansenistrancors, eloquence and sophisms, preparatory maneuvers, secretintrigues, public acting, private solicitations, steady intimidation, successful pressures, thirteen cardinals exiled and deprived of theirinsignia, two other cardinals confined in Vincennes, nineteen Italianbishops conveyed to France under escort, without bread or clothes. Fiftypriests of Parma, fifty of Plaisance, besides one hundred other Italianpriests, sent away or confined in Corsica. All congregationsof men in France--Saint-Lazare, Mission, Christian Doctrine, Saint-Sulpice--dissolved and suppressed. Three bishops of thecouncil seized in bed at daylight, put into a cell and kept in closeconfinement, forced to resign and to promise in writing not to carry oncorrespondence with their dioceses; arrest of their adherents in theirdioceses; the Ghent seminarists turned into soldiers, and, with knapsackon their backs, leaving for the army; professors at Ghent, the canons ofTournay, and other Belgian priests shut up in the citadels of Bouillon, Ham and Pierre-Chatel. [51111] Near the end, the council suddenlydissolved because scruples arise, because it does not yield at once tothe pressure brought to bear on it, because its mass constitutes itsfirmness, because men standing close together, side by side, stand allthe longer. "Our wine in the cask is not good, " said Cardinal Maury;"you will find that it will be better in bottles. " Accordingly, to makeit ready for bottling, it must be filtered and clarified, so as to getrid of the bad elements which disturb it and cause fermentation. ManyOpponents are in prison, many have retired from their dioceses, whilethe rest are brought to Paris and cunningly worked upon, each memberin turn, apart and confined, téte-à-téte with the Minister of Worship, until all, one by one, are brought to sign the formula of adhesion. On the strength of this, the council, purged and prepared, is summonedafresh to give its vote sitting or standing, in one unique session;through a remnant of virtue it inserts a suspensive clause in thedecree, apparently a reservation, [51112] but the decree is passed asordered. Like the foreign regiment in an army corps which, enlisted, forced into line, and goaded on with a sharp sword, serves, in spite ofitself, against its legitimate prince, unwilling to march forward tothe attack, meaning at the last moment to fire in the air, so does itfinally march and fire its volley notwithstanding. 

Napoleon, on the other hand, treats the Pope in the same fashion, andwith like skill and brutality. As with the Russian campaign, he hasprepared himself for it long beforehand. At the outset there is analliance, and he concedes great advantages to the Pope as to the Czar, which will remain to them after his fall; but these concessions aremade only with a mental reservation, with the instinctive feelingand predetermination to profit by the alliance, even to making anindependent sovereign whom he recognizes as his equal, his subordinateand a tool; hence, quarrels and war. This time also, in the expeditionagainst the Pope, his strategy is admirable, --the entire ecclesiasticalterritory studied beforehand, the objective point selected, [51113] alldisposable forces employed and directed by fixed marches to where thevictory is to be decisive, the conquest extended and the seat of thefinal dominion established; the successive and simultaneous use of everykind of means--cunning, violence, seduction and terror. Calculation ofthe weariness, anxiety and despair of the adversary; at first menacesand constant disputes, and then flashes of lightning and multipliedclaps of thunder, every species of brutality that force can command;the States of the Church invaded in times of peace, Rome surprised andoccupied by soldiers, the Pope besieged in the Quirinal, in a year theQuirinal taken by a nocturnal assault, the Pope seized and carried offby post to Savona and there confined as a prisoner of state almost incellular seclusion, [51114] subject to the entreaties and manoeuvres ofan adroit prefect who works upon him, of the physician who is a paidspy, of the servile bishops who are sent thither, alone with hiscon-science, contending with inquisitors relieving each other, subjectto moral tortures as subtile and as keen as old-time physical tortures, to tortures so steady and persistent that he sinks, loses his head, "nolonger sleeps and scarcely speaks, " falling into a senile condition andeven more than senile condition, "a state of mental alienation. "[51115]Then, on issuing from this, the poor old man is again beset; finally, after waiting patiently for three years, he is once more brusquelyconducted at night, secretly and incognito, over the entire road, withno repose or pity though ill, except stopping once in a snow-storm atthe hospice on Mount Cenis, where he comes near dying; put back aftertwenty-four hours in his carriage, bent double by suffering and inconstant pain; jolting over the pavement of the grand highway untilalmost dead and landed at Fontainebleau, where Napoleon wishes to havehim ready at hand to work upon. "Indeed, " he himself says, "he isa lamb, an excellent, worthy man whom I esteem and am very fondof. "[51116]

An improvised tête-a-tête may probably prove effective with this gentle, candid and tender spirit. Pius VII. , who had never known ill-will, might be won by kindly treatment, by an air of filial respect, bycaresses; he may feel the personal ascendency of Napoleon, theprestige of his presence and conversation, the invasion of his genius. Inexhaustible in arguments, matchless in the adaptation of ideas tocircumstances, the most amiable and most imperious of interlocutors, stentorian and mild, tragic and comic by turns, the most eloquent ofsophists and the most irresistible of fascinators, as soon as he meetsa man face to face, he wins him, conquers him, and obtains themastery. [51117] In effect, after seeing the Pope for six days, Napoleonobtains by persuasion what he could not obtain afar by constraint. PiusVII. Signs the new Concordat in good faith, himself unaware that, onregaining his freedom and surrounded by his cardinals, who inform himon the political situation, he will emerge from his bewilderment, beattacked by his conscience, and, through his office, publicly accusehimself, humbly repent, and in two months withdraw his signature. 

Such, after 1812 and 1813, is the duration of Napoleon's triumphsand the ephemeral result of his greatest military and ecclesiasticalachievements--Moskow, Lutzen, Bautzen and Dresden, the Council of 1811and the Concordat of 1813. Whatever the vastness of his genius may be, however strong his will, however successful his attacks, his successagainst nations and churches never is, and never can be, other thantemporary. Great historical and moral forces elude his grasp. In vaindoes he strike, for their downfall gives them new life, and they risebeneath the blow. With Catholic institutions, [51118] as with otherpowers, not only do his efforts remain sterile, but what he accomplishesremains inverse to the end he has in view. He aims to subjugate thePope, and he led the Pope on to omnipotence He aims at the maintenanceand strength of the Gallican spirit among the French clergy, and yetbrings them under the rule of the ultramontane spirit. [51119] Withextraordinary energy and tenacity, with all his power, which wasenormous, through the systematic and constant application of diverse andextreme measures, he labored for fifteen years to rend the ties of theCatholic hierarchy, take it to pieces, and, in sum, the final result ofall is to tie them faster and hasten its completion. 

*****

[Footnote 5101: Se preface to "The Modern Régime, " Vol. I. ]

[Footnote 5102: On some of the ideas above indicated see "The ModernRégime, " Vol. I. P. 120. ]

[Footnote 5103: An allusion to Malthusianism, practiced by many headsof families in France. M. Taine would probably have shown this practicecontrary to national welfare. --Tr. ]

[Footnote 5104: Idolizing of children. (SR. )]

[Footnote 5105: Cf. "Les carnets de voyage. "]

[Footnote 5106: On this idea see Volume I of "The Modern Régime, " page332, to the end of the chapter. (Ed. Laff. II. Pp. 592 to 605). ]

[Footnote 5107: Today this would probably be the media especiallytelevision. ]

[Footnote 5108: Memorial, IV. , 259 (June 7 and 8, 1816); V. , 323 (Aug. 17, 1816). ]

[Footnote 5109: Thibaudeau, p. 152 (Prairial 21, year X. ]

[Footnote 5110: Idem, IV. , 259, (June 7 and 8, 1816). --Pelet de laLozere, "Opinions de Napoléon au conseil d'état, " p 223, (March 4, 1806). ]

[Footnote 5111: "Discours, rapports et travaux sur le Concordat de1801, " by Portalis (published by Fréderick Portalis), p. 10. --In hisspeech on the organization of cults (Germinal 15, year X), Portalis, although a good Catholic, adopts the same idea, because he is a legistand one of the ancient Régime. "Religions, even false, have thisadvantage, that they are an obstacle to the introduction of arbitrarydoctrines. Individuals have a center of faith; governments have no fearof dogmas once known and which do not change. Superstition, so to say, is regulated, circumscribed and kept within bounds which it cannot, ordare not, go outside of. "]

[Footnote 5112: Thibaudeau, p. 151 (Prairial 21, year X). "The FirstConsul combated at length the different systems of the philosophy oncults, natural religions, deism, etc. All that according to him, wasmere ideology. "]

[Footnote 5113: Pelet de la Lozère, p. 208 (May 22, 1804). ]

[Footnote 5114: Thibaudeau, p. 152 (Prairial 21, year X). ]

[Footnote 5115: Pelet de la Lozère, p, 223 (March 4, 1806). ]

[Footnote 5116: Roederer, "Oevres complètes, " III. , 334 (Aug. 18, 1800). ]

[Footnote 5117: What impression could this have made on Lenin? Could henot have felt: "Perhaps Napoleon's logic was good at that time but nowwith electricity, the steam engine and modern industrialism it will bepossible to do without the efficiency of capitalism and hence with itsinequalities and egoism? If so then we can recreate the equalitydreamt of by Babeuf, Robespierre, Saint Just and the other ancientrevolutionaries!!"]

[Footnote 5118: Ref. : "Where some people are very wealthy and othershave nothing, the result will either be extreme democracy or absoluteoligarchy, and despotism will come from either of these excesses. "Aristotle. (SR. )]

[Footnote 5119: Pelet de la Lozère, p. 205 (February 11, 1804). ]

[Footnote 5120: Ibid. , p. 201. ]

[Footnote 5121: Pelet de la Lozère, p. 206, (Feb. 11, 1804). ]

[Footnote 5122: Mémorial, V. , 323 (Aug. 17, 1816). ]

[Footnote 5123: Pelet de la Lozère, p 201. ]

[Footnote 5124: Mémorial, V. , 353 (Aug. 17, 1816). Notes on "Les QuatreConcordants, " by M. De Pradt (Correspondence of Napoleon I. , xxx. , p. 557). ]

[Footnote 5125: Bourrienne, "Mémoires, " V. , 232. ]

[Footnote 5126: Notes on "Les Quatre Concordats, " by M. De Pradt(Correspondence of Napoleon I. , XXX. , 638 and 639). ]

[Footnote 5127: Thibaudeau, p. 152 (Prairial 21, year X). ]

[Footnote 5128: Notes on "Les Quatre Concordats, " by M. De Pradt(correspondence, XXX. , 638). ]

[Footnote 5129: Count Boulay de La Meurthe, "Négotiations du concordat. "(Extract from the correspondant, "1882, on the religious state ofFrance in November, 1800, and particularly on, the condition of theconstitutional church, the latter being very poor, disunited, with nocredit and no future. ) The writer estimates the number of active priestsat 8000, of which 2000 are constitutionnels and 6000 orthodox. "]

[Footnote 5130: Thibaudeau, p. 152. ]

[Footnote 5131: Thibaudeau, p. 154 (words of the First consul) "Whatmakes the government liked is its respect for worship. . . . The priestsmust be connected with the government. "]

[Footnote 5132: Ibid. , p. 154: "Is it not better to organize worship anddiscipline the priests rather than let things go on as they are?"]

[Footnote 5133: La Fayette, "Mémoires, II. ", 200. ("Mes rapports avec lePremier consul. ")]

[Footnote 5134: D'Haussonville, "l'Église romaine et la Premier Empire, "II. . 78 and 101. Napoleon's letters to Cardinal Fesch, Jan. 7, 1806;to the Pope, Feb. 22, 1806 and to cardinal Fesch, of the same date. "HisHoliness will have the same consideration for me in temporal mattersas I have for him in spiritual matters. . . . My enemies will be hisenemies. "--"Tell people (in Rome) that I am Charlemagne, the sword ofthe church, their emperor; that I must be treated the same; that theyshould not know that there was a Russian empire. . . . If the Pope doesnot accept my conditions, I shall reduce him to the condition he was inbefore Charlemagne. "]

[Footnote 5135: Decree, May 17, 1809. "Whereas, when Charlemagne, emperor of the French, and out august predecessor, donated severalcounties to the bishops of Rome, he gave them only under the title offiefs and for the welfare of his own states, and as by the said donationRome did not thereby cease to form part of his empire, . . . The states ofthe Pope are now reunited to the French empire. "]

[Footnote 5136: Sénatus-consulte, Feb. 17, 1810, title II. , articleXII. "Any foreign sovereignty is incompatible with the exercise of anyspiritual sovereignty within the empire. "]

[Footnote 5137: D'Haussonville, ibid. , IV. , 344. (Decree of the NationalCouncil, Aug. 5, 1811. --Concordat of Fontainebleau, Jan. 25, 1813, article 14. --Decree on the execution of this Concordat, March 23, 1813, art. 4. )]

[Footnote 5138: Sénatus-consulte, Feb. 17, 1810, articles 13 and 14. ]

[Footnote 5139: Mémorial, Aug. 17, 1816. ]

[Footnote 5140: Sénatus-consulte, Feb. 17, 1810. ]

[Footnote 5141: Notes by Napoleon on the "Les Quatre Concordats de M. DePradt" (correspondence, XXX. , 550). Lanfrey, "Histoire de Napoléon, " V. , 214. (Along with the Vatican archives, there were brought to Paris thetiara and other insignia or ornaments of Pontifical dignity. )]

[Footnote 5142: Sénatus-consulte, Feb. 17, 1810. ]

[Footnote 5143: Notes by Napoleon on "Les Quatre Concordats"(Correspondence, XXX. , 548). ]

[Footnote 5144: Cf. Roman laws on the Collegia illicita, the firstsource of which is the Roman conception of religion, the political andpractical use of augurs, auspices and sacred fowls. --It is interestingto trace the long life and survivorship of this important idea fromantiquity down to the present day; it reappears in the Concordat andin the Organic Articles of 1801, and still later in the late decreesdissolving unauthorized communities and closing the convents of men. --French jurists, and in particular Napoleon's jurists, are profoundlyimbued with the Roman idea. Portalis, in his exposition of the motivesfor establishing metropolitan seminaries (March 14, 1804), supports thedecree with Roman law. "The Roman laws, " he says, "place every thingconcerning the cult in the class of matters which belong essentially topublic rights. "]

[Footnote 5145: Thibaudeau, p. 152. ]

[Footnote 5146: "Discours, rapports et travaux sur le Concordat de1801, " by Portalis, p. 87 (on the Organic Articles), p. 29 (on theorganization of cults). "The ministers of religion must not pretend toshare in or limit public power. . . . Religious affairs have always beenclassed by the different national codes among matters belonging to theupper police department of the State. . . The political magistrate may andshould intervene in everything which concerns the outward administrationof sacred matters. . . . In France, the government has always presided, in a more or less direct way, over the direction of ecclesiasticalaffairs. "]

[Footnote 5147: "Discours, rapports, etc. , " by Portalis, p. 31. --Ibid. , p. 143: "To sum up: The Church possesses only a purely spiritualauthority; the sovereigns, in their capacity of political magistrates, regulate temporal and mixed questions with entire independence, and, asprotectors, they have even the right to see to the execution ofcanons and to repress, even in spiritual matters, the infractions ofpontiffs. "]

[Footnote 5148: Articles Organiques. 1st. Catholic cult, articles 3, 4, 23, 24, 35, 39, 44, 62. 2nd. Protestant cults, articles 4, 5, 11, 14, 22, 26, 30, 31, 32, 37, 38, 39, 41, 42, 43. --Israelite cult, decree ofMarch 17, 1808, articles 4, 8, 9, 16, 23. Decree of execution, samedate, articles 2 to 7. ]

[Footnote 5149: Decree of March 17, 1808, articles 12, 21. ]

[Footnote 5150: Articles Organiques (Protestant cults), 12 and 13. ]

[Footnote 5151: Articles Organiques (Catholic cult), 24. Teachersselected for the seminaries "will subscribe the declaration made bythe clergy of France in 1682; they will submit to teaching the doctrinetherein set forth. "]

[Footnote 5152: "Dsicours, rapports, etc, " by Portalis, p. 101. ]

[Footnote 5153: Ibid, p. 378. ]

[Footnote 5154: Abbé Sicard, "Les Dispensateurs des bénéficesecclésiastiques" (in the "Correspondant, " Sep. 10, 1889, p. 883). Abenefice was then a sort of patrimony which the titulary, old or ill, often handed over to one of his relatives. "A canonist of the eighteenthcentury says that the resignation carried with it one third of theincome. "]

[Footnote 5155: "Souvenirs", by Pasquier (Etienne-Dennis, duc), LibrariePlon, Paris 1893. Vol. I. P. 415. : "The nomination of Cardinal Mauryas arch-bishop of Paris was published on the same day that I had beenappointed prefect of police. The new arch-bishop had made too much noisein the past for him not to have become known to me. He was as happy withhis appointment as I was unhappy with mine. I met him in the chateauFontainebleau and I have ever since been haunted by the noisy expressionof his happiness. He constantly repeated this sentence: "The Emperor hasjust satisfied the two greatest requirements of his capital. With a goodpolice and a good clergy he can always be sure of public order, since anarch-bishop is also a prefect of the police. "]

[Footnote 5156: Report of Siméon to the tribunat on presenting to it theConcordat and Organic Articles, Germinal 17, year X. --Henceforth"the ministers of all cults will be subject to the influence of thegovernment which appoints or confirms them, to which they are boundby the most sacred promises, and which holds them in its dependence bytheir salaries. "]

[Footnote 5157: "Discours, rapports, etc. , " by Portalis, p. 40. --EmileOllivier, "Nouveau manuel de droit ecclésiastique, " P. 193. (Reply byPortalis to the protests of the Holy See, Sep. 22, 1803. ) Before 1789Portalis writes: "The spectacle presented by the monks was not veryedifying. . . . The legislature having decided that religious vows couldnot be taken up to twenty-one years of age, . . . This measure keepsnovices away; the monastic orders, sapped by the state of morals and bytime, could obtain no recruits; they languished in a state of inertiaand of disfavor which was worse than annihilation. . . . The era formonastic institutions had passed. "]

[Footnote 5158: Pelet de la Lozère, p. 146. (Words of Napoleon, March 11, 1806. )]

[Footnote 5159: Pelet de la Lozère, p. 207 (May 22, 1804). ]

[Footnote 5160: Decree of Messidor 3, year XII (June 22, 1804). --Letterof Napoleon to the King of Naples, April 14, 1807, on the suppressionof convents at Naples: "You know that I don't like monks, as I haveuprooted them everywhere. " To his sister Elisa, May 17, 1806: "Keep onand suppress the convents. "]

[Footnote 5161: "État des congrégations, communantés et associationsreligieuses, " drawn up in execution of article 12 of the law of Dec. 12, 1876 (Imprimerie nationale, 1878): 1st. Congregations of women with ageneral superior, nurses and teachers, authorized from Prairial 28, yearXI, to January 13, 1813, total, 42; 2nd. Communities of women without ageneral superior, nurses and teachers, authorized from April 9, 1806, toSept. 28, 1813, total, 205. ]

[Footnote 5162: Ibid. , Brethren of the Christian Schools, namely, ofSaint Yon, authorized March 17, 1808. ]

[Footnote 5163: Ibid. , congregation of the Mission of Saint-Lazare, authorized Prairial 17, year XI. --Congregation of the Seminary ofForeign Missions, authorized Germinal 2, year XIII. ]

[Footnote 5164: Pelet de la Lozère, p. 208 (May 22, 1804). ]

[Footnote 5165: Pelet de la Lozère, P. 209]

[Footnote 5166: Decree of March 17, 1808, article 109. ]

[Footnote 5167: Alexis Chevalier, "Les Frères des écoles chrétiennesaprès la Révolution, " p. 93. (Report by Portalis approved by the Firstconsul, Frimaire to, year XII. ) "Henceforth, " says Portalis, "thesuperior-general at Rome abandons all inspection of the ChristianBrothers. In France, it is understood that the Brothers will have asuperior general resident at Lyons. "]

[Footnote 5168: D'Haussonville, V. , p. 148. ]

[Footnote 5169: Fortress in the Italian Alps. (SR. )]

[Footnote 5170: D'Haussonville, V. , p. 148. Letter of Napoleon tothe Minister of Worship, March 3, 1811 (omitted in the publishedcorrespondence). ]

[Footnote 5171: Ibid. , IV. , p. 133. (Letter by Napoleon, Sep. 2, 1809, omitted in the "Correspondence. ")]

[Footnote 5172: Concordat, articles 4, 5, 16. ]

[Footnote 5173: Articles Organiques, I. , pp. 2, 6. ]

[Footnote 5174: Code pénal, decree of Feb. 16-20, 1810, article 207. ]

[Footnote 5175: Napoleon's own expressions: "I may regard myself as thehead of the Catholic ministry, since the Pope has crowned me. " (Peletde la Lozère, p. 210, July 17, 1806. )--Note the word crowned (sacré). Napoleon, as well as former kings, considers himself as clothed withecclesiastical dignity. ]

[Footnote 5176: On the sense and bearing of Gallican maxims cf. Thewhole of the answer by Portalis to Cardinal Caprara. (Émile Ollivier, "Nouveau manuel de droit ecclésiastique, " p. 150. )]

[Footnote 5177: Decree of Feb. 25, 1810. (The edict of Louis XIV. Isattached to it. ) Prohibition to teach or write "anything opposed tothe doctrine contained" in the declaration of the French clergy. "Everyprofessor of theology must sign and submit to teaching the doctrinetherein set forth. "--In establishments where there are severalprofessors "one of them will be annually directed to teach the saiddoctrine. "--In colleges where there is but one professor "he will beobliged to teach it one of three consecutive years. "--The professors arerequired to hand in to the competent authority "their minutes dictatedto the pupils. "--None of them can be "licensed, whether in theology orin canon law, nor graduated as doctor, without having maintained thesaid doctrine in one of his theses. "]

[Footnote 5178: Cf. , for details, d'Haussonville, I. , p. 200 et seq. ]

[Footnote 5179: Pelet de la Lozère, p. 205. (Words of Napoleon, Feb. 4, 1804. )]

[Footnote 5180: A procedure used by Stalin and copied by all hissatellite states. (SR. )]

[Footnote 5181: Thibaudeau, p. 157 (Messidor 2, year X). ]

[Footnote 5182: Roederer, III. , pp. 535, 567. ]

[Footnote 5183: Pelet de la Lozère, p. 203. (Napoleon's words, Feb. 4, 1804. )--Law of March 14, 1804. ]

[Footnote 5184: Cf. "Letters of Mgr. Claude Simon, bishop of Grenoble, April 18, 1809, and October 6, 1811. "]

[Footnote 5185: Articles Organiques, p. 68. ]

[Footnote 5186: Bercastel and Henrion, "Histoire générale de l'Église, "XIII. , p. 32. (Speech by M. Roux-Laborie, deputy in 1816. )--At thepresent day, the ordinations oscillate between 1200 and 1700 per annum. ]

[Footnote 5187: Decree of November 15, 1811, articles 28, 29, 32. "Onand after July 1, 1812, all secondary ecclesiastical schools (smallseminaries) which may not be situated in towns possessing a lycée orcollege shall be closed. No secondary ecclesiastical school shall beplaced in the country. In all places where there are ecclesiasticalschools the pupils of these schools shall pursue their studies in thelycée or college classes. "]

[Footnote 5188: "Correspondence of Napoleon (notes for the Ministerof Worship), July 30, 1806. " In order to be curé of the first class, chanoin, vicar-general or bishop one must henceforth be bachelor, licencié, doctor in the university grades, "which the university mayrefuse in case the candidate shall be known to entertain ultramontaneideas or ideas dangerous to authority. "]

[Footnote 5189: D'Haussonville, V. , p. 144 et seq. (Letter of Napoleon tothe Minister of Worship, Oct. 22, 1811, omitted in the "correspondence. ")The letter ends with these words: "This mode of working must be keptsecret. "]

[Footnote 5190: "Histoire de M. Emery, " by Abbé Elie Méric, II. , p. 374. The order of expulsion (June 13, 1810) ends with these words: "Immediatepossession is to be taken of the house which might belong to somedomain and which, at least in this case, could be considered as publicproperty, since it might belong to a congregation. If it is found to beprivate property belonging to M. Emery or to any other person, therents might first be paid and then afterwards it might be required, saveindemnity, as useful for the public service. " This shows in full theadministrative and fiscal spirit of the French State, its heavy handbeing always ready to fall imperiously on every private individual andon all private property. ]

[Footnote 5191: Letter of Napoleon, Oct. 8, 1811. ]

[Footnote 5192: Ibid. Nov. 22, 1811. ]

[Footnote 5193: D'Haussonville, V. , p. 282. (Letter of Napoleon, Aug. 14, 1813, omitted in the correspondence. )--"Mémoires" du ChancelierPasquier, II. " pp. 88-91. ]

[Footnote 5194: Roederer, III. , p. 430 (Germinal 19, year X): "The legatewas received today in the consular palace; in making his speech, hetrembled like a leaf. "]

[Footnote 5195: Pelet de la Lozère, p. 206 (May 22, 1804). ]

[Footnote 5196: Decrees of May 31, 1804, Dec. 26, 1804, and Sep. 30. 1807, with the list of succursals by departments. --Besides the succursalistspaid by the State, there were vicars not less dependent on the bishopand maintained by allowances from the communes or by private donations. (Bercastel et Henrion, XIII. , p. 32, speech by M. Roux-Laborie in thechamber of Deputies, 1816. ) "In his re-composition of the Church ofFrance the usurper established 12, 000 vicars dependent on alms, and itwill not surprise you that, instead of 12, 000, there were only 5000who were courageous enough to die of starvation or implore publiccharity. . . . Thus are 4000 country churches without worship orminister. "]

[Footnote 5197: Thibaudeau, p. 166, and article of Brumaire 30, in theMoniteur. ]

[Footnote 5198: Roederer, III. , p. 479 et seq. (Report on theSenatorerie of Caen. ) The priests everywhere feel that they are watchedand set aside. "Most of those I encounter exclaim, Poor curé, anunfortunate curé. The functionaries are devoted to the Emperor astheir sole support against the nobles, whom they dread, and against thepriests, whom they slightly esteem. . . . The military, the judges, theadministrators when alluding to the priests or to religion merely smile;the priests, on the other hand, express very little confidence in thefunctionaries. "]

[Footnote 5199: Decree of Sept. 30, 1804 (with allotment of 800scholarships and 1600 demi-scholarships to each diocesan seminary). These will be allowed us on being presented by the bishops. ]

[Footnote 51100: D'Haussonville, II. , p. 227. ]

[Footnote 51101: Idem. IV. Order of arrest of M. D'Avian, archbishop ofBordeaux, as one of the opponents of the Council (July 11, 1811). Savaryhimself, Minister of Justice, raises objections. "Sire, do nothing withM. D'Avian. He is a saint and we shall have everybody against us. "]

[Footnote 51102: Idem. , IV. P. 58. Address of the ecclesiasticalcommission enumerating the favors granted to religion, "the legionof Honor, conferred on many prelates, the titles of baron and countassigned to bishops and archbishops of the Empire, the admission ofseveral of these to the legislative assembly and senate. "]

[Footnote 51103: D'Haussonville, IV. , p. 366. (Last session of thenational council, August 5, 1811. )]

[Footnote 51104: Reading this, as Lenin must have done, could he helpbut dream of the day, when he could become head of a state, head of aforeign service, of a secret police force and hence be able to subvertthe entire world including the religious organizations, the politicalparties, diplomatic services not to speak of international organizationsin New York or Brussels. (SR. )]

[Footnote 51105: Idem. , I. , pp. 203-205. ]

[Footnote 51106: Idem. , p. 228. Cf. The "Almanach impérial de1806-1814. "--Lanfrey, "Histoire de Napoléon, "V. , p. 208. The Prince deRohan, head chaplain, writes in a request he makes, The great Napoleonis my tutelary divinity. On the margin of this request Napoleon attachesthe following decision: "The Duc de Frioul will pay to the head chaplain12, 000 francs, --tax on receipts of the theatres. " (Feb. 15, 1810. )Another example of the same type is M. Roquelaure, archbishop ofMalines, who addresses Josephine with a little ancient-régime speech, at once episcopal and gallant. The First Consul, therefore, makes himMember of the Institute. (Bourrienne, V. , p. 130. ) This archbishop, inthe administration of his diocese, zealously applies the policy of theFirst Consul. "We have seen him suspend from his functions a priest whohad exhorted a dying man to restore ecclesiastical property which he hadtaken. " ("Dictionnaire biographique, " published at Leipsic by Eymery, 1806, 1808. )]

[Footnote 51107: Roederer, III. , p. 459 (December 30, 1802). ]

[Footnote 51108: D'Haussonville, II. , 257. (Report by Portalis to theEmperor, Feb. 13, 1806. )--Idem. , II. , 226. ]

[Footnote 51109: D'Haussonville, II. , 237, 239, 272. --Pelet de laLozère, 201: "At other times Napoleon praised the priests, wantedtheir services, largely attributing the departure of conscripts and thesubmission of the people to their influence. "--Idem, 173 (May 20, 1806, words of Napoleon): "The Catholic priests behave very well and are ofgreat service. It is owing to them that the conscription this year hasbeen better than in former years. . . No branch of the State speaks sowell of the government. "]

[Footnote 51110: D'Haussonville, III, IV. , and V. , passim. ]

[Footnote 51111: "Mémoires, " by the Chancelier Pasquier, IV. , 358. ]

[Footnote 51112: D'Haussonville, IV. , 366 (last phrase of the text): "Adeputation of six bishops will go and beg His Holiness to confirm thisdecree. "]

[Footnote 51113: To an ordinary reader, even Catholic, if not versed!incanon law, Napoleon's exactions seem mediocre and even acceptable;they reduce themselves down to fixing a delay and seeming to add to thecompetency of councils and the authority of bishops. (D'Haussonville, IV. , 366, session of the council, Aug. 5, 1811, propositions adopted anddecree. Cf. The Concordat of Fontainebleau, Jan. 25, 1813, article 4. )]

[Footnote 51114: Comte D'Haussonville, IV. , 121 and following pages. (Letters of the prefect, M. De Chabrol, letters of Napoleon not insertedin the "Correspondence, " narration of Dr. Claraz. ) 6000 francs, apresent to the bishop of Savona, 12, 000 francs salary to Dr. Porta, thePope's physician. "Dr. Porta, " writes the prefect, "seems disposed toserve us indirectly with all his power. . . . Efforts are made to affectthe Pope either by all who approach him or by all the means in ourpower. "]

[Footnote 51115: Ibid. (Letters of M. De Chabrol, May 14 and 30, 1811. )"The Pope has fallen into a state of stupor. . . . The physician fears acase of hypochondria;. . . His health and reason are affected. " Then, in afew days: "The state of mental alienation has passed. "]

[Footnote 51116: Mémorial (Aug. 17, 1816). ]

[Footnote 51117: D'Haussonville, V. , 244. Later, the Pope keeps silentabout his interviews with Napoleon. "He simply lets it be understoodthat the emperor spoke to him haughtily and contemptuously, eventreating him as an ignoramus in ecclesiastical matters. "--Napoleon methim with open arms and embraced him, calling him his father. (Thiers, XV. , 295. )--It is probable that the best literary portrayal of thesetête-à-tête conversations is the imaginary scene in "Grandeurs etServitudes Militaires, " by Alfred de Vigny. ]

[Footnote 51118: Comte Chaptal, "Notes": "No, in the course ofsixteen years of a stormy government, Bonaparte never met with so muchresistance and never suffered so many disappointments as were causedby his quarrel with the Pope. There is no event in his life which morealienated the people as his proceedings and conduct towards the Pope. "]

[Footnote 51119: Ultramontanism; a set of doctrines establishing thepope's absolute authority. ]

CHAPTER II. THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. 

I. The Catholic System. 

 The effects of the system. --Completion of the ecclesiastical hierarchy. --Omnipotence of the Pope in the Church. --Influence of the French Concordat and other precedents from 1801 to 1870. --Why the clergy becomes ultramontane. --The dogma of Infallibility. 

In 1801, at Rome, pending the negotiations for the Concordat, when PiusVII. Still hesitated about the deposition in mass of the survivors ofthe ancient French episcopacy, clear-sighted observers already remarked, "Let this Concordat which the First Consul desires be completed, [5201]and you will see, on its ratification, its immense importance andthe power it will give to Rome over the episcopacy throughout theuniverse. "--In effect, through this "extraordinary, nearly unexampled"act of authority, and certainly unequaled "in the history of theChurch, "[5202] the ultramontane theory, contested up to this time, maintained in the speculative region of abstract formulae, comes downto solid ground, into practical and lasting use. Willingly or not, "thePope acts as if universal bishop;" urged and constrained by the laypower, attached to a dictatorship, [5203] he entered upon it and soinstalled himself, and, ten years later, Napoleon, who had impelled himon, regretted that he had done so. Warned by his Gallican jurists, he saw the ecclesiastical import of his work; but it was too late toretreat--the decisive step had been taken. --For, in fact, the Pope haddeprived all the chieftains of a great church of their thrones, "hiscolleagues and co-bishops, "[5204] successors of the apostles under thesame title as himself, members "of the same order and stamped "with thesame "character, " eighty-five legitimate incumbents[5205] and, stillbetter, as admitted by himself, blameless, worthy, persecutedbecause they had obeyed him, banished from France on account of theirunwillingness to quit the Roman Church. He had ordered them to resign;he had withdrawn apostolic powers from the thirteen who had refused totender their resignations; to all, even to those who refused, he hadappointed their successors. He assigned to the new titularies diocesesof a new pattern and, to justify novelties of such gravity, [5206] hecould allege no other reasons than circumstances, the exigencies oflay power, and the welfare of the Church. After that the Gallicansthemselves, unless accepting the risk of a schism and of separatingforever from the Holy See, were obliged to allow the Pope above andbeyond the ordinary powers exercised by him within the old limits ofcanons and of custom, an extraordinary power unlimited by any canon orby any custom, [5207] a plenary and absolute authority, a right aboveall other rights, by virtue of which, in cases determined by himself, heprovided in a discretionary way for all Catholic interests, of which hethus becomes the supreme judge, the sole interpreter and the court oflast appeal. An indestructible precedent was set up; it was the greatcorner-stone in the support of the modern Church edifice; on thisdefinitive foundation all other stones were to be superposed, one byone. In 1801, Pius VII. , under the pressure of the reigning Napoleon, had obliged the prelates of the old régime, sullied by a monarchicalorigin and suspected of zeal for the dethroned Bourbons, to abandontheir seats. In 1816, under the pressure of the re-established Bourbons, the same Pius VII. Obliged Fesch, cardinal-archbishop of Lyons, anduncle of the fallen Napoleon, to abandon his seat. Bercastel et Henrion, XIII, 192. Cardinal Fesch having been banished from France by the lawof January 12, 1816, "the Pope no longer regarded the person of thecardinal, but the diocese that had to be saved at any cost, by virtue ofthe principle salus populi suprema lex. Consequently, he prohibited thecardinal from "exercising episcopal jurisdiction in his metropolitanchurch, and constituted M. De Bernis administrator of that church, spiritually as well as temporally, notwithstanding all constitutionsdecreed even by the general councils, the apostolic ordinances, privileges, etc. " In both cases the situation was similar, and, in thelatter as in the former case, motives of the same order warranted thesame use of the same power. 

But the situation, in being prolonged, multiplied, for the Church, thenumber of urgent cases, and, for the sovereign pontiff the number ofcases of intervention. Since 1789, the entire civil order of things, constitutional, political, social and territorial, had become singularlyunstable, not only in France but in Europe, not only on the oldcontinent but likewise on the new one. Sovereign states by hundredssunk under the strokes and counter-strokes, indefinitely propagated andenforced by the philosophy of the eighteenth century and of the FrenchRevolution; others, by dozens, arose in their place, and, in these, different dynasties succeeded each other; here, Catholic populationsfalling under the rule of a schismatic or Protestant prince; there, thisor that Catholic country, for fifteen years included in a mixed state, detached from it and constituted apart. In Protestant America, theCatholics, increased to millions, formed new communities in CatholicAmerica, the colonies had become independent; almost everywhere inAmerica and in Europe the maxims of government and of public opinionhad changed. Now, after each of these changes, some initiative, some direction, some authority was necessary, in order to reconcileecclesiastical with lay institutions; the Pope was on hand, and on eachoccasion he establishes this concord. [5208] At one time, by a diplomaticact analogous to the French Concordat of 1801, he negotiates with thesovereign of the country--Bavaria, Wurtemburg, Prussia, Austria, Spain, Portugal, the two Sicilies, the Netherlands, Belgium and Russia. Again, owing to the tolerant liberalism, or to the Constitutional indifferenceof the lay government, he alone prescribes, notably in Holland, inIreland, in England, in Canada, and in the United States, a divisionof the country into ecclesiastical districts, the erection of newbishoprics, and the lasting regulation of the hierarchy, the discipline, the means of support and the recruiting of the clergy. Again, whensovereignty is in dispute, as after the emancipation of the Spanishcolonies, he does without it, in spite of the opposition of themother-country, and, "without putting himself in relation with the newgovernments, [5209] he, acting for himself, "that he may put an endto the widowhood of the Churches, " appoints bishops, assigns them aprovisional régime in anticipation of the epoch when, in concert withbetter founded governments, he will decree their definitive régime. Inthis way, all the great existing churches of the Catholic universe arethe work of the Pope, his latest work, his own creation attested by apositive act of contiguous date, and of which the souvenir is vivid:he has not recognized them--he has made them; he has given them theirexternal form and their internal structure; no one of them can lookwithin itself without finding in its laws the fresh imprint of thesovereign hand which has fashioned it; none of them can assert or evenbelieve itself legitimate without declaring the superior authority to belegitimate which has just endowed it with life and being. The laststep, the greatest of all, above the terrestrial and practical order ofthings, in speculative theology, in the revelation of the supernatural, in the definition of things that are divine: the Pope, the better toprove his autocracy, in 1854, decrees, solely, of his own accord, a newdogma, the immaculate conception of the Virgin, and he is careful tonote that he does it without the concurrence of the bishops; they wereon hand, but they neither deliberated nor decided. [5210]

Thus arise durable powers, spiritual or temporal, little by little, through the uninterrupted and uncontested series of their acts; from1791 to 1870 all ecclesiastical precedents, one added to another, becameconsolidated, one through the other and through their mass; story afterstory, steadily ascending and converging to raise the Pope higher still, until at last, on the summit of the edifice, the Holy See becomesthe keystone of the arch, the omnipotence of fact being completed byomnipotence of right. 

Meanwhile Catholic opinion came to the aid of pontifical opinion, and, in France, the clergy spontaneously became ultramontane because therewas no longer any motive for remaining Gallican. Since the Revolution, the Concordat and the Organic Articles, all the sources which maintainedin it a national as well as particularist spirit, had dried up; inceased being a distinct, proprietary and favored body; its members areno longer leagued together by the community of a temporal interest, by the need of defending their privileges, by the faculty of actingin concert, by the right of holding periodical assemblies; they are nolonger, as formerly, attached to the civil power by great social andlegal advantages, by their honorable priority in lay society, by theirimmunities from taxation, by the presence and influence of their bishopsin the provincial parliaments, by the noble origin and magnificentendowments of nearly all their prelates, by the repressive support whichthe secular arm lent to the church against dissenters and free-thinkers, by the immemorial legislation and customs which, erecting Catholicisminto a State religion, imposed the Catholic faith on the monarch, notalone in his quality of a private individual and to fix his personalbelief, but again in his quality of public magistrate, to influence hispolicy and to share in his government. This last article is capital, and out of its abrogation the rest follows: at this turn of the roadthe French clergy is thrown off the Gallican track, every step ittakes after this being on the way to Rome. For, according to Catholicdoctrine, outside of the Roman Church there is no salvation; to enterit, to rest in it, to be led by it is the highest interest and firstduty of man; it is the unique and infallible guide; all acts that itcondemns are culpable, and not only private acts, but likewise allpublic acts; the sovereign who commits them may, as an individual, beCatholic by profession and even loyal at heart; but, as a ruler, he isdisloyal, he has lost his semi-ecclesiastic character, he has ceased tobe "the exterior bishop, " he is not worthy to command a clerical body. Henceforth, the Christian conscience no longer bows down before himwith love and respect; nothing remains to him for support but socialprudence; and again is it with resignation, because the Church commandsobedience to the authorities, and the same Church commands disobedienceto these authorities when, abusing their power, they encroach on itsrights. 

Now, ten years ago, the State had done nothing else, and, to the oldConcordat which was not good, it had just substituted a Concordat thatwas worse. This new alliance, concluded by it with the Church in 1802, is not a religious marriage, the solemn sacrament by which, at Rheims, she and the King promised to live together and in harmony in the samefaith, but a simple civil contract, more precisely the legal regulationof a lasting and deliberate divorce. --In a paroxysm of despotism theState has stripped the Church of its possessions and turned it out ofdoors, without clothes or bread, to beg on the highways; next, in a fitof rage, its aim was to kill it outright, and it did partially strangleit. Recovering its reason, but having ceased to be Catholic, it hasforced the signature of a pact which is repugnant, and which reducestheir moral union to physical cohabitation. Willingly or not, thetwo contracting parties are to continue living together in the samedomicile, since that is the only one they possess; but, as there isincompatibility of humor, they will do well to live apart. To this end, the State assigns a small, distinct lodging to the Church and allows hera meager supply of food; this done, it fancies that it may cry quits;and, worse still, it imagines that she is always its subject, and stillpretends to the same authority over her; the State is determined toretain all rights conferred upon it by the old marriage, and theserights it exercises and adds to. Meanwhile, it admits into the samelodging three other Churches which it subjects to the same régime: thatmakes four mess-rooms to be maintained and which it watches, supportsand utilizes the best it can for the temporal advantage of thehousehold. There is nothing more odious to the Catholic Church than thisadvertised, practical polygamy, this subvention granted indifferentlyto all cults, this patronage in common, more insulting than abandonment, this equal treatment[5211] which places the pulpit of truth and thepulpits of falsehood, the ministry of salvation and the ministriesof perdition, on the same footing. Nothing is more serviceable foralienating a Catholic clergy, for making it consider civil power asforeign, usurping, or even inimical, for detaching the Gallican Churchfrom its French center, for driving it back towards its Roman center andfor handing it over to the Pope. 

Henceforth, the latter is the unique center, the sole surviving headof the Church, inseparable from it because he is naturally its head andbecause it is naturally his body; and all the more because this mutualtie has been strengthened by trials. Head and body have been strucktogether, by the same hands, and each on the other's account. The Popehas suffered like the Church, along with and for it. Pius VI. , dethronedand borne off by the Directory, died in prison at Valence; Pius VII. , dethroned and carried off by Napoleon, is confined, sequestered andoutraged for four years in France, while all generous hearts take sideswith the oppressed against his oppressors. Moreover, his dispossessionadds to his prestige: it can no longer be claimed that territorialinterests prevail with him over Catholic interests; therefore, accordingas his temporal power diminishes his spiritual power expands, to such anextent that, in the end, after three-quarters of a century, just at themoment when the former is to fall to the ground the latter is to riseabove the clouds; through the effacement of his human character hissuperhuman character becomes declared; the more the sovereign princedisappears, the more does the sovereign pontiff assert himself. Theclergy, despoiled like him of its hereditary patrimony and confined likehim to its sacerdotal office, exposed to the same dangers, menaced bythe same enemies, rallies around him the same as an army around itsgeneral; inferiors and superiors, they are all priests alike and arenothing else, with a clearer and clearer conscience of the solidaritywhich binds them together and subordinates the inferiors to thesuperiors. From one ecclesiastical generation to another, [5212] thenumber of the refractory, of the intractable and of independents, rigorists or the lax, goes on decreasing, some, conscientiousJansenists, hardened and sectarians of the "Little Church, " others, semi-philosophers, tolerant and liberal, both inheriting too narrowconvictions or too broad opinions for maintaining themselves andspreading in the newly founded society (milieu). [5213] They die out, one by one, while their doctrines fall into discredit and then intooblivion. A new spirit animates the new clergy, and, after 1808, Napoleon remarks of it, "It does not complain of the old one, and iseven satisfied with it; but, he says, they are bringing up new priestsin a sombre fanatical doctrine: there is nothing Gallican in theyouthful clergy, "[5214] no sympathy for the civil power. After Napoleon, and on getting out of his terrible hands, the Catholics have goodreasons for their repugnance to his theology; it has put too manyCatholics in jail, the most eminent in rank, in holiness, bishops andcardinals, including the Pope. Gallican maxims are dishonored by the useNapoleon has made of them. Canon law, in public instruction and inthe seminaries (of the Catholics), ends insensibly in unlooked-forconclusions; texts and arguments opposed to the Pope's authority seemweaker and weaker; texts and arguments favorable to the Pope's authorityseem stronger and stronger;[5215] the doctors most deferred to areno longer Gerson and Bossuet, but Bellarmin and Suarez; flaws arediscovered in the decrees of the council of Constance; the Declarationof the clergy of France in 1682 is found to contain errors condemnedand open to condemnation. [5216] After 1819, M. De Maistre, a powerfullogician, matchless herald and superb champion, in his book on "ThePope, " justifies, prepares and announces the coming constitution ofthe Church. --Step by step, the assent of Catholic community is won ormastered;[5217] on approaching 1870, it is nearly universal; after 1870, it is wholly so and could not be otherwise; whoever refuses to submit isexcluded from the community and excludes himself from it, for he deniesa dogma which it professes, a revealed dogma, an article of faith whichthe Pope and the council have just decreed. Thenceforward, the Pope, in his magisterial pulpit, in the eyes of every man who is and wants toremain Catholic, is infallible; when he gives his decision on faith oron morals, Jesus Christ himself speaks by his mouth, and his definitionsof doctrine are "irrefutable, " "they are so of themselves, theyalone, through their own virtue, and not by virtue of the Church'sconsent. "[5218] For the same reason, his authority is absolute, not onlyin matters which concern faith and morals, but again in matters whichconcern the discipline and government of the Church. "[5219] His judgmentmay be resorted to in every ecclesiastical case; nobody is allowedto question his verdict; "nobody is allowed to appeal to the futureoecumenical council;"[5220] He has not only "a priority by right, an office of inspection and of direction; he holds again priorityof jurisdiction, a full and supreme power of jurisdiction over theuniversal Church, . . . ", "the total plenitude of this supreme power, " notindirectly and extraordinarily, but "directly and ordinarily, over allchurches and over each one of them, over all pastors and all believers, over each believer and each of the pastors. "--Read this in the Latin:each word, through its ancient root and through its historic vegetation, contributes to strengthening the despotic and Roman sense of the text;the language of the people which invented and practiced dictatorship hadto be employed for the affirmation of dictatorship with that precisionand that copiousness, with that excess of energy and of conviction. 

II. The Bishops and their new Situation. 

 The bishop in his diocese. --Change of situation and rôle. --Depreciation of other local authorities. --Diminution of other ecclesiastical authorities. --Decline of the chapter and the jurisdiction. --The bishop alone dispenses rigors and favors. --Use of displacement. --Second-class clergy subject to military discipline. --Why it submits to this. 

The change brought about in the condition and role of the bishop wasnot less grave. Along with the court noblesse and great ecclesiasticalproperty, we see the prelate of the old régime disappearing by degrees, the younger son of a noble family, promoted by favor and very young, endowed with a large income and much more a man of the world than ofthe Church. In 1789, out of 134 bishops or archbishops, only 5 were ofplebeian origin; in 1889, out of 90 bishops or archbishops there areonly 4 of them nobles;[5221] previous to the Revolution, the titular ofan Episcopal see enjoyed, on the average, a revenue of 100, 000 francs;at the present day, he receives only a salary of from 10, 000 to 15, 000francs. [5222] In place of the grand seignior, an amiable and magnificenthost, given to display and to entertaining the best company, keepingan open table in his diocese when he happens to be there, but generallyabsent, an habitué of Paris or a courtier at Versailles, we see anotherstepping forward to take his seat He is bearing the same title, isa personage whose habits and origins are different, a residentadministrator, much less ornamental but much more active and governing, provided with a more ample jurisdiction, with more absolute authorityand wielding more effective influence. The final effect of theRevolution in relation to the bishop is the same as in relation to thePope, and in the French diocese, as in the universal Church, the modernrégime sets up a central, extraordinary, enormous power of which theancient regime knew nothing. 

Formerly, the bishop encountered around him, on the spot, equals andrivals, bodies of men or individuals, as independent and powerful ashimself, irremovable, owners of estates, dispensers of offices and offavors, local authorities by legal sanction, permanent patrons of apermanent class of dependents. In his own cathedral, his metropolitanchapter was, like himself, a collator of benefice; elsewhere, otherchapters were so likewise and knew how to maintain their rights againsthis supremacy. In each body of regular clergy, every grand abbot orprior, every noble abbess was, like himself, a sort of sovereign prince. The territorial seignior and justiciary on his own domain, was throughthe partial survival of the old wholly secular feudal order equallysovereign. Likewise sovereign, was, for its part, the parliament ofthe province, with its rights of registry and of remonstrance, withits administrative attributes and interference, with its train of loyalauxiliaries and subordinates, from the judges of the presidencies andbailiwicks down to the corporations of advocates, prosecutors and othermembers of the bar. [5223] The parliamentarians of the district capital(chef-lieu), purchasers and owners of their offices, magistrates fromfather to son, much wealthier and much prouder than nowadays, were, in their old hereditary mansions, the real chiefs of the province, itsconstant representatives on the spot, its popular defenders againstministerial and royal absolutism. All these powers, which oncecounterbalanced episcopal power, have disappeared. Restricted to theirjudicial office, the tribunals have ceased to be political authoritiesand moderators of the central government: in the town and department, the mayor and general councilors, appointed or elected for a certaintime, enjoy only temporary credit; the prefect, the military commandant, the rector, the treasurer-general are merely passing strangers. The local circumscription, for a century, is an exterior post whereindividuals live together in contact but not associated; no longerdoes any intimate, lasting and strong bond exist between them; nothingremains of the old province but a population of inhabitants, a givennumber of private persons under unstable functionaries. The bishopalone has maintained himself intact and erect, a dignitary for life, theconductor, by title and in fact, of a good many persons, the stationaryand patient undertaker of a great service, the unique general andundisputed commander of a special militia which, through conscience andprofessions, gathers close around him and, every morning, awaits hisorders. Because in his essence, he is a governor of souls. Revolutionand centralization have not encroached on his ecclesiasticalprerogative. Thanks to this indelible quality he has been able to endurethe suppression of the others; these have come back to him of themselvesand with others added, comprising local superiority, real importance andlocal ascendancy; including the various honorable appellations which, under the ancient régime, denoted his rank and preeminence; at thepresent day, under the modern régime, they are no longer in use for alayman and even for a minister of state; after 1802, one of the articlesof the Organic Laws, [5224] interdicts them to bishops and archbishops;they are "allowed to add to their name only the title of citizen andmonsieur. " But practically, except in the official almanac, everybodyaddresses a prelate as "my lord, " and in the clergy, among believers, in writing or in speaking to him, he is called "your Grace, " under therepublic as under the monarchy. 

Thus, in this provincial soil where other powers have lost their roots, not only has he kept his, but he has extended them and much farther; hehas grown beyond all measure and now the whole ecclesiastical territorybelongs to him. Formerly, on this territory, many portions of it, andquite large ones, were enclosures set apart, reserves that an immemorialwall prevented him from entering. It was not he who, in a great majorityof cases, conferred livings and offices; it was not he who, in more thanone-half of them, appointed to vacant curacies. At Besançon, [5225] among1500 benefices and livings, he once conferred less than 100 of them, while his metropolitan chapter appointed as many curés as himself; atArras, he appointed only 47 curés and his chapter 66; at Saint-Omer, among the collators of curacies he ranked only third, after the abbeyof Saint-Martin and after the chapter of the cathedral. At Troyes, hecould dispose only of 197 curacies out of 372; at Boulogne, out of 180, he had only 80, and this again because the chapter voluntarily abandonedto him 16. Naturally, the eyes of all candidates turned towards thecollator; and, among the highest and most lucrative places, thosewhich gave the least trouble and afforded the most satisfaction, all sinecures, ranks, simple benefices and large urban curacies, probendaries and canonicates, most of the offices, titles, and incomesthat might tempt human ambition, were in the hands, not of the bishop, but of the king or of the Pope, of an abbot or prior, of an abbess, or of a certain university, [5226] of this or that cathedral orcollege-body, of a lay seignior, of a patentee, or of an indultaire, and often of the titulary himself. Thus, the hold of the bishop on hisclercs was feeble; he did not hold them through the hope of a favor. And, on the other hand, he had still less hold on them, no hold atall, through fear of losing favor. They might displease him almost withimpunity; his faculty for punishment was much more restricted than hismeans of recompense. His subordinates could find shelter and refugeagainst his displeasure, and even against his hostility. In the firstplace, and as a principle, a titulary, whether ecclesiastic or secular, owned his office and hence was irremovable; they themselves, plainvicar-curates, the humble desservans[5227] of a rural parish, hadacquired this privilege through the declarations of 1726 and 1731. [5228]Moreover, in case of interdiction, suspension or of censure, a titularycould always recur to the courts against episcopal judgment and anyother, against all encroachment on spiritual or temporal prerogatives, or on those which were useful or honorary belonging to his charge. 

These courts were of two kinds, one ecclesiastical and the othersecular, and in each an appeal could be made from a lower to a highercourt, from the diocesan official to the metropolitan official, and fromthe présidial to the parliament, with a complete judicial staff, judge, assessors, public ministry, prosecutors, advocates and clerks, restricted to the observing of all judicial formalities, authenticpapers, citations of witnesses and challenges of testimony, interrogatories and pleadings, allegation of canons, laws andprecedents, presence of the defendant, opposing arguments, delaysin procedure, publicity and scandal. Before the slow march andinconveniences of such a trial, the bishop often avoided givingjudgment, and all the more because his verdicts, even when confirmed bythe ecclesiastical court, might be warded off or rendered ineffectiveby the lay tribunal; for, from the former to the latter, there wasan appeal under writ of error, and the latter, a jealous rival of theformer, was ill-disposed towards the sacerdotal authorities;[5229]besides, in the latter case, far more than in the former, the bishopfound confronting him not merely the more or less legal right of his ownparty, but again the allies and patrons of his party, corporations andindividuals who, according to an accepted usage, interfered throughtheir solicitations with the judges and openly placed their credit atthe service of their protégé. With so many spokes in the wheels, theworking of an administrative machine was difficult; to give it effectivemotion, it required the steady pressure, the constant starting, thewatchful and persistent efforts of a laborious, energetic, and calloushand, while, under the ancient régime, the delicate white hands of agentleman-prelate were ill-adapted to this rude business; they weretoo nicely washed, too soft. To manage personally and on the spot aprovincial, complicated and rusty machine, always creaking and groaning, to give one's self up to it, to urge and adjust twenty local wheels, toput up with knocks and splashes, to become a business man, that is tosay a hard worker--nothing was less desirable for a grand seignior ofthat epoch. In the Church as in the State, he made the most of his rank;he collected and enjoyed its fruits, that is to say money, honors andgratifications, and, among these gratifications, the principal one, leisure; hence, he abandoned every special duty, the daily manipulationof men and things, the practical direction, all effective government, tohis ecclesiastical or lay intendants, to subordinates whom he scarcelylooked after and who, at his own house, on his own domain, replacedhim as fixed residents. The bishop, in his own diocese, left theadministration in the hands of his canons and grand-vicars; "theofficial decided without his meddling. "[5230] The machine thus workedalone and by itself, with very few shocks, in the old rut established byroutine; he helped it along only by the influence he exercised at Parisand Versailles, by recommendations to the ministers in reality, hewas merely the remote and worldly representative of his ecclesiasticalprincipality at court and in the drawing-room. [5231] When, from timeto time, he made his appearance there, the bells were rung; deputationsfrom all bodies hurried to his antechambers; each authority in turn, andaccording to the order of precedence, paid him its little compliment, which compliment he graciously returned and then, the homage being over, he distributed among them benedictions and smiles. After this, withequal dignity and still more graciously throughout his sojourn, heinvited the most eligible to his table and, in his episcopal palaceor in his country-house, he treated them as guests. This done, he hadperformed his duty; the rest was left to his secretaries, ecclesiasticalofficials and clerks, men of the bureaux, specialists and "plodders. ""Did you read my pastoral letter?" said a bishop to Piron. And Piron, who was very outspoken, dared reply, "Yes, my lord. And yourself?"

Under the modern régime, this suzerain for show, negligent andintermittent, is succeeded by an active sovereign whose reign ispersonal and constant; the limited and easy monarchy of the diocese isconverted into an universal and absolute monarchy. When the bishop, once invested and consecrated, enters the choir of his cathedral to thereverberations of the organ, lighted with wax candles amidst clouds ofincense, and seats himself in solemn pomp[5232] "on his throne, " he isa prince who takes possession of his government, which possession isnot nominal or partial, but real and complete. He holds in his hand "thesplendid cross which the priests of his diocese have presented to him, "in witness of and symbolizing their voluntary, eager and fullobedience; and this pastoral baton is larger than the old one. In theecclesiastical herd, no head browses at a distance or under cover; highor low, all are within reach, all eyes are turned towards the episcopalcrook; at a sign made by the crook, and according to the signal, eachhead forthwith stands, advances or recedes: it knows too well that theshepherd's hands are free and that it is subject to its will. Napoleon, in his reconstruction of the diocese, made additions to only one of thediocesan powers, that of the bishop; he suffered the others to remainlow down, on the ground. The delays, complications and frictions of adivided government were repugnant to him; he had no taste for andno comprehension of any but a concentrated government; he found itconvenient to deal with but one man, a prefect of the spiritual order, as pliable as his colleague of the temporal order, a mitered grandfunctionary--such was the bishop in his eyes. This is the reason whyhe did not oblige him to surround himself with constitutional andmoderating authorities; he did not restore the ancient bishop's courtand the ancient chapter; he allowed his prelates themselves to pen thenew diocesan statute. --Naturally, in the division of powers, the bishopreserved the best part to himself, the entire substance, and, to limithis local omnipotence, there remained simply lay authority. But, inpractice, the shackles by which the civil government kept him in itsdependence, broke or became relaxed one by one. Among the OrganicArticles, almost all of them which subjected or repressed the bishopfell into discredit or into desuetude. Meanwhile, those which authorizedand exalted the bishop remained in vigor and maintained their effect. Consequently, Napoleon's calculation, in relation to the bishop or inrelation to the Pope, proved erroneous. He wanted to unite in one persontwo incompatible characters, to convert the dignitaries of the Churchinto dignitaries of the State, to make functionaries out of potentates. The functionary insensibly disappeared; the potentate alone subsistedand still subsists. 

At the present day, conformably to the statute of 1802, the cathedralchapter, [5233] except in case of one interim, is a lifeless andstill-born body, a vain simulachre; it is always, by title or on paper, the Catholic "senate, " the bishop's obligatory "council";[5234] but hetakes his councillors where he pleases, outside of the chapter, if thatsuits him, and he is free not to take any of them, "to govern alone, todo all himself. " It is he who appoints to all offices, to the five orsix hundred offices of his diocese; he is the universal collator ofthese and, nine times out of ten, the sole collator; excepting eight ornine canonships and the thirty or forty cantonal curacies, which thegovernment must approve, he alone makes appointments and without anyperson's concurrence. Thus, in the way of favors, his clerical body hasnothing to expect from anybody but himself. --And, on the other hand, they no longer enjoy any protection against his harshness; the handwhich punishes is still less restrained than that which rewards; likethe cathedral chapter, the ecclesiastical tribunal has lost itsconsistency and independence, its efficiency; nothing remains of theancient bishop's court but an appearance and a name. [5235]

At one time, the bishop in person is himself the whole court; hedeliberates only with himself and decides ex informata conscientiawithout a trial, without advice, and, if he chooses, in his own cabinetwith closed doors, in private according to facts, the value of whichhe alone estimates, and through motives of which he is the soleappreciator. At another time, the presiding magistrate is one ofhis grand-vicars, his revocable delegate, his confidential man, hismegaphone, in short, another self, and this official acts without therestraint of ancient regulations, of a fixed and understood procedurebeforehand, of a series of judicial formalities, of verifications andthe presence of witnesses, of the delays and all other legal precautionswhich guard the judge against prejudice, haste, error, and ignorance andwithout which justice always risks becoming injustice. In both cases, the head over which the sentence is suspended lacks guarantees, and, once pronounced, this sentence is definitive. For, on appeal to thecourt of the metropolitan bishop, it is always confirmed;[5236] thebishops support each other, and, let the appellant be right or wrong, the appeal is in itself a bad mark against him: he did not submit atonce, he stood out against reproof, he was lacking in humility, he hasset an example of insubordination, and this alone is a grave fault. There remains the recourse to Rome; but Rome is far off, [5237] and, while maintaining her superior jurisdiction, she does not willinglycancel an episcopal verdict; she treats prelates with respect, she iscareful of her lieutenant-generals, her collectors of Saint Peter'spence. As to the lay tribunals, these have declared themselvesincompetent, [5238] and the new canon law teaches that never, "under thepretext of a writ of error, may a priest make an appeal to the secularmagistrate";[5239] through this appeal, "he derogates from the authorityand liberty of the Church and is liable to the gravest censures;" hebetrays his order. 

Such is now, for the lower clergy, ecclesiastical law, and likewisesecular law, both agreeing together in not affording him protection;add to this change in the jurisprudence which concerns him a no lessdivisive change in the jurisprudence which concerns him a no lessdecisive change in the titles which place and qualify him. Before 1789, there were in France 36, 000 curés entitled irremovable; at the presentday, there are only 3, 425; before 1789, there were only 2500 curésentirely removable, while to-day there are 34, 042;[5240] all of thelatter, appointed by the bishop without the approbation of the civilpowers, are removable at his discretion; their parochial ministry issimply a provisional commission; they may be placed elsewhere, passing from one precarious curacy to another no less precarious. "AtValence, [5241] Mgr. Chartrousse, in one month transferred 150 priestsfrom one parish to another. In 1835, in the diocese of Valence, 35transfers were sent out by the same mail. " No assistant-priest, howeverlong in his parish, feels that he is at home there, on his own domain, for the rest of his life; he is merely there in garrison, about the sameas lay functionaries and with less security, even when irreproachable. For he may be transplanted, not alone for spiritual reasons, butlikewise for political reasons. He has not grown less worthy, but themunicipal council or the mayor have taken a dislike to his person;consequently to tranquilize things, he is displaced. Far better, he hadbecome worthy and is on good terms with the municipal council and themayor; wherever he has lived he has known how to mollify these, and consequently "he is removed from parish to parish, [5242] chosenexpressly to be put into those where there are troublesome, wrangling, malevolent, and impious mayors. " It is for the good of the service andin the interest of the Church. The bishop subordinates persons to thissuperior interest. The legislation of 1801 and 1802 has conferred fullpowers upon him and he exercises them; among the many grips by which heholds his clergy the strongest is the power of removal, and he uses it. Into all civil or ecclesiastical institutions Napoleon, directly or bycounterstrokes, has injected his spirit, the military spirit; hence theauthoritative régime, still more firmly established in the Church thanin the State, because that is the essence of the Catholic institution;far from being relaxed in this, it has become stricter; at present it isavowed, proclaimed, and even made canonical; the bishop, in our days, in fact as in law, is a general of division, and, in law as in fact, his curés are simply sergeants or corporals. [5243] Command, from sucha lofty grade falls direct, with extraordinary force, on grades so low, and, at the first stroke, is followed by passive obedience. Disciplinein a diocese is as perfect as in an army corps, and the prelatespublicly take pride in it. "It is an insult, " said Cardinal deBonnechose to the Senate, [5244] "to suppose that we are not mastersin our own house, that we cannot direct our clergy, and that it is theclergy which directs us. . . There is no general within its walls whowould accept the reproach that could not compel the obedience ofhis soldiers. Each of us has command of a regiment, and the regimentmarches. "

III. The new Bishop. 

 Change in the habits and ways of the bishop. --His origin, age, capability, mode of living, labor, initiative, undertakings, and moral and social ascendancy. [5245]

In order to make troops march, a staff, even a croisier, is not enough;to compulsory subordination voluntary subordination must be added;therefore, legal authority in the chief should be accompanied with moralauthority; otherwise he will not be loyally supported and to the end. In 1789, this was not the case with the bishop; on two occasions, and attwo critical moments, the clergy of the inferior order formed a separateband, at first at the elections, by selecting for deputies curés and notprelates, and next in the national assembly, by abandoning the prelatesto unite with the Third Estate. The intimate hold of the chief onhis men was relaxed or broken. His ascendency over them was nolonger sufficiently great; they no longer had confidence in him. Hissubordinates had come to regard him as he was, a privileged individual, sprung from a another stock and furnished by a class apart, bishop byright of birth, without a prolonged apprenticeship, having rendered noservices, without tests of merit, almost an interloper in the body ofhis clergy, a Church parasite accustomed to spending the revenues of hisdiocese away from his diocese, idle and ostentatious, often ashameless gallant or obnoxious hunter, disposed to be a philosopherand free-thinker, and who lacked two qualifications for a leader ofChristian priests: first, ecclesiastical deportment, and next, and veryoften, Christian faith. [5246]

All these gaps in and discrepancies of episcopal character, all thesedifferences and distances (which existed before 1789), between theorigins, interests, habits, and manners of the lower and the upperclergy, all these inequalities and irregularities which alienatedinferiors from the superior, have disappeared; the modern régime hasleveled the wall of separation established by the ancient régime betweenthe bishop and his priests. At the present day he is, like them, aplebeian, of common extraction, and sometimes very low, one being theson of a village shoemaker, another the natural son of a poor workwoman, both being men of feeling and never blushing at their humble origin, openly tender and respectful to their mothers, --a certain bishop lodginghis mother, formerly a servant, in his episcopal palace and giving herthe first seat at his table among the most honored and noblest of hisguests. [5247] He is "one of fortune's officers, " that is to say, ameritorious and old officer. [5248] According the "Almanac" of 1889, thethree youngest are from forty-seven to forty-nine years of age; all theothers are fifty and over; among the latter, three fourths of them areover sixty. As a general rule, a priest cannot become a bishop short oftwenty or twenty-five years' service in lower or average grades; he musthave remained in each grade a longer or shorter period, in turn vicar, curé, vicar-general, canon, head of a seminary, sometimes coadjutor, and almost always have distinguished himself in some office, eitheras preacher or catechist, professor or administrator, canonist ortheologian. His full competence cannot be contested, and he enjoys aright to exact full obedience; he has himself rendered it up to hisconsecration; "he boasts of it, " and the example he proposes to hispriests is the one he has himself given. [5249] On the other hand, hismoderate way of living excites but little envy; it is about like that ofa general of division, or of a prefect, or of a high civil functionarywho, lacking personal fortune, has nothing but his salary to live on. Hedoes not display, as formerly, confessionals lined with satin, kitchenutensil of massive silver, hunting accoutrements, a hierarchical staffof major-domos, ushers, valets, and liveried lackeys, stables andcarriages, lay grand-seigniors, vassals of his suzerainty and figuringat his consecration, a princely ceremonial of parade and homage, apompous show of receptions and of hospitalities. There is nothing butwhat is necessary, the indispensable instruments of his office: anordinary carriage for his episcopal journeys and town visits, threeor four domestics for manual service, three or four secretaries forofficial writings, some old mansion or other, cheaply repaired andrefurnished without ostentation, its rooms and bureaus being those of anadministrator, business man, and responsible head of a numerous staff;in effect, he is responsible for a good many subordinates, he has agood deal to attend to; he works himself, looking after the whole andin detail, keeping classified files by means of a chronological andsystematic collection, [5250] like the general director of a vastcompany; if he enjoys greater honors, he is subject to greaterexigencies; assuredly, his predecessors under the ancient régime, delicate Epicureans, would not have wished for such a life; they wouldnot have considered the benefit worth the effort. 

Even when old, he draws on his energies; he officiates, he preaches, he presides at long ceremonies, he ordains seminarians, he confirmsthousands of children, [5251] he visits one after another the parishesin his diocese; often, at the end of his administration, he has visitedthem all and many times. Meanwhile, shut up in his episcopal cabinet, heis constantly inspecting these four or five hundred parishes; he readsor listens to reports, informs himself on the number of communicants, onwhat is required in worship, on the financial state of the fabrique, on the attitude of the inhabitants, on the good or bad dispositions ofmunicipal counselors and mayors, on the local cause of dissensionand conflict, on the conduct and character of the curé or vicar; eachresident ecclesiastic needs guidance or maintenance between intemperatezeal and inert lukewarmness, evenly balanced according as parishes andcircumstances vary, but always in a way to prevent false steps, to turnaside mistakes, to humor opinion, to stop scandals. For the entirelife of the clergyman, not only his public life but again his personal, domestic, private life, belongs to and concerns the Church:[5252] theremust be no evil reports, even without foundation, on his account;if these occur, the bishop summons him to headquarters, warns him, admonishes him, and, without unburdening himself by handing thematter over to a responsible tribunal, he alone passes judgment afterpersonally conducting the investigations, suffering the worries, andcarrying out the painful, painstaking labor always attendant on directabsolute power. Likewise, in relation to his upper and his lowerseminary: here are two indispensable nurseries of which he is the headgardener, attentive to filling annual vacancies and seeking propersubjects for these throughout his diocese, ever verifying andcultivating their vocations; he confers scholarships; he dictates rulesand regulations; appoints and dismisses, displaces and procures as hepleases, the director and professors; he takes them, if he chooses, outof his diocese or out of the body of regular clergy; he prescribes adoctrine to them, methods, ways of thinking and teaching, and he keepshis eye, beyond his present or future priests, on three or four hundredmonks and on fourteen hundred nuns. 

As to the monks, so long as they remain inside their dwellings, incompany together and at home, he has nothing to say to them; but, when they come to preach, confess, officiate or teach in public on hisground, they fall under his jurisdiction; in concert with their superiorand with the Pope, he has rights over them and he uses them. They arenow his auxiliaries assigned to or summoned by him, available troops anda reinforcement, so many chosen companies expressly ready, each withits own discipline, its particular uniform, its special weapon, andwho bring to him in following a campaign under his orders, distinctaptitudes and a livelier zeal. He needs them[5253] in order to makeup for the insufficiency of his local clergy in arousing the spiritof devotion in his parishes and in enforcing sound doctrine in hisseminaries. Now, between these two forces a common understanding isdifficult; the former, adjuncts and flying about, march in front; thelatter, holding the ground and stationary, look upon the new-comers asusurpers who lessen both their popularity and their fees; a bishop mustpossess great tact as well as energy to impose on both bodies ofthis clergy, if not an intimate union, at least mutual aid and acollaboration without conflict. --As to the nuns, [5254] he is theirordinary, the sole arbiter, overseer and ruler over all these cloisteredlives; he receives their vows, and renders them free of them; it is hewho, after due inquiry and examination, authorizes each entranceinto the community or a return to society, at first each admission ornovitiate, and next each profession of faith or assumption of the veil, every dismissal or departure of a nun, every claim that one makes, every grave act of severity or decision on the part of the superior. He approves of, or appoints, the confessor of the establishment; hemaintains seclusion in it, he draws tighter or relaxes the observances;he himself enters its doors by privilege of his office, and, with hisown eyes, he inspects its régime, spiritual and temporal, througha right of control which extends from the direction of souls to theadministration of property. 

To so many obligatory matters he adds others which are voluntary, notalone works of piety, those relating to worship, propaganda, diocesanmissions, catechizing adults, brotherhoods for perpetual adoration, meetings for the uninterrupted recital of the rosary, Peter's pence, seminary funds, Catholic journals and reviews-but, again, institutionsfor charity and education. [5255] In the way of charity, he founds orsupports twenty different kinds, sixty in one diocese alone, generaland special services, infant nurseries, clubs, asylums, lodging-houses, patronages, societies for helping and placing the poor, for the sick athome and in the hospitals, for suckling infants, for the deaf and dumb, for the blind, for old men, for orphans, for repentant prostitutes, forprisoners, for soldiers in garrison, for workmen, apprentices, youths, and quantities of others. In the way of education, there are yet more ofthem--works which the Catholic chiefs have most at heart; without these, it is impossible in modern society to preserve the faith in each newgeneration. Hence, at each turning-point of political history, we seethe bishops benefiting by the toleration or warding off the intoleranceof the teaching State, competing with it, erecting alongside of itspublic schools free schools of its own, directed or served by priestsor religious brotherhoods;--after the suppression of the universitymonopoly in 1850, more than one hundred colleges[5256] for secondaryeducation; after the favorable law of 1875, four or five provincialfaculties or universities for superior instruction after the hostilelaws of 1882, many thousands of parochial schools for primaryinstruction. 

Foundation and support, all this is expensive. The bishop requires agreat deal of money, especially since the State, become ill-disposed, cuts off clerical resources as much as possible, no longer maintainsscholarships in the seminaries, deprives suspicious desservans of theirsmall stipends, eats into the salaries of the prelates, throwsobstacles in the way of communal liberalities, taxes and over taxesthe congregations, so that, not merely through the diminution of itsallowances it relieves itself at the expense of the Church, but again, through the increase of its imposts, it burdens the Church for itsown advantage. The episcopacy obtains all necessary funds throughcollections in the churches and at domiciles, through the gifts andsubscriptions of the faithful; and, every year, it needs millions, apartfrom the budget appropriation, for its faculties and universitiesin which it installs largely paid professors, for the construction, location and arrangement of its countless buildings, for the expenses ofits minor schools, for the support of its ten thousand seminarists, forthe general out-lay on so many charitable institutions; and it is thebishop who, their principal promoter, must provide for this, all themore because he has often taken it upon himself in advance, and madehimself responsible for it by either a written or verbal promise. Heresponds to all these engagements; he has funds on hand at the maturityof each contract. In 1883, the bishop of Nancy, in need of one hundredthousand francs to build a school-house with a work-room attached to it, mentions this to a number of persons assembled in his drawing-room; oneof these puts his hand in his pocket and gives him ten thousand francs, and others subscribe on the spot to the amount of seventy-four thousandfrancs. [5257] Cardinal Mathieu, during his administration, archbishopof Besançon, thus collects and expends four millions. Lately, CardinalLavigerie, to whom the budget allows fifteen thousand francs perannum, wrote that he had spent eighteen hundred thousand francs and hadincurred no debt. [5258]--Through this initiative and this ascendancy thebishop becomes a central social rallying-point; there is no other inthe provinces, nothing but so many disjointed lives, juxtaposed and kepttogether in an artificial circle prescribed from above; so that agood many of these, and of most consideration, gravitate to and groupthemselves, especially since 1830, around this last permanent center andform a part of its body; he is the sole germinating, vivifying, intactcenter that still agglutinates scattered wills and suitably organizesthem. Naturally, class and party interests incorporate themselvesadditionally along with the Catholic interest which he represents, andhis ecclesiastical authority becomes a political influence; besideshis secular and regular clergy, over and beyond the two thousand fivehundred exemplary or directorial lives which he controls, we seebehind him an indefinite multitude of lay adhesions and devotedness. Consequently, every government must take him into their calculations, and all the more because his colleagues stand by him; the episcopacy, banded together, remains erect in face of the omnipotent State, underthe July monarchy as claimants of free instruction and under the secondempire in support of the temporal power of the Pope. --In this militantattitude, the figure of the bishop is fully unveiled; the titularchampion of an infallible Church, himself a believer and submissive; hisvoice is extraordinarily proud and defiant;[5259] in his own eyes, heis the unique depository of truth and morality; in the eyes of hisfollowers, he becomes a superhuman personage, a prophet of salvation orof destruction, the annunciator of divine judgments, the dispenser ofcelestial anger or of celestial pardon; he rises to the clouds in anapotheosis of glory; with women especially, this veneration grows intoenthusiasm and degenerates into idolatry. Towards the end of the secondempire an eminent French bishop, on a steamboat on Lake Leman, takinga roll of bread from his pocket, seated himself alongside of two ladiesand ate it, handing each of them a piece of it. One of them, bowingreverently, replied to him, "At your hands, my lord, this is almost theholy communion!"[5260]

IV. The subordinate clergy. 

 The subordinates. --The secular clergy. --Its derivation and how recruited. --How prepared and led. --The lower seminary. -- The higher seminary. --Monthly lectures and annual retreat. -- The Exercitia. --The Manreze du Prêtre. --The curé in his parish. --His rôle a difficult one. --His patience and correct conduct. 

A clergy submissive in mind and feeling, long prepared by its conditionand education for faith and obedience, acts under the sway of thissovereign and consecrated hand. [5261] Among the 40, 000 curés anddesservans "more than 35, 000 belong to the laboring class of workmen andpeasants, "[5262] not the first class of peasants, but the second class, the poorer families earning their daily bread and often with a good manychildren. Under the pressure of the ambient atmosphere and of the modernrégime, the others keep back their sons, retaining them for the worldand denying them to the Church; ambition, even low down on the scale, has developed itself and changed its object. No longer do they aspirefor their sons to become a curé but a school master, a railroademployee, or a commercial clerk. [5263] It was necessary to go descendfurther, a lower stratum has to be attained, in order to extract from itthe priests that are lacking. 

Undoubtedly, at this depth, the extraction was more expensive; thefamily cannot afford to pay for the child's ecclesiastic cal education;the State, moreover, after 1830, no longer gives anything to the lowerseminary, nor to the large one after 1885. [5264] The expenses of theseschools must be borne by the faithful in the shape of donations andlegacies; to this end, the bishop orders collections in the churches inLent and encourages his diocesans to found scholarships. The outlay forthe support and education, nearly gratis, of a future priest betweenthe ages of twelve and twenty-four is very great; in the lower seminaryalone it costs from forty to fifty thousand francs over and above thenet receipts;[5265] facing such an annual deficit, the bishop, who isresponsible for the undertaking, is greatly concerned and sometimesextremely anxious. To make amends, and as compensation, the extractionis surer; the long process by which a child is withdrawn and instructedfor the priesthood goes on and is finished with less uncertainty. Neither the light nor the murmur of the century finds its way to theselow depths; nobody ever reads the newspaper, even the penny paper;vocations can here shape themselves and become fixed like crystals, intact and rigid, and all of a piece; they are better protected than inthe upper layers, less exposed to mundane infiltrations; they run lessrisk of being disturbed or thwarted by curiosity, reason and skepticism, by modern ideas; the outside world and family surroundings do not, aselsewhere, interfere with their silent internal workings. [5266] When thechoir-boy comes home after the service, when the seminarian returnsto his parents in his vacations, he does not here en-counter so manydisintegrating influences, various kinds of information, free and easytalk, comparisons between careers, concern about advancement, habitsof comfort, maternal solicitude, the shrugs of the shoulder and thehalf-smile of the strong-minded neighbor. Stone upon stone and eachstone in its place, his faith builds up and becomes complete withoutany incoherency in its structure, with no incongruity in the materials, without any hidden imbalance. He has been taken in hand before histwelfth year, when very young; his curé, who has been instructed fromabove to secure suitable subjects, has singled him out in the catechismclass and again at the ceremony of confirmation;[5267] he is found tohave a pious tendency and a taste for sacred ceremonies, a suitabledemeanor, a mild disposition, complacency, and is inclined to study; heis a docile and well-behaved child; whether an acolyte at the altaror in the sacristy, he tries to fold the chasuble properly; all hisgenuflexions are correct, they do not worry him, he has no trouble instanding still, he is not excited and diverted, like the others, by theeruptions of animal spirits and rustic coarseness. If his rude brain isopen to cultivation, if grammar and Latin can take root in it, the curéor the vicar at once take charge of him; he studies under them, gratisor nearly so, until he has completed the sixth or the seventh grade, andthen he enters the lower seminary. [5268]

This is a school apart, a boarding-house of picked youths, an enclosedhot-house intended for the preservation and development of specialvocations. None of these schools existed previous to 1789; at thepresent day(in 1885), they number 86 in France, and all the pupilsare to become future priests. No foreign plants, no future laymen, areadmitted into this preparatory nursery;[5269] for experience hasshown that if the lower seminary is mixed it no longer attains itsecclesiastical purpose; "it habitually turns over to the upperseminary only the bottom of the classes; those at the top seek fortuneelsewhere". But if, on the contrary, "the lower seminaries are keptpure, the entire rhetoric[5270] class continues on into the upperseminary; not only do they obtain the bottom of the classes but thetop. "--The culture, in this second nursery, which is prolonged duringfive years, becomes extreme, wholly special; it was less so under theancient régime, even at Saint-Sulpice; there were cracks in the glassletting in currents of air; the archbishop's nephews and the youngersons of nobles predestined for Church dignities had introduced intoit the laxity and liberties which were then the privileges of theepiscopacy. During the vacations, [5271] fairy scenes and pastorals wereperformed there with costumes and dances, "The Enthronement of the GreatMogul, " and the "Shepherds in Chains"; the seminarians took great careof their hair; a first-class hair-dresser came and waited on them; thedoors were not regularly shut: the youthful Talleyrand knew how to getout into the city and begin or continue his gallantries. [5272] Fromand after the Concordat, stricter discipline in the new seminaries hadbecome monastic; these are practical schools, not for knowledge, but fortraining, the object being much less to make learned men than believingpriests; education takes precedence of instruction and intellectualexercises are made subordinate to spiritual exercises[5273]--mass everyday and five visits to the Saint-Sacrament, with one minute to half-hourprayer stations; rosaries of sixty-three paters and aves, litanies, the angelus, loud and whispered prayers, special self-examinations, meditation on the knees, edifying readings in common, silence untilone o'clock in the afternoon, silence at meals and the listening to anedifying discourse, frequent communions, weekly confessions, generalconfession at New-year's, one day of retreat at the end of every monthafter the vacations and before the collation of each of the four orders, eight days of retirement during which a suspension of all study, morningand evening sermons, spiritual readings, meditations, orisons and otherservices from hour to hour;[5274] in short, the daily and systematicapplication of a wise and steadily perfected method, the mostserviceable for fortifying faith, exalting the imagination, givingdirection and impulse to the will, analogous to that of a militaryschool, Saint-Cyr or Saumur, to such an extent that its corporeal andmental imprint is indelible, and that by the way in which he thinks, talks, smiles, bows and stands in your presence we at once recognize aformer pupil of Saint-Sulpice as we do a former pupil of Saumur and ofSaint-Cyr. Thus graduated, an ordained and consecrated priest, firsta vicar and then a curé desservant, the discipline which has bound andfashioned him still keeps him erect and presenting arms. Besides hisduties in church and his ministrations in the homes of his parishioners, besides masses, vespers, sermons, catechisings, confessions, communions, baptisms, marriages, extreme unctions, funerals, visiting the sick andsuffering, he has his personal and private exercises: at first, hisbreviary, the reading of which demands each day an hour and a half, nopractical duty being so necessary. Lamennais obtained a dispensationfrom it, and hence his lapses and fall. [5275] Let no one object thatsuch a recitation soon becomes mechanical[5276]; the prayers, phrasesand words which it buries deep in the mind, even wandering, necessarilybecome fixed inhabitants in it, and hence occult and stirring powersbanded together which encompass the intellect and lay siege to the will, which, in the subterranean regions of the soul, gradually extend orfortify their silent occupation of the place, which insensibly operateon the man without his being aware of it, and which, at criticalmoments, unexpectedly rise up to steady his footsteps or to save himfrom temptation. Add to this antique custom two modern institutionswhich contribute to the same end. The first one is the monthlyconference, which brings together the desservans curés at the residenceof the oldest curé in the canton; each has prepared a study on sometheme furnished by the bishopric, some question of dogma, morality orreligious history, which he reads aloud and discusses with his brethrenunder the presidency and direction of the oldest curé, who gives hisfinal decision; this keeps theoretical knowledge and ecclesiasticalerudition fresh in the minds of both reader and hearers. The otherinstitution, almost universal nowadays, is the annual retreat which thepriests in the diocese pass in the large seminary of the principal town. The plan of it was traced by Saint Ignatius; his Exercitia is stillto-day the manual in use, the text of which is literally, [5277] or verynearly, followed. [5278] The object is to reconstitute the supernaturalworld in the soul, for, in general, it evaporates, becomes effaced, andceases to be palpable under the pressure of the natural world. Even thefaithful pay very little attention to it, while their vague conceptionof it ends in becoming a mere verbal belief; it is essential to givethem back the positive sensation, the contact and feeling. To thisend, a man retires to a suitable place, where what he does actively orpassively is hourly determined for him in advance--attendance at chapelor at preaching, telling his beads, litanies, orisons aloud, orisons inhis own breast, repeated self-examination, confession and the rest--inshort, an uninterrupted series of diversified and convergent ceremonieswhich, by calculated degrees, drive out terrestrial preoccupationsand overcome him with spiritual impressions; immediately around him, impressions of the same kind followed by the contagion of example, mutual fervor, common expectation, involuntary emulation, and thatoverstrained eagerness which creates its object; with all the morecertainty that the individual himself works on himself, in silence, fivehours a day, according to the prescriptions of a profound psychology, inorder that his bare conception may take upon itself body and substance. What-ever may be the subject of his meditations, he repeats it twice thesame day, and each time he begins by "creating the scene, " the Nativityor the Passion, the Day of Judgment or Hell; he converts the remote andundefined story, the dry, abstract dogma, into a detailed and figuredrepresentation; he dwells on it, he evokes in turn the images furnishedby the five senses, visual, audible, tactile, olfactory, and evengustatory; he groups them together, and in the evening he animates themafresh in order that he may find them more intense when he awakes thenext morning. He thus obtains the complete, precise, almost physicalspectacle of his aspirations; he reaches the alibi, that mentaltransposition, that reversal of the points of view in which the orderof certainties becomes inverted, in which substantial objects seem tobe vain phantoms and the mystic world a world of substantialreality. [5279]--According to persons and circumstances, the theme formeditation differs, and the retreat is prolonged for a shorter or longerperiod. For laymen, it generally lasts for three days only; for theBrethren of the Christian Schools it is eight days annually, and when, at the age of twenty-eight, they take their vows in perpetuity, it laststhirty days: for the secular priests, it lasts a little less than aweek, while the theme on which their meditations are concentrated is thesupernatural character of the priest. The priest who is confessor andministrant of the Eucharist, the priest who is the savior and restorer, the priest who is pastor, preacher and administrator--such are thesubjects on which their imagination, assisted and directed, must workin order to compose the cordial which has to support them for the entireyear. None is more potent; that which the Puritans drank at an Americancamp-meeting or at a Scotch revival was stronger but of less enduringeffect. [5280]

Two different cordials, one reinforcing the other, are mixed together inthis drink, both being of high flavor and so rank as to burn an ordinarymouth. On the one hand, with the freedom of language and the boldnessof deduction characteristic of the method, the sentiment of the priest'sdignity is exalted. What is the priest?"He is, between God who is inheaven and the man who tries to find him on earth, a being, God andman, who brings these nearer by his symbolizing both. [5281]. . I do notflatter you with pious hyperboles in calling you gods; this is nota rhetorical falsehood. . . . You are creators similar to Mary in hercooperation in the Incarnation. . . . You are creators like God in time. . . . You are creators like God in eternity. Our creation on our part, ourdaily creation, is nothing less than the Word made flesh itself. . . . Godmay create other worlds, he cannot so order it that any act under thesun can be greater than your sacrifice; for, at this moment, he reposesin your hands all that he has and all that he is. . . . I am not a littlelower than the cherubim and seraphim in the government of the world, I am far above them; they are only the Servants of God, we are hiscoadjutors. . . . The angels, who behold the vast riches passing throughour hands daily, are amazed at our prerogative. . . . I fulfill threesublime functions in relation to the god of our altars--I cause himto descend, I administer his body, I am his custodian. . . . Jesus dwellsunder your lock and key; his hours of reception begin and end throughyou, he does not move without your permission, he gives no benedictionwithout your assistance, he bestows nothing except at your hands, andhis dependence is so dear to him that, for eighteen hundred years, hehas not left the Church for one moment to lose himself on the glory ofhis Father. "--On the other hand, they are made to drink in fulldraughts the sentiment of subordination, which they imbibe to their verymarrow. [5282] "Ecclesiastical obedience is. . . A love of dependence, aviolation of judgment. . . . Would you know what it is as to the extentof sacrifice? A voluntary death, the sepulcher of the will, says SaintClimaque. . . . There is a sort of real presence infused into thosewho command us. . . . " Let us be careful not to fall "into the craftyopposition of liberal Catholicism. . . . Liberalism, in its consequences, is social atheism. . . . Unity, in Roman faith, is not sufficient; let uslabor together in the unity of the Roman spirit; for that, let usalways judge Rome with the optimism of affection. . . . Each new dogmaticdefinition produces its own advantages: that of the ImmaculateConception has given us Lourdes and its truly oecumenical wonders. "

Nothing of all this is too much, and, in the face of the exigenciesof modern times, it scarcely suffices. Now that society has becomeincredulous, indifferent or, at the least, secular, the priest mustpossess the two intense and master ideas which support a soldier abroadamong insurgents or barbarians, one being the conviction that he is ofa species and essence apart, infinitely superior to the common herd;and the other is the thought that he belongs to his flag, to his chiefs, especially to the commanding general, and that he has given himselfup entirely to prompt obedience, to obeying every order issued withoutquestion or doubt. [5283] Thus, in that parish where the permanent curéwas once installed, especially in the rural districts, [5284] thelegal and popular governor of all souls, his successor, the removabledesservant, is merely a resident bailiff, a sentry in his box, at theopening of a road which the public at large no longer travel. From timeto time he hails you! But scarcely any one listens to him. Nine out often men pass at a distance, along a newer, more convenient and broaderroad. They either nod to him afar off or give him the go-by. Some areeven ill-disposed, watching him or denouncing him to the ecclesiastic orlay authorities on which he depends. He is expected to make his ordersrespected and yet not hated, to be zealous and yet not importunate, toact and yet not efface himself: he succeeds pretty often, thanks tothe preparation just described, and, in his rural sentry-box, patient, resigned, obeying his orders, he mounts guard lonely and in solitude, aguard which, for the past fifteen years, (from 1870-1885) is disturbedand anxious and becoming singularly difficult. 

*****

[Footnote 5201: Artaud, "Histoire de Pie VII. ", I. , 167. ]

[Footnote 5202: Comte d'Haussonville, "L'Église romaine et le premierEmpire, IV. , 378, 415. (Instructions for the ecclesiastical commission of1811. ) "The Pope exercised the authority of universal bishop at the timeof the re-establishment of the cult in France. . . . The Pope, under thewarrant of an extraordinary and unique case in the Church, acted, afterthe Concordat, as if he had absolute power over the bishops. " (Speech byBigot de Préameneu, Minister of Worship, at the national council, June20, 1811. ) This act was almost universal in the history of the church, and the court of Rome started from this sort of extraordinary act, passed by it at the request of the sovereign, in order to enforce itsideas of arbitrary rule over the bishops. "]

[Footnote 5203: So stated by Napoleon. ]

[Footnote 5204: Bossuet, "OEuvres complètes, XXXII. ", 415. (Defensiodeclarationis cleri gallicani, lib. VIII, caput 14). --"Episcopos, licetpapæ divino jure subditos, ejusdem esse ordinis, ejusdem caracteris, sive, ut loquitur Hieronymus, ejusdem meriti, ejusdem, sacerdotii, collegasque et coepiscopos appelari constat, scitumque illud Bernardi adEugenium papam: Non es dominus episcoporum, sed unus ex illis. "]

[Footnote 5205: Comte Boulay (de la Meurthe), "les Négociations duConcordat, " p. 35. --There were 50 vacancies in 135 dioceses, owing tothe death of their incumbents. ]

[Footnote 5206: Bercastel and Henrion, XIII. , 43. (Observations of AbbéEmery on the Concordat. ) "None of the past Popes, not even those whohave extended their authority the farthest, have been able to carry suchheavy, authoritative blows out, as those struck at this time by PiusVII. "]

[Footnote 5207: Prælectiones juris canonici habitæ in seminario SanctiSulpitii, 1867 (Par l'abbé Icard), I. , 138. "Sancti canones passimmemorant distinctionem duplicis potestatis quâ utitur sanctuspontifex: unam appelant ordinariam, aliam absolutam, vel plenitudinempotestatis. . . . Pontifex potestate ordinaria utitur, quando jurispositivi dispositionem retinet. . . . Potestatem extraordinariam exserit, quando jus humanum non servat, ut si jus ipsum auferat, si 1egibusconciliorum deroget, privilegia acquisita immutet. . . . Plenitudopotestatis nullis publici juris regulis est limitata. "--Ibid. , I, 333. ]

[Footnote 5208: Principal Concordats: with Bavaria, 1817; with Prussia, 1821; with Wurtemburg, Baden, Nassau, the two Hesses, 1821; withHanover, 1824; with the Netherlands, 1827; with Russia, 1847; withAustria, 1855; with Spain, 1851; with the two Sicilies, 1818; withTuscany, 1851; with Portugal (for the patronat of the Indies and ofChina), 1857; with Costa Rica, 1852; Guatemala, 1853; Haiti, 1860;Honduras 1861; Ecuador, Venezuela, Nicaragua and San Salvador, 1862. ]

[Footnote 5209: Bercastel et Henrion, XIII, 524. ]

[Footnote 5210: "Adstantibus non judicantibus. "--One of the prelatesassembled at the Vatican, Nov. 20, 1854, observed that if the Popedecided on the definition of the Immaculate Conception. . . This decisionwould furnish a practical demonstration. . . Of the infallibility withwhich Jesus Christ had invested his vicar on earth. " (Émile Ollivier, "L'Église et l'État au concile du Vatican, I. , 313. )]

[Footnote 5211: Bercastel et Henrion, XIII. , 105. (Circular of PiusVII. , February 25, 1808. ) "It is said that all cults should be free andpublicly exercised; but we have thrown this article out as opposed tothe canons and to the councils, to the catholic religion. "--Ibid. , (PiusVII. To the Italian bishops on the French system, May 22, 1808. ) "Thissystem of indifferentism, which supposes no religion, is that whichis most injurious and most opposed to the Catholic apostolic and Romanreligion, which, because it is divine, is necessarily sole and uniqueand, on that very account, cannot ally itself with any other. "--Cf. The"Syllabus" and the encyclical letter "Quanta Cura"of December 8, 1864. ]

[Footnote 5212: Sauzay, "Histoire de la persecution révolutionnaire dansle departement du Doubs, " X. , 720-773. (List in detail of the entirestaff of the diocese of Besançon, in 1801 and in 1822, under ArchbishopLecoz, a former assermenté. --During the Empire, and especially after1806, this mixed clergy keeps refining itself. A large number, moreover, of assermentés do not return to the Church. They are not disposed toretract, and many of them enter into the new university. For example("Vie du Cardinal Bonnechose, " by M. Besson, I. , 24), the principalteachers in the Roman college in 1815-1816 were a former Capuchin, aformer Oratorian and three assermentés priests. One of these, M. NicolasBignon, docteur ès lettres, professor of grammar in the year IV at theEcole Centrale, then professor of rhetoric at the Lycée and member ofthe Roman Academy, "lived as a philosopher, not as a Christian and stillless as a priest. " Naturally, he is dismissed in 1816. After that date, the purging goes on increasing against all ecclesiastics suspected ofhaving compromised with the Revolution, either liberals or Jansenists. Cf. The "Mémoires de l'abbé Babou, évêque nommé de Séez, " on thedifficulties encountered by a too Gallican bishop and on the bitternesstowards him of the local aristocracy of his diocese. ]

[Footnote 5213: Cf. The "Mémoires de l'abbé Babou, évêque nommé deSéez, " on the difficulties encountered by a too Gallican bishop and onthe bitterness towards him of the local aristocracy of his diocese. ]

[Footnote 5214: "Mémorial, " July 31, 1816. ]

[Footnote 5215: Both systems, set forth with rare impartiality andclearness, may be found in "L'Église et l'Etat au concile du Vatican, "by Émile Ollivier, I. , chs. II. And III. ]

[Footnote 5216: Bercastel et Henrion, XIII. , p. 14. (Letter of M. D'Avian, archbishop of Bordeaux, October 28, 1815. ) "A dozen consecutivePopes do not cease, for more than one hundred and thirty years, improving that famous Declaration of 1682. "]

[Footnote 5217: Ernile Olliver, ibid. , I. 315-319. (Declarations ofthe French provincial councils and of foreign national and provincialcouncils before 1870. )--Cf. M. De Montalembert, "Des IntéretsCatholiques, " 1852, ch. II. And VI. "The ultramontane doctrine is theonly true one. The great Count de Maistre's ideas in his treatise on thePope have become commonplace for all Catholic youth. "--Letter of Mgr. Guibert, February 22, 1853. "Gallicanism no longer exists. "--"Diary inFrance, " by Chris. Wordsworth, D. D. , 1845. "There are not two bishops inFrance who are not ultramontane, that is to say devoted to the interestsof the Roman See. "]

[Footnote 5218: "Constitutio dogmatica prima de Ecclesia Christi, "July 18, 1870. "Ejusmodi romani pontificis definitiones ex sese, non exconsensu Ecclesiæ irreformabiles esse. " (ch. IV. )]

[Footnote 5219: Ibid. , ch. III. "Si quis dixerit romanum pontificemhabere tantummodo officium inspectionis vel directionis, non autemplenam et supremam potestatem juridictionis in universam Ecclesiam, non solum in rebus quæ ad fidem et mores, sed etiam in iis quæ addisciplinam et regimen Ecclesiæ per totum orbem diffusæ pertinent; autetiam habere tantum potiores partes, non vero totam plenitudinem hujussupremæ potestatis, aut hanc ejus potestatem non esse ordinariam etimmediatam. . . "]

[Footnote 5220: Ibid. , ch. III. "Aberrant a recto veritatis tramitequi affirmant licere ab judiciis Romanorum pontificum ad oecumenicumconcilium, tanquam ad auctoritatem romano pontifice superiorem, appellare. "]

[Footnote 5221: "Almanach national de 1889. " (Among these four, one onlybelongs to a historic family, Mgr. De Deux-Brézé of Moulins. )]

[Footnote 5222: See "The Ancient Régime, " pp. 65, 120, 150, 292. (Ed. Laffont I. Pp. 53-43, 92-93, 218, 219. )]

[Footnote 5223: Cf. The history of the parliaments of Grenoble andRennes on the approach of the Revolution. Remark the fidelity of alltheir judicial subordinates in 1788 and 1789, and the provincial powerof the league thus formed. ]

[Footnote 5224: Article 12. ]

[Footnote 5225: "The Revolution, " Vol. I. --Abbé Sicard, "LesDispensateurs des bénéfices ecclésiastiques avant 1789. "("Correspondant" of Sep. 10, 1889, pp. 887, 892, 893. ) Grosley, "Mémoires pour servir l'histoire de Troyes, " II, pp. 35, 45. ]

[Footnote 5226: Abée Elie Méric, "Le Clergé sous l'ancien régime, "I. , p. 26. (Ten universities conferred letters of appointment ontheir graduates. )--Abbé Sicard, "Les Dispensateurs, " etc. , p 876. --352parliamentarians of Paris had an indult, that is to say, the rightof obliging collators and church patrons to bestow the first vacantbenefice either on himself or on one of his children, relations orfriends. Turgot gave his indult to his friend Abbé Morellet, whoconsequently obtained (in June 1788) the priory of Thimer, with 16, 000livres revenue and a handsome house. --Ibid. , p. 887. "The bias of thePope, ecclesiastical or lay patrons, licensed parties, indultaires, graduates, the so frequent use of resignations, permutations, pensions, left to the bishop, who is now undisputed master of his diocesanappointments, but very few situations to bestow. "--Grosley, "Mémoires, etc. , " II. , p. 35. "The tithes followed collations. Nearly all ourecclesiastical collators are at the same time large tithe-owners. "]

[Footnote 5227: An inferior class of priests, generally assigned to poorparishes. ]

[Footnote 5228: Abbé Elie Méric, ibid. , p. 448. ]

[Footnote 5229: Abbé Elie Méric, ibid. , pp 392~403. (Details insupport. )]

[Footnote 5230: Abbé Richandeau, "De l'ancienne et de la nouvellediscipline de l'Église en France, " p. 281. --Cf. Abbé Elie Méric, ibid. , ch. II. (On the justice and judges of the church. )]

[Footnote 5231: Mercur, "Tableau de Paris, " IV. , chap. 345. "The flock nolonger recognize the brow of their pastor and regard him as nothing butan opulent man, enjoying himself in the capital and giving himself verylittle trouble about it. "]

[Footnote 5232: "Le Monde" of Novem. 9, 1890. (Details, according to theMontpellier newspapers, of the ceremony which had just taken place inthe cathedral of that town for the remission of the pallium to Mgr. Roverié de Cabrières. ]

[Footnote 5233: "Encyclopedie théologique, " by Abbé Migne, ix. , p. 465. (M. Emery, "Des Nouveaux chapitres cathédraux, " p. 238. ) "The customin France at present, of common law, is that the bishops govern theirdioceses without the participation of any chapter. They simply callto their council those they deem proper, and choose from these theirchapter and cathedral councillors. "]

[Footnote 5234: Ibid. , id. : "Notwithstanding these fine titles, themembers of the chapter take no part in the government during the life ofthe bishop; all depends on this prelate, who can do everything himself, or, if he needs assistants, he may take them outside of the chapter. "--Ibid. , p. 445. Since 1802, in France, "the titular canons areappointed by the bishop and afterwards by the government, which givesthem a salary. It is only the shadow of the canonical organization, ofwhich, however, they possess all the canonical rights. "]

[Footnote 5235: Abbé André, "Exposition de quelques principesfondamentaux de droit Canonique, " p. 187 (citing on this subject oneof the documents of Mgr. Sibour, then bishop of Digne). --"Since theConcordat of 1801, the absence of all fixed procedure in the trial ofpriests has left nothing for the accused to depend on but the conscienceand intelligence of the bishop. The bishop, accordingly, has been, inlaw, as in fact, the sole pastor and judge of his clergy, and, exceptin rare cases, no external limit has been put to the exercise of hisspiritual authority. "]

[Footnote 5236: Émile Ollivier, "L'Église et l'État au concile duVatican, " p 517. --Abbé André, ibid. , PP. 17, 19, 30, 280. (Variousinstances, particularly the appeal of a rural curé, Feb. 8, 1866. ) "Themetropolitan (bishop) first remarked that he could not bring himself tocondemn his suffragan. " Next (Feb. 20, 1866), judgment confirmed bythe metropolitan court, declaring "that no reason exists for declaringexaggerated and open to reform the penalty of depriving the rector ofthe parish of X--of his title, a title purely conferred by and revocableat the will of the bishop. "]

[Footnote 5237: Émile Ollivier, ibid. , II. , 517, 516. --Abbé André, ibid. , p. 241. "During the first half of the nineteenth century no appeal couldbe had from the Church of France to Rome. "]

[Footnote 5238: Émile Ollivier, ibid. , I. P. 286. --Abbé André, ibid. , p. 242: "From 1803 to 1854 thirty-eight appeals under writ of error (werepresented) to the Council of State by priests accused. . . . Not one of thethirty-eight appeals was admitted. "]

[Footnote 5239: Prælectiones juris canonici habitæ in seminario SanctiSulpicii, III. , p. 146. ]

[Footnote 5240: Émile Ollivier, ibid. , I. , 136. ]

[Footnote 5241: Id. , ibid. , I. , p. 285. (According to Abbé Denys, "Études sur l'administration de l'Église, " p. 211. )--Cf. Abbé André, ibid. , and "L'Etat actuel du clergé en France par les frères Allignol"(1839). --This last work, written by two assistant-curés, well shows, article by article, the effects of the Concordat and the enormousdistance which separates the clergy of to-day from the old clergy. The modifications and additions which comport with this exposition areindicated by Abbé Richandeau, director of the Blois Seminary, in hisbook, "De l'ancienne et de la nouvelle discipline de l'Eglise en France"(1842). Besides this, the above exposition, as well as what follows, isderived from, in addition to printed documents, personal observations, much oral information, and numerous manuscript letters. ]

[Footnote 5242: "Manreze du prêtre, " by the R. P. Caussette, vicar-general of Toulouse, 1879. , V. II. , p. 523. (As stated by theAbbé Dubois, an experienced missionary. He adds that these priests, "transferred to difficult posts, are always on good terms with theirmayors, . . . Triumph over obstacles, and maintain peace. ")--Ibid. , I. , p. 312. "I do not know whether the well-informed consciences of ourlords the bishops have made any mistakes, but what pardons have they notgranted! what scandals have they not suppressed! what reputations havethey not preserved! what a misfortune if you have to do with a courtinstead of with a father! For the court acquits and does not pardon. . . . And your bishop may not only employ the mercy of forgiveness, but, again, that of secrecy. How reap the advantages of this paternal systemby calumniating it!"]

[Footnote 5243: Vie de Mgr. Dupanloup, " by Abbé Lagrange, II. , p. 43:"Mgr. Dupanloup believed that pastoral removal was very favorable, notto say necessary, to the good administration of a diocese, to the propermanagement of parishes, even to the honor of priests and the Church, considering the difficulties of the times we live in. Irremovabilitywas instituted for fortunate times and countries in which the peoplefulfilled all their duties and in which the sacerdotal ministry couldnot be otherwise than a simple ministry of conservation; at the presentday it is a ministry of conquest and of apostleship. The bishop, accordingly, must dispose of his priests as he thinks them fit for thiswork, according to their zeal and to their possible success in a countrywhich has to be converted. " Against the official character and publicityof its judgments "it is important that it should not make out of amisfortune which is reparable a scandal that nothing can repair. "]

[Footnote 5244: "Moniteur, " session of March 11, 1865. ]

[Footnote 5245: In the following Taine describes the centralizationand improvement of the Church administration which probably made manysocialist readers believe that the same kind of improvements easilycould be introduced into private enterprise at the same time making themmore determined to exclude children from the old families from all kindsof leadership in the coming socialist state. ]

[Footnote 5246: "The Ancient Régime, " pp. 65, 120, 150, 292. "Memoiresinédits de Madame de. . . . . " (I am not allowed to give the author's name). The type in high relief of one of these prelates a few years before theRevolution may here be found. He was bishop of Narbonne, with an incomeof 800, 000 livres derived from the possessions of the clergy. He passeda fortnight every other year at Narbonne, and then for six weeks hepresided with ability and propriety over the provincial parliament atMontpellier. But during the other twenty-two months he gave no thoughtto any parliamentary business or to his diocese, and lived at HauteFontaine with his niece, Madame de Rothe, of whom he was the lover. Madame de Dillon, his grand-niece, and the Prince de Guémenée, thelover of Madame de Dillon, lived in the same château. The proprieties ofdeportment were great enough, but language there was more than free, somuch so that the Marquise d'Osmond, on a visit, "was embarrassed evento shedding tears. . . . On Sunday, out of respect to the character ofthe master of the house, they went to Mass; but nobody carried aprayer-book; it was always some gay and often scandalous book, whichwas left lying about in the tribune of the château, open to those whocleaned the room, for their edification as they pleased. "]

[Footnote 5247: "Vie de Mgr. Dupanloup, " by Abbé Lagrange. --"Histoire duCardinal Pie, évêque de Poitiers, " by Mgr. Bannard. ]

[Footnote 5248: One could imagine the impression this text would havemade on Lenin and his plans to create an elite communist party once heshould take the power he dreamt of. (SR. )]

[Footnote 5249: "Moniteur, " session of March 14, 1865, speech ofCardinal de Bonnechose: "I exact full obedience, because I myself, likethose among you who belong to the army or navy, have always taken pridein thus rendering it to my chiefs, to my superiors. "]

[Footnote 5250: "Histoire du cardinal Pie, " by M. Bannard, II. , p. 690. M. Pie left six large volumes in which, for thirty years, he recorded hisepiscopal acts, uninterruptedly, until his last illness. ]

[Footnote 5251: Ibid. , II. , p. 135: "In the year 1860 he had confirmed11, 586 belonging to his diocese; in 1861 he confirmed 11, 845. "--"Vie deMgr. Dupanloup, " by Abbé La Grange, I II. , p. 19. (Letter to his clergy, 1863. ) He enumerates what he had done in his diocese: "The parochialretraites which have amounted to nearly one hundred; the perpetualadoration of the Holy Sacrament established in all the parishes;confirmation, not alone in the cantonal town but in the smallestvillages and always preceded by the mission; the canonical visit madeannually in each parish, partly by the archdeacon, partly by the dean, and partly by the bishop;. . . The vicarships doubled; life in commonestablished among the parochial clergy; sisters of charity for schoolsand the sick multiplied in the diocese and spread on all sides;augmentation of everything concerning ecclesiastical studies, the numberof small and large seminaries being largely increased; examinations ofyoung priests; ecclesiastical lectures; grades organized and raised;churches and rectories everywhere rebuilt or 'repaired; a great diocesanwork in helping poor parishes and, to sustain it, the diocesan lotteryand fair of the ladies of Orleans; finally, retraites and communions formen established, and also in other important towns and parishes of thediocese. " (P. 46. ) (Letter of January 26, 1846, prescribing in eachparish the exact holding of the status animarum, which status is hiscriterion for placing a curé. ) "The État de Pâques in his parish mustalways be known while he is in it, before withdrawing him and placinghim elsewhere. "]

[Footnote 5252: The drafters of the charter of the United Nations StaffRules had the same idea in mind when writing Regulation 1. 2: "Staffmembers are subject to the authority of the Secretary-General and toassignment by him to any of the activities or offices of the UnitedNations. They are responsible to him in the exercise of their functions. The whole time of staff members shall be at the disposal of theSecretary-General. The Secretary-General shall establish a normalworking week. " The disciplinary means of which the bishops disposed are, however, lacking in the United Nations secretariat. (SR. )]

[Footnote 5253: "Moniteur, " session of March 14 1865. (Speech ofCardinal de Bonnechose. ) "What would we do without our monks, Jesuits, Dominicans, Carmelites, etc. , to preach at Advent and during Lent, and act as missionaries in the country? The (parochial) clergy is notnumerous enough to do this daily work. "]

[Footnote 5254: Prælectiones juris canonici, II. , 305 and followingpages. ]

[Footnote 5255: "La Charité à Nancy, " by Abbé Girard, 1890, I. Vol. --"LaCharité à Angers, " by Léon Cosnier, 1890, 2 vols. --"Manuel desoeuvres et institutions charitable à Paris, " by Lacour, I vol. --"LesCongrégations religieuses en France, " by Émile Keller, 1880, 1 vol, ]

[Footnote 5256: "Vie de Mgr. Dupanloup, " I. , 506 (1853). "More than onehundred free ecclesiastical establishments for secondary education havebeen founded since the law of 1850. "--"Statistique de l'enseignementsecondaire. " In 1865, there were 276 free ecclesiastical schools forsecondary instruction with 34, 897 pupils, of which 23. 549 were boardersand 11, 348 day-scholars. In 1876, there were 390 with 46, 816 pupils, ofwhich 33, 092 were boarders and 13, 724 day-scholars. ]

[Footnote 5257: "La Charité à Nancy, " by Abbé Girard, p. 87. --"Vie duCardinal Mathieu, " by Mgr. Besson, 2 vols. ]

[Footnote 5258: December, 1890. ]

[Footnote 5259: Cf. , in the above-mentioned biographies, the public andpolitical discourses of the leading prelates, especially those of M. Mathieu (of Besançon), M. Dupanloup (of Orleans), Mgr. De Bonnechose (ofRouen), and particularly Mgr. Pie (of Poitiers). ]

[Footnote 5260: A fact told me by a lady, an eye-witness. In theseventeenth century it is probable that Fénelon or Bossuet would haveregarded such a response as extravagant and even sacrilegious. ]

[Footnote 5261: Imagine the impression this might have had on ambitiousmen dreaming of establishing their own faithful parties. (SR. )]

[Footnote 5262: Abbé Elie Méric, in the "Correspondant" of January 10, 1890, p. 18. ]

[Footnote 5263: "De l'État actuel du clergé en France" (1839), p. 248, bythe brothers Allignol. Careers of every kind are too crowded; "only theecclesiastical is in want of subjects; willing youths are the onlyones wanted and none are found. " This is due, say these authors, tothe profession of assistant-priest being too gloomy--eight years ofpreparatory study five years in the seminary, 800 francs of pay with therisk of losing it any day, poor extras, a life-servitude, no retiringpension, etc. --"Le Grand Péril de L'Église en France, " by Abbé Bougaud(4th ed. , 1879), pp 2-23. --"Lettre Circulaire" (No. 53) of Mgr. Thiebaut, archbishop of Rouen, 1890, p. 618. ]

[Footnote 5264: There is a gradual suppression of the subvention in 1877and 1853 and a final one in 1885. ]

[Footnote 5265: Abbé Bougaud, Ibid. , p. 118, etc. --The lower seminarycontains about 200 or 250 pupils. Scarcely one of these pays full board. They pay on the average from 100 to 200 frs. Per head, while theirmaintenance costs 400 francs. --The instructors who are priests get 600francs a year. Those who are not priests get 300 francs, which adds12, 000 francs to the expenses and brings the total deficit up to 42, 000or 52, 000 francs. ]

[Footnote 5266: Somewhat like television where he who controls thismedia controls the minds of the people. (SR. )]

[Footnote 5267: Circular letter (No. 53) of M. Léon, archbishop of Rouen(1890), p. 618 and following pages. ]

[Footnote 5268: Had Hitler and Lenin read this, which is likely, thenthey would have fashioned their youth party programmes accordingly!! TheCatholic faith in France today (in 1999) is nearly extinguished withonly 14 seminaries and only a few hundred young men yearly enteringthese. (SR. )]

[Footnote 5269: Abbé Bougaud, ibid. , p. 135. (Opinion of the archbishopof Aix, Ibid. , p. 38. ) "I know a lower seminary in which a class enquatrième (8th grade US. ) of 44 pupils furnished only 4 priests, 40having dropped out on the way. . . . I have been informed that a largecollege in Paris, conducted by priests and containing 400 pupils, turnedout in ten years but one of an ecclesiastical calling. "--"Moniteur, "March, 14, 1865. (Speech in the Senate by Cardinal Bonnechose. ) "Withus, discipline begins at an early age, first in the lower seminary andthen in the upper seminary. . . . Other nations envy us our seminaries. They have not succeeded in establishing any like them. They cannotkeep pupils so long; their pupils enter their seminaries only as dayscholars. "]

[Footnote 5270: Old-fashioned name for the 11th grade in a French highschool. (SR. )]

[Footnote 5271: "Histoire de M. Emery, " by Abbé Elie Méric, I. , 15, 17. "From 1786 onwards, plays written by the 'les philosophes, ' by the'Robertuis' and the Laon community; they were excluded from the greatseminary where they ought never to have been admitted. " This reform waseffected by the new director, M. Emery, and met with such oppositionthat it almost cost him his life. ]

[Footnote 5272: M. De Talleyrand, "Mémoires, " vol. I. (Concerning one ofhis gallantries. ) "The superiors might have had some Suspicion, . . . ButAbbé couturier had shown them how to shut their eyes. He had taught themnot to reprove a young seminarist whom they believed destined to a highposition, who might become coadjutor at Rheims, perhaps a cardinal, perhaps minister, minister de la feuille--who knows?"]

[Footnote 5273: "Diary in France, " by Christopher Wordsworth, D. D. 1845. (Weakness of the course of study at Saint-Sulpice. ) "There is no regularcourse of lectures on ecclesiastical history. "--There is still at thepresent day no special course of Greek for learning to read theNew Testament in the original. --"Le clergé français en 1890" (by ananonymous ecclesiastic), pp. 24-38. "High and substantial service islacking with us. . . . For a long time, the candidates for the episcopacyare exempt by a papal bull from the title of doctor. "--In the seminarythere are discussions in barbarous Latin, antiquated subjects, withthe spouting of disjointed bits of text: "They have not learned howto think. . . Their science is good for nothing; they have no means ormethods even for learning. . . . The Testament of Christ is what they aremost ignorant of. . . . A priest who devotes himself to study is regardedeither as a pure speculator unfit for the government, or with anambition which nothing can satisfy, or again an odd, ill-humored, ill-balanced person; we live under the empire of this stupidprejudice, . . . We have archeologists, assyriologists, geologists, philologists and other one-sided savants. The philosophers, theologians, historians, and canonists have become rare. "]

[Footnote 5274: "Journal d'un voyage en France, " by Th. W. Allies, 1845, p. 38. (Table of daily exercises in Saint-Sulpice furnished by AbbéCaron, former secretary to the archbishop of Paris. )--Cf. In "Volupté, "by Saint-Beuve, the same table furnished by Lacordaire. ]

[Footnote 5275: "Manreze du prêtre, " by the Rev. Father Caussette, I. , 82. ]

[Footnote 5276: Ibid. , I. , 48. "Out of 360 meditations made by a priestduring the year, 300 of them are arid. " We have the testimony of Abbéd'Astros on the efficacy of prayers committed to memory, who was inprison for three years under the first empire and without any books. "Iknew the psalms by heart and, thanks to this converse with God, whichescaped the jailor, I was never troubled by boredom. "]

[Footnote 5277: As with the "Frères des Écoles Chrétiennes, " whosesociety has the most members. ]

[Footnote 5278: "Manreze du prêtre, " by the Rev. Father Caussette, I. , 9. The Manreze is the grotto where Saint Ignatius found the plan ofhis Exercitia and the three ways by which a man succeeds in detachinghimself from the world, "the purgative, the illuminative and theunitive. " The author says that he has brought all to the second way, as the most suitable for priests. He himself preached pastoral retreatseverywhere in France, his book being a collection of rules for retreatsof this kind. ]

[Footnote 5279: Someone who, like me, have lived through the attemptedCommunist conquest of the world, in Eastern Europe, in China, Korea, Vietnam and other conquered territories, the terrible experiences ofthose imprisoned in re-education camps, come to mind. Did Lenin haveTaine translated? Did Lenin and Stalin use this description of catholicbrainwashing as their model? We might never find out. (SR. )]

[Footnote 5280: One of these enduring effects is the intense faith ofthe prelates, who in the 18th century believed so little. At the presentday, not made bishops until about fifty years of age, thirty of whichhave been passed in exercises of this description, their piety hastaken the Roman, positive, practical turn which terminates in devotionsproperly so called. M. Emery, the reformer of Saint-Sulpice, gave theimpulsion in this sense. ("Histoire de M. Emery, " by Abbé Elie Méric, p. 115 etc. ) M. Emery addressed the seminarians thus: "Do you think that, if we pray to the Holy Virgin sixty times a day to aid us at the hourof death, she will desert us at the last moment?"--" He led us into thechapel, which he had decked with reliquaries. . . . He made the tour of it, kissing in turn each reliquary with respect and love, and when he foundone of them out of reach for this homage, he said to us, 'Since wecannot kiss that one, let us accord it our profoundest reverence!'. . . And we all three kneeled before the reliquary. "--Among other episcopallives, that of Cardinal Pie, bishop of Poitiers, presents the order ofdevotion in high relief. ("Histoire du cardinal Pie, " by M. Bannard, II. , 348 and passim. ) There was a statuette of the Virgin on his bureau. After his death, a quantity of paper scraps, in Latin or French, writtenand placed there by him-were found, dedicating this or that action, journey or undertaking under the special patronage of the Virgin or St. Joseph. He also possessed a statuette of Our Lady of Lourdes which neverwas out of his sight, day or night. "One day, having gone out ofhis palace, he suddenly returned, having forgotten something--he hadneglected to kiss the feet of his Heavenly Mother. "--Cf. "Vie de Mgr. Dupanloup, " Abbé Lagrange, I. , 524. "During his mother's illness, hemultiplied the novenas, visited every altar, made vows, burnt candles, for not only had he devotion, but devotions. . . On the 2d of January, 1849, there was fresh alarm; thereupon, a novena at Saint-Geneviève anda vow--no longer the chaplet, but the rosary. Then, as the fête of SaintFrançois de Sales drew near a new novena to this great Savoyard saint;prayers to the Virgin in Saint-Sulpice; to the faithful Virgin; to themost wise Virgin, everywhere. "]

[Footnote 5281: "Manreze du prêtre, " I. , 27, 29, 30, 31, 35, 91, 92, 244, 246, 247, 268. ]

[Footnote 5282: Ibid. I. , 279, 281, 301, 307, 308, 319. ]

[Footnote 5283: Just like the believing faithful 20th centuryinternational revolutionary Marxist-communist. (SR. )]

[Footnote 5284: "Le clergé française en 1890" (by an anonymousecclesiastic), p. 72. (On the smaller parishes. ) "The task of the curéhere is thankless if he is zealous, too easy if he has no zeal. In anyevent, he is an isolated man, with no resources whatever, tempted by allthe demons of solitude and inactivity. "--Ibid. , ,92. "Our authority amongthe common classes as well as among thinking people is held in check;the human mind is to-day fully emancipated and society secularized. "--Ibid. , 15. "Indifference seems to have retired from the summits of thenation only to descend to the lower strata. . . . In France, the priest isthe more liked the less he is seen; to efface himself, to disappear iswhat is first and most often demanded of him. The clergy and the nationlive together side by side, scarcely in contact, through certain actionsin life, and never intermingling. "]

CHAPTER III THE CLERGY

I. The regular clergy. 

 The regular clergy. --Difference in the condition of the two clergies. --The three vows. --Rules. --Life in common. --Object of the system. --Violent suppression of the institution and its abuses in 1790. --Spontaneous revival of the institution free of its abuses after 1800. --Democratic and republican character of monastic constitutions. --Vegetation of the old stock and multiplication of new plants, --Number of monks and nuns. --Proportion of these numbers to the total population in 1789 and 1878. --Predominance of the organizations for labor and charity. --How formed and extended. --Social instinct and contact with the mystic world. 

However correct the life of a secular priest may be, he stills belongsto his century. Like a layman, he has his own domicile and fireside, hisparsonage in the country with a garden, or an apartment in town--inany event, his own home and household, a servant or housekeeper, who isoften either his mother or a sister; in short, a suitable enclosureset apart, where he can enjoy his domestic and private life free of theencroachments on his public and ecclesiastical life, analogous to thatof a lay functionary or a bachelor of steady habits. In effect, hisexpenses and income, his comforts and discomforts are about the same. His condition, his salary, [5301] his table, clothes and furniture, hisout-of-door ways and habits, give him rank in the village alongside ofthe schoolteacher and postmaster; in the large borough or small town, alongside of the justice of the peace and college professor; in thelarge towns, side by side with the head of a bureau or a chief ofdivision; at Paris, in certain parishes, alongside of the prefect ofpolice and the prefect of the Seine. [5302] Even in the humblest curacy, he regulates his budget monthly, spending his money without consultinganybody. When not on duty, his time is his own. He can dine out, orderfor himself at home a special dish, allow himself delicacies. If he doesnot possess every comfort, he has most of them, and thus, like alay functionary, he may if he chooses get ahead in the world, obtainpromotion to a better curacy, become irremovable, be appointed canon andsometimes mount upward, very high, to the topmost rank. Society has ahold on him through all these worldly purposes; he is too much mixedup with it to detach himself from it entirely; very often hisspiritual life droops or proves abortive under so many terrestrialpreoccupations. --If the Christian desires to arrive at the alibi anddwell in the life beyond, another system of existence is essential forhim, entailing a protection against two temptations, that is to say theabandonment of two dangerous liberties, one consisting in the powerby which, being an owner of property, he disposes as he likes of whatbelongs to him, and the other consisting in the power by which, beingmaster of his acts, he arranges as he pleases his daily occupations. Tothis end, in addition to the vow of chastity also taken by the secularpriest, the members of religious orders also take two other distinct andprecise vows. By the vow of poverty he (or she) renounces all propertywhatever, at least that which is fully and completely his own, [5303]the arbitrary use of possessions, the enjoyment of what belongs tohim personally, which vow leads him to live like a poor man, toendure privations, to labor, and beyond this, even to fasting, tomortifications, to counteracting and deadening in himself all thoseinstincts by which man rebels against bodily suffering and aims atphysical well being. By the vow of obedience he (or she) gives himselfup entirely to a double authority: one, in writing, which is discipline, and the other a living being, consisting of the superior whose businessit is to interpret, apply and enforce the rule. Except in unheard-ofcases, where the superior's injunctions might be expressly and directlyopposed to the letter of this rule, [5304] he interdicts himself fromexamining, even in his own breast, the motives, propriety and occasionof the act prescribed to him; he has alienated in advance futuredeterminations by entirely abandoning self-government; hence-forth, his internal motor is outside of himself and in another person. Consequently, the unforeseen and spontaneous initiative of free willdisappears in his conduct to give way to a predetermined, obligatory andfixed command, to a system (cadre) which envelops him and binds togetherin its rigid compartments the entire substance and details of his life, anticipating the distribution of his time for a year, week by week, andfor every day, hour by hour, defining imperatively and circumstantiallyall action or inaction, physical or mental, all work and all leisure, silence and speech, prayers and readings, abstinences and meditations, solitude and companionship, hours for rising and retiring, meals, quantity and quality of food, attitudes, greetings, manners, tone andforms of language and, still better, mute thoughts and the deepestsentiments. Moreover, through the periodical repetition of the same actsat the same hours, lie confines himself to a cycle of habits which areforces, and which keep growing since they are ever turning the inwardbalance on the same side through the ever-increasing weight of hisentire past. Through eating and lodging together, through a communionof prayer, through incessant contact with other brethren of the samereligious observances, through the precaution taken to join with him onecompanion when he goes out and two companions when he lodges elsewhere, through his visits to and fro to the head establishment, he lives in acircle of souls strained to the same extent, by the same processes, to the same end as himself, and whose visible zeal maintains hisown. --Grace, in this state of things, abounds. Such is the term bestowedon the silent and steady, or startling and brusque, emotion by whichthe Christian enters into communication with the invisible world, anaspiration and a hope, a presentiment and a divination, and even often adistinct perception. Evidently, this grace is not far off, almost withinreach of the souls which, from the tenor of their whole life, striveto attain it. They have closed themselves off on the earthly side, therefore, these can no longer look or breathe otherwise thanheavenward. 

At the end of the eighteenth century, the monastic institution no longerproduced this effect; deformed, weakened and discredited throughits abuses, especially in the convents of males, and then violentlyoverthrown by the Revolution, it seemed to be dead. But, at thebeginning of the nineteenth century, behold it springing up againspontaneously, in one direct, new, strong and active jet and higher thanthe old one, free of the excrescences, rottenness and parasiteswhich, under the ancient régime, disfigured and discolored it. No morecompulsory vows, no "frocked" younger sons "to make an elder, " no girlsimmured from infancy, kept in the convent throughout their youth, ledon, urged, and then driven into a corner and forced into the finalengagement on becoming of age; no more aristocratic institutions, noOrder of Malta and chapters of men or of women in which noble familiesfind careers and a receptacle for their supernumerary children. No moreof those false and counterfeit vocations the real motive of which was, sometimes pride of race and the determination not to lose a socialstanding, sometimes the animal attractions of physical comfort, indolence and idleness. No more lazy and opulent monks, occupied, like the Carthusians of Val Saint-Pierre, in overeating, stupefiedby digestion and routine, or, like the Bernardines of Granselve[5305]turning their building into a worldly rendezvous for jovial hospitalityand themselves taking part, foremost in rank, in prolonged andfrequent parties, balls, plays and hunting-parties; in diversions andgallantries which the annual fête of Saint Bernard, through a singulardissonance, excited and consecrated. No more over-wealthy superiors, usufructuaries of a vast abbatial revenue, suzerain and landlordseigniors, with the train, luxury and customs of their condition, with four-horse carriages, liveries, officials, antechamber, court, chancellorship and ministers of justice, obliging their monks to addressthem as "my lord, " as lax as any ordinary layman, well fitted to causescandal in their order by their liberties and to set an example ofdepravity. No more lay intrusions, commendatory abbés or priors, interlopers, and imposed from above; no more legislative andadministrative interferences[5306] in order to bind monks and nunsdown to their vows, to disqualify them and deprive them almost ofcitizenship, to exclude them from common rights, to withhold from themrights of inheritance and testamentary rights, from receiving or makingdonations, depriving them in advance of the means of subsistence, toconfine them by force in their convents and set the patrol on theirtrack, and, on trying to escape, to furnish their superior with secularhelp and keep down insubordination by physical constraint. Nothing ofthis subsists after the great destruction of 1790. Under the modernrégime, if any one enters and remains in a convent it is because theconvent is more agreeable to him than the world outside; there is noother motive no pressure or hindrance of an inferior or different kind, no direct or indirect, no domestic or legal constraint, no ambition, vanity and innate or acquired indolence, no certainty of findingsatisfaction for a coarse and concentrated sensuality. That which nowoperates is the awakened and persistent vocation; the man or the womanwho takes vows and keeps them, enters upon and adheres to his or herengagement only through a spontaneous act deliberately and constantlyrenewed through their own free will. 

Thus purified, the monastic institution recovers its normal form, whichis the republican and democratic form, while the impracticable Utopiawhich the philosophers of the eighteenth century wanted to impose onlay society now becomes the effective régime under which the religiouscommunities are going to live. In all of them, the governors are electedby the governed; whether the suffrage is universal or qualified, onevote is as good as another; votes are counted by heads, and, atstated intervals, the sovereign majority uses its right anew; with theCarmelites, it is every three years and to elect by secret ballot, notalone one authority but all the authorities, the prior, the sub-priorand the three clavières. [5307]--Once elected, the chief, in conformitywith his mandate, remains a mandatory, that is to say a laborer assigneda certain work, and not a privileged person enjoying a gratification. His dignity is not a dispensation, but an additional burden; along withthe duties of his office, he subjects himself to an observance of therules--having become a general, he is no better off than the simplesoldier; he rises as early and his daily life is no better; his cell isas bare and his personal support not more expensive. He who commandsten thousand others lives as poorly, under the same strict instructions, with as few conveniences and with less leisure than the meanestbrother. [5308] Over and above the austerities of ordinary disciplinethis or that superior imposed on himself additional mortifications whichwere so great as to astonish as well as edify his monks. Such is theideal State of the theorist, a Spartan republic, and for all, includingthe chiefs, an equal ration of the same black broth. There is anotherresemblance, still more profound. At the base of this republic liesthe corner-stone designed in anticipation by Rousseau, then hewn andemployed, well or ill, in the constitutions or plébiscites of theRevolution, the Consulate and the Empire, to serve as the foundation ofthe complete edifice. This stone is a primitive and solemn agreement byall concerned, a social contract, a pact proposed by the legislator andaccepted by the citizens; except that, in the monastic pact, the will ofthe acceptors is unanimous, earnest, serious, deliberate and permanent, while, in the political pact, it is not so; thus, whilst the lattercontract is a theoretical fiction, the former is an actual verity. 

For, in the small religious cité, all precautions are taken to have thefuture citizen know for what and how far he engages himself. The copy ofthe rules which is handed to him in advance explains to him the futureuse of each day and of each hour, the detail in full of the régime towhich he is to subject himself. Besides this, to forestall any illusionand haste on his part he is required to make trial of the confinementand discipline; he realizes through personal, sensible and prolongedexperience what he must undergo; before assuming the habit, he mustserve a novitiate of at least one year and without interruption. Simplevows sometimes precede the more solemn vows; with the Jesuits, severalnovitiates, each lasting two or three years, overlie and succeed eachother. Elsewhere, the perpetual engagement is taken only after severaltemporary engagements; up to the age of twenty-five the "Fréres desEcoles Chrétiennes" take their vows for a year; at twenty-five for threeyears; only at twenty-eight do they take them for life. Certainly, after such trials, the postulant is fully informed; nevertheless, hissuperiors contribute what they know. They have watched him day afterday; deep down under his superficial, actual and declared dispositionthey define his profound, latent, and future intention; if they deemthis insufficient or doubtful, they adjourn or prevent the finalprofession: "My child, wait-your vocation is not yet determined, " or "Myfriend, you were not made for the convent, return to the world!"--Neverwas a social contract signed more knowingly, after greater reflectionon what choice to make, after such deliberate study: the conditions ofhuman association demanded by the revolutionary theory are all fulfilledand the dream of the Jacobins is realized. But not where they plannedit: through a strange contrast, and which seems ironical in history, this day-dream of speculative reason has produced nothing in the layorder of things but elaborate plans on paper, a deceptive and dangerousDeclaration of (human) Rights, appeals to insurrection or to adictatorship: incoherent or still-born organizations, in short, abortions or monsters; in the religious order of things, it adds to theliving world thousands of living creatures of indefinite viability. Sothat, among the effects of the French revolution, one of the principaland most enduring is the restoration of monastic institutions. . . . 

From the Consulate down to the present day they can everywhere be seensprouting and growing. Early, new sprouts shoot out and cover the oldtrunks of which the revolutionary axe had cut off the branches. In 1800, "the re-establishment of a corporation shocked current ideas. "[5309] Butthe able administrators of the Consulate required volunteer women forservice in their hospitals. In Paris, Chaptal, the minister, comesacross a lady superior whom he formerly knew and enjoins her to gathertogether ten or a dozen of her surviving companions; he installs them inthe rue Vieux-Colombier, in a building belonging to the hospitals, andwhich he furnishes for forty novices; at Lyons, he notices that the"Sisters" of the general hospital were obliged, that they might performtheir duties, to wear a lay dress; he authorizes them to resume theircostume and their crosses; he allows them two thousand francs topurchase necessaries, and, when they have donned their old uniform, hepresents them to the First Consul. Such is the first sprout, very smalland very feeble, that appears in the institution of Saint-Vincentde Paule at Paris and in that of Saint-Charles at Lyons. In ourdays[5310](around 1885), the congregation of Saint-Charles, besidesthe parent-house at Lyons, has 102 others with 2, 226 nuns, and thecongregation of Saint-Vincent de Paule, besides the parent-house atParis, has 88 others with 9, 130 nuns. Often, the new vegetation on thetrunk amputated by the Revolution is much richer than on the old one;in 1789, the institution of the "Fréres des Ecoles Chrétiennes" had800 members; in 1845, there were 4, 000; in 1878, 9, 818; on the 31st ofDecember, 1888, there were 12, 245. In 1789, it counted 126 houses; in1888, there were 1, 286. --Meanwhile, alongside of the old plantations, alarge number of independent germs, new species and varieties, spring upspontaneously, each with its own aim, rules and special denomination. On Good Friday, April 6, 1792, at the very date of the decree of theLegislative Assembly abolishing all religious communities, [5311] one isborn, that of the "Soeurs de la Retraite Chrétienne, " at Fontenelle, and, from year to year, similar plants constantly and suddenly spring out ofthe ground for a century. The list is too long to be counted; a largeofficial volume of more than four hundred pages is filled with themere statement of their names, localities and statistics. --This volume, published in 1878, divides religious institutions into two groups. Wefind in the first one, comprising the legally authorized societies, atfirst 5 congregations of men possessing 224 establishments with 2, 418members, and 23 associations of men with 20, 341 members and supplying3, 086 schools; next, 259 congregations of women and 644 communitieswhich possess 3, 196 establishments, supplying 16, 478 schools andcounting 113, 750 members. In the second group, comprising unauthorizedsocieties, we find 384 establishments of men with 7, 444 members, and 602establishments of women with 14, 003 members, --in all, in both groups, 30, 287 brethren and 127, 753 sisters. Considering the total population, the proportion of brethren in 1789 and in our day is about the same;it is their spirit which has changed; at the present day, all desire toremain in their profession, while in 1789 two-thirds wanted to withdrawfrom it. As to the proportion of Sisters, it has increased beyond allcalculation. [5312] Out of 10, 000 women in the population, there were, in1789, 28 Sisters; in 1866, 45; in 1878, 67. [5313]

Carmelites, Clarisses, Filles du Coeur de Jésus, Réparatrices, Soeurs duSaint-Sacrament, Visitandines, Franciscaines, Benedictines and otherslike these, about 4000 nuns or sisters, are contemplatists. TheCarthusians, Cistercians, Trappists, and some others, about 1800 monksand brethren who, for the most part, till the ground, do not imposelabor on themselves other than as an accessory exercise; their first andprincipal object is prayer, meditation and worship; they, too, devotetheir lives to contemplation on the other world and not to the serviceof this one. But all the others, more than 28, 000 men and more than123, 000 women, are benefactors by institution and voluntary laborers, choosing to devote themselves to dangerous, revolting, and at leastungrateful services--missions among savages and barbarians, care of thesick, of idiots, of the insane, of the infirm, of the incurable, thesupport of poor old men or of abandoned children; countless charitableand educational works, primary schools, orphan asylums, houses of refugeand prisons, and all gratuitously or at the lowest wages through areduction of bodily necessities to the lowest point, and of the personalexpenditure of each brother or sister. [5314] Evidently, with thesemen and with these women, the ordinary balance of motives which promptpeople is reversed; in the inward balance of the scale it is no longerselfishness which prevails against altruism, but the love of otherswhich prevails against selfishness. --Let us look at one of theirinstitutions just at the moment of its formation and see how thepreponderance passes over from the egoistic to the social instinct. The first thing we always find at the origin of the enterprise iscompassion; a few kind hearts have been moved at the aspect of misery, degradation and misconduct; souls or bodies were in distress and therewas danger of shipwreck; three or four saviors have come to the rescue. At Rouen, in 1818, it is a poor girl who, by advice of her curé, bringstogether a few of her friends in her garret; during the day they studyin a class and at night they work for their living; today, under thetitle of "Soeurs du Sacré-Coeur de Jésus, " they number 800. Elsewhere, atLaval, the founder of the House of Refuge for poor repentants is aplain ironing-girl who began her "House" by charitably harboring twoprostitutes; these brought others, and there are now a hundred ofsimilar institutions. Most frequently, the founder is the desservant orvicar of the place, who, moved by local misery, fancies at first thathe is doing only local work. Thus, there is born in 1806 atRouissé-sur-Loire the congregation of "La Providence, " which now has 918"Sisters, " in 193 houses; in 1817, at Lovallat, the association of "LesPetits-Frères de Marie, " which numbers to-day 3600 brethren; in 1840, at Saint-Servan, the institution of "Les Petites-Soeurs des Pauvres, " whonow number 2685, and, with no other help but alms-giving, feed and carefor, in their 158 houses, 20, 000 old men, of which 13, 000 live in their93 domiciles in France; they take their meals after the inmates, and eatonly what they leave; they are prohibited from accepting any endowmentwhatever; by virtue of their rules they are and remain mendicants, atfirst, and especially, in behalf of their old men, and afterwards andas accessory, in their own behalf. Note the circumstances of theundertaking and the condition of the founders--they were two villagework-women, young girls between sixteen and eighteen for whom the vicarof the parish had written short regulations (une petite règle); onSunday, together in the cleft of a rock on the seaside, they studiedand meditated over this little summary manual, performed the prescribeddevotions, this or that prayer or orison at certain hours, saying theirbeads, the station in the church, self-examination and other ceremoniesof which the daily repetition deposits and strengthens the supernaturalmental conception. Such, over and above natural pity, is the superaddedweight which fixes the unstable will and maintains the soul permanentlyin a state of abnegation. --At Paris, in the two halls of the Prefectureof Police, where prostitutes and female thieves remain for a day or twoin provisional confinement, the "Sisters" of "Marie-Joseph, " obliged bytheir vows to live constantly in this sewer always full of human dregs, sometimes feel their heart failing them; fortunately, a little chapel isarranged for them in one corner where they retire to pray, and in a fewminutes they return with their store of courage and gentleness againrevived. --Father Etienne, superior of the "Lazarists" and of the"Filles de Saint-Vincent de Paule, " with the authority of longexperience, very justly observed to some foreign visitors, [5315] "I havegiven you the details of our life, but I have not told you the secretof it. This secret, here it is--it is Jesus Christ, known, loved, andserved in the Eucharist. "

II. Evolution of the Catholic Church. 

 The mystic faculty. --Its sources and works. --Evangelical Christianity. --Its moral object and social effect. --Roman Christianity. --Development of the Christian idea in the West. --Influence of the Roman language and law. --Roman conception of the State. --Roman conception of the Church. 

In the thirteenth century, to the communicant on his knees aboutto receive the sacrament, the Host often faded out of sight; itdisappeared, and, in its place, appeared an infant or the radiantfeatures of the Savior and, according to the Church doctors, this wasnot an illusion but an illumination. [5316] The veil had lifted, and thesoul found itself face to face with its object, Jesus Christ present inEucharist. This was second sight, infinitely superior in certainty andreach to the former, a direct, full view granted by grace from above, a supernatural view. --By this example, which is an extreme case, wecomprehend in what faith consists. It is an extraordinary facultyoperating alongside of and often in conjunction with our naturalfaculties; over and above things as our observation naturally presentsthem to us, it reveals to us a beyond, a majestic, grandiose world, theonly one truly real and of which ours is but the temporary veil. In thedepths of the soul, much below the superficial crust of which we haveany conscience, [5317] impressions have accumulated like subterraneanwaters. There, under the surging heat of innate instincts, a livingspring has burst forth, growing and bubbling in the obscurity; let ashock or a fissure intervene and it suddenly sprouts up and forces itsway above the surface; the man who has this within him and in whom itoverflows is amazed at the inundation and no longer recognizes himself;the visible field of his conscience is completely changed and renewed;in place of his former and vacillating and scattered thoughts he findsan irresistible and coherent belief, a precise conception, and intensepicture, a passionate affirmation, sometimes even positive perceptionsof a species apart and which come to him not from without but fromwithin, not alone mere mental suggestions, like the dialogues ofthe "Imitation" and the "intellectual locutions" of the mystics, butveritable physical sensations like the details of the visions of SaintTheresa, the articulate voices of Joan of Arc and the bodily stigmata ofSaint Francis. 

In the first century, this beyond discovered by the mystic faculty wasthe kingdom of God, opposed to the kingdoms of this world;[5318] thesekingdoms, in the eyes of those who revealed them, were worthless;through the keen insight of the moral and social instinct, these large, generous and simple hearts had divined the internal defect of all thesocieties or States of the century. Egoism in these was too great;there was in them a lack of charity, [5319] the faculty of loving anotherequally with one's self, and thus of loving, not only a few, but allmen, whoever they might be, simply because they were men, and especiallythe meek, the humble and the poor; in other words, the voluntaryrepression of the appetites by which the individual makes of himself acenter and subordinates other lives to himself, the renunciation of "thelusts of the flesh, of the eyes and of vanity, the insolence of wealthand luxury, of force and of power. "[5320]--Opposed to and in contrastwith this human order of things, the idea of a divine order of thingswas born and developed itself--a Heavenly Father, his reign in heaven, and very soon, perhaps on the morrow, his reign here below; his sondescending to the earth to establish his reign and dying on the crossfor the salvation of men; after him, his Spirits, sent by him, theinward breath which animates his disciples and continues his work; allmen brethren and beloved children of the same common father; here andthere spontaneous groups who have learned "these good tidings"and propagated them; small scattered communities which live in theexpectation of an ideal order of things and yet, by anticipation, realizing it from this time forth; "All[5321] were of one heart and onesoul, . . . For as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold and laid themdown at the apostles' feet: and distribution was made unto every manaccording as he had need, " all happy in being together, in mutual loveand in feeling themselves regenerate or pure. 

Here is to be found in the soul a new regulator and motor, and moreovera powerful organ, appropriate and effective, obtained through internalrecasting and metamorphosis, like the wings with which an insect isprovided after its transformation. In every living organism, necessity, through tentative effort and selections, thus produces the possible andrequisite organ. In India, five hundred years before our era, it wasBuddhism; in Arabia, six hundred years after our era, it was Islam;in our western societies it is Christianity. At the present day, aftereighteen centuries on both continents, from the Ural to the RockyMountains, amongst Russian moujiks and American settlers, it works asformerly with the fishermen of Galilee and in the same way, in such away as to substitute for the love of self the love of others; neitherin substance nor in use has any change taken place; under its Greek, Catholic or Protestant envelope, it is still, for four hundred millionsof human beings, the spiritual means, the great, indispensable pairof wings by which man rises upward above himself, above his grovelingexistence and his limited horizons, leading him on through patience, hope and resignation to serenity, and beyond to temperance, purity, goodness, and self-devotion and self-sacrifice. Always and everywhere, for the past eighteen hundred years, as soon as these wings grow feebleor give way, public and private morals degenerate. In Italy, duringthe Renaissance, in England under the restoration, in France under theConvention and Directory, man becomes as pagan as in the first century;the same causes render him the same as in the times of Augustus andTiberius, that is to say voluptuous and cruel: he abuses himself andvictimizes others; a brutal, calculating egoism resumes its ascendancy, depravity and sensuality spread, and society becomes a den ofcut-throats and a brothel. [5322]

After contemplating this spectacle near by, we can value thecontribution to modern societies of Christianity, how much modesty, gentleness and humanity it has introduced into them, how it maintainsintegrity, good faith and justice. Neither philosophic reason, artisticor literary culture, or even feudal, military or chivalric honor, norany administration or government can replace it. There is nothing elseto restrain our natal bent, nothing to arrest the insensible, steady, down-hill course of our species with the whole of its original burden, ever retrograding towards the abyss. Whatever its present envelope maybe, the old Gospel still serves as the best auxiliary of the socialinstinct. 

Among its three contemporary forms, that which groups together the mostmen, about 180 millions of believers, is Catholicism, in other words, Roman Christianity, which two words, comprising a definition, containa history. At the origin, on the birth of the Christian principle, itexpressed itself at first in Hebrew, the language of prophets andof seers; afterwards, and very soon, in Greek, the language of thedialecticians and philosophers; at last, and very late, in Latin, thelanguage of the jurisconsults and statesmen; then come the successivestages of dogma. All the evangelical and apostolic texts, written inGreek, all the metaphysical speculations, [5323] also in Greek, whichserved as commentary on these, reached the western Latins onlythrough translations. Now, in metaphysics, Latin poorly translates theGreek[5324]; it lacks both the terms and the ideas; what the Orientsays, the Occident only half comprehends; it accepts this withoutdispute and confidently holds it as truth. [5325] At length in its turn, in the fourth century, when, after Theodosius, the Occident breaks loosefrom the Orient, it intervenes, and it intervenes with its language, that is to say with the provision of ideas and words which its cultureprovided; it likewise had its instruments of precision, not those ofPlato and Aristotle, but others, as special, forged by Ulpian, Gaiusand twenty generations of jurists through the original invention andimmemorial labor of Roman genius. "To say what is law, " to impose rulesof conduct on men, is, in abridged form, the entire practical work ofthe Roman people; to write this law out, to formulate and coordinatethese rules, is, in abridged form, its entire scientific work, andwith the Romans in the third, fourth and fifth centuries, during thedecadence of other studies, the science of law was still in fullforce and vigor. [5326] Hence, when the Occidentals undertook theinterpretation of texts and the elaboration of the Creed it was withthe habits and faculties of jurisconsults, with the preoccupations andmental reservations of statesmen, with the mental and verbal instrumentswhich they found suitable. In those days, the Greek doctors, in conflictwith the monophysites and monothelites, brought out the theory ofthe divine essence; at the same date, the Latin doctors, opposing thePelagians, Semi-Pelagians and Donatists, founded the theory of humanobligation. [5327] Obligation, said the Roman jurists, is a lien of law"by which we are held to doing or suffering something to free us fromindebtedness. Out of this juridical conception, which is a masterpieceof Roman jurisprudence, issued, as with a bud full of sap, the newdevelopment of the Creed. --On the one hand, we are obligated towardsGod, for, in relation to him, we are, in legal terms, insolvent debtors, heirs of an infinite debt, incapable of paying it and of satisfyingour creditor except through the interpostion of a superhuman thirdperson[5328] who assumes our indebtedness as his own; still moreprecisely, we are delinquents, guilty from birth and by inheritance, condemned en masse and then pardoned en masse, but in such a way thatthis pardon, a pure favor, not warranted by any merit of our own, alwaysremains continual and revocable at will; that, for a few only, it isor becomes plenary and lasting, that no one amongst us can be sure ofobtaining it, and that its award, determined beforehand on high, foreverremains for us a State secret. Hence the prolonged controversieson Predestination, Free-will and Original Sin, and the profoundinvestigations on man before, during and after the Fall. Hence, also, the accepted solutions, not very conclusive and, if one pleases, contradictory, but practical, average and well calculated formaintaining mankind in faith and obedience, under the ecclesiastical anddogmatic government which, alone, is authorized to lead man on in theway of salvation. 

On the other hand, we are obligated to the Church, for she is a cité, the city of God, and, following the Roman definition, the cité is not anabstract term, a collective term, but a real, positive existence, "the commonwealth" (chose publique), that is to say a distinct entityconsisting of generations which succeed each other in it, of infiniteduration and of a superior kind, divine or nearly so, which does notbelong to individuals but to which they belong, an organized body, withspecial form and structure, based on traditions, constituted by laws andruled by a government. The absolute authority of the community over itsmembers and the despotic leadership of the community by its chiefs--suchis the Roman notion of the State and, for much stronger reasons, ofthe Church. She, thus, is a militant, conquering, governing Rome, predestined to universal empire, a legitimate sovereign like the otherone, but with a better title, for she derives hers from God. It is Godwho, from the beginning, has preconceived and prepared her, who hasbodied her forth in the Old Testament and announced her through theprophets; it is the Son of God who has built her up, who, to alleternity, will never fail to maintain and guide her steps, who, throughhis constant inspiration, ever remains present in her and active throughher. He has committed to her his revelation. She alone, expresslydelegated by Christ, possesses second sight, the knowledge of theinvisible, the comprehension of the ideal order of things as its Founderprescribed and instituted, and hence, accordingly, the custodianshipand interpretation of the Scriptures, the right of framing dogmas andinjunctions, of teaching and commanding, of reigning over souls andintellects, of fashioning belief and morals. Henceforth, the mysticfaculty is to be confined within dikes. At bottom, this is the facultyfor conceiving of the ideal, to obtain a vision of it, to have faith inthis vision and to act upon it; the more precious it is the greater thenecessity of its being under control. To preserve it from itself, toput it on guard against the arbitrariness and diversity of individualopinions, to prevent unrestrained digression, theoretically orpractically, either on the side of laxity or of rigor, requires agovernment. --That this is a legacy of ancient Rome the Catholic Churchdoes not dispute. She styles herself the Roman Church. She still writesand prays in Latin. Rome is always her capital; the title of her chiefis that which formerly designated the head of the pagan cult; after 1378all the Popes except five, and since 1523 all, have been Italians; atthe present day, thirty-five out of sixty-four cardinals are likewiseItalians. The Roman stamp becomes still more evident on comparing themillions of Christians who are Catholics with the millions of Christianswho are not. Among the primitive annexations and ulterior acquisitionsof the Roman Church, several have separated from her, those of thecountries whose Greek, Slavic and Germanic populations never spoke Latinand whose language is not derived from the Latin. Poland and Irelandare alone, or nearly so, the only countries which have remained loyal, because, with these, the Catholic faith, under the long pressure ofpublic calamities, has become incorporated with national sentiment. Elsewhere the Roman deposit is non-existent or too thin. On thecontrary, all the populations that were once Latinized have at bottomremained Catholic; four centuries of imperial rule and of Romanassimilation have deposited in them of layers of habits, ideas andsentiments which endure. [5329] To measure the influence of this historiclayer it is sufficient to note that three elements compose it, all threecontemporary, of the same origin and of the same thickness, a Romanlanguage, the civil law of Rome, and Roman Christianity; each of theseelements, through its consistence, indicates the consistence of theothers. 

Hence the profound and established characteristics by which the Catholicbranch now distinguishes itself from the other two issuing from the sameChristian trunk. With the Protestants, the Bible, which is the Wordof God, is the sole spiritual authority; all the others, the Doctors, Fathers, tradition, Popes and Councils, are human and, accordingly, fallible; in fact, these have repeatedly and gravely erred. [5330] TheBible, however, is a text which each reader reads with his own eyes, more or less enlightened and sensitive, with eyes which, in Luther'stime, possessed the light and sensibility of the sixteenth century, andwhich, at the present time, read with the sensibility and light ofthe nineteenth century; so that, according to epochs and groups, theinterpretation may vary, while authority, if not as regards the text, orat least its meaning, belongs wholly to the individual. With the Greeksand Slavs, as with the Catholics, it belongs only to the Church, that isto say to the heads of the Church, the successors of the apostles. But with the Greeks and Slavs, since the ninth century, the Church haddecreed no new dogmas; according to her, revelation had stopped; thecreed was finished, final and complete, and there was nothing to do butto maintain it. --On the contrary, with the Catholics, after as beforethat date, the creed never ceased developing itself, always becomingmore precise, and revelation kept on; the last thirteen councils wereinspired like the first seven, while the first one, in which Saint Peterat Jerusalem figured, enjoyed no more prerogatives than the lastone convoked by Pius IX. At the Vatican. The Church is not "a frozencorpse, "[5331] but a living body, led by an always active brain whichpursues its work not only in this world but likewise in the next world, at first to define it and next to describe it and assign places init; only yesterday she added two articles of faith to the creed, theimmaculate conception of the Virgin and the infallibility of the Pope;she conferred ultra-terrestrial titles; she declared Saint Joseph patronof the universal Church; she canonized Saint Labre; she elevated SaintFrançois de Sales to the rank of Doctor. But she is as conservative asshe is active. She retracts nothing of her past, never rescinding anyof her ancient decrees; only, with the explanations, commentaries anddeductions of the jurist, she fastens these links closer together, formsan uninterrupted chain of them extending from the present time back tothe New Testament and, beyond, through the Old Testament, to the originsof the world, in such a way as to coordinate around herself the entireuniverse and all history. Revelations and prescriptions, the doctrinethus built up is a colossal work, as comprehensive as it is precise, analogous to the Digest but much more vast; for, besides canon law andmoral theology, she includes dogmatic theology, that is to say, besidesthe theory of the visible world, the theory of the invisible worldand its three regions, the geography of Hell, Purgatory and Paradise, immense territories of which our earth is merely the vestibule, unknownterritories inaccessible to sense and reason, but whose confines, entrances, issues and subdivisions, the inhabitants and all thatconcerns them, their faculties and their communications, are defined, ason Peutinger's map and in the Notitia imperii romani, with extraordinaryclearness, minutia and exactitude, through a combination of thepositive spirit and the mystic spirit and by theologians who are at onceChristians and administrators. In this relation, examine the "Somme"of Saint Thomas. Still at the present day his order, the Dominican, furnishes at Rome those who are consulted on matters of dogma; orrather, in order to abridge and transcribe scholastic formula intoperceptible images, read the "Divine Comedy "by Dante. [5332] It isprobable that this description, as far as imagination goes, is stillto-day the most exact as well as most highly-colored presentation ofthe human and divine world as the Catholic Church conceives it. She hascharge of its keys and reigns and governs in it. The prestige of sucha government over multitudes of minds and souls, susceptible todiscipline, without personal initiative, and in need of firm andsystematic guidance, is supreme. It is equal to or superior to that ofthe ancient roman State with its 120 million subjects. Outside ofthe Empire all seemed to these souls anarchy or barbarism; the sameimpression exists with the Catholics in relation to their Church. Whether spiritual or temporal, an authority is more likely to beapproved and venerated when, always visible and everywhere present, itis neither arbitrary nor capricious, but orderly, restrained by texts, traditions, legislation and jurisprudence, derived from above and froma superhuman source, consecrated by antiquity and by the continuity, coherence and grandeur of its work, in short, by that character whichthe Latin tongue is alone capable of expressing and which it termsmajesty. 

Among the acts which religious authority prescribes to its subjects, there are some which it imposes in its own name--rites, outwardceremonies and other observances--of which the principal ones, in theCatholic catechism, form a sequence to the "commandments of God, "and which are entitled the "commandments of the Church. "--With theProtestants, where Church authority is almost gone, rites have almostdisappeared; considered in themselves, they have ceased to be regardedas obligatory or meritorious; the most important ones, the Eucharistitself, have been retained only as commemorative or as symbolic; therest, fasts, abstinences, pilgrimages, the worship of saints and theVirgin, relics of the cross, words committed to memory, genuflectionsand kneeling before images or altars, have been pronounced vain; in theway of positive injunctions none remain but the reading of the Bible, while duty in outward demonstration of piety is reduced to pietywithin, to the moral virtues, to truthfulness, probity, temperance andsteadfastness, to the energetic determination to observe the watchwordreceived by man in two forms and which he finds in two concordantexamples, in the Scriptures as interpreted by his conscience, and in hisconscience as enlightened by the Scriptures. As another consequence, the Protestant priest has ceased to be a delegate from on high, theindispensable mediator between man and God, alone qualified to giveabsolution and to administer the rites by which salvation is obtained;he is simply a man, graver, more learned, more pious and more exemplarythan other men, but, like the others, married, father of a family andentering into civil life, in short a semi-layman. The laymen whomhe leads owe him deference, not obedience; he issues no orders; hesentences nobody; speaking from the rostrum to a gathering is hisprincipal, almost unique, office, and the sole purpose of this isinstruction or an exhortation. --With the Greeks and Slaves, with whomthe authority of the Church is merely of a preservative nature, allthe observances of the twelfth century have subsisted, as rigorously inRussia as in Asia Minor or in Greece, although fasting and Lents, whichSouthern stomachs can put up with, are unhealthy for the temperamentsof the North. Here, likewise, these observances have assumed capitalimportance. The active sap, withdrawn from theology and the clergy, flows nowhere else; these, in an almost paralyzed religion, constitutealmost the sole vivifying organ, as vigorous and often more so, than ecclesiastical authority; in the seventeenth century, under thepatriarch Nicon, thousands of "old believers, " on account of slightrectifications of the liturgy, the alteration of a letter in the Russiantranslation of the name of Jesus, and the sign of the cross made bythree instead of two fingers, separated themselves and, to-day, thesedissenters, multiplied by their sects, count by millions. Defined bycustom, every rite is sacred, immutable, and, when exactly fulfilled, sufficient in itself and efficacious; the priest who utters the wordsand makes the motions is only one piece in the mechanism, one ofthe instruments requisite for a magic incantation; after hisinstrumentation, he falls back into his human negativity; he is nothingmore than an employee paid for his ministration. And this ministrationis not exalted in him by an extraordinary and visible renunciation, by perpetual celibacy, by continence promised and kept; he ismarried, [5333] father of a family, needy, obliged to shear his flock tosupport himself and those belonging to him, and therefore is of littleconsideration; he is without moral ascendancy; he is not the pastor whois obeyed, but the official who is made use of. 

The role of the priest in the Catholic Church is quite different. Through her theory of rites she confers on him incomparable dignityand real personal power. --According to this theory, observances andceremonies possess intrinsic and peculiar virtue; undoubtedly, theserequire some mental base, which is found in earnest piety; butearnest piety independent of these is not enough; it lacks its finalconsequence, its praiseworthy completion or "satisfaction, "[5334] thepositive act by which we atone for our sins to God and demonstrate ourobedience to the Church. [5335] It is the Church, the living interpreterof God's will, which prescribes these rites; she is then the mistress ofthese and not the servant; she is empowered to adapt their details andforms to necessities and circumstances, to lighten or simplify themaccording to time and place, to establish the communion in one shape, tosubstitute the Host in place of bread, to lessen the number and rigor ofthe ancient Lents, to determine the effects of diverse pious works, toapply, ascribe and transfer their salutary effects, to assign propervalue and reward to each devotional act, to measure the merit derivedfrom them, the sins they efface and the pardons these obtain not only inthis world but in the next one. By virtue of her administrative habits, and with the precision of a bookkeeper, she casts up her accountsof indulgences and notes on the margin the conditions for obtainingthem, --a certain prayer repeated so many times on certain days andwhat for, so many days less in the great penitentiary into which everyChristian, however pious, is almost sure to get on dying, this or thatdiminution of the penalty incurred, and the faculty, if the penitentrejects this deduction for himself, of bestowing the benefit on another. By virtue of her authoritative habits and the better to affirm hersovereignty, she regards as capital sins the omission of the ritesand ceremonies she commands, --"not going to mass on Sunday or onfête-days;[5336] eating meat on Friday or Saturday unnecessarily;" notconfessing and communing at Easter, a mortal sin which "deprives one ofthe grace of God and merits eternal punishment" as well as "to slayand to steal something of value. " For all these crimes, unforgivable inthemselves, there is but one pardon, the absolution given by thepriest, that is to say, confession beforehand, itself being one of theobservances to which we are bound by strict obligation and at the veryleast once a year. 

Through this office the Catholic priest rises above human conditions toan immeasurable height; for, in the confessional, he exercisessupreme power, that which God is to exercise at the Last Judgment, the formidable power of punishing or remitting sins, of judgment orof absolution, and, if he intervenes on the death-bed, the faculty ofconsigning the impenitent or repentant soul to an eternity of rewardsor to an eternity of damnation. [5337] No creature, terrestrial orcelestial, not even the highest of archangels, or St. Joseph or theVirgin, [5338] possesses this veritably divine prerogative. He aloneholds it through exclusive delegation, by virtue of a special sacrament, the order which assigns to him the privilege of conferring five others, and which endows him for life with a character apart, ineffaceable andsupernatural. --To render himself worthy of it, he has taken a vow ofchastity, he undertakes to root out from his flesh and his heart theconsequences of sex; he debars himself from marriage and paternity;through isolation, he escapes all family influences, curiosities andindiscretions; he belongs wholly to his office. He has prepared himselffor it long beforehand, he has studied moral theology together withcasuistry and become a criminal jurist; and his sentence is not a vaguepardon bestowed on penitents after having admitted in general terms thatthey are sinners. He is bound to weigh the gravity of their errors andthe strength of their repentance, to know the facts and details ofthe fall and the number of relapses, the aggravating or extenuatingcircumstances, and, therefore, to interrogate in order to sound the soulto its depths. If some souls are timorous, they surrender themselves tohim spontaneously and, more than this, they have recourse to him outsideof his tribunal; he marks out for them the path they must follow, heguides them at every turn; he interferes daily, he becomes a director aswas said in the seventeenth century, the titular and permanent directorof one or of many lives. [5339] This is still the case at the presentday, and especially for women and for all nuns; the central conceptionaround which all Roman ideas turn, the conception of the imperium andof government, has here found its perfect accomplishment and attained toits final outermost limits. 

There are now of these spiritual governors about 180, 000, installed inthe five regions of the world, each assigned to the leadership of about1000 souls and as special guardian of a distinct flock, all ordained bybishops instituted by the Pope, he being absolute monarch and declaredsuch by the latest council. In the new Rome as in the ancient Rome, authority has gradually become concentrated until it has centered inand is entrusted wholly to the hands of one man. Romulus, the Albanshepherd, was succeeded by Cæsar Augustus, Constantine or Theodosius, whose official title was "Your Eternal, " "Your Divine, " and whopronounced their decrees "immutable oracles. " Peter, the fisherman ofGalilee, was succeeded by infallible pontiffs whose official title is"Your Holiness, " and whose decrees, for every Catholic, are "immutableoracles" in fact as in law, not hyperbolically, but in the full senseof the words expressed by exact terms. The imperial institution has thusformed itself anew; it has simply transferred itself from one domainto another; only, in passing from the temporal order of things to thespiritual order, it has become firmer and stronger, for it has guardedagainst two defects which weakened its antique model. --One the one hand, it has provided for the transmission of supreme power; in old Rome, theydid not know how to regulate this; hence, when an interregnum occurred, the many violent competitors, the fierce conflicts, the brutalities, all the usurpations of force, all the calamities of anarchy. In CatholicRome, the election of the sovereign pontiff belongs definitively to acollege of prelates[5340] who vote according to established formalities;these elect the new pope by a majority of two-thirds, and, for more thanfour centuries, not one of these elections has been contested; betweeneach defunct pope and his elected successor, the transfer of universalobedience has been prompt and unhesitating and, during as after theinterregnum, no schism in the Church has occurred. --On the other hand, in the legal title of Cæsar Augustus there was a defect. According toRoman law, he was only the representative of the people; the communityhad delegated all its rights incorporate to him; but in it alone wasomnipotence vested. According to canon law, omnipotence was vestedsolely in God; it is not the Catholic community which possesses this anddelegates it to the Pope;[5341] his rights accrue to him from anotherand higher source. [5342] He is not the elect of the people, but theinterpreter, vicar and representative of Jesus Christ. 

III. The Church today. 

 Existing Catholicism and its distinctive traits. --Authority, its prestige and supports. --Rites, the priest, the Pope. --The Catholic Church and the modern State. --Difficulties in France born out of their respective constitutions. --

Such is the Catholic Church of to-day, a State constructed after thetype of the old Roman empire, independent and autonomous, monarchicaland centralized, with a domain not of territory but of souls andtherefore international, under an absolute and cosmopolite sovereignwhose subjects are simultaneously subjects of other non-religiousrulers. Hence, for the Catholic Church a situation apart in everycountry, more difficult than for Greek, Slavic or Protestant churches;these difficulties vary in each country according to the character ofthe State and with the form which the Catholic Church has received inthem. [5343] In France, since the Concordat, these difficulties are ofgreater gravity than elsewhere. 

When, in 1802, the Church initially received her French form, this wasa complete systematic organization, after a general and regular plan, according to which she formed only one compartment of the whole. Napoleon, by his Concordat, organic articles and ulterior decrees, in conformity with the ideas of the century and the principles of theConstituent Assembly, desired to render the clergy of all kinds, and especially the Catholic clergy, one of the subdivisions of hisadministrative staff, a corps of functionaries, mere agents assignedto religious interests as formerly to civil matters and thereforemanageable and revocable. This they all were, in fact, including thebishops, since they at once tendered their resignations at hisorder. Still, at the present day all, except the bishops, are inthis situation, having lost the ownership of their places and theindependence of their lives, through the maintenance of the consular andimperial institutions, through removal, through the destruction ofthe canonical and civil guarantees which formerly protected thelower clergy, through the suppression of the officialité; through thereduction of chapters to the state of vague shadows, through the ruptureor laxity of the local and moral tie which once attached every member ofthe clergy to a piece of land, to an organized body, to a territory, toa flock, and through the lack of ecclesiastical endowment, through thereduction of every ecclesiastic, even a dignitary, to the humble andprecarious condition of a salaried dependent. [5344]

A régime of this kind institutes in the body subject to it an almostuniversal dependence, and hence entire submission, passive obedience, and the stooping, prostrate attitude of the individual no longer able tostand upright on his own feet. [5345] The clergy to which it is appliedcannot fail to be managed from above, which is the case with thisone, through its bishops, the Pope's lieutenant-generals, who give thecountersign to all of them. Once instituted by the Pope, each bishopis the governor for life of a French province and all-powerful inhis circumscription we have seen to what height his moral and socialauthority has risen, how he has exercised his command, how he has kepthis clergy under discipline and available, in what class of society hehas found his recruits, through what drill and what enthusiasm everypriest, including himself, is now a practiced soldier and kept in check;how this army of occupation, distributed in 90 regiments and composedof 50, 000 resident priests, is completed by special bodies of troopssubject to still stricter discipline, by monastic corporations, by fouror five thousand religious institutions, nearly all of them given tolabor and benevolence; how, to the subordination and correct deportmentof the secular clergy is added the enthusiasm and zeal of the regularclergy, the entire devotion, the wonderful self-denial of 30, 000 monksand of 120, 000 nuns; how this vast body, animated by one spirit, marches steadily along with all its lay supporters towards one end. Thispurpose, forever the same, is the maintenance of its dominion over allthe souls that it has won over, and the conquest of all the souls overwhich it has not yet established its domination. 

Nothing could be more antipathetic to the French State. Built up likethe Church, after the Roman model, it is likewise authoritative andabsorbent. In the eyes of Napoleon, all these priests appointed orsanctioned by him, who have sworn allegiance to him, whom he paysannually or quarterly, belong to him in a double sense, first under thetitle of subjects, and next under the title of clerks. His successorsare still inclined to regard them in the same light; in their hands theState is ever what he made it, that is to say a monopolizer, convincedthat its rights are illimitable and that its interference everywhereis legitimate, accustomed to governing all it can and leaving toindividuals only the smallest portion of themselves, hostile to allbodies that might interpose between them and it, distrustful andill-disposed towards all groups capable of collective action andspontaneous initiation, especially as concerns proprietary bodies. A self-constituted daily overseer, a legal guardian, a perpetual andminute director of moral societies as of local societies, usurper oftheir domains, undertaker or regulator of education and of charitableenterprises, the State is ever in inevitable conflict with the Church. The latter, of all moral societies, is the most active; she does not letherself be enslaved like the others, her soul is in her own keeping;her faith, her organization, her hierarchy and her code are all her own. Against the rights of the State based on human reason, she claims rightsfounded on divine revelation, and, in self-defense, she justly findsin the French clergy, as the State organized it in 1802, the bestdisciplined militia, the best classified, the most capable of operatingtogether under one countersign and of marching in military fashion underthe impulsion that its ecclesiastical leaders choose to give it. 

Elsewhere, the conflict is less permanent and less sharp the twoconditions which aggravate it and maintain it in France are, one orboth, wanting. In other European countries, the Church has not theFrench form imposed upon it and the difficulties are less; in theUnited States of America, not only has it not undergone the Frenchtransformation, but the State, liberal in principle, interdictsitself against interventions like those of the French State and thedifficulties are almost null. Evidently, if there was any desire toattenuate or to prevent the conflict it would be through the firstor the last of these two policies. The French State, however, institutionally and traditionally, always invasive, is ever tempted totake the contrary course. [5346]--At one time, as during the last yearsof the Restoration and the first years of the second Empire, it alliesitself with the Church; each power helps the other in its domination, and in concert together they undertake to control the en tire man. In this case, the two centralizations, one ecclesiastic and the othersecular, both increasing and prodigiously augmented for a century, work together to overpower the individual. He is watched, followed up, seized, handled severely, and constrained even in his innermost being;he can no longer breathe the atmosphere around him; we can well rememberthe oppression which, after 1823 and after 1852, bore down on everyindependent character and on every free intellect. --At another time, asunder the first and the third Republic, the State sees in the Church arival and an adversary; consequently, it persecutes or worries it and weof to-day see with our own eyes how a governing minority, steadily, for a long time, gives offence to a governed majority where it ismost sensitive; how it breaks up congregations of men and drives freecitizens from their homes whose only fault is a desire to live, prayand labor in common; how it expels nuns and monks from hospitals andschools, with what detriment to the hospital and to the sick, to theschool and to the children, and against what unwillingness and whatdiscontent on the part of physicians and fathers of families, and atwhat bungling waste of public money, at what a gratuitous overburdeningof taxation already too great. 

IV. Contrasting Vistas. 

 Other difficulties of the French system. --New and scientific conception of the world. --How opposed to the Catholic conception. --How it is propagated. --How the other is defended. --Losses and gains of the Catholic Church. --Its narrow and broad domains. --Effects of Catholic and French systems on Christian sentiment in France. --Increased among the clergy and diminished in society. 

Other disadvantages of the French system are still worse. --In (thenineteenth) century, an extraordinary event occurs. Already aboutthe middle of the preceding century, the discoveries of scientists, coordinated by the philosophers, had afforded the sketch in full ofa great picture, still in course of execution and advancing towardscompletion, a picture of the physical and moral universe. In this sketchthe point of sight was fixed, the perspective designed, the variousdistances marked out, the principal groups drawn, and its outlines wereso correct that those who have since continued the work have littleto add but to give precision to these and fill them up. [5347] In theirhands, from Herschel and Laplace, from Volta, Cuvier, Ampère, Fresneland Faraday to Darwin and Pasteur, Burnouf, Mommsen and Renan, theblanks on the canvas have been covered, the relief of the figures shownand new features added in the sense of the old ones, thus completing itwithout changing in any sense the expression of the whole, but, on thecontrary, in such a way as to consolidate, strengthen and perfect themaster-conception which, purposely or not, had imposed itself on theoriginal painters, all, predecessors and successors, working fromnature and constantly inviting a comparison between the painting andthe model. --And, for one hundred years, this picture, so interesting, somagnificent, and the accuracy of which is so well guaranteed, insteadof being kept private and seen only by select visitors, as in theeighteenth century, is publicly exposed and daily contemplated by anever-increasing crowd. Through the practical application of the samescientific discoveries, owing to increased facilities for travel andintercommunication, to abundance of information, to the multitudeand cheapness of books and newspapers, to the diffusion of primaryinstruction, the number of visitors has increased enormously. [5348] Notonly has curiosity been aroused among the workmen in towns, but alsowith the peasants formerly plodding along in the routine of their dailylabor, confined to their circle of six leagues in circumference. This orthat small daily journal treats of divine and human things for a millionof subscribers and probably for three millions of readers. --Ofcourse, out of a hundred visitors, ninety of them are not capable ofcomprehending the sense of the picture; they give it only a cursoryglance; moreover, their eyes are not properly educated for it, and theyare unable to grasp masses and seize proportions. Their attention isgenerally arrested by a detail which they interpret in a wrong way, andthe mental image they carry away is merely a fragment or a caricature;basically, if they have come to see a magisterial work, it is most ofall due to vanity and so that his spectacle, which some of them enjoy, should not remain the privileged of a few. Nevertheless, howeverimperfect and confused their impressions, however false and ill-foundedtheir judgments, they have learned something important and one true ideaof their visit remains with them: of the various pictures of the worldnot one is painted by the imagination but from nature. [5349]

Now, between this picture and that which the Catholic Church presentsto them, the difference is enormous. Even with rude intellects, or mindsotherwise occupied, if the dissimilarity is not clearly perceived itis vaguely felt; in default of scientific notions, the simple hearsaycaught on the wing, and which seem to have flickered through the mindlike a flash of light over a hard rock, still subsists there in a latentstate, amalgamating and agglutinating into a solid block until atlength they form a massive, refractory sentiment utterly opposed tofaith. --With the Protestant, the opposition is neither extreme nordefinitive. His faith, which the Scriptures give him for his guidance, leads him to read the Scriptures in the original text and, hence, toread with profit, to call to his aid whatever verifies and explains anancient text, linguistics, philology, criticism, psychology, combinedwith general and particular history; thus does faith lay hold on scienceas an auxiliary. According to diverse souls, the role of the auxiliaryis more or less ample it may accordingly adapt itself to the facultiesand needs of each soul, and hence extend itself indefinitely, andalready do we see ahead the time when the two collaborators, enlightenedfaith and respectful science, will together paint the same picture, oreach separately paint the same picture twice in two different frames. --With the Slavs and Greeks, faith, like the Church and the rite, is anational thing; creed forms one body with the country, and there is lessdisposition to dispute it; besides, it is not irksome; it is simply ahereditary relic, a domestic memorial, a family icon, a summary productof an exhausted art no longer well understood and which has ceasedto produce. It is rather sketched out than completed, not one featurehaving been added to it since the tenth century; for eight hundred yearsthis picture has remained in one of the back chambers of the memory, covered with cobwebs as ancient as itself, badly lighted and rarelyvisited; everybody knows that it is there and it is spoken of withveneration; nobody would like to get rid of it, but it is not dailybefore the eyes so that it may be compared with the scientificpicture. --Just the reverse with the Catholic picture. Each century, foreight hundred years, has applied the brush to this picture; still, atthe present time we see it grow under our eyes, acquiring a strongerrelief, deeper color, a more vigorous harmony, an ever more fixed andstriking expression. --To the articles of belief which constitute thecreed for the Greek and Slavic church, thirteen subsequent Catholiccouncils have added to it many others, while the two principal dogmasdecreed by the last two councils, Transubstantiation by the council ofTrent and the Infallibility of the Pope by that of the Vatican, are justthose the best calculated to hinder forever any reconciliation betweenscience and faith. 

Thus, for Catholic nations, the dissimilarity, instead of diminishing, is aggravated; both pictures, one painted by faith and the otherby science, become more and more dissimilar, while the profoundcontradiction inherent in the two conceptions becomes glaring throughtheir very development, each developing itself apart and both ina counter-sense, one through dogmatic verdicts and through thestrengthening of discipline and the other by ever-increasing discoveriesand by useful applications, each adding daily to its authority, one byprecious inventions and the other by good works, each being recognizedfor what it is, one as the leading instructor of positive truths and theother as the leading instructor of sound morality. That is why we find acombat in each Catholic breast as to which of the two concepts is tobe accepted as guide. To every sincere mind and to one capable ofentertaining both, each is irreducible to the other. To the vulgar mind, unable to combine both in thought, they exist side by side and clashwith each other only occasionally when action demands a choice. Many intelligent, cultivated people, and even savants, especiallyspecialists, avoid confronting them, one being the support of theirreason and the other the guardian of their conscience; between them, inorder to prevent any possible conflict, they interpose in advance a wallof separation, a compartment partition, [5350]" which prevents them frommeeting and clashing. Others, at length, clever or not too clear-sightedpoliticians, try to force their agreement, either by assigning to eachits domain and in prohibiting mutual access, or by uniting both domainsthrough the semblance of bridges, by imitation stairways, and otherillusory communications which the phantasmagoria of human eloquence canalways establish between incompatible things and which procure for man, if not the acquisition of a truth, at least a pleasure in the playof words. The ascendancy of the Catholic faith over these uncertain, inconsequent, tormented souls is more or less weak or strong accordingto time, place, circumstance, individuals and groups; in the largergroup it has diminished, while it has increased in the smaller one. 

The latter comprises the regular and secular clergy with its approximaterecruits and its small body of supporters; never was it so exemplary andso fervent; the monastic institution in particular never flourished sospontaneously and more usefully. Nowhere in Europe are more missionariesformed, so many "brethren" for small schools, so many volunteers, maleand female, in the service of the poor, the sick, the infirm and ofchildren, such vast communities of women freely devoting their lives toteaching and to charity. [5351] Life in common, under uniform and strictrules, to a people like the French, more capable than any other ofenthusiasm and of emulation, of generosity and of discipline, naturallyprone to equality, sociable and predisposed to fraternity through theneed of companionship, sober, moreover, and laborious, a life in commonis no more distasteful in the convent than in the barracks, nor inan ecclesiastical army more than in a lay army, while France, alwaysGallic, affords as ready a hold nowadays to the Roman system as in thetime of Augustus. When this system obtains a hold on a soul it keepsits hold, and the belief it imposes becomes the principal guest, thesovereign occupant of the intellect. Faith, in this occupied territory, no longer allows her title to be questioned; she condemns doubt as asin, she interdicts investigation as a temptation, she presents theperil of un belief as a mortal danger, she enrolls conscience in herservice against any possible revolt of reason. At the same time that sheguards herself against attacks, she strengthens her possession; tothis end, the rites she prescribes are efficient, and their efficiency, multiplicity and convergence--confession and communion, retreats, spiritual exercises, abstinences, and ceremonies of every kind, theworship of saints and of the Virgin, of relics and images, orisons onthe lips and from the heart, faithful attendance on the services and theexact fulfillment of daily duties--all attest it. 

Through its latest acquisitions and the turn it now takes, Catholicfaith buries itself in and penetrates down to the very depths ofthe sensitive and tried souls which it has preserved from foreigninfluences; for it supplies to this chosen flock the aliment it mostneeds and which it loves the best. Below the metaphysical, abstractTrinity, of which two of the three persons are out of reach of theimagination, she has set up an historical Trinity whose personages areall perceptible to the senses, Mary, Joseph and Jesus. The Virgin, sincethe dogma of the Immaculate Conception, has risen to an extraordinaryheight; her spouse accompanies her in her exaltation;[5352] between themstands their son, child or man, which forms the Holy Family. [5353] Noworship is more natural and more engaging to chaste celibates in whosebrain a pure, vague vision is always present, the reverie of a familyconstituted without the intervention of sex. No system of worshipfurnishes so many precise objects for adoration, all the acts andoccurrences, the emotions and thoughts of three adorable lives frombirth to death and in the beyond, down to the present day. Most ofthe religious institutions founded within the past eighty years devotethemselves to meditation on one of these lives considered at some onepoint of incident or of character, either purity, charity, compassionor justice, conception, nativity or infancy, presence in the Temple, at Nazareth, at Bethany, or on Calvary, the passion, the agony, theassumption or apparition under this or that circumstance or place, andthe rest. There are now in France, under the name and patronage of SaintJoseph alone, one hundred and seventeen congregations and communitiesof women. Among so many appellations, consisting of special watchwordsdesignating and summing up the particular preferences of a devoutgroup, one name is significant there are seventy-nine congregations orcommunities of women which have devoted themselves to the heart of Maryor of Jesus or to both together. [5354] In this way, besides the narrowdevotion which is attached to the corporeal emblem, a tender pietypursues and attains its supreme end, the mute converse of the soul, notwith the dim Infinite, the indifferent Almighty who acts through generallaws, but with a person, a divine person clothed with the vesture ofhumanity and who has not discarded it, who has lived, suffered andloved, who still loves, who, in glory above, welcomes there theeffusions of his faithful souls and who returns love for love. 

All this is incomprehensible, bizarre or even repulsive to the public atlarge, and still more so to the vulgar. It sees in religion only whatis very plain, a government; and in France, it has already had enough ofgovernment temporally; add a complementary one on the spiritual side andthat will be more and too much. Alongside of the tax-collector and thegendarme in uniform, the peasant, the workman and the common citizenencounter the curé in his cassock who, in the name of the Church, as with the other two in the name of the State, gives him orders andsubjects him to rules and regulations. Now every rule is annoying andthe latter more than the others; one is rid of the tax-collector afterpaying the tax, and of the gendarme when no act is committed against thelaw; the curé is much more exacting; he interferes in domestic life andin private matters and assumes to govern man entirely. He admonishes hisparishioners in the confessional and from the pulpit, he lords it overthem even in their inmost being, and his injunctions bind them in everyact, even at home, around the fireside, at table and in bed, comprisingtheir moments of repose and relaxation, even hours of leisure and in thetavern. Villagers, after listening to a sermon against the tavern anddrunkenness, murmur and are heard to exclaim: "Why does he meddle withour affairs? Let him say his mass and leave us alone. " They need himfor baptism, marriage and burial, but their affairs do not concern him. Moreover, among the observances he prescribes, many are inconvenient, tasteless or disagreeable--fasting, Lent, a passive part in a Latinmass, prolonged services, ceremonies of which the details are allinsignificant, but of which the symbolic meaning is to-day of no accountto people in attendance; add to all this the mechanical recitation ofthe Pater and of the Ave, genuflections and crossing one's self, andespecially obligatory confession at specified dates. Nowadays the workerand the peasant manage without these constraints. In many villages, there is nobody at high mass on Sundays but women, and often, in smallnumbers, one or two troops of children led by the clerical instructorand by the "Sister, " with a few old men; the great majority of the menremain outside, under the porch and on the square before the churchchatting with each other about the crops, on local news and on theweather. 

In the eighteenth century, when a curé was obliged to report to the"intendant" the number of inhabitants of his parish, he had only tocount his communicants at the Easter service; their number was aboutthat of the adult and valid population, say one half or two fifths ofthe sum total. [5355] Now, at Paris, out of two millions of Catholics whoare of age, about one hundred thousand perform this strict duty, awareof its being strict and the imperative prescription of which isstamped in their memory by a rhyme which they have learned in theirinfancy;[5356] out of one hundred persons, this is equal to fivecommunicants, of which four are women and one is a man, in other words, about one woman out of twelve or thirteen and one man out of fifty. Inthe provinces, [5357] and especially in the country, there is good reasonfor doubling and even tripling these figures; in the latter case, themost favorable one and, without any doubt, the rarest, the proportion ofprofessed Christians is that of one to four among women and one manout of twelve. Evidently, with the others who make not attend Churchregularly, with the three women and the eleven other men, their faith isonly verbal; if they are still Catholics, it is on the outside and notwithin. 

Besides this separation from the main body and this indifference, othersigns denote disaffection and even hostility. --In Paris, at the heightof the Revolution, in May and June 1793, the shopkeepers, artisansand market-women, the whole of the common people, were stillreligious, [5358] "kneeling in the street" when the Host passed by, andbefore the relics of Saint Leu carried along in ceremonial procession, passionately fond of his worship, and suddenly melted, "ashamed, repentant and with tears in their eyes, when, inadvertently, theirJacobin rulers tolerated the publicity of a procession. Nowadays, among the craftsmen, shopkeepers and lower class of employees, thereis nothing more unpopular than the Catholic Church. Twice, underthe Restoration and the second Empire, she has joined hands with arepressive government, while its clergy has seemed to be not merely anefficient organ but, again, the central promoter of all repression. --Hence, accumulated bitterness that still survives. After 1830, thearchbishopric of Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois is sacked; in 1871 thearchbishop and other ecclesiastical hostages are murdered. For twoyears after 1830 a priest in his cassock dared not show himself inpublic;[5359] he ran the risk of being insulted in the streets; since1871, the majority of the Parisian electors, through the interpositionof the Municipal Council which they elect over and over again, persistsin driving "Brethren" and "Sisters" from the schools and hospitals inorder to put laymen in their places and pay twice as much for work notdone as well. [5360]--In the beginning, antipathy was confined to theclergy; through contamination, it reached the doctrine, to include thefaith, the entire Catholicism and even Christianity itself. Under theRestoration, it was called, in provocative language, the priest party, and under the second Empire, the clericals. Afterwards, confronting theChurch and under a contrary name, the anti-clerical league was formed byits adversaries, a sort of negative church which possessed, or triedto, its own dogmas and rites, its own assemblies and discipline: and forlack of something better, it has its own fanaticism, that of aversion;on the word being given, it marches, rank and file, against the other, its enemy, and manifests, if not its belief, at least its unbelief inrefusing or in avoiding the ministration of the priest. In Paris, twentyfunerals out of a hundred, purely civil, are not held in a church; outof one hundred marriages, twenty-five, purely civil, are not blessed bythe Church; twenty-four infants out of a hundred are not baptized. [5361]

And, from Paris to the provinces, both sentiment and example arepropagated. For sixteen years, in our parliaments elected by universalsuffrage, the majority maintains that party in power which wages waragainst the Church; which, systematically and on principle, is andremains hostile to the Catholic religion; which has its own religion forwhich it claims dominion; which is possessed by a doctrinal spirit, and, in the direction of intellects and souls, aims at substituting this newspirit for the old one; which, as far as it can, withdraws from theold one its influence, or its share in education and in charity; whichbreaks up the congregations of men, and overtaxes congregations ofwomen; which enrolls seminarians in the army, and deprives suspect curésof their salaries; in short, which, through its acts collectively andin practice, proclaims itself anti-Catholic. Many of its acts certainlydisplease the peasant. He would prefer to retain the teaching "brother"in the public school and the "sister" in the hospital as nurse or asteacher in the school; both would cost less, and he is used to theirdark dresses and their white caps; moreover, he is not ill-disposedtowards his resident curé, who is a "good fellow. " Nevertheless, in sum, the rule of the curé is not to his taste; he does not wish to have himback, and he distrusts priests, especially the aspect of their allieswho now consist of the upper bourgeoisie and the nobles. Hence, outof ten million electors, five or six millions, entertainingpartial dislikes and mute reservations, continue to vote, at leastprovisionally, for anti-Christian radicals. All this shows that, through an insensible and slow reaction, the great rural mass, followingthe example of the great urban mass, is again becoming pagan[5362]; forone hundred years the wheel turns in this sense, without stopping, andthis is serious, still more serious for the nation than for the Church. 

In France, the inner Christianity, has, for all that, through the dualeffect of its Catholic and French envelope, grown warmer among theclergy especially among the regular clergy, but is has cooled off amongthe people and it is especially here that it is needed. 

*****

Post Scriptum:

Taine died in 1893 not long after having written this. Much has happenedsince and the struggle between "Lay Republicans" and the CatholicChurch has continued. In "QUID 2000, " a French popular reference manualcontaining on page 515 some notes on the evolution of the Catholicreligion in France, we can read the following:

"1899-11-11 the police occupies l'Assomption, 6, rue François Ier. TheAugustin brothers are accused in court for breaking the law forbiddingunauthorized assemblies. . . 1900 Thomas, mayor of Kremlin-Bicêtre, forbids the wearing of the ecclesiastical costume in his town. Thisexample is followed by others. . . " Reading further we may learn thatlater in 1901 to 1904 the various Catholic orders are forbiddenor dissolved and most French Church property seized. In 1905 a lawdecreeing a separation between the State and the Church is narrowly andbitterly voted and a struggle between France and the Pope begins . . . Between 1914 and 1918 25 000 priests and seminarians are mobilized andapp. 5000 among them fall. This disarms many of the Church's enemies andin 1920 funds are appropriated for the re-establishment of the Frenchembassy to the Pope in Rome. Etc. Etc. Today the Catholic religion istolerated more or less in the same manner as Judaism, Islam etc. (SR. )

*****

[Footnote 5301: The Budget of 1881. 17, 010 desservans of small parisheshave 900 francs per annum; 4500 have 1000 francs; 9492, sixty years ofage and over, have from 1100 to 1300 francs. 2521 curés of the secondclass have from 1200 to 1300 francs; 850 curés of the first class, orrated the same, have from 1500 to 1600 francs; 65 archiprêtre curés have1600 francs, that of Paris 2400 francs; 709 canons have from 1600 to2400 francs; 193 vicars-general have from 2500 to 4000 francs. --AbbéBougaud, "le Grand Péril, " etc. , p. 23. In the diocese of Orleans, whichmay be taken as an average type, fees, comprising the receipts formasses, are from 250 to 300 francs per annum, which brings the salary ofan ordinary desservant up to about 1200 francs. ]

[Footnote 5302: The fees, etc. , of the curé of the Madeleine areestimated at about 40, 000 francs a year. The prefect of police has40, 000 francs a year, and the prefect of the Seine, 50, 000 francs. ]

[Footnote 5303: Prælectiones juris canonici, II. , 264-267. ]

[Footnote 5304: Ibid. , II. , 268. ]

[Footnote 5305: "The Ancient Régime, " pp. 119, 147. (Ed. Laffont I. Pp. 92, 115. ) (On the "Chartreuse" of Val Saint-Pierre, read the detailsgiven by Merlon de Thionville in his "Mémoires. ")]

[Footnote 5306: Prælectiones juris canonici, II. , 205. (Edict of LouisXIII. , 1629, art. 9. )]

[Footnote 5307: The following are other instances. With the "Filles deSaint-Vincent de Paule, " the superior of the "Prètres de la Mission"proposes two names and all the Sisters present choose one or the otherby a plurality of votes. Local superiors are designated by the Councilof Sisters who always reside at the principal establishment. --With the"Frères des Écoles Chrétiennes, " assembled at the call of the assistantsin function, a general chapter meets at Paris, 27 rue Oudinot. Thischapter, elected by all professed members belonging to the order, comprises 15 directors of the leading houses and 15 of the olderbrethren who have been at least fifteen years in profession. Besidesthese 30, the assistants in function, or who have resigned, and thevisitors of the houses form, by right, a part of the chapter whichcomprises 72 members. This chapter elects the general superior for tenyears. He is again eligible; he appoints for three years the directorsof houses, and he can prolong or replace them. With the Carthusians, the superior-general is elected by the professed brethren of the GrandeChartreuse who happen to be on hand when the vacancy occurs. They voteby sealed ballots unsigned, under the presidency of two priors without avote. ]

[Footnote 5308: The reader may call to mind the portrait of BrotherPhilippe by Horace Vernet. For details of the terrible mortificationsinflicted on himself by Lacordaire see his life by Father Chocarne. "Every sort of mortification which the saints prized, hair-cloth jacketsof penance, scourges, whips of every kind and form, he knew of andused. . . . He scourged himself daily and often several times during theday. During Lent and especially on Good Friday he literally scored andflayed himself alive. "]

[Footnote 5309: Notes (unpublished) by Count Chaptal. ]

[Footnote 5310: "État des congrégations, communantés et associationsreligieuses, autorisées et non-autorisées, dressé en execution"according to article 12, law of Dec. 28, 1876. (Imprimerie nationale, 1878)--"L'Institut des frères des écoles chrétiennes, " by Eugène Rendu(1882), p. 10. --Th. W. Allies, "Journal d'un voyage en France, p. 81. (Conversation with Brother Philippe, July 16, 1845. )--"Statistique deInstitut des Frères des Ecoles Chrétiennes, " Dec. 31, 1888. (Drawn up bythe head establishment. ) Out of the 121 houses of 1789, there were 117of these in France and 4 in the colonies. Out of the 1, 286 houses of1888, there are 1, 010 in France and in the colonies. The other 276 arein other countries. ]

[Footnote 5311: Émile Keller, "Les Congrégations religieuses en France"(1880), preface, xxIII. , xvIII. , and p. 492. ]

[Footnote 5312: In 1789, 37, 000 Sisters; in 1866, 86, 000 Sisters("Statistique de la France, " 1866); in 1878, 127, 753 Sisters ("État descongrégations, " etc. ). ]

[Footnote 5313:. (But today, around 1990, there are only 5 nuns per10, 000 inhabitants. SR. )]

[Footnote 5314: Émile Keller, ibid. , passim. --In many communities ofmen and of women the personal expenses of each member are not over300 francs per annum; with the Trappists at Devielle this is themaximum. --If the value of the useful labor performed by these 160, 000monks and nuns be estimated at 1000 francs per head, which is below thereal figures, the total is 160 millions per annum; estimate the expensesof each monk or nun at 500 francs per head and the total is 80 millionsa year. The net gain to the public is 80 millions per annum. ]

[Footnote 5315: "La Charité à Nancy, " by Abbé Girard, p. 245. --Thesame judgment is confirmed by the Rev. T. W. Allies, in a "Journal d'unvoyage en France, " 1848, p. 291. "The dogma of the real presence is thecentre of the whole religious life of the Church (Catholic): it is thesecret support of the priest in his mission, so painful and sofilled with abnegation. It is by this that the religious orders aremaintained. "]

[Footnote 5316: This question is examined by St. Thomas in his SummaTheologica. ]

[Footnote 5317: For the past twenty years, owing to the researches ofpsychologists and physiologists, we have begun to know something of thesubterranean regions of the mind and the latent processes taking placethere. The storing, the residue and unconscious combination of images, the spontaneous and automatic transformation of images into sensations, the composition, disassociations and splitting into dual personalitiesof the ego, the alternate or simultaneous coexistence of two, or morethan two, distinct persons in the same individual, the suggestionsaccomplished later and at fixed dates, the chock of the return fromthe inside to the outside, and the physical effect on the nervousextremities of the mental sensations, all these late discoveries haveresulted in a new conception of mind, and psychology, thus renewed, throws a sharp light on history. ]

[Footnote 5318: See in "Herodiade, " by Flaubert, the depicting ofthese "kingdoms of the world or of the century, " as they appeared toPalestinian eyes in the first century. For the first four centuries wemust consider, confronting the Church, by way of contrast and in fullrelief, the pagan and Roman world, the life of the day, especially inthe baths, at the circus, in the theatre, the gratuitous supplies offood, of physical enjoyments and of spectacles to the idle populace ofthe towns, the excesses of public and private luxury, the enormity ofunproductive expenditure, and all this in a society which, withoutour machines, supported itself by hand-labor; next, the scantiness anddearness of available capital, a legal rate of interest at twelveper cent, the latifundia, the oberati, the oppression of the workingclasses, the diminution of free laborers, the exhaustion of slaves, depopulation and impoverishment, at the end the colon attached tohis glebe, the workman to his tool, the curiale to his curie, theadministrative interference of the centralized State, its fiscalexigencies, all that it sucked out of the social body, and the morestrenuously inasmuch as there was less to be sucked out of it. Againstthese sensual habits and customs and this economic system the Church haspreserved its primitive aversion, especially on two points, in relationto the theatre and to loaning money at interest. ]

[Footnote 5319: See St. Paul's epistle to the Romans, ch. I. , 26 to 32;also the First Epistle to the Corinthians, ch. XIII. ]

[Footnote 5320: The First Epistle of John, II. 16. ]

[Footnote 5321: Acts of the Apostles, ch. IV. , 32, 34 and 35. ]

[Footnote 5322: I cannot help but conclude that the two world wars, started by Christian Governments, led to socialism and religious decay. How large a role television played in removing the need for clericalguidance and comfort is hard to determine, the fact is that the Churchesin Europe stand mostly empty and Taine's description fits rather will ontoday's society. (SR. )]

[Footnote 5323: Saint Athanasius, the principal founder of Christianmetaphysics, did not know Latin and learned it with great difficultyat Rome when he came to defend his doctrine. On the other hand, theprincipal founder of western theology, Saint Augustin, had only animperfect knowledge of Greek. ]

[Footnote 5324: For example, the three words which are essential andtechnical in metaphysical speculations on the divine essence, have noreal equivalent in Latin, while the words by which an attempt is madeto render these terms, verbum, substantia, persona, are very inexact. Persona and substantia, in Tertullian, are already used in their Romansense, which is always juridical and special. ]

[Footnote 5325: Sir Henry Sumner Maine, "Ancient Law, " p. 354. Thefollowing is profound in a remarkable degree: "Greek metaphysicalliterature contained the sole stock of words and ideas out of whichthe human mind could provide itself with the means of engaging in theprofound controversies as to the Divine Persons, the Divine Substance, and the Divine Natures. The Latin language and the meager Latinphilosophy were quite unequal to the undertaking, and accordinglythe western or Latin-speaking provinces of the Empire adopted theconclusions of the East without disputing or reviewing them. "]

[Footnote 5326: Maine, "Ancient Law, " p. 357 "The difference between thetwo theological systems is accounted for by the fact that, in passingfrom the East to the West, theological speculation had passed from aclimate of Greek metaphysics to a climate of Roman law. " Out of thisarose the Western controversies on the subject of Free-will and DivineProvidence. "The problem of Free-will arises when we contemplate ametaphysical conception under a legal aspect. "]

[Footnote 5327: Ibid. "The nature of Sin and its transmission byinheritance; the debt owed by man and its vicarious satisfaction; thenecessity and sufficiency of the Atonement; above all the apparentantagonism between Free-will and the Divine Providence-these were thepoints which the West began to debate as ardently as ever the Easthad discussed the articles of its more special creed. " This juridicalfashion of conceiving theology appears in the works of the oldest Latintheologians, Tertullian and Saint Cyprian. ]

[Footnote 5328: Ibid. Among the technical notions borrowed from law andhere used in Latin theology we may cite "the Roman penal system, theRoman theory of the obligations established by Contract or Delict, " theintercession or act by which one assumes the obligation contractedby another, "the Roman view of Debts and of the modes of incurring, extinguishing and transmitting them, the Roman notion of the continuanceof individual existence by Universal Succession, "]

[Footnote 5329: Cf. Fustel de Coulanges, "La Gaule Romaine, " p. 96and following pages, on the rapidity, facility and depth of thetransformation by which Gaul became Latinized. ]

[Footnote 5330: The Church of England, in its confession of faith, makesthis express declaration. ]

[Footnote 5331: As called by Joseph de Maistre, referring to the Greekchurch. ]

[Footnote 5332: Duke Sermoneta-Gaetani has shown in his geographic mapof the "Divine Comedy" the exact correspondence of this poem with the"Somme" by Saint Thomas. --It was already said of Dante in the middleages, Theologus Dantes nullius dogmatis expers. ]

[Footnote 5333: Cf. "L'Empire des tsars et les Russes, " by AnatoleLeroy-Beaulieu, vol. III. , entire, on the characteristics of theRussian clergy. ]

[Footnote 5334: Bossuet, ed. Deforis, VI. , 169. The Meaux catechism(reproduced, with some additions, in the catechism adopted by Napoleon). "What works are deemed satisfactory?"--"Works unpleasant to us imposedby the priest as a penance. "--"Repeat some of them. "--"Alms-giving, fastings, austerities, privations of what is naturally agreeable, prayers, spiritual readings. "]

[Footnote 5335: Ibid. "Why is confession ordained?"--"To humble thesinner. . . "--"Why again?"--"To submit one's self to the power of theKeys and to the judgment of the priests who have the power to punish andremit sins. "]

[Footnote 5336: Bossuet, ibid. , Catéchisme de Meaux, VI. , 140-142. ]

[Footnote 5337: "Manreze du prêtre, " by Father Caussette, I. , 37. "Do you see that young man of twenty-five who will soon traverse thesanctuary to find the sinners awaiting him? It is the God of this earthwho sanctifies him. . . Were Jesus Christ to descend into the confessionalhe would say, Ego te absolvo. He is going to say with the sameauthority, Ego te absolvo. Now this is an act of the supreme power;it is greater, says Saint Augustin, than the creation of heaven andearth. "--T. W. Allies, "Journal d'un voyage en France, " 1845, p. 97. "Confession is the chain which binds all Christian life. "]

[Footnote 5338: "Manreze du prêtre, " I. , 36. "The Mother of Godhas undoubtedly more credit than you, but she has less authority. Undoubtedly, she accords favors, but she has not given one singleabsolution. "]

[Footnote 5339: Could one imagine that Stalin, that that apostate formerstudent expelled from the Tiflis Theological Seminary, would, on readingTaine's text, have conceived the idea of having communist missionaries, directed by the KGB in Moscow, direct an army of agents inside thecapitalist world? (SR. )]

[Footnote 5340: Like a central committee of the communist party? (SR. )]

[Footnote 5341: Prælectiones juris canonici, I. , 101. "The powerentrusted to St. Peter and the apostles is wholly independent of thecommunity of believers. "]

[Footnote 5342: Here Lenin pretended to install the Proletariat andannounced its (his own) dictatorship. (SR. )]

[Footnote 5343: Here we have a clear model for an InternationalCommunist Party, tasked with the creation of a visible organizationwhenever this is possible, but with an invisible structure ofmissionaries, recruiters, controllers, policemen and agents, since anybourgeois state must, once it discovers the party's true aims, forbid itand drive it underground. To the Christian dream of an eternal life inheaven or hell, the communist movement has its promise of a millenaryon earth contrasted by the immediate annihilation of any traitor ordangerous opponent. (SR. )]

[Footnote 5344: "Cours alphabétique et méthodique du droit canon, " byAbbé André, and "Histoire générale de Église, vol. XIII. , by Bercastelet Henrion. The reader will find in these two works an exposition ofthe diverse statutes of the Catholic Church in other countries. Each ofthese statutes differs from ours in one or several important articles;the fixed, or even territorial, endowment of the clergy, the nominationto the episcopate by the chapter, or by the clergy of the diocese, orby the bishops of the province, public competition for curacies, irremovability, participation of the chapter in the government of thediocese, restoration of the officialité; return to the prescriptions ofthe Council of Trent (Cf. Especially the Concordats between the HolySee and Prussia, Bavaria, Wurtemberg, Baden, the two Hesses, Belgium, Austria, Spain, and the statutes accepted or established by the Holy Seein Ireland and the United States. )]

[Footnote 5345: The brothers Allignol, "De l'État actuel du clergé enFrance, " p. 248. "The mind of the desservant is no longer his own. Lethim beware of any personal sentiment or opinion!. . . He must ceasebeing himself and must lose, it may be said, his personality. "--Ibid. , preface, XIX. "Both of us, placed in remotes country parishes, . . . Arein a position to know the clergy of the second class well, to which, fortwenty years, we belong. "]

[Footnote 5346: The principal means of action of the State is the rightof appointing bishops. The Pope, however, installs them; consequently, the Minister of Worship must have an understanding beforehand withthe nuncio, which obliges it to nominate candidates irreproachable indoctrine and morals, but it avoids nominating ecclesiastics that areeminent, enterprising or energetic; once installed and not removable, they would cause trouble. Such, for example, was M. Pie, bishopof Poitiers, nominated by M. De Falloux in the time of thePrince-President, and so annoying during the Empire; in order to keephim in check, M. Levert, the cleverest and most adroit prefect, had tobe sent to Poitiers; for many years they waged the most desperate warunder proper formalities, each playing against the other the shrewdestand most disagreeable tricks. Finally, M. Levert, who had lost adaughter and was denounced from the pulpit, was obliged, on account ofhis wife's feelings, to leave the place. (This happened to my ownknowledge, as between 1852 and 1867 I visited Poitiers five times. ) Atthe present day, the Catholics complain that the government nominatesnone but mediocre men for bishops and accepts none others for cantonalcurés. (Today, in 1999, we can look back on a century of quarrelling, even war, between Rome and Paris with the separation of the CatholicChurch and the State in 1905, sequestration of all church property, impoverishment of the clergy, interdiction of the different orders, papal bulls, ending in 1914 when the State had to concentrate all efforttowards winning the war. Today the church is allowed to operate but itsinfluence is much reduced as it the case for all the religions since theadvent of the consumer society with television etc. SR. )]

[Footnote 5347: "The Ancient Régime, " pp 171, 181, 182. (Ed. Laffont I. , p. 129 to 139. )]

[Footnote 5348: M. De Vitrolles, "' Mémoires, " I. , 15. (This passagewas written in 1847. ) "Under the Empire, readers were to those of thepresent day as one to a thousand. Newspapers, in very small number, scarcely obtained circulation. The public informed itself aboutvictories, as well as the conscription, in the articles of the'Moniteur, ' posted by the prefects. "--From 1847 to 1891, we all knowby our own experience that the number of readers has augmentedprodigiously. ]

[Footnote 5349: I wonder what Taine would have said of television, thatsystem which allows its producers to make all mankind believe that thelies and figments of the imaginations put in front of them show the trueand real world as it is. (SR. )]

[Footnote 5350: An expression by Renan in relation to Abbé Lehir, anaccomplished professor of Hebrew. ]

[Footnote 5351: Th. W. Allies, rector of Launton, "Journal d'un voyageen France, " p. 245. (A speech by Father Ravignan, August 3, 1848) "Whatnation in the Roman church is more prominent at the present day for itsmissionary labors? France, by far. There are ten French missionariesto one Italian. " Several French congregations, especially the "PetitesSoeurs des Pauvres" and the "Frères des Écoles Chrétiennes, " are sozealous and so numerous that they overflow outside of France and havemany establishments abroad. ]

[Footnote 5352: "Manreze du prêtre, " by Father Caussette, II. , 419: "Nowthat I have placed one of your hands in those of Mary let me place theother in those of Saint Joseph. . . . Joseph, whose prayers in heaven arewhat commands to Jesus were on earth. Oh, what a sublime patron, andwhat powerful patronage!. . . Joseph, associated in the glory of divinepaternity;. . . Joseph, who counts twenty-three kings among his ancestors!"Along with the month of the year devoted to the adoration of Mary, thereis another consecrated to Saint Joseph. ]

[Footnote 5353: "État des congrégations, " etc. (1876). Elevencongregations or communities of women are devoted to the Holy Family andnineteen others to the Child-Jesus or to the Infancy of Jesus. ]

[Footnote 5354: One of these bears the title of "Augustines del'intérieur de Marie" and another is devoted to the "Coeuragonisant deJésus. "]

[Footnote 5355: At Bourron (Seine-et-Marne), in 1789, which had 600inhabitants, the number of communicants at Easter amounted to 300; atthe present day, out of 1200 inhabitants there are 94]

[Footnote 5356: Th. W. Allies, "Journal d'un voyage en France, " III. , p. 18: "M. Dufresne (July 1845) tells us that out of 1, 000, 000 inhabitantsin Paris 300, 000 attend mass and 50, 000 are practising Christians. "--(Aconversation with Abbé Petitot, curé of Saint-Louis d'Antin, July7. 1847. ) "2, 000, 000 out of 32, 000, 000 French are really Christiansand go to confession. "--At the present day (April 1890) an eminent andwell-informed ecclesiastic writes: "I estimate the number of those whoobserve Easter at Paris at about 100, 000. "--"The number of professingChristians varies a great deal according to parishes: Madeleine, 4, 500out of 29, 000 inhabitants; Saint Augustin, 6, 500 out of 29, 000; SaintEustache, 1, 750 out of 20, 000; Bellancourt, 500 out of 10, 000; Grenelle, 1, 500 out of 47, 500; and Belleville, 1, 500 out of 60, 000 inhabitants. "]

[Footnote 5357: Abbé Bougaud, "Le Grand Péril, " etc. , p. 44: "I know abishop who, on reaching his diocese, tried to ascertain how many of the400, 000 souls entrusted to his keeping performed their Easter duties. Hefound 37, 000. At the present day, owing to twenty years of effort, this number reaches 55, 000. Thus, more than 300, 000 are practicallyunbelievers. "--"Vie de Mgr. Dupanloup, " by Abbé Lagrange, I. , 5'. (Pastoral letter by Mgr. Dupanloup, 1851. ) "He considers that he isanswerable to God for nearly 350, 000 souls, of which 200, 000 at leastdo not fulfill their Easter duties; scarcely 45, 000 perform this greatduty. "]

[Footnote 5358: "The Revolution, " II. , 390. (Ed. Laff. I. , p. 177. )]

[Footnote 5359: Th. -W. Allies, "Journal, " etc. , p. 240 (Aug. 2, 1848, conversation with Abbé Petitot):" In 1830, the priests were obligedfor two years to abandon wearing their costume in the street, and onlyrecovered their popularity by their devotion to the sick at the timeof the cholera. "--In 1848, they had won back respect and sympathy; "thepeople came and begged them to bless their liberty-poles. "--Abbé Petitotadds: "The church gains ground every day, but rather among the upperthan the lower classes. "]

[Footnote 5360: Émile Keller, "Les Congrégations, " etc. , p. 362 (with thefigures in relation to Schools). --"Débats" of April 27, 1890 (withthe figures in relation to hospitals. Deaths increased in the eighteensecularized hospitals at the rate of four per cent). ]

[Footnote 5361: Fournier de Flaix, "Journal de la Société deStatistique, " number for Sep. 1890, p. 260. (According to registers keptin the archiepiscopal archives in Paris)--"Compte-rendu des operationsdu Conseil d'administration des pompes funèbres à Paris" (1889):funerals wholly civil in 1882, 19. 33 per cent; in 1888, 19. 04 per cent;in 1889, 18. 63 per cent. --"Atlas de statistique municipale. " ("Débats"of July 10, 1890:) The poorer the arrondissement, the greater thenumber of civil funerals; Ménilmontant wins hands down, one third of thefunerals here being civil. ]

[Footnote 5362: Abbé Joseph Roux (curé at first of Saint-Silvain, nearTulle, and then in a small town of Corrèze), "Pensées, " p. 132 (1886):"There is always something of the pagan in the peasant. He is originalsin in all its brutish simplicity. "--"The peasant passed from paganismto Christianity mostly through miracles; he would go back at less costfrom Christianity to paganism. . . . It is only lately that amonster exists, the impious peasant. . . . The rustic, in spite ofschool-teachers, even in spite of the curés, believes in sorcerers and insorcery the same as the Gauls and Romans. "--Therefore the means employedagainst him are wholly external. ("Vie de Mgr. Dupanloup, " by AbbéLagrange, pastoral notes of Mgr. Dupanloup, I. , 64. ) "What has provedof most use to you in behalf of religion in your diocese during the lastfifteen years? Is it through this--is it through that? No, it is throughmedals and crosses. Whatever is given to these good people affords thempleasure; they like to have presents of Our Lord and the Blessed Virgin. These objects, with them, stand for religion. A father who comeswith his child in his arms to receive the medal will not die withoutconfessing himself. "--The reader will find on the clergy and peasantryin the south of France details and pictures taken from life inthe novels of Ferdinand Fabre ("L'abbé Tigrane, " "les Courbezons, ""Lucifer, ," "Barnabé, " "Mon Oncle Célestin, " "Xavière, " "Ma Vocation"). ]

BOOK SIXTH. PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 

CHAPTER I. PUBLIC INSTRUCTION

I. Public instruction and its three effects. 

 Public instruction and its three effects. --Influences of the master, of the pupils on each other, and of discipline. --Case in which all three tend towards producing a particular type of man. 

AT fixed intervals a man, in a room, gathers around him children, youths, a group of young people, ten, twenty, thirty or more; he talksto them for one or two hours and they listen to him. They sit alongsideof each other, look in each other's faces, touch each other's elbows, feel that they are class-mates, of the same age and occupied with thesame tasks. They form a society and in two ways, one with another andall with the master. Hence they live under a statute: every society hasone of its own, spontaneous or imposed on it; as soon as men, little orbig, come together in any number, in a drawing-room, in a café, in thestreet, they find themselves subject to a local charter, a sort of codewhich prescribes to them, or interdicts a certain sort of conduct. Andso with the school: positive rules along with many tacit rules arehere observed and these form a mould which stamps on minds and souls alasting imprint. Whatever a public lesson may be, whatever its object, secular or ecclesiastic, whether its subject-matter is religious orscientific, from the bottom to the top of the scale, from the primaryschool and the catechism up to the great seminary, in upper schools andin the faculties, we find in abridgment the academic institution. Of allsocial engines, it is probably the most powerful and the most efficient;for it exercises three kinds of influence on the young lives it enfoldsand directs, one through the teacher, another through the fellowstudents and the last through rules and regulations. 

On the one hand, the master, considered a scholar, teaches withauthority and the pupils, who feel that they are ignorant, learn withconfidence. --On the other hand, outside of his family and the domesticcircle, the student finds in his group of comrades a new, differentand complete world which has its own ways and customs, its own sense ofhonor and its own vices, its own view of things (esprit de corps), in which independent and spontaneous judgments arise, precocious andhaphazard presentiments, expressions of opinion on all things human anddivine. It is in this environment that he begins to think for himself, in contact with others like himself and his equals, in contact withtheir ideas, much more intelligible and acceptable to him than those ofmature men, and therefore much more persuasive, contagious and exciting;these form for him the ambient, penetrating atmosphere in which histhought arises, grows and shapes itself; he here adopts his way oflooking at the great society of adults of which he is soon to becomea member, his first notions of justice and injustice, and hence ananticipated attitude of respect or of rebellion, in short, aprejudice which, according as the spirit of the group is reasonableor unreasonable, is either sound or unsound, social orantisocial. --Finally, the discipline of the school has its effect. Whatever its rules and regulations may be, whether liberal or despotic, lax or strict, monastic, military or worldly, whether a boarding or aday school, mixed or exclusive, in town or in country, with predominanceof gymnastic training or intellectual efforts, with the mind given tothe study of things or to the study of words, the pupil enters intoa ready-made setting. According to the diversities of this settingor framework he practices different exercises; he contracts differenthabits; he is developed or stunted physically or morally, in one senseor in a contrary sense. Hence, just as the system is good or bad, hebecomes more or less capable or incapable of bodily or mental effort, of reflection, of invention, of taking the initiative, of starting anenterprise, of subordinating himself to a given purpose, of willing, persistent association, that is to say, in sum, of playing an active anduseful part on the stage of the world he is about to enter upon. Observethat this apprenticeship in common, sitting on benches according tocertain regulations and under a master, lasts six, ten, fifteen yearsand often twenty; that girls are not exempt from it; that not one boyout of a hundred is educated to the end at home by a private teacher;that, in secondary and even in superior instruction, the school wheelturns uniformly and without stopping ten hours a day if the scholarboards outside, and twenty-four hours a day if he boards within; thatat this age the human clay is soft, that it has not yet received itsshape, that no acquired and resistant form yet protects it from thepotter's hand, against the weight of the turning-wheel, against thefriction of other morsels of clay kneaded alongside of it, against thethree pressures, constant and prolonged, which compose public education. 

Evidently, there is here an enormous force, especially if the threepressures, instead of opposing each other, as often happens, combine andconverge towards the production of a certain finished type of man; if, from infancy to youth and from youth to adult age, the successive stagesof preparation are superposed in such a way as to stamp the adopted typedeeper and with more exactness; if all the influences and operationsthat impress it, near or far, great or small, internal or external, formtogether a coherent, defined, applicable and applied system. Let theState undertake its fabrication and application, let it monopolizepublic education, let it become its regulator, director and contractor, let it set up and work its machine throughout the length and breadth ofthe land, let it, through moral authority and legal constraint, forcethe new generation to enter therein--it will find twenty years laterin these minors who have become major, the kind and number of ideas itaimed to provide, the extent, limit and form of mind it approves of, andthe moral and social prejudice that suits its purposes. 

II. Napoleon's Educational Instruments. 

 Napoleon's aim. --University monopoly. --Revival and multitude of private schools. --Napoleon regards them unfavorably. --His motives. --Private enterprises compete with public enterprise. --Measures against them. --Previous authorization necessary and optional suppression of them. --Taxes on free education in favor of the university. --Decree of November, 1811. --Limitation of secondary teaching in private schools. --How the university takes away their pupils. --Day-schools as prescribed. --Number of boarders limited. --Measures for the restriction or assimilation of ecclesiastical schools. --Recruits forcibly obtained in prominent and ill-disposed families. --Napoleon the sole educator in his empire. 

Such is the aim of Napoleon:[6101]

"In the establishment of an educational corps, " he says tohimself, [6102] "my principal aim is to secure the means for directingpolitical and moral opinions. "

Still more precisely, he counts on the new institution to set up andkeep open for inspection a universal and complete police registry. "Thisregistry must be organized in such a way as to keep notes on each childafter age of nine years. "[6103] Having seized adults he wants to seizechildren also, watch and shape future Frenchmen in advance; brought upby him, in his hands or in sight, they become ready-made a assistants, docile subjects and more docile than their parents. [6104] Amongst thelatter, there are still to many unsubmissive and refractory spirits, toomany royalists and too many republicans; domestic traditions from familyto family contradict each other or vary, and children grow up in theirhomes only to clash with each other in society afterwards. Let usanticipate this conflict; let us prepare them for concord; all broughtup in the same fashion, they will some day or other find themselvesunanimous, [6105] not only apparently, as nowadays through fear or force, but in fact and fundamentally, through inveterate habit and by previousadaptation of imagination and affection. Otherwise, "there will beno stable political state" in France;[6106] "so long as one grows upwithout knowing whether to be a republican or monarchist, Catholicor irreligious, the State will never form a nation; it will rest onuncertain and vague foundations; it will be constantly exposed todisorder and change. "--Consequently, he assigns to himself the monopolyof public instruction; he alone is to enjoy the right to manufacture andsell this just like salt and tobacco; "public instruction, throughoutthe Empire, is entrusted exclusively to the university. No school, noestablishment for instruction whatever, " superior, secondary, primary, special, general, collateral, secular or ecclesiastic, "may be organizedoutside of the imperial university and without the authorization of itschief. "[6107]

Every factory of educational commodities within these boundaries andoperating under this direction is of two sorts. Some of them, in thebest places, interconnected and skillfully grouped, are nationalunits founded by the government, or at its command, by the communes, --faculties, lycées, colleges, and small communal schools; others, isolated and scattered about, are private institutions founded byindividuals, such as boarding-schools and institutions for secondaryinstruction, small free schools. The former, State undertakings, ruled, managed, supported and turned to account by it, according to the planprescribed by it and for the object it has proposed, are simply aprolongation of itself; it is the State which operates in them andwhich, directly and entirely, acts through them: they enjoy thereforeall its favor and the others all its disfavor. The latter, duringthe Consulate, revived or sprung up by hundreds, in all directions, spontaneously, under the pressure of necessity, and because the youngneed instruction as they need clothes, but haphazard, as requiredaccording to demand and supply, without any superior or commonregulation--nothing being more antipathetic to the governmental geniusof Napoleon:

"It is impossible, "[6108] he says, "to remain longer as we are, sinceeverybody can start an education shop the same as a cloth shop"

and furnish as he pleases, or as his customers please, this or thatpiece of stuff, even of poor quality, and of this or that fashion, even extravagant or out of date: hence so many different dresses, and ahorrible medley. One good obligatory coat, of stout cloth and suitablecut, a uniform for which the public authority supplies the pattern, iswhat should go on the back of every child, youth or young man; privateindividuals who undertake this matter are mistrusted beforehand. Evenwhen obedient, they are only half-docile; they take their own courseand have their own preferences, they follow their own taste or that ofparents. Every private enterprise, simply because it exists and thrives, constitutes a more or less independent and dissenting group, Napoleon, on learning that Sainte-Barbe, restored under the direction of M. DeLanneau, had five hundred inmates, exclaims:[6109] "How does it happenthat an ordinary private individual has so many in his house?" TheEmperor almost seems jealous; it seems as if he had just discovered arival in one corner of his university domain; this man is an usurper onthe domain of the sovereign; he has constituted himself a centre; he hascollected around him clients and a platoon; now, as Louis XIV. Said, theState must have no "platoons apart. " Since M. De Lanneau has talentand is successful, let him enter the official ranks and become afunctionary. Napoleon at once means to get hold of him, his house andhis pupils, and orders M. De Fontaines, Grand-Master of the University, to negotiate the affair; M. De Lanneau will be suitably compensated;Sainte-Barbe will be formed into a lycée, and M. De Lanneau shall beput at the head of it. Let it be noted that he is not an opponent, anirregular: M. De Fontaines himself praises his teaching, his excellentmind, his perfect exactitude, and calls him the universitarian of theuniversity. But he does not belong to it, he stands aloof and staysat home, he is not disposed to become a mere cog-wheel in the imperialmanufactory. Therefore, whether he is aware of it or not, he doesit harm and all the more according to his prosperity; his full houseempties the lycées; the more pupils he has the less they have. Privateenterprises in their essence enter into competition with publicenterprise. 

For this reason, if tolerated by the latter, it is reluctantly andbecause nothing else can be done; there are too many of them; the moneyand the means to replace them at one stroke would be wanting. Moreover, with instruction, the consumers, as with other supplies and commodities, naturally dislike monopoly; they must be gradually brought to it;resignation must come to them through habit. The State, accordingly, mayallow private enterprises to exist, at least for the time being. But, on condition of their being kept in the strictest dependence, of itsarrogating to itself the right over them of life and death, of reducingthem to the state of tributaries and branches, of utilizing them, oftransforming their native and injurious rivalry into a fruitful andforced collaboration. Not only must private schools obtain from theState its express consent to be born, for lack of which they are closedand their principals punished, [6110] but again, even when licensed, theylive subject to the good-will of the Grand-Master, who can and mustclose them as soon as he recognizes in them "grave abuses and principlescontrary to those professed by the University. " Meanwhile, theUniversity supports itself with their funds; since it alone has theright to teach, it may profit by this right, concede for money thefaculty of teaching or of being taught alongside of it, oblige everyhead of an institution to pay so much for himself and so much foreach of his pupils; in sum, here as elsewhere, in derogation of theuniversity blockade, as with the continental blockade, the state sellslicenses to certain parties. So true is this that, even with superiorinstruction, when nobody competes with it, it sells them: every graduatewho gives a course of lectures on literature or on science must paybeforehand, for the year, 75 francs at Paris and 50 francs in theprovinces. Every graduate who begin to lecture on law or medicinemust pay beforehand 150 francs at Paris and 100 francs in theprovinces. [6111] There is the same annual duty on the directors ofsecondary schools, boarding-schools and private institutions. Moreover, to obtain the indispensable license, the master of a boarding-school atParis must pay 300 francs, and in a province 200 francs; the principalof an institution in Paris pays 600 francs, and in the provinces 400francs; besides that, this license, always revocable, is granted onlyfor ten years; at the end of the ten years the titular must obtaina renewal and pay the tax anew. As to his pupils, of whatever kind, boarding scholars, day scholars, or even gratis, [6112] the Universitylevies on each a tax equal to the twentieth of the cost of full board;the director himself of the establishment is the one who fixes andlevies the tax; he is the responsible collector of it, book-keeperand the debtor. Let him not forget to declare exactly the terms of hisschool and the number of his pupils; otherwise, there is investigation, verification, condemnation, restitution, fine, censure, and the possibleclosing of his establishment. 

Regulations, stricter and stricter, tighten the cord around his neckand, in 1811, the rigid articles of the last decree draw so tight as toinsure certain strangling at short date. Napoleon counts on that. [6113]For his lycées, especially at the start, have not succeeded; they havefailed to obtain the confidence of families;[6114] the discipline is toomilitary, the education is not sufficiently paternal, the principals andprofessors are only indifferent functionaries, more or less egoist orworldly. Only former subaltern officers, rude and foul-mouthed, serveas superintendents and assistant-teachers. The holders of Statescholarships bring with them "habits fashioned out of a bad education, "or by the ignorance of almost no education at all, [6115] so that "fora child that is well born and well brought up, " their companionship islopsided and their contact as harmful as it is repulsive. Consequently, the lycées during the first years, [6116] solely filled with the fewholders of scholarships, remain deserted or scarcely occupied, whilst"the élite of the young crowd into more or less expensive privateschools. "

This élite of which the University is thus robbed must be got back. Since the young do not attend the lycée because they like it, they mustcome through necessity; to this end, other issues are rendered difficultand several are entirely barred; and better still, all those that aretolerated are made to converge to one sole central outlet, a universityestablishment, in such a way that the director of each private school, changed from a rival into a purveyor, serves the university insteadof injuring it and gives it pupils instead of taking them away. In thefirst place, his high standard of instruction is limited;[6117] evenin the country and in the towns that have neither lycée nor college, hemust teach nothing above a fixed degree; if he is the principal of aninstitution, this degree must not go beyond the class of the humanities;he must leave to the faculties of the State their domain intact, differential calculus, astronomy, geology, natural history and superiorliterature. If he is the master of a boarding-school, this degree mustnot extend beyond grammar classes, nor the first elements of geometryand arithmetic; he must leave to State lycées and colleges their domainintact, the humanities properly so called, superior lectures and meansof secondary instruction. --In the second place, in the towns possessinga lycée or college, he must teach at home only what the Universityleaves untaught;[6118] he is not deprived, indeed, of the younger boys;he may still instruct and keep them; but he must conduct all his pupilsover ten years of age to the college or lycée, where they will regularlyfollow the classes as day-scholars. Consequently, daily and twice aday, he marches them to and fro between his house and the universityestablishment; before going, in the intermission, and after the class isdismissed he examines them in the lesson they have received out ofhis house; apart from that, he lodges and feeds them, his officebeing reduced to this. He is nothing beyond a watched and serviceableauxiliary, a subaltern, a University tutor and "coach, " a sort ofunpaid, or rather paying, schoolmaster and innkeeper in its employ. 

All this does not yet suffice. Not only does the State recruit itsday-scholars in his establishment but it takes from him hisboarding-scholars. "On and after the first of November 1812, [6119] theheads of institutions and the masters of boarding-schools shall receiveno resident pupils in their houses above the age of nine years, untilthe lycée or college, established in the same town or place where thereis a lycée, shall have as many boarders as it can take. " This complementshall be 300 boarders per lycée; there are to be "80 lycées in fulloperation "during the year 1812, and 100 in the course of the year 1813, so that, at this last date, the total of the complement demanded, without counting that of the colleges, amounts to 30, 000boarding-scholars. Such is the enormous levy of the State on the crop ofboarding-school pupils. It evidently seizes the entire crop in advance;private establishments, after it, can only glean, and through tolerance. In reality, the decree forbids them to receive boarding-scholars;henceforth, the University will have the monopoly of them. 

The proceedings against the small seminaries, more energeticcompetitors, are still more vigorous. "There shall be but one secondaryecclesiastical school in each department; the Grand-Master willdesignate those that are to be maintained; the others are to be closed. None of them shall be in the country. All those not situated in atown provided with a lycée or with a college shall be closed. Allthe buildings and furniture belonging to the ecclesiastic schoolsnot retained shall be seized and confiscated for the benefit of theUniversity. "In all places where ecclesiastical schools exist, thepupils of these schools shall be taken to the lycée or college and joinits classes. " Finally, "all these schools shall be under the control ofthe University; they must be organized only by her; their prospectus andtheir regulations must be drawn up by the council of the University atthe suggestion of the Grand Master. The teaching must be done only bymembers of the University at the disposition of the Grand Master. " Inlike manner, in the lay schools, at Sainte-Barbe for example, [6120]every professor, private tutor, or even common superintendent, mustbe provided with a special authorization by the University. Staff anddiscipline, the spirit and matter of the teaching, every detail of studyand recreation, [6121] all are imposed, conducted and restrained in theseso-called free establishments; whatever they may be, ecclesiastic orsecular, not only does the University surround and hamper them, butagain it absorbs and assimilates them; it does not even leave themany external distinctive appearance. It is true that, in the smallseminaries, the exercises begin at the ringing of a bell, and the pupilswear an ecclesiastic dress; but the priest's gown, adopted by the Statethat adopts the Church, is still a State uniform. In the other privateestablishments, the uniform is that which it imposes, the lay uniform, belonging to colleges and lycées "under penalty of being closed ";while, in addition, there is the drum, the demeanor, the habits, waysand regularity of the barracks. All initiative, all invention, alldiversity, every professional or local adaptation is abolished. [6122]M. De Lanneau thus wrote[6123]: "I am nothing but a sergeant-major oflanguid and mangled classes. . . To the tap of a drum and under militarycolors. "

Against the encroachments of this institutional university there is nolonger neither public nor private shelter, since even domestic educationat home, is not respected. In 1808, [6124] "among the old and wealthyfamilies which are not in the system, " Napoleon selects ten from eachdepartment and fifty at Paris of which the sons from sixteen to eighteenmust be compelled to go to Saint-Cyr and, on leaving it, into the armyas second lieutenants. [6125] In 1813, he adds 10, 000 more of them, manyof whom are the sons of Conventionalists or Vendéans, who, under thetitle of guards of honor, are to form a corps apart and who are at oncetrained in the barracks. All the more necessary is the subjectionto this Napoleonic education of the sons of important and refractoryfamilies, everywhere numerous in the annexed countries. Already in1802, Fourcroy had explained in a report to the legislative corps thepolitical and social utility of the future University. [6126] Napoleon, at his discretion, may recruit and select scholars among his recentsubjects; only, it is not in a lycée that he places them, but in a stillmore military school, at La Fléche, of which the pupils are all sons ofofficers and, so to say, children of the army. Towards the end of 1812, he orders the Roman prince Patrizzi to send his two sons to this school, one seventeen years of age and the other thirteen[6127]; and, to besure of them, he has them taken from their home and brought there bygendarmes. Along with these, 90 other Italians of high rank are countedat La Fléche, the Dorias, the Paliavicinis, the Alfieris, with 120 youngmen of the Illyrian provinces, others again furnished by the countriesof the Rhine confederation, in all 360 inmates at 800 per annum. Theparents might often accompany or follow their children and establishthemselves within reach of them. This privilege was not granted toPrince Patrizzi; he was stopped on the road at Marseilles and keptthere. --In this way, through the skilful combination of legislativeprescriptions with arbitrary appointments, Napoleon becomes in fact, directly or indirectly, the sole head-schoolmaster of all Frenchmen oldor newcomers, the unique and universal educator in his empire. 

III. Napoleon's machinery. 

 His machinery. --The educating body. --How its members come to realize their union. --Hierarchy of rank. --How ambition and amour-propre are gratified. --The monastic principle of celibacy. --The monastic and military principle of obedience. --Obligations contracted and discipline enforced. --The École Normale and recruits for the future university. 

To effect this purpose, he requires a good instrument, some great humanmachine which designed, put together and set up by himself, henceforthworks alone and of its own accord, without deviating or breaking down, conformably to his instructions and always under his eye, but withoutthe necessity of his lending a hand and personally interfering in itspredetermined and calculated movement. The finest engines of thissort are the religious orders, masterpieces of the Catholic, Roman andgovernmental mind, all managed from above according to fixed rules inview of a definite object, so many kinds of intelligent automatons, alone capable of working indefinitely without loss of energy, withpersistency, uniformity and precision, at the minimum of cost and themaximum of effect, and this through the simple play of their internalmechanism which, fully regulated beforehand, adapts them completely andready-made to this special service, to the social operations which arecognized authority and a superior intelligence have assigned tothem as their function. --Nothing could be better suited to the socialinstinct of Napoleon, to his imagination, his taste, his politicalpolicy and his plans, and on this point he loftily proclaims hispreferences. 

"I know, " says he to the Council of State, "that the Jesuits, as regardsinstruction, have left a very great void. I do not want to restore them, nor any other body that has its sovereign at Rome. "[6128]

Nevertheless, one is necessary. "As for myself, I would rather confidepublic education to a religious order than leave it as it is to-day, "which means free and abandoned to private individuals. "But I wantneither one nor the other. " Two conditions are requisite for the newestablishment. First of all, "I want a corporation because a corporation never dies"; it alone, through its perpetuity, maintains teaching in the way marked out for it, brings up "according to fixed principles" successive generations, thusassuring the stability of the political State, and "inspires youth witha spirit and opinions in conformity with the new laws of the empire. "And this corporation must be secular. Its members are to be State andnot Church "Jesuits";[6129] they must belong to the Emperor and not tothe Pope, and will form, in the hands of the government, a civil militiacomposed of "ten thousand persons, " administrators and professors ofevery degree, comprehending schoolmasters, an organized, coherent andlasting militia

As it must be secular, there must be no hold on it through dogmaor faith, paradise or hell, no spiritual incitements; consequently, temporal means are to be employed, not less effective, when one knowshow to manage them, --self-esteem, pride, (amour propre), competition, imagination, ambition, magnificent hopes and vague dreams of unlimitedpromotion, in short, the means and motives already maintaining thetemper and zeal of the army. "The educational corps must copy theclassification of military grades; "an order of promotion, " a hierarchyof places is to be instituted; no one will attain superior rank withouthaving passed through the inferior; "no one can become a principalwithout having been a teacher, nor professor in the higher classeswithout having taught in the lower ones. "--And, on the other hand, thehighest places will be within reach of all; "the young, who devotedthemselves to teaching, will enjoy the perspective of rising from onegrade to another, up to the highest dignities of the State. " Authority, importance, titles, large salaries, pre-eminence, precedence, --these areto exist in the University as in other public careers and furnish thewherewithal for the most magnificent dreams. [6130] "The feet of thisgreat body[6131] will be on the college benches and its head in thesenate. " Its chief, the Grand-Master, unique of his species, lessrestricted, with freer hands than the ministers themselves, is to be oneof the principal personages of the empire; his greatness will exalt thecondition and feeling of his subordinates. In the provinces, on everyfestive occasion or at every public ceremony, people will take pride inseeing their rector or principal in official costume seated alongside ofthe general or prefect in full uniform. [6132]

The consideration awarded to their chief will reflect on them; they willenjoy it along with him; they will say to themselves that they too, likehim and those under him, all together, form an élite; by degrees, theywill feel that they are all one body; they will acquire the spirit ofthe association and attach themselves to the University, the same as asoldier to his regiment or like a monk to his brethren in a monastery. 

Thus, as in a monastic order, one must join the University by "goinginto the orders. "[6133]--"I want, " says Napoleon, "some solemnityattached to this act. My purpose is that the members of the corps ofinstruction should contract, not as formerly, a religious engagement, but a civil engagement before a notary, or before the justice of thepeace, or prefect, or other (officer). . . . They will espouse educationthe same as their forerunners espoused the Church, with this difference, that the marriage will not be as sacred, as indissoluble. [6134]. . . Theywill engage themselves for three, six, or nine years, and not resignwithout giving notice a certain number of years beforehand. " To heightenthe resemblance, "the principle of celibacy must be established, in thissense, that a man consecrated to teaching shall not marry until afterhaving passed through the first stages of his career; "for example, "theschoolmasters shall not marry before the age of twenty-five or thirtyyears, after having obtained a salary of three or four thousand francsand economized something. " But, at bottom, marriage, a family, privatelife, all natural and normal matters in the great world of society, arecauses of trouble and weakness in a corps where individuals, to begood organs, must give themselves up wholly and without reserve. "Infuture, [6135] not only must schoolmasters, but, again, the principalsand censors of the lycées, and the principals and rulers of thecolleges, be restricted to celibacy and a life in common. "--Thelast complementary and significant trait, which gives to the secularinstitution the aspect of a convent, is this: "No woman shall have alodging in, or be admitted into, the lycées and colleges. "

Now, let us add to the monastic principle of celibacy the monastic andmilitary principle of obedience; the latter, in Napoleon's eyes, isfundamental and the basis of the others; this principle being accepted, a veritable corporation exists; members are ruled by one head andcommand becomes effective. [6136] "There will be, " says Napoleon, "acorps of instructors, if all the principals, censors and professors haveone or several chiefs, the same as the Jesuits had their general andtheir provincial, " like the soldiers of a regiment with their coloneland captain. The indispensable link is found; individuals, in this way, keep together, for they are held by authorities, under one regulation. As with a volunteer in a regiment, or a monk who enters a convent, the members of the University will accept its total régime in advance, present and future, wholly and in detail, and will subject themselvesunder oath. "They are to take an engagement[6137] to faithfully observethe statutes and regulations of the University. They must promiseobedience to the Grand-Master in everything ordered by him for theservice of the Emperor, and for the advantage of education. They mustengage not to quit the educational corps and abandon their functionsbefore having obtained the Grand-Master's consent. They are to acceptno other public or private salaried function without the authenticpermission of the Grand-Master. They are bound to give notice to theGrand-Master and his officers of whatever comes to their knowledge thatis opposed to the doctrine and principles of the educational corpsin the establishments for public instruction. " There are many otherobligations, indefinite or precise, [6138] of which the sanction isnot only moral, but, again, legal, all notable and lasting, an entiresurrender of the person who suffers more or less profoundly at havingaccepted them, and whose compulsory resignation must be assured bythe fear of punishment. "Care must be taken[6139] to insure severediscipline everywhere: the professors themselves are to be subjectin certain cases to the penalty of arrest; they will lose no moreconsideration on this account than the colonels who are punished in thesame manner. "[6140] It is the least of all penalties; there are othersof greater and greater gravity, [6141] "the reprimand in presence of anacademical board, censure in presence of the University board, transferto an inferior office, suspension with or without entire or partialdeprivation of salary, half-pay or put on the retired list, or strickenoff the University roll, " and, in the latter case, "rendered incapableof obtaining employment in any other public administration. "--"Everymember of the University[6142] who shall fail to conform to thesubordination established by the statutes and regulations, or in respectdue to superiors, shall be reprimanded, censured or suspended fromhis functions according to the gravity of the case. " In no case may hewithdraw of his own accord, resign at will, and voluntarily returnto private life; he is bound to obtain beforehand the Grand-Master'sassent; and, if the latter refuses this, he must renew his applicationthree times, every two months, with the formalities, the delays andthe importunacy of a long procedure; failing in which, he is notonly stricken from the rolls, but again "condemned to a confinementproportioned to the gravity of the circumstances, " and which may last ayear. 

A system of things ending in a prison is not attractive, and isestablished only after great resistance. "We were under the necessity, "says the superior council, [6143] "of taking candidates as they couldbe found, differing infinitely in methods, principles and sentiments, accustomed to almost unlimited pardon or, at least, to being governed bythe caprices of parents and nearly all disliking the régime attempted tobe enforced on them. " Moreover, through this intervention of the State, "the local authorities find one of their most cherished prerogativeswrested from them. " In sum, "the masters detested the new dutiesimposed on them; the administrators and bishops protested againstthe appointments not made at their suggestion; fathers of familiescomplained of the new taxes they had to pay. It is said that theUniversity is known only by its imposts and by its forced regulations;again, in 1811, most of its masters are incompetent, or intractable, andof a bad spirit. --There is still another reason for tightening the cordthat binds them into a corporation. "The absolute subordination of everyindividual belonging to the University is its first necessity; withoutdiscipline and without obedience, no University could exist. Thisobedience must be prompt, and, in grave cases, where recourse mustbe had to the authority of the government, obedience must always beprovisional. " But, on this incurably refractory staff, pressure isnot enough; it has grown old and hardened; the true remedy, therefore, consists in replacing it with a younger one, more manageable, expresslyshaped and wrought out in a special school, which will be for theUniversity what Fontainebleau is for the army, what the grand seminariesare for the clergy, a nursery of subjects carefully selected andfashioned beforehand. 

Such is the object of the "École Normale. "[6144] Young students enter itat the age of seventeen and bind themselves to remain in the Universityat least ten years. [6145] Young students enter it at the age ofseventeen (for a period of 3 years) and bind themselves afterwards toremain in the University at least ten years. It is a boarding-schooland they are obliged to live in common: "individual exits are notallowed, " while "the exits in common. . . In uniform. . . Can be made onlyunder the direction and conduct of superintendent masters. . . . Thesesuperintendents inspect the pupils during their studies and recreations, on rising and on going to bed and during the night. . . No pupil isallowed to pass the hours set aside for recreation in his own roomwithout permission of the superintendent. No pupil is allowed toenter the hall of another division without the permission of twosuperintendents. . . . The director of studies must examine the booksof the pupils whenever he deems it necessary, and as often as once amonth. " Every hour of the day has its prescribed task; all exercises, including religious observances, are prescribed, each in time and place, with a detail and meticulousness, as if purposely to close all possibleissues to personal initiation and everywhere substitute mechanicaluniformity for individual diversities. "The principal duties of thepupils are respect for religion, attachment to the sovereign and thegovernment, steady application, constant regularity, docility andsubmission to superiors; whoever fails in these duties is punishedaccording to the gravity of the offense. "[6146]--In 1812, [6147] theNormal School is still a small one, scarcely housed, lodged in the upperstories of the lycée Louis le Grand, and composed of forty pupils andfour masters. But Napoleon has its eyes on it and is kept informed ofwhat goes on in it. He does not approve of the comments on the "Dialoguede Sylla et d'Eucrate, " by Montesquieu, on the "Éloge de Marc Aurèle, "by Thomas, on the "Annales" of Tacitus: "Let the young read Cæsar'scommentaries. . . Corneille, Bossuet, are the masters worth having; these, under the full sail of obedience, enter into the established order ofthings of their time; they strengthen it, they illustrate it, " theyare the literary coadjutors of public authority. Let the spirit ofthe Normal School conform to that of these great men. The Universityestablishment is the original, central workshop which forges, finishesand supplies the finest pieces, the best wheels. Just now the workshopis incomplete, poorly fitted out, poorly directed and still rudimentary;but it is to be enlarged and completed and made to turn out more andbetter work. For the time being, it produces only what is needed to fillthe annual vacancies in the lycées and in the colleges. Nevertheless, the first decree states that it is "intended to receive as many asthree hundred youths. "[6148] The production of this number will fillall vacancies, however great they may be, and fill them with products ofsuperior and authentic quality. These human products thus manufacturedby the State in its own shop, these school instruments which the Statestamps with its own mark, the State naturally prefers. It imposes themon its various branches; it puts them by order into its lycées andcolleges; at last, it accepts no others; not only does it confer onitself the monopoly of teaching, but again the preparation of themasters who teach. In 1813, [6149] a circular announces that "the numberof places that chance to fall vacant from year to year, in the variousUniversity establishments, sensibly diminishes according as theorganization of the teaching body becomes more complete and regular inits operation, as order and discipline are established, and as educationbecomes graduated and proportionate to diverse localities. The momenthas thus arrived for declaring that the Normal School is henceforth theonly road by which to enter upon the career of public instruction; itwill suffice for all the needs of the service. "

VI. Objects and sentiments. 

 Object of the educational corps and adaptation of youth to the established order of things. --Sentiments required of children and adults. --Passive acceptance of these rules. --Extent and details of school regulations. --Emulation and the desire to be at the head. --Constant competition and annual distribution of prizes. 

What is the object of this service?--Previous to the Revolution, whendirected by, or under the supervision of, the Church, its great objectwas the maintenance and strengthening of the faith of the young. Successor of the old kings, the new ruler underlines[6150] among "thebases of education, " "the precepts of the Catholic religion, " and thisphrase he writes himself with a marked intention; when first drawnup, the Council of State had written the Christian religion; Napoleonhimself, in the definitive and public decree, substitutes the narrowestterm for the broadest. [6151] In this particular, he is politic, takingone step more on the road on which he has entered through the Concordat, desiring to conciliate Rome and the French clergy by seeming to givereligion the highest place. --But it is only a place for show, similar tothat which he assigns to ecclesiastical dignitaries in public ceremoniesand on the roll of precedence. He does not concern himself withreanimating or even preserving earnest belief: far from that:

"it should be so arranged, " he says, [6152] "that young people may beneither too bigoted nor too incredulous: they should be adapted to thestate of the nation and of society. "

All that can be demanded of them is external deference, personalattendance on the ceremonies of worship, a brief prayer in Latinmuttered in haste at the beginning and end of each lesson, [6153] inshort, acts like those of raising one's hat or other public marks ofrespect, such as the official attitudes imposed by a government, authorof the Concordat, on its military and civil staff. They likewise, thelyceans and the collegians, are to belong to it and do already, Napoleonthus forming his adult staff out of his juvenile staff. 

In fact, it is for himself that he works, for himself alone, and notat all for the Church whose ascendancy would prejudice his own; muchbetter, in private conversation, he declares that he had wishedto supplant it: his object in forming the University is first andespecially "to take education out of the hands of the priests. [6154]They consider this world only as a vehicle for transportation to theother, " and Napoleon wants "the vehicle filled with good soldiers forhis armies, " good functionaries for his administrations, and good, zealous subjects for his service. --And, thereupon, in the decree whichorganizes the University, and following after this phrase written foreffect, he states the real and fundamental truth. 

"All the schools belonging to the University shall take for the basis oftheir teaching loyalty to the Emperor, to the imperial monarchy to whichthe happiness of the people is confided and to the Napoleonic dynastywhich preserves the unity of France and of all liberal ideas proclaimedby the Constitutions. "

In other terms, the object is to plant civil faith in the breastsof children, boys and young men, to make them believe in the beauty, goodness and excellence of the established order of things, topredispose their minds and hearts in favor of the system, to adaptthem to this system, [6155] to the concentration of authority and to thecentralization of services, to uniformity and to "falling into line"(encadrement), to equality in obeying, to competition, to enthusiasm, in short, to the spirit of the reign, to the combinations of thecomprehensive and calculating mind which, claiming for itself andappropriating for its own use the entire field of human action, sets upits sign-posts everywhere, its barriers, its rectilinear compartments, lays out and arranges its racecourses, brings together and introducesthe runners, urges them on, stimulates them at each stage, reduces theirsoul to the fixed determination of getting ahead fast and far, leavingto the individual but one motive for living, that of the desire tofigure in the foremost rank in the career where, now by choice and nowthrough force, he finds himself enclosed and launched. [6156]

For this purpose, two sentiments are essential with adults and thereforewith children:

The first is the passive acceptance of a prescribed regulation, andnowhere does a rule applied from above bind and direct the whole life bysuch precise and multiplied injunctions as under the University régime. School life is circumscribed and marked out according to a rigid, unique system, the same for all the colleges and lycées of the Empire, according to an imperative and detailed plan which foresees andprescribes everything even to the minutest point, labor and rest of mindand of body, material and method of instruction, class-books, passagesto translate or to recite, a list of fifteen hundred volumes for eachlibrary with a prohibition against introducing another volume into itwithout the Grand-Master's permission, hours, duration, applicationand sessions of classes, of studies, of recreations and of promenadescausing the premeditated stifling of native curiosity, of spontaneousinquiry, of inventive and personal originality, both with the mastersand still more, with the scholars. This to such an extent that oneday, under the second Empire, a minister, drawing out his watch, couldexclaim with satisfaction, "At this very time, in such a class, all the scholars of the Empire arestudying a certain page in Virgil. "

Well--informed, judicious, impartial and even kindly-disposedforeigners, [6157] on seeing this mechanism which everywhere substitutesfor the initiative from below the compression and impetus from above, are very much surprised. "The law means that the young shall never forone moment be left to themselves; the children are under their masters'eyes all day" and all night. Every step outside of the regulations isa false one and always arrested by the ever-present authority. And, incases of infraction, punishments are severe; "according to the gravityof the case, [6158] the pupils will be punished by confinement from threedays to three months in the lycée or college, in some place assigned tothat purpose; if fathers, mothers or guardians object to these measures, the pupil must be sent home and can no longer enter any other collegeor lycée belonging to the university, which, as an effect of universitymonopoly, thereafter deprives him of instruction, unless his parents arewealthy enough to employ a professor at home. "Everything that can beeffected by rigid discipline is thus obtained[6159] and better, perhaps, in France than in any other country, " for if, on leaving the lycée, young people have lost a will of their own, they have acquired "alove of and habits of subordination and punctuality" which are lackingelsewhere. 

Meanwhile, on this narrow and strictly defined road, whilst theregulation supports them, emulation pushes them on. In this respect, thenew university corps, which, according to Napoleon himself, must be acompany of "lay Jesuits, " resumes to its advantage the double processwhich its forerunners, the former Jesuits, had so well employedin education. On the one hand, constant direction and incessantwatchfulness; on the other hand, the appeal to amour-propre and to theexcitements of parades before the public. If the pupil works hard, it isnot for the purpose of learning and knowing, but to be the first in hisclass; the object is not to develop in him the need of truthfulness andthe love of knowledge, but his memory, taste and literary talent; atbest, the logical faculty of arrangement and deduction, but especiallythe desire to surpass his rivals, to distinguish himself, to shine, atfirst in the little public of his companions, and next, at the end ofthe year, before the great public of grown-up men. Hence, the weeklycompositions, the register of ranks and names, every place beingnumbered and proclaimed; hence, those annual and solemn awards of prizesin each lycée and at the grand competition of all lycées, along withthe pomp, music, decoration, speeches and attendance of distinguishedpersonages. The German observer testifies to the powerful effect of aceremony of this kind[6160]:

"One might think one's self at the play, so theatrical was it;"

and he notices the oratorical tone of the speakers, "the fire of theirdeclamation, " the communication of emotion, the applause of the public, the prolonged shouts, the ardent expression of the pupils obtaining theprizes, their sparkling eyes, their blushes, the joy and the tears ofthe parents. Undoubtedly, the system has its defects; very few of thepupils can expect to obtain the first place; others lack the spur andare moreover neglected by the master. But the élite make extraordinaryefforts and, with this, there is success. "During the war times, " saysagain another German, "I lodged a good many French officers who knew onehalf of Virgil and Horace by heart. " Similarly, in mathematics, youngpeople of eighteen, pupils of the Polytechnic School, understand verywell the differential and integral calculus, and, according to thetestimony of an Englishman, [6161] "they know it better than many of theEnglish professors. "

V. Military preparation and the cult of the Emperor. 

This general preparation is specified and directed by Napoleon as apolicy, and, as he specially needs soldiers, the school, in his hands, becomes the vestibule of the barracks. Right away the institutionreceived a military turn and spirit, and this form, which is essentialto him, becomes more and more restricted. In 1805, during fourmonths, [6162] Fourcroy, ordered by the Emperor, visits the new lycées"with an inspector of reviews and a captain or adjutant-major, whoeverywhere gives instruction in drill and discipline. " The young havebeen already broke in; "almost everywhere, " he says on his return, "Isaw young people without a murmur or reflection obey even younger andweaker corporals and sergeants who had been raised to a merited rankthrough their good behavior and progress. He himself, although aliberal, finds reasons which justify to the legislative body thisunpopular practice;[6163] he replies to the objections and alarm of theparents "that it is favorable to order, without which there are no goodstudies, " and moreover "it accustoms the pupils to carrying and usingarms, which shortens their work and accelerates their promotion on beingsummoned by the conscription to the service of the State. " The tap ofthe drum, the attitude in presenting arms, marching at command, uniform, gold lace, and all that, in 1811, becomes obligatory, not only for thelycées and colleges, but again, and under the penalty of being closed, for private institutions. [6164] At the end of the Empire, there were inthe departments which composed old France 76, 000 scholars studying underthis system of stimulation and constraint. "Our masters, " as aformer pupil is to say later on, "resembled captain-instructors, ourstudy-rooms mess--rooms, our recreations drills, and our examinationsreviews. "[6165] The whole tendency of the school inclines it towards themilitary and merges therein on the studies being completed--sometimes, even, it flows into it before the term is over. After 1806, [6166] theanticipated conscriptions take youths from the benches of the philosophyand rhetoric classes. After 1808, ministerial circulars[6167] demand ofthe lycées boys (des enfants de bonne volonté), scholars of eighteen andnineteen who "know how to manoeuvre, " so that they may at once be madeunder-officers or second-lieutenants; and these the lycées furnishwithout any difficulty by hundreds. In this way, the beardless volunteerentering upon the career one or two years sooner, but gaining by thisone or two grades in rank. --"Thus, " says a principal[6168] of one of thecolleges, "the brain of the French boy is full of the soldier. As far asknowledge goes there is but little hope of it, at least under existingcircumstances. In the schools, says another witness of the reign, [6169]"the young refuse to learn anything but mathematics and a knowledge ofarms. I can recall many examples of young lads of ten or twelveyears who daily entreated their father and mother to let them go withNapoleon. "--In those days, the military profession is evidently thefirst of all, almost the only one. Every civilian is a pékin, that isto say an inferior, and is treated as such. [6170] At the door of thetheatre, the officer breaks the line of those who are waiting to gettheir tickets and, as a right, takes one under the nose of those whocame before him; they let him pass, go in, and they wait. In the café, where the newspapers are read in common, he lays hold of them as ifthrough a requisition and uses them as he pleases in the face of thepatient bourgeois. 

The central idea of this glorification of the army, be it understood, isthe worship of Napoleon, the supreme, unique, absolute sovereign of thearmy and all the rest, while the prestige of this name is as great, ascarefully maintained, in the school as in the army. At the start, he puthis own free scholars (boursiers) into the lycées and colleges, about3000 boys[6171] whom he supports and brings up at his own expense, forhis own advantage, destined to become his creatures, and who form theuppermost layer of the school population; about one hundred and fifty ofthese scholarships to each lycée, first occupants of the lycée and stillfor a long time more numerous than their paying comrades, all of a moreor less needy family, sons of soldiers and functionaries who live on theEmperor and rely on him only, all accustomed from infancy to regardthe Emperor as the arbiter of their destiny, the special, generous andall-powerful patron who, having taken charge of them now, will also takecharge of them in the future. A figure of this kind fills and occupiesthe entire field of their imagination; whatever grandeur it alreadypossesses it here becomes still more grand, colossal and superhuman. At the beginning their enthusiasm gave the pitch to theirco-disciples;[6172] the institution, through its mechanism, labors tokeep this up, and the administrators or professors, by order or throughzeal, use all their efforts to make the sonorous and ringing chordvibrate with all the more energy. After 1811, even in a privateinstitution, [6173] "the victories of the Emperor form almost the onlysubject on which the imagination of the pupils is allowed to exerciseitself. " After 1807, [6174] at Louis le Grand, the prize compositionsare those on the recent victory of Jena. "Our masters themselves, " saysAlfred de Vigny, "unceasingly read to us the bulletins of the GrandeArmée, while cries of Vive l'Empereur interrupted Virgil and Plato. " Insum, write many witnesses, [6175] Bonaparte desired to bestow on Frenchyouths the organization of the "Mamelukes, " and he nearly succeeded. More exactly and in his own words, "His Majesty[6176] desired to realizein a State of forty millions of inhabitants what had been done in Spartaand in Athens. --" But, " he is to say later, "I only half succeeded. That was one of my finest conceptions";[6177] M. De Fontanes and theother university men did not comprehend this or want to comprehend it. Napoleon himself could give only a moment of attention to his schoolwork, his halting-spells between two campaigns;[6178] in his absence, "they spoiled for him his best ideas"; "his executants "never perfectlycarried out his intentions. "He scolded, and they bowed to the storm, but not the less continued on in the usual way. " Fourcroy kept too muchof the Revolution in mind, and Fontanes too much of the ancient régime;the former was too much a man of science, and the latter too much aman of letters; with such capacities they laid too great stress onintellectual culture and too little on discipline of the feelings. Ineducation, literature and science are "secondary" matters; the essentialthing is training, an early, methodical, prolonged, irresistibletraining which, through the convergence of every means--lessons, examples and habits--inculcates "principles, " and lastingly impresseson young souls "the national doctrine, " a sort of social and politicalcatechism, the first article of which commands fanatical docility, passionate devotion, and the total surrender of one's self to theEmperor. [6179]

*****

[Footnote 6101: (and obviously the aim of all other dictatorships. (SR. ))]

[Footnote 6102: Pelet de la Lozère, 161. (Speech by Napoleon to theCouncil of State, March 11, 1806. )]

[Footnote 6103: Our last son entered the French School system at the ageof 5 in 1984 and his school record followed him from school to schooluntil he left 13 years later with his terminal exam, the Baccalaureat. (SR. )]

[Footnote 6104: What a wonderful procedure, it was to be copied andused by all the dominant rulers of the 20th century. Taine's book is, however, not to be let into immature hands, so no wonder it was hardlyever referred to by those who had profited by it. (SR. )]

[Footnote 6105: A. De Beauchamp, Recueil des lois et réglements surl'enseignement supérior, 4 vol. ( (Rapport of Fourcroy to the CorpsLégislatif, May 6, 1806. ) "How important it is. . . That the mode ofeducation admitted to be the best should add to this advantage, thatof being uniform for the whole Empire, teaching the same knowledge, inculcating the same principles on individuals who must live together inthe same society, forming in some way but one body, possessing butone mind, and all contributing to the public good through unanimity ofsentiment and action. "]

[Footnote 6106: Pelet de la Lozère, 154. ]

[Footnote 6107: A. De Beauchamp, ibid. (Decree of March 7, 1808. )--Special and collateral schools which teach subjects not taughtin the lycées, for example the living languages, which are confinedto filling a gap, and do not compete with the lycées, are subject toprevious authorization and to university pay. ]

[Footnote 6108: Pelet de la Lozère, p. 170. (Session of the Council ofState, March 20, 1806). ]

[Footnote 6109: Quicherat, "Histoire de Sainte-Barbe, " III. , 125. ]

[Footnote 6110: A. De Beauchamp, ibid. (Decrees of March 17, 1808, arts103 and 105, of Sep. 17, 1808, arts. 2 and 3 of Novem. 15, 1801, arts. 54, 55 and 56. ) "Should any one publicly teach and keep a school withoutthe Grand-Master's consent, he will be officially prosecuted by ourimperial judges, who will close the school. . . . He will be brought beforethe criminal court and condemned to a fine of from one hundred to twohundred francs, without prejudice to greater penalties, should he befound guilty of having directed instruction in a way contrary to orderand to the public interest. "--Ibid. , art. 57. (On the closing of schoolsprovided with prescribed authority. )]

[Footnote 6111: A. De Beauchamp, ibid. (Decree of Sep. 17, 1808, arts. 27, 28, 29, 30, and act passed April 7, 1809. )]

[Footnote 6112: Id. , ibid. (Decrees of March 17, 1808, art. 134; of Sep. 17, 1808, arts. 25 and 26; of Nov. 15, 1811, art. 63). ]

[Footnote 6113: Ambroise Rendu, "Essai sur l'instruction publique, " 4vols. , 1819, I. , 221. (Notice to M. De Fontanes, March 24, 1808. "Theuniversity undertakes all public institutions, and must strive to haveas few private institutions as possible. ]

[Footnote 6114: Eugène Rendu, "Ambroise Rendu et l'Université de France"(1861), pp. 25, 26. (Letter of the Emperor to Fourcroy, Floreal 3, yearXIII, ordering him to inspect the lycées and Report of Fourcroy atthe end of four months. ) "In general, the drum. The drill and militarydiscipline keep the parents in most of the towns from sending theirchildren to the lycée. . . . Advantage is taken of this measure to makeparents believe that the Emperor wants only to make soldiers. " Ibid. (Note of M. De Champagny, Minister of the Interior, written a few monthslater. ) "A large half of the heads (of the lycée) or professors is, froma moral point of view, completely indifferent. One quarter, by theirtalk, their conduct, their reputation, exhibit the most dangerouscharacter in the eyes of the youths. . . The greatest fault of theprincipals is their lack of religious spirit, religious zeal. . . . Thereare not more than two or three lycees in which this may be seen. Hencethe removal of the children by the parents which is attributed topolitical prejudices; hence the rarity of paying pupils; hence thediscredit of the lycées. In this respect opinion is unanimous. "]

[Footnote 6115: "Histoire du Collége Louis le Grand, " by Esmond, emeritus censor, 1845, p. 267 "Who were the assistant-teachers? Retiredsubaltern officers who preserved the coarseness of the camp and knew ofno virtue but passive obedience. . . . The age at which scholarships weregiven was not fixed, the Emperor's choice often falling on boys offifteen or sixteen, who presented themselves with habits already formedout of a bad education and so ignorant that one was obliged to assignthem to the lowest classes, along with children. "--Fabry, "Mémoires pourservir à l'histoire de l'instruction publique depuis 1789, " I. , 391. "The kernel of boarding-scholars, (holders of scholarships) wasfurnished by the Prytanée. Profound corruption, to which the militaryrégime gives an appearance of regularity, a cool impiety which conformsto the outward ceremonies of religion as to the movements of a drill, . . . Steady tradition has transmitted this spirit to all the pupils that havesucceeded each other for twelve years. "]

[Footnote 6116: Fabry, ibid. , vol. II. , 12, and vol. III. , 399. ]

[Footnote 6117: Decree of Nov. 15, 1811, articles 15, 16, 22. ]

[Footnote 6118: Quicherat, ibid. , III. . 93 to 105. --Up to 1809, owingto M. De Fontane's toleration, M. De Lanneau could keep one half of hispupils in his house under the name of pupils in preparatory classes, orfor the lectures in French or on commerce; nevertheless, he was obligedto renounce teaching philosophy. In 1810, he is ordered to send all hisscholars to the lycée within three months. There were at this date 400scholars in Sainte-Barbe. ]

[Footnote 6119: Decree of Nov. 15, 1811, articles 1, 4, 5, 9, 17 to 19and 24 to 32. --"Procès-verbaux des séances du conseil de l'Universitéimpériale. " (Manuscripts in the archives of the Ministry of PublicInstruction, furnished by M. A. De Beauchamp), session of March 12, 1811, note of the Emperor communicated by the Grand-Master. "His Majestyrequires that the following arrangement be added to the decree presentedto him: Wherever there is a lycée, the Grand-Master will order privateinstitutions to be closed until the lycée has all the boarders it cancontain. " The personal intervention of Napoleon is here evident;the decree starts with him; he wished it at once more rigorous, moredecidedly arbitrary and prohibitive. ]

[Footnote 6120: Quicherat, ibid. , III. , 95-105. --Ibid. , 126. After thedecree of November 15, 1811, threatening circulars follow each otherfor fifteen months and always to hold fast or annoy the heads ofinstitutions or private schools. Even in the smallest boarding-schools, the school exercises must be announced by the drum and the uniform wornunder penalty of being shut up]

[Footnote 6121: Ibid. , III. , 42. --At Sainte-Barbe, before 1808, therewere various sports favoring agility and flexibility of the body, such as running races, etc. All that is suppressed by the imperialUniversity; it does not admit that anything can be done better orotherwise than by itself. ]

[Footnote 6122: Decree of March 17, 1808, article 38. Among "the basesof teaching, " the legislator prescribes "obedience to the statutes theobject of which is the uniformity of instruction. "]

[Footnote 6123: Quicherat, III. , 128. ]

[Footnote 6124: "The Modern Régime, " I. , 164. ]

[Footnote 6125: See, for a comprehension of the full effect of thisforced education, "Les Mécontens" by Mérimée, the rôle of LieutenantMarquis Edward de Naugis. ]

[Footnote 6126: "Recueil, " by A. De Beauchamp; Report by Fourcroy, April20, 1802: "The populations which have become united with Franceand which, speaking a different language and accustomed to foreigninstitutions, need to abandon old habits and refashion themselves onthose of their new country, cannot find at home the essential means forgiving their sons the instruction, the manners and the character whichshould amalgamate them with Frenchmen. What destiny could be moreadvantageous for them and, at the same time, what a resource for thegovernment, which desires nothing so much as to attach new citizens toFrance!"]

[Footnote 6127: "Journal d'un déténu de 1807 à 1814" (I vol. , 1828, inEnglish), p. 167. (An account given by Charles Choderlos de Laclos, whowas then at La Flèche. ]

[Footnote 6128: Pelet de la Lozère, ibid. , pp. 162, 163. 167. (Speeches byNapoleon to the Council of State, sessions of Feb. 10, March 1, 11 and20, April 7, and May 21 and 29, 1806. )]

[Footnote 6129: Napoleon himself said this: "I want a corporation, notof Jesuits whose sovereign is in Rome, but Jesuits who have noother ambition but to be useful and no other interest but the publicinterest. "]

[Footnote 6130: This intention is formally expressed in the law. (Decreeof March 17, 1808, art. 30. ) "Immediately after the formation ofthe imperial university, the order of rank shall be followed in theappointment of functionaries, and no one can be assigned a place who hasnot passed through the lowest. The situations will then afford a careerwhich offers to knowledge and good behavior the hope of reaching thehighest position in the imperial university. "]

[Footnote 6131: Pelet de la Lozère, ibid. ]

[Footnote 6132: "Procès-verbaux des séances du conseil de l'Université. "(In manuscript. ) Memoir of February 1, 1811, on the means for developingthe spirit of the corporation in the University. In this memoir, communicated to the Emperor, the above motive is alleged. ]

[Footnote 6133: Pelet de la Lozère. ]

[Footnote 6134: I can imagine the effect this description of Napoleon'sgenius and inventive spirit must have had on Lenin when he lived andstudied in Paris and forged his plans for a communist state, a worldrevolution, an annihilation of the existing order and the creation of anew (and better) one. (SR. )]

[Footnote 6135: Decree of March 17, 1808, arts. 101, 102. ]

[Footnote 6136: In any pre-revolutionary society, authority must beundermined, women introduced whenever it can lessen the efficiency ofthe organization. But once the revolution has won, then Lenin's dictumabout entrusting men of administrative talent with the full authorityof the dictatorship of the proletariat is to be followed. As Taine wastranslated into German, Hitler is likely, directly or indirectly to havestudied Napoleon. Hitler's "führerprincip" a principle which gave theNazi society its terrible efficiency was probably the result. (SR. )]

[Footnote 6137: Decree of March 20, 1808, articles 40-46. ]

[Footnote 6138: For example, act of March 31, 1812, On leaves ofabsence. --Cf. The regulations of April 8, 1810, for the "École de laMaternité, " titres ix, x and xi). In this strict and special instance wesee plainly what Napoleon meant by "the police" of a school. ]

[Footnote 6139: Pelet de la Lozère, Ibid. ]

[Footnote 6140: It seems to me probable that an aspiring revolutionarylike Hitler, Lenin, Stalin or Trotsky) would attempt to copy Napoleon'sonce he had successfully taken power inside first the party and laterthe state. To enhance the dissolution of a democracy the oppositesystem, that is tenure irrespective of performance, the right to operatemilitant trade unions and to conduct strikes, would be demanded for allgovernment employees. (SR. )]

[Footnote 6141: Decree of March 17, 1808, articles 47 and 48. ]

[Footnote 6142: Decree of Nov. 15, 1811, articles 66 and 69. ]

[Footnote 6143: Procès-verbaux et papiers du conseil supérior del'Université (in manuscript). --(Two memoirs submitted to the Emperor, Feb. 1, 1811, on the means of strengthening the discipline and spirit ofthe body in the University. )--The memoir requests that the sentences ofthe university authorities be executable on the simple exequatur of thecourts; it is important to diminish the intervention of tribunals andprefects, to cut short appeals and pleadings; the University must havefull powers and full jurisdiction on its domain, collect taxes fromits taxpayers, and repress all infractions of those amenable to itsjurisdiction. (Please not the exequatur is a French ordnance by whichthe courts gives a decision by a third party or an umpire executoryforce. SR. )]

[Footnote 6144: "Statut sur l'administration, l'ensignement et la policede l'École normale, " March 30, 1810, title II, articles 20-23. ]

[Footnote 6145: Taine entered in L'Ecole Normale in October 1848, firstin his year, having written an essay in philosophy (in Latin) with thetitle: Si animus cum corpore extinguitur, quid sit Deus? Quid homo? Quidsocietas? Quid philosophia? (If the soul dies with the body what happensto God? Man? Society? Philosophy?) And an essay in French imagining thathe was Voltaire writing to his English friend Cedeville pretending togive his impressions on England. When he had arrived on 30 October 1848Taine wrote to Cornélis de Witt: "Here I am in the convent and prisonerfor three years. " (SR. )]

[Footnote 6146: I note, however, that the École Normale Superiorproduced Taine, and it seemed to have had the same effect upon him asby boarding school and its similar regime upon me, namely of making meinformed and rebellious. I have also noted that the most uninterestingand smug young people I have met have followed school systems like thatof the United States where no great effort is demanded but the peerpressure helps to produce ignorant, self-satisfied students. (SR. )]

[Footnote 6147: Villemain, "Souvenirs contemporaines, " vol. I. , 137-156. ("Une visite à l'École normale en 1812, " Napoleon's own words to M. DeNarbonne. ) "Tacitus is a dissatisfied senator, an Auteuil grumbler, whorevenges himself, pen in hand, in his cabinet. His is the spite of thearistocrat and philosopher both at once. . . . Marcus Aurelius is a sortof Joseph II. , and, in much larger proportions, a philanthropist andsectarian in commerce with the sophists and ideologues of his time, flattering them and imitating them. . . . I like Diocletian better. "--". . . Public education lies in the future and in the duration of my work afterI am gone. "]

[Footnote 6148: Decree of March 17, 1808, art. 110 and the following. ]

[Footnote 6149: Circular of Nov. 13, 1813. ]

[Footnote 6150: Decree of March 17, 1808, article 38. ]

[Footnote 6151: Pelet de la Lozere, ibid. , 158. ]

[Footnote 6152: Id. , ibid. , 168. (Session of March 20, 1806. )]

[Footnote 6153: Hermann Niemeyer, "Beobactungen auf einerDeportation-Reise nach Frankreich im J. 1807" (Halle, 1824), II. , 353. --Fabry, "Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire de l'instructionpublique, " III. , 120. (Documents and testimony of pupils showing thatreligion in the lycées is only ceremonial practice. )--Id. , Riancey, "Histoire de l'instruction publique, " II. , 378. (Reports of ninechaplains in the royal colleges in 1830 proving that the same spiritprevailed throughout the Restoration: "A boy sent to one of theseestablishments containing 400 pupils for the term of eight years hasonly eight or ten chances favoring the preservation of his faith; allthe others are against him, that is to say, out of four hundred chances, three hundred and ninety risk his being a man with no religion. "]

[Footnote 6154: Fabry, ibid. , III. , 175. (Napoleon's own words to amember of his council. )--Pelet de la Lozère, ibid. , 161: "I do not wantpriests meddling with public education. "--167: "The establishment ofa teaching corps will be a guarantee against the re-establishment ofmonks. Without that they would some day come back. "]

[Footnote 6155: Fabry, ibid, III. , 120. (Abstract of the system oflycées by a pupil who passed many years in two lycées. ) Terms for board900 francs, insufficiency of food and clothing, crowded lectures anddormitories, too many pupils in each class, profits of the principal wholives well, gives one grand dinner a week to thirty persons, deprivesthe dormitory, already too narrow, of space for a billiard-table, andtakes for his own use a terrace planted with fine trees. The censor, thesteward, the chaplain, the sub-director do the same, although to a lessdegree. The masters are likewise as poorly fed as the scholars. Thepunishments are severe, no paternal remonstrance or guidance, theunder-masters maltreated on applying the rules, despised by theirsuperiors and without any influence on their pupils. --"Libertinage, idleness self-interest animated all breasts, there being no tie offriendship uniting either the masters to the scholars nor the pupilsamongst themselves. "]

[Footnote 6156: Finding myself in charge of a numerous staff oftechnicians, artisans, operators and workers hired by the United Nationsto serve a military mission in Lebanon I was faced with motivatingeveryone, not only when they would become eligible for promotion, butalso during the daily humdrum existence. I one day coined the phrasethat "everyone wants to be important" and tried to make them feel so byinsisting that all tasks, even the most humble had to be done well. Igave preference to seniority by giving the most senior man the chance toprove himself once a higher post fell vacant. (SR. )]

[Footnote 6157: Hermann Niemeyer, "Beobachtungen, " etc. , II. , 350. "Avery worthy man, professor in one of the royal colleges, said to me:'What backward steps we have been obliged to take! How all the pleasureof teaching, all the love for our art, has been taken away from us bythis constraint!'"]

[Footnote 6158: Id. , ibid. , II. , 339. --"Decree of November 15, 1811 art. 17. "]

[Footnote 6159: Id. , ibid. , II. , 353. ]

[Footnote 6160: Hermann Niemeyer, ibid. , 366, and following pages. Onthe character, advantages and defects of the system, this testimony ofan eye-witness is very instructive and forms an almost complete picture. The subjects taught are reduced to Latin and mathematics; there isscarcely any Greek, and none of the modern languages, hardly a tinge ofhistory and the natural sciences, while philology is null; that whicha pupil must know of the classics is their "contents and their spirit"(Geist und Inhalt). --Cf. Guizot, "Essai sur l'histoire et l'état actuelde l'instruction publique, " 1816, p. 103. ]

[Footnote 6161: "Travels in France during the Years 1814 and 1815"(Edinburgh, 1816), vol. I. , p. 152. ]

[Footnote 6162: "Ambroise Rendu et l'Université de France, " by E. Rendu(1861), pp. 25 and 26. (Letter of the Emperor, Floréal 3, year XIII, andreport by Fourcroy. )]

[Footnote 6163: "Recueil, " etc. , by de Beauchamp, I. , 151. (Report tothe Corps Législatif by Fourcroy, May 6, 1806. )]

[Footnote 6164: "Procès-verbaux et papiers" (manuscripts) of thesuperior council of the University, session of March 12, 1811, note bythe Emperor communicated by the Grand-Master: "The Grand-Master willdirect that in all boarding-schools and institutions which may come intoexistence, the pupils shall wear a uniform, and that everything shall goon as in the lycées according to military discipline. " In the decree inconformity with this, of Nov. 15, 1811, the word military was omitted, probably because it seemed too crude; but it shows the thoughtbehind it, the veritable desire of Napoleon. --Quicherat, " Histoire deSainte-Barbe, " III. , 126. The decree was enforced "even in the smallestboarding-schools. "]

[Footnote 6165: Testimony of Alfred de Vigny in "Grandeur et Servitudemilitaires. " Same impression of Alfred de Musset in his "Confession d'unenfant du siècle. "]

[Footnote 6166: Quicherat, ibid. , p. 126. ]

[Footnote 6167: "The Modern Régime, " I. (Laff. I. P. 550. )]

[Footnote 6168: Hermann Niemeyer, ibid. , I. , 153. ]

[Footnote 6169: "Travels in France, " etc. , II. , 123. (Testimony of aFrench gentleman. ) "The rapid destruction of population in France causedconstant promotions, and the army became the career which offered themost chances. It was a profession for which no education was necessaryand to which all had access. There, Bonaparte never allowed merit to gounrecognized. "]

[Footnote 6170: Véron, "Mémoires d'un bourgeois de Paris, " I. , 127 (year1806). ]

[Footnote 6171: Guizot, ibid. , pp. 59 and 61. --Fabry, "Mémoires pourservir à l'histoire de l'instruction publique, " III. , 102. (On thefamilies of these favorites and on the means made use of to obtain thesescholarships. )--Jourdain, "le Budget de l'instruction publique (1857)", p. 144. --In 1809, in the 36 lycées, there are 9, 068 pupils, boardingand day scholars, of whom 4, 199 are boursiers. In 1811, there are 10, 926pupils, of whom 4, 008 are boursiers. In 1813, there are 14, 992pupils, of whom 3, 500 are boursiers. At the same epoch, in privateestablishments, there are 30, 000 pupils. ]

[Footnote 6172: Fabry, ibid. , II. , 391 (1819). (On the peopling of thelycées and colleges. ) "The first nucleus of the boarders was furnishedby the Prytanée. . . . Tradition has steadily transmitted this spirit toall the pupils that succeeded each other for the first twelve years. "--Ibid. , III. , 112 "The institution of lycees tends to creating a raceinimical to repose, eager and ambitious, foreign to the domesticaffections and of a military and adventurous spirit. "]

[Footnote 6173: Quicherat, ibid. , III. , 126. ]

[Footnote 6174: Hermann Niemeyer, ibid. , II. , 350. ]

[Footnote 6175: Fabry, ibid. , III. , 109-112. ]

[Footnote 6176: Ambroise Rendu, "Essai sur l'instruction publique, "(1819), I. , 221. (Letter of Napoleon to M. De Fontanes, March 24, 1808. )]

[Footnote 6177: "Mémorial, " June 17, 1816. ]

[Footnote 6178: Pelet de la Lozère, ibid. , 154, 157, 159. ]

[Footnote 6179: "Mémorial, " June 17, 1816. "This conception of theUniversity by Napoleon must be taken with another, of more vastproportions, which he sets forth in the same conversation and whichclearly shows his complete plan. He desired "the military classing ofthe nation, " that is to say five successive conscriptions, one above theother. The first, that of children and boys by means of the University;the second, that of ordinary conscripts yearly and effected by thedrawing by lot; the third, fourth and fifth provided by three standardsof national guard, the first one comprising young unmarried men and heldto frontier service, the second comprising men of middle age, marriedand to serve only in the department, and the third comprising aged mento be employed only in the defense of towns--in all, through these threeclasses, two millions of classified men, enrolled and armed, eachwith his post assigned him in case of invasion. "In 1810 or 1811 up tofifteen or twenty drafts of this" proposal "was read to the council ofState. The Emperor, who laid great stress on it, frequently came backto it. " We see the place of the University in his edifice: from ten tosixty years, his universal conscription was to take, first, children, then adults, and, with healthy persons, the semi-invalids, as, forinstance, Cambacérès, the arch-chancellor, gross, impotent, and, of allmen, the least military. "There is Cambacérès, " says Napoleon, "who mustbe ready to shoulder his gun if danger makes it necessary. . . . Then youwill have a nation sticking together like lime and sand, able to defytime and man. " There is constant repugnance to this by the whole Councilof State, "marked disfavor, mute and inert opposition. . . . Each membertrembled at seeing himself classed, transported abroad, " and, underpretext of internal defense, used for foreign wars. "The Emperor, absorbed with other projects, saw this plan vanish. "]

CHAPTER II. 

I. Primary Instruction. 

 Primary instruction. --Additional and special restrictions on the teacher. --Ecclesiastical supervision. --Napoleon's motives. --Limitation of primary instruction. --Ignorant monks preferred. --The imperial catechism. 

Such is secondary education, his most personal, most elaborate, mostcomplete work; the other two stories of the educational system, underand over, built in a more summary fashion, are adapted to the middlestory and form, the three together, a regular monument, of which thearchitect has skillfully balanced the proportions, distributed therooms, calculated the service and designed the facade and scenic effect. 

"Napoleon, " says a contemporary adversary, [6201] "familiar with poweronly in its most absolute form, military despotism, tried to partitionFrance in two categories, one composed of the masses, destined to fillthe ranks of his vast army, and disposed, through the brutishness whichhe was willing to maintain; to passive obedience and fanatical devotion;the other, more refined by reason of its wealth, was to lead the formeraccording to the views of the chief who equally dominated both, forwhich purpose it was to be formed in schools where, trained for aservile and, so to say, mechanical submission, it would acquire relativeknowledge, especially in the art of war and with regard to a whollymaterial administration; after this, vanity and self-interest were toattach it to his person and identify it, in some way with his system ofgovernment. "

Lighten this gloomy picture one degree and it is true. [6202] As toprimary instruction, there was no State appropriation, no creditinscribed on the budget, no aid in money, save 25, 000 francs, allottedin 1812, to the novices of the Frères Ignorantins and of which theyreceived but 4, 500 francs;[6203] the sole mark of favor accorded to thesmall schools is an exemption from the dues of the University. [6204] Hiscouncillors, with their habits of fiscal logic, proposed to exactthis tax here as elsewhere; a shrewd politician, he thinks that itscollection would prove odious and he is bound not to let his popularitysuffer among villagers and common people; it is 200, 000 francs a yearwhich he abstains from taking from them; but here his liberalities inbehalf of primary instruction stop. Let parents and the communes takethis burden on themselves, pay its expenses, seek out and hire theteacher, and provide for a necessity which is local and almost domestic. The government, which invites them to do this, will simply furnish theplan, that is to say, a set of rules, prescriptions and restrictions. 

At first, there is the authorization of the prefect, guardian of thecommune, who, having invited the commune to found a school, hashimself, through a circular, given instructions to this end, and whonow interferes in the contract between the municipal council and theteacher, to approve of or to rectify its clauses--the name of theemployee, duration of his engagement, hours and seasons for his classes, subjects to be taught, the sum total and conditions of his pay in moneyor in kind; the school grant must be paid by the commune, the schooltax by the pupils, the petty fees which help pay the teacher's livingexpenses and which he gets from accessory offices such as mayor's clerk, clock-winder, sexton, bell-ringer and chorister in the church[6205]--Atthe same time, and in addition, there is the authorization of therector; for the small as well as the average or larger schools areincluded in the University;[6206] the new master becomes a member ofthe teaching body, binds himself and belongs to it by oath, takesupon himself its obligations and submissions, comes under the specialjurisdiction of the university authorities, and is inspected, directedand controlled by them in his class and outside of his class. --Thelast supervision, still more searching and active, which close by, incessantly and on the spot, hovers over all small schools by orderand spontaneously, is the ecclesiastical supervision. A circular of theGrand-Master, M. De Fontanes, [6207] requests the bishops to instruct"messieurs les curés of their diocese to send in detailed notes on theirparish schoolmasters;" "when these notes are returned, " he says, "please address them to me with your remarks on them; according to theseindications I will approve of the instructor who merits your suffrageand he will receive the diploma authorizing him to continue in hisfunctions. Whoever fails to present these guarantees will not receive adiploma and I shall take care to replace him with another man whom youmay judge to be the most capable. "[6208]

If Napoleon thus places his small schools under ecclesiasticaloversight, it is not merely to conciliate the clergy by giving it thelead of the majority of souls, all the uncultivated souls, but because, for his own interests, he does not want the mass of the people to thinkand reason too much for themselves. 

"The Academy inspectors, "[6209] says the decree of 1811, "will see thatthe masters of the primary schools do not carry their teaching beyondreading, writing and arithmetic. "

Beyond this limit, should the instructor teach a few of the children thefirst elements of Latin or geometry, geography or history, his schoolbecomes secondary; it is then ranked as a boarding-school, while itspupils are subjected to the university recompense, military drill, uniform, and all the above specified exigencies; and yet more--it mustno longer exist and is officially closed. A peasant who reads, writesand ciphers and who remains a peasant need know no more, and, to be agood soldier, he need not know as much; moreover, that is enough, andmore too, to enable him to become an under and even a superior officer. Take, for instance, Captain Coignet, whose memoirs we have, who, to beappointed a second-lieutenant, had to learn to write and who could neverwrite other than a large hand, like young beginners. --The best mastersfor such limited instruction are the Brethren of the Christian Schoolsand these, against the advice of his counselors, Napoleon supports:

"If they are obliged, " he says, by their vows to refrain from otherknowledge than reading, writing and the elements of arithmetic, . . . It isthat they may be better adapted to their destiny. "[6210] "In comprisingthem in the University, they become connected with the civil order ofthings and the danger of their independence is anticipated. "

Henceforth, "they no longer have a stranger or a foreigner for theirchief. " "The superior-general at Rome has renounced all inspection overthem; it is understood that in France their superior-general will resideat Lyons. "[6211] The latter, with his monks, fall into the hands ofthe government and come under the authority of the Grand-Master. Sucha corporation, with the head of it in one's power, is a perfectinstrument, the surest, the most exact, always to be relied on and whichnever acts on one side of, or beyond, the limits marked out for it. Nothing pleases Napoleon more, who, * in the civil order of things, wants to be Pope;

* who builds up his State, as the Pope his Church, on old Romantradition;

* who, to govern from above, allies himself with ecclesiasticalauthority;

* who, like Catholic authorities, requires drilled executants andregimental maneuvers, only to be found in organized and special bodiesof men. [6212]

The general inspectors of the University give to each rector thefollowing instructions as a watchword "Wherever the Brethren of theChristian Schools can be found, they shall, " for primary teaching, "bepreferred to all others. "[6213] Thus, to the three classes of subjectstaught, a fourth must be added, one not mentioned by the legislatorin his law, but which Napoleon admits, which the rectors and prefectsrecommend or authorize, and which is always inscribed in the contractmade between the commune and the instructor. The latter, whether laymanor 'frère ignorantin, ' engages to teach, besides "reading, writingand decimal arithmetic, " "the catechism adopted by the Empire. "Consequently, as the first communion (of the pupil) draws near, heis careful, for at least two years, to have his scholars learn theconsecrated text by heart, and to recite this text aloud on theirbenches, article by article; in this way, his school becomes a branch ofthe Church and, hence, like the Church, a reigning instrumentality. For, in the catechism adopted for the Empire, there is one phrase carefullythought out, full and precise in its meaning, in which Napoleon hasconcentrated the quintessence of his political and social doctrineand formulated the imperative belief assigned by him as the object ofeducation. The seven or eight hundred thousand children of the lowerschools recite this potent phrase to the teacher before reciting it tothe priest:

"We especially owe to Napoleon I. , our Emperor, love, respect, obedience, fidelity, military service, and the dues (tributs) prescribedfor the preservation and defense of the Empire and the throne. . . . For itis he whom God has raised up in times of difficulty, to restorepublic worship and the holy religion of our forefathers, and to be itsprotector. "[6214]

II. Higher Education. 

 Superior instruction. --Characters and conditions of scientific universities. --Motives for opposition to them. --In what respect adverse to the French system. --How he replaces them. --Extent of secondary instruction. --Meets all wants in the new social order of things. --The careers it leads to. --Special schools. --Napoleon requires them professional and practical. --The law school. 

Superior instruction, the most important of all, remains. For, in thisthird and last stage of education, the minds and opinions of youngpeople from eighteen to twenty-four years of age are fully formed. It isthen that, already free and nearly ripe, these future occupants of busycareers, just entering into practical life, shape their first generalideas, their still hazy and half-poetic views of things, their prematureand foregone conclusions respecting man, nature, society and the greatinterests of humanity. 

If we want them to arrive at sound conclusions, a good many scales mustbe prepared for them, and these scales must be substantial, convergent, each with its own rungs of the ladder superposed, each with anindication of its total scope, each expressly designating the absent, doubtful, provisional or simply future and possible rungs, because theyare in course of formation or on trial. [6215]--Consequently, these mustall be got together in a designated place, in adjacent buildings, not alone the body of professors, the spokes-men of science, but collections, laboratories and libraries which constitute theinstruments. Moreover, besides ordinary and regular courses oflectures, there must be lecture halls where, at appointed hours, everyenterprising, knowledgeable person with something to say may speak tothose who would like to listen. Thus, a sort of oral encyclopedia isorganized, an universal exposition of human knowledge, a permanentexposition constantly renewed and open, to which its visitors, providedwith a certificate of average instruction as an entrance ticket, willsee with their own eyes, besides established science that which is underof formation, besides discoveries and proofs the way of discovering andproving, namely the method, history and general progress, the place ofeach science in its group, and of this group its place in the generalwhole. Owing to the extreme diversity of subjects taught there will beroom and occupation for the extreme diversity of intelligences. Youngminds can choose for themselves their own career, mount as high as theirstrength allows, climb up the tree of knowledge each on his own side, with his own ladder, in his own way, now passing from the branches tothe trunk and again from the trunk to the branches, now from a remotebough to the principal branch and from that again back to the trunk. 

And more than this, thanks to the co-ordination of lessons wellclassified, there is, for each course of lectures, the means forarriving at full details in all particulars; the young students cantalk amongst themselves and learn from each other, the student of moralscience from the student of the natural sciences, the latter from thestudent of the chemical or physical sciences, and another from thestudent of the mathematical sciences. Bearing still better fruit, thestudent, in each of these four circumscriptions, derives informationfrom his co-disciples lodged right and left in the nearest compartments, the jurist from the historian, from the economist, from the philologist, and reciprocally, in such a way as to profit by their impressions andsuggestions, and enable them to profit by his. He must have no otherobject in view for three years, no rank to obtain, no examination toundergo, no competition for which to make preparations, no outwardpressure, no collateral preoccupation, no positive, urgent and personalinterest to interfere with, turn aside or stifle pure curiosity. He payssomething out of his own pocket for each course of lectures he attends;for this reason, he makes the best choice he can, follows it up to theend, takes notes, and comes there, not to seek phrases and distraction, but actualities and instruction, and get full value for his money. It isassumed that knowledge is an object of exchange, foodstuffs stockpiledand delivered by the masters; the student who takes delivery isconcerned that it is of superior quality, genuine and nutritious;the masters, undoubtedly, through amour-propre and conscience, try tofurnish it this; but it is up to the student himself to fetch it, justwhat he wants, in this particular storehouse rather than in others, fromthis or that lecture-stand, official or not. To impart and to acquireknowledge for itself and for it alone, without subordinating this endto another distinct and predominant end, to direct minds towards thisobject and in this way, under the promptings and restraints of supplyand demand, to open up the largest field and the freest career to thefaculties, to labor, to the preferences of the thinking individual, master or disciple, --such is (or ought to be) the spirit of theinstitution. And, evidently, in order that it may be effective accordingto this spirit, it needs an independent, appropriate body, that is tosay, autonomous, sheltered against the interference of the State, ofthe Church, of the commune, of the province, and of all general orlocal powers, provided with rules and regulations, made a legal, civilpersonage, with the right to buy, sell and contract obligations, inshort proprietorship. 

This is no chimerical plan, the work of a speculative, calculatingimagination, which appears well and remains on paper. All theuniversities of the middle ages were organized according to this type. It found life and activity everywhere and for a long time; the twenty-two universities in France previous to the Revolution, althoughdisfigured, stunted and desiccated, preserved many of its features, certain visible externals, and, in 1811, [6216] Cuvier, who had justinspected the universities of lower Germany, describes it as he foundit, on the spot, confined to superior instruction, but finished andcomplete, adapted to modern requirements, in full vigor and in fullbloom. 

There is no room in the France to which Cuvier returns for institutionsof this stamp; they are excluded from it by the social system which hasprevailed. --First of all, public law, as the Revolution and Napoleoncomprehended it and enacted it, is hostile to them;[6217] for it setsup the principle that in a State there must be no special corporationspermanent, under their own control, supported by mort main property, acting in their own right and conducting a public service for their ownbenefit, especially if this service is that of teaching; for the Statehas taken this charge upon itself, reserved it for itself and assumedthe monopoly of it; hence, the unique and comprehensive universityfounded by it, and which excludes free, local and numerous universities. Thus, in its essence, it is the self-teaching State and notself-teaching science; thus defined, the two types are contradictory;not only are the two bodies different, but again the two spirits areincompatible; each has an aim of its own, which is not the aim of theother. In a special sense, the use to which the Emperor assigns hisuniversity is contrary to the aim of the German universities; it isfounded for his own advantage, that he may possess "the means forshaping moral and political opinions. " With this object in view itwould be wrong for him to allow several establishments within reach ofstudents in which they would be directed by science alone; it is certainthat, in many points, the direction here given to youth would poorlysquare with the rigid, uniform, narrow lines in which Napoleon wishesto confine them. Schools of this kind would get to be centers ofopposition; young men thus fashioned would become dissenters; they wouldgladly hold personal, independent opinions alongside, or outside, of"the national doctrine, " outside of Napoleonic and civil orthodoxy;and worse still, they would believe in their opinions. Having studiedseriously and at first sources, the jurist, the theologian, thephilosopher, the historian, the philologist, the economist might perhapscherish the dangerous pretension of considering himself competent evenin social matters; being a Frenchman, he would talk with assurance andindiscretion; he would be much more troublesome than a German; it wouldsoon be necessary to send him to Bicêtre or to the Temple. [6218]--Inthe present state of things, with the exigencies of the reign, and evenin the interests of the young themselves, it is essential that superiorinstruction should be neither encyclopedic nor very profound. 

Were this a defect, Frenchmen would not perceive it; they are accustomedto it. Already, before 1789, the classes in the humanities weregenerally completed by the lesson in philosophy. In this course logic, morals and metaphysics were taught. Here the young persons handled, adjusted, and knocked about more or less adroitly the formula on God, nature, the soul and science they had learned by rote. Less scholastic, abridged, and made easy, this verbal exercise has been maintained inthe lycées. [6219] Under the new régime, as well as under the old one, astring of abstract terms, which the professor thought he could explainand which the pupil thought he understood, involves young minds in amaze of high, speculative conceptions, beyond their reach and far beyondtheir experience, education and years. Because pupils play with words, they suppose that they grasp and master ideas, which fancy deprivesthem of any desire to obtain them. Consequently, in the great Frenchestablishment, young people hardly remark the lack of veritableUniversities; a liberal, broad spirit of inquiry is not aroused in them;they do not regret their inability to have covered the cycle of variedresearch and critical investigation, the long and painful road whichalone surely leads to profound general conceptions, those grand ideaswhich are verifiable and solidly based. --And, on the other hand, their quick, summary mode of preparation suffices for the positive andappreciable needs of the new society. The problem is to fill the gapsmade in it by the Revolution and to provide the annual and indispensablequota of educated youth. Now, after as before the Revolution, this isunderstood as being all who have passed through the entire seriesof classes; under the system, subject to the drill in Latin andmathematics. The young men have here acquired the habit of using clear, connected ideas, a taste for close reasoning, the art of condensing aphrase or a paragraph, an aptitude for attending to the daily businessof a worldly, civil life, especially the faculty of carrying on adiscussion, of writing a good letter, even the talent for composinga good report or memorial. [6220] A young man with these skills, some scraps of natural philosophy, and with still briefer notions ofgeography and history, has all the general, preliminary culture heneeds, all the information he requires for aspiring to one of thecareers called liberal. The choice rests with himself; he will bewhat he wants to be, or what he is able to be--professor, engineer, physician, member of the bar, an administrator or a functionary. In eachof his qualifications he renders an important service to the public, heexercises an honorable profession; let him be competent and expert, thatconcerns society. But that alone is all that society cares about; it isnot essential that it should find in him additionally an erudite or aphilosopher. 

* Let him be competent and worthy of confidence in his particularprofession, * let him know how to teach classes or frame a course of lectures, howto build a bridge, a bastion, an edifice, how to cure a disease, performan amputation, draw up a contract, manage a case in court, and givejudgment;

* let the State, for greater public convenience, organize, check, andcertify this special capacity, * let it verify this by examinations and diploma, * let it make of this a sort of coin of current value, duly minted andof proper standard;

* let this be protected against counterfeits, not only by itspreferences but again by its prohibitions, by the penalties it enactsagainst the illegal practice of pharmacy and of medicine, by theobligations it imposes on magistrates, lawyers and ministerial officialsnot to act until obtaining this or that grade, --

such is what the interest of society demands and what it may exact. According to this principle, the State creates special schools, (todayin 1998 called Grande Ecoles[6221]), and, through the indirect monopolywhich it possesses, it fills them with listeners; henceforth, these areto furnish the youth of France with superior education. [6222]

From the start, Napoleon, as logician, with his usual lucidity andprecision, lays it down that they shall be strictly practical andprofessional. "Make professors (régents) for me, " said he one dayin connection with the Ecole normale, "and not littérateurs, wits orseekers or inventors in any branch of knowledge. " In like manner says heagain, [6223]

"I do not approve of the regulation requiring a man to be bachelor(bachelier) in the sciences before he can be a bachelor in the medicalfaculty; medicine is not an exact and positive science, but a scienceof guess and observation. I should place more confidence in a doctorwho had not studied the exact sciences than in one who possessed them. I preferred M. Corvisart to M. Hallé, because M. Hallé belongs to theInstitute. M. Corvisart does not even know what two equal triangles are. The medical student should not be diverted from hospital practice, fromdissections and studies relating to his trade. "

There is the same subordination of science to the professions, the sameconcern for immediate or near application, the same utilitarian tendencyto aim at a public function or a private career, the same contraction ofstudies in the law school, in that order of truths of which Montesquieu, a Frenchman, fifty years before, had first seized the entire body, marked the connections and delineated the chart. At issue are the lawsand the "spirit of laws, " unwritten or written, by which diverse humansocieties live, of whatever form, extent and kind, --the State, commune, Church, school, army, agricultural or industrial workshop, tribeor family. These, existing or fossilized, are realities, open toobservation like plants or animals. One may, the same as with animalsand plants, observe them, describe them, compare them together, followtheir history from first to last, study their organization, classifythem in natural groups, disengage the distinctive and dominantcharacteristics in each, note its ambient surroundings and ascertainthe internal or external conditions, or "necessary relationships, " whichdetermine its failure or its bloom. For men who live together in societyand in a State, no study is so important; it alone can furnish them witha clear, demonstrable idea of what society and the State are; and it isin the law schools that this capital idea must be sought by an educatedstudent body. If they do not find it there, they invent one to suitthemselves. As 1789 drew near, the antiquated, poor, barren, teachingof law, fallen into contempt and almost null, [6224] offered no sound, accredited doctrine which could impose itself on young minds, fill theirempty minds and prevent the intrusion of utopic dreams. And intrude itdid: in the shape of Rousseau's anti-social Utopia, in his anarchicaland despotic Social Contract. To hinder it from returning, the bestthing to do was not to repeat the same mistake, not to leave the lodgingempty, to install in it a fixed occupant beforehand, and to see thatthis fixed occupant, which is science, may at all times represent itstitle of legitimate proprietor, its method analogous to that of thenatural sciences, its studies of detail from life and in the texts, itsrestricted inductions, its concordant verifications, its progressivediscoveries. This in order that, confronting every chance system andwithout these titles, minds may of themselves shut their doors, or onlyopen them provisionally, and always with a care to make the intruderpresent his letters of credit: here we have the social service renderedby the instruction in Law as given in the German mode, as Cuvier hadjust described it. Before 1789, in the University of Strasbourg, inFrance, it was thus given; but, in this condition and to this extent, itis not suitable under the new régime, and still less than under the oldone. 

Napoleon, in his preparation of jurists, wants executants and notcritics; his faculties must furnish him with men able to apply and notto give opinions on his laws. Hence, in the teaching of the law, as heprescribes it, there must be nothing of history, of political economy orof comparative law; there must be no exposition of foreign legislation, of feudal or custom law, or of canon law; no account of thetransformations which governed public and private law in Rome down tothe Digest[6225] and, after that, in France, down to the recent codes. But nothing on remote origins, on successive forms and the diverse andever-changing conditions of labor, property and the family; nothingwhich, through the law, exposes to view and brings us in contact withthe social body to which it is applied. That is to say, this or thatactive and human group, with its habits, prejudices, instincts, dangersand necessities; nothing but two dry, rigid codes, like two aerolitesfallen from the sky ready-made and all of a piece at an intervalof fourteen centuries. At first, the Institutes, [6226] "by cuttingout[6227] what is not applicable to our legislation and replacing thesematters by a comparison with much finer laws scattered through otherbooks of Roman law, " similar to the classes in the humanities, whereLatin literature is reduced to the finest passages of the classicauthors. Next, the French code, with the comments on it due to thedecisions of the court of appeals and the court of cassation. [6228] Allthe courses of lectures of the school shall be obligatory and arrangedas a whole, or tacked on to each other in a compulsory order; each stepthe student takes shall be counted, measured and verified every threemonths by a certificate, and each year by an examination; at theseexaminations there shall be no optional matters, no estimate ofcollateral studies or those of complimentary or superior importance. The student finds no attraction or benefit in studies outside ofthe programme, and, in this programme he finds only official texts, explained by the bill of fare, one by one, with subtlety, and patchedtogether as well as may be by means of distinctions and interpretations, so as to provide the understood solution in ordinary cases and aplausible solution in disputed cases, in other terms, a system ofcasuistry. [6229]

And this is just the education which suits the future practitioner. Asa celebrated professor of the second Empire says, [6230] "our younggraduates need a system of instruction which enables them to passwithout perplexity or discouragement from the school to the halls ofjustice;" to have the 2281 articles of the civil code at their fingers'ends, also the rest, hundreds and thousands of them, of the other fourcodes; to find at once in relation to each case the set of pertinentarticles, the general rule, neither too broad nor too narrow, which fitsthe particular case in question. As for law taken in itself and as awhole, they have none of that clear, full conception of it to which acomprehensive and curious mind aspires. "I know nothing of the civilcode, " said another professor, older and in closer proximity with theprimitive institution, "I teach only the Code Napoléon. " Accordingly, with his clear-sightedness and his practical and graphic imagination, Napoleon could perceive in advance the future and certain products ofhis machine, the magistrates in their bonnets, seated or standing intheir court-rooms, with the lawyers in their robes facing them pleading, and, farther on, the great consumers of stamped papers in their bureausencumbered with files of documents with the attorneys and notariesengaged in drawing them up; elsewhere, prefects, sub-prefects, prefectcouncilors, government commissioners and other officials, all at workand doing pretty well, all of them useful organs but mere organs of thelaw. The chances were small, fewer than under the ancient régime, foran erudite and independent thinker, a Montesquieu, to issue from thatschool. 

III. On Science, Reason and Truth. 

 Crowning point of the university edifice. --Faith based on criticism. --How it binds men together and forms a lay Church. --Social power of this Church. --Scientific and literary authorities. --How Napoleon enrolls them. --The Institute, an appendage of the State. 

Everywhere else, the direction and reach of superior instruction aresimilar. In the Faculties of Science and Literature, much more than inthe Faculties of Medicine and of Law, the principal employment of theprofessors is the awarding of grades. --They likewise confer the titlesof bachelor, licentiate and doctor; but the future bachelor is notprepared by them; the lycée furnishes him for the examination, freshfrom its benches; they have then no audience but future licentiates, that is to say a few schoolmasters and a licentiate at long intervalswho wants to become a doctor in order to mount upward into theuniversity hierarchy. Besides these, occasional amateurs, nearly all ofripe age, who wish to freshen their classic souvenirs, and idlers whowant to kill time, fill the lecture-room. To prevent empty benches thelecture course becomes a conférence d'Athenée, which is pleasant enoughor sufficiently general to interest or, at least, not to repel peopleof society. [6231] Two establishments remain for teaching true science tothe workers who wish to acquire it; who, in the widespread wreck of theancient régime have alone survived in the Museum of Natural History, with its thirteen chairs, and the College of France, with nineteen. Buthere, too, the audience is sparse, mixed, disunited and unsatisfactory;the lectures being public and free, everybody enters the room and leavesas he pleases during the lecture. Many of the attendants are idlers whoseek distraction in the tone and gestures of the professors, or birdsof passage who come there to warm themselves in winter and to sleep insummer. Nevertheless, two or three foreigners and half a dozen Frenchmenthoroughly learn Arabic or zoology from Silvestre de Sacy, Cuvier orGeoffroy Saint-Hilaire. That answers the purpose; they are quite enough, and, elsewhere too in the other branches of knowledge. All that isrequired is a small élite of special and eminent men--about one hundredand fifty in France in the various sciences, [6232] and, behind them, provisionally, two or three hundred others, their possible successors, competent and designated beforehand by their works and celebrity to fillthe gaps made by death in the titular staff as these occur. The latter, representatives of science and of literature, provide the indispensableadornment of the modern State. But, in addition to this, they are thedepositaries of a new force, which more and more becomes the principalguide, the influential regulator and even the innermost motor of humanaction. Now, in a centralized State, no important force must be left toitself; Napoleon is not a man to tolerate the independence of this one, allowing it to act apart and outside of limitations; he knows how toutilize it and turn it to his own advantage. He has already graspedanother force of the same order but more ancient, and, in the same way, and with equal skill, he also takes hold of the new one. 

In effect, alongside of religious authority, based on divine revelationand belonging to the clergy, there is now a lay authority founded onhuman reason, which is exercised by scientists, erudites, scholars andphilosophers. They too, in their way, form a clergy, since theyframe creeds and teach a faith; only, their preparatory and dominantdisposition is not trust and a docile mind, but distrust and the needof critical examination. With them, nearly every source of belief issuspicious. At bottom, among the ways of acquiring knowledge, theyaccept but two, the most direct, the simplest, the best tested, andagain on condition that one proves the other, the type of the firstbeing that process of reasoning by which we show that two and two makefour, and the second that experience by which we demonstrate that heatabove a certain degree melts ice, and that cold below a certain degreefreezes water. This is the sole process that is convincing; all others, less and less sure in proportion as they diverge from it, possess onlya secondary, provisional and contestable value, that which it confers onthem after verification and check. --Let us accordingly avail ourselvesof this one, and not of another, to express, restrain or suspendour judgment. So long as the intellect uses it and only it, or itsanalogues, to affirm, set aside or doubt, it is called reason, and thetruths thus obtained are definitive acquisitions. Acquired one by one, the truths thus obtained have for a long time remained scattered, inthe shape of fragments; only isolated sciences have existed or bits ofscience. About the middle of the eighteenth century these separate partsbecame united and have formed one body, a coherent system. Out of this, formerly called philosophy, that is to say a view of nature as a whole, consisting of perfect order on lasting foundations, a sort of universalnetwork which, suddenly enlarged, stretches beyond the physical worldto the moral world, taking in man and men, their faculties and theirpassions, their individual and their collective works, various humansocieties, their history, customs and institutions, their codes andgovernments, their religions, languages, literatures and fine arts, their agriculture, industries, property, the family and the rest. [6233]Then also, in each natural whole the simultaneous or successive partsare connected together; a knowledge of their mutual ties is important, and, in the spiritual order of things, one accomplishes this, as inthe material order, through scientific distrust, through criticalexamination, by credible experimentation and process. [6234]

Undoubtedly, in 1789, the work in common on this ground had resultedonly in false conceptions; but this is because instead of credibleprocesses another hasty, plausible, popular, risky and deceptive methodwas applied. People wanted to go fast, conveniently, directly, and, forguide, accepted unreason under the name of reason. Now, in the light ofdisastrous experience, there was a return to the narrow, stony, long andpainful road which alone leads, both, in speculation, to truth and, inpractice, to salvation. --Besides, this second conclusion, like the firstone, was due to recent experience. Henceforth it was evident that, inpolitical and social matters, ideas quickly descend from speculation topractice. When anybody talks to me about stones, plants, animals and thestars I must, to listen, be interested in these; if anybody talks to meabout man and society, it suffices that I am a man and a member of thatsociety; for then it concerns myself, my nearest, daily, most sensitiveand dearest interests; by virtue of being a tax-payer and a subject, acitizen and an elector, a property-owner or a proletarian, a consumer ora producer, a free-thinker or a Catholic, a father, son or husband, the doctrine is addressed to me; to affect me it has only to be withinreach, through interpreters and others that promulgate it. --This officeappertains to writers great or small, particularly to the educated whopossess wit, imagination or eloquence, a pleasing style, the art offinding readers or of making themselves understood. Owing to theirinterposition, a doctrine wrought out by the specialist or thinkerin his study, spreads around through the novel, the theatre and thelecture-room, by pamphlets, the newspaper, dictionaries, manuals andconversation, and, finally, by teaching itself. It thus enters allhouses, knocks at the door of each intellect, and, according as it worksits way more or less forcibly, contributes more or less effectivelyto make or unmake the ideas and sentiments that adapt it to the socialorder of things in which it is comprised. 

In this respect it acts like positive religions; in its way and on manyaccounts, it is one of them. In the first place, like religion, it is aliving, principal, inexhaustible fountain-head, a high central reservoirof active and directing belief. If the public reservoir is not filledby an intermittent flow, by sudden freshets, by obscure infiltrationsof the mystic faculty, it is regularly and openly fed by the constantcontributions of the normal faculties. On the other hand, confrontingfaith, by the side of that beneficent divination which, answering thedemands of conscience and the emotions, fashions the ideal world andmakes the real world conform to this, it poses the testing processwhich, analyzing the past and the present, disengages possible laws andthe probabilities of the future. Doctrine likewise has its dogmas, manydefinitive and others in the way of becoming so, and hence a full andcomplete conception of things, vast enough and clear enough, in spite ofwhat it lacks, to take in at once nature and humanity. It, too, gathersits faithful in a great church, believers and semi believers, who, consequently or inconsequently, accept its authority in whole or inpart, listen to its preachers, revere its doctors, and deferentiallyawait the decisions of its councils. Wide-spread, still uncertain andlax under a wavering hierarchy, the new Church, for a hundred yearspast, is steadily in the way of consolidation, of progressive ascendancyand of indefinite extension. Its conquests are constantly increasing;sooner or later, it will be the first of social powers. Even for thechief of an army, even for the head of a State, even to Napoleon, it iswell to become one of its great dignitaries; the second title, in modernsociety, adds a prestige to the first one: "Salary of His Majesty theEmperor and King as member of the Institute, 1500 francs;" thus beginshis civil list, in the enumeration of receipts. Already in Egypt, intentionally and for effect, he heads his proclamations with"Bonaparte, commander-in chief, member of the Institute. " "I am sure, "he says, "that the lowest drummer will comprehend it!"

Such a body, enjoying such credit, cannot remain independent. Napoleonis not content to be one of its members. He wants to hold it in hisgrasp, have it at his own disposition, and use it the same as a memberor, at least, contrive to get effective control of it. He has reservedto himself an equally powerful one in the old Catholic Church; he hasreserved to himself like equivalents in the young lay Church; and, inboth cases, he limits them, and subjects them to all the restrictionswhich a living body can support. In relation to science and religion hemight repeat word for word his utterances in relation to religion and tofaith. "Napoleon has no desire to change the belief of his populations;he respects spiritual matters; he wishes simply to dominate them withouttouching them, without meddling with them; all he desires is to makethem square with his views, with his policy, but through theinfluence of temporalities. " To this end, he negotiated with the Pope, reconstructed, as he wanted it, the Church of France, appointed bishops, restrained and directed the canonical authorities. To this end, hesettles matters with the literary and scientific authorities, gets themtogether in a large hall, gives them arm-chairs to sit in, gives by-lawsto their groups, a purpose and a rank in the State, in brief, he adopts, remakes, and completes the "National Institute" of France. [6235]

IV. Napoleon's stranglehold on science. 

 Hold of the government on the members of the Institute. --How he curbs and keeps them down. --Circle in which lay power may act. --Favor and freedom of the mathematical, physical and natural sciences. --Disfavor and restrictions on the moral sciences. --Suppression of the class of moral and political sciences. --They belong to the State, included in the imperial domain of the Emperor. --Measures against Ideology, philosophic or historic study of Law, Political Economy and Statistics. --Monopoly of History. 

This "National Institute, " is the Government's tool and an appendage ofthe State. This is in conformity with the traditions of the old monarchyand with the plans, sketched out and decreed by the revolutionaryassemblies, [6236] in conformity with the immemorial principle of Frenchlaw which enlarges the interference of the central power, not only inrelation to public instruction but to science, literature and the finearts. It is the State which has produced and shaped it, which hasgiven to it its title, which assigns it its object, its location, its subdivisions, its dependencies, its correspondences, its mode ofrecruitment, which prescribes its labors, its reports, its quarterly andannual sessions, which gives it employment and defrays its expenses. Its members receive a salary, and "the subjects elected[6237] must beconfirmed by the First Consul. " Moreover, Napoleon has only to uttera word to insure votes for the candidate whom he approves of, or toblackball the candidate whom he dislikes. Even when confirmed by thehead of the State, an election can be cancelled by his successor; in1816, [6238] Monge, Carnot, Guyton de Morveau, Grégoire, Garat, David andothers, sanctioned by long possession and by recognized merit, are to bestricken off the list. By the same sovereign right, the State admits andexcludes them, the right of the creator over his creation, and, withoutpushing his right as far as that, Napoleon uses it. 

He holds the members of his Institute in check with singular rigidity, even when, outside of the Institute and as private individuals, theyfail to observe in their writings the proper rules imposed onevery public body. The rod falls heavily on Jérôme de Lalande, themathematician and astronomer who continues the work of Montucla, publicly and in a humiliating way, the blow being given by hiscolleagues who are thus delegated for the purpose. "A member ofthe Institute, " says the imperial note, [6239] "well known for hisattainments, but now fallen into an infantile state, is not wise enoughto keep his mouth shut, and tries to have himself talked about, at onetime by advertisements unworthy of his old reputation as well as of thebody to which he belongs, and again by openly professing atheism, thegreat enemy of all social organization. " Consequently, the presidentsand secretaries of the Institute, summoned by the minister, notify theInstitute "that it must send to M. De Lalande and enjoin him not toprint anything, not cast a shadow in his old age over what he hasdone in his vigorous days to obtain the esteem of savants. " M. DeChateaubriand, in the draft for his admission address, alluding to therevolutionary role of his predecessor, Marie Chénier, observed thathe could eulogize him only as the man of letters, [6240] and, in thereception committee, six out of twelve academicians had accepted thedraft. Thereupon, Fontanes, one of the twelve, prudently abstains fromgoing to Saint-Cloud. M. De Ségur, however, president of the committee, he goes. In the evening, at the coucher, Napoleon advances to him beforethe whole court and, in that terrifying tone of voice which, even today, vibrates from the dead lines of the silent page, "Sir, " says he to him, "do the literary people really desire to setFrance ablaze?. . . How dare the Academy speak of regicides?. . . I ought toput you and M. De Fontanes, as Councillor of State and Grand-Master, inVincennes. . . . You preside over the second division of the Institute. I order you to inform it that I will not allow politics at itssessions. . . . If the class disobeys I will put an end to it as anobjectionable club!"

Thus warned, the members of the Institute remain within the circletraced out for them and, for many, the circle is sufficiently large. Letthe first division of the Institute, in the mathematical, physical andnatural sciences, Lagrange, Laplace, Legendre, Carnot, Biot, Monge, Cassini, Lalande, Burckardt and Arago, Poisson, Berthollet, Gay-Lussac, Guyton de Morveau, Vauquelin, Thénard and Haüy, Duhamel, Lamarck, Jussieu, Mirbel, Geoffroy-Saint-Hilaire and Cuvier, pursue theirresearches; let Delambre and Cuvier, in their quarterly reports, sum upand announce discoveries; let, in the second division of the Institute, Volney, Destutt de Tracy, Andrieux, Picard, Lemercier and Chateaubriand, if the latter desires to take part in its sittings, give dissertationson language, grammar, rhetoric, rules of style and of taste; let, in thethird division of the Institute, Sylvestre de Sacy publish his Arabicgrammar; let Langlés continue his Persian, Indian and Tartar studies;let Quatremère de Quincy, explaining the structure of the greatchryselephantine statues, reproduce conjecturally the surface of ivoryand the internal framework of the Olympian Jupiter; let D'Ansse deVilloison discover in Venice the commentary of the Alexandrian criticson Homer; let Larcher, Boissonade, Clavier, alongside of Coraÿ publishtheir editions of the old Greek authors--all this causes no trouble, and all is for the honor of the government. Their credit reflects onthe avowed promoter, the official patron and responsible director ofscience, erudition and talent therefore, in his own interest, he favorsand rewards them. Laurent de Jussieu and Cuvier are titular councillorsof the University, Delambre is its treasurer, and Fontanes itsGrand-Master. Delille, Boissonade and Royer-Collard and Guizot teach inthe faculty of letters; Biot, Poisson, Gay-Lussac, Haüy, Thénard, Brongniart, Geoffroy-Saint-Hilaire in the faculty of the sciences;Monge, Berthollet, Fourier, Andrieux in the Ecole Polytechnique; Pinel, Vauquelin, Jussieu, Richerand, Dupuytren in the Ecole de Médecine. Fourcroy is councillor of State, Laplace and Chaptal, after having beenministers, become senators; in 1813, there are twenty-three members ofthe Institute in the Senate; the zoologist Lacépede is grand-chancellorof the Legion of Honor; while fifty-six members of the Institute, decorated with an imperial title, are chevaliers, barons, dukes, andeven princes. [6241]--This is even one more lien, admirably serving tobind them to the government more firmly and to in-corporate them moreand more in the system. In effect, they now derive their importanceand their living from the system and the government; having becomedignitaries and functionaries they possess a password in this twofoldcapacity; henceforth, they will do well to look upward to the masterbefore expressing a thought and to know how far the password allows themto think. 

In this respect, the First Consul's intentions are clear from thevery first day: In his reconstruction of the Institute[6242] hehas suppressed "the division of moral and political sciences, " andconsequently the first four sections of this division, "analysis ofsensations and ideas, moral science, social science and legislation, and political economy. " He thus cuts off the main branch with its fourdistinct branches, and what he keeps or tolerates he trims and graftsor fastens on to another branch of the third class, that of the eruditesand antiquaries. The latter may very well occupy themselves withpolitical and moral sciences but only "in their relations with history, "and especially with ancient history. General conclusions, applicabletheories, on account of their generality, to late events and to theactual situation are unnecessary; even as applied to the State in theabstract, and in the cold forms of speculative discussion, they areforbidden. The First Consul, on the strength of this, in connection with"Dernières vues de politique et de finances, published by Necker, hasset forth his exact rule and his threatening purpose:

"Can you imagine, " says he to Roederer, "that any man, since I becamehead of the State, could propose three sorts of government for France?Never shall the daughter of M. Necker come back to Paris!"

She would then get to be a distinct center of political opinion whileonly one is necessary, that of the First Consul in his Council ofState. Again, this council itself is only half competent and at bestconsultative:

"You yourselves do not know what government is. [6243] You have no ideaof it. I am the only one, owing to my position, that can know what agovernment is. "

On this sphere, and everywhere on its undefined perimeter, afar, as faraway as his piercing eye can penetrate, no independent way of thinkingmust be conceived or, especially, published. 

In particular, the foremost and guiding science of the analysis of thehuman understanding, pursued according to the methods and after theexamples furnished by Locke, Hume, Condillac and Destutt de Tracy, ideology is forbidden. 

"It is owing to ideology, " he says, [6244] "to that metaphysicalobscurity which, employing its subtleties in trying to get at firstcauses, seeks to base the legislation of a people on that foundation, instead of appropriating laws to a knowledge of the human heart and thelessons of history, that all the misfortunes of our beautiful Francemust be attributed. "

In 1806, M. De Tracy, unable to print his "Commentaire sur l'Espritdes Lois" in France, sends it to the president of the United States, Jefferson, who translates it into English, publishes it anonymously, and has it taught in his schools. [6245] About the same date, therepublication of the "Traité d'économie-politique" of J. --B. Say isprohibited, the first edition of which, published in 1804, was soonexhausted. [6246] In 1808, all publications of local and generalstatistics, formerly incited and directed by Chaptal, were interruptedand stopped; Napoleon always demands figures, but he keeps them forhimself; if divulged they would prove inconvenient, and henceforththey become State secrets. The same precautions and the same rigorare extended to books on law, even technical, and against a "Précishistorique du droit Romain. " "This work, " says the censorship, "mightgive rise to a comparison between the progress of authority underAugustus and that going on under the reign of Napoleon, in such a way asto produce a bad effect on public opinion. "[6247] In effect, nothingis more dangerous than history, for it is composed, not of generalpropositions that are unintelligible except to the meditative, but ofparticular facts accessible and interesting to the first one that comesalong. 

For this reason, not only the science of sensations and of ideas, philosophic law and comparative law, politics and moral law, the scienceof wealth and statistics, but again, and especially, the history ofFrance, is a State affair, an object of government; for no objectaffects the government more nearly; no study contributes so much towardsstrengthening or weakening the ideas and impressions which shape publicopinion for or against him. [6248] It is not sufficient to superintendthis history, to suppress it if need be, to prevent it from being a poorone; it must again be ordered, inspired and manufactured, that it may bea good one. 

"There is no work more important. [6249]. . . I do not count the expensein this regard. It is even my intention to make the minister ensure thatthis work is under my protection. . "

Above all, the attitude of the authors who write should be made sureof. "Not only must this work be entrusted to authors of real talent, but again to attached men, who will present facts in this true light andprepare healthy instruction by bringing history down to the year VIII. "But this instruction can be healthy only through a series of preliminaryand convergent judgments, insinuating into all minds the final approvaland well-founded admiration of the existing régime. Accordingly, thehistorian must feel at each line" the defects of the ancient régime, "the influence of the court of Rome, of confessional tickets, of theRevocation of the Edict of Nantes, of the ridiculous marriage of LouisXIV. With Madame de Maintenon, the perpetual disorder in the finances, the pretensions of the parliament, the want of rules and leadership inthe administration, . . In such a way that one breathes on reaching theepoch when one enjoys the benefits of that which is due to the unity ofthe laws, administration and territory. " The constant feebleness ofthe government under Louis XIV, even, under Louis XV. And Louis XVI. , "should inspire the need of sustaining the newly accomplished workand its acquired preponderance. " On the 18th of Brumaire (19-11-1799), France came into port; the Revolution must be spoken of only as a final, fatal and inevitable tempest. [6250] "When that work, well done andwritten in a right direction, appears, nobody will have the will or thepatience to write another, especially when, far from being encouraged bythe police, one will be discouraged by it. " In this way, the governmentwhich, in relation to the young, has awarded to itself the monopolyof teaching, awards to itself in relation to adults, the monopoly ofhistory. 

V. On Censorship under Napoleon. 

 Measures against writers so called and popularizers. --Censorship, control of theaters, publications and printing. --Extent and minuteness of the repression. --Persistency in direction and impulsion. --The logical completeness and beauty of the whole system his final object. --How he accomplishes his own destruction. 

If Napoleon in this manner takes precautions against those who think, itis only because their thoughts, should they be written down, might reachthe public, [6251] and only the sovereign alone has the right to talk inpublic. Between writer and readers, every communication is interceptedbeforehand by a triple and quadruple line of defenses through whicha long, tortuous and narrow wicket is the only passage, and wherethe manuscript, like a bundle of suspicious goods, is overhauled andrepeatedly verified after having obtained its free certificate and itspermit of circulation. Napoleon declares "the printing-office[6252] tobe an arsenal which must not be within the reach of everybody. . . It isvery important for me that only those be allowed to print who have theconfidence of the government. A man who addresses the public in print islike the man who speaks in public in an assembly, and certainly noone can dispute the sovereign's right to prevent the first comer fromharanguing the public. "--On the strength of this, he makes publishinga privileged, authorized and regulated office of the State. The writer, consequently, before reaching the public, must previously undergo thescrutiny of the printer and bookseller, who, both responsible, swornand patented, will take good care not to risk their patent, the loss oftheir daily bread, ruin, and, besides this, a fine and imprisonment. --Inthe second place, the printer, the bookseller and the author are obligedto place the manuscript or, by way of toleration, the work as it goesthrough the press, in the hands of the official censors;[6253] thelatter read it and make their weekly report to the general directorof publications; they indicate the good or bad spirit of the work, the "unsuitable or forbidden passages according to circumstances, "the intended, involuntary or merely possible allusions; they exact thenecessary suppressions, rectifications and additions. The publisherobeys, the printers furnish proofs, and the author has submitted; hisproceedings and attendance in the bureaux are at end. He thinks himselfsafe in port, but he is not. 

Through an express reservation, the director-general always has theright to suppress works, "even after they have been examined, printedand authorized to appear. " In addition to this, the minister ofthe police, [6254] who, above the director-general, likewise has hiscensorship bureau, may, in his own right, place seals on the sheetsalready printed, destroy the plates and forms in the printing-office, send a thousand copies of the "Germany" by Madame de Staël to thepaper-mill, "take measures to see that not a sheet remains, " demand ofthe author his manuscript, recover from the author's friends the twocopies he has lent to them, and take back from the director-generalhimself the two copies for his service locked up in a drawer inhis cabinet. --Two years before this, Napoleon said to Auguste deStaël, [6255]

"Your mother is not bad. She has intelligence, a good deal ofintelligence. But she is unaccustomed to any kind of discipline. Shewould not be six months in Paris before I should be obliged to put herin the Temple or at Bicêtre. I should be sorry to do this, because itwould make a noise and that would injure me in public Opinion. "

It makes but little difference whether she abstains from talkingpolitics: "people talk politics in talking about literature, the finearts and morality, about everything in the world; women should busythemselves with their knitting, " and men keep silent or, if they dotalk, let it be on a given subject and in the sense prescribed. 

Of course, the inspection of publications is still more rigorous andmore repressive, more exacting and more persistent. --At the theatre, where the assembled spectators become enthusiastic through the quickcontagion of their sensibilities, the police cut out of the "Heraclius"of Corneille and the "Athalie" of Racine[6256] from twelve totwenty-five consecutive lines and patch up the broken passages ascarefully as possible with lines or parts of lines of their own. --On theperiodical press, on the newspaper which has acquired a body of readersand which exercises an influence and groups its subscribers according toan opinion, if not political, at least philosophic and literary, there is a compression which goes even as far as utter ruin. From thebeginning of the Consulate, [6257] sixty out of seventy-three politicaljournals are suppressed; in 1811, the thirteen that still existed arereduced to four and the editors-in-chief are appointed by the ministerof police. The property of these journals, on the other hand, isconfiscated, while the Emperor, who had taken it, concedes it, onethird to his police and the other two thirds to people of the courtor littérateurs who are his functionaries or his creatures. Under thisalways aggravated system the newspapers, from year to year, become sobarren that the police, to interest and amuse the public, contrive a penwarfare in their columns between one amateur of French music and one ofItalian music. 

Books, almost as rigorously kept within bounds, are mutilated orprevented from appearing. [6258] Chateaubriand is forbidden to reprinthis "Essay on Revolutions, " published in London under the Directory. In"L'Itinéraire de Paris à Jérusalem" he is compelled to cut out "a gooddeal of declamation on courts, courtiers and certain features calculatedto excite misplaced allusions. " The censorship interdicts the "Dernierdes Abencerrages, " where" it finds too warm an interest in the Spanishcause. " One must read the entire register to see it at work and indetail, to feel the sinister and grotesque minutia with which it pursuesand destroys, not alone among great or petty writers but, again, among compilers and insignificant abbreviators, in a translation, in adictionary, in a manual, in an almanac, not only ideas but suggestions, echoes, semblances and oversights in thinking, the possibilities ofawakening reflection and comparison:

* every souvenir of the ancient régime, this or that mention of Kléberor Moreau, or a particular conversation of Sully and Henry IV. ;

* "a game of loto, [6259] which familiarizes youth with the historyof their country, " but which says too much about "the family of thegrand-dauphin of Louis XVI. And his aunts";

* the general work of the reveries of Cagliostro and of M. Henri deSaint-Mesmin, very laudatory of the Emperor, excellent "for fillingthe soul of Frenchmen with his presence, but which must leave out threeawkward comparisons that might be detected by the malevolent or thefoolish;"

* the "translation into French verse of several of David's psalms, "which are not dangerous in Latin but which, in French, have the defectof a possible application, through coincidence and prophecy, to theChurch as suffering, and to religion as persecuted;

and quantities of other literary insects hatched in the depths ofpublication, nearly all ephemeral, crawling and imperceptible, but whichthe censor, through zeal and his trade, considers as fearsome dragonswhose heads must be smashed or their teeth extracted. 

After the next brood they prove inoffensive, and, better still, areuseful, especially the almanacs, [6260] "in rectifying on various pointsthe people's attitudes. It will probably be possible after 1812 tocontrol their composition, and they are filled with anecdotes, songs andstories adapted to the maintenance of patriotism and of devotion to thesacred person of His Majesty and to the Napoleonic dynasty. "--To thisend, the police likewise improves, orders and pays for dramatic or lyricproductions of all kinds, cantatas, ballets, impromptus, vaudevilles, comedies, grand-operas, comic operas, a hundred and seventy-six worksin one day, composed for the birth of the King of Rome and paid for inrewards to the sum of 88, 400 francs. Let the administration look tothis beforehand so as to raise up talent and have it bear good fruit. "Complaints are made because we have no literature;[6261] it is thefault of the minister of the interior. Napoleon personally and in theheight of a campaign interposes in theatrical matters. Whether far awayin Prussia or at home in France, he leads tragic authors by the hand, Raynouard, Legouvé, Luce de Lancival; he listens to the first reading ofthe "Mort d'Henri IV. " and the "États de Blois. " He gives to Gardel, aballet-composer, "a fine theme in the Return of Ulysses. " He explains toauthors how dramatic effect should, in their hands, become a politicallesson; for lack of anything better, and waiting for these to comprehendit, he uses the theatre the same as a tribune for the reading to thespectators of his bulletins of the grand army. 

On the other hand, in the daily newspapers, he is his own advocate, themost vehement, the haughtiest, the most powerful of polemics. For a longtime, in the "Moniteur, " he himself dictates articles which are known byhis style. After Austerlitz, he has no time to do this, but he inspiresthem all and they are prepared under his orders. In the "Moniteur" andother gazettes, it is his voice which, directly or by his spokesmen, reaches the public; it alone prevails and one may divine what it utters!The official acclaim of every group or authority in the State againswell the one great, constant, triumphant adulatory hymn which, withits insistence, unanimity and violent sonorities, tends to bewilder allminds, deaden consciences and pervert the judgment. 

"Were it open to doubt, " says a member of the tribunate, [6262] "whetherheaven or chance gives sovereigns on earth, would it not be evident forus that we owe our Emperor to some divinity?"

Another of the choir then takes up the theme in a minor key and thussings the victory of Austerlitz:

"Europe, threatened by a new invasion of the barbarians, owes its safetyto the genius of another Charles Martel. "

Similar cantatas follow, intoned in the senate and lower house byLacépède, Pérignon and Garat, and then, in each diocese, by the bishops, some of whom, in their pastoral letters, raise themselves up to thetechnical considerations of military art, and, the better to praise theEmperor, explain to their parishioners the admirable combinations of hisstrategic genius. 

And truly, his strategy is admirable, lately against Catholic ideas andnow against the secular mind. First of all, he has extended, selectedand defined his field of operations, and here is his objective point, fixed by himself:

"On public affairs, which are my affairs in political, social andmoral matters, on history, and especially on actual history, recentand modern, nobody of the present generation is to give any thoughtbut myself and, in the next generation, everybody will follow myexample. "[6263]

The monopoly of education therefore belongs to him. He has introducedmilitary uniforms, discipline and spirit into all the public and privatesecondary educational establishments. He has reduced and subjected theecclesiastical superintendence of primary education to the minimum. Hehas removed the last vestige of regional, encyclopedic and autonomousuniversities and substituted for these special and professional schools, He has rendered veritable superior instruction abortive and stifled allspontaneous and disinterested curiosity in youth. --Meanwhile ascendingto the source of secular knowledge, he has brought the Institute underhis influence. On this government tool he has effected the necessarycuts, appropriated the credit to himself and imposed his favor ordisfavor on the masters of science and literature. Then, descendingfrom the source to the canals, constructing dams, arranging channels, applying his constraints and impulsions, he has subjected scienceand literature to his police, to his censorship and to his controlof publishing and printing. He has taken possession of all themedia--theatres, newspapers, books, pulpits and tribunes. He hasorganized all these into one vast industry which he watches over anddirects, a factory of public attitudes which works unceasingly and inhis hands to the glorification of his system, reign and person. [6264]Again here, he is found equal and similar to himself, a stern conquerormaking the most of his conquest to the last extreme, a shrewd operatoras meticulous as he is shrewd, as resourceful as he is consequent, incomparable in adapting means to ends, unscrupulous in carrying themout, [6265] fully satisfied that, through the constant physical pressureof universal and crushing dread, all resistance would be overcome. Heis maintaining and prolonging the struggle with colossal forces, butagainst a historic and natural force lying beyond his grasp, latelyagainst belief founded on religious instinct and on tradition, andnow against evidence engendered by realities and by the agency of thetesting process. Consequently, obliged to forbid the testing process, tofalsify things, to disfigure the reality, to deny the evidence, to liedaily and each day more outrageously, [6266] to accumulate glaringacts so as to impose silence, to arouse by this silence and by theselies[6267] the attention and perspicacity of the public, to transformalmost mute whispers into sounding words and insufficient eulogies intoopen protestations. In short, weakened by his own success and condemnedbeforehand to succumb under his victories, to disappear after a shorttriumph, Napoleon will leave intact and erect the indestructible rival(science and knowledge) whom he would like to crush as an adversary butturn to account as an instrument. [6268]

*****

[Footnote 6201: Lamennais, "Du Progrès de la Révolution, " p. 163. ]

[Footnote 6202: Any socialist or social-nationalist leader wouldundoubtedly have been impressed by Napoleon's ability to control anddominate his admiring people and do their best to copy his methods. (SR. )]

[Footnote 6203: "The Modern Régime, " I. , 247. ]

[Footnote 6204: Pelet de la Lozère, p. 159. ]

[Footnote 6205: Maggiolo, "Les Écoles en Lorraine avant et aprés 1789, "3rd part, p. 22 and following pages. (Details on the foundation or therevival of primary schools in four departments after 1802. ) Sometimes, the master is the one who taught before 1789, and his salary is alwaysthe same as at that time; I estimate that, in a village of an averagesize, he might earn in all between 500 and 600 francs a year; hissituation improves slowly and remains humble and wretched down to thelaw of 1833. --There are no normal schools for the education of primaryinstructors except one at Strasbourg established in 1811 by the prefect, and the promise of another after the return from Elba, April 27, 1815. Hence the teaching staff is of poor quality, picked up here and therehaphazard. But, as the small schools satisfy a felt want, they increase. In 1815, there are more than 22, 000, about as many as in 1789; in thefour departments examined by M. Maggiolo there are almost as many asthere are communes. --Nevertheless, elsewhere, "in certain departments, it is not rare to find twenty or thirty communes in one arrondissementwith only one schoolmaster. . . . One who can read and write is consultedby his neighbors the same as a doctor. "--("Ambroise Rendu, " by E. Rendu, p. 107, Report of 1817. )]

[Footnote 6206: Decree of May 1, 1802, articles 2, 4 and 5. --Decree ofMarch 17, 1808, articles 5, 8 and 117. ]

[Footnote 6207: E. Rendu, Ibid. , pp. 39 and 41]

[Footnote 6208: Id. , ibid. , 41. (Answers of approval of the bishops, letter of the archbishop of Bordeaux, May 29, 1808. ) "There are only toomany schools whose instructors neither give lessons nor set examplesof Catholicism or even of Christianity. It is very desirable that thesewicked men should not be allowed to teach. "]

[Footnote 6209: Decree of Nov. 15, 1911, article 192. --Cf. The decreeof March 17, 1808, article 6. "The small primary schools are thosewhere one learns to read, write and cipher. "--Ibid. , § 3, article 5, definition of boarding-schools and secondary communal schools. Thisdefinition is rendered still more precise in the decree of Nov. 15, 1811, article 16. ]

[Footnote 6210: Pelet de la Lozère, ibid. 175. (Words of Napoleon beforethe Council of State, May 21, 180. )]

[Footnote 6211: Alexis Chevalier, "Les Frères des écoles chrétiennespendant la Révolution, " 93. (Report by Portalis approved by the FirstConsul, Frimaire 10, year XII. )]

[Footnote 6212: Like in the socialist and national-socialist parties andtrade unions which were to dominate the Western democracies throughoutthe 20th century. (SR. )]

[Footnote 6213: "Ambroise Rendu, " by E. Rendu, P. 42. ]

[Footnote 6214: D'Haussonville, "L'Église romaine et le premier Empire, "II. , 257, 266. (Report of Portalis to the Emperor, Feb. 13, 1806. )]

[Footnote 6215: Here Taine describes what today is often named as beingthe "state of the art. " (SR. )]

[Footnote 6216: Cuvier, "Rapport sur l'instruction publique dans lesnouveaux départements de la basse Allemagne, fait en exécution du décretdu 13 novembre 1810, " pp. 4-8. "The principle and aim of each universityis to have courses of lectures on every branch of human knowledge ifthere are any pupils who desire this. . . No professor can hinder hiscolleague from treating the same subjects as himself; most of theirincrease depends on the remuneration of the pupils which excites thegreatest emulation in their work. "--The university, generally, is insome small town; the student has no society but that of his comradesand his professors; again, the university has jurisdiction over him anditself exercises its rights of oversight and police. "Living intheir families, with no public amusements, with no distractions, themiddle-class Germans, especially in North Germany, regard reading, studyand meditation as their chief pleasures and main necessity; theystudy to learn rather than to prepare themselves for a lucrativeprofession. . . . . The theologian scrutinizes even to their roots the truthof morality and of natural theology. As to positive religion he wishesto know its history and will study in the original tongue sacredwritings and all the languages relating to it that may throw lighton it; he desires to possess the details of Church history and becomeacquainted with the usages of one century after another and the motivesof the changes which took place. --The law student is not content with aknowledge of the code of his country; in his studies everything must berelated to the general principles of natural and political laws. He mustknow the history of rights at all epochs, and, consequently, he hasneed of the political history of nations; he must be familiar with thevarious European constitutions, and be able to read the diplomas andcharters of all ages; the complex German legislation obliges him, andwill for a long time, to know the canon laws of both religious, offeudal and public law, as well as of civil and criminal law; and ifthe means of verifying at its sources all that is taught to him are notafforded to him, he regards instruction as cut short and insufficient. "]

[Footnote 6217: Louis Liard, "L'Enseignement supérieur en France, "pp. 307-309]

[Footnote 6218: Two prisons at the time. (SR. )]

[Footnote 6219: Comte Chaptal, "Notes. "--Chaptal, a bright scholar, studied in his philosophy class at Rodez under M. Laguerbe, a highlyesteemed professor. "Everything was confined to unintelligiblediscussions on metaphysics and to the puerile subtleties of logic. " Thislasted two years. Public discussions by the pupils were held three orfour hours long; the bishop, the noblesse, the full chapter attendedat these scholastic game-cock fights. Chaptal acquired a few correctnotions of geometry, algebra and the planetary system, but outside ofthat, he says, "I got nothing out of it but a great facility in speakingLatin and a passion for caviling. "]

[Footnote 6220: Useful qualities for an administrator, anytime anywhere. (SR. )]

[Footnote 6221: The Grande Ecoles today in 1998 produce first of all aspecial type of engineer, a general engineer, specialist in nothing buthighly trained in mathematics, physics and chemistry. This educationis found, either in Ecole Centrale, mainly providing private enterprisewith engineers, and Polytechnique, mainly providing the Statewith engineers. Specialist engineers, in construction, chemistry, electronics, electricity etc. Are produced by a few dozens prestigiousengineering or commercial schools which admit the students who havecompleted 2 or 3 years of preparatory school and successfully competedfor the more popular schools. The special schools Taine talks about arethe precursors of a great many of the schools available in Francetoday. The principle of admission by concurs is still in use and produceengineers who are able and willing to work hard, engineers who arecompetent but often a bit proud and overly sure of themselves. (SR. )]

[Footnote 6222: Louis Liard, "Universités et Facultés, " pp. 1-12. ]

[Footnote 6223: Pelet de la Lozère, 176 (Session of the Council ofState, May 21, 1806). ]

[Footnote 6224: Liard, "L'Enseignement supérieur en France, " 71, 73. "Inthe law schools, say the memorials of 1789, there is not the fiftiethpart of the pupils who attend the professors' lectures. "--Fourcroy, "Exposé des motifs de la loi concernant les Ecoles de droit, " March 13, 1804. "In the old law faculties the studies were of no account, inexactand rare, the lectures being neglected or not attended. Notes werebought instead of being taken. Candidates were received so easily thatthe examinations no longer deserved their name. Bachelor's degrees andothers were titles bought without study or trouble. "--Cf the "Mémoires"of Brissot and the "Souvenirs of d'Audifret-Pasquier, " both of themlaw students before 1789. --M. Léo de Savigny, in his recent work, "Die französischen Rechts facultäten" (p. 74 et seq. ) refers to otherauthorities not less decisive. ]

[Footnote 6225: Reference is made to the synopsis of the Justitian codeof civil and other Roman laws. (SR. )]

[Footnote 6226: Treaty of law written Roman jurists under Justitian in533. (SR. )]

[Footnote 6227: Decree of March 19, 1807, articles 42, 45. ]

[Footnote 6228: The French Supreme Court. (SR. )]

[Footnote 6229: Courcelle-Seneuil, "Préparation à l'étude du droit"(1887), pp. 5, 6 (on the teaching of law by the Faculty of Paris). ]

[Footnote 6230: Léo de Savigny, ibid. , p. 161. ]

[Footnote 6231: Bréal, "Quelques mots sur l'instruction publique"(1892), pp. 327, 341. --Liard, "Universités et Facultés, " p. 13 et seq. ]

[Footnote 6232: Act of Jan. 23, 1803, for the organization of theInstitute. ]

[Footnote 6233: Voltaire's "Essai sur les moeurs" is of 1756; "L'Espritdes Lois" by Montesquieu also, in 1754, and his "Traité des Sensations. "The "Emile" of Rousseau is of 1762; the "Traité de la formationmécanique des langues, " by de Brosses, is of 1765; the "Physiocratie" byQuesnay appeared in 1768, and the "Encyclopédie" between 1750 and 1765. ]

[Footnote 6234: On the equal value of the testing process in moral andphysical sciences, David Hume, in 1737, stated the matter decisively inhis "Essay on Human Nature. " Since that time, and particularly since the"Compte-rendu" by Necker, but especially in our time, statistics haveshown that the near or remote determining motives of human action arepowers (Grandeurs) expressed by figures, interdependent, and whichwarrant, here as elsewhere, precise and numerical foresight. ]

[Footnote 6235: What an impression Taine's description of Napoleon'sset-up must have had on Hitler, Lenin and, possibly Stalin and theirsuccessors. (SR. )]

[Footnote 6236: Cf. Liard, "L'Enseignement supérieur en France, " vol. I. , in full. --Also the law of Brumaire 3, year Iv. (Oct. 25, 1795), onthe primitive organization of the Institute. ]

[Footnote 6237: Decree of Jan. 23, 1803. ]

[Footnote 6238: Decree of March 21, 1816]

[Footnote 6239: "Corréspondance de Napoléon, " letters to M. DeChampagny, Dec. 13, 1805, and Jan. 3, 1806. "I see with pleasure thepromise made by M. De Lalande and what passed on that occasion. "]

[Footnote 6240: De Ségur, "Mémoires, " III. , 457. --"M. De Chateaubriandcomposed his address with a good deal of skill; he evidently did notwish to offend any of his colleagues without even excepting Napoleon. He lauded with great eloquence the fame of the Emperor and exalted thegrandeur of republican sentiments. " In explanation of and excusing hissilence and omissions regarding his regicide predecessor, he likenedChénier to Milton and remarked that, for forty years, the same silencehad been observed in England with reference to Milton. ]

[Footnote 6241: Edmond Leblanc, "Napoléon 1ere et ses institutionsciviles eL administratives, " pp. 225-233. --Annuaire de l'Institut for1813]

[Footnote 6242: Law of Oct. 25, 1795, and act of Jan. 23, 1803. ]

[Footnote 6243: Roederer, III. , 548. --Id. , III. , 332 (Aug. 2, 1801). ]

[Footnote 6244: Welschinger, "La Censure sous le premier Empire, " p. 440. (Speech by Napoleon to the Council of State, Dec. 20, 1812. )--Merlet, "Tableau de la littérature française de 1800 à 1815, " I. , 128. M. Royer-Collard had just given his first lecture at the Sorbonne to anaudience of three hundred persons against the philosophy of Lockeand Condillac (1811). Napoleon, having read the lecture, says on thefollowing day to Talleyrand: "Do you know, Monsieur le Grand-Electeur, that a new and very important philosophy is appearing in myUniversity. . . Which may well rid us entirely of the ideologists bykilling them on the spot with reason?"--Royer-Collard, on being informedof this eulogium, remarked to some of his friends: "The Emperor ismistaken. Descartes is more disobedient to despotism than Locke. "]

[Footnote 6245: Mignet, "Notices et Portraits. " (Eulogy of M. DeTracy. )]

[Footnote 6246: J. -B. Say, "Traité d'économie-politique, " 2d ed. , 1814(Notice). "The press was no longer free. Every exact presentation ofthings received the censure of a government founded on a lie. "]

[Footnote 6247: Welschinger, p. 160 (Jan. 24, 1810). --Villemain, "Souvenirs contemporains, " vol. I. , p. 180. After 1812, "it is literallyexact to state that every emission of written ideas, every historicalmention, even the most remote and most foreign, became a daring andsuspicious matter. "--(Journal of Sir John Malcolm, Aug. 4, 1815, visitto Langlès, the orientalist, editor of Chardin, to which he has addednotes, one of which is on the mission to Persia of Sir John Malcolm) "Heat first said to me that he had followed another author: afterwards heexcused himself by alleging the system of Bonaparte, whose censors, hesaid, not only cut out certain passages, but added others which theybelieved helped along his plans. "]

[Footnote 6248: Reading this Lenin and others like him undoubtedly wouldagree with Napoleon and therefore liberally fund plans to place agentsand controllers in all the Universities in the World hence ensuringpolitically correct attitudes. (SR. )]

[Footnote 6249: Merlet, ibid. (According to the papers of M. DeFontanes, II. 258. )]

[Footnote 6250: Id. , Ibid. "Care must be taken to avoid all reactionin speaking of the Revolution. No man could oppose it. Blame belongsneither to those who have perished nor to those who survived it. It wasnot in any individual might to change the elements and foresee eventsborn out of the nature of things. "]

[Footnote 6251: Villemain, Ibid. , I. , 145. (Words of M. De Narbonneon leaving Napoleon after several interviews with him in 1812. ) "TheEmperor, so powerful, 50 victorious is disturbed by only one thing inthis world and that is by people who talk, and, in default of these, bythose who think. And yet he seems to like them or, at least, cannot dowithout them. "]

[Footnote 6252: Welschinger, ibid. , p. 30. (Session of the Council ofState, Dec. 12, 1809)]

[Footnote 6253: Welschinger, ibid. , pp. 31, 33, 175, 190. (Decree ofFeb. 5, 1810. )--"Revue Critique, " Sep. 1870. (Weekly bulletin of thegeneral direction of publicauons for the last three months of 1810 andthe first three months of 1814, published by Charles Thursot. )]

[Footnote 6254: Collection of laws and decrees, vol. XII. , p. 170. "Whenthe censors shall have examined a work and allowed the publicationof it, the publishers shall be authorized to have it printed. Butthe minister of the police shall still have the right to suppress itentirely if he thinks proper. "--Welschinger, ibid. , pp. 346-374. ]

[Footnote 6255: Welschinger, ibid. , pp. 173, 175. ]

[Footnote 6256: Id. , ibid. , pp. 223, 231, 233. (The copy of "Athalie"with the erasures of the police still exists in the prompter's libraryof the Théâtre Français. )--Id. , ibid. , p 244. (Letter of thesecretary-general of the police to the weekly managers of the ThéâtreFrançais, Feb. 1, 1809, In relation to the "Mort d'Hector, " by Luce deLancival. ) "Messieurs, His Excellency, the minister-senator, hasexpressly charged me to request the suppression of the following lineson the stage--'Hector': Déposez un moment ce fer toujours vainqueur, Cher Hector, et craignez de laisser le bonheur. "]

[Footnote 6257: Welschinger, ibid. , p. 13. (Act of Jan. 17, 1800. )--117, 118. (Acts of Feb. 18, 1811, and Sep. 17, 1813. )--119, 129. (Noindemnity for legitimate owners. The decree of confiscation states inprinciple that the ownership of journals can become property onlyby virtue of an express concession made by the sovereign, that thisconcession was not made to the actual founders and proprietors and thattheir claim is null. )]

[Footnote 6258: Id. . Ibid. , pp. 196, 201. ]

[Footnote 6259: "Revue critique, " ibid. , pp. 142, 146, 149. ]

[Footnote 6260: Welschinger, ibid. , p. 251. ]

[Footnote 6261: "Corréspondance de Napoléon Iere. " (Letter of theEmperor to Cambacérès, Nov. 21, 1806. )--Letters to Fouché, Oct. 25 andDec. 31, 1806. )--Welschinger, ibid. , pp. 236, 244. ]

[Footnote 6262: "Moniteur, " Jan. I, 1806. (Tribunate, session of Nivôse9, year XIV. , speeches of MM. Albisson and Gillet. --Senate, speechesof MM. Pérignon, Garat, de Lacépède. )--In the following numbers we findmunicipal addresses, letters of bishops and the odes of poets in thesame strain. --In the way of official enthusiasm take the following twofine examples. ("Debats, " March 29, 1811. ) "The Paris municipal councildeliberated on the vote of a pension for life of 10, 000 francs in favorof M. De Govers, His Majesty's second page, for bringing to the Hôtelde Ville the joyful news of the birth of the King of Rome. . . . Everybodywas charmed with his grace and presence of mind. "--Faber, "Notices surl'intérieur de France, " p. 25. "I know of a tolerably large town whichcould not light its lamps in 1804, on account of having sent its mayorto Paris at the expense of the commune to see Bonaparte crowned. "]

[Footnote 6263: Taine here explains the method which was to be copied byall the totalitarian leaders of the 20th century, especially by the everpresent communist-socialist-revolutionary organizations and their moreor less hidden leaders. (SR. )]

[Footnote 6264: Lenin, Stalin and their successors must all have foundthis idea interesting and did also proceed to put much of the media inthe world under their control. (SR. )]

[Footnote 6265: Faber, ibid. , p. 32 (1807). "I saw one day a physician, an honest man, unexpectedly denounced for having stated in a socialgathering in the town some observations on the medical system underthe existing government. The denunciator, a French employee, was thephysician's friend and denounced him because he was afraid of beingdenounced himself. "--Count Chaptal, "Notes. " Enumeration of the policeforces which control and complete each other. "Besides the minister andthe prefect of police Napoleon had three directors-general residingat Paris and also in superintendence of the departments;. . Besides, commissioners-general of police in all the large towns and specialcommissioners in all others; moreover, the gendarmerie, which dailytransmitted a bulletin of the situation all over France to theinspector-general; again, reports of his aids and generals, of his guardon supplementary police, the most dangerous of all to persons aboutthe court and to the principal agents of the administration; finally, several special police-bodies to render to him an account of what passedamong savants, tradesmen and soldiers. All this correspondence reachedhim at Moscow as at the Tuileries. "]

[Footnote 6266: Faber, ibid. (1807), p. 35. "Lying, systematicallyorganized, forming the basis of government and consecrated in publicacts, . . . The abjuring of all truth, of all personal conviction, is thecharacteristic of the administrators as presenting to view the acts, sentiments and ideas of the government, which makes use of them forscenic effect in the pieces it gives on the theatre of the world. . . . The administrators do not believe a word they say, nor thoseadministered. "]

[Footnote 6267: The following two confidential police reports show, among many others, the sentiments of the public and the usefulness ofrepressive measures. (Archives nationales, F. 7, 3016, Report of thecommissioner-general of Marseilles for the second quarter of 1808. )"Events in Spain have largely fixed, and essentially fixed, attention. In vain would the attentive observer like to conceal the truth on thispoint; the fact is that the Spanish revolution is unfavorably lookedupon. It was at first thought that the legitimate heir would succeed toCharles IV. The way in which people have been undeceived has given thepublic a direction quite opposite to the devoted ideas of His Majestythe Emperor. . . No generous soul. . . Rises to the level of the greatcontinental cause. "--Ibid. (Report for the second quarter of 1809. ) "Ihave posted observers in the public grounds. . . . As a result of thesemeasures, of this constant vigilance, of the care I have taken to summonbefore me the heads of public establishments when I have ascertainedthat the slightest word has been spoken, I attain the end proposed. ButI am assured that if the fear of the upper police did not restrainthe disturbers, the brawlers, they would publicly express an opinioncontrary to the principles of the government. . . . Public opinion is dailygoing down. There is great misery and consternation. Murmurs are notopenly heard, but discontent exists among citizens generally. . . . Thecontinental war. The naval warfare, events in Rome, Spain and Germany, the absolute cessation of trade, the conscription, the droits unis. . . Are all so many motives of corruption of the public mind. Priests anddevotees, merchants and proprietors, artisans, workmen, the people infine, everybody is discontented. . . . In general, they are insensibleto the continental victories. All classes of citizens are much moresensitive to the levies of the conscription than to the successes whichcome from them. "]

[Footnote 6268: There is here, 100 years later, a message for us aboutthe enormous force which, under the name of politically correct, ishaunting our media, our universities and our political life. (SR. )]

CHAPTER III. EVOLUTION BETWEEN 1814 AND 1890. 

I. Evolution of the Napoleonic machine. 

 History of the Napoleonic machine. --The first of its two arms, operating on adults, is dislocated and breaks. --The second, which operates on youth, works intact until 1850. --Why it remains intact. --Motives of governors. --Motives of the governed. 

After him, the springs of his machine relax; and so do, naturally, thetwo groups controlled by the machine. The first, that of adult men, frees itself the most and the soonest: during the following halfcentury, we see the preventive or repressive censorship of books, journals and theatres, every special instrument that gags free speech, relaxing its hold, breaking down bit by bit and at last tumbling to theground. Even when again set up and persistently and brutally applied, old legal muzzles are never to become as serviceable as before. Nogovernment will undertake, like that of Napoleon, to stop at once alloutlets of written thought; some will always remain more or less open. Even during the rigorous years of the Restoration and of the secondEmpire the stifling process is to diminish; mouths open and there issome way of public expression, at least in books and likewise throughthe press, provided one speaks discreetly and moderately in cool andgeneral terms and in a low, even tone of voice. Here, the imperialmachine, too aggressive, soon broke down; immediately, the iron arm bywhich it held adults seemed insupportable to them and they were ablemore and more to bend, push it away or break it. Today, in 1890, nothingremains of it but its fragments; for twenty years it has ceased to workand its parts, even, are utterly useless. 

But, to the contrary, in the other direction, in the second group, onchildren, on boys, on young men, the second arm, intact down to 1850, then shortened but soon strengthened, more energetic and more effectivethan ever, maintained its hold almost entirely. 

Undoubtedly, after 1814, its mechanism is less rigid, its applicationless strict, its employment less universal, its operation less severe;it gives less offence and does not hurt as much. For example, afterthe first Restoration, [6301] the decree of 1811 against the smallerseminaries is repealed. They are handed back to the bishops, resumetheir ecclesiastical character and return to the special and normalroad out of which Napoleon forced them to march. The drum, the drill andother exercises too evidently Napoleonic disappear almost immediately inthe private and public establishments devoted to common instruction. Theschool system ceases to be a military apprenticeship and the college isno longer a preparatory annex for the barracks. Soon and for many years, Guizot, Cousin, and Villemain brilliantly hold the chairs at Sorbonneuniversity and teach the highest subjects of philosophy, literature andhistory admired by attentive and sympathetic audiences. Later, under themonarchy of July, the Institute, mutilated by the First Consul, restoresand completes itself. It becomes once more united with the suspectdivision of the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences, which afterthe Consulate, had been missing. In 1833, a minister, Guizot, provides, through a law which has become an institution, for the regularmaintenance, the obligatory appropriation, the certain recruitment, andfor the quality and universality of primary instruction. At the sametime, during eighteen years, the university administration, moderatingits pressure or smoothing its sharp points, operates at the threestages of instruction in tolerant or liberal hands, with all the cautioncompatible with its organization. It does so in such a way as to do agreat deal of good without much harm, by half-satisfying the majoritywhich, in its entirety, is semi-believer, semi-freethinker, by notseriously offending anybody except the Catholic clergy and thatunyielding minority which, through doctrinal principle or throughreligious zeal, assigns to education as a directing end and supremeobject, the definitive cultivation, rooting and flowering of faith. But, in law as well as in fact, the University of 1808 still subsists; it haskept its rights, it levies its taxes, it exercises its jurisdiction andenjoys its monopoly. 

In the early days of the Restoration, in 1814, the government maintainedit only provisionally. It promised everything, radical reform andfull liberty. It announced that, through its efforts, "the formsand direction of the education of children should be restored to theauthority of fathers and mothers, tutors and families. "[6302] Simplya prospectus and an advertisement by the new pedagogue who installshimself and thus, by soothing words, tries to conciliate parents. Aftera partial sketch and an ordinance quickly repealed, [6303] the rulersdiscover that the University of Napoleon is a very good reigning tool, much better than that of which they had the management previous to 1789, much easier handled and more serviceable. It is the same with all socialtools sketched out and half-fashioned by the Revolution and completedand set a-going by the Consulate and the Empire; each is constructed"by reason, " "according to principles, " and therefore its mechanism issimple; its pieces all fit into each other with precision; they transmitthroughout exactly the impulsion received and thus operate at onestroke, with uniformity, instantaneously, with certitude, oil all partsof the territory; the lever which starts the machine is central and, throughout its various services, the new rulers hold this lever in hand. Apropos of local administration, the Duc d'Angoulême said in 1815, [6304]"We prefer the departments to the provinces. " In like manner, thegovernment of the restored monarchy prefers the imperial University, sole, unique, coherent, disciplined and centralized, to the oldprovincial universities, the old scattered, scholastic institution, diverse, superintended rather than governed, to every schoolestablishment more or less independent and spontaneous. 

In the first place, it gains thereby a vast staff of salarieddependents, the entire teaching staff, [6305] on which it has a holdthrough its favors or the reverse through ambition and the desire forpromotion, through fear of dismissal and concern for daily bread. Atfirst, 22, 000 primary teachers, thousands of professors, directors, censors, principals, regents and subordinates in the 36 lycées, 368colleges and 1255 institutions and boarding-schools. After this, manyhundreds of notable individuals, all the leading personages of eachuniversity circumscription, the administrators of 28 academies, theprofessors of the 23 literary faculties, of the 10 faculties of thesciences, of the 9 faculties of law, and of the 3 faculties ofmedicine. Add to these, the savants of the Collège de France and ÉcolePolytechnique, every establishment devoted to high, speculativeor practical instruction: these are highest in repute and the mostinfluential; here the heads of science and of literature are found. Through them and their seconds or followers of every degree, in thefaculties, lycées, colleges, minor seminaries, institutions, boardingschools, and small schools, beliefs or opinions can be imposed on, orsuggested to, 2000 law students, 4000 medical students, 81, 000 thousandpupils in secondary education and 700, 000 scholars in the primarydepartment. Let us retain and make use of this admirable tool, but letus apply it to our own purposes and utilize it for our service. [6306]Thus far, under the Republic and the Empire, its designers, more or lessJacobin, have moved it as they thought best, and therefore moved it tothe "left". Let us now move, as it suits us, to the "right. "[6307]All that is necessary is to turn it in another direction and for good;henceforth, " the basis of education[6308] shall be religion, monarchy, legitimacy and the charter. "

To this end, we, the dominant party, use our legal rights. In the placeof bad wheels we put good ones. We purify our staff. We do not appointor leave in place any but safe men. At the end of six years, nearlyall the rectors, proviseurs and professors of philosophy, many otherprofessors and a number of the censors, [6309] are all priests. At theSorbonne, M. Cousin has been silenced and M. Guizot replaced by M. Durosoir. At the Collège de France we have dismissed Tissot and we donot accept M. Magendie. We "suppress" in block the Faculty of Medicinein order that, on reorganizing it, our hands may be free and elevenprofessors with bad notes be got rid of, among others Pinel, Dubois, deJussieu, Desgenettes, Pelletan and Vauquelin. We suppress another centerof insalubrities, the upper École Normale, and, for the recruitment ofour educational body, we institute[6310] at the principal seat of eachacademy a sort of university novitiate where the pupils, few in number, expressly selected, prepared from their infancy, will imbibe deeperand more firmly retain the sound doctrines suitable to their futurecondition. 

We let the small seminaries multiply and fill up until they comprise50, 000 pupils. It is the bishop who founds them; no educator orinspector of education is so worthy of confidence. Therefore, we conferupon him "in all that concerns religion, "[6311] the duty "of visitingthem himself, or delegating his vicars-general to visit them, " thefaculty "of suggesting to the royal council of public instruction themeasures which he deems necessary. " At the top of the hierarchy sitsa Grand-Master with the powers and title of M. De Fontanes and withan additional title, member of the cabinet and minister of publicinstruction, M. De Freyssinous, bishop of Hermopolis, [6312] and, indifficult cases, this bishop, placed between his Catholic conscience andthe positive articles of the legal statute, "sacrifices the law" to hisconscience. [6313]--This is the advantage which can be taken from thetool of public education. After 1850, it is to be used in the same wayand in the same sense; after 1796, and later after 1875, it was made towork as vigorously in the opposite direction. Whatever the rulers maybe, whether monarchists, imperialists or republicans, they are themasters who use it for their own advantage; for this reason, even whenresolved not to abuse the instrument, they keep it intact; they reservethe use of it for themselves, [6314] and pretty hard blows are necessaryto sever or relax the firm hold which they have on the central lever. 

Except for these excesses and especially after they finish, when thegovernment, from 1828 to 1848, ceases to be sectarian, and thenormal play of the institution is no longer corrupted by politicalinterference, the governed accept the University in block, just as theirrulers maintain it: they also have motives of their own, the same as forsubmitting to other tools of Napoleonic centralization. --And firstof all, as a departmental and communal institution, the universityinstitution operates wholly alone; it exacts little or no collaborationon the part of those interested; it relieves them of any effort, disputeor care, which is pleasant. Like the local administration, which, without their help or with scarcely any, provides them with bridges, roads, canals, cleanliness, salubrity and precautions against contagiousdiseases, the scholastic administration, without making any demand ontheir indolence, puts its full service, the local and central apparatusof primary, secondary, superior and special instruction, its staff andmaterial, furniture and buildings, masters and schedules, examinationsand grades, rules and discipline, expenditure and receipts, all at itsdisposition. As at the door of a table d'hôte, they are told, "Come in and take a seat. We offer you the dishes you like best and inthe most convenient order. Don't trouble yourself about the waitersor the kitchen; a grand central society, an intelligent and beneficentagency, presiding at Paris takes charge of this and relieves you of it. Pass your plate, and eat; that is all you need care about. Besides, thecharge is very small. "[6315]

In effect, here as elsewhere, Napoleon has introduced his rigideconomical habits, exact accounts and timely or disguisedtax-levies. [6316] A few additional centimes among a good many othersinserted by his own order in the local budget, a few imperceptiblemillions among several hundreds of other millions in the enormous sum ofthe central budget, constitute the resources which defray the expensesof public education. Not only does the quota of each taxpayer for thispurpose remain insignificant, but it disappears in the sum total ofwhich it is only an item that he does not notice. --The parents, for theinstruction of a child, do not pay out of their pockets directly, withthe consciousness of a distinct service rendered them and which theyindemnify, [6317] but 12, 10, 3, or even 2 francs a year; again, through the increasing extension of gratis instruction, a fifth, then athird, [6318] and later one half of them are exempt from this charge. 

For secondary instruction, at the college or the lycée, they take outof their purses annually only 40 or 50 francs; and, if their son is aboarder, these few francs mingle in with others forming the total sumpaid for him during the year, about 700 francs, [6319] which is a smallsum for defraying the expenses, not only of instruction, but, again, forthe support of the lad in lodging, food, washing, light, fire and therest. The parents, at this rate, feel that they are not making a badbargain; they are not undergoing extortion, the State not acting like arapacious contractor. And better yet, it is often a paternal creditor, distributing, as it does, three or four thousand scholarships. If theirson obtains one of these, their annual debt is remitted to them and theentire university provision of instruction and support is given tothem gratis. In the Faculties, the payment of fees for entrance, examinations, grades and diplomas is not surprising, for thecertificates or parchments they receive in exchange for their money are, for the young man, so many positive acquisitions which smooth the way toa career and serve as valuable stock which confers upon him social rank. Besides, the entrance to these Faculties is free and gratuitous, as wellas in all other establishments for superior instruction. Whoever choosesand when he chooses may attend without paying a cent. 

Thus constituted, the University seems to the public as a liberal, democratic, humanitarian institution and yet economical, expendingvery little. Its administrators and professors, even the best of them, receive only a small salary--6000 francs at the Muséum and the Collégede France, [6320] 7500 at the Sorbonne, 5000 in the provincial Faculties, 4000 or 3000 in the lycées, 2000, 1500 and 1200 in the communalcolleges--just enough to live on. The highest functionaries live in avery modest way; each keeps body and soul together on a small salarywhich he earns by moderate work, without notable increase or decrease, in the expectation of gradual promotion or of a sure pension at the end. There is no waste, the accounts being well kept; there are no sinecures, even in the libraries; no unfair treatment or notorious scandals. Envy, notions of equality scarcely exist; there are enough situations forpetty ambitions and average merit, while there is scarcely any placefor great ambitions or great merit. Eminent men serve the State andthe public cheaply for a living salary, a higher rank in the Legion ofHonor, sometimes for a seat in the Institute, or for European famein connection with a university, with no other recompense than thesatisfaction of working according to conscience[6321] and of winning theesteem of twenty or thirty competent judges who, in France or abroad, are capable of appreciating their labor at its just value. [6322]

The last reason for accepting or tolerating the University; its workat home, or in its surroundings, develops gradually and more or lessbroadly according to necessities. --In 1815, there were 22, 000 primaryschools of every kind; in 1829, [6323] 30, 000; and in 1850, 63, 000. In1815, 737, 000 children were taught in them; in 1829, 1, 357, 000; andin 1850, 3, 787, 000. In 1815, there was only one normal school for theeducation of primary teachers; in 1850, there are 78. Consequently, whilst in 1827, 42 out of 100 conscripts could read, there were in 1877, 85; whilst in 1820, 34 out of 100 women could write their names on themarriage contract, in 1879 there are 70. --Similarly, in the lycées andcolleges, the University which, in 1815, turned out 37, 000 youths, turnsout 54, 000 in 1848, and 64, 000 in 1865;[6324] many branches of study, especially history, [6325] are introduced into secondary instructionand bear good fruit. --Even in superior instruction which, throughorganization, remains languid, for parade, or in a rut, there areameliorations; the State adds chairs to its Paris establishments andfounds new Faculties in the provinces. In sum, an inquisitive mindcapable of self-direction can, at least in Paris, acquire fullinformation and obtain a comprehensive education on all subjects byturning the diverse university institutions to account. --If thereare very serious objections to the system, for example, regarding theboarding part of it (internat), the fathers who had been subject to itaccept it for their sons. If there were very great defects in it, forexample, the lack of veritable universities, the public which had notbeen abroad and ignores history did not perceive them. In vain does M. Cousin, in relation to public instruction in Germany, in his eloquentreport of 1834, as formerly Cuvier in his discreet report of 1811, pointout this defect; in vain does M. Guizot, the minister, propose to removeit:

"I did not find, " says he, [6326] "any strong public opinion whichinduced me to carry out any general and urgent measure in higherinstruction. In the matter of superior instruction the public, atthis time, . . . Was not interested in any great idea, or prompted byany impatient want. . . . Higher education as it was organized and given, sufficed for the practical needs of society, which regarded it with amixture of satisfaction and indifference. "

In the matter of education, not only at this third stage but again forthe first two stages, public opinion so far as aims, results, methodsand limitations is concerned, was apathetic. That wonderful sciencewhich, in the eighteenth century, with Jean-Jacques, Condillac, Valentin, Hally, Abbé de l'Epée and so many others, sent forth suchpowerful and fruitful jets, had dried up and died out; transplanted toSwitzerland and Germany, pedagogy yet lives but it is dead on its nativesoil. [6327] There is no longer in France any persistent research nor arethere any fecund theories on the aims, means, methods, degrees and formsof mental and moral culture, no doctrine in process of formation andapplication, no controversies, no dictionaries and special manuals, notone well-informed and important Review, and no public lectures. Nowan experimental science is simply the summing-up of many diverseexperiences, freely attempted, freely discussed and verified. Throughthe forced results of the university monopoly there are no actualuniversities: among other results of the Napoleonic institution, onecould after 1808 note, the decadence of pedagogy and foresee its earlydemise. Neither parents, nor masters nor the young cared anything aboutit; outside of the system in which they live they imagine nothing; theyare accustomed to it the same as to the house in which they dwell. Theymay grumble sometimes at the arrangement of the rooms, the low storiesand narrow staircases, against bad lighting, ventilation and want ofcleanliness, against the exactions of the proprietor and concierge; but, as for transforming the building, arranging it otherwise, reconstructingit in whole or in part, they never think of it. For, in the first place, they have no plan; and next, the house is too large and its parts toowell united; through its mass and size it maintains itself and wouldstill remain indefinitely if, all at once, in 1848, an unforeseenearthquake had not made breaches in its walls. 

II. Educational monopoly of Church and State. 

 Law of 1850 and freedom of instruction. --Its apparent object and real effects. --Alliance of Church and State. --The real monopoly. --Ecclesiastical control of the University until 1859. --Gradual rupture of the Alliance. --The University again becomes secular. --Lay and clerical interests. --Separation and satisfaction of both interests down to 1876. --Peculiarity of this system. --State motives for taking the upper hand. --Parents, in fact, have no choice between two monopolies. --Original and forced decline of private institutions. --Their ruin complete after 1850 owing to the too-powerful and double competition of Church and State. --The Church and the State sole surviving educators. --Interested and doctrinal direction of the two educational systems. --Increasing divergence in both directions. --Their effect on youth. 

The day after the 24th of February 1848, [6328] M. Cousin, meeting M. De Remusat on the quay Voltaire, raised his arms towards heaven andexclaimed:

"Let us hurry and fall on our knees in front of the bishops--they alonecan save us now!"

While M. Thiers, with equal vivacity, in the parliamentary committeeexclaimed: "Cousin, Cousin, do you comprehend the lesson we havereceived? Abbé Dupanloup is right. "[6329] Hence the new law. [6330] M. Beugnot, who presented it, clearly explains its aims and object: theGovernment "must assemble the moral forces of the country and unitethem with each other to combat with and overthrow the common enemy, " theanti-social party, "which, victorious, would have no mercy on anybody, "neither on the University nor on the Church. Consequently, theUniversity abandons its monopoly: the State is no longer the solepurveyor of public instruction; private schools and associations mayteach as they please. The government will no longer inspect their"education, " but only "morality, hygiene, and salubrity;"[6331]--theyare out of its jurisdiction and exempt from its taxes. Therefore, thegovernment establishments and free establishments will no longer bedangerous adversaries, but "useful co-operators;" they will owe and giveto each other "good advice and good examples;" it will maintain forboth "an equal interest;" henceforth, its University "will be merely aninstitution supported by it to quicken competition and make this beargood fruit, " and, to this end, it comes to an understanding with itsprincipal competitor, the Church. 

But in this coalition of the two powers it is the Church which has thebest of it, takes the upper hand and points out the way. For, not onlydoes she profit by the liberty decreed, and profit by it almost alone, founding in twenty years afterwards nearly one hundred ecclesiasticalcolleges and putting the Ignorantin brethren everywhere in the primaryschools; but, again, by virtue of the law, [6332] she places four bishopsor archbishops in the superior council of the University; by virtue ofthe law, she puts into each departmental academic council the bishop ofthe diocese and a priest selected by him; moreover, through her creditwith the central government she enjoys all the administrative favors. In short, from above and close at hand, she leads, keeps in check, and governs the lay University and, from 1849 to 1859, the priestlydomination and interference, the bickering, the repressions, thedismissals, [6333] the cases of disgrace, are a revival of the systemwhich, from 1821 to 1828, had already been severe. As under theRestoration, the Church had joined hands with the State to administratethe school-machine in concert with it; but, under the Restoration, shereserves to herself the upper hand, and it is she who works the machinerather than the State. In sum, under the name, the show, and thetheoretical proclamation of liberty for all, the University monopolyis reorganized, if not by law, at least in fact, and in favor of theChurch. 

Towards 1859, and after the war in Italy, regarding the Pope andthe temporal power, the hands which were joined now let go and thenseparate; there is a dissolution of partnership; their interests ceaseto agree. Two words are coined, both predestined to great fortune, onthe one side the "secular" interest and on the other side the "clerical"interest; henceforth, the government no longer subordinates the formerto the latter and, under the ministry of M. Duruy, the direction of theUniversity becomes frankly secular. Consequently, the entire educationalsystem, in gross and in its principal features, is to resemble, until1876, that of the of July. [6334] For sixteen years, the two greatteaching powers, the spiritual and the temporal, unable to do better, are to support each other but act apart, each on its own ground and eachin its own way; only the Church no longer acts through the tolerationand gracious permission of the University, but through the legalabolition of the monopoly and by virtue of a written law. The wholecomposes a passable régime, less oppressive than those that preceded it;in any event, the two millions of devout Catholics who consider unbeliefas a terrible evil, the fathers and mothers who subordinate instructionto education, [6335] and desire above all things to preserve the faithof their children up to adult age, now find in the ecclesiasticalestablishments well-run hothouses and protected against draughts ofmodernity. One urgent need of the first order, [6336] legitimate, deeplyfelt by many men and especially by women, has received satisfaction;parents who do not experience this want, place their children in thelycées; in 1865, in the smaller seminaries and other ecclesiasticalschools there are 54, 000 pupils and in the State colleges and lycées64, 000, [6337] which two bodies balance each other. 

But even that is a danger. For, naturally, the teaching State finds withregret that its clients diminish; it does not view the rival favorablywhich takes away so many of its pupils. Naturally also, in case of anelectoral struggle, the Church favors the party which favors it, theeffect of which is to expose it to ill-will and, in case of politicaldefeat, to hostilities. Now, the chances are, that, should hostilerulers, in this case, attempt to strike it in its most vulnerable point, that of teaching, they might set aside liberty, and even toleration, andadopt the school machine of Napoleon in order to restore it as best theycould, enlarge it, derive from it for their own profit and against theChurch, whatever could be got out of it, to use with all their poweraccording to the principles and intentions of the Convention and theDirectory. Thus, the compromise accepted by Church and State is simplya provisional truce; to-morrow, this truce will be broken; the fatalFrench prejudice which erects the State into a national educator is everpresent; after a partial and brief slackening of its energy, it will tryto recover its ascendancy and recommence its ravages. --And, on the otherhand, even under this régime, more liberal than its predecessor, realliberty is much restricted; instead of one monopoly, there are two. Between two kinds of establishments, one secular, resembling a barracks, and the other ecclesiastical, resembling a seminary or convent, parentsmay choose and that is all. Ordinarily, if they prefer one, it is notbecause they consider it good, but because, in their opinion, the otheris worse, while there is no third one at hand, built after a differenttype, with its own independent and special character, adapting itself totheir tastes and accommodating itself to their necessities. 

In the early years of the century there were thousands of secondaryschools of every kind and degree, everywhere born or reborn, spontaneous, local, raised up through the mutual understanding ofparents and masters, and, consequently, subject to this understanding, diverse, flexible, dependent on the law of supply and demand, competitive, each careful to keep its own patrons, each compelled, likeevery other private enterprise, to adjust its working to the views andfaculties of its clients. It is very probable that, if these had beenallowed to exist, if the new legislator had not been radically hostileto permanent corporations, endowments, and mortmain titles; if, throughthe jealous intervention of his Council of State and the enormouslevies of his fiscal system, the government had not discouraged freeassociations and the free donations to which they might have beenentitled, the best of these secondary schools would have survived: thosewhich might have been able to adapt themselves to their surroundingswould have had the most vitality; according to a well-known law, theywould have prospered in branching off, each in its own sense and in itsown way. --Now, at this date, after the demolitions of the Revolution, all pedagogic roads were open and, at each of their starting-points, the runners were ready, not merely the secular but, again, independentecclesiastics, liberal Gallicans, surviving Jansenists, constitutionalpriests, enlightened monks, some of them philosophers and half-secularin mind or even at heart, using Port-Royal manuals, Rollin's "Traité desÉtudes" and Condillac's "Cours d'Etudes, " the best-tried and most fecundmethods of instruction, all the traditions of the seventeenth centuryfrom Arnauld to Lancelot and all the novelties of the eighteenth centuryfrom Locke to Jean-Jacques Rousseau, all wide-awake or aroused by thedemands of the public and by this unique opportunity and eager to doand to do well. In the provinces[6338] as at Paris, people were seeking, trying and groping. There was room and encouragement for original, sporadic and multiple invention, for schools proportionate with andsuited to various and changing necessities, Latin, mathematical ormixed schools, some for theoretical science and others for practicalapprenticeship, these commercial and those industrial, from the loweststandpoint of technical and rapid preparation up to the loftiest summitsof speculative and prolonged study. 

On this school world in the way of formation, Napoleon has riveted hisuniformity, the rigorous apparatus of his university, his uniquesystem, narrow, inflexible, applied from above. We have seen with whatrestrictions, with what insistence, with what convergence of means, whatprohibitions, what taxes, what application of the university monopoly, and with what systematic hostility to private establishments!--In thetowns, and by force, they become branches of the lycée and imitate itsclasses; in this way Sainte-Barbe is allowed to subsist at Paris and, until the abolition of the monopoly, the principal establishments ofParis, Massin, Jauffrey, Bellaguet, existed only on this condition, that of becoming auxiliaries, subordinates and innkeepers for lycéeday-scholars; such is still the case to-day for the lycées Bossuetand Gerson. In the way of education and instruction the little that aninstitution thus reduced can preserve of originality and of pedagogicvirtue is of no account. --In the country, the Oratoriens who haverepurchased Juilly are obliged, [6339] in order to establish a free anddurable school of "Christian and national education, " to turn asidethe civil law which interdicts trusts and organize themselves into a"Tontine Society" and thus present their disinterested enterprise in thelight of an industrial and commercial speculation, that of a lucrativeand well-attended boarding school. Still at the present day similarfictions have to be resorted to for the establishment and duration oflike enterprises. [6340]

Naturally, under this prohibitive régime, private establishments areborn with difficulty; and afterwards, absorbed, mutilated and strangled, they find no less difficulty in keeping alive and thus degenerate, decline and succumb one by one. And yet, in 1815, not counting the 41small seminaries with their 5000 scholars, there still remained 1, 225private schools, with 39, 000 scholars, confronting the 36 lycées and 368communal colleges which, together, had only 37, 000 scholars. Of these1, 255 private schools there are only 825 in 1854, 622 in 1865, 494 in1876, and, finally, in 1887, 302 with 20, 174 scholars; on the otherhand, the State establishments have 89, 000 schools, and those of theChurch amount to 73, 000. It is only after 1850 that the decadence ofsecular and private institutions is precipitated; in effect, insteadof one competitor, they have two, the second as formidable as the firstone, both enjoying unlimited credit, possessors of immense capital anddetermined to spend money without calculation, the State, on one sideabstracting millions from the pockets of the taxpayers and, on the otherside, the Church deriving its millions from the purses of the faithful:the struggle between isolated individuals and these two greatorganized powers who give instruction at a discount or gratis is toounequal. [6341]

Such is the actual and final effect of the first Napoleonic monopoly:the enterprise of the State has, by a counter-stroke, incited theenterprise of the clergy; both now complete the ruin of the others, private, different in kind and independent, which, supported wholly byfamily approbation, have no other object in view than to render familiescontent. On the contrary, along with this purpose, the two survivorshave another object, each its own, a superior and doctrinal object, dueto its own particular interest and antagonism to the opposite interest;it is in view of this object, in view of a political or religiouspurpose, that each in its own domicile directs education and instructionlike Napoleon, each inculcates on, or insinuates into, young minds itssocial and moral opinions which are clear-cut and become cutting. Now, the majority of parents, who prefer peace to war, desire that theirchildren should entertain moderate and not bellicose opinions. Theywould like to see them respectful and intelligent, and nothing more. But neither of the two rival institutions thus limits itself; each worksbeyond and aside, [6342] and when the father, at the end of July, [6343]goes for his son at the ecclesiastical college or secular institution, he risks finding in the young man of seventeen the militant prejudices, the hasty and violent conclusions and the uncompromising rigidity ofeither a "laïcisant" or a "clérical. "

III. Internal Vices

 The internal vices of the system. --Barrack or convent discipline of the boarding-school. --Number and proportions of scholars in State and Church establishments. --Starting point of the French boarding-school. --The school community viewed not as a distinct organ of the State but as a mechanism wielded by the State. --Effects of these two conceptions. --Why the boarding-school entered into and strengthened ecclesiastical establishments. --Effects of the boarding-school on the young man. --Gaps in his experience, errors of judgment, no education of his will. --The evil aggravated by the French system of special and higher schools. 

Meanwhile, the innate vices of the primitive system have lasted and, and, among others, the worst of all, the internat[6344] under thediscipline of barracks or convent, while the university, throughits priority and supremacy, in contact with or contiguously, hascommunicated this discipline at first to its subordinates, and afterwardto its rivals. --In 1887, [6345] in the State lycées and colleges, there are more than 39, 000 boarding-schools (internes) while, in theecclesiastic establishments, it is worse: out of 50, 000 pupils there, over 27, 000 are internes, to which must be added the 23, 000 pupils ofthe small seminaries, properly so called, nearly all of them boarders;in a total of 163, 000 pupils we find 89, 000 internes. [6346] Thus, tosecure secondary instruction, more than one-half of the youth of Franceundergo the internat, ecclesiastic or secular. This is peculiar toFrance, and is due to the way in which Napoleon, in 1806, seized on andperverted all school enterprises. [6347]

Before 1789, in France, this enterprise, although largely trammeled andimpeded by the State and the Church, was not violated in principle norperverted in essence; still at the present day, in Germany, in England, in the United States, it exists and is developed in accordance with itsnature. It is admitted to be a private enterprise, [6348] the collectiveand spontaneous work of several associates voluntarily bound together, old founders, actual and future benefactors, masters and parents andeven scholars, [6349] each in his place and function, under a statuteand according to tradition, in such a way as to continue functioningindefinitely, in order to provide, like a gas company on its ownresponsibility, at its own risk and expense, a provider of services forthose who want it; in other terms, the school enterprise must, like anyother undertaking, render acceptable what it offers thereby satisfyingthe needs of its clients. --Naturally, it adapts itself to these needs;its directors and those concerned do what is necessary. With hands free, and grouped around an important interest evidently for a common purpose, mutually bound and veritable associates not only legally but in feeling, devoted to a local enterprise and local residents for many years, ofteneven for life, they strive not to offend the profound repugnance of theyoung and of families. They therefore make the necessary arrangementsinternally and with the parents. [6350]

That is why, outside of France, the French internat, so artificial, so forced, so exaggerated, is almost unknown. In Germany, out of onehundred pupils in the gymnases, which correspond to our lycées, thereare scarcely ten boarders lodged and fed in the gymnase; the rest, evenwhen their parents do not live near by, remain day-scholars, privateguests in the families that harbor them, often at a very low price andwhich take the place of the absent family. No boarders are found inthem except in a few gymnases like Pforta and by virtue of an ancientendowment. The number, however, by virtue of the same endowment, islimited; they dine, in groups of eight or ten, [6351] at the same tablewith the professors lodged like themselves in the establishment, while they enjoy for a playground a vast domain of woods, fields andmeadow. --The same in England, at Harrow, Eton and Rugby. Each professor, here, is keeper of a boarding-house; he has ten, twenty and thirty boysunder his roof, eating at his table or at a table the head of which issome lady of the house. Thus, the youth goes from the family into theschool, without painful or sudden contrast, and remains under asystem of things which suits his age and which is a continuation, onlyenlarged, of domestic life. [6352]

The French college or lycée is quite the opposite. It operates againstthe true spirit of the school, and has done so for eighty years being anenterprise of the State, a local extension of a central enterprise, oneof the hundred branches of the great State university trunk, possessingno roots of its own and with a directing or teaching staff composedof functionaries similar to others, that is to say transferable, [6353]restless and preoccupied with promotion, their principal motive fordoing well being the hope of a higher rank and of getting a bettersituation. This almost separate them in advance from the establishmentin which they labor and, [6354] besides that, they are led, pushed on, and restrained from above, each in his own particular sphere and inhis limited duty. The principal (proviseur) is confined to hisadministrative position and the professor to his class, expresslyforbidden to leave it. No professor is "under any pretext to receive inhis house as boarders or day-scholars more than ten pupils. "[6355]No woman is allowed to lodge inside the lycée or college walls, all, --proviseur, censor, cashier, chaplain, head-masters and assistants, fitted by art or force to each other like cog-wheels, with no deepsympathy, with no moral tie, without collective interests, a cleverlydesigned machine which, in general, works accurately and smoothly, butwith no soul because, to have a soul, it is of prime necessity to havea living body. As a machine constructed at Paris according to a uniquepattern and superposed on people and things from Perpignan to Douai andfrom Rochelle to Besançon, it does not adapt itself to the requirementsof the public; it subjects its public to the exigencies, rigidity anduniformity of its play and structure. Now, as it acts mechanically only, through outward pressure, the human material on which it operates mustbe passive, composed, not of diverse persons, but of units all alike;its pupils must be for it merely numbers and names. --Owing to this ourinternats, those huge stone boxes set up and isolated in each largetown, those lycées parceled out to hold three hundred, four hundred, even eight hundred boarders, with immense dormitories, refectories andplaygrounds, recitation-rooms full to overflowing, and, for eight or tenyears, for one half of our children and youths, an anti-social unnaturalsystem apart, strict confinement, no going out except to march incouples under the eyes of a sub-teacher who maintains order in theranks, promiscuity and life in common, exact and minute regularity underequal discipline and constant constraint in order to eat, sleep, study, play, promenade and the rest, --in short, COMMUNISM. 

From the University this system is propagated among its rivals. Inconferring grades and passing examinations, it arranges and overburdensthe school program of study; hence, it incites in others what itpractices at home, the over-training of youth, and a factitious, hot-house education. On the other hand, the internat is, for those whodecide on that, less troublesome than the day-school;[6356] also, the more numerous the boarders in any one establishment, the lessthe expense; thus, in order to exist in the face of the universityestablishments, there must be internats and internats that are full. Ecclesiastical establishments willingly resign themselves to all this;they are even inclined that way; the Jesuits were the first ones, underthe old monarchy, who introduced cloistered and crowded boarding-houses. In its essence, the Catholic church, like the French State, is a Romaninstitution, still more exclusive and more governmental, resolved toseize, hold on to, direct and control man entirely, and, first of all, the child, head and heart, opinions and impressions, in order to stampin him and lastingly the definitive and salutary forms which are for himthe first condition of salvation. Consequently, the ecclesiastical cageis more strict in its confinement than the secular cage; if the bars arenot so strong and not so rough, the grating, finer and more yielding, ismore secure, closer and better maintained; they do not allow any holesor relaxation of the meshes; the precautions against worldly and familyinterference, against the mistakes and caprices of individual effort, are innumerable, and form a double or even triple network. For, toschool discipline is added religious discipline, no less compulsory, just as rigid and more constant--daily pious exercises, ordinarydevotions and extraordinary ceremonies, spiritual guidance, influence ofthe confessional and the example and behavior of a staff kept togetheraround the same work by the same faith. The closer the atmosphere, themore powerful the action; the chances are that the latter will provedecisive on the child sequestered, sheltered and brought up in a retort, and that its intellect, faith and ideas, carefully cultivated, prunedand always under direction, will exactly reproduce the model aimedat. --For this reason, in 1876, 33, 000 out of 46, 000 pupils belongingto the 309 ecclesiastical establishments of secondary instruction, areinternes, [6357] and the Catholic authorities admit that, in the 86 smallseminaries, no day-scholars, no future lay persons, are necessary. 

This conclusion is perhaps reasonable in relation to the 23, 000pupils of the small seminaries, and for the 10, 000 pupils in the greatseminaries; it is perhaps reasonable also for the future militaryofficers formed by the State at La Flèche, Saint-Cyr, Saumur, and on theBorda. [6358] Whether future soldiers or future priests, their educationfits them for the life they are to lead; what they are to become asadults, they already are as youths and children; the internat, under aconvent discipline or that of the barracks, qualifies them beforehandfor their profession. Since they must possess the spirit of it they mustcontract its habits. Having accepted the form of their pursuit they moreeasily accept its constraints and all the more that the constraintsof the regiment will be less for the young officer who recently was atSaint-Cyr, and for the young ministrant in the rural parish who recentlywas in the great seminary. --It is quite the reverse for the 75, 000 otherinternes of public or private establishments, ecclesiastic or secular, for the future engineers, doctors, architects, notaries, attorneys, advocates and other men of the law, functionaries, land-owners, chiefsand assistants in industry, agriculture and commerce. For them theinternat affords precisely the opposite education required for asecular and civil career. These carry away from the prolonged internata sufficient supply of Latin or of mathematics; but they are lackingin two acquisitions of capital import: they have been deprived of twoindispensable experiences. On entering society the young man is ignorantof its two principal personages, man and woman, as they are and as he isabout to meet them in society. He has no idea of them, or rather he hasonly a preconceived, arbitrary and false conception of them. --He hasnot dined, commonly, with a lady, head of the house, along with herdaughters and often with other ladies; their tone of voice, theirdeportment at table, their toilette, their greater reserve, theattentions they receive, the air of politeness all around, have notimpressed on his imagination the faintest lines of an exact notion;hence, there is something wanting in him in relation to how heshould demean himself; he does not know how to address them, feelsuncomfortable in their presence; they are strange beings to him, new, of an unknown species. --In a like situation, at table in the evening, he has never heard men conversing together: he has not gathered in thethousand bits of information which a young growing mind derives fromgeneral conversation:

* about careers in life, competition, business, money, the domesticfireside and expenses;

* about the cost of living which should always depend on income;

* about the gain which nearly always indicates the current rates oflabor and of the social subjection one undergoes;

* about the pressing, powerful, personal interests which are soon toseize him by the collar and perhaps by the throat;

* about the constant effort required the incessant calculation, thedaily struggle which, in modern society, makes up the life of anordinary man. 

All means of obtaining knowledge have been denied him, the contact withliving and diverse men, the images which the sensations of his eyes andears might have stamped on his brain. These images constitute the solematerials of a correct, healthy conception; through them, spontaneouslyand gradually, without too many deceptions or shocks, he mighthave figured social life to himself, such as it is, its conditions, difficulties, and its opportunities: he has neither the sentiment of itnor even a premonition. In all matters, that which we call common senseis never but an involuntary latent summary, the lasting, substantialand salutary depot left in our minds after many direct impressions. With reference to social life, he has been deprived of all these directimpressions and the precious depot has never been formed in him. --e Hehas scarcely ever conversed with his professors; their talk with him hasbeen about impersonal and abstract matters, languages, literature andmathematics. He has spoken but little with his teachers, exceptto contest an injunction or grumble aloud against reproof. Of realconversation, the acquisition and exchange of ideas, he has enjoyednone, except with his comrades: if, like him, all are internes, theycan communicate to each other only their ignorance. If day-scholars areadmitted, they are active smugglers or willing agents who bring into thehouse and circulate forbidden books and obscene journals, along withthe filthy provocative and foul atmosphere of the streets. --Now, withexcitement of this kind or in this manner, the brains of these captives, as puberty comes on and deliverance draws near, work actively and weknow in what sense[6359] and in what counter-sense, how remote fromobservable and positive truth, how their imagination pictures society, man and woman, under what simple and coarse appearances, with whatinadequacy and presumption, what appetites of liberated serfs andjuvenile barbarians, how, as concerns women, their precocious and turbiddreams first become brutal and cynical, [6360] how, as concerns men, their unballasted and precipitous thought easily becomes chimericaland revolutionary. [6361] The downhill road is steep on the bad side, sothat, to put on the brake and stop, then to remount the hill, the youngman who takes the management of his life into his own hands, must knowhow to use his own will and persevere to the end. 

But a faculty is developed only by exercise, and the French internatis the engine the most effective for hindering the exercise of thisone. --The youth, from the first to the last day of his internat, hasnever been able to deliberate on, choose and decide what he should doat any one hour of his schooldays; except to idle away time instudy-hours, and pay no attention at recitations, he could not exercisehis will. Nearly every act, especially his outward attitudes, postures, immobility, silence, drill and promenades in rank, is only obedience toorders. He has lived like a horse in harness, between the shafts of hiscart; this cart itself, kept straight by its two wheels, must not leavethe rectilinear ruts hollowed out and traced for it along the road; itis impossible for the horse to turn aside. Besides, every morning he isharnessed at the same hour, and every evening he is unharnessed at thesame hour; every day, at other hours, he has to rest and take his rationof hay and oats. He has never been under the necessity of thinking aboutall this, nor of looking ahead or on either side; from one end of theyear to the other, he has simply had to pull along guided by the bridleor urged by the whip, his principal motives being only of two kinds: onthe one hand more or less hard guidance and urgings, and on the otherhand his recalcitrance, laziness and fatigue; he has been obliged tochoose between the two. For eight or ten years, his initiative isreduced to that--no other employment of his free will. The education ofhis free will is thus rudimentary or nonexistent. 

On the strength of this our (French) system supposes that it is completeand perfect. We cast the bridle on the young man's neck and hand himover to his own government. We admit that, by extraordinary grace, thescholar has suddenly become a man; that he is capable of prescribing andfollowing his own orders; that he has accustomed himself to weighing thenear and remote consequences of his acts, of imputing them to himself, of believing himself responsible for them; that his conscience, suddenlyemancipated, and his reason, suddenly adult, will march straight onathwart temptations and immediately recover from slips. Consequently, heis set free with an allowance in some great city; he registers himselfunder some Faculty and becomes one among ten thousand other students onthe sidewalks of Paris. --Now, in France, there is no university policeforce to step in, as at Bonn or Göttingen, at Oxford or Cambridge, towatch his conduct and punish him in the domicile and in public places. At the schools of medicine, Law, Pharmacy, Fine-Arts, Charters, andOriental Languages, at the Sorbonne and at the École Centrale, hisemancipation is sudden and complete. When he goes from secondaryeducation to superior education he does not, as in England and inGermany, pass from restricted liberty to one less restricted, but from amonastic discipline to compete independence. In a furnished room, in thepromiscuity and incognito of a common hotel, scarcely out of college, the novice of twenty years finds at hand the innumerable temptations ofthe streets, the taverns, the bars, public balls, obscene publications, chance acquaintances, and the liaisons of the gutter. Against all thishis previous education has disarmed him. Instead of creating a moralforce within him, the long and strict internat has maintained moraldebility. He yields to opportunity, to example; he goes with thecurrent, he floats without a rudder, he lets himself drift. As far ashygiene, or money, or sex, is concerned, his mistakes and his follies, great or small, are almost inevitable, while it is an average chance if, during his three, four or five years of full license, he does not becomeentirely corrupt. 

IV. Cramming and Exams Compared to Apprenticeship

 Another vice of the system. --Starting-point of superior instruction in France. --Substitution of special State schools for free encyclopedic universities. --Effect of this substitution. --Examinations and competitions. --Intense, forced and artificial culture. --How it reaches an extreme. --Excess and prolongation of theoretical studies. --Insufficiency and tardiness of practical apprenticeship. --Comparison of this system with others, between France before 1789 and England and the United States. --Lost forces. --Mistaken use and excessive expenditure of mental energy. -- --The entire body of youth condemned to it after 1889. 

Let us now consider another effect of the primitive institution, notless pernicious. On leaving the lycée after the philosophy class, thesystem supposes that a general education is fully obtained; there is notquestion of a second one, ulterior and superior, that of universities. In place of these encyclopedic universities, of which the object isfree teaching and the free progress of knowledge, it establishes specialState schools, separate from each other, each confined to a distinctbranch, each with a view to create, verify and proclaim a usefulcapacity, each devoted to leading a young man along, step by step, through a series of studies and tests up to the title or final diplomawhich qualifies him for his profession, a diploma that is indispensableor, at least, very useful since, without it, in many cases, one has noright to practice his profession and which, thanks to it, in all cases, enables one to enter on a career with favor and credit, in fair rank, and considerably promoted. --On entering most careers called liberal, a first diploma is exacted, that of bachelor of arts, or bachelor ofsciences, sometimes both, the acquisition of which is now a seriousmatter for all French youth, a daily and painful preoccupation. To thisend, when about sixteen, the young man works, or, rather, is workedupon. For one or two years, he submits to a forced culture, not inview of learning and of knowing, but to answer questions well at anexamination, or tolerably well, and to obtain a certificate, on proofor on semblance of proof, that he has received a complete classicaleducation. --Next after this, at the medical or law school, during thefour prescribed years, sixteen graduated inscriptions, four or fivesuperposed examinations, two or three terminal verifications, obligehim to furnish the same proof, or semblance of proof, to verify, as eachyear comes round, his assimilation of the lessons of the year, and thusattest that, at the end of his studies, he possesses about the entirescope and diversity of knowledge to which he is restricted. 

In the schools where the number of pupils is limited, this culture, carried still farther, becomes intense and constant. In theÉcole Centrale and in the commercial or agronomic schools, in thePolytechnique or Normale, he is there all day and all night, --he ishoused in a barracks. --And the pressure on him is twofold--the pressureof examinations and that of competition. On entering, on leaving, andduring his stay there, not only at the end of each year but every sixor three months, often every six weeks, and even every fortnight, heis rated according to his compositions, exercises and interrogatories, getting so many marks for his partial value, so many for his total valueand according to these figures, classed at a certain rank amonghis comrades who are his rivals. To descend on the scale would bedisadvantageous and humiliating; to ascend on the scale is advantageousand glorious. Driven by this motive, so strong in France, his principalaim is to go up or, at least, not to go down; he devotes all his energyto this; he expends none of it on either side or beyond; he allowshimself no diversion, he abstains from taking any initiative; hisrestrained curiosity never ventures outside of the circle traced forhim; he absorbs only what he is taught and in the order in which itis taught; he fills himself to the brim, but only to disgorge at theexamination and not to retain and hold on to; he runs the risk ofchoking and when relieved, of remaining empty. Such is the régime of ourGrande Ecoles. They are systematic, energetic and prolonged system ofgardening; the State, the gardener-in-chief, receiving or selectingplants which it undertakes to turn out profitably, each of its kind. Tothis end, it separates the species, and ranges each apart on a bed ofearth; and here, all day long, it digs, weeds, rakes, waters, addsone manure after another, applies its powerful heating apparatus andaccelerates the growth and ripening of the fruit. On certain bedsit plants are kept under glass throughout the year; in this way itmaintains them in a steady, artificial atmosphere, forcing them to morelargely imbibe the nutritive liquids with which it floods the ground, thus causing them to swell and become hypertrophied, so as to producefruits or vegetables for show, and which it exposes and which bring itcredit; for all these productions look well, many of them superb, while their size seems to attest their excellence; they are weightedbeforehand and the official labels with which they are decoratedannounce the authentic weight. 

During the first quarter, and even the first half, of the (19th)century, the system remained almost unobjectionable; it had not yetpushed things to excess. Down to 1850 and later, all that was demandedof the young, in their examinations and competitions, was much lessthe extent and minutia of knowledge than proofs of intelligence and thepromise of capacity: in a literary direction, the main object was toverify whether the candidate, familiar with the classics, could writeLatin correctly and French tolerably well; in the sciences, if hecould, without help, accurately and promptly solve a problem; if, againunaided, he could readily and accurately to the end, state a long seriesof theorems and equations without divergence or faltering; in sum, theobject of the test was to verify in him the presence and degree ofthe mathematical or literary faculty. --But, since the beginning of thecentury, the old subdivided sciences and the new consolidated scienceshave multiplied their discoveries and, necessarily, all discoveries endin finding their way into public instruction. In Germany, for them tobecome installed and obtain chairs, encyclopedic universities are found, in which free teaching, pliant and many-sided, rises of itself to thelevel of knowledge. [6362] With us, for lack of universities, they havehad only special schools[6363]; here only could a place be found forthem and professors obtained. Henceforth, the peculiar character ofthese schools has changed: they have ceased to be strictly specialand veritably professional. --Each school, being an individuality, hasdeveloped apart and on its own account; its aim has been to install andfurnish under its own roof all the general, collateral, accessory andornamental studies which, far or near, could be of service to its ownpupils. No longer content with turning out competent and practicalmen, it has conceived a superior type, the ideal model of the engineer, physician, jurist, professor or architect. To produce this extraordinaryand desirable professional, it has designed some excessively difficultimpressive lectures. [6364] To be able to make use of these, it has giventhe young man the opportunity not only to acquire abstract, multiple, technical knowledge, and information, but also the complementary cultureand lofty general ideas, which render the specialist a true savant and aman of a very broad mind. 

To this end, it has appealed to the State. The State, the contractorfor public instruction, the founder of every new professional chair, appoints the occupant, pays the salary and, when in funds, is notill-disposed, for it thus gains a good reputation, an increase ofgranting power and a new functionary. Such is the why and wherefore, ineach school, of the multiplication of professorships: schools of law, ofmedicine, of pharmacy, of charters, of fine arts, polytechnic, normal, central, agronomic and commercial schools, each becoming, or tending tobecome, a sort of university on a small scale, bringing together withinits walls the totality of teachings which, if the student profits bythem, renders him in his profession an accomplished personage. Naturally, to secure attendance at these lectures, the school, inconcert with the State, adds to the exigencies of its examinations, andsoon, for the average of intellects and for health, the burden imposedby it becomes too heavy. Particularly, in the schools to which admissionis gained only through competitions the extra load is still moreburdensome, owing to the greater crowd striving to pass; there are nowfive, seven and even eleven candidates for one place. [6365] With thiscrowd, it has been found necessary to raise and multiply the barriers, urge the competitors to jump over them, and to open the door only tothose who jump the highest and in the greatest number. There is no otherway to make a selection among them without incurring the charge ofdespotism and nepotism. It is their business to have sturdy legs andmake the best of them, then to submit to methodical training, topractice and train all year and for several years in succession, inorder to pass the final test, without thinking of any but the barriersin front of them on the race-course at the appointed date, and whichthey must spring over to get ahead of their rivals. 

At the present day[6366], after the complete course of classicalstudies, four years in school no longer suffice for obtaining thedegrees of a doctor in medicine or doctor in law. Five or six years arenecessary. Two years are necessary between the baccalauréat ès-lettresand the various licenses ès-lettres or sciences, and from these to thecorresponding aggrégations two, three years, and often more. Three yearsof preparatory studies in mathematics and of desperate application leadthe young man to the threshold of the École Polytechnique; after that, after two years in school and of no less sustained effort, the futureengineer passes three not less laborious years at the École des Pontset Chaussées or des Mines, which amounts to eight years of professionalpreparation. [6367] Elsewhere, in the other schools, it is the same thingwith more or less excess. Observe how days and hours are spent duringthis long period. [6368] The young men have attended lecture-courses, masticated and re-masticated manuals, abbreviated abridgments, learnedby heart mementos and formulae, stored their memories with a vastmultitude of generalities and details. Every sort of preliminaryinformation, all the theoretical knowledge which, even indirectly, may serve them in their future profession or which is of service inneighboring professions, are classified in their brains, ready to comeforth at the first call, and, as proved by the examination, disposableat a minute; they possess them, but nothing otherwise or beyond. Theireducation has all tended to one side; they have undergone no practicalapprenticeship. Never have they taken an active part in or lent a handto any professional undertaking either as collaborators or assistants. 

* The future professor, a new aggrégé at twenty-four years of age, whoissues from the École Normale, has not yet taught a class, except for afortnight in a Paris lycée. 

* The future engineer who, at twenty-four or twenty-five years of ageleaves the École Centrale, or the École des Ponts, or École des Mines, has never assisted in the working of a mine, in the heating of a blastfurnace, in the piercing of a tunnel, in the laying-out of a dike, ofa bridge or of a roadway. He is ignorant of the cost and has nevercommanded a squad of workmen. 

* If the future advocate or magistrate to be has put up with being anotary's or lawyer's clerk, he will at twenty-five years of age, evenif he is a doctor of law with his insignia of three "white balls, "know nothing of the business; he merely knows his codes; he has neverexamined pleadings, conducted a case, drawn up an act or liquidated anestate. 

* From eighteen to thirty, the future architect who competes for aprix de Rome may stay in the École des Beaux-Arts, draw plan after planthere, and then, if he obtains the prix, pass five years at Rome, makedesigns without end, multiply plans and restorations on paper, and atlast, at thirty-five years of age, return to Paris with the highesttitles, architect of the government, and with the aspiration to erectedifices without having taken even a second or third part in the actualconstruction of one single house. --

None of these men so full of knowledge know their trade and each, atthis late hour, is expected to act as an expert, improvising, [6369] inhaste and too fast, encountering many drawbacks at his own expense andat the expense of others, along with serious risks for the first taskshe undertakes. 

Before 1789, says a witness of both the ancient and the modern régime, [6370] young Frenchmen did not thus pass their early life. Insteadof dancing attendance so long on the threshold of a career, they wereinducted into it very early in life and at once began the race. Withvery light baggage and readily obtained "they entered the army atsixteen, and even fifteen years of age, at fourteen in the navy, anda little later in special branches, artillery or engineering. In themagistracy, at nineteen, the son of a conseiller-maître in parliamentwas made a conseiller-adjoint without a vote until he reachedtwenty-five; meanwhile, he was busy, active and sometimes was made areporter of a case. No less precocious were the admissions to the Courdes Comptes, to the Cour des Aides, to inferior jurisdictions and intothe bureaus of all the financial administrations. " Here, as elsewhere, if any rank in law was exacted the delay that ensured was not apparent;the Faculty examinations were only for forms sake; for a sum of money, and after a more or less grave ceremonial, a needed diploma was obtainedalmost without study. [6371]--Accordingly, it was not in school, but inthe profession, that professional instruction was acquired; strictlyspeaking, the young man for six or seven years, instead of being astudent was an apprentice, that is to say a working novice under severalmaster-workmen, in their workshop, working along with them and learningby doing, which is the best way of obtaining instruction. Strugglingwith the difficulties of the work he at once became aware of hisincompetence;[6372] he became modest and was attentive; with hismasters, he kept silent, and listened, which is the only way tounderstand. If he was intelligent he himself discovered what he lacked;as he found this out he felt the need of supplying what he needed; hesought, set his wits to work, and made choice of the various means;freely and self-initiating he helped himself in his general or specialeducation. If he read books, it was not resignedly and for a recitation, but with avidity and to comprehend them. If he followed lecture-coursesit was not because he was obliged to, but voluntarily, because he wasinterested and because he profited by it. --Chancellor Pasquier wasmagistrate at seventeen (in 1784), attended at the lycée the lectures ofGarat, La Harpe, Fourcroy and Duparcieux and, daily, at table or in theevening, listened to his father and his friends discussing matterswhich, in the morning, had been argued in the Palais de Justice or inthe Grand-Chambre. He imbibed a taste for his profession. Along with twoor three prominent advocates and other young magistrates like himself, he inscribed his name for lectures at the house of the first presidentof the first court of inquiry. Meanwhile, he went every evening intosociety; he saw there with his own eyes the ways and interests of menand women. On the other hand, at the Palais de Justice, a conseiller-écoutant he sat for five years, alongside of the conseiller-juges andoften, the reporter of a case, he gave his opinion. After such anovitiate, he was competent to form a judgment in civil or criminalcases with experience, competency and authority. From the age oftwenty-five, he was prepared for and capable of serious duties. He hadonly to live and perfect himself to become an administrator, deputy orminister, a dignitary as we see under the first Empire, under theRestoration, under the July monarchy, that is to say the best informed, well-balanced, judicious political character and, at length, the man ofhighest consideration of his epoch. [6373]

Such is also the process which, still at the present day (1890), in England and in America secures future ability in the variousprofessions. In the hospital, in the mine, in factories, with thearchitect, with the lawyer, the pupil, taken very young, goes throughhis apprenticeship and subsequent stages about the same as a clerkwith us in an office or an art-student in the studio. Preliminarily andbefore entering it, he has attended some general seminary lecture whichserves him as a ready-made basis for the observations he is about tomake. Meanwhile, there are very often technical courses within reach, which he may attend at his leisure in order to give shape to his dailyexperiences as these happen to accumulate. Under a régime of this stamppractical capacity grows and develops of itself, just to that degreewhich the faculties of the pupil warrant, and in the direction which hisfuture aims require, through the special work to which he wishes for thetime being to adapt himself. In this way, in England and in the UnitedStates, the young man soon succeeds in developing all he is good for. From the age of twenty-five and much sooner, if the substance andbottom are not wanting, he is not only a useful subordinate, but again aspontaneous creator, not merely a wheel but besides this a motor force. In France, where the inverse process has prevailed and become more andmore Chinese at each generation, the total of the force lost is immense. 

The most productive period of human life extends from fifteen or sixteenup to twenty-five or twenty-six; here are seven or eight years ofgrowing energy and of constant production, buds, flowers and fruit;during this period the young man sketches out his original ideas. But, that these ideas may be born in him, sprout, and flourish they must, at this age, profit by the stimulating or repressive influence of theatmosphere in which they are to live later on; here only are they formedin their natural and normal environment; their germs depend for theirgrowth on the innumerable impressions due to the young man's sensations, daily, in the workshop, in the mine, in the court-room, in the studio, on the scaffolding of a building, in the hospital, on seeing tools, materials and operations, in talking with clients and workmen, in doingwork, good or bad, costly or remunerative; such are the minute andspecial perceptions of the eyes and the ears, of touch and even smellwhich, involuntarily gathered in and silently elaborated, work togetherin him and suggest, sooner or later, this or that new combination, economy, perfection or invention. [6374] The young Frenchman, just atthis fecund age, is deprived of all these precious contacts, of allthese assimilating and indispensable elements. During seven or eightyears, he is shut up in school, remote from the direct and personalexperience which might have given him an exact and vivifying notion ofmen and things, and of the various ways of handling them. All this timehis inventive faculties are deliberately sterilized; he can be nothingbut a passive recipient; whatever he might have produced under the othersystem he cannot produce under this one; the balance of debit andcredit is utter loss. --Meanwhile, the cost has been great. Whilst theapprentice, the clerk busy with his papers in his office, the internewith his apron standing by the bedside of the patient in the hospital, pays by his services, at first for his instruction, then for hisbreakfast, and ends in gaining something besides, at least hispocket-money, the student under the Faculty, or the pupil in a specialschool is educated and lives at the expense of his family or of theState; he gives back in exchange not work that is useful to mankind, none that is worth anything on the market; his actual consumption is notcompensated for by his actual production. Undoubtedly, he cherishes thehope that some day or other he will obtain compensation, that we willrefund later and largely both capital and interest, and all the advancesmade; in other words, his future services are discounted and, as far ashe is concerned, he speculates on a long credit. --It remains to be seenwhether the speculation is a good one; whether, at last, the receiptswill cover the expenses, in short, what will be the net or averagereturns on the man thus fashioned. [6375]

Now, among the forces expended, the most important to take into accountis the time and attention of the pupil, the sum of his efforts, this orthat quantity of mental energy; he has only a limited provision ofthis, and, not only is the proportion of this which the system consumesexcessive, but, again, the application of it which the system enforcesis not remunerative. The provision is exhausted and by a wrong use ofit, with scarcely any profit. --In our lycées, the pupil sits at his taskmore than eleven hours a day; in a certain ecclesiastical college it istwelve hours, and, from the age of twelve years, through the necessityof being first in competition as well as for securing the greatestnumber of admissions through various examinations. --At the end of thissecondary education there is a graduated scale of successive test, andfirst the baccalauréat. Fifty out of one hundred candidates fail andthe examiners are indulgent. [6376] This proves, first of all, that therejected have profited by their studies; but it likewise proves that theprogram of the examination is not adapted to the general run of minds, nor to the native faculties of the human majority; that many young mencapable of learning by the opposite method learn nothing by this one;that education, such as it is, with the kind and greatness of the mentallabor it imposes, with its abstract and theoretical style, is beyondthe capacity of the average mind. --Particularly, during the last yearof classical studies, the pupils have had to follow the philosophylectures: in the time of M. Laromiquière, this might be useful to them;in the time of M. Cousin, the course, so far, did but little harm; atthe present day, impregnated with neo-Kantism, it injects into minds ofeighteen, seventeen, and even sixteen years, a metaphysical muddle ascumbersome as the scholasticism of the fourteenth century, terriblyindigestible and unhealthy for the stomachs of novices; the swalloweven to bursting and throw it off at the examination just as it comes, entirely raw for lack of the capacity to assimilate it. --Often, afterfailure at the baccalauréat, or on entering the preparatory or GrandeÉcoles, the young people go into, or are put into, what they call "abox" or an "oven" a preparatory internat, similar to the boxes in whichsilkworms are raised and to the ovens where the eggs are hatched. Inmore exact language it is a mechanical "gaveuse"[6377] in which theyare daily crammed; through this constant, forced feeding, theirreal knowledge is not increased, nor their mental vigor; they aresuperficially fattened and, at the end of the year, or in eighteenmonths, they present themselves on the appointed day, with theartificial and momentary volume they need for that day, with the bulk, surface, polish and all the requisite externals, because these externalsare the only ones that the examination verifies and imposes. [6378] Lessharshly, but in the same manner and with the same object, operatethe special education services which, inside our colleges and lycées, prepare young men for the École de Saint-Cyr and for the polytechnic, naval, central, normal, agricultural, commercial and forestry schools;in these too, the studies are cramming machines which prepare the pupilfor examination purposes. In the like manner, above secondary education, all our special schools are public cramming machines;[6379] alongside ofthem are private schools advertised and puffed in the newspapers and byposters of the walls, preparing young men for the license degree in Lawand for the third or fourth examinations in Medicine. Some day or other, others will probably exist to prepare them for Treasury inspectors, forthe "Cour des Comptes, " for diplomacy, by competition, the same as forthe medical profession, for a hospital surgeon and for aggregation inlaw, medicine, letters or sciences. 

Undoubtedly, some minds, very active and very robust, withstand thisrégime; all they have been made to swallow is absorbed and digested. After leaving school and having passed through all grades they preservethe faculty of learning, investigating and inventing intact, and composethe small élite of scholars, litterateurs, artists, engineers andphysicians who, in the international exposition of superior talent, maintain France in its ancient rank. [6380]--But the rest, in very greatmajority, nine out of ten at least, have lost their time and trouble, many years of their life and years that are useful, important and evendecisive: take at once one-half or two-thirds of those who presentthemselves at the examinations, I mean the rejected, and then, among theadmitted who get diplomas, another half or two-thirds that is to say, the overworked. Too much has been required of them by exacting that, onsuch a day, seated or before the blackboard, for two entire hours, theyshould be living repertories of all human knowledge; in effect, suchthey are, or nearly so, that day, for two hours; but, a month later, they are so no longer; they could not undergo the same examination;their acquisitions, too numerous and too burdensome, constantly drop oftheir minds and they make no new ones. Their mental vigor has given way, the fecund sap has dried up; the finished man appears, often a finishedman content to be put away, to be married, and plod along indefinitelyin the same circle, entrenched in his restricted vocation and doing hisduty, but nothing more. Such are the average returns--assuredly, theprofits do not make up for the expenses. In England and in Americawhere, as before 1789 in France, the inverse method is followed, thereturns are equal or superior, [6381] and they are obtained with greaterfacility, with more certainty, at an age less tardy, without imposingsuch great and unhealthy efforts on the young man, such largeexpenditure by the State, and such long delays and sacrifices onfamilies. [6382]

Now, in the four Faculties of Law, Medicine, Science and Letters, thereare this year 22, 000 students; add to these the pupils of the specialschools and those who study with the hope of entering them, in allprobably 30, 000. But there is no need of counting them; since thesuppression of the one-year voluntariat, the entire body of youthscapable of study, who wish to remain only one year in barracks and notremain there to get brutalized during three years, flocks to the benchesof the lycée or to those of a Faculty. [6383] The sole object of theyoung man is not, as before, to reach the baccalauréat; it is essentialthat he should be admitted, after a competition, into one of thespecial schools, or obtain the highest grades or diplomas in one of theFaculties; in all cases he is bound to successfully undergo difficultand multiplied examinations. At present time (1890), there is no placein France for an education in the inverse sense, nor for any other of adifferent type. Henceforth, no young man, without condemning himself tothree years of barrack life, can travel at an early age for any lengthof time, or form his mind at home by free and original studies, stayin Germany and follow speculative studies in the universities, or go toEngland or to America to derive practical instruction from factory orfarm. Captured by our system, he is forced to surrender himself to themechanical routine which fills his mind with fictitious tools, withuseless and cumbersome acquisitions that impose on him in exchangean exorbitant expenditure of mental energy and which is very like toconvert him into a mandarin. 

V. Public instruction in 1890. 

 Public instruction since 1870. --Agreement between the Napoleonic and Jacobin conception. --Extension and aggravation of the system. --The deductive process of the Jacobin mind. --Its consequences. --In superior and in secondary instruction. --In primary instruction. --Gratuitous, obligatory and secular instruction. 

Such is the singular and final result brought about by the institutionof the year X (or 1801), due to the intervention of the grossly levelingJacobin spirit. [6384] Indeed, since 1871, and especially since 1879, this spirit, through Napoleonic forms, has given breath, impulse anddirection, and these forms suit it. On the principle that educationbelongs to the State, Napoleon and the old Jacobins were in accord;what he in fact established they had proclaimed as a dogma; hence thestructure of his university-organisation was not objectionable to them;on the contrary, it conformed to their instincts. Hence, the reason whythe new Jacobins, inheritors of both instinct and dogma, immediatelyadopted the existing system; none was more convenient, better calculatedto meet their views, better adapted in advance to do their work. Consequently, under the third Republic, [6385] as under anteriorgovernments, the school machinery continues to turn and grind in thesame rut. Through the same working of its mechanism, under the sameimpulse of its unique and central motor, conforming to the sameNapoleonic and Jacobin idea of the teaching State, it is a formidableconcept which, more intrusive every year, more widely and morerigorously applied, more and more excludes the opposite concept. Thiswould be the remission of education to those interested in it, to thosewho possess rights, to parents, to free and private enterprises whichdepend only on personal exertions and on families, to permanent, special, local corporations, proprietary and organized under status, governed, managed, and supported by themselves. On this model, a fewmen of intelligence and sensibility, enlightened by what is accomplishedabroad, try to organize regional universities in our great academiccenters. The State might, perhaps, allow, if not the enterprise itself, then at least something like it, but nothing more. Through its rightof public administration, through the powers of its Council of State, through its fiscal legislation, through the immemorial prejudices ofits jurists, through the routine of its bureaus, it is hostile toa corporate personality. Never can such a project be considered averitable civil personage; if the State consents to endow a group ofindividuals with civil powers, it is always on condition that they besubject to its narrow tutelage and be treated as minors and children. --Besides, these universities, even of age, are to remain as they are, so many dispensaries of diplomas. They are no longer to serve as anintellectual refuge, an oasis at the end of secondary instruction, astation for three or four years for free curiosity and disinterestedself-culture. Since the abolition of the volontariat for one year, ayoung Frenchman no longer enjoys the leisure to cultivate himself inthis way; free curiosity is interdicted; he is too much harassed bya too positive interest, by the necessity of obtaining grades anddiplomas, by the preoccupations of examinations, by the limitations ofage; he has no time to lose in experiments, in mental excursions, inpure speculations. Henceforth, our system allows him only the régime towhich we see him subject, namely the rush, the puffing and blowing, thegallop without stopping on a race-course, the perilous jumps at regulardistances over previously arranged and numbered obstacles. Instead ofbeing restricted and attenuated, the disadvantages of the Napoleonicinstitution spread and grow worse, and this is due to the way in whichour rulers comprehend it, the original, hereditary way of the Jacobinspirit. 

When Napoleon built his University he did it as a statesman and a manof business, with the foresight of a contractor and a practical man, calculating outlay and receipts, means and resources, so as to produceat once and with the least expense, the military and civil tools whichhe lacked and of which he always had too few because he consumed toomany: to this precise, definite purpose he subjected and subordinatedall the rest, including the theory of the educational State; she was forhim simply a résumé, a formula, a setting. On the contrary, for theold Jacobins, she was an axiom, a principle, an article in the SocialContract; by this contract, the State had charge of public education;it had the right and its duty was to undertake this and manage it. Theprinciple being laid down, as convinced theorists and blindly followingthe deductive method, the derived consequences from it and rushed ahead, with eyes shut, into practical operation, with as much haste as vigor, without concerning themselves with the nature of human materials, ofsurrounding realities, of available resources, of collateral effects, nor of the total and final effect. Likewise with the new Jacobins of thepresent day, according to them, since instruction is a good thing, [6386]the broader and deeper it is the better; since broad and deepinstruction is very good, the State should, with all its energy and byevery means in its power, inculcate it on the greatest possible numberof children, boys and adolescents. Such, henceforth, is the word ofcommand from on high, transmitted down to the three stages of superior, secondary and primary instruction. [6387]

Consequently, from 1876 to 1890, [6388] the State expends for superiorinstruction, in buildings alone, 99, 000, 000 francs. Formerly, thereceipts of the Faculties about covered their expenses; at the presentday, the State allows them annually 6, 000, 000 francs more than theirreceipts. It has founded and supports 221 new (professional) chairs, 168complementary courses of lectures, 129 conférences and, to supplythe attendants, it provides, since 1877, 300 scholarships for thosepreparing for the license and, since 1881, 200 scholarships for thosepreparing for the aggrégation. Similarly, in secondary instruction, instead of 81 lycées in 1876, it has 100 in 1887[6389]; instead of3, 820 scholarships in 1876, it distributes, in 1887, 10, 528; insteadof 2, 200, 000 francs expended for this branch of instruction in 1857, itexpends 18, 000, 000 in 1889. --This overload of teaching caused overloadedexams: it was necessary to include more science than in the past tocurriculum of the grades delivered and determined by the State. "Thiswas what was then done whenever possible. "[6390] Naturally, and throughcontagion, the obligation of possessing more knowledge descended tosecondary instruction. In effect, after this date, we see neo-Kantianphilosophy descending like hail from the highest metaphysical etherdown upon the pupils in the terminal class of the lycées, to the lastinginjury of the seventeen-year old brains. Again, after this date, we seein the class of special mathematics[6391] an abundance of complicated, confusing problems so that, today, the candidate for the PolytechnicSchool must, to gain admission, expound theorems that were only masteredby his father after he got there. --Hence, "boxes" and "ovens", privateinternats, the preparatory secular or ecclesiastical schools and other"scholastic cramming-machines"; hence, the prolonged mechanical effortto introduce into each intellectual sponge all the scientific fluid itcan contain, even to saturation, and maintain it in this extreme stateof perfection if only for two hours during an examination, after whichit may rapidly subside and shrink. Hence, that mistaken use, thatinordinate expenditure, that precocious waste of mental energy, and thatentire pernicious system which overburden for a substantial period theyoung, not for their advantage, but, on reaching maturity, to theirintellectual detriment. 

To reach the uncultivated masses, to address popular intellect andimagination, one must use absolute, simple slogans. In the matter ofprimary instruction, the simplest and most absolute slogan is thatwhich promises and offers it to all children, boys and girls, not merelyuniversal, but again, complete and gratuitous. To this end, from 1878to 1891, [6392] the State has expended for school buildings andinstallations 582, 000, 000 francs; for salaries and other expenses itfurnished the latter year 131, 000, 000. Somebody pays for all this, andit is the tax-payer, and by force; aided by gendarmes, the collectorputs his hand forcibly into all pockets, even those containing onlysous, and withdraws these millions. Gratuitous instruction sounds welland seems to designate a veritable gift, a present from the great vaguepersonage called the State, and whom the general public dimly seeson the distant horizon as a superior, independent being, and hence apossible benefactor. In reality, his presents are made with our money, while his generosity consists in the fine name with which he here gildshis fiscal exactions, a new constraint added to so many others which heimposes on us and which we endure. [6393]--Besides, through instinct andtradition, the State is naturally inclined to multiply constraints, andthis time there is no concealment. From six to thirteen years of age, primary instruction becomes obligatory. [6394] The father is required toprove that his children receive it, if not at the public school at leastin a private school or at home. During these seven years it continues, and ten months are devoted to it each year. The school takes and keepsthe child three hours in the morning and three hours in the afternoon;it pours into these little heads all that is possible in such a lengthof time, all that they can hold and more too, --spelling, syntax, grammatical and logical analysis, rules of composition and ofstyle, history, geography, arithmetic, geometry, drawing, notions ofliterature, politics, law, and finally a complete moral system, "civicmorality. "

It is obviously very useful for every adult to be able to read, writeand reckon. Who, then, can criticize a Government because it insiststhat all children be taught these basic skills? But for the same reasonand on the same principle, provision could be made for swimming-schoolsin every village and town on the sea-coast, or on the streams andrivers; every boy should be obliged to learn how to swim. --That it maybe useful for every boy and girl in the United States to pass throughthe entire system of primary instruction is peculiar to the UnitedStates and is comprehensible in an extensive and new country wheremultiplied and diverse pursuits present themselves on all sides;[6395]where every career may lead to the highest pinnacle; where arail-splitter may become president of the republic; where the adultoften changes his career and, to afford him the means for improvising acompetency at each change, he must possess the elements of every kind ofknowledge; where the wife, being for the man an object of luxury, doesnot use her arms in the fields and scarcely ever uses her hands in thehousehold. [6396]--It is not the same in France. Nine out of ten pupilsin the primary school are sons or daughters of peasants or of workmenand will remain in the condition of their parents; the girl, adult, willdo washing and cooking all her life at home or abroad; the son, adult, confined to his occupation will work all his life in a shop or onhis own or another's field. Between this destiny of the adult and theplenitude of his primary instruction, the disproportion is enormous; itis evident that his education does not prepare him for the life he hasto lead; but for another life, less monotonous, under less restraint, more cerebral, and of which a faint glimpse disgusts him with hisown;[6397] at least, it will disgust him for a long time and frequently, until the day comes when his school acquisitions, wholly superficial, shall have evaporated in contact with the ambient atmosphere andno longer appear to him other than empty phrases; in France, for anordinary peasant or workman, so much the better if this day comesearly. [6398]

At the very least, three quarters of these acquisitions are for himsuperfluous. He derives no advantage from them, neither for inwardsatisfaction or for getting ahead in the world; and yet they must all begone through with. In vain would the father of a family like to curtailhis children's mental stores to useful knowledge, to reading, writingand arithmetic, to giving to these just the necessary time, at theright season, three months for two or three winters, to keep histwelve-year-old daughter at home to help her mother and take care of theother children, to keep his boy of ten years for pasturing cattle or forgoading on the oxen at the plow. [6399] In relation to his children andtheir interests as well as for his own necessities, he is suspect, he isnot a good judge; the State has more light and better intentions than hehas. Consequently, the State has the right to constrain him and in fact, from above, from Paris, the State does this. Legislators, as formerly in1793, have acted according to Jacobin procedure, as despotic theorists. They have formed in their minds a uniform, universal, simple type, thatof a child from six to thirteen years as they want to see it, withoutadjusting the instruction they impose on it to its prospectivecondition, making abstraction of his positive and personal interest, ofhis near and certain future, setting the father aside, the naturaljudge and competent measurer of the education suitable to his son anddaughter, the sole authorized arbiter for determining the quality, duration, circumstances and counterpoise of the mental and moralmanipulation to which these young lives, inseparable from his own, aregoing to be subject away from home. --Never, since the Revolution, has the State so vigorously affirmed its omnipotence, nor pushed inencroachments on and intrusion into the proper domain of the individualso far, even to the very center of domestic life. Note that in 1793and 1794 the plans of Lepelletier de Saint-Fargeau and of Saint-Justremained on paper; the latter for ten years have been in practicaloperation. [63100]

At bottom, the Jacobin is a sectarian, propagator of his own faith, andhostile to the faith of others. Instead of admitting that that people'sconceptions are different and rejoicing that there are so many of them, each adapted to the human group which believes in it, and essential tobelievers to help them along, he admits but one, his own, and heuses power to force it upon adherents. He also has his own creed, his catechism, his imperative formula, and he imposes them. --Henceforth, [63101] education shall be not only free and obligatory butagain secular and nothing but secular. Thus far, the great majority ofparents, most of the fathers and all of the mothers, were desirous thatit should at the same time be religious. Without speaking of professingChristians, many heads of families, even lukewarm, indifferent orskeptical, judge that this mixture of the two is better for children, and especially for girls. According to them, knowledge and faith shouldnot enter into these young minds separate, but combined and as onealiment; at least, in the particular case in which they were concerned, this, in their view, was better for the child, for themselves, for theinternal discipline of the household, for good order at home for whichthey were responsible, for the maintenance of respect, and for thepreservation of morals. For this reason, the municipal councils, previous to the laws of 1882 and 1886, still free to choose instructionand teachers as they pleased, often entrusted their school to theChristian Brethren or Sisters under contract for a number of years, ata fixed price, and all the more willingly because this price was verylow. [63102] Hence, in 1886, there were in the public schools 10, 029teachers of the Christian Brethren and 39, 125 of the Sisters. Now, since1886, the law insists that public instruction shall be not only secular, but that lay teachers only shall teach; the communal schools, inparticular, shall be all secularized, and, to complete this operation, the legislator fixes the term of delay; after that, no member of acongregation, monk or nun, shall teach in any public school. 

Meanwhile, each year, by virtue of the law, the communal schools aresecularized by hundreds, by fair means or foul; although this is byright a local matter, the municipal councils are not consulted; theheads of families have no voice in this private, domestic interest whichtouches them to the quick, and such a sensitive point. And likewise, inthe cost of the operation their part is officially imposed them; at thepresent day, [63103] in the sum-total of 131, 000, 000 francs which primaryinstruction costs annually, the communes contribute 50, 000, 000 francs;from 1878 to 1891, in the sum-total of 582, 000, 000 francs expendedon school buildings, they contributed 312, 000, 000 francs. --If certainparents are not pleased with this system they have only to subscribeamongst themselves, build a private school at their own expense, andsupport Christian Brothers or Sisters in these as teachers. That istheir affair; they will not pay one cent less to the commune, to thedepartment or to the State, so that their tax will be double and theywill pay twice, first for the primary instruction which they dislike, and next for the primary instruction which suits them. --Thousands ofprivate schools are founded on these conditions. In 1887, [63104] thesehad 1, 091, 810 pupils, about one fifth of all children inscribed inall the primary schools. Thus one fifth of the parents do not want thesecular system for their children; at least, they prefer the otherwhen the other is offered to them; but, to offer it to them, very largedonations, a multitude of voluntary subscriptions, are necessary. Thedistrust and aversion which this system, imposed from above excites canbe measured by the number of parents and children and by the greatnessof the donations and subscriptions. Note, moreover, that in many ofthe other communes, in all places where the resources, the commonunderstanding and the generosity of individual founders and donatorsare not sufficient, the parents, even distrustful and hostile, are nowconstrained to send their children to the school which is repugnantto them. --In order to be more precise, imagine an official and dailyjournal entitled Secular journal, obligatory and gratuitous for childrenfrom six to thirteen, founded and supported by the State, at an averagecost of 582, 000, 000 francs to set it agoing, and 131, 0000, 000 francsof annual expenditure, the whole taken from the purses of taxpayers, willingly or not; take it for granted that the 6, 000, 000 children, girlsand boys, from six to thirteen, are forced subscribers to this journal, that they get it every day except Sundays, that, every day, they arebound to read the paper for six hours. The State, through toleration, allows the parents who do not like the official sheet to take anotherwhich suits them; but, that another may be within reach, it is necessarythat local benefactors, associated together and taxed by themselves, should be willing to establish and support it; otherwise, the fatherof a family is constrained to read the secular journal to hischildren, which he deems badly composed and marred by superfluities andshortcomings, in brief edited in an objectionable spirit. Such is theway in which the Jacobin State respects the liberty of the individual. 

On the other hand, through this operation, it has extended and fortifieditself; it has multiplied the institutions it directs and the personswhom it controls. To direct, inspect, augment and diffuse its primaryinstruction, the State has maintained 173 normal schools for teachers, male and female, 736 schools and courses of lectures in primary, superior and professional instruction, 66, 784 elementary schools, 3, 597maternal schools, and about 115, 000 functionaries, men and women. [63105]Through these 115, 000 officials, representatives and megaphones, Secular Reason, which is enthroned at Paris, sends its voice even tothe smallest and most remote villages. It is this Reason, as our rulersdefine it, with the inclinations, limitations and prejudices they haveneed of, the near-sighted and half-domesticated grand-daughter of thatother formidable sightless, brutal and mad grandmother, who, in 1793and 1794, sat under the same name and in the same place. With less ofviolence and blundering, but by virtue of the same instinct and withthe same one-sidedness, the latter employs the same propaganda. Shetoo wants to seize the new generations, and through her programs andmanuals, her insinuations and summaries of the Ancient Régime, theRevolution and the Empire, by her perceptions of recent or contemporarymatters, through her formulae and suggestions in relation to moral, social and political affairs, it is of her and she alone, that shepreaches and glorifies. 

VI. Summary. 

 Total and actual effect of the system. --Increasing unsuitableness between early education and adult life. --Change for the worse in the mental and moral balance of contemporary youth. 

In this manner does the education by the State end. (in 1890) When amatter is taken out of the hands of those who are concerned and handedover to a third and differently motivated party, it cannot end well;sooner or later, this basic defect will dominate and lead to unexpectedresults. In this case a growing disparity between education and life. On the three levels of instruction, infancy, adolescence and youth, theactual theoretical and direct instruction is extended and overloadedwith the examination, the grade, the diploma and the certificate in viewonly. To this end any and all means is used; through the application ofan unnatural and anti-social system competition, through excessive delayin practical apprenticeship, through the internat, through artificialstimulation and mechanical cramming, and through overwork. There is noconsideration of the future, of the adult epoch and the duties of thecomplete man. The real world in which the young man is about to enter, the state of society to which he must adapt or resign himself, the humanstruggle in which he must defend himself or keep erect is left out. Forthis new life he is neither armed, equipped, drilled and hardened. That solid common sense, that determination and those steady nerves, indispensable tools in life, are not dispensed by our schools; quite thecontrary; far from qualifying him for his approaching independence theschools disqualify him for it. Accordingly, his entrance into the worldand his first steps on the field of practical life are generally aseries of painful failures; as a consequence he remains bruised, oftenfor a long time, offended sometimes permanently crippled. This is a rudeand dangerous ordeal; the moral and mental balance is altered andrisks never being restored; his illusions vanish too suddenly and toocompletely. His deceptions have been too great and his disappointmenttoo severe. Sometimes, among close friends, embittered and worn out likehimself, he is tempted to tell us:

"Through your education you have led us to believe, or you have let usbelieve, that the world is made in a certain fashion. You have deceivedus. It is much uglier, more dull, dirtier, sadder and harder, at leastin our opinion and to our imagination: you judge us as overexcited anddisordered; if so, it is your fault. For this reason, we curse and scoffat your world and reject your pretended truths which, for us, are lies, including those elementary and primordial verities which you declareare evident to common sense, and on which you base your laws, yourinstitutions, your society, your philosophy, your sciences and yourarts. "

This is what our contemporary youth, through their tastes, opinions, vague desires in letters, arts and life, have loudly proclaimed for thepast fifteen years. [63106] (Written in 1890. )

*****

POSTSCRIPT:

It is only fair to the French to note that they have, since the lawcalled Debré in 1959 allowed the Catholic schools to operate freely withteachers paid by the state provided they, * use qualified teachers, * have a contract with the government submitting to inspection of theirbuildings etc. , * submit to government study programs, * regular accepted hours etc. (SR. )

*****

[Footnote 6301: Ordinance of Oct. 4, 1814. ]

[Footnote 6302: Liard, "L'Enseignement supérieur pendant laRestauration. " (Rev. Des deux Mondes, number for Feb. 15, 1892. ) Decreeof April 8, 1814. ]

[Footnote 6303: Ordinance of April 17, 1815 (to suppress theuniversity pay and separate the sole University into seventeen regionaluniversities. ) This ordinance, dating from the last days of the firstRestoration, is repealed the first days of the second Restoration, Aug. 15, 1815. ]

[Footnote 6304: "The Modern Régime, " p. 316. (Laff. II 581-582. )]

[Footnote 6305: Basset, censor of studies in the Charlemagne college, "Coup d'oeil général sur l'Éducation et l'Instruction publique en France"(1816), p. 21. (State of the University in 1815. )]

[Footnote 6306: Today, in year 2000, the educational machinery in Franceemploys more than 1 million teachers and, as all children are in schoolfrom the age of 3 to at least 16 years of age, there are more than 12million children and students under the tutelage of the state. (SR. )]

[Footnote 6307: Political party terms. ]

[Footnote 6308: Ordinance of Feb. 21, 1821, article 13, and Report by M. De Corbières: "The youth clamour for a religious and moral direction. . . . The religious direction belongs by right to the highest pastors:it is proper to ask from them for these establishments (the universitycolleges) for constant supervision and to legally call on them tosuggest all measures that they may deem necessary. "]

[Footnote 6309: Liard, "L'Enseignement supérieur, " 840 (Speech byBenjamin Constant in the Chamber of Députés, May 18th, 1827). ]

[Footnote 6310: Ordinances of Novem. 21, 1822, article I, and Feb. 2, 1823, article II. ]

[Footnote 6311: Ordinances of Sep. 6, 1822, and of Feb. 21st, 1821, title VI, with report by M. De Corbières. ]

[Footnote 6312: Liard, ibid. , p. 840. (Circular addressed to the rectorsby Monseigneur Freyssinous immediately after his installation:)"In summoning a man of sacerdotal character to the head of publicinstruction, His Majesty has made all France well aware of his greatdesire to have the youth of his kingdom brought up in monarchical andreligious sentiments. . . . Whoever has the misfortune to live withoutreligion, or not to be devoted to the reigning family, ought to besensible of what he lacks in becoming a worthy instructor of youth. Heis to be pitied and is even culpable. "--"Ambroise Rendu, " by Eug. Rendu, p. III (circular to rectors in 1817). "Make it known to the MM. Thebishops and to all ecclesiastics that, in the work of education, you aresimply auxiliaries, and that the object of primary instruction is aboveall to fortify religious instruction. "]

[Footnote 6313: De Riancey, "Histoire de l'instruction publique, "II. , 312. (Apropos of the lectures by Guizot and Cousin, stopped by Mgr. De Freyssinous:) "He did not believe that a Protestant and a philosophercould treat the most delicate questions of history and science withimpartiality, and through a fatal effect of the monopoly he foundhimself placed between his conscience and the law. On this occasion hesacrificed the law. "]

[Footnote 6314: Liard, ibid. , p. 837. After 1820, "a series of measuresare passed which, little by little, give back its primitive constitutionto the University and even end in incorporating it more closely withpower than under the Empire. "]

[Footnote 6315: Here Taine describes the very principle of democraticgovernment in a welfare state. "Do not worry, demand and we supply, the rich will pay!!!" Taine understood and foresaw the riches which theindustrial society could be made to produce but neither he nor anyoneelse could foresee that Human Rights should include central heating, housing, running hot and cold water, television, free health care, a carand worldwide tourism. . (SR. )]

[Footnote 6316: See "The Modern Régime, " I. , pp. 183, 202. ]

[Footnote 6317: Maggiolo, "des Ecoles en Lorraine. " (Details on severalcommunal schools. ) 3rd part, pp. 9-50. --Cf. Jourdain, "le Budget del'Instruction publique, " 1857, passim. (Appropriation by the State forprimary instruction in 1829, 100, 000 francs; in 1832, 1, 000, 000 francs;in 1847, 2, 400, 000 francs;--for secondary instruction, in 1830, 920, 000francs; in 1848, 1, 500, 000 francs; in 1854, 1, 549, 241 francs. (The townssupport their own communal colleges. )--Liard, " Universités et Facultés, "p. II. In 1829, the budget of Faculties does not reach 1, 000, 000 francs;in 1848, it is 2, 876, 000 francs. ]

[Footnote 6318: Law of Floreal 11, year X, article 4. --"Rapport surla statistique comparée de l'enseignement primaire, " 1880, vol. II. , p. 133;--31 per cent of the pupils in the public schools were gratuitouslyadmitted in 1837; 57 per cent in 1876-77. The congregationists admitabout two thirds of their scholars gratuitously and one third for pay. ]

[Footnote 6319: Cf. Jourdain, Ibid. , pp. 22, 143, 161. ]

[Footnote 6320: Cf. Jourdain, Ibid. , p. 287. (The fixed salary andexamination-fees are included in the above figures. ) In 1850, theregular salary of the professor in the Paris Medical Faculty is reducedfrom 7000 to 6000 francs. In 1849, the maximum of all the salaries ofthe Law professors is limited to 12, 000 francs. ]

[Footnote 6321: Read, among other biographies, "Ambroise Rendu, " by Eug. Rendu. ]

[Footnote 6322: This, in France, lasted until the Communists in 1946insisted as a price for their participation in governing France thatthe right to strike for civil servants be inserted in the FrenchConstitution. In this way Stalin was sure to trouble France a greatdeal. (SR. )]

[Footnote 6323: "Rapport sur la statistique comparée de l'enseignementprimaire, " 1880, vol. II. , pp. 8, 110, 206. --Law of March 15, 1850, "Exposé des motifs, " by M. Beugnot. ]

[Footnote 6324: "Revue des Deux Mondes, " number of Aug. 15, 1869, pp. 909, 911. (Article by M. Boissier. )]

[Footnote 6325: Act of Nov. 9, 1818. (Down to 1850 and after, theUniversity so arranged its teaching (in high school) as not to comein conflict with the clergy on the debatable grounds of history. Forexample, at the end of the 8th grade the history of the Roman Empireafter Augustus was rapidly passed over and then, in the 9th grade, they began again with the invasion of the barbarians. The origins ofChristianity and the entire primitive history of the Christian Churchwere thus avoided. For the same reason, modern history ended in 1789. ]

[Footnote 6326: M. Guizot, "Mémoires, " vol. II. ]

[Footnote 6327: An eminent university personage, a political characterand man of the world, said to me in 1850: "Pedagogy does not exist. There are only personal methods which each finds out for himself andeloquent phrases for effect on the public. "--Bréal, "Quelques mots surl'instruction publique" (1872), p. 300: "France produces more works onsericiculture than on the direction of colleges; rules and a few worksalready ancient suffice for us. "]

[Footnote 6328: On this day the monarchy of King Louis-Phillippecollapsed and the Republic was declared. (SR. )]

[Footnote 6329: "L'Église et l'État sous la monarchie de juillet, " byThureau-Dangin, 481-483. ]

[Footnote 6330: Law of March 15, 1850 (Report by M. Beugnot). ]

[Footnote 6331: Law of March 15, 1850, art. 21. ]

[Footnote 6332: Law of March 15, 1850, article 21. ]

[Footnote 6333: "Ambroise Rendu et l'Université de France, " by E. Rendu, p. 128 (January, 1850). The discretionary power given to the prefects topunish "the promoters of socialism" among the teachers in the primaryschools. --Six hundred and eleven teachers revoked. --There was no lessrepression and oppression in the secondary and higher departments ofinstruction. ]

[Footnote 6334: Kingdom of July, (Louis-Philippe from 1830 to24-2-1848. ) (SR. )]

[Footnote 6335: De Riancey, ibid. , II. . , 476. (Words of M. Saint-MarcGirardin. ) "We instruct, we do not bring up (children); we cultivateand develop the mind, not the heart. "--Similar evidence, as for instancethat of M. Dubois, director of the Ecole Normale and of M. Guizot, minister of public instruction. "Education is not up to the level ofinstruction. " (Exposition of the intent of the law of 1836. )]

[Footnote 6336: De Riancey, ibid. , II. , 401, 475. --Thureau-Dangin, ibid. , 145 and 146. --(Words of a fervent Catholic, M. De Montalembert, onthe trial of the Free School, Sept. 29, 1831. ) "It is with a heart stilldistressed with these souvenirs (personal) that I here declare that, were I a father, I would rather see my children crawl their whole lifein ignorance and idleness than expose them to the horrible risk I ranmyself of obtaining a little knowledge at the cost of their father'sfaith, at the price of everything that is pure and fresh in their souland of honor and virtue in their breast. "--(Testimony of a zealousProtestant, M. De Gasparin. ) "Religious education does not reallyexist in the colleges. I remember with horror how I was on finishingmy national education. Were we good citizens? I do not know. But itis certain that we were not Christians. "--Testimony of a free-thinker, Sainte-Beuve. ) "In mass, the professors of the University, without beinghostile to religion, are not religious. The pupils feel this, and theyleave this atmosphere, not fed on irreligion, but indifferent. . . . Onegoes away from the University but little of a Christian. "]

[Footnote 6337: Boissier, ibid. , p. 712]

[Footnote 6338: In my youth, I was able to talk with some of those wholived during the Consulate. All agreed in opinion. One, an admirer ofCondillac and founder of a boarding-school, had written for his pupils anumber of small elementary treatises, which I still possess. ]

[Footnote 6339: Charles Hamel, "Histoire de Juilly, " pp. 413, 419(1818). --Ibid. , 532, 665 (April 15, 1846. ) The Tontine Associationreplaced by a limited association (40 years) with a capital of 500, 000francs in 1000 shares of 500 francs each, etc. ]

[Footnote 6340: For example, "Monge, " the "École Alsacienne, " the "Écolelibre des Sciences Politiques. " Competent jurists recommend the foundersof a private school to organize it under the form of a commercialassociation, with profit for its aim and not the public good. If thefounders of the school wish to maintain the free management of it theymust avoid declaring it "of public utility. "]

[Footnote 6341: The "École Alsacienne" has been supported for some yearsmainly by a subsidy of 40, 000 francs allotted by the State. This yearthe State furnishes, "Monge" and "Sainte-Barbe" with subsidies of130, 000 and 150, 000 francs, without which they would become bankrupt andclose their doors. The State probably thus supports them so as to havea field of pedagogic experiences alongside of its lycées, or to preventtheir being bought by some Catholic corporation. ]

[Footnote 6342: Even when the masters are conciliatory or reservedthe two institutions face each other and the pupils are aware of theantagonism; hence, they turn a cold shoulder to the pupils, educationand ideas of the rival institution. In 1852, and on four circularjourneys from 1863 to 1866, I was able to observe these sentiments whichare now very manifest. ]

[Footnote 6343: The period of the annual school examinations inFrance. --Tr. ]

[Footnote 6344: This word means something more than an ordinary"boarding-school, " as the reader will see by the text, and is thereforeretained as untranslatable. --Tr. ]

[Footnote 6345: Expositione universelle of 1889, "Rapport du jury, "group II. , 1st part, P. 492. --Documents collected in the bureaus ofpublic instruction for 1887. (To the internes here enumerated mustbe added those of private secular establishments, 8958 out of 20, 174pupils. )--Bréal, "Excursions pedagogiques, " pp. 293, 298. ]

[Footnote 6346: All these figures are today in 1998, 100 years later, no longer valid, they are only included in order to understand Taine'sinsights into human nature and education in general. In 1994-5 therewere, in the State lycées and colleges over 4 millions students andonly those whose parents live too far from the schools, or some 9%, areboarders. (SR. )]

[Footnote 6347: Today, in 1998, the number of pupils living on Frenchschool premises amount to approximatively 10%, mostly because theparents live too far away from the school. (SR. )]

[Footnote 6348: Bréal, ibid. , pp. 10, 13. Id. , "Quelques mots surl'instruction publique, " p. 286. "The internat is nearly unknown inGermany. . . . The director (of the gymnase) informs parents where familiescan be found willing to receive boarders and he must satisfy himselfthat their hospitality is unobjectionable. . . . In the new gymnasesthere is no room for boarders. "--Demogeot et Montucci, "Rapport surl'enseignement secondaire en Angleterre et en Ecosse, " 1865. --(Iventure also to refer the reader to my "Notes sur l'Angleterre, " for adescription of Harrow-on-the-Hill and another school at Oxford, made onthe spot. )]

[Footnote 6349: Taine, "Notes sur l'Angleterre, " P. 139. The pupils ofthe superior class (sixth form), especially the first fifteen of theclass (monitors), the first pupil in particular, have to maintain order, insure respect for the rules and, taking it all together, take the placeof our maitres d'étude. ]

[Footnote 6350: Bréal, "Quelques mots, etc. , " pp. 281, 282. The samein France, "before the Revolution, . . . Except in two or three largeestablishments in Paris, the number of pupils was generally sufficientlylimited. . . . At Port-Royal the number of boarders was never over fiftyat one time. "--"Before 1764, most of the colleges were day-schools withfrom 15 to 80 pupils, " besides the scholarships. And peasant boarders, not very numerous. --"An army of boarders, comprising more than one halfof our bourgeois class, under a drill regulated and overlooked by theState, buildings holding from seven to eight hundred boarders--suchis what one would vainly try to find anywhere else, and which isessentially peculiar to contemporary France. "]

[Footnote 6351: Bréal, ibid. , 287, id. , "Excursions pedagogiques, " p. 10. "I took part (with these pupils) in a supper full of gayety in theroom of the celebrated Latinist, Corssen, and I remember the thoughtthat passed through my mind when recurring to the meal we silentlypartook of at Metz, two hundred of us, under the eye of the censorand general superintendent, and menaced with punishment, in our cold, monastic refectory. "]

[Footnote 6352: Even though Taine had visited Eton and other Englishschools, he appears to have a somewhat rosy picture of life inside theseinstitutions. I have been 9 years to a similar school and can assure thereader that the headmaster's wife is no suitable substitute for a realmother and her table does not replace one's own home. The rector of myschool once stated that boarding schools should only be resorted to whenone could not remain at home. It was my impression that this school hadtwo effects upon me: the first that I wanted, in spite of good grades, to stop my studies and get a job and the second that I became, likeTaine, an opponent to the system. Later on in life I should come toappreciate all the useful things like languages, literature, math andphysics which I had learned in this well-organized school. I also cameto understand that much worse than harsh discipline is no discipline andno learning at all, something which happened to my children when theyattended, for one year only, the American School in Bangkok. (SR. )]

[Footnote 6353: Pelet de la Lozère, "Opinions de Napoleon au Conseild'État, " p. 172. (Session of April 7, 1807:) "The professors are to betransferred from place to place in the Empire according to necessity. "--Decree of May 1, 1802, article 21: "The three functionaries incharge of the administration and the professors of the lycées may betransferred from the weakest to the strongest lycées and from inferiorto superior places according to the talent and zeal they show in theirfunctions. "]

[Footnote 6354: A splendid description which also fits the internationalcivil servants working for the United Nations. I know this because Iwas one for 32 years of my life. I suspect it also fits members of thepolice forces, secret or not. (SR. )]

[Footnote 6355: Act of Jan. 11, 1811. --Decree of March 17, 1808, articles 101 and 102. ]

[Footnote 6356: Boissier ("Revue du Deux Mondes, " Aug. 15, 1869, p. 919): "The externe lycées cost and the interne lycées bring in. "]

[Footnote 6357: "Statistique de l'enseigncnient secondaire" (46, 816pupils, of which 33, 092 internes and 13, 724 externes). --Abbé Bougaud, "Le Grand Péril de l'Eglise du France, " p. 135. --"Moniteur, " March 14, 1865, Speech of Cardinal Bonnechose in the Senate. ]

[Footnote 6358: Name of the navy school-ship at Brest. --TR. ]

[Footnote 6359: Bréal, "Quelques mots, etc. , " p. 308: "We need not besurprised that our children, once out of the college, resemble horsesjust let loose, kicking at every barrier and committing all sorts ofcapers. The age of reason has been artificially retarded for them fiveor six years. "]

[Footnote 6360: On the tone and turn of conversation among boys inschool on this subject in the upper classes and even earlier, I cando no more than appeal to the souvenirs of the reader. --Likewise, on another danger of the internat, not less serious, which cannot bementioned. (Here Taine undoubtedly refers to homosexuality. (SR. ))]

[Footnote 6361: Bréal, "Excursions pédagogiques, " pp. 326, 327. (Testimony of two university graduates. ) "The great college virtue iscomradeship, which comprises a bond of union among the pupils and hatredof the master. " (Bessot:) "Punishment irritates those who undergo it andengenders punishment. The pupils become wearied: they fall into a stateof mute irritability coupled with contempt for the system itself and forthose who apply it. Unruliness furnishes them with the means of avengingthemselves or at least to relax their nerves; they commit disorderswhenever they can commit them with impunity. . . . The interdiction of anact by authority is sufficient to excite the glory of committing it. "(A. Adam, "Notes sur l'administration du'un lycée. ")--Two independentand original minds have recounted their impressions on this subject, one, Maxime Du Camp, who passed through the lycée system, and the other, George Sand, who would not tolerate if for her son. (Maxime Du Camp, "Souvenirs littéraires, " and George Sand, "Histoire de ma vie. ")]

[Footnote 6362: All this was in 1890, a long time ago, and if there wasmuch to learn then, how much do we not have to learn now? It helped, however, to reduce the curriculum, that Latin and Greek was removed frommiddle and senior high school programs and that international Socialismthrough the Politically Correct movement, either forbade or rewrotehistory, art and literature. In science, however, the young engineersand scientists have a lot more to learn today and that in all branchesof science and especially in electronics. (SR. )]

[Footnote 6363: The so-called "Grandes Ecoles" which exist todayand which continue to form the French administrative, commercialand scientific elite. They cannot be done away with since the Frenchuniversities have become accessible for an ever increasing number ofstudents since nearly 50% of the population pass their "bac" or finalhigh school exam. The level of this exam has decreased year after yearand only the preparatory schools for the Grande Ecoles continue toinsist on verifying diligence and attention. (SR. )]

[Footnote 6364: Taine expresses this in the following manner: "elle aimaginé quantité de cours surérogatoires et de luxe, . . " (SR. )]

[Footnote 6365: This year (1892) 1750 candidates were entered or 240vacancies in the École Polytechnique, 230 for 30 places in the École desBeaux-Arts (section of Architecture) and 266 for 24 places in the ÉcoleNormale (section of Literature). ]

[Footnote 6366: 1890. ]

[Footnote 6367: In France today, in 2000, there are still preparatoryschools which, in two or three years after their baccalaureat, preparethe young applicants for the various competetive entrance examinationsto the "Grande Ecoles". 4000 specially selected students vie annuallywith each other for the 400 places in the École Polytechnique. (SR. )]

[Footnote 6368: I was once, writes Taine, an examiner for admission toa large special school and speak from experience. . Taine was well placedto know about the system since he was first in the competetive entranceexam (concours) to the École Normale Superior, and had also passed allhis other studies with great brilliance. (SR. )]

[Footnote 6369: A practical apprenticeship in the Faculty of Medicineis less retarded; the future doctors, after the third year of theirstudies, enter a hospital for two years, ten months of each year or 284days of service, including an "obstetrical stage" of one months. Later, on competing for the title of physician or surgeon in the hospitals andfor the aggrégation of the Faculty, the theoretical preparation is asonerous as that of other careers. ]

[Footnote 6370: "Souvenirs" by Chancellor Pasquier. (Written in 1843). (Étienne Dennis Pasquier (Paris 1767--id. 1862) was a high officialunder Napoleon, and President of the upper house under Louis-Phillippeand author of "L'Histoire de mon temps", published posthumously in1893. Librarie Plon, Paris 1893. On page 16 and 17 in volume I he fullyconfirms Taine's views. (SR. )]

[Footnote 6371: Idem. , Nobody attended the Lectures of the Law facultyof Paris, except sworn writers who took down the professor's dictationand sold copies of it. "These were nearly all supported by argumentscommunicated beforehand. . . At Bourges, everything was got through withinfive or six months at most. "]

[Footnote 6372: "Souvenirs" by Chancellor Pasquier, vol. I. P. 17. Nowadays, "the young man who enters the world at twenty-two, twenty-three or twenty-four years of age, thinks that he has nothingmore to learn; he commonly starts with absolute confidence in himselfand profound disdain for whoever does not share in the ideas andopinions that he has adopted. Full of confidence in his own force, taking himself at his own value, he is governed by one single thought, that of displaying this force and this estimate himself immediately soas to demonstrate what he is worth. " This must have been written around1830. (SR. )]

[Footnote 6373: This last quality is given by Sainte-Beuve. ]

[Footnote 6374: Dunoyer, "De la liberté du travail" (1845), II. , 119. Theextraordinary progress of England in the mechanical arts, according toEnglish engineers, "depends much less on the theoretical knowledge ofscholars than on the practical skill of the workmen who always succeedbetter in overcoming difficulties than cultivated minds. " For example, Watt, Stephenson, Arkwright, Crampton and, in France, Jacquart. ]

[Footnote 6375: Today, in year 2000, the socialist revolutionarieshave, through the Human Rights activities broken the chain between thegenerations, forbidden the parents, the teachers and the supervisorsto correct and discipline their children and apprentices. The Frencheducational system, perfectly equal, still survives and is probably thebest in existence since it insists on teaching the students even ifa lot of the curriculum is a dead loss. The final product is still auseful citizen and functionary, something which make France tick. (SR. )]

[Footnote 6376: Bréal, "Quelques mots, " etc. , , p. 336. (He quotes M. Cournot, a former rector, inspector-general, etc. :) "The Faculties knowthat they would be subject to warnings on the part of the authoritiesas well as to comparisons and regrettable desertions on the part of thepupils if the proportion between candidates and admissions did notvary between 45 and 50%. . . When the proportion of postponements reachesbetween 50 and 555 the examiners admit with groans, considering the hardtimes, candidates of which they would reject at least one half theirhands were not tied. " (This was 100 years ago, today less than 30%on the average, but more than 70% in certain bad areas, fail theirBaccalauréat. The curriculum has, however, been lightened so that about50% of the population may end up passing their baccalauréat. Democracyoblige. (SR. ))]

[Footnote 6377: A machine for the forced feeding of ducks and geese tomake their liver grow to excessive proportions. ]

[Footnote 6378: An old professor, after thirty years of service, observed to me by way of summing up: "One half, at least, of our pupilsare not fitted to receive the instruction we give them. "]

[Footnote 6379: Lately, the director of one of these schools remarkedwith great satisfaction and still greater naïveté: "This school issuperior to all others of its kind in Europe, for nowhere else is whatwe teach taught in the same number of years. "]

[Footnote 6380: But what if Taine was mistaken? What if he, like somany other highly talented and intelligent men, took his own superbintelligence and imagination for granted? What if the talent of suchmen is inherited? We know from identical twins how many of ourparticularities have been given to us at birth. What if most men arelazy and especially intellectually so, what if we can only be made tolearn and think when under great stress, the stress introduced by fearof dismissal or hope of promotion or riches? Then the French system isperhaps hard, perhaps expensive but certainly useful in producingthe great number of hardworking and competent and passively obedientsupervisors and civil servants that any large organization needs. (SR. )]

[Footnote 6381: "Souvenirs", by Pasquier (Etienne-Dennis, duc), chancelier de France, in VI volumes, Librarie Plon, Paris 1893. Althoughpupils were admitted in the preparatory Schools very early, "our navy, engineer and artillery officers were justly esteemed the best instructedin Europe, as able practically as theoretically; the position occupiedby artillery and engineer officers from 1792 in the French armysufficiently attests this truth. And yet they did not know one tenth ofthose who now issue from the preparatory schools. Vauban himself wouldhave been unable to undergo the examination for admission into thePolytechnic School. " There is then in our system "a luxury of science, very fine in itself, but which is not necessary to insure good serviceon land or at sea. " The same in civil careers, with the bar, in themagistracy, in the administration and even in literature and thesciences. The proof of this is found in the men of great talent who, after 1789, were prominent in the Constituent Assembly. In the new-bornUniversity there was not one half of the demand for attainments as isnow exacted. There is nothing like our over-loaded baccalauréat, and yetthere issued from it Villemain, Cousin, Hugo, Lamartine, etc. No ÉcolePolytechnique existed, and yet at the end of the eighteenth century inFrance, we find the richest constellation of savants, Lagrange, Laplace, Monge, Fourcroy, Lavoisier, Berthollet, Haüy, and others. (Since thedate of these souvenirs (1843) the defects in the French system havegotten worse. ]

[Footnote 6382: In England and in the United States the architectand engineer produce more than we do with greater pliancy, fertility, originality and boldness of invention, with a practical capacity atleast equal and without having passed six, eight or ten years in purelytheoretical studies. --Cf. Des Rousiers, "La Vie Américaine, " p. 619:"Our polytechnicians are scientific erudites. . . . The American engineeris not omniscient as they were, he is special. " "But, in his specialtyhe has profound knowledge; he is always trying to make it more perfectby additions, and he does more than the polytechnician to advance hisscience" or his art. (Since Taine noted this times have changed; I onceput my 3 older sons into the American school in Bangkok (in 1972), and not only did they not learn anything during their year there, theyactually lost some of their reading and writing skills and I had toremove them as soon as I could. (SR. )). ]

[Footnote 6383: In 1889 a law called Freycinet, France introduced 3years of military service for all young men. Students and married menwere, subject to certain conditions, released after one year of service. (SR. )]

[Footnote 6384: To facilitate his or her comprehension the readermight replace the word Jacobin with the expression Socialist, Marxist, national-socialist or Communist since they are all heirs to theheritage left by the French Revolutionaries. (SR. )]

[Footnote 6385: IIIrd Republique lasted from 14-9-1870 until 13-7-1940. (SR. )]

[Footnote 6386: Instruction is good, not in itself, but through the goodit does, and especially to those who possess or acquire it. If, simplyby raising his finger, a man could enable every French man or woman toread Virgil readily and demonstrate Newton's binomial theory, this manwould be dangerous and ought to have his hands tied; for, should heinadvertently raise his finger, manual labor would be repugnant and, ina year or two, become almost impossible in France. ]

[Footnote 6387: And so it happened. After the second world war, wheninternational Marxism became installed its agents throughout the Westernworld, compulsory, unified education was pushed from the age of 14 to16 and a majority of young remained in school till after their 18thbirthday, an education which successfully made them believe that theattitudes and values they were taught were the only valid ones. (SR. )]

[Footnote 6388: Liard, "Universités et Facultés, " p. 39 and followingpages. --"Rapport sur la statistique comparée de l'instruction, " vol. II. (1888). --"Exposition universelle de 1889" ("Rapport du jury, " groupeII. , part I. , p. 492. )]

[Footnote 6389: In 1994 there were in France 1389 public and 841 privatelycées (SR. )]

[Footnote 6390: Liard, ibid. , p. 77. ]

[Footnote 6391: Also called the preparatory classes, the so-calledmath-sup and math-spe of the preparatory schools attached to the statelycées and attended by selected 18-20 year-old students. (SR. )]

[Footnote 6392: These figures were obtained in the bureaux of thedirection of primary instruction. --The sum-total of 582, 000, 000 francsis composed of 241, 000, 000, furnished directly by the State, 28, 000, 000furnished by the departments, and 312, 000, 000 furnished by thecommunes. The communes and departments being, in France, appendices ofthe State, subscribe only with its permission and under its impulsion. Hence the three contributions furnish only one. --Cf. Turlin, "Organisation financière et budget de l'Instruction primaire, " p. 61. (In this study, the accounts are otherwise made up. Certainexpenses being provided for by annuities are carried into the annualexpenditure:) "From June 1, 1878, to Dec. 31, 1887, expenses of firstinstallation, 528 millions; ordinary expenses in 1887, 173 millions. "]

[Footnote 6393: Law of June 16, 1881 (on gratuitous education). ]

[Footnote 6394: Law of March 28, 1882 (on obligatory education). ]

[Footnote 6395: National temperament must here be taken intoconsideration as well as social outlets. Instruction out of proportionwith and superior to condition works differently with different nations. For the German adult it is rather soothing and a derivative; with theadult Frenchman it is especially an irritant or even an explosive. ]

[Footnote 6396: It might be interesting to note what Mark Twain wrote onIndia education about the same period when Taine wrote this text:"apparently, then, the colleges of India were doing what our highschools have long been doing--richly over-supplying the market forhighly educated service; and thereby doing a damage to the scholar, and through him to the country. At home I once made a speech deploringthe injuries inflicted by the High School in making handicraftsdistasteful to boys who would have been willing to make a living attrades and agriculture if they had but had the good luck to stop withthe common school. But I made no converts. Not one, in a communityoverrun with educated idlers who were above following their fathers'mechanical trades, yet could find no market for their book-knowledge. "]

[Footnote 6397: Among the pupils who receive this primary instructionthe most intelligent, who study hardest, push on and pass an examinationby which they obtain the certificate that qualifies them for elementaryteaching. The consequences are as follows. Comparative table of annualvacancies in the various services of the prefecture of the Seine and ofthe candidates registered for these places. ("Débats, " Sep. 16, 1890:)Vacancies for teachers, 42; number of registered candidates, 1, 847. Vacancies for female teachers, 54; number of candidates, 7, 139. --7, 085of these young women, educated and with certificates, and who cannotget these places, must be content to marry some workman, or becomehousemaids, and are tempted to become lorettes. (From the church ofNotre Dame de Lorette in Paris in the neighborhood of which many young, pretty women of easy virtue were to be found. (SR. ))]

[Footnote 6398: Taine wrote this when compulsory education in Francekept the children in school until their 13th year. Today in year 2000they must stay until they are 16 years old but more often continue untilthey are 19--23 years old. (SR. )]

[Footnote 6399: In certain cases, the school commission may grantexemptions. But there art two or three parties in each commune, and thefather of a family must stand well with the dominant party to obtainthem. ]

[Footnote 63100: After the second world war the world, helped by theUnited Nations, have pushed obligatory education further and further, and the number of dissatisfied youth have consequently increased andincreased. (SR. )]

[Footnote 63101: Law of March 28, 1882, and Oct. 30, 1886. ]

[Footnote 63102: "Journal des Débats, " Sep. 1, 1891. Report of theCommission on Statistics: "In 1878-9 the number of congregationistschools was 23, 625 with 2, 301, 943 pupils. "]

[Footnote 63103: Bureaux of the direction of public instruction, budgetof 1892. ]

[Footnote 63104: "Exposition universelle" of 1889. "Rapport général, " byM. Alfred Picard, p. 367. At the same date, the number of pupils inthe public schools was 4, 500, 119. --"Journal des Débats, " Sep. 12, 1891, Report of the commission of statistics. "From 1878-79 to 1889-90, 5, 063public congregationist schools are transformed into secular schools orsuppressed; at the time of their transformation they enumerated inall 648, 824 pupils. --Following upon this secularization, 2, 839 privatecongregationist schools are opened as competitors and count in 1889-90, 354, 473 pupils. "--In ten years public secular instruction gains 12, 229schools and 973, 380 pupils; public congregationist instructionloses 5, 218 schools and 550, 639 pupils. On the other hand, privatecongregationist instruction gains 3, 790 schools and 413, 979 pupils. "]

[Footnote 63105: Turlin, ibid, p. 61. (M. Turlin enumerates "104, 765functionaries, " to which must be added the teaching, administrative andauxiliary staff of teachers of the 173 normal schools and their 3000pupils, all gratuitous). (In 1994 there were 247 000 primary schoolteachers (instituteurs) in public schools in France. Taine could notforesee that the French schools and universities should become anenormous industry, the number of teachers and universities multiplied byten and the number of government functionaries multiplied by 20 and thatthe annual 50 000 vacancies should find more than a million candidates, the young overeducated persons dreaming of becoming functionaries andhence "safe" for life. (SR. ))]

[Footnote 63106: In this respect, very instructive indications may befound in the autobiography of Jules Valès, "l'Enfant, " "le Bachelier, "and "l'Insurge. " Since 1871, not only in literature do the successfulworks of men of talent but, again, the abortive attempts of impotentinnovators and blasted half-talents, converge to this point. "]

End of The Modern Regime, Volume 2, End of The Origins of ContemporaryFrance, Volume 6