The Modern Regime Volume I Part 21

... They affect an insolent contempt for the (old) religious opinions."--Ibid., p.497. (Proces-verbaux des conseils-generaux.) On primary school-teachers, Herault: "Most are blockheads and vagabonds."--Pas-de-Calais:" Most are blockheads or ignoramuses."]

[Footnote 3173: Rocquam, '94. (Report by Fourcroy on the 14th military division, Manche, Orne, Calvados.) "Besides bad conduct, drunkenness, and the immorality of many of these teachers, it seems certain that the lack of instruction in religion is the princ.i.p.al motive which prevents parents from sending their children to these schools."--Archives nationales, ibid. (Report by Lacuee on the 1st military division.) "The teachers, male and female, who desired to conform to the law of Brumaire 3 and to the different rules prescribed by the central administration, on placing the const.i.tution and the rights of man in the hands of their pupils, found their schools abandoned one after the other. The schools the best attended are those where the Testament, the catechism, and the life of Christ are used.... The instructors, obliged to pursue the line marked out by the government, could not do otherwise than carry out the principles which opposed the prejudices and habits of the parents; hence their loss of credit, and the almost total desertion of the pupils."]

[Footnote 3174: "The Revolution," vol. III., p. 81, note 2. (Laff. II.

pp.68-69, note 4.)]

[Footnote 3175: "Statistiques des prefets," Moselle. (a.n.a.lysis by Ferriere.) At Metz, in 1789, there were five free schools for young children, of which one was for boys and four for girls, kept by monks or nuns; in the year XII there were none: "An entire generation was given up to ignorance." Ibid., Ain, by Bossi, 1808: "In 1800, there were scarcely any primary schools in the department, as in the rest of France." In 1808, there are scarcely thirty.--Albert Duruy, p.480, 496.

(Proces-verbaux des conseils-generaux, year IX.) Vosges: "Scarcely any primary instruction."--Sarthe: "Primary instruction, none."--Meuse-Inferieure: "It is feared that in fifteen years or so there will not be one man in a hundred able to write," etc.]

[Footnote 3176: These are the minimum figures, and they are arrived at through the following calculation. Before 1789, 47 men out of 100, and 26 women out of 100, that is to say 36 or 37 persons in 100, received primary instruction. Now, according to the census from 1876 to 1881 (official statistics of primary instruction, III., XVI.), children from six to thirteen number about twelve % of the entire population.

Accordingly, in 1789, out of a population of 26 millions, the children from 6 to 13 numbered 3,120,000, of whom 1,138,000 learned to read and write. It must be noted that, in 1800, the adult population had greatly diminished, and that the infantine population had largely increased.

France, moreover, is enlarged by 12 departments (Belgium, Savoy, Comtat, Nice), where the old schools had equally perished.--If all the old schools had been kept up, it is probable that the children who would have had primary instruction would have numbered nearly 1,400,000.]

[Footnote 3177: Saint Thomas, "Summa theologica," pars III., questio 60 usque ad 85: "Sacramenta efficiunt quod figurant.... Sant necessaria ad salutem hominum.... Ab ipso verbo incarnata efficaciam habent. Ex sua inst.i.tutione habent quod conferant gratiam.... Sacramentum est causa gratiae, causa agens, princ.i.p.alis et instrumentalis."]

[Footnote 3178: Except priests ordained by a bishop of the Greek church.]

[Footnote 3179: "The Revolution," I. 161.--Archives nationales. (Reports of the Directory commissioners from the cantons and departments.--There are hundreds of these reports, of which the following are specimens.)--F7, 7108. (Canton of Pa.s.savent, Doubs, Ventose 7, year IV.) "The sway of religious opinions is much more extensive here than before the revolution, because the ma.s.s of the people did not concern themselves about them, while nowadays they form among the generality the subject of conversation and complaint."--F7, 7127. (Canton of Goux, Doubs, Pluviose 13, year IV.) "The hunting down of unsworn priests, coupled with the dilapidation and destruction of the temples, displeased the people, who want a religion and a cult; the government became hateful to them."--Ibid. (Dordogne, canton of Livrac, Ventose 13, year IV.) "The demolition of altars, the closing of the churches, had rendered the people furious under the Tyranny."--F7, 7129.

(Seine-Inferieure, canton of Canteleu, Pluviose 12, year IV.) "I knew enlightened men who, in the ancient regime, never went near a church, and yet who harbored refractory priests."--Archives nationales, cartons 3144-3145, No. 1004. (Missions of the councillors of state in the year IX.) At this date, wors.h.i.+p was everywhere established and spontaneously.

(Report by Lacuee.) In Eure-et-Loire, "nearly every village has its church and minister; the temples are open in the towns and are well attended."--In Seine-et-Oise, "the Roman Catholic cult prevails in all the communes of the department."--In Oise, "wors.h.i.+p is carried on in all the communes of the department."-In Loiret, "the churches are attended by the mult.i.tude almost as regularly as before 1788. One-sixth of the communes (only) have neither wors.h.i.+p nor minister and, in these communes, both are strongly desired."]

[Footnote 3180: Archives nationales, F7, 7129. (Tarn, canton of Vielmur, Germinal 10, year IV.) "The ignorant now regard patriot and brigand as synonymous."]

[Footnote 3181: Archives nationales, F7, 7108. (Doubs, canton of Vercel, Pluviose 20, year IV.) "Under the law of Prairial II, the unsworn priests were all recalled by their former paris.h.i.+oners. Their hold on the people is so strong that there is no sacrifice that they will not make, no ruse nor measures that they will not employ to keep them and elude the rigor of the laws bearing on them"--(Ibid., canton of Pontarlier, Pluviose 3, year IV.) "In the primary a.s.semblies, the aristocracy, together with spite, have induced the ignorant people not to accept the const.i.tution except on condition of the recall of their transported or emigrant priests for the exercise of their wors.h.i.+p."--(Ibid., canton of Labergement, Pluviose 14, year IV.) "The cultivators adore them.... I am the only citizen of my canton who, along with my family, offers up prayers to the Eternal without any intermediary."--F7, 7127. (Cote-d'Or, canton of Beaune, Ventose 5, year IV.) "Fanaticism is a power of great influence."--(Ibid., canton of Frolois, Pluviose 9, year IV.) "Two unsworn priests returned eighteen months ago; they are hidden away and hold nocturnal meetings. .. They have seduced and corrupted at least three-quarters of the people of both s.e.xes."--(Ibid., canton of Ivry, Pluviose 1, year IV.) "Fanaticism and popery have perverted the public mind."--F7, 7119. (Puy-de-Dome, canton of Ambert, Ventose 15, year IV.) "Five returned priests have celebrated the ma.s.s here, and each time were followed by 3000 or 4000 persons."--F7, 7127. (Dordogne, canton of Carlux, Pluviose 18, year IV.) "The people are so attached to the Catholic faith, they walk fully two leagues to attend ma.s.s."--F7, 7119. (Ardeche, canton of Saint-Barthelemy, Pluviose 15, year IV.) "The unsubmissive priests have become absolute masters of popular opinion."--(Orne, canton of Alencon, Ventose 22, year IV.) "Presidents, members of the munic.i.p.al councils, instead of arresting the refractory priests and bringing them into court, admit them to their table, lodge them and impart to them the secrets of the government."--F7, 7129. (Seine-et-Oise, canton of Jouy, Pluviose 8, year IV.) "Forty-nine out of fifty citizens seem to have the greatest desire to profess the Catholic faith."--Ibid., canton of Dammartin, Pluviose 7, year IV.) "The Catholic religion has full sway; those who do not accept it are frowned upon."--At the same date (Pluviose 9, year IV), the commissioner at Chamarande writes: "I see persons giving what they call blessed bread and yet having nothing to eat."]

[Footnote 3182: Ibid., cartons 3144 and 3145, No. 1004, missions of the councillors of state, year IX.--(Report of Barbe-Marbois on Brittany.) "At Vannes, I entered the cathedral on the jour des Rois, where the const.i.tutional ma.s.s was being celebrated; there were only one priest and two or three poor people there. A little farther on I found a large crowd barring the way in the street; these people could not enter a chapel which was already full and where the ma.s.s called for by the Catholics was being celebrated.--Elsewhere, the churches in the town were likewise deserted, and the people went to hear ma.s.s by a priest just arrived from England."--(Report by Francais de Nantes on Vaucluse and Provence.) One tenth of the population follows the const.i.tutional priests; the rest follow the returned emigre priests; the latter have on their side the rich and influential portion of society."--(Report of Lacuee on Paris and the seven surrounding departments.) "The situation of the unsubmissive priests is more advantageous than that of the submissive priests.... The latter are neglected and abandoned; it is not fas.h.i.+onable to join them... (The former) are venerated by their adherents as martyrs; they excite tender interest, especially from the women."]

[Footnote 3183: Archives nationales, cartons 3144 and 3145, No.1004, missions of the councillors of state, year IX.--(Report by Lacuee.) "The wants of the people in this way seem at this moment to be confined... to a vain spectacle, to ceremonies: going to ma.s.s, the sermon and vespers, which is all very well; but confession, the communion, fasting, doing without meat, is not common anywhere.... In the country, where there are no priests, the village schoolmaster officiates, and people are content; they would prefer bells without priests rather than priests without bells."--This regret for bells is very frequent and survives even in the cantons which are lukewarm.--(Creuse, Pluviose 10, year IV.) "They persist in replanting the crosses which the priests have dug up; they put back the ropes to the bells which the magistrate has taken away."]

[Footnote 3184: Archives nationales, cartons 3144 and 3145, No. 1004, missions of the councilors of state, year IX.--(Report by Fourcroy.) "The keeping of Sunday and the attendance on the churches, which is seen everywhere, shows that the ma.s.s of Frenchmen desire a return to ancient usages, and that the time has gone by for resisting this national tendency... The ma.s.s of mankind require a religion, a system of wors.h.i.+p and a priesthood. It is an error of certain modern philosophers, into which I have myself been led, to believe in the possibility of any instruction sufficiently widespread to destroy religious prejudices; they are a source of consolation for the vast number of the unfortunate.... Priests, altars and wors.h.i.+p must accordingly be left to the ma.s.s of the people."]

[Footnote 3185: Peuchet, "Statistique elementaire de la France"

(published in 1805), p.228. According to statements furnished by prefects in the years IX and X, the population is 33,111,962 persons; the annexation of the island of Elbe and of Piedmont adds 1,864,350 Total, 34,976,313.--Pelet de la Lozere, P.203. (Speech by Napoleon to the council of state, February 4, 1804, on the Protestant seminaries of Geneva and Strasbourg, and on the number of Protestants in his states.) "Their population numbers only 3 millions."]

[Footnote 3186: Roederer, III., 330 (July 1800): "The First Consul spoke to me about the steps necessary to be taken to prevent the (emigres) who had been struck off from getting back their possessions, in view of maintaining the interest in the revolution of about 1,200,000 purchasers of national domains. "--Rocquain, "etat de la France au 18 Brumaire."

(Report by Barbe-Marbois on Morbihan, Finisterre, Ile-et-Vilaine, and Cotes-du-Nord, year IX.) "In every place I have just pa.s.sed through the proprietors recognize that their existence is attached to that of the First Consul."]

[Footnote 3187: Const.i.tution of Frimaire 22, year VIII, art.

94.--Article 93, moreover, declares that "the possessions of the emigres are irrevocably acquired by the republic."]

[Footnote 3188: Law of Floreal 29, year X, t.i.tle I, article 8. The member also swears "to combat with all the means which justice, reason and the law authorize, every enterprise tending to restore the feudal regime," and, consequently, feudal rights and t.i.thes]

[Footnote 3189: Organic Senatus-consulte, Floreal 28, year XII (18th May 1804). t.i.tle VII., art. 53.]

[Footnote 3190: Roederer, III., 430-432 (April 4, 1802, May I, 1802): "Defermon remarked to me yesterday, 'This will all go on well as long as the First Consul lives; the day after his death we shall all emigrate.'

"--"Every one, from the sailor to the worker, says to himself, 'All this is very well, but will it last?...--This work we undertake, this capital we risk, this house we build, these trees we plant, what will become of them if he dies?"]

[Footnote 3191: Ibid., 340. (Words of the First Consul, November 4, 1800.) "Who is the rich man to-day? The buyer of national domains, the contractor. the robber."--These details, above, are provided for me by family narrations and souvenirs.]

[Footnote 3192: Napoleon, "Correspondance," letter of September 5, 1795. "National and emigre property is not dear; patrimonies are priceless."--Archives nationales, cartons 3144 to 3145, No.1004, missions of the councillors of state, year IX. (Report by Lacuee on the seven departments of the division of the Seine.) "The proportion of value, in Seine, between national and patrimonial properties is from 8 to 15."--In Eure, national property of every kind is sold about 10 %.

off, and patrimonial at about 4 %. off. There are two sorts of national property, one of first origin (that of the clergy), and the other of second origin (that of the emigres). The latter is much more depreciated than the former. Compared with patrimonial property, in Aisne, the former loses a fifth or a quarter of its value and the latter a third; in Loiret, the former loses a quarter and the latter one-half; in Seine-et-Oise the former loses one-third and the latter three-fifths; in Oise the former is at about par, the latter loses a quarter.--Roederer, III., 472 (December 1803). Depreciation of national property in Normandy: "But little is bought above 7 %. off; this, however, is the fate of this sort of property throughout France."--Ibid., III., 534 (January 1809): "In Normandy, investments on patrimonial property bring only 3 %., while State property brings 5 %. "--Moniteur (January 4, 1825). Report of M. de Martignac: "The confiscated property of the emigres finds its purchasers with difficulty, and its commercial value is not in proportion to its real value."--Duclosonge, former inspector of domains, "Moyens de porter les domaines nationaux a la valeur des biens patrimoniaux," p.7. "Since 1815, national property has generally been bought at a rate of income of 3 %. or, at the most, 4 %.

The difference for this epoch is accordingly one-fifth, and even two-fifths."]

[Footnote 3193: Treaty between the Pope and the French government, July '5, 1801. Ratifications exchanged September 1, 1801, and published with its articles April 8, 1802.--Article 13.]

[Footnote 3194: Ibid., article 14.]

[Footnote 3195: Articles organiques, 64, 65, 66.]

[Footnote 3196: Law of November 30, 1809, and opinion of the Council of State, May 19, 1811.]

[Footnote 3197: Articles organiques, 68.]

[Footnote 3198: Articles organiques, 71, 72.--Concordat, article 12.--Law pa.s.sed July 26, 1803.]

[Footnote 3199: Councils of laymen entrusted with the administration of parish incomes.]

[Footnote 31100: Law of December 30, 1809, articles 39, 92 and following articles, 105 and following articles.]

[Footnote 31101: Law of September 15, 1807, t.i.tle IX.]

[Footnote 31102: Concordat, article 15.--Articles organiques, 73.]

[Footnote 31103: Alexis Chevalier, "les Freres des ecoles chretiennes et l'Enseignement primaire apres la revolution," pa.s.sim. (Act of Vendemiare 24 and Prairial 28, year XI, and Frimiaire II, year XII; laws of May 14, 1806, March 7, 1808, February 17, 1809, Dec. 26, 1810.)]

[Footnote 31104: Alexis Chevalier, ibid., 189.]

[Footnote 31105: Ibid., p.185 sequitur. (Decision of Aug. 8, 1803, of March 25, of May 30, 1806.)]

[Footnote 31106: Decree of June 22, 1804 (articles I and 4).--"Consultation sur les decrets du 29 Mars 1880," by Edmond Rousse, p.32. (Out of 54 communities, there were two of men, the "Peres du tiers-ordre de Saint-Francois" and the priests of "la Misericorde," one founded in 1806 and the other in 1808.)]

[Footnote 31107: "Memorial de Sainte-Helene." Napoleon adds" that an empire like France may and must have some refuge for maniacs called Trappists."--Pelet de la Lozere, p.208. (Session of the council of state, May 22, 1804.) "My intention is to have the house of foreign missions restored; these monks will be of great use to me in Asia, Africa, and America.... I will give them a capital of 15,000 francs a year to begin with.... I shall also re-establish the 'Sisters of Charity;' I have already had them put in possession of their old buildings. I think it necessary also, whatever may be said of it, to re-establish the 'Ignorantins.'"]

[Footnote 31108: Roederer, III., 481. (Senatorerie of Caen, Germinal 17, year XIII.) Constant lamentations of bishops and most of the priests he has met. "A poor cure, an unfortunate cure,... The bishop invites you to dinner, to partake of the poor cheer of an unfortunate bishop on 12,000 francs salary."--The episcopal palaces are superb, but their furniture is that of a village cure; one can scarcely find a chair in the finest room.--"The officiating priests have not yet found a fixed salary in any commune.... The peasants ardently longed for their usual ma.s.s and Sunday service as in the past, but to pay for this is another thing."]

[Footnote 31109: Decrees of May 31 and Dec. 26, 1804, a.s.signing to the Treasury the salaries of 24,000 and then 30,000 a.s.sistant-priests.]

[Footnote 31110: Charles Nicolas, "le Budget de la France depuis le commencement du XIXe siecle;" appropriation in 1807, 12,341,537 francs.]

[Footnote 31111: Decrees of Prairial 2, year XII, Nivose 5. year XIII, and Sep. 30, 1807.--Decree of Dec. 30, 1809 (articles 37, 39, 40, 49 and ch. IV.)--Opinion of the council of state, May 19, 1811.]

[Footnote 31112: These are limited (articles organiques, 5): "All ecclesiastical functions are gratuitous except the authorized oblations fixed by the regulations."]

[Footnote 31113: Articles organiques, 73.]

[Footnote 31114: Ibid., 74: "Real property other than dwellings with their adjoining gardens, shall not be held under ecclesiastical t.i.tles or possessed by ministers of wors.h.i.+p by reason of their functions."]

[Footnote 31115: Opinion of the Council of State, January 22, 1805, on the question whether the communes have become owners of the churches and parsonages abandoned to them by the law of Germinal 18, year X (articles organiques).--The Council of State is of the opinion that "the said churches and parsonages must be considered as communal property." If the State renounces owners.h.i.+p in these buildings it is not in favor of the fabrique, cure or bishop, but in favor of the commune.]