We regret to notice the death of Mgr. Freppel, Bishop
of Angers, and a prominent Member of the French Chamber. We regret it not only because he was a frank-spoken man. who pleaded his 171tramontan.e cause very ably, but because we dislike the growing habit, on the Continent and here, of denying to Clericals the opportunity of political expression. They constitute everywhere a great force, without which every Chamber is incomplete, and must often legislate in the dark. It is said that they are often extreme, and always bigoted—and that may be true, for Liberals on the Con- tinent rarely choose Liberal Churchmen—but the electors do not for that reason exclude Reds, Socialists, or even Anarchists. Why tolerate Bebels and Lafargues, and ostra- cise Freppels ? The English idea is that clergymen are lowered by entering into politics ; but the idea is a little factitious, the truth being that politicians rarely like priests with whose opinions they disagree. It is impossible to destroy the political power of the Churches, and it would be much more wisely exercised if the best representatives of those Churches were compelled to mix more constantly with the responsible representatives of lay opinion.
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