The new French law against unauthorised religious estab- lishments will
at first be a success. The Jesuits, against whom it was especially directed, have fled, their four Provincials leaving behind them a long and well-worded protest, in which they affirm that the main reason for their retreat is that the blow is not aimed at them, but at the " imprescriptible rights of the Church." There are in a]], it appears, two thousand and ten male and two thousand two hundred and eighty- two female unauthorised "establishments," of -which seventeen hundred and forty male and twelve hundred and twenty-seven female establishments only have applied for sanction by the Chambers, a sanction which may, it should be remembered, be refused. The monks and nuns belonging to the remainder are seeking refuge in Germany, Belgium, Spain, and England, where they are all admitted but not entirely welcomed, their brethren and sisters fearing some pressure on their means, while the Bishops dread the presence of so many clericals not under their authority. The total result is that the Government has expelled the Jesuits and about a third of those belonging to other Orders, and has brought the remainder within the grasp of the Ministry. Twenty years hence we shall see them all back again, Churches, like water, being little amenable to pressure, but for the moment success is with M. Waldeck-Rousseau.
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