M. Briand, the French Minister of Public, Worship, has issued
a.. circular to the Prefects which seems likely to remove the difficulties threatened on the expiry of the period fixed by the Separation Law for the formation of the authorised public worship Associations. In this circular it is intimated that after the 11th inst. the Roman Catholic clergy can continue their functions under the Law of Public Meetings of 1881 even without these Associations. More than that, M. Briand is prepared to sanction relaxation of the strict administra- tion of the law so as to render it less onerous for Roman Catholic priests,—i.e., exempting religious ceremonies from the prohibition of public meetings after 11 p.m., and dis- pensing with the nomination or election of a bureau for the maintenance of order. A distinction is drawn between two kinds of religious edifices,—viz., those actually belonging to the State or the Communes, and those the ownership of which is vested in the existing vestries. The latter
will be sequestrated after the 11th; but as neither they nor the former category of buildings can be diverted from their present uses except by decree or Act of Parliament, all churches ought to remain open for public worship at all times, both for the clergy and the faithfill, in existing condi. Vona. By these concessions, and by the spirit of administra- tive tolerance which be recommends, M. Briand has deserved better of the Republic than his colleague M. Viviani, whose atheistic rhetoric has been placarded at the cost of the State in every Commune throughout France.
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