Whether influenced by hatred of Italy or by a perception
that they require the aid of the Church against revolutionary forces, the present Government of France has adopted a new attitude towards clericalism. The Mayor of St. Denis recently prohibited the priests from placing a cross upon the grave of any one buried in the local cemetery, and a question was asked in the Chamber as to the legality of the decree. M. Spnller, MArister of Public Worship, immediately rose and repudiated it. The Mayor had a right to prohibit processions, but no right to forbid the placing of the cross. The Government were determined to be tolerant, and to put down fanaticisms and sectarianisms, it - eluding, it was understood, those of disbelief. M. Brisson rose, and bitterly denied that the Republic had been perse- cuting, and asked what the Government meant by the "new spirit" of which M. Spuller had talked. M. Spaller replied that he meant the new conviction which had come over the
Governm nt and himself, and that they were determined to abandon a "petty, vexatious, worrying war with the Church," which bad itself embraced the Republic. He himself had been to blame for his share in it. The speech drove the Radicals almost frantic ; but M. Casimir Perier supported his colleague, and the Chamber supported him by 280 to 120. This scene, of which we have said enough elsewhere, marks a new departure in French politics.
