THE FRENCH ASSOCIATIONS BILL.
THE introduction of the Bill to regulate Associations is quite the most remarkable thing that the Third Republic has done. There has been no such open attempt to restrict the liberty of Frenchmen, and to restrict it, not by process of law, but by simple administrative decree. The Bill set out, indeed, with an appearance of increased concessions. It abolished the existing restriction under which any Society having more than twenty members, established without the leave of the Government, could be dissolved at the pleasure of the authorities. If the Bill had passed, there would. have been no restriction on the formation of Associations except such as resided. in the fact that they would have nothing when formed. The first object of the Bill was to reduce all Societies to the con- dition of evangelical poverty. Knowing the temptation of Corporations to become rich, it was determined to give them ample protection against it. A Society might hold only so much real property as is necessary for the housing of its members, and so much personal property as is indispensable for the object for which it is founded. In the case of a hospital, almshouse, or orphanage, the provision about real property was some- what relaxed. The buildings needed—not merely for the members, but for the persons benefited—may be of that character. Probably, however, what is needed for the persons benefited would have been strictly interpreted, and a nursing order would have been allowed to have a freehold hospital, but not a freehold chapel, attached to it. Nor is this prohibition meant to remain inopera- tive. According to the Bill, if an Association acquires property of the forbidden kind, or of more than the per- mitted amount, not only will the deed be void, but the property will be confiscated to the State, the persons executing the deed will be fined, and the lawyer who drew it will be disqualified from practising his profession. Con- sequently, if an Association is willing to run these risks, it is not likely that the vendor or donor of the property will be equally reckless, or that, even if he is, anybody will be found to prepare the documents. Nor may a Society receive any legacy whatever, either directly or through the medium of trustees. As regards gifts made in the lifetime of the donor, they are apparently limited to gifts in kind, such as bread or meal, but not money. For example, if a similar liw were in force in England, the Church Missionary Society would have to return all its subscriptions. More- over, the mantle so long worn by the late Mr. Newdigate has been handed over by his representatives to the authors of this Bill. All Societies composed of persons living in community may be inspected by public officials, a provision admirably designed to annoy not only the inmates of such institutions, but their relatives and friends.
This was pretty well, but even this was not enough. These are legal penalties, and however rapid and certain the action of a judicial tribunal may be, there is a possibility that a Judge or a jury may err on the side of mercy, and discover some loophole through which an Association may escape. Consequently, the Bill takes care to 'arm the Government with powers which may be applied at pleasure. All but a few unimportant religious con- gregations are placed by the Bill at the mercy of the Cabinet. Any Society which is mainly composed of foreigners, or has foreigners among its managers, or is in any way dependent on a foreign head, may at once be dis- solved by Ministers, and any of the former members con- tinuing to live together may be imprisoned. These last provisions had a breadth of application which had possibly not occurred to their authors. Supposing that the Concordat is abolished at any time after the passing of this Bill, the Roman Catholic Church will become a simple Association, subject to all the restrictions imposed by this astounding Bill. Now, in all countries save Italy, the Roman Catholic Church, prc-mninently and above all other Societies, depends on a foreign head. Its director and manager is the Pope. Consequently, it will be in the power of the Cabinet to dissolve the Church by Ministerial decree ; and when that has been done, all ecclesiastical property will be confiscated, and all persons continuing to call them- selves Catholics, and practising Catholic modes of life, will be liable to imprisonment. It is one of the revenges of history that this consequence has been pointed out in the Estafelte, a journal specially representing M. Jules Ferry. The author of the famous Article VIL now finds himself hopelessly distanced by his successors in office. The torch of intolerance burns with a brighter flame in the hands of M. Ribot and M. de Freycinet than it ever did in his own.
The motive of the Government in framing a measure upon which they have at once been defeated, is past finding out. Until quite lately they seemed to have gone back to the old dream of Republican concentration. But this Bill was fatal to Republican concentration. All the , Republican journals, except those of the Extreme Left, were I opposed to it, and even those of the Extreme Left gave it rather halting praise. They were pleased, it is true, with the virtual prohibition of religious Societies ; but they complain that it draws no distinction between religions and lay Associations ; that the International may come in for the same comdemnation as the Benedictines or the Franciscans. Even the Republique Franegaise, which is not a very reactionary journal, says that the only thing in the Bill that has any connection with liberty is the title. On all sides the Bill is accepted as a complete concession to the Extreme Radicals, and for the first time there have been signs of a real severance in the Republican Party. It may be, of course, that the Cabinet did not foresee this result, that they thought that only a very few Moderate Republicans would oppose the Bill, and that the trifling reinforcement which their secession would give the Opposition would not be worth reckoning with. If so, they must have entertained a very poor opinion of their own supporters, though it was an opinion justified to some extent by their action in some similar cases. It is never safe, however, to assume that men will not take into account the lengths to which a principle is pushed. In theory, no doubt, previous Re- publican Governments have done, or proposed to do, things as inconsistent with freedom as they ask for power to do now. But the inconsistency was not so gross and flagrant as in the present instance. Frenchmen are pretty well accustomed to isolated acts of oppression ; but the present Bill is an incorporation into one single law of a multitude of oppressive provisions, to the enactment of which every Republican Deputy is asked to set his seal. All this is so obvious, that it is hard to believe that the Cabinet did not foresee it.
There is another explanation, for which, perhaps, some- thing may be said. There has been visible of late a decided tendency on the part of some French Catholics to ask themselves whether the advantages of the Concordat are worth purchasing at the cost of its restrictions. It may be that Ministers were anxious to prevent any coalition between Catholics and Extreme Radicals having the separa- tion of Church and State for its object, and that they hoped to do this by giving Catholics a hint of the kind of discipline to which they may be subjected in the event of the Concordat being abolished. The fault of this theory is that it is far-fetched. The tremendous machinery brought into play seems so altogether out of proportion to the trifling object to be allowed. It is just conceivable, again, that the object of the Bill was to check the disposition which has recently shown itself among French Conserva- tives to become reconciled with the Republic. As we have often pointed out, this reconciliation would have some awk- ward consequences for the men now in power, and either for this or for some other reason, Ministers have taken to doing all in their power to make the Republic odious in the eyes of quiet and peaceable people. Is it possible that they have been disappointed to find that all these efforts have gone for naught, and that whether it is the Pope or the French Cardinals who are speaking, their voices are always raised on the side of peace ? Is it possible that the effect of this disappointment has been to drive them into making one final effort to keep alive the breach between the Church and the Republic ? We cannot say. It would seem most unlikely, if it were not that every other explanation that can be suggested is equally improbable. Anyhow, Ministers wilfully courted defeat, and their prayer has been promptly answered.
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