M. Combes is being driven further and further in his
war against the Church. He has already, as we learn from a despatch in the Yellow-book, informed the Pope that the Concordat, " that pact of religious appeasement signed by the two Powers," cannot be maintained unless the Bishops are prohibited from writing insulting letters, and now he has taken another step. The clerical Associations, finding them- selves dissolved by the recent law, " secularised " their schools —that is, handed over their control to secular persons, but continued to teach as employes—and, of course, those who preferred religious teaching sent their children to these estab- lishments. A Bill has consequently been introduced forbidding the members of any dissolved Association to teach in any school in or near a district in which such an Association existed until three years after such dissolution. The Bill almost created a riot in the Chamber, its opponents asserting, quite truly, that it was opposed to the fundamental ideas of liberty; but on Monday urgency was demanded for the measure, and granted by a majority of 46. This is persecution, open and
undisguised ; but, as has been clear from the first, the electors of France would not hesitate to persecute all members of monastic establishments. They wish, on the whole, to keep the parish cures, who, as a rule, are personally popular, but they would be heartily glad if every monk or nun quitted the country. We shall see stronger laws yet as the fight goes on.
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