M. Waldeck-Rousseau's Bill on Associations was finally passed on June
28th, the Chamber accepting the Senate's amendments by 428 to 143, and it only remains to see how it will be applied. It is understood that all the religious com- munities affected will apply for recognition, the order from Rome being to submit to the law, and will furnish the returns of their property, objects, and names which are the necessary preliminaries. These should be interesting reading. On the other hand, it is believed that the Government will not press its legal rights, and will leave the Associations untouched, except one or two which, as M. Waldeck-Rousseau said in his speech, employ their resources in raising up a generation of officers without Republican feeling, antagonists, in fact, tc officers bred in the Lycees. The fate of the Associations affiliated to the Jesuits will be watched with the greatest interest, as the public suspects them, and the extremists will be violently angry if they are spared. The final result will probably be one more evidence of the old truth that " swords pass through ghosts but do not cut them." Force can do a great deal, in spite of Mr. Bright's dictum, but it cannot squeeze Catholicism out of the veins of Catholics.
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