Saturday, January 20, 1872.]
THE TABLET.
6 3
the 250 millions required. The President entered into some interesting details. For a cotton gown o f s ix metres— exclamations o f astonishment here arose, and M. Thiers had to explain in effect that he d id not mean the kind o f dresses, the bills for which were probably more fam iliar to his hearers, but gowns such a s a well to do workwoman would wear— a cotton gown o f six metres cost 12 francs, and the tax would only raise its price by 6 centimes. Cotton is calculated to produce 36 millions after the drawback has been repaid. On woollens the tax is estimated at 36 millions, the drawback at about 10 , so that 26 millions will remain to the good ; on silk, at a duty o f about 16 per cent., the tax amounts to 54 millions, and after the repayment o f 27 millions in drawback, 27 millions would remain for the Treasury, and so on. Even on a dress o f 20 metres this would not weigh very heavily. I t would cost 15 0 francs, with 15 0 more for the making up, and the tax would augment the bill by only 12 francs. F inally, M . Thiers defied the Assem b ly to devise another possible resource. Apart from the income tax already rejected, he undertook to demolish any other proposal. I f the Assembly should refuse this tax, it would be a very grave matter indeed, for he would then be unable to establish an equilibrium between the national receipts and expenditure, and that equilibrium was neither more nor less than the salvation o f the country. H e ended with a kind o f appeal a d m ise r ic o rd ia m , affirm ing that the Government had quite enough to do to keep its head above water, and could not resist the will o f the Assem b ly for ten minutes, imploring it to maintain “ the truce o f Bordeaux,” reminding the Left that he had been too constant an advocate o f liberty for him to be suspected when he defended authority, and adding that it was not liberty which was now in danger, but unity o f intention and action. On Monday, M. Johnston, an Etonian, and deputy for Bordeaux, replied on behalf o f Free T rade. H e raised the difficulty on which we have touched before now, that even i f the English treaty were denounced at once it would still be in force for a twelvemonth, and the tax on raw materials would be impracticable during that period, as a compensating duty would be necessary. The President appears then to have lost h is temper, and he taxed M. Johnston with supplying arguments to foreign Powers. T h e Due Decazes argued against the bill that the taxation o f imports would tend eventually to check exports, and M . Thiers again returned to the charge, declaring that the money must be got, and that the tax on raw materials was the only way to get it, and again attacked the treaty with England, which he said was concluded in a hurry, not in the interest o f commerce, but for a political purpose. M . Buffet next spoke against the bill, and the efforts o f the Government to obtain an immediate division were fruitless.
Radicalism , says the D éb a ts, does not appear
a radical t0 flourish a f Versailles. Its representatives in DEPUTY A
the Chamber are not always at their posts, sel
M . de Falloux has been getting into a scrape
it. de ) with his party. A t a meeting at the V icom te compromise. de M eaux’s, 67 or 68 Legitim ist deputies being
present, the former M inister o f Public In
struction made a speech advocating a complete and immediate understanding between the Legitim ist and Orleanist deputies. H e urged the former not to ask for a withdrawal o f the Comte de Chambord’s manifesto, but to represent to the Prince that he ought to place him self at the disposal of the country, and accept the throne, with the flag and the constitution which the Assembly might vote. This language, says the C o u r r ie r d e F ra n c e , was scarcely acceptable to the audience which he had got together, and he was better listened to when he reproached M. Thiers for having departed from the Bordeaux agreement, adding the happily pointed epigram that he had “ preferred the highest “ rank to the highest rb/e.” I t was at first reported that M . de Falloux suggested that the Due d ’Aumale should as soon as possible be made President provisionally, and that this excited great opposition, from the impression that it was intended to prepare the way for an abdication o f the Comte de Chambord in favour o f the Orleans fam ily, but it has been since denied that he made any such proposition. H e suggested, it is true, that the Comte de Chambord might accept the tricolor if it was sem e with f l e n r s d e ly s , but what he positively urged was, as we have said, that the questions o f flag and constitution should be decided by the Assembly. We would not go quite as far as this, for, according to our ideas, it would be an act o f legislation in which the Sovereign would necessarily have his word to say. But there is a certain truth in some o f M. de Falloux’s remarks ; for instance, that the ancient K in gs were in the habit o f consulting the StatesGeneral, and taking the wishes o f the representatives o f the nation into account; and that the departure o f H enry IV . ’s descendants from these wholesome traditions had something to do with the downfall o f the Monarchy. In this country certainly, ,as in others, the periods o f absolute power were not the most favourable to the safety o f Monarchy or to the interests o f true religion, and few people would now contend that legitim ate succession is best guaranteed by the absence o f Constitutional restrictions. The ancient Christian Monarchies, as in England and in Aragon, were always surrounded with a kind o f popular sanction, and we do not think that the traditions o f H enry V I I I . and Elizabeth and the Stuarts, or o f Louis X IV . and the Neapolitan Bourbons, are those from which we should look for the freedom o f the Christian Church or the durability o f a Christian Monarchy. A ll this, however, would probably be admitted by M. de Falloux’s critics, and the charge which they bring against him seems to be that he is endeavouring to commit the Monarchy to more or less Revolutionary principles.
An amendment to M . Ju le s Sim on’s B ill on
th e french p r ; raary Education has been brought in by ED™ MM. de Bonald, Pradie, and Calemard de
dom speak, and, when they do break their silence, it is only b y interjections and apostrophes somewhat wanting in amenity, and in effect on the Chamber. These remarks are suggested to the great d o c t r in a ir e journal by what it terms a terrible accident which has happened to the party in question. M . Brunet, a member o f Paris, elected in the great democratic batch o f February, 18 7 1 , has been making a speech under which the Left behaved “ like Mephlstopheles ** under a shower o f holy water.” God, he said, has visited F rance with terrible chastisements. F rance has allowed herself to be corrupted by rhetoricians and play-actors, by impious and infamous men. H ere a voice interposed, “ You “ are speaking then o f the 4th Septem ber?” M. Brunet went on : France has deserted the best o f her children and has insulted Christ, who was loading her with benefits. I f she is to raise her head again she must condemn and brand “ the “ Sectaries o f Atheism .” H e proposed, then, a bill containing three clauses, the first that France, desiring to escape from her present unhappy situation, dedicates herself completely to the service o f Alm ighty God and o f H is Christ. T h e second, that in witness o f these new sentiments a “ temple ” should be erected to Christ on the heights in Paris hitherto “ dedicated ” to the K in g o f Rome. The third, that this temple should bear this inscription, “ God “ protects France, Christ is victor, H e reigns and H e com“ mands.” The tumult was indescribable; a voice exclaimed, Let us go back to the raw materials (m a tiè res p rem ie re s ) . T o which another from the R ight replied, “ this matter also is important in its way.” U rgency was o f course refused, but tlie proposal was referred to the Committee o f Initiative.
Lafayette, the principal feature of which is the
institution o f a kind o f school-board or council o f heads o f families, composed o f nine members appointed for six years and re-eligible, such council to be elected by all the fathers, widowed mothers, or guardians o f children o f an age to go to school. The Catholic committee sent in on Monday a first instalment o f petitions against the Government B ill with 14 , 10 5 signatures attached to them.
A great deal o f interest and sympathy has
th e a bbé geen elicited by the act o f the Abbé Loyson, L° sorbonne.HE professor at the Sorbonne, brother o f the ex-
Père Hyacinthe ; who has ju st declared in
his opening lecture, before an immense audience, his full submission to the decrees o f the Vatican Council, disavowing with evident emotion the acts and doctrines o f his brother: “ for what is for you,” he said, “ a public misfortune “ is for me a domestic affliction ” (“ un deuil de fam ille.” )
I t seems that Mgr. Guibert, soon after his THE enthronement, heard it stated that by an ancient - c™ custom the Archbishops o f Paris had the right
to obtain the pardon o f four prisoners in their
diocese on first taking possession o f the See. H e accordingly made application to the President o f the Republic and the K eeper o f the Seals, who ordered the archives to be searched. Nothing o f the kind could be found, but the Archbishop was informed that, although there was no trace o f an ancient usage which could be restored, the custom should be established in his favour and at his request. M. G i.ib ert therefore designated four prisoners, one in each o f the principal prisons o f Paris, all under severe sentences,
