Ex Libris C. K. OGDEN tor REV. P. BOWDEN SMITH'S HOUSE LIBRARY. May be kept. Shelf. LOWER BBITANNY: ITS PBIESTS AND PEOPLE. NEW-STBBET LOWER BEITANNY AND THE BIBLE THEEE: ITS PRIESTS AND PEOPLE. ALSO NOTES ON EELIGIOUS AND CIVIL LIBEETY IN FKANCE. JAMES BROMFIELD, AUTHOB OS 'BBITANirr AND THB BIBLE,' ' THB CEASB IS BBITASTTT, ' CLEKT'S KABBATIVE O LOITIS XTI.,' ETC. LONDON: LONGMAN, GREEN, LONGMAN, ROBERTS, & GREEN. 1863. - ^ * y n. fc*. fit^lto^. I PREFACE. IN laying this book before the Public, I have but few remarks to make. I regret that the Bible does not occupy the whole of the work ; but the fault is not mine, for unfortunately it occupies as yet but a small comparative space in Britanny. I have, however, added some observations on the state of religious and civil liberty in France generally ; and as those who venerate the Bible are naturally anxious both for its spread and for the protection of its wor- shippers, I trust that such remarks may not be unac- ceptable. Religious and civil liberty form part of the same body, and when one is wounded the other feels the stroke. Englishmen are practically ignorant of the capricious cruelties of arbitrary power, and long may they remain so ; but it is well that they should be enlightened upon them in theory, instead of in practice. It is when the former means of knowledge has been wanting, that the latter often arrives. For those parts which are savoured with what some may think an obtrusive liberalism or an exuberant 2000580 VI PREFACE. patriotism, I make no apology. The fault (if any) has been one of position that I have been resident in France, and have felt the sting of what I complain of. To those who censure me, I recommend reflection and a sojourn on the spot ; it is probable that, with these helps, they will ere long think differently, and value England and her institutions more highly than perchance they do now. Foreign residence is as good for grumblers as for dyspeptics. Home privileges and comforts are doubly valued abroad. If I am thought to speak harshly of certain indivi- duals of another creed and nation, I can only reply, that I do ' nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice.'' I merely relate what I have seen, read, heard, and thought; and I do so in the conviction that a good humoured statement of what a man considers to be the truth is always beneficial, and that when men speak their minds freely, and with temper, good will certainly arise out of it. I send this book forth in my own name. My former work on a similar subject was written while I was resident in Britanny (as, indeed, were many parts of the present work), and was published during the same period; and as I took the liberty of speaking my mind plainly on public men and things in France, and we were then under the coup d'etat regime, I should, in all probability, very soon have been re- quested (more or less politely) to quit the country, had I been known as the author. I was therefore obliged to write under an assumed name, and I chose the PREFACE. Vll name of I. Hope, as at once my motto and my chief characteristic. I have added the remarks on the French Emperor as an act of justice, and of satisfaction to my own mind, considering what I had written in my former work ; and I leave them to the varying appreciation of my readers. National prejudices are fast disappearing before the Spirit of the Age, and the frequent intercommunica- tion of people of different countries. Englishmen and Frenchmen no longer hate each other as such ; but there is yet much to do before they will regard each other as friends. Let Frenchmen grant to their Pro- testant countrymen the equal rights in all things which their laws confer in theory, and let Englishmen acknow- ledge that England has been honourably and liberally treated even by a Napoleon Bonaparte, and an impor- tant progress will have been made ; and a little good- humoured but free criticism, on these and similar matters, can (it seems to me) do nothing but good to all parties concerned. I trust that this work may in some degree help on the Great Cause of Eeligious and Civil Liberty which I have near at heart ; my object will then be amply attained, and I shall be more than compensated for such censure, misconception, and ill-natured remark as those who appeal to Public opinion must naturally expect. But, while memory lasts, nothing can rob me of the recollection of the many happy hours I have passed in preparing and writing the pages which follow, and which will soon be scattered far and wide, like the leaves of Autumn which are now fast flying over the landscape before me. And therefore to all my readers (and may they be many !) I bid a friendly adieu ! J. B. LLANBALOC : Dec. 1, 1862. Errata. Page 34, line 4, for twenty-five years read eighteen years. 40, 28, more than a hundred thousand Bibles read more than a million Bibles. 42, 34, Souvestre read Eicou. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. Slow Progress of Bible in Britanny Opposition of Authorities Bold- ness the best Policy Colportage Anecdote of a Breton Woman Priests and their Doings Sale of Bible greater in troubled Times English Books subject to Restrictions Protestantism harassed Want of real Religion Services in unknown Tongue Indifference of Middle Classes Page 1 CHAPTER H. 'Bulletin Evangelique' M. Le Fourdrey Trouble with Prefet Suppression of Bulletin Extreme Intolerance Society for general Interests of Protestantism in Britanny Its Progress and Working Bulletin is now circulated Friends may do good by supporting it Difficulties of Publication in Britanny 24 CHAPTER III. Protestant Places of Worship in Britanny Quimper and Mr. Williams His Controversies with Romanists and M. Villemarque Church of England and her Defects Morlaix, and Mr. Jenkins and his Work there Breton New Testament, translated by Mr. Jenkins Its Success New Edition preparing Rennes and M. Vermeil Im- portance of Christian Union in Romanist Countries Small Impor- tance of Denominational Differences 33 CHAPTER IV. Cote du Nord Guingamp Le9ons a domicile Education, and its Diffi- culties in Britanny Wildness of Country Wolves Distribution of Scriptures in Britanny, how it works Fete of the Immaculate Con- ception Infallibility of Romish Church will be its Ruin Men won't accept essential Doctrines which bear a Modern Date . . 52 CONTENTS. CHAPTER V. Priestly Power in Britanny Jesuits Lorient and M. Planta Pro- posed New Chapel there Nantes and M. Vaurigaud French Pro- testants and their Efforts The Poor in Britanny and their Sufferings No Poor Law in France Comparison between France and England as to Charity to Poor Hard Winter of 1853-4 Anecdote of Wood Stealer Page 62 CHAPTER VI. Brest and M. Chabal Sir Anthony Perrier Proposed New Chapel at Brest Dockyards French Naval Affairs Naval School Naval Hospital The Bagne, or Prison Jesuit Miracle there The Pro- testant Prisoner No Change of Keligion allowed in Prison Capital Punishments in Prison frequent Guillotine better than Gibbet Escaped Convicts 73 CHAPTER VII. Purgatory A Profitable System to the Eomish Church Eevolution at Morlaix Morality of the Bretons Drunkenness Swearing Duel- ling Sabbath-breaking The Sunday Question Priests take a very small part in reforming these Social Evils . . . .99 CHAPTER VIH. Convents in Britanny Escape from one Theory of Convent Life Practice of same very different Britanny and Ireland compared Unity of Romanism a mere Idea Recent Stoppage of Colportage at Quimperle, and its subsequent Permission A Proof of the Favourable Disposition of Government . . . . . T .123 CHAPTER IX. Concluding Remarks on Religious Progress Emperor well disposed Anecdote of Emperor and M. Tachard On the whole things improve Protestant Movement in Britanny, and in France generally Roman Question reacts in Britanny Friends may take Courage 142 CONTENTS. CHAPTER X. On Civil and Religious Liberty Case of Fresnoy le Grand Place of Worship there suddenly suppressed Letters of Prefet His Decree Merits keeping in Amber Despots and Priests naturally hate the Eeligion of Freedom Some Men think little of changing their Coat Prefet gives disinterested Advice gratis Hope still for Fresnoy Page 152 CHAPTER XI. Case of Estissac Protestants forbidden to assemble for Worship M. Kecordon fined Infraction of Keligious Liberty Case of Trouville Polite Prefet But not better for that Case of St. Michel and M. Verun, and of St. Maurice des Riches, Homines No Protestants ! Want of Combination among Protestants General Remarks . 164 CHAPTER XH. Intolerance towards Protestants in France Burial in ' Dogs' Corner ' of Cemetery Fumigation of Ground after Protestant Burial Cugaud Estissac again Case in the Var Protestantism always 'immorally' propagated Romanist Processions At Morlaix! Increasing of late, though illegal .- .-,' t ,< * . 187 CHAPTER XHI. Case of the Haute Vienne A whole Commune leaving Rome Chapel opened with Difficulty Schools shut up ' in the Interests of Morality! ' Trial Rome unchanged Recent Mandement of the Archbishop of Toulouse celebrating Massacre of Protestants Moniteur ' forbids it Court of Cassation on distributing Tracts, its adverse Decision 205 CHAPTER XIV. Ideas of Romanists as to Protestantism Their Ignorance of Bible Calumnies against Protestants Reply to these not very prac- ticable Indulgences a profitable System English Residents Worship in English Anecdote Good Effects of Perseverance Romanism a System of Justification by Works French Children and their Bringing-up on the Free and Easy Principle Effects of it seen in Revolutions . . . 216 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XV. French Ignorance of England Eeason of it English and French Tour- ists 'Times' and 'Moniteur' Party Spirit in France one Cause of Emperor's Strength Arbitrary Power, Acts of Servility to Emperor Address of Prefet of Haute Garonne beats Yorkshire in Fustian Senate and its Cowardice . . . . . Page 239 CHAPTER XVI. General Oath-taking Victor Hugo Dissolution of Courts of Justice by Soldiers Conduct of Judges Oaths in France too common During greatRevolution, about One Hundred Oaths of Allegiance in Five Years Produces loose Morality and general Contempt of Truth 259 CHAPTER XVH. Universal Suffrage in France Dangerous if 'People unfit, as they are in France Small Means of Political Instruction in France Ballot a poor Security Theory and Practice of How the People were deceived as ignorant People always will be Universal Suffrage may lead to Universal Scramble . . . .267 CHAPTER XVHI. The French Press New Law regulating it ' Avertissement ' French Ideas of ' Order ' Effete State of Journalism A modern French Paper, a living Skeleton Best Writers have all abandoned their Profession . . . . * v 276 CHAPTER XIX. Flattery of Emperor Instances of it Count de Chambord Born One Hundred Years too late His Partisans behind the Age ' God made Napoleon, and rested ! ' Abbe Damas thinks God a debtor to France ! Other instances . . . . . . .289 CHAPTER XX. The Emperor and his English Policy Has been a good Ally to Eng- land His Interest to be so In times of Crisis has acted well to us Is that nothing ? His great Difficulties The Italian Question England should keep up her Defences in View of Contingencies and in case Bourbons should return And her Volunteers too But cui bono abusing Napoleon ? In these days national Prejudices should be got rid of, and all will be benefited Conclusion . . .297 LOWER BRITANNY, AND THE BIBLE THERE. CHAPTER I. SLOW PHOGHESS OF BIBLE OPPOSITION OF AUTHORITIES BOLDNESS THE BEST POLICY COLPORTAGE ANECDOTE OF BRETON WOMAN PRIESTS AND THEIR DOINGS PROTESTANTISM EVERYWHERE DISCOURAGED. SINCE I last wrote on 'Britanny and the Bible'* many years have elapsed. With the progress of time we might reasonably have expected progress in all things ; but I am sorry to say I can only record a slow progress of the Bible in Britanny, as far as we can judge by out- ward appearances. Still, there is progress, especially of late. v Until a very recent period, the net had been drawn tighter and tighter still, and, instead of progress, there seemed almost a retrogression. Bible circulation was wholly prohibited in one department, and impeded and harassed in the others ; the sale of religious works of a Protestant tendency was nearly stopped ; colportage was become almost impossible ; all attempts to open schools were summarily defeated ; and friends of the cause were everywhere discouraged and cast down. Eomanism * Published in 1852 by Longman & Co. 2 LOWER BRITTANY AND THE BIBLE. alone was flourishing, and its professors triumphant and smiling. The tide of religious progress seemed to have receded. As sometimes happens on the sea shore, the wave re- tires from the shining pebbles, and makes us think that the tide has reached its highest point and has turned. But wait. To make up, as it were, for a momentary retreat, the waters return in greater strength, devour greedily the beach, hide from our view the stone we had set to mark what we had thought was the turning point, and force us, unwillingly, to retire. The progress of the reformation shows us many periods of this kind, when the work was apparently stopped, and when its friends thought themselves de- serted and forgotten. But this, their weakness, was God's opportunity, and almost before they had time to lament their want of faith, the cause was again ad- vancing with rapid strides, refreshed by the short halt, and stronger than ever. And so it will be, I believe, with Britanny. Let no one do such despite to the Great Controller of events, as to suppose that He will ever abandon the work which He has commenced, though He may from time to .time try the faith and courage of those who are en- gaged in carrying it on. Let His servants and instru- ments keep steady in their dependence on Him, and ere long the mists which lately covered, and even now obscure, the view, will clear away, and they will see that even while they were the most despondent and fearful, the work was progressing the most surely. Without a deep and solid foundation no building can stand, and yet while the stones of it are being carefully laid the work is still unseen by passers-by. So let us hope and believe it is with Britanny and the Bible, and SLOW PROGRESS OF WORK. 3 therefore let no one be discouraged by what he may read in these pages, but let him consider the nature of the work, and hope and believe constantly in the good times which are coming. Besides, there is a certain amount of progress to be actually seen, when all is added together. If we look at the state of things now and compare it with, say ten years back, there is a decided advance to be noted many new places of worship opened, and zealous ministers filling them great increase in the distribution of the Scriptures considerable addition to the Protestant population and all this in spite of every obstacle and hindrance which the subtlety of man could devise. What would it have been had the Bible work had ' a clear stage,' if, with the various impediments before it, it has still surmounted them all, and advanced as it has ? and we may be sure that these obstacles will not be always there ; times flow as well as ebb in this world of change, and after the lowest often comes the highest tide. And in France, that country of reac- tion, nothing is constant long, not even oppression and persecution; and when, after a long 'winter of discon- tent,' the sun shines out anew, and vegetation clothes the earth with its green mantle, its vigorous growth will be in proportion to the time during which its strength and energies were apparently idle but really collecting themselves, and we shall enjoy the glorious summer all the more for the hard winter we have endured, and happily, at last, have left behind us as a thing of the past To suppose that distribution of the Scriptures goes on well in the teeth of government influence exerted to the contrary, is to suppose an absurdity. Government influence is great, and when exerted openly and without B 2 4 LOWER BKITANNY AND THE BIBLE. scruple, it is a formidable antagonist. There can be no doubt that the effect of it in Britanny has been to damp the zeal and clog the efforts of many, and until very recently the priests had succeeded in their object, and almost entirely stopped the circulation of the Scriptures. But I fully believe that there are great numbers, especially of country people, who retain their former interest in the subject, perhaps with an increased zeal arising from repression; and who, the pressure removed, will pursue their enquiries with renewed ardour. And let not those Englishmen who support the missions in this country be discouraged at the small present results, and think of withdrawing their support. Even if the missionaries should do no more (and they most certainly do much more), they at least serve as rallying points to the few converts who remain, and they are ready again to take the field when the gate is opened ; meanwhile, without noise or notice, they en- courage the despondent and keep the flock together. The results must be asked for at a future day ; for the present the balancing of the books should be deferred. Now that the storm is upon them, it is unkind to ask them to sit down and uncloak ; but it is even now clearing away, and when the sun shines and they are dried by the wind, they will be better able to give an account of their labours. I have often felt surprise that the societies having missionaries in France do not more frequently depute members to visit them. It would be of great service. It would encourage the ministers and promote the objects of the mission. As bystanders see sometimes more of the game than the players, so strangers with new views may often see or suggest what has escaped the notice of an old resident, and may create a new COLPORTAGE VERY DIFFICULT. 5 activity. For myself, I think that the rule which usually prevails among Dissenters, in moving their ministers about from place to place, may be aptly applied to missionaries, unless in peculiar cases. Long residence has a tendency to cause apathy and contracted views ; sometimes, too, family ties and personal interests rise up and impede usefulness. A missionary should have but one end before him the Mission and towards this he should turn at all times with undivided attention and energy. According to the proverb, * new brooms sweep clean,' and a new man will often open up channels which had gradually become clogged and filled up, at the same time that he arrives clear of the connec- tions, and prejudices perchance, which have surrounded his predecessor. One thing is certain, that a missionary abroad has a most responsible, difficult, and delicate office, and one for which but a select few are really capable. Accord- ing to his capacities he will do good, either great or small; but, with the best motives, he may often fall into errors which others may see and amend, and there- fore an occasional overlooking is always desirable as regards the objects of the mission, while to the mission- ary himself it would be an encouragement and a stimulus to exertion. Colportage too had been almost impossible. It was useless to ask for an authorisation to sell religious tracts, and to do so without one was extremely difficult under the new law regulating colportage. By it, not only must the colporteur carry his list with him, so that it may be compared with the authorisation which he also carries about him ; but also each separate work must be stamped with a special stamp easily to be recognised, or in default it might be seized and confiscated. This 6 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. rendered clandestine colportage well-nigh impractic- able. For myself I continue of the same opinion which I have held from the beginning, that the most worthy course is to distribute the Bible openly and freely, and in case of seizure to try the question before the court of appeal at Paris. No direct decision has ever taken place on the point, and it is generally allowed that the Bible can only be legally forbidden by a very strained application of the law, which was never intended to apply to it. At present the government performs the act, and escapes the public shame of it ; but it would be worth an effort, and a costly one, either to rescue the Bible from their clutches, or to fix upon them the ignominy of proscribing it. The government of France, reckless as it has shown itself of national opinion, is highly sensitive to the opinion of Europe, and of England in particular, and would not enter lightly upon a course which would at once offend the religious feelings and shock the reason of both Protestant Europe and America. The true policy in such a case is courage; but, alas ! that quality, i.e. the moral part of it, has in a degree flown from Frenchmen. Fear, fear of this or that, fear of what may happen, fear of something indefinable and inde- scribable, this clothed in specious words and bearing a reasonable exterior, has been in many cases too pow- erful an opponent to contend with ; and ' the imprac- ticable English,' as we are called, are left to chew the cud in a glorious minority, and invoke foreign Hampdens in vain. To my knowledge the case was some time since placed before an eminent and excellent Protestant advocate in Paris, and he advised, as every advocate whose reputa- ANECDOTE OF BRETON WOMAN. 7 tion was concerned would advise, that it was a danger- ous course, and that the parties must wait. An enemy's counsel exactly * a lion in the path.' The case is not one of law for a counsel's opinion ; it is to be decided by common sense, zeal in the good cause, and a good purse, and I do wonder that none of my stout country- men have tried it, as so many of them unite these conditions. As to a Frenchman standing up alone voluntarily to oppose the government, it is a rarity a thing almost out of nature. Nature made him gregarious, and he acts best in masses, the consequence of which is that thousands oppose the law at the same moment, and thence arises a revolution. In England revolutions have been slowly brought about by the successive action of individual opposition; in France, generally, no one does anything until all do it together, hence a sudden and violent convulsion, often without corre- sponding results. The priests continue as actively occupied as ever in detecting and suppressing any tendency towards Protest- antism, and do not hesitate about means, when desirous of reclaiming a strayed member of their flock. A singular proof of this lately came under my personal knowledge. A Breton woman became convinced of the unsoundness of the Eomanist religion which she pro- fessed. She had not attended the services of any Pro- testant minister ; it was the result entirely of her own feelings. Having for some time entertained free notions of Komanisrn, she was viewed as a doubtful, not to say mauvais sujet by the priest, who threatened her so severely in the confessional, that she gave up attending. He then followed her to her house, and used all possible means to induce her to be quiet, but without effect. 8 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. At this period she became known to a Protestant minister, to whom she stated her case, and from whom she received advice and comfort. The fury of the priest redoubled at this. He and her brother charged the Protestant minister with every kind of improper motive towards her, and the brother threatened to murder her if she continued to see him. But nothing daunted, the young woman (she was only twenty-five years of age) persisted. The priest said nothing more, but practised a new manoeuvre, which does more credit to his ingenuity and zeal for his church than to his honesty. He endeavoured to prove that she, was mad, and procured the attend- ance of the doctor of a neighbouring madhouse to state the fact. This gentleman came over from some distance to see the patient, but fortunately he was an honest man. Instead of a woman out of her senses, he found a person calm, well informed, arguing with self-possession with the priest, and refuting his positions. He was astonished, and declined having anything to, do with the matter, and the poor woman was spared this injustice, for had she once been placed in the lunatic hospital, we should never have heard of her again. Meanwhile, however, they give out that she is mad, to deprive Protestantism of the honour of a sane convert, and impute all kinds of criminal motives to the Protestant minister who stood by her in her troubles. We little think, when we read of conversions, how much trial and mental suffering is implied in the word, in a country like Britanny, where the great majority are opposed to the religion of the convert, and where all worldly interests and motives are against the change ; but though unnoticed by us, they are duly noted by Another, and will one day be recompensed with full measure. MORE BIBLES SOLD IN TROUBLED TIMES. 9 It is a curious fact, which deserves mention, and one which, like Pandora's box, has hope at the bottom, that whenever great changes have occurred in the govern- ment of France, the demand for the Holy Scriptures has been increased in Britanny. In 1848, the year of the last revolution but one, the distribution of the Bible in Britanny was increased by about one-third, and during the autumn preceding the coup d'etat, which to all intents and purposes was a revolution also, and when men's minds were full of apprehension of a bode- ful future, and quaking with fear, there was again an increased demand for the Bible. And remember that no Bibles were given, all were bond fide sold, and that to Bretons, men who are fond of money, and never buy a thing without wanting it. This is a clear proof of the repressive effect of go- vernment and priestly opposition. When the political machine works smoothly and easily, pressure is exerted on all parts equally, disloca- tions and deviations are at once perceived, and instantly remedied. Then is the heyday of prefectorial surveil- lance. Then are showered down instructions to maires and sous-pt^efets to be active, and to look sharp after all who are suspected of an exuberant Protestantism ; then the very maires and sous-prefets themselves find them- selves looked up smartly by the head ecclesiastics of their arrondissement, in case they are not sufficiently zealous, and get a taste of that unpleasant dish, the government cold shoulder, during a short sojourn on the north side of the prefefs countenance; then are issued extra instructions to gensdarmes to dodge and dog colporteurs and Protestant ministers; and de- spatches, reports, and autocratic missives from head- quarters, rain down quick and fast. 10 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. Then, too, Holy Mother Church lays aside her weeds and deshabille, and stalks forth in all her braveiy. The confessional is worked at high pressure, the pulpits and sounding-boards groan and crack under the eloquence of the preachers; in all places' the priesthood appear with beaver cocked and rampant air, and may be heard with loud tones bearing down heavily upon the timid and hesitating questioner; episcopal charges are fre- quent, bold, and decided, like those of the heavy brigade at Waterloo ; all things proclaim the sun in the zenith, and the Church basking thereunder. And as a natural consequence of this worrying by the shepherds, sheep who are not favourites retire to their hiding-places, or meekly lie down at the shepherds' feet, hoping by sub- mission to avert the blow, and the shepherds have the field all to themselves. But let the political sky be troubled, and this scene is changed. The governors have then so much fear for their own safety that they almost wholly forget the governed, and no longer pay them those amiable little attentions they once did. So the poor sheep venture to look out a little for themselves, and again browse in the forbidden pastures without fear of sword or crosier, and indulge their several tastes for this herb or that without scruple, and, as is natural, use the moment with all diligence to make up for lost time. Thus the devices of the shepherds come to nought, after all, in the long run ; as one great effect of their vigilance in harassing their flock, and keeping them on low diet, is a strengthened feeling of independence and an increased appetite. In all this is ground for hope, as it proves the real desires of the people when left to themselves. And, after all, the opposition of the Government will not be SUCCESS OF PAST LABOURS. 11 everlasting. Man may propose, but God disposes ; and the time is certain to arrive when the strong-looking walls built up by the so-called great ones of the earth to keep out the truth will all be thrown down, as were the walls of Jericho, and all their boasted artifices be swept away as cobwebs. It also shows clearly the success of past labours, al- though that success was not visible at the time, and was perhaps despaired of. As in all the other operations of Providence, time is required for this work. The strong and stubborn soil of the human heart cannot at once bear a crop ; it must be well drained, broken up, and prepared; weeds must be rooted out, and stones and rubbish got rid of; the seed must be sown carefully and in due season, and then left to the fertilizing hand of Providence, for it is He alone who can give the in- crease. And in like manner as, despite wind and storm, the seed germinates and fulfils its task in tranquillity, so the word of God, once sown, never dies. War may sweep over and devastate a country, civil strife and per- secution may agitate and deface it, its very foundations may be shaken and upheaved by revolutions ; yet all these will have their season and their end, and in the calm that will at last ensue, the seed will appear peace- fully above the surface, and the desert blossom as the rose. But until lately the bleak north wind has blown fiercely upon Protestantism in Britanny. The distribu- tion of the Scriptures had been almost wholly prohibited, and colportage had almost ceased. Not that those to whom the work was confided folded their arms and did nothing ; but they were driven to various devices in order to arrive at their object, and they did all these thing's under menace and fear of the law. Some carried 12 LOWER BItlTANNY AND THE BIBLE. boxes of various wares, and a few Testaments stowed away in a secret place, to comply with a casual demand ; others walked through the country ostensibly as ordin- ary travellers, but charged with the same valuable freight ; but all were evaders of the law, all were in the same perpetual fear of detection and of punishment when detected. Bible distribution, in fact, was lowered to the level of poaching or smuggling. Little think the good people of England, who read their Bibles in peace by their firesides and give it openly where they choose, that within a short day's journey from them is a country where until lately the Bible was denounced more eagerly than the most obscene book, and its distribution was visited with pains and penalties. And this may happen again at any moment. I know that calls on the purses of benevolent English- men are numerous as the sea sand, but I do believe that no one of the various claims has more to recommend it than the work of evangelisation in Britanny. And, happily, English charity and liberality are expansive as the air we breathe. Who does not feel that they act as the lightning conductors, and that in the day when God has chastised other nations the storm has passed over our heads without bursting, and has discharged its fury elsewhere. And who does not also feel, by experience, that in extending the circle of his charities he has in fact extended the circle of his blessings, and that the money he has given liberally to alleviate the distress of others has procured a rich return of benefit and consola- tion for himself? Soon after the coup d'etat an old law was revived, under which books coming from England were only to be allowed entry into France at certain ports therein EXAMINATION OF ENGLISH BOOKS. 13 named, where they were to be carefully examined. This was, of course, done at the instigation of the ecclesiastical Eomish authorities, as a sort of literary quarantine to prevent the spread to France of the con- tagion of heresy. I was very nearly suffering under the law myself. I had procured from England some Bibles and religious works for distribution in Britanny, to which a kind friend in Shropshire had made a notable addition, and they were brought over by a lady as part of her luggage. Unfortunately they had been placed at the top of the trunk, and therefore were visible at the first opening. I endeavoured to get the examining officer to take an estimate of the contents of the whole lot, but he said he must open some of the trunks to enable him to judge, and as ill luck would have it, he laid his hand on the one where the books were, as a signal to his men to open it. I, however, managed to divert his attention to something else for the moment, and told the men to open another, which they did, and as it contained nothing but clothes, it was all right. He then touched the old one again. * And what is in this ? ' I replied, ' Oh ! a general lot of things ; you know ladies carry all sorts,' at which he smiled and passed on, and the books escaped seizure. A minister of my acquaintance also wanted to publish some Bible stories in Breton, and he thought he would embellish them with woodcuts to make them more attractive, and so he procured the types in England. They were sent via, Boulogne, but their nature being discovered, an enormous duty, amounting to a prohibition, was placed on them, and they had to be returned to England. Then another mode was tried to get them into France, which failed also, and I do not think they have ever been made use of at all. Such are 14 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. some of the difficulties attending getting the Bible into Britanny. As to getting Protestant books printed in Britanny, it is next to impossible. In the first place, I do not know a single Protestant printer in Lower Britanny. Then all printers are obliged to take out a license, and I only wish beer-shop keepers in England were under half as strict a control as are Breton printers. First, they must get the license (if they can} from the authorities, who have an entire discretion in the matter, and may re- fuse the application on the elastic ground, which cannot be confuted, that there are already enough printers in the place ; and if the Prefet chooses to think so, you can no more make him alter his opinion than you can make a horse drink. Then they are liable at any moment to have their license withdrawn and their shop closed, without reason assigned ; in other words, to have their means of living suspended, and to be utterly ruined. Coupled with this, they are obliged to furnish the Prefet, previous to general publication, with two copies of every work in the press, which he peruses, and either allows or prohibits as he chooses; and all this at his sole will and pleasure, without law and without appeal. 'T is won- derful that anything like a good sized well-conditioned fish ever escapes all these obstacles and comes to table. In a word, Protestantism has been chilled and dis- couraged everywhere ; difficulties are raised to its exercise, and barrier succeeds to barrier, showing an active but concealed enemy constantly at work ; its professors are excluded as much as may be from the honours of the state, and are viewed coldly by the authorities ; in fact, without being openly and boldly persecuted, it is stifled and opposed as much as possible. The process is one well known to the humane rat- DISCOURAGEMENTS TO PROTESTANTISM. 15 catcher. No lives taken oh! certainly not, nothing so cruel as that but continual barking of dogs and tinkling of ferret bells, stopping holes everywhere, suspicious-looking morsels laid in curious places, and perpetual watching ; under the effect of all which the vermin are starved, frightened, or worrited to death, or else commit suicide, or otherwise retire from the scene : and so you get rid of them. The little Bulletin Evangelique, to which I shall shortly allude, will be an additional proof of what I say to any one who will take it in. We had the greatest difficulty in getting it printed at all, as there was no Protestant printer to be had, and the Catholic ones would not undertake it. At last one was found to do the work, but he made us pay most heavily for it, and turned it out in such a miserable -shabby state as to make one blush for one's offspring, exposed as it is on a material which in England would be called cap or curl paper. If he had meant to ticket Protestantism as a pauper he could not have done better, and every writer in it has to eat his monthly portion of literary dirt, as a Persian might say, in seeing his signature on such a scurvy surface of whitey -brown. It may easily be imagined how all these obstacles and restrictions emasculate the literature of the country. Controversy, whether religious or political, which is the very life of a free state ; investigation and exposure of abuses, leading to their remedy ; reflections on govern- ment and its subordinates, certain to fall to the ground unheeded if unmerited ; holding up to public contempt profligacy or imbecility in power, or boldly pleading the cause of the poor and the oppressed; in a word, that free play of mind expressed in writing which, if worth- less, dies of itself, and if true, strengthens and ennobles ; 16 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. all this is utterly forbidden in Britanny; and the printing press is either the direct organ of the Govern- ment, or else pours forth a tepid current of platitude and inanity or, it may be, a fetid stream, redolent of half-disclosed vice. And what is the state of that country which thus fetters or thrusts aside the Scriptures, and treats all re- ligious teaching derived therefrom as superfluous or tending to error ? Does it give a preference to other sects of earnest religionists, or to other views of prac- tical religion ? Does it soar high into the deep blue of philosophy, and despise the more homely and vulgar trodden regions of mere practice, or is it generally in- different to the subject and insensible to its importance ? Each of these elements has its share in the solution, but the one lastly named is that which contains the colouring matter and gives character to the whole. For, disguise it as we may clothe it as we can in coats of divers colours let Eomanists boast of the devotion of their worshippers, and French philosophers vaunt the en- lightenment of their disciples the truth remains, and forces itself on our notice, that Eoman Catholic France and all its provinces, speaking of it in the mass and generally, is a nation of sceptics. Not that they deny the existence of a God I would by no means impute that to them. The French nation possesses too much reason and instruction, the great writers who from age to age have prepared and directed the public mind have been too intellectual and too advanced in knowledge, to be atheists ; for it is only * the fool who says in his heart there is no God.' But beyond the bare acknow- ledgement of the great principle of a Deity they seem to me to have made little progress. The Deity being ad- mitted, each enclothes Him with functions after his own GENERAL SCEPTICISM IN FRANCE. 17 guise, as of old the Pagans dressed their idols according to their own tastes ; and the result is a sort of human divinity with qualities varying according to the capacity of the constructor benignant towards the frailties he indulges in, severe only against those he has no mind to : a God of earth, and not of heaven. Subscription to His revealed will as a rule of action is spurned with contempt, or neglected from ignorance ; religious con- troversy treated with a scornful or pitying shrug as ' ridiculous' for, ' after all, what is truth?' or put aside as dangerous, for 'it may lead to error.' But anything like a practical confession of God's existence, and an earnest seeking out and following after His will in the conduct of life, is, I fear, rare in Catholic France. I know that village churches in Britanny, and town ones, too, are crowded with worshippers on fete days and on Sundays. I know that religious processions are almost endless, and their gaudy pageantry bowed to and saluted by thousands ; but that is no argument against me when I also know that nineteen-twentieths of the church-goers are ignorant of the nature and language of the service, and that crowds equal to those who throng the processions would assemble to see an exhibition of fireworks or mountebanks. The masses, i.e. the prayers in church, are all in Latin, a dead language unknown to ninety-nine out of a hundred of every congregation. How, then, can they by any possibility be benefited by it, except on the supposition of the priest praying for all ? There is no joining in the meaning with heart and voice, as in our English churches; but all is either sealed up in muteness, or is mumbled in a tongue un- known, and therefore devoid of meaning. As for sermons, they are only occasional; but the churches in towns are usually very large, in which 18 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. case they are heard only by a few ; and in the small village churches they are only given seldom, and in Britanny they are often in French, to keep up, I sup- pose, the preference for an unknown tongue. And sermons in a Komish country- are but in general poor things. Where the right of private judgement is denied much doctrinal discussion is not to be ex- pected ; but even doctrinal statement is rare, and its place is supplied by declamation and appeals to feeling in favor of the Virgin and Holy Mother Church. I re- member hearing one celebrated preacher, and his sermon was wholly composed of eulogies of certain favourite local saints ; nor was there in the whole sermon more than one Bible citation ' one morsel of bread to that intolerable quantity of sack.' Another far-famed itinerant, a Jesuit, drew vast crowds, and was really worth hearing as a wit or jester, for he scattered bon mots and Joe Millers in profusion, and many of his periods were closed amid peals of laughter ; but of religious doctrine and teaching there was nothing what- ever, and nothing even approaching to it. What can, therefore, be expected, where Bibles and religious works are repressed, where serious enquiry is kept down or misdirected, where pulpits pour out chaff chiefly, and not like the winnowing machine which re- tains the wheat how can we, under such circumstances, expect religious feelings, or a life regulated by religion ? as soon expect a crop after sowing the husks, or look for figs from thistles. Therefore, and most naturally, a religious French man of a respectable position is a decided rarity. I say a * French man of respectable position,' advisedly, because women crowd the churches, and the poor go in considerable numbers. As to the presence of the MY COOK A LATIN SCHOLAR. 19 women I leave its explanation to others, but it is generally admitted that they are more devotional than men, more susceptible of appeals to feeling than men, and more liable to priestly influence probably, too, such meaner motives as want of occupation, love of seeing and being seen, disposition to talk to friends and hear the news, may not be wholly without force, as in other countries. As to the poor people, I do believe that a certain general feeling of devotion takes many of them to church, and it is sad to think that that feeling must be often unsatisfied. For how can it possibly be satisfied with a service in Latin an unknown tongue ? One day I said to my cook, ( Do you understand the prayers at mass ? ' ' Oh ! yes, monsieur, perfectly well.' ' Ah ! then, you know Latin,' I observed. ' Certainly, monsieur, I can read Latin easily.' * CeriesJ thought I, ' my cuisiniere is a learned woman ; I shall pay her more deference in future.' However, I pursued the topic. ' You can read Latin, you say ; doubtless you understand it well ; where did you learn it ? ' ' Oh ! no, monsieur, I did not say I understood Latin. I said I could read it ; and, mafoi! I can do that easily enough.' And I found she meant that she could read, i.e. spell out and pro- nounce the words only, knowing nothing whatever of their meaning. But talk to Breton gentlemen, merchants, and shop- keepers, of religion, and you will soon see what progress it has made with them. Not one in twenty thinks it worth talking about at all. Perhaps you may prevail upon them so far to entertain the subject as to talk of it for five minutes but ' mon cher ami, commie vous etes drole est ce que vous me prenez pour un devot? or, * You cannot be serious in giving real importance to c 2 20 LOWER BRITANNT AND THE BIBLE. such matters.' Or, ' Ma foi ! I know nothing about it, nor ever shall.' If they are philosophical, they stand on their lofty tower and look down disdainfully on what they call the Babel strife below. ' What folly thus fight- ing for nothing, beating the air after an ignis fatuus. But so it has been and will ever be. Fight dog, fight wolf kill each other and the world will be better for it.' I know one man, a person of good natural disposition and sentiments and a certain degree of education, with whom I had considerable discussion, but invariably, when I pushed him hard with Scriptural proofs, he would say ( ah! mais que voulez-vous? If we are to begin arguing from Scripture we may arrive at anything.' The doctrine of the sole and infallible teaching of that phantom, the church, was so firmly rooted in his mind as to have quite destroyed his idea of independent judgement on such matters. He would often say, 'I am not au courant to those passages, but I am sure they have all been explained by the church in our favour, and I leave them to better heads than mine,' and would thus dismiss the matter as of no personal concern. Another man of my acquaintance, and a worthy man too, now alas ! no more would often remark to me, ' What serious fellows you Protestants are, especially you English ones ; you are always in earnest ; c'est tres bien for some things, but as to religion what can we know about it ? It is all in the vague ; and if we talk about it from now to eternity, we can be none the wiser. For my part I look upon it thus : We move in a circle, and when we have got round it we begin again. There is nothing new, no progress, no goal, events repeat themselves, and we must do as well as we can.' * But,' I would say to him, ' Even supposing this to be true of the material world as a system, what does GENEEAL INDIFFERENCE TO RELIGION. 21 that signify ? The important question for you is what is your part in it as an individual ? for instance, is there not a future state as a fact ? Of what nature will it be, and what effect will our life now have upon our life then, according to what revelation teaches us, and which is all open before you ? ' ' Ah ! par exemple, that is hard to say ; but suppose there is one, what then ? ' * Why, if there is one, you are acting most foolishly to make no enquiries about it. If, in an affair of this life, I were to act as foolishly, you would most certainly condemn me to the mad-house.' ( AhI mon bon ami, there you are again, always au sei^ieux. No ! rely on it, we live in a circle,' &c., &c. ; and so on with his miserable patched up theory, out of which it was as impossible to extract him as to pat a snail out of its shell. In the great body of French Romanists of the middle and upper classes religion seems a mere name, useful and necessary, perhaps, as a name, to signify and ticket a party or a subject, but less interesting than a dried specimen in a museum, or any other strange relic of past ages. As a theory or debateable ground to sharpen wit upon, in a harmless way, as of old knights tilted with blunted spears, it may amuse or at least be tolerated ; but it is absurd, not to say ill-bred and detestable, to discuss it with so much heat and earnest- ness. For, after all, say they, what can men knovj about the future ? Look how the matter stands. One upholds this theory, another that ; one burns his brother in all Christian love and charity forsooth ! another, like a fool, submits to be burned sooner than bend to authorities better informed than himself. How un- worthy all this of sensible practical men. 'Bah! revenons a nos moutons.' 22 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. And what is there so difficult to deal with as this spirit of light sceptical indifference ? It is related that when the Jesuits first went to China they were delighted with the new phase of mind which they found there. The Chinese doctors disputed and discussed, easily and fluently, in good humour and with all courtesy. The good fathers wrote home in ecstasies that the people were polished and civil, and that the work was sure to prosper. But they were, for once, mistaken. After weeks of talk they found no advance beyond courtesy and civility, and at length discovered that the Chinese were supremely indifferent on the subject as a practical one, and therefore had toyed and sported so pleasantly with it. No ! give me anything rather than polite indifference. With a stout, courageous, cut-and-thrust opponent you have always a chance, for the same spirit which makes him fight well will make him yield nobly ; with the man who runs away you have also a chance, for he may be a being of impulse, and may take a sudden turn and run into your arms ; even with your scientific, logical, dried-up disputant, you are not without hope that, screwed up in a syllogism, he may surrender at discretion ; but with the man who good-humouredly and smilingly dallies and skips about the subject, making a hit here and receiving one gaily there, until at last he looks at his watch and says, with a bow, that it is time to say adieu, hope is banished. I often think, when reflecting on the present religious aspect of Britanny, of the vision of the dry bones. There they lay in that drear valley, whitening the earth for many a ghastly league, and there they would have remained for ages, cold and lifeless, dull to the gaze and deadening to the heart of the beholder. But (rod's spirit breathed upon them, and in a moment the scene GOOD HOPE IN THE FUTURE. 23 was changed ! Bone joined to bone, sinew clung to sinew, blanched and eyeless sculls grew suddenly instinct with life, the body so long dissevered sprang up again warm and united, and, instead of an inanimate mass, appeared a mighty living army. And so it will be here. At present, humanly speaking, all has been dead; ap- parently * the first dark day of nothingness ' has arrived, and hope has fled away ; but, as the blackest hours of the night are those which most nearly precede the coming day, so even at this moment may the Spirit be preparing for His divine mission, and ere long the descending air may rustle among the trees, the pre- cursor of a mental resurrection as wonderful and un- locked for as that viewed in the prophet's vision. Let us then hope always hope ever. 24 CHAPTER II. 'BULLETIN EVANGFLIQUE' M. LE FOURDREY TROUBLE -WITH PHEFET SUPPRESSION OF 'BULLETIN' EXTREME INTOLERANCE SOCIETY FOR GENERAL INTERESTS OF PROTESTANTISM IN BRITANNY ITS PROGRESS AND WORKING. IN f Britanny and the Bible,' p. 88, 1 allude to the establishment of ' The Society for the General Interests of Protestantism in Lower Britanny.' In connection with that Society a religious periodical was started, called Le Bulletin Evangelique, for Britanny. The chief editor was the Rev. M. Le Fourdrey, the Pro- testant pastor of Brest, and certain other ministers and Protestant friends contributed articles from time to time. But M. Le Fourdrey was the life and soul of the publication. And let me here express my sense of the debt which the English friends of the Protestant cause in Britanny owe to him, on this and other accounts. Without his help the Bulletin could not have been car- ried on, and therefore he steadily gave his attention to the work, and devoted to it time which he snatched from other and manifold occupations. And the duties of an editor of a periodical are always irksome enough, but in Britanny are doubly so. Articles written in English must be translated into French, or if written in French by Englishmen, errors must be corrected, and the whole carefully looked over, lest aught should be contained hurtful to French feelings, or strange to French modes of thought. Then an eye must always LE BULLETIN EVAN OBLIQUE AND M. LE FOURDRET. 25 be kept open as to the legality of this or that, and the law of the press well conned over and kept in mind ; the authorities must be corresponded with ; subscribers' letters replied to ; correspondents stirred up ; in fact, there are a host of minor and mechanical difficulties, all annoying to a man every moment of whose time is employed, but which M. Le Fourdrey met with an un- varying steadiness, good temper, and tact, which de- serves our warmest thanks. Let us not forget, too, the liberal-minded and most efficient support which he ever gave to English missionary ministers a support which, had it been given grudgingly and sparingly, would have prevented much of their present usefulness, and whose coming into the country might have caused, very naturally, in the mind of a man constituted other- wise than M. Le Fourdrey, feelings of jealousy and dislike. But his nature excluded such sentiments, and warmly holding out the right hand of fellowship to them, he kept it constantly extended; and I have no hesitation in saying, that his aid most materially as- sisted in establishing them, and also in increasing their present means of doing good. Should M. Le Fourdrey ever visit England, I trust that these facts will be re- membered with practical gratitude, and that his name will be a ready passport wherever he may present himself.* To return to the Bulletin. It was established after much cogitation, and finally launched by the Society above named. We might have imagined that, situated * Since the above was written M. Le Foul-drey's death has taken place, an immense loss to the cause in Britanny. He is succeeded by M. Chabal. an excellent man, and who also superintends the Bulletin, as chief editor, at Brest. M. Le Fourdrey leaves behind him a widow and a daughter (Madame Caradec) to lament his loss. 26 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. as Brest is, at the very extremity of France, the slight glimmering of light which this little star might give would pass unnoticed by the Argus eyes of the autho- rities. We might have thought that, speaking ab- stractedly, there was nothing unreasonable, nothing- objectionable, in the fact that the Protestants of Bri- tanny should wish to have a periodical of their own, which should express their own sentiments and views, seeing that the Eomanists of the country enjoyed that privilege to its full extent. In a country professing equal care of all religions, there seemed nothing a priori extraordinary, that as one was allowed to speak, another should cease being silent, and should speak also. But Protestants must not reason, at least they must prune their logic before coming to France.' Season, it would seem, is not immutable ; it is one thing here and another there ; and in all these foregone conjectures and assumptions, we should have been committing the common error of * reckoning without the host.' The first number was printed, and, according to law, two copies were sent by the printer to the Sous-Prefet of Brest, for his approbation. It is probable that a small bomb-shell would have caused less confusion than did these little rolls of paper. ' These Protestants, then, have the audacity to print their Bulletin here in Finistere' (aptly called the world's end) ; qual infamia I qual picardia! as Borrow would have said; * but we will see.' Thereupon immediate movement to the Prefet, report on report followed, however, by a shot in the shape of a prefectorial decree thus laconically couched : ' In virtue of the discretionary powers entrusted to me, I forbid the publication of the journal of which a copy has been submitted to me.' BULLETIN E>ANGELIQUE AND PE^FET'S OPPOSITION. 27 The Prefet was wise in his generation : ' act first, reason afterwards ; ' the thing is to stop the Bulletin. ' Leave me alone to justify my acts in due time.' There- fore he gave no reasons ; and in sooth, the thing would have been difficult, for we are bold to say that sucking doves might have produced the articles in the number impounded, so mild and harmless was their tenor. The law on the press having made the Prefet the supreme judge without appeal in all such matters, the editors of the Bulletin were forced to stand by, and thus see their firstborn die before their eyes by a violent death. Not, however, without complaint ; and for the honour of England, and as a proof that Englishmen are not called ' grumblers ' for nothing, I am bound to award the palm to my countrymen on this occasion for having out- growled even themselves. Great was their indignation, ex- pressed and understood ; and had some one on the moment proposed an instant sack of the prefectorial bureau, I believe it would have been carried with acclamation. Soon afterwards appeared the new law for regulating the public press, and it gave hope for the Bulletin. By a certain clause in it, it is provided that the Prefet's power shall only apply to journals treating of politics, or matters of social economy. This was probably as a concession to Eoman Catholic publications, but in open- ing the door for them the Bulletin, being small, slipped out also ; hastily, however, and in fear of leaving its tail in the door joint. The editors, therefore, took heart of grace, and de- cided to publish again and run all chances, and, in case of being once more stopped by the Prefet, to try the question before the courts, as to whether, being a reli- gious journal, he had any power in the matter. No. I., therefore, appeared without asking for the sanction of 28 LOWER BRITANNT AND THE BIBLE. the Prefet, the editor contenting himself with merety notifying the fact of its publication, and No. II. soon followed. All articles or allusions of a political character were carefully pruned out by the editor, so as to fit it to the standard ; and indeed it seemed quite a pattern number. But he saw not as saw the Prefet. With an instinc- tive sagacity which in general belongs only to the lower animals, the latter at once detected what had escaped the innocence of M. Le Fourdrey. The plague spot was evident ; let me fumigate the subject, and present it to my readers. Behold the atrocity ! It is an extract from the English journal, the Record, and runs as follows : ( On the first Sunday in February last, five persons abjured the errors of Komanism, in the Free Church of the Canongate, in Edinburgh.' Nothing very extraordinary here you will say ; nothing infectious or dangerous ; or, at least, if any are alarmed by it, as nervousness sometimes produces disorder, let them shut their eyes, or take a tonic imme- diately. But what says the Prefet and his council. ' What insolence! these Protestants, with their little flimsy journal, to come under our very beards, and talk of the " errors " of Komanism ! This is too bad ; we must stop it sur le champ, or no one can say what will fol- low ; ' and accordingly the editor received the following * avertissement from authority : ' * Sir, The Sous-Prefet of Brest has sent me two * copies of the Bulletin Evangelique published by you. ' I read in this work, page 22 : " The first Monday in 4 February five persons abjured the errors of Catholicism ' in the Free Church of the Canongate in Edinburgh." In * giving you an acknowledgement of the declaration made LE BULLETIN RECEIVES WARNING. 29 ' by you of the foundation of your paper, I only con- ' formed to the law, which did not allow me to prevent * its publication. But the law gives me the right to stop * the publication, if it becomes an instrument of trouble, * and I shall use this right if you give me occasion. The ' article which I have above cited shows a tendency on * your part to attack a religion which is in an immense 4 majority in this country, and is of a nature to cause a * controversy which I judge dangerous. I give you ' notice, Sir, that if you do not absolutely abstain from 1 all allusions of this kind, I shall not hesitate to apply * to you the power with which I am armed. *I am, &c., 'KiCHARD, Prefet of Finistere.' And this is a country in which equal religious rights are granted by the constitution to all ! Monsieur le Prefet, then, is clearly infringing the constitution, or else the constitution is waste paper. But, perhaps, in so polished a nation, it is forbidden to apply epithets in controversy ; and justice, who delights in holding the scales evenly, will not allow a license to Protestants which she forbids to Catholics when speaking of Protestants. A good rule this, though somewhat over-refined : and how is it carried out ? Simply by allowing Catholics to expend the vocabulary of abuse upon Protestants, without a remark being made upon them. I will not swell out this book by hashing up what I have said in * Britanny and the Bible,' pp. 35, 37, 42, et seq., but will merely say that if I am told that the expressions and epithets of ' robber, thief, liar, perjured, bigamist, libertine, fornicator, drunkard,' &c., do not exceed the limits of polite argument, the information is new to me ; and that such expressions, with all their variations, are applied by Romanist controversialists 30 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. towards Protestants I have now the books in my hands to prove, and again refer to my former work. And this scandalous abuse is suffered to circulate in public schools, and is patronised by priests, and dis- tributed among 'the faithful'- to enlighten their minds, without observation or check ; while the word ' error, ' applied in a Protestant journal, and merely copied from another, calls down all the terrors of the law upon 'the man who employs it. What prostitution of justice is this ! Better erase the word from the language than thus barefacedly misapply it. ( What word could be used more tender than " error ?" ' as Grirardin, the able editor of the Presse observed, in alluding to the circumstance. ' Unless we are to be denied altogether the practice and theory of discussion, we are at a loss to see how a better or less offensive word than " error " could be made use of.' But the truth is, Protestants must bear all as they can, and must thank their stars it is no worse. Heretics, on the soil of Catholic France, have no right to be recognised at all. M. Le Fourdrey replied to the Prefet in a worthy manner, defended the use of the word 'error,' and claimed the same liberty of discussion as was granted to the Eomanists ; in fact, wrote an admirable exposition of the whole subject, which could not be replied to. He had afterwards an interview with the Prefet, who com- plained heavily that his letter had been published in the Paris papers, and showed that general soreness, which confirmed what I heard from another quarter, that he had probably been well rated by the government for the 'blunder' he had committed a thing politically worse than a ' crime.' He had been so anxious to strike that he had struck in the wrong place, and injured his friends. Since then, the Bulletin has gone on steadily, and SOCIETY FOR GENERAL INTERESTS OF PROTESTANTISM. 31 without attack. Its present circulation is about 250, which, considering the small body of Protestants in Lower Britanny, is very satisfactory, and it certainly unites the friends of the cause, and interests them generally, and so does good. I receive it regularly every month for a subscription of 2s. 6d. a year, and any friends of Protestantism in Britanny may receive it equally on sending me their names and addresses, and a year's subscription. The Society for the General Interests of Protestantism also goes on well. Its committee hold quarterly meet- ings in different parts of the country, when information is given on all points connected with the cause, and to judge from the numerous audience, much interest is excited. At the last meeting, at Brest, which continued for three days, excellent sermons were preached by the different ministers present, and collections made after each sermon for the benefit of the Society ; and, as a proof of the continued feeling in favour of the work, we may add that the last collection, at which it might have been expected that the purses of those who attended were wearied, was the largest of the series. The Society has established an agent at Brest, under the superintend- ence and with the aid of the minister there, and by his agency it is hoped much good may be done. It has also relieved some cases of very pressing necessity among the Protestants, and supports and keeps alive the Bulletin. With larger funds it would do much more good, and it is hoped English friends will support it. Some have already done so, and by their aid, and that of others resident in the country, the Society may commence bravely the campaign for another year. Unlooked-for support has been given to it from many quarters, as 32 LOWER BRITANNY A3D THE BIBLE. gratifying as it was unexpected, showing that the want was a real one. To those who kindly responded to the appeal made by me in ' Britanny and the Bible,' I return my sin- cere thanks, and I can assure them that their money has been wisely expended ; and to those who have not yet contributed to it, I beg again to mention its claims, and to ask their aid. Any sums remitted to me, under cover to Messrs. Longman, for that purpose, will be gratefully received, and immediately handed over to the Society. The Society embraces all the Protestants in the country, except those who, from indifference to the cause, or narrow views of the unity which should exist among Christians, have stood aloof; and let us hope that the minds of the former may be warmed, and of the latter liberalised and enlarged, so as to concur with their brethren in such a good and practical object. 33 CHAPTER III. PROTESTANT PLACES OF WORSHIP IN BRITANNY QUIMPER AND MR. -WILLIAMS HIS CONTROVERSIES WITH ROMANISTS AND M. VTLLEMARQUE CHURCH OF ENGLAND AND HER DE- FECTS MORLATX, AND MR. JENKINS AND HIS WORK THERE BRETON NEW TESTAMENT TRANSLATED BY MR. JENKINS ITS SUCCESS NEW EDITION PREPARING HENNES AND M. VER- MEIL IMPORTANCE OF CHRISTIAN UNION IN ROMANIST COUN- TRIES SMALL IMPORTANCE OF DENOMINATIONAL DIFFERENCES. DURING the summer I had occasion to go into Lower Britanny, which comprises the Departments of Finistere, Morbihan, the Cotes du Nord, and lie et Vilaine, and travelled to Brest, by way of Quimper. Quimper is the chief town of Finistere, beautifully situated on a river, and with many attractions, as a place of residence for Englishmen. It is very delightful to meet with fellow labourers in a foreign land ! The heart warms, and the hand advances to grasp that of a countryman, especially when he is of a kind sympathetic with ourselves. My old friend Mr. Williams, the Protestant minister at Quimper, received me with all that warm kindness and hospitality which is part of his nature, and which at once goes to the heart and opens it. He gave me many interesting details as to the work now going on in the country, its difficulties and discouragements. And how great are those difficulties ? They who sit easily at home, dozing through life, sipping its pleasures, enjoying its comforts ; their worship unfettered, their liberties guaranteed ; without anxiety for the present or fear for the future, 34 LOWER BEITANNT AND THE BIBLE. how little can they conceive of the lives and hardships of others ! Mr. Williams, for instance, has been minister at Quimper for some twenty-five years, and has difficulties of all kinds to contend with --open opposition of the authorities covert stratagems of the priests the natural rudeness and ignorance of the people preju- dices against him as a stranger hatred of him as a Protestant the language (Breton) hard to be under- stood few zealous supporters, many lukewarm ones ; and all these real obstacles met by him with a hopeful- ness and zeal which it is wonderful is not more conta- gious than it seems to be. And he has no ample revenue to support him. His income is of the smallest, and yet he makes head against life and its burdens with cheerful- ness, and supports and brings up creditably his excellent wife and family. He is one of a sort rarely to be met with, and deserves every help which can be given to him. I was extremely pleased with the chapel at Quimper. It is a neat stone edifice, with minister's house at- tached, and has been built \vith a taste, good judge- ment, and economy, which do credit to its designers. There are two pretty painted windows, a gallery, an instrument to accompany the singers, and all that is needed in such an edifice. The ten commandments and the creed are on large tables, handsomely and legibly printed, so that you may read them from all parts of the chapel. The importance of this in a Roman Catholic country is great. As is well known, the Romanists leave out the second commandment forbidding image worship, aud make up the number of the ten commandments by dividing the tenth into two parts ; it is therefore very desirable to place the real text before them. IMPORTANCE OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS IN CHURCHES. 35 I myself know two Komanists, now converted to Protestantism, who date their conversion, i.e., the first step towards it, from seeing the ten commandments in a Protestant chapel. They were surprised at the novel terms in which the second commandment appeared, surprise caused increased attention, attention led to consideration and enquiry, and in the end they became Protestants. In England almost all places of worship are provided with the ten commandments, unless they are too poor to procure them. In France all should have them, and generally it is the case, but I have noticed other- wise, and all exceptions are to be much regretted ; and I cannot imagine that those English societies who have established chapels in France, would be satisfied if they learnt that their chapels were unprovided with legible impressions of the tables of the law. And yet it is in one of these chapels that I remarked the omission in question. There was a small printed form, placed where it was almost useless, but no tables legibly printed, so as to strike the eye of everyone who might enter. I have heard objections made to the tables on the ground, that men might be misled into supposing that the whole of religion was there contained ; but, besides other answers to this objection, it may be met by adding to the ten commandments the summary of the law given by our Saviour in the New Testament, and in the two series, taken together, all our duties may be said to be comprised. Where possible, it is very desirable to have the creed added also. This deprives Komanists of their grand objection as to the disunion of Protestants. The creed of the French Protestant Church is identical in words with our Apostles' creed in the English Church, 36 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. save that it substitutes ' Universal Church ' for 'Catholic Church ; ' that is, it uses the Latin instead of the Greek word, for each word expresses the same idea ; and, as in a Roman Catholic country, the latter word, ' Catholic,' would be likely to lead to error, it is judicious to use the word ' Universal ' instead. The Church and mission at Quimper is supported by the Calvinistic Methodists ; and it will be pleasing to that body to know that their efforts are producing good effects, and that their station at Quimper is so well con- ducted. As to great present fruits we must be content with little for the moment. The work of evangelisation is necessarily slow, but the harvest will arrive when we least expect it ; and it is certain that nothing will be reaped, unless the ground be previously sowed and tilled diligently. Mr. Williams has distinguished himself as a contro- versialist. He has published several little works, and recently * La Basse Bretagne et le Pays de Galles, Paris, Meyreuis, 1860, price two francs, which is very deserving of perusal. The Count de Villemarque in a work written by him, entitled * Contes Populaires des Anciens BreionsJ in speaking of Wales had said much of the way in which Protestantism had deteriorated that country. In particular vol. ii. p. 287, ' the Pro- testant sects which divide and depoetise this unhappy country have deprived these feasts (fairs and wakes) of all their religious character.' In another place he speaks of the ancient games of Wales being replaced by drinking bouts, and generally he alludes to Wales as a country which has been in every way lowered in the moral scale by the adoption of the reformed religion. Mr. Williams as a Welshman and a Breton missionary felt that these assertions required a reply, and he has MR. WILLIAMS AND M. DE VILLEMARQUE. 37 made one by the work above mentioned, and I think the Count has little reason to be satisfied with the result. Mr. Williams shows that Wales had an inde- pendent Church of its own, centuries before the visit of Augustine, and that it preserved its independence for many ages until finally overwhelmed by the power of Eome during the dark ages. When Augustine had his celebrated interview with the Welsh bishops at Bangor on the Dee, hoping to make them acknowledge the supremacy of Eome, the bishop who replied to him used these memorable words, * We will never admit the pretended rights of Koman ambition any more than those of Saxon tyranny ; we owe to the pope, it is true, the submission of brotJierly charity, the same as to all Christians ; but as to the submission of obedience, we owe it only to God, and after Him to our venerable head (suweillant) the Bishop of Caerleon on Uske.' * Mr. Williams then shows the happy results which the Protestant sects, of which M. Villemarque laments the existence, have produced in Wales. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, but for the existence of these same * sects,' Wales would have been little less than a heathen country. The Church of England, speaking generally, was then in a miserable state of Arianism and inactivity, chiefly concerned in politics or tithe taking, only feeling an interest in the flock at the time of the annual shearing, and being then very disagreeably active ; and the interior of Wales in particular the mountainous portion of it was left almost wholly to its own devices. The few bishops seem to have chiefly stayed at home in their cathedral towns, or else to have attended the House of Lords in * Histoire de la Conquete de FAngkterre par les Normands, voL i. pp. 94, 95. 38 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. London; and the poor clergy with their livings, or rather starvings, which (shame to say it) even now are in many cases under 501. a year, eked out their subsistence by such occupations as were most convenient to them, from farming to selling commodities of various kinds, and, as I have heard, down to shopkeeping, or lower still, keeping an inn ! This was the period when the parson was asked to dine in the servants' hall, and only drank and hunted with the squire occasionally as a great honour ; a period we loojc back on with horror and pain, but which it is well to look back upon now and then to draw therefrom its moral, and exhibit and test the practical and innate 'divinity' of the Church of England so loudly claimed by the High Church party in this day. I consider that religion owes a deep debt of gratitude to Dissent for having in some degree occupied these waste places, and there lighted and kept alive the lamp of Protestant and Christian truth; and I concern myself little whether the form of worship was in all or any points conformable with the rubric, or the doctrine preached according to the thirty-nine articles. I thank (rod that the light was kept burning at all, and am indifferent as to the chemical analysis of the oil that fed it ; enough for me that its light saved numbers from perishing eternally. The state of the Church of England is bad enough in Wales even in our own day, but it is not in the state it was. Yet its revenues are still wretchedly inadequate to its wants. Still there are numerous * starvings ' under 501. a year, requiring two to be joined together to make even a poor living ; the effect of which generally is, to have only one service on Sunday instead of two, and the consequence of all which is to have a much lower class of clergymen than is to be seen elsewhere. BAD DISTRIBUTION OF CHURCH REVENUES. 39 Doubtless there are great difficulties in the way of re- forming this state of things, and the tithes being chiefly in the hands of laymen is one great difficulty, and the question of patronage, or proper nomination to livings, is another ; but I never yet knew anything about which there was no difficulty. What is sorely wanted in both England and Wales, is a better distribution of the revenues of the Church. I should like to see them more equally distributed ; the hills reduced in height and the valleys raised. I would not reduce all to a dead level of uniformity, but I should like to see such reductions made, and such useless places abolished, as would enable every working incumbent to have enough to live respectably upon (say 2001. a year at least), and it is a shame and a scandal that such is not the case. Our feelings would then no longer be outraged by seeing advertisements ask- ing for cast-off clothes, ' not too much worn,' for ' poor pious clergymen ' and their families ; advertisements the reading of which is likely, one would think, to cause an unpleasant feeling of fulness in the head to plethoric and philanthropic pluralists, and which ful- ness one would not regret, if it eased itself by emptying their pockets. As to the Church Commission * for the relief of spi- ritual destitution in populous places,' with its outlays on bishops' extra coachhouses and stables, and bishops' flower-gardens, and restorations of cathedrals, and re- building canons' houses, and so forth ; and its expenses of management, amounting to 20 per cent, on the gross revenue of 160,000. a year, it is nothing less than a system of high-actioned clerical jobbery, which should be at once abolished, and something better substituted in its place. 40 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. When I think of these and many similar abuses, and the many useless portions of the outward framework of the Church of England, I think that it is not ' Church Defence Associations ' which are wanted, so much as ' Church Reform Associations,' -and I am surprised that the lower clergy do not turn their attention to the sub- ject, and agitate it actively. Well acquainted as they are with the practical defects of the system under which they live, and in many cases almost starve, and asso- ciated by common ties of origin with the middle classes of society, the laity in general would, I believe, look with sympathy and confidence upon a plan of reform emanating from them, the working-bees in the hive, and would be well disposed to support it with their influence. As to any effectual reform in the general distribution of Church revenues coming from Church Lords (so miscalled) who want great revenues to sup- port their state, and from dignitaries in high places, it is, I fear, vain to expect it, nor would it be worth much, probably, if it did come. But to return to Mr. Williams' book. He there shows the religious activity of these ' unhappy sects ' of which M. Villemarque deplores the existence, how they have covered the country with 2,370 places of worship, how the idea of the Bible Society, that most noble effort of active Christianity in modern times, was first con- ceived and put into practice by a Welshman, Mr. Charles of Bala, and that, since then, more than a hundred thou- sand Bibles and New Testaments have been printed in Welsh for circulation in the country. Mr. Williams also shows that the idea of translating the New Testament into Breton was also due to a Welshman, the Kev. David Jones, who was sent into Britanny to enquire on the subject, and who employed Legonidec to do it TRANSLATION OF OLD TESTAMENT INTO BRETON. 41 at the expense of the English Bible Society. And very curiously, at the time this was done, in 1827, so cold was the reception given to it in Britanny by the priests and people, that almost the whole edition was finally sold in Wales, which, by the way, is a strong proof of the close connection subsisting between the language, &c. of the two countries. I may add here, that the MS. of the Old Testament, translated into Breton by Legonidec, has also been for a long time in the hands of the Bible Society in Lon- don, and will perhaps be published ere long for dis- tribution in Britanny. I hope that it may be well received there, better than was the New Testament by a cure in the diocese of Quimper, mentioned by Mr. Williams, who, on the colporteur offering him one, immediately bought up all he had and burned them. Let us also hope that the translation will not be altered by Breton priests, as was done by the priest of Vannes, in his work, The Life of Christ,' quoted by Mr. Wil- liams (page 62), who for the words in the 33rd verse of the 10th chapter of St. Mark, * And shall deliver Him to the Gentiles? substituted And shall deliver* Him to the Huguenots,' or Protestants ! But I refer my readers to Mr. Williams' book, which can be procured through any London bookseller, and I think they will agree with me, that it contains much valuable information in a very lively and agreeable style. The latter portion is composed of a contro- versial dialogue between Mr. Williams and a priest, in which the tu quoque argument is used with such a quiet irony, and keen appreciation of the subject, as is but seldom met with ; and though, in this case, the sup- posed priest is but a man of straw, I am well assured, from an intimate acquaintance with Mr. Williams, that 42 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. he would deal in an equally trenchant way with one who was a living specimen, and clothed in 'buckram' or bombazine. At Morlaix, some forty-five miles from Quimper, there is much activity also, and many signs of religious pro- Mr. Jenkins, who has ministered there for nearly thirty years, has rendered great services to the good cause. He is a Baptist missionary, sent to the Bretons by the Baptist Missionary Society, and has a chapel in Morlaix, where there are services in Breton and also in French. But it is more especially to the adjacent country that his labours are directed, and there he is carrying on a very important work. He celebrates re- ligious worship here and there, as may be required, superintends certain movements of an educational kind in various localities, and directs matters generally with great zeal, prudence, and good judgement. He is fully acquainted with all the circumstances of the country, from his long residence in it ; and, from being an excel- lent French and Breton scholar, is well fitted for the work he carries on. He it was who revised Legonidec's translation of the New Testament into Breton for the Bible Society, of which 8,000 copies have been dis- tributed, and a new edition is now preparing, and soon to be issued, of 6,000 copies more. And can all these copies of Grod's word remain void ? Impossible. It may be interesting to observe that Eicou, the well- known Breton poet, who died a Protestant, gave some assistance to Mr. Jenkins in this work. It is also worthy of remark, that the two most remarkable Breton poets and writers of our own age, Souvestre and Eicou, became converts to Protestantism, and died in that com- munion. Souvestre was buried (at his own particular MORLAIX AND MR. JENKINS. . 43 request) by Mr. Jenkins, with whom he had long been intimate. These are distinguished fruits of the Bible in Britanny, which should not be forgotten. Mr. Jenkins also has colporteurs at work, and in 1861 he distributed by their means not less than 700 copies of the Breton New Testament. This is the greatest quantity that has ever yet been distributed in a single year, and it represents a vast amount of labour on the part of Mr. Jenkins and his cooperators. Morlaix is a thriving town of some 15,000 inhabitants, situate on a tidal river, about eight or nine miles from the sea, the sail from which is one of the most beautiful things of the sort I have ever seen. The railway from Paris to Brest passes through it, and it has considerable commerce. Small ships ascend the river and discharge their cargoes on the quays, and give the place a lively bustling appearance. Steamboats run between Havre and Morlaix, and between Morlaix and Bordeaux, at short intervals. I often have wondered that English- men do not go there in greater numbers, for, as it is, the English population is limited to some half-a-dozen families ; and I cordially recommend it to anyone seek- ing an economical and agreeable place of abode in Britanny. I know that I shall always regard it with affection. I lived near to it for some years, during which I co- operated cordially with Mr. Jenkins, Mr. Williams, and others, now alas ! no more, in various Protestant works which were then going forward ; and I look back upon those years as amongst the happiest ones of my life in many respects. The country around Morlaix is extremely picturesque, and offers many points of interest to the painter, the geologist, and the antiquarian. There has been a very 44 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. notable advance there in all things since I last wrote upon it. A lover of antiquities would, perhaps, sigh over the destruction of many of the beautiful old, half-timbered houses, with quaint devices adorning the corbels, with stories projecting one above another like the stern of a three-decker, which formerty abounded in its streets, and of which some few specimens still remain ; but in the place of the narrow streets, almost deprived of light by the upper stories of the houses nearly touching each other, there are now broad and airy ones, and people gain in health and comfort what they lose in other ways. There are also many other signs of progress. An agricultural society is established at Morlaix, of which the good effects are visible in the improved state of agriculture, and the improved breeds of useful animals. Annual meetings are held, and prizes given for best oxen, cows, pigs, fowls, corn, butter, cultivation, &c. Draining, too, is coming into more general use. When it was first introduced, some twelve years back, what difficulties it had to encounter ! The draining-pipe was regarded as the new road to ruin. There was a great deal of irrigation practised in the neighbourhood, and, like everything else, it was on the most primitive plan, i.e., the water was brought on to the meadow, or pro- bably brought itself there, and was left to itself to get off as it best could. Now, I believe, it is a principle of irrigation, as of commerce, that the circulation to be profitable must be rapid, and that water should be quick on and quick off, so continually bringing and leaving behind it its fertilising qualities. But this was too quick for Britanny, so farmers shook their heads by the score, and said it was ruining the meadows to under-drain them, that they would all dry up and become baked like MORLAIX. AGRICULTURE, ETC. DRAINING. 45 brick-fields, and that nothing should induce them to try it At that period I was a member of the Morlaix Agri- cultural Society, and one of a committee appointed on the subject of draining, and therefore I had various opportunities of ascertaining the almost impossibility of getting a new idea into the head of an t entete Breton;' and life being, unfortunately, of very limited duration, we should not have made much progress before the end of all things, had we rested on argument alone. So an enterprising member of the society undertook to drain a marsh of his own, which had been an excellent place for snipe ; and he executed his work on the best principles, and in an admirable manner, and there it was to be seen of all * oculis subjectafidelibus.' Then the thing began to take it is useless arguing with a fact and draining slowly commenced. A tile-making machine was obtained from the Government, which liberally encourages such improvements, and there is now a considerable move- ment in that direction. But what retards agricultural improvements is the excessive subdivision of property, and consequent want of capital. What can be done in this way in a country where I have seen an acre of land subdivided into forty distinct properties, and one of these might possibly give birth to half a dozen subdivisions more. The law of primogeniture is by no means wholly good, but its opposite is as bad. The golden mean must lie some- where between them, one would imagine. So in other directions also, is improvement to be seen. We do not now see so many of the long-legged scarecrows which mock you with the name of pig, with heads like greyhounds, and, for that matter, almost as fleet, and ears like those of young elephants. I shall not forget 46 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. what happened to me, a- propos of those long ears. I was objecting to the large ears of an animal I was looking at. But said the owner, 'Why object to large ears. They are excellent things, and I always look out for them ? Is there a better dish than pigs' ears ? ' Je vous demande un pen? So pigs were kept for the ears. A couple of hundred-weight of flesh sacrificed for the sake of one dainty dish ! It seems epicurism can exist in a high degree where civilisation is low, and this almost equals the famous peacocks' tongue pie of Heliogabalus. It reminded me of the way of getting roast pig in China. A sow and her interesting progeny were unhappily des- troyed by a fire, which burnt down their dwelling place. The poor owner, lamenting, walks round the ruins, and is inconsolable, when suddenly he smells a most savoury smell. He follows his nose, and at length stands like a well-trained pointer opposite the cause of the scent ; his mouth waters ; and his fingers naturally move towards it, and he touches it 'tis hot as fire, and the burnt finger naturally seeks the mouth to soothe its pain but ah! what pleasure does the palate receive; 't is like the creation of a new sense ! With a long- drawn respiration, the process is renewed, and repeated till appetite is satisfied, and the Chinese no longer regretted his piglings. Thenceforth, as the historian says, pigsties were blazing in all directions, until some one, wiser than the others, found out the more economical culinary process of preparing f roast pig ' at the home fire. I doubt not but that pigs of an improved English breed would now be as eagerly sought as they were formerly contemptuously rejected. The same is the case with oxen and cows. The Breton cow has of late been introduced into England, and is a IMPROVEMENTS AT MORLAIX, ETC. 47 beautiful and very productive animal, remarkably small, but giving, for her size and keep, a large quantity of excellent and very rich buttery milk. They are, how- ever, more suited to a wild and rocky than a fertile country, as they jump about like sheep, pick the sweet grass from between the gorze bushes, aad feed where others would starve, and that seems to me their great excellence. Importers must make a pretty handsome profit on them, I should fancy, selling them at from 151. to 20/. each, and not giving more than from 51. to 81. for them in Britanny. Indeed, I have bought them for much less than 5L, and the freight, I believe, is only about 11. a-piece. In fowls, too, there is a great improvement For- merly they were almost as small as Bantams, from con- tinually crossing and breeding in and in; but this is now altered for the better. When first a direct commerce between Morlaix and England was opened, in 1851, by a steamboat, called the ' Grand Turk,' from Southampton, lots of eggs were sent over from Britanny for sale. It seems that, to pre- vent loss of time, egg-merchants have rings of different sizes to measure eggs with, and they pay according to size ; but these little Breton eggs were smaller than the ringmaker had ever thought possible, for they all went easily through the smallest ring, and, of course, fetched only the very smallest price. Since then, fowl-shows have been commenced and prizes given for good breeds, and there has been quite a 'furore' among amateurs. I knew one Breton gentleman who gave 125 francs for a couple of Brahma fowls, and 100 francs for Crevecceurs. The latter is a most excellent French breed, of the same good qualities as our Dorking, but, I think, in many points superior to them, especially in the size of their eggs, 48 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. which are extremely large, averaging nearly three ounces, which anyone can ascertain to be large by weighing an ordinary egg. So that now, I dare say, Morlaix eggs will be found worthy of the largest ring, and Morlaix fowls be sought for by English gastronomes. All these are signs of progress in the good town of Morlaix and its environs, and it is well deserving of no- tice to anyone seeking a residence abroad. It is not everywhere you can meet with a Protestant place of worship attended by an English minister like Mr. Jen- kins. As to his being a Baptist, he never obtrudes his opinions where they are not sought for. I for one thought little about it, and regarded him only as a good Pro- testant Christian, whose ministrations in a foreign land I was most happy to enjoy; and where I find those points, I find what I am well content with. When we find these signs of material progress we may hope that religious progress is going on also. Hitherto the priests and fanatics have had the country almost all to themselves ; but I trust this is coming to an end. There can be no doubt but that, when all the progress is summed up, the country is far behind every other part of France ; yet to hear priests and certain of the religious dilettanti speak of it, you would think it was the very pearl and essence of the nation; so much devotion to throne and altar such obedience to Mother Church and her servants or, as I should say, masters. that all France were the same, they say, and then we should have a glorious time of it ! They say nothing of the drunkenness which exists there to such a dreadful extent as I have seen nowhere else ; of the violence which pre- vails, as is shown by the calendar of crime ; of the gross ignorance of the people, as is shown by the statistics of RENNES AND M. VERMEIL. 49 education in France, and in which Britanny, and Finis- tere especially, figure at the bottom of the list. They ignore all these patent facts, and foolishly hold up Bri- tanny as a model of the effects of the Eomish sj^stem. Priests in general do not reason, and do not allow others to reason ; and of course reasoning has no proper place in an infallible despotic church, and therefore is very consistently shut up in prison or turned out of doors. But I should have thought they would not have been so foolish as to hold up poor Britanny for a model. In mentioning the attractions of Morlaix as a place of residence, I must not pass over the shooting and fishing in the neighbourhood, which are generally recommen- dations to an Englishman, as healthy and agreeable amusements. I enjoyed both one and the other for many years. Of game, there are partridges, hares, wood- cocks and snipe, rabbits, quails, and wild-fowl, in fail- quantity, to the good sportsman who will work for his game ; for it is not a country for the battue. A chance wolf and wild boar is to be found, too, here and there. There are a few salmon rivers, and plenty of trout in the smaller streams and mountain lakes ; indeed, in one of the latter I enjoyed the best trout-fishing I ever had in my life, or I believe ever shall have. But for all this I must refer my readers to ' The Chase in Britanny,' written by me, and published by Messrs. Longman and Co. At Rennes, a Protestant minister, Mr. Vermeil, has arrived within the last four years, and is attentively listened to by a large congregation, and has a pretty little chapel. That is a great step in advance. Every fresh Protestant chapel opened in Britanny is as a fresh beacon holding aloft the light of truth, and warning unwary travellers of the rocks and sandbanks of 50 LOWER BRITANNT AND THE BIBLE. Home. It constitutes a fresh centre, round which new forces accumulate against the common enemy; and, pro- vided that it is founded on the doctrines of Protestant Christianity, it is, in my opinion, of minor importance to what denomination it belongs. The mere denominational divisions of Protestant Christians are of little comparative consequence, so long as they agree in the essential body of Christian truth. The outward form or shape imposed on that body I regard as the mere clothing ; and I should as soon think of quarrelling with a friend about the cut of his coat, as I should of separating myself from a brother Christian on account of his form of worship differing from my own, much as I may and do prefer it. In England we are great formalists in many things, and in religious worship among others. I respect and reverence the Church of England, of which I am a sin- cere member. She has in many ways supported and advanced the cause of Christian truth, and especially by keeping up a good standard of doctrine, and by great recent missionary zeal and efforts. As ' a congregation of faithful men,' she has had, and will yet have, a pro- minent part in the history of the Church of Christ, but there are also other, and I trust many other, ' congre- gations of faithful men,' who are not unworthy of being her associates in the great work; and I look forward to the time when the union of all such will become more complete, and when each will give to the other, in this world, the right hand of Christian fellowship, and all will dwell together in unity. But meanwhile the Church of England has much to do in the way of amending herself, and in casting away the many weights and hindrances which impair her activity and mar her usefulness, in order that she may CHURCH OF ENGLAND CAPABLE OF IMPROVEMENT. 51 be ready, and not behind in the race ; and she has not lived through so many ages without contracting some of the rust of age, and some of the corruptions of past times still cast a shadow over her ; and I deem those to be her best friends who seek to clear away the one, and endeavour to remove her from the influence of the other. Let her not, therefore, be exclusive in her claims or arrogant in her pretensions, for the house in which she dwells is but of man's building ; and the tendency of the age is against all exclusive establishments, whether civil or religious, which cannot justify themselves by their public utility, and by their fitness for the place they fill. E2 CHAPTER IV. COTE DTJ NOBD GUTNGAMP LEMONS A DOMICILE EDUCA- TION AND ITS DIFFICULTIES IN BEITANNT WILDNESS OF COUNTRY WOLVES DISTRIBUTION OF SCRIPTURES IN BRI- TANNT; HOW IT WORKS FETE OF IMMACULATE CONCEPTION INFALLIBILITY OF ROMISH CHURCH WILL BE ITS RUIN. rthe department of the C6te du Nord there are also signs of life among the Bretons, and enough may be seen to show that the word of God, which has been distributed there by various agencies, especially that of Mr. Jenkins, has not been unproductive. Indeed, how could it ever be so ? (rod's word never returns void, but does its work ; and I believe fully that the ground there has been prepared in a manner which will one day show itself in a very rapid germination of the seed, and an abundant crop. There is a district there with which I am well ac- quainted, not far from Gruingamp. Perhaps there is, or rather was, not a portion of earth's surface more in- tensely Eomanist than was the part of the country in question, and, as the natural consequence, it was in- tensely ignorant. The people are as completely under the priestly yoke as were the Spaniards in the time of Philip II., and obey them as implicitly as if their di- rections were revelations from heaven. It was there that the attempt to murder Mr. Jenkins took place which I have narrated in * Britanny and the Bible,' p. 60 an attempt which, but for active aid, would apparently have succeeded: and the people are noted for their savage LEgONS A DOMICILE. 53 manners and ferocity stabbing, for instance, with the knife, a practice not usual in Britanny. Well, even in that very district has God's word found its way, and with great success. Mr. Jenkins, aided by some good men and women, who, having arrived at a knowledge of the truth themselves, have been naturally desirous to extend it to others, has established a system of teaching there, and the New Testaments he and others have distributed are already leavening the previously inert mass. Under the law as to education in France, no one can open a school without the license of the Academic Council in each department; and this Council being generally composed of say four Eomanists, including the Bishop, and one Protestant, and voting by a majority, the chance of a license being granted to a Protestant is infinitesimally small. But it was thought that you might go round and give lessons here and there to a few children without being considered to ' hold a school,' and so a trusty agent went about from one place to another, teaching half a dozen children here and half a dozen there to read ; the lesson-book being the New Testament. The authorities, however, who always awake speedily when called upon by the priests, soon began to look sharp, and a system of espionage was organised, under which, one fine morning, as the mistress was giving her lessons to some few children, the door opened, and in walked the Maire, in his tricoloured scarf, followed by the inevitable gendarmes, as if there was a riot to be quelled. The effect was magical on the scholars, who bolted in an instant, and gave themselves a holiday, and a proces verbal, or formal account, was there and then drawn up, 54 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. signed, verified, and transmitted to head-quarters, the effect of which was that the poor woman was in due time tried and fined 400 francs, and threatened with worse if she did it again. But as there are other ways of getting into a house than at the door, wits were again set to work, and it was arranged that, instead of the scholars coming to her, she should go to them, by which she would do the work safely, though not so quickly, as before. And so began the lemons a domicile, which have ever since been carried on, and by which she and others enter twice as many houses as they did before, and teach twice as many children ; and up to this time this has been the happy result of the interference of the authorities. We may well say that the word of Grod will not be bound. Compress it here, it extends itself there ; banish it from one place, it takes strong root in another. Borrow was imprisoned for preaching and selling Bibles in the streets of Madrid, and, lo ! he preaches and sells immediately in the prison, so that the priests exclaimed that ' this was worse than ever,' as the thieves were such a numerous and active class, and always held together. The neighbourhood I have just spoken of had origin- ally been one vast forest, full of Druidical remains, and there were still large woods in it, where the wolf and the wild boar inhabit. In fact, the wood at the back of my house was called ' Wolves' Wood,' and the fol- lowing curious thing happened there during my resi- dence: A countrywoman was going to town to buy something with which to fill an empty bag she carried with her, when, in passing through this wood, she heard a squealing snarling sound. She followed the sound up to its source, which proved to be a wolf's earth or bed, and in it lay, nice and warm, but in a very quarrelsome ANECDOTE ABOUT WOLVES. 55 mood, seven young wolf-cubs. Now the worthy dame knew that each cub was worth five francs to her, as the authorities give that sum for every wolf-cub, and, being a true Breton, and regarding five francs as something to run a risk for, she at once threw down her bag, and, catching one little Master or Miss Loup after another by the scruff of the neck, pitched it into the bag ; and having finally bagged them all and tied up the sack's mouth, threw the lively burden over her shoulder and went on her way rejoicing, and with all kind of musical honours, no doubt. It was a happy thing for the brave dame that old Mrs. Wolf had had to make a wide circuit that morning to get a dainty bit for the family breakfast, or perhaps had wasted time in a gossip with an old friend about the lamentable scarcity of mutton and beef; for had she found out in time the way her house had been ravished in her absence, she would as surely have scented the robber out and break- fasted on human flesh that day, as. luckily for the good dame, she happened not to do it. But the bold house- wife was meanwhile at the town gate only three miles off, and there she went direct to an English furrier who I knew very well, and turned out her seven little wolfies * all alive oh ! ' on his floor, snarling, biting, struggling, and fighting, to his great surprise, as may be imagined. They were about as large as kittens of six weeks old, and with skins like moles. She got the reward all right, and well deserved it, and I ultimately got three of the skins, with which I covered my game-bag, the little tails hanging down before and looking very picturesque. I have just met with a proof of the silent but effec- tual working of the distribution of the Scriptures in Britanny, which may serve to console those who think 56 LOWER BKITANNY AND THE BIBLE. that it is getting on slowly. I had been shooting woodcocks in a very wild part of the country. The woodcock is a connoisseur in scenery, and always chooses his abode in the most secluded spots where hill and dale meet, and give him the flowing streams and marshy ground he delights in. The day grew more and more unfavourable, till at last the rain poured down and forced me to think of shelter, and, instead of a good furze bush, I was most happy to see at a little distance a mill, to which I betook myself as quickly as I could. The Breton mills are primitive-looking affairs, like most other things in Britanny generally small one-storied cottages, with the wheel at one end and the dwelling at the other, and grinding just enough corn to supply the wants of the immediate neighbourhood. The miller gave me a friendly welcome, and I soon got into the chimney corner with my dogs, and began to talk with him. He had seen military service, like so many of his countrymen, and had many strange stories to tell. He told me, too, how glad he was that wolves were less numerous than they had been ; * for,' said he, ' I have had them as thick as bees about the mill, and have not liked to go out ; and, besides, it kept away my cus- tomers. Often in winter I used to see them by threes and fours together on the top of the hill there, peering down upon me and the mill with a nasty hungry look, which was not at all pleasant ; and nom d'un chien I it would never do for an old soldier to be killed and eaten by wolves. I, however, used to catch one every now and then in a trap I made, and got twenty-five francs for his skin ; though when he got in he used to make such a din that he brought all his comrades round him, and I never dared to go to him and settle him until chance brought a neighbour this way, and then we went DISTRIBUTION OF SCBIPTURES, WORKS. 57 together.' At last he said to me, ' Ara't you a Pro- testant ? ' I replied I was. ' Wait a bit, then, and I'll show you something which will please you.' So he went up into some dark corner and returned with a dirty worn-out Breton New Testament, and said, * There, autrou (or sir), is the best book I ever read in my life.' I was surprised and pleased, as may be imagined ; and this was the history of the matter. The poor man had long, it seems, disliked Roman- ism ; he had had real yearnings after a better system, and had complied reluctantly with the various forms imposed by the priests. He had heard of New Testa- ments being sold and colported here and there, and had at length procured one and read it carefully, and, as he said, prayerfully. He soon found that he had got what he wanted. 'Then,' said he, 'I began to think of making it known to my friends and neigh- bours.' So he spoke of it first to one and then to another, and they came from time to time to the mill, and he read it to them ; and they all talked and thought about it. At length periodical meetings were arranged, and once a week some few came regularly to him, and they all enjoyed the reading of God's word in their own simple way. And thus a little congregation of faithful men grew up in that remote valley, all drawing water for themselves from the pure spring of the Gospel. They needed no learned commentators to obscure by laborious criticism what was before clear, and no priests to interpret authoritatively that Word which was given freely to all; each man got what satisfied his own mind, and cleared up the doubts and mists which had previously hung round him. Hap- pily, the essential truths of religion are few and simple, and easily learnt by one who seeks them in earnest ; for, 5R LOWER BRITANNT AND THE BIBLE. were it not so, what would become of the ignorant and simple-minded ? When the rain cleared away I parted from the miller with regret, and have never heard of him more. This little incident will show how the distribution of the Scriptures is silently working. There is no parade, no loud announcement of converts. The Temple is rising in silence, and as if without hands being em- ployed in the building; but its foundations are sure, *and there will be one day a glorious superstructure. This miller did not call himself a Protestant, but he was one in reality. He had long since ceased confession, and went rarely to mass, but in process of time, and as his own feelings would dictate, he would cease it also, and become openly a Protester against the errors of Eome. And, doubtless, there are thousands of such cases in Britanny ; and therefore I say, let no one be faint-hearted, but let all wait and hope. We have just had at Gruingamp the fete of the Immaculate Conception, expressing the joy of the Komish Church at that dogma being henceforth incorporated in the creed of that Church as an essential truth. The fete was celebrated with the usual pomp and pageantry. Ten or twelve bishops attended and a whole army of priests, and a grand mass was celebrated in the open air, at which an ugly old image of the Virgin, looking like a block of charred wood, but dressed gaily and quite a la mode, was the ' cynosure of neighbouring eyes.' The poor ignorant people regarded the miser- able image with avidity, knelt to it with fervour, and prayed to it with all the earnestness they could give.* * A very good account of the religious fete days of Britanny, is given by a little book, entitled Recollections of Britanny in Prose and Verse, published by James Blackwood, London, price 2s. 6d. ROMISH BREACH OF SECOND COMMANDMENT. 59 And yet this is not image-worship ! it is offensive to ' ears polite ' even to name the word but what else is it ? And how can it be otherwise than a breach of the second commandment, which expressly forbids anyone to * bow down ' to any graven image. This applies to the act of bowing down, without reference to anything else, and the people and the priests do 'bow down.' Where is the loophole of escape here for a plain man ? For instance, I had a niche I wanted to fill up in my house staircase, arid I put into it an old wooden figure I had found in my cellar, and my servants said it was St. Barbe or St. Anne, and * bowed down ' to it every time they passed it. Here was the act as a sign of adoration. Was this no breach of the second commandment? But, in fact, Romanists admit the fact, and get over it, by omitting that portion of the second commandment in their decalogue, and making up the ' tale ' by cutting the tenth into two parts. It may seem strange, but in some sort I rejoiced to witness this incorporation into the infallible creed of Eome of this new doctrine. Even the strong camel is at last overweighted by a straw, and falls; and as I earnestly desire the fall of the Romish system, I look upon all addition to its burdens with satisfaction. And this is, in truth, a very notable addition ! It is indeed something to witness, in this nineteenth cen- tury since the age of the great founder of our faith, who laid the bases of essential truth once for all, the addi- tion of a brand new essential doctrine. True that the Council of Trent and other councils had been so con- siderate as to give dates to many essential truths, and so enable us to celebrate their birthdays, and have proof of their human origin ; but time effaces memory so fast, that the dates were beginning to be lost in the 60 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. haze of the past, and the doctrines to have a respectable antiquity about them at any rate there was haze enough to puzzle those whose sight was weak, and to enable bold seers to speculate on what they said they could see. But here we have no ground for mistake or doubt ; and infallible Home in this our own time, and despite objections from her own adherents, decrees the addition to the already long list of essential truths, of this one of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary a mere figment of human invention, unsupported by a single line or word of Scripture. And yet this is a so- called infallible Church ! has never erred, although it never did this great act before; and never can err, although it now for the first time establishes this truth as essential, without bringing forward a single word of Scripture in its support ! It is to rest upon Eome's de- cree the Pope's ipse dixit. Let us thank heaven that the Pope's ipse dixit is worth so little. Ours is an age of fact and proof, and not of ipse dixit. I have often thought how striking a proof there is of the way in which Grod works out his own purposes by means of the weakness or pride of man, in the decree of the Council of Trent estabb'shing the infallibility of the Eomish Church. The Eeformation was then acquiring great proportions in Germany and elsewhere, men's minds were everywhere working, the mass was heaving uneasily, and no one seemed to be able to say what would be the end. Eome trembled to her very foun- dations, and doubtless numerous were the secret councils and conclaves, and profound the cogitations of learned and subtle doctors, on the best means of arresting the movement. At last a means is found, and all hail it with delight : it is the impregnable cuirass which shall INFALLIBILITY A DRAG ON ROMISH CHURCH. 61 for ever guard the sacred bosom of the Church from these heavy blows. And so with great pomp the Romish Church is decreed infallible, and many accept the defence and dismiss fear from their minds; and this heavy armour, forged and welded by mere frail human- ity, is put on, and is to defy every weapon for all future time. But the breast-plate has proved so unwieldy as fatally to encumber the wearer, and it will inevitably weigh him down to earth and stifle him. It reminds us of the heavy armour of the mediaeval knights, which has passed away, being found useless against the improved weapons of modern warfare ; and so, in like manner, this cumbrous doctrine of infallibility is useless against the march of modern civilisation and enlightenment. Men's minds revolt from the idea of infallibility in any institution of human origin like this one dating from Trent in 1560; and they will revolt more and more ; and the Romish Church, shut up in its iron case, can but shake its head angrily and look on in impotence; and so the shield forged to paralyse the attacks of Luther will only serve to drag Rome down to CHAPTER V. PRIESTLY POWER IN BBITANNY JESUITS LORIENT AND M. PLANT A PROPOSED NEW CHAPEL THERE NANTES AND M. VAtTRIGAUD FRENCH PROTESTANTS AND THEIR EFFORTS THE POOR IN BRITANNY AND THELB SUFFERINGS NO POOR- LAW IN FRANCE. I HAVE recently had the subject of priestly power in Britanny brought home to me in a very palpable and disagreeable way. I had taken the chateau I lived in by the year, at the rent of 300 francs, or 12, a sum sounding small in English ears, but which, ac- cording to the value of things in Britanny, was a full rent indeed, probably rather more than would have been paid by any real native, for Bretons love the chink of English money so much as to get out of us all they possibly can; and as they have an innate talent for bargaining, Englishmen generally leave a good deal of their loose money behind them in passing through Britanny. As I am disposed to make the best of any place I may live in, I had made many small embellish- ments here and there, so much so as to receive various visits from my neighbours in order to see my improve- ments. My landlady also indulged in sundry compli- ments on the subject, a 'man adresse, as they say, and all went on very smoothly and pleasantly until the end of the year approached. I then thought it well, as a matter of form, to express my intention of remaining another year, and the landlady said she would gladly allow it. INTERMEDDLING OF PRIESTS. 63 A short time after, however, she called on me and said, with a good deal of embarrassment, that she had reflected on the subject, and should have no objection to my remaining, as she had already intimated, but that I must pay double rent, or 600 francs. I was astonished at this, as was natural, and tried in vain to show her the unfairness of her conduct ; but it is ill arguing with a Breton who has made up his or her mind. 600 francs was the figure, neither more nor less, and I must pay it or pack up. I felt I was ill-used, and there- fore, as soon as I could, I did pack up and depart, and Madame never ceased expressing her regret at losing so good a tenant, although all the while it was her act which made her lose me. I felt there was something I ctfuld not make out; but one day her brother let the cat out of the bag, and explained the matter very simply. As thus : Madame was a devote, and, of course, had a father-confessor, the priest of the parish, who was as many Breton priests are fanatic and violent. He had, it seems, paid my wife and myself the compliment of preaching against us, and had stated that it was a shame to see Huguenots in the parish, but a profanation to have them installed in the chateau which had been inhabited by so many gene- rations of good Catholics. He warned servants not to live with us, and threatened them with non-absolution if they did advised his flock to have no dealings with us in fact, drew round us a very tight cordon sanitaire, the effect of which would have been, but for the Breton awn sacra fames which almost balances his fear of the priesthood, to starve us out of the country. As it was, however, with ready money and high prices we managed to get on. But his grand coup was in reserve. Finding his 64 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. previous manoeuvres fail, he called one day on our proprietor, and rated her soundly for the evil act she was permitting, put in play all his resources, natural and supernatural, and, in fact, brought her to the point of agreeing to do something. -But then came in Plutus and his attractions, for she, too, loved money like all her race, and so, probably, did the priest. Suppose, suggested Plutus, that, instead of sending your tenant away, you first try to make a little more money out of him a happy thought ! and so she agreed to double my rent, and I have little doubt she and the priest di- vided the money between them. He was a thrifty man was that priest, and looked well after his * rights.' I remember, one day about Easter, meeting him in the fields, dressed in his best, and followed by two men with sacks half filled. He was collecting his * Easter dues ' in kind, and had a motley collection of them. I heard of his going into a cottage hard by, and where a poor woman had nought but a hen, and this he had the coolness to ask for. But it was almost the poor woman's living, and she fought hard with his reverence for the 'pauvre poule? and finally saved her, on condition, however, of giving up all her eggs ! Eather close shaving of the flock this ! I had a very ludicrous meeting with him on another day, on the high road. He was riding and I walking, and as he approached me I noticed his pony zig- zagging across the road in a strange style, making regular tacks, as if beating up against the wind. The priest, good man, did not spare the stick, but nothing could keep the animal's head straight, and every now and then he made a dead stop ; and in this guise we approached each other. I could not help laughing, and I dare say he would think that the pony would not JESUITS IN BRITANNY. 65 pass a heretic, being, as he doubtless was, a good Koman Catholic beast. There are a good many Jesuits in Britanny, and they are, as usual, much disliked by the * regular ' priests. In fact, France was never so full of Jesuits as at the pre- sent moment, and yet, strange to say, by law they have no right to be in France at all, as I believe that the law expelling them has never been repealed. I fear that the Grallican party in the French Roman Catholic Church, I mean that party which upholds the right of the French Church against the encroachments of the Romish Church, is almost destroyed. Certain it is that Jesuits, the very heart and essence of the Ultramontane party, abound everywhere. There are lay members, or of the ' robe courte? as it is called, and I have known some. One, in particular, I was in some sort intimate with. He was a very clever man, with a wonderful memoiy and power of speech ; and his close and accurate acquaintance with the state of the English Church, not only in England but in our colonies, was most surprising. It so happens that I am nearly connected with one of our colonies, New Zealand, and therefore I was able to ' check ' his con- versation upon that head by my own knowledge, and yet I found that he was at least as well, if not better, up than myself in all which related to Church matters there. The movements of the High Church party in England were subjects of especial interest to him, as might naturally be expected, and he said he looked forward to more and more conversions, or, as I should call them, ' perversions,' until England returned again to the bosom of Rome. I always told him not to delude himself, and mistake the isolated acts of a few individuals, whose temperament was unsuited to F 66 LOWEK BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. the free air of Protestantism, for the tendencies of a people. When I see water flowing up hill, I shall begin to see a chance of any other impossibility happening ; till then I shall feel tranquil. Englishmen have not read history and the Bible for nothing. It is well for Eng- land's future that she was Eomanist in times past, and she is not a dog to ' return to her vomit.' At Lorient there is decided movement and activity in religious matters. Mr. Planta, a Swiss minister, supported by the same society which supports Mr. Williams, is labouring there with great zeal and activity, and is effecting a notable work, for he is a devoted and able man. The authorities, too, at Lorient are liberal and tolerant, and have shown a favorable spirit towards Mr. Planta. For instance, they have allowed him to celebrate weekly worship in one of the halls of the mairie ; a very great act of condesension on their part, and due in some degree, I doubt not, to their opinion of Mr. Planta himself. They have also allowed the society * des interets generaux ' of Protestantism to hold an occasional meeting in the same salle, and on one occasion upwards of 300 persons attended one of the meetings. There is a large floating population of Pro- testants at Lorient, composed of sailors and workmen in the dockyards, so that Mr. Planta has a large congregation. He has also held public discussions with Eomish priests and others, and sustained his part with much ability ; and is altogether a very valuable man. He is now engaged in getting the means of building a Pro- testant chapel at Lorient, to which end he is applying to well-disposed people to help him with donations ; and from my knowledge of the circumstances I can say that LORIENT AND M. PLANTA, NANTES AND M. VAURIGARD. 6? any such donations for that purpose would be well bestowed. They might be sent either to the Eev. Mr. Planta, Ministre Protestant, Lorient, or to Messrs. Longman, under cover to myself, and I will undertake to forward them to their destination. At Nantes, as well, are many signs of life, and vigor- ous life too. The name of Nantes recalls many things to the mind, especially the massacres there in 1793, and the revocation of the Edict issued from there, and which revocation was apparently the death-blow of French Pro- testantism. Nantes is the chief town of the department of the Loire Inferieure, and a place of importance. There used to be a Protestant church in a very bad quarter of the town, and altogether unworthy of the congrega- tion, but in 1855 a new and handsome building was opened, which is by far the largest and most sightly of any of the Protestant churches in Britanny. Mr. Vaurigard was then and is now the minister, and is a man of high quality in every way. He is President du Consistoire of the district, or diocese of Nantes. In all cases of emergency he has been ready to fight in the van, and has done very much to uphold the good cause in Britanny. From all this it will be seen that the Bible, in spite of all the opposition of the government and the priests, is not without many witnesses in Britanny. Let all who are interested in the work pray that Grod's special blessing may be poured out upon the workers there, and let every human help at the same time be given to them that can be given, for they well deserve it. I fear that some of the sentiments I expressed in ' Britanny and the Bible,' as to the apathy of French Protestants, have been misconstrued, and have given pain to many good men to whom they were not intended F 2 68 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. to apply. It is in truth difficult for an Englishman to look on the subject with French eyes, and to speak the truth without giving offence. We in free England, unfettered by an overbearing government, with all our political and religious rights 'guaranteed to us and in full exercise, able to conceive thoughts and express or act upon them as seems to us good, can form only an inadequate idea of the state of things in France, which is so totally the opposite of this. French liberty is so hedged in and watched, so ' cabined, cribbed, and con- fined," that none but spirits of a high and ardent nature venture to assert themselves ; and the average mass of men, even good men, who compose the multitude, are unable to cope with the difficulties; and more or less reluctantly succumb to them. Some have tried to act and have been defeated, some are fearful of trying, though glad to see others do it, and so in effect a very different state of mind in face of difficulties prevails to that which an Englishman is accustomed to. It is hard to accuse them of apathy, when it is rather the dead- ening effect of the system they live under ; and we should pity and not blame them. Yet we must speak what we consider the truth if we speak at all. The same ' amende honorable ' I should also wish to make as to my remarks on French Christian liberality, which I know hurt the feelings of many excellent and liberal Frenchmen, and of course to all such they do not apply. But I do insist that there is no comparison between the real liberality towards religious objects of the two nations ; and I do not think I overstate the matter if I say that one third of the amount raised by voluntary effort for the support of Protestant religious objects in France comes from English pockets, either in England or in France. I know well that in any THE PEN IN BRITANNY. 69 project for building new churches, &c., one of the first steps taken is to organize a deputation to pro- ceed to England to collect money ; and I believe such efforts always succeed, and I trust always will ; though it is only fair to let the fact be stated and admitted. And what church or chapel in England was ever built by such means ? i.e., by money collected in France, even in infinitesimal sums ? I am sorry to have hurt the feelings of anyone among the many excellent men I have known in France, but I cannot consent to place French liberality in such matters on the same level with English ; and yet I am much dis- posed to think that the average amount of savings annually realised by individuals is greater in France, with respect to incomes of equal amount, than in Eng- land. If this be so, then the amount contributed to religious objects might be greater than it is. Kiches are not so much positive as comparative, i.e., it is the proportion of expenses to revenue which makes a man rich, and I decidedly think that Englishmen generally are less economical than Frenchmen, and do not cal- culate * ways and means ' so well. It is a very common subject of remark by a French- man, that England neglects her duties towards the poor ; and yet how unfounded is the remark ! But, unfounded or not, it is an idea which will never be eradicated from the French mind. Because our public papers, which publish all things, occasionally publish one of those appalling cases of starvation which from time to time occur in London or elsewhere, they jump to the con- clusion that our poor are horribly neglected. But what are the facts ? why, that England, with half the amount of poor which France has, pays, I believe, twice the amount towards their support which France does, so 70 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. making four times as great a provision for each poor individual. If France had newspapers like we have if every small town had its public eye and ear and mouthpiece, as we have in England, under the influence of which if almost a sparrow falls it is duly noted down the cases of death from starvation in France would be counted by scores. I feel no doubt whatever of the fact, judging from what I have seen in Britanny. In England, come what may, the law gives the poor man a, right to relief, independently of all private charity; and I say that the English system of Poor Laws, faulty as it is in various points of administration and detail, is still a noble national act of charity, to which no other nation on earth can offer a parallel ; for what other state or nation can show an annual sum of 8,000,000/. a year given by law to the poor ? And as to public charities of all kinds almshouses, hospitals, asylums, refuges, reformatories, dispensaries, coal-clubs, soup-kitchens, clothing-clubs, lying-in charities, Dorcas meetings, and other similar societies of every alphabetical initial letter, and of as many or more sorts than the mind can conceive to say nothing of the million acts of private benevo- lence I feel confident that in these we outdo France, or any other nation, in the proportion of two to one. And yet the poor exist, and even die in our streets ! And the poor always will exist and be with us, and now and then men will die in the streets through exceptional circumstances ; but whenever such cases do occur, they are held up to public notice, and the blame is brought home to the parties deserving of it. It is not that the poor are neglected, but that we live as it were under a micro- scope, which detects the slightest flaw and exposes it. I was in Britanny during the winter of 1853-4, which was extremely severe. The ordinary sources of labour HARD WINTER OF 1853-4. 71 were soon exhausted, and the roads were thronged with haggard, hollow-eyed, scarce-living skeletons, whom it wrung the heart to look at. It was impossible to pre- vent begging in troops, for a third of the population were beggars and meanwhile, let us remember, no Poor Law, as in England. Soon some died. The authorities then exerted them- selves in every way ; but there being no legal means of obtaining money i.e. no poor-rate, they could not do much. In the parish or commune in which I lived, a public meeting was held, and the poor were apportioned among those who were willing to support them. But all were not willing. We had three given to us, whom we supported during the winter as well as we could. I knew one generous family, of the old noblesse, who took in thirty, and had them all at rack and manger. But many stood aloof and took none. That was indeed a fearful winter. I remember seeing the tracks about turnip-fields, made by the poor starving creatures who went to and fro and fed themselves with the raw turnips ; and it was dreadful to meet at every turn poor famishing scarecrows, whose looks told all their sad story. Now in England this never could have happened thanks to our Poor Law. It is, therefore, most unfair to charge England with neglect upon this head, as compared with France. The poor showed great fortitude during this hard winter, but, of course, small crimes were abundant, for nature returns to her normal state when misery passes certain limits. The stealing of wood, among other things, was universal. One morning I was walking in my shrubbery, when I heard an unusual noise, and looking about I espied a man seated high up in a oak- tree, deliberately sawing off a large bough. I shouted 72 LOWEK BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. to him, and as the best means of alarming him which presented itself to my mind, I put my walking-stick to my shoulder as a gun, levelled it at him, and called out that I should shoot him if he did not come down. And he certainly did come down by the run, for almost in a second, and before I could get to the tree, he was at the bottom and off. As our wood had been regularly plundered in this way, I wanted to make an example of one of the plunderers, so I started after him. After a short chase, in which the man did wonders consider- ing that he wore sabots, or wooden shoes, I caught him, but I could not hold him, and he started again, and I also. . Then he lost a shoe, and I caught him again, but he being stronger than I was, he got loose again, and I should never have ran into him at all but that he missed his footing* and fell headlong into a heap of briars, out of which he could not get. I then had him ; but as we were each of us pumped out, we could do nothing at first. When he got his wind, and free from the briars, he came out, and I collared him and said I would have him put in prison for what he had been doing; but he begged so hard, and promised so well, that I at length let him off, on condition that he would promise never to come to the wood again, which he did, with many asseverations a la mode cle Bretagne. So he went off with a torrent of thanks, but soon turning round, he said, 'Monsieur, n'a pas un vieux pantalon a donner ? ' ( f Monsieur hasn't got an old pair of trousers to give away, has he?') I couldn't help laugh- ing heartily at his coolness. We had been in regular conflict, and hard at it, glaring mutually like two wild animals, now up and now down, as might be. I had let him off very easily as I thought, and, after all, to ask me for an old pair of trousers ! 'Twas French to the backbone. 73 CHAPTER VI. BKKST AND M. CHABAL SIB ANTHONY PERRIER PROPOSED ' NEW CHAPEL AT BREST DOCKYARDS FRENCH NAVAL AFFAIRS NAVAL SCHOOL NAVAL HOSPITAL THE BAGNE OR PRISON JESUIT MIRACLE THERE THE PROTESTANT PRISONER. THE greatest number of Protestants in Finistere are to be found at Brest. Some are French, others have been attracted there from other countries by. busi- ness, and the rest by the agremens it offers as a place of residence. In truth there are few towns which present such claims as Brest. In itself the town is exceedingly clean and well built, and with one of the finest promenades in the world. Taken in connection with the splendid bay, which is unrivalled in Europe, I know nothing equal to the Cours d'Aj.ot, and I have heard those who have tra- velled more widely than I have done confirm this opinion. The promenade is of considerable length, and runs alongside of the bay, and while it constantly offers a most charming view to the lounger, he is shel- tered from the sun by the noble trees which line it, and is refreshed by the cool sea-breezes. The adjacent country is undulated, and very picturesque and rich, and the people have a high character for hospitality ; a character which, from experience, I can pronounce to be well merited, as I have nowhere in Britanny found such cordiality as there. Hospitality is well classed among the Christian virtues, and doubtless affinity of religion is a strong motive power to its exercise, but 74 LOWEK BKITANNT AND THE BIBLE. whether owing to this, or to the air or the soil, there seems some special virtue of this kind at Brest. There is also much to interest anyone who takes an interest in the distribution of the Scriptures, and the spread of religious knowledge. The large floating population, as we may call it, consisting of regiments in garrison and ships in port these, combined with the criminals in the bagne, or prison, present a vast mass of material which continually comes and goes, and, counting by opportunity, gives a larger population in ten years than most towns in France. The Eev. M. Chabal is the Protestant minister there, and has a well attended chapel. M. Le Fourdrey, late the excellent pastor there, was the first Protestant minister in Finis- terre who was recognised and paid by the State. He ministered at Brest for upwards of twenty years, and during that time laboured hard to enlighten the people, and with success. He was a Frenchman, but spoke English fluently, and was much respected by all, autho- rities included, and may be considered the chief restorer of Protestantism in Finistere. In addition to this, England is most happy in her consul at Brest, for Sir Anthony Perrier is all that could be wished to represent our national interests. He, and his family also, give a helping hand to every religious and philanthropic work, and assist power- fully in cementing and increasing the Protestant body in those parts. For example is better than precept, and when we see a man discharging every public and private duty in an admirable manner, we not only respect and love him, but are insensibly drawn towards the principles he professes, and disposed to respect and perhaps to adopt them. At one period the authorities at Brest were exceed- BREST, NEW CHAPEL THERE. 75 ingly well disposed towards a full religious toleration, but that was in the reign of Louis Philippe, and things have changed for the worse since that period, though they are now improving again. On one occasion (I think the anniversary of some important event in Louis- Philippe's life), M. Le Fourdrey was greatly surprised, but much pleased, by the presence in his little chapel of ail the great authorities of the town * en grand tenue ;' and individual men in power also occasionally attended the service. I fear that religious conviction had not much to do with all this, which probably was just the mechanical motion of the flower which follows the sun, and Louis Philippe was liberal in such matters ; and now, times being changed, and Eomanism very rampant until lately, I fancy the authorities would be almost as likely to enter a lazaretto. M. Chabal, the successor of M. Le Fourdrey, has been enabled to see the happy issue of the project for building a new chapel at Erest, which M. Le F. con- ceived, and there is every probability that it will soon be commenced. The Government have recently granted 25,000fr. towards this purpose, and the municipality have granted 20,000fr. also ; liberal aid has also been given by the Protestants of the locality and friends elsewhere, but more money is still wanted, and any sums for the furthering of this excellent object would be received with thanks by the Eev. M. Chabal, Brest, Finistere. The dockyard at Brest is extremely interesting and worthy of inspection, but it is difficult to be admitted there ; in fact, strictly speaking, admission was impos- sible, unless by special order of the Minister of the Marine at Paris; Of late, however, it has been difficult, not to say impossible, even with a special order, and, 76 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. some time ago, even the Duke of Rutland, who was then at Brest, was refused permission to enter. This jealousy is very absurd and needless. Any in- formation really wanted can always be obtained, despite of bolts and bars ; and as to piracy of improvements, &c., there is little of that sort to take away which would benefit Englishmen. We have probably all which is to be found at Brest at our own Portsmouth and Ply- mouth, and more', why, therefore, make a fuss about nothing. But this feeling seems generally prevalent. I mean the feeling that while we are going ahead rapidly, other nations are standing still ; whereas, in this time of rapid intercommunication, no new invention long remains the exclusive property of any one people which has a real aptitude for it. The Americans possess this notion so strongly, as to look down upon other countries as almost out of sight ; the French, and doubtless our- selves, are not without it. For myself, I have visited the Brest dockyard frequently without any permission, as a supposed Frenchman and in company with French- men, and I have also seen our English dockyards, and while I allow Brest to be well worth visiting I should say that we have nothing to fear on that subject. At Portsmouth, I believe, is to be found all which exists at Brest, plus the biscuit-works and the block-works, though, on the first coup cfceil, Brest dockyard is supe- rior, owing to the whole being together, for, being in the form of an amphitheatre, it is visible at one view. Everything at Brest is certainly well kept and in good order. I have often visited the works where they finish or repair steam engines for, in fact, none have been actually made there, as the government prefers to employ private enterprise and there I saw the giant slave which we prize so much in England in full BREST DOCKYARD AND ARSENAL. 77 activity; for, as with us, steam did everything. Drilling, planing, sawing, boring, lifting, moving about, ham- mering, everywhere was the modern Briarseus in full life. In one place you saw a plate of iron half an inch thick cut through like a board of dough at a pastry- cook's, in another the boring machine passed easily and smoothly through some apparently soft material but which turned out to be iron also ; here a gigantic hammer split a bulkhead or cracked a nut with equal facility, and there a great plane worked out slices and shavings of the same metal thinner and more delicate than were ever cut at Vauxhall. On the one side was nature with her mineral treasures rich and valuable but obdurate and hard to win, on the other was art brought to perfection wooing and successfully vanquishing all opposition, and producing so to say impossible results. . Whatever may have been the inferiority of the French in the application and management of steam, it is certain that their inferiority is gradually disappearing. In this as in other things study and use will do much, for between nations of equal intelligence there cannot be any natural inaptitude for a given pursuit, and France has for many years encouraged every attempt of her own people to cultivate a further acquaintance with the steam engine. For some time the French govern- ment have employed none but Frenchmen on board their steam navy, with very rare exceptions, although at first the engineers were generally English ; and nowhere are Englishmen to be now found save on steam vessels of commerce. There is great activity in the dockyards, many vessels refitting, and others on the stocks; and the place re- sounds with the hum and noise of labour. The port is very convenient and has vast natural advantages. It is 78 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. in fact a deep creek, which runs up into the country for say a league, and has throughout sufficient depth of water to float a ship of the largest size. As it flows into the bay it is of course impossible to get to it by water save by entering the bay and passing all the forts, though on the land side it is much more accessible. On the sides of this creek the rock has been worked away nearly to a level, so as to form a large space on which, and on the sides of which, stand the workshops, ma- gazines, slips, and all else pertaining to the navy. The two sides of the creek are now connected by a noble bridge. Brest is the only port of France which has preserved its virginity, having never fallen into the hands of any foreign power, or ever been visited by a sudden coup de main. In the life of Lord Exmouth it is stated, however, that he (then Sir E. Pellew ) had an intention to make an attempt with his frigate squadron, not with the view of a sustained attack but rather as a sailor's dash to do much mischief in a short time and destroy the prestige of the place ; but our cautious Board of preventive service at the Admiralty would not allow him. This was a pity, as he was not a man to under- take what he could not probably accomplish ; but it is not the only brilliant exploit which the ' old ladies in London,' as Jack used to call them, have nipped in the bud. Depend on it that something of a striking kind will be wanted in the next war, whenever it may come, to reduce the confidence of the French navy. Nor is it to be wondered at. They see themselves in possession of a splendid fleet, and have few opportunities of seeing and inspecting British ships, and few sailors of the present day have been actually opposed to us in fight. Then FRENCH ESTIMATE OF NAVAL BATTLES. 79 they do not consider that they have been so often beaten as we think accounts differ, and each side be- lieves his own story. Indeed, in the opinion of many Frenchmen we had the worst of it during the last war, at any rate as to our merchant marine; and this is probable, as we had ten merchant ships for every one of theirs, and had therefore more to lose. That their privateers were numerous and profitable is certain, as many of the opulent families in the coast towns of Britanny made their present fortunes by privateering, and probably their children would like to try it again. Only last week I had a striking instance of the different light in which a naval battle can be viewed on opposite sides of the Channel. What Englishman does not know well and his heart still burn at the remembrance of * the glorious first of June,' when Lord Howe broke the line of the French fleet and captured six line-of-battle ships, and all this with an inferior force, and certain members of that force not doing their duty. Well ! glorious as the victory was to us, there are Frenchmen, and those naval officers, who claim it as equally glorious to them. I happened to mention Ushant, or Ouessant as it is called in France, and my friend, a lieutenant in the French navy, said, 4 Ah ! the English were well brushed there.' Well brushed,' I replied ; ' then it was themselves that did it.' * But,' said he, * you do not mean to say that you gained the battle ? ' * Yes ! I do, most decidedly ; and the proof of it is that at the end of it six of your line- of-battle ships remained in our hands, and none of ours were captured by you.' This he could not believe, and appealed to another French gentleman on the subject, who said he did not know the exact particulars. And thus it is with a large proportion of what we 80 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. count as victories such as the actions of Sir R. Calder and Sir R. Strahan, and many others. But it was too bad to claim * the glorious first of June,' so often sung, toasted, and poetised. Of course there is no doubt, (no room for it) as to Trafalgar and the Nile, but then they attribute them only to Nelson's great talents, and say that such a man only comes once in a century, and that next time it will be their turn to have a Nelson. These considerations may, perhaps, serve to show to Master John that it is possible he may place himself at too high a valuation. I was much pleased with the naval school at Brest. It is held in an old three-decker, moored in the bay, and is an institution for supplying the navy with officers. Young men are sent to it as to a school, and the terms are 600 francs a year. For this sum they are taught all the branches of a complete naval education, as well as boarded, lodged, and clothed. There is also a yacht attached in which they make voyages, often long ones, to learn navigation and the handling of a ship under sail; and in this yacht they went up the Thames to Woolwich a short time since, and were highly pleased with what they saw there, though, owing to some misapprehension of the Govern- ment orders, it is said, they were not admitted to see the whole of the arsenal. There are from 80 to 100 youths at the school, including many of the high noblesse ; and, with similar institutions at Toulon and Cherbourg, we may imagine that France will soon have a well instructed and capable force of naval officers, who learn their duties afloat and not on a carpet. One thing amused me there, as illustrating the doc- trine of equality, which in many things has taken so firm a hold on the French people. Ever since the great REPUBLICAN FRANCE WON T FAG. 81 revolution it has prevailed largely, and despite the Empire and its tyranny, and the Bourbons and their feudality and pride, it has survived and still flourishes. In the naval school the cadets are of two classes of one and two years' standing and no contact or intercourse of any kind is allowed. Though confined within the same narrow wooden walls, they seldom see or speak to each other. One class has the larboard, and the other the starboard side of the maindeck, properly partitioned off by bulkheads, and when one class goes on deck to breathe the fresh air, the other remains below. The reason given me for this was that when the boys were together it was found that the elder ones domineered over the younger in other words, fagged them ; and this being contrary to all notions of equality, they were separated. I have no wish to defend the system of fagging when practised in the extreme, but I maintain that within limits it does good. If my Lord A or the Marquis of B has to run errands, prepare lunch, or bring out the tea and coffee for their 'tyrant,' who may be a lawyer's, a merchant's, or even a shopkeeper's son, the lordlings learn a useful lesson or two by the way, besides merely making coffee or arranging the table. They learn, or at least may learn, that, notwithstanding titles and privileges, they are but of the same flesh and blood as their neighbours, and that they must curb their pride and ill-tempers, a thing as necessary for high life as for low. A good thrashing from plebeian hands, or a smart punch on young nobility's head, may just come in time to check budding qualities which, once developed, would be incurable. It seems to me that permitting the practice is more republican and levelling than forbidding it, but it would appear that G 82 LOWER BRITANNT AND THE BIBLE. La Jeune France is too tender for such rough towel- ling, and therefore its vanity is left to sprout at will. There is in the Brest dockyard a mute but striking register of the political changes in France, which de- serves notice ; that is, the state-barge in which the head of the Government embarks when he arrives at Brest to visit the port, &c. This particular one was built for Napoleon the First when he was at Antwerp, and is a very splendid affair, magnificently fitted up, gilded, and painted, and when pulled rapidly through the water by the twenty-four oars for which it is intended, must flash before the eye as something regal. What changes has it not seen in forty to fifty years ! Napoleon I., consul and emperor Bourbon Napoleon again Bour- bon Ee volution Orleans Kevolution Eepublic Napoleon III. in all, ten a short average for sove- reign power regarded at the time as durable, not to say everlasting. Cheap is, or should be, royalty or headship in France four years' purchase and a few months that is all ! hardly worth the strife, one might say. As an officer told me, they have ceased altering the royal emblems of late, as not worth the expense ; and, there- fore, n'importe under what rule France lies, all is the same to the state-barge, which takes it easily, and holds to its premier amour. The regal crown still keeps its place at its head, as of yore, and in the cycle of changes will doubtless again find its lawful claimant. Indeed, the old barge preaches a good moral that changes in the Government do not greatly affect the condition of individuals. It reminds me of an old French story. When Louis XVI. was violently taken from his palace and placed in the Temple, and the day of insult and outrage drew to a close, a worthy citizen, a staunch royalist, who had been an unwilling witness of BREST NAVAL HOSPITAL. 83 all, retired sorrowfully to his bed, his heart broken and his spirit bowed down to the dust. The royal person profaned the palace destroyed and sacked the king in prison were too much ; the cup of divine forbear- ance must certainly overflow the world was evidently near its end. Musing painfully on this and kindred subjects, the good man fell asleep, and slumbered soundly until awoke in the morning by the cry of the baker with ' hot bread.' He sat up and rubbed his eyes. Was he alive, or were the events of yesterday a dream ? He was puzzled ; and yet still ' hot bread,' quite a cry of this lower world, rung in his ears. He grew more awake, rubbed his eyes less and his head more, and mused again : King in prison ! horrible ! ! dreadful ! ! ! But still * hot bread ! hot bread ! ' and his appetite arousing, and the baker's boy impatient ; and, therefore, after buying a roll and eating it, the citizen returned to bed again, with a new political idea in his head, namely, that kings were not necessary to his existence, and, thought he, that he was much less intimately connected with royalty than he was the evening before. There is an institution at Brest of which France may be justly proud, and that is the Naval Hospital. I have visited several institutions of this kind in England and elsewhere, but I never saw anyone at all equal with this. It is not that the size is so great though it can receive from 1,200 to 1,400 patients at once but all the ac- commodations and arrangements are so excellent. I believe it is generally admitted that the French hospitals are very admirable, and that England might copy from them with advantage. At Brest everything is not only in excellent working order, but is arranged with such good taste and effect, as to make objects often disgust- ing, or at least disagreeable, positively attractive and G 2 84 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. captivating. For instance : all the world knows the article called ' man's tufted nightcap,' a thing apparently in- vented to offend the ladies and sow variance 'twixt man and wife by its ugliness and the danger of reflecting that ugliness on all near to it. ' In Brest this monstrous article is so tastily arranged ' in stock ' as to change its character and appear like the last fashion from a Parisian modiste! Under the same magical wand a room full of invalids, suggesting disagreeable sights, bad smells, pain, close air, and ennui, becomes an elegant and airy saloon; tastily fitted up, draped with divers colours, and occupied by quiet interesting-looking individuals, who might be philosophising in bed f more Romanorum.' For the convalescents there are long and well-lighted galleries, perfectly ventilated, and looking down upon agreeable views, in which they can lounge, chat, and smoke ; and when appetite is returning and becoming clamourous, its demands are met by a kitchen as well appointed and served as that of a London clubhouse. Between every sick ward are gardens planted with shrubs and flowers, regaling the senses, and refreshing the mind thereby; and those who have for weeks been shut up and stewed in a close room, with no other landscape than four walls dotted with physic bottles, and enlivened by a monthly nurse and her mob cap in the foreground, will easily imagine how grateful these pleasant views must be, and how really conducive to recovery. Another arrangement also evinces the care which has been taken to comply not only with every want but with every wish in this noble institution. In Eoman Catholic countries, as is well known, prayers are offered up in a church for the souls of the departed, and a mass performed at which the relatives attend. In order, however, that this ceremony may be as private as THE BAGNE AT BREST. 85 possible, and out of respect for the feeling of the sur- vivors, the body is taken at Brest to a chamber fitted up as a chapel called * La MortuaireJ where the relatives may indulge their grief unseen by others than them- selves. Those who have mourned over a lost friend, and have been obliged to do so in a rude crowd, will best appreciate the feeling which has dictated this arrangement. Indeed, all is admirably managed ; and others may take a lesson on the subject from the Brest Naval Hospital. One of the surgeons told me that they always use chloroform in painful cases, and without fatal result as yet, and he much lauded it ; though admitting that great care was necessary in applying it. As to the Bagne or prison at Brest, it is less worthy of praise. The French, as it would seem, are strangely backward in the treatment of their criminals. De- prived of colonies to which to transport their convicts, we might have expected to have found a well con- ducted system of prison discipline. Where a nation cannot send away its convicts but is forced to keep them at home, the question of their reformation be- comes doubly important, in order to escape the neces- sity of again pouring out the plague upon society. It is not enough to seclude the criminal and to punish him, but the endeavour should be made to reform him, otherwise society in the long run gains little, perhaps indeed loses, by receiving back a man steeped in crime instead of one only accidentally vicious. In England, as is well known, the problem of the best mode at once to punish and amend has been long and anxiously debated, and many lost efforts have been made on the way to our present state. America has also studied the matter deeply, and spared neither trouble nor expense in the attempt at a solution, and 86 LOWER BRITANNT AND THE BIBLE. we may hope that the human limit of * the best pos- sible ' has been attained, or is in the way of being so. True, that the results are uncertain and chilling to the warmth of the philanthropist, for instance where we read reports of criminals returning again and again to the prison, but it must needs be so. The best system of prison discipline, of convict management, that was ever invented and adopted, what is it at last but a -mere human machine ?. and without the breath of the Divine Spirit to animate the whole, we must not expect life or motion, any more than from the steam engine without steam. At the same time, we know that God works by human means, and it is clearly our duty to use the best human means in our power, as we use the best agricultural means to raise a crop, leaving it to Him to give the increase. But at Brest there seems to be no system, and no object save the one of gain to the State from convict industry, the worst of all objects, inasmuch as it is a selfish one. The convicts live together, work together, and sleep together, and no effectual restraint is placed upon the principle of mutual contamination. Oh ! the hell upon earth of such a place the seething cauldron of vice and unknown crime which rages there ! What human force could resist its boiling fetid slime, or withdraw itself from its noxious vapours ? Like that lake * whose gloomy shore ' undecked with life told of exhalations ever rising, deadly and to be shunned like death, so we may regard the mass of moral turpitude thus heaped together and speedily fused into one common homo- geneity of wickedness. For there are degrees in vice as in virtue. The swindler, the fraudulent, the pilferer, can hardly be classed with, or be said to have reached equal depths, UNDISTINGUISHING SYSTEM IN BREST PRISON. 87 with the murderer, the incendiary, or the burglar. The youthful delinquent, thrown naked on the world, perchance the fruit of illicit pleasure, starving, without knowledge or support, unloved, uncared for, cannot be regarded as on a level with the old criminal, grown grey in vice, and perfected in crime, alas ! by age. Yet by the undistinguishing system, or rather want of system at Brest, such inequalities are all levelled to- gether. Youth learns wickedness from age, age fiend- ishly gloats on the essays of youth; the half-corrupted soon learn to regret their incomplete state, or are forced to abandon it, and each has the Satanic pleasure of looking upon his equal in sin, and saying with delight, * How thou art fallen.' . What barriers can a faint re- morse oppose to foes like these, or how escape them ? ' Where'er I turn is hell ; myself am hell.' As I walked among the convicts, and heard the clank- ing of their chains, I could not help thinking that they were the victims of a barbarous carelessness, but that if expiation and circumstances could ever wash guilt away, or extenuate its colour, it should be here. A perfect justice will estimate not the mere nominal crime which human laws class under a given category, tut the pro- portion between temptation and resistance between natural character and circumstances ; and out of exactly similar events, may yet give a widely different verdict as between two individuals. The convicts at Brest may well have dreaded their fate, for it is dreadful. They are generally chained together night and day they work at the hardest labor in all weathers at night they lie on a mere board, without mattress, by lots of fourteen, all chained to an iron rod, allowing just sufficient space for moving ; and only once a week do they change their clothes. 88 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. Added to this, their food is very poor ; and all this is often for life ! No wonder that many should prefer the guillotine. There is a committee which recommends commuta- tions, on reports from the superintendents ; and this is the only symptom of the reformatory principle the solitary spice of possible alleviation in their cup. But hope has a home in every heart, and could we examine even here, we should, doubtless, almost every- where find that heavenly tenant. It is curious to see how they hold to anything which has not merely a probability, but a possibility a chance of amending their fortunes. I mentioned in my former work (see ' Britanny and the Bible,' page 44) the tour of con version made in the Brest prison by the Jesuit preacher, and the great unfairness of the government in refusing permission to M. Le Fourdrey, the Protestant pastor, to preach also. I have since heard a few further particulars, which I now subjoin. He worked miracles of conversion that Jesuit, and should have a special niche as a saint highly favored. Considering the morale of the prisoners, we should have expected conversion to have been difficult among them ; and so it had been previous to this counterfeit Pente- cost. I believe, on the average, one a year would have been about the mark. But that was in olden time, before modern inventions had accelerated the pace of all things human, and when the phenomenon of con- version by steam was unknown. For how many converts, think you, were made by this new apostle in one short fortnight among the ,2,000 prisoners at Brest? A hundred, say you? Gruess again. Five hundred a thousand? Still again do you give it up? Then I will tell you: just 1,600, neither more nor less up- JESUIT MIRACLE DONE IN THE PRISON. 89 wards of 100 per day ! Sharp work, it must be con- fessed, for one pair of lungs and one head was it not? One is curious to know the logic he employed ; pity' the secret should be shut up in these infidel times, for it reads like magic. Sixteen hundred in a fortnight. Extraordinary ! That is not the word. Let us invoke Dominie Sampson, and say * Prodi- gious.' Meanwhile, we may make one observation. In pri- sons the sole resource to the convict, save religion, is hope hope that they may be pardoned may escape may have their period shortened, or their punishment commuted ; hope, vague, or more or less definite but still hope. To this they cling under all things, and into this crucible they resolve every circumstance which affects them. And it is natural. When the preaching of the Jesuit was announced, and all were ordered to attend, ah ! what hopes were again called forth ? Power of the priests influ- ence at head-quarters, and with the authorities; and when conversion was held out as the act which all ought to perform, which all who had hope beyond the present should perform, and when this was dressed in attractive eloquence, and, perchance, accompanied by rhetorical flourishes and artifices by promises of cer- tain benefits, which low minds might construe in a pecuniary sense, and of certain ameliorations which sanguine ones might read in reference to their actual lot as prisoners when the barrier was once removed and the road opened to free action by the standing forth of some prisoner more deeply affected than the rest, can we not imagine a perfect rush, a very steeple- chase of converts? To suppose the real sincere 90 LOWER BEITANNY AND THE BIBLE. heartfelt conversion of 1,600 of the dregs of mankind in a fortnight, requires a simplicity too strong for our day. It may be fancied, however, that the conversion once made was not kept hid under a bushel. From the Univers, the great Parisian organ of the Jesuits, down to every petty provincial grinder of news, nought was spoken of but this crowning miracle, which proved that the Church still possessed her ancient gifts and power ; and nothing was left undone in Brest to nail as it were this great fact into the memories of the faithful there. Like everything else in France, it was made the subject of a fete. On a given day the * sacred band,' in number 1,600, were marched in full liberty through the streets of Brest, with white bands, emblematic of their purity and innocence, carrying banners and crosses, and headed by the authorities with their insignia and the priests with their finery, to a place where an altar was erected, and there, with due ceremony, their conversion was publicly celebrated by high mass, pray- ers, and a grand religious service. This would be a treat to the prisoners to breathe fresh air for once, and would cause a lively interest among all those sons of the faithful who looked upon the scene, though some would wonder why so many soldiers and policemen and convict guards were mixed up with the people, and would be grieved to learn that they were there to prevent the escape of these inte- resting, meek-looking, white-clothed converts, and to reconduct them to the prison. But, happily for priestly tricks, reflective people seem few in France, though it is hoped they are growing more numerous. And a word here. The authorities were all in the procession, to add to its importance. Curious this, in that France which professes equal favour, or rather equal JESUITS SEE A CHANCE FROM AFAR. 91 indifference, for all religions. When where the autho- rities last at any Protestant fete? This deponent knoweth not. One little trait deserves especial notice, and we record it. The convicts, poor as they were, having only the few sous per week which they gain by their labour, were moved to wish to buy themselves crosses ; and it was, so to say, a touching incident to see them give their own money for this object. Luckily the worthy father, or some of his troop, sold these articles for it seems that, ever since the days of Luther and Tetzel, priests drive a little honest traffic in crosses and relics undoubted ones of course, and ' warranted sound ' and the bargain was soon made, with a hand- some discount, doubtless, on account of the great number taken for all men will bargain. If my memory serves me rightly, the price was ten sous per cross ; a small sum, but which, multiplied by 1,600, grows into 800 francs, a large amount to come from small pockets ; and many persons are ill-natured enough to say that there would be a profit to the good fathers on the transaction of at least 700 out of the above 800 francs ; proving that Jesuitry is really an excellent trade, and never without an eye to the main chance. Far-sighted men these followers of Loyola, and see a * chance,' as the Americans say, a long way off. They were in this case clever in the means employed, and we shall, perhaps, some day know what those means were, whether material or moral ; but believing that miracu- lous powers have ceased, I can but look for something of the earth earthy, and think of Pindar's lines on the ' Pilgrims and the Peas.' My readers, doubtless, know the story: the Pilgrims were both ordered to visit * Loretto's shrine,' and as a penance were to walk there 92 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. with peas in their shoes an unpleasant addition, bad for corns and bunions. One was stupid but honest, and kept the hard peas in his shoes ; the other was more clever and put the peas into his pocket, and afterwards boiled them, returned them into the shoes well softened, and walked easily. The clever one, by the speed of his conversion, reminds me of these convicts. He saw the Virgin, soon ' peccavi ' cried, Had his soul whitewashed all so clever ; Then home again he nimbly hied, Made fit with saints above to live for ever. And now that the excitement is over, how much better is the prison at Brest for this wholesale whitewashing ? Are the convicts quieter, more orderly, obedient, and moral ? Is there less crime and vice among them ? Have their keepers and guardians less trouble and difficulty with them ? All these questions were put by me to one of the authorities in the prison, and the answer was, * The chief difference I perceive is that the convicts are more unruly and turbulent than ever.' And so ended the miraculous Jesuit conversion at Brest. The number of Protestants in the prison is from seventy to eighty only, out of 2,200 inmates, which tells well of the morality of Protestantism. The Protestant population of France is in the proportion of a fifteenth of the general population ; and if the same proportions held good in the prison, there would be, say 213 Protestant convicts there, instead of, say seventy-five ; in other words, tested by these figures, Catholic immorality is three times greater than Protestant. There is one rule of the prison which speaks volumes against the actual prison system, and is an additional practical proof, if any were needed, of the constant PRISONERS NOT ALLOWED TO CHANGE THEIR RELIGION. 93 leaning of the government towards Eomanism, in spite of all constitutional or paper theory of equality of religions. Every convict on his arrival in the prison makes a declaration of his religion, and this declaration once made, he is never thenceforth allowed to change it so runs the rule. This is done to avoid all prose- lytism being attempted; but, how supremely lament- able ? In a prison, above all places, religion and its supports are needed, and yet here is the only place where they are limited, and, as it may be, denied by the law. For instance, suppose the case of a Romanist with commencing desires towards Protestantism old feel- ings recalled perhaps, or new ones divinely implanted does not the rule deny to such an one all outward religious help ? This inexorable law denies him all aid in his trouble, forbids him even to call for it, and fixes him in his half-recognized errors as immutably as the grave. This is wretched legislation ! based on that philosophic principle of professed equality, but real infidel indiffer- ence,which prevails in France. It cuts short the period of probation which God allows to all, by ante-dating irre- vocably its termination, and in opposition to the Divine precept, which says that only * where the tree falls so shall it lie,' it makes its mere accidental leanings final ; for many die in prison. Thus much against the rule in impartial theory. But the practice is tainted with the same partiality for Eomanism, that real * religion de VEtat? which marks all other arrangements. If the rule were fairly carried out, all we could object would be that it carried indif- ference up to infidelity that it was only equal injustice to each party. But in point of fact it is only carried 94 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. out as against Protestantism. Catholics must remain Catholics, but Protestants may change if they are so disposed. Witness the conversions by the Jesuit preacher and the liberty given to all to attend his lectures, while the same liberty was denied as-regarded M. Le Fourdrey. Is this conduct worthy of a great nation? to have a a law and follow it not ? Can the people be expected to be better than their rulers ? There are many interesting cases among the Protest- ant convicts showing a sincere repentance and desire to amend ; and if the indiscriminate no-system of the prison was improved, there would probably be many similar instances, who are now overwhelmed in the current of vice which surges about them. One man in particular deserves mention. He was convicted of passing bad money and has continually asserted his innocence of the crime, and has refused a commutation of his sentence, claiming either a free pardon or to remain in prison. He has for many years devoted the money which he accumulates by his work entirely to charitable pur- poses, and of late he has sold his rations of wine and even his soup in order to increase his means of doing good. The Protestant chaplain remonstrated with him, and begged him to regard his own health, which was certain to suffer from the deprivation, but the poor man replied that he was xraly too happy to have the power of doing good to others left to him, whatever might be the personal sacrifice to himself. This was noble charity let us believe that it will not be without its reward. The earnest practical religion of this man has pro- cured for him at least the respect of his fellow prisoners, although at first he was tormented and persecuted by them beyond measure. He has said to me that no one could paint the horrible pollution of the general body ANECDOTE OF PROTESTANT CONVICT. 95 of convicts, and in proportion to their blackness would be their feeling against one who sought the light, and so impliedly reproved them. Perseverance, however, aided from above, has carried him safely through all ; and the dark and loathsome prison is to him but as the vestibule of a heavenly mansion. His deeds, however, attracted the notice of Eomanists, and were a stumbling-block to them, for * can such a good thing come out of Nazareth ? ' However, Jesuits are clever ; and if they cannot get over a difficulty, or round it, have always some scheme in reserve, and in this instance they adopted one of which we must ever admire the boldness. They simply swallowed the difficulty one gulp and down with it. They stated the facts of the case in one of their public journals, and attributed them to a Romanist instead of a Protestant convict ! This was cool and pleasant, and saved trouble ! Capital punishments frequently occur in the prison. This must be expected, as nothing short of the severest means can restrain the convicts. All crimes of disobe- dience are promptly visited, and disobedience carried into violent action for instance, striking a keeper or guardian is followed by death. The execution takes place with every possible solemnity, and is a fearful spectacle. The convicts are all assembled and ranged around the scaffold, and to suppress a revolt on the instant, should it arise, a battalion of infantry with loaded muskets surrounds the spot, which is also com- manded by two guns charged with grapeshot. On a given signal the culprit appears on the scaffold, and the convicts are ordered to kneel down on pain of being fired upon after the third summons, and, as if to show their native independence and contempt of the authority which compels them, my friend, an officer in 96 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. the dockyard, told me they generally did not comply until the third signal. The ruling weakness even here pride in a prison ! At length they kneel the artillerymen with lighted matches stand ready the battalion is at * attention ' the criminal is bound to the plank, wheeled forward, and, click I the knife falls, a gush of blood, a quiver, and the fate of one more soul is settled for ever. Compared with the guillotine, our gibbet is a clumsy instrument ; witness the writhings, the struggles, even the re-hangings of the victim rousing sympathy and pity in the spectators. The guillotine is short, sharp, and sure, and so combines all the requisites ; for if human justice takes away life, she is bound to do so by the most direct method, and has no right to superadd torture to a penalty already so great. More than this, the machine is portable and small, and not, like our huge gibbet, erected over night, and casting its huge gloomy shadow for hours over earth's surface, advertising to the idle and vicious the horrid but (to the mass) attractive spectacle of the morrow. The machine is soon constructed and soon removed the mob has no time for fatigue or diversion nothing to distract it from the awful sight. And cold steel, too ; something fearful there, makes men shudder where the rope leaves them unmoved blood also ! visible and in a torrent all unite to make a deep impression. A friend told me that, for the half second after the head was cut off, the surface of the severed neck was of a remarkable whiteness, but which suddenly changed to deep red as the heart poured forth the volume of its last pulsation. Despite stoicism and military habits he said he was profoundly struck by the terrible sight, and that all the crowd seemed equally affected no one GUILLOTINE BETTER THAN GIBBET. 97 speaking, all holding- their breath in suspense. How different this to our English executions ! I remember seeing Greenacre hung in 1838, at New- gate, and sad was the scene. To this hour it is vividly present to me, but I was far more affected by the con- duct of the crowd than of the criminal.. True, that there before me, was a man loaded with crime going visibly into eternity, passing under my eyes, as it were, from the seen to the unseen world but there were also under my eyes thousands equally bound on the same voyage perhaps to depart on the same day, the same hour, or even the same minute, and, to judge by their behaviour, equally unprepared with the other. The chief difference was, so to say, an accidental one the rope and gibbet were but effects in the picture ; for some sang filthy songs some cursed and fought some laughed and mocked some looked on listlessly and vacantly some picked pockets, as I myself saw from my window few seemed to think the matter solemn or affecting. The fiendish yell which saluted the miserable man when he emerged from the dark prison door long rang in my ears, as also the universal hiss which arose at his parting struggle, like the hailing salute from the snakes of the pit ; but deeper still was my impression that our manner of executing criminals was calculated only to brutalize the beholders. Escapes frequently occur from the Brest prison, not- withstanding the vigilance of the guards. When this occurs a cannon is fired, and then two others, to spread the alarm round the country. Gendarmes and police go out on all sides, and it is but seldom that the convict gets clear off. A reward of 100 francs is paid for his ap- prehension within twelve hours a large sum in a poor country, and sufficient to put. the peasants on their H 98 LOWER BEITANNT AND THE BIBLE. mettle ; and when the ' hunt is up ' they are very active in the chase. It is not agreeable to live in lone places near Brest. The escaped convicts seek such to avoid detection, must have money to enable .them to get through the country, and are of course not burdened with scruples ; therefore robberies by them are of frequent occur- rence. Some keep the high roads at night, as best for travelling, and there are many crosses erected to mark the spot where, sinking from the excessive fatigue for which their stationary life in the prison has unfitted them, these miserable men have paid the last debt of nature. One of these escaped convicts called at the country-house of a friend of mine, who instantly recog- nised him, but, as he said, his feelings revolted against capturing or informing against him, and he gave him a trifle and left him to his fortune.* * The number of convicts at Brest is now greatly reduced, as the French government have adopted the method of transportation to Cayenne and New Caledonia as a means of disposing of part of their criminals ; and it is said to be their intention totally to abolish the bagne as a place of criminal punishment, as soon as they have a sub- stitute ready. CHAPTER VII. PURGATORY A PROFITABLE SYSTEM TO THE ROMISH CHURCH REVOLUTION AT MORLAIX MORALITY OF THE BRETONS DRUNKENNESS SWEARING DUELLING SABBATH-BREAKING SUNDAY QUESTION. AN incident recently happened in our household, illustrating the manner in which the Romish system, as practised by priests, traffics in the religious feelings of the people of Britanny. My man Mark is a thorough-bred Breton, and there- fore has a strong reverence for the Church, but also has, like a true Breton, a decided love of money. I used sometimes to say to him, in joke, that if I were to throw a handful of sows in his face half of them would stick there, so strong was the attraction existing between him and a metallic currency. Mark had a stepmother, who died and was buried, and, as the priests say, went into purgatory. This is a notion out of which the priests suck no small advantage. Purgatory is, of course, a very un- pleasant place to be in ; but is nevertheless a place you can get out of for a consideration paid to the aforesaid priests, the effect of which ' consideration ' is to cause them to say a mass which opens the door for the poor spirit and lets it out. So that the priest first gets you into it for nothing, and then gets you out again for money; which, of course, is a very profitable affair to him. The price varies with the station the person held in H 2 100 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. life, and is from 10 sous, or 5d., up to 1,000 francs, or more. One would think that, considering the sad sufferings said to be endured by these poor spirits in prison, a benevolent priest would occasionally be found to let them out without charging a fee ; but I never heard of such a case, and suppose it is against the ' usages of trade.' Well ; soon after the funeral, the priest met Mark, and told him he ought to have a mass said to release his mother, and Mark said he would see about it, and asked what would be the price, and the priest said two francs. Mark thought this a deal of money, and the old woman was only his stepmother after all. Had it been for a real mother 'Jest une autre chose,' but a stepmother I two francs was a deal of money. So the matter gather hung fire. One day the priest met him again (the man told me this himself the day it happened), and said, ' Ah ! Mark, your poor mother appeared to me last night ' et elle souffre beaucoup.' She is in a dreadful state, and all because you won't pay this two francs. What an un- dutiful son you must be ! ' * Well,' said Mark, ' if she suffers so much, why don't you let her out of your own accord ? ' ' Can't do it without being paid ; it 's against rule,' replied the priest. So Mark and he debated the matter, and finally (for priests can bargain well) Mark gave in, paid the money, and, as Dr. Eck, the celebrated vendor of indulgences in the time of Luther, said, as soon as the money clinked in the plate, the soul of poor old Mary Jeanne was considered to mount aloft straightway into Paradise. Eome is a clever money-maker and taker gets much, but does not give much. In Borrow's ' Eomany Eye ' is a passage, where, meeting with a Jesuit in want of money, SILENT WORKING OF SCRIPTURES IN BRITANNT. 101 Borrow advises him to get money from Rome. This strikes the Jesuit as such a rich idea, so full of humour, that he does nothing but chuckle and laugh at it ; and at last he says, ' Young man, that is the most witty remark of yours I ever heard, * Get money from Rome ; money from Eome ; from Rome 1 1 ' And yet what becomes of it all? for it is certain an immense amount goes to Rome. We may as well ask what becomes of castaway pins. I mentioned, in page 18, how the distribution of the Scriptures was working in Britanny, and I have just had another proof of this. A man who lived near to us, named Louie, came to my house and asked to speak with my wife. He asked if I sold Bibles, and said he wanted one. I asked him if he was a Protestant, and he replied, * No ; but that he had long read his Bible, which was in fact worn out ;' saying which he produced it, and truly it ivas worn out, and in the service too, and not by moth and rust. A more dog's-eared, be- thumbed, and dirty book I never saw, for cleanliness does not dwell in Britanny. But the man had perused and reperused, and had got from it what he could get nowhere else some satisfac- tion for the cravings of his soul, and some comfort in his troubles. He had given up confession and the mass, and was marked by the priest as a black sheep ; but he persevered in the path opened before him, which will, I hope, conduct him to a better country than the one he will have to leave. My wife gladly gave him a New Testament, which he was vastly pleased with ; and I only regret we did not take the old dirty-faced one in return, for it would have been a curiosity. He had obtained it from one of the colporteurs, and this is another proof of the way the Word of God is working of itself, and by slow degrees penetrating and vivifying Britanny. 102 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. I believe no one can form any approximate idea of the floods of vice and blasphemy which were poured forth in Britanny during the French Revolution, al- though the Eomanists vaunt its people as so naturally religious and saintly. For instance, in one case the holy vessels were tied to an ass's tail, and trailed in the mud ; in another a feast, characterised by the grossest debauchery, was given in the church of a small town I know in Britanny, the communion vessels were used as drinking-cups, and the table itself as a sideboard ; and men, moreover, thronged the church, rivalling each other in obscenity and mockery, as if openly to defy (rod and brave his thunders. Certainly men may well fear the repetition of such scenes, where the very foun- tains of the great fiery deep seem to have been up- turned to pour out their torrents upon the earth, to scathe, blast, and pollute everything upon it. An anecdote was told me of a circumstance which happened at Morlaix, which is worth recording. One day news arrived there of some victories of the Repub- lican armies over the Coalition. A fete was arranged, and a public dance given in the G-rande Place. At that period the popular dance was the Carmagnole, a sort of grande ronde, in which twenty or a thousand people could equally take a part. It was, like all other republican in- stitutions, somewhat levelling in its nature equally practicable by, and open to, all the world. Near to the Grande Place flowed a small river, of some twenty yards wide, and perhaps a yard deep, and this gave occasion to the fertile brain of some democratic dancer to con- ceive a very ingenious and amusing plan, which was forthwith put in practice amid roars of applause. All the aristocrates of the town were assembled by beat of drum, and ordered to present themselves im- ANECDOTE OF REVOLUTION AT MORLAIX. 103 mediately in the Grande Place, to take part, with cheerful faces, in the national fetes then celebrating there, under pain of death on refusal. Accordingly few absented themselves ; and all came, probably bowing and smiling, with great politeness and apparent pleasure, and took their places in the dance. The fiddles flourished, the flageolets shrieked, the dancers shouted, screamed, and sang, and the dance swayed to and fro, a mass of animation; but a cautious observer would have remarked a gradual but suspicious approach towards the river side. On went the music, however, and if anyone did remark it, he thought little about it, or kept his thoughts to himself. Nearer and nearer drew on the dancers at each gyration, and at length the river's edge was reached. Then, with a shout, the circle broke up, and a democrat seizing an aristocrats, rushed with her to the river side, and, as quietly as might, or might not be, deposited her in mid-stream. Another followed, with a similar burden another and another, until, from side to side of the current was established a line of women, at different depths, ac- cording to height and the river's bottom. There they were, the young, middle-aged, and old, the tender and the hardy, all elegantly dressed as for a fete, standing in the river, some ankle-deep, others up to their shoulders, and no egress allowed. When the line was completed, men on the opposite side joined hands to the lady nearest to the bank, others pieced on to him on the dry land, the ladies were ordered to join hands in the river, and the dance recommenced, with this solitary but important difference as regarded the dancers, that the republicans all danced on terra firma, whereas the poor women were danced and draggled so far and back again, again and again, 104 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. through the muddy river, until the malice of their tor- mentors was assuaged. And this, too, to well born and well bred women, in a province of France the nation of gallantry, par ex- cellence famed (in its own opinion) for devotion to the fair sex ! Ah ! if a Frenchman wants an antidote for overweening conceit, he has one close at hand, but seldom read by him the pages of his own Revolution of 1792. The Romish party, in particular the priests, are never weary of singing the praises of poor benighted Britanny. They hold up the devotion of the Bretons, their loyalty, their love for the ancient faith, their constancy, and an imaginative sketch of all the rest of the cardinal vir- tues, as something almost supernatural, and as the model for all the world to follow. I wish the practice corresponded with the theory, but as far as my experience of ten years goes, I must say it is quite the reverse. It is difficult, for instance, to conceive equal ignorance in any other people with what prevails in most parts of Britanny ; and this is not a thing to be proud of. Out of the young men of twenty- one in Finistere, only fifteen out of a hundred can read and write, according to the Gfovernment returns ; and in the Cote du Nord the proportion was even smaller. The comparative value of this may be tested by the fact, that in the departments in the north of France adjoining Gfermany, and abounding in Pro- testants, the numbers of the same class who could read and write was, according to the same Grovernment re- turns, seventy in each hundred. And as a consequence there is much vice and immorality. Crimes of violence, too, are far more frequent than in other parts of France, as is proved by the calendar of crime. DRUNKENNESS IN BRITANNY 105 As to drunkenness, it is the bane of the country, and in no part of the world which I have ever seen is there the same amount of this horrible vice as in Britanny. Wherever you may be, in town or country, it forces itself upon you. Caesar, in his Commentaries, mentions the Bretons as * impatient of thirst' 2,000 years ago, so it seems that the tendency is of long standing. The practice of the goutte of eau de vie is almost universal, and the quantity of vile stuff taken under the miscalled name of ' water of life,' is something wonder- ful. Nothing can be done without it. If you set out on a journey, or arrive at home after performing one if you have suffered misfortune, or met with success if you buy, sell, lend, or exchange if you quarrel, or make it up whatever you do, suffer, propose, or almost think of, it must be stamped by a goutte, or it will not pass cur- rent. It would seem as if the rule of the goutte was part of the religion of the country, so rigorously is it observed. I remember once remarking how many gouttes of brandy my guide took in a shooting excur- sion, and I am certain he took not less than a pint of neat eau de vie during the day. If constant dropping wears a stone, it must surely wear away flesh and spirit also. And if I am asked, what part the priests in Britanny take to counteract this whether they preach against it, or establish associations to check it, or show by their own abstinence their abhorrence of excess, I am bound to answer that, as far as I have heard and seen, they do nothing at all in that direction; and yet, with their influence with the peasantry, they might do almost everything. Then swearing, or taking God's name in vain, is more common in Britanny than I ever heard it in any other 106 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. country. Its varieties and ramifications make it quite a science ; and it is so interwoven with conversation, that it would seem impossible to get on without it. This is not only the case with the poorer classes, but with all, without exception either of priests or nuns. I was one day talking with a soeur on the subject, who warmly defended her countrywomen from the charge, for I had said that I, a Protestant, was scandalised at the open swearing among women of the better classes. This she denied, with many asseverations, in particular ' Mon Dieu,' ' Grand Dieuj ' Bon Dieu,' and other takings of (rod's name in vain. I then remarked that she was herself a swearer, and repeated her various exclamations during the previous minute or two. She was extremely angry with me, a Protestant and a heretic, for calling her, a religieuse ' to order,' for the breach of a commandment, which she was obliged to admit ; for * taking God's name in vain ' is a fact in a small compass ; and she never was friendly to me after- wards. Her excuse was, that she meant no harm by it, for of course she could not deny either the command- ment, or the fact of its breach. Here, again, is room for the sacred influence of the priesthood ; but if I am asked whether they exert it, I am bound to say that, judging from what I have heard and seen, they do not in any way interfere in the matter, save in countenancing it by their frequent practice. When I hear of the activity and devotion of Romish priests in Britanny, and their anxiety to attack and remedy social evils when I hear of them in their ex- treme zeal, for instance, proposing a crusade against Protestantism, I ask myself why they do not com- mence a crusade against prevalent bad usages at home. There are surely evils enough to remedy there. Lying, PRIESTS DO NOT ATTACK SOCIAL EVILS. 10? sexual vice, drunkenness, all abound in Britanny as we have seen, each sufficient to call forth the energies of many a Peter the Hermit; and there is also the custom of duelling a social evil of a deadly nature, and yet in fre- quent practice. The existence of duelling in Britanny and the frequency of its occurrence, is a proof that the country is yet only partially civilised, whatever may be said or sung to the contrary ; for duelling is undoubtedly a relic of the very dark ages. The duel is, in fact, the ultima ratio is not only practised but defended and glorified by the highest authorities. Hardly a session passes in which at least half-a-dozen honourable members of the French as- sembly do not amuse themselves with sword or pistol ; and not without damage, not all ending in smoke. Few men of * esprit ' but what have fought their way up to their position and gained a reputation at the pistol's mouth. I know two brothers who have fought at least twenty duels between them, and have survived, being masters of the art not so, alas! some of their unfor- tunate opponents. Within a very short period, and within a mile from where I lived, two duels were fought, in one of which a leg was lost by a young man whom I used to meet frequently ; and only a week since another duel took place between two youths whom I know, and all these about mere trifles. Even my doc- tor, whose profession is to heal rather than fight, has lost an eye by the sword of one opponent, and has shot away the leg of another, to make matters even, I suppose. A brace of duelling pistols is as necessary as an umbrella, a sword as a walking-stick, and the laws of duelling are codified with a scientific accuracy. Surely there is scope here for the efforts of the ministers of religion. 108 LOWEK BB.ITANNY AND THE BIBLE. Here is a social evil of great magnitude, deplored by many, in opposition with the interests of all, and in direct collision with the Word of Grod, which might with great propriety and benefit be attacked; but I am told that they leave it almost wholly untouched, and no one of my acquaintance ever remembers having heard a sermon, or a pastoral allusion to the subject. Yet, what eloquence is strong enough to brand that practice by which, for an unworthy trifle a look or ges- ture the peace of families is destroyed here, and the ruin of a soul consummated hereafter. Had real civilisation pervaded the country, it would have banished this cruel, stupid sin ; men's minds, en- lightened by education, religion, and reason, would have acknowledged its enormity, and by common ac- cord have condemned it to contempt; but France seems not yet to have travelled so far on the road of real progress. In England, happily, the custom is nearly extinct, is more a tradition than a fact. For many years it had led a hobbling, tottering existence, was resorted to with reluctance, and was generally viewed with dislike or ridicule. The law was always clear on the subject let us do that justice to it and declared it murder; but judges charged mildly, juries, influenced by custom, would not convict, and the offenders escaped. By degrees, however, this changed; judges became more severe, juries remained oftentimes for hours shut up in their box in difficult and painful gestation ; and every man who fought a duel ran a very unpleasant chance of being hung afterwards. This was not satis- factory there is no romance where the gibbet is in- cluded ; no man of fashion would like to be hung by the help of Jack Ketch. DUELLING NOT INTERFERED "WITH BY PRIESTS. 109 I well remember the case of Lieutenant Munro, whose second was tried for the murder of Colonel Fawcett, and it was a very near thing. I think it was Baron Grurney who tried the case, an upright man, but severe and strongly opposed to the practice ; he charged very strongly, and men held their breath until the verdict was given. It was a very narrow escape. Other causes assisted in their turn, and powerfully. Eeason awoke anew to the absurdity of the practice ; pulpits thundered against the lex talionis, and invoked religion's aid against it; elderly females joined with juveniles in a shrill and potent chorus of detestation ; and the cream of the thing, and its gentlemanly tournure, began by degrees to vanish. All things pointed to the speedy extirpation of duel- ling in England, and at last it fell ingloriously, and (alas ! for the sentimentality of the thing) by the mea- suring-yard of a linendraper, for I fully believe that the coup de grace was given by poor Mirfin of Oxford Street, draper and hosier. As thus. England is aristocractic in her habits, and duelling had always been regarded as a sort of luxury, fitting for the nobility, but too good for shopkeepers. The higher classes, therefore, almost exclusively enjoyed the privilege of destroying each other with sword and pistol ; while the lower classes settled their differences by the more natural means of fist or cudgel. But the spirit of revolution, not content with the field of politics, invaded the home circle, and threatened the ancient institution of the duel. Merchants and lawyers, those classes always active in and upon * 'change,' openly en- joyed the privilege; shopkeepers began to follow in their wake, and there seemed a probability that, ere long, the very chimneysweeps would claim the right of 110 LOWER BKITANNY AND THE BIBLE. killing each other a, la mode. Universal suffrage, that bete noire of the upper ten thousand, seemed less ob- jectionable than universal duelling and High Olympus was seriously alarmed. At this juncture arose Mirfin of Oxford Street, draper and hosier, and became, Curtius-like, the saviour of his country. Like others of his ' order,' he, too, would fight a duel ; and, unfortunately, was killed. His death broke the charm. So long as duelling was confined to the upper circles it was time-honoured and honourable, ' the distance lent enchantment to the view,' but prac- tised by shopkeepers it was voted vulgar, and the absurdity appeared in a moment. Poor Mirfin had his revenge, and it was a noble one. If a duel was the death of him, he in his turn was the death of it ; and on his tomb should be inscribed, * Here lies Mirfin, who destroyed duelling with a yard measure.' Thanks, in a degree, I believe, to him, duelling is now nearly obsolete, and rests harmlessly in the lumber room, along with ladies' wooden dressing skewers and castellated headdresses, and the pasteboard breeches of our forefathers ; and there let it rest. A friend of mine was going from Brighton to Dieppe, when, just at the moment of the boat leaving the pier, a man rushed on board in haste to depart. He had little luggage, and was in dress boots and other light clothing unfitted for a voyage, and seemed in good spirits with all the world, joking and laughing with those around him. There was, however, something in his manner which was re- pulsive to my friend, and he had no communication with him; nor was his feeling of dislike nay, disgust abated when, on landing, he discovered that he was Mr. Johnson, the man who had killed Mirfin that very morning, and who was then reeking with the blood DUELLING, IN THEORY AND PRACTICE. Ill of the murder, and in hot hurry to escape from justice. To judge from his trifling manner he might just have left a ball, my friend said, and not the scene of a murder perpetrated by himself. I trust that henceforth the law of England will be administered as it ought to be, and that the very next duellist brought to its bar will be hung ; this will put to flight the last lingering remnant of the practice, and will deprive the world of the shadow of an ex- cuse for provoking a duel. When a challenge becomes simply an invitation to be hung, probably few will accept it For the rationale of the practice is so perfect! A man injures you, and what do you do ? You call him out, and give him the chance of shooting you i/n addition. Good common sense that, is it not? He ruins or destroys the peace of your wife or daughter, and then kindly offers you ' satisfaction,' i.e. the op- portunity of being shot by him in addition ; or else you, not having been sufficiently injured by him, volunteer to give him the chance of adding to it by calling him out to shoot you if he can. A dispute arises, followed by angry words; no solution can be found except that of producing conviction in the brain by an ounce of lead. He was no fool, who, on receiving an offer of satisfaction from a so-called ' gallant ' captain who had eloped with his wife, replied, 'Thanks for your kind offer, but I shall not hazard my life for a bad woman. Keep her ; and may she be better with you than she was with me.' Truly the equity of the system is exquisite ! I have often thought that to make the game a fair one, the injured party should blaze away at the other till he had wounded him ; and then, having inflicted wound 112 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. for wound, the amiable disputants would be on a level, and might fight on upon equal terms. I wish this plan was tried in France. I do not think duelling would long survive the treatment. Seducers, bullies, liars, are great egotists devoted to themselves ; and, with all their pretended love for the fair sex and scandal, I greatly question whether they would consider the most lovely creature who ever breathed, or the most piquant story which was ever invented, a recompense for the smallest injury to their own most precious skins. But then it is a * satisfaction.' A fine satisfaction truly ! the satisfaction of killing a fellow creature, or of sending him to grope his way through life led by a dog and a string, or to limp through it on a wooden leg ; the immense satisfaction of breaking his arm or his ribs perchance, or of sending him to Bedlam a drivelling idiot ; and the satisfaction of having a good chance of these benefits for ourselves. For myself, I hate wooden legs, green spectacles, and arms with hooks on the stump, but doubtless I am singular. I suppose there must be a great satisfaction somewhere, since so many people say so ; but for the life of me I cannot imagine where it lies. All reasoning on the subject is vain. You gain the argument, and lose the application ; you fight victori- ously, and are tripped up at the corner ; you nail your opponent fast in a frame of syllogisms, or smother him under appeals to feeling, and the next moment he is before you as lively and capering as ever, with his grasshopper chirp of II faut se battre. R faut se battre. Exactly, that is just it ; the cuckoo cry of ' must,' without reason, feeling, or common sense. Away with argument, for it is not a matter of reason ; keep your appeals to feeling for a softer audience ; pack COURT OF HONOUR INSTEAD OF DUELLING. 113 up and stow away your stale morality ; don't talk to me of Scripture, for religion has nothing to do with it ; we will break each others heads, il faut se battre. This is not cutting the knot with the sword, like Alexander, but smashing at it with the club, like the fool. And, after all, these pugnacious logicians speak the truth in one thing it is useless to argue the matter with them: and we can only say, as Sterne said to the ass, ' I never argue with any of your species.' If men must fight, if they must have a violent means of settling what may almost always be done amicably, let it be done with natural weapons. As says Cowper A Trojan combat would be something new, Let Dares beat Entellus black and blue, Then each might show to his admiring friends, In honourable bumps a rich amends, And carry in contusions of the skull A satisfactory receipt in fulL I am no advocate for boxing, but I have had sufficient experience in a public school to know that an open quarrel settled on the spot causes much less malice and heartburning than a pent up and therefore enduring feud ; and the man who punishes an insult at once, does but use those means with which Providence has armed him to repel aggression. To those who object to the natural mode, and ask for a better substitute for the sword and pistol than the fist, I would propose a Court of Honour. The French have a council of prud'Jwmmes to decide matters of trade, why not have a council of brav'hommes to decide matters of honour ? Character would be safe in their keeping reputation is not like a herring, which is best when smoke dried, though when damaged it of course needs to be cured. All that is required is for a certain I 114 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. number of men of high standing and character to agree to submit to such a tribunal, and the mass would eagerly take refuge in it ; for no one can possibly be benefited by the present system save the gunsmiths and Curtis and Harvey. Already the French army have adopted an approach to this principle. Curious that the army, and that one notorious for high courage, should preach peace to civilians: but it shows that the duel is considered simply as a nuisance, and no proof or effect of bravery. In the army each regiment has a council, before which all quarrels are laid, and which decides whether they shall be amicably arranged or shall go further; and I am told that almost all are stopped on the way. Let this principle be carried further still, and the power be given to arrange all cases amicably ; and the thing is done. Let the councils have power not only to decree apology, but damages also, if they see fit. Let their decrees be published, and have a judicial power, and the world would soon recognise their utility and support them with its public opinion. By the way, what has become of the English associa- tion of eminent men, civil and military, who some few years ago entered into a mutual engagement not to fight duels ? I have not heard anything of it of late, but I hope it is not dissolved. If alive, it should give some note of its existence, and might carry out the idea I am now suggesting, and send a circular to The O'Donoghue and Sir Kobert Peel, asking for their adhesion. I have said nothing of the question in a religious point of view, as almost needless, but what says the Bible as to it ? Bidicule, contempt, and sarcasm would seem enough to combat so absurd and cruel a custom, but to complete the circle, what says the Bible ? Is the ARGUMENTS AGAINST DUELLING. 115 matter treated doubtfully, or is any hole left by which human ingenuity can escape? No! sternly and in few words speaks the Law, and by the command, ' Thou shalt do no murder,' briefly decides the question. But, says some small casuist, * What is murder ? ' Murder is the act of killing another with the intention to do so. Apply this to duelling. Either the parties go out with the intention of killing each other, or not. If they have this intention, they are clearly murderers ; if they have it not, they are self-convicted of a stupid farce. On one horn of the dilemma they must be impaled, let us hope it may be on the latter. But suppose they have not the murderer's intention, and yet kill, are they guiltless ? What says the New Testament ? There we find the commandment repeated in a new form, ' Thou shalt not kill,' as if to meet the case in question ; and how, between these two authorities, can the duellist escape? The last authority closes the dis- cussion. As to arguments in favour of the practice drawn from honour, custom, feeling, &c., all these are powerless before the great authority we have cited. If that speaks, all others must be silent, and may be disregarded. It is singular, and proves the wisdom of that apothegm of Lord Bacon, 'Men reason from reading and expe- rience, and act from custom? that, notwithstanding that duelling is thus condemned by revelation, reason, and feeling, yet it still exists, and is occasionally had re- course to. How is this ? We often see an ugly object, an unsightly tree, a ragged wall, offending our eyes and annoying us year after year, causing growlings and threats innumerable; and yet, because it will require more than our mere personal effort to overthrow it, we are content to grumble indolently, but to do nothing I 2 116 LOWEE BKITANNT AND THE BIBLE. more. At length, our humour being on that day more acrid than usual, the wind blowing from the east, and the daily paper having miscarried, or a favourite horse having been just thrown down by the groom, we boil over, call in our neighbours, set to work vigorously, destroy the nuisance, and then look about and breathe freely, and wonder we had not done it before. So with duelling. If our French neighbours will only use their eyes and their tongues, and pull well and pull together examine and attack the principle and practice in question boldly and openly, without fear or favour, they will find it but a giant in pasteboard, all hollow within, which will crumble under their hands ; and, without waiting for the final coup de grace from linendraper's yard measure, or chimney-sweeper's brush, will expire, all naturally, from want of life. What France seems to me to want is a few more active practical philanthropists. Owing to the nature and form of their Government paternal and patriarchal as it is everything is done for the people, and but little by them. They are, therefore, in some degree like children in leading strings, or high-bred London dames turned out suddenly at the diggings, and told to work. In England it is wholly different. There, in ev.ery town, almost in every village, you find some active, bustling, perhaps testy, impersonation of charity, who has the direction, or is busily concerned, in every good work. Only convince his reason that your plan is good, and you at once gain his heart and aid, and secure a hundred-handed coadjutor. He knows the feelings of all his neighbours, can tell you the best way of bringing the matter before this one and the other, weighs to an ounce the respective merits of this plan or that ; and, while you are puzzling out your path among the clouds OBSERVANCE OF SUNDAY IN BRITANNY. 117 of good intentions, lands you in a trice on terra firma, puts a road-map into your hand, and tells you how to start and when. While others are talking, he organises; and ere another has finished a general sketch, he presents you with the article cut and dried. A hundred such would go far to abolish duelling in France. There is, however, one essential difference between the countries, viz., that the law of France does not con- sider duelling as murder, if it is fairly conducted. If there are seconds, and the principals take no undue advantage one of another, and one is killed, it is viewed as manslaughter nothing more. In case of a duel without results, a proces verbal is prepared and for- warded to the authorities by the police, in order to notify the fact to them, but no further steps are taken in consequence. The law of France is therefore in some degree accessory to the custom of duelling, and does not resemble the law of England, which pronounces it to be murder ; but let public opinion in France declare itself adverse, and the law will speedily be changed ; and let us hope that our own time may see it. But if asked what part the priests take as to duelling, I am constrained to reply that they seem to me to take no part at all. The way Sunday is observed in Britanny is another proof of the small amount of religious influence actually exercised by the priesthood for the practical reformation of the people. I am quite aware that the Eomish Church considers Sunday as a feast day and day of rejoicing, and not as a day of rest and religious worship; and I think it a very strong proof of the irreligious worldly character of the Eomish system, that it does so. In truth it is just another illustration of the way in which it favours, instead of controlling, the evil 118 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. tendencies of human nature. But in Britanny it seems to me that Sunday is more devoted to pleasure than in other parts of France. For in other parts of France the Government has made certain steps in this direction, which are to its honour, and deserve record ; and let us note that these steps have been made by the Government as a civil power, and in no respects by the Church. In 1856 the French Government, by a circular addressed to the Minister of Public Works, abolished work on Sunday in all undertakings under Government control, save in cases of extreme urgence. Certain Prefets also acted in a similar manner. I have a decret of the Prefet of the Tonne now before me, dated 1857, which says, * Con- sidering that the rest of Sunday is as necessary for the health as for the mind of workpeople, and that it is painful to morality and religion to see the laws of society and tradition thus passed over,' goes on to decree that all Government contracts and works shall thenceforth be stopped working on Sundays. This is all done by the civil Government, but, as yet, I have not heard of any steps having been taken by the Church in the same direction. And it was high time. The desecration of Sunday in Britanny and in France is dreadful, and every lover of his country would do well to look to it. For, in spite of the scorn of the scoffer, the sneer of the unbeliever, and the subtle fine-drawn reasoning of the so-called philosopher, God's judgements exist on the earth, and are exercised upon nations as well as individuals ; and when nations collectively sin when general practice or legal authority sanctions or enforces actions contrary to the Divine will, that nation will, I believe, as certainly be punished for its conduct as will an individual for his sins, at the Great Day. THE BRETON SUNDAY LIKE A HEATHEN FEAST DAY. 119 In Britanny, Sunday is the day of the week, par excellence, given to pleasure. If a man be somewhat devout, he goes en deshabille to the early mass at seven in the morning, for an hour; and having thus com- pounded for the duties of the day with its great Giver, he returns home, changes his deshabille for his Sunday best, and prepares for the promenade, the fete champetre, the ball, the chase, or any other special pleasure. In fact, having given a small corner of the beginning of the day to God, in his undress, the Breton fits himself out in his best for making a worthy full-dress sacrifice of the remaining eleven-twelfths or more of the day to Mammon. As to rest being the character of the day, it is precisely the quality absent. Many shops are open, and doing an unusually active business; men's brows are furrowed by the troubles of a ceaseless care; the pursuit of gain is in full cry everywhere ; music and dancing are all around ; on every side is Mammon look- ing prouder and gayer than usual, more attractive, and more successful. Instead of being under the Christian dispensation, it would seem as if we were under a Heathen one ; and instead of being the Lord's day, it might be the feast of Bacchus or Terpsichore. And thus it arrives, that this great Divine institution for the spiritual, moral, and physical improvement of mankind this plan so admirably calculated for the purifying of his soul and the strengthening and renewing of his body, is either only half used or is wholly cast aside and neglected, and man's natural proneness to evil again mars the benevolent will of his Maker. We read in ancient history of a fountain in which aged and diseased persons were dipped, and such were the wonderful virtues of the water that the sufferers immediately regained all their youthful beauty and 120 LOWER BEITANNT AND THE BIBLE. vigour. And we are not surprised to learn that the fountain was crowded that multitudes surrounded it on all sides, waiting each one his turn, and that many had summoned the last remnant of their surviving forces to qarry them there, and had died, alas ! on its very steps. And yet here is an institution, as beneficent and life- giving in its effects on our moral nature as were the healing waters to the physical body, and it is passed by with indifference, or contemptuously rejected; and the golden streams, marked only by a slender belt of green round their margin, waste themselves in the desert they were intended to fertilize. Romanism has something to answer for here, also, or Scripture is devoid of meaning. I do not advocate a Judaical observance of the Sunday; on the contrary, I reject it. I draw my reasons for its observance from the New Testament, and not the Old, and consider that ' The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.' I think it is to be subordinate to the moral and physical wants and condition of man. But all Christian nations are, I think, agreed that the day should have a more or less sacred character, and that the two characteristics of repose and religious worship especially belong to it; but Rome, giving way to, and drawing support by ministering to, the pleasures of the world, has so reduced these characteristics as to make them almost wholly disappear. I think that those who place the observance of the Sunday on Judaical grounds that is, on the grounds disclosed in the Old Testament do harm to the cause of the due observance of the day. The arguments drawn from that source seem, in my humble opinion, so poor, and capable of such an easy refutation, as to pre- judice the cause generally ; and as it is an institu- tion of such high value in every point of view, it is OBJECTIONS TO A JUDAICAL OBSERVANCE OF SUNDAY. 121 desirable that its justification should be based on firm and irrefragable foundations. The minute and rigorous strictness of the Jewish rites offends the spirit of Christian liberty, and is impractic- able and impossible to carry out in tire age we live in. Why, therefore, encumber the ground and impede pro- gress by an adherence to obsolete views intended for a past age and for a peculiar people ? As a sharer in the Christian dispensation I draw my reasons from the New Testament from the precepts and practice of Him whose day we call it from the usage of the early Chris- tians, and from those moral and physical reasons in its favour which are visible all around it. To impose upon any one an ascetical pharisaical observance is not justified by any Christian authority I know of ; but the two marks of repose and assembling for religious worship where we are able, stand out dis- tinct and indelible, must be accepted by every Christian who examines into the subject, and are sufficient to secure the great objects of the day. As the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr. Whateley, says : * It should be observed as a day of religious worship, mental repose, and bodily rest. This is not inconsistent with some unpaid recreation, such as libraries in the winter, and the fields and parks in summer. Is it not delightful to see a father and his family taking their recreation amid the glories of (rod's creation on a fine summer evening? And let the services of the Church be made attractive and faithfully performed, and they will be duly attended, and the day will so be dedicated to the service and glory of God, and to the service and use of man.' And I quite coincide with these senti- ments ; and as there is ample argument to justify this view of the matter, why hazard the existence of the whole question in the minds of many by attempting to 122 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. carry it further on grounds which are easy to controvert, and which, even if they were admitted, could never be carried into practice. As Paley concludes his argument on the subject: * The conclusion of the whole inquiry is this : the as- sembling upon the first day of the week for the purpose of public worship and religious instruction is a law of Christianity of Divine appointment; the resting on that day from our employments longer than we are detained from them by thus assembling is to Christians an ordi- nance of human institution, binding now upon the conscience of every individual in a country in which a weekly rest is established for the sake of the beneficial purposes which the public and regular observance of it promotes, and recommended by the resemblance it bears to what (rod was pleased to make a solemn part of the law which He delivered to the people of Israel, and by its subserviency to many of the same uses.' But when I ask what part the priesthood in Britanny take to second the efforts of the French Government to secure a better observance of Sunday, and to promote the moral and religious interests of their people in this particular, I am obliged to answer that, so far as my experience goes, they take little or no part or action, and leave the people almost wholly to themselves. And if enthusiastic Romanists point to the people of Britanny as presenting fit models for our imitation in the moral and social virtues, I feel bound to say, judging from what I have seen and heard, that, in proportion as we avoid following their example in those points to which I have specially alluded, will be our value and position as a people, and our happiness and well-being as individuals. Britanny may answer as a warning, but should never be our guide. 123 CHAPTER VIII. CONVENTS IN BEITANNY ESCAPE FEOM ONE THEORY OF CON- VENT LIFE PRACTICE OF SAME VERY DIFFERENT BRITANNY AND IRELAND COMPARED UNITY OF ROMANISM A MERE IDEA RECENT STOPPAGE OF COLPORTAGE AT QUIMPERLE, AND ITS SUBSEQUENT PERMISSION. THE number of convents in Britanny is still great, and must have been enormous. Everywhere you see the venerable relics of these buildings, more pleas- ing in decay than when they were inhabited, for they are generally well situated, and always picturesque. The conventual rigour of other days is now much relaxed. Nuns are not now built up in stone niches for irregularities, as was Constance in * Marmion,' but the discipline is still severe, and restrictive measures are still necessary to prevent the caged birds from seeking the open air. By law a nun may return to the world when she likes ; but what avails the law of the legislator ? the law of the priest is stronger far ; the chains which cus- tom and education have forged are more powerful than all others, and hence retreat is practically impossible. Occasionally an escape takes place, always by stratagem or force ; but there is no instance, which I have heard of, of a nun being allowed to pass the outer doors be- cause she wished to do so. Not long ago there was an instance of escape from a nunnery not far from this place. The poor girl had managed to convey to her brother intelligence that sh,e 124 LOWER BRITANNT AND THE BIBLE. was miserable, but could not get out, and desired his aid. He presented himself at the convent, and requested to see his sister, and the interview was granted, but only on condition of the Superior being present. And so far from this being considered strict, there are many convents where interviews are wholly forbidden, and where even fathers are only allowed to meet their children at a grating, with a curtain between them, allowing nothing but the voice to communicate from one to the other. And doubtless this is wisely judged for the interests of the convents; for nature is strong, and many fathers, even when cold enough to allow, or even to oblige, their daughters to take the veil, would, on seeing their emaciated despondent looks, be seized with remorse, and would retake them and replace them in their home. The brother asked his sister if she was happy ; she replied, ' Perfectly so.' ' But you look ill ? ' said he. 'I have not been well, but am now better. It is nothing.' He asked her if she wished to return, and she replied, * Not for the world.' The brother was hurt by her constraint and puzzled by the apparent contra- diction, and retired thinking he had been made a dupe of. Soon, however, another note reached him, which ex- plained all. She said, nothing could describe the treat- ment she had been subjected to, to prepare her for the interview with him. The threats of the confessor, the wiles of the Superior, all had been exhausted upon her, until, yielding, she had agreed to become their instru- ment, and unsay what she had before said. She now besought him not to abandon her, but not again to hazard an interview, for she mistrusted herself, and dared not again encounter the treatment she had ESCAPE FROM A CONTENT. 125 just received. This time she asked him to frame a scheme for her escape, and confiding in him and his ability to help her, she would give him a week to pre- pare it ; and on that day week, if he would walk under a particular part of the convent wall, a stone containing a roll of paper should be cast over, naming when she would be ready. The brother was rather confounded, but he was cer- tain that the handwriting was that of his sister, and he determined to act upon it. He therefore took his measures, and at the appointed time walked under the wall, where speedily a stone fell down before him. This had a note attached, stating that time pressed, that she would be ready in the garden at a certain spot at a given hour of the next evening, but beseeching him, for his soul's sake, not then to fail her, for that measures were taking against her by which she would be ruined both here and hereafter, if she remained a day beyond the time fixed by her. The brother accordingly pre- pared a rope ladder, and with two friends, on whom he could rely, reached the rendezvous. It was a dark and gusty night which favoured them, and enabled them to cast their ladder and ascend it unobserved. One remained on the outside, the other mounted the wall to observe. Nothing was visible no living being appeared. The hour sounded heavily from the turret-clock, and no noise disturbed its echoes. Their anxiety increased : was her plan discovered ? was her ruin consummated ? Maddened by the thought, he was on the point of wildly rushing to the convent and frustrating all, when suddenly from a cellar-door on a level with the earth stole a figure which, on a near ap- proach, he recognised as his sister. She was saved ! In a moment they place her on the 126 LOWER BRITANNT AND THE BIBLE. ladder and she commences the ascent, when, from long pent-up emotion, the joy of success, the dread of re- capture, she droops and faints, and falls heavily into her brother's arms. He essays to mount the ladder with her, but in vain ; the rope-steps are difficult to mount when alone, but impossible with a burden. They sup- port her, and endeavour to restore her ; her sleep seems eternal. At length she moves, and breathes more quickly ; she is returning to herself. Oh ! the rapture of that moment! She raises herself, and becoming more alive to her critical position, and more able" for exertion, she again commences the ascent, and this time with better success. Already she has gained a few feet from the ground, when lights are seen rapidly moving in the convent, voices are heard, an unusual agitation prevails. Her brother presses her, but again she fails, and is unable either to advance, or return and make way for him, else perhaps he may mount above her and drag her after him. Nor can his companion on the other side help them, as he holds the rope, and his slightest inatten- tion would ruin all. On a sudden the gate opening into the garden from the convent is violently thrown back, and a crowd of women, with two priests, rush confusedly out, searching on all sides for the lost one, but blinded by the dark- ness, and as yet not perceiving her. The imminence of the danger restores her, and she, by a supreme effort, reaches the top of the wall. Just as this has been effected the pursuers catch sight of her brother, and with loud cries make for him. There is now nothing for it but an inglorious skirmish with women. Yet what alternative ? They come on with loud cries, the priests behind, but the two friends stand firm. SOME CAUSES WHICH FILL BRETON CONVENTS. 127 A stout nun rushes on to seize the ladder; in an instant she is thrown back. A second follows her example, and shares her fate ; the rest halt and parley. The priests are mute, leaving the task to better tongues than their own ; and the brother looks sharp about him. His sister has disappeared, and is doubtless safe on the other side. In a few minutes some one may be sent round to intercept her ; no time is to be lost. He whispers to his companion, and the two, with an Indian yell, rush upon the parti-coloured crowd. The Superior, in her fear, turns round, stumbles over and falls upon the other two dark-coloured bundles of bombazine ; other sisters shoot off wildly into the dark- ness ; the priests are nowhere visible ; now is the time. Up the rope-ladder go the two friends like old fore- top men, and before the scared sisterhood have recovered from their alarm, the ladder is drawn over, and all traces of the fugitive have disappeared. Such was the end of the adventure, which was never brought before the tribunals, as there were incidental facts relating to it which would not bear the light ; and to this day, doubtless, the brother recounts and laughs heartily at his ' skirmish with the nuns.' His sister never regretted her liberty regained, and soon made her return impossible by obtaining a legal protector, in whose attentions, I hope, she speedily forgot her troubles. In Britanny, the reason which fills convents is often- times poverty, and not religion. A man has a large family of daughters: what is he to do with them? Marriage is less easy in France than in England i. e. marriage without fortune ; the home menage claims less time, as it is so small; trade is distasteful, besides requiring money : what is he to do with them ? The 128 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. convent offers itself; if he can only get them there, they are provided for life there is an end of them. Thus reasons paternal love, tinctured with prudence, and embittered with many cares. His daughters, young, enthusiastic perchance, and ignorant, who think that convents are the portals of Heaven, and nuns ministering spirits temporarily incar- nate, seize gladly upon the idea, press it home upon him, and if they do not subdue his innate, heartfelt, but secret objections, at least weaken them, and give him an excuse for putting them aside. So after a few strug- gles the matter is decided upon, and the convent gates enclose another victim. I have no wish to libel convents; but, without pin- ning my faith upon 'Maria Monk,' or other similar stories, I do not at all doubt that gross abuses and crimes often prevail here. Of this no man who has considered and read upon the subject can have much hesitation of belief; and, appealing to all who know human nature, I ask whether it is not what we should naturally expect ? Why should the c-onfessional be most purified where most uncontrolled? and why should priests be precisely the most virtuous where there is the least restraint and the most temptation ? And how can human passions and feelings be excluded by stone walls however high, and gates however strong ? But I will not pursue the subject : it is too disagreeable to dwell upon. I have often thought how sad must be the disappoint- ment to some who enter. Failure in worldly prospects, affections blighted, high hopes destroyed, the ravages of death, distrust of self, fear of being struck down in the battle of life these and similar motives may impel an intellectual woman to seek relief in the seclusion of a LABORIOUS DULLNESS OF A CONVENT LIFE. 129 convent ; but how must they feel when their eyes open to its real character, the trifling nature of its avocations, the galling petty restraints, the dull routine of childish duties, the limited scope for benevolence, the ample room for the meaner feelings, and all this, to say nothing of anything above alluded to. Yet pride forbids return ; therefore they submit to. the stunting process, and see their powers weaken visibly, and neglect and put by those pursuits which they once enjoyed as being now too heavy and difficult for their reduced faculties. They spin, they work, they embroider, they sew, they become skilful in confectionery and sweetmeats dear to the priesthood, they make those curious little toys of various kinds which we know so well as * made by the nuns ;' but many of them must be long ere they can do all these things with content ere they can subdue the thought that women have other duties in this world be- sides those of such a poor, trifling, mechanical sort. I do not believe that there is a convent wall in Britanny that does not enclose an amount of human suffering as great as is contained in a hospital. Nor is that suffering lessened, but rather increased, by the fact that it is mental, and not physical. And all this is held forth as woman's ' mission ' ! The ceremony of taking the veil is pervaded with a hollow mockery which has always prevented me feeling any interest in it. The prevailing tone given to it is that of joy. The act is viewed by a wretched sophistry as the act of marriage, and the young girl is to look forward to her union with the sisterhood as to her union with a husband. Her raptures are excited and dwelt upon, her transports of pleasure depicted as if it was a real marriage, but what emptiness is in it ! I remember noticing that the priest in his sermon E 130 LOWER BMTANNY AND THE BIBLE. after one ceremony of this sort which I witnessed, spoke throughout of the act as a matrimonial one, and it did seem to me that he had a sneer on his lips, and must have had in his heart, in thus describing it. For is it not the very reverse does not the whole system go, or is it not presumed to go, upon an opposition to mar- riage? and is it not a mere hollow mockery to allude to the subject at all? There is always an awaking from the dreams of enthusiasm, and cold and dreary must that awaking be within the walls of a convent. Then the kisses with which the novice is greeted are somewhat misplaced rather those of Judas than those of a bridegroom. In one order, that of the Carmelites, which is severe and stern, and views the thing as it really is, a coffin is placed on the floor, and the novice lies down in it to show that she is thenceforth dead to the world and buried also. And yet all is so sweetly painted, the convent life is so calm, so sinless, so even no vain desires there, no troubles, no strifes, no jealousies ; as if sin and trouble existed only without, and not within, and as if by excluding the material part of it we avoided it al- together. This idea would reverse the true principle. It says that bad thoughts proceed from bad acts, and not bad acts from bad thoughts that the hand moves the head, not the head the hand ; and that, conse- quently, where you do no evil you will think none. It gives an easy remedy for curing the defects of our nature, and that a physical one : take the patient and put him between four walls keep him out of harm's way, and he is cured. Perhaps, if we could search the secrets of a convent, we should find that where imagina- tion roves unchecked, and more freely because perform- GALLING TREATMENT ADOPTED IN CONTENTS. 131 ance is impossible, more unnatural combinations are pro- duced, and a more thorough corruption, than when the act and thought are more nearly in relation with each other. But one thing we do know, and that is that the minor passions and feelings are fully developed in the convent life. For- want of great objects, they exercise themselves on small ones ; and if they have no other subjects to dis- cuss, they discuss each other. The system of espionage is in full vigour ; women of high spirit feel themselves surrounded by an irresistible net of small meshes, through which they cannot escape, and which gradually closes upon them ; tale-bearing is encouraged, in order that the character of each may be known ; and all the small annoyances and incidents of a school life are re- produced to the sexagenarian, without the freshness and power of resistance which was once able to turn them into fun. When we arrive at a certain age we have a feeling of independence natural to age, and it must be galling to have to submit to the treatment of children. But to this all must submit who enter a convent, where the Superior is as absolute as the most arbitrary pedagogue who ever nourished ferule, and probably often as un- reasonable. I remembe-r going to a conven,^ to see a ceremony there, when the ladies of my party were accosted in English by a nun. She was an English lady, and re- cognising in our group the signs of English people, her heart, I dare say, warmed towards us. She was a lady- like, agreeable woman, evidently well brought up. In time the Superior joined us, and we all walked together over the convent, though we could not help noticing the change from warmth to coolness which came over our countrywoman from the time the Superior joined us. K 2 132 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. We parted ; but, feeling an interest in the mm, we went again, hoping to see her. We did see her it is true, but she neither looked nor advanced towards us during the two hours we were there, although the Superior and other nuns came ' to us, and had much conversa- tion ; and I have no doubt but that, from fear of contamination, and in remembrance of home feelings, stirred up, perhaps, by contact with her countrymen, the poor nun had been forbidden again to speak to us. This must be galling discipline to grown people, not made visible at their first entry into this terrestrial Paradise. For my part I never pass a convent without pity for its inmates, and a wish that such institutions were all forbidden by law; and, despite of Miss Sellon and her oily words, I trust that we shall always have something better to do with our ' daughters of England ' than to place them there. A very fertile subject of conversation among Breton Catholics is Ireland, and the unjust and cruel way in which Eomanists are assumed to be treated there. To an Englishman who is acquainted with the state of religious liberty in the two countries, any comparison between them on that head is simply absurd; but the general ignorance in Britanny being such as it is, many Bretons are firmly persuaded that Irish Eoman Catholics are only just suffered to exist, and are tortured and harassed in every imaginable way short of murder and absolute extinction. Even as to England, they have a general notion that Eomanism is persecuted and under various disabilities ; but as to Ireland bah! c'est horrible! And yet truth obliges us to say that there is a perfect religious equality between Eomanists and Protestants in Ireland. As citizens, the law and the practice regards IRELAND AND BRITANNY COMPARED. 133 all of them equally, and protects the civil and religious rights of each in exactly the same way. It is not im- probable that some of the Protestants of Ireland might rather object to this assertion, and contend that they did not meet with the regard and attention which Eomanists receive. For instance, I have now before me the report of a meeting of Protestants at Belfast, held Sept. 19, 1862, and attended by 70,000 persons a very monster meeting of which the stated object was ' to give public expression to their sentiments as to the systematic partiality and injustice practised towards the Protestants of the country in the administration of the laws ; ' and at this meeting various speakers, members of Parliament and others, express publicly their opinion that Konianism is not merely treated justly and equally, but is, in fact, preferred and favoured in Ireland ; and they are highly indignant thereat. Still I believe the fact to be, that the law is as equal as is possible between the two religions, We may then safely say, in upholding the principles of religious liberty in Britanny, as we have done, that ' our hands are clean,' and that the Breton priesthood have no shadow of a right to reproach us with preaching abroad what we do not practise at home. It is true that the Irish Romanists are in a state of perpetual agitation, and I believe ever will be, because general orders from Home forbid them to be quiet until they have the dominant rule there, and towards this they seem now to direct their efforts. At first, years ago, they agitated for certain extensions of liberty and for toleration ; then they consented to Catholic emanci- pation, with ' securities ' for the safety of the Established Church : then they threw the securities overboard and claimed equality with Protestants in all things ; and 134 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. now they are agitating for the last step, namely, pre- dominance, and ' Ireland for the Irish.' This is Home's game to get the result little by little, and make one advance the stepping-stone to another. Happily, however, for us, having now done for her all which justice can require, we can oppose her further encroachments with a firm foot and a united action. For myself, I have never regretted the Catholic Eman- cipation Act, as I consider it to have been a great political act of justice, and one of Peel's noblest public measures; and it is with a clear conscience that its supporters may now oppose the further demands of Eome for increased privileges. I should like to hear what the Breton priesthood would say to a proposal for opening a Protestant Maynooth college in Britanny, supported by the State. I believe the bare mention of it would almost cause a revolution in the country, and yet they count the Irish Maynooth as nothing. I would not abolish Maynooth by any means, but I think Parliament has a right, which it should exercise to inspect its management and details, and to see that the public funds are not employed in teaching sedition and immorality, and in encouraging rebellion. But the ignorance which prevails in Britanny gener- ally, as to the state of religion in England, passes belief. I have been asked whether we had religious services there whether Protestants prayed and believed in a God, for many think that Protestant and Pagan are synony- mous terms. They look at England generally, and Lord Palmerston in particular, as general disturbers of the peace ; and if now and then they contract intimate relations with individual Englishmen, it is UNITY OF ROMISH CHURCH A MERE NAME. 135 with a saving clause of hatred of the nation and Govern- ment. I have had it said to me a hundred times, *I like yon well enough, but I detest your country and its Government.' In everything hostile to France they see England as the chief agent, and if a plague of locusts coming from the East were to cover Britanny, I verily believe they would say that England sent them. Under such circumstances, an English missionary has need of wary walking to avoid pitfalls, and when he does fall into one he has little chance of being helped out of it, by a Breton at least The good Samaritans of Britanny are for the most part one-eyed, and have therefore naturally a blind side, to turn towards what they don't want to see. There is no subject on which I have heard Eomanists dissert more complacently than the unity of the Church of Rome, and the disunion of Protestants. They love to speak of Rome as the rock, one and indivisible, and of the innumerable sects into which Protestants are divided, and which, according to what they say, carry on a perpetual internecine war. It is the^r favourite cheval de bataille for great occasions. They speak of the English Church, the French Church, the American Church, and all Protestant dissenters, as mutually hostile tearing Christ's body asunder, and yet never finding the spirit in it. Yet, in my humble opinion, these bodies or denomina- tions of Christians do not differ in fundamental points. A few exceptions are to be found, as is natural, in a body of eighty millions of free men, who allow free examina- tion and judgement in religious matters as a first principle; but in the main all agree in the essential principles of Christianity, which, happily for the mass of mankind, are few and simple. 136 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. On secondary points points of form and detail, differences may be expected as naturally as we expect differences of size or complexion among men ; and they do but prove the variety and freedom of the human mind, and justify on natural grounds the religious liberty which Protestantism holds so dear. Such differ- ences seem to me to be in highly favourable contrast with the external unity of Eomanism, a unity pro- duced by violent and unnatural compression, and which will cease to exist when the pressure is removed ; for no person can destroy or paralize human thought that subtle essence which refuses to be bound, and which cannot be extinguished. It is like sea sand, which by pressure can be forced to assume certain forms, but, when the pressure is removed, resumes all its individuality, and becomes angular and distinct as before. But as to the vaunted unity of Eome, possible though it may be, it does not exist in reality, much as it is paraded before us. By the last article of the Council of Trent each Eomanist is made to declare ' that he receives and professes all things declared by the sacred canons and general councils ;' this is the base the very 'modern base of this ancient doctrine of the unity of the Komish Church. Now, at first sight, this looks like unity, but let us see how it 'works. In the first place, learned doctors are not agreed as to what general councils are included here. Gribert, a Romanist author of great weight, admits the ' uncer- tainty of the western (Ecumenical Councils ; ' Moreri ' grants the disagreement of authors in their enumera- tion.' There are, in fact, three parties on the subject in the very bosom of this united church. One party CONFUSED UNITY OF ROMISH CHURCH. 137 reckons the general councils at 18. A second party counts 18, but includes and rejects some which the other party does not. A third party omits a part of those general councils which intervened between the 8th and 16th general councils. And even the whole of them are omitted by Clement, Abrahams, and Pole, and a part even by the Council of Constance. Bellarmine adds 8 to the above 18, and as to the Council of Pisa he neither rejects nor adopts it. And Pope Leo rejected the canons of the 2nd general council, and Pope Gregory the Great declared that the Komish Church held neither to the acts nor canons of the Byzantine Councils ! And this is Unity I With this * confusion more confounded,' how is it possible to believe all things professed by the councils, when the validity of the councils themselves is still undecided, and is the subject of lively discussion from time to time ? It is simply impossible. Then, again, where is the 'unity' as to the exact position and power of the Pope ? If there is unity, why do the Gallican and Ultra-Montane parties disagree upon this vital question, and carry on their ' war to the knife 'about it? Then, as to the infallibility of the Church, there are four different parties, who hold four different doctrines upon it. One places infallibility in the Koman Pontiff, another in a general council, another in a council held by a Pope, and another in the Church generally. Where is unity in all this chaos? who can speak with authority in this Babel of opposing opinions ? And yet forsooth there is Unity. ' We believe in the Unity of the Church.' All cry Unity! Unity! as the bird of spring cries cuckoo ! cuckoo ! and thereupon all his con- geners utter the same note in a way wonderful to hear. 138 LOWER BEITANNT AND THE BIBLE. And remember that these differences of opinion are on an essential point of doctrine, and occur in a church which professes to be united par excellence, and to allow no differences of opinion. Unity is the keystone of the main arch in the Great Roman Temple. What must become of the edifice when it is withdrawn ? But one thing is almost certain, and that is, that in spite of all pression and compression in spite of conclaves and councils, of popes and creeds the more enlightened Romanists of the present day admit the defect in ques- tion, and would strive to remedy it. They see the inevitable decadence of their Church, unless she keeps pace with the progress of the age ; they see the state of those countries in which bigotry and the Romish system have had full sway, such as Spain and Italy and Rome itself, and with ardour they would reform that Church to which they are still attached. But alas ! the difficulties are insuperable. ' Vestigia nulla retrorsumS Bowed down and bound by that heavy chain of Infalli- bility, change is destruction, and these choice spirits must ever follow the beaten path of their predecessors see with shame and regret what they cannot alter, and die nominally within the pale of a Church one of whose leading dogmas they disbelieve and reject the pioneers, and, alas ! the victims, of religious progress, opposed by a so-called infallible system. Yes ! the Council of Trent set the seal to the destruc- tion of the Romish Church, when it issued its so-called death-blow to Luther. Those learned doctors were, after all, but blind moles. So that the evil and its cure come from the same source, though the latter comes involuntarily. As says Gioberti, the most eloquent and enlightened of modern Romanist writers, speaking of the causes of the decay RECENT OCCURRENCE TO BRETON COLPORTEUR. 139 of the Komish system, which he deeply deplores ' What is the cause of this state of things ? It is be- cause the Komish Church is behind the age in all things, and the evil comes from Rome.' Mark these words, ' the evil comes from Romej and that which he calls the evil, we call the cure. In all this are to be seen signs of the end. A little incident occurred in the department of Finis- tere in Britanny, in the spring of this year (1862), which shows the close watch kept upon Protestantism in those parts. As I have already stated, the Scriptures are distri- buted in Britanny by colporteurs, and of late the dis- tribution has increased in a way to gladden the hearts of those engaged in the work. At the meeting of the Protestant Society at Morlaix, in February 1862, this encouraging fact was stated by one of the speakers, and his remarks were afterwards inserted in the Bulletin Evangelique. This soon fell under the notice of one of the many lynx-eyed priests who abound in Britanny, and who immediately began to pull some of those numerous but unseen wires which connect the Eornish Church with the State in France ; and with good result, as will appear by the sequel. The colporteur going on his usual avocations, was stopped suddenly at Quimperle by the gendarmes, and conducted by them before the brigadier there, and also before the Sous-Prefet. They ransacked his bag, and examined his license and all his papers, but all were en regie and no flaw was to be discovered there. So they fell back on their power, and ordered him to cease dis- tributing any more Bibles, * by order of the Prefet,' and sent his papers, 0,, up to Quinaper for further examination. 140 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. The poor man was meanwhile to wait at Quimperle, which he did during many days with great patience, and he might have waited till Doomsday, for Koine delights in a waiting game ; ^but a friend advised him to see the Prefet himself, which he resolved to do, and went to Quimper for the purpose. But it is one thing to wish to see this great orb of the provincial system, and another to get actual sight of him. However, the colporteur stuck to his man like a leech, and made daily calls at the Prefecture, and representations were made by other parties on the subject, and the Prefet was made to understand that the Protestants of the country would not allow (rod's word to be Burked in this manner. So after divers goings and comings for upwards of a week, and much communication and consultation be- tween the Prefecture and the bishop's palace and the Jesuit seminary at Quimper, and an occasional telegram from Paris from the Ministre des (Jultes, the order was sent to the colporteur to continue his work if he chose. And thus the end of this opposition was to give greater freedom than before, and to cast discouragement on the enemies of the work. This little incident proves three things the active watchfulness of the priestly party in Britanny, their influence with the local authorities, and the present favourable disposition of the Imperial Government towards Protestantism. Doubtless, on the fact of the increased circulation of the Scriptures reaching the ears of the priestly party, they immediately acted on the Prefet and other pro- vincial powers with the usual exclamations, * Qual infamia! qual picardia!' &c. The Prefet and his counsellors at once gave way to. the pressure, and stopped the work, and hoped the matter might end GOOD RESULT, IN THE END, OF PRIESTLY INTERFERENCE. 141 there; but when Protestantism showed fight, and re- fused to be put down in such a summary way, it was necessary to refer to the Government at Paris, and then the increased liberality of feeling of the Government on religious subjects came into play. It is probable the Pi-i'fct was reprimanded for yielding so readily to the priests, and he was left to reconcile matters with them as he best could. As to the priests, they had to eat their leek, ma lyre bony r 6, and could only console them- selves by dreaming of the ' good time coming,' lately foreshadowed by that thorough-paced old soldier of Eome, the Archbishop of Toulon,:* 1 , in his discourse on the anniversary of the massacre of 4,000 Protestants in that city in 1562, as to which see post page 222, et seq. 142 CHAPTER IX. CONCLUDING EEMABKS ON RELIGIOUS PROGRESS EMPEROR WELL DISPOSED ANECDOTE OF EMPEROR AND M., TACHARD ON THE WHOLE THINGS IMPROVE PROTESTANT MOVEMENT IN BRITANNY, AND IN FRANCE GENERALLY FRIENDS MAY TAKE COURAGE. AS I have before said, and now repeat, let all wait and hope. Already signs of returning day are visible here and there, though as yet the light only gilds the loftiest peaks; still there is light, and ere long there is reason to believe that it will be more generally diffused ; and though it may be years before the valleys are penetrated by it, yet we may be certain that that happy time will eventually arrive. As I have stated more than once in this work, I fully believe that the Emperor sympathises in many points with Protestants ; and if his natural tendencies were unrestrained, I am disposed to think that there would be a more practical carrying out of the right at present existing in the constitution merely as a phrase and a theory, i. e. the right of Protestantism, as a separate form of religion, to equal protection from the State. I will add upon this point a fact which I do not think has yet been given to the English public, but which I believe is nevertheless strictly true. This fact, added to others of the same kind, shows plainly, to my mind at least, the real sentiments of the Emperor towards French Protestants, and in my opinion they would act more wisely were they to address themselves directly to GOOD DISPOSITION OF EMPEROR TOWARDS PROTESTANTS. 143 him for relief, instead of, as is often the case, abusing and suspecting him. The circumstance occurred in the tour he took as Prince President, and a short time before his election as Emperor. In that tour he visited Nismes, on the 30th Sep- tember, and after his arrival he had a reception, at which all the authorities, civil, military, and eccle- siastic, made their obeisance. Among them were the representatives of the Protestant churches in the de- partment of the Gard, forming a deputation of eighty- three pastors, all in their gowns, and headed by the Eev. M. Tachard, President of the Consistory of Nismes, who was to present an address to the President on the general state of Protestantism in those parts. The Jesuit party knew all this, and determined that the address should not be read if possible ; and they are clever sappers and miners. At the moment M. Tachard approached the Prince, address in hand, an officer of the Prefet whispered in his ear, ' There is no time now for the address, nor should any be presented pass on.' The time and place were not favourable for discussion etiquette reigns in courts and after a few rapid words of congratulation to the Prince on his arrival among them, the deputation filed on and passed away. The Jesuit party was full of joy; their plans had succeeded, and they had put by the address cleverly ; but their triumph was short, as we shall soon see. The Prince, seeing the long file of pastors, looked surprised, then suddenly rising, he addressed himself to one of them who was in the act of passing, and asked him if he came from Montauban? From this ques- tion, it is probable that they had given the Prince to 144 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. believe that he had before him the Protestant repre- sentatives of the whole South of France, instead of, as was the case, of one department only. The pastor addressed had his wits about him, and replied, f Xo, Prince; you have before you 'eighty-three pastors from one single department, that of the Gard, representing 400,000 Protestants; and had the opportunity been allowed them, they would have assured your Highness that their fervent prayers and best wishes were offered for you.' * And who has prevented them ? ' said the Prince. * They told our President,' replied the pastor, * that you were pressed for time, and he did not persist, as he wished to consult your convenience.' e I said no- thing of the kind,' ,the Prince said; 'and I will see that we meet again,' and so bowed them on, and they passed out. In the evening, a grand banquet, at which all the chief people were present, was given at the Hotel de Ville. The Pastor President, M. Tachard, was far away from the Prince, at the other end of the table. The Prince was observed to look about, along the faces before him, until his eyes rested on M. Tachard, and he evidently recognised him. After dinner, and when in the drawing-room, the Prince approached him, drew him aside, and expressed his regret at the misunderstanding of the morning. The pastor replied, that happily the remedy was easy, for he had his address in his pocket, and if the Prince wished he would now present it to him. The Prince thanked him, took the address from his hand, and read it with attention. * He did not skip a word,' said the pastor, who followed his eyes carefully. At length the Prince returned the address, and said, I sympathise cordially with such sentiments. I am in favour of religious liberty, and I will maintain it.' ' Then,' said PASTOR PRESIDENT AND PRINCE PRESIDENT. 145 the pastor, taking heart from the Prince's friendly manner, ' since you have so graciously allowed me this interview, allow me to add that I have confidential matters to communicate to you, and that I should regard it as a great favour to be honoured with an hour's audience to-morrow morning.' ' It will be difficult,' said Louis Napoleon ; ' cannot you at once tell me what you want to say?' 'Not easily, Mon- seigneur, we might be overheard ; besides, a long con- versation at this moment might be wrongly interpreted.' ' Very well,' said the Prince, ' come to-morrow at eight o'clock ; ' and so terminated the interview, on which a thousand conjectures had already been hazarded by the lookers on, Jesuits and others. However, according to the official programme, the whole of the morning was already occupied with one thing or other. Among the number was the laying the first stone of a Eoman Catholic church. The Prince had the Prefet called before him. *We must change the programme, Monsieur le Prefet : I shall not have time to lay the first stone of the church ; the fact is, at that time I have an appointment with the President du Con- sistoire of Nismes.' The Prefet, who was devoted to the priest party (be- cause it was the strongest), was in consternation. He remonstrated, and even begged the Prince to reflect, but in vain, and had to retire and change the pro- gramme, and put off the laying the first stone of the Eomanist church until a later hour. At eight o'clock, exactly, we may be sure, M. Tachard arrived, and was received by an aide-de-camp, who said gaily to him, * The Prince is waiting for you ;' and on the reception- door being opened, the Prince advanced to meet him, offered him a chair, and sat down by him. L 146 LOWEK BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. During a full hour the Prince and the pastor re- mained in confidential conversation. The details of what passed on this occasion will probably never be known. The pastor said to one who inquired of him, ' No one but our Creator and ourselves will ever know it completely.' He, however, communicated to one friend, that, among other things, he said this to the Prince : * The Protestants of the south were always * the friends of the Emperor your uncle, for he was the ' friend of religious liberty ; and they will be your friends, ' Monseigneur, if you also show yourself the friend of 1 their liberty, and of their religious rights. The Pro- * testants are easily satisfied on these points, but to * deprive them of these would be like taking away from * them what they consider their birthright.' ' Tell your friends,' replied the Prince, that they ' have nothing to fear from me in this respect ; and if 'ever you are troubled or molested in the exercise of * your religious rights, let me know, and address your- * selves directly to me.' This very remarkable interview and conversation is worth recording, and it shows, I think, that the Em- peror is friendly to Protestants and their principles, if left to himself. But he has many and great difficulties to contend with, and many great interests to reconcile ; and allowance should be made for him, if he does not always act towards Protestantism as we should wish him. He is in theory an absolute monarch, but he is by no means able to do as he likes in all things ; and we should not overlook the difficulties of his position, nor be so hasty in judging him as many people are. In Britanny the friends of the cause are more cheer- ful, and see signs of advance in many things, small in themselves, perhaps, but making together an appre- THE CAUSE PROGRESSES, THOUGH SLOWLY. 147 ciable quantity. The department of Finistere, which, until within the last three or four years, was wholly closed and sealed up against the Gospel for God's word in the Breton tongue had been during many years re- fused circulation there, is opened in some degree, as the Bible is now allowed to be colported there, under certain conditions. More liberty of speech and preaching has also been allowed to Protestants, and controversies have been tolerated which years back would have been summarily stopped. Grants have been made by the administration to- wards a new chapel at Brest, to assist which, by dona- tions, a collection has been set on foot, to which friends of the cause may most usefully contribute; and in general a more favourable, or at any rate a less unfa- vourable influence seems to prevail among the autho- rities, all of which is, of course, the result of orders from head-quarters, for nothing of that kind springs up naturally in France. Then a Protestant minister, M. Vermeil, has been appointed at Rennes, and a chapel opened ; and at Lorient there is a probability of a chapel being soon built. All these are visible signs of the progress of the Bible in Britanny. When we look beneath the surface, also, there are various proofs that the leaven is working. Some of the little facts I have given, as to accidentally falling upon traces of a spontaneous vegetation of Protestantism here and there, are, I doubt not, types of a very large class, which more extended research would discover ; so that, on the whole, and when we consider the naturally slow nature of the work, its friends have, I think, reason to thank God, and take courage. L 2 148 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. I have always thought, and often said to friends in Britanny, that when the Emperor felt himself firm in the saddle he would give the priests a touch of the curb enough, at least, to make them feel that they had their master behind them ; and I believe that that touch is now being administered, and that the priests are chafed by it. Hitherto they have been on the sunny side of the hill, but it seems probable that they will soon feel some of that north wind which has blown so long and so blightingly on Protestants. But their in- fluence on the mass of the people is such that to oppose them requires forces of all kinds; and there is little doubt that if the priestly party were to exert all their power against the government, even Louis Napoleon would find his match. He is therefore obliged to act with the greatest caution. As to his caring much for the religious value of either Eomanism or Protestantism, I fear he does not think seriously about it, for he is not a religious man ; but still, judging by the opinions expressed by him in his various printed works and elsewhere, I do believe that he has more sympathy with the latter than with the former. A man of his intelligence and liberality of mind cannot possibly, one would think, sympathise with the party that would, if it had the power, repress every effort of the human intellect that agreed not with the dogmas of their Church; and that would reduce the various intellectual forces to one dead level, to be judged of by celibate and often ignorant priests. The interview and conversation with the President du Consistoire of Nismes, given previously by me in this work, is very interesting in this point of view, and confirms what I now say. I am told, too, by Breton friends, that the Italian THE 'ROMAN QUESTION' REACTS FAVORABLY IN BRITANNY. 149 question, as it is called, has reacted strongly in Bri- tanny. The Pope and the Emperor are at variance, as is visible to all men, and the state of affairs is tendu to the highest degree ; and Britanny being the very focus of the Papal power in France, the priests and the Legi- timist party are in a hot and agitated state, and plot and talk treason, and act in such a way as to call for the anxious attention of the Government. The Emperor checks them, and looks around for friends, and there are the Protestants, loyal and tranquil, as they have always been; so he encourages them a little to keep them in good humour, and the effect of all this is to produce a certain warmth in the atmosphere which has not been felt for many years. One of the consequences is, that the distribution of the Scriptures in the last year has been greatly increased, in fact, I think it is now equal to what it was in 1848; for it is a remarkable fact, and shows what the Bretons would do if left to themselves, that in the year of the Republic, when the priests and authorities dared not harass and bind up the people as before, the sale of the Scriptures was trebled as compared with the preceding twelve months. All that Protestantism wants in Britanny is, a ' free stage and no favour ;' all that it asks for is, that practical equality of religious rights, which the French consti- tution in theory already affords. If we look abroad into France generally, there are many signs showing that religion is in a state of effer- vescence and transition. Notwithstanding the sad fact that the men of France in general are (I regret to state my opinion, and yet it is but the opinion of Frenchmen themselves) of no real religious belief whatever prac- tical infidels in religion ; yet at this moment religious 150 LOWEE BBITANNY AND THE BIBLE. questions are much more mooted than formerly, and religious discussion is gradually becoming f aUordre du, jour.'' As an eminent French writer, M. St. Hilaire, says: 'II y a toujours eu de la piete en France, et cette piete a toujours fait fausse route.' There seems a considerable probability that many Frenchmen will no longer be content with the travesty of religion which the priests perform for them, and that in this age of free examination they will exert that freedom which is denied to them in political matters, and will examine religion and judge for themselves. France has never been without religious instincts at any period of her history from Clovis to the Crusades, from the Crusades to St. Bartholomew, from thence to the Concordat, and from thence even to the Eevolutiou, when, having deposed the true (rod from his earthly throne, they set up another the goddess of reason in his place, and had their grand fetes for the acknowledged worship of L'Etre Supreme. Perhaps she is now feeling sated with having so long fed on that which satisfies not, and her soul craves after nourishment more solid and enduring something more than pleasure and the mere material well-being in this life ; and asks for something to believe, and sighs for something beyond what she can see and touch. Eomanism will never give this to her for it has it not to give. Besides which, France knows the system too well already has seen it- at work, and felt its falseness and emptiness ; and has a horror and contempt for priestcraft. France, too, sees what Eomanism has done for other nations Spain and Italy for instance, and what Pro- testantism has done for England and America. These are patent facts^ which force themselves into view. ON THE WHOLE THERE IS GOOD GROUND FOR HOPE. 151 But if religious wants really exist which Eomanism cannot satisfy if the present system must be changed, there is only one change practicable, and that is towards a free examination of the Bible and its doctrines, and the adoption of a Protestant Christianity. There is a rock on which to build something stable ; all else is but quicksand and mirage of the desert. Great events are looming in the far horizon, and already visible, though only as little clouds. But pro- gress is rapid in our days. Italy has made a giant's step towards civil liberty, and only waits to make another to acquire it fully. And shall religious liberty be left behind ? When Eome has become the capital of Italy an event now, I fully believe, near at hand, in spite of human combinations, however artfully con- trived where will be the Papacy ? And if Italy, throwing aside the chains of ages, should stand erect in the pride of freedom, and demand a free conscience in religion as in politics should reassert her ancient dignity and preeminence, and boldly protest against Eomanism I think the shock would be spread as by electricity, and would overthrow the rotten scaffolding which supports Eomanism in France, and breathe a new vitality into millions there whose hearts now seem as dead as the blanched bones in the valley seen of the Prophet. Let no friends of the good cause then despair of its success in Britanny or in France, but let them pray, hope, and wait. 152 CHAPTER X. OK OTTO, AND RELIGIOUS LIBEBTY CASE OF FBESNOY LE GRAND LETTEES OF PBEFET HIS DECHEE MERITS KEEPING IN AMBEB. ALAS ! for the state of religious liberty in France ! In the teeth of Article 5 of the Constitution, that ' each is to profess his religion with the same liberty, * and obtain for his worship the same protection,' the Protestant does not profess his religion with the same liberty, nor is the protection given to his religion equal with that given to the Eomanist. Cases are continually occurring to show the truth of what I assert, and from time .to time as they hap- pened and were fresh in the mind, I have been in the habit of noting them down, and making remarks on them ; and such facts and remarks I will proceed to give to my readers, that they may judge for themselves whether equal protection is actually given, by the French law and its practice, to Komanism and to Protestant- ism, or not. I only give a few cases, but I could have multiplied them tenfold if required, as unhappily there is a frequent supply of them ; but it would only fatigue my readers, and they can equally come to a judgement on the subject from a few clear cases as from many. A very important and striking instance of the manner in which Protestantism is treated in France is afforded in the case of Fresnoy le Grand, in the department of the Aisne. RELIGIOUS LIBERTY OF SLOW GROWTH. 153 When men talk of toleration, and of equal religious rights being secured by laws, they often forget that to ensure the real execution of these laws there must be a sound state of public opinion among the people. We can no more produce liberality of feeling by Act of Parliament, than we can produce electricity : it is to substitute the cause for the effect. Practically to carry out and guarantee equal religious rights requires a high state of civilisation in a nation, and unless that condi- tion exists, the possession of the principle is a mere mockery. The state of France is a proof of this. As we all know, the constitutions which have been show- ered down upon France so liberally during the last seventy years have all in words admitted the principle of the equality of religions ; and, as we all may know, such bare admissions have led to small results. The spirit of the people, despite all its real indifference and scepticism, remains Koman Catholic and exclusive, more so in a political, perhaps, than a religious sense : and to all intents and purposes Protestantism is persecuted and oppressed as much as she is in Italy or Austria, with the sole difference of a little more outward decency in the form. These remarks are so common, and are so fre- quently called forth by passing events, that we may as well stereotype them at once for future use, to save ink and paper ; but they furnish a powerful comment upon the spirit of Komanism. As in Tuscany, proselytism by Protestants was a crime, so in France it is a moral misdemeanor, which the authorities never fail to dis- countenance when it is brought before them. Look, for instance, at the ease of Fresnoy le Grand. For two years a Protestant service was regularly per- formed there by a minister delegated by the Consistory 154 LOWER BHITANNT AND THE BIBLE. of St. Quentin. There being no chapel, the schoolhouse was used as the most convenient place for the worship, and all went on well until a decree was issued by the Prefet, stating that a numerous meeting having been held in the schoolroom at Fresnoy le Grand, and before the door of the school-room, ' with the apparent object ' of hearing religious reading and preaching, and such a ' meeting being likely to affect the public peace, it was * necessary to forbid all religious meetings in the said ' commune, except in places set apart legally for wor- ' ship.' Just observe the quiet tyrannical insolence of this decree, ' with the apparent object,' &c., and 'affect the public peace,' &c., and the saving clause at the end, ' except in places set apart legally,' which seems so right and proper until the fact is known that the said school- room was the only place where worship could be celebrated, that there was no other ' legal ' place ; and that consequently when it was closed up, there remained no means whatever of Protestant worship for the people at Fresnoy. Upon this decree appearing the President of the Consistory at St. Quentin informed the Prefet that a chapel was building at Fresnoy to receive the increasing congregation, and that the use of the schoolroom was merely provisional, and requesting that it might still be permitted for a short time, until the chapel was completed. But the worthy functionary was not so to be caught. He immediately changed his ground, and took an objection which would apply to schoolroom and chapel too ; and in so doing we know not which to admire the most, the boldness or the skill of the Pre- fet. For it requires no slight courage to deny a fact. But Eome does not use this arrow with faltering hands. CASE OF FRESNOY LE GRAND. 165 It has often been her system, and boldness is often successful. The objection of the Prefet was that there were no Protestants in the commune nothing less ! How surprised many of the Protestant inhabitants must have been to see one fine morning their very being destroyed by the Prefet. No Protestants in the commune! Well ! an enquiry was made and duly proceeded with before the Juge de Paix, and it resulted that no less than forty-one heads of families, representing say nearly two hundred persons, professed themselves Protestants, and asked for the establishment of the Protestant wor- ship at Fresnoy. This enquiry was conducted in the following manner : It was carried on for eight days, the Tamborier, or crier, going round each morning to announce the com- mencement, and desiring all parties interested to attend ; and at same time a notice was posted requesting all who felt the want of a Protestant chapel at Fresnoy, to sign their names at the Mairie. Many of the poor people, though Protestants at heart, doubtless remained at home with some vague fear that in signing their names to such a declaration they might be signing their death warrant, or at least might expose them- selves to trouble or persecution. Such a signature was equivalent to a profession of Protestantism, and in a Roman Catholic country, like France, the public profession of Protestantism, for the first time, is a step of serious import, certain to induce temporal loss. No better means, therefore, could have been devised for damping the zeal of the incipient converts, and dimin- ishing the number of signatures. Suppose, for instance, in tt town in Protestant Eng- land, a movement in favour of Romanism was suspected, 156 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. and notably among the poor, and that a public notice was given that on a certain day all persons wishing to establish a Komanist chapel should attend at the Town- hall and sign their names, in the presence of the magistrates, the rector, the directors of the poor, and the administrators of the different charities by which the poor are in part supported all such func- tionaries being Protestant, and therefore naturally averse from the movement. Think you that many would attend ? I trow not. Think you not, also, that various influences would be brought to bear upon many, so as induce them to stay away ? Yea ! verily. However in spite of all obstacles, moral and physical, forty-one heads of families, representing some two hun- dred individuals, did appear, and signed their names boldly and regardless of consequences ; and the answers of some of these men are worthy of record. One is asked, * Since when were you Protestant ? ' ' Since I learnt to know Him who died upon the cross for my sins.' ' And your children ? ' 'I have five daughters they are also Protestants, and we read the Bible together every day.' Another is asked, ' Are you Pro- testant ? ' * Not yet because to become a Protestant it is not sufficient to change nominally, but we must also change our lives ; and this I hope soon to accom- plish.' All this has the ring of true metal. How blind is man, and how, after all his puny efforts, he does but work for G-od, even when thinking to work against Him ; for the effect of this enquiry at Fresnoy has been excellent. All who have signed have, as it were, thrown away the scabbard, and now stand com- mitted publicly to the cause of Protestantism, and are doubly occupied in strengthening themselves and their brethren also. PRESET HAKD TO BE CONVINCED. 157 The Prefet's desire for information was now gratified. He wanted to know if there were really Protestants in the commune the enquiry showed that there were; and here is his cool unblushing letter to the President of the Consistory : ' Laon, 22 Sept. 1852. ' Sir, I have received with the documents accom- panying it, your letter of the 12th inst., as to the exercise of the reformed religion at Fresnoy. ' I maintain in all points the terms of my dispatch of the 5th inst., and I shall not rescind the prohibition to hold religious meetings at Fresnoy, until I shall be convinced that there really exist Protestants in that place, and that you shall have addressed to me a petition signed by your coreligionists. ' Enclosed is the letter you have addressed to the Mlnistre des Cultes, and which I beg to decline for- warding to him. If you send it to him, I shall inform him of the motives of the decree which you attack. Eeceive, &c., (Signed) DE BEAUMONT.' In reply, the President forwarded to the Prefet a declaration, signed by upwards of forty heads of families at Fresnoy, and stated that as his enquiry was now so satisfactorily disposed of, he hoped there would be no further obstacles to the assembling together of the Protestants as formerly. And what objection could there be in reality, had the Prefet ever intended honestly ? He wishes to know if there were really any Protestants at Fresnoy ; he finds as a fact, proved in the manner he had himself laid down, that there are cer- tainly from one hundred and fifty to two hundred. There should properly, therefore, have been an end to the affair. 158 LOWER BRIT ANN Y AND THE BIBLE. Doubtless the Prefet and his priestly friends were in a corner, but they were not asleep or to be caught. A bright thought, darting up at a white heat from below, penetrates him. ' Protestants perchance, but soi-dwant; calling themselves so, paid to do it probably ; but are they so in fact, are they sincere and good men ? That is the question. I must have true men, men " in buckram," nothing else will do for me. My name is Didymus. I am not content with the outside ; I can see farther into a stone wall than most men, I must look within these Protestants. I regard as nothing the present enquiry the Juge de Paix was a blockhead ; I will have another enquiry, and it shall (out of deference for the individuals concerned) be a private one.' So enquiry No. 2 is commenced, though not with beat of drum as was the first. This is carried on with closed doors : no one knows how, for the parties con- cerned were never summoned to attend. The people were dispirited, there would be no end to these en- quiries. Next they would enquire the color of their eyes or if their physical walk was as upright as their moral, or if their noses were Eoman or Grecian, or snub or cogitative, or what not ? However the enquiry was made, and most probably the priests furnished the information needed ; though, as the proceedings were carried on secretly, it is impossible to say. Little matters it more or less who were the informants, for it is not now a question of fact but one of opinion, and opinions are diverse even as to the best men ; as may be seen plainly when, not long ago, a worthy man in a London municipal council a Mr. Beaton expressed his opinion that the Duke of Wellington deserved nothing from his country. This was the cleverness of the Prefet he had first PRE>ET WON'T BE BEATEN. 159 joined issue upon a fact i.e., whether or not there were Protestants at Fresnoy and had been beaten. Now he takes warning, and joins issue upon an opinion viz., whether they are sincere ; and, with Komish priests and their allies for witnesses and jurymen, who can doubt the verdict ? But let the great official speak for himself in his letter to the President of the Protestant Consistory of St. Quentin, announcing his foregone con- clusion : 'Laon, Oct. 12, 1852. * Sir, In consequence of my decision of the 1st * August last, you addressed to me, on the 23rd Sep- 'tember, a petition, signed by certain inhabitants of 'Fresnoy le Grand, calling themselves Protestants, ' desiring to be allowed to meet in a place assigned, in ' order to perform their devotions. ' The conversation which I had the honour of having 'with you some time since, would doubtless make 'you see how much I respected the great principle ' of religious liberty guaranteed by our laws ! [What a face of CBS triplex must this excellent creature have been endowed with, gravely to enunciate these good sentiments, and yet act as he was doing ! How he must have slyly chuckled at the wretched glozing jugglery !] ' I should, therefore, have been altogether disposed ' to recall my decision, and authorise prayer meetings, ' &c., at Fresnoy, if it had been proved to me that the ' individuals who claimed them were real Protestants, or ' that their desire to enter into the reformed Church was sincere, and agreed with the regularity of their lives, ' their morality, and their conduct. ' But the results of the enquiry which I have made ' [the secret one] gives me the proofs that the persons 160 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. 'in question are not animated by any religious senti- 6 ments, and that they only attend the meetings as a ' means of agitation, as a way of arranging together * in view of certain possible future circumstances. * Among the signers of the petition there is, in fact, ' only one Protestant as to the others, they declare for f the most part that they are not Protestants, but at the ' same time they demand a place for religious worship ; * and those who call themselves members of the reformed ' Church declare that they shall leave their children and ' their wives to follow freely whatever religion they may ' prefer. [Pity but that the Prefet would have imitated * their tolerant spirit.] ' Is it, therefore, to be allowed, Monsieur le Pasteur, * to believe in such declarations to trust in the sincerity ' and good faith of those who make them, when, above ( all, in examining into their morality, one is forced to * acknowledge that those who call themselves, or who 'wish to become, your converts, are generally men ' without morality or conduct, whose reputation is bad ' in all points, who practise no religion, and who in times * of peril are only remarkable by the radicalism of their ' political ideas and their democratic principles ? ' A word upon this paragraph, so full of calumny and insult. Is it likely, think you, that the Consistory of St. Quentin a body of Protestants acting under responsi- bility would have licensed a pastor to a congregation so composed ? that they would have brought down such a scandal upon their cause, as to embrace within their circle only men * without morality or conduct, whose reputation is bad in all points ? ' But they * practise no religion,' says the Prefet. PROTESTANTISM THE RELIGION OF FREEDOM. 161 Gently, if you please they do not practise the Ro- manist religion hinc illce lachiymce but they do practise the reformed religion, to which end they wish for a convenient building. It is the very gist of the matter, the practising of the Protestant religion. We may, therefore, dismiss this charge also. But, * in times of peril they are only remarked by the radicalism of their political ideas and their democratic pi*inciples.' Well, at least, they have only talked there have been no overt acts ; ideas and principles break no bones, and in the present gagged state of France, when words are counted and reported, those who only talk may have the credit of sincerity if their talk be against the usurpation which presses down all things with its iron foot. Protestantism is the religion of freedom, hence the hatred which is borne towards it by priests and despots ; and it is quite natural that the same feeling of inde- pendent judgement which leads a man to change his religion, may make him canvass the immoral or arbitrary acts of those in power. A man made free by the truth, freed from the shackles of a false religion, is naturally led to endeavour, according to his power and opportunity, to loosen the chains of his suffering fellow men, and hence the exclamations and complaints of those whose living is gained, first by the forging of these same chains, and afterwards by rivetting and keeping them in good order. And if, among the two hundred converts, were to be found some who had seen the error of their ways, and had reformed their lives who, from being men of vice, had become thoughtful and virtuous their former manner of life, so far from being a reproach, should have been a praise to them. It is not the righteous, but sinners, whom the Gospel calls to repentance. M 16'2 LOWEK BKITANNY AND THE BIBLE. But all this would be Greek to the Prefet, Con- version, with him, would mean a mere changing sides by well-dressed people, as in a dance: or, to come more home to himself, as in politics ; for we may safely aver that Monsieur Le Vicomte Beaumont de Vassy, Prefet, &c., of the Aisne, was a staunch friend and supporter of Louis Philippe five short years before the date of his decree, and, in order to become a Napoleonic Prefet, had changed his coat, and perhaps his waistcoat also, and would, if necessary, have changed his skin if it would have come off easily. Such conversions, he would say, are laudable, are a la mode ; but they are luxuries, and poor sinners must remain as they are, and not think of changing in anything. But to return to the Prefetorial despatch, which now adopts the paternal style and gives advice gratis, and all, too, so disinterested coming from a Eomanist ! ' Is it not wiser, sir would not the interests of all ( religions, as well as those of society and of individuals, ' be better provided for, in leaving the persons in whom ' (with so praiseworthy a zeal) you have interested 'yourself, to return to the religion of their fathers, * which they have - often in their lives had the benefit 'of? I therefore have reason to believe, sir, that you ' will appreciate the motives which make me persist in * my decision of the 1st August last. Receive, sir, the ' assurance of my distinguished consideration,' &c., &c. Is not this a precious letter? does it not merit pre- servation in amber or other embalming process ? 'T is worth many pounds of Egyptian gum. With the Prefet, proselytes, converts, men disposed to change their religion, have no place; the world is either Catholic or Protestant, and the intervening space must be passed over in a hurry, at a skip, or not passed at all.. Doubts PROTESTANTS AT FRESNOY NOT DISHEARTENED. 163 and fears, half-formed convictions, dread of the future, family troubles, distrust of individual judgement, all the conflicting feelings which press upon and rend the heart of a person meditating a change of religion, these are unknown to the unimaginative mind of the Prefet of the Aisne, and have none of his sympathies. With him we must 'gain remote conclusions at a jump,' or not gain them at all ; we must acquire our new colour by a single stroke of the brush. And who can refrain smil- ing at the kind naive suggestion he makes in conclusion, whether, all things considered, it would not be better to leave things as they were ? I believe that the charges he makes against the converts are as false as they are infamous and ex parte ; and the chief result, up to the present time, has been that the poor people, in return for the scandal against them, have increased their aid to the chapel now build- ing at Fresnoy ; and so their zeal will be quickened, and not extinguished, by the temporary check. We shall soon see what pitfalls are in reserve for them when the chapel shall be ready; and, meanwhile, let us trust that One, who is above all, will send them a good deliver- ance.* * Since writing . the above, the chapel has been opened. Let us hope it may be allowed to remain open. 164 CHAPTER XI. CASE OF ESTISSAC PROTESTANTS FOEBIDDEN TO ASSEMBLE FOE WORSHIP M. EECOBDON FINED INFRACTION OF EELIGIOUS LIBEETY CASE OF TROUVILLE POLITE PfttlFET BUT NOT BETTER FOR THAT CASE OF ST. MICHEL AND M. VERUM, AND OF ST. MAURICE DBS EICHES HOMMES NO PROTESTANTS WANT OF COMBINATION AMONG PEOTESTANTS GENEEAL REMARKS. AT the moment when all this was passing at Fresnoy, equally great infractions of the principle of religious liberty were taking place in a neighbouring department that of the Aube, showing how Protest- antism is everywhere beleaguered and oppressed. In ' Britanny and the Bible,' page 72, I allude to Estissac, and the opening there, and I speak of the good promise for the future shown by the inhabitants of that town. But short-lived are human hopes ! The Priests and Levites had doubtless their eyes upon Estissac at the very moment of my writing, and were devising plans to blight the harvest there at the time I was calculating its value in the sheaf. Those who have read my previous work may remem- ber that the inhabitants of Estissac had obtained the services of a Protestant minister delegated by the Con- sistory of Meaux, and that upwards of seven hundred were declared Protestants. A local Consistory had been appointed, a chapel and a school were in progress ; and the flame kindled at Estissac, as a centre, was beginning to illumine other neighbouring places, when, on June 13, it was suddenly extinguished. PREACHING TIOLENTLT STOPPED AT ESTISSAC. 165 On that day, in the middle of Divine service, the Maire of Estissac and several gendarmes entered, and ordered the minister to descend from his pulpit, by virtue of an arrete, of the Prefet, authorising them to 'finir sur le champ cette precherie.' In vain M. Eecordon, the minister, remonstrated and begged per- mission, at any rate, to finish the service which was commenced ; no heed was paid to the supplications either of him or of his congregation, but all were turned out of the room, and the doors were locked upon them. Measures were immediately taken to remedy this flagrant abuse of power, and a deputation of influen- tial Protestants waited upon the Ministre des Cultes at Paris, to lay the case before him and procure redress. He seemed disposed to blame the Prefet, and gave a certain degree of hope to the members who waited upon him. However, the process went on, and on the 1 7th of August the minister who had performed the service, the Eev. M. Kecordon, was cited to appear before the Tribunal of Troyes, ' for having presided at a religious meeting at Estissac, without having obtained the author- isation of the Government.' The Procureur Imperial supported the prosecution, by every species of abuse and insinuation. He stated that before M. Eecordon came to Troyes there were no Protestants in the commune, that those who had since been converted had so acted from other than religious motives, and especially that they had acted from poli- tical ones ; that, not being allowed to assemble in clubs, they attained the same object in the chapel meetings ; that their Protestantism was only a cloak ; that, in any case, and for whatever object, they had no right to meet at all, save by the previous authorisation of the 166 LOWER BKITANNY AND THE BIBLE. Government or its police, inasmuch as all meetings were, since the decree of March 25, 1852, placed on the same footing, and subjected to the authority of the police. In vain the advocate of the pastor stated and proved, that the meetings were purely and simply religious, and that the public tranquillity had never been troubled ; that the Consistory had long ago formally notified to the authorities of the place their intention to hold these meetings, and had met with no refusal or difficulty during the preceding twelve months; that religious liberty was destroyed if placed henceforth under the care of the police. In vain did he invoke the declara- tions of the Prince President on the subject of religious liberty, but the decision was, probably, previously come to, and the eloquence of an archangel could not have changed it. Behold parts of the judgement and henceforth let no one talk of religious liberty as existing in France. 4 Attendu that the constitution under which we live, and the other constitutions which have governed France since 1789, have established in principle the liberte des cultes, but that the exercise of this liberty has always been subordinate to the measures of order and of police directed by law. * That if past legislation has been floating and uncertain on the subject, the decree of July 28, 1848, as to clubs, has profoundly modified the law in this regard, and that the articles of the code penal are applicable to all meetings, whatever be their object. * Attendu that the terms of the decree of March 25, 1852, are general and absolute, and that where the law does not distinguish the judges cannot dis- tinguish. RELIGIOUS MEETINGS TREATED AS POLITICAL CLUBS. 167 * Determined by these motives, the court declares M. Recordon guilty, &c., and punishes him by a fine and costs.' We may, therefore, chant the requiem of religious liberty in France. It only exists by the good pleasure of the police L any one of whom can, like Cromwell, turn the preacher out of the pulpit and the flock out of the church, and lock the doors. 'Finis coronat opus' this is the finishing touch. For long time has the circle been diminishing, but now it exists no more. First the Bible was prohi- bited, not openly and frankly, but by stealth was included indirectly in a law in which the word Bible never occurred, and of which the application to the Bible never was intended; then colportage was re- strained and made difficult the books must all be stamped by a special stamp, or were liable to seizure ; then strangers were forbidden to preach in France; and then, as the coup de grace, religious meetings are treated as political clubs, and are placed under the direction of the police, and to be dispersed by the undistinguishing baton of that epidemic functionary. And yet France is * la grande nation,'' highly civil- ised, highly enlightened, philosophic, and what not: with a constitution guaranteeing equal religious rights to each one of her thirty-six millions of population! And Frenchmen of moderate opinions are so indifferent, or so blind, or so cowardly, as to submit to this retro- grade legislation and jurisprudence, without seeing that they are becoming a very bye-word and laughing-stock to the rest of Europe. Persecute and oppress, burn, slay, torture, and destroy if you will, you are acting at least openly and avowedty, but this saying one thing and doing another, this perpetually acted falsehood, broods 7 63 LOWER BRITANNT AND THE BIBLE. over us like a huge nightmare ; and let Governors take heed lest the sufferer in his efforts to free himself from the burden which stifles and presses him down, overturn all around him in one common confusion. Some pieces were produced at the trial showing how the French police poke and pry into everything. Ever since the meetings were commenced at Estissac these gentlemen seem to have been in high activity, and to have matured and deposited their daily egg in the shape of a report to the superior authorities ; who in their turn display as much activity and alertness as henwives when eggs are dear. For instance, M. Eecordon little thought that he was honoured with such notices as the following, when he was 'quietly and earnestly devoting himself to his pastoral duties. They are extracted from a police report made to the Sous-Prefet on the subject, and the writer seems to enter fully into the enquiring spirit of his masters : ' Sunday, th'e 15th June, a pastor of the reformed religion, M. Kecordon, made an irruption on the com- mune, and developed his subversive principles, which were received enthusiastically by a populace not en- lightened but fanatic. The brigade of gendarmes was placed in readiness. The judicial authorities had their eyes open, [this must have been borrowed from the poet's description of Justice as 'never sleeping,'] and any crimes would have been immediately pun- ished. [No doubt but there were none.] It was chiefly before a lot of lads, with great pomp scarfs dis- playedone national guardsman as & piquet cVhonneur that they installed the Protestant pastor, and a ser- mon was dealt out with emphasis. It has since been printed, and it is curious to read the mistakes, and the ENQUIRING MINDS OF THE POLICE. 169 lies, historical and others, which swarm in it from one end to the other.' Many passages follow of a like tenour, and then comes a little paragraph showing how the police look after politics also, and keep an eye always to the main chance ; for if the republic comes again they know where they will be sent to. * There were only forty-two votes against the Govern- ment candidate at Estissac. Therefore we may con- clude that the number of the agitators diminishes, and that Estissac asks for nothing better than to return to the way of order. But to arrive at that end it is necessary icholly to destroy the dissenters.'' What a pity this man was, as it were, thrown away at paltry Estissac at Madrid he would have been first familiar in the Inquisition. But good masters make good servants, and those above him kept him well to his work, we may rely upon it. And so the report goes on, all being of the same tissue, to the last word. It is cheering to find that the Protestants at Estissac were not cast down by these difficulties. On the con- trary, they redoubled their efforts. The chapel is progressing rapidly, and the poor men work at it voluntarily and gratis, so great is their zeal in the cause. They all express their determination to remain firm and to persevere in their profession of Protestant- ism, and give whatever money they can spare to the building fund. The other day there was a fete des Bonnetiei'8, or capmakers, and, as is iisual, a collection was made among the persons in that trade for the purpose of a dance, &c., in the evening. When the money was brought in, amounting to upwards of twenty francs, an old man got up and said, ' My friends what is the use of spending this money in cakes and 170 LOWER BRITANNT AND THE BIBLE. nonsense, when the chapel is in want of it. I vote we give it to the chapel, what say you ? ' And young and old with one accord agreed with him, and the money was handed over accordingly. This- is a fact worth a thousand arguments, and may be placed against the got-up report of the police that there were no real Protestants, but only a few lads, &c., attracted by novelty and love of fun. But it is well to give the authorities rope enough and they will hang themselves. In a short time the temple will be built, and, if allowed to be opened, we shall see it filled by a numerous congregation ; and in proportion will be the failure and defeat of those who have backed their cause by such falsehood. They will be forced to admit either that their agents were wrongly informed or incapable, or else that the endeavours made to deprive Estissac of a Protestant worship, have only served to increase the Protestant body there in a most remarkable manner. Let us, therefore, wait patiently, and all will yet be well. At Trouville, near to Havre, occurred a further instance of the intolerance and partiality of the au- thorities towards poor Protestantism. I almost fear to tire my readers, and were I to record all the instances of oppression to Protestants I should certainly tire them sufficiently, but I do wish to show them the way in which the principle of religious liberty, guaranteed by the constitution, is systematically violated in France, and to prepare them for those times in which Eomanism, again become rampant as it was three hundred years since, shall undertake a fresh crusade against Protest- antism. All tends towards that consummation as naturally as a stone falls to the earth, and we may yet see, in an age philosophic and enlightened as we PERMISSION REFUSED TO OPEN CHAPEL AT TROUVILLE. 171 deem it, wars undertaken and carried on from religious zeal, and in which the fierceness of national rivalities will be outdone by the excesses of a ferocity sanctioned from the altar. Who that has heard of the excesses of the French revolution of 1790, and since then of the revolutions of our own day of the wholesale butchery of Naples and in Italy who will dare to say that human nature has got rid of and left behind the evil passions which formerly disfigured her ? And to be forewarned should be to be forearmed ! It appears that Trouville was becoming a watering place, much frequented, and upwards of one hundred and fifty Protestants, chiefly persons of a certain social position, having met there during the summer, a desire was expressed to have a place of worship. A Protestant resident there accordingly commenced a chapel, which was to have been opened in September. Suddenly, however, (for these things are not notified beforehand to the parties interested, in a way consistent with a civil- ised or civil jurisprudence,) a decree was issued by the Maire of Trouville forbidding all worship in the new chapel. This, of course, caused great consternation and discussion, as the preparations were rapidly going on. The decree, having been posted up on the chapel door, was rendered illegible by the heavy rain, and the intended pastor of the new chapel applied to the Maire for a fresh copy, which was politely refused, as were all explanations, for there is safety in silence. However, the chapel being completed, the congrega- tion determined to open it for worship if possible ; and accordingly, the day being fixed, a week's notice of it was given to the Maire. The Maire replied that he had decided to prevent it, and that in case of any meeting for the purpose, he 172 LOWER BRITANNY AJ?D THE BIBLE. would disperse it if necessary, by force, under Articles 2 and 29 of the Penal Code. It was therefore useless to persist in addressing the Maire, and steps were taken to represent the matter to the Prefet of Calvados, in which department Trouville is situated. The Prefet was charmingly polite I should say dangerously so, for there is always something suspicious in such treatment 'latet anguis in herbd,' and declared that, as far as he was concerned, he would not for the world prevent the Protestants of Trouville from following their religious opinions as they chose ; only that it was im- possible that he could allow the service in the chapel already built, because the builder and proprietor had been pointed out to the police as a man of dangerous character. The deputation in vain produced certificates of the good life and manners of the individual in question ; the Prefet continued firm. But in what did his bad character consist ? Let it be stated although really immaterial, let it be stated. And, accordingly, the cat was quietly let out, and it seemed that the worthy M. G-relley, the proprietor of the chapel, had been selling Bibles and New Testaments! This was the gravamen, and the minds of the deputation were much relieved on hearing it. But, though their hearts rose, their hopes fell ; for, in truth, it had been better for their cause that M. G-relley had been a burglar. In vain they argued the matter ; the Prefet, with an attractive blandness, repeated that he was very sorry, exceedingly sorry ; that anywhere else they were at full liberty, but that in the chapel built by M. Grelley should no worship take place ; and they were bowed out. This is a cruel mockery, is it not ? ' Anywhere else you please, but not there ;' that is to say, you build a house and spend all your money in doing so, and then are TYRANNICAL CONDUCT AT TBOUYILLE. 173 smilingly told that you must not live there, though you are quite welcome to build another to be met, perhaps, by the same objection as to the second habitation, if you are wealthy and resolute enough to build a second. The Consistory of Caen, after having in vain at- tempted to get the polite Prefet to change this decree of the Medes and Persians, finally determined to commence another edifice the Protestants of Trouville meanwhile losing their time, and M. Grelley losing his money. In the interim, religious services are held in a private room in the Eue St. Honore, as best they can. This is the way in which Protestantism is played with, as cats play with mice, to amuse the leisure and gratify the whims of dainty Komanist officials. Is it wonderful that Englishmen detest the tribe ? With us, we have the pleasure of service in return for our money, or at least we have the inward relief and outward pleasure of a healthy grumbling, a co- pious discharge of spleen on the head of the offender in a letter to the Times or the board of directors ; but in France you must bottle and cork down your wrath, regardless of internal injury thereby. Oh ! John, John ! you little know, when you dilate to Mrs. Bull upon the insolence and tyranny of English Jacks-in-office, what are the freaks of the said Jacks across the channel. Would to Heaven you had the rule and ordering of them for a year or two, and I will engage that under your rough towelling they would soon be as polished as are Master John, junior's, cheeks on Saturday night ! And this is the state in which religious liberty we will not say exists, but lingers and is starved in France ! To what causes is this retrogression owing ? Mere indif- ference, a general feeling of scepticism, would, we should imagine, end in a general contempt and a general 174 LOWER BRITANNY AND TEE BIBLE. permission of all kinds of worship there must, there- fore, be other causes than these. One cause, undoubtedly, is the increased vigor of late displayed by Eomanism, not in consequence of any renewal of zeal generally on the part of its professors, but in consequence of the good fellowship existing until lately between it and the present Government. Louis Napoleon, despite all the boasting and fanfaronade of his sycophants, has had much ado to get into and keep his seat, and has had to bid high and on all sides for support. And who so powerful as the priesthood ? At their bidding thrones rise and fall, if not so quickly, yet as surely as of old : and their hold upon a large portion of the ignorant and unenlightened peasantry of France is as firm as ever. Not that I feel any doubt that Louis Napoleon will not soon endeavour to get rid of them, but meanwhile they must be kept in hope and good temper. Hence the treatment of Protestantism by men in high places, to some of whom it is most agreeable so to act. For they are all Eomanists nominally; and, like those who ' compound for sins they are inclined to by damning what they have no mind to,' these men make up for their neglect of outward observances by thump- ing on the backs of plain John and Martin. This pays off a grudge, and quits the score to the priest at the same time. Then all Frenchmen in office have a mortal fear of and antipathy to independence of any kind, and Pro- testantism is and has ever been of a sturdy disposition another reason for punishing its professors when occasion serves. And all these causes, and others, bring about the fact that religious liberty in France seems of late years to have endured one long death struggle. Certain it is that, in a Catholic country, the ground CONSTANT RESISTANCE OF ROME TO RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 175 won in the cause must always be kept by force ; if its possessors sleep, the enemy comes upon them imme- diately, for liberty is death to the spirit of Komanism there is a mortal feud between them, ever existing, and impossible to be reconciled. Therefore, in such a state, the aspect of things will be perpetually changing as one or other gains the ascendant, and there will not be a steady progress, rising gradually from one height to another, until the summit is gained. There are principles of which the conquest is very difficult, owing to the nature of the human mind ; and religious liberty is one of them. We think we have gained it it is accepted, invoked even by those who opposed it, a reconciliation is effected, peace is signed, it passes into the institutions of the nation and forms part of its laws. The strife ceases, the victors lay down their arms, some become slothful, others die and dis- appear, thinking that the goal has been reached and won. Va^i hope ! Events progress, ideas alter, circumstances change. The vanquished take courage, raise their heads at first furtively and in secret, by degrees with courage, and reappear boldly on the scene the strife recom- mences, and the former victors, surprised and dis- armed, for a while hang their heads in despondency. Such has happened in France with the principle of religious liberty. The constitution of 1848 seemed to assure for ever the triumph of this sacred principle. Even Catholic writers enrolled themselves as its de- fenders, and wrote eloquently on its side ; to hear them you might imagine that Rome was the great parent of liberty. Since then we might imagine that half a cen- tury had rolled back upon us, so much have ideas and institutions changed. Where is now the eloquence ex- pended by Catholics so short a time back? Alas ! with the 176 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. change they have changed too, with that unprincipled facility with which Kqme knows so well to turn about with the wind. That which legislation -granted, legisla- tion withdraws. The preventive system takes the place of liberality, and the ancient strife begins with a new ardour. The Catholic press becomes as intolerant as it was timid. It now defends what it once attacked, and attacks what it once defended, with an aplomb and assurance astonishing even to the initiated. It despises logic and argument, and writes with the insolence and the inconclusiveness of successful tyranny. It argues, or rather asserts, that it is just and right that the Romanists should be free in England, and the Protestants oppressed in Italy that Victoria violates every principle of right in forbidding religious processions in the streets of Lon- don ; and that the Duke of Tuscany, does his duty in imprisoning the Madiai for reading the Bible. It boldly speaks of fire and faggot, of crusades and inqui- sitions, of heretics and martyrs, and shows clearly to all who choose to see, that if Eomanism again reigns, she will rule, as before, with a bloody rule, and will leave no other alternative to Protestantism than recantation or martyrdom. These signs are open, to be read by all ;. and let all read them and take warning in time. One human hope remains for Protestants, and that is that Napoleon III., who is so devotedly attached to Napoleon I., and who endeavours in all things to follow out his principles, may remember the course he held as to religious liberty. I always think with pleasure of the excellent reply Napoleon I. made to the Protestant de- putation from Geneva, and it is worthy of record here : 'I see with pleasure here assembled the pastors of the ' reformed churches of France, and I take this oppor- * tunity of testifying how well I am satisfied with all I NOBLE TTORDS OF NAPOLEON I. 177 * have heard of the fidelity and good conduct of Pro- ' testant pastors and their flocks. I wish all to know ' that it is my intention to maintain religious liberty. * The empire of the law finishes where that of conscience * begins ; neither law nor prince can do ought against ' this liberty. Such are my principles and those of the { nation ; and should any of my race who may succeed ' me forget the oath which I have taken ; and, deceived 1 by the inspiration of a false conscience, violate it, I ' devote him to public censure, and I authorise you to * give him the name of Nero.' May Napoleon III. never merit this name of Nero ; but should he merit it, we do but follow the great Napoleon's commands in giving it to him. Let him beware, lest the Shade of his uncle baptise him with that name of doom. It would be worse than the poisoned shirt of Nessus, and would enfold his memory for ever. As I am on this subject, I will give other specimens of the manner m which Protestantism has been treated in France in our day. It will remind us of the state of things in the [time of Cromwell, as described in Scott's * Woodstock,' when the churches were in- vaded either by the stern Puritans to turn out the Royalist preacher, or by the roystering Cavaliers, to turn out the crop-eared Roundheads ;' and ere long, perhaps, it may remind us of the scenes in ' Old Mor- . tality,' for French Protestants may again be obliged to worship God among the rocks or in the desert, with sentinels to announce the approach of the troopers.. Not that Napoleon III. would under any circum- stances allow this; but were the Legitimists, i.e. the branche ainee of the * beloved Bourbons,' to return to power, I should certainly look out for it, as a very probable result. As it is, it is rather from subordinate 178 LOWER, BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. than high authorities that such acts proceed ; and they, with encroaching ecclesiastics ever at their back, are the constant enemies Protestants have to contend with. At St. Michel, in the department of the Basses Alpes, a M. Verum was accustomed to preach and perform reli- gious service for the few Protestants of the commune. On Sunday morning, Feb. 22, just before the hour of service, he was ordered to attend at the Mairie. There he found the maire, who said to him, ' It is time to put an end to this schism in the commune, and I will not allow any more meetings,' and then read to him the order of the general officer commanding in the district. This order was dated the 17th of the month, but the maire, to enhance his triumph and give it all possible eclat, had kept it in his pocket until the 22nd, the Sunday; when he sent for him just before the service, in manner already mentioned, and then ex- ploded upon him as a bomb-shell in a magazine, which would doubtless make him of sweet savour in the nostrils of the priesthood. The order of the General is short and pithy. No reasoning for the sword is a cutting and not a reasoning instrument all is sharp- edged, and with a point. As follows : ' Seeing that ' the presence of Mr. Verum in St. Michel is inconvenient * for public order and tranquillity, and that ne is not a * resident there, we order him to be expelled from the * department of the Basses Alpes.' In vain M. Verum showed that he was and had been for years resident at St. Michel, and to prove it pro- duced his receipts for householders' rates and taxes there, his elector's card, and other papers ; in vain he showed that the meetings were simply meetings for religious worship ; the General was as hard and inflexible as his sword his word was as the law of the Medes and CASE OF ST. MICHEL AND M. VERUM. 179 Persians. At length, irritated by the persistence of ' this stupid M. Verum,' who being innocent, and having means to prove it, would not take a denial, or keep his mouth shut, he actually ordered him to prison, whither the worthy man was immediately taken and kept for weeks, the exasperated hero having meanwhile cooled down, and (there being many other fish to fry at that time) having probably forgotten him. He was after- wards delivered over to a military commission, and re- moved to another prison 500 miles away, and I never could find out what then became of him ; and all this abominable cruelty and injustice was committed simply because M. Verum was faithfully preaching the Orospel at St. Michel, and was so unpolite and ill-bred as to per- sist in staying there after he had been told to 'go away.' . I will give yet another case illustrative of the mild way in which military rule settles difficulties, i.e. crushes them by its iron-shod foot. I am wrong in saying * settles ' difficulties ; happily that result will come in spite of all efforts to prevent it; meanwhile doubts are resolved by the sabre, or blown into the air by the cannon, in a summary way. In the department of the Yonne, is a commune, or parish, called by the singular name of St. Maurice des riches hommes, or ' of the rich men.' In this com- mune, according to the census of the year, there was a Protestant population of 233 persons, and as a natural consequence, a Protestant school was established there. Now this school was an unpleasant thorn in the sides of the ever-watchful priests, who love not education ; and besides, the education given was so superior to that afforded in the Romanist schools, as to be a standing reflection and reproof on them. By hook or by crook, N 2 180 LOWEK BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. therefore, the school must be suppressed. But how ? there 's the rub. Yet to a clever mind the * how ' speedily follows when the 'why' has been settled; and as the department of the Yonne was under military regime at that time, the only thing requisite was to gain the ear of the officer in command. This was soon done, and apparently well done, and speedily appeared the following * order of the day ' : ' The Lieutenant- ' Colonel of the 1st Kegiment of Lancers, commanding ' in the Yonne, Considering that the commune of St. ' Maurice des Eiches Hommes contains no Protestants, ' and that a school of any given form of religion is only ' allowed in order to supply the wants of the professors ( of that form of religion, and that, consequently, such a * school is in this case useless considering that the ' establishment of a Protestant school at St. Maurice des ' Kiches Hommes has been brought about simply with * the intention of stirring up disunion in families by the * different systems offered for the education of children ' and considering that it is urgent to remedy this state * of things We decree, that the school in question be ' immediately closed. Signed, A. de Cheffontaine, ' Colonel 1st Lancers.' This is a fine specimen of Eome's manner her modus operandi. 'T is a * real native.' 'Gret money honestly if you can but get money.'' The school of this St. Maurice of the Eich Men is a hard bit, difficult to cut up according to rule, and tough to digest. Its management is excellent, its books unexceptionable, its teachers irreproachable, it has n't a smack or whiff of Socialism about it. We need not attack it on those points, for we shan't have a leg to stand upon. But, say the priests (we may imagine), So much the worse for us ; there it stands staring us out of counte- FLAGRANT CASE OP ST. MAUBICE DES RICHES HOMMES. 181 nance, shaming us by its better system, and driving us mad with vexation ; and there it shall not stand much longer, please the Pope and Notre Dame, if the wit of man can move it.' Yet * how ? ' that 's the question. At length a quiet-looking priest may be supposed to rise and ask, ' Are you certain, as a fact, that there are Protestants at St. Maurice ? ' ' Certain ! ' replies an- other, * I wish I was n't ; there are unhappily only too many of them.' * But how do you know that ? Is it that other people tell you so, for personally you pro- bably know none of them? Now hearsay is no proof; and for myself I can most conscientiously say, speaking according to my own knowledge, and according to law, that there are no Protestants at St. Michel.' Well, some laugh and think it a joke ; some think it non- sense, and trifling with valuable time ; until an elderly priest rises. ' My friends, our brother Theophile is quite right, and his view is the one to act upon, and let us only get the Colonel-Commandant to adopt it, and down will go the Protestant school.' Ah h h I breathe out some, and others whisper, and then talk aloud : and the end is, that a representation is made to the Colonel, who knows no more of the locality than the man in the moon, and out comes the ' order of the day,' and away vanishes into thin air the Protestant scholastic establishment at St. Maurice of the Eich Men for a season. Altogether it is the most flagrant instance (out of a large number), of overbearing tyranny and disregard for truth I have yet met with. The naif and very simple Colonel must have had a strange idea of Protestants, must he not, when he stated that their only object in opening their school was to stir up disunion in fami- lies ? ' Sad and bad fellows must be these followers of 182 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. Luther and Calvin, not to be content with stirring up family discord by ordinary means, but to set up a school to do it. 'T is such a cumbrous way of doing things ! Like going from Bristol to London via, Edinburgh, or leaving your card on a friend's drawing-room table by means of the chimney instead of the hall-door. But Rome was always given to devious and crooked paths. I will not waste more words on this most arbitrary and unblushing act, and so leave it to my readers. French Protestants seem to me to have lost much of the nerve and vigour they once had. In 1520, with small numbers, they controlled princes and ministers, and confronted the most powerful monarch of the time without shrinking. In France, in 1862, there are up- wards of 2,000,000 Protestants, and yet, from want of union and combination, from apathy, fear, or indif- ference, or something, they lie down quietly before the Government, and give but few signs of life or vigorous resistance. Like Shakspeare's Jew, * when pinched they feel, when pricked they bleed, as other men,' but they suffer in silence, instead of remonstrating manfully, and complaining openly and boldly. In the present state of parties in France, it seems to me that their force might be so applied as to be of great value, and so as almost to compel the attention of the Government to their wants ; but these advantages are lost for want of union and organisation. And therefore it happens, that upwards of 2,000,000 of men, comprising a great portion of the intellect, riches, and power of the country, are grievously neglected; persecuted by the reigning Church, and barely acknowledged by the State. Here and there a solitary newspaper, little read, and emanating from isolated individuals, lifts up its feeble voice and cries in the desert ; or a dwarfed periodical \VANT OF UNITED ACTION AMONG FRENCH PROTESTANTS. 183 struggles into existence, supplying to its readers a few religious stories, and a small trifle in the way of news ; but the Protestant press generally, speaks as through a muzzle, with a muffled, half-audible voice, instead of proclaiming to Europe, as with a trumpet-sound, the state in which religious liberty now lies bleeding and torn; and discussing boldly, and in a manner suited to the age, the various questions affecting their common interests. O'Connell, when he represented the Eoman Catholics of England and Ireland, made a much better use of his position than this ; and after a series of bold contests with the law, succeeded in forcing upon an unwilling people, and an opposing King and legislature, the great act of Catholic Emancipation, the first roots of which were laid in a soil and climate as inauspicious as has ever existed towards Protestantism in France ; and he did this by combination, boldness, perseverance, and a firm reliance on the justice of his cause. A strong proof of the want of organisation among French Protestants may be found in the almost total absence of Protestants in the legislative bodies. This has long been the case. After the revolution of 1848, there were only two or three Protestant members at most, and these M. Coquerel, for instance very poor representatives of the Protestantism of France. The Senate, it is true, is nominated by the Government, but by proper efforts it is probable that more Protestants might have appeared there. A short time ago, among the 150 members of the Senate, there was just one Protestant and no more, and yet, according to comparative number of population, there should have been ten. And in the Corps Legislatif, elected under universal suffrage, there were among the 260 184 LOWER BRITANXY AND THE BIBLE. members only three or four Protestants instead of, say twenty-five. Thus Protestantism, as a party, is almost wholly unrepresented in the French Legislature, and it is not therefore so astonishing to see her badly treated by the law. As far as the making of laws is con- cerned, the opponents of Protestantism have the field almost wholly to themselves, for the opposition of such a ghost of a minority would be a farce. Better, indeed, to be wholly left out of Parliament than be mocked with such a shadow of representation as this, which gives you the name and denies you the substance. - But it only adds to the list of proofs of the infantine state of France in political practical knowledge. As a people, they have little idea of improving the consti- tution by constitutional means. In England, if a law is generally obnoxious, the means of attacking it are not long wanting. But we attack it constitutionally. We do not set the world in arms because bachelors must still pay the double tax on hair-powder, or because the duty on nutmegs is unrepealed, but we go to work, quietly and surely, at the fountain head. We grumble, first singly, and then in chorus ; unite, speak, discuss, and petition. We fill the public papers with reports of meetings and speeches which would make Pym blush and ' orator ' Hunt go mad with envy; and the said meetings being noisy but- determined, and the speeches being logical, but well seasoned with facts and figures, the public mind at last rubs its eyes and wakes up, gets well hold of the subject, and grows animated and lively. By and by petitions pour into Parliament ; casual motions by eccentric members of the independent class are made and come to grief; are renewed, and fare better; the project grows into shape and form ; until finally some rising or WANT OF PRACTICAL POLITICAL KNOWLEDGE IN FRANCE. 185 falling minister, in want of a good stalking-horse, adopts and mounts the long-debated nieasure, rides it tri- umphantly, by its help upsets and turns out his less far-seeing opponent ; and finally the once bespattered and wriggling embryo becomes the full-grown and vene- rated law of the land. And this is all as it should be. But in France they adopt another course. They talk and grumble everlastingly, but in private ; and all public complaint is stopped by the remark, that the matter in question is part of the existing public law, and must not be attacked, for 't is dangerous to attack any law. So the nuisance goes on, and all the festering and the anguish* too, and, the ill-humours wanting a vent, all goes on and nothing goes off; a-nd so a heap of similar abuses and nuisances is accumulated, each standing in each other's way, and blocking up the only safe road of retreat, until fermentation commences and increases rapidly, and one fine morning the world is awoke by the cry of * Fire 1 ' and lo, another revolution in Paris ! But a poor proof all this, methinks, of the wisdom and good sense of La Grande, Nation, as France loves to call itself. And if we may judge by recent events, experience has not taught the French people much in this respect ; for it seems to me that they are again on the high road to events identical in principle with those they have so severely blamed when under the influence of repentance and matutinal headache. The perpetual motion of philosophers would seem to be morally realised in our own days, in the perpetual change of French public opinion. There is no known form of government which has not been successively execrated, sought for, adopted, welcomed, abused, and thrown aside in France during the last seventy years ; no principle of morality which has not been successively upheld as the best and 186 LOWER BBITANNT AND THE BIBLE. scouted as the worst; and scarcely a Frenchman who has passed his tenth lustrum who has not testified by his repeated changes of opinion to the unsoundness of his own political judgement. I myself know personally scores of men who previous to the coup d'etat were decided opponents, on principle, as they would say, to anyone who should be so rash as to attempt to revive monarchy in any shape ; but who, now it has succeeded, are as decidedly in favour of Napoleon III. One gentleman in particular, before the coup d'etat, was positively savage in his denunciation of anyone who should attempt any such violation of the constitution, but especially loud against Louis Na- poleon, on the ground that he was a Corsican and not a Frenchman. He said France would rise as one man against him if he dared attempt it; and he, for one, would oppose him to the death. Well, the Corsican made his attempt, and not by mild means either, and made a clean sweep of law and gospel when they tried to stop him on his way. Soon afterwards I saw my friend, and found he had become an ardent Bonapartist; and I rather maliciously said to him, that I supposed France would with one voice protest against the usurp- ation of a stranger. f A stranger, mon cher ! how so?' 'Why you know Napoleon is a Corsican, and not a Frenchman.' ' Oh ! but are you not aware that Corsica is now part of France, having been incorporated since 1793?' &c. &c. ; and my friend had apparently no greater recollection of his previous expressions and sentiments than if he had uttered them in a past state of existence. This sort of thing offers an enormous premium to tism-pation, and so usurpers have become an institution in France. 187 CHAPTER XII. INTOLERANCE TOWARDS PROTESTANTISM IN FRANCE BURIAL IN ' DOG'S CORNER ' OF CEMETERY FUMIGATION OF GROUND AFTER PROTESTANT BURIAL CUGAUD ESTISSAC AGAIN CASE IN THE TAB PROTESTANTISM ALWAYS 'IMMORALLY' PROPAGATED ROMANIST PROCESSIONS AT MORLAIX INCREASING OF LATE, THOUGH ILLEGAL. THE intolerance of tolerant France certainly passes all belief, and may serve to convince us more firmly of the impossibility of a Roman Catfwlic re- public. It is a political contradiction. We laugh at our sires for their search after centaurs and mermaids, but the junction of Eomanism with liberty would be a far greater lusus naturae than that of a man with a horse or a woman with a fish. Constitution-mongers and manufacturers may grind and regrind, insert, erase, and discuss with becoming gravity; but despite their learned but practically absurd notions, the human machine pursues its way. A Eoman Catholic republic will never work, we may be certain. How can it ? Equal civil and religious rights and popery and exclusive sal- vation ! given to reconcile these q. e. d. a hard nut for logicians to crack. If you doubt it, look at France from 1848 to 1852. In theory, and according to the legal constitution, all religions were to be on the same level in practice and according to law de facto, Eomanism alone existed, and Protestantism was nowhere. You can hardly take up a paper without seeing proofs of this. For instance, look at what passed at Cugaud, in La Vendee. A Protestant gentleman having died 188 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. there, his friends wished him to be buried by a Pro- testant minister, and applied to Mons. Vaurigaud, the pasteur of Nantes, for the purpose. He went over, and applied to the maire of the place, and he, after having concerted with the priest, gave permission for the interment. But where and how ? In the corner of the cemetery allotted for executed criminals and suicides, and with the condition that the pastor should not accom- pany the procession ; in other words, that the corpse was to be trundled into a hole like a dog. But further, it was stipulated most singular stipulation! that the procession, even after the above conditions were agreed to, should not enter by the gate, the usual entrance, but by a breach, expressly made for that object, in the cemetery wall ; and so come into the fold, not as of the flock, but avowedly as ' thieves and robbers,' having by their own apparent avowal no right there. And all this, remember, in the teeth of the law, which declares the cemetery common property, equally open to all; for the law of France, though it denies the right of the poor man to support during life, freely admits his right to burial. Doubtless, you will say this poor corpse, when living, was a bitter opponent of the priests and their practices, and therefore it was that their anger pursued it even when dead. But no ! he was, on the contrary, a great benefactor to the commune; had been maire for five or six years ; had received the Bishop of Lucon and several priests at his table ; and, above all, had actually given certain decorations to the Eomanist Church at Cugaud ; but he was a Protestant, and therefore a leper ! The family very properly refused this degrading mockery of decent sepulture, and had the body pre- served until the issue of the affair. They then applied to the ministre des cultes on the subject, and he BURIAL OF PROTESTANTS IN ' DOGS* CORNER.' 189 promptly ordered the maire to arrange so that the burial might take place * honourably.' Accordingly, Messrs. Maire and Vwaire had to swallow the pill, and the interment was performed with propriety and in peace. But our friends were not even yet t out of the wood.' Hardly had the grave closed over the body, when on all sides arose threats and outcries. The maire was menaced with death ; the property of the deceased was obliged to be watched night and day, lest it should be burnt ; such was the excited state of men's spirits, that sixty infantry and several extra piquets of gendarmes were stationed in jthe commune, and numerous arrests were made. The commune was partly excommunicated, as in the days of old; the ecclesiastical authorities forbade the grand mass to be said there, or any further burials to take place in the cemetery; the place had been profaned, and was therefore tabooed and under ban. Great was the heat, and dire the fear, and interest was brought to bear upon the Government, to have the defunct Jonah source of all the trouble dug up again. And, strange and shameful to say, the applica- tion succeeded, and an order to that effect ivas actually obtained, under date July 9! The prefet, however, who knew the circumstances, delayed the execution of this new order, and furnished fresh information, which effectually prevented the exhumation being per- formed ; and the poor unconscious clay, which had been the innocent cause of so much strife, was at last permitted to repose in peace. But I will give another proof of the intolerance of Eomanism in Britanny, and of the poor spite wreaked on a corpse. It is extracted from a newspaper, * L'Esperance,' of Nantes, and dated June 1855: 190 LOWEK BRITANKT AND THE BIBLE. ' Great sensation was caused in this place (Guerande, near Nantes) by the report that a lady who was at- tached to the Protestant faith was about to be interred in the Catholic cemetery. A grave, it appears, was dug for her in the reserved part of the cemetery, ivhich is not consecrated, but the Protestant minister objected to it. After waiting five days, the minister, who came from Nantes (M. Vaurigaud), came to bury the de- ceased, but to the great scandal of the faithful he caused the body to be interred in the Catholic part of the cemetery. Complaints were made to the authorities, but nothing being done murmurs arose. At length the exhumation was ordered, and the piety of the faithful received full satisfaction, and the body was removed to Nantes. But reparation was necessary. On Sunday last, accordingly, after celebration of mass, a letter from our beloved bishop was read from the pulpit. This letter, which breathes charity and moderation, like everything else which proceeds from the pious prelate, ordered a new consecration of the cemetery. After vespers, a large crowd left the church and proceeded towards the burial-ground. Each person was happy, for the rights of the Church were at last recognised, and the tombs of ancestors were respected.' Surely this must have happened in Turkey, in the time of Sultan Mahmoud, when the Christians were saluted with spittle, and their common name was * giaour,' or * dog.' At present the Turks are far too civilised and tolerant even to think of such an act of barbarism. And this is the treatment given by one Christian people to other Christians for, be it remem- bered, Eomanists allow to Protestants that title, as in truth they are obliged to do ; for what but a belief in Christ is the very essence and cause of the name ? ODIOUS INTOLERANCE AS TO PROTESTANT BURIALS. 191 There is something profoundly afflicting in the sen- timents breathed in the above extract : let us hope they are shared by but few Romanists. What ! is the daily and oftentimes friendly intercourse 'tvvixt Romanist and Protestant but a mere hypocrisy ? Is the expressed good will, sympathy, and friendship, all outward show, used merely to cheat during life the being we despise and spurn in death ? Is there such an odious contami- nation in the dead body of a Protestant, that its mere presence in a Roman Catholic cemetery infects it as with the plague, so that ' reparation ' and ' a new conse- cration ' is necessary ? Forbid it religion, forbid it friendship, forbid it every enlightened and Christian Romanist ! When this shameful act was occurring, the Crimean war was in full rage, and the allied French and English armies were beleaguering Sebastopol. Think you that our brave allies, fighting side by side with our own gallant soldiers, and respecting them as brave men mutually respect each other, pouring out their hearts' blood for them when needed, and receiving the sacrifice of our blood in return think you that they, esteeming their friendship an honour in life, would have deemed it a profanation to be near to them in death, requiring * reparation ' and 'a new consecration'? I am sure that the question would only require to be stated, in order to receive from those brave men one universal and indignant denial. And this case is notan isolated one, for about the same time a similar one occurred at Chelles, in the de- partment of the Oise, and there the Protestant family was made to pay 60 fr. for the expenses of taking up the body and reburying it in the dog's corner. These facts will show what is the spirit of Romanism 192 LOWER BRITAJfNT AlxD THE BIBLE. in Britanny and France, despite of all paper law. The Protestants have all legal rights equally with Eomanists. Oh, certainly ! if they can get them ! but the judges are hard of hearing on one side the head, and Protestantism is unfortunately always placed on that side, and must speak loud to be heard ; and as some men are timid and weak in the chest, their just demands are passed over. For these cases are not chance and singular ones. They abound. Here is another, at Estissac. A Pro- testant having died there, the Eev. M. Eecordon of Troyes went over to bury him, having previously com- municated with the prefet and obtained from him a verbal permission to do so. Arrived at Estissac, he waited on the maire^ who told him that the municipal council was at the moment occupied in debating the matter, and when the decision was come to, it should be communicated to M. Recordon. Owing, however, either to the toughness of the subject-matter, or the slow mental digestion of the municipals, nothing was settled down to five o'clock, and the maire, in ill humour visited the obtuseness of his brethren on the Protestant minister, and said he would wait no longer, but would bury the corpse himself. In vain M. Eecordon claimed his rights as pastor to read the service, and required the maire to give his reasons in writing. M. le Maire would attend neither to one thing nor the other ; and, assisted by his adjoint and the police, and disregarding the tears and entreaties of the poor widow and friends, raised the corpse, and bundled it into the ground as one might do with a dead dog or cat. I do say that such acts as these are a disgrace and a reproach to any country, but in one which professes equal favour for all religions, they are infamous. If the authorities proclaimed to all men that Pro- RARE CURIOSITY IN THE TAR. 193 testants should cease in France, that there should be no place for them living or dead, we might understand the practice; but this intolerant cowardly double deal- ing is at once disgraceful and disgusting. For myself, I cannot say that it would greatly trouble me to know beforehand that I was not to lie in conse- crated ground, but others are of a different opinion, and hold strongly to such an interment. Let such hesi- tate before coming to France, for against their will they may find themselves in bad company as regards their ' mortal coil.' Little matters it to me where the ' vile body' finds its last resting-place, and makes its first acquaintance with the worm. The 'effacing fingers' of decay will equally destroy its beauty and reduce it to loathsomeness, whether it lie in the deep, in the quiet village churchyard embosomed in trees and under a tombstone strewed with flowers, or alone whitening on the mountain. As a matter of feeling, I might wish to take my final repose in company with those who loved me, in hopes that we might together rise at the blast of the trump that wakes the dead, and be reunited not again to part. But little recks it of the body. The soul and its destination is the only thing needful ; and if that be secured, we may leave the rest unregarded, as the joyous butterfly thinks no more of the case which covered it when a chrysalis. In the South of France is a large department with a small name, called the Var, which has lately had an unenviable notoriety. The three letters Var con- tain a great deal of meaning, equally with bad and mad. It was in the Department of the Var that occurred that celebrated curiosity in modern jurispru- dence, where Ducloux, the Paris publisher, was tried and condemned without knowing it, the court sitting o 194 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. with closed doors (see Britanny and the Bible, p. 38). To what can this extreme ultra-bigotry be owing? Marseilles and Toulon are, the one close to, and the other actually within this department, and one would imagine that the usual liberality and largeness of view of the dwellres in seaport towns would have corrected the evil, even if the purifying and healthy sea-breezes had failed in the deodorising work. But whatever be the cause, the Var has recently eclipsed even itself, and let us henceforth think nothing of con- demning with closed doors and in the absence of the accused of being hung up behind our backs, as an Irishman would say for such are mere harmless eccen- tricities only the freaks of Madame Justice done after dinner, and in her cups perhaps. But here are the facts. In 1842, the affluence of invalids, travellers, and others, having assembled at Cannes a large number of Protestants, a place of wor- ship was opened, and continued open for some time undisturbed by the authorities. After a while, certain of the Eomanist inhabitants of the town began to fre- quent the reunions, and the priests became alarmed, and their influence at that period being great, they, by means best known to themselves, procured an order from M. Duchatel, then Minister of the Interior, to ex- pel from France a M. Charbonney, who had conducted the service. This being done in an excessively arbi- trary manner, a la mode des pretres, and M. Char- bonney being in general esteem, a petition was signed by sixty-nine of the chief men of the town all Roman Catholics, praying for his reinstallation ; and this was sent to M. Duchatel ; but no attention was paid to it. After the departure of M. Charbonney, a M. Boucher, AUTHORITIES SHUT THEIR EYES, ' SEE NO PROTESTANTS.' 195 a minister of the Gospel, was delegated by the Consis- tory to officiate as minister at Cannes, but the maire refused to acknowledge him ; and when he attempted to celebrate Divine service, the maire sent the police and gendarmes, who expelled him and the congregation from the chapel. This gross outrage, however, was set right, and the prefet, seeing that the authorities had exceeded their powers, ordered the opening of the place of worship, which was done in 1847, and the number of hearers was from sixty to eighty. Sometime afterwards, the Protestant inhabitants being still .on the increase, a request was made to the local au- thorities to allow a school to be opened for Protestant girls. This caused great excitement among the priests ; and the Committee of the Academic Council, which de- cides such matters, being secretly convened, and without notice having been given (as should legally have been done) to M. Boucher, the legal delegate of the Consistory, decided that the school should not be opened ; giving as the reason, ' that there were no Protestants at Cannes.' This certainly is refreshingly cool no special pleading, or explaining away but a straightforward taking of the bull by the horns and despite the sixty or eighty Protestants attending service in their place of worship, and despite the place of worship itself, they gravely shut their eyes, and say, We see no Protestants at Cannes.' On the same principles we may shut our eyes and say there is no sun. But as notwithstanding our shut eyes there the sun is, lighting and warming everybody, so this enviable aplomb in ignoring a notoriety, could not long stand its ground ; and after an appeal to the higher authorities, the eyes of the worthy com- mittee were miraculously opened, and they admitted o 2 195 LOWER BB.ITANNY AND THE BIBLE. that there were Protestants at Cannes really existing * in the body.' Accordingly the girls' school was duly opened. But soon, (as the equal law of nature gives to anxious ma- ternity boys and girls in about equal proportions,) it became necessary to provide for teaching the young male idea also, and an application was made to the authorities for permission to open a boys' school ; but this singular committee, which first shut its eyes and then said that nothing external existed, now refused to give any school at all to the boys, although it had granted one for the girls previously. A strange curiosity must this committee have been one would like to have seen it doubtless it must have been a quaint specimen perhaps a relic of the Crusades, and, influenced by hatred of the infidel Turks who admit men to Paradise, but keep women out, this eccentric committee would reverse the rule and exclude boys, while it took in girls. Singular department this of the Var ; good, one would imagine, for antiquarians and geologists seeking for antediluvian specimens, but recommendable, at least, for its preference of the softer sex. Let us therefore be kind, and so remember it. This obtuse committee being thus encased and im- practicable, appeal was made to the Academic Council of the Department, who gave judgment on the matter, and not only did so, but were so considerate as to deliver judgment in written characters, and as * litera scripta rnanety we are able to present our readers with a legal curiosity, equal in its way to the * living skeleton.' Le void, ' Koom for the VarJ if not for the ( Bar ! ' ' Considering that from the record of this matter it ' appears that the means employed up to this time for 4 propagating the Protestant religion in this country PROTESTANTISM ALWAYS SPREAD BY IMMORAL MEANS. 197 ' have been and are ahvays immoral ; that conscience ' disapproves them ; that in the town of Cannes all ' attempts, such as gifts of money and obscene books, * the turning aside of poor children under six years old, ' forced visits to death-beds, have presented, and still * present, a special character of immorality ; that in spite ' of all efforts, not one family belonging to the country * has been prevailed upon to follow the Protestant re- * ligion ; that the number, hardly perceptible, which do ' follow it are strangers, and that this number is dimi- ' nished and reduced to almost nothing ; that the whole ' population of Cannes exclaims against the establish- ' ment of the projected school, and especially the sous- ( prefet, in the name of morality, and the public peace ; ' for these and other reasons the Council decides that * the boys' school at Cannes shall not be opened.' A wondrous decision a second Daniel come to judg- ment! And this document is signed by a rector, as President of the Academic Council, three priests, the public prosecutor, and six other persons, all Romanists of course. It is enough to make a man laugh to think of the admirable gravity of the sentences, that Protestantism has been ever, and is still, spread by immoral means, of which the conscience (subauditd l Catholica ') dis- approves ! ! When we read and reflect upon this case, it is evi- dent that the materials for a religious war still exist, and indeed many think that the next war between France and England will be of this character, for France is perhaps more Catholic, and England certainly more Protestant, in other words, the two nations are more antagonistic on the subject of religion, than in the last war. In that case, the horrors of the great battle of 193 LOWEK BIIITANNT AND THE BIBLE. Armageddon may be realised ; but may Grod grant that it be not in our time ! It is needless to refute the , charges of conversion by distributing obscene books, &c. &c. &c. Such charges carry their own refutation with them ; so let us return this Var curiosity carefully to its case, lock it up, label it as < Very rarej and pass on. But justice towards Protestants is singularly difficult, even in the smallest matters, despite all theoretical equality of religions and other * paper stuff,' as Carlyle calls it. Here, for example, is an instance which oc- curred, in September 1861, which I extract from the Opinion Nationals, an independent French journal. A certain worthy man, named Loubat, formerly maire of Sevres, left SOOfr. to be given annually in prizes to the best pupils in the Sevres school. Of this some 50fr. was to be given in the girls' section to the child who was judged most deserving by the other children. The choice of the children, eighty in number, fell upon Henri ette Foras, but, alas ! she was a Protestant. Now M. Loubat had made no distinction as to Pro- testant or Catholic, and only two years before, the brother of Henriette, who was also a Protestant, had gained a similar honour in the boys' school. M. He- bert, however, the vicar, who presided, declared that Henriette should not have the prize, because she was a Protestant, and, after some hesitation, the lay-members present gave way and ordered a second choice. But at the second choice, still the lot fell to Hen- riette, yet, in spite of that, the vicar gave the prize to another pupil. However, some Protestant ladies made a collection of lOOfr. to give to the child as a recom- pense for the loss of the prize, but even then the pre- sident refused to give it in the name of Protestant LAISSEZ FAIRE THE WRONG WAY OF MEETING ROMANISM. 199 ladies he would not sully his lips with the word and therefore gave it as coming from some benevolent ladies. Can anything be imagined so ridiculous and unfair as this paltry matter? And yet forsooth, ' il y a egalite des cultes en France." 1 Oh certainly ! equal injustice for all who are not Komanists. At a time when a country, for instance France, is in a state of transition, it is interesting to mark the de- grees in the process. It is a favourite dogma with many that Komanism may be safely left alone; that brought into contact with the spirit of the age, it will fade and expire, as barbarism before the advance of civilisation. This doctrine is philosophic, and of easy practice ; it says, laissez faire, and do nothing yourself '; perhaps, too, in the end it may be true, for it deals only in the future tense, and has time indefinite to work in; but to judge by what passes under our eyes, there has been until lately a certain progress of Komanism, showing something faulty in the principle of the laissez faire doctrine, or else something out of order in the ropes and pulleys. All the world knows that, in 1792, Romanism seemed destroyed in France ; its priests hunted like wild beasts of the forest, tortured and torn in pieces ; its temples burned, overthrown, and profaned; its possessions con- fiscated, and its very name rooted out ; and that, since that period, it has never (save for one brief period) been recognised as the State religion ; and yet, at pre- sent, we find it endued with a very marvellous vitality, extending itself far and wide, above ground and below it, and bidding fair shortly to regain a good part of its lost territory. Such a system must not be despised if we would hope to overcome it, and we may rely upon 200 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. it, that it has its roots deep down among the very foun- dations of our nature, and that to eradicate it we must very thoroughly change that nature. Laissez faire is not the remedy for this disease, and mild palliatives will be about as effectual as poultices would be to remove the humps from a dromedary's back. Look, for example, at the late question about reli- gious processions. By a law of 1802 it was enacted that ' no religious ceremony shall take place out of the edifices appropriated for Catholic worship, in the towns where there are temples belonging to other forms of worship.' The object of this law was purely civil. It cared neither for Catholic nor Protestant, and was su- premely indifferent to both ; but was framed to prevent such scandalous disturbances of the public peace as would probably arise in case of the meeting of public party processions. It said * fight dog, fight bear, in the proper ( place, but you shall not fight in the public streets.' In towns, therefore, possessing a Protestant chapel, with a minister paid by the State, Eoman Catholic processions were forbidden, and we may imagine the suppressed anger of ' flams and arch-flams ' as Carlyle calls them, thereupon. Nice news for them, to hear of the probability of a Protestant minister being allotted to their town, and all their exhibition of finery thereby put an end to ! So the law was submitted to in a way not without grumblings infinite and secret councils without number. Symptoms, however, soon appeared, showing an intention to evade or deplace the law, and at Lille, the Grovernment in a very cowardly manner has yielded to the priests, and ano- ther link has been added to the chain continually forging for Protestantism. Lille is the seat of a Protestant Consistory, and has REVIVAL OF ROMANIST RELIGIOUS PROCESSIONS. 201 several places of Protestant worship, nor has it had a grand religious procession since the law previously cited. The year 1852 being a propitious one, and the horoscope of St. Louis having been duly taken and found favourable by adding the word Napoleon, special orders are understood to have been given by the Jesuitical heads to celebrate the festival of the Bon Dieu on an unusual scale of splendour, so as to dispirit the Protestants and elevate the hearts of the faithful in France. At Lille, therefore, it was announced that the pro- cession would be revived. The Protestants did what they could to oppose it, and the maire of Lille, in order to prevent a probable breach of the peace in the town, formally forbade it. Upon this the priestly party applied to the prefet, and prevailed upon him to revoke the decree of the maire, which he did ; and again the ques- tion was opened ; to be closed again, however, by an order from the Ministre des Cultes confirming the judgment of the maire. It was, however, apparently a mere matter of tossing up, * heads or tails,' and therefore, to secure ano- ther toss, the Eomanists at once commenced getting up the steam to an alarming height* They stated that the preparations had been all made; that the people were full of devotion, and much excited ; that Government influence would greatly suffer at Lille if things were not allowed to go on as they wished ; in fine, they raised such a hubbub, that by a telegraphic despatch from Paris it was announced that, as the end of the strife, the * procession was to go ; ' and it accord- ingly went in great pomp and with great eclat, as a revival, a return from the dead, to the glorification of every Catholic heart, and the abasement and 202 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. annoyance of every Protestant. And as if to inflict a kick on the dead lion, and show Protestants what they had taken by their motion, the garrison at Lille were ordered to form part of the religious ceremony, con- trary to the rule which allows the presence of military only at political fetes. For be it remembered, that a great point of religious scruple is involved here. The army is composed of Protestants as well as Eomanists, and yet all are ordered to go on their knees at the passage of the consecrated wafer. But can a Protestant conscientiously do this ? I do not by any means say that it is a sin in itself, but if the party thinks it one, it is sin to him. Some might consider it (a soldier, for instance) like the case of Naaman, when he went with his master into the house of Eimmon ; and as Naaman was allowed to bow down without sin, so it might be here, but all might not view it in the same light, and to such it would be an act of grievous oppression. And all this is done in liberal France, in this nine- teenth century, professing to allow equality to all reli- gions ! Why, even in Russia, where the army is composed, among others, of Mahometans and pagans, even their scruples are respected, and no one is forced to take part in any other religious ceremony than that of his own religion. And yet in enlightened and philosophic France, governed by a Napoleon Buonaparte, Protestants shall be obliged, under pain of death, to bow before the golden image. It is Nebuchadnezzar and the plain of Shinar revived : let France beware lest the Writing on the Wall follow ! And so the procession went on grandly at Lille, and the Protestants had to submit as they best could ; and they did so, as they almost always do. At Paris it is observed that the processions are PROCESSION AT MORLAIX GETS WET THROUGH. 203 more splendid and prominent than they had been for years. There the law is in force, and consequently no religious processions appear in the streets ; but of late it is remarked that they have encroached a little. At the Madeleine, for instance, instead of promenading round the inside of the church, with banners, images, &c., they promenade round the outside colonnade. At Notre Dame de Loretto an altar was fitted up on the outside, and some few houses were ornamented, and hung with drapery; and at St. Thomas's church the procession fairly entered the street and marched to the Artillery Museum, where the altar was erected. Everywhere in the provinces unusual ardour was dis- played, as if to warm and illuminate the hearts of the multitude with the light of the good days coming. At Morlaix, in Britanny, the exhibition was sumptuous. Many priests were there who came from far, and I was so struck by the evident newness of some of the banners and crosses, that I could not forbear asking the reason, and smiling at the reply. It seems that on a previous year, on the anniversary of the Fete Dieu, the heavens were unpropitious and the rain poured in torrents. A deputation waited on the cure who had the direction of affairs, requesting him to shorten the line of the procession as much as possible, so as to spare the ladies and their fine clothes, to say nothing of the wooden saints and angels in best bib and tucker. But as ill luck would have it, that stout ecclesiastic was determined to pass in front of the Protestant chapel in the town, in order, as he said, f to beard the heretics,' therefore the deputation's request was refused ; and the said chapel was at the very end of the town. So the procession started, and soon became a long and lugubrious string of umbrellas banners flapped 204 LOWER BRITAXNY AND THE BIBLE. heavily, and then stuck to the pole ladies' thin muslins grew transparent, and their forms became delineated with classic correctness, not to say indecency paint was washed off, and looked streaky and muddy all were cross and sulky, anathematising the cure who thus dragged them through the mire for an ill-natured mo- tive, and it was universally agreed that a less devotional procession, one less abounding in Christian graces, virtues, and purity ,had never been witnessed. But that was not all : the flags, decorations, garments, and drapery had all been * got up ' expressly for the occasion, and were all spoiled, to the tune of upwards of 100L ! nor was it until the following year that the losses could be repaired ; at which period the general wish to produce something striking had showed itself in a renewal and regilding of the exhibition stock. It is to be hoped that the zeal of the cure will not again spoil all as before, or at least that he will previously consult the barometer, and call a council of old ladies or rheumatic washerwomen on the subject; or at any rate expend a small sum from the Treasury of the Saints, in purchasing one of the Barometers exhibited at the International, and patented for distinguishing * wet ' from ' wind,' 205 CHAPTER XIH. CASE OF THE HAUTE VTENNB A WHOLE COMMUNE LEAVING BOME CHAPEL OPENED WITH DIFFICULTY SCHOOLS SHUT UP ' IN THE INTERESTS OF MOEALITT ' TRIAL BOME UN- CHANGED BECENT MANDEMENT OF ABCHBISHOP OF TOULOUSE CELEBRATING MASSACBE OF PROTESTANTS MONITEUB FOBBIDS IT COUBT OF CASSATION ON DISTBTBUTTNG TBACTS. A NOTHER of those cases has recently occurred in J\. France which are enough to wear out the patience and spirit of any people especially of a people living under 'an equality of religious rights,' as guaranteed by the precious * code.' It is really hard on the reader to have so many similar cases brought before him, and this shall be the last. I could give a score of others with ease ; but I will be merciful, and will only give this ( positively last ' one more. Perhaps I may be asked, Why give any more ? But I wish to drive the subject home, so that my readers may have a definite idea and settled conviction of the way in which their fellow-Protestants are treated in France, a country separated from us only by an hour's distance ; and that they may feel for their difficulties, and sympathise with and help them whenever an oppor- tunity offers. In truth many Englishmen seem to think that in this nineteenth century Rome has become a dove instead of a raven, and that it must be quite a privilege to live in enlightened France, where one of the fundamental 206 LOWEK ERITANNY AND THE BIBLE. articles of the ( Charter ' is ' equal religious rights,' and where there is no state religion. I therefore wish to disabuse their minds of such mistakes, which are just the opposite of the truth, and' to give them some facts which they may consider and judge for themselves, as it- becomes wise men to do. Fifteen years ago a singular event happened in the Department of the Haute Vienne in France. A whole ' commune,' of 600 inhabitants, breaking away from the Holy (Roman) Catholic Church, applied to the Consistory of Paris to send them a Protestant pastor. The request was granted. In a short time the neighbouring com- munes of Chateau Ponsac, Eanpon, Balledent, and Thiat followed the example; and even at Limoges, the chief town of the province, a chapel was built and a pastor appointed, and a continual increase of converts followed. This was under the reign of Louis Philippe. Then came the Eevolution of 1 848 ; and in due time followed the Empire and the increase of power of the Eomanist party for, as has been said, the first effect of the Empire was to breathe fresh vigour into the Eomish Church in France, and to give to it double its usual pretensions and arrogance; and in about two years afterwards, all the chapels of which mention has been made, in the district of Bellac, were suddenly shut up by order of the prefet. The poor Protestants, troubled but not dismayed, used every effort to procure the reopening of their chapels, but without success. They then held religious worship on Sundays in the houses of different inhabitants, and for this they were dragged to the bar of criminal justice, and punished with heavy fines for holding meet- ings in unlicensed places ; although it was admitted that their meetings were merely for religious objects. Still they bravely renewed their attempts to reopen EMPEROR NOT UNFAVOURABLY DISPOSED TO PROTESTANTS. 207 their chapels ; and failing again, they again met for worship in a house, and were again punished as before, They were defended by M. Edmond de 'Pressense, the Protestant minister of Paris, in an admirable speech, which he concluded by these words : * So long as our friends stand thus in vain before their closed churches, and are punished for praying to Ofod so long as the churches of the Haute Vienne are thus harassed, religious liberty is but an empty name in France, and conscience is violated in its inmost part.' Still they persevered ; and at length, in 1856, during the Crimean War, they gained access to the Emperor, and by a special order from him the chapels were all re- opened, and have since remained so. And here let me make a remark. When the Em- peror was in Britanny in 1857, a deputation of the Protestants of the south of Britanny waited on him to congratulate him, and recalled to him the words of his uncle : ' The empire of the law ends where that of con- science commences' noble words, worthy of a great man ! The Emperor and the President of the Consistory (equivalent to our bishop) had a friendly conversation, apart from all the others, and the Emperor finished by saying : ' If you have complaints to make, send them direct to me, and not through the Ministre des Cultes ' and yet, strange to say, they have never since, so far as I am aware, made use of the privilege ! This con- firms what I have before said as to the personal feel- ings of Louis Napoleon towards Protestants. Well ! the chapels were reopened ; and so far so good. But after chapels come schools, as a natural consequence ; and as this was a new thing, all the difficulties had to be surmounted over again. Was it not enough to dispirit the most determined and persevering ? At length schools were opened at Bellac, after every possible hindrance had 208 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. been thrown in the way. But even yet we are far from being ' out of the wood.' By a decision of the Academic Council, composed of four Eoman Catholics and one Protestant (most impartial tribunal !) they were again ordered to be closed, in the interests of morality ; and since then, in spite of every effort, they have remained closed, and are closed at this moment. In ' the interests of morality ' to shut up schools ! No comment is needed here, methinks. But what are the parents to do with their children ? Are they to grow up like little brutes, without educa- tion of any kind ? So they engaged a person to give * lemons a domicile,' that is, to go from one house to another and teach the children in each, allowing no others to come in. But even here, was too much educa- tion for Kome. Spies were employed, and an accusation was brought against the teacher ; and I think that this ' acte d* accusation ' must be a bijou among even French legal, or rather illegal, curiosities, and merits a place in the rarities at the Louvre, along with the arquebuss with which Charles IX. picked off flying Protestants across the Seine, at that great battue of Protestants on St. Bartholomew's day, of which history speaks some- what warmly. Ju&ml, the teacher, is found guilty of keeping a school, by going to the house of one Bouland and giving a lesson to his son, aged seven years, and the tribunal gravely condemns him to a fine and costs, and that his school (which he never kept, for it was in another man's house) should be instantly closed ! But still the people were not beaten. They appealed to the High Court of Paris against this absurd and illegal decision for it is admitted that giving lessons at the house is not keeping a school and their appeal was HOME, THE MOVING POWER IN RELIGIOUS PERSECUTIONS. 209 allowed, and finally they triumphed, and great was their joy, and the valleys of the Haute Vienne resounded with cries of exultation and gratitude. But Rome is not beaten yet; her quiver has yet another arrow. Delays occurred, difficulties were raised, and finally, when two teachers presented themselves ready to recommence the work, the prefet, urged by the clerical authorities, again stopped them * for the sake of public morals ; ' and as the prefet is scarcely ever dis- avowed by the Government, the matter is thus finally and to conclude settled until the next, and let us hope, speedy, act in the politico-religious farce. Ah ! acts like these are the true causes of revolutions ; for they make even moderate men pray for them ! Mean while, let us sympathise with and express our sympathy for the poor suffering people of Bellac. And here I will close my list of instances in which the principles of religious liberty are grievously and flagrantly violated in France ; and I appeal to the feel- ings of every enlightened and just man, whether the case is not one that cries loudly for relief; especially in a country mark this! where the fifth clause of the fundamental charter of the constitution guarantees equal religious rights to all its citizens ? And who is the moving agent of it all ? whose is the spirit that inspires these odious persecutions ? 'T is Rome unchanged and unchangeable Rome, who would repeat all the cruel and oppressive acts which history records on her pages, if she had only the power. But I am uncharitable, say some. The state of mo- dern enlightenment, the march of intellect, the spirit of the age, &c. &c. &c., all render it impossible for Rome ever to be again what she has been. She has become philosophic rather than practical deals in dogmas P 210 LOWER BEITANNY AND THE BIBLE. rather than acts and burns only on paper, and not in auto-da-fes. Does she? then what shall we say to the recent mandement of the Archbishop of Toulouse, a dignitary of large calibre even among Eomish Tritons ? This enlightened and most Christian prelate has just issued (April 1862) a mandement for the celebration of the glorious anniversary of the massacre of 4,000 Pro- testants at Toulouse in 1562! A public procession was to take place, and high masses to be said, and preachers. were to exhort their flocks in a suitable manner. In this way, as the Archbishop mildly expresses himself, the ' chain of the past ' was to be kept up until (we suppose) another blood-red link is forged. But we should thank the gentle Archbishop for direct- ing our attention to the ' chain of the past.' It is a letter which has two addresses, and its effect will be as much felt by Protestants as by Eomanists. We may say with Shakspeare, *I thank thee, Jew, for teaching me that word;' and it will act as a timely stimulant to dozing and soporific persons, whose nature disposes them to a too easy deposit of flesh. This ' chain of the past ' has eaten too deeply into the Protestant body to be easily forgotten. Stir it ever so lightly, and it will still give pain. And its effect has been happy on the French Govern- ment also, for by an article in the Moniteur, the Govern- ment says ' The celebration of a jubilee on the 23rd May next (1862), which has been prescribed by the Archbishop of Toulouse, is nothing else than the comme- moration of a grievous and bloody episode of our ancient religious discords;' and then goes on to interdict and forbid the procession, &c., and so good comes out of evil; and this is another proof that the Emperor is disposed to put a bit into the mouth of the priesthood, ELASTICITY OF ROMANISM IN PRACTICE. 211 and not allow them to prance and caracole and trample upon the people at their will. And with this instance, which arrives tres apropos, both as to the proof of the ancient spirit of Rome still animating her, and as to the disposition of the Emperor to put a check on the exhibition of that spirit, I will close this part of my subject for the present. As I have before said, I could increase it tenfold, but I should only fatigue my readers and myself, and I wish to avoid both one and the other. How elastic is the Eomish system in practice, and how cleverly does it adapt itself to circumstances ! There is almost as great a difference between the system as applied in Britanny or any other intensely Eoman Catholic country, and as applied in England ; as there is between the latter and Protestantism itself. And yet the veritable unchangeable spirit of Rome is such as we find it in Britanny; and if we do not find it in England also, it is because it dare not show itself there. In England we have seen Romanists in league and solemn pact with the ultra-Liberal or Radical party as at the time of the * Lichfield House compact,' dis- coursing eloquently on the liberty of conscience, the rights of citizens, and, I doubt not, in many cases up- holding the five points of the ' Charter,' and fraternising with Dissenters at the time (happily now almost gone by) when Dissenters had many real civil and religious grievances to complain of; in fact, making political capital out of all or any circumstances which in the least degree advanced their own cause; and coolly kicking away the ladder they had mounted up by, as soon as it was no longer useful to them. Jn England they are obliged to use the pattes de P 2 2! 2 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. velours only, and to keep their claws concealed; yet there they are, ready for use, if the good times of old would only return. But England, has felt the claws too deeply to endure them again ; she has only to look at the scars of the wounds they have inflicted on her, to strengthen and confirm her determination not to run the fearful risk a second time. Now and then a devoted but imprudent son of the Church breaks out and speaks his mind, recalls us to a sense of what the system really is, and prevents us lapsing into a false security, and does us good service without intending it; as Sir George Bowyer has just done in the debate on Italy (see Hansard, April 14, 1862), and we owe him thanks for it; but, generally speaking, the party is well generaled, and acts on the principle of being all things to all men, and keeping its ancient principles in the background. But let us ever remember that Home is unchanged and unchangeable. An infallible power, as Rome pretends to be, can never alter its principles, or retire from a position it has once taken up. It cannot retreat, for retreat is ruin. In the year 1859, judgement was given by the Court of Cassation in Paris, which is the Supreme Court of Appeal in France, on the question whether casually giving a book or tract was ' distributing ' within the terms of the law forbidding such an act. This law was passed in 1849, when Socialism pre- vailed in France, and when books of the most infamous and subversive nature were circulated through the country, and was never intended to apply to the circu- lation of moral and religious books, and especially the Bible. But, by what I think was a very culpable DECISION ON DISTRIBUTION OF TRACTS. 213 neglect and inattention on the part of the Protestant Members of the Assembly, the attention of the Legis- lature was not sufficiently directed to the point ; and as it was not the interest of the Eomanist members to object (indeed it is highly probable that the far-sighted among them foresaw the powerful use which might in due time be made of it), the project passed and be- came law, and its very inconvenient and restrictive effect was soon apparent. The words used are ' distributor of any book,' &c. Now the Bible being a book, was of course, included ; but I always desired to have had the point expressly decided, as forbidding circulation of the Bible by law is such a flagrant act in this our day, that it seemed to me very improbable that the French Government would have insisted upon it. This opinion I often expressed, but it met with but little support ; and things went on, and it was assumed, on almost all hands, that the Bible ivas included under the law, and therefore for- bidden to be distributed save under a special licence. The second question then was, what was meant by 'distribution,' i.e., whether it referred to the mere giving a copy or two of any book by A or B, or whether it only meant giving books generally by a person em- ployed, or making it his business, to do so. This question in due time came before the courts, and after sundry decisions by inferior judges, was brought finally before the High Court of Cassation in Paris, the supreme court in all cases. The case was, that the defendant (a Protestant) had given one single tract to a little boy, but had admitted that during the previous three or four years he had given three or four more such tracts to other people. The day was looked forward to with much interest, 214 LOWER BRITANXY AND THE BIBLE. and the Protestant notabilities from many parts of France were there. It was extremely difficult to pro- cure access to the court, but by the kindness of a Protestant minister in Paris I procured admission, and heard the decision. The discussion no sooner commenced than I felt certain how it was going to end, for there was a very evident animus against the Protestant side. M. Jules Delaborde was the Protestant advocate, and argued the matter extremely well and boldly for France, at least but I thought he took lower ground than would have been taken by an English advocate ; still, as I have before said, allowance must be made for opposition, and the deadening weight of ill-disposed authorities, and for a different way of viewing things. In spite, how- ever, of all his efforts, Komanist views and interests prevailed, and in a very short time the matter was settled, and a decision given by the court against the Protestant. And yet meanwhile Komanists of all kinds, Jesuits, sceurs of every colour, black, white, and grey, charitable and religious societies, zealous individuals, and, in fact, all Eomanists who liked, were circulating and ( distri- buting' floods of tracts, abusing and calumniating Protestantism in every possible way, and the Govern- ment never interfered with them. I have now before me three different tracts which were placed in my hands at that very period, as being distributed by agents of the Society of St. Francis de Sales in Paris, and I dare say there were a score of others. Most of them are full of abuse of Pro- testantism, accusing them of buying over converts, and of practising all kinds of vice, and loading them with calumny. PERMITTED ABUSE OP PROTESTANTISM BY ROMANISTS. 215 One of these little tracts is entitled ' La Bonne Anne,' and merits to be called the flower of the flock. It accuses Protestants of being drunkards, thieves, fornicators, liars, adulterers ; and says that a Protestant is in case of need authorised to appeal to the devil as * le grand coup.' And while all this was going on in almost every part of France with impunity, a poor Protestant is solemnly condemned by the High Court of Cassation, with its full court of judges in all their paraphernalia, for having given away a single copy of a tract to a small boy ; and a Protestant religious journal is men- aced with prosecution for using the word * errors ' in respect of Komanism ! And yet, croyez moi, the constitution gives equal religious rights to all its citizens 1 1 216 CHAPTER XIV. IDEAS OF ROMANISTS AS TO PROTESTANTISM THEIE IGNORANCE OF THE BIBLE CALUMNIES AGAINST PROTESTANTS NO REPLY TO THEM PRACTICABLE INDULGENCES A PROFITABLE SYSTEM ENGLISH RESIDENTS WORSHIP IN ENGLISH ANECDOTE GOOD EFFECTS OF PERSEVERANCE ROMANISM A SYSTEM OF JUSTIFICATION BY WORKS FRENCH CHILDREN AND THEIR BRINGING UP. THE ignorance of the great body of even enlightened Eomanists about the principles and practice of Protestants is, as I have already stated, considerable. In England there are few educated Protestants but who know the general doctrines of Romanism with tolerable accuracy ; not merely such as prejudice and bigotry lend to it, but such as are actually held, and as they are expounded by its chief authorities. Con- troversy has cleared up and placed all these points before us as they actually exist, and there is such an interest felt on the subject, that the press teems with works of all kinds relating to it, which are eagerly perused, so that it is not improbable that as great a proportionate number of Protestants are well informed on the subject as of Romanists. Here and there you find a priest who has read extensively, and here and there a layman ; but taking even the educated classes of Romanists, I do not think them well informed upon religious matters generally. Nor should this be matter of surprise, when we con- sider that almost every valuable book of liberal views ' * INDEX EXPURGATORIUS ' A TEST OF VALUABLE BOOKS. 217 which has been written is to be found in the Index Expur- gatorius, and that, as a rule, the priests discountenance religious enquiry, for fear it should go too far. We all know the story of the man who was about forming a library, and asked the opinion of a friend as to the selec- tion of good sound works, and his friend advised him to select from the Index Eovpurgatorius. In addition to this is the principle of the authority of the Church, under which the non-enquiring spirit is not merely sheltered, but encouraged. The believer is saved the trouble and risk of investigation, by believing all which the Church believes ; and the Church takes on herself the responsibility of believing for him. These principles naturally allow free scope for the indolence and apathy on serious matters natural to a great part of mankind, and hence the ignorance in question is what might be expected. Nor should we so much object to the practice of taking the responsibility, provided that the punishment was thus capable of transfer also; but knowing, as we do, that everyone * shall bear his own burden,' that our faculties are given us for our ovjn guidance, and that hereafter we shall be responsible for the use of those faculties ; we may well object to the doctrines thus held, and to the prac- tical effect of them upon great bodies of people. In arguing with a Romanist, one great authority to which a Protestant naturally appeals the Bible is, if not rejected, yet little regarded, and thus it is difficult to arrive at a common ground; and the deference to authority is so great, that a question is often considered settled by a reference to any writer of name. Independent judgement, examining for instance the authority cited, and showing that it is itself valueless or open to objection, is thought irreverent, and received, 218 LOWER BRITAXNY AND THE BIBLE. with little favour. Like muscles unused to exercise, which are unequal to sustained exertion, and are ex- hausted by a single effort, such disputants are satisfied with quoting an authority^ but have not sufficient strength or courage to examine and discuss it. One common notion about Protestantism which I have frequently heard stated, and which is extensively held by Romanists, is that it is a religion of conve- nience. This is certainly a strange idea to entertain of a religion which regards the thoughts and the heart chiefly, and in which the monitor being within, and therefore always with us, will naturally be more strict than any other ; provided, of course, that the profession of religion is sincere. Some time since I procured a modern French Eomanist book on this subject, entitled, ' What are we to think of the religion which permits every one to do as he likes?' This work contains the grossest and most calumnious misstatements as to Protestantism, repre- senting it as a mere cloak under which vicious men take refuge, in order to sin with impunity. There are several books of the same character, but I will cite a few extracts from this one, which will give an idea as to the rest. Let me also add, that this book was given as a prize in a Romanist school supported by public money , and under the direction of the Academic Council of the Department, who must be presumed to have been cog- nisant of the fact. The book starts with this principle 'Protestants interpret the Bible to suit their convenience, and there- fore they may conscientiously do what they like ' and proceeds thus to enlarge upon it. ' Grood works, such as acts of repentance, of sobriety, temperance, justice, modesty, chastity, and pity, are mortal sins, and ROMANIST CALUMNIES AGAINST PROTESTANTISM. 219 in no way serve to gain heaven. More than that, it is a received doctrine that good works hazard rather than help salvation, that it is sufficient to believe in Jesus Christ, and that no sin, past, present, a?* future, is hurt- ful to him who believes. Thus, only believe firmly, and you need not trouble yourself about thefts, forni- cations, or murders.' * For instance, sobriety is not a virtue, and the principal thing which Protestant mis- sionaries teach to the poor savages whom they evange- lise is drunkenness.' What an impudent calumny is this ! and permitted to pass unnoticed by the Govern- ment, let me observe, in a country which does not allow Protestants to use the word errors in reference to Komanism. It then states that all crimes can be justified by the Bible, and adds * So, you rob your father, you do wrong to your master, your conscience pricks you. But if you are a Protestant, and a little clever, remember that the Israelites stole the treasures of the Egyptians, and you read in Genesis that Jacob robbed Laban of his golden images. You are therefore quite en regie ; your conscience, as that of an honest man, can say nothing against an act which with a little address you can jus- tify, and even sanctify, from the Bible.' It then tells two little stories to enliven the subject. ' A certain Timothy of Cambridge, with whom a sum of money had been deposited, denied that there was any claim upon him, and defended himself by these words of St. Paul, " Timothy, gardez le depot" " Keep that which is committed to thee." The apostle meant to say, keep the faith ; the Protestant interpreter un- derstood it, " Keep the money." ' Again ' Another having stolen his host's cloak, excused himself by the apostolic command, " Bear each other's burdens." ' The 220 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. gravity with which the author quotes these ancient and irreligious Joe Millers as facts, in a religious discussion, is edifying. How surprised would ' Joe ' be to find him- self elevated to the witness box in an ecclesiastical court ! . It then quotes Luther as expressly sanctioning forni- cation and adultery, and also the keeping of mistresses, in terms which I will not introduce here. Charity then comes in question : ' Charity goes on the doctrine of works, and good works are abhorred by Protestants, as " a burden which prevents us reaching heaven," accord- ing to Luther. And besides, if faith is enough, of what use is charity? Protestantism only tolerates charity towards women, and those young and pretty; as for charity towards your neighbour, if he is of the mascu- line gender, there is no question about it.' Then follows the passage with reference to sins prac- tised by Protestants : 'They easily accommodate their doctrine with the Bible. You remember the favourite principle of Luther, Calvin, &c, that Grod allows him- self to lie occasionally, byway of joke. (Haw awful this blasphemy!} Therefore a Protestant, who knows Luther and Calvin by heart, considers as lies and jokes those passages which make against him. If, however, the text is too serious to be taken as a joke, the Protestant masters have other resources. 1st. If it is only a word or a tine which embarrasses them, they suppress it. Thus, in the sixth verse of the Epistle of St. Paul to Phile- mon, mention is made of good works ; but as Luther feared good works more than the devil, who used to visit him under the form of a blue fly, he cut out this word in his translation of the Bible. 2ndly. They sup- press a chapter or an entire book, when they find there doctrines or points of morality undoubtedly Catholic. For instance, the Epistle of St. James], which shows the ROMANIST OPINIONS OF PROTESTANT WORKS. 221 insufficiency of faith without works; the Second Book of Maccabees, which speaks of prayers for the dead and of purgatory, have been suppressed without appeal, one by Luther and the other by Calvin. 3rdly. If there is a means of leaving out the word, chapter, or book, of altering the sense, or of adding words which are not there, Protestants are not behind hand ; they know that the common people, who know neither Hebrew, Greek, nor Latin, will not dig out their rogueries, and will take as the word of Grod whatever shall be presented as such. For instance, where the Bible says " Faith justifies," Luther translates " Faith alone justifies." Where the Bible says "This is my body," Zwingle translates " This is the sign of my body." 4thly. Where there is no way of mutilating, cutting out, or changing the text of the Bible, a Protestant is authorised to appeal from the Bible to the devil this is the great stroke c'est le grand coup. 1 I have given this passage entire ; it will show Protestants what some Catholics think of them. A person then remarks (to go on with the book) ' Luther, Calvin, and the ministers in general who give to their flocks these falsified Bibles, do they wish to deceive the people? Why not,' answers the writer, * when they admit that God can deceive and lie. It is their wish to be perfect as their Father in heaven is perfect.' l Protestants are not obliged to listen to their ministers. The minister says what he believes, and each hearer believes what he likes, without ceasing to be a Protestant. The duty of a Protestant minister, a la rigueur, consists in opening and shutting the church. Their pretended evangelical ministry is the mere trade of a dooi^-keeper.'' The concluding passage is as follows : * The Catholic religion proposes to its children to fly from vice and 222 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. practise virtue, after certain rules which are always the same. From the time when we depart from these rules proposed by the Church, we become bad Catholics, and we are condemned by the Catholic religion ; we therefore cannot accuse it of authorising vice. But the Protestant religion, permitting to each one to make his own rule of conduct, it is certain that each will draw up a rule favourable to his passions ; therefore a man may be vicious, and at the same time a good Protestant. You will understand now how the Catholic religion is not responsible for the vices of her children, since she opposes them, and how the Protestant religion is re- sponsible for the vices of her children, since she autho- rises them.' How far this book contains the truth I leave to my readers to judge. I only ask them, what they think of a Government professing toleration, which permits the circulation of such trash, and forbids the circulation of the Bible and good books ; and refuses to allow a Protestant to say to a Catholic that he is * in error ' ? See what was done with respect to the little Bulletin, p. 11, for only using this very mild word. But some may say, why not reply to such foul libels, why not place the author in the pillory of public opinion? I will tell you why ; because the reply would probably not be allowed to be published. Governments of the paternal form do not like quarrels between their children, and uphold the rights of the first-born ; and, therefore, if Peter calls Martin bad names, or even beats him, Martin must say nothing in return. Peter is the eldest son, and the peace of the family is best preserved, and col- lisions avoided, by letting him do as he likes. When, therefore, such books are circulated and read, and no contradiction or counter-statement appears, do not let us VENIAL OR VENAL SINS IN ROMISH SYSTEM. 223 wonder at the strange ideas that Roman Catholics have of us, and, above all, do not let us wonder that they consider our religion as one of convenience. Only the other day, on two Breton women going to the house of a Protestant minister, whom I know, to hear his explanation of the Scriptures, the Catholic cure charged them with going there for immoral purposes, stating that it was notorious that the minister kept a bad house I And I myself know that the opinion that Protestantism is a religion of convenience is generally prevalent in Britanny, and I have myself heard it so stated frequently. For when they see that we go not to early mass, that we cross not, that we fast not, that we count no beads, and set up no images, that we confess not ; they, who do little else, are at a loss to imagine what we can do ; and not being able to fill up the void, conclude that we do nothing. And yet were we to bandy terms, we might fairly say that the religion of convenience is that which allows you to buy dispensations and indulgences for money. A plain man, for instance, thinks that a sin is a sin ; but Roman Catholics divide sins into classes. There are sins mortal and sins venial, or, to call them more properly, sins venal, as pardon of them is to be bought. Unless the money is paid, the sin remains, a thing puzzling to an unlettered Christian man. To be sure these venial, or venal sins, are chiefly sins of the invention of the Church ; and, as the Church gains by the invention, we may suppose that she has been fertile in inventing. They constitute her treasury, and therefore she has a direct interest in coining them ; and of such ' coins of vantage ' she has a good stock. If you eat meat on fast days you will certainly be damned ; but for a small sum you can procure a dispensa- tion, and eat till you are stuffed. You must not marry 224 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. your cousin, or you go at once to a place not to be named, but pay his Holiness a fee and marry her with pleasure. A saved soul should go at once to Paradise, but unless you can pay for a mass it is stopped by pur- gatory on the way. But indulgences go farther than this. Here is the form : * I, by the authority of our Lord * Jesus Christ, and that of his blessed apostles Peter and * Paul, and of the most Holy Pope, do absolve thee first * from all ecclesiastical censures, in whatever manner ' they have been incurred, and then from all thy sins, ' transgressions, and excesses, how enormous soever they { may be, even from such as are reserved for the cog- ' nisance of the Holy See ; and as far as the keys of the < Holy Church extend, I remit to you all punishment ' which you deserve in purgatory on their account ; and ' I restore you to the holy sacraments of the Church, to * the unity of the faithful, and to that innocence and * purity which you possessed at baptism, so that when * you die the gates of punishment shall be shut, and the ' gates of the paradise of delight shall be opened, and if ' you shall not die at present, this grace shall remain in ( full /orce-when you are at the point of death. In the f name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy ' Ghost.' This was the form of indulgence sold by Tetzel, which stirred the soul of Luther, and we shall say not ivithout cause ; and these forms are still made use of. But hear Tetzel's explanations on the subject: 'Come, and I ' will give you letters, all properly sealed, by which even * the sins which you intend to commit may be pardoned. * I would not change my privileges for those of St. Peter, ' for I have saved more souls by my indulgences than he 'by his sermons.' And hear him as to the efficacy of TRADE IN INDULGENCES A VERY PROFITABLE ONE. 225 his papers : * There is no sin so great that an indul- ' gence cannot remit, and even if anyone (which is im- * possible doubtless,) had offered violence to the blessed ' Virgin Mai*y, the Mother of God, let him pay, let him f only pay well, and all will be forgiven him.' ' And * for a quarter of a florin, too, all this happiness.' And he concludes * At the very instant that the money ' rattles at the bottom of the chest, the soul flies straight 4 to heaven.' D'Aubignes Reformation, vol. i. p. 242. To encourage business and save time, there was a regular tariff. Polygamy was charged six ducats, sa- crilege and perjury nine ducats, murder eight ducats, witchcraft two ducats, infanticide half a ducat, parricide or fratricide one ducat. Thus for twenty-six ducats and a half, or about seven pounds, you might buy a license to commit a great variety of sins here, and be free from the punishment of them hereafter! Who would not purchase safety on such terms ? And yet we must on no account call this a religion of convenience ! But the doctrine of indulgences is old, perhaps, and not now in use. What if it is ? The chain of infalli- bility connects all acts of the Komish Church, however remote; there is no age there in the ordinary sense, thanks to him who invented the doctrine of infallibility. But it is not old. In 1825, Leo, then Pope, granted a plenary indulgence to all sinners who were content to pay for it ; and it is notorious that particular indulgences are of frequent occurrence. General ones have grown into disuse as comprehending too much, and being therefore too cheap to make money by. It is no dif- ference in principle, but simply that the Church finds the trade by retail more profitable than that in gross. At present, you must purchase each pardon separately, instead of (as before) all together; that is all the Q 226 LOWEK BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. difference. If, therefore, there is a religion of conve- nience, we should say it was that one in which the system of dispensations and indulgences prevails. * Those best can paint it who have felt it most.' It is to be regretted that English Protestants resident in Catholic countries, and especially in France, do not show forth the practical nature of their religion better than they often do. Example is better than precept, and the sight of one religious family, regular in their religious duties, and of good life and conversation, would be more effective than a dozen treatises. But many of our countrymen who reside in France are care- less of these things, i.e. I do not think there is the same average religious standard among them as among residents in England. Then Protestant worship is only celebrated in a few places, and scarcely ever in English, and the effect of the want of a Sunday as- sembling together is speedily seen. Added to this, temptations to gaiety and immorality abound, and the cheapness of spirituous liquors operates strongly, and these causes combine to lower the standard of morality and conduct among many of our countrymen who reside in France, and to prevent them exhibiting to the world that example which would be so valuable. The importance of public religious worship it is im- possible to overrate, but there are few places, save in large towns, where there are opportunities for it. The few English missionaries, supported by different societies, who are scattered here and there throughout the country, may not always be disposed to give to their countrymen the benefit of an English service, as, to a certain extent, it may be an infringement on the peculiar duties of their mission ; but wherever this service can DESIRABLE TO HATE OCCASIONAL SERVICES IN ENGLISH. 227 be given, it should be. True, that most of the English residents in France speak French, and, strictly speaking, can understand a service in French ; but it is a mecha- nical matter it reaches the ear rather than touches the heart at any rate, the difficulty of understanding precisely what is uttered, either intercepts a large por- tion, or else clouds and reduces to generalities that which, to be effectual, must be practical and particular. I know of one case where the minister, Mr. Jenkins of Morlaix, kindly complied with the wishes of his con- gregation, and gave them a service in their mother- tongue, and I can speak of the good effects of it. The attendance was regular and devout, and it was touching to see so many assembled, far from their native land, and without regard to denominational differences, for the common object of religious worship. Let us hope that the example may be more widely followed. For our counti~ymen have a peculiar claim upon the ministrations of every English pastor, no matter for what object he is sent to France; and even if he has urgent and peculiar duties greatly occupying his time and attention, it is his duty, and should be his pleasure, although it may be a sacrifice of time and trouble, to organise a service for their spiritual wel- fare. A soul is, in theory, equally valuable, to what- ever nation or colour the body may belong, but when it is of the same country as ourselves, that heart is cold which does not feel an additional glow towards it, and an increased interest in its well-being ; and we should despair of those, and doubt their patriotism as well as their Christian spirit, who required to have this duty forcibly and frequently impressed upon them. Of course, if other duties of importance actually intervene, nothing can be said ; but so long as it is merely a matter <* 2 228 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. of increased exertion only ; so long, in truth, as it is possible, there can be no doubt, I think, as to what is the plain duty of the Minister in such a case. Let no one despise the day of small things in evan- gelisation. Every flourishing church has had its com- mencement : time was, if we go back far enough, when even Great Britain could count her Christians by units. The other day I heard an interesting anecdote on this subject, connected with a district in The Charente in the south of France, which I will relate. The narrator was then colporting or hawking tracts and Bibles at Amand, a small town there, and with little success. Testaments were in no demand tracts of a general nature less so and the good man felt dis- heartened. However, he procured some of Roussel's admirable controversial tracts, a sort of little work in which that eminent French preacher excels, and tried them. By degrees the mountain began to move, signs of internal agitation appeared, and the demand rapidly increased. One market day he went as usual to the market place, opened his pack, arranged his books on the stall, and waited for customers. By and by a priest passed, and stopped to look at the books. * What have you got there ? ' ' Tracts and Bibles.' ' ' Bibles ! ah, bad books ! bad books ! ' ' But what is this ? ' said he, taking up one of Eoussel's tracts. He read and re-read, mused, and at length grew into a furious passion, and abused Protestantism and all connected with it roundly. His tones being loud attracted the passers-by: one dropped in and then another, the circle increased, until upwards of 200 were grouped around the little book- stall, listening attentively to the dialogue. The col- porteur was a man well fitted for his calling, instructed, ANECDOTE OF COLPORTEUR. 229 calm, and good-humoured, and he soon had the field to himself; for the priest, lost in passion, abandoned it and fled away. From that moment great interest was excited, the stall was speedily cleared of its stock, and the seed sown broadcast on the fallow ground. The morning afterwards, my friend was leaving the town, when he met with a garde-de-chasse with his brazen insignia on his arm. ' Are you the book-hawker ? ' said he ; and on the colporteur answering in the affirmative, he was desired to follow him, which he did not without in- quietude, for be it remembered these devoted men march among pitfalls at all times, and are exposed to continual perils. Arrived at a park-gate, he entered and was conducted to the house of the proprietor, whom he found playing with his children. He was introduced. * Have you your books with you ? ' 'I have.' ' Turn them out and let me see them.' He did so, and the gentleman, taking pen and paper, wrote down their titles, &c., one by one, until the whole stock was exhausted. 'Have you others?' 'Yes, at my inn.' ' Fetch them all.' He returned, and mused on the occurrence in fear. What could this man want so many of his books for, taking them down in this dark abrupt manner ? did he intend a prosecution? He had better not return to him; so whispered prudence; but another and better spirit gave him confidence, and he returned with the remainder of his stock to the strange man. Again were they duly written down, until the last was finished. ' And have you more ? ' ' No, I have not ; but may I ask what you want with so many ? ' ' I want them for my&elf, my family, and my friends,' cried the other. * I have taken the titles and the price, 230 LOWER BEITANNT AND THE BIBLE. and here is the total amount,' said he, eagerly, as though fearing that the colporteur should retake his precious parcel ; and handed him the .full money. The colpor- teur was astonished and could but thank God and take courage, and go on with a glad heart. The strange purchaser was an influential person who feared compromising himself, and adopted this mysteri- ous and roundabout way of getting the books ; but soon spreading them among his friends and neighbours, the demand was more active than ever. Fresh stocks were applied for and distributed, reading caused reflection, and reflection conviction, until a large body of Pro- testants in principle, if not in name, was formed. An application was then made to Paris for a minister, and one was sent Roussel himself. A temporary chapel was formed out of a large barn, and was fitted up, and there, on the spot where two years previously a Testament was placed with difficulty, was assembled a meeting of a iliousand auditors. Since then all has settled down into steady and successful action a regular minister and a regular congregation are installed together, and other churches have been founded in the neighbourhood. And therefore let us not despise a small beginning, when such results as these may flow from it. As said my friend, all was dark and gloomy as the camp of the Philistines; but when the tracts were introduced he thought of Samson and the lighted furze tied to the foxes, for on all sides and in all quarters was spread light to the righteous and confusion to the opponents of the Truth. t Luther said well, when he exclaimed that ' Justifica- tion by faith was the keystone of the Reformation.'' ROMANISM A SYSTEM OF JUSTIFICATION BY "WORKS. 231 For so it was and is ; and equally true it is, that ' Justi- fication by works was, and is, the keystone of Romanism. The system of Romanism is essentially a material one, of ivorks, into which faith as a necessary element counts for little. The important part, as to the church and the individual, is the external part, and as to the rest, the internal part, it is left chiefly to itself. But how marvellously is all this adapted to human nature ! Take the great bulk of mankind, and how incapable are they of judging of, or appreciating or comprehending things unseen : how slight and evanes- cent are the effects of such things upon their minds ! But it is precisely to the bulk of mankind that Roman- ism addresses herself, leaving aside, as ciphers, the few crotchety exceptional individuals who endeavour to look farther than their fellows. Look at the doctrine of Penance, for instance. What can be more material ? You commit a sin and wish to avoid being punished for it in a future state, and the means used are to do penance here not to repent, amend, and believe but to do penance, or, in default, pay the fees. Very material this, in every sense. You have amassed a fortune, say by unlawful traffic, or by overreaching your neighbours, and as you have enough and to spare, and begin to grow old, you think it is as well to compound for your sins with some of your useless and surplus money. By all means, says the priest ; it is a good thought, a pious thought, put into your head by the Virgin herself, and you shall gratify Heaven and yourself by practising it. Give so much to me for masses, and so much for charity, and so much to such and such a work, and your soul shall be white- washed and made clean and pure for ever. You distrust your power to resist temptation, and 232 LOWEE BIUTAXNY AND THE BIBLE. are visited by momentary compunction for past trans- gressions; what a relief to purchase an indulgence, which, for a consideration, acquits you for the past and guarantees you for the future. You touch a relic and are sanctified for forty days, or buy one with a warranty, and are made holy for life. You make vows in sickness to amend, and perform them by a pilgrimage and a payment. All this looks like a system of works, of acts, in which the shell seems to usurp the place of the kernel, and in which faith or belief seems properly to have small place to be non-essential. It is true that the Scripture says that ' Faith without works is dead;' and it is necessarily so, because, in fact, it is not faith at all in the sense intended. The faith intended is that living principle, that * evidence of things unseen,' which as naturally produces works as life produces thought and motion. Faith without works can therefore do nothing for us ; but according to the Komish system works without faith are important means for reaching heaven. According to that system a man may work out his own salvation by his own efforts, and without either fear or trembling, provided he is rich and powerful. Look at confession, for instance. If, oppressed by the weight of your sins, you feel disposed to look up to heaven for pardon, this act of the heart will not avail you, unless you openly confess to your priest and receive his absolution ; and yet the first feeling was heart-felt and heart-cleansing, in comparison with the second, which is simply material and external. Again, what are the weekly fasts of Wednesday and Friday but material means, steps in the ladder framed by Eome to reach heaven direct from earth, without UNDISCIPLINED STATE OF FRENCH CHILDREN. 233 heed to the precept that to do so man must be ' born again.' The JRomish system seems to say that human nature is not irretrievably vitiated by the fall, but only lowered, and that it can uplift itself to its former level by certain prescribed means. Romish doctors state that the saints and holy men of old, having raised themselves up to the requisite height long before their deaths, had conse- quently a superabundance of good works, a surplus of sanctity; and this having been bequeathed to the church as general legatee, she holds it in her coffers, to be doled out according to the needs and means of the peti- tioners ; and thus shortens the pangs of purgatory for them. In all this faith enters not, belief enters not it is simply a system of works ; and therefore Luther well characterised the doctrine of justification by faith when he called it the keystone of the reformation. One reason for the restlessness and impatience of control of the French man, I am much disposed to think, is to be found in the treatment and bringing up' of the French child. All will acknowledge that habits are formed by degrees, and when once formed constitute the character ; but how few apply this maxim in practice. The child is father to the man, and possesses within his small body the germs of those future virtues and vices which he will exhibit on the world's stage ; and if we wish to produce a good specimen of the genus homo, we must cultivate him when in the bud. As far as I have seen and heard, the French apply the doctrine of laissez aller to their children with small qualification. The young Gauls, even when but callow fledgelings, do much as they please. If independence be the charm 0f life, then should France be a child's paradise ; but 234 LOWEE BRITAXNY AND THE BIBLE. instead of bliss and peace, there is, I verily believe, a double allowance of thoseunpleasant varieties of domestic life which arise from cross and wayward children. All this is quite natural, simply because children do not know what they really want, and therefore in the enjoyment of their desires they are sure to be disap- pointed. For myself, having a practical conviction (arising from the possession of a tolerable number of young cherubs of not more than average naughtiness) that children are great nuisances unless kept in good order, I am in an earthly purgatory when in company with infantile France. Being obliged * to let I dare not wait upon I would,' I have often been forced to make my- self scarce, lest I should malgre moi uncover a breach in good manners or elsewhere ; for it is annoying to see their wilfulness. And the parents generally look on, complain, and do nothing. They freely admit the evil in theory I have heard it admitted a score of times and (being liberal philosophers) as freely admit it in practice. I feel certain that this is a root of great mischief, and I firmly believe that many of the defects in the French character spring from it. For, consider a moment. How is it likely that a child of wandering uncontrolled habits should settle into a man of fixed character ? He may possibly become such, but it must be an accident, not in consequence, but in spite of, his bringing up. As well expect a nomadic Arab to develope into a tailor hatching on his shop-board. To have obedience to the laws of the realm from the man, we must have obe- dience to the laws of the house from the child ; for the realm is but an aggregate of houses. I see little in France answering to that careful ma- ternal training which prevails in England, and which HAPPY EFFECTS OF MATERNAL CASE. 235 insensibly forms the character when it is tender and plastic. How many of us owe all that we have and are, to a mother's care ? Who but she repressed our selfish- ness, tamed our rising passions, excited emulation, stimulated devotion ; and all imperceptibly, by that gentle, soothing, but firm influence, grateful and ferti- lising as the dew of the morning ? Who but she could have borne with our petulance, our ill tempers and our rudeness, suffering much with patience and repressing with tenderness in the hope of bright days to come ? And who but she, thus acquainted with every hidden spring in our character, could in after-life so effectually have comforted, softened, and strengthened us? Sacred and blest -be thy memory, oh, my Mother ! The little good I may have done, belongs to thee; the frequent evil I have committed has been in departing from thy precepts. Oftentimes thy memory steals upon me as a strain of music, lifting up my heart and hallow- ing it ; or gushes upon me at eventide, as refreshing water from a fountain. When heated by the world's conflicts, or harassed by its cares, I look back as through a verdant vista upon thee, and my spirit regains its elasticity, and my mind its calm ; and may the constant remembrance of thee here, be the foretaste and pledge of our reunion hereafter ! When, heated by the world's turmoil, to home's green shade we haste, As to the blest oasis in Libya's burning waste, There, cooling in its genial air, we soon forget our pain, And return, our courage strengthened, to meet the foe again. Instead of a mother's training, the youthful French- man is trained by his bonne or nurse, and this training is rather physical than moral. A shake when naughty, a sugar-plum when good, are the extremes of the system of awards and punishments betwixt which the 236 LOWER BRITANNT AND THE BIBLE. child vaguely oscillates without guide or compass, and thus he rather grows than is brought up. He goes where he likes and eats what he likes and does what he likes, always supposing the bonne is thereto disposed by the caprice of the moment ; and he soon imbibes, doubtless, a very natural aversion from control of any kind. At school the discipline is very slight let us say rather that there is no corporeal discipline at all : and how can a school be managed without it ? I am not of the opinion of the old Doctor who thought that classics could only be taught a posteriori ; but that line of argu- ment is often essential, and is tried with success where the a priori has failed ; nor do I believe that any family or school can be managed without it. Mild remedies are good for mild disorders, but milk poultices will not set a broken leg. When, therefore, at 16, the young Frenchman emerges upon the world, is it very astonishing that he should have a very fixed idea of the great value of No. 1, and a very rooted dislike to the principle of subordination, as applied to himself? It would be very astonishing if it were otherwise. Carry on these prin- ciples a few steps farther, and we arrive at the French- man of mature age, impatient of authority, holding all kinds of political doctrines by turns, and nothing long, and (judging by events) always ready for a change, and disposed towards it. Napoleon the Great was well aware of this disposi- tion. He says (Las Cases, vol. i. p. 268), 'The French nation is naturally fickle, and given to change. The men are like children, and know not what are their real wants ; they must be amused and governed in order to be happy.' FREE AND EASY TREATMENT OF FRENCH CHILDREN. 237 Some time ago it was rather the fashion in -England to affect ' the familiar ' with parents ; the father was called 'Governor,' the mother * Old Lady;' in fact, outwardly, Master Jack and Tom seemed on the way of becoming the heads of the establishment. But old John did not at all like it, however popular it was with young Jack ; and one fine morning, something having put him out more than usual, he grasped his cane, sallied out, and put to flight the whole accumulation of the 'free and easy' with a good stick; nor has it since appeared, except below stairs, where it is to be hoped it will rest. Eespect to parents, and obedience to their wishes, are at the base of the social fabric ; nor can any society hang well together in which these duties are neglected or carelessly observed. The French children love their parents well enough, I do not doubt, but that is not sufficient ; it is doing no more than the brutes do. We must respect them and do their requests from duty as well as love, or we cannot be said properly to observe the commandment, which says ' Honour thy father and mother.' When I first came to the country, our French nurse went out to walk with the children, and soon returned. 'Why are you returned so soon?' 'Oh, Madame! Master Samuel would not go any farther, but said he would return home.' ' But what has that to do with it ?' said my wife ; * you are to take them out so far and back again whether they like it or not, and if they are disobedient to you, tell me, and I will punish them.' The girl opened her eyes very wide, but we never found them coming home before their time afterwards. Another consequence of this want of system is, that the French child is remarkably precocious. Even with 238 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. us in England, we find our children are quite early enough, that they become men quite as soon as they are fit for the duties of men, often indeed before ; but we are behind France in that respect. There we find children of twelve and fourteen with the manners and habits of grown people. Few remain at school after sixteen, and so come upon life, we should say, before they are ready for it. Boys of fifteen, swagger, smoke, and strut quite easily and man-like, and girls of the same tender age have the manners and bearing of women. Take up any history of any one of the various French revolutions, and you will find that the gamins, or lads of Paris, and the Polytechnic schoolboys have been important actors in it. The Garde Mobile in- cluded in its ranks many children under fourteen ; and some of them had even won their decoration at the cannon's mouth, when at the same age in England they would only have got a good whipping and have been sent to bed. But then a French revolution is always, more or less, a kind of * lark ' to some of the actors, however tragical it may be, and always is, to the others. 239 CHAPTER XV. FRENCH IGNORANCE OF ENGLAND REASON OF IT FRENCH TOURISTS 'TIMES' AND ' MONITEUR' PARTY SPIRIT IN FRANCE ONE CAUSE OF EMPEROR* S STRENGTH ARBITRARY POWER ACTS OF SERVILITY TO EMPEROR ADDRESS OF FHEFET OF HAUTE GARONNE SENATE. HOW extraordinary is French ignorance of England and her affairs i. e. extraordinary, speaking generally ; for to speak specially it is easily explained. Not one Frenchman travels in England for fifty Eng- lishmen who travel in France, and the same principle holds as to knowledge of the respective languages. If an Englishman goes to France, he probably knows certain rudiments of the French language to begin with, unless he has been brought up in a very rude manner ; and, to do him justice, he never hides his light under a bushel. He boggles, stammers, flounders out of one difficulty into another, refers to his constant friend the dictionary, which he carries in his pocket, and finds the wrong word, during the livelong day, without fatigue or shame ; but he seldom blushes from a false modesty, or cares what others think of him. With an excrucia- ting self-possession he delivers himself of errors which would drive Levizac or Hamel downright mad, or politely and with a smile addresses what he means as compliments to the ladies, which are either unintelligible or had better remain so ; but he goes on right ahead, 240 LOWER BRITANNT AND THE BIBLE. as he follows the fox or meets the foe, and ends by finding himself a tolerable Frenchman. Not so the Gaul. Not one in a hundred knows English at all, and that one seldom or never speaks it ; contrary to his usual practice, he carefully hides his candle, either from fear that it will not burn, or that it will burn too fast and go out; but there he sits, more voluble naturally than any other created biped, yet in fact mute as a mouse. The same with literature. Few Englishmen of moderate education but who have read works on France, by Frenchmen, and in the French language ; whereas not many Frenchmen have done more than read their own light, skipping, false, newspaper sketches of England, or else caricatures of travel there, drawn rather than written by their inventive fellow-country- men, residing the while in Paris. The practical effect of this is obvious and natural, that Frenchmen know much less of England than Englishmen of France. Then look at them as tourists. The true John Bull, whether young, old, or middle-aged, regards a tour as a serious matter. In general he accumulates as much bag- gage as would be necessary to take him to the North Pole, together with all imaginable and unimaginable conve- niences for performing unnecessary things, and sets out on his travels. With spectacle on nose, an umbrella under his arm, a guidebook in one pocket, a dictionary in another, and a sandwich-box in the crown of his travel- ling-cap (manufactured at the ' Golden Trunk,' or some other noted place, ' expressly for travellers '), he plods gravely on, poking himself into the premises and face of everybody; asking explanations, boring with ques- tions, constantly suspecting imposition, and yet, after all, paying twice as liberally as any other person, * for they THE FRENCH ARE IN GENERAL POOR TOURISTS.. 241 are a poor set, sir ; ' yet returning to his home with a vast heap of digestible- and other materials. Who ever saw a Frenchman act so ? But he is a poor tourist. In a foreign country he generally goes no- where but to public places, and not always there; stays at his inn ; travels on wheels ; asks few questions, for fear he should be thought odd ; eschews the country as sauvage ; and then returns to his friends saying that there is nothing to see, because he has seen nothing; that the cafes are odious; and the sky made of wet brown paper. Two French friends of mine went to the Exhibition in 1851. When they came back, I asked them what they thought of London ? * A great city, but nothing in it.' * How so ? ' said I. ' Did you go to such and such a place ? ' I asked. No,' said they. * Nor to St. Paul's ? ' ' No.' ' Nor to Windsor ? ' < No.' And, in fact, they had 'done' nothing but the Crystal Palace, and had driven about in cabs for fear of being lost, and had naturally seen next to nothing. Another complained bitterly of the diet, and declared to an admiring audience that there was nothing to be had in London but raw meat and rhubarb tart. He declared he had dined on nothing else. But I asked, * Did not you order your dinner, or see the bill of fare ? ' t Oh no ! I ordered a bit of meat and tart, or something, and up came this raw meat and rhubarb ; ' in other words, a beefsteak and a spring tart, each dainties in their way. Another complained horribly of the expense it was affreux, effrayant, &c. ; but I found he had been at a Burling- ton Street hotel, and had drunk claret every day, though, as he said, he had had only a bottle of vin ordinaire (i. e., claret at ten shillings a bottle), a petit diner, and a desert in other words, as expensive an order as he R 242 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE EIBLE. could well have given, arid which would figure in the bill for at least a sovereign. One frequent subject of misapprehension with them is our public meetings ; and the occasional disturbances which take place from strikes of workmen and other causes also puzzle them terribly. They are generally in extremes, and see no medium between a street row and a revolution. A local quarrel is an emeute; a political meeting, with its spoken fustian, is rebellion organisee. The other day I called on a friend, who is always prophesying the downfall of England. 'Have you seen the papers ? ' he asked. I had not seen them. ' Then you have some news to hear. There is a very serious outbreak in Ireland. Ah ! my friend, you will find I am right; if you will go on harbouring these democrats, these vagabond refugees, you must pay dearly for it, and this is the first fruits.' I felt uneasy, and enquired for particulars, but got meagre answers, save that it was at Cork, that the military had been called out, and many people killed and wounded. On my return home I found the paper, and eagerly devoured the 'latest intelligence,' and discovered that the incipient rebellion and engagement which had so disturbed my prophetic friend was nothing but a row with the paupers in Cork workhouse ! The same with our public meetings. They never can understand them, for they have nothing analogous by which they can judge. Public meetings in France are illegal, consequently when they do take place, and as they are a breach of the law, they take place under high pressure, and generally end by an explosion. High words are followed by hard deeds ; but not so in England. There the public meetings are the safety valves of the political engine ; and when steam is gene- PUBLIC MEETINGS THE SAFETY-VALYES OF ENGLAND. 243 rated to an alarming degree, instead of bursting the boilers, it escapes, with noise it is true plenty of that but Without danger, by that admirable invention the public meeting. An Englishman's right to grumble at his government is inalienable and invaluable, for it at the same time improves the doctor and relieves the patient ; and after weeks of painful thought and gestation, in which the throes have been alarming to witness, the birth is effected by a convulsion which seems to shake everything ; and after which worthy John Bull goes to rest in peace, draws his night cap over his face, snores, and wakes up in the morning with a countenance as shining and tranquil as Aurora's ! Speaking of French ignorance, an amusing specimen of extreme naivete, not to say nonsense, was exhibited to me this morning. A French gentleman, who prided himself on his knowledge of English affairs, and had just pronounced after several trials the names of Shake- speare and Byron, so that at last I began to understand him with tolerable correctness, commenced talking of the Duke of Wellington. * A great man, a far seeing man that,' he said ; * I was always struck by a little anecdote of his long-sightedness which I believe is un- doubtedly true.' ' Pray, favour me with it,' I asked. ' At the battle of Waterloo he ordered a charge of your heavy cavalry, and suspecting that the men might not relish our cuirassiers so well at close quarters as at a distance, he gave previous orders for the curb-chains to be re- moved from the bridles, so that once launched, the men should be carried to the attack whether they liked it or not.' ' But, my dear sir, that would be sheer folly ; how could they ever get back again, or manage their horses ? the Duke never ordered such an absurdity.' * Absurdity or not, the thing was done ; you need only B 2 244 LOWER BRITANIs 7 Y AND THE BIBLE. read Lamartine and Valaubelle (where it is really re- corded}-, besides, it is a recognised fact.' The re- cognised fact is, that our cavalry horses were always a little too bloodish, and often got the better of their riders ; and in the charge in question, they charged so home that had their return not been well covered, they would all have been cut to pieces ; and as it was, they left poor Ponsonby and half their numbers on the field. Instead of taking away their curb-chains, it would have been more to the purpose to say that the Duke had ordered the use of an additional one. But those who wish to read the account of the battle of Waterloo ' with variations on the original air,' should read Lamartine's History of the Restoration, vol. ii. Poets should not write history ; their imagination runs away with their pen they lack the curb-chain we have been telling about. And Lamartine paints perpetually pictures beautiful, highly coloured, embracing all which can attract you, except the truth. He describes the 1 palisadoed entrenchments ' of Hougomont and the British lines, with eloquence alas ! for the ink thrown away as all the world should know that there was nothing of the kind. He speaks of the dragoons being made drunk with brandy before they were got up to the charging point ; need I say that this is as true as the other ? He describes the dispersion of the first English line when Picton was killed when the fact is, that it was the French who were dispersed with the loss of two eagles and 2,000 prisoners ; and enlarges on the final advance of the English army in five large columns, when all the world knows the Duke disliked columns and advanced in line. But the great tableau, wanting nothing but correct- ness to make it perfect,, is at the 405th page. He LAMARTINE S POETIC FICTIONS ABOUT WATERLOO. 245 describes Wellington as driven to desperation by his fearful losses and the absence of Blucher, also says that eleven of his generals lay dead around him, and that seven horses having been killed under him, he mounts the eighth, and gallops from brigade to brigade, &c. &c. This beats Falstaff s men in buckram ' ay, in buck- ram suits' as there were only nine generals in the whole allied army at Waterloo; and as to mounting eight horses, the Duke's favourite charger, ' Copenhagen,' alone carried him from the beginning to the end of the day. It is cruel thus to break the illusion. The world may remember that some time back, in con- sequence of some rather cutting remarks in the 'Times ' on the manner in which the French Government inter- fered and tampered with the suffrage, the 'Moniteur ' contained a very studied and carefully drawn up article on the unlimited character of the suffrage in France, and the limited nature of it in England; and went on with general observations on various points in the English constitution, couched in an apparently disinter- ested, but really very offensive, tone. I could but envy the writer of that article in one respect his admirable countenance and self-possession. He must have written with the gravity of a judge passing sentence ; not a muscle of his face could have moved; there could not have been even a ripple to disturb the calmness of his mind ; and yet all the time he must have known that he was penning sentences which he and nine-tenths of the French world knew had scarcely an atom of truth or reality about them. That man would have made, if he was not one already, a great comic actor, extreme gravity being the finest setting for wit. If the thought has never before struck him, let me recommend it to his notice, for I am 216 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. sure his fortune lies that way. I have heard of religious hypocrites who acted so well as to deceive themselves into occasional belief that they were really pious ; and I think this grave scribe, when he penned his solemn sentences, must for the moment have imagined that he was uttering realities and not shams. Because a more complete sham than the so-called free suffrage in France never existed. The article in the ' Moniteur ' described the election of Louis Napoleon as the ' freely expressed, universal will of a, great nation.'' If out of the six component members of this paragraph we suppress four, and then alter the fifth, we shall be nearer the truth ; but this is to make rather a great deduction. ' Freely expressed ! ' Why, never was demonstration so coddled and cooked up before ; never did any government so get up and direct the popular current into its own channel. The only merit of the thing was its barefacedness. The prefets boldly said, ' You good people do n't know what is best for you ; listen to me ;' and downwards to the pettiest official, all held the same language, and universal France pricked up its ears. Petitions to the legislature, in favour of the empire, were circulated in every government establish- ment, and woe to the independent man who declined signing. Everyone was ' free,' but it was * to give up his place.' Do just as you please, no compulsion or menace of any kind ; but if you do n't vote on our side, you will be turned out of doors. I knew one young man, who was a public-road surveyor, and who had conscientious scruples, and could not make up his mind to sign in favour of the Emperor, but yet, for family reasons, he feared refusing. He delayed and delayed, still hoping they would pass CONSTRAINT EXERCISED ON PUBLIC VOTING IN FRANCE. 247 him by, but he reckoned without his hosts; his name had been counted, and must be given in. His superior officer came to him one morning : ' Have you signed the petition ? it is going away to-day, and I heard the chef say that if your name was not placed there, he should be obliged, in spite of himself, to dismiss you.' In vain the young man urged his well-known republican opinions. * Pooh ! pooh ! my dear fellow, do not make yourself so fearfully virtuous. What are half those who sign but the same as yourself? What am I, for instance ? Why do you set yourself above us all ? ' The young man still hesitated, but he thought of his wife and family, all dependent upon him for support, and with a shudder he gulped down the bitter draught and signed. This is opinion e freely expressed.'' And who, under such circumstances, dared get up a counter petition ? Certainly not Frenchmen. To the honour of the nation, however, be it recorded, that one solitaiy individual did present a petition against the Empire, and I only regret that his name has escaped me. It deserves an enduring record, and 't is pity no one has preserved it for history. ' The great body voted oui ; one man protested, and the rest abstained ;' yes ! that is the fashionable word now; * abstained' held themselves aloof. A convenient safe policy too, chiefly connected with No. 1 ; you may turn it many ways by means of ciphers, like that useful primary element of arithmetic. It may be illness, unavoidable circumstances, or that indefinite word ' in- disposition,' which make you abstain, Quien sabe? while to your own party you dilate gloriously upon the self-denying act. A most cowardly, unmanly, negative policy, leading to nothing and doing nothing, unworthy of the name of act, for ex nihilo nihil Jit. A great 248 LOWER BEITANNT AND THE BIBLE. question demands solution, you feel strongly upon it, and speak strongly too ; but when it comes to the vote, you stay away you abstain. Your absence, you say, speaks volumes; shows how indignant you are; is a moral protest. Suppose all did so, how would anything ever be settled ? Could you better serve your opponents ? for them, the more of such protests the better. It is a mean course, unworthy of a man, though suitable in a ' thing,' and generally consistent with selfish interests and fears ; but it is doubtless often convenient. In the municipal elections the same repression of the popular voice was practised. Every ruse was resorted to, which ingenuity could devise to prevent an anti- imperial candidate succeeding. In a little Bourg near here, when the chances were in favour of a legitimist member, they burnt the poll books ; in another they gave a wrong return. In one town, not far off, where on a first scrutiny the opposition list carried the day, the sous prefet annulled the return and appointed a fresh day of election ; meanwhile, issuing an address which, for bombast, might have been copied from Hudi- bras. But everywhere were practised the same tricks and strategems, from the election of a garde champetre up to the election of the Emperor himself, and then the * Moniteur' comes in with a grave face, speaks of the majesty of the ' universal will freely expressed,' and the French nation with equal gravity, inhales and adopts the phrase. The other day I met with a forcible illustration of one great cause of Louis Napoleon's success, I mean the bit- terness of party spirit in France. For here lay his best hope. It was less his strength than their divisions, and weakness. We occasionally find individuals who will encounter certain ruin in order to gratify their spite, NAPOLEON'S FORCE, THE DIVISIONS OF HIS OPPONENTS. 249 and when party spirit runs high, this spirit comes out strongly. No one can imagine the hatred with which many Legitimists regard the Orleanists. In order to defeat them they would adopt any means, they would see the country given up to anarchy, their feelings against them are so intensely bitter. To a certain extent we may explain this. At the revolution of July 1830, when Charles X. was forced to fly and was replaced by Louis Philippe, the aristocracy of France again received a heavy blow. They saw themselves again reduced to comparative obscurity, again the subjects of obloquy and suspicion. Many emigrated, others retired to their country seats; the hopes of all were dashed rudely aside. To the young aspirants for fame in the army or the state, who already courted the promotion and honours which their rank made almost certain, the disappointment must have been severe when these avenues were suddenly and violently closed in their faces. And at that period, too, there seemed a certain regard for oaths and principles, which we seldom see now. Thousands refused courtly favour and prefer- ment at the price of an oath of allegiance to the new King, and withdrew sullenly from the scene, to brood over their misfortunes and grow sour in stagnation at home. Such was the case with my friend the Vicomte de R e. He had been in the Garde Royale of Charles X., had witnessed the treason of some and the cowardice of others, and when the monarch fled, had, in a frenzy of passion, broken his sword rather than swear fidelity to the usurper, and had then gloomily retreated to the country, his career stopped, and a long perspective of honours and preferment clouded apparently for ever. And he has ever since remained staunch to his 250 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. principles and his hatred, and has nursed it well and kept it warm. Talking with him last week about the Empire and the weakness of his party, he said : ' Any- thing rather than the Orleans dynasty. I prefer Napo- leon, bad as he is, a thousand times. I know that the adoption of him is a burning shame for France ; I know that we strengthen the foundations of a third dynasty, and so augment our own future opponents, and involve the country's future in greater dangers than ever. I know that it is a death-blow to the cause of Legitimacy, but let all these things come sooner than the Orleanist princes, all of whom I would kill to-morrow if I had the opportunity.' He was deeply excited, and looked like one who had the will to do the deed he spoke of; and he was, I firmly believe, the type of thousands of others, who, in their blind unreasoning folly and bigotry, have thus opened the gate to the re-establishment of a new dynasty in order to gratify their hate towards an old one. It was useless discussing the matter ; such he was, and such his party are, and owing to such has the new dynasty triumphed over the liberties of France. No one can know the blessings of a free government unless he has lived under an arbitrary one. To hear Englishmen complain of their government, and of its oppressive acts, what a grave farce it is ! Englishmen can have no shadow of an idea of tyranny save by reading the present state of other governments, or the past doings of their own ; and the perusal of a thousand books does not strike so forcibly upon the mind as the actual experience of one solitary fact. For instance, suppose that a wealthy tradesman, of whig politics, enjoying himself with his family and friends in his snug villa at Brompton or Hampstead, was suddenly and without warning pounced upon by the ARBITRARY ACTS OF GOVERNMENT IN FRANCE. 251 police in the middle of the night, dragged from the warm side of his weeping and dishevelled rib, con- signed to the local lock-up house, and only removed from thence to be packed into a convict ship, and sent to Norfolk Island, and this without trial, judge, or jury ; and all for having shouted ' Pam for ever ! down with the Tories ! ' What would Cheapside and Oxford Street say to this, think you ? Or suppose that a sedentary tailor in Liverpool, whose profession, as is said, almost invariably makes him ferocious as a tiger in talk, but mild as a lamb in act, is violently removed from his shopboard ; and without respect to trowsers half completed and coats not yet ' set up,' is ordered to remove forthwith to Southampton, and there pick up what shreds, patches, and cabbage he can, and reconstruct therewith his tattered connections ; think you, that instead of a petition from the * three tailors of Tooley Street ' on behalf of the peo- ple of England, we should not have a demand from the people of England on behalf of the transplanted tailor ? Or what would the men of the 10th hussars say, if they were to learn that their colonel had been arrested in the night, and was then on his way to the hulks, for having, the evening before, at the mess, when heated with wine, cried * Long live Johnny Eussell !' or Over the left with Judas Disraeli ! ' But these facts have happened hundreds, if not thousands, of times in France during the last few years, and especially during the regime which succeeded the coup d'etat ; and the three instances that I have named are within my personal knowledge, along with many others ; and yet people looked on, shook their heads, and shrugged perhaps, but did nothing more. Were I a Frenchman, I think I should adopt some 252 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. plan like that of the monomaniac, who thought himself always dying, and made his doctor certify his existence every morning, that he might have some visible proof of life to reason from. At any rate, I should feel additionally thankful when each returning sun found me still lying peaceably in my bed. During the last few years there are hundreds of families in France dismembered by the mere illegal sic volo sic jubeo decree of arbitrary power, whose fathers, brothers, and sons are languishing in the marshes of Cayenne, or broiling beneath the hot sun of Lambessa, and all for upholding the law. Then there are numbers who are internes, i. e. sent from their usual residence to some distant place in France, usually as distant as possible, in order that they may be wholly cut off from their friends ; and in their new abode ordered here and there by the police, whose very foot- ball they are, and obliged to pick up a living as they can. I have seen several of these poor internes, and it made me sad to look at them. In England, their very appearance would produce a rebellion here people stare, shrug, sigh, and pass on. And to talk of ' public spirit,' of ' public opinion,' of the ' will of the nation,' after such sights and things as these ! Talleyrand's mot, that ' language was given to conceal thought,' may fitly apply to such a misapplication of words. Let Englishmen look as sharp after officials as they please; let them frown at the tax-gatherer, but pay him ; let them ransack Hansard for the votes and speeches of their members ; let them attend reform meetings with fierce looks, and shout till they are hoarse but let them be grateful for their birthright, and thank Grod that they are Englishmen ! I never had this feeling till I came into foreign parts, and SYCOPHANTIC ADULATION OF THE EMPEROR. 253 especially into France, and ever since I have had it so strongly that at times it will break out ; and as travel- ling is cheap and agreeable now-a-days, I recommend a journey abroad to all those who are discontented at home, and, unless the disease be constitutional and very chronic, I will answer for a perfect cure at the first dressing. I think it is Gibbon who says, that flatterers sur- round an emperor as naturally as parasites entwine the oak. Under the Empire there has always been a goodly crew of these sycophants, ever polishing their periods and out-bidding each other in adulation; but up to the present time we must award the prize to M. le Baron Chapuys Montlaville, prefet of the Haute Garonne ; 'palmam qui meruit, ferat." Henceforth, let it be known that, in the manufacture of ' fustian,' we must give place to a Frenchman, and let canny Yorkshire hide its head for evermore. For instance, what material could Huddersfield or Bradford produce, equal in quality to the following ? It is a proclamation to the inhabitants of the department, on the subject of the vote for the Empire ; and we may bear in mind, in reading it, that the writer had been a staunch Orleanist under Louis Philippe, and subse- quently a hot Eepublican, and would probably have been an equally staunch Legitimist under Charles X. had he lived at that period. It is not everyone who can dance the political 'double-shuffle' cleverly. Nemo repente est tui*pissimus. Your clumsy man of prin- ciple cannot do it at all, no matter how long he is taught, and even your slippery waiter upon fortune makes a bungle of it at first, until frequent occasions perfect him ; but here in France ou on fait la danse toujours, and men may have constant practice, the adroitness and completeness with which this tour de 254 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. force is performed passes belief, and there are stars among the performers in the political ballet equal in their line to Taglioni or Cerito. But a clear stage for Baron Mont- laville here he comes ; ladies, prepare your bouquets. ' Inhabitants of the Haute Garonne, * The time arrives. France after a half century has * at last found a base and an equilibrium. Europe, the 4 world, ruled in their turn by the profound wisdom of * the prince whom God has placed at the head of the ' ideas and men of the time, enter without anxiety, ' with security, into those great highways of progress, ' opened formerly by our fathers. ' In those future ages of which he now assumes the * direction, Louis Napoleon will not be called merely ' the Saviour of society. His understanding of those ' questions which govern the well-being of man, of the ' necessities of Europe, his love of the classes which ' work and suffer, his genius for practical affairs which * organise the ideas of work by inspiration, will confer ' on him the title of Benefactor of his epoch. ' The change he has brought about is one of those, of * which worthily to give the results to posterity, would ' demand the pen of a Tacitus or a Bossuet. ' It is not only an empire which rises, a throne which * is founded. It is an epoch which is born to us, and * which, impregnated with the genius of two Napoleons, 1 to whom, together, will be given the title of The Great, * developes itself to poor humanity, and takes possession ' of it for present and future generations. * It is this wisdom, the essential attribute of his ' genius, which, after having conquered Rome, has sub- i jected Europe to its imperial destioy. * This is what causes the fact that 35,000,000 of ' men (?), bowing humbly before him, confer on him the PROCLAMATION OF THE BARON DE MONTLAVILLE. 255 ' imperial crown, and give to his descendants the care of * rendering happy our children, and of directing and ' enriching the ages which are yet to come. ' And this is the reason why the people of the Haute ' Garonne will come en masse to the voting places, to * take part in this magnificent enthronement, and to * leave to their families the remembrance of the glory * which belongs to it.' Talk of Tacitus and Bossuet ! why, what could they produce equal to this ? It would be impossible, were they to use their pens to the stump. Let us at once confess the Baron inimitable ; let us admit that up to this present writing he has out-leaped all others ; that he has performed this delicate pas seul in a way un- known before. Now, however, comes the most wonder- ful feat of all, * Alps on Alps arise;' the Baron shall out-do himself, like the man who, after swallowing hot pokers and eating live cats, announced that he would jump down his own throat in the sight of the audience. Not content with the proclamation, he makes a decree ; and as he bids so high for immortality and promotion, let us serve it up 'to follow' the proclamation, and we may venture to herald and foretaste it to our readers as a real bonne bouche. 4 We, Prefet of the Department of the Haute Garonne, ' Officer of the University and of the Legion of Honour, ' Commander of the Papal Order of St. Gregory the ' Great, and of the Orders of St. Maurice and St. * Lazarus' (this Harlequin Tacitus does not appear to have capered for nothing}, ' Considering, that it is important to transmit to * posterity by imperishable monuments those acts of ' God which are about to be accomplished in France 256 LOWER BEITANNY AND THE BIBLE. * through the people on the 21st and 22nd November, ' in the year of grace 1852. ' Considering that with the nations of antiquity it ' was the custom to engrave on bronze and marble * memorable facts interesting to history. * Considering that the re-establishment of the French ' Empire is a fact destined to exercise a most powerful ' influence on the fortunes of the country and on society * universally. ' We decree, that the result of the voting in the * Haute Garonne shall be engraved on bronze and ' marble tables, which shall be placed in the Mairie of ' each commune of the Department, with the addition * of the number of votes in such commune, and that * each table shall bear the date of the 1st day of the * reign of His Majesty the Emperor Napoleon III. * CHAPUYS MONTLAVILLE.' There is one manifest omission here, which we beg to fill up by way of supplement, for we are certain it must have altogether escaped the nimble Baron, viz. that as his stock of bronze must have been enormous to have enabled him to manufacture these notable documents, he should generously offer to supply the metal himself at a small profit ; or should this hint not be acceptable, we would respectfully suggest, that considering the average duration of dynasties in France, and the taste of the people for light materials, it would be better to send the order for the * tables ' to a pastry cook, and have them made in sugar candy. But who shall describe the baseness, the abject flat- tery of these men, with their stereotyped praises, their sickening adulation? As says Victor Hugo: * Those eternal prefets, those eternal maires, those eternal magistrates, those eternal sheriffs, those eternal compli- COWARDICE OF FRENCH SENATE. 257 menters of the rising sun or of the illumination lamp, who the day after success crowd round the Con- queror, round his Majesty Napoleon the Great, round his Majesty Louis XVIII., round his Majesty Alex- ander L, round his Majesty Charles X., round his Majesty Louis Philippe, round Citizen Lamartine, round Citizen Cavaignac, round Moii^eigneur the Prince President, and round Napoleon III., kneeling, smiling, overflowing, bearing upon salvers the keys of their towns, and on their faces the keys of their consciences ! But 'tis an old story, imbeciles have always made a part of all institutions, and are almost an institution of themselves.' This rings good and true, and finds a full echo in France. It would seem that the Senate, though it has suf- fered everything, and thanked and glorified the inflict or, has of -late been amusing itself with an afterpiece of independence, in order to keep up the play and divert the audience. The Emperor, as is known, has recently proposed to modify the constitution so as to give to himself additional powers over the finances; and it seems that, in doing this, he claims a greater power than was exercised even in the days of the early Bour- bons. This stirred the tranquillity of the Senate, who reminded him that he had always professed to hold to the principles of 1789, but that he was now departing from them. Perhaps some of the excellent and inno- cent senators began to dream of Parliamentary opposi- tion, eloquent speeches, clubs and coteries, and so forth, but if so, they must have been rudely awoke. When their remonstrances were presented to Louis Napoleon, instead of a lengthened and reasoned reply, an answer motive, as they express it, all he said was, 'So the Senate wants a conflict?' and without more ado, away 258 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. scudded all the legislators, with their hearts in their mouths, and their big wigs under their arms, like rabbits at the bark of a terrier, and uttered not another word. , By such arms, and with such tools, government must be, one would think, an easy process, despite of the most ponderous and voluminous report of M. Troplong on the subject; which, though profound, was like its author, and decidedly trop long. CHAPTER XVI. GENERAL OATH-TAKING VICTOR HUGO DISSOLUTION OF COURTS OF JUSTICE BT SOLDIERS CONDUCT OF JUDGES OATHS IN FRANCE TOO COMMON DURING GREAT REVOLUTION ABOUT ONE HUNDRED OATHS OF ALLEGIANCE IN FIVE YEARS PRODUCES LOOSE MORALITY. CAN anyone tell me the exact value of an oath, over and above that of a simple asseveration? There must be something mystical in it, and one might think material, something of the opus operatum kind. The name of the Roman oath, or sacramentum, has been transferred to a religious rite, and in the transfer of name it would seem as if the old substance, the binding part, had disappeared from civil affairs. When my question is resolved, I then will put the further question, What is the value of a French oath as compared with the simple asseveration of an honest Englishman ? If it be less valuable, there was a good deal of mockery going on in the good year of '52 ; if it be more valuable, the French Government need fear nothing, at least during the present generation of men. Time will show ; but such a general swearing, such a new phase in the system of oaths, was never before exhibited. If an oath be supposed to act as a hammer on the head of truth, then is that cardinal virtue driven deep into the social fabric, and society may be said to be nailed well together, supposing always that the afore- s 2 260 LOWEE BRITANNT AND THE BIBLE. said head be not destroyed in the process, and truth thenceforth dead and extinct. Cowper says, ' Oaths terminate, as Paul observes, all strife ; ' and adds, ' Some men, then, surely have a peaceful life.' Let Napoleon, therefore, nap at his ease, he will never be disturbed, for all France has sworn it ; but still I feel, with Horace, 'Credat Judaeus Apella non ego.' In 1849 oaths were abolished in France perhaps because men were so habitually truthful as to render them unnecessary perhaps because experience had shown them to be worthless and no one swore alle- giance and fidelity to the Eepublic save the President ; and he not only swore this oath at the beginning of his office, but recalled it to memory fifty times afterwards, as though he wished to strengthen his virtue on the principle of the man who whistled in the dark to keep up his courage. This oath being the only one taken, stood out in bold relief, and it was sworn with all due solemnities, military and religious. Tell me now, gentle reader, what is the present marketable value of this oath, once thought so very valuable ? Its value, weighed honestly and fairly, without using apothecary's weight and its scientific ' scruples,' is nil and cannot be quoted. In 1852, however, and ever since, the system has been reversed, and whereas beforetime nobody swore but the Emperor, now everybody swears except the Emperor ; and let us hope that this time the oaths will be better kept, for their name is ' Legion.' All have sworn, from the Greneral-in-chief to the private in the ranks, from the Prime Minister down to the paid day-labourer who works on a public road as a ' cantonnier.' Every person employed and paid directly or indirectly by the state, by the department, or by the commune, officers on half-pay, municipals, road-sur- GENERAL SWEARING OF FIDELITY TO EMPEROR. 201 veyors, custom-house officers on duty and off, gardes champetres, members of commissions, people keeping tobacco shops, and holding grants of government pri- vileges, in fine, everybody, has sworn a solemn oath. Of what ? of allegiance ? of fealty to the government ? No! an oath of fidelity to the Emperor Louis Napoleon. A very personal oath truly, and looking at the past very numerous personal oaths of allegiance taken in France, and 'when taken to be well shaken,' I should hesi- tate before predicting everlasting duration as the pro- bable fate of this oath now before us, and can but ask, ' Oui bono ? ' One morning I met a friend, a Legitimist. ' What news this morning?' said I. * Nothing new, except that I have been taking the oath of allegiance to Louis Napoleon.' * What ! you, a Legitimist, how can you possibly swear fidelity to him ? ' ' Ma foi ! for that matter I detest the man, but what to do is the question, and if I refused I should lose my appointment.' ' Lose it then, but keep your honour at least, like your own king, Henry V.' ' Ah ! my friend, I see you think an oath something serious, but just reflect on this fact, that I have myself taken the oath of allegiance to seven dif- ferent governments in France, embracing every shade of political principle, and it would be absurd to boggle about the eighth ; after all, it is but a matter of form.' So that there is little real security for the future peace of the country in all this swearing. 'T is like support- ing an aqueduct with bolsters ! The drama, however, goes on, and the sun beholds the most multitudinous oath-taking on which he ever shone, and each separate oath being nothing but so much pie-crust, who can calculate the breakage ! For all swear this oath of fidelity to the Emperor, 262 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. whatever may be their politics Legitimists, Orleanists, Kepublicans or Keds, all swear sooner than lose their places ; and from the same principle of self-pre- servation, all will, in case of need, break their oaths in order to keep their places ; and if some few exceptions have appeared, * rari nantes in gurgite vasto? they do but prove the rule as I state it. Three observations only need be made here ; the first, that such a national swearing is a sign of, and certain to increase, the national immorality ; the second, that the universality of the act will only hasten its violation and legalise the breach; and the third, that Louis Napoleon must be struck with a more than regal blind- ness not to see that instead of thus surrounding his throne with defences, he is but fencing it about with cobwebs. For evidently, those who have once, twice, thrice, broken their oaths, will do it again. To quote a French writer, a good witness upon this point : ' A man arrives, one fine morning. What man ? Is he an adventurer or a prince ? Which, or both ? The man has his hands full of money, of bank-notes, of rail- road securities, of places and pensions, of decorations and sinecures ; the man presents himself before the func- tionaries and says, " Functionaries, betray your trust/' And all the functionaries do betray it. What ! all ? Yes, all, without one exception. He then calls upon the generals, and says, " Generals, massacre the people." And all the generals do it. He then turns to the irremovable judges, and says, " Gentlemen, I am going to break through the constitution, to commit perjury, to dissolve the sovereign assembly, to arrest the in- violable members, to plunder the public treasury, to sequester and confiscate all I please, to banish those OATHS BECOME GENERAL ARE WORTH LITTLE. 263 who displease me, to transport, shoot, and bayonet all I please without summons, to execute without trial in a word, Behold the laws ! I trample them under my feet" * " But we see nothing" say the magistrates. ' " You are a parcel of insolents," says the man ; " you see it plain enough, but it is my will that you assist me. You Judges ! you shall this day wish me joy, I who am force and crime, and to-morrow you shall condemn and pass judgement upon all who have resisted me, though they have honour, right, and law on their side." * These irremovable judges kiss his boot, take cogni- sance of the troublesome state of things, and also take the oath of fidelity ! 'Then he perceives poked up in a corner the paid clergy, crossed, banded, and mitred, and he says to them, " So you are there, my Lord Archbishop ! come here and give me your blessing, and bless all I am going to do." And the archbishop immediately chants his Magnificat.' Severe writing this, yet it is that of a Frenchman against his own country. It is by Victor Hugo, and we may be sure that nothing but an imperious sense of truth wrung these sentences from him. And to what, therefore, does this universal oath-taking lead, but to universal perjury ? When the high magistrates of France went to swear allegiance, a curious scene is said to have occurred. As if to show his contempt of the creatures who thus, with smiling faces, adapted themselves to every turn of the wheel, they were kept waiting for a long time in an ante-room without chairs or other conveniences for sitting down. At last the door of the audience chamber opens, and they are ushered into the presence of the 264 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. Dictator. He received them with coolness, not to say- contempt, and while they were swearing, talked to his staff and officers without noticing them. When all was over, he allowed them to depart without salutation, and they retired with all the humility of men who felt that they had been used as tools, and were now receiving their merited reward. The 'following dialogue is said to have taken place between some of them. ' An un- pleasant thing this, but it was necessary to take the oath.' * Yes,' said a second ; ' and I fancy it will be necessary to keep it : ' said a third, ' Certainly, but only in the same way in which the master of this house has kept his own.' How disagreeable these tu quoques ! But before pitying these men, let us remember the scene that took place in the High Court of Cassation in Paris, in December, 1851 ; or let us suppose it was the High Court of the Exchequer Chamber in London. The court is assembled in full number. The judges in scarlet, black, and ermine, look thoughtful and so- lemn : an unusual stillness pervades all men and things it is the precursor of a tempest. All is severe, clas- sical, austere; you might think it was the Eoman senate waiting the approach of the Gauls. But yet, pleadings go on as usual the law is in vigour justice is being administered. Suddenly heavy footsteps are heard, as of men marching in order, and accompanied with the clang of arms. The door opens ; all eyes turn towards it, and through it file steadily a company of infantry, headed by their officer and a commissary of police. What ! soldiers in the sanctuary of justice ! retire, miserable men, or you are doomed ! Does Providence sleep ? will not heaven blast them with its bolts ? But lo ! they advance ; and arrived at the bar, halt ! SERVILE CONDUCT OF FRENCH JUDGES. 265 shoulder arms ! and a line of steel half surrounds the judges. The officer presents a paper to the President, requiring him, in plain words, to retire and close his court, rendering null and void all decrees issued by him, and to pay attention to this at once, or ! They turn from one to the other ; the moment is supreme ; the judges confer; resolution is on every face. They whisper ; they are silent ; the heart of the officer beats heavily as he sees what a dread duty awaits him, ivJten, lo! they rise to do what? To protest, as one man, against the indignity? to resume their seats, to die if need be, but never to be driven from them ? to commend their memory to France, and hurl defiance at the Usurper ? No ! simply to walk out and shut the doors ! and the President of the Court has since applauded the act, and compared it to the greatest deed recorded by Tacitus ! Therefore, I say, let us not pity these men, for it is good feeling thrown away. They deserved treatment fifty times worse, if that were possible, and probably will in time receive it. For myself, I fully believe that the intelligent body of the French nation are thoroughly ashamed of this universal swearing. They see clearly to what it leads to general corruption, and that without having a single merit. They have only to turn over the pages of their past history to see the records of these oaths, their solemnity, and their duration, in order to judge of their present value. It is mere superfluous sin to swear. The revolution of 1792 was ushered in by a great national oath, taken by King and people, and taken only to be broken ; an oath of fidelity to that constitu- tion, which in twelve short months was torn to pieces contemptuously by all, and thrown aside. From that 266 LOWEK BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. period to 1795 it is computed that more than one hundred times the same oath of fidelity was renewed and taken, with the only difference that it was for a new object the mistress having been changed ; and so on during the revolutionary period, men slid down to the abyss on a road made slippery by fragments of oaths. * * See Carlyle, vol. ii. p. 5. 267 CHAPTER XVII. UNIVERSAL SUFFBAGE IN FRANCE DANGEROUS IF PEOPLE UNFIT AS IN FRANCE SMALL MEANS OF POLITICAL INSTRUCTION IN FRANCE BALLOT A POOR SECURITY THEORY AND PRAC- TICE OF HOW THE PEOPLE WERE DECEIVED. fTHHE advocates of universal suffrage in England _L would do well to turn their attention towards France, and study the working of the system there. It is useless to argue the question of universal suffrage, until the population in general is more Jit for it than it is at present, and I will not here discuss what is the test of fitness for the exercise of the suffrage, or where the limits should be placed ; but will merely observe that to grant the suffrage to unfit individuals is about as dan- gerous an experiment as to place torches in the hands of children and send them to play in a powder maga- zine. France is a proof of this, and I have conversed with few Frenchmen who do not trace their evils up to this source, and devoutly wish that universal suffrage were either abolished or restricted; but who dares attempt it ? In France the suffrage is open to all, not being minors, nor under judicial disabilities, i. e. not having committed crimes or misdemeanours, political or other. Now the great bulk of the French population is com- posed of peasants, or dwellers in the country; the town population being comparatively small. Out of the thirty-six millions, thirty inhabit the country. Among .268 LOWER BRITANNY AXD THE BIBLE. this class ignorance prevails to a great extent, an inconceivable extent when we consider that there is a system of Government education in practice. True that the education given is poor in the extreme, and of weak quality, being chiefly in the hands of the priests ; still, with any system, the amount of ignorance prevailing is astonishing. In Britanny, the general average gives seven hun- dred out of one thousand who cannot read, and from my experience, I should have thought the number even greater. Those who cannot read must pick up political knowledge as they may from those who can, but pro- bably they derive the great part of it from the priests, in their Sunday discourses ; and we may be sure that what is there given is not of a very enlightening character. And what are the means of information to those who can read? The public press has ceased as a public instructor, and the only public means of this kind is the 'Moniteur,' the official organ of the Government, and its veracity is so well known, that ' to lie like the * Moniteur,' is an old proverb. How is it possible, therefore, for them to form a correct, or anything ap- proaching to a correct, judgement of passing events, thus deprived, as they are, of all fair means of acquiring that knowledge on which alone a correct judgement can be based ? In truth, they form no judgement at all, but go as they are led ; or, if crotchety and independent, pick up a rumour and act upon it. My servant said he voted * oui,' for the Emperor, because he wished for peace, and was told that the question was peace or war, and added that all the world said Louis Bonaparte was a good man, and would tread in the steps of his uncle which, truly, were not the steps of peace. Others were told that it was on the question of the republic, and that THE ENLIGHTENED AT THE MERCY OF THE IGNORANT. 269 1 oui ' meant voting for the republic. Many thought it was for the old Emperor come again ; some that it was on the question whether the representatives were to be paid. Not one in one hundred really understood the matter, and there was no public press to set them right. Only fancy if the opinion of Hodge or Jack, from the wolds or the fens, was asked on a political question what a puzzle it would be to them ; how they would scratch their heads, and stand on one leg ! and, if the fate of the rest of the nation did not depend on their answer, it would be a good joke. But in France, the learned, the wise, and the wealthy, who are numerically only a thousandth part of the other class, are in a great measure dependent on such as Hodge and Jack, are dragged along with them in their errors and blunders, and are at the same time denied the power of enlightening them. It is a false and dangerous position. Some one says that the instincts of a nation are always right perhaps so, if they are the natural instincts ; but if they are artificially created by inter- ested parties, they cease being instincts, and become vitiated cravings or mere parrot-cries, repeating what is taught without understanding or feeling. No one doubts, for instance, that the great body of the able and influential men of France were wholly opposed to the government of Louis Napoleon ; yet, notwithstanding, they were overpowered by the horde of rustics, who could only tell a spade from a pitchfork, and their voices were drowned in the torrent. And yet this is called, forsooth, the voice of the people that vox poputi, which is almost equal to the vox Dei! The government of Louis Napoleon, knowing its power over this mass, knowing the magic of the name 270 LOWER BRITANNY AXD THE BIBLE. of ' The Emperor Napoleon? takes care to coax and manage them with all possible skill. Prefets, sous- prefets, nmres (all appointed by $ie government), harangue, address, stick up proclamations, make domi- ciliary visits, speak of the -paternal government which is, by mere paper laws, to clothe the back and fill the belly invoke the name of the Emperor to the gaping crowd hint darkly at the possessors of property grant money for a church, a bridge, or a road and flatter the admiring throng that by their vote all things will be put right for evermore. And the voting, what a farce it was ! what a mockery of the free voting system. All over France millions 01 'Oui' were printed, and not any ' Non* they were forwarded and introduced everywhere b} T the officials, accompanied by threats, wishes, and so forth ; when the voter arrived at the urn he was watched and scrutinised closely, and if he had face enough to ask for a * Non,' he was told to go and provide himself as he best could. The secrecy of the ballot was a myth ; it neither pre- cluded intimidation nor canvassing, and was open to the objection of calumnious assertion as to the vote, which the voter had no means of repelling. Then who kept the ballot-boxes^ Does any sane man believe that Louis Napoleon and his underlings, who rode roughshod over Paris in December, and afterwards imprisoned and exiled thousands of honourable and innocent men, would hesitate a moment before the trifling act of ordering the burning of the box con- taining an unfavourable vote, or adding a cipher or a figure to the sum total ? If anyone does think so, let him at once get his head shaved, and a blister to the nape of his neck, for depend on it he is in a state of incipient softening of the brain. It is a mere matter UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE UNIVERSAL SCRAMBLE. 271 of arrangement whether the number of votes is to be recorded as 7,500,000 or 8,500,000. The order being given, the thing will of course be done. Let a people be educated ; let them understand their political duties ; let them acquire a visible stake in the well-being of the country, and I would not object to uni- versal suffrage ; but until that period arrives, it is not only a delusion but a peril ; and to incur that peril wilfully, to hazard the good we Englishmen undoubtedly do possess, for the sake of acquiring a possible extension of it, is more than folly, it is sheer infatuation. Property, in my humble opinion, should always be represented in some way; it is unjust that a man of property should have no more voice in the direction of his country's affairs than a man who lacks it; and how can this be pro- vided for by universal suffrage, in which each man has a vote, and no man more ? Let us take warning by France, and not rashly grant universal suffrage unless we wish to bring on the universal scramble. Events will soon show us that a nation which acts ignorantly, and without good sound motives, can change as easily as the lightest coquette ; and ere long we may see the power to which Louis Napoleon has so successfully ap- pealed, change its views, and either put him out, or be put out by him. Four governments in twenty years gives no great hope for the duration of the fifth. The party which seems to me to gain most by uni- versal suffrage is the priestly party. Their influence over the country people, who, as I have stated, consti- tute the great mass of the population, is still enor- mously great, and by working the confessional and the ballot-box together, and making one act upon the other, they do wonders for their cause. It was amusing to see how they preached up the 272 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. Corsican St. Louis at one period. On the Sunday before Nov. 21, the day of the voting on the Empire question, nine out of ten priests in France .delivered a political harangue, exhorting their hearers by all means to sup- port the chosen 'vessel' they had suddenly discovered. The effect of this was immense, for the perfect or- ganisation of the Eomish Church enables it to give such strokes as this with great effect. Knowing the priests in general to be upholders of the ' Legitimists,' the turn was curious ; but the good men have their rea- sons, and know the force of the proverb, that ' A bird in hand is worth two in the bush.' Many bishops pub- lished pastoral letters stirring up their clergy, and they again wrote to their people, stirring them up ; in fact, France was like one great porridge-pot, and was all hot and working from top to bottom. Napoleon, of course, recompensed them for their ser- vices, and it was done at the expense of Protestantism. Certainly the priests entertained the most exagge- rated hopes that their day was coming, and anyone who had eyes could see a change in their manner which was very remarkable. They no longer bowed and cringed, as in 1848, making friends with Mammon against the time when they expected they should want his help, but looked the world well in the face, and treated Mammon very cavalierly when they met him. Their tone towards Protestants was more and more rude and overbearing, and all denoted that they thought they saw from afar the day of their triumph, and were already tasting its delights. But, after all, they have only been seers of visions I I wish some of our honest John Bulls, who shout so loudly for 'Universal Suffrage' and 'Vote by Ballot,' would come over to France, as I have before said. But BALLOT AND UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE DO NOT WORK WELL. 27 3 they should make haste. Things do not last long here ; there will be a new system perhaps shortly, and the moment universal suffrage becomes hostile to the govern- ment one of the two will be abolished. I suppose that there are still herds of English philosophers, metropolitan and provincial, who think that the ballot is the general heal-all ; that all the ills of humanity are to be cured by taking only one ' small box,' and that universal suffrage is but another phrase for universal felicity; but as human life has been disagreeably abridged since the Flood, we cannot spare time to argue such points, while there are others more pressing. Let such men, however, come here and open their eyes and ears ; they will learn something I believe, i.e. if so disposed, and not like the man who sacrificed all for his theory, and squared everything to suit it. For information on these subjects rains upon you; you need not seek it; if you only open your mouth and shut your eyes, you are filled immediately. I am now in a commune where I believe it to be certain and beyond doubt, that more than 400 people voted * Non ; ' yet, strange to say, only some 30 are reported in the official list. I asked for information. * Oh ! it is easily understood ; only a figure or two altered.' In another commune, no one was believed to have voted ' Oui,' and lo ! by a magical transmutation, no one was reported as having voted ' Non.' Meanwhile millions of ' Oui ' tickets were printed, and no one was allowed to print * Non? These millions were distributed over the country, together with * stir- ring up' circulars. The peasants were told that ' Oui 1 meant * Republic,' ' Henry V.' Orleans,' or anything else which answered ; and sensible men wonder at the result ! I myself went, at this time, into a respectable book- T 274 LOWER BRITANXY AND THE BIBLE. seller's shop at Morlaix. The counter was covered with sheets of ' Oui,' a universal affirmation ; it was re- freshing, in these times of discord, to see such general agreement. The feeling seemed to have extended to all around ; the very apprentices, mere ' printer's devils ' as they were, smiled blandly upon me, an ink spotted brotherhood of peace. I could almost have voted * Oui ' myself, and mechanically looked amiably at an old lady in the corner of the shop. ' Who prints the " JVbris"?' I gently asked. ' No one,' replied the happy bookseller, adding (what spoiled all in a moment), ' for no one is alloived to do so.' In some places other means were used. In a certain commune of the Yonne, suspected of negative, but at the same time dangerously positive tendencies, a pre- liminary purgation took place, accompanied by bleeding. Out of 500 voters 430 were arrested, and (strange to say) the rest voted ' Oui ' to a man. In another com- mune in fheLoiret, the same treatment was prescribed by the prefectorial Sangrado, and with success : 497 having been thus physicked, the remaining 142 voted C 0ui;' the cathartic having operated vigorously, and cleared away all obstruction and inflammation. In the town of Lille, the nephew of the representative Aubrey having seen the agents of the prefet distribute tickets with ' Oui ' in the great square, was so in- nocent (being a young man, and rather green) as to distribute * Nons ' also, and was immediately imprisoned in the citadel. At Bonchamps, M. Parent, jun., Deputy Juge de Paix, was arrested and shut up at Valenciennes, for having advised certain persons, who asked him, to vote ' Non? The unanimity was admirable ; but it reminds us of the unanimity at the public meeting in ' Martin Chuzzlewit,' ' The greatest harmony pre- VICTOR HUGO ON BALLOT VOTING. 275 vailed. The resolution was carried unanimously ; only one man said " No," and he was immediately carried off by a policeman.' And who believed that the 7,500,000 votes were genuine ? No one. Let us hear Victor Hugo : ' Let ' us speak seriously. Coup d'Etat gentlemen, nobody * believes in your 7,500,000 votes. Come, be frank for * a moment ; confess you are slightly Gh*eekish ; that ' you cheat a little. How did you get the figure of '7,500,000? Who counted? Baroche. Who exa- * mined ? Rouher. Who checked ? Pietri. Who added ' up ? Maupas. Who certified ? Troplong. Who an- 'nounced? Yourselves. In other words, servility * counted, meanness examined, trickery checked, forgery * added up, venality certified, and mendacity announced. * Very good. Whereupon M. Bonaparte ascends to the ' capitol, orders M. Sibour the Archbishop to thank * Jupiter, puts a blue and gold livery on the Senate, a ' blue and silver livery on the Legislative Body, and a c green and gold one on his coachman, lays his hands on * his heart, declares that he is the product of universal suffrage, and that his legitimacy has issued from the ballot-box.' I commend some of the above facts to the attention of those who uphold the ballot and universal suffrage. There may be some good points in their favor, and they are conscientiously supported by many honest men ; but there are cons as well as pros, and with every disposi- tion to form an impartial opinion, I think the contras at present greatly predominate. T a 276 CHAPTER XVIII. THE FRENCH PEESS NEW LAW REGULATING IT ' AVERTISSE- MENT ' FRENCH IDEAS OF ' ORDER ' EFFETE STATE OF JOURNALISM A MODERN FRENCH PAPER, A SORT OF LIVING SKELETON. BUT what shall we fsay of * the Press ' in France ? To say that it does not exist is false ; but to say that it does exist requires so many explanations, that the assertion may be suspected of falseness also. Its existence is painful and dishonouring to all, except to those editors and writers who have flung down their pens with disdain, and retired from their degraded profession. It might naturally be expected that arbitrary power would attack the press without delay ; that it would endeavour to gag and bind the wakeful sentinel of freedom before coming to open conflict with the main army. And it has done so. By one of those thousand decrees which issued from the teeming brain of Louis Napoleon during the three first months of the Empire, the press was put into police custody, from which it has escaped only to be placed in solitary confinement on the cellular system. By the law of February 1852, it is provided that, if any newspaper contain articles of a nature calculated to do injury to public morality, or to weaken or offend the institutions of the country, the prefet of the depart- ment in which the journal circulates should notify the THE PRESS ENTIRELY SUBJECT TO THE GOVERNMENT. 277 same to the principal editor. This is called an ' aver- tissement ' or warning, and after two such warnings, the paper may be suspended by an order of the minister. These warnings also are to be inserted in the first page of the offending journal, without editorial note or comment, and the warnings may be accompanied by such remarks as prefectorial wisdom chooses to indulge in. For despots dont like retort or even reply ; it must be ' go and he goeth,' and that without a word. Indignant editors must not only feel but kiss the rod ; as say the Persians, they must eat dirt, and do it diligently. Imagine the annoyance of a pert provincial editor, the incarnate wisdom of a country town, who has long launched without a check the popgun thunderbolt of his weekly paper, at being thus obliged to swallow, with a resigned face, a good scolding, and then to have to print it in his paper ! What would the Picwickian Pott of the ' Eatansville Gazette,' have done how could he have borne it ? But the press being under the ferule of the Imperial pedagogue, there is no resource but submis- sion. It is somewhat amusing to watch and see how des- potism grows how it extends itself into all quarters. At first the prefectorial power of giving an avertissement was only exercised for political reasons, then it extended to matters of morality, at length to civility and good breeding ; in fine, there was reason to apprehend that the very style and manner of the editor would be matter of comment. And thus it ever is with tyranny grant the first step and you are led you know not where ; for who shall limit the vagaries of a capricious mind ? ' Obsta principiis ' is the only safe rule ; but France seems to have lost her backbone for the present, and to be made up chiefly of gristle and cartilage. 278 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. I will give a few instances, and, pray, remark the lofty terms in which these high personages write. Their pens must have been dipped into very uncommon ink, of which, however, ' Moses and Son ' and ' Holloway's Pills ' seem to be equally large consumers with them. The Courier of Verdun is admonished ' for publish- ing a copy of a letter to a sous-prefet, which involves the administration in questions of individuality, to which it wishes to remain a stranger.' This is really autocratic, and might have proceeded from the Em- peror of all the Kussias, instead of from a quondam clerk or lodging-house keeper now made into a prefet. Another, IS Union Bretonne, is warned 'for not con- ducting controversy according to good manners, and afterwards for supporting the claims of a candidate who had not taken the oath of allegiance.' The Journal de Bezieres is admonished for having characterised certain proceedings of the local municipal council as 'marked by irritation and small good faith.' Happy Bezieres ! where nobody quarrels with anybody ! one would wish to live there, and I recom- mend it to the notice of ' quiet single gentlemen,' seeking a residence. Another receives a notice for having alluded to the maire of his town as ' combining with others to oppose a certain college, and having made illnatured remarks upon him.' Le Petit Courier de la Bretagne is warned for ' having contested the truth of the official bulletins of the President's journey to Strasbourg, and arrogated to itself the right of rectifying them.' A Paris journal is notified for discussing the principle of hereditary succession, which is ' inopportune ; ' and the Presse, the great liberal paper, is admonished, LUDICROUS ' AYERTISSEMENTS ' GIVEN TO JOURNALS. 279 and afterwards receives a second warning, for having addressed to a scandalous writer who made unfounded charges against that journal, the words 'you lie.' These are a tew specimens culled at random, but we may imagine the harassing effect of such interference. A mere warning would be no great matter would, per- haps, be treated as warnings often are, and as they may remember who have read the story of the ' Three Warnings; ' but a warning from the Prefet means some- thing more, and that is suspension of the journal. After a second warning the journal can be suspended on the mere order of the Government. And suspen- sion means that the editor and all his staff must be sent adrift, some to ruin, others to grievous loss and trouble. Many journals, too, belong to small companies, who possess the journal in shares. Now, it is well known that companies have neither conscience nor bowels, save for themselves; and as 'suspension' means 'no dividend ; ' they forthwith call a meeting, haul up the unfortunate editor, and tell him forthwith to lower his tone or resign his office. We may therefore easily fancy the effect of this law. The independence of the press is utterly destroyed by it. Some few men of courage and principle hold to their opinions, and proclaim them ; but, overwhelmed by the cowards and parasites, and the rest of the rabble rout, they by degrees fall and disappear, or else are struck down by the club of the law or the law of the club, and die with honour. But the great mass obey the word of command, and veer round more or less swiftly ; some making volte face in a day, others changing slowly, and hoping to efface their traces as they change their path little by little. And so the great end of Louis Napoleon's party is 280 LOWEK BRITANNT AND THE BIBLE. attained * order.' There is a magic in that word ' order ; ' it must have many faces, for all invoke it and fight for itr, if it be 'Heaven's^irs^ law, it is a Frenchman's first and last also. Yet we must not be too severe upon them. After their frequent ' disorder,' it is no wonder some are misled by what calls itself the contrary. But order produced by the pressure of despotism, and that arising from well-regulated liberty, are two things. In England, for instance, we have the latter kind where the policeman's staff is the emblem of the law ; in France it is of the former sort, and is represented by the s^vord, which even mere policemen carry. Which, good reader, is the most durable of the two ? which is the most conducive to the well-being of a nation ? which is the most congenial to a civilised people ? Therefore, when we speak of ' order ' in France, let us remember of what sort it is. Give any one force suf- ficient, and he will engage to produce * order ' ; but whether, when such order is produced, the world is benefited, is another question. The end is not worth the means. By a powerful machine you may compress sawdust into an apparently hard block of wood ; but the pressure removed, it becomes sawdust as before, and your pains are lost. And when the great summum bonum is attained, what is it but a sickly monotony, without life or spirit ? Once on a time, a friend of Paley was dilating to him on the uninterrupted felicity of his married life : * We've been married thirty years, and never had a word between us ; what do you think of that ? ' * Think,' said Paley ; * why, that it must have been verra flat? And so with ' order.' No one must speak above his breath ; all must stand still in the first position, as you are placed by the master ; and if you grimace with your fellow, or look as PRESS NOW PLACED ENTIRELY UXDER THE POLICE. 231 if you would like to pull another boy by the ear, down comes the fiddlestick upon your head without mercy. And under this new law of the press, certainly there has been pressure enough. In Paris, forty journals have been extinguished ; in the provinces, no less than two hundred ! Only think of the misery inflicted in destroying these two or three hundred newspapers ; the thousands of poor families deprived of a living, at a period when all trades have great difficulty to find work. Then think of the property sacrificed by a mere stroke of the official pen, given perhaps honestly, but probably spitefully. And under this law, instead of offences against it being tried by the civil courts, they are placed under the jurisdiction of the correctional courts ; i. e., the police courts. The press is treated as an association of rogues, and all are sent together before the police. This adds insult to injury. How well must the police sheet sound: 'No. 1. John Smith, alias " Wide-awake," for abusing the police ; No. 2. Eichard Grab and Bill Symes, for burglary; No. 3. John Walter, for an article in the Times reflecting on the Budget.' But it attains the object of lowering the standard of journal- ism ; it accustoms people to speak in a breath of journalists and swindlers or pickpockets. And what a wretched living skeleton is a French daily paper ! It is like the figure of a man made up for a tailor's window padded here, pinched or pared there, with eyes that see nothing, and a mouth that speaks nothing, and yet, withal, of a decent, not to say modish, exterior. Take the Presse, for instance, the most independent paper left in France, and one which has been ' warned ' twice. Girardin, the former editor, is a man of great talent, and has the pen of a great 282 LOWER BBITANNY AND THE BIBLE. writer. He is remarkably epigrammatic and logical in style, and pitilessly fastens his opponents up in syllogisms and dilemmas from which there is no escape. His range of topics , was wide as the world ; he discussed freely, and all that he discussed he en- lightened. But the Presse belongs to a company, and Girardin must obey orders. It is useless to write what will not sell especially what may, perhaps, suspend the journal : he must, therefore, moderate his ardour, and limit his selection of subjects, which is duly done, and again behold the poor Presse, f the shadow of its former self.' Take a number now before me. A French novel or feuilleton occupies one quarter of the paper; another quarter is taken up by a treatise on the china manufac- ture not from Girardin, of course he could not handle such earthy materials, they are too sticky for him ; a third quarter is composed of the Paris Bourse and oldish news, and the remaining quarter is given to Government decrees and advertisements. There is very little bread to all the * sack ; ' we may cease calling it a wewspaper. Fancy one-half of the Times being filled by a romantic and rather loose tale, and a history of porcelain ' What would London merchants and bankers say to that ? The Patrie, the leading Government journal, for many weeks had long articles, of from four to six columns, on agriculture not a practical treatise, for there would have been something useful in that, if not amusing but a root and branch history of it from the beginning of all things under Abraham and Lot, and tracing it down through the middle ages; but the article was so very ponderous that it fell in of itself, or else perhaps the writer stuck fast in one of those heavy soils over which he used to drag and exhaust his readers. At another time the same paper entertained FRENCH JOURNALISM UNDER NAPOLEON III. 283 the world by a series of lively articles on insects of various kinds, and especially domestic and agricul- tural ones ; and thence it acquired the title of the * insect journal.' In fact, instead of politics, we have chiefly domestic information a paper becomes a nursery guide a housewife's complete manual a receipt book. Men must live, and if they cannot fill up with one thing, they will do it with another. And such is the state of degradation of that press of which France was one day so proud ! And all this treatment is systematic. Louis Napoleon said, soon after his accession : * My predecessors have been ruined by Parliamentism and Journalism. I shall abolish one, and starve the other ; ' and he is keeping his word. It may be difficult to admire the man, but one can but admire the tenacity with which he pursues and holds to his purposes: According to Carlyle, it con- stitutes one quality of heroism, and, if in a good cause, is the sign of a great man ; but a great virtue lies in that if. If a stranger, a visitor from another planet for instance, were to alight upon France, and take his ideas of the state of the country from the tone of its journals, he would say, ' What a strange country is this ! I am surrounded by evidences of past greatness splendid buildings, useful and noble institutions, polished manners, eminence in the arts and sciences, and yet the mind of the people seems vegetating ; I see no indications of its present exercise. They must have passed their culminating point, and must be in the stage of debility and decay. There seems no interest taken in politics; there are no discussions on the res publica,', all is tranquillity and peace, but it is the tranquillity of a very low order of the animal creation. Doubtless 284 LOWER BRITANNT AND THE BIBLE. the mind of France is in its dotage, yet it seems a happy and contented dotage.' But how erroneous would be this judgement ! Be- neath the apparently calm surface is the molten and glowing lava the boiling temperament of France swelling all the more violently from the outward com- pression. Let the pressure be removed, even though for a moment, let a fissure be made in the mountain side, and in a moment we should see the fiery torrent rush forth with its ancient impetuosity, and the peace- ful paradise of the planetary visitant would be converted into a smoking scene of destruction. But all great operations of nature are terrible in process, though beneficent in result. In France they are now brought back to the middle ages, when laborious monks multiplied books by manu- script. A book, for instance, is proscribed by the censor good! its best parts are immediately extracted and copied ; and the process, and the extra value given by proscription, engrave their meaning doubly upon the mind. Victor Hugo's book, from which I have quoted, was rigorously pursued everywhere; the police scented it out with the skill of bloodhounds, caught a trace of a copy here and of another there, watched, took notes, per- haps at last seized and confiscated it. And what then ? Why, that ten read it for one who would have read it, and by passing it from hand to hand with mystery and fidelity, the readers baffled the pursuers, and increased its interest ten-fold. The copy that I saw, and read behind a door with a candle while the owner kept watch, had a charmed life. The police were frequently in the act of seizing it, when presto \ pass ! and lo ! it vanished into another house, and the web had to be spun THE EMPEROR WISHES TO STUNT THE PRESS. 235 anew. I never saw the game of hunt the slipper made political before. The various letters of the Count de Chambord (Henry V.) were treated in the same manner. No one was allowed ^to sell the printed copies. Eh bien! men and women made written copies, which were doubly valuable. I made several copies for French friends of the letters, taken from English papers, and these were re-translated into French, not without loss probably, and thus the French news came from England. Not much march of intellect and civilisation in all this ! Nature abhors a vacuum, but there is at present a great one in France. It is the Empire of nothing you take up a daily newspaper, which should be the mirror of the world and show you what is saying, doing, and thinking, and you find nothing. Great is the praise, and much the do about nothing ! * Oh ! puissance de vide? as Emile Girardin exclaims in one of his spirited articles, instead of a ' Presse periodique,' we have a 'Presse pneumatique,' in which, as in an exhausted receiver, a very mouse would die from want of air to breathe. It is the intention of the Government to create a strictly Government press, by circulating the Moniteur at a very low price. This will complete the process, and effectually shut out the light from the people. Henceforth they will be fed on such nourishment as the Government chooses, and in such quantity as to it seemeth good, and, as may be easily imagined, the quality will not be of a superior kind. Milk diet is mild, but very tasteless, does not make muscle ; but I suppose the Emperor thinks that meat makes blood too fast. 286 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. And how will the public mind be enlightened by this process ? Will it not rather be vitiated and lowered ? For the essential quality of the Press is its independence ; when that is lost, it is worse than useless, it is danger- ous. Unless the Press is the faithful record of public events, it is valueless and does harm : instead of the friendly beacon, it becomes the wrecker's light. Henceforth we shall read such sentences as the fol- lowing, which are probably kept in stereotype, so as to be always ready, and avoid trouble : ' The Emperor * took his usual drive on the Boulevards to-day, accom- * panied by his Staff. The cries of " Vive 1'Empereur ! " ' resounded along the whole line of his route. It was a * veritable ovation. His Majesty seemed in excellent ' health.' Or, ' An interesting incident occurred as the * Emperor was entering the Palace. A young woman, 4 of a charming exterior, threw herself at his feet, ex- f claiming, " Oh ! thanks, Sire ! for the mercy you have ' " extended to my father. May Heaven preserve your *" Majesty!" The Emperor was visibly affected, and ' raised her up, with words of comfort. The crowd was ' moved at this additional proof of his benevolence.' Or, ( At the review, yesterday, the Emperor approached ' an old veteran who stood near him, and who, leaning ' painfully on his staff, was attentively regarding him, * and said, " Ah ! vieux moustache, and so you are here ! ' "I have not forgotten your services atLeipsic and in the 4 " hundred days ; take this as my remembrance ! '' pre- ' senting him with a purse containing 500 francs. The * old man faltered, almost falling from emotion, "At last ' " I die happy ! Vive Napoleon 1'Empereur ! " ' and so forth. Keal incidents such as these are worthy of record, and well deserve a place in public journals; when true, they give useful light to the world : but here they are THE KESULT IS A GENERAL LITERARY STAGNATION. 287 manufactured by a poetical clerk in the office of the Moniteur who does the romantic articles for so many francs per week. And as the public generally know this, a.nd disbelieve what they read, the effect is a gene- ral mistrust of all news whatsoever, which at last grows into a general indifference. and apathy, the great end of a despot. ( He makes a solitude, and calls it peace.' Who that saw the revolution of 1848, could have believed the state to which a few short years, have brought the Press of France ? One Paris journal publishes each day a few chapters from ' Uncle Tom's Cabin.' Of course it is impossible to give the nigger idiom and pronunciation, and there- fore the wit of Sam and Topsey, and the rest of our black brethren who figure so conspicuously there, is all lost ; but the translator goes on as gravely and seriously as possible, without suspecting that he is all the while in the condition of the person who tells the story without the point. Quotations from English journals are very rarely seen, because too free for this close atmosphere, so that the contents of the paper may be set down as nil. They have in fact got as far as the single straw per day, and therefore we may soon expect the death of the animal ; and its death would be preferable to the zoo- phytic life in which it at present lingers. The general state of literature corresponds with the state of the Press. The censorship over the one is as severe as that over the other. No books worth reading are published ; for thought is sympathetic, and the re- pression of it in so important a direction as politics weakens it elsewhere. The result is a general stagnation. For, thought forbid, expression naturally grows weaker. As Cowper says, * Thoughts shut up want air, and die like plants, when brought into the sun.' 2S8 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. In 1848 the mind of France was in prodigious acti- vity. The press teemed with works of all kinds, doubtless good and bad ; but when the human mind is in vigour and activity, and casts off its ideas on all sides, although the chief part may die speedily, yet some reach the undersoil, take root and flourish, and future ages benefit thereby. And as we have the firm belief that the good will outlast the evil, we would encourage as much as possible the free public expression of thought. But now all is dead ; it is the winter of the mind, and the few shoots which appear here and there on the waste are either poison bearing or stunted. And the minds of men grow cramped as does their position. They grow content with less mental food than formerly, making a virtue of necessity, and their minds shrink in size and power, like un exercised and poorly nourished, muscles. And all this has been gradually brought about by the efforts of one man. We m'ay" therefore be sure that he has a power in him. The man who mounts an unbacked colt, sits him firmly in his furious plungings, restrains him, curbs him down, makes him come and go, and finally reduces him into the passive instrument of his will, is one who has at least the merit of a strong will and of riding well. And Louis Napoleon has power, let us be certain of that innate individual power power self-relying and self-exercised. Up to his accession his page had been almost a blank ; but now it is filled with many characters both good and bad and will yet receive many more. He has played one part, but he has others yet to perform ; we are only at the first acts yet. But the denouement may not be far off; and let all look out lest that denouement should involve themselves. CHAPTER XIX. FLATTERY OF EMPEROR INSTANCES OF IT COTJNT DE CHAM- BORD BORN A HUNDRED TEARS TOO LATE HIS PARTISANS BEHIND THE AGE ' GOD MADE NAPOLEON AND BESTED 1 ' END OF NOTES ON RELIGIOUS AND CIVIL LIBERTY IN FRANCE. IT must be difficult to find a magnanimous despot. The character itself is unhappily not unusual, but it is the qualification superadded which renders it so. Such a man, triumphing over the sustained resistance of a noble-minded people, would be visited, one would think, by continual remorse in seeing their brave but useless efforts. While scourging and oppressing, he must still admire them, and every act of rigour must keenly wound his own bosom, although legally due ac- cording to his Draconian code. Napoleon III. is spared much of this. He need have few regrets for virtue trampled upon, freedom subdued, honour thrust aside ; for few such qualities have been exhibited. On one side severity, on the other servi- lity; such are the two chief features of the picture. And it is better it should be so, to complete the lesson and abridge the sympathies of the rest of mankind. Life is short ; sympathy, when sincere, is too valuable to be expended hastily, and as yet we have only just passed the commencement : the end is to come. When I consider the estimate in which Louis Na- poleon was held by his own countrymen until he came into power, when I call to mind the abuse lavished upon him for his youthful escapades, the ridicule since u 290 LOWEB BRITANNT AND THE BIBLE. showered down upon him for his ideas of government, the general contempt and dislike of him even when called by the ignorant mass of the people to rule over them ; and when I find him, now at the head of affairs, a sovereign despot, beflattered and befooled in such an outrageous manner by the very people who once so treated him, I shake myself and rub my eyes, and ima- gine that I must have been dreaming. If they were right then, they must be very wrong now ; and if right now, they have only reached the right after half a generation of error. In either case, their judgement would seem to be worth little. In the society with which I was acquainted before his accession, there were men of all parties Orleanists, Legitimists, Eepublicans Eed and Pink, but Napo- leonists none or next to none ; no one would hoist that flag. A hundred times have I heard men pretending to good judgement and looked up to by their fellows, pronounce dogmatically, and as if it were an axiom of Euclid, that he had not a chance, that it were folly to discuss it; and all around said A men. A hundred times have I heard so-called well-informed people say with a Burleigh nod, ' Oh ! he stops the gap acts as a warming pan if you will it is all very well ; but as to anything more permanent, should he attempt even to be re-elected as President, he would be put out of doors in an hour.' And even when those who had eyes, and could use them, saw plainly in what direction the current was running, and that, successful or not, it was evident that ere long something dynastic would be attempted, these self-possessed blunderers only replied, 4 Eh Hen ! and what then ? only let him try.' And he did try ; set aside without hesitation or scruple the constitution he had sworn allegiance to, acted with WHEN TREASON PROSPERS, NONE DARE CALL IT TREASON. 291 ability and determination, and succeeded. And then where were our constitutional friends ? They had dis- appeared from the scene you saw them no more ; but they soon reappeared as staunch Napoleonists in the Imperial uniform, and it required the lapse of time and a clear vision to recognise in them your former For there is a magic in success, it changes and dis- torts most things ; and through this wonderful prismatic lens all France commenced looking, with exclamations such as only proceed from Frenchmen; and appa- rently with a belief that the ivhole human race had substituted the same lenses for their natural eyes. Party seemed annihilated, you heard nothing of Or- leanists, Legitimists, or Republicans all praised and all voted for the foundation of a new dynasty ; after which they would smooth down their beards as though they had performed a great moral act, and would recom- mence talking, in secret but with fervour, of their respective champions Chambord and Co., and their chances and means of success. For the voting shows that nearly the whole male population of France supported Napoleon, although it is certain that a large and influential body in their hearts hated him. Only the other day, in talking to a naval officer, who was or had been a strong Legitimist, and had ranted violently against Louis Napoleon, he said, speaking of the rumoured attempt to shoot him at Marseilles, ' What on earth should we have done, had it succeeded ? It would have been a dreadful blow to France ;' forget- ting for the moment that he had a score of times called him * imbecile,' ' idiot,' * usurper,' and so forth. I do deliberately say, that the want of political D 2 292 LOWER BRITANNT AND THE BIBLE. sincerity and principle then exhibited in France sur- passed all of which we can form an idea ; nor do I see much hope of the real regeneration of the country during the present generation. There seems no faith, no de- termination, no belief in principles, no independence of thought ; all that seems sunk under the temporary pres- sure of circumstances, and not a trace is left behind. But what an encouragement is this to usurpation ! It seems to consolidate, but at the same time it takes away real support from usurpation, by giving hope to anyone bold enough to attempt it again. It says in effect, * Only succeed no matter what are your means only get into the throne no matter by what atro- cities, and all the world will salute you, and keep you there.' It consecrates the doctrine that ' might makes right,' and opens wide the door to future troubles. It produces the chaos of politics. Meanwhile the Count of Chambord protests, and many of his friends vote ' Oui ' for another Louis than Louis Capet; the Eepublicans publish their manifesto, which men read and smile at as too late ; and vote, notwith- standing, ' Oui ' for Louis. Louis looks coldly and grimly upon all, despising them doubtless in his heart, and expecting the time when he will scourge them well for their meanness. As Bacon remarks, the meanness of mankind is best seen from high places ; and both Louis Napoleon and the Count of Chambord must have seen a good deal of it by this time. As for the latter, all people speak well of him, as a man, and he seems to possess every kind and amiable quality; but he has been born a hundred years too late. His stiff, rusty notions of hereditary succession and Divine right have long ago been put by, and meet with little response now-a-days. By his address, pub- COUNT DE CHAMBORD BORN A HUNDRED YEARS TOO LATE. 293 lished some time ago, in which he expressly stated that he would enter France by Divine right or not at all, and that he rejected all call by the people, he committed political suicide ; and so long as that address exists in force he is dead beyond resuscitation. And probably he feels this, or instead of protesting by parchment, he would have protested by his sword, against the re- founding of this modern dynasty. He feels that the theory of Divine right has no echo in the people's hearts, and disdaining to change or sully his principles, he lets the current run on, like his unfortunate an- cestor, Louis XVI., and bides his time. Labitur et labetur in omne yolubilis aevum. But this is bad policy for a King this do-nothing, bide- my-time policy. It is a virtual surrender of his claims, and a release of his followers from their allegiance. It is the policy of the oyster, and nothing more ; and in so acting, the Count of Chambord puts the seal to his own abdication. One of the numerous offerings to the vanity of the Emperor struck me as worth preserving, together with the name of the inventor ; for the man must have had an original genius to have thought of it, and deserves a patent. In a proclamation to his commune, Monsieur de Calvimont (a noble be it observed), Maire of Perigeux, after giving to Louis Napoleon all possible varieties of virtue, terrestrial and celestial, sums up by saying, as a proof undeniable of his greatness and high origin, * God made Napoleon, and rested!' as though his excellences were so numerous, his powers so vast, that Providence was exhausted in the effort, and after the creation was obliged to seek repose. God made Napoleon, and rested ! Did courtly incense 294 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. ever go so far before? But, as was remarked by a friend, he omitted the words * and saw that it was good.' Nor did the efforts of this Biblical pilferer go unrewarded; for the municipals of the town were so enchanted with the novelty of the idea and the eloquence of their ma-ire, that they shortly afterwards presented him with a sword of honour, though it should properly have been made of lath, like the one flourished by Harlequin in the pan- tomime. Another eminent writer, the Abbe Damas, speaking of the services rendered to the cause of religion by Napoleon III. (meaning the help and countenance afforded by him to the priests), remarks, ' After all, (rod is not ungrateful to the French nation.' As much as to say, ' Considering the signal piety and virtues of the French nation, and that God has now done us such a high service, we may really say, whatever we might before have thought, that God is not ungrateful. For 'twixt man and God we must keep the balance even ; it being an account of service rendered on each side. Provi- dence does something for us ; we must do something for Him ; at least it is only fair that we should, though we may do as we like ; but, considering all things, we may really say, and we are happy in the opportunity of saying it, that God is not ungrateful to tbe French nation, to whom he owes so much.'' It would be a second slaughter of the innocents to comment further on this. The ' Patrie,' the Government newspaper, in record- ing the solemn service at Notre Dame, when Louis Napoleon had the standards blessed, and when a great mass was performed, enlarged upon the same idea. ' Hitherto God has rendered to Caesar, has rained largely upon him all His favours ; now Caesar returns the debt, and renders his homage to God.' As if it was an inter- CONCLUSION OF NOTES ON CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 295 change of compliments between equals, or a benefit to the Deity bestowed by man. What mad stuff is this ! what an appreciation of the relations between the Om- nipotent Creator and the worm He has created from the dust, and who must soon return to it ! Will similar language be used when the worm, stripped of those accidental trappings, Imperial or other, which perish in the using, and do but weigh down the wearer under an accumulated responsibility, stands, naked and trembling, before the bar of God ? And thus drearily close my ' Notes on religious and civil liberty in France.' Perhaps they should more properly have been called notes on the absence of liberty; for the amount actually existing is so infinitesimally small as to escape analysis, save of a very minute and searching kind. It is marvellous indeed, the straw a day to which the French animal is reduced, and he once so spirited and high bounding it is marvellous that he has not burst through the ropes and fetters about him, and recovered the freedom he has been cheated of ; but I sup- pose his low diet has weakened and soddened him ; and it is marvellous to think that all this change has been brought about by one man. We have recently wondered at the feats of Earey the horse-tamer ; but he sinks into nothing compared with Napoleon the man-tamer, the political Earey of his time. And yet people are to be found who call him an imbecile, and attribute all to his Ministers ! Time will one day solve the problem of the necessity and wisdom of all this how far France could be governed on the principles of moderate liberty, how far she was fit for more than she now gets ; but meanwhile 296 LOWER BRITANNY AKD THE BIBLE. History is best served by presenting facts as they ac- tually exist, and storing them up for future use. Let Englishmen fervently thank Providence for their insular position and character, and for the ' little ditch ' which separates them from Gaul, and like a cordon sanitaire prevents the contagion of their moral and political disorders reaching us. With these securities moral and physical, we can philo- sophise in peace, and look with comparative tranquillity on the deTWuement of the political drama now passing before the people of France, strengthening ourselves for the future, and taking warning from their example. And so the curtain falls, for the present. 297 CHAPTER XX. THE EMPEROR AND HIS ENGLISH POLICY HAS BEEN A GOOD ALLY TO ENGLAND HIS INTEREST TO BE SO IN TIMES OF CRISIS HAS ACTED "WELL TO US IS THAT NOTHING ? HIS GREAT DIFFICULTIES THE ITALIAN QUESTION ENGLAND SHOULD KEEP UP HER DEFENCES IN VIEW OF CONTINGENCIES IF BOUR- BONS SHOULD RETURN AND HER VOLUNTEERS TOO BUT CUI BONO ABUSING NAPOLEON? CONCLUSION. IN * The Bible in Britanny? I give at some length my ideas on the then political state of France, and on the probable action of Louis Napoleon as to Europe generally, and as to England in particular ; and I therein add certain cautions and predictions on the subject, with respect to England and the dangers to which she then seemed exposed. Ten years have since elapsed, and my opinions have been in some respects modified by facts which have since occurred, and I think it only an act of justice and fairness to state those modifications and their causes. Certainly at the period when I last wrote (in 1851), not only England, but Europe generally, was filled with apprehension as to what would be the political move- ment of France under Napoleon, and the future was regarded with gloom and anxiety. Every well-wisher of England exhorted her to gird herself up, and be ready for a struggle, for it seemed near at hand, and many discourses were preached on the text of Trust in Providence, and keep your powder dry.' And, sooth to say, the powder that has been kept dry, in readiness 298 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. for a war with France, must now be so dry as to be highly dangerous to its possessors ; and we should advise them to get rid of it without delay, for fear it should explode spontaneously and blow them all up. Louis Napoleon, instead of the sworn foe, has proved himself the firm ally of England ; and whatever may have been his secret and deep intentions as to us, on which his opponents are so fond of dilating, we are entitled to say, speaking from fact and history, that they have been so very secret, and kept so very deep down in the re- cesses of his heart, as never yet to have seen the light at all, or to have been seen or heard of by any man. And this during the double lustrum of ten years a period of some duration in a man's life. Looking, therefore, at events by the light of expe- rience and actuality, I think it is impossible to deny the fact, that the conduct of Louis Napoleon as to England has turned out quite otherwise than was ex- pected by the British public in general. I am not going to be the apologist of the Emperor as to the coup d'etat. History will give her verdict upon that point in due time, as she has done upon all other great events ; but it will hardly be in our time. History waits a long period before pronouncing her verdict, and requires a great body of impartial evidence ; as we may see by the fact that it is only now, after the lapse of 200 years, that her verdict is being delivered upon Cromwell ; a verdict, too, which reverses the decisions of many inferior courts of that so-called equity which is administered by the accredited Scribes and Pharisees of historical literature; and History's verdict possibly leaves out of view many circumstances which used to be considered of great moment in the times of party strife, and takes into its consideration many others HISTORY TAKES TIME BEFORE GIVING HER VERDICT. 299 which, at the period when the events occurred, were not thought of at all. I say, therefore, that we cannot, as yet, give a really correct and impartial judgement as to the coup d'etat, either as 'to the act itself, or the indivi- dual who was the chief actor in it. Let us think of Cromwell, and avoid a hasty judge- ment. Fifty years back, and Cromwell, viewed under such light and by such evidence as then prevailed, was only called 'hypocrite,' 'liar,' * regicide,' 'religious buf- foon,' and so forth. Now we hear him styled 'the great Englishman,' 'the most powerful ruler England ever had,' and ere long, perhaps, his statue will be in the Palace of Westminster. Nor will I now speak of Louis Napoleon and his system of governing France, so different from our own, I will leave that to be dealt with by others, when time enables them to take a full view of it as a whole. At present we see only the outsides of things the bare acts we must wait for the evidence of the various contemporary actors, given truly and without fear or favour, and that is seldom done by men in their life- time. Time alone will show us the secret strings and pulleys of the machine, of which at present we see only the movements. But as to the relations of Louis Napoleon with Eng- land, we can speak of them with the actual experience of the past ten years, and the events of that period justify us in saying that he has been the most faithful and enlightened ally of England who ever filled the French throne. From Lord Palmerston and Glad- stone to Lord Derby and D'Israeli, from Lord Brougham and Lord Shaftesbury to Cobden and Bright, all join in asserting and repeating this ; and as it is totally diffe- rent from what was expected and confidently predicted 300 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. by many, it would, I think, be the height of injustice to refuse the expression of an altered and more favour- able opinion upon this point, now that circumstances show that we were once mistaken in our judgement. It is evident that, from the very commencement of his reign, he has made the maintenance of the alliance with England the keystone and master-principle of his policy, and has allowed nothing to cause him to deviate from or infringe it. He has had the good sense and sagacity to see that that alliance would be his chief sup- port, and that his own real interests were bound up in maintaining it intact. What matters to him a good or bad understanding with Russia, Prussia, or Austria, so long as he possesses the good-will of England, worth more than all the others put together ? The moral support that good-will gives him is incalculable. He must feel it in all things, and profits by it, and is too wise a man to do aught to risk it. England's support given to a somewhat doubt- ful dynasty, like that of the Bonapartes, which lies under a political ostracism (for their resumption of power is forbidden by an express article in the Treaty of Vienna of 1815, which I believe has never been re- pealed), is like that of a good, stiff-backed, wealthy and worthy uncle of high character to a needy but well- meaning nephew, who has had his ups and downs in life, and finally gets into his place again, a sadder and wiser man than he ever was before. English gold is far better than English lead and iron cast into balls, and Napoleon III. knows it well. The other day the Bank of France was short of cash what then ? They draw upon their sister in England, the * old lady in Threadneedle Street,' and get out of their troubles ; and French commerce is re- ENGLISH ALLIANCE OF GREATEST USE TO NAPOLEON. 301 lieved, and the relief to the circulation extends to the remotest point in the French body politic ; and helps even the poor artisan in Paris, who is as it were the little toe-nail of the giant, to get his daily bread as usual, and a trifle cheaper. The solid advantages conferred by Uncle John are more than equal in value to the traditionary glories of Uncle Nap ; with the additional advantage of giving the much-wanted ' ces in prcesenti.' French commerce wants relief, and must have 'primary commodities' cheaper, and therefore comes the treaty of last year ; and our iron and coal and c woollens,' and other things, get into France at a lower duty ; and, in exchange, their wine flows in upon us tenfold, so that we can drink claret as cheap in England as in Paris, and the trade between the two countries mounts in one year from 2,000,000^. to 6,000,OOOL, and helps us powerfully in our present time of distress. Is this not better for French interests, and those of Napoleon in particular, than an infinitesimal chance of acting Falstaff and seeing London from Gadshill ; and a tolerable certainty of an allied occupation of Paris shortly afterwards, as a natural consequence ? I therefore maintain that, chiefly (if you like it so) from regard to his own interests and also from regard to those of France, he has made the ' entente cordiale ' between the two countries the leading point in his general policy, and has steadfastly adhered to it through good and through evil report. Yes ! certainly through evil report ; for no man has had such floods of abuse poured upon him by the English press as he has. Turn by turn each journal, whether ' leading ' or led, has bespattered him; though 'en revanche,' turn by turn each has flattered and bepraised him ; and I suppose 302 LOWER BKITANNY AND THE BIBLE. he has sufficient good sense to let one neutralise the other, and care for neither. It has been well for the world and himself that he has been an easy-tempered man, with an unusually thick * epidermis ; ' had it been his uncle, to whom nature had given a very thin skin indeed, and who continually winced under the stings of that buzzing gadfly, the press, we should have had a war long ago ; and produced chiefly by the unbridled style of writing in which our newspaper writers often indulge, when they think the public wants something strong. But even making every allowance for his thick skin, he must have been sorely tempted now and then, one would imagine, when reading the vocabulary of abuse showered upon him ; for I am much disposed to think that there is not a crime in the Decalogue of which he has not been accused by some portion or other of the English press during the past ten years ; of that free press, supposed by innocent philosophers fresh from Eden to be con- ducted by grave and serious men, under a deep sense of responsibility ; instead of, as in many cases, by paltry scribes, who write * sensation ' articles for party purposes, or saleable ones for daily bread. And he has had good opportunities, too, of doing us an evil turn, and has made very strange use of them for a man with the ' deep' and * secret ' determination against us which some of the very ' deep ones ' attribute to him. For instance, when the Indian mutiny broke out in what a low state was England at that moment ! India in the flames of rebellion, and scarce any regular troops in England; for within a month after the news arrived every available man was sent to quell the mutiny, and, save the Guards, few regulars were left behind. And what did the Emperor do ? Did he hold aloof, plot with INSTANCES OF NAPOLEON'S HELP * IN NEED ' TO US. 303 Russia, accumulate forces at Cherbourg and Boulogne without any avowed purpose, and make us keep our army at home, in which case India had been lost ? On the contrary, he offered to aid us with troops, if re- quired, and would have permitted us to send our men through France via Marseilles, to save time ! And during that dreary winter before Sebastopol, when by the negligence of our own administrative autho- rities our noble army was reduced to the strength of a division, and that chiefly of skeletons, and the prestige of England as a military power was at a lower ebb than it had been since Walcheren ; why did not Louis Napo- leon take advantage of our distress, patch up a peace with Russia, and fall upon us ; instead of taking part of our work in the trenches, and supplying us with great coats, ambulances, and necessaries of all kinds and descriptions? Where were his * deep ' intentions then? And lately, in the dispute with America about the Trent, when all was trembling in the balance, and when war between England and America seemed most immi- nent, what did the Emperor do ? Instead of a line of policy encouraging the Americans by doubtful words, without tangibly offending us; or merely doing nothing a very safe policy at least, and costing nothing and involving nothing he spoke out at the earliest moment when things were in suspense, and spoke clearly and strongly, and told America, whether she liked it or not, that in the opinion of France and himself she was clearly wrong, and should give way; and no one can doubt but that the excellent and straightforward de- spatch of Thouvenel contributed very materially to the maintenance of peace between America and ourselves. Are these facts to count as nothing in the balance ? Are English people to go on still with the same cuckoo 304 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. note of * deep hostile views against England,' * revenge for Waterloo and St. Helena,' &c. &c., as if the good offices I have above alluded to had never been rendered? I much fear that many of them will, because prejudice and not reason first influence'd, and probably still influ- ences them, and prejudice disdains facts ; but fairness and justice would not act so. I have not the least wish to ignore any evil acts he may have done ; but I say, let us discriminate in our censure, and give him credit for good ones where they really and palpably exist. Of course the Emperor looks at things chiefly from a French point of view and not an English one, and con- siders French interests chiefly, and not English ones ; and of course he acts in the way which he considers best for France, and also best for the permanence of his own dynasty ; and he is also obliged to consult in some degree the current of French public opinion ; and is there anything passing strange that he, the French Emperor, does this ? But John Bull will have everything fashioned upon the English model, and is never satisfied unless all the other people of the world wear clothes of London make, whatever may be their national costume, or even if they prefer wearing none at all. Therefore he finds continual fault with the Emperor for the way he rules in France, ' unconstitutional,' ' ar- bitrary,' ' despotic,' and so forth in short, un-English. Well ! of course France is not England, we all know that ; and yet in these few words lies a great part of the matter. France is not England, and never will be, and will not be in a state to enjoy and make a reasonable use of the political liberty which England enjoys, for a generation or two ; and even when she is in that happy DIFFERENCE OF ENGLISH AND FRENCH CHARACTER. 305 state, she will, probably, from the difference in the national character, use that liberty in a very different way from what we do. Only look back on the past two centuries, during which England has been gradually, but by very slow degrees, winning her liberties and gaining her capacity to use them think how many struggles between the rulers and the ruled the page of History records, since the time of the first Stuart how the great conflict has wavered, now advancing now receding, so that progress has often seemed to have become retrogression con- sider the naturally reasonable and practical character of the Englishman, disposed, as History shows, to settle great questions by instalments, instead of trying for all or nothing consider this and much more of the same sort, and remember that France has never had any such training or any such advantages, and differs from us totally in national tone and temperament ; and then say whether she is likely to be yet in a condition to accept and make a proper use of liberty on the London model? The history of France for the same two centuries, how it differs from ours ! For the first century and a half, or nearly so, we see an unlimited tyranny and oppression of the French people, grinding them down into the earth and extracting their very vitals for the advantage of a privileged few, hardly a ten thousandth part of the whole. Then we see a violent volcanic eruption, bursting all restraints and ties, and devastating everywhere the great revolution. Then despotism again, though of a comparatively enlightened kind, holding aloft the flame of glory and dazzling the people, so as to make them either forget or be reconciled to the chains reim- posed on them ; then short fitful intervals of liberty x 306 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. soon extinguished, and now freedom emasculated and subdued; in courtly language, called the liberty of order or rather, as I should say, of being ordered. How, under these circumstances, is it possible that the political self-education of France can have made pro- gress ? To give to any people so situated full liberty at once, would be as likely to succeed as to harness a set of unbroken thoroughbred four-year olds to a carriage, and expect them to pull well together; and yet this is what John Bull would require, with his universal London-made suit. The problem of governing France is a most difficult one, as History abundantly proves. I have frequently heard enlightened and liberal Frenchmen discourse on the subject, and all have agreed that at present the nation is not jit for self-government, and that they must be governed, though on liberal principles, par une tnain defer, gantee de velours a hand of iron in a glove of velvet. On the Italian question Englishmen are equally deter- mined to view all things only through the light of Eng- lish spectacles, and those (softly be it spoken) strongly tinged with green. It seems quite clear, to me at least, that, but for Louis Napoleon and his efforts, Italy would probably still be under the rule of the Bourbons and Dukes, and tyrannised over by Austria, It was he who, with the view to set Italy free, put that stone in motion which stirred all from the Alps to the Adri- atic. The movement of Italian liberty dates from his speech of Jan. 1, 1859, followed by his war with Austria, and his victory of Solferino ; and despite all tracasseries and vexatious delays, Italians cannot but feel this, and be grateful to him for it. It is true that he did not obtain what he desired in ITALIAN QUESTION FROM A FRENCH POINT OF VIEW. 307 Italy namely, a union of confederate states, under the patronage, so to speak, of France; that is, France having the chief influence among them that he strove hard, and by all means, to carry out his project, and was only beaten by the current of events being too strong for him ; and that even now he resigns himself to the current unwillingly, like a strong swimmer who still casts lingering glances on the bank he wishes to reach. But these wishes have been defeated, happily for the world, and he succumbs, and yields to the disagreeable necessity, and has not had recourse to violence to secure or further his object, as many despots would have done. I am not at all surprised at his reluctant acquiescence in the principle of the unity of Italy, if I regard the subject from a French point of view. There can be little doubt but that it is contrary to all French tradi- tions and opinions, and that it will materially check, for the future, the power of France as a disturber of Europe. Instead of having on her frontier a sort of border territory, or debateable land, which has so often been the battle-ground of Europe and into which France could, from time to time, make incursions so agreeable to the spirit of the young Graul, or la jeune France, and return laden with glory and spoil she will henceforth have a powerful and united kingdom of 26,000,000 of men, soon I hope to have more weight in the ' balance of power ' than Austria or Prussia ; and, above all, banded together by a constitutional form of government, and all the deep love of ancient liberty, the more profound from having been only recently regained after the struggle of ages. The reestablish- ment of a free government over Italy is a powerful addition to the ranks of freedom everywhere, and will,. 308 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. I hope and believe, give to England, in any future conflict, a firm friend and ally. I can, therefore, easily see why it has been acquiesced in reluctantly by France and by the Emperor. As to Eome, also, and its occupation by French troops, I think we do not make sufficient allowance for the great difficulties the Emperor has to contend with in regard to that question. John Bull, who is sick of the subject, and hates the Pope, and reads the * Times ' every morning as the finish to his breakfast, goes into a passion, and would send all the cardinals and priests to the right about, as he would order off trespassers from one of his fields ; but though this may be easily done by him, it is not so easy to the Emperor. With him it is not only the question of Eome, but of France ; and whenever he recalls his troops from Eome, he flings down his glove to the Eomish priesthood in France, and declares open war with them. And who shall say how that struggle would end ? They lifted him to power who shall say if they have not power to depose him also ? And how can he do battle with them, save with the help of the Eepublican party, and how about that? He may, therefore, be excused for hesitating before taking the step. Then the Empress is a devote, and is, of course, the grand point cPappui of the Eomish party. They work upon her in every possible way, and make her wretched, I dare say, and she, in her sphere, works upon her husband; and this, though a domestic and private matter, adds not a little to his difficulties, we may be sure. Then the Legitimists and high people, the func- tionaries who are well placed and getting rich, and wish to remain so, all these scheme and influence as much as ROMAN QUESTION FULL OF DIFFICULTIES TO NAPOLEON. 309 they can, and surround the Emperor with innumerable cobwebs. And, above all, he has to contend with Rome, with that system of subtlety which has unlimited resources of intrigue and power, with those long-robed diplomates and casuists whose heads and pens never sleep. Are all these difficulties nothing ? And if the French troops retire, what would happen between Austria and Italy ? Would Austria, the eldest daughter of the Church, stand by and see Italy possess Rome ? or would she make a last great effort to prevent it, seconded, perhaps, by Spain, and certainly by Catholic opinion in France ? And who can say whether Italy, as yet unconsolidated and unsettled, is able successfully to cope in the field with Austria, who has a well-organised military system lately proved to be so powerful ? Italy would, doubtless, do all that could be done, but she might, as yet, be * impar congressus Achilli ;' and suppose it should prove so ? And after a second battle of Novara, suppose the Bourbon should reappear at Naples, the Grand Duke at Tuscany, and things be again * as they were,' and all the blood, treasure, suf- fering and trouble of the last five years go for nothing ? And let us remember that France, being divided, could not act in favour of Italy with decision. In fact, were the Pope in extremis, and to cry aloud to Catholic France for succour, such is the magic of old names and influence, that no one can say what answer might not come from that impulsive and wayward nation. And suppose France rushed en masse to the rescue ? I insist that these are not mere wild suppositions and fancies, but are quite within the limits of the probable. And meanwhile, England, bound by the * non-inter- 310 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. vention ' principle, would probably look on and do nothing ! With all these difficulties around him, I can therefore understand why Napoleon hesitates before making the final move in the Komish question. The next move may be checkmate, but it may be stalemate instead ; whereas, if Italy makes good use of the present time, every month adds to her chances in that war with Austria which will, in all probability, follow the evacuation of Borne by France. It seems to me, therefore, that the delay in the evacu- ation of Eome by France, if it agitates and distracts, yet, on the whole, will produce good results for the new kingdom of Italy, and is a safe and more certain course of policy. I sympathise sincerely with the Italians, and with that noble Garibaldi, under their numerous disappointments and trials, hard to bear ; but I believe that their best ally is Patience, and that their strength is to get ready and wait, while the inevitable current of events does its work and washes away obstacles from before them, as it has already so wonderfully done. But while I thus express my humble opinion as to the real friendly feelings of Napoleon towards England, I do not say that we should therefore at once disband the regular army, break up our fleet of ' ironsides,' bid the volunteers adieu, and look upon the Millennium as having commenced. Nothing of the kind. Napoleon will not be on the throne of France for ever, and may not be there to-morrow ; and what may come after him, he must be a far-seeing man to say. I am much inclined to think that the Bourbons will have the next turn of Fortune's wheel in their favour, and in that case let us all beware. Bourbons and Komanists ENGLISHMEN SHOULD NOT COMPLAIN OF NAPOLEON III. 311 in conjunction bode evil to Old England; but, thank God, she is not afraid even of them. As to the Eepublican party, they played their part so ill and clumsily the last chance they had, that I don't think France will try them again soon, and I doubt if France is as yet sufficiently enlightened in political duties to be fit for a republic ; but I quite think that the republic would be friendly towards England, and would be pacific, as republics, when let alone, generally are. It is only despots who make offensive wars. But let the Bourbons return to France, and we should soon regret Napoleon, and acknowledge our injustice towards him. And in view of this possible event, it is wise and prudent to keep ourselves in a proper state of defence, and to avail ourselves of all the improvements in warlike implements which science can produce. And let us make much, too, of our noble Volunteers I Ah ! there is a force which England alone of all nations of the earth could produce, and of which she may be justly proud; an unpaid army of 150,000 of the 6lite of her sons, animated by no motive but patriotism, and assembled for ' defence and not defiance,' the true justi- fication of all armies. They are the real peace-makers and peace-preservers, and have been, and will yet be, the means of saving us from many a war. Long may they flourish, and live in the hearts and respect of their fellow-citizens ; and may England never lack, and never cease being grateful to, her brave Volunteers ! I trust the effect of what I have written may be to induce some persons to review their opinions as to Louis Napoleon. I am but a plain man, and have no preten- sions to see farther into the political millstone than other plain people, or to speak other sense than common sense. But considering what I wrote on the subject ten years 314 LOWER BRIT ANN Y AND THE BIBLE. ago, in 'Britanny and the Bible,' I have felt bound to write as I now do, in common justice, judging by the new light of experience and fact. Certainly Englishmen have small ground for com- plaint of his personal conduct towards them. In all re- spects they have been not only fairly, but most liberally and courteously treated by him. I believe that no Englishman with wrongs to be redressed, has ever made a personal application to the Emperor in vain. In fact, other nations complain that undue preference is given to us by him. He has reformed his tariff to suit us ; he has abolished passports, that perennial nuisance which worried Paterfamilias out of his life; he has opened many Exhibitions and places to its on that mere assertion of nationality, ( cives Romanus sum;' and lately he has so far modified his customs ' regulations, those wearying formalities which ryle John above all else, that anyone who chooses to travel in light marching order may land in a French port as he would in an Eng- lish one, and walk in a direct line from the steamer to ' mine inn,' with that cherished palladium of liberty, an un violated carpet bag. Is all this nothing to Pater- familias ? Should not the unprotected female, and the erratic bachelor, make sweet union, and join in a tune- ful chorus of thanks and gratitude ? And yet some people talk of ' deep designs,' and f St. Helena,' and the rest of the drove bray a loud assent ! There is a popular story, current and very slip- pery, of Louis Napoleon having said that it was his fate " to invade London and be killed there. I often wonder who invented it, for that it was invented I feel sure. I wish some one would own it, and show its pedigree ; and I believe we should see that it was of pure English blood, without a cross. I once took some pains to discover its CONCLUSION PEACE THE CHIEF OBJECT. 313 paternity. It had been told by a Mr. Overend, who con- tested a place in Yorkshire, at an election dinner, and I wrote, through the * Daily News,' asking its origin, but received no reply. I wish Mr. Overend would give his authority for it, and enable us to trace the poetic figment to its source. The bare idea of Louis Napo- leon the silent and prudent man, par excellence who seldom speaks at all, and who in all his works has never breathed a word against England, ' coming out strong ' with such a boutade as this ! "Tis rather too absurd. If he really thought it, he would never have said it ; and if he did not think it, he would not have been so foolish as to have said it, for it is a poison- ous remark. But I will conclude these observations, which will, of course, be judged differently by different people, but which I make in all sincerity. Probably, however, they may, and I hope they will, find an echo somewhere. They are directed towards the promotion of peace and good-will among nations, which principles are happily taking a more and more lasting root among us. And in the train of Peace comes Freedom civil and religious, enlightenment and improvement social and moral, of which every onward step secures a farther advance in the path. And Peace is the handmaid of the Gospel, and its best product. 'Tis a glorious cause, and one worth labouring for, both individually and socially, for blessed are the peace- makers! And if each man would only add his mite, like the pilgrim adds his stone to the heap in the desert, the temple would soon rise and show its fair proportions to the world, and enclose a goodly and ever increasing crowd of worshippers. When travellers can pass between London and Paris 314 LOWER BRITANNY AND THE BIBLE. in twelve hours, or send a message from one city to the other in ten minutes, it is time for the two nations to regard each other as members of one family, and to look old worm-eaten prejudices steadily in the face. And if they do so those ancient and (to some) imposing looking Figures will soon show their ghostly nature by vanishing into thin air. And in the hope that the observations I have made, and the sentiments I have expressed, may contribute in some small degree to this most desirable and excellent result, I bid a long 'adieu' to my readers, and close this political postscript to 'Lower Britanny and the Bible.' NEW-STBEET SQUABE