How withstand such a just complaint, the universal complaint of the destitute, of relatives, and of believers?—The fundamental difficulty reappears, the nearly insurmountable dilemma into which the Revolution has plunged every steady government, that is to say the lasting effect of revolutionary confiscations and the conflict which sets two rights to the same property against each other, the right of the despoiled owner and the right of the owner in possession. This time, again the fault is on the side of the State, which has converted itself from a policeman into a brigand and violently appropriated to itself the fortune of the hospitals, schools, and churches; the State must return this in money or in kind. In kind, it is no longer able; everything has passed out of its hands; it has alienated what it could, and now holds on only to the leavings. In money, nothing more can be done; it is itself ruined, has just become bankrupt, lives on expedients from day to day and has neither funds nor credit. Nobody dreams of taking back property that is sold; nothing is more opposed to the spirit of the new RÉgime: not only would this be a robbery as before, since its buyers have paid for it and got their receipts, but again, in disputing their title the government would invalidate its own. For its authority is derived from the same source as their property: it is established on the same principle as their rights of possession and by virtue of the same accomplished facts

* because things are as they are and could not be different,

* because ten years of revolution and eight years of war bear down on the present with too heavy a weight,

* because too many and too deep interests are involved and enlisted on the same side,

* because the interests of twelve hundred thousand purchasers are incorporated with those of the thirty thousand officers to whom the Revolution has provided a rank, along with that of all the new functionaries and dignitaries, including the First Consul himself, who, in this universal transposition of fortunes and ranks, is the greatest of parvenus and who must maintain the others if he wants to be maintained by them.

Naturally, he protects everybody, through calculation as well as sympathy, in the civil as in the military order of things, particularly the new property-owners, especially the smaller and the average ones, his best clients, attached to his reign and to his person through love of property, the strongest passion of the ordinary man, and through love of the soil, the strongest passion of the peasant.3186 Their loyalty depends on their security, and consequently he is lavish of guarantees. In his constitution of the year VIII,3187 he declares in the name of the French nation that after a legally consummated sale of national property, whatever its origin, the legitimate purchaser cannot be divested of it." Through the institution of the Legion of Honor he obliges each member "to swear, on his honor, to devote himself to the conservation of property sanctioned by the laws of the republic."3188 According to the terms of the imperial constitution3189 "he swears" himself "to respect and to enforce respect for the irrevocability of the sale of national possessions."

Unfortunately, a cannon-ball on the battle-field, an infernal machine in the street, an illness at home, may carry off the guarantor and the guarantees.3190 On the other hand, confiscated goods preserve their original taint. Rarely is the purchaser regarded favorably in his commune; the bargain he has made excites envy; he is not alone in his enjoyment of it, but the rest suffer from it. Formerly, this or that field of which he reaps the produce, this or that domain of which he enjoys the rental, once provided for the parsonage, the asylum and the school; now the school, the asylum and the parsonage die through inanition for his advantage; he fattens on their fasting. In his own house, his wife and mother often look melancholy, especially during Easter week; if he is old, or becomes ill, his conscience disturbs him; this conscience, through habit and heredity, is Catholic: he craves absolution at the last moment at the priest's hands, and says to himself that, at the last moment, he may not probably be absolved.3191 In other respects, he would find it difficult to satisfy himself that his legal property is legitimate property; for, not only is it not so rightfully before the tribunal of conscience, but again it is not so in fact on the market; the figures, in this particular, are convincing, daily and notorious. A patrimonial domain which brings in 3000 francs finds a purchaser at 100,000 francs; alongside of this a national domain which brings in just as much, finds a purchaser only at 60,000 francs; after several sales and resale, the depreciation continues and 40 % of the value of the confiscated property is lost.3192 A low, indistinct murmur is heard, and reverberates from sale to sale, the muttering of private probity protesting against public probity, declaring to the new proprietor that his title is defective; it lacks one clause and a capital one, that of the surrender and cession, the formal renunciation, the authentic withdrawal of the former owner. The State, the first seller, owes this voucher to the purchasers; let it procure this and negotiate accordingly; let it apply for this to the rightful party, to the owners whom it has dispossessed, to the immemorial and legitimate authorities, I mean to the ancient corporations. These have been dissolved by revolutionary law and have no longer a representative who can sign for them. Nevertheless, in spite of revolutionary law, one of these corporations, with more vitality than the rest, still subsists with its proper, if not legal, representative, its regular and undisputed chief. This chief is qualified and authorized to bind the body; for, institutionally, he is supreme, and the conscience of all its members is in his hand. His signature is of the highest value; it is very important to obtain this, and the First Consul concludes the Concordat with the Pope.

By this Concordat, the Pope "declares that neither himself nor his successors shall in any manner disturb the purchasers of alienated ecclesiastical property, and that the ownership of the said property, the rights and revenues derived there from, shall consequently remain in commutable in their hands or in those of their assigns."3193 Henceforth the possession of this property is no longer a sin; at least, it is not condemned by the spiritual authority, by that external conscience which, in Catholic countries, governs the inward conscience and often supplies its place; the Church, the moral head, removes with its own hands the moral scruple, the last small stone, troublesome and dangerous, which, lying underneath the cornerstone of lay society, breaks the level of the entire structure and compromises the equilibrium of the new government.—In exchange, the State endows the Church. By the same Concordat, and by the decrees which follow it, "the government3194 ensures a suitable salary to bishops and cure's," 15,000 francs to each archbishop, 10,000 francs to each bishop, 1500 francs to each curÉ of the first class and 1000 francs to each curÉ of the second class,3195 also, later on,3196 a maximum of 500 francs and a minimum of 300 francs to each assistant-priest or vicar. "If circumstances require it,3197 the conseils-gÉnÉraux of the large communes may grant to prelates or to curÉs an increase of salary out of their rural possessions or octrois." In all cases, archbishops, bishops, curÉs and priests shall be lodged, or receive a lodging indemnity. So much for the support of persons.-As to real property,3198 "all the metropolitan churches, cathedrals, parochial buildings and others, not alienated, and needed for the purposes of worship, shall be subject to the disposition of the bishops."—The parsonages and gardens attached to these, not alienated, shall be given up to the curÉs and assistant-priests."—"The possessions of the fabriques,3199 not alienated, as well as the rentals they enjoyed, and which have not been transferred, shall be restored to their original purpose.—As to the outlay and expenditure for worship,31100 for the parochial center or cathedral, if its revenue is not sufficient, this shall receive aid from its commune or from its department; besides, "an assessment of 10 %.31101 shall be laid on the revenues of all the real estate of the communes, such as houses, woods, and rural possessions, for the formation of a common fund of subsidy," a general sum with which to provide for "acquisitions, reconstructions or repairs of churches,... seminaries and parsonages." Moreover,31102 the government allows "the French Catholics to make endowments, if so disposed, in favor of churches.. . for the support of ministers and the exercise of worship," that is to say to bequeath or make gifts to the fabriques or seminaries; in fine, it exempts seminarists, the future cure's, from the conscription.

It also exempts the "Ignorantins," or brethren of the Christian schools, who are the instructors of the common people. With respect to these and in relation to every other Catholic institution, it follows the same utilitarian principle, the fundamental maxim of laic and practical good sense: when religious vocations make their appearance and serve the public, it welcomes and makes use of them; it grants them facilities, dispensations and favors, its protection, its donations, or at least its tolerance. Not only does it turn their zeal to account, but it authorizes their association.31103 Numerous societies of men or of women again spring up with the assent of the public authorities—the "Ignorantins," the "Filles de la CharitÉ," the "Seurs HospitaliÈres," the "SÆurs de Saint-Thomas," the "SÆurs de Saint-Charles," the "SÆurs Vatelottes." The Council of State accepts and approves of their statutes, vows, hierarchy, and internal regulations. They again become proprietors; they may accept donations and legacies. The State frequently makes presents to them. In 1808,31104 thirty-one communities of Sisters of Charity, and mostly educational, thus obtain the buildings and furniture they ask for, in full possession and gratuitously. The State, also, frequently supports them;31105 it repeatedly decides that in this asylum, or in that school, the "sisters" designated by the ancient foundation shall resume their work and be paid out of the income of the asylum or school. Better still, and notwithstanding threatening decrees,31106 Napoleon, between 1804 and 1814, allows fifty-four communities to arise and exist, outside of the congregations authorized by him, which do not submit their statutes to him and which dispense with his permission to exist; he lets them live and does not disturb them; he judges31107 "that there is every sort of character and imagination, that eccentricities even should not be repressed when they do no harm," that, for certain people, an ascetic life in common is the only refuge; if that is all they desire they should not be disturbed, and it is easy to feign ignorance of them; but let them remain quiet and be sufficient unto themselves!—Such is the new growth of the regular clergy alongside of the secular clergy, the two main branches of the Catholic trunk. Owing to the help, or to the authorization, or to the connivance of the State, inside or outside of its limitations, both clerical bodies, legally or in reality, recover a civil existence, and thus obtain, or at least nearly so, their physical maintenance.31108

And nothing more. Nobody, better than Napoleon, knows how to make a good bargain, that is to say, to give a little in order to gain a great deal. In this treaty with the Church he tightens his purse-strings and especially avoids parting with his ready money. Six hundred and fifty thousand francs for fifty bishops and ten archbishops, a little more than four million francs for the three or four thousand cantonal curÉs, in all five million francs per annum, is all that the State promises to the new clergy. Later on,31109 he takes it on himself to pay those who officiate in the branch chapels; nevertheless, in 1807, the entire appropriation for public worship costs the State only twelve million francs a year;31110 the rest, as a rule, and especially the salaries of the forty thousand assistant-priests and vicars, must be provided by the fabriques and the communes.31111 Let the clergy benefit by occasional contributions;31112 let it appeal to the piety of believers for its monstrances, chalices, albs and chasubles, for decorations and the other expenses of worship; they are not prohibited from being liberal to it, not only during the services, on making collections, but in their houses, within closed doors, from hand to hand. Moreover, they have the right of making gifts or bequests before a notary, of establishing foundations in favor of seminaries and churches; the foundation, after verification and approval by the Council of State, becomes operative; only,31113 it must consist of state securities, because, in this shape, it helps maintain their value and the credit of the government; in no case must it be composed of real estate;31114 should the clergy become land-owners it would enjoy too much local influence. No bishop, no curÉ must feel himself independent; he must be and always remain a mere functionary, a hired workman for whom the State provides work in a shop with a roof overhead, a suitable and indispensable atelier, in other words, the house of prayer well known in each parish as "one of the edifices formerly assigned to worship." This edifice is not restored to the Christian community, nor to its representatives; it is simply "placed at the disposition of the bishop."31115 The State retains the ownership of it, or transfers this to the communes; it concedes to the clergy merely the right of using it, and, in that, loses but little. Parish and cathedral churches in its hands are, for the most part, dead capital, nearly useless and almost valueless; through their structure, they are not fitted for civil offices; it does not know what to do with them except to make barns of them; if it sells them it is to demolishers for their value as building material, and then at great scandal. Among the parsonages and gardens that have been surrendered, several have become communal property,31116 and, in this case, it is not the State which loses its title but the commune which is deprived of its investment. In short, in the matter of available real estate, land or buildings, from which the State might derive a rent, that which it sets off from its domain and hands over to the clergy is of very little account. As to military service, it makes no greater concessions. Neither the Concordat nor the organic articles stipulate any exemption for the clergy; the dispensation granted is simply a favor; this is provisional for the seminarians and only becomes permanent under ordination; now, the government fixes the number of the ordained, and it keeps this down as much as possible;31117 for the diocese of Grenoble, it allows only eight in seven years.31118 In this way, it not only saves conscripts, but again, for lack of young priests, it forces the bishops to appoint old priests, even constitutionalists, nearly all pensioners on the treasury, and which either relieves the treasury of a pension or the commune of a subsidy.31119—Thus, in the reconstruction of the ecclesiastical fortune the State spares itself and the portion it contributes remains very small: it furnishes scarcely more than the plan, a few corner and foundation stones and the permission or injunction to build; the rest concerns the communes and private individuals. They must exert themselves, continue and complete it, by order or spontaneously and under its permanent direction.