In other words, they say Pius VII and his successors have always protested against the Seventy-six Organic Articles which the former did not sign, therefore we are justified in denouncing, ex parte, the Convention or Concordat of Seventeen Articles signed by Pius VII and Napoleon.
It is by this sophism that the Third Republic justifies the repudiation of a portion of the National Debt; for the payment of annual indemnities to the Catholic clergy was undoubtedly placed on the “Grand Livre” of France by the Constituante, and recognized as part of the National Debt by succeeding legislatures, before and since 1801.
Recently, when it was proposed to suppress, without indemnity, the Majorats of the ancien régime, M. Rouvier, Président de Conseil, indignantly rejected the motion, saying, “Il ne faut jamais que la signature de la France soit protestée.” But when it is a question of mere Catholics, the sense of national honour becomes blunted. They are hors la loi. This form of jurisprudence has been familiar to highwaymen from time immemorial—for them, the unarmed are always hors la loi.
M. Raiberti, a deputy from Nice, eloquently protested against the vote of urgency, declaring that the country had never been consulted. “No law,” he said, “can be just and stable which does not express the wishes of the people.” All in vain. The Socialist voting machine worked automatically at every turn towards the end.
It is an incontestable fact that Separation has never appeared on any programme these thirty-four years, except on that of 181 deputies at the elections of 1902. Nevertheless, 341 (against 249) have just voted for this law of Separation that is the negation of fifteen centuries of national history.[11]
The Gazette de France calculates the number of electors represented by these 341 deputies who carried the Separation Bill in the Chambers in July:—
“On a total of 11,219,992 French electors only 2,997,063 pronounced yesterday by their deputies in favour of the denunciation of the Concordat and the spoliation of the Church, voted by a so-called majority.
“We must bear in mind that at the elections of 1902 the majority only vanquished by 200,000 votes out of 8,000,000 voters inscribed, and there are 400,000 functionaries. Thus spoke a senator (de Cuverville), and he further quoted the declarations of M. Deschanel in a public speech, July, 1905.
“A minority, he declared, governs the country, and a law voted by a certain majority represents 25 to 30 per cent. One deputy is elected by 22,000, another by 1000. The Department du Nord has 500,000 more inhabitants than six departments of the south-east, yet it has five deputies less. Roubaix, with 125,000 inhabitants, has one deputy, while the Department of Basses Alpes, with 115,000 inhabitants, has five deputies.”
It is easy to see how a little judicious electoral geometry and arithmetic will always give the Government a majority. Each arrondissement having a deputy, it is only necessary to cut up a given district, notably anti-clerical, into a great many arrondissements, in order to secure an increased number of deputies, blocards; and vice versa the process need only be reversed in districts suspected of “clericalism.” We must also remember that at least one-third of the electors never vote, and so the Government can always have a majority.