Subjection of Clergy to the State.
Anglicanism on the Continent.
The clergy of the Church of England are in all things subject to the Queen, or to speak more accurately to Parliament. The bishops have exactly that degree of authority in their dioceses which Parliament allows them, and no more. Even in matters of doctrine and ritual the clergy are subject to the secular power. They are so entirely national that outside of the nation they have no earthly protector to appeal to. They might be despoiled of their possessions and privileges without calling forth so much as a remonstrance from any foreign potentate, and without arousing the slightest sympathy outside of the Anglo-Saxon race. They have a beautiful liturgy, but it is in English, and appreciated only by English readers. On the continent the Church of England wins hardly any proselytes, and can scarcely be said to exist except for British embassies and tourists.
Intense Nationality of Anglicanism.
No institution can be more intensely national than the Church of England. She is national by the very qualities that have made her unsuccessful abroad. She is national because she answers so exactly to the character and disposition of Englishmen, and particularly of Englishwomen. It is as fitting that she should be the established Church, so long as any established religion is held to be necessary, as it is that the national customs in food and dress should be the national customs.
Absence of a National Church in France.
International Character of French Priesthood.
In France we find no Church whatever that has this decided and peculiar character of nationality. France is said to be Catholic in the sense that the majority of the people profess the Roman Catholic religion, and it certainly does appear that this faith answers more nearly to the wants of French people than any other. Still, the French clergy is not national, it is international, it is nearer to the Roman Catholic priesthoods of Spain and Austria than it is to the French laity. Its head is not a Frenchman living in France but an Italian living in Italy, and its liturgy is in a foreign tongue. It accepts all Papal decisions, and it does not accept the decisions of the French Government. It looks with reverence to the Vatican, and without reverence to the Palais Bourbon and Elysée. Even in the use of words it follows a foreign authority. The French Government has recognised the kingdom of Italy, and has an ambassador at the court of Rome. The pope has not recognised the King of Italy, but calls him the King of Piedmont. Less French than ultramontane, the clergy speak of the Italian Government as “le gouvernement Piedmontais.”
British and French Systems of Establishment contrasted.
Another most essential difference between Great Britain and France with regard to State establishments of religion is that, although the British Government may have one establishment in one of the countries under its control and another in another country, it does not establish more than a single form of religion in the same place. Thus Anglicanism may be established in England and Presbyterianism in Scotland, whilst some politicians would have consented to the establishment of Roman Catholicism in Ireland; but no British statesman whatever would think of establishing the three religions together in all parts of the United Kingdom.