Disestablishment more simple in France than in England.
There are two reasons why the road to disestablishment is plainer in France. The first is the abolition of the monarchy, which takes away the defender of the royal faith. The second is the payment of the clergy by the State. The disestablishment and disendowment of the French Churches would, in practice, be a task of extreme simplicity. Parliament would merely decline to vote the budget des cultes, a refusal that may happen any day, and the Churches would be thrown on their own resources. In England there is a vast capital sum to be disposed of, and though it excites cupidity, the parties hostile to the establishment are unable to agree about the employment of it.
Effects of Legislation in the two Countries.
The temper of Englishmen is averse to a sudden change that is carried out all over the country. In France, whatever happens in legislation affects all France; but Great Britain has divisions which conveniently allow of experiments in this field or that, without extending them at once over all the national estate. Thus it may be predicted that when disestablishment takes place in France it will be co-extensive with the frontiers, whilst in Great Britain and Ireland, it was tried at first in Ireland, and will be tried a second time in Scotland or Wales.
Question of Pecuniary Honour in France.
A most important reason why it has not been effected of late years in France is the question of pecuniary honour. The question is this. Can the State honourably refuse to continue annuities which are in fact nothing but the interest of capital taken from the Church by the secular power? This consideration has great weight in a country that takes a just pride in continuing regular payments in spite of the disturbance caused by so many changes of government.
Argument of the Advocates of Disestablishment.
The objection, however, which looks unanswerable at first, is met by the advocates of disestablishment in two ways. First, they say that the property held by the Church in former times was generally ill-gotten, that is, by terrorising the consciences of the credulous; and next, they argue that a corporation is not like an individual or a family.
Probable Policy of the Priesthood.
Abolition of the Budget des Cultes.