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the clergy in the republic, whatever the desires of the individual may be, is that of passive resistance, or, in the words of the conclave of bishops held at the Château de la Muette on January 15:

has not been claimed by an association formed ing indemnities, falling upon communes where under the law of 1905. At the same time lodgthere is no presbytery, will cease.

Article 4-The property of ecclesiastical establishments not claimed by associations constituted under the law of 1905 will be assigned, upon the promulgation of this act, to charitable institutions, as provided by said law, without prejudice to assignments which may be made concerning property not dedicated to pub

The development of events must be awaited. In the meanwhile worship will continue provisionally, without provocation and without yielding. No arrangements for the future will be made, and the new laws will be simply lic worship. ignored. The parish priests will leave their churches only on compulsion and on the advice of the bishop. The priests will not take the initiative.

The Paris government must turn to Rome, say the bishops. At this meeting questions of public worship, of funds, the support of the clergy, and the maintenance of seminaries and private schools were considered,-with what result is not as yet known.

The Law as it

after the enactment of the present law allowArticle 5-At the expiration of one month ances made under the law of 1905 to the clergy who have failed to carry out the requirements of that law will be suppressed. The failure of of the law will in each case be determined by a members of the clergy to fulfill the requirements joint decision of the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Finance.

Article 6.-All the provisions of the law of 1905 will remain in full force, in so far as they are not in contradiction with the present act.

M. Briand
Measure.

Defends the

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The supplementary law to the In defending the bill Premier original measure of 1905 was Clémenceau characterized the Now Stands. passed in both houses of Parliapresent situation by saying that ment before the beginning of the present France is year, the Senate adopting the measure exactly that no government has experienced since now grappling with difficulties as it came from the Chamber of Deputies by 1870." M. Briand, Minister of Public Wora vote of 190 to 100. President Falliéres ship, presented the bill, and set forth the atsigned the law on January 2. As this meas- titude and purposes of the government in ure will be referred to constantly and com- these words: mented upon in the daily press, as well as in future issues of this magazine, we give a detailed summary of its provisions:

Article 1.-Independently of the associations contemplated by the law of December 9, 1905, public worship can be held by means of associations under the law of July 1, 1901, as well as in virtue of the Public Meetings law of June 30, 1881, under individual initiative.

Article 2.-Even in default of the cultural associations provided for by the law of December 9, 1905, the use of edifices intended for worship, as well as the furniture contained therein, shall remain at the disposition of the faithful and of the clergy for the practice of their religion. The free use of the churches may be accorded either to associations formed under the law of 1901 or to clergy designated under the declarations prescribed by the law of 1905. This usage, however, shall be made under the conditions stated in the last-mentioned law, by means of an administrative act either by the prefect, for the property placed under sequester, when such property belongs to the state or departments, or by the mayor when it belongs to the communes. The above-mentioned regulations will apply to edifices intended for worship, which, having belonged to ecclesiastical establishments, have been assigned by decree to charitable institutions under the law of 1905.

The situation is not disturbing. Separation is accomplished already. The churches are open. There is no religious budget. The priests are not functionaries of the state. The country is calm. We have the consciousness of having the entire country with us. To enter into negotiations with Rome would be to plunge the country into civil war. Rome wanted persecution, hoping in that way to revive faith. Systematically we have met her measures. Whatever her moves we will not fall into her traps. We have given the church liberty, to which the Protestant and Jewish churches have readily conformed. The Right wishes only one thing,-that we close the churches. This we shall never do. We shall continue our work with calm confidence. This new law has been recognized, generally, as a compromise in some respects. The Vatican, however, declares it just as impossible of acceptance as the law of 1905.

The
Vatican
Replies.

At the same time as a note of protest was sent to the representatives of foreign powers against the arrest of Mgr. Montagnini, referred to in these pages last month, the Papal Secretary of State announced the position of the hierarchy in a statement of which the following are the main points:

Article 3-With the promulgation of the present law the state, the departments, and the communes will recover the free use of the episcopal mansions, presbyteries, seminaries, etc., The text of the new French Government bill which are their property, and the use of which is inspired by the same principles as the former

Result?

acts of the Clémenceau cabinet,-namely, the does not. That, indeed, is the crux of the maximum of oppression with the minimum of whole question. appearance. In fact, the bill aggravates in the hardest manner the former position of the church in everything without its being apparent to the general public. The Separation law is regarded as unacceptable by the church, while it is clear that M. Briand's recent circular, as well as his other two circulars, is not applicable to public worship, having been drawn up for the regulation of the meetings of other kinds of associations. In short, the Separation law, M. Briand's recent circular, and the new bill are only three forms of the same conception,-that of enslaving and compromising the church, while at the same time enabling the government to allege that it did everything in its power to find a way out of the difficulties, but was unable to do so because of the systematic tenacity of the Holy See. The Holy See will not desist from its present attitude until a bill is presented containing as a minimum to be tolerated an acknowledgment of the essential rights of the church, beginning with the Catholic hierarchy, which is the divine foundation of the organization of the church.

An Encyclical

The Catholics of France and of to the the world in general who exWorld. pected definite directions or advice from Rome were disappointed in the encyclical of January 11, in which Pope Pius. reiterates his intention of not yielding to the

French Church cruel uncertainty to which the Will a New What will be the result of French clergy are now subjected? They would wish to remain faithful Catholics and patriotic Frenchmen, but the present situation forces them to either violate the laws of their country or disregard the explicit directions of their spiritual head. It is being reported with increasing persistency in the press dispatches from Paris that a new national Catholic French church is about to be organized as the only solution of the present difficulty. The country is quiet, but in earnest. The vast majority of Frenchmen are still Catholic, but each day would seem to make it clearer that they firmly support the government and regard the present issue as having nothing whatever to do with religious persecution, but simply as a question whether or not the Holy See at Rome has the right to regulate the internal affairs of French Catholics.

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French law, and declares that the Paris gov- the result of the elections for the German ernment is waging war, not only against the Reichstag, which were set for January 25

Christian faith, but against every supernatural idea. The republic, he declares, has forced the church to submit to the spoliation of its property, and the church has been unable to accept the conditions imposed for the keeping of it. The annual declaration exacted by the Separation law for the privilege of holding reunions for public worship, the encyclical declares further, does not offer any legal guaranty, arbitrary power being given to the mayors of cities in granting such permission. The law in its latest form the Pope condemns as "unqualified confiscation, pure and simple." The minimum concessions necessary to the acceptance of this law on the part of the Vatican are explicitly enumerated as: "Respect for the Catholic hierarchy, which is an indispensable characteristic of Catholicism; the inviolability of church property, which should depend upon the hierarchy, and freedom of action." In these contentions the Vatican is not to be accused of inconsistency on the score of the separation existing in Germany, Great Britain, and the United States. Although the condition in these countries is open to criticism from the papal standpoint, the governments in question recognize the Catholic hierarchy, which the French law

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The imperial Parliament, it will be remembered, was dissolved on December 13, because of its refusal to pass the supplementary budget for Germany's colonial expenses asked for by the Minister of the Colonies in the name of the Emperor. The government

PROF. ERNST VON BERGMANN.

(The world-famous German surgeon, who has just

celebrated his seventieth birthday.)

then broke with the Center, or Clerical group, a party upon which it had depended for some time to carry out its favored policies. Whether Chancellor von Bulow's efforts to form a new national democratic party will be successful in bringing about a group of government supporters strong enough to offset whatever gains may be made by the Center, the Socialists, and the Poles, -who are always in opposition,-it is evident that all Germany has been aroused over the matter and much criticism expressed at the Chancellor's recent manifesto calling upon all patriotic Germans to put down socialism. It was widely believed that in return for parliamentary support of his colonial project, so eloquently defended by the new Colonial Minister, Herr Dernburg, the Kaiser would give the Radicals the desire of their heart by redressing their principal grievance, that is, the indirect and extremely complicated method of choosing members of the Prussian Chamber of Deputies, a method which has been unfair to the minor parties, largely composed of men with no property

qualification. During all this heated political campaign the German people, true to their national character, have been paying tribute to the great surgeon Ernst von Bergmann, who, on December 19, celebrated his seventieth birthday. This great German, who has contributed more to the development of surgery than any other living man, served through the wars between Prussia and Austria, Germany and France, and Russia and Turkey. Since 1882 he has occupied a chair in the University of Berlin. Dr. von Bergmann's chief contributions to surgery are aseptic bandaging and surgical treatment of diseases of the brain.

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On the eve of the assembling of The Chaos of Pacification the first Russian Duma, Czar in Russia. Nicholas issued a ukase promulgating the so-called Fundamental Law of the empire, the net result of which was to greatly restrict the jurisdiction and privileges of Parliament. Now that the campaign is on for election to the second Duma, he is pursuing the same policy. By imperial order the administration of the government has been so reorganized that the Emperor himself becomes president of the Council of Imperial Defense, a new body, which will absorb the activities of the ministries of war and marine. These ministries are abolished. By this means, no matter what the power of the Duma may be in matters of the purse and internal political administration, military and naval affairs are declared beyond its competence. Courts-martial will be continued, and the exile, imprisonment, execution, flogging, and other methods of "pacification" so well known in Russia will go on as heretofore. Just how far this chaos of pacification" has progressed may be seen from a summary in a recent issue of the law journal Pravo, which we quote on another page this month. The Terrorist calendar for January and late December included the assassination of Count Ignatiev, member of the Council of the Empire, leader of the court Reactionary party, and one of the most detested of the supporters of the monarchy; General Launitz, commandant of the palace, who had been the virtual successor of the detested Trepov; General Litvinov, Governor of the Siberian province of Akmolinsk; Colonel Andriev, chief of police of Lódz; and General Pavlov, military procurator. The terrorism of the government is being met with a swift, merciless, and persistent terrorism on the part of the revolutionaries.

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TIME.

THE RUSSIAN IMPERIAL FAMILY, FROM A PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN AT CHRISTMAS (The little Czarewitch, the Grand Duke Alexis, youngest of the children and heir to the throne, is the sec ond from the left in this picture.)

Duma.

The elections are to be held on Elections for the Second February 19. It is interesting to note that a number of the features of the American and Australian voting systems will be used in the balloting. Closed booths for secret voting and official ballots will be employed. Electioneering is prohibited in the vicinity of the polls, but the official ballots, on which are printed the nominees of the legalized political parties (the Octobrists, the Monarchists, and the Peaceful Regenerationists), may be distributed freely. The Constitutional Democrats (Cadets) and the other opposition parties are denied this privilege, and their partisans will be forced to write out their ballots individually, a proceeding which will no doubt lead to the rejection of many votes on account of technical irregularities. The concessions to the Jews apparently amount to very little beyond permitting them to leave the Pale, and reside in all parts of the empire. The entire Jewish question is left to the Duma for settlement.

What Stolypin Has Done.

Whether or not the Stolypin ministry has succeeded in really pacifying the country, it has, fairminded critics will admit, certainly taken more than one step in the direction of constitutional government. A semblance of order has been established throughout the empire, and Russia's foreign credit has considerably bettered during the five months of Mr. Stolypin's term of office. . While it is no doubt true that the Premier can be criticised for woeful mismanagement and lack of judgment, nevertheless (says Dr. E. J. Dillon in his monthly Russian letter in the Contemporary Review),

Without either making laws or breaking them he has radically changed the statute book, has reformed the condition of the peasants by a series of measures which will ultimately revolutionize the Russian people, has incorporated liberty of conscience in the legislation, has bettered the lot of the workingmen, has introduced one day of rest in seven for clerks and shop asholidays, and over and above all, has trampled sistants without lessening the number of annual

out the embers of the organized revolution.

How He Has Failed.

Some of the more astute Russian politicians, however, insist that the government has failed, and ascribe this failure to Stolypin's legal quibbles and paper projects," which, for practical effect upon the Russian people, have no more executive force than any newspaper. They remain simply printed matter, and the bureaucrats throughout the empire continue to exercise their unfettered will as of old." It is true that the budget for 1907, as presented on January 11 by Finance Minister Kokovtsev, indicates an increasing revenue and a condition of finances which will permit the early redemption of some of the short-term bonds now held in France. In reality, however, close examination will show that the figures have been cleverly manipulated. The St. Petersburg government is actually very hard pressed for money, and, unfortunately, is unable to collect the great arrears in taxes throughout the empire. This is indicated by the circular recently issued to all governors of provinces and commissioners of taxes, closing with the following statement: "The populace must be compelled to obey the law, and the stubbornness of the tax defaulters must be broken by all legal measures, however harsh and strict they may be." The serious conservative review, the Vyestnik Yevropy, commenting on this statement, observes that, although Russian law does not permit of force being used with tax defaulters, force nevertheless will be used. The refusal to pay taxes depends at times on political considerations, and, in order to root out some of these adverse political opin

ions, the administration never feels under restraint of the law." For inactivity in collecting arrears in taxes the circular threatens prosecution of the most extraordinary kind, which may lead to popular disturbances, particularly "when it is well known that no such strict measures will be taken against the landlords, whose arrears in taxes are even larger than those of the peasants."

Sufferings of the Peasants.

In the meantime the peasants are starving and freezing in many provinces. In making an appeal to the people of Europe and America for assistance, Mr. Nikolai Shivkov, one of the Russian Liberals, said (early in December):

Once more the crops have failed completely in all the southeastern provinces, and in many others the harvest has been far below the average. The immediate cause was nearly the same, hundreds of villages the distress is already be-a hot spring and summer and no rain. In yond endurance. Thousands of peasants are eating nothing but bread made of acorn flour and grass seeds mixed with a little rye flour; many families eat even that bitter bread only once a day. The winter has barely commenced, so that two or three months must elapse before the famine attains its full intensity; and yet a fortnight ago the newspapers published an account ing province of Kazan selling their children to of the famine-stricken Tartars in the neighbordealers from the Caucasus. Eight girls, aged from 12 to 16, had been sold for $40 to $75 each.

With the opening of 1907, by what is called "juridical fiction," the Russian Mir becomes a purely voluntary association, and the peasant is able to move from his land. With no money, however, and ground down by taxation, this is a merely nominal blessing. Other noteworthy happenings in Russia during the month were the conviction (and sentence to death) of Admiral Nebogatov for surrender to the Japanese in the battle of the Sea of Japan, May 28, 1905; the confiscation by the censor of General Kuropatkin's book on the Russo-Japanese War; and the purchase (at Krasnoyarsk, Siberia), for our own Congressional Library at Washington, of the famous Yudin collection of 80,000 volumes on Russia.

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Constitutional Persia

Almost simultaneously come the news dispatches from Teheran Emerges. of the death of Shah Muzaffared-Dîn, the accession to power of the new ruler, Mohammed Ali Mirza, and the assembling, in accordance with the new constitution, of the first Persian Parliament. This

WHY SHOULD EUROPEAN RUSSIA ENVY ASIATIC PERSIA classic land of antiquity thus obtains actual

ITS CONSTITUTION? HAS NOT IVAN THE DUMA?

From Fischietto (Turin).

representative government before her mighty

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