Page 94 - La Société canadienne d'histoire de l'Église catholique - Rapport 1961

down on the illicit congregations and on the moet powerful es well es
the moat nnpopulat of aIl. . . the Society oJ Jes~."(~)

Siunned momentariiy, ihe Catholics quickl! rallied to offer strong
raistance tn the new bill. ln aU parts of France, the bishopri proteeled,
olten vehemently. Cardinals Guibert and Bonnechose were amcing the
most active of the prelates. By thp end of May, ~he petiiions occasioned
by this article contained more than one.half million signaiutes, despite
al1 the handicaps put in their way.'" By the sunimer there accumulated
1.8 million ~ignatures.'~'
Jules Ferry said on April 23, 1379: "II the republic dues not act
at ~his time, when it is al1 powerful. if it do~s not proht bu ihi~ maximum
force which belongs to every npw gov~riim~ni . . . when rvill it do
60 ?'?''O)
The debate on ihe Ferry bill on higher education opened in the
Chamber of Deputies on Juue 16. 1879 and waa very stormy. On June
27, 1879, describing the nature of thp education given h~ the Jefuiis
ea clearly anti-modern and anti-rwoluiioiiary, he adniiited : ''Wl'e atiack
the Jesuits because the Jesuiis arid thrir adherenis are ihe sou1 of the
organization which we have hpen combattiug for the past sevei
yeare."t1') Asking the deputies in the Chamber for support, Ferry
exhorted them: "If you do not paas Article Seven, gentlemen. . . you
will have accorded ior al1 tiine to ~his country free instructiori by the
Jauits. 1s there one amotig you whri dceiires io take the responviLility
for this ?"(12'
And so it ivent. In an atmospheie polluted by Iiickcring, on July 9,
Article Sevcn and the new bill as a whole on Higher Education were
paesed by the Chamber with a majoriiy oi better than iwo to one.f13'
Duritig the surnmer recess, agitation over Article Seven reaehed
every corner of the Frencli countryside. Botli [lie cpiar:opatr: and lcading
Catholic men earried on the campaign wi~h numcrous speeches in Paris
and acroos the country. hTot tn be outdonc, the republicau leaders,
solidlv bached by the anti.clerica1 press, clic1 tlie saine, soliciling popular
approval for their aetion.
Being auspicious ù t Ferry's preponderance in tlie goyerriment, and
lacking enthusjasni for Article Seven, just before Christinas 1879,
Waddingion resiped. The President, Jnles Grévy, asked De Freycinet
to lom a new Cabinet. in wliich Ferry kcpt thc same poi.tFolio.

(7) Op. cit., 1, 210.
(8) Lecanuet, Il, 24 and n. 1.
(b) Barbier, 11, 28.
(10) J. Ferry, Discours, III, 59, cited by Acomb, p. 12.3.
(11) Cited by Hanotaux, IV, 469.
(12) Ibid, IV, 470.
(18) Barbier, II, 28.