Page 149 - Transcriptions d'actes notariés - Tome 20 - 1682-1686

table proh1l.m~ qui se dresge de~anr moi. J'ai beau prier et niéditer,
je n'en vui?; paa cncore claircrn~ni le saluiion. Ir sui' peul.8tre pueüia-
nxnie, on m'accusera peut.i.rrr de rrndaucea IiLbralce, commc on I*a déjà
fait: je me rksigneraj voloniirrs ii supporter pour un trrrtps ces inju~tes
soupccins, de peur dtilrt= obligé B regrelier plus iard d'noir conduit la
Larqur à un nbinie sans lond."s)
ln their replies ihe bishops reluwd to aecept their Archbishop's
leadership and adviep. AI1 understood by the letier of Septcmber, if not a
definite condemnation uf ~he Libeial party. at lemt a condemnation "en
autant qu'il est imbue de ces erreurs."[2" As ior the attitude of the
English-~peakin~ bishops, Bishop Moreau of Saint-Hyaeinthe iound that
"leurs nationalités, leurs mœurs, leur discipline et lenr mauière de voir et
de faire 5ont différentes des notre3 et pent-êlre trouvent-ils comme certains
Evêques des EtatvUnis que leu Evêques du Bas Canada sont trop sacru-
tains."[Jp' Archbishop Taechereau reiu~inp tu be intimidated, jssned
a Mandenient to his dioeese on May 25, 1876 in which he csteeorically
declared: "Nous ne Venofld pas N.C.F. vons dire de voter pour tel parti
ou ponr tcl candidat, plutôt que pour tel antre." At the fiame time ht
forbade his priests to have anything LO do with poliiic3. or even to
discus* [hem Irom the p~lpit.("'~ The letter was seized by die Liberals
as a deience against the ccintinned and repeated attacks of ~he Conserva-
tives who were infuriated by the Archbishop's action.
The Archbishop Lhus rejeeted the etceniial notion of French
Canadiau ultramontanisin: the favonred position of the Church in
Canadian Confederatioii. Ultramontanes believed thet tlie Cliurch in
the Province of Quebec: hrid beeu greaily sustained hy Confederation.
The dirision of powers bciween a central and provincial riuthority, the
particular nature of the Quebee people, t lieir Catholicism, their mejority
in the provinee: al1 iliese conditions made possible, in their eyee, a
conception of government whieh rvas iundamentally that of the middle
ages. The Programme Casholigue of 1UiI which 5arv the birlh of
militant ultr amont anism gtipnlated tliat "nons devonü sans doute rendre
yrâee à Dieu de la pleine et entii.1.e liberté qnt la constitution de nolrt
pays accorde, en droit, an enlte caitiolique de se régir et de se eonverner
conformknent aux règles de l'ECIi~r."'''2) This idea was rtever aba tidoned
by the Ultrarn~lntanes evm afttr 1874 whcn the Progranime was no
lortger used as a politieal menifesto.
Whcn he became an Lli ramontane. Tarte aecepted this interpretation
and n-hat it implied : namely, clerieal intervention in politics. In opeu
letters 10 Hector Langeviii, iii August 1280, he defendcd thia idea and

(Lei EAhI, $Sr' Tasrliereau io hiP' Fabre, March 3, 1876. Typical of lie Irrtera
IO al1 01Lpr [Iishap~.
) Archives 01 ihe Seniiuary ul Tlirre Rirers, his' LaflCchz to hiR' Tnscherpnu,
Varch 26. 1876. Anawer Lypical.
(30) Episcopal Archives of Si. Hyacinthe, Mgr Moreau iri ME' Taachrreau, hlarch
8, 1876.
(31) Cdege Ste Marie Arcliisrs, .Vantfemnl de Mo' TUST~P~CUU, May 25, 1876.
(32) A. Savaèie, Yen !'Abimr, (12 vols., Pari?, 1912), II, 101.