"sister" in the hospital as nurse or as
teacher in the school; both would cost less, and he is used to their
dark dresses and their white caps; moreover, he is not ill-disposed
towards his resident cure, who is a "good fellow." Nevertheless, in sum,
the rule of the cure is not to his taste; he does not wish to have him
back, and he distrusts priests, especially the aspect of their allies
who now consist of the upper bourgeoisie and the nobles. Hence, out
of ten million electors, five or six millions, entertaining
partial dislikes and mute reservations, continue to vote, at least
provisionally, for anti-Christian radicals. All this shows that,
through an insensible and slow reaction, the great rural mass, following
the example of the great urban mass, is again becoming pagan[5362]; for
one hundred years the wheel turns in this sense, without stopping, and
this is serious, still more serious for the nation than for the Church.

In France, the inner Christianity, has, for all that, through the dual
effect of its Catholic and French envelope, grown warmer among the
clergy especially among the regular clergy, but is has cooled off among
the people and it is especially here that it is needed.

*****

Post Scriptum:

Taine died in 1893 not long after having written this. Much has happened
since and the struggle between "Lay Republicans" and the Catholic
Church has continued. In "QUID 2000," a French popular reference manual
containing on page 515 some notes on the evolution of the Catholic
religion in France, we can read the following:

"1899-11-11 the police occupies l'Assomption, 6, rue Francois Ier. The
Augustin brothers are accused in court for breaking the law forbidding
unauthorized assemblies... 1900 Thomas, mayor of Kremlin-Bicetre,
forbids the wearing of the ecclesiastical costume in his town. This
example is followed by others..." Reading further we may learn that
later in 1901 to 1904 the various Catholic orders are forbidden
or dissolved and most French Church property seized. In 1905 a law
decreeing a separation between the State and the Church is narrowly and
bitterly voted and a struggle between France and the Pope begins ...
Between 1914 and 1918 25 000 priests and seminarians are mobilized and
app. 5000 among them fall. This disarms many of the Church's enemies and
in 1920 funds are appropriated for the re-establishment of the French
embassy to the Pope in Rome. etc. etc. Today the Catholic religion is