France and the Republic | Page 2

the nose of M. Ferry--French irreligion in the United States--The case of Girard College--Can Christianity be abolished in France?--The declared object of the Republic--Morals of Artois--Dense population--Fanatics of the family--Increase of juvenile crime--American experience of the schools without religion--A New England report on 'atrocious and flagrant crimes in Massachusetts'--Relative increase of native white population and native crime in America--An American Attorney-General calls the public school system 'a poisonous fountain of misery and moral death'--A local heroine of St.-Omer--The statue of Jacqueline Robins--The Duke of Marlborough and the Jesuits College--A curious sidelight on English politics in 1710--How St.-Omer escaped a siege 23-43
CHAPTER III
IN THE PAS-DE-CALAIS--(continued)
Aire-sur-la-Lys--Local objections to a national railway--A visit to a councillor-general--Pentecost in Artois--The Artesians in 1789--Wealth and power of the clergy--Recognition of the Third Estate long before the Revolution--The English and the French clergy in the last century--Lord Macaulay and Arthur Young--Sympathy of the curés with the people--Turgot, Condorcet and the rural clergy---The Revolution and public education--M. Guizot the founder of the French primary schools--The liberal school ordinance of 1698--The Bishop of Arras, in 1740, on the duty of educating the people--The experience of Louisiana as to public schools and criminality--The two Robespierres saved and educated by priests--What came of it--A rural church and congregation in Artois--The notary in rural France--A village procession--'Beating the bounds' in France--An altar of verdure and roses--The villagers singing as they march--Ancient customs in Northern France 44-52
CHAPTER IV
IN THE PAS-DE-CALAIS--(continued)
Aire-sur-la-Lys--Local and general elections in France--A public meeting in rural Artois--A councillor-general and his constituents--Artois in the 18th and 19th centuries--Well-tilled fields, fine roads, hedges, and orchards--Effect of long or short leases--A meeting in a grange--French, English, and American audiences--Favouritism under the conscription--Extravagant outlay on scholastic palaces--Almost a scene--A political disturbance promoted--Canvassing in England and France--Tenure of office in the French Republic--'To the victors belong the spoils,' the maxim not of Jackson but of Danton--'Epuration,' what it means--If Republicans are not put into office 'they will have civil war'--'No justice of the peace nor public school teacher to be spared'--'Terror and anarchy carried into all branches of the public service'--M. de Freycinet declares that 'servants of the State have no liberty in politics'--The Tweed régime of New York officially organised in France---Men of position reluctant to take office--The expense of French elections--1,300,000l. sterling the estimated cost of an opposition campaign--A little dinner in a French country house--The French cuisine national and imported--An old Flemish city--Devastations of the Revolution--The beautiful Church of St.-Pierre--A picturesque Corps de Garde--The tournament of Bayard at Aire--Sixteenth-century merry-makings at Aire--Gifts to Mary of England on her marriage to Philip of Spain--The ancient city of Thérouanne--Public schools in the 17th century--Small landholders in France before 1789. 53-72
CHAPTER V
IN THE SOMME
Amiens--Picardy Old and New--Arthur Young and Charles James Fox in Amiens--'The look of a capital'--The floating gardens of Amiens--A stronghold of Boulangism--Protest of Amiens against the Terror of 1792--The French nation and the Commune of Paris--Vergniaud denounces the Parisians as the 'slaves of the vilest scoundrels alive'--Gambetta and his balloon--Amiens and the Revolution of September 1870--The rise of M. Goblet--The 'great blank credit opened to the Republic in 1870'--What has become of it--The Prussians in Amiens--Warlike spirit of the Picards--A political portrait of M. Goblet by a fellow citizen--A Roman son and his father's funeral--A typical Republican senator and mayor--How M. Petit demolished the crosses in the cemetery--M. Spuller as Prefect of the Somme--The Christian Brothers and their schools--M. Jules Ferry withholds the salaries earned by teachers--The Emperor Julian of Amiens--How the Sisters were turned out of their schools--The mayor, the locksmith, and the curate--Mdlle. de Colombel--A senatorial epistle--Ulysses deserted by Calypso--Why Boulangism flourishes at Amiens--The First Republic invoked to justify the destruction of crosses on graves--The Cathedral of Amiens and Mr. Ruskin. 73-94
CHAPTER VI
IN THE SOMME--(continued)
Amiens--Party names taken from persons--The effect of Republican misrule at Amiens--Why the Monarchists acted with the Boulangists--The Picards incline towards the Empire--How the Republic of 1848 captured France--Armand Marrast and the French mail coaches--Mr. Sumner's story--The political value of paint--Paris and the provinces--M. Mermeix offers with a few million francs and a few thousand rowdies to change the French Government--General Boulanger's campaign in Picardy--Capturing the mammas by kissing the babies--The Monarchical peasantry--The National Accounts of France not balanced for years--Conservatives excluded from the Budget Committee--The Boulanger programme--Expenses of the political machine in France, England, and America--The Boulangist campaign conducted by voluntary subscriptions--General Boulanger and the army--The common sewer of the discontent of France--The local finances of a French city--Municipal expenses of Amiens--Pressure of the octroi--A local deficit of millions since the Republicans got into power--The mayor and the prefect control the accounts--Immense expenditure on scholastic palaces--Estimated annual increase in France since 1880 of local indebtedness, 10,000,000l. sterling--M. Goblet on the growth of young men's monarchical clubs--History of the octroi--General prosperity of Picardy--Rural ideas of aristocracy--Land ownership