to
him and which dispense with his permission to exist; he lets them live
and does not disturb them; he judges[31107] "that there is every sort
of character and imagination, that eccentricities even should not be
repressed when they do no harm," that, for certain people, an ascetic
life in common is the only refuge; if that is all they desire they
should not be disturbed, and it is easy to feign ignorance of them; but
let them remain quiet and be sufficient unto themselves!--Such is the
new growth of the regular clergy alongside of the secular clergy, the
two main branches of the Catholic trunk. Owing to the help, or to the
authorization, or to the connivance of the State, inside or outside of
its limitations, both clerical bodies, legally or in reality, recover a
civil existence, and thus obtain, or at least nearly so, their physical
maintenance.[31108]

And nothing more. Nobody, better than Napoleon, knows how to make a good
bargain, that is to say, to give a little in order to gain a great
deal. In this treaty with the Church he tightens his purse-strings and
especially avoids parting with his ready money. Six hundred and fifty
thousand francs for fifty bishops and ten archbishops, a little more
than four million francs for the three or four thousand cantonal cures,
in all five million francs per annum, is all that the State promises to
the new clergy. Later on,[31109] he takes it on himself to pay those
who officiate in the branch chapels; nevertheless, in 1807, the entire
appropriation for public worship costs the State only twelve million
francs a year;[31110] the rest, as a rule, and especially the salaries
of the forty thousand assistant-priests and vicars, must be provided
by the fabriques and the communes.[31111] Let the clergy benefit by
occasional contributions;[31112] let it appeal to the piety of believers
for its monstrances, chalices, albs and chasubles, for decorations
and the other expenses of worship; they are not prohibited from being
liberal to it, not only during the services, on making collections, but
in their houses, within closed doors, from hand to hand. Moreover,
they have the right of making gifts or bequests before a notary, of
establishing foundations in favor of seminaries and churches; the
foundation, after verification and approval by the Council of State,
becomes operative; only,[31113] it must consist of state securities,
because, in this shape, it helps maintain their value and the