now the common
spirit which the clergy imbibes through a special education, and
which its chiefs make no difficulty in confessing. A bishop has
said, 'We are Jesuits, all Jesuits;' and nobody has contradicted
him.

"The greater part, however, are less frank: Jesuitism acts
powerfully through the medium of those who are supposed to be
strangers to it; namely, the Sulpicians, who educate the clergy,
the Ignorantins, who instruct the people, and the Lazarists, who
direct six thousand Sisters of Charity, and have in their hands the
hospitals, schools, charity-offices, &c.

"So many establishments, so much money, so many pulpits for
preaching aloud, so many confessionals for whispering, the
education of two hundred thousand boys, and six hundred thousand
girls, the management of several millions of women, form together a
powerful machine. The unity it possesses in our days might, one
would suppose, alarm the state. This is so far from being the case,
that whilst the state prohibits association among the laity, it has
encouraged it among the ecclesiastics. It has allowed them to form
a most dangerous footing among the poorer classes, the union of
workmen, apprentice-houses, association of servants who are
accountable to priests, &c. &c.

"Unity of action, and the monopoly of association, are certainly
two powerful levers.

* * * * *

"That which constitutes the gravity of this age, I may even say its
holiness, is conscientious work, which promotes attentively the
common work of humanity, and facilitates at its own expense the
work of the future. Our forefathers dreamed much, and disputed
much. But we are labourers, and this is the reason why our furrow
has been blessed. The soil which the middle ages left us still
covered with brambles, has produced by our efforts so plentiful a
harvest, that it already envelopes, and will presently hide the old
inanimate post that expected to stop the plough.

"And it is because we are workmen, and return home fatigued every
evening, that we need more than others the repose of the heart. Our
board and fireside must again become our own; we must no longer
find, instead of repose, at home, the old dispute which has been
settled by science and the world; nor hear from our wife or child,
on our pillow, a les