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 114 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

The Christian Democracy would, however, find very fertile soil for the spread of its doctrines in the West, in Brittany, where the clergy are still powerful ; but it has not as yet extended its activity to that region, and if later on it should desire to do so, it may be too late, as the ground will then have been occupied by the Socialists.

The Catholic Conservatives are old Monarchists and Imperial- ists who care more for the clerical than for the royal power, and would be satisfied if they could be masters of the republic and govern it so as to maintain the principles of a social hierarchy. They are quite willing to improve the condition of the humble, but they propose to do this through charity, and not through the principle of equity. The church is for them a spiritual as well as a temporal power, which must govern souls from all points of view. This pre-eminence belongs to her by right. These Catholic Con- servatives have numerous points of contact with the Christian Democrats or Social Catholics. The leaders of the movement are generally members of religious orders Jesuits, Franciscans, and Dominicans or laymen belonging to the " Third Order " of the Franciscans or Jesuits.

This "Third Order" possesses a very strong organization. Its membership is composed of women as well as men. It has local groups, with a president, a secretary, and a treasurer. The president merely communicates with a sort of directing committee, which works on the mass of the initiated through him. It is therefore difficult to know the leaders, who are generally Jesuit or Franciscan friars. Nor are the lay members, as a rule, known. It was said and it is probably true that the Comte de Mun, a deputy, and Admiral de Cuverville, among others, are members of the Third Order. Among the vanguard of Jesuits who are supposed to have a leading influence we may mention Fathers Dulac and de Pascal ; and among the Dominican friars, Fathers Maumus and Olivier. The religious congregations having a secret organization, there is no proof that those whose names are given to the public are the real leaders of Catholic politics. These may very well be persons quite unknown to the public. One fact is certain that in a great number of the departments of France,