Page:The Rise and Fall on the Paris Commune in 1871.djvu/151

 Commune and editor of the Mot d'Ordre, for having denounced the treasures, and indicating where different sacred vessels were hid away for safety. In his turn he replied that, not only was it proper to make the seizures, but he gloried in having been the means of assuring that result. His reasoning was characteristic of the men with whom he associated at the time—men whose blasphemous words and atheistical opinions were far in advance of the revolutionists of 1789, and of such a character as to make all true Frenchmen weep for their country. His article on the subject ran thus:

"Not only does the Mot d'Ordre refuse to disavow the co-operation which it gave for the seizure in question, but it declares that if it knew of any other treasure belonging to the clergy elsewhere, it would again hasten to inform the Commune. Our eternal creed will be, that as Jesus Christ was born in a stable, the only treasure that Notre-Dame ought to possess is a truss of straw. As to the sacred vases studded with emeralds, or the emeralds enriched with finely-chased vessels, we do not hesitate to declare them national property, from the simple reason that they are derived from the generosity of those to whom the Church promised Paradise; and that an assurance of imaginary blessings, given to extort money or articles of value, is designated in all codes as swindling. Why is a physician interdicted from inheriting from his patient? Because the supposition is that he may have been able, by the dread of death, to turn the brain of the sick man and induce him to put the doctor's name in his will in exchange for the preservation of his life. The priests, and the church which enrolls them, are just in the same case. We cannot say how the first Christians understood religion, which has been since so strangely revised, corrected, and augmented; but at this hour, and for many centuries past,