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,
