The long-continued Parliamentary debate on the separation of Church and State is not 80 serious as the casual reader might imagine. The most wonderful proposals are frequently made by private members. Ardent anti-clericals are constantly entering the tribune with amendments devised to further subjugate the clergy. One of these legislators, a goritloman from the sunny south, thought the proposed scale of pensions, which in no case can exceed the magnificont sum of £60 arrear, was too gonorous,, His reasoning was as follows There ho said, about 70,000 priests in Franco. Let us suppose each of them says a mass every day, at a fee of two francs. This makes, roughly, 600 francs a year per priest. Multiply 600 francs by 70,000 and you have the amount required for clergy pensions. This charmingly simple proposal and others of the same kind were put forward in self.
jed.tones and a strong provincial accent.
The Chamber laughed heartily, and, when the speaker had finished, two oF three members ironically moved that the speech be placarded all over Franco—an honour usually reserved for the addresses of Ministers on important occasions. Another deputy, from Auvergne, holds forth for hours whenever Algeria or the separa-tiou of Church and State happens to be on the paper. The Chamber applauds him vigorously and votes en masse against any amendment he proposes. Yet another member has acquired imperishable for having begun a speech by sayin; "On belait of my group, of which Lam the only member—"at which point his eloquence was cut short by uproarious laughter. M. Coutant, one of the numerous working-men in the Chamber, has more than once enlivened the separation debate "by hurling " highly idiomatic expression, corresponding to Oh, my eyo!" at opponents "ho failed to please him. Even Bede Prossonsé, the most earnest of debar ters, once emitted a gleam of humour. He called the Pope an eminent ecclesiostic."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.