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Le diagramme suivant illustre la mdthode ; 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 L-> V/rV/J r r y/W; ''■ Mi: OF TJU: I ^ y '•'f^'Ais ( lAmC iUM A.vit ^M.Ervi; ;t'/ H^, ^^>»JP«^ ''iUKiJ58?>ANmi,. r;j. ' FA("^ Mil. "■'** I ')»^. - i; ^ >fe-."».. i*.u;£ 4T^;j^,, >»RUPFR] t Of 'r;f !lUI^^av .( \ M - 0*-'", ■':m^'<'^ - H / ' ^ ONE OF THE JESUITS/ ALEXIS CLERC SAILOR m\) MARTYJi BY Kev. Father CHARLES ^)anIEL, S.J. wni A i-jtEFACE m vm im. thoias s. i-BHsm, v.a t ^ ,/yc6 _ _^ / <- New York : D- & J. SADLIER & CO., PUBLISnEUS, 31 Barclay Street MONTREAL: 2^5 NOTRE D.^E STREET. 1880. PROPERTY OF THE LIBR.ARV IIMI\/I»C(TV .'AT M / 4 ^ ' I.M i-A /"V Copyright 1880, by p. A J. 8ADLIEB &, Ca THIS TRANSLATION IS DEDICATED TO TllS MKMOIIV OP FATHER ANDREW FRANCIS MONROE. S.J. Grand-nephew of President Monroe, Officer v; the American Navy, and a Convert to the Catholic Faith. Ue entered the Society of Jesus in Rome, made his novitiate in France, was ordained Priest in Ci>.nada, and, after spending liis religious life liliu his friend Father Clerc, chielly In ttie hiii^blo'daties of a professor, ©ica at St. JFiaiicis Xn\)ifv's ©ollcflc, "Mflu ¥ovft, Augusts, 1871, Aged Forty-seven Years. A man of " a large humanity " (to use his own phrase), who made friends everywhere, and no enemies notwithstanding his sailor-liive bluntncs?, wonderfully upright and honorable, childlike in faith, simple in piety, a worthy priest and an exemplary religious, he is still regretted by those whose privilege it was to know and appreciate him. |Hai) l)(s soul vest ill pcacc» WITH PERMISSION OP THE AUTHOR TRANSLA7ED FROM THE SECOND PARTS EDITION By M. E, C. D. COJNTEKTS. CHAPTER f. Alexis Clcrc before his Tvvenf- -seventh Ycar-IIis En ''""'• trance in the Navy and his Fir«t Cruise. . . ... . .' 13 CHAPTER ir. Sojourn in France-AnoUier Cruise-Conversion 49 CilAPTER III. Alexis' Progress in the Christian Life-Service on Shore — Lorient, Indret, Brest. CHAPTER IV. Alexis Clerc durin - the Events of 1848 jg. CHAPTER V. Experiments in Epistolary Controversy \ ^^^ CHAPTER VI. Preludes of Vocation-Preparations for another Voyage. 184 CHAPTER YU ' (tiy 6 Contents^ CHAPTER VIII. PAOE. A Conversion on board the Caaaini 257 ciiapt1':r IX. Shangliai and the Jesuit Mission 275 CHAPTER X. Alexis Clcrc in the Society of Jesus — Saint- Aclicul 019 CHAPTER XI. Vaugirard— The School Sainte Genevieve— Laval 350 CHAPTER XII. Father Clerc and his Pupils 380 CHAPTER XIII. Father Clerc and his old Comrades 410 CHAPTER XIV. Father Clerc at Saint Vincent do Laon and in the Am- bulance of Vaugirard— His Last Vows 429 CHAPTER XV. Father Clerc Prisoner and Victim for Love of Jesus Christ— Mazas— La Roquette 450 rREFACE. It is with great pleasure that wc recomincnd to tho Christian public this translation of Father Daniel's Life of Alexis Clcrc. There is much in this Life which siHjaks to tho great needs of our day. The bright ex- ample of self-denial and heroic virtue cannot fail to move many hearts whose aspirations arc for eternity. The prevailing disposition of the age is altogether to ignore God, as if his law and v.ill had nothing to do with the end of human life or tho happiness of man- kind. He is driven from society, from education, from science, and from the counterfeit which the world dig- nifies by the name of religion. Self is made the end in the way of pleasure, avarice, or ambition. Men would live as long as they may, and then sink into the grave without hope of the future, or with the d(;nial of im- , mortality. And even where there is a certain belief in God, what prospect for happiness has the victim of iias- fion who has never known the discipline of obedience ? Heaven is nothing to those who have jdaced their high- est happiness in self-gratification. We have seen tho fruits of unbridled passion in the hatred of God and of all who professed obedience to his law. The ever-liv- 8 Preface, ■*•* I 1 ing C .irch of Christ goes quietly on amid all the tu- mults or tbo world and tho conflicts of evil. She alono si)ealis tho words of truth ; she alono can heal tho wounds of infidelity or sin. Ilcr life is above the vio- lence of her enemies, and in this divine life she contin- ues the mission of her great Founder, giving good for evil, and gathering in tho waste places of earth a har- vest for eternity. Nothing really lives that she does not touch, and all she touches is radiant of immortality. Dark was tho hour when the spirits of evil broke loose, and malignant hatred of God held sway. The ago of the martyrs returned, and patience, gentleness, pity, and fidelity unto death were tho only answer to insati- ate m'alice and demoniac rage. '•' Tho Good Shepherd gave his life for tho sheep"; so in his footsteps ever arise the children of his love to bear his cross and glad- ly die at its foot. Tho sad days of the Commune were days of triumph for the Church, as the blood of martyrs is the glory of her crown. Tho reader of this Life will learn these and many truths which may quicken in his heart the love of faith and all its supernatural fruits. Without faith life is not worth living, and even in this material age sanctity is within our reach, and tho Mother of saints has chil- dren of whom she need not bo ashamed. The strife of tho Commune is not over, and the red hand of infideli- ty is not yet stayed. Even in our own beloved country may come tho hour when law and order shall sink be- neath tho violence of unbelief, when hatred of God shall muko victi.us of the innocent and true, laihappy Preface. Franco lias yet to atoue for many sins, and while sho suffers, the blood of licr martyrs i^eads to the Sacred Heart for mercy. Father Alexis Clerc was only one of many chosen souls whom the illustrious Society of Jesus has given to the Avorld. IIo has spoken by words of faith, mercy, aud courage, by deeds of self-denial and i)atience, by a life given for the salvation of souls, and by the death of a martyr for Christ. Witli the sainted Olivaint and his companions before the throne of the Precious Blood lie will intercede for his brethren, for Franco ho loved so v.'cll, and for us who will seek by his example to be true to God and to walk in the blessed and narrow [way of faith. It is strange that the martyrs of the Commune arc so little known, and that the story of their death has produced so little visible fruit. Catlio- llics hardly realize how much they owe to these confos- isors of the faith, while many Protestants who could not applaud the violence of persecution are perhaps uncon- Isciously encouraging principles which lead to the de- nial of authority, and therefore to the reign of infl- [delity. The "Chamber of the Martyrs'' at Paris, with the [relics of their sufferings and death, is a scene which [speaks louder than any words, and sets in open light [the two extremes of mortal conflict, the charity divino rhich bleeds unto death, and the rage of baffled but 5till malignant passion. May God increase our faith and give us grace, that, ["having so great a cloud of witnesses; wo may lay 10 Preface, aside every weight and sin which surrounds us, and run with patience to the fight proposed to us, looking unto Jesus." T. S. P. CORPca CnsiSTi, 1379, ALEXIS CLERO SAILOR, JESUIT AND HOSTAGE OF THE COMMUNE; SHOT AT LA liOQUETTE, JMrS4, 1871. i ) ,1 ill! ALEXIS CLEKO, CHAPTER I. Ialf-xts ci-erc before nis twenty-seventh year — nis ENTRANCE IN THE NAVY AND HIS FIRST CRUISE. Alexis Clekc was born in Paris on the 12th of iDcccmber, 1S19, in the parish of Saint Germain rAuxerrois ; the next day he was baptized in tlie [parish church. lie was in every respect a true child of Paris, [belonging to that middle class whose role was great )ven then, but whose ambition was greater still, md whose political importance attained its apogee mder the monarchy of July. His education, en- trusted to the university at an early age, was all that it could be under the rcfjimc of the monopoly — leither worse nor better than that of multitudes of children of the Parisian bourgeoisie, in whose ^oung souls their professors daily inculcated in- lifference and doubt, who saw the priest only at 13 ■i::t 14 - Alexis Clcrc I "if :•<• long intervals, and considered him as a functionary to bo employed in but two or three circumstances of life, and after death. Yet withal Alexis had for mother a fervent Chris- tian, a lady belonging to an old Lyonnaise family in which piety was hereditary. "A saiut humble and meek" — such is his own testimony of his ■% mother at whose knees he was taught to know Jesus Christ, and was thus initiated into the life of the soul. He lost this mother when ho was only thirteen years of age. How long did he con- tinue faithful to her example and lessons ? Some months, a year perhaps at the most ; then he fell into the common current and became a stranger to ji}| all religious practices. Thirteen years were passed in forgetfulness of God, thirteen years which oftcr- wards he bitterly regretted. He had not been born to be an infidel ; he even had strong religious inclinations. " When I was still a very little boy at school," in later years ho ,., told a friend, "I heard read from a large book '|;l bound in calf-skin the wonderful 'Lives of the \ Saints.' They all seemed so beautiful to me that |( I had a great desire to imitate them, and assured- ly, to be frank, my wish to please God and to do great things for him was then not less real nor less reasonable than were the aspirations of the saints." ? How came it to pass that this holy ardor was ex- tinguished ? Alas I it is only too easily explained, and his history is that of thousands, of millions of children, the victims of an odious monopoly. " The poison of the college," he adds, " soon got before Jiis Twenty-seventh Year, 15 even i was ars he book of the c that surecl- to do )r less lints." ras ex- ained, Ions of opoly 1 n got the better, and retained it for a long time, of my artlessness and my desire of sanctity." The way and means of this may be readily understood. Where was the pupil frequenting the university establishments, such as they were at that time — I do not enquire what they are now, and I suppose them greatly Improved — where, I ask, was the pupil who would not have been abused by his fellow-pupils, and perhaps by his masters, if he had made profession of imitating ever so slightly a St. Stanislas or a Berchmans, or even of going to confession and of attending church ? The masters might not have concurred in such abuse officially ; for, however atheistic the law was, the teaching state could not very well proclaim itself as such. But the professors, the heads of public instruction, considered it no fault to attack in their lectures or in their books the Catholic Church, the clergy, the whole French episcopate, and many a one of them gained applause by celebrating the obsequies of Christianity, and by writing : " IIoiu dogmas are exploding ! " After the death of his pious mother, Alexis found in his family no one to speak to him of God, to remind him of his Christian duties. Far from that, his father, otherwise an honorable man and not lacking in culture of mind nor elevation of character, was a philosopher of the old school a Voltairean, to speak plainly — an ardent patriot (but after a fashion that was just a little revolu- tionary), and no detester of the songs of Beranger nor of the pamphlets of Paul Louis Courier. If l6 Alexis Clcrc 1; iiii' Ml I'l: 'I; i; wc may believe a playmate of our Alexis' cliild- lioocl, one who visited the house to share his games and from whom there were no secrets, Mr. Clerc, drawn into the liberal movement of the times, and extremely hostile to the government of Charles X., did not rest a mere spectator during the events of July, 1830 ; and when the throne, undermined by the labors of many hands, foil for the misfortune of France, he congratulated him- self upon their success, and had a right to look upon his own as among the victors. His business affairs, for he was at the head of an important commercial enterprise, were not improved by the situation; during the crisis he even met with severe losses, from which he never afterwards re- covered. Yet his political convictions remained unchanged ; he did not spare sacrifices for what he deemed the good cause, and when the Sude was established his name was among the first inscribed on the list of stockholders. From all this may be seen in what principles Alexis was reared and what maxims were tauglit him ; pains were taken to in- spire him with a high sense of honor, an immense disinterestedness, a boundless devotion to his country and to the sacred cause of lihertij, but of religion there was no question, unless j^erhaps to warn him against the encroachments of the priesili/ ^;«?'«f_y. Did Alexis share the passions and prejudices of his father in religious matters ? I do not think so, and I did not discover that it was among the subjects of self-reproach when, after his conver- ilil before his Tivcnty-sci'cuth Year, 17 sion, ho was reviewing the years oi his youth. No, he Imted neither tlio men nor the things of tlio Ciuirch ; indifTeience and disdain were all he be- lieved ho owed religion, and his philosophy, which was entirely negative, went no further. lie pursued his studies successfully, partly at the College Henri IV., and partly in an institution whore the toiichincf was after the method of Jacotot. '•'The education which wo received in that house," one of his early companions writes us, " was the ideal of an education without God. It would bo to calumniate Mr. do S — to call him an enemy of reli- gion, but it would be to ascribe to him a merit which* he did not possess to say that he was even a deist. I would not have believed the man possible had I not hnown him. Wc got along in that school as well as we could." Then follows a short sketch of the young student whoso after career was to be so laborious and so tilled with trials to the very end : "Alexis was idleness itself; but, thanks to his talents, ho was one of the most disiiaguished of tlio pupils. As to his disposition, I have never known a more genial nor a more amiable person. I do not think I ever saw him have a quarrel. He was on bad terms with nobody, and there were two or three of us who were particularly good friends (with him." The first placo among these intimate friends lust be given to his brother Jules, who was not :nore than two years his senior, and who, being bat i\ little further advanced in the classes, had the i8 Alexis Clcrc % K:imo comnitlcs and acquainlimces. Their muiuul friendship was of the most tender kind, and, later, religion, by making on almost the same day tlic conquest of the one and the other, drew still closer the bonds formed by blood and by sympathy of character. At seventeen years of age Alexis was a bachelor of letters. AVhat should he determine upon next ? Commerce was not his forte ; having no taste for examining and disputing mercantile interesls, ho would have succeeded in that walk of life even worse than his father did. It was thought that •manufactures would open a field vast enough to satisfy his longing to act, to prove himself a man. Mr. Clerc counted among his friends a Mr. Griollet, who superintended a woollen manufactory, and who, to parenthesize, had just bought the chateau of Voltaire at Forney. Alexis w-as given a posi- tion in the factory. But the affairs of his patron did not prosper; it became necessary to sell every- thing, even Ferney ; and Alexis, again on his father's hands, was once more in search of a posi- tion and less than ever decided upon the career to embrace. *' It was then," says the faithful witness from whom wo borrow these details, and who in the kindest possible manner jdaced his souvenirs at our disposal, *' it was then that Mr. Clerc, not knowing what to do with a very intelligent boy who was the object of his deepest affections, showed me the honor of consulting me, althougii I was not more than a few months older than Alexis. One of my before /lis Tivcnty-scvcnih Year, 19 ivlativcs hud lately graduated with distinction from tlio Pulytcclinic School. I suggested the Poly- tcchnio. Mr. Clerc asked nio : * But whom shall I employ to ])ro2-)arc Alexis?' I spoke of the preparatory school where my cousin had been. IIo stnt us, Alexis and me, to find the head of that in- stitution. It was thus Alexis entered the estab- lishment of Mr. do lleussc, Rue do Vaugirard, cor- ner of tike Rue Ferou." * There the student was the same that ho had been during (ho course of his classical studies ; til is we learn from one of his fellow-students who followed him, after the interval of a year, to the Polytechnic School, and who was destined to meet him, thirty years later, a priest and a Jesuit pre- paring for the supreme trials which Providence re- served for him. We have avoided erasing from these lines their local coloring ; this, wo are sure, will not offend our readers, especially if they have ever happened to frequent the society of the more or less studious youth from whose ranks is re- cruited the large and illustrious school our hero proposed entering. '' I formed his acquaintance at the Institution de Reussc in 1839. His good disposition. Lis gay and cheerful temperament, made him beloved by every- body, while, at the same time, his ready compre- l.ension of the x won him great respect among the iauinns, (thus in student slang arc called those * Tho luslitution de Reuiise, which 1ms nob changed its name, is at prcaent in the Ruo du Cardinal Lemoine. 20 ^■Uc'xis Cli'TC who arc following ii special mathematical course in preparation for the Polytechnic »Scliool). ]Ie was, moreover, very strong in literary composition. An aplitiulc for literature and mathematics are rarely found together. lie had also a great deal of en- thusiasm in liis cliuractcr, yet this did not exclude a great deal of good sense." This last touch i):iints him exactly, shows him just as we kn^w him until the close o^his lifn. His enthusiasm, far from being weakened or ex- tinguished — as too often happens in proi)>')rtion as experiences multiply — was rather quickened hy being purified through contact with tlie holy reali- ties of faith and with eternal hopes. After a rapid preparation he was admitted into the Polytechnic School with a very fair grade of scholarship, the twenty-sixth. The same amiable and thoroughly French qualities which had made liim a favorite in the boarding-school and college procured for him in this assemblage of young men of such varied origin and character a true popularity, which he preserved as long as he remained among them, and which we have found still alive in the remembrances of several of them. Their recollec- tions of the charming gayety, the sprightly, active temperament, the useful bon-cnfant character of ** Little Clerc " are exhaustless. They were ready to relate to us any number of funny tricks and fpcGches, always quite inoffensive, by which he amused h's companions. There exists at the Poly- tcch.nic a custom, a tradition, regarding the man- ner of welcoming newcomers and of putting their g' before his Tivcuty-scvoiih Year, 31 good-nature to the test. It is not a now W\\\\^ in fc'cliOLtls, and there is miicli in it to bo asliamed of. Athens, in knowledge and priictico of it, preceded and i^robably surpassed Paiis, whero all throuj,h the Middle Ages the rectors of the university had much difficulty in protecting the new arrivals, whose purses were liable to be drained by the pay- ment of their bijannc. What is the cullc iVah.sorp- lion in comparison with the bejaiaie? I leave the expression without a parai)lirasc. Perliaps some day it will join Injaune in llie dictionary of the Academv. Xevertheless, it must bo avowed the fun often enough exceeds reasonable limits and turns into a posiuive vexation. It Avas not so when Lit tic Cleic (with General Thoumas, we are assnred) was clioscn to conduct the trial. Under his man- agement things always passed olT in a way that was agreeable to all concerned. We have on our desk a specimen of the problems ho proposed and the questions he addressed to his recruits. It is a droll document. In it Greek subtlety clasps hands with Gallic wit, not to mention the forced agreement of mathematical formulas tiiat caps the climax. But there is not a word to offend or wound, and it would seem that those who passed through his hands were lightly tickled but not bruised. Thus by his popularity he acquired the right to say anything at any time, and was sure of being listened to. One day some ungrateful task or other had been finished, and it was determined to 22 A /ex is Clerc destroy all traces of it. So behold ourbi^ scholars heaping up in a court-yard a mountain of papers ; they touch a match to it, then, joining hands, dance around it in the most hilarious fashion. Suddenly Clerc detaches himself from the circle and ajoproaches the burning pile. He merely wants to light his cigar ; but they mistake his in- tention, and the cry is started : '^ Clerc wishes to speak ! " In a moment the dance is arrested, every man hushes his noise and listens. Whether or no, Clerc has to speak, to prove that he doesiiH v/ant to. Ho entered the school in the twenty-sixth grade, he left it in the twenty-third, a sign that he had not quite gotten rid of his liking for laziness. That grade gave him the right to choose among several careers, some of them very desirable, agree- able, and even lucrative. What was not the aston- ishment of his companions when tliey learned that he had chosen the navy! **A famous sailor he'll make," said one ; " a fellow whose only voy- age has been u])on the Seine, between Bcrcy and Charenton !" *'Hc has the ambition to go round the world," added another. " Does he know what it means, he who has never been out of Paris in his life, unless to go en concou to Versailles or Mont- fermeil ? " And so on with a long string of jests. The fact is, Alexis' vocation for the sea was extremely sudden, and for a native of the Rue Bourdonnais quite extraordinary. He made his first trial of it, without any preparation whatever, by a four years' cruise in the Southern seas, and by " the conquest of the Marquesas Islands," one of m before /lis Tiventy -seventh Year, 23 his friends tells us. Wiiat had caused him to take so singular and so unexpected a resolution ? I strongly suspect, in tlie first place, that every sort of administrative employment was repugnant to him, and that he was nob willing;, at any price, to shut himself up in an office, lie required air, sunlight, space, elbow-room. Then he had an am- bition, not a petty but a vast and lofty one — an ambition to do something great, and to serve his country by placing at her disposal his abilities, and even, if need be, his blood and his life. It was the beautiful ambition of youth, which believes in glory and in magnanimous devotedness, the am- bition which Virgil so nobly expressed by tho lips of his Nisus : " Aut pugnam aut aliquld jamdudum invadere magnum Mens agitat mihi, nee placida contenta quiete est." In the second place, if I look for exterior causes, I discover one which acted, it seems to me, upon our Alexis. There was among the friends of the family an excellent woman, Madame Pages, who took a lively interest in him, and whose name fre- quently appears in his letters. She had a brother, Commander Baligofc, who was captain of a corvette that was about starting for the Southern seas. "If you would like to bo a sailor," she said to the young man, *'my brother will take you on his ship and I will givo you your sword." " I desire no- thing better," he replied. No sooner said than done ; and it may be added that when he started on his voyage he knew neither the object nor tho du- ration of the expedition. . '1 • I, 24 Alrxis Clcrc There wus no time to lose. Named a midship- man of fji'sfc class on the first day of October, 1841, he embarked at Brest on the Trioinphante the 22d of the same month, and found himsCif, the fiituro ofiiocr, more of a novice than the last of tlie cabin- boys, knowing absolutely nothing of the mar.couvrc.s or the language of shipboard. But from the com- mencement he showed the best points of liis nature; full of energy and resources, joining a great deal of decision of character to that French spirit of good-fellowship which never makes the man the loser, lie gained esteem and friendship directly. Admirably well placed to judge him. Commander Baligot, wa-iting " at sea, December 17," says : " As to Alexis, ho is a fiuo and courageous young man, who at the very beginning of our voyage gave proof of his energy. I hope to find an opportunity of showing him how much it caused me to respect him." An opportunity soon came, but, alas ! in a way unexpected by that excellent man, who gave to the young midshipman a mark of esteem and confi- dence usually reserved for a riper age and a longer experience. Mr. Bahgot died at sea before reach- ing the coasts of America, appointing Alexis his testamentary executor; and thus at the entrance of his career our hero was deprived of the counsels of the old officer without whom he would never have dreamed of being a sailor. *•' Commander Baligot," he wrote to his father (from Valpanaso, August 19, 1842), " was, as well as I can judge, much the best sailor I have yet seen. ... If he is before his Twenty-seventh Year, 25 such a loss to the vessel, how much greater a one to me !" And he adds, thereby making a revelation of liis character, wliich at that period was somewhat inclined to presumption : **Ever since I have ar- rived at years of discretion — and long before, if indeed I have reached those years — I have always judged for myself — have guided myself by my own im])ressions, have willed with my own will. This beloved commander was so wise, so enlightened, so noble, that, while scarcely aware of it, I allowed him to will for mo ; ho loved me well enough to do it. His death leaves me without purpose, without object, without will. I am like one wan- dering without a destination. I needed his strength. One of my opinions was a truth to me if he shared it. No man ever before had such power over me.'* So it was that the young man, Avith his proud, enthusiastic spirit, yielded himself unreservedly and witliout calculation of the results, happy be- yond all expression to have found at lust a man — a character, rare thing ! But what is going to become of him whose voca- tion for the sea was dependent on that one man, and who had lest the support which he needed more than anything else at the beginning of such a novel career. The elasticity which was in his nature, the in- domitable energy of his will came to the rescue ; not, however, that he experienced the same joyful confidonce as at the moment of departure. TriaU were hard for him to bear, and ho had plenty of them ; he felt them keenly, but was not discou- 26 Alexis Clerc raged. He askeJ himself more tliau onee if he had not taken a false step, and if it would not be better to turn back in time and seek another way of employing his talents. Meanwhile lie made the best of his position, conquering his dislike and all the other difficulties of the calling, and taking good care never to be downhearied. Such is the picture of him drawn for us by an old navy officer who was his companion in that long ex- pedition. This gentleman, a few years younger than our hero, was, though a graduate of the Naval School, only a midshipman of second class, while Clerc, a pupil of the Polytechnic, had been without any hesitation appointed midshipman of first class. *' He Was greatly my superior in scientific acquire- ments," this worthy officer tells us ; " but, on the other hand, my practical knowledge gained on the school-ship, excelled his, and, understanding per- fectly well that if he did not ask explanations he would never learn the details of certain manoeuvres which lie would bo obliged to command to the sail- ors, ho begged me to give him some lessons. So at night when I was on duty ho would come to mc and I would post him about the shii^'s rigging, and show him how to tie knots and how to * make fast' in the usual ways ; I taught him the names of the ropes and their proper arrangements. It was thus that in a very short time lie was well acquainted with all the details which he would have been ig- norant of for ever if he had not had the humility to ask questions of a friend." Iq mentioning humility the Viscount de M. before Jiis Tiventy-scvcnth Year, 27 knew very well, and was careful to add, that tho religion of his comrade was then in a *Matent state." Humility, that essentially Christian yirtue, cannot bo engrafted upon an absent faith ; but tho young sailor was preserved by his good sense from all foolish pride. This kind of merit, so rare in a beginner, was singularly attractive to men of experience, and ap- peared to them a very good sign. Mr. Nielly, Commissioner of the Navy, wrote to Alexis' father : '' Sir : My second son, who for six months past has occupied the same room with your Alexis, and is pleased with the partnership, desires me to in- form you that his friend was well on the 10th of November, 18J:"3; that their corvette sailed the next day from Valparaiso for the Marquesas Islands, where she was to be stationed for six months in the harbor of Nouka-IIiva, then to return to Val- paraiso ; and that, to conclude, the chest contain- ing the balance of the effects of the late Mr. Bali- got, captain of the corvette, is on board the go- vernment fri2;ate Thetis in tho harbor of Brest." Then follow some details I'elativo to the property of Commander Baligot. Mr. Nielly terminates his letter with these words, which must have been very gratifying to Mr. Clcrc : '* There now remains for me only to congratulate myself upon having had an opportunity to address a few lines to the father of a sailor who, young as he is, seems to unite to talent and courage the wisdom which as- sures to his friends and to himstit the fruits of those two qualifications." 28 Alexis CI ere A wisdom entirely human, wo must again re- mind the reader ; at tlie time he was receiving such praises his morals were far from being irre- proachable, and he did not even feel the sting of remorse. Xevertheless, the moment of grace Avas approaching, and ere long so many natural gifts would be transformed into Christian virtues. The interior crisis to which he owed his salvation commenced shortly after his departure from Val- paraiso, at the Gambier Islands, wliich he visited on his way to the Marquesas. God there showed him a spectacle that made a deep impression on his observing mind, and caused him to reflect pro- foundly ; it was the spectacle of a growing Christi- anity renewing the marvels of the primitive Cburcli upon the still smoking ruins of an abject and bloody idolatry. The theatre where the power of the Gospel was thus manifested -is very small, very obscure, and almost ignored by the rest of the worlJ. We often hear of Tahiti, the new Cytlicraj which owes to Captain Cook, and to other navigators as little scrupulous as he, a suspicious celebrity. But^ aside from Catholics who arc interested in mission- ary labors and are kept informed by the ''Annals of the Propagation of the FaitJi," who knows any- thing more than the names, who lias ever thouglii; of studying in its most interesting phase the his- tory of those little islands of volcanic origin, Mangarcva, Taravai", Aokena, Akamarou, whicu form the archipelago of Gambier, lost in the im- mensity of the Pacific Ocean, about three hundred before his Tzventy-seveiith Year, 29 leagues from Tahiti and the same distance from tlie Marquesas ? The first time that French mis- sionaries, some priests belonging to the Congrega- tion of Picpus, landed on those isles at the risk of their lives, they found the only population to consist of terrible cannibals, perfectly naked, war- ring with their neighbors for the sake of feasting upon the flesh and blood of the vanquished, joining, in a word, the appetites of ferocious beasts to the instincts of depraved children; and for the rest, an enchanting country of prodigious fertility. The narrow belt of land which surrounds each extinct crater produces abundantly and without any culti- vation, the cocoa-tree, the banana, and the bread- fruit, and these furnish the islanders not only with food and clothing, but with the timber, the roofing, and all the furniture of their little houses. Previ- ous to the years 1834, 1835, all that richness of soil and beauty of climate was the empire of the devil ; the Sun of Righteousness had not yet risen upon those unfortunate people seated in darhness and in the shadoio of death ; there was not a soul in all that archipelago who was not a slave to supersti- tion, to anthropophagy, and to the most shameful lechery, and not a word of salvation had ever been spoken upon those inhospitable shores. Fathers Caret and Laval, on landing at Mangareva, tho largest of the four islands — it measures nearly three miles in extent — saw at the first glance what sort of men they had to deal with, and what were the manners of the place. The natives gave them a kindly and even hearty welcome, bat one which 30 Alexis CI ere lillli 'I o did not inspire them with confidence. The chief of a quite numerous population having towards sunset offered them hospitality, they accepted a little food, but declined sleeping in his hut, think- ing they would be safer in the neighboring wood. Vain precaution ! When night came they were the objects of nameless solicitations, and (they themselves relate) proposals contrary to tlie holiest of virtues were made them. They fled, and were pursued unmercifully. Then they tried to hide themselves by crouching down among the reeds that grew on the shore, when fire was brought into requisition, and they were surrounded by a circle of flames, all the outlets of which were guarded so as to oblige them to fall into the infamous snare. They succeeded in saving their honor and their lives only through a miracle of Providence. Such were the islanders of Mangareva anterior to 1834. Very well! A few years later these same, island- ers will be fervent Christians and civilized men ; redoubling by their industry the fertility of a soil already so productive ; cultivating the arts neces- sary to the preservation or embellishment of life ; welcoming the stranger with a true ancl helpful charity ; practising chastity, meekness, disinterest- edness, sincerity, gratitude, and deriving from the love of Jesus Christ and his holy Mother the ideal and inspiration of all the virtues. And this was what our young sailor saw with his own eyes on landing at the Gambler Islands during the course of the year 1842. He was shown a church, the first construction of masonry in : i before his Tzventy-sevoith Year, 31 Maiigareva, built of enormous blocks of coral wliicli the natives liad torn from the bowels of the sea, as it were, and brought on rafts a distance of five leagues. He became acquainted witli tlie former liigh-priest of the island, Matna, a species of giant, not long since an antliropopbago, and now as gentle as a lamb. Matua was among the lirst to accept tlie good tidings, and his example determined the king, Maputeo, his nephew, to receive baptism. In a letter dated at Valparaiso, and written after his return there from the Marquesas Islands, Alexis relates to his father the strange things of which he had been the happy witness, and communicates to him without many comments the first impressions produced in his sotrl by the sight of this infant Christianity. I will quote a few passages from this letter: *' When we left Valparaiso we knew not the ob- ject of our voyage. We went to the Gambler Islands. " It was ten years since an English government vessel had touched there for a supply of water. The natives fell upon the lieutenant and a sailor, killed and ate them. They went about perfectly naked, and were the most ferocious and savage of all the inhabitants of Oceanica. Now here is what WG saw : This group of islands consists of four; we visited the principal two, Mangareva and Aokena. The approach to them is very diflicult, there being a great many coral-reefs to avoid ; and as they produce nothing for commerce but pearls and mother-of-pearl, few vessels frequent 32 Alexis Clcrc i % i % them. Eight years ago two French missionaries with two workmen established themselves tliere. They Icarnetl the language. By their good advice and conduct they gained the esteem and affection of the savages ; then they undertook to convert and civilize them. It is impossible to conceive by what prodigies of devotedness tlicy attained this object, and to what degree. The natives are now all Christians ; they are honest, good, laborious, and very i)ious. "The high-priest who slaughtered the English- men was one of the first converts. IIo is a tall, stout, fine-looking man, tattooed all over, who de- scribes with much simplicity the tricks by which he used to work upon the credulity of his disciples. The king was the most reluctant to be baptized, but lie consented at last, and all the people follow- ed his example. *'Now the children attend school. There are two schools, one for the girls and one for the boys ; they learn to read, write, and cipher; religion is taught them, and especially good principles ; Latin is added for the boys. ** Cotton grows plentifully in these islands ; the people have learned to spin, weave, and make gar- ments of it, and consequently they arc now all clothed. "The food of all the natives of Oceanica is the fruit of the bread-tree, prepared in a way that is perfectly detestable to a European ; the mess is called jt) 0^0 i. "The missionaries have taught these people of before Ids Tzvetify -seventh Year, 33 the Ganibicr Islands to prepare this fruit better, and also to preserve supplies of it iu the earth to prevent tlic terrible famines which a sudden tem- pest may bring upon them. ''Finally, these good fathers have built a church, simple, but more beautiful than many of our coun- try cliurches — built it with the assistance of only two mechanics. The savages brought on rafts blocks of stone from a distance of five leagues, and leiirned from the workman how to hew, raise, and set tliem in place. The missionaries found in the numerous coral-reefs that are so disastrous to navi- gation an inexhaustible cpiarry of tho finest lime- stone in the world. They built of this a house for tliemselves and one for the king, and these servo tlie inhabitants as models for the construction of others. '' The missionaries have not sought to obtain any authority in the country ; they have only reformed ic and left it in the hands of the king. It must be a very genuine piety that inspires such conduct. Our missionaries are very different from those of the English. The English missionaries work for their own country, ours for the country they are in. The islands where there are English mis- Eionaries become English ; those where ours are form themselves into little states. " We spent three days in this happy region, among them a Sunday which was a greiit festival. The entire ship's company, officers, midshipmen, and men, attended. Mass in uniform. The church was tilled with a throng of people who sang in the 34 Alexis CIcrc iV language of the country, and to an air which be- longed to their old religion, a hymn the missionaries had composed for them. The harmony, simple yet striking, produced upon me an impression such ag I had never experienced. . . , "After Mass the missionaries invited us to their house to breakfast witli the king and the high- priest. A very frugal repast was offered us, but with such hearty kindness I These poor people use shells for plates ; they had bread that day, but they are often reduced to W\q 'pupoi. What heroic dcvotedness is that of these missionaries ! but what a reward is not such a result! I almost thought I was dreaming, or that I was witnessing the reality of a chapter from the * Natchez.* " Finally, a wonderful thing in Occanica, the women are chaste and marriages are respected. Since this has been, the population, which usually decreases among savages, increases a third a year. But I must reserve something to tell you on my re- turn, for I shall return, perhaps. . . ." This is all, and one would hardly sus])ect, to read this narrative, only hero and there interspersed with short reflections, what a deep and lasting im- pression Alexis carried away from his visit to the Gambler Islands. But in after life he was often heard to refer to that date the beginning of the work of his conversion, a work which was for a long time a secret one and reached its comiiletion upon another shore four years later. If he had communicated all his thoughts to his father he would not have been understood. And was he before his Twcnty-siVOiiJi Year, 3S quite conscious liimsclf, at that time, of what glassed in the depths of his soul ? If I do not mis- take, it was after having seen and sincerely admir- ed all these wonders, and during his second so- journ at Valparaiso, that he saw himself two steps from death, realized it, and yet had not a single thought for eternity. One day, to repeat what he several times related to his friends and brothers, he was climbing up a steep and dangerous declivity — having, perhaps, undertaken the ascent of some one of the Chilian mountains — when suddenly his foot slipped and he felt himself rolling into the abys?. lie might have lain there for ever, but fortunately he was drawn out alive, though badly bruised. The letter from which I have quoted above speaks of two splintera of bone being extracted without very great d.flS- culty, and of the assurance of a complete recovery. Now, at the critical moment when, losing all hope, he bade within himself a farewell to life, among the thousand reflections that crossed his mind with the rapidity of lightning, the most striking was this: "It was, indeed, worth the "while, my poor Alexis, to enter the Polytechnic School, and to go through such a rude apprenticeship to the trade of a sailor, only to come here in the end to break your neck so far from your friends, and to leave your bones in this miserable hole I " This was the limit of his philosophy then ; but patience I the good seed is in his soul and it will bear its fruits. A sailor's life has this advantage — namely, that by isolating men it ripens them, if they be ever 36 Alexis Ckrc so little disposed not to dissipate by frivolity the grave and serious thoughts which the suhlimo spectacles of nature must awaken in their breasts. Man feels himself so little in comparison with the \ast expanse of the heavens and the waters, so fee- ble in his incessant struggle against the elements, that, even in spite of himself, he re^nembers that he is not master of his life, that he was not made for himself, that his destiny is not in his own hands, and that he is a being irresistibly impelled towards a distant shore about which his reason can give him only a very imperfect knowledge. How will he not welcome the idea of a divi?ie revelation and a Saviour, when it is presented to him in its radiant and consoling simplicity ! His ear is closed to the thousand noises of human throngs, and his solitary meditation is not disturbed by the conflict of opinions and systems. Truth, whose mysterious voice is npvcr still, easily makes herself heard in his heart, and takes possession of his whole being from the moment he consents to lis- ten. From the day he received at the Gambler Islands this first ray of light the young sailor became more serious, more earnest ; and without having lost any of the amenity of his pleasing character, he began (this is plainly seen in his letters) to look at life in its graver aspects, and to have a better appreciation of his duties. His affection, always strong, for his father and brothers was purified, and expressed itself sometimes in touching regrets, and sonieiimos in aspirations and desires. Ho before his Tiventy-sevenih Year, 17 realized, now that lie was deprived of it, the sweet- ness and value of the family life. "I have before me in my secretary," ho writes to his father, *' my library, the mere sight of which affords me great happiness. How sweet, and at the same time how sad it is, to gaze at these tokens of your affection, and of that of my brothers and friends ! " Alas I this is the cruel part of the profession ; the old life is ended, and I shall see you perhaps only three or four times until 1 am retired from the service. " To have been so close to happiness and to have left it for ever ! Where shall I find the same affection, and, if I could find it, would I be able to break the bonds which bind me to the old ? No, and 1 would not want to if I could. Ah ! my dear, kind father, how well I understand, now that I wasted my happiness by not enjoying more than I (lid your affection for me, and by hiding mine from you ! How stupid it is to rebel against what is best, to be unwilling to yield anything, to forgive anything ! Alone, removed from exterior events, without anxiety about the material things of life, we understand better how much of the true happi- ness of life comes from the family, and how delight- ful is constant, mutual affection. I am deprived of it forever ; you are lost to me. What us there to compensate me for such a loss ? Absolutely no- thing ; and the fate of a naval officer is to become insensible as a stone. Ho has torn himself awny from all early affections, and he finds himself in- 'i;;i 38 Alexis Clcrc '•!; ■ii! capable and undesirotis of forming new ones only to be in turn torn from them." This conclusion, which nobody will bo tempted to take seriously, was merely a whim. No, most certainly — and Clcrc is himself the best proof of it — the naval officer is not by profession either in- different or insensible, and he can say with as much truth as any other man : " Homo sum et humani nihil a me alienum puto." How sad poor Alexis is when, returning to Val- paraiso after a first cruise in the Southern seas, he finds no letter from his father or brothers, no news from his family ! And also what an excess of joy is his when the mail has not miscarried, and ho sees the dear handwriting again ! **' Let me try to express," he writes in reply, " first of all my deep gratitude for your kind and affectionate letters. What solicitude in my behalf ! Ah ! my dear father, the warmth of my embraces could alone give you an idea of how sweet to my heart are the mul- tiplied proofs of your tender affection. Your good advice is a kind Providence protecting a poor child so far away from home ; it delights me, and I make it my duty to follow it." In answer to his father's having said that he had accounts to render him, and that he considered himself his debtor, Alexis writes: "I am paid, overpaid. I feel almost angry at the idea of a father's owing accounts to his children. I don't want to ever hear it spoken of again." As to the advice which the young sailor asked, before his Tiventy-seventJi Year, 39 and which lie always cheerfully accepted, it was about not only the general direction of his life, but took in the details regarding propriety and man- ners. Here is quite a singular example of it: After a ts\'0 years' cruise, the time being come for his promotion, Alexis had the very natural desire to return to France, where, after an examination, he would be regularly advanced to the gi'ade of ensign, He already performed the services of an officer, but he had not the rank — a position doubly false for him, inasmuch as his age and his having been a pupil of the Polytechnic School separated him from the other cadets. . If we join to this his eager desire to revisit his country and to embrace his father and brothers once more, we Can without much difficulty conceive that he would take some steps to obtain from the commander of the squa- dron — it was, I believe. Admiral Hamelin — per- mission to return to France at the earliest oppor- tunity. So far there was nothing but what was perfectly correct, and Mr. Clerc had no fault to find. But there had been some gossip about the matter, and what had reached the ears of that ex- cellent father had, from his way of looking at things, attained in his mind enormous proportions. His son — was it credible ? — liad written to ask an audience of the admiral! Had written! Was not this forgetting all his dignity, and assuming gratuitously the airs of a beggar ? At least, I sup- pose this was what so shocked a man in love with the principles of '89, and so touchy about equality. But in point of fact the affair was quite different. 40 Alexis CI ere m Hi: Alexis had simply addressed himself, as was cus- tomary, to the admiral's aid, and to the off-hand question, " What do you want with him ? " of that personage, had replied : " Bo good enough to name me to him, and I presume that will be suffi- cient to make him aware of my business." How relieved Mr. Clerc must have felt when he learned that his son had not been guilty of what seemed to him a platitude ! This suscep- tibility, which was perhaps excessive, will enable the reader to comprehend better than any words what must have been Alexis' education, and what was the level of the ideas and sentiments of his honorable family. Alexis did not obtain his return at the end of two years, nor even of three, and it was only dur- ing the fourth that, weary of a cruise the results of which were not in his eyes very magnificent, he landed again in France. When gazing at the bare and uninh^ibitable rocks which comi^ose almost the whole of the archipelago of the Marquesas, musing upon the impenetrable mystery with which the ex- pedition was surrounded to its close, and dreaming about the great expected results, he could not help crying out with his Parisian nervousness: "0 mountain, what a bringing forth !'' lie perhaps thouglit within himself that one sailor more or less in the fleet did not matter much to the pro- jects of colonization that were under consideration, while it mattered very much to him, Alexis Clerc, whether or no he remained indefinitely a simple cadet of the first class. He said somethino- to this before Jiis Tiveyity-seveiith Year. 41 effect to tlic admiral, wlio tried, without any suc- cess, to persuade him that for the time being it was a great deal better for him to be a cadet than an officer, and who moreover had the want of tact (the plirase docs not appear too strong to me) to add : "Of all the pupils of the Polytechnic School whom I have met in the government marine ser- vice, I do not know one who is a sailor." It was decidedly imprudent and really too bad to say this to Alexis. If he had been one of those young pedants stuffed full of equations, who would not touch with the end of their finger the smallest piece of rope, the lesson, if lesson there was, would have been well given ; but we have seen that our cadet did not deserve it in the least degree, and tliat by his anxiety to instruct himself and to learn his profession even from his inferiors he had caused the best opinions to be entertained of him. Thus it was that this quality of pupil of the Polytechnic School, which would have ojiened to him all the gates of a civil career, became an obstacle to his advancement ; those studies, that theoretical knowledge elsewhere so highly appre- ciated, were laughed at here, and pronounced to be merchandise only fit to throw overboard. This gave the young man food for serious reflection ; he took a cool survey of his position, and saw himself in the isolation in which he had been left by the death of the regretted Commander Baligot. No name, no fortune, no military or naval notoriety in his family, none of those important relations that assist merit to rise, when they do not take 42 Alexis Clcrc '9. ;i i the place cf merit altogether. Could he rely upon his sudden determination to bfe^ a sailor? If he had deceived himself, would it not be better to re-, trace his steps while there was yet time ? Upon this point he examines himself, analyzes himself from Head to foot, and then consults his best frierfd' and his surest adviser, that enlightened, father to whom he has recourse on all occasions : "I have not, I think, a great deal of ambition to sustain me in these continual struggles. Must one impose silence on that pride which claims an elevated position ? Or, on the other hand, must one make the sacrifice, at any price save that of honor, of all prdtcnsion to rank ? Or, again, shall I, fulfilling all my duties with modesty, wait till fortune deigns to think of me ? .' "The career of ambition is difficult, uncertain, and irritating on account of the constant disap- pointments one me6ts with ; it is doubly so to me, who have no guide, and who feel only rarely that sacred fii'e which animates. men whose ambi- tion is noble. Now, I shall never have the narrow ambition of certain persons whom I know, who see in elevation only elevation, and the prestige and money that are attached to it, and do not in the least see in it a means of exercising their talents with advantage and success. . , , -^ -• - "Would not the following plan be the best for me ? To~ occupy myself quietly with th3 ideas which I love, to nourish the sentiments which are sweetest to me, and, fulfilling the duties of my before J lis Twenty-seventh Year, 43 calling in tlic best possible manner, to trust the future to happy eliiinco? " A noble nature after all, that, even before being transiigured by grace, understood the full value of disinterestedness, and never sought after what was low or unworthj^ We ate ignorant of the father's reply. Doubt- less he reserved his counsels for the time when, his son being returned to Paris, their mutual ex- change of sentiments would be pleasanter and more intimate. That time seemed always to be postponed. Alexis told hi& friends that they would find him greatly changed ; that having parted from them at twenty-two, he would rejoin them at twenty-six— ^a lon^ period ol Yde, grmide fipatium, as Tacitus says, for men at that age* • ■ In the first part of Januajy, 1845, while going from Arica to Islay (Peru), he Wrote to his. father and communicated some of h)B melancho]/ reflect tions. lie finished his letter by saying :" I pro- pose to make, on our arrival at Gallao, whicli I hope will be soon, new attempts to leave the ves- sel ; but I have little hope of succeeding. I think Iwill be able to informi you of their result in this letter, which I shallmail only at CalUxo." Koscr- theless, the end of this long and tedious cruise was approaching, and, contrary to all expectation, he was able to add to his \cttev ihU post-script ii7n : "To-day, January 21, the corvette has reached Callao. I have obtained the permit to return^ home on the frigate Charte, commanded by Mr. Penaud. She sails to-morrow for Valparaiso, and 44 Alexis Clcrc !iu( Hv thence for Franco. Tliat v/ill bo about tbc 25lli of February, £o I shall probably be in Brest at the beginning of July, and with you by August. But I luivc not joined the Cliarle as an officer. Nothing has deterred mc when there was question of hastening my return." lie submitted, therefore, to a final trial, and, at twenty-six years, re- sumed the rank and service of a midshipman ; but he was going at last to see France once more and to embrace his father. When he stepped on the soil of his native land he had had four years of service at sea ; he had yisited in America, the coasts of Brazil, of Chili, and of Peru, and had sailed all over Oceanica, stopping successively at the Gam- bier Islands, the Marquesas, Tahiti, and the New Hebrides. His experience of the sea, which was nothing when he started, now began to surpass that of a midshipman of the first class. "We have proof of this in the report given of him by Captain (since Admiral) Penaud, an officer of merit, but who, we are told, did not sin by exces- sive indulgence. This is his report of Alexis Clerc : '* Active, and makes himself useful ; has a taste for the sea, and has learned a great deal more in practice than might be expected of a pui)il of the Polytechnic Schooh" * But the great result of this cruise was for him the divine my that had penetrated his soul at the sight of the Gambler mission — a ray whose evcr- * Archives of the Naval Bureau. before his Tivcnty- seventh Year» 45 increc.sin^ clearness would illumine his ^liolc life and discover to him the straight path \\\ which God himself guides hit5 elect. How fur had this marvellous transformation progressed at the close of his four years of sea service ? We know from good authority that at the moment of leaving Valparaiso for France he imparted to an ofUcer, with whose Christian sentiments ho was acquainted, his desire to become a Christian also, and begged him to give him introductions to some friends whose example and counsels might further so laudable a purpose. Therefore it is certain that indifference was b;ini:shed from his soul, and wo may regard him as already on the right road. Wo would probably be more edified by his interior dispositions if we could find a letter which he sent to his father for a third person, and to which he drew his father's attention by the following words: "This parcel contains a leiter for my Uncle Bourgeois, which I beg you to forward to him. I would liko you to read it with- out being too much astonished, and especially without believing that I am not sincere. There are so many recesses in the human heart that the most opposite things may be found there." What, then, is this revelation he makes to his uncle of a recess of his heart which is quite vlq-^ to his own father, whom he would have share the secret ? The reader ^vill divine it when he learns that the Uncle Bonrf^cois was a perfect Christian, as well as a man of quite a high order of intellect, and occupying a certain position in the scientific world. Alexis doubtless hoped by this means to 46 Alexis Clcrc lit'" I iii suggest to his father reflections wliicli, novel as they were to himself, would be gladly welcomed by his uncle, but could not without preparation bo addressed to the one of the three who had the greatest need to be influenced by tliem. It seems as though the reader must now have be- come pretty well acquainted with this young man, not only by means of the unanimous testimony of the companions of his childhood and youth, but still more througli the living likeness he has left of himself in those letters to his father from which we have several times quoted. His was a transparent nature, and, for the rest, perfectly straightforward, loyal and generous to a fault, and glowing throughout. Notwithstanding many loct pages which will probably never bo found, his life already appears to us like an open book which all may read without difficulty, and wherein the sense of things is plain without the aid of any commentary. In sorting his papers I came across a singular note in an unknown handwriting, and one which docs not reappear in his voluminous correspon- dence. Was it scrawled by a somnambulist ? Or is it the work of somebody who pretended to un- ravel people's character, and read their destinies from a few lines of their handwriting ? An honest man will sometimes, if only for sport, lend himself to these attempts at divination ; and if the attemj^t happens to be successful, the paper is thrown in a desk and preserved as a curiosity and a souvenir. Whatever was the origin of the document to :!!i ,i!|i! before his Tzvcnty-scvcnth Year* 47 "which I refer, licrc are some paragraphs from it that are certainly applicahle to the subject of this biograpliy : ** Active, energetic, impressionable, irritable; extremely enterprising, laboring with enthusiasm and nevertheless easily discouraged. Needs to be supported by others." Doubtless, but also know- ing how to support himself when all exterior lielp fails, and struggling with courage against discour- agement. "A great deal of spontaneity, irresolute, slow to decide ; lively passions, anger easily roused." Both true and false, but more the former than the latter. " Speecli quick and jerking at times." V^cry good. *' Ideas eccentric and fantastic." True again, but with this reserve : his wayward and fan- tastic imagination was overruled by sound common sense. " Will have quarrels and lawsuits." The sagacity of our soothsayer is quite at fault on this point ; Alexis could not have lavvsuits for the very simple reason that his rather empty purse was open to everybody, and to him who asked for two sous he would give three, and even more. " Marked sincerity, sometimes exaggerated." Wonderfully correct. " He will travel a great deal and make long voy- ages." I suspect this was not arrived at by j^uro and simple divination, but by an easy process of induction. *' A restless life and bu:incss troubles " (no more business than lawsuits). '' Fortunate chances now 48 Alexis CUrc* and then, but will not dcrlvo from tlicm nil tho ad- van t ago possible." ** Useful and devoted to liis friends." Yes, and wc shidl meet with more than ono proof of it. Finally, a last stroke, and a seemingly propbetic one: "Will encounter great and diverse i)ori!s." How did Iho magician know this ? Probably by means of very vague conjectures whicb might just as well never bavc been realized. Nevertheless, given the strong and positive char- acter of our hero, a certain Christian philosophy would lead to the conclusion that Providence doubtless reserved for him trials in proportion to his energy and courage. " God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb" is an old proverb, and one that is of some value, for it reassures and consoles those who do not feel themselve3 sufQciently Will armed for the struggles of life. But, on the other hand, for a similar reason, to the strong great and hard trials ! According to this our Alexis should expect to encounter combats and tempests. CHAPTER II. SOJOUR.V IS FRAXCE— ANOTHER CRUISE— CONVKRSIOX. We know little of Alexis' sojourn in France from October 14, 1845, to May 20, 184G, the date of a new cmbarkiitiou. From the moment he was with or near liis family his correspondence fails us. Nevertheless, we are able to relate almost in detail how he filled up that internal of about seven months. Judging from its results and from his reminiscence of it in his letters afterwards, h was not time lost either with regard to his career or to his progress towards a Christian life. At Toulon, having finidly succeeded in passing his examination, he was promoted to the rank of ensign. Then he went to Paris, and was not idle there, as we shall see. To be an ensign at twenty-six years of age was not a bewildering success, and, after his experi- ence, our young officer could not promise himself a lapid advancement. Moreover, he still had his doubts as to whether he had made the right choice of a career. We do not know if it was by the ad- vice of his father or of some friend of the family 49 50 Alexis Clerc, w that he determined, at all events, to prepare him- self to enter on another more in harmony, perhaps, with his antecedents — that of public instruction. Certain it is that he set himself courageously to the study of mathematics, and eyen became a pupil of one of his old companions of the Polytechnic, Mr. Joseph Bertrand, then a professor at the Col- lege St. Louis. In three months he had obtained the diplomas of bachelor and licentiate of the ma- thematical sciences, and was preparing for the de- gree of doctor, when the prospect of a new expedi- tion re-engaged him to tlie sea for a long period. But the preparation for his examinations was far froAi absorbing him completely, and he undertook at the same time studies of a very different nature, and whicli were to give to his life quite another di- rection. As we have already said, he was not systemati- cally an infidel, and the Voltairianism of his father had never gained an empire over him. Still less had he allowed himself to be carried away by the absurd doctrines of Fourier, who then counted numerous disciplas in the Polytechnic School. Wiser on this single point than so many others, ho had made no compact with error. But from the age of fourteen, having never entered a church, he had heard no mention of God, neither had he read anything of such books as enlighten man rc- ^.a'ding his future destiny and his eternal here- after. He had become an absolute pagan. He needed to be educated over again. He understood this^ and applied himself resolutely to the task. Co?iversion. 51 It happened to him as to Murceau, that grand Christian who, like our young hero, was extremely ignorant, and impious to a degree that was some- what aggressive, until the day when the scales fell from his eyes. Urged by I know not what curi- osity, or rather obedient to a first and mysterious impulse of grace. Captain Marceau asked an eccle- siastic of Toulon* for a book on the Catholic re- hgion, one in which the question was thoroughly discussed. The worthy priest gave him Duvoisin's "Demonstration Evangelique." Marceau read it from beginning to end, at first with a certain mis- trust and suspicion, then with passionate interest, while liglit penetrated deeper and deeper into his soul. And this, his historian relates, was the commencement of his remarkable conversion, which preceded by several years that of Alexis Clerc. Who was it that ])laced the same book in our young sailor's hands ? I do not know ; but what 1 do know is that he read it with the same fruit as Marceau, and that later he recommended it to his friends as a remedy the efficaciousness of Avhich he had himself experienced. It is truly a very good book, written with all the seriousness that characterized the old French school. Born towards tlie middle of the eighteenth century, Duvoisia had been a professor of the Sorbonne before the Revolution. The Concordat made him a bishop, and he administered the diocese of Nantes wisely; but, for his misfortune, in 1811 he be- * Tho Abb(5 Gilbert, vicar of St. Mary's. ^ - 52 Alexis Clcrc, camo a member of the ecclesiastical commission presided over by Cardinal Fescli, and, alas ! on that memorable occasion he was not heroic. There fell a blot upon his name, but this should in no- wise detract from the value of the remarkable apologetic treatise of vhich he was the author. Every man desirous of instruction in that which it is sinful to be ignorant of, will find there, in a few pages written without pretension, but not without warmth, though in a style that is always moderate and discreet, all the elements of a solid and deliberate conviction. "Is the Christian religion a revealed religion? This is the state of the question. It is the ques- tion of a fact which can only be decided by facts — that is to say, by all the proofs that are the most con- vincing, the most easily understood, and the most analogous to the principles and seniiments that influence us in the ordinary course of life. The Author of Christianity declared himself to be the envoy of God. His disciples affirm that he justi- fied his mission by prodigies evidently supernatu- ral, and they oiler in proof of this not only their testimony, but also similar prodigies worked by them in the name of their Master. Did Jesus Christ and his apostles work the miracles tjut are attributed to them ? and have these miracles, with respect to us, a degree of certainty that does not permit a reasonable man to call them in question ? " (" Demonstration Evangolique," p. 4. Paris, 1818.) This is, in short, the whole question ; it is clearly put, and, we should add, conscientiously Conversion. 53 resolved — so conscientiously that in reaching the conclusion of his book the apologist may address God liimself, and say to him with Richard of Saint- Victor : "God of truth ! I believe firmly all thou liast revealed to me through Jesus, thy Son. He alone has the words of el.ernal life, and there is no other name under heaven by which wc can be saved. I do not fear to v/ander in following such a guide. But if, to suppose an impossibility, my faith were an error, it would be thou who would have deceived me in permitiing Christianity to bo marked with characters whereon I recognize the impress of thy omnipotence." * We have desired by the foregoing paragraphs to draw the attention of the reader to a book which Alexis Clerc, from his personal experience after- wards confirmed by more profound study, held in high esteem. Alexis also read the " Pcnsues" of Pascal, and as he was extremely sensitive not only to the philo- sophical range of the ideas but still more to the beauty of the language, he infinitely enjoyed the illustrious thinker who is undoubtedly one of our greatest writers. Whether he compares the enter- prise of Josus Christ with that of Mohammed, and arrives at the conclusion that " since Mohammed succeeded, Christianity must have perished if it had not been sustained by a divine power " ; or whether he says quite simply, but with the authority of an * Domino, si error est queni credimus, a te decepti sumus ; quouiam iis signis praedita est religio, quae nonnisi a te esse potuerunt. — Richard of Baint Victor, quoted hy Duvolsia, "Ddraonstratiou Evar.gcliqn ," \ . CO. 54 Alexis CIcrc. immovaLlo conviction, that ho believes ** witnesses tluit imperil their lives," Pascal, who, under dif- ferent circumstances, would perhaps have been the most powerful of apologists, abounds in expres- sions that bear tlie stamp of genius and are like so many medals commemorative of the great, divine events which compose the entire history of Chris- tianity. He is, however, less exact, less to be de- pended on, when, seeming to take pleasure in making a complete rev^^lation of the misery of fallen man, he is filled with indignation at the im- mense ruin, and undertakes to despoil the image of God of whatever still remains to recall its origin. If human reason wore as infirm as he pretends, as fatally prone to error, we should bo forced to de- spair of it, we should be obliged to renounce all hope of persuading it to accept the first principles of faith. Therefore, whatever else may be said of it, in this part of his sublime essay Pascal is more Janscnist than Catholic, and the painful scepti- cism which so frequently breathes from his immor- tal pages is not always unfraught with danger. It was a remarkable thing ! Clerc, though the mer- est novice in these matters, had a confused con- sciousness of this weak side of an author of genius, and we shall see in a letter to be referred to pre- sently that he did not regard the "Pensees" as a book very well suited to enlighten a certain class of minds. I am unable to say if it was then or afterwards that he also read and singularly enjoyed La Bru- y^rc's eloquent chapter on " Les Esprits Forts " •, Cojt version. 55 and as it wa3 Lis habit to communicate his likes and preferences to the fullest extent possible, we shall see him sharing with his friends his admira- tion for that remarkable fragment, the apologetic value of which is certainly nob to be disdained. Thus, from the beginning, guided solely by his love for the true and the beautiful, Alexis entered on their own level the society of the great Chris- tian spirits of the seventeenth century, and found himself at his ease with them passably well for a ciiild of the nineteenth educated in quite another school. Later he did better still : he bravely ap- proached St. Augustine and St. Thomas, conse- crated his leisure to them,, became their disciple, and, when necessary, their interpreter — a rare re- solution in a man of his profession and one who did nothing from caprice. Nevertheless, all was not yet accomplished, and the conversion of the heart was strangely behind that of the intellect. In spite of the promises which he had made himself he did not profit by liis sojourn in Paris to obey the voice that said to him as to the poor leper : '* Ostcndo te saccrdotL" If he saw the pi'iests it was afar off. At that time there were in Paris illustrious priests — later he would know them better — whose eloquence filled the nave of Notre Dame with an immense auditory, young and eager for good. In descending from the pulpit at the close of the Lent of 1845, Father de Ravignan had said : " Rise up, then, young men, in the midst of a sick socie- ty, and proclaim to it your strength and your hap- 56 Alexis Clerc. pincss ; let it meet yon, let it sec yon wherever evil needs a remedy or the good consolation and. sup- port. Display the courage of Catholic convictions in the most advanced posts of the struggle, in the combat of science, of philosophy, of letters, of in- dustry, of arts, and of liberty. Let the loud voice of Christianity resound in that chaotic confusion of opinions and doctrines. Tell the multitudes that you desire, that we desire, the glory and pros- perity of the country, the development of its insti- tutions, the free range of genius and of great thoughts. Feel yourselves to be placed very high, and teach those who are ignorant your language and your faith; re-ostablisli by Christian conscience the empire of justice, of truth, and of a holy in- dependence. Be assured of it, you have received more power and perpetuity than all the exhausted experimenters in human theories." Such vras the keynote at that date, and the grave and austere voice of Father de Ravignan did not sound it with the same vibrations as did Fa- ther Lacordaire's, whicli was more in sympathy with youth. What years were those, and what men ! In the Chamber of Peers Montalembert was daily at the breach, the indefatigable champion of every great Catholic cause. The struggle con- tinued for two years ; and if, on one side, we were saddened by a revival of impiety which showed itself in the periodical press, and even in the chairs of higher instruction, we took courage when we saw the entire episcopate guiding to the battles of the holy war the generous sons of the Crusaders. Conversion. 57 Tlie Sociei^y of Jesus was proscribed ; it had to hide itself and play dead to humor the timidity of the powers that were ; but it had just affirmed its existence as it never had before since the begin- ning of the century, in the eloquent plea of Father de Ravignan entitled "De I'Existenceet de I'lnsti- tut des Jesuitcs." The liberty which Father do Ha- yiguan claimed in the name of common law, Father Lacordairo had taken shortly before. He had mounted the pulpit of Notre Dame clothed in the white robe of the Dominicans, and none had dared ask him by what right he wore the habit of his order. All France had its eyes fixed upon those two illustrious religious, who, in the full zenith of the most exalted fame, were rivals only in eloquence, apostolic zeal, and fraternal charity. After the appearance of Father de Ravignan's beautiful book. Father Lacordaire, at a solemn sitting of the Cerch Catlioliqnef presided over by the Archbishop of Paris, cried out : " If we were in England I should propose three cheers for Father de Ravignan." These words were followed by unanimous applause three times repeated.* Can it be supposed that Clerc, who returned to France with the intention of professing Christian- ity, remained unmoved by those grand spectacles ? Should I be told so I would not believe it, so con- trary would such indifference be to what I know If ♦"Life cf Father de Ravignan," by Father do Ponlevoy, vol. i. p. 889. S8 Alexis Clcrc. of his character. Novcrtheless, whatever were his Bcntiments, ho did not then take the decisive step. Even worse: finding himself again in the midst of the same temptations to which he had yielded so many times before, he experienced the same weak- ness as in the past, and felt further than ever dis- tant from the goal towards which tended, not- withstanding, all the convictions of his Christian- ized reason. I find the avowal of this in some manuscript notes that bear the date of a long retreat made at Saint-Acheul after his entrance in the Society of Jesus. Permit me to raise this veil. Let it bo well un- derstood that it is with all the respect due to his venerated memory and to his glorious death, but with the sincerity which he would have practised himself if, a new Augustine, ho had left us the book of his " Confessions." Ah ! well. Yes, I believe the accusatory notes of his retreat at Saint- Acheul, and I am not afraid to divulire here the wanderings of his youth, which were to be trans- formed into the triumph of infinite mercy. Like so many other children of the world, in that in- fected atmosphere of Paris he had early made ac- quaintance with evil, and he had no horror of it. The educational houses which he entered, endowed with a dangerous precocity, were poor protectors of his innocence, and he lent a willing ear to the voice of his passions. Once — probably to exempt himself from all religious practices — he had the sad courage to call himself a Protestant ; and if he Conversion. 59 then imposed upon himself some sort of restraint, it was not virtue, for in reference to it he names him- self a luliitcd sepulchre. But dissimulation was loo repugnant to his nature ; he soon threw off the bridle and would not appear other than he was. The Polytechnic School, Brest, the Marque- sas Islands, Valparaiso, and finally Paris whither ho returned after having received the first impres- sions of grace — each of these names excites his remorse by bringing to his memory tha excesses and the scandals of his youth. St. Augustine, who knew something of such matters, eloquently describes to us that state of struggle wherein, the reason being convinced and three-quarters submissive, the heart still hesitates and has not the courage to break the bonds which hold it captive under the yoke of the senses.* His evil and frivolous inclinations emulated one an- other in pulling him by the garment of his flesh and murmuring in his ear: "What! thou wilt quit us ? Then all is over, and the separation will be eternal. Then the time has come when thou shalt never again enjoy thy liberty." This was the state of Alexis* soul on his return to Paris after his cruise in the Southern seas, and this was the reason why he, who already believed and desired to practise, could be present at those grand manifestations of Catholic faith which aroused the heaviest sleepers, and take no part in them save by his regrets joined to the sentiment of ♦ " Confessions," b. viii. e. xi, 6o A /ex IS a ere. his nnwortliiness. So true it is that strength of character is not everything, and that souls of the most tempered metal succumb just where the little and the weak gain the victory with the grace of God. During the month of May wo find Alexis again at Toulon, in active service and getting ready for a new voyage. His correspondence, interrupted by his stay in Paris, reopens and gives ns light re- garding his interior at a period that v/as very near his conversion. " My dear father," he writes on Sunday, the 30th of May, " I sail to-morrow, Monday, on board the steam corvette Caiman for the station of Sene- gal. I received my orders only AVednssduy. The preparations for so sudden a departure, and, still more, the certainty that I could receive no reply to my letter, have caused me to put off writing until to-day. I would have been very glad to have heard from Paris, especially about the subject of the last letter I sent you ; and as T hoped from day to day to receive your reply, I have delayed until the last day the last words Tvhich I cttn write to you in France. This expedition, which I did not in the least ex- pect, has been avoided as far as possible by every- body ; hence, as a matter of course, it falls to my lot. I regret that I am not to embark at least in a ship. But the worst of all is that I am again to go a long distance, and be absent, perhaps, a long time. I count on a cruise of at least a year's dura- tion ; but it is impossible to foresee anything now. Notwithstanding all the inconveniences of this Conversion. 6i voyage, I believe I have rebigned myself to it pliilo- Bophically enougli. I am fully convinced that no- body jiossessos sufficient sagacity to look into the future and so far aliead. Meanwhile, I can only say that I am hopeful. I expect quiet and iicuco on shipboard, and that is all. That being secured, I shall have, I hope, something to fill the time during the cruise." He carried books with him as usual, but his li- brary was now renewed, and religious works filled a large place in it. He knew not whither God was leading him ; by an instinctive presentiment he tried to hide away from the lash that was soon to cut hiin to the quick. Another letter, commenced at sea June 22, and finished the 27tli outside the bar of Scnesral : *' We have, my dear father, this morning, June 22, passed the Canary Ishmds without touching at them, and to-morrow we shall have the sun in the north. Madame Pages will probably before you receive this have communicated to you the con- tents of a letter I sent from Cadiz, so I need only give you my news since that date. You al- ready know from Madame Pages' letter that before going to Cadiz wc landed the consul of Mogadore at Tangier. Wc were to return for him after he should have conferred with the consul-general of France, and take him to his destination. We left Cadiz on the 13th, but we met at the entrance of the straits an extremely violent easterly wind, and the commander judged it prudent to return to Cadiz. That same evening v/o were anchored op- 62 A /ex is Chrc. posito the city. The next day, Sunday, the 14th, I was on watch, and had just succeeded in consol- ing myself for being denied the pleasure of going ashoro. There was something on shore worth going to see: there was a bull-fight in Cadiz. But, behold ! the commander advises me to go, and offers to take my place on the watch. I, not proud at all, accept. Therefore, behold again, I am at the show ! It is decidedly a realization of the absurd, the impossible. Where were ever seen, even in fairy tales, commanders keeping guard for their officers so as to let them go to bull-fights ? It is an absurdity and an impossibility I " He was a witness, then, of that bloody spectacle, that butchery, the preparations for which inspired him with only an insurmountable disgust. But soon he was astonished to find himself captivated by curiosity, by dramatic emotion, and finally seized upon by the species of frenzy that carried away the entire assemblage. ** At sight of the first two horses horribly man- gled, I was bathed with perspiration and my heart swelled in my breast ; I would much rather have been at my post on the vessel. Yet, notwithstand- ing, I remained until eight o'clock in the evening. I saw eight bulls killed, ten horses disembowelled, and two picadors carried away half dead. If the com- bat had lasted twenty-four hours, I believe I would have stayed without food or drink. Finally — can you credit it ? — at only the second bull I applauded the dexterous onsets both of the beast and of the men, I hooted at the awkward ones, and I called Conversion, 63 for the dogs Tvlien llie bull seemed to me too quiet. I said to myself : * The horses are but worthless jades, which are brought to the circus to save t!»o trouble of taking them to the slaughter-pens ; as to the picadors, they arc of about as much value as their steeds.* How well I understand now the prowess of the gladiators I How glorious it must have been to transport a whole people with admi- ration for one's skill, strength, and courage ! What an intoxication of joy must have been such a vic- tory and such applause in the full light of day ! There was an unlucky matadore ; in his place I would have let the bull kill me, or I would have killed him with a single blow. " Ah ! how much cruelty and folly are hidden and dormant in our hearts. Could I ever have believed that I would have felt and thoLi^htas I did at a bull-fight ? Imagine, then, that you know yourself only until some similar test proves to you quite the contrary ! " Yet, in spite of the disagreeable revelation, I would return directly to see bulls killed, horses torn to pieces, and picadors bruised and crushed, or I would give a good deal not to have had a first glimpse of such spectacles." At Tangier Clerc spent an evening with the French consul, who had invited for the occasion all his European colleagues. Our young officer danced, waltzed, and abandoned himself to a frank gayety, while at the same time carefully observing from the corner of his eye the cosmopolitan socie'y, and making aside to himself piquant reflections on 64 Alexis Clerc, the harmony that existed among the representa- tives of the diHerent nations, thanks to the neces- sity of agreeing together if they did not want to live like oiuls. Here U a shaft which he cannot refrain from lancing as he leaves Tangier : " We have shown this most amiable Emperor of Morocco the civility of transporting to Mogadore half a dozen little negroes, slaves and eunuchs destined for his harem, and we are going to Senegal to put down the slave-trade ! But, according to report, it is forbidden to capture, or even to see, a slave-ship. The result will enable me to affirm or deny the truth of this singular mission. I think that Mr. Billault's hubbub about his right of search is the cause of the presence of twenty-six Government vessels at this frightful station. If they occasion- ally sent all such spouters on a little hard service, I believe it would have a good effect. However, we must wait to see before we can be quite sure." He did well not to decide about the matter pre- maturely. Some days later than the date of his writing, the Caiman^ having encountered a slave- ship, performed its duty conscientiously. As to his bad humor about Mr. Billault and the negro- loving orators, obstinate as they were regarding the right of search which they talked about quite at their ease, it was very general among seamen, and other persons who thought they knew, to suspect English philanthropy of not being disinterested in claiming a right that was extremely onerous to the authorities of the French navy. Conversion. 6s On llic Toyago lie sketches the portraits of the sliip's officers, whom generally he seems to like. The commander, Captain Rousse, is a Provencal already on the down-hill hide of life and regretting a little the fig-trees and the olive-groves of his country-seat, but good, indulgent towards his in- feriors, and Yciy kindly disposed towards Ensign Clerc, to whom he teaches his profession. " Yes- terday evening he held a long conversation with me and pointed out the best and worthiest means of pre- ferment — that is to gay, gave me a summary of all that it is useful to know, indicated the methods of studying and of profitably employing the know- ledge gained. This showed experience and kind- heartedness. Thus you see, my dear father, I have fallen into good hands. It is true he makes profession of a very prosaic positivism ; but " (Clerc adds wisely) " as he w^as led to this by the excesses of contrary sentiments, and as he is now a very good man, I congratulate myself upon having him for a master. The second in rank is Mr. Esman- gard, the lieutenant, a man pleasing in his person and disposition. From the very first we im- pressed one another favorably, and if the devil does not interfere 1 shall one day have a friend in him." And true enough, they became friends. If I am correctly informed, this young officer proclaimed himself as belonging to the school of Fourier, which then counted many members, as was evi- dent in 1848. Clerc's conversion, which Esman- gard was a witness of, left their affection the ,:? C6 Alexis CI ere. m same witlionfc bringing them nearer to one another in their religious belicfa. Meanwliilc Alexis did not lose his time ; he re- flected, he studied, sometimes mathematics, some- times political economy, and oftener still religion ; it was plain that the last was in reality his chief business. One day he wrote to his brother Jules these singu- lar lines ; the embarrassment visible in them betrays the thought which possessed him and ruled him in spite of himself : " I have been twisting my pen in my fingers a quarter of an hour without daring to write a word. In fact, it's a great bore to talk always about one's self. I declare that if you do not send me back change (and with interest, too) for my gold piece, it's finished — I will write to you no more. This condition laid down, I now con- tinue. The little time that is left from play, sleep, or work, I read J. B. Say and the *His- toire des Variations.' They form a striking enough contrast ; the one is occupied with only material goods, and never imagines that there are any others, and the other pays not the slightest at- tention to aught that is not spiritual. But there arc books that one must be acquainted with ; the only way to do is to pick out what is good in them and leave the rest. Then, besides, our profession obliges us to learn from books what you civilians learn in spite of yourselves. We must know what views to hold on the questions of customs, com- merce, manufactures, colonization, commercial treaties. AVe may have to meddle in such matters, Conversion, 67 and then it would be too late to begin to study tbem \\\} ; bence the mixture in wbicb I have been stirring recently. It is now past midnight, and past my watch also. Good-night. I am going to take Bossuet ; be has the privilege of keeping me company until I fall asleep." Again taking bis pen, he adds : "I make all sorts of efforts to become wiser and more reli- gions; but it is difficult, and my stay in Paris helped to increase the obstacles. I hope that you are on the same road, and I do not doubt that you travel it more rapidly than I. I recommend to you Bossuet's 'Meditations' and 'Elevations'; they are two excellent books." The two brothers had derived from the same sources the germ of religious indifference. But grace acted on their hearts simultaneously, and the hour approached when the joy felt by each on returning to God would bo doubled by the re- turn and the complete reconciliation of a well- beloved brother. Shortly before arriving at Gabon Alexis wrote again to his father ; we must read between the lines of this letter to guess what was passing in his soul. " Mr Dear Father : TVe met this morning a poor devil of a slave-trader. We were sailing quietly towards Gabon. We kindled the fires, and an hour later the vessel received one of our boats. * '■v:f| * The slaver was, therefore, captured, and the commander of the Caiman fulfilled his duty by preventing the transpor- tation of the poor victims of the traffic. 68 Alexis CI ere. The prize is about starting off again, and I shall confide this letter to it. "You know very well, dear father, that it is only in romances that sailors lead an adventurous life. In reality, nothing is so uniform, so regular; it is almost a monastic life, and truly I have abso- lutely nothing to tell you, for there has nothing happened but the weather. But one may talk without saying anything. "Well, then, I am in very good health ; I am not tired, and I no longer feel that terrible need of Paris which tormented me so much hardly a year ago. This does not pre- vent me from desiring and regretting it, but it is not a suffering. "I am always as comfortable as possible on this ship, yet, nevertheless, I want to leave it to go with Esmangard on a sailing vessel. "The departure of the officer who commands our capture of this morning leaves me, after the lieutenant, the oldest officer on board, so that the next capture could, if I wished, put me off and consequently bring me back to France. What do you think of it ? But wo should not sell the bear's skin. . . . "I hope to find letters at Gabon, where we shall be in a few days. As yet I have received none. In Paris they know not the good letters do a poor exile. You — you are not separated ! " Do you not think there was a sort of fatality in my embracing this mode of life ? I am not com- plaining of it, I am almost as happy as possible ; but it seems to me that there was something for- Convcrsio7i. 69 las the the md do ir's eign to my will which urged me five years ago to decide for the sea. Five years ! I have had to count it over several times. Yes, it is five years since I left you ; five years I I am twenty-seven now. How quickly time passes even when one is unhappy ! But past sorrow is a present joy ; it is sweet to remember it. " I am exerting all my efforts to become wise, my dear father — that is to say, religious, for there is no happiness outside of religion. I have great need of counsel ; I am entirely deprived of it ; I should find such excellent in France. " I charge you, dear father, to embrace Jules for me — Jules, that good and honest man ; tell him, without wounding his modesty, that I do not know where to find a heart as intelligent and as devoted as his. . . *' Farewell, dear father. I embrace you with all my heart ; take care of yourself. If I only might wish you a rest ! But you consider your work as a duty. We understand you, but we would rather htive you live for yourself a little towards the end. Farewell, dear father ! " At last he saw Gabon, that new sort of a pro- mised land, an arid and mountainous coast just on the equator. There, however, milk and honey flowed for him ; there he tasted the joy of feeling himself at peace with God and with his own conscience, and when he quitted the African shore to return to Fj'ancc he had commenced a new life. ;o Alexis Clcrc. t Wo have before us a letter to liis brother, dated Wydah, January 25, 1847 : ** A missionary wlio took passage on the Caiman at Goree tells us that Wydah is a city of the powerful kingdom of Dahomey. The king of this country is cele- brated in Guinea for his palace with its walls ornamented with human bones, and for his famous noble-guard composed of women armed cajy-d-pie and possessed of invincible courage." "' In this letter, filled with warm expressions of af- fection, there is manifest the joy of the prodigal son restored to his father's favor. Alexis had just learned through friends who had written to him from Paris that his brother, touched like himself by grace, now fulfilled all the duties of a fervent Christian. lie offers him the hearty congratu- lations of a man who knows the value of a sincere conversion and is on the way to an experience of it : " How far this kingdom is from that of the world ! how it superabounds in goodness ! how firm are its foundations ! It has not been given me to witness your happiness, to associate myself with it ; this joy is perhaps reserved for us; we will both pray for it." Then, thinking of the innocence of his early childhood, guarded by a good and pious mother, it no longer appears to him as a reproach, but rathei? as a motive for hojiing a great deal. What could * Latter of Father Briot, missionai-y apostolic of the Con- gregation of i he Holy Heart of Mary, to Father Libermann, superior of the same congregation ("Annals of the Propaga- tion of the Faith," vol. xx. p. 334). Conversion. 71 there be more toue]iin-r (-.„„ „ . "t 'he moment when ^e IZ "' "^ "^ '>'« ''^•'''•t fff'in toUiih and vir ue < V""'"^ l>ein.? born 'e Joi» a poor, bolv 1 ' , """'' "^°"' seek certainly with all l^er mHit " """' "' ■""=' All his views of lifo ^ i ^y 'he sight of tl,e eternUvT^ f ?'' cmbeHi^bcd ""d ho does not tiro o7 ,? ^- '''"''" '"= "^P^ws. "H°>v happy I ;,„f," ' J' ;° ^° K'-«at a happiness! ""^self with you onlL ^'"'™'"'^'''°fin'J change there w^l beTn n '" ' ■*^''"" » ''»PPy ""fortunate ha 1 eu ZT^f^'^'^^" How' wucl, wore unfortunate o ,r""^"''"°' ""'^ ^^"^ W.at a clemency it LL?,,'"^'°"f ^^"m a">iable I pWJe and corrupUo "1, '" '""« ^'"''"•ed this in all (his ! >' ^ ' ""'" ''«^^7 is my account Tlie Christian Tirhmc -...i • . '•" tho same timr taken""' ''''<=™' '"'-^' «" '■"■«ih-ty, mistru 'of i\ T'"'-:'? '' '"'^ ^0"> = ""tlmrity of the ChurcT ' ' '"''''^ w^'ectfor the '-■«. «» !' "' " '"'"^ ''"■J ' ^-^"^ highest advantage. Solitude i"'y iM . i 72 Alexis Clerc, may be profitable, but it may also be dangerous, and with my Latin Bible — which I perhaps misun- (lorstand oftener tlian I am aware of — for my only conversation, I am exposed to many perils. I have continual fears and doubts, and, to say noth- ing of the thousand doctrinal errors into which I may fall daily without knowing it, I dare not im- pose upon myself certain obligations which might be useless or hurtful, and I am afraid not to im- pose them. **St. Paul says wo must be contented with the measure of grace granted to each one of us. I never know whether through a guilty ambition I desire to go beyond that, or whether through sloth I remain behind it. '* It may be that in a position so different from mine you will not understand these anxieties, and if so I congratulate you. I cannot help imagining that you enjoy the peace promised to men of good will. Still, I think this is not Avithout some p.4ss- ing troubles. But I am happy when my thoughts rest upon you ; it seems to me then that it is a re- flection of your happiness which reaches me." The change was complete and without relapse. How was it brought about ? We were ignorant until quite recently, when we met a worthy witness of this great and consoling conversion. A spiritual son of the Rev. Father Libermann, a missionary of the Congregation of the Holy Heart of Mary, re- turned from Gabon, it appears as if expressly, to impart to us what we so greatly desired to know ; having now gone back to his dear mission, he con- Conversion. 71 hsc. [ant less tual of re- I, to )w; ton- tinucs to evangelize the poor negroes of the African coast. "0 unhappy Guinea!" cried the venerated Father Libermanu, " it scorns to me that you arc filling up my heart. The misfortunes of those poor souls oppress and overwhelm me." In the month of September, 1843, he had sent to Guinea seven missionaries, who landed at Cape Pal mas on the 29th of the following Kovembcr. Three of this number were soon carried off by fever or apo- plexy, and the rest were dispersed by the fury of the negroes. It was to fill up those vacancies, or rather to commence anew so difficult an enterprise, that the Fathers Briot de la Mallerio and Leberro went on board the Caiman in the bay of Goree. Father Leberro, who alone has survived, and whom I saw during his stay in Paris, remembers very well Commander Rousse and his lieutenant, Mr. Esmangard, the intimate friend of Eusign Clerc. Esmangard was a Fouricrite, and the other officers made profession of indifference or else of incre- dulity. After being some days at sea they began to argue with the missionaries. One of these, Fa- ther Briot de la Mallerie, had been in the navy, and this, added to his strong character, gave him some chance of being listened to. None lent a more attentive and more sympathetic ear to his discourse than the ensign, Alexis Clerc, who was always ready to respect convictions. One day, having himself engaged in the discussion, he sud- denly braved his comrade Esmangard, and on the deck of the vessel, in presence of the entire staff 74 A lev is CliTc, of officers and all the passengers, he made Tvitli a certain solemnity the following declaration : " Af- ter all, gentlemen, the principles which a Christian mother has instilled in the heart of her child are the ones which remain most deeply engraven there, and are also the ones which arc the best." "From that moment," continned the Rev. Fa- ther Laberre, "he seemed to enter on the true road of conversion. lie asked Father Briot for a catechism, doubtless to refresh his memory on the principal truths of our holy religion, and to pre- pare himself to practise it. At the establishment of St. Mary in Gabon he made a general confession and received Holy Communion. Another officer belonging to the Caiman followed his example." Finally a last revelation reaches us unexpectedly, and permits us to lay hold of Clcrc in the height of the struggle, on the eve of his last combat, and yet again while he was still quivering from the agony he went through before gaining the groat victory. He had in the navy a Christian friend, Claude Joubert, a simple ensign, with whom he was inti- mate on the frigate Charter which brought them both back to France after their first cruise in the southern seas. Since then Joubert had left the service, not to be idle, but with the thought of receiving Holy Orders and of one day consecrating himself to the labors of the apostolate. An apostle he already was, and he urged his beloved com- panion to no longer resist grace. For the rest, he was one of those sure friends to whom one may ,'» I Conversion^ 75 anil tlic iiulc inti- hem in left tof ting ostle om- it, he may confide everything. Ho died at twenty-nine years of age, a deacon, bearing to the tomb the secret of those intimate conversations which had caused liim i(i see a ves^scl of election in that soul, still the slave of llesh and blood, that he strove to conquer to Jesus Christ. But he had preserved the letters he received from Gabon and other places, and be- hold ! after thirty years they fall into our hands ; they are full of light — of a light that illuminates the depth of the abyss whence our new convert escapes with a joy mingled with fear and astonish- ment. Clerc wrote for the first time to his friend from *'In sight of Gabon, December 8, 1840." After some details that would be of no interest to the reader, he says : " I come at last to thank you for your kind letter. How opportunely it arrived ! hew affectionate it is, and how it touches the exact spot where I feel my disease ! my dear friend ! write to me often, even when you do not receive a reply. The great distance, you know, may be the cause of this, and I am very sorry to think that you have not written since the 30th of May, and tliat you will not write again until you have re- ceived this letter. Do not continue this plan, dear friend; the utility of your letters makes it your duty to send them to me frequently. Show me your heart, your struggles, your success. You are ahead of me in the good path ; you owe me ex- ample and encouragement. " I am on board the steam corvette Ca'lmmi at the station on the western coast of Africa. I am 76 Alexis CUtc, also as happy as possible. The vessel is in per- fect peace. I am on tlio best terms with the captain, and the lieutenant, who is named Esman- gard, is my friend. The men are gently and justly governed by the lieutenant ; he is an old friend of Desmarets. lie has no faiih ; but I shall do so much, he has such good qualities. . . . He will re- ceive it. My dear Joubert, it is idleness that is my enemy now. This tranquil happiness enervates me. I am tormented, nevertheless I do not rest in my idleness without remorse, but I do not find strength to will to overcome it ; I am always in this cruel dilenwia * of not daring to frame for myself a rule of conduct, for fear that it might be extravagant, or that I would follow it only through pride, and of wishing to frame one so that my ef- forts to be good may be rewarded. I need assis- tance; I am abandoned, am without direction. I beg of you make me a rule ; I promise you I will follow it exactly. . . . You pity such weakness, but it is my state, Human respect also restrains me. If I were sure of persevering I would not mind it ; but I am so weak that I fear a thousand falls, and my ostensible efforts would then appear ri- diculous. Moreover, nowadays people pretend to be pious through ambition, and I would die of shame if a fault, alas I only too probable, should justify the opinion that I had been looking out for an epaulette among the missionaries. All this is very trifling, is it not ? But it is just so with me. ♦We leave this word, although it is improperly used,— Author. Conversion, 77 You see I have need of you. I will pray, and per- haps to-morrow I will have strength to go to the missionaries. But send mc all the same a rule to follow, one compatible with my profession. Jesus Ciirist has promised to bo where two or three are ^fathered tosethor in his name. But I— I 3d.- seek him alone ; will ho come ? Perhaps I am wandering in the paths of pride instead of advanc- ing on the road of charity." The first confidences of our young sailor stop here ; they reveal all the hesitations of his will in view of a duty that he regards as certain, and that he would be happy to fulfil if he were more sure of himself. lie continued in this state a long time ; it might have been feared that grace, after having vainly knocked at the door of his heart, would grow weary and abandon him to a false and fatal security. But no, it will not be thus ; God is watching over that soul that is really generous but sleeping, and he will not deprive himself of the glory it will render him when once it is forever attached to his service. The entire month passes, and Clerc, returning from Gabon, again writes to his friend : " Jaituary 11, 1817. " My dear Joubert : Just as I wrote the last word of the preceding sheet I heard a boat being got ready. . . . I do not know if I had any merit in it, but without stopping to consult myself I made my escape to the shore. I went to the priests and I confessed on the 11th of December. I received absolution almost moment for moment twenty- 78 Alfxis CI ere. seven years after my birth, * and the same day we sailed. Congratulate me; a difficulfcstep is taken, and it was perhaps your letter which decided me. 1 have since made great efforts to live well, but you know how hard it is and how much we need help. Still, at sea one is removed from many dan- gers ; the senses are in an almost unnatural drowsi- ness. Truly man is like a stone on the top of a mountain ; it is firm on its base, but if it is moved little by little, and at last after great exertions made to roll over once, it will continue to roll of itself, slowly at firist ; perhaps it might then bo possible to stop it ; but soon its course is impetu- ous ; no obstacles can arrest it ; it passes over them with prodigious bounds whicli augment its velocity yet more ; it bruises, it drags after it all it en- counters ; it precipitates itself as with an ever-in- creasing fury even into the depths of the abyss. Joubcrt ! let my lamentable experience serve you as an example ; may it be one to me ! I feel that I have not the strength meanwhile to resi such a trial as my imagination pictures ; I pray earnestly for help, and I endeavor to distract my mind from those phantoms. " A youth passed in all sorts of excesses is a very great misfortune. You have no knowledge of those phantoms which have so long pursued me ; I owe it only to God's grace that I am less frequently bc- * Cl'^rc thought ho was born on tho 11th of December, and that is the day ho had inscribed in the Catalogue of the Pro- vinco of Franco as the date of his birth. But we see from the registry of his baptism, and from his record of service, that he was born on the 12th. CoftversioH, 79 7ery [owe be- and iFro- litho ItUat set by them. When I cast my eyes behind mo I am soon obliged to withdraw my gaze. What I ask oftencst and most earnestly of God is to have a horror of evil, to weep over my past ; I have not yet obtained it. ''You see, my dear Joubert, how worthy of pity my condition is. It seems to me that if it were necessary to die for my salvation I would not hesi- tate, yet I live with apprehension. What a crea- ture man is ! It is easier, then, for him to sacrifice his life than to deny his passions. Solitude is often fatal, society almost always so. Would you be- lieve that it is impossible for mo to spc ]d one day without speaking ill of somebody ? I know how strongly evil-speaking is forbidden, but it is so common a topic that one must condemn one's self to an absolute silence to avoid falling into it. "I cannot understand charity. I do not know how to love a man filled with faults ; it is difCcnlt to detest the faults and to love the man who delights in them. The remedy would bo to judge nobody, but that is still more impracticable. I search diligently, but I cannot find in myself any possible solution of the problem. How can wo avoid judging actions which strike us, sentiments which people take pleasure in revealing to us ? I know that I am myself full of faults, that I cherish a multitude of guilty sentiments in which I de- light, but this does not influer'^o my judgment of others ; certainly if I had to condemn, it would ren- der me indulgent, and I think I would never con- demn. " iuni'. 80 Alexis Clerc. But not to judge and think : that is good or that is lad, is beyond me — I cannot help it; neither can I help thinking: that man is lad, sensual, dishonest, etc. Oh ! if the yoke is easy and the burden light, it is also very true that the road is rough and narrow." Finally, on the 20tli of January, before sealing his letter, Clerc added these few words: *'I take advantage of an unexpected opportunity of send- ing you this letter, but it leaves a crowd of things still unsaid. Since the lltli I have received letters from France. God's hand is revealing itself to me, dear Joubert. Mv brother has returned to the bosom of the Church and has communicated. . . . I have had a fit of the most intense aversion for the sea. I am unsettled. If this continuance of aversion is a sign from God to quit the profession, I am ready ; but I do not vi ant to quit it as a coward — that is to say, from human motives. Enlighten me, and pray for me. *' Adieu, dear and faithful friend ! Pray for an unfortunate who is very often shaken by circum- stances, and much tormented bv his own heart. I embrace you. A. 0." It was something admirable ; being once entered on that narrow way which he had approached but with fear and trembling, Clerc did not«igain fall back, as he had so much dreaded, and as had seemed inevitable to him when he considered only his own weakness of which he had Imd, still quite recently, a sad but final experience. The danger- ous images of his past, the odious phantoms which Conversion. o ol cognised re;r:SorL"r?'''^t'' ^'"y "« '■«" "Come to n>e ; von I JTf ^^"^'^'"^ ^»''^-- upon jou, and learn of If because I ,"^' "^^ ^"^^ luimble of heart ind vln i ^? , ""* °'«"='' "nd souls. For^Ty^lcet .CunL "1° 'T' '° ^""^ (St. Mutt. xi. L-30) ^ ^ »>? barden light" ;■.)'; 'p. I CHAPTER III. ALEXIS' PROGRESS IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE— SERVICE ON SHORE— L'ORIENT, INDRET, BREST. Retuened to Franco in the summer of 1847, Alexis is another man ; his old companions, "wit- nesses of so unexpected a transformation, do not in the least understand it and cannot believe their eyes. Is it some strange eccentricity ? Is it a jest, a wager ? Is he truly in his right senses, and how long will it last ? But he declares to them that it is a very serious matter, and that, with the grace of God, he will never change again. His neophyte's fervor recalls the cry of Polyene to on coming forth from his baptism : " Aliens, mon clier Ndarque, allons aux yeux des hommes Braver I'idolatrie et moutrer qui nous sommes. " * Alas I in the Paris of the nineteenth century the cry, I am a Christian ! still astonishes many pagan ears and excites tlie rage of persecutors ; and Clerc was one day to learn something of this. Meanwhile he passed for a fool, or at least for a great singularity, among people who had seen him as much a stranger as themselves to all religious * Let us go, my dear Nearchus, let us go in the sight of men to defy idolatry and show who we are, 63 Service on Shore. 83 the jan md ihis. reat as lous tlioiiglits. In his eyes the folly was in not believing in Jesus Christ and in not walking in his foot- steps; he explained himself on the subject with a sharpness of expression well suited to disconcert those to whom his new mode of life appeared un- reasonable, and who came to sound his dispositions with more of malicious curiosity than of interest and sympathy. On one occasion he was met by an old com- panion, since become captain of a frigate and an assistant professor at the Polytechnic School ; a man of much spirit, but a sceptic and greatly puzzled at such a change. ^' What is this report, my dear Clerc, about your having turned Jesuit ? " Clerc was not yet a Jesuit, but wo know what the word means on the lips of those who are not even Chris- tians. *' Yes, of course * I have, as every man of heart and intelligence would if he were not an igno- ramus." This was his answer, and " Clerc's tone, gesture, and eyes were such that I saw there was no chance for discussion ; I left him, promising mvself never to return." If he had always answered in this manner he would not have eilected many conversions. For- tunately, in time he acquired more control of himself, not without effort, but with a merit as much greater as this slightly rude frankness was natural to his character. He had a little circle of friends in Paris to whom his conversion, so long waited for, was a subject of * Of course is not in the original. — Author. 84 A /ex is Clerc. fife' I*; much joy. The best of tlieso was his brother Jules, who became at the same time as himself a ferveut Catholic. Both brothers had from child- hood been friends with a valiant writer who had early consecrated his pen to tlie triumph of reli- gion, and whose home was radiant with the loveli- est virtues united in the person of a distinguished wife whom God had brought to a knowledge of his law by extraordinary ways. Mr. and Madame de S (discretion forbids us to name them more plainly) were friends in the fullest sense, and as they followed the inspirations of faith in everything, they celebrated in the holiest manner, by joining him at the sacred banquet, the return of this pro- digal son to his Father's house. Mr. Jules Clerc had confided the care of his soul to the Abbe de la Bouillerie, then Vicar-General of Paris, and since successively Bishop of Car- cassonne and Coadjutor of Bordeaux. But one of the brothers could not have a friend or a guide who was not also the friend and guide of the other ; therefore, after a short stay in Paris which sufficed to acquaint him with the valua of such a friendship, Alexis testified for the Abbe de la Bouillerie the same affection and filial confidence as if he had always been his spiritual son. He was not inclined to forget the faithful Jou- bert, his first guide and his model in the generous accomplishment of all the obligations of Chris- tianity. What had become of that dear companion, of whom he had not heard since his departure from Gabon ? He did not know, but supposed he was 011- ous ris- ion, •om Iwas Service on Shore, 85 still with his family at Pont-de-Vaux* (Depart- ment of Ain). It was there that he addressed a let- ter to him on the 27th of August, 1847, heing him- self at Lorient and still on the Caiman, for he had spent but a very short time in Paris : **A11 my efforts now tend to becoming Christian and to loving God very much. I ought not to talk to you of my efforts, because, in truth, I am very inert, without either courage or perseverance. I am like a ship disabled, but God, who has been so good as to recall mc to himself, will make this poor hulk drift towards the surest port. But I should aid myself according to my means, and I do very little. I must tell you what he has done for me lately. You know me, dear friend, and you know that I have a restless nature, active enough, not profound at all, and tolerably inconstant. You know also what this life on shipboard is — unoccu- pied and trifling, leaving the whole day for idle dreaming. I was very uneasy about being in such a life, especially with the privation of a church added to it. I believe that it is really dangerous. During our last voyage I kept a sort of diary, wrote almost every day all my disquietudes, all my fears, and all my thoughts, so that I think I made a pretty exact likeness of myself. My plan was to give the manuscript to some priest, who might from read- ing it be able immediately to advise and help me. The life we sailors lead is so uncertain that it is * Pont-de-Vaux was tha native place of General Jo^bcr^, and our Claude Joubert was one of the nephews of that illus- trious soldier. 'rr 86 Alexis Clerc. w prudent for us to get the start of opportunities. But it was necessary to find a priest. My brother sent me to see his director. I did not wait to con- sider ; I gave him my papers, and tlie good God Has permitted me to find liim one of the best and most intelligent of men. He is the Abbe de la Bouillerie, the first vicar of the Archbishop of Paris. I did not know him at all, and I could not have made a better choice. lie inspires me with as much affection as respect. I only regret that, busy as he is, I must increase his burden of cares ; yet I take a kind of egotistical pleasure in being allowed to. "I do not feel in a mood to talk to you any longer now. Consider this as a mere announce- ment of my arrival. Inform mo of all that con- cerns you, and rely upon my haste in answering your letter. I am at present at Lorient on board the Caiman. " I need a great deal of help. I recommend myself to your prayers. A. 0." When this letter reached Joubert he had already said good-by to the world, and was residing no longer with his family, but at the Seminary of Issy near Paris ; he had commenced at Issy the studies which, continued the following year at the Semi- nary of St. Sulpice, were to prepare him for the reception of holy orders. We may judge of his joy at seeing Clerc so well started on the right road. Clerc had begun his letter by saying : " You con- tributed to my conversion. I shall never forget you." To inform his beloved comrade of the sue- Service on Shore. 87 les li- Ihe lis Id. In- let c- V cessful issue of liis vocation, to talk to liim of the happiness of retreat, of the spiritual delights of the seminary life, of his venerated directors, of his new studies, which nourished his soul while enlighten- ing his mind, and were in this so different from the proud science of the world ; then to make it a duty to find for him at Lorient a new guide, if possible another Abbe de la Bouillerie — such was the first inspiration of Claude Joubert, and he succeeded in it all beyond his hopes. We would here say a word in praise of this holy young man, of whom the Seminary of St. Sulpice had but a glimpse ; his memory has not entirely disappeared from there, and one of the present directors,* who was his fel- low-seminarian, tells us that if he had lived he would certainly have made a zealous priest. Hum- ble, modest, reserved, perfectly faithful to the rules, he spoke little of his past, and it was scarcely known in the circle of his intimate companions that he had had the experience of a cruise in the Southern seas. In the beginning of September, Clerc, at last off the Ca'imaji, was attached to the Superintend- ence of the port of Lorient. It was his first station on the coast of Brittany. During the three years following he had no fixed residence, his duties calling him by turns to Brest, to Saint Nazaire, to Paimbceuf, and to Indret, not to speak of several short voyages on the CajfarelU, the Caravane, and the Duguesclin. The reader would take little in- + The Abb6 Sire. m.\ ;.(![ ''Ill 88 Alexis Clcrc. ■^ ! teresfc in accompanying the young officer in these diflerent wanderings. The special service in which he was employed on the steamer Pelican is of a little more consequence, and we shall have a word to say ahout it at the proper time. The great ad- vantage which he found in these various situations was having time to recollect himself, and to de- vote himself, undistracted hy worldly matters, to prayer, study, and good wcks. A letter, dated Lorient, Scptemhcr 17, 1847, and addressed to his brother Jules, puts before our eyes, so to speak, the first effort of his zeal, and shows us a discernment not at all to be expected from so inexperienced a missionary, It relates to a friend — we will call him Alphonse — whom his bro- ther and Mr. do S , together with himself, were laboring to bring back to the right path, and to whom they had recommended Pascal's ** Pensees" and La Bruy^re's chapter on *' Les Esprits Ports." Alexis disapproved the choice of this reading, which he judged would produce but little effect, and he endeavored to gain his two auxiliaries to his view of the case. **It is very true that Pascal's 'Pensues' which first opened, the way to me, and the chajDter on *Les Esprits Ports' which I read shortly after, are books I regard as very good and very for- cible, which I have no intention of attacking, and which, on the contrary, I am ready to defei d. But the ' Pensces' are difficult of comprehension, and, it seems to me, would make no impression on a mind that was not reflective. And I believe that. Service on S/iore, 89 »» j> cli Ion id taking in a mass those of them which Alphonso would read and undcrstantl, those lie would read without iinderstandin-i, and those he would not read at all, and regarding the impulse that now animates him, the whole would form a very foggy cloud, which would flee away behind him without his so much as glancing at it once again. The chapter on ' Lcs Esprits Forts,' — I agree that he will be able to read it through without skipping ; it is malicious and vivacious enough to interest him. But, thank God ! Alphonse cannot be placed in La Bruy ore's category oi strong minds. "Alphonse is neither a strong mind nor a scep- tic Alphonse — and you can tell him so from me — belongs to none of the philosophical cate- gories. His philosophy consists in having no philosophy, because philosophy is a bore, and his cliicf business is to be bored as little as possible. Do not address yourself to his mind to convince it; it is already convinced. The only thing is, he docs not want to think of the matter, and he suc- ceeds tolerably well. Supposing that you should convince him, have you not seen him a hundred times perfectly convinced, fully decided upon a resolution which he has not even tried to put in practice ? But tell him, and repeat it over and over again, that if he is without force, strength, there is a way to acquire it, that he must ask for it. He knows where the good is, but he has not strength to desire it. Tell him to ask for that strong! h. It is not his mmd he must conquer ; it is his passions. Be persistent in inducing him to IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I 1.25 :^ 1^ 112.0 1.8 ^ Illlli4 <^ '/] Ss /a o 7 /A ^ 4^ o "% 1^ i\ »H, 90 Alexis Clerc, make little sacriflces ; help him when ho docs well, encourage him ; do not leave him long to himself. Say nothing of what there may be, at the com- mencement, sad in religion ; be as gay and as agreeable as possible ; let him see that religion has sweet joys, permitted pleasures ; and take special care to pay him, as far as you can, with a reward for every sacrifice you obtain from him. Finally, let him feel that to become a Christian is not to die. You will accomplish nothing with argumen- tative blows ; you will do everything by attentions, by persistence, and by making him feel the sweetness of lawful pleasures. In conclusion, my dear Jules, remind him of what I told him to en- grave on his memory. "I cannot conceal from you that I consider your task a very heavy one ; but you have good courage, and God will assist you. " I say all this not to vex you, which I would not for the world. If you are not convinced that I am right about the matter, there is always for a consulter that unfortunate Abbe de la Bouillerie who made in us acquaintances very fatal to his poaco and quiet." Alexis' letter to his brother Jules terminates with tbd following recommendation : " I ought to have spoken to you of an old friend of mine, an old pupil of the Polytechnic School and a midshipman with me on board the Chartc^ who has laid aside the cuirass and taken up the hair-cloth. This worthy young fellow is at St. Sulpice, and I knew nothing about it. I mucii regret not having Service on Shore, ^i seen liim, and I commission you to make liis ac- quaintance ; I think it will be an advantage to you. His name is Claude Joubert. He will be at Issy, at the seminary, until the lOtli of October, and after that date at the Seminary St. Sulpice in Paris. You will oblige me by delivering my letter to Jou- bert yourself." These are the contents of Alexis' letter to his old comrade : " I was severely punished for my delay in writ- ing to you by being ignorant that I could see you while I was in Paris. The occasions of our meet- ing will perhaps be so rare that I deeply regret the one I have let slip. It is sweet to me, it would have been useful to mo to see you in peace and at study. You have worked a good deal ; the numer- ous quotations in your letter prove this. What a charming work that must be which initiates us into sucli grand sentimenls, into such grand ideas I And are we not to be pitied for having so long worn ourselves out with working at useless things ? My dear Joubert, you have preceded me in the nar- row way ; you have had the happiness of breaking with the world ; j sure to always remember and pity me. I am very often afraid of seeking to serve two masters at once ; I wish I could be able once and for ever to reject the tyrant and keep the father. I wish the impossible, . . . the binding of my will irrevocably to the good. Living in the world, temptations may present themselves in so many expected or unexpected ways that we need still more help from God to save us from falling; fi Alexis Clerc, and yet in the activity of our life liow difficult it is to find the recollection of prayer ! The danger is especially great, it seems to me, because it is com- posed of many very little dangers which wc do not sufficiently dread, and our negligence in avoiding them causes us to fall into a state of languor wherein wc no longer feel the help of grace, and arc no longer worthy of it. Conversation particu- larly is a snare of this sort, especially to talka- tive persons whose petty vanity enjoys intensely the success of a well-said and well-placed word. Those who love to hear themselves talk and who arc willingly listened to, are very apt to talk non- sense. " I believe I told you how useful the letter I re- ceived from you at Gabon was to me. Your last also arrived very opportunely ; let this encourage you not to be lazy about writing. I made haste to find the Abbo Stevant ; I spent nearly two hours with him, and the time was well employed. Please thank the Abbe Pinault* for the excellent ac- quaintance he has procured me. I know Father Pinault by name through a little scientific dispute which Bertrand \ had with him on the subject of a chapter of his * Treatise on the Differential Cal- culus.' I am very grateful to him for being in- terested in my conversion, and for the service ho has just rendered me, and I ask of him the per- * Director at the Seminary of Issy. Ho was a distinguished mathematician, formerly professor of the University and mas- ter of the conferences at the Superior Normal School. t Mr. Joseph Bertrand, now one of the perpetual secretaries of the Academy of Sciences. Service on Shore, 93 ' 'I rc- last ige to LUS ase ac- er te of al- in- ho er- Ibed las- ries mission, of which I shall avail myself when God wills, to call to thank him in person. "The Abbe Stovant appears to well deserve the title of * holy priest ' which you give him. It is touching to see these men of God blot out their personality so completely that they never speak of themselves directly or indirectly ; they belong en- tirely to others ; one might say that their souls could not go to be united to God, except they were carried by those they have aided, encouraged, and guided to a happy end. This is by way of telling you that I was most cordially received. I was just then in great perplexity, and, thanks to Abbe Sto- vant, I am relieved of it. He seemed to me, on that point which I found difficult, not less intelligent and enlightened than kind and devoted. "I got him to describe to me a day at Saint Sul- pice. He is overflowing with pleasant memories of that house, and regards the days he spent there as the happiest of his life. You also tell me that you have never tasted so much happiness. I believe full well that what I know of it is indeed happiness, but I must congratulate you on receiv- ing strength to bear up under so prolonged a strain on the mind. A single hour of rest during the day would be insufficient amid such serious and difficult studies, if you had not the advantage of Ihiding in your frequent visits to the chapel re- freshment and assistance to temper you again, as Abbe Stovant expresses it. It is a great happiness to pray from the fulness of one's heart, to be im- patient at being prevented from praying, uot to 94 Alexis Clerc. have to oblige one's self to pray by saying : *It is the hour ; I must pray.' To know how to pray is to pray with attraction, to pray with love. We must love in order to pray, we must pray in order to love — it is a veritable circle; it has neither be- ginning nor end, and we cannot move around it unless we have received a good initial impulse to determine our motion, and unless we experience the centripetal force that makes us describe it. . . . My comparison is not a very happy one, but it is very certain that we can neither love nor pray unless God gives us the power. The whole tiling is perhaps the history of the ten talents which in the hands of the diligent steward increased a hun- dred-fold. At first we receive grace to prny a lit- tle, and if we make good use of our capital we gain power to love a liutlo more, and consequently to pray better, and so on. Oh ! to love God is the great thing." Clerc still feared at this time to bo overcome by despair if he should have the misfortune of falling again into his old faults ; he frankly acknowledges this to his friend, while promising to remember that in the most extreme cases there always remains to the sinner a plank of salvation. Finally he speaks of his studies ; he has undertaken to read St, Thomas of Aquin. *' It is difl&cult for me, less because it is written in Latin than on account of its being full of the philosophy of Aristotle, of which I am perfectly ignorant. But I shall succeed in going through it, I hope. •* To conclude," he adds, "I announce to you Service on Shore, 95 by lling Qges iibcr lains |y ^'^ lieacl less it of le, of Icecd that I have engaged my brother Jules to call upon you. I am sure you will be pleased with him ; it is not possible to find a better creature ; he helps everybody, loves everybody, and forgets only him- self ; ho is a good Christian, of a rather fresh date like myself, but he has nicely improved his time. Ilis is a simple and upright heart ; I do not think he is very philosophical, but he loves God and his neighbor a great deal. As for me, I find that he loves me a little too well. *' I,shall soon be deprived of Abbu Stcvant, who starts for Renncs Sunday morning. "If you want to know about my position, my brother will tell you. Adieu. A. C." At Lorient Clerc found another comrade, Mr. C , belonging also to the navy, but who at that lime in his religious ideas was where our new con- vert was when he left the Polytechnic School. "He came to sec me," said Mr. C , when wo asked for his reminiscences, "' to resume, or rather to begin, our acquaintance. At the very first ho told me of his conversion. The news was so unex- pected that I did not believe it, taking it for some pleasantry or jest, the point of which I could not understand. At last, however, I was convinced that he spoke seriously. From our professional relations there soon sprang sympathy and friend- ship, and we spent together till the close of 1847 several very agreeable months which I have always liked to remember." The reader will guess that he who speaks thus is now a Christian. He attributes the happy change c/, Alexis Clcrc, lo Iiis friend's inllucnco in a great degree. But his conversion was only completed much later, and we shall see with what ingenious zeal, with what pas- sionate ardor, Clerc was still laboring for it, with- out ever losing courage, several years after his en- trance into the Society of Jesus. Mr. C introduces us to the solitary and stu- dious life in which Clerc found such pleasure at Lorient, and which must have seemed very unna- tural to those who were acquainted with his social character and his old habits of dissipation. '* I had rented," this faithful witness tells us, "in common with another friend, a little house and garden ia a suburb of Lorient. After the business of the day was over we were accustomed to go there to spend a few hours and breathe the fresh air. Clerc, being added to our society, found the garden pleasant, and, having no active service just then, he installed himself in the little house. There he devoted all his time to meditation and study. To our great astonishment he read the " Summa " of St. Thomas from morning till night ; but for all that he did not show himself less gay or less amiable when we went out to pass a few hours with him. I greatly admired his virtue, his firm convictions, his aspi- rations towards the good, and his contempt for the things of thi^ world. Notwithstanding that, all the efforts he made to win us over did not in the least succeed, and despite our affection for him, and the harmony of our intercourse, we considered him a little cracivcd. The summer ended, winter came, and we returned to the city; we continued Service on Shore. 97 lomas le tli^' !|: erred iii avoiding fruitless cc ^troversies. Alexis, who was of the same opinion, suggested to him some yery wise reflections on the subject : " In the first place, it is, as you think, quite use- less to carry on arguments with Protestants. This is one of the cases in which we ought not to fight even for principles. I say fight; we ought not to even discuss, Ii your Protestants want to argue, listen to them only as far as politeness will not permit you to do otherwise. If they viant to learn, recommend them to read Bossuet's * Hlstoiro des Variations.' In this way you will satisfy both charity and prudence. But tell me, are not Ger- man Protestants like oars ? — that is to say, if they occupy themselves with religious matters at all, is it not as pure deists, or, to speak more exactly, as Socinians, and if they do not agitate dogmatic questions, is it not because they are entirely indif- ferent ? Do you know of any among them who have really a religion — who pray ? . . . I would be very much interested in hearing your judgment formed from observation of tlie religious state of the people of those unfortunate states. '^It may be hard for you not to be always able to reply to their objections and attacks. What this costs your self-love I do not care to diminish, but what there is in it that may wound your faith I would like to dissipate. To begin, do you think that the quickness of repartee which would enable you to have the last word, is a quality of faith ? Do you think that a most skilful man, a profound theologian, can refute all objections on the spot ? Service on Shore. 109 able this but tb I "link lable litb ? )0t? SL Thomas of Aqnin was once dining at the table of St. Louis. Suddenly he cried out, * Tliat is con- clusive acjainst the Maniclicans.* He had just found an unanswerable argument, and he forgot himself, like Archimedes. St. Louis, far from being offended by this distraction and this odd outcry, ordered his secretary to then and there take down the precious argument. You see, then, that you are very excusable in not being able to reply to everything. Moreover, conversations are very bad theological arenas. When we think of the rapidity with which conversation glides from one subject to another, how it is always unsystematic, superficial, futile, we should not hesitate to proscribe from it matters so complicated, so profound, and so neces- sary as theological matters. Be, then, perfectly easy on this subject." Alexis was in continual fear lest his brother, dragged into tlie vortex of business, as the phrase is, would not have the necessary time for recollection, for meditation and prayer, practices without which he did not understand the Christian life. In the advice he gives Jules we feel that he speaks in good earnest from his own personal experience : ** I want to improve the opportunity of this let- ter, which I assure you is growing much longer than I intended, to seriously recommend you to use every day the beads I gave you. If you have lost them I engage to furnish you another pair. I have a supply. The Beads is an excellent devotion which was not invented by even the saints, but which the Blessed Virgin herself revealed to one of if' no Aii'xis Clerc. m^ her servants. It ia not only good for people who cannot read ; it is very good, very profitable for the most learned. " Perhaps you have not time to say the beads all at once. Very well, say them in several parts. If you cannot say them entirely each day, say as much as you can. Go to sleep in trying to finish when you are behindhand. It is not at all displeasing to the Blessed Virgin for us to go to sleep murmur- ing her most sweet name, and she will not fail to protect during the night him who has commended himself to her with his last waking breath. Do not be afraid of performing a mechanical devotion. Do not say, * I am so tired that only my voice prays ; my mind is already asleep.' In the first place, if we pray only when we feel our heart en- kindled we will not pray often ; in the second place, it is by praying at first badly, mechanically, with the voice only and half-asleep, that wc will obtain the power to pray better." He had this point so much at heart that, two years later, at the moment of starting for China, he again renewed his recommendations. How earnest and pressing they are ! In&ta opijortuney importu7ie, was his device. " In Paris we may say that nobody lives reason- ably, neither those who are rich, on account of their manners and their luxury, nor those who are not, on account of the superhuman efforts they make to acquire riches. This particular character- istic of Paris cannot have escaped you who have travelled so extensively. Such excess is deplorable, Service on Shore, III two Uiina, How jason- mt of 10 arc they [•acter- bave arable, as I have tried to show in a letter I wrote father, and of which ho approved, telling me that he would endeavor to niuko you appreciate it. It does not appear that I have gained much success ; but to preach is my castom. However, reflect upon it yourself, and we will see if you do not think dif- ferently then. But I believe the trouble lies more in the difficulty of resisting the general cur- rent ; and, in fact, I, who in Paris have nothing to do, am hardly able to struggle against it. On the other hand, it is right and necessary to labor with one's whole strength. Moreover, it is very difH- cult to determine the time to give to leisure. Finally, a man in business is not a Carthusian. One should, nevertheless, guard against that im- moderate agitation which passes for deliberate ac- tivity, that tumult of ideas which is mistaken for mental labor. Meanwhile, if, with the intention of not allowing yourself to be carried away by that species of excitement, you will observe a certain little practice, I trust you will come out in the end safe and sound. " It is to consecrate a half-hour every morning to meditation. Let it be your first act after rising ; let nothing hinder you from it. By occupying yourself with spiritual things during that space of time you will not only render to God the homage you owe him, but, in addition, you will receive all the graces with which God rewards an action that is pleasing to him. Advancement in piety is a certain consequence of daily meditation. Do not forget thdt all good counsel comes from God — all. 112 A/cvis Clcrc. even what relates to tlio things oi' this world. It is nuturiil that God should give it to the man who consults him frequently and whoso ear is attentive to his voice. Such is the fruit of meditation. If )ou find this exercise somewhat dillicult, you must not ho less persevering in it. The devil has nothing so much at heart as the preventing us from medi- tating, for nothing gives us more strength against him. But there is a method for meditation which greatly din-.nishcs its natural difficulties. **It is to read the evening before, in a hook ex- pressly for the purpose — and there are many of them — the subject of the meditation, with the principal points marked out. A quarter of an hour should bo devoted every evening to taking this prcvioucly-masticated food ; the night will prepare it, and in the morning it can be digested and relished without too much trouble. For tho choice of a book and for the details of this method consult your director." Had he, then, already renounced the world, he who wrote letters that reveal so much experience of the interior life ? No, not yet; but, to tell tho truth, ho was very near it ; he was of the num- ber of those Christians who, conforming their lives to the counsels of the apostle, know how to use the world as if they used it not (I. Cor. vii. 31). In his different stations on tho coast of Brittany, at Lorient, Brest, Indret, everywhere, he left this impression of a man dead to the world, still wearing its liveries, but belong- ing heart and soul to the valiant legion of the Service on Shore. 113 he lewce the mm- their how a- the Idret, Idcad long- the strongholds of iFmcl. His old companions, wlicn they came to sec him, beheld with their own eyes, and not without astonishment, or learned from public report, this udmiruble change. One of them arrived at Indret during the autumn of 1849, and requested to visit tiio manufactories. As soon as he introduced himself as a former pupil of the Polytechnic School every door was opened to him. But this was not all he wanted ; ho de- sired to sec LillU Clerc, and the hope of renewing acquaintance with him was the chief attraction, if not the real object, of his journey to Indret. Un- fortunately, Clerc was for the moment engaged with Commander Bourgois in studying on the Loire a series of experiments relative to the differ- ent forms of screw-propellers. The visitor was much disappointed. To console him, an engineer of naval constructions said to him : " Wait until Sunday. He will certainly return for Communion. Then you can see him as much as you want." To his great regret, this dear comrade could not wait for Clerc's return ; he left not a little edified by what he had heard. Another in Brest, frequenting the same chapel and occupying a place very near Clerc during the Holy Sacrifice, often remarked the fervor of his devotion, which was especially manifest when he came from the holy table. Back on his kneeling- bcnch, he was lost in profound meditation, and hid his face in his hands. If he raised his head for an instant his cheeks were seen to be wet with tears. There arrived in this same city a naval officer 114 Alexis Clerc. whom Alexis when lio left Valparaiso bad request- ed to furnish him for his return to Franco with introductions to some Cliristian friends, members of u Conference of St. Vincent de Paul. Know- ing him to be attached to the port of Brest, this officer made it his lirst business to enquire for his old companion. IIo was told that he was absent, and to this information was added the best of ac- counts. ** Your friend is the most zealous of us all, our model in everything, and the mainspring of all our good works. If he were here, ah ! you would already have met him escorted by a legion of children of whom ho is the schoolmaster, or rather the father, and to whom he distributes with the food of the body that of the soul. Alwa3's ready to do his utmost he allows himself but little rest." And in truth, according to the testimony of the worthy ecclesiastics who were then acquainted with all the secrets of his soul, he excelled in equalizing his cliarity and mortification, two vir- tues whose mutual agreement is generally profit- able to both. The Abbe Guillet,* his pastor and director during the whole of his sojourn at Indret, informs us how ho apportioned his modest salaiy. Each month he divided it into thrpe parts ; the first was for his venerated father, the second for the poor, and the third and smallest for his personal maintenance. After this he still managed to save some of his own portion for charity, and he im- * The Abbd Guillet has recently died pastor of St. Nicholas of Nantes. Service on Shore. 115 r the ited in \ir- ofit- and iret, laiy. the for onal save im- kbolas posed such privations upon himself that his supe- rior olhccr, Commander Bourgois, fearing for his health, had to interfere. His spirit of mortifica- tion was so great, anotlicr member of the Breton clergy * assures us, thiit during Lent he limited himself to a plate of thick Trappist soup per day. Anybody else in his place would have thought that prudence commanded him to lay aside a few crowns, and to amass a little sum against unex- pected emergencies which might suddenly em- barrass an officer in the discharge of his duties, or even cut him short in his career. Cler"" did not reason so ; his generosity would not bo shackled by any calculation or any anticipation of the future. "As to the money you are unwilling to take," on one occasion he wrote to nis brother who refused to draw from his purse, " remember well that it is not mine, for you know that all, ab- solutely all, that we do not need belongs to the poor." All that he did not need, his superfluous money, was all that was not rigorously necessary for his maintenance, and God knows how little he lived upon. He denied himself the most innocent pleasures, even so far as to limit the replenishing of his snuff-box, a subject about which he would jest pleasantly, being always the first one to laugh at his pennilessness, as ho called the excess of his voluntary poverty. "Now," he continued, speaking of chc money he had vainly tried to induce his brother to ac- * The Abbd Gudguenon, pastor of St. Martin of Morlaix. It was in Brest that he was Clerc's spiritual director. V ii6 Aicxis Clerc. cept, " since I have no immediate need of it, it is superfluous ; if you, likewise, have no need of it, I do not propose to keep it, but shall pay it to others." Thus, in his estimation, lie did not give, hojoaid, to the poor, believing he fulfilled a duty of justice in appropriating to them all he could spare. Need we explain this matter to the reader ? The se- verest morality does not go as far as this, and does not claim, even for the poor, under the name of superfluity, all we have left after we have gener- ously provided for our own necessities. Clerc had to rcclify his ideas of alms-giving when as a priest it was his part to apply them to others ; still, wo must confess that there is something beautiful in deceiving one's self in his fasliion, and that such self-deception is not dangerous for people of the world, whose rigorism has no consequences save to themselves. We have thought that as Clerc had for a witness of his life at that time a distinguished officer, a capable judge of all kinds of merit, it was our duty to seek information from so precious a source, and this is what Admiral Bourgois, yielding to our desires, sent us in reply : " These memories are already far in the past. Nevertheless, I have not forgotten that the young ensign showed at that epoch (1849) a maturity of judgment and a con- • scientious and prudent zeal which, joined to a solid education and a most upright character, gave promise of a very excellent naval officer. The de- sire of being useful to his fellow-men by instruct- Service on Shore, 117 I Itness ler, a our luTce, our are e not that con- to a gave lie dc- truct- ing ilicm and improving them morally was already developed in hiiii. An elementary school compris- ing the entire ship's crew had been established on board the Pelican. Every evening when the ship's sailing did not prevent, the tables were carried to the middle-deck, and Ensign Clerc directed the school with a patient and enlightened zeal. lie himself gave more advanced lessons to those of the men who aimed at becoming captains or mates in the merchant marine service, or at promotion in the military marine service. I have since met several of them who profited by his instruction so far as to make careers for themselves, and who ex- pressed deep gratitude for the lessons which had assisted them to do so." These reminiscences of Admiral Bourgois agree perfectly with his first impressions of Alexis Clerc preserved in the notes which he sent to the Minister of the Navy in July, 1849. Ilere is the opinion he then had of his young and clever assistant : **'An extremely zealous and enlightened officer. A graduate of the Polytechnic School, he com- bines with a wide theoretic knowledge sufficient cxporience of a sailor's business and sufficient at- tachment to its duties to make him in every re- spect a remarkable officer." As to the Abbe Guillct, who while parish priest at Indret performed the duties of naval chaplain, he congratulated himself on possessing in Alexis not only an exemplary parishioner but also an auxiliary rich in energy and resources, and whoso greatest delight was to be employed in all sorts of % )!l i ij^fc. Ii8 xl lexis Clerc, i: • ! ' ! % > good works for the welfare of his neighbor and the benefit of souls. Clerc already, in friendly dis- cussions, exercised himself valiantly in wielding the strong arms furnished him by his inexhaustible arsenal, the " Summa Theologiae" of St. Thomas. When his comrades brought forward objections against religion, he would reply: **Is that all? Truly, you are not well supplied ; I will offer you many more." Ilereupon he would propose to them St. Tiiomas' most serious objections to the points attacked, and answer them as the great doctor did. " You are right," would bs his friends' yerdict. "If I am right you should follow my example. You flatter yourselves that the Catholic religion is afraid of your objections. All of them, those of your most famous philosophers included, are only scraps from St. Thomas, who answered them long ago ! " If the persons whom he thus forced to capitulate did not surrender unconditionally, the blow was struck, and later on grace finished the work of conversion, in which the Abbe Guillet had the happiness of co-operating. "I had not yet established a Conference of St. Vincent de Paul at Indret," adds that good priest. ''One morning Clerc came to me and said : ' I am not tranquil ; I believe that my present position is not the one in which God wants me. I am not worthy to be a priest, but if the Pope should form a Catholic army,* 1 would to-morrow carry him my epaulets and say to him : Most Holy Father, I am your ♦Notice tho date, long anterior to the organization of the Pontiflcal Zouaves. Service on Shore, 119 Us- ing Lblo las. Lons all? you licm oints dia. diet. nple. ion is )se of f only long ed to the dthe t liad )t yet lul at irning lil;! me in lo be a Itbolic laulets your o£ the > j> man.'" Abbo Guillet replied : "My dear friend, I believe that you are exactly in your place; for if it is necessary to have good priests and good re- ligious, it is also necessary to have good Christians in the world to edify it by their example and to prove that in all conditions of life it is possible to be truly Christian. Thus, in this parish you are worth to me, you alone, a whole Conference of St. Vincent de Paul ! " These ideas of vocation, still very vague, assumed consistence only little by little after several years of service ; nevertheless, the young officer's most intimate friends could not help perceiving his repugnance to contract any irrevocable engage- ment with the world, and one of his companions who was ])ursued by the same thoughts and touched by the same grace was even clear-sighted enough to penetrate the projects which, as yet, Clerc concealed from himself, and which were only to be accomplished a long time afterwards. While in Lorient Clerc frequented the house of Commander Le Bobinncc, one of those old-fash- ioned, honest Breton houses, redolent with the perfume of all the patriarchal virtues. Mr. Le Bo- binnec, then a ship's lieutenant and already father of a family, had met Clerc in a naval commission to which thcv both belon<2:ed. *'In our first inter- view," he tells us, "I found in that young officer such unusual distinction, joined to such great mo- desty, that I felt drawn lo him on the spot. I saw before me not only a fervent Christian but a thor- oughly instructed Christian. I begged him not to 1,! I20 Alexis Chrc. 4: forget that my mothcr-iu-hiw loved to receive till the officers whom I presented to her, and that we should esteem ourselves happy if he would kindly give us all the leisure he had to dispose of. My mother-in-law, a woman of great piety, appreciated him, and included him in the number of those she liked to call Iter children, *' Our dear Clerc accepted this adoption with his ordinary simplicity, and did not hesitate to fulfil its duties with a naturalness that charmed us." Mr. Le Bobinnec here adds: "I must refrain from giving to the publicity of a biography many details easier to understand than to express. Let it suffice for me to say that whenever 1 pass through the Rue de Sevres I enter the Jesuit Fathers' church, and, kneeling on the marble that covers his remains, I cannot help saying to the dear mar- tyr : * Thou who didst watch over the cradle of my children, do not forget them now.' " Clcrc loved children so much ! lie seemed so happy when lioLling them on his knees i Ilis friends thought he would make a good father of family, and interested themselves in preparing for him a future suited to his tastes. Some time later he was in Xautes knocking at the door of one of the professors of the royal col- lege. Letters from Lorient had announced his visit. He found one of the most respectable of interiors; the gentle seriousness of the Rollins and the Lhomonds seemed to him to hover over this family. Besides, the dot was suitable, the young lady perfectly v/ell-bred and fully deserving of I'lng at il col- jd liis Ible of lis and 31- this I young ng of 1 Service on Shore, 121 esteem. Although these preliminaries engaged him to nothing whatsoever, Clcro, like a good son, thought it his duty to write about the matter to his father, from v/hom he kept no secrets. Ilis letter is curious on account of the species of embarrass- ment visible in it when he undertakes to sketch the portrait of the lady, whose acquaintance his father would, of course, prefer to make beforehand, since there was a possibility that she might be his daugh- ter-in-law some day. Conscious that he has suc- ceeded badly in this tasi: and has given but a very imperfect outline, he adds by way of excuse: "I have seen her only once and for a rather short time, and I do not notice women very much and do not look at them very closely, especially young ones." It was a charming embarrassment in a man of so little natural limidity, and who had already lived so long. Ho was not£0 ingenuous at eighteen, but God, by the effusion of his grace, had given him a new heart and had renewed his youth like the eagle's. RenovabituriLt aquikB juventus tua. He concludes his letter with these words: *'How- ever, I am not thinking of marrying." This was a ray of light to his i^oor father, and the cause of an uneasiness of which we shall find traces in the rest of their correspondence. A year passes — eighteen months. Clerc is now a lieutenant and resides in Brest ; his fellow-mem- bers of tiie St. Vincent do Paul Societv have en- trusted to him the duties of secretary, which ho discharges at an evening reunion with the earnest- 122 Alexis Clerc. :;'!!(i^' I It'''"' I! m ness and energy ho gives to everything. A ^lew nicmhcr arrives, an ensign. Tliis new-comer is himself urged to quit the world hy a powerful at- traction which will not bo long in gaining the vic- tory, lie has since described to us his impressions of his new acquaintance and tlic characteristic cir- cumstances of this first meeting. Clei'c was not handsome, at least in the Greek sense of the word, and his face, with its sharp out- lines, would not have offered a yery pleasing model to a sculptor. The extreme mobility of his fea- tures instantly betrayed all his feelings ; his eye of fire and his vibrating voice bespoke a soul as en- thusiastic as energetic. Short of stature, he was that evening muffled up in a long, light overcoat that reached half way down his legs and gave him a sort of clerical appearance. The meeting jiassed as usual in relating the wants of the poor persons taken care of by the conference and in arranging the distribution of the alms. However it came about, our two naval ofticcrs remarked one another, anf], after the prayer was said, they felt a need of meeting again without witnesses. Clerc invited his new confrere to call at his resi- dence the next day, so that they might go together to visit the poor. The invitation was accepted, and at the hour riamed the nevr acquaintance was at the rendezvous. He met Clerc at the door of his room, which ho was just entering. The two re- descended the stairs and walked side by side for five minutes, exchanging a few words meanwhile. It was sufficient to make them tliorougljly known Service on Shore. 123 Is rcsi- Igethcr [cpted, Ice was of bis ro rc- idc for Lwbile- Ikiiowu to one another, so much in unison were their hearts. *'But liow is it," the ensign aslied ex airtipfo, ** tliat with such ideas you are still in the I avy ? " At this unexpected apostrophe Clerc turned shortly, drew back a step, iicld iiimself erect, and, looking the ensign straight in the eyes, said : " And you — why are you in the navy ? " " Hold ! you are right," replied the other. From that moment they were constant compa- nions ; their vrorks, their exercises of devotion, their common future. Vaguely foreseen, drew them together. Sometimes they wandered to the fields, and in the open air abandoned themselves to tlio joy "of their hearts, talking of God quite at their ease, and even singing in his praise some song of the Church. Providence reserved for them a still closer inti- macy. CHAPTER IV. ALEXIS CLERC DURING THE EVENTS CP 1848. Alexis to Uis Brother Jules. " MAKcn 1, 1848. " What shall I say to 3011, my clear Jules ? Do I really know what I think ? What is tlicro left after this tempest that at one sweep has car- ried away men and institutions ? Where are you ? ■where will you stoj^ ? You want to overthrow a minister, and you overthrow the monarchy ? Do you consider that incalculable mass which you start into motion ? Where will you find the force to stop it ? Must there be the same old, cruel oscillations before it stops spontaneously ? It took but five hours to destroy a work that cost so much labor ! Now, whence shall we derive confidence in the thing established ? It is the tenth revolution since '89 — intervals of five years between them ! How much money ! how much blood ! and why ? Let us weep over a country where ten successive Governments have not known how, even at the last moment, to make the concession which would have saved them ; let us weep over a country which cannot peacefully conquer its rights. " I regret neither Guizot nor Louis Philippe. I 134 During the Events of 1848. 125 inch liem I jssive It the roulA /hicb )e. I am terrified at their fall, but I am much more ter- rified at the immediate future, perhaps already past for you. "It is not a political revolution you have ac- complished, it is a social revolution. You will say, perhaps you say now, the cx-hoiirfjcoisie, just as you have said the ex-nohility, *' Behold the people, the laborer, the 2^'^'olctaire on the escutcheon ! Will these usurpin^^ waves rise to power, or "will they drag power down to their level ? Yes, certainly ; if the nobility was unjust and tyrannical towards the other classes, the bourgeoisie was the same towards the 2^roU- taires ; but will these be any better ? Is injustice any different whether a hundred suffer from it or a hundred thousand? The injustice of the lotir- geoisie sprang from egotism and indifference ; will not the other be from hatred and cruelty ? The lourgcoisie had little morality and little enlighten- ment ; but what is there to suddenly raise our new masters to the level even of the hoiirgeoisie ? " Your provisional Government, which has im- provised itself — which, moreover, does not pretend to do as in 1S30, to really coiisult the opinion of France — proclaims the Republic ! Our vote is already no more than a sanction. Let us not de- ceive ourselves, and let us not be deceived by words. There is no revolution without, as a con- sequence, usurpation of power. My opinion, and I believe it to be well founded, is that France is not republican. Nevertheless, the Republic will be accepted I do not doubt. Does this show usur- l- I< 126 Alexis Clerc. ly ;,.(: V*'? [lit pation of power — yes or no ? Facts are accom- 2JUshcdf as Guizot said. Beliold, then, France governed by Paris ! God grant it is but provisional. We must once more accept this fact accomplished ; but there is another which we must not accept, against which wo must figlit to the death if there is a purpose of accomplishing it, or if it is being accomplished : it is the government of Paris by the Commune, by the clubs, by the revolutionary army. " You already have the Commune, the revolu- tionary army of your twenty-five mobilized legions ; beware of the clubs. The right of reunion, which is just, necessary, and the dispute of which has brought about all the trouble — the right of reunion may easily be transformed into that of association, of clubs. There is but a step ; is it possible that it will not be taken ? ** I consent to the republic, but till the day of our death let us prevent unauthorized governments from first encompassing and then tyrannizing over the national government." Such were the sentiments Alexis communicated to his brother Jules on the morrow of that revo- lution of February 24, which had in a few hours overthrown the establishment of July, and trans- ferred the destinies of France to the hazardous decision of universal suffrage. Let us acknow- ledge that the young naval officer, who at that time apprehended everything, was wiser and more enlightened than many others. Because the peo- ple, surprised at so easy a victory, acted like a During tJic Events of 1848. 127 ^y over 3ated rcvo- lours rans- (lous now- tliat inoro peo- ike a good prince ; bccaiiso they did not tear down the crosses anil plunder t!io chiirclica as in 1830, moii thought all was safe, and abandoned themselves to a blind confidence which was very Sv^on to be cruelly undeceived. It was with reason that the Proviiiional Government, where LaniurLine sat be- side Ledru-ltollin, in conij^any \\ith Louis Blanc, Flocon, Albert, the icorki)i(j nicchcoticy etc., told no good tale to our Alexis ; for it was too plain to whoever looked at things coolly that the conces- sions made to the revolutionary passions wero more fit t ) exalt than to appease them. But the fallen power was so little regretted that there v/as a dispo^iition to forgive the emeute, provided it was moderate. The Citizen Caussidiere himself, be- come from the conspirator he was the evening before prefect of police, calmed the uneasiness of honest people, who certainly would not have se- lected him for such an office, by promising them in his picturesque style to make order out of dis- order. The least indication in the masses of re- spect for property and for religion was enthusiasti- cally welcomed as a pledge of security, and those who heard them have not forgotten these words of Father Lacordaire, spoken, in allusion to one of the episodes cf the victorious euieute from the pulpit of Notre Dame, on Sunday, February 27 : " Prove the existence of God to you ! AVhy, you would have the right to call mo a parricide and guilty of sacrilege if I should dare to undertake to prove God I The doors of this cathedral would open of themselves and would show you this peo- 128 Aicvis Clcrc. pie magnificent in its wrath, bearing God even to liis altar amidst the rcsjiect of an adoring throng." The audience burst into applause. Then the Journal dcs Debals, drawing a moral from the incident, added tliis commentary: "It is well. Let the Church take her phice like all of lis. Let her show herself, the people will recog- nize her. Lot her have no fear of the revolution, to the end that the revolution may have no fear of licr. God has surrendered the world to discussion — Iradidit mumhim disjmtationi. Let the Church use her arms — preaching and charity, instruction and action. Let her help herself, and God will help her." At that epoch it was no small merit not to share any of the current illusions; I do not sjieak only of those of tho Jotirnal dcs Dehats, which com- promised a little too much with the revolution, but of those of the wisest and best of men, in- fluenced, it must be allowed, by the excess of their good faith and by their inclination to judge others by themselves. This merit belonged to our young sailor. We have seen how at the first, and before any sadly instructive experiences, he denounced tho usurpation of revolutions which demand of universal suffrage a tardy and illusive sanction of an accomplished fact ; and further, in the clubs of 1848, which in general made more noise than they did harm, he already discerns the confused germs of the fatal Commune, whoso victim he himself will be in 1871. Who of us oil reaching the age of manhood, has During the Events of 1848. 129 :n to aQOi'ul : *'It uU of iccog- Lition, !car of si oil — Ihurcli nctioii a will ) share k only 1 com- lution, 311, iii- |f their others young before unced land of m of an [libs of m they germs klf will )tl, has not found Lhimself in his turn face to face with a successful rcvohition ?— 1815, 1830, 1818, 1852, 1871. Tlie dates are so near together that every- body has encountered some one of them. Now just this is the triaJ, too often tlie quicksand of our judgment, of our character. Few pass through it without damage, and it is a great honor not to have been ensnared. It is good in all cases, once the danger is past and calm re-established, to make a severe examination of conscience on the way one has managed one's bark during the tempest. In offering my readers a standard of comparison, of which Alexis' letters to his family will furnish all the points, I shall provide them with one means the more for thorough self-knowledge and impar- tial self-judgment. Living in the provinces and contemplating the struggle from a distance, Clerc had over his Parisian correspondents the advantage of escaping the vertigo which it is so difficult to avoid when one is condemned to be present in person and to breathe day and niglit the fiery atmosphere of revolutions. His strong religious studies, the healthy ideas he gained from his " Summa " of St. Thomas, were also a great preservative to him, and with no other aid we shall see him victori- ously overleap the pitfalls that are not sufficiently mistrusted by certain illustrious and fervent Ca- tholics. One month, two months pass. It is now known what may be expected from the Provisional Gov- ernment, from the men of the Hotel de Vllle and I ; 130 Alexis Clerc. ?4. the Luxembourg. Public credit has fallen, the national workshops have killed labor, excitement is constantly on the increase and extends from Paris to the departments. But the time of the elections draws near, and France is going to use universal suffrage to give herself a constituent as- sembly. Things happen just right ; it is Holy Week, and the electoral urns will be opened on Eas- ter-day. Alexis perceives that his brother has the political fever, and that his suffrage will wander, to fall perhaps upon the head of Lcdru-Rollin or of Lamennais, if not even of Pierre Leroux or of Victor Considerant. Kow is the opportunity, or never, for a sound fraternal correction. This is what he writes to Jnles : "lam truly afflicted at the position in which you put yourself, and I beg you to reflect upon what I am going to say to you, and to renect seriously. ** You are most thoroughly devoted to the pub- lic weal, and I honor you for it. But why is your devotedness £0 vexed, uneasy, anxious, hurried. ? You lose yourself in your bustle, your proceedings, your speeches. Be more calm. Do you think that if everybody had to take so much trouble to be republican, the republic would be possible ? Do you want a republic that so entirely monopo- lizes the citizens that there must be slaves to pro- vide for the material life, as was the case in the re- publics of antiquity ? How is it your agitation, your uneasy, hurried actions go so far as to give you a fever, and you do not see that the system is %\ I ! During the Events of 1848. 131 3 pub- 1 your ried ? |dings, think .ble to isible ? |onopo- ,0 pi'o- tlie re- taiioB, ,0 give [Stem is falso and bad ? You ought not to act this way. I beg you to have regard to my advice. Rest eight days without going to the club, and then only go from time to time. Do not give up your life to a whirlwind that absorbs it and is incapable of producing anything good. Do you know, or do you not know where the truth is to be found ? Is it not in religion ? Do you not believe in the vir- tue and enlightenment of some priests ? Go and ask them to name your candidates ; they are acquainted with men and they will teach you about them; you cannot learn to know them through your clubs. I do not wish to enter into details, but I wish to tell you what I would have done. " Give up going to the club. Recover your composure. Remember we are in Holy AVcek. Go quite simply and ask the Committee Montalem- bert for candidates, or go to the Abbe de la Bouil- lerie, or to any pious manowho may possess your confidence, and rest quietly; but, above all things, do not at any price make a compact with evil. I pray you let there not be on your list a single name which your conscience does not approve. Do not attempt to deceive yourself in this matter by ad- vantageous combinations. Evil is evil absolutely, and think of the part the Assembly will play." Alas ! wishing to do himself what he so earnestly recommends to his brother, he is greatly troubbd to find a sufficient number of names that his con- science can approve of. We will only say that ho hud on his list, side by side with the names of <'/ 132 Alexis Clerc. m li! Father Lacorduire and the Abbe Deguerry, pastor of the Madeleine, those of Michelet and Eerangcr. After having copied his list for his brother, Alexis adds: *'I do not recommend it to you; stilly I think there is nothing in it to condemn. I reproach myself for only thinking this, and not being sure of it." His scruple was perfectly justifiable. What ! this exceedingly severe censor of his brother's votes, who would reproach him for Ledru-Rolliii and Lamcnnais, will himself yote for Beranger and Michelet ! Beranger, the songster of " Lisette " and of "Dieu des bonnes Gens " ! Michelet, the calum- niator of the clergy, who had quite recently poured out his gall and bile in an ignoble pamphlet en- titled '* The Priest, the Woman, and the Family ! " Behold to what compromises men were brought by that absurd system of voting which since the 4th of September we have been practising again, and which will always find warm partisans among the advo- cates of universal suffrage ! And they call it inter- rogating the nation ! What a disturbance of ideas there was in that year 1848, and what a strange confusion of words and things ! See that former disciple of Saint-Simon and Fourier, now a good Catholic, recommending his choice of candidateship with the double authority of what he was and what he has become, recom- mending it to socialists as well as to Catholics ! "My return to Christianity," he says, ^^lias never caused me to feel the necessity of condemning the \ During the Events of 1 848. 133 and ig bis Ihority Iccom- lolics ! never \ng the first lent of my ideas. Undoubtedly, I have re- pudiated in the Saint-Simonistic and Fourieristic theories all that was incompatible with Christian truth ; but I owe to them my having recognized long ago the necessity and also the possibility of realizing that same truth in all social relations." He adds : " The repuyiicaii ininciple annxds the only obstacles that can opjjose this realization. Therefore, 1 am rcpuhlican by a double title — as a Christian and as a socicdist." And his choice of candidateship, besides being perfectly honest and in good faith, was warmly ])atroniz'jd by the Catholic committees. Cierc, exiled to the provinces, and deprived of the information he would have wished to have con- cerning the Parisian electoral tickets, thought he was acting for the best in hazarding certain names with which he had no sympathy Avhatsoever. But if the Catholic elector could reconcile it to his con- science to name Michelet and Buranger, what must be thought of the system which extorted from him such votes ? If Alexis was a hundred leagues re- moved from socialistic ideas, his brother did not repel them so resolutely, and was one of those per- sons who tried to harmonize them with Catholic dogma to a certain degree. A subscriber to the Ere Nouvelle, he did not disapprove of Father Lacor- tlaire's sitting in the National Assembly not far from Barbes and Ledru-Kollin. Alexis did all in his power to change his views in this respect. In the course of the month, of June ho undertook to write a long letter of a dogmatic character to Madame do ih 134 Alexis Clerc. S — , Avhoso supcriorily of mind he was not llio only one to appreciate. This letter was evidently intended for his brother much more than for the lady whose well-known sentiments promised him an ally in the cause he was trying to gain. But while he wrote events hurried after one another, and terrible ex- plosions of popular fury, enkindled by the secret societies, scattered consternation and terror throughout France. Under the influence of heart- rending emotions which were constantly recurring, Alexis terminates with these words, that are a vivid description of the situation : ** I wrote you these cold pages while France was plunged in fire and blood, and while the tele- graphic despatches kept us in a state of fever- ish anxiety. You will be astonished at my hav- ing continued writing; it is because this hor- rible war doea not touch the real question, which will come up sooner or later. I believe 1 have as vet no misfortune of those who are dear to me to lament. We have enough to do to weep over the country and to pray for her. May so terrible a chastisement bo an expiation of our crimes, and may it please God to accept so much heroic de- votedness as atonement for £o much indifference and egotism. Let us open our eyes and judge the trees of the new doctrines by the fruits they bear. I have the hope that in the end misfortune, which sanctifies man, will make the nation better. Oh I if God would order it thus, we should then indeed be saved." This was as yet a premature hope. During the Events of 1848. 135 js, and )ic cle- Eerence Ige the bear. wliicli Ohl I indeed "May my blood be the last poured out!" ex- claimed in (lying the martyred archbishop, struck down before the biirricade of the Faubourg St. Antoine at the moment he was bearing to the in- surgents a message of peace. General Negrier had fallen at the same place, and General de Brea had been cowardly assassinated at the Barriure de Fon- tainebleau, both after having stopped the firing of their troops and while trying to negotiate. Five other generals and two representatives had met death in that horrible struggle, which was one of the most furious that ever drenched the streets of Paris with blood. Clerc's fears for his family were quieted only when his father, whose patriotic ardor was his dread, had given him a sign of life. "My dear father," he wrote July 1, "I thank you very much for your letter of June 27, which I have expected most impatiently. 1 learned from the papers that the Faubourg du Temple held out till the third day, and I plainly foresaw that the neighborhood of the bridges and the few ways of communication with the boulevard would give a strategic importance to the quarter where you re- side. The elder Madame Mallet received on the 28th a letter from Madame Pages, from which I gathered that you were safe and sound ; neverthe- less, I was anxious for direct news, and I thank you for not having delayed sending it to me. "I am much obliged (don't be vexed) to the insurgents, tlie troops, and the national guard, for having in turn kept you a prisoner in the house. 11.SV, #r"- "^ 136 Alexis Clerc, I cannot sufficiently remind you that it is foolish to go out for an airing in the midst of a civil war. It is impossible to be calm under such critical cir- cumstances, and if it had not been for your forced captivity you might have exposed yourself to a useless danger. From your account of your first day's peregrination, I conjecture that you had many chances of not escaping so cheaply. " I shall read with great interest all you can re- call of the insurgents' speeches, all you can relate of their means and their object, so as to gain a cor- rect knowledge of the terrible enemy that has almost ruined the country and that it has cost so dear to overcome. " If you will permit some moralizing upon this great misfortune, I refer you to my last letter. The state is a responsible being, subject, like man, to the law of suffering ; it follows, therefore, that justice must be satisQcd in its regard. History in terror registers the cause of these catastrophes; bloody expiations are needed to wash out so many unpunished crimes. Finally, it must be under- stood that the hand that chastises seeks before all to correct. "The chastisement is terrible; France has shed the purest of her blood. I hope that we have noth- ing more to expiate. May the just and merciful God grant us to change our ways and henceforth walk in those he has marked out for us. Oh ! then France will be reallv saved. Otherwise, if we con- tinue our efforts to establish the foundations of so- ciety on a clever egotism ; if that egotism. During the Events ^/ 1848. 137 olisli war. 1 cir- orced to a : first many lan re- relate acor- at has cost so on this letter, e man, •e, that tory in •ophes ; |o many under- Ifore all las shed Ire noth- IfulGod \\\ walk 1 then |we con- Jis of so- [gotism, as enlightened as you please, is to be tlie prin- ciple of morality and of the social contract, wo arc lost. There is no longer question of yield- ing to the state a part of our liberty by obey- ing the law, a part of our property by paying tlie taxes ; we would remain in our old errors, and we would have witnessed only the first scene of the de- gtruction of our country. "No; France, who has always given the world the example of great and generous sentiments— and this is more than her power, more than her mili- tary genius, what makes us love her — must, ceasing to copy English civilization which suils neither her manners, her mind, nor her heart, abjure egotism and let the fraternity she has graven upon her arms be deeply graven in her heart. " The deplorable philosophers of the last cen- tury and of this have succeeded, the former in dry- ing up our hearts, the latter in insjnring us by means of calumnies Avith hatred towards the pre- tended happy ones of the world, and in making us believe that <. iir destiny and our right is an un- mixed happiness here upon earth. These doctrines have not rested in the domain of ideology ; news- papers and pamphlets have carried them every- where; the "Mysteries of Paris," "The Wander- ing Jew," and many other productions that have made less noise have popularized them ; and I do not doubt that the investigation which will be made of this abominable insurrection will prove that it was only the logical consequence of these princi- ples. These romancers, these philosophers do not .Sfc 138 Alexis Clerc. fight ; they detest civil war, it is impossible to con- vict them ; nevertheless, they are tho most guilty, they are the true instigators of civil war. Will they understand what they have done ? I dare not hope it of all of them. The lUforme has given tho generous example of regretting the malicious re- marks it published, and for which it finds itself severely punished." These are certainly uncommonly exalted and just views, and would to God they might have had some influence on tho governing classes, who, being more enlightened, bear before God and before history the weight of a heavier responsibility. The following letter touches upon a subject less grave, but is striking enough, and besides shows very plainly the nobility of spirit which our Alexis knew full well how to reconcile with Christian hu- mility. In order that it may be understood it will be sufficient to explain that the 6'ff/r«re//i being de- finitely withdrawn for alteration, and' Mr. Mallet having received another command, Alexis' family were extremely desirous that he should not bo separated from a superior officer whose friendship he had long since gained. Hence the efforts which Mr. Jules Clerc made with the friend of their childhood, Mr. Emile Mario, whose father become minister of justice, occupied the hotel of the Place Vendomc. Between ourselves, Alexis was not sorry for the op- portunity of commenting upon the republican aus- terity of his brother Jules, and finding it at fault. " My good Jules : I do not know how to scold you for what you have done about my sailing with During the Events of 1848. 139 Ity, Yill not the are- tself just some more [story 3t less shows Alexis ,nliu- it will .ng de- [Mallet [family not bo ;lup be cb l^Ir. [dboocl, ster of bdome. Itbo op- Ian ans- fault. ,0 scold g with Mr. Mallet, especially as Madame Pages advised yeu to do it ; but I must tell you that it is with intense displeasure that I have beard of it. How could you do for me what your susceptibility would pre- vent you from doing for yourself ? For pity's sake, if I have the good fortune to possess some friends in places above me, do not make me lose them. I can understand that kind of contempt influential people feel when men make stepping-stones of their friendship and intimacy. Do you not see that Emile Marie's position and our friendship with him are two things completely distinct, that it is as ab- surd as unjast to make the one a pretext for using the other ? Probably you have no idea of the mul- titude of solicitors that crowd round that poor fellow, and you deprive him of the one little mo- ment of pleasure he would have experienced in thinking that I had not importuned him. *^ He has much more need of a disinterested af- fection than I have of all tho services he could render me by his position. Aud you, my good Jules, whose delicacy of feeling it; so exquisite, you have done this ! What pains me most is that your affection for me, the affection of you all in Paris, is so voluntarily blind ; for, in the first; place, you would not do for yourselves what you do for me, and secondly, if you were not so greatly mis- taken regarding my sentiments you would not do it for me. You have been repulsed by Do Plus ; * *This Christian friend shared all Clcrc's sentiments and the two were worthy of one another. Later we shall be better ac- quainted with Lim. 140 Alexis Clcrc. i! I was sure you would be and I am delighted ; Emilo ought to have treated you in the same way. Now do not think that I set no value on friendship and that I make it a point never to ask anything of a friend. It is too sweet to me to be useful to those 1 love ; but I will ask of my friends only such things as depend upon them personally, and not upon their public functions. The amusing side of the affair is that you make one more old school republican who takes up the trade of a solicitor, and T, who am the reactionist, I act the puritan. " I had foreseen with regard to De Plas the tricks of which you were capable, but I acknowledge that I did not have the subtlety to guess that you would besiege that poor Emile for proceedings so entirely out of his province. "Finally, I must tell you that, according to your own way of looking at things, you have made a blunder. You imagine that Mr. Mallet, who is acquainted with all Paris, who knows all the minis- ters, has need of t^uit poov jUmile to convey a letter to his friend N ? Truly, you must seem very innocent to persons who know how to deal with men. I do not mean to say that Mr. Mallet ia not sincerely desirous of having me with him, but there is no necessity of his resorting to such little wire-pulling to obtain what is his right. One of two things is the case : either he does not desire it enough to obtain it — and this will not prevent me from being pleased with him for having desired it to the degree he has — or he has employed an outlandisli manner of giving eatisfactiou to your During the Events of 1848. 141 cd ; »vay. ship Uiug x\ to siicli a not de of chool .citor, Dan. tricks ;e that would atircly m^ = to made kho is minis- letter yery \ with ,llet is him, 10 such , One desire )revent [desired Lyed an |o your impatience. Therefore my poor Jules has wasted the display of his republican incorruptibility to the doorkeepers of the Place Vendonie. It was such an agreeable pastime for us to wax indignant over the corruption and nepotism of our contempora- ries I Hurry to find Emile, enter in spite of the doorkeepers whom you have already learned how to baffle and tell him to stay at home ; that I am always anxious that ho should travel two leagues to come to see me, but that I do not want him to travel two steps to obtain for me anything whatsoever.'' The letter concludes with this advice addressed to his brother's faith and piety : " As for you, Jules, recollect yourself as much as you can. I acknowledge that it is very difficult for everybody, and that you more than other people have the obstacles of a very busy life to contend with ; but do what you can. Ten minutes of prayer are worth all the politics in the world, and, besides, prayer is the only true and sound politics, for there is a Providence that governs us. Impress well on your mind this beautiful saying, of Bos- suet I believe : ^ Man vexes himself, and God leads hini^ ; you will soon derive from it a calm of which you have long been deprived, anda wiser judgment of many events ; you will also interfere in my af- fairs more to my liking ; and, finally, I hope we shall have no more disagreements on any subject, as is becoming to brothers and Christians. Till we soon meet, A. Clekc." "Do not delay going to thank Emile for his good-will, and to dispense him from it.'' 142 Alexis Clcrc. Moanwliilo, Alexis perceived that Lis brotjier was not sufficiently on his guard against certain current ideas, wliicli under the vague formulas that enveloped them favored socialism, and that his good faith had been surprised by the affectation of respecting his Catholic orthodoxy. The explana- tions Jules gave only half satisGed him ; he took them up one by one, dit^cussed them, examined them, and made it his duty to prove that if all veils, all equivocations are removed, these two contraries — socialism and Christianity — arc abso- lutely and radically irreconcilable. There is so much reason in these pages, so much Bcrious good sense enlightened by faith, that we believe we shall gratify our readers by reproducing a large part of them. Assuredly, the doctrines of Fourier and Victcr Conaidurant, as they were pro- fessed in 1848, have no adepts in these days, and they may pass as superannuated in presence of less specu- lative doctrines which have since made their mark with a certain cdat. But the principles of the errors whence the evil proceeds are the same, and they all agree on one point — the denial of the superna- tural. As to the principles wliicli Clerc opposed to those dangerous Utopianisms, they are un- changeable as trutli is. It appears, then, that Mr. Jules Clerc had said : *'I do not believe that religion ought to interfere in a direct manner in political questions, unless to keep constantly before our eyes the Gospel princi- ples of morality and fraternity." "Very good," returns Alexis ^ *'let us borrow During the Events of 1848. 143 iljicr [•Uiiii lulas that aiion ilana- 1 took nincd if all > two abso- mi^cli lat we Jucing ines of re pro- d they spccii- • mark errors a they perna- poped un- said : Iterfere lies 3 to Ipriiici- )orrow infallible \f\ iciplcs from the religious order, and let us build upon thcui ; we may easily deceive ourselves in particular cases, but we have good as- surances of truth. You are in the right ; God has given us all that is necessary for our salvation, for our real good, and to this end he has provided not only in the order of grace, but also in the order of nature ; he has laid down natural principles and has commanded us to follow them, and if wo will not we shall destroy instead of building up. ** I bog you to excuse the digression I am now going to make ; it is not a direct reply to your let- ter, but I am extremely anxious that you should not imagine religion to have a particular domain in which it must shut itself up, and that the pub- lic welfare should bo ruled by its own laws. On the contrary, religion is the universal law, and ifc ought to be the only law, for the only end of man is his salvation which depends solely upon religion. Creatures, nature, societies, are, and should be, only the means of attaining this end. "Now, man has fallen, and by his fall ho has lost everything in the order of grace, and this con- cerns only religion ; further, his nature has been corrupted, and this concerns the natural order and society. But by the Redemption he is capable of re-entering the state of grace and of overcoming the corruption of liis nature. Ilenco results that the first condition of all society is religion, and ifc is impossible to name any society that has been left destitute of it. Corruption being the portion of every man, ifc is necessary that every man should •I (0" I ■ li , II 144 Alexis Clcrc. endeavor to overcome himself ; it is the greatest service he can render society. In consequence of this corruption society has the right of coercion over those wlio threaten its existence. Finally, man has on account of his fault been condemned to labor and suffering, and He who pronounced the sentence will maintain it. " Very good ! Eouricr and his disciples deny that man has fallen, and, supposing him to have come from the hands of God just as he is, declare him perfect, and would permit him to satisfy his most ardent passions and his most wayward de- sires. As a philosophy if; is easy to prove that this system is absurd, inasmuch as it overlooks the in- most nature of our heart, and cannot explain pre- sent and past evil. But our faith leads us to reject these follies. If man is bad, "w hat can he more fool- ish than to deal with him as though he were good ? *' I sa'.v V * on his return from Paris, and I reproached him for having deceived you. lie de- fended himself by saying that he had concealed nothing from you, and that, as it is possible to create the same system wliilc starting from dif- ferent principles, ho had limited himself to pro- posing to you those practical realizations without troubling himself about the principles that might serve as their basis in your judgment. In-i^olitical matters, it seems, people occupy themselves a great *One of their frionds, infcerasfced for a considerable time in socialistic doctrines, and of whom the 4tli of September. 1870, when the Republic was declared in Paris after the battle of Sedan, did not lail to make a prefect. During the Events of 1848. 145 of ion ncd ico.d Icr^y have clare y ^^^^ a dc- i this le in- Li pvc- rcject to f ool- igood ? and I Ic dc- ccalcd ^blc to dif- o pi'o- itbout ilitical great time in ler, 1870, jattle of (Teal with facts and little with ideas. As for him, he plainly declared to me that the two principles — the foundations of his projects of reform — were that man was not fallen, and that after his death he would continue to merit eternally in anew and different life. With these principles I agree that he is logical enough ; can you with contrary prin- ciples be logical ? No, I have already told you so ; your good faith has been surprised. "You say, 'Fourier's ideas on the organization of society are beautiful, inasmuch as they turn in- dividual egotism, when they do not destroy it, to the well-being of all.' As to their heautyf we shall see about that later; as to their falsit/j, we shall discover that immediately. Labor must become a 2^lcasure by the attraction whicU organization luill know lioio to attacli to it. Our conscience tells us loudly that this cannot be ; but what reply has Fourier to these words : ' Cursed is the earth in thy work ; with labor and toil thou shalt eat there- of (its fruits) all the days of thy life; thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt cat the herbs of the earth. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return to the earth out of which thou wast taken ; for dust thou art, and into dust shalt thou return' (Genesis, iii. 17-19). After this shall we have the credulity to rely upon his promises of a terrestrial paradise ? Let us never forget this terrible sentence which weighs upon humanity, and of which all our mo- dern prophets w'ant to relieve us. *' Is it beantiful to perfect gluttony to the de- I ! ft**' M' " Hi" 14^ Alexis Clerc. If ■ I,-: gree of eating, I believe, six hearty meals a day ? to permit sensuality to cast off all restraint ? to grant to the lowest instincts satisfactions which even our actual corruption cannot think of without blush- ing ? You talk of the means which Fourier would use to destroy selfishness ; but there are none others, in his opinion, save the free development of man's passions ! Moreover, he does not desire to destroy selfisliness ; he would be very sorry to have it de- stroyed, because he needs the development of ali the heart of man contains; but he utilizes it. That is not overstupid ; still, until now I have sup- posed that God alone was capable of drawing good from evil. '* Finally, I conclude with the last phrase of your first sheet : * Solidarity is a Christian senti- ment, and I do not believe it will be inapplicable in the course of time.' " This phrase has not been well reflected. So- lidarity is not a sentiment, it is a law by which men arc responsible, the ones for the others, for the good or evil they have done. The Fourieritcs give the name of unityism to what you mean, and three months ago you would with us have called it charity, which certainly is, as you say, a Christian sentiment, and so Christian that it does not exist outside of Christianity. This makes me think that the course o:^ time will not render it applicable if the world does not become Christian, and that if God grants us the grace to be Christian, it will be, whatever the time, applicable and even applied. You will say that I apply it very little and that all During the Events of 1 848. 147 ? to rant . our usli- rouU liers, nan's estroy it de- of aVk zes it. ve snp- ig goo^ irase of n scnti- cablein pd. So- licrs, for lurieritcs pan, and [called it Jhristian [not exist ink that jlo if tl^e it if Glo^ v^ill l»c, applied. that all this is very severe ; if it wounds you, I sincerely beg your pardon. The importance of the questions raised by your few lines justifies, perhaps, my eager- ness to have you examine deceptive novelties with more deliberation." Accurately spoken, it seems to us. Doubtless this argumentation, borrowing all its majors from the truths of faith, would not convert a blind dis- ciple of Fourier, but it had its weight with the ex- cellent Catholic to whom it was addressed. Alexis did not ask of reason, too often straitened for de- cisive proofs, what faith gives abundantly to who- ever has the happiness of believing. The practical bent of his mind is manifested in this discussion, in which he does not seek to shine, but to convince as a man who knows the value of souls, and to whom the soul of his brother is especially dear. We must note the impression which the voting of the 10th of December, 1848, made upon him. The election of Prince Napoleon to the presi- dency by five millions of voices disagreeably sur- prised him, and it required time for him to recover from what he called "a rude shock to his political sagacity." He had voted for Cavaignac, not through republicanism, but through sincerity in his acceptance of the political system legally estab- lished, and also through a generous reaction against the odious calumnies for which the incorruptible general had furnished no pretext. lie experienced an instinctive repugnance for his princely competi- tor, who always appeared to him as the adventurer of Boulogne and Strasbourg with blood upon his ■M' 148 Alexis Clerc, hands. ... Wo will not repeat the extremely harsh expressions ho nsetl to brand him ; doubtless pity would have softened them after the immense disas- ter wherein that man was wrecked with the fortunes of France. But we cannot pass over this bitter cry, too well justified by the state of prostration and torpor to which revolutions bring us : ** My grief is to see the whole country disown itself by mak- ing a choice which is a refusal of choosing when obliged to choose. It is the suicide of a great nation ; it disowns its greatness." But perhaps there were more avowablc motives for the choice — for example, the love of military glory, of which Napoleon is our symbol. The mili- tary spirit is so deeply impressed on the French character, it is not absurd to believe that it was it which spoke. Upon this Alexis adds, with good reason, what people would not understand in IS-IS or in 1852, and what we now know only too well : ** This would bo very deplorable, very unfortunate. If this were the signification of Louis Bonaparte, then there would open a new era of interminable wars with all Europe." Another hypothesis : We are not republicans ; they want to manage a return to the monarchy ; in three years a new constituency will decree the monarchy, and universal suffrage will call Henry V. to the throne. " If this is what they want," Alexis adds, "it is legitimate, and I will cheerfully sub- mit. But it does not make it less deplorable that all those monarchists should be ranged arouud , . . such a na)}ie." ^ During the Events of 1848. 149 \ pity disas- :tancs }r cry» n and y g^'^^^ y malv- g when a gTeat motives military :he mill- jTrencli it was it itli good ill 1848 00 weli : lortuuate. napartc, rminablc lublicans ; lonarcby ; ecree the iHeury V. It," Aicxls [fully suIj- la\)lc that Id around Such were the politics of this fervent and in- trepid Christian at a period when it was so diflBculb to see clearly, and to fulfil without trouble as well as "without weakness the duties of a good citizen. Let us acknowledge that he was not so badly in- spired by his inviolable attachment to Catholic truth, whose consequences reach far beyond the sphere assigned to it by superficial minds or those of equivocal sincerity. Ah ! if we were guided by principles, then the world would not see us turning now to the right and now to the left, and our loyalty would never be false to itself, when even it should bepu^, to the rudest trials by the errors and faults of a govern- ment we had not chosen and with which we had but little sympathy. Ml'" ,, (iiii' CHAPTER V. EXPERIMENTS IN EPISTOLARY CONTROVERSY. In the course of March, 1848, Alexis wrote to his father : "My Very Dear Father: Your kind and most affectionate letter afforded me great pleasure, and I propose to prove my gratitude by a de- tailed reply. "We guessed long ago that you continued in business only for the sake of having us enjoy your success. We understood that tenderness which ob- stacles could not discourage ; but it was just and natural that our affection should be occupied with you who forgot yourself, and that we should wish you to enjoy repose after so laborious a life. We perfectly understood that you were not one of those empti/ men who, when released from the ex- citement of a business life and reduced to them- selves, are reduced to nothing. Your repose, which you would well know how to hinder from being idle, would be sweet and useful. "It is quite true that you will not have for the reward of your business life even the golden mean, the sufficiency that is neither wealth nor poverty ; allow me, to call things by their right names: your greatness of soul will not render the priva- 150 Epistolary Controversy. 151 ,e toliis nd and Pleasure, )y a de- inued in ijoy your ?hicli ob- jusfc and jied witli fuld ^isli life. We one oi the ex- jto them- fse, whicli .m being le for tlie ten mean, poverty ; It names: Ibe priva- tion a cruel one. Now that the ice is broken, I want to speak what lias been in our hearts for such a long time — admiration for tbe strength and energy of your character, for your quiet and dignified resignation to your bad luck. We are under obli- gations to you, dear father, for one of the best examples of that true greatness of soul which is neither the insensibility of stoicism nor the pride of the philosopher who wears a ragged cloak. If respect has hitherto prevented us from telling you what your sons and your friends think, it is per- haps better to keep silence no longer if wc desire a less reserved intercourse. " It is not upon the chances of fortune that I found the hoi)o of greater happiness in our family, but upon our qualities ; I believe this is the best foundation." Evidently the father to whom such a son speaks in this way has neither a small mind nor a vulgar soul. How deeply Alexis must regret that their mutual sympathy, so perfect on all other subjects, does not exist in regard to religion ! Until now ho has very rarely touched upon this delicate point, and always with a thousand precautions and a visible embarrassment, feeling well that between his faith and that soul so dearly beloved there is a whole world of prejudices. But he will keep up such re- serve no longer; he has decided to break tiie ice. The occasion is favorable ; his worthy father, now freed from the bustle of a business life, is not the man to rest idle, and what he needs henceforth to em- ploy the leisure of his old age is a mental occu2)a- t^i 152 Alexis Clerc. tion suited to the height of his generous aspira- tions. What nobler use could he make of his time than to consecrate the larger part of it to the study of religion, which, as Bossuet says, is " the all of man " ? Upon this Alexis* plan is made, and with- out further delay he begins its execution. Let us remember that it is March, 1848. The condition of minds at that period, the confident attitude — too confident, without doubt — of Catholics in the presence of a liberty whose intoxication was soon to produce terrible effects, serves as an introduc- tion to the subject, and leads naturally to the fol- lowing reflections : ** I hope the cordial and spontaneous adherence of the Catholic clergy to the- popular movement will have calmed the enrooted susceptibilities of which it is too often the object. I hope, also, that the men who do not think as we do will cease to regard us as enemies of the state and of liberty. Our state religion was (a singular contradiction) under suspicion in the state ; nobody is ignorant of how mistrustful and timorous the legislator has been in regard to it. "Ought not these fears to be quieted since the pulpit echoes only the word * liberty ' ? In Eome, in Paris,* in discourses and writings years before you stirred up revolutions, the Church seemed to have a predilection for this theme of liberty in re- ligion and by religion. Her orators, her most dis- tinguished authors, devoted themselves to this * Father Ventura, Father Lacordaire, etc. Epistolary Controversy. 153 ispira- 8 time ! study } all of I with- Leb us [id it ion tude — in the as soon troduc- tlie fol- herence )vement ities of »c, also, ill cease liberty, liction) . norant tor lias Ince tlie Rome, before Imed to ly in re- )st dis- Ito tills question. In reading tliem can we help feeling tliafc tliey are inspired "with the true Christian spirit ? can we help seeing those accusations of a tendency to despotism and brutish authority which are made against their doctrine vanish in smoke ? Oh ! the beautiful, the eternally beautiful task of demonstrating that we owe all liberty, all political prosperity, to the Church, even as we owe superna- tural and moral truth to her. I possess neither the learning nor the talents necessary to undertake such a task ; it is reserved for some great mind. But I am jBrmly convinced of the fact. I think, dear father, that this vast field of study will not be without attraction to you. Allow me to mention some works which you can easily procure from the public libraries and which will afford you the first information on the subject. " There are two ways of treating this matter. The one is philosophical, taking facts in their cause and studying Christian doctrine in its relations to the civil constitution. This method of looking at the question from above easily attains to a majestic dignity, because it moves above events and is unshackled by time, places, and circum- stances ; it has, moreover, the advantage of being brief, consequently sacred orators adopt it. You have already enjoyed the magnificent funeral ora- tions of Fathers Ventura and Lacordaire ; you will not less enjoy the conferences given this year in Notre Dame by the Abbe Bautain. "We may also with history in our hand verify in the facta themselves the influence of the Chris- Kir" 154 Alexis Clerc. tian religion upon Europe. The long era of eigh- teen centuries may advantageously he divided into four periods. The first extends from Jesus Christ to the fall of the Roman Empire; the second reaches to Luther; the third to the year 1789; and the last io our day. As to the first of these pe- riods, all good historians prove superabundantly the excellence of the Christian influence ; never- theless, in order that the result may be absolutely unanswerable, it may perhaps be well to also read Gibbon, who, strongly opposed to Christianity, en- deavors to prove that it was established in the world by purely human means. " The second period is illustrated by two emi- nent works, which are amply sufficient, Guizot's * History of Civilization in France 'and 'Catholi- cism Compared with Protestantism,* by the Abbe James Balmes ; thus, made with a Protestant and a Catholic, the study will be quite impartial. How- ever, the Catholic is a Spaniard, and it will some- times be necessary to excuse the zeal he shows for his country. "These two works will also throw great light upon the third period. Nevertheless, you will need to gain directly from the study of facts infor- mation concerning what is not treated of in these works ; at least, for my part, I do not know of any other books wherein the labor is all done. Eiual- ]y, since '89, if we do not impute to her the things awkward friends have tried to do for her, religion will come forth stainless, and frequently resplen- dent, from all investigations. But the fable of the Epistolary Controversy, 155 1 eigli- id into Christ second 89; and icse pe- ll dan tly never- )solutely Iso read ,nity, en- ,be world two emi- , Guizot's < Oatboli- tlie Abbe ;ant and a .1. How- ^ill some- bows for jreat ligbt you will icts infor- in these low of any Final- bio things Ir, religion ly resplen- ible of the * Bear and the Lover of Gardens ' shonkl not bo forgotten by the Restoration. After liaving seen the throne and the altar which had endured for so long a time fall together, men thought that by leaning the one against the other they would be mutually supported. Grievous error ! the throne had the support of the altar, but the altar is the institution of God, and needs no support from hu- man governments.* AVbether the state be monar- chial or republican, the altar will remain for ever; it is superior to and mightier than all revolutions. Perhaps we needed the Restoration to remind us that the tree of Christianity has its roots wo^ plant- ed in the earth, and that no earthly power can cither destroy or strengthen it." We see how Alexis manages ^ he enters by his father's door so as to come out by his own, and he is extremely cautious not to frighten away that emeritus freethinker. Plainly, it is in consequence of these tactics, necessary, perhaps, under the cir- cumstances, that Gibbon is permitted to figure in such good company on a programme of apologetic studies — Gibbon, whom Mr. Guizot had not thought he could publish in French without ac- companying him with notes that are a sort of re- futation. But Alexis was not wrong in thinking * There are in this assertion inexactitudes which Alexis will correct after a while. Because the altar can exist quite alone by virtue from on high, it does not follow that governments owe it no support, no protection, and that the agreement of the two powers is not very desirable. Besides, it must be confessed that under the Restoration the Church had awk- ward friends whose faults were skilfully made use of by the revolutionary Machiavelism. •ih'i I 0' I 1 5(5 Alexis Clerc, hi ilii' M that Mr. Guizot'a own v/orks, provided those of Bulmes were added as a corrective, were a good enough evangelical preparation for a mind imbued with the wholly negative philosophy of tho eigh- teenth century. How did Mr. Clerc receive this overture ? Probably with rather a bad grace, and the following letter allows us a glimpse of the pre- judices Alexis had to deal with : " My Dear Father : Ic is now more than eight days since I first sat dovv^n before this sheet of jm- per with my pen in my hand, and yet I have written nothing. The importance I attach to what I want to say to you, and the difficulty of saying it well, are sufficient reasons to explain my dread of undertaking it. But T make an effort, and, aban- doning myself to God's grace, I will speak to you heart to heart. Am I not addressing you, my kind father, whose love has made so many sacrifices for me, and after so many proofs of your love shall I hesitate to rely upon its causing you to take in good part what, with a good intention, I may say that is inexact or misplaced ? Is not my object to unite our hearts more closely by giving them a more entire conformity one with the other ? " I thank you for your letter of September 27, but permit me to complain that you do not talk about yourself, at least not enough and as I would like. What I want is to be made a sharer of those thoughts which we think to ourselves, which we conceal from the indiscreet and indifferent, which it is so sweet to communicate to a true friend. " I look in vain among those that are about you; Ui. Epistolary Controversy T57 le of good biicd cigh- this and 5 pre- eiglifc )f pa- ; have ) what ^ing it ead of aban- |:o Yoa ykind ies for sliall I ake in ay say ect to [hem a k 27, )t talk would those icli we whicli Ltyoii; there is no one to receive your confidences, dear fatlier. You have only your sons, but tliey are not yet your friends, for you tell them exterior things and not the interior. All 1 well, I beg you to treat; us as friends ; luivc no fear, that will not make us forget that we are your sons. I know very well that this confidence cannot be command- ed, it must bo given spontaneously. Perhaps, however, the first effort will be the last, and you will afterwards find this intimacy easy and natural. How I wish we might seem to you worthy of it, and that we might in every respect deservp the beautiful title of staffs of your old ago ! "Would you deem it presumption for us to claim that honor ? But have not we also lived long enough to understand the questions that may arise in a soul like yours ? What human ambition remains to you ? Have you not had experience enough to know that all calculations are unable to guide man to his end ? Who better than you knows the instability, the imimJpahility, and, to speak candidly and like a Frenchman, the vanity of all that our efforts exhaust themselves to attain ? Finally, when I think of your retired life, without material enjoyments and without distraction, I am sure that you reflect profoundly on those great ques- tions which only the happy can forget for a time. "Yes, most certainly such is your secret thought, your inmost thought, and it is what I want from you ; the rest belongs to the kindness to which I can respond only by gratitude ; to this I will respond with all the powers of my being. r ill* mmm 158 Alexis Clerc. ii Ml hi! ii . 1 I' il ** Man's destiny, and the means of accomplish- ing it — behold the double problem which weighs upon ns until we accept the solution religion gives! And there is no way of escaping it, of withdrawing from it ; if we are ignorant of our destiny we will fail to attain it, and likewise if we are ignorant of the means of attaining it. To say that man has no destiny is to say that he was made for nothing, and as we cannot imagine that his Creator made him without an object, it is to suppose him created by nothing or by chance. Not to seek the means of fulfilling our destiny is to suppose ^that means have nothing to do with it, or that we will fulfil it whatever v/e do, or compulsively, as the earth moves round the sun ; and if we are created for an end, our duty is then equally fulfilled by vice or virtue, which consequently are indifferent matters. ''There certainly are some men who defend these follies, but it is not T^ell proven that they be- lieve what they defend. ** Nevertheless, there is no lack of light by which to examine these capital questions, and the number of proofs that firmly establish their solu- tions is, m to speak, infinite. History, the sacred writings, tradition, are the arsenal where they are stored. One has only to enter ; each will certamly find the reason that will determine his consent, at least if he does not stop up the ears of his soul. **I never forget what you said to me in talking of Father Lacordaire— namely, that in spite of the beauty and strength of his thoughts and the force of his logic, there were many objections to :iini Epistolary Controversy. 159 oppose to him ; but that, after all, it was no easier to oppose objections to a book than to a preacher. It is not astonishing that we have objections to oppose to the truths we are even surest of. Tiiere is not one that we most thoroughly hold which is not open to objections on sides where we are not master of it. We must rcsigu ourselves to this and use things as we have them, sow the wheat al- though we are ignorant of how it shoots up, put the bread, in the oven although we are ignorant of how it bakes, and eat it although we are ignorant of how it nourishes us. " Still, we must not think that by a sort of legerdemain the apologists get rid of difficulties, and by artifice escape the necessity of answering them. I am convinced of their ingenuousness and that when asked they always conscientiously state the difficulty just as it is, their faith, their religion being pledged not to dissimulate. Therefore it is with confidence I tell you that all those objections can be answered, and that you can easily see all it is given man to see. It will be enough for you to simply expose your difficulties to a doctor of our law. *' The Church possesses men whose varied talents and qualities render them useful to the needs of each individual. If there are priests who are not much of metaphysicians, nor much of orators, who only know how to love God very much and to tell men who already have faith how to make it fruit- ful and draw from it a more and more lively charity, there are also others who are more learned and »«•'■■■ SSf i6o Alexis Clerc. more philosophical than the world's scholars and philosophers, who seem to be intended expressly for people who seek the faith they have not, and who EiilTer from not believing. Tlicy are acquainted with all those objections, and know what they are worth. Do not fear to find in them that naked and simple faith which does not desire to sec clearly for fear of no longer seemg at all. It is an exceed- ingly inexact prejudice to imagine that the perfec- tion of a Christian consists in believing without mo- tives. Certainly we must believe — that is to say, ad- mit — things that are not proven; but we must admit nothing save from very powerful motives. If a thoughtless discussion is dangerous, if it is at least useless to raise in the minds of simple and ignorant persons difficulties which their simplicity and ig- norance will not allow them to solve, there is per- haps nothing more useful than an enlightened faith that renders a thorough account of itself, and this may be found in numerous priests and apolo- gists. It is what you want. I earnestly beg you, dear father, to read the work of a Mr. Nicolas, en- titled * Philosophical Studies upon Christianity,* ■which Jules must get for me. I hope that you will discover in it the solidity of the foundations of our belief. "J cannot tell you how anxious I am that you should share our faith. It is this violent desire which urges me to introduce without your invita- tion these delicate matters between ns. But should I not excite you with my utmost strength to seek happiness where it is to be found ? You will not Epistolary Cotitroversy, i6i and yfor who inted y are lakcd [early iCGCd- iGi'fec- itmo- ly, ad- admit If a t least nor ant Ind ig- 3 per- il tened |lf, and apolo- you, ,s, cn- .nity/ ,t you ons ot ^t you [desire n-vita- lliould seek 111 not impute all this to the vain pleasure of playing the TV ise and learned ; you will believe, is it not so ? that I obey the voice of my heart." It is evident the heart only has spoken, and its eloquence must make an imjiression on the old man who had such positive proof of the respectful and devoted affection of his noble son. Mr. Clerc does not refuse to set himself to the study, and he affirms that he has not taken sides against the truth. To hear him, he puts no obstacle in the way of grace. " My dear father," Alexis wrote, " you tell me at the first start all the best that can he told — that you are disposed to yield to grace, that you oppose to it neither bad will nor indifference. Ah ! my God, this is all man can do; it is God who does the rest, and he will certainly do it if you perse- vere in your disposition, perhaps, and even proba- bly, not by a miracle, but by a gentler means which will respect your will and leave you more of the merit of so difficult a step. Your heart, one day docile to his inspiration, will adhere to the faith, and objections will vanish like fog before the rays of the sun." But, meanwhile, objections arrive from all quar- ters. Hero is one of them which Alexis gently removes. Had Mr. Clerc read Jean Raynaud ? I do not know, but, like him, ho imagined that our planet is not the only one inhabited, and the des- tiny of the inhabitants of the other spheres seemed to him a problem quite inexplicable from the point of view of Christian dogma. :'j;l i^ II i;i; ..[' ii ,iii 162 Alexis Clerc, " Your opinion about the population of the other globes," Alexis wrote, " is in nowise a sacrilege ; it is an opinion which one is perfectly free to hold or not to hold. But there would then exist be- tween those intelligent beings and ourselves rela- tions of which we are ignorant, but of which they would not be ignorant, and there would be no diffi- culty in that. The work of God being a whole, its parts must be co-ordinate, and we are acquainted with matter while it is not acquainted with us." Mr. Clerc is a deist ; natural religion suffices him, and whatever Father Lacordaire may say about it, he does not conceive the necessity of a re- velation. "I come to your prefession of faith," Alexis writes to him. " I also recognize that doctrine to be as grand as it is true, and I with the whole Church adhere to it completely. I think with you that it has been, and that it is still, a creed adopted by a large portion of mankind. Many Christian philosophers have been pleased to find it in the tra- ditions of all nations; they have drawn from it a powerful argument in favor of a primitive re- ligion which all the races carried away with them when they separated from their trunk. If, then, Father Lacordaire means by his assertion that said doctrine is, perhaps, historically the one which has the least consistence and vitality, that it is an isolated fact, I am not of his opinion^ and I range myself on your side. " But if he means that it has never expressed it- self by any great historical fact, that it is incapable . iii* Epistolary Coiitroversy. 163 of doing so, that it is inefficacious, and that it ha3 no fecundity, I range myself on his side. I see no political or social institution that can result from it. On the contrary, I see them resulting from all other creeds." We omit the developments. Alexis points out the institutions that have sprung from theocracy, Catholicism, etc., and he always returns to this conclusion, one which agrees with history : Deism is incapaUe of manifesting itself hy institutions. Moreover, deism, as we are acquainted with it, is not the fruit of reason alone, but owes immensely to the Christian revelation. Therefore he deceives himself who believes he can with impunity disdain the help of that supernatural and divine light. Meanwhile our young ensign receives new orders. He embarks on the Pelican, and the little island of Indret, in the Loire, becomes his habitual resi- dence. "Now," he writes to his brother, "you ask me what the Pelican is, and what it does. Here is an account : The Pelican is a charming little iron steamer, not warlike in the least ; it is as useful as it is pretty. Its business is to try the screws used, as propellers. We are now at Indret, and we are preparing to take some screws upon which we will experiment at Paimba3iif. The duty that de- volves upon mo is almost nothing, and I have scarcely '"anything better to do than to study for my own profit." We shall see presently whether he wasted his time. This change gives rise to reflections which, f 'if ii>f ■ 164 Alexis Clerc. under n, playful air, conceal a thoroughly Christian philosophy. "There, now, I think you are sufficiently posted ; I have nothing more to tell you, and if you please we will have a chat. I had made my nest at Brest ; I had my habits, my manias perhaps. I am beginning to be something of an old bachelor. My life had little by little filled up with all sorts of obligations, and, without having anything to do, I was very busy. But you know how it is with me ; and this is why I so much ad- mire people who are always disengaged in spite of the burden of their occupations, people like Madame Pages. In fine, taking all in all, I flattered myself that I was in quite comfortable quarters, and I lived tranquil and happy. Why should I not acknowledge it ? Cheaply happy, if you will, but nevertheless happy. I would gladly give you a detailed description if I could by word of mouth. Behold ! suddenly I have my table cleared ; I must construct a new existence to see it in a short time stored away like the preceding one, in the shop where they keep last month's moons. You will make fun of me if I tell you that I have discovered that all things jiass away very quickly, and if I talk to yon of the flower of the fields. What is sure is that sailors often have it in their power to verify this kind of sayings. "Again, it is sure that when one limits himself to this conclusion he has not advanced very far, and to be logical he must draw from it this other consequence, which is quite as new : it is wise to i. Epistolary Controversy. i65> provide one's self with a iiost tliafc would not be shaken by every wind. This is very well, but the difficulty is to find such a one. *' I was well off at Brest, I am perhaps better off here; nevertheless, lam completely disarranged. What, then, would become of me if I should meet with some misfortune ? For a long while I have only labored to advance myself towards that happy state wherein all these events do not affect us, but I have not succeeded." lie found his nest at Indret without much trouble. There was everything for him in being the assistant of so distinguished a man as Lieuten- ant (now Admiral) Bourgois. Clerc appreciated still more the advantage of finding in that officer a great comformity of sentiments on all essenlial points. In addition to this, the little island of Indret was a charming abode, where he could satisfy to his heart's content both his need of activity and his attraction for solitude. Ilis windows looked out upon the vast buildings appropriated to the foundry, the forges, the tools, etc., and thence without any other distraction ho could follow in the diversity of their labors seven to eight hundred workmen occupied from morning to night in con- structing, under the direction of skilful engineers, all the parts of the superb engines for steam navi- gation. A po: ' ion of these workmen formed the fixed population of the island ; the others, the greater number of them, lived on the left bank of the livci; .. hich was connected with the island by a causeway. A fleet of boats transported from one i66 Alexis Chrc. ^1 Ml r ;t i ill 'If' In bank to tho otlicr those avIio had their dwellings on the right bank, cither at Basse-Indrc or at Coueron. The director and the higher function- aries of the establishment lived in a chdtean, for Indret possesses a chateau which goes back to the feudal period, and which, falling into ruins, was rebuilt by the Duke de Mcrca)ur in the closing years of tho sixteenth century. In 1G50 the queen regent, Anne of Austria, gave it to Abraham Duquesne, who, with a fleet equipped at his own expense, had routed the soldiers of La Fronde and decided tho surrender of Bordeaux. But much more ancient and precious memories are attached to the visits of a holy personage to the island, where he built himself an oratory. Hermeland, born at Noyon, in Picardy, towards tho middle of the seventh century, was the founder of the mon- astery of Aindre, situated on the right bank of the Loire, in the district that incli.ies at the present day the parish and corporation of Basse-Indre. Several times a year, especially in Lint, that great lover of solitude withdrew to the little island of Aindrette (Indret), to devote himself with full liberty to prayer and the exercises of penance. Such was the origin of the hermitage, which a faithful historian describes as follows : " This con- struction is composed of two towers close against one another and built of rough stones admirably cemented together. They are surmounted by an oblong platform representing the figure 8^ to which the visitor ascends by a staircase winding round the monument. The platform is covered, doubtless Epistolary Controversy, 167 for the sake of preserving it, with a thick coat of mastic. The two towers communicate from the interior, but each of them has a separate exterior door. From the platform there is a magnificent view — the Loire, the country on its right and left banks, Coueron, Pellerin, Basse-Indre, etc. The eye takes in an immense horizon, a vast extent of territory, a superb sheet of water." * Previous to 1844 Indret had no church. To as- sist at the divine offices its inhabitants were ob- liged to cross the broad arm of tlic Loire which separated them from their parish of Basse-Indre, or reach with great difficulty the market town of Saint Jean-de-Boisseau, nearly three miles distant. At last the necessity of bringing the helps of re- ligion a little nearer to them was understood. A hydraulic machine shop was converted into a chapel, and shortly afterwards raised to a paro- chial church. It was blessed by Monseigneur de Herce, Bishop of Nantes, who placed it under the invocation of St. Herraeland, the natural patron of the island, and of St. Anne, the cherished pitroH- ess of the Bretons. There were scliools at Indret — a professional school for the instruction of the young workmen, an elementary school for the apprentices, primary schools for the boys and girls, and finally, an asylum. Alexis found there, as well as at Brest, all he needed to live in imitation of St. Vincent de f * "Indret." By M. Babron, Inspector of the Administra- tive Services of the Navy ("The Imperial Establishments of the Fi-ench^Navy "). i68 Alexis Clcrc. m i ill! ■'ii .'* Paul — the poor, the ignorant;, and children. To these let us add the sick, for the marshy exhala- tions on the banks of the Loire engender malarial fevers which prevail in that section from spring to autumn. Is it astonishing, now, if in that little corner of the earth he was able to display a great activity of zeal and charity ? But having his correspondence before us, we might suppose, to judge f om the length and gravity of bis letters wherein so many questions are brought up in turn and sometimes treated ex- 2)rofcssOy that he lived all this time like a Bene- dictine in the furthest corner of a cell abundantly lined with books. At all events, excursions on the Loire occupied his thoughts less than the reading of St. Augustine and St. Thomas. Once, however, learning that his father had passed long and wearisome hours at the bedside of his sick brother, ho changes his theme and offers an agreeable diversion by writing what follows ; ** Madame de S tells me that Jules is sick. The disease is not dangerous, and requires princi- pally that care should be taken to protect him from the cold. Still, dear father, I hope you will keep me informed. It is not very far from Nantes to you, and I could do my part as sick-nurso. Nevertheless, I imagine you are not too much oc- cupied to read what you asked me about the Peli- can. *' The steam-screw is made exactly like a cork- screw. Suppose a screw to be attached to a vessel, and that the water resists it as a solid body Epistolary Controversy. 169 would ; then the vessel will advance widi each turn of the screw just as if it were fastened to an ordinary one that penetrated a fixed nut. But the water, instead of resisting the screw like a fixed nut, yields a little to the pressure it receives, and in ono revolution, instead of advancing its whole thread, the screw advances only, let us say, eighty per cent., as if it had advanced its whole thread in a nut which had at the same time re- coiled twenty per cent, of the thread of the screw. In this case we say that the screw has twenty per cent, of recoil." He bravely pursues his demonstration, compar- ing the pitch of the thread in the screw of the pro- peller to that of the ordinary screw, and explain- ing how a fraction of its thread suffices a screw to exercise a very efficacious pressure on the water. We will not follow him in this explanation wherein he brings science down to the capacity of the pro- fane, like an amiable and always gay yulgarizcr. lie concludes with considerations upon the advan- tages of screw vessels, especially those intended for tow-boats. lie says: " This is what we have proved in three voyages we have made to Brest, towing three brigs a great deal larger than ourselves. The Pelican kills two birds with one stone : she docs a heavy business, while at the same time she studies and announces results which are of the highest im- portance." But he does not lose sight of his principal ob- ject, and he returns to it as soon as he can, as we learn from the following letter : t f.ri' p" !»<' 170 Aicxis Clcrc. .1 M \ I "Dear Fattieii : I hope now that on r good Jules is not only out of danger, but progressing in a convalcsocnce wlioso tcdiousncss you are reliev- ing. The fiiiibful watch you keep over him re- minds me how you were once my sick-nurse. Jules' good disposition will repay your kind care better than I did. Tlie ill-nature of the patient whom nothing satisfies, and who never thinks that cnousjh is done for him, is not one of the least troubles of the nurse. "I have thought I might resume our serious correspondence, and that you are not too preoc- cupied to follow it. I have already another letter nearly finished, which will probably be mailed to- morrow. It is the beginning of an 'Apology for the Patriarchs,* which I translate from St. Augus- tine. As it will bo long, I economize time by send- ing the translation just as ± have first written it, perhaps a little obscure sometimes, and in any sort of French ; there will very likely bo some miscon- structions of the Latin text. However, I do as well as I can. It would bo better if 1 had wholly translated, then revised my translation ; then I could send it to you all at once. But this would have been an interminable job, and I do not know if I would have had the courage to persevere. By means of immediate and numerous forwardings I divide my business into little portions which have the advantage of abridging my task. I take it all from the work against Faustus the Manichean. You know that that heresy was perhaps the most criminal of all, and nothing is more legitimate than Epistolary Controversy. 171 • good in:]; in roUcY- im rc- -luirsc. id care patient ks that lie least serious ) prcoc- er letter liled to- logy for Angns- by send- ttcn it, any sort miscon- as well wholly tlicn I 3 would ot know ftre. By dings I icli lia\ e vo it all licliean. be most ate than the severity with which St. Augustine dcnouncea its sophisms. " As you arc perfectly free from tlio errors of those unfortunate pcoi)lo, altliougli they made al- most the same objections as you on the subject of tiic patriarclis, you will understand that you must leave to tliem what belongs only to them which I have not been careful to omit. " I have equally commenced a reply to Jules, whoso long letter proves tangibly his sanitary im- provement." The translation of St. Augustine is accompanied by this short preface: "Althongli at first sight, my dear father, your opinion on the Gubjcct of the patriarchs maybe very natural — and I frankly confess that I held the same for a long lime — I have no fear that you will preserve it after tho pica I am going to make ; and if I am so confident, it is because I take tliis ])lca entirely from St. Augustine, and because I shall give you the commentary and development of that passage of tho * Confessions ' which seemed ob- scure to you " (1. iii. c. vii.) The discussion then is thoroughly on foot. Mr. Clerc reads St. Augustine's '^ Confessions " ; he also reads the Bible ; he also reads, jien in hand, tho *' Philosophical Studio ? " of Auguste Nicolas ; but these readings, to which he lends himself v/ith a cer- tain good-will, he pursues, nevertheless, with the inveterate prejudices of a too faithful disciple of Voltaire. Objections spring up in crowds in his mind, renewing each moment the task of his sou «i tl I I" ll ,f' :.♦■■ 172 Alexis Clcrc. 1* ^i i'f II i ''.11 l||! \m\ who continues to acquit lumsclf of it witli the best heart and the best grace in tlio world. Alexis had not badly chosen in taking his reply from St. Augustine's lengthy treatise against Faustus ; he tiius convinced his father that the great doctor was very capable of defending himself, and that his reasoning, sometimes obscure from excessive con- ciseness, was always just and solid, as could be proved by referring to the writings in which he had leisure to develop it. Wc need not say that avc do not intend to re- produce Alexis' translation, which fdls more than thirty-tv/o pages of line writing, and embraces almost forty chapters of St. Augustine's work. Mr. Olerc is astonished at such an ardor of zeal ; lie thinks there is a plan of doing him violence and carrying him off by storm. Alexis has some difli- ciilty in reassuririg him. He writes: "Certainly what I desire more than anything else in the world is to see you share our religious faith, and you are sufficiently acquainted with the Catholic religion to know that if it were otherwise it would ^ a sign that I had lost that faith. '*Ycu ought, then, to perceive that I do not take a road which seema the shortest in the world to lead you to it. In tho ilrst place, I repeat that I have not that pretension. To induce on your part conscientious meditations is what 1 propose to myself principally ; then, here and there some suc- cess on isolated subjects. This is almost the liinit of my ambilion. 1 know from experience how the Epistolary Conirovcrsy. 173 he best xis bad )m St. Ais; be itor was ,bat bis vc con- ould be 1 be bad d to rc- )rc tbaii imbraces 's work, of zeal ; eiicc and mc ditll- )rc tban iuirc our luaiuted it were lost that do not he worbl l-icat til at I on your •oposc to iinc snc- Lbc liuiit bow tbc road you liave to travel must bo gone ov^i ; notb- ing isfurtbcr from me tban a wish to seize upon your will by main force. If you already felt inclined to believe, I sbould endeavor with ull mv efforts to determine your inclination ; but for the present I keep myself, and desire to remain^ although it be more wearisome, in controversy. For we who have for a longer or sbortcr time rejected all faitli, wc cannot at once return to a simple, uncjucstioning faith, which in some sort is unconscious of itself, and is not aware of the dilli- cuUies of wbat is proposed to it to believe; our faith must ])c conscious of itself, and must not be afraid of facing the greatest difficulties. Its merit must consist in ai)preciating those difficulties and surmounting them by an elToit of tbe will. All your objections are and will be well received ; I would, if necessary, suggest tbeni to you, to the end that your decision, Avbich I sincerely bope will come some day, might be enlightened, firm, and immovable. It is impossible to understand our mysteries perfectly. You will bave no more ob- jections to make only wben you shall have a lively faith. But notwithstanding tbc obscurity of the mysteries, notwithstanding tbe difficulties of the unanswered objections, it is probable tliat you will Eomc day have enough light in your soul to be- lieve." Hero is a letter in which ho talks a little about everything — first about marriage ; it is his least anxiety, and his friends tease him to make known wliat wiU be bis final resolution on tbe subject : d '•1 If p!.i 1/4 Alexis Clerc. I '1^ m i\ '* I have for the present no desire for marriage, and I have done no more here than lend myself to what an active friendship exacts of me. I have not been able to go to Nantes since I wrote you, and I sliould be greatly astonished if that plan came to anything, for the reason, among others, that our stay on the Loire will not probably con- tinue much lonjier. AYith regard to IST — vrnM — there is nothing to say, since I am not willing now to contract indissoluble ties. I think you cau guess tlie reasons without my developing them. But if I should marry, I believe she would be a good se- lection.*' The great affair now is the books wherein he can study religion : " By my letter of Saturday you have seen that in the matter of the books you did right, and al- though, according to my usual fashion, I acted so as to confuse everything, since I engaged myself before getting your answer, all is perfectly arranged. I had sent to buy Godescard again, but I am very well satisfied that you have bought it. The price they asked me here was 23 frs. and 25 centimes ($•4.05) ; it was the only one that was cheaper in Paris ; thus it all happened right. Have the kind- ness to order it put in a half-binding, which will be the strongest." So Godescard, bound or not, is in Mr. Clcrc's hands, and only waits an opportunity to make the journey to Indret. And just at tlie proper time behold Commander Bourgois, who is about to take a trij) to Paris, offers his services, *' But it is Epistolary Controversy. 175 nagc, self to [ liaye 3 you, b plan )thers, ly con- - there now to I guess 3nfc if I ood se- rein be en that and al- io ted so myself [ranged, ini very ^c price )ntimcs lapcr in ]e kind- lich will Ci ore's like tlio jr time I to take Lit it is rather heavy," Alexis observes ; " it would perhaps be better not to trouble him with it." *^ Besides," he continues, " if you would like to read tlioso wonderful histories of the saints, I beg you to keep them ; I have no urgent need of the book. Moreover, I would be delighted to hear the judgment you will pass upon men so extraordinary, and who are as much further above the greatest heroes than these are above the rest of mankind. Some of them in particular were the sensible organs of Providence in the age in which they lived, and their lives belong to history properly so called. Thus, Mr. Augustin Thierry has produced very pleasing historical works while confining himself to events connected with St. Gregory of Tours. The lives of St. Gregory of Tours, of St. Germanus of Paris, of St. Pretcxtatus of Rouen, of St. Hilary of Poitiers, of St. Martin of Tours, and of the other bishops, St. Pelix, St. Clair, St. Pasquier '•' of Xantes, St. Cesarius of Aries, and of all the others whose names I do not remember, is the sub- stance of the history of France in those times of the invasion and of the Merovingian rule; it is there that we can best study the spirit of that mon- archy constructed by bishops, as hives are by the bees, according to Gibbon's expression. *•' Whoever is acquainted with St. Tiioraas and St. Anselm, etc., is acquainted with the whole * Ho wasQarefiil not fco forgot thi-» bishop, who, nccirding to tho author of the "Lil'o of Wt. Honneland," was tho founder of tho monastery of Aindro, and placed at its bead tho holy abbot whose bcraiita^j Is saowii in tho island of lu drct.. «i (•1 ;,J mm^^ 176 Alexis Clerc. I' 4; ..ft, liii learning of tlie Middle Ages. St. Louis, St. Ber- nard, St. Dominic, St. Gregory VII., sum up their epochs. Finally, if for any reason whatsoever you wou'ld like to read them, I bog you to keep them (Godescfrd's ^ Lives of the Siiints' * ) until I start on a loiig voyage.'*' The names v/ore repeated from memory, and somewhat confusedly, which did not agree with a great historical exactness. Mr. Clerc, who noticed this, was delighted to catch his son at fault, and we may guess what was the import of his criticism by the following reply of Alexis: ** My Dear Father : I must agree with you as to the -carelessness with which I wrote the names of some of the saints I mentioned. In fact, I do not know if Godescard's work gives them the prominence I attribute to them ; and more, I do not know the entire life of each, and I had j^rin- cipally in view that fecundity of the faith which filled our beloved country wiih saints at the peri- od when its character, is nationality, had birth. Those grand figures present themselves, perhaps, out of their right point of view in a work which offers them all, and which, perhaps, was not con- ceived as it should have been to suit you best. I am acquainted with some of them from their mono- graphs ; one perhaps gets a better appreciation of their grandeur in that way. Still, I believe, after what you tell me, that the chief reason of your judgment comes from the mistrust witfi which a * A French translation of Butler. Epistolary Controversy. 1/7 miraculous occurrence always inspires you, so that by a sort of rebound you do not accept as quite certain even what is not miraculous. It is true that in those histories the natural and the super- natural are fcund closely connected, mingled, con- founded, until it is impossible to distinguish them. With regard to this, I refer to what I have already written you about miracles. I gave to those pages at the time all the conscientious study I am capable of ; I judge of them now from a memory which is already indistinct, and perhaps I deceive myself in thinking they answer your present doubts. I add — what probably may be found in some preface or note of Godescard — that all the miracles of the saints are not articles of faith, but those only upon which the Court of Rome has pronounced in the process of the canonization of the saint.* More- over, the rules of criticism can here be rigorously applied. " Your parallel between the Abbot Suger and »Sfc. Bernard may be wholly to the advantage of the first, without my blaming your judgment in the least, Suger being certainly very enlightened, very wise, very prudent, and meriting very strong praise. But that great man held St. Bernard — I will not say in the highest esteem ; he regarded him as a very great saint, as an oracle inspired by God. I recollect a letter of Suger to St. Bernard which breathes these sentiments. He also received * An error : even those are not of faith, and,- in general, no miracle related by historians is of faith ; but there v<^ould be a great and culpable rashness in denying those which are recognized as such by the Holy See. K iC 1.9i*' liSii^ 178 Alexis Ckrc. with humility and submission the remonstrances of tliG Abbot of Clairvaux upon his luxury, and there- upon reformed liis own house and his abbey. If Su^er liimself is not a saint, I think he is what is called in the odor of sanctity. Ho did not want the Crusades. That was natural enough in a mi- nister who believed he did well in exaggerating prudence. St. Bernard preached them. It is doing better still to scorn all human prudence, and to trust only in God, and it is a duty to act thus when we are sure that he commands. But that immense fact of the Crusades is too fruitful a sub- ject of discussion, and assuredly I shall not add new subjects to tliose wc already have. St. Ber- nard, Peter the Hermit, and the Popes, were not influenced by the spirit of their contemporaries. Tl]ey directed it ; still more, they incited it j and not to regard them as the promoters of those heroic enterprises is to depreciate their part in his- tory. A minister of peace can, nevertheless, exer- cise terrible justice. Who has said of St. Peter that ho was the minister of vengeance and not of of peace because he struck dead Ananias and Saphira ? " As he pursues his theme ideas crowd upon him, and, almost without knowing it, Alexis fills with his finest writing a dozen more pages, wherein, after having expressed himself about the Crusades, he makes an apology for the macerations of the saints ; and he sums up his opinions in this final conclusion : " What I want to tell you once again is that the admirable charily of a St. Vincent de Epistolary Controversy, 1 79 Paul is not a sanctity different from tlio austeriues of a St. Simeon Stylites, the preaching of a St. Bernard, or the missions of a St. Francis Xavicr ; all these different forms of merit are fruits of the same grace, which is their common saj'), and their roots are planted in the same soil of benediction, which is the love of God." Coming from an officer of the navy who has so much other business on his; hands, these contro- Yersial efforts have certainly their value. They manifest a soul nourished with the marrow of Christianity, and one that daily meditates upon eternal truths. Moreover, though he never makes a parade of knowledge, still less of erudition, ho lets us, when the occasion requires, guess at a learning as varied as comprehensive, gathered with discernment from the best sources. With what competence he speaks of St. Bernard ! This will surprise us l^ss when we learu that he has read not only the life of the great Abbot of Clairvaux, but also his works (part of them at least) in the origi- nal ; we might have cited some of his letters iu which, commissioning his father to get him a copy of St. Bernard, he descants upon the respective merits of the different editions like a bibliographer Avho understands his business. Perhaps the reader has not forgotten how he admired in La Bruycre that chapter on "Les Esprits Forts," where the great thinker of the seventeenth century renders so beautiful a homage to the learning and genius of a Leo, a Basil, a Jerome, an Augustine, and where suddenly he ••1 ^•'^ >*' . tr %^ ■- + .V .11 ^^11! (if I^'O Alexis CI ere. '.•\ ! ^Ib I ! m !l i/lil w %■& 'W\ ,1 liii Si cries out : ^' A Father of the Church, a Doctor of the Church — what titles ! what gloom in their writings, what dryness, what cold devotion, and, possibly, what learning ! exclaim tho.^e who have never read them. What astonishment for all who liave formed such erroneous ideas of the Fathers when they discover in their works more variety and delicacy, more polish, more richness of expression, and stronger reasoning, brighter flashes of genius, and more natural graces of style, than can bo found in the greater part of the favorite modern books which bring fame and vanity to their au- thors I What a pleasure to love religion and to see ?t believed, defended, explained by sucli rare geniuses, such solid minds, especially when we be- come aware that for extent of knowledge, for depth and penetration, for principles of sound phi- losophy and for their application and develop- ment, for accuracy of conclusions, for dignity of language, for beauty of morality and sentiments, there is nothing, for example, that can be com- pared to St. Augustine, save the writings of Plato and Cicero ! " To know religion, to lovo it, to make it loved, and in order to constantly increase in the know- ledge and love of it, to employ his leisure in see- ing it Relieved, defended, cx2)lained lij siicli rare geniuses, was the passion that guiied Clerc in the choice of his readings, and was the reason why he did not dread that austerity, that scholastic dry- ness with which certain works of the holy Fathers are impressed, and which always repel frivolous Epistolary Controversy* i8i minds from them. IIo was abundantly rewarded, not that ho could acquire by himself exact and complete theological knowledge on all points ; he did not cherish that ilhision, and when he dis- coursed upon matters of faith he was very care- ful to accompany his ideas with a reserve, and to invoke as a last re.?ort the intervention of a more competent judge. When he believcu the thing pvossible, lie referred to the holy Fathers themselves ; it was in this way that he made his father read St. Augustine's *' Conicssions," and ho wrote to his brother Jules : *' The attentive reading of the * Confessions ' of St. Augustine will be for a sound and strong mind a sort of tableau of the struggles, the progress, and the victory of eternal truth over the illusions of false wisdom in a great heart and a great mind." He speaks from experience, eter- nal truth having thus triumphed in his heart and mind for ever. It is a fact that, after having care- fully read all his letters and his most private notes, those he wrote for himself alone, I have not been able to find, from the date of his conversion, any indication of a faith shaken, wavering, or even only disquieted by returns of doubt, or of involun- tary assaults of incredulity. Far from Ihat, he goes on, to use the language of the Psalmist, //'owi liglit to light ; the supernatural and invisible, of whicli he possessed by faith the intimate consci- ousness, are become the light and the food of his soul. Most certainly this is a great grace ; it is the reward of the efforts he made to know the truth as thoroughly as it could be known by a •1 0'^ -**' ^•H* f jf I •>» 182 A /ex is Clcrc. mind as richly endowed with natural gifts as his yras. God knows that wo have no intention of ad- vising men of liis profession to devote tlicmsclvcs as he did to the study of theology and to the read- ing of the Fathers of the Church. In the fir&t idacc, they would do nothing of the kind ; and, jn the second place, of those who might attempt it, the greater number would have neither the con- stancy, nor especially the leisure necessary, to per- severe in such a course. But no one should think to exempt himself from a care about the great questions of the future — that is, of eternity. Re- Uect, then : "v^e are embarked on this ocean of time, and the ship sails, always sails, without its being possible for us to suspend or retard its progress for a moment. Where will we be at th3 end of the voyage — on what shore shall wo land ? Before us, yonder whither we are hastening, is there really only the unknown ? Yes, answers the inGdel, and he falls asleep upon that response which contains so little to inspire hope or courage. But the believer says that that shore there beyond, though hidden from our gaze, is known to us by faith, and he affirms that God sent his own Son on earth to re- veal the mysteries of the future life, and to guide ns surely towards the port of salvation. It is well worth the trouble to reflect and examine whether those who have this faith and hope arc not in the right. Certainly there is danger of deceiving our- selves ; a' some given moment the error, which is of consequence, may be for ever irreparable. Epktolary Controversy. , 3 Clerc choso the n-ood mrf o».,i 1 of ■> T.I- ^ ^ I^^^^'^^^^^iG never repented .ttt' .1' t IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I 1.25 1^ y^ ■ 50 ^^" liJ 122 mm I 1.4 1.8 V] /^ A >^ '-'W o 7 ^ ^ .^^ p i %■ CHAPTER VI. PRELUDES OP VOCATION— PREPARATIONS FOR ANOTHER VOYAGE. January 1, 1850, Clerc was promoted to the ' rank of lieutenant. He had jnst entered hia thirty-first year. Henceforth, thanks to his tea years' experience of the sea, and thanks also to the mathematical knowledge he had found a use for in the workshops of Indret and on board the Pelican, the career which lay before him was pleas- ant, easy, and sure, and he lacked nothing, hu- manly speaking, to make him satisfied with his lot. But his heart had aspirations for something more, which ho thought he ought to listen to. Did God require him to leave the navy to attach him- self more closely to his service ? This did not yet appear quite plain, but he was too frank to dis- semble the thoughts that disturbed him, too faith- ful to grj-ce not to be ready for everything. Being in Paris in the spring of 1850, he spent the week after Good Shepherd Sunday (second week after Easter) in retreat, under the direction of Fathfci de llavignan. After a mature examina- tion he asked to be received into the Society of Jesus, which he had long been acquainted with, 184 Prelude's of Vocation. 185 thing Dia liiin- >t yet dls- faith- spent iccond cction ,mina- ^ety of with, and towards which he felt drawn. But Father de Ravignan was not a man to be hasty in decisions of this kind. When there had been question of his own vocation, which cut short a brilliant career hardly commenced, being vigorously opposed by his family, he had temporized, while his resolution was not shaken for a moment. He thouglit Clerc might do the same ; and, in spite of the impatient ardor of his desires, Clerc had to wait.* We have some notes in his handwriting bearing the date of this retreat. First come some reflec- tions upon the Immaculate Conception, a Catholic belief of which wo still awaited the solemn deflni- lion that four years later was to rejoice the hearts of all Mary's faithful servants and children. Then there are some considerations of a dogmatic charac- ter on the eternal fate of the damned, and on the infinite expiation of Jesus Christ, tlia common pa- trimony of all mankind. Further on, exactly in the middle of a page de- voted to several subjects, is this invocation which casts a light upon tiie rest : " St. Margaret of Gor- ton a, pray for me !" Doubtless Clerc during i is retreat read the life of that saint, who till the age of twenty-five was a * Before leaving the residence of the Ruo de Sfevres, whero he had made his retreat, he whs presented to the community, and took leave of tliem in terms which corresponded well with the desire he had to remain if he had been allowed. The father minister wiote in his journal cr Diarium: "April 24 — Our young officer, Mr. Clerc, finishes his retreat and takes leave of us after having greatly edified us. Ho warmly expressed his gratitude for the edification he had himself receive*! and the good he believed ho had gained from his retreat." Tliis is the only example the Diarium Riv«s us of so special a mention, and is a contrast with its usual laconism. «j' 1 86 Alexis Clerc, great sinner; and, in the sincerity of his repen- tance, recognizing that lie had commenced lika her, he Wishes to finish also like her, and claims her for his patroness. The concluding lines revolve upon these words — love and siifferiwj. lie has understood that with- out sorrow he cannot live in the love of God — sine dolore non vivitur in amove — and that noble love has with him all the qualities which the pious au- thor of the 'Imitation" epeaks of in sncli elo- quent terms : "Love feels no burdens, values no labors, complains not of impossibility, because it conceives that it may and can do all things ("Imit.," 1. iii., c. v., v. 4, Dq M'lrahili effeckt Divini Amoris, Cballonsr's Truns.) On returning to Brest, where his duties again keep him, lie resumes with more fervor than over his life of austerity and good works. He acts towards the world as a man who expects nothing from it, and who has burned his ships like Cortes. The Feast of the Blessed Sacrament is come. Clerc deems that his place is in the procession following the footsteps of his God, and ho escorts the can- opy, candle in hand and wearing his uniform. This does not please everybody, and the rumor of it reaches as far as Paris. We may imagine the stupefaction of Mr. Clerc, with his idea that re- ligion should be confined to the precincts of the templo and rigorously forbidden all exterior mani- festation. Others besides him, among them some fervent Christians, held the same opinion, and it took a good many hard lessons before they would iii .' ' i over acts tiling ortes. Clerc )wing 1 cau- orm. or of le the t re- t the ani- Bome nd it ould Preludes of Vocation. 187 at last allow to Catholic worship a little place in the open air. Those who are desirous that it should have a large place are very bold. Naturally Alexis is charged with exaggeration. He defends himself but feebly, believing that he has his faults, that he is not yet entirely rid of the old man, and that he may spoil by mixing himself with it the good for which he is ^.^ earnest. But he will not admit that ho is wrong on the strength of reproaches aimed at once against the most au- thorized practices of the Church, and the examples of the saints which he never loses sight of. To be somewhat of a fool in the eyes of the world does not displease him, for he knows that man saves his soul and gains the heart of God by gene- rously embracing iha folly of the cross. We shall discover these sentiments in a letter ad- dressed to his father from Brest : " As to me, dear father, 1 can only approve what you say. I have the fault of always wanting to go ahead of others in whatever I undertake, and I agree with you that I ought to try to correct it. Whether the thing itself be good or bad, it is al- ways bad to want to bo first. But you know well that place has nothing to do with it. Vv^hether I were in Paris, Brest, or China, I would always have this detestable spirit of vanity. I must fight it wherever I am, on shore or at sea. I can do so better on shore, for I have all the spiritual helps that I would lack at sea. Unfortunately, it is not a small matter to conquer one's self, especi- ally in what concerns pride. «n" .-'*♦•' ii ■1' i88 Alexis Clerc. "It is very possible that this detestable senti- ment may have inspired a large part of my actions, which, consequently, "were good only in appear- ance ; but if it is necessary to purify the intention, it is likewise necessary to persevere in what will be very good when the intention is purified. " I must also tell you that, if I have no servile and necessary occupations, I have, nevertheless, enough to do, and I am not idle. People are ready to believe that devotees create for themselves a sort oi farnientef of lazy idleness, where, like the rat, they hide away from all troublesome busin^ess, and then, in that agreeable detachment from all the things of the world, some — the monks, who eat well, sleep well, and hire singers to do their chanting for them — grow fat visibly. Others, having their minds always fixed upon one same idea, or, rather, upon the search for a being who does not exist, are sunk like the fakirs in the sha- dows of an abstraction which destroys all reality. They do me the honor to class me among the se- cond sort — the poor fools who take the thing seri- ously. Bntall this is not the truth. There are some ignoble beings who throw holy things to the dogs ; there are some religious maniacs ; there are some vague and stubborn minds that lose them- selves in abstractions. If they have a certain amount of natural energy and enough pride, they are the material of which hercsiarchs are made. And, finally, there are some visionaries who dream about nothing, and believe they almost see the sub- stance of the Trinity. With God's grace and by Freludcs of Vocation. 189 vile ess, ady 3S a tlie less, I all who their lers, amo who sha- lity. e se- seri- arc the are ibem- rtain they adc. ream suh- d by submission to my guides, I hope to escape these dangers for the future, even as I think I have escaped them up to the present. " Certainly, meditation is recommended, but nothing is less vague ; we must always draw some practical conclusion from it, and we must bo much more careful to seek for an affection, a movement of the heart towards God, than for the sublimest mental conceptions. What can be wiser, more pru- dent, further removed from the culpable state of the visionary, the heresiarch, or the maniac ? Our religion is positive ; it is not an abstraction. Our God is not vague and undetermined ; he is inac- cessible and infinite in his essence. It is not well to try to scrutinize the mystery with which he hides himself from our eyes, but in Jesus Christ he is ac- cessible and within our reach, especially within reach of our hearts; and all our religion consists in imitating Jesus Clirist and in loving him. " As to the cxcesaively exaggerated asceticism, I am puzzled to know what I can have done to in- spire this opinion. It can only have been derived from some conversations. We must not attach too much importance to these. As you know, while not talking absolutely without reflection, I do not al- ways weigh my words sufficiently to be sure that with a little more reflection I will not disavow * them. I do not just now remember what I have said to provoke this judgment of me. "Lee the world blame my conduct ; it is very natural that it should, and I am not in the least in arrears to it; for, if it blames me for seeking 3 .■^m'^ nJ" i .-?:' iiiii"' \m. i|iL 190 Alexis Clerc. I! J., neither my interest uor my pleasure, I blame it precisely because it does seek both the one and the other. In this matter there is no way of compro- mising ; one sajs white and the other black; there is only to choose, and my choice is made; but surely this is not what you blame, you who are so little of the world. Let the exaggeration pass, then ; I do not say * Yes ' or * No * to it, for I am in ignorance of what you mean by it, and I would like to know where to lay hold of this new enemy. It is very vague to say that one is exaggerated, but if you will plainly designate what appears so to you, I promise to pay serious attention to it. I think that my conduct during my journey, and my journey itself, proves that I am mistrustful of my own ideas, even when they are directed towards the purest good. Excess is not a good ; on the contrary, it is an evil. I wish to avoid it like any other evil. Excess in this matter springs from a presumption which embraces more than its arm- ful, as Montaigne says. It can hold nothing with a firm grasp, and it speedily casts the soul into a disgust and discouragement that render it incapa- ble of the easiest things. But if we must have no l^resumption we must also have no cowardice, and we must, if we would avoid the greatest dangers, undertake, with our confidence firmly fixed in God, all that is possible tons. Exaggeration has in it something personal, human, which it is easy, at least for others, to perceive. Pure zeal has some- thing holy which reveals its divine origin. But let us stop here." Preludes of Vocation, 191 the any om a arm- witli nto a capa- vc no I, and bgers, God, in it jy, at lomc- lut let ' Meanwliilc a new perspective begins to appear in Ihe distance. Clcrc, on board the Dugucseliii ■which is being unrigged, writes to liis father during the first days of August: "I am expecting a more important expedition, which will perhaps take mo very far away and keep me a long time ; but as no orders have been given yet, I will defer speaking of it more explicitly until I have something positive to tell you." At the same time — a singular thing — ideas of vocation keep coming into his mind, and assume more and more consistency. This is what afflicts Mr. Clerc, who sees his Alexis, on the one hand repelling all jilans of establishment, and on the other pursuing his career with the resolution, al- ready perhaps irrevocable, of abandoning it at the very time it smiles upon him more brightly than ever — a cruel thing for a father who has reposed his dearest hopes upon the head of a tenderly-loved son, and who sees the edifico of his happiness thus crumbling before him. Bat there has been nothing done as yet, and he hopes to ward off the blow. lie begins, therefore, by attacking his son about his present resolutions, and about that kind of invisible wall he has put between himself and the world, evidently in the hope of one day reaching a positive separation. Alexis, pressed so closely, defends himself warm- ly, and makes it clear that ho will not yield an inch of ground. • • '* It was with pain," ho wrote to his father, '* that I learned from your letter of the 3d that '1 V'2 ■'i ' 'J ,4-^^' ^■i^ 1." 192 Alexis Citrc, what appeared to you an exaggeration of tlevotioii was what seemed to mc pcrhiaps tepidity, and this on account of tlio different ways in which we looL; at things. " Really I cannot change my conduct in those points that are conformable with my faith. I would much have preferred that you had found something else to scold me for ; I could then have proved how anxious I am to i^lease you. It was, perhaps, the foresight that it would be impossible for me to make a concession in that matter whicli led you to undertake to show me that, even look- ing at things hypothetically from my point of view, you could see them differently. You refer to your observations on the subject of the attempt I made in Paris to leave the world. I have reread them with great attention, as well as those in the present letter. They may be reduced to two heads: the first that celibacy is a state contrary to nature, and the second that I have a career already secured which I abandon. As I do not remember to have sent you any reply, you will pardon me for this one. If it has not the merit of persuasion it will perhaps have for you that of novelty. '* Marriage is for the species what food is for the individual — it is its means of preservation. Hence it is for the species a natural law, and it is, as your note expresses it, the commandment which God gave in saying to our first parents, 'Increase and multiply.' Thus, I grant, you have quite satisfac- torily established that marriage is a natural duty for the species, and that consequeutly it is right. Preludes of Voeation. 193 )tioii lliis tliose 1. I [ound I have t was, )ssiblc wliicli look- l view, your [ made . tliem present Ls: the e, and ecu red bave r this it will If or tlie Hence IS your Ih God and itisfac- il duty right. But what regards the species docs not impose an obligation on all the individuals. Just as in an army, where there must bo drummers and color- bearer?, it is not necessary that all should be drummers or color-bearers, so with regard to the maintenance and preservation of the species, etc." The reader sees the conscqacnco drawn : it is not necessary that all should be fathers of family. Bat allow us to hereupon open a parenthesis. "\Vc are aware of the intii^ate acquaintance Alexis kept up with St. Thomas, and his habit of liaving recourse to the great doctor for answers to the objections that came to him from all sides. Ilerc we catch him i;i the act, and at the moment he writes these lines, original enough, and even impressed with a certain gaiety, he has his St. Thomas open before him, either the " Theological Summa" (2a. See., q. 152, a. 2, ad primum) or the *' Summa '' against the Gentiles (1. iii,, c. cxxxvi.) ; for it is there we find the distinction of the things necessary to the preservation of the individual and of the things necessary to the preservation of the species, a distinction which gives rise to a reason- ing identical with that of Alexis on the subject of marriage, although St. Thomas does not speak of color-bearers and drummers. This argumentation is, moreover, irrefutable ; and it is carious that, several years later, Mr. Jules Simon likewise employed it in a work that takes only into consideration natural morality. He does not quote St. Thomas, but evidently he has read him, and he writes in these very words : " Not- ii."*^' 194 Aifxis Clcrc, "wilhstautlin^' all tliat may bo said about the incli- nation of nature, naturo not needing that all indi- viduals sliould reproduce themselves, can permit contincnco to bo not only possible but easy." AVhcnco ho concludes that it is neither just nor 2)hiI(),soj>Itic((I to condemn the state of ccJibacy (" Lc Devoir," first edition, p. 1^^). Mr. Clcrc, who called himself a philoST)phcr, bad then to deal with a strong opponent ; his son un- dertook to pursue him into his own territory and to overcome him with his own arms. " There you have the philosophical reason," adJs Alexis, **'but the practice and judgment of the Church arc much more conclusive, and you cannot doubt that she liighly esteems celibacy. It is not of precept, it is true, otherwise marriage would bo forbidden, and, on the contrary, she de- clares that marriage is a holy state ; but it is of counsel, and better than marriage. Assuredly you know that such always has been and always will be the sentiment of the Church regarding this matter. However, your knowledge of the fact will be confirmed by reading the seventh chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians. " It is not for the sake of having a controversy that I tell you these things, but I do not want you to be mistaken about my sentiments. We are both agreed that I must waif. That decision seemed wise to you and it must be followed. " How I would like to tell you of the magnifi- cent hopes it allows me a glimpse of. But 1 would wound your feelings, and, far from filling your Frchuics of Vocation. ^95 >> you 13 will this tt AviU )f the )versy it you jc are Icision ignifi- •ould your heart v^'ith joy, would cause you only trouble and sorrow. Nevertheless you oiiglit, after the pru- dence I flatter myself I liiivo shown, to believe tiiat I will continue to be guided by it. It is probable that I shall follow the natural course of events, that I shall leave to God to put me, so to speak, with his own hand where ho wants mo to be, if that is not where I am. 1 have no purpose of taking upon myself to quit my place by an act of my own will. "This leads mc to reply to your second observa- tion : that I abandon my career. If I abandon it, it is because I am not attaclied to it. Once this abandonment is voluntary and Fpontaneous it can be no misfortune. I remain a sailor with the dis- position of not being one to-morrow if God so pleases. I assure you that giving up the profession for that reason appears no sacrifice to me."' But Mr. Clerc does i.jt deem himself conquered, and he returns to the charge as vigorously as ever, it would seem, which perseverance procures him an entire letter on the celibacy of the priesthood. Ilowever, he refrains for the moment from directly attacking his son's resolution, for the hitter adds, after having valiantly defended his thesis: **Wo have kept outside of the personal question, and wo are quite agreed as to what I have to do now — namely, remain a bachelor. You yourself consider this very wise. By my return from this voyage water enough will have flowed under the bridge, and I do not look so far into the future. ^ Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof.' " . * •, ,;> , c:\ 4«8C MP *y *', 'J «•' . 1 i3 it*'-' .,.^*' .<«• :? ■:• 196 Alexis Clcrc. ^t is, therefore, only a truce, but one to wliicli the long voyage now talked of promises consider- able duration. Each of tlie combatants counts npon resuming hostilities at some opportune time, and gaining more euccoss than in the past. But what about this voyage, vaguely announced, and which rather pleases our Alexis, alihougli he considers his naval career as nearly fiuislicd, and although even the most legitimate ambition seems no longer to have any hold upon him ? Evidently this project must not only be agreeable to his tastes, but of a nature to satisfy the secret aspira- tions of his heart and to put no obstacle in the way of his vocation. And truly God had arranged everything according to his wishes in a manner to give him entire security on that essential point, without his having had to think of and imagine combinations of circumstances which probably would never have presented the same advantages. A still recent friendship, but one on which ho could perfectly rely — i fiiendship founded on con- formity of views, si.'ntimGuts, and religious princi- ples, consecrated twenty years later hy the same vows pronounced at the foot of the same altars — this was what providentially intervened and fur- nished him the means of i)ursuing his generous de- sign with an always uniform ardor along a road apparently quite off the route, and which even seemed to be made on purpose to take him faraway from his goal. It was in Brest in 18-48 that Clerc met Comman- der Robinet dc IMas, captain of a frigate, his elder Preludes of Vocation. 197 in years and in the service and his superior in rank, but his equal by charity which drew them 10- getlier. They both belonged to a cluh (such was the language of the day) organized for the (flicers of the different naval corps in order to withdraw them from cafe life. Clerc, then an ensign, was a member of the bureau and rendered as secretary important services, as is attested by his friend, wlio recommends ns to be silent about the part he himself took in that good work. The commander having been called to Paris, in the course of the same year, to sit in the Court of Ad- miralty, Alexis hastened to put him in communi- cation with his father and his brother Jules, lie wrote to his father with his expansive cordiality: "You ought to have seen Sir. dc Plas, captain of frigate. You would have been pleased with him, for he is the finest specimen we could send to Paris. It would not be prudent to buy the whole lot from this sample. I am very lonely here since ho is gone, and to console myself for having lost him I have to keep thinking every moment of the good he can do in his new and important posi- tion." The position of the commander became still more important, and his influence still mc:"e ex- tended, when the brave Admiral liomain Desfosses appointed him chief of the council of the Minis- ter of the Navy. It was the era of generous projects, and of a policy more Christian than tiio one we had lately seen at work, and whoso weak- ness we had experienced under the monarchy of C^ : -i«f1 Zm .■m ;i''^ S*'*' ;j H .„ 1'- 'I H 1 ^ ■' ft f :,-!.' f i ' , ■i*'* 1: ' i^ .,1«^ _,*« 3 i' 1 1 iiir '' ' ■ ■ i '- * .1 198 Alexis Clerc. 1830. Let that triumphant return of Pius IX. to Rome be remembered ; it was a triumph prepared by the sword of France, and applauded in both hemispheres not only by Catholics but by all true friends of justice and right. How strong we felt then ! A short time had sufficed, on almost the day after a mad revolution, to give us back our as- cendency and restore us to our rank among the European powers. Neither our treasure nor our armament was increased by the fall of Louis Philippe ; but we marched the first in. the path of honor, and never was our flag more respected tlian on the day when it bowed beneath the benediction of the Pontiff-King. It is rot astonishing to see at such a period issu- ing from the council of the Minister of tlie Navy the i^lan of an expedition having for its object the visit of the Catholic Missions, to which our brave sailors, according to a truly national tradition, owe a protection which had too often failed under the last reign. Mr. de Plas, selected for this most honorable service, wished to have Alexis with him. We can guess how the latter welcomed the overture made him to that effect. While waiting to enroll himself in the holy militia, nothing could please him better than to be, under no matter what title, the auxiliary of the priest, and especially of the missionary. The news being communicated to Mr. Clerc by Eather do Rivignan, Alexis was free to enter into explanations with his father, and licro is what he wrote him in a letter dated Scp- tembar 5, 1850 : l'V% Icould what Illy of [cated Is was , and Scp- Preludcs of Vocation. 199 "I como now to the project of the voj-ago. Do Plas, in fact, proposed this expedition to me, and, as you may well believe, I accepted with all my heart. Indeed, nothing could please me better. If I am to remain a sailor, (here is nothing I could like more than serving the Church as directly a3 possible. " Since you have learned the same thing through Father do R.ivignan, it must be that it is consi- dered as fully decided upon. As for me, I have had no news about it for a long time. Do Plas left for Rome on the 8th of August, and I have received nothing from him since. He undertook this journey to obtain instructions and orders from the Holy Father; but the matter is not yet talked about, and nobody knows of it excepting those to whom I have made overtures to secure their con- currence. The vessel even has not yet been chos- en. However, I have a strong faith that the ex- pedition will become a fact. It' I do not deserve tlie honor of forming a part of it, notwithstanding the great satisfaction it would afford me, I think I am disposed to be resigned. As you tell me, it u best not to trust to the most flattering hopes, and this is easy to one who is thoroughly convinced that Providence orders all events for the greater good of his children. " IIow happy I should be, dear father, if you could unite with me in appreciating this beautiful project ! The history of our beloved country shows it as being alwjiys in the past centuries the shield and sword of the Church. Clovis defeated Ari- i ■ ;: :!1W f' l;|, .,> ii.. rf Sj! |:iMMi I" *&( 2CX) Alexis Clerc. auism ; Cliaries Martel, Moliammcdauism ; Mont- fort, Maniclicism; the League, Protestantism. Since the Crusades, in wliicli the most illustrious were the French, the ramo of Frank is used every- where among barbarians to signify Christian ; and France, acce^iting this naturalization, has al- ways taken upon herself the defence of all op- pressed Christians. *' Thus, our forces constantly protecting yirtuc, devotedncss, and weakness, the namo of France was blessed throughout the earth. It was pro- claimed the generous and chivalric nation. Oh ! that those days might return, that we might un- derstand what is our mission, and. how our destiny is the grandest God has ever given to a nation I In giving us to be the defenders of the Church, of the Popes, of the apostles who bear his Gospel to the confines of the earth, he has made of France the right arm, the temporal strength of his spiritual kingdom. There is not, there cannot be, a more exalted destiny for a state. Onr autliority should be universal, like that of the Pope ; it belongs to us to protect Christians and missionaries every- where." When he received the assurance that the expedi- tion would certainly be made, and that he would belong to it, he fairly jumped for joy, and, borrow- ing of the Blessed Virgin her song of thanksgiving, he cried out : ^^ Miujnificat anima meet Domimim.-^ It is true that in this, as in everything else, he did not see his ideal fully realized ; the plan of visit- ing the Catholic Missions was subjected to extenuu- I Preludes of Vocation. 201 I. ;j tions and alterations, wliich deprived it in his eyes of a little of its grandeur and of its religious as- pect. But enougli of its first meaning remained for him to find in it a noble employment of his abilities, and for him to congratulate himself upon being, Avhilo waiting for something better, associated with an enterprise from which much might be expected for the prosperity of several important Christian colonics on the coast of Africa and on the different shores of the extreme East. ''I think," he wrote in a letter of October 19, " the end of my waiting is near, and any day I may receive orders to j jin the ship. It seems they have selected a steam-vessel, the Cassini, which is at Lorient, and it is there we will go to make pre- parations. The cruise may not be what we would have wished ; it may perhaps be confined to ^ndia and China, instead of taking in the whole world. It is probable, also, that the commander will not bo allowed to choose his men, nor all of his offi- cers. Finally, I fear for my part, without know- ing anything positive, that too diplomatic an air will be given to the expedition ; I would prefer to do things more squarely, and to say quite stupidly that we are going to help and protect the Jesuits. It is true that for France diplomacy and the protection of the Catholic religion are, to people who have seen a little of the world, one and the same thing. I would have liked, however, that they should not have been afraid to proclaim our intention. Cir- cumspection, prudence, is not my strong point, perhaps ; I confess that I do not like these con- if g,^*4 ii' H l!!li 202 Alexis Clerc, cessions to u misled public opinion. Still, I reas- sure myself by thinking of the chief who is to com- nuind us, and with whom, I am certain, tliis worldly prudence will never degenerate into weak- ness. " They say the vessel is admirably adapted to the purpose in many ways ; it is almost new ; the boiiers are on shore being repaired, and after this the Cassini will be ready for a long voyage. But this will take some time, and I venture to say that it will be about three months before we can sail. *''Iam not quite sure what will bo my business during this time, whether I shall be occupied with the equipment of the ship, or shall devote myself to acquiring the knowledge that will enable me to bring back from so fine a voyage documents inter- esting to science. I am ready for whatever de Plas wishes ; in any case, I joyfully await the moment of making myself useful. I am not too much afraid of inaction, and ennui scarcely ever torments me; but my uselessness weighs upon me, and 1 am rather ashamed of living with so little trouble." God knows whether he was idle or not ; and as to living with little trouble, if he was exempt from this through the moderation of his wants, he knew how to give himself for others ay much and more trouble than people who are stimulated by their own interests usually take. But this was nothing compared to what he wished to do, he being one of those who, after having conscientiously performed their task, render themselves justice by saying : .hing ne of rmed Preludes of Vocation. 203 *' We tiro unprofiUiWe servants; wc Lave done that which we ought to do" (Luke xvii. 10). And now comes a first attemjit of Clerc, en- dorsed by the commander of Uie Cassinl, to give the projected expedition as Catholic a character as possible. Alexis was acquainted with the Rev. Father Rubillon, provincial of the Society of Jesus in Paris, the same who has since been assis- tant for France in Rome. With full confidence in the zeal and charity of that worthy superior, he writes to him under date of October 19 : **Reveke]s^d Father: I thank you from the depth of my heart for your most affeciionate letter. I now undertake this long cruise with a feeling of perfect security, and in the hope that God will make it serve to his glory and our spiritual profit. Commander de PhisoHcred in Rome to take on the Cassini a delegate from the Holy Father to ex- amine and judge of the condition and wants of the universal kingdom. The Ministry has itself made the same proposal to the nuncio in Paris. It is probable that a plan which seems so advantageous to the Church will bo accepted ; still, it is not cer- tain. However that may bo, this delegate, who, perhaps, will not be a Frenchman, may have visits to make which will keep him absent from the ves- sel for long periods, the vessel being for him only a moans of conveyance, and you understand, Rev- erend Father, that we want a priest for ourselves ; therefore we have recourse to you. **The law relative to chaplains does not apply to vessels like ours ; we will be rejoiced at this ,(Br» .^. IP"! -»•"■■ it* J*- /I '^ T i ft <«*^V I* » fc'^w ««««* ^^i^%. 1 ,.^. . . ■I'll'" , r*i»| :1W«'* 204 Alexis Clcrc. misfortune if wo can derive from it the ad- Yantage of having a Jesuit. As the Government will have nothing to do with this choice, it will quite willingly keep itself ignorant of what does not concern iL " The Father shall mess with and be provided by the commander ; we claim all the other ex- penses, and wo will endeavor to return him in as good condition as when he was delivered to us. In our difficulty of doing more and of securing to our chaplain the same emoluments as though he were legally and administrativchj embarked, it is only a priest who has made a vow of poverty, and whom his order will take back after the expedition is over, who can suit us. This consideration will perhaps influence the Bisl'op oi Vannes, from whom the chaplains that sail from this port receive their faculties, to waive his right of appointing a priest of his diocese, and grant readily to a Jesuit Father what could not bo accepted by a secular priest. *^But if the exterior difficulties seem easy to overcome, there must, however, be weighty reasons to induce your Society to relinquish a Father for three years to so small a number of the faithful as compose the equipage of the Cassini — 130 men. **Well, in the first place, the vessel will fulfil her important misdon so much better in prcportion as the men will be more religious, and it is certain that their progress in piety will not be useful to themselves alone. But the principal reason we have to offer you is that the vessel will in reality, as was said at first, make the tour of the world, Frcludcs of Vocation. 205 uer ulfil tion tain il to we lity. and that, consequently, the Father you will give us as our chaplain can at the san^c time be your visitor-general, doing for all your houses near the coasts what, I understand, is done in your different European provinces. Thus the Society will itself derive some profit from what will be to us such a very great advantage. " Keverend Father, I address you this request in the name of Commander do Plas ; ho will be m Paris on the 28th of October, and will see you him- self relative to it; but as some delay may be re- quired to decide the matter, ho has desired me to write to you in order not to lose time. "We expect the yessel to bo ready to sail by the end of Decem- ber. "I bog you, dear and venerated Father, look favorably upon this project, in which we are equal- ly jealous of our own good and of that of the Society. It is clear that the selection of a Father for this double function of chaplain and visitor belongs exclusively to your Very Reverend Father- General, but de Plas has told me to mention, with- out in any way insisting upon it, the name of Faiher de Sainte Augele, who is, he thinks, at Dole. " I pray God to make you favorable to our plan. "Your most respectful and dutiful son in our Lord Jesus Christ, A. Clerc." What a spirit of faith and what a heart of an apostle ! What respect for all proprieties, especial- ly for the proprieties of the religious life I We a* ' i 9 if ■^- 206 Aifxis Clerc, iXIHIll feel that Clerc's filial submission to his venerablo correspoudcnt is r.ot a mere empty phrase, and that without being bound by vows he finds in it a foretaste of reh'gious obedience. All, however, was not to be to the liking of Commander do Plas so ably seconded by his lieutenant. The Cassini did not make the tour of the world, and no Jesuit em- barked in her. But this double disappointment was compensated by the presence of two venerable bishops, accompanied by several priests, and by the services which the expedition, having once reached Cliina, rendered to one of the most interesting of the Jesuit missions in that extreme East. The preparations were long and laborious. The officers were recruited quietly, without any open preference, and the choice was as fortunate as could reasonably be expected, taking into account the administrative obstacles. " The Cassini is not yet ready to start," Alexis wrote to his brother Jules early in November (1850); " her boilers are still on shore, and it will be a month before they can be put in place ; our departure does not seem to me possible before the beginning of January. The Cassini is a vessel very similar to the Caiman; she has already been tried by a voyage which did not injure her in the least and tested the quality of all her belongings. The en- gine is a good one, and has been thoroughly in- spected and made equal to new. ** We will set out with a good many passengers of all descriptions, even nuns and bishops — the now Eishop of Bourbon, where until now there has Preludes of Vocation, 207 ^y a len- i li- fers [the Ihas been no bishopric, and Mgr. Verollcs, bisliop of Mantchooria, who lias already suffered for the faith. "The cruise attracts many^ naval officers, and it would seem that the shadow of cassocks, as Mr. Hugo expresses it, does not sufficiently obscure the future of the Cassini to make it dreaded. Not- withstanding our little odor of Jesuitism, peo- ple seem quite well disposed to become our asso- ciates ; it is, however, a perfume that diffuses itself without any effort on our part, for we live very quietly, I and my colleague, Bernaert, and, it even might be said, in a diplomatic reserve, if our tranquillity were not the effect of our personal tastes." Tjiis Bernaert, the second lieutenant of the CV/s- sj'«i, was aa experienced seaman and a valiant Christian. At fifty years of age he had petitioned to sail as supplementary officer — that is, holding the lowest rank — but a decision of the Maritime Prefect, which ho had noways provoked, restored him his riglit of seniority. Not less generous than modest, although he was without fortune, he gave largely of the little he had ; for instance, on his ar- rival in Cliiua he gave GOO francs to the Procurator «f the Foreign Missions for the work of the propa- gation of the faith, saying that he had not come to that country to economize. He was, we are told, an officer who only lacked the occasion to rise to the heroic and who lived like a saint. Once returned to private life, he withdrew to a town of the Department du Nord (f^teenvoorde), where he 4«d ■■■"■'■■, } 11 208 Alexis Clcrc. died a few years ago, leaving behind liim the re- putation of a most upright man, and an example which his fellow members of tlic conferences of St. Vincent do Paul have not forgotten. Such a man readily sympathized with Alcxi?. Before their departure they went together every morning to the early parochial Mass, and together they ap- proached the holy table, a worthy preparation for the kind of maritime crusade to which they had so gladly consecrated themselves. Clerc went on board the vessel every day to inspect the progress of the work and to superintend the arrangements, putting to profit the experienco he possessed long since, thanks to his vovago on a ship of the same kind, the Caiman. A striking and instructive contrast ! When in 1847 ho was cruising off the western coast of Africa on that steam corvette, which did a good deal of transporting in the interest of our establish- ments of Senegal, he felt little liking for that kind of service, whoso monotony but poorly re- sponded to his warlike and chivalric aspirations, and, including in one same anathema steam and transportation, he wrote to his father with a fa- cetiousness that was just a little caustic: *' In short, since I have been on board we have taken in eoal, then loaded with baggage, burned our coal, re- loaded, reburned coal, etc, — always the same thing over and over again. That's the life of an officer for you ! Now Ave are, I believe, relieved from loading for some time, for there is nothing more to bo loaded. If you had since my departure gained the Preludes of Vocation, C09 car of somC'influentiul pcrsoniige, I would tell you how vicious it is to cni]>loy the iiiivy iu this way ; t!)iit steam vessels require sailors to riumtigo them, but that on board of them i:; is impossible to Inurn anything of the profession ; that tiic young oflicers ought not to be attached to stoam vessels, and that using them as transports makes of their officers mere carters, teamsters, etc." lie had tho mos!: exalted idea of the naval service, and his predilec- tion at that time was for navigation by sails, wit- ness certain memoranda on the cliassc ilcsvaisseoAix which were found among his papers. This, we are assured, is a beautiful and ingenious mathe- matical theory, but of which the application is im- possible in steam navigation. However that may be, charged on the Cassinl with the details of the engine, lie utilized in that employment knowledge of a quite different nature wliicii he had acquired on the Caiman against his will, so to speak ; and contrary to his expectations, to hum and rchurn coal for the honor of France and in the interests of C'ltholic missions became the great joy and, as it v.cre, the crown of his naval career. Thus in the last days of 1850 we find him wholly occupied in collecting precise and detailed technical information upon the different qualities of combustibfes that could bo used on the Cassini. The School of Mines affording the most abundant resources for that study, Alexis wished to i)rofit by them, and came to Paris for the purpose. This journey procured him the acquaintance of a man whose friendship, though enjoyed so late, was in- RY." Mary, the So- would ;ocioty, ited by 11 when Ic and of the lis man CHAPTER VII. ALEXIS CLERC LIEUTENANT ON BOARD THE " CASSINI "— FROM LORIENT TO SHANGHAI. • Ox the Gth of March, 1851, at seven o'clock in the morning, the Cassini left the harbor of Lorient, and, reviving an ancient custom fallen into disuse since the first revolution, saluted with all its ar- tillery the sanctuary of Xotre Dame de PArmor. At the same time the missionaries who were pas- sengers on board intoned the "Ave Maris Stella,'* which the whole ship's company sang with marvel- lous earnestness. Priests and sailors united in one same thought of faith, supplicated the Star of the Sea to be propitious to their voyage, and to bless the very diverse enterprises which separated them from their country — these for several years, those, or at least the greater part of them, for the re- mainder of their lives, which they had entirely devoted to the salvation of souls. It was an august and touching spectacle. On the deck were seen two biahops — one, Mgr. Ve- rollcs, illustrious by long labors, was returning to his vicariate-apostolic of Mantchooria ; the other, Mgr. Desprez (now Archbishop of Toulouse), was on his way to inaugurate the bishopric of Saint Denis (Island of Bourbon), that is, to take posses- sion of that sec of which he was the first bishop. 219 "• i 1^ - -"I I* -' v-Tl .-»■«"■ \¥t: .■■» , , if u *" ■ dim ""f 220 Alexis Clcrc, Two vicars-gcncral, three priests of tlio Foreign Missions, a chaplain attached to the ('an.sini, and, finally, three nuns of St. Joseph, destined also to carry afar the name and the good odor of Jesus Christ, loudly proclaimed by their pres- ence the entirely Catholic character of the ex- pedition. The staff of officers, excellently well chosen, exceeded somewhat the strict regulation number, and included five lieutenants, one ad- ministrative officer, two physicians, and six mid- shipmen, four of whom ijad been selected from among the best cadets of the school-ship. Tiie Cassini, a corvette with a screw-propeller of two hundred horse-j^ower, carried six guns and counted one hundred and twenty men, officers in- cluded, which equipage would, in case of necessity, form quite a respectable military force. The Cas- sini was bound for Bourbon and China. The duties of chaplain (without the official title) were discharged by the Abbe Cambier, of the clergy of Paris, who, to join the expedition, had voluntarily left the parish of Saint I'ierre du Gros- Caillou, of which he was curate. Having been ap- pointed some years since pastor of Saint Jacques and Saint Chr'stoplie de la Villette, he in the kind- est possible manner has loaned us the journal he kept during that cruise of the Cassuii, solely for the sake of pouring out his heart into the bosom of a friend. Furnished with the faculties which his Lordship the Bishop of Vannes had granted him for the entire cruise, and installed as comfortably as was possible From Loricnt to Shanghai. 221 np- ;qucs /md- al lie for osom in his floating parish/ the Abbo Cambicr, after having made the acquaintance of his new flock, formed liis first impressions, and consigned them to liis journal as follows : *' The sailors seem young, and wilh not much experience of the sea ; but they will soon learn, and things will go on the better for it if Providence deigns to favor us ever so little. Besides, all these sailors have good faces. As they are Bretons for the most part, the priest does not frighten them ; they are accustomed to seeing him close by, to listening to him and following his ad- vice. Therefore I can expect docility from them. The cabin-boys are only six in number, and they will be my little pet flock. Are not these poor chil- dren left too much to themselves and allowed to mix too much with the crew ? At their age the free conversations they hear may be fatal to them. To separate the cabin boys from the men as much as possible, to watch them with scrupulous attention, to instruct them, would seem to me a necessary thing. It is to be supposed they they are not neg- lected ; experience will doubtless inform me about this. The men number a hundred and twenty; they will be my harvest ; may ic prove a good one ! Without any doubt I might say that it will, had I as my only pledge and guarantee the example of the commander and the officers. Were I not al- ready convinced of the power of good example, I should soon become £0 on board the Cassini. I have said that Mr. de Plas is a good Christian ; ho knows that ho has under his authority not only bodies but souls, and he makes of the navy much C'".^. »•*, •^1%. !■♦■ ''*■•! ■■■* ,; ^1 I |,:«f «■■'' •I IT- ' t 222 Alexis Clcrc. IM^i i- 4p ,*, less a means of advancement for himself than an opportunity of (xcrcising liis cnliglitened zeal in favor of llioso he is ajipointed to command." Then Abbe Cambier says a word about each of the officers : " llis first officer — that is, the one who is called the lieutenant in command, because ho has supreme control of all the details of tho vessel — his lieutenant-commander, I say [we know that it was Lieutenant Burnaert], is likewise a Christian of the good old stamp. Ilis body is en- feebled by long and hard service, but his heart is young and vigorous. lie has undertaken tho Chinese expedition only to offer his assistance to the missionaries; his boxes are full of religious objects which he destines for them ; one of his intentions is to propagate the Society of St. Vin- cent do Paul ; also to organize a conference on board, if possible." Abbe Cambier is careful not to forget the sub- ject of our biography, and this is how he expresses himself : " Lastly, I must say a few words about the youngest lieutenant, Mr. Clerc, a pupil of the Polytechnic School. An officer selected by the commander, his piety and talents justify the choice. If he continues in the navy I think his future will be prosperous. He is but twenty-six years old,* and is already a lieutenant. The career before him is a long one ; he has in his favor youth, health, and merit. I would not be surprised if he should exchange the coat for the habit ; his fervor ♦ Clerc was then past thirty-one ; his low stature and his habitual gayety probably made him appear younger. From Loricnt to Shanghai, 223 is that of a religious. Undoubtcilly, the epaulets arc very lionorable; the piicst's cassock is far nioro so, but it must bo given by God with the voca- lion. ..." The worthy chaplain informs us how lie exer- cised on board the vessel a ministry that was wholly of peace and persuasion, that imposed on the men 1:0 constraint and no annoyance : " In the morning, tiftrr the reveille, afc six o'clock at sea and dvo o'clock ill harbor, I said prayers — 'Our Father,' ' Hail ]Mary,' and a prayer I had composed for the sailors. When the furnaces were lighted I de- scended to the engine-room and performed the same devotions there. In the evening, after the reading of the penalties of the day and the choice of hammocks, I said night-prayers in the midst of the men, all standing and with heads uncovered. On Tuesdays at half-past one there was catechism for the cabin-boys; Sundays Mass was celebrated at a quarter-past ten ; it commenced with tho 'Asperges,' and in harbor there was an instruc- tion on the Gospel of the day. At sea, at two o'clock Sunday afternoons, I gave an instruction to the crew. A few strokes of tho bell announced all these exercises, and those only came who want- ed to, even to tho morning and night prayers." Kot only was the Christian life thus freely prac- tised on board the Casslni, but Jesus Christy him- self had his throne erected, as was proper, in the place of honor. "Yes," says Abbe Cam- bier, " we had a real chapel on our vessel — a ehsipel perfectly appointed with altar, taberna- ^ J. i: t ,"11 • ■iffi 224 Alexis Clcrc. • lib- . : cle, crucifix, presses for the vestments; a chapel where we had the hnppiness of possessing the Bless- ed Sacrament. If you have occasionally visited some vessel in one of our ports, you must be ac- quainted with the part called the^^oo^;. It consists of one or several rooms built on deck, either aforc- ships or, and more frequently, aft. On ships and frigates this poop is used as the parlor and office of the commander. On the Cassini it was in three divisions. The right and left were appro- priated to the two bishops; the centre one was the chaj)el, closed with folding-doors, which were opened for the celebration of Mass. The interior was finished in pine, veneered with varnished lime- tree wood. On the front of the altar were some symbolical ornaments carved in violet ebony. The cruciGx that surmounted the tabernacle was of walnut wood ; it was not cut by a sculptor, but only by an humble joiner who plied his trade in the port; yet it was not less a little chef-cVouvre as well as the whole chapel. The artisans of Lorienfc had bestowed upon this tiny chapel all their skill, rnd success had crowned their efforts. " If I were talking," adds the good and worthy priest, " to a Christian without faith or under- standing of the things of faith, I would not enter into these details, but I know that it will be a pleasure to you to hear them, and that my words will find an echo in your heart. Was it not for us all on board the Cassini a wonderful good fortune to possess the Most Blessed Sacrament ? Around and above us the sea and the sky displayed less bat le in ;re as )rient :tliy inder- I enter be a rorcls >t for good lent ? llayed From Loricnt to SJiangJiai, 225 the power of God ; close to us, with us, the Eucha- rist revealed his goodness and love. Is it as- tonishing that the waves bowed down, so to speak, before our vessel to allow it an easy and rapid pro- gress ? Is it astonishing that peace reigned con- stantly in our midit, and that numerous blessings were reserved for us ? The Cassini bore in her bosom the God of the universe, he who walked on the Sea of Galilee, and who with a single word stilled the tempests 1 " The voyage was, from beginning to end, a most pleasant one. It is true that at starting the sea, which was rather rough, tried some of the passen- gers, but in a little while the weather became yery tolerable for the season, and, after a six days' sail, on the 12th of March the vessel cast anchor off Funchal, one of the Madeira Islands. The stay lasted three days ; coal was taken in rapidly, and a supply of fresh provisions permitted the Cassiui^s company to reach the Cape of Good Hope in the best of health. " On Eister Day * the corvette was near enough the Cape to warrant an unusual con- sumption of coal. The order was therefore given to put on all her steam, and the Cassini attained a speed of about ten miles an hour. The sea was smooth as a lake, so nothing pi'evented the plan of having a High Mass from being put in execution. Mgr. Desprcz was very willing to officiate ; some eabin-boys, nicely dressed and intelligent, wero turned into choristers, and, thanks to the mission- * I am hero following, or rathci' faithfully copy iug, from tho nt)tej ot Commandei do Flas. JIT*"" A"" /'I » .il. '■■ ■■i M ■ '■ * 22G A /ex is Clerc. arics, to the nuns wlio were passengers, and to a lieutenant who was a good musician, the singing left nothing to be desired." Alexis Clerc wrote from Cape Town to his fa- ther : " We arrived here April 22 at two o'clock in the morning, after a very fortunate voyage, during which we escaped all bad weather and all tlie other miseries of sea life. Easter Day was a real festival for the ship ; the weather and the sea were perftct- ly beautiful. It is not very difficult to touch the simple hearts of these ^ood Bretons, but it is sweeter to remember those happy moments than to talk of them." Tlie preparation of the sailors had been most careful, and their chaplain's efforts were crowned with complete success. "I told them," ho re- lates, " that confession was for them the plank of safety after shipwreck ; the word once said, I repeated it ; they grew accustomed to hear- ing it; it ended by sounding less harsh to their ears, and soon after it f jund an entrance in their hearts. When tlie thought of Confession is in the heart, and is there in such a way that it cannot fail of being understood, it is not long before it is put in practice. This is precisely what happened on our vessel. The sailors began by badgering one another about it, and finished by confessing. Our Holy Week was entirely taken up with piety." Another religious solemnity awaited them at the Cape. Mgr. Griffith was preparing for the dedica- tion of his church ; he anticipated the ceremony by several days, so that tho pomp might be in- From Lorient to Shattghai. 227 Our creased by the presence of the two bishops and of the numerous clerfry of the Cassinu The commanLler and his stall were also invited, and once more showed themselves sincerely Catho- lic. *' Day before yesterday (Monday)," Alexis wrote to his father,* " the bishop of the Cape dedicated liis churcli. The Cassini took part in the festival ; it was represented by its clergy and by a deputation of officers and sailors. Oar two bishops and our seven priests added greatly to the pomp of the ceremony, and a 'Rcgina Cool i ' and an '0 Salu- taris' were sung with very good effect. The French consul had the first place in the ceremony ; tho officers of the Cassini ranked with him. Ifc is til us that everywhere, excepting at home, we are Catholics. But how much better it is not to be so through necessity and from political interest — as the English are Protestants — and to bring to the true, inborn opinions of our race that adhesion 01 tho heart which i^rovcs us to bo sons of t])ose who founded the power and glory of France ! " The English are now establishing a regular communication between tho Cape and England. It will be very rapid — thirty-three or thirty-four days ; several packets have already made the passage in that time ; propellers are the style of vessels employed. When the project is completed the Cape will be only *Let us remark, once for all, tint the greater part of Alexis' letters during this voyage being addressed to his father, we shall not continue to mention this each time, being careful, however, to inform the reader when they aro aiidressed to any one else. Ill «•«« .••«!!, flOJSd* % diC .Hi'-' mi!' I'm' li' y'- 228 Alexis Clcrc. ftRi. . :i^ a way-station, and the packets will go on to Mauri- tius, then to Ceylon ; others will go to New Hol- land. AVc cannot help envying this energy and enterprise, and, ii England's objcci; was not at the price of such great efforts to sell her cotton-goods, we would have to bow before a superiority laudable in its end as well as in its means. . . . That com- merce should be not a means of greatness, but the greatness of a country, is impossible, and the na- tion that applies to such small interests so con- siderable a power will one day be judged from this point of view." The CctHsini left the Cupe May 3. The month of Mary was not forgotten. Every evening, when the sun had disappeared beneath the waves, all gathered like one family before Mary's altar, erect- ed in the chapel on deck, and there they prayed with their whole hearts, and sang with loudest voices canticles of praise to the august Mother. Sailors and passengers were very fond of a refrain that was remarkably appropriate to them : " Exilds do notro patrie, Nous voguons au milieu des flots ; «'» Soycz notro dtoile, Mario ! Soyez aussi notre rcpo;;."* Thus they reached Bourbon May 21. Mgr. Desprez landed the morning of the 22d ; saluted by the CassinCs guns, he was received on shore by the commander of the troops of the garrison, Licuten- *^ " Exiles from our country," We wander o'or tbe waves ; , . Be thou our star, O Mary ! B3 likewise our repose." / From Lor lent to ShangJiai. 229 ant-Colonel tic Cendrccourt ; after this ho was es- corted proccssionully to his cathedral, where ho took possession of his sec according to the canoni- cal forms. Alexis wrote: "Tlic ceremony was very beautiful, both by reason of the august pomp of our religious solemnities and of the immense concourse of people that welcomed a new autho- rity whose paternal tenderness and tutelary care they foresaw without understanding it. But the bishop's allocution, in which he traced his plan of conduct and its object, was the crowning joy of the festival, because it, revealed all his charity in a sim- ple way, and showed liim by a few words what our constant intercourse with him on shipboard had taught us he was." A shadow, however, fell upon the picture. Referring to a newspaper article, "which would have been perfectly well placed in the National,''^ Alexis adds: " IIow sad to still see what is most exalted iu the social scale giving an example not only of indifference to our holy religion but of positive aggression. Is not a coun- try where tha government, the administration of justice, and the system of education arc anti- Christian, very near being a pagan state ?" Another letter turns upon the Madagascar mis- sion and the hopes of colonization to which it gave rise. "We feel very plainly the true ring of the French spirit in this familiar talk : " It would seem that they arc trying there (in Madagascar) a new system of colonization, or, to speak more exactly, without any system they arc pursuing a course which the nature of things indi- wi»«(«i"jl KlIHi-'l j 'iir' ' i if' ■t''^. 230 Alexis Clerc. cates, but wliicli h new. There is no purpose of reducing the natives to servitude, nor of destroj^ing them by war because they are warlike ; they are to bo taught and themselves made the colonists of their island. There arc ut different points Jesuit missionaries, untiring laborers, who are the means of this new plan. It has not, I repeat, been sys- tematically adopted ; it is followed because it is possible. The present governor of Mayotta, who exercises authority over the other possessions, is a superior man who seems to thoroughly under- stand the position. The climate of Madagascar is murderous to Europeans ; the missionaries have made Bourbon their hospital ; they go there weary and feverish, stay long enough to restore health and strength, and then return to combat until death. Their hospital is at the same time a col- lege ; they have there about forty young Madagas- cans, little negroes who in spite of their color look like good children. They teach them reading, writing, religion, and a trade, and, once grown to manhood, establish tliem in homes. If these people do not love a country which sends them such de- voted masters, who at the price of their own lives — for the missionaries always end by leaving their bones on these foreign shores— teach them to live physically and morally, they are very ungrateful. If they did but know how different are the usual methods of colonization, what would they not say in our praise ! "Meanwhile, in the vicinity of this college the Sisters of St. Joseph rear to labor and virtue about From Lorient to Shanghai. 231 forty little Madagascan girls, probably tho future "wives of the forty boys. The plan is well under way, and the poor islanderH, wlio are without malice or guile, are all capable of letting themselves be led like children when they shall see the fruits of Christian civilization. Alas ! why are tliere so many places in France where the sight Avould be as novel as in Madagascar ? "I delight in dwelling on the idea. As the children are still in the hands of their teachers, I speak only of my desires, of my hopes, of my dreams if you will. But even if the success should not correspond to the hopes it would not lessen the merit of the enterprise. This is what I love in our generous country : she uses her superiority to protect, not to subjugate. Here the field is small, it is true, but it is not less a noble use of her power. Oiher nations may be, and are generally, more skilful colonizers; they know not how to be, like us, true civilizers." Towards the middle of June the Cassini had to think about resuming her Toyage to India and China. The Abb6 Cambier had embarked only for Bourbon ; for a moment, however, he hoped to be able to defer a parting which only to think of broke his heart. If the corvette Bury dice had arrived a few days later the worthy chaplain would have stayed with the Cassini as far as China. The time for the departure of the latter vessel was very near when a French war-vessel was signalled at the lookout of tl:e master of the port ; an hour later a second sig- nal indicated her number : she was the Eurydice. I T!S^ 232 Aicxis Clcrc. !BL'S.M " I saw at a distance this corvette approaching,*' he wrote in liis journal, "and the sight troubled mc. What was going to happen ? ' My God,' I murmured, *dost thou exact of mc a new sacrifice? Grant me strength to accomplish it ! ' "June 15," Abbe Cambier continues, " towards ten o'cloclf a boat came from tho EurydicG to the Cassini. A midshipman climbed on board and delivered to the commander a packet from the commander of the station. This packet was no- thing less than an order to pass from the Cassini to the Eurydicc in quality of chaplain of the naval station of La Reunion, and. that within twenty-four hours. All objections were useless. God demand- ed a sacrifice of me. I must obey him; would that I hal done it in a manner more meritorious for heaven ! Tears were shed on both sides ; as for me, I wept the most, . . . and when the moment of parting came it was not only tears but sobs which my broken heart could not contain. " The next day but one the Cassini weighed an- chor and steamed out of the harbor of Saint Denis. I had not the courage to witness her starting off. When I went up on the deck of the Eurydice there was still visible in the far distant horizon a column of smoke. . . . That smoke came from the Cassi- ni's engine, and there was nothing more needed to make my tears flow afresh. I descended to my room, and that day was one of the saddest I ever spent from the time I was old enough to be acquainted, with sorrow and heartaches." These lines, which we would not have omitted, ilhiL. From Lor lent to Shanghai. 233 M an- nis. off. lerc mn are the highest praise of the Cassini, and they will not be read without exciting a rospeotfiil sympathy for their writcrj who was cupahlo of loving souls ivith so tender and pure an affection in the Lord. July 14 the Cassini ancliored before Achoen, the capital of a kingdom of the same name situated in the extreme northwest of the island of Sumatra. The object was to obtain satisfaction for the very inhospitable welcome given to a Neapolitan ship, the Clernentina, whose captain and first and second lieutenants had been victims of a terrible treachery, accompanied by robbery and pillage.* Clerc was sent in a boat to find the sultan and his capital. Geographers speak of a city of twenty thousand souls, of a fleet of five hundred sail, of an army of sixty thousand men who, with the same number of Hollanders, besieged Malacca. He saw no vestige of all this, and asked himself if it were not a fic- tion. Nevertheless, nothing is more certain than that in the sixteenth century the sultans of Acheen were strong enough to drive the Portuguese from the island, and that at that epoch they received embassies from all the states of Europe. There is a sequel- to the talc: since the visit of the Cassini that fallen power has restored the honor of its flag, and quite recently the Dutch were twice obliged to renew their efforts and reinforce their troops to escape being compelled to retreat before it. What our compatriots ^aw in 1851 gave them ICviWa^ <:ks> ,.«■ ««"•■■ J, l,iar»*st>f I: it If* A my \ ted, * The thieves had stolen to the value of about twen'cy-two thousand dollars, of which the commander of the Cassini de- mandod the restitutiou. 234 Alexis Clcrc. ' ) f ' ««(:;*. \w. ■J- 1 lfeS4 i-rsi'.^ no presentiment of such a revival of energy and warlike spirit. Clerc's first business on landing ii to procure an interpreter ; lie finds one who knows a few words of French, and engages him for want of a better. Then he sets about hunting up the sultan, discov- ers his palace not without difficulty, and obtains an audience. Hardly has he explained the object of his mission when the Malayan monarch com- mands to be taken from a casket a case, and from this case a paper certifying the cordial friendship existing between the sublime sultan and the Empe- ror of France, Louis Philippe. "Not exactly knowing," Clerc says, " how to express my respect for that sovereign document, I solemnly kissed the paper, and to the questions asked me about the king I was very happy to be able to reply that he was dead ; for to make that worthy sultan under- stand that wo discharge our kings with less cere- mony than other people do their se>*7ants, seemed a task too hard for me ; iie would have believed himself to have been outwitted and that his paper was of no value." The next day there is a solemn audience given to the commander of the Cassini, who is attended by a numerous staff. When the sultan is asked what he will do to punish the criminals who are men of Daliia, ho replies, after repudiating all par- ticipation in the crimes they are charged with, that he can do absolutely nothing. The interpreter being inefficient and the sultan badly disposed, Oommander de Plas and his officers From Lorient to Shanghai, 235 par- that ■withdraw somewhak dissatisfied. The foliowinf:^ day, after an exchange of presents, the Cassini leaves for Poulo-Pinang ; there a more skilful in- terpreter is procured, and the supply of coal re- plenished ; then, returning to Sumatra, the vessel passes Acheen without stopping and drops anchor in sight of Clouang. "There is nowhere," Clerc writes, *' a country more beautiful than this ; its landscape is irregu- lar, and the richest vegetation covers all the moun- tains to their very summits ; the trees crowd on the sea, so to speak. "Wo passed close to the shore. Clouang in particular is remarkable for its beauty. The anchorage is between a rocky islet and a high, wooded hill ; in front of us is a low and fertile shore where a river has its outlet ; the river, as well us the island and the country, is named Clouang. A little distance inland other hills rise from the plain and indicate a fertile and well- watered country." From Clouang they repair to Dahia, and there the interpreter and seven men are sent on shore to present to the rajah a letter in which the comman- der declares that he wishes to arrest the guilty without strikint; the innocent. The two culprits being really found at Dahia, as soon as the inter- preter has returned to the ship a couple of boats are armed, and Clerc, at the head of a force of fifty men, is charged with the capture of the Malay chief who committed the murder. Let us leave him to describe this little expedition himself : "We found an extremely rapid current at the 236 Alexis Cure. f^t%u ."'»•'. Jliv:! bar of the river ; the waters wore swollon by the rains (occasioned by the southwest monsoon). For two entire hours we etru^^glcd vainly against this unexpected obstacle, and all the M'hile within a pistol-shot of the shore ; but I had already seen enough of the Malays at Acheen not to be fright- ened at that ; moreover, the current would have quickly carried us out of their reach if we had needed to escape from them. During the long struggle once 1 ran my boat on a coral reef which forms the bar and renders the current so rapid ; I was already just above it ; we were in the greatest danger of being filled with water and dashed to pieces ; the boat was tossed from side to side. But the sailors remained calmly in their places, and the Hand that protects the Cassini, with a sin- gle little wave rescued the boat, which, impelled, by the current, overleaped the bar and returned to the assault of the river. At last we stepped on shore. I sent six men with a midshipman to form an ambuscade, and, having provided for the guard- ing of the boats, I started with the rest of the men for the fort of Kerjeroun-Siadom. To enter this stronghold cost us only the trouble of opening or forcing the doors ; there was nobody within. We next went to the murderer's dwelling; again no- body. Then I heard the reports of muskets ; my searcli was ended. I returned uneasily to the shore and found my ambuscade, who, in spite of positive orders not to fire unless they were attacked, had' levelled at the fugitive. Fortunately no one was wounded. We crossed the. river and paid . From Lor ic lit to SJiangJiai. '■17 jg or We no- my the lie of jked, paid an equally unsucce l'uI visit io llio olhcr culprit, EtaJji-Mulot. After this wc returned to the ship. The next day before leaving wc burned the houses of those two men." To shorten the story, when the sultan learned what had taken place at Dahia ho became more tractable, and shortly afterwards he bound himself in a written agreement with tho commander of the Cassini to pursue with all tho means in his power the cowardly aggressors of tho Clementina. The Neapolitan Government, informed of what had been done to inflict an exemplary punishment on the criminals, sent the decoration of Saint Georges de la Jleunion to ^Fr. de Plas and Ihe cross of tho Merile de Naples to his lieutenant. Alexis never wore that badge of honor, which reached him in rranco at the moment when he was laying aside his uniform to be clothed wiih the livcrv of Jesus Christ. After having again touched at Poulo-Pinangand made a stop at Singapore, the Cassini entered the China Sea, and towards the end of August she an- chored in front of Macao, a city already almost en- tirely Chinese, and the gate of tho Celestial Em- pire. All along the route Clerc had met quite a large number of Chinamen ; he had seen Ihem at Bourbon and Sumatra, as well as at Poulo-Pinang and Singapore, and ho had admired their remark- able facility for establishing themselves according to their own fashions and carrying China with them everywhere. But in Macao he saw them in gross and at home, and his observing mind regard- i •••••I 'r,. ■i ; K f "Am* ••**<• »l!!» N?i' 238 Alexis Clerc. ing them with attentive curiosity, he was struck with their original and somewhat grotesque phy- siognomy. This weakness is pardonable in a tho- rough Parisian such as he was. At the very first glance at the Macaons ho had a veritable explosion of hilarity, and his laughter resounded as far as Paris. "I want to say a few words to you about the Celestial Empire, at the gate of which we now are. I have not seen a great deal of it, but I have seen persons who are better acquainted with China than the Chinese are themselves. Father Hue, whose work you have read, and other missionaries who have met with similar adventures. " In the first place, the most exact model of a Chinaman is the representation seen on what we call Chinese screens. It is enough to make one die laughing to meet the originals of those comi- cal portraits. Travellers are not all men of vera- city, as we learn when we visit distant countries with their descriptions in our hands ; but fortu- nately no traveller ever invented the Chinene queue. It must certainly be for the sake of dissi- pating the melancholy of foreigners that they all carry about this singular appendage. Note well, it is not one of those littlo rat-tails such as are worn with ailes de pigeon (a way of arranging the hair) ; these are queues of magnificent develop- ment and reach down to the ankles. The Chinese are quite capable of fraud ; therefore I believe that there are many queues ornamenting heads other than those that raised them ; but in general ir Front Lor lent to Shanghai. 239 3I of a lat we ke one comi- ycra- .1 a tries fortu- liincoe dissi- ley all well, as are g the veloi^- hinese eliove heads eueral the Chinese have abundant hair. Finally, whether their 'queues belong to them or not, they turn them into cravats when they arc in the way. " Grotesque as he is, the Ch'naman is a keen, active, and cconomic^il merchant, and also an arti- san who cannot be surpassed. His character is a most remarkable one. He lives on a little rice, wears garments of very small cost, and, we may say, unites in his person the most marked contrasts ; he is lazy, and at the same time very active, very sober, and very gluttonous, very ingenious and. very circumscribed ; but he is especially cunning and insinuating. A great fuss is made about the settlement the English have accomplished at Ilong Kong; I fear the profit of it will not be theirs. Unquestionably, the great mandarins who, after having enriched themselves, run the almost sure risk of being exiled or im2)overished, if not worse, will be only wis3 to jump into Ilong Kong, which is so near by, and purchase a palace. *' The English, it is true, understand coloniza- tion perfectly, and they have discovered that its first condition is that the colonists live in the pur- suit of what they call comfort ; while we aro only camped in our colonics they are regularly at home, and they are right in a great measure ; these cli- mates debilitate us only too soon. But in Hong Kong they have exceeded, in my opinion, what is vv'cll, and have built a city of palaces. A certain commercial house, for instance, has expended in the construction of its counting-rooms 150,000 piasters (ihc piaster is worlh here six francs *'»■■'■.{■'.&. ^ -I '^ r ].«' -41 ?40 Alexis Cierc, ' ;: .11 ■it' >*<■ In mr.. ■^ *Hf r 'I.K - i^' : ■ % ir^'' rtiKi .>*»■! W' ^■: If*" «ll»pr,A« twenty.five centimes). It will require an immense business to cover such advances and the general expenses of the future. Foreigners — English and Americans, with scarcely an exception — are en- gaged only in extensive commercial transactions, and everything else is done by the Chinese. But 1 believe that these last are the white ants of the city and that they will undermine it." What strikes him more than all the rest is the superiority of the Chinese in retail trade and little tricks of trade. ** The grocers of Pans, to whom wicked jesters have given a queer reputa- tion, are only school-boys compared to (hem. The skill of the Chinese in the mechanical arts is most remarkable ; it is astonishing to sec how cheap their bamboo work is." But his judgment of them as a whole is less favorable: " All these petty qualities do not con- stitute even a petly virtue, and, in short, they are a miserable people who never have been and never will be able to rise from artisans to artists ; who do not possess and never will possess virtue, mih- tary or civil courage, and who from their petty learning will never attain to science ; who live in the degradation of a paganism of the most materi- al, the narrowest, and the most foolish sort, while for more than two hundred yearrs Catholic priests have not ceased to evangelize them." To this rather unflattering portrait Clerc adds certain less disagreeable features in the following letter, also dated from Macao (November 29, 1851): ** If there i3 an extraordinary spectacle for us, who ■•-I From Loricnt to Shanghai. 241 ricsts adds >wing .851): L who liusli our eagerness for adventure and our tlirsfc for novelty to tlio horror of an} thing traditional, it is unquestionably this immovable people, who live in stupid adoration of custom, usage, even when they feel and recognize it to be bad. Politi- cally and philosophically, this is the characteristic trait of the Chinese nation. It is also the secret of its life, and it cannot be gainsaid that China is a clear demonstration of the great importance of stability in institutions. This is the cause of China's conquest of all her conquerors. For cer- tain persons — to whom the v/ord country signifies but little more than the soil they tread, and who understand country as something independent of the glories and institutions of the past — this re- markable example should be tlie best: proof that it is precisely hero that the source of the longevity of nations is to be discovered." The life Clerc led at Macao was not at all idle ; he knew how to find occupation everywhere, and he had with him his books, his dear books, his "Summa" of St. Thomas, St. Bernard's works in Latin ; and what besides ? certainly a part of Bos- suet's works — witness a blank-book filled with his writing, bearing this heading, " On board the Cassini/' and containing a very full analysis of the '' Connaissance de Dieu et de Soi-mome." "The Cassini" he wrote, "is, since my last let- tor, anchored off Macao. The events which you want me to note for you are consequently of very little importance. Ours is the ordinary life on shipboard — exercises of all sorts. Howcvar, I ■ I ♦at;;'.- :. •»«:<» ■'I'l, Sir, :J5Mll4k I n%, 1 ' •f° ,j Alexis Clerc. -*', n*m'. .11 must tell you that I have a p;rGn,fc joy which I hope you will share. Jt is that all tlicso labors are not sterile, and that the ship begins, and justly, to be proud of herself. 8he can flutter herself that no enemy of the same size would find it a triflo to at- tack her. I say this the more willingly because all [the word is underlined by Clerc himself] the honor of it belongs to the commander, v/ho is the most accomplished of chiefs." Like a good Christian, Commander de Plas re- turned a large proportion of this honor to his lieu- tenant, Clerc. AVe aro not competent to decide this question between them, and we can only jDosi- tively state that they lived in perfect harmony of opinions and acts, which doubtless had a great deal to do with the very satisfactory result whoso merit each generously attributed to the other. Clerc's religious zeal found ample occupation on board of a ship where the pevsoiind was admirably chosen, but where there were several, especially among the younger officers and tlie cadets, wlio needed to be strengthened in the faith and gently drawn to practise it. Before everything else our lieutenant preached by example, and the great charity he showed toward his comrades inspired them with a regard that added much efficacy to the insinuations of his zeal. ''As soon as wo cast anchor in a port," naval officers who sailed with him relate, *• and permission to go on shore was given, Mr. Clerc would otTer to replace the officer on imtcUy so as to leave him free to take immediate advantage of a privilege so dear to all sailors. And f From Loricnt to Shanghai, 243 ion on lirably ecially , wlio gently se onr great spired acv to cast L w'itii Bre was ofticcr ediatc And "when Mr. Clerc went on shore himself, if we fol- lowed him at a little distance we were sure to sec him enter a clinrch directly, for his first yisit was always to God." * His piety was abundantly satisfied during his stay at Macao, for the Lazarists had their procura- torship in that city, and the Sisters of Charity had been established there for some time. There were also two Dominican Fathers, who acted as procura- tors for the missions of their order in Cochin China. Alexis was not slow in making friends with the Spanish and French missionaries. Dur- ing a second sojourn at Macao, the Lazarists being gone to Ning-po (June, 1852), he formed a close intimacy with the S])anish Fathers Ferrando and Fuixa, and had the satisfaction of finding in them men who joined rare learning to solid piety. One of those religious. Father Ferrando, was good enough to come on board the Cassini to cele- brate Mass. He came in all weathers, and even when the sea was very rough. Lieutenant Clerc served the Ma?s in uniform, after having made the boat's crew which he commanded file around. He preserved this custom during the whole cruise, even when there were among tlie passengers Bro- thers of the Christian Schools quite ready to re- place him, an employment for which their habit seemed better suited than his. Speaking of this, the commander of the Cassini adds very appropri- ately : '^ The bright mind and the boundless chari- * Testimony gatliorod by Father Tli<5bault from two of- ficers ou board the Erigone, in 1855. tint: IS ;»,.!■. ;i*l iff. ^1: Hi ' "II:: ■■.mi' ' H rW( il'i .i.s.- •■I ! if ■••*«ij«' ^ I ♦ft.' ■. ) *. 244 Alexis Clerc, ty of Alexis Clerc, who was always anxious to oblige liis comrades, rendered possible to him what in others would have been perhaps the occasion of teasing, if not of quarrels on the part of the offi- cers. In his case there was never anything of the kind." Commander de Plas may easily bo suspected of being a little partial to his beloved lieutenant, therefore we will invoke the testimony of a much younger man who was then a simple cadet mid- shipman on the Cassiiii. lu early youth we are very observing and seldom sin through excessive indulgence. " As soon as I had tho opportunity of knowing Mr. Clerc," this last witness tells us, "I saw him just as he was during the entire cruise : active and vigilant as an officer, unalfccted and amiable in his intercourse with all, master of himself, faithful in the practice of his leligious duties, and this without ostentation as well as without human respect. His walk had tlien contracted something of his interior dispositions ; ho had the firm step of a man who has a great end to attain and a long road to travel. As a general thing his eyes were mod- estly cast down." AVhat follows anticipates tho sojourn in China, but that is no matter ; what we are searching for now is the man, his character, the harmony be- tween his sentiments and his life : ** While we were cruising about, when, on our arrival at a port^, there was a dinner or a party given to us, Mr. Clerc avoided attending as far as ^ Ihiua, Lg for tn our parly I far as From Lorient to Shanghai. 245 was in his power. Still, if there was a duty to be fulfilled by going to such entertainments, a service to render, he yielded gracefully, and took his place in society with that gayety and amiability which did not forsake him even in the sad captivity of Maaas. lie rarely wont on shore for amusement ; he wag most frequently in his cabin working and reading. It was thus he made a trial of the new life of re- nunciation he desired to embrace." These lines come to us from the Chartreuse of Eeposoir, in Savoy, where Mr. S. de G , who sends them, is, after having attained the rank of lieutenant, finishing his career among the children of St. Bruno. An unusual and singular coinci- dence ! Those three sailors, of different ages and rank, Mr. de Plas, commander of the Cassini, Alexis Clerc, his lieutenant, and Mr. de G , a cadet midshipman, all three were a little sooner or later to put off the liveries of the world and con- secrate themselves to God in the religious state. Two Jesuits and a Carthusian ! — not bad for a &ingle etat-major ! Clerc was the only one of tlie three who at that time was nearly decided upon his vocation. He found himself, as is plain to see, in good and worthy company ; and he was not de- ceived when, before embarking on the Cassini, ho told whoever wanted to know that he was going to make a first novitiate. Daring more than a year the Cassini was unable to leave Macao, where she had anchorage, except to return for long stays that were without utility to the mission she had received when departing Siwiti])! -«a' '*3' !^^ 11, s 246 Alexis Clerc. I I % t; from France. Tiiis inaction, so contrary to all they had promised themselves, to all they were still resolved to do, was for Commander do Plas and his generous compinions the severest of trials. The news which reached them from the interior, was not of a nature to calm their impatience. China, they could not doubt, was in full revolution, and a prey to all the evils of civil war. The in- surgents, favored by a certain awakening of na- tional spirit, not only held the imperial troops in check, but gained ground every day, and menaced the Tartar dynasty with complete ruin. On their side the imperialists did not in anywise respect the guarantees made so many times in favor of the Christians, and wc had every reason to demand of them an account of the grave and recent infrac- tions of the late treaties. Whatever might be the issue of the struggle, France, whose part is to pro- tect moral interests espeeuilly. might be the arbiter of the situation. "What England had done a few years before m the interest of her commerce — the immoral commerce of opium — could not a great Catholic nation do with a hundred times more honor for her missionaries and their neophytes ? If we avoided interfering in the internal politics of the Celestial Empire, there remained for us to fulfil a duty of humanity compatible with the strictest neutrality, and nobody in the world could prevent us from acting as the police of the coast where all the scum of the neighboring provinces gathered, and where, amid the pitiful confusion of the local authorities, there prevailed an unrestrained From Loricnt to Shaiip/mi. 247 brigandage wliicli was free to commit all kinds of outrages with impunity. To command a ship of war armed with good guns, to be able to land excellent troops the mere sight of whom would put to flight the evil-doers, and with all that to be, by orders, reduced to im- mobility — it must be confessed that for French sailors whose hearts were in the right place this was a cruel mischance. The commander of the Cassini could do noth- ing, for so long as he was in the waters of Macao all his movements depended on the commander of the station, his superior officer. Had this last full liberty of action, and did his instructions leave him with hands untiad ? We are unable to say. Let ns in passing note only this one thing : Too often our brave sailors, after having hastened to take an energetic part dictated by honor and duty, have been poorly rewarded for their zeal, and the government has not always spared them the most painful disavowals. What is there astonishing in their declining, when the opportunity offers, a re- sponsibility always burdensome, and which is not witlioiit dan^rer ? And then — another cause of weakness — our porpitual revolutions, o«r sudden changes of governments and ministries, is the thing of all others the best adapted to disconcert those who have the honor of representing France, and managing her interests a-t some thousands ot h agues' distance from Paris. Only just now, as wo have seen, Alexis Clerc was greatly embarrassed in presence of the Sultan ot Acheen, who showed •» *■, ) 1,.,. rv.., ,.,. if I J* "^: ^ii ■inn i ,1 248 Alexis ClerC. w«iltifc> « ! r ll 1 i ■ W- ■:-!■ ' him a treaty of alliance bearing the signature of King Louis Philippe, and he was careful not to in- form that Asiatic monarch that Louis Philippe, discJiarged as peoiiilG discharge a servant, had died iu exile, leaving behind him the republic. Ah ! well, from small to great, it is always the same thing every time we gratify our taste for revolu- tions, and the Cassini experienced it once more during her long anchorage at Macao ; for the re- public of 1848, vanquished in its turn, gave place to the empire prepared by the cotip d^ctat of De- cember 2. To men who had received their mission from a ministry that was serious and honest after all, and to which the noble Admiral Remain Des- fosses belonged, the news of what had taken place in Paris had in it nothing encouraging, and the first impression it produced must have been most painful. Here is one example among many others : In Canton and Shanghai great hopes had been founded upon the action of an experienced diplo- mat, ]\Ir. de Bourboulon, who was charged with exacting the observance of the treaties agreed upon between Prance and China, and very probably with obtaining something more. But at the an- nouncement of the coup d'etat this high function- ary expressed himself in such terms that every- body considered his recall as certain. Fortunate- ly, when the situation was made clear, matters all turned out for the best ; Mr. do Bourboulon re- mained at his post, and received with the title of minister plenipotentiary new powers which he un- derstood making an excellent use of. But French re of toin- ippc, died Ah I same jvolu- more le re- place )f De- lission : after 1 Des- 1 place nd tlic 1 mosfc )thers : been diplo- d witli dupon :obably ;be an- nction- every- From Loricnt to Shanghai. 249 diplomacy had not the less been completely paralyzed for a time. Alexis' first letter after the news of the coup cVHat bears the date of February 2, 1852. Tliis is Avhat he says on the subject : "We heard of the coiq) d'etat of the president of the republic only through the forciga journals, which seemed to us very poorly informed, probably en account of the suppression of the Parisian jour- nals. No letter or paper has reached us. All our packages await us at our central station, Macao, and we shall go for them immediately. " I would not have liked to belong to the army of Paris during that audacious usurpation. As to the universal suffrage which follows to absolve such pretensions, I have not waited until now to decide that it is a miserable criterion of right ; neverthe- less, we must undoubtedly stand by it if the great majority pf voters take part in it. In the chaos and anarchy in which we are tossed about, this suffrage seems to me, in so far as it does not attack the divine law, the single point, not of right but of fact, which can indicate wherein resides the go- vernment of France. But all this, like the govern- ment of February, whence the republic issued, is, in my opinion, of the nature of governments of expedi- ency which we should obey for what they are worth — I mean so long as there is nothing better; yet, withal, I do not acknowledge to myself the right of dis- obedience or the duty of quitting the service un- less their acts force one to it. I should therefore remain in the service, even if I were in Franco n *' -Ir llf 'I Ji ■■ ■•■-.If ^f .Mr 4 t' ! r Ji A' mil If - ^ill! !i 250 Alexis Clcrc, where my resignation woultl bo possible, instead of being here where it is nof. But I shall not take any outli of fidelity to this new personage. ** Jules' habit of spending the month of Decem- ber in Germany allows me to hope until I hear that you arc both safe and sound. **1 do not gl^e mucli credit to the accounts wo get, and they are too briet lor us to judge much from them ; but, from what they say, I am quite puzzled to know with what men the president will govern. *• It is my idea that this prince will be the heir of the policy of his uncle, and that then destinies will bo very similar ; the first was the reaction against the Jacobins, this one is selected to combat the socialists. There is still a fine rok for him to play. 1 have not the confidence that he possesses either the will or the force to fill it.'* This was looking far ahead and seeing surely. U nfortunately audi clairvoyance was not common. France, thirst- ing for authority, did not limit her confidence in a prince whose past was anything but reassuring ; a theorist as bold as he was deep, always ready to recommence his life of adventure by risking, now not only his liberty or his head, but the fortune, even the existence, of the country that had taken him for its ruler, and hailed him as a providential man ! A letter of March 2T contains tho following lines : ■ ' ■ '* My Dear Father : "We are goin^ij to Macao to take advantage of the departure of the express. From Loricnt to SJiangJiai. 251 My last letter ia from Catavia. While there wo rc- ceived news from Europe up to December 2C, and heard about tho kind of consent whicii universal suffrage has given as a sanction to the coxq) cVctat of tlio president. The foreigners we have since met all have the air of believing that it is an im- provement in our condition. For us there will bo, even if we derive profit from it, a sort of shame in being fallen so low that it did not need a Ca)3ur of nobler alloy to conquer us.'' And a letter of April 13 : *' You s])eak sorrow- fully of the presidential proscri])Lions. Without much pitying the pretended victims, I deplore that severity dictated by the seven million five hundred thousand votes. But I am disgusted with the kind of spurring on certain newspapers give it. There is no longer necessity of exciting tlie governing power to rigor ; it is sufliciently armed not to need the feeble support of the voice of a journalist." A reflection slipped into the following letter is not without value, at least as an argument ad liomincm : ''I see by your letters tliat you deeply regret the republican government. Wiiile reserv- ing my personal opinion, which is of no weight in the matter, it seems to me that tiie basis of repub- licanism is universal suffrage, and that the most intense republicans are the ones who, after the re- peated votes of December and the eiectiona to tlie Legislative Assembly, should most thoroughly re- gard the new government as legitimate." When he wrote these lines Clerc had just return- ed from a voyage to Manilla, enchantcii with all ^le I ■ fiC 1 ,1^ 11 f. » ' \ 252 Alexis Clerc. ^^liH F K\ U >•. (*. ";■> *' '■■ ft; *•«.:•■. [ '!( »•* ■■ ' «i r ■ ;ui €'■: ^^V C ' 1 w li had seen, and in particular with a colonial govern- ment which was not the less civilizing for being not in the least republican. " It is, I think, the model of all colonies estab- lished or to be established. The Spaniards have infused into the Tagals their dominant qualities, attachment to the faith and the military spirit. If we did not see the rather dark color of their skin, we might, from the manoeuvres of the troops and their firm tread, suppose we were looking at European soldiers. Their bravery has been often tested, and has never failed when they have been under the command of Spanish officers. By a co- incidence which may appear singular, the Spaniards have found Mussulmans for their enemies here, and they fight against the Moros just as they did in their own countrv under tiie famous Isabella." The Moros in question are only the Malays of the Soloo (or Solo, as the Spaniards call them) Islands, brigands of the sea, who practise piracy along all the coasts and carry whole populations into cap- tivity. In the last expedition of the Philippines against these corsairs the regular troops were joined by volunteers recruited, instructed, drilled, headed, and commanded by their parish priest, Father Hanez, of the Augustinians. *' They manned a fleet," Clerc relates, "which at San Jose was united with that of General TJrbiztondo. I can easily imagine the joy this reunion must have produced, and the confidenee the general must have felt in the execution of a project in which the people so heartily co-operated. This little cru- ern- y not stab- haye ities, pirit. tlieir roops Qg at often been J a co- niards e, and did in bella." of tbe ands, Dng all cap- ipines were rilled, priest, They San tondo. st have 1 must icb tbe :1c crii- ',i it From Lorient to SJian9:hai, o 253 sade, thanks to the simplicity of the crusaders — who had no suspicion of the beautiful title I give them and whicb they deserve — and to the watch- ful care of their pastor, o:Sercd a model of a Chris- tian army. They performed all their religious duties as though they were at home. When the day of [action came. Father Hancz, who always commanded them, led them to the assault to- gether with Mr. Garnior (a French officer of rare merit) ; he received a mortal wound, and expired shortly afterwards." At last, after long waiting, Clerc is to be re- lieved of the burden of his uselessness. Tlie Cassini is to go to Shanghai in company with the Capricieuse, a sailing corvette, to which she will serve as a tow-boat. On board the Capricleuse, commanded by Mr. de Rocquemaurel, the com- mander of the station, is installed the Frencli le- gation, composed of the minister, his wife, his secretary, and an interpreter. As to the Cassini, she carries the procurator of the Lazarists and ten Sisters of Charity, a pious colony to be landed at Ning-po. Thus the horizon is brightened and a quiet joy reigns on board; we notice the reflec- tion of it in the following letter: "This voyage has, on account of the charm of the amiable vir- tues of our passengers, been the most agreeable we have made. That perfume of holiness which the religious communities so carefully preserve, and which the world knows nothing of, was offered to us, and nothing is so sweet and touching as that entire and simple devoted ness of the Daughters of it'tD 1^3 ■4l- iljCT.vjfSl ' '•ik ":^ f 254 Alexis Cierc. fi If! i; r- % ■<*P f lit! fllii Charity. That absence of all little feminine diplo- macy, that desire to be employed for the sake of rendering service and not for the sake of appearing useful, that gayety so gentle and so uniform — these are tlie qualities which made their society a plea- sure for each of us. As for their deep piety, their enlightened devotion, it does not belong to me to praise it; it is, however, the secret of all their other qualities, the source wlience flow those lim- pid waters, and, more exactly, the tap root which nourishes those fertile branches." Clerc himself satisfies here " that desire of being employed for the sake of rendering service and not for the sake of appearing useful," which he ad- mired in the Daughters of Charity. He does not tell us, and for a good reason, how their landing was effected. But the commander of the Cassinif who has not the same reason for keeping silence, gives us a detailed account: '' Alexis Clerc ren- dered immense services to the commander of the Cassini throughout the cruise. I vv^ill only men- tion some of the most striking. In June, 1852, the Cassini received on board the Rev. Father Guillet, Lazarist and superior of the Sisters of Charity, as well as ten sisters destined for Ning-po. The vessel had no accommodations for so many lady passengers, but, thanks to the simplicity of the good sisters and to the very proper courtesy of the officers, everything passed off as well as possible, and the Cassini was able to discharge her precious freight at Ning-po. It was not easy to land Euro- pean women in a large and thickly-populated From Loricnt to Shanghai. 255 city.* A sort of uprising might even be feared Tvlien the authorities and the population should learn that these women were religious. It was therefore decided that tliey should be taken on shore at night in an unfrequented neighborhood, where sedan-chairs could immediately conceal them from the gaze of the curious. Alexis Clerc under- took the operation, and was seconded by Mr. Joy- ant de Couesnongle, his friend, the atlministrativo officer. It was a perfect success. The rainy weather was even a favorable circumstance, and towards ten o'clock in the evening the sisters were installed in the house prepared for them." After a rough iiassage the Cassini reaches Shanghai. Alexis announces this good news to his father: "We arrived on the 28th (of June) at Shanghai, the furthest north of the ports open to Europeans, and the one through which China will probably be the most encroached upon by Europe. The commercial importance of this place, already very great, is on an increase the ultimate limit of which it is impossible to foresee. The city of Shanghai is of the second class ; it is situated on the Wam-pou, a branch of the Yang-(se-kiang. The surrounding country is perfectly flat, and the land is formed of the alluvia of the river. From the top of a pagoda nine stories in height and about six miles distant from Shanghai, some em- bankments that serve as a promenade for the Eng- lish are to be seen. These vast plains are fur- * The population of Ning-po, or rather Ning-po-fou (for it is a first class city), numbers Ave hundred thousand souls. 2^6 Alexis Clerc. 'r. I» icr W\ rowed with an infinite number of canals. The canals are the railroads of China ; in Europe we have no idea of the profusion with wliich they arc scattered about ; they are of great use as means of irrigation. The fields are well cultivateJ,and there is no waste land excepting what is occupied by the tombs." This is all ; of tlio Jesuit mission not a word. Alexis has his reasons, doubtless, for not leading his father prematurely upon that dangerous ground ; for already he must have a presentiment that his sojourn in that mission, the happy and blessed term of BO long a voyage, will not be without result tor the great affair of his vocation. i! ill i CHAPTER VIII. A CONVERSION ON BOARD THE " CASSINI." BuRiXG licr long cruise in tlie China seas the Cassuii, always having her central station at Ma- cao, was destined to anchor three times in the har- bor of Shanghai: in June, 1852, in March, 1853, and, finally, .a last time in the month of Septem- ber of the same year. lb was on these several oc- casions that she had it in her power to offer effec- tual protection to the European establishments, and especially to the Frencli mission, which was between the fire of the two armies. The inter- esting episode that will form the subject of the present chapter belongs to the second of these voyages to Shanghai. Clerc, with his attractive qualities and his burn- ing zeal, was everywhere a great converter ; we know already that he proved himself such at Lo- rient and Brest, as well as at Indret. But on board the Cassiui, in a select assembly of officers and cadets, the opportunity of doing good to souls was, so to speak, daily and continual ; to seize it on the wing without making himself an annoy- ance, to await the moment of grace for months and even years (in doing which he was favored by the length of the expedition)— such was the line 257 4. re* .3 . V 1'^ 258 Alexis Clerc. % «. * "% H % «' « "1; < •'> ''Mt * i;* i«r •■•, f.i»' iil if iii'!|; of conduct he followed, not without success. I find a first evidence of this in the letter sent to me from the Chartreuse of Kcposoir, from whicli I liave already quoted. Attached to the expedi- tion as a passed midshipman, young Mr. do G , who had received a finished education, was not very far from the kingdom of God, and though he had for some time neglected the practice of his reli- gion, even though his faith was darlcened, he was fortunately neither an infidel nor a sceptic. But, like the paralytic of the Gospel, incapable of rous- ing himself from a fatal torpor, he awaited a man — a man who would reach out his hand to plunge him in the pool. Clerc was that providen- tial man, and Mr. de G , now a Carthusian, feels towards him an eternal gratitude. *^I must," he writes us, "relate here a circum- stance which gratitude will never allow me to for- get, and explain to you how Providence made use of Mr. Clerc to bring me back to the path of sal- yation. For about three years I had not ap- proached the sacraments, notwithstanding the good examples I had before me. I had even eluded several attempts made by a missionary father to speak to me on the subject. Mr. Clerc, under- standing how dangerous my position was at that age when men too often forsake the good to blindly follow evil, and knowing besides that my education had been most Christian, one day frankly accosted me and in a few words broached the subject. He had been walking the deck with me for a little while, when he said, with the smile A Conversion on board the " Cassini^ 259 that enlivened liis most serious convcrjations : *Now, toll mo how it happens that you no longer practise your religion ? With the education you have received and the faitli you certainly possess, I cannot really see what restrains you.' As 1 ob- served to him that I had doubts (a con?cqucnc% probably, of all that rubbish of b;id reading which people of the world indulge in without scru[)le and without remorse), he asked quickly : * Is it honest- ly that?' *Yes,' I replied. 'If that is all,' he returned, * why did you not tell me before ? I will give you something to enlighten you.' And he did give me the 'Etudes Philosophiques' of xVuguste Nicolas, which I read attentively. As soon as I came to the advice to pray, I prayed, and the veil foil. How much of that grace I certainly owe to the prayers of Mr. Clorc ! May God give him his reward ! Some days later I returned to the good path, which after fifteen years led me to the shel- ter of the cloister." This is very simple, is it not ? But it is a great thing in the order of salvation. All of us who have faith, and who imagine thut we love our neighbor as ourselves, how many similar occasions do we not permit to escape us through want of watching for the moments of grace, but especially through want of appreciating the value of a soul I All Clerc's conversions were not so easy, even among those midshipmen of whom the greater number, though not all, had been reared by Chris- tian parents and masters. With such and such ones a first overture was a very hazardous thing. iWn , 1' ..."■■ ' •! i ;1 t ■ i 26o Alexis Clcrc. \\ ::-* if >>« ' j"' ittr i«.i> ■ '"l,. I- i , I i^ :;*'i I and, the ice onco broken, care liacl to be taken not to press tlie reluctant soul too closely or bring about a hand-to-Land sfruirglG. Too frequently the zeal of the priest, of the missionary, failed completely. In his capacity of officer Clcrc had a readier access to the midshipmen, and his regular duties offered him precious opportunities. And licrein is on(3 of the great secrets of the apostolate ; nothing makes us understand it better than the example, at cnce so sweet and so powerful, of our Lord announcing the kingdom of God in the ci ics and towns of Judea, See him at the well of Jacob manifesting himself to the Samaritan woman, and kindling in the heart of a poor sinner the thirst for that living water that spiingeth up into life everlasting. As he journeyed from place to place, how many times did he not in the same way gather up and bring back to the fold the w.ndering sheep of the house of Israel ! It was, then, on t'hc deck of the vessel where Clerc was on watch with another midshipman — thia one a person who had gone far astray — that the serious conversation took place at the con- clusion of whicli the young man admitted himself conquered and laid down his arms. Let us leave him to relate in all sincerity his own history, from the period of his fatal obduracy to the hour, for ever blessed, when the grace against which he was struggling triumphed over his long resistance. THE midshipman's STORY. ** I was not so fortunate as to be brought up to A Conversion on board the '* Cassiniy 261 %■■ ^ not bring cntly failed liad a 'gular And olato ; m tlio )f our 1 ci ics Jacob n, and thirst to life place, gather sheep where )man — — that e con- limseU IS leave from )ur, for he was ce. respect tho holy Catholic religion ; still, I gained at college the first notions of it, and it was with a fervor which was more lively and sincere than dura- hlc that at the aj^c of twelve and a half I received Holy Communion for the first time. That first time was to bo the last, at least for a long while. **Bytho Easter which followed my first Com- munion I was already deeply infected with human respect, and if I approached the holy table once during that paschal season, it was at the invitation of the sisters of the infirmary whereat the moment I happened to be confined, and doubtless the God of love no longer found in my heart anything but a pitiful little flame already too nearly burned out to bo brightened by his presence. "From that day the shadows grew thicker and thicker about my soul, and from at first blushing for a moment of simple, unafi'ccted piety 1 L^oon came to take a miserable pride in proclaiming my impiety by my acts as well as by my words. ** I passed from the college to a preparatory school, then to the naval academy. Finally, at nineteen, I joined the sea as a midshipman. God, whose mercy and wisdom are unfathomable, had doubtless in some sort prepared my salvation be- fore I had begun to throw myself away ; for, from the age of seven years, I had, without any apparent reason, declared my intention of being a sailor. " At the naval academy I had dreamed about making my first voyage to the coasts of China, and it was at my request and to satisfy this desire that I, aa open contemner of holy things, was appointed "•••'-Hi, '1 ' [■»■■ r 'I! Inn » ijif « 262 A /ex is Clerc. I ■■*i * /'I', ir"! il! t I to the Cas.nniy commanded by Mr. de Plas, and numbering among its officers Mr. Clerc, the lieu- tenant commander, and among its middies my companions of the naval school, de G , now a Carthusian. I was still a furious wolf, and yet the Lord let mo into his fold. " Besides do G , two or three of our mutual companions were, if not like him, (irmly grounded in the faith, at least regular observers of the essen- tial duties of religion. This was to me a reason for proclaiming my impiety louder and more boastiugly still. Nothing but cynical jests, ob- scene speeches, horrible blasphemies issued con- stantly from my lips. *' Our vessel was carrying to the island of La Reunion Mgr. Dcsprez, the newly-appointcd bishop of that island, with several priests and religious ; we also had on board bound for China Mi^jr. Ve- rolles. Bishop of Mantchooria, as well as several priests of the Foreign Missions. " The presence of these persons consecrated to God irritated my anti-religious humor. '* We were at sea on the feast of E ister. Alone of all the ship's company I abstained from being present at the Mass, which was celebrated with great solemnity, and I was very proud to see my- self the only one among so many wholly exempt fj'om foolish prejudices and courageously ijidejjen- dent. *' There remained in my heart only a certain sympathy for the sisters, probably merely because they were women, and Almighty God was under A Conversion on board the *' dtssint." 263 and lieu- i my low a )t the lutual anded esscn- rcason more ts, ob- d cou- of La bishop igious ; 151*. Ve- several ated to Alone a being d with see my- exempt ndejjen- no obligation to allow mc credit for a sentiment of wliicli ho was not the obj'jct. Nevertheless, it seems as though divine mercy gave itself that 2^^'^^- tcxt for doing gentle violence to my rebellious soul, *' When we were in the China Sea we had on board for several days some Sisters of St. Viiicent do Paul, who had left Macao to establish tiiemselves at Ning-po. One day, having had occasion to land at the same time with them on one of the islands of the coast, I gathered some ilowers to offer them. I have since been told that those good and holy women began from that hour to pray for me par- ticularly. "It was two years since our dci3arture from France wlien we had some reason for spending a certain time in the waters of Canton. Comman- der de Plas, who had had a chapel fitted up on board and never allowed it to lack a chaplain, se- cured the services of the Abbe Girard, a priest be- longing to the Foreign Missions, who has since died in Japan, and who was, at the time of which I write, living in a floating house on the river. " Abbe Girard, whose heart was devoured with zoLil for the salvation of souls, felt drawn towards me, and, as I have since learned, expressed to Mr. CIcrc the sentiment with which I inspired him, and the desire he conceived of attempting my con- version. Poor Mr. Clerc, who for two years had had leisure to become acquainted with my disposi- tions, did not, it seems, conceal the fact that ho saw no chance of success. Nevertheless, the Abbe Girard, whom Almighty God had chosen as his ■a ;| ■X I 264 Alexis Clcrc. I' r ■V; KH'" III I' w iji'ill'i, li ! !! first mcssonf!;cr of mercy to mc, was not tliccon rapped; ono dav lio drew nic into the cabin which the com- mandcr had jilaccd afc his disposal, and under pre- text of discoverinpf if a certain stenof^raphy which lie knew I used was the same he had formerly ttjught, he asked mo to translate aloud to him a short letter which ho had written me. It was, as yon may guess, a letter of wise advice and seri- ous warning; it announced to mo in the name of Divine Goodness that grace was at that moment visiting me and offering itself to me, but that, re- pulsed, it might never return. This announce- ment, which had been made me many times be- fore and had not shaken my imp:cty, did not pro- duce much more impression on mo then ; still, I re member that I experienced something like a mo- ment of hesitation, something like a slight in- terior uneasiness, a passing trouole "which I had already occasionally felt when my lips were casting up to God one of those terrible expressions of de- fiance, the mere memory of which causes me to tremble even now. " I only noticed several years later a circumstance wliich seems to indicate how the merciful provi- dence of God fixes beforehand the hours when it will make a supreme effort to become master of our hearts; the day on which this took pdace, and which the missionary had inscribed as the date at the top of his letter, was precisely the one on which I completed my twenty first year. " Our conversation was not prolonged ; I wanted to escape from the lyermcioiis influence which I ;■ A Conversion on board the " Cassinty 265 thought 1 had cxporicnccd for a moment, unci shortly afterwards 1 roiid, with an indulgence in gome horsc-lauglitcr, the good priest's charitable let- ter to my assembled comrades. ** Wc left the latitude of Canton, and thus wcro separated from him whom Almighty God had, as ic were, made the confidant of his tender desires regarding me. Abbe Girard had, it sccma, charged Mr. Clerc to continue the vcconsinivlion of faith in my soul — a woik the first etunc of which, against all appearances, he did not despair of having hud. *'I sometimes found mvsclf on watch with Mr. Clerc and under his orders, and one evening when we were at anchor, and there was no duty to claim cither his or my attention, he managed to lead the conversation to religious questions, and soon to wrest from mc an acknowledgment of the painful void which I had often felt in my soul ever sinco I had allowed the faith of my first Communion to become extinguished. In fact, it had happened to me at the naval school when I was listening to the astronomical lectures tliac were given us, to look with disdain upon my existence, so petty in com- parison with the immensiiy of the universe, and to be seized with a profound distaste for life, no longer having a knowledge of my soul and its eternal des- tinies, and feeling condemned to painfully prepare a /"//if 2^ re which, if it were not cut short by death, would perhaps have no greater duration than the present employed in assuring it. Even at times the idea of suicide crocsed my brain of eighteen years, the age of J'^yoiis unconcern. ■4tl ■'■■« ^:t 266 Alexis Clerc. * I '*(ll tS;- r»' ■'"'I I , i if! ^ 111 ■;'';' % |! '"^ Later, on shipboard, iu the culm of the beau- tiful tropical nights':, in the midst of immensit}-^ I tried to fathom the unfathomable depths of tlie starry heavens, and to divine beyond tiiat vast but finite ex2)anse of matter the Infinite whom my soul had lost. It was a sentiment I did not reason about; I did not know what I sought, but I felt that I lacked something, ci rather that I lacked everything ; I had a career of my choice and lo my taste ; I enjoyed, in spite of my impiety, the esteem of my superior ofTicers and the good-will of my comrades ; I had at home a family that awaited my return to lavish affection upon mo more than ever before — yet, at those moments when, all being silent around my conscience, \i could hear its almost extinct voice, I felt a void within me, **From the diiy I made the acknowledgment of that instinctive want which I had sometimes ft It, but had quickly tried to deceive instead of en- deavoring to satiafy, my soul begun to chango, to ho coiivcrk'd, to use the beautiful and appropri- ate expression which is ap^ !ed to that moral phe- nomenon. *' Henceforth I had an end before mo, and I started on my j nirney to reach it with a step that doubtless was very uncertain, tottering, and irreso- lute, but allowing nysetf to bo urged forward by the energetic charity of our holy friend, wlio, as goon as ho had seen the possibility of snatching me from the devil, had conceived an ardent, super- natural affection for me. A Conversion on board t lie " Cassini.'^ 267 iiul I tluit rreso- ircl by lio, as cliing super- "T Lad to tell him that I did not believe in G-'' tf 'Sfi !■ ■l. , H>^. us !!;;* iiiii m i ,§■• information, and the liigJicst Chinese authorities know no more ubout tiio matter than we do. AVliafc is certain, and what I know for myself, is that the ino-fai, or governors, of Ning-po and Shanghai arc in /zrcat uneasiness; these immense citiis are absolutely drained of soldiers. In Ning- po a band of fifly go through their drill every day; in Shanghai there are twenty soldiers; these are cities of perhaps 500,000 inhabitants. The winter is cold, commerce is almost destroyed, consequent- ly tiic misery is very great and fur beyond what we know anylliing about in Franco ; yet these legions of miserable creatures remain quiet, and up to the present only their mandarins live in fear of harm. Such a thing would be impossible in Eun^pc, where some scoundrel would soon have the enterprise to obtain supplies for himself by an easy pillage. *' The situation of the authorities is so critical that the taoiai of Shanghai, who last year was so badly disposed towards us, and whoso malevolence only stopped short of obliging us to go to Nankin, has accepted as a precious favor the offer we have made him of a refuge for himself, his family, and his possessions, in case of the arrival of the rebels, or of what is more to be feared, a band of robbers. "The weakness of this vast empire is as prodi- gious as its duration, and I believe that the in- stinct of the ant has been somewhat divided be- tween itself and the Chinese. But we cannot the less be astonishe.-l at the stupidity of this gov- ernment, so sluggish in its own defence. Being so well a^vare of its own incapacity, why has it not S/iauj^hai and tJic Jesuit Mission. 277 hiivc {ittemptcd to secure some mercenary troops from Europe ? Tlio three liundretl mobiles who arc Oil their way to establish themselves iu America would have suiliced to fix the victory on the em- peror's side, and lo discipline and animate these l)Oor soldiers. It was in reward for a similar service that the Portufruesc were allowed to found i\Iacao. "The reigning emperor is named Ilien-foung. The leader of the rebels, who now assumes the same title, is Tien-tc ; he was formerly, it is stated, a scullion in a monastery of bonzes. What is sure is that he is a Chinaman, and, although the Tar- tars may be Cliincsed, the revolt against a foreign dynasty is popular enough throughout the empire. The rebels, it is said, do not pillage the country ; there is no more to be feared from them than from the legitimate mandarins, and were it not that af- ter having occupied the cities they leave them dis- organized and without government, so that their own army is followed by an army of thieves, the people would have nothing to complain of on their account. The mandarin of Shanghai would like to obtain from our simplicity that the Cassini should go to Nankin to give a great moral support to the cause of the emperor. He has not the pow- ers any more than our commander to arrange so weighty an affair as a defensive alliance with so compromised an emperor; therefore he will pro- bably have his labor for his amiable pains. " The English and American fleets and the Cas- sini keep near Shanghai, the north of China being at present the theatre of events which arc probably ■■■11 '• '1 I IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET {MT-3) /. i// -,^4^ fA 1.0 1^ m I.I 11.25 ^ u& IIIIIM 1.4 1.8 1.6 ^;; > '> •> ^ /^ « *' V \\ %' ^ V ^ 27 And truly, since the ruin of the ancient missions was completed at the close of the last century, never had the Catholic Church displayed so much pomp, nor asserted so loudly her right to at least appear in the open daylight on that soil which is always wet witli the blood of martyrs. It well be- longed to Shanghai to uplift the cross again and to restore to honor the altar of the living God, for that city is the native place of ihe illustrious disci- ple of Father Ricci, Paul Siu, a man who, clothed with tlie first dignities of the empire, used his im- mense influence and his remarkable talents only to protect the missionaries, and to labor himself to establish in his family and in his country the reign of Jesus Christ, ki first that generous neophyte received the fr'hers in his own residence, which thus became the first church of Shanghai ; but Father Cataneo having led him to observe that the little and the poor would not readily frequent the palace of £o high and powerful a personage, he ShaugJiai and iJie Jesuit Mission. 279 donated for the building of a cliurcli and presby- tery a lot of land within the enclosure of the city and not far from the northern gate. After the suppression of the Society of Jesus, which struck to the heart these beautiful missions, the church was changed into a pagoda and tiio presbytery became at onco a public school and a convent of bonzesscs. The Jesuits sent again inlo China by the Propa- ganda, and returned to the diocese of Nankin, made it a duty to protest against that spoliation, and, thanks to the energetic support of Mr. de Lagrene, they obtained, if not a restitution, which was become morally impossible, at least compensa- tions and asuitablo indemnity. The buildings con- structed for Catholic worship were not given back, but a quite largo piece of land washed by the Wampou was abandoned to the fathers, and it was upon this ground that the cathedral of St. Francis Xavier was erected. Mgr. de Bcsi, administrator of the diocose of Nankin, had laid the first stone in 1848, and five years afterwards (for it did not take less for this great work) Mgr. Maresca was to bless it. The architect was a missionary who had already tried his skill by building some miles from Shanghai the chapel of the college of Zikawei. He had without servility adopted the compact propor- tions and the general characteristics of the Doric order, and, conforming generously to the taste and traditions of the country, he had suspended all round the edifice a continuous fringe of truly Chinese ornamentation, the style of which recalled Gothic chapters. The cross, shooting up in the air 28o Alexis Clcrc. 'i*%' •v ^a il above all the buildings of the city, was seen at a great distance, and showed to the eyes of the infi- dels themselves the centre of the whole mission and the residence of the bishop. On the front the Pope's arms were distinguishable among the other ornaments, and the delighted neophytes stopped to read beautiful inscriptions in Chinese characters, which recalled a glorious past by reproducing tex- tually those which the ancient missionaries had engraven on the great door of the church of Pekin. "Alexis Clerc," the commander of the Cassiniy who betrays his own sentiments while interpreting those of that other himself, tells us — " Alexis Clerc had the joy of seeing this church filled with the Chinese faithful, who had gathered in such great numbers that it was impossible for them to kneel during Miss. It was a touching sight — that mul- titude of Christian boats grouped on tlie Wampou near the church, and bearing either a floating streamer or a white flag on which was a blue cross. There were in these boats whole families, some of whom had. come more than fifty leagues. Two boats from the Cassuiiy fully armed, were stationed in the river, to prevent, if there should be occasion, the tumult and disorder with which the Protestants and some Ciiinamen had threatened the fathers. Some non-commissioned ofiicers, well-armed, were added to the commander's staff present at the cere- mony. The worthy Mr. de Montigny, consul of Prance, who seemed to expect some disturbance, brought with him a confidential servant carrying pistols under his garments, and he would not have Shanghai and the Jesuit Mission. 28 1 at a infi- ssion t tlic other (cd to ctevs, rt tcX- 5 bad ?eUin. .ssini, re ting ! Clerc til the 1 great } kneel t mul- ampou oating cross, ome of Two ationed casion, tcstants fathers, a, were he cere- nsul of irbance, 3arrying lot have failed to use them in case of need. But, thank God! there was only the disorder of enthusiasm and joy. Pahn Sunday, for that was the day, nobly inaugurated the cathedral of Shanghai." All the time not taken up by the duties of his position Clcrc spent with the fathers, who liked him and already treated him as one of themselves. Two steps fiom the city was the seminary of Tsamkalcu, and a few miles dis- tant the college of Zikawei — two successful at- tempts at the education of the natives which had most agreeable surprises in store for him. AVhcn he visited those children, those youth of a charming candor and docility, of a fervor that re- minded their masters of the besj: days of St. Acheul, Fribourg, and Brugelette, the greater number of an intelligence very ready and accessible to .nil that constitutes what we consider a liberal education — when, I say, he saw them by turns at study, in the chapel, at their recreation?, he shook off the prejudices he could not help receiving from the grotesque types whoso rarest examples he had met in Macao, and conceded without difficulty that all the natives of the Celestial Empire were not fatally and invincibly the Chinese of the folding screens. Those young students, rescued from infi- delity, and destined, some to give an example of the domestic virtues in the midst of the corruption of paganism, others to become priests of Jesus Christ, apostles, martyrs perhaps, appeared to him worthy of a tender interest, and he loved them as he was capable of loving, with all his heart, and so as — I ^'3^ ■A 282 Alexis Clcrc. have a proof of it before mo — to inspire iiiom with a grateful and almost fllial affection. Tor they cer- tainly were, if I am not mistaken, pupils of Zika- wei or of Tsamkaleu who together signed Francis Vuon and MatJiias Sen at the end of a Latin letter written on red paper and accompanying some Chinese verses — a letter whicli Clerc received after his return to France, and whicli he deposited in his private archives, where I found it. I read there, among other things (in the Latin, be it well understood), that from his first appearance in Shanghai Alexis has not ceased to load his young correspondents with benefits whose multitude and magnitude are such that they cannot attempt to express it. ' But they remember him in their prayers, they ask God to grant him all kinds of happiness: "a glory as high and lusting as the mountains, a grace renewed every duy like the sun and moon " ; and they implore him, for his part, not to forget the unfortunate Chinese dragged in such great numbers along the paths of error and so hard to bring back to God. Making ss large an allowance as we choose for rhetoric and oriental metaphor, those gallant young men have grateful memories, and Clerc has known how to speak to them in a language that is understood in all coun- tries. One of the old laborers of the Nankin mission, whose shattered health has brought him nearer to us and fixed him in France, tells us that he has preserved a delightful recollection of Lieutenant Clerc's stav at Shanghai and Zikawei. *' In read- ShciJig/iai and the Jesuit JMission. 2S3 ing," 113 continuos, '• the narration of tlie captivity and dcatli of o ir fatliars (luring the C/ommune), I said ti mysjif, tli'nkiiig ospocially of Father Cierc : * BalioM the wortiiy cro;vning of a life whicli I so often admired i:i Cliina twenty years ago, and which now appears to mo like a noble prelude to the glory of martyrdom.* When the Cassim was anchored off Slianghai the future martyr generally came to take part in our religious festivals. Ho was singularly fond of finding himself domesticated with our fathers, and of following the regulation of the day ^vitli a punctuality and case which, ex- cept for his officer's uniform, would have caused him to bo taken for a fervent religious. In all my acquaintance with the young officer I admired from the beginning the unequivocal marks of a mo?!t solid virtue and a most amiable piety, the both witliout variation or intermission. Always the same, always smiling from the effect of a genu- ine and frank gayety, the young sailor showed already by his words and actions that virtue and piety were perfectly acclimated in his heart, and they shed over his whole life so gentle a radiance that one could not know him without experiencing a profound sentiment of love and veneration for his person."' The college of Zikawei had then for superior Father Adrien Languillat, now Bishop of Sergio- polis and Administrator of the diocese of Nankin, a valiant missionary, who had passed through the prisons of Changton and looked death in the face more than once. Clcrc was on intimate terms a St 284 Alexis Clcrc, ♦'t. "•■•^5 •»f- ^ ...I witli him and became liis spiritual son. If wo had not known tliis from good authority, we would liavc guessed it merely f om seeing them together wlien, in 18C9,, Mgr. Lin;,'uillat, on his way to the Vatican Council, spent some v/eeks in Paris, and came to tlio School Saihte Genoviuve, where lie found tlie lieutenant of the Cassini under a Jesuit's habit. From morning to nlj^lit Clero liung upon the lips of the missionary bishop, who was himself visibly moved by this unexpected meeting after so long a separation, and the cordiality of their inter- course made us all exclaim : " See how they love one another ! " Alexis also formed a close friendship with the superior-general of the mis^iion, who was then Fa- ther Joseph Broullion, an energetic and impas- sioned nature, but with a piission that is well fitiing the h^art of an apostle having no other object than the good of s)uh. Consumed in a short space by the ardor of his zeal, this active and courageous superior left precious memories in the mission which he governed only three years. In the course of that year, 1853, and while the Cassini was stationed by turns at Slianghai and Macao, Father Broullion, crossing the seas with Mr. de Montigny, Consul-General of France, came to ex- pose in person to our superiors of Rome and Paris the needs of the Nankin Church, and to ask them for reinforcements.* * This voyage explains bow it happens that a certain letter of Lieutenant Clerc's, which we shall give presently, is dated from Shanghai, and addressed in Europe to the superior of the mission of Kiaug-uan. Shanghai and the Jesuit Mission. 285 [f wc vovild rcUier to tbo s, and 3 re be csuit's upon limsclf ftcr so • intor- ;^y love ith the icii Fii- impas- is well 10 other d in a ive and in the IS. In Cassini ;Macao, Mr. de to ex- nd Paris sk tliem ain lettei; ^, iHdaiecl superior 01 Before starting ho made a rapid sketch of the mission wliose interests were conlldcd to him, added a great number of letters from his fellow- missionaries on tlie events tbat disturtJed the Ce- lestial Empire, and an earnest introduction which perfectly revealed his soul of an apostle, and tho wliole appeared in a volume (1855) undcu* this title : *' Memoir of the Present State of tho ^lission of Kiang-nan (1842-1855)." A few details bor- rowed from this publication will furnish an ex;ict idea of the spectacle Clerc had before his eyes, and at which he gazed not as an indifferent nor merely curious beholder. Let us, then, picture to ourselves a province almost as large as France, crossed from west to eiist by a mighty river — the Yang-tse-kiang, which sli'ps of the line have ascended as far as forty leagues from its mouth — and watered in every di- roetion by innumerable canals. These canals, which are the chief means of communication, serve also to irrigate tho rice plantations, and are ail utilized as fisheries, a great proportion of the in- liabitants living only on rice and fish. Such is Kiang-nan, the capital of which is Nankin, and uhieli is divided into two sub-provinces, Ngan- lioei in the west and Kiang-sou in the east — that i?, towards the coast ; tliis latter country, entirely level, is very frequently devastated by inundations. The totid population of Kiang-nan is estimated at fifty millions of souls, and all these constitute only one diocese, that of Nankin, of which the last titu- lar was a Jesuit, Mgr. Leimbeck-IIoven, who died -at 286 Alexis Clcrc, \^' '•8 in 1T87 after the sup[)ression of liis order. Siicli is the inherittinco the Jc<5Uils c.inio into possession of only in 1842 — an immense fiokl left almost witli- ont cultivation, and which they had to clear up afresh. Of tlio fifty milhons, as yet (1853) only seventy-two thousand are Ciiristians ; hut this little flock is scattered over an extent of territory out of all proportion to itsnumher. Such a Chris- tian settlement, Ou-ho, for instance, is more than five hundred kilometers from Shanghai ; hence the constantly-renewed fatigue of the evangelical la- borers, whoso zeal, moreover, would not permit them to rest, since they deem themselves, in the words of the apostle, ihe debtors of all men, both pagans and Christians. And then in that coun- try such a thing as a non practical Clirislian is unknown. All make their Easter duty, or, more exactly, follow the exercises of the micsion when one is given in their district, and of course the missionary has to work night and day. "All the busiuessof a Christian community," Father Broul- lion says, *'is transacted at the time of the mission. To hold the court of a justice of the peace, to set to rights families and households, to reconcile enemies, to urge restitutions, to correct libertines and opium-smokers, to promote good works, to re- establish, to develop asiiociations of zeal and chari- ity, to visit pagan?, to solace the unfortunate, etc. — such is the inevitable circle in which the activity of the missionary is displayed, not to count the unforeseen calls upon Lis strength and prudence, such as the dyin^ to visit at a distance, and the Shanghai and the Jcsnit Mission. 287 Such iesalon car up V) only t this jrritory I Cluis- ro til an ?nce the lical la- pcrinifc 1, in the en, both it coun- jislian is or, more )u when ursc tlic -AU the X Broul- micsion. 30, to set reconcile iber tines ks, to re- nd chari- te, etc.— activity ount the prudence, , and tlio assaults of ilio idolaters to sustain — assaults which come too often, alas ! to overthrow Cliiistians and churches, missions and missionaries. With his IJiirty yearly confessions per day the priest cannot attend to all the details of the Christian settlement, and happy is the one who has been able to associate with himself an intelligent catcchist, and to create in the heart of the iiarishes, l)y means of administra- tors and virgins, a centre of pious industries ; with the aid of such instruments iiis influence will peiic- trate more deeply, and the fruits of the mission will bo preserved after his departure. For the stay of the missionary, very short in small placjs, is long nowhere ; and, besides, a great many of tlic Chris- tians arc too busy to remain within his reach more than two or three days. Tiicse are, among others, the fishermen, obliged by poverty to depart as soon as they have finished their confession, received Holy Communion, and heard the instructions of one or two mornings. IIow can the priest detain men who without constant labor wouM not have their daily rice to cat ? " * In 1853 the missionaries of Kiang-nan distribut- ed to the faithful more than eighty-three thousand communions, representing more than ninety-one thousand confessions ; they baptized five thousand four hundred and forty-five children of pagans, of whom one hundred and ninety-seven were raised in the orphanages of the mission, more than six hun- dred others having been adopted by Christian fam- * ' ' Memoir of the Present State of the Mission of Kiang ti:ui," p. 5a. llllir '5t 4fc 288 Alexis Clcrc, *><,- "•*j H' ■»>" A » ilies. As to the adults convcitetl and baptized, they numbered over five hundred — a liard work that sets loose all the devils of hell ; it is Satan's prey that is snatched from him, and if it esciq)e8 him iio is sure to take his revcnf,^o. But the apos- tle of Jesus Christ hurries to meet persecution and death ; if he succumbs he knows that his last hour is the hour of victory, and that the reward pro- nnscd him will have no end. Fatlier Broullion concUulcs his ** Memoir" as follows : ** We can promise those who will come to eharo our labors plenty of fatigue, wcarincs?, contradic- tions, and, if not the palm of martyrdom, numerous occasions of wearing out soul and body for the glory of God. But they will also have tlie assur- ance of hastening by their devoted ness the final conquest of this vast empire, which has so long re- belled against the prcuching of the Gospel.'* This language suited Clerc perfectly, and it seemed to him that the call of the superior of the mission was addressed to him personally, so great was his attraction for all heroic sacrifices. Be sides, he saw the missionaries at the work, living as he did in tlieir midst, treated like one of them, ready, if they would consent, to share their aposto- lic fatigues, and nothing equalled the eloquence of the facts of wliich he was the daily witness. In the journal of the first long retreat he made in France after his admission into the Society he has recorded a name, that of ]\[assa, which signi- fied to him evangelical poverty carried to the do- S/iang/uii and the Jesuit Mission. 2Sy Li zed, work iiLirn's sciipcs apos- »u and t hour 1 pro- ir " as ) eh arc itraUic- nicrous for the assur- lic final ong rc- and it of the so great Be living )f them, r aposto- loquence less. he made ociety he ch signi- the do- privation of everything and to the sacrifice of life. It is a souvenir brought back from Slianghai. And, in fact, our catalogues fix tlie date of Father Reno Massa's death as the 28tli of April, 1853. . What an admirable example is that of the Mas- sas I I say the Massas, because the Father Kcno to whom Clorc's souvenir refers is not the only one of the name, and in such a matter it would bo easy to confound them. They were five brothers belonging to a patrician family of Najjlc?, all five religious of the .Society of Jesus, and all five mis- sionaries in Kiang-iian. The Fathern Agostino, Gaetano, Nicolo, and Ilenato, or Hen 6, Massa ar- rived at tlie mission together in the year 18-10, and were joined the following year by their younger brother, Aloysius, then in his twentieth year, and who was ordained a priest only in 1854. IMiis is not all ; it needs another touch to finish the pic- ture of ihis family so worthy of the most glorious centuries of the Church, thus completing its re- semblance to (he forever illustrious families that produced a St. Gregory of Nazianzen and a St. Basil of Csesarca. When they saw all their sons departed for China, Baron Massa and his noble wife also determined to consecrate their last ye?.rs to God ; and perhaps at the moment I am writing this, in the retreat of their choice, and long since ripe for heaven, they are about to receive the crown of the patriarchs which they have won by their great faith. When Clerc arrived in Shanghai the Massas were already only four, Father Gaetano having been the %^ it Ik 290 Alexis Clcrc. ^i*-., «!• first of the brother? to be lakcn f'' ni the mission. The inundations that dcvustatod Kiang-nan in 1850 were giicceeded by terrible misery. While the famine lasted the residence of the bishop at Tom- ka-lou and the college of Zikawci daily received thousands of poor creatures, to whom rations of ere distributed. Father Gaetano, who had ucen a priest for four months, was devoting him- self with his whole heart to that good work when he learned that he was wanted at the children's hospital; he was wet with perspiration, fasting, and for six hours had been tormented by fever ; no matter— he flew to his dear sick children, cured or baptized several of them ; but ho took the epide- mic and died of it in eight days. In 1853 it is his brother Kenc's turn. Pestilence had followed the inundation and famine, and its victims strewed the roads of Ngan-hoei. Father Beno, the missionary of Ou-ho, built some sheds (0 receive the vagrants, and labored with indefatigable energy for the conversion of the pagans, enlight- ened by so manv terrible lessons and enticed bv the bait of Christian charity into the evangelical netg. Here is what Father Bioullion tells us of his last labors and his holy death, wliich made so deep an impression upon Clerc : " A witness of tho fearful suffering caused by the scarcity of food, ho forgot his own needs, and, that he might assist a greater number of the un- fortunates, denied himself all but what was abso- lutely necessary. No more fruit, no more meat, no strengthening beverage graced his repasts ; once a Shanghai and the Jesuit Mission. 291 an itt ilc Uie Tom- iccived ons of lO had g liim- iUlren's fasting, fcr -, no jured or e epide- pstilencc and its Fatbcr sheds to faligiihle enligtit- ticed by langclical us of his Ic so deep Is ; onco a day he ate a little rice and dried herbs, an insuffi- cient and unwholesome diet, but which he re- proached himself for if he learned that some poor wretch in tbe neigbborhood was clying of hunger ; he would tbon niako baste to send him the dishes off his tabic, happy to fast to save a fellow-crea- ture's life. *' During a six monibs' sojourn in Ou-ho he preached to tbc pagans several times a day. A large number of catechumens were granted to his zeal ; he baptized as many as tbirty-two at once, and forty oLbcrs were awaiting tbe same grace when he fell sick. Seventy-two children collected by his efforts were confidtd to Christian families, who engaged to maintain tbem. In tbe meantime we vainly endeavored to send him aid ; he was at a distance, and tbe insurgent army of Kuam-si closed the route. Therefore he continued to im- pose upon himself new privations in order to carry on bis work. Labor and fasting exhausted his strength. Forced to keep his bed, be no longer got up c.\i;Li)t to celebrate Mass. Nevertbeless, being sent for by some sick persons who were dying of typhoid fever, ho burned to their assistance. This was bis last effort. "Tbc next morning he wanted to rise again to offer the Iloly Sacrifice. * There is no priest,' he said, * whom I can call upon to give me tbe Holy Viaticum. I must myself consecrate, so as to die in the arms ot our Lord.' But bis members re- fused to obey him. Yielding to the entreaties of his catcchist, he consented that a Chiistian physi- 5P ai ^li:- " ,1 292 Alexis Clerc* "*>, W^ cian slioulcl be called ; but this last, delayed by tlie rains and the inundation, only arrived just after the father had taken a remedy prepared by a pagan. Either from the effect of this medicine or because the disease had already reached its final stage, the same day Father Rene fell into a state that pre- ludes the agony, and recovered the use of his tongue only in his last hour. *^0n the vigil of St. Mark's his countenance lighted up with intense happiness, and, fixing a joyous gaze on his catechist, as if to communicate to him his thoughts, he seemed to charge him with his farewells to his brothers and his friends in the Society of Jesus. The following day, April 25, 1853, he gave up his soul to the God whose glory he had procured at the cost of his life. Ilis suffer- ings, his death, his prayers inaugurated the pro- gress of the Gospel in Ngan-hoei, even as the de- Yotedness cf Brother Sinoquet and of the Fathers Estcve, Gaetano (Massa), and Pacclli was a seed of salvation for Kianc: sou." But while Clcrc contemplates with an envious eye the heroic devoted ness of the missionaries struggling with pestilence and famine, behold a new scourge is let loose upon the miff^ion — the scourge of war — a war feebly conducted, and wherein the combatants give proof of little disci- pline and military bravery, but for that reason all the more fatal to the inoffensive populations whom it overruns and crushes without pity. Fiom Shanghai, where the approach of the rebels is Shanghai and the Jesuit Mission, 293 )y the uitei- )agan. realise ;e, the it pi-e- of his enanee ixing a unicate m with , in the )ril 25, se glory s suiler- ,he pro- the de- Fathers a seed envious ionaries ehold a ion— the ed, and le disci- cason all lis whom Fiom rebels is dreaded, and not less, perhaps, that of tlie impe- rialists, Clero writes, June 1 : " My dear Father : Tlic vessel which took my last letters had the misfortune to he lost with the mail. My package was a good big one. I am going to try to repeat its contents very briefly. "The great affair is the war of the rebellion. I think I have already told you how a band of men belonging to the province of Kiang-si passed vic- toriously through Kiang-si, Canton, Ilonan, and Ilou-pe, which are equal to four countries of the siz3 of France.* Now they are in this j)rovinco of Kiang-nan, masters of Nankin and Tchen-kiang- fou. So far they have received no check ; but they have established no authority in the countries they have traversed, and consequently have left them thoroughly disorganized, driving all the ma- gistrates away and building up nothing, to the triple detriment of tlie emperor, of themselves, and especially of the inhabitants. But, looking at tho immense extent of territory that now separates them from their point of departure, it is plain that theirs is the inevitable alternative of conquering or all perishing. The number of these rebels is very small in comparison with the enterprise, and well- informed persons do not suppose them to be over * Clerc deceives himself, we think. The rebels started from Kouang-si, or Western Kouang, adjoining Kouang-tong (Can- ton), or Eastern Kouang. Therefore our missionaries gene- rally call them Kuam-si-jen, or men of Kouaug-si (Kuam si, i^irtuguese orthography) ; or, quite simply, Kuamsinians. Kiang-si, situated between Kouang-si and Kian^j-nan, w^as tho most direct route the i isurrectiou could bavetakouto reach Kankin. ^ 3,f w 294 Alexis CI ere. . '■•S» I 4 five tliousancl. How can a handful of men so im- peril a great empire ? It is not because tliey are better armed, more able, or braver, perhaps, than the emperor's soldiers ; but all the way from their own province, where probably they were more nu- merous, they have had no veritable resistance to overcome, and their adversaries have been more nimble in flying than in advancing, ** Assuredly, if the mobiles had been trans- ported* to China instead of California, they might have conquered the empire. It is astonishing that there does not spring up some adventurer to thus try his fortune. '* What is certain is that this empire is rotten to the core in its rulers, whose corruption and greed are the scourge of the people, rendering them an easy prey for the first who will undertake to sub- jugate them. It is said that the emperor is as- sembling all he has left of Tartars in the north to march to exterminate the rebels. There is little necessity for such great efforts ; hut the positive fact is that the insurgents are left in quiet posses- sion of what they occupy. They on their side have made forced levies, and, setting one of their own part} over every twenty-tive men, try to make sol- diers of them. " The rebels seem to me to have small chance of success ; but, on the other hand, in Kiang-si (pro- bably Kouang-si) a new uprising is talked of, and they say that the province of Canton begins to be * The mobiles had been mutinous.— Trans. SJianghai and the Jesuit Mission, 295 ) im- y arc than tlieir e nu- ice to more trans- might ig that LO thus itten to 1 greed [lem an to Enb- r is as- lorth to is little positive , posses- ide have eir own ako sol- lance of -si (pro- of, and ns to he extremely alarmed. Besides, the city of Amoy has just been taken from the mandarins by some Chi- nese belonging to a secret society, the avengers of a member of the society who was unjustly put to death three years ago by the governor of that city. Finally, the pirates, more numerous than ever, blockade Fou-tcheou-fon, the capital of Fokien. Is the end of the empire at hand ? I do not think so. The history of China presents many such critical epochs. How unjust would the complaints of European nations appear to the Chinese ! To- day commerce is almost susjiended throughout China ; you arc well aware in France that the Chi- nese are an entirely commercial peoi)le ; the ruin of several important European houses is also nearly certain. The misery, already so great, goes on in- creasing beyond all proportion, and driving the people, perhaps, to every excess. Tins populous empire is therefore threatened with the greatest misfortunes. As to the rebels properly so called, the uncertainty about them has appeared up to the present time to dictate the policy of the European powers in their regard. The governor-general of the double province of Kiang-sou and Ngan-hoei, cr Kiang-nan, has, in the name of the emperor, asked all the foreign ministers for assistance against the rebels, but nothing has resulted from his request. The English plenipotentiary. Sir G. Bouham, has been to Nankin, has communicated with the Kuamsmians, and has brought back their proclamations and some books contaming their doc- trines. He treated with the chiefs under the jt 296 Alexis CI err. ^?^:^ % honorary titles they assume — it is so much in har- mony with English politics to encourage all revolu- tions; then, after that exploit, he left for Hong- Kong with the vessels ho brought with him. ''The American minister attempted to go to Nankin, but the vessel ho was on board of drew too much water; since, all the American vessels have left for the Lieou-kieou Islands, the last ren- dezvous before reaching Japan, whither they are bound to open the negotiation so long talked of." After a melancholy reference to his own inac- tion, Olerc adds these few particulars of the charac- ter of the insurrection : " The rebels affect to be fulfilling a divine mis- sion, and pretend that they blindly obey the orders of God. Their books are a mixture of Protestant and Mohammedan notions ; they seem to be fatal- ists, prove their mission by their success, and de- clare themselves perfectly resigned to yield the day they shall have accomplished their destiny. Per- haps Freemasonry has also something to do with their plans. The secret societies play a certain part in these countries, especially among the ex- patriated Chinese, who are very numerous in Eng- lish and Dutch Malacca. " The Christians of Nankin have had to suffer from these rebels ; some have been called upon to join the army, others to perform some religious act contrary to the faith. Many have perished. Still, it is not yet a regular persecution. The pagans have also perished in very great numbers. Up to the present the Christians have been badly treated Shanghai and the Jesuit Mission. 297 rl fl ac- the ex- bufc wo do not know that any have been put to death solely on account of their religion. Never- theless, the insurgents have done enough to pre- vent us from wishing them any success." A letter from ^Igr. Maresca gives more details of this beginning of persecution, and concludes in these terms : "Of the six hundred Christians we counted in the cities of Nankin, Yang-tcheou, and Tchen-Kiang, fifty have been massacred or burned, and several have been bound and beaten. The greater number have lost everything, and arc now captives, exposed to all kinds of dangers to soul and body." There was not the least doubt but that a suffi- cient motive for armed intervention could be found in such facts. Therefore Clerc restrains himself no longer ; since he cannot act he must speak, and his words will be heard in Paris even in the office of a minis- ter. In the first days of July, on board the Cassinij which was then at anchor near Castel Peak, a little distance from Shanghai, he takes his pen and begins to write at the most rapid rate a " Note oil our Position in China, in Cochin China, and in Corea, and on the Part we might Play in those Countries." The opening paragraphs breathe the loftiest sentiments. I quote : "Prance, obedient to the duty of a state not to suffer great events which do not actually touch its interests to transpire in the world without mani- ..:W ■; '<• .. •d. ii festing its presence, and without reserving its 298 Alexis Clerc. •."*,• ,-!,:ii - '••• ^w- ! rights "when it does not actually assert them — France, over since the opium war, maintains ia Chinese waters naval vessels which the protection of her commerce does not seem to require. Yet, should the line of conduct marked out for our diplomatic agents and our military commanders bo dictated only by that somewhat vague and indefi- nite idea ? Let us also obey that mysterious in- stinct which for thirty years has been directing the attention of civilized nations to China ; let us also bo prepared to play in that country Vi role in harmony with our national character and capabili- ties. If the growing influence of England and the United States is duo to their commerce, why should not ours, in the want of that basis, bo founded upon our arms enforcing justice ? France does not derive the least of the splendor of her military glory from the wars she has waged with- out securing: material gain, and she scorns a policy that would draw the sword only to dictate com- mercial treaties. " The empires of these vast regions are often the theatre of unforeseen catastrophes ; palace revolu- tions are frequent. Everybody knows how the Bishop of Adran conquered to our country a powerful and deserved influence in Cochin China ; circumstances more or less similar may frequently present themselves, and it is important that our representatives should be able to profit by them. At all events, the desire for a large share of influ- ence is not in this case the inspiration only of nation- al pride, and although such an ambition be irrepre- SJtangJiai and the Jisuit Mission. 299 lifnsible in itself, it is justified by a nobler motive. From Tartary almost to the peninsula of Malacca numerous missionaries of our faith, and nearly all Frenchmen, are evangelizing these immense and unfortunate regions. France is the natural i)ro- Icctorofall; the European nations recognize the honor and charge as hers, and by a tradition which is indestructible — since times so d'sastrous to us have not destroyed it — these people turn their eyes to her who in their sufferings they lose all other hope." Oleic is of the opinion that by prudent manage- ment a protection may be extended to religion that will be "neiihcr an armed proselytism of the peo- ple, nor a usurpation of the authority of the princes." And thereupon he undertakes to exa- mine into the condition of those three empires of the extreme East — China, Cochin China, and Corca. His views on Cochin China, in particular, have a justness which must cause them to be accepted sooner or later, and whatever may have been tho fate of his note, we recognize in it the thought that dictated the course of the government wlien it finally decided to send to those countries sulTicient forces to gain a footing and found a lasting estab- lishment. "Still more recent treaties grant us important previleges in Cochin China ; we might Justly claim the ownership cf Tourania, ceded to France by the Emperor Kia-long. Admiral Cecile failed in his attempt to renew our relations with that empire, lately our friend and ally. Admiral Lapierre wa^ ftir '» I. J_. 300 Alexis Clcrc. I obliged to repel by foico the answer which was prepared for that s imc demand. If Captain L i- pierre, who in this matter so nobly braved the dis- grace which a certain shade of public opinion would surely inflict uj)onhim, had served a govern- ment like the one that has lately rewarded his ser- vices, he would undoubtedly, after the desf ruction of the Cochin Chinese fleet, have imposed a treaty on the vanquished nation, and Franco would not have allowed the executioner's axe to strike by or- der of a blind and cruel prince her noble children, Scheffler and Bonnard, martyred for the faith while French vessels were cruising along the coasts or were fruitlessly stationed at Macao." This was using noble language and speaking plain French. But when Clerc's note reached the oflice of the minister, for it did arrive there,* the government was occupied with quite an- otlier affair — namely, the Crimean expedition. Permit us to here add a detail which we have from good authority. After the taking of Sebastopol it was desired to learn what had been the rule of the Bishop of Adran, and what rights resulted to France from the alliance formed between King Louis XVI. and the Emperor of Cochin China. At the request of persons in high position, a new note was drawn up in Paris, and it was transmitted by Baron Cauchy, the illustrious geometrician, to Marshal Vaillant, his confrere in the Academy of Sciences, at the institute one day when, as usual, ♦ It is marked M'ith a stamp bearing these words : "Navy and Colonies. Office of the minister, Ncvember 3, 1853.'' ShangJiai and the Jesuit Mission. >alit "Navy i3.'' tlicy cccupicd neighboring chairs. This was tho only placo where these two men, wliose faith and politics were so different, could meet and to a certain point understand one another. Several years be- fore his death Clerc saw the accomplishment of a wish that was so dear to his heart, and we may judge of the joy he must have felt when in his re- treat he learned that the French flag floated over tho walls of Saigon. While the role of France thus appeared to him in all its grandeur, and he endeavored to kindle afar the fire with which his noble heart was burn- ing, he was, to his great dislike, obliged to leave Shanghai once more, but not without the hope of returning ; he could not imagine that the Cassini would not be employed in protecting the Christian settlements of Kiang-nan and the European inter- ests so closely threatened by the insurgents. He wrote from IIong-Kong July 23: " The Cassini is repairing her boilers, and probably by the end of August we will be in such good trim that our cruise may easily be prolonged another two years. Now, if France decides to interfere in China, it is hard for me to believe that the Cassini will not be used, since she is on the spot and will be ready for all the various services that can be expected from a steam vessel. Consequently I defer all hope of returning home, and fix no limit to our stay here. The vessels that are to relieve those now at the station have left France, the Constantine on the Gth of February, and the Colbert at the beginning of March. The Constantine is expected daily, and I 302 Alexis Clcrc. •■» ;f t h •' ''•\ « 1 1 on licr arrival tlio Capricicusc will leave." In short, he would willinf>ly have soeii the cruise, Avhich had already lasted nearly three years, con- tinued one or two years more. Behold how an ambition loftier than that ho obeyed on entering the navy attached him to a career from which lio no longer expected aught for himself, but which was always noble and grand in his eyes when it be- came the auxiliary of civilization, or, to usa the right word, of Christian-ty ! In the course of September the Cassini was an- chored in the Taipa two miles from Macao, when Mr. de Plas received from the French charge cTciffaircs an invitation to come as quickly as possi- ble to Shanghai, where the European establish- ments were in the greatest danger. The vessel's repairs were not finished, but the commander did not hesitate ; he starLed the next day, and early in October was at his new post, Tiiis is what had transpired during the Cassinfs absence from Shanghai : On the 7th of September, at the moment it was least expected, the city was invaded by a band of men in red garments and armed with guns, sabres, and clubs. Before day- break they arc masters of the gates, and at sunrise they already occupy the tribunals and the princi- pal guard-houses. Some mandarins are killed, others flee ; the soldiers, to the number of a thou- sand perhaps, hide so successfully that not a singlo one is to be seen. At nine o'clock there is a crv in the streets that the people have nothing to fear ; posters appear on the walls ; they read that any Shanghai ami the Jesuit Mission. 303 attempt on property will bo punisliod with ileath. And in fact several wretches convicted of theft were beheaded. Thus everything was performed in imitation of the groat capitals of Europe ; our Chinese rioters proved accomplished masters of tho art, and there remained but little for them to learn before they might cease envying tho practised, re- volutionists of Paris. Scarcely arrived, the commander of tho Cassiniy conjointly with the Frcncli consul, takes efficacious measures for the protection of the national estab- lishments. Every evening a guard of sailors is sent to the consulate, and some men are detached to Tom-ka-tou and Shanghai. Tho Frencli flag is raised on the Jesuit Fathers' house at Tom-ka-tou ; if it is lowered it will be a signal of distress. The rebels — a collection of Fokienese and Can- tonese — were shut up in the fortified portion of the city, wlience they defied the imperialists with an audacity increased by the cowardice of their ad- versaries. It is suspected that they were secretly aided by Europeans clever enough to direct the movement and interested in the success of the in- surrection. The commander of the Cassini relates to us a tragicomic incident in which Clerc, always ready for a self-sacrifice, gave proof of his presence of mind and his habitual coolness: "In the month of November a Chinese fleet was ordered to cannonade the city, and took up a posi- tion near Tom-ka-tou, just so as to draw the firing of the insurgents in the direction of the cathedral 1 .• 1 304 Alexis Clcrc, Sfe: H'M W, tf ■■iSr "I ■,: : 111 i;! and the principal residence of the Fathers. The signal flag was lowered. After having deliberated before God, the commander sent Alexis Clerc in the longboat to learn what was going on, and to put a stop to the firing in tliat part of the city, if need be. Clerc set out. Tiie boat was saluted with a few balls, which ni'ght very well not have been exactly intended for it, and it arrived atTora- ka-tou, where Father Lemaitre (since superior-gene- ral of the mission) did not hesitate to offer himself to treat with the Chinese admiral. That dignitary was found at the bottom of the hold of his sliip, the noise of the cannon being particularly dis- agreeable to him. lie was made to understand that if lie continued to menace, or to cause to be menaced, the residence of Tom-ka-tou by flring on the ramparts of the city, tlie French commander would interpose with his cannon. Far from, being displeased, the admiral received this summons with joy, and gave Lieutenant Clerc and Father Lemai- tre carte UancJia to warn the little vessels of his fleet. The captains shared their admiral's satis- faction, and promptly vacated the position. Cour- nge, seconded by extreme good humor in L'eutenant Clerc and F.ither Lemaitre, must have produced a great effect upon the Chinese, for the balls could just as easily have struck the negotiators as the combatants." Clerc decided that those sorry imperialists were of no great account; still, d'sgraccd as they were in his eyes, he preferred them to the rebels, consi- dering them to be after all the representatives of Shanghai and the Jesuit Mission. 305 established order, and the defenJers, sucli as they were, of a regular government. lie wrote to Father Broallion, who was then in France attending to the business of the mission : " Chinese pride, hardy as you know it to be, cannot altogether sur- vive such assaults. The incredible cowardice and tiie still more incredible stupidity of the attacks the imperialists make on the city are a cause of confusion to themselves, and the fathers in dealing with them really find them no longer the same men. A few such lessons and there will be no more of that contempt with which they have re- garded all foreigners to struggle against. This consideration, which is certainly of great weight, seems to me a reason for looking at the revolts less unfavorably, albeit they are but the involuntary cause of this good. On the other hand, we have learned from the letter Mgr. Mouly writes you that in Pekin the Christians have been joersecuted and the cross has been torn down. Father Rene's (Massa) catcchist has confessed the faith in tortures, and, on the point of being put to death, he saved his life through the protection of a man- darin whom he had converted. As for me, I would still prefer to lay violent hands on the re- bels ; but that h out of the question ; the plan is to act always as though wc were in Europe, and to be governed by an international law that is some- what fantastic with its scruple about equity."* ■li:.- Kllf * Letter of November 1, 1853, publisbed by Father Broullion in his "Memoir on the l^rt,'sent Conditlou of the Mission of Kiang-nan." Pari?, 1S55, \). 334. 3o6 Alexis CIcrc. '♦ 'I Opinicns were very much dividecl. People knew very well what to think of the Fokieneso and the Cantonese that occupied Shanghai — regular ban- dits skilfully organized for pillage ; but the rebels of Kouang-si, masters of Xankin, enjoyed from afar off more prestige, and it was asked if they were not achieving a great revolution to the advantage of Chinese nationality ; for, it must not be forgotten, the reigning dynasty was of Tartar race, dated only from the middle of the seventeenth century, and established itself only by conquest. Among the Europeans whose good wishes were with the insur- rection some pretended that the accession of Tai- ping, the emperor of the Kuam-si-jen, could not fail to inaugurate an era of religious liberty. The fact is, the partisans of that mysterious and ex- tremely cunning personage loudly proclaimed them- selves as the exterminators of idolatry, and placed in the number of their religious books a translation of St. Matthew and some fragments of the Bible. On the other hand, they had torn down crosses, persecuted and put to death a certain number of Christians; their chiefs, it was said, practised l)olygamy, which did not promise a very sincere respect for evangelical morality, and did little credit to the Puotcstant ministers, some of whom boasted of having been the originators of the move- ment. What should be thought of them ? Should the insurgents, who were already marching on Pekin, be regarded seriously and ranked as bellige- rents by the representatives of the European powers ? It was worth the while to be enlightened I Shanghai and the Jestiit Mission. 307 about this, and it was decided to go to Nankin to investigate matters, so as to take sides understand- Therefore, at ilio end of November "Commander de Phis receives on board tlie Cassini Mr. de Bour- boulon, Minister Plenipotentiary of France ; Mme. de Bourboulon, Mr. de Courcj, secretary of the lega- tion, and their suite. At the request of Mr. Edan, consul ad interim (Mr. de Montigny having left for France), two Jesuits, Fathers Gotteland and C!avelin, are named to accompany the expedi- tion. The anchor is weighed ; the Yapg-tse-kiang is ascended. The draught of the vessel and the moving sandbanks necessitate a careful advance; the travellers have leisure to gaze at the beautiful river, the second in the world, the mouth of which is nearly thirty leagues wide. About noon of the 3d of December they pass Kiang-iu, a city of the third order, formerly the centre of numerous Chris- tian settlements, nothing of which remains but the ruins. On the 5th they arc at Tchen-kiang-fou, a city of the second order, whoso port is formed by the Isle of Gold and the Isle of Silver. Those charming places, ravaged by civil war, offer only de?olation to the beholder. Finally, on tlie Gth, they uro in sight of Nankin. The Cassini had met two fleets of from two to three hundred sails witli- out experiencing any liostile demonstration. Here, for the first time, the report of a cannon comes from a battery protected by the ramparts, and a ball hisses past the cars of the new arrivals. They 1- ■ i 3o8 Alexis Clcrc. *1 ii awuifc a second sliofc before responding; it is not fired, and the explanations, wliicli tlieymake haste to demand, are given in the politest manner. They are satisfied fvitli them. I will not speak of the interviews of the French legation with the ministers of tlie Emperor Tai- ping ; Fatlier Chivelin has left a jiicturesque and animated description of them in a letter published by Father Bronllion.* Mr. de Courcy, who was present, says nothing about them in his volume entitled *' L'Empire du Milieu." In short, the result was little, if not nothing at all. Clerc an- ticipated this from the commencement, and on the return of the expedition he cpngratulated himseK' that French diplomacy had escaped the danger of compromising, by treating with the rebels, its own dignity and the security of the Christians evan- gelized by our missionaries. But he had been profoundly moved by the spectacle of desolation offered by that immense city of Nankin, and some time afterwards he wrote : " We walked through a very great part of it, and we saw neither an arti- san working at his trade nor a merchant engaged in liis traffic. All the houses were more or less dilapidated, and, an extraordinary thing, those even that were inhabited had not been repaired ; the doors and windows were still hanging to the hinges, but were not secured ! In my opinion there is no longer any right of property recognized in Nankin, and communism is realized to their hearts' * "Memoir on the Present State of the Mission of Kiang- nan." Appendix, p. 837. Shanghai and the Jesuit Mission. 309 ged less lose ed ; tlie here 3(1 in arts' liang- cmtciit by the experimenters. The women, sepa- rated from their families, even from their husbands, are in little bands penned up in the houses of one quarter; they are under the surveillance of one of their number, who exercises an almost military authority. As to the men — wlicthcr it was that the inhabitants of Nankin had taken flight, or that it had been preferred to send thcni to the field in order to make more sure of the city — nearly all those we saw were very young and generally natives of other provinces. "All those youtlis were richly clothed in still new silk garments j but I was more saddened by that luxury than I would have been by poverty, for it is the result of enormous pillage and of the prodi- gality that belongs to brigandage. " One can only feel the greatest pity for this unfortunate nation oppressed by two powers, each as bad as the other. *' These people were created to live under the yoke, and if they had the happiness of being sub- jects of a good government they would not dream of revolt, for, bad enough as that of the Tartars is, nobody is anxious to welcome the new future dy- nasty. " Europe is ignorant of her power, and has no longer enough of the spirit of chivalry to care about doing noble deeds outside of her ow 1 terri- tory. If these were the days of Magellan and Cor- tez it would be deemed a joy to do as much as possible for all these people seated in the shadow of death." !.q 310 Alexis Clerc. ^8 :»ae» "i^;?*' 8- f^'/i On the 18th of December, at noon, the Cassi?ii again cast auclior before Shanghai. *^ Thus our Nankin expedition," Father Clave- lin writes, "was over. Nevertheless, I had to prolong my stay on shipboard, because our good commander desired very much to have a priest on board the Cassi)ii iov the sclemnity of Christmas. Christmas eve we heard the cannon rumbling far into the night ; a ball even fell in our midst. Yet, at the moment of beginning Mass, which all the ship's company was present at, there was a perfect silence ; this, joined to the recollection of the assistants, to the novelty of the spectacle, to the sentiments inherent in such a festival, and, finally, to the sight of the commander, of four of- ficers, and several non-commissioned officers and sailors coming forward to receive with the piety which distinguished them Holy Communion in presence of the entire assembly — all that made, I say, a profound impression upon me, and that feast will never be obliterated from my memory.*' The next day was devoted to the performance of an act of necessary justice. Two catechists of the mission, seized by the rebels, had been treated as spies, and one of them cruelly tortured. The commander of the Colbcrl, recently arrived from France to replace the Cassmi, exacted a repara- tion ; he was ready, in case of refusal, to discharge his guns. The reparation was made. Lion, chief of the rebels, sent the guilty man with execution- ers. A pardon was granted ; the Chinese were known to be capable of anything ; more than once II Shanghai and the Jesuit Mission. ^11 nance ts of eated The from spara- barge cliief ution- ^vere 11 once on similar occasions they had yielded np tlio inno- cent in place of the guilty. These proceedings, as generous as they were firm, had an excellent effect boili for the honor of the French flag and the con- siJeniLion shown to those over whom it extended its efficacious jirotrction. " It is thus," says Father Clavelin,'*' that, thanks to the representatives of France, we enjoy a per- fect, and, under the circumstances, truly extraor- dinary tranquillity. May it always continue." It was not fitting to interrupt the recital of the services rendered by the Cassini to the mission of Kiang-nan and the European establishments of Shanghai ; consequently we bave so far shown our hero only in his life of action, reserving to our- selves to afterwards make known the interior labor to wbicli he devoted himself that be might be firmly decided on bis vocation when he should return to Fnuice. It was the great affair be bad already a first time treated of with Father de Ra- vignau, and witb which he desired to occupy him- self anew in the residence of Zi-ka-wei, under the direction of an eminent and boly missionary. Fa- ther L mguiilat, now administrator of the diocese of Nankin. Therefore, shortly before the Cc/ssini's depar- ture for Nankin he put himself in retreat; be made the " Spiritual Exercises" fervently, and pro- ceeded with all deliberation to tbat important act of the choice cf a state of life, to the election, to use the language of the *' Exercises." For this St. Ignatius gives rules of admirable wisdom, and 312 Alexis ClevSo ^>^l '-»•* .% I * which, fiiitlifully observed, render a misfcako im- possible, so to speak. The first and principal is that the eye of our intention bo simple ; that we have no object other than the glory of God and the salvation of our soul ; that our choice tend solely to the attainment of tliat object. Did Clerc observe this rule well ? We shall be able to judge; he brought from Zi-ka-wci the sbcet on which he put in writing the determining motives of his elec- tion, and we have it before us ; we will make some extracts of what is most characteristic. Proceeding systematically, he successively lays down four questions, which he examines and re- solves in the following manner : "Must I aim at perfcctiou ' * 1. This is not necessary to salvation. 2. It is, perhaps, bej'ond my power of perseverauce. 1. It is a much surer way of attaining it. 2. Nothing is impossible to God ; the days pass one by one. 3. Not to underlako is to be already beaten witl o it fighting, especially if the matter has been reflected upon. 4. It is nobler. 5. It is more pleasing to our Lord. G. The interior voice of conscience reproaching me for relaxations which are not * We need net remark that the left-hand column contains the reasons against, and the right-hand column tho reasons for an cfflrmative answer to the questions. 3. If my courage fails in an undertaking which is not necessary, it will there- by be much weakened for what is absolutely necessary. ShcingJiai and the Jesuit lilission. 3 1 3 li 1! im- al is t we and tend Clcrc udgc; z\\ lie s tlcc- j some ,y lays ,nd rc- .rcr way possible ias3 one rlaUfi is wltl o It if the reflected jasing to voice of hing me ch are not n contains 10 reasC)ns sins, is the voice of our Lord jealous of my perfec- tion. 7. Our Lord vomits the tepid out of his mouth. 8. lie to whom more has been forgiven owes more gratitude. " Therefore I ought to aim at perfection, and I will. " Must I enter the religious state in order to aim ai; per- fection ? 1. I must provide for my father's wants. 1. My brother Jules will gladly do this by himself. I will also be able to leave my father sonic of my sav- ings of this cruise. 3. I experience a great weariness which ncitLor ser- vice on shore nor at sea drives away. 3. It seems to me im- possible xiot to be con- taminated by the social life on board ship. 4. It is an except iou to find the helps of religion on shipboird. 5. I have no particular attraction for my calling ; so far my career does not bind mo. 6. Our Lord gives me strength to embrace without difhculty poverty and chasti- ty ; it is imprudent to risk these gifts in the world. e- 1^; II 314 Alexis Clerc, 7. Tending to perfection in Ihc world would be a sin- gular vocation ; the experi- ence of these last four years proves that it would be a fault to wait longer. 8. 1 have already lost in the matter of charity. 9. There is no perfec- tion without obedience. 10. It is evident to me that in religion one is much more useful to himself and others. 11. It is the royal road. 12. How can I help fore- seeing the assaults of vain- glory that will follow the most ordinary advancement in my career. 13. It is the haven. 14. It has been for four years the more or less de- finite term to which I have aspired. *' Therefore I ought to enter the religious state, and I will. i: I " What religious order must I choose ? 1. The Society of Jesus is the most numerous and the most securely established in France. 3. In it one has less rea- son to pretend to a distin- guished position. 3. It embraces all good Shanghai and the Jesuit Mission, 3 1 5 jction ti fein- xpcri- 3' ears . be a lost in perfcc- ;e. to mc s much eU and road. Ip fore- 3f vain- low tlie acement I. for four lesa de- 1 have id I will. Jesus is and the )Ushed in less rea- a distin- all good works, and it is only the suggestion of the evil spirit or of pride that can make a man believe that it does not employ him in his right place. 4. It assumes the entire responsibility of the career it gives you ; for example, you do not take upon your- self to receive the priest- hood. # 5. It takes the most admi- rable and minute care of the salvation and perfection of its children. C. It allows no compro- mises with the rule : dispen- sations, etc. *' Therefore I ought 10 enter the Society of Jesus, and I will. '* AVhen shall I enter the Society of Jesus ? 1. To quit the Cassini would be not only extraordi- nary, but, I think, impossi- ble. 2. It would be to choose for myself a destination among all those which the Societj'- might give me. 3. It seems to me natu- ral and suitable to obtain my father's consent, at least to myself inform him of my determination. 4. It seems to me useless 3i6 A /ex IS Clcrc. *! and dangerous to render any oilier duties to the world. "Therefore, after a very few days .spent in Paris, I ou;^ht lo go to tlie uovitiate that will have been designated to me, and 1 will. Alexis Clerc. *' Given at Zi-ka--wei, October 17." Sucli are the iinportiint and holy resolutions Avhich Alexis had taken before God, and which he would accomplish without delay. We pass over iiie circumstajiccs of the return to Franco, which would be of little interest now. Favored on her voyage by superb weather, the Cassini entered the harbor of LorienlJuly 5, 1854. She happened rij^ht in the midst of preparations for war, and, without having time to so much as look about, was enveloped in the general commo- tion caused by the Crimean expedition. The day after his arrival Alexis wrote to his father : "The port of Lorient is in twice its usual ac- tivity, and they are making extraordinary efforts to get the Cassini ready to start in six days for the Baltic Sea, and to carry thither I don't knov/ what. However, all this fine zeal does not affect me much, for I was put on shore the day of our arrival, and I have refused to ask to continue this new tail of the campaign. '* Kevertheliss, there has been some scrt of confusion, so that to-day at four o'clock I must return to tlie shi]>, after having been lauded twice. Still, I consider my detachment as Shano/iai and the Jesuit Mission, 3 1 7 cndor 3 the WIS, 1 ;uatcd EllC. Litions icli lie uni to , wow. r, tbc ., 1854. rations ucli as om mo- he day ual ac- fforts to for tlie \v what, cmucli, s;'^^, and 7 tail of sort of clock I Ug been .nient as real, and I liopo to obtain a little permit of fifteen days for Paris. I cannot say when I will arrive.'^ Afier so long an absence he was anxious to cm- brace his fatlieraud his brother Jules, to congratu- late the latter on the union he had just contracted with a lady worthy of him, and to participate like a good brother in that family event, with the cir- cumstances of which hcAvas still unacquainted, de- prived as he had been of all correspondence since his voyage to Singapore. He cared butmiddlingly to share the new fortune of the Cassini, which was to be used as a transport. It was in a rather more military manner that he would have chosen to serve it the thing had depended upon him. *' One must accommodate one's self to the times," he wrote two days later, ''and if I could be good for anything, it is not a cruise of three years and a half — which has notexhausted me — that would de- ter me from serving again directly." " Madame my sister-in law," he courteously adds, " has been so kind as to write me a few words. I am very grateful to her, and I hope that, being persons of good-will, it will not be long before we are truly brother and sister. Patience ! patience I and everything will be arranged to please everybody." To be brief, notwithstanding the extreme fatigue of her crew and the bad state of her boilers, the Ca.ssini was ordered to tow several ships and fri- gates to Loricnt, to Brest, or to Cherbourg, after which it was finally decided to put her out of com- mission, and this decision was carried into effect errly in August. Then onlyClcrc obtained per- 3i8 Alexis Clerc, «'-ii!l!l ■& missior to visit his father. But before starting h •) offered bis services for the Baltic Sea ; they were not accepted, all the positions being already filled. Eight days later Clerc was at the Novitiate of Saint Achcul, thus fulfilling to the letter the resolution with which he had concluded his electioti: "After a very few days spent in Paris I ought to go to the novitiate that will have been designated to me, and I will." i!j! ill i CHAPTER X. ALEXIS CLERC IN THE SOCIETY OP JESUS— SAINT-ACHEUL. At last, after four years of waiting, Clcrc liad ifc in Lis power to responil to the call of the Lord, wliicli made itself heard in his heart in a way that was ever stronger and more urgent. Still, all was not done ; there were bonds to be broken be- fore he could be received into the novitiate, and it was not difficult to foresee that paternal opposi- tion, singularly favored by circumstances, would not be disarmed by the first blow. AVoiild it not even declare itself inflexible and relentless ? Alas ! we shall see it but too plainly — this was what it did, and it cruelly kept its word to the end. Clcrc must have had the presentiment of the ob- stacles that awaited him and of the rude combat he would have to sustain when, having communi- cated his resolution to Father de Ravignan imme- diately on his arrival at Lorient, he received this rather discouraging reply : " Paris, 35 Rue de Sevres, July 18, 1854. " My Very Dear Friend : Your letter brings me the sweetest consolation. May God's grace keep you and preserve in your soul all the gifts of 319* ii it 320 Alexis Ckrc. •• i« * m his goodness. Let us pniy that his will may be perfectly accomplished in you. " It seems to me that you ought to wait still longer before taking a final resolution. Your re- signation now would be ill-timed. Undoubtedly we must expect difficulties and obstacles ; never- theles?, let us fear nothing when we seek only the glory of God and the welfare of our soul. " You cannot doubt of my tender interest ; it follows you everywhere. Farewell, then, till we meet. Let us be united in the heart of our Lord and in the firmest hope. "My kind remembrances to the commander. "X. DE EAYIGis^AN." It is to be believed that Father de Ravignan was satisfied with the explanations Clerc gave him when he came to Paris, and that then, from the opponent he had been, he declared himiself an ally and auxiliary; it seems to us even impossible for him to have done otherwise if the generous postulant showed him the election ho had made at Shang- hai, and which ten months before had received the approbation of a religious as wise and enlight- ened as Father Languillat. Had not the illustri- ous and holy religious (Father de Eavignan), in his excellent work *'0n the Existence and Institute of the Jesuits," himself marked out the path which he saw his young friend treading with so firm a step ? Had he not, in treating of the election and in recalling his own experience, written these lines, wherein Alexis must have recognized his own course : '' When the soul is trancpiil, when it is in litii;! Saint-AcJicuL 321 55 ight- pcaceful possession of all its faculties, it will ba- lance, it will weigh, the opposing motives, consult- ing God in prayer. It will place itself in imagina- tion on its death-bed at the feet of the Sovereign Judge, or else in presence of an unknown person, seen for the first time, who exposes his doubts, asks a solution of them, and appeals for a free and disinlcrested advice. Light is thus obtained, the choice is determined, all the repugnances of nature arc immolated on the altar of sacvifice. Jesus Christ lias conquered, and the faithful disciple a conqueror with him, sings and celebrates his vic- tory by consecrating to the Lord his strength, his labors, and his whole life, either in the apostolate of the world or in the sacred army of the Church. Grod ! I bless thee and give thee thanks; it was thus thou didst order my life and for ever assure my happiness." * Tills is language U^at will be understood by who- ever has Sfono over the same road and arrived at the sam3 destination, but which was unintelligible to Mr. Clerc, Sr., not only on account of his paternal affection, which shrank from that great sacrifice, but also, it must be acknowledged, in consequence of the prejudices with which his mind was ob- scured. What passed between him and his son when the latter announced that he wanted to be a Jesuit and that he was going forthwith to knock at the door of the Novitiate of Saint-Acheul ? We can easily w **'0n the Ejristonce nnrl Institute of the Jesuits," chap, ill.— "The Election, or Choice of a State of Life." 322 Alexis Clerc. !"!"" ' ) guess. Alexis was doubtless respectful, but he was firm ; he bad appreciated tbe necessity and pro- priety of obtaining bis fatber's consent if be could ; not succeeding, be remembered tbat Jesus Cbrist said: ^' lie that lovcth father or mother more than me is not tvorthy of me "; and be started for Saint- Acbeui. He, however, left behind him tbe hope that he would return ; for, having spent only eight days at tbe most in Paris, be had bad time neither to re- ceive the i:cccptance of bis resignation nor to ar- range his little affairs like a mo,n who is soon to die to the world and to whom things here below will henceforth be as nothing. But when be had once reached the threshold of the novitiate and learned with certainty tbat he would be admitted, reflecting on tbe assaults that awaited him in Paris and on tbe too evident impossibility of winning any consent from his father, be thought be ought not again to leave the port he had entered, in order that it might be well understood tbat his resolution was definitive and irrevocable ; consequently be wrote to Mr. Clerc : "My Dear Father : I thank you for the kindness you showed me when I communicated to you a project which deeply afflicted you. Assuredly I wculd be glad to spare you pain, but I feel very sensibly that in explaining my motives I shall suc- ceed but imperfectly. I obey the conviction tbat I ought to take this step notwithstanding the sacri- fices it imposes upon me. The constancy with wbich I bave adhered to this project during four Saint' Achciil. Z^l years, and amid such varied circumstances, all suited to distract me from it as you hoped, indi- cates sufficiently that nothing remains but to exe- cute it. Men do not usually give so much mature reflection to even capital resolutions, and I should fail in a duty if, for the sake of preserving some advantages of comfort and vanity, I should refuse to respond to the voice of my reason enlightened by every available means. Therefore, dear father, believe that in this matter I am not acting under the illusion of any impulse, under the influence of any enthusiasm ; the few days I spent with you must, I think, have convinced you of this. Why, then, anticipate useless regrets, or, to speak more exactly, why fear them ? In reality, have they not been anticipated and averted by so much re- flection, by the advice of experienced persons, and by so long a temporizing. *'I know that your displeasure springs only from your disinterested affection, which dreads for me an evil that I seem to be runniug into blindly; while, on the contrary, the evil is in remaining where I find myself out of place, and where my conscience can no longer bo at peace. This is a little interior mystery which you can easily pene- trate ; the truth is, I abandon an apparent good and a real evil, and I embrace a real good and an apparent evil. *' Nevertheless, although reason justifies my con- duet, it is not of itself sufficient to dictate it ; some- thing besides reason is required to impose even a light sacrifice, and it is to that noble part of our :n1 324 Alexis Clerc, ••;« "• m ' 14 7\^ \ ^''\ % ». '♦ "3 t m mm- ll If soul wliicli then commands our will that I desire to address myself, to tlic end that the love of what is best, most perfect, may help you to bear what I do with a generous intention. f'l inform you, then, my dear papa, that they consent to receive me in the novitiate ; it remains for mo to follow faithfully the way wherein God calls me, and for you, my dear father, to take part in my eutrar.ce in the religious life by accepting it as far as possible for the love of God. *'I believe it is wisest for me not to return to Paris, so as to avoid tlie untimely visits I would have to make to persons who are ignorant of my resolution, and also the monotonous representa- tions which strangers would not fail to make me. I feel myself already passably awkward, and I should not know at all what air to assume ; more- over, after euch a drawing back the leap would bo only more difficult. The very small number of business matters that I have left behind can be ar- ranged by correspondence. Besides, I shall never have been so near you ; when you choose you can come to see me in three hours. **May Almighty God give us strength to ac- complish what he asks of us ! *^ Farewell, dear papa. I embrace you most ten- derly, and I pray God to render this blow less hard by giving you the conviction that we are obeying his holy will. . A. Clerc. ** Saint-Acheul, August 19." This letter, at onc3 so tender and so respectful, filled up (he measure of that poor father's grief Saint- Ac JicitL 325 jctful, grief and despair, for ifcmado him feel that the struggle he was going to engage in wiili liis son could only prove for both of them an inexhaustible source of bitterness. But passion doc:5 not reason, and, cost what it might, he was Grmly resolved to op- pose Alexis' vocation, even at the price of the hap- piness they had always found in the union, hither- to so easy and natural, of their hearts. Directly after Alexis' departure for Saint-Acheul he had composed a note in which ho taxed his ingenuity to find reasons to divert his son from his project. Before it was for Alexis' own good that ho ought to remain in the navy, now it was for the sake of his father ; and becoming an egotist at will, he imagined a distant future when Clcrc, having re- tired from the service, would receive his father at his iireside in his humble bachelor's estabMshment, a desire which he expressed with a good deal of re- serve, acknowledging that, to tell the trulh, it would be diilicult lor him to bo better off tlian lie was with his son Jules and his daughter-in-law. But soon he has recourse to other arms which he did not think of at first, and he adds in a i^osl- scripUim ; '* I beg you to yet reflect that you can- not send in your resignation at this time. It would be cowardice to desert your post at the mo- ment when there may be danger for you to incur." Clerc could feci quite easy about this last point ; his resolution, thank God, dated far enough back for the Crimean war to have nothing to do with it. If his offer to serve in the Baltic had been accept- ed, he would have waited till the close of the cam- 326 Alexis Clerc. ■ • > ■ 1 U "i5» ^ ..■^*' ivi'iii;; paigu to send in liis resignation, and that not through fear of dishonor, which couhl not attacii to liim, but from an exalted idea of military duty. "We liavcah'catiy seen in Cliina, as we shall sec later at La Roquette, whether he was a man to bargain about his life and to retreat before bullets and balls. Mr. Clerc concluded with an adjuration and a threat : " I adjure you by all the authority a father can have over his son to defer your intention, at least until the close of the war. " If you do not listen to my prayer, write me no more ; all intercourse between you and me will be at an end." This certainly was a terrible assault ; but Clerc had foreseen all, was prepared for all ; for tlic love of him who on the cross endured an incom- prensible abandonment by his Heavenly Father he from that moment resigned himself to be, if such were God's will, denied and rejected by his father according to the flesh. Father de Ravignan was then at Saint- Acheul ; he frequently came there in the autumn to seek the solitude that was always dear to him, and in labor and prayer to renew his strength as in the days when, still obscure, he there consecrated the first fruits of his talents and zeal to the teaching of theology. Mr. Clerc, who knew very well that the counsels of the eminent religious had already prolonged by four years his son's stay in the world, wrote to him in strict confidence, expecting thus to obtain that Alexis, relinquishing Irs ideas of Saint-AcJicid, 227 seek id in 1 tho the bing that ready orld, lusto IS of vocation, would return to Paris. He doubtless flattered himself that he had found an infallible means of conquering his son's obstinacy. Vain hope ! Here is what Father dc Kavignan replied : " Saint-Aciieul, August 24, 1854. *' Sir : I understand perfectly the allliction of a father's heart, and I sympathize with you. But you must, likewise, understand that in a question as serious as this of your son'f^, I, wc all, can only leave him to himself, lie is free to-day, he will be free during the whole time of his novitiate (two years), if he remains ; he will contract no engage- ments by the vows of religion until after the two years have elapsed. He will thus have leisure to examine his vocation and to decide with tho full knowledge of what he is doing. At his age, with his experience of the world, he is in less danger of illusion than many others. Conscience, the con- viction of the soul in the presence of God, are what is most sacred and most to be respected ; and all authorities, as well as all sentmients, 1 dare to say it, should bow before a conscientious determi- nation of which God alone is the judge. "I hope, sir, that you will kindly accept my excuses for not being able to do what you desire. I offer with my most sincere good wishes the as- surance of my high esteem. "X. DE Eavigxax." Mr. Clerc did not yield ; he had sworn to be irre- concilable, and he wa?. It was for him a point of honor and a sort of cngugement of conscience ; his political and religious liberalism, his lofty patriot- 3^8 A /ex is Clerc, 4 In 1 '^- ism, bis paternal ambition, iind even bis affection wbicb bo believed outraged, al! conspired to strcngtben bini in tbat determined and aggressive opposition wliicl) from tlic commencement left no room to bopc for peace or truce. Bcbold wbat combats and bcartrendings, so keenly felt by a delicate soul, met Clerc on bis en- trance to tbe religious life ! At tbc first step bo felt bimself assailed in bis dearest affections, and, a Yoluntary victim, tberc was notbing for bim to do but to bend beneatb tbe cross wliicli be was lo carry all bis life. Tie wits as yet only in bis first probation. Tbus is called a period of from ten to twelve days de- voted to a reciprocal confidence, tbe postulant making bimself known, wbilc at tbc same time be- coming acquainted witli tbe constitutions of tbo Society; as is evident, a necessary confidence to avoid on botb sides all misunderstandings, all sur- prise in so important a matter. Fatber Alexander jMallet, master of novices, and in that c.qoacity cbarged with examining Clerc's dispositions, bis greater or less fitness for the life and employments of tbe Society, was a truly interior man, austere and gentle, of frail constitution and sickly appear- ance, not without warmth of benrt when there was question of the good of souls and tbc interests of God's glory, but very sligbtly accessible to cntbu- siasm, and particularly attentive to keep himself on his guard as well as to caution others against even generous illusions. It is plain that if this character suited Clerc ib was especially by its con- Saint- Aclicul. 329 trasts with his own, by the advantap^e it was to him to find ill his spiritual ^nido qualities with which he perhai:)s was not liimsclf jirovided in the same degree. Before admitting him to the novitiate, Father Millet, who, strictly speaking, might have relied on Father LanguiJlat, and simply and solely confii'mcd the election Clerc had made a Zi-kawci, cither to put the eagerness of his desires to the proof or to obtain more light on a subject about which there can never be too mucli, directed him to make a new election in regular form during his probation. "We may be allowed to mention by the way that this shows plainly enough whether we catch sub- jects on the wing to enroll them in spite of them- selves, or by main force, under our banner, and whether the compdh inirarc with which we are so mncli reproached, is truly our motto. Clerc wa^" certainly not a subject to be disdained ; let us say more, he was by reason of his antecedents a particularly precious recruit for a religious order that was at that very time opening mili- tary and naval preparatory schools. Nothing of all that, however, caused the superiors to think that they might lightly treat the great affair of vocation. Clerc made a new election. As may be readily supposed, it was not notably different from the first, at least in its foundation ; but under the stroke of trial and contradiction the resolution to forsake all in order to belong to Jesus C'nrlst is emphasized with a redoubled energy that has its i 330 Alexis CUrc. •»«i *•. El!? [rvji liliP value antl iis eloquence. AVe will quote some of the most remarkable passages : To tlie first question he puts himself : *' Shall T follow the counsels or only the precepts ? " lie makes the following replies : " It would be a shameful relapse to keoj) on!/ to the precepts after having already tried for a long time to follow the counsels. " It is a very cowardly relapse to yield without fighting solely through fear of the battle. **It is an unpardonable contempt of God's grace, which has for some time enabled me to walk without much difHculty in the way of his counsels. "How great an assurance of salvation is the way of the counsels ! For me to choose any other is like choosing perdition. " Do I owe less after the grace of so extraordi- nary a conversion ? "Finally, I wish to follow the counsels because I love God and desire to serve him to my utmost. "I feel strength to do it, with the grace of our Lord. " I desire with all my heart, with all my mind, and with all my strength, to serve now and all the days of my life the Lord my God, my most merci- ful, most amiable, and most sweet Saviour, by en- deavoring, with the help of his holy grace, to imi- tate him by showing the most entire docility to his counsels and inspirations. Amen. " This way of the counsels is the way of our Lord Saint- Ac Juul. U I lie a ifter tbo bout 3locVs 10 to a bis is tbo otbcr aortli- ecanse nost. of our miiul, all tbo merci- by on- to iiui" to bis y ar Jesus : Qui vult post me venire, ahncget seine/ ij)- ston ct tollat cntcein sncnn."* To tbo second question : " Ongbt I to cmbraco tho religious life, or remain in tbo world ? " bo re- plies : "Tbo renunciation of my position is a little sa- crifice ; I desire to offer ii: to Almigbty God. "Tbo virtues are pr.ictised in tbo religious life ; in tbo world tbey are at tbo most only meditated. " Experience proves to mo tbat for tbree years I bavo been daily going backwards. " Tbere are mucb greater dangers on sboro. "Hereafter tbero will also bo greater ones on sbipboard, wbere I sball bo engaged in more impor- tant and bonorable employments." In fact, Clerc, on bis return from Cliina, liad been proposed for a command and for tbo Legion of Honor. Tbo rigbt moment for making a Utile sacrifice to God was precisely tben ; later tbe sa- crifice would doubtless bavo been sometbing more, but to defer for tbat motive would bavo been to tempt God and to presume too mucb on bis own strengtb. Otber reasons for embracing tbo religious life : ''Holy obedience, wbicli I bavo poorly practised on sbipboard, I desire tbat boncefortb you sbould be my supremo ruler, and I bopo to practise you better wben I sball be under obligation to do so continually, because tben you will be to me a strict law and not a work of supererogation. * If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross (Matt. xvi. 2i). 332 Alexis Clcrc. I m'k vt \\\' ii I I ■ m i; ■'Kill i!li ill^ " The good example I may give — the only plau- sible reason they urge for my remaining in the world — is greater by my abandoning all things for the sake of serving God better." Third question : " What order shall I enter ? " Ecply : ^'The Soeiety of Jesus. *'I believe it the best suited to procure my spiri- tual profit. *^ It always employs each of its subjects to the greatest possible advantage, so as to give him the satisfaction of doing more for the glory of God than he could outside the Society. ** It rightly calls itself the Society of Jesus, be- cause its members live in the presence and in the society of Jesus, on whom they daily meditate. " It is justly called the Comimny of Jesus, be- cause Jesus is the captain who leads it to combat, and because with him it suffers persecution and contempt. "Finally, I love the Society. '^Accordingly, I desire to enter the Society of Jesus. *' I would advise a man in my position, a stranger to me in all besides, to abandon everything and to enter the novitiate with the firm intention of after- wards making his vows. *' I desire to be able on the day of my death and on the Day of Judgment, to congratulate myself upon having this day forsaken the world for the Society of Jesus. "A. Clerc. *' Saint-Aciieul, Feast of St. Augustine, 185-1," "The thought of laboring for the glory of God Sai)it-AclieiiL lU and myself or the jERC. 1854." of God by procuring the salvation of my neighbor h:is scarcely ever crossed my mind without moving my heart and inspiring mc with zeal. I have most usually banished this thought as being not yet sea- sonable, while at the same time finding pleasure in believing that it would be some day." Uow was it possible to resist such manifest signs of vocation and such iierscveriug desires ? There- fore the superiors resisted no longer, and that very day, the Feast of St. Augustine, the doors of the novitiate opened to Alexis. llis youth had re- sembled that of the Bishop of Ilipjio; he promised himself to imitate that great penitent in the sin- cerity of his conversion and the ardor of his chari- ty. Dating from that 2Sth of August, he is no longer of the worlJ, and he finds his chief delight in seeking to be forgotten. Ilis discharge reached him towards the middle of September (it is dated the 15th) ; he begged his brother to settle his lit- tle business mattcis. The small sum of money that was still due him (doubtless the last payment of his officer's salary) he several times offered to his father ; Mr. Clerc, faithful to his threat of absolute estrangement, refused it. Alexis then offered it to the Society to indemnify it for tlic expenses it would incur on his account during his novitiate and studies. Here, then, begins a new life which has nothing striking about it, nothing exterior, a life huhloiin God icith JcHus ChrUt, so hidden that worldlings look upon it as a death, and it horrilies ti;cm like tiie tomb. Ko mori' voyages, no more distant cxpe- , ! ;;'f-: 334 Alexis Clerc. lit I IT I i% ditions ; the uniform, which in France always enjoys such a prestige, rejjlaced by a poor cassock — that is to say, by a vesture which the Avorld has little honor for and does not always tolerate ; finally, occupa- tions which recall to tlie religious the humility of Nazareth, but which for that saaie reason refuse to furnish matter for a detailed narrative ; wherefore, the Evangelists themselves employed only a few lines to relate the infancy and the first thirty years of the Saviour Jesus. Still, we are able to penetrate into Clerc's in- terior, thanks to some private notes he preserved of his novitiate, and which contain his true history and the faithful portrait of his soul during that period. In addition to these, we have the recol- lections of the i)ersons who were then his compa- nions, recollections that arc necessarily very vague, since the humble novice took all the pains he could to efface himself, as it were, and succeeded admirably. The first trial he had to go through — the first experiment, to use the language of the institute — was to make the ^' Spiritual Exercises " of St. Igna- tius during a space of thirty days ; to shut himself up, so to speak, after the example of the founder of the Society, in the grotto of Manresa, and there to consider his last end, his duties towards his Creator and his God, the enormity of sin and all the evils that follow it, the malice of the sinner, his own errors, the faults personal to him (Alexis) during the whole course of his life, and, as though this conversion was the first, to wash all his past Saint- Acheul. 335 in the tears of a sincere contrition and in the wa- ters of penance. But, after these meditations of tlie purgative life, which take up the first week, all the rest of the time is devoted to the contem- plation and imitation of Jesus Christ. The dis- ciple of St, Ignatius considers our amiable Saviour as his king and captain ; lie responds to his call, ranges himself under his standard, and places his happiness and his pride in following him as closely as possible. Xow, there are souls more or less va- liant even among those who thus attach themselves to the Lord Jesus; they embrace his cross with more or less fervor, they are more or less courage- ous in throwing off the livery of the world to clothe themselves with that of a crucified God. It is in this that Clerc signalizes himself from the very first and shows himself bravo among the brave. The greatest self-abnegation, continual mortifica- tion — such are the practical means proposed to those who are ambitious to rise to the holy folly of the cross. Abnegation, mortification, and espe- cially continual aJjncgatioUy these words are harsh, and they terrify nature ; we can reconcile ourselves to the words and the thing only by a generous abandonment, an unreserved fidelity to the grace that urges us not to remain but half way. Let us see if Clerc was truly faithful, or if he capitulated with the enemy. There is still another election for him to make — tlie choice of the degree of perfection which he desires to attain with the help of God's grace. ,.i.j 33<5 Alexis Clerc. Hy. if t;* III' " I protest before the divine Miijc !ity oi; God, be- fore the Blessed Virgin and all the Heavenly Court, that I neither liave nor desire to have in this elec- tion any intention other than that of choosing ■what will be most pleasing to God, and most use- ful to my perfection in the state to which grace has called mc. *• Feeling, and having several times felt, a most filial confidence in the goodness of God, who will aid. me to accomplish what he counsels me, a most lively charity urging me to bo generous towards God and to labor for my perfection with strength and ardor, and my soul finding in this disposition tranquillity and peace in God our Lord ; while the opposite disposition plunges my soul into darkness, troub^le, low and gross attractions, disquietude of emotions and temptations ; while it casts mistrust upon my vocation, my perseverance therein and the graces God will grant me to persevere ; while it renders my soul idle, tepid and melancholy, and as though separated from Jesus Christ our Lord ; — I desire literally, according to Rule 12, io scch i)i ilic Lord tJie greatest ahierjation of mijsclf, and, as far as I shall he able (that is, as far as possi- ble) continual mortification in all tJunc/s. "I understand by abnegation a perfect obedi- ence, an entire sacrifice of my own opinions in my intercourse with my brethren, the desire not to dis- tinguish myself in anything, a perfect obedience to and a perfect observance of Rule 13 : In exerccn- diSj etc. . . Si quideni injunctwnfucrit tU in ms sc Saint- Ac JiciiL 337 il, l-;c- ;>ourt, s clcc- ooslng st usc- icc lias a most ho Avill a most ,0 wards treiigili posiLion hile tbc xikuess, •tudo of nistrust leiu and wliilc ly, and Lord ; io seek Ify and, s possi- |fc obetli- is in my It todis- [icncc to excrccn- ill exs so cxerccat ; * which T bhall beg the father master to be good enough to assign mc. " I understand by continual mortification in all things tlic unintcrruptoJ suffering of the body-in some part and in all manners : therefore, to wear the chain constantly, to fast yviLhont intermission and to do violcnco to my taste, to sleep on the floor and all dressed or on a plank in my bed, to take the discipline every day at least during an Ave, and more if I feel the devotion up to as many as three with- out asking special permission. This is what I de- sire to do and without retrenching anything of it, with God's grace and the father master's permis- sion, in spite of the revolts of the flesh and the ar- tifices of the devil. ^•'Moreover, knowing by experience that my con- science reproaclics me for all relaxations of mortifi- ciition, to do less would bo to turn a deaf car to grace ; grace will accomplish what certainly I alone would not dare to undertake, nor even to propose lo myself. " Having then 2")rayed to our Lord Jesus Christ with all my heart, I consider: " 1. All that the masters of the spiritual life say ni general about mortification. " 2. That it is especially recommended in the be- ginning of the religious life. " 3. That I, more than any one else, have need of it to wash av^ay my past sins. ••'This Rule 13 regards Iho oxcrciso of lowly and humi- liiitin?^ employ rnonls, and is tlio uuo wborein St. I,';Datiua counsels bis children lo seek with mo^it eagerness those that arc most ropu;jaant to nature. i ! '4!, 338 Alexis CI ere. ^^ S "4. That it is a duty of gratitude for benefits as ^rcat as they are unmerited. ^' 5. That it is the best way of imitating our Lord. " G. That it is, according to Rule 12, the best means of attaining to that love of contempt and tliat horror of the world wliicli is the spirit of the Society. *^7. That if a single thing be granted to sen- suality, my soul will instantly take advantage of it ; that, consequently, my mortification must be con- tinual and in all things. " Besides, there is nothing inconvenient in this regime. 1. Because I am sufliciently robust. 2. Because it contains nothing in itself that can in- jure the healtJi. 3. Because, having neither charge nor employment in the novitiate, I can endure some discomfort without inconvenience. ** 8. That this mortification will help me very much to attain abnegation which is more difiicuU. " 9. That is enables one to attain almost at onco to the practice of Rule 29. " 10. That the declaration of Jesus to religious is formal: * Qui viiU 2^ost mo venire, ahncget seme- iipsiim et tolled cruceni suain.'"-''' Behold the crucified life which Clerc joyfully embraces for the love of Jesus Christ ! Willi a matchless sincerity towards God and towards him- self, he declares wiir to the death against self-love, and at the first blow cuts himself off from the * "If any man will como after mc, let him deny himself niicl talio up his croso."— (Luke ix. 2o). Sairit-AcliciiL 339 its as g our J, tbo itempt :itof to sen- fc of it ; 1)0 con- t ill tins aist. /«• t can in- !!• charge endure luc Tcry laimcuu-. It at 011C3 -get seme- joyfully 'ay i ill ft lards liim- solf-loYC, from tlie himself and slightest satisfactions, so as to leave nature no lioi)c. This is not all : in order to make more sure of himself in this difficult enterprise, and to in some sort constrain himself to the execution of these heroic resolutions, he will engage himself hy a vow; but, joining prudence to generosity, he will make only a temporary vow which ho will renew every month, the whole, bo it well understood, with the approbation of his superior and spiritual director, the master of novices. "Thou knowcst, my God," he writes in his jour- nal, " that I have the intention of engaging my- self by a vow made on the first Friday of each month, to follov/ during that month the rule of mortificution that shall be definitely approved by the father master. I offer these mortifications to thee, to thy S.icrcl Heart encircled with thorns and pierced with a lance, to the Immaculate Heart transfixed with a sword of sorrow of Mary, thy holy Mother. I pray thee, if thou dost accept this offering, to make me feel a lively compassion for thy passion, a deep hatred of my sins, and a great love for thy infinite goodness." His prayer is heard, and in proportion as he mo- ilitatcs on the passion of the S.iviour Jesus he feels growing with his love his desire of resembling that Saviour in all things — in his agony and abandon- ment, in his mock endurance of the rage let loose against him, in hh abasement and opprobriums. " Jcsiis hcfore Ilcrod. — Resolved to ask of Jesus neither a miracle, nor a singular grace, nor rare consolatiyn.s, nor a new state of soul. These are ' H 34-0 Ah'xis Clcrc. l^ only desires spiiii^in^ from cariosity, sensuality, and pride. I ask, Jesus ! to combat these three concupiscences, and to receive thy graces and fa- vors in order to love and serve thee better. *' Eesolved not to speak to satisfy my own curi- osity nor a vain curiosity in others; to clothe my- self with the white robe of Ilerod, to bo the play- thing^ of his whole band. *'0 my God ! wc cannoh strike down our pride except by humiliations ; therefore send them to thy proud servant. Order that in spite of all his pains he may make a ridiculous Exemphcin, and that he may be covered witli confusion. And let it be the same for the ToniJ' Give me only tlio grace to profit by thy fatherly lessons. Jesns ! let me always look upon tlicc clothed with that white robe, thine eyes cast down, and thy lips pre- serving an unbroken silenco." Here is how he converses the following day with Jesus condemned to death : ^•'How far wilt thou follow me and imitate me ? How many strokes of the scourge art thou willing to receive for my sake ? Wilt thou also be bound and despoiled of thy garments ? Wilt thou go so far as to shed a few drops of blood ? How many ? Wilt thou clothe thyself with the purple manlle ? Dost thou desire also to feel some thorns of my crown ? — I desire, Jesus ! to go as far as thoii Vv^ilt call me. I have no wish to turn aside a single * The Toni, as well as the Exemplum Mariinum (preaching on some example relating to the devotion to Marj"), are ora- torical exercises customary in the noviliates. Saint-Achcul. 341 laliiy, three ad fa- L cuvi- .10 my- pVay- Li' pritlo hem to all liis [?n., and And let only tlio ) Jesus 1 itb ilii^t lips pvc- day witli ate mc ? ^vining be bonnd lou go so w many ? man lie ? ns of my as tliou ,e a single stroke nor. to avoid a single thorn thou dost destine for me. I desire to sufier and to be hnmbled for thee as much as is thy will. Thou dost give strength to do what thou dost ask, therefore I beg thee to ask a great deal of mo. Oh ! to snffer for thee, my Jesus, to be covered with opprobrium for tliy sake, but to love thee ! Behold my happiness. To love thee, to love thee ! Give mc to love thee, and then do with me what tliou wilt. * ximorcm ini solum cum gratia tua inllti clones, d (Jives sum satis, nee aliiid quidquam iiUra2)Osco.'^' * After he has so generously taken part in the mysteries of the passion and death of the Saviour of men, Jesus crowns his desires, and with an in- finite sweetness permits him to sliarc all the joyi3 cf his glorious resurreclion. " Lovest thou me ? " These words which Jesus, come forth from the tomb, addresses to St. Peter, he also hears them, he replies to them ; and, Jesus again speaking to him, there is another loving dia- logue between the faithful disciple and the well beloved of his heart. " ' Lovcst thou me ' ?— Lord ! I owe thee my life, my preservation, the light of my reason, my faith, my baptism, my pardon after ten thousand mortal offences, my vocation, and still more, thy love which completely embraces mc. Oh ! yes. Lord, I love thee ; I call thee to witness that I love thee. Thou knowest that I love thee, thou a (prcacbmS vy), aro ora- *"Give me only thy love and thy grace, and I am rich t^nnugb and ask fornothing more." — Tvords of (he ^•Suscipe,^' a prayer of St. Ignatius. 342 A lexis Clcrc. « Tvho knowcst all things. And as reparation for so many crimes, dost thou exact only this testimony of my love ? Alas ! my God, why is it that I cannot love thee more ? But if it bo true that to love is to wish to love, my Lord ! then, truly, I love thee, for I wish to love thee with all my soul, with all my strength, and with all my heart. I do not want to have a thought, an intention, a power, an affection in my being that is not thino and for thee. Is it possible that thou art so good as to be so anxious for the love of such a miserable crea- ture, and that thou hast done so much to gain his love ? What advantage dost thou draw from it ?— > Only thy love. — This is the last, the highest mark of thy love, Lord, that thou dost desire nothing else but my love ! But it is not all yet : as the price of my love thou dost give me to feed thy lambs, and thou art pleased to clothe me with the priesthood — that is to say, I am to bo raised even to that sublime dignity of performing acts which are all divine, such as consecrating and absolving. And if I bve thee, thou wilt come into mo, and by me and with me continue thy mediation, thy redemp- tion, and thy omnipotent and glorious holocaust. — Silence. — Consume my heart with thy love. — What ii question ! Lovest tlioio me ? " Such were Clerc's sentiments at the close of his long retreat made at Saint-Aclieul under the di- rection of Father Mallet in December, 1854. His whole novitiate was the putting in practice of the resolution he took at the commencement, and we know from good authority that if later in the col- Saint- Acheul. 343 for ?o lony o[ cannot love is I love 1, witli do not ;ver, an ,nd for s to be lo crca- ;ain his m it ?— ' 3t mark nothing as the eed thy ntli the icd even hich are [ig. And dby me edemp- caust. — .—What e of his the di- 54. His e of the and wc I the col- leges where ho had to spend his strength in all varieties of employment, he was not permitted that frequent use of exterior mortification, he never ceased to treat his body with extreme se- verity. Tlie house of Saint-Achenl, before the first re- volution an abbey of Gcnovcvans (Piogular Canons of St. Genevieve attached to the adjoining old ca- thedral), and from 1814 to 1828 a celebrated and flourishing college, was after many vicissitudes be- come one of the most important establishments be- longing to the Society in France, and it then counted, as it does now, three distinct communities united under the authority of one superior, and forming in reality only one great family composed of resident fathers, juvenists, and novices. The resident fathers were occupied with the duties of the sacred ministry, being confessors, preachers, and missionaries in the neighboring towns and rural districts; some, advanced in years or bur- dened with infirmities, limited themselves to preaching by example, and nobody, whatever they themselves might say and think about it, regarded those invalids of the apostolate as useless servants. The juvenists, or young scholastics recently come from the novitiate, were prepared by a year or two of rhetoric for teaching grammar and belles-lettres in the colleges ; they were older than the novices, if not always in years, at least by seniority in the religious life. Finally, the novices, to the number of fifty, of whom from thirty to forty were priests or scholastics and the rest coadjutor brothers, made 1 1 :' i:.'f 344 Alexis Clcrc. i«i ■■•■ it ' »» •' \% ■ t4 lli!^ I m iiuder a special direction the first apprenticeship to the duties of their vocation ; in that large fami- ly Ihey held the place of children ; hut they "svero not, as may he readily supposed, spoiled children, although they were the ohji'cts of the tendercst in- terest and the most paternal solicitude. The Latin language has a charming word, rcimerascerG^ to hc- como a child again ; the word is in Cicero, hut the thing is met only among Christians, and it is espe- cially in novitiates that it is seen to flourish and prosper. Happy childhood of the soul that with docility ahandons itself to all the inspirations of grace, to the good pleasure of God manifested to it hy the voice of superiors ! Amirible simplicity ! Innocence regained and ceaselessly rejuvenated in the blood of the Divine Lamb ! Aud with that the joy, the inmost satisfaction of heart, whicli is the jdedge and foretaste of the happiness of heaven ! Oh ! how well one then understands the words of tlic Divine Master presenting little children to his disciples: "The kingdom of heaven is for such as these" (Mitt. xix. 14). Clerc found in the novitiate all he had sought for so long, and he there practised freely, from morning to night, the religious virtues for which ho hungered and thirsted — poverty, chastity, obe- dience, mortification of the senses, recollection in God, forgetf ulncss and annihilation of self in order to be closely united to God. When he wished to humble and abase himself, opportunities were not wanting, and he seized them with the eagerness of a mi.?er who has discovered a treasure. Although I Saint-AcJicul. 345 I '' souglit meditation tand spiritiuil reading fill the largest place in tno novice's daily regulation, there is also onco or twice a day a considerable time reserved for manual labors — sweeping the dormitories and corridors, scrubbing the house from top to bottom, aiding the coadjutor brothers in the domestic offices, the refectory, the infirmary, the kitchen, etc. Behold, certainly, in a numerous community a rich field for the exercise of hwlij and liumiliating cniploijmcnls, and when one well knows how to cultivate it, as did our humble and fervent novice, he finds a now haryest to reap every day. One of his fellow-novices writes us the follow- ing: "I remember the novitiate was greatly edified at seeing that naval officer as simple and fervent as any one else, if not more so. One day in particular he gave mo a sort of admiring sur- prise when lie hurried to our admonitor * and re- quested as a favor to bo named for a work of the most ungrateful and humble description. If I remember right, a i-)ouring rain had inundated a d:irk and foul hole ; it; was necessary to wade in the dirty water, soak it up, etc. The lieutenant considered the unpleasant job as belonging quite naturally to him, and he solicited the appointment with a thorough juvenile ardor which but partial- ly concealed an intense desire of humiliation." One of his room-mates (for each nov' " does not have a room to himself) discovered one night the secret of ono of his sufferinjrs which did not enter *Tho brother charged with distributing the employments to the other novices. n \i, ! -<, fii 34^ Alexis Clcrc. »• ■ into tlio programme of mortificaiioiis ho had written out (luring his retreat. IIavin