CHAPTER XII

IN THE NORD--(_continued_)

Lille--The _Flamand flamingant_--Pertinacity of the Flemish tongue--A historic city without monuments--Old customs and traditions--The Musée Wicar--The unique wax bust--A 'pious foundation' of art, and M. Carolus Duran--Excellent educational institutions of Le Nord--A land flowing with beer--Increase of the factory populations--Decrease of drunkenness in the cities--Increase in the rural districts--Special cabarets for women--Should women smoke?--Flemish cock-fighting and the example of England--A model Republican prefect--Juvenile prostitution--The souls of the people and their votes--Danton's system of uneducated judges--Dislike of good people to politics--A pessimist rebuked--The Monarchist majorities in Lille--Inaccurate representation of the people in the Chamber--Hazebrouck and its Dutch gardens--The Republic hated for its extravagance--Relative strength of Republican and Monarchical majorities--Elections conducted under secret instructions--Cutting down majorities--The case of M. Leroy-Beaulieu in the Hérault--Keeping out dangerous economists--Ballot 'stuffing' in France and the United States--The methods of Robespierre readopted--Systematic 'invalidation' of elections--The people must not choose the wrong men--Boulanger and Joffrin--'Tactical necessities' in politics--The delusion of universal suffrage--An Austrian view of the elective and hereditary principles--Energy of the Catholics in North-eastern France--Father Damien--Public charity--Hereditary mendicants in French Flanders--Dogs and _douaniers_--The division of communes--Foundling hospitals and the struggle for life--Mutual Aid Societies--Is woman a 'Clubbable' animal?--M. Welche and the agricultural syndicates--'Les Prévoyants de l'Avenir,' a phenomenal success--It begins in 1882 with 757 members and 6,237 francs; in 1889 it numbers 59,932 members, with a capital of 1,541,868 francs--The Franco-German war and the religious sentiment--The great Catholic University--Private contributions of 11,000,000 francs--The scientific and medical schools--M. Ferry and the free universities--Catholic education in France and the United States--The case of Girard College--The dangers of the French system--The monopoly of the University of France--Liberal outlay of the Catholics of Paris--A mediæval Catholic merchant--'The work of God' in a business partnership--Mutual assistance in the Lille factories--Model houses at Roubaix--A true _Mont-de-Piété_--The Masurel fund of 1607--Loans without interest--A prosperous charity plundered by the Republic--A benevolent fund of 455,454 francs in 1789 reduced to 10,408 francs in 1803--The fund restored under the Monarchy and Second Empire--The 'King William's Fund' of the Netherlanders in London--Count de Bylandt and Sir Polydore de Keyser 332-368