Mr. Lutton, of the Witness, Montreal, writing in the Times
of Thursday, gives some curious facts as to the condition of Quebec, which prove how wise it is of Mr. T. W. Russell to insist that the Province offers an object-lesson in Home-rule which cannot be neglected. According to Mr. Lutton, every- thing is done in Quebec to make it impossible for Englishmen and Protestants to thrive there. Though the English mer- chants pay three-fourths of the taxes in Montreal, their in- fluence "could not secure the appointment of a messenger in the Courts or the City Hall." As in Ireland, the ecclesias- tical authorities do not hesitate to mix up politics and religion, and to call down spiritual terrors on those who oppose them. For example, M. Mercier declared, as regards the Bill for giving back the escheated estates of the Jesuits :— " Remember that every member who refuses to support this measure, is under ecclesiastical penalties." Again, and only some three weeks ago, "Abbe Pelletier, in the Cathedral of Notre Dame, said, with reference to a case in which a layman seeks to recover damages from Bishop Fabre for placing his newspaper under the ban, and thus destroying his means of livelihood, that all who took part in that case, all who pre- sented it to the Court, and all the Judges who might have the temerity to listen to the arguments or pronounce judgment were, by these acts, placed under the ban of the Church." Can we hope that the followers of Bishop Nulty, when they have the power, will prove more liberal than the Canadian clericals P
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