[Sidenote: What happened in 1880.] [Sidenote: Action of the Ferry Cabinet.] [Sidenote: Laymen under the same Law.] [Sidenote: Sir Robert Peel’s Opinion.] The expression, “after expelling the religious orders,” was intended to convey the idea that the religious orders _in general_ were expelled _from France_, that being the recognised English view of the Ferry decrees. In reality not a single monk was expelled from France, nor were the orders generally disturbed in any way. The religious orders were classed under two categories,--the authorised, which were recognised by the State, and the unauthorised, which existed only on sufferance. The laws, which required them to ask for “authorisation,” had not been passed under the republic but under the monarchy. What happened in 1880 was this. The authorised congregations were left entirely undisturbed. The unauthorised were not expelled from France, but invited to ask for an authorisation, which the Government was disposed to grant in every case except that of the Jesuits. They declined to ask, in obedience to commands from Rome, the object of which was to place the Government in the position of a persecutor, or compel it to retreat. Ferry would not retreat, and turned the unauthorised congregations out of their houses. This was represented as a persecution of religion; but, in truth, the monks _were treated exactly as French laymen_, for unauthorised associations of laymen were equally illegal, and lay associations were equally obliged to submit their statutes and ask for authorisation.[47] Sir Robert Peel said in 1843, “If a Church chooses to have the advantages of an establishment, and to hold those privileges which the law confers, that Church, whether it be the Church of Rome, or the Church of England, or the Presbyterian Church of Scotland, _must conform to the law_.” The French cabinet was therefore only acting upon a recognised English principle. [Sidenote: Removal of the Crosses from the Cemeteries.] [Sidenote: English Belief about it.] We may next examine the statement that the French Government ordered the crosses to be removed from the cemeteries. If the reader does not know the truth he is sure to receive the intended impression that this order, emanating from the Government, took effect throughout France. He will receive another impression, well calculated upon, that the crosses _upon the graves_ were removed. In fact, this is what the English believed about the matter. What an unholy outrage on Christianity and on the feelings of pious relatives! What a perfect subject for indignant denunciation of republican tyranny and violence! However, English travellers still find the crosses on the graves, and they see the stone-cutters near the cemeteries continually carving new ones under their wooden sheds. [Sidenote: The True History about the Crosses.]