The explanation is very simple. The decree did not issue from the French Government at all, but from the town council of a single city--Paris. Even in Paris it had no application to the graves, but referred exclusively to the crosses on the gateways of the Parisian cemeteries. These crosses, which were very few in number, the municipal council decided to remove, because they appeared to indicate that Christians alone (or, perhaps, even Roman Catholics alone) had a right to interment in the public burial-grounds, whereas these were in fact open to Jews and unbelievers as well as to Catholics and Protestants. Now, I would ask the reader to observe in how few words the false impressions are conveyed and how many have been needed for a reply. And how can one count upon the sustained attention necessary for the reception of the truth? [Sidenote: English Newspapers and French Religious Orders.] [Sidenote: The Expulsion of the Princes.] [Sidenote: English Perversion of the Truth.] [Sidenote: The Illustrated Journals.] [Sidenote: Extract from the _Saturday Review_.] The English newspapers quite succeeded in conveying the impression that the religious congregations were expelled from France, as if they had been sent into exile. Since then there has been a second case of turning-out, and when it occurred I observed with great interest what the English press would make of it and what the English public could be induced to believe. Until the Duke of Aumale wrote an intentionally offensive letter to the President of the Republic, in a form which no Head of a State would have tolerated, only two members of the House of Orleans had been expelled--the Count of Paris and the Duke of Orleans. The English newspapers, in order to augment the appearance of tyranny on the part of the French Government, had the ingenuity to pervert this into an expulsion of the entire Orleans family, ladies, children, and all. The ladies and children were introduced to win the sympathy of the reader, and arouse his indignation against the republican persecutors. The daily papers announced the expulsion of the Orleans family in capital letters, but the best appeal to sympathy was made by the illustrated journals, which impartially engraved portraits of them all as interesting and illustrious exiles. Nor was this fiction temporary. The false legend which the English people seriously believe has already entered into history. See how neatly and briefly it is inserted in the following extract from the _Saturday Review_ for 9th July 1887: “About the time of the expulsion of himself _and his family_ from France, the Count of Paris advised his friends to abandon the practice of indiscriminate opposition.” Meanwhile, as a matter of fact, members of the house supposed to be languishing in exile were enjoying full liberty in France, travelling, staying, and receiving any guests they pleased. [Sidenote: English Story about a French Catechism.]