[Footnote 3182: Ibid., cartons 3144 and 3145, No. 1004, missions of the councillors of state, year IX.--(Report of Barbé-Marbois on Brittany.) "At Vannes, I entered the cathedral on the jour des Rois, where the constitutional mass was being celebrated; there were only one priest and two or three poor people there. A little farther on I found a large crowd barring the way in the street; these people could not enter a chapel which was already full and where the mass called for by the Catholics was being celebrated.--Elsewhere, the churches in the town were likewise deserted, and the people went to hear mass by a priest just arrived from England."--(Report by Français de Nantes on Vaucluse and Provence.) One tenth of the population follows the constitutional priests; the rest follow the returned emigré priests; the latter have on their side the rich and influential portion of society."--(Report of Lacuée on Paris and the seven surrounding departments.) "The situation of the unsubmissive priests is more advantageous than that of the submissive priests.... The latter are neglected and abandoned; it is not fashionable to join them... (The former) are venerated by their adherents as martyrs; they excite tender interest, especially from the women."] [Footnote 3183: Archives nationales, cartons 3144 and 3145, No.1004, missions of the councillors of state, year IX.--(Report by Lacuée.) "The wants of the people in this way seem at this moment to be confined... to a vain spectacle, to ceremonies: going to mass, the sermon and vespers, which is all very well; but confession, the communion, fasting, doing without meat, is not common anywhere.... In the country, where there are no priests, the village schoolmaster officiates, and people are content; they would prefer bells without priests rather than priests without bells."--This regret for bells is very frequent and survives even in the cantons which are lukewarm.--(Creuse, Pluviôse 10, year IV.) "They persist in replanting the crosses which the priests have dug up; they put back the ropes to the bells which the magistrate has taken away."] [Footnote 3184: Archives nationales, cartons 3144 and 3145, No. 1004, missions of the councilors of state, year IX.--(Report by Fourcroy.) "The keeping of Sunday and the attendance on the churches, which is seen everywhere, shows that the mass of Frenchmen desire a return to ancient usages, and that the time has gone by for resisting this national tendency... The mass of mankind require a religion, a system of worship and a priesthood. It is an error of certain modern philosophers, into which I have myself been led, to believe in the possibility of any instruction sufficiently widespread to destroy religious prejudices; they are a source of consolation for the vast number of the unfortunate.... Priests, altars and worship must accordingly be left to the mass of the people."]