The conduct of the revolutionists towards the Church of France was
actuated partly by the urgent needs of the national exchequer, partly
by hatred and fear of so powerful a religious corporation. Idealists
of the new school of thought, and practical men who dreaded
bankruptcy, accordingly joined in the assault on its property and
privileges: its tithes were confiscated, the religious houses and
their property were likewise absorbed, and its lands were declared to
be the lands of the nation. A budget of public worship was, it is
true, designed to support the bishops and priests; but this solemn
obligation was soon renounced by the fiercer revolutionists. Yet
robbery was not their worst offence. In July, 1790, they passed a law
called the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, which aimed at subjecting
the Church to the State. It compelled bishops and priests to seek
election by the adult males of their several Departments and parishes,
and forced them to take a stringent oath of obedience to the new order
of things. All the bishops but four refused to take an oath which set
at naught the authority of the Pope: more than 50,000 priests likewise
refused, and were ejected from their livings: the recusants were
termed _orthodox_ or _non-juring_ priests, and by the law of August,
1792, they were exiled from France, while their more pliable or
time-serving brethren who accepted the new decree were known as
_constitutionals_. About 12,000 of the constitutionals married, while
some of them applauded the extreme Jacobinical measures of the Terror.
One of them shocked the faithful by celebrating the mysteries, having
a _bonnet rouge_ on his head, holding a pike in his hand, while his
wife was installed near the altar.[152] Outrages like these were rare:
but they served to discredit the constitutional Church and to throw up
in sharper relief the courage with which the orthodox clergy met exile
and death for conscience' sake. Moreover, the time-serving of the