emperor's bust, the two delegates of the emperor, his two responsible
and judicial managers, the two superintended overseers of the
conscription, confer together on the ecclesiastical staff of the
department. In this as in other matters, they are and feel themselves
kept in check from on high, curbed and forced, willingly or not, to
come to some agreement. Compulsory collaborators by institution, each
an auxiliary of the other in the maintenance of public order, they
read over article by article the list of appointments of their common
subordinates; should any name have bad notes, should any succursalist
be marked as noisy, undesirable, or suspect, should there be any
unfavorable report by the mayor, gendarmerie or upper police, the
prefect, about to sign, lays down his pen, quotes his instructions and
demands of the bishop against the delinquent some repressive measure,
either destitution, suspension or displacement, removal to an inferior
parish, or, at least, a comminatory reprimand, while the bishop, whom
the prefect may denounce to the minister, does not refuse to the
prefect this act of complacency.

Some months after the publication of the Concordat,[97] Mademoiselle
Chameron, an opera-dancer, dies, and her friends bear her remains to
the church of Saint-Roch for internment. They are refused admittance,
and the curé, very rigid, "in a fit of ill-humor," orders the doors of
the church to be shut; a crowd gathers around, shouts and launches
threats at the curé; an actor makes a speech to appease the tumult,
and finally the coffin is borne off to the church of Les Filles-Saint-
Thomas, where the assistant priest, "familiar with the moral of the
gospel," performs the funeral service. Incidents of this kind disturb
the tranquility of the streets and denote a relaxation of
administrative discipline. Consequently the government, doctor in
theology and canon law, intervenes and calls the ecclesiastical