ART. 1. Religious and moral instruction is to be given in the chapel twice a week--on Sundays and Thursdays, at 7 in the evening.
All the able-bodied inmates are to be present, in silence and attention, under the inspection of their respective superintendents. On Sundays, and the holidays established by the Concordat, all the inmates and the officers of the depôt shall hear mass at half-past 8 in the morning, and vespers at half-past 1 in the afternoon.
2. At periods determined by ecclesiastical authority, the children who are to be confirmed are to be instructed for two months.
7. When any of these regulations are broken, the inspectors and other officers are to report to the Governor, and he is to pronounce sentence on the inmates.
Mr. Perrier’s report from Brest, and Mr. Newman’s from Nantes, give a very interesting account of the state of Britany. We will begin by Mr. Perrier’s, as the more general view. (pp. 728, 729.)
Finisterre 524,396 Côtes-du-Nord 598,872 Morbihan 433,522 Ille-et-Vilaine 547,052 Loire Inférieure 470,093 ------- 2,573,935
It is extremely difficult to obtain any statistical information in Britany, all inquiries being received with distrust, not only by the authorities, but also by the inhabitants. This has been the principal cause of my delay in replying to the series of questions. The answers, imperfect as they may appear, are the result of patient and persevering inquiry.
The state of society in Britany, and its institutions, differ so widely from those of any other civilized country, that few of the questions are applicable. In order, therefore, to convey the information which they are intended to elicit, it is necessary to enter into a description of the population, which I shall endeavour to do as briefly as possible.
The population of Britany may be classed under the following heads:
Old noblesse, possessing a portion of the land.
Proprietors, retired merchants, and others, who have vested their money in landed property.
Peasants, owners of the ground they till.
The abolition of the right of primogeniture causes a daily diminution of the two first classes. As property, at the demise of the owner, must be divided equally amongst his children, who can seldom agree about the territorial division, it is put up for sale, purchased by speculators, and resold in small lots to suit the peasantry. Farmers having amassed sufficient to pay a part, generally one-half, of the purchase-money of a lot, buy it, giving a mortgage at five or six per cent. for the remainder. Thus petty proprietors increase, and large proprietors and farmers decrease.