Louis André (28 March 1838,

Nuits-Saint-Georges Nuits-Saint-Georges () is a commune in the arrondissement of Beaune of the Côte-d'Or department in eastern France. It lies in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region. Wine Nuits-Saint-Georges is the main town of the Côte de Nuits wine-produci ...

Côte-d'Or Côte-d'Or (; literally, "Golden Slope") is a département in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of Northeastern France. In 2019, it had a population of 534,124.France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Minister of War A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...

from 1900 until 1904. Loyal to the

secularist Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on secular, naturalistic considerations. Secularism is most commonly defined as the separation of religion from civil affairs and the state, and may be broadened to a sim ...

Third Republic, he was

anti-Catholic Anti-Catholicism is hostility towards Catholics or opposition to the Catholic Church, its Hierarchy of the Catholic Church, clergy, and/or its adherents. At various points after the Reformation, some majority Protestantism, Protestant states, ...

, militantly

anticlerical Anti-clericalism is opposition to religious authority, typically in social or political matters. Historical anti-clericalism has mainly been opposed to the influence of Roman Catholicism. Anti-clericalism is related to secularism, which seeks to ...

, a

Freemason Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

and was implicated in the

Affaire Des Fiches The Affair of the Cards (french: Affaire des Fiches), sometimes called the Affair of the Casseroles,The appellation is certified by Paul Naudon1. In the slang of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, “casserole” meant someone who cooked to ...

, a scandal in which he received reports from

Masonic Freemasonry or Masonry refers to Fraternity, fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of Stonemasonry, stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their inte ...

groups on which army officers were practicing Catholics for the purpose of denying their promotions.

Affair des Fiches

According to

Piers Paul Read Piers Paul Read FRSL (born 7 March 1941) is a British novelist, historian and biographer. He was first noted in 1974 for a book of reportage, '' Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors'', later adapted as a feature film and a documentary. Read ...

, "The information, as it came in, was entered on cards or ''fiches''. These would be marked either ''Corinth'' or ''Carthage'' -- the Corinthians being the sheep who should be promoted and the Carthaginians, the goats who should be held back. An officer reported to be 'perfect in all respects; excellent opinions,' would be marked as a Corinthian: another who, 'though a good officer, well reported on, takes no part in politics,' would nonetheless be designated a Carthaginian because he, 'went to Mass with his family,' and sent his six children to Catholic schools. A bachelor officer who went to Mass was by definition of a

reactionary In political science, a reactionary or a reactionist is a person who holds political views that favor a return to the ''status quo ante'', the previous political state of society, which that person believes possessed positive characteristics abse ...

disposition. Officers loyal to the republican ideals were encouraged to report the opinions voiced by their colleagues in the mess." In 1904, Jean Bidegain, the assistant Secretary of

Grand Orient de France The Grand Orient de France (GODF) is the oldest and largest of several Freemasonry, Freemasonic organizations based in France and is the oldest in Continental Europe (as it was formed out of an older Grand Lodge of France in 1773, and briefly ab ...

, secretly sold a selection of the ''Fiches'' to

Gabriel Syveton Gabriel Syveton (21 February 1864 – 8 December 1904) was a French historian and politician. He was one of the founding members of the patriotic and anti-Dreyfus Ligue de la patrie française. He was elected as deputy for the Seine in 1902. He wa ...

of the Ligue de la Patrie Francaise for 40,000 francs. The resulting scandal led directly to the resignation of French Prime Minister

Emile Combes Emil or Emile may refer to: Literature *''Emile, or On Education'' (1762), a treatise on education by Jean-Jacques Rousseau *Émile (novel), ''Émile'' (novel) (1827), an autobiographical novel based on Émile de Girardin's early life *''Emil an ...

.Read (2012), pages 339-340.

Notes

References

* 1838 births 1913 deaths People from Côte-d'Or Catholicism and Freemasonry Politics of France Secularism in France French Freemasons French Ministers of War {{France-politician-stub

Affair des Fiches

See also

Notes

References