The French political writer Charles Forbes, Comte de Montalembert (1810-1870), was a Roman Catholic layman who wrote and spoke widely in favor of democratic government and vigorously opposed the union of church and state.

Charles de Montalembert was born in London on April 15, 1810, while his father, who had left France after the Revolution, was serving in the English army. His father returned to France in 1814, when the monarchy was restored, and was raised to the peerage, but Charles stayed behind in the care of his Protestant English grandfather. From this independent and outspoken gentleman Charles absorbed a religious spirit and a zest for learning that he retained for the rest of his life.

Charles was a liberal and could not support the government of Louis Philippe on religious grounds. As a student in France in the 1820s, he began to see more clearly that the Church should be...