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REV. A._J. RYAN, Editor-
AUGUSTA, GA., MAY 2, 1868.
ANSWER TO CORRESPONDENTS,
Pt. P. G.—Religious inquirer—will be
in Savannah next weak, at Bishop Yerot’s,
and will be pleased to give all informa
tion.
Major I. P. Girardey has a raffle-list
sent here from Charleston, which, for the
benefit of the Sisters of Mercy in that
ruined city, be desires to fill with the
names of the generous and charitable of
Augusta. Three beautiful portraits of
Bishops England, Reynolds, and Lynch,
are to be raffled, at $1.50 a chance, lie
hopes that the citizens of Angola will
be as generous as they always are, and
by taking chances, assist the poor orphans
of Charleston.
THANKS.
We cannot longer refrain from tender
ing sincerest thanks to the many friends
who are voluntarily working for the success
of the “ Banner of the South.” Every
dav brings us lists of subscribers from
all portions of the country, and every
mail brings us letters of approval. Our
subscription list already astonishes us,
and stimulates us to greater efforts to
make our journal an honor to our religion
and our country. We also thank the
Southern Press for their flattering notices
With such encouragements the “Banner
of tup: South.” is destined to be success
ful far beyond our most sanguine expec
tations. Without fear or falter shall we
continue to speak ever and forever in de
fence of our grand “ Lost Cause.” No
power on earth shall hush our lips from
saying what our heart wants to say ; and
our noble people will approve and ap
plaud us.
OUR MEMORIAL DAY.
We are exceedingly sorry that the 26th
of April had the misfortune to be, this
year, on Sunday. We trust that it may
never fall on Sunday again; for, if it does,
we cannot give so holy a day to those who
holily fell in a holy cause. Sunday is too
good for them—a common week-day is
good enough. True, those poor buried
soldiers never questioned the propriety of
battling for us—aye, and dying for us—on
Sunday; but many persons, more righteous
than they, would not dare to strew a few
flowers on their graves on the holy Sab
bath. Many of them shed blood for us
on Sundays, and their simple theology
was to do their duty on any day; nor
did we think then that they profaned the
Sabbath when they kept it amid the
shock of battle; but note some are grow
ing wiser and better, and do regard it as
an unpardonable crime to bring a few
flowers to deck their graves on the Sab
bath. In most other places throughout
the South, the people did not think that
they ought to take from the Dead their
own day—the 26th of April; and in
many places (remembering, perhaps, that
our ' Saviour, duriug bis life, had a few
discussions in regard to the Sabbath with
the Pharisees, and that in each case, He
took the lenient side and they the rigid
view,) our people were so wicked as to
imagine that it was especially appropriate
to decorate the graves of our Dead on
Sunday; but here, in Augusta, some im
agined it very impious to pay to the Dead
the pious duty of decorating their resting
places on the Day of Rest; and so, though
those de: <1 soldiers devoted many a Sun
day to us, in the march and in the battle,
we could not devote to their memory the
few hours of last Sunday evening.
Love of country, and of those who died
for it, said: “ Give them their own day
—they deserve it; no day can be so holy
that a few hours of it cannot be kept in
their remembrance.” A Theology nar
rower than Christ’s, said : “No; we ob
ject; true, it might be light for them to
die for us on Sunday, hut it is wrong for
us to visit their graves on that day.”
And shallow Theology gained a point
over deep love of country —and we gave
to our Dead last Monday evening. We
are sure that the majority of our people
would have preferred Sunday; and we
are equally certain that, had it been left
to the choice of the ladies alone, the
larger number of them would have had
the celebration on the 26th.
We hope, however, that the 26th of
April may never again come on a Sunday.
POOR POLAND!
At last the Russian has done his work.
With the sweep of a pen and the signa
ture of a tyrant, Poland is blotted out
from among the nations. There is wail
ing in grand, old YTarsaw —and the hearts
of the conquered are bowed in the dust;
there is revelry in St. Petersburg, and
the oppressors say : “we have buried
the proud, defiant nation—let us guard
her tomb that she may never rise again.”
And. in Europe not a voice has been
lifted to plead for her pity and to protest,
save the voice of Pius the 9th. He, who
alone sent words of sympathy to the
chief of the conquered South, again alone
enters protest against the oppression of
the Russian. Long may he live, the
friend of the oppressed, with heart so fear
less to denounce triumphant wrong—
and with heart so free of tenderness to
pity and to bless the down-trodden of this
world!
No nation of Europe was generous
enough to unsheath Hie sword in Poland’s
cause,; no nation mourns above her tomb.
She goes down to her grave abandoned
by the world, unwept, unmourned; and
though she points to the wounds she has
worn so long, and tells the nations,
“ these wounds I received when I stood
before the Crescent of the Turk and saved
the Cross in many a bloody battle ; still,
Europe looks coldly on and has not even
a tear to shed upon her bier. Grand,
indeed, were the first days of her history
—but sad and gloomy are the last. She
has struggled long and hard for life.
Time and again has she striven to break
her fetters. They would not cowardly
yield—that race of proud men and noble
women. Forgotten in their misfortune
by the nations ; despised and calumniated
by the courtezans of success ; resolved
not to forget—not to despair —never to
surrender—incomparable types of suffer
ing and sacrifice—invincible martyrs and
confessors not only of faith, but of right*
of country, and of liberty, they have done
all—braved all—braved all—endured all
—and, if die they must, as a people, they
have in death the proud consciousness
that Poland’s name is clear of stain !
Has the Government of the United States
lost all recollection of Kosciusko and Pu
laski ? If not, why is there no voice
raised in Poland’s behalf ? Admiral
Farragut, the representative of the navy
of the “best Government the world ever
saw,” went to St. Petersburg and was
feted in the palace of the Czar, American
Democracy kissed the hand of Russian
despotism. Admiral Farragut did not
go to poor Poland even to see her in her
death-agony. Side by side waved the
flags of the Uuited States and Russia. It
was fitting. They both represent the same
iniquity. But the white flag of Poland,
like our own, was furled.
Poor Poland ! the Russian guards thy
grave, and thinks thee dead ; but right is
right—and God is just—and tyrants some
times sleep at the tombs of conquered
nations, and suddenly the dead awaken
and arise to life and vengeance.
RETRIBUTION.
Is it disloyal to believe in Retribution ?
Is it treasonable to profess that belief?
Is it contrary to Military Orders to lift
up the heads bowed down by defeat and
to look our victors in the face, and to tell
them to their teeth * “ The rights we lost
shall reign when the steel of your muskets
is rusted ?” Is it criminal to insinuate
©1 SIS S©lfMo ■
that present defeats may become future
triumphs, and that the shouts of the vic
tors of to-day may become the wails of the
vanquished in some near or far off to
morrow ? Is it very wrong to ask old
History to come up and to thunder in the
ears of the “ powers that be”: “Take care
—I know it —I have met it in the Past
—I h ive seen its terrible, pitiless arm
lifted a thousand times over against op
pression ; I have seen it tearing the crown
from the brow of enthroned Wrong; I
have heard its wild chant of revenge at
the grave of Tyranny ; I have watched it
—watched it while it waited for weary
centuries to strike the blow that hurled
proud victors down to dnst; I have
marked it haunting ruins which the spoiler
had made ; I have seen it hovering nigh
graves where holy dust was laid, and
counting every tear upon them shed ;
I have marked how, with a terrible pa
tience, it would follow an oppressor for a
thousand years, then smite him to death
—wrap him in the red winding shroud
of vengeance, dig his grave, write his
epitaph, and pass sternly on ; I know its
face and footstep; I keep the record of
its wrath—men call it Retribution /”
When we speak of Retribution, those
who fear it because they have reason to
fear it, may try to silence us, but old
History will not hush. Pity it is that
History cannot take the oath of loyalty !
Pity it is that military orders cannot be
issued against the use of the thousands
of testimonies which the hand of History
casts in the very face of those who rob
nations of their rights ! Yes, thou! oh,
History! art our witness—we accept thy
tostimony, for it is true —and this is thy
testimony 1 ; the voice of victorious ini
quity never yet through all the centuries
sounded the merciless “ Vce Victis ”
that was not followed, sooner or later, by
auother voice that chanted the retributive
“ Sic Semper Tyrannis /”
WHAT WILL BECOME OF THE NEGRO •
If through his ignorance and credulity
he become the servile dupe of the fanatics
of the North or the base place-seekers of
the South, he is ruined and lost.
If he is taught that it is his religious
duty, as well as his political interest, to
hate the Southern people, he is ruined
and lost.
If his ferocious instincts, which are
strong, and which lie very near the sur
face of an apparently gentle and docile
nature, arc aroused by white men who
who are not his equals, he is ruined and
lost.
If his passions are lashed into fury by
false teachings of demagogues—and if
these passions incite him to outrage and
insult, he is ruined and lost.
If he is reduced to absolute political
slavery by those who desire only to use
him as a tool in the making of their own
political fortunes—and if, to servo their
temporary interests, he is utterly regard
less of the real, permanent interests of
the country and of the majority of the
people among whom his lot is cast, he is
ruined aud lost.
If he continues to be a willing actor
in such scenes as have characterized all
the late, infamous elections—and if, re
lying on the bayonets, which point hjs
way to the polls, and which are used more
to insult and over-awe the whites than to
protect him, he oversteps that line when
patience ends and violence begins—he is
ruined and lost.
If he becomes and remains the bribed
enemy of every Southern household, and
provokes the terrible enmity of Southern
men, he is ruined and lost.
If, not satisfied with the full possession
and unrestrained exercise of all the rights
which (whether for good or evil, the fu
ture only can tell), he has received, ho
insanely strives to rob the Southern peo
ple of the few rights which their mag
nanimous conquerors have not taken
away, lie is ruined and lost.
For, if he pursues any such course as
these, then will and must come a war of
races—and if it comes, his race dies If
the lines are drawn and remain so —on
the one side nearly all the white people
of the South, on the other those who have
been born colored and those few who,
though white, ought to have been born
extra-colored ; and if these two political
forces stand solid against one another in
every contest, it requires no pipphet’s eye
to see blood in the future. May a merci
ful Providence save us from such horrors!
It is too terrible a picture to contemplate.
But there is no use in disguising the fact.
By keeping consequences before our
eyes, we may save ourselves from ever
meeting them.
If, on the other hand, the negro popula
tion will listen to reason, and not to pas
sion ; if they will learn to trust us, who
are obliged to feel an interest in their
welfare, if for no other reason, for this at
least, that our welfare is more or less in
volved in theirs ; if they will enter into
relations of harmony with us and go
back to their old love for those who were
once their masters and now would be
i
their friends ; if they would learn to feel
that living in the same country their in
terests and ours are identical, and being
such, should not be divided; if, under
standing that we and they must live, here
together, they would strive to aid us as
we would aid them, and thus bring back
something like the old peace and pros
perity to the South, then, indeed, would
their race reap the real fruits of freedom,
and make progress according to their ca
pacity. The Southern man, though once
their master, is not their enemy. He re
members with gratitude that they were
to be relied on during our war—that they,
as a people, were true and faithful; that
though our enemies hoped they might
rise in revolt, and spread havoc through
the unprotected portions of the South,
they deceived such infamous hopes. He
remembers bow it was expected by the
men of the North that the slave would
wage merciless war on the defenceless
women and children whom they were left
to protect; and how, when they were too
faithful to do so, the soldiers of Sherman
and Sheridan showed how fitted they were
for work which slaves would not do; and
remembering all this, the Southern man
looks with kindliest feelings on his former
slaves ; and when by bad men they are
incited to hatred against him he pities
them far more than he blames.
But not only are political demagogues
ruining the negro population—religious
fanaticism is rioting in their emotional
natures. They, as all other men, need
strong religious restraints. They must
have clear ideas of duty. Virtue to them
must mean not mere feeling, but obliga
tion. They must be taught to under
stand moral responsibility; and only re
ligion can so teach and train them.
We intend, with God’s blessing, in a
very short time, to do our share towards
their proper religious instruction, and
though we may not succeed, we shall at
least win the merit of making a trial of
a work that is sadly needed.
* •©• -
It seems that some nameless creature,
in noticing our journal, wrote thus of our
selves : “ To the ‘ Lost Cause’ as true as
steel, but alas! a Roman Catholic, and his
journal an exponent of that offensive
creed.” Really, how he pities us ! how
very pathetically he uses that word “a/as/”
How sad it must be to his great heart,
that we are a Roman Catholic ! How
his soul must be filled with anguish at
the bare thought—a Roman Catholic •
° _ t
llow it must shock his sensitive nature *
Really it is too bad! Ju.-t to please the
poor creature, and to keep its heart from
breaking, we ought not to be a Roman
Catholic. And since we are even worse
than a mere Catholic—since we are a
Priest —we do beg of him to pity us the
more—“the more’s the pity”—and as he
lias so very much pity to spare, we hope
he will give us even more of it, when he
knows that we feel very proud of being
wliat we are, and that we have the cruelty
to wish that he were also, “ a/as /” a Ro
man Catholic. “ And our journal is the
exponent of that offensive creed,’’ More
shocking still! Why did not the pitying
creature write again “alas!” Beaure
gard was a Catholic, “alas!” The Cath
olics of the South were “ true as steel to
the Lost Cause” —and are true as steel yet
but, “alas!” they belong to that “oifen'
sive creed.” General Joseph Johnston’
with his own lips, said to ourselves
that his best chaplains were Roman
Catholic Priests; but, “alas!” they be
long to that “ offensive creed.” Ihe Sis
ters of Charity and Mercy moved like
angels through hospital, camp, and battle,
field, giving tender care to the sick, the
wounded, and the dying but, “ alas!
they were members of that “ offensive
creed.” Jas. R. Randall and Geo. W.
Miles, of Maryland, wrote some of the
most inspired and inspiring songs of the
war—but “alas!” they are of “that
offensive creed.” While hundreds of the
ministers of various denominations in
Missouri took the infamous test oath—
not a single Catholic Priest in the State
would take it—thereby proving not only
their firmness in maintaining a principle
of religion, but their devotion to the
South—but, “alas!” they belong to
“that offensive creed ” The Arch-Bishop
of Baltimore collects money and dis
tributes it to the sufferers of the South,
Irrespective of creed—but, “alas!” he be
longs to “ that offensive creed.” The
Pope is the only crowned head of Europe
who sends words of sympathy to Jefferson
Davis—but, “ alas /” he is the very head
of “ that offensive creed.” The Catho
lics of the North, with but few excep
tions, belong to that party from which
f.me we can expect redress—but, l( alo.s!"
tnev belong to “ that offensive creed.”
Alas ! alas ! what a pity it is that such
a very sensitive creature should be com
pelled to live in this world with such an
“ offensive creed!” We do really hope
that no one will have the cruelty of bring
ing the “Banner of the South” into
his presence. It would be too offensive,
and might seriously affect his moral health;
and he might., in his great kindness, pity
us so very —very much—that he would
not have the least, little particle of pity
to bestow upon himself. Some unknown
friend, however, has taken our part—and
we do sincerely thank M. A. N. for the
following beautiful lines; and we are
certain that the poor, dear creature who
pitied us, “ alas!” so much, will also
pity the poet, who takes our part and
sings our praises:
“ BANNER OF THE SOUTH.”
UY M. A. >’.
“To the • Lost Cause’ as true as steel, but, alas ! a
Roman Catholic, and bis journal the exponent of that
offensive creed.”
A common cause demanded sons
To battle for the right;
How was it then ?
We knew no Roman, Jew, or Greek:
Were brothers in the fight;
All, all were men.
A common fate befell our land—
Long saddest of our fears—
And hope has tied.
Around one common mound of earth
Mingle our woe-born tears,
For all our dead.
So as the “ Deeds of heroes gone”
Engage thy poet pen—
The truly free—
Our ‘‘hoj)e3,” our “aims.” alas! our ‘‘wroek.”
And “what we might have been,”
Or yet “ may be”;
We’ll ask not what thy creed may teach
What path is thine for future joys,
To Better Lands?
But did you love that Banner well ?
And did you cheer the boys ?
Then join we hands.
Komt, Ga„ April, ISC3.
Another Step Towards Rome. —Since
the Irish Church excitement commenced
in England, London has been in a perfect
fever. Placards were blazed on all the
posting-bill boardings about the city, ap
pealing to the Protestant feeling of the
public. Many of those placards contain
ed language of a most inflammatory char
acter. One of those most extensively
posted read as follows :
“Another step towards Rome. The
Church in Ireland is assailed, which has
been established by law, and secured by
a treaty of law. Mr. Gladstone leads the
attack. The author of “Church and
State,” whom Protestant England once
trusted, now leads the attack. Will you
allow this ! Will you desert your fellow
Protestants in Ireland ? Arouse your
selves, Protestants in England! Cal
upon your representatives to do the i
duty by at once rejecting a proposal wliic
will be but the first step towards pulling
down your own church, and doing away
with the Protestant Constitution of Eng
land! The year of Peril, 1868.