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REV. A. J. RYAN, Editor-
AUGUSTaTgA.; JUNE 18, 1868.’
FACTS.
It is a fact, that the politicians of the
Country are principally men of very little
real education. It is a fact, that they are
generally men of still loss principle. It
is a fact, that they arc chiefly men of no
practical religion. It is a fact, that they
play with the tremendous trusts reposed
in their hands, as if they were mere trifles-
It is a fact, that they procure votes for
themselves by making appeals to the
passions of the populace, rather than by
fair, honest arguments addressed to the
people’s intelligence. It is a fact, that in
giving their own votes on gravest ques
tions, involving gravest interests, they
are influenced more by partizan preju
dice than by principles of duty. It is a
fact, that the people, whom they delude,
praise and applaud them. It is a fact,
that, while they too often forget the
people’s interests, they are very careful to
remember their own. It is a fact, that,
whether they neglect or fulfil their duties,
they never fail to draw every dollar of
their pay. It is a fact, that all of them
take solemn oaths to support the Consti
tution, and that many perjure themselves
the very next day by “ acting outside of
its provisions.” It is a fact, that this
perjury gives many of them claims to
greater honor and certainties of being re
elected, in order to have the happy op
portunity of perjuring themselves again.
It is a fact, that, with very many of them,
a case must be decided, not by and on its
own merits, but by “outside pressure. 5
It is a fact, that scenes and sayings which
would disgrace the lowest haunt of de
pravity, now often dignify their sessions.
It is a fact, that “bets’ 5 have been intro
duced as a direct power in our legislation.
It is a fact, that the three stars of the
General-in-Chief of the Army guide many
a man, and measure, and vote. It is a
fact, that the sword of that General-in-
Chief, like every other sword, is double
edged—it can defend and it can rend
any right. It is a fact, that all these facts,
and many more like them, arc plain and
palpable to all the people.
And, from all these facts, doubtless
flows the fact that “ this is the Gov
ernment the world ever saw.” So let us
repeat that consolatory phrase every day,
and rest satisfied.
THE TRAMP OF THE DESPOT,
Across the narrow stream which divides
the States of Georgia and South Carolina,
comes the deep thud of the Tyrant’s
tramp, as he moves on to new deeds of
despotism, and sets his foot more firmly
and more heavily upon the necks of a
gallant but weak and powerless, people,
Ah! how the blood boils in the veins
the teeth gnash together, and the hands
clinch, as the rod of the Despot waves
over a noble but enslaved State !
Intelligent, proud, hospitable, in peace;
brave, heroic, gallant, in war, the people
of South Carolina are now suffering under
a tyranny more galling and terrible than
those of her Southern sister States—gall
ing and terrible as they are. But a few
days ago, a number of dozens of Ham
burg were dragged from their homes, and
made to perforin the most menial and de
grading services, simply because they
would not let a political party have the
use of a church which was under their
control. They had a right to refuse the
use of the edifice for the orgies of the ene
mies of their country ; and, in exercising
this right, they violated no law, no mili
tary order. But the Gesler of South
Carolina, cannot brook the cold contempt
which the people there feel for him, and
are too proud, too candid, to even wish
to conceal; and so must needs vent his
wrath upon the innocent and unoffending.
And yet the bitter cup of woe is not
full. Carolina, thy humiliation is not
complete. The vultures who are batter
ing upon thy chained and lacerated limbs
are not satiated. You will not bow to
Gesler’s cap as you pass it in the streets,
and you make no genuflexions to shoulder
straps, or to “ flaunting lies,” as they
wave over your desolated land. And so
your humiliation is not complete. Those
who were once your slaves—those who,
now, as then, are your inferiors—must be
placed over you, and sit in your council
chambers to make laws for you, and com
plete your galling list of woes. Seven
Negroes in the Council Chamber of
Charleston 1 Seven Negroes by order of
Gesler 1 And yet you bend not the knee
or bow the head, stiff-necked people of
South Carolina. And yet, you point to
Gesler. with the finger of scorn, and sigh
for a Tell, a Gofer, to rid you of his
tyranny. 0! be firm ! be patient! The
day of deliverance is at hand, and the sun
of justice will soon, we hope, light you on
to freedom, peace,- and prosperity once
more. The people of the North, we are
told, are awaking “ to the sin and failure”
of Reconstruction, and are preparing to
hurl from power the minions of tyranny.
Be patient. The days of Nero, of Dyo
nisius, of Gesler, are numbered. Be pa
tient. The galling chains of tyranny
will, ere long, be stricken from your
limbs, and the fetters now prepared for
you be fastened upon your oppressors.
Be patient, he firm, preserve your man
hood and your dignity; the God of Jus
tice will right the .suffering South yet;
and, though we have no faith in man, yet
let us not lose faith in God—but, trusting
in Him, yielding no principle of right or
ustiee, ever maintaining a strict and pa
triotic integrity, we must and will pass
safely through this fiery ordeal, while the
bitter cup of woe prepared for us will be
forced upon those who have so prepared
it.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
What is the meaning of the frequent
attacks made of late in Northern papers
against the Catholic Church ? A few
days ago there was a howl from the New
York Tribune against us; then was a
bark from some paper in the State of
Maine ; then was a mutter of wrath from
Forney's papers; and then, as if the key
note of widely-spread feelings had been
struck, various other papers, almost
simultaneously, began to assail the old
Church. Is this to be the next watch
word ? Is this to be the rallying cry of
party ? Does it forbode persecution ?
Is the long threatened storm about to
break ? It once was said : “ First get
rid of slavery—then of Popery ?” Is the
saying to be realized ? Is this to be a
part of the logic of events ? We would
not wonder. The men who trampled
down the altars of liberty in the South,
are just the men to lay their sacriligeous
hands on the altars of religion. The
men who tore into shreds the Banner of
our freedom, arc the very men who would
try to wrest from us the Banner of the
Cross. Our Church is conservative —
the strongest conservative element in this
country. To old traditions she clings as
a mother to her children. No Church in
this country has more faithfully respected
and more deeply loved the Constitution.
Protected by it, she protects it in turn.
What she is on this continent she is in
Europe —the strongest conservative ele
ment. Revolutionists hate her there—
Their brethren iiate her here. They as
sail her there —they may try to attack
her here. Let them—she glories in the
honor of persecution. It is the priceless
gem in the crown she wears. She has
learned how to bend her head to the exe
cutioner’s axe. She has not learned
how, nor ever will, to bend her knee to
political iniquity.
If you wish to make her triumph, per
secute her. She mourns over every lost
cause that was just; but, her own
she knows, can never be lost, ior lie is
with her who overcame the world.
“SOUTHERN CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE.”
In last week’s issue of the “ Southern
Christian Advocate we came across
the poor ghost of an argument, shaking
its fleshless fist right furiously at St-
Peter because he stands too prominently
forward in the 16th chapter of St Mat
thew’s Gospel; and the same ghost mut
tered, in pretty respectable phraseology,
ever so many incoherent things against
the plain meanings of the chapter. Pity
St. Matthew was such a plain writer.
Pity he made such clear, simple state
ments, for he has made it a difficult and
troublesome task to explain away his
meaning. That 16th chapter of his has
gone through a long, strange history of
perversions of meaning, mis-translations.
sophistical explanations, and absurd com
mentaries. Some men try to make it
mean something, everything, or anything,
except what it plainly signifies. And
St. Peter, who figures so prominently in
the chapter, has suffered very much at
the hands of would-be-wise Bible scholars
—but we presume that lie looks leniently
on ignorance. It is somewhat strange,
that, while to the most superficial reader,
he occupies the forefront of the scene de
scribed in that chapter, some Imagine it
is not his place, and wish to thrust him
into the back-ground.
The writer in the “ Southern Chris
tian Advocate" brings forward eight argu
ments (?) against Peter’s being the rock
on which the Church is built. St. Mat
thew must have pretty plainly stated that
St. Peter is the Rock, if it takes so many
arguments to prove that St. Peter is not
the Rock. Why did not Matthew say
that St. Peter was not the Rock, once
for all and ever, and be done with it ?
He would have saved controversialists a
great deal of trouble. The writer in the
“ Southern Christian Advocate ’’ is gen
erous enough, however, to let St. Peter
be “ a little stone;’ 5 though, in making
that admission, he argues (?) as if our
Saviour spoke the words in the Greek
language. If He did, it is news to us. If
He did not speak in Greek, how base an
argument on a false supposition ? We do
not intend to argue the question, how
ever. The chapter reads in favor of St.
Peter and the Catholic interpretation. It
needs no argument to prove our meaning
—the bare reading is sufficient. It does
require a great many arguments to
disprove our interpretation. And, lor
the life of us, we cannot see how the
Scriptures arc so easily understood if it
takes so very many arguments to make
us understand them.
A NEW APPLICATION OF THE POWER
OF PRAYER.
In the impeachment farce all sorts of
appliances were employed in order to pro
cure the deposition of the President.
The country was ransacked for evidence ;
witnesses were summoned from all points
of the compass; much testimony was
manufactured to order; a great amount
of money was spent (Satan knows how
and why); letters poured in from all
parts of the country, demanding, right or
wrong, the President’s conviction; avast
deal of betting bad its own influence ; but
there was another power brought to bear
upon the case—unknown hitherto in trials
and tribunals —the power of prayer. A
certain member of the impeachment gang
began to vacillate in regard to the manner
in which he would vote. Another mem
ber, in great anxiety, telegraphs to a cer
tain so-called Bishop Simpson the sad
news of the probable defection of the
above member from the Radical side.
Straightway the so-called Bishop tele
graphs : “Pray with Brother Wiley”—
and Bishop Simpson’s friend did pray
with Brother Wiley, and lie was saved,
and cast his vote against the President.
So much for the power of prayer. And
thus we progress. First came political
preaching; then followed political pray
ing ; then came war sermons ; then fol
lowed war prayers ; then originated Re
construction preaching; then Reconstruc
tion prayers; then impeachment sermons;
then Anti-Andrew Johnson prayers.
And next, we expect Grant sermons and
Grant prayers. And it all plainly proves
that this is the “best Government the
world ever saw.”
ARE WE PARTIZAN ?
“Do not become too partizan 1” Such
was the admonition of a subscriber a
short time since. We disclaim all parti
zanship. Neither are we.politicians, nor
place-hunters. We seek only to promote
the interests of our Religion and the
welfare of our Country. The former has
penetrated the thick clouds of prejudice,
and her glory and her greatness shine
resplendent throughout this broad South
ern land ; the latter—our Country, our
South—is sorely oppressed ; the heavy
hand of the despot is on her, crushing out
her heart’s blood, drop by drop. It is
this most foul injustice, this national dis
grace, this fratricide, that makes us par
tizan, if part : zan we are. But we disclaim
it. If, however, it be considered partizan
to uphold the justice of the Southern
cause ; to cherish its defeats and its tri
umphs; to venerate its dead, and to love
its living, heroes ; to denounce the na
tional disgrace, the Radical Congress ; to
protest against and condemn Radical
reconstruction; to denounce military rule,
and its legitimate sequence, military
despotism ; to cry oat against the injustice
and the sin of military commissions, and
the arrest and imprisonment of our peo
ple, without any regard to the forms of
justice and law ; to abhor the elevation to
office of had and unprincipled men, out
casts and perjurers ; to protest against
the degradation of deposing intelligence,
respectability, and capacity, from the
places of honor and trust, in our Southern
land, to give place to ignoiance, vice and
low cunning; to proclaim and insist that
this is a white man's Government; and
that the South is entitled to her constitu
tional rights in the Union as co-equal
sovereign States ; if, therefore, in a word,
it be partizanship to condemn what is
radically wrong, and to approve and ad
vocate what we have been taught, and
what we believe, to be right, is to be
partizan, then we are content to be so;
and we want to be always partizans of
right as against might—of the oppressed
against the oppressor—of the bleeding,
manacled South against the despotism of
Radicalism and the tyranny which now
grinds us in the dust. So long as our
Father above gives us the strength and the
ability to defend our birthright, we shall
plead for it, and never strike a truce with
the merciless enemy who is now robbing
us of all that is dear to the heart of every
Southerner. This, and only this, is the
meaning of our partizanship.
THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.
The nominations of the Chicago Con
vention have elicited no enthusiasm from
the people. There have been no guns,
no bonfires, no meetings, no bells, no glo
rifications, in the North. Even the politi
cal and social equality advocates in the
South failed to get their suffragans to
give the Radical nominees a cheer. This
indifference augurs defeat for the choice
of that wicked party which has bank
rupted the whole country, and involved
us of the South in social, political, and
commercial ruin—capping the climax of
our woes with a grinding despotism,
which usurps our rights and liberties,
and leaves our lives at the mercy of petty
tyrants and military commissions. This
is the party of Grant and Colfax ; this is
the party which has reduced the country
to its present deplorable condition, and
this is the infamous party which the pec
ple will crush out of existence at the bal
lot-box at the Presidential election
The Democratic party —the party of jus
tice, order, law—the party of the Constitu
tion—the party of Washington, Adams,
Jackson—is the party that will elect the
next President, restore the Southern
States to the Union, preserve true re
publican government, and save the country
from the destruction which lias already
set in, and is now slowly but surely
gnawing out the vitals of the Constitution.
No other party can heal the ravages of
this black vomit of Radicalism, and restore
the patient to its former healthy condi
tion.
Chief Justice Chase can’t do it. He
has had too much practice in the school
of Abolitionism and Radicalism lie was
an Abolitionist per se ; and did as much
as any other Black Republican to hound
on the war against the South and bring
about the subsequent indignities heaped
upon us. He defiled the judicial ermine
in eanvassing the negro element at the
South for their votes, to influence his nom
ination ; Mr. Chase permitted the mill*
tarv satraps in our midst to sot the laws
aside and substitute their own whims and
opinions. These are a few of the reasons
why the Chief Justice will not do for the
Standard-bearer in the approaching can
vass. There are many others which can
be produced. Mr. Chase is not a Demo
crat. He is a Chase man—not a princi
ple man—and no such man will ever do
justice to the South. Had he received the
Radical nomination he would most as
suredly have accepted. This alone is
sufficient to condemn him.
Some papers North are speaking <f
Mr. Chase as the Democratic candidate of
the moneyed in to rest—the bondholders and
the National Banks. This is our reason
for ventilating Mr. Chase. If we ot tin*
South are to have any voice in this mat
ter, if our wishes are to be consulted, then
we don’t like Mr. Chase ; and while our
people are ever so anxious to shake off
this killing Radical yoke,-with Mr. Chase
as the next President, and negro manhood
suffrage, without qualifications, as a
plank in his platform, the change w mid
be a sorry one—simply a change of tad;
masters If our views are to be consult
ed—the views of the Southern people—
we want a straight out and out Demo
cratic ticket. We want a man selected
who has piinciple, and nerve, and ability
to meet the coming issues, and clean out.
when in office, the corruption which is
eating up our rights and liberties, and
stealing and squandering private and pub
lic property. If the Democratic party i
to whip this fight it must be on a square
Democratic platform. There must be n ■
half way measures—no compromise with
the fiends who have trampled on the Con
atitution and broken up the Unino, and now
spit upon the one and despise the other.
The people of the whole country desir ■
peace ; they want civil liberty preserved,
the Constitution respected, and the Union
re-established.
We, of the South, it may be said,
should leave these nominations to the
Northern Democracy, but lest the silent'
of the Press should be taken as a sort < ;
acquiesence on the part of the people t i
the nomination of Mr. Chase or any
other Radical as the Democratic Candida!,
wc but re-echo the voice of our people 1:,
rejecting Mr, Chase.
George 11. Pendleton, or anv other aLi• *
and consistent Northern man, will recen
the united vote of our people, should
the Radical Congressional Despotism
grant that privilege, which is a matter
of serious doubt, unless all the chances f •;
carrying their satrapies are in favor G
their candidates. IYe don’t want Mr
Chase. That’s all. 11 Is record is too
black.
MILITARY DESPOTISM,
\v e want our friends in the North and
West, and especially tlie Catholic pres ,
to understand that the Southern peoph
have no rights or liberties, save what ar
optional with the Military Dictato;
Here, in the Third Military District, th
subjects are most grievously oppressed.
General Meade has only to ring the lit?
bell on his left hand, and the writer, or
tiny other subject in his District, is ca.-t
into prison, and no explanation made or
charges preferred. In the city of Colum
bus, Georgia, some fifty arrests lav.
recently been made by order of Gcnei i
Meade. No charges preferred, and no ex
planations by the officers making the
arrest, except, perhaps, ,l it is in accordance
with orders from headquarters.'’ This -
the new dispensation —the Radical
pensation—which secures to every Ameri
can citizen hastiles and military commi
sions, and these are the institutions
which are now to he found in almost
every town and city from the Potomac to
the Rio Grande—securing to every m all