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4 i||j> &EV. A. J. KYAN, Editor- AUGUSTA, GA., JUNE 27, 1868. APPROVAL. We acknowledge, with sincere thanks, the honor conferred upon us, and the compliment paid to The Banner of the South, in the following letter from Bight Bov. Bishop Verot. It was with his per mission and blessing we established the paper, and we feel honored in his selec tion of it as his official organ. All an nouncements from the Bishop will appear in the Editorial page, and we are happy to state that the Bight Bev. Bishop will, when his many duties allow him leisure, favor us with articles upon subjects which will interest our readers. We subjoin the better of the Bight Bev. Bishop : Macon, Ga., June 19, 1868. Bev. A. J. Ryan: Reverend a?id Dear Father :—The extcnsirc and favorable patronage given to your paper, through the Diocese, and, indeed, throughout the whole South, is a strong inducement for us to use its col umns as our official organ, for any com munication we might have to make to the Clergy or people of the Diocese; and, if it meets your views, we will henceforth employ it as such. It is almost unneces sary to say, that this character which your paper will have, of being the official or gan of the Bishop of Savannah, will have no bearing on, or will include no official sanction of any political views or recom mendations. For, although, personally and individually, we may approve them, still, as the head of the Diocese, we keep aloof from all political strife, and address our flock only on matters which relate to the one thing necessary. We take the present opportunity of an nouncing to the Pastors and the people of the Diocese, including Florida, that, according to the decree of the Plenary Council, held in Baltimore, 1866, a col lection is to be taken up for our Holy Fa ther the Pope, on the Sunday within the Octave of the Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul, which, this year, will be the first Sunday in July. In order to present to the Holy Father, now struggling with heroism for the liberties of the Catholic Church, an amount which will be “a bless ing not a covetousness,’’ 2 cor., ix., 5., which we would be ashamed to send, all Pastors will draw up a list of the mem bers of their respective congregations able to contribute, with the amounts an nexed to their names, which they are willing to offer to their beloved Father, i’.ius IX. Yours, in Christ Jesus, t AUGUSTIN, Bish. Sav. BIGOTRY ANdTnTOLERANCE. We hear, very frequently, of Catholic bigotry and intolerance, but we do not know exactly where, in our Church, to locate these amiable qualities. There miqht be some excuse for them in the Catholic Church, if they did exist in reality; because, assured, as her members are, that theirs is the Church of God, the Church of Christ, the Church of the Apostles—the one and only living true Church, with which her Divine Founder promised to abide till “the consummation of time”—they must necessarily look upon all other religious societies and all other religious doctrines as false in theory and false in practice. Viewing such societies and such doctrines in this light, it would be inconsistent in the Catholic Church to encourage them in the asscr tian of their claims to recognition as true Churches of Christ, or even as authorita tive branches of the true Church. We say, therefore, that if the Catholic Church were intolerant, she would have some reason * some foundation for it; but what reason have our dissenting brethren for being bigoted or intolerant? None at all. They have no reason or cause to condemn or despise a man simply because he is a Catholic; for they hold to the right of private judgment, to individual intepreta tion of the Scriptures, and the general dogma that “one Church is as good as another ’’ If, then, these principles lead people into the Catholic Church, why should our dissenting brethren complain ? They have, as we have just said, no right, nor reason, nor ground, to be bigoted and intolerant; but, unhappily, they too often are, and the poor Catholic who follows the precepts and practices of his holy Faith, is sneered at, laughed at, and despised. Inn’t this true ? We don’t say that all of them are thus bigoted and intolerant, but too many of them are so. They take it for granted, that all the misrepre sentations of Catholic principles and practices are true, and so they learn to look upon us as a set of ignorant, super stitious idol worshippers, bigoted, intoler ant persecutors. And yet nothing is farther from the truth. We are neither bigoted nor intolerant. Candid and im partial History will sustain us in this as sertion—the facts of the present time will sustain us in it. Catholic Princes and rulers may have been cruel and re lentless tyrants, just as Protestant Princes and rulers have been cruel and relent less t} T rants. But, for Heaven’s sake, don’t hold our Beligion responsible for the conduct of such tyrants, any more than you arc willing to admit that your religion was the cause of the other tyranny. Do us, at least, the Christian justice of examining our Faith, our prin ciples, and our practices, candidly and impartially, before you condemn us; do this, and we are satisfied that your con demnation will not fall upon us. We are led to these remarks by the following incident which occurred lately in the Papal City : On the 10th of May, while the Pope was walking alone through the galleries of the Vatican, he suddenly came on a young man, who was deeply absorbed in the study of one of Rafaelle’s paintings. He approached him, and said: “You are an Artist ?’’ “Yes, Holy Father,” replied the young man. “You are come to Borne to study ?’’ “Yes, Holy Father.” “Then you belong to the Academia ?” “No, I am too poor ; study by myself, and endeavor to imitate Bafaelle.” “Well, my young friend, go to the Academia; I shall think about the ex pense.” “But, Holy Father,’’said the young man, “you are not aware that—that—” “That, what ?” replied the Pope. “That I am a j Protestant.” “Oh,” said the Pope, smiling, “that makes no difference in the Academia.” From that day forward, the young man, George Johnson, probably an English man, entered the Academia, to pursue his studies, at the Rope's expense. There certainly was no bigotry or in tolerance there. We have seen, too, where the Holy Father gave a handsome token of his gratitude to the Jewish Physicians in Borne for their devotion to their sick co-religionists during the preva lence of the cholera in the Eternal City. There was certainly no bigotry or intoler ance in that. And we know, too, that Protestant chapels and Protestant wor ship exists in Borne, under the very shadow of the Vatican, where the Pope, if lie were bigoted and intolerant, would assuredly have the the power to exercise his bigotry and intolerance, and .suppress such chapels and such worship. And, finally, wc read, the other day, where a Priest of the Catholic Church, in an oration to a very large concourse ol people, denounced religious and political proscription, and most eloquently defend ed the liberty of the Press ! Yes, good reader of the Banner of the South, believe us, when we tell you that the Boman Catholic Church is not bigoted and intolerant. She is, perhaps, intolerant of other’s claims to be the true Church of God ; she is uncompromising in her Faith, unyielding in her doctrines, and sure of her position as the True Church. Yet, she aboundeth in charity, in love for all mankind, in forgiveness of her enemies; and so, while she condemns opposing doctrines as false and wrong, she sanctions no persecutions for opinion’s sake ; and her true followers, in acts of friendship, in works of charity, in social relations, will not ask you what your Faith is, or of what Church you are a devout follower, but in the true Christian spirit, look upon each of you only in the light of a Christian neighbor. Believe us, too, when we told you in our salutatory, and repeat the heartfelt words now, that— “ Though we are thorough Catholics, bigotry is not a part of our religion— prejudice is no element of our faith. We love the truth deeply and dearly which we have learned from the Church, and on which rest all our hopes for eternity, but we hate no man who differs from us. We do not believe in bitter words—they always bear bitter fruit. Honest convic tions, wherever and in whomsoever found, we feel bound to respect. political The Banner of the South, as we have heretofore said, is not partizan, except so far as the honor and interests of the Catholic Church, and the honor and inter ests of the South, are concerned. In re gard to these, we are, if you please, par tizan, but, we trust, not offensively so. For the honor, and the good, and the glory of the South, we shall never cease to contend. The principles upon which she went into the struggle of ’6l, are as living to-day as they were when the first gun was fired upon Sumter, on the ever memorable 12th of April, 1861 ; and though they may be suppressed now by the force of arms, and by lawless tyranny, yet the day will come when the Ameri can people must either resurrect them, and apply them to the whole country, or be oppressed and ruined, as the people of the South are now oppressed and ruined. While, therefore, we are not partizan, in the common acceptation of that word, we are for the South, for her interests, for her honor, for her glory, first, and above those of every other section of this Union. With this policy, while we shall not array ourselves on the side of one party or the other, we shall give whatever strength our feeble pen has, and whatever humble ability we possess, to the advocacy cf those measures which shall, in our judg ment, best advance the interests of the South; and to denounce those which, in our judgment, will continue her in her present unhappy condition. While, therefore, ours is not a political or a party paper, and while we do not desire to make it the vehicle of political discussion, yet we do not feel at liberty to refuse admission in our columns to communications which touch alone upon the political interests of our section. Hence, we give place, to-day, to a well written article from a legal gentleman of Selma, Ala., on the subject of Mr. Chase’s nomination as President of the United States, and ask for it an attentive perusal; also to another, on the political interests of the South generally, written by a gentleman of this city. IMMIGRATION. What the South greatly needs at the present time is capital and white labor. She wants Northern men, and European men, with capital, to come into her bor ders and develop the unbounded resources of her soil and climate; she wants Northern men and European men, with their families, to come into her borders, and make practical applications of the resources thus developed. She wants farmers, mechanics, house servants, and she wants these to be conservative people —people who will have the interests of the South at heart, and devote them selves to her welfare and prosperity; she wants them to be intelligent people, who will be able to judge for themselves in regard to our political affairs, and not be misled by the wicked and designing politicians who are seeking their own for tunes at the expense of Southern honor and prosperity. In a few |words, she wants liberal, enterprising, sagacious capitalists, honest, intelligent, hard-work ing laborers. To these she has a heart felt welcome to give, and all the encour agement that lies within her power. She does not ask them to believe with her that the “Lost Cause” was a righteous and a glorious cause; but she asks them to be true to her present cause and to her future cause —true to the principles of Constitutional Liberty—true to the honor, the dignity, and prosperity of the South. Give her these, and she will give you, in return, a welcome, a home, and a share in her future prosperity and glory. GATHER THEIR SACRED BONES. The living owe it to the Dead of the Lost Cause to gather their sacred bones which lie scattered o’er many a battle plain. Side by side they fought and fell, and side by side their manes should rest Gather them in from the chilling blasts of Winter, and scorching beats ot Summer; gather them in from inhospitable graves; gather them in from our mountains and valleys, our hills and dales ; gather them in to the States that gave them birth ; rather them near to the homes of those c!5 they loved best; gather them in, where the tears of woman will consecrate their burial places, and where their graves will be decked with the sweetest offerings of Nature. The dead will rest easier for it, and the living will be made better for it. True to the in stincts of their crushed, but grateful, hearts, the noble women of our land are seeking to accomplish this holy purpose, and what the maids and matrons of the South undertake to accomplish, is certain to succeed. In this, however, as in all undertakings, woman needs the encour agement and aid of man, and the men of the South owe it to themselves, to their country, to posterity, and, above all, to the silent sleepers who went down to death in defence of a righteous cause, to work for the same undertaking. Im poverished and oppressed though we be, there is yet enough left to secure for our dead appropriate burial places. This debt of gratitude must be discharged by individual contributions. There is no Government to come to the aid of our glorious women in this holy work. It must be done by and through private associations and individual exertions, and every true Southerner, whose heart beats in sympathy with the memories of the past, cannot be indifferent to an object which appeals so strongly to his manhood, and all the finer feelings of humanity and patriotism. It is, therefore, with unspeakable pride that we second the patriotic appeal of the heroic women of Virginia who are making the most praise worthy efforts to discharge the sacred duty of providing suitable burial places tor our dead in that State. Their exam ple should he followed by the women of every State, aud Memorial Associations should be organized all over the South, working and co-operating for the accom plishment of this most sacred object. THE WAR A FAILURE “The war for the Union and the Con stitution has proved a failure.’’ This is a proposition whicli no sane man can successfully contradict. When the people of the Northern States responded to the first call for troops, issued April 14, 1861, it was set forth in that call that the pri mary objects were to recapture the forts and other U. S. property, to suppress in surrection, and restore the authority of the Government. The people of the North, believing in the sincerity of their Executive, responded to suppress the so called “insurrection.” The first quota having been organized arid put in the field, it was found inadequate to the Another proclamationiwas issued setting forth the same objectsjas the first, and the people again responded. But the second contingent failed as signally as the first. Then the authorities of the United States called for men by the hun dreds of thousands, and the men and the money came forward, and the slaughtered by thousands, aud the money expended by millions. The onefand the other continued to be used until the so called “insurrection” was suppressed, the public property recovered, and the au thority of the Government restored from the Atlantic to the Pacific, Irom Maine to Texas. In every proclamation of the Executive, in every measure of the Legislature, and in every ruling of the Judicial Departments of the Federal Government, touching upon the war with the Confederacy, it was maintained and insisted upon that the States of the South were still States in the Inion, and never could withdraw from the General Gov ernment. Upon this theory, the war was wa°*ed to a successlul termination o Three years have now elapsed, and during that time the States of the South have been kept out of the Inion, and the peo ple thereof subjected to tyranny and every species of wrong and injustice which could be devised by the fiendish malignity of a party which floated into power on the blood and treasure expend ed in maintaining that the Union could never be dissolved. Is all this true ? Where is the Union preserved ? Where do we behold the supremacy of the Constitution ? These are the avowed objects for which the war was carried to a successful close. Could the true men in the North have been permitted to divine the present condition of affairs, the Southern people would not now be so sorely afflicted as they are. The war for the restoration of the Union and the Constitution is a failure. The one is dissolved, and the other is violated, by the Congress of the United States, which has usurped all power vested in the co-ordinate branches of the Government, and reserved to the individual States. This thing of so-called Beconstruction, now being forced on the people of the South is a sin and a failure ; it is a disgrace to the spirit of Bepublican Government, and an outrage on the rights of a free people, who are under no obligations to obey or respect its authority whenever they have the power to shako it off, and re-establish that form of gov ernment guaranteed by the Constitution to all States in the Union. Until this object is accomplished, the war for the Union and the Constitution is a failure. DEATH OF EX-GOV. JNO.J. M’RAE, OF MISSISSIPPI. The Jackson (Miss.) Clarion of the 10th inst., announces the death of Hon. John J. Mcßae, formerly Governor of that State, and a member of the Confed erate Congress from Mississippi. The Governor was born in Anson county, N. C., January 15th, 1815, and died at Balize, British Honduras, May 30th, 1868. He had held the offices of Editor of the Clarion, Clerk of the State House of Representatives, Member of the State Legislature, U. S. Senator, Governor of Mississippi, and Member of the Confeder ate Congress. The Clarion closes its notice of his death with the following appropri ate and deserved tribute : When the Government of the Confed erate States was organized, he was elected by the constituency who had so often honored him with their confidence, to serve them in the Congress of the new Government. In that position, as he had done in every other, he adhered with unyielding firmness to the course which he believed to be right. And here we may speak of a trait that always displayed it self throughout his career. Though he was as gentle in heart as a child, kind, confiding, geirial, and generous, yet, in matters of public duty, he yielded nothing of principle to policy. No force of pub lic opinion, no consideration of personal advancement, no hope of reward, nor fear of punishment, ever swerved him a hair’s breath from a sense of the right and the true. Not in political life alone did (iov. Mcßae, display capacity for usefulness. He was one of the projectors of the great scheme of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad. From the Southern to the Northern terminus of the line, when the multitude believed it the mere dream of an enthusiast, he addressed the people in favor of the project, and finally suc ceeded in laying the foundations of what, in after years, has become a great reality. One of the founders of the scheme of the University of Mississippi, he ever dis played an active interest in every measure