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nighty hosts, the fierce conflicts, and : jje spilling of blood, produce this change; , r have we other, deeper, and broader auses which must be fathomed ? The deep upheaving of society by the recent conflict, left everything in a state of disintegration; and fragmentary truths which were once prized and harmonized into one pure crystalized diamond, hon ored and cherished by Southern patriot ism, now lie scattered and trampled upon, ijjke the master pieces of ancient art that tall from the temple of Pagan gods. Bar barism, whether found in the rich and intelligent, or in the poor and ignorant, is still barbarism. And this spirit of barbarism has invaded every precinct of society and Government—frivolity is the order of the day, and nothing is held sa cred, because nothing is respected. Society in the South, before the war and after the war, is as “ Hyperion to a Satyr." We find men of high standing and honor denying to-day what they -wore to die by six years ago. Men trampling on a banner, and trailing its sacred folds in filth, who, but recently, bore its stall far on high, with their crests illumined, and victory flashing from their eyes, now proclaiming, by an oath for office and pelf, that the principles which that banner represented were a moral ami political wrong, and that they regret the part they took in the late war—the brightest part of their past life. We do not intend to argue the question, whether the dominant power has a right to impose such oaths on the Southern people, as a condition sine qua non to voting or holding office. The naked skeleton fact is this : if the principles the South held before the war, and during the war, were right, they are right now, and always will be right—aye, years after the “ New Zealand traveler shall sketch his ruins of St. Paul's,” right is still immutable, “the eternal years of God are hers.” When society becomes so corrupt that men take these oaths for office, and arc not frowned down by the community in which they live; and when objection is heard from some stray son of chivalry, it is rather from dis appointment at not getting office for him self, than regret at the abyss of degra dation to which the successful candidate i:as fallen to attain the petty lucrative position; then, indeed, is the country in vaded by the barbarism of ideas—more baneful than the horde of barbarians that came out ot the Hast to desolate Europe, and put back civilization for generations, it these men who hold office under recon structed and iron-clad oaths, were honest when in the Confederate ranks, they are perjurers now. If they are honest now, whilst holding office, they were traitors while wearing the grey. If it be mere worship of Mammon, and no kind of principle involved, still it cannot be justi fied ou high moral grounds. Society is rotten. The Governor of the State of Louisiana, wiio had to take an iron-clad oath before being inducted into tlie Gubernatorial chair, though but a vague sympathizer uitli those who were baring their breasts to a conflict against the invader, and fighting within shot of his plantation, is now before the Courts on an affidavit, by a Negro, for perjury. If the Governor escapes this malicious prosecution, (which is but a protest of Radicalism against de cenev,) by showing he did nothing in thought, word, or deed, for his home and iho South, can all other office-holders make out such a clean record of their anility? But, it is alleged, if we let the Yankees fill all the offices we never will atiain our position again. Through the gnH ■> ot perjury nothing can be attained which will be really solid, or endure. Sinking to the abyss of degradation, will never make one rise to the top of the mountain, where the air is pure> an( j God’s light, “ which enlightened/’ first gilds the summit, and at eve is last in lingering around it. “ She stoops to con- I tier,” is good for a drama, but will never regenerate a people, or emancipate a nation. >Ve, men of the South, have much to unlearn, and much more to learn, before we will be well prepared to meet, and to avert, the fate that awaits our country. If knowledge be power, and ideas con trol, there was something back of the mere clash of arms, which was slowly, but surely, tending to produce this disinte gration and decay of morals; and seces sion was but the spasmodic effort of the strong man in the last gasp of death, to break the fibres and meshes which Puri tanism had wound around him, binding him to “ earth earthy.” If we have hopes of bringing back Southern society, and from it the Government of the conscript I athers, we must not look for the regene ration of the country from the Govern ment as it now stands ; for nothing can be conclusion which was not already in the premises. If the premises are corrupt, we can only look for corruption more de veloped in the conclusion. Man, swept down the torrent of corruption, can only expect and receive succor from one firmly planted on the immovable shore. The rainbow ot hope, with its tinted beauties, seen through the mists and spray, brings consolation to those out of the whirling eddy, but not to those going down the mighty abyss. We want, then, a power (and power unorganized is uo power at all,) that can and will act on the indi vidual, on the family, on society, and, consequently, on the Government. If, with the light of history before us, we can find an organized power which has not beeu swayed by the conflicting inter ests of Princes, the smiles of the power ful, or the terrors of despots, that has invariably, and with unerring truth, ad hered to the people when deprived of their rights and trampled upon by tyranny, or sided with authority when anarch} and license, exasperated the “ swinish multi tude,” we have the power we are looking for. And that power, is Religion; for it acts on man—acts on his head and on his heart; it places the throne of God at equal distance from each and every hu man being, who can look up and see that hereafter, at least, there is reward not only for those who obey, but punishment for those who disobey the law. Law alone is not sufficient—we must have Re ligion to accompany it. Law looks at the dry, outward act, but can hardly ever penetrate the inward sanctuary of the soul, aud there probe the secret motive. The penalty attrehed to the violation of Law, can be sometimes avoided ; the crimi nal often goes unwhipped of justice. In Religion, his punishment is sure and in evitable. Law terrifies and punishes ; Religion consoles and rewards. Law is sometimes unjust; Religion is never unjust. The Church teaches that man always lived in society, and never lived out of it, nor could he ; that man lias certain inhe rent natural rights, anterior, or back of society, which he never gives up, and cannot give up, without sin; that, in coming into Government, these rights are guaranteed and protected, but are not created by Government. This is em phatically so of the American Govern ment. The inalienable rights of the people, and the limitations on authority, were part of our English inheritance, which were, for once and ever, placed beyond dispute by the Catholic Cardinal Langton, and bis confederate Barons, on the plains of Runnyinede. Stationary Courts, Habeas Corpus , trial by a jury of peers, were dogmas sanctioned by time, and were hoary with age when our first Revolution broke out, for they had been the common law of England since the Stuarts. Our statesmen of ’76 merely put on paper what had been floating about in the world of ideas for over a century, and gave to the “airy nothing” of taxa tion without representation, Govern ments derive their right from the consent of the governed, and other cognate doc trines, a “ local habitation and a name.” The Constitution of the United States, by some called infidel, because God is not named, or only incidentally recog nized by the oath or affirmation required to hold office, is, nevertheless, profoundly Christian, It recognizes man as a free agent, coming into Government with cer tain rights which the Government recog mzes, secures, and guarantees. Amon" c D - —————* —— the rights which the Constitution guaran tees to all, stands first, the free exercise of religion. It protects each man in the ex cise of his religion, though, legally, it protects no religion. And the Govern ment framed by this Constitution, having in it really so many good, broad, Catholic principles, went down in the late war. Why ? No written Constitution ever lasted one hundred years! History can be searched in vain. No instrument o* writing, or piece of parchment, ever kept a people together, unless the laws were the expression of the wants of the people—the slow growth of time, and grew with the growth of the nation. Must we despair ? For with such a liberty expressing Constitution, recognizing God incidentally, if not directly, the Govern ment went down, society became corrupt, polities a barter, and hydra-headed Radi calism mounted the throne of despotism, and tyranizes over more than three fourths of the people. Why is all this ? For two reasons : Ist. Because we have given up God, and God implies an authoritative teaching Church, with proper credentials to com missioned teachers to teach truth, and that truth the same under all forms of Government, during all revolutions, amidst storms and calms of factions; show' ing itself human and divine—Divine by being always above and superior to all the caprices of men during civil commo tions, “the wreck of matter and crush of worlds,’ ’ and human by siding with au thority when license and anarchy are rife —or, by interposing the broad shield of justice and humanity, when authority, drunk with power and blood, oppresses God s likeness—man. Hence, however good our laws, still we are ever on the brink of the destructive precipice, un less we respect and obey the Law, and feel its binding obligation. To violate Law is sin ; and without lleligion, and God’s Religion, man never yet obeyed Law, or felt its high ethical and moral efficacy, un less he had religion to make him respect the rights of others. And this is one reason which ruined the Government. 2d. Law, in the natural order, to be obeyed, must be just, and grow from the natural wants of man, and be the expres sion of the true and the good. Not to go back to the question of the origin of Government, or who has the right to make laws, we stand on the almost self evident postulate, that Every organized society has a right to 'pass its own laics , aud we find this doctrine in all the old theologians of the middle ages, sanction ed by the Church, if she ever expressed a political opinion, and maintained by all the international law writers, from the profound Grotius and Fuffendort, to the brilliant \ attel. This acknowledgment from all the great writers on the laws of nations, is an acknowledgment of the Con federate doctrine of State Rights. Rather than be ashamed, we should glory in this now despised and dishonored doctrine. States Rights is a platform narrow enough lor every fastidious person, and broad enough for the whole country to stand upon. Give us, then, for the peace of the South, and through the South, for the salvation of the country, and the main tenance of the Constitution inviolate more of God in law, and in polities more States Rights, and soon the South, by means of her society, at once Catholic and States Rights, will, like ancient Greece, after her conquest by Rome, re conquer the conqueror, by leaving the impress of her laws, her refinement, and her polish on her Northern barbarians. The following letter was written by a dear friend of ours—a most accomplished \ irginia lady, lately received into our Holy Church—to a friend of hers, who had asked her the reasons of her change of creed. A Presbyterian friend, and several ’others, having read it, requested its publication in the Banner of the South. With some difficulty, we prevailed on the writer, whose sensitive nature shrinks from anything like publicity, to allow us to publish the letter. It is the argument of a woman’s pure heart, in favor of the old Church, and we hope it may profit our readers : My Dear Friend : ( You ask me to give you the reasons which induced me to renounce Protestant ism, and become a member of the Roman Catholic Church. I believe your questions are suggested by the blessed spirit of our Lord, and, theiefore, I willingly accede to your re quest. To show you the more clearly the way in which I have been so mysteriously led into the true fold of Christ, l, of ne cessity, refer to my past life. You well know that past, with its singular trials and crushing sorrows, which so shadowed my youth, that, like a pal 1, it seemed to fall before my future, shutting out all that was glad and beautiful on earth; my eyes were so veiled by tears, that I could not see the bright sunshine which in the far off, dim future, was even then shining for me. As I revert to my early life, it seems as if I had ever been a child of sorrow. In the flush, and glow, and joyousness, of youth, I was called upon to pass through a severe ordeal of trial and suffering. Surrounded as I was by wealth, elegance, and luxury, I was made to feel their utter vanity and insufficiency for happi ness. Strange and sad experience for a girl of scarce sixteen summers, and yet it was mine. How often did I realize that the plea sures, enjoyments, aud allurements of the gay world were vain and unsatisfac tory. The fruit which was so beautiful to my young, happy eyes, turned to ashes on my lips. Even then my soul was longing for those celestial harmonies, those sublimities of holy faith, which c»n only be experienced in the Holy Catholic Church ; and which, through much suf fering, I was at last to realize. You, doubtless, remember when I was in P I became a member of the Episcopal Church, in which I had been born and educated. I fled to it as a refuge from the storms of life, which had wrecked my earthly happiness. I sought in it a peace, which I felt the world could never give me, and for a long while I believed I possessed that peace. For many years I labored under this delusion, but, alas ! a terrible sorrow fell upon me, and then the dream, the delusion, was over. I woke, to find myself sinking, well nigh over whelmed by tiie waves of affliction, and the faith which should have been my anchor in this tempest of my heart’s grief, where was it ?—all, cold, dead nothing I could take hold of, nothing to sustain my fainting spirit. But I will not anticipate, asl am going to tell you how I found the true faith, which, to-day, I realize is all-sufficient for life's sorrows and trials. ■ Shortly after I became a member of the Episcopal Church, our dear Lord, in His mercy, brought me a great happiness, and I became a happy wife. Years passed on ; years of such sweet content, that, as I pause to linger o’er their memory, I can but exclaim, was ever woman so blessed !—the happy wife ! —the happy mother! These are the years in which my Protestant faith satisfied me. I see now Protestant faith may save us while life is blight, and unshadowed by Death; yet when sorrow and death comes (and come they will to all), then it is all unsat isfying; it cannot console the bereaved, the breaking heart. There is nothing real, nothing tangible—a want of consola tion in it, which is felt, but impossible to describe. Shall 1 tell you how I experi enced this ? Ah ! it was the saddest, the bitterest of human experiences. I spoke to you of happy years. What made them happy ? I will tell you. I lived in the brightest and most beautiful of earth’s homes, for it was a home of domestic love. Four little children gladdened it with their presence, brightened it with their love—and, in my blindness, I be lieved no shadow could ever fall on its brightness. My Heavenly Father saw I was making idols of earth, and they were to be torn from me, even though my heart was to be rent in twain. I was to be taught a lesson, which we learn always in sorrow, suffering, and tears. In one short week, two precious chil dren were torn from my clinging arms, my loving heart, my tender care. They who had lain in my bosom were taken from me, and laid in the cold, silent grave. I can nveer find words to tell you the anguish, the agony of that moment, when 1 gazed, for the last time, on all that was earthly of my heart’s idols. The little waxen hands folded soft and silently ; the little curtained eyes, never to smile on me again ; the little snowy cheeks, never more to bloom with life’s roses; the little feet, stayed for ever; never again should I hear their little patter, which, to my ears, were like the footfalls of Angels—all gone! all taken from me— I was left bereft and inconsolable. Now, my friend, it was at this time that I realized the coldness of my Protestant faith; friends stood around me; spoke ot hope, of comfort, of resignation ; yet I was deaf to every voice. In my woe, I could not be comforted. Still I had every consolation which Protestantism could afford. How earnestly I sought it in the Episcopal Church, is well known to those who saw my daily life; for three years entirely secluded from the world, and de voted to meditation and prayer. Through pain and sorrow, God willed I should be brought into the one Holy Catholic Church. It was a thorny way that led me to the foot of Calvary, there to be taught the sublime lessons of Hope and . Faith. I have spoken of the past, in order to convince you of this truth —that the heart must be disciplined by suffering, before it is prepared to receive the fuli and holy consolations of the Catholic Re ligion. Now, I had been well instructed in the doctrines and faith of the Episcopal Church ; I had been instructed in it by her most eminent men. Asa child. T had been taught in the Church, by one of her most learned and venerable Bishops, and, afterwards, when I united myself with this Church, I received instruction from one of her distinguished prelates. I tried to be a staunch Episcopalian, yet I was never satisfied. There appeared to me discrepancies and pretentions in the Church which could not be proved by Scripture. Her creed was nothing to me but a vain form of words; there was no life, no reality in it. I recited a belief in the ‘'communion of Saints.” What did I understand by this ? Again, “the for giveness of sins.” What meaning had this to an Episcopalian? How different the meaning to a Catholic ! Doubts upon other points would often come into my mind, and unsettle my faith, yet I would cast them from me, believing them temptations, which I must struggle against and subdue. But God was going to show me the weakness and fallibilty of this Church, by testing her faith in the crucible of affliction. At this time, I knew little of the faith and doctrines of the Catholic Church. And now I shall go on to tell you how I learned this blessed faith, and I will tell you, too, how 1 came to love the Church long before I had the happiness of be coming one of her children. When I lived in , it was my privilege to number among my dearest and most intimate friends, members of the Catholic Church. Our dear Lord was even then pleased to send to my heart some of the gentle influences of that Holy Spirit, which he promised us should guide us into the way of truth. These friends were on terms of closest intimacy with me, and, therefore, I had an opportunity of observing their daily life. I found it pure ar.d blameless, so full of good works, so abounding in Christian virtues, that I knew them to be true children of God. IJad notour blessed Saviour said : “By their works ye shall know them V 1 While I lived in epidemic, and then it was I saw the Catholic religion in all its brightness and glory. I saw Catholic ladies, reared in the very lap of luxury, whose homes had all the refinements and elegancies which wealth could bestow ; I saw them leave those luxurious homes, and go into the byways and alleys of the city, seeking the hovels of the poor, the sick, the dying. I saw them brave storm and rain, and, even more, brave death, to do their heavenly mission of Christian charity, in those wretched abodes of poverty and want. They relieved the poor, comforted the sorrowing, and gave hope and conso lation to the dying. Was not this the perfection of Christian charity ? x\gain , I saw the Catholic was the Church of the poor, the humble, the lowly. In Protest ant Churches these stand outside at the door; but the Catholic brings them within, places them side by side with the rich, the great, the noble. In her eyes, there is no diffiereucc between them, only these very poor, humble creatures are her most dearly cherished children. And, yet, once more, 1 saw that the Catholic Church was the asylum lor all earth’s sorrow-stricken children ; there is no sorrow she cannot heal, offering conso lation to all. All these things made a deep impres sion on my mind. I saw in them the marks which Christ had said should characterize His Church on earth. I felt that the Catholic alone knew how to hearken to these Divine teachings, which enlighten the heart, and influence the life. I saw that their faith sustained them through all the vicissitudes and trials of this life, and 1 saw it support them m a dying hour. Her holy prayers are the last sound that lingers on the ears of her dying children, and her children that are dead are just as dear to her as those that are living. Father Ryan says, in his own beautiful words of inspiration : “The Church, unlike others, does not leave those who die in it, at the grave ; hut follows the Christian to the land of peace, and wafts a prayer which will be a help and assistance to those who have de parted.” Oh! who can tell the unspeakable riches and inexpressible consolations of 5