The banner of the South. (Augusta, Ga.) 1868-1870, October 17, 1868, Page 4, Image 4

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4 , v -' C&fcv.) XL , Jt®JISKES» EEV, A. J. RYAN, Editor AUGUSTA, GA„ OCTOBER 17, 18C8. THE SITUATION. It is always well, in the hour of dan ger, to keep our courage up to the stick ing point, and never to yield until resist ance becomes utterly futile, and the last ray of hope expires. And so, our papers do well to keep up a firm tone and pre sent as hopeful a view of the prospect as honesty and facts will admit. Sometimes, however, we may go too far, and so build up false hopes and create a fatal apathy in the cause we advocate. It is our purpose to avoid these extremes, if possible; and when we write of “ the political situation as hopeful, 'we tell our readers honestly and fairly, that it is only if every man will but do his whole duty. From New York, Connecticut, and the great West, we have the most cheering news; and everywhere, except, perhaps, in our own South, there is energy and a cheerful hopefulness. The treachery, and tyranny, and extravagance of Radi calism have been and are being boldly exposed, and the people, startled by the exhibit, are coming to that “ sober second thought which will make them pause and reflect before they continue their country for another unhappy four years in the hands of its worst enemies. It is this evident “sober second thought” which makes us hopeful of success, and bid our readers be of good cheer, but re lax nothing of their zeal and energy in the cause. THE WORK BEFORE US, As the day of the election for Presi dent and Vice-President draws near, the great heart of the Nation beats quick, and its pulse throbs fast, as it hopes for a Constitutional victory and the restora tion of Liberty and Peace. Will that be a blessed day for the American Union ? or, will its sun set in darkness and deso lation ? These are the questions which nerve and quicken the pulsations in the Patriot’s bosom, and make him alternate between fear and hope, as he repeats them to himself. And who shall answer them ? Each individual for himself. It is not for one, or for one hundred, alone to work in the interests of this great cause; but, for all-all who love Constitutional Liberty, and would perpetuate its bless ings and its glories, to work with unfal tering will and unceasing devotion, to the end. If we fail, approving Conscience will acquit us of blame, and free us from the twitchings of remorse. If we succeed —and God grant we may!—we shall Dot only have approving Conscience to re ward us, but the blessings of the present and future generations for the grand work we shall have accomplished. Why stand we idle, then, when so much is at stake— when so much is to be done ? It is the last grand conflict of Political Justice and Truth with Political Error and Fanati cism, that is being fought. It is the last struggle for the preservation and perpetu ation of Constitutional Liberty, that is being made ; and he who dallies now* is, indeed, a dastard and a traitor. Is there one true son of the South so poor in pa triotism, so cowardly in spirit, that he would herd with the enemies of his coun try and his liberty, or could stand idly by, and see the banners of despotism flaunting their crimson lies in his sace } without arousing within himself all his manhood and devotion to Truth ? If there be such a one, we appeal to him now—by the love which he bore his poor suffering South—by the love he gave to his mother, his sister, his wife, his little ones ; by the affection which he pledged to “ another not a sister,” and the honors which he would place around her brow; by the peace and hap piness which he would secure to his fami ly and fireside ; by the regard he ought to feel for his fellow-men—in a word, by all the ties, sacred and secular, whieh ought to bind him to his native land, and all the memories which ought to arouse his patriotism, and bravery, and devotion, in this hour of his country’s peril, to put aside his apathy, and bestir himself in the great cause of Constitutional Liberty. To those whose bosoms have already been fired, and who are working so nobly in this glorious work, we appeal, to con tinue with unceasing energy and un flagging devotion. The Democratic party has unfurled his Banner, and is march ing onward, we hope, to decisive victory. The trumpets are sounding, the drums are beating, and the cohorts are gather ing all over this broad land. Their noble leaders, with unfaltering step, and un fliching eye, are in the van of the ad vancing columns, cheering their follow eas, and bidding them be of good heart and firm purpose. Their “tramp, tramp, tramp,” is felt, and the shouts of the mighty host are heard from the bleak shores of Maine, along the coast of the broad Atlantic, reverberating from the crests of the Rocky Mountains, mingling with those from the far-off Pacific, and descending the mighty Father of Waters to the Gulf of Mexico. And shall we of the South be stragglers in this grand Constitutional Army ? Shall we stand idle and take no share in the great con test? No! a thousand times, no! Aw r ake, aris£, to the immensity of the issue at stake; awake to the importance of the struggle; shake off your lethargy and your apathy ; join heart and hand with those who are coming to free you from the shackles which Radicalism has fas tened upon your lacerated limbs, to res cue you from the Military Despotisms which grind your life blood out of you ; from the misrule and oppression of the usurpers who sit in the high places at Washington and strangle your your peace, and your prosperity here. Oh, men of the South ! will you not rally to the standard of this party which comes thus to your relief? Rally! rally • before it is too late. And you, women of the South, use your potent influence in this good eause. Urge your husbands, sons, brothers, and lovers, to the rescue. Your interests are at stake, your peace and safety are in jeopardy, your happi ness is threatened. Give all your sweet persuasion and irresistible influence to the cause of the South, to the cause of the Union, to the cause of Constitutional Liberty. And thus, all working together, in har mony and zeal, we shall, as we findly hope, be able to join, heart and soul, in the shouts of joy which the Democratic victory in November next, will cause to ascend from one end of this broad continent to the other; and in the prayers of thanksgiving which will then ascend to the Throne of Grace for the preservation and perpetua tion of Constitutional Liberty. RIGHT AND DUTY, This age, with voice arrogant and loud, is constantly speaking of Rights- It seldom lias a word to say ot Duties. In speeches, books, pamphlets, papers, magazines, reviews, &c., we read usque ad nauseam , of man’s and Nations’ sacred rights—what they are ; how many of them the Tyranny of the Past has crushed, which the liberality of the Present must recover ; how they must be extended ; what a terrible crime it is to take away a single right, &c., &c., ad infinitum. The whole world rises up, and shouts: “ Men and the People must claim, recover, and exercise all rights. - ’ It is the age of Rights. Right is the talismanic word ; and Duty, which is a better word, with a deeper meaning, is forgotten. And, yet, every Right implies Duty. The privilege of possession bears with it the burden of responsibility. Many Rights better not be had at all, if they are had only to be misused or abused. mbhibb m m seam- This popular clamor for Rights is accom panied by a popular neglect of Duties Better far would it be to take up the word Duty and make it our watchword. When men use—and well use —all the | Rights they have, then, and not until I then, are they prepared for the exten sion. Give men too many Rights, and , inevitably they abuse them. ! Less of Right and more of Duty—that is what we need. And, the very men who shout loudest j for their Rights, are the very men who trample on the Rights of others. Witness the political Party which has ruled the North already too long, and which, we fear, is destined to rule it longer. It is, by profession, the party of human Rights. There rises rebellion in Italy—that part' 7 ; claps its hands ; there is revolution in | Spain—that party hurrahs; there are so ' called "social ameliorations” in Austria ' —that party cheers on the so-called i “ Liberals.” But—mark its wonderful ! consistency—all the while it is extending j its own Rights, and applauding the ex tension of the Rights of people thousands of miles away, it is trampling on ns of ! the South, crushing out our Rights, and : striving to hush our voices and fetter our pens when we claim them. And it does so, on the principle, that it has the Right so to do. It makes one’s blood boil with just in dignation to witness such hypocrisy, and to be compelled to bear such indignity. Has the whole world Rights, and have we none ? Must we endure such wrongs from the Party of Rights—and, forsooth, be grateful because we are so well treated ? Must we reunite with such a People ? Must we worship in the same temple, and beside the same altar of Liberty 7, with such hypocrites? Does not every day and deed of that Party more and more clearly demonstrate that we did well to go out from their Government—that we do ill to enter into it again, unless it be purified of its terrible corruptions— if, indeed, it can ever be*purified ? If we enter into that Government as it is now, will its corruption, like a loathsome dis ease, he contracted by us; or, shall we do our share in purifying it ? Political re union may be profitable, in a material point of view; but it certainly shall be perilous to the moral character of the People of the South. It is a political necessity, which we accept, simply be cause we must —but, it will be a great moral risk. Who knows, however, but that we, chastened by sorrow, and puri fied in the crucible of affliction, may yet regenerate the very Government and People that have wrested away our rights? A grand duty, surely it would be, and the noblest of missions. It would be a glorious revenge for the wrongs we have suffered. But if, by becoming politically* reunited with the North, we would become cor rupt; if, like them, we would forget Duties in clamor for Rights; if, like them, we would become venal, and hy pocritical, our prayer is that we may rather still suffer, and still be wroDged ; for it were better that we should never be free, than that we would be free with their corrupt and corrupting freedom. RADICAL RULE—NATIONAL BANK RUPTCV. The Radical party is terribly alarmed at the fearful exposure, by Mr. Alexander Delmar, Director of the Bureau of Statis tics of the Treasury Department, of the financial condition of the country, result ing from criminally extravagant appropria tions by Congress while pretending to be cutting down and curtailing expenses. On the appearance of Mr. Delmar’s ‘ state ment the Radical partisan Press denounced it as grossly incorrect, aud denounced him as utterly unworthy of credence. Mr. Delmar’s facts and figures were called forth by the urgent request and solicitation of prominent capitalists in New York, who desired a statement of the income and expenditures of the Government, particu larly the estimated receipts and expendi tures of the current fiscal year. The facts and figures which Mr. Delmar presented, being obtained from an official source, are entirely correct. Financial ruin, inevitable bankruptcy, stares the Government in the face. There is but one remedy that can save it, and that is the speedy overthrow of the infamous party, and still more infamous policy, which has involved the country in financial and political ruin. Hon. Robert J. Walker, by consent of Secretary McCulloch, has examined the Treasurer’s books, and the result of his examination sustains the statement of Hon. Alex. Delmar. The National Intel ligencer of Tuesday morning contains a table, which is a transcript from the books of the Treasury, prepared no doubt by Mr. Walker, and the same referred to in our Washington dispatches of Tuesday. The Intelligencer, in referring to this table, says : "It is authentic and accurate. It con tains no conjectures or estimates but only recorded facts.” "From this table it appears that the debt on the 31st of August last was greater, by over one hundred and sixty-eight mil lions, ($168,659,236,) than on the Ist of April, 1865, a few days before the close of the war, the subsequent rate of increase exceeding four millions of dollars a month, or nearly fifty millions of dollars a year. But there are results still more alarming. The debt is greater by over thirty-five millions of dollars than it was on the Ist of May last. ($35,085,486.) On this basis the yearly rate of increase of the debt would be over one hundred and five millions of dollars, ($105,256,458.) If to this annual rate of increase we add interest at the rate of six per cent, a year, compounded annually for twenty years, the debt, instead of being paid, would be more than doubled and would largely ex ceed FIVE THOUSAND MILLIONS OF DOL LARS. Now 7 , let us look at the monthly increase of the debt for the last four months. This increase w*as at a rate largely exceeding eight millions of dollars a month ($3,771,- 371), but the increase in the month of August last was over twelve millions of dollars ($12,079,832), being a rate of in crease largely exceeding one hundred and forty-four millions a year. ($144,958,954.) "It must be remembered, also, that this last increase of debt is during the great quarter when the average rate of revenue from imports exceeds about one-third the rate for the fiscal year. Suppose the debt to increase at the rate of one hundred and forty-five millions of dollars, adding to this interest compounded at the rate of six per cent, per annum, and the debt would be dou bled in about fourteen years, long before which we would havepassedinto bankruptcy. Indeed, from the intolerable burden oftax ation, arising from such an annual in crease of the debt, we should reach na tional bankruptcy in the Congressional elections of 1870. And yet it is the Radi cal party which accuses its opponents of repudiation, whilst its own course of enormous war expenditures in time of peace makes national bankruptcy inevitable. In deed, it is only a vast decrease of taxation and expenditures which can save us from the disaster. But this reduction can never come from the Radical party, which insists on the continuance of a large standing army, to subject the whites of the South, by force , to negro governments and negro supremacy. "We have seen the rapid increase of the public debt, not only since the peace, but within the last four months. But this table exhibits a still more alarming fact. It is, that w’hilst the debt bearing interest in currency had decreased on the 31st August last $629,940,728 from the 31st March, 1865, the debt bearing interest in coin had nearly doubled, having increased on the 31st August last nearly one thou sand millions of dollars ($996,130,505) since the 31st March, 1865. Thus, on the 30th April, 1865, the annual interest paya ble in coin was only $63,978,412, -whilst on the 31st August last this annual coin in terest had increased ($123,573,621,) the increase of annual coin interest being nearly sixty million dollars, ($59,595,209 ;) or, converting this sum into currency of that date, $87,009,005. Now, the total annual interest in coin and currency, as shown by the table, was $102,836,531, on 31st of March, 1865, and $127,948,611 on the 31st of August last, showing an in crease in the annual interest, payable in coin and currency, on the 31st of August last, of s2o, 112,080. But this, as shown by the table, is not the only real increase. Thus we have seen that, whilst on the 30th of April, 1865, the annual currency interest was $45,127,936, it had fallen on the 31st of August last to $4,374,990 whilst the annual coin interest had increased nearly sixty millions of dollars. "The account would then stand thus : On the 30th April, 1866 Coin interest converted into cur rency 893,408,481 Currency interest at that date... 45,127,93*3 Total annual interest in cur rency. $138,736,41; On the 31st August, IS6S Coin interest converted in cur rency $180,417,980 Actually currency interest 4.374.99) Currency interest 31st August, IS6S $184,792,970 Currency interest after the close of the war, 30th April, 1865.... 138,730,417 Increased interest, 3lst August, IS6S $10,056,539 "Thus we see that since the close of n ie war (30th April, 1565) the anndal interest of the public debt has increased upward of forty-six millions of dollars. This in creased annual interest would represent a principal sum exceeding seven hundred and fifty millions of dollars. "We repeat, then, it is clear that the Radical policy renders national bank ruptcy inevitable. That policy regards the rebellion as unsubdued, the .States as conquered provinces, still ready for war, and the w*hites to be kept in subjection In negro governments,sustained by standing armies costing more every year than tho< of France or England, and with inn*q heavier taxation. The Democratic party proposes a different policy. -It regards secession and slavery as forever settled by the war, and by the subsequent action of the Southern States in constitutional con vention assembled. It would repeal ti e Freed men’sJßureau, disband the standing army, reduce it to a peace establishment, and leave the Southern States to govern themselves in subordination to the Fed eral Constitution. It is clear, then, that the expenditures can only be reduced by a ebange of men and measures, and the change can only come from the overthrow of the Radical party and policy. For three years and a half not a Confederate soldier has been in the field, nor an arm raised against the Federal Government, yet the Radical party duringall this period has given us w<*r measures aud war ex penditures. They have given us standing armies, military government, aud war ex penditures ; they are rapidly increasing che public debt, and if continued in pov ,-r must choose betw*een augmented taxation or national bankruptcy. The people may still save the country by a change of rulers and policy, but after the election it will be 00 late .” The Canvass in the West.— All ac counts from the West are favorable to tbs Democracy. Ohio and Indiana are claim ed for Seymour and Blair in November. Tuesday next will decide the question as to the next Presidency. NEW ORLEANS (LA.) CORRESPONDENCE OF THE BANNER OF THE SOUTH. New Orleans, Oct. 7, 1863. Banner of the South : Os course, Fm excused. No use for on apology. Letters full of politics arc “played out” for all sensible readers, and, as everybody knows that the nevs market presents hardly any other com modity just now*, why, of course, nobody expects to read any more newspaper mv respondence between now and the mo - tion, aud that’s the reason I’ve quit writing. “ So, no more at present,” would m be my last sentence, but that I want m give you one or two little Catholic items before closing. The first is that m venerable Archbishop Odin retun 1 home unexpectedly last week from b > visitation in Western Louisiana, where Apostolic labors have been so heavy dum the recent hot months—his coufirmatmcm alone having averaged over a huadn 1 persons in each Church and Chapel visit ed—that his strength was absolutely hausted, and he was obliged to retm. '* home to recuperate. But, “uneasy H e the head that wears a” mitre, for the b old Pastor, being* too indulgent to r> m a visitor, is perpetually overrun by r ous, but indiscreet, people, who see:.: ' think he has nothing to do but sit ii 1 * room and see company. Couseque ' y it is to me a mystery when or how he ever find time for that “perfect 2 ! which is now so irnpoitant for him. At last, our Catholic people are . tied with the long* expected Triduum ‘ the cause of the Holy Father. A r this week they have been in the Ch-v' of St. Stephen, m Bouligny, St. Lima, in the Third District, and N Dame de Bon Secours, in the Fourtm and, of course, the exercises must >- quickly follow in all the other city' Churches, as the designated period the: - ■ tor has nearly expired. At St. StepD: the instructions were given chiefly by eloquent Father Smulders, whose chain ing discourses, aided by bis somm o voice and majestic manner, held e crowded audience in rapt attention fi an hour and a quarter to an hour aim