The banner of the South. (Augusta, Ga.) 1868-1870, December 26, 1868, Page 4, Image 4

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4 (<S4?€C) Sg. JtMHIltJt EEV. A. J. RYAN, Editor AUGUSTA, Ga ,DECEMBER 26,1888 THE LOST CAUSE. The Banner of the South is now the only weekly paper published, devoted to the “Memories of the Lost Cause.” Will not the people of the South and the true people of the North extend to us that sup port which it deserves ? We believe they will, and. so believing, we will continue to labor to make it worthy of a gen erous patronage. We ask our friends everywhere to aid us in extending our circulation. Invite your neighbors to subscribe. Send us their names and we will send them specimen copies free. Stories, sketches, and incidents of the struggle for Southern Independence are respectfully solicited. [For the Banner of the South.] COMMON SCHOOL SYSTEM. Rev. and Dear Sir: An effort is being made to introduce into the South the Common School system of New England. What do you think of the system. Believing that you take great interest in the proper education of our race, and the future prosperity of the South; and that, from education and ex- perience, you are qualified to give good and sound advice on this question, I write to get an expression of your views thereon. My own, perhaps, ought to be given, as yours are called for ; not that they are considered more wise than others ; but for the reason that every one who asks a question, should be willing to express his own views upon it; which will be given in a few words. “By their fruits ye shall know them” If the Com mon School systems of New England and Germany are to be judged by this test, it seems to me, the decision may be an nounced in the word “tekel,” as defined in the sth chapter of the Book of Daniel, by the translators appointed by James I. Have the Common School systems, as worked in those countries, been produc tive of more good, or evil ? Have they developed a higher and purer civilization there than exists iu the South ? In my judgment, the first question may be an swered : “nrorc evil”—and the second, in the negative. Look at the infidelity, rationalism, and sublimated Puritanism and crimes of New England and Ger many, (the offspring, at least, in part, of the Common School and the Common Pulpit,) and tell inc, if you can, in what does their superiority consist ? It is a notorious fact that, to day, the Catholic population of Germany and Ntw England are more intelligent and virtuous than the Protestant population of those countries; and it is equally no torious that the Catholics have little or no connection with those Common Schools. They are great levellers, down ward, like the grave, I admit, and have no vital, Divine power to raise up, ele vate, to resurrect from that dead level which it inculcates and fosters. I am a Prstestant, by birth, education, and opinion; but not one that sees and loves no good but that which springs from the Reformation, so-called; not one who can see no evil from its vagaries. Procopius. The above letter wo have received from a highly respected gentleman, re siding in Alabama ; and we are glad of the opportunity it presents to us of enter ing our protest against the introduction, or continuance, in the South of the North ern born Common School system. It is fair to judge that system, as our corres pondent does, by its fruits; aud so judged, it must be condemned. New England is best off in the way of Schools; New England, to-day, is worst oil in regard to morality. Not that the Common School system is the only cause; but that its power is baneful, audits influence inju rious, is a fact based upon too many stubborn statistics to be denied. The most of the isms that have cursed this Country have found their source in the land, and with the people, of “Plymouth Rock.” Their Common School system, it may be, makes many sharp men, and cute women—as witness the fearful fact, that, in Connecticut, there is one divorce to every nine marriages—but in that system there is little or no place left for God and Religion. They read the Bible, which wise men cannot understand, to little urchins in their A, B, 0, and that is the sum and substance of the Religious element in the Common School educa tion. And, the very Bible they read contains blunders and mis-translaticns; yet it is given as the pure word of God. We oppose the system i 'intoto." > A few days ago we met a zealous Priest, from New England, in Florida, whither he had come for the restoration of failing health, and lie assured us that the Common School system, in so far as it fell under his observation, was an abomi nation. Not very long ago, an investigation was made into the moral condition of the Common Schools in Western New York, and the report presented was enough to show, by facts and figures, that a fearful depravity reigned among the pupils—and that not always were the Professors im maculate. And such fruits must, necessarily, come from the system; for the system is founded on a false principle. It trans fers to the State what is the sole, exclu sive right of the Church; and that Educa tion, which is high and pure only when kept in the Religious sphere, is made corrupt, vicious, Godless, by being brought down to the Political order. We might not go as far as our corres pondent in the assertion that “the Catho lic populations of Germany and New England are more intelligent and virtu ous” (the virtuous we admit) “than the Protestant population of those countries” —but w r c would say, and are ready to prove, that compare them class with class, from the lowest to the highest, the Catho lics will not sutler from the comparison, on the score of intelligence, while they will have the advantage on the score of virtue. And the reason of it is, we Catholics claim the right, and, when not prevented by power, exercise the right of educating our own children. The children are ours by Baptism ; they are subjects of the spiritual gov ernment of the Church, and in that government is implied the right to edu cate; and the State which comes between the family and the Church, and demands to be intrusted with young minds and pure hearts, usurps a right and exercises a power which are not its own, and against which the Catholic Church has always protested The Denominational system of instruction is the only system found iu reason and founded on right. All other systems have ignominiously failed in the moral order, even where they were successful in the intellectual order. Many Ministers of the Protestant Episcopal Church admit this, and would remedy the evil if they could. Some of the leading minds in England have been brought to the same conclusion. Let every Church educate its own children. The State either has no Re ligion or is indifferent to all Religious forms; and, necessarily and logically, those educated under such a tutor, be come indifferent to all Religious truth, or go further, and become skeptics or in fidels. Education does not lie in the Political order. Man’s deepest wants are religious, and only Religion can meet those wants. But more of this anon. We invite our respected correspondent to write usagaiu, and we challenge a discussion on this point, so important to the interests of the South. The Southern boys and girls arc not to be put into the mould of the New England Education. Their noble char acters are not to made ignoble by a system of education as infamous in its consequences as it is false in its piinci ples. _ __ SOMETHING MORE ABOUT THE SCHOOL SYSTEM. We have received aud read the Report made to the Mayor and Council of Sa vannah by the Board of Public Education of that city, in response to a petition from the Roman Catholics for an appro- priation of some of the School fund to support and maintain their own Free Schools. The petition of the Catholics was refused. The reply to the petition seems based on principle and law. It may be that, under the apparent principle, there may be real prejudice ; and it may be, too, that the so-called law may not be in accordance with equity and justice* This week we offer a few remarks on the Report. In it we read : “There is nothing exclusive, denominational, or sectarian in the Constitution of the Board, or in the School system which it has adopted.” That is false, gentle men. Your Constitution is exclusive ; you exclude the Catholic Bible. It is denominational and sectarian ; you force all children—Catholics, Jews, Infi dels—to read, or listen, to the Protestant Bible, and to say Our Father, with the Protestant improvements tacked on to its end. It is denominational and sectarian; here is one of your text-books : “Wilson’s Outlines of History.” In the narration of lacts, that history is frequently false; in the interpretation of facts, that history is more frequently fallacious. Many of its pages insult the fa’th of the Catholic. Its religious spirit is Protestant; that is, anti-Catholic. And you desire Catholic children to read the prejudiced perversions of the history of their Church out of your Protestant text-books; and still, with sublime nonchalance, you assert that there is nothing sectarian in your School system Your text-books, gentlemen, belicVhe assertions made in your report. We quote again from your Report : “But the Board docs not desire, and does not feel authorized, to mingle in the piactical arrangements of the Public School system, the doctrines or tenets of any particular faith or creed, with the general topics of School Education in this country.” Now, gentlemen, unless your system is Pagan, there must be some sort of Reli gion in it. Is it a Christian system ? lias Christianity any place in it ? If so, what sort of Christianity ? There used to be only one sort; but now, thanks to the fruitful Reformation, wc have many kinds of Christianity. Is the kind which dominates your Schools the Protestant Christianity or the Catholic Christianity ? or is it an eclectic Christianity represent ing the “religious views” of your Board of Education ? Answer that, gentlemen, and your answer, in any case, will be the assertion of what you so coolly and com placently deny. But, we turn to your Rules and Regulations for the Govern ment of the Public Schools. Under the head of “General Rules,” the fourth article thus reads : “The Schools shall be opened and closed with the readiug of the Scriptures and the Lord’s Prayer.” So you open your Schools in Protestant style, with a Protestant Bible, and you close them in the same manner; and still your system is not sectarian, Fie, gentlemen, fie, don’t be such cowards. Come out bravely, and do not suppress facts. Your Report is well written, gentlemen, despite its lack of logic ; and we will resume the consideration of it next week, “THE METHODIST BISHOPS TO GEN. GRANT.” “The Bishops of that powerful denomi nation, the Methodist Episcopal Church, have written a congratulatory- letter to General Grant on his election, with a promise that they will pray for his suc cess in his great office, for his ultimate salvation, and for the prosperity of the country. The letter is a very neat one, and, as General Grant has rather a family leaning to the Methodist Church, we have no doubt he will esteem this compliment from the Bishops a very high one. Wo are assured, too, that the ‘prayers of the righteous avail much,’ and so w r e hope that if General Grant should get into any difficult snarl with the Radicals, these worthy Bishops will not forget their promise.” —New York Herald. The Northern Methodist Episcopal Church (what a holy set of adjectives !) is a singular institution. It certainly has improved on the ideas of the Saviour. If' it be his Church, (these ifs are pitiless) he would scarcely know it were he to re turn to Earth. Os all Churches, it best knows the exact balance to strike be tween the things of Earth and the things of Heaven. No Church knows better how to'suit the modern taste, by mixing to gether proper quantities of prayers and politics. The spice of politics makes its prayers pungent and tart; and that Church is far too wise ever to break the stale bread of the Truth for its children without buttering the morsels on both sides with fresh churned prejudices. Now and then, that same Church dispenses itself from certain old commandments ; as, for instance, there is a very provoking command: “Thou shalt not steal; but that Church has stolen many meeting houses and school houses in the South It is a singular institution. But, of course, it is, and must be, the blessed Church of God; because, the so-called Bishops of that Church prayed, and pleached, and groaned, with the groan ings of the Spirit, (we wonder what spirit ?) for Grant—and Grant was elected. And now, the so-called Bishops of that Church, write a letter filled, of course, with Apostolical unction to the Great Mute , promising prayers for his salvation, and for the prosperity of the whole Country. We believe he needs their prayers. We know their prayers are powerful, politically; but we believe that they themselves need prayers more than any one else. So, gentlemen, hush your ctriveiling cant, and go on your knees; and, remembering those Scripture words, “woe to hypocrites,” pray for yourselves; pray your loudest, and your best; for your pulpits, your prayers, your preach ings, your drawling exhortations, are red with the blood of thousands and tens of thousands of the dead of the North and of the South—and the lips of that blood are crying to Heaven for vengeance— and God is just. LIBERTY, “Oh! Liberty ! can man resign thee, Once having felt thy generous flame ? Can dungeons, bolts, and bars confine thee, Or whips thy noble spirit tame ?” When we say Liberty here, we mean Political Liberty, National Independence, Constitutional Freedom. We mean the Liberty which gives a People the right to select their own form of Government, and when that Government becomes op pressive, to withdraw peaceably from it, and establish iu its stead one more in ac cordance with justice and the public sense of Right. This is the Liberty which the People of the American Union exercised in 1770, when in solemn Council, they declared their independence of Great Britain, and asserted that “these Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent.” This is the Liberty which the People of the South sought to exer cise in 1861, when, in solemn Conven tion, State after State withdrew’ from that Union, andeutered into anew com pact of Government, styled “the Confed erate States of America.” This was the Liberty which they sought, but failed to obtain. They struggled nobly, manfully, as their fathers had before them ; but treachery within and overwhelming num bers without, after a while turned the tide of victory against them, aud crushed their aspirations beneath its weight. The sun of the Confederacy, after a four years’ war, set in blood and ruin; and, as it went down behind the clouds of war aud defeat, the light of Constitutional Liberty went out with it. The hopes of myriads of freemen were crushed in that moment of sorrow and despair; for, all that had been gained in the year of ’76 was lost in the war of ’6l. The strong arm of Tyranny was not satisfied with subduing a brave and noble People; it must needs trample them iu the very dust; and, as their proud banner, tattered and torn in the conflict of battle was laid regretfully away, and the stars and stripes, once the emblem of a gallant and glorious Nation, reared in its stead, its stars lit up the stripes which were to be inflicted upon these People. Every indignity and woe that the devilish malice of the conqueror could invent, was heaped upon them ; until the poor South became a very “Niobcof Nations.” The tears of the widow and the orphan mingled with the cries of the starving thousands, and the groans of the desolate went up with the sighs ot the sorrowing to curse the very name of the oppressor and to make it a by-word and a reproach to those, at least, whom he trampled under his iron heel. Had the Government of the United States acted in that spirit of generous forbearance and magnanimity which the South had a right to expect from it, the Union would have been to-day stronger in the power of its Constitutional authority—a very “union of hearts, and a union of hands—American Union for ever !’ But wicked and designing men secured the control of National affairs, and the glory of that Union has departed forever. Its perfidy, its tyrauny, its con tempt for Constitutional Law and Right, have won for it the disgust and hatred, not only of the Southern”Peopie, but of every People who admire Justice and love Liberty. It has required much of the South ; and, with mild and uncomplain ing resignation, the South has complied with all its requirements. Our section has been reconstructed and re-recon structed, until it would seem that we had done enough to satisfy all that the most imperative will could demand ; and yet more is asked. The Politicians are not yet satisfied, They want the last hair’s breadth of “the pound of flesh,” and they intend to have it, or.] perish invthe at tempt. But will tiie People of the Nortb submit to the flagrant wrong that their wicked Rulers would inflict ? Will not some Portia rise up there to silence this “Daniel come to judgment”—Congress— and put a stop to its mad career of uncon* stitutionality and flagrant wrong ? Will not “the laws of Venice” at last be thrown into the teeth of the Shy locks at Wash ington, and at home, and they be forced to cry for mercy from an outraged People ? Surely, Justice must awaken, at last, aud the wrong doers be hurled from power, or, at least, be forced to desist from the execution of their wicked schemes and outrageous violations of the Constitution. If not, then, woe be unto this land, and woe unto the miscreants who seek to de stroy Political Liberty. It is said, that “Freedom’s battle, once begun, Bequeathed from bleeding sire to eon, Though baffled oft, is ever won.” If not won very” soon, then all is lost, and American Freedom and Constitu tional Liberty go down into the diut forever. LETTER FROM GENERAL EARLY. In our issue of last week, under the head of The Lost Cause, we published an article from the Savannah Morning News, signed “A Virginian,” having reference to General Jackson's proposed attack on the Federals with naked Con federates, as stated by Ed. A. Pollard, in his biographical sketch of Gen. Jackson. In our present issue will be found a communication from General Early, in vindication of the truth of History. This letter is addressed to the Editor of the Savannah News, which paper introduces General Early, as follows : “We publish a communication from Major General Early, a distinguished officer of the Army of Virginia, in vindi cation of the truth of History, which we feel confident will be read with interest and gratification by all who cherish a sincere veneration for the character and memory of the Christian Patriot and Hero, Stonewall Jackson. It will be seen that Gen. Early, whose opportunities for knowing what transpired in the military councils of the Army were certainly superior to those of the writers whose statements he controverts, not only agrees with us in the opinion that General Jacx son never advised a night assault, in which our troops were to he “stripped naked and armed with Bowie knives,” as stated by Pollard, but gives the most convincing reasons to prove that no such extraordinary movement was ever con templated by him. “Apart from its personal interest. vindicating the characters of the i. o-- trious dead, and no less illustrious sur viving chief of the Confederate armies,