Newspaper Page Text
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REV. A. J. RYAN, Editor
AUGUSTA, Ga , JANUARY 2, 1869~i
ALL SUBSCRIPTIONS AND
BUSIN ESS LETT ERS FO E THE “ BAN
NER OF THE SOUTH” SHOULD BE
ADDRESSED TO THE PUBLISHERS -
L. T. BLOME & CO.
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 1 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.
OUR PRINCIPLES.
The “Banner of the South” bids
fare well to the Old Year with pride in
much good work, under many drawbacks
and difficulties, accomplished, and gives
warm welcome to the New Year, with
confidence in its strength to do the
new work which the future brings. Its
friends are more numerous than ever, and
still they are increasing. The sympa
thies of the South are ours, because ours
are the principles for which the* South
struggled—for which she now sutlers—
for which she still, now and always, is
ready to suffer ; and for which, some day.
far or nearer than men imagine, she mav
marshal her forces and march—under
flags like the old Hags—with bravery like
the old bravery—leading men as proud
to wear the grey again as the dead are
proud to sleep in it—to victory and to in
dependence. “Our Banner” has never
been lowered an inch since the day its
folds were lifted for Mother Church and
Fatherland. We planted it on the very
heights of Faith and Principle—and it
floats to day where it floated then, and it
shall be found floating fearlessly there so
long as we arc its staff. No compromise
of principle—no concession of Right
have yet marred its folds. Had we lis
tened to the warnings of some who falter
—we would have faltered too. But those
who have rallied around us can bear wit"
ness that deep and deepening love for
our past, and strong- and strengthening
trust in our future and in God, have
characterized the columns of the Banner.
At the first we took an advanced position
—we are to be found there to-day. There
is not a word we would take back—save
to make the words still stronger for the
Bight and against the Wrong. And
hence, the “Banner of the South” has
been welcomed everywhere. The circle
of its influence is widening; and as it
stood firm in the year now’ gone, and
faithful to our people, though it cannot be
more faithful, it yet shall be more firm
in the year which now begins.
To the interests of our holy Church,
too, have we devoted much time and la
bor; and the Catholics of the South have
thus a double sympathy in our journal;
first, because it defends their Church, and
because it defends their native and
adopted land. * We believe that a glorious
field is opened for our Church in our des
olate South ; and our journal in that field
has a work to do. So we are ready for
the New Year’s work. It will be hard
and toilsome—it will often weary our
brain and strain our feeble strength;
but no matter ; cost what it may, we
arc ready—for nor health, nor strength,
nor time, nor toil, can compare with the
grand causes which we advocate ; and so,
once more, in the opening of the New
Year, sending happy greetings to all our
friends we have, and to all that yet shall
come, with the same devotion and confi
dence as ever we re-pledge the Banner
of the South to Mother Church and to
Fatherland.
NEW YEAR’S DAY, 1869.
The Old Year, with its pleasures, its
pains, its glories and itsYollies, has passed
away forever, swallowed up in the great
vortex of Time, and living only in its
memories. It lias gone on in the great
procession of Centuries, a thing to be
pleasurably or painfully remembered, as
its actions and its incidents have been
good or bad. To-day, a New Year be
gins, and new hopes, new responsibilities
new actions crowd upon us - There
is the retrospect, and here the prospect.
How have we spent the one ? How shall
we improve the other. These tire ques
tions which should address themselves to
every one, and evoke an answer not only
of promise but of action. It we have
been true to God and to ourselves, even
though sorrows have crowned our lives
and troubles have afflicted us, yet the
consciousness of well doing will be a crown
of peace and comfort which will assuage
the cares and griefs that we have borne.
If, on the contrary, we have been false to
God and to ourselves, the glories and the
pleasures of the past year, will like
“Dead Sea fruit turn to bitter ashes”
with us. If we have been true in the Past,
let us make the firm resolve to continue
so in the Future. If we have been false
in the Past, let us make the firm resolve
to do better in the Future, amending our
lives, and* striving for all that is good and
noble in life. And let these be no mere
meaningless resolves—no mere promises*
jnade but to be broken; but active, liv
ing, working promises, to be realized and
kept in the surest faith and to the fullest
extent. Doing this, wc shall have a re
cord that will make the New Year a year
of honor and a year of happiness to us.
There is, after all, nothing so desirable
in this world as a clear conscience, and
the knowledge that we are striving all
the while for the good. There are gifts
which all can secure for themselves, and
enjoy with heartfelt zeal and earnestness.
Why not seek them ? Why not enjoy
them ? Doing good to yourself and to
all around you—spreading cheerfulness
and happiness where you can—bestowing
charity upon the poor —comforting the
afflicted—protecting the weak—practising
religion—adhering to true principles.
These are the actions which will crown
your earnest effort for good, and secure
for you, dear readers, what we sincerely
wish you, one and all, a happy, happy
New Year !
MORE ABOUT THE “COMMON
SCHOOLS.”
Again we quote from the Report of the
Savannah Board of Education; “Teach
ings upon subjects of religion, concern,
according to the Constitution of the
United States, the consciences of indiv
iduals rather than the arrangements of
public corporations or institutions.” Does
the very ill-constructed and ambigious
sentence mean that Religion is to have
no part or place in public corporations or
institutions ? Does it mean that Reli
gion is to be banished from all the ar
rangements of such institutions ? It
such be the meaning of your sentence,
Gentleman of the Board of Education of
Savannah, we must conclude that their
is not and cannot be any Religion in the
Constitution of your board or in the ar
rangements of your school system.
That smacks of infidelity, we opine.
But, Gentlemen, wo would not urge such
a conclusion against you, though it be
drawn from your owm premises. We are
more charitable. Wc regard you as
wanting in logic—not as void or Reli
gion ; but we hope your Religion is bet
ter than your logic. \ou say that “ac
cording to the Constitution of the U. S
(is that your highest authority, Gentle
men ; once it was a good enough author
ity iu some matters, but now it is of very
small weight either in Government or in
argument,) teachings upon subjects of
Religion concern the consciences of in
dividuals.” As individuals you have
consciences. “According to the Consti
tution of the United States religious
teachings concern” those consciences.
When you become members of a public
corporation what becomes of your con
sciences ? Do you leave them outside
the corporation ; then your corporation
is without a conscience ; not a very pleas
ant conclusion, is it, gentlemen ? Do you
take your consciences into the corporation
—and with your consciences, some of these
“religious teaching” which, according to
the (obsolete) Constitution of the United
States, concern them ?” Do you, then,
in your public corporation, act in accord
ance with your consciences and your own
religious views—or do you not ? If you
do there must be some kind of Religion
in your school system—that is your own
kind; that is sectarian; and then, gen
tlemen, you are acting against the very
Constitution of the United States which
you plead in your own favor. If you act
in accordance with /your interpretation of
the Constitution of the United Statesand
banish religious teachings from your
corporations and institutions, you cer
tainly will succeed, if effects are always
contrary to causes, in imparting a won
derful Christian education to the
children who frequent your schools.
We quote again from your Report.
“Religious teaching,’ you go on to say,
“would seem to be more appropriately
left to the private control of household or
spiritual advisers.” Well, gentlemen,
does the Bible contain “religious teach
ings ?” Why not leave it to the “house
hold or spiritual advisers ? Why act
against your own ideas, and drag the Bible
into your schools, and especially that par
ticular version, or perversion of the Bible
which you use ? Is the “Our Father” con
nected m’ any way with Religion ? If it is,
why not leave it to‘‘household or spiritu
al advisers.” To please the Protestants you
have put an addition to the prayer? Now,
for the sake of fair play, why not bring the
“Hail Mary” into your schools, in order
to please the Catholics ? Or to please
the Hebrews, why not banish the “Our
Father” from your system ?” Thus*
gentlemen, your rules and regulations
contradict the assumptions you make in
your report. False systems built on
false principles, necessarily lead to con
tradictions. Wc do not blame you, gen
tlemen, for these contradictions, but wc
do blame your false system of education,
to which wc will again pay our respects
next week.
THE INDESTUCTiBILITY OF NATURAL
WEALTH.
The difference between the North
and South is, when industrially consid
ered, in one word—Cotton. As to sea
ports, grain land, water power, and miner
al resources, they are by nature about
upon a par, the existing difference being
one of development only and not endow
ment. Given the same labor similarly
applied for a like length of time to the
South as to the North and commerce,
manufactures, mining, and cereal agri
culture would be as great here as there
while, on the other hand, no labor, no
energy, no aggregation ol human forces
can ever give the North that climatic
monoply which makes the South the
o're at cotton-field of the world. With
O
this cotton superiority, therefore, and a
natural equality in other ways, it is evi
dent that, at some not very distant day,
this region now so disorganized and com
paratively unproductive, will rise into an
importance that may well challenge the
most searching comparison with the
present seats of productive industry in
the North. Political causes may, and
doubtless will, for some time to come
operate hindrances to this process, but
the politico-economic history of the world
would he altogether at fault if the re
served wealth of a naturally rich conn,
try should fail to force itself into the
sphere that natural wealth was made to
fill. Laws, and constitutions, and con
stituencies are matters that, as a breath
h as made, a breath can sweep away, hut
deep harbors, strong water-power, rich
soil, and accumulated mineral deposits,
are beyond the reach of mis-government;
and, as they do not depend on human
agencies for existence, can never be
stricken into nothingness by any human
power. If. there is a bad Government,
there they are intangible to the influences
of that Government—solid as the hills,
deep as the sea, unchangable as the air,
waiting patiently till the had Govern
ment has yielded to a good, and under
the good Government, men frequent the
harbor, plough the field, run the mill*
and work the mine.
Such is the true South. It has been
the sconce of war, but war has not in
jured its natural resources. It is now
miserably mis-governed, but bad Gov
ernment only affects the generation of its
influence, and in no wise either exhausts
the mine, shallows the port, or destroys
the soil. These remain, and in every
one of them may be seen a light-house,
as it were, standing on the Southern shores
to say to all comers, here are harbors
where your ships may safely moor.
CATHOLICISM AND A REPUBLIC,
A South Carolina correspondent, in a
letter to us says: “In your leader, ‘Ca
tholicism and a Republic,’ how happened
it that you overlooked the Republic of
the Alps ? whose Constitution forbids the
subject of religion to be debated—some
Cantons being Protestant and some
Catholic; and whose people love the Con
stitution, and are, therefore, law-abiding,
peaceful, and happy.”
The subject is one so full of argument
in favor of the Catholic Church, that it
was impossible to elaborate it fully in one
newspaper article* Hence, we gave only
a few noted examples, as sufficient to
sustain our position that Catholicism and
Republicanism arc not only compatible
but perfectly homogeneous and favorable
to eacli other; and that the greatest
Republican failure is that of the so-called
“Model Republic” of America, claimed
(but not admitted,) as a Protestant Re
public.
NEW YORK CORRESPONDENCE
OF THE BANNER OF THE SOUTH.
President, Davis—An Interesting In
cident— u lt will yet Succeed”—The
Southern Leaders of ’6l —God is Just
—A Glorious Future for the South —
The Radicals of England and the
Radicals of the United States—Prince
town College—Attach of the Black
Vomito—Census of the United Stales
—Something Novel—The Bonds —
Repudiation.
New York, December 25, 1868.
Banner of the South:
There was related to me not long since
an affecting incident of Mr. Davis. One
day, after the severity of his imprisonment
had been so far mitigated as to admit of
out-door exercise, he was walking on the
ramparts of Fortress Monroe, with an old
Confederate officer, then on a visit to
him. The conversation feel on the good
Cause. Stopping suddenly, Mr. Davis
drew himself up, and reaching forth his
hand towards the Heavens, till he looked,
said my informant, with his pale, blanch
ed face, and noble attitude, like a prophet
of old, said : “It will yet succeed. Our
children will fight this war over again.
They will avoid my errors, and they will
succeed. Get immigration. Get it—no
matter where. The children of the first
generation will be as good Southern men
as you or I.” It would be difficult to tell
you the impression made on me by the
actual recital of this ocourrence; for my
informant was Mr. Davis’ companion on
that occasion, and seemed, as he spoke,
to feel all the original enthusiasm of the
moment. In all sober earnest, and speak
ing as calmly upon it as one does in his
ordinary business, I believe the future
will justify the words of Mr. Davis. Os
late, I have had my attention somewhat
turned to the proceedings of the Secession
Conventions, and have been so struck
with the consonance of present affairs
to the predictions then made, that I
cannot hut believe the Truth spoke
mightily in the warning utterances of
the Southern leaders of ? 61. Men who
could so correctly forecast the results
of Radical domination and the tendencies
of Radical polity, must have been more
than the hot-headed, disappointed Oata
lines that some would have us believe.
And, if they were more, if they did stand
on the firm basis of immutable PiincYu
—and the longer I live, and the moi> I
read, the better satisfied I am that t?V,.
were and did—then the Truths that they
believed in, and wrought for, and fought
for, are immortal, and must, and will
prevail. That, once more, the star
crossed banner will kiss the breeze; that
once more, the long grey lines will be
tipped with shining bayonets, as the sum
rays shine beautiful on the tops of granitn
hills, is not probable, nor, if probable
would it be, on several accounts, altogether
desirable. Peace bath its victories. n«>
less renowned than those of war; and bv
peaceful agencies, I look to see the unw I
veriug confidence of Mr. Davis in the
final triumph of the good Cause, substan
tially verified. With the repudiation of
this cursed, blood-stained debt—and, be
fore long, it will be.virtually repudated
though there will never be any formal Act
to that end—the cohesive power of the
public plunder will be taken away from
the merciless task-masters who now op
press the people; and, with the ranks of
the oppressor thus divided, it will not be
a difficult task to re-enforce those main
principles of freedom, under which, for so
many years, this country was happy,
prosperous* and great. What name th« i
re-invigorated Republic may bear, whit
flag it shall have, how long its Chief
Magistrate may hold office, or what may
be its purely ministerial provisions, are
mere matters of name and not substance
What is wanted, is Liberty regulated by
Law, and such Liberty the Liberty that
the Confederacy fought for, will yet he
the possession of the American people.
The path to it is dark now; but, for.all
that the dim outlines of the coveted ob
ject are to be seen by the careful observer
looming up in the distance, with a mag
nificence that lends even now, some of
the bright radiance of Hope to the edges
of the intervening clouds.
The mention of Mr. Davis brings to
mind the England where he is now an
honored guest; and, with the mention of
England, comes an interesting occur
rence in her recent politics. Not long
since, it was furiously insisted in that
country that the working man must have
a vote ; that the ballot was needed for
his protection; that lie must be heard
in Parliament by means of representative
working men; that a vote was his sacred
right; and that, if he did not get it,
there was danger, that a Government
based on such a denial of justice, could
not stand. These, and other representa
tions, supplemented by some riots in
London, led to the passage of a Reform
Rill which, substantially, provides tha
any man paying rent, may vote. On tin;
heels of this extension of the suffrage,
there came a Parliamentary election, the
full results of which have just arrived.
From them, it appears that, so far from
wanting working men to represent th n.,
the laboring Masses voted alii!o>t</<
masse for such Liberal, or Radical, candi
dates as had but little other claim than
wealth and title. In the new Parliamcn
there is not a single working man, nor
docs there seem very much difference iu
it over its predecessor, save that the ma
jorities by which members are returned
are larger than they used to be. Now,
the applicability of all this to our ow.i
affairs, is just this : that the Eng’iio
Radicals have made precisely that use of
the laboring classes as the Yan a ■
Radicals have made of the Negro. v\
either case, they first made it appear tie i
the class to which it was proposed to (x
--tend the suffrage, wanted the suffr. r c.
when, in truth, that class never bother 1
their brains about the matter; and, in tin*
second place, when the suffrage v; -
given, they scooped it up with their (■ i
spoon, so that the newly enfranchised
were, in neither case, any better off w <
the suffrage than without. “Progn
you see, pretty much the world over, is
the same, half braggart and half thief,
One of the last strongholds of edtr t
tional conservatism in these parts, fas
lately had a very severe attack of t e
black vomito , Princeton College, in N *
Jersey, a staid and respectable seat ■>!
learning that has always been a law.
resort for students from the South, elt ■ 1
not long siuce for its President a P
M’Oosh, of Scotland; and, in his inaugr.l
address, the praises struck the dea >
knell, at once, of the usefulness of ■ r
institution, over which be had been e I
to preside. Fresh from Glasgow, a 1
red-hot with the most visionary idea
the absolute'equality of man, he di-cla 1
at once that Princeton must open r
doors to the world, and, as his subsequ j
action was based on this declaration,
was not long before a highly color and
gemmen entered the College chapel e
morning, and appropriated to himsek ' e
of the seats set apart for the special «
commodation of the collegians.
after the same thing occurred, and :i
again and again, until now the iudicati s
are, the great bulk of the student
withdraw from an institution where
wishes are so persistently disregard e :•