Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

4 CW?ec) r |* T SI 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 :•