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EEV. A, J. RYAN, Editor
AUGUSTA, Ga., JANUARY 9, 1869.
ALL SUBSCRIPTIONS AND
BUSINESS LETTERS FOR TIIE “BAN
NER OF ITIE SOUTH” SHOULD BE
ADDRESSED TO TIIE PUBLISHERS -
L. T. BLOME & CO.
STILL MORE ABOUT THE COMMON
SCHOOLS,
The continued discussion of this sub
ject will not, wo hope, weary *our read
ers; and, may not we trust, be fruitless.
It is, certainly, a subject of vast impor
tance, in as much as it is connected with
the moral and intellectual well-being of
the rising geneiation; and we hope that
our readers will not grow tired with us
if we recur thus frequently to the subject.
We quote, again, from the Report of
the Hoard of Education of Savannah:
“ The Board regrets that an\ r person
in ihc community should decline to accept
the opportunities of education offered by
their Public School system.”
We are very much obliged to the
Board for their regrets, and we recipio
cate—and we regret that the Public
School system of the Board is so secta
rian and denominational, that very
many parents arc conscientiously obliged
to keep their children from these “oppor
tunities of education” which they offer.
Some of which “opportunities” are these :
The Hebrew child has the opportunity
of learning a prayer his parents reject;
the Catholic child has an opportunity of
reading, or hearing read, a Protestant
Bible, yclept the “pure, unadulterated
Word of God;” also, the child of Catholic
parentage has the opportunities of study
ing histories wherein his Church is base
ly misrepresented, wherein he reads in
sults flung at the Head of his Church—
wherein he reads facts falsely related—
wherein he finds every uprising against
the Church lauded to the skies—wherein
he reads of the glories of the Reforma
tion, and the pure and holy Luther, whose
utterances against the Church were so
foul and filthy, that no Infidel-gentleman
of the present day would say the like.
These, gentlemen, are some of the
“ opportunities of education” which you
so kindly offer. With many thanks, we
beg to decline such wonderful opportuni
ties* Certainly, gentlemen, you are
wondrously kind !
Again, we quote:
“ They (the Board) do not, however,
acknowledge any blame or fault in them
selves, or their School system, upon that
subject, or on that account.”
That smacks a little of a Pharisaical
spirit, does it not? You don’t blame
yourselves—of course you do not, for
you know no better; but, “self praise is
no commendation.” With your permis
sion, then, we will blame not yourselves,
but your system; though we are bound
to admire the very high opinion which
your Board has the honor to entertain of
its own self. Ton are welcome to your
admiration —it must be very agreeable,
indeed.
The Report goes on to state in very
dogmatic tone and terms, certain general
propositions in regard to the relations be
tween tax-payers, and the benefits to be
conferred by taxes; to which proposi
tions, we demur—because such proposi
tions are taken as proved when they are
not proved. In other words, they arc
mere assertions; and yet, the Report
presents them as if they were established
and accepted axioms.
After quoting two acts of the Legisla
ture of Georgia and an ordinance of the
City of Savannah, the Report continues :
“ 'The Board has no right to make dis
criminations or distinctions among pupils,
or to classify them according to the reli
gious tenets in which their guardians
may desire them to be instructed. Any
exclusiveness on such subjects must be
j chargeable to those who assert and prac
; tice it, and not to any conduct, rule, or
principle of the Board of Education,” Ac.
Well, your rule in regard to the use of
the Protestant Bible and anti-Catholic
text-hooks—that, we suppose, is not a
“discrimination”—that, in your opinion,
is not “exclusiveness.” Would you al
low a text-book to be used in your Schools
that attacked Protestantism ? You would
not. Would.you allow the use of books
unjustly attacking the Catholic faith ?
You do. And still, you repeat so com
placently that there is no discrimination
nor exclusiveness. We wonder, gentle
men, how you can so frequently assert,
and so coolly assume, what is denied by
the very rules and books of your false
School system.
“ There is no complete power without
concentration,” you say. If you are
Southern men, you deny that principle in
politics. It you are Protestants, you
deny that principle in religion. How ad
mit it in regard to your School system ?
Answer that.
“ The members of the Board respect
piofoundly the feelings and opinions of the
constituents of each and every religious
sect,” Ac.
If you do, act up to your words, and
change or revise your School books.
They do not respect “ the feelings and
opinions of the constituents” of the; Cath
olic Church —though they do “ respect
the feelings” of each and every sect.”
But, we are done with the Report, though
not with the subject.
The Report quotes in its own favor
written law—against it we quote un
written equity. The Report tries to bol
ster itself on acts of legislation—we urge
against it arguments from Reason and
Justice. The Report is contradicted
by the very rules of the system which it
advocates. We arc willing to concede
the good intention of the Board of Edu
cation which presented the Report, but
the Report is a poor reply to the just pe
tition of the Right Reverend Bishop, die
Reverend Clergy, and the Catholic Laity
of Savannah.
But, whether we have a share of the
School Fund or not, we shall not allow
our Catholic children to enter Schools
wherein their faith is tampered with,
their feelings wounded, and their Church
maligned. Here iu Augusta, wc have a
large and flourished Catholic School for
boys—and our pupils would favorably
compare, in the moral and intellectual
order, with those of any public School
in the City of Savannah; and as for girl ß ,
Heaven help those whose pure, fresh,
guileless hearts arc exposed to the dan
gers and temptations of the public Schools,
where, all that there is of daily positive
religious influence consists in the Bible
once read and the Lord’s Prayer twice
said.
That, certainly, is giving Religion in
homeopathic doses. %
A PRESBYTERIAN NEWSPAPER ON THE
CHURCH -THE OLD, OLD STORY
ABUSE AND MISREPRESENTATION,
Rev. and Dear Father Ryan:
I here enclose a little comment upon
an extract from an editorial in the “Pres
byterian, of Fayetteville, N. C. The ar
ticle is a strange one to be issued in a
country whose boast it is to ignore reli
gious views in civil matters. But with
him, as with others, I suppose, “Bea
Turk or a Jew, but not a Roman Catho
lic.”
Thus runs the extract:
“The Romish Church in this Country.
That wonderful combination of worldly
wisdom and ghostly power, the lvomish
Church system, is rapidly assuming a posi
tion in this country that demands the ear
nest attention of every thinking man. \v e
have been wont, in former days, to think
and speak of Romanism as something of
which history tells us, and as something that
still held baneful sway in distant parts of
the earth—but as something with which
we had really very little to do. Its errors
were not those with which wc were called
to contend ; its power was not that which
we feared in the enemies around us.
But these times have passed away.
Silently and “whilst men slept J the Ro
mish authorities have laid their plans,
and worked them to such an extent
that a vast deal of power—political, so
cial, and religious—is now wielded by
this’ Church in every part of our coun-
try. Our own State is not to be ex
cepted in this assertion.
“Heretofore we have, perhaps, felt the
influence of Romanism as little as any
State in the Union, as we have had
but few emigrants' from Papal coun
tries settling amongst us, and very few
of the native population have been of
that faith. And no systematic effort
has been made to secure converts. But
North Carolina has recently been erect
ed into a Diocese; a young, active, zeal
ous, intelligent, and prepossessing Bishop
has been appointed; an accession, has
beef! made to the clergy by importa
tion from abroad; and our State is evi
dently embraced in the general scheme of
Romanizing this country. Henceforth,
we are to view these people as amongst
us—working earnestly as Roman Catho
lics know how to work—to advance the
interests of that Church, and to bring
souls into subjection to the. Pope of
Rome.
“Unusual effort seems to be made just
now to acquire influence and £>ower in
the Southern States. It has recently
been stated in the newspapers that the
sum of SOOO,OOO has been appropriated
for carrying on the work of the Romish
Church in the South. What immense
results may be accomplished by such an
outlay, especially in the present condi
tion of the Southern people! We are
now peculiarly susceptible to influence
from such lavish expenditures. Many
of those who, a few years ago. were
wealthy,arc now impoverished. They
are themselves persons of education and
refinement; they estimate highly the ad
vantages of a liberal education, and the
bitterest drop in their cup of privation is
that they are unable to provide such an
education for their children. Just then
some Roman Catholic school is presented
to their notice. It offers every induce
ment —thorough training, accomplish
ments, etc. —and all gratuitously, or at a
mere nominal price. The temptation is
too much—the children go into the school,
to bo trained into Romanism, and the pa
rents are at once half converts to that
Faith. The shrewdness with which the
Roman Catholic Church became all
things to all men, during the late war,
is now also an element of influence with
many of our people. No more bitter
and relentless foe was found anywhere
than in Archbishop Hughes, the . highest
dignitary in the Roman Catholic Church
in this country; a very large proportion
of the soldiers of the Union Army, were
Roman Catholics; yet some very pleas
ant, and even complimentary, letters
passed between His Holiness at Rome
and the President of the Confederate
States. Many Priests, Sisters of Charity,
etc.—who never permit their good deeds
to be hid under a bushel— were kind to
our sick and wounded soldiers; though
what was done by Protestants would out
weigh ten-fold ail that was done by these.
But Roman Catholics know how to make
the most of all they do in the way of
charity and benevolence And their acts
of kindness and self-denial during the
war—of which we acknowledge there
were many noble examples —are now
harped upon to their praise and commen
dation, when all that Protestants did
seems to have been forgotten.
“These things have given a favor to
Romanism, in the eyes of many of our
people, that it would not otherwise have
had. And this favor has evidently been
perceived. Hence, the great efforts now
making in the South —the multiplication
of Schools, of Churches, of Ministers, aud
of all the appliances used for the propa
gation and establishment of the Faith of
Rome among our afflicted and suffering
people. VVe are to be subjected to all
the agencies that the experience of cen
turies can devise and boundless resources
in men and money can command, to make
our beloved land--fair even in her ruin
—a province of the Pope’s Spiritual Em
pire. Shall such a result be attained ?
Shall the Protestantism planted here by
our fathers —many of them fleeing from
Roman oppression—yield now to the
power that drove them hither 't Shall
we take to our embrace a system whose
boast it is that it never changes, because
it may here present a fair and attractive
exterior? The principles of Protestant
ism are too dear to be thus given up. A
struggle is before us us important in its
results as any ever fought by the Church
f God for truth and righteousness, for
lie honor of Christ, and the weltare ot
mmortal souls. We shall resume this
subject at an early day.
Reverend Sir :
1 have seen the notice in your paper
about Romanism. Do not be alarmed.
Your fears are exaggerated. In the first
place, we are not foreign emissaries—but
Americans and Southerners by birth—
who, upon close examination, have neither
horns nor cloven hoof. More flattering
than really true, is your statement about
$600,000 —upon which I would like to
have some information —and of the
whereabouts of that army of Priests that
has landed upon our sunny shores to
sweep through the South, “ Romanizing
everything;” and, also, a little informa
tion about those institutions which can
board and teach gratuitously—or almost
so —numbers. Aud, did you write that
article to be accepted by enlightened
minds. It is, indeed, an echo of the past
—worthy of the days of ’54, when lawless
mobs could riot in the name of Truth
and Religion in every town, and city, and
district from Maine to Louisiana. Let
me tell you, sir, Know Nothingism and
John Rrownism were the happy fruits
of such editorials, and we reap now their
bitter effects. Sir, such an article is a
libel upon the chivalrous tone of the
Southern mind. Are we afraid of the
Truth ? Are we a nation of prejudice?
Strange, indeed, that Catholic doctrines,
when known and rightly explained by
authorized teachers, should possess such
charms of attraction. Sir, the matter is
this : when you and others wonder at
and fear Catholic influence, you show
that you kflow nothing about its doctrine.
Bear in mind, the Catholic Church is not
a political body; she has nothing to do
with North, or with South, and it any of
her children, be they high or low in sta
tion, enter upon the worldly stage of
politics thereon, they are merely laymen.
They have to lay aside their spiritual
character. A Bishop or a Priest is a man,
and he may be a patriot; may think this
is right, that wrong; but our Church is
a house of prayer—of peace.
Your reflection upon Catholic charity
is certainly not generous, nor eveu cor
rect. If the acts of “these angels” who
can brave the infection ol the pest house,
and amid the horrors of the battle-field
calm the troubled soul of the dying sol
dier, if they are lauded their praise is
found ofiener in the mouths of those
who have oilier religious views, but
whose honest candor cannot but venerate
the sacrifice of country, of home, of the
world, for the cause of God.
We are not afraid of the Truth, but I
do despise prejudice. If you wish to com
bat Rome, or in other words, the Catholic
Church, begin first at home; sustain your
own decaying system. We attack no
man, but preach the Gospel of Christ;
and, would to God that the Pulpits had a
few years ago been contented with utter
ing the Word of God, and not lashed the
whole nation into the storm of war which
we have just passed through. Our fair
South would not now be a wild waste, nor
a widowed mother, ever disconsolate,
whose sorrow true Religion may soothe,
but whose tears for her martyred dead
must ever flow. Mark 6. Gross,
Wilmington.
Will Father Gross allow us to thank
him for thus, and at once, taking a bold
stand against calumny, and for the calum
niated Church? Whensoever he desires
the use of our columns, he is a thousand
times welcome. We are glad that the
Faith has such fearless defenders in
North Carolina as himself and Right
Rev. Dr. Gibbons; and wc are sure that
if zeal, purity, learning, energy, aud
fearlessness iu the cause of Truth deserve
success, they shall certainly win it.
Father Gross will allow us also to say
that we believe he deals somewhat too
courteously with the presumption aud ig
norance of the writer of the article on
which he offers his comments. In that
extract there are eighteen mistakes of
ignorance, or falsehoods of malice. If
the author of the article wishes us to do
so, we will poiut them out. It is too late
to make religious capital out of the igno
rance or prejudice of the people. But
the poor Ministers, who still, from pulpit
or through paper, regale the minds of
their people with false assertions and base
calumnies against the Church whose
power is increasing, while theirs is fast
waning, do so because they need bread
and butter for themselves, aud wives, and
children \ r et, their very hatred of us
helps us; their very fear of us brings us
into greater notice ; their very tirades
against us set some minds to thinking
about our doctrines, and that is exactly
what we want. So, go on, Reverend
Sirs, and more power to you; rant away
as much as you please. \\ e rather like
it. It does us good to be hated by men
such as you have the honor to be. Your
sectarianism is on its last legs—a few more
years—a few more antics—a few more
absurdities, and the miserable servility
of sectarianism will pass away and yield
to the “ liberty of the children of God,”
which is secured by the one Catholic
Church.
"THE FLIGHT AND CAPTURE OF JEFFER
SON DAVIS/’
Whatever may have been the faults of
Mr. Jefferson Davis, it is not the part of
a generous nature to expose them now
Whatever may havA been his faults, they
were, in our judgment, rather errors of
the head, and not of the heart, lie de
voted his talents, his energies, his <er
vices, to the cause of his beloved South,
and, in his person, received the punish
ment of his people’s so-called “ crime”
against the Government of the United
States. We can well remember how
his burning words of eloquence stirred
the flagging zeal of our people, and
how his patriotic example nerved them
to persistence in defence of their cause,
even when hope itself had fled. \V»»
mm remember how passionately he ex
claimed, in one of the last of his public
speeches, that, “with the fall of the
Southern Confederacy, Constitutional
Liberty would go down forever”—and we
know how well the prophecy has been
fulfilled. We can remember his patriot
ism, his sacrifices, and his virtues—we
can remember them, and glory in them
as part and parcel of one of the grandest
and most sacred struggles the world ever
witnessed. And his faults, be they few
or many, we of the South, at least,
should cover with the glory of his noble
deeds, and the mantle of generous chari
ty. So believing, it is with pain and
mortification that we read in the
umns of Packard's Monthly , a Northern
publication, an article abusive, and, as
we believe, misrepresentative ot the
distinguished Confederate, and which
article is from the pen of Mr. Edward
A. Pollard, a Southern man. This arti
cle constitutes the text of this editorial.
That we may do no injustice to Mr.
Pollard, we give his article entire, and
feel sure that our readers will share the
mortification and indignation which we
have felt in its perusal. Admitting
that Mr. Davis had prepared for flight
from this country, even before the final
catastrophe which saw the sun of the
Confederacy go down in darkness and
despair, it was his duty to do so. If
the Cause which he represented failed,
he and the other leaders of that Cause
were to receive the punishment of their
people’s “ treason” as they would have
received the glory of reward and honor
had their cause triumphed. When the
armies had disbanded, “ the sword of
Robert Lee” been surrendered, and the
“Conquered Banner” furled hopelessly
away, Mr. Davis could do no more for his
country, lie had “ fought the good
fiidit he had done all that lav in his
power to uphold the cause of Southern
Independence; and he had failed. In
stead of the hero of victory, lie was the
criminal of defeat, and his life was for
feited by the laws of that Government
against whose power he had so vainly
struggled. It was now his duty to save
that cause from farther degradation by
placing it out of the power of its ene
mies to degrade him. Nay, more, it was
his duty to secure for himself and his
fellow leaders an asylum where they
might, if practicable, renew the efforts
now abandoned, of establishing a South
ern Republic. And, more than this, it
was his duty to secure the retreat and
safety of his family. There were motives
which fully justified the flight of the ex-
President, even if Mr. Pollard’s account
were strictly correct. But, to show that
Mr. Davis was not ignomiiiiously flying
from the enemy, we quote Mr. Pollard’s
own words :
“Mr. Davis was accompanied at tlie
first stage ot his flight by his family; some
of his personal stall', and three members
of his Cabinet: Gen. Breckinridge, -
retary of War; Mr. Benjamin, Secretary
of State, and Mr. Reagan, Postmaster
General. * * * Arrived at Dan
ville, Mr. Davis issued a proclamation.
* * '* In a few days afterward came
the news of Lee’s surrender; and the
President and his party again saa j
turned their faces to the South. Den.
Breckinridge being despatched to Den.
Johnston’s fines only to bring back to the
party on their route the sorrowful new-'
of his surrender, and to increase the
may of their flight. Pacts teas tnc