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EEV. A. J. RYAN, Editor
’ AUGUSTA, Ga., APRIL 17, 1869.
ALL SUBSCRIPTIONS AND
B USINESS LETTERS FOR THE “BAN
NER OF THE SOUTH” SHOULD BE
ADDRESSED TO THE PUBLISHERS -
L. T. BLOME & CO.
THE SPIRIT OF THE AGE,
It is the part of revoluntaiy times to
abound in fine words. Generally they
are sueh as do not admit of precise de
finition but this is all the better. Mag
nificence is more desired than accuracy,
on that principle of human nature which
easts the glamour of imagination into the
regions of the unknown, and so that the
words have a line, sonorous, catching
ring in them tiie secret instigators of
revolution care very little whether they
mean anything or no. Thus in the time
of the French Revolution there were
foisted into public use a perfect legion
of high-sounding cloudy terms, as
equality, rights of man, incivism, aris
tocracy, Roman virtue, and so on, all of
which passed current, as pure gold and
yet beneath them the merciless steel of
the guillotine put brave soldiers, noble
gentlemen, learned professors, upright
Priests, and lovely ladies alike to a hor
rid death. In our own day we have seen
other vague and gorgeous terms evoked
to serve the purposes of villainy. To the
one undefinablc word of loyalty alone
very near a half million of brave men
owe their and ath and since the sword
ceased to wave the term manhood suf.
frage has come in vogue as the shield
and cover for some of the most unman
ly and dastardly oppressions and disfran
chisements that were ever meted out by
the strong unto the weak.
And now, to weaken that resistance
winch is made to the consummation of
tyranny, to make it appear that it is
hopeless, and not only hopeless but wicked
to oppose the wild vagaries of fanaticism,
we are told that the Spirit of the Age
is against us But what is this spirit of
the age ! Is it not, after all, when you
take it by the throat, the mere opinion
of other men who differ in opinion from
you ? And if other men’s opinions are
the Spirit of the age why are not your
opinions the spirit of the age, too? These
fellows tell us that all men are equal,
and, to meet them on their own ground,
if this be so why is not our Spirit of the
Age as good as theirs ? Their opinion
is that we should abase ourselves at their
feet, confess that we have horribly sinned,
and entreat to be forgiven. Our opin
ion is that they arc vile, insulting scoun
drels to even dare to mention such a
thing to the free-born descendants of a
race of men that have dethroned Kings.
So much then for this spirit of the age
It is a device to make it appear that the
whole world is against ns and that we
are at once impudent and sinful to stand
out against the offended sentiment of all
Christendom, And yet the very crea
tures who thus assume to speak for both
hemispheres were on a late occasion only j
> ived from utter and absolute overthrow j
in one comer of the globe by bringing i
to their aid thp squalid ignorance of
divers hundreds of thousands of strand
sons and great grandsons of wild Afri
can snake worshippers and cannibals.
The Spirit of the Age indeed? When
all Europe is ringing with sneers at that
blackguard despotism * which sits en
throned at Mashicgton; when at home
its great vice is the slave’s vice, theft
and abroad its ministers are a tripartile
mixture of the clown, the sycophant, and
the meddler, is this a time to invoke
agaiust others the awful ban of being
hosles humani generis ? The spirit of
the age, if indeed there be any accurate
meaning in that phrase, is not local but
general, not born of merely factitious in
cidents but generated deep in the salient
sentiments of the human heart, and to
such a tribunal and such a judge, the
South can advance with a smile upon her
lips-
THE CONDITIONS THE SOUTH-
If the South were let alone, her recu
perative energies are such, that, despite
the ruin which has been wrought in her
midst, she w r ould soon acquire her wonted
prosperity and influence in the land. But
the venom of Radical hate and revenge
is not to be satisfied. The “party” must
be kept in power at any cost, and at any
sacrifice; therefore, the rod must be held
"in terrorem ” over us, and our people
be forced to yield up even their honor to
their exacting masters. This policy it is
that is keeping our unhappy section in
poverty and apathy. The people haven’t
the heart to enter into any industrial en
terprise, and Northern capitalists are
afraid to embark in anything that will
devolop or improve the resources of this
section. Everything is too unsettled for
the present, and the future too uncertain.
But this state ol things, it is to be hoped,
will not last much longer. Onr people
have borne patiently and submissively
all that has been heaped upon them; and
we are of the opinion that the most mod
erate and conservative of the Republi
cans a;e satisfied with their conduct.
Numbers of Northern men have visited
our section the past winter and have been
delighted with our climate, soil, and
manufacturing facilities, and the result
will, no doubt, be, in time, an influx of
citizens and an application of capital to
practical purposes. These men should
use their influence in inducing Congress
to let us alone. It is to their interest as
well as ours. We want peace. We want
to recuperate. We want prosperit}-. Let
us alone, is all we ask; and soon capital
will flow hither, our resources be devel
oped, and all sections of the Union feel
the benefit of the grand result.
“ROMANISM AND FREE SCHOOLS”
There is published in the City of At
lanfa a paper called the Methodist Advo
cate. It is not, as far as we can judge,
the organ of any Christian denomination,
but of a political sect known as the Me
thodist Episcopal Church North. It is
an organ of that generous, liberal asso
ciation which declared, in one of its sol
emn conclaves, that its Southern co-reli
gionists had no rights, and that all the
church property of the South was forfeited
and subject to confiscation by the afore
said Methodist Episcopal Church North,
as the property of Rebels generally
was subject to confiscation by the Gov
ernment. The whole course of this sect
towards the South has been marked by
venom and hatred. And uow t , forsooth,
because the venerable Head of the Catho
lic Church, in h»s love of justice and
sympathy for the suffering South, gave
a kindly greeting to the messenger of
President Davis, and because the Catho
lic press of the country condemned the
war as unjust and impolitic, and because
the Catholics of the country have allied
themselves with the party of Constitu
tional Liberty and State Sovereignty, it
vents its spleen against the Catholic
Church in volleys of falsehood and vol
umes of misrepresentation. We might
possess ourselves in patience, and pass
the wicked and malicious slanders of the
Methodist Advocate by unnoticed, and
with the contempt which they deserve ;
but, perhaps, some of our people whose
good opinions ana respect we value,
might mistake that journal as an organ
of a religious denomination, and be mis
led by its stupid falsehoods and mali
cious misrepresentations. For this rea
son we shall undertake to substitute facts
for its assertions, and to correct its fool
ish blunders. We, therefore, give in
another place its article in full, and pro
ceed to answer its questions here:
It calls the Church of Rome a ‘-gigan
tic barrier to modern civilization” and
adds: “Why has not Rome educated the
people of Italy, Spain, Cuba, and Mexi
co?” We might be satisfied with asking,
why has not the “Methodist Church
North” educated the people of the North?
We venture the assertion, and we defy
any proof to the contrary, that there is
vastly more ignorance and crime at the
North to-day than there is in any of
the Catholic countries which the Advo
cate has named. There may be free
schools there; but they are godless
schools, where education is perverted and
the falsehoods of history and misrepre
sentations of this section of the Union
are 4he chief branches of instruction.
There may be churches there, but num
bers of them are godless churches, where
a political philosophy is preached, and a
perverted religion practised. Why rot
educate the people there ? Why not look
at your own doors and correct your own
evils, before you undertake to teach others
and to correct the imaginary evils of
others? But let this pass. We shall
proceed to answer our very courteous
and liberal-minded cotemporary's ques
tion: Rome has done its share, not only
to educate the people of Italy, Spain,
Cuba, Mexico, and Ireland, but those of
the whole world; and if it were not for
Rome, the Advocate would not to-day
have that Bible which it professes so
strongly to venerate, but which it as
strongly ignores in its daily practice.
We quote now from Protestant authority
Perhaps it will have more weight with
our cotemporary. An eminent Scotch
Presbyterian, in his “Notes of a Travel
ler says:
“The comparative education of the
Scotch clergy of the present generation,
that is to say their education compared
to that of the Scotch people, is unques
tionably lower than that of the Popish
clergy compared to the education of
their people. * # * * In Catholic
Germany, in France, Italy, and even in
Spain, the education of she common
people in reading, writing, arithmetic,
music, manners, and morals is at least
as generally diffused and as faithfully
promoted by the clerical body as in Scot
land. * * * Education is not only
not repressed but is encouraged by the
Popish Church, and is a mighty instru
ment in its hands, and ably used. * *
* In every street in Rome, for instance,
there are at short distances public pri
mary schools for the education of the
children of the lower and middle classes
in the neighborhood. Rome, with a
population of 158,678 souls, has 372
public primary schools, with 482 teach
ers, and 14,098 children attending them.
* * * Beilin, with a popula
tion about double that of Rome, has only
264 schools. Rome has also her Univer
sity, with an average attendance of 660
students; and the Papal States, with a
population of 2,500,000 (in 1846) con
tain seven Universities. Prussia, with
a populadion of 14,000,000, has but
seven."
Is Rome doing nothing to educate the
people ? We ask our readers to bear in
mind that this is the testimony of a Pro
testant writer, but one also who bad edu
cation and liberality, and a sense of
justice, characteristics which, we greatly
fear, do not belong to the writer in the
Advocate.
Education, is indeed, the handmaid of
the Catholic Church. She wishes the
people to be educated. Look at the
Catholic Universities, Colleges, Acade
mies, and Parochial Schools scattered
broadcast over the world. Wherever
Rome builds a church the school house is
sure to follow. Her Sisters of Charity,
her Christian Brothers, her Jesuits—are
all workers in the great cause of educa
tion. Oxford and Cambridge are the
creations of Rome. The great Univer
sities of France, of Spain, of Italy, are
Catholic. Popular education itself is a
Catholic idea. The American Cyclope
dia, in its article on “Common Schools,”
says;
“After the introduction of Chris
tianity, and its accession to power, the
duty of the authorities to educate the
young teas speedily recognized by the
Bishops and clergy. The object of this
was, of course, their training in the doc
trines of Christianity, but it was the first
recognition of the duty of giving in
struction to the masses. As early as
A. I)., 529 we find the Council of Vairon |
recommending the establishment of pub
lic schools. In 800 a Synod at Mentz
ordered that the parochial Priests should
have schools in the towns and villages,
that ‘the little children of the faithful
should learn letters from them. Let
them receive and teach them with the
utmost charity, that they themselves may
shine forever. Let them receive no re
muneration from their scholars, uuless
what the parents, through charity, may
voluntarily offer.’ ”
A council at Rome in 1836, or
dained that there should be three
kinds of schools throughout Chris
tendom: Episcopal, parochial in towns
and villages, and others wherever there
could be found place and opportunity.
The Council of Lateran, in 1179, or
dained the establisment of a grammar
school in every Cathedral tor the gratu
itous instruction of the poor. This or
dinance was enlarged and enforced by
the Council of Lyons, in 1245. Thus
originated the popular or common
schools, as an outgrowth of the Chris
tian Church.”
And the Cyclopedia is not a Catholic
publication. Its testimony, therefore,
ought to be acceptable to our cotempora
rv. It shows that not only is Rome
not opposed to education, but that it is
her handmaid and the free school her
offspring. We trust that this fact will
not make the common school system ob
jectionable to our brethren of the Me
thodist Episcopal Church North. What
has Rome done? Have we not shown
enough to satisfy any candid interroga
tor that she has done an immense amount
of good in the cause of education ? We
ask where is there a more educated and
refined nation than that of France ?
where a more polished and educated peo
ple than those of Spain? If Ireland is
down trodden and her people kept in ig
norance is it not the iault of Protestant
England ? All that has been done for
education in Ireland, Rome has done it;
and the Catholic Colleges of that coun
try have added the brightest ornaments
to Britain’s galaxy of illustrious names.
In Literature, in Science, in Art, in
Poetry, in War, Catholic Irishmen have
won imperishable renown and reflected
back the glorious lustre which they bor
rowed from generous Rome. And in
Italy—classic Italy, beneath whose sun
ny skies, and amidst whose gorgeous
works of Art dwells the venerable Suc
cessor of Peter, education is as free as
the mountain air which circles around
its towering Appenines. In Mexico, she
may not have achieved the tuiumph
which has marked her onward course
elsewhere. But there, she had adverse
circumstances to deal with, circumstances
which will prevent not only Catholi
cism but Protestantism from winnning
it to civilization. But everywhere else
we can point with confidence and pride
to her progress. Everywhere, she has
“taken the people by the hand, and led
them to a true Christian civilization.”
Everywhere she is still working for the
Clory of God, the salvation of souls, and the
amelioration of mankind. Her banner
is indeed the banner of peace and the
banner of civilization. It is the banner
of the Cross, beneath whose pure white
folds she is moving onward in the glorious
path marked out for her. Envy, malice,
and misrepresentation may assail her on
every side; but her Divine Lord and
Master bore them all with patience and
humility, as she, to-day, bears them also,
with patience and humility; and amidst
them all she moves forward peacefully, and
quietly, but actively and surely, cheered
and consoled by the unchanging promise
of her Lord to be and “abide with her
all days, even to the consummation ot
time,”
We are not done with the subject vet.
It is of too muc!i importance to pass with
such notice os the brief limits of a news
paper article will permit. Hence we
shall pursue it further, and answer our
venomous brother on every point. We
have already shown that the Church of
Rome is the friend and patron of educa
tion We shall show, too, that she is the
advocate and protector of Liberty, and
that she has led the van of civilization in
the march of time. And so she shall
continue to preach, to teach, and to prac-'
t ee. until the Church militant shall fir.
come the Church triumphant, and this
despite the falsehoods of her enemies
and the misrepresentations of ignorant
minds.
ROMANISM AND FREE SCHOOLS,
We arc told that the Romanists of this
city are about to open a free school Li
the general education of colored children
To one acquainted with the history of
this ecclesiastical choke-damp, this (j os .
pel swindle, the announcement will ap
pear both surprising and contradictory!,
surprising that Rome should indicate an
appreciation of the wants of this people
and a contradiction of the history and
philosophy of this gigautie barrier to
modern civilization- Such questions as
these involuntirily occur to the mind:
Why has not Rome educated the people
of Italy, Spain, Cuba, and Mexico? Why
can it not point to a country, city, town
ship, or a single acre of the earth’s wide
surface, where, during the centuries of its
sway, the people— the mass of the people
—have been elevated, educated, and en
ergized by the power of Rome ? There
is not such an example in mountain ni
val ley, in the old world or new, on island
or continent. Rome believes in schools
for training Priests and Nuns—
more.
The main feature of the Society of
Jesus, or Order of Jesuits was educational;
but the character of that education was
as above stated. The Reformation was
strangled by the Roman system of
schools, which are far better calculated to
kili than cultivate thought. Tiiat Church
never has, and never will, unless re
formed, converted, and purified ns by
fire, take the people of any laud by the
hand and lead them to a true Christian
civilization. It is not in the nature of
things that it should. Even in this
country, Catholic schools, receiving often
much of public and Protestant favor, are
little else than adroit, unseen, but myste
riously fatal efforts at proselytism. Then
system of instruction is well calculated to
inspire great regard for the Church, but
not to enlarge and invigorate mind.
Rome teaches that all educational insti
tutions and efforts belong to the Church,
to be used in perpetuating itself, and
bolding the people in subserviency to
Pope and Priest. Freedom of thought
and liberty of conscience are fatal to its
schemes. Catholic education is to the
mind what the Chinese shoe is to the
foot—dwarfing and crippling, rather than
developing and strengthening Rome
does not intend, wish or try to elevate,
ennoble and free any people under the
sun. We ask again: Why has it
not done this in Ireland, -Spain, Cuba
—in at least one place in all its
multitude of realms ? We repeat
the assertion : It does not try or want to
do this. Its philosophy is, Ignorance is
the mother of Devotion. Tax and tor
ture are the Urim and Thummim of the
Church of Rome. It would burn the
Bibles, school books and free school
houses of the world in a week, if it hud
the power.
Romanism hates personal and political
freedom as much as it does freedom of
thought. It would deny tire Declaration
of independence, tear the ConstitutiuD
into shreds, and revoke the Proclamation
of Emancipation in an hour, if it could.
We are told that Father Ryan, in his
public speeches and otherwise, avows his
belief that the late rebellion is only sup
pressed for a time; that the stars and
bars will yet wave triumphantly over the
South. And this Church now proposes
to educate the colored people ! profess -s
undying love to the rebellion and great
interest in the education of the colored
people at the same time ! llow wise,
how sharp to be caught by either plea ?
Then, this school is for colored chil
dren ! Every one acquainted with the
facts knows that the Roman Catholics, as
a people, are inveterate and bitter haters
of the colored race. In the anti draft
riots in New York they hung color -J
men to lamp-posts in the city, burned an
asylum for colored orphan children, and
brutally murdered colored people in the
streets, simply because they wen- color and
and because the war was likely to tr
them. Unless Rome had selfish interests
in the case, it would not teach a colood
man letters for a thousand years to couie.
We appeal to fact, to history, m ju-tific
lion oi the opinion.
Why has it not done something Lr
this race in those places where it ha.'
iiad the most favorable opportune-.-.' All
its educational efforts are only schemes
of proselytism, followed by taxation ti -
most intolerable. The Methodist L;
copal Church has done a hundred times
more for the elevation and happiness
mankind in a hundred years than has
Romanism in a thousand. It will be a
sorry day for the colored people when
clutches of Rome are fastened upon tneir
flesh. — Methodist Advocate.