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and they have refused my gift, disregard
ed my voice, and turned from Me to
beastly pursuits, wordly gains, unholy
joys. My house shall be filled by other
guests, so even if one dares to draw near,
he can not enter the banquet ball nor
even taste of my supper. * * * *
Can I add anything-to the beauty or to
the terrible meaning of these words ?
Let us, then, beware how we abuse God’s
graces. He gives them graciously, abun
dantly. Ae calls us earnestly and lov
ingly. He invites us tenderly and most
cordially to his feast, but if we heed Him
not, and casting aside His divine invita
tion, turn from Him to pleasure, pride,
or passion*, then may we fear the just
yet awful doom of never again tasting His
mercy or feasting in his love. * * *
Our dear Archbishop Odin is dead. The
venerable Pastor has gone before us to a
better home, and his flock may not even
honor his remains. In his own sunny
France he sleeps at last, and the mother
land that gave him birth gives him back
to God. Peace be to him! Charles
Dickens too is dead, the great people’s
writer. One who in all his pages, ig
nores the providence of God and makes
Lis heroes and heroines lovely in our eyes
for virtues’ sake, but not for 'God’s sake.
He was a good moralist but a very poor
Christian.
City affairs here are the same as ever.
Our pleasant Yankee rulers arc cheat
ing us as amiably as in past months, and
the. weather being very hot, we find it
easier to let them alone than to struggle
against their usurpations. Fairs and
other entertainments for charitable pur
poses are still going on, and like Joe,
iu “Great Expectations,” we can leave
our enemies on the rampage and comfort
many a poor “Pip” with a little more
gffavy.
MONTGOMERY CORRESPONDENCE
OF THE BANNER OF THE SOUTH.
Montgomery, June 25, 2870.
Dear Banner:
A few lines from the Diocese of 310-
bile will not be found amiss in your col
umns; especially when they mention
Father Ryan, so dear to the majority of
your readers. We had the good fortune
of a few days’ visit from the good Father
to our City, and the pleasure of hearing
two sermons from him last Sunday,
m the Catholic Church—in the morning
on the “Holy Eucharist,” and in the al
tcrncon on “Truth.” We fully expected
the rich treat that we enjoyed on each
occasion; but were scarcely prepared to
see so many dissenters present in the
morning, nor the immense congregation
of the elite of the City, that thronged
the Church in the afternoon. Were
Father Ryan a man proac to vanity’, he
could not have refrained from a litttle
self-complacency at the smiles of appro
bation bestowed upon him during the
delivery of his discourses, and encouiums
bestowed upon them subsequently; but
he is too simple in his manner, and too
earnest in his 3laster’s work, to care
for aught but the good his preaching may
effect.
We subjoin an article from one of our
City papers, the “State Journal ” which
considering the political bearing of the
the Editor, does him much credit:
“Reverend Father Ryan.— This gift
ed and eloquent divine and poet preached
twice on Sunday last at St. Peter’s R. C.
church, before an unusually large and
attentive congregation. His fame as a
writer aud poet having preceded him, the
announcement that he would officiate on
that day, was sufficient to ensure a lame
turnout of the literati of our City.
In person he is thin, and weighs not
more than 12G lbs.; about 30 years of
age, 5 feet 8 inches high, little eyes,
brown, curly hair, long, and extending
down over his shoulders, and has regu
lar and finely marked features. Ilis man
ner is pleasant and his delivery easy and
graceful.
The music was presided over by Prof.
Karsh, and we have never heard the
Credo and Gloria better rendered in
this City.
Sunday being within the octave of
Corpus Christi, the Reverend Father
chose for his morning text, “This is My
body,” and confined himself to the dis
cussion of the institution of the Holy
Eucharist. The sermon was an able pre
sontation of the Roman Catholic view of
this sacrament, displaying an amount of
theological erudition that was remarkable
in so young a man. The entire congre
gation manifested pleased appreciation of
the fluent and eloquent discourse, howev
er many of them may have dissented
from its doctrines.
At Vespers, in the evening, Father
Ryan again preached, taking for his sub
ject “Truth.” He handled this theme
with the same force, and showed, if pos
sible, even greater powers of eloquence
and persuasive argumentation than in
the morning. He displayed no signs of
fatigue, though on each occasion he
preached for more tLan an hour, and has
been an invalid for some time.
We are informed that Father Kyan will
deliver a lecture in our City some time
shortly, for some charitable purpose, and
expect a rich literary treat. He left on
the train for Mobile last night, where he
goes to deliver a lecture for the benefit
of the Orphan’s Asylum of that place.”
We understand there is a possibility
of the good Father’s remaining in our
Diocese. Though we may appear selfish,
we hope for the good of Alabama it may
be so.
But Montgomery was not the only city
in Alabama where the voice of a re
nowned Priest drew together an immense
concourse last Sunday. Selma, also,
had a day of jubilation, and one that she
can neyer forget. For the first time she
saw a true Church, with a true Altar,
dedicated to the service of the true God.
It was a glorious day for that growing
place, and its citizens seem fully to ap
preciate it. The Church of the “As
sumption,” built of stone, eighty feet by
forty-five, besides the addition of the
sanctuary and vestry-roorn, a square of
twenty feet, is a beautiful plain Gothic
structure, commodious and neat. It was
dedicated last Sunday by the Rt. Rev.
Bishop Quinlan, and we understand the
largest concourse of people ever called
together in Selma by a religious cere
mony, was seen there on the occasion.
The building of the Church is due to the
interest taken in the place by the good
Bishop, the exertions of the zealous
Father O’Leary, the Pastor, and not a
little to the assistance rendered him by
the energetic Priest of Tuscalooso, Father
McDonough. Those who remember the
oigotry of Selma ten years ago, and wit
nessed the liberality of its citizens during
the construction of the edifice, as well as
their respectful deportment at the laying
of the corner-stone and the dedication,
can well praise the God of Mercies, who
has brought about so happy and encour
aging a change.
A full account of the day’s proceed
ings, as well as a deseripiion of the
church, you will find in the Times &
Messenger of the 21st.
On Wednesday evening the Bishop de
livered a lecture on the Vatican Council
at the request of many Protestant gen
tlemen, for the benefit of the Church.
The attendance was large and re
spectable; and it is hoped Father
O'Leary realized a handsome sum to
wards meeting his liabilities. The pub
lic appreciation of the lecture I dare say
will be, if it has not already been, given
in the City papers. From so gifted a
Prelate nothing inferior could be ex
pected. The Bishop left for Tuscaloosa
on Thursday, and will give Confirmation
in Montgomery on Sunday, the 10th of
July.
You may, some future day, hear again
from your Correspondent.
LETTER FROM GEN-KERSHAW
To the Editor of the Banner of the
South :
?IR : You have seen fit, in the exer
cise of the responsible position of a pub
lic journalist, to brand me with the im
putation of deserting my principles for
the greed of office. Your paper finds
circulation chiefly among those whose
good opinion I value next to the approval
of my own conscience.
Hasty and uncharitable as has been
your attempt to degrade me in the esti
mation of your readers, you cannot, as
a Christian, decline to give me the poor
privilege, wholly inadequate though it be,
to repair the wrong you have done mo,
of recording in your paper a s : mple state
ment of the facts, that my may
draw their own deductions.
There never has been an emotion of
my heart, or a thought of my mind, Dot
entirely in accord with the principles
and opinions which caused me to advo
cate the secession of South Carolina in
1850, to vote for it in 1800, and to offer
my little all for its support, from April,
1861 to April, 1865. That it pleased
God that I should survive the war, indi
cated to me that I had still duties to per
form, aud to them, as responsible to
Him and not unto man, I have been, am
now, and shall henceforward address
myself. I could see but one object before
me, and that was to alleviate, in any and
every honorable way, the sufferings of
my countrymen. It was this sentiment
which induced me, in July, 1865, to ac
cept the parole of President Johnson as
a prisoner ot war, and to take, with my
brother officers at Fort Warren, what is
known as the “Amnesty Oath.” This oath,
which was taken by every voter and every
officer unaer the Provisional Governments
established in the States by President
Johnson, piedg'ed the affiant, thenceforth,
“laithfully to support and defend the
Constitution of the United States aDd
and the union of the States thereunder,”
and in like manner to “abide by and
faithfully support all laws and procla-
MHIfJBLM SlSllSfm
tions which have been made during the
existing rebellion, with reference to the
emancipation of slaves.” When I had
taken that oath, I regarded, that as a citi
zen, duty required me to deal with
emancipation and the surrender of the
right of secession, “as accomplished facts,
having the force and obligation of law.”
When the reconstruction acts imposed
Negro suffrage upon the people of' the
South, I believed that it would be fasten
ed upon us as a permanent feature of the
American Constitution, which required
that, to bring them in harmony with the
Republicanism of other lands. Believ
ing that, I then advocated the policy of
acquiescing in the inevitable, and seek
ing to direct the newly created power,
into just and proper channels, to bring it
in harmony with the social and material
interests "of society as then existing,
rather than to stand idly by and see it
perverted to the most malignant antagon
ism, and the vilest purposes of political
corruption, by foreign adventurers. How
far I was right or wrong, let the annals
of the Scott dynasty in South Carolina,
resting alone upon the votes of the Afri
can, declare.
The people of South Carolina made
no effort to avert or to control the pro
gress of the reconstruction acts. They
contented themselves with denouncing
their iniquity and their unconstitution
ally. Alas! alas! this has not arrested
their progress, An appeal was made
against them to the people of the United
States, in the late Presidential election.
In common with other Democrats, I ap
pealed to the colored people to vote for
their own disfranchisement, but, sad to
tell, they wouldn’t do it. They had not
yet reached that point of sublimated
magnanimity. The majority of the white
people of the country, too, deaf to the
appeals to their pride or prejudice of race,
affirmed the policy and principles of the
reconstruction acts. The Supreme Court
recognized them as law’, and ail the
South “accepted the situation.” The
Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitu
tion, however adopted, has acquired the
form of law—has been accepted as law
m the practice of all the States, and
can never be reversed but by revolution
or repeal. To which of these measures
do you, sir, invite us, as means of main
taining the “Principles of Right, of
Justice, of Truth, which we practiced
and upheld iu the past ?”
What were those principles ? The
Right of Secession ? Undoubtedly
it ivas a Right, but we lost it by the war,
and surrendered it when we accepted '
life, property, and civil law, conditioned
with the amended oath of allegiance.
The Justice of self-government under
the Constitution and laws of our Fathers,
as construed by Calhoun ? When the
perfection of human reason is attained in
the age of millenial glory, I believe wc
may hope for a restoration of that justice.
The Truth that human slavery is con
sistent with Christian morality ? By the
constitutional enactments of the People
of South Carolina, in Convention assem
bled, in 1860, that has been rendered a
mere abstraction, which I care not to dis
cuss.
I know of no party in the South whose
banner is inscribed with the watchwords
“Repeal or Revolution,” and because I
see no hope for South Carolina to escape
1 from grovelling ruin, poverty and de
spair, in any other way, I have aided in
elevating the bloodless banner of “Union
and Reform,” and have at my side,
thank God! the best and bravest of those
who upbore the Conquered Banner, un
til God and reason bade them furl it.
That my friends abroad may judge of the
justice of your criticism, I have (raced my
thoughts in connection with the events of
the past few years, that, they may com
prehend my course in the late Conven
tion. My friends here know that I went
into that Convention to take no leading
part, but to aid in preserving the ancient
landmarks, while promoting the proposed
reform.
In order to do so the more advisedly,
I had endeavored to put iu writing what
I believed to be the principles upon
which those who approached the subject
from our standpoint could invite the" co
operation of the colored people, without
whose assistance the whole movement
was an impracticable absurdity. These
resolutions were forced out in the Con
vention by circumstances. They did
create some “sensation” when read,
chiefly, I have reason to believe, because
they chanced to embody, in guarded lan
guage, what all believed to be the pur
pose of the Convention. Be that as it
may, the fact is they were reported by
the Committee, unanimously adopted bv
the Convention, (with one exception,)
and have received sufficient of friendly
criticism from the Press of this State, to
gratify any petty vanity which their au
thor may have felt in his bantling. He
is at least willing that his friends should
judge him by them. These are the reso
lutions:
“This Convention, representing citi
zens of South Carolina, irrespective of
party, assembled to organize the good
people of the State, in an effort to reform
the present incompetent, extravagant,
prejudiced and corrupt administration of
the State Government, and to establish
just and equal laws, order, harmony, and
economy in public expenditures, a strict
accountability of office holders; and the
election to office only of men of known
honesty and integrity—both declare and
announce the following principles, upon
which men of all parties may unite for
the purposes aforesaid:
“1. The Fifteenth Amendment of the
Constitution of the United States, having
been by the proper authorities proclaim
ed ratified by the requisite number of
States, and having been received and
acquiesced in as law in all the States of
the Union, ought to be fairly administer
ed and faithfully obeyed as fundamental
law.
“2. The vast changes in our system of
Government, wrought by the internation
al war between the two sections of the
country, and following in its train, are so
far incorporated into the Constitutions
and Laws of the States and of the United
States, as to require that they be regard
ed as verities, having the force and obli
gation of law.
“3. This solemn and complete recogni
tion of existing laws brings the people of
South Carolina into entire harmony upon
all questions of civil and political right,
and should unite all honest men in an
earnest and determined effort to estab
lish a just, equal, and faithful administra
tion of the Government, in the interest
of no class or clique, but for the benefit
of a united people.”
If I know what truth is, these declara
tions embody truth, and thus believing,
neither the tODgue of slander, miscon
struction, the falling away of friends,
the vituperation of enemies, the gibbet,
or the stake, can make me unsay them.
To these resolutions as offered by me
in the Convention, was appended the
following, which was stricken out by the
Committee:
“Iu order further to promote the har
mony and success of this movement of
reform,
1 Tie solved, that this Convention nomi
nate for office only members of the Re
publican Party, now’ so largely in the
majority in this State.”
You, sir, can find in these resolutions
that which justifies you in foro conscien
tiae, iu imputing to me a conscious deser
tion of principles, impelled by ‘ the greed
of office.” Will you have the goodness to
explain to your readers how that greed
of office was to be satiated by a resolu
tion, which, by its terms, looked only to
the exclusion from office, not only of
myself, but of all who held similar
opinions ? When you have done that to
your own satisfaction, I beg you to con
sider, with what complacency you may,
that your pen has plumed the most ma
lignant shaft that ever rankled in the
bosom of as true, as consistent, as faith
ful, as disinterested, as devoted a son of
the South, as any who has endured the
agony of her subjugation.
J. B. Kershaw.
Camden, S. C., June 28 th, 1870.
From the New Orleans Star, June 26.
ARCHBISHOP ODIN-
StraDge alternation of joy and sorrow
on the poor human heart! Hardly has
the ray ot gladness which brightened
the faces of the Catholics of this Diocese,
in the appointment of Coadjutor Bishop
in the person of an old and tried friend
in whom the learning and piety of the
churchman are beautifully blended with
the noblest qualities of the patriot and
citizen, than it is eclipsed by the sad in
telligence, long anticipated, but none the
less, painful for being so, that never
again on earth shall they grasp the
friendly hand and hear the paternal voice
of their beloved Archbishop. Iu the
death of Archbishop John 31. Odin re
ligion, though it has gained a martyr,
has lost a confessor; humanity has lost
a benefactor, aDd our poor afflicted coun
try a true and leal friend. With the
ljnging, eager }ea’n ng of the exile, our
good Archbishop piued for his flock in
our beloved Southern land, and until the
last moment almost, he indulged the hope,
growing stronger every hour, in pro
portion to the impossibility of its be
ing realized, that in that dear land his
bones would moulder into doublv kin
dred dust; the dust of the land he had
adopted as his own, and the dust which
in its living forms he bad made kin to
God, in supernaturalizing it by his
sacred ministry. That hope was baffled:
John Mary Odin died where he was
born; like that other John, whose life
could hardly have been more austere, he
died amoDg his own people—the mem
bers of his own family; a confessor by
right, a martyr by merit, but without
the eclat of martyrdom. His was a
strange and eventful life. It was a drama
the causual observer may se 3 little iu
perfect in its minutest details, though the
may see little in its develp
ment to surprise or startle him. The ex
plorer of Missouri’s sombre forests, the
Boc ne sos W estern civilization—those who
first penetrated the frowning wilderness of
the far West—have their Coopers, their
Longfellows, and a host of inferior wri
ters to wed their daring with immor
tality. Father Odin did as much as they
did, and Bishop Odin did much more
than they ever thought or dreampt of
doing; and where is his panegyrist?
Through the vast prairies of Texas; ac
ross those American steppes, the dreary
solitudes of which were unbroken save
by the savage war-whoopjof the Ca
manche or the Arapajo, that humble ser
vent of a Crucified God rode tranquilly
on his mule, undismayed either by the
awful society around him; with no wea
pon but a crucifix, no commission but his
trust in God. Yet with these slender
resources he performed wonders, which
formidable armies have in latter times
covered themselves with ridicule for at
tempting: by his meek influence he
proved to the savage red man that the
white man need not be essentially a
brute, and gave the white man himself,
who came to announce in those regions
the Evangel of lust and the bowie knife,
a lesson *of genuine Christian civiliza
tion. Somebody ought to write the life
of Bishop Odin in Texas. Texas was
because his legitimate mission;
and some veteran Texan ought to give
us the minutest particulars which a m : s
sion so fruitful of good to human nature
can furnish.
As to ourself, we confess our utter iu
competency for the task, for all we know
of our late venerable Archbishop is
derived not so much from our acquain
tance with him here as from his glorious
record in the diocese immediately to the
West of us. Here it was either our mis
fortune or our privilege to differ with him
oa many points wherein unity of Faith
or uniformity of discipline was not con
cerned: there we saw in him only the
self-sacrificing, fearless missionary, who
might vie with St. Paul himself in his
tribulations; while in both dioceses we
can claim for him that combination so
rare in modern times, of the inde
fatigable zeal of the Apostle with
the severe austerity of the anchorite
and the augelic meekness of the
reclus \
More ample details of a career so
edifying and beneficent we reserve for a
future article, in the composition of
which we shall be aided by the leisure
an 1 information but imperfectly at our
disp sal now. We will not close this ar
ticle, however, without recording our ad
miraticn for the last official act in Arch
bishop Odin’s life. Before the Council of
the \ atican convened, and consequent
ly long before the engrossing question of
Papal Infallibility had assumed the
proportions which it subsequently at
tained to; uninfluenced by the intrigues,
more worthy of a politcian than of pre
lates, of some his compeers in the
Hierarchy, our good Archbishop clung
steadfastly to the Rock of Peter, while
they, unasked, bowed in abject subser
vientcy to the unexpressed, and most
probably unimplied behests of the sec
ular p;>w r. When he obtained leave
to retire from Rome, he was evidently in
a dying condition, but before he with
drew, he ascended for the last time the
steps of the A atican, and registered his
Credo in the hands of the earthly Vicar
ol that Divine Pastor, to whom he was so
soon to render an account of the flock
entrusted to his pastoral solicitude.
Death of the Father of Bishop
Lynch. —Mr. Conlaw Lynch the, father
ot Bishop P. N. Lynch, and theoldest citi
zen of Ciieraw, died in that town on Fri
day the ‘27th of May. He was a native of
Ireland, but had been in this country for
a number of years. For some time he
had beeu in lecble health, and though
his early dissolution must have been an
ticipated, the saddest consideration is
that he should have died just before the
return of his venerable and distinguish
ed son from the Ecumenical Council at
Rome, who was thus prevented seeing
his father in the last moments of life. The
deceased was aged 97 years, 7 months
and 10 days.— Charleston Courier.
The General Amnesty Bill.—The
Reconstruction Commutee have agreed to
report the General Amnesty bill. Mr.
Beck was authorized to other a substitute
prepared by him granting un:onditioca
amnesty to all but persons belonging to
the excepted classes enumerated in Bat
or's bill, tLus dispensing with the sec
tions relating to rights of property and
title to pioperty variously acquired during
the war. It was agreed that if the House
preferred his bill, Butler should ask its
postponement until next December.
3