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About The banner of the South. (Augusta, Ga.) 1868-1870 | View Entire Issue (July 9, 1870)
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
