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VOL. 111.
[From the Picayune.]
Heart-Flowers.
BY PERDITA.
“Thanks to the human heart by which
we live—
Thanks to its tenderness, its joys, its
fears;
To me the meanest flower that blows can
give
Thoughts that do often lie too deep for
tears.”
Out in the twilight shadows,
Gleaming purple and amber and gray.
W e sat in the mystic gloaming,
And gathered a sweet boquet;
Bound up the lillies an 1 roses,
With voilets purple and blue,
But did not forget the daisies—
Simple and sweet and true.
Twenty years have glided by swiftly.
With their summer and autumn rain,
Bringing their blushing Verbina,
A\ ith roses and Pansies again
To-night 1 take from my drawer
Yellow leaflet all withe cd away,
Tis the same sweet olden heart-offering—
That scentless and faded boquet.
llow like to each fluttering stream
Was my heart, oh, bonny sweet flowers;
Now the lily’s parle shining leaflets
Is the ghost of those bright, lost hours!
The violet’s tearful eyes gleaming
As blue as the truthful sky.
Was my soul’s most innocent dreaming
Too pure—so it flitted by ?
Now I brush out the vacant old drawer,
And hide my poor blossoms away;
The pain is all gone, and the parting,
But ah, my heart is so gray !
Oh, flowers, don't look with such mean
ing
k rom your life's white stainless bier,
Speaking, by silence, so mutely,
Os all i have lost from here !
Don't tell of the dear, dead fingers
That gathered and gave you to me;
My heart o'er that tombstone lingers,
V here lies buried life’s flower, and—
thee ’
And memory leans on the marble,
Twined with sad liilies pale,
And raises her blue eyes meekly
To her God—He’ll never fail !
PRANCE AND PRUSSIA.
WHY PROTESTANT AMERICA SHOULD SYM
PATHIZE WITH PROTESTANT GERMANY
IN* HER TRESENT STRUGGLE WITH CATHO
LIC FRANCE.
To the Editor of the Xashville Repub
lican Banner:
“Editors vaguely account this man
(Frederick the Great) ‘the creator of the
Prussian monarchy,’ which has since
grown so large in the world and trouble
some lo the editorial mind in this and
other countries. He was, indeed, the
first who, in a highly public manner, noti
fied its creation, announced to all men
hat it was in very deed created, stand
ing on its feet there, and would go a great
way there on the impulse it bad got irom
him and others, as it has accordingly done
and may still keep doing to lengths lit
tle dreamed of by the British editor in
our time.— [Carlyles Frederick the
Great.
Since the declaration of American In
dependence there has happened no event
that promises so much for the cause of
humanity as the war now waging between
I ranee and the North German Cor fede
ration. The wily, selfish ruler of the
French people, blinded by his selfishness
and egotism, has unwittingly made him
sell a tool to unite together the deep- j
hearted, earnest Germans in a determin
ed effort to overthrow Bonapartism and
Popery, and all the quackeries and diabol
isms appropriately included under those
two terms, and to secure the triumph and
establishment of republicanism and free
thought in Europe, The defeat of Bona
parte establishes in France the Republic;
it hurls from Rome the supreme Quack
and Hierarch of men; it unites the Ger
man tribes under one common govern
ment, and thereby secures to enlightened
Nineteenth Century Protestantism and
progressive human thought, a potent
ally and representative on the continent.
“Whom the gods wish to destroy, they
first make mad.” This selfish, shallow
man, Napoleon is infatuated and blinded
jby the worldly success of his family. He
; claims France lor his own, in fee simple.
; Like a lost animal picked up by some
farmer and branded with his brand, and
from long use claimed as his own, such
is France to him. Every government
building in France is branded with the
letter N. Every bridge across the Sffine
at Paris is branded with the letter N.
The wonderfully rich and magnificent
new opera-house in Paris glitters all over
with golden letter N’s. France is burned
aud stamped to the flesh with the letter
N, so that all the world may know that
she belongs to the Napoleons. French
men have protested against this, against
this foe simple claim of property in them
and their country. And this is the real
meaning of the present war. A strong,
sober Republican party has grown up of
late years in France, opposed to the Na
poleonic dynasty, opposed every to dynastic
form of government. The wily Emperor
sees this, seems himself growing old, an 1
knows that in the event of his death his
son, who is yet quite tender in years,
will meet will great difficulty aud oppo
sition in placing himself on the throne.
Therefore, the schemer seizes a flimsy
pretext and plunges the country into a
terrible, devastating war, thereby hoping
to arouse and enlist in his behalf the
martial enthusiasm of the French people,
for which they are proverbial all the
world over—plunges France into a
bloody war with her life-long enemy.
Why has France been the life-long enemy
of both England and Germany ? Because
they represent the antipodes of human
nature. Because God and Nature made
the one light-hearted and skeptical, and
the other two deep-hearted and religious.
Yes, religious, despite the ignorant sneers
ab ut German infidelity and atheism from
the mouths of men who know no more
of the German character and German
literature than they do of Sanscrit. I
assert the German people to be eminently
a devout, earnest, religious people. Tncy
gave to the world a Protestant Reforma
tion; neither did they stop there, content
with what they had already done. Luther
never expected them to stop there. God
did not make the world and then let it
run round his little finger. All of hu
man thought and progress cannot be
extracted from God by any one man or
any one generation of men. Germany
has advanced since the Reformation.—
The literature of Germany of late years
is the literature of Europe. Nowhere
can there be found so deep, and true, and
devout a literature this side of the old
Hebrew literature. Men who fear human
thought, who lift up their hands in holy
horror when other men dare to doubt
long established theories, who are afraid
ot tree, houest inquiry, are men who I
think have been of but very little use to
the world. Galileo was a doubter, and
was condemned by this class, yet even
they will now admit the world moves.
There never was a great thought born
in the world, or a great deed done in the
world that was not the product of inquiry
and doubt. “There lives more faith in
honest doubt, believe me, than in half the
creeds. But surely this is a strange
charge to bring against Germany, in be
half of France, the land of Voltaire, and
Rousseau, where, only a few years back,
AUGUSTA, Gj±., SEPTEMBER 3, 1870.
was written over every cemetery “Death
is an eternal sleep.” Yet it has been
brought against her, and is being brought
against her every day. No, Germany,
of the two, does not deserve that this
charge should be brought against her,
and least of all by Protestant Americans,
Germany stands alone on the Continent
the representative of enlightened Protest
antism, the representative of progressive
human thought, whereas Fiance is the
backbone of Popery, upholding with her
bayonets for many years past the old de
crepid quack of a Pope, against the wishes
of the Italian people. Even now those
soldiers have been withdrawn, for they
are needed elsewhere, and the universal
Papa of Christendom trembles at the ap
proaching tramp of the avengers of blood,
the soldiers of free human thought No,
Protestant Germany docs not deserve
this sneer from Protestant America, for
she is the only Protestant power on the
Continent, boldly representing Protest
antism there against Roman Catholic
Franco, Austria, Italy and Spain. All
Protestants, all the woild over, should
rejoice to see the day at last arrive when
Protestantism will have a great, mighty
nation, no longer divided but now united,
to plead and represent her cause on the
Continent. The Roman Catholics of
Ireland, the Roman Catholics everywhere,
tumultuously extend to Catholic France
the right hand of sympathy and fellow
ship. And will the Protestants of Ameri
ca unite with them against their great
Protestant ally and sister, Germany ? I
cannot believe it.
It is not my wish to write one word
ag'aiust France or the French people. I
believe that it will prove better for France
aud the French people, if in the present
struggle Germany should triumph. lam
not for any one nation, but I am for that
cause, with all my heart, whose success
I believe will redound to the best, the
highest interest of humanity. And I be
lieve there are many Frenchmen who
feel thus likewise, who sincerely desire
the overthrow of the Bonapartes, the
unification of Germany. It is not my
wish to speak a word disparagingly of
the French people. I know that they arc
a brave, gallant, high-toned race, but no
more so than the Germans. I don’t wish
to judge men, or even race3 of men,
though God knows the great German
race, the race that gave to "the world the
Reformation, the printing press, a litera
ture second to none on the earth, have no
reason to fear a comparison. A deep
hearted, a deep-brained, quiet, earnest,
devout race of men, not perhaps superfi
cially or outwardly polite, but courteous,
and hospitable, and singularly kind. Dur
| ing a six months stay in Germany, I had
; ample opportunity to note the simple,
unaffected, cheerful character of the
peasantry. They never tired of doing
kind, unobtrusive favors. And I wish to
bear them this testimony, now, that a
more cheerful, smiling, intelligent, hos
pitable people -it has never been my lot
to see on all this earth They are all re
quired to attend school for a certain time,
and consequently are all more or less
educated.. But the highest school they
are required to attend, from which no
class is exempt, from which no amount of
money can buy exemption, is the army.
Rich and poor alike must serve three
years in the army, unless a college diplo
ma exempt them, or rather reduces it to
one year. The country peasant is con
scripted and made to serve three years
iu the army. At the end of that time he
is returned with confirmed habits of order,
and cleanliness, and sobriety. Thus all
the inhabitants are cleanly, and sober,
and industrious iu their appearance.
The reason why Protestant America
should sympathize with aud favor Protest
a.it Germany in her present struggle
with Catholic France is, that Germany
represents Protestantism, represents the
advanced thought cf the world, represents
the cause and the hopes of humanity.
Frank Reid.
THE OTHER SIDE.
NO RELIGIOUS ASPECTS TO THE EUROPEAN
WAR.
To the Editor of the Nashville Repub
lican Banner :
As Irish-born, and therefore Catholic,
but Tennesseean by rearing, education
and prejudice, ailow me a few words in
response to Frank Reid, Esq. Error
has become so bold that it were criminal
for truth to be hidden longer.
Queerest amoug the accidents of this
war has been the uproarious sympathy
of our German brethren for Prussia—the
synonym of despotism. Since Wil
helm’s advent to the throne, the stream
of German immigration has increased
daily until, of late, it has exceeded even
that from dewn-tredden Ireland. Twenty
years ago, the bulk of refugees from
European oppression were Irish. To
day the stream from France, or England,
or Scotland, or Italy, or even vexed
Spain, is the merest driblet. But the
Germans—and throe out of four North
Germans—have been fleeing by the
thousands. And now our new-fledged,
freedom-shrieking American citizens
turn round to kiss the hand that drove
them from Fatherland! Imagine Irish
men besieging the rostrum to proclaim
their sympathy with the government
whose allegiance they have forsworn!
The Hessian, the Hanoverian, the Frank
furter, even the Prussian himself
stands in just this predicament. How,
explain?
Well, if the truth must out, these
philosophic Germans do not understand
the American idea of freedom, nor do
they appreciate our institutions. Watch
them, and you will find as a rule, that
the Prussian sympathizer in our midst
was lately a sympathizer in the crusade
against free States on our own soil, and
is to-day a Radical. Put a pin there.
They are apt samples of the Continental
Liberals and Republicans, whom some
American editors praise because they
know so little about them. But we
mustn’t breathe this in public, forsooth;
because the German vote is needed in the
coming elections. The Radicals will
tickle them by sympathy for Prussia.
And it won’t do for Democrats to prick
this sympathetic bubble. So we go; and
through policy, the American people
will never be told the other side, be
cause there are no French votes to
catch.
But this attempt of Mr. Reid to cipher
out a war of religions will never do. Os
the 800,000 who have thus far so
valiantly upheld the Prussian standards,
over COO,OOO are Catholics. I doubt if
there be more of the practical sort on
the French siJe. If ic were a religi
ous war Prussia could not hold her own
together.
Bismarck is wiser than that. In
proof, allow me to relate an anecdote of
Sadowa: On the eve of that eventful
conflict, the Catholic Prussian soldiers
were afforded every opportunity to se
cure rites o r their religion in prepara
tion for death. They threw themselves
upon the foe amid the prayers and ben
isons of a host of Jesuits. Y r es, nothing
less than Jesuits -would suit Bismarck,
the now vaunted defender of the Prostet
tant faith.
And on the other side, at Sadowa,
how did so-called Catholic Austria treat
the religious yearning of her soldiery in
the hour of mortal peril? In all Austria no
one could suit the blundering Vienna
cabal as Commander-in-Chief but the
Protestant Benedek. And he, in an in
discriminate order, like one of Grant's
on the Tennessee, had ostracised the
clergy from the army with the camp fol
lowers and bummers. The result wa3
the Prussian Catholics fought like im
mortals, while the Austrians threw
clown their arms. History tells the
result.
So much for Austria as a Catholic
power. Americans are liable to be
misled by names. And France is no
more so. ’Tis only this past Spring
tnat Antoneili told Daru in plain terms
chat the Government he represented was
not a Catholic or a Christian power—
that its representatives could have all the
courtesies that Rome extended to Mus
selman Turkey—and no more! Both
France and Austria wanted represen
tatives in the Ecumenical Council, but
they were told to mind their own busi
ness. Vienna takes her revenge by
abjlishing the Concordat—that is. iu
plain English, violating a solemn treaty.
Napoleon ! takes his revenge by with
drawing his pitiful contingent—-a hand
ful of soldiers, not sufficient to garrison a
barracks.
And Napoleon is the champion of
Popery, says Mr. Reid. In the same
breath he tells of a Pope trembling at
his approaching doom, because the
Frenchman has abandoned him! This
view will never do. Napoleon, who
abandened the Catholic Maximilian—
who has, by his secret machinations,
made a chaos ot Catholic Spain—who a
few years since sacrificed the bulk of the
Pontifical States to ill governed, tax,
oppressed Italy—-who a few days since,
and before disaster came upora him, sold
the Pope himself to the excommunicated
Victor Emanuel, in return for barren
good will—who is batt’ing at great odds
to-day to prevent the Catholic Leopo’d
from ruling a Catholic people—this Na
poleon, the nephew of his uncle, the
champion of Popery! Heaven keep us
out of the mad-house, when we imagine
u
such a tiling. Wily, selfish, blind, vain,
ambitious, incompetent, a charlaten, a
parvenu—Louis Napoleon is all these
as the whole world can see, since he has
been unmasked —but champion of
Popery, never. He has vainly striven to
follow the footsteps of His uncle. Let us
in charity hope that he may iu the
end have at least like leisure for repen
tance.
We are told this war hurls from
Rome-the supreme Quack and Hierarch
of men. Well, that has beeu the aim of
over-wcening ambition, from Frederick
Barbarossa down to the Bonapartes. And
the Hierarch has been hurled from
Rome time and again; but he returns as
sure as the morning sun; and on mere
human speculation, judging the future
by the checkered past, that dynasty will
exist when Bonapartes and Hoheuzol
lerns are lost iu the twilight of Ghen»is
Khan.
W o arc further told this war estab
lishes in France the Republic. One
might imagine that the world has had
enough of the French republic. It is
such a “strong, sober, republican” in
stitute m!
But let Mr. Bcid glance over his ar
ticle again with me. What does lip
mean by “Protestant America.” I am
a Roman Catholic; have I not as much
interest in this country as he? Is it
not my country as much as his, and the
country of my religion as well as his,
in its hitherto perfect freedom of con
science? If not, give me back my Bri
tish citizenship, where the established
religion is restrained by law. For tLi-:
religion of Mr. Reid breathes of Mahon
et’s style of propagandist!!. The su
cess of Prussia secures to Protestant ir*--
a potent ally, says he. How potent?
By the sword? Shall the conqueror
dictate his relig on to the conquered? Or,
would he have men change their religion
like a garment, to make grace with
power? Or does he advocate the merging
ot Church and State? NVe have lately
been hoping that England would abolish
that relic of the Reformation, as France
has already virtually dme by supporting
all creeds alike.
We are told that the highest school
iu Prussia is the army—that rich and
poor must serve alike. Is this the
highest .-.eh X iu his creed? Is this a
part of hu iCiigion! Does he indorse
No. 25.
»
