Newspaper Page Text
2
liable on that account to all the awful
consequences of an unjust war. The
Northern hordes who invaded tho
Roman Empire spared no age, nor sex,
committed everything to the flames,
and established their abode in the
place of those whom they had mur
dered and driven away. But they
were barbarians, and the most bar
baroufe of them—tho Vandals—havo
left their name a by-word, the symbol
of cruelty and barbarity. War should
not be waged in that manner among
civilized nations, among Christian
communities, much less among people
of the same origin, of the same lan
guage, and lately in so close fellow
ship. War is not an open field for
brigands, is not the enthronization of
arson, murder and pillage, and one
who would not observe certain rules of
moderation, even in a just war, would,
or at least should, be placed under the
ban of nations. Let me ask you, my
friends, whether those rules of mod
eration which are sanctioned by the
laws of nations in civilized warfare
have been observed ? What are we to
think of the act confiscating the prop
erty of the Southern people ? Congress,
in the early stage cf its existence
(•July G, 1798), abjured this practice
which is only worthy of those times
when prisoners of war were made
slaves. Again, promises made even
to an enemy who surrenders must be
complied with. I know of places, such
as St. Augustine, Florida, that surren
dered to the United States under the
promise of protection. What was that
protection ? Tho people were made to
take an oath of allegiance which they
detested, and were soon after driven
from their homes in the winter, under
the plea that they had relatives in the
Confederate army. This is, indeed, a
gross and unpardonable violation of
justice and'good faith. Again, all
authors and writers on war state that
innocent persons—children, women,
old people and non-qombatants—must
not be harmed, and are not to be an
object of attack. How do you recon
cile this with the direct and deliberate
shelling-of cities? But what shall I
say of the right your Generals claim
of sending the people of the cities they
capture into exile ? I had the bad for
tune of advising some of the people of
Atlanta to stay, even if the city should
be taken, as even in that case I thought
they, would not be molested, and tho
inconveniences of wandering through
the Confederacy would far exceed
those of staying. I judged so from
whaft'l had seen in other parts of the
country that had fallen into your
bands. What a sad disappointment!
The people of Atlanta mu*t go into
exile, leave their homes and all their
•property, and chqose an exile either
South or North. This way of acting
.assuredly renders the war unjust; and
It is of no use to allege necessity, or
the interest of the Government, for the
Government is for the people, not the
•perjple for the Government. Autocrats
and de. ipots might bring in such a plea ;
a Ilepu blican government cannot,with
out a flagrant contradiction of all its
principles:. . ,
But a word oh the, rights of the j
■Church: Assuredly, there is but one j
view in reference to this, namely, that j
war is not waged against Churches, \
and that the t must berespected in all ;
eases, and I add, tho ecclesiastical :
functions must be allowed to remain \
undisturbed. What sad opposition toj
these principles of justice and reltopGn
does not your w»'iy of conductdpfg the
war acchibit? W hen, at j
of the war, the Bi sbpvpwfrThis diocese j
had to cross the l in®s, on his way to
Savannah to take charge of the die- !
oese entrusted to hiiti by tho Holy See, j
General Scott granted him a pass
readily, saying that he did not wage
war on the Church. .Soon after, things
had changed, and Mix Seward was ap
plied to by a diocese of
Savannah, and, although the services
of that Priest wefre very much needed,
although .Mr. Seward wa.s told that a
Priest of Savannah had died in Key-
West, a victim and martyr of his duty
in attending 4he yellow fever patients,
who were raostly Federal soldiers, he
has refused the pass on most frivolous
pretexts. > 1 will only say to him, if
these pages can reach him, that the
Bishop has not practised retaliation,
■>.nd inrspite of the small number of
Priests here, lie has sent two of them
to Aiylersonville to assist, confess and
xnoiqt the Federal soldiers who were
at tl«; point of death. J will also tell
hi ml that the labor of this spiritual
assKtance, under these circumstances,
is possible only to supernatural charity
ana zeal. One of the Priests has near
ly succumbed to the fatigue; but I re
joice that the clergy has been able to
return good for evil. But what shall I
say of the desecration and burning of
Churches ? Tho Catholic Church ot
St. Mary’s, Ga., has been sacked and
profaned ; the same has been done at
THE PACIFICATOR A. CATHOLIC JOURNAL.
j St. John’s Bar, at tho mouth of tho
1 St. John’s river. But the worst was
! perpetrated in cold blood at Jackson
ville. A fine church, with a neat
1 dwelling for the Priest, was basely
j committed to tho flames by a torch
in the hands of Federal oilicers.
This was done in broad daylight,
at a time when there was no at
tack, nor shadow of attack on the Fed
eral army. The injustice is so obvious
that tho Generals who have since been
in command at Jacksonville have been
ashamed or it, and promised to repair
! the injustice, but the reparation has
; yet to come. As an additional insult,
they have assigned for the Catholic
; worship a sadly dilapidated hut, unfit
| for any human being, opened to all
j winds—and it is there that the Catho
; lie Bishop has given Confirmation to
! Federal soldiers and operatives, who
: have applied to him for his ministry.
; The injustice of tho way of Cifrry
j ing on tho war would reach its culmi
! nating point if the*North claimed the
right of subjugation and extennina
j tion. Still, the tendencies of the strug
i glo seem to converge in that direction.
| The injustice would be too palpable to
j need any demonstration. Subjugation
I can have a meaning only in the ways
i and measures of a King, of an Auto
| crat, of a Czar, or of a Sultan, but
i subjugation is a piece of absurdity in
! a Republic; it is a contradiction in
terms, a heresy in popular govern- j
ment. It is the first axiom of a Re- j
■ public that the people are the real |
sovereigns, and this right is deemed j
anterior to all constitutions and all |
laws; and hence the people in a Repub
lic are to bo governed by persons who i
receive their appointment and office j
from the people themselves. To try |
!to infringe this,’is to abjure Republi- !
j can ism ; to abjure the Declaration j
jof Independence; abjure the Con-j
stitution of the United States, abjure |
all sense of propriety and justice, j
Even monarchical countries have now I
i sanctioned this as a part of the law of
nations. Napoleon would not foist
j himself upon the French people Vith
! out the consent of the nation. Lately,
in the subjugation of Sicily and other
■ parts of Italy (which I deem to have
| been a high-handed piece of injustice),
; there was, at least, a seeming election i
| made by the people. The same was
: observed in Mpxico. What a crying
! injustice and a monstrous iniquity if
| the North would conquer and treat the
| South as the Czar of Russia treats the
| Poles!
| I will stop here in reference to the
; justice of the war. I have stated to
I you, my friends, what appears to mo
! clear and undeniable ; the right of so
| cession without a hostile provocation
j from*the North was doubtful, and a
| war in that event might have been
I just on both sides, at least if acting on
! the defensive. But there having been
j provocation and open avowed resistance
j to the laws of Congress oy the North,
j the right of the South to provide for
! herself was clear, for, as Vattel says :
| " Whenever a State has given sigus of
j injustice, rapacity, pride, ambition, or
! of an imperious thirst for rule, it be
j comes a suspicious neighbour to bo
j guarded against, and its designs may
jbo prevented by force of arms. Are
j we to delay the averting of our ruin
j till it becomes inevitable ?” The in
i justice on the part of the North was
| consummated by refusing all compro
b’lfi’fies. all negotiations, all mediation's.
| The JSlciftu has acted as if its right
j were clear anaHudisputable; whereas,
! it was, at best, oily Jf dubious right
j under the most favdtahle circumstan
| ces. With that dunions right it has
| undertaken and carried on an offensive
j war upon a nation that is and ever has
| been willing to treat for peace, that
j lias clone no wrong to the North, and
j is willing to accept the mediation of
neutral and disinterestec parties. That
aggressive Var has bear carried on
with a severity and rigir at variance
with the usages of the civilized nations;
and the just rights of innocent parties
and of Churches have been trampled
under foot. I leave it to you, my
friends, is such a war just? Can you,
without guilt, approve, abet and for
ward such warfare ?
I place before your eyes the sad con
sequences of an unjust war. I speak
for those who have a conscience and
I believe in the retributive justice of God
in the next world. Tho death of every
! man killed in such a war is a murder,
a real murder, imputable to the authors
| and abettors of it; the destruction of
| property by fire, or in any other
i way, is a rapine and robbery, and
i there is an obligation to repair
| these damages and losses as far as
!it can be done. “ The authors of
an unjust war must,” says Bouvier,
j raise houses thrown down, rebuild
cities destroyed, reinstate families that
I have been plundered, restore theterri
| tory acquired, and refund all expenses
I incurred by the enemy. They must
I therefore use all' possible diligence to
lie certain of the justice and necessity
1 of a war before they enter into it.”
| Vol. 5, p. 462.
The obligation of repairing those
damages is of that kind which Divines
and Jurists call solidary or in solidum,
that is, it affects all concerned in it, so
that if one does not or cannot repair
the damage, the others are bound to
make restitution in his place.
A word also to foreigners : wc have
found a good number of them in the
j stockade at Andersonvillo—lrish, Ger
| mans, Canadians, French, Swiss, Bel
gians, Poles, Italians and Spaniards,
with some Indians* A large bounty of
fered a soldier docs not make tho war
just, and is not a reason to become, in
an unjust war, a soldier. Before engag
ing in a war you must be satisfied that
it is just, and if you engage in war
| without this condition, you imbrue your
hands in tho' blood of the innocent,
you become a murderer and an assas
sin. Now, how can you determine
that the war is just on the part of the
United States? You see that England
and France will remain neutral, and
you step forward, enticed by avarice.
What dreadful account will you not
have to render at the bar of Divine
justice!
I am now done with tho first part of
my thesis: “An liceat ?” Two more
parts remain, which will be presented
to your consideration, in due time:
“An decent? cm expediat?” I hope
that no one will take offence at what I
have said. I seek only truth and jus
tice, and I trust that everybody has
the same feeling. The Catholic clergy
do not mix in mere political matters ;
but justice is a part of religion, and
I feel it my duty to try all that is in
my power, even if I should be thought
obtrusive and presumptuous, to pre
vent tho dreadful evils that this un
natural war entails upon the country,
and which its continuance must only
tenfold intensify.
<EI)£ Pacificator.
13.I 3 . WALSH, \
T-u T. BLOME,j Eaitors *
Office, corner .lEchitoah »V Key unit!* St a.
ATJGrtJSTZX, GrA..,
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 8,1864
(Uo the lufclir.
In presenting to the public a news
paper to he devoted to the interests of
the Roman Catholic Church, it is ne
cessary, perhaps, that we should say a
few words as to our reasons for inau
gurating such an enterprise at this
time ; and also as to the policy which
wc intend to pursue in the manage
ment of the paper.
The separation of the Southern States
from the Northern portion of the
American Union, and their organiza
tion into an independent Confederacy,
has brought upon us the vengeance of
those from whom we separated; and
we now find ourselves, not only in
volved in a bloody struggle to main
tain the right of freemen, which w|
exercised, but, also, thrown upon our
own resources in everything that con
cerns our existence—our spiritual- and
moral, as well as our temporal, wel
fare. Enterprise has been developed
in all sections of the Confederacy,
manufactories have been established ;
vessels have been purchased and em
ployed in evading the blockade ; and
even the literary talent of our people
has found expression through the pa
triotic enterprise and industry of Con
federate publishers. In the midst of
all this energy and activity on the part
of the young nation, we found our
Church without a,representative organ,
without the means of communication
between the Bishops, the Pastors, and
the people, while our brethren of sev
eral Protestant denominations were
giving a generous support to a num
ber of journals of their respective
persuasions.
To supply this want—to give to the
Catholic ecclesiastics of the South an
organ for the promulgation of their
religious documents—to furnish Catho
lic readers with a pure Catholic litera
ture and intelligence from the Catholic
Church in other parts of the world—
to remove those unfounded prejudices
and unjust assumptions against the
Church of Rome, which exist in the
minds of so many outside of her juris
diction—and, above all, to aid, by
every honorable means that lay in our
humble power, in restoring to our Con
federacy an early, honorable, and last
ing peace, are the principal objects we
have in view in the establishment of
The Pacificator. Efforts in behalf
of peace have the approval of the
august head of the Church, of its clergy
everywhere, and will meet also with
the sanction and good wishes of good
men of all creeds and climes.
We shall labor assiduously in this
holy cause, and in all things that tend
to promote the interests and glory of
the Church, of which this journal is
noif a humble but an earnest organ.
As to our political views, they are
already known to our readers. A con
nee tion of years with the press of the
South, and particularly with the Daily
Constitutionalist, of this city, has given
evidence enough that our hearts are
with the great struggle in which we
are engaged—that, believing in the
right of secession, or of revolution, if
the term is preferred, wo are conscien
tiously bound to give our support to
the cause of Southern Independence.
In the views, however, to which we
intend to give utterance, in these col
umns, whether religious or political,
we shall studiously endeavor to avoid
anything calculated to give offence to
those who differ with us. P emanding
the right to think and act for ourselves
in matters of opinion, we accord the
same right to others. Feeling sure
that we shall thus meet the approval
of a liberal-minded and kind-hearted
public, and hoping that we may be
successful in the accomplishment of
the designs with which w r e have set
out, wo commit our enterprise to their
generous patronage and support.
YVAE.
In the midst of a terrible and bloody
struggle for territorial dominion and
political power on one side, and for
political independence and the right
of self-government on the other, it is
no time, perhaps, to reach tire minds
and hearts of men through the me
dium of argument and reason. In
flamed by passion, excited by feelings
of resentment, they are prepared to
assprt everything that is for them, but
to admit nothing that is against them.
It seems to matter little, therefore, so
far as the immediate present is con
cerned, what may be said or done—it
cannot affect the result speedily or at
once. A word or two, here and there,
however, addressed to the better feel
ings of man’s nature, to his reason, or
to his sense of justice, must, after a
while, perhaps by slow degrees only,
reach j&e eyes and ears of those who
aro engaged in this fierce contest, and
awaken their minds once more from
the dark desire of vengeance with
which they are shrouded, to brighter
and happier thoughts of peace and
humanity. Those who are warring
against us seem to have forgotten or
overlooked some important facts in
connection with the present contest.
We desire to recall their attention to
these facts. The American Govern
ment having been founded upon the
Republican principle of tho right of
self-government, or, in other words,
that “ all just government is derived
from the consent of the governed,” it
follows, as a natural sequence, that
the people; or any respectable portion
of them, in point of numbers, have
the right to renounce a Government
which lias ceased to afford them ade
quate protection, or which has become
burthensome to them ; and to. estab
lish for themselves another, more in
accordance with their views of right
or their public necessities.
This doctrine was enunciated by Mr.
Lincoln himself some years ago ; and
he went even so far as to assert that
a people who thus have the power to
revolutionize, have, also, the power to
compel submission on the part of any
refractory persons among them. This
right of revolution, for sufficient cause,
has always been admitted as sound
Republican doctrine; but American
Republicanism, in the judgment of a
large number, went a step further,
| and held that the States which formed
the American Union were sovereign,
and had delegated only certain rights
and powers to the General Govern
ment, reserving to themselves other
rights. Among these Reserved rights
was the right to withdraw from the
Union, which was but a copartnership
of sovereign States, at any time that
they felt aggrieved. The great prin
ciples for which the South is strug
gling, therefore, are: Ist, The right
of Secession ; 2d, Political Indepen
dence ; and 3d, The right of Self-
Government ; -and against these the
North has put forth, and is still put
ting forth, all its great energies, its
vast resources, and its mighty power.
The assertion that the General Gov
ernment of the late American Repub
lic has a right to coerce a sovereign
State, or a free people, into a Union,
and under a Government which they
loathe and cannot recognize, seems to
us such a monstrous heresy in Repub
licanism, that we cannot understand
how any sane man who professes to be
an advocate of Constitutional Liberty
and free government, can, for a mo
ment, admit or advocate it.
It matters not, therefore, whether
we admit or deny the right of seces
sion, we cannot, as Republicans, deny
the right of revolution. Admitting
this right, therefore, it is not neces
sary to enquire further into the causes
ot the present war. It is sufficient to
know that it is, on the part of the
South, a war for political rights, and,
therefore, a just and excusable war.
But while the South is thus engaged
in a terrible war, she longs for peace,
and is ready, at any moment, to confer
with the Government of tho United
States, with a view to bring about
such a happy result. It is in the
power of the North to stop the war.
Why will she refuse it? Have the
wails of the widow and the tears of
the orphan no power to move them to
pity? Have ruined homesteads, deso
lated fields, and the blackened walls
of once happy homes, no horrors for
them ? Have the thousands, of dead
and dying, upon hundreds of battle
fields, no efficacy in awakening their
sympathies ? Will not these sad pic
tures of w'o and desolation strike deep
into their hearts, appealing to their
boasted Christian enlightenment and
sense of humanity, and stay them in
their march of death and destruction ?
These are questions which the people
of the North should ask themselves:
and to give us peace and independence
should be the quickening impulse, the
animating desire, of every one whose
pride is his patriotism and his love ot
justice. May God, in Ilis infinite
mercy, bring about speedily such a
glorious and happy result!
TO stjbscblbebs.
The names of those who fail to for
ward their subscription upon receipt of
the first number of The Pacificator*
will bo erased from our books.
B£sr Single copies of the The Paci
ficator can be obtained at the office of
the paper ; also, at the Music Stores of
Blackhab Bro’s and J. 11. Hewitt.