Clarksville chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 186?-1872, 1868-04-10
"THE BANNER OF THE SOUTH
Father Ryan's Inaugural
From the West Tennessee Wing.

Aioui Nhc Nket ltuutSStt W ulR.
We take the following eloquent extract
from the leader in the Banner Of the South,
advance sheets of which have been for
warded us. It is from the pen of the Poet:
Priest of the South, Father Ryan, who is to
be the editor of the new journal, which
makes its appearance sometime during the
present week. The words of the distin.
guished editor glow with the FIRE of patriot.
ism, eloquence and principle, and will fad a
responsive echo in every true Southern
bosom:
BY birth and sentiment we are of the
South. Bearer than all other interests, of
this world, to US, are thoae Of our own land.
Over these interests we shall watch Firmly
and faithfully we shall defend them, and
more so now than ever when those interests
are in such sore need of brave defence and
true defenders Believing, ms we do, that
the South had right, and reason and princi.
pie on her side ia the late war, we feel that
We should not let the traditions and memo.
ries and glories of the struggle pass into OBJ
livion. We must keep them alive and
aglow-wc must make our children proud of
them. .... ....
There is not day nor deed of the strug-
gle OF which We may feel ashamed. We
owe 1t TO tn the past to preserve the story Of
our struggle, and the future will not forgive
us il We fail TO record 1t. And IN recording
it we must not use words of apology, as
though we doubted the Righteousness of our
cause.i but plainly and fearlessly, true to
ourselves, to our cause, to our country-true
to the dust Of the dead at our feet-true to
the spirits Of those who were so true to US
true to the living in their terrible loss-true
to the Future which is coming down to ask
Of us the vindication of our course and the
story OF our past--we must declare and still
declare and never cease declaring, in words
as brave as our warriors were in that dread
struggle In which our Flag went down with
not stain of dishonor on the virgin purity
OF its folds. Justice stood on the side Of the
men who wore the Grey. And Justice has
not changed sides because we have been de-
feated. Unconquered and uncouquerable,
Justice is still with the conquered.
The success Of our cause has been lost
not its right; for failure can never make
right wrong; nor can success transform the
iniquity Of wrong into the sacredness of right.
Brute force goes down into battle fields not
to test the rigbtfulness Of causes, but to try
the strength Of combatants. The success OF
the sword is no argument in favor of the
cause for which it has been unsheathed.--
The surrender OF the sword is no argument
against the cause which drew it from the
scabbard. Shot and shell do not reason
he oil taxL nd c1a he
less, is only slaughter--it is no argument for
or against the rights of those who Kill or are
killed. Bullets may mangle flesh spill
blood-slay men-but they can never reach
the vital principles for which men contend
These principles are beyond the range Of
musket and cannon. Battle fields may be
the burial places of men---never of rights
Above the smoke and storm and shock OF
battles, unaffected by victory or defeat, calm
and immovable, Justice sits on her eternal
throne, and in Der eyes right is right forever
wrong is eternaly wrong. and trampled right
is grander than triumphant wrong. From
the decisions given against us in the court Of
battle, we therefore appeal and these decis-
ions we carry up 10 the high tribunal oil
Justice for reversal. This, and this alone,
was settled by battle-that we were the
weaker party. We had less brute force on
our side and we were Obliged to yield TO the
superior strength oil our ASSISTANTS. The ar
mics and government OF the Coniederacy
were but the mortal flesh and blood of an
immortal cause. They are gone-it is liv-
ing. Nor steel, nor lead, could touch its life
or take it away. 1t is living in the loves OF
Southern hearts-it is living in the stories
flAr fall. el,As.
tie children-it is living in the sorrows and
tears of our widows and orphans. And we
shall keep it alive. The right Of our cause
did not fall with Richmond. 1t exists as
clearly to-day as 1t did when the first boom
OF our guns sounded across the Carolina wa
tiers, and when the Palmetto fag-mid ring
ing of bells, and the rapture Of gladdened
hearts and the sounding of cheers which the
shore sent over the sea-waved over Sumter.
And on that April day when Lee gave up
his sword, bright and unbemished as when
he first girded ii on, he yielded merely, aud
only the policy of further resistance mot
he principle which had lifted that resis ance
into right and sanctified il as a duty
Right began our struggle, right justified and
ennobled it, right animated our soldiers,
right made them strong to suffer, strong to
endure right made them brave to dare, and,
bravest of all, to die; right marched with
them, step by step, into every CORY field;
right flashed in the sheen of their swords, and
Numbered in the boom of their cannons In
every fray; right wreathed glory around
their banners wherever their banners were
borne; right consecrated their victories and
consoed them in their defeats; right lii in
their hearts the flames Of that herosm which
blazed out into deathless deeds right nerved
them to every sacrifice they made, to every
hardship they endured: right lit beacon-iires
of glory on the plains of Manassas, on the
heights of Fredericksburg, in the swamps OF
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