Daily union appeal. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1862-186?, 1862-08-28
The New Opposition Party.

I IL tic IaEi4 hlkeFIAIi0lS 0T Opinion
EEaced By the varying Incidents of the present
war, few days effect the work Of centuries
W may therefore be psTdoned for giving an
iantiqae coloring to an event of recent occur.
renee. Accordingly we say, once upon a
time, tuesday, Jaly I, IS624 a great popular
convention of ali who loved the Constitution
and the Union, and all who hated sniggers.
was called IN the city Of New York. The
place of meeting was the Cooper Ins itute
and arnong the signers to the call were prom
inent business and professional men OF thst
great metropolis. It this meeting that en-
IheRtly calm and learned jarist, the Honorable
W. A. Duer, interrupted the course Of an elab-
oysts argument for the constitutional rights Of
the southern rebels by a melodranic exclama-
tion. that, if We hanged the traitors of the
country ia the order of their guils, the next
man who marched upon the seaff3ld sitter JEFF
ferson Davis would be Charles Sumner
The professed object of the meeting was to
form a party devoted to the support eff the
Constitution as it is and the Union as it was
Its practical effect was TO give the Confeder.
ates and foreign powers broad hint that the
1 North was no longer unit. The coincidence
! Of the meeting with the Federal reverses be-
fore Richmond made its professed object all
/ the more ridiculous. The bsbbling and bawl-
/ ing OF the speakers about athe rights of the
4 South, and ''the infamous abolitionists who
! QlS1rASc4 1QDgEc>St were I1fnE GG1l6S OF
] the Confederate cannon which had Just ceased
to carry death into tie Union ranks. Both
! the speeches and the cannon spoke hostility to
/ the national cause. The number of the dead
1 wounded, missing and demoraGzed mem
/ bers Of the army OF the Potomac exceeded,
on that Tuesday evening" any army which
! the United States had ever before the pres
| ent war, arrayed on the battle field. jefferson
Davis, on that evening, was safer at Richmond
/ than Abraham Lincoln was at Washington.
/ a well-grounded apprehension, not only for
1 the Union, but for the safety of loyal States,
! was felt that evening all over the North and
/ West. Ii was, in fact, the darkest hour in the
| whole annals Of the Republic. Even the au-
/ thorities at Washington feared that the army
! Of the Potomac was DESTROYED. This was the
! time for the Hon. Mr.. Wickiiffe and the Hon.
/ Mr.. BROOKS for the Hon. w. A. Duer, and the
Hon. Fernando Wood to delight the citizens
/. of New York with their peculiar eloquence
| This was the appropriate occasion to stand up
I for the persecuted and down-trodden South
] This was the grand opportunity to assert the
noble principle, that by the Constitution,
every traitor had the right TO be tried by a
jury OF traitors This was thc time to
\ dishonor all the New England dead
This was the time to denounce
the lying worthless Of New England! Hang
jeff Davis? Oh, yes We all know that he
is secure behind his triumphant slayers of the
/ real defenders of the Constitution and the
I Union. Neither hangman nor Major General
can get near ham. But Charles Sumner is in
our power. We can hang him easily. He has
not two or four hundred thousand men at his
back. lie travels alone and unattended. Do
you want q constitutional principle for COM
bining the LWo men in one act Of treason
! Here is a calm iuTist--here, gentlemen of the
party of the constitntisn and the laws, is the
Hon w. a. Daer. What does be say2 Sim
ply this; aHaagaJeff, Davis. and Charles Sum
ner." Davis We sanuot hang, but Sumner we
can. Let Us take one-half of his advise; cir
cunistances prevent US from availing ourselves
of the whole TlgTe is, TO be sure, no posi-
any law known to US, the especial champions
of the laws. Bu! whstthen? Don't you see
The Hon. ". a. Duer appeals in this especial
case, to the higher law of the mob DON;
you see that the desire to shield JEFF Davis by
weaving around his august person all the fire
cobwehs of the law, while he proposes TO have
Sumner hanged on Irregular principles
unknown to the jurisprudence of Marshall
and Kent
But enough for the New York meeting. Il
was of no importance, except as indicating
the existence and giving laundering ex
preston TO the objects, of one of the most ma
lignant and unpatriotic factions which this
country has ever seen. The faction is led By
few cold bloodea politicians uniyersallJ
known as the mesnest sycophants of the Soutf
and the most impudent bulles Of the North
but they have contrived to array on their side
I q considerable number of honest and well
, meaning dupes by a dexterous appeal L
conservative prejudice and conservative pass
: 4 ion, so that hundreds serve their ends wht
-ouid feel contaminated by their companion
.a,s bofa-a hos hilitv ef
blandly consented to become the mere instru
, rnent and tool of rsscality. The rogues trust {,
! iriaugarate treason and anarchy under the pre-
tence OF icing the special Z >npions of the con
stitution and the laws. Their real adheTents ar
I culled from the Most desperate and diskores
, portions Of our population They can hardl.
! indite leading article or make q stu6iI
: speech without showing their proeiiyities o
: mob-law To be sure, if known traitor !
, informally arrested, they rave about the viola
tion of the rights of the citizen; but the.
: think Lynch-law is good enough for "Aboli
! tionistsn If General is assailed as be;nl
q over prudent and cautious in his operation
!. against the common enemy, they immediatei
tlaud him as a Hannibal, q Cesar, and a Napo
! leon; they assume to be his special friends an
4 admirers I; they adjure him to persevere i
what they conceive to be his policy of finaotioT
: and, as he is q great MASTER in strategy, the
4 hint that his best strategic movement wonl
a be movement, Ia Cromwell, on the Abol
!. tionized Congress of the United States, Dir
]. union, anarchy, the violation of all law, th
4 4 appeal to the loYest and fercestsmpulsesG
e the most ignorant ssnortions of tina N1fsaler
II people-these cons stisas 1he real stoeksiastrad
L of athe Hang-Jef Dse sand Charlie s6nu
q ner party bat the thing i 50 man aged ths
& eormaliy, this party appears as the Eecii
5. champion of the Union, the Conssitatidn an
- the laws.
d Those politicians who personally dislike Il
d present holders Of political power Ehose pol
n ilcians who think that the measurs Of conf
cation and emancipation passed BY the Co
re- gress which has Just adjourned are both uniu
y and inlpolitic, unconsciously slide into Il
y .,.,1 IL, -. 70. tla.tr