Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1862-09-19
AN APPEAL TO THE PEOPLE or
IT'S GREAT WEST,


! You al know how this war was insugUrsted
You were told that few factions, political lead
ors in the South, actuated by selfish purpOs es
and stimulated by disappointed ambition, weTe
endesvoring to rend ssunder the Union and
'' break up the best government the world ever
saw" It was said that the mass of the people ol
the South still fondly clung to the Union, and
that if a Federal force were sent among them,
they would gladly rally around the "stars Snd
stripes" and return to their loyalty and allegi-
ance to the old government This is what the
politicians alleged, and you, under an impulse
of what you felt to be patriotism rushed to arms
to sustain the government, to protect the Union
men of the South, and crush out what was sup
posed to be iactious rebellion.
About a year and hslf'of war has passed,
and it becomes you now, as rational men, to
pause and consider whether you have not been
betrayed and decsived by designing politicians,
into the great crime of making a fruitless war
upon those who hsve never wronged you. It is
! time that you should pause and ask yourselves
/ for what are you c0ntendIng and for what are
vOur adyersaTies battling. Il is time that you
should arise III your majesty, and hurl from the
! high places Of power the guilty, enormously
guilty rulers, who have plunged the whole
/ land into mourning, who are burdening the gov
! eminent with load of debt. from which it can
never, never be relieved, and who ara driving it
with rapid pace into a vortex of ruin. And for
! what are your adversaries battling On the
/ 4th of July, l776 our fOTetathers seeded from
/ the English Government and declared themselves
! an independent people. The Declaration Of In
! dependence which they published on that day,
| announced the great principle that all govern
ments derive their Just powers frsm the consent
/ of the governed, and il is nothing more or less
than this great principle for which the South is
contendiBg.
! 1t is a fact beyond question that tt5eiDe, and
perhaps thirteen, Of the old United States, for
reasons satisfactory to themselves desired to
withdraw from the Federal Union and establish
government of their own choice. These
twelve States comprise q great people-great in
their numbers, great in the length and breadth
of their territory great in theiT capacity for war,
and s5OUnding in ell the elements that cOnsti-
tute great nation Now, if this great portion
OF the American people, no longer cOnse nhng to
be governed by the old government, are denied
the right TO govern themselves; if no longer
conserving to remain IN the Union, bat on the
contrary TepUdiatiGg It, they are still to be kept
in the Union by force, what becomes of that
great principle of the declaration of iadepen-
dence viz that &" al governments derive their
Just power from the consent Of the governed 2"
Is it not manifest chat President Lincoln and
his Cabinet are overthrOwiDg the very fJun-
dstion store on which the republic was erected.
Men of the West, beware how you set aside
old landmarks Beware how you allow The
great principles OF the bill Of lights, and Of the
Constitution to be violated by your rulers. Your
liberties are endangered Beside You are estsb-
Gshiuz precedents which will weigh heavily
upon YOU when the hour Of yOuf trial Somes, as
come il must. For as certainly as destiny itself,
the time viii come when the great West-a great
agricultural, grain-growing people, will r fuse
TO be taxed TO enrich and to be governed BY the
factory and tTades-people and shipping people
of New England with whom they have no
identity of interests, and for whom they must
become hewers of wood and drawers of
water, as surely as capital controls labor
Bat you are asked to pause and consider
whether you have not been betrayed by false
and lying politicians into the support of this
war Where is that Union sentiment of the
South which you were to develOpe by the pres
ence of your armies Where have the people
Of the South rallied to the old flag, as you were
told they would do ?
Nashville, Memphis and New Orleans are all
occupied by your armies, but where is the Union
sentiment it was supposed they would manifest
Do not all accounts tell you shat the people Of
every section where your armies have obtained
8 foOthold sullenly scOwl on your s1ldiery; that
they show no sympathy for snd have no COM
munication with them. Aye, and true it is,
that except the few who are sedUced by love of
Office or the desire to make gain, there Is hardly
Union man TO be found in the South. Aud the
old flag the stars and stripes where is the
veneration for it in the South, with which it was
%, IL, tod ~, fbarf al
that flag is C mmitted to the guardianship CT
rulers at Washington who are controlled by
New England fanaticism, it has only been sa-
luted with Kisses and bullets, and has often
been trsiied IN the DUST an object Of hatred, de-
rsion and contempt.
No, there is no Union feeling in tae South for
which the North is battling That pTstext for
continuing the war is gone and the Mississippi
riYeT-wbO denies you the right Of navigation
there One of the earliest acts Of the COnfed
crate Congress opened this stream to the free
navigation of the world, Of all friendly nations
This, too, is mere pretext held out to you. So
there is nothing left for you to fight fr but the
nigger-the eternal nigger You do not think
so You imagine you are fighting for the Union.
Bat YOU deceive yourselves and viii discover
TOO late that you have been the dupes of New
England aboll6onism and of New York mer-
chants
As for the Union, it is gone and forever
Henceforth there are two great American peo-
pies. You tried 70 crush the rebellion in its
infancy, when the Confederate government was
yet in its swaddling clothes, before it was organ
lied. If you failed then, what can you expect
after it has been established and in operation for
so long time.
No. the South is stronger, far stronger to-day
than when the war was began, and suhjugation
is thing impossible. Why look Even at the
moment when you thought the rebellion almost
crushed, f" your grand army which Mcclellan
had been organizing and disciplining for nearly
year at a cost of millions, was foiled and driven
back discounted, notwithstanding its superior
numbers (fOr despite the lying excuse for disss-
ter, Overwhelming numbers, 1t is a known
fact that McClellan's army was superior in num-
bers to that which routed him Aud Kentucky
and Tennessee which you thought already sub
dued, are again hailing the approach Of South
ern arms, and that ground is to bs bought over
again.
But the New England radicals and New York
merchants still cry out 'the rebellion must be
crushed and they call for three hundred thOus-
and more men to die of disease and be slsugh-
tered in the vain attempt to crush It.
Look about you, working men Of the West,
and observe who they are that shout so vehe-
mently for the prosecution of the war. Are they
men who are ready TO 90 into the ranks aud
bear the brunt and burden of the contest On
the contrary, you will find almost invariably
that they are men in cfice-in civil or military
offics. They are brought up editors, who sit in
easy chars at home and cry to the soldiers to
strike for his country and for glory" They
are POLITICAL demsgogues, who rave about
traitors " and wicked rebellions against this
most glorious government" and call on you to
come forward to save the country, but never
| take their own precious persons into the light
uness they go in high command and with high
pay They are government contractors, who
care for nothing bat the spois," who, like vul-
/ lures, revel on carnsgs, and who are tattenlng
| on tbs blood Of the common soldier. Why do
You not shame these men, Why do you not
! tell them if the war must 90 on to go into the