Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1862-03-30


vigilance is the price of liberty
If this position is true, we at this moment
should have all our energies awake, all our tact
and Judgment standing sentinels by the sacred
Jewels of our freedom. The foe is pressing upon
US with his utmost power, and we must not only
fight the foe in the field, bat we must watch
against the traitor and the spy by the freside
These necessities compel us to give extrsOrdina
" powers into individual hands, and to submit
to infractions of our personal rights. While
trusting generously, and submitting cheerfully
we must never forget to watch sleeplessly anc
scrutinize jealously. Not because We have rea
son to believe that ambitious schemers in OUl
midst are deliberately plotting to rob US of ou
birthright, but because experience teaches that
in a republic, a time of Hazardous war is a time
when liberty is liable to be lost We must never be
led to accept an infractiOn of our personal and
political rights as anything else but as an evil, q
necessary evil, perhaps, but still an evil, and one
to be got nd Of as soon as happier circumstances
will permit Martial law, for instance, is an
evil-it is the arbitrary submission of the rights,
liberty. and property of the people to the impe-
rious dictatiOn of the Provost Marshal. If we
adopt martial law as means of being delivered
from seditiOn, incendiarism, and pillage, we have
simply accepted the lesser of two evils that we
may be nd Of the greater. Let US always,
then, remember that martial law is an evil and
as such is to be got rid of as soon as the danger
from the greater evil that is behind it disappears.
We might mention many other evils necessarily
admitted among us during the present derange-
ment Of public affairs, many infTactiOns of our
personal liberty, but the instance of martial law
clearly illustrates what we mean. All these
necessary encroachments on personal and con-
stitutional rights, all these concessions of IN
usual power, must be watched, or mischief
ensues, our repubHcanism is endangered, and
liberty is on the eve of flight.
But who in the community is to practice this
sleepless vigilance, and to exercise this jealous
scrutiny The people, in general, are intent on
the conduct of the war; they are either actually
in the field or watching closely its operations
their eye is on the enemy; all their faculties are
concentrated on the great labor of fconquering the
foe and saving life, property, and national exis-
tence. 'Withevery faculty engaged and every feel
ing excited, how can the majority of the peo-
pie coOlly scrutinize acts, nicely weigh consequen-
ees, aud narrowly .. f4t1aro rsss.Il=
present actions7 The case looks hopeless that
the people, in a struggle Of life and DEATH should
preserve their liberties, while the very moment
those liberties are endangered is the moment
they are unable to guard them; and the case
would be hopeless, as it proved in the old re-
publes, but for one engine of modern civiliza-
tiOn-the press. It's the business of the press
to weigh, and sift, and investigate, and test, and
compare the present with the past, and ask the
bearings Of the present on the future. 1t is the
press that poin-s out abuses, denounces reckless
ambition, exposes covert danger, warns the
careless, swakes the sleeping, animates the Ian
guild, inspirits the fsinting, and gives the need
Of praise to the hero. The press is the expressed
mind OF the people; II is not what the individual
viii, opinions, notions, or peculiarities of the
editors make it, what the people think, and judge,
and prefer is found there. A press that does not
express the viii and sentiments of the people
cannot maintain existence; that only lives which
the people support, and the people support only
that which is a reflex Of their own minds
If the considerations we have presented are
just,-and the reader can judge how far they are
sO-with what determination we should main
tain free, Outspoken unshackled press We
need not quote the burning sentences of elo-
quence, nor the glowing paragraphs of literary
genius, all are familiar with the terms in which
the worlds greatest and wisest have spoken Of
the press with what religious care they have |
US never to permit its liberties to be
abridged Here is the safeguard of liberty, |
let us keep it free, and our proudest achieve /
ments, and dearest treasures are safe; let /
the warning voice of the press be |
hushed and all that has made US great and en- |
Viabe IN the eyes Of the world, all that has shed
On the pages Of American history halo no other
cation possesses, is gone: The liberty of the
press must not, of course, be allowed to degen-
crate into hcentousness; the press, like individ-
lals, must be held responsible for avoidable
lrrors and intentional wrong At a moment like
he present, the press must not employ itself in
irving information that would iniure our cause
md help the enemys; nsr, on the other hand,
must it be restrained from imparting such
acts as viii enable the people to Judge
of passing events, and to
Weigh truthfully the actions Of those whom
hey have deputed to do their business. Things
be press ought not to do, mus not be made a
retense by which it is to be prevented doing
hose things which Ii ought to do.
The well-conducted, honorable portion Of the
ress, should be treated with confidence by those
D authority When matters Of Importance re
Oire eoncealnent, It is wi,er to caution before
and than to suppress after the mischief Is done
We are aware the men of the camp are apt to
1Ok upon editors as persons unscrUpulous in
btaining intelligence, and reckless IN impart-
lg it. If they viii be at the trouble to make
lemselves acquainted with the manner of !
Ding business in a good newspaper Office, =
ley will find this notion to be a groundless
rejudice, and hud that a respectable member
the press scorns to DO professionally what is :
aneath his dignity as gentleman personally. q
he press claims, and must be upheld in exer- 9
sing the nght % eTltelse the public actions Of n
1blic men, hewever high their position; indeed !
le higher the position, the more need of calling +,
r a rigid accountability. The public actions oil .
nblie men axe public property, and those who .
ould eensure the P-ess for a candid scrutiny !.
I'd fair criticism Of those actioas has lost his
legiance to liberty, and has a forehead ready :,
Z the pressure of the despot's heel. To curb ].
e press is to curb the expression of the peoples !
III, and 20 subserTe the interests of those who =
we schemes opposed to the public veal. 4
While our armies are in the field, they look 4
7 those remaining at home to preserve for them
tact their birtslght Of full personal and polit-
Al freedom. The sacred duty confded to US l.
. must perform religiOusly, and it must be is