The Memphis union appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1862-1862, 1862-07-22
From the London Times, July Al
OLD STYLE,

From the London Times, July 4.
OLD STYLE.
!" The Fourth of July has sound quite diff
ferent to Euglishmeh and Americans. To us
it is Ike any other day; to them it is festival
solemnly set aside for gratifying to something
more than safety national vanity the most
inordinate and the most exaeting that the
world has ever seen. On that day. in every
town and township in the United States,
chosen orators address applaudHg audiences
on two subjects-the one the praise of their
own country, the other the depreciation Of
ours. Fourth of July" in American parlance
like Marathon in Athenian, has become an
/ adjective, used to denote whatever Is over
wrought, extrayagant and bonn hastie. Z hese
annual rhetorical Satuahalia have lad most
material and pernieious influence on American
/ character. They have even gore some way
/ toward vitiating and barbarizing the language
/ IN which they are expressed. Their tendency
! has uniformly been to elevate the opinion
which the people entertain of their own merits
to teach them to depreciate every one else and
/ to familiarize them with the language and in
toxicate them with the glory of successful war,
and successful they are told war must be when
waged by nation of proves so invincible
Metaphors abound. Astronomy contributes
/ her stars to spangle the national banner,
and her solar system to typify the smooth and
admirable working of the great confederacy.
| History gives back the mighty memories of
Sparta and Athens, of Rome and of Carthage
Eternity describes the duration and infinity
the extent of the future dominion of America
The points OF the compass, the torrid and
frigid zones, the ecliptic and the equator, are
called in to convey the idea of. magnitude
The "etfete despotisn of the Old World
their creeds, their taxes their aristocraeies
their churches, their kings, their feudal laws
and Old World observances, are overwhelmed
under storm Of lidicue and contempt. But
England is peculiarly the mark for invective
and yituperation. The battles of the war of
independence are all fought over again. The
three told tales Of that stern period are re-
peated once more. George the tyrant, the
cruel executioners Howe and Clinton, Ar
mold the traitor and Andre the spy, the sur
render of Saratoga, the Capitulation of York
town, are called once more into life The
cruelty and tyranny of the British govern
ment, its German mercenaries, their ravages,
their devastation, its employment of savages
against the rebellious colonists, it proscrip-
tioAs, its confscations, its Threatened exeou-
tions for treason, are displayed in the most
vivid colors. The whole thing is a tradition
which has come down uninterrupted from the
days Of the Revolutionary War, and which,
while to Americans it seems the most natural
thing in the world, jars very strangely on the
ears of those whose reseutments have had
ample time to cool in the course of eighty
years
New Style.
Well, now, let Us suppose that on this pres
ent Fourth of July, some man of moderation
and good sense, with something to lose and
with some spirit of fairness and canQor, could
te induced, in defiance of the prejudice that
would naturally attach Itself to such eharac-
ter TO undertake Fourth of July oration and
let US consider how he would express himself.
We will drop eagles, thunderbolts, waterspouts
and hurricanes the North and the South, the
East and the West time, space, eternity and
infnity, and the other condiments of regular
Fourth of July oration, aud proceed at once to
the substance of what such person might be
supposed to have to say.
"Fellow-citizens," he might naturally OBJ
, serve, this is no time for extravagant and
exaggerated panegyrie. Let US keep our elo-
quence for better times, and. endeavor if we
can, to learn something from our present posi-
; ton. We have had our own way in this mat.
J ter of the war, and are not, as far as can see
very much the better for it. The English told
, US all along that we had better save our blood
and our money and make friendly parting
/ with the South, since it was clear there was nc
! chance of our dwelling together under the same
0 Government any more. OF course we felt the
e greatest contempt and hatred for whatever
t England said, and knew that it must be dont
e with wish to ruin u.s.. But, for all can see
IS England was not very far wrong.
; We have always been going to conquer..tht
South in thirty days. We have not done il
yet, and for my own part, / don't see that w
are much nearer doing it than when we frs
: began. Here have we been for eighty year
o triumphing over poor old England becaus
d She at the distance of 3,00e miles, was no
n able to conquer her colonies with France t.
:, help them; and here are we, after year ant
It half of war, not yet able to take Richmond
v 13o miles south of Washington itself. The
Is we have always been at England for hirin,
v Hessiaas and other Germans to conquer US
S But what does the South say, and say truly
a. 1t says that all the Germans that fought 70
J. King George were mere lambs and chicken
10 compared to the gentry who fight under th
= blessed leadership of Blenker and Sigel an
Heintzelman. They do fight that's certain
y but then there is nothing that they will nc
10 steal. Since we find ourselves obliged to en-
le ploy such mesns to coerce the South, we nee
IL not be surprised that poor old King Georg
who lived in days before people understoo
Il, anything about the rights of men, should hav
lg taken the same course Then, as for militar
ID violence, why what were ali the arms tt
IS English brought into the field compared wit
y those who are under the orders Of our Gene
be als2 don't believe Howe or Clinton ha
Mt ever at any time 80, 600 men undertheir order
IL Lord CORVALLIS when he surrendered
is Yorktown had only 1000 men, while McCle
ul len and Davis Halleck and Beauregard, a
m, carrying on the work of distraction with hs
he a million of men on each side. ~ E
el a4 Comparative Style. t3
on oSoL q ~ .gG n.
:. and to shed one drop of blood in seeking
:" retain us against our will7' They ought
, have known that all men are free and equs
8 and have right to consult their own wish
in the choice of government and in scare
an of happiness. That's very true; but are n
of the South free and equal too2 Have not th,
ies as much right as we tocoRsult their own fee
md inc ia the choice of a government and +
nv saercb after hanniness2 p The yviaast people