Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1864-04-01


fedsrsey, cannot be denied. 1t has excited
something else, If We may Judge from the fol
lowing epigram, which Is going the rounds oi
the pTess:
Far hundred years John Buu fought 10 get
The privilege known as the habeas writ
TIL court, lords aud king went down in The strife
For what, to old England, deArer than life.
With Us the eaas 81 quite d dffsrent yoG see,
What cost nothing to set Is worth nothing % me;
Sc let JEFF have the right - kick down the old writ
:. And In triumph snthroned over Freedom 70 SIT.
A straw Of this sort wsg!ed about The coun.
tTy will accomplish more Than ell lhs grave
objurgations Of Gov. Brown, or ell the bitter
Tepinings OF eur correspondent. II we may
use g veTnEellAr expression, il viii "stick IN
toe eFa1" Of the pEblie longer than any aTgu.
meRt
Il is not cur purpose to discuss The assertion
that ne have 80 tyranny worse than that Of
Turkey" or to dsisnd the eourse of the Rhig.
We may ehoese TO take a ssnguine view Of
affAirs which appear to be, and, perhaps, really
are gloomy. Oar aim at present is simplY 10
combat quotation with quotstiop.
Gov. Brown IS not Ia despair. At the close
Of his remarks on the suspension Of the habeas
corpus, he Gays:
Tie hope ofouF country now rests IN the new
Congress soon to assemble. They must main
tain our liberties against encFoaehment, and
wips this, ard ell sueh stains, from the statute
book, or the sun Of liberty will soon Set in dalk-
mess ard blood.
The Legislature OF Georgia placed on record
Its protest against the suspension of tie great
writ, snd adjourned. Its last act was to place
the whole AghtiEg strength Of the State at the
disposal of the ConfedeTste Government, and to
express its confidence in President Davis. The
protest and the voss Of men and confidence Esem
incompatible. They sTe not 80 at all they are
significant As for Gov. Browns hope in the
next Congress, we can only say we share il
fully ss much Gs We do his fsars shout the sun
Of liberty setting in darkness snd blood.
The world advances, or It does not In view
of the revelations Of Yankee character IS dis
played in this war, We are not disposed to take
decided stand in favor of the theery of ad-
ysneement But if tho WoTld does advance and
civilization ia not an immense shRm--s now and
WoEEs phase of bsTbaEism-ihen the errors Of
men and of governments ara for the healing Of
the nstiens jean Paul Richter, EAsa IN 5 oath,
kept diary Of hia opinions. Among others, be
set down this, which is By no means Juvenile,
bu. worthy Of a mature brain:
In the world truth and error are as widely
distributed as storm and sunshine. Thou re-
isctess certain dogmas that sTe false, bQf esnst
thou substitute trashs that will be as useful as
the errorsf Perhaps an erTor has more uSefal
results than truth in iis place. In Gods best
world there is 70 error without useful conse-
qUsnces. Wherever 81 error is, tits not il vain.
It Is, in its place, belteI than truth!
Whether this plsnet Is Gods bes! world,
msy be questioned. It is the best with which
we are personally acquainted. Emerson en-
larges upen Richtsrs ides in the following sen
tences
"Things seem to tend downward, 10 justly
despondeney, to promote regues yet By
knsves Es by martyrs the just cause is carried
forward
@aAlthough knsYss win in every political
struggle, although society seems to be deliyered
over from the bands Of one set of criminals to
another Sc: OF criminals, as fast as ths Govern
msnt is changed, yet gensral ends are somehow
oawsrd.
"The lesson Of life IS prsetiesily to general
ise, to believe what the yeaTs aad The centuries
soy Sc sinst the kBEves.
Things seem to say one thing, and say an
other thing. The aPpeararco is criminal, he
result neral"
10 other words, E nersoR means to S1y that
| the Ultimate result Of events in this world is
moral, in the sense of beneicsai; while III
events Of the passing hour appear TO be immoral
that is luxurious and detrimental 30 human sd
vancement sad improvement.
| Il msy bs cJuss2ded that the vagaries of
| beAEdless GsrmRn and Yankee trEnscsndents
| list ore unworthy of serious consideration. Per
hsps SO, We shall not dispute the point. Bu
| we think, with NkeaUaly, thst tie WoIid is, o.
/ The whele, better than it was in the days @
| Queen Bosdices and the DTuids. five have, il
| tralh, gone backwards, the relapse into civliEa
ton IS, to say the least, more toleTsbls 10 mei
as they are now constituted than any progres
toward the delights OF the days Of the H:ndo
rheegeny would have been.
The present case Of the Confsderaey is bad
/ enough. A state of war is not the supFem,
good Civilization itself, in the palmiess time
tof peace, is nos celestial happiness. Yet on
case is verse than it mighs have been, notWith
| standing the war. Affairs have not bsen righsly
managed. True. But M. Davis is net an aeei
dent. The blundeIs aud faults Of his admins
| tralion may be counted amorg those error
which, in their plsce, are better thsn truths
They teach Us > lesson which nothing els
could have taught us. This, namely, that on
| whole theory of governments needs rsTi'iOu
We have seen what il is in time Of war. EYel
in peace it has fatal tendency TO consolidation
We have seen the Senate, the House, the ia
dietary, the States, sink sHpiney under the sell
viii Of TIE Executive. Is all this for nothing
Nay, truly. We prate q great deal about ''sov
ereignties +" and g the sgsncy," and boast 9
our great governmental theory. But there esf
not be two eshters to one circle. The paAgs v
have suffered, the losses we have incurred, q
ishame we have endured at tie hands Of th
"ses of criminals " into which g society hs
/ been delivered during these evil days, sdmoL
ish us, at the earliest moment, to overhaul th
Montgomery copy Of the Yankee Federal Coz
stitutien, TO the end that we may discover an
e1sirpAse those radical defects which inhsTe in
and maze it necessarily the enemy Of State il
dependence aud personal freedom.