Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1866-09-29
DRIFTING.

Having drifted out Of war, we are now
drifting into anarchy. The elements
that yielded to numbers, and battle, and
smoke, and carnage, and inevitable fate,
rise over the ruins of a bloody past and
. shrek for another carnival of destruc-
ton. Peace appears in the background,
but is awed back by the flaming swords
welded by the hand of passion. We
discover in the front no master will to
grasp the danger and bind it prisoner.
We look in vain for a CLAY to soothe the
situation, or a JACKSON TO place his foot
upon the danger and crush it to earth
and obedience We discover no form
like that of WEBSTER standing up in the
midst Of the storm and pleading for
peace, union and liberty. The Con-
stitution which he defended is
come to be mockery and a
plaything in the hands of his sue
cessors The reply to HAYSE thrilled
the North, because it taught lessons Of
union aud inculcated ideas of national
brotherhood HAYYE was miracle of
oratory and logic. He seemed, as TEFT,
the biographer of WEBSTER, says-to
stand in the midst Of blaze of elo-
quence. He was Union man, but saw
with true prophetic eye the ruin of the
States by the encroachment of the Fede-
raj Government upon their reserved
rights Upon these rights the Union was
founded. He maintained that their over
throw would be the overthrow of the
Union. WEBSTER, with all his sagacity,
did not apprehend any danger from con-
solidation. Had he foreseen what CAL
Houx and HAYSE predicted-the destruc-
ton of the Union-he would have lifted
his great voice for State rights, State
remedies, and Union of sovereign
States. He went to his account, as be
prayed that he might, with the stars-and-
stripes Of an unrent Union floating over
his head.
We are drifting. CLAY saw the danger
but compromised it from time to time, in
the hope that the sections, by uniform
system of administering the benefits of
the Government, might be brought into
harmony He was mistaken. There
were spirits that disdained order, frater-
nifty and union. While he lived they
cringed away into obscurity. The mo-
ment the clods Of Lexington fell over his
form, they sprang into the arena, each
With frebrand in his hand and cry of
"Sectionl Sectionr' in his throat
DOUGLAS came upon the scene, and
whatever men then thought of the merits
Of his theory of popular sovereignty, it
is now admitted that its general adoption
would have averted the scenes we. have
lately passed through. A peoples gov
eminent must be a government of the
people, or the term is q misnomer. The
North rejected the idea of forming the
institutions Of State in accordance with
the sentiments of the people inhabiting
it. The South was not favorable to il,
and the war which resulted in the con-
fnement of JEFFERSON DAvIsin Fortress
Monroe, began in the wilderness Of Kan
sas
We are drifting SrEyESs, Of Penn
sylvania. says the Constitution was an
nulled by the war, and the Radical party
now struggling for perpetual power, act
upon that assumption Congress is the
Government, aud the executive and judi
ciary departments must submit This is
drifting. indeed Upon this point the
North is divided, and a struggle is
progressing to determine whether CT
not the Union is really destroyed
The result Of the impending elections