Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-03-22

ia
the second CHARLES and kis prostitutes
came over to rule England. Dig up ana
hang in irons the bones Of JEFFERSON
and MADISON for they are the fathers
and authors of secession. UnWrite lhe
Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions ana
MADIsoN's Report on the former FI y
Is 6hese that have been the Nicene creed,
~ which secession was 3 eOrollary and
co,seouenee. Crush and annihilate the
! Constitution, if you viii, and establish a
| Government Of force, the central despot-
ism Of the mob; but do not disgust man
kind by hypocritically pretending to
reverence a Union Of the States, and a
Constitution, that no longer exist.
The subjugated are now required, not
only TO agree that the Constitution shall
for the future be taken to be a supreme
and paramount law imposed by the one
people OF all the States upon the States
and individuals, and in 90 sense 3 CON-
pact between the States that there is,
for the future, no sovereignty OF the
States, and no right OF Secession but
also that so it always was, that the
Southern doctrine always was a heresy
and an absurdity, and that Secession
was treason and rebellion. To make
the proof Of this complete, the vietors
will probably hang some dozens OF the
leaders, whenever they weary OF boast
ing that with near a millien men in the
field they succeeded in forcing less than
a tenth of that number to surrender, and
that GRANT and SHERIDAN, with a hun
dred and fifty thousand men, or more
compelled LEE with eight or ten thou
sand 10 lay down his arms.
In what sense is it that the COnstitu'
tional questions as TO the sovereignty
and rights Of the States, and as to the
nature Of the Constitution and the gov
eminent, falling a solution by argument
after seventy years discussion, have beer
submitted 10 the Rrbitrament Of arms
and decided against the South forever
by wager OF battle?
For it is now insisted, by basenes;
faWning on power, that no q should bt
forgiven or rehabilitated in his rights Of
property OF life, who having borne arm;
against the Northern States in the late
war, and now applying for a pardon,
declines to lie and cringe, but frankly
declares his belief that his State
had the right and sufficient cause
to secede; but that this and the
other questions are now to be
deemed settled for the future contrary to
his theory, and that he submits to the
decision and will not seek to disturb it.
This is not sufficient. To retain the old
opinion is reasonable.
Neither defeat nor persecution changes
convictions, makes the truth a falsehood,
or causes facts not TO have existed and
compacts not to have been made. When
CALLED stepped into the open sir from
the cell of the ~InqGisition where he had
admitted that it was heretieal to hold
| that the Earth revolved round the Sun,
he said, "FOr all that, it does move"
The issues on which parties divided for
eighty years are not dead and buried. It
is as true now as it was in May 1860,
when the Senate of the United States 50
voted, that in the adoption Of the Fed
eral Constitution, the States adopting
the same acted seueraly, as free and in
dependent SoUereignties, d~elegating a
portion of their powers to be exercised
by the Federal Government" 1t is as
true now as it was then, when it so voted,
that the States entered into the COnsti-
tutional Compact which formed the
Union = that the Union is "a Union Of
the States - and that the Senate " repre-
sents the States in their Sovereign ca
pacity." These questions, it is true, are
decided. Force orders that the Con-
t%ruction and nature of the Constitution
shall hereafter be in accordance with the
Northern theory, and that they shall be
taken always to have been so; as force
has often established what was the true
creed " CHI istianity:-and the conquered
submit, as the heretics, the disciples of
ARIUs and HISS and KNOX have often
had to do. For the present, the people
OF the subjugated States have no rights,
and receive the law from the victor.
But, in the mean time, and singulsrly
enough, the same force compels every
one who is pardOned to swear to support,
protect and defend the Constitution of
the United States. That instrument
itself remains unaltered. When the
reign of military power and Congress
sionsl tyranny and usurpatiou end, and
the States that seeded again enter the
Union, and the Constitution as written
is once more the paramount law, the
courts must construe it precisely as they
would have done before the war, by itself
and its history. They cannot, without
perjury, adopt the construction ordered
by force. To support, protect and defend
it, is to give it effect according to its
original meaning and intention. To that
the pardoned are sworn. Are they to
pervert it because Force orders? In de-
termining its meaning, the doctrines and
teachings OF the past, the commentaries
OF the sages, will not be allowed to re-
main in oblivion, and the facts of his
tory will continue to exist. MADISON,
MACON, and CALHOUN will not continue
TO be overruled by the Drill Sergeant,
the bayonet and the gibbet. The bones
Of DAVIS, swinging in the wind, will not
prove that WEBsTER's arguments were
sound. The decision 6y gUager Of battle
is r-e-e1amiaa6le at aay time. There is
no Statute of Limitation to that writ Of
Reason has always been oceu-
pied in reversing the judgments of Force,
in matters Of opinion. Else Error, once
victorious, would be immortal. Force
cannot stamp out Truth. The old doc
if true, will revive, in more than
pristine strength and vigour. The
prosecuted Faith, in however few house
holds and hearts enshrined, will grow by
persecution, and the more if watered by
blood. It is immortal.
We submit to force. We agree that
we will not again appeal to arms ; but
do not agree never hereafter to COM
BAT the victorious heresy by reason and
argument, or 10 seek to secure its triumph
by political combinations.
THINGS To BE REMEMBERED.
The New York Times, in the summer
q rCeE ,,blseI,d III e.uo.- I'LL