The Daily clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1866-1888, 1867-04-07
For the Clarion.
letter on IFae Crisis.

u DE amlsS Tor young man, who
has never shared the passions of par
.y feuds and conflicting affiliations, to
declare the reasons which have driven
him to conclusion upon matters
whose trancendent Importance admits
neither Of disregard nor of delay.
This is no time, my fellow citizens,
or whatever we may be, for
mere gladiatorial display in the arena
Of politics The weapons have been
torn from our grasp,-the sands are
wet with recent blood,-a pitiless
populace awaits the cruel festival
and Tyranny, imperatOr, viii not stay
the spring of the unglutted lion, We
stand unarmed in the presence of 4
foe flushed with triumph, inspired with
hatred, acknowledging no law save
his passions, and welding the resour
ces of an empire Is the statement
exaggerated / appeal to facts foI
It's continuation. After q pr0tracted
struggle. the strong arm Of bold and
sagacious Executive, supported by
vast patronage and influence, has
dropped nervelcss by his side, Every
effort 70 construct a conservative
party in the North has resulted nfailure
so signal, that ithas inspired the radi-
Gals with.tenfold arrogance. Reyerdy
Johnson, born in the earlier days of
the republic. and nurturedAin The faith
that the constitution Is the shield and
SAFEGUARD of American liberties,-
even he cast his vote for the military
bill. because he saw that, If rejected,
il was but the harbinger Of still more
savage legislatiOu,-recOgnizing, with
anguish Of heart, that even the forms
oflbcrtv are no longer respected.
Every Northern journal that has hith-
erto striven to stem the torrent of ag-
erosion. implOres US to accept what
is now offered. that we u3ay avoid the
fate that will inevitably mark the
fraoic close Of our existence as Ameri-
can citizens. One year ago, the radl-
Gals strove in Congress with the weai
pons Of parliamentary usage, angry
invcctive, iuhammatory appeals, and
such logic rs their cause supplied !;
having won the position for winch
they fought. they neither reason nor
inveioh.-they leqisiate. At their last
session, our Legislature spuned an
overture from Congress in the shape
of an amendment to the constitution,
which empowered us to modify the
distribution Of the elective franchise; ;
the echoes of the speakers voice had
scarcely died away, when n bill was
passed by Congress, denying us any
voice in the matter; and a power that
knows no restraint, either Of written
constitution or from the venerable ira
ditions Of English liberty, has made
universal Acknowledgement by the sol
emn fiat of a Convention, the condition
Of release from the enormous tyranny
Of an irresponsible military ruler In
this inquisitorial process, day by day
the iron circlet narrows around his
brain, and the fiery walls close in up
on the victim. Thadeus Stevens,
that sOul-less monster sprung from the
of the impious Frankenstein
of abolition, has declared his intention
to introduce a bill that shall drive us
from our homes, and snatch from the
old man, the tender woman and the
babe, even the scanty re
sources left by rapine, fire and sword.
The spectre of famine stands at the
threshold of many n Southern home
stead, and this day two hundred thou
sand Southern men, women and child
rem feel the pangs of hunger ::
they hare no tread! Should the
crop fail this year also, and
should foreign capital and labor be still
barred from our country by line of policy
that shall confirm the state of affairs that
has hitherto kept them awry-then we may
Behold in this fair land the most fearful
sight ever rested on by mortal eye-tamIne,
and the pestileuce which is ever its grim at
tendant, with all their train of unspeakable
horrors. Since the day when, in the last
charge of GoTdOus gallant men, our flag
went down on the hills of Appomattox, the
now dominant party has advanced step by
step in the process of conforming the organ
ic law of the Republic to their theory of gov
eminent. Gathering strength from resist
ancC and confidence from success, this party
has paTalyZed the Executive, it has subOT-
dinated the National Legislature, and to-day,
defiant and fearless of the Judiciary, it
tramples under foot the liberty lives and
property of ten millions of people What
avail the veto. the noble logic, and the de-
spairing eXpostulatious of the President
Fanaticism may die, but the motto on its
banners Is, Not one step backwards"-RyE
INN reStigibm retToTSHm. Is it then, in view
OF the facts which have stated, any eXag-
eeration of our real position to declare that
the liberty, the lives and the property-Of the
southern millions are at the mercy of par
" whose power is unlimited and whose ma
Lightly Is equal to its power
But we are gravely told, Let US appeal
TO the supreme judicial tribunal of the land
Behind the solemn DEGREES of that august
tribunal We viii shelter our liberties The
supreme Court viii declare the Military
Bin unconstitutional, and then the President
VIII not execute it, and Congress Will not
dare 10 iuterpose' Thus cry some who
stand far back in the paleozic age of magma
ChaTtas and constitutions. and shout feeblv
60 a people that ruSheS onward, maddened
10y the brain fever of democracy. What
barrier have the Constitution and the Court
proved to past uSurparjons OF what avail
IS the technical letter of the Law. when pow
or and cunning combine to evade ii When
tho Indian exchanged so much land as
might he contained within the compass of
an oN-hJde, for pipetul of tobacco, he did
not think that the solemn puritan would cut
the hide into thread and encompass acres
with 10. History Is fun of the mournfuI
story of wrongs perpetrated. whilst the evil
doors invoked the law for their Justification
But the Radical party openly avow their
disregard for the Constitution. More than
six months ago, one of the most influential
OF the Northern journals declared that the
Constitution should not stay the progress
of the benchcent revolution which they
were ehectlug, and that the people were will
ing To accept the dangers, if any, TO flow
nom Its violation. Such was and Is their
programme. The agrarian masses of the
North have learned how to be rich and pros
porous without our products or patronage;
they have learned To hate US more and To
FEAR rs not at all They have adopted and
acted upon the political dogma. So fatal to
minortleS, that constitutions are made by
lnalouttes and are Therefore to be changed
or ahroGated at their pleasure Madison.
Jay. Jefferson and Hamilton are no longer
the eNpounderS of the Constitution; but
the dirty addenda of Wade, the tiatulent ex-
positions of Sumner, the greasy foot-notes of
Wilson, and the envenomed annotations of
Stevens, have sullied the noblest compact
by which men ever strove 10 rerpetuate
their liberties and, to-day, the Constitu-
ton, shorn of its glory, is}ike one Of those
ualimnSpStS a. " biela ba abScaD.a lrou1,r-