Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-03-08

Christ, and for murder in the lame
humanity, were fed TO the full with hu
man misery.
Not only did the New England pulp
urge on the war and arouse with all il
might the passions OF a soldlery gsthere
together from all the Northern State:
from Canada and half the States {
Europe, and in which the basest scuu
Of cities mingled with the good and tru
who were really actuated by patriotism
and love of their flag and the Union bu
the same divines have, since the wal
lost no occasion TO howl TOR the blood 0
the leaders under whom the South mad
her desperate struggle for independence
All thinking men should have known
as many did know, before the inceptio.
of the Civil War, that constitutions
government must practically sease
soon after the breaking out of a gres
war. 1t did so, both in the North an
in the South. In each, the General
took upon themselves, without author
ity of Congress or even Of the President
to declare martial law which is, c
course, to create q Dictatorship. Gen
eral VAN Dorm announced to the peopl
of Mississippi, when he declared it, tina
it was "welI defined" to be " the will
the Commanding General :" and Gen
eral HINDMAN, with a grim sarcasm
commended it to the people of Arkan
sas, by the phrase, "extending owe
them the protection of the Militar,
Law
1t is idle to expect any thing else, in
Republic, when it carries on q great wal
The Military power will always set itsel
| above the civil and Mr.. LINCOLN wa
Dictator over two-thiTds Of the country
and MI. DAVIS over the other third, no
because they were the ciUa Magistrates
but because each was COMMANDMENT
chief of the army and navy of his Re
public, and the Generals received thei
orders from him. The moment tina
each declared martial law, without au
thority from his Congress, he establishes
by u|surpatiOn a Military Dictatorship
and superseded the constitution and thu
laws. The Southern President did no
intend to usurp power. 1t would per
haps have been better for the South if ht
had for it was d lamentable error t
establish the simulacrum Of a permanent
government, with two Houses of Con.
gress, when a war for the very existence
Of the new Republic was raging. A
Provisional government, that could have
acted promptly and struck its blows rap.
idly and vehemently, and done at the
beginning what was attempted to be
done towards the end, might have
achieved success.
The worst acts Of despotism Of the
Northern Government were not imi.
tated in the South. Military Commits
sions were resorted to, we think, only in
a single State, and no where tried per-
SONS not attached to the armies. The
Government had no Rastil!es or places
Of exile and confinement for political
opinions; nor did any officer at Rich
mond revive the use of letIres de cdchet,
or arrest persons at a distance by tele-
egram. 80
The danger in all such cases must al
ways be great, that the usurpations of
the war will o. I1 the war. In Rome,
civil war made MARIUs and SYLLA
DictatorS, and under the latter, proscrip-
ten drenched the streets of the city
with the noblest blood of Rome. Civil
wal made CESAR Imperator, and thus
finally overthrow the Roman Constitu-
ton. The moment peace was in fact
restored by the cessation of active hos
tilities and the unconditional surrender
Of the Southern armies, the people Of the
United States should have insisted with
one voice on the complete restoration of
civil government and the ending every
where of martial law and unlawful tri-
bunals of injustice. If they had had the
least wisdom, they would have done so,
and ii would have been a dangerous eX-
pertinent for the President to have ven
tured on the trial Of citizens and ONE
by military commissions unauthorized
by any law, even for the trial of soldiers
for military offences.
In the South the people had seen
enough Of military rule to have become
impatient of it and Disguised with it.
There, 4 would not have lasted a day,
peace was restored. If the people
Of the North had had the same bitter
experience over all their States, the bill
TO establish q military d~espotism over
the South you'd have been received with
one roar OF eAscFatiGn from the whole
land, that would have lOosed the joints
Of the loins of the arch-conspirator STE
VEINS and his aecomplices, and made his
knees smite Z against another, like
those OF RFLSHAzzAR.
The North has not had our experience,
and it dances for joy and sppiauds the
fatal deed, like a maniac or one drunken
wine. God has indeed made those
mad, Elom He intends to destroy.
There has never, fas { single moment
the surrender of our armies, bsen
he least danger Of even a local insur-
There has been no war, to
iilenee The voice of the law. Military
lespotism is fesoftsd to, not bec9lse
here is danger of an insurrectiqn or re-
not because the safety Of the coun
~ requires il; but because there are here
md there, at intervals and in places far
part, occasional acts OF violence COM
by individuals, constituting
,fienees eognizable by the ordinary Grim
nal law. Aud this Is done upon the
lea that the Courts and juries will not
onviet in such cases. Where do they do
% Not in the District of Columbia.
Got in Memphis, certainly, where i'm
ulsive insanity is ~ established de-
snce. In a criminal practice OF twenty
ears we defended many men, one only
f whom was hung, and he was almost
be only one that ought TO have been
cquitted.
The Congress of the Dniaed States, like
he National Convention of France the
,tabIished the Committee of Public
afety and tie murderous Revolutionary
r~ibunal, like the Parliament that be-
eaded CHARLES the First, is grasping
4 tie powers of the government. The
establishment Of military despotism
nd the creation Of 2 standing army of
hites AID negroes are not necessary.
Intended to dragon the South into the
Of negro suffrage, they viii, il F!
lere is a soldier who is man enough 10 ,
,e them, be employed in the end to
usb ont the power Of Congress for mis-
lief and change the Republic into an !
mpire.
A people once used TO military rule. I
ses the taste for freedom. Indeed, such /
easures would not be possible, IL the