Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-11-17

religious or political, from sinister and
selfish motives, without faith In them
and without honesty; but q people never
does So 1t alWays follows lis eonvic-
tons, and these are always honest, how
eve they may be. IL Is
equally irrational, after q great struggle
Tor Independents BY q people, toimpugn
the honesty and uprightness ofitsleaders.
It Is not q characteristic Of political
knaves and charlatans to put everything
al hazard in a desperate struggle against
overwhelming odds. II the ColonistS
had failed in their attempt at separation
from the British Crown, the men who
led in the attempt would have been no
less entitled to honour than when they
were ~suceessfuIs and no one can name
half q score among them all, who were
sctnated by unworthy motives. Neither
car any n truly cast that ~reproach on
half a score Of. the leaders of the South IN
the struggle that commenced In 1851.
Neither was it the desire TO perpetuate
slavery, that united the common people
Of the south in the struggle. Ninety
| nine men out OF every hundred that
formed The Southern armies never owned
a negro; and the great majority OF them
had no particular esteem for the planters
and slave-owneEs. It is quite true that
thinking men always looked forward
with dismay to the possible emancipa-
ton Of the slaves by Northern fanatieism
and an amendment OF the Constitution.
None anticipated the admission OF the
| negro, under n circumstances, to a
share in the government Of the country.
This is an act Of idiotic folly and OBJ
scene brutality, which no man imagined
possible. But they did foresee that b
negro. emancipated, would become
worthless, and an intolerable AK and
burthen, and that his very presence in
the country would become dangerous !
and the fear and apprehension Of the
worst consequences made them indig-
nant at Northern inter-meddling with
the slaves, although they were not In
love with slavery itself.
The whole South instinctively felt the
danger that threatened it, from the
rapid influx Of foreigners into the North
ern States, the constantly increasing
ratio of Northern growth, and the multi
plication of new States and when the
North defnitively announced to the South
that its growth was to cease, and that no
more slave States were to be admitted
| into the Union, an attempt at separation
| on the part Of the South became newt
able. That determination was itself 3
declaration of war and it was felt by
all that the abolition of slavery might
be postponed, but could not be prevented.
| Not q man in ten in the South cared
to listen to an argument in proof OF the
right of secession. They knew thatif they
did not possess it, they had been juggled
| and cheated out of it, and that the right
Of revolution remained In any event.
They mad seen the United States always
eager TO recognize and assist every peO-
pie that struggled for Independence and
Nationality and that they knew that
for the North to deny them the right to
these, would be q gross apostacy from
principle.
Many men, land we were of them be-
Heved that a Republican government
could not be permanent, orif permanent,
beneficial, In an immense country like
the United States. We believed that in
such a country Republicanism could be
only a period Of transition; that small
republics only can continue, and great
ones will always sink under the weight
| of their own vices and %corruptions. We
believed that, as two Republics, the United
! States would be more prosperous than as
a single one; and that a treaty Of amity
between the North and the South would
be more conducive to the happiness and
prosperity of both than a common gov
ernment,-giving US all the benefits Of
such q government, and none OF its evils.
We did not see how liberty or free gov
eminent was to suffer by the division Of
one great Republic into two; and we do
not see it now.
In short, the causes Of the wal were
manifold, and the chief among them
were those for which the immediate
actors were not responsible. The mo-
/ tives by which the actors were governed
were as various as the causes; but one
thing is absolutely certain, that there is
no intelligent man in all the South, who
fought under the Confederate hsg, that
believes or feels that be was guilty Of
crime In dolngso. Nosuch man feels him
! selfdishonoured, a traitor or a rebel. No
one is ashamed Of the u for which ne
fought. No man thinks of the myriad
dead heroes of the South as mRlefactors.
And be among the victoTs who does
| think so, who b~egrudges the dead the
honours that the living yearn TO pay
/ them, who would forbid the manifesto
tions of reverence aud love to their re-
mains and &C their graves, is not wise
enough to be a Statesman, Eor generous
/ enough to be a older.