Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-05-01
TCOxMUNICATED
HELVINGTON ARD THE MEMPHIS
sBDST.

POST.
The Memphjs Post is out in great Sc
verify on "HelvingtOn." II denounces
/ the work thus: tit is compound Of
trash, treason, pGerility and immortality.
| It applauds perjury, e1logiges treason,
/ defends assassination, and delfies hate
perjury, assassination and treason being
apparently, in the eyes of the author,
consistent with high-tOned Southern
honor" In the face of these tremen-
dOus charges, the public may pardon u
few wOrdg from friend OF that little
| book. ISithe first place, is il fair to hold
an author responsible for the sentiments
of one of his fictitious creations more
than of another? As well call the
author of " Helvington y loyal with his
IovaI personaes, as rebel with his rebel.
| lious. Because certain characters in a
plav talk of assassination, does it
follow that the author justities il :?
Who ever accused SHAKESPEARE Of
approving assassination because his
BRIJTUs did Who ever thought
Shelly, the advocate of parricide, be-
cause the "Cenei portrays it? 1t
should be the business Of q drama, more
than any other species of literature, TO
D." hold the mirror up to nature mot to
the authors own face" to show virtue
her own feature, scorn his own image,
and the very age and body of the time
his form and pressure" II q drama
fails in this, it will need no partizan
warfare TO kill it.
The Post is rather unfortunate in its
quotations, to prove "vileness E" and
" immortality" We submit to any un-
prejudieed reader, if the selections he
makes are not epitomized pictures of the
passions and feelings naturally evoked
in proud souls by oppression ?
The Post is virtuOusly indignant that
the heroine, whose father has been muir
dered by the United States soldiers,
should thus speak
IS Froaa lay fallen Jafhers
Lffeless hand seize9 ne pistol, t0teace had sped
Ilf8 deddlg bltliets into tlr0 V0yikee he0dS
tgoai3 hare SEM ne Hird 70 the 2ssasstll's heart
or rim who'd slain my father, bur they rushed
Around, disarmeu ana plDloned me.
The " vice and immortality go preg-
nant in these lines, the Post brands into
the reader with italics. The trouble
with the Post is, it has no imagination
it can see but from one stand point.
| Could the f0gt, for one brief moment,
imagine itself that young girl so ardently
| loving her country, so devoted to the
] idea OF freedom could he see that
country invaded, that freedom trOdden
/ in the dust by armed men come to sub
/ due. to crush, and her 6elOUed father
slain at her feet, the Post might get a
/ glimpse of something heroic in her ma
| ture, however wrong he might deem her
| opinions. Again, the Post quotes and
/ brands with Italics:
1 adeI-a' I'll pile up oatss itnsa they reached the
And eUerV one as false as the false foe
/ That forces them on Us. -
| 9 q Let g0ttr tsataugbt tongue run GLIB
] Wan Lincoln oGths-reDTesS he Sc0ra Y0lt feel
! high Heaven Will not record the sin against
These evidences of perjury are shock
! ing to the Post, and well they should be.
! When CALLED was made to say, &c
abjure, curse and detestn a great Truth
| he had enunciated, when he whispered
to friend as he rose from his knees, " II
moves for all that whose was the sin
kof that perjury? Was it the powers that
| forced It, or the individuals that accepted
it, to avoid the rack ? IsABEL's S situation
was similar. A tyrannic power gave heI
choice between two evils; false oath
seemed to her the lesser, Just as it had
seemed to the old BlOrentine philosopher
two hundred and fifty years ago. And
when, after having sworn the allegiance
| oath, ISABEL breaks out in a passionate
invective against the Government
compelling her to do a thing sc
revolving to her sense OF honour
the Post is innocently indignant al
this new treason. Is it possible any
Il person can be 50 ignorant of human ma
ture as not to know, under such wrongs
hatred could not disappear, but would in.
evitably deepen in intensity? In this fact
lies the moral the gist Of the stoTy-it
would be well il oppressoTs would heed it.
Political ostbs cannot bind the heart, oi
reunite the broken bonds of affection
Rulers, demanding from unwilling hearts
oaths OF fidelity, demoreiize the people
forced to swallow them, the sanetity OF
the oath is destroyed, and in the con
sciences of those thus wronged turks the
conviction that the sin of the false oath
rests on the power that forces, not on the
weaker party who merely ace capts.
The Post sneers at the word " worser. y
We have SHAKsPEARE's warrant foI
its use; and in the many criticisms
upon that great master, we believe
none have objected to "worseru The
word "noble" has q disagreeable effect
on the Post, causing "nausea" I" aeeompa.
MED with pain. The severe republican.
ism of the Post, joined to its weak stom.
ach. cannot tolerate anything which ss.
vors of nobility or chivalry.
WSweet Southern rose is another ex
pression very distasteful to the Rost-tht
victims Of weak stOmachs are usually
whimsical. We have no doubt, had the
author been aware of these little pecu
liarities of taste in the Post, he would
have exerted himself TO have satisfied il
in such trifies. Instead Of sweet South.
ern rose" lie would have put "pooF
thorny rose, or, if It's the rose which /:
unpleasing to radical ears, our author
coRld have said fair marygOld,p "desi
sunfiower,p p " blooming peony;n or, how
would " sweet beet-rOOt suit the fanci
ful Post Any name that would prop.
erly fill the line and please the Post, VIZ
have no doubt the author can be induced
TO put in. In fact, il the Post will only
furnish US with list Of its fav0rite pc
names we will use our influence to hav,
them placed iE the authors next drama