Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-10-23
AEoTHER FALLEN FROM GRACE.

ANOTHER FALLEN FROM GRACE.
ROGER A. PRYOR, once q member Of
Congress from Virginia, afterwards q
Brigadier General, and nov a practising
lawyer in New York, has recently writ
ten a letter which concludes 50 follows:
AT whatever risk OF personal obloquy,
and at whatever sacrifice OF personal in
terest-and you know It involves both
7 obIoquy and sacrifice as Idol am re-
solved TO employ all Of energy and intel
lect l may command in the incessant en-
deavour to promote peace and good will
among the people Of the lately bslligeFent
States. What the country needs, what
in a most especial manner the South
needs, is repose freedom from the throes
Of political agitation, and leisure to re-
eruit It's exhausted energies. The expe-
rience Of the past six years should have
impressed on the mind Of the American
nation this most sanitary lessOn-alesson
sooner or later learnt by every nation in
the development Of its own history-thAt
civil war is the sum and CONTAMINATION
OF all human woe. Protesting solemnly
the integrity Of motive by which ! was
then actusted, yet / never recall the
names Of the noble men who fell In our
LDlAAAlNa A never JUN NJ ~ &EC1 ~
wasted fields and desolated homes l
never contemplate the all-embracing
-uia in which we are involved, the sad
eclipse Of our liberties, and the sinister
aspect Of the future, without inwRrdly
resolving to dedicate all / possess OF sbil-
ity for the public service TO the task Of
averting another such catastrophe, and
to the end OF guilty waiting q spirit Of for
%bearanee and good feeling among all
classes and all sections Of the country.
These, my dear sir, are the opinions, very
briefly and dogmatically delivered, which
! entertain touching the actual cOnnltlon
Of the Southern States, and the policy
proper for them to pursue In the present
junctUre. They are the result Of anxious
and conscientious reflection, OF much
observation on the popular temper OF the
North, and Of extreme and undated So
licitude FOR the welfareOf the community
70 which / am attached by the strongest
ties Of fliaI devotion. With the utmost
sincerity Of conviction, / believe that by
q system Of conduct in conformity to
these suggestions, the Southern people
may achieve a prosperity and happiness
equal 70 ans they ever enjoyed; while,
on the contrary, 1 am IS firmly persuaded
that by 8 vain and impatient resistance
to An order Of things they cannot change,
and to q destiny they cannot escape, they
will infinitely s~ggravate the miseries OF
their present condition, and beside bring
down upon themselves calamities sppall-
ing to contemplate. am not acquainted
with the classification Of parties, but If
these opinions make n q Radical, "
then I am a Radical" for they are de-
iberstely the opinions Of
Yours very truly,
ROGER A. PRYOR.
To those who were Union-W Wings when
Mr.. PRYOR and others of his class were
Democrats, savsgely ensmOured Of Estate
Rights, branding all men in the South
who were in favour Of measures Of heal
ing and compromise, as AbolitiOnists, or,
at the least, as submissionists to those
who were utterly opposed to secession,
when these gentlemen, violent and hot
headed above all others, were in favour
Of secession per Sc as spedcefm remedy,
and were eager to throw of the shackles
of 8 hated Union and ready to spit on
the National hsg,-tO those who, power
less to resist a movement OF which these
men were the authors, as 8 swimmer is
to stem the mighty current Of Nj
agsrs in the rapids above the
falls, were dragged into secession
by these men who swore never TO sub
nit snd were ready to die in the last
ditch,-tO those who were thus forced to
risk all, and who lost all the earnings Of
long years, in a cause which was to sue.
coed, il at all, not for their profit and emOl-
ument, but for that of these ardent and
fiery, true Southrons,-to those whose
property has been ~cOnfiscsted and sold,
and who now find it difficult by inces-
SAINT labour to keep the wolf of hunger
from their doOrs,-tO those who lament
the loss Of Sons and brothers slain by the
sword, the bullet, starvation, or disease
contracted in camps or prisons mo-
mentary feeling..of indignation is natural,
and eve Of impatient contempt for
human nature, when those who were dis
centented with the Union as it was, and
who five years since deemed it ineonsis-
tent with the honour of the South to
remain in that Uuiou, now counsel sub
mission to an order Of things they can
not change" and tell the people whom
they misled and piloted into the jaws OF
hell, that they may still, by timely sub
mission, achieve a prosperity and hap
piness equal to any they ever enjoyed"
is q pity that these men had not been
sufficiently acquainted with history &
few years ago, to know what they now
to have learned, that civil war
is the sum and contamination Of all hu-
woe" To them we owe our losses
and calamfties and it would be more
becoming in them to spare Us their adj
vice. The blind guides ought to cease to
.sndesvour to lead either the blind or
those who can see. How much soever
may personally like and esteem them,
heir opinions have little weight with
he people, nor are they entitled to much.