Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-06-14


POLITICAL DOCTRINE.
General LoNGsTRzEr assum es that the,
questions 30 long agitated between the
North andth South are finally and for
eusr settled against the South, by its de-
fe t in the late war. He regards the re-
sort TO arms as the final and ultimate
mode of settling such controversies. In
other words, he adopts the old middle
age idsa, that the result Of the combat
by wager of battle, like that of the or
deal Of FIRE Of water, was the Judgment
Of GOD.
We utterly dissept from these premi-
ses, and therefore do not argue as to the
conclusions made to flow from them.
Reason is always engaged in reversing
the judgments of force. Conquest gives
the North the right to change the Consti-
tuition, If It will but while that instru-
ment remains unsltered, there are no
new rules Of Interpretation or construc-
ton added 10 the old, known, settled
rules, by means the wager Of battle.
Other persons object to the discussion
Of what they call obsolete questions, and
Of principles once deemed Of paramount
Importance. As the late war, with all
its hideous~ atrocities and all its direful
and calsmitous consequences was en-
tirely caused by the prevalence Of erro-
neous ideas in regard to the Constitution
and the powers Of the General Govern
ment, n would suppose that we might
be by this time sensible Of the immense
practical importance Of questions OF
construction and extent of powers and
rights.
Opinions, in matters Of government,
are Y barren. They always bear
either good fortune or calamity. No one
can estimate the harm that has flowed
and is to flow from the notion, grown by
prescription into an axiom, hat there
may be citizens of the United States,
whole communities Of them, who are
not citizens of any State. Forit follows
from it that part of the citizens " no
allegiance to any State, and cannot COM
mit treason against any; and that the
United States are q Nation, only IN part
composed of the States and the people
Of the States. That Nation, therefore,
the States cannot destroy, though all Of
them unite to attempt it, by dissolving
the Union. It is as Independent on their
action, as GoD is on that Of His creatures.
1t, then, is Sovereign and Lord Para
mount over them. Grant the premises,
and the conclusions necessarily follow.
1t is a great mistake to suppose that
the people at large ought to be indider-
ent to these theoretical questions and
points Of political controversy, and to
content themselves with only the mat
ters OF daily economy, financial and
administrative, Of the State. The people
that does not understand the great ques-
tons that are in dispute under its Con-
~stitution Of Government, does not
govern itself, but simply marches along
the road blindfold. Moreover, the
pawns, at chess, brought into action
early in the game, are sacrificed in sue
cession to protect the Knights, Bishops,
Castles, Queen and King: The pdOHs
Nth s0hicA The common people play the
game Of politics, are their wealth, their
fields, their homes, the blood and bones
Of themselves and their sons and broth
ers, the honour and virginities Of their
sisters and daughters; and, mark US,
tier oWs liberty, which, In a long war,
their rulers and leaders viii always
abrldgs and perhaps annihilste, on the
stale, fraudulent, reasonable plea, IA
miller to tyFants for centuries, that the
Iub.jc safety requires it, and that Hsoes-
stu demands that, to save the laws and
Constitution, the laws and Constitution
should be violated.
If the liberties Of the American people
are once lost, they will never be recov-
cred. Prescription, BURKE said, is the
foundation Of all titles. The bar created
by Time and Custom is the most abso-
lutte Of ell. We are not SURF that peTma-
-nent repubucanism is possible. 1t be-
comes in the long run q matter of econ
omy the nation making less and less
use, from year to year, Of its stock Of
wisdom, virtue and honesty, as a miser
Of his money. Perhaps, after all, gov
eminent is something divine, and not
merely mechanical. The bees have from
time immemorial lived under niouarchs.
Perhaps the ultimate result Of our rapid
progress, so visible for the
last twenty years to all but the blind and
is 10 be q Monarchy or an EN-
pire. It viii certainly be that in the
The immigration Of foreigners
and the plethoric populations Of great
and towns make it inevitable,
there.
The establishment Of Military Despot-
isms and other tyrannical legislation by
Congress, are, like the val itself and all
its pernicious consequences, the natural
fruit Of widespread and prevailing errors
respect to the nature of the General
Government, the legal character Of the
Constitution, and the parties to it. As
the people at large bear the hes>est
1urtheus Of war, Of anarchy and Of ty- 7
nov nRzsalamity pre-disposes
he peoples distrust their former coun-
and TO listen to those Who have
not heretofore misled them, it is more
Important than ever that they should be
made to understand the great questions
which caused the war, and which have
not in the least ceased to be living ques-
ions. We shall not apologize for en-
iesvoring tn instruct them.