Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-10-22

some months since, We wrote and
intended to publish, these respondent
words FOR then al was dark in the
Northern sky, and the South seemed
uurkaB in despair, and men in whom the
Southern people had conhded, eoun-
selling them to accept Reconstruction
with neuro-sufrsge As an inevitable
nscezsity. were leading them, we verify
believed. ike blind guides, who, having
long strained at the gnat we're now willing
IN swallow the camel, into a calamity
.ud horrors even greater and more deadly
than those Of civil var
ave had proposed to point out some
Of the deficiencies Of the general law Of
the land, and in the remedies afforded by
law for the enforcement and vindication
Of legal rights.
UBut It seems almost as absurd now
10 discuss such questions, as it would be
to attemptto prove q metaphysical theory
TO a feIIow-passeuger, when the ship,
blinded with the lightning and staggering
under the crushing blows Of the tornado,
Gismasted and leaking, was about to sink
in mid-ocean. What is there, that has
only an ordinary interest, what questions
Of the days Of peace, thatcan engage the
attention Of an apatbetie and dis
Couraged peopI,, stunned by the blows
Of calamity, oppressed by a cynical des-
potism, almost without faith, and wholly
without hope for the future?
When the Constitution is no longer
reverenced, and the guarantees Of right
are no longer sacred, what matter what
becomes OF the Statutese
"Of course it is useless now to en-
deavour 10 improve the law. Everything
now tends to deprivation and deteriora-
ton. and the law as to private rights
and legal remedies must share the fate Of
the rest.
ain a country where the political
power is placed in the hands Of q racein-
capable Of self government, and that
never produced 3 great mana race in
which honesty IN the man and virtue in
the woman are the rare exceptions, and
truth and fraukness and sincerity are x
c~eIlencies hardly known, it is idle to
expect any a-meliorstions Of the law. A
State controlled 10y negroes is q moekery
Of r-epubIicanistn, and viii eventually
become the share and reproach Of hu-
mainly.
"It is therefore a thsnkless and q
hopeless tssk, to vindicate the Constitu-
ton and appeal to the grand-sons Of
savage MANDINGoEs, YOBUBAs, GAL
LAS and FULAs, against Outrsges upon
It. however gross. What does the gen
tIemsn Of Nigritian lineage, who has
laid down the shovel and the hoe 10
take upon himself the grave responsible
tiles of al e%lector, and devote his time, |
his talents and his requirements, with
the assistance Of his o~bsequious white
sdulstors aud sycophRnts and 8 pimping
Radical press, 10 the solution OF the in
tricsts problems which now torture the
c~learest and most vigorous intellects,-
what does he care for an obsolete and
edete Constitution, and laws that restrict
the riotous license, which for him is
liberty What is it TO him that thelsws
are defective and remedies denied, II he
can sell bis vote and fstten on the price.
zone really has little heart to discuss
such matters ss engage the public atten-
ton most in peaceable and w~el-ordered
commonwealth. The country is on the
eve Of q CONFUSION, political, financial,
economical, that viii either sbatteF it
into fragments, or consolidate it into an
Empire. Nothing is stable and perma-
uent, neither the principles Of free gov
eminent, nor civil rights, no b esIioms
ofmorality, nor the enactments of reason.
1t is 10 be left to 8 herd Of human cFea-
lures Of the lowest race Of humanity, too
ignorant, unintelligent, scottish and stupid
10 be competent 70 manage their swn
most trivial affairs Of business, 10 deter
by their veDsl votes, cast at the
dictstion Of petty and Unprincipled
knaves and political gamesters, what
the rulers Of the country shall
take in sn emergency which alarms
every man who is not besotted or deliri-
Ous. One who cannot even move or stir
10 avert the impending ruin, and whose
words 60 but 5 little way and fall on the
stunned and beDumbed public heart ike
OF water N the sandy beaches Of
in midsummer, feels ike saying,
With ANTONY:
Since he tOreh Is OaL