Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-03-16
SoUFRERE DIsL0YAEFY AND MIEE-
FAIRY WITNESSES.

, called republic, ana " freedom +" an
! " the will Of the peopleD are phrases
everybody's mouth. Yet in every tow
, and village the finest residences will
found appropriated to some military grar
dee, and its entrance guarded by soldier
with glittering equipments. Justie
is administered in our courts with tn
utmost caution 70 individuals They ar
presumed innocent until convicted b
testimony which dispels all doubt, an
which can only be produced by disintei
ested witnesses. But when the legisla
ture taxes testimony az to the guilt {
whole States and sections, to prove tn
jnstice Of a wholesale deprivation G
rights and franchises, II acts upon tn
testimony Of some man professional.
interested IN making out a case agains
them.
Our country is so happily situated tina
we have no cause to dread dangers from
abroad, and there will be no excuse 70
wrinRing millions on millions from th
labor Of the masses for the maintenance
of our immense and costly army estab
lishment, unless it can be made to appea
that there are internal dangers necessi
tating the presence of an army. Every
professional military man has thereforl
personal interest in playing the part o
detective among the southern people
in guessing at their thoughts, In holding
them responsible for every hasty express
sion dropped by any one Of them in pri
vate conversation and reported by spy
Ia finding treason in the ribbon of s
school girl, conspiracy in a tableaux fol
the benefit Of the poor, and mountains
generally where others see only a mole
| hill.
The government pays pittanee, 1t is
| true, TO the poor MANNED soldier who
lost his limbs in battl9 but it is wrung
| from the hard earnings of hundreds Oi
| thousands of brave fellows who returned
/ to the labors OF The field and the shop
when the purpose Of the war was accom-
plished, whilst millions more are drawn
from the same source to support
q huge army Of idlers and dropes
who have nothing TO do but to
strut about in shining brOadclOth and
giittering brass. Their sole duty seems
to be to present arms and touch their
Gaps at each appearance or the grandee
to whese train they belong and of whose
bloated consequence they are part.
They mount guard at the entrance of the
costly mansion which the government
provides for him. They keep the COM
mon people from approaching to disturb
the repose of his serene dignity. They
enter his luxurious apartments, cap in
hand, and with cat-like tread, to receive
lis orders and to DO his bidding. All this
Kingiy style costs millions on millions to
the government, and adds to the cost of
every box of matches, every yard of
calico, every school book, every pound of
meat or salt or bread, which the poor
man buys for his family-nay mere, it
increases the rent Of the cottage which
shelters his family, and the cost of the
medicine he administers 10 them when
sick.
These "oiled and eurled Assyrian
bulls n-these giit-edged and perfumed
army officers, who only come out of their
luxurious recesses to mix with common
people when they are notified that the
pOpglaae 10 waiting u GFpiaud-what
useful part do they enact in time of
peace They add to the picturesqueness
af the scene as they strut through the
streets, and as their decorations glisten
under the chandeliers in the drawing
ISOms of the rich but are they not
costly luxury? It costs the labor of one
common man to maintain another in
idieness, but to maintain Cne man in all
this magnilicenee swallows up the labor
vi stOIto HOI Dlil Aut W lbbN lOAib III
tattered garments az she labOrs for the
pittanoe which is to buy the taxed food
of her children, and he even shares by
taxation the penny which charity doles
To the shivering orphan who hegs in the
frozen streets.
How long would a republican people
burn this costly incense upon the altar
Of mere human pride, il no preteXt could
be found to make it appear salutary and
Your professional military
man is directly interested in creating
and b0lstering up this pretext. To him
it is gold lace and patent-leather boots, [
living, high salary, wine,
cigars, the sweet consciousness OF COM |
power and social consequence f; |
when, without il, he would be "such
poor, bare forked thing" fsring as i'll, |
and worked as hard as the rest of US. |
While men Of peace may wish the |
south to forget they ever
were conquered, and to learn that the |
power of the government is a part |
Of their glory, il is his interest |
to make the yoke ga4l-to brand them |
In the orders, as conquered traitors who |
are entitled only to be tainted and hu-
like common malefactOrs, by /
The menials of the government. If
such treatment lsgets discomfort, which |
bursts out in insurrectiOn, so much the /
better for him, especially if he lacks a |
great deal of being at the head of his /
for war increases the army |
and brings chances Of promotion. If |
war be not the result, at all events his /
victims may be tortured into the utter /
lnce of resentful language, or acts which /
be can magnify into treason and use to |
dangerous spirit which can only be kept |
lown by large army.
Then your sons of Mars is peculiarly |
itted for finding signs of insubOrdination |
among ciedlians anyhow. According to |
he noti0ds imbibed with his military /
the whole duty of the citizen, /
ls he sees it, is to se found in the articles
If war and the army regulations, and /
s divided into but two simple /
on the one hand, |
md ablect, unquestioning obedience /
)n the other. Discussion is mutiny.
To dispute an opinion set forth |
with all the formality of a general /
,rder is q court martial Offense. News
lapers, which do not puff the general,
should be suppressed. His views are
hose of his army. They hear, they ap-
)laud, they obey. He is not called on
ly them for his reasons, and the citizen,
Who does otherwise than as the soldiers
10, is seditious and dangerous charac-
er, to be kept under military surveil-
Rnce and finally tried hy court mar
whole machinery of ciyil courts
)eing, according to all military author
ty, nothing but slow and antiqusted
lumber, which ought to be overlooked
with contempt
Now the cost of our ornamental mill
ary establishment is the most paltry /
connected with it. By |
heir own armies have fallen all the /
great republics which were able to defy |
he hOstilitiss of rival nations. Even |
England has always, on this |
account, maintained that jealousy Of
Itanding armies which our people in
lerited from her and continued to mani
iest until party fury overcame all eau
ion. History repeats itself, and Meme
us walks the world as of yore. FrenEied I
parties may tiatter themselves that they |
are only using the army to crush the
opposition, and thus does history repeat |
tself, for so thought the adherents Of
Cesar at Rome. It is by infuriating one /
portion of the people to the point of dis
and prostF2ting the other
portion, that despotism divides and con-
luers ali. Your military despet delights
o see one half the people taught to be-
leve the other half unfit to be trusted
with political power. For his part he so
'egsrds them all. He allies himself to
me party with no more regard for it than
or the other, and with no respect for any
aw but such as yelgta to the army. Fre-
Iuently he has no particular home, he
las no local attachments, =" his patriot
sm is not bounded by state lines "-in
act, his country is the camp of his army,
md his home the shadow ofhis flag. Let
hose who use him and empower him to
,ppress and disfFanohise their fellow
,iti2ens look into history. They will see
hat such things have been before, and
heir turn comes next.
WHAT a miserable spectacle it is to
zee that South Carolina, the very mo-
nent that congress passed the military
lill over the presidents veto, rushed for
ward to Washington TO solicit the choice
IF bEigadier to rule over her citizens |
Poor, disgraced South Cardinal The
irst to force her sister states into revolu-
ion; the first to accept easy terms of
surrender; the first to adopt the consti-
utional amendment aboiishing slavery |
nd now she eannotfoTego the exquisite
.F anna hricrodiar Ttndar 1