Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-04-24
THE MEMPHIS APPEAL
MEMPHIS:
THE pEMoCRATIc PAnTT.

We some time since expressed th'
opinion that it was unwise for the peo
pie of the South TO ally themselves fol
active cooperation with the Democratic
party of the North, by any formal or
ganization, first, for want Of any power
efficiently to assist it, and next because
it would not serve but iDjure that party
Itself in its contest with Radicalism.
We remain Of that opinion still, but
we do not the less watch with intense
interest the struggles Of that party TO
regain its old ascendaney. Not that we
have changed our former opinions as to
its errors, its proseriptive policy, its
ungenerous mode Of conducting political
controversy, its many fatal heresies, to
which in large measure the cslamities
of the country are owing. g.
But, while the old Wing leaders who
still survive have for the most part be-
come the bitterest among the Malig-
nants, the Democratic party has, under
the Christening and instructive influences
of adversely, become gradually more
! conservative, and it is to it alone we can
look for the restoration of the Union, a
return to the principles of the Constitu-
ton, and the Reinstatement of eonstitu-
tional liberty.
If its errors were apparently more nu-
merous than those Of other parties that
have by turns arisen and gone down, that
was only because it was almost contiuu-
otsly in power; and so its errors had OPP
poitunity to develop themselves, and be-
ing embodied in law and action, their
consequences became real, instead of re-
mining merely theoretical. Subject,
like every thing else that is human and
suhlunaTy, to the law of perpetual
change, it is now, under the benefcent
discipline of temporary adversely, under
going those notifications incidental to
the TRANSMISSION into its veins of new
blood, and its passage from one stage of
existence to another. II it is wise, the
errDrs Of its past will hereafter throw
steady light upon the pathway along
which it is to press onward towards the |
ever retresting future.
II it will hereafter prove its relishce |
upon the great principles of its creed by |
leaving every man free to think, speak, |
write, and vote as he pIeases, free of any
apprehension Of persecution or loss Of
employment in consequence thereof; if
it viii stamp and condemn as anti-dem-
oeratie any attempt TO coerce a freeman,
by bribe or threat, to vote in opposition
to his principles and conscience; if it
will rely wholly upon the intelligence
and virtue Of the people, frown upon all
appeals to brute force and violence, and
reject all offers of service by the Free
Lances, the swRsh- -bucklers and bravos
of the day if it will sternly resolve that
none but honest and reputable men shall
have Office; if it will refuse the aid of
venal and unprincipled press, and insist
upon truth and courtesy and fair argu-
ment in the journals that maintain its
principles; if it will condemn and
suppress unlawful invasiOns of countries
with which we are at peace, and rob-
berries and murders perpetrated by our
people on foreign soil; if it will insist
that its Senators shall not bear with
them into the Senate the habits of the
bar, but shall argue great questions
fairly, as statesmen, and not cunningly
ard dextrously as quibbling lawyers
that have taken fees from the party in
the wrong, and not from justice and
equity; if it will look beyond the tenn
pOrary successes of the hour or day, aud
set no evil pTecedents to achieve them
if it will not permit its leaders and or
gsns to denounce the Independent exer-
else Of private judgment as heresy and
rebellion, or make the support of isolated
measures a test of the genuineness of
ones democracy; If it will maintain
the just rights of the South under the
Constitution, those springing necessarily
out of the covenant of Union, and those
that, originally existing, underlie both
andifit willin allits measures of policy or
administration, while conceding some
thing, as wise statesmen should, to the
prejudices, and habits, and humors of
the people, still look TO and aim at their
permanent and real good, and give their
full and due weight and estimation to
all the moral and intellectual coDsidera-
tions that of right are elements in de-
termining questions, instead of being
governed by peeuniary and material |
considerations alone i-if it shall do all |
this, as its wise, and great, and reflect
ing men may by degrees and in time in
duce it habitually to do, it may rescue
the Republic from the ruin that now
seems inevitable, and restore to it its /
prosperity and glory, and so make its
own name illustriOus, and its memory |
and the memory of its leaders immortal.