Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-03-28

.oru,et6afe aIayefy. OF that the cause OF
government depended on their con-
,ueripg us, and on the ~maintainance of
he Union. We reIigiously believe that
he M Of free government was lost
sv on defeat; that the salvation of the
republic depended OF The Sovereignty o.
hes states; and that the employment of
against Is was precisely such a de-
NAL Of q clear right to Independence, as
the emPloymsntof force by Great Britain
its Colonies To Us, cur leaders
were and are patriots as pure and as
worthy Of eternal glory Is WASHING
TON, HANCOCK and ADAMS England
then said that these men rebelled and
her Colonies reyolted, rather than pay a
tax of a few cents per pound on tea ! but
that was not true. 1t was not the pecu-
mary burthen 50 imposed, but the asser-
ton Of q right to tax, not States, but
Provinces and Colonies Of English free
men, without permitting them to be rep
resented h the Parliament thst laid the
tax, against which the Colonies rebelled.
Wheneyer it is comprehended that 4
people carries on q great and exhausting
war for an error, be that idea e so
great an one, the contest Is at onee lifted
out of the lower and base fogs Of paltry
and sordid considerations Of greed for
territory, Of eoYetOusness Of power OF
ambition or of anger, into the higher
and pure atmosphere Of principle. It
IL digniaed and ennobled, and those
who die for it, being true soldiers and
| not mercenaries, are martyrs. And that
d~efectsveuess and inferior quality of the
moral sense Of which we spoke in 3
previous paragraph consists in this,
that the eople of the North have never
/ vet proven themselves spp~reciative
| enough to respect and honour that devo-
ton to principle, and an idea, which
insured the Southern people in their
heroic struggle, and nerved their
souls to meet the tremendous odds
AGAINST them, and cheerfully to
make the immense sacrifices which the
war required. The legislator, especially,
who cannot comprehend and honor
this devotedness, this loyalty to
an idea and a great principle, this
almost religious Faith, may be a
shrewd attorney or a cunning politician,
but he is not and never can become a
! Statesman. He is not worthy Of pity
but the people are to be pitied in whose
| hearts there is nothing that responds
with sympathy to the noble heroism that
makes another people put everything at
hazard for a great idea; that cannot
comprehend such a motive for selEsaeri-
fee; that retains malice and anger
against a people that has so struggled
and lost; and that insists On Furnishing
devotion to principle as a crime.
The people of the North, In furnishing
Us by Acknowledgement and c~onfiseation,
do themselves the greater harm. Us
thew impoverish, and take from US the
protection of the laws, and give our
birth-right to the negroes whom they
prefer as political associates; bat on
themselves they heap disgrace, as the
man or people always does that is not
noble enough to sympathize with and
respect a conquered but heroic enemy.
Whilethey imagine themselves lenient
and mercifuI, because they have not
taken our estates and lives, they insist
on e~Qnfscating free opinions, and
adjudge their utteranee to be reasonable,
and will term what we have here written,
insolence. 1t is not so, whatever they
may think. ]. is but an earnest protest
against an imputation Of crime, in be-
half Of a conquered people, a vindication
Of their right to respect and considera-
ton, a denial Of any right to 1miSh them
as felons. 1t is the frank expression OF
the convictions religiously entertained by
nine-tenths of the people of the South
Of truths that ought to command the
assent of all the world. The States Were
sovereign, the Constitution Wds a com
pact. In vindieation of these truths we
fought, and were overcome. We ac-
knowledge the c~onqueror's right to
remodel the government, and that
his will is supreme. We only say that
he ought to change the Constitution, Sc
that it shall provide for the Government
established in violation Of it by force.
The Government is legitimate; only the
Constitution has become a huge false
hood. We admit that the conqueror
may exercise all the rights of conquest
but we aver that he has none OF the
rights that the rebellion of Subjects, and
their treason give to Sovereigns. Our
estates, our liberties, our lives, are his,
by the laws of war and conquest; but
he does not hold them by the tenure OF
forfeiture for crime. A State, we re-
peat, could violate the compact but
it could not rebel; and when State
warred against State, there could be no
treason in Obeying the will and sharing
the fortunes of ones own common
wealth. Reduce these Statest to Provinces,
disfranchise, ~cOniscste, hang, if you
will! It will nevertheless be still true
that we have been, not guilty but usker.
tunste; and so the future sgss shall
adjudge.