Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-09-06
THE MEMPHIS APPEAL
.at ..i tuoSoduEIcATTD.I
FRIAR's PoIET, MISS, August %, 1861

aud fairness. The spirit OF your com
ments on my letter has, in fact, increased
| my previous regret that our pOlitica
! thinking should have become, for even 6
time, separated. In my anxiety that the
differences existing in our views touch
] ing the duty of the hour may tie reduced
to their actual width, | ask leave 20 OffeI
| YOU few remarks in explanation. The
! disadvantage under which any man
! lAbOrs who enters on 8 discussion with an
editor, do not propose to expose myself
/ to and promise, therefore, that this letter
| is intended simply TO remove some oh
stacles that have been suggested to me
| by your editorial as lying in the way OI
an understanding Of the actual merits Of
my letter.
There sre,' you say, feelings and
| prejudices swaying every man to some
/ extent, Of the influence of which he is
! himself unconscious This truth is I'M
doubted. Does it follow, however, that
my prejudices against the democracy are
! greater than-be assured / say il with
4 respect-your own against the radicals
| Your fine intellect may be blinded by
these in the one case as my poor judg-
ment may be by those in the other. Bat
| in truth, neither you nor /, nor sBy other
| either of those parties. For myOwn part,
! do not hesitate to say that I care very
| little as to nice appointments of their
respective responsibilities TO my passions
| for the loss Of my liberty, my fortune,
my beloved son. But let me ask you,
general whether you have not, In refer
| ring 20 nay dislike Of democracy, Joined
uDcOnsciously in general attempt TO
! blind the public to my cOunsels, by en-
veloping them in a cloud, after the fash
| ion Of old time democratic elap-trap? a?
/ Unless in an unconscious repetition Of
that partisan cry, you, logician, would
not have adopted the arglynen!liEa dd
hOaliatfBl, you, lawyer, would not have
adopted the special pleading Of those
references to my prejudice, while believ-
ing that you were employing the judicial
temper necessary TO set my views be-
fore the country on their merits Have
a care, general, of those democrats! evil
communications says an eminent law
yee, corrupt good manners > and he ought
perhaps, have added, sound logic.
So able an expOundeF Of political liberty
may be excused your excessive sensitive
ness as to the constitution. Speaking of
my reference 10 that instrument, you
say: of il is what be irreverently calls
il. 'one of the fossils Of the pre-secessiOn
period to what entertainment, etc"
IrreVerence does not hold in that allusiOn
Of mine 60 the constitution, unless indeed
! am to accept the improbable conclusion
that YOU, who devote day after dsly great
learning and wonderful sarnestness to its
calculation, designed irreVerenee 10 that
instrument in the passage Whese your
editorial asks: "Is not the constitution
70
attention, having as little vitality as the
fossil fishes depicted by Agassiz >" My
words we're uttered not in Justification,
but in simple allegation, of an actual
fact. The only irreverenee possible to
charge them with is, perhaps, irreve-
renee tGwaFds those honorable dsvOtees
Of constitutional liberty who, exhibiting
al the painful delusiOns or opium eaters,
dream, lying on the highways and ~
WAYS Of public life, deIiriOus dreams Of
divine distractions, while the iron wheels
Of revolution rush ever them, ruthlessly
az cannon over q stony street..
The latter part of your editorial is de-
voted to abstract considerations of right
and race. Questions of right, | submit,
are not in order in dealing with tie facts
OF q revolution. Men have Teen gull
lotined before now while dreaming Of
rights. ! may therefore pass that head
OF your remarks unnOtieed.
EthnolOgic8l theories are, submit,
not in place in this political emergency.
The truth of the case is, general, the
subject Of race Is, at this moment, not
more pertinent TO the matter in hand
than other fossils of the pre-secessiOn
period : Close up in the foreground Of
all such things, like one of those Hartz-
mountain crags which are hRgnoed by
demons, stands, frOwning down upon Us,
the grim fact that the registration OF
Mississippi may be expected to result in
a maiOrity of black votes! This, ask
you 70 remember, is the beginning, mid
die, anu end, OF the whole business be-
fore us.
You charge nay letter with an inten-
tor of srrayiBg Onscisss of men who
stood true to the state sgsinss another.
In tie happier times of whiggery aud
democracy, you and l have seen them
so arrayed without considering the fact
worthy of repFObstiOn. Wherefore,
then, is my proposed movement towards
the organization Of the political opinion
Of the whole country worthy Of Iebuke,
seeing that it eontemplctes affecting that
organization on constitutional bases?
Allow me to explain this part of my
proposal. begin with the fact, that the
republicans are m0rbidly Jealous of tie
northern democrats. The necessity Of
avoiding the suspicion aroused by that
jealousy is, therefore, clear. the negO-
tiatiOn would, plainly, be impossible in
presence Of the distrusts Of party passion
and, on that account, cannot be carried
out,-would not be even entertained by
the other side,-unless on the part of
such OF US as stand outside the priHd
tacie suspicion attaching, in the case, TO
democratic sympathies.
A union party only can make the pol
icy l suggest practicable. In complying
with that first necessity of the whole
matter, I 90 not propose any Liberal
tests as TO mems uniOnism. Old line
wings and Douglas democrats are first in
the order of eligibility; and, nexs after
them. should every happy to see those
good men and true increased by the adj
dition Of OM democrats who, no matter
what their antecedents, have eschewed
the heresy of secession by q hearty re-
turn to their allegiance to the union.
Surely yOu must admit that my prOpO-
sition for an organization of this char
aeter is both broad and liberal.
The pith of your objections 10 my
views touching the duty Of the hour, is
As to its praeticsbility. The Negro you
say, will enter into no coalition except
with the radicals Here, general, / am
surprised TO find that you, a skillful
logician-WhO surely ara not blinied 10y
As morbid a hate Of the radicals is that
with which ara said to be in reference
to the should fall into the
mistake Of begging the question The
individual opinion you have uttered on
the subject is entitled TO the very great
est consideration; but il, assurediy, not
cOacltlSiUe against the individual opinion
of several gentlemen besides myself who
think differently. A public meeting Of
whites and blacks has Just been held at
this place, and gave most auspieiOus
promise Of their future political har-
nfouv. Justice, iberality and COOL feel
ing are powerful agencies for binding
together an classes and compilations of
men. But let the ultimate fact prove
what it may, you, as lover Of order, as
a lover Of humanity, must concur with
me in the conclusion that, rather than
allow the ineCitGble to go forward
in form charged with imminent
danger OF war Of races, the people
OF Mississippi are bound by every con-
sideration dear to their souls, to
make some effort, to make the only
effort open to trial, for saving
themselves, black and white, from hor-
rors ten-fold more appalling than those
of the massacre Of San Domingo.
A black majority in Mississippi is q
truth inevitable. That marked fact is as
ominous of fearful judgment as was the
writing on BelshaaZar's wall. Under
the cold shadows cast thus into the
future, lie nesting in my bosom al
that it holds near and dear! Those be-
loved ones, recolleet you, live not 80 far
outside those shadows 81 the state Of
Tennessee. They live not in those remote
states OF the north and northwest where
Metr0DOlitaa Records and La Crosse
Democrats play the role Of safe heroics.
They live not where schemes OF demo-
cratic expectancy, or Of anti-radical
prejudice, can afford 10 abide the result
with 3 cool philosophy philosophy
which viii, perhaps, not hold me extnsed
for urging that all people, white and
black, who are ecpOSed, like noe and
mine, I'm Mississippi, make some attempt
10 draw the lightning from the th,eat-
ening cloud Of universal suffrage.p =
You ask what the radical readers in
congress eau obtain by way Of cons der
alton for the concessions contemplated
In my letter. AS 3 radical party, the
work OF the northern msjOrity is evil
IDENTIFY well nigh done. As q SectiondI
organization sustained 10 q great extent
by the passions OF war, il cannot long
OutliYe the accomplishment OF its mis-