Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-03-21

MILITARY DESPOrEsN PREFERaRLE
To NEGRO SUFFRAGE

OF IS 70 nav
seemed too much 70 hSte those who ma,
have thought their uSUrpSton justihe
by necessity, and beer unconscious q
. the love OF power and the unwise ambi
ton tina were the real parents Of act
unjustihable, that seemed perhaps &
them the offspring Of zeal and patriot
ism. We hold, with SAINT THoNA
AQUINAs, that ga thing is not right
because God wills it, but He wills it be
u it is right He does not CLAIM
for His will an arbitrary d~espotism ant
His lars are not the enactmeuts Of Hi'
arbitrary win, but tbe utteranees Of Hi:
Infinite Wisdom. To US, despotic and
unlimited power, religious or political, is
hideOus and hateful.
Nevertheless, we said yesterday, and
We now deliberately repeat it, that we
would rather live under a Military Des-
potism for 3 hundred years, than under
= government that allowed negro suf-
frage.
For the substitution Of the Military
Power for the benign and equal govern
ment Of the laws and the judgments of
the Civil Tribunals, cannot very long
continue. There are feelings Of personal
independence that it will not be safe fer
even Satraps like VERREs and BUTLER
long to outrage. There is a public opin-
ion, more potent than laws Of Congress,
which viii not long endure that tyranny
should riot with u~nregUlated license
and this public opinion and judgment Of
men, even that tyranny which is sure
Of legislative indemnity Of its out
RACES, does never long dare to resist and
defy. There viii be tongues, also, that
cannot be padloeked, and pens that
tyranny cannot cause by fear, or by
brides procure, not to write. For every
SEJANUs the-s will be a TACTTUs. to
scourge the tyrant and his parasites.
There viii always live, to borrow in part
the words Of JOHN MILTON, "Some few
who will yet retain in them the old
English fortitude and love Of freedom,
and viii testify it by their deeds. These
will not, imbastsrdized from the ancient
nObleness Of their ancestors, be ready to
fall fiat, and adore those who despoil the
people Of their liberties and put tyranny
into an art"
We nev knew the time" (again
we borrow his words, "when men Of
truest patriotism were not counted Sec
taries but wisdom, now, vhlor, Justice.
cOnstancy, prudence, united and embod-
led 70 defend the rights OF the States and
our liberties, both by word and deed,
against tyranny, is counted schism and
faction Yet these men will never be
wholly wanting in any State, and dig
nifed with the defense of truth and
public liberty" they will Withstand the
tyrants who coniscate these to serve
their own base ends, or those Of their
more ignoble masters.
HApRIAN and TRAJAN and ANToNI-
MIS- PIUs held as absolute power as
MAxIMIN and NERO; and yet under 4
them the Roman people had just laws, {
honestly administered, and were not {
oppressed and outraged by the pimps of
power. There are still, thank Gsd, 8
Courts Of Justice and upright Judges, i
who do not admit the power Of an assem-
bly, of debsuched politicians to absolve
them Of their Oaths n make corrupt
decision 10 be deserving Of honour. And, t
the first arrest and every subsequent ?
Of any citizen by the military b
power, let application be made for a writ
Of Habeas Corpus to a Judge OF one of s.
the National Courts; and if that Judge d
be worthy to wear the ermine, he viii 81
81 once end the military despotism. il
The Supreme Court Of the United States a
UiH decide that Il is MOI IN the pOlCer of \
Congress to aaUest a military officer uih &C
,iUH or criminal Jurisdiction and judfeiqI sv
authority. Let every one who is out th
aged, or deprived Of property or liberty To-
y the minions Of tyranny, forthwith di
institute actions for damages. Let the an
see to the prosecution Of these pr
ases. II u not convicted Of anv tai
fence be denied his right TO be regis str
cred or to vote, let him bring bis ac- ov
ion. Bring into the courts as soon as OF
ossible the great questions to which the be
III Of Opprobiums gives OCCASION the
acts oftheSta governments lai
been valid since secession, and the ism
Of the Courts Judicial determi- pos
atoms whether onerous taxes unoop. we
i~ensiously levied are demonstrations. the
I'D whether Virginia and her sisters tina
e States or Provinces. Where reason tina
free to discuss It's acts, tyranny is short por
7ed. bay
II is possible TO live under a despotje tice
.vernment. There have been free Of a
uls, and pens that dared 10 write and cess
ngues that dared TO speak, the truth fine
der the CEsARs. TACFFUs and JrvF who
L, SENECA and PLINY lived und.- the
nperors whose powers had no limits may
by the laws. The greatest names NJ no d
iglish and French history are of assis
se who lived under d~esnotio the
1t is when Tyrapts arc folly
est and most absolute that the Sat
{ comes to scourge them. And how. a..
T the SPEEDS, the BINGHAMs and MAJ
CHIPMAN's may multiply. there ~
always be lawyers of that e-eursoo " III
severity Of zeal 10 justice and their usPi
i've liberty, against the proud con. wv c
pt and misrule' Of the many tyrants =
he one, that they will not let the 70 III
go undefended, or the guilty ihsec
pc the punishment Of their invec. s0'o'.
however the hand that srmad
E with the accused power Of in 'sHS
&c may hold over them the shield !. y
s protection, and OF dissolution for
e, by means Of amnesty. :
AMPDEN and SYDNEY did not learn =,
lessons Of free thought and inda- oe' :
enee oil the soul, in a republic. ana Jug VIC
most slavish Of pnblie man - water
ylad through life IN srae nave filed
hath been but seldom and oplv ~ IN
periods Of time that n 30 that th
not been governed by Kings sagII the far
seldom made life intolerah,a period
and good men. acres
NO man t been CT
n we are,-that ''if the owe q,
vord be any where separate and in
dent from the power of the Iaw y
viii that power OF the sword be soon "
r Of the law; and being AT on TIL.
disposal, may, when he plesses little,
/ the law, and in derision of our they ca
|, Chsrta, which were but veal former
nee against an armed tyrant, NAV ample Q
tely enslave Us" 1t is true, that some T,
o have in ourselves, though vaunt- stituentI
10 sreeborn, the power Of our own Chicago
A. nnbife safetv IL a. @CinC
D. aHu splendid
Wer than not 70 haFe me property boast.