Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1868-01-29

insist on injecting with the syphilitic
virus Of negro political equality the body
polite, to soften and rot the very bones
OF the Commonwealth, we should not
have laid down u arms and trusted to
the broken reed Of the generosity Of a
people incapable Of -maguanimity, be-
cause furious with passion.
When our armies surrendered, it was
because the thinking men Of the South
had months before become convinced
that to maintain the sovereignty Of the
States was an impossibility. That SOW
ereignty bad been totally ignored in the
Confederscy itself, and hung in rags and
tatters round the half naked limbs Of our
States. We had struggled for it sndlost.
But II we could not enforce Our con-
struction Of the Constitutions it was no
longer to be for US a compact between
the States, we nevertheless preferred ii,
as a supreme law enacted by the people
OF sll the States, to any other form Of
+ government in the world. IT, when we
had laid down our arms, the people Of
the North had said TO Us, "You have
fought FOR your construction Of the Con-
stitutioD, and have lost. You say so
frankly and submit. Whatever the Gov
eminent was at the beginning, the null
tiplication Of States has made it
impossibls to continue the doctrine
Of State Sovereignty. The Uni
ted States must necessarily be
one ration. IS you cannot secure
the perpetuity of republican liberty on
your theory, let US agree to ny to do it
on ours. Let US hold a Convention Of
delegates from the States, and change
the Constitution, so that it shall read as
if hss become, by the insensible influences
Of time, IF this had been said to Us,
and if it had been added, generous
enemies bury their hatreds in the graves
Of their dead heroes, and put their glo-
ries into the common stock" we should
have clasred hands, and are, strong as
we were and are in our convictions,
would have been among the first to agree
ss to change the Constitution and the
men in the South who would have been
truest to it as amended, most loyal,
least remembering the acerbities of
war, would have been those who
we're truest to their States and
their belesgured South in the
days OF her necessity. They would
hsye been worth something to the
Union; they sresworthless now. The
people Of the North have very poorly ia
vested their confidence in the scurvy
~renegades who were untrue to their own
| States,-the JUDAsEs IsCARIOTs whose
souls were dear at thirty pieces Of silver
each. We do not sIeak Of those men,
few in number, who manfully and hon
orably, from the beginning aud all the
time, declared themselves opposed to Sc
cession aud ~deyotees Of the Union, and
took the consequences. Them we hon
CURED; and no enc Of them was, with
our consent, ever treated otherwise than
with honour. We do net even speak
Of the cOwGrdly who bowed and
bent before the storm, and uttered
words Of devotion to the COnfede.
racy that their hearts disavowed. We
must not expect too much of human na-
ture. We speak Of those miserable
kraves who adhered to the C~onfederacy
and were ferociOusly patriotic while they
thought it would succeed, to abandon it
when they found its fortunes sinking.
The man that was thus untrue to the
South will deceive his God, if he can
and the lizard, the frog or the hound is
Of a nobler nature. There is not on
this earth a creature more unworthy Of
Gods consideration or mans charitable
opinion, than he who after ~plighting his
faith to the South and its people, aposta-
tizsd from what he deemed the losing
cause sDd sought to make profit by his
spOslscy. The touch o! his hand would
contaminate that Of an honest man: his
presence among gentlemen poisons the
atmosphere.
The war against US was in our estima-
ton an unjust one. We did not doubt
our right TO nationality and independ-
Unce. We did not doubt the right Of our
States 10 withdraw from the Union.
That faith was as old in the heart Of the
as the Republic itself. Our con- {
v]ictions Is TO that are only strengthened
by time and BY sober reflection. But
it is the fate OF States and Provinces.
after struggling against it in vain, to be
consolidated into nations, and ike Bur
yundy and Normandy, and Brittany, TO
become Departments, privileged TO re-
member the giories Of-their ancient SOW.
sreignty and Independence. As to that, !
he viii CT the people WW be the law
md when cur States had done their
Utmost to retain their old preroga:ives,
md failed, we submitted without any $
mental reservation. The Union was
and consolidated then, if tho
had reached out its hand to "a. 1t {
you'd have done so, perhaps, but for the Z
herd Of politicians who fatten O
lpon the calamities OF the country, and q
whose interests the restoration Of the q
would have endangered but for e
be vindictiveness OF some men and the &
2natcism Of Others but Tor the pulpit, z
nd the tribune, the twin n-uisances OF Il
be republic. u
We wanted no Dictatorship, no Non p
rchy. We were never dlsloyal to the d
rineiples OF the Constitution. Our de- G.
Otion to Republican liberty never fall ia
cred. We preferred U American form Q
+ government, even under the Northern
obstruction Of the Constitution, to any 81
Their in The world and we found, when
he passions iullamed by the war grew
old, that the old feeling Of brotherhood
'as not extinct. No man is worthy TO
e called q statesman who brands a |
hole people IS actuated by Unworthy
lotives and criminal in~tentions,-no
pc who cannot honour honest cOnvic
ons, and appreciate a frank submission
in no degree partakes OF baseness or
'wardly apprehension.
Have not the people o. the North TO-
wed these ignoble leaders long enough 1?
hey cannot much longer Cypress the n
sople Of the South, without bringing .,
in upon themselves. Nothing pays So .,
Jorly as persecution and revenge: and -
c -uugeuerOus cOEqueror either loses bv ~,
lily the fruitso Of victory, or, if he retains
.em, multiplies discontentsan hatreds -
mako inevitable his W future ruin. -
is the Thoroughbred Jacobin, like ~;
oBEsPIERRE or STEVENS, who uses the -,
.ople and despises them. The danger ~
the country Of letting "rebe!s - vote. -
the bugbear by which the Jacobln -
delude and manage the people ~
d yet they are willing that any rebel a..
all vote, hhe will but prove himself,
regeneration aud sposracy, IN
Of the acquaintance Of Any hon
q The wisest man is not be who :
,st distrusts bis fellows; and men lose GL
by their suspicious OF Others. by sEss
ne too dlsirustful, than by trusting too NJ
0n' " DIS,