Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1868-08-10

know who are urging the adoption of the
measure and none know 1t better than
those who have come here from WASH
ingtop, bearing the instructions Of the
National Radical Executive Committee.
The disrranchised white men of Ten
nessee are neither idiots nor insane.
They well know that no meas
ures of violence are practicable for
them, or could effect anything to their
profit. They know that they cannot
revolutionize the State by violence.
They only ssk to be enfranchised; and
they dc not dream Ct elfecting that by
force. If enfranchised they can by
themselves change nothing. TO make
any change of the laws or Constitution,
they must secure the cooperation of part
Of the negroes or part Of the Union men
Of the State. Certainly, unless these
unite with them, they cannot take from
the negro the right OF suffrage.
Moreover, they know that the Demo
cratic party in the North is already IL
jured by rash speeches in the South, and
that if any violence were resorted to by
rs. and the result were disturbance and
bloodshed, it would cost Seymour and
Blair hundred thousand votes.
The Radical leaders also know this,
and are anxious to provoke, and mean
to provoke a collision. For they rely
upon their facilities for misrepresenta-
lion, and their ability, by means OF evil
dence skifully taken and manipulated,
to make it appear that we were the ag-
gressors, although we may have acted
strictly il self-defence. That is a horrid
rsme of chess in which political
schemers, infamous as Nero, play with
human lives Tor pswns.
We are utterly opposed to any Discus
sions here in Memphis, before mixed
audiences Of Democrats and Radicals,
by speakers of each party. The first OF
these would produce the collision which |
every man who has a human heart in his
bosom ought to labor to avert. For
Gods sake, let US not put the match to
the magazine!
There is no denuneistiOn Of the negro |
at our meetings. 1t is not he whom we
blame. If we propose not to employ |
those who vote to continue our dlsirsn-
ehisement, that is a measure OF self
defence, not prompted by ill-will or hate.
We do not propose to abridgs his civil |
rights, although many OF US do not
think him qualified to vote. Let the |
Radical leaders and itinerant followers
cease to exasperate them against Us.
They are like men who fling fire about IN |
a powder-mill, and are melting the ne
rroes to become murderous cut-throats. |
We propose only to convince him, by dis
Dlavs Of our numbers that he cannot mis- |
take, that the immense majority OF white
men among whom he lives, and to whom |
he looks for employment, are Democrats,
and SO to appeal TO his interests, which
must prompt him to side with that ma
iority and not to mako every man Of it
an enemy.
Messrs. Fitch, Beaumont, Tomeny, |
and Bingham there Is no personal &hl-
mostly or ilI.will between you and US.
We may with propriety appeal to you,
and to men like you, to prevent, if you
can, q collision that would in the end |
drape half the houses Of Memphis III
You are humane men and |
You also have families, who, |
already gg.tsted by alarm, would be en-
dangered as well as ours, by riot and the
license of armed men in bloody COM |
motion, when all the passions Of mans |
animal nature were iBflsmed. You can |
find wise and prudent men among the |
VINO will cooperate with |
YOU to prevent the conflict o! arms and |
the murderous scenes of civil commotiop. |
We will stand upon the defensive. We |
know TOO well under what enormous dis !
advantages we labor to provoke con-
fict. But we are not detenceless; and /
who hold Us disfranehised must not
themselves resort to aggressive violence
or insults. To everything else We viii |
submit, possessing our souls in patience,
and waiting for the day Of cur redemp-
finn