Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1868-09-15

J people OF these States, they VIII nnd
when 1t is too late, that passion is ever
treacherOus guide In the affairs Of State
J and that revenge is the poorest invest
ment ever made by statesmen. The.
should remember that the late war wa
& contest between equals, not between
sovereign and his subjects. It was wa
between cO-equsl citizens of g republic
and between co equal States. In mod
ern times it is not usual, In conflicts be
tween sOvereigns, for the successful mon
J arch to press too hardly on his defeated
rival the adverse fortunes of war. IL il
rarely that the extreme rigors of arneC
triumph are enforced-scarcely ever +
the dishonor or degradation of the unsuc
oessfuI party. They mutually regard
too highly the dignity Of sOyereigns to dc
this Is It possible that Americans vii
be less mindful Of that dignity, which
pertains to American citizenship, or less
jealous Of its honor? aa5-. .as b 81
THE PROSPECT GOOD TO RETRIEVE THE
LIBERTIES OF THE REPUBLIC TIKI
MOTIVES ACTUATING THE NORTH.
It will be perceived that mine is the
argument Of hope in the future, and that
1 do not feel that we have yet followed
the hearse " of liberty, or stood at the
grave Of the Republic. I know that
history shows few, If any instances,
| where Republic lost its liberties, that
they were ever regained. But those OF
! America may not be lost, but only under
/ cloud, which may be dissipated by the
rising sun of Democracy. Again have
great confidence il the resilient powers
OF the stock from which the great body
Of our peoplesprang. Erroneously called
Anglo-Saxon, 1t embraces such elements
of character and mind as renders it
difficult to make them slaves or
consiga them long to anarchy. This
race has In English history fTe-
quietly rescued its freedom in
emergencies nearly as rugged and
threatening as ours. We are not there
fore permitted to believe that 1t will fail
now.
1t ls true that late foes in bloody strife
must unite to accomplish the result. But
when properly considered there is not
necessarily any insuperable antagonism
between the parties The honest Feder-
81 did not fight either to enslave the
South or to sscratiee liberty in the strife.
His would be barren victory, aud enc
to be regretted by him in all time, if the
result was to be, that American liberty
went down at Appomatox Courthouse
and at Greensboro. He has not yet OBJ
tanned what he proclaimed as the object
of his quarrel with the South-a re-
stored Union. That can only be secured
by again cementing the ties of friend
ship between the alienated sections and
dispensing equal justice. he has only
as yet beaten down the nationality Of
the South and deprived her of independ-
ence. Having, therefore, only SO far met
with political success in the object Of the
he hn flxTo NJ
nestIy to labor to attain the full fruition
of his hitherto expressed desires. This
he can never do by sustaining the pres
ent policies Of Congress. Time, as it ef-
faced their effects, might secure forgive
ness for the wrongs inflicted, but never
for the base and unmsnly insult offered
10 these policies to 8 gallant but unfor-
tunste people.
The sobered sense of the "toiling mil
lions" groaning under burdens +" too
grievous to bs borne," imposed to sustain
a government Of force, which is always
8 government of hate, will at last discern
that it is consistent neither with Ameri.
can history or the principles on which
the Republic was founded, to chrystalize
into its administration distrust and re-
sentiment toward portion Of its people,
because they made an unsuccessful ef
fort to establish for themselves inde-
pendencs and nationality. 1t will
at last be perceived by the most
prejudieed adheTeut of the Federal
Union, that the opprobrium heaped upon
the South for its recent resistance to Fed
ersl authority, comes with Ill grace from
q government and people, who are them
selves the creatures OF 8 successful rebel
lion, and who will live in the annals of
oil -
by the bayonet. The hypocricy of the
pious horrors gotten up to order at the
expense of the S)uth, simply because
she repeated on her OWE soil and on her
own behalf the experiment Of '76, with
out its former good fortune, must at last
be unveiled TO the eyes of every honest
American aud 1t will soon become ap
parent that it put in practice towards
these people, on account of their late Sc
oessioD, the doctrine that treason must |
be made OdiO0s, is to bastsrdizs the birth
OF the Republic, and in fact to gibbet
the memories and names Of its
founders. All such express
sions of enmity must soon become otfen-
sive to the American heart, as the delu- |
sive and insincere extravagance of psrti- |
san temper, and IS the unjust exaEgera- |
tions of lawless passion. For America,
the child of resistance to legitimate au- |
thority and the patron of rebellion in |
every other government and among all |
other peoples, to bind its own children in |
chains to be fed upon, Prometheus like, |
by the vulture of political rancOr, be- |
cause with the same aspiring audseity in
herited, they essayed revolution, is an |
too monstrous in human exoe-
rience, long to command sympathy or |
approval.
REQUIRES THE SOUTH TO
WORK FOR CONSTITUTIONAL LIBERTY.
On the other hand, while the Confed-
srate dealt his blows thick and fast for
the independence of his dear Southland,
he is not ready, because Of chagrin at
the failure OF his enterprise, to with
iraw from all care or effort for constitu-
tionsl liberty. He remembe that the
Northern States, denying to the South
separation, did but act after the manner
If all nations, The us major of no State
aver willingly assented to Gisintegration
of empire. The abstract doctrines of the
Declaration Of Independence, on which
his Republic justified its rebellion in '76 |
will never be observed or applied SIS 3
iule Of conduct, when the consequence is
70 be a diminution of its own power and
grandeur. But constitutional liberty is
70 general and Individual in its benefits,
and its destruction sodsngerous toall, that
t will survive the shock OF arms, and
he bitterest enemies can unite con-
'istently for its establishment. The
south stands oomLIitted by q historic
consistency to the utmost effort for this
md. She never has proposed to abridge
he liberties OF the American citizen,
lOr encroached on the rights OF an Amer
can State, but has ever been the reeO-
ute defender of both.
rHE SPIRIT OF LIBERTY IN THE SOUTH.
She brings to this work, as before OBJ
erved, soul thoroughly imbaed with
ts principles and spirit. During the
hardest pressure Of the late war, never
vas civil liberty submerged In the bloody
ide. The civil law was at all times su-
'reme within her borders, wherever the
unctions of the Confederate Govern
nent were not interrupted by the pres
nee OF hostile forces; and her military
tribunals refused to take Jurisdiction Of !
he citizen, This is proud record for
ur people-perhaps yet to stand ont in ,
history with splendor not surpassed by !
hat which covers their military pFowess.
indeed, In the South the flame Of civic Z
reedom seems TO glow with somewhat of :
hat miraculous. .cOnstsacy, attributed by !
doore to the fires on the last altars re-
naining to the Persian f1re-worship- :
ers as they retired before the Moslem !
ostsj !
Though ned the Priests,-the votaries gone, G
he ~ frkNN q -. L