Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1869-05-13


peace which we so dearly covst, anti
now the ship of state is tempest-tosse'
upon an unknown sea, dashed into tn
widest fury by the base passions of ba'
and designing men. The dark cloud
now gathering in our horizon portend thu
early dissolution of the republic, and will
it the wreck of q nations hopes. M
bright bow of peace spans our heavens
giving us promise of peace and pros
perity. The country, struggling in the
tolls of vice and corruption, is now
sweeping on in the full tide of demorali
cation.
Radical officials are everywhere revel
ing in plumber and spoil, surprising all
examples of proAigacy to be found in
ancient or modern history. A corrupt
and venal Congress manipulates railroad
jobs and land speculations for the ag-
grandizement of its own members, thereby
flching millions annually from the public
treasury. Organized systems of plumber
are carried on under the very eyes of the
Government, and it is powerless to stay
it; while the poor deluded people are
weighed down with the most oppressive
and exorbitant taxes, with national
debt almost fabulous in amount staring
them in the face, which years of toll can
not remove. Nearly half million of the
most intelligent and industrious men of
the South are disfranchised and denied
any participation in the government,
while horde of ignorant blacks are
clothed with citizenship, and have been
suddenly transformed by this Radical
Jove from plantation hands to legislators
and judges. The Radical LEADERSHIP
national vampires-while sucking the life
blood of the nation, cry loudest for man
hood suffrage and equal rights, and seek
to degrade the intelligence of the coun-
try by polluting the ballot-bcx with an
infusion of the basest ignorance to be
found on the continent, that they may the
more easily manipulate the interest of
the country for their own mercenary ends.
Is not this condition Of affairs alarming,
and can even the semblance Of republic
canism be preserved much longer if this
state Of things continue This is suf-
fcient to excite the serious apprehension
of the sober-thinking men of the land,
and cause them to seek some means by
which this downward tendency of public
affairs can be arrested. 1t is not sur.
rrising, then, when the Government has
shown its utter inability to arrest the
growth of these public evils, that the peo-
pie should begin to look for the establish
ment of government that would possess
sufficient strength to purify public places
and restore the country to peace and
prosperity. 1t matters not under what
system of government we may live; that
system is best which will afford Us the
greatest amount of protection to life,
liberty and property.
If these desirable objects can be more
readily attained under an imperial re-
public than under the present oligaFchy
OF this country, the former is then the
best government for the people. We are
free to admit that nowhere in the world
is there O civilized government, no mat
ter what the name, as tyrannioal and
oppressive as this Government. Even
the serfs OF Russia enjoy more liberty,
and greater protection to life and proper
ty, under the absolute government of the
Gear, than do the people of the South
under the Government Of the United
| States.
Could we hope to restore the govern
meut of Washington and Hamilton,
around which cluster the glorious memo
ries Of the golden days Of the Republic,
there would be but one voice throughout
the entire land. That, we believe, was
the best system Of government ever de-
vised by man, and had those in power
maintained that regard for solemn COM
pacts, which they we're In duty bound 10
do, we would have escaped the
evils of the late war, and under
its benign influence would to-day be on
the high road to peace and prosperity.
But is It possible to restore the old
Government Is it not hoping against
hope, however it may be worthy an
earnest effort ? Revolutions never 20
backwards. end there is no reason why
we should prove an exception to the uni
versal rule. Nations, like the individual,
progress, and are subject TO the same
natural laws. The government that was
suited to our fathers eighty years ago is
now wholly inadequate to our wants and
changed condition. You cannot tie q
people down to an Interchangeable system
of government The system must keep
pace with the wants and progress of the
people. Manifest destiny has marked
out course through which we must pass
We cannot control this event. There
are many reasons that to US seem con-
elusive that the old Government cannot
be restored. We extend over an i'm
mense area of territory, which giveu
rise to q great diversity of inter-