Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1869-07-20
THE DUTY OF THE HOUR.

THE DUTY OF THE HOUR.
Every good citizen in the county owes
II to himself and bis neighsors, as well as
to bis political oppressors, to attend his
ward or district meeting between now aud
the election, and when that day comes to
close his house and suspend business to
give one good days work to the cause OF
white enfranchisement. A series OF
meetings are 10 be held nearly all over
the county to draw out and stir up the
people. The time has at length come
when no man is excusable for standing
off and saying he belongs to no party.
Every man can vote, or can controi
vote, which is the same thing, and all can
exercise an influence at the ballot box IN
the next election. This is no common
contest, and the spectacle of one hundred
thousand white men standing by While
the rest Of the State, including both
whites and blacks, vote to free them,
will be something new in the his
tory of our institutions. The glad day
is coming sooner than we ever predicted
or was predicted for us. A few days ago
our accession to the ballot seemed afar
off in the uncertainty of remote future,
but to day the right is about to be restored
by unexpected means. The happy hour
has been fastened by the law-abiding and
temperate spirit of the people as well as
the divisions Of our political foes. Two
wears hence enfranchisement would have
come TO US without a split of the Repnb-
lican party; but as it is coming this fall
we are none the less ready. The people
when restored to the control OF the State
will enter their new career we trust with
dignity and forbearauce, and full reali-
zation of the great work before them.
The masses should meet and consult in
these meetings; the old citizens, who
have not been seen in such places for
eight long, woeful years, should 60. and
when called upon give their opinions
freely. New parties and new order OF
things are about to be formed,
and it is of paramount Importance that
public sentiment should be moulded by
vice heads; that liberal, far-reaching pol
icies be adopted, looking beyond the
mere present hour of what some may
construe into partisan triumph, and be-
yond the present dollar, to the per-
manent welfare and future growth Of the
State. Some of our best speakers are
going into the field until the close Of the
canvass, not, perhaps, that such efforts
are essential to the success Of true con-
servatism, but to arouse the people; to
remind them Of the good old times which
can never return, when candidates dis
cussed measures more than they did each
others records, and when honest men
we're elected to Office because they were
qualified; when the militia meant big
muster twice year, and cost nothing;
when the State was prosperous and free,
and the people happy and contented
Another work to be done besides
arousing the old, is to instruct and in
fuse the young. There are hundreds Of
young men of age in this county who
never voted. Now is their time. They
can cast vote which enfranchises their
fathers and will make comparatively free
the State which their ancestors helped to
redeem from a wilderness over half
century ago. The young and the old,
and the unborn are to be Affected by the
results Of this election. In our history a
new and important chapter will begin
with the August election Of 1868.
Whether that will be pleasing chapter
for us to read in future or gloomy one
depends upon the unity ofthe people most
interested in this canvass And in nc
way can they show their earnestness more
than in attending the political meetings
and each man constituting himself .
committee on the whole public good.