Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1869-10-19
GREELEY.
Ais Policy as 10 tie Disfrauohissd Rshels

| The inllawipg letter of Mr.. Greeley
was addressed to the editor Of the
Dardanelle (Ark.) Times, and pub
lished with consent OF the author:
/ NEW YoRK TRIRUSE,
/ % NEte YORK, August 30, 1859.
Ny Dear SIR. am at variance
with some Unionists, yourself, Judge,
among them, as to the wise aud safe
course to be pursued with regard to
those disranebIsed for active promi-
nence in The rebellion. Differences
are inevitable, and not wholly unde-
sirable. but 1t Is we'll that we should
understand each Other. {" Here are the
heads Of my position;
st. ! Believe in q government Of
the people-the whole people, Some
Of them, ] know, are grossly ignorant,
| others sadly deprayedj some secretly
banker after monarchy and other for
hidden fruit. What then? Shall
none have voice in the government
but those who think as do, or are as
right as l think l am. That is aris-
tocraey-the government OF the best,
perhaps a goOd form of government,
but not Ours-not that inaugurated BY
the musketry of Concord, or the cam
non Of Bunker Hill; ours Is a govern
ment Of the whole, and ! abide by it.
50. | do not doubt that many Of the
late rebels are bitter, revengefll, hate
ful, malignant. Those who kept out
of the ranks, and so escaped being
whipped, are, of course, the worst.
l assume it was weil-if you please,
essential-to deny tbs right OF snf-
frsge to some of these persOns. But
even you admit that they cannot be
kept disfranehised foreveTI that q
time must come when they should be
allowed to vote, l insist that time
has come. Our difference Is one Of
time and circumstances, not of prin-
ciple. Let US reason together.
3. think you will not deny that
If the rebels arc TO be enfranehised, It
were better that this should be done
by the Republicans than over them.
Virglnia aud Tennessee show US what
it VIII be, If disfranchisement could
endure anYW Waere, why not In Ten
nessee? She reconstructed herself
during the war, In utter independence
of Congress. She had been fought
over inch BY inch-nearIy all her
HIGH AfA0 OCCu AAA OAlO aAlA4l VI lltG
other, a majority Of them in the rebel,
and 1t was clear from the outset that
enfranchisement imperilled the Union
asct ndaDcy; and the very legislative
acts designed 10 render rebel restGra-
tiOn impossible, have served To rem
der 1t complete, overwhelming. Can
you not discerL the signs Of the
times?
~. You may believe, as scarcely
think you do, and as I do not, that
continued rebel disfranchisement Is
desirable. / only the more strenu-
ously insist that It Is impossible. His
tory and the genius Of the age forbid
it. 80
SO, I do not doubt that the rebel
would have denied the right of sgf
frage to the Unionists, had they tri-
umpked-denied it for years-per-
haps for generation. But l insist
that ours Is a higher, q more humane
civilization than theirs;i that they
could do many things that we cannot.
know that there are bloodthirsty
men among u.s. don't believe that
our safety g to be secured by hanging
then.o afat ne -
He. Shakespeare says: - L T.
i sVFe teach bloody instructions,
Which return to plague the inventor
+" II we, being uppermost, prescribe,
they who viii yet be uppermost are
morally certain to do likewise. We
cannot expect them to do better than
we do. IL we prescribe rebels so long
as we may, tney will Ia turn pro-
scribe Radicals. We shall have the
factions of Marius and Eylla over
again. There is 8 more excellent way,
and we must pioneer it. There is
nothing safer than magnanimity.
We can hold over by showing that
civilization. -,
Let rs have peace Yours truly,
HoGAcT GREELEY,T