Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1869-08-22

southern people for separate existence
was afoot, and hope was huoyant, that
pluck and principle and manly valor
and craftsmanship and devotion to
the cause of constitutional liberty
would touch at length the hearts Of the
nations, and bring US aid, it was not
an improper time TO dance. When
the brave cOurted the smiles of the fair
in hours stolen from rest, amid alarms
of battle and daily tolls, then might
the dance 90 on. But when the desc
lations of death had fallen upon the
land; when the noblest soldier and
chevalier of the South was yielding
his sword to him whose mighty name
now sways the destiny of States;
when the soldier, in tears of bitterness
over the loss of his cause and of his
country, laid down his arms at Apo
mattoX and Greensboro, then a gloom
settled on this Southern land. From
that until a recent hour we have sOr-
rOwed as those who have no hope.
When military commissions could
murder Mrs. Surratt and WirZ, and
condemn Miiligan to Imprisonment;
when a Governor, with constitutional
authority to sign a grant or seal a
commission, usurped the power to
murder and kill by means of his mi
litia, and our city was filed with refu-
gees; when Virginia lay bound, bleed
ing and d~ismembered, at the foot of
power; when Tennessee was trOdden
under foot of a hideous speeter, at
whose bidding cane hosts of myrmi-
dons to violate the laws, their very eX-
istence a violation of the spirit of all
law; when corruption reigned in all
the offices of the State, and the taxes.
were multiplied beyond all precedent;
when all hope seemed far distant, it
was q time for sadness. Mingling
with these have been some sparks of
light shining in the darkness. The
decision of the Supreme Court of the
United States, that men could not be
deprived of their privilege to preach
or teach or practice law for crime by
er post fuctO law, and that military
commanders in time of peace were
against the Constitution showed that
the judiciary was ready, as at all
times, to stand by the law and the
Constitution. Still military power
stalks abroad and disregards these
declarations of supreme judicial
power, and the President either
bad and determines to uphold tyr
amy by power, and wholly to sub
vert the institutions of the country,
or, wholly in the hands of bad men,
permits or commands these viola
tiOns.
But we have at last a rift in the
cloud, and man, ready to hope when
he may-lOOking out fora ray, a CLEAN
of hope-finds in the recent course of
things in Virginia evidence thata peO-
pie cannot be ruled by corruption and
oppression, and military power.
Many days of sadness may be in store
for US yet. It may be long before we
see military satrapies abolished in
these Southern States, but the time
will surely come when constitutional
liberty shall be re-established on a
tirmer basis than ever, and then the
gates Ofhell shall not prevail against it.
We must learn a lesson from the
election that has just passed by. For
once the whole people were aroused,
and men who for years could not be
induced to act have taken hold, and
| the result is a blOOdleSS revolution, by
which in one day q complete and
sweeping reform has been made prae-
ticable. Let Us remember this result
and the lesson. Let US feelthat the re-
| covered privilege of sharing in the
| government in a sacred trust, handed
down to US, which we hold not for
| ourselves alone, but for u wives, our
| children, and our fellow men; and
that when we, through supineness and
neglect or disgust, suffer others to
usurp our privilege and abuse it, we
are traitors to our trust and derelict in
duty; that when we, by omission or
| commission, place men in power unfit
to perform the offices conided to.
them, we deserve to be robbed and
feeced and oppressed, and we will be
beyond a doubt. When every man
shall feel that he owes as high a duty
To himself and his country in the
selection of officers as he would in the
selection OF his confidential clerks, to
whom he would intrust his most cher
ished schemes, then wemay hope that
this country will prosper, and that we
shall reach at last the restoration Of a
free government.
Why do l dwell for a moment on
these topics before this brilliant host
of DANES and demOiSelleS, sparkling
with smiles, b~ewitching with grace
and dignity? Who knows how soon |
the politician may have to appeal TO
the approving smiles OF a new class
Of electors, and a new set of political
topics may take the place of these
hOrrid, dull things l have briefly pre-
sented? How OOn we may be called
to account for our abuse of the chignon
or the panier, and the first is, inter
nos, the most abOminable of all those
attempts of WOmankind to make her
self hideOus-which, however, we are
thankful is not possible. But we
know not how sOOn it may be that we
will be denying these sentiments with
bitter reservations, that we were
misunderstood.
We know not how soon honest gen.
tlemen, whose friends will take no de-
NAL, but who are bound to serve their
country, whether they will or not,
may be questioned by committees
upon their political faith in the beauty
of a chignOn or the grace of a hump,
or of a mincing gait; or he may be
questioned whether he intends to in
troduce a resolution into the Legisla-
ture, if elected, that high heels are
not prejudicial to the shapeliness of
the calves. Now, as these new topics
of political debate may at any time
be precipitated upon us, is it not en-
tirely proper for me, now and here
before this aSSemblage of beauty and
intelligence and grace and loneliness
and youth aud hilarity, to dwell for
a moment with lingering fondness
upon those serious topics, which may
so soon be lost among these higher IS
sues of debate?
1 have said there's time to rejoice;
let us rejoice in hope, but let all re-
solve that the efforts of neither man
nor woman shall be spared until we
have restored the conduct of our at
fairs to the hands of those who are
honest and capable and unwearying;
those who neither winters cold nor
summers heat, nor any other imagin-
ings, shall deter from the performance
of the high duties set before them to
perform. But above all. let them
never cease to be vigilant and earnest
until the sum total of constitutional
liberty is restored. United in every
State the right of selfgovernment
shall be replaced on a sound basis, I'M
til the military shall be subjected to i
the civil power; until new guarantees
of freedom shall be established. If
this involveperpetual vigilance, which
is the price of liberty, let us in the :
memory of those who, for the sake of !
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