Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1869-08-30

heartily and wholly the sentiment at
| trjbuted to Mr.. ETHERIDGE." That
sentiment, as quoted, is as follows:
1.-THE white people would prove those
Radicals who said they would take
away the rights of the negro liars,
and as for himself he would not go
back on any promises he had made
them" SO far as this declaration of
Mr.. ETHERIDGE is concerned, we
should like to see the distinct differ
enee between Mr.. ETHERTDGE and
the APPEAL pointed out. This paper
has not advocated the taking of any
rights of any body, but the giving OF
all rights to all. If the APPEAL has
opposed negro suffrage as wrong in
principle, it has also been careful to
say it will abide the proper legal de-
cision of the question of right, and
that, however it may oppose any fu-
ture enfranchisement of the negro, in
the view that the question is still an
open aud undecided one, it will not
only abide the Fifteenth Amendent in
case of its adoption, but also any def
mite action which the people of the
/ State may think it expedient to take.
The readers of this paper in Nash
Vile, as well as in Memphis, will bear
US witness that we have neither advo-
Gated taking rights from the negroes,
nor complained of Mr.. ETHER
mGE, nor any n else, fol
refusing to "go back on any
promises made to them by Mr..
ETHERIDGE or the people. But il
{" promises have been made eondi.
tiOnally or Internationally, We have
cOntended they should first be shown
/ with such conditions. We deny thG
pretended promise, and we deny the
necessary compliance with the cOndi'
ton precedent on which the pretended
promise of the whole people (Which
was the work of a handful) wa
( based.
The Nashville paper says: ITO as
sumo that the people of Tennessee
who voted and carried the Universe
Suffrage ticket in the late election, By
a majority of s.xty-ive thousand, in
Guiding a large proportion OF the col
ored voters and liberal white Repub-
lican voters would belle their PROBES
siOns, wonid be to offer to that people
not only a gross ana gratuitOus in
suit, but to sully the fair name of Ten
n-esseeans." That is species Of insult
which exists only in the brain of the
writer. We should say it would be
rather out of the way to charge all
those who voted for SENTER with in
tending TO belle their profes.
sions. But 1t is quite unnec.
sary that our Nashville contemporary
should shiver his lance in their de-
Tense before they have IN assailant,
He insists that they cannot "go back
on their avowed principles of univer.
sal suffrage without dishonor." In
other words he assumes that T" univer.
sal suffrage" has been ayowed BY
Tennessee, when that is the very and
sole matter in issue.
We have not learned from voter;
that they have voted for negro suf
frage at any time, but almost invaTis
bly, the contrary at all times. We
have seen a considerable number O
very earnest asseveratiOns of tina
character by two or three newspapers
But the people dO'nOt seem TO know
the particular time when they gave
up the idea of white mans govern.
ment and came to the conclusion
that it was necessary for the good o
the blacks and particularly to that o.
the whites of Tennessee that Negro
suffrage should be adopted and Negro
voters literally sprinkled in. Meet.
ing a member of the Legislature the
other day, who vas an earnest ETH
ERIDGEman, we asked him if he voted
for " universal suffrage in the late
election. He answered: "Perhaps
10 not know how l did vote, but if
voted for anything but to enfranchise
our disfranchised whites, and to re-
form abuses, it is more than / know
And that is substantially the answer
of almost every man we nee We
rather think the people will under
stand what they intended, and that
they need no defense against the
charge Of any duplicity or inten-
tiOnal wrong, and more, that
IL need not be feared they
vii take away any rights already
vested, or confer any which may not
in their Judgment consist fully with
the interests of the State. One thing
is certain; the a~sseveration that the
vote was for SENTERa and universal suf
frage, instead of SENTER rs a choice OF
evils and the enfranehisement OF
white men, will not be sufficient tC
make the fact so, or to make those
who voted for themselves believe that
il was so. The wonder is that in SC
plain a case any portion of the pres:
should bsSO driven to stand up fol-
the true interpretations of the real in.
tent and meaning OF the people.
Even our cOtemporary, who insist,
so strenuously that universal suffrage
is such a fixed fact that the State i,
bound in honor to enfranchise the ne.
grOes, already begins to hint at a con
ditiOn precedent in the payment of q
tax. What right to insist on such q
restriction as a condition of the allow
anee of an already existing and un.
doubted right? Is 1t TO be understood
also that the whites are only 10 be en-,
~franchised on the same condition:
Our contemporary says: 1.-The colored
voters are heartily welcome into the
ranks of the great conservative army
Of human rights" That "army" i
a bran new idea-not the Liberal
party, we suppose. May Our eotem.
porary flourish hugely as the general
issimo.