Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1869-01-14
Grounds Of Complaint.


The following communication has lain,
by oversight, considerable time on orlr
table. Its suggestions, however, have D OF
lost their value:
EDITORS LEDGER: A portion of the
citizens of Shelby county have met to-
gether in Memphis, to protest, in the
name of liberty aud civilization, against
the fanatical and ruinous legislation now
cursing the. State, and to devise some
legitimate means of arresting it. To
arouse the people to proper sense of
their condition, it may be we'll to state
some of the grievous and degrading
wrongs under which we all live. When
the war ended, in 1865, the Confederate
soldiers and their friends accepted the
result of the contest with dignity that
ennobled their misfortunes. They we're
entirely willing that the duty of m, king
laws should be confded to known "I Jnion
men," trusting and believing that our
Constitution, the work of the able ,st and
purest men of the State, would be Il shield
to all who proved their loyalty to the
Government by their obedience to its
legitimate mandates, even though they
might not be willing to approve them.
They could not believe that chose acci-
dentally in power, but in no sense repre-
sentatices of the peor,le, would legislate
to insult, oppress and degrade them, and
Governor BrownleW encouraged them in
this opinion. In his message to the
Legislature, in October, 1865, he said:
1.-THE closing of the war aud disbanding
of the rebel armies returns thousands of
men to civil life, and distributes them
among the various counties of the State.
How are these men to be treated ? Are
they to be made good citizens, or discon-
tented subjects2 Are the wounds made
by the war never to be healed p In ad-
vocating the encouragement of immigra-
ton into the State, he says: " 1t is far
more safe and rational process of regen-
Grating the South than any su dden ad-
mission of the blacks to the ballot box.
1t involves no controverted question OF
State rights. 1t occasions no necessity
for arbitrary military rule. 1t does not
exasperate our native-born citizens and
make them lifelong enemies of the Gov
ernment." Again he says: The indis-
criminate grant of the right of suffrage to
the negroes would increase the evils now
depressing the South, and e1:asperate
those who, under other circumstances,
would become the devoted friends Of the
Government"
II is to be regretted that the Governor
himself has abandoned opinions and
convictions so generous and so wise for
had they been adhered 10 in the legisla
ton of the State, the discomfort. would
have been Insignificant When the year
1866 opened, emigrants began to seek
our borders, the future began to assume
its usually bright hues; and eur re-
turned soldiery addressed themselves. to
the task Of repairing their ruined for
tunes. A few adventurers from the
North, whom the war had thrown to the
surface of society as its waste, began to
seek every Office of honor or profit; and
when once in position, turned all their
atteniioA and energies to the duty OF
keeping themselves there. Instead OF
modestly waiting the lead of men whose
long residence and large interests in the
country would entitle them to be heard,
these adventurers boldly assume the
right to control all the interests of the
country, though having none in it them
selves, except the spoils they might win.
For the first time in our history, power
is IN the hands of few men who un-
blushiBgly admit the negroes to be
their political and social equals. Here