Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1869-06-09

my principal object in writing this com
munication is to reply to the abusive
and malicious article in that journal.
The men who differed withit-and thu
writer is one Of them-are accused o
being miscreants, false and untrue to th'
| Democratic party, and as deserters from
the fold of the true faith. Now, in order
| to sustain this very grave charge, it must
appear that we have belonged to the so,
called Democratic party. To be q trai'
tor or false to, or deserter from cause
one must first have espoused it. And il
il is true that we-and with us nine
tenths of the community = are not,
and never have been in sympathy OF
communion with this party, then we have
shown that we are not traitors, and that
the Avalanche has been guilty OF false
hood in characterizing us as such.
Indeed, it would puzzle one to know
who or what composed the present Demo
cratic party. Its principles, when col
lected from the two newspapers above
referred to, are composed of a piebald
mixture of negro suffrage and anti-negro
suffrage. which no honest man can har-
monte, and out of which no sensible
one can extract principle. Its leading
faature seems TO be hatred to the Radicals
and a weakness for the offices of the
country. This latter characteristic,
however. is equally prominent with the
Radicals, and if half the outrageous SINS
with which they charge each other are
true, they certainly all deserve, individu-
ally and collectively, to be hanged.
The Confederates have been distran-
cb;sed. and nine-tenths of them have
stood aloof from all party association
since the war, simply because they sym
nathized with no party, and should they
ever he eufranchised, / feel certain would
spuru with contempt any association
with either the principles or many OF the
nersons sought BY the Avalanche to be
ioisted upon the country. They have
thought best not to commit themselves
to either party, but have left themselves
free to support the men and the measures
ns occasion might require most likely to
advance the public good. In the late
contest for Chancellor, for instance,
there were three candidates; each OF
whom subscribed to an oath which per SO
makes him the enemy OF every man who
tonight in the Confederate army, unless
he has periured himself for the sake OF
office, which we will not presume. 10
which one did we owe our support-pal-
uably to no one of them-and it was left
us at our option to give onr moral assist
ance TO the man best qualified for the
nositiop. 1t is true there might be q
yery decided difference of opinion among
ourselves as to who this was, but this
was mere difference of Judgment, and
yery honest men may, and often do,
differ very widely in a question OF
this sort. Bv what right, then, does
the Avalanche presume TO denounce
| Southern men as renegades and traitors
who failed to support it's candidate, when
that candidate has so,emnly sworn he
| never gave any aid OF assissspee to
cause which the Avdlanch6 was wont to
swear the most sacred for which man ever
drew sword, and for which our best men
haze lain down their lives2 The truth is
hat few pot. hogse politicians, who took
,,:,.,. or no part 10 tie late bloody drama
, iss,s 80 n.aterislIy FASTENED upon the
c snr ~ now sge.in lift up their fore
heads Of brass, and, witt all Their oloen
assurance. announce themselves re ex-
ponents Of Southern chivalry, and de-
nosuce better men as recreant who do
not follow them blindly in whatever in-
sane project they propose, or vote for
whatever scaIawag they see ct to impose
on public endurance as an otticer.
The gentleman who is 30 polntedly as
sailed in the Avalanche is too well known
in this community to need any defense at
nv hands. will say, however, that he
did not act as some of his sssailants, who,
before the late war, branded as towards
and dastards men who were coDsoien.
,iously opposed to its inauguration, and
who themselves, when the tug of war
came. fed affrighted at q demon which
they had coDjured up, and hid themselves
IN postofices, editorial chairs or bomb
proof positions, either during the whole
war or until the lash Of public scorn
scourged them into semblance of
patriotism, and forced them to don
the gray - in nominal positions.
On the contrary, though opposed to the
war. when the editor of the Avalanche
was madly urging it, he, when it could
no longer be avoided, gave his whole
heart to the cause, and was oftener and
longer under FIRE than that individual in
all Of his hundred Imaginary bat
ties" He certainly was never mem
Der Of the present Democratic party, and
could not have deserted il; and the
writer asserts, and can demonstrate,
that hine. ienths OF the true men Of the
South have never given any hearty sup
port to this mongrel concern. If it be
treason in MIN not to follow the Ara
lonche and its party, then are the writer
and majority of the men OF the South
traitors, and be wishes it and all its sat
tellites to make the most Of il.
The assertion of the Ardlanehe that
the gentleman be so cowardly attacks is
thanking upon the blood Of slain kin
dred," is lie. BE does does not bank
upon the blood of any dead hero; but If
be proposed to bank" upon any that
the editor Of the Avalanche shed, or was
in danger Of shedding, during the late
struggle, then would be be as bankrupt
in capital as the Avalanche is in honor
or reputation. Further, il is an infa-
nous lie that he has herded, or is herd
ing, or in any manner afiiliating with,
the Radicals Of Memphis, and one which
could only have originated in the brain
of man who, with hyena-like 6endish-
ness, would violate the grave Of a slain
son to stab the father.
0EE OF THE LINE.