Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1870-08-06

trade, consistently with the wants of
the revenue, the better it will be, es-
pecially for our laboring classes.
To HAVE a Constitution disregarded
and trOdden upon is worse than to
have no Constitution. 1t is the boast
of the British people that, whatever
else may be wrong, they never have
consented to any violation of the
Magma Charta and groundwork On
which rest the liberties of the British
citizen. Our own executive, legisla-
tive and Judicial officers are all sworn
to obey and enforce the Constitution.
And yet a member of the American
Congress has been permitted from his
seat in the halls of legislation to de-
clare that, while he admitted the Re
construction laws to be unconstitu-
tional, he had voted for them, and
Justified them on the score of necessity,
without being Missed dOa0n as an up-
blushing and pr0fesSed perjrer! A
majority of a sworn Congress had
done the same thing-they had kept
each other in confidence by weight of
numbers, and the governing party of
the Union endured and sanctioned it!
What might have been done, if ne
cessity called for it, by a change of the
Constitution, was done by perjury
under it; and no better reason given
than that party necessity knows no
law. And even this infamy the
American people have sanctioned,
instead of kissing forth the burning
adherence and Indignation of an
aroused and liberty-loving people I!
The fact cannot be denied. And the
sum of the whole matter is that the
government is corrupt, and the very
fountains of power so corrupted that
crime can no longer be punished un-
der u sO-called Republican system.
1t is too true to rank as any mere par
tisan assertion when we say that men
in Washington are all son the make"
actuated by the love of lucre and a
free scope to avarice, sold and for sale.
What is constitutional, what is right,
what the good of the whole country
demands is no longer the question to
be settled, no longer asked, but only
what will pay We talk somewhat
idly about imperialism, and the ten
dency to despotism, when, as a peo-
pie, we have become so corrupt that
forms of government have lost their
importance. We are in a scramble,
In which avarice is licensed, and the
code of ethics set asideas obsolete and
unimpOrtant. If this is not anarchy
it is at least IOOrse than anarchy! For
anarchy may consist with in
tegrity of purpose, and this
we have not now. These OBJ
servatiOns may seem severe, but it is
not important how that may be.
What concerns us most is the question
whether they are true. Is there a
remedy for this condition of things,
and a hope of reform? When a ven-
cradle patriot heard the brazen adj
mission of the member of Congress to
which we have alluded, and saw that
it passed without remonstrance, and
with the seeming acquiescence of Con-
gresS, he left the Capitol, as he ex-
pressed himselfto us, sick at heart, and
almost despairing for the future of his
country. When common prObity and
the integrity of patriotism is gone
from the country, what is the remain
Ing hope, and what room for anything
else than despair OF the re-establish-
ment Of good government among us?
are willing to labor for reform,
when it seems impossible, except
as a forlorn hope, to save the country
from a Generalization so intense and
overwhelming. 1t may be the duty
Of every citizen to do what he
can in this crisis, more grave
than any hitherto presented to
the American States. God alone
knows what will be the issue. In a
recent conversation, Chief Justice
Chase admitted the flood of cor
ruptiOn which had deluged the
land, and deplored the calamities
to ONE upon us. He suggested
as the remedy a new combination of
elements, in which the honest people
of the country may be brought to rush
together in sufficient numbers for the
salvation of the constitution. This is
the mission of the Democratic party,
which now all these elements are
arrayed. 1t may be not without
and shortcomings, but substan-
tally it is true that whoever would
return the country to the purity of
former days, in the example of the
government and the administration
Of public affairs, is now allied with
hat party. as the only and last hope
which remains to us. 1.-THE adjust
nent of the tariff the disposition of
the public lands, payment of the
debt, and questions of finance
may come up in the next presidential
contest. But the issue, the sll-absorb-
ing and all controlling question,
will be this, and none other
hall the Constitution, unmutilated,
and supreme, be obeyed
Is the sole governing law of the land.
As this issue may be decided, SO shall
We sooner or later fall to pieces and
Ne destroyed as a people, or rise as a :
rant power to the fulAllment of the i
destiny possible to any ma {
ion of the earth. The issue is not to !
'e exaggerated for its importance, I
md, as if for heaven or hell, it is not {
o be evaded by neglect or contempt, 9
II escaped by craft or falsehood. 1t I
5 an issue between the powers for :
God and evil, and for this country e
viii be final for generations to come. d