Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1870-07-30
70 THE WINGS OF WEST TENNESSEE
A number of our old uoliticaI asso

TO THE WHI6S OF WEST TENNESSEE.
A number of our old political asso.
ciates have asked me to address YOU
some words Of exhortation. They
say that some of you e TO have be-
come so disheartened and Indifferent
toward the great public issues before
the country as to be disposed to stand
alOof from all elections, while others
a few only-show some disposition to
yield to the insidious ~whisperings OF
Radical emissaries who are persuade
ing you to re-establish the Wing party.
They say also that my life long assO-
citation with you is ample reason for
venturing to address you, and that
you viii receive my suggestions in
good part, even if you do not see
proper to act upon them. Yielding
to these considerations, L make this
appeal to your patriotism, trusting
that ia your charitable Judgment you
will do Justice to the motives of one
to whom you have ever been SO kind.
l suppose my fidelity TO the Wing
party, while it existed, viii not be
questioned. My veneration for its de-
parted sages is not diminished by the
lapse of years, and my affection for its
surviving members is akin to that
which brother bears to brother. l nm
happy in the belief that most of us are
united still, andthat we are still stand
ing for the right, still contending for
liberty regulated bg lao. Here and
there / find an old aud respected friend
in the opposite ranks. Starting out
upon the idea of perpetuating the
union Of States at whatever cost, he
has allowed himself to be carried on
in that wild current of passion which
has swept away the rights of the
Southern people, and he now finds
himself in the bosom Of a party which
ignores all those principles of govern
ment which he has been taught to
revere, and which seeks to degrade
and impOverish his early friends and
neighbOrs. lean lament the situation
OF such a Wing. Icouid extend,to him
the right hand of fellowship if he
would but return; but / could not con-
sent to aid in making him feel COM
Portable by joining his company, and
to make his party victorious by divid-
ing and weakening the only organiZa-
ton which can make head against it.
There are now only two parties in
the United States; and for years to
come there can be no other.
One of these is the product in part
of the recent civil war. Setting out
upon the hypothesis of the divine
right of kings, that all resistance to a
government is treason, and that re-
bellion is the chief of all crime5-the
one objectionable sin; it proposes to
take from the people the power to
resist the government 40 matter what
may be the p~rOvocation. Its mission
is therefore to break down the barriers
which surround the State sovereign
ties; to consolidate all power in a
central government; to reduce the
people to a state of immediate allie
glance and subsection to that govern
ment; to prevent any union among
them for their common protection by
fomenting hatred between the white
and colOred races, and to keep the
superior class undert the ban of political
disabilities, until they can shape the
laws end institutions of the country
according TO this model, and mould
the habits and thoughts of the people
to this new and dangerous experiment
of government.
The other party embraces all those
who desire to curb the powers of the
Government, to preserve the Consti-
tutiOnal guarantees of liberty, to give
equal rights to all men, to remove
from the Southern people their politi-
cal disabilities, to give TO those whose
taxes support the Government a fair
share in its administration, and to
give vitality once more to that essen
tial principle of liberty that the Gov
eminent is made for the people, and
not the people for the Government.
From Canada to the Gulf, from Ocean
to Ocean, all who wish to set limits to
arbitrary power, to preserve the
writ of hGGeGS corpus, and thus pro-
tect the personal liberty of the citi-
zen, to secure economy in the admin
istration of the Government; all who
wish to restore harmony and brother
ly love to the American people; all
who believe that a man may
have fought for his native South with
out forfeitiDg the rights of a citizen,
and without sinking below the level
of a HOttentOt-all these must act
with this grand party, and with this
alone. Any man who does this is my
brother, whether Wing or Democrat,
whether Northern or Southern
whether Confederate or Federal,
whether American or Foreigner.
whethr Israelite or Christian, whether
Roman Catholic or Protestant. They
are all alike citizens of our country.
They all have a common interest In
securing the blessings of a just, an
economical and a paternal govern
ment. If they unite as a band of pa
triOts, they may accomplish this re-
suit. If they divide, their overthrow
y W. McClel