Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1870-07-12
THE envenomed malice with which

a I40REAAg NaAAI EoR1A "S-
sPooH, Business Manager. None others
should be recognized.
THE envenomed malice with which,
since the war, the public men of the
South have been followed by the
Northern press, is tapering out, and
as the full power of the Govern
ment was, when it was found inn
possible to punish the whole pop
ulation of the South, it is now
being concentrated upon Ex-President
Jefferson Davis. a plausible motive
or pretext for this visitation of Radi-
calism upon a gentleman whose quiet
dignity should be his shield and pro.
lection, is not apparent. The South
ern States have all been reconstructed,
and after a model which found very
general approval among the Radical
and dominant party. The people of
the South have, in ways surprising to
their enemies, r~ecuperated from the
disasters of war and the worse disas-
tiers of the hate and vengeance of
Congress, and in spite OF all have by
their resistless energy and enterprise
(almost unaided) laid the founda-
ton for a future to surpass
the widest dreams of ante
6elIltnl times. Our agricultural
prosperity is really wonderful; our
r~ecuperation of manufacturing indus
try surprising, and our progress in
railroads is only surpassed by what
has been accomplished in the north
west through the aid of the Govern
ment. The great men and the little,
the rich and the poor of the South,
are alike engaged in the work of re-
building and repairing, and preparing
the way for the generation that will
follow in a track made golden by their
energies. The voices that were wont
to lead US in political strife are silent.
We are no longer represented in the
Congress Of the Union by the high
order OF intelligence that before 1861
secured tor the South preeminence in
craftsmanship, and for ali the
States the labOrs of a class of think
ers, the absence of whom from the
Senate and House of Representatives
is now so painfully conspicuous. All
the men who comprised the Con-
federate Congress and Exec
utive are silent. They no lon
ger trouble the political waters.
They are engaged in, perhaps,
a nobler work and surely should
be permitted TO enjoy in peace a re-
TRACY, unfortunately for the country,
forced upon them by Radica! recon
structiOn. Nothing in their past "a
reer affords Republican journalists a
reason for this recurring vituperation.
Their present movements and occu-
pations furnishes no license to penny
a-liners for the eiectment of the filth
with which too many Of them fill the
columns Of Northern papers, reviving
the now stale cry of arch-rebel,"
"arch-traitor," as if there could be
either among a people whose almost
spontaneous choice it was to leave a
household where peace was no longer
possible, and lessons of robbery We're
openly inculcated. They are SILENT
the great men who were our leaders
before and during the war-and who,
whatever their shortcomings i'm a his
toric point of view, upheld with spirit,
with Ire energy and rarer devotion,
the honor and integrity of the South.
Mr.. Davis is no exception to the gene
raj rule. His duties as President Of
the Carolina Life Insurance Company
occupy his time almost TO the exelu-
sion Of any but social amenities, in the
fulfllment of which he is as earnest
rs eve he was in the arduous Iabors
Of the Senate or the Presidency.
In his intercourse withlhis friends he
expresses himself as periodically as
He has lost none ofhis interest
the advancement and progress Of
the country. He is keenly sensible
Of the difficulties that have and do
environ the South and that tend TO re-
lard her progress but he is also
sensible that his countrymen viii be
equal to the task Of overcoming even
these seemingly insurmountable OBJ
and achieving amateriaI nc
cess that will astonish man
Kind. II he has expressed himself
hopefully az to the labors of future
generations in the task of justifying
The South and the policy Of those who |
him as their leader; SURELY he
Is a free man in a free c~Ountry.and he
,ause he was President of the Confed-
States has lost none of the lib
thatall others enjoy. Besides his
mere expression of opinion or hope
sannot change the current Of Radical
legislation. And, it is not upon
iuch he would rest his claims to the
,steem or admiration of p~2sterity.
His record is made. It is eIea u and
lear, well defined and be- ,ond
he garbling Of his enen les.
Abuse cannot alter or slur If.
That viii pass for what it is
worth, and its source will be cen
idered. 1t is true his words have
Weight with US. IL is because they fall
the lips Of a wise counsellor, a
iucere friend, and an ancompromis-
no patriot. Would that they could
e heard again for the benefit of the
.epublie. Mr.. Davis has Iset an ex-
mple of patience, endurance, fOrti-