Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1870-06-02
THURSDAY MORNING, MAY ?, 1870

r l. JAMES
THURSDAY MORNING, :: MAY 2, 1870
THE old story that Rome was saved
from destruction by outside barbara
ans, in consequence of the timely
warning uttered by a bird, which, up
TO that time, was not generally sup
Dosed to be the emblem of wisdom,
has a fresh illustration in our own
times. Our old and much respected
friend, w. w. Gates, of the jackson,
Tennessee, Wing, he's converted him
self into a kind Of battaring ram, and
is butting at the Democratic party
with all the venom which that pugna-
cious animal that furnished the horn
that rcsounded around the walls OF
Jericho exhibited in prOpelling his
hard head against a swinging maui.
The ram fought the maui until moth
ing was left but the tip end Of his tail,
and that jump,i up at the swinging
antagonist, T, l with blood and pile
botomized with brains, IKE a fire fly
darling at a bright taper. Gates COM
menced war on the Democratic party
fifty years ago, and, es Lincoln would
say, he he's sheen pegging away" ever
since. Gates seems to think that De
mOcracy is a kind of Pandora's box,
and he cherishes for it that sort of
hatred which Hannibal swO-e against
Rome. He is not content with
warning uIDn Democracy, through
the columns of his Wing, but he has &C
tuaIly mounted the Tostrum, and it is
said the way he belabors the good old
Democracy is a caution to temp'stS in
tea-pofS. CicerO's Grafton on Nerres,
Antony's harangue over the body of
Cesar are said to be mere flashes in
the pan, the breeze that precedes the
storm, in comparison with Gates ex-
cruciating Opslaughts upon poor De
mOcracy. In fact it don't seem posi-
bic for Gates and Democracy to live
on the same globe-either one must
die that the other may live. Gates
is not the first mOnOmanic, however,
whose Authorizations and distompered
brain history and medical science
have celebrated. Modern medical
Jurisprudence gives a ludicroUs ac-
count Of the fellow who fancied that
the Virgins family were continually
pursuing him. The touch of a rose
blisterCd the cheek of Queen Eliza
beth's chambermaid. During the
season of roses an ancient Cardinal
inclosed himself in his palace and
suffered no one to approach him who
carried a rose on his person. Francis
the First, King Of France, WIS forced
to stop his nostrils with bread when
there were any apples in his presence.
If the daughter of one of the Kings
of Naples tasted fish she wes thrown
into commissions and shrieks. A
taste Of hOg-fiesh threw GUarnerius
into fits and caused him to vomit
blood. Some people faint at the sight
of an eel. Germanicus could not en-
dure the voice Of a cock. Henry
Ill, Of France, could not sit in a room
with a cat. Ferdinand, the Emperor,
would bleed at the nose when hearing
A cat new. We have heard of nun
who perspired violently at the sight
ofa beetle; of young ladies swOOning
at the sight of a dog, the ringing of a
bell, and why not permit w. w.
Gates, the nervous and fastidiOus Cdi-
tor Of the Jackson Wing, to perspire,
to swoon, to stoph his nOstrils, to vOmit
blood and to shrek in commissions
whenever the ugly name Of DemOcra-
cy falls upon his dainty ears! The
great Marshal SAKE loOKed under his
bed every night to see that no animal
Of any kind was there, and our friend
closely examines his tea, cOyly
turns over his carrots and cabbagCs,
and prys into his s~lap-jacks, expecting
every moment to fish out of his
victuals the big spraddle-legged beetle
of Democracy, making a tunnel
through his butter, swimming in his
soup and begging in his syrup. De-
mocracy is the hobgoblin, the raw
head-and- blOOdy-bonCs with which he
frightens his rebellious Urchins into
silence and submission. We cOndole
with our distressed contemporary. If
he can't find a lotus root to chew,
we suggest that he at once perform a
pilgrimage to Africa, where he can
lave his throbbing temples in the
soothing waters of Lethe. Some peo-
pie are never 50 happy as when they
are miserable, and it may be, Gates
derives his chief source of enjoyment
in this world in fretting and
scolding at Democracy. We pre-
sumo there will be a small
attendance at each one Of
meetings. A preacher once
discoursing in regard to Daniel in the
den, said, "And, my brethren,
he sat all night long, looking at
the show for nothing, and it did not
cost him a cent" And Gates has a
good thing Of it, for he wrestles with
the lion Of Democracy all alone day
and night without costing him any
thing but a little waste of Perspiration
and breath which should be spent for
some useful purpose. know
what u distressed friend of the
Wing is driving at, whether he is
simply giving vent TO his chronic ha-
tired Of Democracy or intends TO cling
like a polypus TO the old Wing party
and 60 down to p~osterity astride of it
for a witch's broOm-stick. But in all
seriousness we beg him to pause. He
knows as well as he knows that he
has a body, or a deathIess and immor-
tai soul, that every vote he takes
from Democracy is a vote for Radical
ism. He knows that for forty years