Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1871-04-07

Grant has failed to administer to the
satisfaction OF the country" Tiltoni is
a competent witness as to the rotten
ness OF Radicalism, and we shall not
dispute either his testimony or the
soundness Of his conclusions. The
usurpations Of Grant and the new
ones proposed by his party have pro
duced a deep conviction that our lib
critics are in danger and that the Gov
eminent is rapidly degeDerating
into an irresponsible despOtism.
The developments Of each
succeeding day only serve to con-
vince the people Of the downward
course of our national affairs, and the
rapid progress Of the Federal Govern
ment toward the assumption of absO-
lutte power. 1t required, indeed, no
profound philosophy to discern in the
history Of our country, for the last ten
years, the Unequiv0cal indications Of
self-aggrandizement on the part OF the
Federal Government, equally fatal to
the rights of the States, and the liber-
ties Of the citizen, the inevitable con-
sequence Of which must be, to draw
from the rights essential to their
safety, and eventually to concentrate
in the Executive the powers Of all the
departments Of the Federal Govern
ment. The evil, it is true, did not
begin with General Grant, and, it is to
be feared, will not end with him. His
administration has only given a more
rapid development to those per-
niciOus principles, coeval with
the Coniederacy itself, and which
now threaten the subversion of
our free institutions. The ''sap-
pers and miners" Of the Constitution,
hove been at work ever since the ere
alton Of the Federal Government, and
the citadel Of liberty already totters
to its base. 1t is impossible that our
republican system can endure, if ours
is to become a consolidated govern
ment. The trainers Of our cOnstitu.
ton knew, and every well-infOrmed
and rejecting man must be fully
aware, that no country so extensive
and diversified as our OWn-With a
population widely separated from
each other, in habits, pursuits, and by
conflicting interests, could be moulded
into a single nation, and governed by
a great central power, exercising I'M
control over their domestic
interests and pursuits, without degen-
Grating into a military despOtism.
The widest and most visionary poll
tician that ever devised systems of
Government for a dependent people,
could never have imagined a scheme
Of oppression more intolerable,
than that to which we shall
be exposed, should ours be
come a consolidated govern
nent, and the States be consequently
-educed to mere dependent provinces,
governed, not with reference to their
,wn interests, but the interests of 9TH
rs. The levying of taxes, duties, and
mpOsts, TO an amount exceeding by
Millions theWants of the Government,
las not only produced the most waste
al expenditures, but has led, by an
ImOst inevitable necessity, 10 the dis
ributiOn of the surplus among unaU-
horized objects, and this has so en-
the power and extended the
.atrOnage and influence Of the Federal
Government, and especially Of the
Department, as to have in
used a deadly poison into every vein
nd artery of the body polite, the
orrupting influence Of which is al
esdy truly alarming, and threatens
be speedy dissolution Of Our political