Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1871-01-22
From the Galaxy for February.l
IT.. Al H. IT, WUsl--- Cl-..A-- g-1uv

From the Galaxy for February.l
To the Hon. Henry Wilson, Senator from
Massachusetts,:
Contrary to my first intention, and
not without reluctance, l lay aside
other business Of far greater import
ance while l take a brief review OF
your supplemental eulogy on Stanton.
The occurrences which caused this
change Of mind might require expla-
nation, but they are entirely too per
sOnal to occupy any space in these
pages. Without more preface, l give
you my thoughts on your latest essay.
It was plain to me that you had
ewhOllv misunderstood the character
of Mr.. Stanton and grossly injured
him by what you supposed to be a
panegyric." Your description of him,
if accepted as true, would compel the
belief that his whole political life was
one long impOsture; that as a trusted
member Of the Buchanan administra-
ton he acted alternately the incOm-
patible part Of a spy and a bully; that
while he was the chief law officer of
the government he was engaged in
the foulest conspiracy that ever was
Matched against the life, liberty and
honor of a colleague for whom he was
at that very time protesting IN
bounded friendship; that he was the
prOtegG and crOny Of Simon Cameron,
and appointed Secretary of War to
carry out his policy; that being
50 appointed, he did Loyalty and felOD-
iOUsly embezZle public money to the
amount of two hundred and fifty
thousand dollars at n time. 1t is
true that you were actuated by no
malicious intent. You meant TO do
him honor. According to your moral
apprehensiOns, all the evil you as
criBed TO him was good. When you
wOve for him this disgusting wreath
of ulcers gone to seed" you thought
you were decorating his coffin with a
Chaplet of the choicest flowers. You
painted a monster of depravity, and
you expected the American people to
worship it with all the fervOr Of saw
ages when they fall down to adore the
image of some hideOus demon. No
doubt the vOtive offering Of your af-
fiction took this anomalous form be-
cause you believed that duplicity and
crime employed against Democrats
would give him the highest claim he
/ could have on the admiration CT the
! abOlitiOnists, and because it did great
ly increase your own esteem and re-
/ gard for him. But my interest in his
! reputation required that he should be
properly appreciated by that honest
portion Of the people who still adj
here to the moral creed OF their faith
ers.
WHAT SENATOR WILSON PROVES.
do not assert that your last paper
proves nothing. L will give you the
iull benefit Of every fact you have es-
tablished. So far as you have shown
Mr.. Stanton to be guilty of the base
ness you impute to him, l will not
makeany contest about it. But 1 will
not yield one inch to any allegations
Of yours, unsupported by evidence. l
Will try TO save out Of your hands 3s
much Of his character as you have
not already destroyed by credible ev-
idenC8. Ny effort was to take him
down from the pillOry to which you
had nailed him by the ears as "a hX'd
figure for sCOrn to point the hugerat."
You have done your strongest to OPP
pose my rescue of him, and any par
tial success which may have reward
ed your struggle must be a great
comfort Of which I cannot Justly de-
prive you. You asserted that Mr..
Stanton had been from his earliest
youth an a~bOlitiOnist, in his secret
heart; that to leading men Of that
party he declared himself in entire
agreement with them, and hoped for
the time when he could aid them.
In other words, he gave in his perfect
adhesion TO them, cOncUrred in their
views Of public morality, and was
willing to promote their de-
signs against the Federal and
State governments whenever he
could make himself most efficient to
that end. At the same time he Wps
in the Democratic party by virtue Of
his declared faith in exactly the OppO-
site sentiments. To US he made himself
a Democrat of the most ultra
class. I do not say that he was an
prOpOgandist; but all Demo-
with whom he spoke were inn
press by the seeming strength of
his attachment to those great prinCi-
pies by the application Of which they
to save the Union from disso-
the country from civil war,
and the liberties Of the people from
the destruction with which your as
cendanCy threatened them. We took
him on his word, believed him thor
OUghly, and gave him honor, office
and high trusts. Now a mar may
be an honest Democrat or a sincere
AbOlitionist, but he cannot honestly
and sincerely be both at the same
time. Between these two parties the
hostility was deadly. Each recOg-
niZCd the other as a moral foe. They
were as far 8suuder as the poles on
every pOirt of principle and policy.
They differed not merely about the
for the Interpretation Of the or
gauic law, but opposed each other on
the broad question whether that law
was entitled to any obedience at. all.
One Of them respected and revet-
snced the Constitution as the best
government the world ever saw,
the other denOUm ed it IS an
agreement with death and a convent
with hell, which il Yves meritOriOus
even for its sworn officers to violate.
If we loved any portion of it more
III 4 another, il was that part which
guarded the individual rights of the
people by habeas corpus, jury trial
md other great judicial institutions, I
our ancestors on both sides of
he Atlantic had shed so much of their
blood to establish; and it was precise {
those provisions which had your
litterest enmity, and which you made I
he first use in your power to abolish, !
rample down and destroy. Mr.Stan- I
on could not have been truly on more
han one side of such a controversy; he
.Ould not serve God and MammOn
10Th he could not be for the COnstitu-
ion and against it, too; he could not
t once believe and disbelieve in the
anctity Of an oath to support it. He s
DrOtessCd most %fervently to be heart I
nd soul with US. If he also protested
be with you, ne was a Wretched g
lypOcrite. If he kept up this fraudu- J
ent deceit for thirty years, and there /
" got the highest place in the gift Of /
10Th parties, he was "the most mar c
7elOus impOster that ever lived or !
lied" When your first article ap- /
reared, / did not believe that you had i
ny ground Tor this shocking imputa- I
ion upon his character. 1 was COM q
to disbelieve and contradict it, ]
Jr reasons which were then given and
ICED not now be repeated. But / said t
he testimony Of the Chief Justice c
would silence my denial. The Chief i
Justice has spoken out and sustained L
our assertion. You do prove by him a
declaration from the lips Of Mr..
made nearly thirty years {
20, from which the inference is a fair s
ne that be was in the Democratic i
.arty with intent i'to betray the Con- t
titution and its friends into the cruel b