Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1871-03-02


dom for this generation to accept the
i~nexorable logic Of events, and to con
form to the situation"
Thus not only does the fact appear
that the Republican party is guilty Of
usurpatiOn and determined to pursue
the policy OF overthrowing the Con-
stitution I'd the last and bitter end,
but also that they have already reach
1 ed a pOintin which they feel strong
enough to proclaim their purpose to
consolidate at Washington the whole
powers of government. There is no
audacity in this: it is only conscious
strength Let every patriot be warn
ed! Again, we quote the temperate
expression Of the views Of the Enqfi-
rer on this important subject:
The opinions expressed by Attorney
General Alderman, the North AH1eri-
can ReUieC, and General WalbFidge,
are the accepted views of the leaders
and managers ofthe Republican party
| Of tO-day--Which are that the central
izatiOn Of the Washington Govern
ment is now an accomplished fact;
that the reserved rights of the States
on which American liberties have
heretofore rested, have now been taxi
en- from them; that the National
| Government can order q State to
review and amend its constitution,
and require performance, and that the
National Government has been by
the revolution accomplished by the
Fifteenth Amendment, made almost
without Limitation the repository Of
the honor, the integrity and future
prosperity Of all the States. And that
revolution was eOusUmmated by the
| Executive using the military power Of
the Government to bring about an
| alteration Of the Constitution.
What is negro suffrage in the pres
/ ence of such a revolution in the rights
! Of the States and the political liberties
Of the people? 1t is as nothing.
American liberty, to the white as well
as to the black, will rest on a very in
| secure foundation if the UsurpatiOn
and wrong which contaminated the
Fifteenth Amendment are acquiesced
in by the American people. To cease
/ protesting against that wrong, and
accepting the situation because the
/ outrage On the Constitution, the States
and the people is an accomplished
fact, is TO acquiesce in a precedent
upon which an empire can be erected
with safety and security, whenever
the party in pOwerat the time chooses
to take an advanced step.
1t is e~Dlinently becoming to Demo-
cratic Legislatures and Democratic
Conventions to make a constant pro-
test against the wrong to the Federal
Constitution, the rights of the States,
and the liberties Of the people, in
vOIved in the Fifteenth Amendment;
for to acquiesCe in it is to acQuiesce in
a usurpatiOn that takes from the Con-
stltutiOn its integrity, and deprives it
of the respect Of the people. It is
cOntended by such as Governor Ran
dOlph that protests are useless and OBJ
position puerile to such Outrages after
they are accomplished facts. Magma
CbGrtu was more than once over
thrown, or apparently so, by fraud
and military power; but the English
people did not a~cquieSce in the wrong
done their liberties because the out
rage had become an accomplished
4aCLs 4LtI6 was no uudllky dDOuE
them to the overthrow of the charter
of their liberties, because of the sue
cess Of fraud and military power.
Until the grievance was redressed they
would not keep quiet. Until the in
tegrity Of Magma ChdTta had been re-
stored and its wounds healed, the
English people would not rest, but
protested, and worked, and fought,
until they succeeded in removing
from that great instrument of liberty
the stains that had been inflicted upon
its purity by arbitrary power.
So let it be with the American Dem
Ocracy, and every lover Of the great
principles upon which the COnstitu-
ton is founded. Let it be understood
that there can be no 6nality to accom-
plished facts wrought out by fraud
and force. Let legislative bodies and
conventions of the people protest and
agitate until justice and freedom tri-
umph. Any other court is acqUies-
cence in the overthrow Of cOnstitU,
tiOnal liberty.