Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1871-09-27
WEDNESDAY MORHINe, SEPT. y, 1871
AL POLITICAL DISABILITIES
SHOULD BE REMOVED.

ALL POLITICAL DISABILITIES
SHOULD BE REMOVED.
The article in the APPEAL on Mon
day morning proposing to make the
office of President of the United States
a prize to which the foreigner can
aspire as well as the negro, has at
tractsd considerable attention. The
subject is momentous in itself, and
involves so many considerations that
it deserves a thorough discussion.
Constitutions are tested by great
events, and those which have
t-anspired during the last few years,
making Fred. Douglass eligible to the
Presidency, have produced q clamor in
favor Of giving an equal privilege to
Carl Schurz and Eugene Casserly.
Even as late as twenty years ago, this
country was satisfied with its Consti-
tuition; the most thoughtful citizens,
joining heartily in the common ssy-
ing of the people, that it was the
most perfect model of political
wisdom, the greatest triumph ever
achieved by peaceful craftsmanship.
But under the terrible strifes Of the
last twenty years, every joint
has been strained, and there is
a growing disposition to consider
more profoundly the elementary prin-
ciples Of constitutional law. No PEG
pie viii reverence their law the less
for understanding il the more. Let it
be q favorite theme for study; let
every defect in our present system be
searched out, and let the actual wants
Of the nation form themselves in its
mind into distinct resolves, until an
educated public opinion shall beready
10 find its mature expression in such
amendments as its wisest representa-
tives can devise. When the people ss
a whole demand any definite eonstitu-
tiOnal change with the same energy
with which they demanded union in
1889, and freedom in 1863, and with
which they demand peace, with union
and freedom to-day, then they will be
ready to make that other amendment
which the exigency Of the times de-
msnds. The unWise amendments,
made for party purposes, have pro-
dUced the absolute necessity for still
smother amendment, for there is
something revolving to every white
msn in the idea that the Office Of the
President OF the United States is made
accessible to an ignorant black man, |
while its doors are too holy to be pol
luted by the tread Of the educated
patriotic foreigner. The authors Of
the Alien and Sedition laws were
consigned to oblivion by the cOnsum-
ing wrath of an indignant people.
KnoW-NOthingism, the greatest politi-
cal monster ever begOtien in a free
country, after ferce and bloody fight,
like unto the battle Of st. George and
the Dragon, was Missed from the con-
fines Of Our great asylum for the OPP
pressed of all nations. Yet our ma
tional Constitution embodies the
essence of the Alien and Sedition
laws, and is disigured with the detes-
table principles which the people
repudiated in crushing out Know
Nothingism. In the United States
there are only shout four millions of
negroes, without education, states
manship o. experience; yet a black
man is eligible to the Presi-
dency, while the foreign pop
ulatiOn numbers about ten and-a-haf
millions Of thrifty, intellectual
educated citizens, all of whom are
smsrting under the brand OF unclean-
ness-unit for the office which
a negro is considered a marvel
0usly proper person to fill!
How long are our foreign
born citizens to endure this insulting
discrimination? The Southern people
have learned that the citizen cannot
be made TO love the government by
DISTINGUISHING him, or by imposing
upon him offensive disabilities-and
The foreigner cannot be made a better Z
or a more ardent lover OF his !
country, by refusing to give s
him the same rights vouchsafed unto !
inc negro. The Democratic par Z
~ has ever fought against i'm
Acknowledgement and disa- ,
upon the foreigner. and Z
{ is natural that it should ehafe at the {
etters which bind the native sons of :
he South, and express the determin- :
to ever toll and never tire, until ;
wrong is righted, every wall between :
PATRIOTISM and the presidency is level r
ed with the dust; oppression swept q
rom the land and the American people (
rec and e~qusl-equal before the law, e
quail in the right to hold Office, free +
o aspire and free in all the essentials .
American liberty. When these II
hings shall be accomplished, all msn u
viii stand forth erect and free, bound q
s M people in the ties of endless O
Brotherhood, each striving for the b
eneral good, the earth bountifuIly r
her luscious fruits, all created q
lings subject to their control, and 81
ley to God alone. Then viii a h
rave people, who in a common O.
aired Of oppression, forget the COM r
Ion differences Of country, race and m
10 rejoice in freedom; then 70
government will speak the voice HI
the governed; then justice will M
supreme in council; then virtue
ill be respected, the domestic ties
merit and mind the only
cps to distinction, while peace with ~,
8 attendant blessings will cover a
Apply land, our arms invincible, and -
Ie name Of America the synonym of n
NEW ORLEANS vs.. MEMPHIS. W
The course of cotton in the New W
market the past few days has sh