Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1871-08-30
IL APPEAL
|, FlCIAL JOURNAL or THE CITY.
WEDNESDAY sORNlNG, AUGUST 80, 1871

UEDNLObFN
why Continue Longer n Discussion o
the Departure, which is Dead Al
reRdy?"
Such is a question which we havt
been asked, as we have often befOrr
been inquired Of why discuss the De,
parture at all? We may not know
precisely the point at which the in
vestigation should stop which is beinl
vet conducted by the leading press o
the country, pro and con-. What We
have noticed, as most remarkable is
that those who most want it stopped
are those who feel the weight o.
our blows, and who have beer
most in the habit of crying
Conservatism and peace, peace, when
under constant oppression, there is nc
peace. There are men who depend on
honeying out of every trouble, as they
depend on fair promises for paying
their debts. Such men never stand to
a principle, and you cannot know
where to find them. 1t is not to the
TACT that Ohio or Pennsylvania or
Iowa choose to lay down platforms
for themselves, and which they may
deem best suited to their own local
purposes, that we object. 1t is be-
cause it has been undertaken to
make the Ohio platform a national
platform. 1t is because the attempt
has been made to make capital
through the press by putting a false
hood on the country and palming off
the trick of a few leaders for the voice
Of the people. The process was (espe-
cially in the south), to deepen the i'm
preston of helplessness as against
usurpation, and, by encouraging the
belief that men were iocking by tens
of thousands to the Departure, to pro-
duce a despairing and prevalent pub
lie sentiment which would bring in
as captives those true men who still
valued liberty, and preferring genuine
Republican institutions to the deSpOtic
forms of government, sought to
secure them by prOlOnging a struggle
in their behalf. 1t was because we
saw this design and believed itstOo
%perniciOus in its tendencies to be
borne with without injury, that we
were among the first TO sound the
alarm as a true sentinel. 1t cannot
be denied that there vas reason for
and good in such q course. 1t was
necessary the attempt to make the
departure national instead of local
should be firmly met, resisted and
scotched. 1t was that which brought
into connection with the press, in his
old age and feeble health, one who
stands as a giant among Southern
statesmen, and who, whether consid-
cred as a thinker, leader or patriot, is
the peer of Calhoun. 1t was an issue
of liberty, and not one of mere expedi-
ency and policy which ought to divide
parties. 1t was a question of a strong
government against a strong people.
If in this matter we are not right in
taking sides and speaking perslstenly
and with energy. then therei is no Usef for
the press, since nothing but mere policy
can strike at the root of our prosper
ity and rights, let matters go as they
will. We al go with our friends any
way, except in the falsehOod of con
senting voluntarily that the amend
ments, which have erected a despOt-
ism, are to be submitted to on the
ground that they are based on truth
and right. We can bear the tyrant's
yoke; but we claim the slaves priviI-
eye of thinking: and, sOlongas we have
the power also, of saying that the
Growing glOry' Of Radicalism is a de-
of the Magma Charta o free
men, without which nothing else re-
mains worthy of discussion, but the
question when to resume the sword.
What else we would say is well ex-
pressed by the Louisville Ledger In an
3wer to the Paducah KentucEian. The
following extract will be recognized as
quite in character with the APPEALS
predictions, as aprOpOs to the moment,
and also quite as applicable to Ten
lessse as it is to Kentucky:
We have said nothing harsher of
he Ohio platform than to suggest
hat, in our Judgment, it was a mis-
AXE: that as a stroke of policy if
would prove a boomerang; that it
you'd result in no recruits from Radi-
alism and would discourage and
essen the energy of many thousands II
f DemOcrats-all the while express ,
ng the hope that in this we were mis-
AIKEN. Events have demonstrated
hat we were cDrr.Ct in our apprehen-
ion. No Well-infOTmed politician ia
)hiO now pretends that the platform i,
not a mistake. The Democracy !
t that State would forget ft if thew !
Ould. Their leading men do not pre-
End to defend it. PendletOn does not I
llude to it. The effort is to ignore J
in the contest. :
The Kentuckidn mistakes the thing 1
re denounced. 1t was not the Ohio
latfOrm, which in some sort recog-
lies the amendments as in force de c
tctO, and then attempts to construe Y
out Of existence, but it was that /;
7pe of departure" taken on by +
outhern dirt-eaters, which we de- b
1t was that effort to trail U
banner OF the Democratic party in E
re sloughs of RadicaIism, and to N
estroy all partition walls between the y
organizations upon the part of ii
email, ume-serving, hypocriticaI r.
charlatans that We sPrsvnd n
Irselves against. 1t was the traitor a,
the Democratic camp; the news n
apers protesting to be organs of the q,
emocratic party, the columns of N
hich were opened To- all manner of r.
anders upon the party; which re- a
sed to support the State ticket of the IN
arty, and let pass no opportunity to 10
alb the candidates and aid the oppO- Is
ton; which not only proposed acqui- 81
cence in the amendments till their h,
could be tested, but to accept ID
EN- as correct in principle" as II
Iingsn not to be avoided, sif we c0uld.' se
1t to be built upon Gas the fOundas se
On OF a new Democratic pOlicy.D al
lese are the men, the journals, and OF
e utterances, which we aesailed W