Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1872-05-02
ADDRESS.

American Republic. We have
emerged from a conflict which
. involved the very life of the nation.
| That conflict is nowended. The nation
lives. The old home of our fathers is
still the home of the whole American
IfamiIy-of all its children, native and
adopted. That home has been beauti-
|, fled and enlarged, but it has not been
? divided. The Union is unbrOken.
Wherever in all the land an American
{ freeman turns his eye he beholds its sa-
, cred emblem, the old flag, and there are
none but freemen to behold it. The old
aspiration, which always rises from the
heart TO the lips whenever the Union is
thought of, "EstO PerpetuGu is no
longer a trembling prayer, but the spir-
tied utteranee of an imperishable faith.
And now, you, who have come her from
all parts, no longer sections, of our COM
mon country, stand here side by side,
united in spirit as you are united
in interest. There isl but one throb
now to all your hearts, and but
one purpose to all your endeavors, and
that purpose is to make Our country
prosperous and great; to secure the free
dom and happiness and rights of all its
citizens; to reform the abuses which
have sprung from the long prevalence
of mere party sway and from the law
lessness and turbulence involved in the
recent semi-revOlutiOnary condition of
our civil affairs; and to restore the found
atoms of constitutional liberty wherever
they have been impaired or destroyed.
You meet here with the firm resolve to
preserve a recollection of so much only
of the past as is necessary in order
wisely to profit by its lessons, and to
cOnsign to oblivion whatever, though
originating in honest impulses, ended in
bitterness and anger. You have been
arrayed against each other upon ques-
tons which the voice of history has an
swered. You have been divided as by a
cloud, which has not only ceased to be
fiery, but which has been wholly dis
PEELED. You have been engaged in the
trial of issues which have been settled
irrevOcably and forever. In the clear
light of di~spassionate reflection you see
that the issues left to be decided are
issues of to-day and not of yesterday;
that all the problems which present
themselves to the American people for
present solution are problems of
peace; and that the questions
Of the future find expression, not in the
watchwOrds of the camps that have
long since been abandoned or in the
slogans Of the parties that have de-
generated into clans, but in the articu-
late demands resulting from the practi-
cal necessities of the hour. Having
met here in this spirit and with these
convictions, you would not permit any
one to address you by any old party
name; you are no longer Republicans
or Democrats; lgreat cheeringl you are
no longer divided by a diversity of in
terest or of feeling, and you are no
The visOrs are up, the old party masks
are off, and you stand face to face, and
your faces exhibit the common Inca
ments of patriotism. The old Democrat,
as he looks into the eve of his Republic
can brother, finds there an inextinguish-
able love of liberty and an imperishable
affection for the Union, and these he
recognizes rs good old Democratic vir-
tues, though things may have been
done and may be done now in their
name which the true lover of liberty and
the Union repudiates. The Republican,
as he meets the glance of the Democrat,
finds there stern resistance to all arbi-
trary rule and an inflexible purpose TO |
stoutly uphold not only the Constitution
but also its proper limits, and these are
good Republican virtues, as well, though,
like all virtues, they may degenerate into
vices by excess. But We mean now to |
guard against all excess by tempering
the sterner virtues of the old Demo-
crat with the mild virtues of the old
Republican. There may be much to
regret and something TO atone for, but
there is nothing now in the soul of any
man who has come to Cincinnati to at
tend this convention to be d~istrusted.
You are all aware that in another and
larger hall in this city their is now or
soon viii be 81 gathering Of other men
who have come here substantially for
the anne purpose, which has brought
you to this room, like us they are intent
upon restoring the government TO its
constitutional foundation; like US they
propose not only TO reform abuses, but
to remove the conditions from which
these abuses have sprung; like us they
are about 20 protest against the per-
versions of public instrumentalities to
private ends. lCheers. Like US they pro-
pose tosearch for the natural and immu-
table laws which govern the growth of
industry and the production Of wealth,
and as far as may be to see TO it that our
statutes shall be a simple expression of
these laws; like us they love
the Union, and insist upon the
preservation of the equal rights of All
the citizens Of the Republic. But unlike
US, while they cOneede that there is
both community Of interest and identity
of purpose between Liberal Democrats
and Liberal Republicans, and while they
themselves haTbor no distrust against
any one because he chooses to call him
self by another name, they fear lest
there might still bea lurking disquietude
those whose o or brothers
lately bore arms in defense of the Union
because of the proposed open fraternity
Of Republicans with those who do not 1
choose to assume the Republican name.
1 believe that in this they are mistaken.
[Cheers.l That the generous trust of the
IL even larger, if possible, than
ours. We had hoped to stand by their I
side on the platform at Industrial Hall, 4
as we already stand on the sanie plat G
form Of principles, but they deem 1t o
for the moment not to admit us. Il
While We regret to differ from their $
Judgment in this one matter, we ac- {
IN their determination, but we d
know that as we travel toward the same 5
goal, we viii very soon find ourselves a
on the same broad road. tCheers. b
And / hope that before this convention s
YOU viii send them your greet U
ing, and inform them that your arms a
are open and that we are ready at all s
times 20 receive them, whether it be in n
The enclosure selected by them or on the o
open ground chosen by us. Prolonged
eheering.l The Liberal Republican and
The liberal Democrat look up to the same Il
stars, in the same sky above them. and L