Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1872-10-07

i nal path, shedding heat and light alike
upon every living thing, and warming
f. alike in all the blood as il courses
from the heart of every living creature.
Laws in their effects should fall upon
all alike, as the gentle rain from heaven,
cherishing and nOurishing the thistle
alongside Of the rose. Select your can
didate always who has the highest sense
Z Of justice, and you viii never fail Of an
/ honest man and good laws. But be-
ware of the man who grOvels in the
I dark, pnnders TO the weaknesses Of hu-
man nature, feeds its prejudices, and ca
+ ters to the whims and eaprices of the
! populace.
I I will now reply to Mr.. Johnson's prop
I osition 70 saddle the responsibility of the
I late war on Southern politicians. BE it
understood that Mr.. johnson does not
1 propose TO hold the people responsible in
any wise, but that it was politicians
war. All the interest have in discuss
ing this question is simply as matter OF
history, and his is sometimes both in
structive and interesting. Mr.. johnson
argues that the State could not separate
from the Union, and Of course these pol
itieians were traitors, but we were ex-
cusable, for we knew not what we did.
. luELE " - LO tdl1E lDL 5CtAdAAllOlf StAN >
( he, and the people were led into a rum
Gus war by few wicked and ambitious
politicians. Was it possible, gentlemen,
! that few wicked politicians in Tennes-
/ see, for their own ambitious purposes,
could lead a million of people astray,
risking their own lives, their property,
Z their liberties, and the peace of their
: homes, carried along by an imaginary
/ cause Of war, and following, according
/ to Mr.. johnson, small men at that?
Such people really deserved
/ to be pitied. Where was our Moses
T then, that he did not, from the top Of
/ Sinai, declare the law unto these foolish
! people, Where was his potent arm, he
( did not stay these wicked men in their
mad schemes2 Where was his mighty
! voice, with which, in days past, he
swayed the multitude, that the people
could not heaTit2 Was that strong arm
I palsied? Was that voice so feeble that
( it could not be heard above the storm ?
/ Where was that influence and power
T which be welded over the masses? =?
I Fled before the Vaccinations Of a few
I small men! Where We're the people,
+ and where was Mr. Johnson? Had
1 somebody taken the people from MIR.
/ Johnson2 Oh! shamei shameI-pityl
pityl Why, according to Mr.. johnson,
{ these Southern politicians must have
7 been the most wonderful set of men
( known to history. Here we have the
/ spectacle of a few politicians bursting
asunder the bonds Of the American
/ Union, dragging eleven States into the
most gigantic civil war known TO histO-
~, followed by eight millions of people,
4 who risked fifteen hundred millions of
/ property upon the issue; risked their
lives, their liberties, and the peace of
their homes, fight the hugest battles,
and achieve the most wonder
ful victories on record. a peo-
pie who have no cause OF their
own for war, but blindly suffer them
serves 10 be led, like cattle to the slaugh-
ter, by few ambitious politicians, who
seek only the accomplishment Of their
ambitious schemes. What a wonderful
and unheard-Of influence and power
these politicians must have welded over
the people Of the SOUTH What giants
in intellect they must have been, and
before whom Mr.. johnson must have
regarded himself simply Is an atom OF
matter, not rising even to the dignity OF
a Lilliputian infant. But Mr.. johnson
is too extravagant in his compliment OF
! Southern politicians; they were great
men, but they did not DO half what be
charges them with, nor perform the
wonders be would have believe they
did. They did not originate the quar-
rel, nor could they have stopped It.
Neither did they wickedly lead blind
people into a TuinOus civil war. The
quarrel out of which came dissolution
was as old as the history Of the Re
public. and had its origin in its very
constitution, and was deep rooted in The
bosom Of the people as their love Of lib
erty. 1t was q quarrel that found its way
into the pulpit, divided churches, and SCI
brethren against brethren. 1t found ii
way not only into every schOOlhOuse
but could be traced in every schOO
, book; a quarrel kept at fever heat upol
the one side by the zeal of religious ia
: natics-s fanaticism, too, which was a
: impossible to bind by law or compro
misses, as il would be to bind a raging
e fire on its course by the different mete
{ and boundary lines to property-cruel
] / fierce and relentless; It must be extin
guished or it consumes you. Besides
= was it possible to compromise with
+ people who religiously believed that Al
+; rican slavery was a crime for which the
5 were responsible 80 long as it was pre-
] teeted by the government? He VIII
= supposed il was not acquainted with hi
I, tory nor human nature. Again, it wa
: not possible to bind people by laws {
o compromises who held that there was
!, moral law, higher than the constitution
! higher than statutory laws by whic
e they were bound. a doctrine whic
o over-rode the constitution and led eleve
d Of the NOithern States to nullify certai
e Federal laws and set the Federal COnst
% tuition at defiance. 1t was q QUAR-
n which destroyed the Wing party an
e hurled Democrat after Democrat fro
l. the Federal Senate until there was but
K few left at the time of Mr.. Lincoln
+ election; a quarrel which led TO q
ID seXerest abuse between the section
j. and one in which not only
j. thousand newspapers and periOdica
~ participated, but poets, historian
il preachers, schOol-teacbers, politician
e. and several millions of private citizen
IL Ii was not the Vaccinations Of the po
" by a few wicked and ambitious men, b
" a quarrel of immense magnitude, i
es volving not the slavery question, b
to the federal revenue question, and q
20 vario, heOries as TO the right cOnstru
10 ton Of the constitution, and the futu
ie character Of the government. The COZ
he promises Of 1920 and Of 1850 fail to il
D. pede its onward march in the least.
ie spread with astounding rapidity fro
he that time forward, and the crisis W
be upon us before any Of ms were aware
a. H. Great questions before, Of the ma
rs nitude Of these, had not been settl
Of without q struggle. and in this case d
er solution and war followed as a thii
al inevitable. No few men produced It.
is few men could have stayed it. johns
10 might have clung to his last plank, b
~ it was impossible 10 stop the war, as Z
at contest produced the grandest debat
se ever heard in Congress, and led to q
e election Of a sectional President, follow
10 by q desolating war-an event forese
e. by such statesmen as Calhoun, PierC
be and Others. Johnson declares tn
o. Breckinrdge was a sectional candida
be but he was not more 80 than Dougli
is and the North had nothing to fear fro
~ him, as no Northern interest would ha
en- been prejudiced by his election. job
ot son SAYS we could have cOmprOmis
go our difficulty by a constitutional amen
lie ment, but, in heavens name, II tn
Ie. would not respect the document itse
be how could they be expected TO resps
er amendments as the last resort. job
sir son says we ought to have fought q
We battles in the Union. Did he want
or continuous quarrel between each Sta
10 with q little rebellion on its own hand
ca 4 The course the south pursued was {
iit only one practicable. He also insi
ev that LincOlnis election was no cause
vn war, but il was the pretext, If not
en cause, and was the last straw. IL IS Il
il that If Southern Senators had remain
be IN their places Lincoln could have dc
eh little harm during bis administrstio
be but the quarrel would not have be
Is stopped. / admit that there were sol
ut IN lie South who desired disunion W
" Thought they had the right 10 wi
n draw from the Union, bat tn
in were few in number. The grl
Ie, mass Of the people were agail
a exercising that right without s
en- ficient cause. The State Of Tenn
on see was slow to act. At Mr.. Bells
IA quest Il was proposed 20 arm, and il v
he Voted down ia the convention by a lal
.rs majority. Although Mr.. johnson nel
II admitted the abstract right Of secessis
a. he admitted all the arguments made
en she.secessionists. He styled the Unit
lis States 4 confederation, that the cons
ev tuition was q compact between
Of states, and that the Federal Goye
sl- ment had no power 90 c0erce a cta
IA. As late as 1880 he held that when
~ fair and honorable means had failed
settlement ef the difficulties, and
I'd North persisted iD their resist4lfl
eal the Federal laws, and the goFefrm'
le. failed TO execute them, then tie IN
ars was practically dissolved, and az
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