Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1872-08-13
A Full, Complete and Thorough
Review Of the Political Stu
alton and Prospect.
Why Democrats Should Support
Horace Greeley and b.
GFatZ Brown.
An Appeal to the COlOred People
Still to Follow the Lea Of
Greeley and Sumner.

Lon an oceasionaI Correspondent.I

l From an Occasional Correspondent
) LAKE SIDE. TUNICA COUNTY, MISS
August 9, lS72.
EDITORS APPEAL-On the third o.
this month we had a grand bar.
becue at this point, at which Captain
Waddell, Mr.. Thomas H. Perkin:
and General Chalmers spoke. As
the remarks Of the latter possess pc
euliar significance, from the fact Of his
having been a delegate to the Baltimore
Convention, send you a report Of it,
and hope you viii find space for it. You
will find X an excellent Greeley docu-
ment:
SPEECH OF GENERAL J. r. CHALMERS.
FELLOw-CITIZENs-T is the first
political campaign since the war in
which l have felt much interest, be-
cause il is the first in which l have
thought there was much prospect OF
/ success for US. But when we look upon
the troubled sea Of politics before US,
and behold wave after wave rising nigh
er and higher, and hear the OminOus
signs Of the approaching winds, We are
reminded of 1910, and we know that a
.
sweep everything before ii. ..-..a
In 1855 / was among the first of the
Southern Democrats who advised an
immediate acceptance of the situation,
as it was then called. The terms i'm
posed upon US were harsh, and BY many
said TO be too disgraceful for our accept
ance, but believed aud said, that when
| disgraceful terms were imposed by a
! cOnquerOr upon a conquered and dis
armed foe, the disgrace Of acceptance
was greater to those who imposed, than
to those who accepted them. M
! I believed that by immediate acqui-
/ escence and prompt action We could Sc
! cure the control of our local affairs, and
| therefore I advised a prompt acceptance
| of the reconstruction measures. Most
! Of my former political friends differed
with me at the time, aud some even
I bitterly aSsailed me. 1t was a question
about which men of the same political
party might well differ, and as / had no
! positive assurance that | was right, /
preferred yielding my views for the time
| to separating from the friends with
whom had struggled so long. do not
alIude TO this now in any bOastful spirit,
| because we have all come now to ac-
quiesce in more than 1 then recon-
mended, but as an apology for myself,
and as explanation why have not here
tofore taken a more active part in
POLITICS.
Whether the course which our party
saw fit to pursue has been productive of
good or evil results might still admit Of
debate: whether we could have gained
a greater control over our former slaves
| by more prompt effort to accOmmO-
date ourselves to our changed relations
with them by an earlier attempt to gain
their confidence, are problems which
now can never be solved. But, of one
thing / am well assured: We have not
exercised the same patience and perse-
yerance in our efforts to control the
eolored mind that we have exhibited in
All Our other undertakings in life. In
our planting operations, in our mechan-
ical pursuits, in our efforts at invention,
in our acquisition of knowledge we
have, as a people displayed indOmitable
energy and perseverance. We We're
never satisfied with failure; if we did
not succeed at our attempt, we would
try it again, and success alone could
stop our exertions. But we had been so
long accustomed TO command our slaves
and 10 require prompt and implicit Obe-
dience from them that we found II q
difficult and embarrassing matter when
we became the solicitors for their suf-
frages. We stated our positions to them
generally in the fewest words possible,
and if we did not meet with immediate
success, or if we We're deceived the first
time by false promises and pretenses,
we lost all patience; we gave up in des-
pair and turned the negro over complete
E. e, fafa nf
carpetbagVer. We thus lost ground,
which, at one time, l thought it would
be impossible for US ever TO regain. But
Providence, which "dOeth all things
well - has brought about a split In the
Republican party and the great Father
of Abolitionism,n having first accom-
plished the emancipation Of the South
ern blacks, has now secured the eman-
cipation of the disfranchised Southern
white men, and We
FREEDMEN, WHITE AND BLACK,
can rally together around bis standard,
and iOin in one common shout over our
common deliyerer This split in the
Republican party was but the natural
result of its magnitude and consequent
corruption. History tells us that 'Cse-
sar, the Roman General and Dictator,
swept with his army across the world
like q mighty river, receiving into It's
bosom the tributary streams of fourteen
different nations, making one current Of
all these waters, one people OF all these
inhabitants, one language of all these
idiums, and though the power fell from
his grasp, il was but to form in the
firmer grasp of Augustus one empire
from all these empires. Those streams
Of nations, however, which threw them
selves into the great Roman flood, 1
brought with them more slime than pure
water. The empire gained their science !
and civilization, but it was forced to
take, in connection with them, their
inseparable vices. Corruption entered
the court, debauchery the cities, and
supineness the camp. Men dropped
under mantles 50 light that the breeze !
would lift them from their shoulders. |
Women passed their days at the baths, |
and left them veiled for houses Of
licentiOusness. Soldiers reclined upon
cOuches under painted tents, and drank
from gOblets OF silver and gold heavier I
than their swords. And thus the Roman
Empire fell under the weight of its own
corruption, and broke itself into two
great empires under rival leaders.
History, it is said, repeats itself The |
Republican party swept over the North |
like a mighty river, receiving into its /
bosom the old Federalists under Adams, |
the original AbOlitiOnists under Greeley, |
Phillips and Smith,
THE FREEsOIL DEMOCRACY
under Rantoul and Blair, the freesoil
Wings under Seward, the Known 9th
ings under Wilson, large part OF the
Douglas Democracy under Grant and
long John Wentworth, and even a part
of the Breckinridge Democracy under
Butler and Logan.
They We're gathered together under
Abraham Lincoln, and though the
power fell from his grasp, il was but TO
iall INTO the firmer grasp of Ulysses >,
Grant. But these streams OF pollticai
parties which thus threw themselves
into the great Republican food brought |
with them vast deal more Of slime than
pure water. Bribery and corruption Rowf
stalk unblushing through the halls of |
Congress; and the President, who should |
be above suspicion, is charged, not with |
out some authority, with being impli- |
Gated in gold rings, customhOuse frauds |
and San Domingo eliques. The soldier
leaves his tent to dance attendance upon
the White House, and the staff officer. |
in violation of army regulations, asits. y |
like MOrdecai the Jew, Sat the receipt
of customs Dewdness, it is said, has
become 50 common among the female !
clerks Of the departments that the pro-
fesslOnal magdalens Of Washington city
h.--. f,a.v1 st.ofr ,oot.noffow f,ona Aul