Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1872-06-25
REVENGE!

Il,
Post commenting on the splrIC 49,,
seemed to animate different pai'iI" 60
sections in the late conference u i0e
TRADERS in that city of which ne was a
,,-on,inort member. says Of the southern
men who took part:
W Z ulu ny ilo1 - u-qs in the community for
eElaGhCe IIlat IL IL any interest whatever In re-
HiilCN ~ - 20 ~ the North understand It, free
iOIti' as ,In w REFORM civil service retorm-they
qSuC, ~ gIlude to those subjects The tone
ulu IIOO Cnoa.bes was this: Gentlemen We
oI INC ,t55erners. The South is a ruined cOun-
are "I0G1 0"T States have been pillaged, our homes
IT, beon burnt our friends have been killed
For five wears we suffered from war; for five
,-cars we have been suffering from despotism.
Who is the despOt General Grant Give US
,rrbody to beat him. You have given us very
little for many years. GIVE us NJ least thlS one
sweet morsel ofrevenge.'
Yes, that is it. "Give us at least one
sweet morseI of rcUcRge." We care moth
inc about revenue reform or civil service
reform, but if we can succeed best in
beating Grant by talking on these ques-
tious, all right-revenge is what we want
and revenge is all that will satisfy us. We
y
II has been foremost in our dreams, and
when the morning sun has come, it has
been only to warm up the spirit we have
cherished. and to-day, like an ill-omened
cloud. this desire for revenge hangs be-
tween us and everything i'm the nature of
reform. "a.
Revenge for what? Revenge upon
whom? Revenge for defeat in an effort to
destroy the Government. Revenge upon
President Grant for the part he took in the
suppression of shareholders rebellion.
Revenge for emancipating four millions Of
human beings, once the property of those
seeking revenge. Revenge for the over
throw of a mighty combination for main
tanning the institution of slavery and MAX
inc it the chief corner stone of a govern
ment foundedupon the ruins of the Amer
lean Union.
The Post is certainly correct in its prem
ises. What do nine-tenths of the eX-reb-
els in the South care about the much talk
ed of reforms The idea of civil service
reform never enters their minds, except as
a pretext for obtaining revenge of the
President and of the Republican party
They have never ceased for one mo-
ment to cherish a spirit of bitter
resentment against the armies that
subdued the rebellion, and especially
against The leaders of those armies. They
failed in carrying the objects for which they
were banded together, and now they hold
Grant and his armies responsible. If they
can humiIiate him in any way, they will
do it. Anything TO beat Grant" is their
battle cry.
What care they for Greeley? Nothing.
Personally they have about as little regard
Neil S. Brown some time ago expressed it,
they would vote for the devil to beat
Grant. They have no respect for Greeley.
They have no idea of ever looking upon
him as a leader. They do not regard him
as a friend of their schemes. They simply
regard him as q man full of idiOsyncTasies
and cTOtchets, whom they can use
for their own present purposes an dhaving
useless rubbish. He is no doubt honest,
but his want of judgment, his incapacity
to understand human nature, his long
cherished desire for occupying the White
House, his want of firmness, his lack of
the power of discrimination, his prone
ness to compromise with wrong.
his frailty in following after new doc
trines and isms, all conspire to make
him of all others fit subject for their
They despise him, but
he is of a temper that makes him as the
potter's clay in their hands, and they are
him as they think best. They
licanism,' and as no other instrument
presents itself whereby they can obtain it,
they are willing TO take Greeley, lOath-
some and repulsive to them as
he is. When they have "killed the
snake" they will have no further use for
him and will lay him aside Once pre-
pared to wreak their pent up vengeance
upon Grant and his followers, Greeley will
be to them, no less an object of hatred than
will Grant and Wilson and ColfaX, and
Morton and Logan, and Conkling and Ca
meron, and Carpenter. Place revenge
within their reach, and they will glut
their appetitcs upon it, and Greeley will
feel it as much as Grant.
State Items.