Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1872-12-21
MENPHES APPEAL
SATURDAY MORNING, DEC. 81, 1872.
vuE luPOssIBLE EMPIRE.

guE IMPOSSIBLE EMPIRE.
Some nervous people are pleased to
ZEE "the shadow of the Empire" that is
10 be. in the recent action taken by
General Grant touching the little diff
Guilty between the people and the car
petbaggers in some of the Southern
STATES. The shadow of the Empire!
Prodigious! as poor Dominic Sampson
would saw. The shGio'U of the Empire!
This ure-supposes the existence of a
substance. Then, siFs, where is the To-
ans re; aifsr of this dark mass, whose
.hadow portends so threateEingly the
DOOM of the republic? Does this shadow
really stalk abroad at MONDAY, or seeks
il. with Targuin's ravishing strides, "
III midnight, the fair and beauteOus form
Of the sleeping Goddess Of Liberty? It
f.. indeed, q shadow, cast by an imperial
solid situated somewhere on t'Other end
Of Pennsylvania avenue, or it is but an
fir-drawn shade, Pigment of the brain,
an incubus, a demon, issuing from the
diseased Imagination of the opponents
of General Grants administration? Is
Il A rebel masked battery, created solely
t5r the purpose of inducing the "truly
loiP' TO renew their patriotic defense of
the government, and then pepper them
with paper pellets while they are at it?
Does the news of this impending eclipse
of the republic proceed from the OppO-
pents Of General Grants administra-
ton? Has General Grants administra-
lion any opponents? Granted that the
morinund Presidential administration
whose term expires on the fourth of
March next had many, and bitter, and
r.ghtful opponents; granted that more
than three millions of white men-as
many men as there were people in all
The colonies during Revolutionary times
sought by every means vOuchsafed
under the law and gOspel-by prayer
and self-denial, by precept and exam
ole, 10y apostolic blows and knocks, by
votes and vOtiye offerings, to over
throw that administration; but this
imperial shadow cannot come from the
past, and as we do not know what Gen
craI Grant may DO in the future, no one
can be said to be opposing his policy
until he shows his hand. General
Grant has it in his power to disarm OPP
position in advance by putting aside his
evil counsellors, now shaping his inter-
vention in Louisiana affairs, by admin
i-tering the Government in the interests
"f the whole people, and not in the in
tercst and at the dictation of a political
7.arty, and by bringing as far as in him
lies the Government back to its republic
can orbits, out Of which it has been viO-
lently wrenched by-his friends, But
10 the shadow of the Empire. We are
pointed to Arkansas and to the Gulf
states where its .penumbra, we are told,
is visible; where the rights of the States
and the people Of the States are simply
stamped out by the iron heel Of Federal /
power; where the negro tool and carpet /
bag knave have but to invoke the aid /
Of United States bayOnets and Gatlin .
guns TO organize Legislatures and install /
Governors Of States contrary to law, and |
3 gainst the win Of the people proclaimed |
at the ballot-bOX-where fitness for office
is weighed in the party scales, and .
where competency and qualification,
though never so high, cannot compen-
safe for want of party fealty-where
The first, the last, and greatest qualifica-
ton for Office is found in these words:
" support Grants administration u
where the people are robbed of their
wealth 10y grinding taxation, and the
robbers rewarded with the protection Of
the United States Government and with
patronage-where the Uni
ted States private soldier stands with
j Sed bayOnet 10 protect authority
Jsurped by ignorance and crime, and
ready TO tranfix the native-bOrn and cul-
l1red citizen "who knows his rights and
dare those rights maintain" By the
gods, this does look like what might be
The shadow Of the coming Empire. But
we won't believe it. No, never