Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1872-10-31

] WAS hunted NDWn buEOuElbub lllt OAiAbCh
States and Europe, and at last found IN
/ Switzerland. He was arrested, pni
! in shackles and dragged back to
Washington City, and lodged in dun
geon. But the unconstitutional Militia
Ty Commission was abandoned in his
| case, a bill of Indictment was preferred
/ against him by a grand jury, and he
was put upon his trial before an impair
I tial Jury and was triumphantly acquit-
/ ted. Not only was he acquitted, but the
1 facts developed in proof upon his trial
! showed TO the satisfaction OF everybody
| the perfect innocence of his mother
! Of the crime for which she had
! suffered an ignOminiOus death upon
/ the gallows. Can you indOrse
and approve this wilfIl and deliberate
violation of the most vitality important
! parts of the constitution on the part Of
/ the highest officer known to the govern
ment, who had sOlemnly sworn to sup
port it? Would that the history Of
CONSTITUTIONAL VIOLATION
ended here, but it does not. The latter
part Of the fifth article provides that no
person shall be deprived of life, liberty
or property without due process of
law, nor shall private property be taken
for public use without just compensa-
ton. The Supreme Court Of the United
States has decided in a number of cases
that the constitution is as much the law
Of the land to both rulers and citizens
in time Of war, as in time of peace. In
1862 Andrew johnson returned to Nash |
vile under the protection of Federal
bayOnets, and assumed the role OF
military despot and petty tyrant under
the name and style Of Military Cover |
nor. By what constitution or law is this /
Office created? | have looked through |
the constitution Of the State and United /
States in vain for the Office and the eX- 1
tent Of its powers and duties. I have |
looked through the statutes, both State 4
and Federal, but nowhere find any such |
animal as Military Governor. It is a /
stranger to the law, unknown TO any /
to all law, either human or divine; but 1
in this new and arbitrarily |
character by
HIS ARBITRARY ORDER
he arrested and imprisoned in the peni- |
tentiary, with mUTderers, thieves and 1
robbers, a large number of decrepit and /
defenseless old men, among them most /
Of the ministers Of the gospel in and /
about Nashville. In addition to this he /
arbitrarily assessed a large number Of
D
formed, OF about sixty thousand dole
and enforced the collections at =,
point of the bayonet. Nothing is clearer |
than that in each instance of arbitrary /
arrest and Imprisonment he deprived |
"a person of his liberty without due pro- |
cess Of law" Can you indOrse these |
open, fragrant, wilful and deliberate viO-
latiOns Of the neutrality-suspicious. |
Incorporated in it by our fathers for the !
express purpose Of
PROTECTING THE LIFE, LIBERTY AND !
PROPERTY OF THE CITIZEN
If the constitution cannot protect your
life, liberty and prosperity, what is it
worth to yoR? He complains that the
Radical administration has disregarded
and
VIOLATED THE CONSTITUTION
from ''we the people, to the signature Of
George Washington. l admit it, and
regret to be compelled TO say that
Andrew johnson set them the example. |
The record of his acts shows that be has
violated il in more instances and in more !
important particulars than any other |
man who has ever filed the office of
President. Do you desire 10 make him |
the guardian of that instrument again? I
And can you ind0rse and approve these |
fragrant violations Of all important /
guarantees secured TO the citizen? Can |
you indorse and approve his oft-repeated |
declaration that the brave boys of the |
Confederate army who fell in the strug- |
gle fill ignominious graves? Are you |
ready TO write upon their unpretending !
tombstones the word INFAAiY? or brand |
upon the brow of their survivors the |
word TRAITOR? To do so would be the |
grOssest injustice to the living, As well |
as to the sacred ashes of the gallant |
dead. I shall not stop 10 inquire, at |
this time, whether they were right or |
wrong IN their convictions of duty, |
but Andrew Johnson is estOpped from /
denying that they were right, as their |
act was in strict accordance with the !
lessons he had taught them for long, |
long wears. But, independent Of bis |
teachings. l maintain that the man who |
took uD his musket or saber, and con- |
sented to incur the hardships and priva- |
tons Of camp life, and the perils Of |
bloody battles, was moved by high |
and imperative sense Of duty, and no |
matter whether he wore the gray or the /
blue, If he was willing to and did put |
bis life upon the issue, he was honest |
and sincere. He was patriot, who re- |
tiected credit and honor upon his cOun /
try and himself, and is to-day better |
and more hOnored citizen than he who |
never heard the din Of battles and has |
not vet ascertained that the war ended |
more than seven years ago-he
WHO WOULD PRESCRIBE THE SOLDIER |
OF EITHER ARMY,
because he was a soldier. The brave |
men who fought the battles were equally |
honest and sincere in their convictions !
and sense Of duty, and equally entitled |
to the respect and confidence due to a 1
brave, frank, chivalrous spirit, and l |
would prescribe neither. Yet the gravest |
objection that Andrew johnson urges |
against Cheatham Is, that he was sol |
dier on the Confederate side. When |
Tennessee appealed 10 her sons in 1916 |
to vindicate her rights and honor in |
Mexico Frank Cheatham shOulG red his |
musket, started a private and returned |
a Colonel in command of a regiment. |
When Tennessee called upon her sons |
again in 1851 to rally to the defense Of |
what she honestly believed to be her |
constitutional rights, Frank Cheatham |
drew his sabre and fell into line, ready |
to respond TO the call, but as a soldier |
am happy to be able to say the rights of
the citizen were always sacred to him. |
He tyranized over no one; neither i'm |
prisOned old men nor insulted defense |
less women and children in the rear of |
an army, but was al Es found where |
the battle ragged v most fury and |
| the shot and shell lell thichest, and |
when the battle ided the comfort |
Of the men b. "A commanded was
always a conside .tion paramount TO |
! bis own. Brand Jim and those brave |
| spirits that followed him through those |
| bloody battles, if you viii, it is your /
matter not mine. This is the issue that /
/ Andrew johnson forces upon you when |
he says
| GENERAL CHEATHAd
can ask for this Office with poor grace |
after having fought against the govern /
mept He can ask with quite as much |
! grace as johnson can, whose doctrines |
/ for years had taught Cheatham to be- |
lieve that it was his duty so to fight |
| But why not let the bloody chasm be
| Theoretically sealed-the bloody past be |
/ veiled? Why reopen the issue Of that
/ struggle? The country wants peace and
/ fraternity. The Confederates have
] shown themselves as ready to support
| Union men as one Of their own num-
| ber but while they entertain these
/ liberal views, they protest against be-
/ ing prescribed because they were Confed-
crates. Why not allow the bitterness
! engendered by the war, and the sad re
objections Of the bloody struggle sink
! into oblivion? Why not unite as BROTH
/ ers in an earnest effort TO restore peace,
| prosperity and fraternity throughout the
/ whole country2 I
/ APPEAL
TO YOU as citizens who love the country,
/ to unite and frOwn down this proscrip-
/ tive spirit that would crush and degrade
the gallant spirit Of either side, to graf
/ ify the aspirations and ambitions Of the
mere ofIice-seeker. For myself / seek
no Office or position at your hands;
| I want none. In times past you have
/ honored me with a generous confidence
and support, for which you have the
profound gratitude CT a grateful heart
with what iidelity have served you
/ leave to your determinat. .ln, and am
willing, more than willing, to stand or
fall upon the result. For the kind atteD-
ton given me to-day you have my
thanks.
Killed by Locomotive.
! err ToIrra Octobar 3O.-Thonnas Nc.