Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1872-05-10
MEMPHIS APPEAL
TRInAY MORNING. NAY 10, 1872.
rur sorrm Avn mn. eREELEY.

rRfu.Y MORNING. MAY 10. 1872.
SOUTH AND MR.. GREELEY.
Whatever mas be the elements of
strength or weakness in Mr.. Greeley's
nomination in other sections of the
Union. we do not hesitate to say
that his name was far the strongest Of
all those submitted to the Cincinnati
Convention, 50 far as the South is con-
cerned. Adams, or Davis, or Trumbull,
or Palmer If nominated, would doubt
less have received the votes of the great
majority Of the white men of the South,
but none of them could possibly have
evoked anything like the enthusi-
asm in their behalf. With Mr.. Greeley
for a standard-bearer, there viii be
aroused throughout the late slave-hOld-
ing States something Of the old fire
which characterized a Presidential cleo
ton in other days. While the Cincin-
matt Convention was in session, an eX-
Confederate General, visiting Memphis,
was asked his opinion of the course to
be pursued by the people Of the South
toward the nominees Of that body. He
replied. that whoever might be nomi-
mated, he expected to support them, be-
cause their success afforded the only
possible chance of escape from the cor
rupton and oppression of the present
ruling dynasty. l shall support them,
said he, without enthusiasm, and as a
choice of evils, unless Horace Greeley
should happen to be the nominee If
Mr.. Greeley should be nominated, l
could 90 into the fight with zeal
and with hearty good viii, if not
with enthusiasm These words were
spoken by a lifelong secession,
States-Rights, Free Trade Democrat.
We believe that they embOdy the SEN
timents Of a very large majority of the
intelligent men Of the South. We do
not pretend, however, that such views
are by any means universal There are
perhaps q very large number Of South
ern Democrats who cannot feel any
thing like hearty goodwill toward any
Northern Republican. There is a
smaller class who cannot be brought to
vote for any Republican. There is, per-
hans. a stiIl smaller number who feel
peculiarly hostile toward Mr.. Greeley,
because of his lifelong and uncom-
promising hostility to all the cherished
ideas of former Southern politicians.
To the intelligent, thoughtful South
ern man, on the contrary, Mr.. Greeley's
undying hostility to slavery and seces-
sion, Is one Of his strongest recommend
ations. We have at last a candidate
who cannot be damned by Southern
support. The johnson Philadelphia
Convention ofIS66 was a failure because
the Northern delegates walked arm in
arm into the hall with the hated South
ern rebels. Seymour was defeated in
1865 because Wade Hampton and Bed
ford Forrest took part in his nomina-
ton. Thank God we have a candidate
now whom we need not praise with
bated breath, lest that breath may prove
the Upas poison that shall sap his
strength. We have protested to our
Northern brethren for seven years in
vain, that we accepted the results
Of the war in good faith, and sin
cerely recognized the tremendous
political changes it had wrought.
Our protests have been received with
sneers of incredibly, and u prOffered
friendship has only proven fatal to its
recipients. Surely we cannot injure Mr..
Greeley by our advocacy. Surely it can
no be charged hat he was a Northern
traitor, or rebel sympathizer. The
people Of the South know that he was
neither the one nor the other. They
have not forgotten that he il a 5JHifes55lBQ9ppGf I
that if he is not the father of the Re
publican party, he has been, since its
birth, its ablest and most powerful sup
porter. They have not forgotten the ten
thousand bitter blistering words that he
has written and spoken about us. They
have not forgotten that when, during
the long dark hours Of the war, the
Union cause looked darkest, it was his
burning words, poured out through the
Tribune, that reused the Northern people
to renewed e~xertions.
All these things they remember. But
hey remember, also, that if one of the
bitterest enemies i'm war, he has been
Iaost magnanimOus Of all our foes in
peace. He it was who, almost before
before the swordwa sheathed, and when
even Andrew johnson was declaring
''that traitors should be punished, and
treason made OdiOus,n exclaimed that
"tOo much blood has been shed already,
not a man must die upon the scaffold.D
He it was who stepped forward alone of
Northern politicians TO become
the bOndsInan of him who was
suffering the vicaTious punishment of
the Southern people, although his sigma
ture TO the bond cost him thousands of
subscribers and tens Of thousands Of dol
lars. He il was who first and lOudest
and most persistenty has shouted "uni-
versal amnesty for Southern rebels, "
although that cry cost him, four years
ago, a seat in the United States Senate.
He it was who, first Of Republicans, eX-
posed and denounced the corrupt VIII
lainy of the reconstructed governments
OF the Southern States, and who said in
a public speech 10 a Republican audi
ence in New York city: "Fellow-citi-
zens, the thieving carpetbaggers of the
South are a mOuTnful fact: / myself
have seen them.n
It is because OF these things, and be-
cause Of a deep settled conviction in the
Southern mind Of Mr.. Greeley's hon
esty, purity and ability that his nominal
ton will touch and stir the hearts of our
people as that Of no other Northern Re
pubIicau possibIv could have done