Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1872-10-31
EsTABLIsHED 1s4osLpa0

been nominated that he would have ac-
cepted? Does any person doubt that his
speeches at Knoxville, Nashville
Edgefieid and Franklin were intended
to secure to himself the nomination? In
his lifelong pursuit Of Office, be has been
to q very great extent indebted 70 SINH
lar conventions for his success. he
never discovered that conventions which
nominated him were anti-Republiean
and dangerous to the liberties OF the peo-
pie. 1t is only conventions that nomi-
nate Others over him, that are packed
-fraudulent-anti-Republican and dan
gerous to liberty General Cheatham
was as fairly nominated as any
man has ever been, in Tennessee
or elsewhere, and no man doubts the
fact that he would have been elected by
from thirty to fifty thousand votes over
any Radical in the State, but for the in
dependent candidacy OF Andrew john
son. Il Andrew Johnson Dem
ocrat? Does he really desire the success
Of the principles and policy Of the DEM
ocratic party? Would herelieve the eoun-
try from the misrule, tyranny and op-
preston Of the Radical party? Ii so,
why does he jeopardize the success OF
Democratic principles and policy by az
tempting to divide the party and thereby
reader the election Of e Radical but TOO
probable? By his independent candi-
dacy he says more plainly than IAN
guage could speak il, However mucn 1
may love the Democratic party and its
principles, love my own
PERSONAL AGGRANDIZEMENT
more.u With his inordinate ambition
and excessive greed Of Ofiice-his miser-
able little petty personal aspirations rise
superior 10 the principles and policy OF
any partv, superior to the highest inter
ests Of any people or country, and he
shows himself ready 70 endanger, il not
to sacrifice political principle and the
prosperity Of the country upon the altar
Of personal ambition. What is the OBJ
lection to General Cheatham? Andrew
johnson knows that be has been un-
falteringly true to the principles Of the
Democratic party throughout his whole
life. No man has ever ventured to
question his integrity, and all who know
him, know that he is a man Of enlight-
ened liberal views and the highest order
Of practical common sense, a modest,
frank, blunt farmer, who has devoted
his life 10 industrial pursuits, and who
has never aspired to Office. But they
say he can't speak. I admit that be is
not 3 speaker, neither was George
Washington, Thomas Jefferson, or An
drew Jackson. Though Cheatham
speaks about as wei as Greeley
and immeasurably better than Grant.
He IS a man Of work, not Of words; q
man Of action, not Of empty platitudes,
and stale, worn-out rhetoric. Were
Washington, Jefferson and Jackson re-
garded as incOmpetents because they
were not orators? Let the impress that
they left upon the institutions Of the
country answer. Identified with the
agricultural and mechanical industries
Of the country through his whole life,
who is better prepared to represent and
promote them than Frank Cheatham?
But, in defiance Of the expressed viii Of
the Democrats and Conservatives Of the
State, Andrew Johnson demands that
you shall send him TO Congress. When
you vote for him you give to his public
acts, public utterances and political
record the highest Endorsement that it is
possible for you to give. Can you, as
Democrats, indorse his political record2
He was s
STRICT-CONSTRUCTIONt STATES-RIGHTS
DEMOCRAT
up to about the beginning Of 1861. And
while thus acting with the Democratic
party, for long years previous, and up to
1861, he told the people Of Tennessee
that their rights under the constitution
had been violated and trampled under
foot by the aggressive and dominant
party Of the North, and went as far as
Isham G.. Harris, or any other man in
Tennessee, in urging the doctrines which
inevitably lead 70 secession. In 1850,
when Douglas was the candidate Of the
Union wing Of the Democratic "a. ",
Bell the candidate Of the Wing party,
and Breckinridge the candidate Of what
was called the fire-eating secession De-
mOcracy, Andrew Johnson became the
earnest and uncOmpromizinga advocate Of
Breckinridge, and canvassed the whole
State, warning the people Of the dangers
and disasters that must result from the
election Of Lincoln, who, he said, so
construed the constitution as TO justify
these aggressions and encrOachments
which degraded tennessee below the
level Of equality Ml,- other States,
and denied to her citizens the we'll
defined rights guaranteed to them
by the constitution Of their fathers.
He also insisted that the lRtitudinarian
mode Of constituting the constitution
adopted by John Bell encouraged the
Abolition party in their encrOachments
upon our rights, and that Bell was as
TO the South as Lincoln. In
deed, went so far as tC predict that II
Lincoln should be elected that John
Bell would be the first man invited into
his cabinet At this time there was not
the remOtest tinge or suspicion Of
SECESSION Or DIsUNION
70 either the Douglas OF Bell
ticket. If he was 50 much devoted to
the Union, then why did he not support
Douglas, whose Democracy, as well as
his devotion to the Union, was beyond
question: About the same time he an
in the Senate that the North
ern States that refused and neglected 70
execute the fugitive slave law were in
rebellion, and that by reason Of this re-
bellion the Union was dissolved, leaving
each State free to form new associations,
and warned the extreme South that
tennessee would not 60 with them, nor
with the extreme North, eX-
pressing a preference for a Mid
die COnfederacy. No man in Tennessee
went further than he in teaching the
doctrines which ultimately resulted IN
separation. Mr.. Lincoln was elected,
and the policy he adopted cut of all
hope Of cessation of, or remedy for, the
aggressi0ns and encroachments so long
ana earnestly complained Of by Ten
nessee and other States. South Carcli-
ma and other states seeded, and il was
evident that Tennessee would be COM
PEELED to identify herself with one side
or the other; the tir1e had come, when
the doctrines so long taught by Andrew
johnson were 10 be put into practical
operation, she decided 70 cast her for
tunes with her sisters Of the South.
And Andrew JOhnsOn suddenly aban-
doned the doctrines he had taught you,
fed the State, and sought protection be
hind the bayOnets of, and gave aid and
encouragement TO, your invaders; not
only desertng, but making fierce, re-
lentless and bitter war upon the State
and people who had made him all that
he was, and more than be ever deserved
to have been. This, be had right to
do, II be had honestly changed his Opin-
ions and
POLITICAL PRINCIPLES.
But l am testing his consistency as
Democrat, as he invites that test BY
claiming to have always been q consist
ent Democrat, If not the embodiment Of
Democracy. Did Abraham Lincoln,
whom johnson criticised and denounced
50 violently all over Tennessee IN 1880,
change his political principles and poll
cy between 1860 and 1852 No one viii
nretend that he did. Vet, strange
Passing strange-in 1854 ycu find this
model Of Democratic consistency turn
log his back upon the Democratic party,
abandoning Democratic principles, de-
sevfing the Democratic candidates,
Mo- tuellan and PendletOn, and seeking
and obtaining 3 place upon the ticket
with that same Abraham Lincoln, whose
election he told you four years before
would be the saddest calamity that could
befaU the country. BY this act he said
TO the Democracy more plainly than
words could have proclaimed II, "While
YOU were prosperous and powerful, and
had official positions, bonOrs and emOlu-
ments to bestow, / was true 70 you; but
now that your power is broken. and i
see YOU in the deepest adversely, turn
my back upon you, and seek those hon
ors and emoluments that you no longer
have the power TO give, at the hands
Of that Republican psfty that i
have heretofore taught you 70 be-
lieVe was your most dangerous and
deadly enemy j. this the consistent
Democracy which appeals 70 Old-Line
Democrats for support and confidence?
Can YOU indorse this Democracy He
a -