Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1875-08-01


than the senator whose death yesterday
carried mourning into every part OF
the State. A msn of the people, hav-
lug his origin IN the humblest walks q
life, dwelling always in their midst, fall
of sympathy for them, knowing their
wants, and ever advocating them, be
had mace FOR himself a place in their
hearts such as few public men beside
him have ever enjoyed. Sneered st aud
reviled, made the butt Of ridicule, Of
lampoon, Of ji0e and jest, he pursued
the even tenor Of his way, determined
upon working out the problem Of his
life, So politician and statesman, in bsi-
Ting for those Tor whom he was fond
Of saying governments were instituted.
At the very outset cf his career, while
yet upon the threshold OF the life tbRt
has closed full OF honprs, he sntagonized
all whom he deemed opponents Of the
rights Of the people, and became their
champion 20 sgsinst classes and cliques,
mOnopOiies and combinations. In this
he was so solidly in earnest, that as
member Of the legislature, member Of
congress, governor, senator or President,
he could neither be swerved by personal
appeals OF claims, CT what is sometimes
more potent than either-psrly neces-
sity. OF course be made enemies-ene-
mics, too, in the ranks his own politi-
cal party, who were bitter and Iesentful
in proportion as be pugnsciously pressed
his views; and all who knew him, or
ever encountered him in that mood,
will credit him with a courage and te-
nAcity rarely equsled, and seldom by
public meu. Indeed, We canBOt low re-
call pJbiic leadeT.who had less policy.
He sometimes, for the want Of it, was
regarded by even:hisibest and most de-
voted friends as rushing blindly on fate,
and seemed ss busy in building obsts-
cles to his progress!ss other, men were in
pulling down those. they encountered as
hIndrsnces TO their gains Of fame or
fortune. His career SIS President affords
the best illustration Of this quality,
which, had he enleducsted and trained
10 early life for The vocation he, not
wlthstsnding, she'd 50 much lUstTe upon,
might have been smUothed cut into
firmness, and, while tOsing much Of its
Otjeclionably aggres slve features, teen
increased in power. There wss
time in 1866 when he might
have dictated teTmg TO the party
that had elected him, but he never had
any sympathy with the ilesders of it.
He was s Democrat. He could
not be anything else. He was
Graded in the party, his successive
ambitions had been satisfied in it ard by
it, and he.had no stomach for the men
be had fought as Know-Eothings or
az Wings, many Of whom he re-
garded vita an aversion, the result Of a
fixed conviction that they were the
enemies Of the people upon whose shoul-
ders they were borne into place and
gifted with power. The very sight Of
such p man as ThRd. Stevens was sUfii-
cient to arouse IuS lion in him and call
out all his cOmbative forces. For Bout
well he. had contempt, and while con-
ceding bis. ability, expressed an absolute
Ioathing OF Butler. ShelIsbsrger and
Schenck, OF Ohio, and all the other
Radical leaders in the house at
that time, he could not agree with,
and even under more favorable circum-
stances Of party direction than those
which surrounded the reconstruction
period, we doubt that be ever
could have been brought to work in the
traces with them. he despised the
whole crew, and they knew it, hence
the violence OF their frequent denuncis-
tons Of him, and the impeachment, out
OF which he came triumphsntly only
because the pressure Of his friends, the
people, was more than some OF the sem
ators could oppose. His sympathies for
the people OF the south and for his section
were deeper, too, than he himself knew
or dreamed oi, and when he learned OF
the intention OF the Radicals, who plot
ted with Stanton to complete the ruin
the war had made, and strip the widows
and orphans Of the south, and the poor
soldiers who had returned to blackened |
hesrths, the gall Of opposition rose with
In him, and from an almost peIs ecuter |
Of his people, he became their cham
piou, exerting the whole power of bis |
high position to save them from the ra-
pacity and cupidity, the plunderiDg, |
.hieving hsnds Of the party whose shib-
DOleth then wss forty acres and a |
mule" He did not succeed as 4
be desired but he did not fail |
Through his vet0es he fixed |
the public attention upon the conspirs-
tors and made their schemes so con-
spiclOus as TO deter them from the CON-
i. mmAtion Of their fuller purpose. Thus
hw .srtei 10y him they sought to destroy
him. But they failed. The public debts
u the states Of the south to-day tell
What they accomplished by recOnstruc-
ion, and testify to the ssgacity which
mpelled, and the honesty which guided
aim in his opposition to the most
gretched crew Of tIicksters and trim
ners thst ever cursed country or
JIackened the legislative psge by their
.rimes against justice and ugat. A
nan wAntingin puZlacity and self-will
might have sailed with the current for
he sake o, headsbip, aud so have
wrecked his good name and character.
as be was he could not
10 60, and could not have done
otherwise than he did. He could not
10 otherwise than oppose tie miserable
lsnd Of schemers, who had taken sd-
vantage OF the war to deal in
the proofs OF much OF
which have lOIg since found their way
o the people in exploded credit mobil-
erE. in wholesale cOnfiscstiOns OF the
public domain, in salaTy-gTabs and
bribery, corTuptious and gift-tRkiDg.
Present in Washington during nearly
III the years Of the war, and intimate
With Mr.. Lincoln and his cabinet, be
lad learned Ia Iste the Radical leaders
It their true value, sud had early in he
roublous period penetrated the thin vail
II pretended patriotism, behind which
hey concealed their real designs Of
llunde-. They we're the architects OF
,ur national debt, they were the spolo-
lists Of defau.teTs, often the creatures Of
heir bounty and slEays the defend
n OF the cormorsut contractors who