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THE LOYALTY DEMANDED 
 
 BY THE 
 
 PRESENT CKISIS 
 
 BY REV. JACOB COOPER. 
 
 It is proposed in this paper to consider the sentiments which 
 a truly loyal man should entertain toward those who are now 
 called of God to exercise authority over the nation. This will 
 involve a review of the difficulties which beset the Administra- 
 tion at its beginning, and the necessities growing out of the 
 war which the rebellion has forced upon our people. And, as 
 no administration has ever before had to grapple with such 
 tremendous opposition, or try so many hitherto untrodden paths 
 of action, none have deserved so much lenity from loyal men 
 for mistakes in judgment, or measures of questionable legality. 
 
 It will be pertinent to the subject totdissect the character of 
 those pretended patriots who, while proclaiming at the street 
 corners and along the highways, that they are just as good 
 Union men as anybody, yet, by their every act and word show 
 their animus to be treasonable, and their influence with the ene- 
 mies of our country. And, as there are connected with these, 
 in effect if not in purpose, numerous croakers and birds of ill 
 omen, who despair of the Republic, and magnify temporary 
 advantages gained by the secessionists; who villify every mea- 
 sure of the Government which was not enacted for their own 
 special behoof; who predict the utter subversion of the Con- 
 stitution when its enemies are punished ; it is proposed to show 
 that the efforts of such persons have a direct tendency to weaken 
 the hands of Union men, and strengthen the enemy, and there- 
 fore, at this time, however allowable a certain licentiousness of 
 speech may be in peace, are positively disloyal and wicked. 
 
 The foundation of all stable government is the sanction and 
 blessing of God granted to rulers. For by Him kings reign and 
 princes decree justice: and, therefore, as the established powers 
 are ordained of God, those who on insufficient grounds resist 
 
j,m$e, Receive to themselves condemnation and misery, 
 ■a&jfo'e ^ la Jers of the present unholy insurrection are learning to 
 their confusion. It is very true that a government may become 
 oppressive by subverting the liberties which it was established 
 to protect: that a magistrate may lead the people astray by first 
 forsaking God, as did Saul ; and thus both constitution and 
 executive become a burden so heavy that the voice of the people, 
 as a voice from heaven, cries out against the oppression, and the 
 yoke is justly shaken off. But in order to justify such action 
 the perversion must be unquestionable, and the tyranny intol- 
 erable. The senseless murmurs of a restless and ambitious 
 faction, or the disappointed hopes of shelved politicians, are not 
 to be regarded. For these are usually nothing but the evidence 
 that their occupation of making silver shrines for themselves is 
 gone, and their uproarious cries are only the expression of sel- 
 fishness, but do not in the least atone for the crime of rebellion, 
 or compensate for the miseries, of a popular uprising. For 
 governments, however well administered by fallible human 
 agents, and over such creatures, can only be a system of com- 
 pensations, effected by the surrender of individual preferences 
 for the common good ; and hence it follows, from the nature of 
 the case, that instances must occur wherein grievances are felt, 
 and occasions made for selfish complaining. And while such 
 complaining is counter to the spirit and needs of civil society, 
 it is also unreasonable because subversive of the common good, 
 and contrary to the diviae ordinance, which requires submission. 
 Nor should the loyalty of the subject be expressed by a formal 
 submission to authority, an outward obedience, as if extorted by 
 fear ; but a hearty support, a cordial acquiescence in those mea- 
 sures which the public welfare demands through personal sacri- 
 fice. This is not all, the true patriot honors the ruler as such, 
 though differing from him in political views, because he is the 
 visible representation of the divine power in the state. Even 
 when the character of the magistrate be such that a good man 
 cannot approve of it, still, while the person cannot be respected, 
 the office must be honored and obeyed. This is without doubt 
 the true notion of loyalty — a sentiment far too little regarded 
 in our country since partisan rancor ran so high near the close 
 of Washington's presidential term, and, from the absence of 
 which, our rulers have been deprived of that moral support 
 which is imperatively necessary to the successful working of 
 governments' when the purposes of the executive are thorughly 
 honest. As a people, we have been nearly destitute of that 
 romantic devotion to the persons of our magistrates which has 
 so often been manifested in other countries ; and, while it is the 
 
highest earthly reward, is one of the firmest securities that the 
 confidence bestowed will not be betrayed. It by no means fol- 
 lows that we must approve of everything which the constituted 
 powers can do in order to be loyal citizens. The divine right 
 of kings to tyrannize was a doctrine never palatable on this 
 side of the Atlantic, and is becoming less so generally on the 
 other. Our danger has been in the opposite extreme, and our 
 course in this respect has been to drive the better class of men 
 from our political arena, and take as a dernier resort those 
 second or third-rate politicians, who, but too well satisfied to 
 feed at the public expense, did not shrink from the abuse and 
 dishonor cast by the opposite faction, but which are so abhor- 
 rent to a pure-minded, conscientious man. It is our privilege 
 to learn wisdom from the results of our own errors ; and it is 
 sincerely to be hoped that henceforth we will avoid that mis- 
 taken policy to which we, in common with all democracies, are 
 prone. 
 
 A hearty loyalty on the part of the people toward their rulers 
 being a christian virtue, as well as a necessary accompaniment 
 of all stable government, it follows that this is the more indis- 
 pensable when the existence of the state is threatened. For 
 though in a time of profound quiet, when no unusual expedi- 
 ents must be resorted to in order to maintain the supremacy of 
 the government, it may be admissible, even necessary, to scruti- 
 nize closely the conduct of rulers, and call them to strict account 
 for doubtful measures, so that their improper actions may be 
 corrected ; yet, when their overthrow is threatened by unlawful 
 opposition, we should not, unless usurpation be unmistakably 
 their object, withdraw our moral support. For it then becomes 
 our highest earthly duty to rally without delay to their aid, 
 and strike down the foe who endeavors to destroy our liberty 
 in the person of our lawfully constituted ruler. And here let 
 a common and fatal error be noted. Many hold that they can 
 support the Government of the United States without support- 
 ing the Administration ; that they can be loyal to the Constitu- 
 tion while acknowledging no allegiance to those who have been 
 elected in precise conformity with its provisions. That is, a 
 man can be loyal to the Constitution while utterly disregarding 
 its most important provisions ; can be obedient or disobedient, 
 according to his interest or inclination ; can be at liberty to 
 yield obedience when his favorite party is in power, and can 
 wholly set at nought every obligation when his candidate is 
 defeated. Such is the deplorable disloyalty manifested by many 
 who claim to be Union men. Such is the sentiment of the 
 peace party at the North, and the multitudes in the Border 
 
States who have taken the oath of allegiance to obtain Federal 
 protection. But this is nothing but disunion manifested by 
 those who are too cowardly to fight for a principle; and is just 
 as hurtful, and infinitely more contemptible, than that open 
 rebellion which the enemy in arms manifests. A grain of com- 
 mon sense shows that we cannot separate between our rulers 
 and the state, saying that we owe all allegiance to the latter 
 and none to the former. Until any officer has been superseded 
 by his rightful successor, he is our magistrate, and the visible 
 representative of the only power on earth to which we owe alle- 
 giance ; and whether we approve all his acts or not, we must 
 obey, unless his commands manifestly contravene the law of 
 God, and it is at our peril if we disobey. 
 
 Now, if these things be true at all, that loyalty is a virtue, 
 but resistance to lawfully constituted authority a crime of most 
 aggravated character, then a fortiori at such a crisis as the 
 present, it behooves us to unite in the cordial support of those 
 whom God has placed over us, even though they, in their efforts 
 to subdue our common enemies, may have encroached on some 
 of our cherished rights ; for, as before said, government is a 
 system of compensations by which conflicting interests are 
 united when all is at peace ; of course, it follows that in war 
 each man must surrender more of his private interests, and sink 
 his own individuality far more in the common good*. There 
 is no sacrifice which the state may not justly call him to make ; 
 and the same holds good of particular parts of country and 
 podies of people constituting the whole. These doctrines are 
 irrefragably true if any system of government be maintained, 
 and no opposition would be offered to them if they were pro- 
 mulgated in the abstract ; but the special application of them 
 to our own case is fraught with difficulties, because the con- 
 flicting interests of the few shut out from view the common 
 good of the whole. To this, the greatest evil by far which now 
 besets our political pathway, special attention is directed. 
 
 At the commencement of the present insurrection, the Gov- 
 ernment of the United States was called to legislate for a peo- 
 ple of various political views, influenced by strongly conflicting 
 interests, and holding to hostile institutions. Added to this, 
 the party previously in power had been the vacillating but ever 
 dishonest tool of those who had long been the advocates of 
 secession ; and in their interest had perverted the whole power 
 of the nation, as well as wasted the resources of the people. 
 There was a powerful faction arrayed agianst the incoming 
 administration, which, having prejudged and determined to 
 destroy it, was prepared by all kinds of misrepresentation to 
 
influence the minds of the lukewarm by appealing to sectional 
 prejudices and the jealousies arising from slavery ; so that, do 
 or say what the Executive might, nothing could avail to allay 
 suspicions, and satisfy the minds of traitors that the interests 
 of the nation would be safe in his hands. To meet the expec- 
 tations of honest men who differed on important issues was 
 difficult ; to satisfy those determined to oppose, was impos- 
 sible. All that could be done was to pursue an honest but 
 determined policy ; one insuring not the gratification of a frac- 
 tional minority of malcontents, nor the tame submission to the 
 demands of an unpatriotic neutrality, nor yet the perfect affilia- 
 tion with the extreme men who had aided in carrying the 
 election, but a conservative course indicated by the wishes of 
 every true patriot. Such, there can be no doubt, was the pur- 
 pose of the President ; such, at least, the avowed intention of 
 one who, by the course he has pursued, has extorted from many 
 who admired him least the admission that he is honest and 
 patriotic. Who, now, at this stage of our national troubles, 
 doubts for a moment that had the secessionists laid down their 
 arms and quietly submitted to lawful authority, all the guaran- 
 teed rights of the states would have remained intact, and Mr. 
 Lincoln would have administered the government with fidelity, 
 exhibiting a due regard to the interests of the whole people '( 
 But when the malcontents raised the standard of revolt ; when 
 the plot was laid to assassinate the legitimate choice of the 
 people, seize the capital with the archives of the nation, and 
 on the ruins of lawfully constituted authority erect the creature 
 of mob violence, and thus utterly destroy our free institutions ; 
 then nothing remained but for the President to defend the 
 Government, as well as his own rights, by summoning to his 
 aid all the forces which the Constitution and the common sense 
 of self-preservation put at his disposal. As the head of the 
 nation he could do no less, except he were the veriest poltroon 
 in the land ; yet for this he has been centured without stint by 
 a venal press in our midst, and, as was to be expected, by the 
 enemies of freedom abroad. Traitors in the North have vied 
 with their friends in the South in reviling the President for 
 that which the first law of nature dictates. 
 
 But it is deserving ouj - closest attention that when the Presi- 
 dent called for help, he did not first turn to the radicals of his 
 party, but to the conservatives of the whole country ; and the 
 policy which he tenaciously held was not that of extreme men ; 
 so that those of moderate views had it in their power, by rally- 
 ing to his help, to have had the war conducted on those prin- 
 ciples which they advocate, and which Mr. Lincoln had con- 
 
stantly manifested. However, in default of this support, which 
 we in the border states, as well as the conservative men 
 throughout the country, denied him, he was forced further to 
 the extreme of his party than he evidently desired to go ; for 
 every public man, and especially in a crisis, must have the 
 support of a powerful and well-agreed constituency; no luke- 
 warm and vacillating helpers, but those who will give them- 
 selves and all they possess for the cause they maintain. The 
 supporters of Mr. Lincoln have therefore been almost exclu- 
 sively those who affiliated with the Republican party ; who, 
 while most of them did not desire that slavery, though doubt- 
 less the real cause of the Avar, should be made the turning-point 
 of its continuance, could nevertheless feel no desire to fight 
 for its perpetuity. Nor was this feeling strange. For it must 
 be borne in mind that the great majority of our people from 
 the days of our independence, in common with most Christian 
 nations, looked upon the institution as a moral, social, and 
 economical evil ; and while it had a recognized status by the 
 law of the land, this was effected at the time we became a 
 separate nation, through fear that the agitation of the subject 
 might prevent the cordial union of all the states. But our 
 people had always looked forward to the time when this stigma 
 on our free institutions could, by all lawful and proper means, 
 be destroyed. For it is perfectly clear from their words and 
 acts, that the political fathers of our country, even those in 
 the South — such as Washington, Jefferson and Henry — were 
 wont to speak in such terms of the institution as would, in the 
 days when chivalry was in full bloom, have branded their 
 authors with the name of abolitionist, and caused a sudden 
 appreciation in the price of pitch and feathers. 
 
 Nor can we blink the fact that most of our political trouble, 
 from the day we became a nation, have arisen from the rela- 
 tions of slavery to the government ; so that it is not the least 
 strange that those who were careless as to its continuance, 
 providing it did not carry its disturbing influences beyond its 
 sectional boundaries, should look, with an evil eye upon its exist- 
 ence, now that it is exhibited prominently as the destroyer of 
 our peace. Doubtless wrong has often been intended by the 
 abolitionists, and such wrongs as were keenly felt by us in the 
 border states. While this was extremely distasteful to us as 
 an interference with our vested rights, the most we could say 
 was, that this was generally the result of individual madness 
 and folly, as the deplorable John Brown raid ; or, at most, the 
 agitation of newspapers to make electioneering capital, and the 
 unfriendly legislation of individual states. For the General 
 
Government has always, before this outbreak, been jealous of 
 our rights, has invariably shown an accommodating spirit 
 toward our wishes, not to say a truckling obsequiousness to our 
 constantly increasing demands and arrogancy. The Supreme 
 Court had in fact become so completely subsidized to the inter- 
 ests of slavery, since the death of Chief Justice Marshall, that 
 we could get any decision we desired. We could carry slavery 
 into all the territories (the only real plea for secession ever 
 offered,) at the very time the war begun ; so that, so far as the 
 Government was concerned, we had nothing of which we could 
 complain. It is true, we could not compel our brethern in the 
 North to love and cherish the peculiar institution ; we could 
 not make all our own people, either the laboring classes or the 
 more intelligent, beleive precisely as our political leaders would 
 have us in the divinity of the system. We cannot reasonably 
 expect, therefore, that a system, which from the first depended 
 on sufferance for its existence, and which had been the source 
 of so much political acrimony, when it had, in the estimation 
 of the majority of our people, continued its encroachments 
 until it produced insurrection, could be otherwise than hated by 
 those who came from the free states to fight our battles. As 
 reasonable men, therefore, we must bear these facts in mind 
 when we account for the course which the Government has been 
 compelled to take since it was assailed, and had to call the 
 people to its relief. If it be replied that the assumption of 
 slavery being the cause of the war is a false one, this avails 
 nothing against the argument. For a deep-seated conviction, 
 whether true or false, is equally strong in influencing human 
 conduct ; and when a belief is universal we must take it into 
 account in all matters which it influences, even though we can 
 prove its falsity. 
 
 We must likewise remember, when a nation becomes impli- 
 cated in colossal difficulties, it is closely scrutinized by its 
 neighbors. Hence, while free from trouble, it might pursue its 
 course regardless of friend or enemy, without much danger ; 
 yet, when on trial for existence, it must pay some deference to 
 the moral convictions of civilized nations. For if all things do 
 not move on in harmony with the sense of justice obtaining 
 among neighboring governments, other powers may interfere 
 in the internal policy of the one jeoparded by civil strife. As 
 no man can live entirely by himself, so neither can a community 
 or nation. Nothing was more dreaded by our people at the 
 commencement of the civil war than foreign interference, and 
 such fear was not without reason. For those European States 
 with which we had most intercourse, having abolished African 
 
8 
 
 slavery in their own dominions, had been officious in their zeal 
 that we should follow their example, and showed an unmistaka- 
 ble hostility to us for refusing. This was often far more the 
 result of hostility to us than of moral sentiment or desire for 
 the welfare of the parties concerned ; so that when our domestic 
 troubles seemed fair to make us an easy prey to their power, 
 there was every reason to apprehend trouble from this source. 
 Now, if we take the tone of the foreign press and statesmen 
 which are truly friendly to us as a criterion, we may safely 
 hazard the assertion that Mr. Lincoln's Emancipation Procla- 
 mation, however distasteful it be to loyal slaveholders, has done 
 more to gain favor for us among foreigners, and ward off from 
 us the intervention of England and France, than all other po- 
 litical measures together. For the sentiments of those nations 
 are determinedly hostile to slavery ; and however unfriendly 
 those powers themselves are to us, yet the sympathy of the 
 common people with the emancipation movement has rendered 
 it impossible for the governments to take part with those who, 
 in the words of Alexander Stephens, make slavery the corner- 
 stone of their political fabric. 
 
 These considerations have doubtless had their weight with 
 the President in shaping his emancipation policy, and the won- 
 der is that all combined have not given a greater preponderance 
 than they have. Nothing but the most unflinching integrity, 
 combined with the tenderest regard for the rights of loyal men 
 in the Slave States, could have prevented more aggressive move- 
 ments on the part of the Executive. For, however startling 
 the measures advocated in several of Mr. Lincoln's proclama- 
 tions appear to us, we are too prone to look at them as some- 
 thing which has occurred in time of peace, when there was no 
 pressure brought to bear upon him by the necessities of the 
 hour. We should contemplate them from a war stand-point ; 
 as something which the military condition seemed at least to 
 the Government to demand, in order, by every available means, 
 and at the least sacrifice of life and treasure, to weaken the 
 power of the enemy. We moreover forget that these measures 
 were not intended to injure Union men, since provision is made 
 for their indemnification when their property is taken ; that 
 traitors only are sought to be weakened ; and in truth, are the 
 only ones permanently aifected. But in our zeal lest our rights 
 be invaded, we assume as our own the wounds inflicted on the 
 disloyal ; forgetting the labors and dangers of our friends, while 
 commiserating the punishment which traitors have brought upon 
 themselves while essaying to compass our destruction. If our 
 attention was more fixed on the great interests of our Govern- 
 
9 
 
 ment now jeoparded, and our sympathies brought into livelier 
 action for the sufferings which this unholy rebellion has brought 
 upon the defenders of freedom ; if all would acquiesce more 
 heartily in the punishments which befall secessionists, as the 
 natural outworking of their own wicked schemes, and reserve 
 our complaints against the President for invading our rights 
 while this is merely prospective, it is clear that we would act more 
 the part of patriots, and sooner witness the entire subversion of 
 treason. 
 
 But to advance one step farther. Suppose our institutions 
 have been trampled upon in some degree by the General Gov- 
 ernment, and we are actually in danger of losing part of the 
 rights we once enjoyed. , Admit that the people of the North 
 are not willing to accord to us the immunities which the laws 
 of our common country grant to slave property, still it does not 
 follow that we alone suffer, or indeed more than our neighbors 
 across the river, in any other sense than as being made the 
 theater of hostilities. This is surely a great grievance, but 
 arises solely from our geographical position added to our com- 
 plication with the prime cause of the w r ar. The status of the 
 whole country must be changed by a contest of such magnitude, 
 and it is idle for us to expect our condition to remain the same 
 after this universal commotion. Immense amounts of wealth 
 are always destroyed in war, which are so much capital taken 
 from the industrial resources of the country, and the people 
 must be impoverished to that extent. This may, it is true, be 
 represented mostly by the Government debt ; but however it 
 be expressed, there is as much less property in the country as 
 has been consumed by waging war ; and this sum will make 
 itself be felt in our future condition in the form of increased 
 taxation. From the greater amount of productive capital in 
 the North, this must chiefly be met there. Accordingly, while 
 all loyal people must feel the pecuniary burdens growing out 
 of the war, we may expect to suffer with them. But if we 
 experience losses in our slave property, our case is not singular, 
 for the Government takes away forcibly from all loyal citizens 
 the means to support the war, which, so far as can be seen, 
 would never have arisen except for the existence of that spe- 
 cies of property we feel to be peculiarly endangered. And it 
 should ever s be remembered whence this danger has arisen. 
 For if the South had been content with the guarantees which 
 the forbearance of men in the convention of 1787 gave to the 
 institution, and which subsequent legislation had continually 
 strengthened, no occasion would have arisen requiring inter- 
 ference. We in Kentucky and other Border States suffered far 
 1* 
 
10 
 
 more than those farther south from hostility to slavery, yet we 
 were satisfied with our condition ; well knowing that our pecu- 
 liar institution was unpopular with our northern neighbors, 
 and with their sentiments toward it our slaves could* not be 
 wholly secure. But the Congress of the United States, as if to 
 take away every ground of complaint, and calm every fear for 
 the future, passed, by an overwhelming majority, a resolution 
 effectually guaranteeing perpetual immunity from interference 
 on the part of the General Government ; so that there was in 
 this respect again no excuse nor specious pretext for the seces- 
 sion movement. So we see that it is secession which has brought 
 all the danger upon us ; and if we complain, let us bestow our 
 grumbling on the proper party. But now that the war has 
 been inaugurated by the traitors, it brings incalculable evils on 
 all parts of our country, so that, in an economical point of view, 
 the debt entailed upon us, even if the war be closed this year, 
 will not fall short of two thousand million dollars ; three-fourths 
 of which will have to be paid by those who were opposed to 
 slavery, and derived no direct advantage therefrom. This sum, 
 to be paid by those who did not participate in the institution, 
 is sufficient to buy every slave in the country, paying the enor- 
 mous rate of five hundred dollars per caput. Why, then, we 
 repeat, should our people murmur so loudly if they do lose 
 their slave property ? It is, to say the most, no more valuable 
 than any other kind. Or, if we must find vent to our sense of 
 wrong, why not against those who forced the Government to 
 engage in a war, the effect of which, with any method of con- 
 ducting it, must be to endanger the status of slave property, as 
 all civil wars have a tendency to do. We should, then, if the 
 alternative comes, as good patriots, submit to those measures 
 which our Executive has tried earnestly and perse veringly to 
 avoid, but which the sentiments of the great body of the loyal 
 people, or the exigencies of the times, may force him reluctantly 
 to take. It is a fact strangely overlooked by our Union friends 
 in the North, and their armies who come to fight our enemies, 
 that there are many thoroughly loyal men who are pro-slavery 
 from sentiment. Such men cannot understand why they should 
 be made scapegoats for the sins of secessionists. For in the 
 midst of persecutions, at a time when it cost a man something 
 to stand up for the Union, they have held firm, and given 
 themselves and their sons to fight for their only acknowledged 
 country. They cannot understand why they, who have always 
 opposed the traitorous movements of the fire-eaters, should now 
 be included in an indiscriminate proscription, as is frequently 
 done by thoughtless and wicked men who come to our State 
 
11 
 
 fully possessed of the idea that there are no loyal men here. 
 While these are great and just grievances, we ought to remem- 
 ber that such conduct is not by the order of the Government, 
 nor countenanced by it; but war turns loose many lawless men, 
 who are only too glad for an opportunity to run riot with those 
 passions which the restraints of peace kept chained. Besides, 
 if others forget that we are loyal, we must never ourselves 
 forget that fact ; and therefore it behooves us to submit to the 
 losses and endure the abuses which we sometimes suffer ; for 
 while undeserved and grievous, they are still of the same kind 
 which all who maintain the cause of the Union have to endure. 
 Hence, if called to suffer still more in the subjugation of the 
 enemy, and surrender, as the result of a military necessity, 
 (the only case we are satisfied in which this can occur,) our 
 rights in slave property secured to us by the faith of our Gov- 
 ernment, it'by no means follows that we ought to prove recreant 
 to our country, which did protect us in all our rights while in 
 its power to do so, when, through necessity growing out of the 
 present crisis, it invades any of our institutions. The only case 
 where the Executive has done anything to which true men could 
 object, or where there is any ground of apprehension in the 
 future, is that where slave property is involved. After we have 
 poured out our treasure like water ; after we have surrendered 
 our homes to be desolated by war; after we have given our 
 sons without grudging to lay down their lives, shall we falter ? 
 Shall we hesitate to yield that which has been the cause of our 
 troubles; which the civilization of the world disapproves; and 
 which we as emancipationists would be glad to get rid of? 
 Surely we are not prepared, as the disunionists are, to accom- 
 modate the language of a noted secessionist — Skin for skin, all 
 a man hath ivill he give for his — nigger ! 
 
 It is sincerely to be hoped that the General Government will 
 never present the issue of taking away the slaves of loyal men. 
 On the contrary, we trust that the President and his advisers, 
 by attending to that which seems to us their legitimate duty, 
 will be able to end the war successfully, and let us manage our 
 municipal affairs in the way which seems good to us, and 
 which we at least think we understand far better than our 
 neighbors. But if the alternative be presented to yield to in- 
 terference or turn against our country, and give our aid to those 
 whose principles we hate, and who have plunged us into all 
 our evils, the course for us is plain. It would, perhaps, be very 
 humbling to our pride, and certainly unjust to our patriotism ; 
 but preferable to treason, and in the end more satisfactory. 
 For while as patriots we had better suffer wrong than to be 
 
12 
 
 guilty of injustice, so also, as a matter of pure selfishness, it is 
 better to permit the Government to do that which, if it does at 
 all, will do reluctantly to us as friends, and therefore with some 
 regard to our prejudices and interests, than, by becoming ene- 
 mies, compel it to do the same by violence, For we are all well 
 assured the Government will triumph, whichever way we go, 
 and it will thoroughly accomplish all it finds necessary to the 
 complete subjugation of its enemies ; so that our only safe as 
 well as loyal course lies in obedience. Moreover, no man who 
 is not blind can fail to see that slavery is destined to perish as 
 one result of this insurrection. The secessionists see and 
 acknowledge now what Union men in and out of the Border 
 States foretold would be the effect of their mad course. In the 
 words of the Richmond Whig: "Slavery has sinned against 
 itself; it has bitten itself to death; it has committed the unpar- 
 donable sin, and must die the death." Now this being acknow- 
 ledged as the inevitable consequence, (and brought about by 
 the insurgents themselves,) what can it avail the Border States 
 to hold on to this system to their own undoing ? Why should 
 that which must die out of natural decay as soon as there is a 
 cordon of free States all around, be made the condition of trait- 
 orous affiliation with our common enemy ? By holding on to 
 our Government, we may safely cross the stream of civil war ; 
 but if for the shadow of slavery we let go wljat Ave have, and 
 plunge madly after our rights, we will lose all, and be lost our- 
 selves. Added to this, it has been, as before shown, the desire 
 of good and thoughtful men, even from our earliest history, to 
 get rid of the institution by emancipation. For it is, to say the 
 least, a social evil, a great disadvantage to the white race, as 
 retarding the development of industrial resources ; and degrad- 
 ing to labor by raising unnatural distinctions in society. There 
 is very little doubt, that, could a vote have been taken on the 
 merits of the question, without intimidation or bribery by the 
 slave interest, and without our jealousies being inflamed by out- 
 side interference, the lawful voters of every Border Slave State 
 would have favored gradual emancipation. It is certainly true 
 that this sentiment is strong in these States ; and this change 
 is looked forward to by the better class of men as one which is 
 very desirable, and which must soon have taken place, despite 
 the bolstering up of worn-out politicians and a truckling press, 
 even had secession not hastened it. So that it practically 
 resolves itself into the time and manner of doing the work. 
 But we hold that in both respects it is far better for the General 
 Government to let us do our own work in the way our judgment 
 dictates, both for the sake of master and servant. For the 
 
13 
 
 violent changes of society are always attended with evil to all 
 parties concerned ; a fact which the anti-slavery party in the 
 North leave entirely out of view, and appear to consider 
 nothing more to he necessary than universal and instant eman- 
 cipation ; whereas, when this is un fait accompli, then the real 
 difficulties of the case are just begun. Those negroes which 
 the Government has already freed as the necessary result of the 
 progress of the war, are more than can be provided for, as is 
 witnessed by the terrible sufferings of this class, despite the 
 assistance rendered from every quarter ; and as the work of 
 subjugating the traitors progresses, the master will run from, 
 and the slave toward, the Union armies, until the entire servile 
 population of the seceded States will require protection. To 
 carry on the war successfully, and provide for the wants of those 
 who fall into the Federal lines, is a task quite as large as the 
 Government appears to be able to accomplish. However, if it 
 be in any way necessary for crushing the rebellion that we suffer 
 the inconvenience of a hasty and violent change, we must yield ; 
 and it is expedient for us, in view of our present situation, as 
 well as the part of loyalty, to do so cheerfully and heartily. 
 For if our friends in the Northern States are willing, in order 
 to crush out a rebellion which they believe was caused by slavery 
 alone, to saddle themselves with three-fourths of a debt of two 
 thousand million dollars, and give a million and a half from 
 the flower of their youth, we ought certainly, for the preserva- 
 tion of our country united, yield up that which has always 
 been a distracting influence, and is in itself of doubtful expe- 
 diency. 
 
 Such are some of the duties of loyal men growing out of our 
 present condition, viewed with reference to our relations to the 
 General Government on the one hand and slavery on the other. 
 There are other duties more specific in kind, but more general in 
 application, the consideration of which is equally pertinent to 
 the times, but which are too often neglected by those professing 
 themselves to be patriots. It is a self-evident truth that no 
 government can be infallible ; and hence, with the best inten- 
 tions on the part of rulers, blunders and wrongs will be fre- 
 quently committed, and that these are to be pardoned on the 
 general ground of the infirmity which clings to all things 
 human. So long as the legislator conserves the rights com- 
 mitted to his keeping with ordinary integrity, his minor defects 
 are to be pardoned and concealed. In our democratic policy 
 we have the oft-recurring and easy remedy of popular elections, 
 if our public servants betray their trusts ; and the danger is 
 rather in the frequency of the change, and unbridled licentious- 
 
14 
 
 ness of condemnation, than in tyrannical impunity. It is far 
 from being the purpose to advocate the screening of public ser- 
 vants when they jeopard our welfare ; but it is necessary to be 
 faithful to them while their purposes are right in the main. In 
 peace these things can regulate themselves, and our liberties are 
 quite as safe, being guarded by the Argus eyes of party, as 
 the good name of our rulers is from unwarranted attacks. But 
 when our country is involved, as at this time, in a struggle 
 calling for the resources of the nation, the united energies of 
 the people are required for the undivided support of our Gov- 
 ernment battling for its existence. Party spirit must then be 
 dropped, names forgotten, and side issues neglected in meeting 
 the overwhelming dangers which threaten. For at such a time 
 there ought to be but one party, but one interest ; and can be, 
 except at our peril, but an homologous and undivided counsel. 
 All that contributes to this result adds to the strength of the 
 nation ; all that opposes does but distract the counsels and 
 weaken the chances for success. But in this hour of trial we 
 find multitudes, both North and South, who cannot rise above 
 the mists of a groveling party selfishness, nor see in our present 
 stupendous struggle anything more than an ordinary political 
 contest. And because they possess no patriotism themselves, 
 they cannot credit the Government with any ; and all its acts 
 which do not quadrate with their own narrow selfishness are 
 denominated tyrannical, because measured by their own traitor- 
 ous standards. 
 
 This kind of opposition manifests itself under protean shapes, 
 but usually can be reduced to two or three kinds. Of these the 
 most common is the pretended danger of the Constitution 
 from the encroachments of military power. The most blatant 
 defenders of the inviolability of this instrument, those whose 
 eyes have long been a fountain of tears, whose sorrow refuses 
 to be comforted, appear to have made Richmond, Virginia, 
 their especial haunt. From this precious nest of traitors we 
 have had jeremiads which sounded like the wailings for a first 
 born, " lest that time-honored document, the Constitution of 
 the United States, might be endangered by that tyrant en- 
 throned at Washington, and his hireling minions." One 
 would think from the earnestness wherewith they lamented its 
 supposed desecration, they were the special conservators of our 
 palladium of liberty. But all these traitors really desired was 
 to have the exclusive monopoly of rending the Constitution 
 into a thousand fragments. Whatever they did, whether it be 
 to steal the public property, to destroy the Government, and 
 kill without mercy all who stood 'up for the country of their 
 
15 
 
 fathers, was right and constitutional ; but the moment mea- 
 sures were taken for their punishment, either in person or 
 estate, then, lo ! the Constitution was violated ; and they its 
 very loyal supporters were very much alarmed lest they should 
 be punished. This sore lamentation of the traitors at Rich- 
 mond was immediately taken up in heart-rending notes, by all 
 in sympathy with treason throughout the country, and one might 
 justly suppose from the frequency and persistency wherewith 
 secession sympathizers spoke of maintaining the inviolability 
 of this instrument, that its guardians were numerous enough. 
 and sufficiently vigilant to defend it from all injury. But these 
 same persons think it quite consistent with their loud preten- 
 sions to daily violate the oath they have taken to the Federal 
 power; to aid the enemy by men and money ; to refuse to sup- 
 port our armies engaged in suppressing an insurrection ; and 
 to openly express a desire for secession to succeed in dismem- 
 bering and destroying our country. Out on such hypocritical 
 regard for the Constitution. Away with all such fears lest Mr. 
 Lincoln transcends his prerogatives when punishing those in 
 manifest sympathy with rebellion. When we find any one 
 exceedingly exercised lest some scoundrel be abridged of the 
 liberty to utter treason, we are compelled to think " there is 
 something rotten in Denmark," that is in the devotion which 
 such men profess for the Constitution, and have no difficulty in 
 telling the extent of his loyalty. For when any traitor like Val- 
 landigham is cut short in his cooperation with the enemy, then 
 a great hue and cry is raised that personal liberty is endangered. 
 But personal liberty to do what ? To raise and encourage in- 
 surrection ; to resist the Government in its efforts to preserve 
 its own existence ; for what else did he desire, whither else did 
 all his efforts tend ? What influence do such men as Fernando 
 Wood and Governor Seymour exert save to play into the hands 
 of our common enemy ? If we desire proof of this, take the 
 utterances of the Southern press, which always speak of these 
 men as their friends ; and show that the hope of ultimate tri- 
 umph is based largely on the diversions which such disaffected 
 leaders make against the Government. Moreover, Ave see un- 
 mistakably that our enemies abroad look to such miscreants as 
 the means of weakening and finally destroying our Union. 
 That mendacious publication, Blackwood 's Magazine, which is 
 clearly and unequivocally secession in its sympathies (not that 
 it loves the South any better than the North ; but sees in the 
 suceess of the former the ruin of both), utters precisely the 
 same slanders against our rulers and their supporters, that 
 our home traitors and their brethren in the South continually 
 employ. 
 
16 
 
 None cried out more lustily to be let alone than those 
 wretches who began the war by firing on the starving garrison 
 at Fort Sumter, unless it be the cowardly sneaks among us who 
 Avere in sympathy. So fearful were they lest the Constitution 
 might be endangered by Mr. Lincoln's call for volunteers, and 
 thus sedition punished, that they would suffer its utter over- 
 throw by an armed enemy in front, and the peace man in the 
 rear. Surely this is straining out the gnat and swallowing the 
 camel. But who that is truly patriotic, that wishes to see our 
 Government succeed in crushing this rebellion, has suffered by 
 the suspension of the habeas corpus act? Every true man is 
 safe ; and traitors in arms and their cowardly sympathizers 
 deserve nothing but the gibbet, or the prison until they submit. 
 Some, however, urge that while it is right for those who among 
 us aid treason to be punished, yet this being provided for in a 
 legal way, the military power should not interfere with the 
 civil administration; but offenders should be tried by the reg- 
 ular courts and suffer the legitimate punishments. But those 
 who utter such sentiments are either very silly or very treach- 
 erous. As well might Jeff. Davis be arraigned before the 
 United States District Court for the District of Virginia, as 
 Vallandigham before the court for the Southern District of 
 Ohio. Here, among his own sympathizers (whom we know to 
 be generally as disloyal as any man in South Carolina), with 
 the right of challenging the jurymen, he could never be con- 
 victed ; for care would be taken to have a packed jury ; and 
 the result would be either acquittal or prolongation of the suit 
 indefinitely. Everybody knows this perfectly, and therefore 
 the remedy proposed is simply none at all. It is absurd to 
 think that the Government is to be left without any resource, 
 the sport of its enemies and the scorn of its friends. If courts 
 and the ordinary administration of the Constitution be suffi- 
 cient, wherefore do we resort to arms ? Send Chief Justice 
 Taney, under a flag of truce, to Richmond to try Jeff. Davis 
 for treason. Choose Benjamin for prosecuting attorney, with 
 Humphrey Marshall and Wigfall for the defense. Empanel a 
 jury from the persons who represent Kentucky and Tennessee 
 in the Southern Congress. Let the Constitution, as inter- 
 preted by those who have trampled it under foot, reign in all 
 its glory, and then we would have traitors' carnival. But if 
 we find this not to work well, and send our Grants and Bankses 
 to try the traitors at Chattanooga and New Orleans, where is 
 the difference if we send Burnside armed with "No. 38'" to 
 Dayton, Ohio. We certainly have the same right to fight the 
 enemy at home as abroad ; in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky, 
 
17 
 
 as in Virginia or Tennessee ; and, if need be, with the same 
 weapons. For it is plain that the enemy put themselves out of 
 the reach of the constitutional remedy in both places, either by 
 annulling it or placing a false construction on its provisions ; 
 and whenever it is found insufficient in application, then we must 
 resort to the arbitrament of the sword. It would be strange, 
 indeed, if a people made an instrument like the laws of the 
 Medes and Persians, unalterable ; and then when found inad- 
 equate to preserve the life of that people for whom it was formed, 
 they must die politically ; because, while able to save themselves 
 by new expedients found suited to the exigencies of the occa- 
 sion, they must, nolens volens, hold fast to that which is unable 
 to deliver them. Mariners are often compelled to throw out 
 part of the cargo, or even the ship's tackling in the midst of a 
 storm, to save themselves and the vessel; or even abandon the 
 ship itself when stranded among the breakers, and escape by 
 swimming to the shore. The people were before the Constitu- 
 tion, and are therefore above it, on the principle that the man 
 who built the house is greater than the house. They would 
 survive if there were no constitution, and could form another. 
 But where is the use of a Constitution if there is no people for 
 it to govern ? Self-preservation is the first law of Nature, 
 and we are permitted to make use of all expedients to effect 
 this, except to do wrong. What is true of individuals is equally 
 true of nations ; and no one but the traitors who have left their 
 country for their country's good, and are waiting and watching 
 over the border, or their equally guilty confreres who yet live 
 by the lenity of our laws to sow discord among us, complain of 
 martial law for doing that which the civil law in its ordinary 
 application is inadequate to effect. Far be it from any true 
 patriot to desire to see the ordinary forms of law neglected or 
 the Constitution infringed. On the contrary, all loyal men 
 look upon these as the bulwark of civil liberty, and deprecate 
 the terrible necessity of resorting to the martial process. But 
 at the same time the punishment of traitors by extraordinary 
 means does not affect us with particular grief; and until patri- 
 otic men are endangered, of which, at the present writing, 
 there is not the least apparent danger, we can see no special 
 reason for condemning the President for the course he has 
 taken. In fact we have more tears for the thousands of brave 
 men who are starving in prisons at Richmond as the result of 
 a violated Constitution ; we are far more distressed for the mul- 
 titudes of sick and wounded men languishing in hospitals ; for 
 the homes made desolate throughout our countrv ; for the hosts 
 of noble fellows who, amid the snows of winter and the showers 
 
18 
 
 of summer, are fighting our common enemy, than for the 
 apprehension and summary purishment of the sneaking cowards 
 •who are doing the work of their traitorous friends in the South. 
 Truly loyal men will cooperate with the Government in pun- 
 ishing treason, whether by regular civil process or not. And 
 indeed it is far better to save the life of a patient, even if this 
 can not be done by rule, than that his death should occur 
 though Hippocrates and Galen stood at the bedside. 
 
 The charge of venality and corruption is often brought 
 against the Government as a sufficient pretext for our with- 
 drawal from its support. Doubtless this is frequently a true 
 charge — we have had corruptions under previous Presidents. 
 Mr. Buchanan's administration was not above suspicion, though 
 he had as his supporters nearly all those who blame the present 
 one. We have had defaulters in times of peace ; contractors 
 who made fortunes by swindling the Government ; and such is 
 likely to be the case to some extent in all places and times until 
 the race of politicians is made of new material. If this cannot 
 be avoided in peace, much less can it be in war ; for then the 
 regular working of the laws is deranged so that bad men can 
 do their mischief and escape detection. Without the most 
 manifest injustice this cannot be charged to the fault of the 
 Administration, unless it connives at abuses, nor in any condi- 
 tion be made a justification of disloyolty. We well know that 
 officials in high places have been summarily ejected for their 
 complicity in fraud ; and the searching examinations made 
 daily in every branch of service give assurance that corrupt 
 men will not be tolerated after discovery. If we were justified 
 in standing aloof for such a cause, then surely there could be 
 no patriotism in' any land. But we forget that there was an 
 Arnold in the Revolution. The English when villifying our 
 Government for venality do not seem to remember Marlborough 
 and Bacon. The Russian dominion is most arbitrary in its sway, 
 and summary in the execution of punishments for unfaithfulness 
 in office ; yet peculation and malfeasance were, during the 
 Crimean war, manifested to an extent wholly unheard of among 
 us. Our Executive and his chief advisers cannot justly be 
 charged with lack of integrity in the management of the pub- 
 lic funds ; and if others who are trusted prove unfaithful, the 
 employers should not be deserted ; but it is rather the duty for 
 those who discern the great abuses to rally to the support of 
 the Administration, and by their honesty redeem us from our 
 miseries. However, from the experience we have had with 
 those who clamor most, when they once were n z>«wer, we do 
 not desire to see their services accepted. Mo t of our depart- 
 
19 
 
 ments have been managed with such wisdom during Mr. Lin- 
 coln's term as to deserve all praise, and have disarmed the 
 slander of such as were not blind to justice. No prime min- 
 ister of England had ever more perplexing tasks, or executed 
 them with greater fidelity, than several of our secretaries of 
 bureaus since the war began. 
 
 The charge which is constantly brought by disloyal persons 
 against the present Administration, that it drags the war along 
 in order to perpetuate its own existence, is an insinuation 
 which carries falsehood on its very face. For the contrary 
 course is so clearly the one to insure the lasting favor of the 
 people, that if this war could be brought to a successful and 
 speedy issue, Mr. Lincoln would at once secure for himself a 
 position second only to that of Washington. Nothing in the 
 gift of the American people would be too good for the Presi- 
 dent and his advisers who had brought us honorably and safely 
 through this perilous war. On the contrary, the continuance 
 of hostilities tries our patience, depletes our treasury, and 
 destroys our best men. But we look for the struggle to be 
 ended too soon. Few wars of half the magnitude have pro- 
 gressed as rapidly and successfully as this has done for the 
 Federal arras. One year more such as the last, will utterly 
 exhaust the resources of the secessionists. And yet this is a 
 civil war, which is of all kinds the most tedious. 
 
 Even if the Government was guilty of great wrongs, greater 
 than the opposition charge, it does not follow that it is the duty 
 of the patriot to expose its misdeeds in such a way as to make 
 capital for the enemy. The patriot may mourn in secret over 
 the errors of that government he loves ; and the more loyal he 
 is the more will he lament its faults, as we grieve for the mis- 
 deeds of a friend just in proportion to the hold he possesses on 
 our affections. The son who, when his father was on trial for 
 his life, or his mother's good name jeoparded, would go into the 
 court, or among the gossips at the street corners, and disclose 
 every idle word and venial fault of which he has been cognizant 
 in their conduct, would not be considered as possessing natural 
 affection or common sense. Nature teaches us by the holiest 
 instincts of the heart, to stand up for those we love through evil 
 report, and help sustain the burdens which their follies and sins 
 may have brought upon them. History gives us one very note- 
 worthy instance to the contrary ; but the curse which is supposed 
 by many scriptural advocates of African slavery to have fol- 
 lowed the descendants of the offender, does not give much 
 encouragement for us to follow the example if we have regard 
 to the welfare of our posterity. But the son who went back- 
 
20 
 
 wards that he might not see the shame of his father, and then 
 threw the covering to hide the exposure from others, received 
 a blessing ; not that he approved the sin of drunkenness, 
 not that he would encourage its repetition; but because the one 
 guilty was his parent, and as a son he was jealous of his honor. 
 So let us take warning for the guidance of our conduct, since 
 our country is far more to us than the welfare of a father or 
 the honor of a mother, however precious these be to every true 
 son, as Socrates has well expressed : "Are you so wise as not 
 to know that a man's country is more precious, more venerable 
 and sacred, and in greater estimation both among gods, and 
 men that have sense, than mother, and father, and all other 
 progenitors ; and that one ought to reverence, yield to, and 
 soothe one's country when angry, rather than one's father, and 
 either persuade it or do what it orders ; and to suffer quietly, 
 if it bids one suffer, whether to be beaten or put in bonds ; or 
 if it sends one to battle, to be wounded or slain ; this must 
 be done, for it is just ; and one must not give back, or retreat, 
 or leave his post ; but that both in war, and in the civil court, 
 and everywhere, one must do what his city and country enjoins, 
 or persuade it in the way justice allows." — Plato., Crito, 51 
 
 b. a 
 
 There are, in truth, only two parties in our country, the 
 Unionists and the Secessionists; there can be no middle ground, 
 and those who are not for us in this struggle are against us. 
 Hence, every act and word which weakens the hands of our 
 rulers in their attempt to subdue our enemies, does but strengthen 
 the foe. This can be done in no way more effectually than by 
 withdrawing the moral support which a good name affords. It 
 is therefore vain for any to say they are Union men, as may be 
 heard any day among the copperheads of the North, or of this 
 State, and at the same time perpetually attack the Government 
 in all its measures. Those persons who say so much to the dis- 
 paragement of the loyal Government that they must, from time 
 to time, make public proclamations that they are Union men 
 in order for that fact to be even suspected, and make vehe- 
 ment asseverations of their patriotism as a kind of salvo for 
 continual expressions of disloyalty — surely from such friends 
 may the republic pray to be delivered. 
 
 Closely connected with the foregoing in effect, if not always 
 in animus, is the class of croakers, who are perpetually prophets 
 of evil — birds of ill omen, who, whether they rise up on the 
 right hand or the left, true to their native instincts, fly toward 
 the South. We do not mean trimmers, who are precisely what 
 the company is ; who are for the Union or for Secession 
 
21 
 
 according to the prospects of the political horizon. These have 
 no claim to loyalty, but it is a happy thought that they are 
 harmless ; for though, like the drone bee, they make a great 
 fuss, yet they have no sting. Such persons are no help to either 
 party, for they are too cowardly to fight, and too weak to have 
 any weight in counsel. They try to please all, and therefore are 
 trusted by none. But this is not the class meant. It is that one 
 composed of those unfortunates who see nothing but disaster, 
 where others see victory ; who would not fight, (not that they 
 lack the courage, but) because they feel certain beforehand they 
 would be whipped ; who always have bad neAvs, and rise up 
 before day to tell it ; and then, if it be subsequently contradicted, 
 forget to make the proper correction. Such persons magnify 
 each advantage of the enemy into a decisive victory, and belittle 
 every success of our arms till it vanishes into air. When news 
 of different sorts comes they have " three ears " to hear the bad, 
 but are deaf as the adder to the report of the good. And the 
 same dispositions makes them seers for the future. While 
 continually uttering prophesies of adversity, of course some- 
 thing, from time to time, does, according to their fancy, prove 
 true ; andstraightway they wear the hairy garment to deceive. 
 Such persons gather around them those of like feelings, and 
 weaken each other's courage until they utterly despair of the 
 Republic ; for the native hue of resolution is sicklied o'er by 
 their pale cast of thought. Sometimes this rabies assumes the 
 higher forms of criticism, and we have elaborate and, without 
 exception, unfavorable dissertations on civil and military mat- 
 ters. For these critics feel themselves so thoroughly able to 
 guide the State and hound on the dogs of Mars, that they are 
 "the men;" and because they are likely to die without their 
 sagacity being appreciated, the state will assuredly perish, since 
 "wisdom will die with them." Such persons are so wise that 
 they know by intuition more than others do by long years of 
 persevering study ; and much like the Greek sophists, are able 
 to speak equally well on all subjects. They proclaim with the 
 most complacent certainty that our generals are all fools, and 
 our cabinet officers numskulls. While our foreign relations 
 have been conducted with so much prudence, amid many vex- 
 atious and dangerous complications, as to extort praise from 
 inimical publicists of Europe ; while our currency has been so 
 successfully managed as to astonish us all, these critics go on 
 berating our Government advisers without limit: never seeming 
 to remember that their foolish predictions of a year ago have 
 been utterly falsified by subsequent facts. If such would alto- 
 gether hold their peace, this, at least, would prove their wisdom. 
 
22 
 
 Such persons are far more injurious than if they were in the 
 ranks fighting against us. For if they were with the foe, unless 
 their nature was entirely changed, they would spread dismay by 
 their lugubrious vaticinations and disparaging criticisms. Pos- 
 sibly a man of this character may be loyal, but surely his loy- 
 alty is not of the kind to inspire confidence in the times which 
 try men's souls. That loyalty which is worth the name never 
 despairs. It accepts every vigorous measure against the ememy 
 as an augury of good ; supports the Government in matters of 
 doubtful expediency, even for the sake of avoiding divided 
 counsels ; and forsake snot the legitimate ruler because through 
 frailty he may do wrong, or not achieve that measure of suc- 
 cess hoped for. It considers the labors and perplexities, the 
 anxieties and watchings which distract those high in authority ; 
 and affords honor and sympathy corresponding to their trials. 
 It rises equal to the occasion, and if darkness surrounds, it can 
 by its own faith strike out a light to dispel the gloom. That 
 loyalty never doubts since it believes its cause right, and that 
 God will maintain the right; and because he can save by many 
 or few — this, and this alone, is worthy the name of patriotism — 
 this, and this alone, revives the drooping spirits after defeat, 
 and prevents the relaxation of sloth after victory. 
 
 THE NEGROES AND THE WAR. 
 
 IMPORTANT LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT. 
 
 The following noble letter from President Lincoln appears in 
 a correspondence published in the Frankfort (Kentucky) Com- 
 monwealtli : 
 
 Executive Mansion, Washington, 
 April 4, 1864. 
 
 A. G. Hodges, Esq., Frankfort, Ky., 
 
 My Dear Sir : — You ask me to put in writing the substance 
 of what I verbally said, the other day, in your presence,. to 
 Governor Bramlette and Senator Dixon. It was about as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 I am naturally anti-slavery. If slavery is not wrong, nothing 
 is wrong. I cannot remember when I did not so think and feel. 
 
23 
 
 And yet, I have never understood that the Presidency conferred 
 upon me an unrestricted right to act officially upon this judg- 
 ment and feeling. It was in the oath I took, that I would to the 
 best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitu- 
 tion of the United States. I could not take the office without 
 taking the oath. Nor was it my view, that I might take an 
 oath to get power, and break the oath, in using the power. I 
 understood, too, that, in ordinary civil administration, this oath 
 even forbade me, to practically indulge my primary, abstract 
 judgment on the moral question of slavery. I had publicly 
 declared this many times, and in many ways. And I aver that, 
 to this day, I have done no official act in mere deference to my 
 abstract judgment and feeling on slavery. 
 
 I did understand, however, that my oath to preserve the 
 Constitution to the best of my ability, imposed upon me the 
 duty of preserving, by every indispensible means, that Govern- 
 ment — that Nation, of which that Constitution was the organic 
 law. Was it possible to lose the Nation, and yet preserve the 
 Constitution ? 
 
 By general law, life and limb must be protected ; yet often 
 a limb must be amputated to save a life ; but a life is never 
 wisely given to save a limb. I feel that measures, otherwise 
 unconstitutional, might become lawful, by becoming indispen- 
 sible to the preservation of the Constitution, through the pre- 
 servation of the Nation. Right or wrong, I assumed this ground, 
 and now avow it. I could not feel that to the best of my ability 
 I had even tried to preserve the Constitution, if to save slavery 
 or any minor matter, I should permit the wreck of Govern- 
 ment, Country and Constitution, all together. When early in 
 the war General Fremont attempted military emancipation, I 
 forbade it because I did not then think it an indispensible 
 necessity. When a little later, General Cameron, then Secre- 
 tary of War, suggested the arming of the blacks, I objected, 
 because I did not yet think it an indispensible necessity. When, 
 still later, General Hunter attempted military emancipation, I 
 again forbade it, because I did not yet think the indispensible 
 necessity had come. 
 
 When, in March, and May, and July, 1862, 1 made earnest 
 and successive appeals to the Border States, to favor compen- 
 sated emancipation, I believed the indispensible necessity for 
 military emancipation, and arming the blacks would come, 
 unless averted by that measure. They declined the proposi- 
 tion, and I was, in my best judgment, driven to the alternative, 
 of either surrendering the Union, and with it the Constitution, 
 or of laying strong hand upon the colored element. I chose 
 
24 
 
 the latter. In choosing it, I hoped for greater gain than loss ; 
 but of this I was not entirely confident. More than a year of 
 trial now shows no loss by it, in our foreign relations ; none in 
 our home popular sentiment; none in our white military force — 
 no loss by it any how or any where. On the contrary, it shows 
 a gain of quite a hundred and thirty thousand soldiers, seamen 
 and laborers. These are palpable facts, about which, as facts, 
 there can be no caviling. We have the men, and we could not 
 have had them without the measure. 
 
 And now, let any Union man, who complains of the mea- 
 sure, test himself, by writing down in one line, that he is for 
 subduing the rebellion by force of arms, and in the next, that 
 he is for taking these hundred and thirty thousand men from 
 the Union side, and placing them where they would be, but for 
 the measure he condemns. If he cannot face his cause so stated, 
 it is only because he cannot face the truth. 
 
 I add a word which was not in the verbal conversation. In 
 telling this tale I attempted no compliment to my own sagacity. 
 I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that 
 events have controlled me. Now, at the end of three years' 
 struggle, the Nation's condition is not what either party or any 
 man devised or expected. God alone can claim it. Whither 
 it is tending seems plain. If God now wills the removal of a 
 great wrong, and wills also, that we of the North, as well as 
 you of the South, shall pay fairly for our complicity in that 
 wrong, impartial history will find therein new cause to attest 
 and revere the justice and goodness of God. 
 
 Yours truly, A. LINCOLN. 
 
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