The Placer herald. [volume] (Auburn, Placer County, Calif.) 1855-1991, 1862-12-13
[CoMMUNICLTED.l
LoVal Citizens.

thoughts as to the meaning OF the "oro
LOYALTY as l understand it. do this in view
of the very fippant use made OF tins term
and the persistent efforts of the Abo''''"
editors and orators TO distort lis meaning.
Ours is a Government Of the people; every
citizen constituting portion of the sover
eighty, being the equal of every other c't'
zen, and every one having an equal right to
participation in the enjoyment of the ben
ef;s of common nationality and the com
mon property of the Government. This
grows out of the fac, that the people are the
Government. In them is lodged all powers
and overnment-executive, legislative and
judicial. The laws regulating and prescrlb
ing the operations of these three depart
menls of the Government within their re-
spective spheres, are the work OF the
people acting in their sovereign capacity
created and enforced 10y their immediate
agents and representatives elected and APP
pointed 10y them for the purpose.
1t will be easily seen from the foregoing
that loyalty is due to the citizen and not to
off GERS of the Government. In other words
it is due to the principal rather to than the
agent The officers Of the government,
being simply the agents Of the people, who
can exercise no power pertaining to their
respective offices not expressly delegated 10
them by the people, as found in the Constitul
ton and laws OF the country prescribing their
duties and the extent and functions of their
Offices We owe Mr.. Lincoln and his Cab,
net no loyalty; on the contrary, we the citi
zens have a right to expect and demand that
they shall he loyal to us, and that they shall
laws Of the country, which they have sworn
to do, and which have been furnished them
by the citizens as the guide and compass of
heir official acts. When Mr. Lincoln was
ipaugurated he found in force certain rules
and regulations for the government of the
affairs Of the nation. In other words he
found in force the Constitution and laws of
the United States, which all the solemnities
and responsibilities of an oath and the duties
of his position as Chief Magistrate of a
great nation compelled him to respect
Has he respected them? Let facts be sub
mitled. that a candid Judgment may be
rendered. Under his Administration the
bulwarks of our liberty have been broken
down; The safeguards of the Constitution
overrun, and the liberties of the people and
the nation impaired The writ of hobeas
corpus has been suspended by him, which
Congress alone has the power to do; the
right of trial by jury has been set aside, and
men have been arrested and thrown into
the military Bastiles without ever being
permitted to know the charges upon which
they were arrested; the freedom of speech
and Of the press have been abridged, and
no man allowed to speak or write who
does not defend the high handed usurpa
tons Of the President; the rights and insti
tutions Of the States have been attacked and
are sought to be overhrown by military
force and inviting servile Instruction. In
short the civil authority has been made sub.
ordinate to the military authority, and the
whole country subject to military despot
ism. Yet we are told it we oppose these
attacks on our personal liberties we are
traitors and disloyal, and must be sent to
Military Bastiles as being inimiral to the
institutions of our country and as a punish
ment for our treason.
We should be disloval indeed if we did
not oppose these usurpations OF the Admin
tra,ion, because they are n "; rfare upon the
citizens in whom is lodged all power and all
Government, aud are therefore warfare
upon the Government itself The rights,
privileges and immunities afforded 10y the
Constitution and laws of the country are
the special property of tn" ci'zens-they be,
ing the Government. There can he no such
q thing rs loyalty to Mr.. Lincoln. lie is
simply the agent of the citizens who crea
ted him President; therefore, loyalty to him
would he to make the creature greater than
the creator. Aside from the authority Aelel
gated to Mr.. Lincoln and which he holds Ivy
10y virtue of his Office, he is no more than
any ordinary man, and as such. there is no
more LOYALTY due him. LOYALTY.