Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1863-04-06
The True Conditions OF American
Loyalty.
ADDRESS OF HoS. GEoReE T. CURrls, FORMERLY
OF BosroS, BKFoRE rHE DEMOCRATIC UNION
ASSOCIATION OF New York CRY.

ASSOCIATION OF NEW YORK CITY
We call especial attention TO the address OF Mr..
CURTIS, which explains the true condition of
American loyalty with an ability, clearness and
force which cannot fail to produce a deep i'm
preston upon the public mind Mr.. CURTIS is
the author Of a work on the American Constitu
ton, and but few men have a better or clearer
appreciation Of its character, its scope and its
obligations than he. No one can peruse his
address upon the true condition of American
loyalty without a more comprehensive and just
view of the duties of the citizen to the Govern
meut and the Obligations of the Government to
the citizen-in a word. the mutual relations and
duties of each to the otheI-than he had before
entertained. Mr.. CURTIS speaks not as a par
tisan, but as a statesman, whose highest ambition
is to maintain the Constitution. to preserve con
stitutional liberty, and to restore and perpetuate
the Union of the States:
Nh. PREsIDESr, AND GENTLEMEN OF THE DEMO
CRATIC ASSOCIATIONS: Nothing but the sense OF
duty which every man owes to Society, according
To the measure of his ability TO serve il, would
have induced me to address you in a time like
this. 1t is a time of strange excitements and
strange acts No man who does not join in a
wild, Understanding support OF the measures
and dogmas of a dominant party can hope to es-
cape detraction and obloquy. The utmost exer-
tions are made to supp ess ordinary freedom oil
speech; every device is employed to misr epresent
and every effort is made to misunderstood, the
purposes of those who are in political opposition
to the party in power. The vocabulary of DO.
litical slang is exhausted to find terms of reproacf
and inf4my with which to stigmatize men whose
motives have in their favor all the ordinary pre-
SYMPTOMS of purity, and whose arguments anC
opinion are at least entitled TO a respectful hear
ing. This process, which has been going on fol
many months, with a violence unexampled ever
among a people whose political discussions arr
never marked by temperance, has culminateC
from time TO time in outrages upon the rights o
persons and property, and may do so again. |
is no time when ole would choose to utter opin
ions without being impelIed by strong sense o
duty.
But If we are not prepared to suffer for ou
convictions. they must be very feeble convictions
II we DO not love our country and its institution
well enough to encounter all the hazards tina
may attend au honest effort to save them, on
love must be cold indeed. Such, | am sure. i
not your case, or my own. Applause Mean
ing to utter here morning. bnt words of truth ant
~OOCluCCC"NnC NahN -" Il AOA1 - NtC I'll
that becomes mel accept all the responsibility
to public opinion which may Justly fall thereon
| propose to speak to you to night upon a sub
ject which seems to me TO be strangely misappre
hended by many good men, and strangely per
verted by many who are not good. | mean I'll.
subject OF Loyalty The word itself, at ieas
ia the sense in which il is used in those %countrie
from which we have lately borrowed it, ca
scarcely be said to have appropriate place in on
--r...-l - - 1880 D. = -
present in great use among US, and we must tax
it as we find it, aud are bound to inquire what ar
the moral duties which its just and true signi6ca
ton embraces. This inquiry. and the cerrai
consequences Of accepting and following out tn
doctrines which are now forced upon US, will forr
the topics of my discourse.
The true conditions of American LOYALTY ar
not to be found in the passionate exactions q
partisan lenders, or in the frantic declarations 9
the pulpit. the rOstrum, or the press. Cheers
People who do not like nv political opinions ma
hurl at me the eoithet ''disloyal," but when the
have thrown this missile they have not taken
single step toward defining, to me or others. wha
the true conditions of loyalty are. 1t is importaT
that this step should be taken; for whether "
are to 90 on or to cease in this course of idle an
unmeaning abuse, il concerns Us all to kno'
what measure Of public duty may rightfully b
exacted of us. To know the hight and depth
those great virtues which are comprehended
the term .'patriotism"-to feel at once that the
are seated in our affections and enthr0ned in OF
reasons 70 "get wisdom and to get unde
staining" in the largest of earthly concerns
lApplause
The true conditions of American loyalty al
TO be found in the law of the land; in the instiil
tons under which we live; in the duties flown
from the Constitution of our country; Applause
in the political system which we have inherite
from our fathers, with all its manifold relation
through which we may trace the clear dividin.
line that separates perfect from imperfect obligi
tions. Cheers.
The text of our fundamental law is the guild
and the sole guide in all ethical inquiries into ii
duties of the citizen. To that source all mu
come, rulers and people alike; to that fountai
all must resort. The vague and shifting stan,
ards that are drawn from supposed dangers
what is called ''the National life" or whiC
spring from the conflicting judgments of men r
speeding public necessities, can determine not
ing. These things can furnish no rule. W
must have a rule, for loyalty is a moral dut
and it must therefore be capable of definition.
people whose National life" exists only by vi
tue of a written constitution, and who can ha,
no necessities that lie out of or beyond that wri
ten necessity, can find no rule of loyalty in an
of the necessities which their constitution of go
eminent does not cover. They may find GROUND
of expediency, in one or another supposed n
cessity for destroying their constitution; but
would be extremely absurd TO say that this e.
p~ediency could be made the object Of their 90,
atty" Let us go then to the fountain head-tl
source of all our National obligations.
The Constitution of the United States itse
prescribes the full meaning of our loyalty
these words:
"This Constitution and the laws of the Unite
States. uaich shall be made ~ pursuance hereo
anil all treaties mado or which shall be mad
under the authority of the United States, sha
be TUE SUPREME LAw OF THE LAND"
Observe how precise as well as comprehend,
this great rule of our duty is. IL expresses wit
out ambiguity the whole of our obligation towar
the Federal Government 1t makes a suPREM
LAW; n law paramount 10 all other human laws
an obligation transcending all other political o.
legations. 1t leaves no room whatever for IL
intrusion of another or a rival claimant to OF
civil obedience. That claimant can neither be
person invc ,ted or uninvested with Office, nor 6
idea of public necessity, nor an imaginary n
tional life beyond or apart from the life create
under the Constitution. The only possible CLAIM
ant of our obedience is the LAW; or as that la
is made su ,rcme, all other demands or deman
ants upon our submission are of necessity O.
cludcd. Loud cheers.
What then does this supreme law embrac,
The text on which / am commenting itself fu
nishes the answer. This Constitution, :" il saws
what this Constitution contains, and the Law
shall be made in conformity With it-these sha
be the supreme law, rising in authority above a
other laws. No public necessities, save MS the
are embodied in the Constitution; no "nation
life" save as il exists under the Constitution; i
| legislation that is not in accordance with the Col
stitution-is the supreme law; but what the Coz
s%titution ordains or authorizes, that is the publ
necessity, that is the national life. because il
the supreme civil obligation. Applause.