Weekly national intelligencer., 1863-10-01
LOYALTY TO THE CONSTITUTION.

LOYALTY TO THE CONSTITUTION.
{ We had occasion to cite few days ago som,
observations Of Mr.. Secretary SEWARD, contained
in despatch addressed to our Minister to London
under date Of last November 10th, in comment the
resumption of political discussions and divisions
in this country, after their temporary subsidencc
/ on the outbreak Of the war; While reporting the
existence Of dissensions among us as to the expe-
diency or rghtfulness Of certain measures of policy
adopted by the Administration, and while acknow-
Lodging the right Of American citizens :" freely to
canvass the proceedings Of the Administration
as it had been their habit to do without thought
of disloyalty towards the Government" Mr.. Seward
did not omit to do full justice to the predominant
sentiment Of the American people, without regard
to partisan determinations or honest differences OF
opinion To this effect he wrote as follows:
at will suffice to say that while there may be OF
doubtful political wisdom and virtue in each party, and
while there may be differences of opinion between the two
parties to the best calculated TO preserve the
Union and restore authority yet not to be inferred
that either party any considerable portion of the peo-
pie Of the Loyal States disposed to accept disunon
der any circumstances or upon any terms"
And to this declaration was added another,
which, as well for the terseness of its expression
rs for the political truth it nculcates deserves
An apple Of gold," to be set in pictures of sill
ver" He wrote os' -.-s "~.
1--WE under Obligations to not only the integrity
unity Of the country but also its nestimabe and
oious Constitution" a-.
There are some men who loosely talk, and, we
regret to say, some who loosely act as if these two
ola rra.o = ~ ao,r.ll,, ~, nor.t;ua Th
true patriot is he who as keeny resents an attack
on the Constitution as on the integrity or unity of
the national territory. For the Constitution is to
the country what the informing spirit is to the
body it animates and vitalizes. No man can be
loyal to the country, or to the Government, or to
the temporary Administration of the Government,
without being loyal to the Constitution, by which
"the country" is made an organic body polite, by
which "the Government becomes the "consti-
tuted authority of the land, and by which " the
Administration is made the depositary of the ma
tion's power and the executor of the nations will,
as far as the one is granted and the other expressed
under the limitations Of that great charter 1t is
of such loyalty, as the controlling sentiment Of
the patriots breast, that the Rev. Dr. Bushnell
writes when he holds the following language:
Loyalty is no subject Of law legal definition. 1t
belongs entirely to the moral department Of e 1t is
what thuks and contrives, not being commanded
but his own accord for his countrys hoDor-hs great
sentiment his deep and high devotion the fire of his ha
bua nborn homage To his country 'swefare 1t goes
ues do and suffer- out of the spontaneous liberties Of
right feeling what the petty constructions and laggard
judgments Of the State cannot find to compel 1t does not
measure itself by what the Constitution the laws pre-
scribe 1t has art of contrvng for itself and Others
how to hide from the country behind the Constitution 1t
loves what the Constitution loves and keeps only the
rational that it will even die for its obiects"
There is technical loyalty which, having no
spring in "high devotion or "inborn homage"
to the cOuntrys welfare, is perpetually measuring
itself by what the Constitution or the laws pre-
scribe" The man who has this kind of loyalty
may be good subject of the Government under
which he lives, but he has net yot risen to the char
aotcr of a good citizen The good citizen is one
who, as DR.. Bushnell says, is loyal because " he
loUes sohat the Consultations lopes" With him 10y
atty is spontaneous sentiment belonging to the
moral department. of his inner life-not soulless
| entity of law or legal definition. But yet not .
sentiment which, however in its source,
is permitted to overflow the boundaries of the Con-
stution and the laws, for, though it agoes before
all Constitutions" it goes none the less "by the
letter of all statutes" as the rule Of political fe
and within the sphere Of the State, it limits the
obects of its political authority to what the Con.
stitution loves" or permits. 1t is not wild sen
tment because it is free 10 its origin, and it is
the less free in its origin because it diffuses itself
through the channels marked out by the nation,
collective will, or expressed in the fundamental
| law Of the land '' ha"+