Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-02-24
LOYALTY.


II fine DeOple CANNOT spe1A oP
c.,s,res. they will plot in secret. AND
5s,rive a large body Of men IN the
Stata Of that right, would be to invite
,ba disadeeted to organize for the pur-
nose Of destroying a Government thai
o,,resses them. To ~disfranchise 4 great
holy of men before invested win al
fbe rights and p~rerogatives OF treemen
aud electors, and by long habit aeeus-
TONED TO the exercise Of these Is TO create
an immense ard dangerous lemeh III
d. state and establish a hostile camp
a. II were. in its bosom. Ever amer
while that folly continues, the nstitu-
ions n the country rest upon the thu
crust that coyers a volcano.
II i beginning to be found unsafe IN
F,rland to deny political rights to an
immense body Of free-born Engiishmen'
- yyb,n they have lot become dear by
,ony rossession; and no one is silly enough
r,are 10 accuse Of disloyalty those Who
like JOHN BRIGHT, are in favour Of eN-
tending the elective franchise. II Is
surely far more hazardous to take 1t away
from those who have always possessed H.
and who will never willingly surrender
vl,st Lord Holt called their English
right.
Loyalty is fidelity to the Constitution
and legitimate Government OF the couh-
fry. Those in power violate that Con-
stitution, they are themselves disloyaL
because they are faithless to the sacred
trust which not the Populace, but the
P.ople have entrusted to their hands.
we regarded the reserved rights and
sovereignty Of tue states as the only sure
uuuiments OF a genuine republican lib
artv. We did not believe permanent
freedom possible, upon the theory that
tbe majority Of votes Of the people of all
the states together was entitled to be eX-
rressed in law and action. Those NUM-
ments are swept sway,-perhaps forever.
We fought to maintain them, and were
defeated. The chief securities OF civil
and political liberty, as is now frightfully
evident. are gone. Are we, therefore, to
throw away or endeavor to annihilate
such as are left? The Constitution, with
ali its other guarantees still remains
embodving the great fundamental prin-
ciuIes Of free government, the division
aud Independence Of the departments,
fbe limitations upon despotic power, n
all tbe Guarantees of individual rights
familiar to English and American lib
ertv Heretofore We understood that
these were secured TO US by a solemn
eompact between the States, and by the
sacred and holy faith Of EACH Each
state. a. we understood it, had solemnly
p-omised all the others, authorizing all
and each to guarantee the sacred per-
Torrance Of her pledges, that she would
do those things which the Constitution,
as interpreted by political heteredoXy,
requires and that she would refrain
from doing what, according TO the
same heretical creed, the Constitution
DrghiJfs. The solemn faith Of the
States. free, sovereign aud independent,
pledged by each to the other by asolemn
contract between them, was for US an
infinitely higher security for cur rights
and immunities than the arbitrary en-
actments OF formal promises Of a tickle
and -incoustant people, claiming the
right to recall, by empty observation Of
the hollow forms prescribed by them
selves. the most solemn promises and
sacred pledges. We did not think that
the Dc0Dlc Of the United States had
ordered that no State should pass eX
most faeto laws or laws violating the
obligation Of contracts. We held that
the STATES had in the most solemn form
bound themselves not to DO either. We
did not think that the people OF the
TBited States had commanded that the
privilege Of the writ Of Habess Corpus
should not be Suspended, except in case
Of REBELLION or invasion, and when in
consequences Of such invasion or rebel
lion the public safety might require it;
hut that the STATES hadby their compact
made that positive and peremptOry stip-
,lation. We did not think that the
Deople Of the United States had enacted
ebat the right OF trial by jury should
vamain inviolate; but That the States
had stipulated for that, and insisted on
the other guarantees embodied in the
instrument itself and the amendments
10 it. as conditions precedent to their
ratification Of the draft and project Of
fLefr Delegates.
However that may have been, it is GER
tain that the Constitution is no longer
an actual compact between the States.
Fo- each Of those whose people now con-
stitute the nation has emphaticaliy de-
clared that as States they never were
narties to it, and it never wa a compact,
bv which they promised anything or en-
Gagged themselves for anything, It is no
LANCER in force IS their act and deed.
fought aud conquered 10 effect that,
and to win the singular privilege OF alb
dirating their sovereignty and becoming
municipal corporations, fractions OF that
urit the nation. II the Constitution
,rqs a compact, 20 earthly power can en-
force if as such, nor is there any tribunal
that can decree the resumption by the
states Of their cast-of robes Of royalty,
their re-investure with the p~reregRtiyes
sovereigntE.
But the PEOPLE, as constituting a Ma
lion. have in the most solemn fern de-
elared that the Constitution is the ex-
OF their supreme and sovereign
will, their enactment and their invio-
liable pledge. iii was once q compact,
they have now adopted aud r~e-enacted it
as a tar, and sanctioned it as a
Of political and civil rights.
,ranted, enacted, by heDi, and q Con-
Of Government Whatever il
vas. that is what ii now is, since such il
he supreme will Of the people. They [,
ave. therefore, reiterated and re-
'oirmed as sacred and inyiolable all the
it contains and as they have {
'-ssed not one line or word, they have, :
: II was a compact before, substituted {
hair solernn and sacred pledge Of honor, !
) a nation, instead Of the obligations ola
and must maintain inviolate l
Csc rights, or be ~dishonOred, and adj :
,doed faithless and perjuree. !
Hepeeforward the question whether :
- constitution was 8 compact has only :
n,s,or,cai interest. It is rescindedas a y
-,,aet lit was one, and if not before J
-frsn,e law enacted by the people, it u
kacome SO now. We have accepted {
e,,.b and are loyal to it. Our opfn- ?
- whatit was, remain unchanged. =
=. en;siops as 70 the right Of secession :,