Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1867-07-23
Triumphs of Loyalty"

Byron, in describing the death of one of
his robber heroes, finishes him with decla-
ration to the effect that he left 'sa single vir-
tue linked with thousand crimes" Barring
the ''virtue," the same phrase would aptly
describe the operations of that pestiferOus
condensation of all intamies, latter day ''loyal-
ty." Of all the cheating, swindling subter-
tuges behind which villiany ever skulked or
corruption ever rotted, that same word '.loy-
atty" is the greatest, the meanest and the
worst. There is not an act in the catalogue
OF crime which its vOtaries have not commit
ted, or over which its protection has not been
thrown. There is not a vice which it has not
fed, pampered and concealed. There is not
passion which it has not fostered, develop
ed, and guarded. IL has destroyed the sancti-
ty of law, by atfording immunity to the law
less. 1t has brought morality into contempt,
by its encouragement Of all immortality and
impurity. 1t has degraded religion, by ma
king all virtue and all righteousness depend,
ent upon its decrees-decrees that have cast
out goodness from the communion table, and
consecrated the worst Of wickedness, deprav-
ity and infamy. There is no corruption and
no villainy but has its "loyap representative
and exponent. Butler has made THEFT a truly
''lOyal' virtue; his interiors of the class Of
FurgusOn and FarnswOrth are familiar illus
tratiOns Of the ''loyalty" that crops out in
midnight knaveries aud grand larcenies.-
BlOated bigOtry, barbarity and corruption are
the surface indications OF Brownlow's ..loy-
alty;" his brainlcss imitator, Boreman, is a
prodigiOus success in the character of 'loy-
al sneak, skulking by stealth to the pillage
OF the treasury-a puppet instrument in the
hands of designing knaves; breaking down
the liberties Of the people that partisan in
terests may thrive, and sowing seeds of uni
versal discomfort and desolatiOn, that ''lOyalty'
may prosper. 4 "loyap torger went from
berkeley county to the penitentiary scarce
three weeks ago; another from Kanawha
awaits the same proud destiny. Visions of
the whipping post and the county Jail are
nightly fitting before the gaze of ..loyap'
goose thief in Wetzel county and dis
tinguishCd politician of Marshall exercises
the ghosts Of villainy more than quarter of
century old, by the potent spell of loyalty
During the war, "loyalty" stole horses in
the Greenbrer Valley, smuggled whisky and
deirauded the Government in Jefferson, and
robbed the ruins of houses that it had burned
over the heads of women aud children, upon
the banks of the South Branch. 4 reverend
''lOyalist' preached against African slavery
from our pulpits, sold white men into the
worst servitude of the substitute and then
swindled young manhood out of the price of
its blood and liberty.
But why prolong this rehearsal of the ex
plOits of loyalty" Everybody knows that
in this State it has corrupted all grades of So
cicty with its presence; that it has flied our
public places with the worst wretches that ever
escaped the handcutf, and made law-givers
of thieves, and rulers of perjured scoundrels.
Equally clear is its record in national poll
tics. 1t has destroyed our form of government,
and given US the bayonet for the ballot, and
the sword for the judicial tribunal. 1t has
wiped out ten States. and is now comprising
the destruction Of more. 1t has thrust repre-
sentatives from the Congressional halls be-
cause Of their politics, and it has made Rad
icalism the only condition of representation.
1t has made the nation bankrupt, piled up a
debt that mortgages the entire possessions of
the people, and is now increasing that debt
rapidly and tearfully in furtherance of its
madness and its folly. 1t has clad the land
in mourning, robbed every household of its
pride, and made widOwhOod and ophanage
universal.
1t has inaugurated a perfect jubilee and
carnival of crime. 1t offers its daily sacrifices
on the shrine of murder. 1t robs its victims
hourly. 1t swindles, it forges, it burns at
| every opportunity. 1t has made seduction
fashionable, rape popular custom. and to a
| worse and nameless crime it has added the
sanction of the pulpit and Serene Howe
Such in brief is American ''loyalty," a SEN
timeut that reeks in iniamy, rots in prostitu-
ton and riots in all filth and impurity. Is it
to be wondered that this republic rushes so
rapidly to its ruin p Wteeling Reyister.