The Conservative. (M'connelsville, Ohio) 1866-1871, 1868-07-30
For the C5nservaave.
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"LoYnIty,, and .sDIsIoIaItY.,

moral and political debasement of the
French people had reached q degree
unparalleled in the annals of human
~depravity, that
"All, all looked up with reverential awe,
At crimes that 'scaped or t%riumphed
DER the law;
While truth, wrath, wisdom, daily they
decry,
Nothing sacred now but villainy."
Indeed, il was q time when the
whole moral code seemed to have been
cancelled, and fury and frenzy swayed
without restraint the minds and &C
tions of ALL that royalty" and ia Re
pubhque," were thepotent words for the
use Of which citizens were alternately
sent 10 the g%uillotine or borne upon
the shoulders Of the populace as pa
triots. II was at this time, and under
these circumstances, tina. Madame Ro-
land, alady Of great literary merit rs
well as moral worth, CHANGED TO drop
an expression construed by the pimps
and spies that surrounded her as IA
voring Royalty" for that expression
she was seized by some Of these instru-
ments ofdespotism, armed with their
"tehers de cdchet," tried by some mock
tribunal, and condemned to immediate
execution. On her way to the guillo-
tine she is said TO have exclaimed 80
liberty, ,chat crimes arc committed in Thy
ndmeF'
Now, rejecting upon what has trans
pired within the past eight years in
our own oncc free and enlightened
America, what a sad and appalling
parallel must be seen. Substituting
the words loyalty" and "~disloyalty'
for the French clap-trap phrases and
the parallel beg ins to manifest itself.
In America the word loyalty" has
been most DANGEROUSLY and / must say
successfully used Us one of the many
devices Of the dominant political party,
to create and keep up a popular delu-
sion, and which has been n chief
means by which it has held its fatal
grasp upon the political power Of the
country. Remove this delusive cloud
from the popular mind, let truth and
reason have their just eminence, let
the crimes committed in the name and
and under the shield Of loyalty" be
indelibly stamped on the brow Of the
party criminals who have so basely
betrayed the country, and, like Cain of
old, they will not dare to move abroad
lest they be slain. To-day, and with
truth and propriety, the exclamation
may be pronounced 10, loyalty vhat
crimes have been committed in Thy name r
The word loyalty and its opposite
have been so persistently, and | may
say adroitly, used, that vast number
Of unsuspecting persons were deluded
into the belief that they were used to
express fidelity, and the opposite, to the
Constitution of the country and the
Union Of the States, while the only adj
missable prof Of LOYALTY" was fidelity
to the party in power, and a blind and
and stupid acquiesence in whatever Of
outrage it may have committed while
the freeman's right to protest, condemn
or even criticise the public agents was
held TO be treason; and no intelligent
man has failed TO notice these
facts. Ny desire to be brief forbidf
that | should recite instances in proof
of what have just stated, although, to
the scandal of Republican government.
they are abundant.
| propose here TO state what a citizen
might do and suffer, and yet fail, &C
cording TO the established test, to OBJ
tain the credit due to loyalty" He
might have exhausted his strength anc
energies in the recruiting service; he
might have left the comforts Of hom'
and went TO the tented field, and there
faithfully served in support Of the ial
Of his country until disease or wound
compelled his retirement; or he ma.
} have sent one, two, or three sons to tn,
army, whose unburied bones may we
bleach upon the battlefield at the Raj
idan, the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, o
Coal Harbor and, yet, his ~'loyalty
has not been established; he has nc
: yet renowned his long cherished poll
T ical principles, nor sworn allegiance I
: the Radical party, therefore he is dislo!
al and that the Democratic party ha
made but little or no effort to repel tn
foul ISLANDERS thus cast upon both th
memory of the dead and the charactC
. Of the living, and TO have hurled bac
. upon the heads of these libelers IL
charge of "~disloyalty," so far as it rel
ted TO the interest of the country, is
me a mystery that / confess l am un
y BILE TO solve. Means for that purpo
: are easy Of access. 1t is due to Il
I country, and due to the truth of hist
q, ny, and it is especially due to the ma
k es of the Democratic party that it shou
be done. For one, l am unwilling
make myself a party to the crimes
others by failing to expose and
y nounce them. lam unwilling that
7. lence on my part hall be construed
|. mean cowardice, sense of console
10 guilt, or indifference to the interests
" my country, and the character of !
II political brethern.