The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1869-05-28
what Is Loyaltysl

| \ ssEfFls What Il Loyaltys- -
There is supreme and intensely refresh
ing impndence in the air with which ",
hear the members OF that self-righteous
but actually rotten organization, tho radica
party. pirate, of 'loyalty, ;, fealty to the
Government which they cleim alone r.. tc
possess We hear them ask every hour ir
the day, and yet not SO continually as for
merly, is so-and-Bo ''loyal?" Was he "lovol'
during the warpsA is this wife or that the
wife OF a .loyap' living husband, and thi,
widow or that the widow Of a 'loyal' deaG
one? In all cases, they speak downward, a.
from pinnacle of superiority, the sef-con
stitnted 1ndges of what loyalty is, and the
seH-appointeds censors and vcondemnors o.
what, in their bigotry, intolerance and in.
solent pretensions, it is not If the future
| historian, when he comes to set forth the
characteristics of these times, and 10 draw
the moral iineaments OF the radical party
looks about him for name by which to
characterize it, he might most aptly describe
and baptize it as the party of the Pharisees.
Nothing SO pharisaical in politics, and no.
tg t5ning more pharisaical in anything else
has ever existed since the time when
the self-righteous Pharisees of old, as
the self-righteous radical party do now,
tnanked God that they were not rs other
men. There is no federation in them for
difference of opinion. Every one who does
not think as they do is fit subject for the
stake, the cross, the prison-house, or
scourglngs of any kind. Had they lived
when st. Stephen was stoned to death, they
would have been in their element among
tho stoners. Had they been by at the
court of Plate among the Jews. when tie
Holy One was given over to crucifixiop. and
malefactor was spared because he agreed
with the Jews in opinion, they would have
done as the Jews did, and been among
those who shouted and tore themselves, and
cried cruelty him-for opinions sake-and
let loose thousand malefactors, for no
other reason than that they thought as they
What is loyalty, and what does true low
atty mean? The highest notion that these
men can get out of it is loyalty to every
idea. new or old. false or true, and every
scheme, however wild, or revolutionary. or
wrong, OF the radical party. This is their
test and definition of loyalty; and all who
60 not come up to it are according to them.
dlsioyal When we contrast this definition
with the true definition, nothing can be
more odlous and usurpatious and abomina-
bic than the light in which the radical party
appears. What, then, does LOYALTY really
signify among us? TO what are we required.
as good and faithful citizens of one com
mon country, to be loyal? Certainly not to
any political party good or bad; for this
would lead inevitably to the conclusion. as
we have always at least two parties among
us, that all the members of at least one of
them must be disloyal-a gross absurdity
though not moro gross than the now domi
nant party have been guilty of. Certainly
not to any one man, for that would be an
autocratlcal despotism-a something to
which we have not, thus far, at least. claimed
TO owe allegiance. If, then, it is not to one
man, nor to many men, what is it that we
are bound to be loyal to? To this-the Go
vernment of the United States, as defined
and limited in the Constitution Of the
United States. To this or nothing. This
Is our political solar system If we main
tam 1t, we maintain that round which our
duties, by the law of our political existence.
revolve, and by which the machinery of our
institutions is kept in its place. If we do
not MAINTAIN 1T, we are recreant to our duty.
essentially disloyal to the Government, no
matter to what party We may belong. and
though we may shout our own LOYALTY from
all the hill-tops, and grow black in the face
III denunciatory declarations of the dislov.
atty of our neighbors. By this. the onIv
true criterion, do the radical party-the
party of the Pharisees-stand condemned
Notwithstanding their loud and labored pre,
tensions to loyalty and virtue. BY this too,
40 all who have upheld the Constitution,
though scourged for political opinions sake,
stand justified, and will appear so in due
time' Notwithstanding the obloquy which
they have been obliged to endure.
National LateAigence4.
it Is stated that the cauterization by hot