Year: 1863

| the Supreme Court Ofthe United States,
Before the Democratic Union Associa-


tiOn Of New York City.


uR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN OF
THE DEMOCRATIC ASSOCIATION Moth,
| ing hut the sense of duty which every
man owes TO society, according TO his
measure Ofability to serve it, would
have induced me to address you in a
time like this. It is a time OF strange
excitements and strange acts. No
man who does not join in wild, un.
discriminating support Of the meas.
ures and dogmas Of dominant par.
ty can hope 10 escape detraction and
obloquy. The utmost exertions are
made to suppress ordinary freedom Of
speech ; every device is employed to
misrepresent, and every effort is made
to misunderstood the motives OF those
who are in political opposition to the
party in power. The vocabulary Of
political slang is exhausted to find
terms of reproach ahd infamy with
which TO stigmstize men whose mo.
tiyes have in their favor all the ordi.
nary preSumptions of purity, and
whose arguments aud opinions arc at
least entitled to respectful hearing.
This process, which has been going
on for many months, with q violence
unexampled even among a people
whose political discussions are never
marked by temperance, has culmina
ted from time to time in outrages up
on the rights Of persons and property.
and may do so again. 1t is no time
when one would choose to utter
opinions without being impel!ed by
q strong sense Of duty. /,


But II We are not prepared to suffer
for our convictions, they must be
very feeble convictions. If we do not
love our country and its institutions
well enough to encounter all the haz
ards that may attend an honest effort
to save them, our love mus. be cold
indeed. Such. am sure, is not your
cause or my own. Applause. y
Meaning to utter here nothing but
words Of truth and soberness-the
truth as | hold it, i'll the soberness
that becomes mel accept all the
responsibility to public opinion which
may justly fall thereon.


propose to speak to you tonight
upon a subject which seems to me to
be strangely misapprehendcd by ma
ny good men, and strangely perVer:
ed by many who are not good.
mean the svbjcct Of loyalty" The
word itself, at least in the sense in
which'it is used in those countries
from which we have lately borrowed
it can scarcely be said to have any
appropriate place in our political and
social system. But it is a word at
present in great use among US, and
we must take il as we find it, and are
bound to inquire what are the moral
duties which ills just and true signif.
cation embraces. This inquiry, and
the certain consequences OF accepting
and following out the doctrines which
are now forced upon us, will form the
topics OF my discourse.


The true conditions of American
loyalty are not 10 be fonnd in the
passionate exactions Of partisan lea.
ders, or in the frantic declarations OF
the pulpit, the rostrum or the press.
Cheers People who do not like
my political opinions may hurl at rue
the epithet OF "disloyal," but when
they have thrown this missile they
have not taken single step toward
defining, to me or others, what the
true conditions ofloyalty are. 1t is
important that this step should be
taken; for whether we are to 60 on OF
cease in this course Of idle and un.
meaning abuse, it concerns us all to
know what measures of Public duty
may fightfully be exacted Of US. To
know the height and depth of those
great virtues which are comprehend.
ed in the term "patriotism"--to feel
az once chat they are settled in oul
affections and enthroned in our rea.
son--is to "get wisdom and to ge,
understanding" in the largest o.
earthly concerns. [Applause


The true conditions of American
loyalty are to be found in the law O
the land: in the institutions under
which we live; in the duties flowing
from the Constitution of our country |;
[applause;lin the political system
(which We have inherited FROM oul
fathers, with all its manifold relations
through which we may trace the clear
dividing line which separates perfect