Who are the Loyal, and Who are the Disloyal

From the Nashville Union, 29th

It is a source of honorable pride to contemplate the elements which constitute the loyal portion of our people, and contrast them with the faction of treason.  Loyalty can truly boast of possessing the material and substance which constitute a State, – the “high minded men,” who are the glory of all nations.  Treason on the contrary, has gathered in its retinue the frivolous, the ignorant, the conceited, the apes of foreign aristocracy, the dissolute and the profligate.  In ninety nine cases out of a hundred, men of experience, cultivation, correct morals and elevated principles, are hearty supporters of the Union.  In nine hundred and ninety nine cases out of a thousand the debauched, the reckless, the giddy voltaires of fashion, the bankrupts in political and pecunial fortune, the would be aristocrat and the snobs who follow at their heels are, the violent and malignant enemies of the union.  A man who makes his living by honest labor is in the great majority of cases loyal, while one who looks on labor as degrading, is equally apt to be disloyal.  Who originated and planned this rebellion?  Floyd, Cobb and Jeff Davis, men of wealth and the repudiators of public and private debts, Judah Benjamin, who was compelled to leave college in boyhood for base thefts from his school mates, and other political schemers whose large fortunes enabled them to dance attendance on the Courts of London and Paris.  The vigorous and manly and classic literature of the nation is loyal to the core.  The men who are honored abroad in the learned circles of Europe as poets, historians, jurists, and inventors, are without exception, as far as we recollect at present, firm and zealous loyalists.  The literature of the rebellion is confined to the few ranting stump speakers, of large gabble and little brains, and a few editors who write atrocious falsehoods in English that would disgrace a kitchen wench’s first attempt at a love letter.  On the side of loyalty, we have Bancroft, Everett, Prentice, Bryant, Longfellow, Mitchell, Dr. Breckenridge, Motley the historian, and a grand editorial corps of great power and brilliancy.  On the side of treason we find Armageddon and the Confederate Almanac and Primer, the last two works being plagiarisms from Yankee works!  The parallel or rather the contrast is one which will fill the patriotic heart with an honorable pride.  The rebels with more truth than they are aware of, often call this a rival of the war between the Puritans and the Cavaliers of England.  The two wars are indeed alike.  The same issues appear in both, the great issues of free Government and monarchy.  The leaders of the two parties are similar in their origin and character.  The voluptuous and profligate King Charles is no bad prototype of King Jeff while Oliver Cromwell, bluff, rugged and straight forward, is not unlike blunt and honest Abraham Lincoln, who possesses more true manliness and chivalry in his soul than all the officers in the rebel army from Beauregard to Isham G. Harris.  When we look at the rebel army we find it only the reflection of that of King Charles, both armies being made up of aristocratic leaders, followed by an idle vicious, demoralized mob.  The Union army, like that of Cromwell’s is made up of industrious, sober, substantial, God-fearing citizens.  The loyal forces will as surely destroy the rebel armies as the sturdy Puritans destroyed the mob of King Charles.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, June 7, 1862, p. 1