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
