Stand by the Government
By Moncure D. Conway

  In the almost midnight gloom and darkness now encompassing the cause of republicanism—in this last great trial of the question whether there shall be anywhere upon the earth a democratic government, there is but one path leading to safety. That way is to stand firmly by the government, and rally around the old flag which is the symbol of law and order and liberty secured by the constitution. The question whether the twenty millions of the free States can conquer the ten millions of the slave States is subordinate to the greater question whether a government by the people can be maintained against the shock of civil war. This is the real question at issue, and upon its solution depends the question whether the rebellion, whose real object is a total overthrow of popular government, shall be put down. If the virtue and integrity and intelligence of the people of the free States are sufficient to maintain in living and practical activity the vital principle of a government by the people, then the way is clear, and whatever disasters we may meet, we may be assured that we march to final victory over the rebels in arms and all other enemies of the republic whether within or without. But if we fail to show that a popular government is sufficient for the exigency of this civil war, then the light of democratic institutions, which during the last century, has from this western hemisphere flashed across the ocean, kindling in the hearts of men everywhere hopes of the world’s freedom, will be extinguished by the triumph of treason, and despotism will wield an undisputed scepter.

  But when men are called upon to rally for the government—for stars and stripes—for the flag of our Union, in order that they may put forth their energies for its effectual support, they should realize what that government is, and what principles the flag symbolizes. Practically our government has been to the great mass of white people of this country the most beneficent and least burthensome that ever existed on the earth. It has been so because it has been the people’s own government—a government administered by agents chosen by the people, and exercising their public functions under the constant supervision and jealous watching of their million-eyed masters, and admonished and guided by the wisdom which they could not help drawing from the untrammeled suggestions of the whole people. After a free discussion of principles and candidates the people’s ballots have chosen their executive agents. But the power of the people to govern has not ceased with the clothing of their agents with their official functions. From the alembic of free discussion, which is the very life of freedom and democratic government, there has come forth a wholesome public opinion, in deference to which the government has been administered; and thus a government, chosen by the votes of but a part, has expressed the intelligence and will, as well as wielded the power of the whole people. It is this substantial realization of the true theory of a democratic government which has caused much glorious results in promoting the happiness of the people and securing individual and national prosperity such as the world has never before now. And it is this consideration, and not the mere empty words of patriotism and adulation of the flag, which should rouse the people to come forward and devote their all, even their lives, for the preservation of their government. Whatever of men or money the constituted authorities, exercising their proper functions, may decide to be necessary, should be furnished with unquestioning obedience and without a moment’s delay, in the full faith that, although mistakes may be made by officers of the government, who are all subject to human infirmities, yet that in the end the wisdom of the public opinion evolved by free discussion will point out the true method to achieve a final and glorious triumph.

  While we thus furnish the means to crush the traitors who are striving with arms to overthrow our government, let us watch with sleepless vigilance the more dangerous treason, which under the protection of our flag, and jugging in the name of democracy is seeking by insidious means to destroy the vital principle of democratic government. There are partizans who have become so besotted in their devotion to slavery as to regard it with superstitious reverence as the very foundation of the government. There are others who have long fed at the public crib as the reward of cringing subserviency to a party to which slavery has given power for the purpose of accomplishing its own designs, who see that the only hope of a restoration of their corrupted party to power rests upon the preservation of slavery. These persons too politic, as well as too cowardly to openly espouse the cause of their real allies, the traitors in arms, whom with patriotic pretence they denounce, are yet plotting treason against the fundamental principle of the government, by seeking to destroy the right of free discussion of the question of waring against the rebellion by giving freedom to the slaves. Let the people who would preserve their liberties from total overthrow, and prevent the universal reign of despotism, keep constant watch and guard that their rights be not struck down by a treason worse than secession. Let them remember, that, as it is said of the art of printing, that it is the art conservative of all arts, so is the liberty of free discussion the liberty conservative of all liberties. This it is which distinguishes a popular, from a despotic government. This it is which has made our government prosperous and powerful, and preserved measurably its purity. If this, which is the vital principle of a democratic government, cannot be tolerated in war, then is popular government a failure; for now, in this state of war, free discussion, as a means of evolving the wisdom of the people in devising practical measures to end the war is needed far more than in past times of peace; and if this government is to be saved from  the strangling clutch of traitors in arms and other enemies not less dangerous to its liberties, it must be by the power of public opinion developed and shaped by free discussion. Now, even more than at any period in the history of the country ought “error of opinion to be tolerated while truth is left free to combat it.”

  This essay works together with “The Question of the War,” which appears beside and above it in the Commonwealth’s second issue, to record historical injustices in the US and to insist upon their correction. Conway begins by echoing his assertion from “The Question of the War” that the issue to be decided by the war is whether all people will be free and equal, as constitutionally guaranteed, but he also locates this question in political theory, arguing that the rebellion over slavery raises the question about whether a republican government can stand internal chaos. According to this dire vision of democratic futures, rebel victory and the continuation of slavery represent tyranny for all, not just for the enslaved, dashing hopes not just of US freedom, but the world’s, too. Thusly Conway situates the war over slavery as a war over democratic ideals.
  The essay turns in the second and third paragraphs to the free exchange of ideas, arguing that the US has always been “the people’s own government” and that the US administration should hear from its people on the question of emancipation, too. Conway hedges on who “the people” are who have been listened to and who should be listened to now. He recognizes the fact of racial inequality, arguing that the US has represented freedom for white people who have been permitted to participate in public discourse and who have also chosen representatives, but he insists despite his own evidence that government has always heeded the will of the “whole people” though it has been selected “by the votes of but a part.” Arguing that hidden proponents of slavery seek to subvert democratic process on the question of emancipation, and holding that emancipation should be wielded as a tool of war against the rebels, the essay affirms the role of print media in essential public conversations, particularly in the current one over emancipation, using an analogy that is somewhat belabored linguistically: “as it said of the art of printing, that it is the art conservative of all arts, so is the liberty of free discussion the liberty conservative of all liberties.” Furthermore, any attempts to subvert free discussion and thwart the people’s will amount to “a treason worse than secession.” The essay ends with a quote from Thomas Jefferson’s First Inaugural Address (March 4, 1801), partially misquoted since Jefferson names “reason,” not Conway’s “truth,” as the combatant of errors of opinion.