our
fortresses, and to those who dwell upon the borders of the contending
sections."

In a letter of March 23, to William L. Ransom, Esq., of Litchfield,
Connecticut, he, perhaps unconsciously, enunciates one of the fundamental
beliefs of that great president whom he so bitterly opposed:--

"I hardly know how to comply with your request to have a 'short, pithy,
Democratic sentiment.' In glancing at the thousand mystifications which
have befogged so many in our presumed intelligent community, I note one
in relation to the new-fangled application of a common foreign word
imported from the monarchies of Europe. I mean the word '_loyalty_,' upon
which the changes are daily and hourly sung _ad nauseam_.

"I have no objection, however, to the word if it be rightly applied. It
signifies 'fidelity to a prince or sovereign.' Now if _loyalty_ is
required of us, it should be to the _Sovereign_. Where is this Sovereign?
He is not the President, nor his Cabinet, nor Congress, nor the
Judiciary, nor any nor all of the Administration together. Our Sovereign
is on a throne above all these. He is the _People_, or _Peoples_ of the
States. He has issued his decree, not to private individuals only, but to
President and to all his subordinate servants, and this sovereign decree
his servant the is the Constitution. He who adheres faithfully to this
written will of the Sovereign is _loyal_. He who violates the
embodiment of the will of the Sovereign, is _disloyal_, whether he be a
Constitution, this President, a Secretary, a member of Congress or of the
Judiciary, or a simple citizen."

As a firm believer in the Democratic doctrine of States' Rights Morse,
with many others, held that Lincoln had overridden the Constitution in
his Emancipation Proclamation.

It was a source of grief to him just at this time that his brother
Richard had changed his political faith, and had announced his intention
of voting for the reelection of President Lincoln. In a long letter of
September 24, 1864, gently chiding him for thus going over to the
Abolitionists, the elder brother again states his reasons for remaining
firm in his faith:--

"I supposed, dear brother, that on that subject you were on the same
platform with Sidney and myself. Have there been any new lights, any new
aspects of it, which have rendered it less odious, less the 'child of
Satan' than when you and Sidney edited the New York Observer before
Lincoln was President? I have seen no re