his instincts, for loyalty to him has a pleasant sound. It is not allegiance to the Constitution about which he talks, but an unquestioning, slavish obedience to the behests of the Administration. He is perhaps a candidate for official promotion, and would not venture to criticise the official acts of the authorities. He is nominally an American citizen; but as for the assertion of his rights in the face of despotic power, he would not dream of such disloyalty. He can see no difference between the Government and the Administration, and would put down free speech with the strong arm of force; and, with the aid of Provost Marshals and the terrors of Government bastiles, would stamp out the very life and soul of American citizenship.

He has either the feelings of a despot or the cringing servility of a slave. Ask him to do his share of the fighting, and he seeks immediate refuge in the three-hundreddollar clause of the Conscription Act. Tell him that this is a war of Emancipation and Confiscation-a war for the black man and not for the white-and he calls you a traitor. Tell him that those only are traitors who have violated the Constitution, who have broken their oath of office, and who seek refuge in a worthless indemnity bill, the very evidence of their criminality; tell him this, and he will doom you, if he have the power, to some one of those forts which were built for the protection of the country, and not for the suppression of the liberties of the citizen.

He is an Abolitionist in the true sense of the word, for he would not only abolish Slavery, but he would abolish State sovereignty, and every right guaranteed by the supreme law of the land.

We know there are men who have joined this League to whom this analysis of the character of its members will not apply, and who have been led into it from a sincere belief in its integrity of purpose; but we perceive that many have already withdrawn, having discovered its true object and designs. In fact, it has already broken up into factions, as it was found that such men and the Abolitionists could not coalesce. This is a consummation such as every good citizen should desire, and we trust that hereafter they will not be deceived by any societies that put

forth as their motto, "Unconditional Loyalty to the Administration." The phrase has an unpleasant sound in the ears of a freeman, for here allegiance is due to the people by their public servants: outside of the people and the Constitution there should be no allegiance, so far as American citizenship is concerned.

GRAND PATRIOTIC DEMONSTRATION.

THE LOYAL LEAGUE OF SPOUTERS AND MUTUAL PUFFERS IN COUNCIL.

MAGNIFICENT DISPLAY OF BANNERS, BANDS, AND BATHOS.

THE VIGOROUS PROSECUTION OF THE WAR UNANIMOUSLY DEMANDED.

EXPLOSION OF A TERRIFIC BOMB-SHELL IN THE MEETING, AND UNIVERSAL SKEDADDLE OF THE PATRIOTS.

AN ANACONDA FOR THE SOUTH AND BOA-CONTRACTORS. FOR THE NORTH.

[REPORTED EXCLUSIVELY FOR THE RECORD.]

(From the METROPOLITAN RECORD, April 4, 1863.)

PEDDLERS' HALL, Bunkum Square, was crowded a few weeks ago by one of the most enthusiastic gatherings which it has ever been our lot to behold.

Every man was furnished with an exact portrait of John Brown, the first invader of the South, while in the secret recesses of his portemonnaie lay concealed, carefully folded, a representation of the immortal Abe, printed in the highest style of art on the front of a greenback.

It is needless to say that they were all members of the Loyal League of Spouters, and strenuous upholders of the Mutual Puffing Society. Each one of these was in favor of the prolongation of the war until every slave in the South was set free and permitted to enjoy that highest privilege possessed by their colored brethren in the North, of doing nothing and of living upon something. They were also strenuous and uncompromising advocates of the

right of the Government to send every poor white man to the war and to exempt every rich man therefrom on the payment of three hundred dollars. These praiseworthy objects of the Loyal League of Spouters and members of the Mutual Puffing Society ought to be sufficient to recommend them to the esteem and respect of their fellow-citizens. But there is one other feature of the organization which reflects no less creditably on its founders and its members. It is the wonderful self-abnegation which they exhibit in leaving the honors of the battle-field to be reaped by others. While they are satisfied to do the talking, the self-sacrifice which they display in allowing others to reap the laurels of military fame is beyond all praise. The Loyal League of Union Spouters are, as their name indicates, in favor of the Union to a man, and are determined to save the Republic by the most scathing and withering philippics against Jeff Davis and his rebel associates. As long as there is a greenback to be spent for contracts; as long as there is a white man to fight for the negro; as long as there is a Constitution to be ignored by the powers that be, so long will they continue their patriotic exertions.

Each man of them, at the time of his initiation into the League, took no less than ninety-nine oaths to support the President and to put down the South, and some of the leading members are earnestly engaged in sustaining the Government by their official connection with the PostOffice, the Custom-House, and other Government departments. They have been accused by their enemies of too strong a desire to remain at home; but are their accusers so blind as not to see that somebody must remain at home? And do they not recognize the beauty of that peculiar policy which forces all those to fight who are opposed to the war, leaving behind the men who are in favor of its vigorous prosecution to assist in collecting taxes and in electing men to office who are bound to sustain the Government despite the Constitution. What dolts, then, must the people be not to see the benefits to be derived from such a truly patriotic body as the newly-organized Loyal League of Spouters and Mutual Puffing Society.

If the readers of the RECORD are not fully acquainted

with the laudable object of those noble-minded and disinterested men, then they know not the meaning of true patriotism.

The meeting was one of the most enthusiastic ever as sembled within the aqueous boundaries of our island city; and the massive walls of Peddlers' Hall resounded again and again to the plaudits of the multitude, as some crushing sentence was hurled at the Southern Confederacy, threatening to knock both it and its leaders into the middle of next week, or some "undiscovered bourne whence no traveler returns."-Shakspeare.

The stage was crowded with the orators of the occasion, conspicuous among whom we observed the brilliant lights of the American bar, Counselor Van Gabble and Counselor O'Puff, who were accompanied by Major-General Fleece, Honorable John Ketch, and several distinguished members of the learned professions. In front of the stage were displayed a large number of transparencies, bearing patriotic devices and inscriptions, among which the following were particularly deserving of notice:

"No compromise with Traitors."

"Conciliation is a Humbug!"

"We must sustain the President!"

"The Constitution be blowed!"

"The Three Hundred Dollar Conscription Bill forever!''

One of the branch societies of the Loyal League of Spouters exhibited a new and ingenious device on the American flag, which attracted the admiring gaze of the spectators. Instead of the square blue field on which we see emblazoned the Stars of the Union, was painted a perfect fac simile of a United States treasury note; while on another flag, borne by the standard-bearer of a similar society, the Goddess of Liberty was represented in a stooping posture, with the last illustrious successor of Washington perched upon her back.

There was one transparency on which was represented

a full-length portrait of a negro, with the following words inscribed beneath:

"Am I not a man and a bother?”

It will be observed that the r in the last word of the inscription is omitted; but this is accounted for by the fact that the sentence was painted by a designing sesesh, who had neither the fear of the President nor martial law before his eyes, and its retention was owing to the other fact, that the early education of the secretary of the society had been sadly selected, and his fellow-members had forgotten to furnish him with a copy of Webster's School Dictionary. This, however, was not the only bad spell with which he was occasionally afflicted; for, unlike the majority of creditors in these hard times, he was often observed to be in a state of liquidation.

A full band, expressly engaged for the occasion, discoursed most eloquent music, and informed the audience in melodious strains that John Brown's peripatetic soul had not yet completed its extraordinary march, and that his body as yet was in no hurry to effect a union with it.

We should have stated that the band was a brass one, a material which, we might say, was almost as abundant in the meeting as the greenbacks. But we will not detain our readers any longer from the intellectual treat in store for them, and shall proceed at once, therefore, to lay before them the "feast of reason and the flow of soul."

Never before had we such an opportunity of realizing the amount of spirit there is in the New York bar; but we shall not anticipate the treat.

The meeting was called to order by Hopeful Dryenuf, who expressed himself highly delighted with the scene before him, and who informed the audience that he had now no doubt whatever of the suppression of the rebellion when he witnessed the grand outpouring of men who were determined to support the Government under any and every circumstance. It was a hopeful sign of the times to behold such an enthusiastic demonstration, and to know that the respectable portion of his fellow-citizens whom he had now the pleasure of addressing was in favor of sus