To  bo  loyal  or  leal  means  to  be  true,  honest,  just ;  and  political
loyalty  is  truth,  honesty,  and  justice  rendered  by  the  individual  to
the  community.  The  word  contains  no  shadow  of  the  notion  either
of  subservience  to  or  of  sympathy  with  any  person,  idea  or  object.  A
man  may  be  perfectly  loyal  to  his  country,  and  yet  feel  it  his  duty  to
express  the  strongest  disapproval  of  the  actions  of  his  country,  and
repudiate  the  slightest  sympathy  with  its  objects  in  some  particular
case.  For  the  fact  of  the  country  being  *^  his  country  "  entitles  him
to  do  this.  The  outcome  of  true  loyalty  is  not  such  an  expression
as   ** My  country,  right  or  wrong,"  but  rather,  "May  my  country

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2  The  JVestminster  Review.  July

be  always  right,  and  m:;y  I  always  do  my  share  towards  realising
that  end."

In  time  of  war  the  mistaken  sentiment  of  loyalty  rises  to  fever
heat,  and  any  person  who  expresses  disapproval  of  the  war  or
sympathy  with  those  opposed  to  his  country  is  at  once  stigmatised
as  disloyal ;  though  the  chances  are  that  he  feels  a  truer  love  for  hia
country  and  a  stronger  desire  for  her  highest  interests  than  the
ignorant  music-hall  patriot  who  shouts  himself  hoarse  in  the  gallery,
and  is  regarded  as  a  paragon  of  loyalty  and  a  pillar  of  the  Empire.
