“It is plain, therefore, that if, when the Constitution says treason, it means treason – treason in fact, and nothing else – there is no ground at all for pretending that the Southern people have committed that crime. But if, on the other hand, when the Constitution says treason, it means what the Czar and the Kaiser mean by treason, then our government is, in principle, no better than theirs; and has no claim whatever to be considered a free government.”
