Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1825-03-04

mlnateQ; anu OuT OWN suoScqucnt
peace with Great Britain, this baneful
weed of party strife was uprooted.
From that time, no difference of prin-
| ciple, connected either with the theory
of Government, or with our inter-
course with Foreign Nations, has e1-
| listed, or been called forth, in force suf-
fcient to sustain continued coInbina-
ton of parties, or to give more than
wholesome animation to public senti-
ment, or legislative debate. Our po-
litical creed is, without dissenting
voice, that can be heard, that the will
of the people is the source and the hap
piness of the People, the end of all
legitimate Government upon Earth
That the best security for the benif-
cence, and the best guaranty againsa
the abuse ofpower, consists in the free
dom, the purity, and the frequency OF
popular elections-That the General
Government of the Union, and the Sc
paratc Governments of the States, are
all Sovereignties Of limited powers ;
fellow servants of the same masters,
uncontrolled within their respective
spheres, uncomfortable by encroach-
ments upon each other-That the firm
est security Of peace, is the prepare
ration, during peace, of the defences of
war-That rigorous economy, and
accountability of public expenditur es,
should guard against the aggravatioR,
& alleviate, when possible, the burden
of taxation-That the military should
be kept in strict subordination to the
civil power-That the freedom of the
Press & of religious opinion should be
inviolate-That the policy of our Coun-
try is peace, & the ark of our salvation,
union, are articles of faith, upon which
we are all agreed. If there have been
those who doubted whether confedera-
ted Representative Democracy were
Government, competent to the wise &
orderly management of the common
concernsofa mightynation, those doubts
have been dispelled. If there have been
projects of partial confederacies, to be
erected upon the ruins Of the Union
they have been scattered to the winds.
If there have been dangerous attach
ments to one foreign Nation, and an.
tipathies against another, they have
been extinguished.
Ten years of peace, at home and a.
broad, have assuaged the animositie:
of political contention, and blended
into harmony the most discordant ele-
ments of public opinion. There still
remains one effort of magnanimity
one sacrifice Of prejudice and passion,
to be made by the individuals through
out the Nation, who have heretofore
followed the standards of political par
ty. 1t is that of discarding every rem
nant of rancour against each other; Of
embracing, as countrymcn & friends
and of yielding to talents and virtue a
lone, that confidence which, in times
of contention for principle, was be-
slowed only upon those who bore the
badge of party communion.
The collisions of party spirit, which
originate in speculative opinions, or il
different views Of administrative poll
cy, are, in their nature transitory.-
Those which are founded on Geogra
phical divisions, adverse interests ol
soil, climate and modes of domestic
life, are more permanent, and there
fore, perhaps, more dangerous. 1t il
this which gives inestimable value t.
the character of our Government, a
once Federal and National. 1t hold
out to us a perpetual admonition t.
preserve, alike, and with equal ankle
ty, the rights Of each individual stat
in its own Government, and the right
of the whole Nation, in that of the U
MON. Whatsoever of domestic con
cernment, unconneeted with the othe
members of the Union, or with foreig
lands, belongs exclusively to the ad
ministration of the State Government:
| Whatsoever directly involves the right
] and interests ofthe federative fraterni