The Litchfield County post. [volume] (Litchfield, Conn.) 1826-1829, 1826-10-17

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tween political and religious intolerance I:
both ere capable Of bitter prosecutions,
and the one sheuid be as much dreaded as
the other; for both are ready to use the
most fatal weapons, and hardly want for
pretexts to justify the most violent procee-
dings.
The number is indeed small Of great and
good men, who after all can be looked up
TO as patterns to follow. The best have
their peculiar failings, and a blind adhe-
renee to any set Of men, without regard TO
fixed principles Of action, win often lead
astray. The best rule for every man is,
tofollow the dictates Of bis own understand
ing, unbiased by the prejudices Of others,
and judging Of all as cfaritably as he would
wish to be judged. If we have any name
associated with political virtue, perhaps it
is that Of WAsHlNGToN. No one at this
day doubts the wisdom Of his policy, or the
purity of his devotion to his country. Yet,
with all his virtue, bis singleness of heart,
and incorruptible integrity, he had his in-
flrmities, as well as others,-he had open
and covert enemies, and shared the re-.
Proaches Of many of his countrymen.-
There were zealots in those days, as in the
present. whose judgments were subject to
the control Of evil passions, and who knew
not how to distinguish their own from the
public welfare. II has been thus with eve-
~ chief magistrate, however virtuous a
politician or citizen, and will always remain
so. The very nature Of our government
forces this state Of things upon US and he
is perhaps unwise who deprecates its exist
ence, however he may lament the tempo
rary evils II sometimeS occasions.
The violence Of party animosities, mot
differences of opinion,-- the existence
of parties--is what may be productive of
evil 20 society. The blind rage, which no
reason can control, and which has no bounds
to its excuses, is what all honest men, low
ing the whole country and its admirable in
stitutions, should unite 10 Danish, or att
least to circumscribe. Parties always will,
and always should exist; and while toler-
ant in their treatment of each other, must
exert a healthy Influence upon hecommu-
nifty. *
Differences Of opinion are not always
differences Of principle; and even if they
were, that circumstance need excite no a.
larm. For error, though let loose upon
is unequal to the war which truth
will wage against it--and may be safely
tolerated, where reason is left free to COM
bat it, There is more danger from the
morbid sensibility which shrinks from in
vestigation, which fears infection, and is |
ever trembling with imaginary evils than
from heresy ITSELF And we should sooner
suspect that political professor who is al
ways reciting his creed, or displaying his
badge of distinction, than the political SIM /
ner who talks less of his faith, who is zeal
Gus only when the occasion for good deed !
presents itself.
1t is with parties as with individuals,
who are blind to their own failings--theyI
arc SO profoundly ignorant Of their partic-
ular follies, that they frequently regard them
as demonstrations Of virtue. He who viii
fed the great Washington, no doubt thought
himself patriot and the political assas-
sins who from that day to this have assail-
ed our respective Presidents, claim for
undoubtedly the merit Of public
virtue. Weeven hear the leaders of the
virulent opposition organized against our
present government, doing out their lam
entations about the approach of corruption,
as il il could not be resisted, and even as
though it were stranger TO their own
breasts; as though they were the appoint
cd yestals of the temple! They are patriots,
no doubt, in their own estimation and de-
serve the smiles Of that deity they seem to
worship POWER.
There are few occasions when the tone
and action Of the enthusiast in politics can
be justified. When the great concerns of
the nation are in safe keeping, and no Just
cause Of alarm Is to be seen in the public
nleasures-no violent zeal can be necessa-
ry. It is rank libel on our institutions to
suppose that they can be endangered by
corrupt politicians, SO long as political vir-
tue fnds its home amongst the people
Let the people be enlightened, and were
our government as despotic as corrupt ru-
lers could make it, its administration would
be moulded 10 liberal forms, and all the
blessings we deserved to have, we should
still enjoy. Nothing can give greater assu-
rance Of perrnanency to our institutions,
thansthe wide spread Of intelligence among
the people the diffusion Of liberal opin-
ions, and the cultivation Of those arts of
peace and Of private and social intercourse,
which form the basis Of public happiness.
No surrender ofprinciple need be involved
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