Ypsilanti sentinel. [volume] (Ypsilanti, Washtenaw Co., Mich.) 1843-1900, 1847-07-21
A NO PARTY CANDIDATE.

A NO PARTY CANDIDATE.
To our minds nothing seems more absurd
than the sudden love of no-party-men which
has seized portion of the press of both par
ties. Say what we will of the evil of party
spirit, the lines which divide men, in repub-
lie government, into parties, are founded far
to deeply in the very nature of things, to be
lily obiterated. The Government, as admins
tered BY Wings, and as administered by the
party in power, Is as little alike, as though it
were two distinct things. This arises from
the difference of views of the powers of the
Government, and the interests of the country
which prevails among the people and give rise
to parties.
Wings, we know base their organization on
their ideas of the proper nature of the Govern
mcnt; Democrats, we doubt not, do the same.
Now, as after the organization of these parties
their does not seem to be vacant ground left,
upon which to base third of any considerable
size, we are at loss to conceive how candi-
date is to be presented to the people, either by
himself, by his personal friends, or by a conven-
ton, without becoming representative of one
side or the other. To declare that one will not
accepta party nomination is to declare either,
that all parties are wrong and one is about to
set up his own party, or that they have no other
basis than their own ggrandizement, and are
therefore unworthy the confidence of an honest
man.
In the present division of parties neither of
these grounds can be taken. One party may be
wrong, and the other right, or both may be
partly wrong and partly right, but there can
not be doubt that between them both, they
possess the true principles Of the Govern
ment;" and though it may truly be said they
seek their own aggrandizement, still the ground
of difference remains the same.
Party impudence can never equal that in
GOODNESS, which would say to the people, 'srs,
for seventy years you have been operating your
Government, and yet the whole of you are so
wretchedly mistaken, that l can identify my
self with none of you; if you wish my services,
you must drop all your own notions, elect me
unanimously and rely on me implicitly" and
that is precisely the language of him, who
talks about refusing party nomination. Meth
er can party spirit ever be as dangerous, as that
degree of stupidity, which would be necessary
to insure the success of such no-party cand-
date. Yet that degree of stupidity is nantes
ted by those presses who prate about such can
didates.
We somtimes hear, too, of the spontaneous
outbursts of popular enthusiasm, but We seldom
fail to see the cloven foot of Dema gogism peep
ing out. Office seekers seem to have an instinc-
tive constituencies to all such outbursts. Their
names head the calls for meetings; they head
proceedings as chairmen, and follow on as Sc
cretaries; they are everywhere. These out
bursts do not move us in the least. We are
not the slave of party, but we are liegemen of
principle. A candidate who differs widely from
US in his boldly declared principles may receive
our support if we can do no better; one who
demands our faith and declares nothing but his
own supreme srfficiency cannot have 1t, for we
cannot conceive what would be worse than to
support him.