The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1850-11-29
PARTIES AND THEIR DISSOLUTION.

time Ike the present, when Old issues hnu
old lines ore rapidly disappearing. and new
questions are sprinring up and new combl-
nations being formed We sub)oln por.
tion of the article:
"Parics rise, exist, and disappear: the
truth is unchangcabe and remains for ever
But our perception of the truth is not un.
chnngeabIe. Our vision grows clearer and
gains n wider scope. What we thought to
be true today we sec to be only partially
true tomorrow. Perhaps we see it to be en-
tircIy false. Man is created progressive.
Herein is his glory and his hope.
But this cannot be said Of pur;es-at
least, of those which have hitherto made
their appearance. They are not progress
sive. They are based on the notions which
at some particular time their members agree
in regarding as the truth. They are the
incorporation Of temporary opinions.
Though of great service in advancing and
carrying out those opinions and giving the
world what benefit may thence be derived,
they arc not formed 10 do more than that.
When the opinions of party hive done
their work and arc no longer useful, the
party cannot be expected to rcnounc. them
and adopt others of later discovery and
higher chnrncter. The reason of this is OBJ
vi"us. Every party is composed Of lndi-
viduals of dineren, instincts and varying
powers of thought, who hnvo agreed as 10
the ideas Of the pnrty, but are quite likely
or even certAin to Disagree as to other and
newer ideas. Thus it is that pnrties arc
dissolved and forgotten. 1t is nothing TINT
their names are retained. The superfi-
cial and the hns'y may be influenced by
name, out the earnest man looks into the
reniiy behind it.
The history of political contests in this
country proves the truth of this. Where
nre the old Federal and Democratic parties,
between which the supremacy in the Re-
pubic wns once tiorccly disputed? They
are gone. They live no longer. What
truth was in the IDEAS of either has become
established and is no more n subject of con.
troversv; the great men in both now re,
ceve Justice irrespective of The embi,,cred
animos,ies which once pitted them nyains,
each other and divided the whole land. But
the parties themselves have passed away
The questions which separated them are nt
rest. The ends for which they existed have
been achieved. One has indeed triumphcd
over the other, rs the New always in the
end triumphs over the Old, for it had on its
side the tendency of the age. The current
Of dcS,iny b"ro it along. That party was
the Democratic. Its essential principle was
that the Power belonged to the People,
Its instinc: was TO trus, to the People more
than to checks and balances ariic,ally con-
trived to keep them in order. How great is
the triumph of this principle. and this IN
s,inc,, may be seen in our Elective Judicia'
ry. and also in the fact that each Of the
great parties which for the past fifteen yenrs
hive occupied the stage claims to be Demo-
cratic.
The FeIeralis,s, too, have their triumph.
Their main idea, the Unity OF the Republic
and the superiority of the Federal over the
State Governments has been established, or
il being established. Mr.. Calhoun. in his
speech last Winter. proclaimed the fact that
the Government has been changed from
mere aggregation of Independent States but
slightly related to each other. into great
national consolidated Democracy. and that,
not us the result of any special effort, but
by the action OF the system itself. Mr.
Calhoun here spoke the truth.
And, ie we come down to more recent
parties. we still find them passing through
the same process. Since the days of Dem.
ocratic and Federal collision, party nntago-
nlsms have related more to collateral prin-
ciples and practical measures than 20 fun.
damental. essential ideas. But still, the
ground in dispute between them constantly
narrows as the contested questions are dis
posed of. or the points so long at issue
between tho Wing and the soi-distant De-
mvcra,ic' party, what remains as subj"c!
of controversy Only the Tariff. The
right Of the General Government to make
Internal Improvements has been virtually
established through tie ingenious deyice
which its EXTREMIST opponents so gladly
helped in the last session of Congress. We
mean the cessuon of alternate sections OF
public lands in aid Of railroads, Tha:
makes good the principle. no matter though
behind convenient disguise.
, Parties live by their an'agonism. and
when that is exhausted they dissolve and
rive way to new combinations. based on
new ideas. which are never wanting. Names
may be retained, organizations kept up at
ter the life has departed, but that. as we
have already said, proves nothing