Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1852-08-12
The Coming 2 arty.

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Parties, it has been q Sist anly
under free governments9ssSE he exl1 enee o.
parties is proof tina; freedom Of thought
and Of uttefance is recognised in the couhs
tries where hey arefound, aud their alb
sence proves thai lhG7eC5ufrry ,eslaeig1
not endure them rejects also tlse cfeIffents
from which they spring. This political at.
ION grows out Of the nature of man and of
things political. Where men are at liberty
to think for themselves and to say what
they think, il must needs be that they take
different views of their own rights and in
terests, and divide on questions which arise.
from time to time, touching those rights
aMEkinteTests. So it was in Athens and
free Rome" As long as political liberty
was left 70 them, they were divided. some.
times torn in sunder, by parties and fac.
tl''Ls. They divided on principles. as they
received them, and, however violent and
bloody the dIssentIons to which they gave
rise, they were signs Of lie and freedom.
1t was not until Macedonian and Roman
conques, had "quenched the eye of Greece"
and her own vices had extinguisled the
light of Roman liberty, that party spirit
replaced in the first by the subtleties Of
scholastic disquisition, and in the last bv
the competitions ofthe Green and Red fac.
tlons Of the Circus. So in the striGes be-
tween liberty and despotism in modern Eu.
rope. In the Italian Republics, in Holland,
in Switzerland, in France, and in England
the reality of Liberty they boosted might
be tested almost to a nicely by the vitality
of the parties which seemed 10 distract. but
which did, in reality give IL consis,en.
and enduring life.
In this country, the same test has been
found to perform its office with the same
unerring accuracy. In the Colonial times,
the people were divided into parties on ques-
tions involving the principles of the Pre-
rogative of the Sovereign and the Consti-
lutinal Rights Of the People These dis
putes went before the Revolution and pre-.
pared the way for its advent. After the
Revolution, the same political necessity
produced the same results. Party Spirit
ragged, but it grew out Of questions and re.
atlons which seemed to the parties acita.
ing them to involve vital principles and to
each towards remote and mighty issues
The general mind was in state of tribu.
ent excitement, but it was the excitement
IF life. The pillows roared aud foamed,
tut 1t was because the Spirit of Liberty
moved on the face of the deep. The sea
md the waves roaring might seem tothreaten
heaven and earth, but it was ONLY IN -aplta.
alton which defeat d and purified the surg.
ng mass Of mind, and saved it from the
ata calm of the waveless sea of Despot.
SIN. Of later days, since the downfall of
Napoleon. the nation has also been divided.
hough on questions of infinitely smaller mo.
nent Principles have yielded place to pol.
cles, and men have fought. not for eternal
avs of Right, but for laws Of political and
economy. Whether more money
'ould be made by trade or by manufactures;
whether, when made, il should be kept in
Bank or somewhere else whether GER
ain branches of business could be better
conducted by natural or artificial persons.
y individuals or by Corporations these
ave been the questions which have super
ede'I those stsCggles which made Milton
soo'n delights and live aboriOus days."
'h'ch sent Hamden feeling in his saddle. a
yIng man, from Chalgrave field, which
nade Vane and Sydney embrace the block,
,hlch hlled the sails Of the MayAower and
haTPended the sword OF the Revolution
But even the palIry factions Of the shop
I'D the spinning jenny were better than no
agtles q all. They at least, served TO
espthe general mind in motion aud saved |
nom utter stagnation. As long as there |