Plymouth banner. (Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.) 1852-1855, 1853-06-16

out at the sd me time both in England and
this country; and great inconveniences
are experienced in both. from the attemp;
to continue the vitality of the old organ
ism after their natural life has departed.
In this country. also it would be diff
tcult to point out any cause Of dissen-
sion between the Wings and Democrats,
except that one party has now got all the
offices, and the other has recently forfeit
ed them, and this cause the body of the
people. who neither hold office nor wish
for it ay5e supposed to regard with pro-
found indifference. There are, indeed,
questions enough which are iercely de-
bated in congress and the newspapers;
but they are not questions III respect to
which Wings are separated from Demo
Gratis. In relation TO protective tariff,
a national bank, the management of the
public lands, the improvement OF rivers
/ and hlrbors, state rights. slavery, and
all other notorious topics of agitation
anS. dispute, politicians array them selves
OH opposite sides without the slightest
reference TO their connection with one
or the other of the two great parties
which, for the last twenty years. con-
tended with each other for the possess
ion Of the Presidency and all the other
offices under the National Government.
Though these two parties had other OBJ
/ iec!s in view when they were first Instl-
tuted. they have long since lost sight oi
them; and now continue to exist appa-
rently for the sole purpose of obtaining
a monopoly of the government patron
age. We do not mean that they are con-
! scous of this alteration OF purpose
Most of those who quietly allow them
: selves to be counted as Wings and Dem
ocrats, though they never do duty in
that capacity except on voting day. and
not always then, have vague appreben-
sion, founded on the recollection of old
contests. when principles and measures
were really at stake, that the Government
would be more sd fely placed in the hands
of their own party than in those of their
opponents. Perhaps this confidence has
been little shaken by the course of
events during the last two or three polit-
ical ca m paigns. Considera BILE discomfort
/ has existed among the frank and file, rs
to the conduct and management OF their
/ self-appointed commanders. the Office
seekers. Those who have nothing 20 do
but to vote have begun to be worried by
! the incessant solicitations of their lead
ers not to omit the performance Of this
very patriotic duty, in which about as
much liberty Of choice is left TO them as
/ is given to the convict who is permitted
TO say whether he will be shot or hanged.
In spite of all this solicitation and drum
ming, in spite OF repeated assurances that
to throw away ones vote, by casting 1t
! for the man whom one really prefers, is
crime little short of treason, it fire.
quently happens that nearly half of the
population do not vote at all; and many
of the others are tempted to exclaim wi ith
honest Mercution, plague on both the
houses.
The present moment seems a favora
Bile one, therefore for calling attention
to the fact that these party names of
Whig aud Democrat now mean nothing
and point to uolhins; that they are only
the memorials of a past conflict; that the
antdgonism which they Indicate is with
difficulty maintained by the strenuous
efforts of a few, who alone have any in
terest in keeping il alive; and that this
factious hospitality, this seeming war
fare, is injurious TO the best interests.
and prejudicial to the good name Of the
Republic. 1t is not at all TO The purpose
to say If these :wo parties are allowed
to die out, others will soon arise and
take their places. Parties cannot be
formed anew unless some great princi
pie or measure is at stake; men will not
rally around a new standard if it be not
erected for a more creditable motive than
division of the spoils. though their at
tachnent to it may continue long after
the mot o which it bears has become
meaning less phrase. If but one Prcsi-
dental election could pass without a
! contest, as in 1924. this indecent scram-
bic for office could not be renewed for
period of eight years, and might not be
repeated for much longer time. He
who was elected with the CONF urrence of
the whole people would have no parti-
sans to reward and no opponents to pun
ish. He would be relieved from the hu-
initiation Of having most of his appoint
ments to office dictated by party consid-
erations-by the necessity of serving the
interests Of a faction. instead Of consult
ing the welfare of the State. Legisla-
tors would no longer be forced, by the
imperative behests oftheir party leaders.
to vote for measures which at heart they
condemn. The people might have the
their own candidates fof office, and thus
perchance. Of elec:ing those who had de-
served we'll of the Republic. instead Of
being compelled to choose those only who
are pointed out to them S the most avail
able candidates for party purposes"