The Kanzas news., 1857-10-31
Party platform enc 1naavidual Free.

from the ". 7. Times. The thoughts con-
tained therein are worthy Of earnest atten-
ton. Our political organizations are in
their results oftimes destructive OF individ-
ual freedom of opinion. The tyrannies OF
maiorities are as active as the tyranny
of one. The. true progress of a race or ma
tion. can only be achieved by the elevation
of each member thereof. This individuality
is destroyed by the machinery OF parties
and it becomes the peoples duty to pre-
serve them independent.
The Anglo-Saxon race and civil liberty
In modern times, owe more to prominent
and strongly marked individuality OF char
acter, than TO any other incidents In their
growth and history. We are what we are
mainly because, from the battle of Hastings
to the battle of Bunker's Hill, our ancestors
were careful to make the individual man
something of vastly more importance than
the State Our laws and Constitution owe
their best and noblest features to the fact
that the welfare and happiness of each sub
ject or citizen, and not the people en- nadsse,
has been the prime object kept in view
Magma Charta, the Bill of Rights, the Ha-
beas Corpus, each were all enacted, not for
the glory of the British empire, but for the
comfort and security of Brown and Jones.
HAMPDEN went into the field not so much
from devotion to his country as to vindicate
the right of Robinson not to pay ship-mon-
ey against his will Our forefathers rose In
arms, not with the view of making mighty
republic, but of securing for each citizen
complete control over his own property
Dip into what page we viii of our history,
the story is still the same. In this lies our
superiority in political organization, and in
the real elements of progress over all the
republics of ancient times. In Greece or
Rome the individual lived for the, benefit of
the State In Amer1ca and England the
State exists for the benefit of individuals
No other theory of civic rights and duties
is compatible with the sure and lasting en-
joyment of freedom. Every other theory
leads sooner or later to despotism or down
| fall Merge the man in the mass, and the
State soon becomes an army, and asks for
commander-in-chief. Russia is a great
empire, but what is Russian? France is
glorious, but who would be French citi-
zen? Make the crowd omnipotent, and the
man nothing, and the crowd itself will soon
degenerate into a blind horde, led by knaves,
and swayed by base passions.
That there are tendencies amongst US
within the last thirty years to cast the whole
community in exactly the same mould, and
ostracize any one who dares to have wart
the more or a mole the less, it is impossi-
BILE to deny. One of the dangers to be
feared from a government of maiorities, is
IL of mol
independence, and a consequent marked de-
terioration in political thinking. We have
sought to erect bulwarks against this in the
shape of Constitutions, and thus protect the
minority from the storms of popular passion
and prejudice. So far as regards our rights
and liberties, this expedient has proved am
ply successful. No man in the community
has much to fear from the malice, or rapac
ity, or fanaticsm of legislation, and in the
| field of thought, the traditions of our race
have hitherto bid defiance to the novelty of
our position, and the peculiarities of our So
cial organization. Some men amongst US
are still confessedly and notoriously of some
account and some value, even when they
speak their own sentiments, and come before
j the world in their own character. In aris-
tocracies the law puts the mobiles on pedes-
tai, and clothes them with dignity purely
personal. We have our mobiles too, but
they were noble in the right of their own
worth and talents, and there was time when
the growth of such men was encouraged,
and their appearance hailed with acclamation.
But the times are changed of late years.
Democratic views are carrying us trif1e
further than our warmest admirers ever in
tended us to go. Distinctions of rank and
position have been all abolished. Every
public servant, or nearly every one, has
been made dependent on the people for his
election and continuance in office, and this
I is all right. But we have gone step fur
ther. We seem to have determined that
those whom we employ In the service OF
the State shall not simply obey our orders,
but think our thoughts. We have COM
lpletely merged the executive and the delib-
lerativc departments of the government
We have converted our statesmen into ma
chimes for the dropping of votes into the
ballot-box. The result is that the selection
Iof gentlemen or men of even decent educa-
ton for legislative functions, is becoming
sheer and wilful extravaganza. As soon as
la Convention" provides platform, -
Irish hodmen sent to Congress could do the
rest pretty nearly as well as Webster or Cal
houn. As soon as the constituencies all
over the country declare that the one requi-
site for the performance of legislative func-
tions, is the strict and literal adoption of q
political creed and programme drawn up by
somebody else, man with particle of IN
dividuality, the smallest love of truth, or ot
Originality, the smallest faith in the value
of discussion and reflection, stultifes him
self and damages the country by accepting q
mission which entails mental and mora
emasculation.
Platforms, as Mr.. Banks ably remarked
in his recent speech at Springfield, are ad
mirable things to draw men together anc
bind them in common work for common
object But as soon as they take the form