Staunton vindicator and general advertiser. (Staunton, Augusta County, Va.) 1858-1860, 1858-09-25
The Progress Of Parties.

great purpose of history. aside from hand
ing down events from age to age, is to af-
ford sure criterion by which to Judge Of
and anticipate the future Little use, in
deed, would be the mere narration Of events,
if from them we were able to form no opin-
ion Of what was to happen, from what has
already happened. Each branch of bust
ness has its own particular history, and
blank would be the pages Of History if only
the great events were recorded, while those
minor ones, small however they may be,
are of inestimable value in making up the
great sum of nations, party's, or an
individuals career. 1t is, indeed, the very
essence Of human philosophy, teaching the
careful student the many snares and pit
falls there are in whatever occupation or
pursuit he may engage in. Its great ag-
gregate, however independent the particles
or performers may be in themselves, must
be composed of individual actions and opin-
ions, embodied in the great class to which
he belongs. Perhaps not the least inter
esting of histories which may attract the
mind of the impartial judge, is the history
Of the respective political parties which play
upon the arena of which he is a spectator
But it is no easy matter to look on the con-
tests Of parties for political supremacy and
not feel to some extent sympathy with
one or the other Of them. Each party will
ever think it's own course and measures
preferable to those of any others, like the
| fond mother who watches with anxiety the
caresses of her infant bestowed upon anoth-
er: thinking all the time that none are SO
capable of instructing, guiding and govern
ing it as herself, and thus it is with politi-
cal parties, never satisfied unless they them
selves have the reins in their own hands.
This is desire which we hope never to see
checked in the smallest degree, so long as
kept under proper restraint, for nothing so
tends to preserve the purity Of government,
as constant inspection and criticism by its
opponents Our object however, is not to
philosophize, but to review, so far as in us
lay the progress of parties for the last ten
years. The contest of 1917 between the
two great national parties as they then ex-
listed, resulted in placing the government
into the hands Of party which up to that
time had been national in all Of its tcnden-
cles, but which was destined after that con.
test, to sink with its gallant leaders to rise
no more. The hand of fate seems to have
smitten them with fearful stroke, from
which they were never to recover. Victo-
ry seems to have been as bad if not worse
than defeat, for internal dissension, that
bane to the accomplishment of any specific
end, invaded their ranks, and deprived them
Of their short-lived and little enjoyed treas
ure. The same dissension which divided
them when in power, kept them divided
when once they had been deprived Of it,
and hence in the next national contest, we
find them fighting in sectional issues, in no
way beneficial, but in every way prejudic-
ial to their own and the interests of the
country. Defeat was inevitable, bringing
with it all Of that bitter animosity, which
disappointed hope and thwarted plans could
engender. This defeat, so signal, threw
them for awhile in the shade, where they
lay brooding over misfortune, until they
gave birth to another mighty project, which
was to revolutionize the entire political dra-
ma of the country. The origin of this par
ty is too well known to require repetition,
and its effects have been too baneful to the
country for it to make another rise
The career of this SO called American
party, presents one Of the strangest cata-
logues Of Inconsistencies that any generation
has ever beheld. Its avowed object and
purpose, was reform and protection from
foreign influence, but it unfortunately did
not ayow the same set Of principles on any
two important occasions. The consequence
was, that so long as it breathed its own at
mosphere and remained in the soil that
generated it, it fourished but as soon as
transplanted to soil where its yagaries
and inconsistencies were subjected to the in
spection of an intelligent people, it met
with that stern rebuke, which awaits all such
fanatical creeds. Overthrow and defeated
again, with no prospect Of ultimate success,
except by concert with some hybred of its
own sort, this party, which set out with SO
many declarations for the welfare of the
country, subsidized into miserable make
shift, catch-penny concern, divided into as
many factions as there are States in the
Union, no one Of which were willing to CO.
operate with any national party on any
great measure affecting the welfare of the
country, but which, whenever occasion pre-
sented, would assume an antagonistic posi-
ton, to prevent others from doing the good
which they themselves refused to aid. It
is this faction, handed down to US under
the name of the the opposition, (and most