The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1858-04-15
BALTIMORE.
THURSDAY, APRIL Is, 1858.


losopher has been abundantly verified during the
past three years. by the factions course pursued in
the House of Representatives, by the little band of
political non-conformists, of whom Humphrey
Marshall is the acknowledged head, and among
whom Henry Winter Davis is accounted a shining
light Assuming to hold the balance of power be-
tween the two great political parties of the country
they have shown the same narrow and contracted
spirit, ascribed by NJ de Tocqueville to all 'litte
Parties, from the time when their sefshness pro-
tracted for weeks the contest which finally resulted
in placing Nathaniel P Banks in the Speaker
Chair, to the present hour when their factous OPP
position is the chief obstacle in the way of the har
monious settlement of the Kansas question Too
few in number to be able to carry out their own
principles, they compelled to accommodate
themselves to the policy of Others and alternately
cast their votes with one the other of the larger
parties, from whose views they profess equally to
dissent. Discaiming all sympathy with either
side of the House, they seek to occupy
a middle ground which they can only keep
by declining all participation in the business
of legislation and which they never quit with
out violating their own consistency as politicians
Being in hopeless minority in the House, and
upon all its Committees, they cannot without a
coalition carry through single measure of their
own, or even succeed in bringing their views 10
the test of a vote. They elected as the repre-
sentatives OF certain political creed, and they f"d
themselves utterly unable 10 ance It's cause,
eyrnnt - uenverlng occasional speeches "for
Buncombe, in Committee of the Whole.-utterino
mild pattudes about the indsputable right of
Americans to rule America" apropos of the
Indian appropriation bill, bill to punish law
lessness in the Capital of the Republic
ing terribly against the dangers of Papal usurpa
ton and of priestly aggression pending a bill to
raise four regiments for the suppression of the
Mormon rebellion. Poweress in their own behalf
they only become formidable when enlisted in the
cause of Others. Coalition with one of the great
parties between whom the House is divided becomes
for them political necessity Now all coalitions.
we may safely assume, are more or less corrupt.
The essence of dishonest bargain enters into the
spirit, if not the letter, of every such agreement
between elements naturally hostile and discordant.
Il will vote for your bill, i: you will vote for
mine, says the Honorable A. to the Honorable
B.; or 81 will agree to give your section an appro-
prlatlon, ifyou will vote so many acres of land to
my road, says the Honorable B. to the Honorable
A. Done" says the other Honorable: the bar
gain is sealed, and the corrupt agreement consti-
tutes that combination of interests called Clog
rolling species of legislative management much
practised in Congress- in State Legislatures and in
City Councils. So when two political parties as
widely separated in their principles as the poles
and as repellent in their sympathies as oil and
water are seen harmoniously voting together in
solid column, the suspicion may reasonably be en-
tertained that one of those alliances offensive and
defensive, called coalitions" has been established
between them. The rules which govern all these
combinations of interests of parties are perfectly
well understood, and constitute the modern tIer
Ct cons"etudo parliament" They are not unfre-
quently tactly recognized and acted upon. even
when no special articles of agreement may have
been entered into. Thus, Speaker, who has lust |
peen elected to the Chair, after long and exciting
struggle, does no more than gratefully acknow-
ledge the material aid and comfort " which he
has derived from the sympathy and support of a
protested political opponent, by placing him on
the list OF the most important Committee of the |
house 80 also, when it is announced by the ac-
credited mouth-piece of his own arty, that GER
tam other honorable member, who had paired off |
on the vote to adhere to the Montgomery substitute
IN the House Of Representatives, returned notwlth
standing to vote in favor of adhering Expressing
desire to record himself with view to his posi-
Die action in his contested election case - we soc
in the fact only another tribute to the same GREAT
principle that zone good turn deserves another -
n hintt 10 she h.,
may be made instrumental in gaining other
votes in favor of a con-
tested seat. The truth of the matter is
that the position of small party holding the bal
lnce of power between two great parties, is one
1emorallslng and corruptng in the extreme. Men
occupying that slippery ground are very apt to lose
lght altogether of the politics of conviction and
adopt the politics of convenience They have votes
% sell; the House is their market. and the 1.-TWO
great parties are their customers. Abdicatino al,
Claims to elevation of purpose or consistency of
'ondlct these political hucksters become the Hes
sans OF politics. Like the hrelng Swiss they fobt
or pay, under the banners of other parties. The
existence OF little Parties,' therefore with The
prlt of sectonalism and selfshness which they in
roouce INTO popular elections and the petty motives
Inu corrupt practices which mark their action and
isungulsh their tactics in legislative bodies. we
egard as an unmixed evil. The only thing that
AN ennoble Party-Spirit is Party-Principles
small Parties beget only sectional and per
onm contests, and paltry and ephemeraI
ssues. Great Parties wage great conflicts Of nrn-
lple' Such conflict, says late writer in the
5rtlsh Economist, mot only brings out the mettle
md strength of public men, but it makes them feel
nat they are the servants of principles not the
nasters;-that they cannot trife with the country
y any compromises, that they must give them
elves up to one side or the other and serve it with
IL their might. The conflicts between great prin-
lples purify politics as much by calling out in
OPTICIANS genuine interest in their subject as nv
ny other influence. Petty motives disappear be-
eath the excitement of real and great issue.n
When the Parties of the State were two and two
My, continues the same writer, speaking of Eng
ISM parties, when they voted in block so that all
7ho left the one naturally accrued to the other
Vhen principles were divided on some great and
rltcal issue, like the issue between the arstocracv
nd the middle classes then sincerity. nav bioot-
y, OF personal conviction and argument was the
reat qualification for political influence This
sincerity of personal conviction" alluded to by
ne writer, must sooner or later lose its hold upon
len, who boldly undertake to substitute the rule
f minority for that of majority, and to govern
OF by their own strength but by the weakness
nd divisions of their political opponents. Their
wn want OF numerical and popular strength,
oupieo with their ambitious yearnings for place
nd power, necessarily drives them to a trucking
me-servlng course in political affairs. With them
the posture of affairs determine the principle, in
lead OF the principle determining the posture of
fairs No great and comprehensive statesman
hip, no enlarged and generous patriotism can he
expected from such party, and of this fact the