Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1863-04-30
General washington's Farewell
Address

! l7g7-His Tupressirs Condemnation of SectioD.
! al Parties like The dbohtionias-His Denuncia-
ton of Orqanized Foctions--Ertraets from u.at
! D0cnmem.
General Washington says:
"1n contemplating the causes which
may disturb our Union, it occurs, as a
matter OF serious concern, that any ground
should have been furnished for character
izing parties by geographical discrimina.
| tions-Northern and Southern, Atlantic
and Western; whence designing men may
endeavor to excite belief that there is a
real difference of local interests and views.
One Of the expedients Of party to acquire
influence, within particular districts, is to
misrepresent the opinions and aims OF
other districts.
"You cannot shield yourselves too much
against the lealousies and heart 6urnings
which spring from ttfsse misrepresenta
ti,ns, they tend to render alien to each
other those who ought to be bound togeth-
er by fraternal affection"
What rebuke is that of the Abolition
lists who got up a Northern party. Read
his denunciation of secret ami factious as
sociatons. He says:
"All distractions to the execution Of
the laws, all combinations and associa-
tions, under whatever plausible character
with the real design to direct, control,
counteract or awe the regular deliberation
and action Of the constituted authorities,
are destructive of this fundamental prin-
cipe, and fatal tendency. They serve to
organize faction, to give it an artificial
and extraordinary force; to put in the
place of the delegated will of the nation
the will OF the party, often small but
artful and enterprising minority of the
community; and, according to the alter
nate triumphs Of different parties, to make
the public administration the mirror of the
ill-conccrted and incongruouS projects
of factions, rather than the organ of con-
sistent and wholesome plans, digcsted by
common counsels and modified by mutu.
al interests"
However combinations or association;
ofthc above description may now and
then answer popular ends, they are likely
in the course of time and things, to be.
come potent engines, by which cunning,
. ambitious and unprincipled men will be
enabled to subvert the power of the peo-
pie and to usurp for themselves the reins
of government, destroying afterward the
very engines which have lifted them 20
unjust dominion"
Toward the preservation of our Gov.
ernment and the permanency of our pres
ent happy state, it is requisite, not only
that you steadily discountenance irregular
. opposition to its acknowledged authority
: but also that you resist with care the spirit
OF innovation upon its principles, howev
er specious the pretext."
That hits the square in the face the Sc
: cret political organization low existing il
J this country. He adds:
1.-The attempt to domination of one fac.
tion over another, sharpened by the spir-
it of revenge, natural to party dissension,
which, in different ages andcountries, has
perpetrated the most horrid enormitieS,
is itself, s frightful despotism But this
leads at length to more formal and per.
manent despotism. The disorders and
miseries which result, gradually incline
the minds OF men to seek security and re
pose in the absolute power OF an individ-
ual, and sooner or later, the chief ofsomt
prevailing faction, more able or more
fortunate than his competitors, turns hi:
disposition to the purpose of his owr
elevation, on the ruins of public liberty
Those who uphold the suspension o
the Constitution and sustain Lincoln il
his usurpations of power, are thus rebuk
ed; mark the lines in italic:
at is important, likewise, that thu
habits Of thinking in free country, shoulC
inspire caution, in those intrusted will
, its administration, to conhne themselve
4 4 without their respective constitutions
! ! spheres, avoiding, in the exercise of tn
powers of the department to encrocal
upon another. The spirHg encroachnaen
tendsto consolidate the po,rers Of all De
partn,entS IN one, aud thus to create whateve
The form Of Government, a real despotisn
. A Just estimate of that love of power an
proneness TO abuse it, which predominate
u in the human heart, is sufficient to satisf
J us of the truth of this position"
"The necessity of reciprocal checks j
Il the exercise of political power, by divid
: ing and distributing it into different Dc
10 positories, and constituting each IL
o guardian of the public wealth against in
u vasions by the others, has been evince
u by experiments, ancient and modern
Il some of them in our country and unde
e our own eyes. To preserve them mus
! be as necessary as to institute them. If
y the opinion Of the people, the Distribute
or modification of the constitutional pow
ers be in any particular wrong, let it
corrected by an amendment, in the wa
which the Constitution designates. Bi
let there no change By usarpation; 70
y though this, in one instance, may be IL
1t the instrument of good, it is the custom,
Is ry weapon by which free Government al
n destroyed. The precedent must alway
lc greatly overbalance in permanent evil an
partial or transient benefit which the us
l. can at any time yield"
: A Good Move.
Il We understand that the Democrat
City Executive Committee of Dayto