The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1874-10-02


IA Running Commentary rpon azs
0rr,s Tihird.Term Letter.
For the Dispatch.I Il
RICHMOND, September "a, 1874.
Waving for the present the m0faL -pnase
of the question, aud supp posing every nan o.
ltwenty-oue fiji the Onion could at feasf read,
| write. and cipher, while D higher poanl OF
education had been attained ny Iarg pro.
portion. we have no guaranty that our W
| eminent would be materially impro wee. sit
| ia one of the most difficult things 1nsInis
| world to make men think for themselves,
and rather than do it very many prefer TO
F! adopt the expressed opinions OF some ibia'
tant speaker, because that is less troublesome
than to BANNER out their oEn po-
litical creed. This makes prominent
| politicians in Office really the Leaders
of their party, instead of being the
servants of their constituents, which they
would be as a logical result Of Republican
theories were the practice toeraoly accord
ant Herewith. Then again. political senti-
ments seem to run in families las 90 reli'
gioussentiment,and many others), ana thou-
sands of.men have been Wings, democrats,
or Republicans simply and solely because
their fatherss8e before them. Inns says
very little for independent thought. Some
assert It to be better as it is than Tor every
man to display restless disposition to eX-
anime closely for himself, since during the
period of transition and uncertainty ne Is
lsmore than ordinarily liable to excitement,
prejudice, party judgment, and oil those
wretched tempers incident TO making up
| of the mind" ~ Et.
Whether this be true or not, the mind
ought to lie carefully and finally made up;
and surely under government which Is
| founded on the presumption OF necessary
intelligence and rectitude in the people,
Lit will hardly be contended that they
| should not think for themselves. Al
low me to cite my own experience
by way of example. My father was, |
think, the most "thorough-going" Wing l
ever saw, and to the day of his death re-
manned answering in his allegiance to the
faith of his old party. He never considered
secession right or justitiable (he told me
| this less than week before he dIed), buI
would not permit his private opinion to
rear itself in opposition to the will of his
State, and therefore followed Loyalty the for
tunes of Virginia during the civil war.
After the war he was consistently Con-
sentative, though strongly disappearing
many of the measures of that party, having
in this no choice, since he could see little
that was good in the republicanism of the
North, and none whatever In its southern
| branch. was mere boy when
the war broke out, and up to that
time, taking the hue Of my politics, as might
be expected, from my father, i was about as
Incorporate young Whigas could be found,
believing urquestioningly in Webster, Clay,
and their compeers, and not at all compre-
hending how any honest man could be q
Democrat. If the old party lines had been
preserved, and the war delayed fifteen or
twenty years, the probabilities are that |
should have continued warm Wing, maln-
Is because my fathers influence and argu-
ments would have been constantly at work
upon me.
The war divided the belligerents into north
ernerS and southerners, and during the pro-
cess of the struggle the old Wings became
absorbed into Republicans and Democrats.
Even after the cessation of hoStilities 1 was
decidedly Whggish, and [ do not now re-
member precisely what induced me to go
back and examine fundamentally the ques-
tions formerly, as we'll as more recently, at
issue between the great political parties OF
the country. The result was, however, a
deliberate conviction that Democracy, first as
against Whiggism, and afterwards as against
Republcanism, was. though far from per-
feet, undeniably the nearer right. came to
this slowly, because it was a source OF deep
regret that should feel myself obliged to
differ with my father: and | am glad TO
know that circumstances were never such as
to make him acquainted with the widely
separated standpoints from which toward
the last we viewed current national and sec
tional politics. | cite my own as but one
example of many. / believe, with the re-
spect and reverence entertain formy father,
could never have, thought for myself in
these matters with complete independence
had there not been such radical upheaVal OF
old party associations and affiliations. And
even that uphcava has been insufficient in
many instances to make young men search
out their own course, while it mas generally
failed with those who were fully grown at
the opening OF hostiIities. Suppose you Sc
lect now at random half dozen men of ave-
rage intelligence. They can point to number
Of the oppressive enactments Of the party in
power Since the war; but when it comes to
"a discussion of the conflicting principle OF
government, as between Democracy and Re-
publicanlsm ITO employ the inaccurate
Nomenclature sanctioned by custom),
how many are able to give clear and
intelligent statement: 1t will be long, very
long, il ever, before we shall see the masses
qualified to govern themselves we'll. And
remember, too; that in republic the ma
iority who rule care little for the wishes and
interests of the unrepresented minority;
and when, as in this country, the interests of
cd al VII H.
other less thickly inhabited, the consequent
Injustice and oppression are excessive. And
for it where is the remedy? NR.