The Phoenix herald., 1880-09-10
THE LIFE OE A PARTY OR
 GAEIZATTON.

IOiiticai parties are no MoIe liu-
 mortal than men. They rise, cul-
 minate and decay. Longevity de-
 pends On a great variety of circum-
 stances, One of them. and an in,-
 por;ant one, is the elasticity which
 accommodates itself to new forms
 of public opinion. The Whig party
 in England has gone through q
 great variety of transformations.
 The name is supposed to be de-
 rived from the Scotch Covenanters
 who drank an acidulated whey,
 which went by that appellaiion.
 In late years it has been an aristo-
 cratic party which has always be-
 lieved ill making concessions to
 the people. It is now known gen
 orally as the Liberal party, It is
 divided into two wings, onS com
 posed of the old aristOcri ele-
 ment, and the other tendia more and more 10 Democracy. The lat
 ter is rapidly gaining the ascend ancy. When it succeeds, q refor-
 nation of party lines will at once
 take place. There wifi then be only Liberals or Democrats on one
 side and the privileged classes on
 the other. When that occurs the end is not far of. A long time
 may be necessary to reach the
 goal, but an accident may at any time precipitate matters and give to political movement a velocity by which great deal of ground will be covered in q very short time.
 We commenced cur independent career practically without any par ties. Tho Tories were always few in number. In the intoxicatien of victory they did not dare to show their hands. h this respect they exhibited much more modesty than the rebels of our epoch. There were great many candidates for the Presidency with George Wash ington. But this resulted from the fact that. previous to 1904, each Elector voted for two candidates for the Presidency, and the one re- the highest number of votes, if majority, was declared elected President, and the next highest, Vice President. Though John Adams. John Jay, B. H. Harrison, John Rutledge, John Hancock, Geo Clinton. Samuel Huntingdon, John James Armstrong, Beuja- min Lincoln and Edward Telfair ran for the Presidency at the same time as George Washington. they were really not competitors. They were only striving for the Vice Presidency. In the first term of George Washington, political par ties began to emerge. They were known as the Federal and Republi- can. The Federal was the party of George Washington. It was the patriotic party of the time, be- csusa 1t looked to the closer union of the States. The Republican was in sense the centrifugal party. IL was the advocate of the largest lib- er:y to the individual States. From that period it advanced at period farther On to personal rights George Washington on the secoad trial was elected by the Federal sts. Bat considerable strength was developed by George Clinton. who was the Republican candidate In the third election, John Adams, ,lso Federalist, was elected, but he Republicans, under Jefferson. showed a great increase of strength. 1 The Federalist party at this date Vas beginning to exhibit aristo- ,ratic tendancies. while the Repub- l ican was all the time getting closer 0 the masses. These three terms ,nded the career of the Federalist ,arty. It made efforts at various ines to recover lost ground under II sorts of disguises. but without much continuous success. At the ourtb Presidential election, Jeffer- on and burr, both Republicans, eceiged the highest and an equal lumber of votes. The election in ons sequence of the tie, devolvcd on he House, and, on the thirty-sixth iallot, Jefferson was chosen.
 With this administration began he career of the old Republican arty. It signalized it's assump- ion of power by q charge to the ystem of electing the Vice Prrsi- cit which now p evAils. It started ut with such a momentum hat ii secured tLree double terms, r the Presidents for six t.rms, qual to 24 years It happens, cnerally, to be law of our politics