The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1882-03-17
JEFFERScNIAN DEMOCRACY.
OTTER FROM JAMES PARTON, TIE AUTHOR


NEwBURYroRr, MAss,l
Feb. 13, 1882.
CuAuNcEy +. BLACK, ESQ.
DEAR SR:-I accept with gratitude
the honor done me by the jefferson
| Democratic Association of York in ad-
ding my name to their list of honorary
members. thark you also, both for
the documents accompanying your letter
and for the agreeable manner in which
you communicate the action of your As
sociation.
For many years have wished to see
! the Democratic party re-crcated in the
spirit of its illustlious founder and of his
worthy colleagues, Madison and Gallatin.
| have, nevertheless, voted with the Re
publican party from its organization.
| do not doubt that an immense ma ajority
of its members and of its leaders are
honest and patriotic men.
On every national issue except one
| Qhe extension of slavery the Demo
cratic party seems to have been sub
stantially right; but in the 'urse of
| time that one issue became all.impor-
| tant, so that every other interest had to
stand aside until it was settled. Happily,
| by the union of patriotic men of all
parties, that terrible question is forever
| at rest, and the time seems now ripe for
a revival of the simple and august prin-
ciples which triumphed in 1900.
Not that we should follow Thomas
Jefftrson,or any other man, with thought
less devotion. Jefferson and his col
leagues were sufficient for their own
days but no an,and no group of men,
can be sufficient for all days. New qu,s-
tions are upon us, new dangers,and new
difficulties and we have to ask our
selves, not merely what Jefferson did in
his time, but what he would be likely to
attempt or advise if he were now present
among us.
think, for one, that he would be a
Civil Service RcfOrmer,. because the
Spoils System is not Democratic. 1t sa
vors of personal government, which he
hated. think hr would be more pos
tive and sweeping Free Trader even
than he was in his own life time; and
yet he would probably not desire to pre-
c;ptate Free Trade, and unsettle in
moment the work of sixty years. He
would wish rather to proceed cautiously,
but unswervingly, having in view the to-
tai, but not sudden, cxtirpation of the
protective system.
think, too, that he would endeavor
to remedy an Inconvenience from which
every president of the United States has
suffered; an Inconvenience resulting
from the inadequate compensation of the
higher officers of government. A king
can get any man to serve him, because
| the king can offer to the most valuable
man his market price, while president
of the United States, representing the
richest employer in the world, has an
extremely limited range of choice, be
cause he cannot make it possible forpoor
men to accept difficult situations with.
out doing violence to their own interests.
When President Jefferson asked James
Monroe to proceod,upon short notice, to
Paris, to negotiate for the purchase Of
Louisiana, he lamcnted that he could not
offer him just compensation, such as a
merchant or corporation would give for
private service of corresponding impor-
tance When the negotiation was at end
by which the United States obtained an
acquisition of territory more important to
it than any country has ever yet porma
nently obtained by conquest, Mr. Mon
roe retired only to render other gratui
tous services, and TO end fifty years OF
arduous public life in insolvency and de
pendence How different the fate of the
negotator employed by the Empero,
Napoleon for the few days service rem
dered by him without leaving home
For that single act Napoleon made M. dc
Marbols present of nearly forty-thous
and dollars,
Thomas Jefferson never contemplated
a government either of mllionaires OF
poor devils; nor politics controlled by
bosses assisted 10y pugilists and bar
keepers. He wished to see at the heat
of governments the flower of the human
race. lie wished to see cities governed
by men who had proved their capabilit,