The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1882-05-27
Jefferson, a Typical Democrat.


tically celebrated the one hundred and
thirty-ninth anniversary OF the birth Of
Thomas Jefferson by passing joint res
olution appropriating $40, 900 for mon
ument over his grave at Monticello, Va.
What that monument is to be we do not
know but If the committee in charge of
the matter recognize the demands of
propriety and good taste they will re-
produce the design and inscription pre-
pared by Jefferson himself, and put into
Stone Immediately after his death. That
simple and all-suificient memorial, for
the place it was intended to occupy--a
family burial spot near the house where
he lived and died-ha, been so mangled
and mutilated by relic-hunters that lit
tie is left of it. The reproduction will
not cost, at most, over $1,000, and the
remainder of the appropriation should
be expended in putting the lot in prop
er condition, and providing all possible
protection against future relic-hunters.
Jefferson has not been very literally
honored in the monumental way. There
are not, we think, more than two or
three in the entire country. Lincoln
already has far more of that sort of hon.
or than the man without whose words
and work the promulgator Of the Eman-
.cipation Proclamation would never have
sat in the Presidential chair. Mr.. Til
den, in his admirable letter to the JEFF
ferson Club of New Haven, Conn, says:
after the organization of the Federal Gov
eminent powcrfn. class sought to impress
upon its practical working. the similitude of
great leader of the party formed to resist these
efforts and to hold our institutions to the pop
ular character which was understood to belong
to them when tn Constitution was ratified by
the people, BY his iniexIble adherence to free
principles, by his untring efforts, by his coun-
sells and by the magic of his pen he was the
peril. and VIII Il yet i'm its infancy, the Govern
ment by the people and for the people,
Nothing is more certain than that
Jefferson's mighty influence saved the
Government from becoming feeble i'm
itation, with few Republican varia-
tons. of the British system. Hamilton,
who thought that system the best in the
world, and our own, a ''frail and worth
less fabric" would have carried his
monarchical ideas into effect had not the
Virginia statesman stood in his path as
the champion of popular rights. Had
Hamilton triumphed in that momentous
contest, the executive mantle would
never have fallen on such humble shout
ders as those of Abraham Lincoln.
None but scions of -blooded Ameri-
can aristocracy would have filled that
high Office. The doors of the White
House would have been closed forever
against such plebeian stock as Jackson,
Lincoln, johnson and Garfield, and they
might have considered themselves fortu-
nate if allowed to climb as high as the
lower house of Congress. Jefferson is
the typical Democrat, and is Justly so
No European writer on popular
government fails to introduce his
name as its greatest apostle and adj
vocate, and the adjective "Jeffersoni-
an" has not only been adopted into the
English language. but its meaning is
understood By those who cannot under
stand that language. 1t is a synonym
for democratic" the world over. The
political principles represented, recon-
mended and practiced by Jefferson can
never 60 out of fashion until the IN
ability of the people to govern them
selves is fully and finally demonstrated.
Lincoln fine descriptive sentences: GA
Government of the people, by the peo-
Pile and for the people," is thoroughly
Jeffersonian. That was the kind of
Government Jefferson secured for us.
To all human appearance we would not
and could not have had it but for him.
He believed in it when others did not.
He hailed it as. the greatest of political
blessings when others dreaded and de-
nounced it as the greatest of politica.
curses. His confidence in the wisdoml
integrity and patriotism of the people
was boundless. 1t was his religion.
The people have rewarded him for that
confidence, il not by monuments, by an
affectionate veneration far more precious
and enduring than marble or bronze.
His name is watchword in every strug-
gle for liberty in the two hemispheres.
The maxims he laid down are, in one
shape or another. the vital element in
every republic in existence now, and
will be in every republic which exists
hereafter; and when these maxims are
repudiated or ignored, republic will
be an impossibility. 1t is to the eternal
credit of the Democratic party that it
has never altogether forgotten the
teachings of its founder and father. 1t
has at times strayed widely from them,
paid the penalty in disaster and humili-
alton, repentcd and returned. Nothing
can destroy that party while these
teachings are its guide and guard.
Nothing can save that party when these
teachings are, for any reason or under
any circumstances, definitely and deci-
sively abandoned. st. Louis Republican.
The Attorney General and Ex-Governor
Moses.