West Virginia freeman. (Parkersburg, W. Va.) 1881-1886, 1885-08-26
(Contimued from Second Page.)

Iss, at least, all except seven, (the
Eve loaves and two fishes,l and be-
lomes the willing and subservient
tsl of the most atrocious wrongs
hat ever degraded humanity and
.nrsed the world. More, by species
illogical legerdemain, he persuades
simself that the supremacy of his
narty is synonymous with the su-
5remacy of right. And thus all
carriers are thrown down. No evil
,an be so great as the defeat Of his
oarty, and nothing can be wrong
hat insures its success. Hence
PARTY Spirits, and has been, the
ereat impediment to progress Its
motto, at best, is first the party and
then the reform. Its highest am
bition is to obtain the Offices and
to turn the rascals who hold them
out" The FIRST inquiry, therefore,
concerning any measure, is not
whether =, it F., is. for the good Of the
people,. but whether it is for the
good of the party. Demonstrate to
a party that the advocacy Of the
moral law would endanger its sue
cess, and it's National Conventions
are as silent as the grave respecting
it. Prove to them that an open
utilization with evil, however mon
strous, is the ealy path to power,
and the purest and loftiess princi-
pies, the dearest and most inalien-
able of rights, are trampled with
ruthless ana pitiless feetinto the
mire. In proof of this, 9 refer the
skeptical among US to the official
utterances Of the two great parties
in their National Conventions of
only a year ago. Whet has it not
done? It,has muzzle6 the pulpit.
1t has been, and is, the censor of
the press. 1t has fonented trea-
sons, wrought conspiraeies, and
overthrown empires and repu blics.
If it be not restrained it will dig
the grave of liberty and plunge
the natioH into hopeless anarchy.
My friends, Party spirit is the on
ly power in this country which is
capable Of such atrocities, Histe-
ry is repeating itself. The rum
power is the great Mcloch on whose
bloodyaalsar virtue and nobleness,
happiness and hope, are offered. Its
demands are Unsuitable. A thous-
and millions of dollars are annual
ly consumed in its~service.
1t destroys, each year, sixty
thousand lives. 1T bequeaths ITO
charity2O0,000 orphans. The wall
of its desolations Oils the air and
belts the globe. And yet, when we
ask that this monster shall be de-
throned, that our homes shall be
protected from his nerciless grasp
one party, like the priest and LIE
vite of ok1, passes by on the other
side, silent as the Sphinx; while
the other pauses to mock US in cur
sorrow, and to taUntus with the
failure of our past endeavors. Now
this defeot Of parties seems to be
inherent. Certainly, SO long as Of
fee is the. prize for which the par
titan is striving, this result is liz.
evitable. To lift'a party, your full
crum and lever must be outside
the party And thus, we are bro't
back to wenan as a. political factor
True, woman may be a partisan
Indeed, honesty coEnpels the &C
mission that, often, her partisanship
is intense and extreme. But, GIN
moral questions, she, far more fire.
tquently than man, is able to rise
above it. Man is befogged by the
claims of party, and confused by
questions ofwtility. Woman, with
clearer intuitions, goes straight to
the enormity of the wrong. With
"a love for Humanity only less than
tLat of God,; with a. faith in the
Iin mutability and the omnipotence
of right mistaken by the Temporal
ryrtriumph of wrong, she demands
that this enormous evil ehall cease.
And this brings me to the third
fact.
GWonaan's .eonvictio4s are too
ste'a:sg for repression.
There is one lesson that woman
has no power to learn. She can
neve, be silent IN the presence of