St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-03-07
WING AND TORY.
E1irOr G10hp.


what.are they derived?
To what political party did the moro prom
ineut descendants or the "Revolutionary
Tories" belong? Name one or more OF the
most prominent. QUERY"
81. Paul, March ., 1886.
If we undertook To trace the origin Of
democratic principles we would be carried
back to very early period in the worlds
history. There has been an eternal con-
tlict throughout all the ages of human eX-
istence between the principle of liberty and
the iron force of despotism. The history
of the progress of human liberty has been
the history of the growth OF democratic
principles. Democracy is the genius of
liberal institutions, and there has been a
perpetual struggle between it and that
principle which announces the right OF one
man to govern his fellow creatures. The
principles of democracy are the foundation
of popular government and have existed in
some form in every human government
where personal liberty was respected.
They were incorporated in the laws which
We're handed down from Mount Sinai, and
from that time to the present hour the
great issue has been to protect the masses
from the ravages and the oppressive hand
of centralized power.
Now as to the definition of the terms
Wing and Tory as we understand them.
They were first used as designations OF po-
litical parties in England and both orig
inally applied as terms of reproach. The
word Wing is contraction Of "Whigga-
more" which in the southwestern counties
of Scotland denotes drover. In l64S q
party of Covenanters from this section at
tackled Edinburgh, and ever after that all
who opposed the court party came in con-
tempt to be called Wings. The terms
Wing and Tory came into general use i'm
1879 during the struggle between the court
and country parties on the bill for
the exclusion of the Duke of York from the
succession. The word Tory is said to have
been an Irish term and was applied to q
wild elan in Ireland. But according TO the
best authorities the Tories were originally
merely the successors of the cavaliers Of the
civil wars, who believed that the mainte-
nance of a royal line was the end of all law
full government, who indicated the right
of kings and held high notions of preroga-
tive Time and circumstances have affected
important notifications i'm the professions
and principles of both Wings and Tories
and the two parties known by these terms
in English politics to-day would not be
recognized as the same parties of two cent
uues ago.
In the United States the terms Wing and
Tory were applied to the dividing parties
in the Revolution-the term Wing was APP
piled to the patriotic party which favored
independence, and the term Tory applied
to the adherents to the British crown. Both
words subsequently disappeared from the
political vocabulary until 1882, when. during
the presidential contest Of that year the
anti-JACKsoN party took the name of
Wing. The party was diSbanded i'm 1854,
the members of the organization principally
drifting into the American or Know Moth
ing party or into the new Free Soil or
Abolition party.
There is no sort OF connection between
the English Tory party and the Democratic
party In the United States. On the con-
trary, THOMAS JEFFERSON, who was the
founder of the Democratic party in thi S
country, was q staunch Wing during the
Revolution and was the author Of the Dec
laration of Independence. After the Rev
dictionary war the country was divided into
two political parties, known as Federalist
and Republican. ALEXANDER HAMILTON
was the acknowledged leader of the FEEDER
alists and THOMAS JEFFERSON OF the Re
publicans. The Wing party succeeded
the Federal party and the Demo-
cratic party descended from the JefTer-
sonian Republican party. In politics
JEFFERSON was the opponent of strong
government and held TO the opinion that
the world was governed too much. Even
before the Revolutionary period he attacked
the tlme-hOnOred system of aristocratic and
religious intolerance, and was always the
advocate of individualism. Thus he be-
came the peculiar champion of democratic
principles in this country, and when elected
to the presidency in 1890 he at once took
steps to inaugurate democratic methods in
the administration of the government.
There was an immediate reaction against
the stately dignity and ceremony of WASH
INGToN's era. He refused to re-
ceive a formal address from congress
and his message was sent in
by messenger. 1t is stated that on the
day of his inaugural he rode to the capitol
on horseback, and hitching his horse to a
tree, quietly walked into the building and
took the oath Of Office without any sort of
parade or ceremony about it. Conse-
quently it could not be possible that JET
FERsoN and his followers who constituted
| the original Democratic party in this coun-
| try could be associated i'm any way with the
Tories OF the revolution who adhered to the
cause of the British crown.
In reply to the last inquiry of our cor
respondent, we are unable 10 say to what
political party the descendants of the Tories
of the Revolution allied themselves with.
! The prominent Tories of that era took very
! little interest in American politics after the
Revolution. They found more congenial
surroundings in Great Britain than they
did in this country and many of them went
back to the old country to spend their days
If they have descendants living here and
they inherited the political tendencies of
their ancestors they are probably TO be To-
Gated III the Republican party, which has
some of the aristocratic and centralized
ideas of the monarchical party of the Revo-
luton.
AMERICAN GIRLS CONQUESTS.
No fault can be found with the good
! taste which has led several FOREIGNERS of