New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-03-04
THE STORY OF THE PARTIES.
,,o1o prpr,BLIcANIsM AND DEMOCRACY
HAVE SERVED THE NATIONS
WELFARE.

Tho vary wise man quoted by Fletcher or
s,,toun might well revise his saying In these
ondof.century days No. now the ballad-fnah'
ers OF a nation, though ranging the whois
eamut from Alfred Tennyson to Alfred Aus'in
can shape its legislation or wieid force SUI
perior 10 it's laws The sceptre mas dePar'e"
from them TO the more pussant hands OF parry
leaders sometime statesman sometime Dos'
For party government Is an estabiishen iact III
those nations which are foremost In freedom Oh
institutions and social civilization. and is moro
and more approaching such estate IN th'se
whore Wondering mass OF Divine Right ~
not yet fully leavened by the peoples Will
Here most Of all. perhaps Is 1t the master rae
tor Whether for good or III II ~ the system
dxed upon this Nation from it's very birth ana
through it the Nation must work out us own
veal or woe At times, recent memory wen
recalls, the lines OF party are transgressed ny
many for the public good. But in the self
same episodes still more are seen to hold thos'
lines most sacred-or. perhaps. taboo?-even 70
their own harm and to the peril OF the Father
lsland The very incident that shows some inde-
pendence Of party allegiance shows still greater
Ioyalty--or savery-thereto.
Such has been the history Of this Nation ana
such II doubtless will be; though in the future.
as in the present. the course OF Time VIII
swerve. crook and turn upon Itself In many
backward streaming curve" Very tortuous mas
it been of late. But to-day one more sharp
turn is passed and the stream sweeps forward
clear and strong, a long straight reach ths
end OF which no may see but which olds
fair 10 broaden, brighten and deepen immeas-
urably as the prosperous months ana years ron
by To-day marks the total ransference OK
Federal control from one to the other OF the
ort "a tod
power for nearly half a century in their present
FORMS and which have at least potentially eh'
listed from the very foundation Of the Republic.
It Is a fitting time, therefore, 20 review thelr
record, to note the influence Of each upon mo
public welfare to recall the doings OF each for
or against the Nations progress, and to fore
cast thereby upon the confident example or the
| past the purport and the promise OF the ineorn-
ing Government. To such a record, accurate.
elaborate impartial and painstakngly prepared
the pages OF a voluminous supplement- OF this
days Tribune are devoted II forms such
review Of American party history In Natloha'
administration and legislation. as has not elss-
where been prepared published II Will prove
| Of unusual interest for present perusal. ana or
| unique value for permanent preservation Tor
! future reference; which. having read ana
studied. the thoughtful citizen may we'll be
| trusted to decide which party has been the more
benefcent, and which gives promise OF the pet
ter things for the individual, for the community,
! for the social veal for business and Industrial
| prosperity, and for the general Advancement OK
| the interests of the Nation.
IN EARLY DAYS
The story is chiefly that Of the last eleven Ah-
| ministrations. beginning with that OF Franklin
Pierce and ending with Grover Cleveand's Sec
lA..ar he rra "a
| ent alignment and nomenclature Of parties IN
the strictest Interpretation. But the real origin
Of the parties much further back II was
coincident with the making OF the Nation and the
adoption Of the Constitution. In fact. II was the
making of the Nation and the adoption OF ths
Constitution that caused the division OF the peo-
| pie into two great parties. The first important
| party issue was whether or not there should be
! a nation and constitution. The one party con-
| tended that there should be. that the thirteen
free and independent States should be united
indissolubly into one Nation, with supreme GEN.
| trail Government and general Constitution. That
was the party of Washington Hamilton ana
Adams The other contended that the States
| should remain separate sovereignties. merely AL
lied together during their individual pleasure.
! That was the party Of Jefferson and his coll
leagues The former, happily. won the first great
battle of Nationality and thus. and only thus,
| was made possible the extension Of the Republic
| from a narrow strip of the Atlantic seaboard TO
| its present magnificent continental domain.
| Washington and Hamilton then, we may truly
| say were the actual founders Of the present Re-
! publican party though they died before most of
| its nominal organizers were born. The princi-
| pies Of their party, the Federalst party were
| either identical with or the unmistakable proto-
| types of those of the Republican party OF these
Na,.a oil haV
already named with its corolary of the suprem-
! acy Of the Constitution and the nvolable main
| tenance Of the Union. 1t will not be difficult 10
| trace its continuity down 10 the present time.
The second fundamental principle was sound
| National system Of finance promulgated by Alex
| ander Hamilton. That. too, remains 10 this day
| a vital issue The third. at first accepted by both
parties with little opposition. but soon become
distinctly Federalst. the principle OF Protec-
| ton to American industries, which assuredy has
lost none OF its significance in more than a nun
| dred years. These were the Federalist doctrines
Of that day. The negation Of them and oppos-
| ton to them, were the principles Of the Anti.
| Federalists.
or the application Of those principles and tbs
results thereof in early years only word need
| here be said. They applied by Washington
| and his colleagues with the happiest results
| To them were due the permanence OF American
liberty the stability OF the Government, the pup
lie credit the prosperity Of the people, ana the
rapid growth of the thirteen colonies into one
| of the greatest Powers in the world. or this no
| rational man makes question. There is no fact In
Amer lean history more thoroughly established
and more generally accepted And when after
twelve years of Federalist administration the
| party scale was shifted and the Anti-Federalsts
bore sway, those principles still perforce pre-
vailed for the accomplishment Of what VAS best
under the new regime. Jefferson never approved
the Constitution, and would have opposed 1t had
he been In the convention that framed IT, instead
OF among the revolutionary clubs OF Paris. But
tho ono ac, for which ne ~ most remembered