Lexington gazette. [volume] (Lexington, Va.) 1871-1962, 1899-06-21
JEFFERSONIAN PRINCIPLES


~ to Thomas Jefferson, the author o
the Declaration Of Independence ant
the steadfast opponent of the grating
upon our body polite of English uris
tocracy of European militarism, On).
the germs OF plutocracy were visible il
Jeferson's day, but bank control Of tn
currency shows where he would stant
In these currency reform" days. Un.
less we return to Jeffersonian princi
pies and apply them to present day
conditions we shall be reduced to
worse and more degrading condition
OF vassalage than that from which JET
serson's labors guarded US in the earl,
years of this century.
Jefferson would trust the people,
says New York writer, "not because
the people are always trustworthy, but
. because there is really nobody else tc
trust. Liberty is desirable, not be-
cause it brings in its train all manner
Of public good, but because it leaves
the field free for development. Laws,
where the people make them, may or
may not be good, but il is not better
laws that are wantedso much as o race
Of men who, being their own masters,
may grow and strengthen through the
individuality Of their own wills. Demos
may not make laws equal to those OF
5ustinian; nevertheless liberty is best
because man is a free gent. We might
restrict the suffrage to he intelligent.
and for time have tier laws. But
only for a time. The DISTINGUISHED
would sink, as disfranchised people do,
to the condition of dull plodding, un-
ambitious mass, and as these were, 30
would the nation become. Liberty is
best because in liberty is the only
safety; it is only in state of liberty
that those characteristics that make for
civilization grow and thrive. 1t seems
not little curious that Jefferson was
an intense Democrat. He really be-
longed to the better element by birth ]
and association, But Jefferson had /
set in that Virginia assembly when
Patrick Henery delivered his great
speech against the Stamp Act. This
speech had sunk deep into his soul.
Thus it was that when an old govern
ment was overthrown and new one
to be established, Jefferson interposed
and saved the republic from q govern
ment of American Georges in lieu of
British Georges, The compromise that
was finally effected was poor kind of
Democracy, with an unrepresentative
Senate and President, whose Office,
Jefferson declared, was a bad edition
of Polish king Jefferson denied the
light OF one generation to bind anoth-
'r-a monstrous in6delity, since, from
he time governments began, one gen
'ration has faithfully and uncomplain-
ngly discharged the debts Of proceed
ng generations, and we are still far
way from the wholesale reputation
which Adam Smith thought be fore
aw. 1t was said of Jefferson that he
vas forever haunted with the idea that
ibe1ty was in danger. He was right.
liberty is always in danger, aud for
Ter continued existence among us eter-
lal vigilance is the price she exacts.
1e was forever talking of liberty, equal {
ty, and the rights ofmal-'a Babylon
5h dialect, John Adams called it, and
he new school OF American imperial N
SITS holds the same contemptuous view 1
all that these phrases stand for. JEFF le
erson, with the few shortcomings n
Thich have been made much of by his Il
pponents, was yet the trueSt Demo- o.
rat IN our history, who has left us, not p
7ithoAt some apparent contradictions, Il
Is true, body Of principles which -
ro the sure foundation for the estab- j.
shment OF trne Democracy. Jeffer- @
On felt that he had mission. He was G
D be the teacher Of liberty to all men. A
II his life he glowed With enthusiasm
Or bis purpose. Let us hope that in D
he years to come he may be worshiped T
PSI an ! read more. No American s.
tatesman, and think no statesman of 4
ny country, has left larger volume n
writings, so that there is really no b
Reuse why the people who talk of y
efeason's principles should not know "
about them" no
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