The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-09-04

greatly desired, he would lave event.
ually made the republic another Brit
ish monarchy. He was for a strong
central power n against the people
and against the states. Hamilton was
a powerful &c the people and
favored the opposite of a government Of
the people and by the people and for
the people, to quote the oft-repeated
saying Of Abraham Lincoln. he stole
bodily from an old New England
Reader, published in the thirties.
Thomas Jefferson was the opponent in
governmental theory OF Hamilton He
was antipodal and was the friend
n advocate of the people.
The st. Louis Republic is the ablest
democratic newspaper in Missouri, and
possibly in all that part Of the south.
1t says:
This picture of the government
which Alexander Hamilton would have
supplied 10 the United States is not a
pleasant one for Americans. There Is
no doubt that every important actioL
OF the Mckinley administration has
been toward a centralized government
such as was devised by Alexander
Hamilton n opposed by Thomas JEFF
ferSon. The American people favor a
complete abandonment of a policy
which tends in so undesirable a direc-
ton Such an abandonment can only
be secured by the defeat of Mckinley
in November"
Hamilton has friends and admirers
who Will cling to him and his strong
government ideas. He has a great in
f~iuence, although falling TO a great ex-
tent in carrying his ideas into the fed
eral constitution and his opinions and
principles have exerted a baleful DOW
er in this country for a hundred years
and more. The constitution, a. is well
known to careful students of that
great, fundamental instrument, was
framed first in palpable distrust of the
people Mainly through Jefferson's
great influence, Tie fOur amendments
afterwards adopted wert drawn in dis
trust of the government. They per-
haps saved the republic. North Caro-
lima held off some :w-nIy months be-
fore 1T would accept TIE original on
stitution, and if it could have foreseen
what inroads and perversions and
usurpations were to follow, it would
navy wv ~ ne CulOu, OUT
remained an Independent state, with a
genuine republican form of govern
ment. Judge Marshall greatly facili-
tated Hamilton's schemes by his on
struction Of laws. The constitution
under his touch was made an elastic
instrument, n out of it have come
many woes, and others are threaten
ing.
The safety of the republic rests upon
the basic principles embodied in the
written constitution. An honest, faith
full. liberty loving supreme court Is
very essential in decadent times to
help hold the government in the good
old ways of the fathers, and keep il
from dashing off on side-tracks
that end in confusion and de-
struction- Mr.. Bryan. in his abb.
speech accepting h nomination
of the pOpulists, was very impress
sive in what he said of government.
We give a small portion:
There is 10 middle ground between
the American policy and the European
policy. If this nation remains true to
its principles, it's traditions and its
history, it cannot hold colonies. If it
enters upon a colonial career it must
repudiate the doctrine hat govern
ments derive their just powers from the
consent of the governed.
"When such an issue is raised there
can be only two parties-the party,
Whatever its name may be, which be-
lleves in a republic, and the party,
whatever its name, which believes in
an empire; and the influence of every
citizen, is consciously or unconsciously.
in M iA- L. 0.
upon one side or the other