AND THE WHIG COALITION 319 



shameless lies, according to this theory, all the politi- 

 cal intelligence, all the public virtue, all the patriotism, 

 in the United States are confined to one-half of the 

 people, while the other half are not only unintelligent 

 and unscrupulous, but actuated by an unaccountable 

 preference for foreign over American interests. Ac- 

 cording to this theory American party strife is a phase 

 of the everlasting struggle between Ormuzd and Ahri- 

 man, and all means, fair or foul, must be called into 

 requisition in order to suppress the evil spirit and 

 keep him in outer darkness. Under the influence of 

 such a theory men's consciences are often at election 

 time reconciled to tricks which in more sober moments 

 they would promptly condemn. Yet in the main the 

 good sense of the American people has kept them 

 from acting upon such a one-sided view of the case ; 

 and it is for this reason that our political history has 

 not been, like that of the old Italian republics, a dis- 

 mal record of wholesale proscriptions and reversals of 

 policy, culminating in the loss of authority on the part 

 of the government and of liberty on the part of the 

 citizens. To insure the stability of a civilized state, it 

 is necessary that the liberty of individuals and the 

 authority of the community should be alike sustained ; 

 and to this end nature seems to have made provision 

 that in a free society, where people's thoughts and 

 wishes can find ready expression, a fair balance shall 

 be preserved between the votes that would extend the 

 powers of government and those that would limit 

 them. Says the sentry in " lolanthe," 



" I often think it comical, 



How Nature always does contrive 

 That every boy and every gal, 



