704 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 11 



ment, called representative, which end is the good 

 of the whole nation, whether their polity be con- 

 solidated, or federative. Another iiital efi'ect of 

 this state of thini^s is, that the great qualiiies of 

 moral worth, good talenls highly cultivated, love of 

 country, and devotion to all iis best interests, are no 

 longer, (as they ought to be,) made the essential, 

 the indispensable qualifications, for our public 

 functionaries ; but the thing first sought for — the 

 thing prelerred to all others — is, a .staunch, undevi- 

 ating. reckless adhesion to political party. Yet 

 the most stupid among us know perlectly well, 

 that much the greater portion of the duties which 

 these |)ublic agents are chosen to perform, have 

 really nothing to do with party politics, and more- 

 over, that they are of such a nature as imperative- 

 ly to require all the wisdom, knowledge, and vir- 

 tue of the nation to execute them beneficially lor 

 the national welfare : a subject, by the way, in re- 

 gard to which the rank and file of no legislative 

 body, ever yet chosen upon mere par(y principles, 

 have been any better qualified to act wisely, than 

 to make good grammars lor all the dead and 

 living languages of the world. This would be 

 equally true, whether they were honest or dishonest, 

 since, in both cases, they must unavoidably pin 

 their ttiith upon the sleeve of others — must be 

 knowingly or unconciously led or driven into the 

 parly-track ; lor they would often have to decide 

 between questions widely differing from each 

 other, questions of great national interest, re- 

 quiring Ibr their decision much general know- 

 ledge and experience ; questions moreover, in re- 

 gard to the comparative merits of which they 

 would be nearly as ignorant as so many children. 

 But thus it goes, in these our days, at all our elec- 

 tions for representatives. ^'■Hurrah! hurrah!!" 

 for the most popular idol, at such a time, in ariy 

 particular county or district, effectually drowns all 

 argument of the adverse par,'y: because an an- 

 swer all the better for its brevity, on an occasion 

 so animating — an answer to every suggestion cal- 

 culated to damp the prevalent party fijrvor ; and 

 often elevates to the dignity of delegate, (I cannot 

 conscientiously say representative,} of said coun- 

 ty or district, some two legged animal, called man, 

 who should thank good luck for it, if he finds his 

 way to the legislative halls of Virginia without a 

 guide. I beg you sir, to be assured that this is no 

 exaggeration, for the gentleman is now living who, 

 if necessary, could prove upon oath, that, at one 

 of the sessions of our legislature when these party 

 battles first began, he had literally to pilot one oi' 

 these legislative noodles through the simple pro- 

 cess of presenting his credentials, and marching 

 into that legislative hall, where he was to make 

 himself a laughing stock during the whole session, 

 by such memorable fooleries, that it is not uncom- 

 mon to hear them recapitulated, even at this day. 

 But so it has been, and will be forever, while po- 

 litical party spirit is suffered to rule the land; for 

 when the constituents become so distempered, so 

 deeply inli'cted with this nmral poison, as to seek 

 nothing else but a similar infection, as the chief, 

 the indispensable qualification in their public ser- 

 vants, it is next to impossible that their represen- 

 tatives should be in a more healthful condition 

 than themselves. They will certainly act and re- 

 act upon each other so as to perpetuate the infec- 

 tion with increased virulence, until, like those pes- 

 Icntial diseases which destroy the body natural, it 



inflicts death on the body politic. How indeed, 

 should it be otherwise I For it pervades every 

 man's home, severs the closest friendships, brings 

 diabolical strifi? into all the private relations of lite, 

 immeasurably injures the morals of every commu- 

 nity by altering and lowering the standard of fit- 

 ness for all public trusts, and, limits the field of 

 choice for public functionaries — not to the whole 

 number of the parly which happens to be domi- 

 nant ai the time — for that might not be so bad, if 

 it composed a very large majority of the nation — 

 but to that portion of it only, Avliich, for the honor 

 of human nature, we may hope is comparatively 

 small in every i)arty, who can consent to yield the 

 clearest convictions of their understanding and 

 consciences to party-dictation. In truth, God has 

 never scourged any people, for their sins, with a 

 more dreadful curse than parly-spirit: for, in re- 

 ligion it has caused the most bloody, savage, and 

 exterminating wars, while in politics it has pro- 

 duced millions of deeds so atrocious, so horrible, 

 that the bare recital of the least of them is enough 

 to chill the heart's blood of any human being who 

 possesses the smallest spark of humanity. For 

 proof of this, I need go no further back in the 

 history of the civilized world than to that blackest, 

 most shocking of all its pages, the French revolu- 

 tion I A revolution distinguished above all others 

 for its systematic and impious attempts to banish 

 every thing like morals and religion from the face 

 of the earth, by the deliberate murders of mil- 

 lions of the wisest and best citizens of France. 



Thoroughly and deefily convinced as I am, 

 that the salvation, not only of Virginia, but of our 

 union itself, depends upon the exiinclion of the 

 party-spirit which has so long and disastrously 

 prevailed among us, I cannot quit the subject with- 

 out a few more remarks on the fatal practice of 

 choosing our representatives solely for their politi- 

 cal party qualifications. . Suffer me then still iiir- 

 ther to illustrate that practice and its consequen- 

 ces. 



The great principle of popular representation, 

 so admirable in itself, so superior to every other 

 basis of government, if fully and liiiihfully carried 

 out, becomes, when thus perverted, the most ef- 

 fective, the certain means of its own desiruction. 

 The name will be caretlilly preserved by the un- 

 principled destroyers, the authors of all the mis- 

 chief, and the people will be more than ever flat- 

 tered with the assertion of its being in full and 

 most successful operation, more than even gulled 

 with the vain title of sovereigns, while these dear 

 li'iends of theirs are leading them, like so many 

 sheep, whithersoever they please. The party 

 people themselves having limiteil their choice of 

 representatives, as I before remarked, to a much 

 less number than the whole of their own party, 

 by making implicit obedience to its leaders the 

 "si ve 7ua vio/i" of their votes, rarely, if ever, are re- 

 presented cither by the wisest or most virtuous men, 

 even among themselves. They act as the bark- 

 grinders do, who always prefer blind horses for 

 their work. Being, themselves, regardless of all 

 other interests but those of their own party, they 

 will choose men who are mentally blind to every 

 thing else, in prelerence to men who can see, feel, 

 and utterly scorn the ilegradalioaof such a service. 

 It is true, that the ft?w who are to act as lead- 

 ers and drivers, must have eyes, and tolerably 

 sharp ones loo, in order to steer salely through the 



