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CHAPTER XXVII.

POLITICAL PARTIES.

DURING the contest of the colonies with England, there were two parties, the one favourable to a settlement of the differences between them without a disruption of the connection, the other bent on an unqualified separation. After the Independence was effected, two other parties were formed, which with modifications still remain. They assumed, or had bestowed on them, the names of Democrats and Federalists. The Democrats espoused the cause of France, the Federalists that of England, in the subsequent contest between the two powers; and it required all the energy and talent of Washington to prevent the nation's offering assistance to France; a measure which must have been most injurious to America. The Democrats had conceived the idea, that the French in assisting the Americans to throw off the authority of England, had been actuated by the love of liberty, not perceiving that the influential motive was jealousy and hatred of England. Accordingly, after the overthrow of the Bourbon dynasty, and the forma

tion of a republic, they were very desirous of supporting that republic against the arms of England and her allies. Gratitude, it was contended, required that the Americans should assist France, in return for her co-operation in the struggle for Independence. Washington happily saw that the interests of the country demanded neutrality, and to its maintenance he devoted himself. He was not possessed of so grasping an intellect as Cæsar or Napoleon; but he had a clear judgment, an ardent attachment to rational liberty, and great firmness combined with greater prudence. Though he had ambition, it was not the mad ambition of a conqueror who is content to desolate kingdoms to swell his own triumph, but that of a patriot whose aim is to improve his country by mild and moderate measures. Happy indeed was it for America, that such a man conducted her revolutionary contest, and laid the foundations of her stability and prosperity, The confidence which the people reposed in him, was the salvation of the country from joining in the system of European politics. His successor in the Presidency trod in his footsteps; and it was not till the election of Jefferson that the democratic faction gained the ascendency. It would exceed the It would exceed the proper limits and indeed object of this book, to attempt to

trace the effect of his measures whether successful or otherwise; but it will be proper to show the errors into which the Democrats were led, by party bias and false zeal.,

Perhaps no political chief ever had more reliance placed on him than Jefferson. He was the man who according to his partisans was to raise America to the pinnacle of prosperity, yet it is worth noticing, that he fell far below Washington in the success of his policy, and was as inconsistent as Robespierre respecting liberty. Not that it is meant to be insinuated that Jefferson is to be regarded with horror like that sanguinary monster, or that in his public measures he was not actuated by patriotism: far otherwise. Still he was inconsistent as it respected liberty. He was the author of the celebrated Declaration of Independence; a document which speaks of liberty as a natural and inalienable right, and which denounces George III. as a tyrant for his attempts to deprive the Americans of it: and yet this man was then the owner of hundreds of slaves, and has continued so to the present day! It certainly was not his fault that his patrimonial estate was cultivated by slaves; the inconsistency lay in denouncing George III. as a tyrant, while he himself con

tinued to hold slaves without making any attempt to persuade the State Assembly to abolish slavery, or instituting means to prepare his own slaves for that freedom, which, according to the Declaration, is the birthright of all men. Washington too was the owner of slaves; but when we consider how little of his time was given to his private affairs, and how little the public attention had been drawn to the injustice and iniquity of slavery, we may fairly acquit him of a like inconsistency. That he lamented the existence of slavery and desired its extirpation, cannot be doubted; for by his will, he manumitted all his slaves; a measure, however, which was not consonant to his general prudence, as the slaves on an estate should not be released in a body, but gradually. His memory, however, will be revered by posterity as it is by the present generation, for his noble devotion to his country's interest, for his admirable and successful policy, for his avoiding the errors of heroes and conquerors, and for having shown his moderation by retiring from power, as soon as the new government had become sufficiently stable to continue without his paternal superintendence. The memory of Jefferson will be regarded with less esteem, and with considerable drawbacks. Some will censure his policy; others will question his

sincerity: his character at best will be considered equivocal. Yet because he succeeded in gaining the ascendancy of the Federalists, he was viewed by the Democrats as one of the greatest benefactors to his country.

Jefferson had not only a dislike to England, he had a detestation of it. While the policy of Washington tended to allay the hostile feeling occasioned by the revolutionary contest towards the mother country, that of Jefferson fostered and increased it. Hence the Democrats not only professed themselves the friends of republican France, but of Napoleon himself. It may appear anomalous that the party in America which advocated the cause of liberty (and it was this cause to which the Democrats avowed themselves particularly devoted,) should also espouse that of Napoleon, since no European monarch ruled more absolutely than he. Such inconsistences are however so common that we need not be surprised at them. The American advocates for liberty looked to what he overturned, not to what he established. They saw that the ancient dynasties were falling before him, and that a spirit of resistance to long established authority was every where rising. These things were enough for them. Napoleon's splendid deeds

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