Rensselaer Union, Volume 11, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 July 1879 — FACTIOUS. [ARTICLE]

FACTIOUS.

In a froo country, in a republic, where the people choose those who make and those who execute the laws, where they diotatu the policy that is to be observed with relation to home matters as well as in their intercourse as a nation with the nations and peoples of the world, eaoh voter should make a careful survey of the past and gain a clear knowledge oJ'its lessons—lts errors that he may avoid them, its virtues that he may practice them —should observe the present circumspectly, and endeavor to prudently provide lor the peace, welfare, happiness and permanent scourity in the enjoyment of these privileges and rights by himself, his fellow-men and his posterity. This thought should be uppermost in his mind vtfien he chooses his political affiliations. It is never the act of intelligence to be swayed and controlled by passionate epithets, to be prejudiced and moved by vindictive detaination. ( The noble charter of otrr liberal government was adopted by our fathers “to establish justice, insnrs domestic tranquility, pronioto tbs general welfare * * and secure the blessings of liberty” to themselves and to those who should iollow them.

The true province of government is to secure to its citizens protection for life and property and the greatest possible measure of liberty. For this purpose the natnral sovereignty of the citizen is measurably pledged in our national constitution for the good of all. All laws that are passed by congress, approved by the president and sanctioned by the supreme court, should operate with justioe and equity upon all of the citizens of the United States alike, in every portion of her territory. When this proposition is submitted to the individual in the light of its bearings upon himself, regardless of its application to others, it ipvaribly meets with a cordial assent; thus is its justness put beyond question. A taction is a number of people united by a common pasbion or a common prejudice which is hostile to and subversive of the permanent interests of the nation.

The greatest danger to the perpetuity of the government, and, in consequence, to individual liberty, arises from the tyrannical and pernicious influence of taction. The cause of faction is to be traced to the baser passions of human nature. The influence of faction is weak or powerful, in proportion to the ignorance or the intelligence of the mass of people. Inordinate ambition and over intense zeal for cherished theories in politics and religion beget rivalries, animosities, intolerance and tbo mental slavery of party and sectarian bigotry. A faction whose minds become raotbid from brooding over misfortune, conclude that the nation should impair her contracts with creditors, in the interest of the debtor class; at the same time they inveigh against class legislation, apparently unconcious of the grotesque inconsistency of their position. Another faction, biased'* by its ravenous thirst for power and stirred to wrath by real or imagined instances where juries have given partisan verdicts, hastens to enact a law which defiles the purity and destroys the sanctity of the jury system by requiring that eaoh accepted juror shall declare himself a partisan. The lpftdcrs of another factiony-whether from innate hatred of the government or because of a belief that at sorno time in the remote past soldiers tried to influence elections (which attempt, if it was ever made, was in disobedience of law and orders), clamorously domaud that no soldier shall ever be permitted to appear near to where an election ia being held, neither for the preservation of peace, to prevent violence, nor to repel an enemy. All such hasty, ill-advised legislation is demanded by and in the interest of faction, and not for the good of the whole people, in.all portions of the country. has much to fear from these faotional fungus growths. The most trivial circumstances often excite violent conflicts and lead to rash and sinister proceedings. Factions fail a failure to search out causes or to estimate results. The fountains of mischief are broken up and flow

unchecked. Libel and slander, in public and in private, feed the fires ot prejudice. Projects conceived in sin and nourished by factional intolerance often confnse the lines of justice to perplex those who 'would do right. People harken to the sophistries of demagogues until their judgment is warped, their power to discriminate between the. true and tbri false is weakened, and they fall infatuated victims of evil machinations. Thk Uniox would call thoughtful attention' to some 6f the more alarming positions ofdw taken by faotious that art, industriously working to poison th'fi public mind: The delicate relation of debtor and creditor is with subtile skill, and a rrihfloi’a'-b'ox of communistic, evils threatens to scatter its plagues upon the body politic. The aim of the perverse spirits that control this TactioiTia Co Tjotripot'a

general distribution of the property that has beeft earned by-pattern toil and saved fry pfpvident economy—to compel a div Mon among the idle, the earless, the profligate and the vicious 6'f (he wealth accumulated by industry, enterprise and prudence. They would repudiate all debts, corrupt the piople, violate the constitution of pur coffrrtry, destroy society; would wfpe out as with a-sponge every inducement to labor, every encouragement of enterprise, the incentives to individual or public improvement or to invention; indeed the legitimate result of their doctrine is to stop nnd relapse into barbafitfrtb Honesty is always, under all conditions and with every conceivable complication of circumstances, the superlatively good—the very best—and the only wise policy, for indivduals, for corporations, for communities, and as much more for nations and governments as comparison shows nations and governments to be more conspicuous, more influential a'ffd More important than the communities, the i'orpoimtfbVts aid (ltd persons which are their atoiWf. The fourth amendment to the constitution of the United States deolares that “the right of the people to b<s secure in their effects shall not be violated,” Why.should any honest nnd patriotic man want to join in the unjust, dishonest, wicked and treasonable crusade of these pestilent foes of national integrity? Why not ill honest men and patriots sink partisan feeling and unite tor the public good to inculcate the doctrines of justice, equity, honesty and right among the thoughtless and indifferent, and to enact laws based upon these wholesome priii ciples? There is a faction that insists that states are sovereign, that they are superior to the nation, that to the state and not to the nation is due the highest allegiance of citizenship, that state laws are of supreme consideration and that national laws are odious and galling to local pride. This doctrine of local supremacy is a one-stringed harp that is played upon by repudintors, nulliflers, secessionists aud rebels. With the argument they would justify their crimes. It is the strong position of those legislators wbt> refuse to provide means uinrep aaled -flaitouai daws. It is plead in justification by those who stubbornly rciuse to accept the result of the last presidential election. It is the apology of those who would starve the government and cripple its efficiency because the president refused to violate his oath of office and commit perjury by Writing his approval of enactments which he believed were unwise and subversive of the public good. It exculpates the bullies who bluster that a president from their faction shall be inaugurated in 1881. Thoso who argue for supremo artificial internal corporate sovereignties in this nation affect to believe that in 1870 the defeated candidate tor president should have attempted to seize upon the office by armed force. This doctrine advocates "lawless violence and counsels treason. This is a mischievious sentiment that tickles the vanity of the ambitious and mines the foundations of the nation.

A sinister faotion whispers its suspicious fears of centralization. The national soldier is denounced as a criminal and branded as an outlaw. He is accused ot harboring sentiments inimical to the free institutions he has voluntarily sworn to defend with his life. Ho is charged with being ready to betray at the signal of a superior the flag that he has followed to a hundred victories. Each display of vigor that makes a government respected, and every intimation of thatpower without which governments would fail of the purposes for which they are instituted, is characterized by these timid dispeptics as so many Steps towards consolidation. They teach the nearer anarchy the more perfectly secure is liberty, and their ad captandum appeal on this premise is most seductive to the ignoraut. This faction is continually advocating the rogue’s doctrine of nonintervention, noocoercion, noninterference and nonsupervision. The advocates of this theory deny that uational elective officers are more than the mere agents of the state*; .

It is important that factions that attempt to gain the supreme control in a mighty nation by corruption, sophistry or threats of violence, should be mot by a counter expression ot the people in favor of order, law aud that liberty which is not license, which, does not encroach upoivthe rights of others,but which has for companions justice and equity,. The time for this expression is on election day, and the place is at the ballot box. People Will be distinctly divided by the coining political campaign. The issues promise to be clearly marked and sha/piy tfeflridel. Fervid Appeals to’ pasturin and personal resentment will have influence with .some, but reason should boar sway. The private reputations 6f pnfblio servants will be assailed and held up to execration, but defatuatioii, slander arid libel Art urit pfdbfc of guilt', it ; ' V , - -

is iae'y Enough to accuse ( ,{bp innocent of jfrlnje.. The, recently enacted uolitical jury system wilf feed the flnnfres of ivil passi&h. .Shall tjlie edicts of faction -be endorsed for thf„uiiifcst%i.of party aiid to the disgrace of the nation f