POLITICAL INDEPENDENCE.
PAUT ill.
IA paper read before "The Philosophical So
ciety , " of Denver , Fob. 14 , 1001 , by Louis R.
Bhrich , of Colorado Springs , Colo.J
It is necessary to make the people
understand tlnit , as Aristotle expressed
it , "Political society exists for the sake
of noble actions ; " that political parties
are mere tools to serve this end ; and
that these tools are to be changed as the
necessity of the hour may demand. At
present as that sterling independent ,
George William Curtis , once said : "The
superstition of Divine right has passed
from the king to the party , and the be
lief that it can do no wrong has become
the practical faith of the great multi
tudes. " No influence will tone up the
higher political faith of the community
like the spectacle of the man whom
neither the fear of the multitude nor
the temptation of office can swerve from
the path of truthful , ' courageous utter
ance on public issues. Example is ever
contagious.
"Be noble ! and the nobleness that lies
In other men , sleeping , but never dead ,
Will rise in majesty to meet thine own. "
Unfortunately , our schools and our
colleges instill in the American youth
the passion for success. The end of life
should not bo success , but service , and
he renders the highest service to society
who conscientiously endeavors to pursue
and to consistently speak the truth. The
man who founds his life on such an
ethical basis will not , cannot , cripple his
liberty of action by permanently bind
ing himself to any political party.
Nevertheless , this habit of political ,
independence need in no wise destroy
that sense of practical action which will
most conduce to the triumph of
desired principles. To me , under the
present condition of the national parties ,
it seems most unwise and unpi-actical to
attempt to organize a third party , ex
cept with the underlying intention of
contributing to the victory of that party ,
republican or democratic , whose success
appears at the time desirable. During
the late electoral campaign some
eminent citizens , disliking Mr. MoKin-
ley because of his imperialistic policy ,
and Mr. Bryan because of his "free
silver" views , advocated the organiza
tion of a third party , with the argument :
"Between two evils choose neither. " I
admit the validity of the argument , if
the two evils are of exactly the same
gravity and viciousuess ; and also , if the
third party can , by any possibility
founded on practical judgment , prevent
the adoption of one or the other evil. If
this is not so , then it would appear son-
Bible and imperative to assist in the vic
tory of the lessor evil. I cite a case in
illustration. In 1844 Polk represented
the interests of slavery. Henry Clay , of
whom Lincoln , in his debate with Doug
las , said : "He was my beau ideal of a
statesman , the man for whom I fought
all my humble life , " was nominated by
the Whigs , and was opposed to the ex
tension of slavery An effort was made
by the moderate anti-slavery men to pre
vent the extreme abolitionists from
nominating a third candidate. The fol
lowing extracts from letters of the time
which I discovered in an old pamphlet
are interesting. On April 10 , 1844 ,
William H. Seward , then governor of
New York , wrote as follows to the
"Whig young men of Rochester : " -'A
citizen who wishes to assert a principle ,
may do so by casting an isolated vote , or
by giving his suffrage with that of a
limited and inefficient party , and so far
ho may do well and deserve well. But
one who means to prevent evil , or to ac
complish good , must combine with one
or the other of the great parties into
which the people divide themselves , and
which always divide between themselves
the powers of government. Of those
parties there are never more than two at
one period. Thus believing , we attach
ourselves to the Whig party. " To tin's ,
Gerrit Smith , the ardent abolitionist ,
replied in part : "You state that the
mass of the people being divided between
the Whig and Democratic parties , and
the powers of government being , there
fore , in their hands , he who would ac
complish good must combine with one or
the other of these parties ? Now , it
strikes me , that a reason , which involves
so gross a violation of sound ethics ,
should be promptly abandoned by you ,
even though you should see no other
supportforyoxirposition. What ! Would
you have a man connect himself with
the Whig or Democratic party , who be
lieves both of them to be wicked in then ?
aims and measures ? To seek to improve
the character of a corrupt party by
joining it , and by thus lending one's
self to the furtherance of its wicked
schemes , is most emphatically 'to cast
out devils by the prince of devils. ' " Im
pelled by such views , the so-called
Libert } ' party nominated Mr. Birnoy
for the presidency. This party polled in
all 62,800 votes , of which 15,812 were
cast in the state of New York. Those
few New York votes defeated Henry
Clay. Horace Greeley wrote : "To
Birney & Co. , therefore , is the country
indebted for the election of Polk. " That
unfortunate election led to the annexa
tion of Texas , to the Mexican war ,
and straight to the great rebellion. I
have never found mention of this action
of 1844 in the memoirs of a single
abolitionist , which was not coupled
with the admission that it was a serious ,
if not a criminal , blunder.
To reform either of the political
parties , the pressure must come from
without. The man who protests , but
who keeps within the ranks of his party ,
is never feared by the practical politi
cian. Senator Hoar's arraignment of
the Philippine policy troubled the ad
ministration very slightly so long as ho
was willing to say that Mr. McKinley
was the best-beloved president who ever
sat in the presidential chair , and so long
as he stood ready to work for his re
election. The man they feared was lie
who had been affiliated with the repub
lican party for half a century , who had
been the recipient of distinguished
honors from that party , but whoso high-
souled sense of right and justice com
pelled him , in his eighty-third year , to
part company with Ms old political asso
ciates and to ally himself with the op
position. As I scan the public men of
our time , I can recognize no nobler typo
of citizen , no purer example of the true
patriot , no higher model for the political
independent , than George S. Boutwell ,
of Massachusetts.
Our republic needs the stimulus and
the disinfecting , purifying influence of
men who yield their devotion to the
country and not to party. Mr. Bryce
well says : "Perhaps no form of gov
ernment needs great leaders so much as
a democracy. The fatalistic habit of
mind perceptible among the Americans
needs to be corrected by the spectacle of
courage and independence taking their
own path and not looking to see whether
the mass are moving. Those whose
material prosperity tends to lap them in
self-complacency and dull the edge of
aspiration , need to bo thrilled by the
emotions which great men can excite ,
stimulated by the ideals they present ,
stirred to a loftier sense of what national
life may attain. "
We need , as a balance between the
selfishness , the heated partisanship , and
the unreasoning sheep-like following of
the two great political machines , the
organization of a large body of indepen
dents , who will labor for political puri
fication , whose ambition will be to serve
the highest and noblest interests of the
country under the stimulus of no other
reward than the consciousness of duty
faithfully followed , and who at all times
will stand ready to throw the weight of
their influence and of their numbers
against whichever party deserves
chastisement or defeat. The man who
allies himself with such an independent
body , whoso aim is truth , and whose
utterance flows from conscientious con
viction may appropriate to himself the
ringing words uttered by one of the
noblest representatives of exalted pat
riotism and of political independence to
whom this or any other country has
given birth :
"I honor the man who is ready to sink
Half his present repute for the freedom
to think ,
And when ho has thought , bo his cause
strong or weak ,
Will lisle t'other lialf for the freedom to
speak ,
Caring not for what vengeance the mob
has in store ,
Lot that mob be the upper ten thousand
or lower" .