s country was governed by a _connection_; I
mean, the great connection of Whigs in the reign of Queen Anne. They
were complimented upon the principle of this connection by a poet who
was in high esteem with them. Addison, who knew their sentiments, could
not praise them for what they considered as no proper subject of
commendation. As a poet who knew his business, he could not applaud them
for a thing which in general estimation was not highly reputable.
Addressing himself to Britain,--

"Thy favorites grow not up by fortune's sport,
Or from the crimes or follies of a court.
On the firm basis of desert they rise,
From long-tried faith, and friendship's holy ties."

The Whigs of those days believed that the only proper method of rising
into power was through hard essays of practised friendship and
experimented fidelity. At that time it was not imagined, that patriotism
was a bloody idol, which required the sacrifice of children and parents,
or dearest connections in private life, and of all the virtues that rise
from those relations. They were not of that ingenious paradoxical
morality, to imagine that a spirit of moderation was properly shown in
patiently bearing the sufferings of your friends; or that
disinterestedness was clearly manifested at the expense of other
people's fortune. They believed that no men could act with effect, who
did not act in concert; that no men could act in concert, who did not
act with confidence; that no men could act with confidence, who were not
bound together by common opinions, common affections, and common
interests.

These wise men, for such I must call Lord Sunderland, Lord Godolphin,
Lord Somers, and Lord Marlborough, were too well principled in these
maxims upon which the whole fabric of public strength is built, to be
blown off their ground by the breath of every childish talker. They were
not afraid that they should be called an ambitious junto; or that their
resolution to stand or fall together should, by placemen, be interpreted
into a scuffle for places.

Party is a body of men united for promoting by their joint endeavors the
national interest upon some particular principle in which they are all
agreed. For my part, I find it impossible to conceive, that any one
believes in his own politics, or thinks them to be of any weight, who
refuses to adopt the means of having them reduced into practice. It is
the business of the speculative philosopher to mark the