ound statesmanship. The Republican party is held together,
in part, by the "cohesive power of public plunder," or compacted into
unity by distrust or hatred of the South. The Democratic party, as
unsound as its antagonist on the vital questions of tariff, currency,
finances, and the character of the General Government, has practised
the fatal maxim that "to the victors belong the spoils," and, in
special localities, has been implicated in corruption. The history of
parties in England and the United States shows that any party long in
power will become corrupt. To rely upon any party, or the wisdom or
sense of justice of any government, for protection of property or
guaranty of civil or religious liberty, is to lean upon a broken reed;
for rights never enforce themselves, and are soon gone unless sustained
by more potent means than the justice or honor of those in power. A
President is impotent of himself, soon passes into private life, and is
at best but a man.

Alike futile is the notion, sometimes finding audible expression, that
an arbitrary government or a monarchy would bring relief. Our fathers,
in throwing off a kingly government and setting up a constitutional
republic, acted in the full light thrown on popular rights by all
preceding history. They did not live in prehistoric or barbaric times,
but acted with rare wisdom and patriotism. More sagacious men never
planned a government, and blindly and suicidally would we act to prefer
or accept a monarchy. The centuries of the past are eloquent with
wisdom and plethoric with instructive examples on this subject. God has
never given any exclusive rights to special families, and all
historical records confirm, with the Scriptures, the folly of choosing
a king. How often in such governments is public policy dependent on
royal whims, on palace intrigues, on the taste or caprice of the
boudoir! Monarchy has been the rule of violence; inequality and
centralization are of its essence. The rebellion in England and the
French revolution were the long-delayed protests of outraged peoples
against ruinous taxation and hurtful tyranny and cankerous corruption.
When the disgraceful crimes by men in high places were exposed last
year European journals made themselves merry over the corruptions which
they alleged were the legitimate outgrowths of democratic institutions.
In the first place, our Government is not a democracy, and never was
intended to be. Secondly, monarchies are n