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Show 446 INAUGURAL AND FAREWELL ADDRESSES. It oxists nnc1er di(fcrent shapes, in all g-ovrmments, more or h·ss stifled, cont rolled, or repressed; bnt in tho. e of the popular form it is :een in its greale t rankness, and is truly their wor t enemy. The nlLernate domination of one faction over another· shnrpenerl by the spirit of revenge, natural to party di sen~ sion, whi ·h, in different ages and countries, has perpetrated the most horrid enormiLies, is it. elf a frightful clespotiRm. But this leads, at lcngt.l1, to a more formal and permn 11 ent c1 Rpoti. m. '!'he disorders nnd miseries which result, grndually incline the minds of men to seck security and repose ir. the nhsolnte power of an individual; and, sooner or Inter the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortnnate than his competitors, tnrns this disposition to the purposes of hi own elevation on the ruins of pnblic liberty. vVithout looking forwn.rcl to an extremity of tllis kind (which, nevcrthclc. s, ought not to be enlirely ont of sigh t,) the comm.on and conlinnal mischief.') of tho spirit of party nrc suffic ient to make it the i11tere t and duty of a wi. 0 people to discourage nnd rc ·Lrain it. H tends always to distract Lhe public councils, and cnfcchle the pnblic ndmini t.ration. It agitates the commmunity with ill-founded jealou ies and fal. e alarms; kindles the animosity of one part against another; foments, occasionally, riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreirrn influence and corruption, which find a facilitated access ~0 the government itself, through the channels of party pnssions. Thus the policy and the will of one country are suujectrct to the policy and will of anoLher. '!'here is nn opinion thn,t parties, in feee countries, arc useful checks upon the admini. tmtion of the government, nnrl serve to keep alive the pirit of liberty. This, within certain li111its, is probably true; and in governments of a monarchical cast, patriotism may look with indulrrence if • b ' not With favor, upon the spirit of party. But in those of INAUGURAL AND FAREWELL ADDRESSES. 447 the popular character, in govcrllmcnts pnrcly elective, it is a spirit not to be encouraged. I~'rom tl1 eir natnral tend ency, it is certain there will always be enongh of that spirit for every salntary purpose. Anrl there being confitnnt danger of excess, the eO'ort ought to be, by force of public opinion, to mitigate and assuage it. .A fir·e not to be qn cnchecl, it demands a uniform vigilaucc to prevent its bursting into a fln.me, lest, instead of warming, it should consnme. It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinkin g, in n. free country, should inspire caution in those intrn st c(l wi th its administration, to confine themselves within their reRIH'Ctive con. titutional spheres, avoiding, in the exerci. c of the powers of one department, to encroach upon nuotb er. Tho spirit of encroachment tends to con ol idatc the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a real despoti, ll1. A ju.·t cstimaLe of that love of power, and proneness to abuse it, which predominates in the human heart, is suffieient to sali~fy ns of the truth of this position. 'fhc necessity of rrcipro ·nl checks in the exercise of political power, by dividing a1Hl di tributing it into different clcpo:ilarics, and COIL ti tuting each the guardian of the public weal, against inva. ion hy the others, has been evinced by experiments, ancient aud modern ; some of them in om· own country, and under our own eyes. 'l,o preserve them must be as necessary as to institute them. If, in the opinion of the people, the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be, in any particular, wrong, Jet it be corrected by an amendment in the way which the Constitution designates. But let th ere be no change by usn rpation ; for thongh thi , in one in. tance, may be the instrnmcnt of good, it is the customary weapon by which frco governments are destroyed. The precedent must always greatly overbalance, in permanent evil, any partial or transient benefit which the use can, at any time, yield. |