Slavery Question in Oregon. 215 soou become to a great extent a compact and mercenary or- ganization. And this result comes, not because all or a ma- jority of partisans are demented or corrupt, but from various other causes. Some have over-confidence in those fillin.;^ places of control; some adhere from mere partisan spirit or prejudice, like the great Dr. Samuel Johnson, Avho was s » much of a Tovy that he would not admit that a Whig coul:i be honest. Some follow the partisan standard because their fathers did; some from inability to part with their political associates; others from memory of the party's past good record and the hope that, though it may sometimes go wrong, it will be nearer right on the average than its opponent. Some fall in from sheer habit or the pride of being rated as reliable and not subject to the stigma of being a vacillator"— "a quitter. ' ' But among all these, and holding them in line, are the shrewd, ambitious, unscrupulous self-seekers, encouraging the weak, chiding the skeptical, holding out prospects to the aspiring, succoring the needy and infusing a blind party spirit into the whole mass. And this conglomeration of patriots and purveyors was the only avenue to government employment, and subservience to it the prime qualification for promotion. At first, a voluntary organization intended to be a service- able adjunct to government, by the performance of necessary functions, such as the public discussion of mooted questions, the dissemination of knowledge pertaining to public affairs, the ascertainment and carrying into execution the will of its members, all this and much more that a political party could and should do in the promotion of the general interests; but through the corrupting influence of the bribery system which is the natural ally of privilege, degenerated into a mere tool of class interests. In a party so constituted and governed there was no en- couragement to independent thought and action with an eye single to the public welfare. Continuous and unbroken servility was sufficient. The individual, unless powerful enough to control, was suppressed, and strange to say that
