Faction. The word faction coming from the Latin facere , is used to signify the state of a soldier at his post in faction , the squadrons of four or the troups of fighters in the circle, the green, blue, red and white factions. See Faction (Ancient History). The principal meaning of this term signifies a seditious party in a government. The term party by itself has nothing odious about it, that of faction always does. A great man and a mediocre one can easily command a party in the court, in the army, in the city, in literature. One can command a party through his merit, by warmth and the number of his friends, without being the head of a party. Marshal Catinat, little respected at court, created for himself a large party in the army, without claiming to do so. A head of a party is always a head of a faction : such were the Cardinal de Retz, Henri le duc de Guise, and so many others.

A seditious party, when it is still weak, when it does not divide all of government, is only a faction . Cesar’s faction soon became the dominant party that swallowed up the republic. When the emperor Charles VI disputed Spain with Philip V he controlled a party in his kingdom, and in the end there was no longer but a single faction . It is thus that there are synonymous words in serveral cases, which cease being so in others.