Memoirs of John Adams Dix; comp. by his son, Morgan Dix.

1828-1830.] BIRTH OF A NEW " WHIG" PARTY.

113

outcasts and remnants of party; men who are ever sagacious in discovering that a declining cause has ' no ground of principle,' and that a rising
one is the cause of religion and philanthropy; whose hopes of success
depend upon disturbing the established order and institutions of society;
and who are always prompt to advocate excitement of any species, withdrawing its efforts from its legitimate aims, and going on in friendly
companionship in its course to power. Among the Antimasons there are
many virtuous individuals, who will in future times, when the present
indignation shall have had its crisis, be surprised at the transition which
has taken place in their measures, while their motives have remained the
same-who will be unable to comprehend how they have been deluded
into the support of men whom, in dispassionate moments, they would
deem utterly unworthy of their co-operation and confidence. It should
have been a reflection with every honest man, when the efforts of Antimasons were first pointed to the acquisition of political power, whether
he would be willing to share political power with such coadjutors.
Nothing but undue passion could have overlooked the inquiry or obscured the reply. Happily the inquiry has now become a common one,
and the process of separation is going on so rapidly that we may soon
expect to see the Antimasonic phalanx reduced to a meagre array of
bigotry and prejudice, supported, or rather enfeebled, by those derelicts
of party who, for the last ten years, have been volunteers at every gathering, and fugitives at every defeat.
"The whole matter of Antimasonry, as a political question, resolves
itself into a very simple proposition, which this community is called on
to decide. Shall the reins of government be continued in the hands of
the party which now holds them-the party which has always been
faithful to the great cause of Republican principles-the party with which
all our most grateful recollections and our best hopes are associated; or
shall this party be abased, and insanity and passion be elevated to the
scats of power? We would not wrong this community so much as to
entertain the slightest doubt of the manner in which this question will
be put at rest. Even if the issue of the late elections in the very strongholds of this new political sect, where its merits are best appreciated,
had not brought us unerring assurance of its approaching downfall,
respect for the people of this State would forbid us to entertain a suspicion which would be equally inconsistent with their good-sense and
justice, and with the intellectual light of the age in which we live."
The Antimasonic movement ultimately died out; but in
expiring it gave birth to a new party, which in after-years
I. —8