Let me now … warn you in the most
solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party
generally. This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature,
having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. It exists
under different shapes in all governments, more or less stifled,
controlled, or repressed; but, in those of the popular form, it is
seen in its greatest rankness, and is truly their worst enemy.
The alternate domination of one
faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to
party dissension, which in different ages and countries has
perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful
despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent
despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline
the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of
an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing
faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this
disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of
public liberty.
The smallest
minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual
rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities.
