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Show x qnTiu jtsnntiii. II seems as If every uewtpai-er lu the country la periodically atked nutations concerning the l'rcaljc-iicy aud l'rvaldeutlal electlons,all of which have beuu answered satisfactorily or as nearly as could be thu esu oil eaoh and uvc ry occasion. Uf course every, body docs net seo thesu topliut and sjme who do nrlin a forget, aud thus, llko tbo Prodigal sou, they return and, like the erring sou's father, the i upota unkothem altogether welcome. The rrvs is again calluj upon (or infor-mitlon infor-mitlon ngarillug the number of times a man cau bu elected lo the Pruil. dene), aud while uheerfully answering answer-ing will give a few words of explanation explana-tion along with It. Ihutlrst Presidential term was held ty a man who acuupted the placo lu defrrencu to thu uuHvtdod wishes of Ills countrymen George Washington The coluuliH had uit emerged (roni n long and devaitatlug war with the mother country, and In their disorganized disorgan-ized and Inexperienced condltlnii deemed It wlitit to begin the career n( Independence with the man at the head who had successfully lot them through thu war, rjomu historians think they would have placed a lilugly cruwu utou his brow 1( he had been willing lo wear It, but hu was Indeed I the father of his countr) alii would i countenance nothing which mad of riibllo ofllosis anything m ire than th people' njeuts, holding oOlce under much the same terms that employe! In the business affairs of life do that Is, when not Rising satlafacllon they can easily bo removed, A morojwpuler schemn (or conducting a government coull notbo ilovliul, rriiblloan lulls methods, democratic In lt es'unce, Wahlngtin's first turm was alto grtlie r satlsfsotory.and hu then wished to retire, but the peipU woull not have It so. The ejiilldeiios lu him which Ills successful conduot of the war had Inspire I had beooms strengthen strength-en I and roole I by reason of hit elvlo fealerahlp, anl he was ajeln unaul-mously unaul-mously ehosun. At the conclusion of this term another was propjsed, but this time lie would not yield, showing the people that an uullmllcd number of ti rms for any one would mean ser-vlcofpr ser-vlcofpr Ilfo.au J thls,stilppsJof heredity hered-ity In the matter of choice, was equivalent equiv-alent to being the head of n constitutional monarchy, no vestige of which was to tui tolerated on this soli. The fact win accepted and respected, John Adttip, who bad mtde'a good lleulouint under Washington, Wash-ington, was given the tjccsailon but was not honored with re election, 'Then rams Thomas Jetlersm, who rerved twice as did nlsj his auccttaor, James Mallsou and his tuosessor, James Monroe. This election for the second lime wai, with tho exception noted, becoming jmewhxt of a custom, but It endej with the last named, tho tootle concluding finally that there was no law or rule requiring Idem to reelect and that they hal as much right In law and loglo to confine a mau to onu term as to glvo or deny to him that one. Alter Monroe's second term tho drifting so much one way which had previously occurrel ceased, the next Presidential etiuteat, with four candidates lu the llolJ, leiullel 111 no cholco by tho electoral college, fit-lowed fit-lowed by the House of Iteprrseiilatlves choosing John (Jilnry Adams. Ho was agalu a candidate, bat was defeated de-feated by Andrew Jackson, who restored re-stored thutwo-turm practice but elld not transmit It, tlio next six Presldonti who woro chosen by electors and two whosucceedet to the otllce as Vice-Presidents Vice-Presidents by reason of death, holding but one term each, Abraham Lincoln Lin-coln then took tho office and was reelected re-elected but atmielnatcd a few weeks alter he was sworn In tho second time, and thus nearly the whole ot tho latter term wasservsJ out by Andrew John-eon, John-eon, tlensral Urant serve 1 out two full terms, Hayes then hal one term, (Jirlleld and Arthur Jointly one term, Cleveland one term and wot defeated for a second, Harrison one term and was defeated for a second. From tho foregoing relume It will t u teeuthatof late) ears tbu people liavu not taken altogether kin fly on most occasions to two terms for the President, Presi-dent, lot alone more than that. K Washington had alhered to his first resolve aud not permitted himself to be chosen a second tlme,undoubtcdly his example would havo been followed In that rea cot, ust as we have made what he did do ill that regard a limitation limita-tion beyond whlcb we aro not presumed pre-sumed to go. It hat liecome an un- wrltteu law, to violate ur override which woull not be treason against tlio government by any means, nor would It of necessity bu rorolutlouaiy, since there Is uo written law agalntt It; but It would lo n revolt re-volt agalntt a cherished tradition, tradi-tion, an uprising against what we reverently regard as a aiaereal precedent, pre-cedent, aud aa such Is not likely to be done. It has never, In fact, been at-limited at-limited but once, that was at the Chicago ooiiveiitlon which nominated General Garfield, Qcueral Grant's artisans t) the number of 300 held together to-gether for several ballots trying l securo his nomination tor the third (but not contecutlvo) time, but to lo urpe; and If asgruat and popular a mau at hecould uot succeed lu breaking break-ing the rult, It la not at all likely that auy oue rise ever ran. |
