| Show the presidential office Is it consistent with true republicanism the danger of Oses arism T those hose who suppose that general grant will need a third term to give his fame falness and enable him to finish his work do him grave injustice even while they would flatter and applaud upon this theory rests the only argument that can commend itself to his mind in in favor of a to the presidency caesar was told that his victories in gaul his triumphs of administration in spain and the wealth and power he added to the republic Ke public could only find compensation in a diadem napoleon was told that he alone kad had had the skill and statesmanship to save france the one ascended a throne the other was stabbed on the steps of a throne the president is surrounded by men like mark antony and i talleyrand who speak to him as they spoke to caesar and napoleon before them lies a contented happy prosperous country caring only for money and lands and harvests harves S incredulous about political affairs and neither seeing nor caring for the danger this was precisely the situation of rome Coes caes arism was not known until it had reigned in the person of many emperors no now ive lve we lay it down as a cardinal maxim maxim that great as any man may be the country is still greater that when it is necessary to place any one man above the country something is radically wrong in its institutions we have a presidential office with noble useful attributes but in many essentials as royal as the office of the czar there i is no limit to what a popular 1 dent can do for we saw in in the time of mr johnson that impeachment as a constitutional expedient was wm as useless and obsolete as the punishment for treason in the common law of england we do not say that a president could not or rather would not be removed for any extraordinary tra personal of fence for crimes against society like those of charles 11 II or george IV but only a revolution like that w which ich ieh overthrew charles I 1 and james II 11 would remove a president who had become politically obnoxious for good or for evil there he stands immutable le in his high office above all power and responsibility in some respects our constitution is no better than the constitution of england which tolerated charles 1 I and aud the tho circumstance is pain maln fully apparent that a largo large part of the ruling men inthe in the le ie publican party are negatively committing themselves to the tho principle of cee in the of PW raa aident grant that in other words they are silent and acquiescent and for fear of wounding the feelings of general grant say nothing on the question most interesting to the people and to friends of liberty elsewhere ele where X it is so very easy to tell a successful soldier or any man in fact who may have attained supreme power that he comes from god to save the state with the increase of luxury and wealth there is always a party craving the distinctions the and social gratifications of a court we are told the presence of a court encourages cou rages business and elegance in manners high and gentle courtesy and a spirit of honorable emulation among men and what are all the treasures of the vain and aspiring if their possessors are only as other men and have never a coronet or a star there is the powerful class class who have all the country can give them and dread nothing but change and if by any means they could dispose of their honors and offices as they do of their gallis gains how happy would they be behind is the timid and conservative class what the french would call the bourgeoix bourgeoisie c who fear very every election as mariners marinero ma do the northerly gales or the desert pilgrims the dreadful sirocco winds the class who saw in the probable success of mr greeley the paralysis of all true business interests the shrink of all values chaos and panic to these men becomes a principle for they have no patriotism that is not p purely gel bel selfish nish fish the interests of the country are identical in all respects with their own mid and behind these classes we have the political element which subsists on political ventures as the pirates of the grecian archipelagoes used to subsist on the captured ships of venice and genoa and who would care little whether the president was for life and wore a crown so they could pursue their gainful 1 calling the tile fact that we stand in presence of a contingency involving the liberties of the country is conclusive that in our constitution there is a radical error we are striving to draw the attention of the country to a danger that may come at any time timer a danger inherent in our constitution and laws A declaration from general grant now that he would not be a candidate for election reelection re would be an act of magn on his part but the country countey does not liot care to have its liberties at the mercy of any mans magnanimity x caesar cresar was necessary to rome so let caesar be crowned cromwell was the savior of england so let him reign for life as lord protector and his children in his stead napoleon was the supreme genius of french valor and military skill so let him be emperor 0 of F france rance and king of italy and let his brothers and sisters reign also that his glory may be full we call this caes Coes arism and we do not at all see how it differs from the sp rit ritt that would general grant because the country needs his services are wo we not to suppose that the tho services of general grant are at the command of the country whether lie is in the white house or a private gentleman on his missouri farm and if general grant is an indispensable president are we capable of self government if any man is indispensable pen sable the sooner we throw our constitution into the sea and return under the sceptre of victoria the better for our peace forthe for the lesson we have not learned has been i learned in england in that country has control over the government the control is not as direct and simple as that exercised in france by the assembly and there are many forms and offices in the english government that might be avoided but the spirit is alive ave and grows with each advance of the english liberal party noman no man has had any marked dominance in england since the time of marlborough the elder pitt and wellington came nearer to maribo marl mari borough r but none of these men were as stron strong cr as general grant is today to day as lincoln jennerson jefferson tind and jackson were in their day the spirit which made jemerson jefferson but more especially jackson and lincoln so puissant was only a form of the cues Cres arism which is making mailing itself a power in our ies les in those days the people were not as susceptible to its influence as now strange thing things have occurred in america the public tone lias has become lowered congressmen have grown rich from bonds and subsidies which they voted out of the treasury a company of thieves have held new york under their hands and robbed it of millions forgery and perjury have become political accomplishments and seats in the senate are bot boc bought ight with money as the purple of the caesars caesaro was wa monto monyo bought aught when the praetorian guards were in power we have no praetorian guards it is true but the men of whom nir air colfax may be regarded as the most prominent example e the praetorian Proe torian guards of the republican party have made coes Coas arism possible in our time and have compelled us to open an issue with the people which has not had bad its parallel in gravity since the foundation of the government aeto ew york mefa Yera merald herald Zd |
