| Show editorials EDI edl TO R r A THIRD TERM teru AND oid A large number of our ranies rannes in the east are ae discussing the question of a third term of the presidency in connection with general grant graut the new jew lew york merald herald esteems the present a critical period in the history of the united states the best way the herald suggests for the satisfactory settlement of the question would be for president grant to decline election reelection re but that paper caper cannot see ste any cause to suppose that he will do so and concludes an article on the subject as fol aws we mark in broad lines tho the tendency to Cres arism which exists as palpably as man exists exist in the government ot of the united states today to day we know that republics have been strangled in a night by hands that could less surely rely on thedr their forces than general grant could it if be he choge chose to make the attempt we have seen republics neome become feebler and feebler through the which grows out of plethoric purses and which allowed ambition from within or without to efface their liberties and their very names we have seen a corrupted republic grasped tightly I 1 y a marius and by a sylla stagger forlai d a pace or two only to fall forever before the blow of a caesar Im prator our danger may lio lie in any ot of the three personal power or corrupt corrupts corruption i n it is to guard it from all of them or from others not yet developed that we appeal to the patriotism and thought ot of the country lesliea Le illustrated newspaper thinks that if the people had credited the possibility of a third term lor for president grant he would have I 1 lad tad a much smaller majority for his second term that there la Is no other available republican candidate than grant that he is the man the whole army of politicians looking cooki ng to him as their leader and ho he being the open choice of the officeholders to whom a third term means continuation in place and power that lie he is as strong now with the politicians tic ians for a third term as he was I 1 ast last year for the second but weaker with the people says the ahrews paper va pez thus hus the people are arc hy by no means as ready to eive alve grant a third tera term up a they were to give him a second there was illustrious lust rious the one there ik none for the other no president ever held his office for twelve years but on the contrary washington jefferson and other great leaders of tho the republic warned the people against the dangers clangers of the perpetual re eligibility of the executive lincoln cren even in time of war held similar opinions jefferson believed it would result in making maung the office one for life and afterwards hereditary thus last year the country was convinced that grants second tenh term would be as a matter of course coarse his last they scouted the idea that he might seer seek to elect himself again and treated allwoo all ail who asger aster asserted ted the possibility of such a scheme as idle or malicious alarm As that the people donot think BO so now the present political condition gives sufficient proof the third term question is the question of the day we do not doubt at this distance from the contest for the presidential succession that grant Gran will twill be nominated re nomina ted dat bat his nomination re will seal the tomb of the republican party centralization will have no mo more mora re alarming effect than the nomination of a lares president dent for a third term and the people do not think any american worthy of that honor I 1 p t I 1 the atlanta i tga aga ga fr erald is more moro severe it says there fa Is no constitutional prohibition ot of a third term and it if grant giant can work his nu mero mere berous officeholders office holders bolders dexterously we see no reason why he should not be the nominee ot of the radicals again president grant is an ambitious man and anable an abie able mantoo man too silent and reserved as he may be he is a close observer and we have no doubt that he has thoroughly bounded sounded northern Nort herri herti sentiment sentiments and sund that he be thoroughly understands them today to daya day a majority ot of voters at the north ahre are not republicans they want a 14 strong government something centralized and they are prepared to vote for any man who will give them this president grant la Is the embodiment ot of centralism trail trall sm no man in the united states can be found round to 1111 iiii the position of cesar with so much satisfaction he believes in popular suffrage only so far as it elevates him and his creatures to office and he does not hesitate to crush the popular pular voice when he be lind find it antagonistic antagonist io t to his views such a man then has every chance ot of a third nomination and we seriously sly fear sear tearoy of a third election there ia nothing in him ot of the lotty lofty contempt ot of once office which characterized washington and ho be has lias nothing in common with jackson we agree with the tho new york het her herald aid ald that the re electing of u rant will inaugurate r an era of Cas arism perhaps it would be better to say would develop into full force the Cassai ham fam of he past ten yeara years those billbe willbe wise wha prepare in advance for it 0 spec special fal lal prescience is ig required to see beo that the old republic of the united states is dead here in the south esthe last stronghold of republicanism in this country someday some day it will assert itself and overthrow but not before the centralists centra lists of the north havo have succeeded in ca capping the pinnacle they bavo have erected with the oligarchy more odious than romme borne or venice ever possessed more odious because the present age Is enlightened and americans enjoyed ed unrestricted liberty for eighty five years before the republic of a voluntary union was destroyed and the so called republic of force forca and unquenchable animosities su substituted titu ted the lynchburg virginian virgi anian wants t the tho he independent press ta to D fight against the third term business believing that the country Is in danger from the of the dominant party that has made an idol of its military chiet chief who in conjunction with his pensioned neglect no too effort to bring thew the whole hole bole patronage of the government now immense and increasing to bear upon the question and to promote his interest and theirs by keeping the administration of affairs in the hands of those who now govern it behooves the independent press of the country to warn the people against the evil with which they are arc threatened the paducah K urges a constitutional am amendment i prohibiting a second teim the remedy tor tor for a third term ls Is of course that advocated by horace greeley and endorsed at cincinnati and baltimore a constitutional amendment making the president ineligible for a second term what the country needs and what it must have lave at atan an early dabit our republican liberties are to be preserved to tou us sare bare are aro the amendment spoken of a capable and patriotic chief magistrate an honest congress and a thorough and genuine reform in the civil services until we have all these the country cannot bo be satisfied that we have a republican form of government gov eminent which Is not liable to be overthrown at any time tim THE national union thinks grants election would be doub doubtful trul there ia Is no denying g that grant ig Is very willing to accept a nomination tor for a third term and that he has the power to force this nomination from his party the oni only question with him is as to the result of sua sun such a nomination it if he can assure himself of an election there la Is little doubt that bo be will be in the nield field but Buti it tisby la by no means certain that the rank and nile file of the republican party can be brought up to his support fora third term while there are a few prominent men in the party who think they deserve something and may possibly hold back from his support in the event grant forces hii his nomina nomination uon the washington chronicle is not alarmed as the people know enough to prevent them falling ill lii into general slavery the new york liewald says that wo we are gradually drifting hito into owing to tro tco corruptions corrupt ions that have crept into public life the people have the remedy and when found necessary essary will know now bow U t apply it they disposed of one system of slavery and will hardly allow another to 1 feet et control of our body politic the lockport at N Y union says it must not be the heran makes no mistake in directing attention to the issue which must overtop all others until it is ii finally and ably settled mr grants usurpation in louisiana equals in defiance of law any single acl act of caesar in his progressive overthrow of the roman koman republic to evade the fate of that empire mr grant must not be allowed to enter upon his third term it may have been noticed by the observing that those republicans who last pail pall denounced denounce dl tn in adva advance nee uee any project looking to mr granva grants continuance in office beyond his present term are now reticent upon the subject or venture the assertion that a third term is likely to become a nels ityl it is vain to talk of tariffs or monopolies while this question Is pending the tile augusta ga chronicle thinks the campaign 0 must be fought over again every important act of the presidents since pince his second inaugural seems scerne to indicate that he is preparing for a third term that Oms arism is to be the issue with all its tyranny and corruption its viciousness and depravity without the prosperity the glory and the grandeur which made its despotism despot desput ism endurable to this complexion must it come at last unless the people remain true to themselves and true to the faith of their fathers the founders of the republic sab Sag sagacious aclo acio u I 1 statesmen foresaw and depicted depleted the evil more than a year ago charles sumner whose republicanism Is R as s undoubted as his talents told Corig congress tress and the coun conn ry of from his seat in the senate more than a twelvemonth bince no race greeley the great journalist the the man able honest and sincere saw the danger and bounded sounded a warning wayning in the columns of the tribune other republicans saw it and sought to save the party from the suicidal nomination at philadelphia when they became convinced that further exertions within party lines would be useless cs they renounced their allegiance they determined to act for themselves and the cincinnati platform and the nomination of horace greeley was the first formal protest cotest against the one man power the democracy losing sight of lesser evils in the presence of great and lin immediate mediate danger coalesced with the reformers and fought with them shoulder to shoulder the battle of 0 73 but the strategy of the enemy caused the true grounds of quarrel to be ignored and forgotten the conflict was waged upon false issues and the cincinnati movement encountered a crushing defeat now the campaign must be recommenced and aud though the last fight was lost and the enemy has the prestige of success the prospects for victory will be better than they ever were before which formerly lay in ambush now rears high its brazen front fronts and there is no mistaking the character of the foe the springfield lass mass A republican thinks there is more ground for alarm on account of dry rot corruption than the tendency to caesar cosar ism T that ilat paper says jt Is an interesting ana and suggestive though perhaps not necessarily alarming symptom P m of the abnormal pathological e condition in which the body politic lenow now finds itself that in the first half year of an american presidents second term so many politicians and political journals should be found discussing the chances of his third term thus a washington correspondent informs the boston post that a conference of officeholders office holders was held last list week at long branch to arrange the pr preliminaries ellmina 11 and that it is not denied the president knew of it further that the prime movers count first upon the patronage second upon the influence of the moneyed interests the railroads national banks protected manufactures and great capitalists that supported genera grant BO so effectively effect vely acly last year third upon the inability of any other one candidate to r rally raily ily lly around him a majority of nf the party fourth upon the inability of the opposition to concentrate and act in unison if by any accident the president should run again he would probably run ran better at the south than in any other section of the country the predictions of the courier Journ Jou milon uon don that head are coming true with a rapidity that Is rather startling we are not our readers very weil yell know to exaggerate the importance of this third term talk much of it Is doubtless idle and meaningless making all fair allowances however we have still a residuum of earnestness calculation serious purpose there are a few men and journals that regard general grants rants G election reelection re in 1476 as both feasible and desirable there are a great many men and journals that could be pretty certainly relied upon in the event ol 01 his getting the 11 regular nomi bomi nomination nation to support him they would not find in a the act of his having already served two terms any solid objection to presenting him with a third that Is to say cay the wash ington precedent has lost for the moment at least much of its sanctity the war Is largely responsible for this as for a number of other things good and bad there may be a deac reaction on by and by and a return to the old paths we hopland hope and believe there will be but at present there Is not among us that vigilant jealousy of rulers that exaggerated but wholesome dread ot of personal government that watchful care that the democratic republic sustains no injury at the hands of powerful public arr ser servants that used to to characterize the american people in the storm more than one cable has parted more man tuan one anchor anchon has been lost the ship has drifted a long way from her old moorings and there Is a lee shore in sight right we do not look to see bee her go to wreck upon this shore however we still retain an abiding and reassuring faith in the republic we believe her to be in greater danger dan ger at dt this moment from the dry rot of corruption than from caes Coes arism 11 we see sec no reason to budge from the opinion heretofore expressed in these columns that general grant cannot get a even if he Is after it of which there Is as yet no satisfactory proof moreover we do tot pot not believe the people peaple are ready as yet for either the ife life lie consulate or the empire it is quite possible the spectacle of a president openly seeking a third term might give precisely that shock to the national system which Is needed to dispel the lethargy that now oppresses it bet set the blood tingling through the veins and restore the suspended functions to a normal activity the providence journal To cant understand why the question should be sprung so early and in dog days weather bather the lynchburg virginian thinks it ominous that administration organs do not disavow the purpose to put grant in for a third term and ana says if therefore grant should seem to bey bet be three years hence the strongest man in the he pars pary he will again be nominated for he iris ich office he now holds but does not iii ili we may rest assured that he and his holders wil wll try to make that appear a a fact act and the prediction ot of frank la is likely to be fulfilled the new york thinks grant rant and the republic will drive things to the bitter end the berald |
