The New York herald., 1873-09-01

seemed to imply that he was the favOrite OF the
Convention, but they were ingeniously bareaned
for to be used only in the preliminary skirmish.
The majority OF the delegates sat pencil in hand,
counting the ballots, ready to change their votes
to Mr.. Greeley when the Adams tide should swell
to the boundary OF decision II the free trade
doctr1ndtres who managed Adams case for him:
and ana VINO ultimately, IN large part transferred
NR. sREELBY THE ELIGIBLE NAN.
HERALD REPREsENTATIvE-Wel, Mr. Wilkes as
you do not seem to think well OF the Adams move
that Mr.. Adams would have polled larger vote
L against General Grant than Mr.. Greeley
/ ment was Grants arst play. Mr. Adams was not
ltonly in his employ, but in the enjoyment Of the
FIRST great prize Of his II British
away to England just previous to the sitting OF the
Cincinnati Convention leaving nlppant letter
holding him open to its choice, Kept him distinctly
free for a refusal 1t was an obvious artifice and
yond The seas when too late Tor the evil to be rene
died Dy reassembage OF the Convention. We are
| justified IN believing, irom many circumstances IN
| connection with this Adams performance at Gin
|, cinnati from
! HIS OWN DECEPTIVE. poUBLE-DEALING LETTER
4 his immediate disappearance alter that letter was
I written, his neglect TO express any gratitude 70
| the Convention which had treated his name with
Grants own subsequent and unprecedented
| eulOgium OF him alone OF our other Geneva Com
missoners In the centre OF al inaugural address;
say it is fair conclude, from ali these circum-
\ stances, that the Adams movement at Cincinnati
TO PLAY INTO GRANTS HANDS.
Doubtless Mr. Adams had been made to believe
that his reward for lending himself to the Cincin-
natl movement would make him Grants sue
cessOr. He will find, however, that Ulysses has
already paid him as much as he intends, and will
little free trade and tariff dOc6indtres who then
appear in the anti-Grant Convention OF 1875, pro-
! claiming that the questions of
REVENUE, IMPosT AID TAXATION
are more vital to people than personal liber ty
ready to relapse to Gran. when they have finished
their disturbing part. do not know that can
present greater likelihood OF this than by refer
ring to the part played by Mr. Stanley Matthews at
!. Cincinnati who after having accepted the first
honors Of the Convention 10y acting as its tempo
its nominations and declared himself for Grant.
THIS Is quite In keeping with the conduct OF Adams
who permitted his name to go before the COnven
tiOn and who reppdiated Its action because he was
net nominated Mr. Greeley was therefore
THE TRUE CHOICE OF THE CONVENTION;
he was the logical representative Of the trlumphs
. of the period his name made deeper incislon
have been put forward, and he JUSTIFIED his nOmina-
tion by exhibiting power Of discussion and finally
iiby polling ling vote which needed only the support
country from the alarm which now oppresses It.
1t Is very easy for
and for republicans who are attenng upon adminis-
tration spOils to sneer at Mr.. Greeleys merits,
the liberal defeat; but the true causes of that de-
ieat were the corruptions l have named. and
which, IN our then ignorance OF the Credit Mobiier
and other Grant combinations, 1t was impossible to
oresee. Let me remark, however, that it Is due to
the mass OF the democracy and to the majority of
to the pledges of the Baltimore Convention.
allude only to those specializing members whose
movements at the Louisville Convention and else
where were paid for out of the Grant treasury,
and who, to this day, are as much members OF the
scouts and skirmishers OF Tweed's columns.
THE NEXT PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN.
HERALD TO come come to the
Grant will try TO run ior third terms
MIR. WILKEs-I regard nothing as more certain.
throughout the last canvass, and made the danger
OF a THIRD term the point OF my opposition to
regarded as absurd, and MANY Intelligent people
even Of the opinion that the constitution
prohibited more than two terms to the same Presi-
dent.
HERALD REPREsENTATIvE-ies, l have myself
found that Impression to be very wide.
Mr.. WILKES-The very TACT that that impression
is general is proof in itself that the constitution
certainly proof that the people never cOmpre-
hended nor agreed TO It.. The constitution is not
entirely silent on the subject reeligipty, as some
pretended sages have enormously stated in recent
Interviews On the contrary, the constitution
President be elected for four years. There it
stops, and there it was intended ne should stop.
1t was for that reason and because the term was
made so brief that 1t was
INVESTED WITH IMPERIAL POWER,
in order that 1t might not from the very brevity OF
It's Duration be rendered Ineffective. Washington,
who cognizant OF this O0Jcct, wished to stop
at the end OF the hrst term, and hnaly refused to
be to become standard king. Jackson, during
his first term, was startled at the despotc powers
u ''' WARNED THE PEOPLE,
in all his annual messages, to limit the occupant
to single term. Being persuaded TO accept
umphed, and he retired like Washington, urging
his countrymen in his farewell address to amend
the constitution III this fatal oversight. Jeners0n,
the father OF the democratic party, appealed to the
nation to the same effect. SO did Henry Gay;
writer, who exhibited such surprising insight into
our institutions, alluded to this feature OF the
American constitution as 'the fatal defect upon
which our liberties would probably be wrecked"
MERE VERBAL DISTINCTION.
There can be but little doubt that the imperial
powers OF the American President which far ex-
ceed those OF any European monarch, except those
of the CZar Of Russia, were conferred upon hun
under the expectation that he would WELD them but
Tor brief period. And we have only to comparehis
prerogatives with those oil the British sovereign to
perceive that but for the clever deception of calling
him President should have been obliged to
style him emperor. II he Is to be reelected In
definitely We shall make him one.
A DANGEROUS EXPERIMENT.
HERALD REPREsENTATIvE-You regard the re-
elective principle as very dangerous one and
that 1t fosters many evils9
Mr. WILKEs-Indeed, | do. II is this principle
which is responsible Tor all this corruption and ma
tional deterioration. NO sooner Is president IN
Office than he begins to intrigue to be returned
again, and IL Is obviously his interest to appoint
smart knaves TO place in preference to scrupuous
honest men. The result Is that his dependants
serve him instead OF serving the country, and they
pay themselves-as the late revelations OF political
depredatons show. The same system OF re-eligi
billty and patronage is followed throughout the
political machinery OF the States, and the demora
izing practice incuicates nothing but roguery and
craft But the great well-spring of Generalization
il the White House at Washington and the only
civil service reform which l know OF that can
correct 1t is, the limitation OF the Executive to
A SINGLE TERM.
Then the President will have no interest but to
appoint good to Office and his successor
would have no temptation to remove them. A
similar system OF single terms, adopted through the
states, would be attended with like effects ana the
American people would then have lair chance to
recover their original wholesomeness aud virtue.
AS things 90 now they must grow worse and worse.
There is no form oil government In the world under
which the people are subjected to such terribly
demoralizing influences as under ours, and the
wonder il that the inherent soundness OF the
American people has withstood such pernicious
influences so lsng.
WORSE THAN KING.
uIns n -arrA.r XQuS SaaI