The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1873-08-12
Casarisrn,


The New York Herald Is waging q cru.
seae against Casarism, to which it is infti-
rated by the proposition TO make General
GRANT President for a third term. we pave
,,ore tha, once expressed our opinions on
this subject. g
The Herald goes back into the history OF
Repub,icanism, Its rise and downfall ~ o"-
ferent times, aud the erection OF aro'1aiS
,,ower mon its ruins. After tracing the
steady progress OF our own Republic %,
yards the downfall which has overtaken ai'
its predecessors, the Herald very Justify Ut
tiers the voice of warning. Yet we know
no journal that has contributed more to the
injury of Republican principles and the en-
altation of that imperious rule OF the Presi-
dent which so resembles Csesarism and
which has so naturally inspired the minds
Of 50 many of his supporters with the desire
that he shall continue the President for a
third term, and with equal reason for life.
OF course that is Casarism, and is logica'
sequence Of the history Of the Government
for ten years past.
That the Herald speaks logically and phi
losophicllly of the tendency Of the Govern
ment, It cannot be denied. Whether the
consummation of the national folly displayed
in 50 many examples is so near at hand IN
this country as the Herald apprehends, we
cannot say. We have rs our ruler man
who is rs much of an enigma as any man
who has lived in our day. That he may con-
tinue in office for third term, or any num-
Der of terms during which he may survive,
we firmly believe. The nation has brought
itself to this pass by approving of every act
of usurpation of Executive power-eYery
outrage upon the National Constitution
which was deemed in the heat of passion and
in the rage of maliSnity necessary to crush
the southern States and make them odious
before the world. And now it is too late to
attempt to withdraw from the man who so
welded the national authority the powers
which were unnecessarily and yiciously
placed in his hands.
Yet, so strange and inscrutablc are the in
clinations and motives Of General GRANT
that we would not be surprised at anything
he might do. The country would, we are
sure, he not at al. surprised if he were posi-
lively to decline third term, OF, on The
other hand, were to accept nomination Tor
il, and cooiy go on to prepare the forces
under his command TO secure his election.
Such is the state of incertitude to which
the nation has been brought by sectional
hate and unconstitutional acts for sectional
punishments and expressions. IL 4e1
If General GRANT is not continued i'll Of
flee it will be because he does not desire to
remain in it after his second term. The
nation has prepared itself, and would feel no
shock at his reelection. w.. ~
To us of the South it is a matter of indit-
ference. We would derive no consolation
from the observance of the custom OF our
fathers relating to the term of the Preslden-
tial office while we are deprived of that
equality with the people, of the northern
States to which we ure entitled under the
Constitution made for us by the founders OF
the Republic. Itwould be as we'll for us Il
this inequality were the work of usurper
as that it should be the will Of our own fel-
low-citizens substituting the will Of NUM-
bers for the voice of the Constitution. In
deed, it would be less CALLING TO be the VIC
TINS of Casarlsm than to be oppressed by
our brethren with whom we have shared
our fortunes, and with whom we have been
united in time past in trial and triumph,
and with whose blood ours has commin.
gled on the battlefield in defence Of our
country.
Therefore we are not startled by the toe.
sins of the Herald or Of any of those who are
warning the public against the third term.
In the first place, we shall be not at all sur
prised at anything General GRANT may do.
In the second place, the South will not pro-
badly suffer by anything that he may do. If
the Government is to be administered upon
the theory that has prevailed for tenyears
past we decidedly prefer CESAR. He will
be impartial. He will Cypress all or be fair
and just to all, and that is what we can
never hope from preiudiced and besotted
power of numbers, which has shown by its
voice through series of years that it is al
most incapable of change and inaccessible to
the appeals of justice or humanity. There
fore we think we may say that there is no
subject of the day which the people of the
South regard with more profound indifer-
ence than that of third term for General
GRANT, or, as the Herald has it, "CEsARIsa."