The New York herald., 1873-09-17
The London Times ON Cwsarism-Is
the American Republte . Failures

menting upon the discussion on Cesarism
which was commenced by the HERALD some
time ago and has since been taken up by the
most influential political journals in the
United States. The great English organ, with
its natural prejudices against republican in
stitutions and in favor of q monarchy, has
seen fit to applaud as public good the spirit
Of Cesarism which we have deemed it our
duty to expose and condemn. The strong
est argument it has adduced in support OF
| its views is that the evils in our Ameri-
can form Of government arise from the
incessant changes which are consequent upon
| our frequent election of a Chief Magistrate,
| and hence of national administration. Yet,
when we look at the history of English ad-
ministrations since the time of Walpole, we
note that the average duration of the
Ministries has been three years and eight
months. Moreover, in the time of the pres
ent ruler of Great Britain the tendency is to
come more and more closely in unison with
the Swiss system for none of Her Majesty's
Ministers have remained consecutively in
power for a longer period than six years, and
only those Ministries which have had at their
head statesmen as illustrious as Sir Robert
Peel, Lord Palmerston, Earl Russell and Mr..
Gladstone have exceeded in their official life
the limit Of q single term of the American
Presidency. Therefore the argument of the
Times against our present form of govern
ment, based upon the alleged evils Of the in
cessant change in the Presidential Office,
fades in the light of English history.
But we can understand how the London
Times would welcome radical change in the
sacred traditions Of our republican govern
ment as it would have welcomed the success of
the Southern rebellion, and as it applauded
the career of Louis Napoleon, his death blow
ut the French Republic and his effort to estab-
lish monarchy in Mexico. We can well
picture that silent, obscure and shallow
monarch walking through the ambassadors
circle at the Tuileries, as was his custom on
New Years Day, and felicitating an American
Minister, C@sars envoy, upon the advantages
to the cause of order and good government
resulting from the continued reelection of
our President. The London Times, the
representative of Napoleonism and Cesarism,
the representative of the wealthy power. of the
Bank of England, sees in the possibility
of the continued reelection of one man
to the chief magistracy the end of those
sacred republican traditions which have made
America the home of liberty on this side of
the Atlantic. and the hope of all to whom
liberty is denied in any part of the world.
This is the era of reaction and change.
The combined forces of monarchy and absc-
lutism are making a desperate struggle to
regain and retain their power. The progress
of the Carlists in Spain; the revival of the
cause of the Count de Chambord in France
the bold attitude of the Papacy in Italy;
the revival of toryism in England the
threatened downfall of Bismarck in Prussia,
are all pleasing to the ultramontanes. What
could be more gratifying to the great English
journal, managed as it is by man of clear
intellect and cool discernment, and represent
ing all these struggling forces, than the
triumph of the reactionists in America? Such
triumph would be more gratifying, indeed,
to the monarchists and absolutists of Europe
than would have been the triumph of the
slave-owners' rebellion or the successful foun-
dation of the Empire of Maximilian, for it
would be the death OF all that is republican in
the great American Republic.
For our own part if we are to have per-
petual Presidency forced upon us, as the Lon
don Times hopes and prophecies; if we are
to violate the sacred precedents of Washington
A.. e. g
and folies, let us rather consider the whole
American system of government as mistake;
the war for freedom, the declaration of inde-
pendence, the constitution framed by the
wise and good men who gave us our liberties,
all the treasured traditions of our history as
blunders, and return at once to the
good old flag of our ancestors, the red flag
OF England, which has ''braved thousand
years the battle and the breeze" Rather than
bastard republic which would be q
lie and a mockery, let us have q
real THRONE real kings and real con-
stitutional Parliament. If we must have
Crown let us have one that comes from
the Plantagenets, and not sordid diadem
dug from the dust and mire of political ambi-
ton. Let us have legitimate aristocrats.
tracing their blood and lineage to the Cru
sades, and not an aristocncy of parvenus
let us have an anointed king like Henry, and
not childish demagogue like Thiers or a
helpless boy-Prince Imperial, if, as the Lon
don Times assures us, we are really embarked
on the waves of new and desirable destiny,
and are to remember that Cesarism was only
possible with the Romans when they had be-
come hallowed by centuries Of credit and
honor.
No. While we accept this contingency, let
us rather recognize as Americans more Sc
rious duty and graver responsibility, for our
history has inspirations as ennobling as those
Of Numa Pompilius and Junius Brutus.