Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1873-07-26
HAVE WE A REPUBLICAN FORM
OF. GOVERNMENT

v
an elaborate and well considered arti
Gle upon the republican tendenc.
abroad and the drift towards Cesarisu
at home. The following extracts vii
not fail to impress the reader:
E What is the question in Spain anC
France? As we understand it, simply
this: How. best can Spaniards anc
Frenchmen rule their native lands, Sc
curing to all life, liberty and the pur.
suit of happiness? How best car
there be genuine republican form oi
government? What is the question in
the United States? No more nor less
than this: Thall we have a republican
form of government? We dismiss
from consideration all sentimental and
fantastic questions of politics. 1t is
not whether we shall have protection
or free trade, suffrage to one class OF
another, Capitalization or State rights.
These questions will determine them
selves. But shall we have republi-
can form of government? The thought
In the minds of most of our politicians
is, Shall we nominate General Grant
for third time? 1t is true the thought
has not found general expression. 1t
is spoken, if at all, with bated breath
and whispering humbleness. An oe-
caslonal worshipper of power an
nounces in truculent manner that we
have found a new Washington and we
must keep him. Some of the enemies
of General Grant insist in a mocking
way that he shall be atonce nominated.
But there is no general expression ON
the subject. The want of this express
sion is grave indication. Suppose
Mr.. johnson, or Gen. Pierce, or Mr..
Buchanan had, either of them, been
mentioned as candidate for three
terms, how promptly we should have
been told the liberties of the country
were in dangerl Now we hear no
sound. Nothing is clearer than that
the henchmen of General Grant, the
men who have gained honor and wealth
out of his administration, and who see
IN his denomination and reelection
their own continuance in power, mean
to insist upon his denomination. The
arguments are all at hand; we are do
ing so well, the business of the country
needs SO much tranquility, the South is
so restless in the absence of a firm
hand, General Grant has been so ad-
mirable, and so on, that we can not run
the risk of new experiments.
This is so much more probable be-
cause, as we have shown before, the po-
litical situation is in the hands of Gen.
eral Grant He is as completely mas
ter as was ever Jefferson, jackson or
Lincoln. Never was a President so
submissively Obeyed. Never was a
party so dominant Every department
of the government, nearly every large
State, the army, the navy, the bench
even this great State and still greater
metropolis, which stood all the assaults
OF Lincoln when In the fullness and
glory of triumphant war-all, all are
in the hands of his followers. And
not one of these men has ventured to
speak what he would have spoken
few years ago about the question of
third term. We are told it is not liv-
ing question, that the time for its dis
cussiOn has not come, that it would be
a reflection upon General Grant to sup
pose him in any way ambitious of re-
nomination. But to say this is not
living issue Is to say what is not true.
Rome had no more living issue than
when, on the Lupercal, Mark Antony
offered the kingly crown to Julius Ce-
sar. And the men who are in author
ity under General Grant are many of
them as eager to do him honor as were
the shouting Romans who surrounded
Caesar in his triumphs. And as we be-
lleve that great events are not the
works of mere men, but of social and
| political conditions which daring men
| Ofttlmer seize, so do we see around us
many of the elements favorable to Ce-
sarism. Luxury, sudden wealth, the
spirit of speculation, the loose moral
tone which superinduced Tammany
Hall, Credit Mobilier, revenue frauds
and the extraordinary legislation in the
last Congress; the rending asunder by
the civil war Of old conservative ties,
the military spirit, the craving for show
and nOise-all these signs, apparent
everywhere, are precisely what was
seen in Rome when Augustus Caesar,
under the deceptive name of Imperator
overthrew the Republic.
This question, what we may call Ce-
sarism, that threatens to come to us In
America, is now being settled in France
and Spain-sadly, we fear, and with
disaster and deep wounding of the ma
tional PRIDE We have seen what
France has done-how heswung from
the sway of Theirs to MacMahon-and
scarcely ripple ON the political sur
face. Could we have done as much ?
Could our form of government have
made as sudden change without
wrenching the whole system, and, per-
haps, giving it fatal wound? Sup
pose Mr.. johnson had been as popular
man as NJ Thiers, with all the pow
ers of the government at his command,
could we have avoided any fate he
chose for us? Mr.. johnson was our
most unpopular President. He vetoed
more acts of Congress than the other
Presidents all combined. He was op-
posed by both houses of Congress, and
had no following in either party. And
yet ms impeachment was impossible.
Suppose Mr.. johnson to have been as
strong as NJ Theirs in France, or Pres
ident Grant now, he could, we fear,
have dealt our Republic as severe
blow as the Caesars dealt the Republic
of Rome. The evil lies in our consti-
tuition. Perfect as we regard that in
strument, we can not do what Spain
has done-what France is doing. Spain
dismissed her King, France her Presi-
dent, and the constitutions we're unim-
paired. To dismiss our President
would be revolution. And while no
one cares to dismiss him, we see our
selves drifting upon the rock of Caesar
ism-smoothly, pleasantly, silently,
swiftly drifting upon a danger even
greater than what menaced Spain or
France. We mean the third term idea,
which to our mind affects our Repub-
lie as grayely as the Republic of Rome
was affected when Julius Caesar was
offered the crown by subservient Sena-
tors.
Nor will the question be solved by
any action ofGeneral Grant. Weneith-
er speak for the President nor criticise
him. Personally he does not enter into
this discussion. He might say to-mor-
row that he would under no cireum-
stances accept a denomination, just Us
nc once said he did not believe in sec
cond terms That would postpone,
not eradicate the danger. No system
is sound, nor are any people really
free who depend upon the patriotism
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