National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-07-21
THIRD TERKyoHY ADAMS.

4 THIRD TERH-JOHN ADAMS.
To tie Editor of TAe National Republican:
SIR: When the insolent demands of the
French Dictator induced the United States to
prepare for war, the people crying, We have
millions for defence, not cent for tribute"
the position Of lieutenant general and COM
mander-in-chief OF the armies to be raised was
conferred by the President and the Senate on
General Washington. In his letter to James
MeHeury, the Secretary of War, President
Adams desires him to repair to Mount Vernon
to tender in person to the retired chieftain the
position of generalissimo. The President takes
occasion to say to the Secretary that It was
tithe voluntary resignation alone of Washing
ton that oeeasioned my introduction to the
Office now hold, land to Washington himself,
in the letter which MeHenry carried, he de-
clared: GAS said in former letter, If 1t had
been IN my power to nominate you to be Presi-
dent of the United States, should have done
it with less hesitation and more pleasure"
Here Is a distinct avowal from the second In
the line Of Presidents chat, had 1t been in his
power, he would have made Washington Presi-
dent for third term, as the people, he tells us,
the contemporaries ard lovers of Washington,
withdrawal from public life. - .-..
No proposition, then, can be more clearly es-
tsblished by evidence than that It was the In
tention and desire Of the people Of the United
States to have made Washington their Presi-
dent for third term, and that they were only
prevented from doing so by his positive and
formal refusal to serve them longer in that
capacity. And he refused not because the
public good required, IN his opinion, that the
Constitution should be amended in pals, by
putting the practical restriction Of two terms
on the constitutional re-ergibility TO the Office
of President, but for the noble and sufficient
reason that his work was done, and "the in
creasing weight of years" demanded his dis
charge from public life after so long and ardu-
GUS a term of service-'forty-five years of life
dedicated to its service with an upright ZEAL"
Until now we have heard nothing Of the two
term restriction, that some would foist through
the back door into the Constitution, instead Of
the wisdom Of the Fathers. We have been
sitting at their feet, and have heard only of
the third term thus far. But speculative
philosopher, the man of vanities and novel
ties, is the next incumbent, and filed with the
innovstiug spirit of the atheists and reTolu-
tionists of France, he announces on his retire
ment from office that In his age of reason the
wisdom Of the Fathers had become foolishuess,
and that the executive Office which had been
erected as the bastlon OF conservatism, the
representative of authority, rocky isle in q
raging sea, should be weakened, and be the
only office under the Government to which the
great coastitutional canon Of re-ellgtbility
should not b Ap1iied in all It's force.
Should this llegibmsUC -aI6ndment of tie
Constitution, this bastard of Thomas Jefferson,
take effect, America will bitterly learn her full
1 debt of gratitude TO tina. disciple of Tom Paine
1 and his associated inoendiRries, who destroyed
/ IN France pablic order, religion and the publiC
j peace, ana who would blight, by an accursed
LEGACY, America with those plaques. ....
+ But what knew Jefferson, the Sage of Month
cello, asj IN deFison, he has been called-whal
knew he of the Constitution, except from
looking at It's outside Why, uothihg more
than the infdeI Paine, his eo-operator sgainst
the dearest interests of human society Jefsr-
son, repeat, was not Of that band Of flu-
minated sages who formed the Constitution oil
the United states-those renowned builders
who constructed and launched the saIp Of
State which now rides the waves 30 grandlyi
with sails hlled and steamers WaIing, but
was at that time more appropriately engaged
In the iptriCues Of French society and French
politics.
It was impossible, at that tine, for any one
to know and to understan1 the reason and
philosophy Of the Constituaon, the most per
feet monumsnt.of uniRspipnd wisdom, without
having been present at Ne fabrication by the
convention or trainers; Is n is impossible nov
to do 50 without careful perussl and confid
Grafton Of the publSbed debates and other doc
/ uments bearing on them, then not accessible tc
the public. OF this entire inability we have 9
very striking example in John Jay, one Of
the most accomplished aud able public men oil
| that day! go ,s1i.og n- ae. g I'd I'D ..-.-...
BE was one Of a triunvirase that started tc
l write ''The Federalist," the object Of the pro
posed work being To- explain the Constitution
to set forth its advantages and defend It from
the attacks Of ne numerous and skiIlful assail.
ants. Hamilton, Madison and Jay began the
work. Jay wrote three numbers, and ths1
! withdrew, fnding himself unable 70 explain tc
othersIthst which no did not understand, moi
having been sm9nk the architects Of the Con
stitutlon, but leaving Hamilton and Madison
Master Masons IN the erection of this American
4 temple, to prosecute and inish their immortal
work. Could Jefferson, In Europe, understand
the Constitution better than JAY in America
And yet Il Is Jefferson who proposes, without
debate and without suthodty, to establish
outside Of the Constitution, precedent that
shall control its most important principle. Lei
Us turn away from this false teacher and learr
our lesson from the Constitution and The
fathers Of the Constitution. Let each one o.
US say, in the language of Burke, ''Put ny
foot In the track of our forefathers, whore
can nsIthsT Wandsr nor stumble" ..