The New York herald., 1874-10-06
Governor Dix and tho Third Term.

unanimity and warmth of admiring applause
committed a sin of omission in taking no no.
tice OF the third term question. 1t is one OF
the foremost political topics of the period,
and party convention always eyinces either
want of sagacity or o want of courage when
it fails to make frank declaration of its SEN
timents on any important subject which agi-
tates the public mind Besides other objec-
tions to the suspicious reticenoe of the Utica
Convention there was o want of fairness to
Governor Dix in putting him into the canvass
with a platform which leaves it in seeming
doubt whether he approves or disapproves of
a third election of the same President. As
the republican State Convention ought
to have foreseen, great handle is
made of this omission by the democratic
journals. Their most popular topic OF invec-
tive against Governor Dix is that he stands
virtually committed to the supposed aspira-
tons of President Grant Governor Dix Is put
in false position by the party which pre-
sents him as its candidate, or, rather, the re-
publican Convention left the door open for his
political opponents to plausibly handicap him
with the third term folly. There is no rea-
son why he should carry this weight, but
many good reasons why he should throw it
off, The most popular thing the Utica Con-
vention could have done was to follow the ad-
vice OF the HERALD, not merely declaring
against third term but proposing an amend
ment to the federal constitution, limiting
every President to single term Of six years
If the Convention had had the forecasting
boldness to do this the republican canvass
in this State would have run itself. dec
laration SO popular, which SO chimed in with
the tendency of public sentiment, which
would have brought such immediate relief 10
the foreboding fear of the country, would
have been worth fifty thousand votes to the
republican party of the State. It would have
spiked the most formidable gun of its adver-
saries and have enabled the party to move
smoothly on to an assured victory sggdsH
BY the failure OF the Utica Convention to
follow the advice of the HERALD o g ALL
portunity was lost; but it is in tAs.. SpE Etf!sof
General Dix to recover it. If heM Opposed
to third term there is no good reason why
he should not make his opinion known.
Should the citizens of this State be brought
to believe that he favors President Grants
supposed aspirations nothing would be more
certain than his defeat. He cannot acquiesce
in such a project; he cannot even be
suspected of Indifference on q subject
which the country regards as fraught
with SO much danger without weakening his
hold on public favor. This is precisely the
one question on which Governor Dix cannot
afford to trim in o conjuncture when his
political adversaries making it the chief
engine of their assault on his popularity.
| Public feeling has been too deeply stirred
/ this question, the sense of danger is too real,
the attachment of citizens to the time-hon-
ored custom Of which Washington set the
first precedent is too steady, the shock which
has been given to public feeling by the appre-
hension that this safe custom may be broken
is too violent for even SO popular a statesman
as Governor Dix to breast the current. If he
were believed to favor third term his defeat
would be inevitable. If he were thought in
different his apathy would be heavy drag
on his canvass. If it can be plausibly charged
that he shirks 80 grave question from mo-
tives of expediency the public estimate of his
courage viii be lowered. If he is opposed to
q third term he owes it to his fellow citizens
whose votes he sohcits to frankly say SO.
If the Convention by which he was nom
mated had made declaration on this subject
he would have been bound to accept the plat
form or else decline the nomination. But
the Convention has left him free. He is at
perfect liberty to express any opinion he may
| hold on any public question upon which the
4 Utica platform is silent. If asked his opinion
on the third term question it would be mex
cusable for him to practise any reserve or dis
g11ise, and if no occasion is offered for the ex-
preston Of his views he ought to find or to
make one. Why should he consent to be
howled down by his adversaries as a represen-
tative of opinions which not his own?
Moreover, why should he decline to render
the great service to the country Of putting, as
he might, an extinguisher on the third term
controversy? II Governor Dix, in his present
position as republican candidate, should
boldly declare his opposition to third term
he would not only relieve his canvass Of that
incubus but would remove great obstacle
from the path of the republican party in tn
approaching Presidential election.
Governor Dix has nothing to fear from the
Custom House clique in making such declar-
alton. They cannot afford to withhold their
support or to exhibit coldness on such
ground BY doing SO they would publicly con-
yict General Grant of the third term aspirations
which he is, as yet, reluctant to acknowledge.
They would spoil his game by showing his
hand. If Governor Dix should declare his op-
position to third term, and the Custom
House politicians should thereupon grow cold
or turn against him, General Grants secret,
SO far as he tries to make it secret, would be
BETRAYED. He is not yet prepared to give the