The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1874-07-23


TTffor The DsDafcis 4.
snIrd Isst ;issa
dl Is. tasngersa to- yI8y wiz dyed too
81. watfis fte.nr1ia TlItee Is ore per
Id sting Will, seffons susj jects hether the
seomets1or mag rs q more ssestr i n' a
Thera will always be many who CHINO
'fsee the jest, but will take all that IS saidf
Idead earnest others again, do see it and 70
j cefye1 ft as jest, but In doiugso associatt
The subjecs with Levitt, and sbabituall.
lose sight thereafter of the true character Q
1.-THE subject; they suffer che jest to form tlu
1;cIeus of opinion, or at least to- give color OF
lIdifection to their future thoughts upon it.
One of these subjects CT most grave I'm
l!port is that OF The g third term THE practi
Iscal eligibility of President of the Unltet
Estates to- reelection after having served twc
lterms. This question is now too often Spoken
/ of or written about Ia such amanner that Il
lis hard to tell whether it be considered IL
1 sport, in desperation, or in deliberate earnest
\ Let Us look at it for d moment in earnest
When this "more perfect Union" was in
process of construction there were two ten.
denotes to be regarded and provided for: IN
excess, or. deficiency, in. either of which
was a danger to be guarded against. Ihey
we're
| /. The segregation Of all the powers of the
people in their respective State govern
nents, to the weakening of the General GOV
ernn,ent and its deprivation Of the glgor
| needful to performing the domestic and for
eign functions assigned to it in the Constltu-
ton. 49, ~
3. The concentration of these powers OF
the people in the Central Government, ana
in the hands of one or more who should
WELD it, to the overshadoTing and the over
towering of the State governments.
The State governments, being nearer the
mass of the people and more under their
direct control, were deemed the safest de-
positories of these powers and the best safe
guards against consolidated monarchy or
oligarchy.
These two tendencies were the centrifugal
and the cenripetaI forces in our peiltleal
system. The resem blance between them and
the like forces in the solar system Is closer
than is usually found in analogIes. The
greatest and the incest probleEa before the
statesmen Of those days was how to perpetu-
ate m equipoise of these two forces or ten
denotes so true that it would forever keep
the component parts Of our system III the
orbits marked out in the plan conceived for
our republic and recorded in It's Constltu-
ton. The trainers of the Constitution
sought to effect this: 1st. BY the delegation
Of such powers to- the General Government
as would suffice for it in its purely national
functions, such as would make 1t enectlve
without being dangerous at home. "a. by
such retention of power in the states us
would effectually check the Central Govern
ment in any rregulasity, but not impede It's
proper function, would preserve the liberty
of the Individual citizen and protect him
against the abuse of strength which might IN
time be gathered int the hands OF the fede-
raE Executive or whs ever might Wieid the
power of the General Government.
Upon the preservation of this e4nipolse
depends the order aud duration OF This ma
ton as republic, as fully as the order OF
the solar system depends on the equilibrium
of The like forces therein.
The earliest OF our political divisions was
unsn these two Tenderness and policies. Men
separated into parties as they faYoredthe one
or the other-as they set the higher value on
national DO wer or or individual securty-and
these differences to this day have formed the
great plane Of cleavage which runs through
aliItbe concrete mass OF our nationality
The great obstacle to the adoption of the
Constitution by New York, Virginia, and
several other States WAS the Tear ot-thl CEN
tralizipe influence, and the inethciency OF the
Constitution TO prevent 1t. +.
In thut apprehension George Mason, Pat
rick Henry, and others, now canonlzed
tbrouobout the Union tor their. sagacity,
Durirv. and patriotism, largely shared; and
time has proved that the danger SO feared
does IN fact erist in greater or less degree.
WE must admit, that neither CT these two
ureat parties were free from the fault of
messing their special views to extreme. The
PENDULUM NAV h:.xe swung too tar At one time:
the State rights extreme, out again.
In has zone too far on the Federal slde-ss'
far. in fact, thai IT it do not soon return We,
shall lose the trne time Of day.
Perhaps Of she TWO extremes that Is LAG
more dangerous that threatens interior and
individual freedom from the oVerSr0Wth.o OF
sbe central pa&er. Such, Ii least, was The
opinion of those great lights OF our eaH!ler
days.
It is evident to every one, whether he APP
Droye it or not. that within the last teny years
or more tbare has been an enormous eNten-
sion of the Federal powers at the expense OF
those of the States. and that the bal.nee be-
tween these two forces is disturbed and
greatly endangered. It behooyes Ms, there
fore, to- use extreme caution in removing
any of shose BARRIERS whether set up by law
or by custom, which hedge in the Federal
powers. One of these barriers is the limita-
tion fby customl of the eligibility OF the
President to two terms only; and the ques-
ton now is whether this eligibility shall be
extended to third term.
The determination of this question does
not depend ON the personal character on
qualification of the candidate, nor even ON
the special erigencieS Of the period. The
principle which underles it is far deeper
and broader than any consideration Of the
man, or of the temporary emergency. Ihe
issue before US is whether the danger OF
future evil be not greater than the prospect
of present good, if there be any good in 1t.
The tenure of the Presidency has been
limited to two terms by an unwritten law
nearly as sacred as the written-a Jaw
gathered from the dicta and the examples OF
Washington and his successors-from the
opinions of statesmen, and is confirmed and
settled by time and general consent, until
this limit has become one of our fixed land
marks. Remove it, and then what?
/, Where and ho,o shallpe eoer i1 another
limit, Ii man may be elected thrice, why
pot ten times? Why not again and again