The New York herald., 1875-12-09
The President, the Republican F"r'y
and the school Question.


bic in its most important features that we
criticise il with regret 1t disappoints the
fears and in some respects the expectations
of the community On the Cuban question
il is conservative and temperate and at the
same time consonant, in harmony with the
dignity of great nation. On the Mexican
question the President shows due respect for
the intentions and embarrassments of
neighboring Republic. On the financial
question he sustains his record on the ma
tional credit. On minor points, such as the
I Post Office, naturalization and the Inrerna-
tional Exhibition, he speaks with propriety
and force We question if this Message will
not be regarded as the ablest that has been
written by the President, and among the
/ best that we have ever had from any Chief
Magistrate.
\ When we consider the temptations which
surrounded the President i'll dealing with
Cuba and Mexico-to use the army and navy
and the discipline Of a powerful political
party to force the country into controversy
that would make a third term necessary-we
must do the President the justice to say that
I he has shown a spirit of self-denial and
/ courage. We like General Grant SO much
and have SO profound respect for his mill
tary career and his personal honesty that we
would much rather praise than censure him.
Whatever opinion the critics of this genera
tion may express of him, in good report or
evil report, he must for all time be among the
illustrious figures of our history. The Presi-
dent is not merely the head of Executive
power but the type and symbol of military
greatness. He is one of the men who will be
to our children what Marlborough and Wei
lington are to England, what Turenne and
Napoleon are to France.
The serious blunder in this Message is the
recommendations on the school and church
questions. General Grant proposes that the
States should be required to afford IAN OPP
portunity for good common school education
to every child within their limits" He sug-
gests that no sectarian tenets ''shall ever be
taught III any school supported in whole or
in part by the State or nation, or by the pro
ceeds of any tax levied upon any commu-
nifty" This education should be made com
pulsory so far as to disfranchise illiterate
persons after the year 1890. He believes that
all church property should bear it's proper
ton of taxation. He thinks the centennial
year the time when these measures could
properly be put into force. We note as
striking coincidence that Mr. Blaine, in a
letter which we publish elsewhere, written
on the 20th of October, took prominent
ground in the same direction. Mr.. Blaine's
points are worthy of careful consideration,
especially when compared with those of the
President as throwing light upon this at
tempt to bring the question of religion and
education into republican politics. Mr..
Blaine argues that majority of the people
can, as the constitution now stands, if they
desire it, have an established church, under
which the minority may be taxed for the
erection Of church edifces which they never
enter and the support Of which they do not
believe in" He shows that this power,
which really exists. has been exercised that
the auspicious time to guard against an evil
is when all will unite in preventing it. He
proposes to cure this constitutional de-
feet" and with it ''all possibility of hurtful
agitation on the school question, +" by adding
the s'old Jefferson and Madison amend
ment to the constitution, as follows -
No State shall make any law respecting establish
ment Of religion or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof and no money raised by taxation in any State
for the support OF the public schools derived from
any pubic fund therefor, shall ever beunder the
troll OF any religious sect nor shall any money so
raised ever be divided between religious sects or de
nominations
This amendment is virtually what General
Grant recommends in his Message. The
difference between the two is that Mr.. Blaine
speaks as the leader Of party, anxious to
make party capital while President Grant
speaks as the head Of the nation. responsible
to the constitution for his recommendations
to Congress- President Grants blunder,
like that Of Mr.. Blaine is in giving life to an
issue that did not exist. The Presidents
Message shows that he is under the Method
ist influence. He is known to be an ostenta-
tious, if not an altogether orthodox, member
of the Methodist Church. Since he has
been in the White House we have observed
tendency to surround himself with Methodist
clergymen, to be much under the guidance
of Methodist bishops, to appoint the favor
ties of Methodist prelates to important
places and to send Methodist priests wan
dering around the world at government ex-
pense when they needed a rest from their
spiritual labors. Now, President Grant has
too much common sense, we should hope,
and is too much Of o soldier and practical
man to fall under the influence of any
quality Of priest, be it Methodist or not.
The danger Of his position may be under
stood if we suppose him as much in the COM
pany Of Jesuits or Franciscans as of Metho-
dists. How this country would resound
from the forests of Maine to the shores of
Lower California with invectives upon 'the
proselyting spirit Of Rome" and ''the dark
influence Of the Jesuits' and ''the attempt to
revive the horrors Of the Inquisiton" and