Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1875-06-12
Zoe rhird Term Question.
HON. sEyERor JoHNsos's CarTfcIsh OF TIE
PRESIDENTS LETTER

Johnson. addressed to the editor of that pa
per:
BALTIMORE, NIB, June 2, 1875.
lMv Dear Sir One of your correspon-
dents informs me that you wish me to say to
Won what think Of the Presidents letter OF
last Saturday, the goth ult., known as =" the
third term letter" This proceed to do
There are several matters contained IN the
letter that have no direct and very slight
indirect bearing upon the question. What
sacrifices. if any, the President may have made
in accepting his first nomination or his second
have nothing to do with his election for
third term. And whatever abuse be may
have been subjected to during the time that
he has held the presidency is equally irrele-
want. Although it is no doubt true that his
conduct has been subjected in some instances
TO harsh and unjust criticism, yet, as he ad-
mits, in the light of subsequent events" his
conduct on some occasions was subject to
| fair criticism" he has not always been UNJUST
ly dealt with. What those occasions were be
omts to say. Were they in his recommended.
ton for the passage of the " force bill and
the suspension Of the habeas corpus, his APP
proval OF the conduct Of the military at Few
Orleans in expelling a portion Of tie lesisla-
ture of that State. and in the get more fla
grant wrong, if any more fragrant could be
comm itted in his recommendation made TO
! Congress in his message relative TO Arkansas,
a recommendation in principle absolutely de-
struetive of the right of the people OF every
State to change their constitution But
these wrongs are not pertinent at all to the
general question of the election Of President
for third term, except as they bear upon his
/ fitness for that Office.
| What the President says is this, that there
is nothing in the constitution 10 prohibit 1t,
and that it can only come before the people
by proposition to amend the constitution.
| The precedents, no matter how long establish
! ed, and no matter what may have been the
character of the men by whom they were
established, as patriots and as statesmen OF
unsurpassed ability, and no matter how uni
! versal has been their sanction by the people,
these precedents should, in the President S
view have no influence upon the people now
or hereafter, or upon the determination of him
who may have occupied the Office for two
/ terms. For he tells us that it may happen
! in the future history of the country iand this
may be the case during the balance Of his
present term that TO change an Executive
because he has been eight years in office will
prove unfortunate if not disastrous IL Is
certainly true that the people are at liberty to
/ elect to third term hut until the time OF
President Grant not only did no one of his
predecessors, who had held the Office for two
| terms, give the most distant hint that he
wished or would accept the Office again, but,
| as far as am advised, no individual citizen
/ or journalist ever proposed or suggested 1t.
That constitutional prohibition does not
exist is no proof that the usage OF prohibition
is not and should not be considered rs ccnclu-
sive. 1t is idle to say that in government
| like ours long and uninterrupted usage can
safely be disregarded. The power Of the veto
on the part of the crown exists in England,
| but it has not been exercised since 1922
And yet is power which Mr.. Justice
Blackstone says is most important and,
indeed, Indispensable part of the royal
prerogative." 1t may with truth
be said that now, when it has becn
so long disused, that its exercise by the crown
would produce fearful ferment in the king
dom. Such, in that aw-abiding country, is
the conclusive force and effect of usage.
| The idea of the President that the safety OF
the country may demand the reelection OF a
| President for third term, in my opinion. Is
an idle conceit, having no other support bu'
the most egregious vanity. OF this vanity
| he himself seems to partake, since he says
| that be " would not accept nomination II 1t
were rendered, unless it should come under
such circumstances as would make 1t an i'm
perative duty" Who is to judge whether
the duty to accept is an imperative one. 1t
can only be the man himself. May be not
we'll conclude that a nomination by conven-
ton is conclusive as to the duty? The safety
Of the country he may really think requires
! his continuance in office, and that his own
opinion of the point, if he has one, is estab-
/ lished by the action of the convention, and
by this process Of reasoning he may be re-
/ elected for as many terms as life is spared
him. think it may, with perfect justice, te
said that if the convention which framed the
constitution had anticipated the enormous eX-
tent of the official patronage which in time
would necessarily be vested in the President
that they would have limited the official term
to six or eight years and have rendered the in
cumbent ineligible
The question which is now agitatiug the
/ pubic Ulnd Is WDclnef ITeslueDt OIaDt sbulI
! be elected to o third term. Does this letter
solve it? 1t may be so practically, because
| ! believe that he will not be nominated, or if
he is that he will hardly receive the vote of a
single State. The voice Of Pennsylvania, as
! spoken by her recent convention, which has
/ forced the President TO write the letter, Is,
Judging by all the signs Of the times, concur
red in by an immense majority Of the repub-
lican party in every State in the Union. The
President, indeed, so far as he is concerned,
seems to regard it as a mere matter Of dollars
and cents, and it may perhaps be lesitimately
inferred that if the salary which be now
receives should be secured to him as a retiring
pension be would gladly leave the Office at the
end Of his present term and return to tina;
home where the balance Of his days might
be spent in peace and the enjoyment Of do
nestle quiet" and without any apprehension
that the peace and safety Of the country are
not as safe in the hands of his successors as
they had been in his own, and this belief ]
have no doubt the public will fully share.
remain, with regard. your obedient SER
want, REyERDY JOHNSON.
There are some who affect to believe that
the immense business done by A. I. Stewart