Daily Los Angeles herald., 1878-08-18
4 c.s.... s's...ay.

One Of the most am using things
- current politics il to watch the
1o6turlxlugs Of the Republican
1onders ~ to . third term for
Grant. Nearly all the newspaper
6sgans Of that organization, nearly
N IT. orators and party fugelmsn,
~ piping In q key which can
mean nothing else butA third term
lof the ex.President. Yet, when
kny Democratic journal draws at
eontlon to the NOV ement, and ac-
cupos Grant and his friends of de-
signing to innovate upon the ira
dftionl Of the Republic, there is a
howl Of affected indignation. Here
and there there Il undoubtedly q
voice Of protest raised in the Re-
publieAn prsss against such . caA.
dldacy. But the number Of these
jouEuals Is few and far between.
Haspsr's Weekly and the Cincin.
natl Commercial are tho most con.
splcuous examples of the Republic
can newspapers to which we al.
luds. The editors Of those jour.
mails have always been conceded to
poesess thorough political 50.
gaeity. They take the ground
that the nomination Of Grant
Weuld amount to complete
Surrender on the part Of the Re-
publican party-that 1t would be,
In fact, tantamount to q disastrous
defeat. The more the ex Presi-
dent unbosoms himself to newspa-
per correspondents, a thing he has
taken to doing with alarming FREE
Queney OF late, the less are his
chances OF receiving the Republic
oan nomination. We have no
doubt tkAt, II the Convention were
held TO morrow, Grant would
emerge as the candidate, but the
fuller AMI freer and more pro-
longed the discussion il the more it
will penetrate the brains Of bis
lmprudent partizans that TO NOM
InAls Grant would not only wreck
the Republican party but overturn
their favorite as a popular idol as
well. The fairest statement we
have encountered of the whole sit
nation is contained In the follow
Ing, which we take from the New
York Sun of the Sth Instant:
Whoever has watched with any
care the movements of Gen. Grant
In Europe, his utterances on public
sccasiOns. tue extracts published
from hts private letters, and re-
GENTLY the correspondence of his
travelling Boswell, cannot fail To
zee studied purpose through all
these different channels pointing
In one direction. II they were
collected together and read in
connection with the events or in-
eideRta to which they relate, there
could be- but one opinion as TO an
nrRanized campaign for third
term.
whether Grant was sent abroad
by . circle OF friends, who had
profited largely during his eight
years Of ,nisiule and corruption, to
be Kept out of the complications oi
home affairs until the proper time,
or whether he went of his own &C.
cord. 1t Is quite evident now, and
has been for sonIe time past, that
his eye las been steadily fixed on
the White House during his ab
sspce, and that he is as much n
candidate for 1880 as he was for
1872, and IL to be pressed again by
the peculiar Influences that domi.
HAted in his counsels at that time.
No managing politician at home
has exhibited more interest In the
movements of parties and the aues-
tions most likely to affect them
than he has, while protesting to be
seeking rest abroad and concerned
only In the surrounding scenes and
objects. When the silver agitation
began he wrote to q convenient
friend, expressing strong condem-
nstten OF the bi.metalic system,
and putting himself In line with
the extreme gold policy. But after
time, when the West was nearly
united In the demand for the
double standard, he suddenly dis.
covered that the measure was not
40 bad as had been represented In
Europe.
And SO Of other questions. He
has shifted ground with seeming
variations OF public sentiment, and
shown himself to be an adept In
the politicians art Of trimming. II
is amusing to hear Grant say,
through hls mouthpiece, that he de-
clined third term when offered to
him. He does not say who m ade
the offer, or who had the authority
to make 1t outside Of the National
Convention; and there his name
WAS never mentioned.
Everybody familiar with the his
tory VI Grants second term, aud
the secret things which shaped its
course, knows that the one great
aim OF his administration was re-
election for q third term, which, In
the language of his partisans,
should make "the second Washing
ton appear greater in history than
the first" The rings which cen.
tered at the White House were cut.
spoken Ia this demand, and the
crew who had piundered the Treas.
ury OF hundreds Of millions eohoed
II with oil their power-sone OF
them from inside the walls of the
penitsntlary.
1t was oniy when the public sen.
timent became overwhelming
sgainst the third term, and some cf
the best Republicans openly th treat.
ened to bolt ifit was tried, that the
idea was reluctantly abandoned.
Now 1t Is revived In an equally of.
feuslve form. The old Grant guard,
who fourished from 1859 to 1877,
and made the name OF their chief