The Democratic advocate., 1878-07-06

i by his contact with the monarchical
institutions of Europe. 1t believes that
he is meditating a return to the White
House and coup d'etat after the manner
Of Louis Napoleon, and that he will be
backed by the moneyed men in the East
ern cities, the thieving Naval Contractors
the Whiskey Ring, the Indian Ring, the
Post Traders, and the odds and ends Of
all the rings so conspicuous under the
Grant regime. The Sun says:
1t is not likely that Gen. Grants love o!
power has diminished during his residence
abroad. His contact icith the ElonarchicaI an
stitatiOHs Of the Old World could hare no ef.
| feet upon nature like his but TO make hin
GRriOus 10 engTqt1 them on his oscn country,
Srith himself for King or Emperor.
We sincerely believe that among the prae-
teal dangers which threaten our free institu-
tons is an attempt by Gen. Grant, if he should
again be elected President, to overthrow
them. He is every whit as ambitious man
as Louis Napoleon was. We fear he is as
unscrupulous. Louis Napoleon professed at
one time to be as much Republican as Gen.
| Grant processes to be now. His first step
toward empire was an extension of his term
as President-the same which Gen. Grant
has already attempted.
The Philadelphia Times makes the fol-
lowing trenchant commentary upon the
designs Of these friends of q third term
for Grant, and of the difficulties which lie
in the way of its accomplishment:
The NEw grant MOVEMENT last re.
vival of Grant talk among newspapers and
politicians is characterized by serious per-
sistence that makes its source, aim and real
| tendency legitimate subject of discussion.
just now the cry of ''give US back our old
commander does not come wholly from the
lips of those who constitute the late Presi.
dents grand army of toadies and beneficial
ries. 1t is true that these people are having
great deal TO say on the subject. 1t is true,
also, that the old whisky ring is as rampant
as ever in behalf of the man who stood be-
tween them and the majesty Of the law. This
is seen alike in Missouri, where an ex-conyict
editor beats q never ending long-roll to mas
ter the Grant reserves, and in Illinois, where
the man who led the Republican Convention
into the adoption of Grant resolution was n
lawyer whose reputation and means were ac-
quired by defense of the Chicago arc of the
whisky ring. 1t Is true, also, that the thiev-
| ing naval contractors, who find their oceupa-
ton gone, the disbanded post-traders who are
now in private life, the disjointed Indian ring
and debris of all the other rings which -four
ished under the late administration, are de-
pended upon as q nucleus of the movement.
But the combined influence of all these peo-
pie is as a feather in the balance compared
with that of the moneyed men in certain of
our Eastern cities, who, through their organs,
political or commercial, are coupling the name
of Grant with dark hints as to the necessity
for having a strong hand at the head of the
government in order to put down Communism
by the military arm of the government Such
hints come from papers known TO represent
great corporate interests, albeit the time is
not long past when they hated Grant as the
devil hates holy water
There are many reasons why a movement
to put General Grant in the White House
again must fail, and there are more reasons
why It should receive no sort of encourage
ment from law-abiding people. The friends
Of the ex-President do him no service in nan.
dering TO any ambition he may have in this
direction. The extent of his maladministra-
ton was only vaguely seen in 1874, and vet
1t was so generally suspected that, combined
with condemnation of his military methods in
time of peace, it gave the country a Demo-
cratic Congress. In 1876 investigation in the
face of Executive opposition had backed sus-
plcion with proof positive, and Grantism be-
came such stencil in the nostrils of the peo-
pie that its apologists dared not ask its posi-
tive Endorsement by the Republican National
Convention, and the issue was lodged by Re-
publican campaigners on every stump. As
1t was the capital afforded by the eight years
of NJ sha WlsEa Il
TO elect Democratic President by a popular
majority unprecedented in a real contest.
The record of those eight years has now been
written even more fully by investigation, and
1t is story of profiigacy and corruption in view
of which every honest heart sickens. Much,
however. has been forgiven General Grant
because OF his military career and because it
was fondly imagined that we had seen the last
of him as q politician: the determination has
been TO hold his party and not him response
Bile. This magnanimity cannot be further
exercised if his friends shall insist upon nara.
ding the ridiculous pretension that his admin
istTation was so successful that it ought to be
repeated, and that he alone is able to guide
the ship Of state through calm and storm. If
this issue IS joined they will find that the
Grant of 1865 and 1868 and the Grant of 1872
and 1876 hold very different places in the
estimation OF his countrymen, and that while
Communism may be more dangerous disease
than Grantism the American people are by
no means reduced to a choice of such mon
strous evils. When we are brought to these
straits the days of this Republic will be mum.
bered.
Leaving Grant out of the question, it is a
most mistaken idea that the Socialistic infiu-
ences now at work in some of our great CEN
tres of population, and more or less active
throughout the country, can be combated
successfully by no other than military meth
DDS. The heresy called Communism in the
East and Kearneyism in the West, for lack
OF better nomenclature of generalization,
must spread great deal more and assume a
much more revolutionary form before it can
wiring from law-abiding people the admis-
sion that our civil institutions are not equal
to the task of keeping it in subjection to the
spirit Of law and order. That demagogues
are preaching agrarianism and sowing the
seeds Of revolution in the night watches is
not to be concealed; nor is it less apparent
that the day will come when such people
mus be taught terrible lesson unless their
schemes against enlightened republican gov
ernment are abandoned. But if the worst
| comes 1t will be most unwise to entrust the
Chief Magistraey of the nation to a man who
knows no weapon but the sword, and with
our present fresh memories of the subordina-
ton of civil law for partisan if not personal
purposes the experiment is not likely to be
tired. The country does not want a President
who can preserve the peace only by going to
war. 1t is a blessing which cannot be under
rated that throughout our great civil strife a
civilian held the executive chair, and not even
in the darkest days Of that darkest period of
American history were the foundations of
civil government so shaken and endangered
as they were after peace came and a success
ful general was be grateful people entrusted
with the Presidency. The peril of a nation is
the opportunity of the ambitious soldier
Out of decentralization, discord and revolution
sprang the first consuls, dictators, bastard
emPerors and all the great tyrants of history.
1t will be sad day for this Republic when
the people become so demoralized that they
shall see no safety except under the heel of q
military President. That day will never
come if the people are true to themselves
The HagerstoloH Mail passed the fiftieth
anniversary Of its existence on the 4th
I T. Ii :. L