The New York herald., 1879-10-30
An Ugly Word.

persists in turning mp every few days, has q
great terror for the third term republicans.
1t haunts them they fling up their arms
and scream and run away into a corner
whenever it appears before them.
Here is our usually lively and gentle con-
temporary, the Commercial Advertiser, which
is convinced that the country needs
''strong man"-mainly, we suspect, because
the excellent Colonel Hastings has lived Tor
some years within couple OF miles OF
General Grants summer residence at Long
Branch-here is the Commercial Adcertiser
| in mild Mysteries because the HERALD yes
.terday inadvertently mentioned Caesar. IL
is too bad, and we will try not to do so any
more The Commercial will have no Cesar
not at all; it only wants IA strong man at
the head of the government" Fortunately,
in Nh article which we reprint from its col
umns elsewhere, the Commercial marks the
distinction which rests in its mind between
Caesar and "a strong man at the head Of the
government" Cmsarism, which it abhors,
consists, it seems, in deifying man, in
erecting statues to him in the temples, in
making his person sacred, in declaring
him to be god and appointing priests to
conduct the worship of him. 1t is absurd
wicked, mischievous, even damaging to the
third term scheme, it seems. to speak of
Cesarism in this nineteenth century.
Nobody proposes, suggests the CONNER
cial, to erect statues to General Grant;
nobody proposes to defy him, to establish
q Grant cultus, to appoint priests to con-
duct ceremonial worship of Grant. What
our gentle and too easily alarmed contem-
porary wants is only "a strong man at the
head OF the government" That's all. Even
the Commercial sees that we are not living
in the nineteenth century for nothing; that
we are people who worship one God and not
whole temple full; that we have Proctor
to tell us about the stars, and Huxley to tell
us about protoplasm, and Darwin to tell US
how we were monkeys and are now men, and
Dana to show US how the earth was formed,
and Marsh to describe to us how our an
| cestors rode on fve-toed horses. We are
not, like the old Romans, the victims
| of superstition; it is matter of fact
age, and when the North Pole is dis
covered, as doubtless it presently
will be, and the great volcano OF New
Guinea has been officially surveyed,
we shall know all about our planet. The
notion thatanybody is going to declare either
General Grant or Colonel Hastings god,
| or set up their statues in the churches, is
| clearly nonsensical as the Commercial sees.
What it insists on, nevertheless, is "a strong
man at the head ofthe government" and it
| does not like to have him likened to Caesar,
because 'when such q journal as the
HHRALD mysteriously but vaguely whispers
Caesar when Grant is mentioned, many
very intelligent persons begin to fear that
Grant is destined to prove the destroying
agent of this Republic, as Caesar after all was
| for the ancient one Of Rome."
It is too bad, and we send our friendly
sympathies to the Colonel. We will go
further, because we have genuine appre-
citation of his fears and difficulties. We
will 60 so far as to assure him that we do
not believe any third term republican
wants or expects General Grant to assume
the style and title Of Emperor or King of
the United States. We have no doubt that
| if he did he would take. care of Colonel
Hastings, whom he would make Earl of
Pleasure Bay at the same time that he
crented Mr.. Conkling Duke of New
York, Mr.. Cornell Baron of Ithaca,
Mr.. Thomas c. Platt Count of Owego. and
General Arthur, Marquis Of Manhattan.
| No urging of his friends would seduce Gen
eral Grant into such folly at this day, when
even the title of imperator has been brought
into contempt by the last Napoleon; not to
say that General Grant knows history
enough to know that this word has been
misapplied, and that the Roman imperator
was not emperor or king at all, but only the
| head of the legions, the man who possessed
| far more absolute power than emperors or
kings, but still dared not assume either
| title.
ga strong man at the head Of the gov
ernment," if he is really strong man,
shrewdly despises titles. Caesar, says the
eminent historian quoted by our contem-
porary, Caesar was friend of the people,
but he indulged in no enthusiasm for lib
erty. He never dilated on the beauties of
virtue or complimented Providence in
which he did not believe. He
fought his battles to establish some tolera-
BILE degree of justice in the government of
this world" In short, Caesar was neither
king nor emperor-he was simply the Com
merciars ideal--"a strong man at the head
of the government" aud though the Romans
set him mp among their gods and declared
his person sacred neither he nor his sue
cessors ever ventured to assume the title of
King of Rome.
What tho third term men cry out for is
ga strong man at the head Of the govern
ment." What for? THEY say Mr.. Hayes is
a weak man-a very weak man, they con-
stantly assert. But Mr.. Hayes has given