The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1880-05-27
HISTORY REPEATING ITSELF.

d1SlOk61 lASLLIs
When The great Napoleon came out of
his first military campaigns with the
reputation Of the greatest General in
Europe, he did not assume the crown of
France, nor intimate his intention Of
assuming it. lie professed to subordi-
nate the military to the civil authority,
and as a candidate for the Consulate of
France disarmed suspicion and endeared
himself to his fellow citizens. When he
was elected he did not assume the crown,
but soon changed the consulate from
three members to one, and after succeed
ing in breaking down the obstacles to
imperialism without arousing suspicion,
he became Emperor before the people
suspected any such design upon his part.
His reputed nephew, the late Louis Ma
poleon, emerged from the army Of France
as great and victorious general, and
was content to be elected president of
the then republic. His tactics were to
lengthen the terms Of his presidency, and
thus by degrees he fastened the grasp of
his power upon France, by breaking
down the barriers between the people
and monarchy, until their sense of liberty
was 80 deadened as to enable him to pro-
claim himself Emperor. Far back in
the history of republics the victorious
Cesar professed tc lay his military glory
at the feet of the republican institutions
Of Rome, and became Consul. Again,
and yet again, he was content with the
same position, derived from the suffrage
OF the Romans, until he felt his power
secure, and then upon the heels of civil
war the royal crown was offered him, and
thrice did he refuse it, that his intentions
might not be prematurely discovered.
At the appropriate time, however, the
toga of the Consul was exchanged for
the imperial crown, and the glory of the
Roman republic was gone forever. From
these examples, drawn from the history
of prominent republics Of the past, we
draw the moral that republics are oftener
destroyed by their professed friends than
their avowed enemies-that the danger
to free institutions lies in the corrupting
influences which ambition exerts over
the greatest men. 1t is the military he.
roes, whose popularity and esteem place
them above the suspicion of mean mo-
tives or dangerous designs, who have the
power to oetray the liberties Of republics,
and it behooves those jealous of such
liberties to look with grave concern upon
the slightest appearance of aggression
upon the part of any prominent politi-
clan who has been great military hero.
There is now in the United States an
occasion for practical application Of
these thoughts. Gen. Grant, who came
out of the war as the greatest of the
victorious generals, has twice held the
presidency of the republic, and during
his tenure and that of his successor, first
one and then another principle of our
government has been trampled under
foot and ignored. The people have be-
come familiar with encroachment. They
have witnessed the civil authority of the
government subordinated to the military,
and have had their suffrage set at naught
and the chief magistracy of the govern
ment stolen by fraud, force and corrup
tion. 1t is not to be wondered that the
party which has done these things should
bring out the man who has helped in
many of them for a third presidential
term. Neither is it to be wondered that
Gen. Grant is a candidate for the presi-
dency contrary to the precedents of a
hundred years. he has been steadily
marching towards monarchy, and if
the people Of the United States follow
blindly after him in this canvass there
will in all probability be no further elec.
tions or presidents. This contest is sim
ply one fer imperialism.