The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1880-03-03


| originated, and Thomas Jefferson, who gave
/ ii form and additional authority. These
two men seem to be the most conspicuous
charlatansin all our history Tosuch pass
has it come In this year Of grace, 1880, that
| the m emories OF the purest and most illus
trious founders Of the Republic are ruthless
ly assailed and DETAINED in order that the
American mind may become debauched and
the country ultimately surrendered to the
control of those who are seeking ''strong
Government"
Mr.. Timothy o. Howe might have saved
himself the trouble of brushing the dust
from the authors of the nation in order
to show that the authority of the Federal
constitution did not see fit to restrict
the presidential office TO any number
of terms. That fact appears In the instru
ment itself, and happy will it be for this
country If the contingency which presented
itself to the minds OF its trainers, and thereby
mainly induced that omission, shall never
arise. They saw with prophetic ken that in
the mutations of time, and the crises to
which all nations are subject, there might
come a day when the Aequi, or the Volsci,
would thunder at the gates of the capital,
and the very existence Of the Government
be endangered by an adherence to constitu-
tional restrictions upon the choice of the
/ chief magistrate. This was the great reason
that occasiOned the absence Of that limlta-
ton to the number OF presidential terms
which is now made the occasion, in time of
| peace, for q departure from a practice that
has thus far had The authority OF law.
1t was a condition OF national affairs some-
what analogous to this that induced Wash
ington to accept even the second term, for
he had determined to retire at the expira-
| ton OF his first, and only consented
to continue in Office, as he says on account
of 1.-The then perplexed and critical posture
of our affairs with foreign nations, and the
unanimous advice of persons entitled to my
/ confidence"
| at the expiration of bis second term no
/ such dangers existed. The machinery of
| the new Government was working smoothly
aud successfully, and he was thus enabled
| to set that great example OF political virtue
and wisdom, which hasa since become the
| ''unwritten law" of the Republic This res
olutIon to decline the third term he declares
in his farewell address to the people OF the
United States. froR which we have already
| quoted, ''has not been taken without strict
/ regard TO all the considerations appsrtaining
| 20 the relation which binds a dutiful citizen
TO his country"
Aud vet in the face OF this candid avowal
of his reasons and motives for declining the
presidency, Mr.. Timothy o. Howe says:
His reasons were personal, not patriotic"
We frankly confess that we have m ore
confidence IN the declaration OF Washington
/ than in the assertion OF Mr.. Timothy y Howe.
| The condition of the country at the expira
| ton of Mr.. Lincoln's first term was second
crisis in our history vindicating the wisdom
/ OF the trainers of the constitution upon the
subject in question.
| Says Mr.. Jefferson, as quoted by our au-
| thor: "If some termination to the services
OF the chief magistrate be not fixed by the
Constitution, or supplied by practice, his
Office, Normally for years. will, in fact, be-
/ come for life; and history shows how easily
that degenerates into an inheritance"
History" says Mr.. Timothy o. Howe,
with an air of triumph, "has already ex-
ploded the assumption of Mr.. Jefferson that,
| If the term OF service for the chief msgis-
trate be not fixed, he will continue to hold
for life" because" he continues, 1.-The
/ term of service is not fixed by any law or
any practice, and yet not one-half our chief
magistrates have In fact been elected even
| the second time"
We should say In view of what is
Transporting around US, that the prophecy
OF Mr.. Jefferson is about 10 be full
filed, and will be, unless the American
people in the aggregate are endowed with
more wisdom and patriotism than Mr.. Tim
othy o. Howe ard his coadjutors in this
scheme to nullify the examples of our wisest
and most venerated statesmen. Nothing
that Mr. Jefferson ever uttered comes down
to Es at this time with more solemn force
than the language just quoted, and it should
startle every lover of his country like the
premonitory rumblings of the coming earth
quake.
These examples and declarations of the
men who framed the constitution and inter
preted its meaning and spirit with the gen.
eral acquiesence of their contemporaries, are
more than sufficient to warrant US in believ
ing that notwithstanding no reatrlctions
were placed in that instrument as TO the re-
eligibility OF the chief magistrate, yet it was
their solemn conviction that except in great
and dangerous emergencies no president
should or would be elected for more than
wo terms
History ia too well read now days for any
considerable number of intelligent persons
to deny the truth OF Mr.. Jefferson's observs
ton that Office for life easily degeneratst
into an inheritance, and we need not cite
familiar examples. As With great Offices 50
with less ones, that emanate from the con-
trolling head, and they who seek the per.
petual rule of the man upon the mountain
| top do Only seek to maintain and feather
the nests which they already possess, or
| have assurance Of and in which they expect
to rear their young. Reduced TO the politi
cal nomenclature OF the present day, il
means a Government adminislrated by 9
| perpetual ring" and is wholly inconsistent
with the idea of e Government of the peo-
pie, by the people and for the people," We
submit that hereditary office holding has
gone quite far enough in this country, and
needs no strengthening by third term"
appliances
1t hiss become part of the general polity
OF this nation, and believed to bs essential
to the preservation Of Republican
| Government that terms OF
| office should be short, and
when not short, to be regulated by the IN.
eligibility of the incumbent TO reelection.
This idea, with few exceptions, pervades all
the State Governments In Delaware, H.
diana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri,
North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Var
ginia and West Virginia, the governors
term of Office is four years, with inehgIbil-
ity for another term until after an inter
vening one. New Jersey has a term of three
years with IneligibIlity for the next three
years In South Carolina the term is only
two years, and ineligibility until successor
has been elected and qualified. In Ten
nessee the term Ia two years, end not eligi-
bic more than six years In any period oil
eight years. Maryland, Mississippi and
Nevada have terms Of four years with no
constitutional restrictions All the other
States elect their governors either annually
or every two years, with no constitutional