The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1880-02-27
Black on the Third Term.
THE PROBABLE EFFECT OF A VIOLATION OF
THE UNwRIrTEN LAW OF THE
REPUBLIC.


THE PROBABLE EFFECT OF VIOLATION OF
THE UNwRTrTEN LAW OF THE
REPUBLIC.
Where the great Chief Magistrate is vest.
ed, as ours is, with great power liable to
gross abuse, if there is no law or practice
which forbids him to be reelected, he can
remain in office for life as easily as for a
term. He has the appointment of all off
GERS, the making of all public contracts, and
veto upon all legislation, besides the COM
mand of the army and navy. BY an unscru-
puous use of these means he can coerce not
only his horde of immediate dependents,
but he can control the corporations and be-
come the master of all the rings, put the
business of all classes under his feet, corrupt
the venal, frighten the timid, and check all
ambitions but his own. He can force the
elections of every State he desires to carry
by the bayonets Of his army. If that fails,
he can order false return and pay for it
out of the public treasury. The people
would soon perceive opposition to be useless
aud accept the situation; elections would be
rs mere a matter of form as they were in
Rome when such CoDsuls as Nero and Dom
titan were elected every year under the su-
peryision Of the pretorian guards.
If these were no more than remote posi-
bilities, prudence should guard us against
them. But they are near probabilities; the
- H. .. L.. ,l. ,,,r;l "a,
our institutions is imminent; the danger is
already on the wing. 1t is vain to remind
US that the President swears to preserve,
protect and defend the Constitution and see
the laws faithfully executed. That is true,
and it is also true that, if there be no perjury
in the case of the Constitution, laws and lib
critics of the country are safe. But the last
twenty years have given us ample proof that
an oath is not much restraint upon Pfesi-
dent who is melted by ambition, rapacity
or strong party feeling to break it.
1t is true that this presupposes people
much degenerated and magistrate animat-
ed mainly by the vulgar love of power for
its sake but exactly such a conjunction of
things has always been feared with good rea-
son, and hence comes the desire to put ev-
cry check on that tendency to ''strong gov
ernment" which is now manifesting itself in
many quarters
What is the remedy How shall we avert
the dire calamites with which we are threat
ened? The answer comes from the graves of
our fathers: BY the frequent election OF
new men. Other help or hope for the sal
vation of free government there is none un-
der heaven,
If history does not teach this, we have
cent and modern times the chief magistrate
was entrusted with only temporary power,
and always went out of office at the end of
short period, fixed aud prescribed by law
or custom. 1t was this, indeed which made
the substantial distinction between them
and the monarchies around them. An un-
punished transgression of the customary
Limitation was uniformly followed by de-
struction. Everywhere and always it was
the fatal symptom of decay-the sure fore
runner of ruin. When Caesar refused to lay
down his consulship as his predecessors had
done, at the end of year, and was re- elect
ed time after time with the acquiescense of
the Senate and the people, all that was real
in Roman freedom ceased to exist. Two
republics in France were brought to an end
in the same way. Napoleon began by being
('npaul for q farm than al tol 20 II e.
and finally became Emperor, with the pow
ers of an absolute despot. The last Bona
parte was President for four years., was re-
elected tor ten, and ended, like his uncle, in
grasping the imperial crown.
"May this be washed in the Lethe and
forgotten?" Shall these lessons be lost?
Shall the lamp which guided our foIefathers
be extinguished? Shall the broad daylight
of all human experience be closed up in a
little dark lantern manufactured at Milwau-
kee? | think this cannot be done; "the
eternal verities" are against it. The most
powerful third-termer may as Well try to
die with the breath of his mouth
A third term for Grant does not mean a
third term only but any number of terms
that he chooses to demand. The imperial
method of carrying all elections by corrup-
ton or force, or declaring them to be
carried when they are not, is to be perma.
nently substituted for the system of free,
popular choice.
The figure of Grant standing with the
seal of prmacy on the mountain top and
looking down on the inhabitants of the plain
below, gives a measure of the elevation
which his sycophants fatter him with the
hope of attaining They urge the necessity
of a strong government almost in the very
words used by the adherents of Caesar
and the two Napoleons. Strong government,
in their sense, means weak laws and strong
ruler; in other words, a substantial monar-
chy, powerful in its scorn of all legal re-
afr T,J1o I,.o pI,oE a, Mil