Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-01-21

question, was his conviction the result
of sober second thought, that III the tenn
per Of the public mind, Its prejudices
considered, the simple principles of re-
publieanisIn demanded the experiment.
| Thus mark you, the foremost fnancler OF
| the epoch succeeding the revolution,
statesman of rare gifts and exalted. ac-
! quirements, like the vibrant pendulum or
| shuttle, faded from pole to pole of ex-
tremes, and touched with faeiie and elias
] tic wing, both the zenith and nadir of
! opposing theorems. 1t is Il matter of
common notoriety that Mr.. Hamilton s
! leanings was preferably toward a consti-
/ tIftIonal monarchy. If his record on this
| question implies aught of significance, it
| is substantially, that the short term Is
more consonant with and agreeable to a
government of the people, By the people
and for the people, than a long term.
The would-be refOrmeTs Of our organic
laws urge as plea for an extension of
the term time of the national ex-
ecntive, the prejudice, ineompatably
diminutive, imagine, wrought
upon business interests by virtue Of
change in tactics and the disturbances in
cident to frequent occurrences of national
elections. Other grounds paraded as a
predicate for urgence of reform are, the
water mark of efficiency in virtue of his
familiarity with his functions and conse-
quent ripper experience, steps down and
ont before the country is Unidentified for
his tuition. To overreach this difficulty
they propose as a solvent and sovereign
remedy a longer tenure of office and a
disqualification for reelection. Argu-
ments lose their power of persuasion and
become impotent when their fallacy is
disclosed. The want of constancy as re-
spects administrative policies has given
character to our habits as business men
in the pursuit of practical undertakings.
The mighty storm-swept oak has
sent its roots deepest down into
the soil Conservatism under such dis
cipline has shot its tap-root deep down
into the soil of every enterprise. I'm
pending changes in administration and
the hazards they evolve, are not then
the Pandora IS box of evils we are led to
believe The enyirons and safeguards of
commercial ventures in virtue of all that
has been said appears to be broadened,
and we have as quotient resulting good
from out the womb of apparent evil.
If by protraction OF the period
of tenure is generated stronger
temptations to over indulgence in
extravaganza, laXity and over specula-
ton, and these vices strive for as they
will, ana obtain mastery and dominate
the nobler virtues of conservative minds,
of what avail is it if at the end of the
longer term when we take an inventory
OF stock, we find the shipwreck is infinite
" greater and more distressing in virtue
of four-fold greater shocks of violence?
May we not in all candor further combat
this idea and set against advantages
prOphesied to accrue from radical change,
the evils sure TO arise from the greater
violence of the contests at the end Of the
long term? The value of the prize and
seldomness of elections will excite to the
highest pitch of tension the passions of the
multitude Can mortal ken foresee and
foreteu the perils to society, the
known fecundity of such situa-
tons, give rise and birth to.
In the general chaos AID turmoil which
would be begotten, might not the ambi-
tions and reckless seek surcease Of woe in
that eXpedient of the efractory-insur-
rection. Victor Hugo, imperishably re-
nowned, in the Freuch assembly of 1851,
when q revision of the constitution was
sought in the interest of Louis Napoleon,
gave utterance to these prophetic words:
g What means the prolOngation OF the
powers of the president? 1t means the
consulate for life. Where does a life-con-
sulate lead? To the empire. - Prophecy
was never more truly fulfilled. In the
very nature of things the dreaded evil
results fOreshadowed as the sun Of Il
change in administration tactics, is kept
at a minimum under the sway of q four
years tenure. The sagacious minds of
men who are unfavored by the auxilliaries
of class legislation fOrestalls, possible
ingly The proposition of ineligibility
is grounded upon fancied lack of virtue
in the incumbent. It is assumed he is so
far wanting in a sense of the properties,
as to be incapable of withstanding the
seductive influence of ambition, and will
intrigue dishonorably and to the preju-
diceS of public interests, for his own ag-
grandizement. All men have mis-
givings and shortcomings and will
at times succumbed to evil temptations
where there is insufficient restraints.
In exposition of the unworthiness of their
argument, may we not ask il some store
should not be set to the credit of the virtue
of American manhood, and that our faith
in its diyinest specimens be builded lit
tie higher? 1t may be replied there are
but few who, in jeweled virtue, are like
great Ca1ser's wife-above suspi-
cl0n. VINO can instance one
among the illustrious men who have
risen to the level of the highest Office in
the land, who would have hesitated to
stoop to as base condescensions and make
about the same sacrifices for and in be-
half of his party s choice of a successor,
as ne would for himself. All that has
been said in favor of a longer term, be-
cause of the superior attachments of the
president after few years of service,
can be urged with equal grace as
an argument for his reelection
One advantage among others the short
term has over the longer. with q bar to
the reelection of the incumbent, con-
sists in our ability to dispose of HIM sooner
by suffrage, if he has shown his unfitness
after a fair trial for the duties of the
office. In the event OF protracted foreign
wars it might be developed, under stress
of phenomenal environments and beset-
ingS that the chief executive would prove
unequal to imperious emergencies, and iii
this event the sooner we were rid of him
the better. If on the other hand he has |
acquitted himself acceptably, his lofty |
virtues win commend him to our conf !