The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-11-23
GRANT AND A THIRD TERM.

| Third term rumors have revived talk
about Grant and his third term expe-
rience. Under date of the 18th inst
Gath sends long special from New
York to the Cincinnati Enquirer relat-
ing a talk he had with John Russell
Young about Grant and the third term
movement in his favor and how the
General was opposed to it.
Mr.. Young says he took a long letter
from General Grant, four foolscap
pages long, and carried it to Don Cam
eron at Chicago and that the letter
was a, withdrawal from the presiden-
tial race. He says that had Conkling,
Cameron. Boutwell, and Robert Lincoln
done their duty by that letter, General
Grant would have been relieved from
a cloud which cast a shadow over the
rest of his life. While he blames these
four men, Mr.. Young charges the par
ticular perfidy of suppressing the let
ter Gt can be called nothing else ac-
cording to the story he tells) on Ros-
coe Conkling. When asked where the
letter of Grant declining to run now
is, he replied:
Among Roscoe Conklings papers He
suppressed the letter after Don Cam
eron lent it to him and kept it. I tried
in vain after Grant was defeated to re-
cover that letter from Conkling, in or
der to publish it and set General Grant
right. Conkling said he would not pro-
duce it. In fact, he did not want Grant
to be set right if it would disparage
his own evil agency in that matter of
making Grant his factor to restore his
machine. l asked Conkling again for
the letter about the time of Grants de-
mise. He would not let me have it.
I suppose, therefore, it is among his
papers, if not destroyed.
1t is very strange that no copy of so
| important a letter was kept but none
was. Mr.. Young explains this by say
ing that so soon as the letter was
handed to him he FASTENED to Chicago
to make it effective, and presumed that
it would be and would be issued to
/ the public, which it never was.
He says that after Grant lost the
nomination it was due that his decli-
nation should have been proclaimed,
but that Mr.. Conkling had not the
frankness to set General Grant right,
although he himself did declare that
such letter existed, but that in the
absence of it's production his state
ment failed to make much impression.
Conkling having failed to do him JUS
tice, and MI Youngs statement hav-
ing failed of it's purpose, it became the
duty of General Grant to set himself
right in the matter, but this he did
not do. While this would have been a
very hard matter for him to have
done in view of the persistent and solid
way in which his supporters voted for
him, still the estimation in which ne
was held by the American people was
SO great and their gratitude to him
so active, that any statement he might
have made regarding his desire not to
be a candidate for a third term, if
such really were his desire that it
would have been accepted without
question. 1t is unfortunate for his
fame that he did not make such a
statement, and this very late one by
Mr.. John Russell Young will entirely
fail of it's intent to relieve his memory
of the charge of desiring a third term
The people will instantly recall
Grants letter in which he said that if
his country should demand his SER
vices in any emergency he would have
no choice but to obey the call of his
country.
If General Grant did not desire a
third term as President he at least
permitted his trusted friends to con-
vey that impression to the people.
while those who stood by him so val
iantiy at Chicago look upon themselves
as stalwarts of stalwarts and hold re-
unions in honor of their answering
devotion to him at Chicago.