The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-05-09
THE THIRp-TERM TRADITION.


THE THIRD-TERM TRADITION.
The Brooklyn Eagle has got far enough
along in It's advocacy of the denomination
of Grover Cleveland to encounter the third
term question. OF course 1t does not think
this objection amounts TO anything against
the denomination OF MIR. Cleveland. whom
it now regards as the predestined savior
of the Democratic party and of the country.
The Eagle of Wednesday devotes its daily
Cleveland editorial to this phase of the
question. The popular conviction on the
subject has generally traced back to Wash
ington's refusal to be a candidate for
third term. The Eagle says there was no
principle involved in this. 1t says: Wash
ington discouraged third term for himself
because he was getting old, was feeling
tired and said he had a right to rest"
After quoting a part of what Washington
said on the subject in his farewell address
the Eagle says:
II can be searched in vain for any evil
dence to justify that he was against
third term except for himself. He init
mated nothing against third or fourth
term or a nth term or any number Of
terms for any one else. He was simply
tired and insisted on getting out The inn
mense quantity of Misrepresentation and
Misrepresentation which has been built up
on the matter has no warrant in anything
Washington did or said 1t is an outgrowth
OF ignorance or the creation of demagogy.
Jefferson has been falsely credited with
hostility to third term. IL he ever de-
clined 1t at all he declined IL because he
knew he could not get ii and because he
knew that he might be able to continue to
administer the government through Madi-
son and Monroe. which largely he did.
Jackson was very feeble at the end of his
second term. He knew he could continue
to administer the government through Van
Buren, and that Van Burens election would
be the most effective blow which could be
dealt at John c. Calhoun.
The foregoing contains a large amount
Of conjecture To show what Washington
said and did not say it is quoted. After
stating that he had sacrificed his personal
inclinations in accepting the office at all
and had only held it from a sense of duty
and what seemed to be the popular desire
he said that every day the increasing
weight of years admonishes me more and
more that the shade Of retirement is as
necessary to me as 1t will be welcome.
Satisfied that IL any circumstances have
given peculiar value to my services they
were temporary. 1 have the consolation to
believe that while choice and prudence
invite me to quit the political scene, pa
triotism does not forbid it." At that time
Washington was sixty-four years old.
while Mr.. Cleveland is now sixty-six. If
Washington thought sixty-four suitable
age for retirement, sixty-eight would seem
to be rather an advanced age to begin
third term 1t is true that Washington
did not say a word indicating that he
thought it would be unpatriotic or improper
for political reasons for him to accept
denomination for a third term, but no per-
son has a right to say this was not in his
mind. 1t may have been his real motive
and have been kept in the background
purposely. Some of washingtons political
enemies had intimated that he favored
monarchy. Jefferson wrote in 1898 that
there were some persons high in office
''who have espoused the Constitution only
as a stepping-stone to monarchy, and have
| endeavored to approximate it to that in its
administration in order to. render it's final
| transition more easy" II this was not
aimed at Washington 1t was aimed at his
personal friends and members Of his Cabi-
| net, and he was not likely to give color
TO II by accepting a nomination for third
term All this is largely a matter of con-
lecture, but there is no ground for assuming
that Washington at the age of sixty-four
years felt too old to carry the burdens of
| Office another four years. 1t is highly
probable that he had stronger reasons for
declining a third term which he did not
state.
| What the Eagle says about Jefferson and
Jackson is not to the point. Neither Of
them was ever seriously talked of for a
third term and neither of them could
possibly have been renominated. There
was consequently no necessity of their ever
of General Grant. who. after having served
two terms, from 1868 to 1876, was brought
forward by his friends for third term in
1880. There was no reason why he should
not have been renominated. He had been
out of Office four years, was in the prime Of
life. in excellent health, the people had un-
bounded confidence in him and he could
nave peen easily elected But the anti
third-term feeling prevented his nominal
ton. Unreasonable as it may have been,
1t existed, deep-rooted tradition and an
| obstacle that could not be overcome. 1t
exists still. as deep-rooted and impregnable
as ever. II it was strong enough to pre-
vent the nomination of General Grant for
a third term it can never be overcome in
favor of Grover Cleveland. No person
doubts Mr.. Cleveland's patriotism. but after
a century of steadfast adherence to the
two-term tradition the American people
will not depart from 1t in his favor. He
will not be nominated again.
The Cleveland contingent in the East has