Year: 1874

The conditions at Washington appear
to be incompatible with free journalism.
Not only administration, but all other
journals become barnacles of something
that has public patronage or plumber.
An administration journal naturally ac-
cepts the office of incense burner to the
presidential nostrils, all of which is no
more an expression ofpublic opinion, and
has no more influence in forming public
opinion than the servility and fattery
of body servant. Thus the National
Republican, in an article we have reprint
ed on the presidential question: affects to
believe that President Grant is absolute
master of the situation; and can will his
election to a third term by the Republi-
can party The Republicans Office of cen
ser swinger precludes it from telling the
President of the popular jealousy which
would be aroused by this violation of
hoRored precedents that have acquired
the force of a constitutional principle,
which would put a weapon into the enc
my's hand that would be too much for
the popularity of the Republican party
or the President; and requires it also to
ignore our political history, which has
shown that the attempts of Presidents
to form new parties have uniformly been
failures.


Experience has approved the rule es-
tablished by high examples, which has
fixed the second term as the limit of
presidential ambition. Instead of ex-
tending it, the public convictions are
more toward forbidding any reelection,
because of the temptation it presents to
the president to use his enormous patron
age to enforce his denomination. But
these high precedents have made the
people tolerant of a second term. Should
this bar be broken down, and a Presi-
dent show disposition to let his power
nominate him for a third term, the pop
ular jealousy which would be created and
the cry which would be raised by the
opposition that the President would use
his power to re-elect him as long as he
willed, would defeat the Republican
party and its third term candidate. And
so far from such determination on the
part of the President, and Republican
disaffection Herewith, resulting in the
formation of a new and more powerful
party in his support, it would consolidate
the Democratic party by what it would
regard as a certainty of a Democratic
victory.


Presidents Tyler, Fillmore, and John
son, men of much ability and popularity,
each turned the cold shoulder to the
party which elected him, and sought to
form new party, and each failed. Each
was much encouraged by the opposition
party in separating from his own, but in
each case the opposition sought only to
improve the occasion to elect its own
candidate. In the case of the first two,
the result of their separation from their
party was to bring in the Democratic
party; in the case of the last, the Repub-
lican party was able to survive the de-
sertion of its President, and the use of
his patronage against it. The utmost
that determination on the part of Pres
ident Grant to run could do would be to
cause the defeatsof the Republican party.
The attempt to form a new party to sup
port him would be as futile as in the case
of Tyler, Fillmore and johnson.


Since journal which is thought to be
under the shadow of the administration
has broached this matter, and its outgiv-
ing is generally regarded as having sig
nifi canoe, we deem it necessary to speak
plainly truths which the Presidents sit
uation prevents him from hearing from
those about him


The Republican party has diversities
of opinion on important public ques-
tions, No party can be formed thout
embracing as great diversities The
mind does not exist which can declare
principle or suit of principles so popular
and of such exceeding Importance as to
overwhelm all diversities and make ma
jority unit in mind. For example, Gen.
Grants late manifesto of a currency poll
cy is concerning a matter of overwhelm-
ing Importance, but it is so opposite to
that he strongly recommended in his last
annual message that one makes the other
absolutely destructive. Yet the princi-
pies of money have not changed; nor
has popular sentiment changed so that
the opposite of what he then thought
proper is now popular enough to form a
new and prevailing party upon. Rather