Year: 1874




General Grant loftily rejects al
consideration OF the third term be.
cause it is an issue "raised by the
newspapers" and he is Of opiuion
that it "does not comport with his
dignity rs President of the United
States to publish his views on the
subject. And FIVE members Of Cen
eral Grants Cabinet Heartily ap-
prove of these expressions, while one,
more imbecile than the rest, declares
his private conviction that the news
papers have invented the third term
issue solely to create the impression
that they are power in the land
greater even than the Executive. "
Alas! what little, what very little
men we are governed by. If there
were any honesty or any real dignity
in these declarations Of five Cabine,
officers and a President, even the
assumption of superiority in this
attitude would be a piece Of ridiculous
lmpudepce. Granting the sincerity
Of Grant declaration that the news.
papers. have raised this issue; yielding
for the moment our own position that
The newspapers have exposed this is.
sue, not made it; accepting Grants
own ground, We may Justly inquire
out OF what sort Of superior human
clay is he made that lie stands 50 far
above the newspapers2 What is the
exact shade of the blue blood which
anlmates these distinguished gentle.
men? What atmosphere do they
breathe? Upon what meat doth this
our CmSar feed, that he has grown so
great One might suppose from the
tone assumed toward the press which
stands on level with the people
lhaC all these men were not merely
the representatives. Of generations oi
kings, bat creatures Of some superior
order exempt from the ordinary con.
dltlons OF humanity. Whence come,
the dignity which IiIts General Grant
50 !;.r--ao very s.r--above other mrn?I
Mas II SIven to h!tn by some WHY poll
ucian IN the scramble for places.
And, If 50, which lucrative office wa$ il |
tAat Le bestowed en- the donor? Or.
if not given, dIl he buy it, and from
winch one OF the purses gwen him by
otiice-seekers did he take the money%I
Since he displays his dignity SO brave
y we Should like to k"ow more ahqut
1t. Was it a sense OF his dignity as
I'resllcnt OF the United States, and OF
Ahat comported with that dignity,
Ah.ch induced hln to 50 Oh a iunket-
nS trip Oh tne City Of lekins-a show
steamer of company that applies
tor government subsidies and gets
them? lt"as not contrary to the dig
atty OF Washington to say that he did
not wish to be President again, for he
did not wish to, ard wculd net have
lodged behiad his dignity if he had
had a further inclination for Office.
But he had none Of the kind Of digni-
ty which troubles Grant. 1t is
strange that men who have reached
high station understand the press so
little. DO these people really believe
that the newspapers Of a country in.
vent Subjects for discussion? DO they
fancy that each man invents and Gre
ates separately the air he breathes p
1t would be ust as reasonable toE
believe one as the other. No news
paper is vital that does not stand at
the level Of the people and does not
deal with the topics that make up the
daily life Of the people. All the
newspapers in the world could not
have given the third term the impor-
tance it has in our p)Htlcs to-day. 1t
is the perception by the people of
what the newspapers pointed out to
them which has made the topic ter
ror to these Cabinet drive!lers. There
is no concealing that the republican
party is splitting on this issue into
fifty thousand pieces, and the men to
blame are General Grant and his ad-
Wis r. If repuIlicanism goes down,
and if the country suffers from the ac-
cession to power of the democrats, the
men responsible before history will be
those who preferred themselves to the
cause IN whose service they rose to
distinction, and the most fragrant
ofvnIer will be Grant himself.