Year: 1875

The proper time has arrived; an acknoWl-
edged authority has spoken regarding the
Third Term bugbear; and President Grant
has written the most important letter of his
public career, declaring that he is not
candidate for denomination. 1t will be read
with more interest and deeper concern by
the American people than any political docu-
ment he has ever written. The firm and dig
nifed explanation of his silence regarding
this matter will not surprise those who un-
derstand the character of man who
has habituated himself, and whose eXpe-
rience has taught him, TO rely upon
his own methods, and whose greatest
successes have been won as the result of
quiet independence of thought and discreet
self fdepcndence. Otherwise the letter is
uniquely characteristic, and remarkable
for the absence Of clap-trap and the ordi-
nary rhetorical subterfUges of politicians.
Plainly and bluntly he gives an insight
into the motives of his past life, his love
for the position Of General of the Army,
his regard for the will Of the people and
his natural exultatiOn that his first four
years as Chief Magistrate of the nation
were so acceptable to them that the peo-
ple, without invitation from him, sought
tue opportunity to repeat the highest dem
onstration of their confidence in his abili
ties. Not word in the entire letter could
be erased, and not a word added without
marring the completeness and simplicity of
the whole Even the argument that the
people alone are all-pOwcrful in the selec-
ton of their officials, and that no constitu-
tional prohibition exists to prevent them
from re -electing President for aThird Term,
is concisely putin such way as to show that
it has no personal application; but is merely
used as an assertion of the.sabsoluterights of
the people and an answer to the ISLANDERS
of his enemies. To his single mind
cdness it appears that no man can
control his own political future, ex-
cept to destroy it, and no one man, how
ever powerful, can dictate his own personal
advancement either to his party or to the
country at large. He admits, however,
what every loyal man has often felt, that
emergencies might arise which would rem
der it imperatively necessary that Presi-
dent should be re elected for a Third Term.
While contemplating the condition of af-
fairs which would have existed if President
Lincoln had lived and the war had lasted


until the end OF his second term, no one
will deny the soundness of this proposition;
but he adds very pointedly that such
emergencies are not now probable.
lie is simply defending the rights Of
the people by showing their power to
thwart the schemes of ambitious men and
their authority to select their own rulers
in accordance with constitutional limits.
There may be those who will maliciously
Constue this defense to mean something
more than.a plain Interpretation Of the
words used will indicate, but he can afford,
under the circumstances, to suffer further
misrepresentation. In fact, he expects it
as the natural result of the disappointment
which the letter will give to one class Of
his enemies, and the exultation of another
class, who will boast that he has been forced
by them to speak against the inclinations of
his own heart. But however much he
may be misrepresented, the American peo-
pie will cherish his declination as the
brightest, most uRselfsh and most patriotic
act Of his life. The letter will nevertheless
be Iead by thousands and thousands
of citizens in every section Of the
country with Il feeling of sincere re-
gret. Doubts about the future will re-
place the confident feeling of the present.
1t will require something of his own con-
fidence in the perpetuity Of the Republic
and the principles of free government to
remove those doubts. But the reliance
which can always be safely placed in the
impulses of the people will serve to point
out the path to renewed victo-
ries Of right over wrong.
His removal from the possibilities of re-
election is not therefore an utterly irrepa-
rable loss. Another man may rise, as he
did, to fill the important trusts he has vol
UNFAIRLY thrust from him, and the country
and the great Republican party will con-
tinue to thrive, ever guided and inspired
by the noble admonitions of his patriotic
record.