Year: 1875

Bishop Haven has made sensation. We
have had no declaration from any prominent
man for long time that has made the inn
preston of his fervid declarations on the
question of the Presidency The telegraph
did not do the Bishop Justice This cold,
peremptory electric wire is q sore destroyer
of all kinds of rhetoric and zeal" The
meeting which was signalized by the extra
ordinary performance of his reverence, and
which may become historical, was held in the
old historic town of Boston. 1t was
preachers meeting An address had been
made on Bismarck and the Pope, q favorlte
topic for Protestant defamation. In tins
address the speaker, whose name was wells,
said that Grant was the saviour OF his coun-
try" and the people could not dispense
with his services" This declaration was
heard amid loud cheering, and Bishop
Haven arose. He saw in Grant, who
was pro-slavery enough before the war,
''the great hero Of human freedom"
Then, according to the reporter, he ex-
| claimed, in stentorian tones, Il believe that
| President Grant is the only man who could
conquer the enemies of human freedom.
herewith, in the name of the American
people and true Christianity, nominate
Ulysses S. Grant, our present worthy Presi-
| dent and defender, to third term in the
Office Of the President of the United States
Then the Rev. DR. Bates put the motion in
regular form, and the proposition of Bishop
Haven was unanimously adopted, not dis
senting vote being given.


The impression that this nomination was
the movement of rather talkative and not
altogether discreet Methodist Bishop, and
that he spoke for himself alone and not for
his audience, is dispelled by the formal ac-
ton taken by the meeting in unanimously"
adopting the nomination. We must, there
fore, consider this Boston demonstration as
the formal nomination of General Grant for
the Presidency '.for third term" by
! convention composed Of 'two hundred and
thirteen ministers and about one hundred
laymen; !" and, according to the Tribune, IAN
unusually large number of the most intelli-
/ gent and influential members of this denom-
nation" The Methodist Church, it must
be remembered is one Of the most impor-
tant as it is undoubtedly the largest, of our
Protestant bodies 1t is peculiarly indenti-
fed with the nations progress, with the set
| tlement Of our Western world, with the
| development of a true and pure Christian
| spirit and a conscientious patriotism. The
history of Methodism in this country is a
| history of effort and achievement, in spite of
toll and misery, the hardships OF frontier
life, of struggles with a rude civilization and
of struggles far more terrible with the merc-
less Indian savage There is no religious
influence in this country 80 powerful as
that Of the Methodist Church for, while the
believers in the Roman Catholic creed may
be more numerous, they are alone. The
Methodists have the natural sympathy Of
the other Protestant churches, with whom
the Catholics are in antagonism Con-
sequently it would be folly for us
to ignore as an unexpected, eyanescent
sporadic movement a nomination from con-
vention composed of more than three hundred
members, clerical and lay, of a Church so
powerful and numerous, acting under the
inspiration of trusted bishop.


Looking at this movement from its largest
sense, we see more and more reason for view
ing it with gravity. First, we have the
speech of the President at Des Moines. This
speech would have been extraordinary from
any Chief Magistrate, but from President
who never speaks" who is celebrated for
his silence, it becomes more remarkable. In
this address the President virtually says that
an agitation Of religion will take the place of
that agitation Of slavery which only ended in
a fierce and bloody war. Then came the let
ter of Mr.. Blaine, the accepted leader Of the
republican party, and himself not without
hopes for the Presidency, throwing the same
! firebrand into the canvass This was fol-
lowed by the Message, with its proposed
amendments in the same vein. Now we
have the nomination Of the Presi-
dent for a third term by q ''most
intelligent and influential convention of the
largest Protestant denomination in the
United States-a denomination of which the
| President is an ostentatous if not a partic-
ularly devout member. When we see these
suggestive and unusual circumstances fol-
lowing one so hard upon the other what can
we think2 This is the only practical move
ment that thus far has been made toward
canvass the nominations for which must be
determined in few months The demo-
Gratis have been waiting for the republicans
to begin and make as many mistakes as pos
sible The republicans have been waiting
expectant for the sphinx to speak and ex-
plain the riddle Of the succession. The two
parties have stood antagonistic, like Laertes
and Hamlet in the fencing scene, waiting for
the advantage, when suddenly the President
comes upon the stage, candidate for the
third term nominated by respectable con-
yention-much more so, we fear, than any


A.. Ill =