Year: 1875

tall back great deal. They moved all
the time, as Grant said at Fort DonelsOn,
"upOn the works Of the enemy" Like
old Zach Taylor at Buena Vista, they
never knew when they were whipped.
They were soldiers clear through, and
not political generals, All honor to
them for their heroic devotion 10 duty,
The country will never cease to remem-
Der them gratefully,


And yet there is well defined line
that should ever divide the bestowmCnt
Of personal and political iavors in re.
public, History teaches us that hero
worship is adangerouS popular weakness,
One OF the after dangers of war in any
nation Is the liability to give undue
prominence to the military element,
This Is always a dangerous tendency,
Our fathers recognized the danger and
sought to guard against it by completely
subordinnting the military to the civil
power in the Constitution. Mr.. Jefferson
and his followers were very jealous Of the
supposed military inClinations Of even
General Washington, but more especial
Iy Of Alexander Hamilton. They had
the example OF France fresh before them
at that time,


The people Of this country are not Us
jealous Of their military leaders Us were
their fathers in our earlier history. They
have had several Of them in the Presi-
dental Chair, and have learned to con-
template the spectacle Of a soldier Presi-
dent without apprehension, And yet it
Is not to be denied that this state Of pub
lie feeling has been seriously disquieted
Of late by the talk OF third term for
General Grant. There was sufficient
evidence Of seriousness and "business" in
the talk about a third term to
create very decided and widespread
distrust OF II desire and intention on his
part to secure another election, This
feeling was greatly strengthened by the
declaration Of the Republican State Con-
ventiOn Of South Carolina in favor OF u
third term for him. II was then believed
that u movement was on foot in the South

to secure his nomination in 1876. lnCOn.
sequence Of this widespread belief an in-
creasing agitation upon the subject has
been going on ever since. twas charged,
and not satisfactorily disprOvetl, that
the President was really al aspirant for
u third term. lie did not himself deny
1t, nor did any Of his friends dare to do
so by authority. His excuse is las now
stated in his letter. that there was not
sufficient pretext for doing so. This
statement will strike many people with
astonishment who remember how easy 1t
was for Lincoln, and, in Hct, all our
Presidents, to find Il pretexL for setting
Themselves right before the country when
il was important to do so, Al
all events they will not fail to contrast
with such statement the fact that the
Republicans Of the great State Of Penn
sylvania deemed the popular feeling on
the subject 80 unmistNkable as to demand
an explicit declaration from them Of OPP
position to n third term. Nor will they
fail to contrast the very emphatic and ex.
plicit plrascology Of that declaration Of
the Pennsylvania Republicans against n
third term with the enigmNticAl Ian
gungc Of General Grants disclaimer us
to his aspirations and intentions. So
noticeable Is this contrast that II Is
not impossible the Ohio Republicans
will feel called upon tomorrow, in their
State Convention, to supplement the
Presidents letter with significant rcso-
luton or two expressive Of their grnliG.
cation that he has spoken at last on the
subject.