744 



UNITED STATES. 



can participate, fixing the length of time ortlie num- 

 ber of terms for which any one person shall be eli- 

 gible for the office of President. 



Until such an amendment is adopted the people 

 cannot be restricted in their choice by resolution 

 further than they are now restricted as to age, nativ- 

 ity, etc. It may happen in the future history of the 

 country that to change an Executive because he has 

 been eight years in office will prove unfortunate if 

 not disastrous. The idea that any man could elect 

 himself President, or even renominate himself, is 

 preposterous. It is a reflection upon the intelligence 

 and patriotism of the people to suppose such a thing 

 possible. Any man can destroy his chances for the 

 office, but no one can force an election or even a nomi- 

 nation. 



To recapitulate. I arii not, nor have I ever been, 

 a candidate for a renomination. I would not accept 

 a nomination if it were tendered, unless it should 

 come under such circumstances as to make it an im- 

 perative duty circumstances not likely to arise. I 

 congratulate the convention, over which you pre- 

 sided, for the harmony which prevailed, and for the 

 excellent ticket put in the field, and which, I hope, 

 may be triumphantly elected. With great respect, 

 your obedient servant, U. 8. GKANT. 



To General HARRY WHITE, President Pennsylvania 



Eepublican State Convention. 



In September a reunion of the officers of 

 the Army of the Tennessee took place at Des 

 Moines, Iowa. On the evening of September 

 29th, at the Opera-House, an address of wel- 

 come and an oration were delivered. Eulogies 

 were pronounced, and speeches made by Gen- 

 erals Sherman, Davis, Force, Meyers, and 

 others. President Grant, being present on 

 this occasion, spoke as follows : 



COMRADES : It always affords me much gratifica- 

 tion to meet my comrades in arms of ten and four- 

 teen years ago, and to tell over again from memory 

 the trials and hardships of those days, of hardships 

 imposed > for the preservation and perpetuation of 

 our free institutions. We believed then, and we be- 

 lieve now, that we have a government worth fight- 

 ing for, and if need be dying for. How many of our 

 comrades paid the latter price for our preserved 

 Union! Let their heroism and sacrifice be ever 

 green in our memory. Let not the result of their 

 sacrifices be destroyed. The Union and the free in- 

 stitutions for which they died should be held more 

 dear for their sacrifices. We will not deny to any 

 of those who fought against us any privilege under 

 the Government which we claim for ourselves. On 

 the contrary, we welcome all such who come for- 

 ward in good faith to help build up the waste places, 

 and to perpetuate our institutions against all ene- 

 mies,, as brothers in full interest with us in a com- 

 mon heritage ; but we are not prepared to apologize 

 for the part we took in the war. 



It is to be hoped that like trials will never again 

 befall our country. In this sentiment no class of 

 people can more heartily join than the soldier who 

 submitted to the dangers, trials, and hardships of 

 the camp and the battle-field, on whichever side he 

 fought. No class of people are more interested in 

 guarding against a recurrence of those days. Let 

 us, then : begin by guarding against every enemy 

 threatening the prosperity of free republican insti- 

 tutions. I do not bring into this assemblage poli- 

 ticsj certainly not partisan politics ; but it is a fair 

 subject for the soldiers, in their deliberations, to 

 consider what may be necessary to secure the prize 

 for which they battled. In a republic like ours, 

 where the citizen is the sovereign, and the official 

 the servant; where no power is exercised, except by 

 the will of the people, it is important that the sover- 

 eign, the people, should foster intelligence, that in- 



telligence which is to preserve us as a free nation. If 

 we are to have another contest in the near future of 

 our national existence, I predict that the dividing 

 line will not be Mason and Dixon's; but between 

 patriotism and intelligence on the one side, and su- 

 perstition, ambition, and ignorance, on the other. 



Now, the centennial year of our national existence, 

 I believe, is a good time to begin the work of 

 strengthening the foundations of the structure com- 

 menced by our patriotic forefathers one hundred years 

 ago at Lexington. Let us all labor to aid all needful 

 guarantees for the security of free thought, free 

 speech, a free press, pure morals, unfettered religious 

 sentiments, and of equal rights and privileges to all 

 men irrespective of nationality, color, or religion. 

 Encourage free schools, and resolve that not one 

 dollar appropriated for their support shall be appro- 

 priated to the support of any sectarian schools. Re~ 

 solve that neither the State nor nation, nor both com- 

 bined, shall support institutions of learning other than 

 those sufficient to afford to every child growing up 

 in the land the opportunity of a good common-school 

 education, unmixed with sectarian, pagan, or atheis- 

 tical dogmas. Leave the matter of religion to the 

 family altar, the church, and the private school, sup- 

 ported entirely by private contributions. Keep the 

 Church and the state forever separate. With these 

 safeguards, I believe the battles which created the 

 Army of the Tennessee will not have been fought in 

 vain. 



Subsequently, about January 4, 1876, the 

 statement was made that the President had 

 explained the free-school portion of the above 

 speech in a letter to a professor of the Iowa 

 University, in which he said : 



What I said at Des Moines was hastily noted down 

 in pencil. I may have expressed my views im- 

 perfectly. I have not the manuscript before me, as 

 I gave it to the secretary of the society. My idea of 

 what I said is this : 



Resolved, That the State or nation, or both com- 

 bined, shall furnish to every child growing up in the 

 land the means of acquiring a good common-school 

 education. Such is my idea, and such I intended to 

 have said. I feel no hostility to free education going 

 as high as the State or national Government feels 

 able to provide, protecting, however, every child in 

 the privilege of a common-school education, before 

 public means are appropriated to a higher education 

 for the few. 



Some circumstances, existing at the time, 

 gave to this speech of the President an un- 

 usual and perhaps an undeserved force. Had 

 he not been President, and had he not been 

 charged by the opposition with a determined 



Iurpose to secure a third term, these remarks 

 y him might have escaped attention. There 

 had likewise existed during the year a more 

 warm and excited discussion of the so-called 

 " school question " than usual. This question 

 consists of the claim on the part of Roman 

 Catholics to be exempt from taxation for the 

 support of public schools, on the ground that 

 they cannot conscientiously send their children 

 to these schools. This conscientiousness is 

 based on the conviction on their part that at 

 these schools no religious instruction is given 

 to children, or such instruction is given as is 

 hostile to the Catholic principles and per- 

 versive of the Catholic faith. 



Accordingly, when the President's speech 

 appeared, he was renewedly charged with 

 seeking a "third term," and with attempting 



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