oldly declared unalterable opposition to the third-term
idea. Grant then spoke. In a letter to the convention's chairman he
said: "Now, for the third term, I do not want it any more than I did the
first." After calling attention to the fact that the Constitution did
not forbid a third term, and that an occasion might arise when a third
term might be wisely given, he said that he was not a candidate for a
third nomination, and "would not accept it, if tendered, unless under
such circumstances as to make it an imperative duty--circumstances not
likely to arise."

This was justly regarded as a politician's letter, and increased alarm
instead of allaying it. The national House of Representatives (which the
elections of 1874 had made a Democratic body), by a vote of 234 to 18,
passed the following resolution: "That in the opinion of this House the
precedent, established by Washington and other Presidents of the United
States after their second term, has become, by universal consent, a
part of our republican system of government, and that any departure from
this time-honored custom would be unwise, unpatriotic, and fraught with
peril to our free institutions." As 70 Republicans voted for this
resolution, it was practically the voice of both parties, and it
dispelled the spectre of "Caesarism," as the third-term idea was called.
There is reason to believe that if it had caused less alarm it would
have assumed a more substantial aspect.

During the excited and perilous four months after the election of 1876,
when civil war and anarchy were imminent on account of the disputed
result of the people's suffrage, the conduct of the President was
admirable. He let it be understood that violence would be suppressed,
without hesitation, at any cost. He preserved the _status quo_, and
compelled peaceful patience. The condition was one which summoned into
action his genius of supreme command, and it shone with its former
splendor of authority. On the 4th of March, 1877, he became a private
citizen.

CHAPTER XVIII

THE TOUR OF THE WORLD

Upon leaving the presidency General Grant retained the distinction of
first citizen of the nation. There was no fame of living man that could
vie with his. His old form of modesty and simplicity was resumed. As
soon as he stepped down from the pedestal of power the criticism of duty
and the criticism of malice both ceased. A generous people was glad to
forget his errors and remember only his