the Presidency in the
year 1912, he had felt great interest in the political campaign, and
had read articles expressing great bitterness toward the idea of a
third term, and toward Colonel Roosevelt personally in the newspapers
of New York, and after the period when the nomination of Colonel
Roosevelt began to be actively agitated, meditated more deeply upon
these matters. He had always studied with the greatest interest the
questions of free government, as illustrated by the Declaration of
Independence, and Washington's Farewell Address. In this connection,
the Monroe doctrine also assumed great importance in his mind, and the
converse thereof, the duty of this nation to refrain from war of
conquest; and out of these meditations grew what he elaborated into his
declaration as to the unwritten laws, or "The Four Pillars of our
Republic," namely (1) the Third Term Tradition, (2) the Monroe
Doctrine, (3) that only a Protestant by creed can become president,
(4) no wars of conquest. This document, hereunto annexed as Exhibit 1,
fully sets forth his views on these subjects.

These "four unwritten laws" had assumed in his mind a character of
sacredness. They were "sacred traditions" to be maintained at all
hazards, and, as subsequently appeared, even the hazard of life.

The following are some quotations from this document:

"Tradition is an unwritten law."

"I would doubt the right of a court to have jurisdiction over a man
who had defended tradition of his country against violation."

"The oldest of these traditions is the 'third term tradition,' it
has never been violated and is an effective safeguard against
unscrupulous ambition, but never before has been established a test
case of its inviolability as a warning to coming adventurers."

"For the first time in American history we are confronted by a man
to whom practically nothing is sacred, and he pretends to stand
above tradition."

"Anybody who finances a Third Term Movement should be expatriated
and his wealth confiscated."

"The dangers in this campaign are these, the third termer is sure
that the nomination has been stolen, and that the country and the
job belongs to him, therefore, if he gets honestly defeated in
November he will again yell that the crooks of both parties have
stolen the election and should he carry a solid West, he and the
hungry office-seekers would not hesitate to