sustain him
if he called for it.

"But the people had begun to penetrate the designs of the hero, and
bitterly denounced his resolution to seek a third term of power. The
terrible corruptions that had been openly protected by him, had
advertised him as criminally unfit for so responsible an office. But,
alas! the people had delayed too long. They had taken a young elephant
into the palace. They had petted and fed him and admired his bulky
growth, and now they could not remove him without destroying the
building.

"The politicians who had managed the Government so long, proved that
they had more power than the people They succeeded, by practices that
were common with politicians in those days, in getting him nominated for
a third term. The people, now thoroughly alarmed, began to see their
past folly and delusion. They made energetic efforts to defeat his
election. But they were unavailing. The politicians had arranged the
ballot, and when the counts were published, the hero was declared
President for life. When too late the deluded people discovered that
they had helped dig the grave for the corpse of their civil liberty, and
those who were loyal and had been misled saw it buried with unavailing
regret. The undeserved popularity bestowed upon a narrow and selfish
nature had been its ruin. In his inaugural address he declared that
nothing but the will of the people governed him. He had not desired the
office; public life was distasteful to him, yet he was willing to
sacrifice himself for the good of his country.

"Had the people been less enlightened, they might have yielded without a
murmur; but they had enjoyed too long the privileges of a free
Government to see it usurped without a struggle. Tumult and disorder
prevailed over the country. Soldiers were called out to protect the new
Government, but numbers of them refused to obey. The consequence was
they fought among themselves. A dissolution of the Government was the
result. The General they had lauded so greatly failed to bring order out
of chaos; and the schemers who had foisted him into power, now turned
upon him with the fury of treacherous natures when foiled of their prey.
Innumerable factions sprung up all over the land, each with a leader
ambitious and hopeful of subduing the whole to his rule. They fought
until the extermination of the race became imminent, when a new and
unsuspected power arose and mastered.

"The female portion of the nation had neve