Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1871-02-01
THE LOYALTY OF JUDGE BLACK.

THE LOYALTY" OF JUDGE BLACK
One year ago this month, Edwin
NJ. Stanton died, and received tha
christian burial which be had made I
merit of denying to others-both mer
and women-whom he had caused t.
be strangled by the hands of military
assassins, and smuggled into unknown
graves. His later career had beet {
stormy one, for the most part, in oper
defiance of the laws Of the land, anC
filled with many deeds of tyranny
and many deeds Of treachery. BuI
the better part of the public who had
been abused by his insolence and out
ragged by his crimes, were willing to
commit his body TO the earth in do
corus silence, and leave his question:
bic character "to mems charitable
speeches" This, however, was not to
be. Robcspierre had friends; Bar.
rere had admirers; Judas Iscariot has
found defender, and even Stanton
had eulogists They were of the class
who had profited by his trcachcrics
and loved him for his bascness. Ii
was fit that they should laud him for
his infamies, and natural that they
should seek to appcasc his shade By
dcfaming those whom he had most in.
humanity wrongcd.
Mr.. lIoar, then attorney general OF
the United States, began the business
lie made an oration in the Supreme
Court, which was in no proper sense
a eulogy upon Stanton, but was from
beginning to end libel upon other
and better men. The substance of it
was that, IN the ''hour of national
agony" Stanton being member OF
Buchanan's cabinet, had saved the
Union single handed, and in doing SO
bad passed through perils at the hands
of bis disloyal associates and their
chief The next morning Judge Black
addressed Mr.. Hoar q public letter,
telling him that the story retailcd
the day before was utterly false, and
desiring him to produce the owl
dence upon which 1t was founded, if
any he had. Mr.. Hoar sought dill.
gently for the evidence he wrote
numerous and pressing letters TO oloy.
al" men like Senator Howard, who
had been repeating and magnifying
the foul lie for years together, but al.
ter the most painful search, stimulat.
ed by tho shame of being branded as
n libeller, he failed to rake together
anything that in the rcmotest degree
supported his public statements. Then
Mr.. Hoar, being half honest, albeit
thick headed and "loyal," gave up his
enterprise in disgust, and left TO 9TH
ers the task Of dchming Buchanan's
cabinet.
The "loyal" were now in evil case !;
the regular attorney had thrown up
his brief and a precious calumny that
had done them good service through
ten long years was about TO die for
want of one false witness. In this
dire extremity Senator Wilson, as
loyal and as frothy as Hoar, but with
mono of his old fashioned scruples, un.
dertook to iufuso now life into the
worn out slander, and make il as ser.
yiccable as ever He called to his aid
various senator's and other party hacks,
and clothing the old story in a com.
paratively now dress, decorated with
sundry brilliant inventions of his own,
he rushed with it into the pages of the
Atlantic Monthly. An answer from
Judge Black, showing how Wilson
was unwittingly blackoning Stanton s
and making him a hypo-
crit and a criminal, while the con.
duct of Mr.. Buchanan and his cabi-
net shone brighter and fairer with
every word Of discussion, overw helmed
him with shame and covered him with
confusion. Whereupon poor Wilson,
borrowed the old letters which Hoar
had gathered in bis vain but desperate
attempt TO revive the same calnmny,
and calling in the help of Sumner,
Dawes, Seward, and dozen
or so more, he got up an awkward
document, or string of documents,
which, for want of something better.
he was compelled TO print in reply
In the previous article in the Atlantic
he had appeared alone, like Stanton
in Buchanan's cabinet--a single, lorn
Ioyalist; but here he was ngain with
eighteen or twenty more, worse than
himself Without this company, per.
haps Wilson would have been un.
worthy Of further notice. lie stood
before the world impudng thirty years
Of unparalleled treachery TO the man
whom he professed to honor, and even
naming the particular acts of bascness
which established his character in.
contcstably as false friend, q double
and treble renegade, conspirator
against the fame, yea, the very lives
Of the fondest bencfactors-- coarse,
vulgar rogne, a spy, tattlcr, and a
rufiian. Unhappily for Wilson, he
easily proved that Stanton was each
and all Of these, and thus DESTROYED
The credibility Of the only witness by
whom he could sustain The weak &C.
ousation he had fabricated against the
buchanan Administration. This es.
say, formidable only in its frighifnl
array of the proofsof Stantons guilty
brought out from Judge
Black, that paper Of amazing grace
aud power, which we published in our
issue Of the 18th inst, and which
makes Il as clear historically, as the