The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1871-02-09
Hisqellnnsons.
History of the Controversy Between
Judge Black and Senator Wilson.


History OF the Controversy Between
Judge Black and Senator Wilson.
The Paper, the new Democratic daily
of Pittsburgh, had an able article in its
issue of Monday, in which review is
made of the circumstances under which
the Magazine controversy sprang up be-
tween Judge Black and Senator Wilson,
in relation TO the character of Edwin NJ
Stanton. The story is briefand we will re-
peat it.
Upon the death of Ex Secretary STAN
ton Mr.. Hoar, then the Attorney General
of the United States, delivered an Grafton
in the Supreme Court, which was not
eulogy upon Stanton, but libel upon all
with whom he had been associated in the
Cabinet of James Buchanan. Mr.. Hoar,
having credulously received as facts all
the calumnies of a partisan newspaper
press during the war, and never having
EGroubled himself to look into the truth or
the falsity of the malignant rumors which
were so industriously spread abroad, held
that, ain the hour of our national agony"
Stanton, being a member of Mr.. Buchanan's
Cabinet, had saved the Union single-hand
ed, and in so doing had passed through
perils at the hands of his disloyal associates
and their chief. The next morning Judge
Black addressed Mr.. Hoar public letter,
telling him that the story was false, and
desiring him to produce any proofs he
might have in his possession. Mr.. Hoar
searched diligently for such evidence as
would be worth laying before the public,
but, being honest, was finally compelled
to abandon the subject
Then Senator Wilson, who had none of
the scruples which restrained H6ar from
j bearing false testimony, under took to in
fuse new life into the worn-out slander.
The result was his first article in the 1t
lantic Monthly. A reply from Judge
Black was imperatively called for, and his
answer showed how Wilson had blacken-
ed the character of Stanton, while causing
| the conduct of Mr. Buchanan and his Cab
met to shine brighter with every word of
discussion, This overwhelmed Wilson
with shame and covered him with confu-
sion. Smarting under terrible castiga-
ton he borrowed lot of old letters, which
Hoar had the good sense to reject as use
less, and, in his desperate attempt to re-
wise the same calumny called to his aid
Sumner, Howard, Dawes, and dozen or
so more. To use the language of The paper
in the previous article in the atlantic he
had appeared alone, like Stanton in Bu-
chanan's Cabinet single, lorn loyalist !;
but here he was again with eighteen or
twenty more, worse than himself With
out this company, perhaps Wilson would
have been unworthy Of further. notice
He stood before the world imputing thir-
ty years of unparalleled treachery to the
man whom he profesSed to honor, and even
naming the particular acts of baseness
which established his character incontest..
ably as false friend, double and treble
renegade, conspIrator against the fame,
yea, the very lives of his fondest benefac-
tors-a coarse vulgar rogue, a spy, tat
tier, and a rufian. 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 accusation he
had fabricated against the Buchanan ad-
ministration. This essay, formidable only
in its frightful array of the proofs of Stan
toms guilty duplicity, brought out from
Judge Black, that paper of amazing grace
and power, which we lately laid before
our readers, and which makes it as clear
historically, as the treason of Judas or Ar
mold, that Stanton was just what Wilson's
witnesses would make him-"the most
marvellous impOSter that euer Hred or
died"
In all this controversy Judge Black
makes no attempt to defend himself from
the absurd charge of disloyalty, which was
freely brought against him as the head of
Mr. Buchanan's Cabinet. He lets the facts
which he produces speak for themselves.
Yet abundant and inContestible evidence
is at his command to show that he was an
earnest devoted friend to the Union from
first to last. The most convincing proof
of this exists in the handwriting of Stan
ton himself Some important documents,
which will effectually still numerous SLAM
ders. will shortly see the light in Col. Ward
H Lannon's Life of Lincoln" a book
which it is hoped will not be long delay
ed.