Lexington weekly intelligencer., 1876-04-08
WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK.

number oil your paper noticed q we'll writ |
ten article signed A Confederate.' advoca- |
ting the claims of Gen. Hancock for the
presidency. II had the ability, do not
possess the disposition, to detruct from the
fame or ability of Gen. Hancock, or his pa
triotiSm at the close of the war between the
states in showing disposition to >ubordi-
nate military to civil rule. In this he did
no more than any honest man would have
done. who understood the theory of our gov
ernment. admit that Grant, Sheridan and
others did not act upon the same principle
that Hancock did; but this only proves that
they were tyraGts instead of patriots.
What is the history of military presidents?
w ashington, we all admit, was without a
peer as = man or civil ruler in any age or
government. 1t Is idle to measure other
men by hin. Gen. Jackson was patriot
Of the first water. and man of native mill
tary genius, without u military education
except such as he gained by fighting Indians
and the British at New Orleans. The old
Il ero. with all his unselfsh patriotism. was
at times to be tyrannieal and over
bearing In his disposition. Harrison was,
believe, a soldier of no great prestige from
the civil walks of life. His early death pre-
cIudes criticism AS to what kind Of president
he would have made. Gen. Taylor was =
professional soldier, and q good one but he
added no laurc!s to his name after he at
tanned the presidency, having died in almost
sixteen months after his Inauguration. but
he lived long enough to demonstrate the
fact that good soldier had been spoiled to
make u mediocre president. franklin Pearce
was a statesman who became a volunteer
soldier during the Mexican war, and whilst
he made Il fair soldier, his fame rests on his
craftsmanship. Next in order of military
rulers, comes Grant, 'the Soldier President'
Ii possessed the genius Of Milton in descri-
bing the blackness of the devil, or the satire
OF John Randolph in SHINING political op-
ponent, would not he able to penetrate the
outer cuticle of this monstrosity Of civil
ruler. AS a soldier, Grant was q success.
OF his inhumanity, in needlessly sacrificing
his men In battle, and of his refusal to ex-
change for his men in the latter part Of the
war, who were prisoners, 1 will not here
discuss. or his treatment of the southern
whites after his accession to the presidency,
the pencil of Gustuvs Dore, in describing
the condition of the finally lost will give =
more correct representation of the scenes
that Grant permitted to be enacted, than 1
can describe in mere words. They seemed +,
Indeed, to be consigned to the .'Penitenti-
AIRY of Hell," to which Thad. Stephens. in a
speech In congress, committed them. II the
devil, when he was hurled over the battle
ments OF the celestial world to the dark
abyss below, selected vice-gerent Oh earth,
Grant is certainly his successor.
His ignorance of statesmanship is supreme;
he is an encyclopedia Of venality, and Web
stcr's unabridged dictionary of ayarice.
Such has the ..Soldier PresidenL'' proved
himself to be.
do not pretend for q moment to compare
Hancock Tolerant in any particular, should he
become president of the United States, but
it is Il fact that requires no demonstration
that all purely military men are more arbi-
trary than men educated to the civil walks
of lile. And beside all this, Washington
City has been u military camp since the in
auguratiOn of Abraham Lincoln to The pres
ldency to this hour, and will remain SO un-
til Grant steps sdown and out" During
were u military necessity AndrewJohnso n
was constrained to tolerate them; andGrant.
as matter of course, after he became presi-
dent, permitted more officers, soldiers and
Lazaroni to collect about Washington City,
to be fed and clothed at the peoples expense
without compensating duty aud labor for
the government, than Scott had In officers
M Nprl IN ha ajfv nj
Mexico
The rejecting part Of the people of the
United States have long since had a surfeit
of professional soldiers exercising the func.
tions of civil offices. There is not one OF
them in a hundred who does not subscribe
to the maxim, Might makes right More
over from specimens that have occupied the
presidential chair, we have no right to eX.
pert In them Il very high order Of statesman
ship.
II the democratic party nominates Hancock
on account of his military prestige, the radl-
| Gals can nominate Grant, Sherman or Sheri.
| dan, and equal or overtop him in that re
spect. The ideas that had gained Fl om the
| leaders of public opinion in the democratic
party was, that the war warriors and wal
| issues should be buried so deep in the pres
idential campaign that the hyena's ans
bloody shirt wavers of the radical party
would not he able to resurrect them. sup.
posed that economy reform and the rascality
| of radical rule were to. be held up to tLt
public gaze In our party, and that their,
would be the task to lie out of their villainy
| If they could; with one hand conceal theil
plunder. and with the other wave the bloody
shirt, the while shouting rebel, rebel! Great
| is the party OF moral ideas' 1t has beer
said that Hancock occupies neutral ground
| on the money question. A moments refiec
tion will show Of how little avail that viii
be. Both conventions will construct plat
forms, and each candidate viii be on or uu
der the platform of ns party. Ii he mount,
his platform, keeps his mouth shut, and II
duly sober, he may be able to maintain his
position; ii he gets under his platform, anc
the material of which it is constructed is tet
heavy, it will crush him.
| am but an obscure individual, a member
OF the democratic party but have an opIn
| ion of what should be done. 1t Is this Lei
the platform be constructed of sound tim
Der, with no extra weight about it. Put {
tried statesman on it, and let every Individ
ual member of the party work for his elet
tion us if his life depended on the result.
| CIVILIAN. !
| The Intelligenccr will be forwarded for thu
year 1876. in connection with the papers men.
| toned below, at the following prices, postage
| paid:
| Inteligencer and Journal of Agriculture. $3 2!
In,elligcncer and st. Louis Republican,. 5,
Intellisencer and st. Louis Dispatch...... y