The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1880-07-02

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commit your serious judemeat 70 tie pfopOsitis1
49, ~ smoq9t a discusslen, Or any sofs g
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j tn - ~ - &sza8 jAtI Folbe1d 30
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where q msioEiiv q - peeple dir With mi
nOrity On fese 9usssions; o. shAi psol0and peace
| exists IN the House Of Representatives OF the
senAie e Warrington. Or In the Supreme Court,
where All these questions have been. repeatedly
1 heard 10 i#s
Ycalnsut complain that in parts of Tie 6eAte
| CTexasl II b din1cult to enforce the criminal
lAws; that sherids fail to arrest; that grand in
/ ron wiz not always indict; that in some cAses
have mot been aba to execute the process Of the
lze.1ssas THAI peet jurors haye aeauisaed pssas
kA1n4ged GNAu ~ you, and nat othcr sp@1ns
elnEDed WIN oAmSes have shEutan Jail and NED
nom prosecution. know not how these things
are, but admitting your representations to BE lit
sraily true, Il for sSch reasons should Get aside
the local civil tribunals and order military COM
| mission, there is no place In the United States
where Il might not be dene with equal propriety.
Ik was nther more than limited In your letter
seaoe sAAcsS WAS No local Ototc OVVciuuCub AZ
Texas. and no local laws outside out Of the acts
Congress which ought to respect, and that
should undertake TO protect the rights of persons
ana properly IN my own way ana 10 IN arbitrary
manner IL such be your msAning. am com.
PEELED to differ with you. Alter the abolition Of
slavery IAN event which hope no one now re-
| gretsl the laws Of Louisiana and Texas existing
prior TO the reheilioa and not in conflict With
| the acts Of Congress, comprised vast system Of
jurisprudence, both civil and criminal / am
satisfied from the representations Of persons COM
peteat 70 judge, they are as perfect a system of
laws as may be found elsewhere, and better
suited than any other TO the condition of the peo-
| pie, for by them they have long been governed.
Why should it be supposed Congress has abol-
ished these laws! Why should any one wish to
abolish themf Let Us for msment suppose the
whole civil code annulled, and that am lef, as
commander Of the Fifth Military District, the
| sole fountain of law and Justice. This is the
| position in which you would place me.
am now TO protect all rights and redress al
| wrongs. How is il possible for me 10 do il In
Vulnerable questions arise, of which am not
only ignorant, but to the solution of which
military court is totally unified One would
establish win, the other a deed; or the ques-
ton be one of succession, or partnership, or de-
scent, or trust a suit of eectment, or a claim to
chattels; or the application may relate to rob-
berry, then, arson or murder How am to take
| the first step 10 any such matter? II turn TO
|
ject dare not open the authors on the local
| code for il has ceased 10 exist. And you tell me
in this perplexing condition am to furnish, by
dint OF my own hasty and crude judgment, the
legislation demanded by the vast and manifold
| interests of the people / repeat, sir, that YOU
and not Congress, are responsible for the mon
strous suggestion that there are no local laws or
| institutions here 10 be respected by me, out
| side Of the acts of Congress. say, unhesita-
tingly, that If it were possible that Congress
should pass an act abOlshing the local codes of
Louisiana and Texas-which do not believe
and it should fall TO my lotto supply their places
with something of my own, do not see how
could do better than follow the laws in force
here prior TO the rebellion, excepting whatever
therein shall relate To slavery. You are pleased
10 state that " since the publication Of my gen.
eral orders No. 40 there has been a percepiible
| increase in crime and manifestation of hostile
feeling toward the government and its support
ers, and add that il is an unpleasant duty TO
give such a recital of the condition of the coun-
Try"
You will permit me to say that deem it i'm
possible the first OF these statements can be true
an; and DO very greatly doubt the CORRECTNESS Of
was order 40, and how could il have the effect
you attribute to I'll 1t sets forth that the great
principles OF American liberty are still the inner
itance Of this people, and ever should be; that
the right OF trial by jury, the hG6eGs corpus the
liberty Of the press, the freedom of speech and
the natural rights OF persons and property must
be preserved" Will you question the truth of
I these declarations? Which one of these great
principles of liberty are you ready to deny and
enemy Of human liberty and the advocate of
| despOtism.
FORCED BY GRANT TO RETIRE-SUBSEQUENT
HISTORY PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS.
1t is well known that General Hancock
remained in command of the Fifth Mill
tary district only about six months, and
that it was at his own request that he
was relieved. To those who admired his
principles and his methods, who recog-
nized their beneficial effect and who re-
allied the greatness of the field for their
application in the South, it was q mystery
that he did not continue longer in the
performance of duties for which he
showed himself 80 admirably fitted. The
fact simply was that his administration
interfered with the plans which politicians
had laid for political purposes. His method
of reconstruction was not theirs. Han
cocks method would have left the power
| Of local government in the hands Of the
| people of the Southern States, and this
WAS not Tue pau VI the Tutlng majority
at Washington. 1t was determined to
get rid of an officer who had such tender
scruples regarding laws and the rights of
men. To this end bill was introduced
in Congress to reduce the number of Ma
jor Generals, the one aimed at being Gen
eral Hancock himself This bill, its pro-
moters soon saw, would react on them
selves. They dared not strike q popular
favorite for fear Of making him popular
martyr. A plan was adopted which
worked better because it worked by indi-
rection and dishonesty. The General of
the army was given unusual powers, ex-
ceeding those Of the President, in regard
to the administration of the military gov
ernments of the South General Han
cocks direction Of affairs was purposely
interfered with in a manner to humiliate
him, and the President, who had hitherto
supported, was unable to protect him. In
letter to friend in Congress, announc-
| ing that the time had come when he had
to choose between obedience to what he
regarded as wrong, or resignation, he
closed with the noble sentiment: " Moth
ing can intimidate me from doing what l
believe to be honest and right" On the
eth of February, 1858, he applied to be
relieved from his command and was short
| II m<&nw .nmsa..>~1 - ~