The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1880-08-01

ssYv wAsHrxarox HAD BEEN IN HAVOC cK's
PLACE Hg WOULD HAVE DONE WHAT
HANCOCK DID,"
PANS, July rs, 1880

TO the Editer Of TIE Nem York Wortd:
SRA cable dispatch reached me at Lon
don. whence | answered IL more briefly,
yerbaps. than you expected, hut thouges
tptelliribly enough Your later dispate@,
which came to uc here yesterday, now rt'
tuscrrcd NON your interrogatory tha'
acme eyiI-dssposed persons bad been st'
trshutinc TO ne the authorship OF the orders
srS lstters Issued by General HancUt
while he commanded IN Louisiana ant
Texas. Ny denial by telegraph was sn
tended 10 cover the whek ground. ne'ttel
wrote those papers nor suggested . We're
OF them; I hsd no precognition az BIZ
views on the subject TO which they rctate
aud heard nothing from him about Snti
be bad taken the puslic into bis conscience
Indeed, my persoDSl acquaintance VITA
him was then very s'ieht. ana 0ui
relations not ut all intimate. The
opinion that would offer or he would
reouire nv aid producing such an order az
his No. 10 Is absurd. His determination to
stand by the Constitution and the laws
needed no expression but what he co,ile
give Il better than any man alive. II was
not an argument, not an exposition OF tbt
law. not an essay on the rights OF man that
was wanted at that critical time. The
spoken act OF patriot soldier in high com
naud alone could save civil liberty from
the destruction with which 1t was threat
ened. That was
WHAT HANCOCK DID,
and II was the timeliest lift that the great
cause ever got from any hand except that OF
Washington.
/ hope ny admiration Of the order in
question and the gratitude have felt to
him for issuing 1t can be reasonably ac-
counted for without supposine that l
framed or had any share in framing 1t. The
belief was general among the friends OF
constitutional liberty, and expressed by
many others as strongly as by me, that
General Hancock had done much, and done
IL bTayely, to rescue the nation and save At
alive, first from secessionists, and after
wards from the more dangerous and more
unprincipied oIigarchy into whose hands 1t
fell after the war. At the date OF his SER
vice In Louisiana the beau ideal OF q
strong government was in full opera
ton at Washington, conducted by men who
claimed to be absolute masters OF THE
country. Staie-rights and, as a necessary
consequence, individual liberty, were vio-
lentiy trodden down, and the Constitution.
which should have made us free, was ba-
bitually oyer-ridden and insulted. What
those men called "the Government was
not only wondrOus wrong but corrupt be-
yond all example in modern times. Be-
tween its force and its fraud the people
were powerless, and their despair was ag-
yravaied by an inde6nable dread that the
whole army might at any moment be used
TO sink the nation into still further degra.
datiop, il below that lowest depth lower
n at.ld ha hah tz-as inf lo.o dir
cumstaBces that
HANCOCK SPOKE OUT THOSE WORDS OF TRUTH
and soberness which reassured the friends
OF free government, and inspired them with
new hopes. All who were near enough to
watch the current of that unequal contest
between absolutism and law can remember
how the enemies OF The Constitution were
startled and scared when they found that
the most brilliant general OF the Union had
officially declared himself opposed TO their
savage policy" They could not 20 upon
him, nor send upon him, nor in any man
ner destroy him, for not only was the law
OF the land on his side, but the army was
found to be in full sympathy with its
conspicuously gallant and faithful leader.
So they were fain 10 content
themselves with harmless sneers aud
petty perst cutions. But they removed him
from The place where his devotion to the
Constitution was specially interfering with
their schemes to subvert it. When they
made np their minds to strangle the liber-
ties Of a State, to disperse legal Legisla-
ture by brute force, TO inaugurate for Gov
ernor a shameless adventurer known to
have been defeated at the polls, or TO pin
the people down with bayonets while they
were plundered by alien thieves who claim.
ed TO be their representatives and officers,
somebody else was employed to do the in
iamous work. Still more carefully did
they avoid his presence when the whole
nation was to be swiDdled at presidential
election. 1t was for such reasons that the |
HEART OF THE COUNTRY WARNED TO GENERAL |
HANCOCK
as its predestined deliverer.
1t has often happened that the best things |
OF the greatest men are attributed to others |
who are wholly incapable OF them. The
opinion was industriOusly propagated and |
accepted by a great many as true that |
Hamilton wrote the Farewell Address Of |
but the evidence is conclusive |
which shows that every word of that i'm |
mortal production came from Washington |
himself; and Hamilton could not have
written it any more than he could have |
papers, bearing the full i'm |
press OF his own mind, were habtually |
credited TO persons OF far inferior |
ability, When it was charged against JET. |
ferson that be wrote Logan's speech, he |
declared that he was unequal
to such composition. am not affecting |
modesty when claim credeuoe OF my pres |
ent denial for similar reason. could not
have written Hancock's No. 40-not because
i pretend TO be dumb or altogether I'M
skilled In the use OF English words, but be-
cause II / had undertaken to write 1t the
chances are nineiy-nine in a hundred that
my augmentation would haNe marred its
majestic simplicity and greatly diminished
its power. When a putijc man, especially
q military man, meets svaye responsible.
t., Saying no more nor less than dust the |
thing be ought, but saying that with une-
quivocal clearness, you mag be sure he is |
tha Interpreter OF his own thoughts. At
any rate the attempt is unjust TO bastardize |
No. - by assigning to it IN origin Totally |
dlGereat from the true one.
Ehy should my opinion be asked or vol
unteered on
GENERAL HANCOCK AS A touILksN,:
else " ho has watched his life is as
good Judge ~ ], and there are thousands
who koow him much better. 8awt sincethe
question Is prop0unded will apswer, SUB.
iect to fair correction, that he has in his1 |
The higbea andIbest qualities Of a repubk-
can ru<cr. j think bis fidelity TO sound
principles, coupled with his sound judg-
ment. wiz entitle ham to rank 9eIl with the
great Presidents Of former times. ddouotS
compare k2 with Washington, Ser the
grandeur Of II at character is asd will re-
main forever aaappEsacbabIe, but de say