American citizen., 1880-08-28
Judge Black on Hancock.

In view of the wide diffusion of the
| Republican SANDER that Judge Jere S.
Black was the real author of the orders
issued by General Hancock in Louis
lana and his letter to Governor Pease,
of Texas, the following from that dis.
tingushed Democrat, now visiting in
the Old World, will prove interesting
To the Editor of the New York World:
SIRLA cable dispatch reached me at Lon
haps than you expected, but thought intelli-
| giby enough. Your later Dispatch, which
came to me here yesterday, now reply to by
mail.
inferred from your interrogatory that some
evil-dispOSed persons had been attributing to
| me the authorship of the orders and letters is-
| sued by General Hancock while he commanded
| in Louisiana and Texas. My denial by tele-
| graph intended to cover the whole
| ground. neither wrote those papers nor sug-
s wora on ot t sn aad To NO teY
| late, and heard nothing from him about it
until he had taken the public into his conf
dence. Indeed, my personal acquaintance
| with him was then very slight, and our rela-
| tions not at all intimate. The opinion that
G1ens such an oTder as hs No my u IS
His determination to stand by the Constitu-
what he could give it better than any man
alive. 1t was not an argument, not an exposi-
man that was wanted at that critical time.
The spoken act of a patriot soldier in high
the destruction with which it was threatened.
That what Hancock did, and it was the
any hand that Of Sa got
hope my admiration of the order i'll ques-
ton and the gratitude have felt to him for
issuing it can be reasonably accounted for
without supposing that framed had any
share in framing it. 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.
a.1y - rSf ffnVn n f.
erward from the more dangerous and more
unprincipled oligarchy into whose hands it
fell after the war. At the date of his service
in Louisiana the beau ideal of a "strong Gov
ernment was in full operation at Washing
solute masters of the country. State rights,
and, as necessary consequence, individual
Constitution, which should have made us free,
was habitually overridden and lnsulted. What
those men called tine Government was !, not H,5
example in modern times. Between its force
and its fraud the people were powerless and
dread that the whole army might at any mo-
ment be used to sink the Nation into still
depth a lower deep could be reached. It
was in these circumstances that Hancock
spoke out those words of truth and sober
ness which reassured the friends of free
government, and inspired them with new
the M of at UNEQUAL eonte be
tween absOluttsm 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 pol
upon him, nor in manner destroy him, for not
only WAS the law of the land on his side, but
with its conspicuousiy gallant and faithful
leader. So they were fain to content them
fans But ahey hm tie pace
where his devotion to the Constitution was
specially interfering with their schemes to
subvert 1t. When they made up their minds
to strangle the liberties of u State, to disperse
a legal Legislature by brute force, to inaugu-
rate for Governor q shameless adventurer
known to have been defeated at the polls. or
to pin the people down with bayOnets while
claimed to be their representatives and ofii-
GERS, somebody else was employed to do the
Infamous work. Still more carefully did they
avoid his presence when the whole Nation was
to be swindled at a Presidential election. 1t
was for such reasons that the heart of the
country warmed to General Hancock as Its
predeStined deliverer.
1t has often happened that the best things of
are S IRE nf the '1
was industriously prOpagated and accepted by
a great many as true that Hamilton wrote the
farewell address of Washington, but the evil
dence is conclusive which shows that every
word of that immortal production came from
Washington himself; and Hamilton could not
have written it any more than he could have
made a world. Some of JacksOn's most char
sfterste aia papers bearing the frl impress OF
sons of far inferior ability. When it was
Iogaas spsech he soem@Py declared that he
was unequal to such a composition. am not
affecting modesty when l claim credence of
my present denial for similar reason
could not have written Hancocks No 40-not
because pretend to be dumb or altogether
cause if / had undertaken to write it the
chances are ninety-nine in a hundred that my
simplicity and greatly diminished its power.
When public man, especially a military man, |
meets IL grave respon sibility, saying no more |
nor less than just the thing he ought, but say |
ing that with unequivocaI clearness, you may |
be he is the interpreter of his own
to bastardize No. 10 BY assigning to it an origin
totally different from the true one.
Why should my opinion be asked or volun- |
body else who has watched his life is as good |
Judge as l. and there are thousands who know
will answer, subject to fair COR
rection, that he has in him the highest and |
best qualities of republican ruler. think
his fidelity to sound principles, coupled with
his sound judgment, will entitle him to rank
well with the great Presidents of former
times. do not compare him with Washing
ton, for the grandeur of that character is and
will remain forever unapproachable. but do
say that Washington, If placed in his situa-
tion would have acted precisely as he did.
His patriotism has not the impulsive ardor OF
unmstakable. He is not doctrinaire like
Jefferson, for his busy life has left him no
tics, but his practical good sense knows the
right intuitively and always catches the near
est way to do it. Ii he be elected, the ability
Of his administration will inspire universal
and his moderation and magnanimity
fullest faith that he will not only keep his
oath to preserve, protect and defend the Con-
stitution, but will SO carry out its provisions
pressed in the preamble will be fully accom-
pIished-'.To form a more perfect Union, to
establish Justice to insure domestic TRANQUIL
ity, to provide for the common defense, to pro-
mote the general welfare and to secure the
ferityr j, S, BLACK.