Mexico weekly ledger., 1880-08-12

BY Jadse jeremiah 8 Hi.ck.

The opinion that I would offer or
that Gen. Hancock would require my
aid in producing such an order as his
No. 40, is absurd. His determine
ton to stand. by the constitution and
the laws needed no expression that he
could not give it better THAI any man
alive. 1t was not an argument, not
an exposition of the law, not an essay
on the rights Of man that was. wanted
at that critical time. The spoken oct
of a patriot soldier in high command
alone could save civil liberty from
the destructions with which it was
threatened. That was what Hancock
did, and it was the timeliest lift that
the great cause " got from any
other hand except that OF Wilmington.
1 hope my admiration of the order in
question, and the gratitude I have
felt to him for issuing it, can be
reasonably accounted for without sup
posing that I framed, or had any
share in framing 1t. The belief was
general among the friends Of consti-
tutional liberty, and expressed by
many others as strongly as by me,
that Gen. Hancock had done much
and had done it bravely to rescue the
nation and save it alive, first from
secessionists and afterwards from the
more dangerous and more unprinci-
pied oligarchy. into which it fell after
the war. At the date of his service
in Louisiana the beau ideal, of. a
''strong government was in full
operation at Washington, constructed
by men who claimed to be absolute
masters of the country! State rights,
and as a necessary consequence in
dividual liberty, were violently trod-
den down, and the constitution which
should hive made us free, Was habit
ually over.riden and insulted. What
those men called .goyernment'' was
not only %wondrous strong, but cor
rupt beyond all example in modern
times. Between its force and its
fraud. the people we're powerless, and
their despair Was aggravated by an
indefinable dread that the whole army
might at any moment be used to sink
the nation into still further degrade
ton, if below that depth could be
reached q lower Deep 1t was in
these circumstances that Hancock
spoke out those words Of truth and
sOberness which treasured 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 abso-
lutism 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 60 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 fonnd to be full Of sympa-
thy with its conspieuously gallant and
faithful leader. So they were fain to
content themselves with harmless
sneers and petty prosecutions. But they
removed him from the place where
his devotion 10 the constitution wal
specially interfering with their
scheme to subvert it. When they
made up their minds to strangle the
liberties Of State, to dispense q legal
legislature by brute force, to insugu-
rate for governor q shameless adven-
turer known to have been defeated at
the polls, or to pin the people down
With bayonets while they were plum
dered by alien thieves, who claimed
to be their representatives and officers,
somebody else vas employed to do
the infamous work. Still more care
fully did they avoid his presence
when the whole nstiop was to be
swindled at e. presidential election.
1t was for such reasons that the heart
Of the country warmed to Gen. Han
cock as its predestined deliver.
..