The Weekly Kansas chief. [volume] (Troy, Kan.) 1872-1918, 1880-07-01
REPUBLICAN TICKET.
THE DEMOCRATIC NOMINATIONS.


THE DEMOCRATIC NOMINATIONS.
We had time to but briefly announce, last
week, the domination by the Cincinnati Con-
vention of Gen. W. S. Hancock for President,
and VIM. H. English, of Indiana, for Viee-Presi-
dent The Democracy appear to be Weil pleased
with it for they imagine that it is ticket Ike
ly to be elected, and they base their hope upon
the fact that Hancock owes his popularity to his
having fought to put down the Rebellion that
the Southern wing of the party inaugurated, and
the Northern wing abetted.
Gen. Hancock was a good soldier, during the
war-as good as thousands Of others-and did
the duty he was ordered to do. This is all there
is of him. He has never displayed more than or
dinary ability, and was never in n position to
call il forth He may have talent, or he may be
n blockhead, outside of his military duties
those who nominated him do not know. All that
is known of him, became known by his career in
the rebellion, in which the ruling element of his
party was engaged, and for which the Northern
element spent years in denOuncing him, with
others. lie is a man whom the great mass Of his
party would have rejoiced to have seen killed,
any day between 1861 and 1865. He knows that
the Rebellion against the Government he was
sworn TO protect, was inaugurated and carried
ont by Democrats, and was the result Of years OF
teaching of Democratic doctrines; yet, while he
fought against that Rebellion, a mere military
machine, he had not the heart and will to rise
above party prejudices, and foresware the party
that did all this evil. Therefore it is that they
have nominated him-because they hope he will
serve as a bait to attract Union votes, to aid
them in getting into power, where they may
complete the work of destroying the results of the
war, and punishing Union men for putting down
the Rebellion.
One act for which Gen. Hancock is well
known as for any of his military exploits, and
for which he was denounced more bitterly by
his party, occurred just at the close of the war.
1t was the hanging of Mrs. surratt. 1t was a
stain upon the GOvernment-the hanging of that
poor, helpless old woman-that should not have
disgraced it, even smarting under the assassina-
tion of President Lincoln. But that act has be-
come the legacy of the Democratic party. An
drew johnson, eager, in his new position, to
strike some terrible blow against disoyalty, urg-
ed on the trial and sentence of that old woman,
and refused all appeals for pardon; and Gen.
Hancock surrounded her poor, shrinking form
with bayOnets and superintendent her strangling.
Andrew johnson soon fell back into the arms of
the Democracy, who embraced him, and he died
in full fellowship in the party; and Gen. Han
cock has now been nominated by them for Presi-
dent. But these two men wanted to do some
thing to ''make treason odious;" so they hanged
an old woman, because her wayward son was en-
gagged in the assassination plot, and they hang
ed the miserable tool, Wirz; but JEFF. Davis and
others, whose orders Wirz Obeyed, and whose
teachings excited these headlOng young men TO
assassinate President Lincoln, were permitted to
60 unpunished, and are alive to-day, to vote for
Hancock for President.
How the Catholics, who compose so large q
portion of the Democratic party, will receive the
nomination of Hancock, remains to be seen. The
Democratic papers, at the time of Mrs. Surratt's
execution, might be interesting reading for them.
They might tell how the ministrations of the
Catholic priests upon the doomed woman were
circumscribed by Hancok; how they were watch
ed, lest they might do something to aid her
escape; how their petitions for repreive were re
jected; and how the prayers of the heart-broken
daughter were refused. He could not conceal
his eagerness to have the old woman hung, and
his treatment of the daughter was almost brutal.
he placed obstacles in the way of persons visit
ing the prisoner; and on the day of execution,
it was charged that he had guard of soldiers
stationed between the prison and the White
House, to intercept communication, and prevent
n reprieye from being procured at the last mo-
ment. He also refused to obey a writ of habeas
corpus. reouiring him to bring Mrs. Surratt be-
fore a civil Court, to ascertain whether she had
bcen Regularly tried and convicted. He after
wards offered the unfortunate woman's body to
the surgeons. for dissection, 1t NAV be said
that Gen. Hancock but did his duty, and Obeyed
,r,lors psrbans he did: hut rake ND the files
or ,ho D.uocratic naners of that day. and see
,,o,, ,ha,, tell tho story. He is their candidate
and thew sbould be accented as good history, as
far os he ia concerned
oftb.ir candidate for Vice President, nothing
to his discredit can be said, from Democratic
stand-no;nt. He never faltered in his subserv-
ioncv to the South. and was never suspected of
l,,-oItv He ia hest known from the sEnglish
nm When a Constitution recognizing slavery
son,bt IN he forced upon Kansas. her dis
cratic Congress hestated to push it to the bitter