The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1880-07-29
Order No. 40.

Appointed Military Governor of the
District of Louisiana and Texas in 1867,
Gen. Hancock exhibited his rebel pro-
clivities in the most glaring light. The
law OF Congress under which he was ap-
pointed declared that "the Governments
then existing in the rebel States of
Louisiana and Texas were not legal
State Governments" But, in assuming
command of the district, Gen. Hancock
utterly " ignored this law of Congress,
declaring, in General Order No. 40, that:
The General commanding is gratided to learn
that peace and quiet reign in this department.
1t Will be his purpose to preserve this condi
ton OF things. AS meaus to this great end
he regards the maintenance of the civil au-
thorities in the faithful execution of the laws
az the most efficient under existing circunl-
stances.
Commenting upon this extraordinary
order of Gen. Hancock soon after it was
issued, the late Senator Morton said:
Again he says: "Crimes and offenses COM
mitted in this district must be referred to the
consideration and judgment of the regular civil
tribunals, and those tribunals will be supported
in their lawful jurisdiction" Here he abjures
the military power conferred upon him by Con-
gress, recognizes the supremacy of the bogus
civil authorities, and declares that he will sup
port their tribunals in the exercise of their law
full jurisdiction. And this he says standing upon
ground in New Orleans yet moist with the blood
and by the contrivance Of these civil authorities,
while the tribunals which he pledges himself to
support have never brought one Of the murder
ers to justice. Again says Gen. Hancock:
1.-THE right Of trial by jury, the habeas corpus,
the liberty of the press, the freedom Of speech,
and the natural rights OF persons and the rights
very pretty saying, but what does it mean in
this connection? It means that the loyal men,
white and black, shall have the right to be tried
by rebel juries, which is like giving the lambs
the right to be tried by the wolves. It means
that the rebels who have murdered Union men
shall be tried by rebel juries i; and whom, I ask.
has one of them been brought to justice7 1t
means that men arrested by military authority
may be discharged from custody upon writ Of
habeas corpus issued by State Judge, which
Ii in direct violation Of the concluding part of
the third section Of the act Of March 2, 1867,
which says "And all interference under color
Of State authority with the exercise Of military
authority under this act shall be null and void -
I read this order Of Gen. Hancock with un-
mingled sonow, and felt he had committed an
error more fatal to his reputation than the loss
of battle. Gen. Hancock is q gallant soldier,
who has been wounded in the service of his
country, but if he shall now lend himself to the
support Of the principles against which he
fought, and become the ally Of his enemies
against his friends, his laurels, be they ever 80
bright, will wither like the tender flower be-
meath the simeon Of the desert"
It was through this violation of SOL
emn law of Congress, this violation of
the very act by virtue of which he held
his appointment, that Gen. Hancock
endeared himself not only to rebels, but
to rebels who, to the guilt of treason,
had later added the atrocious and bloody
crime of wholesale assassination!
Against the statutes of his country and
against the appeals of justice this man,
who processes to revere the law as
above the sword, assumed, against the
solemn mandate of the law-making
power of the land, to condone atrocious
murderous crimes, and recreate and
clothe with authority States declared by
Congress to be without any legal status
whatever in the Union! Order No. 40
was crime against liberty and civiliza-
ton, for it left defenseless men and
women at the mercy of armed and re-
lentless enenies.-CNicag0 Tribune.