Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1880-08-13
JUDGE BLACK ON HANCOCK
Hancoek's Louisiana Orders the
Spoken Act" of a Soldier Who
Saved Civil Liberty.
III Washington had been i'll Han
cocks Place He Would have done
What Hancock Did
PARIS. July Is.

4
SIR: 4 cable dispatch reached me
at London, whence | answered 1t more
briefly perhaps than you expected, hut
thought intelligibly enough Your
later dispatch, which came 70 me here
yesterday, now reply to by mail.
| inferred from Your lntcrrogatory
that some evil-disposed persons had
been attributing to me the authorship
of the orders and letters issued 10y Gen
eral Hancock when lie commanded in
Louisiana and Texas. Ny denial by
telegraph was intended to cover the
whole ground. neither wrote those
papers nor suggested word OF them:
| had no precognition Of his views on
the subject to which they relate, and
heard nothing from him about it until
he mad taken the public into his conf
dcnce. Indeed my personal atquain-
lance with him was then very Slight,
and our relations not ut all intimate
The opinion that would offer, or he
would require my aid iii producing
such an order as his NO 10 is absurd.
His determination to stand 10y
the constitution and the laws
needed no expression but what
he could give it better than amy
man alive Ii was not I'M argument.
not even an exposition of the law, moi
an assay on the rights Of man that was
wanted ut that critical time, The
spoken dd of Il patriotic soldier in high
command alone could save civil liberty
from the destruction with which it was
threatened That was what Hancock
did and it was the timeliest lift that
the great cause ever got from amy hand
except that Of Washington.
hope my admiration Of the order in
question and the gratitude | have felt
TO him for issuing it can be reasonably
accounted for without supposing that
framed or had any share in framing it.
The belief was general among the
friends of constitutional liberty, and ex-
pressed by many others rs strongly as
by me, that Gen Hancock had done
much, and done it hravely. 70 rescue
the nation and save it alive, first from
sCccssioniStS, and afterwards from the
more dangerous and mprineipled oil
garchy into whose hands it fell after the
war. At the date of his service in
Louisiana the beau Ideal Of strong
government was i'll full operation at
Washington, conducted hy men who
claimed to he absolute masters Of the
country State rights, and, rs 4 neccs-
sary consequence, individual liberty.
were violently troddcn down, and the
constitution which should have
made us free was hahtually
ovcr-ridden and insulted. What those
men called the government, was not
only wondrous strong, hut corrupt be-
yond all example i'll modern times
Between its force and its fraud the peo-
pie were powerleSs, and their despair
was aggravated by an indetinable dread
that the whole army might mt any mo-
mcnt be used to sink the nation into
still further degradation if below that
lowest depth a lower could be reached.
Ii was in these circumstances that Han
cock spoke ont those words Of truth
and soberness which treasured the
friends Of free government and inspir
ed 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 start
led and scared when they found that the
most brilliant general Of the Union liz Il
officially declared himself opposed to
their savage policy" They could not
60 upon him, nor send upon him, nor
in any manner destroy him, for not
only VAS the law of the land ON his
side, but the army was found to hc full
Of sympathy with its conspicuously gal
liant and faithful leader 80 they were
fam to content themselves with harm
less sneers and petty prosecutions But
they him from the place where
his devotion to the constitution was spe-
cially interfering with their schemes to
subvert it. When they made up their
minds TO stranglc the liberties Of
state, to dispcrsc a legal legislature BY
brute force, to inaugurate for governor
shameless advcnturor known "a have
been defeated at the polls. or to pin the
people down with hayonets while they
were plundered by alien thieves who
claimed to be their representatives and
officers. somebody else was employed
70 do tile infamous work. Still more
earthly did they avoid Iii. presence
when the whole nation was % be
swindled at Il presidential election. II
was for such reasons that the heart of
the country warmed to Gen. Hancock
rs its predcstined dclivcrer
It has often happened that the best
things Of the gre test men are attribu-
ted 70 others who are wholly incapable
of them. The opinion was industrious
II propagated aid accepted hy great
many n true mat Hamilton wrote the
farewell address of Washington, but the
evidence is conclusive which shows
that every word Of that immortal pro-
duction came from Washington him
self. and Hamilton could not have writ
ten il any more than lie could have
made 4 world. Some of Jackson's most
characteristic papers, bearing the full
impress Of his own mind, Mere hab-
itually credited to persons Of far inferior
ability When it was charged against
jefferson that he wrote Logan speech,
he ,olemnly declared that j was I'M
equal To sneh composition nm not
affecting modesty when claim cred
cnce III MY present denial fiji 4 similar
reason. could not have written Ham
N