The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1880-07-16
HANCOCK TO PEASE.
A LETTER BREATHING THE SPIRIT OF TRUE
PATRIOTISM AND sTATEsNTANsHIP.

| zeal OF IeXaS, addressed OrtleIti IiailcoE
an insulting letter through the press, arraigu
/ ing the administration Of affairs in that State
| It thus became necessary for General Han
/ cock to set forth in full the condition of af
I fairs in Texas and the principles upon whc
/ his administration was based. This he di'
/ in a letter, of which President Johnson SAT-
/ he ''would rather be the author than the her
/ of the greatest battle of the war" and o
/ which one of the purest men and profound
/ est thinkers of the times said there was ono
/ thing nobler or better in the life of John Ad
! ans, Jefferson, or Washington" We priT
! as much of it as our space viii permit:
HEADo'Rs FIFTH MILITARY DISTRICT I
New ORLEANS March 9. 1868.
To HIS Ercelleucy z. JL Pease, Gorernor 0
TerGs:
SIR-Your communication of the 18th Of
January last was received in due course OF
mail (the 9th of january, but not until i
had been widely circulated by the newspaper
press. To such a letter-written and pub
fished for manifest puTpOses-it has been.my
intention to reply as soon as leisure from
more important business wOuld permit
As respects the issue between US, any queS
ton as to what Congress ought to have done
has no pertineuce. You admit the act OF
Congress authorizes me to try an offender by
military commission or allow the civil trlbu-
nails to try him as / shall deem best; and
YOU cannot deny the act expressly recognizes
such local civil tribunals as legal authorities
for the purpose specified. When you con
tend there are nc legal local tribunals for any
purpose you must either deny the plain read
ing of the act of Congress or the power OF
Congress to pass the act.
You next remark that you dissent from
my declaration that "the country (TeXas) is
in state of profound peace, and proceed
to state the grounds of your dissent. They
appear to me not a little extraordinary. /
quote YOUR words at is true there no long
er exists here (TeXas) any organized resist
ance to the authority of the United States. "
''But large majority of the white population
who participated in the late rebellion are en-
bitteTed against the government and yield
to it an unwilling obedience" Nevertheless
you admit they do yield to it an obedience.
You proceed
None of this class have any affection for
the government and very few any respect for
it. They regard the legislation OF Congress
on the subject of reconstruction as uncOnSti-
tutional and hostile to their interests and
consider the government now existing here
under authority of the United states rs an
uSuTpatiOn of their rights. They look upon
the emancipation of their late slaves and the
disfranchiSement of portion of their own
lavlesS class a. acts OF insult and oppreS-
sion
And this is all you have to present for
proof that war and not peace prevails IN
Texas. ana hence lJ becomes tuN OuJN-sO
You Supp0sC-tO set aside the local civil tri-
5uuais and enforce the penal code against
citizens Dy means of military commissions.
AIy dear sir ] am not lawyer, nor has it
been my business, as It may have been yours,
to study the philosophy OF statecTatt and
politics But | may lay claim, after an eX-
pCrience of more than half lifetime, to
some poor knowledge of men, and some ap-
probation Of what is necessary to social or
der and happiness And for the future Of
&c. II Il. n tu rTsNa
that no greater number of our people have
vet fallen i'm with the views yCu appear TO
entertain. Woe be to us whenever it shall
come to pass that the power OF the maGis-
trate-ciyii OF miitary-is permitted to deal
with the mere opinions or feelings Of the
people.
I have been accustomed to believe that
sentiments of respect or di5TeSpect and feel
ingS of affection, love or hatred, so long rs
not developed into acts in violation of law,
were matters wholly beyond the punitOry
power OF human tribunals.
1 win maintain that the entire freedom Of
thought and speech, however acTimOniOuSly
INDUCED, is consistent with the nOblest aspi-
rations OF man and the happiest condition of
his race.
When boy I remember to have read a
speech of Lord Chatham, delivered in Par
lament. II was during our revolutionary
war and related to the policy of employing
the SavaEeS on the side of Britain. You NAV
If | am not greatly mistaken his lOrdship de-
nOunced the British gOvcrnment-his gov
ernment-in terms Of UnmeaSUred bitterness.
He characterized its policy as revolving to
every sentiment OF humanity and religion !;
proclaimed it covered with disgrace, and
vented his eternal a5norrence OF it and its
measures. 1t may, ] think, be safely assert
ed that a majority of the British nation con-
CURED in the views Of Lord Chatham. But
whoever supposed that profound peace was
not nxiGtinn in fl-t l-fnuIOUQ that
ment had any authority to question the alb
SOlute right Of the opposition to express their
objections to the propriety of the kings
measures in any words or to any extent they
pleased? 1t would be difficult to show that
the opponents of the government in the days
of the elder Adams or jefferson or Jackson
exhibited for it either affection" or ere
spect." You are cOnversant with the histo-
~ of our past parties and political struggles,
touching Legislation on alienage, Sedition
the embargo, national banks, our wars with
England and Mexico, and cannot be ignOT-
ant of the fact that for one party to assert
that law or system of legislation IS uncOn-
stitutiOnal, oppressive and usurpative is not
new thing in the United States. That the
people of Texas considered acts of Congress
unconstitutional, oppressive or insulting to
Them Is OF no consequence TO the matter in
hand. The President of the United States
has announced his opinion that these acts of
Congress are unconstitutional. The Su-
preme Court, as you are aware, not long ago
decided unanimously that a certain military
commission was unconstitutional. Our peO-
pie everywhere, in every State without re-
ference to the side they took during the re-
bellion, differ as to the cOnStitutiOnality of
these acts of Congress. How the matter
really IS neither you nor ! may dogmatically
affirm.
Ii you deem them constitutional laws aud
beneficial to the country, you not only have
the right to publish your opinions but it
might be your bounden duty as a citizen to
do so. Not less Is it the privilege and duty
of any and every citizen, wherever residing,
to publish his opinions freely and feaTlessly
on this and every question which he thinks
concerns his interests. This is merely in ac-
cOrdance with the principles of our free gov
eminent, and neither you nor ] would wish
to live under any other. It is time now at
the ENG of almost two years from the close of
the war that we should begin to recoilect
what manner OF people We are, to tolerate
again free popular discussion, and extend
some fOTbearauce and consideration to uD-
posing views. The maXimS that in all intel
lectUai contests truth is mighty and must
prevail, and that error IS harmless when Tea-
son is left free to combat il, are not only
sound but saiutaTy. 1t is a poor compliment
TO the merits OF such a cause that its advO-
Gates would silence opposition by force; and
generally those only who are in the wrong
viii resort 10 this uugenerOuS means. / am
confident YOU will not commit your serious
judgment to the proposition that any amount
of discussion, or any sort of opinions, how
ever unwise in your Judgment or any asser-
ton or feeling. however resenUful or bitter,
not resulting IN a breach OF law, can furnish
Justification fer your denial that profound
peace exists in Texas. You might as well
deny that profound peace exists in New
York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, California,
Ohio and Kentucky, where a majority OF the
people differ with a minority on these ques-
tons; or that profound peace exists in the
b D. 80 -H.