Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1880-09-03
The Opinion of Judge Black.
A Glowing Tribute to the Genius OF
Gen. Hancock.
Correspondence of the n. Y. World


patch reached Inc at London, whence
l answered it more briefly than you
expected, but I thought intelligibly
enough. Your later dispatch, which
came to me here yesterday, l now
reply to by mail.
inferred from your interrogatory
that some evil-disposed person had
been attributinS to me the author
ship of the orders and letters Issued
by Gen. Hancock while he COM
manded in Louisiana and Texas.
My denial by telegraph was intended
to cover the whole ground. neith-
er wrote those papers nor suggested
a word of them. l had no precogni-
ton of his views on the subject to
which they relate, and heard moth
ing from him about it until he had
taken the public into his confidence.
Indeed, my personal acquaintance
with him was then very slight, and
our relations not at all intimate. -
The opinion that would offer, or he
would require, my aid in producing
such an order as his No. 40 is alb
surd. His determination to stand
by the Constitution and the laws
needed no expression but what lie
could give it better than any man
alive. 1t was not an argument, not
an exposition of tho law, not an essay
on the rights of man that was want
ed at that critical time. The spoken
act of u patriot soldier in command
alone could save civil liberty from
the destruction with which it was
threatened. That was what Han
cock did, and it was the timeliest
lift that the great cause ever got
from any hand except that of Wash
ington.
hope my admiration of the order
in question and the gratitude l have
felt to him for issuing it can be nc
counted for without supposing that
| framed or had any share in
framing it, The belief was general
among the friends of Constitutional
liberty, aud expressed by many 9th
ors as strongly as by me, that Gen.
Hancock had done much, and done
it bravely to rescue the Nation and
save it alive, first from secessionists,
and after wards from the more dan
gerous and more uuprincipled oil
Sarchy in,o whose hands it fell after
the war. At tile date of his service
in Louisiana the beautiful ideal of n
" strong government was In full
operation at Washington, conducted
by men vino claimed to be absolute
masters of the country. S'rte rights,
anC as II necessary conseu uence, IN
dividual liberty, were violently trod
den down, and the Constitution which
should have made us free was habitu-
ally over-ridden and insuted. What
those men call the Government"
was not only wondrous strong, but
corrupt beyond all example in mod
ern times. Between its force and
its fraud the people were 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
degradation, if below that lowest
depth a lower deep conld be reached.
1t was in these circumstances that
Hancock spoke spoke out those words
of truth and soberness which reas-
sured 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 ubsolutlsm and law can re-
member how the enemies of the Con-
stitution were startled ana scared
when they found that tho most bril-
liant Geuelal OF the Union had Off
cinlly declared himself opposed to
their " savage policy They could
not go upon him, nor send upon him,
nor III any manner destroy him, for
not only was the law of the land on
his side, but the army was found to
be full of sympathy with its conspicu-
ou,i: gallant and faithful leader.
81 they We're fam to content them
selves with h"rine.ess snccrs and
IH'LiN i'tlotttltlOIS. i)ul lIlcN It-
moved him from the place where his
devotion 10 the Constitution was
especially interfering with their
schemes to subvert it. When they
majie up their minds to strangle the
lihelties of State, to disperse n lc-
gal Legislature by brute force, to in
nugurate for Governor II shameless
adyenturer known 10 have been de-
featcd at the polls, or to pin the
people down with hayonots while
they were plundered by alien thieves
who claimed to be their representa-
tivcs und officers, somebody else was
employed t. DO the infamous work.
St,l! mere carefully did they avoid
his presence wl,cn the whole Nation
was to be swindlcd at a Presidential
election. 1t was for such reasons
that the heart of the country warm