Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1880-07-06
SEARcHING FOE ISLANDER

SEARCHING FOB SANDER.
The Republican party is to be commiser-
ated. 1t finds itself in the worst pickle that
any party ever was in since the formation of
the government-unable to find any accusa-
ton to bring against the candidates of the
opposing party. Gen. Hancock's military
record has been closely scanned. but from
the time he entered the military academy as
student up to the present time his record
is not only spotless but brilliant with brave
and good deeds. His personal career has
been closely scrutinized, and the worst thing
that can be discovered is that he refused to
pay the debts of a vagabond relative, though
he adopted, cared for and educated his two
daughters. His civil record has been in
spected, and it is found that his greatest
crime was the assertion that the rights of
the people, guaranteed them by the consti-
tuition, should be respected under all circum-
stances, and that the military should always
be subservient to the civil power. This
demned, and therefore the attack on that
line has been abandoned, at least for the
time being.
Finding nothing in fact upon which to
base an accusation, the opponents of his
election have now invaded the domain of
fiction in the hope of finding there some
thing that will lead the people to believe that
Gen. Hancock is not proper man to be
intrusted with the control of the affairs of
the nation. One imaginative fellow, the
editor of Vermont weekly paper, has
made the assertion that, when the electoral
commission had rendered its decision in
1877, Hancock wrote to Gen. Sheridan that
he believed Tilden had been legally elected
to the Presidency, and that if he took the
oath of Office any time after midnight of
the Sd of March, and issued orders to him
as President, he would feel it his duty to
obey them. The story may be good enough
for the desperate campaign which the
Republicans are now conducting, but it is
entirely too diaphanous for ordinary mortals
to credit. It only serves to illustrate the
desperate straits to which the party is re-
duced for material upon which to base its
opposition to the election of an exemplary
citizen and brave and patriotic soldier. If
such letter was ever written, which no man
of common sense will FOR none nt believe,
it is undoubtedly upon the files in Gen. Sher-
idan's Office, and can be produced without
the slightest difficulty. Until it is produced
and duly authenticated, the public will be
unanimous in pronouncing the author of the
SANDER an unmitigated sss, and the newspa-
pers that retail it but little better.
1t is safe to assert, even in the absence
of any disclaimer from those directly in
terested, that no such letter was ever writ
ten by Gen. Hancock. But even if he
did write such missive, it would be moth
ing to his discredit. Mr.. Tilden aoas legally
elected, and if he had qualified he would have
been the only constitutional president of the
United States, and as commander in chief
of the army he could have exacted the obe-
dience of all his subordinates. He did not
choose to take the oath of Office, for he saw
that such an act would precipitate revolu-
ton, compared with which the late war
would have been Insignificant. He had too
much patriotism to hazard such a contin.
gency, even in vindicstion of his own rights
and those of the people who were represent
ed in his person. Gen. Hancock is not the
only person who would have obeyed the
orders of President Tilden. There were a
million of people in the North who would
have stood up and confronted the world at
the word of command in defense of the
right of the majority to rule. Whether the
latest charge against Gen. Hancock is pro-
ven or not will make no difference. True
or false it does him no discredit.
No higher compliment could be paid to
Gen. Hancock than the resort of the Re
publicans have been forced to take to inyen-
ton as the basis of inuendo against his pr
vate and public character. The records con-
tain no word that could be distorted into a
condemnation of his acts or suspicion of
the purity and patriotism of his motives.
He has been guilty of nothing that any hon
orable man need be ashamed of. He has
proved himself faithful to every trust. As q
subordinate he discharged his duty faith
fully; as commander be was discreet,
courageous, sagacious; as citizen he has
proved himself attached to the principles of
constitutional liberty and the defender of
personal freedom. His opponents may rail
at him as much as they choose. Their abuse
will act as the grosser substance acts upon
pure gold-make him shine brighter than
ever before. ISLANDERS will but burnIsh his
fame, inuendo but increase the public es-
TEEN for him.