The comet. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1877-1882, 1880-08-14
JUOGE RLACK ON HANCOCK.
"if Washington Had Been In Han.
cOcE'S Place He Would Have
Bone wat Hancock Did
PARIS, July 10, 1880.

vi ~ he ElllOi OI me Wufld;
IN SIR "A cable despatch reached IN
IS at London, whence ! answered it NOR
,e briefly, perhaps, than you expected
,s butI thought intelligent y enough
20 Your later dispatch, which came t,
Oh me here yesterday, | now reply to b.
d mail
o. inferred from your interrogutcrl
. that some evil-disposed persons hal
u been attributing to me the authorship
Of the orders and letters issued by
# Con Hancock while he commando
Il ia ssouisana and Texas. My denia
by telegraph was intended TO cover
'' the whole ground. ] neither wrote
/ those papers nor suggested a word OF
+, them; | had no precognition of his
views on the subject to which they re-
, late, and heard nothing from him
) about it until he had taken the public
I into his confidence. Indeed my per-
I, sonal 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
l producing such an order as his No 40
, is absurd. His determination to stand
by the Constitution and the laws need
ed no expression but what he could
give it better than any man alive. 1t
was not an argument, not IN eXposi-
ton OF law, not an essay ON the rights
OF man that was wanted at that crit
zeal time. The spoken dct0f Il patriot
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
timclicst lift that the great cause ever
got from any hand except that of
Washington.
| hope my admiration for the order
in question and the gratitude have
lelt OHM fOruSing itcan be reasonably
accounted for without supposing that
| framed or had any hand in framing
! 1t. The belief was general among the
| friends of constitutional liberty, and
expressed by many others 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 seccssionists, and afterwards |
from the more dangerous and more
| unprincipled Oligarchy into whose .
hands it fell after the war. At the .
date Of his service in Louisiana the .
bcdH jdCdi Of IL "strong governments
was in full operation ut WashingtOn,
conducted by men who claimed to be
absolute masters of the country. State
rights, and AS a necessary consequence
individual liberty, were violently trOd-
den down, and the Constitution which
should have made us free was habitu-
ally Over-rdden and in4uItcd. What
those men called "the Government"
was not only wondrous strong, but
corrupt beyond all example in modern
times. Between its force and its fraud
the peopl" were poWcrless, and their
despair was aggravated by an indie
linab'C dread that the whole army
might at any moment be used to sink
the nation into still further degrade
tion, if below that lowest depth II :
lower deep could be reached. 1t was ,
in these circumstances that Hancock ,
spoke out those words of truth and |
soberncSs which reasSured the friends ,
of free government and inspired them ,
with new hopes. All who were near
to watch the current of that {
contest between absolutism :.
and law can remember how the enc a
mics of the Constitution Were startled {
and scared when they found that the f
most brilliant General of the Union II
had officially declared himself opposed f
to their "savage policy" They could
not 90 upon him, nor send upon him,
nor in 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 cOnspcu- n
Dusly gallant and faithful leader. So
they were fain to content themselves st
with harmless sneers and petty perse- "
'utiOns. But they removed him from a
he place where his devotion to the Ii
Constitution was specially interfering T.
with their schemes to subvert it. "
When they made up their minds to d
triangle the liberties of State, to dis Il,
lerse II legal Legislature by brute II
orcc, to inauguratc for Governor
hameless adventurer known TO have ~
Deen defeated at the polls, or TO pin II;
he people down with bayOncts while to
hey were plundered by alien thieves ~
Who claimed to be their representa- '"
ives and officers, somebody else was Ill
to do the Infamous work. hi
till more carefully did they avoid his st
resence when the whole nation was to l.,
e swndled at Presidential election.
{ was for such reasons that the heart Ill
f the country warmed to General cl
hancock as its predestincd deliverer. w
1t has often happened that the best =,
lings of the greatest men are attrib- y"
ted to others who are wholly incapa 80
le Of them. The opinion was indus sn
.iously propagated and accepted by n,
reat many as true that Hamilton =,
rote the Farewell Address Of Wash IIl
lgtOn, but tire evidence is conclusive yO
hich shows that every word of that IN,
production came from sh
'ashingtOn himself; and Hamilton
'uld not have written it any more ne
ian he could have made a world. he
Dme of Jackson's most characteristic to
Ipcrs, bearing the full impress of his
vn mind, Were habitually credited
persons of far inferior abiIityt me
hen il was charged against Jefier- foe
n that he wrote LOgan's speech, he an
lemnly declared that he was un.
ual to such composition. | am :"
It affecting modesty when | claim las
edence of my present denial for his
nalar reason. | could not have He
'itten Hancock's No. I0-nDt because o..
pretend To he dumb or altogether
skilled in the use of the English lhs
lrds, but because ii | had under lac
ken to write il the chances are ME
nety-nine i'm hundred that my ar
mentatinn would have marred its wv
ljestic simplicity and greatly dimin an'
led its power. When a public man, hra
Decially a military man, meets a an,
ave responsibility, saying no more 49,,
r less than just the thing he ought, 'oi
saying that with unequivOcal clear thr
s., you may be sure he is the inter wa.
tier Of his own thoughts. At any Th
C, the attempt is unjust 81 bastarlize Of
40 by assigning to il an origin to- but
ly different from the true one. con
Why should my opinion be asked
volunteered on General Hancock g.
a civilian? Anybody else who has
tched his life is as good judge as 7
and there are thousands who know am
N much better. But since the ger
sstion j. propOmded ] will answer, Da-
lject to fair correction, that he has on
him the highest and best qualities Of {
a republican ruler. / think his and
city to sound principles, coupled 10
ID his sound judgment, viii entitle fell
n 30 rank well with the great Presi- stat