Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1880-06-25
Our SOldter.Statesman.

Our Soldier.Statesman.
The nomination of Gen. Hancock
falls like a benison upon a waiting
country. 1t is the harbinger of peace, Of
the cessation Of sectional strife, and I
guarantee that the country will ere long
he restored to the constitutional form OF
government devised by the fathers of tht
republic. The great heart of the people
is touched, and the responsive chord that
answers back the strain that the Buckeye
breeZes have waited over. the land tells
plainly enough that it is the popular will
that has found expression in the nomina
tiOn of Pennsylvania superb soldier
that plots and cOunter-plots and intrigues
have had no part in bringing about this
result, but that an irresistible impulse
having its well-spring in great popular
demand has carried the convention to a
cOnsummatiOn that must meet with un'
forced applause that shall swell from the
sterile soil of Plymouth Rock to the far
off golden sands of the Pacific.
Gen. Hancock is a great soldier. His
deeds on the field of battle gain brighter
lustre with the flight of the years that
have passed since he saluted the consti-
tuition and returned his sword to its
scabbard. With his glorious record as a
military chieftain he yet stood before
the convention as the exemplar of the
supremacy of the civil law. A Democrat
to the core he is firmly grounded in the
faith of our grand and historic party.
His handi it was that penned these i'm
mortal words when at his control lay
despotic power :: d" The true and proper
use of the military power, besides de-
Tending the national honor against for
eign nations, is to uphold the laws and
civil government, and to secure to every
person residing among us the enjoyment
of life, liberty and property" His voice
proclaimed the majestic doctrine that
power may destroy the forms, but not
the principles of justice. These will live
i'm spite even of the Sword.'
With Gen. Hancock at the head of the
column, the Democratic party assumes
the offensive; it has nothing to excuse,
no doubtful records to attempt to con-
ceal. 1t will go into the battle, conquer
ing and to conquer. Our candidates S
reputation is spotless as his sword, his
capabilities rs a civil ruler have borne
the test of actual experience under the
most trying circumstances and insidious
temptations, and his name will afford the
Democracy the opportunity to force the
fighting, as Hancock did at Gettysburg,
at Antietam, at Chancellorville, and in
the Wilderness.
The sectional issue is perfOrceeliminated
from the campaign, and the voice of the
radical demagogue is silenced for good
his occupation is gone. The country is af-
forded the opportunity to choose fairly
and fully between the doctrines held and
practised by the Republican party, which
comprise the theory of centraliZation, of
the concentration of power in the hands
of the federal government, which are SO
signally represented by the Republican
nominee, and the true idea of popular
Self-gOyernment which is the guiding
spirit or the Democratic party, namely,
Il strict limitation of the federal power
within the bounds prescribed 10y the con-
Stitution of the fathers. Hancock's civil
record makes him one of the most dis
tinguished representatives of this Demo-
cratic policy. His constant Difference to
civil law and to civil officers during his
military command in Louisiana and
Texas after the war shows that he is
much more than a mere soldier; that he
has clear and well-defned views on the
most important points of national policy,
views which are honorable to him and
which give him deserved and high rank
among statesmen.
That very large proportion of the
people are in accord with the principles
of which Gen. Hancock stands as the
exponent, there is no good reason to
question; and it is the conviction that
such is the fact that makes us firm in the
faith that at Cincinnati yesterday were
named the next president and vice pres
ident of the United States.
In our candidate for vice president we
have been fortunate in securing legis-
lator of experience and statesman of
pre-eminent abilities. William II. Eng
lish was leader in Congress before he
was forty years of age, and his powers
have ripened with the lapse of time. An
old time " Douglas Democrat, a gentle
man of culture, of personal popularity,
of strict integrity and political sagacity,
he adds strength to a ticket that is GER
tain to poll the full Democratic vote and
make such inroads upon the Republican
that puts victory in November
next beyond the pale of doubt.
Speaker Randall has promised that
Pennsylvania shall lead the Democratic
column. Democrats to your posts! This
promise must he redeemed.
TIE platform is a strong and concise
document. 1t reiterates the fundamen-
tai doctrines of the Democratic party,
holds the great fraud of 1867 up to pop
ular condemnation in words that burn,
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