The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1880-07-03


Washington knew what he was going to
do in his new command and what he was
going to 10 it for. Prudence would have
forbidden any public demonstration. un-
der all the circumstances, but Johnson
and his friends thought that they had
Congress on the run, and that if it did
not surrender it would be dispersed by
an indignant people, so the serenade to
Hancock was given and Ilancock's first
political campaign began with his speech
to crowd mostly composed of friends of
the men he had been fighting. Han
cocks speech, on this occasion, showed
that he had been an apt pupil of his three
able teachers during the preceding month
of hard work The whole campaign was
so well understood among the rebel SYM
pathizers in Washington that Dispatch
dated the day before the serenade-from
there to the Charleston Courier laid out
pretty exactly the programme that Han
cock followed. The dispatch, among other
things, stated:
New Orleans is just now the key of
the conservative position South. The
compulsory resignation of Gov. Flanders,
with other decided movements now i'll
progress, indicates the beginning of
new regime in the military districts. Han
cock is to be made the pioneer in a great
flank movement South to restore the I'M
represented States, so far as as the recon-
| 80 a{, oil f,,t 1,n hnSi IF
civil law. This is said by persons high
in the confidence of the Executive to be
the new policy determined on. The other
military commanders will be directed to
follow Hancock's lead, or, failing to do
so, will be removed 1t is Mr.. Johnson's
purpose to have the reconstruction laws
fairly carried out. They are deemed out
rageous enough as they stand, without
any forced radical construction being put
on them. In pursuance of this plan, it is
said that General Hancock's first move
will be the following:
In the State of Louisiana there are one
thousand negroes on the registry of vot-
ers who were born in Africa and have
never been naturalized. + = The
government is said to be i'll possession of
secret circular, issued by Gen. Sheri-
dan at the time registration was i'll pro-
gress, directing the officers whom to reg
lister and whom not These instructions
are of the most sweeping partisan char
acter. Even SeXtonS-the antiquated fOS-
sis retained around the country churches
for years, and who, Of course, being old
residents. were not likely to vote the radi
cal ticket, are construed to be officers of
the Confederacy' and DISTINGUISHED.
Hancock will issue a commission i'll
every parish to examine the register and
strike off the names of all persons legally
registered, and also to take coSniZance OF
all applications for registration improp-
erly refused, and to put these names in
the lists. One result of this purging of
the registry will undoubtedly be to de-
feat the Constitution. which the black
and-tan convention are now hammerlng
out. In other military departments the
same policy will probably have similar
result.
Gen. Hancock $ next proceeding will
probably be to convene the State Legis-
lature-not exactly to convene it, either;
the Legislature is i'll existence. If Sheri
dan tacitly recognized it's legality, by issu-
ing an order prohibiting its assembling,
Hancock will rescind the order. The
Legislature can then meet and devise
some measure for the financial relief of
the State government. Other movements
of an equally conservative character are
in contemplation, but these will be the
first carried out. The progress of these
measures and their reception by Congress
will be watched with great interest,"
1t was in executing this rebel pro-
gramme and i'll issuing orders and writ
ing letters, for which he had been "cram-
med" by Black, Walker, and Campbell,
that Hancock was enabled to appear in
the novel and extraordinary character
of g constitutional lawyer and econ
sentative statesman He was as wax
in the moulding hands of his strong adj
visers and strong superior. The South
ern leaders. who are keen judges of men,
found him easy to manage, and the Lou
isianians were captivated-as they well
might be-by his good nature, social
traits, and general temperament.
They would have preferred Bayard,
who needs no examining" to evolve
constitutional law that will serve South
ern purposes. But one unlucky speech
prevented their concentration on the ac-
complishcd statesman of Delaware. He
was out of the question. SO they took
Hancock? Why? Because he fought so
superbly at Gettysburg? Not at all, so
far as they were concerned. 1t was the
essays on constitutional law that Judge
Black had taught him, which captured
them.
So they found it convenient to put
gallant Union soldier to the fore and the
Union flag i'll the place of honor, in order
to steal control of the government and to
put it under the direction of the man who
used Blacks brains to execute Andrew
Johnson's disloyal purposes. 1t is not
the first time that rebels have tried to
''steal a march on Union men, under
the flag of the Union. 1t was quite II
common trick during the war.