Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1880-08-27
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FRIDAY EVENING. AUG. a., 1880.
The Hancock. Sherman Correspondence.

The Hanc0ck.Sherman Correspondence.
The correspondence between Generals
Sherman and Hancock during the time
Of the disputed election of Hayes and
Tilden shows that cordial relations ex-
listed between the two officers. and that
they did mot differ very greatly in their
views of the proper use of the army in the
exigency. They give us Il better impress
sion of Sherman because they show. if
he is to he believed that he did not like the
employment of the troops by the rresi-
dent for political purposes. and that he
did not desire such orders to so through
him rs general Of the army. He con-
sidered it to be political and not military
business, which the army was yet bound
to do because it was its duty to obey the
orders of the president. Just how far it
is al army officers duty to obey an order
Of his superior, which he believes to Ike
unlawful, is a serious question.
Gen. Sherman apparently belongs to
the class who believe that an officer has
no escape from the duty of obedience,
however unlawful the act commanded.
He declares that "the president has the
lawful right to use the army and navy,
and has exercised the right as he believes,
lawfully and rightfully, and our duty has
been, and is, to sustain him with zeal and
sincerity Because he deems that
the president believes his command to be
lawful, General Sherman considers it
his duty to obey him with zeal and sim
cerity, although his own opinion of the
lawfulness of the order is different. That
is sprObably the customary military view
but it cannot he the true one. No man
can be permitted to make himself the
instrument of what he believes to be
violation of the law. He cannot throw
the responsibility of his unlawful act
upon his superior. The law will not per-
nit him to do it. And General. Hancock,
with his clear conception of the respect
i've duties of the soldier and the citizen,
certainly could not agree with Sherman
in his view of his duty to sustain the
president in civil conflicts with zeal and
The orders that Grant sent to General
Ruger, in South Carolina, through the
secretary of war, we do not believe
Hancock would have transmitted if he
had been put in the channel of commu-
nicatiOn to his subordinate officer. Gen
eral Sherman, however disgusted with
the business, would have sent them on,
The dirty work we now learn was done
through the war department and the SEN
sibilities of the generals were saved.
1t appears from these letters that a
large force had been collected about
Washington. General Sherman knew
the soldiers were there when the time
came to send them away; but it will be
remembered that when they gathered
there he pretended to know nothing of
it; these were no doubt also war depart
ment orders.
The letters throw additional illumina-
tion upon the clear-headedncss of Gen
eral Hancock on the political issue
ut i time when SO many men, claim
ing to he statesmen, were hopelessly
muddled. He saw that Tilden's case
was impregnable under the law, as
we all now know that it was he saw
that the electoral commission would he
condemned as unconstitutional, as every
body now knows that il was and he
found in the device a more than even
chance for Mr.. Hayes, foreseeing the
eight by seven division that all now rec
OgniZe.