Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1880-07-10

~
Their was so fortunate as Hancock. /
Read his own narrative of the bat
tie of Gettysburg. which | copy
from the report OF the committee on
the conduct of the war, PIP. 403 40S,
taken from his examination at
Washington, March ., 1864. Plain,
unaffected, and, above all, honest
and impersonal, it reads like a great
epic in which the exploits of the
Greek heroes were described by
Homer in the Had or the Odyssey,
or the Hneid in the Latin Of Virgil.
To those who have passed through
the horrors of those three days of
carnage, or who suffered the tOrtures
of suspense during those fearful con-
fiicts, this unadorned and modest
recital of General Hancock's reads
like mystic dream. The cannon
ade of that serried column, the h0r-
rid slaughter of the combatants, and
the frenzy of the hand-to- hand con-
fiict, enlisted a thousand pens as
they wrung millions of hearts but
no part of the drama is more start
ling than the serene compOsure of
Hancock as he was borne bleeding
from the field, coolly debating his
dispatch TO Meade, directing the fu-
ture operations of the still doubtful
day. We read of the dying knight
proffering water to the wounded
soldier at his side, or of the bleed
ing commander moving his ship
full upon the broadside of his adj
versary; but 4 stricken general who
did not know if he had been wound
ed to death, directing the opera
tons of still fighting army, reads
like the exploits of the gotls of my
tholOgy, and defies the sober prose
of human language. How wonder
fully similar the contrast between
such serene equanimity and the
thousands III Philadelphia during
those days of battle, impatient to
hear, yet fearful that the next news
would be the doom of their city, the
sacrifice of their loved ones, and the
certain sack Of their homes
| 1t is we'll to freShen such a MEM
DRY. To leave it to die would be
kestriking Calvary from the Scrip
| lures. 1t is well that we should be
| taught how much our liberty cost,
not alone to win but to save How
| blaSphemous to profane such MEM
Dries with the shallow bigotry of
the Pharisees, or the wicked hatred
of the partisan. Gratitude, next to
God, is the highest type of divine
| justification. 1t ennobles men, but
it glorifies nations. In this case it
also secures and seals the reconcilia-
/ ton of the sections. Philadelphia
| was saved from the invader by
and it is right that the altar of eter-
nal honor to the surviving leader Of
/ the victorious host should be set up
/ in her midst. Such an altar in such
a temple becomes at the same time
/ the symbol of popular gratitude,
and of the eternal peace and forgive
ness on a restored people.
i ara only one of the army OF
| republicans who will vote for Gen.
/ Hancock for these reasons: Only
one of many of the oldest republi-
+ cans in this city, who call upon me
I to say that they would be ashamed
of themselves If, after all their words
+ of praise and Thanksgiving for the
salvation of Philadelphia from fire
/ and rebel contributions in 1863, they
should now vote against the man
/ who did the most of the work. Gen.
+ Garfield is a good man, but we owe
/ him nothing compared to the debt
| to Hancock. When told that to
vote for Hancock is to vote for a
democrat, I reply that the partition
between the two parties is very
thin. The only point on which we
may be said to differ is protection,
and that cannot be a very strong
one when Hancock comes from the
great tariff county of Montgomery,
! Pennsylvania, and all his friends
are open advocates of protection,
while Garfield was elected q MEM
Der of the Golden club in London,
| the great free-trade headquarters in
England, because of his rather bold
sympathies with the western enc
mics of Pennsylvania interests. IF
the iron men of Pennsylvania want
to know any more about Garfield's
free-trade ideas, they ought to read
over Judge Kelley's exposure Of the
republican candidate for president a
few years ago. The republican and
democratic parties in this country
are too close to each other on all
questions, and too much interested
in national peace and prosperity, to
make the election of Hancock or
Garfield a matter of the graVest con-
sequence in point of fact. Only, for
myself, and for many others, pre-
fer Hancock, because of his great
work at Gettysburg, and because, if
he is successful, there will be an end
of that rule in Pennsylvania which
has subOrdinated all our republican
ideas and duties to the interests of
few tyrannical politicians. III to say
that | would take any course to end
such terrible state of affairs as is
here exposed in the following aFti-
ole, that / take from the press of the
23d of June, makes me democrat,
cannot help it. would rather be
a slave, with a ball at my ankle,
than submit to such a shameful
state of vassalage. This paragraph
is taken from paper conducted by
the present able business manager
of the Press:
The Delaware County Gazette
says that:
"In the republican party of Penn
sylvania intellectual men have been
forced to take a back seat, and the
party has been run by illiterate,
cunning, crafty fellows, who have
at last almost succeeded in sinking
the ship. Whenever brain is re-
quired these fellows limp, squeal
and run into the corner, half fright
ened to Heath. Thus has 1t been for
years and years in both houses of
congress, ut Harrisburg, and at all
nominating national conventions,
until the state, by its unparalleled
tOmfOolery, has been brought into
humiliating disgrace"
But there is one view of General
Hancock's future that have left to
the last. He will restore peace and
prosperity to the south. / think
Grant would have done it better,
but the friends OF General Garfield
would not allow him to try it. You
answer that this is to remit the col
ored people to their cruel masters.
| rejOin that these masters could not
treat the colored man much worse
than the northern republicans do in
the distribution of party fayors.
Hereaway they use the colOred yo-
tiers TO elect the worst white mate
rial to our state legislatures, but
they never think Of sending a culti-
4 n u