The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1880-08-11

In the excitement over the Presiden.
tial count in December, 1876, Genera
Sherman wrote to General Hancock,
asking his views about the presiden
tial complication, and General Han
cock replied with the letter which vii
be found on our first page. 1t is mas
terly production, suited to the occasion
full of wholesome sentiments, and writ
ten with the frankness which it became
one soldier to observe towards another
General Hancock's letter showed that
he had full knowledge of the subject
and the situation. He abhorred the
idea OF a resort to arms for the settle
ment of the issue, declared that 'the
army should have nothing to do with
the election or Inauguration of presi-
dents" He believed that the machin.
cry for the settling the disputed Presi-
dency then presented, had been carefully
prepared by the founder of the govern
ment, and that all that remained TO do
was to execute the law He believed
that should the two houses Of Congress
fail to agree as to who had been elected
President, the immediate representa-
tives of the people-the house of rep
ntatives-shouId proceed to select a
chief magistrate. 1.-The Senate" he
said, elects vice-presidents, not presi-
dents"
On the general subject Of the use of
troops in civil affairs, the letter con-
tains this striking declaration:
Ihave not thought it lawful or wise to use
Federal troops in such matters as have trans
pired east of the Mississippi within the last
few months, save far they may be
brought into action under the article of the
Constitution which contemplates meeting
armed resistance, or invasion of a State more
powerful than the State authorities can Sub
due by the ordinary processes, and then only
when requested by the Legislature, or, if il
could not be convened in season, by the Gov
ernor, and when the President of the United
States interyened in that manner it is state
of war, not peace.
The letter justifes the lofty praise be-
slowed by Judge Black upon General
1IuuCUCh, ILdI w d>ulll9 bOn III Hill
cocks place would have acted as Han
cock did"
The eminent statesman, Senator Bay
ard, in Il recent interview, pays the fol-
lowing remarkable tribute to the letter
of Gen. Hancock:
Having given the constitutional questions
connected with the election of President and
Vice-President and the control of the two
houses of Congress over the election much
thought and study, | must freely confess that
General Hancock has emphasized in his letter
the true meaning of the Constitution in such
way and with such force as to give me new
and stronger light upon the subject. HI pre-
sents with great clearness the idea of the
separate deposits of power in the House OF
and in the Senate in the case
of the inability of the two houses in Joint SEES
sion TO unite in declaration that a ma ority
of the electoral votes have been delivered for
any candidate.
The Senator adds.
The golden sentences in the letter, in my
Judgment, are these: The army should have
nothing to do with the election or Inaugural
tion of a President The people elect the
President The Congress declares in a Joint
session who he is Our system does not pro
vide that one President should inaugurate
ARCHER; there mi ght be danger in that, and
it was stud0uslg Ieft out Of the charter Here
is the keynote of the difference between Han
cock and Grlntism.