, 1880-08-23

Correspondence New York World


PARIS, July 1S.-Sir:: A cable dispatch
reached me at London, whence answered
it more briefly than you expected, but |
thought intelligibly enough. Your later
dispatch, which came to me here ycster-
day, now reply to by mail.
l inferred from your interrogatsry that
some evil>disposed person had been at
to me the authorship of the
orders and letters issued by Gen. Han
cock while he commanded in Louisiana
and Texas. My denial 10y telegraph was
intended to cover the whole ground.
neither wrote those papers nor suggested
word of them; had no precognition
Of his views on the subject to which they
relate. and heard nothing from him about
it until he mad taken the public into his
confidence. Indeed. my personal ac-
quaintance with him was then very slight,
and our relations not at all intimate
The opinion that 1 wouli offer, or he
would require, my aid in producing such
an order as his No. 40 is absurd. His
determination to stand by the Constitu-
tion and the laws needed no expression
but what he could give it better than any
man alive 1t was not an argument, not
An exposition of the law, not An essay on
the rights of man that was wanted at
that critical time. The spoken act OF
patriot soldier in command alene could
save civil liberty from the destruction
with which it was threatened. That was
what Hancock did, and it was the time
liest lift that the great cause ever got
from any hand except that of Washing
ton.
l hope my admiration of the order in
question and the gratitude have felt to
him for issuing it can reasonably account
cd for without suppoeing that framed
or had any share in framing it. The be-
liet was general among the friends of
Constitutional liberty, and expressed by
many others as strongly as by me, that
Gen Hancock had done much, and done
it brayely, to rescue the Nation and save
it alive, first from secessionists, and after
wards from the more dangerous and
moro unprincipled oligarchy into whose
hands it fell after tie war At the date
of his service in Louisiana the beautiful
Ideal of a "strong government was in
full operation at Washington. conducted
by men who claimed to be absolute mas
tsrs Of the country. State rights, and as
necessary consequence. individual lib>
erty, were violently trodden down, and
the Constitution which should have made
us tree was habitually over ridden and
insulted. What those men call "the
Government was not emily wondrous
strong. but corrupt beyond all example
in modern times. Between its force and
its fraud the people were powerless, and
their despair was aggravated by an inde>
Enable dread that the whole army might
at anv moment be used to sink the Ma
ton into still further degradation, ii be-
low that lowest depth lower deep could
be reached. It was IN these circumstances
that Hancock spoke cut those words Of
truth and soberness which reassured the
friends of free government and inspired
them with new hopes. All whe were
near enough to watch the current of that
unequal contest between absolutlsm and
law can remember how the enemies Of the
Constitution were startled and scared
when they found that the most brilliant
General of the Union had officially 6e-
clared himself opposed to their Savage
policy" They could not 60 upon him,
nor send upon him, nor in any manner
destroy him, for not snly was the law Of
the land on his side, but the army was
found to be full Of symathy with its con>
spicuously gallant and faithful leader
So they we're fain to content themselves
with harmeless sneers and petty persecu>
tions. But they removed him from the
place where his devotion to the Consti>
tuition was especially interfering with
their schemes to subvert it. When they
made up their minds to strangle the lib
critics of State, to disperse legal Leg