The sun., 1880-08-08

special message Of the President the Of Louisiana
some time before But in South Carolina he had the
Que sOu settled by decision OF the Supreme Court OF
the state-the highest tribunal which had acted On the
Qucson-.so that his line OF duty seemed even to he
clearer than tie action Of the Louisiana lftc
Federal had mteriercd and oyerrued the decision
the State court there might have been doubt GER
ainy. but the Federal court only nteriered to comp
cate. not to decide overrule.
Anyhow it is business Of the army to enter upon
such questions and even II 1t might be So In any event.
II the civil authority supreme as the Consultation de-
caes be. the South Carolina csss was one In which
the army had plain duty"
But in the following paragraph Gen. HAN
COCK makes still more important state
ment of opinion:
AS have been writing thus freely you Imsy still
further unbosom stating thatI have not thought
II lawful or wise Federal troops in such matters
as have transpiei east " tue Mississippi within the last
few months save far ns they mny be brought into
action under the article of the Constitution which con.
templates meeting armed resistance invasion Of a
State powerful than the State authorities can sub
due by the ordinary processes and then only when
questcd by the legislature it could not be convened
in session. by the Governor ana when the President of
the United States intervenes in that manner II Is state
Of not peace. The army is laboring under disad
vantages and has been used unlawfuy at times in the
Judgment OF the people dn mine certainly and we have
lost great deal the kindly feeling which the
munity at large once felt for us"
This was written year before the labor
riots Of 1877, when from one end OF the
country to the other there went up from
Republican newspapers and leaders a cry
for a large standing army, to be used at will
against the people. The then President of
the Pennsylvania Railroad Company elab-
GRATED the demand of his sort in labored
a, ,tinla in ha North A,Dp Rpriplr A
strong government" said all these voices
In concert is needed for the protection of
property; in other words, for the support
Of the few. The President must have power
to introduce the army into the States with
out reference to the local authorities or
their certificates concerning the character
OF the disturbance. Such a change in our
polity would of course be radical, and
entirely subvert tho system OF the Consti
tuition. Yet r. B. HAYES could hardly be
persuaded to wait for the calls of the Gov
ernors in 1877. Col. SCoTT and many others
situated like him, insisted that he should
not do SO, and that a Constitution which inn
posed such restraints upon the use of the
public force was better broken than OBJ
served. Had any such scruples, any such
regard for the fundamental law, ever ham,
pered any recent Administration in its
dealings with tine Southern States =? Such
is the weight Of precedent that the North
ern States at that time were very nearly in
volved in the calamity which, with the con-
sent OF some of their people, had lately
been visited upon the Southern States.
But, fortunately, the advocates of "strong
government" who recently made their great
at at Ehipa for in ha
exclusive interest Of the few, although
much encouraged by the success of the
Great Fraud. were then held in check by
Democratic Congress and the people, who
still had votes which might be deposited
without fear OF the comparatively small
army at the disposal of the Fraudulent Ad-
ministration But, as is shown by this ex-
tract, Gen. HANCOCK sees small necessity
for the use OF an army in the affairs Of free
people and OF free States. Even when it is
called into action by constitutional pro-
cesses by local Governors and Legislatures
representing the political society immedi-
ately concerned, the state OF things thus
produced is not peace, but war, civil war,
the last calamity that can befall a nation.
1t Is not strange that an officer holding
such views should be unable to foresee any
proper use for the army in the conduct of
the electoral count Of 1877. The constitu-
tional machinery to ascertain and count the
vote was, he said, provided in the two
Houses OF Congress, and in case of no choice
by the Electoral Colleges. the House would
give US a President and the Senate Vice
President. But his superiors thought other
wise, and troops were openly assembled at
Washington to overawe the Congress while
a fraudulent result was secured by the in
terventon Of "a strange tribunal. unknown to
the Constitution and acting in fragrant dis
regard Of both its letter and its spirit.
This letter OF Gen. HANCoCK's is revela-
tion OF himself as welcome and as interest
ing as it is complete