The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1880-09-02

ing.
The General thanked the audience
for his kind reception and withdrew
CCincinnati Gazette.l
The Nations Debt to Gen. Hancock.
/ Does the nation owe Gen. Hancock
anything2 Let us have a reckoning.
Granted that he was a good soldier;
the national Union had in the war of
the rebellion 100000 Of good sold
iers. Or say we allow one-half for
those not actually engaged in battle,
it had 100000 soldiers as brave as
Hancock, who were in greater danger,
endured greater hardship and who re-
ceived no other pay than S13 amonth,
IN deprecated greenbacks. A good
soldier Is no rarity in this country.
Hancock ought to be a good soldier.
By political favor the government re-
ceived him at the age Of sixteen, put
him under pay for life, and gave him
an education for the army. He was
put into preferment at the beginning,
and into line of regular promotion
which secured him rank and hand
some support for life. Why should
he not serve the country that had Civ
en- him this bounty? When the civil
war broke out, Hancock, then Captain
by brevet-as appears by Forney's
life-did not desert his flag, as did
many regular army officers.
Why should an officer Of the regu-
lar army desert the service at the out
break Of war? War is welcome to
the professional officer; it brings pro-
motion. The longer and more bloody
the war, the better for him; it is the
chance for Lieutenant to become a
Colonel or General, or even, by some
great stroke of fortune, Major GEN
eral. Capt. Marryatt's novels tell of
a standing toast in the midshipmen's
mess room: "A bloody war and a
sickly season." In long peace the
regular army man sees old age coming
on, the upper ranks crowded, and his
prospect that gray head will come
upon him still a Captain; but war
opens up chances for his highest am
bition. To him the war is a godsend,
which to the people is the most terri
BILE calamity, and which from the
volunteer soldier demands the highest
sacrifice.
Why should an officer of the regu-
lar army desert to the rebels? To do
so was to leave assured pay and pro-
motion and a noble provision for life,
and to take up with the poverty Of a
rebel cause; the certainty of losing all
if it failed, and that if it succeeded it
would have to disband its army. Rank
and fortune were on the side Of the
national flag; to desert it was to give
up all. What does the nation owe
him for not sacrificing himself?
What should it pay him for holding
on to fortune? Hancock was in the
Quartermaster Department in Califor-
mia when the war broke out. He saw
the road to fortune and honor open to
him, and kept in it.
He came East and was assigned to
duty as Quartermaster to Gen. Robert
Anderson, then in command Of the
neutral Kentucky; but soon he was,
on recommendation Of Mcclellan,
then holding the quiet on the Poto-
mac" commissioned a Brigadier Gen
eral. From a brevet Captain to
Brigadier General, when he had never
been in action in any higher rank
than a Second Lieutenant! Such was
the splendid fortune that war brought
to him There is a saying that each
one Of Napoleon's soldiers carried a
Marshal's baton in his knapsack This
is a metaphor that promotion was
open to the private soldier, and that
heroism might raise any one to that
rank. .t.
But although promotion was not
open to the private soldiers of our
army, yet the rise q subaltern officers
to high rank and commands before
they had ever been in battle, sur
passed the romantic story Of Napo-
Icons army. How much does the
nation owe Hancock for keeping this
easy road to splendid fortune? The
war came to an end, and he came to
be Major General, with only two
above him. War had done all it could
for him. He now settled down for
life in the superb surroundings Of
lord. On the other hand,
where did the volunteer soldier go?
His had been the hardships and the
brunt Of the danger. He was turned
out to seek his living,
War demanded Of the volunteers
the sacrifice Of livelihood, and in many
thousand cases the leaving of families
to pinching want. The soldiers ne
cessities in the campaign consumed |
his little pay. That which, to the
officer was fortune, was
to the volunteer patriotic sacrifice.
And now he was turned out to work |
for his living. Contrast these, and |
then say if the country still owes a
debt to Gen. Hancock for his service
in the army? Furthermore, is that
lebt so great that in order to pay
it we must put him in the Presidency,
with the whole Confederate Democra-
cy on top of him?
THE world is always interested to