Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1880-06-26
HancOck'S Civil Record.

1t is remarkable with what unanimity
the independent and the respectable por-
tion of the Republican press concede the
fitness of the Cincinnati candidates for
the places for which they have been
named. The spontaneous Outburst of
enthusiasm with which the name of
General Hancock has been received by
the Democratic sentiment of the country
is the natural consequence of choice
made with such essential unanimity by
the representatives of the party from
every section of the country, who recOg-
nizc in him the embodiment of loyalty to
the Union, of patriotism, of Democracy,
and around whose historic name hang
the sweet OdOrs of that whiteSt of BIOS
SONS, civil liberty. The hide-bound Re-
publican partisan press, deprived OF its
old-time weapon of sectional hate and
forbidden to indulge in its favor
ite propensity for mud Singing
10y General HancOck's personal rec
ord, "spotless us STAR" has been
compelled to take the untenable po-
s:tion that IIancock's services to his
country having been of a purely military
character, he is untitled, either by educa-
tion or temperament, to discharge the
duties of tine executive office. The indie
pendent press, on the other hand, is
united in its opinion that Gen. Ham
cocks career rs civic ruler has been
not less creditabie than his course rs a
military chieftain. They accord to him
the possession ut once of the attributes
of the soldier and the statesman. They
recognize the illustriOus services
he rendered to the cause of
constitutional liberty and law
when as commander of the Fifth
district, comprising the states of Louis
lama and Texas, he was first to place the
civil authority above the sword, first to
proclaim that the bayOnet should make
obcisance to civil law. They realize that
the name of Winfield Scott Hancock is
not alone the heroic emblem of the
Union. but also the splendid symbol of
that civil liberty which is the basis of
popular government, and upon which is
reared the proud temple of freedom.
The Philadelphia Ledger, that most
conservative of independent journals,
has this tribute to Gen. Uancock's ser
vices in his capacity as a civil officer:
But il is not alone as soldier that General
Hancock has history. After the war and
when that difficult problem of the care and
restoration of the Southern states, which
had bceu left without governments, had to
be grappled with, he justly earned great
distinction rs an administrator of the laws
over the large district of country covered
bv the states of Louisiana and Texas.
What was to he done will, these states,
that had lost their condition, their privi-
leyc and right as self-governing cOmmu-
ties had exercised the minds of states
men like Thaddeus Stevens, Sew
ard and Lincoln. But they had to be
brought within the pale of the govern
mcnt. and to Gen. Hancock was allotted
the states above mentioned, as the Caro-
lnaS had been allotted to Gen. Meade. 1t
was in this capacity that he won his rep
utation as a soldier administering civil law,
and gained ut once the Acknowledgements
of tlcgovernment and lasting gratitude and
admiration of the people whose present
and future he had in charge. This in the
present aspect of affairs is the most impor-
tant chapter of Gen. Hancock's history.