Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1827-01-27

vice and bring back and deposite in the ireas!.
~ the proner receipts? If il be urged tha' Dis
ou,;es carry him into the field once In every
two months. il is to be replied that, 10 III.
sEob, circumstance is he indebted lor 'ha'
stretch ufcourtesy which denominates him an
armv officer: for strictly so far is he from beng
n,efsrnbiy so called, there would be much more
nronriety in calling him Treasury ofhcer'-
This chief. stationed in this city, IS clearly So
in contemplation Of the statute which secoru'
him, not military allowances, but an annuai Sal
arv. MT Lo..
The absurdi,y ofthe suggestion will be pes:
EXPOSED BY extending the principle TO those
other non combaiants of the army whose Iune-
tions bear much closer affinity to those OF d
martial kind, 10 which alone martial titles ana
rank is appropriate, than those OF paymas'ers
can pretend TO bear. Confer it, then, on the
officers of,he medical department, * me THINKS
it would carry an odd sound with il to hear the
nresent hiehIy efficient head OF that depart
ment called Brigadier General Doctor Joseph
Lowell. 1t would only require the equally prop
er addition of Esquire, to make II ridicIious;--
Let US have, too, Colonel Judge Advocates, q
Major Storekeepers, SC. &c. II more ina"
this is wanted, let us try our imagnatlons on Inc
naval organization, bad as that IS ielt 10 De,
with some three grades of rank, for at least
| len grades of command, } and because the titles
there have already too many incumben's, and
| CAPTAIN does not seem dignhed enough, let US
cali the navy agent Che is paymaser too) an
Admira the storekeeper Master Command
| AMI. and Lieutenant, al least for the Purser.
If the suggestion Of the Paymaster General
stood alone and unsupported by motion on
the floor of Congress, and were it not now to
be apprehended tina, the ingenuity of its advo-
Gates in and out Of Congress, might suggest at
guments in its favor plausible enough to induce
| its adoption by body not familiar with the
subject, would myself cheerfully trust its de-
feat to the Paymaster Generals own arguments
in It's favor.
How military rank in the officers of the pay
department "would render it more important"
in any GOOD sense, am at loss 10 lecture -
That il would render them of more personal i'm
| portance as them selves, and at the expense OF
| mor,ifying the pride ofthose 10 whom it prop
ery b, longs, and who, having fought his Bril-
fannie Maiesty's veterans and served patiently,
and with much privation, twelve and fifteen
wears for the rank Of captain, are at once oUer-
sloughed by a cabin window paymaster, is most
UNIQUE stionable, and wol!d be, in the opinion of
an impartial country, most depora5lr too. In
| no other sense would its importance be en-
| HANGED.
The Paymaster General, alleges tina, the
rank sought for "wil! never he exercised out Of
the Department, except as members oil military
courts" That it cannot BE- exercised in the
Department, we have seen; then ii follows, that
i: would be limited TO the single case spec flied.
hat he
raj venture a promise which no power in this
country, short of the Legislature, can ever full
fiji; or that military rank, under constitution
that abhors all sinecures, either OF honor pro-
fit, shall not, in given case, he invested with
a cores spending functon-shall not have that
command, wi,hou, which it must be either
sort Of title OF nobility, or nothing. Thus con-
ferred, even by Congress, the constitution, and
the fundamental principle OF all military autho-
rity. are at once violated.
Efficient as the Pay Depart ent is represent
ed to be, no inducement for suitable persons 10
enter il seems to be needed. And it is difficult
to conceive that the military experience Of Off
Gers OF the line which, to be useful, must be
confined 10 the sphere in which it was acqui-
red, con render them more suitable than o.
theirs, to the business Of paymaster, sufficient
y it'ei, VIC "o"u lhiHk, 10 tue ordinary Du-
sness Of private life, TO he as well discharged by
any good clerk. But the idea is peculiarly edi-
flying, that, by the cabalislc influence of mere
name the paymaslers will be rendered compe.
tent Judges on a military court! This presents
singular instance of hocus pocus, and, hard
as il may be to understand how the military
experience of the lineal officer shall be so
peculiarly useful in he paymaster's function
it must be confessed, still harder to conceive
how the paymas,er, confessedly without that
experience, shall thus intuitvely become com
peent judge of all military topics. Besides,
did the Paymasler General fully settle in
his own mind the legal effect on their bonds,
by thus changing their duties? For l under.
take 10 say, that it is this con ,ideration a.
lone, which has hitherto prevented the employ
ment o, them, on those very military conrts,
mol, to be sure, as members or Judges, but as
recorders or Judge Advocates. Besides, the
2aymasters will be, in future, saved from The
operation of the law martial, by the previous
application OF recent law, requiring the Pre-
sident TO dismiss them, if their accounts are
deficient, which is the only poin, of their con-
tact with the service.
cannot bring nv self to believe THAI the mere
absence Of 0GIition1i prDense ,vill ever ha ro