Liberty advocate. [volume] (Liberty, Miss.) 1835-1866, 1840-10-22
From the Log Cabin Advocate.
EXECUTIVE FAVORlTlSM-COMMO-
DORE ELLIOTT.

i m EXECUTIVE FAVORlTlSM-COMM
hF DORE ELLIOTT.
Some weeks since, we examined The case
4 Lieut.. llooe; and showed that there were Gil
cumstances in that case, as the admission {
Y Negro testimony, &c which should have indu
ced the President, as the tribunal having appe
late jurisdiction, to send the case back, and or
u der new trial. And we said this, without re
/ ference 10 the question, whether Lieuienan
3 Hooe was innocent or guilty; or whether he
would or would not have been convicted with
i out the testimony of the two negro servants Of
Commodore Levy. We commended that the
fact of the admission Of the Testimony of ne.
\. grocs in the case, apart from the bearing Of
such testimony on the case, was sufficient to
vitiate the finding of The Court Martial, and
4 should have induced the President to listen to
n the memorial Of Lieut.. iiooe, and order new
i trial This "Northern man with Southern
principles" thought differently. lie ''did not
n find any thing in The proceedings OF the Court
" which required his inlerlerence;" and Lieut..
Hooe was dismissed from the squadron How
different this course from that Of Gen Jack son.
Read the following statement:
GA Cadet at West Point was dismissed on
negro testimony. An appeal was taken TO
General Jackson. Judge Rowan, Of Ky, pre-
scnied the papers TO the President. He com.
mcnced stating the case by reference to the
negro testimony. "Sny no more," said the old
General, 'that's enough-lhe fact of a negro
deposing against white man, is of itself sulfi-
Gent, in 'my estimation, 10 vitiate the whole
proceeding. The decision is reversed, and the
Cadet reins,atcd''
This reminds US Of another illustrious sol
der, the Greai't rederic. When he asked an
officer In command of q fortified place. t.Why
did you not defend NJ" The officer replied
"Sire, there were twenty-nine reasons Why
In the first place had no powder" THAT is
sufficient" replied the King, 81 want no more
reasons" We hope our readers will mark the
contrast between the "Illusrious Predecessor
and the "Follower in the Footsteps"
But to the point Our object now is, TO con-
trast, in few words, the treatment of the case
Of Lieut.. flooe and that Of Commodore Elliott
The Naval General Court Martial, which as,
sembled at the Navy yard in Philadelphia on
the 4th Of last May, for the trial Of Commo'
dore Jesse ID. Elliott, found the accused guilty
oGthe following offence:-
/. Oppression and cruelty and conduct I'M
becoming an officer.
2. Scandaous conduct tending to the des
HucllOn OF BOOu nloTuIS.
3. As commanding officer, and Of his own
authority, INJECTING punishment on privates be.
You'd twelve lashes, with cat ol-nine-tails, in
violation OF the first section Of the act Of Con
gress, entitled "an act for The better govern
ment Of the Navy Of the United States"
T. Unofiicerlike conduct, and dsobedience
ofihe sixth paragraph (under the head "offi.
GERS in generally of the rules, regulations, and
instructions of the naval service of the United
States, prepared by the Board of Navy Com.
missoners Of the United States, with the con-
sent of the Secretary Of the Navy, in obedience
TO the act of Congress OF the seventh day OF
February, eighteen hundred and fifteen, which
strictly enjoins every officer 10 avoid all unne-
cessary expenditures of stores belonging to the
Public.
g. Unbecoming and unofficer.like conduct
The following facts were proved before the
Court
"That the accused cruelty and oppressively
ordered and caused Passed Midshipman Barton,
who was severely wounded in his leg, to be re.
moved from the ship Constitution, in which he
lay under the medical charge of the Surgeon
OF The feet, against the Surgeons express
official objections and circumstances, thereby
causing Mr. Barton great and excrucaing pain
and agony; and endaDgering not only his leg
but his lille.
THAT The accused, after accepting from the
crew OF the ship Constitution, under his COM
mand, certain silver plate as q present, the
whole or part of the price of which plate was
paid for out of the pay due or becoming due
from The United States TO the subscribers TO
said present, solicited the crew to subscribe
part OF their pay 10 complete the payment oil
service of plate, on which he had caused an
inscription 10 be engraved, purporting that the
whole olsad service OF plate was presented 10
him by the crew ofihe Constitution as mark
81 respect, whereas, in point OF fact, only part 4
'f said service Of plate had been SO presented {
o him; and that money, SO solicited, was so a
ubscribed, and was received from the purser O
4 the ship Constitution, and applied TO the pay Ic
nent OF The bill for the whole OF the said service il
plate. u
That the accused, for his own private bene- c