New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1852-01-24

rnIlIg single rue Of The service, OF furnishing
az gTOGncs Tor formal complaint and ''hich no'ec-
q slefs ase suffice - render the life OF su0ordi-
nate officer utterly unen1ura1e. my oIolner, 40
/ doubt heartily hared Captain Lsiimer. ihops ne
did. He had rlgh 10 nae htm Ans ~ In "oidins
his comp amt, soue little OF this feeling mingled
trife Of pall with his ink. and cfeps unawares rom
the point of his pen, was It hansing mater wa
1t cognizaDle matter II you tnluk So Oy All
call Court aud try the wretchei culpnI LOT aeT'-
fnonv :" try him FOR "sererIyof style; Try MN ios
q, fcitncv Of caadOr ;" try him FOR "maSconsH~rS
! seat.ncts Accuse him. Try hin, and hear hlm ior
all these and whatever else you p.etse, pu' ~ ,no
! name OF Justice, TRY HIN before you punlsh frame
I charges call Court summon the accused to defend
his grammar as bes, he cam and then If he fall let
| the shades OF Webster ana murray DC dpPeasou W
/ such punishment as Is Just -
Thus spiced with The prejudice OF grade, tae
Courts report came into your hanos ana ABOUT tne
same time you also received report from Cap'1ln
Latimer of which toins Mr. +. even no " knows
nothing Both came into your HANDS, SIR, whose
duty crave TO say, Is 10 hold yourself superior 10
all small lealousieS of grade-t) mooerate those
arrogant and yrsr meal impulses whicn long e1et-
eender-to search closely into abuses-to freely
hear complaints, asd to sustain discipline In its
second chief use. which is to protect the weak
against the strong.
At glance you saw that the funny censures OF
the Court against MIR Flags were too frivolous 70
receive attention ard so you gave them none Ous
what else did you o. Wita1ut nun, OF wn1s was
ing, soon after he reached the United states, ana
before he got discharged from the snip, toa ne was
ceDsuiec, detached aud furloughed as PUNISH
men, for an offense the nature Of which yQu pave
lever, even down 10 this time, deigned ~ INFORM
MIN Of This sentence was communicated to MN
in your order Of July 1851, OF which mere reclle
all hat relates to Lieutenant Flagg.
The Department would be disposed to view MS
H.atmer's) conduct, in the particulars Just men
toned, wiRmoTe severity out TOT tho iac' "ncn 70
peTfec,ly evident, from the minute and muutailous
nature OF the charges and specifications preferred
against him. and the frivolous nature of many OF
them, well as the delay to make report OF the
matter complained against him on the hfst oppoTtu-
Dty after their occurrence, that the author oil these
charges, Lieutenant Henry C. Flagg IN concert win
oher persons Oh board the said frlgate Cun0efiand
uuconscOusy to Captain Lstimer, subjected MS de-
pertinent as the Commander of the said vessel to the
most rgld scrutiny, with view to censure; ana
that the Court, by obvious mistake on question
Of law, denied him the opportunity OF showing the
nature and extert Of the combination against him.
In refusing him his right to require each OF these
witnesses to state what, If anything, had passed De-
lwcfn him and The prosecutor, or any cher witness
in the preparation or prosecution OF the charges
The question was asked of PurseT Bryan and over
looked. Such an examination is one OF the most
common and competent modes OF testing the creoi-
bility of Witnesses by showing bias from feeling or
interest and exposing, parties those who claim to
be witnesses merely. The denial OF 1t 20 him was
msDifestly erroneous, and may have been hlghly
pIeIudiclal to him
Lieutenant FIagg appe wing before the Depart
meIt the sole author of the charges and specin'
cations must be considered as solely responsible
Tor them. Some OF them are SO perfectly untrue;
that the most careless inquiry would nave SaUsneo
any che of the fact. Others pertain to matters so
trivial, when tested by the evidence, as to come
within the useful maxim of the common law, non
curat he mulimtS. Oilers again, when stripped OF
he coloriDg given TO them in the specifications,
and seen In their true light, appear TO be quite
vtnal Yet they are all arranged as accusations so
grave as to be unsulied TO the jurisdiction OF the
Commander of the squadron, but are sent home for
the cognizance of the Department. The conse-
quence has been, that the cruising for which
tquadrOD lie kept in the Mediterranean mas been In
teuupted for the space Of more than two months 10
constitute a Court for the investigation OF these
charges in foreign port, to the detrment OF the
American commerce III the Mediterranean, and to
the discredit and scandal OF the Ma Al service,
abroad as we'll as at home.
For irifBg with the Department IN thus graVely
preferrlng accusations OF the description last ABOVE
mentioned, Lieutenant Henry c. Flasg receives It's
cCnsure, and as further token OF It's dlspleasure
will be detached from the freate Cumberland, and
placed on fuFlough for the term OF twelve months
The Department cannot close these remarks With
out stating Its IMPRESSION derived from the charges
and specifications Aforesaid and the evidence addu-
OSDs n BESIDES lieutenant Fags seem to
have regarded their cruise in the Mediterranean
rather in the light Of voyage OF personal graihca-
ton and convenience. than a military expedition for
hs e PofGn9n q KS s a ana rssdaei "a h
expectation, has occasioned much of the unhappy
controversy which has arisen on board taat vessel
Having recited this for another purpose THAN tha'
Of discussing the propriety of Mr.. Flaggs proceed
lngs shall only remark in passing thar cehy evers
material allegation yog have made a0ove-snN you
supposed facts are SuppOsltlons aud ~ III 'a'e
ences an erroneous. To decide after ne aring oniy
one SIDE Of cause is bad enough, BIT what caa De
expected of one who decides, ana oecdcs severely
too. without having heard even one scc
Do not think shall turn aside fSOn tbs OBJECT o.
this letter by discussing The quit or innocehce o
Captain Lalimcr. You nave handsomely ease ~
fail, and eyen as was rehlaiheu III tne V1ys "a "a
star Chamber, " SO fne a thing IS II to be Lord
so also may he pertnently say TO himself, " 50 nue.
thing is it to be Post Captain" ieave Nun
then, with rendering you wager OF one sulHus'
with President Fillmore 10 hold the stakes, that IL
war should presently occur, YOU would ma ~ con
venient 10 break the Leutenanfs fuIougn, ana oide
HIM to sea, while no solicitations would inou;e you
10 give the Captain another command
Nor shall consent to discuss here the guilt or III
nocence of Lieutenant Flagg respecting the nonoe-
scYiIi charge which you family shadow form gans1
HIM Had you concescended to state wh'eh Oh MS
specfcations You thus late IN the day oDec' 10 as
beng trivial :" uhich of them you please 10 Cali
u,,frls /" or what you mean by the terms "trlniY
with the Departmental might not easily have re-
sisted The temptation of here thrice and again de
monstlatirg that so far from deserving censIe, ana
a fine of SIX hundred dollars, the gentleman whose
fame YOU would blot With dash OF me pen Is hisny
deserving your praise. as re is OF the gra'toieo
the entire ships and corps 81 officers for whose pro-
IL elton more than his own, he volunteered to thro"
himself into the breach, and Cemanu tna' JusnVo
which il is your effort so carefully to surround win
perlls Yet had done this. 1t would nave only Ueen
ior the purpose of more glaringly illustrating the
outrage which you have committed IL Is ht'
Flags right to be tried ii another way AUD CON
tent myself with suggesting tina, commissioning
wha; YOU would have believed to the cont ary tf"s
much none can fail to see-that the chHges against
the Captain have been far better sustained py 'he
proof than is the case with the great nt)ofV o. suC
ressh,I nrnsecutions either before civil OF military
tribunals and that of the twenty Blk specihc tnons
of which the charges consist, the hndins OF ihe
Court is as TO six, true but excusabe, either as not
constituting, In their eyes, any ofense, or because
cf soue ne n matter in defense as TO four. true, an<
ntrcusable but in the queer terms OF the Court not
"tuIly" amounting to guilt as to three, partly
proven. but constituting no ofense as 10 t~', no.
proven and as TO the remaining eleven, rue anu
gdy but that not of them srcporsed as ntr"s,
though could they have detected anything al all
worthy of the term, would not this CouIs whose
bias against the complainant led them TO base theT
sole accusation upon his not having drafted his com
paint in the spirit of milk and wster-would not