Washington sentinel. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1856, 1856-03-08
THE NAVAL RETIRING BOARD RE-
suit OF THE COURT MARTIAL IN
THE CASE Oh CAPT. RITCHIE.

ia'o Na'hi Doafu, IL mlghl DC iouhu IN the
case OF Captain Richie, United States navy.
BIT after the searching, eloquent, and unan-
swerabe arguments Of Senators Butler, Toombs,
Jones, of Tennessee, and other distinguished
gentlemen, the subject is left almost thread
bare, and i seems unmanly to be kicking the
odious concern farther down the hill than it
has already reached. The case of Captain
Richie, however, furnishes us with the pre-
sentation of the subject in new point Of view;
for it most clearly illustrates the injustice of
the principle employed by the Board, without
the sanction of either law or promptings of
common humanity. In our comments upon this
case we take leave to say that our personal ac
quaintance with Captain Dupont and Captain
Richie is so slight as not to interfere with an
impartial and just view Of the matter, and that
our adverting to it has been prompted by an
honest and single purpose of holding up to the
public gaze in its full stature of moral defor-
nifty, proceeding without parallel or pre-
cedent in any civilized country. Capt. Dupont
was one of the fifteen" selected by the Sec
rotary of the Navy to sit in solemn Judgment
upon his brother officers. He was one of the
Fifteen" who, strangely enough, conceived the
idea of constituting themselves as secret
tribunal, a. thing utterly opposed to the spirit
and genius Of our institutions. He was one of
the fifteen" who agreed that there should be
mo proceedings" in their action upon the
rights, dearer than life, of their brethren in
arms. He was-nne of the " fifteen who, hav-
ing cast the shadow of dsrepute upon the pro-
tessional and personal characters of these
brethren, decided sullenly to withhold from
them the reasons and causes of their supreme
but runous verdict. He was one of the
" flieen' whom the honorable Secretary con-
ceived to be so Immaculate, that it was not re-
qured Of them to furnish even to him any
record or journal of their proceedings in this
most delicate trust. He was one Of the Fifteen"
in a word, who constituted themselves a star
chamber, where the characters Of seven hum
dred and twelve officers of the United States
navy-giying an average of hcclre minutes to
each case when The moral history Of the old
Ironsdes alone would have taken the whole
thirty days they were at work-were tossed
about as c'irelrssly if not sportyely, as if they
had been playing game of shuttle cock
What less, hcw much better, we're they, than
the 'lark-lantrrn society against whom We have
all been directing an unceasing crusade. In
point Of fact, the Naval Retiring Board was
simpya Know-nothing concern--indeed worse,
for tho X nnu- ;nfyo a,spe robLol oco
while the immaculate did not even keep
journal Of their proceedings!
Well, now, il seems TO rs, under this state of
things. the composition Of this board must
have been considered .tduhless (by the Secretary
of the Navy; and. indeed, they prove them
selves so, since they sat in judgment on each
other, aud their verdict was, in each instance,
1--WE find no fault in this man, y for he approves
their finding without requiring even a reason
to lie given. This brings us to consider the
ceilings Of the late court martial upon
Captain Richie. under charges preferred by
Captain Dnpont. OF the personal quarrel be.
tween these ~ % gentlemen we have nothing to
say. We have made it our inlexible rule
never 10 mcclure IN lnOst matters.
Ii is sufficient to our purpose here to say
that, growing out Of a personal misunderstand-
ing between them, Captain Dupont preferred
charges against Captain Richie, and court
martial was ordered. The result Of this court
martial was a verdict finding Captain Richie
guilty Of the charges preferred, and a recon-
mendation 10 the Secretary Of the Navy for his
reprimand. The Secretary Of the Navy, how.
ever, after a careful cram iHation Of the PRO.
CEEDlNGS Of the court-mariial, disapprovcd
its action, relieved Captain Richie from arrest,
and re-instated him in his position in the SER
rice! Suppose this court-martial had been a
secret tribmal-suppose Captain Richie had
not been permitted to know for rhat he was
tried and that the Secretary Of the Navy had
had "no proceedings and nothing but the
naked rerdict before him, the result would
clearly have been the enforcement Of the repri.
mand! The Secretary and President, however,
both sag 10 the courtmartial, your verdict is
erroneous, and we annul it, and Capt. Richie
is restored to his post in the service. This is
the way among civilized people to try a man.
Indeed, we know no instances where savages
have not more regard to individual rights than
was accorded by the Naval Retiring Board.
How many instances may there not have been,
If the action Of the Naval Board had more
nearly accorded with the action Of the court.
martial and the revision Of that action by the
Secretary aud President II seems in the case
of Captain Richie, that both his accusers and
the tribunal before whom he was tried, we're
human enough, in the opinion Of the Secre-
tary and President, to err. To err, is human !;
10 forgive, divine. If then, so soon after the
action of the Navy Board, one OF its members
may be found in error in preferring charges
against brother officer, is it not probable that
other members Of the same board may also
have erred in the summary manner in which
they disposed Of the 20l officers with whom
- Il q.