The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1856-01-17

been clearly insdmisible before any court of Justice
ment containing charges upon which officers had some
times heard and tried and charges in some cases
upon which there had been herring and no trial
rhofe charges brought forward behind mems backs e1
pare allegations which had slumbeed in the Department
Cor years and upon which the sicers under existing
laws the right to be tried by court martial 70 con-
front their accusers and produce witnesses in their own
behalf submitted to the board The officers against
those we're made had no S 70
Secretary Navy to the retiring board evidence
upon which gentlemen have been deprived Of their char
their standing 'r before sosisty Eand before he
families Now, Mr.. President, let me put sin.
to ths the Ssss
notifying a man that there was an accusation
dI for
bring witnesses to rebut the charge had the power OF
nictirg the punishment OF death, and death had been
inflicted Would not the moral Of the world-not
OF Chstendom but of crea0n-have cried out in indg
nation and horror at such infamous law thatP II
could not have stood icr moment S NOV let me sss
been stricken down. do not suppose that there was
vast number who would greatly prefer that death should
to the Senate to the country, Leave my char
acter my untarnished reputation; leave me an
unblotsd name; leave me an unscathed character 80
that when 20 hence to be hers more, il leave
to those who survive nothing else in Gods name let
me leave hbem unspotted reputation ?" ask you,
death 70
thus ben inflicted upon themf Beyond controversy.
1t dogs not require a very great degree Of courage
nimEy, FIR q man to say that be prefers death to
dhonor but yet you have gone Oh anu hsaped upon at
isstt one third Of This erans. u the public service dis
5oner wi9sa worse .Aan ceath. When the report OF
tne board caeo the Secretary he says he did not ap
prove OF it altogether he knew they had done right in
some cases and therefore, he willing to think they
did so in the main; and he recommends the President to
~ o.
think sat for about thirty days. and they probably did
not occupy than six hours day with their sessions
Then they hundred and eighty hours IN session.
and in that time they passed upon six bundled officers
At this rate they must have got through the trial Of three
efully examined their report Examined what9 The
names Of the officers dropped and reserved presume
n. daubt he read over very carefully the
Tor the action of the board-nothing which he could ex
anime except the lists Of the names of the officers he
was certain that they were spelled right, suppose A.
he got through with his examination he the list to
the dent telling the President that he had examined
it carefully" and recommended its approval. What
did the President doY After delay OF week he stated
that he had carefully examined and deliberately cons
cered it, Tie President had elaboration upon this mat
ter for he says having carefully examined and debe
rately contide red The report &C. What did he cons
der The list and the fgures he had nothing else to
examine and consider He had nothing but the names
Of the men who were to be dropped and retired and the
places they had occupied and his expression is that he
approved the finding OF the board IS set forth in
their but he docs not 60 on TO % ss ns
since the adoption OF the constitution who dared with
one dash Of his pom, to dismiss without reason two
hundred naval officers No, sir. It would have excited
: storm Of indignation in the country which no man
could have stood before The President did not under
take to do IT. He simply expressed his approval OF the
finding Of the board and when he did that Congress and
the law in and turned the officers out OF the SER
vice. Sir, we present to-day, the spectacle of having
men Of high and honorable attainmentsmen perfectly
competent to discharge all their duties-men without
proach without the suspicion of dishonor, branded,
turned out before their families and elow-cizens as
$haA a.
liable to every suspicion and every surmise and every
conjecture which malignity enmy may suggest; and
for this they find record but the bare state
of dis missal One is turned out for drunken
ness another for theft and another for having blupted
thief the elon the drunhard the Of blunted moral
perceptions all put The categoy-au left to
ssgger under the load Of opprobrium from now until the
day they 60 their graves. For myself. believe it is
wrong utterly and totaly-wrong in its beginning,
wrong its progress wrong in its conception wrong in its
there had been but solitary case, and that case
had been that of the humble memorianst whose
petition | have presented to the Senate to-day
Il there had been but one case of such monstr0us
injustce-I should have raid, 'Repeal your Law
law which operates law which is SO executed
that such its natural consequences not fit to and
upon statute book of the United States let it
oberated." Sir, from the little know, and from what
have heard Of those gentlemen who have been
wee, will make this sssertion-and afraid to
plt dge the lutte reputation that belongs TO humble
man as 1 am upon it-that you may select those two
hundred men, and bring them before rtial
bard, competent to pass upon their merits and (my
life upon the issue) they feet with officers Of
every grade fully competent to maintain the honor
your fsg every those who left, and think
little more So Entertaining these views Mr. >Presi
dent ask that this memorial may be submitted to the
Committee on the Judiciary, so that may have the
opinion Of that committee the constitutional ques
ton which, think, lies upon the very surface Of this
the naval board have acted is not post fado ia
whether 1t does not make act punishable by diffe-
rent evidence, and whether 1t Goes not infet differ
ent punishment from what usual when the act
committed Up to the year 1885 the President had the
power 10 furlough an officer when he pleased. From
1872 to ls46 that power was taken away from him In
6ficer; he never had power such this law gave
him. and there is no pretence that he ever had Then
that statue does make crimes; it allows evidence
be submitted which could not have been legal
ly submitted to any tribunal before its passage For
tn and various other reasons it is obnoxious to the
charge Of being unconstitutional in lis provisions nd
therefore have made this motion. II is not
wish to take away from the Committee Naval Affairs
s 20
and what think these gentlemen entitled to-the
opinion OF the lawyers Of this body upon this question
that ak that this single memorial may be referred to
the Comni tee the Judisiary Before take my seat
beg leave to give notice that to sub
segment day after the two houses shall be organized
shal ask leave to introduce bill to repeal the act to
Is, 1856. 80
The presidr officer (Mr BELL, Ct Tenn, in the chair
The question the reference OF the memorial
Committee on the Judiciary.
Mr.. ADAMs-I sh to say that prove to the fullest
extent every word which fell from the Senator from
GINA, (Mr Mason,) In reference to this question.
Mr.. BRoDHEAD-Mr President, had the honor to in
troduce the memorial which initiated this debate and
mace few remarks upon it, fear it may be infer I'D
that l. too, engaged in casting some mputatons
naval board and in criticsing their action Many pu-
tatons have been cast on the motives Of that board
engaged in such criticism. If there has been injustice
done, believe the responsibility upon Congress-
and not upon the board. The law originated in this
body Under that Law became the duty of the Sscre-
ary Of the Navy to organize the board The members
OF that tribunal are high and honorable officers and
would, doubt. gladly have escaped service upon
the board. think it does not become the neu,-
beers Of o:, this BODY therefore, to be sinking the
Mr.. President. of the large number of officers
in navy, only forty nine have been dropped That
but al number 1t me that those who have
been retained upon the leave Of absence pay
furlough list, together with those who have been
droppec have got up great deal Of feeling, too
much high stomached indignation in regard to this
action. Many public officers have heretofore been
retired without having their characters injured Many
who have spent tie flower of their days and the vgor IL