Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1857-04-14

and loudly, that no case Of an officer, previously
to his retirement, senior to them in rank, should
he Judged by this Board Of Junior officers
such proceeding would be contrary to all pre-.
cedent well az 20 the first principles of the ad-
ministration Of justice, which never allows any
judge in any case which involves his direct
personal interest, and such would be the case
whenever a retired Captain presents his claim for
redress to the notice Of this new Court This
weighty objection was stoutly debated in Con
gress, but no express provision regarding II was
inserted in the law, because IL was asserted and
taken for granted that no Secretary would ever so
constitute Court.
Some, indeed, say that such Court does not
Judge but merely expresses an opinion, based on
evidence which the President and Secretary will
review as quasi court OF appeal. No practical
MN admits such q conclusion. The President
and Secretary neither will nor can examine the
volumnous manuscript documents on which
sound judgment can only be formed. Will the
opinion even of the Court, If it be not called judg
menf, be free from bias, II is not in human nature
that II should be so-the members may he honor
able, intelligent, capable, Of pure Intentions but
imperceptibly to themselves they will be swayed
by the direct personal bearing upon their own
relative rank Of every case affecting officer who
was senior to them, and may again, by their
ton become so, or be kept in retirement
This is so plain that some retired Captains have
already withdrawn their papers from court of
offices who would be only Commanders but for
the action of the fifteen
Another objection Will nave weight with puD-
lie opinion. Some Of the members Of the new
court are connected by family ties with each
other, with members Of the Council of Fifteen,
and with the newly named Judge Advocate. The
apprehended mischief may be remedied by APP
pointing court of officers whose grade was not
affected by the Board. Some eight nine of
such Captains, unexceptionable in every respect,
are now on shore, waiting orders.
CLERICAL PRoMorIoys.-The following gen.
tlemen have been designated for examination
for promotion in the Office of the Sixth Auditor
of the Treasury. Viz:
Frederick L. Grammer, Nd; Henry Smith,
DC; s. Y. Mason, Ohio; J. Hall Moore, DC;
Robert Cawthon, Va; Hugh B. Kerrick, Mo.
and J. Ingold Schermerhorn, Va. These des-
ignations are for promotion from first to second
class 81, 400 per annum) clerkships
They are the result of the resignation of
George R. d. Teasdale, of Illinois; the death
of the late DR.. Saunders, of Virginia. and the
act of Congress authorizing the employment of
FIVE additional clerks in the Office.
The PROSPECT IN kANSAs.--The anti slavery
press evince a trepidation concerning the
probable result of the political struggle lover
the formation Of State constitution now COM
mencing in Kansas, that BODIES well for the
cause of the South. The anti.slavery party
there insist on continuing to ignore the existence
Of all that portion of the Territorial Government
that does not emanate directly from the author
tiles in this city. That is, of all the elective
portion of the Territorial Government This
attitude on their part involves refusal to par
ticipate in the election of delegates to the con-
ventiOn to form the proposed State constitution,
and therefore amounts to insurance that those
siding with the South will have large majority
of the body. The New York Times ably ex-
poses the fact that for its friends in Kansas to
hold such an attitude-and the hour has passed
when they could have abandoned it to advan-
tage-is to give up the contest before the first
blow is struck on either side. The Era pub
lished here) also scolds the Free State set
as thus manifested
But the truth is, there is something behind
this foolish attitude of Abolitionism i'm Kansas
which those journals seem to US indisposed to
explain. In is the fact that had the Abolition
party in the Territory done its best, il would
have been defeated in the struggle. All know
that an immense number Of money, and the
labor of an immense amount of Abolition dem
agogues have been devoted TO the work of abo-
litionizing the Territory; and that, according
to the Abolition press, that work has long since
been accomplished Their every account of
the proportions Of emigration to Kansas, has
represented perhaps five free State settlers going
there, to one from the South. They have con-
sistenty claimed an overwhelming majority of
the settlers, though beaten up to this time in
every election. While we believe that vastly
more persons have gone into Kansas from nom
saveholding than from slaveholding States, we
are satisfied that the means resorted to by the
agltators there and elsewhere to carry their
ends, have defeated their object. Or, in other
words, that large portion of the Northern
settlers who were there as independent emf
grants, have joined shields with the Southern
party, in order to rescue the Territory from
what must necessarily be the evil effects of the
ascendency of the Emigrant-Aid-Soc Society people
In the management Of its affairs. Ifslavery be
rejected, the State new Government is to be
in the hands of ultra Abolitionists, who. in
playing Abolition FRANKS, as in Massachusetts,,
Will destroy all prospect that the new State will
thrive. AS, what may be done by the authori.
ties in Massachusetts with IMMUNITY, can by no
means be done in Kansas without generating
and perpetuating civil war there Hence, a
large portion of the Northern men of real char
scter and substance in Kansas prefer to sustain
the policy Of adopting the institution, to placing
their new State Government in Abolition hands.
We have no idea that the Times and Era
are correct in holding that mere obstnacy is at
the bottom Of the refusal of the abolition party
OF the Territory to unite in the approaching
election. The cause, indeed, lies far deeper.
The solution Of the enigma is to be found in the
fact that were they to attempt to contest the
election with the advocates for the institution of
slavery, they would be ingloriously defeated;
and they would then be unable to conceal from
general public knowledge the fact that they
have been fairly and squarely beaten Their
hope is in such assistance from the East as has
been showered on them up to this time; on
which they cannot calculate, after it should be-
come apparent to every one that in q free and
perfectly fair election fhev bo TN hoo,, 80.