The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-11-19
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from he N. Y. Tribune.
The President has issued an order musterlng
General Sickles out Of the service. we nave
been expecting this for sometime, although we
boned that His Exoellenoy would refrain from
an act of yindictiveness towards gallant sol
dier. General Siokles retires to the grade Of a
colonel, to be ordered, perhaps, to proceed to
Walrussia, and report to General Rousseau,
who was promoted by Johnson as a partisan
Of his policy, and confirmed by the Senate not
withstanding. There are one or TIVE points
about the career Of General Siclzles which
make this peculiarly vindictive. When seces-
sion was threatened in the House, Siokles
then q Democratic member from New York
made a speech as patriotic as that which gave
Johnson his fame. When the Sumter guns
were fred he was among the first Democrats
TO volunteer, and he raised the first brigade
that entered the service. He served through
the war, losing his leg at Gettysburg, and
gaining a military distinction which no other
military officer from civil life has surpassed.
When reconstruction became necessary,
General Sickles was continued in his COM
mand. He possessed the confidence of the
President in large degree. OF all the recon-
struction commanders, he was the one in whom
the President most confded. AS the policy of
country, General Sicllles used his best efforts
to warn him OF the danger of his course, of its
injustice to the freedmen and the loyalists of
the South, of the impossbility of restoring the
Union upon any basis but that of liberty,
mercy, and justice. When the Reconstruction
act was passed, no commander was more
earnest to execute the will of the people. His
administration of the Carolinas exhibited a
broad, generous, intrepid craftsmanship. JUS
tice was done to all. The freedmen were pro-
tected. The Rebels were not oppressed. We
remember how he made the Rebels respect the
flag, and how swiftly he put his sword through
the laws which sought to restore the lash for
the negro. When famine threatened the
people, the foresight of Siokles prevented its
coming. But he ceased to please Mr.. Johnson.
He could not carry out the infamous policy
which the President sought to impose on the
country, and, in defiance of the wishes of Con-
gress, he was removed. That removal is now
followed by his degradation from the rank of
a major-general
The people will insist that Congress shall
grant some compensation. 1t is dreadful to
see one after another of our champions stricken
down for devotion to us, while men like Rous-
seau are promoted. Terry is banshed from
Richmond, Sheridan is whirled out to Kansas,
Sickles is reduced to his oolonelcy. We pre-
sumo Howard will follow. The President
seems resolved to punish every man within
his reach who dares to oppose his policy. At
the same time he succeeds in coaxing Congress
to confirm his favorites. This must end; and
Congress should, if possible, make an exam
pie of the case Of Sickles. No officer has
sacrificed more to the cause of liberty and JUS
tice, and our representatives should find way
of reWarding him.