Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1867-12-27

ON board and intercept any train of cars that car
ries them. Ir the law is not observed, who and
what is safe may be taken away, youmay pc
any of us may be. Justice must re upheld.
hold you, therefore, Mr. Chief 81 Police reeponsl-
BILE for the delivery Of these men before Judge
Theard in obedience to that wit
The General lien took his departure ana We
sit ss though We had listened truly 10 the deteil-
der of law and dignity of government. We don't
remember of ever having witnc- sGd more hi
rres~i7e scene
General Pope.
We have referred III laudatory terms OF
late to General HANCOCK. We have pub
lished his order. the Presidents message
in regard to him, the comments of the New
Orleans press in reference to his admins
tration, He is a Conservative officer.
We propose to-day to give the other side
of the picture, and illustrate one of the
military tools-a very "beggar on horse
back''-whom the Radicals nse in their vile
purpose of Africanizing the South Gen.
PoPr. whose headquarters have been trans
ferred from tho saddle to Atlanta, whose
labors. in the interest Of his party carried
GEORGIA for a Convention, and whose eff
forts in behalf of Radicaiism i'll Alabama
are too recent to need special reference,
was one of the principal accusers and wit
nesses against General FITz JOHN PORTER,
who was cashiered for "slowness." at the
sc cond battle of Manassas, and s. dlsatfec-
ton - during the battles around Richmond.
| A recent letter of Gen. t'EANIlLINs shows
the whole matter up III Its true light, ana
gives the army opinion Of Gen PoPE. How
| fitting are such men to do the dirty work
for the Radicals in the South. The letter
| is as follows
HARTFORD, Corn, Sept. 81, 1867.
My DEAR GRANT :-FitZ John Porter writes me
to ask that will do something o aid him in get
| ting rehearipg in his case. Ill that can do Is
to write you and give you the reasons why think
it will be an act of justice 10 give him the oppor-
tunity to clear himself from the terrible lmputa-
| ton resting upon him.
| | saw Porter in POpe's company the day after
the Iatter's defeat at Bull Run and afterwards,
until VIC arrived in front of Washington. know
they were very cordial terms, and that Pope
on some occasions advised with him contdentially.
| talked good deal myself with Pope, and think
that il he had had at that time any feeling that
Porter had acted badly. would have learned ii
then but had no suspicion that he felt ag-
| grieyed by anything that Porter or any one who
was near him had done. At Fairfax Court House,
| the day that we arrived at Washington, noticed
that Pope was particularly in good spirits and
| thought that the attack upon Porter WAS the re-
suit of an sitter thought, and that the charges
were not original with Pope.
Du,iuc the trial thought it proper to inform
Porter that Generals J. F. Reynolds, George II
Thomas and myself would, if requested, go be-
| fore the Court and swear that we would not be-
lieye Pope or Roberts under oath. had consult
ed General ynolds before I made the PROPOSE
ton. He consented to go himself, and thought
General Thomas would have no hesitation in Civ
ing such evidence. was myself we'll convinced
los al 81 nrini If rarap y
from what had often heard him say before the
war. Porter declined to call US up to give evi
dence, on the ground that the Court appeared sc
we'll disposed towards him. and his case was going
on so well, that he did not wish to irritate the
Court by an attempt to break down the evidence
of the principal prosecutors. The sequel showed
that he made serious mistake.
But think that the most equitable reason for 8
review of PortGr's case ID this: The Judge Adyo
cato General, Holt, WAS the Judge advocate Of the
court That was right enough. But no one will
deny that Judge advocate OF y military court,
when prisoner is defended by able counsel, be-
comes to great extent q prosecutor, and as sucl
necessarily is biased against the prisoner. TC
say that Gen. Holt was prejudiced Is,ainst Portel
is merely to say that he is like other men, anC
that he was prejudiced the whole proceedings
show. Whether it Is better OF worse for the
course OF Justice that the Judge advocate should
be preiudiced has nothing to do with the quca
ton
But all abstract of the edinss and finding
and sentence of the court had to BIS mado by tht
| Judge Advocate General for presentation to th(
President Of the United States. upon which (fol
necessarily he could not read the eYdsDcel he wa
10 make up his mind az to the guilt innocence
| of the accuged. Wae it right, proper, or deem
that this abstract should be made up by the yer!
man who had done his best to convict the prison
er Did not such proceeding prevent the Pre-
sident from learning any eAtenua ting cirCumstaG
oes, or finding out anything weak in the evidence
if any such there were: Did it not, in fact, take
, away any chance from Porter, which he Nigh
have had, had cool, unbiased person, of Legal
knowledge, made this abstract instead of Genera
| Holt?
| The whole business seems to me like a prosecu
ting attorney passing sentence upon prisoner il
a civil court, Immediately after the speeches 0
counsel. I think the fact that Mr.. Lincoln hat
only General Hollis abstract to guide him in ma
king up an opinion on the proceeding of that cour
is enough to invadate the whole thing.
It has been said, and perhaps with TRUTH tina
there is no precedent to guide in this matter. L
may be said with equal truth, that never since th
trial of Admiral Byng injustice wthou
precedent done l think that there never
more appropriate opportunity for doing good be
yond precedent and Cstal fishing the fact that N
matter how or by whom flagrant il; Justice is done
you, when the power is in your hands, will SEE
} the right done.
For my part, know that Porter was as loyal a
the most loyal soldier now dead, and that IL
= thought of treason disatfection entered Iii
brain He was q victim to POpe's fail re in Nr
tim long enough. You will, in my opinion do al
act which will not be tbs least among those whcl
will make up your fame if you Will lend you
> weight towards giving Porter the opportunity t.
retrieve his character citizen end soldier
l am truly Your friend,
W. B. FRANKLIN.
General U. s. GRANT, comm anding army OF tn
United States.
, Official copy:
E. D. TOWNSEND,