The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-08-18

manded' IL he veDtured to bleat IN an exag-
gerated manner while the wolf swallowed
him. 80
The Articles of War declare that courts of
inquiry may be perverted to dishonorable
purposes, and may be considered as engines
of destruction Anything more likely to be
an engine of destruction to wholesome disci-
pline than this last court of inquiry, we can
not easily imagine. Its method of correcting
wrong seems to be the method of Donnybrook
Fair-''wherever you see head, hit it. If
one cadet bullies another, reprimand them
both It is like those phantoms of courts de-
scribed in the "Arabian Nights, where one
man beats another man, and the wrong is re-
dressed by carrying them both before the
Cadi, or somebody, and bastinadoing both
upon the soles of their feet. The offender
limps away in torture; so does he who has
suffered the offense In the book it seems
only part of the general romance, but poor
Cadet Smith has found it a reality.
But this good result follows. This being
the standard of justice among Regular Army
officers, we can the better see how the stand
ard of honor and discipline at West Point is
so low. How differently, for instance, Har-
ward stands on the record! -Four years ago
the first colored student entered that Uni-
versity. The brutal practice of 'hazing"
was then at its height; but by one of those
impulses of manly generosity of which
young men-or, at least, young civilians
are capable, not an annoyance was inflicted
on this colored student. 1t was not from
contempt, for no contempt was shown. 1t
was simply from the feeling that the first
colored student would be sure to meet with
some peculiar obstacles, and they at least
would not add to them by feathers weight.
Four years have passed; that young student
Orchard T. Greener) has just been graduated
with honorable prizes, and has no tale of suf
fering to tell. What is the difference Is it
that the class of boys sent to West Point are
SO hopelessly inferior to Harvard students in
the instincts of gentlemen? Or is it that the
standard of discipline is so much lower The
report of the Court of Inquiry seems to show
that the trouble is in the discipline, and that
the longer an officer remains in the service
the less he comprehends the difference be-
tween the wolf and the lamb, between
Squeers and his pupils.
WILL SENATOR TRUMBULL BE SECRE-
TARY OF STATE?
From the N. Y. Sun.
Senator Trumbull of Illinois has been ia
this city for a day or two past. President
Grant will arrive at Long Branch from the
West to-day. 1t is reported that the Office of
Secretary of State has been offered to Mr..
Trumbull; and it is not improbable that he
is here either for the purpose of accepting
it or of comforting with the President aboutit
The appointment of such a man as Mr..
Trumbull would be a novelty in the history
of General Grants administration. Hith-
erto he has avoided bring into his Cabinet
men of prominence as statesmen and politi-
cians and has selected his official counsellors
from the vast category of persons whom no.
body ever heard Of Mr.. Trumbull, on the
| other hand, is one of the most prominent
men in the Republican party. His talents
and his force of character long since placed
him in the front rank in the Senate. He is
an independent, uncompromising statesman,
who acts upon his own judgment and ad-
heres to his own conscience. He was one of
the small number who refused to yield to the
| popular clamor for the conviction of Andrew
| johnson. At that time he was assailed with
great virulence by the majority in Congress
and in the Republican party at large. But
he paid no attention to the war made upon
him; and now it has not only died away, but
he is everywhere regarded with higher re-
spect on account of his conscientious firm
| ness in that matter.
This characteristic of Mr.. Trumbull is one
that must have made President Grant hesi-
tate for a long time before determining to
| invite him to his Cabinet. Mr.. Trumbull is
emphatically man who has opinions of his
own, and no President can hope to have his
| assistance unless there is substantial agree
ment between them as to the policy to be
adopted. He can never become the blind
tool of any superior; neither can he ever agree
to such haphazard and accidental course as
that which has been followed by the admins
tratiOn hitherto in its foreign relations. The
acceptance of the State Department by Mr.
Trumbull would do much to revive the fail
ing confidence of the people in the Republi
can party, and would give responsibility t.
an administration that is now generally re
garded with contempt.
ONE MORE FRIENDLY WORD TO TIL