New-York tribune., 1870-12-08
pORTEES PALINODE.


his pcnance-shirt under the snowy towers Of
Pope Gregory, we doubt if the world has seen
any such abicct spectacle Of contrition as is
exhibited in Admiral Porter's letter of rccant-
alton TO the President. A lover could scarcely
have penned words of more slavish devotion
20 his offended mistress. 4 schOOl-bOy could
scarcely have been driven into such cringing
remOrSe by the brandishing of birch. We can
not read this lachrymose lovc-lettcr without
the exclamation of Bolingbroke at the bedside
Of the dying poet rising 10 our lips" Alas :!
"poOr human naturew
Altogether, the letter is insuflVrable, and the
details are more intJlerable than the general
impression The letter ought never 10 have
been written, and every line Of it is a separate
aggravation of the original fault. He says his
first impulse on reading the published com
municatOn to Secretary Wellcs was TO de
nounce it as forgery, but, on reflection he
thought it might be proved to be genuine
Neither himself nor his secretary could remeIu-
Der anything about it. The writing of scan
dalOus letters about his brother officers was so
common a matter with the gallant Admiral
| that he forgot it before the libeling ink was
! dry. In Just such words as these, perhaps
more bitter and caustic, he had often expressed
| his envies, and spites and resentments against
! Banks, against Butler, against every officer of
! the service be had been thrown in contact with,
! and against every member of Congress whose
line of conduct did not please him. He wrote
without any sense of responsibility, and felt
only a grievOus sense of wrong when his pri
yate structures were brought to light. He can
think of nothing better TO say than that he
never entertained the sentiments expressed in
that letter Then why did he write it A? What
motive could he have, except to carp for
| carping's sake, and hatter his venerable cor
respondent and gossip at Washington But
worse than all these shuflings and contradic-
tons is that lyric wall of grOveling penitence
with which he closes: Nothing can say will
"affect Your fair famon-"I do not hesitate to
"disapprove the sentiments of which pre-
"sume | must bear the odium,7 and so on to
the melancholy close.
The most extraordinary thing about this un-
paralleled performance is its utter uselcSsness.
There was positively no occasion for it. Here
was private letter, written six years ago, in
which the Admiral gave expression to his an
nOyance at what he imagined the injustice of
Gen. Grant toward the Navy. 1t is stolen or
betrayed, and published. What necessity lay
upon Admiral Porter 10 accept. this accident
as personal catastrOphef The incident might
have OccasiOned a moment of disagreeable re-
gret, but no more. He had only to say that
the letter was his, written in moment of agi-
tation and anxiety under impressions that had
proved errOneous-and that would have been
the end Of the matter.
If Admiral Porter imagined that the publ
cation of this private correspondence would
modify so far the personal relations between
himself and the President az to interfere with
his promotion to the rank for which he had
been designated, he not only did Gen. Grant a
great injustice, but cvinced tho most lament
able ignorance of the very nature of the Ex-
ecutive Office The President of the United
States is not the proprietor Of grades and
places III the public service. He confers ap-
pOintments and promotions from considera-
tons of the public good, and not from per
sonal caprice and whm. What David ID. Por-
ter thought of y. s. Grant six years ago, is
not to be considered in the question as to who
is the best man for Admiral of the Navy.
That question was decided by the President
several months ago, and it would be throwing
doubt on his honesty and patriotism TO sup
pose that any impulse of personal pique would
have induced him to withdraw an appointment
which he had made with full conviction Of it's
fitness and importance
Admiral Porter has made a lameDtable mis-
take. lie has forgotten whose servant he is
He has imagined he was the lackcy of the
President, and has gone down on his knees TO
save his place. His true master, the people,
has witnessed this exhibition with silent dis
gust; and the bill Of Gen. Logan, aboishing
the grade of Admiral, is the clearest express
sion of the popular judgment The grade was
created TO do fitting honor to the great Cap
tam who has gone and has not left his peer.
Let the rank rest in allegiance until we can
fill it with one like him, who never dsobeyed
an order, and never bowed the knee to any
but God.
Mr. Sutherland, the solitary Democratic