The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1871-02-10

that we can find no explanation of it except |
in the fact that mob-law at West Point has |
received quasi sanction from long estab- |
lished custom. In truth, it is not uncom-
mon for transgressors Of the unwritten code
of cadet ethics to be forcibly banished by
their comrades, Just as the three young men
were in the present case; and we dare say
majority of the officers who are occasionally
called upon as members of courts-martial or
attaches of the War Department to pass upon
such transa ,tions have been engaged in simi-
lar affairs during their own young days, and
really see no great harm in them. Any
graduate of the academy can testify that ban
ishment by mob law is a not uncommon
occurrence, but, as all parties are interested
in keeping such cases quiet, they never find
their way into the public prints except by
accident The missing cadets are entered
on the books as dropped, and there
is an end of it. The excuse OF the
cadets who commit these acts of violence
and the officers who shut their eyes to them,
is that high sense of honor, honesty, love
of truth, and other manly virtues can be
kept up in the corps in no other way. There
are offenses which rules cannot define, and
courts cannot punish, and these must be left
to the rude Justice of the mob. 1t requires
no argument to show the fallacy of this posi-
ton. First it proposes to punish one offense
by another, and (from military point OF
view) q worse one and secondly, it deprives
the accused of a trial, and makes punishment
follow mere suspicion. Cruel instances of
injustice are known to have occurred under
this system. Cadets are liable to be mistaken
as we'll as ordinary mortals, and case has
recently been mentioned of young man who,
having been denounced as thief and driven
from the academy, was afterwards discovered
to be perfectly innocent. The frequency of
these lawless practices, and the leniency with
which they have been viewed by the authori-
ties, may relieve the young men of the first
class from much of the moral guilt which at
first view seems to attach to their conduct,
but afford on the other hand strong reason
why discipline should be restored by making
a stern example of the principal offenders.
The abuse must be stopped at once.
With regard to the three cadets, Baird,
Flickenger, and Barnes, the recommenda-
tons of the committee are, perhaps, not SO
wise. The offense of these young men, ac-
cording to the West Point standard, was
very grave one. 1t was not secretly going
off the grounds to get liquor, but it was vio-
lating that sacred 'honor of soldier" which
the cadet is taught to respect as prisoner
respects his parole. While one was absent
on an unlawful expedition, his roommate
answered "Al right" for him to the guard,
meaning that he was either in his room or
| dDSen0 Wy dutAOilby anu OhlS answer -
always understood to be 'on honor" We
must certainly sympathize with the anxiety
of the first class to keep up the
sense of honor among the corps, how
ever much we may disapprove of
their means of doing it, and we
fear that the restoration of the three cadets
who have violated ''the word of a soldier and
gentleman" may have a very mischievous
effect. Cadets complain that the nice sense
| of honor and yeracitv which Oupht to Dre-
vail in the Military Academy has been per
ceptibly weakened of late years. There
never was more of it than we had plenty of
use for, as the history of Secession-not to
speak of the personal character of certain
of our loyal oficers-emphatically proves, anj
we ought to take the very best care of what
there is Messrs. Barnes Baird, and Flick
enger might be offered the opportunity to &c
back to the Academy and clear sthemselve;
before court-martial; if they cannot or will
not do that, they had better remain in civi
| life.