New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1872-11-26
TWO EXECUTIVE ACTS.

We deplOre one act OF the Presldent5. yes
terday, and heartily approve another. lie
pardoned Paymaster Hodge from the Albany
Penitentiary, when only about One-seventh of
the sentence had been served out He disre-
garded the rival claims of personal
friends by appointing Gen. Mcdowell to
the Major Generalship in the regular army
made vacant by the death of Gen. Meade;
and avoided further unseemly treatment OF
distinguished Soldier, from whom he has
been estranged, by transferring Gen. Hancock
from the obscure frontier duty whereto he has
so long been banished. to the command of the
Military Division of the Atlantic.
Paymaster-G General Hodge held ccnfdcu-
tia and favored position at Washington, han
died large sums of Government money, sys-
tematically deceived his superiors and embez-
zled it, till tho aggregate of his
defalcation was swelled to $450,000.t'' He
was tried by court-marial, and justly
sentenced to ten years imprisonment. When,
during tho campaign, report gained circula-
ton that he was to be parloned, it was in
Cignantly denied by the Administration press.
We should be glad il it could stu be denied.
Major Hodge has behaved well, during
and since his trial, and undoubtedly this
would be point TO be remembered in his
favor toward the latter half of his term. But
we are in an era Of Government defalcations.
! This was one of the most startling and the
! least excusable. 1t marked also the spread of
! the itch for embezzlement into an arm of the
| service hitherto sing,llarly free from it
| Every act tending to lessen the punishment
/ which, first defaulting POst-0ffce employee,
! and then defauiting Sub-Treasury officer,
! and then defaukiDg army officer, incurs
| on taking the Government money 10
gamble with Henry Smith and Jay Gould
| in Wall Street. Is an net against The interests
of official morality and public security. If the
contagion were not spreading at an alarming
rate, there would be the less need
for sternness. But this is not
time for such generous &c., clemcncy
as the remission of six-seyenths of the SEN
tence, in such a case. The President has done
a kind act, and we do not question its gener-
| GUS motives but it is not an act calculated to
check the profigacy in the use of public
money, which has become one Of the most
startling features Of the time.
The appointment of Gen. Mcdowell is one
! every way deserving praise He is the most
accomplished military scholar i'll the army; LIE
is ON officer of distinguished service In two wars,
| and though often unfortunate, no competent
soldier has ever called in question his ability,
courage or devotion. The army is to be con-
graduated on the deserved promotion of one
of its most deserving officers, and the Presi-
dent upon just act, wherein no doubtless
disappointed many Of his personal friends.
But it is In the transfer of Gen. Hancock to
the command of this Department that tho
President rises farthest above personal feel
ings, and shows signs of having learned Mr..
Summers Eleventh Commandment "Tho
President of the United States must
mot quarrel" The official hostility to Gen.
Hancock has been a public scandal, which we
rejoice to see righted in the most con-
spicuous way. 1t is the best sign for the
second term we have yet seen, that the Pres
ident, freed now, by his reelection, from all
personal anxieties, really appears able to per
ceive and wiling to correct some Of the
errors of the first. ~. O.