The weekly Arizona miner., 1873-07-26

stance of the former, some little children whose families had, excepting in one instance, no hving representative among the Apaches, were remsnded to ssvagery and barbarism. The precise stipulations of the latter treaty we know not, as General Howard has very astutely and speciously withheld them from the knowledge of the public, but we do know that in accordance with his interprets- ton of their privileges, Cachise has been raidng extensively upon the people of So- nora, making of that beautiful land very hell upon earth.
 Objection may be made that Howard did not accept this position in the ordinary sense of the term-becauss he received no extra emolument for performing the services incl. dent to 1t. It IS true he received no salary, that which he was entitled to as Brigadier- General in the Regular Army (about S650 per month being more than any gentleman from the walks of civil life would have pre- sumed to ask. All his expenses were paid by the Department of the Interior making his army pay and communication pure and | simple gratuity from the people
 General Howand is now and has been for ten years, an officer in the active list of the Army, and mean time he accepted the ap- pointment and performed the functions of | Special Commissioner of Indians in Arizona and New Mexico, his new office being of a civil nature. To enable him to perform his duties, the Secretary of War was obliged to relieve Howard from all military duty, and | direct him to report to the Secretary of tho Interior for orders; and thus having violated the letter and spirit of the Acts referred to he vacated his army position.
 To prove that our opinion is strictly in sc cord with the meaning of the Acts, we neeC only sllude to a recent decision of the Attor ney-General. When in April last, Secretary Belknap made tour of inspection through Western Texas. it was generally believed that during his absence the functions of Act ing Secretary would deyolve upon the Gene ral of the Army, but Attorney General Vii Hams decided that such assumption of au thority would necessarily conflict with ex isting laws, and, as a consequence of sucl opinlon, the Secretary of the Navy con troiled the War Department during Beiknap' absence
 General Howard has been on detached ser vice in connection with the Freedmens Bu reau, during which, for over eight years although drawing full pay and communication he has performed no military duty whatever but when he, through incompetency or nal ice, exerts himself to the detriment of tn struggling Territory of Arizona and th contiguous friendly State of Sonora, we fee It incumbent upon us to institute this inqui ry: Why he has thus far been allowed, il defiance of law, to retain two appointments for both of which be is, we regret to say totally unitted2
 If General Sherman be legally incompeten to discharge the duties of Secretary of War an office which is so closely related, in all it details, to his own, we cannot see how, b, any shadow of right or justice, General How ard could have been permitted to retain hi army commission while performing, or pre- tending to perform, the offices of Specia Commissioner to the Indian Tribes of Ari zona and New Mexico.
 We admit that General Canby at the mo ment of his assassination was also acting a Commissioner, but there is no analogy betweer the two cases; Canby was the commanding officer of an army in the field and by virtu, of his rank entitled by the laws of war C make conventions, truces and armistices witt bis armed enemy, the Modocs, whenever b, , might see fit to do so and for those service he did not receive any extra compensation As there Is not the least room for doub that Howard has forfeited his appointment in the army, we trust that Delegate McCor mick, and others including the Pacific Coas Delegation, who should make the cause o Arizona their own, in case he should not b, deprived of his epaulets before the meeting l of the next Congress, will then take thu } proper and necessary measures to prove tha the Statutes which he has violated, are no void and meaningless. If the laws are gooC . for anything, let them be enforced, and then if the virtue of the Government be exhausted let them be repealed, so that the next How ard will be exposed to no troubles.