Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1877-03-29
The Army and the Laws.

Whoever excuses himself accusesI
himself" Never was this maxim more
pointedly Illustrated than by the curiousf
and characteristic little speech Of Cen-l
eral Sherman at the banquet of thet
Friendly Sons Of 50. Patrick on Sat-A
urday night. The author of"The MarchI
TO the Sea" Iaade plea m behalf OF theI
United States troops which strikingly
resembled famous passage in Tenfy.I
sons Maud" and, like the foet-lau-'h
reate or Great Britain, : he passed 4fovbI
1he consideration Of usrelin generJ
u 20 an eioquent vindication Of 'ou5 ?
"poor lite army" and an equally elo1
quent attack upon certain persons whord
he imsgines TO be eagerly "preachinlA
u down" II was long ago wisely sal 70.
that no author was ever really writte
down by anybody but himself; and Gent
eral Sherman might have reflected with
advantage that no army is ever likelI
to be preached down in a free country LIT
by anybody but itself and its command
ers.
II is undoubtedly true that the Fed
eral army no longer holds the sam{Q q
place in the confidence and esteem d
the American people which il occupied
at the close of the civil war. But be
fore General Sherman so publicly be
walled this fact it might have been wei :.
for him 10 remember that before tn -
civil war broke out the regular armt =,
was so far from beng universally re
garded as an essential feature Of insti
tutions that he himself, though he wa
educated at West Point and had serve
with distinction in the contest with Mes
ico did not hesitate to throw up b
commission and addict himself to mel
camille pursuits a. a banker. Gener;
Sherman achieved his present positio
a. a commander, not OF the regular arnn q
at all, but OF the gallant volunteers =
the Union. Ofcourse the regular arm
did its duty up TO the full measure
ITS rapacity during the civil war; an
II II has since that time lost ground witty =
the publIct II Is the part oi true state .
manship TO ascertain the causes whic
have led 10 this result. The misuse
the regular army by the late Presder
OF the United States andby his SecretP % !
r;.. IF War has h.d ,,,.b n do u,,h p 81
,is % va "as nau "'"ch 10 90 WIN y IS p
but the officers of the army themselvd
are by no means clear of blame. tr hui
II Is undeniable that the spirit Of suE 70
preme respect for the laws OF the counb 3 :
try which has been manifested by sucB lGC
officers, for example, a. General Han Fr pa
cncE has ,,,ractaJ ,,,LI;. o,,o.,: Is eaC
mainly because it was in such signal mr.
contrast with the very different spirits esc
OF blind obedience to executive author IS c
ity which has startled thinking men Il
the conduct OF most of the office ,bo a. ~
charged with carrying out unconstit,
tonal orders for unlawful purposesntet
during the two presidencies of Gener
Grant. The country requires the Cd
diets OF its regular army who are educ an Ps
ted at the public expense to take a
oath among other things TO obey 9Th
legal orders OF their superior oihcersERS
and II is the obvious intention OF this d,
require ment that they should learn to Nh
do their duty not as mere military ma 7,
chimes but as citizen soldiers. During ar
the Presidential terms of General Grant n
no small portion OF the regular army Of
has been diverted from legitimate and of
honorable service and set to doing ar
police duty illegally in one and another ~
State OF the Union, and yet the country ar
has seen no substantial protest made by pr
American soldiers against orders which ia
every true American soldier ought TO II
regard as a degradation ard every true Pl
American citizen to resent as an out he
rage upon the laws. The Federal SOL
dierS entered the State House in New
Orleans in January, 1878, and drove
out lawfully elected members of the
legislature OF Louisiana, doing violence be
directly to the nights of the people OF Ia
that State and indirectly To the rights Ia
OF the people OF the whole country, as te
MIR. Evart>, in an earnest and eloquent IN
speech delivered at the time, very clear A
ly and cmphaticallv showed. The Fed sc
eral soldiers again last autumn entered m
the State-House at Columbia, took con- de
troll OF the legislative halls of South Car ut
DINA. and drove out many OF the law We
fui!y elected represe ntatives of the peo- III
pie OF that commonwealth. The Fed tr'
eral soldiers, no longer ago than on the pc
22d OF February last interfered to pre- 1t
vent the citizens Of South Carolina. in ty
the cities OF Charleston and Columbia,
from celebrating in lawful military
parade the birthday Of George Wash
ington, thereby not only trampling on er
rights which they are raised, organized in
$50 tese w uul luSut- at
ting the memory of the great founder fo
OF the republic. These acts are but a ay
few OF many which might be cited If pe
our present object were to simulate The ";
deep andintense indignation with which no
q great majority the American people ",
now regard the course pursued in re- n
gard to these matters by the party 20 re
long and so mischievecu>Iy dominant IN m
our affairs. And while nobody. we ba
presume, regards the officers of the
Federal army as primarily responsible
for these disgraceful and dangerous de-
partures from its true province and G.,
duty, no thinking man can fail to see IN
that such course rs this could not have ne
been pursued by the politicians in pow in
er at Washington, IL the officers OF the su
Federal army as body had understood G,
their true relations to the Government ii,
Of the United State, and been animated al
BY proper respect for the Constitution m
and the laws Of the country. We are er
sorry to say that General Sherman nj
stands convicted out Of his own moath4 q,
cf singular ignorance or singular indif- he
ference on both Of these points. IL m