Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1877-03-03
FITz JOHN PORTER.
Washington Union


No better illustration could be give
than Fitz John Porter's case, referre
Q to in the article copied below from th
st. Louis Republican, of the cruelt
and wickedness which men will com
E NIT under the whip of party necessit
| who, in the ordinary relations of life
seem well disposed. Here was judg
ment which, on its face, procIaimet
, itself false, for if guilty tie accused
{ deserved to die, and would certainl
, have been sentenced to death. It i
/ only by assuming that because hi
, judges felt in their hearts that he wa
not in fact guilty, whilst compelled BY
policy to declare him so, that it is pos
slble to explain the sentence as i
stands. Besides, sentence of death
would have defeated the purpose of the
prosecution, which was political Such
a sentence would have aroused the pub.
lie attention, and the people would
have recolled against a proceeding
which was absolutely unsupported by
proof.
But sentence which could be rene
died, and which Mr.. Lincoln intended
to have remedied, enabled the authors
OF the Pope .tlGSc0 to avoid the conse-
quences of their own selfish intrigues
by putting the blame of a defeat,
which resulted from their own folly,
on an innocent and patriotic soldier
who did all that courage and good con-
duct could do to avert it.
There is no longer any doubt that
this was the oleand only motive of the
prosecution, and that there never was
any just ground of accusation against
Porter. The fact that Lincoln ap-
proved the sentence alone gave it
weight at any time before the country.
But, besides that, Lincoln had recon
sidered his Judgment so far as to have
| determined to award a new trial.
Even without the new testimony from
the rebel archives the extraordinary
course taken to procure his approval
of the sentence shows that even his
judgment ought not to weigh.
The judge advocate did not present
his review of the testimony to the
court in the hearing of the accused.
but reserved it for submission to the
President, where the accused could
! not even know of It's unsustained state
ments, much less reply to them. The
Judge advocate IS not prosecutor In
contemplation of law. John Quincy
Adams, from the committee which re-
vised the rules and articles of war In
1906, said the judge advocate is rather
GnlicuS curie than ordinary prosecutor;
and the article of war enjoins on him
his duty to conduct the prosecution
only for the purposes of truth and JUS
tice. The President could not exam
inc the whole of such record as that
in Porter's case, and had to rely on
the statements of the judge advocate,
strangely perverted but most gifted
mind. His powerful and unfair pre-
sention of the testimony overbore
Lincoln's honest judgment.
Porter was in no sense a partisan.
He was an army officer who never falt-
cred in his duty to the country, and
whose courage, like that of the whole
Porter breed, is of the highest order,
and was signally displayed in all the
battles about Richmond, at Antietam,
and the very field where he was ac-
cused of being a traitor. His whole
record is that of most devoted and
patriotict soldier. Is it not a shame
to the'country that such man should
be allowed to sink into q premature
grave by having to bear through long
years an unjust and degrading stigma
upon his name, brought about entirely
by band of base political intriguers
to enable them to escape the indigna-
tion due the impudent charlatanry by
which they brought defeat upon our
arms?
"A Texas correspondent inquiries
whether the sentence of the court
martial dismissing General Fitz John
Porter from the army of the United
States has been revoked2 1t has not,
and never will be, as long as Repub-
lican administration is in power.
General Porter was made the scape-
goat for the disasters of the Pope
campaign, in order to shield Lin
colnand his Cabinet from popular con-
demnation by diverting public atten-
ton from the guilty to the innocent
The real object of Republican wrath
was Mcclellan, who had to be called
in to save the country from the mill
tary consequences of the aforesaid
campaign, and who, being Democrat,
was of course a traitor in Republican
estimation. But Mcclellan stood too
high to be struck, and so his enemies
concentrated their malice on his init
mate friend and ablest lieutenant.
1T is we'll known that Lincoln hes
itated long before approving the ver-
dict of the court-martial, and it is said
that he expressed his willingness to
give Porter another trial as soon as
such a step could be conveniently
taken. His death destroyed all hope
in that quarter, and since then
the unfortunate victim of party hatred
has repeatedly asked for an opportuni-
| ty to vindicate himself. The military
records of the COnfederacy, and the
testimony of prominent Confederate
oficers-neither of which could be
had at the court t-martial-prove con-
clusively that Porter did exactly right,
| and that hadhe obeyed orders his whole
command would have been cut to
pieces 1t is this new evidence which
he wishes to introduce, and for which
| Justice and decency demand hearing.
If Porter is guilty, second trial could
only serve to make his guilt more ap-
parent and his punishment heavier. If
| he is innocent, he is certainly entitled
to release from the pains and penalties
| he has borne so many years. 1t he
lives until we have a Democratic
President he will undoubtedly obtain
a new trial, and with it acquittal and
reinstatement; but meanwhile as brave
and patriot soldier as ever wore Fed
| eral uniform must bear-wlth that pa
tience which comes from a conscious
ness of unsullied honor-a gross and
shameful wrong"
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