The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1879-05-03
THE PACIFIC
Commercial A0bertisrr
MAY 3.
OUR NEW YORK LETTER.


generation of men to verify. review, or d,
adequate justice to even a slight portion of tn
events which go crowded and overlapped eacl
other. The best historical truth comes out o
biographies and sutobiographies. These come
on long after the events they are concerned with
Great generals and statesmen don't tell people
from day to day what their motives are, or what
influences are around them. English history oil
tie past century, and of the present even, il
being corrected by such books as Greville' /
Memoirs and Seniors Conversations. The scales
Of justice are rarely held evenly when men are
angry, and irreparable injury is often done where
none was intended. The recent
TRIAL OF GEN. FITzJoHN PORTER
reyives many of the old feelings and bitter senti-
ments of the war. Ever since his conviction and
disgrace by court martial for his conduct at the
second battle Of Bull Run, he has demanded, in
season and out Of season, a ~re-trial of his case.
lie fortunately married a lady with great wealth,
and go was able to devote himself to the business
of indicating himself. The Republican leaders,
Immediately after the war. treated his case as if
it was simply political. He was a Democrat and
the friend of Mcclellan. " We can't and We
hOu ! uClp HlHJ IuCg oAiu. u AClucSO "
interfere, through the influence Of the political
ring which controlled him quite too much.
Acting on his own judgment, he would have
awarded a new trial. By the time Hayes came
into power there had been a change, a modifca-
ton in political sentiment. Hayes was not in
fuenced by the men who held that q vindication
of General Porter would be a condemnation of
the Republican party. So Porter got the order
finally for a r~e-trial, and the case is now finished,
the report Of the court-martial submitted to the
Executive, though its contents are not known.
The evidence submitted by General Porter was
important. On the first trial, Porter INDICATED
his conduct by trying to show that he had acted
on what he believed to be important information
as to the position and movements of the enemy
on the battlefield. But he had then no means of
verifying his beliefs. Now, however, he is able
to offer Confederate testimony as to the facts,
and the evidence strongly supports him. Officers
of the army tell me that there has been a great
change in sentiment among army men regarding
his conduct. Some who were bitterly opposed to
him have changed their minds. There are several
disturbing elements however in the matter.
Pope was the commanding General at the second
Bull Run. He is hated and despised by the
army generally. Mcdowell is not loved. The
vindication of Porter is q censure of Pope and a
slur on Mcdowell. On the recent trial Mellow
ell made a sorry figure on the witness stand.
After testifying at great length to the events of a
day, he had to admit on cross-examin-
alton that be had mistaken the day, and that
what he had stated had occurred on the previous
day. He lost his temper and acted very much
lilo N small how IN tha rhnIa II aapms That
of the Union generals : lost their heads
on that terrible day. Porter seemed to know
what he was about but lie hated Pope, and
used incorporate language about him, as he
naturally would at finding q junior officer APP
pointed over his head. Whatever be the verdict
of the court-martial, it is clear that Porter will
no longer be considered a traitor. The jealousy
Of the army officers towards each other during
the uaR was intoseo.-It annoyed Stanton, Secre-
tary of War, worried Mr.. Lincoln day and night,
got into the balls of Congress, and made itself
on the battlefield. l have heard many
officers say that if all the officers were hung who
failed to do duty during the war out of jealousy
towards other officers, there would be need of
several miles of scafiolds. 1 think the feeling
towards Mcclellan is modifying. He was not a
great man, nor was he a bad man. He COM
handed the army when no one knew anything
bout war. He trained his men. 1t was after
We had learnt what fighting really meant that
Grant came and made war what it really was
butchery. lie said, " If we must fight,
ct US fight kill until there is nobody to be
titled" So he marched into the wilderness and
eft a line OF dead men for nearly a hundred
niles, but he called for and left a line of dead
hen on the other side equally long. 1t was
was butchery-but it was war.
When Mcclellan commanded the army such
ghting would not have been tolerated by the
people,-so a high military authority
aid to me recently.
There is another of the old war matters which
ill be discussed again and again in the future.
t is the
HANGING OF MRS. sURRATT,
s an accompliee in the murder of President
lincoln. Mr.. Bingham, of Ohio. WAS counsel
,r the Government in the trial of that woman.
General Butler tainted him on the flor of Con-
with having hung an innocent woman.
eople do not now believe generally that she was
lnocent. 1 think the lawyers do,-those at
asst who have read the evidence. There will be
'S ~ go vi eblo ADJCS
he people have not cooled off as yet. We, the
pride ourselves on our system of
risprudence, the extreme protection we give to
lose charged with offences, the safeguards we :
row about those who are tried for life or :
Oerty. But in the excitement of the Presiden- ,
al assassination these wise rules were swept T
way in a whirlwind of passion. Everybody a
amored for vengeance. Lynch law took pos I
ssiOn of the Capitol. There were courts of
Stice in Washington, but they were said to be
slow. 1t is safe to say that If Mrs. Surratt 4
d been tried before the Justices of the Supreme
of the United States, all loyal men, she ,
'uld have been acquitted. They would have r
rected a verdict in her favor. There was a T
lure of proof. She associated with bad men,
Is a rebel, but there was no sufficient evidence, ,
der our broad, mature system of Jurisprudence, l
made her guilty. A court-martial IL