, 1880-09-13

by employing similar terms in general!
law. No act of Congress has ever modi-
fed or repealed any provision of our
Organic Act; it is our Constitution.
Mr.. Mcknight quotes from letter
written by Adjutant General Townsend
to Capt. Hill in 1S74-suppressing the
date-as follows: 'The Secretary of War
does not consider it improper or viola
ton of law for retired officer to accept
county or town office" 1t is sufficient
to say that the notorious Belknap was
Sectary of War at that time and he did
not consider any means employed to rob
the public treasury under the color of
law improper. The following letter irem
George W. McCrary, Secretary of War,
now Circuit Judge OF the United States
Court, has different ring:
WAR DEPARTMENT,
WASHINGTON, CITY, Jan. II, 1879.
SIR: Your letter of the 2d instant, re-
specting the right of Captain George D..
Hill, u S. Army, Retired, to hold the
Office Of Treasurer of King county, Wash~
ington Territory, to which he has been
elected, is received. Upon reference of
the question to the Judge Advocate Gen
eral that officer expresses the opinion
"thac in view of the provision of sec~
tion 1860, Revised Statutes, No person
belonging to the Army or Navy shall be
elected TO or hold any civil office or ap-
pointment in any Territory the within
named officer cannot legally exercise the
elective Office within specified. The mat
ter, however, is one for the action OF the
Territorial autheritls, not that for the
War Department" l enclose for your
information copy of the opinion OF the
Attorney General in regard to the right
of retired officers of the Army to hold
civil Office under the United States Gov
ernment. Very respectfully,
GEO. w. MCCRARy,
Secretary of War.
Attorney General Devcn ls quoted as
saying; g deem it my duty in answer
to your inquiry to say that a returned
officer may draw his pay as such, and may
also draw the salary OF any civil office
which he may hold under the Govern
ment."
Gen. Deven, it will be observed, does
not refer to any 'Scivit Office or appoint
ment in any Territory" If his opinion
was intended to cover that ground it
would have been so stated in the Ian
guage of the prohibitory clause.
The most puer;le argument ever offered
by a lawyer of reputable standing to
sustain Il bad case, is that of Mr.. Nc
Nuught, in the close of his opinion, as
follows:
The pay allowed to the retired officer
is in lieu of the pension awarded to the
discharged and disabled soldier. The
retired officer and the pensioncd soldier,
both appear on the pay rolls but neither
are in actual service, nor liable to duty
and cannot belong to the army within
the meaning of section 1860, paragraph
4, of the G. s. Rev. Statutes, and conse-
quently may hold civil Offices in this Ter
ritory. Yours Truly,
JAMES MCNAUGHT.
The status of the officers on the retired
list is expressly defined by law as belong
ing to the army and subject to army reg
ulations in matters pertaining to court
martial for offences. The retired officer
receives his pay by virtue Of his COM
MISSION the pensioned soldier by virtue
of his honorable discharge from the army.
Section 1904, Rev. Statute, 1878, says ::
"The Army of the United States shall
consist of here follows an enumeration
in detail of every grade of officer and
department Of the army, including -
'The officers OF the retired list and the
Professors and corps of cadets of the
United States Military Academy"
This is conclusive of the whole ma tier,
and expressly fixes the status of Capt.
Hill as belonging to the army, and the
bubbles resorted to to evade SO clear q
Statute fully justifes us in the use of the
term at the commencement of this article.
Certificate Of Character.