St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1880-04-30
The Whitaker Case.

Ilat q O0y IN any COlleSldte luSGiGu-
tion should be discovered in the morn
ing tied to his bedpests and with blood
drawn from the lobes of his ears is
not ordinarily circumstance to arouse
the attention of the country, bring on
debate in the United States Senate, re-
quire the intervention of the depart
ment of justice, and threaten to arrest
the voting of the usual appropriation
by Congress. That the outrage upon
young Whitaker has had these results,
is due to the fact that he is the only
colored student at the national military
academy, and that this performance is
merely a positive although slight
specimen of long course of indignitles
which he has suffered, nearly all the
rest being of a negative character.
Whether he slit his ears or not, there is
no denying his social ostracism by all
the other cadets. This colered boy is
not spoken to except in the precise Ian
guage Of command from one year to an
other not only friendship, but CONVEX
satiOn even is denied him. He has en-
tered the profession of arms to be os-
tracised by it. Whatever positive in
dignities he may suffer, he is charged
with committing upon himself, and
this is merely the beginning of a strug-
gle which will follow him through life, so
long as he stands by the colors of his
country. He may have the military
genius of Grant, the unflagging devo-
tion and heroism of Thomas or Bartlett
or thousands of men who knew how to
die for their country, but God has STAIN
ed his face with color which makes it
an indignity for the white comrade at
the academy to ''fall inn by his side.
The attitude of the authorities at the
academy since Whitaker was discov-
cred tied upon his bed has been most
unfortunate. People ought not to as
sumo that the boy was the victim ol
outrage by his fellOw-students neither
ought the commandant and court of in.
quiry to have assumed that he was the
author OF his own martyrdom. That
this latter was the attitude of the Wes
Point officers is only too clearly show
by Gen. SchOtield's last order as follow
under date of April 2l:-
The major-general commanding de
sires to assure the corps of cadets of bi
mistaken faith in their honor and in
tegrity, and of his appreciation of thei
| OI6NlOu
wrong and injustice which they hav
recently suffered. The outrage CON
mitted on the 9th of April, even if com
mitted by some of their number, wa
justly felt as no less an outrage upo
the crops. Yet this has been followe
by even greater insults and indigniti,
heaped upon all cadets indiscriminatel,
and, through them, upon as many II
spectacle families and communities i
all parts of the country. These wrong
have come, in many cases, from source
whence justice and reasonable conf
dence were expected. While repellin
these false accusations with just indi.
nation, the cadets have endured the
with becoming dignity and confidenc
that justice would be done to all. A
an expression of his appreciation {
their character and conduct the con
mandipg general is pleased to remov
all restrictions heretofore imposed b
his orders upon the usual privileges c
cadets.
One would suppose from this that th
corps had just been through a battl
and won signal victory. From this
appears that Cadet Whitaker has sui
fered nothing to what his felIow-cadet
have, and it is more than intimate
that these greater wrongs have com
from "sources" which ought to hav
known better-namely, President Haye
and his cabinet. A more asinine ant
impertinent defiance of his civil supe
riors by military officer is rarely wit
messed.
Gen. Schofield might employ his tim
better than in Illuminating to boys vain
glorious puerilities of this description
He knows that one cadet is systemati
cally stunned and ostracised by al
the rest. He ought to rebuke this un
manly and unpatIietic prejudice. /
cannot be pretended that it reflects the
social status of the country. The col
ored man is not denied his level. HI
is infrequent in the professions an,
rather strange among them, not hearti
ly welcomed perhaps, but on the othe
hand not persistently avoided, and un
der any circumstances analogous t.
those at West Point, where exclusion
from white society is exclusion from
everything, he would not be likely t.
be put under ban.
1t is grand thing to teach youn,
men not to lie at West Point, but ther
are some other moral prohibitions baset
on honor which it would be well to cul
tivate there. Lying is not the first sil
of the republic, but slavery was. N
republic can exist except upon tn
broad and genuine acceptation of tn
truth that all men are equally entitle,
each to pass for his own value. Thi
ought to be taught at West Point. I
ought also to be taught that that acad
emy is the nurse of patriotism and arm
for fifty millions of people, five million
of them black, and that the blood O
the white and of the black has fowe,
together upon the same field. redeemin,
and preserving one common Union ant
one common country. The race which
was good enough to heap its slain i
the trenches of Fort Wagner and to fol
low Bartlett in the deadly charge il
Louisiana is good enough to be educat
ed at West Point, without any slight
as to where it shall ''fall in" beside th
white comrade.-Springfeld RepubH
can.