Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1883-01-16
THE NEW ADJUrANr-asRERAL.

The opposition developed in the National
Guard to the appointment of General
Cosby to the position of Adjutant-G General
of the State should not have been unex-
pected. Cosby was educated at Govern
ment expense at West Point, but used the
military knowledge thus acquired by him
to destroy the Government to which he
owed the allegiance of birth and patriot
ism. 1t is said that he was an officer in
Stoneman's regiment before the rebellion.
But while SLOVENIAN remained in the army
obedient to the rightful authority of the
Government, Cosby deserted to the enc
mics Of the country and served in the
ranks of the rebellion. His appointment
exhibits the estimate which General Stone
man places upon the conduct Of army
officers who deserted to the enemy in the
time of the Nations peril. The citizen
who joined the rebellion committed only
treason to the Government, but the army
officer who joined his fortunes with treason
added desertion to his crime It is all
well enough to say that the war is over
and that the restoration Of the Union
should obliterate animosities. But when
that is said, there still remains something
due to the patriotic associations and mem.
cries of the Nation, and these are out
ragged by the appointment of ex-rebel
officers to high military honors. II
the National Guard follows the ex.
ample of the new Adjutant Gen.
eral, each member will exercise the
right of private Judgment as to the right
or wrong of the cause of the State when
called upon to suppress by military force
any public disorder. This is what General
Cosby did in 1861 The army was called
to active service in suppressing rebellion
against the authority of the Government.
General Cosby deserted and went over to
the side of the disorder he was commanded
as member of the army to subdue. He
did this because his sympathies were with
the South, aud because he desired the tri-
umph of that side. Ii this action on the
part of the Adjutant. General is justifable,
it is equally justifable in the humblest
private in the ranks of the National Guard.
Should the military force of the State be
called into requisition to suppress disorder,
and should the officers of the force reply
to the cali of the Adjutant that their pri.
vate opinions led them to take up arms
with the side of sedition, General Cosby
would be brought face to face with the
teachings Of his own example, and it would
not lie in his mouth to utter one word of
condemnation or rebuke. That is Just
what he did as an officer of the regular
army of the United States in 1861.
The war is over, and sectional differ
ences should be forgotten but it does not
follow from this that desertion and treason
should at any time in the history of this
country come to be rewarded and CON-
mended, or that the lesson of patriotism
should thus be read backward. If the
State military organization is worth main.
tanning at all it is upon the theory that it
serves as reserve power to enforce the
authority of the State and prevent domes-
tic violence when the civil authority is re-
sisted and defed. If there is any officer
or private of the National Guard who
would sit in judgment upon the justice of
the cause of the State in such an emer-
gency, such officer or private owes it to his
own consistency to resign at once. Since
by his example the Adiutant- General has
approved of this species of insubordina.
ton it would be interesting to know
whether he still holds to the doctrine that
soldier should consult his political prefer
ences before responding to any call in the
field.