The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1884-02-06

1t may take divine wisdom to find that out, Or
binary human wisdom can tell him one thing,
and that is, where his brains were not. Gen,
eral Pope's brains were not two miles and
half In the rear Of his army, sulking, disobey-
ing orders, lolling in the shade, within the
sound OF the enemy's cannon, and devising no
means OF going to the aid OF his comrades in
arms Why talk to me about General Pope
not being as good an officer as General Porter2
That does not make any difference. His duty
was to obey Pope, because he was his superior
In command The question of ability could
not be raised But gentlemen tell us that
there was such delay in making these charges.
Do they forget that General Pope charged Gen.
eral Porter with not having done his duty In
the first report made Of the battle of the 10Th
and Goth? Is not that true? Now it does not
require any military skill to tell, from the tes-
timony, whether, when the order from Pope to
Porter which reached Porter at half-past nine
In the evening OF the 9th, and commanded
him to start at one o'clock the next morning,
and to be at certain place by daylight cay
1t does not require any military skill to tell
whether he obeyed that order or not. Jury
OF ordinary farmers or mechanics can answer
that as well as anybody else. General Pope
issued that order to him, and 1t reached him.
as have said, on the night Of the 9th, at
halfpast nine, and directed him to leave with
his command at one o'clock, but without fail
to be at Bristoe Station at daylight the next
morning. Now, whether he did 1t or not, Is
question that any man. though he may know
as little of military affairs as General Slocum
says we do can find ont conclusively from the
testimony in this case. . What did
Porter do when this order reached hm9 He
said, Boys, here Is something to sleep on
and he Immediately tumbled in and slept on
1t. That is the simple truth. He did not even
try to execute the order. His actions said
palmer than words: That is only an order
from Pope. know more than Pope; will 90
Wnen en-, ! get ready But you, gentlemen, say
was found out the next day that he was not
needed there where he was ordered to 90. Is
there man here who thinks that is fair, de-
cent answer to that question? When he turned
in that night he did not know how it was go-
ing to turn out the next morning, did he? He
did not know that the army in front would not
need him early the next morning. Now hon.
estly, did he2 How could he tell? His duty,
as subordinate officer, was simply to execute
that order, IL 1t was in the power Of human skill
and exertion to execute it. He did not even
attempt to execute 1t. . . The first
court-martial had all OF the evidence that could
| be produced. They tried the case fairly, and
they found the man guilty. What the con-
federate generals may now testify, matters
little to me. General Pope gave his orders on
| what appeared to be the condition of affairs.
| Porter had nothing to act upon but conjecture
His duty was to obey the orders given by his
superior, based on all he could then find out.
The fact that he would have been defeated is
no excuse for not making an effort. After
their decision, what next Their finding was
reviewed, first by the judge-advocate general
and approved by him, and then it went into
the hands OF the president of the United States,
Abraham Lincoln. He, as the proof shows,
gave it careful attention, examined 1t eau
tiously. have read enough of the case to find
out that much. President Lincoln, | say, ex-
amined the case as lawyer or judge would
have done. We all know how his great heart
always went out with tenderness and mercy
toward every one in trouble 1t Is said he never
found any one guilty, il he could help it, while
he was president OF the United States. He
never signed single judgment of a court
martial which consigned man to death" Mr..
Bayne-" Did not Governor Newell of New
Jersey swear that President Lincoln said to
| him that he signed the record upon the report
OF the Judge-advocate general and that he had
not himself examined the evidence?' Mr..
| Horr-" know of no such evidence but since
the gentleman is asking questions, let me ask
him one" Mr.. Bayne-" Certainly Mr..
Horr-" Did not this last board call Robert
Lincoln before it as witness?" Mr.. Baype-
Yes, sir" Mr.. Horr-" Did they not try to
| prove by him what Mr.. Lincoln said with refer
ence to the signing Of the decree of the court
martial upon the report simply of the attorney
genera?' Mr. Bsyne-"Yes SIR" MT Horr
-" Did not he simply deny it and say that his
father told him after the court-martisl, and
after his examination of the case, that the facts
in the case would have justified, in his opinion,
a sentence Of death? My memory is that Rob-
ert Lincoln testified to exactly that. You can
make me believe that President Lincoln signed
that approval hesitatingly, with tears in his
| eyes, If you please, but that he did it unad-
visedly, without examination, never
Right here letime give little history, by way
of illustration. You all recollect that during
the war-General Rosecrans recollects it as
we'll as anybody on this foor-we in Ohio got
into difficulty through man by the name of
Vallandigham. | lived in Ohio then. You all
remember after awhile President Lincoln sent
him over the border. You recollect when he
did it. Most of you men over there-not you,
| general-but most of you men now on that side
OF the house. said 1t was an act of tyranny an act
of usurpation. You said Lincoln was tyrant
Yes you did the most of you did. Now, sup
pose there was resolution brought in here de-
claring that in that transaction Abraham Lin
coin did act the part of tyrant, was usurper
and that Valandigham acted the part of a
patriot. How would you gentlemen of the con-
federate army vote on such resolution How
would you vote on it, if you should vote as you
believe? You gentlemen remember when he
was sent through the lines; you feted him,
honored him. gave him triumphal marches
from one end of the South to the other Now
the point make is: suppose such resolution
was offered here, would it be fair for you
| gentlemen who were ON the other side to come
in here and vote upon it at all y? | say that
| good taste, fair treatment, would compel you to
stand aloof, not to NEEDLE in those matters.
| say the state of mind you are
in necessarily precludes you from being a
| pIopor JuroT' lou WOulu not Do pernltteQ TO
sit-Done of you-on any jury upon a case in
volving $40 If you had been as much interested
beforehand in such case as you were in this
case. Yet you gentlemen come and propose to
do-what? 'Vindicate' Fitz-John Porter
was just saying that such 'vindication is
impossible. When he disobeyed the order of
his superior, when he refused under the sound
OF the enemy's guns to go into battle to save
his country, when the court-martial convened
and tried him, patiently and fairly, and Presi-
dent Lincoln approved their finding, Fitz.John
Porter's record was made The curtain then
dropped. The bed he had made himself he
must now sleep in. You have not the power to
raise that curtain, simply because you have not
the power to carry conviction to the mind Of
the civilized world that you are disinterested
jurors, for you are not; you can not be; and
General Porter must go into history with the
record he himself made. His evident determin-
alton that he would in no way aid General
Pope to win any victory; his tardy, sulking,
insubordinate actions at the second battle of
Bull Run, are the written history of the past,
and no vote of this or any other congress can
wipe out the stain he then and there cast upon
his own name as a military man."
|