Salt Lake evening Democrat. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1885-1887, 1886-06-18
GEN. FITZ JOHN PORTER's CASE.

In his address to the graduating class at
West Point, Gen. Gibbon appears to have
injected sort of stump speech in favor of
Gen. Fitz John Porter, whom he glorified
as the great military martyr of the age"
If Gen. Gibbon had paused moment to
consider that a court-martial composed of
some of the most skillful and patriotic of
ficers of the army had found Porter guilty
of the charges brought against him, and
that Abraham Lincoln had approved this
verdict, he would probably, have hesitated
before he declared that Porter was stricken
down by heartless calumny," and that
"vile means" were used to destroy him. 1t
was in exceedingly bad taste to have inti-
mated, even by inference, that those gallant
and distinguished officers, with President
Lincoln, had been parties to the "vile
means" used to strike Porter's name from
the rolls of the army. Equally censurable,
it appears to.us, was Gen. Gibbons attempt,
in his talk to young men about to enter a
profession whose cardinal principle is in
stant and implicit obedience to orders, to
extol a soldier who stands convicted, by n
regularly organized military tribunal, of
willful disobedience to the repeated COM
mands of his superior otfcer.-St. Louis
Globe-DemOcrdt.
With the closing paragraph in the
foregoing we agree, and believe General
Gibbon should have chosen some other
place to bring up the deep wrongs in
tlicted through malice, hatred and jealousy
on General Porter, but with the rest OF the
twaddle we are surprised. The editor of
the Globe. Democrat never had love for
the great soldiers OF the age, as was in
stanced when he applied the odious
epithet OF "a garrulous old ass" to Gen
eral Sherman, and good word for any
OF the great leaders OF the war is never
expected from him but when he quotes
the fact OF court martial convicting
General Porter, and that Lincoln ap-
proved the sentence OF the court, to sus-
tain the claim that Porter is not Il
martyr, he but shows again his oft-exhib-
tied malice toward man, the latchet of
whose shoes he is in no wise fit to
fasten. No journal in the land gave
more space to General Grants sickness
and death than the Globe Democrat, and
none aimed to revere him more yet the
dead General gave to the world his opin-
ion, after twenty years of careful study
and thought, that General Porter saved
the nation" on the occasion when he is
charged with dsobedience of orders, and
the Globe Democrat published the opin-
ion at the time it was given. Other emf
nent soldiers agree with Grant in this,
and nothing but a continuance in power
OF the party who brought about the trial
without the principles OF that party
has kept back the restoration OF Gen
eral Porter to the rank and station
from which he is so cruelty
held. The Democratic party have many
wrongs and outrages to right, at present
on its hands, but none the righting OF
which will give greater pleasure to the
people of the country, than the lifting
from this gentleman OF the burden OF
shame and contumely at home and
abroad which was so meanly and falsely
placed on him. The mills of the gods
grind slow, but they grind exceeding fine.