The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-12-22

i assaults against which the Admiral had appealed for protection and justification and certainly not to a coordinate branch of the government.
 'I request that this note be laid before the President and have no objection to 1t being made public.
 "very respectfully, Nelson A. Miles. Lieutenant General"
 The reprimand is contained In the fol- lowing letter of Secretary Root to Gen. eral Miles:
 War Department.
 "Washington, D. C., Dec. 21, 1901.
 "Sir-By direction of the President, I communicate to you his conclusions upon your course in the interview to which your attention was called by my letter of the 18th instant. Your explanation of the public statement made by you is not satisfactory You are in error if you sup pose that you have the same right as any other citizen to express publicly an opinion regarding official questions pend- ing in the course of military discipline. The established invariable rules of of- ficial propriety necessary to the effective discipline of the service impose limitations upon the public expressions of military officials with which your long experience should have made you familiar. Your duty is to express your opinion on of- ficial matters when called upon by your ofiicial superiors or in the due course Of your official reports and recommenda- tions and not otherwise. The first article of the regulations governing the army or the United States provides: Deliberations or discussions among military men con- veying praise or censure, or any mark of approbation, towards others in the military service are prohibited
 This provision, has been a part of the army regulations for half century. and the highest obligation to observe 1t rests upon the officers whose high rank should make them examples to their subordi- mates Any other rule of action in the mill itary service would be subversive to dis cipline 1t would not be tolerated in subaltern and 1t will not be tolerated in any officer of whatever rank.
 'sThe present facts are that for several years there has been an unfortunate and bitter controversy in the Navy Depart ment-a controversy generally deplored even by the participants as tending to bring the service into disesteem at home and abroad, and to destroy those rela- tions of mutual confidence and friendship between naval officials which the inter ests of effective service require. In this controversy the army has not been in- volved and no bar has been raised to that good feeling and friendly relation between the officers of the navy and all the officers of the army, which IS essen tial to successful and harmonious coop eration of the two services in prepara- tion and in action.
 "A court of inquiry has been held on the matters in controversy and report has been made in which one member of the court had dissented in some particu- lars from the majority, and the report was pending before the reviewing au- | thority. At this point, you, the Leuten- ant General of the Army, saw fit to make a public expression of your opinion as between the majority and minority of the court, accompanied by criticism of the most severe character which could not 1 fail to be applied by the generality of | readers to the naval officers against which view your opinion was expressed. | It is of no consequence on whose slde xour.- opinion was, or what it was. You lad no business In the controversy and no right, holding the office which you did, to express any opinion. Your conduct 1 was in violation of the regulations above I cited and 9fhe Rules of official propriety, | and .Sod are justly liable to censurer which I now express '. r' '--'- "Very respectfully, . ''Ftlihu Root, ''Secretary of War, Lieut. Gen. Nelson A. Miles, Headquar-
 ters of the Army.
 ''P. S.-Your second letter of explana- ton, dated today. and received since the above was written, does not change the case. The necessity for repeated expla- nations but illustrates the importance of | the rule which you have violated.
 "Elihu Root. Secretary of War" The fact that simultaneously with the publication of the Miles correspondence, Secretary Root gave out a copy of Sec retarF Longs letter directing that Mac | lays resignation be requested taken in connection with the publication this | morning of the final chapters of the Schley controversy, so far as it has fg- ured before the Navy Department, Is taken as an indication of the Presidents purpose to clear the official records of all pending issues in that matter. Secretary Roots explanation of the Maclay incl dent Is explained by the fact that he left the White House some time after Secre- tary Long had been there. and was thus in position to carry out the Presidents latest wishes.
 General Miles left the city this after~ noon for New York.