New-York tribune., 1906-12-20

an fhev Irneyy.
as 10 secure Justice. In one case the soldier
,yas sc1uitted In another case the soldier was
coDvioted of murder the conviction resulting
from the fact that every soldier, from the COM
msndtne officer to the humblest private united
in securing all the evidence in their power about
the crime. In other cases; FOR less onence' SOL
diers were convicted purely because their COM
Tades in arms, in spirit of fine loyalty to the
honor of the service, at once told the whole
story of the troubles and declined to identity
themselves with the criminals.
During the Civil War numerous precedents
for the action taken by me occurred IN the
shane of the summary discharge OF regiments
or companies because of misconduct on the
mart of some all of their members. The 6Oth
Ohio was summarily discharged. on the ground
that the regiment disorganiZed. mutinous
and worthless. The nth New York was dis
charged by reason of general decentralization
and numerous desertions. Three companies of
the 9th Missouri Cavalry and one company Of
the 4th Missouri Cavalry were mustered out
of the service of the United States without trial
by court martial by reason OF mutnous con-
duct and disaffection OF the majority of the
members of these companies Ian almost exact
parallel to my action). Another Missouri regi-
ment was mustered out of service because it
was in state bordering closely on mutiny
Other examples. including New Jersey. Mary
land and other organizations, are given In the
inclosed papers.
PRECEDENTS FOR ACTION.
I call your particular attention to the special
field order of Brigader General u. S. Grant
issued from the headquarters of the Thirteenth
Army Corps on November 16, 1862, in reference
TO the 10th Illinois. Members of this regiment
had broken into a store and taken goods to the
value of some 81 ,240 and the rest of the regi-
ment, including especially two officers failed,
in the words of General Grant, to exercise
their authority to ferret out the men guilty of
the Offences General Grant accordingly mus
tered out Of the service of the United States the
two officers in question and assessed the sum
or Sl,24O against the said regiment as whole,
officers and men to be assessed pro rata on
their pay In it's essence this action is precisely
similar TO that 1 have taken although the of
N-2S Of ara6 tO ha
offence with which l had to deal.
EX-Corporal Hesse recites what occurred in a
United States regular regiment in the spring of
1860. Corporal Hesse subsequently, when the
regiment was surrendered to the COnfederates
by General Twiggs saved the Tegimental colOr5
by wrapping them about his body, under his
clothing and brought them North in safety re-
ceiving a medal of honor for his action) 1t ap-
pears that certain members of the regiment
lynched barkeeper who had killed one of the
soldiers. Being unable TO discover the culprits.
General Robert f. Lee, then in command of the
Department of Texas, ordered the company to
be dlsbanded and the members transferred to
other companies and discharged at the end of
their enlistment, without honor Owing to the
outbreak of the Civil War; and the consequent
loss of records and confusion, it is not possible
TO say what finally became of this case.
When General Lee was in command of the
Army of Northern Virginia, as will appear from
the inclosed clipping from The Charlotte OBJ
server" he issued order in October. 1864
disbanding certain battalion for cowardly con-
duct, stating at the time his regret that there
We're some officers and belonging to the
organization who. although not deserving it.
were obliged to share in the common disgrace
because the good of the service demanded il.
In addition to the discharges of organizations
which are, of course, infrequent. there are con-
tinual cases Of the discharge of individual
listed men, without honor and without trial by
court martial. The official record shows that
during the fiscal year ended June 80 last such
discharges were issued by the War Department
without trial by court martial in the cases of
352 enlisted men of the regular army 80 of them
being on account of having become disqualified
fn inn F1-ovv
over in addition to the discharges without honor
ordered by the War Department, there were a
considerable number of discharges without
honor issued by subordinate military authorities
under Paragraph 14S of the Army Regulations
where the service has not been honest and
faithful-that is where the service does not
warrant re-enistment."
ATTACK PRACTICALLY LYNCHTNG
So much for the military side of the case
But l wish TO say something additional, from
message at the opening of the Congress 1 dis
Cussed the matter of lynching. In it I gave
utterance to the adherence which all decent
cltlzens should feel for the deeds of the men I'm
almost all cases white mem who take part in
lynChings, and at the same time I condemned,
as all decent men of any color should condemn
the action of those colored men who actively or
passively shield the colored criminal from the
law. In the case of these companies had 10
deal with men who in the first place were guilty
of what was practically the worst possible form
of lynchng-for a lynching is I'm its essence law
less and murderous vengeance taken by an
armed mob for real or fancied WrongS-and who
in the second place covered up the crime of
lynching by standing with vicious solidarity
TO protect the criminals.
II is of the utmost Importance to all our peo-
pie that shall deal with each man on his
merits as man. and not deal with him merely
as a member Of given race; that we shall
Judge each man by his conduct and not his
color. This IS important for the white man, and
ii is far more important for the COlOred man.
More evil and sinister counsel never was given
piN m n
those advisers, whether black or white, who,
by apology and conformation. encourage conduct
such that OF the three companies in question.
If the colOred men elect to stand by criminals
of ther own race because thev of their own
race, they assuredly lay up for themselves the
most dreadful day of reckoning Every far
si~hted friend of the colored zee in its efforts
TO strive onward and upward ould teach first.
as the most important lesson alike TO the white
man and the black the duty of treating the In /
dividual man strictly on his worth as he shows
it. ANY conduct by colored people which tends (.
by and shielding an evildOer because he is a |
member of their race. means the inevitable |
DEGRADATION Of the coored race. 1t may and /
probably does mean damage to the white race |
bUt IS means ruin to the black race
Throughout my term of service I'm the Presi- +
dency have acted on the principle thus adj
Vocated. In the North in the South I have
arnointed colOred men Of high character to office
utterly disregardng the protests Of those who
would have kept them ont of office because they
were colored men. 80 far as was I'm NV power
] have sought 10 secure for the colored people
all their rights under the law. 7 have done all
could 10 secure them equal school training
when Young, equal opportunity to earn their
livelihood. and achieve their hanpiness when old
have striven To break up peouage: have no
held the hands of those who. like IU6"e Jones
and Judge SDeer. have warred aPainSt this peOn-
age. because I would bold myself unit to be
President If 7 ala rot feel the Same revolt It
wrong done Co'ored man feel Of wrong
dove p white man. 7 P"ve con7arnne1 IN nv
stn'ed terms the CRIME Cf l,-urhine nerpetra tod
hv white men and I cNorld tnlA instant advan-
taPe Of anv opporturitv Whereby could bring