The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1910-09-17
CHIEF JUSTICE TELLS
Of WAR EXPERIENCE
Tells New York Sun That Grant
ina Franchise to HaWalIans
Was No Mistake.

If it were not that Gen. Alfred ).
Hartwell is chief justice Of the supreme
conrt of Hawaii and at the height of
DISTINGUISHED career one might almost
be tempted to call him soldier OF
fortune, so varied and unusual have
been his experiences, says the New
York Sun.
General Hartwell is a Harvard man.
He commanded negro troops IN the
civil war. Then he got appointed as
a Judge in foreign kingdom. Several
years later he became a member Of the
kings cabinet, with the rank of attor-
nev-generai, and now for several years
he has been chief Justice of an Amerl-
can Territory.
General Hartwell and his two daugh
tiers reached New York night before
last from a three months European
trip. He is leaving for Honolulu IN
dav or two He looks happy and says
he Is.
There may be places more beauti-
full than Hawaii said the general at
the Manhattan Hotel yesterday, - but
I don t know them. | have always had
out there in my forty-two years resi-
dence all the blessings one could ask
for
Il was graduated at Harvard in the
cfass of 1853 with Gen William Henry
Fitzhugh Lee, James May of Peters
burg. Virginia, William Elliott of South
Carolina, afterward in congress, all of
whom fought in the Confederate army,
and Henry Adams. who | think wrote
the best history of the United States.
Twenty members of my class fought on
one side or the other in the Civil War.
Our first scholar, Jimmie Lowell,
nephew of James Russell Lowell was
killed in Virginia.
''When the war broke out | got a
commission as captain of the Fifty
fourth Massachusetts negro regiment,
of which the famous Robert Shaw was
colonel Later I was made colonel Of
the Fifty-fifth, and in the latter part
of the war l got a brigade in which
there were both white and colored
troops.
'Do I consider that black soldiers
make good fghtersl Well, they are
just what their officers are.
1.-THE Confederates regarded their
fighting abilities so highly that at least
two attempts were made to get author
ity to enlist negro regiments. After
the war Colonel Seabury, who, as I
recall, was chief of Lee's staff, told
me that he had proposed to get up
negro regiment, that Lee had sent to
Jefferson Davis for the necessary au-
thority, but that. Davis had refused.
Gen. Pat Cleburne made similar
proposal.
GAS to the bravery Of the colored
soldier and his endurance, one man,
sergeant in the ifth-ffth, was hit in
the leg at the battle of Honey Hill,
South Carolina, and the lieutenant
colonel told me he saw him leaning on
his rife and still giving the usual cry,
Give 'em hell.' The officer told him
go to the rear, but the sergeant insist
ed on staying where he was.
CATER the war, this man-his name
was Mitchell-was elected to the legis-
lature. When James Russell Lowell
was making inquiries ahout him | told
him this incident. We'll, said Mr..
Lowell. any man who under such cir
cumstances would prefer to stand and
shout ''Give 'em hell to seeking
more comfortable place in the rear can
be trusted in state legislature.
- After the surrender at Appomattox
| was stationed in the interior of South
Carolina with white and black regi-
ments. The Southern people were very
much disturbed when they heard that
was going to send small detachments of
negro troops around through the coun-
try 10 keep order But when the reGi.
monts were ordered north some of the
South Carolinians expressed the wish
that the negroes could stay with them.
They SAID these negro soldiers had
| taught the negroes of that section to
understand that instead of getting
forty acres and mule they would
have 10 work for a living, as they them,
selves did in the North.
1.-The only battlet1ag captured from
! the Confederates in the siege of Char.
| lesion was taken by the negro soldiers
, on James Island. 1t was of silk and
was embroidered Presented hv the
| ladies OF Eutaw Springs to the Twenty
seventh South Carolina Infantry 7
sent the flag North to friend in Bos~
ton. Several years later I tried hard
TO get It back in order to return it to
the ladies of Eutaw Springs, hut no
tfd"e OF II could be found.
In 1sGS a friend of mine told mo
OF position | could get in Hawaii. 7
went out there and went on the bench.
For SIX years ! was associate iustica
and then when Kalakaua was elected
h1ng | went into his cabinet as attor
ney-general In those DAYS there were
many international questions coming up
under treaties. For instance. under the
treaty Of 1876 with the United States
when England demanded rights similar
to those accorded this country Hawaii
was more under American influence in
that day than English.
resigned from the cabinet after
short term. and practised law in Ho.
nolulu until 1904, when I was aoain
appointed to the bench. When Govern.
or t'rear took office in 1907 I was made
chief Justice
The Hawaiians have developed =
great capacity for self government ;,
said General Hartwell in answer 10 ,
question, There were MANY who
thought that giving them suffrage
without any proprtv qualification was
mistake, but they have done very well