[ 1 ] 4 



ble to this power, "according to the nature of the case." The irresistible 

 inference from this is, that circumstances are here alluded to, which may or 

 may not exist, to make it necessary for the Executive interposition ; and it 

 requires no great force of imagination to discover, that when they do so ex- 

 ist, that the dearest rights and interests of an officer may be implicated in 

 the most serious manner, from the unavoidable and inevitable deduction, 

 that it has been resorted to from real or supposed defects in the officer in 

 command, and a higher degree of merit, on the part of the one advanced 

 over him. Surely then, it can be but a small boon for an officer to be in- 

 formed when thus dealt with, by whose hand he has been degraded, and it 

 cannot on any plan of reasoning be thought that this rule should be adhered 

 to in unimportant cases, and wholly disregarded when they assume a cha- 

 racter of high importance. It is not one of the least difficulties which I 

 have to contend in the present instance, in exercising the acknowledged right 

 of an officer, that of respectfully remonstrating, when injuriously affected 

 by the act of his superiors, that I am in truth, most painfully ignorant of 

 the source from wdience it proceeded. I have said, I believed it came from 

 the President; this is merely technical. If by possibility it came from any 

 other person, and that fact had been fully known to me, I should have 

 I'egarded it as much as my commission was worth, to have yielded it obedi- 

 ence. I should have considered myself as justly censurable, for yielding up 

 my command under circumstances of manifest irregularity, and most assured- 

 ly amenable to the 15th par. General Reg. of the Army, 1847. This is 

 not a common case of brevet rank taking etTect ipso facto, by the meeting 

 of mixed corps on detachment or courts martial. I was in garrison and the 

 law expressly gave to me the right to command unless otherwise directed 

 by the President. He alone then can make the assignment and none other 

 and by no possibility am I able to know this fact, so necessary to direct my 

 duties, when the words " by order" only are appended. The importance of 

 this question cannot be placed in a clearer point of view, than by calling to 

 mind the contingent alternative, to which an officer may readily be reduced 

 in the most conscientious discharge of his duty, that of hazarding his com- 

 mission and even his life, in maintaining his supposed rights under circum- 

 stances rendered obscure, by the neglect to comply w^ith rules made for the 

 government of the Army, in the very quarter from whence they emanated ; 

 an actual step perhaps I have been only saved from by accidental prudence, 

 or an habitual respect I have always taught myself to cultivate towards or- 

 ders generally coming from high sources. I might ask argumentatively 

 who is meant by the words "by order?" There are several persons at 

 Washington who can give orders. Do Ihey mean the President? I know 

 not by what rule of interpretation the necessary degree of certainty may 

 be arrived at on this point. They are not more definite with regard to the 

 Secretary at War. We cannot say that the General Commanding in Chief 

 is decidedly indicated thereby. And if perchance I should guess the Ad- 

 jutant General, there would be two to one against my being right. It 

 w^as not intended that an officer should be thus embarassed in any service, 

 and much less, wdiere an easy anrl convenient rule had been provided al- 

 ready, and for that reason should be rigidly adhered to. 



That the President of the United States can alone make the assignment 

 to duty on brevet rank, under the (i2d Article of War, is as clear as the 

 foregoing proposition. To prove this, it will only be necessary to advert 

 to the invariable practice under laws similar in their provisions. When a 



