civil tribunals over the
proceedings of courts-martial.

The courts consist of thirteen officers of the service to which the
accused may belong, and by a majority in number they are his seniors in
rank, if the condition of the service will permit such a selection.

A court thus constituted is an imposing tribunal, and in dignity of
appearance not inferior to the Supreme Court of the United States. The
members are well instructed in the requirements of the service, but
their knowledge of the science of law, especially in its technicalities,
is limited. It is the theory of the system that the judge-advocate
will be an impartial adviser of the court and that he will protect the
accused against any irregular proceeding and especially protect him
against the admission of any testimony that would be excluded in an
ordinary court of law.

In fact, however, the judge advocate becomes the attorney of the
Government, especially when the accused has the aid of counsel. His
advice to the court becomes the rule of the court. Questions of
testimony are important usually, and the line between what is competent
and that which should be excluded is often a very delicate line. The
judge should be a disinterested person. It is too much to assume that
an advocate can in a moment transform himself into an impartial judge.

In the case of Reed, which was an application by a _habeas corpus_
proceeding for the discharge of Reed from prison, the Supreme Court
held that it could not examine the proceedings of the court-martial
further than to inquire whether the act charged was an offence under
the rules of the service, and, second, whether the punishment was one
which the court had power to impose.

Thus it follows, that intermediate errors and wrongs whether by the
exclusion or admission of testimony, or by corruption even, cannot be
remedied by judicial tribunals on the civil side.

A partial remedy for possible evils may be found through the appointment
of a judge from the civil courts, or of an experienced lawyer who should
become the adviser of the court-martial, in place of the judge-advocate
--thus leaving to him the duties of an attorney in behalf of the
Government.

XLII
LAST OF THE OCEAN SLAVE-TRADERS*

In the month of April, 1861, a bark, registering 215 tons, anchored in
the bay of Port Libert