nst three officers then under
my command, I transmitted the papers November 28, 1847, to the
Secretary of War, with a request in each case that the President,
under the act of May 29, 1830, would appoint a general court-martial
for the trial of the same. This court of inquiry is the result. I am
stricken down from high command; one of the arrested generals is
pre-acquitted and rewarded, and of the other parties, the judge and
his prisoners, the accuser and the accused, the innocent and the
guilty, with that strange exception, all thrown before you to scramble
for justice as we may.

"In the case of Major-General Pillow I preferred two charges: the
first with one specification, respecting a prohibited publication in
the newspapers of the United States, and the second embracing a great
number of specifications.

"Considering, Mr. President, that I asked for a general court-martial
to try and definitely determine cases specifically defined and set
out, and that this preliminary court has no power beyond the mere
collection of facts and giving an inoperative opinion thereon;
considering that, if we now proceed, the whole labor must be gone over
again at least by the parties and witnesses; considering that the
court will be obliged to adjourn to the United States in order to have
the least hope of obtaining the testimony of these important
witnesses, now retired to civil life, and therefore not compellable to
attend a military court even at home, or to testify before a
commission duly appointed by such courts, and the parties will not be
able to leave this country for home without peril of life. Considering
that there is a near prospect of peace between the United States and
Mexico, which may be consummated in time to enable this whole army to
return home at once in safety; considering immediately, on such
consummation, that Major-General Pillow would, by express terms of the
law under which he holds his commission, be out of the army, and
therefore no longer amenable for his acts to any military tribunal;
considering that, in preferring the charges against that officer, I
was moved solely by the desire to preserve the discipline and honor of
the army, not having even had the slightest personal quarrel or
difficulty with him, and that the time had probably gone by for
benefiting the service by a conviction and punishment--in view of
these circumstances, I shall, Mr. President, decline prosecuting the
charges and specifica