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Show GENERAL MILES. As General Nelson A. Miles retires from the command of the army of the United States, it is proper to stand, hat in hand, as he passes down the slope to his retirement. Up to the time he assume'd command of the army his record as a soldier was without a flaw and was most wonderful. wonder-ful. He went out from the walks of peace a Lieutenant, he was present in every battle of the army of the Potomac save two, and when they were fought he was Mng helpless with wounds. We do not believe any other soldier had a similar record. Some time some man will take In what that army of the Potomac was and what it achieved and will write the story of it, and there will be nothing iiner in history; how it fought, how it fared, through what defeats it struggled on despite incompetent leaders, despite the fate that held back its triumphs, until at last it closed around Richmond and Petersburg and the Confederacy was choked to death. The history his-tory of that army was General Miles' history during dur-ing those years except that he went in a lieutenant lieu-tenant and emerged from under Its battle clouds a Major General. In the Indian wars that succeeded he was equally conspicuous. His winter campaign against the plains Indians was unparalleled; his heading off of Chief Joseph with his Nes Perces fighters was superb; his capture of Geronimo was magnificent. magnifi-cent. The great Crook had been fighting the savages sava-ges for months and Crook was a soldier that would have waimed the heart of a Napoleon or a Caesar, when Miles was sent to take his place. He carried with him the Heliograph. He stationed the detachments of his little army where the signals could be seen, read and answered, and then began his campaign. The savages saw an eye of fire looking down upon them from the mountain side. They fled before It lest it should tell their secret, and when spent with the hurried hur-ried march they looked up and there was a similar sim-ilar eye of fire looking down upon them, so, weary as they were, they broke camp and fled through the night only to find at dawn that there was another an-other eye of fire on watch and in their front an army, signaled by those fiery eyes, to intercept them. They turned from their course and fled throughout the day and when they fell, exhausted, exhaust-ed, again on the mountain side, was the tell-tale eye and In their front another army and they gave up the unequal campaign and surrendered, for how could they longer fight with all the secrets se-crets of their movements made clear? On his return from that campaign the record of General Miles was perfect. Then came the lazy days of peace vith its allurements and fascinations. fas-cinations. There were men to whisper to General Miles that there was still the final honor or him to achieve; that as Washington and Jackson and Taylor and Grant had come home with triumphant triumph-ant army records and gravitaleu naturally up to the Presidency, the same opportunity was hiB, and he fell down. The story of General Scott's ambition and vanity did not impress him; he wanted the crowning glory and when it was denied de-nied him he became soured and cynical and critical crit-ical andso warped that he could no longer rear son clearly or be just. For half a dozen years he has been much of a nuisance, and more than half insubordinate. He directly disobeyed orders in his capture of Poito Rico and sb carried h'mself that the authorities au-thorities weie foiced to distrust his motives and to distrust his opinions. He wculd have been superceded except that his termer splendid lecord plead so earnestly for til his natural retirement through age limit. That is accomplished now and the army man-him man-him that It was determined to bear with him un-ngement un-ngement will now be taken up under the new law. It will require some years for the country to forget the weaknesses developed in the last years of General Miles' life and to restore to it the old magnificent memories of that life when he went out a boy lieutenant and returned covered cov-ered with wounds and with laurels that never can fade. , |