'
Now, sir, by consulting my Register of the Academy, issued
in 1871, I find that three cadets of the fourth class were
declared 'deficient ' in mathematics--Reid, Boyle, and
Walker--and that the first named was turned back to join
the next class, while the other two were dismissed. Now
Reid is the Secretary's nephew, so that is the reason for
his doing 'for him what had never been done for a white
boy in like circumstances.'
"Mr. Editor, I have no objection whatever to any
favoritism that may be shown 'any member of the Royal.
Family, so long as it does not infringe upon any right
of my race or myself; but when any paper tries to show
that I have received such impartial treatment at the
hands of 'the powers that be,' and even go so far, in
their zealous endeavors to shield any one from charges
founded upon facts, as to try to make it appear that I
was a favorite, a pet lamb, or any other kind of a pet,
at West Point, I think it my duty to point out any errors
that may accidentally (?) creep into such statements.
"'The officers also say that Smith was manifestly
incompetent, that he had a fair examination,' etc. What
officers said that? Those of the War Department, whose
attention was attracted by the 'recent attacks on the
Board of Visitors,' or those who decided the case at
West Point? In either case, it is not surprising that
they should say so, for one party might feel jealous
because 'the Secretary of War was extremely liberal
in his interpretation of the regulations on behalf of
Cadet Smith, and that he did for him what had never
been done for a white boy in like circumstances,' while
the other party might have been actuated by the desire
to prove that 'no colored boy can ever graduate at West
Point,' or, as the young gentleman previously referred
to said, 'No d--d nigger shall ever graduate at West
Point.
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