The court of inquiry showed plainly that the reports made by the commanding officers of the National Guard, and the charges appearing in the press concerning the demoralization and untrustworthiness of the troops were utterly false; that the rank and file, with the exception of two companies mentioned elsewhere,[4] “were at all times under good discipline, and behaved with becoming courage and loyalty.” The court further found that certain officers greatly magnified the reports concerning the physical debility of the men. The court, in summing up, says: “There were men in the ranks, plenty and willing to retrieve the day, when at three o’clock, after standing patiently in the sun for three hours, they received their first orders, which were to move off and abandon the attempt to take the depot.” Thus the rank and file were finally vindicated after being for some time the object for obloquy by the public and press. [4] One of these companies was a Sacramento company whose members were mostly employed by the railroad and therefor in sympathy with the strikers, in fact some of them were strikers. The other company was a company of the Third Regiment. Concerning this latter company, there are many extenuating circumstances. Had the officers remained with their company there is no doubt but what it would have been as reliable as any other. The question, who was to blame for the failure on the Fourth, we would gladly leave at this place unanswered were it not for the fact that an implication is worse than an assertion. So we again refer to the report of the court of inquiry. Here it is shown that, on that memorable occasion, “General Sheehan refused to obey orders, directly communicated to him by Major General Dimond, to effect an entrance into the depot by force, and to fire upon the mob if they refused to give way”; it was further shown, that when the officer, upon whom the command of the Second Brigade had devolved, received distinct orders from Major General Dimond to clear the depot, by force if necessary, he left his command and urged the commanding General not to compel him to obey the order, as his men were demoralized and could not be relied upon. It was upon this representation that an armistice was entered into between the United States marshal and the strikers. Here we have the case in a nutshell. _No orders were given to the troops to advance at any time that afternoon against the strikers._ A spirit of hesitation prevailed amongst the commanding officers. When decisive action should have been taken questions of constitutional law were debated by them at length. Instead of an officer executing the commands transmitted to him by a superior officer he would desire to know where his superior officer received authority to give such an order. Just think of it, men who have been occupying high places in the National Guard for years, questioning at the time for action the authority of their superior officers and preventing decisive action by