Forrest was greater than his commanding general at Fort Donelson, at Murfreesborough, and at Chickamauga. He finally swore that he would not obey any more fool orders from blundering superiors, and he struck out for himself. During the short time that he held independent command his achievements, considering his resources, rivalled those of Stonewall Jackson in the Valley Campaign. * * * * * Nor should _The Nation_ be too hard upon the West Point officers who followed their native states out of the Union. Justice to those officers requires one to remember that they were taught at West Point that the States had the right to secede from the Union. If _The Nation_ will consult the text-book from which Generals Lee, Johnston, Beauregard and Wheeler were instructed in Constitutional Law, it will discover that these young officers simply put in practice that which their teachers had taught them to be their right. The book to which I refer is Rawle’s work upon Constitutional Law. * * * * * After General Wheeler had tried so hard to win the heart of the North, _don’t_ you think they might have allowed the Confederate flag to rest upon his folded hands? _That_ was the flag which he had followed in the storm of actual war. The Cuban business was nothing. It was child’s play, and pitiful child’s play at that. But the Civil War was real, was colossal, rent a continent asunder, and shook the world. It was the Confederate flag which had led Wheeler to his fame. His youth, his first and best, had been given to _that_; of all the banners on earth none could have been dearer, holier to him than _that_. To look upon it was to bring back the years and the deeds which had brought him glory. It associated itself with the heroes who had listened to his battle-cry, and who had sanctified their sacrifice to duty with their blood. It spoke to him of the hopes and the griefs and the despair of his home, the South; it recalled the enthusiasm and the heartbreak; the splendid devotion of noble women, and the resignation of conquered men. Surely, surely the Confederate flag must have been the dearest emblem of Duty and Sacrifice to General Joe Wheeler. _Don’t_ you think that Charity might have softened the heart of the North to the old warrior who was dead, and that they might have let him rest under the “Conquered Banner?” [Illustration: _The House: I give you warning, old man; it’s loaded!_ _Bart, in Minneapolis Journal_] [Illustration: _If George Washington Came to the Capital Today_ _Morris, in Spokane Spokesman-Review_] [Illustration: _The Stirring War Drama Entitled: “Chased By the Enemy; or, Curfew Shall Not Ring This Evening”_ _Opper, in N. Y. American_] _Machine Rule and its Termination_ BY GEORGE H. SHIBLEY _President of the People’s Sovereignty League and Editor of the Referendum News._