FREEDOM OF THE PRESS. 



389 



ment. This bill passed Congress just at the 

 close of the session of 1864-'5. 



FREEDOM OF THE PRESS. Two of the 

 prominent daily journals of Xew York were sud- 

 denly suppressed on the evening of May 18. This 

 suppression was continued for two days, when 

 they were restored to the proprietors. The 

 following is the explanation of facts made by the 

 editors at the time of the seizure, and published 

 in the other city papers on the nest morning : 

 To the Editor of the " Herald" : 



Will you oblige us by publishing in your columns 

 the following statement of the proceedings of the 

 Government this evening toward the "World" and 

 the "Journal of Commerce," regarding the publica- 

 tion in our morning's issues of the forged proclama- 

 tion, purporting to be signed by President Lincoln, 

 appointing a day of fasting and prayer, and calling 

 into the military service 400,000 men. 



The document in question was written on their 

 manifold paper, such as is used for all the despatches 

 sent to the several newspapers of our association, 

 and had every external appearance and mark to iden- 

 tify it as a genuine despatch arriving in the regular 

 course of business. 



It was delivered at our office late at night at the 

 time of the receipt of our latest news, too late, of 

 course, for editorial supervision, but, as it happened, 

 not before our printing offices were closed. 



It was delivered at all, or nearly all, of the news- 

 paper offices, and published in a part of the "Jour- 

 nal of Commerce" and " World, and, as we are in- 

 formed, in a part of the editions of one or more of 

 our cotemporaries. 



Early this morning the fact that the despatch had 

 not been sent by the agent of the Associated Press 

 became known to us, and its fraudulent character 

 was at once announced upon our bulletin boards, 

 and a reward of five hundred dollars offered by us 

 for the discovery of the forger. The Executive Com- 

 mittee of the Associated Press also offered a similar 

 reward of one thousand dollars, as the fraud had 

 been attempted to be perpetrated upon all the jour- 

 nals composing our association. 



We took pains in the afternoon to apprise Gen. 

 Dix of the facts in the case, and gave him such in- 

 formation in regard to the circumstances of the for- 

 gery as might assist him in the discovery of its au- 

 thor. The Government was at once put in posses- 

 sion of the facts in the case. Nevertheless, this 

 evening Gen. Dix, acting under peremptory orders 

 from the Government, placed our offices "under a 

 strong military guard, and issued warrants for the 

 arrest of the editors and proprietors of the " World" 

 and "Journal of Commerce," and their imprison- 

 ment in Fort Lafayette. A vessel was lying, under 

 steam, at one of the wharves to convey us thither. 



Chancing to meet one of the pfficers'of Gen. Dix's 

 staff, charged with the execution of this order, we 

 proceeded in his company to the headquarters of the 

 Department of the East, and were informed by Gen. 

 Dix that the order for our arrest had been suspend- 

 ed, but that the order for the suppression of the pub- 

 lication of the "World" and "Journal of Com- 

 merce" had not been rescinded, and that we could 

 not be permitted to enter into our offices, which con- 

 tinue under the charge of the military guards. 



We protest against this proceeding. We protest 

 against the assumption of our complicity with this 

 shameless forgery, implied in the order" for our ar- 

 rest. We protest against the suppression of our 

 journal for the misfortune of being deceived by a 

 forgery not less ingenious nor plausible than the 

 forged report of the Confederate Secretary of War, 

 which Secretary Seward made the basis of diplomatic 

 action. PRIME, STONE, HALE & HALLOCK, 



Lai of Commerce. 

 Kew YorTc, May 16,1864. MANTON MARBLE, World. 



At the same time the office of the Independ- 

 ent Telegraph Line, in New York, was occu- 

 pied by a military force in the name of the 

 Government. The operators were taken into 

 custody and all business at once suspended. 

 The offices of the company in Philadelphia 

 and Pittsburg were also closed. 



It was on Wednesday morning, the 18th, 

 that the following spurious proclamation ap- 

 peared in, the above-named sheets, and it was 

 only by superior vigilance, or some fortunate 

 circumstances, that its appearance in nearly 

 all the city papers at the same time, did not 

 take place : 



ExEcrnvE MANSIOX. May IT, 1864. 



FMotc-Ciiizens of tht Un ittJ Sfates : 



In all seasons of exigency it becomes a nation 

 carefully to scrutinize its line of conduct, humbly to 

 approach the throne of Grace, and meekly to implore 

 forgiveness, wisdom, and guidance. 



lor reasons known only to Him, it has been de- 

 creed that this country should be the scene of un- 

 paralleled outrage, and this nation the monumental 

 sufferer of the nineteenth century. With a heavy 

 heart, but an undiminished confid'ence in our cause, 

 I approach tke performance of a duty rendered im- 

 perative by my sense of weakness before Almighty 

 God and of justice to the people. 



It is not necessary that I should tell you that the 

 first Virginia campaign, under Lieut. -Gen. Grant, in 



* whose c 

 a or, is v: 



discreet ability. He has crippled their strength and 

 defeated their plans. 



In view, however, of the situation in Virginia, the 

 disaster at Red River, the delay at Charleston, and 

 the general state of the countrv, I, Abraham Lincoln, 

 do hereby recommend that Thursday, the 26th day 

 of May, A. D. 1864, be solemnly set apart throughout 

 these United States as a day of fasting, humiliation, 

 and prayer. 



Deeming, furthermore, that the present condition 

 of public affairs presents an extraordinary occasion, 

 and in view of the pending expiration of the service 

 of (100,000) one hundred thousand of our troops, I, 

 Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, 

 by virtue of the power vested in me by the Constitu- 

 tion and the laws, have thought fit to "call forth, and 

 hereby do call forth the citizens of the United States, 

 between the ages of (18) eighteen and (45) forty-five 

 years, to the aggregate number of (400,000) four 

 hundred thousand, in order to suppress the existing 

 rebellious combinations, and to cause the due execu- 

 tion of the laws. 



And, furthermore, in case any State or number of 

 States shall fail to furnish by the fifteenth day of 

 June next their assigned quotas, it is hereby ordered 

 that the same be raised by an immediate and peremp- 

 tory draft. The details for this object will be com- 

 municated to the State authorities through the War 

 Department. 



I appeal to all loyal citizens to favor, facilitate, and 

 aid this effort to maintain the honor, the integrity, 

 and the existence of the National Union, and the 

 perpetuity of popular government. 

 In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, 

 and caused the seal of the United States to be 

 affixed. Done at the city of Washington this 

 17th day of May, one thousand eight hundred 

 and sixty-four, and of the independence of tb/e 

 United States the eicrhty-eifhth. 

 By the President : ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State. 



It was immediately contradicted by th< 

 Government as follows : 



