390 



FREEDOM OF THE PKESS. 



TO THE PUBLIC. 



DEPARTMENT OF STATE, WASHINGTON, May 18, 1864. 

 A paper purporting to be a proclamation of the 

 President, countersigned by the Secretary of State, 

 and bearing date of the 17th day of May, is reported 

 to this department as having appeared in the New 

 York " World " of this date. This paper is an abso- 

 lute forgery. No proclamation of this kind has been 

 made, or proposed to be made, by the President, or 

 Issued, or proposed to be issued, by the State De- 

 partment, or any other Department of the Govern- 

 ment. WM. H. SE WARD, Secretary of State. 



The excitement occasioned in the city was 

 great, and gold advanced four or five per cent., 

 and receded again when the spurious character 

 of the paper was known. Its author was dis- 

 covered and arrested during Friday, subsequent 

 to which the journal and telegraph offices were 

 surrendered to their proprietors. 



The telegraph company received the follow- 

 ing certificate from the Secretary of War : 



WASHINGTON, May 24, 1S&4. 



SIR : The investigation of this department relieves 

 your company of all suspicion of being concerned 

 with the transmission or publication of the recent 

 forgery purporting to be a proclamation by the Pres- 

 ident, and countersigned by the Secretary of State. 

 The satisfactory arrangements made by your com- 

 pany with this department will, I hope, do much tow- 

 ard inspiring the public with a just confidence in 

 your telegraphic line, and the loyalty, prudence, and 

 discretion of its management. 



Your obedient servant, 

 EDWIN M. STANTON, Sec'y of War. 



The author of the proclamation was ordered 

 to be taken to Fort Lafayette, where he re- 

 mained about three months, and was discharged 

 without any public investigation or further pun- 

 ishment. 



In relation to the seizure and suppression of 

 the two newspapers, Governor Seymour, of 

 New York, on May 22d, addressed the follow- 

 ing letter to the District Attorney : 



STATE OP NEW YORK, 1 



EXECUTIVE DEPAIITMENT, ALBANY, May 22, 1864. ( 

 To A. Oakley Hall, 'District Attorney of the County 

 of New York. 



SIR: I am advised that on the 19th inst. the office 

 of the Journal of Commerce and that of the New York 

 World were entered by armed men, the property of 

 the owners seized, and the premises hfeld by force for 

 several days. It is charged that these acts of vio- 

 lence were done without due legal process, and with- 

 out the sanction of State or national laws. 



If this be true, the offenders must be punished. 



In the month of July last, when New York was a 

 scene of violence, I gave warning that " the laws of 

 the State must be enforced, its peace and order 

 maintained, and the property of its citizens protected 

 at every hazard." The laws were enforced at a fear- 

 ful cost of blood and life. 



The declaration I then made was not intended 

 merely for that occasion or against any class of men. 

 It is one of an enduring character, to be asserted at 

 all times and against all conditions of citizens, with- 

 out favor or distinction. Unless all are made to bow 

 to the law, it will be respected by none. Unless all 

 are made secure in their rights of person and proper- 

 ty, none can be protected. If the owners of the 

 a'bove-named journals have violated State or national 

 laws, they must be proceeded against and punished 

 by those laws. Any action against them outside_ of 

 legal procedures is criminal. At this time of civil 

 war and disorder, the majesty of the law must be up- 

 beld, or society will sink into anarchy. 



Our soldiers in the field will battle in vain for con- 

 stitutional liberty if persons, or property, or opinions 

 are trampled on at home. We must not give up 

 home freedom, and thus disgrace American charac 

 ter, while our citizens in the army are pouring out 

 their blood to maintain the national honor. They 

 must not find, when they come back, that their per- 

 sonal and fireside rights have been despoiled. 



In addition to the general obligation to enforce the 

 laws of the land, there are local reasons why they 

 must be upheld in the city of New York. If they are 

 not, its commerce and greatness will be broken down. 

 If this great centre of wealth, business, and enter- 

 prise is thrown into disorder and bankruptcy, the 

 National Government will be paralyzed. What makes 

 New York the heart of our country? Why are its pulsa- 

 tions felt at the extremities of our land? Not through 

 its position alone, but because of the world-wide be- 

 lief that property is safe within its limits from waste 

 by mobs and spoliation by Government. The labor- 

 ers in the workshop, the mine, and in the field, on 

 this continent and m every other part of the globe, 

 send to its merchants, for sale or exchange, the prod- 

 ucts of their toil. These merchants are made the 

 trustees of the wealth of millions living in every land, 

 because it is believed that in their hands property is 

 safe under the shield of laws administered upon prin- 

 ciple and according to known usages. 



This great confidence has grown up in the course 

 of many years by virtue of painstaking honest per- 

 formance of duty by the business men of your city. 

 In this they have been aided by the enforcement of 

 laws based'upon solemnly-recorded pledges that " the 

 people's right to be secure in their persons, houses, 

 papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and 

 seizures, shall not be violated, and that no one shall 

 be deprived of liberty or property without due pro- 

 cess of law." For more than eighty years have we 

 as a people been building up this universal faith in 

 the sanctity of our jurisprudence. It is this which 

 carries our commerce upon every ocean, and brings 

 back to our merchants the wealth of every clime, it 

 is now charged that in utter disregard of the sanctity 

 of that faith, at a moment when the national credit is 

 undergoing a fearful trial, the organs of commerce 

 are seized and held, in violation of constitutional 

 pledges, that this act was thus done in a public mart 

 of your great city, and was thus forced upon the no- 

 tice of the commercial agents of the world, and thej 

 were shown in an offensive way that property is 

 seized by military force and arbitrary orders. These 

 things are more hurtful to the national honor and 

 strength than the loss of battles. 



The world will confound such acts with the princi- 

 ples of our Government, and the folly and crimes of 

 officials will be looked upon as the natural results of 

 the spirit of our institutions. Our State and local 

 authorities must repel this ruinous interference. If 

 the merchants of New York are not willing to have 

 their harbor sealed up and their commerce paralyzed, 

 they must unite in this demand for the security ol 

 persons and property. If this is not done, the world 

 will withdraw from their keeping its treasures and its 

 commerce. History has taught all, that official vio- 

 lation of civil law and disorder goes before acts of 

 spoliation and other measures which destroy the safe- 

 guards of commerce. 



I call upon you to look into the acts connected 

 with the seizure of the Journal of Commerce and of 

 the New York World. If these acts were illegal, the 

 offenders must be punished. In making your inqui- 

 ries and in prosecuting the parties implicated, you 

 will call upon the Sheriff of the county and the heads 

 of the police department for any needed force or as- 

 sistance. The failure to give this by any official un- 

 der my control, will be deemed a sufficient cause for 

 his removal. 



Very respectfullv, yours, &c., 



HORATIO SEYMOUR. 



On receiving these instructions the subject 



