FREEDOM OF THE PRESS. 



329 



men, and evidently hostile to the Government 

 of the country. 



"Let your journal be a religious paper, as it 

 professes to be, and it will never come under 

 the discipline of this department." 



On the 20th of August, the office of the 

 "Sentinel," a weekly paper, published at 

 Easton, Pa., was destroyed. The alleged 

 motive was stated to be, that this paper had 

 printed a series of resolutions, passed at a 

 democratic county convention, which were re- 

 garded as not truly loyal. 



On the same night, Ambrose S. Kimball, 

 editor of the " Essex County Democrat," pub- 

 lished once a week, at Haverhill, Mass., was 

 violently taken from his house by an excited 

 crowd, and refusing to give such information 

 as was demanded of him, " he was covered with 

 a coat of tar and feathers, and ridden on a rail 

 through the town." He* subsequently was made 

 to take an oath that he would "never again 

 write or publish articles against the North and 

 in favor of secession." 



About the same time the printing office of 

 the " Jeffersonian," a weekly paper, published 

 at "Westchester, Pa., was destroyed. 



On the 16th day of August, the Grand Jury, 

 impanelled for the Circuit Court of the United 

 States for the Southern District of New York, 

 brought into court the following document, ask- 

 ing if certain newspapers could be indicted. 



JSEW YORK, August 16, 1861. 



The Grand Inquest of the United States of America 

 for the Southern District of New York, beg leave to 

 present the following facts to the Court, and ask its 

 advice thereon : 



There are certain newspapers within this district 

 which are in the frequent practice of encouraging the 

 rebels now in arms against the Federal Government 

 by expressing sympathy and agreement with them, 

 the duty of acceding to their demands, and dissatis- 

 faction with the employment of force to overcome 

 them. These papers are the New York daily and 

 weekly "Journal of Commerce," the daily and weekly 

 "News," the daily and weekly "Day Book," the 

 "Freeman's Journal," all published iu the city of New 

 York, and the daily and weekly " Eagle," published 

 in the city of Brooklyn. The first-named of these has 

 just published a list of newspapers in the Free States 

 opposed to what it calls " the present unholy war" a 

 war in defence of our country and its institutions, and 

 our most sacred rights, and carried on solely for the 

 restoration of the authority of the Government. 



The Grand Jury are aware that free governments 

 allow liberty of speech and.of the press to their utmost 

 limit, but there is, nevertheless, a limit. If a person 

 in a fortress or an army were to preach to the soldiers 

 submission to the enemy, he would be treated as an 

 offender Would he be more culpable than the citizen 

 who, in the midst of the most formidable conspiracy 

 and rebellion, tells the conspirators and rebels that 

 they are right, encourages them to persevere in re- 

 sistance, and condemns the effort of loyal citizens to 

 overcome and punish them as an " unholy war ?" If 

 the utterance of such language in the streets or through 

 the press is not a crime, then there is a great defect in 

 our laws, or they were not made for such an emergency. 



The conduct of these disloyal presses is, of course, 

 condemned and abhorred by all loyal men ; but the 

 Grand Jury will be glad to learn from the Court that 

 it is also subject to indictment and condign punishment. 



All which is respectfully presented. 



CHARLES GOULD, Foreman. 



It is a singular instance of the excitement of 

 the public mind that this document, which 

 simply asks the judge if the press could be in- 

 dicted, was universally regarded as an indict- 

 ment. 



The clear charge made by Judge Betts to 

 this jury when they were impanelled, placed 

 the question beyond all doubt; and the wording 

 of the document brought in, shows clearly that 

 the jury so understood it. The Judge turned 

 the matter over to the October terra, when it 

 was dismissed. The resulting excitement was 

 very great, and on the 22d of August, six days 

 after, Marshal Milward of Philadelphia seized 

 the papers sent from certain New York offices, 

 named in the paper of the Grand Jury, for cir- 

 culation to their subscribers ; on the same day 

 the following order was issued : 



POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT, Aiifptst 22, 1861. 

 SIR : The Postmaster-General directs that from 

 and after your receipt of this letter none of the news- 

 papers published in NewYork city, " which were lately 

 presented by the Grand Jury" as dangerous for their 

 disloyalty, shall be forwarded in the mails. I am 

 respectfully, your obedient servant, 



T. P. TROTT, Chief Clerk. 

 To Postmaster New York City. 



Thus the authorities at Washington regarded 

 the action of the Grand Jury as a presentment, 

 and incurred the severe penalties of the post- 

 office laws by excluding the newspapers in- 

 dicated from the mails. 



In consequence of these measures the 

 "Journal of Commerce" changed its editors, 

 and was allowed to circulate through the mails. 

 The publication of the " News" and " Daybook*' 

 was stopped, and the "Freeman's Journal" 

 changed its name. 



On the 22d of September the Grand Jury 

 of the United States District Court at Trenton, 

 N. Jersey, brought into Court the following 

 presentment : 



The Grand Jury came into the United States Court 

 on the 2-2d, and* made a lengthy presentment that 

 complaints have been made before this Grand Inquest 

 concerning certain newspapers published in this State, 

 and copies of the following papers, issued during the 

 last few months, have been submitted and carefully 

 examined ; namely, the Newark " Evening^ Journal," 

 the Warren " Journal," the Hunterdon "Democrat," 

 the New Brunswick " Times" and Plainfield "Gazette ;" 

 that during the most critical period, while the capital 

 of the nation has been besieged by armed insurgents ; 

 while eleven States in actual rebellion, having been 

 striving by invasion and treachery to plunge other 

 States still remaining loyal into open opposition to the 

 National Government, these newspapers have been, Tip 

 to within a very recent period, persistently denounc- 

 ing and libelling those to whom this great duty of na- 

 tional defence is necessarily intrusted, in thwarting 

 their efforts for self-preservation, and fomenting rebel- 

 lion by discouraging and opposing the only means by 

 which it can be put down. While they cherish a due 

 regard for freedom of speech, they feel it their duty to 

 repudiate and denounce the conduct of those journals ; 

 that while the press may freely criticize public men 

 and measure in the peaceful contests of party, yet in a 

 war for the life of a nation the press, as well as in- 

 dividuals, should uphold the existing Government, or 

 be treated as its enemies. They consider their duty 

 freely discharged in reference to these newspapers by 

 this presentment, leaving them to the wholesome action 



