East Saginaw courier. (East Saginaw, Mich.) 1859-18??, 1861-09-05
The yOIIrnaI of Commerce exCIud-
cd from the Mails.
From the Journal Of Commerce, Aug 20.

urday morning last:
! PosToFFIcE DEPARTMENT, }
August %, 1861.
! SIR: The Postmaster General directs
that from and after the receipt Of this let
ter, none of the newspapers published in
/ New York city, which were lately pre-.
sented by the Grand Jury as dangerous,
on account Of their disloyalty, shall be
! forwarded in the mails.
! | am, respectfully, your obcdicnt servant,
(Sgned) r. b. TROTT,
Chief Clerk Of the Posoiiice Department.
| 70 the Postmaster of New York city
! In accordance with the instructions
contained in the above letter, Postmaster
Taylor on Saturday notified the proprie
tors of the Journal Of Commerce, that the
several issues of their paper would here
after be refused at the Postollice for
transmission in the mails. The evening
editions Of the paper, both the larg &c sheet
and Journal Of Commerce DIR. were there
! fore omitted on Saturday and this morn
ing the paper will be served to such sub
scribers only as receive their papers
through other channels than the United
! States mail.
The proceedings which the govern
ment has seen fit to adopt, will doubtless
excite surprise in many quarters and il
it is to be carried as there is reason to
apprehend, to the extern: of suppressing
all papers which do not support the Ad-
ministraton, will eXtinguish liberty Of
press throughout the United States quite
as effectually asst has been done under any
of the governments of the Old World.
1t is not our purpose, at this time, to
enter upon discussion of the propriety
of the proceeding to which the Postmas-
ter Generals letter has reference. The
Journal Of Commerce yields ready and
willing obedience to law, under all cir
cumstances, and has ever advocated the
cause Of law and order, and the support
Of the constituted authorities, in all pro-
ceedings constitutional and legal in their
nature. 1t has neverby word, act or deed 4,
Transcribed the constitutional and legal
rights of public journal, nor has it in
cited others to trample upon any law,
State or national. 1t has not, in the pres
ent unhappy condition of the country, APP
proved secession as rightful or proper
proceeding, nor has it placed in the way
Of the government the slightest obstacle
to the maintenance of its authority, in all
parts ofthe Union.
1t has presented facts and statistics
touS hing the resources of the South, at
the time disputed, but now acknowledged
to be correct by the representatives Of
the Administration, and it has labored,
first to procure for the South and the
North alike all their Just rights in the
Union, and failing in that, to make the war
one of humanity and civilization, by rec
ogniziug the enemy as belligerents--a
position now taken by the Administration
papers--and finally to restore peace at
the earliest period consistent with the
honor Of the country.
This is the extent to which the Jour-
nal of Commerce has Notwithstanding
more, nothing less--for this it appears to
have fallen under the displeasure of the
authorities at Washington. We do not
suppose that those whose official action is
put in requisition to exclude the paper
from the mails, and possibly to suppress
) its publication, have any knowledge OF
, its contents, or any more than the grand
jurors who lately presented it as disloyal
sheet, have lately persued its columns. Ii
has suited the purposes of partisan cotem'
poraries to charge it with hostility TO the
government, and has been part of the
. duty of partisan leaders to initiate and
procure the proceedings against it, thro
: the grand jury and the direct interior
: ence of the authorities, the whole being
: nothing more nor less than manifesto
ton of professional jealousy and sectiona
: malice, to which we regret to believe the
y administration has given its sanction
without correct understanding of the
. facts. We would be proud to submit oul
record, side by side with that of any
Q other New y ork journal, to the President
;. for his candid examination, and willing
. to abide his Judgment, or that Of any
impartial man in the premises.
l. 10 say that this proceeding has caused
5 us deep regret would be to depart frou
f our habit of speaking frankly and unre
servidly on all questions of this character
: but that regret is due far more to the un
U just imputation of disloyality to the gov
0 ernmcnt than to any pecuniary losses W.
may sustain, i'll consequence of partia
or total suppression of our circulation
y Having from first to last, during ser
! vice more than third of century, a
{ public journalists, rendered a firm anC
d, consistent support to tue government, al
though frequently differing from the view
= of those ia power, respecting the polio!
5, proper to be pursued, it pans us now t
n be made the, victim of arbitrary power
without judicial proceedings, without an.
> Of the forms ofinquiry usual in such cases
. and without, as we firmly believe, cvel
If the slightest knowledge, on the part o
:. the government, of the contents of on
sheet, against which complaints have bee
uttered.
We have but discharged our duty il
Z the past, and, according to our custom
= and sense of propriety, we make no fac
:, tious opposition to this or any other pro
Q ceeding having the compliance of law, bu
/, in complying thus promptly with the no
!, tice served upon us, we waive no lega
Il rights, nor can we surrender, except 4
|. what seems necessity, the high attri