The New York herald., 1862-02-19
The Late Arrests and the Presidents
Amnesty.

The Late Arrests and the Presidents
Amnesty.
One day about week ago several arrests
were made by the War Department.; among
them was that of General Stone for high treason.
That was tragedy. There was another arrest
that of Mr.. Ives, whose only crime was little
infirmity to which he is occasionally subject.
This was comedy. There was third arrest by
Beau Hickman's Smelling Committee that of
the Chevalier Wikoff-in order to get posses
sion of the family secrets of the White House,
and, at the same time, the secrets Of the HERALD
Office. That turned out broad farce.
The ha! ha! ha! in Washington not only sug-
gested to the President the absurdity of the
business for Mr.. Lincoln has q very keen per-
ception Of the ludicrous), but led him to re-
view the whole matter of political arrests. The
result was the amnesty, and the taking into his
own hands all such matters for the future.
Neither the Secretary of State nor the Secretary
of War can make arbitrary arrests hereafter in
the loyal States. The constitution and the law
are to be the rule, and only military necessity
the exception. But as no necessity of that kind
now exists in any of the Northern States, such
arrests may be regarded as at an end. The
gradual caving in of the rebellion has removed
the grounds for the issue of letres de cdchet and
the President, who is man of genial nature,
of strong common sense, and an equally strong
sense of justice, put stop to these proceedings
when he found they were no longer necessary.
The arrests were necessary at the beginning
and had some of the leading abolitionists been
included among the prisoners the effect would
have been still better.
The Tribune comes out with denuncation
of the course of the Secretary of State, and ridi
cules the idea Of any necessity for the suspen-
sion of the habeas corpus at the North. The
Tribune blows hot and blows cold. When the
arrests were first made the Tribune warmly ap-
plauded them. But it soon found that public
opinion was making rapid strides towards the
conclusion that evenhanded justice and the
safety of the republic equally required the ar
rest of Greeley and the other leaders of the
radical disunionists notorious for their hostility
to the constitution, and the laws made in pursu-
ance thereof, and conspicuous since the war
began for their covert or open opposition to
the government itself, just because the Presi-
dent was determined to fulfil the oath he had
taken at his Inauguration 81 do solemnly
swear that will faithfully execute the Office of
President of the United States, and will, to the
best of my ability preserve, protect and defend the
constitution Of the United States" Because the
President would not perjure himself, and because
his Cabinet would not consent to violate their
Oaths to support the constitution" the radi-
Gals, whose organs have constantly pronounced
the constitution "a covenant with DEATH" and
the Union of which it is the bond and instru-
ment ian agreement with He'll" have waged
vindictive war against the President, his ad-
ministration and the generals of the army. The
people were becoming incensed, and the time
was approaching when public opinion would
have loudly demanded the Incarceration of the
abolition traitors in the same cells with the Sc
oessionists who sympathized with the Southern
rebels. Hence q load is now taken off Massa
Greeley's heart, and he can afford to abuse the
administration for the arrests. The success of
the war and the rapid waning of the rebellion
render Greeley and his fellow conspirators
harmless, and therefore they calculate upon
impunity for their ribaldry against the govern
ment. They will escape for the present But
their day is yet to come. When the rebellion
is squelched, then is the turn of the originators
of the disafection to the Union, the constitution
and the laws.