Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1862-12-20
From the Wisconsin State journal.
Military Arrests.

Jul Ocu VI GdAdslOI, IL IL III uO hlddASl III
terfered with the personal ease and conve-
nience of the people, if it in no instance
interrupted the ordinary and regular meth.
DDS of judicial administration, it would
lose some of its most dreaded Characters
tics.
A civil war without these accompani-
ments, however, has never yet been known.
In the stormy march of human history
such wars have been of frequent occur
renee. Yet there is no record of a nation
engaged for any considerable period in a
struggle for existence against formidable
instruction, in which, in addition to fnan-
cial embarrassments, deprecated cur
rency, and an enormous accession to the
ordinary taxation, it has not been neces-
sary to adopt more rigorous and summary
processes for the arrest and punishment Of
the disloyal, of spies, iuformers, and con-
spirators, than are employed in the ordi-
nary course of justice in times of peace.
The reasons for this are so obvious that,
but for the clamor raised by class Of
politicians,-secretly or avowedly hostile
to the suppression of the present rebellion
by military force, and DESTROYS either of
permitting traitors to break up the Union
Or purchasing peace by conceding whatev-
er their boundless insolence may demand
we should never have thought the sub.
iect demanded any attention. Where 10y
al and disloyal citizens are mingled to-
gether, where treason has infected the
| very frame work of society, where rebel
| agents and spies are engaged in undermine
ing what remains of loyalty, aHd in secret
plottings for the overthrow of the Govern
ment, the public veal demands prompter
| action and more rigorous surveillance than
is required upon ordinary occasions.
| Treason, that threatens whole people,
must be watched and guarded against more
! vigilantly than an ordinary crime that
| only threatens one or few individuals.
It's secret nature, it's insidious and willy
courses, and the fatal consequences of its
success, renders it utterly inconsistent with
the public safety to delay action respect
ing it until it is fully ripened, and can be
seized in its perfected state, "full-blown
and flush as May" In the words of an
| old dramatist:
GO This mischief is not like those common facts,
Which, when they are done, the laws may prosecute
But this, If you proUide not, ere 1T happen,
| When it is happened will not wait your Judgment
Therefore, during a rebellion,it sometimes
| pSSolASS hSSCSodly lOi W dl.
rest upon suspicion. If there be ground for
believing that given person is secretly
aiding the rebellion as a spy, an informer,
or in any other capacity,t the common veal
demands his arrest. 1t may frequently
happen that innocent persons are arrested
and suffer serious detriment in their bust
ness and health from confinement This
is unfortunate, but it is one of the una
| voidable evils of civil war. Nothing
short of omniscience On the part of the
Government can prevent it. Better that
| some innocent person should suffer in this
manner than that reasonable plottings
should be permitted to go forward until,
by their actual success, there is no longer
room for any doubt respecting them.-
Better even that hundred innocent men
should suffer inconvenience, than that
one traitor should be permitted to pro-
cure and furnish information Or other aid
by which the continuance of the rebellion
should be prolonged for single week.
There is a great cry made now against
the present administration, by its political
opponents, because it has made number
of summary arrests. These politicians de-
mand that it shall only proceed against
those who are known to be traitors. They
oppose all summary proceedings. They
want those suspected OF disloyal practi-
ces to have the benefit of all the tardine IS
of justice in times of ordinary quiet
They denounce the Government for not
making public the grounds of these arrests
in all cases, willfully ignoring the fact
that the public welfare may require such
information to be withheld, and that if
maze public it might give clue to other
spies and rebel agents by which they could
evade the vigilance of the Union authori-
ties. At this time the subject of these
arrests is the most prominent political
topic of the day. An effort is making
throughout the country to combine
the Democratic party in opposition to
them. Let loyal men beware of these
Vaccinations, and of committing them
selves against the government on such an
issue. There are doubtless many cases OF
hardship. But these, as we have said, are
unavoidable. 1t is question between an
occasional arrest and temporary oonfne-
ment of an innocent man, and granting
immunity to the emissaries Of treason
while they plot and betray the Union
cause. No government can be omniscient
No government can avoid occasional abus
es OF its authority by the subordinate
agents appointed to execute its mandates
1t proves nothing against the principle OF
these arrests to show that in exceptional
instances innocent persons have been ar.
rested. or taht federal officers have
sometimes Inexperienced or abused
their powers. Such cases belong
to what are termed by BURKE, 1.-THE
irregular things done in the confusion O.
mighty troubles" They never yet anG
never will form precedent for ordinary
times. But they are among the inevitable
consequences of civil war, when nation
is determined to maintain its existence.
A DIsgrRcefuI Affair.