Pomeroy weekly telegraph. [volume] (Pomeroy, Meigs County, Ohio) 1860-1866, 1862-03-14
From tle New York Tribune.

We never gave, and expect never to
give, beartier welcome to any docu.
ment than to the General Order by
which the Secretary of War, IN behalf
OF the President, announces that the
reign Of lswless dcspotism is ended, and
that no person is henceforth to be in
carcerated or retained in q military
BaStIle without other warrant than the
mere order of Minister of State. The
President could do nothing else SO we'll
calculated to commend him to the con
hdence and esteem of the great body of
the American People as he has done in
authorizing the issue Of this Order.
1t was proper to cali attention to the
perilous condition Of the COUNT at the
,i'ue the extreme measure of practically
suspending the habeas corpus was re-
sorted to. No loyal and reasonable man
doubts that necessity, nor hesitates to
approve the assumption and exercise of
dictatorial power in such a crisis as that
Of the sudden isolation of the Mctropo-
lis by conspiracy, riot, and murder in
Baltimore, by the burning of railroad
bridges aud destruction of telegraph
wires ~ith the full ascent of the traitor
oas authorities Of the Monumental City
and the acquicsccncc if not active CO.
operation Of the Governor of Maryland.
Had the President, in that dark and
pvrilous hour. seen fit to shoot without
judge or jury dozen of the traitor
emissaries and spies who infested Wash
ington, and send Ave hundred more of
them to prison, the heart of the Nation
wonld have promptly responded, Well
done! even though some disloyal Judges
of high degree had been included in the
sweep. There is no complaint, save
among the Breckinridges, vallandig
hams. &C., whose censure is praise that
the President assumed too much power
in the agony of this struggle for the
National life. nor that he welded his
extraordinary powers too vigorously
while the crisis continued aud within
the scope of the actual danger
But there is peril in every assumption
Of extraordinary power--peril of per-
version, of undue extension, and Of un-
reasonable prolongation. The love OF
power Is so strong passion that it is
difficult to make the actual wielder per-
ceive aud respect the demarkation which
separates vigor from tyranny. To have
declared the District of Columbia in a
state of siege and placed all Maryland
under martial law last April would have
been plainly and amply justifa Bile; while
to seize and incarcerate men on the mere
warrant Of n Secretary in New York
Connecticut, and even Vermont, at no
time necessary, has for months been ma
ked aud atroeious despotism. Mind
that we arc not questioning the existence
of the machinatiuns Of traitors, even in
New England, nor disputing the propri-
ETY. of arresting convicting, and punish
ing them; but it were a. base libel on the
people Of the Free States to pretend that
the state of opinion among them has for
months been lch as to interpose any
obstacle to the conviction and punish
mcnt of traitors and their emissarics ac-
cording to the forms Of law. 1t is pre-
cisely because they should be punished
and readily may bc-that VIC protest
against a treatment which commends
them to popular sympathy when they
should, if guilty, be exposed to general
dctestation. To seize, on the one sided
testimony Of caves -droppers and secret
informers-who may be impelled by pri
rate malicc-citizcns ofthoroughly loya'
States, and hurry them to military
dungeon where no process can reach anl
no proof of Innocence avail them, is an
unwarranted impsaeh newt Of the loyalty
of the communities thus subjected ts
Austrian rule, and an implication that
their patriotism is no safeguard for thcil
liberties. 1t is a grave mistake to sub
jcct citizens Of decided standing and in
Auence to this harsh discipline; but wher
the public burdens are increased to covel
the Imprisonment on arbitrary warrant:
of railway newsboys, strolling spouters
Of dubious character or none at all, an,
ordinary bar-room brawlers, the judg
ment of the community is affronted BY
the spectacle of machinery fitted only t,
crush giant employed to ensnare a fly
The country will thank the Secretary o
War most heartily for his agency in de
molishing this most needless, mischiev
GUS, and odious machinery Of despotisn
and restoring the bcnignant supremac,
of law guarded liberty Such proof o
the boneicent results of an infusion o
new blood into the Cabinet will intensif,
the general desire that the eSperiMen
be speedily repeated.
Yet word to Mr.. Stanton on sub
ject that comes home more immediatel,
to his personal sphere Of duty than th'
clearing Of the Bsstiles which he ha
had no hand in Glling. Some thre'
mouths ago, Gen. Justus Mckinstr,
was arrested while in command Of hi
brigade and closely immured in Mis-
souri, prison on charges Git is under
stood) of peculation, though neither
the accused nor any of his friends hav,
been permitted to know what they are
That he is military prisoner, held BY
order Of the War Department or some
one Of its subordinates, is pretty Ger.
tain; since an attempt to indict him be
fore a st. Louis Grand Jury is said t.
have been unsuccessful. Now we know
nothing of the guilt or innocence of Gen
Mckinstry, any more than of that o
any of the hundreds whom Mr.. Stan
toms order is about to liberate from i'm
prisonment on suspicion Of treason. ]
Gen. Nick. has conspired TO rob the ma
tion while holding q responsible posi-
ton in her service, we want him con
vieted and punished in the most signal
and summary manner: we do not kro7
him from Adam, and have no possibl
interest in his case but that which W
should feel for any one who seemed t
be unjustly dealt with. May We nc