Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1862-12-01
Special correspondence Of the Chicago Times.
From Washington.

0PEsISG OF THE PRIsoS DooRs. AND RELEASE OF
TAE Worms OF ARBITRARY PowER-DEsTITU-
rIoN IN THE ARMY JUST RELIEvED-PRoeREss
OF THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST RICHMOND.
WASHINGTON, Nov. "a.
The men who now accidentally happen to con-
stitute the Administration, clothed in "lttle
brief authority. play such fantastic tricks before
high Heaven as make the angels weep" OF these
actions, the most tyrannical and the most unjust
is their arbitrary imprisonment Of innocent men,
and the detention of these men in dungeons for
months, for no crime, for no offense, without even
any charge or any accusation being brought
against them The suffering thus caused to these
men, the agony thus brought 20 hundreds of pre-
vously happy families, will never be fully known
until the great day of final reckoning. But the
day will come, and it is not far distant when
enOus of the facts will be brought to light to
cover the Administration, and every member of
it, with load of i1famy compared with which
that which rests upon the memory of Charles the
First and his INSCRIPTIONS Ministers will be light
indeed.
There are dozens of families, once in comfort,
who are now begging their bread, because those
to whom they hook for support have been Ian
gushing for months in the cells of Fort Warren
There are dozens of other families, once in afflu-
ence, the female members OF which earning
a precWiOus subsistence by the labor of their
hands. while their husbands and fathers their
business ruined and broken up are chatting behind
prison bars. Nor are the cases few where the
loss of husband, torn at midnight from the
arms of his wife, has caused reason to totter on
its throne in the delicate organization of the lat
ter A few days ago, a father was permitted to
leave the bastIle for few days, in order that he
might hy to bis desolate home, in a neighborng
CITY, Just in time to stand by the bedside of his
/ do Obi tnop ilo baa rlad
who, but for his just incarceration, might have
lived to be the light and JOY of his house for wears.
She had literally pinned away and died of grief at
| her fathers absence. And this man was one of
the most honOred citizens of the city where he
lived, and one from whose door the poor never
went away empty.
This morning it is announced that the prison
doors open, and that the victims of private
malice and official spite are free to depart Are
We to bow down in. the dust and thank the man
whose name is signed TO the order OF release?
Rather let him tremble; and not him alone. The
Administration cannot, by this tardy act, atone
for the misery they have inflicted, por can they
n bring back the happiness they have ruthlessly
destroyed The punishment of tyrants is sure to
i come: and they cannot escape theirs.
This act of releasing prisoners of State is
mere caprice. There is no more reason for do
ing it now than there was three months or six
I
at first, and there is cause tor the termination
of the confnemeniS now that did not exist then.
The barefaced falsehoods reiterated to the last
moment by Gen. McCleans enemies, in regard
| to the deStitution of hIs army, are now alpable
| to all the world These calumniators denied that
! his troops Sere i'm want of ANYTHING whatever;
they asserted that all of his troops were well sup
piled with clothing aud shoes Now, mark the
truth The correspondents of all the papers, writ
d.. I HI.
Doth inst, mention the arrival every day of long
trains of wagons loaded with these very articles,
and their distribution to the most naked soldiers.
On one day i is blankets that are served ont; on
| another, OvercOats; on another, shoes; on an
other, wooden socks. "The troops" the CORES
pOndenls write, chad long been suffering for the
want of these things, and they now receive them
with cries of JOY" No wonder. poor fellows
But the question is, will those officials who per-
sstently denied that the troops were in want Of
these things ever be brought to punishment for
Withholding them so lOngr
Ii is reported that there is radical disagree
ment between General Halleck and General Burn
side in regard the conduct of the campaign.
The report has been denied; but it is repeated
again to day in "a more authoritative shape | sin
cerely hope it is not true. for nothing would be
more preudicial TO our success just now. The
shape which the story has assumed Is, that Hal
leCk prOnlSeu DufDSlue tuat certain DIVISIONS
should be made by which the attention of a large
portion of General Lees army should be attracted
i'm another direction, 50 that he could march to
Richmond without material obstacle; and, also,
that the President promised Haeck. and the lat
ter assured Burnside, that there should be a naval
force to cooperate with him by the time he reached
| RichmOnd-that Burnside is satisfied that neither
one of these parts of the programme have been or
will be performed-that he has written letter
| to Halleck expressing that belief in plain words,
and asking whether he is expected to take Rich
mOnd alone.
IL is certain that Burnside has found obstacles
in his progress toward Richmond that he did not
expect. IL is certain, toe, that the Government
has at its disposal ample means to insure the sue
cess of this expedition to Richmond. Ii is my
opinion, however, that these means will not be
used. or if used, will be so mismanaged AS to
render them of no avail: and that this expedition.
like all those that have preceded twill be fail
IRE. There is Que way, and only one way, in
which Richmond can be taken; and this expedi
ton has not been planned with reference to that
way. The fact is, this Administration is ncapa-
bic of conducting the war toa successful termina
zion. That fact became evident when a man
utterly ignorant OF the art of war was made Sec
rotary of War. X.