The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1863-02-07
. 'sLibeFsy Of tho Press.''
Jrem the Cincinnati Commercial.

NnR. Inoy nave teIredteo e0utn ward mr.
lJ sial4s sklbersy OF tho Press." 49,, .
,,si.s,a From the Cincinnati Commercial.
The arrest of the proprietor Of Philadel.
phia Newspaper, BY the Provost Guard of that
city, upon a9militsry order, for the publiea.
ton of alleged reasonable matter, has excited
. good deal of discussion, The Journals that
have lstterly devoted themselves to the sdvo-
denounce bitterly and de6ently the action tax
for the largest liberty Of speech, and deny
there exists any rightful authority in the Union
for the restriction Of the 'liberty Of the press
According to our information, the Philadel-
phis Journal has beer published by an amia-
bic sort Or person Of very little conse-
quencs, and has attracted attention merely as
the organ Of . clique of secession sympsthi-
GERS, who do not hesitate to avow their anxiety
for the failure Of the Federal Government in
the struggle in which tits engaged. The
Journal has been used in their effusions--
some as editorials, others - concentrations
and the sdherents Of the cause of the Southern
rebellion have been, ordering large editions Of
the sheet and sending it in bundles to the ar
N.Y. with the express purpose Of demon
alizing the soldiers and melting them to
mutiny. Whether the Government has a right
to remove such weapon from the hands of
ito enemies seems to be the question. itf .a
4 We do not propose to discuss this question
in allits bearings, but would invite the atten
ton of those who are for the moment the most
Jealous champions for the .Liberty of the
Press" unqualified by the conditions of war.
to consideration of their logic, and of some of
the consequences involved .na... & sys8t
If the cause of the rebels has become "holy, .
as the Hamilton tOhio) True Telegraph very
distinctly intimates--if the Union soldiers on
"Southern soil" are engaged in "a John Brown
raid" and ought to be welcomed with bloody
hands to hospitable graves" as the Ashland 70 J
Union says ;sif the secession of State ia q
right, and the coercion of State crime UNI,
der the Constitution, as the Cincinnati Enquirer
argues, that which We have called treason is the
expression Of the highest political virtue, ysnd
that Union we have called loyalty is the real
oaense against the rights of man and the peace
of America. If there 10 to be no restriction
placed upon utterances tantamount to this; if it
would be patriotism in our armies to turn their
arms against the Government they have sworn
TO support, and righteousness in the people to
rebel against the constituted authorities they
have elected and inaugurated-why should not
John NJ. Daniels, of tue Richmond Examiner,
and John Forsyth, of the Mobile Register, move
into New York, or Ohio, and issue their news-
papers where they would be able to enlarge
their circle Of readers, and do the Federal Gov
eminent more damage than they can in their
present position? Why should not Alexander.
Walker be called back to the Enqurer Office, to
advocate, without circumlocution, the cause of
the Southern Confedsraey? Why should not
Geo. N. Sanders, who has been negotiating in
Europe for British pirates to prey upon the
commerce of the United States, and writing
letters to his--oId political associates and per.
sonal friendssin the North, urging the repudia-
ton Of our national debt and the total disrup-
ton of the bonds, of Union, be permitted to
come North. re-estsblish has once famous "Dem-
ocratic Review" to advocate, 10 the ford style
of which he is master, the benefits of British
piracy and the beauties of disunon! If IN .
qualified liberty of the press is the thing essen
tial, Haldeman, Mckee, and Kirk, of the late
Louisville Courier, are wasting their time with.
10 the military lines of the Southern Confedera-
cy. They should return to Louisville, resume
the publication of the Courier, and preach to
Kentuckians the glories of the Richmond dis.
pensation under the Black Constitution, the be-
nightly of guerrilla warfare, the Justification Of
the assassination Of the soldiers OF the United
States, and the commercial advantages to the
West of steamboat burning on the Cumberland.
Why not summon back the old editors of the
late Nashville Union and American to the places
they vacated nearly year ago, when the i'm
preston prevailed that there was war in the
land, and put them to work printing matter for
circulation in General Rosecrans' army? They
might get up q series of veiy interesting politi-
cal tracts for distribution amoug the private
soldiers % /, a.,7 srg ,sa ,... ~ a.,t.,s
The secessionists Of the South, az ia well
known, have spent good deal of money in reg
ulating the European press If We are to have
perfect liberty of the press in the States stand
ing by the UAioD cause in America, are not our
Southern brethren neglecting the fairest field
for operations ever open to enterprising political
missionaries? Or are we at liberty to assume
that they have not already avaed themselves
of the opportunities afforded? Can We fairly
presume, that men SO sagacous and energetic
"a the secessionists South have shown them
selves, have thus far overlooked the Northern
press as an engine at their service?, May we
not iegitimately reason the question whether the
loutcry about the liberty Of the Press, is not
swelled by those representing stock taken by
agents of the Richmded Government in the
Northern Press? As to this however, the prob.
ability, We have no disposition to deny, is that
but very little, If any, of the Southern Conspi-
rators' secret service fund, has been invested in
the Northern newspapers, as the course of a
portion of the press has been, without money
DR. price, all that JEFF Davis himself could ask.
l., We can not conclude without calling attention
to another case of the restriction of the liberties
Iiof our journals, perhaps even worse (if that ia
the proper style of expressing the fact) than that
4 L n. ILL a.