Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1863-06-07
Che Obio 9tatesnran
lFrom the New York World, June Al
General Burnside and the Press,

burDbluo Will bOafColy hBK uOW tnHb Nc HnOul0
"write q book" Coming before the country
In burst of patriotic emotion as respectable
and gallant subaltern officer, General Burnside
expressed his readiness to sacrifice his fortune
to the hope Of going down into history as an
"honest man." II honesty were matter of
the heart alone Il is possible that this hope
might have been fulfilled. But there are aber-
rations of the intellect which pOsitively:cIoud
the moral perceptions; and 1t will be difficult
for those In future times who read the strange
record which this unhappy person has been max
ing for himself ever since his fatal blunder at
Fredericksburg recoiled upon him in deluge
Of loyal blood, to distinguish the calamitie. of
helpless incapacity from the transgressions of
downright moral abliquity. His course n the
case OF Mr.. Vallandigham had already fixed up-
on him the frightful brand which must forever
attach to those who, holding public station,
outrage private rights and public lava In whirl.
wind OF fanatlcal passion. And upon the heels
Of this comes his General order No. "a, forbid
ding the circulation In his department Of the
World, aud commanding the positive suppres-
sion Of the Chicago Times. No comments can
adequately paint the tone and tenor of this sim.
ply unprecedented decree. II speaks for self
and for its author. We hesitate at reproducing
II, because as loyal American citizens we shrink
from giving real "aid and comfort" to the enc
mics -four country by propagating such evidence
of the mental imbecility, the political ignor-
ance, and the despotic passions of a man who
wears the national uniform and has been COM
miesioned to maintain the honor and advance the
interests of our common country But the docu.
ment belongs to the story of our times. No
repentance can recall its madness or relieve ite
author from the enduring consequences of the
thing that he has done. The day will come
when IL will seem to him better that he had
tied milletone about his neck and cast him
self into tho sea; and though we have no wish
TO swell the inevitsble tide Of public scorn which
must eventually overUhelm man who ia per-
hap, as much to be plttied as to be blamed, we
owe Il to oufself and to our readers to lay be-
fore them In the words of General Burnside
himself the dsmning evidences OF his mental
aud moral condition which this order bears up
on its face:
HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE 0HIo,l
CINCINNATI, o., June l, 1863.
General Order No. a.
1. The tendency Of the opinions and articles habit.
ually published in the newspaper known the New
York World being to cast Ieproach upon the Govern
ment, and to weaken It's efforts to suppress the rebellion
by creating disrust In M policy its circulation In
time Of war s calculated to exert pernicious and trea
sonabe influence and is therefore prohibited in this de-
parment.
H. PoStmasters news agents. and all others will gov
ern themselves BY this order any person detected
forwarding, selling or In any way circulating the paper
referred to- will be promptly arrested and held for trial
III. On account OF the repeated expressions OF dis
loyal and incendary sentiments the publication OF the
newspaper known as the Chicsgo Times s hereby sup
pressed.
When some noisy and irresponsible person,
some Wetmore "guiltless Of anybody's blood,'
some clamorous Lacquer flow with insolence and
small bear, raves about the "teDdency Of opin.
ions aud articles" which he never reads, sensi-
Bile men pass tho bsbbler by In silent disdaIn.--
These things We all expect in times of extreme
popular excitement. But the official acts of
the most foolish pereon In tho world are pre-
sumed, and properly presumed, to be done with
some dim sense, at least of responsibility; and
when Major. General Burnside tramp!es the
lave of his country under foot. orders postmas.
ters to violate their duty, and denounces the
Tendencies" of one journal as Calculated to
exert pefnicious and treasonable influence" !"
and the "sentiments" of another 90 "disloyal
aud incondiary," II is both disloyal and incen-
diary, both perniclous and reasonable, to hold
him excused from the most ample and eubstan
tial responsibility for his lIhelOus words and bis
illegal deeds.
IL matters not that General Burnside ia i'm.
potent to prevent the circulation of the New
York World; 1t matters not that in bis attempt
10 suppress the Chicago Times he has been led 60
insult the judiciary and to confront the indignant
public feeling of great States. He ia to be held
to his accountability not for what he has done,
but for what he undertook TO do. Were his
interference with the freedom of the press to
result in violent collision between the SOL
diery under his orders and the people of the
Northwest, upon him would Justly weigh the
responsibility of all the lives that might be
lost In such collision, and Of the terrible un-
settling of all law that must attend IL. When
General Burnside decaers the "tendency" of
articles published in this journal to be "pernl-
oious and reasonable" he states what he knows
to be utterly false. He is guilty of wilIful
and deliberate elander for the sake of excusng
an equally willful and deliberate crime against
the fundamental principles not of American
only, but of all well established liberty. If that
crime should bear the fruit which the array of
armed and angry feeling in Chcogo already
prefgures, upon his head will 1t be.
II 'disoyal and incendiary sentiments" have
been repeatedly expressed In the Chicago Times
there other Is or is not law under which the
expression can be proved, and when proved duly
punished, 1t no such Law exists, nor under the
Constitution framed by men who had lived
through seven years Of fierce and deadly civil
war can possibly exist, Major General Burnside
has no more right than any other man in his de-
partment to make his own opinions and his own
self-will the supplement of our legal system, or
to amend the charter of American liberties BY
o general insertion of Burnside as the national
Providence.
This is so plain thing. 1t appeals 80 distinct
ly and forcibly to every man who can read and
think, that It is perhaps unnecessary to dwell
even for moment upon the sweeping and
senseless terms In which THE sweeping aud
senseless usurpation stands conceived, Yet
what possible liberty of criticism. what possible
opportunity of controlling by opinions govern
ment which is the creature of opinion, have we
left to US If every General in the country can
assume to search the mails, to spy into printing
offices, to confscate property upon the strength
OF his own judgment as to the Tendency" of
pu5lc journals always and everywhere amena-
BILE to the same laws under which Generals are
commissioned and armies are raised2 To call
o spade spade, to say that an officer Who
marches his men TO fat murder 10 unfit for his
post, to question the honesty of contractor, to
expose the mistakes of a politician may very
easlly be proved to indicate the disloyal "ten-
dency" OF any man or any journal, when all the !
proof required is the simple assertion of some
body "dressed in little brief authority" that
he considers that tendency to exist.
Under the orders OF General Burnside every
newspaper In New York must be held TO have o
"disloyal tendency" Here, for instance, we
n-l T. - &C l..