Daily national Republican., 1863-06-23

GIVING INFoRMATION TO THE
ENEMY--A NEW CRNsORsmP.
-FOUR o'OIooIt. r.A


the conductors Of newspapers 20 Tefrein from
publishing anything about tho movements Of
his army, except such matter a. may be author-
lied by his Adjuthnt-aS In the case Of General
Pleasanton's report Of the battlo on Sunday,
which appeared In the REPUBLICAN yesterday
until decisive battle Is fought or the present
active operations are over. This is right. We
have no doubt that the CSrelessness recently
exhibited by the press, in publishing certain
facts, cost us the valuable services Of at least
one whole cavalry regiment. The enemy took
advantage Of information 1t received from our,
papers. This is all wrong.
Now 60 have no doubt that the request Of
General Hooker will be generously complied
with. But why should this rule apply to Gen.
Hooker's immediate command, anG why is SO
much looseness manifested, not by the newt-
papers alone, but by the authorities In furnish
ing the newspapers OF the country with detail
statements tending to injure Gen. Hooker's
operations directly. by the fact that such infor-
nation is exactly what the enemy desires, and
would sacrifice men and money to obtain.
To Illustrate. Yesterday we received q tele-
kIdpulC hlbHhANh udNtu
Among other things 1t stated exactly where
Gen. Mllroy's headquarters werej how many
regiments arrived there from New York on
that day; and what orders the troops were ex-
pectIng. All this We deemed lmprudent to
publish and erased 1t, and inserted che remain
der of the dispatch. The Whole dispatch ap-
peared, however, in all the other evening pa
pers in the country, and in all Of this mornings
papers, including the Chronicle, the very last
journal in which 1t should appear. Besides,
the morning papers of to-day inform the enemy
exactly where Gen. Couch is located, how far
he has advanced into Maryland, and ioIdt he
eontemplitsS doing, and precisely where Gen.
Knpc's command is; the whereabouts Of Gen
Kelley, and what he is doing; the situation Of
Gen. Tyler at Harper's Ferry and Maryland
Heights, aud all about Gen. schenck's move
ments in Baltimore All these commanders
are cooperating with Gen. Hooker against the
common enemy. ...
Nearly all Of this information Is communi-
Gated by telegraph, and We are sorry to observe
that much Of 1t is dated Harrisburg. Is II fur
nished by the State Government II so, is
there no military censor at Harrisburg1 Ifso,
is he a copperhead, and does he desire 10 invite
a corps ef Leo's veteran army to attack the
comparatively green troops now concentrating
in and about the capital Of Pennsylvania
Nearly all of the papers Of this morning are
filed with Information that should never see
daylight in loyal newspaper. all publishers
are liable, occasionally, in a state Of confusion
like the present, to publish facts that we would
have suppressed had we observed them in sea-
son. That is eXcusable.
But as q general rule in a crisis like that
now upon us, we should not ease our con.
sciences with the assertion, often made, that
" The Censor aIlOtDsd Il to come ,Ver tie p.rssj
zoe are rot rCsponsiJle." Out upon such talk
We are responsible, every one OF us, for every
thing that wo do or sAy, tending In che IOaSt ID
give information to the enemy of the strength
and whereabouts OF our army. The very in
formation which we received from Harrisburg
yesterday, alluded to above, and which we sup
pressed, came through the Associated Press
agents, in Harrisburg and this city, over mill,
tary wires, (for all the wires of the country are
in possession Of the Government and lOdS no!
stopped Jv The military Cen,or IL this city. But
it don't follow that VIC are any the less respon
sible, or that it should have been published by
MS. Our Judgment was that It should not bC
= published, and we suppressed 1t.
Il was only few days ago that one of oul
assistants clipped from one of the morning pa
pers information to which we were entitled, By
the fact that 1t appeared in the Associated Presi
department, and published 1t on our outside
, 1t was clearly information for the enemy.
was transferred to the REPUBLICAN carelessly
as 1t undoubtedly was to the columns of hun
dreds ofother papers, for 1t was published ia
and wide But there is little doubt that tn
person who wrote it, and managed to get It e1
dorsed by the Associated Press, to cover hi
; own wicked tracks, did It for malicious pur
! poses. We believe he has been apprehended
We hopo.s so at least.
Now, the only remedy for all this mischief
which is frequently the result Of carelessness
Is
lst. For the commanders of all the depart
ments to unite in Issuing one general order, o
as many orders as there are departments, eac
to embrace the same general request to the pub
: fishers of all journals in the loyal States, h
E suppress all information concerning the locA
f tiou ard strength of our troops at all times
until the rebellion Is put down, unless sane
=, toned by the proper military authorities.
= cd. Let the Government Issue at least on
"war bulletin" each day, for tho benefit of tn
press and the peoples and authorize the com
manders ordepartments, wherever active oper
atlons may be going on, to do likewise.
d Sd Let all publishers Of newspapers agre
> to suppress everything relating to the move
; ments Of the Union army not obtained in ac
J., cordauce with these rules.
4th. Suppress any and every paper that vic
> latcs these rules.
b. porusing this course a censorship will b
established IL every newspaper office IN the coln
l. try, a hundred times ret er moH The present 81,
tenn. Editors will not be careless. Each put
a Usher will be made to feel responsibility tina
he has urver felt before; and moro than this
"a and better than all, there will grow up rela
=, ton Of harmony between the military author
ties aud the press, that has never existed durln
this war, to the extent that It should.