Daily State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1864-05-31

The Editor of the New York World
an the President OF the a. states.

To HIS EreeLenes. abraham Lincoln. President
Of the United States:
SR:-"That the King can do no wrong Is the
theory Of monarchy. IL Is the theory of a con
stitutiOnal republic that it, chief magistrate may
DO wrong. In the former the ministry are re-
spOnsible for the Kings acts. In the latter the
President Is responsible for the acts Of his minis
tiers. Our Constitution admits that the Presi-
dent may err in providing for judgment upon
his doings by the people. in regular elections
In providing for bis impeachment, il admits that
he may be guilty Of crimes.
In government OF laws, and not of men, the
most obscure citizen may without indecorum adj
dress himself 10 the Chief Magistrate, when to
the Constitution whence you derive your tempo
rary power and he the guaranty Of his perpetual
rights, he has constantly paid his unquestiOning
loyalty. and when to the laws. which your duty
Is 70 care for faithful execution of, he has
dered entire obedience.
If the matter of his address be that In his per-
son, property and rights, the Constitution has
been dIsregarded and the laws disobeyed: il its
appeal to the principles of justice be more
earnest than the socitude Of its regard for
truth, and IL the manner of his address be no
less temperate than firm, he does not need court
IL phrases TO prOpitiate attentive hearing from
a magistrate who loves his country her institu
tons and her laws.
In the World Of last Wednesday morning was
published proclamation. purporting to be signed
by your Excelency and countersigned by the
Secretary Of State, appointing day of fasting
and prayer. and calling into military service by
volunteering and draft four hundred thousand
citizens between the ages of eighteen and forty
i've. That proclamation was forgery, written
by person who, ever since your departure from
Springfield for Washington in 1861 has enjoyed
private as well as public opportunities for learn
ing to counterfeit yonr speech and style, and
whose services for years as a CITY editor of the
New York Times and upon the New York Tri-
bune acquainted him with the entire newspaper
machinery of the city. and enabled him TO insert
his clever forgery into the regular channels by
which we receive news, at time when compe.
tent inspection of its genuineness was impossible,
and suspicion of its authenticity was improbable.
The manifold paper. resembling in all respects
that upon which we nightly receive from our
agents news, and from the Government itself or
ders, announcements and proclamations was left
with night clerk about or 4 O'Clock in the
morning, after the departure of every responsible
editor. and was at once passed into the hands OF
the printers, put in type. and published. No
newspaper in the country but would have been
deceived as we were!
Our misfortune was complete At an early
hour, however before the business of the city
had fairly begun, il was discovered that we had
been imposed upon, and were being made 70 ap-
pear the instruments of a deception of the pub
lie. There was no delay in vindcating our char
acter. Our whole machinery for spreading news
was set in motion instantly to.announce that we
had been deceived by forgery-that your Ex-
ceency had issued no proclamation. The sale
of papers over our counters was stopped. Our
bundles to the Scotia, bound for Europe that day
were stopped. The owners and purser's files
we're stopped. News room bundles and file.
were stopped and the agent of the line was in
formed that the proclamation was forgery
Our printers AMI Dressmen were brought from
their homes and beds to put in type and publish
the news OF our misfortune Our bulletin boards
were pacarded with the offer of reward for the
discovery of the forger; and to the agent of the
Associated Press | sent a telegram rect:ng all
the facts for him to transmit at once to nearly
every daily paper in the North, from Maine to
California. Thus before the Scotia sailed before
your Secretary of State had officially branded
the forgery, the wings which we had given to
Truth had enabled Der TO outstrip everywhere the
Falsehood we had unwittiugly set on foot, and
in many places the truth arrived before the forger
had come to tell his tale.
For any injury done to ourselves, to the Gov
eminent, or the public this publicity was
ample antidote. 1t indeed made injury i'm
possible.
But the insult to your Excelency was the
greater in proportion to the eminence of your
station. Early in the afternoon OF Wednesday,
therefore, went with Mr.. VIM. c. Prime the
chief editor of the Journal of Commerce, which
had been deceived precisely as we were, to the
headquarters OF the Department of the East, and
we laid before the commanding General every
clue in our possession which could lead TO
the discovery OF the guilty persons. All the facts
above recited were telegraphed at once to YOU
through the Secretary of War by General Dix.
| assert our utter blameessness. | assert, more
over that | have never known "a mind so pre-
JUDGED in which acquaintance with these facts
would not enforce the conviction of our utter
blamelessness.
Here was the absence of an intent to do
wrong; here antidote for an injury un-
willingly assisted, more complete and effectual
than the injury itself; here alacrity 10 search
of the wrong doer and assistance rendered to
your subordinate TO discover the author of the
insult done to you.
With these facts set fully before YOU bv the
General commanding this department. you
reiterated an order for my arrest and imprsOn
ment in Fort Lafayette; for the seizure and oc-
cupation of the World Office by a military guard.
and the suppression of its publications The
Journal of Commerce. its editors and publishers,
included in the same order.
| believe, though cannot state of my own
assertion of our entire blamelessness il was
owing that the order for arrest and incarcera-
ton was rescinded But the order for the sup
preston Of the World was not rescinded Under
your orders General Dix sent strong military
force to its publication office and editorial rooms,
who elected their occupants, and for two DAYS
and three nights held possession there. iniuring
and abstract,ng some OF their contents and per-
hitting TO cross the threshold.
Not until Saturday morning did this occupa-
ton cease Not until to day has the World been
hear, its absence has been moreieloquent than
its columns could ever be.
To characterize these proceedings as unprece-
dented, would be 10 forget the past history OF
your administration: and 10 characterize them as
shocking TO every mind would be TO disregard
that principle of human nature from which il
arises that men submitting once and again to
lawess cncroachments of power, with every in
PERMISSION of vigilance which should be con-
tinual, lose something of the old. free keen sense
of their true nature and real danger
CHARLES was doubtless advised to. and ap-
plauded for. the crimes by which he lost BIS
crown and life. Nor can YOU do any such out.
rageous, oppressive, and unjust thing that il
will not be applauded by those whose prosperity
and power you have created and may DESTROY
To characterize these proceedings as arbitrary.
illegal, and unconstitutional, would seem. If such
weighty words have not been emptied of all sig
nifcance to beft better hour At which YOU
have not arrived, aud place where not public
c,,,,c, h,. aufboritv az law l. af.ar -,