, 1864-06-01
Nbtfa9a Qrib11tle.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE /, 1864.
rs xr A CRIME TO STOP A CRIME

WEUNEauA14 JUNE !, Io03.
Is TT A CRIME TO STOP A CRlmE7
Governor Seymour has written q bcllicose
letter to District Attorney Hall, relatlve to
tic temporary suppression OF the New York
Wor1d and 5ou,n nal Of Commerce, which might
look to one who did not know how the
Governors .Jo7fler In mo<lc, always dwindlcs
down into sIapiter in re, rs II a collision
between the State OF New York and the
General Government were imminent lhe
Governor paradcs the language of the Con:
stItution relative to unreasonable searches
and selzurcs,'' With the existence Of which
1t Ia to be presumed the President Is
familiar.
Acting On no more violent preeunpn ion than
thnt whit every body knows the President is
aware Of, it ia probable that the Ptesident
did not see that the above provision would
at al conflict with the seizure of the persons
of those engaged in publishing the World
and Journal Of Commerce, and the Temporary
suppression Of those two papers. As the
President and his advisers are lawyers Of
some note. while the Governor is farmer OF
no particular celebrity except In raising very
fine "short-horns," and II .shauliug In"
his own, to the same standard, 1t is possible,
that the Governor may not see law point
which differs so materially In its texture
from the points of horned cattle with which
he fe more familiar.
The case stands briefly thus: Every exec
utlvc officer, from the President down in
cludlng every marshal, sheriff and constable,
orpatrolliDg policeman, has the right, upon
the eyidonce Of his own eyes, to seize the
person and effects of any one rhom he 4fnds
in The at of committing crime. He is pun
ishablc II he does not No complaint before
magistrate or warrant issued is necessary,
in such case, because the interests Of Justice
aso subocrved rather by forclb1y stopping
the act while 1t Is being committed, at the
risk Of Temporary injustice to persons ap-
parcnt1T guilty, but who may afterwards
provo to be really innocent, than by per-
mittiug the commission of the crime to pro-
coed to its completion, und the actors In the
crime peschance to escaDe, while the com.
plaint Is being made or process issued The
constitutional provision against ''unreason-
able searches and Seizures OF arrests
without due process Of law in NO way
conflicts with the well recognized
law existing in all nations which Allows
the executive officer, who is personally
cognizant Of the commission OF q crime to
arrest the perpetrator and hold him, without
warrant until he can be indicted if an indict-
ment shall be deemed advisable by the pro-
secution. or discharge him without COM
plaint II his own investigation shall satisfy
tho a11esting Office, that that which appeared
lko the at ot committing crime, Is consis-
tent with the innocence Of the party arrest
ed, and that he is actually innocent. a tam
i!iar illustration is where person Was found
in the act Of Withdrawing the murderous
weapon from the death wound Of murder.
ed man Hcre an officer or even private citi.
zen would be Justified without wait
ing for complaint or warrant, in ar.
resting the person 60 found. Seger.
theless tie wound may prove to have
been inflicted By former person or BY the
deceased himself In such event m inno-
cent person has been lawfully arrested, with
ont any "process," and the person who az
rested him would, If m officer, stnnd abso.
lute1y justified, and II merely q citizen he
would stand practically justified Ecforc the
law, by the fact that It would be the legal
duty Of any tribunal before whom he might
be tried or prosecuted to visit The technical
ot1ense Of ar1esting any innocant person un-
der such circumstances with no damages or
punishment. Applying these genera princi-
pies familiar to us I'll, to the case in point:
A crime WIS being committed by the pro-
prietors Of the Wor1d and sournal Of Com.
mesec A forged paper pretending to be 4
proclamation Of the President, was being
published. Part of the editions containing
It hnd already been published and part. to
wit, the weekly was yet to be published. II
the publication Of the forgery was q crime,
then every revolution of the cylinder, aud
every delivery Of paper from the Office was
arepetitlon Of the crime. by the proprietors
OF those papers. Tie press with which the
forgery was being printed was but the wea-
pon Of the criminal, as liable to be seized and
stopped .hagrantt delietc, @s the aimed gun or
tho brandished knife.
We have said crime wns being
committed. It was combination oi
crimes. In time Of war it was lend
ing aid and comfort to fhc enemy
THIS al the authorities declare to be al
overt act Of treason. It wes Libel, the pub
1ication Of which, whether against chic
magistrate or private citizen, is q crime
It was part Of 3 conspiracy to detFaud th'
public on the stock market. But beyond al
cayfl or denial, 1t was a forgery, The perusa
of the article and Ills own Knowledge that i
was forrery. placed the President in the no
s1tion of an executive officer. before who's
eyes and to whose positive knowl
edge hnd been perpctsatcd four crime
in one, and two of them telonies, on
oithem the highest crime known to the laws o
any uat3on-and that fouriold crime still i,
sano..:a - ~ xran11 ho.a y;a,s.aa it, ama;c
oaty, r. he han nat nromnt,v arrested thc an
narcnt,x entity narf1cs and scized The rxca
nons of t3,cir crime ne did so. Tho nnh
1,s,c,s f1he 7,a,,ers and tncir nresses !va-,
arrested They claim that they we're them
selves deceived end ho1xed, and. therefore
pcrfo,mcd the criminal act without criminal
intent Ia this mar lie trnc NC are conten,
to admit tf,at It is trne. Has there heen an,
w,onc, dime cxcent In the President the nao
n1e md the Nation > None w1aterer Hes
1,,ere hecp env c,;,ne committed exccn1 In
4cnt,on,11V ,,r the author and nntntcnt,on
a1,v bv the nDb1ishcrs -, tbis treason ,h1c fnr
ocrvg None 1vbatcver The oct;or ~ ~,
Pncefacnt WINS in n1,so1ntc conformitv tn 1,c1
settled and uniyessallt recognized law
VIII the Governor Of the State Of New Yors
attempt to get up war between the militl
OF the State Of New York and the fnrccs O
the general Government On such an issue
We think not The wisest thing Governo
Seymour can do under the circumstances il