Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1864-09-08
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1864.
THE pERvERsIoN OF PUBLIC JUSTICE.

THE PERvERsIoN OF PUBLIC JUSTICE.
We briefly announced a few days ago, on the
authority of the New York Times, that Joseph
Howard, jr, the forger Of the pretended Presiden-
tial proclamation appointing day of fasting and
prayer throughout the Loyal States and ordering
draft for 100000 men, and for innoccntly pub
fishing which two respectable newspapers in New
York were temporarily suppressed, had been re-
leased from his detention in Fort Lafayette with
out any proceedings being instituted against him
for his legal conviction Of the great crime commit
ted by him against public decency, against the
peace and dignity Of the Government, and against
the laws of the land. sa
We know of no case which more signally marks
the decadence of public virtue the part of those
charged with the enforcement Of the laws than
the compounding with felony exhibited in this
transaction. The ordinary distinctions of right
and Of wrong, of guilt and Of innocence, seem to
be COMPOUNDED in the minds Of our rulers, and in
the place Of that immutable and impersonal justice
which is terror to evil doers while it is deferce
to the good, We have installed in the high places
Of the land tickle and partial caprice which makes
one class Of offenders the victims of its resentmens
and smother class the benefciaries of its favor.
When criminals ike Howard go " unwhipped of
Justice" and offences like his are compounded by
pardon even before they are brought to the scru-
tiny Of the courts, while other persons arraigr-
ed before military commissions on the charge of
offences unknown to the laws, or, if known such,
made cognisable only by the civil courts who does
not see that We live under government Of men,
) and no longer under a government Of. lauss
q" Judgment is turned away backward, and justice
standeth afar off; for truth is fallen in the street,
and equity cannot enter" The laws are no re-
specters Of persons, but in the administration of
\ the Government at the present time respect
constantly paid to persons, now by the exercise of
undue rigor and now by the exercise of undue Gle
mency, according to the whim, will, or pleasure of
men alike in civil and in military command.
The President of the United States is bound by
the obligations of bis ofce /" to take that the
laws be faithfully executed" Can President Lin
coin claim to take any "care" for the fuflment of
this solemn and sacred duty when he grants to no
itorious criminals like Howard a dispensation not
only from the penalties of the laws which he in
fringed, but even from prosecution for his offences
before the courts Of the land For we presume
his release from detention in Fort Lafayette is not
to be followed by any effort Of the Government to
bring him to trial and punishment in the way mark
ed out by the laws, unless perchance q salutary
sense Of the popular indignation at this high dere-
LECTION of official duty should subsequently seem to
make it expedcnt to proceed against him in re-
gulr way
We do not need to inform our readers that the
statutes Of the United States provide for the pun
ishment Of offences such as Howard committed,
though they do not provide for the military sup
preston of newspapers which are made the victim
OF forgeries. This man has confessed that he fab
ricated his spurious proclamation in order tempo
rary to dshearten the country and raise the price
= Of gold. The Administration showed Cor seemed
to show its sense of his crime by his summary ar
rest and imprisonment in Fort Lafayette. If How
B ard did any thing which rendered him liable to
arrest and imprisonment it was something done
in violation Of law, and as his forgery was eyi-
IDENTIFY designed to "give aid and comfort to the
existing rebellion or nsurrecion,' it is easy to see
that the laws Of Congress have made express pro-
vision to meet his case. The act of July IL, 1862,
in its second section ordains that off any person
shall hereafter engage in or give aid and comfort
to the existing rebellion or instruction, and be
convicted thereof, such person shall be punished
by imprisonment for period not exceeding ten
years, or by fine not exceeding ten thousand dol
lars" &c. The third section of the same act pro-
vides that every person convicted under it shall be
"forever incapable and disqualified to hold any
Office under tho United States" The processes
by which this law is to be administered against
offenders are also clearly defined in the closing sec
tion Of the act giving to III, courts Of the United
States "full power to institute proceedings, make
orders and DEGREES, issue process, and do all other
things necessary to carry this act into effect"
W. In the case Of Howard this law has been delibe-
rately ignored. The manner Of his arrest and inn
prisonrent was in contempt Of this law, and after
its form was thus treated with despite, its SUBJ
stance has been trampled under foot by the impu-
nifty allowed TO its trangressor Justice is no
longer administered by tho Administration with
any regard either to the forms or the substance Of
the statutes but men are punished sothoat law, OF
permitted to 90 unpunshed ogainst law, in equal
conkarort of pcraonal RIGHTS and af ,,,,bl; :; :..;