Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1864-05-30
STATE OF INV YORK, }
EXECUTIVE ULFAkIMkNFs
Albany. Nav % 1854

ALBANY, May D, lS64S
To A. Oakley Hall, Esq, District Attorney of
the County Of Nep York:
SIR: / am advised that on the 18th instant the
Office of the Journal of Commerce and that of
the New York World were entered by armed men,
the property of the owners seized, and the prem
ises held by force for several days. 1t is charged
that these acts OF violence were done without due
legal process and without the sanction of State
or national laws.
If this be true the offenders must be pun
ished.
In the month of July last, when New York
was a scene of violence. | gave warning "that
the laws of the State must be enforced, its
peace and order maintained, and the property of
its citizens protected at every hazard" The
laws were enforced at a fearful cost of blood and
life.
The declaration l then made was not intended
merely for that occasion or against any class Of
men. 1t il one of an enduring character. to be
asserted at all times and against all conditions of
citizens, without favor or distinction. Unless all
are made to bow to the law, it will be respected
by none. Unless all are made secure IN their
rights of person and property. none can be pro-
tected. If the owners of the above namedjOur-
nails have violated state or national laws, they
must be proceeded against and punished by those
laws. ANY action against them outside Of legal
procedures is criminal. At this time of civil war
and disorder, the majesty of the law must be
upheld or society will sink into anarchy. Our
soldiers in the field will battle IN vain for consti-
tusional liberty, il persons or property or opinions
are trampled upon at home. We must not give
up home freedom, and thus disgrace the Ameri-
can character, while our citizens in the army are
pouring out their blood to maintain the national
honor. They must not find when they come
back that their personal and freside rights have
been despoiled.
In addition to the general obligation to enforce
the laws Of the land, there are local reasons why
they must be upheld in the city o. New York.
If they are not, its commerce and greatness will
be broken down. If this great center of wealth,
business. and enterprise is thrown into disorder
and bankruptcy, the National Government will
be paralyzed. What makes New York the heart
of our country7 Why are its pulsations felt at
the extremities of our landl Not through its
position alone, but because Of the worldwide be-
lief that property is safe within its lin.its from
waste by mobs and from spoliation by Govern
ment. The laborers in the workshop, the mine,
and ia tue field, on this continent and in every
other part of the globe, send TO It's merchants,
for sale or exchange, the products of their toll.
These merchants are made the trustees of the
wealth of millions living in every land. because
il is believed that in their hands property Is safe
under the shield of laws administered upon prin-
ciple and according TO known usages. This
great CounoCuOC a EtOhh " III ~ Va
many years, by virtue of a pains-taking. honest
performance OF duty by the business men Of your
city. In this they have been aided by the en-
forcement of laws based upon the s%olemniy re-
corded pledges that 1.-THE right Of the people TO
be secure in their persons, houses, papers aud ef.
fects, against unreasonable searches and seizures,
shall not be violated. and that no one shall be
deprived Of liberty or property without due pro-
cess of law"
For more than eighty years have we as a peo-
pie been building up this universal faith in the
s%anctity of our Jurisprudence. IL is this which
carries our upon every ocean and
brings back to our merchants the wealth Of every
CLINE. It is now charged that, in utter disre-
gard of the sensitiveness Of that faith, at q mo-
ment when the national credit is undergoing .
fearful trial, the organs Of are sci zed
and held, in violation of constitutional pledges,
that this act was done in a public mart Of your
great city, and was thus forced upon the notice
OF the commercial agents of the world, and they
were shown in an offensive way that property is
seized by military force and arbitrary orders
These things are more hurtful 20 the national
honor and strength than the loss of battles The
world will c~onfound such acts with the princi-
ples of our government, and the folly and crimes
Of ffcials will be looked upon as the natural re
suits of the spirit of our institutions. Our State
and local authorities must repel this ruinous IL
ference. 1.-THE merchants Of New York are not
willing to have their harbor sealed mp and their