Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1864-07-25
From The New York World. !


1t has become a matter of notoriety that
the administration has prostituted the post
Office system of the United States to its own
personal and political purposes to such an
extent that no one is certain of the safety
of money, or of the inviolability of private
communications, when committed to the
keeping of the mails. True to its practice
of violating every personal liberty or right
hitherto held sacred in governments and
communities, the administration now arro-
gates to itself the indecent privilege OF
tampering with the correspondence of citi-
zens; and, to crafty its malicious hate
against men who dare honestly to criticise
and oppose measures which they deem cor
rupt and imbecile, has established a system
of espionage over the mails as mean and
shameless as it is possible for the origina-
tors to make it,
The prominent men of the country who
oppose Mr.. Lincoln and his policy now take
it as q matter of course that their letters
will be opened, and though writing nothing
that they would be unwilling that govern
ment officials should read, if they had any
business to do so, find great inconvenience
In the fact that their letters are on this ac-
count delayed two or three days beyond
the usual time of mail delivery, Oftentimes
to the great detriment of their business,
and sometimes are not delivered at all.
TAMPERING WITH DISTRICT ATTORNEY HALL s
LETTERS.
This matter was first brought to public
notice by District Attorney Halls letter to
one of the city papers, explaining the reason
of the non-receipt by mail OF Governor
Seymour's letter to him in reference to the
proceedings taken in the matter of The
World and Journal Of Commerce. 1t appears
hot n SnUp1nIIp'S 1nttnr
lished in The argus, and came on in that pa
per to New York before the original copy
reached the district attorney by mail. Dis
trict Attorney Hall published a note at the
time directly accusing the Albany Post
master with opening his letters and prov
ing it. The postmaster at Albany is the
editor of The Euening Journal, and he has
not, we believe, yet attempted an eXplana-
tion of this charge by District Attorney
Hall. ..... .,... i.
THE ORIGIN OF THE sNEAK-THIEF BUSINESS.
The tamperIng with the mails probably
had its origin i'm the belief that grand Or
ganizatiOn, ''tremendu-Ous and fierce to be-
hold" existed i'm the North. The adminis-
tration no doubt experienced one of its
periodical ''scares" from graphic history
and exposure of an organization called the
Knights of the Golden Circle published by
some unreliable and malicious partisan pa
per, and which was wholly an effort of
Imagination; and it invented grand scheme
to capture this mares nest. OF course, it
was commenced, as every other abuse has
been, under the plea of public necessity.
SEIZURE OF TELEGRAPHIC DISPATCHES.
The first grand coup de main which was
known to the public, was the seizure in this
city of all the telegraphic dispatches which
4 Lso aos,, A,,,
to May /. 1861. The seizures were made by
] Marshal Murray and Superintendent Ken
nedy simultaneously at all the offices. The
documents seized were voluminous, and no
doubt the officials had pleasant time look
ing them over; but nothing came of them.
This seizure was made May 2l, 1861, by or
ders from Washington. ~. .H. ..
THE GREAT MEAL-TUB PLOT.
An espionage of the mails was, no
doubt, arranged by Mr.. Seward and Mont
gomery Blair the two head spirits of the
administration, and it was found extremely
interesting and convenient to open the pri-
vate letters of persons of whom they were
Jealous or suspicious, and thus to Judge of
their secret sympathies. The members of
the opposition party were especially very
carefully watched i'm their correspondence;
and, though nothing was discovered, it has
been continued up to the present day. No
doubt, the great plot which the Secretary
of State is said to have discovered through
his spies is made up from this source. Prob
ably, some time before the election, all the
stray expressions in condemnation of the
government which have passed through the
mails, and which have been carefully col
lated, will be published, with astounding
headings, as evidence of treason against
the government. OF course, the common
people are apt to feel and speak
strongly on political subjects, and, perhaps,
such person, writing to some prominent
man, might make use of harsh language.
Being addressed to prominent man, the
letter will be opened and the language
taken down. For instance, the other day,
a soldier wrote to afriend: 81 am down on
this government, and everything pertain-
ing to it. Ii is, above all things, deceitful |
and desperately wicked. 1 would not turn |
my hand over to save this administration 1
from hell and damnation." I9 a Wolaji Il
If this letter had been addressed to some |
public man in the opposition, 1t would no
doubt have furnished another evidence of |
the great plot. 1t will be attempted to be
made out that there is a grand conspiracy |
at the North to overthrow the government, |
1t is understood that General Rosecrans
has lent himself to some such absurd idea
against the opposition. ~ 's1ai od". 1iI
HOW THE ARMY PAY7RoLLs ARE FILLED WITH
lrg,,o MEN NOT IN THE ARMY. w
This, perhaps, may give us a clue to dis
cover where the immense number of men
that are on our army-rolls are to be found.
Senator Wilson said that seven hundred i
thousand men had been enlisted or re-en-
listed from the 10th of October to the Sth of
June last, one hundred thousand of whom