The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1865-12-08
sTANTOX.s EGNOBLE TOOLs.

sTANTON-S EGNOBLE TOOLS.
Since the days of Fouche no country
/ has been cursed with such multitude
| of spies and infOrmers a. the border
/ portion Of the United States has been
| from the commencement of the war al
most, if not quite, up to thepresenttime.
| They constituted a small army Of them
selves, and as it was morally impossible
/ that any person of honorable instincts
| should undertake an office 50 thorough
/ Iy degrading, all the departments of
! this Odious service were filled by men
who were either without principle Or
were of the most disreputable character.
/ 1t was in vain that its chiefs were dig
nified with the titles of provost mar
shals and deputy provost marshals, and
that their men were styled Government
detectives; the popular instinct soon
| penetrated the thin disguise and saw
| the mouchard underneath. We do not
say that detectives so-called may not be
| necessary to a Government during pc
riod of civil war, or that they may not
be made useful, when they are kept
within the sphere of their legitimate
functions. But, on frequent occasions
! here in Maryland they rendered them
selves infamous by first instigating the
crime and then arresting the offender;
and seizing for confiscation the proper
/ tv in his charge. The we'll known case
/ that was tried before the late Chief JUS
tice Taney, in the Circuit Court of the
United States in this city, is an instance
in point, and the scathing rebuke ad-
ministered on that occasion by the VEN
erable Chief Justice to provost marshal
| McPhail and his superserviceabIe aids,
will be felt by them-if they are capa-
bic of feeling anything-as long as they
cumber the ground.
The sanguinary and brutal assault
/ which was also made by the same par
ties upon that upright Judge and hon
orable gentleman, Judge Carmichael,
/ dragging him from the bench in open
court, and beating him about the head
with their pistols until his person was
| covered with blood, was as dastardly as
| it was unprov0ked, and caused a shud-
( der Of adherence even among those
who applauded the system that gave
| employment to these men, and by
/ paradox that would be unaccOuntable
in other times, heartily supported these
rutfians in their wrong dOingS. But the
evil went deeper than this. Stimulated
| by partisan malignity, a system of es-
| pionage was organized which was felt
in every household. Witnesses were
suborned, servants tampered with, the
most innocent acts or expressions were
perverted into something that was as
sumed to be either dislOyal or treason
able, and were made the pretexts for
arrests and imprisonment for months
without even the name of the secret ac-
cuser being made known to the victim,
| or the nature Of the charge upon which
he was held. That these things should
have been permitted SO long, and that
journals under the convenient preteXt
of devotion to the Union should have
recorded, with complacency, day after
day, the most fragrant violations of the
rights of citizens, are facts not more re-
markable than was the personal vindic-
tiveness by which such proceedings
were characterized, and in which they
but too frequently found their true ORR
gin.
Happily, nearly the whole herd of
spies and informers have been got rid
of recently, but, unhappily, they have
not vet received their just deserts. We
learn now, also, that the man Baker,
the Chief Detective of the War Depart
ment at Washington, and who, for his
notable exploits, in various ways, was
rewarded not long since with a gener-
ais commission, has fallen into such
disrepute that President johnson has
not only ordered away all detectives
employed at the White House, but ''has
also INDUCED in very severe structures
upon Baker himself, and to his face"
But what do structures amount to if
they are not followed up by arrest and
punishment? This General Baker has
been bluntly characterized by one of the
New York papers as "a bold, bad man."
and, we are told, that ''the fixed inn
preston with regard to him is that he
first created and organized himself most
of the crimes he discovered, and that
he has misused the powers entrusted to