The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1865-11-18
The Government Spy System.

lle washington correspondent Ol tue
Cincinnati Commercial pays the following
we'll merted tribute of contempt to the
detective system organized by Stanton
and his agents. After relating General
Bakers cock aud bull story" about the
Wirz poisoning affair, he says:
The above will serve very well to in-
tordnce what l have often thought OF
writing--that the War Department de.
tective system is one of the vIest nnis-
ances that exists in the country. 1t Is
expensive as well as infamous, and its
abolition is demanded by'every consider
alton of public good. How many men
are employed in it, and how much it
costs, | can not say. Few can say, /
think, for, instituted to discover the Sc
crets of others, it would be strange indeed
if it couldn't keep its own. But know
that there are men enough i'll 1t to scat
ter in profusiOn in every city from. New
York to st. Louis.
While the war existed, detectives
were. to a certain extent, j necessary
evil The necessity has ceased, and why
not the evil cease with it4 The char
acter of the men who adopt the detective
business as 4 profession is pretty well
known in this country and Ill Europe,
and it is no slauder that the attaches of
the War Department Bureau are little
worse than the generality Out Of their
own mouths they have been convicted OF
systematic and professional lying. What
for instance can be more base than fOr q
man TO 20 into a house, pretend to be an
ardent rebel, appeal for and receive food
and shelter Oh this ground, and then go
OF and return soon after at the head oi a
squad of soldiers, 10 burn down the
house and arrest the family for "harbor-
ing rebels {
Such things were done III Missouri,
Kentucky and Maryland during the war.
Men who would have kept their opinions
and sympathies to themselves, and re
mained quietly at home, were, by the
War Department Detectives betrved in
to the expression of Il friendly feeling for
the Southern cause, and their ruin and
the ruin of their families was the result.
Can that be called accomplishing the
end ofiustice? 1t would be cruel to in
lure dog upon the testimony OF men 81
totally destitute of honor and principle
as these War Department Detectives
swear. in courts of justice that they are.
1t could he proven. too without much
effort, that they have ruined the charac-
ter and puSatoL OF hundreds of good,
loval, patriotic men Of the Union army,
within the pats four years. The case oi
General BriScoc. of Pennsylvania, might
be cited. 1t was by no means clear. on
his trial, that the crime Of when he was
Notwithstanding Government funds
was not ''set mp on him hy the very men
who afterward swore MIN into diShOnor
| 1t is a part of their usual practice to
thlow tcmptat II into the way of those
whom they believe unable to resist it
and thus create crime in order to detect
| it. when. without their aid. it never
would be committed. They can be. and
are. used by bad men to bring shame and
dishonor where, without their assistance,
there would never be ground for suspi
cion or distrust for he must have very
strong mental vertebrg who can keep
| out of all the snares that can bcconjured
mp Gin the Detective Bureau TO trap the
unwary.
Then, again, they are inefficient toI
| the duties which legitimateiy balong tc
their department The testimony elicit
| ed during the assassination trial proves
this. 1t shows that the conspiracy to
murder Mr. Lincoln was in existence tol
months under the shadow of the Wal
Department building. that meetings
were held, and plans discussed and ma
tured in the city of Washington within a
! stones throw of the detective headquar-
ters An efticieut detective system
would certainly have found out some
thing in relation to the matter aud have
| brought the leaders to Justice before
they had accomplished their object But
those of the War Department were toc
busily engaged in carrying out schemes
fathered by private malice to attend tC
such trivial thing as plot to murder
the President of the United States.
think then, as / have already said
that every consideration of public good
Justice, mortality aud ecouumy, demand
the abolition of that great nuisance, the
Government Detective system. viii
moi the Tbirty-uinth Congress do some
thing in the premises I
MACK
WM. PREsCoTr SMITH, Master OF Srans