BALTIMORE, May 18, 1864. (Received 9 p.m.)
Hon. E. M. STANTON,
Secretary of War:
Your dispatch arrived after the train from New York and the New York World had already been distributed. I have seized all the copies I could find.
LEW. WALLACE,
Major-General of Volunteers.
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NINTH STREET OFFICE, Washington, May 18, 1864.
(Received 2.15 p.m.)
Hon. E. M. STANTON:
I have the honor to report that the arrests have been made and offices closed.
THOS. T. ECKERT,
Major and Assistant Superintendent Military Telegraph.
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DEPARTMENT OF STATE,
Washington City, May 18, 1864--12.30 p.m.
CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Esq.,
U.S. Minister Plenipotentiary, London:
Orders have been given for the arrest and punishment of the fabricators and publishers of the spurious proclamation.
WILLIAM H. SEWARD.
(Same to William L. Dayton, Esq., U.S. Minister Plenipotentiary, Paris.)
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NEW YORK CITY, May 19, 1864.
(Received 2.30 p.m.)
His Excellency A. LINCOLN,
President of the United Slates:
SIR: The undersigned, editors and publishers of a portion of the daily press of the city of New York, respectfully represent that the leading journals of this city sustain very extended telegraphic news arrangements, under an organization established in 1848 and known as the New York Associated Press, which is controlled by its members, acting through an executive committee, a general agent in this city, and assistant agents immediately responsible to the association at every important news center throughout this country and Europe. Under the above-named organization the rule has always been to transmit by telegraph all intelligence to the office of the general agent in this city, and by him the same is properly prepared for publication, and then written out by manifold process on tissue paper, and a copy of the same is sent simultaneously in sealed envelopes to each of the editors who are entitled to receive the same. From foregoing statement of facts Your Excellency will readily perceive that an ingenious rogue, knowing the manner in which the editors were supplied with much of their telegraphic news, could, by selecting his time and opportunity, easily impose upon editors or compositors the most wicked and fraudulent reports. On Wednesday morning, at about 3 o'clock, a messenger, who well counterfeited the regular messenger of the Associated Press, presented himself at all save one of the editorial rooms of the papers connected with the Associated Press and delivered to the foreman, in the absence of the night editors, sealed envelopes containing manifold papers similar in all respects to that used by the association, upon which was written a fraudulent proclamation, purporting to be signed by Your Excellency and countersigned by the Honorable Secretary of State. The very late hour at which the fraud was perpetrated left no time for consideration as to the authenticity or genuineness of the document, and the copy in most of the offices was at once cut up into small pieces and given into the hands of the compositors, and in two cases the fraud was not discovered or suspected even till after the whole morning editions of the papers were printed off and distributed. The undersigned beg to state to Your Excellency that the fraud, which succeeded with The World and the Journal of Commerce, was one which, from the circumstances attending it and the practices of the Associated Press, was extremely natural and very liable to have succeeded in any daily newspaper establishment in this city, and inasmuch as, in the judgment of the undersigned, the editors and proprietors of the Journal of Commerce and The World were innocent of any knowledge of wrong in the publication of the fraudulent document, and also in view of the fact that the suspension by Your Excellency's orders of the two papers last evening has had the effect to awaken editors and publishers and news agents, telegraph companies, &c., to the propriety of increased vigilance in their several duties, the undersigned respectfully request that Your Excellency will be pleased to rescind the order under which The World and the Journal of Commerce were suppressed.
Respectfully, Your Excellency's obedient servants,
SIDNEY HOWARD GAY,
For Tribune.
ERASTUS BROOKS,
New York Express.
FREDERICK HUDSON,
For JAS. G. BENNETT,
New York Herald.
M. S. BEACH,
New York Sun.
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NEW YORK, May 19, 1864.
(Received 10.40 a.m.)
Hon. E. M. STANTON:
SIR: I have the honor to report that the Secretary of State's dispatch to Ministers Adams and Dayton was delivered to the purser of the Scotia, and that he was ordered by Mr. Cunard to telegraph it from Queenstown. Slips were issued by some of the morning papers exposing the forgery, and circulated among the passengers before the vessel sailed.
Very respectfully,
E. S. SANFORD.
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WAR DEPARTMENT,
Washington, D.C., May 19, 1864.
Major-General WALLACE,
Baltimore:
The President directs that you take military possession of the telegraph line known as the Independent or Inland Telegraph and its offices and instruments, materials, papers, and dispatches. The principal office is No. 21 South street. The papers and dispatches you will forward to Colonel Wisewell, Military Governor. The agents, superintendents, and operators you will arrest and parole them to appear before you when required. You will place a guard in the offices and prevent any telegraphing.
By order of the President:
EDWIN M. STANTON,
Secretary of War.
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NEW YORK, May 20, 1864.
Hon. E. M. STANTON:
I have arrested and am sending to Fort Lafayette Joseph Howard, the author of the forged proclamation. He is a newspaper reporter, and is known as " 'Howard,' of the Times." He has been very frank in his confession--says it was a stock-jobbing operation, and that no person connected with the press had any agency in the transaction except another reporter, who took manifolds and distributed the proclamation to the newspapers, and whose arrest I have ordered. He exonerates the Independent Telegraph Line, and says that publication on a steamer day was accidental. His statement in all essential particulars is corroborated by other testimony.
JOHN A. DIX,
Major-General.
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WAR DEPARTMENT,
Washington City, May 20, 1864--9.10 p.m.
Major-General DIX,
New York:
Your telegram respecting the arrest of Howard has been received and submitted to the President. He directs me to say that while, in his opinion, the editors, proprietors, and publishers of The World and Journal of Commerce are responsible for what appears in their papers injurious to the public service, and have no right to shield themselves behind a plea of ignorance or want of criminal intent, yet he is not disposed to visit them with vindictive punishment; and hoping they will exercise more caution and regard for the public welfare in future, he authorizes you to restore to them their respective establishments.
EDWIN M. STANTON,
Secretary of War.
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WAR DEPARTMENT,
Washington City, May 20, 1864--1 p.m.
Major-General DIX,
New York:
You will please proceed immediately to take the examination of the telegraph operators, superintendents, and officers that may have been arrested by you under order of this Department, taking their statements and examination in writing, and, if satisfied that they have had no complicity nor part in the transmission or perpetration of the forgery of the President's proclamation, published in The World and Journal of Commerce, you will discharge them, but holding in arrest any against whom any evidence may appear and reporting the same.
EDWIN M. STANTON,
Secretary of War.
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