"Sauce for the Goose, Sauce for the Gander."
For publishing a proclamation supposed to have been written by Lincoln, but afterwards proved to be a forgery, two New York newspapers — the World and the Journal of Commerce--were suppressed. It does not appear that the proprietors knew the document to be a forgery. On the contrary, they took it to be genuine, according to their own statement; and as it was clearly against their interest to weaken the public confidence in their papers by disseminating false intelligence, and intelligence which could so easily be proved to be false, it is fair to presume that they speak the truth.Now, Seward sent a forged report of Mr. Mallory to Adams, and directed him to hand it to Lord Russell. That Seward either forged this document himself, or got some one to forge it, or at least knew that it was forged, is evident. It purported to be addressed to one Babcock, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Seward must have known that the Speaker was not named Babcock. Further, he must have known that the Secretary of the Navy does not report to the Speaker of the House, but to the President.
If the World and Journal ought to be suppressed for giving currency to a forgery, what ought to be done with Seward?
