HABEAS CORPUS. 



475 



which he was speaking ; was about six feet from him ; 

 I remained in this position during the whole time he 

 was speaking. 



By Judge Advocate : State what remarks he made 

 in relation to the war ; what he said about the Presi- 

 dent of the United States, and the orders of military 

 commanders. 



Witness : In order that I may bring in events as 

 they were referred to by the speaker, I ask permission 

 of the court to refresh my memory from the notes 

 which I took at the time. 



President : You can read from your notes. 



Witness : The speaker commenced by referring to 

 the canopy under which he was speaking the stand 

 having been decorated with an American flag the flag 

 under the Constitution. 



Judge Advocate : You need not give his introductory 

 remarks. Confine yourself to what he said about the war. 



Witness: After finishing his exordium he spoke of the 

 designs of those in power being to erect a despotism. 

 That it was not their intention to effect a restoration of 

 the Union. That previous to the battle of Fredericks- 

 burg an attempt was made to stay this wicked, cruel, 

 and unnecessary war. That the war could have been 

 ended in February last. That a day or two before the 

 battle of Fredericksburg a proposition had been made 

 for the readmission ot Southern Senators into the Unit- 

 ed States Congress, and that the refusal was still in 

 existence over the President's own signature, which 

 would be made public as soon as the ban of secrecy 

 imposed by the President was removed. That the 

 Union could have been saved if the plan proposed by 

 the speaker had been adopted ; that the Union could 

 have been saved upon the basis of reconstruction ; but 

 that it would have ended in the exile or death of those 

 who advocated a continuation of the war. He then re- 

 ferred to Forney, who was a weU known correspond- 

 ent of the " Philadelphia Press," and said he had no 

 right to speak for those who were not connected with the 

 Administration. That some of our public men, rather 

 than bring back some of the seceded StateSj would 

 submit to a permanent separation of the Union. He 

 stated that France, a nation that had always shown 

 herself to be a friend of our Government, had proposed 

 to act as intermediator; but that her proposition, 

 which, if accepted, might have brought about an hon- 

 orable peace, was insolently rejected 



Mr. Vallandigham here corrected the witness. The 

 word he used was "instantly," not " insolently." 



Witness : I understood the word he used to have been 

 " insolently." That the people had been deceived ; 

 that 20,000 lives had been lost at the battle of Fred- 

 ericksburg that might have been saved. In speaking 

 of the objects of the war, he said it was a war for the 

 liberation of the blacks and the enslavement of the 

 whites. We had been told it would be terminated in 

 three months ; then in nine months, and again in a 

 year. That the war was still in progress, and that 

 there was no prospect of its being ended. That Rich- 

 mond was theirs ; that Charleston and Vicksburg 

 were theirs ; that the Mississippi was not opened, ana 

 would not so long as there was cotton on its banks to 

 be stolen, or so long as there were any officers to en- 

 rich. That a Southern paper had denounced him 

 and Cox, and the peace democrats, as having done 

 more to prevent the establishing of the Southern Con- 

 federacy than ten thousand soldiers could do. That 

 they proposed to operate through the masses of the 

 people in both sections who were in favor of the 

 Union. That it was the purpose or design of the Ad- 

 ministration to suppress or prevent such meetings as 

 the one he was addressing. That military marshals 

 were about to be appointed in every district, who would 

 act for the purpose of restricting the liberties of the 

 people ; but that he was a freeman. That he did not 

 ask David Tod or Abraham Lincoln, or Ambrose E. 

 Burnside for his right to speak as he had done, and 

 was doing. That his authority for so doing was higher 

 than General Order No. 38 it was General Order 

 No. 1 the Constitution. That General Order No. 38 

 was a base usurpation of arbitrary power ; that he had 



the most supreme contempt for such power. He de- 

 spised it and spit upon it. He trampled it under his 

 feet. That only a few days before a man had been 

 dragged from his home in Butler county by an out- 

 rageous usurpation of power, and tried for an offence 

 not known to our laws, by a self-constituted court- 

 martial. Tried without a jury, which is guaranteed 

 to every one ; that he had been fined and imprisoned. 

 That two men were brought over from Kentucky and 

 tried, contrary to express laws for the trial of treason, 

 and were now under the sentence of death. That an 

 order had just been issued in Indiana, denying to per- 

 sons the right to canvass or discuss military policy, and 

 that if it was submitted to would be followed up by a 

 similar order in Ohio. That he was resolved never to 

 submit to an order of a military dictator, prohibiting 

 the free discussion of either civil or military authority. 

 The sooner that the people informed the minions of 

 this usurped power that they would not submit to such 

 restrictions upon their liberties, and that they would 

 not cringe and cower before such authority, the better. 

 Let them not be/leluded by the image of liberty when 

 the spirit is gone. He proclaimed the right to criticize 

 the acts of our military servants in power. That there 

 never was a tyrant in any age who oppressed the peo- 

 ple further than he thought they would submit to en- 

 dure. That in the days of democratic authority, Tom 

 Corwin had in the face of Congress hoped that our 

 brave volunteers in Mexico " might be welcomed with 

 bloody hands to hospitable graves," but that he had 

 not been interfered with. It was never before thought 

 necessary to appoint a captain of cavalry as Provost- 

 Marshal, as was now the case in Indianapolis, or mil- 

 itary dictators as were now exercising authority in 

 Cincinnati and Columbus. That a law had recently 

 been enacted in Ohio, as well as in some other States, 

 regulating the manner in which soldiers should vote, 

 that the officers have to be judges of the election. 



Judge Advocate objected to this part of the testi- 

 mony as irrelevant. 



Mr. Vallandigham desired the Court to permit the 

 witness to go on with his testimony. 



Witness : The speaker closed by warning the people 

 not to be deceived. That an attempt would shortly be 

 made to enforce the Conscription law, and to remember 

 that the war was not for the preservation of the Union, 

 but that it was a wicked abolition war, and that if 

 those in authority were allowed to accomplish their 

 purposes, the people would be deprived of their lib- 

 erties and a monarchy established ; but as for him, he 

 was resolved that he would never be a priest or min- 

 ister at the altar on which bis country was being 

 sacrificed. 



Question by Judge Advocate : What other flags or 

 emblems were used in decorating the stage? 



A. There were banners made of frame work, and 

 covered with canvas, which were decorated with but- 

 ternuts, and bore inscriptions. One banner, which was 

 carried at the head of a delegation which came in from 

 a town in the county, bore the inscription, " The Cop- 

 perheads are coming." 



Mr. Vallandigham : The South never carried copper 

 cents. 



Judge Advocate : But butternuts are a Southern em- 

 blem. 



Mr. Vallandigham shook his head, and said they 

 were not. 



Question by Judge Advocate : Did you see any per- 

 sons have emblems on their persons? 



A. Yes; I saw hundreds of persons wearing butter- 

 nut and copperhead badges. 



Mr. Vallandigham : The copper badges were simply 

 the head cut out of the common cent coins, with pins 

 attached. 



Mr. Vallandigham : Did you notice what inscription 

 these copperhead badges bore ? 



A. No ; I did not look at them. 



Mr. Vallandigham : The inscription on them was 

 " Liberty." 



Question by Judge Advocate : Did you hear any 

 cheers in the crowd for JefF. Davis. 



