HABEAS CORPUS. 



477 



of September 22d, 1862, and January 1st, 1863, de- 

 claring the emancipation of the slaves in the Southern 

 seceded States as a proof that the war was being 

 waged for that purpose. 



The witness was about to answer, when the Judge 

 Advocate checked him. He said it was bringing up 

 matters which were foreign to the charge and specifi- 

 cation, and that the Court was not called upon to pass 

 upon the merits of the President's proclamation. He 

 then desired that the Court should be closed for delib- 

 eration. 



Mr. Vallandigham : I desire to show this fact, in ex- 

 planation of the purpose and object of my declaration 

 as to the present character of the war, and as my au- 

 thority for the statement ; for I assume that the Presi- 

 dent is not disloyal. 



The Judge Advocate insisted that the question re- 

 quired the Court to pass judgment upon the merits of 

 the President's proclamation, and not whether he (Mr. 

 V.) was expressing his own sentiments or those of the 

 President. 



The Judge Advocate said the question would not be 

 admitted. 



Q. Did you continue at the same place during the 

 delivery of the whole speech? 



A. I did. 



Q. Were your notes taken at the time or reduced to 

 writing afterward ? 



A. They were taken at the time, and as they fell 

 from the speaker's lips. 



Q. Were you not in citizen's clothes, and how came 

 you to be at Mount Vernon that day ? Did you go to 

 Mount Vernon for the purpose of taking notes and re- 

 porting the speech? 



Judge Advocate : I object to this question on the 

 ground of its immateriality. 



Mr. Vallandigham insisted on the question on the 

 ground that it explained the temper and spirit of the 

 witness, and his prejudices, and as showing that the 

 notes were taken with reference to the arrest and pros- 

 ecution before this Commission ; he being a captain in 

 the service, and his regiment in Cincinnati. 



The question was objected to by the Judge Advo- 

 cate, and the Court was cleared for deliberation. 



On opening the doors again the Judge Advocate an- 

 nounced that the question would be allowed. 



A. I was in citizen's clothes, and I went up for the 

 purpose of listening to any speech that might be de- 

 livered by him. I had no order to take notes or report. 



Q. Did you go provided with pencil and paper? 



The Judge Advocate objected to the question. Of 

 course the witness had pencil and paper. 



Q. Did you take notes of any other speech? 



A. I commenced taking notes of Mr. Cox's speech, 

 but considered it harmless, and stopped. I took no 

 notes of any other speech. 



Q. Were you not sent expressly to listen to my 

 speech ? 



A. I was not any more than any other speech. 



Q. By whom were you sent or requested to go ? 



A. By Captain Andrew C. Kemper, Assistant Adju- 

 tant-General of the Military Commandant of the city. 



Q. From whom did you obtain leave of absence? 



Judge Advocate : He did riot need any leave of ab- 

 sence ; the order was enough. 



Mr. Vallandigham : Then strike out the words " or 

 requested " from the answer, for it leaves it ambiguous. 



Q. Did you make report to Captain Kemper on your 

 return ? 



The Judge Advocate objected to the question, but 

 the Court allowed it. 



A. On my return I did not report to Kemper. 



Q. To whom did you report ? 



A. To Colonel Eastman himself, and he sent me to 

 headquarters Department of the Ohio. 



This closed the testimony of Captain Hill on both 

 the direct and cross-examination. 



The Judge Advocate called 



Capt. John A. Means, 115th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 

 who was sworn. He was asked by the Judge Advo- 

 cate if he was at the Mount Vernon Meeting, and 



whether he heard Mr. Vallandigham speak, and, if so, 

 what he said of the war, &c. ? 



Witness : I was present at the meeting, and heard 

 Mr. Vallandigham address the people. I was in two 

 or three positions most of the time, and about five or 

 ten feet from the stand. I heard the whole speech. 



By the Judge Advocate : State what remarks you 

 heard him make, and give as near as you can his lan- 

 guage. 



Witness : He stated the war was not carried on for 

 the restoration of the Union, and that it might have 

 been stopped 'some time ago, and the Union restored, 

 if the plans which had been submitted had been ac- 

 cepted. 



Mr. Vallandigham objected to this testimony on the 

 ground that he had applied for a 8ubpo3na to compel 

 the attendance of Fernando Wood, who would produce 

 the written evidence of what he (Mr. V.) had asserted 

 about the return of Southern senators to their seats in 

 Congress. 



Judge Advocate : I will strike from the specification 

 that part which refers to the " propositions by which 

 the Southern States could be won back," &c. 



To the witness : You will omit that part of your tes- 

 timony. 



Witness continued : If the plans he had proposed 

 himself had been adopted, peace would have been re- 

 stored, the Union saved by a reconstruction, the North 

 won back and the South guaranteed her rights ; that 

 Richmond, Charleston, and Vicksburg had not been 

 taken, and the Mississippi was not opened, and could 

 not be as long as there was cotton on the banks to be 

 stolen or officers enriched. He said that after the re- 

 buke which the Administration received at the last fall 

 election, no more volunteers could be had, and the Ad- 

 ministration had" to resort to the French Conscription 

 law. But he would not counsel resistance to military 

 or civil law. That was not needed. The people were 

 not deserving to be freemen who would submit to such 

 encroachments oh their liberties. 



Mr. Vallandigham : What was I referring to when I 

 made the remark you say I did ? 



Witness : He was speaking of the Conscription Act. 

 He said he believed the Administration was attempt- 

 ing to erect a despotism, and in less than one month 

 Mr. Lincoln had plunged the country in this cruel, 

 bloody, and unnecessary war. He stated that General 

 Order, No. 38, was a usurpation of power that he de- 

 spised he spit upon it and trampled it under his feet 

 that he, for one, would not regard it. He styled the 

 officers of the Administration and officers of the army 

 as Lincoln minions. He said he did not ask Lincoln 

 or Burnsfde whether he might speak ; that he was a 

 freeman and spoke as he pleased. He- stated the mili- 

 tary orders and proclamations were intended to intim- 

 idate the people and prevent them from meeting as 

 they had done that day. He claimed the right to dis- 

 cuss and criticize the actions of the civil and military 

 authorities. 



Q. Did he advise the people to take any steps to ob- 

 tain their rights ? 



A. At the close of his speech be advised the people 

 to come up together and at the ballot box to hurl the 

 tyrant from his throne. In one part of his speech he 

 styled the President as King Lincoln. 



Cross-examined by Mr. Vallandigham : Did you 

 take notes at all during the delivery of the speech, or 

 are you testifying solely from memory ? 



A. 1 took no minutes during the delivery of the 

 speech. After Pendleton commenced speaking, I went 

 and wrote out what I had heard. It was, perhaps, an 

 hour and a half after I heard the speech. 



Q. About what was the length of the speech ? 

 A. I think about an hour and a half. 

 Q. You made no shorthand report of it, I suppose. 

 Did you ever report in shorthand ? 



Judge Advocate : The witness has already said he 

 made no report of the speech. 



Mr. Vallandigham wanted to know if he was accus- 

 tomed to reporting speeches. 

 The Judge Advocate objected to the question. 



