HABEAS CORPUS. 



481 



great length by G. E. Pugh in favor of the mo- 

 tion, and by A. F. Perry, on behalf of Gen. 

 Burnsidc, against it. 



An attractive feature in the case was the 

 presentation to the Court by Flamen Ball, Esq., 

 the District Attorney, of a written statement 

 from Gen. Burnside, in explanation and defence 

 of his military administration : 



HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT or THE OHIO, ) 

 CINCINNATI, Ouio, May \\th, 186& j 



To the Honorable the Circuit Court of the United 

 States within and for tfa Southern District of 

 Ohio : 



The undersigned, commanding the Department of 

 the Ohio, having received notice from the Clerk of said 

 Court that an application for the allowance of a writ 

 of habeas corpus will be made this morning before 

 your honors on behalf of Clement L. Vallandigham, 

 now a prisoner in my custody, asks leave to submit to 

 the Court the following statement : 



If I were to indulge in wholesale criticisms of the 

 policy of the Government, it would demoralize the 

 army under my command, and every friend of his 

 country would call me a traitor. If the officers or sol- 

 diers were to indulge in such criticism, it would weaken 

 the army to the extent of their influence; and if this 

 criticism were universal in the army, it would cause it 

 to be broken to pieces, the Government to be divided, 

 our homes to be invaded, and anarchy to reign. My 

 duty to my Government forbids me to indulge in such, 

 criticisms ; officers and soldiers are not allowed to so 

 indulge, and this course will be sustained by all honest 

 men. 



Now, I will go further. We are in a state of civil 

 war. One of the States of this Department is at this 

 moment invaded, and three others have been threat- 

 ened. I command the Department, and it is my duty 

 to my country and to this army to keep it in the best 

 possible condition to see that it is fed, clad, armed, 

 and, as far as possible, to see that it is encouraged. If it 

 is my duty and the duty of the troops to avoid saying 

 anything that would weaken the array, by preventing 

 a single recruit from joining the ranks, by bringing the 

 laws of Congress into disrepute, or by causing dissat- 

 isfaction in the ranks, it is equally the duty of every 

 citizen in the department to avoid the same evil. If it 

 is my duty to prevent the propagation of this evil in 

 the army, or in a portion of my Department, it is equally 

 my duty in all portions of it ; and it is my duty to use 

 all the force in my power to stop it. 



If I were to find a man from the enemy's country 

 distributing in my camps speeches of their public men 

 that tended to demoralize the troops, or to destroy 

 their confidence in the constituted authorities of the 

 Government, I would have them tried and hung if 

 found guilty, and all the rules of modern warfare would 

 sustain me. Why should such speeches from, our own 

 public men be allowed? 



The press and public men, in a great emergency like 

 the present, should avoid the use of party epithets and 

 bitter invectives, and discourage the organization of 

 secret political societies, which are always undignified 

 and disgraceful to a free people ; but now they are abso- 

 lutely wrong and injurious ; they create dissensions 

 and discord, which just now amount to treason. The 

 simple uames^of" patriot" and "traitor" are compre- 

 hensive enough. 



As I before said, we are in a state of civil war, and 

 an emergency is upon us which requires the operations 

 of some power that moves more quickly than the civil. 

 There never was a war carried on successfully without 

 the exercise of that power. 



It is said that the speeches which were condemned 

 have _been in the presence of large bodies of citizens, 

 who, if they thought them wrong, would have then and 

 there condemned them. That is no argument. These 

 citizens do not realize the effect upon the army of our 

 country, who are its defenders. Tney have never been 

 VOL. in 31 A 



in the field; never faced the enemies of their country; 

 never undergone the privations of our soldiers in the 

 field ; and, besides, they have been in the habit of bear- 

 ing their public men speak, and as a general thing of 

 approving of what they say ; therefore, the greater 

 responsibility rests upon the public men and upon the 

 public press, and it behooves them to be careful as to 

 what they say. They must not use license and plead 

 that they are exercising liberty. In this department it 

 cannot be done. I shall use all the power I have to 

 break down such license, and I am sure I will be sus- 

 tained in this course by all honest men. At all events 

 I will have the consciousness before God of having 



am swerved 



done my duty to my countrv, and when I am 

 from the performance of that duty by any pressure, 

 public or private, or by any prejudice, I will no longer 

 be a man or a patriot. 



I again assert, that every power I possess on earth, 

 or that is given to me from above, will be used in de- 

 fence of my Government, on all occasions, at all times, 

 and in all places within this department. There is no 

 party, no community, no State Government, no State 

 Legislative body, no corporation, body of men that 

 have the power to inaugurate a war policy that has the 

 validity of law and power, but the constituted author- 

 ities of the Government of the United States; and I am 

 determined to support their policy. If the people do 

 not approve that policy, they can change the constitu- 

 tional authorities of that Government at the proper 

 time and by the proper method. Let them freely dis- 

 cuss the policy in a proper tone ; but my duty requires 

 me to stop license and intemperate discussion which 

 tend to weaken the authority of the Government and 

 army ; whilst the latter is in the presence of the enemy 

 it is cowardly so to weaken it. This license could not 

 be used in our camps the man would be torn in pieces 

 who would attempt it. There is no fear of the people 

 losing their liberties ; we all know that to b.e the cry of 

 demagogues, and none but the ignorant will listen to 

 it ; all intelligent men know that our people are too far 

 advanced in the scale of religious civilization, educa- 

 tion, and freedom to allow any power on earth to in- 

 terfere with their liberties ; but this same advancement 

 in these great "characteristics of our people teaches 

 them to make all the necessary sacrifices for their 

 country, when an emergency requires. They will sup- 

 port the constituted authorities of the Government, 

 whether they agree with them or not. Indeed, the 

 army itself is a part of the people, and is so thoroughly 

 educated in the love of civil liberty, which is the_ best 

 guarantee for the permanence of our republican insti- 

 tutions, that it would itself be the first to oppose any 

 attempt to continue the exercise of military authority 

 after the establishment of peace by the overthrow of 

 the rebellion. No man on earth can lead our citizen 

 soldiery to the establishment of a military despotism, 

 and no man living would have the folly to attempt it. 

 To do so would be to seal his own doom. On this point 

 there can be no ground for apprehension on the part 

 of the people. 



It is said that we can have peace if we lay down our 

 arms. All sensible men know this to be untrue. Were 

 it so, ought we to be so cowardly as to lay them down 

 until the authority of the Government is acknowl- 

 edged ? 



I beg to call upon the fathers, mothers, brothers, 

 sisters, sons, daughters, relatives, friends and neigh- 

 bors of the soldiers in the field, to aid me in stopping 

 this license and intemperate discussion, which are dis- 

 couraging our armies, weakening the hands of Jhe Gov- 

 ernment, and thereby strengthening the enemy. If we 

 use our honest efforts God will bless us with a glorious 

 peace and a united country. Men of every snade of 

 opinion have the same vital interest in the suppression 

 of this rebellion ; for should we fail in the task the 

 dread horrors of a ruined and distracted nation will 

 fall alike on all, whether patriots or traitors. 



These are substantially my reasons for issuing 

 " General Order No. 38," my reasons for the determin- 

 ation to enforce it, and also my reason for the arrest of 

 the Hon. C. L. Vallandigham for the supposed violation 



