804 



PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 



houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches 

 and seizures, shall not be violated ; and no warrants shall 

 issue but upon probable cause, supported by oath ov affirm- 

 ation, and particularly describing the place to be searched 

 and the persons or things to be seized. 



8. "No person shall be held to answer for a capital or 

 otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or in- 

 dictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land 

 or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in 

 time of war or public danger." 



4. " In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy 

 the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury 

 of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been 

 committed, which district shall have been previously ascer- . 

 taincd by law." 



And we furthermore denounce said arrest, trial, and ban- 

 ishment as a direct insult offered to the sovereignty of the 

 peoplo of Ohio, by whose organic law it is declared that no 

 person shall be transported out of the State for any offence 

 committed within the same. 



16. That Clement L. Vallandigham was, at the time of his 

 arrest, a prominent candidate for nomination by the Demo- 

 cratic party of Ohio for the office of Governor of the State ; 

 that the Democratic party was' lully competent to decide 

 whether he is n fit man for that nomination, and that the 

 attempt to deprive them of that right, by his arrest and 

 banishment, was an unmerited imputation upon their intelli- 

 gence and loyalty, as well as a violation of the Constitution. 



17. That we respectfully, but most earnestly, call upon the 

 President of the United States to restore Clement L. V.il- 

 landigham to his home in Ohio, and that a committee of one 

 from each Congressional district of the State, to be selected 

 by the presiding officer of this convention, is hereby ap- 

 pointed to present this application to the President. 



The undersigned, in the discharge of the duty as- 

 signed them, do not think it necessary to reiterate the 

 facts connected with the arrest, trial, and banishment 

 of Mr. Vallandighnm they are well known to the Pres- 

 ident, and are a part of public history nor to enlarge 

 upon the positions taken by the Convention, nor to 

 recapitulate the constitutional provisions which it is 

 believed have been contravened ; they have been sta- 

 ted at length, and with clearness, in the resolutions 

 which have been recited. The undersigned content 

 themselves with brief reference to other suggestions 

 pertinent to the subject. 



They do not call upon your Excellency as suppliants, 

 praying the revocation of the order banishing Mr. 

 Vallandigham as a favor ; but, by the authority of a 

 Convention representing a majority of the citizens of 

 the State of Ohio, they respectfully ask it as a right due 

 to an American citizen, in whose personal injury the 

 sovereignty and dignity of the people of Ohio, as a 

 free State, have been offended. And this duty they 

 perform the more cordially from the consideration 

 that, at a time of great national emergency, pregnant 

 with danger to our Federal Union, it is all important 

 that the true friends of the Constitution and the Union, 

 however they may differ as to the mode of administer- 

 ing the Government, and the measures most likely to 

 be successful in the maintenance of the Constitution 

 and the restoration of the Union, should not be thrown 

 into conflict with each other. 



The arrest, unusual trial, and banishment of Mr. Val- 

 Inndigham have created wide-spread and alarming dis- 

 affection among the people of the State, not only 

 endangering the harmony of the friends of the Con- 

 stitution and the Union, and tending to disturb the 

 peace and tranquillity of the State, but also impairing 

 that confidence in the fidelity of your Administration 

 to the great landmarks of free government essential 

 to a peaceful and successful enforcement of the laws 

 in Ohio. 



You are reported to have used, in a public commu- 

 nication on this subject, the following language : " It 

 ave me pain when I learned that Mr. Vallandigham 

 ad been arrested that is, I was pained that there 

 should have seemed to be a necessity for arresting 

 him, and it will afford me great pleasure to discharge 

 him, so soon as I can by any means believe the public 

 safety will not suffer by it. 



The undersigned assure your Excellency, from our 

 personal knowledge of the feelings of the people of 

 Ohio, that the public safety will be far more endan- 

 gered by continuing Mr. Vallaudigham in exile than 



by releasing him. It may be true that persons differ- 

 ing from him in political views may be found in Ohio, 

 and elsewhere, who will express a different opinion. 

 But they are certainly mistaken. 



Mr. Vallandigham may differ with the President, 

 and even with some of his own political party, as to 

 the true and most effectual means of maintaining the 

 Constitution and restoring the Union ; but this differ- 

 ence of opinion does not prove him to be unfaithful to 

 his duties as an American citizen. If a man, devoted- 

 ly attached to the Constitution and the Union, consci- 

 entiously believes that, from the inherent nature of 

 the Federal compact, the war, in the present condition 

 of things in this country, cannot be used as a means 

 of restoring the Union ; or, that a war to subjugate 

 a part of the States, or a war to revolutionize the so- 

 cial system in a part of the States, could not restore, 

 but would inevitably result in the final destruction of 

 both the Constitution and the Union, is he not to be 

 allowed the right of an American citizen to appeal to 

 the judgment of the people for a change of policy by 

 the constitutional remedy of the ballot box ? 



During the war with Mexico, many of the political 

 opponents of the Administration then in power thought 

 it their duty to oppose and denounce the war, and to 

 urge before the people of the country that it was un- 

 just and prosecuted for unholy purposes. With equal 

 reason it might have been said of tnem that their dis- 

 cussions before the people were calculated to discour- 

 age enlistments, " to prevent the raising of troops," 

 and to induce desertions from the army, and leave the 

 Government without an adequate military force to 

 carry on the war. 



If the freedom of speech and of the press are to be 

 suspended in time of war, then the essential element 

 of popular government to effect a change of policy in 

 the constitutional mode is at an end. The freedom of 

 speech and of the press is indispensable, and necessa- 

 rily incident to the nature of popular government it- 

 self. If any inconvenience or evils arise from its ex- 

 ercise, they are unavoidable. 



On this subject you are reported tohave said further : 

 " It is asserted, in substance, that Mr. Vallandigham 

 was, by a military commander, seized and triea ' for 

 no other reason than words addressed to a public 

 meeting in criticism of the course of the Administra- 

 tion, and in condemnation of the military order of the 

 general.' Now, if there be no mistake about this; if 

 there was no other reason for the arrest, then I con- 

 cede that the arrest was wrong. But the arrest, I un- 

 derstand, was made for a very different reason. Mr. 

 Vallandigham avows his hostility to the war on the 

 part of the Union ; and his arrest was made because 

 ne was laboring, with some effect, to prevent the rais- 

 ing of troops, to encourage desertions from the army, 

 and to leave the rebellion without an adequate military 

 force to suppress it. He was not arrested because he 

 was damaging the political prospects of the Adminis- 

 tration or the personal interests of the commanding 

 general, but because he was damaging the army, upon 

 the existence and vigor of which the life of the nation 

 depends. He was warring upon the military, and this 

 gave the military constitutional jurisdiction to lay 

 hands upon him. If Mr. Vallandigham was not dam- 

 aging the military power of the country, then his ar- 

 rest was made on mistake of facts, which I would be 

 glad to correct on reasonable satisfactory evidence." 



In answer to this, permit us to say, first, that neither 

 the charge nor the specifications in support of the 

 charge on which Mr. Vnllandigham was tried, impute 

 to him the act of either laboring to prevent the raising 

 of troops or to encourage desertions from the army. 

 Secondly, no evidence on the trial was offered with a 

 view to support, or even tended to support, any such 

 charge. In what instance, and by what act, did he 

 either discourage enlistments or encourage desertion 

 in the army ? Who is the man who was discouraged 

 from enlisting, and who encouraged to desert, by any 

 act of Mr. Vallandigham? If it be assumed that per- 

 chance some person might have been discouraged from 

 enlisting, or that some person might have been en- 



