PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 



807 



especial friends and adherents. With perfect knowl- 

 edge of them he has frequently, if not constantly, made 

 speeches in Congress and before popular assemblies ; 

 and if it can be shown that, with these things staring 

 him in the face, he has ever uttered a word of rebuke 

 or counsel against them, it will be a fact greatly in his 

 favor with me, and one of which, as yet, I am totally 

 ignorant. When it is known that the whole burden of 

 his speeches has been to stir up men against the pros- 

 ecution of the war, and that in the midst of resistance 

 to it he has not been known in any instance to counsel 

 against such resistance, it is next to impossible to 

 repel the inference that he has counselled directly in 

 favor of it. 



With all this before their eyes, the Convention you 

 represent hare nominated Mr. Vallandigham 'for Gov- 

 ernor of Ohio, and both they and you nave declared 

 the purpose to sustain the National Union by all con- 

 stitutional means. But, of course, they and you, in 

 common, reserve to yourselves to decide what are con- 

 stitutional means, and, unlike the Albany meeting, you 

 omit to state or intimate that, in your opinion, an army 

 is a constitutional means of saving the Union against 

 a rebellion, or even to intimate that you are conscious 

 of an existing rebellion being in progress with the 

 avowed object of destroying that very Union. At the 

 same time, your nominee lor Governor, in whose be- 

 half you appeal, is known to you and to the world to 

 declare against the use of an army to suppress the re- 

 bellion. Your own attitude, therefore, encourages 

 desertion, resistance to the draft, and the like, because 

 it teaches those who incline to desert and to escape the 

 draft to believe it is your purpose to protect them, and 

 to hope that you will become strong enough to do so. 



After a short personal intercourse with you, gentle- 

 men of the committee, I cannot say I think you desire 

 this effect to follow your attitude ; but I assure you 

 that both friends and enemies of the Union look upon 

 it in this light. It is a substantial hope, and by conse- 

 quence'a real strength, to the enemy. It is a false hope, 

 and one which you would willingly dispel. I will make 

 the way exceedingly easy. I send you duplicates of 

 this letter, in order that you, or a majority, may, if you 

 choose, indorse your names upon one of them, and re- 

 turn it thus indorsed to me, with the understanding that 

 those signing are thereby committed to the following 

 propositions, and to nothing else : 



1. That there is now a rebellion in the United States, 

 the object and tendency of which is to destroy the Na- 

 tional Union ; and that, in your opinion, an army 

 and navy are constitutional means for suppressing that 

 rebellion. 



2. That no one of you will do anything which, in his 

 own judgment, will tend to hinder the increase or favor 

 the decrease or lessen the efficiency of the army and 

 navy, while engaged in the effort to suppress that re- 

 bellion ; and 



8. That each of you will, in his sphere, do all he can 

 to have the officer's, soldiers, and seamen of the army 

 and navy, while engaged in the effort to suppress the 

 rebellion, paid, fed, clad, and otherwise well provided 

 for and supported. 



And with the further understanding that, upon re- 

 ceiving the letter and names thus indorsed, I will cause 

 them to be published, which publication shall be, with- 

 in itself, a revocation of the order in relation to Mr. 

 Vallandigham. 



It will not escape observation that I consent to the 

 release of Mr. Vallandigham upon terms not embra- 

 cing any pledge from him, or from others, as to what he 

 will or will not do. I do this because he is not present 

 to speak for himself, or to authorize others to speak for 

 him ; and hence I shall expect that on returning he 

 would not put himself practically in antagonism with 

 the position of his friends. But I do it chiefly because 

 I thereby prevail on other influential gentlemen of 

 Ohio to so define their position as to be of immense 

 value to the army thus more than compensating for 

 the consequences of any mistake in allowing Mr. Val- 

 landigham to return, so that, on the whole, the public 

 safety will not have suffered by it. Still, in regard to 



Mr. Vallandigham and all others, I mast hereafter, as 

 heretofore, do so much as the public service may seem 

 to require. I have the honor to be, respectfully, 

 yours, Ac. A. LINCOLN. 



On the 1st of July, the committee made an an- 

 swer to the letter of President Lincoln, in which, 

 after urging objections to the positions taken by 

 the President, they conclude as follows : 



In the conclusion of your communication you pro- 

 pose that, if a majority of the committee shall affix their 

 signatures to a duplicate copy of it, which you have 

 furnished, they shall stand committed to three propo- 

 sitions, therein at length set forth, that you will publish 

 the names thus signed, and that this publication shall 

 operate as a revocation of the order of banishment. 

 The committee cannot refrain from the expression of 

 their surprise that the President should make the fate 

 of Mr. Vallandigham depend upon the opinion of this 

 committee upon these propositions. If the arrest and 

 banishment were legal, and were deserved ; if the Pres- 

 dent exercised a power clearly delegated, under the 

 circumstances which warranted its exercise, the order 

 ought not to be revoked, merely because the committee 

 hold, or express, opinions accordant with those of the 

 President. If the arrest and banishment were not le- 

 gal, or were not deserved by Mr. Vallandigham, then 

 surely he is entitled to an immediate and unconditional 

 discharge. 



The people of Ohio were not so deeply moved by the 

 action of the President merely because they were con- 

 cerned for the personal safety or convenience of Mr. 

 Vallandigham, but because they saw in his arrest and 

 banishment an attack upon their own personal rights ; 

 and they attach value to bis discharge chiefly, as it 

 will indicate an abandonment of the claim to the power 

 of such arrest and banishment. However just the un- 

 dersigned might regard the principles contained in the 

 several propositions submitted by the President, or 

 how much soever they might, under other circum- 

 stances, feel inclined to indorse the sentiments con- 

 tained therein, yet they assure him that they have not 

 been authorized to enter into any bargains, terms, con- 

 tracts, or conditions with the President of the United 

 States to procure the release of Mr. Vallandigham. The 

 opinions of the undersigned touching the questions in- 

 volved in these propositions are well known, have been 

 many times publicly expressed, and are sufficiently 

 manifested in the resolutions of the Convention which 

 they represent, and they cannot suppose that the Pres- 

 ident expects that they will seek the discharge of Mr. 

 Vallandigham by a pledge, implying not only an im- 

 putation upon their own sincerity and fidelity as citi- 

 zens of the United States, and also carrying with it, 

 by implication, a concession of the legality of his ar- 

 rest, trial, and banishment, against which they and the 

 Convention they represent have solemnly protested. 

 And, while they have asked the revocation or the order 

 of banishment, not as a favor, but as a right due to 

 the people of Ohio, and with a view to avoid the possi- 

 bility of conflict or disturbance of the public tranquil- 

 lity, they do not do this, nor does Mr. Vallandigham de- 

 sire it, at any sacrifice of their dignity and self-respect. 



The idea that such a pledge as that asked from the 

 undersigned would secure the public safety sufficient- 

 ly to compensate for any mistake of the President in 

 discharging Mr. Vallandigham is, in their opinion, a 

 mere evasion of the grave questions involved in this 

 discussion, and of a direct answer to their demand. 

 And this is made especially apparent bv the fact that 

 this pledge is asked in a communication which concludes 

 with an intimation of a disposition, on the part of the 

 President, to repeat the acts complained of. 



The undersigned, therefore, having fully discharged 

 the duty involved upon them, leave the responsibility 

 with the President. 



On the 26th of August, President Lincoln. ad- 

 dressed the following letter to a mass conven- 

 tion or meeting to bo held at Springfield, HI. : 



