The weekly Lancaster gazette. (Lancaster, Ohio) 1860-1863, 1863-05-21
The Case OF c L valaDd Ie ham

The Case OF e l. ValandI dIe ham
! 10 the United States Circuit Court o.
Cinciunati. JDdgs LEAvIrT presiding
counsel in behalf Of Mr.. VALLAxoDreHAx
renewed his motion for writ Of ko5ea,
c'rpas, directed to Gen. BUHEsIDE, asking
hin to bring The body Of VALLASDIoHAx
into Conrt. Mr.. VALLAEDIoHAM's peti-
tion for ths writ was submitted 10 the
COur, by bis counsel. when on applica-
'iOn BY the District Attorney. at the re-
quest Of Gen BURNsIDE. the Court gran
led a delay Of half all hour, att e1pira.
ton Of which the following statement oil
General BuRssiDE was submitted to the
Court:
HEADoRs. DEPT. OF THE 0Hro.l
CIscrSEATI. OnIo, May II 1868
/ ToMs Honorable The Circuit curt of
Ms United States wtGin and for tile South
yn Di.trict Of Ohio:
The undersigned. comma nding the De
partment Of the OHIO, having received
notice from the Clerk OF s,id Court that
an application Tor the allowance Of writ
oi Habeas Corpus will be made thi, morn
ing hefure your Honors on behalf OF G.
L. Valandigham, now a prisoner in my
custody, asks leave TO submit the follow
ing
| sTATEMEET.
II l were to indulge in wholesale crit
iciems Of tile policy Of the Government,
it would demoraliss the army nuder my
commaod. and every friend of his coun.
hy would call me traitor. If the Off
GERS OF soldiers we're TO indulge in such
Criticisms. it would weaken the army to
the ex'eut Of their Influence and if this
criticism were universal 10 the army II
would cause il TO be broken TO pieces.
the Government to be divided, our homes
to be invaded, aud anarchy TO- reign Nv
duty TO my Government forbils me to IN
dulge in such criticisms officers and sol-
disrs are not allowed to so indulge, and
this course will be sustained by all hou
est men. @
Now. will 60 further. We are in a
stale Of civil war. One Of the States Of
this department is at this moment iuva.
ded, and three others have beeo threaten
ed. l command the department, and il
is my duty to my country and TO this
army to keep it iu the hest possible con-
dition to see that II 10 fed, clad, armed,
and. as far as possible, 10 see that it is en-
couragei. II it is my duty and the du-
ty Of the troops to avoid saying anything
that would weaken the army, BY preven-
ting singla recruit from joining the
ranks. by bringing the laws Of Congress
into disrepute. or by causing dissatisfac
ton in the rauks. it is equally the du,y
of every ctz4D in the depar tnent 10 avoid
the same evil, Ii it is my duty to pre-
vent the propagation OF this evil in the
army, or in portion Of my department.
it is equally my duty in all portions Of it /;
and it is my duty 10 use all the force 10
my power to stop it.
II l were to find man from the enc.
my's lines distributing in my csmps
speeches Of their pnblic men, tha. tended
to demoral'zs the roops. or TO destroy
their confidence in the constituted author
iues Of the Government, l would have
him tri-d. and hung il found guilty. and
all the rules Of modern warfare would
sustain me. Why should such speeches
from our own public men he alowed2
The press. and public men, in a great
emergency like the present. should avoid
the use of party epithels and bitter invsc-
lives. and discourage the organization oi
secret political societies, which are al
ways undigni6ed and disgraceful to a
free people, but now they are absolutely
wrong and injurious; they create disseu
sious and discoHi, which, just now, a.
mouut to treason. The simple names
Patriot" and "TraitOr," are comprehen.
sive enongh.
As | before said. we are in state Of
civil war, and an emergency is upon US
which requires the operations of some
power tina. moves more quickly than The
civil.
There never was war carried on sue
cessfully without the cxel else Of thai
power.
1t is said that the speeches which are
condemned, have been made in the pres.
enc, Of large bodies Of citizens, @ho, If
they thought them wrong. would have
then and there condemned then. Tha,
is no argument. These citizsns do po,
realize the effect upon the army of our
country, who are its defenders. They
have never been iu the field never faced
the enemies of their country never uu-
d.rwent the privations of our soldiers in
the field and. besides. they have b4en in
the habit Of hearing their public men
speak. and, as general thing. OF appro.
wing Of what they Say; therefore the
greater responsibility reefs upon be pub
lie men AMI upon the public press. and
it bvhooves them to be careful as to whit
they say. They must not use license
aud plead that they are exercising llber
ty. In ,tis Department it cannot be
done. l shell use all the power have to
break down such license. and am sure
| will be sustdiped in this course by all
hoOest men. At all events. I will have
the consciousness, before God. of having
done my duty to my country; and when
| am swerved from the performance of
that duty. BY any pressure, public OF pri,
vate, or by any prejudice, will no longer
be a man or patriot.