The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1863-05-16
The vallandighan Case.

below we puDIlSn statement submit
ted to the U. S. Court, by Gen. Burnside
pending the application of Vallandigham
for writ of ha6eas corpus, on Monday
last. It is worth reading: ., .,...a.f.
HEADQ' RS DEPARTMENT OF THE OHIO,
CINCINNATI, Ohio, May II, 1868. !
To tie Honorable the Circuit Court of tie
7. United States Djthin and for the Southern
District Of Ohio; Abba s .-#.
The undersigned. commanding the De-
partment of the Ohio, having received
notice from the Clerk of said Court that
an application for the allowance of a writ
of ha6eGs corpus will be made this morning
before your HonorS on behalf of Clement
l.. Vallandigham, now prisoner in my
custody, asks leave to submit to the Court
the following .- ..... -s.r
.. .ss-a-s. STATEMENT. n.
If were to indulge in wholesale criti-
cisms of the policy of the Government, it
would demoralize the army under my com
mand, and every friend of his country
would call me a traitor. If the officers or
soldiers Were to indulge in such criticisms,
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,
an anarchy to reign. My duty to my Gov
eminent forbids me to indulge in such crit
icisms; officers and soldiers are not allowed
to so indulge, and this course will be sus-
tanned by all honest men. -..- ...a
Now, will go further We are in state
of civil war. One of the States of this De-
partment is at this moment invaded, and
three others have been threatened. COM
mand 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 army, by preventing single recruit
from Joining the ranks, by bringing the
laws of Congress into disrepute, or by
causing dissatisfaction 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
ali portions of it; and it is my duty to use
all the force in my power to stop it. zf.H
If We're TO find a man from the enemys
country, distributing in my camps speech
es of their public men Unattended to demon
alize the troops, or to destroy their conf
dence in the constituted authorities of the
Government, 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 invec-
tives, and discourage the organization Of
secret societies which are always undig-
nified and disgraceful to a free people, but
now they are absolutely wrong and in
furious; they create dissension and discord,
which just now amount to treason. The
simple names ''Pataiot' arbitrator are
COMMUNICATIVE enough. .r.
AS before said, we are in 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 war carried on success
fully without the exercise of that power,
1t is said that the speeches which are
condemned, have been in the presence of
large bodies of citizens, who if they tho't
them wrong would have then and there
condemned them. That is no argument.
These citizens do not realize the effect up
on the army Of our country, who are its
defenders. They have never been in the
field; never faced the enemies of their coun-
try; never undergone the privations Of our