Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1867-10-29
COLUMBUS. O., TUESDAY MORNING, OC

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chamber in the Burnet House. Laughter
They had been fifty selected for theil
work. and they did iG accordingly. Two
days were spent nominally in the trial ;
at the end of which Mr.V presented brie
and pointed protest. repeating his denia
of the Jurisdiction of the Court, demand
ing judicial trial by jury, and vindicat-
ing his right to make the speech for which
ostensibly-he had been arrested. Beyond
this he declined to submit anything. The
finding and sentence OF the military com.
mission were not made public till the 18th
Meantime he had been removed to the
Burnet House (Burnside's headquartersl
where. in room '246,' in the attic, lie was
kept under strong guard, who were or.
dered, in case of any attempt at rescue oil
escape, to put him to death. Similar or
.ders had been issued to his captors, previ-
Gus to his arrest.
During the few hours he was in Kemp.
er Barrack Prison, Mr.. Vallandigha.n
wrote brief address to the Democrats oi
Ohio, and found means to pass it out fol
publication. He knew that the object OF
his arrest was to strike terror into others
and he was anxious to make it known that
he himself was calm and unmoved. and tC
enjoin upon his friends to stand firm and
falter not an Instant The day of his ar.
rest was one of intense excitement in Day.
ton. Thousands thronged the streets, and
into violence. But meantime, Burnside. in
great alarm. had sent up several compa-
MES OF soldiers to suppress the disturb
ance, and the next day declared martial
- law Throughout ha-eaisnts,s-Aae.r"-t t',re.,
thirty citizens were arrested and dragged
down to the military prisons at Cincinnati;
and for six weeks. every Democrat in
Montgomery was at the mercy of an inc
briate military commandant. Burnside's
own brutal conduct toward the prisoners
was consistent with his real character. He
visited them more than once, and with
oaths and curses, and, in one instance, with
blows, vented his rage upon them. Dur
ing the whole time that Mr.. Vallandigham
was in his custody, he was in constant fear
of assassination, or, at least, of popular
, outbreak and rescue; and while his prison
er enjoyed calm and unbroken slumbers
aloft, the iailor trembled below, afraid
for the terror by night, A guard
atfd loaded muskets, marched with
Mr.. V. to and from the commission,
aud squad of ten regulars kept watch day
and night, over his room, while seutinelS
paced the pavemepts below. The author OF
the arrest had greatly misread the feelings
of the people. Nearly everywhere, and
by all parties the act was, at first. con-
demned. But one newspaper in New York
City, the Daily Time, ustitit d it. Immense
and violent public meetings were he d all
over the country in denunciation. Every
day the popular Indignation grew str, ser
and more intense. It had been BurnsIde's
intention to arrest all the chief Democrat
ic leaders of the Northwest; and in some
cases the orders had been made out In
alarm, he was now obliged to pause. His
attempt, soon after. to suppress the Chicago
Times, called forth so powerful an iusu
rectionary feeling that the President was
forced TO revoke the order. Thus, through
premature and too violent development
the whole conspiracy to break Gown party
opposition to the men in power, and subju-
gate the Northwest, utterly failed. Order
So died. The counter-revOlution, at last
fairly set in, and continued with increaS-
ing violence, till the Confederate invasion
of Pennsylvania and the subsequent fall
of Vicksburg reversed the whole current
and revived the falling fortunes of the wal
party and the Administration.
Two days after the trial before the mil
itary commission. the Hon. Geo. E. Pugh
on behalf of Mr.. Vallandigham, moved fol
writ of hdbeas corpus, before Humphrey
II. Leavitt, Judge OF the United States
Court for the Southern District of Ohio
No suspension of the privilege of the writ
had, at that time, been declared under the
act of Congress, and the pretense of g
Presidential right to suspend it had been
exploded. Judge Leavitt required that no.
to Burnside, who submitted an extraor-
dinary paper justifying the act, and claim
ing Constitutional and legal right &c
commit it, as military commandant OF th5
Department of the Ohio, which he chose tc
regard AS a vast camp, every citizen with.
in its limits being subject to military law
The case was opened on the 11th, by Mr.
Pugh, in an argument of great ability
and consummate eloquence. He was re.
piled to, on behalf of Burnside, by two
members of the Cincinnati bar, in elabo.
rate speeches, appropriated and modernizPd
from the crowned lawyers of the reign OF
Charles the First and James the Second
Mr.. Pugh rejoined in an argument of
even greater ability than his first; anC
Judge Leavitt, after two or three davs
consideration, and upon consultation with
Burnside, refused the writ upon the
grouuds-first, that the arrest was legal
and, second. that though it had been lille
gal, it was morally certain that the writ
would not be obeyed, and therefore ought
not to be issued. NOtsince the days OF Emp
son, Dudley, or Jrffreys, had such judicial
servility to executive power been eXhibi
ted. Never, except upon the trial of Johr
Hampden, in the ship-money case, was
like opinion pronounced from the bench
Let single sentence suffice: The solt
question: saws this most righteous judge
is whether the arrest was legal and, a.
before remarked, its legality depends OF
the necessity which eXiSSd for making it
and of that necessity. for the reason, stated
this Court can not iudicially determine.
And yet this monStrOus doctrine is among
the most moderate utterances of the Opin
ion. The twelve judges of the First Charles
were not more cOmplaiSant. There is
rule of law, said one of them. 'and rule
OF government; and many things whict
may not be done by the rule of law, may
be done by the rule of government; ant
they all agree that, when the good ant
safety of the kingdom in general is con
cerutd d. the king is the sole judge, both o
the danger, and when and how the same i
to be prevented and avoided The Eng
lish judges held their offices during til,
pleasure of their master, the king. TIL,
American judge held his for life, and un
der written constitution, which express
lY DECLARED that no citizen should be arrest
ed, except upon due process of law
'Two days after the refusal of the habeg
corpus. the sentence of the military com
mission and the approval of it by Burn
side was made public, condemning MI
Vallandigham to close confinement il
Fort Warren, Boston harbor, during tn
war. imprisonment on the Dry Tortuga
Islands had, at first. been contemplated
and many believed that sentence of deatl
had been Burnside's original purpose, from
which he was deferred alone by the;-vio
lence of the popular Indignation which tn
arrest had excited. Whether this be tru
or not, he certainly insisted to distin
guished gentleman of Cincinnati, that h
might justly put Mr.. V. to death for
speech delivered by him at Batavia, il
April"
Since this narrative was written conclu
sive proof has appeared, quite Independent
even of one Deacon Gray's statement. tha
my death was Burnside's original design
though l deny that l am in any wise in
debted for safety to the tender mercies q
the late Governor Tod. Benjamin F. Wad
said, during the recent campaign, that
was misfortune that Burnside's purpos