Norwich bulletin., 1915-01-13
FAMOUS TRIALS
TRIAL OF vALLANo NoIeHAM.

The radical ideas of Clement Laird Vanandigham brought him into a great amount of prominence during the Civil war, which finally ended in his arrest. During the early part of the war he served as a member of Congress from Ohio. and shortly became conspicuous on account of his bold uttrances against the acts ot the AdminlstratIon, and on Dec. 5, 1862, he offered a series of resolutions in the House of Repre- lsentatives, in which he declared that as the war was originally waged for the pUrnose of defending and main l taining the supremacy of the Const- tuition and the preservation of the Union, whoever should attempt to per vert the same to a war of subjugation or for overtllrowir~ or interfering with 1 the rights of the States, and to abolish slavery, would be guilty of a crime 1 against the Constitution of the Un- 1 ion.''
 After his term in Congress expired he returned to Ohio and began the attacking of the Administration Gen. A. E. Burnside, then commanding the Department of the Ohio, regarded his order declaring that persons within the Union lines that were found commit ting certain specific acts should be tried as spies and traitors
 VaIlandignam def1ed Burnside in a 1 reply issued on May l. 1863. and in re-
 
 He was taken to Cincinnati and, though he issued an appeal to his adherents, he was tried b. ourt-martial. The prisoner submitted no defense to the commission which, he declared, had no right to try him, but he cross exam lned the witnesses. He brought out the fact (which was used in extenua tion) that notwithstanding his denun- ciatory language he said the remedy for the evils was in the ballot box and the courts.
 In analyzing the speeches of MT. Val iandigham, Hon. Aaron F. Perry, the eminent counsel for the Government touching on hi~ cautions reference to the Government, said: Tt cannot be claimed that the motive was to influ- ence electors. because the argument does not fit that motive. It fits to in- surrection and to that only"
 The trial of Vallandigham began on May $. and continued until May 16. The members of the court-martial were, Brig. Gen. Potter, president; Col. De- couFcey, Lieut.. Col. Goodrich, Maj. Van Buren, Maj. Brown, Maj Fitch and Capt. Lydig, with Capt. Cutts as judge advocate.
 He was arrested at his home in Day ton by a company of United States soldiers sent for that purpose by Gen. Burnside. He had his house barred and the soldiers were compelled to force their way in. He refused to plead to the charges which were read to him, and the court proceeded with the evil Mt Vernon speech. While the trial continued he stayed at the Burnett House under a strone guard.
 The commission found MT. NaItan- close confinement in a United States fort during the continuance of the war Gen. Burnside named Ft. Warren in Boston Harbor. Two days after sen tence was passed Hon. George F. Pugh of his counsel applied to Judge LeaVitt of the United States Circuit Court, for .. writ of habeas cor pus. The application was argued by Mir. Pugh for the prisoner, and by Mr Perry and the district attorney in be- half of Gen. Burnside. After due con- sideratior the application was denied by the court in an opinion that at tracted wide attention.
 Mir. Perry declared that the power of the President as cOmmander- in chief undoubtedly includes the right to what he might term disloyalty impede the military operations of the Govern ment. The reputation of MT. Leavitt as a judge gave weight to his opinion at the time, but subsequently, the Su- preme Court of the United States dis sented from some of it's conclusions in the case of the so-called Indiana con- spirators.
 President Lincoln modified the sen tence of the military commission. by directing that instead of being i'm prisoned. MT. Vallandignam should be sent within the Confederate lines, and should not return to the United States until after the close Of the war. This sentence suited the popular humor Many who thought the arrest of MT. Valiandignam impoEtic, and who be- lieVed it better to run the risk of insur- reCtion even than to abridge the free dom of speech, conceded that the Pres ident had met the difficulty happily and wisely.