The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1917-08-23
THE FORGOTTEN vALLANDIGHAM
BY ]. Frank Davis of The Vigil
lantes


least, not more than one out of thou
sand readers can,
Yet Clement l.. Vallandigham wa
quite well.known figure in America i
his day. He is almost completely for
gotten now, which is as il should b,
The good excuse for resurrecting him i
these words is to emhapsize the happ
fact that we do not need TO worry to
much about the dubious loyalty of
few of our national representatives il
Congress.
Vallandigham was member of Con
gress, from Ohio. There are members o
Congress to-day, not from Ohio, who's,
words and conduct entitle them to b,
called the Vallandighams of this war.
Patriotic men are exasperated will
them, fearful of what effect their NOR,
or less disguised disloyalty may have OF
our participation in the civilized world,
battle for democracy. In what happened
to Vallandigham, and what has sine,
happened TO the memory of Vallandig
ham, is some salve for this evaporation
some answer to these fears.
Vallandigham was sympathizer with
the southern Confederacy. He did what
he could to help the southern cause. II
he had done il in the armies of the
South, or in the councils of the South,
his aid would have been honest loyalty
4 b al Dad he. "a
where it was disloyalty.
He was siirewd politician, as are
some of the German sympathizers of our
modern day. He had sympathetic con-
stituency, again like some politicians
who are obstructing the war to the best
of their ability in 1917 In May, 1858,
when the North was passing through
dark days and every unionist was strain
ing his hardest to express his patriotism,
Vallandigham denounced President Lin
coin in speech, declaring that his hear
ers should come up together at the bal,
lot box and hurl the tyrant from the
throne"
He was arrested, tried by a military
commission, and sentenced to be confined
in a fortress for the duration of the war.
President Lincoln committed this sen
tence and ordered that he be turned over
to his own friends in the Confederate
states. He was at once taken to Muir
freesboro, Tenn, where he was sent
through the lines under flag of truce
and presented to the Confederates with
the compliments of the people to whose
cause he had been disloyal.
But this didn't satisfy him any more
than it would satisfy certain of our own
statesmen if they could be deported into
Germany. He demanded Of the Confed
crates that they make him prisoner of
war; they declined to do any such thing, |
or in any other way TO help him become
n martyr Soldiers do not respect dis
loyalty. He made his way to Bermuda |
and sailed to Canada. President Lincoln,
when it was reported Vallandigham was
about to cross the border into this coun
try, refused to get excited about it, say
ng the people could be depended upon.
He was right; they could.
vallandigham ran for governor of Ohio,
eeking vindieation. He thoughts per-
iaps some of our modern Vallandighams
hink would be the case if they had to
ubmit their cases to the judgment of
heir constituents-that his public would
,ack him He was defeated by over
900 majority 49, such a majority as
)hio had never before witnessed
The wages of his disloyalty were ban Il
shment, disownment, and the fate of
eing speedily forgotten except by those
rho remembered him only to scorn him
8 one who was against his own country
a its day of need.
There is cheer for all good Americans i,
! recalling this bit of ancient history.
1t reminds us, when our few willful
enators and congressman do their bit ,
Or the kaiser by obstructing imperative ;
ar legislation, that our generation is !
OF unique in such respect; in 1863 i
ne government also had dangerous !.
lends of the enemy in powerful places.
nd it assures us that, in the fullness of n
me, they viii probably meet their Just
,serts. II may not be practical, with 1
incolnian humor, to push them over s.
to Germany and tell the enemy whom n
icy are serving that he is welcome to "
em, but at least we may be assured, n
hen the names of good Americans are n
ing repeated in later and happier Il
y, that theirs will be quite forgotten. n
ltC