GRANT BEFORE VICKSBURG.

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sharpest critics of M'Clellan's caution and indecision, on the 27th of April he too began his advance to Richmond, but only to meet with new disasters, and to fall back again to the North of the Rappahannock after the bloody battles of Chancellorsville (2-5 May), with a loss of not far from 18,000 men. In the West, Vicksburg for several months bade defiance to the Federals. They took various forts on neighbouring rivers; they tried to divert the course of the Mississippi from under its walls; but all efforts failed, until, on the 30th of April, Grant commenced a new movement, by landing his forces sixty-five miles lower down the river, and then marching up, which compelled the evacuation by the Confederates of some strong fortifications at Grand Gulf, dispersed the forces which, under General Joseph Johnstone, were advancing to relieve the place, threw the city of Jackson, capital of the State of Mississippi, with large stores of supplies, into the temporary occupation of the Federals, deprived the garrison, which had advanced out to meet the Federals, of a large

128

VALLANDIGHAM AND THE DEMOCRATS.

portion of its artillery, and ended by the close investment of Vicksburg itself, 18th of May; but an attempt to carry the place by storm failed again, and a regular siege had to be opened.

Internal dissensions in the North added to the gloom of ill-success. To say nothing of a struggle of factions in Missouri, tormenting the President, as he wrote himself, "beyond endurance," the Democratic party throughout the country was seriously thwarting the action of the Government. Its most prominent spokesman at this time was Mr. Vallandigham, of Ohio, an old pro-slavery man, who had rejoiced over John Brown's execution. He declared the war to be waged for the freedom of the blacks and the enslaving of the whites, accused the Government of having deliberately rejected propositions which would have brought the South back into the Union, proclaimed his intention to disobey a certain order of General Burnside, in command of the department, and called on the people to resist it. General Burnside had him

THE HABEAS CORPUS RESOLUTIONS.

court-martial.

129

arrested (4th of May), and ordered for trial by Mr. Vallandigham applied for a habeas corpus. The court refused it, on the ground of public safety. He was tried, found guilty, and sentenced to be placed in close confinement in a fortress. The President directed him instead to be sent within the Confederate lines, not to return during the war. He was at once turned loose accordingly into "Secessia." But he had been already puffed into a martyr by the Democrats. A meeting was held at Albany (May 16), to which Governor Seymour of New York sent a letter, declaring that if the arrest was approved by the Government, it was "revolution," and "military despotism." Resolutions denouncing arbitrary arrests and the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus were sent to the President.

Mr. Lincoln at once accepted the challenge. In a letter far too long to quote (13th of June), though it affords a most remarkable example of his powers of argument, he defended the whole course of his Government on the points on which

K

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MR. LINCOLN'S LETTE

its conduct had been impugned. I will only extract one passage as to the arrest of Mr. Vallandigham himself. It was made, Mr. Lincoln wrote " because he was labouring, with some effect, to prevent the raising of troops, to encourage desertions from the army, and to leave the rebellion without an adequate military force to suppress it. Must I shoot a

simple-minded soldier-boy who deserts, while I must not touch a hair of a wily agitator who induces him to desert? This is none the less injurious when effected by getting a father, or brother, or friend, into a public meeting, and there working upon his feelings till he is persuaded to write the soldier-boy that he is fighting in a bad cause, for a wicked Administration of a contemptible Government, too weak to arrest and punish him if he shall desert. I think that in such a case to silence the agitator and save the boy is not only constitutional, but withal a great mercy. . I can no more be persuaded that the Government can constitutionally take no strong measures in time of

TO THE ALBANY DEMOCRATS.

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rebellion, because it can be shown that the same could not be lawfully taken in time of peace, than I can be persuaded that a particular drug is not good medicine for a sick man, because it can be shown not to be good food for a well one (sic). Nor am I able to appreciate the danger apprehended by the meeting, that the American people will, by means of military arrests during the rebellion, lose the right of public discussion, the liberty of speech and the press, the law of evidence, trial by jury, and habeas corpus, throughout the indefinite peaceful future which I trust lies before them, any more than I am able to believe that a man could contract so strong an appetite for emetics during temporary illness as to persist in feeding upon them during the remainder of his healthful life."

Adverting next to the title of "Democrats " claimed by the holders of the meeting, he said: :

"In this time of national peril, I would have preferred to meet you on a level one step higher than any party platform; because I am sure

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