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A。 LINCOLN。









TELEGRAM TO GENERAL SCHENCK。



WAR DEPARTMENT; WASHINGTON; D。 C。;

June 28; 1863。



MAJOR GENERAL SCHENCK; Baltimore; Md。:



Every place in the Naval school subject to my appointment is full;

and I have one unredeemed promise of more than half a year's

standing。



A。 LINCOLN。









FURTHER DEMOCRATIC PARTY CRITICISM



TO M。 BIRCHARD AND OTHERS。



WASHINGTON; D。 C。;

June 29;1863。



MESSRS。 M。 BIRCHARD; DAVID A。 HOUK; et al:



GENTLEMEN:The resolutions of the Ohio Democratic State convention;

which you present me; together with your introductory and closing

remarks; being in position and argument mainly the same as the

resolutions of the Democratic meeting at Albany; New York; I refer

you to my response to the latter as meeting most of the points in the

former。



This response you evidently used in preparing your remarks; and I

desire no more than that it be used with accuracy。  In a single

reading of your remarks; I only discovered one inaccuracy in matter;

which I suppose you took from that paper。  It is where you say: 〃The

undersigned are unable to agree with you in the opinion you have

expressed that the Constitution is different in time of insurrection

or invasion from what it is in time of peace and public security。〃



A recurrence to the paper will show you that I have not expressed the

opinion you suppose。  I expressed the opinion that the Constitution

is different in its application in cases of rebellion or invasion;

involving the public safety; from what it is in times of profound

peace and public security; and this opinion I adhere to; simply

because; by the Constitution itself; things may be done in the one

case which may not be done in the other。



I dislike to waste a word on a merely personal point; but I must

respectfully assure you that you will find yourselves at fault should

you ever seek for evidence to prove your assumption that I 〃opposed

in discussions before the people the policy of the Mexican war。〃





You say: 〃Expunge from the Constitution this limitation upon the

power of Congress to suspend the writ of habeas corpus; and yet the

other guarantees of personal liberty would remain unchanged。〃

Doubtless; if this clause of the Constitution; improperly called; as

I think; a limitation upon the power of Congress; were expunged; the

other guarantees would remain the same; but the question is not how

those guarantees would stand with that clause out of the

Constitution; but how they stand with that clause remaining in it; in

case of rebellion or invasion involving the public safety。  If the

liberty could be indulged of expunging that clause; letter and

spirit; I really think the constitutional argument would be with you。



My general view on this question was stated in the Albany response;

and hence I do not state it now。  I only add that; as seems to me;

the benefit of the writ of habeas corpus is the great means through

which the guarantees of personal liberty are conserved and made

available in the last resort; and corroborative of this view is the

fact that Mr。 Vallandigham; in the very case in question; under the

advice of able lawyers; saw not where else to go but to the habeas

corpus。  But by the Constitution the benefit of the writ of habeas

corpus itself may be suspended when; in case of rebellion or

invasion; the public safety may require it。



You ask; in substance; whether I really claim that I may override all

the guaranteed rights of individuals; on the plea of conserving the

public safety when I may choose to say the public safety requires it。

This question; divested of the phraseology calculated to represent me

as struggling for an arbitrary personal prerogative; is either simply

a question who shall decide; or an affirmation that nobody shall

decide; what the public safety does require in cases of rebellion or

invasion。



The Constitution contemplates the question as likely to occur for

decision; but it does not expressly declare who is to decide it。  By

necessary implication; when rebellion or invasion comes; the decision

is to be made from time to time; and I think the man whom; for the

time; the people have; under the Constitution; made the

commander…in…chief of their army and navy; is the man who holds the

power and bears the responsibility of making it。  If he uses the

power justly; the same people will probably justify him; if he abuses

it; he is in their hands to be dealt with by all the modes they have

reserved to themselves in the Constitution。



The earnestness with which you insist that persons can only; in times

of rebellion; be lawfully dealt with in accordance with the rules for

criminal trials and punishments in times of peace; induces me to add

a word to what I said on that point in the Albany response。



You claim that men may; if they choose; embarrass those whose duty it

is to combat a giant rebellion; and then be dealt with in turn only

as if there were no rebellion。   The Constitution itself rejects this

view。  The military arrests and detentions which have been made;

including those of Mr。 Vallandigham; which are not different in

principle from the others; have been for prevention; and not for

punishmentas injunctions to stay injury; as proceedings to keep the

peace; and hence; like proceedings in such cases and for like

reasons; they have not been accompanied with indictments; or trials

by juries; nor in a single case by any punishment whatever; beyond

what is purely incidental to the prevention。  The original sentence

of imprisonment in Mr。 Vallandigham's case was to prevent injury to

the military service only; and the modification of it was made as a

less disagreeable mode to him of securing the same prevention。



I am unable to perceive an insult to Ohio in the case of Mr。

Vallandigham。  Quite surely nothing of the sort was or is intended。

I was wholly unaware that Mr。 Vallandigham was; at the time of his

arrest; a candidate for the Democratic nomination for governor until

so informed by your reading to me the resolutions of the convention。

I am grateful to the State of Ohio for many things; especially for

the brave soldiers and officers she has given in the present national

trial to the armies of the Union。



You claim; as I understand; that according to my own position in the

Albany response; Mr。 Vallandigham should be released; and this

because; as you claim; he has not damaged the military service by

discouraging enlistments; encouraging desertions; or otherwise; and

that if he had; he should have been turned over to the civil

authorities under the recent acts of Congress。  I certainly do not

know that Mr。 Vallandigham has specifically and by direct language

advised against enlistments and in favor of desertion and resistance

to drafting。



We all know that combinations; armed in some instances; to resist the

arrest of deserters began several months ago; that more recently the

like has appeared in resistance to the enrolment preparatory to a

draft; and that quite a number of assassinations have occurred from

the same animus。  These had to be met by military force; and this

again has led to bloodshed and death。  And now; under a sense of

responsibility more weighty and enduring than any which is merely

official; I solemnly declare my belief that this hindrance of the

military; including maiming and murder; is due to the course in which

Mr。 Vallindigham has been engaged in a greater degree than to any

other cause; and it is due to him personally in a greater degree than

to any other one man。



These things have been notorious; known to all; and of course known

to Mr。 Vallandigham。  Perhaps I would not be wrong to say they

originated with his special friends and adherents。  With perfect

knowledge of them; he has frequently if not constantly made speeches

in Congress and before popular assemblies; and if it can be shown

that; with these things staring him in the face he has ever uttered a

word of rebuke or counsel against them; it will be a fact greatly in

his favor with me; and one of which as yet I am totally ignorant。

When it is known that the whole burden of his speeches has been to

stir up men against the prosecution of the war; and that in the midst

of resistance to it he has not been known in any instance to counsel

against such resistance; it is next to impossible to repel the

inference that he has counseled directly in favor of it。



With all this before their eyes; the convention you represent have

nominated Mr。 Vallandigham for governor of Ohio; and both they and

you have declared the purpose to sustain the national Union by all

constitutional means。  But of course they and you in common reserve

to yourselves to decide what are constitutional means; and; unlike

the Albany meeting; you omit to state or intimate that in your

opinion an army is a constitutional 

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