The case of Vallandigham.
the great meeting in New York.
The case of Vallandigham seems to be exciting great interest in the North.
In execution of the sentence of the military commission by which he was tried, as announced yesterday, Burnside has decided to confine him in Fort Warren during the continuance of the present war. At the great meeting held in Union Square on Monday night much enthusiasm was manifested, and the denunciations harried at the Administration were greeted with hearty applause.
We give up much of our space this morning to the proceedings of this meeting:
The resolutions were read to the meeting by Mr. Spencer L. Cone, every allusion in them to the President and Cabinet being met with a storm of groans and hisses.
The Herald's reporter says one of the resolutions, condemnatory of the Administration, was particularly applauded, and its reading followed by a cry of "indict them." The following are the resolutions as adopted by the meeting:
Whereas, within a State where the Courts of law are open and their process unimpeded, soldiers under the command of officers of the United States army have broken into the residence and forcibly abducted from his home, the Hon. Clement L. Vallandigham; and whereas, a body of men, styled a military commission, have arraigned before them and tried the said Hon. C. L. Vallandigham, a civilian and eminent public man, for words spoken in the discussion of public questions before an assemblage of his fellow-citizens; and whereas, the said military commission has sentenced him to a punishment as yet unknown, but which is to be announced in some military order promulgated hereafter, therefore.
Resolved, That we, the citizens of the city of New York, here assembled, denounce the arrest of Hon. Clement L. Vallandigham, and his trial and sentence by a military commission, as a startling outrage upon the hitherto sacred rights of American citizenship.
Resolved, That exigencies of civil war require the fullest and freest discussion of public questions by the American people, to the end that their temporary public servants may not forget that they are the creatures of the public will, and must respect the obligations and duties imposed upon them by the Constitution of their country, which is the authentic, solemn expression of that will; and that whenever, upon the orders of military commanders, and from fear of their spies and informers, American citizens not in the military service shall be denied the right to approve or disapprove measures of public policy, to denounce or applaud the Commander-in-Chief, and to advocate peace or war, as their judgments may dictate, they have ceased to be freemen and have already become slaves.
Resolved, That we reverently cherish that great body of constitutions, laws, precedents, and traditions which constitute us a free people, and that we hold those who designedly and persistently violate them as public enemies.
Resolved, That we are devotedly attached to the Union of these States, and can see nothing but calamity and weakness in its disruption, and shall continue to advocate whatever policy we believe will result in the restoration of that Union.
Resolved, That at a time when our fellow-citizens are falling by thousands upon the battle field, and human carnage has become familiar, we implore the Federal authorities not to adopt the fatal error that a system of imprisonment and terrorism will subjugate the minds and still the voices of the American people.
Resolved That we call upon the Governor of the State of New York and all others in authority, as they value organized society and stable institutions, to save us from the humiliation and peril of the arrest and trial before Military Commissions of citizens whose only crime shall be the exercise of a right without which life is intolerable and republican citizenship a false name and a false pretence.
Resolved, That the refusal of the Judge of the district within which the Hon. C. L. Vallandigham is incarcerated to grant a writ of habeas corpus is in itself a nullification of the Constitution and an infamous outrage upon the clearly defined rights of the citizen.
Resolved, That we fully and heartily endorse the language of our noble and patriotic Governor, addressed to the meeting assembled at Albany on Saturday, the 16th inst., that the arbitrary arrest and imprisonment of Mr. Vallandigham is "an act which has brought dishonor on our country, which is full of danger to our persons and homes, and which bears upon its front a conscious violation of law and justice."
Resolved That while fully and heartily endorsing the manly and outspoken sentiments of the Governor of New York, we shall do all in our power to sustain him in his determination to preserve inviolate the sovereignty of our State and the rights of its people against Federal encroachments and usurpations.
The speeches delivered at this meeting were pretty much in the same spirit of the resolutions and letters given, and strong in their denunciation of the arbitrary policy of Lincoln's Administration.
Mr. John Mullaly, one of the speakers, asked the audience, so far as they represented the State of New York, if they were prepared to stand by Vallandigham?
The question was met with a vociferous response of "yes, yes." He thought that Governor Seymour knew the spirit of the people of the Empire State when he wrote the letter to the Albany meeting on Saturday night, and he (the Governor) knew that the people would stand by him, with guns and bayonets in their hands, at all hazards. (Loud cheers for Governor Seymour) Now was the time for every man to be prepared, if necessary, to take his life in his hand and fight the battles of freedom over again.
The speaker alluded to the expected enforcement of the Conscription act, and inquired of the poor laboring man where he was to get his three hundred dollars, and whether he would consent to be drafted?
(Cries of "never, never.") Would they fight for an Abolition Administration that kept soldiers months without their pay, while contractors were swaggering around Washington with their pockets full of greenbacks?
He predicted that the Conscription law would never be carried out in the State of New York, and judging from the character of the meeting, he thought the were in favor of discontinuing this Abolition war. ("We are; that's the talk," and cheers.) The Government would not give us another foe to fight with, and we had fought long enough with our fellow countrymen of the South.
It was the design of the Administration to overthrow the whole social system of the South, and if this was allowed to continue we would have a King at Washington.
He had the highest respect for the office of President of the United States, which was filled by such men as Washington, Jefferson, and Jackson, and he would tell them that there had been new glory added to the name of Jackson.
(Loud cheers, and cries of "God bless the good boy.") There had been new glory added to it by the great hero whose funeral solemnities were but lately celebrated in Richmond.
That might be called treason, but was it treason? ("No, no.")
Mr. McMasters, another of the speakers on the occasion, said that Vallandigham had called for peace in order to try the last hope of restoring the Union.
It had been tried by a war in violation of the Constitution, and had failed, and always would fail.
He knew that what ever men spoke in these times they spoke in their own peril, and yet he would say that the South never could be conquered.
The same blood that coursed in their veins coursed also in the veins of the people of the South.
Under their gallant Governor, Seymour, the four millions of New York would be able to guard and keep their State against the world; and could it be believed that eight millions of people in the South, as brave and resolute, could be defeated?
They could not starve out the South, and if the war were to continue a hundred years the South would still be free and independent States.
The question here was not about the freedom of the South; Southern freemen would take care of that.
The question was about the liberty of the people of the North.
How were they to maintain their liberties?
(Voices, "by fighting.") By fighting, but not by street fighting; not by disorganized opposition.
They should organize by tens and hundreds, by companies and regiments, and they should send to their Governor and ask
him for commissions as soon as they had their regiments formed.
It was written in the Constitution that the people have the right to have and to bear arms for the defence of themselves, and, not of the Union, but of the State.
They should keep their arms, and if they had not them they should get them, and be ready under their gallant Governor, to defend the liberties of their State.
Judge McCann said he thanked God that in the State of New York they had a Governor who stood by the people of the State, and would not let them be robbed of their liberties without his solemn protest.
He would say to them, "Don't be afraid." There is but one course for freemen — liberty and friendship or annihilation and death.
Capt. Rynders said those who are to administer the law should be careful that they do not set the example of breaking the paramount law of the land themselves.
My friend said there is no war here.
I tell you there is a war here, and that it is waged by military despots upon the rights and privileges of American people.
It is worse than the war that is now waging in the South.
It is for us to fight for our liberties here.
At stand No. 5 the German speakers addressed the crowd.
Dr. Bergmans said that the arrest of Mr. Vallandigham was an outrage on the rights of a free people, and it was only proper for those who valuer liberty to come forth manfully, without fear of a temporary Administration, and express their sentiments.
The United States Government was, like some of the European Governments, becoming absolute and tyrannical, and the people are not prepared to submit to the sacrifice of their liberties.
The reading of the letters elicited continual bursts of approbation.
The most important of them was from the Governor of New York, Horatio Seymour.
We copy it in full, as follows:
Letter of Governor Seymour.
Executive Department, May 16.
I cannot attend the meeting at the Capitol this evening; but I wish to state my opinion in regard to the arrest of Mr. Vallandigham.
It is an act which has brought dishonor upon our country.
It is full of danger to our persons and our homes.
It bears upon its front a conscious violation of law and justice.
Acting upon the evidence of detailed informers, shrinking from the light of day, in the darkness of night, armed men violated the house of an American citizen, and furtively bore him away to military trial, conducted without those safeguards known to the proceeding of our judicial tribunals.
The transaction involved a series of offences against our most sacred rights.
It interfered with the freedom of speech; it involved our rights to be secure in our homes against unreasonable searches and seizures; it pronounced sentence without trial save one which was a mockery — which insulted as well as wronged.
The perpetrators now ask to impose punishment, not for an offence against law, but for the disregard of an invalid order, put forth in the utter disregard of all the principles of civil liberty.
If this proceeding is approved by the Government and sustained by the people, it is not merely a step towards revolution — it is revolution.
It will not only lead to military despotism — it establishes military despotism.
In this aspect it must be accepted.
If it is upheld our liberties are overthrown; the safety of our persons, security of our property, will hereafter depend upon the arbitrary will of such military rulers as may be placed over us, while our constitutional guarantees will be broken down.
Even now the Governors and Courts of some of the great Western States have sunk into insignificance before the despotic powers claimed and exercised by military men who have been sent into their borders.
It is a fearful thing to increase the danger which now overhangs us by treating the law the judiciary, and the State authorities, with contempt.
The people of this country now wait with the deepest anxiety the decisions of the Administration upon these acts.
Having given it a generous support in the conduct of the war, we pause to see what kind of Government it is for which we are asked to pour out our blood and our treasures.
The action of the Government will determine in the minds of more than one-half of the people of the loyal States whether this war is waged to put down rebellion at the South or destroy free institutions at the North.
We look for its decision with the most solemn solicitude. (Signed,) Horatio Seymour.
Letters were also read from District Attorney A. O. Hall, Richard O'Gorman, Amasa J. Parker, Henry C. Murphy, Washington Hunt, Nelson J. Waterbury, and C. J. Ingersoll — all sympathizing warmly with the objects of the meeting, and most of them indulging in the strongest terms of denunciation of the arrest of Vallandigham. The most distinguished New Yorker among them is Mr. Washington Hunt, whose letter is remarkable. He says: ‘ "While we are willing to submit to the greatest sacrifices in a patriotic spirit for the preservation of the Constitution and the Union, it may as well be understood that we will not consent to be bereft of any of our constitutional rights. We have lost none of these rights in consequence of the Southern rebellion. "The Administration ought to comprehend that it is amenable to public opinion, and that its conduct and policy are a legitimate subject of popular discussion and criticism. It is for the perpetuation of free constitutional government, and for this only, that the country has been so willing to exhaust its best blood and place its vast resources at the disposal of the national authority. God forbid that the American people should allow the strength thus imparted to be turned against themselves, and a military despotism erected on the ruins of public liberty! So far as New York is concerned, let it be proclaimed from the housetops that no man Within Her Borders 'shall be Deprived of Life, liberty, or Property, without Due Process of law.' ’
"With great regard, yours, truly,
"Washington Hunt."
"Washington Hunt."
Mr. Waterbury declared in his letter: "It is sufficient to say that these (V.'s arrest, trial, &c.,) and all similar acts must be boldly denounced and resolutely resisted, or we are no longer a free people."
