which might not have been politic and would certainly have added to the labor, the expense, and the complications of the government.  “Nothing can make me believe,” he once charitably said, “that one hundred thousand Indiana Democrats are disloyal!” His judgment was proved to be sound; for had many of these men been in grim earnest in their disloyalty, they would have achieved something.  In fact these bodies were unquestionably composed of a small infusion of genuine traitors, combined with a vastly larger proportion of bombastic fellows who liked to talk, and foolish people who were tickled in their shallow fancy by the element of secrecy and the fineness of the titles.

The man whose name became unfortunately preeminent for disloyalty at this time was Clement L. Vallandigham, a Democrat, of Ohio.  General Burnside was placed in command of the Department of the Ohio, March 25, 1863, and having for the moment no Confederates to deal with, he turned his attention to the Copperheads, whom he regarded with even greater animosity.  His Order No. 38, issued on April 13, brought these hornets about his ears in impetuous fury; for, having made a long schedule of their favorite offenses, which he designed for the future severely to proscribe, he closed it by saying that “the habit of declaring sympathy for the enemy will not be allowed in this Department;” and he warned persons with treasonable tongues that, unless they should keep that little member in order, they might expect either to suffer death as traitors, or to be sent southward within the lines of “their friends.”  Now Mr. Vallandigham had been a member of Congress since 1856, and was at present a prominent candidate for any office which the Democrats of his State or of the United States might be able to fill; he was the popular and rising leader of the Copperhead wing of the Democracy.  Such was his position that it would have been ignominious for him to allow any Union general to put a military gag in his mouth.  Nor did he.  On the contrary, he made speeches which at that time might well have made Unionists mad with rage, and which still seem to have gone far beyond the limit of disloyalty which any government could safely tolerate.  Therefore on May 4 he was arrested by a company of soldiers, brought to Cincinnati, and thrown into jail.  His friends gathered in anger, and a riot was narrowly avoided.  At once, by order of General Burnside, he was tried by a military commission.  He was charged with “publicly expressing sympathy for those in arms against the government of the United States, and declaring disloyal sentiments and opinions, with the object and purpose of weakening the power of the government in its efforts to suppress an unlawful rebellion.”  Specifications were drawn from a speech delivered by him on or about May 1.  The evidence conclusively sustained the indictment, and the officers promptly pronounced him guilty, whereupon he was sentenced by Burnside to confinement in Fort Warren.  An effort to obtain his release by a writ of habeas corpus was ineffectual.