The act seems;
however, to have had little general effect, and it was
disregarded in the most celebrated of the cases of military
arrest, that of Clement L. Vallandigham.
A representative from Ohio and one of the most vituperative
anti-Lincoln men in Congress, Vallandigham in a sensational
speech applied to the existing situation Chatham's words, "My
lords, you cannot conquer America." He professed to see before
him in the future nothing "but universal political and social
revolution, anarchy, and bloodshed, compared with which the Reign
of Terror in France was a merciful visitation." To escape such a
future, he demanded an armistice, to be followed by a friendly
peace established through foreign mediation.
Returning to Ohio after the adjournment of Congress, Vallandigham
spoke to a mass-meeting in a way that was construed as rank
treason by General Burnside who was in command at Cincinnati.
Vallandigham was arrested, tried by court martial, and condemned
to imprisonment. There was an immediate hue and cry, in
consequence of which Burnside, who reported the affair, felt
called upon also to offer to resign. Lincoln's reply was
characteristic: "When I shall wish to supersede you I shall let
you know. All the Cabinet regretted the necessity for arresting,
for instance, Vallandigham, some perhaps doubting there was a
real necessity for it; but being done, all were for seeing you
through with it.
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