ded in his triumphant response to all the accusations against
him, the committee said "Why did you not give us these explanations
when you were here before?"--"Because," replied General Stone, "if
the chairman will remember, the committee did not state to me the
particular cases. . . . I gave general answers to general allegations."
General Stone stated further to the committee that he ought himself
to have asked for a Court of Inquiry after the reverse at Ball's
Bluff. "The reason why I did not," he continued, "was this: While
General McClellan was at Edward's Ferry, he showed me a telegram
which he had written to the President to the effect that he had
examined into the affair at Ball's Bluff and that General Stone
was entirely without blame." "After the expression of that opinion,"
said General Stone, "it would not have been respectful to ask for
a Court of Inquiry. It was given by the highest authority and sent
to the highest authority, and as a soldier I had no right to ask
for justification except of my superiors." Subsequently, on the
occasion of Mr. Conkling's speech "severely criticising" General
Stone's conduct in connection with the affair at Ball's Bluff, the
General applied to the aide-de-camp of General McClellan, as likely
to be informed of the Commander's wishes, to know if he "should
ask for a Court of Inquiry," and the reply was "No." He then asked
if he should make a statement correcting the mistakes in Mr.
Conkling's speech. The reply was "Write nothing; say nothing; keep
quiet." The committee asked General Stone, as a military man, "Who
had the power to bring you to trial?" He answered "When I was
arrested, the General-in-Chief, General McClellan, had that power.
I know I should claim that power if any man under my command were
arrested."

GENERAL STONE'S RESIGNATION.

The responsibility for the arrest and imprisonment of General Stone
must, according to the official record of the case, rest on Secretary
Stanton, Major-General McClellan, and the Committee on the Conduct
of the War. It is very clear that Mr. Lincoln, pressed by a thousand
calls and placing implicit confidence in these three agencies, took
it for granted that ample proof existed to justify the extraordinary
treatment to which General Stone was subjected. General Stone is
not to be classed in that long list of private citizens temporarily
confined without the benefit of _habea