ervice 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. Vallandigham 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