infractions of
the Constitution, its deception as to the strength of the South, and
the corruption in its departments.

[Footnote 847: New York _Herald_, October 8 and 9, 1862.]

Seymour's admirers manifested his tendencies more emphatically than he
did himself, until denunciation of treason and insistence upon a
vigorous prosecution of the war yielded to an indictment of the
Radicals. The shibboleth of these declaimers was arbitrary arrests.
Two days after the edict of emancipation (September 24) the President
issued a proclamation ordering the arrest, without benefit of _habeas
corpus_, of all who "discouraged enlistments," or were guilty of "any
disloyal practice" which afforded "aid and comfort to the rebels."[848]
This gave rise to an opinion that he intended to "suppress free
discussion of political subjects,"[849] and every orator warned the
people that Wadsworth's election meant the arrest and imprisonment of
his political opponents. "If chosen governor," said the _Herald_, "he
will have his adversaries consigned to dungeons and their property
seized and confiscated under the act of Congress."[850] In accepting an
invitation to speak at Rome, John Van Buren, quick to see the humour
of the situation as well as the vulnerable point of the Radicals,
telegraphed that he would "arrive at two o'clock--if not in Fort
Lafayette."[851]

[Footnote 848: _Lincoln's Works_, Vol. 2, p. 239.]

[Footnote 849: Benjamin E. Curtis, _Pamphlet on Executive Power_.]

[Footnote 850: New York _Herald_, October 4, 1862.]

[Footnote 851: _Ibid._, October 24.]

To the delight of audiences John Van Buren, after two years of
political inactivity, broke his silence. He had earnestly and perhaps
sincerely advocated the nomination of John A. Dix, but after Seymour's
selection he again joined the ranks of the Softs and took the stump.
Among other appointments he spoke with Seymour at the New York
ratification meeting, and again at the Brooklyn rally on October 22.
Something remained of the old-time vigour of the professional
gladiator, but compared with his Barnburner work he seemed what Byron
called "an extinct volcano." He ran too heedlessly into a bitter
criticism of Wadsworth, based upon an alleged conversation he could
not substantiate, and into an acrimonious attack upon Lincoln's
conduct of the war, predicated upon a private letter of General Scott,
the possession of which he did not satisfactorily account for. The
_Tribune_, re