sion, but was subject only, by the express terms
of the Constitution, to be tried on an indictment or presentment
of a grand jury. Of the offense charged against him there was no
doubt, and scarcely a denial; and the commission, brushing aside
his pleas, convicted him, and sentenced him to be placed in close
confinement, during the continuance of the war, in some fortress
of the United States--the fortress to be designated by the commanding
officer of the department. General Burnside approved the proceeding,
and designated Fort Warren in the harbor of Boston as the place of
Mr. Vallandigham's detention.

THE ARREST OF VALLANDIGHAM.

The President, with that sagacity which was intuitive and unfailing
in all matters of moment, disapproved the sentence, and commuted
it to one sending Mr. Vallandigham beyond our military lines to
his friends of the Southern Confederacy. The estimable and venerable
Judge Leavett of the United-States District Court was applied to
for a writ of _habeas corpus_, but he refused to issue it. The
judge declared that the power of the President undoubtedly implies
the right to arrest persons who by their mischievous acts of
disloyalty impede or hinder the military operations of the government.
The Democratic party throughout the Union took up the case with
intemperate and ill-tempered zeal. Meetings were held in various
places to denounce it, and to demand the right of Vallandigham to
return from the rebel lines within which he had been sent. Governor
Seymour of New York in a public letter denounced the arrest as "an
act which had brought dishonor upon our country, and is full of
danger to our persons and our homes. If this proceeding is approved
by the government and sanctioned by the people it is not merely a
step towards revolution, it is revolution; it will not only lead
to military despotism, it establishes military despotism. In this
respect it must be accepted, or in this respect it must be rejected.
If it is upheld our liberties are overthrown." Waxing still bolder
Governor Seymour said "the people of this country now wait with
the deepest anxiety the decision of the Administration upon these
acts. Having given it a generous support in the conduct of the
war, we now pause to see what kind of government it is for which
we are asked to pour out our blood and our treasure. The action
of the Administration will determine, in the minds