The New York Tribune deprecated, in no querulous tone, but in moderate and dignified language, the entire proceedings in Vallandigham's case, and deemed them not helpful to the cause of the Union, but the contrary.
Vallandigham was not the kind of man to win public sympathy, even for his misfortunes. Moreover, his transference to the society that he was supposed to be most fond of (as an alternative to close confinement in Fort Warren) had a flavor of jocularity that dulled the edge of criticism; but his strength in his own party was vastly augmented by these proceedings. He was nominated for governor by acclamation, and would probably have been elected had not the victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg, two months later, withdrawn attention from him, inspired the Unionists with new enthusiasm, and correspondingly depressed their opponents.
Burnside, finding himself sustained by his superiors in doctoring Copperheadism in Ohio, enlarged the scope of his practice. On the 1st of June he issued an order forbidding the circulation of the New York World in his department and stopping the publication of the Chicago Times. Brigadier-General Ammen was charged with the execution of the latter order. On the following day, Ammen notified Wilbur F. Storey, the editor of the Times, that he would not be allowed to issue his paper on the 3d of June. Storey appealed to the United States District Court for protection. Shortly after midnight Judge Drummond issued a writ directing the military authorities to take no further steps under Burnside's order to suppress the Times until the application for a permanent writ of injunction could be heard in open court. The judge said:
I may be pardoned for saying that personally and officially I desire to give every aid and assistance in my power to the Government and the Administration in restoring the Union, but I have always wished to treat the Government as a government of law and a government of the Constitution, and not a government of mere physical force. I personally have contended and shall always contend for the right of free discussion and the right of commenting under the law and under the Constitution upon the acts of the officers of the Government.
Notwithstanding the order of the judge, a body of troops broke into the office of the Times at half-past three o'clock in the morning, after nearly the whole edition had been printed, and took possession of the establishment. When daylight came there was great excitement in Chicago. Although the Times was a Copperhead sheet of an obnoxious type, many loyal citizens were convinced that Burnside's order would produce vastly more harm than good to the Union cause. A meeting was hastily called at the circuit court room, at which Senator Trumbull and Congressman I. N. Arnold were present. Hon. William B. Ogden, ex-mayor, president of the Chicago and Northwestern Railway, a Republican in politics, offered for adoption a resolution requesting President Lincoln to suspend or rescind Burnside's order suppressing the Times. The resolution was adopted unanimously by the meeting and a petition to that effect was drawn up, signed, and sent around town for additional signatures. It was then telegraphed to the President, and Trumbull and Arnold sent an additional telegram asking that it might receive his prompt attention.
Outside of the room, however, the utmost contrariety of opinion existed. The streets were filled with heated disputants, and there was danger of rioting throughout the day following the suppression of the newspaper. In the evening of June 3, a great meeting of persons opposed to Burnside's order was held in the Court-House Square, which was addressed by General Singleton, Moses M. Strong, of Wisconsin, B. G. Caulfield, and E. G. Asay, Democrats, and by Senator Trumbull and Wirt Dexter, Republicans.
In the mean time Judge Drummond was hearing the arguments of Storey's lawyers on the question of making permanent the injunction that had already been disobeyed. While the proceedings were going on, a telegram came from Burnside to Ammen, dated Lexington, Kentucky, June 4, saying that his order for the suppression of the Chicago Times had been revoked by order of the President of the United States. The soldiers were accordingly withdrawn and Mr. Storey resumed possession of his property.
The Chicago Evening Journal published the following outline of Trumbull's speech on this event:
The point of Judge Trumbull's speech was to show the importance of adhering to the Constitution and laws in all measures adopted for the suppression of the rebellion. He contended that they furnished ample provisions for dealing with traitors in our midst; that the Administration and its friends were weakened by resort to measures of doubtful authority against rebel sympathizers where the law furnished adequate remedies; that while no one questioned the authority of military commanders in the field and within their lines where the civil authorities were overborne, to exercise supreme authority, the right to do this in the loyal portions of the country, where the judicial tribunals were in full operation, was very questionable. He held that by its exercise in such localities the enemies of the country were given a great advantage, by alleging that their constitutional rights and privileges were arbitrarily interfered with. He insisted that the Constitution and laws were supreme in war as well as in peace, and that the denial of this proposition was an acknowledgment that the people were incapable of self-government—an admission that constitutional liberty and the rights of the citizen, guaranteed by fundamental laws, were of no value except in peaceful times, so that in tumultuous times personal liberty regulated by law, to establish which the Anglo-Saxon race had been contending for centuries, must give way to the discretion of any man who might happen at the time to be at the head of the Government; that this, the American people are not prepared to admit, nor was it necessary they should; that the right of free speech and a free election should never be surrendered; but that this freedom did not imply the right, in time of civil war, to give aid and comfort to the enemies of the country, either directly or indirectly, against which the laws made ample provision.
The legislature of Illinois was then in session and both houses passed resolutions condemning the action of the military authorities in suppressing the Chicago Times.[66]