"My mother writes me that my father has been arrested without warrant, is held in prison without bail and denied the right to trial——"
He paused and leaned on the desk, trembling with excitement which had increased as he spoke.
"I have come to ask you for justice—that he shall be confronted by his accusers in open court and given a fair trial——"
A frown deepened the shadows in the dark, kindly face:
"And for what was he arrested?"
"For exercising the right of free speech. In a public address he denounced the war——"
The President shook his head sorrowfully:
"You see, my boy, your house is divided against itself—the symbol in the family group of our unhappy country. Of course, I didn't know of this arrest. Such things hurt me, so I refuse to know of them unless I must. They tell me that Seward and Stanton have arrested without warrant thirty-five thousand men. I hope this is an exaggeration. Still it may be true——"
He stopped, sighed, and shook his head again:
"But come, now, my son, and put yourself in my place. What can I do? I've armed two million men and spend four millions a day to fight the South because they try to secede and disrupt the Union. My opponents in the North, taking advantage of our sorrows, harangue the people and elect a hostile legislature in Indiana, Ohio, and Illinois. They are about to pass an ordinance of secession and strike the Union in the back. If secession is wrong in the South it is surely wrong in the North. Shall I fight secession in the South and merely argue politely with it here? Instead of shooting these men, I've consented to a more merciful thing, I just let Seward and Stanton lock them up until the war is over and then I'll turn them all loose.