[Footnote: _Id_.,
pp. 385, 386.] This the latter did by General Order No. 91, issued
on the 4th of June. He read to me on June 7th a letter from Mr.
Stanton, which practically revoked the whole of his Order No. 38 by
directing him not to arrest civilians or suppress newspapers without
conferring first with the War Department. This would have been very
well if it had been done at the beginning; but to have it come after
political pressure from the outside, and in so marked contradiction
to the approval first expressed, shows that there was no
well-considered policy. It put Burnside himself in an intolerable
position, and, of course, made him decline further responsibility
for such affairs in his department. [Footnote: I do not find in the
Official Records the letter of Mr. Stanton above referred to; but I
speak of it from a written memorandum I made at the time.]
The whole question as to the right and the policy of military
arrests and orders in such a time bristles with difficulties. Had I
been consulted before Burnside took action, I should have advised
him to collect carefully the facts and report them to Washington,
asking for specific instructions.
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