"We are hopeful," I wrote, "now that the United States Circuit Court
has refused to release Mr. Vallandigham on _habeas corpus_, that his
followers will take warning and that their course will be so
modified that there may be no occasion to make many more arrests.
"I am persuaded that our policy should be to repress disloyalty and
sedition at home rather by punishment of prominent examples than by
a general arrest of all who may make themselves obnoxious to General
Order No. 38, as the latter course will involve a more frequent
application of military authority than we choose to resort to,
unless circumstances should make it imperatively necessary... I am
full of hope that the seditious designs of bad men will fail by
reason of the returning sense of those who have been their dupes,
and that the able and patriotic opinion of Judge Leavitt in the
_habeas corpus_ case will cause great numbers to take positive
ground in favor of the government, who have hitherto been more or
less under the influence of our northern traitors. If such shall be
the result we can afford to overlook bygones, and I am inclined to
await the development of public sentiment before following up
Vallandigham's arrest by many others.
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