In 1863 Abraham Lincoln was plagued by a growing peace movement led by political opponents who said the war was a failure, and we should recognize the Confedrate States under Jefferson Davis. The leading spokesperson for "Copperheads" was one Clement Vallandigham, an Ohio Congressman who was a gifted public orator. Vallandigham was giving anti-Union speeches in Ohio. Lincoln did not know what do to shut up this dangerous radical. And then Major General Ambrose E. Burnside, commander of the Department of the Ohio, stepped in.
Burnside had his flaws - his list of disasters on the battlefield included his "masterpiece" at Fredericksburg, Va. But he was a real patriot, and hearing Vallandigham's speeches got the better of him. He arrested the Congressman for treason. Lincoln now had a potential time bomb - if he put Vallandigham on trial and he was convicted, the Copperhead would become a martyr. If he put Vallandigham on trial, and he was acquitted it would be worse.
Vallandigham made comments in his speeches about how sick he was about living in the North as it was, and how he hated being a present day citizen of the U.S.A. Suddenly Lincoln got an idea. Smiling, he sent Burnside an order that as Clement Vallandigham had openly said he hated being a citizen of the U.S.A., his wish should be granted. Smiling in his turn, Amborse Burnside arranged (as Lincoln ordered) for Vallandigham to be taken by a heavy guard to the border of Ohio and Ontario, and sent across the border into the British Colony (Canada was still British North America in 1863). Vallandigham lived in Toronto (a center of Canadian secret activity during the war) until late 1864, when he returned to the North in disguise. Once he revealed himself publicly again, nobody bothered him.
Edward Everett Hale was a prominent magazine writer of the period. Today THE MAN WITHOUT A COUNTRY is his acknowledged masterpiece, but he also wrote THE BRICK MOON, an early science fiction novella about an artificial satellite that may have influenced Jules Verne's novel THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE.* Hale wrote THE MAN WITHOUT A COUNTRY in response to the Vallandigham business, setting it back two generations to the controversy about Aaron Burr's Western "Empire" schemes. But this book was like Tom Paine's COMMON SENSE - a small book that hit the public at just the right moment in a war (Elbert Hubbard's A MESSAGE TO GARCIA is another example of this) and swept the country, ending up a permanent piece of American literature.
(*If you check this web site under the proper names, you will find that Edward Everett Hale did his little bit to assist American film comedy: he is the grand father and namesake of that terrific comic character actor Edward Everett Horton.)
Lt. Philip Nolan is an ambitious naval officer in the early American navy of the John Adams and Thomas Jefferson era (1798 - 1807). He is sent to a western outpost in Louisiana, and is bored there. When Burr shows up he gets heavily involved in Burr's schemes. When Burr falls, Nolan is arrested and tried for treason. In a moment of anger, Nolan makes the mistake of shouting in court that he wishes he never heard the name of the United States of America again. The court-martial board are shocked by this statement. After getting proper instructions from President Jefferson (like Burnside would from Lincoln in 1863) they agree to Nolan's request. He is put on one American frigate after another for the rest of his life. While on board the ship takes down it's American flags. Nobody is to mention the U.S.A. or news from the states in his presence.
For the next half-century Nolan is treated like this. He actually turns out to be far more aware of his idiotic comment than anyone realizes (at a dance he is pointedly reminded about it by a pretty American socialite he meets). He even assists in winning a battle in the War of 1812 against the enemy British ship. But the decision of the court is upheld until he dies. Yet, at the tale's end, it turns out that Nolan did learn what happened, and even knew of most of the new states in the union. The narrator (as Nolan is dying) tells him the history of the U.S. since 1807. Except for one point: he can't bring himself to reveal that in 1863 there is a Civil War going on, and that half the states no longer want to be part of the U.S.A. Still Nolan dies happy, having been reassured of his nations' expansion and seeming prosperity.
This 1973 version was quite good, with Cliff Robinson as Nolan, developing from a "Hotspur" young man into a maturer type who gradually realizes what a stupid wish he voiced. Robinson was a bit too old to be the young Philip Nolan, but he handled the later years all right. Beau Bridges is the narrator, who crosses Nolan's path in his own naval career. Robert Ryan, in one of his last performances, plays the wise older officer who fills in some of Nolan's history to Bridges, and explains why the Navy Department just doesn't stop the long exile: "Have you ever tried to fight the white tape of Washington City?", Ryan says with a friendly smile to Bridges. Twenty years later, when running across Nolan again, Bridges remembers Ryan's statement again. Quite different from Ryan's other nautical figure from this period: Claggart in BILLY BUDD.
A worthy, and moving version of the great novella - it reached Hale's goal very well.
Burnside had his flaws - his list of disasters on the battlefield included his "masterpiece" at Fredericksburg, Va. But he was a real patriot, and hearing Vallandigham's speeches got the better of him. He arrested the Congressman for treason. Lincoln now had a potential time bomb - if he put Vallandigham on trial and he was convicted, the Copperhead would become a martyr. If he put Vallandigham on trial, and he was acquitted it would be worse.
Vallandigham made comments in his speeches about how sick he was about living in the North as it was, and how he hated being a present day citizen of the U.S.A. Suddenly Lincoln got an idea. Smiling, he sent Burnside an order that as Clement Vallandigham had openly said he hated being a citizen of the U.S.A., his wish should be granted. Smiling in his turn, Amborse Burnside arranged (as Lincoln ordered) for Vallandigham to be taken by a heavy guard to the border of Ohio and Ontario, and sent across the border into the British Colony (Canada was still British North America in 1863). Vallandigham lived in Toronto (a center of Canadian secret activity during the war) until late 1864, when he returned to the North in disguise. Once he revealed himself publicly again, nobody bothered him.
Edward Everett Hale was a prominent magazine writer of the period. Today THE MAN WITHOUT A COUNTRY is his acknowledged masterpiece, but he also wrote THE BRICK MOON, an early science fiction novella about an artificial satellite that may have influenced Jules Verne's novel THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE.* Hale wrote THE MAN WITHOUT A COUNTRY in response to the Vallandigham business, setting it back two generations to the controversy about Aaron Burr's Western "Empire" schemes. But this book was like Tom Paine's COMMON SENSE - a small book that hit the public at just the right moment in a war (Elbert Hubbard's A MESSAGE TO GARCIA is another example of this) and swept the country, ending up a permanent piece of American literature.
(*If you check this web site under the proper names, you will find that Edward Everett Hale did his little bit to assist American film comedy: he is the grand father and namesake of that terrific comic character actor Edward Everett Horton.)
Lt. Philip Nolan is an ambitious naval officer in the early American navy of the John Adams and Thomas Jefferson era (1798 - 1807). He is sent to a western outpost in Louisiana, and is bored there. When Burr shows up he gets heavily involved in Burr's schemes. When Burr falls, Nolan is arrested and tried for treason. In a moment of anger, Nolan makes the mistake of shouting in court that he wishes he never heard the name of the United States of America again. The court-martial board are shocked by this statement. After getting proper instructions from President Jefferson (like Burnside would from Lincoln in 1863) they agree to Nolan's request. He is put on one American frigate after another for the rest of his life. While on board the ship takes down it's American flags. Nobody is to mention the U.S.A. or news from the states in his presence.
For the next half-century Nolan is treated like this. He actually turns out to be far more aware of his idiotic comment than anyone realizes (at a dance he is pointedly reminded about it by a pretty American socialite he meets). He even assists in winning a battle in the War of 1812 against the enemy British ship. But the decision of the court is upheld until he dies. Yet, at the tale's end, it turns out that Nolan did learn what happened, and even knew of most of the new states in the union. The narrator (as Nolan is dying) tells him the history of the U.S. since 1807. Except for one point: he can't bring himself to reveal that in 1863 there is a Civil War going on, and that half the states no longer want to be part of the U.S.A. Still Nolan dies happy, having been reassured of his nations' expansion and seeming prosperity.
This 1973 version was quite good, with Cliff Robinson as Nolan, developing from a "Hotspur" young man into a maturer type who gradually realizes what a stupid wish he voiced. Robinson was a bit too old to be the young Philip Nolan, but he handled the later years all right. Beau Bridges is the narrator, who crosses Nolan's path in his own naval career. Robert Ryan, in one of his last performances, plays the wise older officer who fills in some of Nolan's history to Bridges, and explains why the Navy Department just doesn't stop the long exile: "Have you ever tried to fight the white tape of Washington City?", Ryan says with a friendly smile to Bridges. Twenty years later, when running across Nolan again, Bridges remembers Ryan's statement again. Quite different from Ryan's other nautical figure from this period: Claggart in BILLY BUDD.
A worthy, and moving version of the great novella - it reached Hale's goal very well.