MIUTAUY COMV. 



515 



Mk ut i ly, the gentlemen 



-imple i|i. 

 i this imlietiuent ? 

 ii, perhaps, whirh 

 .1-,.. I ~ ii 1. 1 be withdrawn or is it 

 . In- tried, may it please 

 .in_' t'.-r my colleagues and for my- 

 r die iiliM-iit client, I say with emphasis, 

 mess, we come here prepared 

 1 v to trv tliat case, and wo shall ask for no de- 

 honor's hands further than is necessary 

 tn'lm:. .or to face the court and enable him, 



in such case made and provided, 

 >ll of indictment against him. Is it 

 * iih.lrawn ? If so, justice and humanity seem 

 nipt that we should know it. Is it to 

 be suspended ur postponed ? If so, may it please the 

 . with all respect to your honor and the gentle- 

 men who conduct the bouness here, your honor must 

 :und us as entering our most earnest protest. 

 We ask a speedy trial on any charge that may be 

 brought against Mr. Davis, here or in any other civil 

 tribunal in the land. We may be nowhere repre- 

 senting, may it please the court, a dying man. For 

 thirteen mouth* he has been in prison. The Consti- 

 tution of the United States guarantees to him not 

 only an impartial trial, which I am sure he will have, 

 but a speedy trial. And we have come no slight dis- 

 ; we have come in all sincerity ; we have come 

 with all respect to your honor. We have come with 



udJress it to your honor, as may be the more appro- 

 : What disposition is proposed to be made 

 with the bill of indictment against Jefferson Davis 

 now pending for high treason? 



: .!. S. Hennessey, Assistant United States 

 t Attorney, said that he had been entirely un- 

 aware of the nature of the application just made, and 

 in the absence of the district attorney, Mr. Chandler, 

 he wa not prepared to answer the question, but 

 would immediately telegraph to that gentleman the 

 fact of such application Laving been mude. 



Mr. Chandler would probably arrive in Richmond 

 tliis evening ; if he failed to arrive, Major Hennessey 

 i that no would himself be prepared to answer 

 the question to-morrow morning. 



Judge Underwood, addressing the counsel for Mr. 

 Davis, said : I am to understand that will be satis- 

 factory ? 



Mr. Kccd said : Entirely so. 



The court then adjourned. 



On the assembling of the court the next day, 

 Judge Underwood, addressing the Assistant District- 

 Attorney, said: Mr. Hennessy, we are ready to hear 

 from you whenever it suits your convenience. 



Mr. Hennessy arose, and the counsel, lawyers, and 

 spectators, all rose and pressed forward to hear 

 his response. He said : May it please your honor : 

 As the answer of the Government to the questions 

 propounded by Mr. Reed on yesterday are considered 

 of some importance, I have written them out, and 

 propose to read them to the court. May it please 

 your honor, yesterday, Mr. Reed, one of the counsel 

 for Jefferson Davis, propounded certain questions to 

 the court and to me, which, in the absence of Mr. 

 Chandler, I at that time declined to answer. Mr. 

 Chandler is still absent, being, I regret to say, en- 

 tirely prostrated by a recent severe domestic calam- 

 ity, and, as I promised, I to-day proceed to reply to 

 the questions of the learned gentleman. That gen- 

 tleman correctly says that an indictment has been 

 found in this court against his client, Mr. Davis, and 

 asks if it is to be tried, if it is to be dropped, or is it 

 to be suspended. So far as I am instructed, I be- 

 lieve it is to be tried, but it will not be possible to do 

 BO at present for a variety of reasons, some of which 

 I proceed to give : 



In the first place, Mr. Davis, although indicted in 



this court for high* treason, is not now, and never has 

 :n the custody of this court, but U held by the 

 United States Government as a State prisoner at 

 Fortress Monroe, under the order of the IV 

 signed by the Secretary of War. In the second 

 even if Mr. Davis were in the custody of this 

 court, it would not bo possible for the Attorney-Gen- 

 eral, in view of his numerous and pressing engage- 

 ments at the close of the season, to come here now 

 and try this case, which is a case of great national 

 importance, which he would be expected to do. In 

 the third place, if Mr. Davis is in the delicate state 

 of health suggested by Mr. Reed, it would be nothing 

 less than cruel, at this hot and unhealthy season, to 

 expose him to the unavoidable fatigues of a pro- 

 tracted trial, which appears to be an inevitable result 

 from the array of counsel, present and prospective, 

 engaged for his defence. Neither this court nor any 

 of its officers has any present control over the person 

 of Mr. Davis, and until they have, it becomes im- 

 possible for the District Attorney to say when he will 

 be tried ; but this I assure the gentlemen who repre- 

 sent him here, that the hour Mr. Davis comes into the 

 custody of this court they shall have full and prompt 

 notice when it is intended to try him, and so far as the 

 District Attorney and bis associates are concerned, 

 they may be assured their case will have a just and 

 speedy trial, without further let or hinderance. This 

 I say for the special department of the court which I 

 represent, but what the intentions of the Government 

 are, with regard to the disposition of Mr. Davis, I 

 am no further instructed than I have said. 



I now move, may it please your honor, that this 

 court, as soon as the business before it is disposed 

 of, do adjourn until the first Monday of October next. 

 By that time the heat of the summer will have passed 

 away, the weather will be cool and pleasant, and 

 should we have the pleasure of seeing these gentle- 

 men here again, they will be more fitted for the 

 arduous labor which their profession constantly im- 

 poses upon them. In the mean time the crystalliza- 

 tion process, referred to by the learned gentlemen 

 yesterday, will be going on, and his client will be 

 enjoying the cool breezes of the sea at Fort Monroe, 

 instead of inhaling the heated and fetid atmosphere 

 of a crowded court-room. 



James T. Brady, Esq., of New York, one of the 

 counsel for Mr. Davis, then said: If your honor 

 please, I did not expect to say one word this morn- 

 ing in reference to the case of Mr. Davis, but some 

 of the suggestions contained in what my learned 

 friend has just read make it proper for me to state 

 that if Mr. Davis be not technically subject to your 

 honor's jurisdiction, it is only because no copy of 

 this indictment, so far as I am advised, has been 

 served upon him, nor any list of witnesses, nor any 

 act done of those which are required by the statute. 

 It may be true that in this technical sense he cannot 

 now be and never has been amenable to your author- 

 ity ; but my brother counsel, Mr. Reed, stated that Mr. 

 Davis was not claiming the benefit of any of those 

 wants of forms, but that on the contrary he was hero 

 to express, from his own lips, speaking through us, 

 his ardent desi-e for an immediate trial. Although 

 it may be very hot in Richmond, it is infinitely worse 

 where he is, and so far as the convenience of the 

 counsel is concerned, they care nothing for that con- 

 venience, impelled as they are by a sense of duty. 

 From my own experience in the city of Richmond, 

 whose hospitality I have enjoyed certainly, I would 

 be happy to remain here either through the heats of 

 summer or the frosts of winter. We can only say 

 that we are entirely ready. We know that we cannot 

 control the action of the District Attorney. We 

 thank him for his polite response to our questions, 

 and of course we leave the question for such actiob 

 as the Government may think proper to take. 



Judge Underwood then said : It only remains for 

 the court to say that the District Attorney has cor- 

 .rectly represented the views of the Government upon 



