516 



MILITARY COMMISSIONS. 



this matter. The Chief Justice, who is expected to 

 preside on the trial, has named the first Tuesday in 

 October as the time that will be most convenient for 

 him. The Attorney-General has indicated that it 

 would be utterly impossible for him, under the press- 

 ure of his many duties, now greatly increased by 

 troubles on the Northern frontier, on so short a 

 notice, to give that attention to this great question 

 which it demands. Under all circumstances the 

 court is disposed to grant the motion of the said 

 District Attorney, and I think I may say to the counsel 

 that Mr. Davis will in all probability at that time be 

 brought before the court, unless his case shall in the 

 mean time be disposed of by the Government, which 

 is altogether possible. It is within the power of the 

 President of the United States to do what he pleasea 

 in these matters, and I presume the counsel for Mr. 

 Davis would probably find it for the interests of 

 their client to make application directiy to the Gov- 

 ernmeiit at Washington, but this court would not 

 feel justified in denying at this time the application 

 both of the Chief Justice and Attorney-General. 

 When the court adjourns, it will adjourn not until 

 the next term, which is in November, but until the 

 first Tuesday in October next, as it is supposed from 

 the array of counsel on both sides that have been 

 named it will be a long term, in which great political 

 and constitutional questions are to be discussed and 

 settled, probably taking two months It would, un- 

 doubtedly, be much more comfortable for the coun- 

 sel, as well as Mr. Davis himself, to have those 

 months in the fall rather than in the summer, be- 

 cause it is in every way more comfortable in Rich- 

 mond at that time than in the summer. I think the 

 counsel is mistaken in supposing that Fortress 

 Monroe is not as comfortable a place in the summer 

 as Richmond. When I have been there in the sum- 

 mer I have found the sea breeze very refreshing. 



Mr. Brady, to the Judge : But very limited society. 

 [Laughter."] 



Judge Underwood, continuing, said : The society 

 is limited. However, the Government is disposed to 

 extend every reasonable privilege, and I am happy 

 to know that the wife of the prisoner is permitted to 

 be with him, and that his friends are permitted to 

 gee him. 



The motion of the District Attorney is therefore 

 granted. This court will adjourn, not until Novem- 

 ber, but until the first Tuesday in October, which 

 time is preferred by the Chief Justice and Attorney- 

 General. The case will then, if not before disposed 

 of, be taken up. 



An application was made by Messrs. Charles 

 O'Conor and George Shea, of counsel with Mr. 

 Davis, before Judge Underwood, to admit the 

 prisoner to bail. The following decision was 

 rendered on that motion : 



I have considered, the application made by Mr. 

 Shea, of counsel, to admit Jefferson Davis to bail. 



Under the circumstances, the application might 

 have been more properly made to me when recently 

 holding the Circuit Court at Richmond. 



But under the law it may doubtless be made also 

 in vacation, and I will briefly state my views of it 

 and my conclusions : 



In the States which were lately in active rebellion 

 military jurisdiction is still exercised and martial law 

 enforced. 



The civil authorities, State and Federal, have been 

 required or permitted to resume partially their re- 

 spective functions ; but the President, as commander- 

 in-chief, still controls their action so far as he thinks 

 such control necessary to pacification and restora- 

 tion. 



In holding the District and Circuit Courts of Vir- 

 ginia I have uniformly recognized this condition. 



Jefferson Davis was arrested under a proclamation 

 of the President, charging him with complicity in 



the assassination of the late President Lincoln. !!< 

 has been' held ever since, and is now held, as a mili- 

 tary prisoner. He is not, and never has been, in the 

 custody of the Marshal for the District of Virginia, 

 and he is not, therefore, within the power of the 

 court. 



While this condition remains, no proposition for 

 bail can be properly entertained, and I do not wish 

 to indicate any probable action under the circum- 

 stances. 



JOHN C. UNDERWOOD, District Judge. 



ALEXANDRIA, June 11, I860. 



April 10, 1866. Upon a resolution intro- 

 duced by Mr. Boutwell, of Massachusetts, the 

 Judiciary Committee of the House of Repre- 

 sentatives was instructed by that body to in- 

 quire whether there is probable cause to be- 

 Ueve in the criminality alleged against Davis 

 and others, and whether any legislation is ne- 

 cessary to bring them to a speedy and impartial 

 trial. 



This committee had the case under investiga- 

 tion until they made their report, with the fol- 

 lowing conclusions : 



When the committee entered upon this investiga- 

 tion in April last, the evidence in the War Depart- 

 ment, if accepted as true, was conclusive as to the 

 guilt of Jefferson Davis. The Judge Advocate Gen- 

 eral had taken the affidavits of several persons who 

 professed to have been in the service of the rebel 

 Government, and who had been present at an inter- 

 view between Surratt, Davis, and Benjamin. 



Those affidavits were taken by the Judge Advocate 

 General in good faith, and in the full belief that the 

 affiants were stating that only which was true. 



The statements made by those witnesses harmo- 

 nize in every important particular with facts derived 

 from documents and other trustworthy sources. 



The committee, however, thought it wise to see 

 and examine some of the persons whose affidavits 

 had been taken by Judge Holt. Several of the wit- 

 nesses when brought before the committee retracted 

 entirely the statements which they had made in their 

 affidavits, and declared that their testimony, as given 

 originally, was false in every particular. They failed, 

 however, to state to the committee any induce- 

 ment or consideration which seemed to the com- 

 mittee a reasonable explanation for the course they 

 had pursued. 



And the committee are not at this time able to say, 

 as the result of the investigations they have made, 

 whether the original statements of these witnesses 

 are true or false, but the retraction made by some of 

 them deprives them of all claim to credit, and their 

 statements so far impeached or thrown out, upon the 

 evidence given by other witnesses whose affidavits 

 were taken by Judge Holt, that the committee, in 

 the investigations they have made and in the report, 

 have disregarded entirely the testimony of all those 

 persons whose standing has been so impeached. 



The committee are of opinion that it is the duty of 

 the Executive Department of the Government for a 

 reasonable time, aad by the proper means, to pursue 

 the investigations for the purpose of ascertaining 

 the truth. 



If Davis and his associates are innocent of the 

 great crime of which they were charged in the Presi- 

 dent's proclamation, it is due to them that a thorough 

 investigation should be made, that they may be re- 

 lieved from the suspicion that now rests upon them. 

 If, on the other hand, they are guilty, it is due to 

 justice, to the country, and to the memory of him 

 who was the victim of a foul conspiracy, that the 

 originators should suffer the just penalty of the law. 

 The committee are of the opinion that the work of 

 investigation should be further prosecuted ; and. 



