508 



MILITAKY COMMISSIONS. 



Witness, SALMON P. CHASE, our Chief Jus- 

 tice of the Supreme Court of the United States, this 

 1st day of May. 1867. 



W. H. BAEEY, 



Clerk of the Circuit Court of the United States, Dis- 

 trict of Virginia. 



By order of the President, the following order 

 was issued : 



WAR DEPAKTMENT, ) 

 WASHINGTON, D. C., May 8, 1867. ) 

 Brevet Brigadier- General H. 8. Burton, United States 

 Army, Commanding Officer at Fortress Monroe : 

 The President of the Tmited States directs that you 

 surrender Jefferson Davis, now held confined under 

 military authority at Fortress Monroe, to the United 

 States Marshal or his deputies, upon any process 

 which may issue from any Federal Court in the State 

 of Virginia. You will report the action taken by you 

 on this order, and forward a copy of the process 

 served upon you to this office. 

 By order of the President : 



E. .D. TOWNSEND, 

 Assistant Adjutant-General. 



On the 10th of May the writ was served on 

 General Burton by the Marshal; and, in obe- 

 dience to the command thereof, he took Mr. 

 Davis to Eichmond, and on the 13th made 

 the following return of the writ, producing at 

 the same time the body in court. 



In obedience to the exigency of the within writ, I 

 now here produce, before the within-named Circuit 

 Court of the United States for the District of Virginia, 

 the body of Jefferson Davis, at the time of the ser- 

 vice of the writ held by me in imprisonment at Fortress 

 Monroe, at the military authority of the United States 

 subject, and surrender the said Jefferson Davis to 

 the custody, jurisdiction, and control of the said 

 Court, as I am directed to do by the order of the Pres- 

 ident of the United States, under date of May 8, 1867. 



H. S. BURTON, 



Colonel and Brevet Brigadier-General of the United 

 States Army. 



Mr. Chandler, for the Government, said : General 

 Burton comes into court to present his return, pro- 

 duces the body of Jefferson Davis, hitherto held by 

 the military authoritieSj and hereby submits him to 

 the control and authority of this Court, as he has 

 been commanded to do by the President of the Uni- 

 ted States. 



Mr. 0' Conor said: On this return, may it please 

 your Honor, no question arises as to the legality of the 

 former imprisonment. We are advised that there is 

 an indictment against the prisoner in this district, and 

 that your Honor will take such course as may be 

 proper in the case. 



The Court replied : The return is explicit and satis- 

 factory. General Burton receives the thanks of the 

 Court for this prompt and graceful obedience to its 

 writ. General Burton is now honorably relieved 

 of the custody of the prisioner, who passes into the 

 custody of the Court, under the protection of Ameri- 

 can republican law. The marshal will now serve on 

 the prisoner the writ on the indictment now in this 

 Court. 



Deputy-Marshal Duncan advanced and handed a 

 paper to Mr. Davis, who arose and handed it to Mr. 

 0' Conor. 



Mr. 0' Conor said: We hope that the Court will 

 now order such proper course as justice may require. 

 No further action could be asked by the counsel of 

 Mr. Davis, and, it remaining with the Court to insti- 

 tute regular civil proceedings, he would acknowledge 

 to have received a copy of the indictment, and would 

 wish to know what further steps would be taken. 



Judge Underwood said: The Court would be 

 pk-ased to hear from the representatives of the Gov- 

 ernment. 



Mr. Evarts : I deem it proper to say that I repre- 

 sent the Government on this occasion and in this 

 prosecution, in association with my learned friend, 

 the District Attorney. 



Mr. Chandler : Mr. Davis having passed from mil- 

 itary imprisonment to the control and custody of this 

 Court, and as an indictment is pending against him, 

 and he is now under arrest, it only remains for me, 

 in behalf of the Government, to say it is not its in- 

 tention to prosecute the trial of the prisoner at the 

 present term of the Court. 



Mr. 0' Conor: The condition of the case throws 

 upon us the duty of presenting to your Honor's con- 

 sideration some of the circumstances attending it. 

 Jefferson Davis has been imprisoned and in the 

 power of the Government, so that any steps thought 

 expedient, just, and consistent with sound policy, 

 might have been taken against him a very long time 

 ago. His imprisonment commenced on the 19th of 

 April, 1865. In this court an indictment was pre- 

 sented against him in May, 1866. Mr. Davis has been 

 at all times since his imprisonment, and particularly 

 during the last year or more of that imprisonment, ex- 

 ceedingly anxious to meet the questions arising on 

 any indictment which might be presented. He was 

 exceedingly anxious to receive the advantages and 

 enjoy the rights which your Honor has so eloquently 

 and justly eulogized in the address made with refer- 

 ence to General Burton the blessings and advantages 

 of a just, equal, fairj and I may say benign (for that 

 becomes the occasion) administration of law. No 

 particular civil procedure has been on foot since the 

 indictment was presented, and although the whole 

 period of two years has elapsed since the commence- 

 ment of his imprisonment, an application, of obvious 

 general principles and policy, was properly made to 

 the Court, while at the same time securing due re- 

 sponsibility to law and the ends of justice, to miti- 

 gate somewhat the prisoner's condition ; for all im- 

 prisonment, and the holding of the accused for trial, 

 are adopted for the purpose of securing an answer 

 and the personal appearance of the accused when the 

 question of his guilt or innocence comes fairly before 

 the Court. This is ample reason on general grounds. 

 The Constitution of the United States, which we all 

 profess to reverence, insures a speedy trial. But I 

 do not come here to assert that a speedy trial means 

 instantly, nor to assert that the Government has not 

 on this, as on all other occasions, had a reasonable 

 time to prepare for trial. I do not assert that con- 

 siderations of policy and convenience may not have 

 had their full weight, although they may bear op- 

 pressively on the individual. I do not complain that 

 the Government has failed to prosecute last year, or 

 deferred action until the present year. I have no 

 such purpose, because we are bound to respect the 

 authority of the President, the Attorney-General and 

 their associates and advisers, and only suppose there 

 are public considerations for not proceeding with the 

 trial immediately. But, if your Honor please, it is a 

 fact that a gentleman, not very young and not re- 

 markable for constitutional vigor whatever may be 

 said of his mental vigor has already suffered two 

 years of imprisonment : and it is a fact that, as far as 

 human guarantees can be given for any man, I might 

 say any amount of security for the appearance of the 

 prisoner can be furnished. We can furnish such 

 pledges from gentlemen in every part of the country, 

 of every party, and representing every shade of 

 opinion'; gentlemen who, becoming security for him, 

 would profess but one sentiment, and that not for 

 him personally, who are averse to the political views 

 which have distinguished his life in every respect, 

 "hut who, nevertheless, feel a great interest in the 

 honor and dignity of the American people and in the 

 American republic, and fear that the punishment of 

 death, in the absence of a trial, would result from his 

 longer imprisonment. I say, then, this kind of assur- 

 ance can be given ; and as that class, who differ so 

 widely in opinion are willing to give this security 



