The Council Bluffs nonpareil. [volume] (Council Bluffs [Iowa]) 1857-1867, 1860-03-17

~ Acs uS apply Au0S0 1uaeo w su0 oNu"Vss
under cons liberation. Andrew Hunter does
not swear positively that Coppoc was ever
i1 Virginia. He says certain persons other
than Coppoc committed certain crimes at
certain places in that State, and that Coppoe
ssaided and abetted" them, leaving to be in
ferred that he was with them in Virginia !;
fbut he might have furnished arms from
Ohio, or ammunition from Pennsylvania, or
aid and comfort from Maryland; thus
"aiding and abetting" the crime committed
| in Virginia, without being there in person,
and yet not be liable to be tried in Virgin
iafor SO doing. Mr.. Hunter says Coppoc
is .a fugitive from justice, escaping in the
State of Iowa." From what State? From
Virginia, or Maryland, or Pennsylvania, or
Ohioa II may be inferred the escape was
from Virginia; but it is not s'positiveiy so
stated, nor 10 there on either point that
'scertaiDly that would justifya magistrate
u committing an accused party" Again,
Mr. Hunter, shaving the evidence aud
information in bis possession, he should
have Incorporated it in the af6davit."-
He swears te a legal conclusion when he says
"Coppoc aided and abetted." What con-
stitutes aiding and abettirg sis a question
Of law and not always of easy solution"
Mr.. Hunters ssopinion is not authority
He should have sworn to the facts." The
affidavit is fatally defective in this, that
"Ilunter swears to his belief" The whole
case is this. A paper was presented to me
purporting to be an affidavit made under
law of Congress, but not made before an
officer recognized by that law-or if the law
Of 1850 applies to this class of cases, lack
ing to its authenticity an essential requisite
prescribed by that law, That paper was
made the basis Of demand that should
arrest and surrender for trial for crime, in
distant State, a citizen of this State while
it contained only the statement of person
wholly unknown to me, that he beliered the
citizen was guilty of crime which crime
II committed at all, might for aught appear
ing in the paper, have been committed in
any other State as well rs Virginia. re-
fused the demand made upon me, and now
after a more full and careful consideration
of the matter than then gave it, am
content with the decision then made.
My action in this matter is not without
precedent in our own State. My immediate
predecessor refused warrant for citizen
of this State, upon q requisition from the
State OF Indiana, upon the ground that the
affidavit upon which tho requisition was
based, although sufficient in substance, was
made before Notary Public. The Cover
nor of Indiana did not as am advised, con-
slider this refusal Us evidence that the people
or authorities Of Iowa were unwilling to
perform their constitutional obligations, or
a matter of sufficient Importance 10 be the
subject of special message to the General
Assembly Of that State.
/. The Governor Of Virginia complains that
| did not cause Coppoc to be arrested and
held until another requisition in proper form
could have been sent to me. The law of the
State provides the manner in which such
provisional arrest shall be made, (Code,
Sec 1884, and the remaining section Of that
Chapter.) ! called the attention of the
agent of Virginia specially to this law, read
it to him and placed it in his hands, and re-
quested him to advise with counsel in relation
thereto, and act upon that advice. For some
reason, doubtless satisfactory to himself,
but wholly unknown to me, he did not, so far
as have learned, act under the provisions
Of that Law. If the Governor of Virginia
has cause for complaint against any person
on this poiL t, it is against his own agent, and
not against me. ...z ~.
The Governor of Virginia also complains
that the first Of my letters to him was pub
hshed in the papers of this State before it
had reached him. This is probably true.
During the afternoon of the day on which
the ysquisi,ion was presented to me, and
after .hat fact had become public, many
inquiries were made of me, touching the
matter, and great desire expressed to know
my reasons for refusing the warrant. 1t
wou.'d d have been useless and absurd in me
to have affected secrecy in regard to matter,
when the agent Of Virginia hao himself made
it public; and | answered inquiries by sta
ting facts, and for ny reasons referred to
my letter, COPY of which had ks .pt. Some
of the gentlemen who sead the let. er, sug-
gested that, as the matter would pr obabiy
excite some interest, it would be ell to
publish the letter anG not Being able t. see
how under the circumsta uces, any possible
injury could result from its pstlication, l
allowed copies to be taken for thas purpose.
1t is to me matter of profound regret that
the Governor Of Virginia did not,in his
special message, content himself with an
examination Of the legality of the documents
sent by HIM to me and of my Official action
thereon, without attempting to convert q
question Of official power and duty into q
question Of personal motives. Not satisfy
ing himself apparently, that he had good
cause of complaint against me upon the law
or the facts Of the case, he repeats some
hearsay, some suspicions of his own or his
agents. some broken extracts from my
inaugural address, and from all these at
tempts to justify his insinuations of my
sympathy with the crimes lately committed
in Virginia, and of my desire, perhaps
efforts, for the escape of this alleged fugl-
tive. repel all such suggestions coming
from him or from others, with the scorn
they deserve; and would not dignity them
by any notice, were it not for this consid-
Grafton. Right minded men in other States
may we'll suppose that the chief magistrate
of Virginia could not make charges so
grossly viola i've of the courtesy due by him
to the chief magistrate Of sister State,
unless he knew the charges to be sustained
by the facts, and might construe my silence
into an admission Of their truth. .
The fact that an agent Of Virginia was
here, with requisltion for Coppoc, became
publicly known in this place, solely through
the act Of that agent himself. ldenied my
self what greatly desired, the privilege of
consultation with gentlemen in whose
opinions had confidence, touching the le-
gnlity of the papers submitted to me, lest
the matter might thereby, through inadver-
tance become known. After had commui.
Gated to him my discrimination to grant
the warrant demanded, he sat in my Office
conversipg freely with me on the subject.
During our conversation, other persons
came in on business with me, and to my sur.'
prise he continued the conv ersation in their
presence. said to him, that had sup
posed he did not wish his business to be
made public; to which he replied, that as,
the warrant had been refused, he did not
care who knew his business, and continued
the conversation. In this manner the fact
q requisltion had been made for Coppoc
became known in this place; and am
credibly informed that it was well known in
Iowa City TO many persons there, that the
agent of Virginia was on his way to this
place with such requisition, before be reached
here.
The insinuation that had anything to
do, directly or indirectly, with sending in
formation to Coppoc that requisition had
been made for him, is simply and unquali.
G. I -