The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1870-09-29
IMPORTANT LETTER FROM CHIEF
JUSTICE CHlSE.


Why Jefferson DaTiS' trial was Do
layed-Is the Chief Justice 4mbitl
Ous?-NeTeF for Immediate Am
neSty.
WAsHINGToN, Sept Is, 1870.
The following letter from Chief Jus
/ tice Chase has already attained sucl
publicity that / am fully warrante,
in transmitting it to you for publica
ton. At the same time, 10 is pFOpe
that l should advise you of my un
certainty as to whether the person
who have already given il out 70
publication elsewhere had receives
I the proper authority of the writer 70
this use of a private letter:
To the Hon. T. W. Coa5Cay;
My DEAR SIR III have receive,
your kind letters, and am much Oblig
ed for the information they convey
1 am particularly touched by the
proofs they afford Of the attachment
and confidence Of the OOlOred people
l have always said that to possess the
affection and true respect of the pool
and the oppressed is a wOrthier Objec
of ambition than any official position
even the highest. In that ambition
I glad TO know I am not likely TO bS
disappointed. / may be mistaken
but ! really believe that I been credit
ed with more ambition for place than
/ l feel. Not that 1 possess any uncom-
mon indifference TO the qualification
! derived from distinction, but, to me,
Z great place has always seemed chiefly
yaluahie as great opportunity for use.
I fql service.
No one can forsee the future. Con.
gress has adjourned, and the members
have gone home to confer with their
constituents. When they return, |
presume they will take hold of theB
work vigorously. Opinions differ IS
to what is best to be done. On one
point there is little real division. All
seemed agreed that the Reconstruction
policy OF Congress must be aFdently
pursued, and that the earliest possible
restoration of the Southern States to
their old relations, upon the basis of
Universal Suffrage and Equal Rights,
is most desirable. Ifeel more anxiety
OH this point than other, because, this
point once secured, all others may be
reekOned as secured, The rights of
labor, and the interest of labor, are at
the basis of all sound policy, andnOth-
ing Is so important 10 theirs as the
rihgt to vote for the labOTer.
Sincerely yours,
s, P. CHASE.
P. 81 have never advocated Uni
versal Suffrage and Immediate Am
nesty to All. have said that Univer-
sal Suffrage would reconcile OOmpre-
hensiye lenity with tranquility and
prosperity. Iwould have no more dis
reimbursement after the complete es-
tablishmentOf Universal Suffrage than
is absolutely necessary to secure the
new order of things, and the new State
Constitutions against overthrow
Those lately in rebellion have nOmOre
right to destroy the country by ballots
than by bullets
AS to the trial of Jefferson Davis,
the amount and kind of misrepresenta-
ton is astonishing. The. facts are
simple, / neither seek nor shun the
responsibility of trying anybody
My purpose is to do my duty rs a
Judge, honestly and faithfully, turn
ing neither to the right nor the left.
While military authority was supreme
in the South, as an incident of war,
and anybody could be tried by mill
tary commission, no Justice of the
Supreme Court could properly hold n
Court there, This state of things last
ed from before the surrender of Lee,
in April, 1855, till the final suppression
of the Rebellion was proclaimed, in
1866. Meantime, in July, 1865, an act
of Congress, by changing the Circuits,
had deprived the Justices of the
Supreme Court of jurisdiction in
the Southern States, and jurisdic-
ton was not restored until March,
1867, when Congress passed the neces-
sary act. OF course, from July, 1866,
to March, 1867, neither the Chief JUS
tice, nor any other Justice, could try
anybody in Virginia. Any editor Ofany
newspaper would have as much right.
At the same time the act of March,
1867, was passed, the Supreme Court
was sitting in Washington, and the
Chief Justice was bound to be there,
but he wrote to the District Judge at
Richmond, Va, that he would come
down and Join him in holding theCOuTt.
as soon as the supreme court auJOurn-
edin May. Jefferson Davis, however,
was brought before the District Judge
and bailed in May, bsfOre the Supreme
Court adjourned. This seems to have
been done by a sort of consent, and
it was done without conference with
the Chief Justice, and was a matter of
which he had no control. The cOun-
sci on both sides were informed by the
District Judge that the Chief Justice
would come in a few days and if a
trial had been desired on either side,
it could have been then had in that
very month of May. In October, 1867,
an adjourned term having been ap-
pointed to be held at Richmond on
the 18th of November, the Chief JUS
tiee caused the parties to be notified
that he would attend at that time, in
order that the trial might take place,
if parties were willing. He did ae-
cordingly attend, but the parties were
not ready. This was in November,
1867. Since then the Chief Justice
has been Obliged to attend the Supreme
Court at Washington. One thing is
certain, there has been no term at
Richmond since the capituiatiOn of
Lee, which the Chief Justice could
have attended, at which he has not
attended; and another thing is clear,
that the trial of Jefferson Davis might
at any time have taken place, that is,
since his capture in May, 1866, either
by military commission, when mill
tary commissions were being held for
the trial of offenders under the author
ity of the President, or by a court
held by the District Judge. The Chief
Justice, therefore, is in no sense or in
the least degree responsible for the de-
lay which has taken place. Until last
May he could not try him, and since
then he has always been ready.
s. p. CHASE.