The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1874-07-04
Card from Commissioner Ylcasants
RICHMOND, July 8, 1S74.5

Card from Commissioner pleasants
g7cHMoND, July 8, 1874.
To The Editors of The Dispatch: 5
| 1t is against all my notions Of prophet.
| for a judicial officer, even OF the bumblss
grade, to defend his official action in tn
newspapers, and l had firmly resolved Il
| take no notice in them of the various attack:
on my decision In the case of the Petersburg
judges Of election. .--..--s-~aa.--r--.-a---s
| This resolution was somewhat shaken
when the Wing graveiy informed its read
ers, in its report of the case, that Mr.. Wells
the United States Attorney, did not.seem in
clined to press the case, but made speech
! In every point agreeable to the accused par.
| ties, but that the Commissioner insisted on
| sending them on in obedience to orders re-
ceiyed from Washington. I quote from
memory.] The facts being: that Mr. Wells
has not been in office for months; the pros
ecution was conducted solely (and most Wig
orously) by Mr.. Lewis, and his assistant,
Mr.. Worthington and the charge that the
commissioner bad received orders or in
structions from any source in regard to the
case, being so transparently absurd, that
there is no need TO apply TO it the shorter
and h4rsher term it deserves.
was again greatly tempted to break my
silence By the letter Of his Excellency Coy
ernor Kemper to the President, in which the
Attorney-G General of the United States is so
very roughly handled. 1t was indeed glo-
riouS sight to see our gallant and warllke
Governor prancing before the delighted eyes
OF General Grant at the head Of has $4,000
Confederate braves" daring the Attorney.
General 10 mortal combat. and on that ac-
count keeping dumb, with one flourish Of
bis pen consigning to ''intamy" poor little
United States commissioner.
Our Governor is, indeed, in blood-thirsty
mood. He has slaughtered "Hughes and
his hordeS"; he has murdered the Peters
burg charter; he brushes the Attorney
General /; he annihilstes the commissioner !;
be wipes out Weddcrburn; and it is feared
he has MORALLY wounded our handsome ex-
Governor, the hitherto inyincible Mosby,
and last and worst Of all, possibly James L..
Kemper himself. Surely this must be the
ycritable hero recorded in veraciOus history
as having been on memorable occasion in
the late war ordered by General Lee, III the
interest of humanity, to "cease firing and
stop the Slaughter" und who, having yielded
his patrotic wrath to soldierly discipline,
was requested by the solt-hearted chic!
heuceforth never to call him Gen eral," but
10 call him "Bob J" His very law is quoted
from the Butchers case!
say this was great temptation, but it
was the touching letter of Senator Johnston
that finally breaks the ice OF my reserve.
I do not want TO see the Administration,
whose welfare seems matter of such tender
concern to Governor Kemper and Senator
Johnston, utterly broken down by adopting
the supposed views of an examining nagis
trate whom it didu't appoint. know some
thing Of the horrors OF carpet-baggery, and
| do not want to see all the people OF Nir-
ginia "migrate to Russia" without time for
the preparation Of ut least trunk
Senator Johnston seems to have received
his information from Judge Robert Guild,
who was not present at the hearing OF the
case, but who WAS. no doubt, thoroughly
posted by the yi9ilant reporter Of the wing,
who has not yet found out who is the United
States attorney at Richmond, but who has
discovered that commissioners get their " or
dcrs - from Washington.
The decision, Us reported by the Senator,
was part of what l did render. The snake
lies naturally in what is hid. The whole Of
the decision was in substance this:
~ commissioner is not Il jury whose duty
il is TO weigh testimony 10 hair, to satisfy
every donDt, ard to lind no other theory
possibly consistent with the facts but the
guilt OF the accused. His duty is simply to
ascertain if there is probable cause 10 be-
Iieye that an act Of Congress has been
violated. When that has been dOne-whcn
probable cause has been >howD-thc ordl-
nary course is reversed, the burden Of proof
is shifted, the accused must prove his Juno
cence, and the commissioner must bold him
until, ~ Blackstone says, 1T manifcStly up-
pears that no such crime as charged was
committed, or that The suspicion entertained
OF the prisoner was wholly sromdleSs.
Sucn was my decision. 1t has been rem
dercu over and over again in commissioners
cases before me. 1t is no new thing. 1t is
sustained by every authority from Back
stones Commentaries to Mayo'> Guide: and,
in spite Of Governor kemper, i'll Senator
.Johuston'S spite, stick to it. trust, how
ever, that even il the Administration should
not interfere, the young men Of Virginia
will not be frightened, and will neither, in
obedience to the iale standard-brarcr OF the
Conservative party" 20 West" or, the aG-
vice Of Senator Johnston, "migratc to Rus
sia,' but remain at home and "proYe their
innocence. Very respectfully,
VI. +. pLEAsANTs,
United States Commissioner.