Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1874-01-15

vken - dsslsrss e Q ~ Ithroakh ~
(his) s6bsts that Mr.. Harris. your inme-
dises Fepsssessativs. wss libassed. 2 TIL
bousd % tsks isss With hiss. and toobss
transfer ny gratitude I should lie .
know the extent Of those efforts. h =
mech - sseh hvors are moi liksly 70 be
kept secret / am somewhat SURPRISED tkot
With frequent opportunities 70 do . kers-
tAfose be has news. divuleed the fact IN
ill lin tisse. The rrc.rd. however, i
rather against him' on this issue.
President johnson sent 6prth the fol-
lowing order in the case -
''In the within eSse Of Beujarnfn @. FHassn
the finding and sentence d the tyoTrt ere here
BY approved and c,n6rmsd. Additional evil
dence and a2idasits, however, bearing upou the
case and hrorabls TO the aeensed hasine been
presented and considered By me- sincs the sea-
iesce aforesaid. deem Il proper TO direct that
the sentences in the Ease Of sid Hsrris bssemit-
ted, and thas he be released from impsisonmeut
AxDaEw youssox,
y Presidens u. So
Now. did Mr.. Blair present or procure
any Of these siidavits and evidence which
operated upon Prssident Johsson's mind 7
He did not. While many of my constit-
ucnts sympsthised With me and would
have made any reasonable efforts for my
relief. my life long friend. J,phn A. Cam
alier. was the person. Who. With indefati-
gable industry and considerable expense
to himself. procured the afi,lavits refer
red to. For his voluntary active service
In my behalf in this branch 1t my case,
and for the counsel and services Of anoth-
er life long friend. Judge p. w. Grain.
who stood firmly BY mo and was of the
greatest benefit to me 10 my arraignmcnt
before the brass-bu,toned gentry. it is my
duty to be and I shall be most grateful
while my heart pulsates. an not viii
ling that Mr.. Blair shall. by flourish of
his pen. transfer to his account the graft.
tude 50 justly due 70 them. Twill not do
/! him injustice. bu. all know Of his doing
in the premises vas to give Mr.. Camalicr,
upon his application. letter Of introduce
ton to President johnson. 70 that be
might lay before him the afidavits before
referred to. The giving this letter Of in
PRODUCTION surely docs not justify Mr..
Blair in claiming that '.thrcugh his ef.
forts representative Harris was liberated. 1"
l will avail myself Of this occasion to
show to my late constituents. whose good
will and esteem / most highly appreciate.
that I was firm and true to the character
they had conferred upon me Of their rep
resentative in other places than in the
Halls Of Congress. l was on trial. and
the penalty was death. or such other pun
ishment as the Court might designate.
knew l was condemned when the Court
adjourned. for the President of the Court
in adjourning it declared, ',hat the Court
having determined upon their sentence
will adjourn sine die" The word "sen-
tence." which accidently dropped from the
President Of the Court. Gen. j. G.. Fos-
ter. informed me too clearly Of my con-
demnation, but whether TO death or inn
prisonmens could not OF course tell. It
was under these circumstances that Mr..
Wood, the keeper Of our prison. whose
heart was in the right place, and for whose
kind and humane treatment and my fcl-
low prisoners should be truly grateful; it
was under these circumstances. I say, that
he advised me,to send a petition to the
President stating that intended to do no
wrong. and ask for pardon. My reply
was, that would not ask for a pardon
nor would receive one; had been gull.
ty of no offence aud would not disgrace
myself BY admitting guilt by asking or
receiving pardon. That as q representa-
tive Of the people I required rather an
apology from Andrew johnson than .
pardon for this unjustiiable invasion of
my rights. and it is owing to this position
Of mine. I am inclined to believe. that the
term in the Presidents order that the
sentence be .'rsmitted' was used instead
of pardon"
Some Of my friends. when they saw me
released. advised me to wait upon An
drew johnson and thank him for it. I
could not take that view Of the matter,
butdenounced him. as now do, for al
lowing me to be tried before Court Mar
tial for giving a dollar to each oftwo Con-
federates who had been paroled BY Gen.
Grant when Gen. Lee surrendered to him.
and who had been allowed to come through
the Potomac blockade to their homes,
which they claimed to be in Maryland.
and which. by the terms Of the capitula-
ton. they had the clear right to do. Those
terms we're. leach officer and man will be
allowed to return to their homes. not to be
disturbed by United States authority so
long as they observe their parole and the
laws IN force where they may reside"
To say nothing Of the gross and palpa.
bic violation Of the Constitution in trying
. member Of Congress. aud Of course .
mere citiscn aud not soldier or sailor,
by Cour. Martial. or in any other man
ner than before civil Courts, was there
ever such an outrage as trying man be-
fore any Court upon the charge Of giving
dollar to paroled prisoner to buy .
supper and a lodging? Such acts Of
kindness are in every country allowable
and continually practiced towards such
prisoners. Can il be believed that any
man ft to be at the head Of a nation should
allow such proceedings as Andrew John.
son did? Can it be that any man. quail
lied to be General-in Chief and afterwards
Prc.iden, of this country. would fail to
protest most emrha,ically against arraign-
ing and trying citizen for feeding pris-
oncrs who trusted by being paroled to his
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