Year: 1860

=


aught appearing in the paper. have beer
committed in any other State as well al


Virginia. | refused the demand made
upon me, and now after a more full ant
careful consideration. of the matter thar


then gave it, am contented with the
decision then made. @ aaa ll


My action in this matter is not withou,
precedent in our own State. My imme
diate predecessor refused warrant for a
citizen Of this State, upon a requisitior
from the State of Indiana, upon the
ground that the affidavit upon which the
requisltion was based, although sufiic
lent in substance, was made before No.
tary Public. The Governor of Indiana
did not, as am advised, consider this
refusal as evidence that the people or au-
thorities of Iowa were unwilling to per-
form their constitutional obligations, or
matter Of sufficient importance to 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 arrest
ed and held until another requisition in
proper form could have been sent to me.
The law Of the State provides the man
ner in which such provisional arrest shall
be made, (Code, Sec. 1924, and the re-
naming sections of that Chapter.)
called the attention of the agent of Vir-
ginia to this law, read it to him and plac-
ed it in his hands, and requested him to
advise with counsel in relation thereto,
and act upon that advice. For some rea-
son, doubtless satisfactory to himself, bu,
wholly unknown to me, he did not, SC
far as have learned, act under the pro-
visions Of that law. If the Governor oil
Virginia has cause for complaint agains,
any person on this point, it is agains,
his own agent, and not against me.


The Governor of Virginia also com
plains that the first of my letters to him
was published in the papers of this State
before it had reached him. This is prob
ably true. During the afternoon Of the
day on which the requisition was pre-
sented to me, and after that fact had be-
come public, many inquiries were made
of me, touching the matter, and great
desire expressed to know my reasons for
refusing the warrant. 1t would have been
useless and absurd in me to have affected
secrecy in regard to the matter, when the
agent of Virginia had himself made it
public and l answered the inquiries by
stating the facts. and for my reasons re-
ferred to my letter, copy of which l
had kept. Some of the gentlemen who
read the letter, suggested that, as the
matter would probably excite some pub
lie interest, it would be we'll to publish
the letter and not being able to see how
under the circumstances, any possible in
jury could result from its publication, |
allowed copies to be taken for that pur-
pose. 1t is to me a matter of profound
regret that the Governor Of Virginia did
not in his special message, content him
self with an examination Of the legality
of the documents sent by him TO me and
of my official action thereon, without at :
tempting to convert question of official
power and duty into question of per
sonal motives. Not sa.isfyins, h'~,se'f,
apparently. ths. l-s7t.ad good cause OF
Sohiplalnt against me upon the law or the
facts of the case, he repeats some hear
say, some suspicion of his own or his
agents, some broken extracts from my in
augural address, and from all these, at
tempts TO justify his insinuations Of my
sympathy with the crimes lately com
mitted in Virginia. and of my desire,
perhaps efforts, for the escape of this al
legged fugitive. | Irepel all such sugges-
tions coming from him or from others.
with the scorn they deserve and | would
not dignity them by any notice, were it
not for this consideration. Right mind
ed men in other States may well suppose
that the chiet magistrate of Virginia
could not make charges SO grossly yio-
lative 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 m ght construe my silence
into an admission of the truth.


The fact that an agent of Virginia was
here. with requisition for Coppoc, be-
came publicly known in this place, sole
ly through the acts of that agent him
self. l denied myself what greatly de-
sired, the privilege of consultation with
gentlemen in whose opinions had con-
tidence, touching the legality of the pa
pers submitted TO me, lest the matter
might thereby. through inadvertence.
become known. After had communi-
Gated to him my determination not to
grant the warrant demanded, he sat in
my office eonversing freely with me on
the subject. During our conversation.
other persons came in on business with
me, and TO my surprise he continued the
conversation in their presence. said to
him. that had supposed 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 that requisilion
had been made for Coppoe became known
in this place and am credibly inform
ed that it was we'll known in Iowa City
10 many persons there. that the agent of
Virginia was on his way to this place
with such requisition, before he reac he'd
here.


The insinuation that l had anything to
do. directly or indirectly. with sending
information to Coppoc. that requisi,ion
had been made for him. is simply and