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A statement concerning the imputed special causes of his long imprisonment by the
Government of the
United States, and of his Tardy Release by due process of law.
Contained in a letter from the
Honourable George Shea, of New York, one of his counsel.
Preparatory notice.
During the session, 1875-6, of the Congress of the United States, a bill was introduced to grant universal amnesty to all persons engaged on the
Southern side in the late war between those States.
Mr. Blaine, now the
Senator from the
State of Maine, urged upon the
House that the bill should by name exclude the
Honorable Jefferson Davis,
President of the late Southern Confederacy, from the intended beneficial relief of the proposed legislation, for the reason that
Mr. Davis had conducted the war in a manner not permitted by the rules of civilized nations, especially in the treatment of prisoners.
Mr. Blaine's speech was very violent, and intended to further increase any unfriendly feeling which may yet exist against
Mr. Davis, and, as there was no cause for personal animosity between them, it was thought, and regretted, by many people of both political parties in
America that
Mr. Blane's purpose was simply to promote partisan objects.
The letter of
Chief Justice Shea was published in the
New York Tribune, the leading organ of the Republican party in
America, and is so generally, accepted as an authentic and full refutation of those charges, reiterated at this late day by
Mr. Blaine, that we think it advisable to publish it in a form more durable than that afforded by the pages of a daily newspaper, and likewise bring it within reach of all those who are interested in the truth of an important episode in the late American struggle; and about which there has been so much
