Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 38.djvu/363 Why
Jefferson Davis Was Never Tried. were to be tried before Judge
Underwood his conviction would be inevitable with such a jury as
could be counted on, and that it would not be wise to expect
anything from an appeal to the Supreme Court as then
constituted. I was decidedly of the opinion then, and am now,
that if the matter could have been presented to Mr. Davis, he
would have agreed with me and have insisted upon having the
point of any risk to himself disregarded, but it was manifestly
not practicable to obtain his wishes, and it was, as they
thought, and as they believed, to be wholly in accordance with
the well recognized obligatory principles of their profession,
their duty to acquiesce in a course which would bring security
to their client and relief from a situation which had been most
trying. And so it was that on the next day the illustrious
prisoner was released and with no stain upon his name, but
without that thorough vindication of his c