James Speed to Hugh McCulloch, 14 August 1865

Attorney General's Office. August 14, 1865. Hon. Hugh McCulloch, Secretary of the Treasury. Sir: I beg to say, in returning the papers in the matter of the claim of Mansfield & Co. of Memphis, Tenn. that I would much prefer that you would lay before me a statement of the facts on which the questions of law therein presented may be supposed to arise. I have looked sufficiently into the case to enable me to see that I ought not to give any opinion on it, until you advise me that I may assume that a certain state of facts is the one on which the questions you present arise. One question of fact I do not see at all alluded to in the papers, viz: whether the money claimed is or is not in the Treasury of the United States. I have the honor to be, Respectfully, &c. James Speed Attorney General.