William M. Evarts to Samuel Blatchford, 12 December 1868

December 12, 1868. Hon. Sam'l Blatchford, U. S. District Judge, New York. Sir: I beg leave respectfully to ask your attention to the enclosed papers bearing upon an application for pardon of one John H. Egins, convicted upon an accusation of fraud against the United States in your Court. The pardon of Mr. Egins is pressed by many very respectable people, who entertain an opinion that he was unjustly convicted, although the apparent force of the evidence at the trial, if of a quality to justify the finding of the jury, would sustain a verdict. I am unwilling to pass upon the question in the advice I have to give to the President upon the subject without presenting considerations of this kind to the attention of the Judge who tried the prisoner. I will be obliged, therefore, in the interests of a proper exercise of the executive clemency, in this case, that you will be so good as to examine these papers in the light of your own knowledge, of what occurred at the trial, and give me your opinion as to whether there may be reasons for doubting the justice of the condemnation of the prisoner. I am, very respectfully, Your obd't serv't, Wm M. Evarts, Attorney General.