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Feb. 20, 1869.
Hon. B. F. Wade,
Pres't pro tem of the Senate
Sir:
I had the honor to receive on the 17th of Feb, inst. a resolution of the Senate, passed on
that day, wherein it was "Resolved that the Att. Gen. be directed to furnish for the
information of the Senate a list of persons convicted for violating the revenue laws, and
for counterfeiting; stating the length of sentence to imprisonment, the am't of fines in
each case; & who of such persons, have been pardoned by the President, & when such
pardons were granted."
Before undertaking to comply with the requisition upon me of this Resolution, which it
would be my pleasure to do, so far as I have any means or knowledge enabling me so to do, I
beg leave respectfully to ask the attention of the Senate to the scope of the resolution as
it has been adopted by the Senate, in order that I may be assured whether its apparently
universal application was intended, or whether its object was limited to information upon
the subject of the resolution within the present term of the Presidency.
The first branch of the information required is of "a list of persons convicted for
violating the revenue laws, & for counterfeiting,
stating the length of sentence
to imprisonment, the amount of fines in each case." This list, it will be seen by the term
of the Resolution, would need to embrace all the instances of conviction for either of the
crimes named, from the time the Judiciary of the U.S. first went into operation, until
now.
The second branch of the information asked for by the resolution is, as to "who of such
persons have been pardoned by the President, & when such pardons were granted." As this
language, in its natural interpretation, would embrace the exercise of the pardoning power
during the whole constitutional existence of the Presidential office, although it might have
been intended only to apply to the present Presidential term, I have not felt at liberty to
determine which meaning was intended by the Senate.
In reference to the unmistakable purpose of the resolution to obtain information which
will present the means of comparison between the number of convictions for the offences
described, & the number of pardons of the same, during whatever period the resolution
was intended to embrace, I beg leave respectfully to say that the office of the Attorney
General contains no record of convictions for these particular offences, or for any offences
against the U.S.
—nor,
so far as I am advised, is any record of such convictions to be found except in the various
Courts throughout the U.S. in which the convictions have been had.—It will,
therefore, be entirely out of my power to furnish any part of this information concerning
convictions, which is sought by the resolution, either from any source accessible to me, or
by the exercise of any authority reposed in me by law.
In regard to information respecting pardons by the President, I also beg leave
respectfully to state, that the only office of record of the same, in any proper sense of
the term, is in the Department of State, from which the pardons are issued & where the
formal record of them is preserved. Earlier than the 4th of March, 1861, the office of the
Attorney General did not keep a record of the action of the Executive in cases of pardon,
that was at all complete. But since that period, a more accurate & trustworthy record of
the same has been preserved in this office.
I beg leave also respectfully to state that the information desired by this resolution, so
far as it relates to pardons between the 14th of April 1865, and the 19th of Feb. 1868, of
persons convicted for counterfeiting, was, in pursuance of a resolution
of the House of Rep., of the
26th of Nov. 1867. desiring such information, communicated to the House of Rep. by the
President as reported to him by the Att. Gen., & that the same is published as Ex. Doc.
No. 179, of the 2d Session of the 40th Congress.
As I could not feel any doubt that the purpose, as well as the terms of the resolution of
the Senate asking for this information, sought for the means of comparison between the
convictions and pardons, & as it is wholly out of my power to furnish any record of the
former, & as I am able to furnish a statement of the latter for only a recent period, I
have thought it most respectful to the Senate to submit myself to its direction as to
whether the partial information which it is in my power to communicate was desired by
it.
I have the honor to be,
&c. &c. &c.
Wm M. Evarts
Attorny General.
Report & Answer to U.S. Senate, in obedience to a Resolution.
conviction for violating revenue laws - pardons, &c.
